Simon's an amputee with PTSD after a really bad underwater welding incident, which has left him very unemployable and very angry
He's also currently on house arrest awaiting trial for the, uh, filament station (offshore oil rig in this au) 'incident', which he may or may not be somewhat responsible for the deaths of a few people.
His service dog, Ellie, (who looks like a mix between lida bida boda butt and a great dane) needs a dog walker!
Enter Grace, recently disgraced molecular biologist who needs some form of income while his police check goes through so he can apply for teaching jobs. It's taking a worryingly long time, which is entirely his fault. He did threaten people. To their faces.
He chooses dogwalking as his gig. He's never wanted to own a dog for himself, as he much prefers cats, but he needs the money and this seemed easy enough. He also doesn't have a car so doordashing is out of the question.
Ellie is a nightmare ankle biter with every human except Simon, but LOVES other dogs
Simon is very cagey with his personal life. He fears that nobody could ever see him as anything other than the butcher he sees himself as. He's almost thankful for the disfigurement, at least his outsides match his insides now.
Grace doesn't know anything about him, but through their brief interactions every day, can glean that he is very depressed.
One day, while handing over a small bag of groceries Grace picked up for Simon on his way home, Grace catches a glimpse of Simon's face. One eye completely white, scars across his face, left arm amputated almost to the shoulder. Whatever this man has been through, Grace wants to help. He wants to understand him.
