((found an awesome caroline on charat!))
Chell: *jumps back in shock*
Caroline: *Her body is preserved, for the most part, hanging from wires and modems.*
Chell: *snarls viciously*
Chell: *stands up straight, taking in the current environment*
Chell: *her pulse is racing at the familiar sight*
Caroline: *Old Aperture has never looked finer. A rotting possum is draped in a lobby chair.*
Chell: *whips her head around in search of an exit*
Caroline: *slowly, slowly, the woman's life support brings her out of suspended animation.*
Chell: *stares in wide-eyed shock, ready for a fight*
Chell: *the hair on the back of her neck stands on end and she stiffens*
Chell: *this is definitely GLaDOS...but something is different*
Chell: *"Oh" is a familiar sound even without the computer's static damaging her voice and she lets out a quiet, voiceless hiss*
Caroline: *she has yet to notice Chell, staring at her beautiful company.*
Caroline: *Her GLaDOS shows, and she shakes a bit as she recalls what had happened.*
Chell: *somehow Chell comes to a hypothesis: if this looks and sounds like GLaDOS before GLaDOS, she might not remember Chell... Maybe*
Caroline: *But she soon enough relaxes.*
Chell: *figuring her odds, she took in a deep breath and steps forward, the spring of her boot making a noise as she settled*
Chell: *stands up tall, sizing Caroline up*
Caroline: *blood's trickling from her mouth. The lie support is so very old.*
Chell: *curiosity gets the better of the cat and she lowers her head to get a better look at Caroline*
Chell: *noticing the blood she nearly steps back but avoids appearing weak at all costs*
Caroline: You, there. On my desk, could you get me a light?
Chell: *so it was true... She didn't recognize her*
Chell: *or she was lying*
Chell: *biting her lip, she walked backwards on her short journey to grab Caroline's light, ready to use it as a weapon if need-be*
Caroline: If there's no cigarettes there, there ought to be a bottle of, oh, I forget.
Chell: *meanwhile, her mind worked quickly to try and figure out what happened*
Caroline: Miss, test subject.
Chell: *not able to see a literal "light" on Caroline's desk, she grabs a lamp instead*
Caroline: The cigarette box.
Chell: *initially her eyes flare with a deep contempt at the term, but it fades away quickly; she doesn't know better. Yet.*
Chell: *oh. Chell takes the cigarette box and throws it perhaps /casually/ at Caroline*
Chell: if i do spontaneously vanish it's my computer shutting off and i apologize))
Chell: i'll be back; it shouldn't happen, though))
Caroline: *unable to catch it, it hits her and falls to the floor.*
Caroline: ... Could you fill me in, miss?
Caroline: What happened to MY COMPANY?!
Caroline: *her voice cracks, not truly a shout of anger.*
Chell: *Chell holds back a snicker and her eyes wander to the life supports, then back to Caroline. She really didn't know...*
Caroline: I didn't want this.
Chell: *almost feeling sorry for her in a way strange way, she stepped uncomfortably close to Caroline and looked at her with an expression of "Are you serious?" mixed with "Are you hurt?"*
Caroline: I didn't want this!
Chell: *this was all too much like GLaDOS for her to be comfortable, but it was also so unlike her that it was pitiful; she could see more of POTaTOS' wallowing confusion than anything malicious*
Caroline: I remember another lady, cruel and cold and thanking me only momentarily for giving her sentience before I was sent back to.. to here.
Chell: *she sighed, and resigned to help the woman she knew better than to call stupid*
Caroline: Well, then, damn my soul.
Caroline: Where is Cave, he ought to be here too.
Chell: *she only considers her comment evidence briefly, considering her crazy*
Chell: *shakes her head; that Cave Johnson from the messages wouldn't be in hell*
Chell: *hell wasn't for the dead*
Caroline: If this is hell, where is the man that did this to me?
Chell: *she made a motion of strangulation, not having been exposed to throat-slitting enough for the more recognized symbol*
Chell: *she glared, on edge, seeing cruelty*
Chell: *as long as it was /mutual/ cruelty, it was fine*
Caroline: Is SHE still here?
Chell: *She? Either Caroline could have been referring to GLaDOS or to Chell herself. Ruling out GLaDOS on account that she /was/ GLaDOS, Chell opted for the belief that Caroline had merely forgotten Chell's appearence and mannerisms whilst holding onto the ones of her actions*
Chell: *never one to lie, she nodded*
Chell: *with one glance back at the life support system, she hastily look Caroline's hand and dragged her in the most familiar direction she could locate*
Caroline: Oh, we haven't been introduced.
Caroline: Where are we going, miss...?
Chell: *she sighed; hopefully this wouldn't be her team-up with POTaDOS all over again but backwards*
Chell: *stopping only momentarily, she hastily - almost angrily - gestured to herself, to her head, and to Caroline, then back to dragging her along*
Caroline: I don't understand.
Caroline: I'm sure I'll find you in the files.
Caroline: *as she passes a desk she grabbed a thick stack of them to sort through*
Chell: *shakes her head; GLaDOS deleted her files, she remembers that. Before she didn't think it'd actually come back to be a problem*
Caroline: *the manilla folder kind*
Caroline: If you don't recognize me, I'm Second-In-Command (though now I suppose the first) Caroline, personal assistant to Cave Johnson.
Chell: *she stops, and now with certain anger, slowly gestures to herself. To her head. And to Caroline. Then back to walking*
Caroline: Do you remember me?\
Caroline: Look-- here. Have a pen.
Caroline: *like any good secretary, she pulls one our of thin air. Probably tucked in her hair.*
Chell: *she rips a page from the folder out of Caroline's hands and takes a page out of Rattmann's book, drawing out a carefully chosen scene from her own over-functioning memory, modified for Caroline's understanding:*
Chell: *she and Caroline (replacing GLaDOS) saying goodbye moments after Chell woke up from her "trip" to the moon*
Chell: *she shook her head*
Caroline: Well. I've never seen you before.
Chell: *taking another paper, she drew out Portrait of a Lady as best as she could; her memory of the thing was impeccable, down the last detail, but her depiction skills left much to be desired*
Chell: *though she wasn't one to lie, she was certainly one to obscure the truth to her gain...*
Caroline: *she frowns, and looks pained. She does not continue her sentence.*
Chell: *taking another piece of paper, she only gets halfway through a picture of her saving Caroline from a bird, interrupting herself to cross out Cave's face on the last picture*
Chell: *there. Better. Happy?*
Chell: care to switch to paragraph?))
Caroline: ((I would love to))
Caroline: ((btw i use the
Caroline: headcanon that caroline is not GLaDOS, only giving GLaDOS sentience upon being downloaded.))
Chell: as long as you don't use the caroline is chell's mum headcanon im fine))
Caroline: Caroline took the pen from Chell, and the paper with the Portrait, examining it carefully before stabbing Cave with the writing utensil. "Bastard," she spat, tossing the paper and continuing to file papers. She stumbled, weak without her life support construct.
Chell: Obviously, she didn't like him. That was something they had in common, at least, but it was strange to see the same woman who had been cheering him on about lemons or something hate him. Still, it further re-assured her that she wasn't dealing with GLaDOS...and at this point she wasn't sure what was a good thing.