(no subject)

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

[OOM: And magnets spin the compass in an embryonic flame
Somewhere is the promise of an uncharted trail
With seven hundred branching limbs and seven hundred ways to fail
To the East a reflection of the new moon in the West
Her timeless watch is quiet over tides of her unrest
To the North is the current of a man breathing out
Giving birth to the breeze to be inhaled in the South
...
And for a moment, we're the same as always, same as always... ]



Two people enter the bar, both exhausted and dusty. One is familiar to this place: a woman with a white device in her hands, wearing an orange jumpsuit. The other is a newcomer: a Marine, uniform not as pristine as it once was, but recognizable.

As Chell looks up, confusion, annoyance, and then relief flashes across her face, and she turns to her partner. "Adrian... welcome to Milliways?"

[Tiny Tag: Chell Johnson, Adrian Shephard]

Two pups, two muns! Tag one, tag both.

Comments

[hecu_marine]

He stares for a while. Eventually:

"What the fucking dog bastard shit?"

... he's a little off his stride. We're sorry.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

"Uh. It's a bar. At the end of the universe. Milliways."

Beat.

"After I destroyed Aperture... I found myself here. It's how I met Gordon. It's..." She thinks back to how Gordon described it. "It's like Xen; a borderworld. Time... usually stops outside the door."

And she's really, really nervous all of a sudden, and she doesn't know why.

[hecu_marine]

Adrian makes a wordless sound in the back of his throat, sweeping the room for some kind of sign that he hit his head or something along those lines. Eventually, he shakes his head. "Y'know what? I'm too fuckin' tired to argue. They better not- was that thing a rat?"

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

"...animatronics. There's rooms... upstairs."

And she's praying that the door is open.

[hecu_marine]

"Okay." He'll believe about anything at this point. The shouting will come later, after he's eaten and napped for a bit. "Mind if I sack out on that couch over there? We'll see how it looks come morning."

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

"No, that's... perfectly okay. Um. The bar will get you anything you want to eat, or... as long as it's not alive, it can get the thing for you. Blanket--clothing. You know..." She gestures absently toward it, and then turns, and sees the Missing Person sign with her face on it. She walks up to it slowly, as if she's in a trance.

Gordon. He must have been so worried--all of them. She reaches up to, and takes it gingerly, folding it up and putting it in a pocket.

Unlikable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikable loner whose passing shall not be mourned.

"It's not true. Not any more."

[hecu_marine]

"Huh?" Shephard was halfway to the couch when Chell murmured. "What was that?"

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

"Oh, uh. Nothing. They put up a missing person sign for me, is all."

She's certainly not going to worry Adrian with problems that seem so far away now.

[hecu_marine]

"Gotcha," says Adrian. "You, uh, got anyone y'need to report in to now that we're here?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"Valerie?"

Chell may remember this particular blond woman from the gathering to go to City 17. Annabelle hasn't met her before, but she thinks she recognizes her from the missing person sign.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

It takes Chell a second for the name to register. All the old memories are still there, of course, but it's... different. Another person, and yet not at all.

"...yes?" And to correct any future misunderstandings, "I'm sorry, I go by Chell now, and... you were one of the people? Who went to City 17?" She never forgets a face.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Chell, then."

"Yes, I was one of the people who went to City 17. I doubt you would have caught my name," Annabelle offers her hand. "I'm Annabelle Newfield, by the way. We've all been worried about you..."

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

"How... how long was I gone?" It's said distantly, worried. "I saw the poster--Gordon! I need to tell... I need to tell him I'm back."

He's usually down here! That's odd.

[aeons_crackshot]

"It's November the 24th, local time. I got back to the Bar on the 25th of September, so it's been nearly two months."

"I saw Gordon just the other day. You could leave him a note with the Bar, if you don't find him in person soon."

"Did one of the Resistance members find you? I thought I saw you come in with someone in body armor..."

(OOC: I'm open to threading with Adrian also, by the way.)

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell's jaw drops a little.

"Well, not exactly, I... Adrian?"

[[Pausing here until Adrian's player gets home?]]

[aeons_crackshot]

[[That's fine with me, if that's what you want to do.]]

"I'm just glad you're back safe and accounted for." Annabelle follows Chell's glance to Adrian.

[hecu_marine]

Adrian's swaying on his feet some; it's been a long day and an aborted adrenaline rush. Nevertheless he manages a salute. "Pleasure t'meet you, ma'am," he says. "Corporal Adrian Shephard, United States Marine Corps. Hazardous Environment Combat Unit."

[benloserz.livejournal.com]

He saw her arrive.

Val. And that other guy.

Just like he expected (feared) would happen.

Breathe deep, keep a happy face, for her. Or at least a neutral face.

You knew it would not work, Ben Winchester.

"Val?"

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

The look on her face is one of shock. She'd resigned herself to never seeing him again, or at least not for a while. And now, with the field down, she can feel everything flooding back to her like an avalanche, and...

"...Ben?" she eventually says, looking up at him through long, dark lashes, trying to hold the tears back, and feeling more than a little awkward.

[benloserz.livejournal.com]

Oh, see, awkwardness.

Keep up the good expression, you knew this was going to happen, Ben. You should be happy for her and not make things more difficult.

"Yeah... hi?"

"I..."

"I missed you..." That part escapes before he can stop himself, he missed her terribly. Part of him never stopped hoping Val would return, and a very small part even held on to the hope that she would return to him.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell doesn't respond verbally. Instead, she runs up, wrapping her arms around him tightly, trying not to cry out of joy.

"I missed you too."

[benloserz.livejournal.com]

Amazing how things change instantly at Milliways.

Amazing.

An example: right now Adrian might be saying something and Ben turned blind and deaf to him.

Because Ben winchester is kissing his girlfriend: everything is just perfect in the world.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Not perfect for Chell; she's two people, and it might tear her apart, and the world she once knew is strange, barren, and foreign.

But right now? Everything is perfect.

[hecu_marine]

Well, that answers that question.

Shephard's just gonna be over here, mm'kay?

[benloserz.livejournal.com]

Ben will remember to thank him for helping Chel.

Later.

Now he is all relief and love, cupping his girlfriend's cheek, holding her close.

"Love you."

"I was afraid of losing you." Very much.