chillicat

Dr. Ryland Grace is part of the crew of the SM-7, one of the last science teams to be sent down before the COI switched to utilizing convicts after the equally-tragic loss of the SM-8.

He fought the whole way down, an involuntary position yet one he adapted to immediately in a fit to survive. When supernatural happenings beat out science for the final time, Ryland Grace perishes to the ocean, but not without having documented every moment for the sake of data. For the sake—the hope— of being heard.

Some months later, the SM-13 is hoisted down. Simon comes across the SM-7's black box, seemingly hot-wired to auto-transfer its data to whoever goes near it, thanks to the quick-thinking of its late pilot.

Simon spends the majority of his time down in the ocean listening to Dr. Grace's brilliant recordings, letting them play in the background as he works the deck.

Simon witnesses Grace's ups and downs, his fascination with finding life in the blood ocean, his distress when things go wrong, Grace crying and pacing the sub, Grace laughing to himself in an attempt to self-soothe, Grace finding failsafes in the submersible that save Simon's ass once or twice.

They're his only solace. The only human connection he has. The recordings and Simon's experiences eerily align. Things get more dire for Grace as things ramp up for Simon. They get scared together, they root for each other, even across a screen.

Simon, after being isolated for so long (or perhaps from a lack of oxygen), finds himself talking back to the recordings. Sometimes, he sees things that disturb him, and he walks away for a bit, but he keeps getting drawn back in to see more.

Dr. Grace is a great comfort to Simon, until one of the recordings address him by name. It's subtle—an accident—in the middle of a rant while he's distracted with navigating...

but it was clear as day.

Holding down a panic attack, Simon investigates the SM-13's terminal, opening the computer panel to check inside, only to discover that the terminal's speaker was never plugged in.

Anyway, psychological arthouse Hivemind!Ryland x Simon whump where Simon befriends a ghost via recounted stories and shared experience.

pov you just said some BULLSHITTTTTTTT

bonus:

Until Grace slips out a sentence along the lines of "could you give me a little grace here" and Rocky immediately points out he used a word wrong so Grace has to explain that yeah, grace means elegance but it can also mean mercy sometimes too.

like, he’s entitled to sick leave, he really ought to take a couple months to break the curse and come to terms with whatever the fuck just happened to him, but instead of embarking on a journey of self-discovery and healing he just keeps showing up to work. no one can get captain maximus to go on his fucking voyage of self actualization and fix the curse because he’s obsessed with catching flinn ryder. everyone really fucking hopes that when he finally catches this guy the curse might be broken anyway, but it isn’t.

he just keeps showing up to work. he glares at the stablehands until they saddle him up. everyone’s gone over the regulations a dozen times but there’s nothing there saying you’re not allowed to saddle and ride the captain of the guard if he makes you do it. his former second in command rides him around like ‘sir i really don’t know about this’ and he’s just like ‘are we going to catch some criminals or what.’

you can see in the movie that everyone in the royal guard defers to this horse. it’s absolutely because that’s their boss. and secondarily because now he’s two thousand pounds of percheron.