event: portal one | the island

[mayfield_mods]

The first portal doesn’t take long to locate: it’s across the road from the Rec Center, in a field visible from the pool. There is no shimmering or flashy effects to indicate the portal’s presence. There is simply an eight-by-five-foot vertical hole in the middle of the air, a hole through which a vast expanse of sand and surf can be seen. Said hole is completely two-dimensional- walk to its side, and it will seem as though it’s disappeared.

There are times, however, when the portal seems to disappear even when viewed from the front. Every once in a while, the portal appears to flicker ever so faintly, like a television briefly losing signal. Don’t worry about it- it’s probably nothing. Those who visited the carnival last month and viewed the pockets of nothingness that plagued it may feel a familiar sense of physical discomfort when staring at the portal for too long- as if your eyes instinctively know that they’re looking at something that shouldn’t exist in this world.

Stepping through the portal doesn’t burn or hurt at all, although the temperature immediately rises on the other side from early autumn to the peak of a tropical summer. There is, however, a slight tingle to your skin that lasts only for moments upon passing through. Again, probably nothing. The portal does not vanish after you pass through it: behind you you can see the field and the rec center in the distance.

The island has no name. Its beach stretches from east to west as far as the eye can make out, and the great sea lapping at its edges is a bright, clear blue. Looking out at the ocean you can see that it’s calm, the waves soft and almost inviting. There’s no other land on the horizon, only a vast expanse of endless sea.

The only signs of human habitation you can make out are littered on the beach around you. A set of towels, beach chairs and umbrellas have been set up a short distance away from the portal. In the wet sand left in the high tide’s wake, a series of sand castles have been constructed, as well as a shallow pit where someone may have been buried in the sand.

On the opposite edge of the beach lies a forest of palm trees. The foliage is thick, but there seems to be a path carved into the flora a short distance away from the shore.

Comments

[eternalcameo]

Oh...and no narrator or secondary protagonist to speak for you?

(She'll just instantly assume no. Oh well; have a shrug.)

Whatever; you'll probably live if you made it this far. This beach is damn boring, but knowing how evil developers can be, there might actually be something here. I just have no damn idea where to start.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[She's decided that for now, it might be best to play the mute. As for having people speak for her, the choices would either be GLaDOS or Wheatley and that wouldn't go well at all. GLaDOS has already had some fun with making up Chell's side of the conversation.

She does nod, though, staying alive is something she's rather good at. Chell tilts her head and gestures to the ocean. That's where she plans on looking.]

[eternalcameo]

(Looking over at the ocean as Chell motions to it, Asagi does see how beautiful it is. She can't remember being to a beach in a while...not really.)

Well, there could definitely be something out there, but it might be filled with piranhas or something. Or maybe some other bullshit death like in every King's Quest game ever.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell nods and points out towards the shoreline. She doesn't have any plans to go into the water, but she's going to walk along the ocean to see if there are any islands out there.

She's ignoring the game comment, but piranhas are a valid concern.]

[eternalcameo]

(Piranhas are a very valid concern. There doesn't seem to be any out there, but knowing Mayfield, they might suddenly appear as soon as anyone steps in the water.)

You know, maybe it's not as cheap as a King's Quest game. Far as I know, there haven't been any missable items. And dying might be a regular thing, but it's not as bad as it is there. It's kinda like that one game about that insane AI that killed a bunch of humans and tortured the survivors.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Most of her ramblings don't make sense to Chell, but she suddenly perks up about the comment on an insane AI. She's got quite a bit of experience with them.]

[eternalcameo]

Oh, you heard of it? I can't remember the name, but it's some shit like that. It was this adventure game that made the characters run around and do thing, but whenever they died, the AI brought them back to life and made them start over.

(Because AM is a total dick.)

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell shakes her head, giving her a strange look. That sounds far too much like Mayfield, was it possible that they were all in one of the games she kept talking about?]

[eternalcameo]

(It's very much a possibility. An uncertain one, but with all of the glitches and hints at a virtual reality, it might as well be one.)

Oh don't worry about it, then. The game wasn't all that well known and the main highlight was hearing Harlan Ellison ham up the voice acting like anyone else did in the 1990's. Pretty hilarious shit, though.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell didn't know either way, but she'd rather not be in a video game. Her reality was strange enough as it is.

And she's going to to back to side-eying Asagi, she doesn't know much about video games and Chell's completely lost again.]

[eternalcameo]

(Asagi's life is a video game. She'll never escape that...oh well. Not like she wants to.)

...what? You didn't pay attention to bad voice acting back in those days? It's not completely horrible, but it was hilarious shit. If I get my video game collection back, I'll have to show them to you; nothing beats the masterpiece that is Richter Belmont's and Dracula's conversation in SotN.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell raises an eyebrow at Asagi.

She doesn't know anything about any kind of voice acting, horrible or not. Chell's curious about the games that she keeps speaking of, but she's not really sure if it's worth her time to finally find out what Asagi's talking about, or if it'd be best to just avoid the girl after this little adventure.

Stopping and smelling the roses was one thing, but Chell can't tell what this girl's deal is.]

[eternalcameo]

(Protip: Avoiding her afterwards isn't a bad idea at all.)

...of course, not all bad voice acting is good. If it was, then there wouldn't be any bad voice acting to laugh at. There's libraries worth of games with bad bad voice acting; the stuff that makes you cringe and want to turn off the TV. Kinda like Presidential Elections.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[That's probably the path Chell is going to choose, there are other people who actually make sense that she'd rather spend time with.

Chell doesn't know much about Presidential Elections either, she has very few memories that fall outside of her time in the lab. She knows that they're a thing that exists, but hasn't had any personal experience with them.

She just kind of shrugs in response, even if she did wish to speak to Asagi, she'd still probably be speechless.]

[eternalcameo]

...You're right; I went a little too far that time. Elections always suck, but that's not something you have to worry about when you're a video game character. Unless the game involves political bullshit, but that's never the case with me. It's hard squeezing that sort of stuff in with the 300+ hours of level grinding.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell gives her an incredulous look, over 300 hours was a long time to do anything. If she had to solve tests for 300 hours, she'd be exhausted.]