capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

(no subject)

WHO: OPEN
WHERE: A basketball court somewhere :/
WHEN: Sometime during the day
WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: Chell's practicing with her portal gun, trying to see if sending projectiles through portals is a technique worth knowing. COME BOTHER HER, Y/N?
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, but both are fine.

Chell was busy experimenting.

She was at a basketball court she'd come across while exploring the city, hemmed in on most sides by tall buildings and nestled away from some of the busier streets. It wasn't particularly well-maintained, if the weeds poking up from the cracks in the concrete were any indication, but it wasn't surrounded by a chain link fence like some of the other courts were, and that was the important bit. And to be honest, she actually found the disarray to be a bit comforting. It reminded her of the back areas of the Enrichment Center. A little slice of familiarity in a place normally devoid of it.

She tossed a fairly light plastic ball up and down with one hand, the other supporting the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. There was a lot she could probably do with the Device that the Test Chambers hadn't even begun to cover. The puzzles typically involved flinging and redirection when they weren't simple spatial tricks; Chell could think of only one time that she'd ever had to fling other objects, and it was very likely that hadn't been a part of the normal Test procedure. (The Storage Cubes holding open the wall panel had been a major hint.) Even so, it had gotten her through what had seemed to be an impassable hallway, and the technique was something worth investigating. And if it turned out that portals were just too inaccurate and unwieldy when it came to makeshift projectiles, then it would at least it would be an interesting exercise. It had been far too long since she'd practiced with the Device.

The portal gun pulsed twice -- a blue portal opened on the ground in front of Chell near the middle of the court, and an orange one opened a few feet higher than the baseboard on one of the walls. Then she dropped the ball, watching as it fell through the portals and missed the hoop. By a lot. Ouch. Frowning, Chell retrieved the ball, her heel springs clicking against the ground as she walked, and aimed the Device again, trying to figure out where she would need to open the portal to send the ball through the hoop.

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Lunch had been interesting, to say the least. Selina had taken a roundabout route home, wandering through downtown. The city always looked different in sunlight, the shadows and edges alien to someone who prowled the rooftops long after the sun had set.

She heard the familiar sound of a ball bouncing off the pavement. Not a basketball, but one of those cheap too-light ones that plenty of East End kids had to make do with. She wandered in the direction of the sound, expecting to see local kids at play.

That wasn't what she saw. Selina stopped and stared, particularly at the strange device the woman was holding.

After examining the wall for a few seconds, Chell fired the gun again, opening another orange portal a few feet higher and farther to the side than it had been originally. Satisfied, she returned to the blue portal in the middle of the basketball court and unceremoniously tossed the ball through it one more time.

Hm. That was a lot closer.

It was only when she went to go pick up the ball for a third attempt that Chell realized she had an audience. She turned and stared right back at the stranger, head slightly cocked as she watched her. After a few moments, she waved her hand a little and smiled in an attempt to be somewhat friendly, remembering a little late that direct eye contact can sometimes be awkward or construed as hostility. Chell was still trying to get a hang of the whole "social interaction" thing.

Selina waved back, an imitation of the other woman's gesture. Her own expression was more perplexed than anything, though it wasn't exactly unfriendly either. She held her ground, gesturing towards the gun... thing the stranger was carrying. "Interesting toy, there."

Although she didn't show it, Chell felt a little relieved when the wave was returned. Okay, so she hadn't messed up. That was good.

She nodded in response to the other person's remark. "The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device," she said by way of explanation. It might not have been a particularly good explanation, but it made sense to her.

"The... okay." Selina took a few steps closer. The woman didn't seem particularly threatening. "Let me guess, you're not from around here."

Chell makes a sound that might be the beginnings of a small laugh before nodding. That was somewhat of an understatement. "I was at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center before I arrived here," she replied, brushing her hair out of her face.

Selina leaned against the chain link fence that surrounded the court. "And I was in Gotham City, though I'm guessing you haven't heard of it," she replied.

Chell shook her head. "What is it like there?" she asked, curious. All Chell knew was the Center and this city; it was always interesting to hear about places she'd never seen before (and most likely would never be able to visit, if what everyone said about the AI in charge of the porter was true).

"It was a hellhole." And in many ways, it was. Selina had seen the worst the city had to offer, after all. "And it was home."

She still missed it, even after everything.

A nod. Chell could almost relate, in a way. The Test Chambers weren't something she'd ever want to go through again, but back areas, the places GLaDOS hadn't wanted her to explore, they were where she'd felt the safest and most at ease she'd ever been.

The woman was rather quiet. Probably why Selina hadn't noticed her on the network before. Not that se could keep up with all the people being ported in and out these days.

"What exactly is this science center you mentioned?" she asked, "Aside from the place that built that thing."

Cole was happy to get a break from work, what with everything that had been going on. He had some time before his shift actually starting, so he took some time to walk around. Hands in his pocket jackets, he looked up at down at the city that surrounded him. All of them. At least they decided to dump him somewhere urban. Something about a city was appealing to him, compared to taking a trip out camping or something--it was partly why he got into urban exploration--

Wait, what the fuck is that.

He'd already passed the court, not really paying attention to the sounds around him, but now he was doing a double-take back.

Chell tapped her foot against the ground as she looked at the wall, completely oblivious to whatever attention she was attracting as she tried to determine where she needed to put the orange portal. Although she'd known this would be more difficult than some of the other things she was used to doing, she was still a little surprised by the problems she was running into. In the Center, all the projectiles tended to travel in a straight line at a constant speed -- there was no way a little plastic ball was going to do that. There were a whole slew of variables she would have to contend with here. Where the ball entered the portal, from what height she dropped it... even the wind was a factor.

Hm. This was going to take some work if she was ever going to get good at it.

Cole's leans himself against the wall, watching her for a few moments to see if he can figure out what she's doing himself. Of course, he's never seen anything like it before. But he's kind of used to seeing things he's never seen before by now--

"Uh, hey."

After a few more moments, Chell aimed the Device and fired it, opening an orange portal a few feet higher and to the side than where it had been originally. She scooped up the ball with her free hand and walked back to the blue portal. Okay, so if she dropped the ball right in the middle of the portal and from about waist high and when the wind wasn't blowing then maybe--

Wait a minute, someone was saying something.

She turned, spotting a familiar-looking man leaning against a wall. She blinked. Oh, wait -- that was Cole. They'd spoken a few times over the communicator. "Hey," she said back.

Cole took a hand out of his pocket, immediantly feeling cold--was November after all--to scratch the side of his face. "Chell, right?" He glances up at the portals. "So this is your trick?"

Her mouth quirked up into a smile. Yep, she was Chell, alright, as far as she knew.

She shook her head in response to his second question. The portal gun technically wasn't even hers; for all she knew, it might belong to GLaDOS -- not that she would return it if that were the case. It certainly had more at least one user other than her, too. This wasn't her trick.

Cole quirked an eyebrow, his hand returning to his pocket. "Then what?"

A shrug. Chell honestly had no clue.

"...Well, THAT thing anyway." He points to the portal gun and the portal.s

...Oh. Okay.

Chell followed his gesture and looked down at the gun, then back up to Cole. "The Aperture Sciene Handheld Portal Device," she said simply. After a moment's consideration, she held the Device out so he could get a better look at it.

He straightened up and walked over to look at it. His eyes study it for a minute, eyebrow raised. "...Wait, wait, so it makes portals?" He gives the other portals a sideways glance.

If Chell were at all inclined towards sarcasm, that would haveen be the part where she rolled her eyes and said, "Duh."

But she wasn't, so all she did was nod. "It can also carry fairly light objects," she said. She placed the plastic ball on the ground, aimed the portal gun at it, and then activated its zero point energy field manipulator. Immediately, the ball was suspended in the air in front of the operational end of the Device.

And Cole is just. Staring.

"...Well, holy shit."

Confused blink. Was that a good "holy shit" or a bad one?

"..." He adds that in pretty fast. "I'm impressed."

Ah. The side of Chell's mouth quirked up into a half smile. She'd been using the gun practically since she woke up in the Center; it never really clicked with her just how cool/trippy it was. Using the Device was just... natural.

"...So..." He walked up over to one of the portals. "Can anything go through it, or?"

"Anything that can fit, as far as I know," she replied. Just to demonstrate, she disengaged the energy field manipulator, set the ball down, and fired the Device again, opening the orange portal on the wall so that it was closer to the ground. After giving him a look -- watch this -- she hopped through blue portal at her feet, coming out through the orange portal near the backboard. Ta-dah.

WHOOAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

Cole blinks in suprise and stares a minute. "...Whoah."

Chell walked back over to him (she never could really get the hang of going through walls and coming out through floors; gravity and fact she tended to come out feet first were hideously disorienting) and just grinned. Things just get crazier from there, man.

"That's actually pretty cool."

So said the man who could create grenades made of electricity.

"Anyone can do it," she replied, shrugging a shoulder in nonchalance. "It just takes the Device and some getting used to." Even so, she was still grinning a little.

He also creates motherfucking lightning storms but he doesn't know how to do that in this point in canon.

Blinking, he looks down at the portal. "Then do you care if I...?"

"If you...?"

"Go through it or something."

Chell just gestured towards the portal -- be her guest.

Cole follows what she did, hopping through the blue portal and coming out the portal on the wall. Anybody would be disoriented, especially a first time. Thus cues him falling on his ass.

"AUGH."

He didn't think this through.

Agatha was taking a nice break from the coffee shop and her own work for once. She needed to do that more often, she knew, but sometimes it was so difficult to pull herself away from things. Fortunately, there weren't any big projects for the moment, so she didn't have anything pressing to do.

Hence, a walk.

She hummed half to herself, half to the tiny robot sitting on her shoulder. It was an odd sound, almost multi-tonad at once, which should've been impossible. The 'bot clicked in response to her. Almost like a conversation, even.

Ah, a sports court. She didn't know the names of the sports people played in this world, nor did she particularly care, so normally the court wouldn't garner her attention at all. However, there was a young woman in this one, with a...gun of some sort. A very interesting gun. One that she wanted to see up close and personal, possibly get into its inner workings and see what makes it tick, that sort of thing.

She hailed the woman, trying hard to keep the madness place at bay. That usually scared people off.

"...Hello!"

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Sorry for the delay!

no worries, headed out myself...

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I couldn't resist. Have a science girl!