004: [2nd floor hallway] I tried to be someone else (but nothing seemed to change).

[thecheerleader]

Claire woke up to the sound of her own scream. She pushed herself upright, pulling in deep breaths and taking in her surroundings. It only took her a few seconds to see that she was still in the apartment she shared with Sylar. He was laying in his bed on the opposite side of the room, and she could just barely make out Noah curled up next to him.

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[notanemptymotto]

Helen didn't often sleep at night. Maybe a few hours in the morning, but that was about it. Wandering the hallways with a large book also was something she didn't do often, but she found herself not wanting to sit still. No, it was really something she found herself not wanting to do. Sitting still meant no progress on anything she was working on.

She paused when she saw Claire curled up on the floor. They hadn't met before, but that was something common by this point. She tilted her head slightly and lowered her book.

"Are you alright?" She asked, even if it was obvious she wasn't.

[thecheerleader]

Claire straightened up when she heard a female voice not too far away from her. When she looked up, she saw that it was someone who she didn't recognize. She felt a little silly for getting busted hiding out in the hallway, but at least it wasn't someone who would use it against her. Sylar would have gotten a few laughs out of this, someone who had no idea what she was freaking out over would be more likely to let it go.

"Yeah," she gave her a small nod of confirmation, forcing a smile that couldn't have looked very reassuring. "I needed to get out of the apartment for a little while, but I'm okay. Just having a little trouble sleeping." Or finding trouble in her dreams, but that was close enough.

[notanemptymotto]

"Trouble sleeping... now that is a subject all too well." Helen said and closed the gap between them. The woman was in her early twenties at the most. Although looks could be more than deceiving.

She offered her hand to Claire, willing to help the girl up off the floor if she wanted it. "Dr. Helen Magnus."

[thecheerleader]

Claire took her hand, pulling herself up and then cuffing the sleeves of her sweatshirt up. It was a few sizes too big for her, and she looked down, grumbling when she realized that she'd mistaken one of Sylar's hoodies for one of her own. Personal space was definitely something that she needed a lot more of.

"Thanks." She turned her attention back to Dr. Magnus, managing a more genuine smile this time. At least she wasn't the only one who roamed the halls in the middle of the night. "I'm Claire Bennet. It's nice to meet you."

[notanemptymotto]

"A pleasure, Ms. Bennet." She nodded with a smile. Oh, it'd be only a matter of time before Claire would probably say 'no, just Claire please.' This generation had lost touch of formal manners, and it made Helen shake her head. Things had changed in over a century and a half. More than she'd want to admit.

"That hoodie seems rather large on you." Helen said. "I assume that means it belongs to your roommate."

[thecheerleader]

She sighed, more at the situation than her comment. They needed to make some kind of line in the closet that the other couldn't cross. Maybe it could extend to the whole apartment. Boundaries. Claire wouldn't have minded setting some up. "I grabbed it out of the closet without looking. I'll put it back before he notices." God, she couldn't begin to talk about how badly she didn't want him to notice.

"Do you always wander the halls when you can't sleep?"

[notanemptymotto]

Helen shrugged with a smile. "Not often. Usually I tend to stick to the library or the lobby this late at night. I thought walking would be a bit of a comfortable routine this time around. It seems as if I made the proper choice."

Even if it was large on her and didn't belong to her, Claire did look rather adorable bundled up inside it. "Do you usually sit in the hallway?"

[thecheerleader]

"It depends on how well we're getting along," Claire admitted, offering her a sheepish smile. "Sylar, my roommate, has a son. He's only four years old. I'd rather leave than make him watch a fight." They were getting better about stopping before that point, but she doubted she'd ever be completely comfortable with this arrangement.

"I like space when I'm upset." From Sylar, not from everyone else. Talking to Dr. Magnus was kind of nice. "I woke myself up with a nighmare, ...it felt pretty real to me."

[notanemptymotto]

"Those tend to be the ones that mean the most." She said softly, as if she had experience. Nightmares with John were constant, even with him being in the city now. Perhaps it was because she couldn't truly ever trust John again.

"Sylar is a particular odd name."

[thecheerleader]

She nodded quickly about the nightmare, letting Dr. Magnus move on to an easier, more annoying topic because it was easier than trying to talk about what she had seen. "It's not his name, it's just..a nickname." That he'd probably given himself? That didn't really surprise her. He didn't mention any friends from his old life.

"We knew each other, back in our world. His real name is Gabriel. He'd like it too much if I called him that, so I stick to what I'm used to." The self-satisfied smirk that went along with her words was entirely accidental.

[notanemptymotto]

Helen laughed at that. "At least your roommate is someone from home, Ms. Bennet. I hardly knew mine until I arrived here." Not that Helen didn't like Angela. She just didn't particularly agree with the woman on several things. Which wasn't much of a surprise, after all. Helen hardly agreed with most things people did anymore.

"Although Gabriel is certainly a better name than Sylar."

[thecheerleader]

"I know." Which was why she wasn't going to call him that. "We didn't get along back home. Here...he's lucky his kid is cute," Claire half-joked, pushing her hair back away from her face. She leaned against the wall, next to a small light that helped her get a better look at the woman who she was talking to.

She looked like she was young enough to understand and old enough to let it go if she met Sylar. "I don't think we're supposed to know our roommates. You get who you get. Like college."

[notanemptymotto]

That made her smile. "Hmm, college, that was some years ago for me. The world was completely different then. You certainly didn't live on college, and it took pulling teeth to work my way into it. Women weren't viewed as an intelligent equal to a man in the medical field."

But, she had proven them wrong. Not that Helen had an agenda against it. Her entire purpose for it was to help others, after all. "So then you were a bit of a blip in the statics, getting someone you knew from home."

[thecheerleader]

Claire's eyes widened a little and Dr. Magnus' description of college. The only time she had ever heard of university life being like that was in history books. She couldn't possibly have been that old, so Claire decided that she had probably lived someplace where that was still somehow the norm. It sounded completely unfair to her, and she hated thinking that people still had to live like that. Hopefully, El Dorado was a little different.

"I think there had to be a reason for it. They want us to keep each other in line or...something. Nothing here seems to happen by accident."

[notanemptymotto]

"That is the unsettling bit of it all."

[thecheerleader]

"There's a lot that's unsettling about this place." Why settling on one thing when there was a whole list of issues that Claire was having with the city? If it wasn't her dad and uncle disappearing, then it was nightmares that she doubted were the cause of her own imagination. Someone else was forcing them on her.