you're doing your best. it's all anyone can do. ryland and simon.
LOADING FILE . . . : / / prompt. [ status : 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. ]
↳ @bynoctus
life on erid is still taking some getting used to, or rather, life upon the minuscule sliver of the planet that had been fashioned into a terrarium for him and grace to be able to breathe and exist within. a part of simon could hardly believe that he was even still alive after everything he had endured beneath the crimson waves on the moon AT-5, while the majority of him felt that this was another merciless facade imbued with false hope spearheaded by the blood eel in her attempt to lure him to his demise. he awaits the day that he'll look out onto the artificial beach lapping at their feet and the waters will be red, and the crystalline dome over their heads will confine him back into the unfeeling metal of the lung —–- but it never does.
constantly is he barraged with assurances from both grace and rocky that he is well away from the horrors beyond all comprehension that had dug its hooks far deeper than just his flesh, and while appreciative of their seemingly genuine levels of compassion, it is just unfortunate circumstance that morphed him into a caged animal who does not realize the gate is now open. simon had overheard grace and rocky conversing about it once after he had awoken from a brief rest and lingered unseen down the hallway to listen, how rocky couldn't understand why simon behaved in the way that he did, so unlike grace, so guarded and fearful, and how grace attempted to explain the disorder brought about from enduring a traumatic event.
a shard of guilt pierces through him over the genuine concern the little eridian harbors for him, sensing rocky's discomfort over the latest member of their now trio being in such distress and being unable to fix it in a way that matters. unfortunately, this level of healing was something only simon could do and only him alone. he wants to get better, wants for grace and rocky to no longer look at him as if he were a piece of glass just waiting to shatter so they could quickly pick up the pieces, but it's not something that is fixed so easily. this was a wound, a breach in the hull of his brain, that disturbed the synapse waves of his mentation and altered them in a way that will take possibly years to untangle and rewire.
ryland's hand is warm against his shoulder, grounding in a way that catches him by surprise, keeping him tethered to the shoreline rather than slipping beneath the surface of his thoughts and into darker depths. simon does not manage a smile for his friend, the movement of muscles still too foreign to him, only heaves a sigh in frustration. ❝ it's not enough. ❞ the sentiment comes out bitter, discouraged by his own lack of progress, but the hand against his shoulder keeps the ire threatening to overtake him again at bay, grace ever a light shining throughout all the darkness clouding in his head. shoulders slump not necessarily in defeat, but it acceptance of grace's words of encouragement to alter his words so that hope can rewrite the damaged code in his brain. ❝ but i'm trying. ❞