OC thoughts. Was talking about this already on discord but putting it here so i dont lose it, and making it more coherent.
As a human, Heartbeat's hair is going to grow. It's dyed purple but comes in as very dark brown, almost black. She frets about it. Minorly at first. Metron doesn't see what the fuss is about. Hair grows, things change, nothing is permanent. But from Heartbeat's perspective, it's a marked reminder that she's losing the version of herself she doesnt even know. Who she was prior to the abduction is still a mystery, but she wants to hold onto her past self. She wants to know her, find her. Save her.
She knows its silly, so she doesnt mention further feelings on it to Metron, but it's all she sees as the roots come in.
And then during one of their adventures, something happens which causes her hair to get caught. Metron cuts it immediately despite Heartbeat yelling and pleading for him not to. But there's no time for discussion because she's in imminent danger from this. Sure he could find an alternative, but why bother when the simplest solution is so often the best, and that would be to cut her hair and free her. So he does. She's devastated. He thinks she's being rather immature.
Now free, they find their way home, and Heartbeat becomes very reserved. She's full of grief, and her closest companion makes her feel like everything she's feeling is unjustified. Invalid. They have it out and she tries so hard to explain why this matters, but Metron's stubborn and flippant about it. One of the things that bothers Heartbeat most is not being understood, and so she flounders against that on top of feeling like whoever she was before is now totally gone.
And so I think this will lead into the events that send her back. They will encounter some alien race (the prometheans perhaps)? She will be sent beyond the Source Wall, which Metron hates but is also very eager about, she finds out through that experience that he's known her past nearly the whole time, they argue, the beings give her the opportunity to return to who she was, she tries one more time to talk to metron bc she hopes he will tell her to stay, and he wont. So she goes. I've talked about this before but neither of them realize until the moment its been set into motion that she will have all memories after her abduction erased. So in the split second (the heartbeat if you will) before it happens, she regrets the decision. She realizes she would not want to trade all that shes done and become for the long lost person she was. Its heartbreaking. And in that same moment Metron has a realization as well. He doesnt actually want her to go.
It goes from there, but this is good to fill in some of the gaps and show how Heartbeat feels. She's stuck on this idea, this concept, that she must save past her because if she isn't saved, then did she even matter at all? And does the person she is now matter? If youve ever thought back on different eras of your life and wished you could tell past you that youre going to be okay, that you have worth, that youre loved, then you know how Heartbeat feels. If she doesnt keep past her in her heart, who will?
