The Guy

When Simon finally opens up to Grace about his past, being in prison for 16 years, telling him about Filament Station, about Eden- Grace suddenly stops him.

Because Grace is very good at math.

Simon seems to be in his early 30’s… meaning if he was locked up for 16 years he could have been anywhere from 13-18 at the time of the attack. Grace had been a middle school teacher. He had taught that exact age range, before watching those same kids that he taught grow and go to the high school in the next building over.

The idea of one of his kids being held responsible for 65 deaths and then sentenced to prison is enraging enough. The more he learns about the cult Simon was raised in- it sets off every alarm Grace had ever had as a teacher.

The fact that Simon was a child soldier and Grace was a child educator is not talked about enough.

For one, in some cultures asking an obvious question is just a polite way of acknowledging the situation. So for example, if you just put your jacket on and start clocking out, a co-worker asking "oh, you done for the day and heading out now?" doesn't deserve you sneering at them like an idiot, scoffing, and saying "uh duh, just like I do every day at this time" when it's likely they knew the answer, but were just asking as a polite way of acknowledging the situation.

But even if they were genuinely unsure that you're leaving even though it seems obvious to you from context clues, so what? What does being rude and condescending to them achieve? Maybe they couldn't sleep last night so they're really out of it today, maybe they're dissociating, maybe they're about to pass out from low blood sugar, maybe some other employees sometimes put on their jacket and only clock out briefly but come back.

“Oh, are you cooking?” asks person who thought you were going out tonight.

“Are you leaving?” asks time-blind person who’s surprised it’s 5:00.

“Are you going to lunch?” asks person who remembers there’s a meeting in 30 minutes.

asks person who thought you were

going out tonight.

bloodymary might be the most inspired crossover of the century. trauma group therapy in space with a language barrier

original under the cut

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...