Welcome to my Personal Hell

What’s ah, what’s that you’ve got in your hand there? That you’re pointing at me? Pretty sure you’re not supposed to have anything like that on you, especially out of testing, pointed at someone. 

The first feeling to hit Chell was shock. Right after it? Panic, pure panic. She hadn’t known the strange little gray, remote-like object was going to be something that had screwed Wheatley up... Somehow. Honestly, why did she trust Aperture constructs again?! Just when she had gotten comfortable being with the android again...

✄ [ Because my dream is to bring back Chell!Core/Android aka the Tenacity Core ]

…Chell was beginning to have a suspicious feeling. One that told her that Wheatley wasn’t the brightest bulb for a reason and not because of simply something like his systems wearing out over time. His completely obvious line made it even more obvious to her.

Surprisingly, though Wheatley might not have found it fun at all, Chell had returned to him after poking around with the closest thing to happiness on her face. It was all gentle and muted, as if her face wasn’t too sure how to smile wide or show full-out, pleasing joy, but it certainly was something.

✄ [ Because my dream is to bring back Chell!Core/Android aka the Tenacity Core ]

…Chell was beginning to have a suspicious feeling. One that told her that Wheatley wasn’t the brightest bulb for a reason and not because of simply something like his systems wearing out over time. His completely obvious line made it even more obvious to her.

* ((Cowardlycore aka Adventure Core))

Chell could almost feel the lie, but decided not to pursue it. Honestly, there was only so much she could take, thinking over her past and what the little girl of then must’ve been like… Comparing herself to then, Chell could safely assume that she was vastly different in all possible ways. In her nature, mentally and physically. She’d always assumed that was one of the big reasons she feared her own past. The differences, all the things she didn’t remember… The fear that they might change her now or reveal something she didn’t want to know.

He watched, eyes widening as he realized what was happening. She had never been good with serious topics, why did he think that was a good idea? He walked over to her, bending down and sitting on his feet. “Chell? Hey, come on, you were sweet as a kid. So fulla ideas.” he coughed. “So your parents said…”

It wasn’t that she wasn’t good with them… It was that that topic carried too much emotional baggage for her to deal with emotionally. It just… It was too much for her. Too many questions begging to be asked. About Doug, about her, what her parents did… What about the cores? What had they all done before? Had they always had their quirks? (Wheatley a bit of a bumbling doofus, Fact spouting off random trivia, Space obsessed with, well, space, and so on.)

✄ [ Because my dream is to bring back Chell!Core/Android aka the Tenacity Core ]

* ((Cowardlycore aka Adventure Core))

“No… Ah didn’t” he lied. He had known her, and they had been almost as close as he was to his coworkers, but she would have been too young to remember, just a child when everything happened. Doug and her the only human survivors to the betrayal. “Ah heard’a ya though, like Ah said you were big in Aperture before the whole thing went to shit. Yer parents were head a the robotics department, they developed the design of the cores, good people.” 

Chell could almost feel the lie, but decided not to pursue it. Honestly, there was only so much she could take, thinking over her past and what the little girl of then must’ve been like… Comparing herself to then, Chell could safely assume that she was vastly different in all possible ways. In her nature, mentally and physically. She’d always assumed that was one of the big reasons she feared her own past. The differences, all the things she didn’t remember… The fear that they might change her now or reveal something she didn’t want to know.

* ((Cowardlycore aka Adventure Core))

“Yeah, just spacing out.” She murmured, eyes not leaving the fog until he turned the topic onto something quite depressing. Then he had her complete, undivided attention, watching him quietly. Considering his words, she turned back to the endless fog, going through her words.

“Doug.” it was the only word out of his mouth for a while, he looked sadly at the fog, his eyes glazed as he remembered the good times they’d had. When Doug wasn’t insane, when he, space, fact, and yes… even Wheatley had human bodies, not much different from their android counterparts. When everyone was alive and breathing air instead of neurotoxin. “Doug was his name…” he wasn’t sure if Doug was even alive still, he was missing from the party.

He… He knew? He remembered? Her gaze returned to Rick in shock, not attempting to hide it or even restrain it in any way. He used to know her painter, her guide, too?! Doug… Other than figuring something had to be out of balance with him, Chell had gathered he must’ve been an interesting person to get to know. What had floored her, however, was his constant, quiet support. His words told her where to go and what to do the first time around. He had apparently watched over her, considering the large artwork of her sleeping form, GLaDOS’ old promise of cake (shown in drawing of Chell, with the large AI near, a thick wire offering cake), and the end of their first fight, with Chell outside and Doug (she assumed) holding the portal device above his head.

✄ [ Because my dream is to bring back Chell!Core/Android aka the Tenacity Core ]

ღ

Chell let that kiss gone on for quite a bit before pulling back slowly, letting each movement be painfully obvious until she had her room to speak.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “It’s certainly not every day a lunatic turns into a very gentle person. I’d thought I’d take that for a change. You are very unpredictable, most of the time, anyway.” But that’s what thrilled her the most. Constantly living on the edge, seeing what a capable and able mind and body could do, with a curious mindset. She was forever cursed and blessed in chains with this lunatic. It was an on going cycle, and she didn’t mind.

“I guess it has all been dependent on what we’ve been seeing. I could’ve been a-- Hm, never mind. I think testing would have swept out majority of my gentle nature. Though as you can see, it’s still here despite it all. Like me.” A brow quirked, a small smile on her face. She was all warmth and mirth, a stark difference to the… Well, indifference and focus she displayed while testing. Almost like two separate people and sometimes, Chell felt that way.