I've got a few ideas for BloodyMary and for rn i think I'm going to stick with just this fandom, and maybe expand to others later on if there's any interest. Here's the Aus and feel free to ask questions or suggest scenarios to put these sad men in.
Reverse Bloodymary ColtlandGentry Au (RBCGAU)
A very scared and confused and hostile Ryland finds himself thrown at the mercy of his next set of interrogators. Except they both look waaaaay too much like him, sound like him, and for a minuet they act far too familiar with him. What kind of new age bullshit torture method is this? The COI did not have nearly enough resources to pull some psychological shit like this. Or... or did they? Either way, he's not saying shit.
Not-So-Meet-Cute (NSMCAU)
A fairly typical au, Simon arrives on the Hail Mary shortly before they meet Rocky. Grace now has to try juggling befriending an alien who shares no language with him, getting Simon to open up or at least stop being actively avoidant, deal with his memory issues, all on top of trying to save the stars. It's not an ideal situation and its not like he didn't already have enough on his plate, but hey, he's happy for the company, even if he is struggling. Oh, and Simon sometimes hears voices in his head, and they only agree on one thing.
It's Raining Bloody Men (IRBMAU)
I'll be considering this the companion to the ColtlandGentry reverse au (Ryland and Simon might not be able to have each other in their own universes but something out there (me) decides they might still be able to get their happy ending), Simon drops in (literally) on one of Graces classes, falling into the biodomes ocean. Oddly enough this stranger seems familiar, but he that's not important. Graces stable life on Erid just got a lot more interesting.
PS: Ryland is going to be showing some Autistic tendencies in each of these AU's, some more than others cause the environment breeds different masks/coping mechanisms. I will be throwing my own flavors of Autism in every now and then.
PPS: Fair warning on IRBMAU I saw art of Ryland wearing Erid clothing and jewelry (Cant find the exact one but blipity.blopity on insta has some great art of it) and it made me think about how maybe he just says "Fuck it, I'm not seeing another human again I might as well do away with a lot of human hang-ups." Also he's autistic so like, Erid silk is really nice sensory wise so why not go native and wear a skirt or some shit, who cares. And now, after years of thriving without a mask in a culture that genuinely doesn't care there's another human and he has to try masking again, with varied results.
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When Grace was done in the Bunk room, having also discarded the clothes and cleaning the bracelet, and after checking in with Armando that the stranger was stable, he decided to continue with his cleaning momentum and fix the mess he had made of the ship. He had company now after all, he didn't want his first impression to be that he was a slob, even if he had been recently. He gets the impression he usually wasn't this messy, but he also usually wasn't hurtled into another solar system without his memories.
This was the only reason. Definitely.
He deep cleaned the ship, deciding halfway through to make an inventory for himself of all of his supplies and individual types of food. He was going to need to start rationing immediately after all. Again, the only reason. Ryland found he had more food than he thought, maybe at launch they had stuffed extras in? He had plenty coma slurry and the ship had it's own water recycling system. He did learn that his suit he ruined and any wrappers were jettisoned straight into space. Little wasteful, he thought, what if he ever needed the aluminum.
It was at this point, debating the practicality of keeping his trash on the slight chance he might need trace amounts of aluminum and plastic, he couldn't reason with himself that he could keep avoiding himself or the unconscious stranger. Slowly he made his way back to the dorm.
Now here he was, getting his first good look at the man laying on his bunk. Armando had done an incredible job at cleaning him up, revealing black wavy hair, a beard, plenty of scars including what looked to be a stitched up hole in his left cheek, and the biggest detail he hadn't noticed when he was a blood covered hunk of meat, his left arm was freaking missing! About halfway to his elbow the arm had been severed. He couldn't tell under the bandages if it had been clean or crushed or ripped, but it was certainly fresh,
Jesus what had this guy been through.
More importantly where had he come from, and was his throw away theory correct?
And here he was, at the part of his thoughts he had been avoiding for the last few hours. This guy, who looked like he had been through hell in a handbasket, was now stuck on a suicide mission with Grace. How could he tell him he arrived here only to be stuck where he will inevitably die. He probably would've been better off literally anywhere else. Anywhere except wherever had ripped his arm off.
A pang of guilt and shame hit Ryland. This was the other part he wanted to ignore. The selfish part of him that was so glad, so relieved to not be alone anymore he almost didn't care they were doomed. Almost. Of course he did care but that selfish part of him was still there, ringing with guilt so much it almost made him sick.
He stood, staring down at the man for likely too long. He took note that Armando hadn't intubated him so it thought he would wake up soon, but with the blood loss he doubted it. Of course, this is when the mans eyes shot open, just to spite Graces inner monologue.
_____
Simon had died. He knew he'd fucking died. He felt himself die. It had hurt unbearably until it hadn't hurt anymore. Yet here he was, alive, very unfortunately alive if the ache in his entire body and the fresh pain in his cheek had anything to say about it, and in the corner he put himself into of an uncannily sterile room. There was a man, standing by the bed he'd all but thrown himself out of, arms up in an attempt to not seem threatening, and a machine arm reaching out to him in a futile effort to grab him.
"Armando stop it." The man said, shoving gently at the machines base, which did manage to get it to back off almost looking dejected if a machine could show any emotion. "Hey there, I'm so sorry about that. I hope you're cheek is okay, we can fix it when you're ready. I'm Dr Grace." Grace was such a weird name. Eden would've never allowed a child to be called something so blasphemous. Even a doctor. It didn't matter. He couldn't go back. That had to be the only reason he was here, somehow he hadn't died, they'd collected him, and they're going to use him again.
"Please." He hated how he practically whimpered, he was weak. The big bad butcher pleading for his life, but all of his anger was long gone, and he had never really been The Butcher. He didn't care how they saw him now.
"What?" Grace had leaned foreword, trying to hear him better.
"Please," He said a little louder, "Please don't send me back down there. Please." God he was pathetic. "I don't care if you have to lock me up again, I don't want to go back. Please. You can send me to work, I'm strong I can-." Almost as if to punctuate his words a throb of pain shot up his arm. Looking down Simon was horrified to be so harsly reminded he had ripped his own arm off when it had been welded to the ships pipes.
"Nononono. Please, I swear." He held his stump and shoved it into the corner, trying to hide it from sight as if Grace hadn't already seen it and tended to it, pleading ramping up a notch. "I can still work. I can lift with one arm. I can learn. I swear. I promise. I can. It's not even my dominant hand. Please. " His begging devolved into sobs as he curled in on himself, certain they were going to send his pathetic useless ass back down into the blood. He wouldn't be able to do it this time. He couldn't he couldn't he couldn't.
It was a few minuets into his freak out, enough he wasn't actively sobbing like a baby anymore, that he felt and heard Grace sidle up next to him. Not close enough to be within arms reach, but close enough he tossed something soft that hit his leg and fell to the ground.
This was a ploy.
He looked anyway.
There was a tiny blue and green fabric ball on the ground by his thigh. It confused him enough he unfolded himself just enough to reach his arm down and snatch it off the floor before returning to his previous position. It was only mildly soft but it was a tiny replica of earth. This would be coveted in Eden. Why had it been given to him?
He fiddled with it in his lap for a little bit, much calmer now than he had been after waking up panicking, when Grace spoke up. "Hey, I'm not sending you anywhere. You can stay right here in this corner if you want, as long as you want. No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do here." Exhaustion hit him like a truck and he simply grunted at the other, not sure if he believed it. "So~ I introduced myself. Would you mind telling me your name?"
He scoffed. It was laughable. Of course they still didn't bother to know his name. He was just a convict. But... but Grace was being patient. Like really patient with him. Most people, Eden or COI wouldn't have put up with his whiny bullshit just now, much less promise him anything, even just that he could stay in the corner. Maybe they had just handed him off to someone as a pet project. Sure, he could work with that. If this is what the COI meant by freedom he could live with that. His voice was raw to his own ears, "Simon. My name is Simon."
"I like that name, Simon. It's a nice name. So Simon, would you let me fix your cheek up?" After so long of not hearing his name except from a horrific blood eel or his own hallucinations it was nice hearing it from the doctor, but he still wasn't going to let him touch him if he could help it. Shaking his head he heard Grace get up. He curled in on himself, gripping the little planet tightly, worried Grace would be upset he said no.
Grace instead walked away from him. Peeking over his arm he saw the doctor walk over to a storage compartment. Grabbing what he wanted he walked back over, crouched just out of Simons reach, and then extended his hand out to him. "Here then, would you clean it and bandage it then?" Seeing Simons hesitance he added a "Please? It could get infected. We Really should sew it but we can settle with bandaging if you're careful."
He felt Grace would continue to pester him about his health, even if it was a waste of resources. He was a doctor after all, and if Simon was his pet project he would want Simon healthy. Hesitantly he returned the earth to his lap and grabbed the items from Grace. Large bandages, rubbing alcohol, and a cloth.
Looking into Graces eyes the man smiled at him such a stunningly bright smile Simon was momentarily dazed by it. "Thank you Simon."
It was embarrassing how much his own name was music to his ears.
_____
I don't think, after having come out the other side, Simon would be violent. I think he'd be scared. Scared he'd have to do it all over again. Scared he hadn't earned his freedom in the eyes of the COI. Scared.
I've been really well received on the longer posts that I'm going to make sure they are generally longer. Idk what my average wordcount is or anything, but at least long enough I feel it needs a read more, and when I feel it's a good cutoff.
"Foreign user Detected." Armando said out loud to no one. Ryland froze. He was floating through the corridors back to the lab from the cockpit, rounding the corner when he heard the notification. He stopped in his tracks, which meant he just kept floating for a moment before he came to his senses and whipped around.
No he thought to himself, There cannot possibly be anyone on this ship. Besides the two others, the thought of which made him shiver uneasily, which were so well beyond dead they could not have set off Armando. Grace wracked his thoughts on the possibilities, each worse than the last.
Best case scenario Armando is malfunctioning (maybe not best case in hindsight), Someone had managed to stow away (very unlikely, Grace had checked every nook and cranny in his initial, post remembering his name, confusion), something had managed to get on the ship or had already been on it (please not chest burster aliens for the love of-), or a wormhole had decided to prove it's previously theoretical existence and drop someone or something off in the dormitory (yeah fucking right).
Rounding the corridor into the dorm he was greeted with a horrifying sight. A lot of blood. A fuck ton. So much of it floating around and some stuck near the floor by Armando, a streak along the ground leading to Graces bunk Armando pulled out. And there was a human shaped mass covered in blood on said bunk. Armando was already cleaning off and assessing the thing.
"Holy fuck" Grace very rarely cursed but he gave himself a little leeway here. He wanted to rush in but the blood, he needed to get rid of it, the possibility of all sorts of pathogens or contaminates, some of which he might've already been introduced to simply by being in the room. Shoot, he needed something, maybe a towel or...?
He flung himself back into the lab and started looking for anything. Cleaning enough to get in there in Zero-G would be nigh impossible, unless. Looking around he zeroed in on the equipment. The extremely sensitive lab equipment. The extremely sensitive lab equipment that doesn't work in zero gravity! The memory of a conversation between himself, Stratt, and a Dr. Lokken came to hid mind. Of course! They needed the tested and proven equipment and couldn't make new, so they cracked the ship in half and made it a centrifuge.
He threw himself out of the lab and headed back to the cockpit. It would be far easier to clean if there was gravity again, and he'd feel a lot better with his feet under him again. He found the centrifuge lever and activated it, and wasting absolutely no time in going back, not even waiting for the gravity, which made it extremely awkward when he got to the supply closet and he didn't have enough time to right himself and ended up slipping to the ground in front of it. "Fudge." Righting himself, he grabbed a mop and some cleaning supplies, thank you Stratts team for thinking of everything, and booked it back to the bunks.
Returning he saw that some of the blood had managed to float out of the room and had landed on the floor right outside. He looked to the man shaped lump that looked a lot more like a man at this point with a good chunk of the blood removed from the head and chest area. Not that he could see much from the doorway. He got to cleaning.
After a harrowing conversation, most of which Simon remained skeptical of Graces every word, and Simon wholly shocking him with news of The Quiet Rapture, Grace quickly confirming their apocalyptic events were not one and the same, he offered to show Simon some evidence of his theory he thinks Simon will enjoy.
Simon follows him at a distance, and when they get to the junction between lab, dorm, and cockpit, Simon is looking down the other two corridors warily.
Grace lets him investigate for a moment before getting his attention, "Over here." Turning, at first the other is obviously confused. Looking out the domed window, currently all he saw were streaks of light passing insanely fast. "Can you hold on to the hand holds here and I'll be right back, I'm going to spin down the centrifuge and stabilize us." Simon nods in understanding.
Grace practically ran to the cockpit, going through the process of spinning down the centrifuge which automatically stabilized their orbit. Running- well floating- back he came to a stop on the other side of the window, giving the other some space hah. "Here are the stars Simon."
Simon was curled into the window, eyes wide and blown out, lone hand gripping the hand holds like a lifeline. "No, no these can't be, there's colorful ones. The few stars left were all white." Even as he said it Grace could tell it was almost a compulsory argument as tears began to well up in their eyes.
Grace smiled, happy he could give Simon some comfort in any form after whatever he had been through and then , "Yeah, depending on their temperature. The ones left in your universe must've been all around ten thousand degrees Kelvin, the second hottest, or well too far away to see their color. They can be red, orange, yellow, white, and even blue. Though the blue ones sometimes look green, at least to me. Fun fact! The most common star color is red. Red dwarves make about 76 percent of the milky way Galaxy- and I'm rambling. Sorry."
He'd noticed Simon had turned from the window, from his stars, to look at him as he'd went off on a tangent about something Simon likely didn't want to hear. Christs sake Ryland the man woke up only a few hours ago and you couldn't wait to talk his ear off. Why did he always do this. His little 'fun facts' were never fun to whoever he told, and their only use was to make a conversation suddenly and irrevocably uncomfortable, even usually to his kids. At the very lease Simon didn't look half a second away from crying anymore.
"Then why are most of them white?" Simon had looked back out the window for a moment but had returned his attention to Grace patiently waiting for an answer.
Graces chest tightened in a way he couldn't tell was good or bad, and he wasn't going to sit in it and find out. "That's because we are seeing a very small amount of light from the stars, the human eye needs a pretty decent amount of light to perceive color, and compared to the lamps in here shining on the metal or my shirt, the stars are so far away our eyes can't pick up on the color, and instead we see it as a pinprick of light. You see how most of the ones that aren't white are larger?" Simon glances back out the window and nods, "The stars you can see that do have color are bright enough and close enough your eye can pick up on the color, leading to them being larger."
Simon stared out the window silently for long enough Grace had worried he'd annoyed them, until yet another question was shot his way, "Why are red dwarfs the most common?"
_______
The two of them spent probably longer than ideal floating together in zero-g, Grace rattling off information and Simon always following it up with engaging and genuine questions. He wanted to learn and despite not wanting to take up Graces time or impose, the inquiries had come easily from his traitorous mouth.
Eventually though, Simons eyes had started to get heavier and harder to open, despite his best efforts to keep his focus on the man speaking and the stars. He found himself lulled by Rylands consistent voice, head jerking up several times when his body realized he was falling out of it. But when he and Ryland both noticed he'd let go of the hand hold and started to drift was when they called it.
"All right, now that I've bored you to death, you should probably go get some rest." Simon shook himself out of his stupor and did his best to straighten, getting a hold of the handle again. "You'll be ok as i spin back up the centrifuge?" Simon nodded and Grace sped off down the hall to the cockpit. Simon could see him disappear down a ladder to the presumed control room. He'd love to get in there at some point and look about, learn the systems, see what he could do, and maybe how useful he could be to Grace.
As gravity returned Simon didn't bother to wait, he immediately headed back to the dorm. As soon as he had maneuvered himself back into bed, with some assistance he was very reluctant to accept from Armando, he cursed his missing limb and the creature that had caused it. It took him only a few minuets before his drowsiness won and he was out.
Only to be woken up an undetermined amount of time later to Grace doing something out in the corridor that sounded detrimental to the ship.
Five more minuets.
Simon woke up again, but instead of metal wrenching sounds he heard last time, the ship was completely silent outside the life support systems. Should he be concerned? Probably not, but he'd find Ryland anyway and start getting the lay of the land. Leaving the dorm he slowly made his way out, only to realize the corridor was a lot dimmer than before. Inspecting the walls he noticed gutted slots where the lights used to be. Now he was a little concerned.
He searched what he found to be the lab first, finding some weird metallic things on a table with a soldering kit and a diagram of the stars projected onto a screen. On habit he turned the projector off and closed the laptop, leaving as Ryland wasn't around the lab or at least not in earshot.
Maybe he was in the cockpit? Following a trail of metallic gore turned into a jury rigged set of wires leading into the airlock.
The open airlock.
The airlock that had both doors open.
Fuck!
"RYLAND!" Simon started slowly making his way down the corridor, not bothering with the EVA suit he knew he probably should have when he noticed Ryland in the distance without one. "Fuck fuck fuck this." Had Ryland gone mad? The wires, the airlock, no EVA suit himself? Was this tunnel apart of the ship? He feels pretty certain he would've seen a tunnel this long while looking out the window before, but maybe it extended off the ship? Probably not with the rigidity and color.
Finally, after hobbling on the uneven floor for what felt like ages he got close enough for Ryland to notice, who immediately stood up and started loudly protesting, "No no no Simon you need to go back to the ship. You already had radiation poisoning, you shouldn't be risking any more."
Simon felt like that was the least of their concerns, Grace had done whatever this was, a clock taped to the clear wall, a laptop and a bunch of bracelets with some other random shit on a desk Ryland had to have dragged here. "Ryland what the fuck are you doing?" and after a moment realized what Grace was worried about, asking, "Is this not fucking shielded?"
Grace started walking towards him, "I don't know, theoretically it should be but I don't want to take any chances with your health." Which was rich coming from a man who Simon now realized had a fairly fresh burn over the side of his right cheek.
He was about to comment on it when movement behind Ryland startled Simon and drew his eyes to the glass wall. There was a Rock like thing standing still on the other side of the glass. "Grace bring other human! Very tired, much sleep!"
Grace had oddly enough left him essentially alone. He'd told Simon that if he needed any help, or when he was ready to talk, he would be just outside in the data corridor. He'd said they had a lot they needed to talk about but that Grace would wait as long as needed for him to be ready. He implied it would be a big conversation.
Simon had spent a good chunk of time rooted in place. He'd cleaned and applied the patches to his cheek, which was now just a hole showing off his teeth. But after about half an hour he got impatient and uncomfortable on the floor. Checking that Armando wasn't going to come for him again he sat on the bed, legs hanging off the side. It reminded him of getting a medical check as a kid, waiting for the Eden doctor to come see if he was fit to work. There was no less anxiety here.
Simon was generally a patient person but after two hours of sitting alone in the room He got antsy. He'd looked around, found two other bunks but they were shut and he couldn't open them, rooted through the medical supplies, nosed around some of Graces stuff in a storage bin, and in desperation for anything to do started investigating himself in a small mirror he found tucked away in the open bunk.
He'd never been this bored in his life. There was always something to do. He thought he could outlast Grace but the uncomfortably clean white walls and lack of fuck all to do was getting to him. Sans Armando, and he wasn't getting anywhere near Armando, there was nothing to tinker with. He was almost sure Grace had something to keep him occupied. This was a losing battle.
Ah fuck it. So far at least he had nothing to fear from Grace. He had been incredibly kind and patient it was almost uncanny. Maybe the COI really needed or liked him and they gave the doctor whatever he wanted, including extremely clean facilities and enough supplies he didn't have to worry about giving them away, there were plenty of medical supplies in this room and Armando was a pretty piece of equipment.
He walked over to the door, peeking out. There was another turn before what he assumed was the data corridor he was told about. Holding firmly the tiny earth, he quietly as he could padded down to the next section.
______
If Grace said Simon hadn't startled him he'd be lying, but he managed to hide it well enough from the other. It had been around 3 hours, and he had to hand it to the man, he lasted well longer than Grace thought he would, but to be honest he was also used to children and sleep deprived scientists when he pulled the 'I'll wait till you're ready' move. He'd been sitting cross-legged at the other end of the corridor, laptop in his lap and some stuff for Simon when the man appeared.
Immediately he closed the laptop, and gave the other his full attention. It took a moment, Simon looking around a little. "You wanted to talk."
"Yes, you mind if we talk in the dorms, so I can sit?"
"Sure." Simon turned back and dissapeared around the corner. Gathering his bundle of things he followed. He set up the items on a shelf and sat on a chair that folded out of the wall.
Once comfortable enough he addressed the other. "So, besides you're health, there's two major things about our situation I need to tell you. Firstly your health," He pulled out a tablet that he had pulled up Simons vitals and medical data on, "You're in pretty good health overall. Some burns, plenty of scars, irritated skin, bruised ribs, And one hell of a bloodshot eye which should take care of itself in time. You had acute radiation poisoning but those numbers are rapidly dropping. I'm going to attribute that to the astrophage, as they absorb radiation and well I have to take a guess in the dark for that. I researched it and you shouldn't be recovering this quickly but I'm no doctor, so Astrophage it is." Glancing up, Simon looked incredibly confused. Oh, "Is it astrophage you're confused about?"
"You're not a doctor?"
They stared at one another for a few solid seconds in dumbfounded silence.
"No? I'm sorry, When did I say I was?"
"You literally introduced yourself as 'Doctor Grace.' While we were in a medical bay."
God sometimes Grace was an idiot. He ran a hand down his face groaning. "Sorry, I have a doctorate, I'm not a doctor. I must've fallen into old habits without realizing. I'm sorry for the confusion."
Simon looked more skeptical of Grace than ever before, letting a drawn out "Sure."
Putting the tablet back He grabbed the soft bundle he had. "I've got some clothes here for you so you're not wearing the stupid med bay suit Armando put you in." Simon glanced down but didn't say anything. "And I'll show you where the bathroom is so you can take a shower, but first, do you know how you got here?"
Simon shook his head, "I have to assume I managed to survive some-fucking-how, I was retrieved, and they handed me off to you."
"Who's they?" Simon only squinted at him. "O.K. Well, that's not possible. No one gave you to me, they couldn't have." Grace took a deep breath, dreading this, but it needed to be done. "Were in space and you're stuck here with me."
He expected anything besides Simon looking at him like he was fucking stupid. "Was I sent with you on another suicide mission or are we lost? How are we stuck together?"
The accuracy almost threw Grace off. "Because were in space? Also you just appeared on my ship, where we are about 7 trillion miles from the closest living humans. I have the theory, and really it's the only viable one, that a wormhole pulled you through from another universe. However it dropped you off in one of the worst places possible, as yes. I was sent on a suicide mission."
Simon looked more and more confused the more Grace talked until he mentioned the mission. His eyes widened and he deflated, "No, not again. What is it this time? Are we going to another fucking moon?" The rising panic in his voice gave Armando alarm who wheeled a little closer but still didn't touch him.
"No," Grace tried to placate, "no moons... Probably. We're in the Tau Ceti system. I was sent to try and save Earth."
Earth. The other man pulled out the beanbag from behind him. "Earth? Earth sent you?" He was looking at Grace like he was a nutcase.
"Yes. Sent by Earth to solve the astrophage problem. I don't blame you for thinking I'm crazy. I don't know what your universe was like."
"Well for one Earth doesn't exist. Not anymore."
_____
This ones a little shorter, sorry bout that.
Grace thought this would go a lot differently. Instead he is the one confused.
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The introduction had been tense, Simon was reasonably wary around the alien in opposition to Graces Enthusiasm, and Simon was pissed Grace had done an EVA without backup. The presence of an alien so close had made him almost instinctually protective towards Grace, not that he was going to admit that to himself. Sure they hardly knew each other, but what if something happened and Simon woke up alone. It had scared him the thought of being alone again, and he had very pointedly made this clear to the other, to which Ryland was apologetic. There had been an undercurrent of tension to Grace though, signaling that Simon was just as new as Rocky was all while apologizing.
Despite his hesitance, Rocky, great naming skills Ryland 10/10, had not been deterred in trying to be Simons friend as well, even going so far as to have Ryland deliver a gift to Simon, his own figurine complete with the lack of most of it's left arm. Simon would not admit that it had kind of worked. He was still wary and keeping his distance!
It had been a couple of days, Grace constantly going back and forth between the tunnel and Mary, chatting with Simon every chance he could to talk about Rocky and his people. It had revealed that Graces fears were founded, Rocky's people didn't know what radiation was and his entire crew had died from the poisoning, Rocky only being saved because he was close to the fuel, and so no, the tunnel hadn't been radiation shielded, though it now was after rocky had taken it down and rebuilt one with a thin layer of astrophage like Graces own ship. Simon had shuddered at how dangerous it was after Ryland had told him just how explosive it was. He also learned exactly what they were there for, and that Rocky was there for the same thing. Grace Rocky Simon save stars.
Simon had spent most of his time, now that he felt better and was well rested, fixing the havoc Grace and wrought on Mary. It had been tedious, but worth it. Why in the hell Grace had decided it was a good idea to rip random wiring out of the literal walls when he had no knowledge on how to fix it and didn't know if the human who had appeared did either, he had no clue. There were several places Graces careless yanking had pulled on something besides the lights and Simon was going to be meticulous in making sure nothing went wrong. He was safe, he wasn't risking losing it cause Ryland was a scientist and had gotten careless in his tunnel vision. Simon had met his fair share of scientists and knew they tended to zone in and not notice a damn thing around them, especially if someone else was present they figured could watch for anything wrong. Simon had ended up on babysitting duty just as often as he had to fix or install something.
Rocky wasn't the only person Grace was learning from. Grace had just come back from a nap and talk with the Rock and had sat down and talked Simons ear off about the Eridians, their biology, and their science. "They have a space elevator! It makes sense, their atmosphere and the strength of Xenonite combined, but it's such a fascinating concept. We had to launch pieces of Mary into space and assemble her there. Earth just doesn't have that capability as much as we wish we did."
Simon was fiddling with the laptop Grace had given him, he was reading his third book on botany, wanting to take care of the plants Grace had neglected to even notice were present. Absentmindedly he had thrown out the comment, "Was it too expensive to ship the materials to Mars to assemble it there?" Conversation had come to a screeching halt, not that Simon had noticed, assuming Grace had stopped to think until he felt the prickle of eyes on him. Glancing up Ryland was staring at him wide eyed and mouth agape, "What?"
"Mars?"
"Yeah, Mars has a space elevator, why not assemble it there? Was it too expensive?"
"Oh I'm sure Stratt would've found the capacity. No, the issue is we haven't colonized mars yet. How far in the future are you?" Ryland pulled out his laptop which he had been keeping for notes on everyhting happening around him.
Simon put his own down, wanting to give Rylnd his full attention. "I don't know EIC, so if you go by that sorry, but It's 397.8 IMC," He did the quick math in his head, "Or 2370 CE." Simon found Graces dumbstruck face endearing.
"Holy shoot, 2370? that's 334 years in the future Simon! When did you colonize mars?" He leaned foreword forgetting to take notes, and Simon made a mental note to check later if Ry had remembered to jot them down. "Never mind, that's 1992 right? We were still laying the groundwork for the internet back then."
Simon straightened proudly, "That's right. My ancestors became Martians in 1992 CE." If there is one thing he didn't mind keeping from Eden, it was going to be the Martian pride. "Had the space elevator set up in just a few years when they realized Mars was perfect for one. I got to ride it once, before The Quiet Rapture." A somber note had entered his voice but a fond smile played at his lips.
He was about to continue talking, when loud banging could be heard from the airlock door Ryland had left closed as per Rockys request. Sharing a look, both of them immediately headed to the door, Simon staying well behind Grace as the door opened.
"Hello Grace, Simon."
Both of them stared at the Alien. "You're in a ball." Ryland observed out loud.
"So me not die in human atmosphere. I come up."
And that had been that.
Rocky rolled onto the ship and had practically never left, much to Simons dismay, following the ball and cleaning up after him while Grace had tried desperately to get Rocky to stop and not try to stay on the Hail Mary permanently. It had been futile. Simon had been recruited to help Rocky placing the Xenonite tunnels while Grace cleaned out where they were going to be. He was overdue to sleep but had preferred to complete the task in one go.
Now he desperately regretted that.
He was sleeping in Rylands bunk, too tired to climb to his, and now he had the alien staring down at him, insisting on watching him sleep. They stared at one another, as much as a rock without a face could stare. "Simon trying to sleep with eyes open?"
Simon Grit his teeth. "Simon does not want to be watched while he tries to sleep." They'd been through this already but Rocky refused to leave.
"I have not watched you sleep till now, Grace would not bring you. Now I can watch. Much relief. Can make sure you are safe." It was a sweet sentiment, but Simon was beyond uncomfortable.
"Fuck. I'll be right back, stay here." Simon threw off the quilt and headed for the lab where he knew Ryland was avoiding him. Grace was bent over a table, trying to experiment on a scrap of Xenonite, back turned to him. Simon stared, arms crossed, at Rylands back hard and unwavering for 10 minuets. Satisfied with his conclusion he spoke out loud knowing Rocky could hear and startling Grace into knocking something off the table. "Rocky, some humans have this thing called a sixth sense. Not all humans have it, and Grace seems to be one such human." Grace turned around looking at him confused.
"Five senses, not six, Grace explained."
"Yeah, no. Technically there is a lot more but that's not what were here to talk about. Some people, myself included have what wee generally refer to as a sixth sense. This sense is the inherit ability to feel if someone is looking at you, even if you can't see them. It was an ability humans had to counteract ambush predators when we were a young species on Earth." He explained the concept a little more in depth, not taking his eyes off Ryland, and finished with, "Ryland couldn't feel me staring at him."
"Makes sense. Eridians ambush species. Grace was uncomfortable at first, will you adjust?"
Simon sighed, heading back to the dorm and getting back in bed. "I'm not going to convince you to leave am I?"
"Need to make sure you're safe. Couldn't protect crew, can protect you."
His heart wrenched. He's going to have to get used to it.
____________
Later, after Simon had a fitful rest, and had scolded Ryland for not telling him about the fact that Rocky had been watching him sleep and had wanted to watch Simon sleep.
-
"Why didn't you tell me that's why you were sleeping with Rocky? A heads up would've been nice. I thought you were either being a scientist or avoiding me."
"First, what the hell does that mean? Second, no, I wasn't avoiding you, I just figured if I didn't have to tell you I wouldn't so you wouldn't be bothered. I didn't think he would move in!"
"You're a scientist Ryland, you're gonna have your quirks, like not having a sixth sense, or sleeping next to your research. I've seen it before. He said he had wanted to watch me but you wouldn't bring me?"
"I didn't want to bother you, you need rest and this is all new to all of us, as well as you are taking all this."
-
The three of them had begun to plan, well, Simon sat nearby while Rocky and Grace had planned, to go and collect some astrophage. He'd already set course for Tau-Ceti-E and it was going to take 11 days to get there. Plenty of time to plan, set up the lab and equipment, prepare for the EVA he'd have to do, and get to know each other more.
Setting up had only taken up part of the first day, with Simons dutiful help, and then they had the rest of the week and a half to get familiar. Grace and Simon had spent most of their time fairly close to Rocky. Grace and Rocky near constantly hounding each other with biology questions for the better part of a week. Grace was ecstatic to be learning about Eridian biology.
He'd almost been disappointed when inevitably Rocky's attention was pulled to Simon when he noticed Simon had been toying with the 3D printer in the lab. Rocky was beyond excited to learn that Simon was an engineer like him, and they had immediately started to collaborate once Si was over his initial hesitation and was invested. Rocky spent most of the rest of their trip trying to teach Simon how to weave Xenonite while Simon had asked for very specific items for the ship and Grace. He didn't have a second hand for the process, but watching a master at work was the first part to learning and the Eridian said he was thinking of a solution. Grace could see the gears turning in Rockys head, he had an idea, and whenever he had free time he had hidden away, working on something he refused to let anyone see.
The time to gather Astrophage was close at hand, one day left with a low anxious thrum resounding with all of them. This is when Rocky had presented the project he had been working on to Simon, enlisting Grace's help as he couldn't give it to Simon exactly with his ball or transport it well once it was out of his own airlock. Grace had gotten a sneak peak and wasn't sure how the other human would react but thought it sweet anyway.
"Friend Simon!" Rocky used his magnets to traverse into the data center waving his arms in accidental jazz hands, pulling Simon away from the terminal he was typing away slowly at.
"What's up?" Rockys translator sounded at Si's hip, he knew when he was being addressed and a handful of words but he was still learning, and more often than not the one with the translator. Ryland was learning it much quicker, and Simon had made more than one comment about it in the 10 days they'd been travelling. He was worried Simon was beating himself up over not getting it quicker. Grace figured it was the undiagnosed Autism his coworkers and friends had been sure he had, he hyper fixated on things he was interested in, and the Eridian was certainly one.
"Simon come! Have something in lab you help calibrate?" Rocky stamped twice with the question, eager and began rolling back towards the lab without waiting for a response.
"Oh shit, yeah," Simon hurried after Rocky after typing a few more lines, "What needs calibration?" Simon had not received a response by the time Rocky had stopped in front of a table with a towel covering something on it, Grace was near, pretending to fiddle with a strap. "Is this it?"
Rocky hummed in an affirming tone, wiggling slightly from side to side in a way Ryland told him meant he was paying full attention and trying to see every detail with his echolocation. "Yes, please remove obstruction."
Grace watched Simon pull off the towel to reveal the xenonite appendage, confusion washing over his face. "Uh... huh. How do I calibrate this?" The shorter man examined it, not touching it. Ry figured he was hesitant to touch it in case he messed something up.
Rocky took on a tone of annoyance, gesturing repeatedly at the thing on the table. "Put it on."
Grace stood and walked over, displaying the strap he had been allowed to work on when Rocky finally showed him what he was up to, and that was only to assemble it and make sure it wasn't still too hot. As a matter of fact it pretty closely resembled the harness he'd gotten rid of the day Si had arrived. and felt almost like soft leather. Rocky hadn't told him the materials yet but he'd find out soon he was sure. "Here, we put this on first, uh, under your shirt.
Simon was currently wearing graces sweatshirt. Though they had found Graces clothing to be a bit too long, Simon preferred baggier clothes so he did tend to borrow Graces and tuck the excess, instead of Yao's who they found to be a closer match in size to the shorter man. Grace knew it should've been annoying to be down on the so few clothes he already had having to share, especially when very few of the other two crewmates clothes had fit him, but it left a warm feeling being able to provide for Simon in whatever way he could.
Suddenly Simons face fell. "I... uh... well shit." Simon gripped the sweatshirt in a tight fist. "Well you've already seen right? You undressed me?"
Grace shook his head, "Absolutely not, Armando solely took care of you while I cleaned the ship. You were in the medical suit when I first got a good look at you." And truth be told, Grace had been way too absorbed in either Rocky or quintuple checking everything they had to really get a good look at him since. He may not have been a doctor but he should've checked in on Simons health, though now that he thinks of it Rocky had bothered him enough about his own health that if he thought Simon wasn't okay he would've mentioned it, not to mention Armando would be throwing a fit.
From his downturned eyes he noticed the previous burn across his face had settled rather into a scar, leading under the patch Simon still had over his cheek. Looking up to meet his eyes, Grace realized the bloodshot eye hadn't dissipated, if anything it had gotten worse. The whites were completely red and his dark eye color had been replaced with a muddy red. It probably just needed more time. Simon sighed. "It doesn't matter. I shouldn't have hid it anyway." Simon expertly pulled of the sweatshirt in one swift movement and holy shit.
Ignoring the fact that he was hot as shit, Grace zeroed in on the slits along Simons ribs. "Whoa." There were two slits on his right side and four on his left, all of them settled between his ribs. "Simon this is incredible." Rylands mind was going a mile a minuet, when a noise from Rocky snapped him out of his reverie, hands almost inches away from having touched what looked to be actual gills. "Shoot sorry Rock, Sorry-," Looking up he saw the other with his head shoved into his shoulder face flushed. "Dang it Simon I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, you're fine. If you're still up for it would you put this on?" He held out the harness to Simon.
He got a mumbled affirmative from the other, who quickly took it and turned to face away from Ryland. Which only exposed another oddity that drew Ryland in again. Without so much as a thought, he reached out and touched one of the elongated spines along Simons back, a shiver immediately running down the mans back causing him to arch away from Ry's touch. "Shit Ry," he turned to face him again, "You can experiment on me later, let me help Rocky first."
Grace was going to set himself on fire. "Dang it I... Sorry. Wait what," He processed Simons words finally, "No, I won't experiment on you." Not that he didn't want to, "That's an invasion of privacy, I don't even know if this is normal for you or not. Different universes and all that." He hadn't really thought about differences in anatomy until now, though with Simon wanting to hide it he wasn't sure how normal it would be or if it was private.
"You're a scientist, of course you would want to," He wasn't wrong, "And no, they're not normal." Simon sighed, finishing putting on the harness, "Later." He turned to Rocky, not yet putting the sweatshirt on again. "What's next bud."
"Grace help you put it on, and it will lock onto harness at shoulder. Then we can calibrate!" Rocky rolled closer to Simon. "Excite."
Grace picked up the item on the table, and he could see the recognition fall over Simon, then confusion, but he did as he was told, turning so his left side was easier for Grace to access. Pointedly not looking at the other mans body he slid the limb up what was left of Simons arm, where it locked into place at his shoulder, joining with the harness. "There we go."
Simon stared at the almost perfect mirror of his other arm, but made of an intricate xenonite. As he went to move, possibly to get a better look at it, it responded to his movements, making him let out a noise of surprise. "What the fuck."
"Slowly" Rocky said at the same time Grace said "Take your time."
Tentatively Simon started to move the new arm around. He wiggled his fingers and stretched. Grace noticed that the limbs didn't hyperextend when pushed, the fingers couldn't be bent further back and he guessed the same would be true for the elbow. Besides that Simon seemed to quickly get the hang of it. "How does this work Rocky?"
Dismissively Rocky waved a hand, "Explain later, how does it feel?"
"It feels fine, but what is this for? Did you make it..." Simon seemed hesitant to ask, "for me?"
"Yes yes yes!" Rocky waved jazz hands, "For you."
"Why? You wasted resources, I was fine."
"I asked, Grace said your old one was taken and you were worried about it when you met." Rocky rolled to Simons feet, looking up at him. "Not a waste, have plenty of xenonite. Do you like?"
Simon looked like he was fighting off tears, shaking his head he kept moving the limb, "Yeah Rocky, I like. Thank you. I'll make this up to you"
"Simon," Grace scolded, "It's a gift, you don't have to make it up to anyone. Oh that reminds me, hold out your hand, the new one," Simon obediently lifted the hand and Grace pulled out the item from his pocket he'd forgotten to give back only to have found it earlier today in one of his pockets, and started tying it to Simons Xenonite wrist. Glancing up at Simon he saw the shocked expression on the others face. "You alright Simon?" He pulled away when he had finished.
Simon pulled his arm towards himself so the pendant hung right in front of his eyes, tears now uncontrolled as they slid down his cheeks. "I can't believe you survived. No, you... I..." He pulled the pendant with the seedling to his chest, covering it with both arms, and looked Grace in the eyes with a look of adoration that sent Rylands heart beating rapidly in his chest. "Ryland, Rocky, thank you."
_____
Simon deserves nice things. Does he think he deserves it, no, but he's gonna get it.
Obsessed with Grace being obsessed with Simons mutations.
