Now that I think about it ..
In the Grounded (1) AU, Sally is the one who’s lost and found by Grace…
Maybe in the OuWr2 AU it’ll be the other way around… Sally is a companion you find, she’s searching for Grace her missing girlfriend lab partner, she agrees to help the Commander and is more of a ‘hangs out on the ship’ companion.
There would be a few missions she’d ask to be brought on (visiting Ruth, looking for clues to where Grace is, the final confrontation etc) but her final mission would be where you find out the last known location of Grace.
Grace in and out of the AU is a reckless scientist, cutting corners to get results as quick as possible. She’s only pulled back with people like Sally, but when they got separated (idk how yet) Grace probably went to continue their research.
In this version, both Sally and Grace are originally Order members, both focusing on figuring out the rifts, their origins and how to close and open said rifts. Perhaps they got separated by a stray protectorate rocket, blowing their research ship up as they both crash down on opposite sides of Eden.
Sally crashed into Fairfield, soon being taken in by Auntie’s Choice and pushing her into strange experimental territory. She’s put onto the grafting program, as angry and gloomy as ever as she works with infinite funds but also infinite idiots.
Still questioning whether or not she’s experimented on or she experimented on herself, but she eventually does get a grafted part (maybe after an accident?). Grace lands in the Protectorate controlled portion of the planet, captured and flown off world.
They see she’s with the Order and not wanting to waste a mind such as hers, sends her to get mentally refreshed*, then to the Archive to go through any information the Protectorate has gotten on rifts. She’s soon sent off to work elsewhere, where there’s more rifts to study “hands on”.
*being mentally refreshed alters the mind, able to make it more mendable and pliant to the authority of the sovereign and the protectorate’s propaganda. Grace was probably under heavy mental refreshment, locking her past behind sweet smelling gas and a fuzzy feeling of compliance.
Sally is stressing of course, hearing whispers and claims on the wireless that there’s a certain once-order-scientist working diligently for the Protectorate. The commander stumbles upon her, and she can tell this character is an important and interesting one. She asks to tag along, offering her knowledge on both Auntie’s Choice and The Order, probably giving you buffs and mods as you gather her ingredients.
She’ll spill soon enough, especially if you stroke her ego and fan her worries of Grace. She’ll talk about their past, their rift experiments, The Order’s history with said rifts, and she’ll also have words for Marisol of course… she’d deathly afraid of her.
You’ll get word of a big influx of rifts on some nowhere planet in the system, Sally will hurry you along, eager and nervous to see her ‘friend’ again. Once you land you’ll feel the pull and headache of the rifts, Grace is seen, about to step into one of these rifts to test some new experiments of hers.
Sally rushes past the Commander, stumbling as her left claw digs into the ground to push her forward, grabbing Grace with her monstrous appendage and tugs her backward, away from the rift.
Grace shoves Sally away, a look of confusion and an undercurrent of fury, glaring at Sally. Sally raises her hands up in retaliation, looking a bit annoyed herself at Grace’s reaction to seeing her again.
The two bicker, Marisol chuckling quietly as they do, but the look in Grace’s eye… it’s like she doesn’t even know who Sally is. Sally’s realization of this fact makes her stomach drop, her clawed hand snatching Grace’s face and looking into those eyes… much to Grace’s discomfort.
More name calling, Grace calling Sally and uncouth beast, noting her looks, her temper, her unprofessionalism. She’s acting more like an animal than a renounced scientist.
Raptidon blood does run through Sally’s veins, and the more Grace’s outrageous claims pelt her ears the more she wouldn’t mind throwing her into the rift. The Commander and Marisol would urge her to calm down, Marisol using her authority to pull Sally out of her rage. Sally lets go, angry, confused, heartbroken. She turns away, head down, claw clenched as she drags herself back to the ship, letting The Commander and Marisol take care of Grace instead.
You’d need a high Speech level/and or Marisol to stop Sally from killing Grace. The Commander can convince Grace to come back with them, taking them into the ship as another sort of companion. You’d have to figure out how to reverse the mental refreshment she went through and reunite Grace and Sally again.
Okay that’s it I’m gonna go play baldi gate bye
