#hev suit back at it again!

[halflifebutawesome]

BEHOLD! FOR THE SECOND TIME, THE GBVRAI LINEUP! now with another weird old dude!

waves my hands around vaguely I wanted to make a nicer looking lineup and more coherent post actually explaining the au. I've now made 2 gbvrai lineups but never a plain old hlvrai lineup. Whatever.

There's a complete AU explanation and individual character profiles (?) under the cut! check it out! ASK ME ABOUT IT !!! SMILES!!!!!

The basic gist of this au is that the science team, are a group of ghost hunting paranormal researchers. The Ghostbusters. You mightve heard of them. This isn't a 1 for 1 au where certain characters take the role of others, it's more just. What if the science team existed in the Ghostbusters universe. They're just the Ghostbusters now.

On a particularly odd case, they bust a ghost that seems... off. It's sentient, it's talking back, and it's psychokinetic energy is off the charts.

Thinking nothing of it, they return to the firehouse and prep the trap for containment disposal. Gordon's the new guy, so he's the unlucky dude who's been assigned the job of disposing of the traps. All the while the ghost will NOT shut up. It's weirdly powerful and seems mostly unbothered. It's name is Benry, and he's a little freak.

the ghost containment unit has been unstable for a while, overfilled with ghosts, but they have to dispose of Benry somehow, so they go ahead with it.

In this AU I'm kind of combining the Resonance Cascade with the Manhattan Crossrip (the Manhattan crossrip is the big scary ghost event that happens at the end of GB1). Basically what happens is that Benrys weirdly powerful ghostly energy, combined with an unstable ghost containment unit, tears a big rip in the fabric between the ghost realm and ours, letting all sorts of ghouls and specters free.

Imagine the Resonance Cascade, with all the aliens getting out and ravaging Black Mesa, but it's a bunch of ghosts getting out and ravaging New York. Gordon and the rest of the team have to fight their way through the ghost filled streets of NYC, and close the crossrip.

Heres some closeups and more individual info/thoughts for the gang!!

GORDON FREEMAN! The new guy. Again, this is less a direct 1 for 1 swap au kind of deal, and more just putting these guys in situations. Gordon's HEV suit, tho, I wanna talk about.

In Ghostbusters canon, they DO have a weird fucked up hazard suit. It first appears in the TRGB episode "Xmas Marks The Spot", where Egon uses it to travel into the ghost realm. I know it makes another appearance in the comics, in a way that's more HEV-esque, but I never finished the comics so idk. It's real tho.

I imagine here that the ghost containment unit is more like the reactor in half life, where it's hazardous to be around for too long, probably bcos of like. I don't know. Concentrated psychokinetic energy. Sure. In any case he needs to wear the HEV to use the containment unit.

My design here is taking the chest piece, helmet, gloves and belts and modifying them to look a little more HEV-esque.

Bennyyyy. Benrey benry beny. He's a ghost, as far as they can tell. It would be more appropriate to call him an entity of sorts.

He's not a ghost simply for the fact that he wasn't ever human. He wasn't ever a living person that died. He's some pure, really powerful, concentrate entity/being that leaked through from the ghost realm. He looks like. A guy, for the most part, but he's a mimic. Something pretending to be human. He's been around for a while, and has settled into this form. He's mostly corporeal, but can phase in and out as he pleases (noclipping) Switching from corporeal/incorporeal when it's funny.

He met Tommy when they were both a lot younger, Benry being fresh out of the ghost realm, and have been bestfriends ever since. ☝️ my au my weirdly specific tommybenny dynamic. Dw about it

TOMMY & SUNKIST!!!! Tommy has grown up around ghosts his whole life, and is pretty in-tune with them. This is proven with his bond to Sunkist, who's decidedly not a real dog, and his longtime friendship with Benry.

I gave him the goggles cos. Tommy's my fave and Ray's my fave and I think they're fun. Also cos if it WAS a 1 to 1 swap I would def have Tommy as Ray. Anyway. He's been a part of the Ghostbusters since he was little, like I said he grew up with them and around them. He's really knowledgeable about ghost types and physics. He knows all the ghost rules.

Sunkist isn't like. His dead childhood dog cos that seems. Kind of sad. Instead she's kind of a church Grimm or hell hound. An entity taking the form of a big huge dog that Tommy befriended when he was a kid, and has now kind of bonded to him. She's pretty corporeal as far as ghosts go, and can interact w the physical environment pretty well.

DARNOLD ^^ my friend darnold. Darnolds not usually super involved in the actual ghostbusting, and prefers to stay behind. He's more of the research and tech kind of guy, he studies the readings and takes measurements.

He's interested in psychokinetic energy and ghost residue and all sorts of like. Ghost sciences. Why some people stay behind, why some people just seem to die and disappear, the properties of the ghost realm and the ghosts themselves. Corporeality and degradation of personhood the longer someone's been a ghost.

When the Resonance Crossrip happens, he opts to stay behind and observe the effects of the insane amounts of ghost energy on the corporeal world.

Hes also a transfer over from the ghost engineers! That's a fun thing for me. I love the ghost engineers idc frozen empire gave me everything I wanted

FORZEN. Forzen is... the same thing as Benry. A mimic, something taking the form of a normal ghost to blend in or hide in plain sight.

He came through with the Resonance Crossrip, but obviously like. He knew Benry before (we WERE bestfriends..). He's not as powerful, which is why he wasn't able to sneak through when Benry did. He's also not super corporeal. He can only interact with the physical world if he's exerting a LOT of energy. Prone to flickering in and out of vision.

Upon coming thru the Crossrip, he kind of just. Decided to hang around the firehouse. Didn't wanna go much further, for fear of being ghostbusted and sent back into the containment unit. The source is the last place they'd look for him!

Darnold, who's holed up in the firehouse, is more than delighted to meet a ghost who's sentient and willing to cooperate to do some tests and experimentation to get never before documented results. They bond and they're cutesit. ☝️ DARZEN WIN. hi splash 👋

Dr Coomer and Dr Bubby are two of the three original founders of the Ghostbusters! They've been around for a looooong time. They're also married obviously but that's like a given.

They helped found the Ghostbusters, having met in college while both were studying parapsychology. I imagine their like. Parapsychology -> Ghostbusters pipeline was very in line with how GB1 starts, where they used to work in an academic environment before getting kicked out and founding the GB.

They're also both. Psychic. Because frozen empire has once again given me everything. Coomers got some like. Idk something that lines up with his self awareness in HLVRAI, maybe prophecy? Vauge visions of the future? Bubby has pyrokinesis. Duh.

and... Mr. Coolatta..... Tommy's dad...he was one of the founders along w Coomer and Bubby and at some point he. Died. And is now a reeeally really powerful ghost. maybe from the exposure to ghost energy or smth?

Now hes got gman powers and just kinda hangs around. Pretty corporeal and solid and. Present. For lack of a better word. But he IS a dead guy. Used to be human.

This is why Tommy kind of grew up around ghosts and knows alot about them :) Mr Coolatta is pretty benevolent, and mostly just kind of spooky and fucked up.

And that's. About it? I believe?? PLEAAASE ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS I have so many thoughts. I've been working on this for like 2 months now. Lol.

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

PROJECT: FREEMAN AU

Okay so I already made a post explaining this au a while back, but it recently got a rewrite so I'm gonna go over it again, in a bit more detail this time, so bear with me

Project: Freeman is an au that takes place in a timeline where the resonance cascade never happened, and Black Mesa is instead focusing not just on teleportation technology and studying Xen, but also finding ways to utilize Xen pools and the micro-organisms inside that are proven to have healing properties. Thus, they spend a lot of their time and funding on experimentation on both Xen animals and human beings, studying how the Xen organisms will heal damaged tissue.

(full explanation below since this might get a little long)

After multiple failed tests, they get a new mysterious sponsor, one promising full funding if they do one more test to prove the technology is worthwhile, and Black Mesa begins work on a new HEV suit to utilize it, fitted specifically for the use of Gordon Freeman, unaware he's even taking part in a test of any kind.

After a while, the suit does it's job, healing any and all wounds inflicted on Freeman due to the Xen Micro-Organisms being introduced into the system whenever he is harmed. One test even results in Gordon's death, and he is still resurrected using the suit.

However after that test, the Sponsor was not satisfied, and ordered for a month-long endurance test on the suit, being used non-stop for an extended period of time with various methods of both harm and death used to see how long the suit can keep Freeman alive. After a few days, the suit began to show signs of wear, healing wounds incorrectly and at a rate that seemed more harmful that helpful, all while Gordon is still unaware of what is causing it all.

After that, the suit malfunctioned, causing itself to fuse to Freeman's body, unable to be removed or have its life support systems shut off, leaving Gordon to mutate and deteriorate without a way to get help.

Despite the fact the test was a clear failure, the Sponsor pressured Black Mesa's Administrator to continue until the full month was over, leaving Gordon a pawn to a continuous and agonizing test, unclear when it will end, all while he begins to suspect the ones "helping him" aren't there to help him at all.

[vinegar-rights]

Mmmmngggg now im thinking abt frenrey.. i wanna write headcanons okay oaky

Benrey’s sweet voice comes out with a lot of force when he experiences big emotions, he tries not to vomit basically (and fails) whenever he and freeman kiss at first.

Gordon has had relationships in his past and has had some experience while hes benreys first everything

Benrey thinks that being an asshole and getting gordon riled up counts as flirting. Its the only way he thinks he can get gordons attention

The boss fight was benrey being reluctant to fill the role as the antagonist. He kept asking freeman to go back so everything can stay the same as it was. Like restarting a game before the end so you can experience everything again and again, like getting the perfect run… get all the achievements and badges to get the perfect ending. Slight angst aside benrey really loved all the attention he got from gordon. Since he was the big bad he knew he was all that gordon thought abt lol.

When benrey gets flustered his face gets all hot and a deep color, it then spreads to his ears and shoulders. Gordon doesnt blush that easily, he does like the rare sight of benrey’s usual straight face demeanor melting into a flushed color.

Benrey has tried and failed trying to get gordon out of the hev suit. Its physically impossible to get someone out of something thats integral to the game no matter how touch starved both of them are. Hed claw at the chest piece pitifully in the hopes that there’d be a glitch and feel anything other than metal and rubber.

Benrey is several inches shorter than gordon, he can shapeshift to whatever height he wants but its just a preference.

[tumfullofblue]

Hey idk if u take requests but I saw u in the half life tag and saw that u do nsfw so. Can I perhaps request some Gordon content. But like specifically w him being mostly mute. Other than that u can go wild I’m just starved for Gordon content >.<

✿ ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ Your wish is my command, Nonnie! Although I gotta say, I feel very nervous about writing for Gordon Freeman himself, let alone NSFT, but hey, first time for everything! I hope you enjoy this sweet little ficlet!

Very innapropriate use of HEV armor and possibly drugged??? Gordon! If Xen fauna counts, ofc. ᵔᴥᵔ

Getting out of HEV suit was always quite challenging task. Definitely not one man's job. But you have done it so many times, it felt as easy as breathing. You had to convince Gordon to let him help you the first time - he just shook his head and it took him almost an hour tearing away plate after plate. You have done it faster. And much more gentle. And even though he didn't say a word, warmth in his eyes was the only praise you needed.

The base was quiet at this hour, only a few resistance members patrolling outside and the hum of lights filling the corridors. Gordon has returned... even more silent than usual. Breathing sporadically and immediately setting his path to medical block. Of course you were there - your job was never finished. Glancing at him, you immediately knew that something was wrong. You ran towards him and he signed too you just two words.

‘Inhaled something.’

Gordon didn't resist when you started to drag him back into your room at the far end of sick bay. He was breathing hard, and even with his glasses on his vision was foggy. He only remembered how he'd stumbled into the bloody xen fungi infested building where mushrooms were growing in such huge colonies, covering an entire corridor. Even through the filter in his helmet, Gordon was hit with stifling sweet and dangerous smell. And though he quickly left the infected house and changed the filter for a fresh one..... he knew he'd inhaled too deeply. He felt it in his blood. In his lungs. In his very being.

He let out a deep groan, but shook his head when you asked if he was in pain. He followed you like a puppy on a leash. You sat him down on the bed, quickly looked into his eyes, touched his skin, horrified at how hot his forehead was. How could you tell what he'd inhaled?

«I'll try to give you the standard antidote and I'll… I'll go there myself, you just tell me where to look,” you barely took a hand away when his own locked its fingers around your soft wrist. His bright green eyes burned with some kind of fire. He didn't look sick. And he was definitely feeling much better.... now that you were near him.

Such a pretty little nurse.

“Alright… then let’s get you out of HEV suit at least. You’ll cook alive in that thing,” he allowed you to do that, letting go of your wrist when you thought he was just protective of you. Your fingers switfly pressed on seams and plates, taking the right sleeve of first. Gordon stared at the wall through you, grabbing the blanket on a bed so hard his knuckles turned white. His blood was boiling. He saw more colors in this dully lighted rooom than in a rainbow. And then there was your smell. Goddamit, you smelled nice. He shook his hand again and let out a grumble when your fingers touched a bruised spot on his shoulder. That acted as good as a cover up for his groan as any. He couldn’t think about you this way. You were his friend. You trusted him. Besides, you were so young!..

The fungi definetly affected him. And he wasn’t even scared. Wasn’t in pain. Gordon took your arm just when you were about to start undressing his lower torso. You gasped softly when he just moved it to his cheek and… nuzzled into it. His stubble tickled you and you saw his eyes closing in what one could only describe is bliss. His mouth open slightly when he turned his head to press a kiss into your open palm. Shiver went up your spine. Usually quitre reserved and ever so closed-off scientist now was acting this affectionate. You didn’t know what to think of it. You saw him raising a hand and signing. ‘Need you.’ You thought you mistranslated it. But another open mouthed kiss, then another and his lips started their path up your arm. Moving away the sleeve of white lab coat, teeth grazing the sensitive skin. You had no way of knowing what was going on in his body now. How the fungi spores were moving faster and faster and his mind was reeling. His only cure… could only be a connection he craved so desperatly but until now didn’t had courage to act on those insincts. “Gordon, w-wait,” you protested weakly. Another gasp escaped your lips when his other hand wrapped around your waist and in one swift motion he pulled you on his lap. Letting your hands rest on his strong lean shoulders. Your own heartbeat skyrocketed. Tongue darting out to wet your lips. All of the sudden you were feeling warm, too. Gordon looked at you through his glasses, his eyes shining like two gems. The One Free Man was enchanted by you. Your hands trailed up his shoulders, neck and rested on his cheeks. The kiss was quick to come. Your lips crashed into each others, you were both touch starved and hungry for affection, and Gordon was acting like a depraved, helpless man, thanks to the spores in his system. He quickly took control of a kiss, your nose bumping into his glasses a few times. Letting out a frustated huff, he took them off and you once again admired his beautiful clever eyes. The second later and you closed your own, the pleasure of his tongue dancing with yours almost overwhelming. His hands roamed over your soft shoulders, the collarbones, down and down, cupping your breasts. You let out a whine and Gordon swallowed it. Just like you were working on his suit, he quickly undressed you of lab coat, getting it on the floor. Your hips twitched against your own will. His suit was cold and hard, but you were desperate for any kind of friction. Gordon noticed it, how you were practically grinding yourself on his thigh. Naughty girl. His hand cupped your breast and squeezed it under the thin fabric of your shirt. Earning sweet moan from you. You were quick to move faster. Even though you were suppose to help Gordon, it’s been too long since you had someone… since you touched yourself… with an almost dark smirk, the man placed his face to the nape of your neck, one hand squeezing and rubbing your chest, the other on your hips, pushing you down, dragging you nice and slow over his leg. Your panties were soaked long ago and you were making quite the mess. You moaned again, babbling mindlessly on how good you felt while Gordon made sure to pay attention to your sweet beautiful neck, placing quick kisses and bites there. Grabbing not just your chest, but your waist, your stomach, your thighs. Guiding you faster and faster. His mind was roaring – he finally got what he wanted for so long. To see your face contorned in bliss, so close to heaven. He grabbed your chin and made you look down at him again. He wanted to see you come undone just because of his thigh. He kissed your neck, listening to the wet sounds happening down there. Chuckled breathlessly and… you moan, shivering, hips now buckling without any rhythm, your head hanging heavy as you tried to breath trough your orgasm. Gordon kissed the sweat from your skin again and looked into your eyes. ‘Good job. Now, again.’ As he signed your eyes widened. It would take at least a few more orgasms from him AND you to get the fungi spores out of his wisdom. And you were never shy of a job.

[thinking-outside-the-giftbox18]

please tell me more about your au with benrey x gordon x barney

like I want to know how benrey and barney are specifically, i'm very curious

I am SO SO GLAD that you're asking about my lore/ship because I want to share more about my goobers and their universe!

Note: I do NOT know the entirety of Half-Life. I was making lore for my TSP (The Stanley Parable) universe which is a part of a multiverse. I watched HLVRAI by mistake when I mistook Benry for Barney and I just love HLVRAI and Benry that it’s hard not to put it in the lore.

About the Ship - GeeBees:

A proper love triangle where all three love, respect, and care for each other.

Gordon (he/him; FTM) is curious and everything about Benry fascinates him. Barney and Gordon are childhood friends and had become lovers after HL2 with Barney helping Gordon recover. Gordon would much prefer both his lovers safe and unhurt but understood that that'll happen once the Resistance finds a bigger base for shelter. Now, he stays at home taking care of himself and helping when needed, otherwise, he'd cuddle Benry and Barney when one or both are back home. He enjoys giving and receiving physical affection to his lovers and despises silence, so it's a blessing to have two lovers who make all the sounds they want around him. He was the reason why Benry sleeps between him and Barney after Benry warded off G-Man one night.

Benry is healing with Gordon and Barney for the better, he helps around with them and the Resistance base, and his affection is reciprocated and returned tenfold, it’s worse in a good way when Gordon and Barney proudly one-up Benry’s weirdness. He adores Gordon and is happy that he doesn't find him weird in a bad way and it does surprise him at first back at the simulation, but he grew to love his curious yet freaky nature of Gordon as he'd too learn new things about himself (like his true form(s), shapeshifting and purring). Barney and Benry just GET each other as they've experienced being left in the background and Barney could easily pick up Benry who is fine with being carried by hot people.

Barney had always been taking care of the two and making sure to not lose Gordon again, because of Benrey, Barney feels validated on his feelings and anxieties while also letting Benry help him around, though he does like to lightheartedly tease Benry. Barney and Gordon being childhood friends helped a lot on their relationship and meeting Benry somehow strengthened their bond as the duo became a trio. Benry and Gordon would pay Barney back for taking care of them by taking care of him too. Benry even helps by shapeshifting into Barney to take his place at Combine when Barney's unable to work. And when Barney's anxieties get to him, Benry can purr and sing some blue balls into his mouth to calm him.

More on the Giftverse AU and how GeeBees got along under "Keep Reading" cuz' this is too long ^^;

If you or anyone reading this has questions, reblog, comment/reply, DM, and even ASK me because I'd love to tell more! ^^

I have AUs for this ship, just to let you know ^^

What happened in this AU?

The interesting things that happened BEFORE that: 

Benrey and the Science Team (Tommy, Bubby, Dr. Coomer, Darnold, and Forzen) were put into a simulation that would later be HLVRAI.

Gordon and Barney are childhood friends who managed to stay in contact and meet again in Black Mesa.

After Black Mesa put Benrey and his Science Team in the simulation, they all were put into this sort of hibernation until a player arrived and dons the in-game HEV suit as “Gordon Freeman”. This happened 3 times, according to Benry, and the gameplay is different each time. Before being put in the simulation though, Benrey took and hid a master code of the simulation which lets him do whatever he wants with the map and story of the game. The first “player” (2010) was a guide who helped take the Science Team around the Black Mesa map, and Benry named them “Puter”. Sadly, Puter’s data and memory were erased to make way for the second player (2020) “Feetman” and started what we all know as “HLVRAI” and Benry changed the story and gameplay of the simulation because he thought it was boring.

The third player (2030), after the simulation erased the data and memory of the game model, is both Gordon and Barney who exchange because Gordon takes mandatory naps to recover from his PTSD and morphine rehab, and Benrey feels hope on leaving the simulation just to see them face-to-face.

After the events of ResCas and Gordon waking up from Stasis to Half-Life 2, Gordon gets together with Barney and maintains a platonic/sibling bond with Alyx, who then gets taken to Stasis by G-Man. Gordon HAS witnessed Eli dying, only to see him fine yet grieving Alyx’s disappearance (2020). That made Gordon DESPISE G-Man.

How GeeBees met?

Gordon and Barney reside together in the White Forest Resistance base. The apocalypse is nearing its end (2030), but Gordon and Barney are more happy about being a couple after so long. One day though, Gordon opened the door to G-Man who gave him an errand of the day: Play a game and retrieve something important, and as he appeared, he left suddenly. He also left a Playstation 2 console in a box by Gordon’s doorstep, and Barney helped Gordon set it up while unsure of what G-Man was planning. Along with the console was a VR set and a game CD with a blank cover and “Half-Life VR” written on the disc with black marker.

Gordon put on the game and the headset, he expected anything but a shitty yet semi-accurate environment that was the entrance of Black Mesa. Barney, who was behind Gordon and watching the TV screen, couldn’t believe it either. Gordon was starting to panic as he remembered all that happened during the day ResCas happened and Barney and Gordon were trying to figure out who was sick enough to make a game on the thing that started the apocalypse and what would they say to Eli and Issac. All their worries were halted after they heard a deadpan voice “hey. can i see your passport?”. And that’s when their lives changed for the better.

Long story short: Gordon and Barney take turns playing the game with Benry and the Science Team guiding them, Gordon’s worries about the game lessened when important events that had happened were changed into something more lighthearted. After playing the game (which Gordon and Barney didn’t want to do), Benrey managed to get him and the Science Team into Gordon and Barney’s shared phone before Gordon and Barney could figure out how to get them out of the digital space. 

After that, Benrey stays with Gordon and Barney while everyone else wants to live elsewhere around the base. It was tough for the Science Team to come to terms with the fact that they were no longer in a simulation and that the ResCas was an actual event (and also the fact that Benrey is meeting the ACTUAL infamous Gordon Freeman who he first heard from the researchers before he was put into the simulation) but in the end, they want to help the Resistance.

More does happen after, Issac adopts Bubby as his brother (Bubby being cloned from Issac), Tommy helps with retrieving Alyx and another OC of mine out of G-Man’s Stasis, and Benrey helps Barney by shapeshifting as him at Combine as well as getting to sleep between Gordon and Barney to keep G-Man away.

And this is practically fanon in my lore, but Giftverse! Gordon, Barney, and Benry get to meet their alternate AU versions of themselves.

Sorry this is too long, so here's Benry's "Gordon Freakman"

[snailsdraw]

[Start ID: HLVRAI How Far We've Come M.A.P Video Thumbnail Art featuring the Science Team, G-man, and Darnold sitting in the theatre from the "HLVRAI but the cast is commentating" video, their faces lit in blue light from the implied screen before them.

In order, Bubby, Dr Coomer, Gordon, Tommy, and G-man are seated in the first row, followed by Darnold in the third row, and then Benrey in the second-last row behind all of them.

Gordon is seated front and centre in his HEV suit, with his red-and-white striped bag of popcorn that Dr Coomer is unabashedly eating out of propped on his right leg. In his left hand is a blue and purple drink cup with a straw, which Tommy has instead steered towards himself to sip from. G-man sits next to him, arms crossed and stoicly watching the screen.

Bubby is reclining in his seat, snoring away with one leg crossed over the other to rest his foot on the empty seat next to him, and Darnold sits behind him sipping from a conical flask through a sily straw. Meanwhile, yet another popcorn piece bounces off of Gordon's head to join the rest littering the floor before him. Benrey, a bag of popcorn in his lap and his arm still raised from launching the popcorn piece, grins toothily from the back row of seats.

Gordon endures all of this with a look of unamusement.

The words "How Far We've Come" and "HLVRAI MAP" are written in white in the dark space between the crew and the screen on the left of the image.

Tucked away behind all this is a whole hoard of Coomer clones crowded into the sound and lighting control booth. A couple of them are smushing their faces up against the glass, some banging on it to be let out, one licking the glass, and others are t-posing and piled up in the background. /End ID.]

Here's the thumbnail art I did for the HLVRAI HFWC MAP :D [smile] Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to make this!!

Edit: HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY HLVRAI!!!!!

[Plain text: HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY HLVRAI]

Edit edit: I just realised looking again, my style for drawing them changed in the few months of my participation hwehh (but hwehh in a good, things-changed-with-practice way)

[just-a-random-person24]

MORE BARNEY'S MIND NOTES APON YE!

Episode 4

• sees a guard crushed by a barrel and just says ‘that's gotta hurt’

• points out a bottomless pit with no handrails near it

• “Barney Calhoun, crane operator!”

• likes pushing stuff cause it makes him feel strong

• assumes there's an earthquake, only to remember that New Mexico doesn't have earthquakes

• says evolution sucks because humans only got opposable thumbs instead of teleportation and the ability to shoot lightning

• when he reincarnates into something else, he wants to regenerate and have Wolverines claws. That's not how reincarnation works.

• hates MySpace cause it's a waste of time

• says he's like a ninja-pirate for running and jumping onto a ladder

• finds out steam is hot

•likes Star Trek more than Star Wars, but got off track while saying that

• gets his wrist caught on a ladder he almost falls down, hurts a ton

• assumes a dead scientist is asleep

• doesn't know why a scientist has a Spas-12

• dropped out of college

• very confused why the guards don't get a HEV suit but the scientist's do

• would be surprised if he gets out of Black Mesa without breaking any bones

• wants pizza

• damn counter: 1

Episode 5

• very confused about how the handicapped employees are supposed to survive a disaster, given all the ladders and bottomless pits

• thinks Barnacles look like a meaty spitwad with teeth

• tries to use the Barnacle tongue to swing only to get choked immediately

• got sewage in his mouth :(

• calls 1 person a massacre

• gets mad at aliens for killing a guy who probably owed him money, them says the aliens owe him money now

• “Barney Calhoun, debt collector!”

• makes a comment about a zombie body disappearing

• thinks the Vortigaunts are worse than the alien from Alien

• pulls a random lever to know what it would do

• thinks his situation is worse than Resident Evil

• reads a sign that says to keep explosives out of the canal, then does it cause it seems fun

• “rofl-freaking-mao”

• has no clue how long it has been, assumes its been a day already

• is not upset about the time-frame as Stark was

• SHEPHARD MENTION💖

• thinks he knew the guy the HECU threw down, also assumes that guy owes him money

• says he's never buying anyone a pizza again

• damn counter: 1

Episode 6

• very not surprised about finding another room w/o proper lighting

• thinks the pipes are made of asbestos

• finds where the ladder in Episode 3 goes, finds it very weird and annoying the ladder is purposefully made too high to reach

• finally encounters the HECU properly

• more ‘yarg's

• knows the passcode to one of the doors on the surface

• takes a dead guards vest

• wants to hijack said dead guards SUV and leave, then doesn't because the engine block

• knows he can't shoot a lock open because of MythBusters

• very confused why the HECU was shooting at him

• tries to shoot a panel to open it. Then remembers in Star Wars it closes the door, *then* wonders why it would do anything in the first place cause it would just break the panel

• falls down a ladder and gets knocked out

• oh yeah this series was made in 2009…

• very confused about why there was a turret in a random cavern

• is not disgusted by cockroach guts because he's stepped in so much other shit

• says he'll have a badass hardened personality when he gets out

• likes the sound of being locked in a padded room

• very confused how the valve closed off the steam

• says, something abt 2012? I have *no* clue what he said exactly it was quiet and he doesn't go back to the thought

• thinks all the water is from Black Mesa fixing their own plumbing

• gets Bullsquid acid to the face

• killing a lot of cockroaches for no reason

• sees a toolbox and thinks its a lunchbox

• very surprised at how explosive the explosive barrels are to explode a hole in the wall *and* the toolbox

• damn counter: 14

[py6oto]

art challenge i wanted to try !!

ft. the evolution of my gordon design.

one of my favorite artists, sapgoon, came up with this little challenge. i thought it would be super fun to try to imitate my old art styles- not only that, but it was also surprisingly easy. i guess they're still a part of me after all this time.

have you guessed my favorite character to draw yet?

i will go a little in depth about them under the cut !!

2017 (perhaps it should be 2018, but it's the same style for that, so whatever.)

-very dull colors, same face syndrome, completely black lineart, messy black/dark purple shading, extremely shaky fingers and little to no care for consistency. this is quite literally my very first art style, as 2017 is when i first began drawing digital art.

as you may know, however, hlvrai did not exist in 2017, so i never actually drew gordon like this. i just drew what i think i wouldve drawn back then, if hlvrai had existed.

2020

- this is the art style i had when i initially learned about hlvrai's existence! same face syndrome is still there, but i get a little bit better with colors and my hands finally stopped shaking. im not a fan of the design i gave him back then (i really couldnt make sense of the hev suit at all), but every artist has their ups and downs.

2021/22

- i begin to get confident and find my own art style, trying to overcome the same face syndrome and learning a little bit about color theory. its a very messy style, and its the first time i began keeping my hlvrai designs consistent through all my drawings.

2023

-present time !! im... not sure what happened. i definitely improved a lot of aspects, but i don't wanna jinx anything. just look at it! wow.

looking back i realize hlvrai has been very important for my art journey, encouraging me to push myself out of my comfort zone multiple times. and though i just began posting my art again recently, i hope i continue getting better and better in the future !!

2023.08.12

[decks-writing-blog]

Gordon Swap Chapter Thirteen: I'm Sorry

Chapter One

Previous Chapter

[A/N] The whole of this chapter was supposed to have been at the end of last chapter but y'all already saw how long that chapter is so it got split, ending my pattern of switching POV each chapter. Who would've thought Feetman getting something as important as a cool new alien hand would take so many words?

~

In preparation for the worst because merely hoping it would be a smooth ride wasn’t enough, they formed a loose ring around the elevator’s center. Theoretically they had every angle covered and thus could shoot anything as soon as it finished teleporting in.

“You gonna be okay with your new lightning hand?” Barney asked.

Tempting as it was to say, ‘no’ and continue to hide while everyone else took care of the enemies, there wasn’t anywhere to hide. And the lightning shooting hand did mean he could finally fight back again; he wasn’t defenseless anymore. He’d had some time to get a little target practice done while the Vonneguts; big teleporter had been firing up. Not enough for him to be confident with it but he wasn’t a coward and now that he could fight back, he would. “I’ll be fine.” He maybe even made his voice sound like he believed that.

“All righty then.” Barney moved aside to take his place to Gordon’s right. He sounded like he believed him too. “Everyone ready to kill some aliens?”

“It’s gonna be like a shooting gallery,” Tommy said. “Maybe. I don’t actually know that. But if you think about it like that, it’s less scary.”

“Maybe they won’t even attack us.” They’d been going up for a few minutes now and so far nothing had. Still too early to say for sure and maybe Gordon was jinxing it by mentioning it but it was technically possible.

“We did kill an awful lot of them,” Dr. Coomer said. “In fact, I do believe we killed more aliens than soldiers. And we killed the entire US military, remember? So surely they’ve run out of alien troops by now.”

“Didn’t we determine that they have two armies though?” Bubby said. “One for each our worlds or something. Which is why there’s been so fucking many of them every time we turn a damn corner. So probably we’ll…” He cut off as the air crackled with the now very familiar sound of an alien teleporting in. “See? Told you.”

As always, where there was one, more quickly followed. And as had been the case since joining up with the rest of team, there were indeed a lot. Gordon was ready though, lifting his new hand to aim at the one of the ones teleporting into his designated section. His friends were already firing, filling the air with the sounds of gunfire.

The lightning tingled in the palm of his new hand as it charged. It felt like it was in his bones, unpleasant but at least it was a weapon. As the alien, a balloon guy, he was aiming at finished coming it he fired it off and… missed. Giving it time and space to fire at him instead. He could dodge though and had the HEV suit to protect him if not. And he had enough practice with it that he could charge his next shot even while side stepping the barrage of energy orbs. That bolt hit.

Leaving a small trail of smoke behind, the alien fell. It hit the railing with a meaty thud, bouncing off to continue its fall down the shaft. A one shot kill on a second try! That was pretty damn good. Maybe other-Gordon wasn’t the only one of them who could be cool. No time to celebrate though, there were more still threatening them.

~

True to Dr. Coomer’s initial prediction, they were indeed attacked repeatedly. Hoping against it had indeed been futile. A fairly small moving platform being hard to land ground troops in on even for whatever powerful thing they were up against, it was entirely balloon guys. They didn’t look scary but Gordon had seen what they could do even without mind controlling any Vonneguts. They’d been the ones to kill his alternate. One good bolt of lightning from his hand was enough to kill them though. All he had to do was not miss.

It wasn’t terribly different than aiming with a gun. And the longer this elevator ride lasted with its waves of hostile aliens – the breaks between them shorter than ever, their adversary was getting desperate – the better his aim with it got. He could be a badass alien killer too. It was a literally an alternate version of himself he was admiring the combat skills of after all. Thus he knew for a fact he could be like that too. Except instead of guns he had alien lightning. He never had to worry about reloading, just charging the thing. As long as he kept the HEV suit charged using the batteries from the pack he and Barney had thankfully packed with what at the time seemed to be an overkill of supplies, he was basically unstoppable, right? With how combat efficient everyone else was too, everything was going to be fine! They had this fight in the bag basically.

And it was fine, everything was going as good as it could given the circumstances right up until it wasn’t.

One moment Gordon had been almost having fun shooting aliens out of the air, watching their limp deflating bodies fall down the elevator shaft, trailing smoke. The next, the suit’s speakers buzzed as the display inside the helmet flashed, indicating its systems were drained. He took a step back but he’d extended too far forward, almost to the railing.

Something hit him, he couldn’t tell what or from which direction, but with the suit being reduced to barely better than regular armor, it hurt like hell. Either by coincidence or purposeful targeted assault, he was hit again almost immediately squarely in the chest. He stumbled and fell, landing hard on his shoulder before flopping onto his back. Breathing was suddenly difficult and each gasp for air sent a fresh stab of pain through his chest. Blood bubbled up in his throat, hot and coppery.

He clawed as the HEV suit’s collar, trying to find the button to lower the helmet before he suffocated. Before he found it another energy orb hit him. He saw it come through the visor but couldn’t move to avoid it hitting him in the chest again. It was like having his hand cut off again except it was in his chest this time. The metal of the HEV suit dissipated it some but unpowered it couldn’t do much.

A hand grabbed his upper arm and dragged him across the floor, aggravating every hurt in his body. “You okay?” That was Barney’s voice. It sounded distant.

No. Gordon wasn’t okay. Every breath hurt more than the last. Blood still bubbled up into a foam in his mouth. Whatever was broken inside his body wasn’t just his lung though. Something was very wrong. Bad enough that injecting a med-pack into the suit couldn’t fix it? … Maybe.

“User death imminent. Seek medical attention.” Even the HEV suit’s battery for non-essential functions was shot, making the words drawl out of the speakers slurred. Which made them all the more unsettling.

This was how he died, wasn’t it? Drowning in his own blood, fighting futilely against it, every breath and movement painful enough to make him want to scream if he’d had the breath for it. He wasn’t a stranger to the thought but now faced with it, he didn’t want to die. Really, really badly, he did not want to die.

Barney said something more above him. He couldn’t make it out. Maybe there were more voices too. It was hard to tell. But hey, at least he wasn’t alone. He’d always feared he’d die alone. Despite that and the pain and wrongness radiating through his body, he still didn’t want to though. More than anything he wanted to continue to live. … It wasn’t a choice though.

He blinked open his eyes to find his vision no longer darkened and his helmet down. The pain was gone, his breath easy in his chest. He stood in a circular room made of gray almost black stone, atop a raised platform. A small set of narrow stairs led up to it. The elevator. They were back at the bottom.

He pressed a hand to his chest. His heart pounded hard enough to make his ears ring but… he was fine. Completely and utterly fine. As if he hadn’t been hit at all. Everyone stood around him except for Benrey who stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“He died again, didn’t he?” Bubby said. “That’s why everyone got all quiet, right?”

‘Again’? Right yeah, other-Gordon. He must’ve died too and reset to here to bring Gordon back. Which meant maybe Gordon hadn’t died at all. He’d just been dying and his alternate had just happened to die then too. Gordon hadn’t actually died. He couldn’t have because that was absurd.

“Um, ‘again’ isn’t the right word,” Tommy said. “Congrats Mr. Freeman, you reset time when you die too.”

“I did that?” No way, right? That was his alternate's burden to bear.

Speaking of his alternate, he was pulling Barney over to sign something to him before pulling him in Gordon’s direction.

While he did that, Dr. Coomer spoke up. “Watch out, Gordon! You should be extra vigilant when there’s no cover from enemy fire.”

“That was really me then?”

In front of him now, his alternate nodded. He gesture to Barney to speak. “Uh… he said he wants to apologize. He didn’t tell me for what but um, I guess its got something to do with you dying. Did you really die?”

“Um… yeah, I guess I did.” Gordon shouldn’t be surprised, right? They’d known it was possible. But still, it didn’t feel real. How could he have possibly been in so much pain, desperately clinging to life, and then suddenly everything was just fine.

“So it wouldn’t’ve mattered if Bubby had tested it?” Benrey asked, still standing at the stairs. “But does this count as resetting the race too or… what? I was making good progress.”

“Uh… no. It’s still on just… give me a minute, ‘kay? Please.” He needed some time to process that he was indeed fine.

“Hmm… first death, huh?”

“Yeah. Hopefully the only.” There was no guarantee of that though.

“’Kay. You got five minutes.” Benrey lifted a hand, spreading his fingers to indicate the promised five minutes. “If you’re not ready to go again by then, I get a head start.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, that’s fair.” It wasn’t but Gordon didn’t really care. In fact, Benrey winning would be just fine with him if it meant he didn’t have to face possibly dying again. He turned his attention back onto other-Gordon and Barney who’d had a sign language exchange during his side conversation with Benrey.

“He wants to apologize for letting you die,” Barney said. “He said that he was gonna try to make sure that that didn’t happen but then he got caught up in the fight and you seemed to be doing fine so he wasn’t paying as much attention as he should’ve and you died as a result and he’s sorry about it.”

“Nah, dude it’s… well it’s not fine. But it’s not your fault.”

Bubby butted in from the side. “How’d you die anyway? ‘Cause I still don’t remember this shit and it fucking sucks.”

“Um… internal bleeding, I think. I’m not really sure.” And he didn’t want to think about it too much. Watching other-Gordon die had been bad enough. Dying himself was something else entirely. “It hurt. A lot.” He couldn’t literally taste his own blood anymore but the memory of it and the way it had felt bubbling up in his throat was vivid enough that he almost could.

“The balloon guys shot him a whole bunch with their energy orbs,” Tommy answered.

Other-Gordon signed something else. “He asking if you need a break,” Barney translated once he was finished. “And that probably we can’t take a super long one but if you want to sit down for a few minutes, we can.”

“Wow,” Bubby cut in again before Gordon could answer. “He’s actually offering to slow down. I never thought I’d see the day.”

Dr. Coomer invited himself back into the conversation with, “To be fair, Dr. Bubby, dying is rather awful. And this is Gordon’s first death. The first one is always the hardest.”

“Eh, I guess that’s fair. Go sit down for a bit Gordon. I’ll have Tommy fill me in on what else I might’ve missed while we wait.”

Well, if both other-Gordon who rarely slowed down and Bubby who liked to complain when people slowed down for too long were telling him he could sit for a bit, he was well justified in doing so. He walked past them and back down the stairs, passing Benrey so he could go over sit with his back against the the wall. Far enough away from everyone else to create an illusion of calm.

Other-Gordon followed and hovered awkwardly in front of him.

“You can join me.” The company was greatly welcome in fact. He sat down next to him, close enough to be in easy reach but far enough that he wasn’t crowding Gordon’s personal space.

The silence was comfortable but… “You died… how many times?” Gordon asked after maybe about a minute, turning his head to look towards his alternate.

Other-Gordon shrugged before lifting his an index finger to start acting like he was counting on his other hand. He repeated the motion several times quickly before shrugging again.

“A lot?”

He nodded. Then he gestured towards where the rest of the group were still milling about on and around the elevator and repeated the counting gesture again. Much slower this time.

“Less since joining up with them?”

Another nod. He lifted his hands to make a heart. He appreciated them probably more than Gordon ever had.

“You were… alone before the swap and meeting up with them?” There were many clues pointing to that being the case, it hardly needed to be asked but Gordon wanted confirmation.

He nodded.

And here Gordon had been thinking he’d had it bad with losing his hand and all the annoyance his companions brought. He could’ve been alone during the initial fallout of the Resonance Cascade, dying over and over again because death was far more likely while alone in such a dangerous scenario. … Maybe other-Gordon wasn’t a stoic badass and had never been one. The need to get good at killing stuff had been beaten into him the hard way; it was that or die even more often.

“I’m sorry. That must’ve sucked.” Dying the once had been worse than he ever would’ve thought. He couldn’t imagine how awful it would be to do so repeatedly while also utterly alone.

Other-Gordon didn’t bother trying to give any kind of reply this time. He just shifted his gaze away. There was wasn’t anything Gordon could do to make it better, could he? Here and now, still so close to it all, wasn’t the time nor the place to even get properly into it. They had a thing they had to kill to end what they’d started, to put a stop to it.

“I’m sorry,” he said again because what else could he say? “This’ll be over soon though. Just a little bit more and then we can kill the thing and go home. Or, heck, if we’re lucky, Benrey will get there first and kill it for us. … Assuming he can anyway. He might not be able to since we have basically no idea what it is. So probably sitting back and letting him do all the work isn’t what we’re gonna do, huh? As nice as that would be.” Probably the wisest option would be to go into the fight with him and have him help. Even now though, the thought of depending on him for help grated.

Other-Gordon gave him a thumbs up.

Probably they should get a move on. The sooner this thing was dealt the, the better after all. They’d been in such a rush for a reason. But… just another minute or two couldn’t hurt, could it?

~

Next Chapter

[thereal-true-ogilvie]

Hello everyone welcome BACK to: I talk about Benrey for a minute here!

Today we will talk about everyone's favorite: Mischaracterization in Fanfiction!

[I want to preface this with a very important note. Anything I bring up here is NOT something I'm complaining about. I LOVE mischaracterizing my little guy sometimes, especially by making him more like me, heart emoji. I just also know what's wrong so I mischaracterize him in a better and more accurate way /ref]

Now, the most common little thing is him showing basically any emotion in a human/allistic way. Laughter is pretty much the only exception, followed only by whining. He would NOT apologize and he would NOT break down sobbing. In fact I don't believe he has tear ducts he forgor to make them.

[as user needsmoreexplosions has said in the replies, this is hyperbolic! he does show plenty of emotions, just more muted than you'd expect. The first act has more bursts of emotion than the later acts as well. They brought up the "dont FUCKING talk to me" and I mentioned him yelling to Tommy happily. However, there's still not MANY examples. I'm going to rb this with every example of strong emotion he conveys and itll probably be shorter than this post. again. i love people making him emotional anyways, even if its not quite in character]

If he were to learn that Regular People Can't Respawn, he wouldn't go crying and apologizing to Gordon. He would go "oops." He would complain that no one told him. He would make fun of Gordon for not being able to respawn.

See:

"Benrey's not on this team anymore, apparently."

"Yo what- why would you say that, that's so mean."

[Whining, not crying. Always]

SPEAKING OF WHICH. The arm thing. A LOT of people tend to go with "he was trying to get the trackers out/hev suit off," when Dr. Coomer literally says, "I think they're just spiteful." He was getting back at Gordon for all the times he like. Shot him or somethin idk. People are right that he didn't expect the soldiers to cut off his arm, but he also DID expect them (and hype them up) to kill him. Not so he'd respawn without the hev suit or with his passport, just because "hey everyone else has died. And you are so mean to me. Your turn."

He doesn't act like a cat or crave attention, I'm so sorry fic writers [again, it's so fun and I love it tho, so keep doing it please] In fact, he loves to fuck off and leave the team, he does not need their attention. And, when given attention, he tends to just be mildly confused or antagonistic.

And he's not obsessed with the passports, guys! Let me get my fuckin 26-page document up rq... He says Passport/ID 26 times in Act 1 [yo what the fuck what a cool coincidence..... That's actually fucking awesome], then literally once in Act 2 and it wasn't even directed at Gordon. He doesn't say it at all in Act 3, though he does say One (1) time how much he loves his. He says it 6 times in Act 4, ALL of which are during his Boss Fight.

People make him a gamer. Yes, he is 100% but they make him the wrong KIND of gamer. He's not a Minecraft Animal Crossing Mario Kart gamer, he talks about Heavenly Sword, God of War, Halo, MAG, Grand Theft Auto and TF2. 2 First Person Shooters, 3 very violent action/adventure games, and TF2.

[actually, speaking of this image, did anyone else catch Gordon referencing the stairs bit but with ropes? Gordon has canonically read Homestuck]

The only TV he references is All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 and Fighting Redemption which are WILDLY different. And also whatever Ms. Pebbles is.

Not necessarily a common mischaracterization, but an important tidbit is that Benrey tends to be pacifistic towards Xen creatures, and not towards scientists and later security guards. Lots of people headcanon Experimentation which, while there's not really any evidence for that, there's also no evidence against it and it's a good headcanon that I like a lot.

He likes taking pictures. (shakes fic writers) give him a photo album!!!! SCANS OF GORDON'S FEET WOULD NOT BE IN THE ALBUM HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY HAVE THOSE. IT WAS NOT A FOOTSCANNER HD HE LIED.

The things he does know vs doesn't know are. Difficult. He isn't clueless about "human Things" he understands that shaking = nervous and balled fists = angry. He doesn't know what pigeons are but he does know mayonnaise and Big Mac with Freesh Fries.

The final important bit of info. Canon is kinda... flimsy? Canonically, according to Gir, Bubby is a straight guy who FUCKS. Canonically, according to Holly, Bubby is agender and married to Dr. Coomer.

So like. Go fucking crazy! Go stupid! A a a a a!

Just be aware when you're wrong LOL

[bubbl3zdaseaotter37]

Don't mind me. Just making my meagre offering to the starving members of this dead fandom. Since it's so short, I decided to add the entire thing under the cut. Enjoy, and happy Whumptober!

"Major lacerations detected. Vital signs dropping," Informed a monotone voice, after three short beeps. A long, metallic clang rang out on the cold floor, echoed down the long, dark hallway like a requiem bell, masking the sound of quiet panting.

With a ragged breath, Dr. Gordon Freeman wobbled, stuck out an arm in the dark to catch himself on the wall. Another series of beeps.

"Blood loss detected. Seek medical attention."

If only. Hand trembling, he hesitantly prodded the gash, and involuntarily jerked it back again with a choked gasp. The pain burned deep, but it needed some sort of pressure. He gritted his teeth and tried again.

Pull the band-aid off quickly, it won't hurt as much, his mother had always told him.

Still shaking, he speedily pressed a hand to the wound, feeling its slick texture despite the thick, chemical-resistant gloves on his hands. Fire blazed up and down his side, the corridor tilted sickeningly, and it wasn't for a dozen more agonizing heartbeats that he realized that he had screamed. As his breathing steadily slowed, Gordon listened to the low hum of Black Mesa underneath his heavy breathing and the pulse pounding in his ear.

"Morphine administered."

Leaning heavily on the lifeless metal wall, Gordon breathed a sigh of relief as the pain in his side almost instantly faded into the background like the thrum of the facility. Now that he could think clearly, there was something else he had been wanting to do.

Gordon turned, still keeping a careful hand on the wall, and stared curiously at the corpse of the strange creature with green liquid pooling underneath it. Judging from the substance's appearance, its consistency wasn't dissimilar to the blood from his own injury. With a furtive glance up and down the corridor, Gordon crept toward the creature.

Even with the ceiling literally crashing down around him, even with his own blood slowly seeping into the stiff fabric of the HEV suit, even with the end of the world as he knew it, Gordon still couldn't help the morbid curiosity that drew him closer to the thing that had tried to kill him moments ago.

Despite having run into many of them, Gordon hadn't truly gotten a chance to examine the creatures until now. There had always been more than one that had hurled glowing, green orbs of compressed energy at him, or slashed at him with its claws, or tried to shove him off a ledge. Speaking of which, the thing he was looking at had three arms, two connected to its low, stooped shoulders, and a single, smaller limb in its chest.

Out of habit, he adjusted the stained and battered glasses, which were still miraculously balanced on the bridge of his nose. It didn't help clear the spatters of blood (alien and human), dust, and other debris, but it made the situation feel a bit more normal. More like the carefully controlled climate of the labs, or his classrooms back at MIT.

Its skin was green and wrinkled, and Gordon was vaguely reminded of some of his favorite childhood characters. Except, E.T. had befriended Elliot, not tried to blast him into oblivion with his space lasers, and Yoda had taught Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force, not shredded him to chunks with razor-sharp talons.

Then there were its eyes, of which it had way more than generally allocated to creatures other than insects. At least, he didn't think it was insectoid. These things could be distant relatives of prehistoric fruit flies for all he knew. It had one, reddish eye in the center of its face, like a cyclops, and three smaller eyes on either side of that.

It certainly wasn't anything he, or anyone else in this doomed facility, had ever encountered before. At least that's what he assumed at first… so many strange things had been happening in the hours — or had it been days? — since the accident that he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Barney would have told him it didn't matter anyways. They were the enemy; as long as they were the enemy, it didn't matter what they were. But Barney wasn't here. For all Gordon knew, Barney was… best not to think about it. Barney was resourceful and competent. Hopefully he had already found a way out of this deathtrap.

Gordon shook his head; he was getting distracted. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was from blood loss, either way he didn't have time to stand around staring at a dead alien. There were people who were counting on him, whether they knew it or not— his colleagues, those marines who kept trying to kill him, maybe even humanity itself. If someone didn't take out the portal punched into the fabric of time and space or whatever, who knew what would happen?

So, Gordon turned, slowly let go of the wall, and took a tentative step forward— clang. His foot hit something, sending it skittering away across the floor. In the dark hallway, he could just make out what it was.

Pressing his hand tighter to his side, Gordon took another slightly shaky step and bent stiffly to retrieve the long, thin, hooked object off the floor. Its once red paint was now hidden beneath a crusted layer of greenish, puss colored slime and blood.

Hefting the crowbar experimentally, Gordon peered up and down the hallway once more. The dim emergency lights flickered down the long corridor, casting unsteady shadows in the darkest corners of the room.

There has to be a first-aid station down here somewhere. With a long sigh, Gordon shifted his grip on the crowbar, pushed his glasses up his nose, and started down the hallway.

[theancientdarkbeauty]

💚🦈- Blood, Garnet, Scarlet, Wine, Lipstick and Poppy

Alright, first, I’ll do Tera, my Half Life OC. The quick background on her is that she is a biochemical engineer who was testing the Biology Department’s HEV suit when the Resonance Cascade happened, and thus survived by pure accident. Being Australian however, she was able to hold her own against the space Australians. You don’t run into her during the game because the Military slit her throat thinking she was Freeman, but she survived! Barely! With the help of GMan and some science (and morphine from the suit). Anyways, onto the ask game

Blood- what would she do if she saw a stranger’s corpse: originally, pre rescas, depending on the place, she would’ve panicked. Whose body is this, what killed them, am I in danger as well? That kinda stuff. Unless it was like a funeral she accidentally got invited to (she would go to see if she knew anyone there and if she didn’t she would apologies) post ResCas, probably after stasis, legit that would’ve been just par for the course. Unless it had a Headcrab on it. Then she would stab the Headcrab (she hates those things)

Garnet- if they had to kill someone, what method would they choose: the most quick and painless way possible. Not a stranger to mercy kills after the rescas, she has found that shooting someone in the soft part right between the skull and the neck on the back of the head is the least painful and most sure fire way to kill someone, aiming up thru the skull ofc. If she didn’t have a gun on her tho she would snap their neck.

Scarlett- how does she grieve: She used to get real quiet, cuts herself off from people, silently reflect on times she had with the person. However, after the rescas, most all of her friends had already died, and she was in Europe now instead of America or Australia, so she just assumed that her family was dead, so she forced herself to channel the pain and grief into rage, helping her get through her rather extraneous circumstances. She really just needs a hug and a good cry smh

Wine- How does she act when she’s drunk: She’s a happy drunk, but is also a heavyweight. Think of it like Brooklyn 9-9’s “# drink Amy” system. She gets real fun (a little loud) for the first 5 drinks. After 5 shit hits the fan, but she knows her limits. (She gets really competitive at drink 7 is the problem)

Lipstick- What is her love language: she is probably physical affection and quality time. Poor girl didn’t have the time to spend with people to fell fulfilled in a relationship before the rescas, and probably never will again.

Poppy- Does she believe in a god: After meeting up with Gordon after the rescas, he told her about the Nihalinth, and so she believes in some sort of higher being, but not probably the Christian god. She is a woman of science after all.

Time for Jaws! You all know Jaws (hopefully) but if you don’t, they are this crime gremlin I made for Payday. Common traits among all Jaws are: extensive scarring, multiple mental disorders, propensity for explosives. But the main point is just they’re a crime gremlin

Blood- what would they do if they saw a stranger’s corpse: they probably put it there. If it’s a civilian, they’d probably swear a lot because that’s coming out of my paycheck but otherwise they would just leave it there, bc they don’t want their finger prints on the scene

Garnet- if they had to kill someone, what method would they choose: shoot them. Or stab them. They aren’t above murder, they do it often. Chemical weapons are also fun, but they aren’t allowed to use them anymore after the Safehouse accidentally got filled with mustard gas that one time

Scarlet- how do they grieve: violently. Lots of murder, lots of stealing. At the Safehouse, where they can’t lash out violently, they have this thing called a “stab pillow”, it’s a throw pillow they started stabbing when they were mad. Also they have their dogs for emotional support (Rexy and Tatsuya my beloved)

Wine- how do they act when they’re drunk: they mellow out a lot actually! Get really tired, but also usually have enough energy to play like drinking games and stuff. Very much a lightweight.

Lipstick- What is their love language: they are aroace, but with their “family”, it’s quality time. They just like being in the presence of people (they aren’t physically affectionate but very touch starved so think of them like a cat on occasion)

Poppy- do they believe in a god: no. God abandoned them.

Anyways that was for both Jaws and Tera hope everyone is doing good! (Sorry if topics got a little dark both of them come from dark source materials)

[siffrin-stardust-traveler]

Ok ok so

Half Life 1: Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist who graduated from MIT has his first day at Black Mesa. He got in due to his closeness with another scientist, Dr. Issac Kleiner.

Anyways so Gordon is tasked with pushing the crystal they have recently gotten from a border world (read: a world that is between dimensions) called Xen into an anti-mass spectrometer. The experiment goes totally wrong, and portals from Xen begin opening up, allowing aliens to come through and swarm the facility.

Soon after, the HECU Marines (a special taskforce called for when the scientists REALLY fuck up), so on top of fighting the aliens, Gordon has to fight the military as well. He moves through Black Mesa, eventually getting to a scientist who send him through a portal to Xen so he can kill the Nilanth, which is an alien who has a seperate race of aliens called Vortigaunts enslaved and tbh isn't very lore important. Gordon kills the Nilanth, then G-man shows up and gives Gordon a job then puts him in stasis.

(Barney (security guard), Gina, and Colette (scientists) are also fighting through Black Mesa, and Adrian (soldier) is fighting the scientists and guards but Blue Shift (Barney), Opposing Force (Adrian) and Decay (Gina and Colette) are all dubiously canon, especially Opposing Force)

Half Life 1: After the portal to Xen is opened, the Combine (a warlike alien race that takes over worlds, enslave and kill the inhabitants, strip the planet of its resources, and moves on) are alerted to Earth's existence and in seven hours have taken over Earth. Dr. Wallace Breen, former administrator of Black Mesa, negotiates Earth's surrender with the Combine. Twenty years later, Gordon returns, arriving in City 17 which is where all his former co-workers are (that survived, that is)

He meets with Barney who is working as a Metrocop (metrocops are humans that choose to work for the Combine for extra rations and safety. It's hard to tell them apart from a Civil Protection officer which are - as far as I can tell - modified humans with most of the "humaness" stripped away)

ANYWAYS BACK ON TRACK Barney brings Gordon into a back room and tells Dr. Kleiner that Gordon's back. He then tells Gordon to go to Kleiner's lab, but as he is getting there he is caught and beaten up but Alyx saves him. She then leads him to Kleiner's lab and explains what happened while he was gone. In Kleiner's lab Gordon gets his HEV suit back, and Kleiner tries to teleport both Gordon and Alyx to Black Mesa East (no relation to the nuked Black Mesa). Alyx gets there, but Dr. Kleiner's pet headcrab Lamarr messes up the teleporter as Gordon is in it so he has to go on a river route.

After he goes through the river, he arrives at Black Mesa East and meets Eli Vance and also Judith Mossman (who hates him. She is very jealous of him) and they talk for a bit, Gordon gets a new weapon (the Gravity Gun, he can fling people and things around with it) and also plays with Alyx's robot D0g, then Black Mesa East gets raided so Gordon has to go to Ravenholm (We don't go to Ravenholm)

In Ravenholm Gordon is surrounded by headcrab zombies and has to kill the with giant saw blades fires with the gravity Gun, until the only actual person there (Father Grigori) gives him a shotgun. Father Grigory seems chill but he sacrifices himself right before Gordon leaves so. Yeah.

Gordon then goes on a roadtrip. Then he has to do parkour so he doesn't get killed by antlions. (Antlions don't like when you walk on the sand) Luckily a friendly Vortigaunt gives him a pheromone ball so the antlions like him. So he has to lead them out of where they were.

Gordon then goes to the very scary Combine jail called Nova Prospekt to try to save Eli. Turns out he's not there! Gordon meets with Alyx again, and they both find out that Judith was working with Dr. Breen the whole time. Judith then takes Eli to the Citadel (Where Breen is)

Alyx and Gordon teleport back to Kleiner's lab only to find out they have been stuck in a loop for a whole week, and Nova Prospekt blew up and everyone's going crazy (in a good way). Alyx stays with Kleiner and Gordon finds Barney and the two start beating people up. They get to the Citadel and Gordon gets inside. Gordon fights all the way to Dr. Breen's office, and goes inside (captured). Dr. Breen then basically says he wants Eli and Alyx gone and that makes Judith mad because she wanted Eli safe so she blows up Breen's communicator, and then frees the three. Gordon chases Breen to the top of the Citadel, Breen dies and everyone gets out and the Citadel blows up.

There is also Episode 2 and HL: Alyx but. I need a break

Holy fucking shit that is so much lore/pos

[femmegina]

ive personally always assumed that a potential in-universe justification for why colette & gina's HEV suits differ in color could be that it's indicative of their occupation, as something makes me think that there isn't too many options as far as personal customization is concerned. "government property" and all. i used to slightly annoyed w/ the fact that gina's is a bit of a beige-silver tone considering that a major component of the HEV suit is that it's supposed to be a hi-vis hue but it finally clicked with me that it's very much reflective of the archetypes they fulfill; bold maroon contrasted with pale beige and all. obv the out-of-universe explanation is that it's to distinguish them from each other AND gordon, but it's the best i have on that front. on the topic of azyan, i think a fluorescent yellow-green would be fitting 4 her? like by virtue of her being THE dead wife AND dead mom who exists to get fridged theres not too much to pull from as far as canonical personality goes, but that's where the power of Making Things Up comes in. pondering how she and eli might compliment and play off one another as far as their general disposition is concerned. i WOULD like to think of her as his more energetic, more outgoing counterpart, but i'll have to mull it over especially when trying to account for how having gone through the rescas and everything following it has affected eli's character. then again i can make up like, literally anythign within reason. shes MY blank slate, ok? tangentially on topic but i saw fanart of HEV suit Azyan out in the wild on deviantart of all places from what, 2012? well rendered piece. the artist made it pink to signify that yes, a woman was wearing a "female version" of the Mark IV Hazardous Environment suit. in their own words, not mine. i think about it a lot. it SENT me.

their occupations... well they're both engineers who operate the big honking machine... maybe it really is just for fun? it does kind of suit colette's blood thirstiness and gina's lighter and more businessy attitude from a character design perspective.

looking back to see what me and @butchcolette thought abt her personality wise... i feel like she could be witty and fun in that alyx way, looking on the bright side of things (much easier when the world has not ended when u were 4 years old) also we made her a coding/programming nerd. ALSO also she and colette were work friends #feminism. there really is a huge blank slate that could be filled with any sort of personality............ also LOL im sure ive seen that art myself. person who looks up half life women on google images for any content

[inland--empire]

💕

(Prompt: Kissing somewhere other then the lips)

Gordon sat on the floor of the bathroom, huddled into himself. Now that he was out of the HEV suit he was starting to feel sensations again and it was only just calming down now. Tears were streaming down his face and he tugged on his hair, desperate for something to distract from the discomfort.

"Dr. Freeman?" He looked up and saw Tommy through his tears.

"H-hey Tommy...how's your party?"

"It wasn't complete. Are you ok? You look really sad..."

She sat next to him, holding out her hands in a sort of questioning way. Gordon gently took one of her hands, and found that it felt...kinda nice. He could feel Tommy's pulse and it made him feel good.

"Just cooling down. I'm ok." Tommy smiled, gently rubbing one of his hands over Gordon's back as he moved closer.

"Wonderful! You want some company for a bit?"

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Gordon brought Tommy's wrist to him lips and kissed the inside part. He knew Tommy wasn't real but...he felt real. This felt real. It even felt...good.

[geschrie-sixtyne]

Multiverse: Half XenLife

{PT.1}

{PT.2} 👇👇👇👇👇👇

English is not my first language, I do my best

Name: Gordon Alice Freeman /GAF(Nickname)

Sexuality: Arroaces (Asexual-Demirromantico)

Diagnosis: Selective mutism

Personality: He is a man who has had trouble adapting to social circumstances. In spite of everything, he enjoys knowing sign language, which he uses as a method to treat his selective mutism and to be able to collaborate without harming himself. His anxiety about being around many people is released through the rapid movements of his hands. , allowing him to maintain his stoic scientist stance. He does not seek to relate to people, since he has few social skills, he is given a shy and selective behavior with whom he interacts

History: GAF uses the HEV MARK IV suit to start the sequence with the Xen crystal, once the sequence starts , the crystal begins to absorb the rays in a certain way, starting to shine, being stable for about 5 minutes, the test request was considered rejected of destruction, to initiate the reflection test until the charge that the crystal could absorb reached its limit, exploding and generating the resonance cascade.

GAF was thrown against the wall by the glass that passed through his suit in most of his extremities, but especially in his spine, on the ground observing the destruction is when he is sent by Xen energy to various areas of the parallel world observing the fauna and the beauty of him until he is unconscious. He managed to survive and in horrible pain he can only complain, his hands, feet and chest have reddish marks that extend over most of his body that at first burn in such a way that they make him cry

Since he left the place of the experiment he has not seen the Xen crystal again and although I swear he felt fragments of it come into contact with his skin, when he woke up he found no openings or wounds.

The HEV MARK IV suit has been largely destroyed and his skin is exposed, the pain in his back is increasing and as he leaves the experimental district he must take breaks as his bones are causing him to collapse. With what he believes to be severe radiation burns, he walks the destruction-filled halls of Blacke Mesa.

Consequences of the explosion: What happened to the Xen crystal is that it fused with Gordon's skeletal system, during the explosion it not only destroyed the Hev suit but the fragments entered GAF's body, leaving him injured, when he fell unconscious, the xen crystal regenerated the holes left by the collision and at the same time rebuilt GAF's entire bone structure, making it out of the same Xen material but with equal or greater strength than diamond, giving it an enhanced exoskeleton.

Gordon now has the energy absorbing properties of the Xen crystal like his teleportation abilities, the only sources he can absorb are those that can manifest into beams of concentrated :

quantum

gamma

radioactive

nuclear or fission

electricity

electromagnetic

antimatter

Xen-Xenium

the ends of his hair and the burned parts, as well as his eyes, glow depending on the energy he has absorbed. He has a variety of abilities spread mainly across explosions, lightning, energy spheres, and fields, such as the ability to alter his gravity. he can absorb more than one energy at a time to vary his attacks and can also generate Xen and antimatter energy.