#portal secret santa 2023

[xebecdav]

I was able to pinch-hit for @dipworld-dippa ‘s secret santa! Honestly the idea of Chell and Wheatley not waking GLaDOS up and just escaping out of aperture was a really sweet idea, so this was fun to draw.

@portal-secret-santa

[wiezumbeispiel]

Happy holidays, @the-dangerous-mute-lunatic !! I was your @portal-secret-santa this year >:3c

Poor Caroline, it looks like her exchange person did NOT get the memo….maybe they thought it was a white elephant gift swap. Whoops!!

[dannnyghost]

transparent background:

Happy holidays @aboredengineer !! I was your pinch-hitter for @portal-secret-santa your prompts said you'd love any drawing that could be easily made into a sticker so I hope you like these little doodles I made and I hope you have a wonderful year!!

[idrawgaystffs]

Hey @ghostedglitch , it’s le anon but really your giftee!

Regretably I have only have the first half of your gift done, but I hope you enjoy the build up to GLaDOS and Chell getting along. The payoff’s coming soon :>

Happy Belated New Year and Winter Holidays!!

@portal-secret-santa

[Guide to reading below + close ups]

[actuallykiwi]

AHHH OMG @nuttersincorporated THANK YOU SO MUUUUCH!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! The Wheatley is cuddly 😭 and the magazine is so fun! And since our tree isn't up, I'm gonna hang the little ornament on my microphone 💙

THANK YOU!!! You're an amazing @portal-secret-santa!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[gladosluver]

The girls are fighting!! *squints eyes* Oh? They’re just baking.. ehhh, same thing. PSS gift for  @glenbot !! hope ya like it! happy holidays :)

( @portal-secret-santa )

[nuttersincorporated]

@actuallykiwi as you know, I am your @portal-secret-santa and your gift is currently on its way to you in the post.

Hopefully, it won’t take too long to arrive. However, since one of the things I’m sending you is an Aperture magazine, I can post a digital version for you to read now.

Here is Aperture’s lazy overpriced magazine which only exists to make them more money and try to find new test subjects. An unpaid intern made the cover (graphic design is his passion).

[gladosluver]

HIP HIP HORRAY!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS TYSM!!!!

Hello @gladosluver! I was your secret santa this year for the @portal-secret-santa project! You asked for hurt/comfort, so I thought GlaDOS comforting Chell after she has a nightmare about the final act of Portal 2 would be good. I hope you enjoy, and have a very happy holiday!

[sciencewife]

Happy holidays @dreamdancerdotfile! I was your secret Santa for the @portal-secret-santa this year!

I’ve loved your AEGIS design for a while, so when you asked for anything AEGIS, I couldn’t resist drawing a festive AEGIS! Two wonderful things (fanart of your AEGIS and a secret Santa gift) in one piece! Those extra arms must be helpful in putting up decorations. Enjoy!

[xebecdav]

Here’s my @portal-secret-santa drawing for @kingmystrie ! This was a really fun piece to work on and I hope you enjoy it :)

[mewtwofan1]

Eeeeeee! Oh my gosh I love it! Thank you, and happy holidays!

Yuhuuuu!! @mewtwofan1 I was your @portal-secret-santa and I‘m here to bring you exactly what you asked (caveline christmas party)!! Hope you like it!

[wiezumbeispiel]

SURPRISE!!!!! Bet you thought you’d seen the last of me for the @portal-secret-santa but you would be WRONG

This is my piece….well, pieces for @dualitysdownfall. I went with your first prompt, which was chell & glados exchanging Christmas gifts. You might say that the stickers are ALSO a gift to chell, and i guess you would be half right, but i imagine chell bought them because she thought they’d look pretty on glados (and they do 🥺)

Happy holidays and happy new year! Hope it’s a good one for you

[dannnyghost]

This is my @portal-secret-santa gift for @ghostofchaosyettocome Happy Holidays!!

[portal-secret-santa]

We here at PSS are proud to announce the return of the Portal Secret Santa event for the 2023 winter holiday season! The application is now open to the general public. You may submit applications anytime between now and Sunday, November 19th, 2023. Please don’t procrastinate on getting them in, because the form will shut off at 12 am on the 20th and you’ll no longer be able to participate.

And now, a quick Q&A.

Q: What is Portal Secret Santa?

A: Portal Secret Santa is a holiday gift-giving event that takes place within the Portal community. You’re randomly assigned to make a gift for someone else who wants to participate, and in return, someone is randomly assigned to make a gift for you. So it’s kinda like a chain of Portal gift-giving. And any Portal fan, regardless of how old or new you are to the fandom, is welcome to participate.

Q: What kinds of gifts does this event require?

A: Anything you can make. It could be a drawing/painting, a fic, a song, a sculpture, a plush, whatever. The only restriction is that it’s gotta be something YOU made, which means no AI generated content or otherwise anything not made directly by you. Knowing that you put your very own time and effort into the gift is part of what makes it special for the recipient. c:

Q: When will I know who I’m making a present for?

A: It all depends on how fast we can work out pairings. Ideally we should have the prompts out within a few days of the application closing.

Q: When and how do we give our gifts?

A: Gifts will be exchanged starting on December 24th up until January 1st. See the full FAQ for complete details.

If you have any further questions, please check out our FAQ!

[actuallykiwi]

Don't Let Go

Ho, ho, ho @livnimbe, I'm your @portal-secret-santa!

For your gift, I wrote you a little ficlet about the final battle with android!cores... and a few twisties ;)

I hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas <3

"You like revenge, right? Everybody likes revenge! Well, let's go get some!" GLaDOS prompted, shaking her little fist in the air. Being a little shorter than a foot tall, clad in a potato sack and one small finger jammed into a computer port, it was hard to take her seriously. But those glowing yellow eyes were filled with murderous determination.

No, that's not what was making Chell nervous. As the elevator raced upwards, there was one thing she was most apprehensive about seeing again: Him.

Chell didn't even look down as she stepped off the platform and into the chamber. He was descending from the ceiling, perched on the console like a king on his throne, blue eyes pulsating with the power coursing through him. "Welcome, TO MY LAIR!" Wheatley's gangly arms outstretched with pride.

This wasn't Wheatley. This wasn't her Wheatley. This wasn't the Wheatley she spent weeks exploring the facility with. The one she let share stories about the scientists over the campfires. The one that made her feel less afraid because of just how terrified he was and how she had to be the brave one. The one that was always encouraging her, even with seemingly almost no way out. Because he believed, no, knew if anyone could find a way, she would.

This wasn't that Wheatley. What he had become was completely foreign to her, nothing like her friend. Even as he ranted about the fires, the neurotoxin, and the bombs, even as he boasted about killing her, Chell was hesitating.

But in Aperture, hesitation meant death.

So though it hurt, she readied her portal gun and darted as the bombs began to cascade. The whole time it was his voice taunting her, trying to distract her. She had been through this before, but last time it was different. She was ready to destroy GLaDOS. But Wheatley...

Chell dove behind a pipe transporting conversion gel. As the last bomb struck it, everything become white and covered in the portal surface. Just what she needed. But the realization hit her. She had to hit Wheatley with the bombs.

She grimaced as she took her place on the far side of the room and let the bombs follow her, popping a portal behind him. When the next wave started, she popped the other below her and dove out of the way. She couldn't look as it made contact with his back. Wheatley cried out and her heart ached. But she had no time to feel remorse. He was temporarily knocked out, and GLaDOS was bringing the first corrupted core in.

From above the catwalk, a chittering android with orange eyes softer than GLaDOS was cradling a rocket ship toy. The metal arm he was dangling from released him, and Chell leapt across the catwalk to catch him. Luckily, these hard-light androids were primarily composed of sunlight, so they were very warm, and very lightweight. Which helped, as they were all the same height or taller than Chell.

The catwalk collapsed and splattered repulsion gel, leaving her a bouncy blue path to Wheatley. With the space core bumbling about galaxies to her, Chell sprung to Wheatley's incapacitated body and latched the core's back to an exposed port.

Space core was wiggling and playfully parading his rocket around as Wheatley came back to, stretching as if Chell had just hit him with a fly swatter. She couldn't lie and say she wasn't a bit relieved, but it was time for the next one.

The second time she hit him with the bomb, from underneath him, Chell could see the scorch marks it was leaving on his hard-light body. She was now angry that she was having to do this. Angry at him for making her, for this being the only way. And the next core was no help.

When she caught the fact core, it perched itself on her awkwardly like a cat, spewing some nonsense about cats, in fact. She almost threw his lanky body at Wheatley dead-on, but couldn't risk missing the port.

Wheatley was now furious. She had seen him frustrated before, back before he changed, but this was unadulterated rage. Whatever had possessed him truly wanted to kill her. If Chell knew what fear was anymore, she would probably feel it then. But she pressed on and portaled a bomb to him once more. Sparks from the power withdrawal and damage to the console were beginning to sprinkle the floor.

So, hard-light had synthetic pain, apparently. Rick, the adventure core, was an odd mixture of pride and shame when being carried by Chell. His attempts at flirting had no affect on her, but it was him stroking her cheek that set her off. She flung Rick off of her and jammed the butt of the portal gun between his legs. Rick perfectly simulated how a man would react to this, and with his perversion out of the way, Chell slung him onto one of Wheatley's ports upside-down.

Wheatley was twitching periodically when he came back online. Much to Chell's relief, the bodiless announcer voice came on to initiate the core transfer. GLaDOS appeared from where the elevator was, her tiny body eager to get this over with.

Chell was tired. But she knew Wheatley would argue, and he did, and she would have to press the stalemate button. However, a fire had been started in the Stalemate Resolution Chamber, and the sprinkler system turned on. All of the white portal surface gel washed away, back to the stale grey steel of the chamber. All, but one.

Wheatley hadn't noticed that he had created an umbrella over himself and left one small patch of gel beneath him. Or maybe he had. If Chell had looked closer at the chamber, glimpsed what was behind the fence around the button, she would have seen the bombs. But exhaustion, frustration, and grief had caused a momentary lapse in her cautious judgment. She created a portal to the button and leapt through.

And was sent flying in a fiery frenzy back into the chamber.

Everything burned. All she felt was fire. She smelled burning skin. Her vision was distorted. And she could hear Wheatley's unbridled fury as she somehow managed to survive the blast. If you could call it surviving.

She had no strength left. Even the fight with GLaDOS had not hurt this bad. But maybe the pain wasn't all physical. Her friend, her only friend in her small, bland world, was doing his best to kill her. She trusted him, helped him, and he spat at her and called her selfish. Any hope she had had diminished. She was done. She painstakingly turned to roll on her back, every inch of her body either simmering or sore from the fight. Her only friend was screaming at her, calling her worthless, wishing she were dead and sharing her "all hope is lost" sentiment.

The ceiling crumbled above her as the facility neared its end. And there was the moon. Beautiful Luna. Bright, shining, and huge in the abyss of the sky. Had it always been so big? Just how long had it been since she'd seen it?

And then a thought occurred to her. The moon. Moon rocks. Moon rocks make a great portal conductor. Portals...

It was crazy. A crazy, girl-at-the-end-of-her-rope thought. But at this point, what choice did she have? Despite her body's protests, she raised the portal gun at the face of Luna, and fired. The recoil of the gun slammed her further onto the crumbling floor, nearly knocking her unconscious, but she was awake enough to see what happened next.

There was a moment of utter quiet. And then the chamber became a vacuum. Everything that wasn't nailed to the building, even some things that were, were now being sucked through the portal beneath Wheatley. This included Chell. Wheatley was struggling to keep himself attached to his throne, but the entire console was fighting, a mess of wire and metal thrashing in the vortex. Chell found herself suddenly flying right towards him, and reached for absolutely anything to hold onto. She found the collar of his shirt and clung on for dear life. There was an intense pulling, and then there they were.

Chell was clinging onto Wheatley's shirt in the facility, while her body was flailing in outer space.

Object were being hurled around them, knocking them this way and that, but despite having little strength left, covered in wounds, and on the brink of losing consciousness, Chell clung to him. "Let go! I can fix this! I can still fix this!" He yelled over the vacuum.

"I already fixed it!" GLaDOS had metal arms reaching through the portal. One had a hold of Chell's waist, "and you are NOT coming back!" and the other was about to cut Wheatley loose.

There was a moment. A brief, sudden moment, when Chell met Wheatley's eyes and the deafening sound of the vacuum faded away. She no longer saw the monstrous, maniacal machine that wanted her dead. She saw fear. He was afraid. He was the same tall, dorky, chatty android that showed her around the facility. That saved her from her sleep. That helped calm her down after nightmares by just speaking nonsense. That wanted her freedom just as badly as she did. He was still there. Buried, possessed by something he had no control over. And she was about to lose him to oblivion.

Even if it meant her death, even if it was a dream and he was really gone, she made a decision. Just as the metal arm reached his connection, she wrapped herself around him and held on with all the strength she had left.

The arm stopped. There was a pause, then something that could be perceived as a mechanical sigh. Then a jolt as the arm around Chell pulled back into the portal, and the portal closed.

They both collapsed to the ground, and GLaDOS ripped Wheatley's connection from the console. He cried out and curled up next to Chell, who was slowly fading. "You.. you saved me." He whispered.

"You really do have brain damage, don't you?" GLaDOS's tall and slender original android form stood over them, Wheatley's ripped cables in hand.

Chell could only see blurry shapes, their voices sounding a mile away. Everything was going numb with pain, but she felt a hand. A warm, gentle hand cradled her head. "Hey, you're gonna be okay, luv, you're gonna be just fine..." Before her consciousness left her, she saw gently glowing blue eyes watching her, not pulsating ones. And she knew.

That was her Wheatley.

[autumngracy]

October TV Show Watchlist

Kid-Friendly

Hilda (2018-2023)

The Good Witch (2015-2021)

Gravity Falls (2012-2016)

The Owl House (2020-2023)

Over the Garden Wall (2014)

Bewitched (1964-1972)

The Halloween Baking Championship (2015-present)

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003)

I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970)

Halloween Wars (2011-present)

Goosebumps (1995-1998)

Goosebumps (2023-present)

Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990-2000)

Warehouse 13 (2009-2014)

Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999-2002)

That's So Raven (2003-2007)

The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994)

Tales From the Cryptkeeper (1993-1999)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1970)

The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1973)

The Scooby-Doo Show (1976-1978)

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979-1980)

Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1980-1982)

The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show (1983-1984)

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991)

What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002-2006)

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! (2006-2008)

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010-2013)

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (2019-2021)

Younger Teens & Up

Anne with an E (2017-2019)

Teen Wolf (2011-2017)

Spice and Wolf (2008-2009)

Sleepy Hollow (2013-2017)

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

The Twilight Zone (2019-2020)

The X Files (1993-2002)

The X-Files (2018)

Charmed (1998-2006)

Charmed (2018-2022)

Stranger Things (2016-present)

Supernatural (2005-2020)

Wednesday (2022)

Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)

All of Us are Dead (2022-present)

Murder She Wrote (1984-1996)

Older Teens & Adult

The Strain (2014-2017)

Columbo (1968-2003)

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020)

Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1997-1999)

Only Murders in the Building (2021-present)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2015)

Dead Like Me (2003-2004)

Midnight Mass (2021)

True Detective (2014-present)

Lovecraft Country (2020)

Santa Clarita Diet (2017-2019)

The Walking Dead (2010-2022)

Fear the Walking Dead (2015-2023)

Love, Death & Robots (2019-present)

Tales From the Crypt (1989-1996)

Reginald the Vampire (2022-2024)

The Last of Us (2023-present)

Ghosts (2019-2023)

Ghosts (2021-present)

Castlevania (2017-present)

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Being Human (2011-2014)

Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

A Discovery of Witches (2018-2022)

What We Do in the Shadows (2019-2024)

True Blood (2008-2014)

Interview With the Vampire (2022-present)

Dexter (2006-2013)

Dexter: New Blood (2021-2022)

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

Scare Tactics (2003-2013)

Chucky (2021-2024)

American Horror Story (2011-present)

American Horror Stories (2021-present)

Ghost Hunting Reality Shows

Fear (2000-2002)

Scariest Places on Earth (2000-2006)

Portals to Hell (2019-2022)

Paranormal State (2007-2011)

Ghost Adventures (2008-present)

Ghost Hunters (2004-2016)

Ghost Hunters (2019-2023)

Ghost Hunters International (2008-2012)

Destination Fear (2019-2023)

Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests (2019)

Ghost Brothers: Lights Out (2021)

Paranormal Witness (2011-2016)

The Dead Files (2011-present)

Kindred Spirits (2016-present)

The Holzer Files (2019-present)

Deep South Paranormal (2010-2013)

Ghost Nation (2019-present)

Haunting in the Heartland (2020)

Bonus Round: Web Series and Podcasts

Marble Hornets (2009-2014)

Welcome to Nightvale (2012-present)

The Magnus Archives (2016-2021)

The Magnus Protocol (2021-present)