#and caused the rescas with

[gordon-freeman-phd]

It's time to suit up, Gordon.

[dinokiwii]

would anybody be interested in my wildlife center hlvrai au…

[pistachi0art]

So for the infection AU, does it happen during the ResCas, before, after, or an alternate timeline where this IS the ResCas? Like, what happened?

It happens after the ResCas! Just with the unfortunate addition of a xen creature getting through with the parasite already hitching a ride inside it-

Gonna go off on a small tangent, but the parasites have the typical effects on their xen hosts as to their human ones- blindness, disorientation, psychosis before- full takeover from the worms. Their favorite host are houndeyes! It’s pretty obvious why though. (Natural predators are headcrabs- competing for a host is difficult.)

So let’s say something small- a snark- already infected got through and nipped a scientist…

That’s where this all really begins.

[jellyloveru]

glip glorp - here comes the rescas babyyy

[halflifebutawesome]

The thing about gordon is that like everyone tends 2 write him being kind of shy and demure and awkward and like. Not really enjoying his job but like. this motherfucker WANTED to work at Black Mesa. Like he was so excited about it. didnt he canonically take the job because he was bored .

He RACED Barney in the VENTILATION often enough that they told Alyx about it . He quote unquote “drank soda and ran around fhe office, sidestepping frequently”.

i think everyone tends to think all the other scientists hate him because hes new and young and kind of a prodigy but no they all hate him because hes like sprinting around and causing problems. shes in black mesa on shift like [signed] Im Gordon Freeman welcome to jackass and then he vaults over the elevator shaft

hes like a little freak even before the rescas hes drawing little doodles on sticky notes and blowing peoples food up in the microwave. Hes blinking at everyone with his big green eyes and running around AND THEN HE MEETS BARNEY and theyre WORSE. gordon freeman comes into work with cupped hands and theres just a lizard in there and it gets loose. [signed] Bing bong fuck ya life (releasing a bird into admin)

[xx-hb-xx]

And of course the second part for those who know the song..

late to the party but here is a contribution to celebrate hl2’s 20th

[j6e-y]

oh my godddd guys benrey is the last of his kind guys this just clicked in my brain oh my god. .

its implied hes from xen cause of the ending, but somehow was in black mesa before ResCas happened*. and xen is meant to be a safe haven for creatures that were endangered cos of combine. which implies all of benreys relatives friends ect are DEAD. in the final battle benrey says he was trying to stop gordon reaching COS HE KNEW what would happen. he knew gman's plans. he knewwww and he didnt want to loose his friends again. guys he was trying to protect them and gordon was sooo mean... IF THIS THEORY IS RIGHT HL2VRAI WILL BE TRAGIC!

* i like to headcanon he was in black mesa cause of previous tests they were doing. maybe benrey is a test subject who was given a "job" as a guard cause of his strong ability to not die? this would kind of make the theory of his kind cancel itself out if they really just don't die, but maybe there's a way to kill them that the combine knew?

guys this is tragic

[ufolliegy]

Rescas and Passport. Not based on any preexisting characters. at all.

a bit about them under the cut

Rescas

A disgraced theoretical physicist. Pre-War Rescas was blacklisted from the sciences after causing an unfortunate lab accident that left many of his Cybertronian brothers dead. Now he fights alongside the Autobots, trying to prove himself as a respectable bot of science.

Bad luck seems to follow him wherever he goes. Some bots even warning others to steer far and clear of him, calling him a bad luck omen.

Rescas is also a monoformer. He used to have an alt mode, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it seems like his transformation cog has recently stopped working. weird.

Passport

What’s there to say about Passport…He’s a low ranking Decepticon grunt.

Before the war he worked as a security guard at one of the largest research facilities on Cybertron. He would spend his days pestering faculty about meaningless rules (ones he’d made up on the spot) and slacking off with the other guards.

Now a Decepticon, he doesn’t care much for the cause. He just wants things to go back to how they used to be. He just wants to go home and play games, man.

[portalpilled]

my half life headcanons are so silly cause i think freehoun is a thing but not in hl2

like i think pre rescas they were totally a thing, but after the events of hl1 and gordons put in stasis for 20 yrs, in his eyes its only be like. what a few days? a week?

and hes still trying to process all of this shit and when he remeets with barney its kinda like

barney wants to rekindle what they had but gordon personally feel like hes lost all humanity in himself, especially with how everyone sees him as almost a god among men

so i think like at first it'd kinda go well but every once in awhile barney would say something that would be a little too much of 'oh you're the one free man' rhetoric and itd make gordon feel detached from the one guy who he thought saw him as him and not The Gordon Freeman.

Which i think is a nice way and parallel between them, considering barney in hl2 kind of represents humanity and the human spirit considering all of his antics in the series have been about helping others (hell even in blue shift).

where you have gordon who feels detached from humanity and barney who literally represents humanity, them being exes would be like, gordon actually being detached from humanity idk i think its cute

thx for listening heres a doodle

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

do you have any more barney calhoun headcanons

Yeah! i'll do some pre-rescas hcs-

-He's scared of elevators but refuses to admit it

-Hates his job. a lot. Always gets shit from scientists and higher ups, gets told to do things that aren't a part of his guard job, and overall just feels claustrophobic and uncomfortable in the BMRF. Gordon kinda helped these feelings after he was hired, but Barney still wishes he were anywhere else

-Doesn't show his emotions very much, and always speaks kinda monotone, making him seem rude even when he isn't meaning to be (and making him sound even more rude when he is)

-Is friends with a bit of his co-workers, especially Otis. plays poker with them on weekends or more accurately when they finally have days off.

-When the resonance cascade happened, he reacted. not as much as you'd think. It was almost like he was expecting something bad to happen at some point and just wasn't surprised. still tried to help as many people as he could during it though

-Has had to call other security officers for help getting himself or Gordon (or both) out of the ventilation system multiple times

-Gordon and Kleiner are the only two scientists Barney respects. (cause they're not assholes) He'd add Gina and Colette to that list if he interacted with them more.

-Stands up straight even when not at work just because he's so used to doing so on duty

[hollypies]

Hey! Whats the plot/general idea behind the flowercrown au? :0

SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!!

So, the basics is that each time Gordon dies everything resets back to right after the rescas explosion. However his body sprouts flowers from the wound that ended up killing him, each different flower represents a different person.

Purple = Dr. Coomer

Blue = Bubby

White = benrey (it's sort of a blue purple ?)

Yellow = Tommy

Each time everything resets, more flowers sprout, becoming apart of Gordon's body. And I do mean apart ! Gordon can get energy from whatever natural light his flowers pick up, and if a petal is pulled it bleeds. It's kind of body horror ? I think. He can still see out of his flower eye, much to everyone's confusion

The reason is that Gordon, much like everyone else in the science team, isn't exactly human. The main difference is that he really, genuinely believes he's human. And when the Rescas punched a hole through time and space it triggered something in his subconscious that allows him to return when he dies.

Sort of like how Benrey does it, but Gordon isn't really in control, he's just desperate and stubborn to make it out of Black Mesa. At first everyone thinks it's the rescas specifically that's causing the flowers, but after each time Gordon dies they remember the previous timeline a little more.

The tricky thing is that Gordon is also blocking out his own memories of dying, and the timeline resetting also makes it difficult to remember, even if he's technically the one resetting (not on purpose, he's not exactly in control). When he comes across an area he died in though, little.. leaks start to flow through. So while the Betrayal only happens once, each time he passes through that area he remembers it happen, like some really messed up deja vu.

He never really gets his arm back, and after he gets the mini gun the flowers also sprout over it. Yeowch

Also the flowers that represent the science team are personal to Gordon, like how you associate your friend with like. A certain color or item!

The flowers also sprout around Black Mesa! Not just on Gordon, although he doesn't knkw that he's the reason it's happening. He feels better in the flower rooms, and if the flowers are present there usually isn't any threat (the flowers absorbed any hostiles but shhhhh don't tell the science team that)

Tommy, Gman and Benrey are the only ones that know that time is being messed up at first, but Tommy doesn't know why until the last "run". Since Gman is outside of reality he's not as affected, and Tommy can tell due to being related to Gman (Tommy isn't really human lol), and Benrey... Benrey has their own rules. In the end everyone would figure it out, including Gordon.

He doesn't take it well, but this au does have a happy ending :)

[gordon-freeman-phd]

man, i wonder what the emergency handbook for the presumable school system that is in black mesa looks,

like there has to be some sort of school given how far black mesa must be from the nearest school and theres more solid evidence given that eli says he got alyx out of black mesa, And since its been about 20 years after the resonance cascade and alyx is 24, that means that she should wouldve been between 3-4 years old, meaning she wouldve been in preschool, so schools, bare minimum day care, must exist

so back on topic, the emergency situation set up, brcuz ignoring something as catatrophic a the rescas, there are many dangerous things inside black mesa that the school system would have to account for, such as poisonous gasses getting thru the air ducts (and past any of the other fail safes) explosions from whatever materials there are, radiation leakage, acidic liquids potentially reaching the school, air disasters given the actual airport black mesa has, tram system failures, aliens escaping and wrecking havoc, nuclear meltdowns, space rockets falling and hitting the school, the damn breaking and causing water issues or flooding issues, hell if the schools under ground they may even have issues with thr air cycling systems breaking, like so damn many emergency situations tjat i cant even begin to imagine given my lack of knowledge of science related disasters and the specifics of the facility,

so the hand book must be miles thick, and the amount of paperwork parents would have to sign and aknowledge beyond normal schooling stuff to even bring families on site rather than send them off somehwere else,

so in regard to the rescas, the scientists clearly knew of its existance and potential hazards (barring the alien invasion) so what would the teachers know of it, frankly how much can the company really prepare the teachets for since they lilely wouldnt have full clearance on everything in the facility, would they instead have training on how to react but only codes attached to each one rather than actual knowledge of the threat itself (this is likely imo) so in thr case of the rescas, something that seems somewhat less classified, i imagine a "simple" evacuation procedure would occur, get to an evac point, wait for air lifts or some kind of large transport vehicle to move the kids, how many faculty would be required to stay behind incase of a missing unaccounted for headcount to search? would security guards do that or just be support, would a fire fight team also be there since the rescas seems to involve a lot of fires and explosions? but looking at the rescas as we know it happens, would the teachers have last minute changes to their regular evac points given the fact that the hecu would be involved in this contingency and they need to kill everyone so having the kids and teachers all in oen place would be conveinant, or would the regular evac point be fine they just wouldnt send evac teams, how would they account for parents wanting to take thwir kids themselves incase of a facility wide evc order? do parents know where the evac point is?

and also on the topic of the wide variety of emergencies teachers would have to be prepped for, how do they drill for all of these? particularly the non evac ones since that wohld be able to cover many situations, i imagine not every situation can be covered by the same thing if its non evac, or would they just balnket evac for everything just to be safe but instead the evac points in practice would just change depending, (frankly why wasnt there a contingency plan in place for a rescas in the first llace if it was such a high list concern with the type of equipment secC is working with, seems like an issue, or is all their contingencies relying on communication so heavily that since it went down they couldnt follow procedure, this seems possible given elis line about the lack of comms)

many such questions

[randomgooberness]

WHATS UP. SORRY THIS COMIC IS 15 IMAGES LONG LMAO I HAVEN'T USED THE NEW POST EDITOR YET SO THIS IS FORMATTED BADLY. Here's a scene from the hlvraifm au! It takes place not long after the scene where Mind was mean to Gordon about breaking his knee GFDHFDKSJ

THE BASIC CONTEXT HERE IS: Gordon shot at the skeleton that only He Can See, and Mind was already at his breaking point because his withdrawals were setting him off- so nausea with the sudden rage and screaming meant he got sick. He and Gordon have a talk! It doesn't go well(at first)!

If you want to see this conversation resolve itself, the rest is written by me and @shineyfish under the cut! Just read the warnings lol

WARNING: THE REST OF THIS SCENE CONTAINS SOMEONE TAKING DRUGS. IT IS CONTROLLED BUT STILL UNADVISED! It should be obvious but we do NOT condone it LMAO

"Just- just forget about it."

"No, I-! I-I want to know- I want to help-" Gordon said, scooting closer. "And- and you're sick, too- is that what you're mad at me for? That I- that I didn't notice? I-I don't know what even caused it you and I are the only ones who haven't drank the fucking...gross sewage water- but we can- man, I-I'm sure we can take another rest day if we need- or- or I could try to carry you? Dr. Coomer probably could, too-"

Mind was shaking, shuffling backward a little. His eyes were wide as he stared at Gordon, expression filled with fear.

"I'm, I'm good! Get the- back away, please. I need space."

If he wasn't paralyzed with fear he would run. He would run so far from this place, aliens be damned. He needed to get out of here alive. He needed to get out. 

When he said he wanted more answers about him, he didn't mean like this. This just gave him more questions, and made his teeth hurt. 

"I'm just in pain. A lot of fuckin' pain. I can keep going."

Gordon backed up, looking down guiltily. 

"Shit- sorry," he muttered. "...I... I-I dunno if you're...if you've got like, a fever- or how I'd check right now- but-" 

He paused and furrowed his brows. 

"...no...no your suit would treat you for that. Your suit would give you medicine if you got a virus or something- so you're..." 

He blinked, tilting his head the other way now, looking at Mind again. 

"...The fucks going on with you, man?"

Mind’s breath hitched. Shit.

"What are you, a fuckin' cop? Get off my ass about it, I don't need to tell you anything."

He wheezed again, raising his hand to his mouth. God, he felt horrible. Everything ached. He needed something. Pills, morphine, god he will take getting into a fight with someone just for the adrenaline at this point. 

"God I hate this."

Gordon stared at him, worry in his expression before his brows furrowed, and he huffed out his nose, pursing his lips. 

He looked away and opened his mouth to speak, failing a few times in a row, as if he were trying to say something more calm and nice, before looking right back at Mind, lips drawn back in a snarl. 

"You DO need to tell me!" He snapped. "So I can fucking HELP you! You just THREW UP and you expect me not to fucking do anything!?" 

He made an angry, and pained noise, turning his hands towards the ground so they could push him up onto his feet- which made him hiss in pain, but he stood, staring down at Mind with gritted teeth. 

"You're fucking hiding shit and it's setting us back! If you- if you can't trust me how the fuck am I supposed to trust you!?"

That made Mind shut the fuck up. Very suddenly he was Listening Intently, shoulders raised and curling in on himself.

He felt sick again. How his stupid body could even do that to him after already throwing up was a wonder and a curse.

His voice was very quiet when he answered.

"You wanna fuckin know so badly? Fine. I need Oxy, I haven't had pills in days and was banking on the stash I had here, but someone must have fuckin' snitched, cause I couldn't find shit in my locker. Everything hurts and aches, I feel sick and gross and I have had a killer fuckin headache since the stupid rescas even happened."

He growled at Gordon slightly, defensive.

"I wasn't gonna bring shit up because it doesn't matter. I've dealt with withdrawals before, I'm not useless. I know what I'm doing."

Gordon flinched, and blinked at him. 

"...Ohhh. Oh shit-" He said, looking to the ground. "...Ohhh fuck that's- not good! Okay- well, thanks for telling me-" He paused. "...Your suit has morphine, y'know."

Mind's expression withered.

"I am... I am very aware. I'm apparently not in enough pain for it to give me it."

God, he was not having a good time here.

"...Uh," Gordon played with his hands. "...I...look, I-I've never really- gotten the time to look at the blueprints for the HEV suit other than the uh. medical module- mostly so I could uh- know what the fuck it was doing- I...I can see if I can...trick yours into giving you a little? If it'll help?"

Mind yawned again, but his eyes went wide.

"I don't know if I fully trust you to do that."

He weighed his options though, and man he really needed something.

"... Sure."

"...Alright, cool, uh-" 

Gordon moved to scoot closer, before pausing. 

"...Do you still need space, or?"

Mind didn't answer, instead just moving closer to Gordon himself. Being in the same position was starting to kill his muscles.

Gordon sat there, still playing with his hands. 

"...Uh, y-you need to turn around."

He did so without complaint!... Towards Gordon. He was hissing practically the entire time about his joints.

Gordon let out a small, good-natured chuckle. 

"Thanks," he said, before tilting his head at the module. Four screws...

Ideally, he really, really would've liked a screwdriver right now. But he didn't have one. 

...He did have a combat knife he found off of a soldier, though-! 

Twirling it in his hand a few times, he looked at the screws, lined up the tip of it, and made a noise of triumph when it fit! He didn't fucking expect that! Oh my god- why did it-? Nevermind. Didn't matter, he got right to work unscrewing the cover.

"What is that noise for, what did you do-"

Mind was so incredibly uncomfortable with the position he was in. He did not like having potential enemies out of his line of sight, but he couldn't complain about shit or he wasn't getting that sweet sweet relief.

"Nothing- nothing I just- didn't expect the-" Oh, don't tell Mind you had a knife against his back. "Don't worry about it, we're making progress." 

He took off the cover, and if Mind could see him, his eyes would light up a little at the sight. He stuck his tongue out as he focused, trying to be quick for the guy but genuinely fascinated by the machinery. Black Mesa sucked, but the soldiering of the wires was amazing. 

After a few moments, he found a small screen, and an even smaller keypad- annoyingly small. He made a noise of frustration as he decided to use the tip of the knife instead of pressing them with his gloved, giant fingers. 

"Shit...The manual override is locked with a passcode," he muttered. "Uh...Hmm. Okay, gimme a sec, I'm going hackermode."

Mind snorted, trying to keep himself from shaking too much.

"What the fuck do you mean by that-"

"It means I'm trying to crack the damn passcode. Sorry, this might take a WHILE, it- wait what." 

He paused, before letting out a long, long sigh. 

"Was the passcode SERIOUSLY 1234?"

Mind Cackled.

"THERE IS NO WAY THAT IS THE PASSCODE. YOU'RE FUCKING WITH ME."

He was in so much pain. And the number holding him back from pain relief was the easiest to guess thing in the world.

"That doesn't even surprise me! Knowing this place, it's probably the code to other things too."

"Let's- lets use that code for everything, now. Fuck it!" Gordon laughed, a grin on his face. 

There was a few rounds of beeping, before he let out a sigh. 

"...Okay, uh- th-the suit uh, has the automatic amount to um- it's automatically a decently high dosage for uh, your weight, I think? It should be the same amount I was given, but uh, I-I'm worried about...it messing with you too much. Are you sure you'll be alright? I can lower the dosage," 

The expression Mind made at the thought of lowering the dosage was something to behold. It took everything in him to be casual about this.

"I can handle it. I don't think this thing accounts for muscle and joint pain, and if it does the threshold is incredibly fuckin high."

"...Okay, man, but uh- let me know if you need me to- I-I dunno. Lemme know if we need to stop for the day cause you feel too fucked up, okay...?" He said. "...Are you ready?"

"Gordon. Please just give me it."

Mind sounded a little out of it.

Gordon stared at him for a moment. 

"...alright man." 

He pressed the confirm button, and watched Mind carefully, making sure he had no adverse reactions.

Mind let out a shaky breath, honest to god about to cry over this. Finally.

It took a minute for the morphine to kick in, but the second that he could feel it he visibly relaxed, pupils dilated. It wasn't as high as his normal dosage for shit like this, but it was close enough to get rid of the pain, and for that alone he was thankful. If he can get through a bit more of Black Mesa without feeling dizzy or sick, he'd be golden.

"Thank you."

Gordon felt himself swallow and looked at the ground. 

"...Right, yeah, of course-" He said. "...Sorry it took me so long to notice you were going through it, man." 

He started to put the cover back on, screwing everything back into place.

" 's fine, wasn't exactly jumping to tell you 'bout it."

Mind seemed... Chiller, honestly. A little disconcerting from his previous demeanor but that's drugs for you. 

He was tapping against the ground now, mostly just to do something with his hands.

"...I can get why. I-I'm a little worried, but I'm not going to judge you, or anything." 

He let out a sigh once the panel was back on, tight as he could get it, and he rubbed at his face. 

"...Are you still mad at me?"

Mind stretched a little, shoulders popping.

"Nnnope. It's just a clip anyway, we'll probably find like... A million more from the military around here."

"Wh- really?? Just like that??" Gordon blinked a few times, tilting his head. Mind turned to face him, a little confused.

"Yeah? Told you, man, 's just the clip I was pissed off about."

"...Okay, that's...alright." He let out a sigh, before struggling to get up again. He grimaced, still not liking walking on that knee. He took a moment to adjust, before stiffening, staring at something behind Mind, who looked over as well, seeing nothing.

After a few moments, Gordon shook his head and whispered something to himself, something about not questioning your own insanity. 

"Let's try to catch up!" He said, eyeing the pipes the others had walked on, and climbing on.

Mind stood up, shaking his hands out a bit as he did. 

He looked at the pipes with a grimace.

"Y' sure you can climb that with your fucked up leg? Don't think the HEV suit can protect you if you fall into the radiation pit."

“I’ll just take it slow,” Gordon huffed. ”Fuck it, right? We’re both drugged up enough, we can figure it out.”

[scarletfire03]

Oh no theres 2 of them 😨 the freeman brothers with their freaky eyes

I headcanon that gordons got an identical twin and that twin is called liam and he has a child (hence the little baby pic in the locker)

Also post rescas liam wouldve aged normally cause he wasnt on gmans radar so uh yes identical twins with a 20 year age gap. 47yo freeman meets 27yo freeman

Also he works for breen (forced or else his wife n child wouldve been game ended)

[jellyloveru]

glip glorp - here comes the rescas babyyy

[can-i-see-your-passport-please]

stanley parable? haha morew like stanley parallels am i righ-[GETS PUNCHED]

ok ok bad jokes aside TELL ME ABOUT THE PARALLELS IN THE FUNNY CROSSOVER AU MY EARS ARE WIDE THEFUCK OPEN !!! ! ! ! !!!

OKAY OKAY SO SO SO. The main parallels come down to the ARCS the characters go through, so let's discuss that first.

(General content warning for themes of the world being a game)

To put it very simply: the Narrator's character development is him learning he isn't as in control as he thought he is. He may have console commands, he may be the writer of the story, he may have some level of control over what the parable does, but he is no god. He is as bound to the code as anything else in the game.

Meanwhile, Gordon's character development is him realizing he's an AI- not just an AI, but one shaped by an outside force that sometimes controls his body, movements, and mind. It triggers an existential crisis in him, and also causes him to gain a deeper understanding of WHY Dr Coomer was so freaked out- the player knew why, but Gordon doesn't. But it also gives Gordon this different conflict- one of learning that his free will would regularly just get sucked away.

The Narrator and Gordon's arcs parallel each other in that they both realize they're not in full control. The Narrator has some, but not full control over the Parable, which infuriates him because he is shown to have this intense need for control- control over Stanley, control over his story, control over the building, control over his audience's perspective on his game, control over EVERYTHING. The Curator even pointed this out in the Museum End, about how Stanley and the Narrator wish to destroy and control each other.

And he keeps getting denied that control. Tries to control Stanley, that never fucking works. Tries to control his story, Stanley just refuses to go along with it. Tries to control the building, and it just shifts and warps around him, refusing to let him do anything. Tries to control his audience's perspective on the game... well, we know what happened there.

Gordon too has a need for control, but to a lesser extent. Gordon's (mostly) human, he knows he doesn't have full control over everything and never will, and is mostly chill with that (which translates to "never really thinking about it much," because how many of you think about the level of control you have over your life). And he does try to kinda control what the Science Team do, if "trying to get them to not die" counts.

However, he takes a level of comfort in the fact that at the very least, he has control over himself. He has control over his own body, his own mind, his own emotions. Sure, his temper is pretty quick to trigger, but he is the One Sane Man, and he can control himself.

AND THEN HE REALIZES HE LITERALLY CAN'T. His entire personality was shaped by a being beyond his comprehension, and all the control he thought he had over himself was an illusion. And at any second, all the control he CURRENTLY has could be completely sucked away, and his brain could be overwritten by something literally beyond their comprehension.

So tldr: the Narrator wants control over everything, and Gordon wants control over himself, and both learn that they've never really had that.

Now, Benrey and Stanley's parallels.

Benrey's character development is basically him slowwwly starting to have a complete mental breakdown. He's been hanging on okay for a while- he's hanging out with the Science Team, Gordon can be in the same room as him sometimes, he's not as much as a wreck as he was immediately post-Xen (though that's not saying much). But the strings that have been holding his mental state up are slowly but surely fraying, and he cannot hold on forever- especially if he keeps refusing to process the INCREDIBLY TRAUMATIC EVENTS THAT OCCURRED DURING THE RESCAS AND XEN.

Stanley's character development is... So, one of my favorite interpretations of Stanley back when I first got into TSP was that Stanley was so, so idiotically stubborn. And a facet of that stubbornness was he REFUSED to directly communicate with words, instead communicating through body language, actions, and drawings. I'm going with something similar, and his arc is being forced to fucking communicate sometimes. He eventually HAS to communicate not through drawings, but more through sign language, and he HATES having to use words to communicate.

Benrey and Stanley's arcs also parallel each other in terms of the fact that both of them need to overcome just how fucking stubborn they are. Stanley despises the Narrator while also caring for him deeply, but admitting he cares is giving the Narrator some level of power over him. And he refuses to ever give him any power. They are in an eternal game, and giving the Narrator power is giving him an advantage, a bigger chance for an ultimate victory, which Stanley will never give.

Meanwhile Benrey loves so deeply, so painfully, and desperately wants to help and be helped, love and be loved, but he would genuinely rather claw his heart out than EVER admit that. Because there's a part of him that's very aware that everyone would stop viewing him as the pure evil villain he "knows" he is if they knew how much pain he was in. He does not want to be loved or cared for in the slightest. After all, since when do bad guys deserve that? (And also Benrey's a little asshole <333)

Tldr: Benrey's inability to communicate with Gordon is primarily driven by love and self-hatred, and Stanley's inability to communicate with the Narrator is primarily driven by rage and spite.

So the main parallels are between Gordon and the Narrator, and Benrey and Stanley. However, there are smaller scale parallels that are just as important and interesting.

Benrey and the Narrator are one of those smaller scale parallels. They're both beings beyond human who are aware of it's a game, who are far, far more powerful than their silly gay person they like tormenting affectionately. (Also they've both refused to process two unfathomably traumatic events- for the Narrator, it's the skip button end, for Benrey, it's Xen.)

But there's a crucial difference there- the Narrator has a deep need for control, while Benrey doesn't. The Narrator needs to control as much as he can, especially since he already has this much power, which tends to be addictive.

But Benrey doesn't really care that much- his mindset is far more akin to positive nihilism than the Narrator's. Benrey just explores his powers, has a little fun, acts a little silly.

(And ironically, this gives him far more control than the Narrator has. Being that obsessed with control and power doesn't let you accept that there are things you won't be able to control. Benrey's accepted that, the Narrator hasn't.)

Stanley and Gordon are far more obvious parallels. Both are player characters, both are somewhat controlled by the player (see: Not Stanley end), both have a lot of contradictory emotions of simultaneous love and hate towards their powerful obviously gay sillyboy.

But the main difference is that while Gordon reasonably freaks out about being the player character, Stanley doesn't have much reaction to it. Partially because he's been living in the parable for an eternity, and partially because he's kinda... shut off his ability to let himself feel anything about it. After all, if he starts feeling something about the fact that he's the player character, he'll have an existential crisis, and his whole house of cards is gonna come tumbling down.

Meanwhile Gordon straight-up can't shut off his emotions about it. Gordon feels everything- love, hate, anger, fear- and he feels it so much that it's painful. Stanley's completely disconnected from his emotions, but Gordon is painfully connected to them. He might TRY to push shit aside, he might TRY to not think about it, but he really can't avoid things as long as Stanley can. It's just in his nature- he's far more emotional than Stanley is.

PLEASE KEEP SENDING ME ASKS ABT THIS AU I HAVE NORMAL EMOTIONS ABOUT IT