entranceway | [Video; Action??]

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[Video; Action??]

[Chell stares at the camera of this little device she found in her pocket. It may not have the same white, modern curves of an Aperture device, but it was something meant to record and monitor, which mean there was someone(something) watching and listening. She glares at it, fury burning in her eyes. Her lips form a slight frown, which grows deeper as the feed carries on.

Her hand shakes and she cuts the feed suddenly, because she’s about to scream at the device and whoever is monitoring her (as if it could be anything else).

She was supposed to be free!]

...

[She takes a deep breath, and suddenly, the anger is gone. It would be safe to turn the camera back on, but she doesn’t. She sent her message. She’s just waiting now, for her to make contact, to tell her she was kidding and then start insulting her intelligence, her weight, her parentage, whatever she thought would get to her.

It wouldn’t. It never would. No one would ever get that satisfaction.

She starts walking down the halls, testing doors, looking for a way out. She’s not going to waste time standing around until she gets an answer, if any is to come.]

[Edit: And now she's smashing mirrors on her way.] 

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[A door opens. At this point, Chell knows there are people here. And so far, they have been... Oddly calm. Compliant. They didn't look scared, either at 'captivity', or at her intrusion.

Well, until now. Her luck on that front ran out - though, in a way, it's almost a relief to see it. Someone responding, they were reacting, not sitting and taking it.

Unfortunately for her, they're reacting by pointing a gun at her. And it probably shoots the other kind of holes in walls.]

[She freezes for the second it takes to size him up -- Human? Humanoid? Robot? Human. Mask. Armed. Another second and she remembers a name: Shotgun. That's about right.]

[She's so used to dodging turrets - she knows how long it takes them to lock on her and fire, and -- but -- humans don't have consistent programming. Maybe he'll take longer - or maybe not.]

[Still, her reflexes are quick - her eyes narrow and she sprints across the hall (further to move to keep her in sight), slamming into the door as she turns the handle (faster than standing and opening it). This room seems unoccupied, which is good, she's not risking an assault from another front. She ducks out of the way of the door, crouches, and waits to see if she's been pursued.]

_{[Jack lowers the gun, stunned. She...ran? What a bizarrely normal response. It leaves him intrigued, so rather than retreating to his room, he pads over to the door Chell disappeared behind.

He raps on it gently with the back of his knuckles.]}

Hey, I didn't know you were--I...

_{[Am sorry I almost shot at you? Didn't realize you were a normal person?]}

What was that on your legs?

_{[Real smooth, Jack.]}

[... Was he expecting something else?

Actually that's a serious question. Was there something else he'd be firing a gun at, that wasn't a person? Or wasn't ... Her, at least. Maybe Chell was (more) justified in her caution, then.

Or, maybe he was still going to shoot her. Couldn't be too careful when guns were involved.]

[... Chell thought about how she could get the upper hand against this guy - a portal on the ceiling, maybe, and when he had passed she could--

She didn't have the Portal gun anymore. That's right.

What else, then, what else?]

[Obviously she wasn't going to answer the guy with the gun. That would be stupid. Instead, she stays low to the ground and backs further into the room. She passes - a closet? Maybe there's something in there she could use. Even a mop - she could get inventive. A cube would be handy, though - she thought about that, too, but she hadn't run into any up here, oddly enough.]

[As carefully as she can, she risks opening the closet door. It doesn't squeak.]

I'm not going to shoot you. I just thought--when I heard the doors--

_{[Sigh. He is finding it hard to explain his itchy trigger finger.]}

[Oh, okay, he's not going to shoot her, well in that case let her just walk right out of hiding and laugh with him over this misunderstanding! Ha! Ha ha!

Ha no. Chell is looking through the closet, rummaging for something...!]

[And what do you know, there's a cube right there. A good, big, sturdy, weighted storage cube. No Aperture logo, but that's not making Chell less suspicious of their involvement.]

[She pulls the cube out of the closet, and keeps it in front of her as she moves back in sight of the doorway. To the man's credit, he could have entered in after her by now. Chell still doesn't trust him, of course. She stays quiet and watches the door, to see if he'll come through it or keep trying to talk to her. Maybe if he finds a point to his words, she'll answer.]

_{[He takes a few steps back from the door. There doesn't seem to be any point to this, so he might as well go back to his room, but before he goes...]}

My name's Jack. I'm sorry I scared you.

[... An apology... and a name.

Both of those could be fake. An attempt to lure her from safety. But... Well, so far, he'd been the only one to really... Take action...

Chell didn't really like hiding, anyway. ~~Besides, she had a cube.~~]

[She waits a little longer, and then edges towards the door. She opens it, just a crack, to see where the man is (and if he's still armed). She stays mostly behind the door - she can't really open it and hold the cube at the same time, unfortunately, but it's by her feet just in case she needs it.]

_{[He hears the door unlatch and almost raises his gun again because sounds make him nervous. But the whole point of this exercise was kind of to establish that he's not a psychopath (he's not, right? right?). So, keeping his eye on the tiny crack between the door and the frame, he very slowly lowers the gun to the floor, and drops it.

After all, he still has his plasmids.

She might hear the sound of his fingersnap, though there's no visible effect.]}

[Did he just snap his fingers at her?

She cocks her eyebrow at that. But at least he's not getting that glare of suspicion]

[... He lowered his weapon. He didn't seem to have another one. Could Chell trhahahahahaha fine but maybe Chell... Could still interact. The man's ... Priorities might run closer to her's. As long as those priorities didn't involve putting bullets in her, that is. She still had the cube, and... She wasn't going to leave this room, not entirely.]

[She crouches, picks the cube up and props it under her arm, in case the guy pulls another gun. It's bulky and awkward, but Chell doesn't care. She just wants the cube in reach.

Then, she opens the door up a little more, and leans a little further out from behind it. Not all the way, not yet, but... She'll make eye contact, at least. Best as she can through a mask, anyway.]

[She's still silent. Does this guy have anything else he wants to say?]

_{[...pretty much no! He just stares at her through the eyeholes.

Then he raises a hand and, movements equally slow, removes the mask and drops it on the floor.]}

[The mask is gone. It's not a face she recognizes, which isn't really surprising in context of Wonderland, but Chell's memories are spotty enough to begin with.]

[So he's not afraid to show his face to her? Why was he hiding it, then. Were they being observed? Chell's pretty much accepted that there are always cameras, somewhere. She just hadn't identified them here, yet.]

[In any case... He's determined she is safe to know his identity. Well.]

[The door opens the rest of the way. She stands there, holding her cube. He stands there, holding nothing.]

[...]

...

Hi.

Hi.

_{[A pause that is wayyyy too long, considering.]}

What's your name?

[Considering what? Man, do you know when Chell last talked to a human -- well, before today, that is. Hint: a long fucking time. And she wasn't exactly a conversationalist before becoming a test subject. ~~She's pretty sure, anyway.~~]

[Chell considers it. She knows the man's name - Jack. She knows his face. He has had the opportunity to try to kill her, but didn't follow it. He disarmed himself.

Between the two of them, he stopped hiding first.]

Chell.

_{[A short nod of acknowledgment. Here is where a normal person would tell her it was nice to meet her. Jack does not, but he makes no move to turn away.]}

[Chell doesn't say 'it's nice to meet you' either, because... It's just not in her social vocabulary, maybe. And honestly, when it comes to these two, not walking away is about as good as 'nice to meet you', right?]

[The guy has nothing to say, but he just stands there. It's enough to make Chell feel a little self-conscious, good work, Jack.

What do you do, then, when you hit a lull in conversation with a new person?]

... Where'd you get the gun?

[You talk about common interests]

Out of the closet. What's that cube for?

[Your gun.]

Convenience.

Why do you have a gun?

[Are you doing shotgun related testing, or it mantis-men?]

In case I need to shoot something.

[Chell raises an eyebrow]

Like what?

If anyone attacks me.

Or splicers. I haven't seen any here, though.

[Chell smirks, just a little.]

You're the only one I've met so far who's been armed. Everyone else seems... Unconcerned.

...

What are splicers?

I know. I think they're crazy. Or stupid.

_{[He glances away from Chell, looking lost.]}

They're--

_{I'm one of them.}

[Chell smirks. She agrees with that one.]

[Aaaand Jack's next answer tells her nothing. She tilts her head. Is he going to elaborate? Going by the shotgun, splicer means something dangerous. Is it a danger just to him, or to everybody, and is it one she's going to have to keep in mind while she's in 'Wonderland'?]

There's this drug. It...changes you. Your genes. That's what makes you a splicer. Most of them are insane. They wear these masks...

[... Ah. Gene splicer. Was he involved in genetic testing, or...?

Hm... Others she had talked to seemed to think people were coming in from 'other worlds'. Perhaps that should be taken into consideration. Perhaps this was normal.]

[Then again, Jack has said that splicers are insane, and wear masks, and also that he splices, and he was wearing a mask. She frowns a little lopsidedly and glances over him quickly.]

[He doesn't seem really twitchy. It seems like he's careful with his movements, actually. He didn't try killing her on first sight. Or on second sight. He actually lowered his weapon. And he's holding a conversation with her that so far has not included personal insults or pure nonsense.]

[She shrugs.]

... You seem fine to me.

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ACTION: battle of the pragmatists

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