Chell 01 - Video and Text

[testsubject1]

[Oh look. It's a new student. Who came right after graduation. Oops. But she fiddles around with the webcam, curious about the technology. Her face shows a mixture of wonder and apprehension, hidden behind the facade of a cold stare.

She fiddles with the device more and it switches off. She decides to communicate in text.]

Hello. I'm a new student here, though it seems the school year just ended.

Comments

[ACTION because of reasons]

[icequeen_aran]

[Indeed, the school year at Smash has just ended, which means Samus is not obligated to be teaching here anymore. As a result, she's become increasingly absent on campus... but not completely so.

...She kind of sort of procrastinated in cleaning out her desk this year. Yeah, this'll take multiple trips to clean out.

Chell my find in her hallway explorations a blonde woman briskly walking up and down the hallway carrying a large box full of odds and ends; papers, supplies, wires, tools, scrap parts, works-in-progress... gun parts? Things that look like they might as well have been plucked straight out of Apert a science fiction movie.

One such thing slips out of the box and onto the floor in Samus's haste. It's a tiny gray and red cube, no bigger than three or four inches in size with little nub-like parts on the bottom.

Samus doesn't seem to notice it has fallen out.]

[oh boy action]

[testsubject1]

[Chell does see the small cube upon exploring the hallways of the school. She doesn't know what it is, or what its purpose is, but seeing as she has left her Companion Cube in her room, she curiously picks it up.

Force of habit, she supposes, but cubes have always proved useful to her. So she takes it and walks off.]

[icequeen_aran]

[Chell might get two or three steps before the little cube beeps cutely and those little nubs on the bottom START MOVING...]

[testsubject1]

[LOLWHAT. Chell wasn't expecting that. But it's not the worst thing she's seen. It's better than those Frankenturrets Wheatley made. Oh god was it better. Those things were just horribly pathetic and begging to be put out of their misery.

She does jump back, but it seems that the cube isn't going to hurt her. Okay. But she has her eye on it.]

[icequeen_aran]

[It continues to wiggle its little cube nubs, as if it were programmed for nothing more. Maybe there's another little pleasant beep boop. It's quite harmless.

This has, however, gotten the attention of Samus who is now standing in front of Chell. Staring at her.

Are you a thief, Chell?]

[testsubject1]

[Chell notices the blonde woman's stare. In defense, she holds the cube close and glares back.

Wanna fight about it?]

[icequeen_aran]

[Samus seems entirely unmoved at this woman's sudden, stubborn defiance. Not a flinch of fear, not a blink of confusion, not a frown of offense, not a smile of amusement. There is the barest sign of a furrow in her brow, silently assessing her hostility and threat levels.]

...

[A small cube that is the Samus equivalent of a Roomba is certainly not worth her getting into a fight over.]

Keep it. [The blonde nods at it.] They're easy to build, and useful.

[testsubject1]

[Chell raises an eyebrow at the woman. Easy to build? Now she's curious. And she wants to know the usefulness aside from the obvious uses cubes already have. Obviously there's a reason that it transforms into a thing that beeps.

She loosens up a little bit, looking a little less defiant, and cocks her head. Now she's curious.]

[icequeen_aran]

[You put it on a 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button. Duly noted is Chell's slight change in disposition. Samus is in no hurry to make friends, but she's clearly not hostile towards the other woman, and willing to answer her silently asked question.]

It's modeled after a Serenity Drone; a tiny cleaning unit that is capable of simple maintenance duties but not much more. The power switch is on the bottom.

[That red button by all those little wiggling nubs.]

You've never seen one before, have you?

[It's a bit of a baited question, Samus not recognizing this woman and subsequently knowing she's never attended any of her biomech classes before.]

[testsubject1]

[Chell takes note of what the woman said. Cleaning duties. That could be useful for her room. Then Chell's room became a stockpile of cubes the end.

She still holds the cleaning unit cube and slowly shakes her head. No, she hadn't. Why else would she ask?]

[icequeen_aran]

You're new here.

[Said more as a statement than a question. Naturally, inquiring her name would be a good start to introductions, but Samus has dully noted a lack of words coming out of her mouth this entire "conversation". Hm. Perhaps she's like Caim...]

Can you speak?

[testsubject1]

[Chell could speak. Perhaps. It had been years since she had done so. Centuries, perhaps, if that computer voice was accurate when she woke up shortly before meeting Wheatley. She wouldn't be surprised if her voice had lost all function by now. Either way she had no desire to speak. So, she shook her head.]

[icequeen_aran]

[WELLLLL that explains that. Samus is going to rummage around in that big box of goodies she was carrying around. She pulls out a tiny memo pad and after a bit more of searching, a pen.

She presents them to Chell.]

Can you write?

[testsubject1]

[Chell shrugged. Yes, she could write, though she still had little to say. She had gotten through so many years without communicating her thoughts that she never had more than a couple words to communicate through writing.]

[icequeen_aran]

[Well. That's two for two. Samus makes a barely-audible grunt. Non-committal, as if that's that. She's mildly curious about the girl who apparently can't speak or write but can understand speech well enough. Unfortunately there's not much more to work with here in terms of this "conversation", even for someone as observant as Samus.]

You can keep that too. For when you learn how.

[She'll just pick up her box and continue going about her business.]