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waitineedaname · 4 years

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"this wasn't supposed to end in murder, guys, we talked about this" with the gordon, tommy + benrey (but BENREY'S saying the line, please?)

Gordon was more surprised than he should have been to discover Benrey was a stickler for rules.

Perhaps it should’ve been expected; they’d spent the entirety of the trek through Black Mesa harassing him endlessly about rules that Gordon was fairly certain were not meant to be enforced in a life or death situation. Gordon had thought maybe it was just Benrey taking their work a little too far or enforcing the rules only to inconvenience him. While some of that may have been true -- Benrey really seemed to get a thrill out of bothering him -- it turned out to be more so because when Benrey was given rules, they liked to follow them, even when most would ignore it.

Most of the time, this only affected Benrey, and Gordon didn’t mind it. If the doofus wanted to avoid pirating movies like it was the worst crime imaginable, Gordon wasn’t going to argue with them. But sometimes, they enforced rules in a way that ruined Gordon’s fun.

Case in point: attempting to stop Gordon and Tommy from getting their frustrations out in Chuck E. Cheese.

“This wasn't supposed to end in murder, guys, we talked about this,” Benrey complained from the main area of the restaurant (because it was a restaurant, dammit, no matter what Tommy’s intimidating dad said). Tommy ignored them and continued lobbing skee balls at the animatronics at an alarming velocity. Gordon cheered him on from where he stood atop the air hockey table.

It had been Tommy who suggested an outing to Chuck E. Cheese, no surprise. Gordon was bored and had nothing better to do, so he said fuck it, sure, he’ll partake in the rat’s pizza for an afternoon. Before they entered the restaurant, he had grabbed Tommy and Benrey by the shoulders and told them (but mostly Benrey) that they weren’t going to cause trouble, please behave, he wanted to be able to take Joshua to this Chuck E. Cheese at some point and he didn’t want to get banned. Tommy hadn’t said anything, had only smiled in a way that probably would’ve conveyed “who, me?” had Gordon been paying attention and hadn’t been distracted by Benrey going “booo, Gordon banning us from fun, lame.” When they went inside to buy tokens, however, Gordon saw Benrey hanging back and reading the rules of play that had been posted near the arcade entrance. Well, if they weren’t going to listen to Gordon, at least they were going to listen to the sign.

The restaurant was virtually empty, just them and the bored employees who seemed unfazed to see three grown adults in an arcade designed for five year olds. Gordon briefly wondered if he should’ve brought Joshua just for appearance’s sake, but the kid was with his ex for the week, and besides, the employees didn’t seem to care. They had about an hour of fun fucking around with the arcade games when Gordon finally pulled himself away from the fighting game he had been playing with Benrey. The two of them had been getting way too competitive, and he had learned by now that there was a certain point where he needed to take a step back or else it would end with one of them in a headlock and the other one yelling about cheating. At least, that’s how it always ended when they played Street Fighter at home, and he definitely didn’t want to risk being the one with his face in the sticky Chuck E. Cheese carpeting. So he waved Benrey off with a promise of a rematch later and wandered over to where Tommy was standing in front of the skee ball machine, a small frown on his face.

“Hey, you good, man?” Gordon asked, putting his hand on Tommy’s arm. Tommy didn’t look away from the skee ball machine, but his mouth twisted into a tighter frown, a look of annoyance on his face that he usually reserved for truly frustrating Resonance Cascade related bullshit. Or for when Gordon or Benrey put the orange juice cartons back in the fridge with only a tablespoon of juice left in them.

“This- I think this game is rigged,” Tommy said, tossing a ball in his hand absently.

“What?” Gordon laughed a little. “Are you sure you’re not just losing?”

“No, I- I have perfect aim. This game should be a cakewalk.” Sometimes it was a little hard to tell when Tommy was joking, but Gordon was fairly certain he was dead serious about this.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure all the games are kinda rigged. They make the buttons intentionally stiff or something to scam people out of money.” Gordon rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. Tommy turned to face him, looking betrayed.

“But… that’s fraudulent! Isn’t- Aren’t there regulations against that?”

“Uh, I mean, maybe, but I don’t think they’re really enforced. Pretty much any arcade is gonna be like that.”

“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

“Nope.”

“But they do it anyway?”

“Yep.”

Tommy was silent for a minute, appearing deep in thought. He then turned on his heel, and before Gordon could react, he was throwing the skee ball at the nearest animatronic with the skill of a professional baseball pitcher. Gordon’s jaw dropped, and Tommy turned back to him with a broad smile on his face. “See, Mr. Freeman? Perfect aim!”

“Yeah, I- I see that!” Gordon laughed, startled. “Why’d you do that, bud?”

“If they’re not going to follow the rules, I’m not either!” Tommy seemed to sense Gordon’s apprehension and tossed him a skee ball. “Don’t worry, my dad knows really good lawyers.”

Gordon rolled the skee ball between his hands and glanced back at the main counter. One of the cashiers looked stunned at the display of violence, but the other one gave them a bored hand wave as if to say they weren’t paid nearly enough to stop them. “You know what? Fuck it. If we get banned, we get banned.”

Tommy flapped his hands excitedly and cheered Gordon on as he climbed on top of the air hockey table. “Do something- Do something crazy!”

Gordon’s aim wasn’t nearly as good as Tommy’s, but turns out that throwing anything with a destructive intent was a good way to release energy. Tommy continued chucking skee balls at the animatronics while Gordon started kicking the pucks off the air hockey table. They were making enough noise to distract Benrey into abandoning their fighting game to investigate what the hell they were doing.

“Broooo, what are you doing?” Benrey complained, watching the two of them wreck havoc. “That’s- This is against the rules. Gonna get banned, man, whadda hell.”

“Come on, Benrey, I know you wanna break shit.” Gordon sat down on the air hockey table, which creaked concerningly underneath him, and threw a striker at them.

“Wh- No, dude!” Benrey let the striker hit them on the chest and didn’t seem to notice. “You’re killing him! You’re killing Chunky Cheese, oh my god.”

Tommy laughed, breathless. “Aren’t- Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to go apeshit?”

Benrey sang out a panicked string of brown to white Sweet Voice. “I’m gonna hafta call security on you. Gonna send you to Chunky Cheese jail.”

“Chuck E. Cheese doesn’t have on-location security!” Tommy countered, climbing over the barrier that separated the main area from the animatronic band to better attack them.

“I’m on this location, bro.” Benrey said, even though they were clearly in sweatpants and hoodie they’d stolen from Tommy, not anything resembling their security uniform.

“You don’t work for Chuck E. Cheese.” Gordon argued, still perched on the air hockey table and repeatedly kicking the nearest arcade machine.

“Huh? I’m gonna have to ask you to stop, sir, or else I’m gonna have to take you in under Cabinet Man violations.” Benrey started to approach Gordon in an attempt to stop him, knowing they had no chance of stopping Tommy from climbing on top of the animatronics.

“You’ll never take me alive!” Gordon cried out, overcome with the giddiness of childish destruction. He clambered to his feet atop the table and almost immediately heard the distinct sound of wood breaking. He only had an instant to make panicked eye contact with Benrey before he was plummeting to the ground.

Tommy ended up driving him to urgent care, Benrey berating the two of them the whole time. They did get banned from every Chuck E. Cheese location in a thirty mile radius, but that’s fine. Josh liked Dave & Buster’s better anyway.

#hlvrai #frenreylatta if you squint #benrey #tommy coolatta #gordon feetman #my writing #okay to reblog #the chuck e cheese opinions in this fic do not reflect my own #it's not a restaurant I'm sorry king <3 #also the sweet voice translation: chocolate to rice #aren't you tired of going apeshit? don't you just want to be nice?#shoutout to clover for helping me figure out the premise of this fic dklsjfskldjf #anonymous #asks

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tigerdrop · 4 years

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hey i just wanna say the long posts genuinely make my day. also can you talk more about gordon freeman character because the way you write him makes me quake in my gay little boots

i would love to talk about gordon freeman. thank u for the opportunity

the first thing i need to communicate about gordon is that this dude sucks. and i say this in the fondest way possible. he is a bitch from the moment he drops into the world until the moment he goes out. if you dont believe me, give it another watch! gordons mouthy and rude for no real reason, at least so far as “being a regular dude on his way into work” goes, and this dude goes around calling his coworkers names with zero provocation. (of course, we all know that the reason is because its a funny guy improv stream that borrows a bit from freemans mind, but im talkin from a character sense.)

but my argument isnt just that gordon freeman sucks. its that he sucks in a very specific way that i find insanely endearing. i love this dude. i love to hate him. hes awful in a very mundane sense - weve all known a guy like this, at least if youve spent too much time online - and its cathartic to watch him suffer because of it.

gordons a smart guy. as written, hes gotta be - hes a recent MIT grad, on his way to work at a top-secret research facility to do weird shit with crystals and theoretical physics. but the thing about smart guys is that theyre often......selectively intelligent. we can see this in the way that he has a hard time navigating his surroundings, and needs the science crew to guide him through it and keep him alive.

this is one of those things that is a natural consequence of somebody going through the game for the first time, but that i am interpreting as “gordon is kind of stupid sometimes”. its uncharitable but its not like he doesnt deserve it. he likes to boss around the crew as if he knows what hes doing, when he often very much does not, and is fond of demeaning their intelligence. hes real bad about this with tommy in particular, treating him like hes a kid whos playing at being a scientist when tommy is actually a decade older than him. all i am saying is that gordon ought to stay humble. hes awful cocky when he perceives himself as better than others.

which, i think, tracks with how cocky he gets when he gives up on the whole “well-meaning citizen” thing and just unloads bullets into people. he puts up a front of being a Nice Guy, you know, just some dude caught in a bad situation who doesnt like seeing his companions obliterate every NPC they come across, but that doesnt stop him from cackling like a fucking madman and mowing down aliens (and soldiers) every once in awhile. when he stops seeing himself as helpless and starts seeing himself as the one in control, the gloves come off. he gets mean. and i think thats very sexy of him

this, among other things, is why i am insistent that gordon freeman is a control freak. he desperately wants to be in control of the situation at all times, shepherding around the science crew primarily by bitching at them, but its of limited success. its futile. sisyphean. tommy, coomer, bubby, and benrey exist almost to torment him with exactly the thing that would make him suffer the most: a gaggle of people running around causing problems for him, but he cant go anywhere without them b/c hes reliant on them to make it out alive.

its perpetual suffering, and its cathartic to watch. and funny, too. and if youre a little weirdo like me, its very, very enjoyable. how twisted up he gets when nobodys listening to him! how sweaty and frazzled he must look. its cute, and it also makes me want to reach through the screen and shake him and tell him to just be a little nicer. he wants control but he doesnt know how to attain it, he doesnt know how to play nice like a real leader. i think its a neat contrast to gordon freeman as we know him in HL2, where he literally is the leader of the resistance and has to live up to it. this is gordon freeman but if he was moe through helplessness.

“helpless” is, i think, a great way to describe him. a core bit of imagery in half life is this sense of railroadedness and helplessness, with gordon freeman being put into play like a chess piece and having no choice but to move forward. and this iteration of gordon leans into that by being totally dependent on the science crew in order to make progress and Not Die. and hes also subject to the whims of benrey, local eldritch weirdo who has basically made it his life mission to fuck with gordon.

gordons anxieties dont help with that. if he wasnt so fun to stress out and fuck with, the science crew probably wouldnt do it so much! too bad for him that they like fucking with him so much that he was driven into a panic attack (multiple times, even, depending on your interpretation). hes got that real neurotic mindset. always worrying about shit that could go wrong, and attempting to exert control over his surroundings in an effort to control the anxiety.

IMO the real way to nail the Neurotic Gordon Freeman Experience is to combine the ever-present anxiety with his pervasive sense of self-loathing. he openly states that he has no friends and nobody seems to like him, and to that, i really gotta say, i wonder why. he doesnt really seem to factor in that hes kind of a bitch, and has way too high an estimation of his own intelligence relative to everybody elses. its really one of the worst ways to be: aware that people dont like you, but unaware of exactly why. if he was like, 10% nicer, he probably wouldnt have had half as many issues getting through black mesa, but also, its funny to see him squawking his way through the game. so, you know.

its stuff like that that makes me headcanon him as a dude with low self-esteem in general. convinced that hes not likable, not attractive, out of his element......impostor syndrome, except that theres some truth to it. this is a guy who truly does not realize how good he has it: he really is just an average shitty dude, and yet, somehow, benrey took a shine to him. some poor motherfucker out there actually likes him and wants to suck his dick. thats dedication

also, i keep bringing up “repression” when i talk about gordon. and hopefully, what ive been talking about helps explain why. he has a strong desire to be a regular dude, not just murdering his way through black mesa, but if hes pushed hard enough he leans into it. gets bossy. picks up a cigar off a dead soldier and takes a long drag, before smacking forzen around with a pistol and ordering him around. gordon freeman is a regular, kind of anxious guy who likes competitive swimming and streaming on justin.tv and making anime references, and he is also a guy who takes a filthy pleasure in making a trained soldier his bitch. and i didnt make up any of this shit - this is purestrain canon, baby. this is a guy with problems

to me, this screams the kind of guy who represses a lot of shit b/c he doesnt feel like its morally decent. you run into this guy a lot online: the wokeboy, the online leftist, the guy who spends too much time on social media websites. (like reddit. i think he would actively use reddit and he would never get any appreciable amount of karma but he never stops posting. its sisyphean! cathartic.) from the way he talks about “bootboys”, i think it tracks. he knows about imperialism, he knows about feminism, but at the end of the day hes your average american white dude who struggles with internalizing it.

a lot of those dudes struggle with sex and gender issues. (dont we all.) when youre trying to be a Good Person(tm), you spend a lot of time thinking about your own relationship to sex and kink and all that shit. and i maintain that a too-online dude who buries a lot of his control freak tendencies would also try to bury a lot of weird sexual shit in an attempt to seem Normal and Well-Adjusted and not like a little freak. i justify this by the sheer number of times gordon blurts out weird sex shit as a joke. there are only two outcomes to making that many piss jokes: either youre secretly a piss guy, or you lathe-of-heaven yourself into becoming one. i will stand by this

ive talked a lot about why this dude sucks. now, let me talk to you about what makes gordon so much fun to write. first things first: hes funny! a subjective evaluation, yeah, but both in- and out-of-character, hes aiming to be funny. and being the straight man to everybody else plays into that whole “helplessness” thing.

secondly: underneath it all, there is a good dude under there. gordon worries when his companions get hurt, he tries to clean them off and patch them up, and hes got his lil leftist heart in the right place. you could even read a lot of his bossy, bitchy demeanor as him wanting to make sure everyone gets out okay and doesnt hurt themselves. when it comes to animals and anti-imperialist sentiment, gordons a pretty good guy.

hes the kind of guy who would probably see a dog on the street and get excited and play with it, but would get really prickly about the correct way to put dishes in the dishwasher. control freak tendencies.

finally, subjecting such a miserable, tormented guy to even more psychological anguish is really, really fun. you feel a little bad for him, but he kind of deserves it. so many problems he goes through are purely of his own making, and if gordon would just relax and quit trying to hard to maintain control - of himself, of the people around him - and own up to having Problems and Issues, he would be a happier guy. but thats why its fun to bend him until he breaks. being a little control freak myself, putting gordon freeman thru psychosexual torment is cathartic.

when it comes to writing his thought processes, the fact that he is canonically some kind of psychotic (yes, i am boldly claiming this. suck me) and i am also canonically some kind of psychotic makes it easier to write what i think his thought processes are. i just give him my brain issues of “getting lost in thought” and “overthinking fucking everything”. a touch of paranoia helps. even if i dont explicitly label him as schizophrenic please know that i am writing him as a paranoid little nutcase at all times because, uh, you write what you know.

paranoid. anxious. of the mindset that everyones out to get him (which isnt helpful when everyone is out to get him). repressed and deeply Not Normal but trying so very fucking hard to be normal and well-adjusted. a control freak with sadistic tendencies who also really, really likes getting bullied by his best frenemy. a hapless little nerd who sounds really cute when his voice starts to break from nerves. and, most importantly, a dumb jock. do not ever forget this.

thats gordon freeman, babey. hope that helps

#asky #careposting

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enby-freeman · 4 years

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You 🤝 Me

*holding Hlvrai* You could make a warrior cats au out of this.

Anyways tell me tell me pleaaaase

DHEJWJAKQQ Its really easy to make warriors aus and really fun, I think more people should jump on it.

I made a post a long while back with sketches of the cast for the au and small descriptions of each of them, but never went further because I couldn't think of a decent plot until recently.

For the main cast of the AU we've got Gordon - Rustpaw / Dogfang - Medicine Cat Benrey - Former Bloodclan Cat, Rogue Tommy - Sunpaw / Sunkissed - Deputy Coomer - Owlclaw - Senior Warrior Bubby - Former Kittypet - Senior Warrior Darnold - Poppyeyes - Medicine Cat Forzen - Former Bloodclan Cat - Kittypet Gman (Tommy’s dad) - Gracklestar - Former Clan Leader Gman (HL Gman) - Ravenclaw - Ravenstar - Clan Leader The entire plot of the au is pretty basic? Gunna put it under a cut because its a really long uh..post...but its most of what I sent in a group + some other stuff.

Gman and Gdad both exist in this au because I said other characters would simply exist so theres more than one clan. These two in particular along with a small few of other hl characters and the hlvrai cast, exist in this particular clan. Probably Shadowclan.

Ravenclaw fucking sucks, go figure. Gracklestar doesn't suck, he was the clans original leader with Ravenclaw as his Deputy. You can only assume what happens here. Rustpaw is Gracklestar’s apprentice, Rustpaw really looks up to Gracklestar, having always frequently asked for advice and help when things were just a bit too rough.

When out hunting one particular day with Gracklestar, Rustpaw goes to look for his mentor to show him his catch so they can head back to camp, and unfortunately finds him very not alive by Thunderpath. At first he hesitates, assumes he died being hit by a monster, but theres the lingering scent of someone else. Rustpaw, while absolutely terrified, I mean the guy is only an apprentice and thats his leader dead right there, goes up to investigate a little more. Getting a better look at his leader its obvious he did not die to a monster. But instead died to another cat. That cat being Ravenclaw Ravenclaw walks up behind the young apprentice and threatens him, saying he looks just as guilty as himself, and the clan would better believe their new leader over a small apprentice. So Rustpaw keeps it a secret. Rustpaw keeps this entire situation a secret for many, many, moons. He lives a little anxiously, but Ravenstar hasn't tried to do anything yet so whose to say he'd do anything at all, right? Ravenstar goes to Benrey, a former bloodclan cat, and plans out a way to get rid of the problem entirely without looking suspicious. Rustpaw, while out in the forest a few days later gathering stuff for Poppyeyes, runs into what looks like a kittypet being chased down by a dog. Rustpaw’s attacked and the others find him a tad bit too late. Paw twisted beyond repair, among several other problems, theres no chance Rustpaw will become a warrior now. Ravenstar, while disappointed the apprentice didn't die, calls him Dogfang just to shove salt into the wound and expects him to die just to his awful leg injury alone. Dogfang does not die. Dogfang becomes a Medicine Cat apprenticed under Poppyeyes. Poppyeyes offers to possibly change Dogfang’s name when he becomes a full fledged med cat, but Dogfang turns it down. Ravenstar later receives a prophecy from a cat that looks like his dead brother stating that 'The fangs of an injured dog will be your demise' Ravenstar doesn't fully understand it, and hes much more wary and alert of everyone and everything. I haven’t fully figured everything out properly after this? But I do have a few key points for ideas so far. - Dogfang meets Benrey while out gathering herbs, the cat wont leave him alone. - “Aren’t you the cat that got attacked by that dog?” “Yeah no thanks to you!” - The two of them start to get along more through moons and Dogfang really warms up to Benrey, eventually explaining his situation to him about Ravenstar. - Benrey realizes he fucked up! - Benrey lets that guilt eat at him until he breaks and tells Dogfang. - Dogfang snaps at him, goes to Sunkissed, tells Sunkissed about Ravenstar, Sunkissed snips at Dogfang for ever accusing his family of such things. - When not even Sunkissed will listen to him, Dogfang runs off for a few days, eventually making his way to Moonstone and going to Starclan itself to ask why they’d ever let a situation like this happen to begin with. - Hes greeted by Gracklestar, and eventually breaks down entirely, being comforted by his once mentor. - Grackelstar tells him that Starclan can’t help, but Dogfang can only do whats right for the clan, even if it seems wrong. He then tells him of the prophecy that had been given to Ravenstar, and that running away isn’t exactly the right choice here. - After a few more hours of conversing, Dogfang eventually agrees to go back, and tells his former leader goodbye. Hoping he’d see him again some time. - When Dogfang does come back and settle down for the night, hes woken by Ravenstar threatening Poppyeye’s life if Dogfang doesn’t use the death berries to take his own or leave the clan. - *Insert some amazing speech from Dogfang here* - Dogfang attacks Ravenstar and the two go rolling out of the medicine cat den, other cats come out of their own dens to see what all the commotion is, and Poppyeyes quickly tells them that Dogfang is not the one at fault here. No ones sure what to do, so they simply watch the two fight, hoping one of them will give in and eventually run. - Neither of them run. Dogfang is clearly at a disadvantage with the paralyzed leg, but with enough force ends up with the upper hand and takes the clan leader down once and for all, nearly losing his own life himself.

#HLVRAI #half life vr but the ai is self aware #HLVRAI Warriors AU #Crow Chitter Chatter #In this house we respect Dogfang for saying 'no no f*ck this'

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lakesandquarries · 4 years

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Jump the Fence Part Two: Ghost Out Of His Grave

chapter one: ghost in your house

summary: Benrey and Gordon adapt to living together. Some days are better than others.

notes: series title from “jump the fence” by mother mother. this part and the chapters within it are named after “ghosting” by mother mother. this chpater may seem familiar! i technically posted it before but i’m reuploading since it’s now part of a series.

AO3 link

It’s early when Gordon wakes up. Or late, depending on how you look at it. The sky outside is dark, with a faint glow that means the sun is about to rise. When he looks at his alarm clock it reads just past 6:30

If he really wanted, he could go back to sleep. But Benrey was acting weird last night, and Gordon was a little... concerned. Benrey had only been living with Gordon for a few days but he had gotten a decent idea of what they were like. Last night, he’d been all...jumpy, distracted, quiet. He’d barely spoken to Gordon, hadn’t eaten, didn’t even seem interested in the Mario game he was playing. Gordon had watched him fail the same stage 4 times in a row.

He’s not worried about them. It’s just, when your roommate is some kind of eldritch horror, you gotta pay attention when they seem off.

Gordon stumbles out of his room with eyes still bleary, glasses clutched in one hand, and almost walks straight into Benrey. “You’re up early,” he says, rubbing his eyes until his vision comes into focus. Benrey looks slightly dazed, standing in the middle of the living room with...hold on.

“Is that my backpack?”

“Uhhhhhhhh. Nope.”

“Don’t fuckin lie to me, man, that’s mine. What’re you doing with it?”

Benrey just keeps staring. Their pupils are huge in the dim lighting, round like a cats. They have the same weird glow, too. Gordon squints his eyes at them, folding his arms. Finally, they say, “I was just gonna leave.”

Oh, goddamnit. “Dude, it’s 6 am. Where exactly are you planning on going?”

“Uh. Y’know. Out.”

“I don’t know, actually,” Gordon says. He’s trying his best to keep his tone even, but he can’t help the bit of anger that slips out. What the fuck is Benrey playing at here?

Benrey sings a bubble of pale gray sweet voice, followed by an assortment of clear. Fuck, Gordon wishes he knew what that meant. He’ll have to ask Tommy later. Benrey is still quiet otherwise, and Gordon sighs. “Benrey,” he says, gentler. “What’s going on?”

Benrey huffs, looking away and adjusting his hat. “’m sick of waiting,” they mumble, barely intelligible.

“W - Waiting for what?”

The perpetual shadow over his eyes seems to get darker, somehow. “Y’know,” they say again, and this time Gordon explodes.

“I don’t! I don’t know fucking anything because you won’t talk to me! All you do is sit around playing video games and being fucking cryptic and now you’re trying to sneak out at 6 in the goddamn morning!” His fists have found their way into his hair, gripping tightly.

More of those clear bubbles slip out, then black to a dark red. “I’m n - I’m not supposed to be here,” Benrey says, voice flat. “I’m - you killed me.”

Gordon winces at the reminder. “Yeah, well, you got my arm chopped off, so -”

“‘m not mad,” they add quickly. “‘s just how things had to go. But, uh, I’m not…” he trails off, making an obnoxious lip smacking noise. “I don’t have my passport for this area.”

Gordon sighs. “Since when do you care?”

“Mmb,” Benrey says. “Uhhhh.” More of the red bubbles. “Why’re you so mad about this?”

“Why am I mad about you trying to leave in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah. I thought you, uh, hated me and everything.”

“I -” Gordon sighs, rubbing his temples. Yelling’s not gonna help here, if he wants to understand what the hell is happening. He forces his voice to sound calm, or at least as calm as he can manage. Deep breaths, he thinks, his new mantra when dealing with Benrey. “It’s more complicated than that, man.” Honestly, he doesn’t hate Benrey as much as he used to. He doesn’t like him, but…he’s not the worst roommate, and he’s a lot less antagonistic now. He’s followed all of Gordon’s rules and been almost a non-presence in the house. “I mean, we’ve never even talked about…everything.”

“I got your arm chopped off,” Benrey says.

“Yeah, and I’m still pissed about that. But you haven’t done anything like that here.”

“Sooo can I go now?”

“What? No!” God, he’s exhausting to talk to. “Why do you wanna leave?”

He smacks his lips again, looking at the floor. “‘s easier than waiting to get kicked out,” they say.

Gordon rubs his temples again. “I’m not gonna kick you out -”

Benrey looks up at him, eyes narrowed. “You - I - you’re the, the main character. I’m the uh…the bad guy. Duh,” and then he starts humming what Gordon thinks is supposed to be Bad Guy by Billie Eilish. “Right? You beat me. Kill the bad guy, win the game. But now, uh…shit’s all fuck. Bad guy respawned.” He shoots Gordon a wry, tired smile. “So, game’s not over, right? Game, uh….new stage. But you, you’re still the good guy. Fucking, little plumber man Mario. Princess is in another castle, gotta beat Bowser again. Just cause it’s a new stage doesn’t mean Mario and Bowser are gonna be bros. Right?”

He’s about to yell at Benrey for not making any sense when it clicks. “Are - do you think I’m gonna try to kill you again?”

Benrey shrugs, looking away, pulling his hat down over his face.

“Benrey,” Gordon says, trying his best to sound gentle. “I’m not - I only killed you cause you were trying to kill me! I said I wasn’t gonna try to kill you again!”

“I wasn’t actually gonna do it,” Benrey mutters. He shoves his hands in his pockets, hunching over.

“Then why the hell were you shooting at me!” Gordon yells, nearly hitting himself with his wild gesturing.

Benrey lets out a snort, almost a laugh but too…tired. Almost sad, if that’s an emotion Benrey can actually feel. “Game’s gotta have a villain,” he says.

“Stop being fucking cryptic and just say what you mean for once,” Gordon demands. “You were trying to kill me. You got my arm cut off. Why?”

Benrey sighs. “Game’s gotta have a villain,” he repeats. “Doesn’t matter if...if Bowser wants to fuckin, uh, become a chef or something. He’s gotta kidnap the princess. Even if he spends the whole game hanging out with Mario, he’s still…he’s still the bad guy.”

It’s not really any more comprehensible, but, well, that's Benrey. Gordon doesn’t think it’s physically possible for him to be straightforward. The meaning is clear enough, anyway.

“”So you...didn’t wanna be the villain?”

They shrug, trying so hard to seem casual and uncaring, but their expression gives it away. There’s a glint in their eyes, a spark that’s usually missing.

“So then what was with everything else? If you didnt wanna be the villain why were you such an asshole the whole time?”

“Thought it’d be easier.” Their shoulders tense up, eyes softening. Maybe sad is an emotion Benrey feels. Maybe Gordon’s been wrong all this time. “Be hard to kill someone you like, right? You’d do something stupid.”

“So, what, you got my arm cut off so I’d be mad at you? I was pissed before that.”

“I didn’t think they were gonna fuck you up that bad. And it wasn’t - it wasn’t s’pposed to be real.” Yellow eyes dart around, looking at anything but Gordon.

“The fuck does that mean?”

“It was just a game. It wasn’t real. You’re just, you were just some dude playing a video game, right? When Mario gets punched it’s like, whatever. The guy playing doesn’t care. If he gets punched enough though maybe he’ll just like...give up. Bowser gets to, uh, release the princess and go fuck around. I didn’t...'s supposed to just be a game over when Mario gets beat up. Load save.”

“And what about the boss shit at the end? Where you were, y’know, trying to kill me?”

A flicker of emotion flashes over Benrey’s face, before he goes back to his usual deadpan stare. “Uhhhhhh. Bow -”

Gordon shakes his head, “No, no more of that fucking Mario metaphor. Just - can you just talk like a normal person for five minutes?”

“Nah.”

Gordon wants to tear his hair out. He pinches his nose, taking a deep breath, and then another, until he feels like he can speak without trying to beat the shit out of Benrey. “Just. Answer the question. Why did you try to kill me?”

“I don’t remember?”

“Are you fucking with me right now?”

“No!” Benrey says, something close to offense in his voice, like he's actually hurt Gordon doesn’t believe him, but then he drops right back into that tired tone he usually has. “It was all...fuzzy. TV static, but like, in my head? And nothing, uh, nothing was like….real. I just….” he shrugs, picking at his nails. “‘I’m just vibing, bro.” Gordon takes another deep breath, cleaning his fists and preparing to say something, but Benrey presses on. “I tried to turn back. Before we went in, I told you, we had to go back. You didn’t listen.”

“Of course I didn’t listen!” He throws his arms up in the air in sheer exasperation. “You’d been saying nothing but bullshit up until then! How do I know this isn’t more bullshit, huh? How do I know you’re not just - trying to get me to let my guard down, so you can actually kill me?”

Benrey makes a low noise, accompanied by a handful of brownish-blue bubbles. “‘m not,” he mutters. “I didn’t - I don’t wanna be bad.” The shadow over his eyes is black now, the yellow of his eyes unsettlingly dim.

“Then why not fucking say something?”

“Couldn’t.”

Gordon raises an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”

“It’s like - uh -” They smack their lips again. “Like a fucking, uh, dam. The thing beavers make. Beaver can’t get through.”

At least he’s dropped the Mario metaphor. “Okay. So. Let me recap. You…didn’t want to be the villain, you were trying to get me to...quit? And when that didn’t work, you intentionally pissed me off so I’d kill you at the end ‘cause you couldn’t actually say what was going on.”

“Basically, yeah.”

Well, fuck. When Gordon says it out loud like that it’s…actually kinda sad.

No. No! He’s not gonna start feeling bad for fucking Benrey of all people. Gordon balls his fists, pushing down every stupidly sympathetic emotion he’s having. “Okay. Let’s backtrack a bit. Why are you telling me all this?”

Benrey shrugs. “Got tired of waiting for you to kill me.”

“I already said, I’m not -”

Benrey glitches. His face disappears for a second, replaced by a cracked and decayed skull, and then suddenly he’s normal again. A shriek tears its way out of Gordon as he backs away from them, almost slamming into the wall. For a second he’s back in Xen, watching Benrey’s massive form glitch and deform, and then he shakes his head and reminds himself that he’s in his apartment and Benrey is at least the size of a human being. “What the hell was that?”

“How come you don’t believe me but I’m supposed to believe you? Huh? Gordon got trust issues? Gordon skeptic man?”

“I think I’ve got more than enough reasons to have fucking trust issues, man!” He’s still pressed against the wall, hands curling into fists.

“But Benrey’s gotta trust you. Benrey’s not allowed to be scared.”

“Are you saying you’re fucking afraid of me?”

Benrey’s Sweet Voice is high pitched and vaguely dark, like a bubble made of shadows. Gordon can’t translate, but it feels like a yes.

“You know what? I think I’m okay with that.” Gordon peels himself off the wall, stepping closer to Benrey, holding out his prosthetic hand. “Now you get how I felt the entire fucking time we were in Black Mesa.”

The bubbles get darker, a deep, almost dripping black. “‘m sorry,” Benrey mumbles.

Gordon blinks. “What?”

They repeat themself, louder this time. “I’m sorry. For. Uh. Everything?”

The only thing Gordon can think to say is, “What the fuck?”

“I’m tryna be nice!” Benrey says. He’s pouting. Like a little kid or some shit. “It’s called an apology, bro.”

“I know what a fucking apology is! I just wasn’t expecting one from you, of all people!”

“I don’t wanna be bad,” Benrey says quietly. “Can I go now?”

“What?” Fuck, with everything else they’ve been...arguing about, Gordon forgot this whole thing started because Benrey was trying to leave. “No!”

Benrey opens his mouth, looking like he’s about to say something, but all that comes out is Sweet Voice. A lot of Sweet Voice. Black to red, gray to clear, dripping black, translucent dark, swirling around him until Gordon can’t even see Benrey under all the bubbles. When they fade...Benrey’s still standing there, and he’s crying.

Gordon’s never seen him cry before.

“I don’t wanna be bad,” Benrey says again. “This was supposed to be my chance to be not bad.” They scrub at their eyes, turning away from Gordon. “This - this is sucks.”

Fuck.

He doesn’t want to feel bad. He doesn’t want to feel sympathetic. Benrey spent the entire time they were in Black Mesa trying to fuck with Gordon, and a few tears don’t erase that.

But.

“I believe you,” Gordon says. Benrey turns back around.

“Wha?”

“I believe you,” Gordon says again. “That you didn’t wanna...do everything that you did.” He pauses, closing his eyes for a second. “And - I’m sorry too.”

Benrey stares. Does not blink. Continues to not blink as the silence drags on, until Gordon feels like he has to say something else.

“I kinda...assumed you were a piece of shit from the beginning. Didn’t really give you a chance, I guess. So. I’m sorry for all of that, and for the whole, killing you thing.”

“You don’t gotta apologize for that,” Benrey mumbles. He’s still not blinking, eyes wide. “Uh. Thanks.”

“And - if you really wanna leave…” Gordon sighs. He still doesn’t trust Benrey, not in the way he trusts Tommy and Dr. Coomer and even Bubby. But. “I’m not gonna stop you.”

“If I stay are you gonna…be less mad? Less Gordon Angy Momence?”

“I’ll - I’ll try.”

“I, uh. I think I’ll stay.”

“I’m gonna -” Fuck, he’d been planning on getting up before this. He’d been all ready to start his day. Yeah, fuck that. “I’m gonna go back to sleep.”

“Gordon sleepman,” Benrey says, nodding his head. He taps his fingers together. “Hey,” he says, holding his hands up. “You wanna. Uh. Hug?”

He’s not even gonna try to understand what’s happening now. “You know what? Sure.” He steps forward and lets Benrey wrap his arms around him, and after a moment, wraps his around them. It’s…not entirely unpleasant. Benrey is a good bit shorter than Gordon, so with them leaning in against his chest he ends up with his head perched on theirs, hat scratching his chin a bit. Benrey’s arms are thick and strong, and the way he’s holding Gordon should be terrifying but somehow it’s not.

He steps back after a minute, scrubbing at his face again. “Cool. Uh. Poggers,” Benrey says, and Gordon rolls his eyes but he’s smiling a little despite himself.

“Good - well, it’s not night anymore, but. You get the idea. I’m gonna go pass out.”

“Cool,” Benrey says again.

Gordon stumbles back into his room, collapsing into bed. It’s the most peaceful sleep he’s had since before Black Mesa.

sweet voice translations:

gray to clear: i shouldn’t be here

black to red: i should be dead

dirty blue: i don’t wanna hurt you

dark like the shade: i’m afraid

black and tarry: i’m sorry

#half live vr but the ai is self aware #hlvrai #gordon feetman #benrey #benry #cora writes #jump the fence #ghost out of his grave

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sonicfrontiers · 4 years

Note

OOUGGH IM SO GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE THINKING ABOUT SEA OF THIEVES HLVRAI AU... PLEASE !!!! PLEASE PLEASE SHARE UR IDEAS I WANNA HEAR THEM SO BAD

OHHH ANON YOU HAVE SAVED MY FUCKING LIFE WITH THIS ASK THANK YOU SO MUCH

SO !! i barely have anything yet bc i just had this fucking brain blast like an hour ago but. here are my Thoughts so far:

so the very first thing i tried to think of was like. what everyone is? i did my best w this but i am so fuckin open to ideas..... i don’t know shit!

the easiest answer right off the bat was who the humans are (or at least the pirates who appear to be human) in this. we got the science team as the pirate crew—gordon, tommy, bubby, and coomer! they are sailing the seas and maybe they are not doing a very good job of it but it’s fine. it’s Fine

the second easiest answer was benrey’s situation. we got skeletons fuck yeah. benrey got some of that curse uh oh! however w benrey’s situation that’s more like... sometimes being a skeleton rather than just steadily turning into one, i thought maybe the curse fucked up on him? maybe it’s like. he’s only half cursed to just sometimes be a skeleton but he can also look human again too. i don’t fucking know. also OH SHIT BENREY HAS TO BE NOT HUMAN UHJHHHHHHHH fuck it guess he’s part ancient now too. i guess. shit i’ll have to spend more time on him but this is.. the gist

next we got uhh forzen babey. i’ll be honest i’m not too confident on this one. i had the vague idea that maybe he’s a mermaid? although whether he’s one of the mermaids that steals sunken pirates and turns them into mermaids or one of the mermaids who was turned into a pirate i can’t really decide. i mean the pirates-turned-mermaids are always helpful in game, and forzen. well. Isn’t, but the mermaid-mermaids live so far deep that they’re never seen? so i don’t know. but he’s out there.... in the ocean....... somewhere....... waiting for me to have more brain power to answer this

it’s darnold time! i’ll be honest i also don’t have many ideas for this guy. i thought maybe he’s got something to do with the order of souls? that’s vaguely related to potions right? sage darnold with the oos eyes curse and he reads the fuckin skull juices to help out the crew with their voyages..... i think? there are other options too but this is the one that jumped out at me the most!

GREGORY MAN. the man himself. SO I GOT TWO POSSIBILITIES HERE FOR THIS GUY. what i can’t decide on is how much of canon sot i want to be canon in this au... mainly, the stuff abt the pirate lord. i got two options here, one of which is that ramsey still exists as the pirate lord and he hangs out doing mostly the same shit he does in canon, and gman is like. an ancient who stuck around the sea of thieves for whatever reason? which would make tommy a descendant of the ancients too, hence why i specified earlier that all the pirates in the crew might not be human..... EITHER THAT OR gman is the pirate lord and ramsey fuckin uh doesn’t exist in the au. and i CANNOT for the life of me decide which i like better. ANY HELP APPRECIATE HERE PLS

OH ALSO I FORGOT SUNKIST HE’S A MONKEY THAT TOMMY HAS AND HE CAN DO COOL TRICKS AND EVERYONE LOVES HIM. HE’S IMMORTAL SOMEHOW. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT

THEN. it’s tim,e for “how the fuck did everyone get past the shroud into the sot”

i think no matter who the pirate lord is in this au they’d have no problems letting pretty much anyone in honestly. ramsey just kinda says “oh you washed up unconscious on the shores of old sailor’s isle? cool let me just not ask any questions and part the shroud for you real quick ok bye” and honestly i can’t imagine gman would be much different—although he’d probably be more cryptic abt it than ramsey is

SO. GORDOS. i feel like him coming to the sot was a last resort of sorts. he feels lost in life, unsure what his goal is or where he’s going, and he hears of this mystical sea that nobody who enters ever leaves but apparently there’s adventure and treasure and wonder there so he’s like fuck it, i’ve got nothing else to do and goes there hoping to find some sort of purpose. and find it he does :)

tommy time! i feel like whatever brought him here had to be partially related to his dad? either he’s just There bc. well. his dad’s the fuckin pirate lord, or gman’s all cryptid abt being an ancient and left tommy to sort of grow up in the sot on his own while gman kept a distant eye on him, just so tommy wouldn’t find out too much abt being an ancient or whatever. uh. so he’s pretty familiar w the world of sot and all its wacky magic shit!

(actual sot lore question here bc this is smth i don’t know—does all the magic that happens in sea of thieves happen beyond the shroud? i wonder if the rest of the world also has skeletons and giant sea monsters and magic and shit or if it’s just inside the sea of thieves...... hmmm for this au i’m gonna assume that all magic is something unique to the sea of thieves and doesn’t happen beyond the shroud)

The Bubby. honestly i like the idea that bubby came to the sot just to like... get away from the outside world? like maybe he’s on the run from something............ this is very very vague in my mind and is extremely subject to change but i like the whole “I’M LEAVING THIS WORLD!” thing as bubby being like fuck the regular world i’m going into the flesh eating devil shroud and nobody can stop me. and then he did

coomer. the man himself. i think coomer came to the sot searching for adventure! and more to learn! he’s always looking to broaden his horizons and where else to go but to the mystical sea of thieves when looking for new experiences? coomer is just here to have a good time :)

UH i think darnold already existed in the sot... he just sorta Lives There... there are npcs who just fucking were born and raised there right. like tasha was in the sot at age 4 so it makes sense right?? darnold just live here and he helps get the crew from the outside world familiar with the sot!

FORZEN has been in the sot for ages—either he’s always been here as a mermaid or he got turned into one so long ago and he’s just been getting angrier and angrier w it every year he’s trapped here. he barely remember why he came anymore but god does he regret it. :(

gman either way just kind of Is There huh..... as the pirate lord i honestly can’t imagine his origin being much different than ramsey’s? like he just makes friends w the ancients like hey what’s up i like this sea. my sea now. or he Is an ancient and just fucking chills there. whatever

OK THAT’S MOSTLY IT FOR WHAT I HAVE FOR TECHNICAL STUFF WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT..... HERE ARE SOME OTHER FUN BITS I THOUGHT OF:

bubby discovers firebombs and Uh Oh. Uh Oh Everyone Watch Out Bubby’s Got Fire Powers Now. he only accidentally sets the ship on fire SOMETIMES it’s FINE. (also his favorite region is the devil’s roar. unsurprisingly. he likes the chaos it brings)

bubby and tommy + coomer as well are agents of chaos in general. they don’t follow the fuckin Rules and it makes gordon’s life a living hell.

bubby: look gordon i dug up some grubs! gordon: cool man, put those in the barrel and we can use them to fish late- bubby: (shoving the grubs in his mouth) gordon: BUBBY NO WHAT THE FUCK DON’T EAT TH coomer: oh, what a good idea, bubby! i am feeling quite hungry myself! (also starts eating worms) gordon: I’M COOKING DINNER AT THE CAMPFIRE RIGHT NOW PLEASE DON’T tommy: oh are the worms okay to eat? i wonder what they taste like gordon: NO STOP benrey, shoving worms in gordon’s face: eat worms? eat worms now please?

coomer finds out how to launch himself out of a cannon and he becomes unstoppable. the crew is attacked by an enemy ship and everyone’s like “oh fuck everyone get to the cannons!” and they go there to find coomer fucking launching himself directly onto the enemy ship, and he kills their entire crew in seconds. by the time he mermaids back to his ship everyone is fucking stunned silent and coomer is just like “well, that takes care of that! let’s get back on course, gentlemen!” and since then they just fucking fire coomer at people like a weapon whenever they get attacked by other pirates or skeletons. It Always Works

UH AND I THINK THAT’S KIND OF WHAT I HAVE SO FAR? i might be forgetting something but this post is long enough as is......

IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING TO ADD FEEL FREE!!! i love sea of thieves so fuckin much man... and i didn’t even TOUCH on anything like any of the reaper’s bones shit which i would be interested in looking at getting involved in this au somehow...... i will probably come back to this if anyone else is interested !! otherwise that’s all i got for now!!!! thank you so much for asking anon!!!!!

#hlvrai #sot #UM. I GUESS I'M PUTTING THIS IN THE MAIN TAGS?#half live vr but the ai is self aware #sea of thieves #hlvrai + sot fans..... all three of you...... come get your juice #SORRY FOR THE LONG POST TO EVERYONE ELSE HGHNFDNJHG FD #anyway thank you anon..... thank you so much.................. i lvoe you #I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE I GOT SO MUCH... ON THE BRAIN....... but i love you !! THANK YOU FOR THE ASK

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lifetrader · 4 years

Text

Context: Post-HLVRAI AU ... Self indulgent I guess?

It had been some time since Gordon had finished his playthrough of Half Life… Since he had to say goodbye to the people he came to care so dearly about… But a goodbye didn’t have to be forever, did it? Well, that’s what Gordon thought at least - you see, he had spent the last few months trying to work out different ways to contact everyone again; to bring them into different games… To let them see the different worlds they could go to, just like Coomer wanted. He even had plans to try to bring them into reality, but… So far those attempts hadn’t gone too well; each of them resulting in quite literally nothing happening.

Today was much the same in terms of Gordon’s lack of luck - he had spent hours going through code, testing out scripts, trying to make things work… To no avail. Glancing at the time, he saw it was 12:30PM - no wonder he was getting hungry. With a sigh, he stood from his chair, staring at the open code on his computer. “I’ll… Get you guys outta there one day. I promise…” He muttered, before exiting the study and heading out to the lounge room to check up on Joshua, and then get some food.

…Little did Gordon know, throughout all his attempts and fails, something had gone right this time, it had just taken a bit to work. With a flash of light, three people had appeared in Gordon’s study… In a pile; as graceful as ever, Science Team. “Get… Off… Of me…!” Bubby hissed, trying to push Tommy and Coomer off, which prompted the other two to quickly get up. “Sorry, Bubby!” Coomer let out a quiet laugh. “Uhm… Guys… Do you know where we are…?” Tommy found himself idly looking around the room, clearly cautious of what could be hiding around. “It looks like a house…Who’s though?” Bubby muttered.

“Well I’m not sur-“ Coomer cut himself off, a realization hitting him upon seeing a small framed picture of a man and his son. “…Gordon…” He hushed, quietly picking up the picture, tears welling up in his eyes. “…Harold, are you alrig-” Bubby froze up when he saw the picture. “…Oh…” A realization washed over the group as to where they were, and likely how they had gotten there. “B.. But he’s not here…?” Tommy quietly looked around. “Now, now Tommy… He’s probably just… In another room…” Coomer patted the younger scientist’s shoulder. “I’ll go have a look.”

Coomer hesitantly stepped out of the study, eyes scanning around until… He spotted him. Gordon was happily spending some time with Joshua… With a soft chuckle, Coomer rejoined the group, a smile on his lips, and tears welling up in his eyes. “It’s really him… He’s here… He got us here…” Bubby and Tommy felt theirselves tearing up as well. “So he didn’t forget about us…” Tommy muttered, a quiet laugh escaping him. “Of course he wouldn’t..! Have some faith in the man, Tommy!” Bubby huffed, trying his best to hide his tears behind his glasses. And it was in that moment that from the hallway they heard a quiet “...How the…”

Jumping in surprise, the group quickly turned to see the source of the voice, and there stood Gordon Freeman - the man himself. Coomer didn’t hesitate in rushing him, bringing him into a tight hug. “HELLO GORDON!” He cheerfully shouted. Tommy was quick to rush over and join the hug. “Mr. Freeman you did it! You... You got us out to… To… Your world! Dr. Coomer said you’d do it!” Bubby, trying to keep his cool, walked over to the group hug and joined in, a sniffle escaping him. “We... We missed you, Gordon.”

Gordon stayed quiet for a moment, before letting out a loud sob, holding the trio close. “I thought it- I… Didn’t think that…” He held on a bit tighter. “I thought I’d never see you guys again…” He quietly laughed, trying his best to stay as calm as he could in this situation, and then another familiar voice was heard. “…Wow, buncha… Cringe ass babies…” This prompted everyone to freeze up, Gordon hesitantly looking up at the doorway to his study. There stood Benrey, a grin on his lips. “Hey Feetman. Long-time no see. Got room for one more in the hug or what.” He snickered, expecting to be told to fuck off, but… Gordon let out a sigh. “Get your stupid ass over here, idiot.” Gordon held his arms out for the other.

Benrey was clearly shocked by the kindness shown, tilting his head at the other. “Wait for real?” He muttered. “For real. Now get over here before my arms start to hurt.” Gordon kept his arms open for the other, before he was met with a very tight hug from Benrey. “Why the fuck are you being nice to me, Feetman?” Benrey muttered. “Stop calling me that…” Gordon groaned. “…I mean I gave Coomer a second chance after he tried to use me like a meat puppet… I don’t see why I shouldn’t give you a second chance.” He offered a smile. “It’s group hug tiiiime…!” Tommy laughed, hugging the two. It didn’t take long for Bubby and Coomer to join in, Coomer almost fucking crushing everyone with his hug.

“I’m so glad you’re all okay…” Gordon let out a content sigh. “It’s all thanks to you, Gordon. After all… You’re the one who changed our lives… Who spent your time trying to get back to us… To… Save us, I suppose.” Coomer offered a smile to Gordon, who was starting to tear up all over again. “…No, it’s… It’s not thanks to me, Coomer. You’re the one who told me that we could meet again… That everything that happened… Didn’t have to be the end of it all. You gave me the motivation to try… To try to get you all back. So… Thank you, Coomer.” He took a deep breath, before giving everyone a quick individual hug. “…So, how about I introduce you all to Joshua… Then we get you guys set up with your rooms? I have plenty of spare rooms.” This idea was met with a collective cheer of agreement.

It may have been the end of their adventures in Half Life, but it was the beginning of their adventures in real life together - and that was an adventure that none of them wanted to miss.

#my writing #hlvrai #ok to rb i guess #?#if you really wanted to???

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pinnithin-writes · 4 years

Text

Good Jokes

Chapter 22

“So…” Tommy intoned quietly. “Got any weekend plans?”

Bubby looked at Tommy like he was an insane person, which was fair, because at this point he was really starting to feel like one.

Shortly after Gordon was launched backward in time, Benrey disappeared from the plane, leaving the scientists alone in the cavern with only the sound of lapping water to keep them company. A few minutes later, Coomer had decided suddenly that he needed to go back, too. It was a premonition he had, with reasoning he couldn’t quite explain, but he was insistent.

So they fired up the portal gun and sent him on his way.

When Bubby didn’t answer him, Tommy resumed his waterlogged pace around the cavern. He hated this, hated the waiting, hated doing nothing. There were so many ways this plan could go wrong, and as the minutes crept past, Tommy grew more worried. Even if Benrey didn’t kill Gordon and Dr. Coomer, they could still get trapped back there, lost in the past, doomed to live through whatever offshoot timeline they created. Tommy tried not to think about what changing reality would do to them. He felt that his nose would start bleeding if he dwelled on it too much.

He completed another circuit of the cavern, making brief eye contact with Bubby as he passed. The older gentleman had counted and recounted the ammo in his magazine at least fifteen times now, stoic and silent in his anxiety. Tommy paced. Made lame attempts at conversation. Paced some more. When he’d finally given up on cutting the quiet, Bubby spoke up.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen, you know.”

Tommy paused mid-stride, only about a yard away from the scientist. He frowned, not entirely sure what he was talking about, and waited for him to elaborate.

“When we betrayed him,” Bubby clarified. He kept his eyes on the semi-automatic in his hands as he spoke. “I didn’t mean for the soldiers to do that to him. Really.”

Water sloshed around Tommy’s legs as he shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Okay,” he said.

Bubby clipped and unclipped the magazine from its holster as he went on. “I didn’t think I would be wrong about him. I’ve never been wrong before.”

“About who,” Tommy asked, “Gordon?”

Bubby nodded, secured his weapon, and sighed. “I was just trying to get him away from us,” he said. He still was avoiding Tommy’s eyes, focusing instead on the pensive lap of dark fluid around his feet. “I didn’t think we could trust him. I… we… betrayed him before he could betray us.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Tommy answered, and Bubby retaliated sharply, “I know that now.”

Silence breathed cold and awkward between them. Tommy watched Bubby’s face as it scrolled through a few emotions, his mouth a taut, thin line. The creases around his eyes were pinched and narrow. He looked exhausted. Tommy guessed he was just as wrung out as the rest of them, even with the enhancements.

“I…” Bubby tried again. “I just wish it hadn’t happened. If I were to go back…” he traced the stock of the portal gun on his hip idly. “That’s what I would change.”

Tommy stuffed his hands uncomfortably in the pockets of his lab coat, damp and sticky in the humid air. “What’s - why are you telling me this?” he asked.

Bubby shrugged. “I guess I’m trying to apologize,” he answered.

“Apologize to Gordon,” Tommy said. “Not to me.”

The scientist’s eyes cut abruptly to Tommy’s, finally meeting his gaze. “You’re the one who had to clean it up afterward,” he insisted.

That didn’t quite sit right with him. This whole conversation didn’t, in fact. Tommy folded his arms delicately in front of his chest, tilting his head to the side to study the other man. He looked genuinely sorry, if a little miffed, but sorry didn’t undo what he did. Sorry didn’t make things right.

“Gordon isn’t a mess you made,” Tommy said at length. “He was - he’s - he’s a person you permanently affected with your actions.”

Bubby’s jaw worked in mild agitation. “Will you just accept the damn apology?” he asked. “We don’t even know if we’ll see him again.”

“We will,” Tommy said, with finality, and he resumed his pacing.

They lapsed into an uneasy silence after that. Bubby began circling the cavern, meticulously turning over and identifying the bones left behind by their hijacked colleagues. The thought of handling his coworkers’ remains made Tommy ill, and he kept his distance. He didn’t want to think about how Dr. Eagan from the fuel lab tried to claw his face off post-mortem. Still, it afforded them a little more dignity than lying motionless in an alien lake. What a tragic injustice.

“I always thought these looked kind of like pyramids,” Bubby commented as he hefted someone’s femur in his hand.

Tommy responded distractedly, keeping his eyes averted. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

He tossed the bone back in the water with an unceremonious splash. “Forget it. Do we have a plan?”

Tommy snorted in reply. “I really – I don’t think this is the – the kind of thing you can plan for.”

Bubby’s tone was irritable as he bent to scoop someone’s wallet out of the murk. “We need to come up with something,” he said, flicking through to remove the ID card. “I’m not getting trapped here, no matter what happens with Benrey. I’m going home.”

Leveling Bubby with a heavy gaze, Tommy said nothing for a moment. He didn’t wish to entertain this line of thought whatsoever. The likelihood of Gordon and Coomer failing and leaving them alone on Xen was worryingly high, but a stubborn part of him clung to hope regardless.

“We are going home,” he said with conviction. “All of us.”

The truth of his words echoed weightily in the humid chamber. There was no other outcome beyond this one. He felt it deep in the fibers of his heart.

Bubby opened his mouth, probably to utter a heated retort, at the same time a burst of green light materialized between them, snapping and crackling outward with a blinding flash. Tommy blinked spots out of his vision as the form of Dr. Coomer solidified, swaying on his feet for a second before pitching toward the surface of the water.

Tommy was slower to reach him than Bubby was, who caught and steadied the scientist with a hand on his shoulder. Coomer’s gaze was faraway and his lip trembled in shock.

“Dr. Coomer?” Bubby asked as the light dissolved.

They watched his face with interest as he gradually blinked into focus. His eyes shifted left, then right, vague recognition flickering behind them. His jaw worked silently until he found his voice.

“I’m… I’m back,” he guessed.

Bubby patted his shoulder in assurance. “You’re back,” he confirmed.

Coomer stared hollowly at his own hands, watching his tendons stand out as he slowly curled them into fists. The two of them gave him time to orient himself, but Tommy caught Bubby glancing around the cavern, alert for danger.

Once the old man was able to stand on his own, Tommy allowed himself to blurt, “What happened?”

Coomer gazed at him foggily, eyes tracking unseen memories. “I don’t know,” he said haltingly. “I don’t… really remember. We were back at the locker room, and-“ he broke off, blinking as he darted his gaze around the cavern. “Where are we?”

“You’re – we’re on Xen. In a – an alien lair,” Tommy summarized quickly. “Who did you see in the locker room? Mr. Freeman?”

“Was Benrey there?” Bubby added.

Dr. Coomer was shaking his head. “I don’t – I don’t know. Forgive me, gentlemen, my memories seem to be… a little out of order.”

Tommy stuffed his hands in his pockets so he could ball them into fists unseen. Shaking answers out of the guy would not only be irrational but also incredibly impolite. His heart rate was beginning to climb, and he inhaled heavily to calm himself. Gordon was alive, he knew that much, somehow; it was an instinct buried in his nerves. But he could still be lost out there in time, and Benrey could still be lurking between the ponderous ticks of the clock.

“What was the last thing you remember happening?” Bubby asked.

Coomer was silent for several seconds, then replied tentatively, “I think I was using the bathroom.”

Before either of them could articulate a response to that, a heavy splash sounded from the other end of the cavern, followed by a familiar voice ringing out, “Guys? Where are you?”

Tommy turned, heart in his throat, toward the sound, barely catching sight of Gordon Freeman emerging from behind a pillar as the air around them electrified. Benrey followed close behind, furling limb by limb into existence between them. He was back to his original proportions, still thirty feet tall and looming, and his expression held something Tommy hadn’t seen on his face before. His rage was fractured as he swung his eyes, lamplike, toward the men below him.

He was afraid.

“Guys! I did it!” Gordon called, his voice reverberating around the chamber with triumph. Tommy heard splashing as he ran to rejoin them. “The passport’s shredded!”

“You did it, Gordon!” Bubby hollered back.

Coomer smiled, somewhat more oriented with the others’ return. “Gordon, I don’t know what you did, but I believe you’ve completely rewritten the course of history,” he remarked, eyeing the entity.

“What?” Gordon panted as he rolled to a stop in front of them.

Tommy watched his eyes pass briefly over the scientists, checking for damage, before landing on Tommy. He looked weary and a little shaken, but the grin on his face was hungry. Seeing him that way put a fire in Tommy’s stomach. Blood and grime smeared his skin and his glasses were smudged and cloudy, but behind the lenses his dark eyes burned. They were going to make it.

Behind him, Benrey was beginning to rise into the air, electricity arcing across the cavern and between his fingers. Tommy tasted ozone as he watched the entity span overhead like a thundercloud, unstable and growling. His eyes were wild, his expression desperate, and Tommy knew that desperate people made dangerous choices.

Gordon was dauntless as he stared up at him. “Benrey,” he called, raising his arm to point with the barrel of his gun. “Time to die, son.”

The entity bared his teeth like a cornered wolverine. “No, wait,” he rumbled.

Arcs of lightning flashed and sparked between the pockmarked pillars, humming as they knit together overhead. Benrey’s form was precariously erratic, and Tommy was sure he saw electricity passing through his joints like thread holding together a seam. The entity was dying. Violently so. The idea was so foreign to Tommy it kept him rooted to the spot far longer than was safe. He didn’t even notice the others retreating from the creature until a hand on his collar yanked him back.

“Come on!” Gordon shouted, his voice ringing in Tommy’s ear. “Everything we got, guys!”

They opened fire. It was all there was left to do. Lightning sparked and lanced like javelins as Benrey tried his best to turn them all to ash. Tommy wondered distractedly how standing in a lake of red water didn’t conduct the electricity and fry them all on the spot. He emptied his mag, reloaded, and emptied it again, his arms shaking to keep the barrel raised in his exhaustion.

“Gordon, it’s not working!” Coomer shrilled, clicking his finger on the trigger uselessly as his ammo ran out.

It may not have been working, but it certainly was doing something to the entity. He roared and thrashed overhead, looking less and less like a living creature as his form slowly ripped and frayed.

Gordon tossed a frantic look in the boxer’s direction. “It’s not enough! What do we do?” he asked, just as Bubby ignited.

Hot orange light flickered and danced through the cave as Bubby cackled with unbridled glee. The water around his ankles boiled, but the prototype himself was unhurt as fire licked over his skin. The human fireball charged at Benrey, and the creature roared as he was singed by the flames.

Gordon passed an openmouthed look from Bubby to Tommy. “Could he always do that?”

Tommy could only offer a wide-eyed shrug in response.

Bubby’s stunt cost Tommy his attention, and he was a bit too slow to dodge a lance of lightning that caught him in the shoulder, white hot and burning. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, dropping his rifle in shock as he staggered back. Biting his tongue through the pain, Tommy took cover behind a nearby stalagmite, a hand clutched to the burn wound in his shoulder. The same shoulder with the shrapnel in it. Fucking hell.

As gunfire and electricity popped around him, Tommy fought down nausea and frustration while he crouched in the water. Useless, he felt so fucking useless, cowering while his friends took the brunt of Benrey’s attacks, unable to even shoot now that he’d dropped his weapon. What did Tommy have to offer when he was without his power? How did Gordon Freeman, soft and mortal, make being heroic seem so effortless? Lightning arced past his hiding place and the hair on his arms stood on end.

THOMAS, a voice echoed in his skull, and Tommy’s eyes went wide.

“Sunkist?”

THOMAS, I AM COMING TO YOUR AID.

Frantically, he looked around, searching for any sign of the psychic animal in the gloom. “I - how did you find me?”

Before the perfect dog could answer him, a great, bellowing roar ripped Tommy’s attention back to the fight. Shoulder still burning with pain, he glanced around the pillar and was met with the impossible sight of Dr. Coomer at three times his original size. A radioactive green glow haloed around him and the stitching of his lab coat popped under the strain of newfound muscle mass. Holy shit. Take cover for thirty seconds and Tommy misses everything.

A couple yards away, Gordon took an awed step back. “Whoa, whoa.”

Coomer’s voice shook the cavern. “Witness my true power!”

Rocks and debris fell from the ceiling, bulleting through Benrey’s nebulous form and splashing into the water below. Tommy scrambled out of his hiding spot to dodge a hunk of cavern rock about to cleave his head open, rejoining Gordon at his side and throwing him a perplexed glance.

“Could he always do that?” he asked, and Gordon laughed.

“Train and fight, Gordon!” the boxer rumbled like a thunderhead. He sprang into the air toward Benrey and began whaling on him.

Supercharged by Coomer’s transformation, Gordon let out a yell and sprinted toward the entity, spraying insults and bullets. Tommy found himself following closely behind, even while injured, weaponless, and with barely a shred of a plan. Hiding was no longer an option; he only knew he needed to be here, feet firmly planted with a wall of armor in front of him.

He was safest here. At Gordon’s back. Shockwaves and gunfire and Benrey and all. The realization nearly made him lightheaded.

“Take him out!” Gordon shouted.

The entity in question was beginning to display the damage he was taking from their combined attacks, Screaming and burning and bruising and slowly collapsing in on himself. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion - A car crash that was accelerated by the starburst of light that heralded Sunkist’s arrival.

A brief flick of Gordon’s eyes betrayed his double-take as he caught the retriever flashing through the ether. “What?” he asked. “Sunkist is here?”

“Yes!” Tommy cried as he felt his heart swell. “Sunkist is here - Sunkist is gonna help us!”

He beamed as his best friend splashed down before them, twelve feet of loyal canine glory. A stray zing of lightning hurtled towards them and Sunkist leapt to catch it in his jaws like a frisbee. The beast’s eyes flashed with excitement while sparks leapt between his teeth. This was a game to him, a fantastic game, and he stood taut and attentive with his gaze locked on Tommy as he awaited an invitation to play.

“Go Sunkist,” Tommy commanded, pointing toward the ultimate chew toy. “Attack!”

Gordon and Tommy stood side by side, watching in awe as the perfect dog leapt into the fray. Benrey writhed and shrieked as he was assailed by the combined efforts of Coomer, Bubby, and Sunkist, who looked like angry wasps up against his colossal form. Electricity sparked and snapped, flashing their retinas with an acid green. He was unraveling rapidly, now, limbs unspooling like a busted VHS tape.

“This isn’t fair!” his bellow shook the cavern.

Gordon’s hand found Tommy’s, giving it a short squeeze. His fingers were shaking. Tommy pulled his eyes away from the spectacle to study the other man’s face. Gordon was staring at the entity with a hard determination, brows set and steady, jaw hard and tense. He looked like he was staring down a sheer cliff and needed to jump, all nerves and fear and fire, and even like this, he was stunning.

“I’m gonna end this,” he said, and Tommy only caught his words in the movement of his lips, he uttered it so quietly.

Tommy squeezed his hand and let him go. “Okay.”

The low gravity on Xen and the enhancements in his suit gave Gordon enough clearance to leap impossibly high, a bright orange spark up against a hungry cloud of teeth and hate. For a moment he hung, suspended in the air, eye to eye with a nightmare, before plummeting straight into it.

Tommy’s eyes followed him as he went, praying and hoping like he was a falling star.

“This is it Benrey!” Gordon’s voice rang out. “You’re going to hell! Dying for the first time!”

They collided in a sickly flash of green light that erupted through the cavern, screaming and shocking and burning.

And then Tommy was sprinting through the current of red, catching Gordon as he fell, the weight of his suit against his chest like a meteor impact as they both went splashing into the water. They emerged coughing and spluttering, Tommy’s heart surging with relief to hear Gordon conscious and breathing, and he kept his arms around him as the raging storm that was Benrey roiled blackly overhead. The only thing left of him that was recognizable were the two spotlight eyes boring down on them, scared and shining.

Tommy almost felt sorry for him. Just a fleeting shred of humanity, brief and empathetic as he made eye contact with the entity. Gone as soon as it arrived. A tortured scream ripped from whatever used to be Benrey’s throat, outrage quaking the room and shivering their nerves.

It was over. It was over.

Bubby and Coomer retreated from the entity as he slipped violently from existence, Sunkist following close at their heels. Tommy rose and hauled Gordon to his feet, keeping close with an arm around his shoulders to steady him. The team regrouped together in the warm red sea, eyes raised to witness the storm breaking above them.

Here stood soft, fragile creatures from earth, flawed and bleeding and mortal, unmaking an alien god. Tommy buried his face in Gordon’s hair as the shockwaves washed over them.

As beast and blitzkrieg roared around them, Dr. Coomer’s voice rose triumphantly above the din. “DON’T FUCK WITH THE SCIENCE TEAM!”

Everything fell away.

Chapter 21 <-----> Chapter 23

#ink #fanfiction #good jokes #part of my endeavor to relocate all my ao3 work #guns #violence #body horror #hlvrai

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bubbyleh · 4 years

Text

I See La Vie en Rose - Chapter 9

hey there! quick update. chapter 10 IS posted on ao3, but it won’t be getting a tumblr mirror because it’s not really plot stuff, just stupid things i wanted to share. so follow the link on my blog if you want to check that out, or just tune back in for chapter 11 instead

Chapter 9: The Reckoning

Tommy gawks at the destruction wrought upon the pavilion, and without thinking he brings his hands to cover his mouth. Never in all his life has he seen his home so damaged. Some pillars are missing entire chunks! A few of the scorch marks are still smoking!

Where is everyone?

Drawing in a deep breath, Tommy places two fingers in his mouth and whistles as loud as he can.

Sure enough, it takes a bit, but Sunkist comes running from the direction of his house. The first trick Tommy ever taught her, and it still works like a charm! He’s never been so relieved to see her before, at least until she tackles him to the ground with licks.

“Ow,” Tommy whimpers out, feeling the pain in his bruised shoulders.

Sunkist seems to recognize his discomfort, but she keeps sniffing his face. Yeah, she can definitely tell his nose is fucked.

“Oh, Sunkist,” Tommy sits up and hugs her. “You would- you won’t believe what happened down there today.”

“Tommy?”

He breaks away from Sunkist, and holy shit, Bubby doesn’t look good. He’s very clearly just stumbled in, leaning on one of the intact pillars for support. Tommy almost cries out for him, but Bubby cuts him off.

“I thought I heard you call for Sunkist,” he continues. “What the hell are you doing back here?”

In an instant, Tommy goes from concerned for his family’s well-being to seeing red.

“What- what am I doing!?” Tommy places a hand on his chest, offended beyond belief. He struggles to push himself up with his other arm, the thrumming pain causing him to wobble slightly, but he does stand. “What have you guys been doing?! I’ve been- I’ve been trying to get in contact with you all afternoon!”

Bubby narrows his eyes at Tommy, and for a split second he glances behind himself, back towards Benrey and Gordon’s home.

“Where’s the kid?” he asks, as if noticing for the first time Joshua isn’t present.

“He, uh. Darnold’s watching him.” Tommy frowns. Well, now that he knows things are somewhat okay up here, he turns back to his dog. “Actually, Sunkist? Could you- could you head down and keep an eye on them f-for me?” He’d appreciate something divine watching over them for a bit.

Sunkist barks in response, trotting into the Viewing Pool. She disappears with a flash, and Tommy feels like he has one less thing to worry about.

Before Tommy can ask a single question, Bubby has already turned around, gesturing for him to follow. Catching up, Tommy notices that Bubby’s legs are stiff as he walks, as if he has to mentally will them to bend.

“What- Bubby, what happened?” Tommy asks.

Bubby sighs. “Come on. I’m sure everyone is gonna want to see you.”

Wow, this is a whole new level of brushing off! Bubby’s not addressing the fact that wherever he looks, Tommy sees signs of a fight in the place he’s known as home his whole life. He really didn’t think it could get this bad.

But then again, what was Tommy supposed to think? They never told him anything.

They make it to Gordon and Benrey’s house, the door to which Bubby pushes open without knocking. Tommy almost calls him rude for it, but then he catches sight of the scene inside.

Coomer is immediately on Bubby, lecturing him for sneaking out while he’s so fragile. Tommy spies his dad in the corner, his gaze focused intently on the couch. And on that couch sits Benrey, Gordon passed out and laying in his lap. All of them look roughed up.

“Stop, Harold.” Bubby pushes his fretting husband’s hands away. “I’m fine, see?” He pauses, for the briefest of moments. “Look who I found.”

And just like that, everyone’s attention is turned to Tommy in the doorway. But Tommy’s stuck on the one person who can’t look at him, his thoughts going a mile a minute. ‘Gordon isn’t moving why isn’t he moving is he okay what happened-’

A pair of hands squish his face, and Tommy realizes it’s his dad. He’s looking down at him with such a sad look, and Tommy’s not sure if it’s intentional, but he stands right in front of him, blocking his view.

“Oh, oh dear, Tommy,” Gman says. “What happ..ened to your, nose?”

Tommy’s stunned expression turns to a glare. “Wh- my nose!? You want- you want to talk about my nose?!”

Gman obviously wasn’t expecting a hostile reaction to that, releasing his son’s face and backing away. It does little to calm Tommy.

“Do you- you have any idea how worried I’ve been!?” Tommy shouts. “You weren’t answering anything! And I come back, and- and everything is fucked up, and you’re just- just pretending nothing happened!?”

Bubby and Coomer no longer meet his eyes, but Gman just stares. Tommy continues, “Did- did any of you even check your phones!? I fucking fought a Skeleton today, and it-” All of Tommy’s fury vasnishes in an instant. Just remembering the empty feeling he got looking into that thing’s eye sockets is enough to twist his stomach. “It- s-so much about that was- it tried something-”

Tommy’s legs give out. He can feel his father by his side, holding onto him, and he thinks Coomer is there too. But his head is racing and he’s gripping at it as though he could slow it down somehow. “It- it was so cold, and everything was- was moving except me, and I couldn’t think, and if it wasn’t for-”

“It tried to possess you, bro,” Benrey finally speaks up. “Same as what it did to Gordon.” He runs a hand through Gordon’s hair.

Tommy blinks. “W-what?”

“I mean, I guess the… the cat’s out of the bag, or whatever.” Benrey sighs. “Skeletons possess people. Us mostly.”

“You’re- you’re joking?”

Bubby, who’s taken to leaning on one of the walls, shakes his head. “He isn’t.”

“Perhaps this conversation is best saved for when our friend over there wakes up, hm?” Coomer points at Gordon.

It takes Tommy a moment to process it all. ‘When Gordon wakes up.’ His dad pulls him to his chest, and making sure that he avoids his nose, Tommy presses into him with his forehead. He’s searching for a word, something he’s feeling, and then he realizes it’s trusted.

He feels trusted.

☆○☆○☆

“Your nose looks fucked,” Benrey comments from across the kitchen table. Coomer had convinced him to abandon his vigil over Gordon in favor of getting something to eat, but so far all he had done was make a few tonedeaf remarks Tommy’s way.

“Uh-huh,” Tommy responds, more preoccupied with his phone.

Darnold ♡: Wait they don’t know that I know?

Tommy: I’m not sure how to tell them???

Darnold ♡: I mean, it sounds like you’ve done enough “telling” for today Darnold ♡: So maybe don’t?

Tommy: Yeah? Then what? Tommy: They’re gonna be teasing you next time you meet!! :(

Darnold ♡: Well that just makes THEM look stupid, right?

Whatever stupid thing Benrey is about to say next is interrupted by a groan from the next room over. They both meet eyes, before scrambling out of the kitchen.

Tommy: Oh hang on Gordon’s awake!!!!!! :D

Benrey beats Tommy by a longshot, sliding to his knees in front of the couch and pulling Gordon into a hug. This only serves to agitate him.

“Ugh, Benrey!” Gordon complains, and it’s the most emotion Tommy’s heard from Gordon in a week. He almost cries.

Benrey isn’t deterred, only hugs Gordon tighter as he begins to ramble. “I’m so sorry I didn’t notice I should have seen it I’m sorry Gordon I’m so sorry-”

Gordon sits up, Benrey still clutching him like a koala and apologizing. He barely seems to register it, though, instead bringing a hand to his head and wincing. “My head is fucking killing me,” he mumbles.

“We’re all hurting, asshole, get in line,” Bubby snarks. He’s sitting with his legs crossed on the other side of the room.

Coomer, who had previously been sitting next to Bubby, has made his way to the couch. He places a hand on Gordon’s back and smiles at him. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Gordon!”

Tommy can’t help it anymore. With a wide smile he jumps onto the couch next to Gordon, pulling him (and by extension Benrey) into a hug. “Thank- thank goodness you’re okay!” And yup, Tommy can definitely feel himself crying now, but he doesn’t really care! Gordon’s back!

Having gotten a few more of his faculties in order, Gordon starts to realize that things aren’t exactly normal. Like, for example, everyone around him is injured to varying degrees. “What- why do you guys look like shit?” he asks.

Benrey still hasn’t broken out of his longform apology to make any stunning rebuttals, so Tommy just answers him. “I got- I got punched in the face by a Skeleton,” he nods.

“Holy shit, Tommy,” Gordon actually processes his appearance for the first time. “Is that broken? I can-” He worms his hand out from the hug mess, and before Tommy can protest that he really shouldn’t be using his powers right now, the pain in his face is gone in a flash.

Sometimes it pays to be friends with a god with a minor healing domain. Not when he heals you instead of resting like he should be doing, but other, more fun times.

Tommy gasps. “Gordon! No! You should- you shouldn’t be blessing people, right now!”

“I also got punched in the face by a Skeleton!” Bubby points at his bruised cheek. “The Skeleton was just inside Gordon.”

Oh. Well. He just said it, didn’t he?

“The… the what?” Gordon questions, clearly distressed.

“B-Bubby!” Tommy yells at him. “Why did you say that!?”

“What? We’re sharing things today!” Bubby gestures to himself. “I, for one, would want someone to tell me if I punched them like that!”

“The Skeleton was… inside me?” Gordon stammers out. Slowly, Tommy slinks his arms away from him, and he can see Benrey doing the same.

Gman steps in. “What Bubby, is. Saying, is that. You’ve been, possess...ed, by a. Skeleton, for a whole week.”

“What?! No, they- they can do that!?” Gordon shouts. Tommy thinks he’s about two seconds away from having to stop Gordon from pulling his own hair, when…

“They did it to me.”

Tommy hadn’t expected Benrey to speak up again, not since he revealed the fact Skeletons could possess people in the first place. But here he was, staring straight down at the ground, sitting on his hands.

“Um, we… We knew the Skeletons and their cult were bad for a long time,” Benrey continues. “But we didn’t… know. How bad.” He sighs, looking towards Tommy and Gordon. “I think if we told you guys, probably wouldn’t suck as much as it has. You wouldn’t have been hurt, Gordon.”

Gman places a hand on his son’s back as Benrey talks. Bubby has found his way back to Coomer’s side. All of them have grim expressions on their face, listening to a story to which they know the ending.

“So, uh. Two-thousands years ago. I went down to look at them, and they-” Benrey scratches the side of his face. “I don’t remember much after that, but they got me.”

Benrey draws his knees to his chest. “They made me do a lot of things. I didn’t… World got- got fucked. Society two time, second one didn’t like magic so much.”

Things suddenly start making a lot more sense. It’s like a missing puzzle piece gets clicked into place in Tommy’s mind, or a lightswitch gets turned on, or something like that. They haven’t been hiding this out of malice, or messing with the new guys, it was-

Gordon reaches out, grabbing onto one of Benrey’s hands. He cups his husband’s face gently, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Hey, Benrey, look at me,” he whispers. “It’s okay. I’m here, you’re safe.” Benrey launches forward, clinging onto Gordon, and Gordon holds him.

It was fear.

Tommy turns to the others. He has a feeling Benrey is done talking. “But… but why didn’t they do anything this time?” he asks them. “If- if they wanted to destroy things, why wait?”

“Well Tommy, if I had to guess,” Coomer hypothesizes. “We were able to knock Benrey back to normal relatively easily last time, as well as pummel the Skeletons we did find to the ground. Perhaps they wanted to weaken us from the inside before attempt number two?”

Goodness, this is a lot for Tommy to process right now. A societal-wide reckoning caused by the possession of one of his dearest friends? It’s a little much. He leans back on the couch. Damn it, this must be what Darnold felt like earlier.

“Wait a second,” Gordon suddenly pipes up. “Where the fuck is Joshua?”

Tommy pulls out his phone. “He’s with Darnold. He knows what’s been going on, we’ve been texting. It’s fine.”

“Oh, good,” Gordon sighs, but then he changes his tune. “Wait, he KNOWS?!”

#hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #sodashipping #somewhat darnold's a little missing in this chapter #he's fine #god au #my writing #i see la vie en rose #hlvrai gods au

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