[7th Portal] Cara Mia Addio Encore

[jumpsuited_rat]

Action - 850 Goldberg

[Chell opens the door to find 3 packages of varying sizes, one small and rather flat, one medium-large one, and one quite large one of a suspicious size.

She opens the small one first to find her clothes from Aperture. She doesn't plan on wearing them again, but they could come in handy later, you never know. The next one contains her portal gun. She hasn't seen many places that portals could be placed on, but if there were any, it'd be very useful.

Finally, Chell turns to the last one. It's about as tall as a turret, so that's what's got her worried. It's a bit wider, though, so she's not sure what to make of that. She circles the box, knocking on it to see if she can get any information that way.

She assumes that if it was a turret, the gun portion would be facing towards the door, so she tips the box over so that if there was a turret inside, it'd now be facing the ground instead.

Chell pries the box open and discovers that not only is it a turret, but it's the oversized turret that she had seen a few times. It had never attacked her or anyone else that she saw, it just somehow used the elevator and oversaw some of the other turrets when they were making music.

It's an odd choice of something to be returned to her, so she shrugs, just leaves it where it is, and goes back inside the house.

She sets her clothes on the Companion Cube, and when she turns around, the turret is standing in front of her. Chell dives beside the couch and peers around at the turret. The turret doesn't make any movements, it doesn't even have a red laser sight for targeting, it just stands there, staring blankly.

Chell waves her hand at the turret, and it still doesn't move. She shrugs to herself and stands up, walking past it and over to the curtains. She turns her back to the turret and pulls off a long strip of cloth and goes to work using it as a strap for the portal gun. She doesn't want to leave it in the house alone with Cliff and carrying it with her hands would get old, so this was a nice compromise.

When she turns around to head for the door, once more the turret stands staring at her. Chell frowns at it and decides that if anyone would know what's going on, it'd be GLaDOS.

She leaves the house and heads down the street.]

Action - Around Town - The streets on the way to 1450 Mitchell Road

[If you're walking down the street or peeking out a window, you may see Chell being followed by a large turret. You never see the turret move, however, if you take your eyes off of it for even a second, it'll suddenly be further down the street and closer to Chell.]

Action - 1450 Mitchell Road

[Chell finally arrives at GLaDOS' house and starts banging on the door, she's got a frustrated expression on her face as she does so.

The turret is waiting quietly behind her and may not be seen at first glance.]

Comments

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell glances away from it, since she moved earlier, when she was talking to Pinkie, as soon as they both stop looking at it, the turret suddenly reappears behind Chell.]

[party_hard]

[Pinkie drops the pretense of trying to peek through her hooves once she's realized it moved. Really, this is pretty much a taste of her own medicine.]

Oh, I see the game you're playing--hey, what's your name anyway?

[Yes, she's still talking directly to the turret like she thinks it'll answer.]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks for a moment, tapping the pen against the notebook before writing, "I don't think they have names. I've only heard them called turrets."

She holds the notebook where Pinkie can see it, but doesn't press the issue, the pony can look at it in her own time when she's ready.]

[party_hard]

[Pinkie is still quite focused on the turret.]

Huh, how come you don't talk? Huh? Huh? Didn't anypony ever teach you it's rude not to answer questions? Huh? Huh?

[At least the notebook catches Pinkie's eye, distracting her from the turret for a moment.]

But if it's following you around like this, you really need to give it a name! I bet it would like that! Maybe that's why it's following you--because it wants a name!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell shrugs, mulling this idea over, before she writes, "It's worth a shot, I don't see how it could hurt." She glances over at the turret and then back to the notebook, "What sort of name would fit it?"

She hadn't been in a position to name something before, so this was new to her.]

[party_hard]

Well, you need to think of its strong suits! What does it do best?

[She's thoughtfully pacing around the turret and looking it up and down.]

It's sneaky! And quiet! So maybe something along those lines! Like Mr. Sneakarifficquiettime!

...or maybe Carl! Carl's a nice name!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell just blinks at the first suggestion, but gives a half nod at the second, and writes down, "Carl's not too bad."

Carl was definitely better than Mr. Sneakarifficquiettime, even if the second was more...descriptive.]

[party_hard]

But do you think it looks like a Carl?

[She turns to study the turret carefully.]

Gummy, what do you think?

[Gummy blinks.]

Gummy thinks it looks like a Carl!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks this over, then writes down, "I don't think I've ever met a Carl before."

She raises an eyebrow at Gummy and Pinkie's interaction, did Pinkie understand the gator, or did she just think that he agreed with her whatever the case may be?]

[party_hard]

I've never met a Carl, either, but then I've never met a turret before!

[Whether or not Pinkie understood Gummy will forever be one of the mysteries of the universe.]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell nods and writes down carefully, considering all her words, "Not all turrets are as quiet as this one."]

[party_hard]

Really? What are other turrets like?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell writes slowly, considering her words, "They talk. And they shoot bullets. And they're skinnier."]

[party_hard]

If the other turrets talk, then I wonder why this one doesn't? I hope it can! If it can't, that would be really sad!

Did you know there are some horses here that can't? It's REALLY weird!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell shrugs and then writes, "I don't know, it's weird... Maybe being brought here made it lose its voice?" She nods and adds, "You're the first talking horse I've met, but I've seen a few non-talking ones around."

[party_hard]

But everypony who was with them said that was perfectly normal! They seemed more surprised that I was talking! Isn't that weird?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks for a moment, then writes in the notebook, "I was surprised too. But I can see Aperture making talking animals just to see if they could."]

[party_hard]

But why would they need to do that when there are LOTS of talking animals out there already?

[Silly scientists wanting to waste time...]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell writes to Pinkie, "There aren't talking animals where I come from."]

[party_hard]

Wow, a lot of people say that but it's just so weird!

[She giggles.]

Then again, we don't have any humans where I come from, so I guess we're even!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks on this, "Good point."

It does make sense, in a weird sort of way. Were there never any humans, or had the humans all died out?

Or had there been an Animal King Takeover like Aperture claimed there would be?]

[party_hard]

That's one neat thing about this place! You get to find out where everypony came from and it's always really weird and different!

And sometimes, you see things that aren't even humans or ponies! I met a SALARIAN once! I think I'm the first pony EVER to do that!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell nods and writes down, "What's a Salarian?"

She's met some interesting people here as well, sometimes under strange circumstances.]

[party_hard]

They come from a place called Sur'Keh! And they're this big, and they've got big, black eyes, and they're kind of pale!

[There is frantic gesturing accompanying all this like she's trying to use her hooves to talk.]

He knew really awesome songs, too!

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell pays attention to Pinkie's colorful description, but doesn't really know any more than before.

Lacking anything else, she writes out, "Did you sing together?"]