[3rd Portal] A Belated Birthday Medical Experiment - Backdated to January 29th

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Action - Outside hospital, inside the front of the hospital, and all around town - Backdated to January 29th]

[After spending the 28th trapped in the factory no matter how much she tried to escape, Chell was finally set free and found herself unexplainably in front of the hospital upon leaving the Factory on the 29th.

Her time in the Factory was marked by a drastic change, she didn't know how it happened, but Chell had woken up in a vastly different body. Instead of being a human, she was now a somewhat sturdier robot. Her new form is plain white and the only distinguishable features are the eyes. If someone had met Chell before, the only way they could tell that this robot was her would be her body language and the way she walks.

Even though the robot body has no mouth, there's a voicebox that will allow her to speak if she chooses. However, the robotic voice will not sound anything like her original one.

She doesn't seem too upset about her situation and she'd be frustrated about that, if she could fully feel emotions.

Even so, Chell knows this isn't normal and is going to resume her quest to figure out what exactly happened to her and how she can reverse it.

Her first act back in town is going to be to turn around and look back in the hospital. Once she sees that this isn't the Factory, she's going to exit and start wandering the town, looking for the mysterious building where her transformation took place.]

Comments

Action

[getsciencedone]

[Well GLaDOS is out for a walk....what the hell is that?]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Oh look, a familiar face, though even if Chell could really feel emotions, she'd be torn on whether or not she was thankful to see GLaDOS.

One the one hand, they had a lot of history together, most of it unpleasant. On the other hand, GLaDOS might know something about what had happened to Chell and might even know a way to fix it.

There was a slight chance that GLaDOS was behind this, but Chell doubted that, it didn't fit with what the other woman said previously. Also, they had somewhat of a truce here in Mayfield and GLaDOS had given her a Christmas present.

While Chell is thinking this over, she's got her arms crossed and looks as stubborn as a robot with almost no facial features possibly can.]

[getsciencedone]

[GLaDOS just looks her over appraisingly. A strange looking robot of some sort. She'd never seen it in town before. Possibly new. Or maybe a by-product of the town...there was something...familiar about it too...perhaps the eyes? Or the way it was holding itself.]

Hello there. Can you talk?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks this over, not quite sure what to do or say. She hasn't tried talking since after the surgery, so she doesn't know if she actually can. Also, she doesn't want to give GLaDOS the satisfaction of hearing her speak just yet (if ever).

She decides it's best just to go with a shrug.]

[getsciencedone]

You don't know?

Wonderful. Another mute. I have a friend you should meet. You can have mute conversations by staring at each other.

[Still looking you over. Interesting robot. Maybe she could take it apart.]

Were you built here? In this town?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell would grin at that, if she could, knowing exactly who GLaDOS was referring to.

After a moment of thinking over the question, she nods and then shakes her head. The body was built here, but she was not. What would GLaDOS make of that?]

[getsciencedone]

A resident then? Odd time to get your body back. But I suppose better then never.

What are you looking for out here?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell though it was interesting that GLaDOS automatically assumed that she was originally a robot, but she wasn't going to correct her for now. She wasn't even sure how to get across who she was to the other woman.

After thinking for a moment, Chell uses her hands to trace out a square with no bottom in the air. She was trying to to find the factory and that was the best way she could think to show it. GLaDOS likely wouldn't know exactly what she meant, but maybe she could guess it was a building.]

[getsciencedone]

A building.

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell nods, she's glad she was able to get at least that much across.

Next, she points at herself. She hoped that with the context of the building, maybe GLaDOS could put together she was looking for the building she came from. If not, she'd just have to work out another way to get GLaDOS to understand.]

[getsciencedone]

...Your house?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell shakes her head, she knows where her assigned house is.

After thinking for a moment, she taps the side of her head. She wasn't sure if that'd make her point clearer, but it was worth a shot.]

[getsciencedone]

Your head? The hairdresser?

[This isn't working.]

Here. I have a better idea. ...well first. Can you write?

Around Town, why not

[photonicfighter]

[Dakki was on her way to the pharmacy to pick up medical supplies for her bathtub-bound neighbor when she spotted Chell. And it stopped her short. Was that... was that another android? It was, wasn't it? Unthinkingly delighted at this discovery, she changed course and headed right on over to her.]

Ah! Hello there! I haven't seen you around before. Do you need any help?

[Androids ought to... if not stick together, at least compare notes to see if sticking together was a wise decision.]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell feels a small amount of surprise at how friendly the other woman was to her, especially since they had never met.

She nods in response, not quite ready to speak to her just yet. She'd be glad for any help she could get. The sooner she could get back to normal, the better.]

[photonicfighter]

[Dakki wasn't too bad with body language. Her best friend was a an android without facial expressions. It was all about reading posture and position with him.

Her smile persists, even if things are starting off a bit awkward.]

Are you new to Mayfield? Or...

[Oh. Wait. The smile is not persisting. The smile is vanishing.]

...or are you not new? Is... this new?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell nods after the last question, then looks glances around briefly.

She speaks for the first time since the surgery and would be surprised at the sound of her voice, if she could manage more than weak emotions.

Her new voice is completely robotic and gender neutral.]

I woke up like this in a strange building.

[photonicfighter]

Oh...

[Now she's frowning. One of the poor people that had been snatched away and mangled, just like Kono... She brings a hand up, rests her fingertips on her chin for a moment while she thinks, then lets it drop.]

You're not the only one who has had that happen to them. Were you an android before? Or something else?

[Being built to inhabit a body like that? Not so bad, in her experience. Being forced into an entirely new body? Trauma City.]

...aah, maybe I'm prying too much. You don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. But is there anything I can do to help?

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell doesn't mind the questions, she'll need to give as much information as possible if she's going to get back to her old self.

It's not so traumatic right now, with the dampening of emotions, it'll be another story once she gets back to normal and the full weight of what happened hits her.]

Human. I saw some others but we didn't talk.

Do you know where we were taken?

[photonicfighter]

Human. And now you're...

[Her lips press into a thin line. She may have occasionally despised when Mayfield made her human, but that's because it was wrong and not her. A human being made into an android was the same uncomfortable, horrible, wrong situation in reverse.]

I'm so sorry.

[And then she shakes her head.]

I wouldn't know. If someone does, they haven't told me. You don't know where you were?

[...maybe this place can be found. Maybe it can be found and she can kick their asses a dozen ways 'till Sunday.]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell shakes her head as well.]

I hadn't seen it before. When I left, I was outside the hospital.

[She thinks for a minute.]

Could be a portal there.

[She had gone back the way she came, but only ended up in the hospital. If there was a portal, maybe it only opened when someone was about to come through.]

[photonicfighter]

...perhaps it's somewhere in the hospital, then? A hidden wing?

[Seemed like a reasonable conclusion to draw, lacking more information.]

...a portal?

[Dakki tilted her head curiously, not quite getting the significance.]

[jumpsuited_rat]

[Chell thinks this over and tilts her head slightly.]

Maybe. Seemed like a new building, though.

[She pauses and tries to figure out the best way to describe them.]

They let you travel quickly. Usually you can see both.

[photonicfighter]

New? Hm. That's interesting. That's something....

[Her head gives a tilt in the opposite direction.]

Ahh. Teleportation. Or warped space. It's Mayfield. Just about anything is possible.

[jumpsuited_rat]

I haven't seen it while exploring.

[She nods.]

I've heard a lot goes on, this is the first I've experienced.