Okay hear me out. I read your fic "All In Your Head" and it gave me such a clear and immediate inspiration. Please excuse me rambling into your askbox, but I need you to know.
You know those videos on YouTube where people will train an AI to win a specific video game? I can't stop thinking about Gordon as a sort of AI being trained to play/win Half Life. Gordon being aware that he is playing a game and that the science team are all AI, but unaware that he himself is also a program. It's like "Half Life but the AI are Self Aware, but Gordon is perhaps less self aware than he thinks he is". (And also just because the idea that a deep reinforcement learning AI trained to win Half Life accidentally unknowingly developing self awareness and also immediately developing a complex that hes somehow more alive/real than the other AI in the game is deeply funny and existential lto me.)
I have such a clear scene in my head that I am desperate to write where Benry does the "touch and move the VR headset" thing in this context.
Like, from a perspective where Benry has always known he's different from everyone else -- he's always been able to kind of step outside reality and noclip and mess with his character model and do things that other people shouldn't be able to do. So he's friends with Tommy and other people, but he knows he's alien and "other", he exists in a different kind of reality that everyone else. (Whether Benry's awareness extends only to "I am different because I am an alien" or as far as "I am different because I am a computer program and I am able to manipulate the game files, which even other self aware AI like Dr. Coomer are not able to do" could both be interesting in different ways).
And then one day this new guy shows up and he's so obviously "other" in a similar way that Benry is. When Gordon gets hurt, it's pretty clear he's only pretending to feel pain. (Gordon, aware that he is playing a game, and thinking that the AI realizing he is operating outside the game might freak them out, tries to be convincing and play along.) When Gordon "sleeps" (exits the game), his body either goes lifeless, or maybe disappears completely. Etc. Etc.
Benry clocks this and is kinda thrilled, because now he has found someone who is weird like him. Weird in a different way, but also different. The feeling of finding kin in someone who is similarly outside the bounds of reality. Which makes it particularly irritating to Benry when Gordon treats him exactly like the rest of the AI and refuses to acknowledge that they are on the same playing field.
Maybe this is why Benry conspires to lead Gordon into the soldier's trap where he loses his hand? Sort of a "oh yeah? You think you're better than me? Well eat this." And of course Gordon absolutely acts up "oh no, my hand... guys... this hurts so bad... ough..." (<- the words of a man who is carefully trying (and failing) to convince the science team that everything here is Real and Not A Game because he's afraid of hurting them and giving them existential crisises or breaking their AI or something, and now has no choice but to double down.) Which of course only makes Benry worse.
Then post Dr. Coomer clone fight but pre finale, at some point Dr. Coomer (who is absolutely fully self aware at this point) notices Benry is infatuated/obsessed, and just shakes his head. He conveys to Benry about Gordon something like, "He's not like us. He doesn't exist in the same reality as us. He doesn't feel things the same way we do. He cannot be touched." Which of COURSE only makes it EVEN WORSE.
Like a kid who was just told he wasn't allowed to play with his favorite toy. Like, "What do you MEAN I can't have him? Just because he's stupid and thinks he's better than me." Which leads to an emotionally charged conversation/confrontation between Benry and Gordon. Because Benry knows Gordon likes him back. And Gordon doesn't deny it, but just says it doesn't work like that. (Gordon is at this point still under the impression that he is A Real Dude and Benry (and everyone else) are Just Game AI. And yeah even if he is really... something about Benry, it's got to be like, immoral or something to fall in love with a dude who's just a computer program.)
Which, of course, leads Benry to go "oh yeah?" And Benry has always been weird and different and able to do things other people aren't able to do. And it's easy for Benry to take a chunk of a program and port it somewhere else, for him to just sort of reach out and grab and pull--
From Benry's perspective this looks like nothing has changed. From Grodon's perspective, this looks like Gordon was playing a VR game and then he was IN the VR game. This is the "Benry takes off the VR headset" moment. (I've also rewatched the finale of the Gnome series recently, which is SUCH a big influence for this moment). Like, Gordon is standing in a temperature controlled room playing a VR game and then the headset comes off and huh wow it's hot (desert) and those lights are really bright and Benry is right up close in his face with a sharp smile that is ALL smug, and he can feel-- oh fuck. Sort of a "what did you do to me?!" moment (which are SO TASTY imo).
And then the rest of the fic spirals off from there, and I am insane about this whole concept, and I need to write something about it before it eats me alive.
I hope you have enjoyed my rambling fic outline. There is more in my head about this, and I will write it up into a proper outline soon. Your fic was the catalyst for this, so thank you for the insanity.
(All In Your Head)
I adore this idea, and I think you should absolutely do it. Gordon being an AI without knowing it is such a good take that I don't see often enough. Likening it to the gnome streams is also an excellent plan - moments where someone gets yoinked out of their version of normal and hurled into someone else's version of normal are just so delightful. Cosmic horror for a computer program... I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
