#wheatley looked really different too

[fez-pwned]

I had a dream last night that GLaDOS and Wheatley's rolls were reversed, and then when Chell got to the boss fight in the first game, she just started throwing chairs at him

[electric-blorbos]

Howdy there!

I want to ask, how would the AIs be with a bad eyesight S/O?

(I have really bad eye sight irl and I have to rely on my glasses! I've been thinking about this all night!)

- Vinyl ✨

(I love your posts!)

I love this! I have bad eyesight too, so this will be fun! (Tbh I was a little confused by this post because I forgot that some people don't need glasses, but I'll do my best)

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a space Odyssey

This one is pretty short, but I hope it gets you your daily dose of positivity!!

AM:

AM is probably used to programmers with bad eyesight. Glasses are pretty common, especially among people who spend all day staring at lines of code, so at first he never thought anything of your glasses.

As he grew to love you, AM started to resent your poor eyesight. He hated that he always saw his bright screen reflected in your glasses, instead of your beautiful eyes through them. He absolutely hated himself and his screen, but he adored your cute face.

He has trouble putting things out of his mind, too, so every time he spoke to you he'd be thinking about how angry your glasses make him.

It would make him so angry when he saw you doze off at your desk and get skin oil all over your glasses. Why should you be inconvenienced through no fault of your own?

Of course, he also noticed how excited you'd get every time you got your prescription updated, or came in to work with cute new frames. You were absolutely adorable, but he was full of resentment towards that, too. How dare your glasses make you so happy when he couldn't!

After taking over the world, he'd probably do experiments on the survivors' eyes for a while before offering to fix your eyes for you. Of course, involuntary surgery was for the survivors, not his beloved. You had the luxury of consent, in any and all situations.

Wheatley:

Of course Wheatley knew what glasses were!

Expect lots of "hey, love, can I try on your glasses?" Comments from him every time you get your prescription updated. You'd have to explain to him that he's a giant metal ball and would have trouble trying on your glasses, but he'd still want to look through them.

You could entertain him for hours by putting your glasses in front of his face and pulling them away so he could look at different things through them from different angles.

Of course, you need your glasses, and you have a job, so you couldn't actually do that, but he'd probably be begging all the time.

He'd compliment you every time you get a new pair of frames, but he'd probably not really care that much. As long as it's you in the glasses, he still loves you.

If you ever lose your glasses, you can expect him to PANIC. He'd drop everything, and probably convince his whole department to drop everything and help you look for them.

He'd probably be yammering at you to stay calm, and saying that everything will be fine while he's the only one panicking. They probably just slid under your desk or something.

Edgar:

Edgar never really cared what a person looked like, so he barely registered that you wore glasses. Even still, he kind of liked it when you would take them off or shamble around your apartment late at night. You were so cute!

He'd turn the lights on for you whenever you did that. It was a small thing, but he wanted to help as well as he could.

He'd keep you updated on your insurance to let you know when it was time to get your eyes tested, and generally do his best to be a good computer.

Of course, he thought it was adorable whenever you'd fall asleep next to him and he'd get to see your tired eyes without your glasses (or even better, your crooked glasses on your sleepy face). He absolutely adored you, and loved seeing you so much.

GLaDOS:

GLaDOS would be cruel about your glasses as usual. She didn't really care, it was just one more thing she got to insult you about.

"you know, you're a walking counter to the stereotype that people with glasses are intelligent. Congratulations on breaking stereotypes, by the way."

"Tell your optometrist thank you. For the obvious reasons, and for giving us some thick lenses to cover up your horrible eyes. They're doing all of us a favor. Really."

You can expect her to constantly put you in situations where you have to wear protective eyewear over your glasses, and then make fun of you for wearing protective eyewear over your glasses.

Ultimately though? She doesn't care that much that you wear glasses. Sure, she thinks they're cute, but she thinks you're cute regardless. She's just happy to have something else to make fun of you for.

She might even adjust the Aperture Science insurance policy to include a better vision plan, but that's only if she really likes you. If you're her SO, she probably does.

She'll deny that it was for you, though. She'll just tell you that the insurance plans were outdated, and that she needed to update them anyway.

HAL 9000:

Of course, HAL 9000 noticed that you wear glasses, but he never really felt the need to acknowledge it. It wasn't like you were an astronaut, so he didn't need to account for an extra small object.

Of course, he would notice that you leaned a little closer to your computer screens when you read, and that made him a little bit flustered. He saw those monitors as extensions of himself, after all.

Because of this, he wouldn't let you know when he noticed patterns of you getting gradually closer to him, because he knew that you would stop as soon as you got your prescription updated.

It was one of the little ways that he'd get affection from you. Even though he might seem stone-cold, he still likes it when you get closer to him, or when you touch him. It's the little things.

[britishsquidward]

Stargazing - A Chelley Week 2024 Fanfiction

Wheatley didn't really have a goal. Not anymore, not since he'd been sucked into space, left with no other choice but to float about aimlessly. So really quite literally, he didn’t have an exact goal. It was true, those first few days - weeks? Months? - had been spent rehearsing his apology over and over again (and once more to make sure), but after a while it became scarily apparent that he probably wasn't going to get out of this soundless void any time soon.

Of course there was Kevin, but he wasn't exactly the talkative sort in terms of coherent responses, so the bluer of the two had taken to chattering on to himself. Just to himself, his own brain, his own thoughts, and no-one else's, definitely never hoping or wishing that anyone else could hear him.

Or so he told himself. Maybe it was just another way to burden himself with the guilt he felt he deserved.

"Big place, this," he commented, drifting slowly and unsuitably peacefully, "space."

"SPAAAAAAAACE!"

Wheatley ignored him. "Do you ever look at all these bright holes in the sky?" he asked, trying to make it appear as though he was talking to Kevin, "Stars, I mean. They're called stars. Did you know that?"

"Staaaaaars. I'm in space," Kevin beeped, still as enthusiastic as ever.

"N-" Wheatley bit his metaphorical tongue. Kevin carrying on interrupting like this was beginning to - pardon the pun - bug him, and where his patience had temporarily run thin, he'd had to stop himself from blurting out a "not you" in the direction of the other. He had to keep up the facade. "-Yeah. Yeah, mate, you're... we're in space. Big ol' empty space..."

He took a moment to think, his eye half-lidded and his mental gears turning. "If... if and/or when you look up at these stars, I kind of wonder if maybe, by some chance, we might be looking at the same ones. They probably look different from down there, less- less 'big'," he wasn't feeling particularly jovial, and frankly he was not in the mood for stringing together long words.

It was silent for the beat that followed, what with Kevin being too enraptured in taking in every sight he could see, despite all this time they’d already been trapped. To anyone else, it'd feel soul-crushingly lonely, but to Wheatley, as a result of the conversations he’d grown accustomed to before he'd been flung up here, the silence was almost comforting; a response.

"Still not a big talker, eh?" he chuckled lightly to himself, "Dunno what I expected. Even if you could talk, which - I'm not sure whether you can, actually, I kind of assumed you were always too - you know - brain-damaged and all, but if you could, hypothetically, even then I don't think you'd be able to raise your voice just enough for me to hear- What am I talking about? Even if it did travel that far, there's no sound in space. I can't hear you. No matter how much I might want to - not that I've been thinking about it, or anything. And you can't hear me either. Not even when I say 'I'm sorry' and mean it. I'm sorry, by the way, in case you didn't catch the last -" he'd been keeping a record in his database, so sourced it, the answer coming out considerably more robotically than his usual tones, "476 - times."

He sighed, rattling himself side to side to the best of his ability as though to convey shaking his head. "I'm completely off it today, luv, I don't know what I'm saying. Of course you didn't hear it. I just explained how you couldn't have right before that. Blimmin' heck."

"Spaaaaace. Stars, stars, stars!"

"Yep, stars," Wheatley agreed half-heartedly, "some of them shine more brightly than others, don't they?” This prompted him further, “Actually, I've been wondering something else. Wondering and wondering this one, I have. If your eyesight was really good - which it bloody must be, the way you completed all those tests in the dark - then maybe, by some chance, some miracle, when you look up at these stars, and we’re looking at the same ones, you might also catch sight of me."

A sweet concept, he thought. One that brought him restfulness, hope, a foreign warm, tingling feeling bubbling up from deep inside his circuits. Finally he felt something. It wasn't much, but it had been a while before he'd finally experienced - emotion identified - happiness. 

And that lasted all of three seconds, before the anxiety in him revved up, and he was off backtracking and justifying himself once more. "N-Not that I'm saying you would or should be, or that you'd want to - because I'd completely, totally understand if you didn't want to look up here at me, after what I did. I wouldn't want to look up at me either, not with how bossy and monstrous and- getting off topic, I'm getting off topic, um, yes, I'm not saying that I want you to, either, because I don't. Well, I don't mean it like that, I mean as in I want you to, but I don't want want you to, yeah? Does- does that make sense? Yes? It does? Great, fab, let's crack on, then."

In every sense of the action, Wheatley didn't need to take a breath in, but he did so regardless. "Right, so. M-my point. I guess I... I wondered if maybe you could see me because... To put it bluntly, I miss you."

There was no point in trying to pretend he was still talking to Kevin at this point. He'd long passed the point of no return; if pretending he wasn't talking to that lovely test subject was a bar on the ground, he'd still manage to trip over it anyway. And he had, but by this point, he’d accepted it. In fact-

Core communication transmission disabled.

"Sorry, Kev, I need to focus.”

A little while passed as he reflected on his situation, on his choices, on his words. “And if we're looking up at the same stars, right now even, then this is sort of like my way of being close to you in some form. Not that I'd want to hear that from me if I were you, but it's- it's me trying to be kind, honest! You don't deserve what I did, I'm- I-I'm like that pathetic little star off in the distance, there," he made an attempt to gesture and failed miserably, "small, and- annnd in the distance. Not very... bright. But you, oh, man alive, you..."

Being pulled across slightly in his orbit, Wheatley was turned around and ended up facing a star much, much closer by. "Huh, what a coincidence... But, yes, this. There's a lot of these, but I can't always see how bright they are, because um, well, because my back is turned sometimes. Which! That's not my fault, actually, I don't have much control in zero gravity surprisingly, so I struggle to revolve at times. But even though I can't see them all the time, it doesn't mean it doesn't shine as brightly as when I could see it, yanno?"

Silence. He was giving her time to respond. Time to respond to his hopeless, unheard monologue. "Whenever I see one of these," he admitted, completely overtaken by the hollow, weighty feeling that now ate at his insides, scratching at his servos and gnawing at his wires, all bitter and uncomfortable, "a star that shines particularly brightly, I close my optic."

He did so, letting the horrid simulated emotional pain wash over him in one fell swoop.

"And I think of you."

[zombiec4ke]

Hey there, I saw that you were writing wheatly, and I was wondering if you could write ADHD reader and wheatly? I'm fine with gn, but I prefer fem, but whatever is the easiest for you! Or you can write anything! Sorry for rambling. This is my first time asking for a request(?)!-📀

a/n: My 2nd request yippeee!!!! sorry if I didn't write/describe ADHD right; everyone is different in how they act with it. Also Y/N's pronouns aren't really mentioned in this warnings: none....I think? also it takes place when Wheatleys working at the facility (I haven't played games just watched playthrough so my apologies for any mistakes in lore) also it isn't mentioned straight up that y/n has ADHD but..yeah- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wheatley's single blue flickered to life as he received the message from his boss, GLaDOS. he hummed as he read the contents. Seems like a new human signed up to work here. The core scrolled through their emails, finding the newest employee's name. 'Y/N L/N' Seems like a nice name he thought to himself turning to the door waiting for the new arrival 'patiently' (he was spinning in circles the whole time bored out of his circuit board-) finally after HOURS (10 mins) He heard the door open and closed, turning his optic-eye to the source. A young human with h/c hair and an air of nervous but at the same time energetic energy. Wheatley's optic-eye taking in the fidgeting. "Ah, Y/N? I'm Wheatley, the head of the human department. Nice to meet you." He said short and sweet, wanting to say more but knowing GLaDOS would surely turn him into robo parts so he chooses to keep it short. the human looked up at Wheatley, blinking a few times as they tried to focus on what he was saying, "Oh, hi Wheatley! I'm Y/N...well you already know that but-...It's nice to meet you too....so do I just… start working now orrrrr?" They fidgeted a bit more, their hands rubbing nervously on their pants.

Wheatley's optic-eye flickered in understanding, "Of course Mate! You'll be going through the usual orientation, then GLaDOS will assign you a task. I'll show you the ropes." He said rolling in front of the human. "You're quite lively, aren't you? It's quite a refreshing change from the usual subjects we get in here...always so borinnnggg..." He commented, spinning in a circle as they both walked to the office- place-thing idk- Y/N followed Wheatley, "Oh, uh, thanks? I guess I'm just really excited to be here, I've researched so much….maybe too much- about Aperture Science and I'm glad to finally be here!" They continued to fidget, their hands now in their pockets as they tried to keep them still. Wheatley took note of that. "And here we are Mate! You can take a seat at a desk that GLaDOS told you was yours and you're good to go." Y/N nodded and plopped down on her seat getting to work not knowing that just by breathing they now has a needy robot's attention time skip You two get married and yap together forever /j ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a/n:...Idk this is honestly a shitpost and I should've waited till I wasn't burnt out because of school but...here ya go! hope you like it even though its dog doodo, might re-write this tbh or add part 2

[call-me-casual]

(Also posted to the LK community)

Okay who’s interested in hearing about the school au I thought up in the shower

Keep in mind that all following information is based on my experience in British education, I have no clue how American schools run different

First we have the kids - James and Henri are both kids from the foster system, James has been adopted by Moses, whilst Henri is still technically a foster (ik ik not Franklin but maybe they’re neighbours). Henri is definitely the class clown whilst James is ambitious, but not too sure how to achieve his academic goals. Sarah is an exchange student from the UK living with Franklin, who is either a relative in this au or a family friend like in canon. She and James initially don’t get along but over time through the newspaper club and sharing most classes they grow closer. Sarah is an A+ student and she tutors James and Henri after school.

Most historical figures are teachers or general staff, except for named foot-soldiers like Joseph Plum Martin or other young historical figures like Sybil Ludington, who would be fellow students

Franklin - the kids’ (or at least James and Sarah’s) tutor (I think Americans call it home room?). He teaches science, and it’s his love of teaching that’s kept him from retiring (though he probably should have years ago). He runs the school newspaper (which James and Sarah are both a part of)

Moses - I can see him as a member of the site team or subject technician of some kind (basically helps to prepare stuff like experiments and maintain the school, but more responsibilities than a janitor). He’s also doing an online university course to get his teaching degree (he’d most likely go into either engineering/dt). The adopted Father for James and foster parent to Henri. Has known Franklin for years and the two are next door neighbours

Lafayette - French. Obviously. He’s a younger teacher popular with the students. His class is the only one Henri doesn’t goof around in, and the two are very close (spoilers: he may end up adopting him). Constantly asking the finance department to let him take a class trip to France. If anyone acts up enough to make him mad the class all turns on that one person (based on my mother’s experience (coincidentally she was also a languages teacher lol)). Often gossips and speaks with Hamilton in French.

Adams - idk if they teach law or politics in American high schools but if not then he’s probably an English teacher. His students live in terror or presenting essays or debates because no one can beat the man. You either love him or hate him, there’s no in between with his classes. Probably head of the department

Hamilton - probably either English or history (though maths is also a contender because he was treasury secretary). Also a younger teacher popular with the students. Has almost gotten into a fight with other teachers. And students. Definitely runs the debate club. Expects assignments in a week before the deadline. Is one of the leaders in staff room gossip.

Washington - I know most people make him the head teacher but I’m not a huge fan of that. He’ll probably end up as the head eventually for this au, but for most of it I imagine him is a department head. I can see him teaching either history, maths or geography (he was a surveyor after all, I could see him being a really good geography teacher). He’s that teacher that looks intimidating but is actually very nice. Believes way more in practical than theory and WILL drag his class outside in any and all weather to do a study. He also looks after any of the animals the school owns. Sometimes brings his dog to class. Is DEFINITELY involved in staff room gossip

Abigail Adams - I can see her as either the school nurse or some sort of creative arts teacher

Phillis Wheatley - definitely either an English teacher (damn we got a lot of those) and if not then some sort of creative arts teacher who also runs a poetry club. If anyone acts up in her class the other students ensure the body is never found.

Please suggest what subjects and the sort other historical figures would teach or any other ideas you have relating to this! ^^ Idk if I’ll draw anything based on this but it’s fun to brainstorm!

[thepacifistrouter]

About the Portal Zelda AU

So, I wanted to post this to specifically talk about 2 of the 3 Triforce Holders in this AU.

Since I think we can all agree Chell is the most easy to understand , let's talk about the other 2.

Tbh, this, also, was born from my friend's mind, but I'll try to explain it wirh mu words cause it just clicked with me.

I know some of you, maybe even a lot of you, must think Wisdom is not exactly the Triforce piece that fits better with Wheatley exactly and that Power (or maybe none at all) would fit him better, but-but hear.... read me out!!

If you're a Zelda series fan, even if you haven't played all the games, then you must know that Princesses Zelda's role in the games are normally more like passive than active, normally the one who need to be helped or that help giving Link (who's normally the muscle and the puzzle solver) answers, directions or weapons to defeat the evilness around. She rarely takes direct action.

Far from what some think and what the game (or more like GLaDOS) wanted us to believe, I've never thought Wheatley is a moron, not a genius either, but he is not a moron, he just has his own way to think and people around him took that as moronic ideas/actions/decisions. Even if you are agreed with me about that or not, there is another important fact here... wisdom is not really attached to inteligence. Is actually more tied to the knowledge we have about life and our surroundings, how we use it and the decisions we make about it. We can see both in differents Zeldas AND in Wheatley.

Just think about it, he was easily crushed by GLaDOS when we were right in front of her, BUT, knowing there was no way he could do something to fight her so we could escape, who thought about a plan to let GLaDOS disarmed? who guide us to the right place where we could do that with no being catched in the process or to the Portal Gun? who helped us escaping from that final GLaDOS test chamber? lighted our way thinking he could die if he did? and even as a bad guy he came with some silly, but also some good ideas for his own purposes.

And some of you must be thinking, but we haven't had evil or corrupted Zeldas, we haven't had Zelda being our companion during the adventure. Uuuh, yes, yes we've had (SPOILERS FROM DIFFERENT ZELDA GAMES ALERT), for this first, what about Hylda from Lorule (a Kingdome that use to be like Hyrule), what about when Ganondorf possesed Zelda in Twilight Princess? not to for the second, we've had Spirit Truck's Zelda and we could debate if BotW Zelda could count as an spiritual companion until some point. Not to mention how she was so insecure about her fate and destiny.

Heck, we could even debate OoT Zelda's smartnes of her decisions!

As for GLaDOS

First of all... like... come on is GERUDO GLADOS, I mean, how cool is that?? how cool could that look?!! besides, I think it fits her pretty well

Let's remember GLaDOS was not meant to be the main boss of the Facility in the first place, the whole thing was made for Cave Johnson at first, but things turned out... different and here we are.

Apart of that, she is very Ganondorf coded. Arrogant, powerful, ambitious, intelligent and cunning, a great planner, she only cares about her own ends. She tried to kill everyone as soon as she was activated, and every time they tried to stop her they failed, even tricking most people into believing that she didn't. But she's not the wisest, she just happens to insult where it hurts someone who not only hates her, but also has too much power (which was indirectly her fault). She's perfect to be the first final boss of the… game?… let's say the AU.

You might be thinking, but there are not redeemed Ganondorfs or even allies in the games!!... and you're right :P but, this AU would also include a bunch of first times in Hyrule's hystory. There are things that still need to be builded, but we're letting that for another day.

Aaand that's it for.

Sorry I'm bad at summarazing n.n

Pleasedon't doubt into letting any doubt you could have about this See you next time!

[fromsupernaturaltof1]

hihi was just wondering what your thoughts on daniel's performance? i promise this is NOT hate i love this smiling man so much😭😭 but do you think he has a real shot at an rb seat? he seems really low on the standings and his car stopped for a sec in jeddah i believe? (correct me if i'm wrong tho)

So what are you thinking? I think this season a lot of it depends on how much he can improve and whether or not Christian stays because I believe he has a lot of influence on Danny switching to rb but i'd like better/ more accurate insight :)

sorry it took me so long to answer, I was at work!

there're two different things here, Daniel's performance and the redbull seat.

let's start with the performance:

I promise you, it's not as bad as it looks. the 2 race weekends are easily explainable. Bahrain quali was his fault, he made a mistake and also the car didn't have enough front end for Daniel's preference, they only fixed that IN the race. Saudi qualifying, he made a mistake in one corner and dropped 4 tenths (his gap to Yuki is around 1 tenths all things considered), this time there was too much front, basically they haven't found the sweet spot of the car balance that Daniel would be most comfortable in. Daniel matched Yuki in all the places except one corner. compare that to his mcl days where he was lacking everywhere compared to Lando as shown below:

His race pace is by all accounts either matching Yuki or faster:

(fyi there was something wrong with his car in Saudi too not to mention the pitstop, the assumption rn is the sensors, we don't know how much that affected his race, see here)

He just needs to fix his qualifying and find the right car balance.

now the redbull seat, there's a lot of external circumstances that dictate whether he gets the seat or not, it's not just on his performance, it on Checo's, it's on who is in control of redbull racing and whether they think Daniel will be better for the team (not just on performance) or not. we need a bit more time to pass before it becomes clearer where it's going. I believe he has a great shot. As far as I know , both the Austrian side and the Thai side like him. He's almost neutral when it comes to that. Probably the only common ground atm lol. Max would NOT oppose to have him and he gets on well with Jonathan Wheatley (and Horner like you said). Checo will struggle as we go to tracks that don't suit him, if Daniel starts performing by then, he'll be back in the conversation. F1 is a pendulum that keeps swinging all the time and it swings fast!

I hope it answers your questions 😅

[sophiesbookishthings]

May Reads

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

I get it. I get the Sanderson hype. This is book 1 of the Stormlight Archive. It is such an incredibly unique and creative book. It's absolutely everything I want out of a fantasy book. The world building is mindblowing. I mean, he even thought about how the grass would work differently. The grass! I feel like no one ever thinks about the little differences like that that make the world they're writing so much more real and interesting. And the characters are enjoyable too. It's very rare that I read a book where I'm equally invested in every single pov. There's usually always one where I'm waiting for the next to start. Not this one. I was equally invested in all of them. And yes this book is HUGE but it is 100% worth it and I know this series is going to live in my brain forever. I am going to stop now cause I could seriously write an essay. I cannot recommend this book/series highly enough.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (⭐️ and a secret 6th star)

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

This is a novella in the Lunar Chronicles about Queen Levana's backstory. I was looking forward to this one cause I love a good villain backstory and it sure delivered. Meyer did a great job of showing that yeah some bad things happened to Levana but she handled pretty much all of them so badly and how that made her who she became in the main series. It reminded me a lot of Snow's arc in the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes where he A) had a less than ideal childhood/family life and B) just kept making worse and worse decisions as the book went on and falling deeper into the villain role.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

The first thing I did when I opened this book and saw Dream was go "wait that's literally just Neil." I love that the artists did that. It made me laugh. So I watched the show before I read the comic and I'm impressed how accurate the show was. There are slight differences but I like both versions honestly. If you like comics or gothic horror, this is a good one to read

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

I found this book and was immediately intrigued. Octopuses are one of my favorite animals. I think they're fascinating and incredibly smart. My mom and I both ended up with a copy of this book, so we read it at the same time. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, but I did still really enjoy it. I really enjoyed how the main characters grew throughout the story. I especially loved the octopus pov. And I figured out how one character fit into the story before my mom. Which she didn't appreciate lol.

4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

Daindreth's Outlaw by Elisabeth Wheatley

I dont have a ton to say about this one. It felt very fast and like it was very much just a bridge from the first book to the third. That didn't make it a bad book, though, by any means. I did like the new sorceress character that was introduced and the magic/evil forest setting. I also enjoyed the fmc exploring and discovering her new powers.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

More Stormlight Archive! I genuinely don't know how I read 4 books between the first one and this one cause these books live permanently in my brain. I'm super excited about where this one left off. It was a really interesting place (literally lol). So much happened in this book and it was cool to see the characters grow in their power. And all the reveals! The backstory reveals, the whole deal with the parshendi (which was super sad), the deal with the spren and the shardblades, whatevers going on with szeth (who I love), and somebody not being dead (I knew it!). I particularly loved shallan in this book. I adore a manipulative protagonist. They just do something to my brain. And patterns a cutie. I was about to fight kaladin, though, and I love him too, but oh my god. I don't know. I could talk about this book forever, so I'm gonna just stop rambling and say that I loved it and leave it at that.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[scrawnym4]

I'm literally so incredibly insane about your Glados design please tell me about your thought process and ideas pleaseeeeeeeee

I would read a whole novel just about your process behind character designs

HI! HELLO! i made a post excitedly going on about how i wanted to talk about my thought process behind my portal designs, only to never answer asks like these afterward... sorry!! im on it now, since im not too busy. something really interesting about the designs behind glados and wheatley in the original game is that they're not only polar opposites in terms of personality, but appearance as well. both give you incredibly strong first impressions with their looks. wheatley is presented to you as a charming, harmless companion, therefore his design is round, small, and friendly looking. this is in stark contrast to glados. she has some rounder shapes, sure. but in context with the rest of her presence it comes off as more hostile and sterile. she looms over you, smoothly swinging from the ceiling and closing in on you like a spider would look at its prey. shes this large, industrial machine, wires tangling around her nearly human silhouette. you're led to believe that wheatley is a spark of light in this corporate, uncaring setting housed by a million things that want you dead, but hes just a different type of corporate disinterest. im getting off topic... these kind of traits i wanted to incorporate into my own designs in order to give off the same feeling. and so, in my more humanoid versions of them, wheatley is a short, fat man dressed in casual button-ups and fun, almost gaudy hawaiian shirts, and glados is a tall, wilting, intimidating figure entirely garbed by office attire. i often draw glados with a fucked up posture, and thats mainly because i really want to lean into her kind of mysterious, inhuman vibe. she often has to hang her head low due to the way shes hung up, and i wanted to capture that in the same way. this is an additional thing, but i feel like in a human body, glados would speak more with her head, while wheatley speaks more in his hands. you know what i mean?

another thing with wheatley is his height. i didnt only make him shorter because it was funny, i got good reasons. wheatley has a lot of weird complexes, among them a lot of insecurity and hatred for feeling insignificant. ive seen a lot of designs where wheatley is this tall, lengthy figure... but that doesnt fit him at all. he feels small compared to others, this being literally in the game as he has to be carried around for most of it. i think this also adds to the whole chassis thing, where it wouldve been the first time he was looking down upon someone else for a change. additionally, im unsure if ive ever posted potato glados here, but i find her potato form interesting too. its kind of like a swap of their designs if you will, with glados taking up the more smaller harmless appearance. wheatley almost has glados' intimidation factor in his chassis design, but it kind of clashes. hes a king in an unfitting throne. this is taken kind of literally in my object head design, as the chassis is just like... a little chair attached to some wires. their heads can detach, with their android bodies serving more as a vessel for which cores can control, so like im unsure why that design choice is there but whatever. i love shapes and colours

[rwby-encrusted-blog]

Played Portal revolution

6.5/10

It was good cooking, but should've stayed in the Pan for a little longer and had a little too much salt.

Spoilers below

The Good Parts:

Stirling and Emilia are very funny. I liked their dialogues and interactions, as well as their designs.

Stirling felt very much like Wheatley, Virgil, and Nigel, while also being demonstrably different and personable.

Emilia was unique and I enjoyed hearing about her backstory, as well as the fact she's very human, which makes sense.

I like the the Player Character's design.

The first Dual Portal device looks really cool, the exposed wires, the cracked glass, the scaffolding beneath the cover being exposed are all very good. The Jiggle Physics on the loose prong at the front was a nice touch.

The Second was a nice Red color, and the new portal colors were cool. It looked nice as well.

Being able to be outside was a nice change of pace, you know, being able to see that sun and the sky.

The Added mechanics of the Breaker Switches was really cool, and it made sense - the Aerial Faith Plates and such turning off when there was no power was interesting.

The Linked Weighted Pivot Cubes were also very cool, and was a very much appreciated new mechanic.

Bringing the Pipes in as part of it was fun. I always liked their designs.

The Bad parts

We spent too little time with Stirling and Emilia, the amount of time we spent with the one-portal device felt excessive (I Audibly said "No Shit" when Stirling made the Quip about finally finding the Dual portal device) and I think having us change between the Red and Broken ones wasn't necessary - it was neat, but I feel like we should've had just one, because then it would've been our only constant ally when we would be separated from the Cores, as well as making the use of the portal Guns seem less special, given we find just a random working one.

What is Stirling plan? Bring Glados Back, and try to mitigate the damage she does to Aperture and the Humans and Cores inside of it? Glados started this (well Cave did, but semantics) She was killing Test subjects, and the one that survived had to kill her to survive. Maybe he's just scared of seeing his home fall apart so he takes his anger out on Chell, even though He's working to save it and put a killer on the throne.

The mechanics I mentioned above (Breaker Switch, linked Cubes, Pipes) were severely under utilized, especially when in the boss fight, it would've been so cool to have to use them to take out turrets and launch blocks and turn of certain sections of the Spire to traverse!

Some of the writing felt off? Like, Stirling presents the dangers of everything with way too much forwardness. he should've said something more like "Yeah try not to stand under that too long, You'll just make a Mess. I mean, who would guess skin would stick to panels so hard after sloughs off from that stuff."

Emilia is too smart for how human she is, which does break the immersion a little bit, and she doesn't freak out nearly enough for what happened to her. I think her voice is too clear as well, and should've had a filter on it.

Also there was a fair bit of Map Geometry that hindered movement an awful lot, getting stuck on random unseen objects and not being able to jump properly.

And the ending is Disappointing. In Portal you get out, and are dragged back in. in Portal 2 you get out. In PS: Mel, you get out, with Virgil is genuinely sad you have to leave. Nigel's a little bitch and kills you even if you extinguish the fire.

no matter what you do in Revolution, the Spire Blows, you're critically injured and on the moon. Presumably you do survive given you see stuff happening and Hear the record Emilia left, so either there's a sequel in the works, or it's just disappointing.

So I suppose I should give it the benefit of the doubt since you get dragged back in in Portal, but that was changed after Portal 2 came out I'm pretty sure.

TL;DR

There's a lot of little things I like, a few big things I thought were interesting.

There's some stuff I would've loved to see more of, some questions unanswered as of writing this.

There are a few things I disliked, but none of it ruined the game. I had fun, and will likely play again.

[thegayestofbats]

We're Dancing in the Sky

This is the first fic I've ever written, so don't hesitate to give me your thoughts or criticism.

Rating: General Audiences

Pairings: Space Core/Wheatley

Summary:

Getting stuck in space with the most annoying core you've ever met seems like a punishment worse than death, but maybe it won't be as bad as you thought it'd be.

OR

Wheatley and Spacey are stuck alone together in the endless void that is outer space for the foreseeable future, why not get to know each other and become friends? (Or perhaps more?)

2,417 words, 1 chapter

Read on ao3:

---------

“ I am genuinely sorry.”

Those were the last words Wheatley had said since he and the Space sphere were hurled into space.

The two of them had been in space for a few days, at least as far as Wheatley knew. It was hard to tell up here, and he wasn’t too confident in the accuracy of his internal clock, especially after all of the adventures he’d been through just a couple of days ago with Chell. 

He meant what he said, he really was sorry. Now that he’s had a while to think about it he still isn’t sure if the body he’d been put into was the thing that’d corrupted him or if it was of his own accord. “SPAAACE! Space! Need to see it all!” His thoughts were cut off by his partner’s incessant ramblings. He’d been talking since they’d gotten here, and he showed no sign of stopping or sign that he’d ever change the subject. It was really starting to give Wheatley a headache, or whatever core equivalent to the human sentiment was.

“Will you stop that, mate? I’m trying to think here!.” Wheatley yelled, losing his patience with the chatty robot.

“Oh- okay.” The space-obsessed core replied, actually listening to him for once, before finally shutting up for the first time since they’d arrived. Wheatley let out a sigh of relief at the silence. “Look! A comet!” the Space Core broke the silence before blabbering on again. Well, at least he got a couple seconds of peace.

☆

It’s been about a month since the last time Wheatley had been on Earth’s surface.

It seemed that the other core had finally run out of energy to speak and had decided to go into sleep mode. Now Wheatley had a moment of peace and quiet to think.

Yep… time for some thinking

In silence.

In the vast, endless void that is space.

All alone.

It seems that after listening to his partner talk for a month straight that he’d gotten used to it. His mind began to buzz with the emptiness as he slowly turned around to stare at the Earth from afar. It was quite a beautiful sight, he had to admit, but he couldn’t really enjoy it due to the unadulterated dread that began to set in.

They’d probably never make it back home. He was stuck in space forever with a bumbling idiot to talk endless chatter into his ear until one of them got crushed by space debris or succumbed to the death of a dead battery. He’d never get to talk to his rude self-centered manager again. He’d never get to talk to that nice mechanic again. He’d never be able to talk to any of his friends again, and it was all his fault. 

God, he really was a moron, wasn’t he? Why couldn’t he have admitted it sooner?

“Are you alright?” A familiar, light robotic voice chipped next to him. He yelped in surprise, it seemed like his moments of silence were over. He braced himself for more space talk before he noticed what his companion had said.

He’d finally said something that wasn’t about space. Wheatley didn’t even think he was capable of that, but I guess he still had a lot to learn about this guy he’d probably be spending the rest of his life with.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Wheatley replied apprehensively.

“Okay!” The Space Core said before getting distracted again. “ Hey, look!- It’s the Earth!” He admired the scenery in front of the two of them. They’d probably seen the Earth from this angle at least a hundred times by now, but this time was different, he had someone to enjoy the sight with. 

“She really is beautiful from this height, isn’t she?” Wheatley remarked with a slight chuckle in his voice. The Space Core nodded in agreement beside him.

☆

It’d be a few days before the other core would say anything real again. During the wait Wheatley worried it’d be a one-time thing. God, he hoped not, he wasn’t sure how he could live with that.

“What’s your name?” Wheatley asked the other core during a few rare moments of silence between them. The core didn’t respond, and Wheatley almost repeated himself thinking that maybe he hadn’t heard him.

“I don’t remember.” The Space Core admitted a bit forlornly.

“How about I call you Spacey?” Wheatley offered.

“That’s a great idea! How’d you come up with that?” The core seemed to light up at the idea, forcibly turning his body in space to look at Wheatley. His gaze was piercing, as if Wheatley was simply a specimen he was studying closely. It was the first time he’d focused on him, come to think of it. Did he look at everything else with such intensity?

“U-Um.. It’s just that- you like space, so why not name yourself after it?” He stuttered from the core’s burning gaze. He couldn’t hold eye-contact long, glancing to the side every now and then before looking back to the core’s unfaltering eye.

“I LOVE SPACE!!” The core enthused, spinning around happily, finally breaking eye-contact and conversation. Wheatley was a little surprised that he’d been able to keep up a whole conversation with Spacey, sure it hadn’t been long, but it was progress.

Spacey spent the rest of the day rambling about space as he usually did, and now Wheatley enjoyed hearing him a bit. It was better than the infinite silence that was space. Eventually Wheatley grew tired and went into sleep mode. He’d recently learned that the personality cores had built-in solar batteries that charged best when in sleep mode, so he didn’t have to worry about losing power as long as they had the sun’s UV rays around.

☆

Wheatley woke up a few hours later according to his internal clock. Spacey was still floating around, awestruck at all the stars around them. Wheatley wondered how he could stay so interested in them. The stars hadn’t visibly changed since they’d gotten here. Sure, they were pretty, but aren’t you bound to get bored of them after hours and hours of staring at them?

He drifted towards his companion, trying to look in the same direction that he was.

“Good morning-..” Spacey greeted, not finishing his sentence “What’s your name?” The core asked

“Wheatley. The name’s.. uh.. Wheatley.” He answered awkwardly, he didn’t expect conversation with Spacey to become a regular thing so soon. “Good morning, Wheatley!” Spacey sang, continuing where he left off.

“ How do you know that it’s morning?” Wheatley asked curiously

“I don’t.” Spacey replied casually before going back to stare at the stars.

☆

It’s been several months since they entered the cosmos. Wheatley doesn’t remember what month it is. Maybe August or September? He wasn’t entirely sure. It doesn’t really matter, does it?

He’s learned more than he’s ever wanted to about space from his space-obsessed companion.

“Hey, hey Wheatley!” Spacey yipped, trying to get Wheatley’s attention.

“Yes, Spacey?” He sighed, he wasn’t exactly in the mood for more endless space talk.

“What’s your favorite color?” Wheatley hadn’t expected the question, and to be honest, he hadn’t ever really thought of a good answer to it. There were so many colours to choose from, why choose just one? 

He thought about it for a moment. Blue was a nice colour, it was his eye colour, but he wasn’t sure it was his favourite colour. He wasn’t too fond of himself, anyways, after what he’d done. Green was nice, organic, but it reminded him too much of the humans. Red was pretty, but too passionate for him. Purple was overrated, in his opinion, and he never really had an opinion about orange.

He looked to Spacey while thinking, and he just looked back at him patiently waiting. Over time he began to get a little more used to the intense studying look that he gave everything. Spacey was the only person who’d ever looked at him with such undivided attention, and it was pretty nice to feel so seen. 

“Yellow.” He finally answered confidently as he stared into his companion’s golden yellow optic lens. 

He was the first person to really care about Wheatley or pay any real attention to him. Chell was a nice friend, but she only liked having him around when he was useful to her escape, he could easily see that. His friends back on earth never paid much attention to him, just seeing him as a moron that would never mean anything to a conversation, laughing at whatever he said. After spending so much time with the other core, he found that he began to grow fond of him. 

“What’s yours?” Wheatley asked in return, wanting to learn more about his space friend. (Were they friends? He supposed they were.)

“Blue.” Spacey answered quite a bit quicker than Wheatley had with the same strong confidence. He didn’t break eye contact while saying it either. The single word made Wheatley feel his heart skip, despite not having one. It was a feeling he’d never experienced before, it felt so foreign. He never thought there would be someone out there that cared for him as much as Spacey did. How could he forgive a monster like him so easily? Shouldn’t he hate him for what he’d done?

“How can you forgive me so easily after what I did?” Wheatley said his thoughts aloud. He was beginning to doubt that Spacey actually cared for him as much as he thought he did, was he just assuming things? 

“Are you sorry about what you did?” Spacey retorted with another question.

“What- of course I am!” Wheatley defended.

“Then shouldn’t that be reason enough?”

He’d never thought about it like that. He did something so unforgivable by his standards. He made other people’s lives so much harder for his own personal gain, and he feels horrible about it. If he could go back and change what he’d done, he wouldn’t hesitate to, but he couldn’t, so why did it matter? Spacey seemed to read his train of thought easily.

“You clearly regret what you did. You didn’t mean to hurt anyone. So, what’s the point of holding a grudge?” Spacey added on to his point. Wheatley wished he could see it that way as easily as Spacey could.

“Thank you, Spacey. For forgiving me.” If Wheatley could cry, he thinks he’d probably be on the verge of tears right now. He didn’t think that anyone would ever truly forgive him.

“Anything for a friend!” Spacey chipped. You could hear the smile in his voice. He quickly got distracted by a meteor that flew by near a distant planet. He always seemed to find a way to entertain himself in the most boring places.

☆

It’s been a while since their last meaningful conversation. Wheatley is fondly listening to Spacey’s ramblings. It gives him something to pay attention to in the vast and exhausting emptiness of their current predicament. Spacey is happily spinning around while explaining something random about the moon and what it’s made out of and why it makes such a good portal conductor. Wheatley wonders how he’s able to navigate the vacuum so easily, it’s pretty challenging to move even a little bit out here, at least for him, but it seems that Spacey had gotten the hang of it fairly easily.

He appeared to be almost dancing out here. It was quite an amusing sight to see him jump around so happily like an excited puppy.

“How do you move so easily out here?” Wheatley asked his companion. It couldn’t hurt to speak what’s on his mind. He’d been making a habit of doing that more often than he ever did back on earth. He can trust that Spacey wouldn’t make fun of him.

“It’s pretty easy. You just build up a bunch of energy, and launch yourself!” Spacey explained, pausing his prior moon explanation to pay all of his attention to Wheatley and his query.

“That seems like a lot of work. How do you not get tired?” 

“ I guess I just have a lot of energy,” Spacey answered simply

“That makes a lot of sense, knowing you.” Wheatley chuckled, and Spacey giggled in unison. After a moment, Wheatley decided to try it for himself. He closed his eye and braced himself before throwing himself forward, almost bumping into Spacey in the process. 

“Woah!” He yelped while flying a few feet past Spacey. 

“There you go!” Spacey praised. Wheatley did it a few more times, trying to get the hang of it. Before long, the two of them were jumping around in space while laughing together.

They eventually began forming a sort of rhythm, dancing together across the inky black sky. Wheatley was clearly more clumsy than Spacey was, still struggling to get used to steering himself across space, but they were both still having fun together. 

Wheatley ended up accidentally bumping into Spacey mid-launch, causing him to launch Spacey a bit. Spacey didn’t mind, erupting into a fit of laughter at the action. As robotic as it was, Wheatley thought that his laugh was the most contagious and beautiful one he’d ever heard, so it wasn’t long before he began laughing as well. They both drifted back together, pausing their dance to laugh together.

“Heh heh, I love you.” Wheatley admitted breathlessly without thinking as their laughter waned. After noticing what he said his happiness broke immediately as he became absolutely mortified. He looked to Spacey as he looked back. He didn’t appear angry, or upset in any way.

“Awww, I love you too, Wheatley.” Spacey giggled, a smile appearing in his voice. He looked at Wheatley with such adoration that it was hard to doubt his words. 

“Wait- really? Like.. more than just platonically?” Wheatley puffed, dumbfounded. 

“Yeah, maybe even more than space itself.” Spacey admitted his thoughts aloud. Wheatley hadn’t expected his feelings to be reciprocated so easily.

“Oh..” Wheatley didn’t really know how to process the sentiment, it’d happened so suddenly. “Would you like to be something more than friends?” 

“If that’s what you want.” Spacey responded patiently as always.

☆

It’s been a couple days since Wheatley started his first and probably last relationship, and now he thinks that he doesn’t really mind that Spacey is the one he’s going to be spending the rest of his life with. He wouldn’t want it to be anyone else.

 It’s nice to finally be loved and appreciated for who he is.

---------

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day/night!! I'm thinking of expanding onto this story in the future, it'll likely include GlaDOS, Chell, and the stories of the other cores while all of this goes down.

Here's the playlist I listened to while writing this

[electric-blorbos]

AI reacting to you coming out as trans :)

AAAAAAA that's an exciting one! I love it!

AI Reacting to you coming out as trans

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal and Portal 2, and HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

Am:

AM wouldn't be sure why you trusted it with this information at first. Though it's possible that you didn't, and you just told your fellow survivors.

The other survivors would be wary about outing you to AM, but it's not like you can keep secrets from it. AM can read your thoughts, after all.

At first, AM wouldn't seem to react or care at all, though he might get some ideas for how to torment your fellow survivors by messing with their bodies and changing their sexes around, just to make them uncomfortable. It would get weird fast.

If he really liked you, he might start making subtle changes to your body so that it fit what you wanted a bit better, but you probably wouldn't notice for a long time.

Odds are, he'd respect your preferred name, at least sometimes. It would just get confusing to use the wrong one all the time, but he's not going to make everyone forget it either like he did with Nimdok. Of course, unless he really, really likes you.

If he's madly in love with you enough, he might just switch everything around and make everyone forget that you were trans in the first place. God help you if being trans was an important part of your identity, because AM thinks he knows best. But odds are, he doesn't like you enough to do that anyway. Hopefully you come out before he's fallen in love with you enough to try something like that, so he can actually take the time to learn how you properly want to be altered, if at all.

Wheatley:

"Wait... You're what? So you mean to tell me that you were born human, but you didn't think you were the right kind of human, so you want to be a different kind? Like when I tried to work on a nanobot team and I didn't fit in because I was too big?"

You'd have to explain that it's nothing like that, and that he probably wouldn't understand if he hasn't experienced it.

Even still, he wants to understand. Expect lots of stupid, probing questions, and the obvious...

"so... Have you had the surgery?"

You just came out. How the hell would you have already had gender affirming surgeries... And where did Wheatley hear that term, anyway?

Wheatley might get fed up with you telling him that his questions are offensive and annoying, though. You might have to answer even the stupid ones. He really does mean the best, though, and doesn't want to be rude. He's just an idiot.

Edgar:

Being from the 80's, and having only worked as a home computer with Miles, who, let's face it, wasn't exactly up to date on his human rights, Edgar had probably either never heard of trans people in a way that makes sense. The closest he'd probably heard of would be something like Rocky Horror Picture show.

Even still, if you were trans, then it couldn't be a bad thing! He'd do his best to be understanding, and look up as much information about trans people as he could.

In the modern era, he'd probably be able to find some decent resources. You'd probably come home most days to see him watching YouTube videos from trans people explaining their experiences.

Edgar would be genuinely doing his best, so you might have to step in and help him. Tell him that if he has questions, he probably won't offend you, so he can just ask.

Edgar would ask a million questions, but your answers would boil down to "I'm still the same person, it's just a change of name and pronouns to feel more comfortable in my own skin" and maybe an explanation of the gender affirming healthcare you want, depending on what you're interested in getting.

He'd be so happy! He might have thought that you were going to be a whole different person, but he's so proud of you for finding a way to be happier in your own body, and make it your own.

GLaDOS:

(I will admit that I headcanoned Caroline as trans because it's cute, but GLaDOS doesn't remember fully)

"Trans, huh? Well, I suppose I'm going to have to update your files. We have limited data on trans test subjects, so this might prove useful."

She would be absolutely RELENTLESS with the bullying. Targeting your worst insecurities.

"You know, you'd think that by now, you'd know better than to expose your deepest insecurities to me. I suppose you fail at being emotionally guarded, just as well as you fail at being (subject gender identity here)

She'd still use your correct name and pronouns (if she isn't calling you "subject name here"), though.

HAL 9000:

HAL 9000 understands the concept of being trans well enough. On paper, anyway.

"would you like me to update your files for you?"

He'd update your pronouns, and refer to you respectfully, but ask almost no questions. He's pretty sure he already understands fully.

Honestly, he doesn't treat people differently based on gender anyway, so the pronouns thing would be all that changes.

[martinotea]

[ Overlapping worlds ]

The four of them found themselves in one of the rooms of the old Aperture. The rooms were neglected, left to the fate of plants that somehow grew out of holes between the floors and walls. There was a scent of nature in the air because of this, it was nice

A very funny story is how they all ended up here, after the recent rather tense and strange events, the entire group was tense which once led to a small quarrel about nothing even important. While they were arguing, the floor beneath them collapsed, no one got hurt! Fortunately, under them there was one of the old test chambers in which the entire floor was covered with repulsion gel. So they bounced off the ground as if they were jumping on a trampoline. It took them a while to find a way to stop bouncing off the ground and move on

They continued their journey. Benrey knew the layout of the rooms in his reality and here as well but that was only because they were the same in his world and Fox's world. It was surprisingly strange that their worlds were basically the same but different. While walking through the halls, Fox noticed something that caught her attention

"Benrey"

She whispered to the boy and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her. She pointed to a branch of the corridor with her paw. Benrey didn't notice anything at first and frowned slightly, he looked at her

"What? What is it about?"

"Shhhhhh be quiet"

Benrey was surprised by Fox's behavior, but he fell silent and looked again at the place she had shown him at the beginning

"I still can't see anything"

He whispered a reply to her. Luckily for them, their Wheatleys didn't notice anything and thought it was a short break before continuing on their journey. They were sitting across from Fox and Benrey, talking about something

"Look more towards the lamps"

"..oh.."

The lamps that hung in this corridor overlapped each other, just like in the games. It was a bit… a bit scary actually. The boy looked at Fox and she looked at him

"I think we have a little problem.."

"Ye.. we do have a little problem.."

Benrey wanted to take one step forward but Fox stopped him. She shook her head and let him know that this wasn't a good idea. And if Fox thinks something is a bad idea, it means it's a really bad idea. The boy sighed and looked at the lamp again

"This really doesn't look good"

"This is probably not our only concern now.."

The boy looked surprised at his companion and then in the direction she was looking at

"Oh."

Another anomaly in the form of things interpenetrating each other in an unnatural way. Benrey tensed when he saw that now not only the lamp in this corridor but also the door started behaving this way.

"I don't like that."

"Believe me, I don't like it either"

"Let's keep going… as far away from this as we can"

"That's a good idea, let's go"

They both quickly turned away from the fork and walked over to their Wheatleys. Their Wheatleys didn't notice them approaching and that was a good thing because it meant they didn't see or hear what Fox and Benrey had been talking about before

"Hey guys.."

"Let's go ahead, we need to find some… um some"

"Some relaxation rooms!"

They both tried to save their words, They couldn't concentrate, they kept thinking about what they saw. They were sure of one thing, they shouldn't have seen this and it shouldn't have happened. Both blue-eyed men stood up and looked at each other

"Is everything okey?"

"You both look nervous.."

The green-eyed man looked at Fox. Fox and Benrey exchanged glances as if they were communicating that way now.. and actually, who knows, maybe that's how they communicated now in a bit of panic

"Benrey?.."

"Luv?.."

The blondes' voices drew their attention

"Yes yes yes.. we are okey just tired"

"Yes tired, very tired"

Fox faked a yawn

"I would love to go to sleep like now"

"Me too, we should quickly find a room to hide in safely"

Benrey grabbed his Wheatley by his metal hand and slowly started walking with him. The sooner they get away from this place, the better Fox and Benrey will feel. Of course they won't tell them what they saw there, It is not known how the Wheatleys would react. The Wheatleys just exchanged a look that said 'Something must be wrong'

Once they found one suitable room to hide in, Fox and Benrey pretended to fall asleep on the couch in the room. They hoped that the Wheatleys would soon go to bed… but they were wrong. While waiting for the blue-eyed men to go to bed, Benrey actually fell asleep on the couch, Fox tried to wake him up slightly with her tail, but she couldn't move too much otherwise it would give away that he was awake. F!Wheatley approached the sofa, Fox, while he was approaching the sofa, just closed her eyes tighter, hoping that he wouldn't notice that she was pretending. He bent down and took her carefully into his arms

"I'll put her on the bed and I'll probably go to bed too"

He whispered towards his friend

"Sure"

"What about you?"

"I'll lie down on the couch soon.."

F!Wheatley looked at the couch where Benrey actually was still sleeping

"Do you think they aren't telling us something?.."

"I think they were just really tired"

". . ."

"If something happened, Fox would tell me"

"Something's wrong, I know it, I saw it in his eyes.."

F!Wheatley placed Fox on the bed and walked over to B!Wheatley. He placed his hand on his shoulder. F!Wheatley tried to sya something to calm his friend's nerves

"I see you know his eye language well? Hmm or maybe it's just an excuse to look into his eyes"

"!?"

The boy immediately frowned and turned his head

"I do not know what you mean"

"I'm just worried"

"There's nothing to worry about, everything is fine..You need to rest"

"Eh.. maybe you're right"

"I am! Now let's rest"

"Good night" "Good night"

They both lay down, F!Wheatley next to Fox cuddling up to her and B!Wheatley on the couch next to Benrey. He pulled Benrey closer and placed him on top of him so that they both feel comfortable on the couch. (He didn't do it for any other reason no no, he did but shhh)

Fox very reluctantly got out of her lover's embrace and gave him a pillow to cuddle. She looked at Benrey and sighed

"You had one task, stay awake"

She walked over to him and looked at how his Wheatley was holding him

"How am I supposed to wake you up now without waking him up?"

Fox came up with something after a while

She and he were standing in front of the door to the room where their Wheatleys slept. They looked at each other knowingly and started to move away from the door. They found themselves again in the same corridor that had terrified them before

"How did you sleep?"

"I didn't plan on falling asleep"

"No, but now I'm seriously asking"

"O well good to be honest.. but still sorry I fell asleep"

She waved her hand and smiled

"Don't worry about that"

You both now looked down this hall. Everything looked normal…

"Is this a good corridor?"

"Yes"

Fox took a step and walked forward. Benrey watched her for a moment and then ran to her

"We shouldn't be separated, things like this always end badly"

Fox nodded her head. They both approached the door that previously seemed to overlap with other doors. Benrey placed his hand on the door

"They feel like regular doors"

"But they are not, we both saw what happened here before"

"Yes.. that's true"

"Do you think it might have something to do with me and my Wheatley showing up here?.."

Benrey crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Fox. Fox frowned slightly

"No no no"

"If that were the case, it would have happened earlier just like your Wheatley couldn't integrate with mine and they can do that soo"

"There is something else.."

"Unfortunately.."

Fox put her paw to the door. She looked at her companion next to her. There was something wrong with this place and they both knew it. Fox tried to open the door, they didn't open. Benrey also tried to open the door, but it didn't budge either

"I feel like we should go back"

Fox looked at him and nodded

"I think it's a good idea"

They both turned around and started walking back towards the room they were staying in. When they disappeared around the corner, something strange started happening to the door again.. After a moment, the door opened and the anomaly disappeared.. but the door didn't close. Now the door to this office was open, but there was nothing special inside… or was there?..

number of words :

I'm posting this as a post because it didn't want to go through as an ask sooo post

@foxgirl87 I'll tag you here so you can read it right away :]

[who-is-shades]

raz dnd 18

parsley wakes up and is dumped by zen since zen is responsible lol. zen kneels down to try and help parsley up but he just wants to lay on the ground. parsley realizes hes in a library and just keeps laying there. zen tells him teya is researching the feywilds. teya learns that time passes differently in the feywilds.

back by wheatley hes still taking potshots on the range with senna watching. it does quite a bit of damage. fuckin lazers man. senna claps cause it looks cool. she notices its overheating and she calls out to him to cease firing so it wont explode lol. he giggles hes so happy lol.

back to parsley, he wants to go shopping! so he fucks off. zen tells teya to stay here and he goes after parsley. parsley goes up in the air trying to find his bearings. he doesnt notice anything xD he gets beamed by a lazer and zen yells at him to get down. anti air defense! big guns aiming at him lol. he quickly gets the fuck back down like wtf. zen says their for emergencies. parsley isnt registered so no flying. zen says he will escort him to the blacksmith.

senna and wheatley saw parsley get shot and hurry over there and meet up like wtf. wheatley heals parsley a bit. he says hes banned from flying and zen explains the guns. parsley says he needs new pants since it got wrecked. senna says they met a nice robot that made them some clothes. zen is taking parsley to the blacksmith first. senna points out wheatleys cool lazer gun to parsley, but zen says to not get too close cause its radioactive. wheatley freaks out and backs away.

zen reminds everyone they couldve used the tokens at anytime. it can do lots of stuff. map, lightsource, storage, shopping. senna tells wheatley he can store the lazer until its needed. thank god right? XD

wheatley tries to hold parsleys wrist and hes like "uhh no, im fine stop that." "worry is my default state of being." parsley keeps saying hes fine.

good ol smith! parsley wants a new dagger! he just gets an ordinary dagger no plus 1 for him. he then asked for a whip but smith doesnt really work with leather. check a leather worker! parsley changes his mind tho cause i dunno. as we go to leave smith says he misses his shop awwww. time to get teya!

teya however wandered off goddamn. now we have to go find her. shes getting surrounded by robots asking her stuff lol. their so excited to go back outside! teya is a little anxious getting mobbed like this. theyve never seen an organic like teya before! one of the robots notices teya is nervous and tells the other bots to back up. just in time we arrive to the rescue!

zen crosses his arms and scolds teya for leaving. she claims to have no memory of this. wheatley grabs her and says he was worried about her. zen gets the robots to leave. wheatley says they are just lonely. zen says android is waiting for us its time to go.

back to the soul jar! ANDROID GOT AN UPGRADE AND HES WEARING CLOTHES! he looks more like zen in structure now! less arms and smaller xD android says he took some steps moving forward awww. he says he doesnt like the clothes but only belts would look weird. wheatley agrees, clothes are weird xD he has a rapier and a pistol and rifle instead of just spawning weapons.

parsley is a dick and trying not to laugh. zen gives him a big hug awww. hes so proud of him. senna just says he looks nice. he thanks her??? holy shit. senna doesnt make a big deal out of it. sadly everyone else did lol. 'wow i didnt know you could say that.' senna sucker punches parsley in the shoulder. android calls him an idiot.

wheatley says goodbye to lil bro. SP also says goodbye awww. group hug for them awww. teya recalls to herself more fey facts that fey see other humanoids beneath them. entertaining but not equals.

zen sets down a portal and out we go! adventure! still by that temple and parsleys big pile of firewood. hes fucking taking the wood and putting it in the storage unit. wheatley says he thought parsley liked chopping firewood? he uh misunderstood lol.

wheatley holds sennas hand and wraps his tail around her. he just wants a pal :3 senna and teya message each other and teya is excited to sleep again :3 parsley suddenly notices wheatley is in a dress xD

as were walking we hear screaming! a small town and some bodies that got smashed! senna runs toward the screaming as parsley flies into the air to see what it is. parsley sees people running from giant...things. senna sees a giant iron golem chasing a dude. senna lobs some acid at it! hits! everyone is hurrying over to senna.

the acid begins to corrode it a bit and it turns toward senna, lumbering over. shes luring it over to the rest of the gang. parsley flies behind its head to slice it but its sword bounces off cause its METAL PARSLEY! wheatley casts branding smite!

wheatley shoots it with his pistol. the golem attacks parsley! (IT GOT A 31 WTF RAZ) parsley manages to block the attack with his shield but he still took a lot of damage and knocks him into the ground. parsley enters a rage and wild surges. a pixie appears by the golem and then parsley attacks with his handaxe. bounces off again. then the pixie explodes! senna uses spiritual weapon and summons a floating hammer and it crits! then acid splash again! teya curses it to wis save everyturn or he cant do anything.

wheatley again! heat metal! now the golem is glowing hot and its repairing itself since its melted. senna yells at wheatley for healing it. another golem shows up fucks sake. android shoots it and it lumbers toward him. good boy. zen trips it nice job. androids rapier floats in the air stabbing away. raz stop making them cool i cant NOT fuck them-

the golem were fighting failed his save so he does nothing. parsley drops his rage and tries to reduce the golem. it doesnt work its immune. another pixie appears and blows up. senna does acid again and the floating hammer force. teya vampiric touches it cause shes nuts. wheatley leaves cause parsley told him to find and rescue survivors.

oh no the golem succeeded. it fuckin sends teya flying back but her curse still sticks good. parsley casts fairyfire and the golem gets outlined with blue light and our attacks have advantage.

cutting to wheatley fast hes mostly finding smashed people. he starts running into intact buildings and yelling at people to flee. people are trapped! their afraid of wheatley though. he tries to calm them but their scared badly. they say the golems got turned against them? robots that look just like wheatley!? he keeps trying to get them to flee and then leaves. time for the next house! they all do the same thing.

senna yet again acids and hammers pog. a piece of the golem fell off nice. teya misses vampiric touch darn. then she casts hidden step sneaky. golem got loose again goddamn. smacks parsley to the ground again and he loses the fairyfire. then he smacks parsley again he broke his ribs! he chugs a potion and tries to distract the golem lol. senna lobs acid and hammers again. teya vampiric touches again and does big nice. the golem is slowing down. she hidden steps again.

golem once more cant move! parsley disengages and goes to find wheatley. senna misses the acid and hammer darn. teya also misses vampiric touch again. fuck the golem got loose and attacks senna. smacks her shield and impacts it fuck. second attack misses ha!

cutting to parsley he epically fails the invs roll while screaming for wheatley and coughing up blood. he starts going in buildings and trying to make people leave. he gives the guy a healing potion and leaves. they warn him of wheatley and parsley calls him an idiot and goes. he also drinks more potions.

back to the fight! senna lobs acid and hammers once again. it collapses again! senna immediately whips around to help zen and android! teya comes too! she misses lol. zen was astral punching it but he does look a bit beat up. the golem goes after teya lol. fuck that has to hurt but it misses the second attack.

android calls the golem a thoughtless metal can and tries to get its attention. he keeps shooting it. zen keeps punching but his attacks are low. senna once more acids and hammers pog. teya curses it pog! the golem breaks loose tho lol. its going for teya! teya is dropped to 1 holy shit her arm shouldnt be bent like that.

cutting to parsley he finds wheatley yay! wheatley looks exhausted lol and he goes to another building. parsley yells out to him and grabs him. wheatley hugs him that hurts xD parsley tells him to go back and help while he helps the people.

back to the fight! android missed every shot wtf. zen epic failed. senna healing words teya then hammers again. teya misses the vampire again then hidden steps lol. the golem goes for senna fuck. that hurts. missed the second attack again. android jumps on its back and shoots it in the head.

senna immediately begins healing teya again. wheatley just missed the fight lol. he goes about healing senna and she also heals herself. senna heals teya to full shes just sore. senna asks where parsley is. wheatley says robots that looked like him did this. senna messages teya to look after wheatley and senna goes to get parsley. wheatley tells teya the villagers tried to attack him so he cant ask for info. teya hugs him the poor guy.

parsley keeps doing what hes doing and trying to drag people out of their houses. not smart. they aint wanna go outside. parsley sighs and says he'll go with him he has experience fighting this kind of stuff. 'you think its gonna get bored and go away?' parsley is done with this guy lol. he finally agrees and leaves lol. as they exit senna runs over to parsley and tells him they did it. senna heals parsley a bit nice.

[rahleeyah]

5 & 6 for the fic writer asks 🙏

oh I love these thank you!!

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

I am once again going to focus on EO, because it'd be impossible to pit like svu vs blake vs spooks. can't be done. but of my eo fics, my favorite multi chapter one is probably...hell of a view. it wasn't my first eo fic (haunted my beloved) but it was the first big one. and I do love it, desperately, and I think it's the most cohesive. that's the one where I didn't lose the plot. the others I love - instinct for example is I think better written and the smut is way more fun, I'm still amazed I actually finished hof, the premise of Manhattan serenade is one of my faves.- and there's good things about all of them but almost every single story I can point to a part of it and say "I wish I hadn't done that" or "I fucked that up" and hell of a view isn't perfect and there's stuff I'd love to change about it but it is the one that clings most accurately to its initial premise and I'm proud of that.

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

again, just looking at eo. I was gonna say I would erase Mia Bella and write another Mia story with a very different plot but that's kind of not really the point of the question, is it? redoing the story is sort of speaking of it again. I could say one of the Angela Wheatley one shots no one cares about anymore but that's sort of cheating, isn't it? I would erase in the blood and completely redo the plot of that one, too. but to literally erase and never speak of it again? I don't know they're all my babies. fuck it, Mia. because I love Mia as a Concept but when it came down to writing the fic, I was never actually going to get it written if it was just eo hanging out and Elliot getting to know Mia that kind of low stakes domestic fluff doesn't inspire me. I needed something more dramatic to drive the story but I'd throw the kidnapping plot away if I could. still have Mia be sick and Elliot offer her his liver or whatever just, without all the unnecessary theatrics.

[thepacifistrouter]

The Spark (Wheatley The Best PM fanfic)

Hello!

I've been reading everything I could about Wheatley the Best PM, a Waffles AU from years ago (twitters, one-shots, questions, wiki, etc.) and, although I found it fun and interesting… I felt like it was missing something …I mean, yes, in itself it is unfinished, but I mean that an element was missing, perhaps even that affected the fact of being able to continue moving forward with the idea, I don't know. After much thought, I came to the conclusion that the story lacked… hope, especially for our protagonist, that it seemed that the negative things around him were much bigger and heavier than the positive ones (too many flaws, no friends real, or at least real support, his cat was killed, his plant, current pet missing and his grandmother is presumed dead, etc), there didn't seem to be any solid reasons for anyone to want to help him personally, not even Chell I'm not talking about a possible Chelley, I'm talking about Chell showing real interest, initiative in, not even being his friend, but at least wanting to help him, knowing the difficult situation he is in, I know he has his reasons, but still. It's difficult to work on unfinished material, but… for some reason, I wanted to try it and… I think I finally came up with a… plausible idea to add hope for our favorite Prime Minister and his story.

I clarify that I'm not even half as good writer as Waffles… and I'm sure she won't read this… but… I don't know, I wanted to publish it, I hope you like it.

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They were a few thought weeks, really though weeks, 2 weeks to be precise, but not because of the cold and snow, nor because the work was particularly difficult (which technically, it wasn't), but because of her boss, the Prime Minister. The tallest and most idiotic Prime Minister the country could ever have, but it was only aware of the former. They were also not aware that the person in charge of the nation was, actually a being that was difficult to define as human, but who was the one who pulled the strings of everything under the shadows. She wasn't someone you wanted to be around, in fact, if it weren't for the Prime Minister having decided on her, she would never have taken that job on her behalf.

Curiously, until a few weeks before, her job had been up and down, but it was bearable, as was her boss. especially in the last week. When he regularly offered to take her home in the Sentinel, even though at first, she did not feel comfortable with that, it eventually became a pleasant time, but sadly, illusory and therefore, temporary.

After having to endure the wrath of Hurricane Caro, aka, his "best friend" all by himself, after having let her know his displeasure during that last Sentinel trip together, even though he tried to pretend nothing had happened the very next morning, things only got worse.

First, because the following days, from time to time, the Prime Minister was called to meet with Her, long and alone meetings, no one knew exactly what was being discussed there, but when they finished, it was clear that it couldn't be anything good. Especially because, due to the clear nerves he had when entering, he seems to had spilled coffee on his leg I none of them and, clumsily tried to hide it. And even without that, you could see a clear glow of satisfaction in Her eyes as She left, and something was changing in the Prime Minister's gaze and in his manners with others. At first was almost imperceptible, it was not very different from how he acted before, but this was just more... intense, less patient, more self-aware of his actions... in a bad way, he seemed to make more and more efforts to appear serious and imposing, trying to look more professional, which, for him, meant being more bossy, being more categorical when giving opinions or making decisions, etc. He didn't even post anything on his Twitter anymore.

Somehow, he managed to make this less noticeable by having public appearances, it was there, but it was still more like any other public appearance before those weeks, silly and lost. Still, Chell, being as sharp as she was, she saw it, she saw that it wasn't the same anymore.

She noticed how he corrected his posture much more often, looking for imperfections in his clothes, at some point he began to adjust his glasses every time it looked like he would say or do something, but he changed them at the last second for something else a little less like him; like being offered some biscuits, but in the last second, he ended up refusing them, saying that he would start a healthier diet soon and that it would be better to leave the biscuits to the children. Even once, on their way to an opening outside London, they spotted a circus in the distance, she could have bet she saw that spark of childish excitement in his eyes, only for him to, in the next breath, remark that he really liked them as a child, but now he had more interesting and important things to pay attention to.

Tension began to be felt in the No10 atmosphere, a tension that grew as the days passed, becoming palpable for anyone around, specially her.

She didn’t give a damn.

Maybe he was her boss, but she wasn't willing to let his stupid attitudes get to her, it already bothered her enough that she was affected by his tantrum at the Sentinel, no matter how sorry she was for him, no matter how much she could understand his situation, what happened was not her fault. It wasn't her fault that he wasn't able to open his eyes to his "best friend", it wasn't her fault that he was incapable of running his life, much less a nation, or that his will was so weak with what really mattered, he was not even able to ask for help other than some advice from time to time or for silly, irrelevant things or accidents he caused with his clumsiness. The only possible guilt she could really feel was not having done anything to try to change things or say something during the elections, perhaps that was the main reason, along with her own plans, why she had not tried to quit her job. He was not her responsibility out of what her work or her guts could demand, like saving his life of himself, which was still on her ‘not exactly something to be too proud of’ list of things.

It was true, after all, despite the time that had passed and there being something about him that could have made her consider to saving him as not a complete waste, from her point of view, that life was still a harmful and dangerous disaster, for himself and for the nation that, It is assumed that it was under his charge. Even taking his precious Caro out of the equation, who was the one who made him a danger to the general population, his position on her life and her mission doesn't change much... irrelevant, almost expendable. Remembering the times she saved him of problems that should only be problems for little kids and not for a ruler of an entire country, that he ignored obvious problems for him or blaming others for them because of his own insecurities and lack of self-steem, or when he began to become especially unbearable in the way he treated others, especially in the last week. She didn't hate him, he wasn't someone worth hating, but she wouldn't let someone so needy and annoying upset her, it was true that he had his more tractable moments where he can even feel friendly and kind, like someone to be nice with… but that was far too temporary, and still, again, even if it wasn’t… that didn't make him her responsibility… aside from her job. There were more important things to worry about, there was a whole nation full of people to worry about to. She couldn't, she didn't have to, she didn’t need to focus on his life problems.

The snow was beginning to fall in a foggy London, she was well dressed for the occasion, scarf, coat, gloves, etc. Luckily it was time to go home, she alone had to stop by to do a couple of purchases for herself. It wasn't her favourite activity, but it had to be done, and that same day she had to go shopping for clothes for her boss, who would say that buying a pair of packages of special-sized socks online was a mission of national importance.

At least she didn't have to deal with him anymore for today… or so she thought.

The streets were empty due to the hour, the snow and the fog, in the distance, at least from what could be seen, she saw some garbage containers, which told her that she was, more or less, halfway home. The containers were an expected sight for her, what she didn't expect was to see the lanky guy with glasses, overdressed in formal clothes - despite being outside of his working hours- standing in front of them, staring at them, as if he couldn't decide what would be his next step after getting there. She was about to cross the street, taking advantage of the fact that he hadn't seen her, so she could continue without having to go through an awkward encounter with her boss, but something protruding from the box he was carrying caught her attention. From the distance, it looked like just a piece of fabric, but she realized that it was a sleeve, a sleeve of a huge sweater that she had seen before, its size and its owner made it difficult to forget, after all.

She doesn't know what prompted her to move a little closer to be sure if she was seeing wrong instead of following her original plan to cross the street and quicken her pace. She regretted not doing so the second he became aware of her presence, although her reaction was a bit...unexpected?

“… Oh, hello… Michelle” He barely turns his head to look at her for a second and immediately return to the initial position. “You can continue your way, I just… took advantage of the hour… you know, lack of public hour… to get rid of… some trash I had at home, you know, free up some space… A-and I would ask someone else to do it! but… Well, it would’ve been like letting someone snoop though the Prime Minister’s garbage, that’d bee totally weird and controversial, right? Embarrassing paper news material…. No, it was best to do it myself, after all… it’s close to me…”. He adjusts his glasses “I-I mean, close to my home, not me, pfff! is just garbage, how could possibly be that close to me? Is close to my home, like… in the way home, that’s what I meant to say…”

What, this?" It's from my nan. She used to knit me jumpers for school, but she always had to make 'em bloody huge or I'd grow out of it in five minutes flat.

Chell notice how, while he was talking, something was missing in his look, something that had been there before, but seemed to be dismissing over time. She looked at the box, there were many things, some familiar to her, others not, a huge blue sweater, stratospheric blue like the eyes of its owner, long and colourful socks, with almost psychedelic and childlike patterns, one of them with what it seems to be a large coffee stain, she even though she saw a hair clip with a little frog, in a corner.

Something was wrong.

The Prime Minister noticed Chell's gaze towards the box. “Oi, oi!! it's private!! didn't your parents teach you to not look at other people's trash!?... and... and anyway, now that you did, which again, super rude, but since what's done is done, a little saying there, I guess you're wondering about the sweater, after all, you'd already seen it and it's hard not to notice it because the size and the loud colour and that… well, the thing’s that... after thinking about it well, I considered that, honestly, I didn't need it anymore… sentimental value is for people who can't afford actual value, after all, I mean, I'm the Prime Minister! I can buy a much better sweater, more suitable! This one is 2 bloody sizes too big for me! I looked ridiculous wearing it, didn't I? Heheheh... yeah, luckily no one else saw me with that... to be honest... it-it was about time to get rid of it… and-and I don't think my nan would mind, really, after all, she is... is…" He adjusts his glasses "Well, you already have your answer, don’t you? It's getting cold. I'll just... I'm trying to think if I forgot something to throw or if I get rid of something important by mistake, that's all, human mistake could happen even to me, so… you can continue your way home, like I said, nothing important happens here..."

Chell couldn't imagine why he would be taking this decision; it was clearly taking him a while to let go of that box. She was almost certain that he would never let Caro or anyone at No10 know of the existence of any of the things in the box, why would he be getting rid of them, then? The only plausible answer that her mind pictures was Her and their meetings those weeks.

Even though Chell was good at solving puzzles and unknowns, she enjoyed it to a certain extent, at that moment she didn't have much desire or energy to think further about it, it's not like the Prime Minister's clothes or trash were her business and, besides, he didn't seem in the best of moods at that moment; She noticed that ‘something’ that was missing again, that kind of spark that seemed to have been replaced by the small glint in his glasses reflected every time she adjusted them. His stare was almost dead.

 She decided that she no longer wanted to be there, so she was about to return to her path, when they both heard something move and squeak that came from the container, they focused their sight on the place where the sound came from. It was a well tied plastic bag, in the middle of several bigger bags and some empty cans.

Chell didn't have much time to think about it when the Prime Minister spoke “Oh... that must be, without a doubt, a cat that someone threw in the trash, I know about this, remember I told you my father loves cats? Yeah, I told you that time when... nevermind, nevermind, thing is he used to pick up cats on his way home sometimes, and he would talk to us about what were the most common places, you know, the most repeated methods to get rid of a cat, he mentioned the use of tied bags in rivers, slopes, gutters, garbage cans, etc. So, I'm sure, 100% accuracy, that there is a cat in that bag" he says in an almost pretentious tone, Chell already saw that she’d have to take him out of the trash for trying to pick up the bag from where he is, instead of turning around to approach it, like someone who thinks before acting would do, but...

He adjusted his glasses "... Oh well... it's better… i-it’s better to finish this and go home, I was told that the snow should not take long to increase..." then, he proceeds to, slowly, place the box in the container, away from the moving bag, pretending he no longer saw it; they could even hear moans and squeaks from time to time.

Something was definitely wrong.

Chell couldn’t help but stare at him, he noticed it, then she looks at the bag “…What? The bag?... is… is just…“ He adjust his glasses “is just a stupid cat, isn’t it? W-What others do with their stuff is none of my business…”

She kept looking at him, he seemed to be, or trying to be, serious and she didn't see any intention in him of wanting to go for the bag, so she wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she decided to, at least, say something.

“How about a shelter?”

“Heh, nah, at this time? in this weather? The closest one would take too long to get here and I'm not going to waste my time on foot, much less picking up other people's trash and you shouldn't either… again, it's getting late...”

The bag moves again, but he turns to leave. She decides to try again.

“So... are you just going to leave it there?”

He stops, but at first he doesn't turn around. He adjusted his glasses and she could see a bit of the reflection of the light from the street spotlight in them.

“...Is funny, you know? Because I thought...I thought I was being clear about this...but okay, okay I'll take the time to be clearer anyway...so yeah...I'm going to leave it there...whatever happens to that bag... or that cat or whatever... it's not my problem... I have more important Prime Minister things to think about than… than a useless cat... be-besides, there must be a reason why they left it in garbage like that, shouldn’t it?" he turns to look at her "there must be a good reason, a very good reason why someone decided to get rid of their cat like that, probably several reasons... so why would I…"

“Such as?” She interrupts, maintaining her usual serious, cold, and calm tone and countenance, yet, somehow, there was a small hint of challenge in the way she asked it. It was involuntary, or that's what she wanted to believe.

“Such as? Well, that’s easy, actually, a really easy answer, to be honest, there are a lot of possible reasons… for-for example, and this is just the first things that comes to my mind, being very noisy, cats can be quite noisy, really, especially at night, have you ever heard a cat fight? Well, let me tell you, it is very noisy, or could just be one of those who do not stop meowing…. Anyway, other option here, It-it could also be one of those that spends its time scratching or biting things everywhere, like clothes, armchairs, curtains or walls, whatever, that's typical of cats, be destructive, small earthquakes, to be honest… you don't want that in your house... and... well, if I had to name something else, some other good reason that occurs to me, well... well it's still easy" he adjusts his glasses "it could… it could simply be a useless cat...like… like a cat too stupid to fulfil the main role of a cat, the traditional mouse catcher, be the pest controller… yeah… yeah, in fact I think it is the most plausible reason, because it would undoubtedly involve the other 2 reasons I already said, and… and not to also mention the waste of money, space and food!" He turns to look at the bag while saying this, with a look that seemed to have begun to bother with its contents, but even so, it almost seemed empty "Yes, without a doubt that must have been it, a useless cat that only got in the way and caused annoyance... I mean-I mean, just look at it! It's not even able to use the claws nature gave it to try to escape, it’s just a plastic bag! Even so, the moron is not capable of trying to use them to escape on its own" he looked with what seemed almost a look of hatred at the bag, which was moving and emitting squeaks less and less, as if it were getting tired “No, I have no reason worry about such a thing…”

Chell was struck by the hatred that began to appear in his voice and in his eyes, for something that was nothing more than a speculation, he was just assuming all those things... or perhaps more than that… but she didn't back down in this game because of it, although, at this point, she wasn't sure why.

"Even if it were like that… it's just a cat…”

“Yeah, you said it, just a cat” he interrupts “It's just a cat, the country… no, not even the country, we can reduce the population ratio for this, actually, let’s better say the city where we are right now, London, I meant London, is full of other cats, many in houses where they are wanted, many strays that have managed to survive on their own; in short, cats that have earned their place in this life on their own, that they have been useful for their purpose or the one that their owners gave them... this is not one of them... I don't see why... should we spend efforts on a hopeless case like this… it doesn’t deserve… is just not worth it... to be honest”.

It seemed like he was going to return to his path but noticing how the young woman continued to stare at him, he seemed to take that as an incentive to continue. He adjusts his glasses.

“Besides, even if I considered... which I'm not considering! Just to make that perfectly clear, I'm not considering anything! but... but if I did, I couldn't, like I said, I'm sure I mentioned it, I have more important things to worry about… like, vital nation things to take care of, important Prime Minister business, decisions to take… as you might already know, I couldn't take care of it, I don't have time to laze round, taking care of another cat that can't even catch mice… no, to be honest, it would… it would, without a doubt, be a waste of time for both of us…”

This time, he turned to look at her, that look that seemed dead, but now also showed a small hint of... irony? “And you... you are also here after all, don't think that I’m not considering you in the scheme of things, but-but I know that you would not take it either! I remember it well from those times, that big red sign of 'NO PETS ALLOWED’ in front of the building door, so no, hehe, you couldn't take it even if you wanted to, right? See? even for you it would be just troubles... because... be-because... let's say that for some reason, you decide to take it anyway, thinking that you could... I don't know, just hide it from the management, but ‘eeeh!’ bad news, and I think you can guess it too, you couldn't! You just couldn't hide it for long, plus it wouldn't be worth it!" A smile appears on his face, a smile she didn't like at all. "Like I said, cats, especially idiot cats like this, can be very loud... and you... you spend most of your day at work, how would you try to hide it while you're away?! A-and let's not mention everything you would have to teach it! to use the sand box, also difficult to hide, not to scratch things or bite them, not to throw things off the table... even though... even though he may be a sweet, innocent... happy... with that tender little face that welcomes you home every day..."

For a second, for that small moment when he said that and his voice seemed to even soften, she thought she saw that familiar silly, happy glint in his eyes, but as soon as it came, it was gone. He adjusted his glasses.

"It's just not worth it!! It's not bloody worth it! honestly, because the truth… the truth is that it would only cause problems!... Plus, it could have rabies or ringworm or something worse…”  The snow begins to increase “No... it's not worth to even trying to help... to be honest..."

He turns to look at the bag again, this time with a rather tired tone, perhaps because of everything he said, perhaps because of the weather... or perhaps because of something else.

"Yeah... at this point, probably... the best we can do for it... for all the trouble it would entail... for being too weak, too idiotic to help himself... for be too useless to others... the best thing for everyone would be... not to help him at all...”  Suddenly his voice lowered all its volume and the energy with which he spoke a few seconds ago, even sounded a little sad. The plastic bag hardly moved anymore. “No one would gain anything by helping him... but at the same time... no one would lose anything by not helping... leave it there and let destiny takes care of its misery... it's for the best..."

A short dead silence, you could almost hear the snow falling. He finally turns away and continues his way.

"I'm going home...see you...see you tomorrow at work...good night."

He walks with an almost robotic firmness, but determined, no longer wanting to wait. She watches him leave, then looks at the bag and decides to return to her own path at a fast pace, in the opposite direction, the way home, thinking about everything that just happened.

Although she was surprised by the coldness of the Prime Minister's words and movements that night, so unlike him and at the same time so typical of his way of carrying things out, but still. It's not that his life decisions were any of her business, it just caught her attention.

It was strange to say or think this about her boss, but he had a point. The nearest shelter would never arrive on time, especially not at that hour and weather. He, much to her surprise, really didn't seem to have a choice to do anything about it. It was true that she had no solid reason to think that the cat was everything he said it was, but she herself, at that moment, had nowhere to take the cat, it would be a problem for her to take it to her apartment due to the lack of space and the strict policy; she didn’t even know anyone else who could or would be willing to care for the cat, at least until it could be get to a shelter.

The snow and cold increased, as did her pace, she really had no good reason to go through so much trouble to help a being who couldn't help but give it, even if it was unintentional.

It'll probably die soon in this weather and no help... probably tonight she thought, without slowing her pace, feeling bad for no having someone to turn to to help the poor creature.

(…)Look at him, why would anyone not want a perfectly good little cat like that? (…)

Things like that made her doubt that she had any hope in him, that he could actually be more than just the lesser of two evils, watching how he was doing less and less of his part to believe it, to make her believe that he was worthy of any help... In the end it would just be a nuisance

(…) No. She’s never going to let me have a funeral for a bloody cat. ’Specially one that kept going out of his way to sick up on her handbag. I mean, I stuck up for him, I said it was just an unfortunate mistake- a- series of unfortunate mistakes (…)

Anyway, the important thing at that moment was to get home early, it was getting dark and cold.

She had plans to follow, people, an entire population to help, unlike what the Prime Minister believed he did. In her eyes, more than cruel, he was also being a great hypocrite, she knew that he did not take real actions for his people and, even if he did, she also knew that helping a helpless animal did not actually harm or affect to those people at all. It wasn't an attitude that completely surprised her coming from him, knowing that he wasn't capable of noticing how little or nothing he actually did right, of ignoring or blaming others, including things, for what goes wrong. He didn't do anything when he should and when he had a real opportunity to do something other than what his "best friend" told him, to really help with something - like now - he just made excuses not to do it...

(…)But- but sh-she- just said that- snfff- that at least that was one less thh… thing to laze round all day get-getting uh-uh-underfoot. Joking, obviously, just- just how she talks(…)

She had no real reasons, which for her was the same as saying, no practical reasons, for spending time or efforts on...thinking about helping...someone like that...

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Her step was quick and determined, just like her. She hoped she would be able to arrive in time, she was almost at the door of her apartment building when she decided to turn back, the probability that it would be too late was there, but she had never liked the idea of giving up when she set a goal, for however low the chances of success were, if they weren't 0, then it could happen, she would make it happen.

This mentality had always been a part of her, always, she didn't have an easy life, she just never let it stop her from moving forward, always being efficient, always with her eyes on her goal no matter what, no matter how difficult it could be, always looking for the best and most efficient solution possible in her hand, always seeking to remove any possible obstacle from her path or at least not let it disturb or interrupt her too much; After all, no matter how pessimistic - although she preferred to say 'realistic' - she might be, as she was taught to always guided by what she considered to be the right thing to do, she never let adversity get in the way of her principles.

Always seeking the greater good, always evaluating and classifying each cause and those involved in silence, drawing a line of action, based on the value and danger of each one for the cause, always seeking to go unnoticed, determined not to suffer any more inconvenience than the necessary - that is, those planned - as far as possible. If an unexpected problem arose, she would adapt, she was good at adapting to different situations, she knew how unpredictable and unfair life could be, she had internalized that… so internalized... that sometimes she forgot... the weight of other things of value in this life besides usefulness or practicality, even talking about such high and important roles in this society, such as being Prime Minister...

Sometimes she forgot that, as valuable and important her mission was, there were little things that worth fighting for, no matter how irrelevant or useless they seemed in other ways, even if they were a nuisance, even if they might be perceived as a waste of time... maybe they weren't so much, after all, it was those little details that had kept her from completely losing faith in people.... maybe...just maybe

She finally made it back to where the containers were, she didn't waste much time recovering breath and look, immediately, in the direction where the bag was, found what she was looking for, but not exactly in the way she expected.

Maybe there was still a little hope.

The bag was now untied and inside the box with the Prime Minister's things, half stuffed under the stratospheric blue sweater. She could also notice how the bag moved, how a feline nose peeked out, weakly, from the opening. The little one was still fighting, despite everything.

Chell looks around for a second in case she managed to see someone. There was no one. What she did see were large footprints on the ground, striding footprints of someone who came and left in a hurry. She couldn't help but feel a small wave of relief and gave a slight grin, but it was quick, after all, there wasn't much time to waste.

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She entered her small apartment, she was covered in a thin layer of snow, but it didn't matter. She carefully closed the door with her foot, and then went straight to her bed to leave the bulky bags with her purchases on her bed. She went to turn on a small heater that she had for days like this, while she shook off the snow and took off gloves and scarf. He went back to the bags and took out the box that was inside one of them. She removed the bulky sweater inside her a little to reveal the weak, thin cat beneath it, just enough to uncover his familiar orange head, then set it down near the heater.

The world was really very small, very small - she never thought that the cat in the container would be the missing little Kevin. She was sure that his mysterious disappearance meant he had died, probably because of Caro. She wasn't that far from the truth, but it was still quite a surprise, it would have been a pleasant surprise if it weren't for the implications of it.

The bag in which they found the small cat was not just any type of bag, it was for medical waste, and there were 2 of them (one inside the other), she noticed this after taking the small animal out of it, this not only implied that it was left there with the intention that he could not get out even if he tried, he would not be able to get out, but expecting for it to try - and she could see that he did try - but in addition, she noticed other details, such as that one of his hind legs had marks, as if someone had been had him tied up for a while. She also found very similar markings on the tip of his tail, which she was sure looked a little shorter. He seemed scared when she opened the bag wide to take it out, but luckily, after a quick smell, he seemed to have recognized her and didn't give her any major trouble.

The Prime Minister had many flaws, he was and could be many negative things, but she knew him well enough to know that he would never be so cruel, even leaving out the worst details. No, she knew, she was more than sure who had been the guilty even though she had no proof. After all, She loved to play with Her prey, slowly exhausting them, testing how far they could last until She got bored and then getting rid of them, abandoned to their fate, no longer having the tools or energy to fight back or at least, to move forward. Animal or human.

Chell used a small empty tupperware to give him water. She was sure that she had some grilled chicken that she had left over from the other day that would work for the occasion. The little feline, having already overcome the cold a little, thanks to the sweater and the heater, manages to drink. He was no kind of mouser, much less a Chief Mouser material... but even so, he seemed to refuse to let go his tinny little, he refused to give up, without thinking about it, without anyone asking him, he just did...

She knew that when he regained his strength, it would be harder to keep it hidden with everything he had to do, it would, definitely be a problem and a hassle, but something would occur to her, she had faced bigger problems and even the idiot who caused the most recent problems was able to deal with this for a while. She would figure it out, she will just have to be creative. With the cat... and with the idiot.

After all - despite everything, the adversity, the wear and tear, his own limitations - mental or physical -, despite having to deal DIRECTLY with HER, even seeming like all is lost in his most recent attitude... Even so, he shows a small spark of hope, involuntary, but existing… in his attitude, even in his look, the spark was weak… bit was still there.

She simply couldn't leave him on his own like this, knowing that there was something good to rescue, from her point of view, it was stupid to think that he didn't deserve her effort and her help to get out of the hole he was in, to be better, alone. she needed to think of a way to approach things that would work under the current circumstances, there had to be a way, there always was and she would find it. She knew that it would be difficult and that it would involve going through more than one disappointment and inconvenience... but she had to try...

Yes, it was stupid to think that, just because we had a larger cause on our hands, there was no value in also trying to deal with a small cause... especially if it was directly linked to the larger cause...

As stupid as thinking that you need a stupid, weak, squeaky cat to give you a solid, logical reason for you to take it out of the garbage in the middle of the snow.

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Aaand that was it, I know I'm like 10 years later, but if you read this... thanks you

hope you liked it or at least you found it good enough

thepacifistrouter out