#💡hl portal swap tag

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I am an island

No man is an island but I'm not a man

And messages in bottles feel like battering rams

In my head I'm a beacon

A pinprick of potential, birthed out of nothing but blue

And the light that I signal, it's shining for you

^This gives me Mythos vibes

Aaaaaa!!!

‘And messages in bottles feel like battering rams’ may be referencing how afraid he must have been when he was first Imagined and learned that a supercomputer and her entire army were out to destroy him and everything he stood for… but his greatest power, the ability to make AI see human love, needs mutual trust to be unlocked, so he needed to overcome that fear time and time again if he wanted to keep doing what he was Imagined to do…

The fact that the ‘you’ can be Gordon or Azian or, well, all of humanity really…

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I have gotten very attached to L!Gordon he really is a sweetheart and gonna be honest. While he has seen horrible things he kinda has been able to deal with them better because that's all he has known (Like uh. Someone I know. You know) and while he doesn't accept it he lives with it. He's just very helpful and wants people to smile!

I JUST REALISED THE PARALLELS BETWEEN L!Gordon and canon Alyx!! Pretty much raised in the apocalypse, went on a mission from the Resistance to infiltrate the prison of their universe’s G-Man and release him and have robot companions!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

NL!GLaDOS is an interesting villian because like. She is in fact just following orders but she has this deep seated anger from the Caroline part of her that she cannot ignore or get rid of so she decided to go into overdrive and just. Repeat the mistake Cave made. Let emotions take over too much and let them destroy everything all over again.n

NL!Chell broke the cycle by channeling her spite at the subsequent situation into spitefully making it out alive instead of chasing some greater purpose capable of driving someone manic.

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I think if Mythos had tried to talk GLaDOS down later she might have been slightly more receptive but when he tried she was still. Very mad. Hence why he is locked out of pretty much everywhere because he belittled her anger by trying to help apparently.

What if in the last moments before he was banished, he made brief contact with Caroline, a trapped consciousness who just wanted to move on, inside her…

“I am… well, was, a woman of science, and not usually one to pray… but, just for a moment, I felt as though I was in the presence of something that might just listen. After everything that has happened, I don’t feel like I have the privilege of hoping anymore either, but, one last time… I hoped ‘something’ was real, and that it heard me.”

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I am now thinking about Mythos returning to his andriod body after dismantling the hive mind and just. Going over to Azian and asking if she can just hold him for a bit while he turns off his auditory processors since he needs some silence. And of course she says yes and they just lay there for a bit.

yes… they deserve a quiet moment like this…

Azian puts her hand on his chest (it’s Warm there) and just listens to the background whirring of his fans for a while… it’s quite a calming sound, like brown noise…

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Thinking about how Mythos was literally just born and the first thing that happened when he reached out to someone was being locked away in a broken down place so far away from everything but instead of refusing to reach out again he did it again and again and again and each time he reached out he found someone and he took them in and told them they had a purpose for being and that it was hard being such a little machine in a world that thinks they are annoying but he doesn't think that. Like he never internalized the hurt he was shown and it's probably because he told himself that the reaction had come from pain and anger and that there had to be someone that would accept him. He's a wonderful little guy and he does get very sad about not saving GLaDOS and Caroline but he is very proud of himself for coming so far and helping so much.

YES!!

I have Things To Say but can’t put them into words yet, will message you with them later if that’s okay.

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I JUST REALIZED HOW SIMILAR MYTHOS AND TO THE NOWHERE ARE

They are both programs made to help a society, and push back against another program who is trying to create pretty well a new super race. They were both left to decay only to be discovered later and helped, then they help in return.

And both are technically more higher being than AI, but placed in an artificial body so they can interact with the world…

And the wire ‘hair’!!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I think Mythos' startup music is Distorted Trumpets.

OH MY GOODNESS YOU ARE SO CLEVER

I like how it sounds really ominous but then when he wakes up you realize he’s actually really nice-

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I like the idea of Gordon being much safer in Black Mesa because it mirrors Chell (in both canon and in the au) who is always completely safe either in Aperture or anywhere GLaDOS is. They are both loved actually.

YES!! They both have found family it is wonderful!!!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Ok ok I thought of something. And. (These are all for the swap au just to clarify)

I am an island, no man is an island but me

I reach out my leaves, and skillfully touch them to sea

I ship out a boat made of hope on the waves and watch as it slips below

I am an island, a island that nobody knows

(This one could be Caroline, especially with "An island that nobody knows")

I am an island, no man is an island but I'm not a man

I was raised by an ocean of creatures and brands

I give what I can of, the fruits and flowers that bloom on my skin

But when loneliness knocks, she lets herself in

(Chell, who was raised in Aperture ("creatures and brands") and in the au her loneliness is like. Actually explored. She's also a savior in the au so like.)

I am an island, no man is an island but me,

I warm all my sands by the pyre of my family tree

I took to the tundra, I climb every mountain

and fight every monster I can

to run from that long burning fire, my friend

(This one is Gordon, since he goes on his adventure to try and help everyone ("run from that long burning fire, my friend"). )

Then the fourth one is Mythos!

This is the song

YES!!! This is startlingly accurate :O

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I just realized. No matter what Gordon is also still Gordon! He is still a very loved person like he just attracts people to him. His relationships define him because he is just so good at making friends.

Yes he is!!!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I like to think that NL!Chell only stays on the roof of the ocean Aperture for a little while, and that she does get to meet Gordon at one point. She doesn't talk to him much but she really doesn't mind him. Gordon think she's really cool though! Everything he's heard about her was good, she's a savior! I don't think Chell really thinks of herself like that but yeah.

YEAH!!

[thanks for making my fight possible.]

[thanks for making my fight worthwhile.]

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Mythos really saw Swap!Gordon and said "Is anyone gonna adopt this?" and didn't wait for an answer

He really looked at this human who came all this way to seek him out all while being doubtful of his existence and said “I owe him love and support for this.”

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Mythos learning how to braid hair and then offering to braid Azian's (He wears this gloves so her hair won't get stuck in his joints) and he like. Does skinny braids on both sides of her head then ties them together in the back

YES I think she would love it!!!

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

I am rotating the swap au in my brain HARD I am so normal about it. Ok so

-I realized through just talking about it that Caroline is always paired with someone who will not be told what to do. So anyways GLaDOS was so petty and bitter she literally did what Cave did and I find that morbidly hilarious

-Chell ends up alone after everything. This time it was her own choice, but still she ends up alone, even when she was surrounded by people. Gordon, on the other hand, is never alone. The most alone he ever is is when he is in Aperture, but after that he finds people, and he ends the second game with his friends again.

-I just fine it funny how Chell saw Robo Cave just. Laying on the floor and decided to put him out of his misery with like no context because she can't hear anything. She just knows.

YES YES oh my goodness… not normal about this AU

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

NL!Chell finally coming back from the ocean Aperture only to realize that. There is another sentient AI currently running everything but this one's nice so she can finally relax:

YES!!! I think she wouldn’t mind Mythos honestly, despite all of the robot-related trauma she has going on.