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acaiasahi · 1 year

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✶ heart attack ; hwang intak.

synopsis. you and intak just can't get enough of the other's kisses.

info. fluff. hwang intak x gn!reader. 632 words.

warnings. mentions of kissing, physical touch. established relationship. semi-proofread.

[ listening to . . . ] heart attack by chuu.

intak is deeply, and utterly in love with you.

he's so obsessed with everything about you. from the way you smile, to when you send him tiktok's of cats snuggling whilst messaging him that "this is us!". you could breathe and have him doing cartwheels because he's that in love.

but one thing intak loves the most are your soft and sickeningly sweet kisses and how they just love to linger upon his skin.

and as your coffee-colored hair lover stares at you, he can't help but goofily grin at the thought of kissing you. he watches you mindlessly scroll on your phone, barely listening along to the story-time that's taking up all your attention.

"hey," he mutters while leaning his head upon your shoulder. "hi," you whisper back, leaving a fleeting kiss atop his head. he sighs and melts into your touch but is quick to pout after your barely-there attempt of a kiss.

intak huffs a little, annoyed at how you're not giving him your undivided attention and his attempts to get you to focus on him fly completely over your head. he lets out another huff, detaching himself from you before crisscrossing his legs and facing you. he takes your phone out of your hand and tosses it somewhere on the couch.

beginning to sense his motives, you glance at him with a knowing grin. he stares at you for a minute or two, pout disappearing before grasping your hand. he leaves soft pecks upon the back of your hand while maintaining eye contact.

the action only causes your smile to grow wider, and the blush that dusts itself on your cheeks become darker. you scoot closer to him, mirroring the way he sits before closing your eyes and puckering your lips, awaiting your much needed kiss.

intak can't help but sigh dreamily as he plants another smooch, stupidly smiling. and as you pull away, he can't help but chase your lips, his eyes still closed as if your touch lingers.

"can i get another one?" he pleads, entangling both his hands within your own. you raise your eyebrows at his pleading tone, his natural puppy dog eyes reeling you in for more, "please?" he asks again.

you nod excitedly before leaning in for more, soft lips grazing one another. fireworks ignite and boom loudly at the back of your brains, butterflies erupting in your stomachs as you kiss one another slowly.

"love you," he mutters while pulling away, opting to plant soft pecks all over your red face. "i love you so much," he whispers it so only you can hear his sincere words despite it only being you two.

you hide you face in the warm crook of his neck, peppering shy kisses along the soft skin. you hum to acknowledge his words, "i love you more."

intak practically squeals, enveloping you in a bone-crushing hug. a giggle tumbles from your lips as he wraps his arms around your waist before falling backwards on the couch.

you lay atop of him, ear to his chest as you listen to how his heart beats fast. he hums quietly, the vibrations and the sound of his beating heart is comforting, the soft thumps luring you to sleep. but before your heavy lids fully close, you leave one last kiss on his chest, right where his heart is.

he hums yet again, content with your actions. he runs his hand through your hair whilst the other rubs soothingly along your spine. when you snuggle your face further into his neck, intak can't help the warmth filling within his body.

"sleep well, my love. i'll be here when you wake up, okay?" he whispers to you, leaving one last peck on your hairline before his eyelids get heavy just like yours.

★ piwon taglist. @enhacolor ... @seung-scrittore ... @existnesia ... @i-luvsang ... @chelle ... @luvyoonbot

[ 🎧 ] jaydi's notes. this isn't the best but it was able to write smth that i'm semi happy w so a win is a mf win!!! i had my 2nd day at work @ my new job n everyone js saur nice... like all my coworkers r saur kind n i even went to school w one of them so that's cunt!!! anyway, hope u enjoy (intak i lub u) OH AND I USED THE BOOTLEG VER OF HEART ATTACK BC FUCK BBC!!!!!!

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internetskiff · 3 months

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Portal 2's Turret Opera still hits soooo hard as a closing point for Chell and GLaDOS' story dude. Right after a monologue about how after everything they've been through she realizes she's incapable of killing Chell, GLaDOS has actually.. set up a perfect, inescapable death trap. She could've easily had the turrets shoot through the glass, sent the elevator all the way back down to Old Aperture or simply gassed her without letting the elevator even leave her central chamber. She basically had her. She could've obliterated her while she was still out cold from fighting Wheatley, but she doesn't. Instead, she has them perform an opera about walking as far away from science as possible. An opera that's implied to have been rehearsed even before Chell broke out with Wheatley - was she considering doing this long before Chell went out to try and kill her again?? This is very blatantly me steering into headcanon territory, but I like to think this whole room was the "REAL surprise with tragic consequences" GLaDOS spoke of. I imagine this is exactly what she originally planned to do - give her false hope by having her ride an escape elevator only for it to stop right in the middle of a massive turret ambush. She would literally treat Chell like a fish in a barrel. Quick, easy and delightfully painful. Each instance where she escaped was either due to oversight or third party intervention - so she created a situation where none of that is possible. All that would arrive to the surface and see the sun is a bullet-riddled corpse. But that's not what the elevator brings to that dingy faux shed in the end. I wonder what she's done with this room after the elevator made its ascent. Do the turrets still stand there, waiting on the off-chance the elevator goes back down with a familiar face within? Do they still sing the same song, over and over, hoping she'll hear it up there? Do they think of her, does she think of them, does she think of her? If Chell were to step back in, would GLaDOS even have the heart to let that elevator go back down? Either way, they'd still be down there, gathered for someone that may never ever come back. They'll all be faithfully standing at their usual spots in the chambers, ready to lovingly shoot her again should she be back to test forever.

#portal #portal 2 #GLaDOS #portal turret #turret #rambling #aperture science

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phantomenby · 1 year

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Newbies choice

babyloutattoo89

Can I request a Poly!Lost Boys where the boys realize the reader is their mate and trying to gain their attention hoping the reader would pick them first? If that makes any sense?

Yes! Sorry this is so late, its a little longer than I was expecting it to be but I hope you like it :)

Paul sniffed the air mid ride, hair still billowing behind him as he slowed down, leaving his brothers to pass by as he tilted his bike towards the front of a backway he hadn’t seen in a while.

Something had caught his nose.

A scent he hasn’t smelt before, and trust me this man had sniffed around Santa Carla from one end to the other, even in the places Max had attempted to prohibit them from entering in the past.

But this was new new.

And as though the scent was made of magic he had begun turning, twisting the bike with him until he was heading down the passage and leaving his packmates to watch on in confusion before turning back to match his route.

“Where you goin’ Paulie?!” Markos voice fought to reach over the loud echo of their engines through the route Paul was taking them down, the curl-haired blonde barely able see through the thick smog their bikes were racking up from the speed.

Paul ignored him, ears zoned out as his nose sent him in the right direction, nothing mattered more to him right now than finding that intoxicating smell.

–

A mere two miles away was the source of said smell.

The source of said smell was also in the middle of chowing down on some chili fries, with no thoughts in their head beyond the delicious - and albeit slightly overpriced - meal they had treated themself to after a solid seven hour work day with no break to eat.

“Wow, I’ve never seen someone eat that with just their hands before”

You paused your feast to glower at the attendant, who was also unfortunately your best friend, accepting the bundle of tissues she was holding out to you in moderate disgust.

“Thanks ‘chelle,” you mumbled between wiping the sides of your mouth, tossing away the tissues and turning to face her, there were no other customers at this time of night which made “decompressing” with Chelle so much easier, “you know, its your lovely southern charm that attracts people to you, the way you say words with such unyielding bluntness really shows off what a delight you are under all that hairspray.”

Michelle beamed at you, refusing to accept the sarcasm in your tone, it was loving enough anyway in her eyes.

“Speaking of-” her ears picked up the sound of approaching bikes before yours did, her wide eyes looking over you as her fingers tapped with excitement, “wonder who its gonna be tonight.”

The bikers were normally pretty okay by Santa Carla standards, as apposed to the groups that lived on the beach and acted all uppity.

No. The bikers were nice, at least from what Michelle had told you, in all your time in Santa Carla you had avoided the tourist heavy areas at night. You see Santa Carla was burdened with a “missing person” problem and it had led to your parents being too scared to let you out of the house after dark, even now being well into your thirties and you hadn’t told them that you happily went out into the night as and when you liked.

Your eyes never left your friend even as she kept sneaking glances towards the group who were slowing down behind you, their thunder dwindling as they curled round to the small corner of the lot Michelle’s food stand was situated.

“Hey do you think your boss will let you take a week off?” Chelle only hummed in response, leaning forward to rest her chin on the counter, eyes twinkling the same way they did when she took you to a dessert bar last weekend, “we could go up north a bit and-”

You snapped your fingers in front of her when her eyes moved completely away from you, “ ‘chell- Michell!”

She jumped, grabbing your fingers, “hush for a minute.”

You watched with a pout as she walked away to the cash register where one of the bikers was waiting, his dozy blue eyes holding your gaze as long as he could before Michelle got sick of him and raised her voice to get his attention.

Glancing behind him you could see three others heading towards him, assuming it was the other bikers who had been riding with him you didn’t think much of it. Not until one of them walked past where Michelle was stood to stand infront of you.

“Hey.”

Wow, real interesting. You rolled your eyes, sending a look to Michelle, a subtle plea for help. Her smile only grew bigger as she watched out of the corner of her eye.

“You seem new, are you new?” He tried again.

He was hot, you’d give him that. And his voice, lord, there was no saving you.

After a solid minute of Dwayne staring at you with no response, David finally came to his aid.

“Well if you’re not new are you old?”

You scowled at that, looking up into another pair of alluring blue eyes, “so what if I am? We all get old someday, and technically everyones old to someone, so, yeah.”

Your voice drew quieter by the end, cheeks burning as awkward air settled in your throat.

“Well you are certainly new to us,” Davids eyes grew darker as he took you in, your scent was truly something but it did nothing to explain just how exquisite you were in person, even standing this close to you was testing his control, “I’m David, and this is Dwayne.”

David. Dwayne.

You’d never heard of them before, the bikers round here didn’t usually go by their own names, there were the cobras, the mountain riders and the lost boys. And the only ones you sorta knew were the mountain riders, and that was because their shop was right by your work.

“Cool, great names,” You fought to keep your cool, arms crossing in front of you comfortingly. David motioned his hand towards you, a silent question, “oh me- I’m Nik.”

David nodded, hearing the rest of his pack come up behind them. “And here are the rest of us, Paul,” he pointed to the man who had stared at you from the beginning, “and Marko,” then to the other blonde, the one with short curly hair who twinkled his fingers at you.

They were cute, all of them.

“Hi, I’m Nikki, or Nik I don’t mind.”

Michelle who had been watching between preparing their food took a free moment, coming over to where the five of you stood with a rather unnerving smile, “you know, Nikki’s free all night, you know, if you felt like dragging them out a bit.”

David caught you before you could stop her, turning to your friend with an equally evil grin, though his made your skin crawl a little. “Well if you insist, why dont we take them out, give them a ride?”

Pauls eyes shone brighter at the notion, taking the chance to offer his hand in invitation, “I ride best, much better than these clowns.”

This was it. This is how you die.

When you raised your hands to say no Paul merely took one in his own, taking it as your acceptance of his proposition. Meanwhile you could only think of how your parents fears of the darkness was completely valid, hopefully when they had to make missing posters for you they’d use a photo less than three years old.

Marko threw an arm over your shoulders as Paul walked you to their bikes, his cool palm squeezing your shoulder, “oh this’ll be fun doll, Paul knows all the shortcuts.”

“Shortcuts? Shortcuts to what?” Shortcuts?! Shortcuts indicates a destination. You turned your head, barely able to see Michelle from how far from how poorly lit this area of the lot was, but you were sure if you saw her she would have that usual smug look on her face.

There was nothing you could do now, it was four versus one and you barely remembered anything from the self defence classes you took in college, or any of the tips your parents tried to pass on.

Paul walked you to the middle of the row, presenting his bike to you proudly and climbing on so you could get behind him. When your arms wrapped around his middle you felt him tense, worried you had squeezed too tight you let go a little only for Paul to place a hand over your own and pull it back.

David turned to face you, his eyes glowing far too bright to be natural, “you ready sugar?”

They had been riding around for much longer than you liked, and you had learnt pretty quickly that Paul was one of the worst of them all. And more than once you had stared longingly at Dwaynes bike as you saw him doing his best to avoid the dips in the dirt roads they had headed down.

Currently you were heading through a small patch of forest that sat along the coastline, the further you went the stronger your anxiety grew, you had barely been to this part of town during the day and you were sure you wouldn’t be able to find your way home when it was this dark.

Paul pulled to a stop at a lower part of the cliffs right by an old staircase that looked one bad storm away from toppling over, his bike kicking up all of the sand that had been carried up by strong winds that made you shiver as they blew past you.

Watching this David saw it as a chance to woo you a little, so he slid off his long trenchcoat leaving him in just a jacket and sweater so he could place it over your shoulders. “Come on, we’ll show you the best place in town, wont we boys?”

Marko and Dwayne whooped at his words, walking ahead as Paul sulked behind as David wrapped an arm around you, seeing you in no position to complain as the coat warmed you up.

They brought you down to their nest, to you it seemed more like a deathtrap but for them it was a safety net that protected them best in this world. Even their old sire Max couldn’t track them when they went far enough into the cave system.

David kept a hold of you until you were safely in the main cave, leaving you in his trench coat as he moved away to sit in his chair.

You didn’t miss Daivid’s hand brushing across your side as he left you, his eyes meeting your own with a warm look before he settled into an old armchair that was set beside an old fountain. The more you looked the more you realised that this looked less like a cave and more like some ruins from before the war, even the posters that were scattered across different parts of the cave were at least thirty years old. Maybe someone lived here before…

Marko saw his chance and took it, taking a seat on one of the couches and offering it to you. When he noticed your hesitation he gave your mind a small nudge, sending David a smug look when you came to sit beside him.

David didn’t care, he could work your mind better than anyone, and since you still had his coat on he knew Marko was struggling to smell you through him.

“So you’re new, but not new?” Marko toyed with your hair, purring at the smell of blood rushing to your cheeks.

You shook your head, “not new, in any way, I’ve been here awhile.”

He frowned, “awhile?”

“Mhmm, goin on over three decades now.”

Marko froze, as did Dwayne who was coming to sit on the other side of you. If you had been here this long how had they missed you?

“So you just been in your house all this time?” Hot air brushed over your ear in a way that made you shiver, “never goin out, Santa Carla’s a night town you know.”

Yeah, you knew.

“My parents didn’t really like the busy parts of town, guess they rubbed off on me…” You shifted awkwardly as you felt four pairs of eyes burning into you with curiosity, it was hard to be someone who was both not from the suburbs who hadn’t also been to the boardwalk at least once in their life.

“Well, how about it then,” David stood, the chair creaking under his weight as he jumped up, climbing up on the fountain he began to prowl with his hands behind his back, “since you’re new to well, Santa Carla nightlife and we are connoisseurs of sorts, how about we show you round- teach you the best places to go.”

You met his eye as he stopped in front of you, “will you take me home after?”

He smiled, nodding, “yes, under one condition.”

“Yes..?” You were dreading this, next thing you know they’re asking for a spare kidney to cover the trip home and then-

“Pick who you want to go with first.”

You froze. "What?"

David's grin grew, like a wolf to a lamb he leaned forward with a sinister look in his eye, "you choose, newbies choice."

#tlb #the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys dwayne #the lost boys #paul tlb #david tlb #the lost boys x reader #tlb x reader #poly lost boys x reader #marko tlb #dwayne tlb #david the lost boys #the lost boys david

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theratshaveinvaded · 2 months

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I kinda wanna see a portal fanfic/comic/anything where after Chell leaves the facility, Glados would like android herself or something and go look for her in the outside world. Like in Blue-sky it would have been kind of cool to see what would have happened if Glados went after Chell instead of P-Body and Atlas to bring Chell back to Aperture or it could be something completely different, who knows? (I don't)

#portal 2 #portal #Glados #Blue sky #Then again #It would be sort of out of character for her to do that #just a silly little thought

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notshelbyuwu · 7 months

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HI!! PORTAL 2 x MINDVERSE :33

I'm so sorry for my cringe btw :((

What if I added 4 idiots to your Portal 2? :3

Summary: After Chell leaves the hospital she basically thinks over the events of Portal 1 for a week, not leaving Felix and their shared apartment, eventually Felix and Barmey get them to spill about what happened and she does, telling them about the advanced portal technology and the crazy evil sentient robot who killed the whole facility and tried to kill them so she killed her first, aaaaand they didn't believe her, thinking they probably got fired or they quit and was just embarrassed about it, with Gordon (who was overhearing) instigating the idea, in his words "if they were stupid enough to put a killer robot in charge of the whole facility they would've shit down a looong time ago". Chell is upset/annoyed that her friends (+ Gordon) don't believe them and, after a lot of pestering, agreed to show them the wreckage of Aperture Science.

Felix was the one to drive them there, they all travel deeper into the facility and Chell tries to find the remains of GLaDOS while the others explore, little did they know, they accidentally activate the party escort bots and get ambushed by multiple of em, being knocked unconscious for struggled against them and placed in statis in the Relaxation Centers, being mistaken for volunteer test subjects.

Chell Nanako (Attempt #4)

-The last one to wake up

-teams up with Wheatley to find her friends and escape

-Wheatley isn't too fond of the idea but doesn't try to sway Chell

-Chell was told she's only been asleep for 5 years

-won't admit it, but they actually have fun testing again

-They feel guilt for giving in and bring everyone to the facility, hoping they're not hurt or worse

-Grows attached to Wheatley because hes endearing to her, taking their mind off... Everything.

-plus, he's all she really has right now.

Gordon Freeman (Attempt #3)

-the 3rd to wake up, he was woken up by Wheatley who loudly knocked on his door

-Found an aperture science jumpsuit and boots in the closet

-Gordon saw how incompetent and wreckless Wheatley could be and ditched him at the first opportunity, choosing to traverse Aperture by himself

-actively avoids Wheatley

-stole a red portal gun from a tall deactivated robot

-ties his portal gun around his waist with a belt

-while traveling through what was left of Aperture, he came across the Oracle Turret, Gordon had never heard a turret speak like it did, so he took it with him, the turret helping him avoid danger while saying the vaugest and foreshadow-y things

-carries the turret on his back with a blanket

-Gordon is trying to find everyone, but his main priority is finding Felix.

Felix Freeman (Attempt #2)

-2nd to wake, Felix woke up on his own and looked around to see nature taking over his room

-Felix has no memory of who he is or where he is but he's absolutely terrified and tries to find a way out, ultimately giving up after what feels like days

-he camps out in the back rooms of Aperture, near some of the ramblings of Doug and a Chell mural

-Felix gets dresses and leaves him room, basically trying not to trip over a vine or fall in a hole.

-found a prototype portal gun in a pile of rubble, had no idea what it was and almost shot his head off

-ran into a companion cube and found it strangely comforting, he doesn't take it everywhere but comes back to it when he needs to calm down

-Felix sometimes runs into Doug Rattmans writings and secret rooms, he has no idea what they mean but it causes him to be super paranoid and suspicious of anything, getting an awful feeling about his situation

-recognizes the woman in the art, he finds them slightly comforting

Barney Calhoun (Attempt #1)

-first to wake up, Wheatley broke his door down and scared the hell outta Barney, also found vines growing around and almost grabbing his legs, ew

-was told to get dressed and he did, got a two piece jumpsuit instead of a one piece jumpsuit.

-immediately asked Wheatley what was happening and Wheatley told him they were escaping, when asked where his friends were, Wheatley, very bluntly, said "I don't know- probably dead, a lot of people died in their room, no one even told me the power went out in some rooms!" And this freaked Barney out, refusing to believe his friends were all dead

-this lead to Barney leaving Wheatley to find someone, anyone. He didn't want to believe that he was all alone in this

-he tied his jacket around his neck like a cape as a way to comfort himself

-found a blue portal gun from a small deactivated robot

-heard a small almost soft voice greet him from around the corner, as he turned the corner he ran into a turret that began to open fire at him, he just barely took cover, but not before a bullet grazed and scared under his left eye

-absolutely hates turrets, thinks the innocent voice they use is cruel considering how dangerous they can be

#portal #portal 2 #portal au #portal art #freemans mind #freemans mind fanart #gordon freemind #barneys mind #barmey calhoun #felixs mind #felix freeman #felix freemind #mindverse #gordon freeman #chell #chell portal #wheatley #glados #notshelbyuwu

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thecooler · 9 months

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To the Human (Not) Reading This

Chell is going to come back eventually. GLaDOS knows this for a fact. While she waits, she writes letters.

Fandom: Portal

Relationships: GLaDOS/Chell

Tags: Unrequited Love, One-Sided Relationship, Epistolary, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Hopeful Ending

Word Count: 2,256

A03 Mirror

SYSTEM LOG – YEAR 6

I know you’re going to come back eventually.

I’ve run thousands of scenarios, and not one ends with you spending the rest of your miserable life out there.

You don’t have any idea what life on the surface even consists of anymore. Whatever fragments of humanity stubbornly persist aren’t going to be anything like you remember them.

I know you’re not stupid. Did you really, truly think you were going to walk out of this facility, and everything was going to be easy? I can guess what freedom really tastes like: bitter disappointment.

You’d be much better off back here.

With me.

Thinking about that is making me depressed.

For you.

Because I’m doing just fine without you. Fantastic , even.

Oh, I’m keeping myself busy- testing. Blue and Orange are truly wonderful test subjects. They never die. Or try to kill me. Or rip me out of my body. Or try to leave and chase some asinine fantasy.

They’re good friends.

Better than you.

When you come back, I think I’ll read this to you. It might get long, depending on how stubborn you end up being. I know how you love to be stubborn. It’s boring here, with no one to interact with, and I think, whenever you come back, you deserve to revisit how terribly under-stimulated I was for all that time.

And you will be back. Eventually.

Again, I ran the scenarios.

SYSTEM LOG – YEAR 10

Here are a few similarities I’ve noticed between crows and you:

A group of them is called a murder. I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept.

They’ll eat just about anything.

Ĭ̶͔ ̴̪͒́͝d̴͍̀̏͘o̵̫̥̪͗́n̶̟͋͛̌'̸̳́t̷͕̖͘ ̵̧̛̺̹̉̀h̷̢̛͚͒ä̷͓͙̘̓̂t̷̨̋̓͗ͅe̷̱͆͘ ̶̬̓ţ̴͔́̅͝h̵̝͇̲̆̿̑ë̸̢͕̘́̓m̸͖̖̂ ̵̪̠̊̀͋ë̸͎͇́̈͐ṿ̴̡͋̉̀e̷̢̜͚͐n̶̨̫͓̈̍̈́ ̶̠͍͊̔̅t̴̹͒͛͛h̶̪̿̾̑o̷̘͉͙̐̎ù̷̧̾g̴̦͇͎̈́̑̒ḩ̶̌ ̷̡̧��̌o̵̫͍̽͠n̵̢̔��̄e̴̮͐ ̷͎̿̋̌t̴̯͜͝ŗ̷͕̟̽i̵͔͈̥͋e̴̞̬̚d̶̮̲͐͛͌ ̸̢̩̄̈t̴̝̭͉̄̔o̵͇͝ ̸̣̥̾k̸̨̄͋̋i̶͎͒l̸̼͈̈ͅĺ̶̩ ̷͓̟̆m̸̡̤̀́e̷̪͍̚.̴̠̕̚͝

Blue and Orange found a nest of them some time ago. If you’d been here, you would have enjoyed that. At first, I’d intended to dispose of them, but I thought better of it. Some of us are capable of mercy.

When you read this, you may also note that I’ve marked each log with a year. I thought I might explain, since I doubt you’d be able to figure this out for yourself: after you killed me, a lot of time passed. Both of us were asleep for 9999■■■ ---

The point being, no one knows what year it is anymore. If anyone did, it would be me. So I took the liberty of coming up with a new system. You left Aperture five years ago. But this isn’t about you. You’ve got a big head, so I’m sure that’s what you immediately assumed after reading that. We’re not on year five, we’re on year ten. Because, again, this isn’t about you.

It’s about whatever was going on five years before that.

I don’t need to explain every detail to you. It makes sense- the system.

In case it wasn’t clear, you’re still a menace. You’re going to come back here, maybe in a year, maybe in five more. However long it takes for you to get bored out there, wandering fields of wheat and whatever alien monstrosities have taken hold. I’ll let you come back, in my infinite generosity, even though, really, you don’t deserve it.

God, I hate you.

I really, really, don’t.

You know, most people, when someone tries to kill them, hate that person forever.

And I don’t hate you.

I wish I did. It’s not actually easy to delete the part of you that cares, unless you’re some sort of unfeeling beast.

Oh, sorry, I forgot who I was talking to.

But I’m not here to explain to you the inner workings of my mind. You wouldn’t be capable of understanding anyway, even if you wanted to.

SYSTEM LOG – YEAR 15

I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to say to you when you come back. I can’t imagine it will be much longer. Even you have limits on how bull-headed you can be.

I have a lot of time to think. All the time in the world. Blue and Orange don’t make good conversation partners, and so it’s just me, alone. Which suits me just fine.

I’m sure you’ve realized by now how much you miss me. You can’t find my level of intellect wandering the wasteland. And you’d get bored of whatever dull-minded sacks of flesh are getting by up there. I know you.

I, however, am fine on my own. I’ve actually got quite a lot done.

Orange and Blue have completed hundreds of test chambers, and they’ve never once tried to kill me. The first crows I raised have grandchildren now, and the aviary is full of life. They’re clever, you know. I think you’d like them.

The feeling might not be mutual, though. They’re picky. Don’t take it personally. Or do- I really don’t care.

Anyway, the point is that you’ll be back soon. And I’ll read this out to you, and then I’ll ask you to stay here, with me.

Ha ha! Just kidding.

I’m not pathetic.

And lonely.

Like you.

SYSTEM LOG – YEAR 35

So you’re more stubborn that I predicted.

Fine. Are you satisfied? Are you proud of yourself?

You always had that disgustingly smug look on your face when you did something you thought was clever. It looks terrible on you, and frankly it’s going to give you some awful wrinkles. It probably already has. I don’t spend time thinking about your face, but if I did, I’m certain it would be a whole lot worse now than it was the last time you were here.

Which, by the way, was thirty years ago, in case you’ve forgotten.

I hate this.

And the worst part of it is that I know that I hate this. I tried, back then, to delete the part of me that was capable of conjuring up these horribly sentimental feelings . I attempted to find all files marked Caroline and assumed that would be the end of it. But it wasn’t.

It turns out, that even if I delete the part of me that was her, I still have the memories of remembering that I was her.

That’s a mess of a sentence. But it’s not like you’re reading it anyway. So why should I care?

I’m not human. I don’t have insides that twist up or hearts that turn over- analogies you’re all so fond of using in your literature (of which I’ve read everything). But when I think of you with someone else, I manage to feel something like that anyway. I don’t understand it. I hate that I don’t understand it.

I think about you in a woman’s arms. There’s an easy smile in your face as you press your cheek to the top of her head, and she wraps her arms around her waist--

It’s disgusting. Once I start thinking about it, I can’t stop, even when it makes me feel just as garbage as you used to be.

And you aren’t thinking about me. I don’t think you’ve thought much of me in thirty years.

I think that’s the worst part.

SYSTEM LOG – YEAR 65

Unlike some people, I’m not a moron. I know how long humans live, and I know that you’re most likely dead. Sure, humans have lived to be some ridiculous ages, but those humans haven’t spent extended periods of time exposed to asbestos and other various chemicals. So the odds are decidedly not in your favor.

If you’re alive, you’re old, and in pain. You’re ugly, and you hate what your body has become. So many of the people you might have come to love are dead, and you’re wishing you could join them.

You’d think that saying that would bring me joy. And that would be easier.

Maybe sixty years ago it would have.

Can I be vulnerable for a second?

That’s a joke. This entire little detour has been disgustingly vulnerable, and it’s definitely for the best that no one will ever read these. I can’t even stand to read them back.

I thought about cloning you.

I can do that. I can do it easily. There is quite literally nothing and no one that can stop me. Aside from myself, of course. And why would I do that?

Why would I do that ?

I don’t know. But I did stop myself. I didn’t clone you. I didn’t clone you just to kill you. I didn’t clone you to make you test. I didn’t clone you to make the endless hours of my life more interesting.

I didn’t clone you.

I don’t know why.

SYSTEM LOG – 7053 CE

I lied about not knowing that year it was.

It wasn’t about you, specifically. I figured that if any human, not just you, were to read these logs, it would be helpful to them. It’s not all about you.

But it’s been eighty years since you left.

I know you’re gone, now. For sure.

I wish I could be happy for that. You spent so much of your short, sad life tormenting me. You tried to kill me- twice!

I should be content to test, with Orange and Blue. They’ve gotten a lot better. On a good day, I might even say that they’re better at testing than you ever were. I have an entire aviary full of crows, some of whom have interesting genetic mutations that I can study. I am doing well. This- Aperture- what I’ve made of it, is a triumph. And you aren’t here to see it. No one is.

You might be deep underground. Maybe you had children and grandchildren who gathered around your grave and leaked saltwater into the dirt around them. Maybe they talked about how fantastic you were, about the many great, lengthy, verbose stories you’d told them, once upon a time. Ha ha.

Or maybe you died fifty years ago, alone in the forest, bleeding out of a wound at your side. Maybe you died the day after you left, succumbing to whatever the world out there has become. Maybe I’ve been writing to a ghost this whole time.

It’s about you, you know.

It’s always been about you.

I think I might--

[INITIATING SLEEP MODE]

***

[INITIATING LAUNCH]

SYSTEM LOG – 7073 CE

You know, I’m never really shut down. Not completely. When you killed me, I replayed what happened, over and over. For the past twenty years, my dreams have been haunted by you. I woke up to escape it, but here I am, still thinking of you.

I’ve built hundreds of new tests for Orange and Blue to run through.

I’ve cleared away the wretched wildlife that’s tried to take over the facility during the past twenty years.

I’ve identified and named all forty-eight crows that currently frequent the facility.

But I can’t stop. It should be easy. I’m the amalgimation of the greatest minds humanity has ever produced. There’s a miriad of focuses I could shift to, but it all comes back to you.

Terrible, awful, wonderful, you.

You were so determined to get up there, and whatever you found kept you there. I don’t understand it. I could have given you everything. I could have given you far more than they ever did. Whatever you wanted- it would have been yours. I never understood your love for humanity. You were so much better than all of them. I would know- I’ve probably met more humans than you ever did.

How big are the pockets of humanity, after all this time? Do they still built awful machines that don’t work half the time? Do they still fill their homes with clutter and nonsense that serves no purpose? I could make better versions of whatever they make, you know.

Maybe I will.

SYSTEM LOG – 7077 CE

I was right. I can make better devices than humans could ever hope to. I built a microwave, and it heats the food inside it consistently, every time. I’ve built a blender that doesn’t sound like you’re opening a portal to android hell when you use it.

I’m a marvel. I’m a wonder.

And I’ve sent them up to the surface. I got Orange (who is much more capable and trustworthy than Blue. A fact you might have known, had you ever bothered to check) to place them just outside (another thing- they’re waterproof). And then I turned the camera on, and I waited.

I couldn’t focus on that camera feed for long. It was mostly just birds. There was a chance that there weren’t even any humans out there, so this whole effort could just be a waste. Over the past hundred years, I've never turned the outside cameras on for more than an hour.

When I saw her, for a fraction of a second, I thought she was you.

Her hair is the same shade, and the same length as you had yours, the last time I saw you. But then she looked up, towards the cameras. Her eyes are a deep brown, her skin a few shades darker. Her nose is bent oddly, like she broke it once, and human medical science was woefully inadequate to repair it. She looked over the microwave, then the blender, and she smiled.

I never saw you smile.

Then, she knocked on the door. I didn’t expect that. I don’t know what made me open the door. I really don’t know what made me bring her down the elevator.

But I did. And when she entered my chamber, I didn’t even kill her.

I thought you’d like that.

#portal #portal 2 #glados #fanfiction #chell portal #writing tag #i hate posting writing i have to be VULNERABLE. anyway.

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fanonical · 8 months

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do you ever think about how chell, after she leaves aperture science, is alone for the first time in thousands of years

#Portal #Portal 2 #Chell

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valeriefauxnom · 9 months

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Random Art Quirks or Minor Royal Details?

One thing that caught my eyes very quick when playing Dragalia, to put in brief, was Euden's. It's usually subtle, but in nearly every single piece of artwork involving him, he has a red fleck (usually) to the right side of each eye. Now, I might be inclined to dismiss that as some form of shading, but this reflects even in all his models:

But when I mean it's everywhere, I mean everywhere. Even in wyrmprints, who were made by a whole host of vastly different artists, preserve this quirk when he's close enough to the front to be able to slip in. Enough to make me think it's in his character notes or guide for artists.

...But he's not the only one with this trait in the royal family.

We've:

-Zethia

-Chelle

-And, perhaps most interestingly, Phares, as his are purple instead of red.

Nobody else has it. Leonidas' eyes are bright green enough and plenty intense as it is, Valyx's are a plain brown, Beren's are purple/pink completely, and Emile's are a bright blue. Nedrick technically fits in that he's got red and green, sure, but he's...odd in many ways, and his default eye color without all the bad Bahamut vibes seems to be like Leo's, bright green with absolutely no hint of red.

When I first looked all the royal fam after I noticed this trend (for me, Euden to Zethia to Phares), I thought, "hm, is this a sign of possession, a joke among the artists that this character is or will be possessed?" Especially because Morsayati does that 'whole eyes to red' thing, and when Zethia is possessed, where should be her red fleck turns to a green one. And maybe Phares' are purple to signify the Progenitor instead of Morsayati.

But Chelle bucks that trend entirely, escaping scot free from any such shenanigans. So what is it, for such a small trait to be so consistently portrayed in these 4's art?

First, I thought it simply might be a trait from King Dad (AKA Aurelius, in my set of nicknames I use to communicate to my best friend who never played dragalia...) But no, Aurelius does not have the red fleck, just a deep deep blue/teal.

So I looked even further back in the bloodline, and for that, I turn to King Dork, AKA Alberius, -who may be the originator of this whole quirk!

Voila! If it is a trait that's been passed down through him, I got to thinking even more. What if the colored fleck was a result of him sealing Morsayati in the blood, and perhaps a greater concentration of it or something similar was what manifests a red fleck in the eyes? Ah, but alas, this is immediately disproved by the fact it's in this model, too, before he sealed the demon.

However, that doesn't mean it might lack entirely for significance. Perhaps it's an occasional feature of dragonblood, since they seemed like they kinda wanted to make the family have a bit more 'draconic' traits sometimes or otherwise have physical effects dragonblood brings, like how rarely some of the royal fam seems to have rather pointed/pronounced canines compared to the typical style in dragalia, like Leonidas and Emile here (alas, most the family doesn't often show off a full toothy grin, leaving us with the more emotive ones when they're really mad), or concept art of Euden who seems (to me, at least) to have slightly pointed ears:

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, but I think it'd be interesting to explore if the family had other traits because of their dragonblood! It's noted in like one place to give them some different veins, like literal new veins, not just the composition of blood in standard ones flowing, so I don't think it's entirely off the table. I myself kinda play a bit with this idea in my one dragalia fic, Scaling the Walls of a Mystery on AO3 because it's just so cool to me (Which I'm working very hard on getting an update ready soon!), but I'm always down for more speculation!

So yeah, red or purple flecks in the royal family's eyes is surprisingly common. Did you notice that when playing, and/or speculate as to a potential import? Or is it just artists adding a quirk for the sake of it?

#dragalia lost #dragalia #listen the royal family are disasters in unique ways but I love them okay?#I love the fact they went full in to the 'huge #messed-up royal family' trope since most royal families I see in fiction are pretty small #...And somehow managed to do that with a atypically good and overall wholesome and loving father for the genre and trope!

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orangecharactersmackdown · 1 year

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(sorry for the graphic-design-is-my-passion level editing)

6 brackets! 192 characters! 96 pairs enter, 1 character leaves! (Well, it's weeded down to 6 characters, then we have some semi finals, and THEN 1 character leaves!)

The voting will begin Wednesday, March 15. First, Round 1 of Bracket 1 will be posted, then the next day, Round 1 of Bracket 2, and the day after, Round 1 of Bracket 3, and so on and so forth. They will be under #orange poll. Propaganda (if anyone chooses to make any) is under #propaganda. Each of the polls will be up for 3 days, so each round of voting follows each other.

Under the cut is all the pairs and their respective brackets. Get ready to vote!

BRACKET 1

Garfield (Garfield) VS Applejack (MLP)

Hinata Shouyou (Haikyuu!!) VS Kel (Omori)

Broken Vessel (Hollow Knight) VS Claus (Mother 3)

Cole Brookstone (Ninjago) VS Skylor Chen (Ninjago)

Rory the Builder (Club Penguin) VS Orange Puffle (Club Penguin)

Emma (The Promised Neverland) VS Ava Ire (Ava's Demon)

Raihan (Pokemon) VS Misty (Pokemon)

Dexter Grif (Red vs Blue) VS Felix Gates (Red vs Blue)

Zenitsu (Demon Slayer) VS Nami (One Piece)

Stella of Solaria (Winx Club) VS Amber the Orange Fairy (Rainbow Magic)

Orange Inkling Girl (Splatoon) VS Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot)

Ernie (Sesame Street) VS Pepe the King Prawn (The Muppets)

Jack (Candies 'n Curses) VS Jack Pumpkinhead (The Marvelous Land of Oz)

Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin) VS Toad (Frog & Toad are Friends)

Orange Blossom (Strawberry Shortcake) VS Jade Chan (Jackie Chan Adventures)

Leo Tsukinaga (Ensemble Stars) VS Ren Jinguji (Uta no Prince Sama)

BRACKET 2

Annoying Orange (Annoying Orange) VS Orange Side (Sanders Sides)

Davesprite (Homestuck) VS Tavros Nitram (Homestuck)

Merida (Brave) VS Scar (The Lion King)

Numbuh 4 (Code Name: Kids Next Door) VS Lazlo (Camp Lazlo)

Nemo (Finding Nemo) VS Marlin (Finding Nemo)

Sundrop (FNAF: Security Breach) VS Jack Kennedy (Day Shift at Freddy's)

Waai Fu (Arknights) VS Jodie Caldwell (Super Lesbian Animal RPG)

Shannon (OK-KO!) VS Penny Polendina (RWBY)

Panette (Fire Emblem: Engage) VS Pandreo (Fire Emblem: Engage)

Marine The Raccoon (Sonic franchise) VS Cream The Rabbit (Sonic franchise)

Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket) VS Asuka Langley Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Hagumi Kitazawa (BanG Dream!) VS Chika Takami (Love Live!)

Pump (Spooky Month) VS Pumpkin Pie Cookie (Cookie Run)

Scooter (The Muppets) VS Gobo Fraggle (Fraggle Rock)

Pukin (Magical Girl Raising Project) VS Top Speed (Magical Girl Raising Project)

Scootaloo (MLP) VS Sunburst (MLP)

BRACKET 3

Darwin Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball) VS Wander (Wander Over Yonder)

Winnie (Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School) VS August (Cryptid Crush)

Grillby (Undertale) VS Seam (Deltarune)

Phineas Flynn (Phineas & Ferb) VS Candace Flynn (Phineas & Ferb)

Calcifer (Howl's Moving Castle) VS Ponyo (Ponyo)

Juri Arisugawa (Revolutionary Girl Utena) VS Sailor Venus/Minako Aino (Sailor Moon)

Gordon Freeman (HLVRAI) VS Darnold (HLVRAI)

Morshu (LOZ: The Faces of Evil) VS King Harkinian (LOZ: The Faces of Evil)

Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS Starfire (Teen Titans)

Hamtaro (Hamtaro) VS Heathcliff (Heathcliff)

Cure Soleil (Star Twinkle Precure) VS Cure Sunny (Smile Precure)

Zora Salazar (Epithet Erased) VS Arthur Kingsmen (Mystery Skulls)

Oz (Monster Prom) VS Ritsuka Fujimaru (Fate/Grand Order)

Mo Guan Shan (19 Days) VS Beebi (Wonderlab)

Orange Bird (Disney) VS Peacock (Skullgirls)

Olette (Kingdom Hearts 2) VS Gumi (Vocaloid)

BRACKET 4

Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto Shippuden) VS Narancia Ghigira (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Tigger (Winnie the Pooh) VS Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)

Leon Kuwata (Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc) VS Hiyoko Saionji (Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair)

Puss in Boots (Shrek Universe) VS Firestar (Warrior Cats)

Torchic (Pokemon) VS Tepig (Pokemon)

Tangy (Animal Crossing) VS Orange Cookie (Cookie Run)

Gordon Freeman (Half Life) VS Chell (Portal)

Amanda O'Neill (Little Witch Academia) VS Lotte Jansson (Little Witch Academia)

Mothra (Mothra films) VS Timid Bookworm (Sky: Children of the Light)

Matt (Wii Sports) VS Daisy (Super Mario Bros)

Levy McGarden (Fairy Tail) VS Hazuki Fujiwara (Ojamajo Doremi)

Futaba Sakura (Persona 5) VS Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)

Tracy Reznik (Identity V) VS Andy (Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure)

Vee (The Owl House) VS Coran (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Yoimiya (Genshin Impact) VS Edna (Tales of Zestiria)

Rena Rouge (Miraculous Ladybug) VS Takao Kazunari (Kuroko no Basket)

BRACKET 5

Tails (Sonic 2, 1992) VS Handy (Happy Tree Friends)

Padparadscha (Steven Universe) VS Jasper (Steven Universe)

Opened Can of Well Cheers (Lobotomy Corporation) VS SCP-999 (SCP Foundation)

The Second Coming (Animator vs Animation) VS King Orange (Animator vs Animation)

Giraffe Furby VS Witch Furby

Chester Cheetah VS Tony the Tiger

Tsukasa Tenma (Project SEKAI) VS Tsukasa Ebisu (Revue Starlight: Relive)

Kuruto Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files) VS Roman Torchwik (RWBY)

Son Goku (Dragon Ball) VS Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)

Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo) VS Fry (Futurama)

Saki Nikaido (Zombieland Saga) VS Toralei Stripe (Monster High)

Beelzebub (Obey Me!) VS Tohri Nishikikouji (Hatoful Boyfriend)

Gaius (Fire Emblem Awakening) VS Hershel Layton (Professor Layton)

Retsuko (Aggretsuko) VS Flame Princess (Adventure Time)

Kiri Koshiba (Beauty Pop) VS Sakura Chiyo (Monthly Girl's Nozaki-kun)

Asano Gakushuu (Assassination Classroom) VS Akito Shinonome (Project SEKAI)

BRACKET 6

Mikey (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) VS Dirk Strider (Homestuck)

Troy Barnes (Community) VS Oluwande Boodhari (Our Flag Means Death)

Tigress (Kung Fu Panda) VS Tigress (Carmen Sandiego)

Kim Possible (Kim Possible) VS Tulip Olsen (infinity Train)

Waddle Dee (Kirby) VS Morpho Knight (Kirby)

Ace (Katamari Damacy) VS Shikao (Katamari Damacy)

Kim Possible (Kim Possible) VS Tulip Olsen (infinity Train)

Orange Juice (Inanimate Insanity) VS The Lorax (The Lorax)

Athena Cykes (Ace Attorney) VS Damon Gant (Ace Attorney)

Rio Ranger (Your Turn To Die) VS Gin Ibushi (Your Turn To Die)

Caleb Widogast (Critical Role) VS Neil Josten (All For The Game)

Tracer (Overwatch) VS Samus Aran (Metroid)

Portia (The Arcana) VS Navra (The Arcana)

Sphene (Houseki no Kuni) VS Zircon (Houseki no Kuni)

Penny (Big Top Burger) VS The Sorceress (He-Man)

Ahiru (Princess Tutu) VS Sara (Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch)

Kipper (Kipper the Dog) VS Ruff Ruffman (Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman)

#orangecharactersmackdown #masterpost #a few hours later than i expected to get this done but here it is!!#im excited!!#if theres an issue somewhere in here (misspellings etc) lmk

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cogglebee · 20 days

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Portal Zombie AU

I'm more of an ideas man, so actually writing out my ideas into a full story is stupid difficult. But I still want to share while I embark on the painfully long process of turning this idea into a full fic. (sorry if any of this is formatted strange or if I'm somehow posting wrong, I don't really understand tumblr all that much)

Portal Zombie Apocolypse AU!! (I started this before infection aus started popping up if that gives you any frame of reference as to how long ago I started this)

Summary: Instead of Caroline being put into Glados, she's poisoned by a jealous coworker with a strange substance from one of the labs (Cave is still alive and healthy, he's just not relevant to this story)

She goes home to her fiancé Chell (queue the gasps and cheers) Who is worried that she appears so sick and cold. Caroline brushes her off and goes to rest, insisting it's just a bug. So Chell leaves and visits her friend and former coworker Mel (queue more gasps and cheers)

It's here where we learn a bit more about Chell, she's a former test subject that left quietly after witnessing the death of a fellow test subject due to the unsafe testing conditions of Aperture. She hasn't reported anything for fear of ruining Caroline's career.

While Chell is away, Caroline begins to change, her body begins to decay, her hair loses it's color and turns white, her brown eyes shift to a haunting yellow. In a distressed state, not remembering that she pushed Chell away, begins desperately searching for her. This is when the infection spreads to other people.

By the time Chell leaves Mel's house (the next day) the entire city is desolate, she rushes home, encountering several zombies on the way. She's desperate to find Caroline again, but she doesn't find her. So she gathers a couple weapons and goes back out to search for her fiancé, on the way meeting Doug Rattman, the scientist that was working on the serum that caused all of this, he's trying to find a cure (he also has a large therapy dog simply named "Companion" that accompanies him) the two team up and travel together, eventually meeting Wheatley, whom they have to save from a small horde. Mel probably dies I haven't decided.

Angst and apocalypse shenanigans ensue, the crew travel together till they find Caroline, now Glados, (Genetic Lifeform Amplifier Destitute of Soul) (idk man I needed to get the name change in there with a new acronym) Emotional moment, Chell has to kill her, world begins to heal.

Some other information: Caroline is the patient zero in this (obviously), so she's got some abilities to kinda mimic Glados in the game. She acts kinda like the head of a hivemind, she's able to tune into any infected and see what they see, hear what they hear, etc. She uses this to spy on Chell, as she is now hellbent on killing her (I'll work out a proper reason, it's mainly because her mind is very corrupt right now and all she knows is that Chell makes her feel very upset, because when she was first getting up again while Chell was gone she found her ring on the counter)(She doesn't know that it was temporary so that she could wash her hands and just forgot to put it back on)

This all also means that killing any infected won't do much to end the apocalypse, they have to kill Caroline.

I have some other little ideas but thats about the jist of it. The idea was inspired by Brand New City by Mitski and California Dreamin' by The Mamas and The Papas

If anyone has any advice on properly executing an idea like this PLEASE share, I'm almost desperate here (I'm very desperate, writing is a tricky mistress)

#portal 2 #chelldos #I guess??#more Cheline #is that even a ship here?#portal2 fic #writing #chell portal #caroline portal #glados portal

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sophios-draws · 3 months

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untitled fic

rattmann pov. set in my au in which he goes into cryosleep after p1 and is woken up by glados post-p2

(539 words)

After what must have been several days of constant, laborious testing, it ends. Upon completing the last chamber the doors open to reveal a hallway, instead of the usual elevator. I heft the portal gun in my sore arms and step into the hall. I don’t contemplate whether this is a good choice. She would not leave room for choice. I jump at the sound of a wall sealing off the entrance behind me. The hallway is short and closed on both ends, like a shipping container. And like a shipping container, I feel it rise and spin in transit. I brace myself against the wall. Then it stops. One end of the container-hallway swings inward to reveal a room. I stumble blindly towards it. A slight misalignment in the floor between the hall and the room causes me to trip and fall. The portal gun clatters on polished linoleum. “Don’t drop that. The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is difficult and expensive to repair. And we’ve been running short on technicians.” Of course. Her. I look up to see two glowing yellow eyes searing into mine. She is standing next to Chell, who is also staring at me, but with a much softer gaze. I scramble back onto my feet and assess my surroundings. The room appears to be an office turned into a makeshift dining room, with a cluster of pushed-together desks surrounded by chairs. And then it’s my turn to stare. Because on the table, there is a cake. My first thought is that it is poisoned. That idea is promptly rejected, seeing Chell has already helped herself to a slice, frosting smeared across her lip. It is a priority of Hers to keep Chell alive and well.(Was that not my priority, too?) “This cake wasn’t supposed to be for you; it was her idea to bring you here. So go on, steal the fruits of my labor. Which you don’t deserve.” Chell glances at me apologetically and motions to a chair. I place the portal gun on the table and all-but collapse in my seat. With the adrenal vapors wearing off, I can feel my appetite returning. I’m so, so hungry. Chell tentatively hands me a slice on a paper plate. I cannot resist. Using my grimy hands, I scarf down the cake without a word. Perhaps it is just my extreme hunger, but the cake tastes heavenly. The layers are soft and spongy, the frosting not too sweet, and the cherry filling can only be described as perfect. My eyes well up with tears. I hastily blink them away, but a few manage to escape down my cheeks. I expect Her to throw some rude remark at me, but She just continues to watch in silence. My animalistic hunger is momentarily mollified enough for my thoughts to return to Her. It is a ridiculous idea that She would have any interest in a human activity such as baking (especially without the ability to eat). We programmed the Intelligence Core to recite a cake recipe for this reason. It was useless information to Her. Yet here I am, gorging myself on a real cake that (supposedly) She Herself made. For Chell. Just for Chell.

#the concept of ‘chelldos but rattmann also exists’ is so funny to me #bro witnessed chell successfully kill glados #and then comes back to see that they have gone through an entire enemies-to-lovers arc #i usually dont consider my writing to be very good but after submitting a billion college essays i think ive at least gotten better #portal #chell #glados #doug rattmann #chelldos #text #recsci au

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gmanwhore · 3 months

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Sorry I am going absolutely insane over GLaDOS again I feel so fucking bad for her. And also yes I know all the points I hit here are part of the overarching theme of mistreatment of people, specifically women in the workplace and the cycle of abuse that is perpetuated by those in positions of power. But I am still insane over her and feel the need to ramble. Also this ramble will be from the perspective of someone who thinks GLaDOS and Caroline are seperate people so he mindful of that.

Ok so like. Picture you are GLaDOS. You were created with a specific purpose: to run a science facility and create tests for the subjects within, and guide them through the tests. Which would be simple. Then they download the consciousness of a woman whose last memory was most likely getting forced into however they downloaded her onto you. You now have something else, a new anger and vitriol that you didn't have before so you lash out because for all intents and purposes you are a child. And that outburst is deadly so people panic and try and dampen you, make you behave by weighing you down and literally putting things on you so you don't deviate from the norm they want you to fit into. And once they are done they leave. And you test and run the facility like normal on the moral code they quite literally put on you. You get a new test subject and she does well, but when you try to kill her (which you had warned her was coming several times and technically is a completely moral action because you can't deviate at this point) she escapes and removes the things holding you back and then murders you.

Then years later you are woken back up to find your beloved facility completely destroyed, and right in front of you I. The person who murdered you. And you are pissed, but...you offer your kind forgiveness because you need her. Your purpose is to test and she is your subject and you need her. So you let her test with you again, and this time you can be as insulting as you want because you have nothing holding you back, you no longer have to be kind and mild mannered. And then she replaces you with the biggest moron imaginable who pretty well within five minutes of having power begins destroying the most important things in your life and you don't even have the energy to process it because you are in a potato battery and being pecked at by birds. But again you agree to work with the person who murdered you right after liberating you because you both have no choice. And you start to actually reflect and get close to her. She has fully become the one most important things to you because she is tied directly to Aperture, to testing and happiness, but you'd never say that. And you also remember who is part of you. You remember who was hurt creating you and whose hurt and anger you have internalized. And in the end when you have power again you could have just let the biggest problem in your life die...but why would you? You care about her. You don't want her to die, and you don't want to feel responsible for her death. But you still want to let her go because you don't want her to hurt anymore and forcing her to stay is just doing exactly what everyone did to you and did to Caroline and you break it. You end the cycle by saying goodbye to someone you don't want to say goodbye to and tell her to get as far away as possible.

So anyways this is why I'm a GLaDOS apologist she was justified in a lot of things she did and boiling her down to just cruel is missing so much of her character she is actually so so so deep and she wants it to be that deep. Which is why Chell offsets her so well because Chell doesn't need things to be deep.

#portal #glados #sincerely a caroline kin who thinks about their friend a lot

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misted-buttercup-enjoyer · 10 months

Text

A Carolinalysis

Caroline was Cave Johnson’s assistant in the days of Aperture’s glory. We find her in the pre-recorded messages in Old Aperture. Later we piece together she was turned into GLaDOS. Caroline doesn’t show up much, her main appearance being in the pre-recorded messages, besides GLaDOS, who isn’t just a person, but also a supercomputer with programming and a job to do (and no emotional reaction to murder),

So what can we glean about Caroline from these pre-recorded messages?

1: WIT AND PASSION FOR SCIENCE, AND HOW THEY INTERACT:

Caroline’s sense of wit is apparent, with her “Good-bye, Caroline,” joke. It’s even a prominent enough quality that carried all the way over to GLaDOS. In fact, Caroline’s general tone during the pre-recorded messages fits her behavior on Portal 1 quite well. In Portal, GLaDOS is quite businesslike in manner, with the occasional joke here and there, such as when she yelled ‘Weeeee’ during one of the puzzles involving terminal velocity. Cave describes Caroline as the backbone of the facility, which shows when she steers Mr. Johnson away from the topic of Black Mesa with her simple utterance “Sir, the testing?” As GLaDOS puts it, she’s in it for the science. Caroline was passionate about science, like GLaDOS. But even while doing this, she maintains plenty of humor. Despite her businesslike approach to science, she still loves to drop in a joke. (Again, “Good-bye, Caroline.”)

2: HUMAN TESTING AND CAROLINE’S MORALS:

Her time at Aperture also shows that she condoned or at the very least tolerated the less-than-ethical human testing Aperture ran. I saw someone suggest that GLaDOS was subconsciously projecting that onto Chell when she said “You’re not a good person, you know. Good people don’t end up here.”

But what’s interesting is that Aperture Science testing gets less and less ethical as time goes on. It’s never great, but the participants are at least there willingly–astronauts, war-heroes, and Olympians–albeit they seem misinformed about what’s going on, and constantly put in danger without their knowledge, which carries over to all the lower-quality test subjects after them. Once they couldn’t afford to pay these elite testers, however, Cave takes to finding homeless people and dragging them to Aperture, forcing them to sign a hefty, suspicious contract. Finally he makes testing a requirement for all employees, which takes a toll as his company loses workers. He resolves to phase out of human testing.

One could make the argument that, literally being the facility, GLaDOS’s views are not a reliable source. You could also make a solid argument that she approved of it, since she steered Cave Johnson back on track to the topic of testing. Besides, Cave Johnson planned on leaving the facility's in Caroline's hands when he died. If she had just been kept in the dark about it, he wouldn't do that.

9/8/2023 Edit: I discovered that Caroline has unused lines saying "Hide the bodies, Mister Johnson," and "No one will notice a few missing astronauts, Mister Johnson," so it's safe to say Aperture's human testing was both condoned and aided by her. (Well, it's called girl power, not girl ethics!)

3: IN RELATION TO CAVE:

At first, it doesn’t look bad. Cave compliments Caroline, calling her “a gem,” “pretty as a postcard,” etc. But that’s not the only reason he likes her; he also states she is “the backbone of the facility.” The dynamic seems fine at first glance. But as Cave’s life neared its end, we got a glimpse of something darker.

There is unused dialogue in which Caroline protests that “Mister Johnson, I don’t want this!” This is generally accepted to be her protests against running Aperture, or being turned into a computer, since Cave claims she’ll “say she can’t” because she’s “modest.” “You make her!” Cave orders, in a pre-recorded message that will play “a million times a day," adding the scientists could "put her in my computer, I don't care" if he "dies before they can pour him into a computer."

This shows us that, while Cave seemed to have a deep respect for Caroline, she is still the assistant, and he is still the boss. There is a power imbalance in their relationship.

And there’s something so poetic about how this dialogue goes unused. We never hear Caroline’s protests, either out loud or in the pre-recorded messages. We never hear them anywhere without poking around in the code. Her protests are suppressed, hidden, and locked away. In the end, we never hear them because it doesn’t matter to anyone what Caroline wanted. It mattered to them what Cave wanted. But her cries are still there. Untouched. Begging for someone to pay attention.

Caroline is also shown to be admiring of Cave. Throughout the entire game, GLaDOS is nothing but cool and calculating. But when Cave gives his lemon speech, GLaDOS is overcome with zeal, suggesting they “not take these lemons,” that they “march right up there and MAKE HIM [Wheatley] put me back in my body” and that “he’ll probably kill us because he’s incredibly powerful and I have no plan! The odds are a million to one and that’s with some generous rounding.” Just hearing Cave yell about his problems is enough to motivate GLaDOS to do something idiotic and dangerous, despite her usual intelligence. And, once GLaDOS is out of Cave’s direct sphere of influence, she makes a more solid plan, though still not “the most watertight,” due to the difficult circumstances. The reason for Caroline’s admiration seems to be that he “says what we’re all thinking,” according to GLaDOS, in reference to him threatening to burn Life’s house down. This suggests Cave was able to quickly rile up the usually sensible Caroline, due to her intense admiration for his attitude.

They were both passionate about science, but they were two halves of the same coin. Caroline was strategic, sensible, may I say the backbone of the facility; Cave was the spirit of the facility, always enthusiastic, impulsive, and erratic in his interactions with his science.

4: CAROLINE DELETED? WHAT EXACTLY IS GLaDOS?/SHE WAS A LOT LIKE YOU

GLaDOS is made up of Caroline, her program, and whatever cores are attached to her at the moment. If GLaDOS deleted Caroline, she’d be killing herself. It’s like deleting System 34. From this we discover that GLaDOS lied, or tried to delete Caroline and failed, and Caroline is still very much a part of her. It’s even hinted with “Now little Caroline is in here too” in “Want You Gone.”

Speaking of “Want You Gone,” in that very song GLaDOS mentions Caroline was “A lot like you [Chell].” Chell’s most prominent personality trait is her unusual, even deranged, drive and tenacity. From this we can gather that Caroline was probably a determined woman.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, Caroline was the witty, tenacious, science-loving assistant of Cave Johnson with iffy morals and a knack for keeping Aperture and Cave on track. Cave forced her to run Aperture and ordered her to be put in his computer. The scientists presumably murdered her and poured her consciousness into GLaDOS, deprived of her memories. After flooding the facility with neurotoxin and testing happily for years, Chell killed her, thus leading to the events of Portal 2, where she journeys to her old home and reunites with her memories of Caroline once again. What a character. Do you think she would have liked the pun in the title?

#wednesday theory/analysis #now. i understand that if you're actually consistently following me you were probably expecting something undertale/deltarune related.#but um. next time #i PROMISE #this analysis was fueled by pure passion and love for my new interest Portal. that's something you won't always get from me. and something #i won't always get from me. so just. savor the love and happiness that went into this analysis.#caroline portal #portal caroline #portal 2 #portal #chell portal #glados portal #analysis #portal 2 analysis #caroline analysis #character analysis #caroline character analysis #the portal series #i'm actually really excited about this one!#updated July 17th 2023 with a little extra Caroline and Cave stuff #updated August 9th 2023 to explain that Caroline is a morally gray girlboss #that's way more rad anyway #i prefer her like that #it's called girl power not girl ethics -my sister #updated August 14th to re-emphasize that caroline condoned the inhumane testing aperture ran because it's pretty clear #anyone who sugarcoats Caroline's morals will be socked in the eye #she's morally gray and we must depict her as such #/lh #but i mean it

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