entranceway | [Action (or video if you don't want to get close)] Do Not Get Covered In the Repulsion Gel

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[Action (or video if you don't want to get close)] Do Not Get Covered In the Repulsion Gel

[Some of you may remember the last time Chell was jumping off the roof. That time, she was just doing it for the feeling of flying, of weightlessness, finding comfort in the familiar instead of interest in the unknown.

Her motives are a little different this time.

There are thick patches of colour littering the roof of the mansion and the grounds - it looks like paint, feels damp like gel, and acts like neither.

The blue stuff bounces, and Chell can be seen dropping things from the roof onto them, and watching to see which of what she's selected bounces higher, and -- well, not longer. Repulsion gel can last for a very long time, and the trajectory for objects rarely stay straight up and down, unless they could somehow steer themselves, and Chell does not have time to see how long she will continue to bounce on gel. ~~There are experiments to run, there is research to be done!~~

There's another kind of gel on the roof: It's orange, and - slippery, for lack of a better way to describe it. Anything that slides down it picks up speed. She's not sure if it the speed maxes out - it's hard to monitor while she's on the gel, and there's surely nowhere in wonderland with a long enough stretch of ground ha ha ha ha ha, you're not thinking with portals!

There are two white panels about twenty feet apart, both about as tall as your average door. There's a glowing blue hole on one and a glowing orange hole on the other, and a thick line of gel forms an orange road between them. It looks like it continues through, but that's just an optical trick - obviously, these are portals, and what you're seeing is sort of a loop between them. Right now, Chell's just sliding an edgeless safety cube through it, but volunteers are (for once), welcome..

And finally, later in the day, after an elaborate set up of a propulsion gel runway terminating in a repulsion gel ramp a possible augmented fling from wherever she's about to land to an angled white panel on the roof, you can witness Chell flying through the air and landing an impressive distance away from the mansion, unharmed. It's fun, sure, but more importantly she's finding out how far she can physics herself away from the building. ~~For science, obviously.~~ Because you never know when you'll need to do an elaborate flinging loop to get away from something.]

[[ooc: so uh, choose your own adventure! I'll throw down comments for each thing and then you, dear player, can pick which odd physics breaking gel you want to mess around with, OR have Chell drop in on you for a visit! :D NOTE She will also give you some of this stuff, but only while drunk on the curiosity of science, so now would be the time to ask for your own physics breaking gel/dietary aid!]]

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Designed as a Died Aid and marketed under the name "Propulsion Pudding", this sweet, largely non-toxic liquid form of fiberglass insulation increased the velocity of any food that followed it through the digestive tract, leaving the body no time to absorb calories.

Propulsion Pudding was pulled from the shelves when it was discovered that digestion plays several crucial roles in the eating process, such as breaking food down into small, manageable chunks before it is violently expelled from the human body.

[Jack is watching the ball ~~shut up it's a ball~~ whiz between the two portals with slightly dizzy interest, his head jerking slightly to follow its trajectory from blue to orange. When he speaks, he mumbles, half-hypnotized.]

Chell?

[Chell fortunately has a device to measure speed with her, clocking what the circle is going at, so she can afford to look up at Jack. Well, for a little bit - her eyes flick to the display now and then.]

Yes?

Will you get some parts from the closet for me? From your world?

[... She thinks about it. It's dangerous, she knows... But it's Jack. She's seen the things he works on, he'll surely be careful, and besides, she'd like to see what he does with it. She nods.]

Don't touch anything.

[... Wouldn't want to interfere with the results, right? And it might be a little dangerous, even if he has his longfalls on.]

[Anyway, with that warning down and sure to be followed, Chell seeks out a closet - which unfortunately will be just down the stairs, since there's none on the roof.]

Okay.

[He says it casually, and has entirely forgotten this by the time she's out of sight. He continues to watch the orb whizz along its orange path, chewing his lip a little as curiosity bubbles in his mind. He's flipped through a couple of physics texts recently, and while he doesn't entirely grasp the concept of relativity, it does make him wonder if the speed of the sphere would be different from the sphere's perspective.

And there's only one way to find out.

By the time Chell returns, she'll find Jack sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, heels in the air to keep them from dragging as he skids from portal to portal, hair blown back by the momentum.]

[Chell returns with a handful of turret parts - mostly from a defective turret, she figures those are safer to work with. They're broken into further pieces when they fall from her arms, at seeing what Jack's done.]

Jack!

[He's scooting along on the propulsion path, which looks kind of funny yeah but at the same time Jack no.]

[She gets a sort of grunt in response, but with the speed, he's not sure he can actually speak and be understood.]

[This isn't good - Jack's going too fast to safely escape the propulsion gel. Chell's going to have to get creative.]

Hold on-

[She heads over to another panel she'd been using for - some experiment or another. She angles it slightly, so it's aiming a little towards the edge of the roof instead of straight up and down, and then she watches where Jack's zipping through portals. This takes longer - because she can't risk adjusting the portals at the wrong time and sending Jack splattering into the wall.]

[And then - she does it - she shoots an exit portal on the angled panel, which yes, will launch Jack into the air and fling him across the grounds, but hopefully there's enough distance to decelerate before his boots land him on the ground.

~~... Assuming wherever he goes has ground. Um.~~]

[And, predictably enough, Jack shoots out through the air, arms windmilling for a moment until he figures out what's going on and starts orienting himself to land when he finally comes down from his long arc--not that the long falls won't do a lot of the work for him--. His trajectory looks to be in the direction of the beach.]

[The beach.
Okay.

Chell watches his flight and starts working on a solution for the problem of getting to where Jack is.

She shoots a portal onto the roof, and repositions its end over the wall, and a few rounds through the circuit later, she repositions the exit portal on the angled panel and follows after Jack.

... Roughly: She didn't have the same momentum Jack had, but at least there's some travel time saved as she jogs down the beach, looking for her wayward ~~test subject~~ ~~boyfriend~~ boyfriend.]

[Jack's hair and clothes are full of sand from where it spewed up when his longfalls ploughed into the earth on landing; but at least the long falls took the impact, rather than his knees and ankles, however much sand they might have disturbed either way.

He's grumbling softly to himself as he brushes at the grit, but he looks up at the soft crunch of Chell's footsteps. He's blank for a moment, and then his face breaks into a slow grin.]

That was crazy.

[Chell is less amused - when she reaches Jack, she actually puts her hands on his upper arms and looks him up and down.]

Are you all right?

[He seems okay - the longfalls worked, even with the sand - the sand may have even helped. But - she's not sure, she needs some kind of confirmation...]

[He starts slightly and sobers a little at the touch, grin fading as he looks down at her.]

I'm fine. Sandy.

[He doesn't move away, though. In fact, he might lean just the slightest bit closer.]

[Sandy is right. Well - now that she had visual and verbal confirmation that Jack was unharmed, she can relax a little. But there's that urge to tamper, to adjust and tweak things, which comes out in this instance as fixing up something out of place: Jack's hair. That's the completely logical reason why one of her hands runs through Jack's hair when she lets go of his arms. Nothing to question here.]

You could have died.

[Her eyes move from her work on Jack's hair to his face and his eyes and uh... She can't find a reason to look away.]

[He goes still, a little startled; Chell isn't ordinarily so heavy on the contact. He meets her gaze for a moment before glancing a little to her left, reddening slightly.]

I have my boots, I'm fine. Even if I did die, I'd just come back.

[Chell gives Jack a flat look. Just because there was more than one chance here didn't mean they could just throw them away. It's on the tip of her tongue to say that, and to tell him the boots wouldn't save him from splattering into a wall, but...

He's close. Not that she's just noticing it now, just. Factual statement, he's close. And you know what, she's never been this close to a person before - well, in summary, because she's sit really close to Jack before, but there's a curious difference between huddling in a safety-bunker and right now.

It's while she's going over these observations in her head that something else occurs to her: They're - sort of - together, they like each other, they've held hands and shared feelings, they're close emotionally as well as physically... And she's thought - about kissing him. As early as their date, though back then there was some... anxiety attached to that. It didn't make sense, but there it was.

But now... She's curious. What would it be like to go through with it and kiss Jack? And-- more details fill her head. Does location matter? How does timing factor in? What makes a 'good' kiss?

Of course, to figure all of that out, she needs a control.]

[Her hand stops at the back of his head, and she leans up and guides him forward, until their lips are... touching.]

[Well, that's unexpected. Jack's frozen for another long moment, almost afraid to move.

But truth be told, he's thought about it too, since well before their attempted date, and in the end what happens is characteristic: his body responds before his mind can even process what's happening. A hand goes to her waist, light but not hesitant, and the lines of his body relax into something more natural.

And their lips aren't just touching anymore; he leans into her, and they're kissing.]

[Ah- so there was a difference when both people were --

By reflex, Chell wants to tense up when Jack's hand touches her waist. She can feel the urge at the back of her head, but... she doesn't. It's the opposite, almost. She relaxes too, instead of tensing, and she doesn't turn when he leans in.

Because it seems, despite the issues she grew in the testing center (or before it), she trusts Jack.

~~(the hypothesis and purpose of this little test has expanded beyond 'what is kissing like', but she's not sure what the new parameters are quite yet.)~~

When Chell pulls back, it's not out of nervousness or a desire for space, exactly, but... She looks at Jack (her eyes had shut, at some point), and ... She has nothing to say. Not exactly new, for them, but this time - she wonders if she should... Maybe explain what just happened. Jack surely hadn't expected it. She stalls, though, and under the pressure of silence (and as she comes to her senses), her cheeks redden a little.]

(Jack stares, hand still resting on her waist, equally lost for words, his ears and cheeks a matching shade of pink. But he doesn't need an explanation. He smiles a little, crookedly. She kissed him. He'd been wondering how to ask, and then in the end he didn't have to.

He waits another moment and then, slowly--he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, so he's giving her ample time to duck away--and puts his other hand on her shoulder, fingers curling loosely around the back of her neck, brushing the short hairs that have escaped her ponytail. This time, his actions are conscious, deliberate. Still smiling, he leans in and presses his lips to hers again.)

[There's plenty of time to turn away or stop him, but Chell doesn't take it. She doesn't want to, because -- well, it's obvious now, isn't it?

The hand in Jack's hair slips down to his shoulder, and the one on his arm slides somewhere to his back. That's right, Chell's letting herself get closer. While she's doing crazy things under the spell of 'thank god you didn't die' relief, why not? So now they're kissing and just about hugging at the same time. It's a new experience for Chell (even without Aperture taking her memories, she's sure), and while there is a layer of awkward discomfort at it, there's a stronger thrill from it, almost.

A hand by her neck would have her on edge normally, but with Jack - it's reassurance. So is everything else she can sense from him, this close.]

[Jack's experiencing that thrill as well, but beneath that is a deep current of contentment, satisfaction. This isn't something Rapture would have allowed him, and where he's coming from, he's not certain of a way out. But he's got it here, now.

When he draws back from the kiss (in good time), he's still smiling, and redder than before. But instead of kissing her a third time, he leans forward. Unfortunately for romance, it's halting, a little awkward, but he closes what's left of the distance and puts his arms around her.]

Aperture's second attempt at a dietetic pudding substitute resulted in Repulsion Gel, a much sweeter, slightly less non-toxic form of fiberglass insulation that caused subsequentally-ingested food items to bounce off the lining of the dieter's distended stomach and out his or her mouth.

For Various Reasons, this was also pulled from the shelves.

[ _{the one day -- the one bloody day -- that he goes outside to see what's what, he gets stuck on this ridiculous blue gunk. originally, he'd just wandered over to look at it, but for some stupid reason he decided to walk into the middle of it. try bouncing in it, once he's noticed the items all bouncing around near it.

now he's coated in it, and he can't-- stop-- bouncing. gdi, Chell, could u not?

he bounces up, purposefully trying to reach the roof.} ]

S'cuse me- [ _{he falls and bounces up again} ] Miss? [ _bounce ] But I seem t'be- [ _bounce ] stuck- [ _bounce ] If maybe you- [ _bounce ] -could perhaps consider- [ _bounce ] PROVIDIN' ME WITH A LITTLE HELP- [ _bounce ]

[Interesting! Chell had avoided getting covered in the stuff herself, but that was primarily health concerns given Aperture's track record with health and safety standards. She knew what would happen when you coated an inanimate object with it, but with a living thing - they could direct their trajectory? How interesting...

She watches for a little bit longer. While the gel defied physics, to a degree, there was still a limit - how high something bounced generally relied on the speed they hit the gel with, which tended to relate to the height they had dropped from. So Mister Sinclair may not reach the roof exactly, but he's getting some great airtime considering! Yes, yes this is all fascinating-- Oh right.

Chell walks away from the edge of the roof, wordlessly. She returns a little later holding a hose, and... Hmm. Slight problem.

She shoots a portal to the grounds below, and steps through it, so hey now she and Sinclair can, uh, talk on the same level. Briefly.

She speaks when he's approaching where she is.]

If you land without the gel--

[Whoops he's gone now. It's okay, she'll wait.]

You could get hurt.

[It's an interesting puzzle. She can figure this out, she's pretty sure.]

Edited 2013-06-01 20:11 (UTC)

Well, hell.

[ _{he is NOT AMUSED, and he's incredibly upset that he's somehow gotten himself into the world's worst constant motion machine. he's starting to feel a little sick, even.} ]

Am I _{to under_{stand that} you're br}ingin' that _{hose over h_{ere becau}se water is}goin' t'help w_{ith my _{current situ}ation, because} if so, I might h_{ave an _{idea'a sor}ts...}

[ _{good GOD this is getting tiresome.} ]

[She nods.]

It'll wash off--

[There he goes... And he's back.]

If I can catch you at the top--

[... And there,]

--Of your arc--

[Eh, that's enough to get the idea, right? She'll wait to see if he's on the same page or has a better idea. ~~It may be interesting to get her own data on human thought while airborne.~~]

What if _{I can _{bounce my w}ay over} t'the ocean?!

[ _{dear god do not spray him with that yet, he doesn't want to test the whole "death means nothing" thing right here OR right now} ]

[Okay, Chell looks in the direction of the ocean, and then she turns her head back and looks at the mansion, and calculates it.]

Could you make it?

[Because...]

It's far --[shoot he's gone again... Ah, screw it-]away!

[Come on, man, let her try a risky portal maneuver. Actually thinking on it, to try what she has in mind she'll need a hose from the ground floor, so she drops the hose through the portal while she waits for confirmation/disagreement.]

WELL--

[ _{and goddammnit he has had QUITE ENOUGH of this yelling bullshit} ]

IT _{IS CER_TAINLY BETTER} THAN--

[ _{and he's already starting to direct his course towards the ocean.} ]

SHOOTIN' ME _{IN THE _{GODDAMN AIR} WITH A} HOSE!

[Chell watches with a lopsided expression. No, no it's not better. She's pretty sure. Hmm.

A form's starting to fill out in her mind:

Question: How can I stop this man from bouncing without breaking something important?

Hypothesis: Catching him from the top of his arc can save him from a harmful fall.

Method: Set up portals, hose him on his way up or down, catch him.

Procedure:...]

Don't!

[A pause so he knows that sentence is disconnected from this:]

Stay close to the wall!

I have a plan.

[... Well whether he listens or not - she heads to where she sees another hose, on the mansion wall further down from them.]

[Don't mind me, just dropping in for a bit.]

[Literally.]

[Literally dropping in. From the sky.]

[Hello.]

Edited (wow that was a vague comment let me fix this weeks after the fact.) 2013-06-20 15:23 (UTC)

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[Action (or video if you don't want to get close)] Do Not Get Covered In the Repulsion Gel

Orange Stuff

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Blue Stuff

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Look at you, soaring through the air majestically, like an eagle... piloting a blimp!

LMFAO. or an eagle piloting a billboard, in this case...

One of those blimps with like a screen on it maybe

ooh yeah perfect. and he can show movies on it for inflight specials

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Falling With Style