Chapter Text
“Okay 37, with madam Z’s help, we managed to secure you a lab all for yourself in Laplace since the way you work is different from everyone else. You are free to come and go as you please, there will be no restrictions on you, don’t worry.”
Vertin was showing 37 around the lab that the foundation approved for 37’s personal use. It was kind of sparse in everything else aside from a few pieces of equipment, but 37 was already happy with it.
“Thank you, Vertin.”
Vertin’s suitcase was really nice and spacious, all the people there were all kind to her, but it lacked anything for her to do at all. Beside getting into fights with Regulus, she only spent her time reading the books in the main room.
She was already off the island. She should have learned more about the world of matter, but anytimes she read stories with heartwarming reunions, she started missing her home. She put down the books after that.
37 ran her hand over the pristine white equipment, and looked over at the round table at the corner of the room. This was just like Apeiron, but it also was not at the same time. Maybe she felt a little homesick.
Thump thump, and the door bursted open. There came in Regulus with a package of drinks in her hands, they were Dr. Pappers.
“To celebrate, this cool captain had brought us Dr. Pappers and 37 here can learn the greatness of this captain’s favorite drink.”
Regulus tossed 2 cans toward Vertin and 37 and took another one for herself, putting down the leftovers as she walked toward them.
“What is with the fancy-schmancy equipment here? If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Laplace has favoritism toward 37.”
37 clutched the can in her hand, she never had something like this before. She looked up, both of them had an easy smile on their face.
She placed her finger into the tab and pulled it open. A consecutive round of clicks broke through the silence of the room. Regulus laughed and raised her can up.
“Cheers to 37 officially joining Laplace.”
Cheers to a new home. Cheers to a new era.
-x-
No one told Regulus that working at Laplace meant dealing with weirdos on a regular basis, but at least she had made peace with it for now.
Unfortunately this peace was broken when 37 officially joined Laplace officially. Little miss numbers really had her fun biting Regulus all over the place whenever they disagreed on anything.
Her poor cheeks, thankfully her favorite lady Sotheby made some potions for her or else she would have walked around with masks all day to hide the bite marks.
“Captain, what is on the agenda today?”
APPLe floated up from his position on the table to the side of Regulus’s face. They were still in Vertin’s suitcase and since they didn’t have any mission right now, Vertin told them to do whatever while she talked to the foundation regarding any new mission.
Regulus continued humming a tune. She got an invitation from X to test out one of his new inventions in Laplace, but first off, he didn’t specify what it was! She could be putting her life in danger here. Secondly! 37 was glued tight to Laplace and she didn’t want to run into little miss number before her skin healed properly!
“Should we go to see X and his trinkets?” Regulus posed the question to APPLe even though she knew the answer already.
“Hmm, in this apple’s opinion, I think we should go visit Laplace if the captain had nothing planned today. The place had been busy since the discovery of the Hofmann Knot and this apple is curious on what else they had find ”
Regulus drummed her fingers against the table then shot up to her feet. What is the worst that could happen?
-x-
A lot could happen as the pirate found out. X brought a large fish tank out and tried to force Regulus into a diving suit, too bad she was always good at fighting back and now the place was flooded and everything was wet after she hit the glass of the tank, breaking it in the process.
X was cleaning up the place with Laplace staff, APPLe decided to help too. Since there was nothing to do, she walked around the place trying to cure her boredom.
Talk about her luck because before she even walked 10 steps into the hallway, 37 appeared out of nowhere and dragged her to her newly acquired lab thanks to madam Z.
How did 37 even come to like her this much anyway?
-x-
37 seemed to be adjusting well with the Laplace people from what Regulus seemed. John Titor and she had been communicating in only numbers about who knows what.
Mesmer Jr. had been tasked with checking up on little miss number’s health on a weekly basis, they seemed to be getting along. At least Mesmer hadn’t filed any complaints against 37 yet.
The biggest change to 37 would be that she now seeked out Regulus regularly. The pirate really didn’t know why! Did going into that cave somehow made her like an irrational number?!
Surely that couldn’t be true, she saw 37 and Medicine Pocket biting each other when they got into a heated argument about the storm. With her limited knowledge about Apeiron and its rules, she was sure Medicine Pocket was also an irrational number.
“Regulus!”
Speak of the devil, 37 appeared right in front of her, holding a math equation. Regulus contemplated using her arcane skill and running away, but before she could even entertain that thought for more than a second, APPLe was already engaging in a conversation about geometry with 37.
37 seemed to really like APPLe, she never bit him. Although Regulus didn’t want to entertain the possibility of her biting him and what would happen to his… apple body.
She resigned to her fate and got up from the floor she was lying on.
Regulus left Laplace with another bite mark to her cheek.
-x-
“Vertin, what do you think of 37?”
Regulus posed the question to the timekeeper. They were in the lobby of the suitcase right now with Sotheby and Druvis. The two ladies were having a discussion over tea while Vertin was picking out a book to read. APPLe was off napping in his room.
“37? Hmm, I think she has a really bright mind. Strong and courageous even if she didn’t know it herself. What prompted this question, Regulus?”
Regulus was messing with the radio when Vertin was answering. When the question came back to her, the tune in the lobby suddenly stopped and Regulus let out a sigh.
“What’s the matter, Regulus?” Sotheby chimed in and now the attention of the entire room's occupants focused on the annoyed DJ.
“I… I just feel confused by her? She keeps coming to me and afterward, she would always bite me and get into arguments with me. Just ask Sotheby, I have asked her for too many healing potions. I don’t know what that weirdo is thinking and I don’t like it.” Regulus ran her fingers through her hair, ruffling them into a mess in the process.
“Since coming off the island, she would only be familiar with you, Vertin, Sonetto, and Lilya. Vertin and Sonetto always had something to do for the foundation and Lilya had been called back to Zeno for the time being. I heard you both had some disagreements, but you guys are friends now.”
Druvis shared her thoughts after the room got too quiet. Regulus didn’t say anything back, but she kept going ‘Hm’ in an increasingly loud voice that everyone could hear.
Just in time, Sonetto walked into the lobby. Regulus was gone in the blink of an eye and was clinging to Sonetto’s arm, clearly she didn’t accept Druvis’s suggestion.
“My lovely Sonetto, please help this poor pirate out.”
Sonetto looked toward Vertin and the timekeeper started explaining to Sonetto. Sonetto was quiet for some time before looking back at Regulus.
“But why are you so bothered by her behavior, Regulus? I think that you must like her back or else you wouldn’t indulge in her whims like this.”
Regulus could hear the giggles from Vertin and Druvis, her face felt hot.
“All of you are not helpful at all, especially you, Sonetto.” Having said that, Regulus rushed out of the lobby back to her room.
Sonetto stared at the retreating figure in confusion. “Did I say something wrong, timekeeper?”
Vertin shook her head and chuckled, “No, you didn’t. The little pirate just had something to sort out.” It seemed like Sonetto’s unintentional wording caused Regulus to figure out what all of them knew all along.
-x-
Curses, did Sonetto really just say that Regulus liked 37 in that way? What did she know about any of this anyway?
Stomping her feets on the ground, she reached her room and was jumpscared by the head of blue in front of her.
“Regulus! You are back, I have some questions to ask you.”
Curse her shitty luck, what is this? Why is the subject of her confusion right here? Sonetto had to say that and now it was messing with her head. Also, she wasn’t ready for another unavoidable bite to her poor cheek.
“Ahh, sorry 37. I have to do some tuning for my music today. I can’t help you with your research right now.” Regulus tried to lie and it was making her feel really guilty for some reasons, but it must be done. She really didn’t have anything to do today, but 37 didn’t need to know that.
37 laid her chin on her hand before the stars in her eyes lit up again. Jesus, even Regulus’s sunglasses didn’t help shield her eyes from the brightness of it all.
“The nurse lady told me that some rest would be good and listening to music is supposed to be relaxing. I got it! I’ll listen to your music, Regulus.”
Having nothing to retort 37, the DJ accepted her defeat and let out a sigh. She had been sighing a lot lately and it was all due to the person in front of her.
“Fine, but you can’t interrupt me when I’m working, okay?”
37 nodded eagerly and followed Regulus to the corner of the room where her music instruments were kept. 37 made herself comfortable on her bed. Regulus threw what those fools said to the back of her mind and turned on all of her equipment. She pulled out some of the records she kept in her bag and put down her sunglasses on the table.
She was about to plug in her headphones in consideration for her neighbors, but realized 37 won’t be able to hear that way, she didn’t have a second set laying around. APPLe usually shared the headphone with her. Beside that, her monitor only had 1 headphone plug.
“Get ready for the best music you have never heard of before because I’m going to show you the beauty of music from the outside world.” Having said that, music started blasting out of the speakers. It was a tune Regulus was all familiar with, hopefully 37 won’t know anything about music and not notice that she was pressing buttons that were doing nothing.
She looked back at 37 who had her eyes closed and was nodding her head to the beats of the music. Well so much for her acting, Regulus looked back at the machine and started singing the lyrics.
The sound of humming filled the room as well, a harmony formed between them. Swaying back and forth, they immersed themselves into the song. When the last tune faded away, they heard the incessant knocking on the door.
Regulus got up and opened the door to see Sonetto with Vertin behind her, a rare sight indeed. Well it made sense, Vertin never bothered knocking.
“Uh Regulus, can you turn down the volume a bit? We could hear you all the way in the lobby.”
Sonetto asked, then Vertin put her head on her shoulder, looking into the room. The timekeeper saw 37 in the room, staring back at them and a bright idea popped into her head.
“Hello, Vertin and Sonetto.” 37 happily waved to them. Vertin returned the gesture, and a sly smile appeared on her face. She should help her friends out a bit.
“T-timekeeper, Wha–” Sonetto flushed from the gesture and before she could ask, Vertin interrupted her. “You do not have a second pair of headphones, correct? I do have a wired headphone with me you can borrow.”
The timekeeper pulled out a pair of wired earbuds from her pocket and pushed it into Regulus’s hand.
“Okay, have fun you two. We need to go now.” Vertin held Sonetto’s hand and pulled her in the direction of the lobby. She knew having those earbuds around would be helpful.
They disappeared down the hallway before Regulus could even protest. She looked down at her hand and closed the door, walking back to 37. What is up with Vertin’s weird smile anyway?
“Well, since we can’t blast music out loud anymore, we have to make do with this headphone.” 37 nodded eagerly, she had never seen any of these things before. Apeiron didn’t really have anything that didn’t help with their research for the emanation and so no music instruments as well.
“You should tell me about how these technologies work, I am very curious about their inner workings.”
The DJ made some noise close to a confirmation behind the speaker as she switched her wires around. Once she got it working, she popped out from the speaker and looked at 37 sitting on her bed. She walked toward the bed and told 37 to get up. She pulled the comforter out and dragged it to where her radio was with no help from 37 whatsoever.
“Geez, thank for the help, 37.” Regulus huffed, but there was no bite to her words.
“You didn’t ask for any, Regulus.” Little miss number over was being a smarty pants again with her retort, like hell Regulus liked her, she didn’t know what those fools were talking about.
“Come sit here before I stop being nice and kick you out.” Regulus plopped down on the comforter she put on the floor, patting down the space next to her for 37 to join her.
37 giggled happily and sat down, shoulders brushing each other. Regulus handed one of the buds to 37, she put it in and waited for the DJ to do her magic.
Regulus didn’t feel like blasting rock ‘n’ roll today, she put on a calmer tune and started humming along. Regulus turned to her side and looked at 37 for her reaction.
37 was looking out of the window, watching the raindrop patter across the open area. She had a small smile on her face. Being so close, Regulus could see the finer details on her face like her very long eyelashes, her big eyes that always seemed to be sparkling no matter what, her blue hair that shone brilliantly under the sunlight. God, 37 was beautiful.
They were right, she really was the star of Hermes. Her bright mind and curious soul that withstood the storm. Regulus smiled unconsciously at the thought.
37 sensed Regulus’s stare and looked back at Regulus’s eyes, her smile widened into her usual one. They were so close to each other. Feeling like she got caught doing something she shouldn’t, Regulus turned back toward the window in front. She could feel her face being hot again and this time, her sunglasses were not here to hide it from 37’s sight. Thankfully, the little star didn’t say anything and went back to her sightseeing.
Regulus was beating herself up in the head, what was she thinking?!? Fool, why was she thinking about how pretty 37 is? Anyone with eyes could see that and why did she get flustered when 37 stared back?!? Truly, what Sonetto said was messing with her head, she needed to give her a good scolding later.
It went on for a few songs with no words exchanged between them until Regulus felt a weight on her shoulder. It seemed like 37 had fallen asleep now. She tried to stay as still as possible while pulling the comforter around 37 to keep her comfortable.
“Sleep well, little weirdo.”
The music served as a nice backdrop with the sound of rain. Regulus was feeling sleepy too. Maybe just a little nap would be fine.