Chapter Text
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The (rather-small in hindsight) clock chimed slowly but surely. Eager to finish the day of watching over patients.
Salt was more than ready to end her day with a nice steaming cup of whatever came out of the "cawfee" machine. Whatever the heck that thing did wasn't her problem. So she will NOT ask.
She hadn't really seen Pepper today. Or anyone else, not even Fan was around. He was recently discharged anyway, actually, he was released this morning. God that heart-monitor was annoyingly loud, but effective nonetheless.
Everything felt fine. Everything was fine. Everything's fine.
She was bored.
She got out of the chair to spread her legs, taking a walk out of the hospital. She was sure nobody needed her anyway. It wasn't very late in the morning, so nobody was doing a "challenge". Jack's limb situation... had used up most of her equipment. Thanks Jack.
That stupid playing card. Ruining his perfectly okay limbs just to be better in something that wasn't even a competition...
Whatever, she has better worries.
Such as realizing where she had been walking. The area around her was more silver and grey, like a lab. Surely nothing bad could go wrong. It's just a room she hasn't really been in.
She bumped her side into something as she walked by, pushing something up in the process.
The device began to whir. Fast.
Faster every second.
The next second she blinked, she felt herself drift asleep.
------------INANIMATE ISLAND: NURSE'S QUARTERS--------- DAY ONE
Salt woke up on her own bed, "What a strange dream." She mumbled to herself. Though, it certainly felt longer than most dreams. She slowly got up-
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP...
..Okay, someone forgot to unplug the god damned monitor. It shouldn't even be connected anymore, Fan is.. Fan... Is in the hospital bed. Oh, right! that must've been a dream! Whatever.
"Okaay, Fan darling. It looks as if your injuries have healed enough to be considered 'Fine-ish' enough to go out there." Salt spoke out to Fan, the same way she did in what she thought was just a dream.
She unhooked Fan from the IV and Heart Monitor, letting him leap out of bed. "Ow." Clumsy idiot.
He left the building quite fast, stumbling on..
The same furniture he tripped on in the dream?
No, that's just a fancy coincidence.
Everyone trips on some type of furniture in their life. Just the rules.
She ignored this.
She left the hospital building, going to get her daily dose of restaurant food. She might even say hello to Pepper, pester her a little.
On her way, she encountered the smaller Butterfly shaped Robot. Bot, which was even.. More like her dream.
She felt as if she knew the next words to come out of their mouth
"Hey! Salt, um. Do you know if Fan's out yet? I overslept!"
"Yyyes! He just got out, r-right over there. I think!"
Bot thanked her, then leapt with their extendable legs.
Just like the... NOPE-NOPE-NOPE! Not going to do this. Not a chance. It was just a dream, that thing she bumped into wasn't real. She didn't enter a lab and screw with time. That's not her!
She sped-walk to Reality Restaurant. She didn't even care to look where she was going the second she made a reservation, she sat down at her table and tried her best to remain still. She wouldn't talk, peer over or gossip right now.
--------------
"Heck's wrong with Miss-Sodium over here?" Teddy nudged Tea-Kettle, whom she had decided to have 'therapy' with today.
"I dunno, might be going through something. The surgery on Jack must've took quite a toll on her. I don't blame her." TK drank from a Tea-Cup (Ironic, right?)
A few seconds later, Nickel came around with the food they ordered. Carrying it on his head like he always does.
"Kay, so. We got... the 'Trophy-Special' and whatever the second thing was. It's a stupid name and I'm not saying it." He tilted his head down, letting the plate slip onto the table. The Trophy-special was surprisingly not too burnt. But still a mess. The second item... ... Even i, the writer cannot describe... THAT.
Though Salt tried her best to block out noise, she couldn't stop knowing that. In the dream, someone got sad? That's all she really knew.
A few minutes later, everything started to calm down a little. she missed something, but she did not care for it right now. She didn't even order anything.
She was going to see Pepper for once. She didn't do that last time, she was stuck in the hospital being lazy.
She got up and out of the restaurant, passing a.. Sad-looking Balloon. Looked like he had a letter and flower in his hand, not important.
Pepper typically hung out with her just outside the Hospital, Jeez. Could've saved lots of time had she just stuck at the hospital.
A little bit of walking later and there she was, having just parted ways with Magnet. No doubt some sort of gossip, seemed fun. She immediately wished she was there during it.
She waved to pepper, perhaps she can get these weird deja-vu moments out of her brain with her!
"Hey Pepps!!!!"
"Salty-Salt!!!" She flung herself to Salt like a Magnet and a piece of metal
The two collided, giggling to each-other.
"Sooo, Been having a weird day. You?"
"Omigosh, same! Lightbulb was rambling on about some 'Mystical-Pirate-Coil' guy. Couldn't even BEGIN to understand what she was on about. What's goin on with your life?" Pepper held Salt's hand as the two sat down together behind the hospital.
Salt rubbed her base, soothing an imaginary headache. "Yeah, so. I had this dream, yeah? And like... Gosh, it felt real. I did a lot of the things i already did today, but then i bumped into some sort of thing in a lab. Then i woke up. And now those things just sorta happened, which was really weird."
Pepper definitely seemed a little more than confused.
"Well, that's that. i guess. Probably just a today thing. wanna throw water-balloons at Silver-Spoon?"
"Yes."
------------------ A little bit later. ---------------------
She waved goodbye to Pepper, who had been needed for something. She wouldn't say what, so it wasn't her issue as much as she wanted it to be.
What a nice day, it wasn't even that late. Barely reached sundown. This was where she would've ended up leaving the hospital during that dream, but she was far from that lab anyway. Likely didn't exist.
She took a second to relax and lie down on the grass.
And shut her eyes...
Slowly...
Until
------------INANIMATE ISLAND: NURSE'S QUARTERS--------- DAY TWO
Salt woke up on her own bed, wasn't she outside on the grass? Wow, someone cared enough to put her back in bed. With the same exact stuff she had in the exact same orientations on her desk. How thoughtful.
She got up out of-
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
...That should be unplugged. Fan was gone by now. Did someone pull a prank on her? She went to check the monitor only to see..
Fan. Back in bed. Hooked up to the hospital bed. Was he injured AGAIN? No, she checked right away. He had only just woken up too.
"Uh- Fan. Dear? when were you put back in here?" She tapped Fan on the paper a little.
Fan was baffled. "Back? I've been in here for a week. When am i getting out?"
"Well, you can be out now. I definitely got you out before, just go. I don't have time for this today." She unhooked Fan from the hospital bed, watching him
Trip over
The Same
Furniture
As Before.
She could've sworn her heart tripped too.
She slowly made her way OUT of the hospital. Encountering a slightly exhausted Bot.
"Hey! Salt, um. Do you know if Fan's out yet? I overslept!"
Salt took longer to respond.
"Oh-Y-yes! He just went out. Do you know why he-"
"OKAY THANKS!" Bot leapt before she could ask questions.
Mentally, she thought to herself.... WHAT?!
What, is this some big prank??? is this Magnets fault? It better be!
She stumbled over to Reality restaurant, in dire need of some calming down and an actual drink.
She made her reservation with Taco and sat down. It was even the same available seat as yesterday. She planted as much as her face down on the table as she could, even though her object shape wasn't making it easy.
She overheard Nickel say
"Kay, so. We got... the 'Trophy-Special' and whatever the second thing was. It's a stupid-"
NOPE! She plugged her ears this time. This can't be happening to her. Not right now. Not today.
She didn't bother to order anything again, she stormed out. Passing Balloon reciting things to himself.
"O-Oh! Salt! Could you..-"
She ignored him.
"-..Help me with this thing i wanna tell... Ugh. whatever. I can do it myself. Welp, note number 7 it is..."
---------LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL----------
She arrived a lot earlier than she did before, so Magnet was still talking with Pepper. As much as Salt hated to admit it, she had an understanding of these situations. Thanks to the times she spent with Fan figuring out why she was so afraid of Crabs again.
Salt planted herself down next to the two, too tired to do much else.
"Oh, Hey! Salt. We were just talking about what Lightbulb told us-"
"yeah, Mystical Pirate. Whatever." She interrupted Magnet.
Pepper's face turned to one of concern very fast. "Uh. Salty? You okay?"
Salt didn't respond much.
"I.. I don't know. Things just happened today. Type of stuff Fan would read."
"Well, anyway. The two of us were just..." She rambled on and on, seemed like Magnet was sticking around this time.
Time-Loops. she's smart enough to know what this means. They think a time-loop can scare a girl like HER? HELL NO! She is SO going to beat this!
She fell asleep, leaning against Pepper as they conversed.
She has SOOOO GOT THIS.
------------INANIMATE ISLAND: NURSE'S QUARTERS--------- DAY THREE
She leapt out of bed this time, unhooking Fan from the hospital bed without even telling him what was going on.
"HI-YES-YOU-CAN-GO-NOW-HAVE-FUN-WITH-YOUR-GIRLFRIEND-AND-OR-WIFE-BYE!"
Having only just woken up, Fan stumbled forward. Bot managed to bump into him first.
Good, that was dealt with. She didn't really watch the 'ground-hog' day movie, mostly because they had humans and all. But she understood the concept of getting the day right.
What was supposed to go right today?
She sped-walk out of the hospital, with over 40 people on the island. This would definitely take a while. She hadn't really done much today to know most of what was going on on the island. Time to fix that.
she mentally noted to NOT mess with Paper and OJ, she understood the two are actually together.
Now...
What to make go right first?
Her life was already going right, so not her. Pepper.. pretty sure she was fine too. Magnet? Eh, figure that out later.
She headed to the reality restaurant, maybe she would actually order something instead of just leaving. Having gotten there slower, she realized... Balloon was outside, writing something on a piece of paper furiously. He looked real nervous. Balloon was a poet, so it must be important.
And important must mean 'help-and-you-can-escape-the-loop!'
She waltzed up to Balloon, "Heyy!! Balloon. Darling, whatcha doing?"
Balloon took a breath of relief, Salt was someone he actually WANTED help from.
"Oh, thank whoever-isn't-mephone. I need your help with-With a little something. Y'know, cus you are kinda the expert in these things. right?"
"Depends on what it is, what do you want my help with?"
Balloon handed over the note to Salt.
"it's... For someone important i like. I-Its not exactly a LOVE letter, but it kinda is. Just need you to proof-read it and.. Um.."
Salt looked closer. The note read: "Dearest-" she couldn't believe who's name popped up next to the word 'Dearest'.
She continued reading it for real: "Dearest Nickel. This is number 8 of my attempts to write this thing. Previous attempts have been (Part of the word was scribbled out) I shall just say what i wish to say, i think you are really cool. Cool and better than you think i mean. I guess i sorta like-like you. Sincerely, Balloon."
Salt shed a tear from reading this, it was so beautiful... If not for the fact it were for NICKEL of all people. Wasn't he kinda a $!$($? Whateve's.
"Kay. It's pretty good, it seems alright to me. Just say what you gotta say, hope it goes well!"
"Oh, thank you. Salt. Hopefully it does go well this time and i don't just freeze like the other attempts of this.. Heh."
She pat him on the back (as in the back of balloon, because they are objects), watching as he fearfully entered the restaurant. She could only hope that part goes well because its only an hour until the loop restarts. At-least the guy in the movie had a DAY. she has an HOUR! That was so unfair.
She knew that was the balloon situation done. Hopefully, what else could she "fix"?
She eyed another duo in the Reality Restaurant. Mexican food and the extremely loud person with issues.