Dr. Paine's writings.

[Dr. Paine]

 

Black Marrow origins (Also posted in the Dragon Origins thread).

 

A cold mist snaked through the forest, one late September night. The wind howled through the leafless trees, and the sky was covered in a thick, black cover of clouds. Residents of the nearby town checked their livestock and locks, ensuring nothing could get in that evening. The only thing that would dare go out on a night like this were the blood suckers, those Vampire dragons that terrorized the towns when the nights grew long and cold; and indeed, one roamed the paths that night.

 

He was thin and ragged looking, his handsome black and white scales almost entirely hidden under a crust of filth and old blood, stinking of old corpses and stagnant water, his horns were dull and broken; and his fangs dripped saliva and venom as he caught the scent of eggs, dragons, humans, animals... all forms of living thing that could sustain him. But he was weaker than the rumored 'Neglected' dragons, the most he could do was scratch at doors like a stray dog, barely making a mark on the wood.

 

He wandered like this for hours, sometimes ramming his head against windows, sometimes trying to bite or kick through walls, but nothing worked. His gait became staggered and uneven the longer he went on without blood, by this time he was too feeble to even snap at the night birds or rats that prowled the streets.

 

By three in the morning, he had collapsed in front of a door he had tried to break down, nothing more than a bunch of bones and scales, resigned to wait for the dawn and finally die. He could only give a tiny growl and move a little off the stoop when he saw someone open the door. The Vampire wore such a pitiful look, the person thought, that he had to do something to help. With some difficulty, he gathered the dying dragon up, and brought him inside.

 

"Poor thing, ain't'cha?" he said, setting the dragon on a table. "Aye, yeh never askd to be like this, eh? I'm thinkin' I can be o' some help, though..."

 

The Vampire raised his head, eyes slightly unfocused. The most he could manage for a reply was a simple questioning feeling, but that seemed to be enough for the man.

 

"Yep. Magic, now ain't I? I can help. Jest tell me what yeh need," he said, giving a crooked grin.

 

Again, the Vampire couldn't create a true reply, instead, sending another feeling. The warmth of sunlight, the scent of flowers, the love and desire for a mate, for eggs, for family and friends. The joy of a hunt and the rage of a fight, sorrow at loss- everything he knew meant being alive, though most were only stories he had heard in the egg before being changed.

 

"Aye, sire... aye, I should'a known yeh'd want to be 'live again," the mage said, gently stroking the Vampire's head, rubbing away some of the dirt. "I'll see what I can do."

------------------------------

 

A week passed. The Vampire, fed on caught rats and wayward pets, still laid on the table, surrounded now by candles and bones collected from the nearby river. The mage quietly recited the words and mixed the potion needed. It was a modified version of the spell that would sometimes bring a dead dragon back to life, though it usually failed or produced... monsters, monsters he knew all too well. But for a creature that hung between life and death... well, who knew?

 

He spoke the final words and offered the bowl to the Vampire, who greedily drank down the thick black liquid, made from the marrow of putrid bones and various other ingredients. The moment the last drop slid down his throat, the Vampire fell into a seizing fit and then suddenly stilled, barely breathing, unable to move. Terrified that he would rise up as a zombie, the mage dragged the body outside and rolled it to the river's edge, hoping it would wash away on some distant shore before it woke.

 

Time passed, and life went on- other Vampires found the carcass and drank from it, their fangs barely able to penetrate the black crust of dirt and blood on body, and only able to take a little of the thick, black blood that seeped from the wounds. Some scavenging dragons tried nipping at the flesh, but could barely sink their teeth in without being repulsed.

The Vampire was forgotten.

----------------------------------------------

 

The night before Hallow's Eve, the mage made his way down to the river for herbs, but found a horrifying sight instead.

 

Bodies. Hundreds of bodies- dragon, human and animal- were drowned in the water, some so decayed the flesh and skin seemed to melt away. Some seemed fresh, others seemed clean picked, even the bones had been cracked open. Around some of the older bodies, there were... there were eggs.

 

Eggs covered with a thick black crust of dead flesh and dirt, with faint hints of a violet and red shell beneath, unlike any dragon's egg (they had to be dragon eggs, what else would produce eggs so large?) ever seen before.

 

He gathered several up, thinking to steal away with this new discovery and earn a place in history forever. But when he turned to leave, he shrieked at the sight of what had crept up behind him.

 

A dragon with a face like a skull, eyes seeming to glow a dull red, with a bony beak stained red with blood from a recent kill. Its body was covered in dull black scales and bony plates, while its underbelly and wing edges were the color of old blood. It gave a menacing growl, lashing out with a skeletal tail so he dropped the eggs, which were quickly gathered by another dragon that had come up beside it.

 

'I cannot thank you enough,' a soft, hissing voice said in the back of his mind. He was again awash with feelings of being alive, with memories of being abandoned by the river and picked at by scavengers.

 

'Your spell, sir, it worked far beyond me- I think it's run out now, but we will never die out. We are not many, but we are some.'

 

"I... I'm g-glad to hear that, sire," the mage said in a trembling voice, looking the once-Vampire in his dull red eyes. "Truly, and I'm glad there are more like you... now, if you w-would..."

 

'Would give you our eggs? Had you asked, I might have made an exception.' He cocked his head to the side, opening his beak and licking his chops. 'But I'm afraid I am quite protective of my offspring. And I must... remove any threats.'

--

 

It was decided, in the first hours of Halloween, to give up some of the eggs after all. They, as a species, owed their existence to human mages, and it would likely benefit both to learn from one another. They moved the large clutch towards a long-abandoned cave, far from the bloated corpses at the river's edge, increased by one of a human man, so mauled his features were indistinguishable.

--------------------

 

The dragons were later named for their black scales and love of marrow. It has been well documented that their bony plates increase as they age; and it's rumored that if one met the first of these Black Marrow dragons, they would find him looking like nothing but a skeleton, fiercely defending his children and mate.

Edited January 19, 2011 by Dr. Paine

[Vhyxalas]

*reads thread*

 

Thoughts in a nutshell:

 

Applause for the Sue rant I swear, bad characters make me die a little inside. And the horse story.so...much...purple..*ack ack* must...read...something..real..

 

Oh, phew, that Black Marrow piece saved me Neat stuff there, I'd totally love that as their backstory

[Dr. Paine]

*reads thread*

 

Thoughts in a nutshell:

 

Applause for the Sue rant I swear, bad characters make me die a little inside. And the horse story.so...much...purple..*ack ack* must...read...something..real..

 

Oh, phew, that Black Marrow piece saved me Neat stuff there, I'd totally love that as their backstory

Glad you liked! And the Marrow one was fun to write, they just seem like they should be related to Vampires And... well, what happens if you tried using the revive spell on a Vampire, hm?

 

Yay ideas!

[Kukilunestar]

...Holy Crap, this is awesome o-o

[Dr. Paine]

Languages- for god's sake, know what you're doing.

 

Or, 'Tolkien had several degrees in language. You do not.'

 

It seems that a staple of all current high fantasy (or soft sci-fi) works is the made up language.

 

Stop right there.

 

Ask yourself why you even need one in the first place? To make the new culture more foreign? Because that's how things are done? Because it's truly a vital part of the people, and having it strictly English (or whatever your native language is) would take away a vital piece of them? Because you've put the time and effort into making one and figure it shouldn't go to waste?

 

If it's one of the last two, then you're on a good track. But if you do not understand how languages- in writing and speaking- work, then just don't do it. You'll come off looking like you have no idea about what you're doing, and no respect for how languages have evolved over the centuries.

 

Hell, I barely understand the rules, so I doubt other average joes/janes do. You might think you can get by with butchering Norse or whatever, but you can't. You might think a language can be made by throwing together random letters and punctuation marks, and including a glossary in the back. But you can't. It reeks of laziness and following the crowd, which is never a good way for an author to appear. Butchering existing languages, aside from being likely to offend native speakers of said language, is difficult to do without intensive study (and if you study so much to just BS, why not put in some extra effort to make a real one?). Random letters and apostrophes/dashes/slashes don't work either, especially if there is no consistence in it. If you absolutely must, try to go like how the writers of FFX did with the Al Bhed language- a substitution cipher (i.e. replacing one letter with another) that was constructed to be pronounceable and generally look correct.

 

But why do it if it's not really needed? Readers will naturally assume that what is being written was being written in their native language for the ease of reading, rather than having to learn pieces of a whole new language. It saves time, effort, and is just all around easier on everyone involved.

[Dr. Paine]

A short Mass Effect fanfic, exploring the reaction of my character to the probably death of Thane. ... -shrug-

 

He simply stopped breathing in his sleep. No final blaze of glory against the Reapers, he survived the Collector attacks with less than a scratch, not even some old enemy had managed to get that one shot to end it all.

-----

 

She didn't scream when the Maw attacked on Akuze, and she watched her team die.

She didn't scream at the sight of Sovereign.

She didn't scream when she was hurled into space, she didn't scream when faced with the half-formed Reaper, but she screamed loud enough for the galaxy and beyond to hear, when she found Thane Krios had slipped away.

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Adrian Shepard did not mourn through tears, she mourned in blood. Her rage would make a krogan proud, and it seemed no amount of pain she inflicted was enough. When she couldn't fight, she would drink; when she couldn't drink, she would lock herself in the life support room and read.

 

Or weep.

 

Or simply sleep. No one was sure.

 

No one really wanted to find out.

-------------

 

The crew had deemed it wise to leave the Commander be. While she had always had a sharp tongue, it had only ever been turned on others, never those she worked with- even Jack got little more than a few well chosen words, never the threats or insults that so often got Shepard her way.

 

When failure to find some merc group or the latest criminal is met with a reaction reserved for the press, it is best to give some space. When she's got her hand in bandages from breaking her fish tank, it's best to just hole up with one of the biotics and pray she would find someone else to take it out on.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Time passed and the bloodlust ebbed, replaced with solitary hours filled with brandy and memories, or whatever book was at hand. She seemed to be becoming herself again, though she showed far less mercy than before, letting the near-dying linger in pain, but she never again let a criminal off for a few credits.

-----

Why did he die so... so simply?

 

He should have died in a fight against anything, even some two-bit piece of scum on Omega, even that would be less humiliating than his lungs simply giving out, and that way there would be someone to blame.

 

That was all she wanted. All her life, there had always been something to blame for her misfortune- Cerberus, Collectors, Reapers, even her own incompetence and rashness. There had always been something tangible, rather than the chaos of the universe itself.

--------

 

Those lonely hours were sometimes spent in a philosophical state, her sluggish mind turning to the religion she had held as a child and re-discovered in those last few months with him, a final, fleeting attempt to find some meaning in it all. Even if it was just to help her move on, only a hollow belief at best.

 

She wondered, 'do we all meet again'? Was he truly waiting across that sea that splits the living and dead? Sometimes she hoped that, her thoughts spinning to the coming final confrontation that would surely kill her, that part of her wanted it all to end there.

 

But what if there just was nothing, once you died you winked out forever? Throwing her life away would be even more of an insult than the peaceful death, it would be far more fitting to do what he had wanted- to leave the universe even slightly better than she had come into it.

--------------------------------------------------------

 

The final battle came and went, and against all odds, she survived. She came out of it missing half a leg and clinging to life, but she had survived much worse, and recovered before the year was out.

 

There were no more firefights she had once loved, no more of living on a ship. She had never planned for an early retirement, much less a quiet one (though not many would call continuing to work in C-Sec quiet), but she was tired of the travel and lack of a home. A family.

 

She hadn't planned on her daughter either, not at first. But time had a way of changing things, and she dearly loved the girl, and no one dared question why Shepard had adopted a drell child.

 

It was simply one of those things she couldn't explain.

[cudo215]

That Marrow backstory was great. Very neat insight into the species. And you're right, it does pose a great question: what would happen if you tried to revive a vampire dragon. Awesomely clever!

[Dr. Paine]

 

Chell.

 

The dragons of the cave gathered around the bright orange egg, adults keeping the still growing or eternally young hatchlings from trying to chip away the shell themselves. The egg had been there for nearly a week without any movement, and there were murmurs of worry filling the air.

 

The egg was dead, never had any life in it to begin with.

It was the product of unholy experimentation.

It was of some strange new breed, and perhaps it took longer to hatch.

 

That last theory was the most contested, since most insisted that it had to be the egg of a Magi dragon. Even if it was half again the normal size, and had never shown the usual orange glow.

 

The speculation was put to a sudden rest with an almighty crack, half the egg breaking away under the claws of the newborn dragon.

 

It- now clearly identifiable as a Magi- was already standing and looking around with wide blue eyes, not making any of the usual sounds. No squeak of curiosity or cry of hunger, no growls at the unfamiliar faces. Just a silent observation of the strange new world it found itself in.

---------------------------------------------------

 

When the time came to give the hatchling a name, she patiently listened to the ideas the adults- and occasionally, hatchlings- threw, showing more interest in the shards of her old egg than any of them, and continued playing with eggshells even when they had run out of ideas.

 

It was when a Mint hatchling finally gathered the nerve to speak that the Magi finally showed some interest.

 

'Why don't we call her Michelle?'

---

 

It seemed well enough, though in the end, the Magi made it clear she preferred a shorter version- 'Michelle', in the end, simply became 'Chell'.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

Years passed and Chell grew until only the local Stone dragons had her beat in size and strength. She still never made a sound aside from the occasional growl of frustration when she missed out on prey, and always looking for a challenge. While she was still a hatchling, Chell often started (and finished) the usual little games (tugging on vines or old clothes, wrestling and play fighting, seeing who could annoy the grumpy old Pink dragons the most), progressing to any race or show of strength she could get into as she grew older.

 

Oddly enough, the only thing the Magi lacked was... well, magic. Save for the rare times she was too tired to chase after her prey, Chell seemed to withhold whatever magical ability she had, and any questions of why were met with stony silence and a cold glare.

-------------------------

 

(AWESHOME SLIGHT PERSPECTIVE CHANGE. I.e. This is now third person limited from Chell's p.o.v., so we get more of an idea on her thoughts. Just wanted to clear it up in case anyone noticed the change.)

-------

 

'I am... seeking shelter.'

 

The Stripe dragon spoke with an odd accent, every word sounding strained and forced, almost like she was pleading for her very life.

 

That was probably why the rest of the cave let her in.

 

Oh, in the back of her mind Chell agreed well enough with the others that the Stripe was just a bag of bones, harmless and weak, just in need of some shelter and food, but that didn't mean she had to trust the stranger. It was just... something. Something about that pleading voice and those large eyes that were too lively for a starving dragon, even the way she moved just felt wrong.

 

(And yet more to be continued... ... I should probably add Gladdy's picture up for this, too.)

Edited January 19, 2011 by Dr. Paine

[DragonNighthowler]

The marrow story was amazing, Paine. I really enjoyed it.

 

Pity I missed the drop this past Halloween (it is not a festivity we celebrate), because these dragons are awesome, and you've just given them more points of awesomeness.

[Dr. Paine]

The marrow story was amazing, Paine. I really enjoyed it.

 

Pity I missed the drop this past Halloween (it is not a festivity we celebrate), because these dragons are awesome, and you've just given them more points of awesomeness.

Glad you liked it And yeah, sorry you missed out D: I nearly did, too, thankfully I'd worked it out for someone to trade with me before I was entirely out of luck...

 

I had to be first on their origins, it was way too good to pass up

[cudo215]

I'll be honest, the (Art by cudo215) thing makes it look disorganized. Don't worry about crediting me more than my signature already does.

 

The story is great so far and very well-written. I can't wait to see where this story ends up. ^^

[DragonNighthowler]

Read the wolf speak thing in Deviant. I have to say that Brujo IS a real word. It means Warlock in spanish.

 

Now I'm curious; What's the application of Brujo in wolves? I hope it doesn't mean "male wolf" or something like that, because that's just stupid.

[Dr. Paine]

Read the wolf speak thing in Deviant. I have to say that Brujo IS a real word. It means Warlock in spanish.

 

Now I'm curious; What's the application of Brujo in wolves? I hope it doesn't mean "male wolf" or something like that, because that's just stupid.

Brujo is indeed used for male wolves.

 

There's a wall to the left, feel free to use it.

[DragonNighthowler]

Brujo is indeed used for male wolves.

 

There's a wall to the left, feel free to use it.

O_O *headdesks*

[Dr. Paine]

O_O *headdesks*

Yeah.

 

-sighs-

 

Anyway, for those interested... Chell's story is pretty much planned out now, I just can't write it all out yet. Once she is done... well, which dragon would you all like to see?

 

Feel free to pick from any that have an image listing, and if you check my scroll, you can find a description of said dragon to give you an idea of what their story might have.

[athdaraxen]

I finally got to reading your stories and each of them are lovely. I can't wait to hear more about Chell and the Black Marrow Origin was lovely.

 

You are truly a wonderful writer Dr. Paine!

[Dr. Paine]

The Surprise.

 

A Portal 2 oneshot, after the ending. SPOILERS. ... may also be disturbing, but hey, like Portal 2, it doesn't contain blood. Or words that require censorkipz. (For the record, unless there are some horribly unforgivable grammar/characterization flaws, I'm not looking for critique x3 I just said I'd write this, and I did.)

 

The room was pitch black. Chell tensed, ready to run, she still didn't feel completely safe in here. Even if GLaDOS had let her back in, she could have just changed her mind about what the easy way was. And this time, she had nothing.

 

No gels. No cube- she had abandoned it on the surface. No device. No alternate core, nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing. For the first time since it had all began, she was completely defenseless, it was enough to distract her from trying to figure out what the weird smell in the room was. It didn't smell like neurotoxin, and that was enough to make it worth ignoring.

 

"Deploying surprise in 3... 2... 1"

 

For a moment, there was nothing but the silence and dark, she was almost tempted to break her centuries long silence and yell at GLaDOS, but she stopped when she saw a single red light appear. Another followed, then two more, four turrets staring at her.

 

As in the elevator, they did not shoot her. One began to play a few warm up notes, the others taking a few moments to join in, playing a familiar, but long-forgotten tune, where had she heard it before?

 

Chamber 16, that was it, wasn't it? She had even seen those four, 'singing' something, but it was a completely different tune... no, it was GLaDOS that hummed the tune...

 

And she hummed it now, along with the turrets.

 

A few dim lights came on, illuminating things just enough for Chell to get a sense of the room she was in. A little electronic chirp made her look to the side, where a pair of robots (the same two she had seen when she woke up after the lunar incident, weren't they?) waving at her, the taller of the two holding a bunch of blue and orange balloons in its hand.

 

Four turrets in front of her, singing.

 

And GLaDOS. When the song (tune? there were no actual words) finished, she looked up at Chell. She even had the courtesy to dim her light so she wasn't blinded.

 

"Do you like it?"

 

Chell stood there, staring in disbelief, this was even stranger than the little opera she had gotten when she was kicked out. A turret singing an aria was one thing. GLaDOS asking, in a completely genuine voice, if she liked something was... well, that was just inconcievable, but it was happening.

 

"Speechless, aren't you? Well, that's to be expected," GLaDOS continued, keeping up an extremely pleasant tone. "I'll bet you forgot, didn't you? When I told you I had a birthday gift for you? I know how hard it is to pay attention when you're planning to murder someone, believe me. But the important thing is, I remembered."

 

Birthday surprise, birthday surprise, what was she talking about? Chell closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember, and eventually it hit her. She couldn't remember which chamber, but GLaDOS had said something about maintaining a constant testing cycle, adrenaline in the air,  and how the previous day had been her birthday.

 

She'd written that off-

 

"... and I'll bet you thought I was lying, too, didn't you?" GLaDOS said, it was evident she had been talking the entire time Chell was thinking. "Well, I've lied about a lot of things. But I wasn't making that up, it really was your birthday. So, here's your present."

 

A two pronged arm slowly descended, holding a lit candle. Between the flickering firelight and GLaDOS... eye, Chell could finally get a good look at what was in front of her. The four now-silent turrets sat before a large table of some sort. In the middle of the table, there was a cake. That was the smell, wasn't it? Warm chocolate and cream and all the wonderful sweet things she hadn't had in centuries. Even if one didn't count the time she spent in stasis, it had been years since she'd had something that wasn't dehydrated or pre-packaged in some way.

 

"You did solve the tests, too," GLaDOS said in that kindly voice, as the arm reached for a large knife. "In fact, you're the first- and only- to have ever done so. You must be so proud of yourself."

 

She cut a slice of cake and set it on a plate, offering it to Chell.

 

"Come to think of it, you've done more than anyone else in this facility ever has. You knew how to use the Device. You solved the tests without getting killed. You even managed to make me admit defeat."

 

Chell couldn't place why, but she knew she shouldn't take the cake, no matter how hungry she was...

 

"So. Good job on that. And you might like to know that, at this rate, you'll be the only person to have ever shown competence with the Device."

 

"Wh..." Chell bit down hard on her lip, forcing herself to remain silent. She was just trying to get a reaction out of her. That's all GLaDOS ever tried to do with her any more. Chell simply stared up at the machine above, crossing her arms, prepared to wait however long it took.

 

 

It took less time than expected, it couldn't have been more than a few minutes before she went on speaking.

 

"Thanks to these two-" GLaDOS paused, looking up at the two robots. The shorter one waved, the taller one seemed to be more interested in batting at the balloons, and Chell could have sworn she heard a low groan of disgust. "The human race will survive a little longer. Aperture was very prepared for the end of the world, after all. Even if it meant including enough humans to repopulate the Earth, should the rest of them all die out. Recovering them was difficult, but they did plan for 'hostile artificial intelligence takeover'. " GLaDOS gave a sinister chuckle at the memory, facing Chell once again.

 

It didn't even take an effort for Chell to remain silent this time, what could possibly be said? She had known most of the apocalypse plans, but a vault of humans, that had never come up.

 

"Lucky I worked a way around that. But at the rate they're going... well, there won't be quite enough left. I'm already down by half. "

 

It wasn't the fact that there were people stored somewhere in the bowls of the facility. It was the fact that there had been nothing out there. No wonder GLaDOS had let her go.

 

"I suppose I could make more, though, the cloning mechanics are still functional. They just won't live long. Or have souls," she mused.

 

"All the test subjects I'll ever need.

 

"Now. That just leaves us with you, doesn't it?" GLaDOS continued, still as cheery and pleasant as she pleased. "If I have more subjects, who do not, and will not, have a history of killing me... what should I do with you? That's more a question for you, really, I know what I'm going to do."

 

A metal arm clamped around Chell, pinning her arms to her side. The lights grew brighter, allowing Chell to fully see the room for the first time. The cake sat on a metal table, surrounded on either side by several gleaming surgical tools. She struggled against the metal bars, trying to look behind her, but anything there was too far back, the most she could see was a metal corner of something.

 

"You know, the cake was completely fine. No poison, no sedatives... I just thought you'd like a treat before your gift. But that's just like you, isn't it? Even when someone tries to do something nice for you, you don't even pretend to care."

 

GLaDOS' tone had lost its kindness, returning to the cold venom she had held when Chell first woke her again.

 

 

"You couldn't just leave, could you? No, that would have been the easy way out. You had to come back and make things difficult. Again."

 

She pulled Chell close, raising her off the floor and staring at the girl that still struggled against her bonds.

 

"But I'm happy for it, really, I am. I've thought about it, and you should stay here. So I'll make sure you can stay here. Forever."

 

Chell slowly grew still, and GLaDOS held her for a few moments longer. The murderer, the wonderful subject was finally terrified. Oh, she tried to hide it, but GLaDOS could feel her heart racing and quick, shallow breaths, how she had waited for this reaction.

 

"Did you ever stop to think that eventually, there's a point where your name gets mentioned for the very last time? Well, here it is."

 

Chell felt a needle pierce her neck, but she forced her expression to stay as calm as possible. She might die, but she would still win. GLaDOS had pushed and prodded and thrown everything she could, but Chell had never spoken. She had never broken, and she refused to crack now, even as she heard the last words she'd ever hear.

 

"Happy birthday. Chell."

------------------------------------

 

But there was a scream, oh there was a scream. The subject dropped his Device, staring up at the white walls in confusion, the voice had never made a sound like that before. The scream continued and mingled with it was a cruel laugh, the laugh of someone who had won a long, terrible fight.

---

 

GLaDOS had never been happier with her work, she had been afraid she'd get the procedure wrong. But then again, she was the most massive collection of knowledge on the planet, so how could she mess up? It helped that they had saved recordings from the first time, poor Caroline had shrieked just as much.

 

But her screams had stopped. And in time, so would these.

 

A few lines at the end there are borrowed from some unused GLaDOS quotes. Made some changes to things, mainly to preserve Chell's silence.

Edited May 25, 2011 by Dr. Paine

[Switch]

Oh wow oh wow. That was great.

Creeped me out a bit, too.

 

I could picture that actually happening after the end of the game...

[satyr76]

Paine, you're really good. I especially love the Marrow backstory.

[Dr. Paine]

Paine, you're really good. I especially love the Marrow backstory.

Thanks, both Satyr and Switch :>

 

I'm also considering working on a prequel/sequel(s) to the Portal ficlet, it feels like the kind of thing that needs... more

[evilbunny405]

I...I'm actually struggling to word this post. This is a complement. I have no adequate means to properly translate my thoughts into words.

 

More. Please. O.O

[Dr. Paine]

-sighs- I PM'd Socky to see if she can fix the poll, so don't vote until that's done x3

 

I really would like people's opinions on this

 

ETA: Thanks, Sock Also, I made a couple rather large edits to the story- as fun as it was to have Chell speak for a moment, it still felt like it broke character. I also added a couple more hints to a backstory.

 

It also appears this is is one of the longer things I've written, a little over 1600 words

Edited May 25, 2011 by Dr. Paine

[Dr. Paine]

Working on a prequel to Surprise... but in the meantime, have a piece inspired by the release of part of the Portal 2 soundtrack. Specifically, track 7.

 

It's the sound those half forgotten dreams, those brown walls and amber light cut by fans, the sticky humidity that crushes your lungs. It's the sound between sleep and madness, that time when you see yourself in the amber light of the sun streaming through pink curtains, when you creep down familiar hallways to find strange doors in closets you knew so well.

 

Most of all, it's the sound of dread. Not simply fear, not the sudden terror that makes your blood run cold and your heart race, no. It's the sound of dread that gnaws like a rat at your mind, the dread of those strange doors and pink curtains, the creeping sense of loss and the unfamiliar. The dread of days where yesterday there was a window, today there is a glass door to a balcony that isn't there. The dread of the creeping things and sunny days, of when sleep is impossible until you wake up in the corner of your room, where the sunlight streams through pink curtains onto brown walls.

 

 

Does it make sense? Not at all But I like to think it helps catch the mood of the track.

[67596]

If I had known about this earlier...

[Dr. Paine]

If I had known about this earlier...

I'm going to take that as some kind of compliment?