[Video; Action??]

[donttestme]

[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.]


Comments

[donttestme]

[This... Sort of comes as a surprise to Chell, seeing how alert Jack was.

This expresses itself as a slight turn of her head and arched eyebrows.]

Why not?

[whatseparates]

If you leave here, you go back where you came from.

[donttestme]

[Chell quietly processes this. She shuts her eyes, takes a breath, exhales.]

... Are you sure?

[whatseparates]

Everyone says so. Some say they've left and come back. I don't think they're all liars.

[donttestme]

[Chell huffs.]

[What if... What if there was a way to leave, but not to return to where they were taken? Chell doesn't have anything to support that, or to even base it on, so she keeps that to herself.]

... You don't want to go back?

[whatseparates]

Not really.

[donttestme]

[Chell considers asking why. But it's not hard to guess that wherever he was, it wasn't pleasant. She nods again.]

...

Where do you find food in this place?

[whatseparates]

You can get snacks out of the closets. If you want real food, there's a kitchen and a dining room. It makes whatever you want.

[donttestme]

[...]

[Chell looks skeptical.]

[whatseparates]

Come on, I'll show you.

[donttestme]

[All right. This, she'll have to see. She nods, and follows Jack.]

[whatseparates]

_{[He leads her to the dining room, just as Buckingham did for him, albeit with much less flourish.]}

I'm not as good at this as the one who showed it to me, but I can manage...

_{[He gnaws his lip for a moment, and then a pitcher appears, steaming faintly.]}

Hot coffee.

_{[Grin. Meanwhile some sandwiches--oddly delicate little tea sandwiches--appear beside the coffeepot.]}

[donttestme]

[... Chell wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but a pot of coffee appearing from nowhere wasn't... quite... it.

She can't recall having coffee, come to think of it.

... Or real food.]

[There's a few seconds where she stares at the sandwich plate, as if maybe it would vanish again or some other wild catch. Acting like it still might, her hand darts forward for a sandwich.

But it doesn't disappear, and it feels... Real. And it's bitesized, so into her mouth it goes.]

[She spends a moment savouring the flavour and texture and realness before she swallows it.]

... How did you do that?

[whatseparates]

You just think of it and it comes.

[donttestme]

[Chell raises her eyebrow. But since she's been around Jack for a bit, she accompanies this with a word!]

Really?

[She looks at the table again. She frowns slightly, wondering what kind of food she would even...

She smiles faintly.

A large, chocolate cake appears on the table, decorated with a single candle.]

...

[Chell blinks, then smirks triumphantly. She licks her fingers and pinches out the flame, and then starts cutting out a piece with the knife that came with it.]

[whatseparates]

<sub>[Wow, that is quite the cake!

Jack stares.]</sub>

[donttestme]

[Chell nudges the cake slice free with a fork that happened to be provided as well, and she eats a forkful of it.]

...

[She smirks. Huffs a little to herself.]

It's not that great.

[Despite that, she plucks the cherry off the slice and pops that into her mouth next.]

[whatseparates]

It looks good to me.

[donttestme]

[Chell pulls out the stem of the cherry and shakes her head.]

[She nudges her slice onto a plate that's conveniently there, and leaves the rest of the cake to Jack. While she's at it, she takes another little sandwich and eats that, but just takes one bite out of it this time, now that she knows there's no hurry.]

[whatseparates]

<sub>[Jack cautiously slices himself a piece of cake, watching Chell as if she might tell him he's not allowed.

When she doesn't, he sits down to eat him.]</sub>

It's not bad.