Chapter Text
A quiet yet homely room.
Most of the colours a muted shade of red or grey, with a lot of the room being taken up by a dedicated computer setup and workbench.
A whole wall lined with clocks, some running and some inactive. None of which ticking loudly - if anything, it’s better to keep ‘em silent.
Dim lighting, a silent atmosphere…
And a girl donning an oversized T-shirt holed up like an idiot. Well, it was 12:30am, what do you expect?
Either way, she couldn’t get any rest.
“This… isn’t really new,” she thought. “I usually pass out around now, but the head… the head isn’t doing it.”
Sitting up with a sigh, the blankets she was bundled up in fell away from her body. Then, idly tapping at her helmet, she kept talking to herself.
“C’mon… get tired already, you- huh?”
A certain spot caught Jerri’s attention.
Felt… wrong. She could usually tell how, but not this time.
Just wrong.
Following a sharp breath, she had pulled off her helmet and looked it over with her good eye. Sure enough, one side of it had developed a sort of crack.
Now, see, that wasn’t a tremendous problem. Jerri had welded and mended her helmet too many times to count by now, to the point of it becoming almost second nature.
But now, and so late at night…
Something about that didn’t click right with her head.
She huffed silently before getting out of bed, putting her helmet down onto her workbench area. After that, she had just slumped back into bed with a frustrated groan.
“This isn’t even a PROBLEM,” she thought. “You have the time to fix it, the knowledge to fix it, but nope.” She glanced down at her hands.
“You just have to do this, huh.”
…
Damn it. This was going to get her pillow all dampened again.
It was just a… habit, she thought. Like-
[Knock knock.]
Ugh.
“I-I, uh… now’s not a good time!”
With a panicked tone, Jerri had hopped back up and pressed her back against the door. She didn’t even know who this was, yet she was just as panicky as prior.
But the kind of response she’d have for each of ‘em… Decent, bad, awful and who-even knows.
“Look, you’re probably just sleepwalking or… something! Can’t really come out and help, so, uh… you’re on your own!”
“...you sound as if you’ve been crying.”
Oh dear.
Count that as the awful response.
“Pssht, c’m- c’mon! At 12:30? Who cries at THAT time of night?! It’s not a designated crying time! That nine times out of ten isn’t a thing people do. Right?”
An awkward pause followed, then being broken by a soft sigh from outside.
“...look. I’d like to come in and investigate.”
“You, uh… you really don’t have to-”
She couldn’t so much as stumble away from her door in surprise when it opened from behind her, a pair of eyes (literally) sneaking through the narrow gap.
Thus meeting Jerri in her helmet-less form.
…
Was she going to start crying again? Just because of that?
It’s just one change.
ONE change.
Normal people don’t cry to themselves at 12:30 in the night because of something they never expected! Something they know can be fixed!
Was that why she couldn’t sleep? Why does her body know everything is wrong before her head does?!
Why on earth was she having this kind of breakdown NOW of all times, anyway? Does time travel accumulate a karma she never read up about?!
And she isn’t WEIRD without that helmet or whatever! Just looks different! Sure, it made her feel safe and cool whenever she wore it, but she can live without that! Normal people can!
She- She was normal, right?!
…
What?
What just happened? She was still crying, but…
“You were hyperventilating.”
“What… what the hell did you do?”
“I doubt you fully registered it,” MM’s tone was as dull and quiet as usual. “But I was assisting you through some breathing exercises to help get yourself back on track.”
“I...thanks? I- I guess.”
Well, it did work, whatever he did. Now that Jerri actually thought, things did feel a bit suffocate-y when she was spiralling just now.
Though she found herself glancing back at her helmet, with MM’s gaze following hers.
“...something’s wrong with that helmet, is it?”
“Not… not totally,” she murmured while sitting back down. “I can fix that up easily. Just…”
“Bad timing?”
“...I guess that’s the word, yeah.”
Bad timing. HAD to be bad timing… 12:30 isn’t the ideal kind of ‘bad timing’ at all.
“I always, uh… freak out when that thing gets damaged.”
“Why, exactly?”
A sigh. “Never worked that out. I just feel… don’t know, safe when I wear that thing. I know it’s a sturdy piece of work, and little scratches like this won’t be the end of it. But I just LOOK at it being outta whack, and…”
She trailed off, curling in on herself somewhat. “I just want to fix it and go to sleep. Damn it…”
After hovering over to it, MM had shut her room’s door. It was dark enough that he didn’t need to dim any lights, which saved him some effort.
“Well… Do you feel as if you can’t sleep until your helmet is fixed?”
“That sounds about right, I think.”
“Then I say you should get that over with. Not wise to suggest you just sleep when this is bothering you.”
After nodding, Jerri had just gotten up and stretched out. MM had kept his distance as she silently worked on her helmet’s repair work.
Part of him theorised she wasn’t usually silent during all this.
Either way, after about twenty minutes..:
“...there. That’s that done.”
That minor crack had been fixed, basically unrecognisable amidst a few other stray bumps and scratches. She was satisfied, anyway.
So moving back to her bed, she just immediately bundled herself up in those blankets again. “Whew… Better.”
“That’s good to know. Will you be okay in terms of getting rest?”
“Should be? I know you mess with that kinda stuff, but can you…” She exhaled in frustration. “...help? Not in the way I know you usually do it, just-”
“Perhaps.” MM had moved down onto some of her blankets. “I mean, it’s good we haven’t made direct eye contact when my eyes are all silvery like this. That’s when my usual powers are their strongest.”
“Seriously? So it’s not just a design choice when you look all… yellow-y and infected?”
“No. Also, you think I look infected like that?”
“Sorta.” A laugh had seeped into her tone. “But, uh… how does that work anyway? I’m kinda feeling like background noise to just shut my head up tonight, y’know?”
MM paused, before nodding. “Well, I picked up on the right way to stare at people in order to grab their attention, but…”
…
Between a blur of waking and sleeping, some quiet thoughts echoed.
‘Strange guy. Didn’t comment on how I looked under that - or how I really freaked out. Then again, I’ve known him for a few months now.’
…
‘Huah… either way, I’m exhausted. So, where was I before all this? Oh yeah, trying to get some sleep. Welp, don’t mind me…’