everyone get on my "simon ironlung and anya mouthwashing are siblings" bullshit IMMEDIATELY
My hcs obviously require a bit of canon fuckery but the idea is that Simon and Anya grow up together on Mars. Anya is older, Simon is younger. Despite living on Mars, Simon's mother is already connected to the Eden cult (considering she gifts her very young son a KNIFE, that fanaticism doesn't come out of nowhere), so maybe the siblings are targeted for this. They have to stick up for each other, and Simon is very protective of his older sister.
Then, when Anya is in her very late teens, she joins Pony Express. Maybe because she needs the money to go to med school, maybe because she doesn't like the direction Eden is going. But she LEAVES, and Simon is brought to Eden. He doesn't want to go, he wants to wait for his big sister back on Mars. But he is brought up to the station regardless. The cult doesn't want him leaving too.
Then, the Quiet Rapture. The Tulpar is crashed into a rogue moon/asteroid, their systems go haywire from the sudden disappearance of most large cosmic masses. They can't contact Pony Express, or anyone on Mars, there is NO MARS. Their systems are down, they can't tell anything is wrong, and they can't see it either (the ghostlight is still blazing strong).
And that starts both canons pretty much normally from there.
There would be such an INTERESTING conflict - Simon having to grapple with what he's become (the Butcher), fearing Anya would hate him. He doesn't protect anyone any more - he kills, he only thinks about himself, he left Eden brothers to die. But Anya knows him. ("Our worst moments don't make us monsters"). She loves him! Her baby brother, of course it's still him.
AND then mixing this with bloodymary? Grace rescuing Simon, and then them happening across the Tulpar (insert some time dilation bullshit here to make the timelines line up). Simon stiffening, he knows what his sister's ship looked like when he watched it take off. He had come to terms with the fact Anya was probably dead. But there the Tulpar is. What else can they do but go and help?
Cue Simon, Grace, and Rocky opening a hatch to a halfway-complete Mouthwashing.
God and the possibilities… Of course Simon is still Simon, Anya sees how fiercely he protects Grace. That he would do ANYTHING for the scientist.
Armando helping Curly. Daisuke learning engineering from Rocky, and in return teaching him slang and pop culture. Swansea and Simon bonding over drinking fucked up alcohol </3. Simon absolutely wrecking Jimjam's SHIT when he finds out. AND Rocky offering to watch Anya sleep!! (I saw a different person draw this last idea too, it hurts my heart sm).
