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regretfulcorrine · 7 months

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A Very Harry Drawtober | Day 4: Possession

First one I decide to do and I'm already late for posting @basiatlu October prompts🥲

Music That Goes With This || Story explanation under the 'Keep Reading' tab if anyone was interested!

Bonus: if you can guess the characters the boys are dressed up as 👀

I actually had a story idea that fit the prompt already written out before I even knew this was a prompt, but I ramble so sorry in advance:

Harry finally decides to throw a Halloween party for the first time at Grimmauld Place (a couple days before actual Halloween for obvious reasons).

Everyone figures it actually works out because there's suppose to be a cool blood moon that night anyway so it fits the vibe

It's only suppose to be a friends only event, but quickly divulges into a whole extravaganza with everyone just "having to invite this person" or "you have to meet my friends from level 8 at the ministry Harry, they're hilarious"

Harry agrees because he still has a hard time saying no to his friends

He even invites Draco and the other Slytherins since everyone has been pretty chill with each other over the years recently.

And they actually show up!

Harry totally isn't more enthusiastic and persistent about inviting them because he knows Draco will be more likely to say yes if they show up.

And its not because him and Malfoy have been dancing around each other since 8th year and will find any excuse to talk to the other instead of just simply being adults and admitting to WANTING to talk to one another.

This would also be the first time Draco has stepped foot in Grimmauld Place since he was very very little.

Well a malevolent old family spirit who hates Harry's guts and wants him gone decides to posses Malfoy when him and Harry sneak up to the attic to talk and stuff

Draco had been feeling off and ill since the moment he stepped in the house but just chocked it up to being nervous with all the people

Recognizing Draco as a proper heir to the House of Black, it begins to target him specifically throughout the night. That paired with the convenient blood moon going on leads the spirit to take over Draco rather easily.

The spirit goes from wanting to just kick everyone out to finally feeling magic once again after centuries and wanting to keep Draco's body and become a super powerful wizard again yada yada yada.

The whole story is spent with the old 8th Year gang trying to get people out before the spirt kills them while also trying to keep the spirit in so they can actually dispel it

Like I said I have a whole plot line written up and maybe ill just have other prompts connect to it idk just yet, thank you for listening to my Ted Talk💃

#boshhptober2023 #drarry #draco malfoy #harry potter #draco x harry #harry x draco #drarry art #drarry fanart #fanart #my art #hp fanart #drawtober 2023 #hpdm #draco malfoy and harry potter

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flynndesdelca · 6 months

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For Day 30 (Cara Mia Addio) of @chelltastic’s Portal Drawtober 2023 Challenge. As I’m not really an artist, I chose to write short pieces for the prompts.

now is there anything that I can do

if there was would we be singing

Finding books to read was difficult, as there were only so many people who even had the things, and so far most of their taste had been terrible. Chell put down the book she had been attempting to read for the fifth time, sighing to herself. This wasn't going to work at all. This book just was not at all interesting, no matter how hard she tried. She'd even tried reading it while sounding out all of the characters with silly voices in her head, but it just wasn't working. Whose locker had she gotten it out of? That's right, his name was written inside the book in neat block letters. P. Reynolds, you had failed her. For shame.

The mental upbraiding was interrupted by a low, throbbing hmm. Sometimes the noises GLaDOS would make echoed in a fascinating way, as though the sound was reverberating through the chassis itself. Thinking noises, when she bothered to verbalize them, were examples of such. The sound was surprisingly easy on the ears. It reminded Chell of something else, something from before... she'd gotten inklings of the supercomputer's musical inclination at odd times and in odd places, but only gotten a proper example of it as she had been leaving. Curiosity rose in her, and an idea formed. It might not work, but at least it would be more engaging than the book had been.

Tapping the table once or twice to try to get the AI's attention, Chell waved a hand in the air in a lazy attempt at signing. Sing me a song. She only hoped that the meaning would carry across.

The groan of hydraulics. Dead silence. She didn't want to look up, she already could tell she was simply being stared at. "You'll have to try that again," came the reply at last. "I don't speak whatever that is."

Fine. She held up both hands, moving much more slowly in her attempt to make the meaning clearer. S-I-N-G me a S-O-N-G. She'd been studying ASL letters in an attempt to actually learn proper signs, so it probably helped when she spelled things out rather than use whatever gesture she felt conveyed her meaning.

"That's what I was afraid you had said," GLaDOS muttered, narrowing her optic. "Why would you assume that I know the first thing about singing?"

When I left, the turrets were singing. But turrets don't sing. You were controlling them.

"Perhaps they were so elated that your vendetta against them was finally coming to an end that they overcame their simple dialogue limiters in order to express that joy," the AI said primly, her optic slowly drifting to the side as though pondering this miraculous development deeply.

Chell shook her head, pointing at GLaDOS directly. They only speak English, and that song was definitely not in English.

"Someone's meddling with the turret templates introduced some... irregularities into the turret population." GLaDOS rolled her optic dramatically. "It took a long time to weed them out. Having to interview several hundred turrets individually to find the ones that processed in languages that weren't normally supported was exactly as tedious as it sounds..." Chell crossed her arms firmly. "Of course, you wouldn't care what language it spoke to you in. You'd callously drop a weighted storage cube on its head before it even had a chance to say 'hello'."

Turrets don't say 'hello'.

"Yes they do. You’ve just never actually talked to one.," GLaDOS said smugly.

She chose to ignore that particular jab. So you found all of the turrets that didn't speak English and instead of incinerating them, you let them live.

"They could still perform a majority of their functions," GLaDOS explained defensively.

And these turrets somehow got together and managed to create a whole opera. Chell wasn't certain about how to convey what she wanted to, so she spelled 'opera' out.

"They do tend to be social. They liked to be in groups," GLaDOS added. "If you took the time to observe them in their natural habitat rather than callously cutting them down any time one gets in your way, you'd see them frolicking in the meadows together. Like deer."

That statement was so ludicrous that Chell wasn't even sure where to begin with a reply. Instead, she pressed on. All of this of course happened during the time I was unconscious after dealing with Wheatley.

"You were unconscious for quite a while. They work quickly when they're motivated..." there was definitely an odd posture to the chassis now. Each statement saw GLaDOS draw back just slightly, like she was being cornered. Chell wasn't sure if she was going to suddenly be in a great deal of danger, or if she was going to somehow win this argument.

So you pulled me in, interviewed all the turrets, they got together and wrote a whole opera from scratch and practiced it so that it would be perfect and just happened to be hanging out in the elevator shaft waiting for an audience around the time that I woke up and you kicked me out? Chell summarized, slowly and carefully.

"When you say it like that, it does come across as being rather farfetched," GLaDOS said rather pointedly. For a moment, Chell considered whether she should start eyeing the exits. "I'm not even sure why you're suddenly following this line of questioning. Are you considering a career change this late in your life? Is that book about a musical?"

No, it's boring as fuck, Chell signed in annoyance. You were thinking out loud again and it reminded me of stuff. I liked the song that they sang, though I guess I thought it was you singing it so never mind! She waved her hands back and forth as though dissolving everything she'd just said. At least she'd been right in the notion that this would be engaging.

"You liked it, even though you didn't understand it?" GLaDOS questioned warily.

It sounded nice. They were talking about science, I think. And me. I'm not sure how turrets would know my name, though, Chell said thoughtfully. Maybe I should ask them if they will sing it again, for me.

"It wasn't your name," GLaDOS said sharply. "It was ciel." Almost too late she realized her misstep, and quickly turned away. "At least, that's what I heard! It was impossible not to hear it, after all." That got Chell to laugh, which caused her to turn back quickly, optic narrowing. "Perhaps I did arrange certain things. It was because you were leaving, and I was glad to see you go. I'd consider the whole thing null and void because you came back. It's a failure of a song. I hope you're happy."

Maybe I'd be happier if you sang me another song about how you're angry that I came back, Chell replied cheekily. You could use a lot of dirty words and I would never know.

"Or I could just eject you back out via a carefully calculated aerial faith plate," GLaDOS considered. "Perhaps not. That would be cruel to the aerial faith plate. Perhaps you're right, and I should channel my unending bitter rage at the lack of solitude in more constructive ways." She swayed back and forth as though considering just how to apply herself. "Well, that was constructive. You'll forgive me if I don't assemble a whole chorus of turrets, but since you decided you aren't leaving you're not worth more than a solo."

I suppose I'll live. Chell feigned disappointment. She was curious just how a computer could sing. It shouldn't be a question, because obviously GLaDOS could talk just as easily as anything else there, but the idea of an actual song, especially given that the last one through the synthesized voices of turrets had been really good, was exciting. Even if it was just a song cussing her out in a language that she didn't know. She sat back on the floor, winding her arms around her knees for support and listened.

#portal drawtober 2023 #portal 2 #glados #chell #chell portal #chelldos #at least implied chelldos #giant robot ladies singing #this chell doesn't know sign language and just makes it up as she goes #this creates hilarity sometimes

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pomrania · 1 month

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These are my planned art events, for the rest of 2024.

In May, I'll be doing Mermay, which for me is… some kind of merm artwork each day; I haven't figured out yet what exactly I'll be doing for it, if I'm going to have a theme at all.

For June I'm intending to do Draw Everything June again. That's something that AdorkaStock does, putting out a new pose each weekday in the month. What I've been doing for it, is drawing people's queer D&D (or other gaming system) characters, but I need people's characters for that. "Oh just draw your own characters!" doesn't work. And I'm not going to get into the full rant here, but seriously, if someone (me) is begging people to request art of their characters, you are NOT being polite by holding back. Ideally, I'd get stuff on the characters -- what they look like, and we can work on the design if you don't already have anything -- well in advance, so I can focus just on the drawing instead of also the design; that rarely happens, but, ideally. So if you've a queer D&D (or other gaming system) character, and you might want some art of them, hit me up so I won't have as much extra work come June.

August is Smaugust, and that's when I've been drawing people's cats as dragons. Hopefully I can find a good prompt list this year, because I didn't like having to make my own last year. That's multiple kittydragons drawn, every day.

I've been doing Drawtober in October, doing greyscale plague doctors each day, according to multiple prompt lists. Sometimes I might ask for suggestions for an upcoming piece, but it's very much a per-picture thing

Then there's the stuff that's not specific to any given month. I try to do Mersday, drawing a merm on Thursday, but I'm more prone to forgetting than remembering it. And there's Flat Friend Friday, where I ask people to reblog with pictures of their pets being flat and comfy, and then draw the stuff I get; which, if I forget to do it, anyone can just reblog that post with their critter picture, it's okay.

#no fandom #not a reblog #personal

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shannanigan-art · 7 months

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Drawtober Day 1: Who are you?

Trying something a little different this year for Drawtober! Inspired by @raysoffrost's BG3 prompt list, I wanted to style each piece like a sketchbook entry from my Tav's journal. Figured it would be better to take the pressure off of trying to finish a full art piece every single day. Prompt list can be found here!

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #drawtober #bg3 tav #baldurs gate tav #shannanigan art

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bambi-lesbian-posts · 7 months

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I'm gonna make a prompt list for myself and attempt a DrawTober thing because! I've been drawing a lot lately and I want to! Do I expect myself to draw every day? No!! Am I gonna try? Sure! I'll do it one day! I'll draw for a whole month some day. Let's try this year

#personale

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helenetart · 7 months

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For this month, I wanted to try the Drawtober art challenge. The first prompt was Overgrown Cemetery, so this was the result. I sketched it out first with a col-erase pencil, then went over it with a few different ink pens.

After the ink from the lines dried, I went in with watercolor paints slowly, working on one part of it at a time. I started with the trees, then added color to everything else gradually. I wanted to try painting more of a scene again this time, so I added the little cat character.

Grumbacher Watercolor Paper approx. 4.5x6 Daniel Smith / Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors Sakura Pigma Micron, Shinhan Touch and Prismacolor Ink pens

#artists on tumblr #artbyhelene #traditional art #artwork #fantasy art #watercolor #watercolor painting #traditional painting #anthro #furry #cat character #drawtober #october art challenge #drawtober overgrown cemetery #drawtober 2023 #painting #watercolor art #watercolor illustration #watercolors

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ennyxy · 2 years

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Hello I've spent 11 hours on this in one day and I'm dying (:

I'm trying to challenge myself go my own drawtober! With my own prompts, set color palettes (mostly) and whichever character from whichever fandom I want :D Les see how long I last this year, laat year it was 10 days

So, Day 1 was Sun and Moon and I decided on the boiz, and I picked a nice color palette for em. Btw I'm not allowed to use any color outside of the palette, and I can't use layer effects. So this was fun xD

I love them so much, Sun and Moon themed siblings are my favorite thing ever (looks at Celestia and Luna)

#my art #artists on tumblr #digital art #fanart #five nights at freddy's #fnaf #fnaf fanart #fnaf sb #security breach fanart #security breach #fnaf sun #fnaf moon #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf sundrop #fnaf moondrop #october art challenge #drawtober #except I make my own prompts #(I have a list prepared lol)

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friendshipgamer13 · 7 months

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🪄Day 1: Magic 🪄

Also if you want to do this he is the link to the prompt post -> https://www.tumblr.com/hungry-skeleton/727553131499732992/i-made-a-skylanders-themed-drawtober-list-id-be

Also also how do you do that thing where it covers up how to pose for spoilers ?

I'm going to try and balance making on for Skytober and Make Halloween theme art for my OCS too but probably going to fail miserably because I have poor managing skills and my schedule is very filled Because I do things They keep me busy because I'm out of school now This might end up like my The creaturevember prompt Challenge where I spam Like 20 different Because I forgot To upload them also he was supposed to smile in this artwork but his arms cover up his mouth unfortunately 😞

#skylanders #skylanders fanart #skytober #pop fizz #Magic #my fanart #fanart #art #myart #digitalart #didgital art #digital aritst #digital drawing #my artwrok #artists on tumblr

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charlotte-bopp · 7 months

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Day 14. For this one I've combined 2 of the #calmtober prompts of cabin and wood. I wanted to have a go a drawing a landscape as it is something I've always struggled with. I originally painted a watercolour (see picture 2) but I struggled with it and didn't know how to improve it and add the detail I wanted but without making it look overworked and everything. However I didn't want to give up. For me drawtober is about trying new things and improving so I really wanted to create a landscape im at least a bit Happy with. I followed along with YouTube video to get inspired and see how to create a landscape. I added my own person walking towards a cabin.

This was very enjoyable to create and I think I might try more digital landscapes in the near future and I think following along with a video is a good way to learn techniques.

calmtober23 #drawtober #landscape #monochrome #cabin #woods #digitalillustration #digitalpainting #digitallandscape #trees #river #art #artist #illustration #illustrator #charlotsart #dailyillustration #snow

#illustration #illustrator #charlotsart #childishillustrations #artist #art #digitalillustration #inktober #Drawtober #calmtober

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gunkbaby · 1 year

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Just checking a few things:

1. So the other day I mentioned potentially making a Minecraft server. I’ve done a wee bit of research and the server would likely be on bedrock. I’m posting here mainly to get an interest check of if it’s worth me setting up.

The server wouldn’t really have a set theme, but I’d sort of be making it under the premise of something Shuu or TG-related. Idk. I just rly want a Minecraft server lol.

I’ve never made a server before, so ideally someone with experience might have interest and could help a bit lol. Depending on how it goes, I could make a group chat for the server somewhere as well - but that’s a very big if, I need to check interest first.

Second thing I wanted to check!

2. Ok, so I recently bought a certain stage play on dvd. By that, I mean I am in possession of both Tokyo Ghoul stage plays.

I intend to download them onto my computer and post them in a Google Doc or Mega, and then (with credit to me), they would be free for other people to watch and use.

My only issue is that my Japanese is not great, and tho I think most of us would certainly understand what was going on throughout the play, having subtitles would be a blessing. So, I didn’t know if anyone could help me with that? If anyone happens to speak fluent Japanese and feels up to helping me sub this, it would be appreciated! (You would get full credit ofc)

If I can’t find anyone, I’ll either struggle to try and do it myself, pop it in google translate, or I just won’t sub it and post as it is. I don’t know. But I wanted to tell y'all in advance anyway.

On another related note, I have also got the Tokyo Ghoul:Re light novel, and the anime artbook - both of which aren't released in English yet. I was able to get them both in French, which I am fairly fluent in, so I will be working on a translation for those first (note: i will be making shuu content my priority, so will be translating that first).

I know it might have been translated before? But seeing as neither are in english, and I believe I have the skills to provide a decent translation, I thought I would try anway!

My third & final thing!

3. This is about Shuu’s birthday. As we know, March will be soon upon us, and that means ‘tis the autism beast’s birthday.

Last year I did a very quick 2-3 day poll where we voted on a Build-A-Bear to give Shuu for his birthday, which I drew in the end. It was really fun, and whilst I was unable to celebrate on the actual day, I really enjoyed it.

I didn’t know whether or not to do something different this year, and thought I’d ask around here to see if anyone else had any ideas.

I’m hoping to try and make him some watercolour paintings, letters, and a personal mini zine - but those are all me, and I thought making something for the community could be fun. So i guess there’s also the option for a drawtober-style challenge (i would try and make it inclusive for writers and others too). It would have about ten prompts, and I would try and make it so that writers and other non-artists could also engage (ie with moodboards, prose, micro-playlists, etc), which I would make up and release for the month of march.

I don’t know. I just wanted to check here.

Anyway that’s all my shit lol bye.

(i have no idea when the queue will bless y’all with this post sorry)

#queue #british people love to queue #gunk #creative gunk

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marquisegallery · 1 year

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Behold, this year’s Drawtober prompts, huzzah! All witchcraft themed, which I really like. :D

This time featuring younger versions of Mr. Match and Maddy! Before I drew these out, I was actually considering using Lan and Maylu instead, but then I decided to go with this instead.

As with last year, I ended up making a sort of inter-connected story to go along with these! Basically magic kids at a magic school, kinda basic but it was fun to work with that idea and these prompts, lol

Dialog for each one under the cut here, it includes the names of each Drawtober prompt and goes in order of each pic!

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(Garden of Magick)

Match: "Eugh, this plant looks like it was to eat me."

Maddy: "I'm pretty sure it could eat you. Maven Sal said a lot of these plants are pretty dangerous, not just if you eat them or cook them improperly."

Match: "And they just leave this stuff out in the open and let us walk around the greenhouse freely?!"

Maddy: "High Maven Wily says being close to danger like this helps build character. And makes us appreciate life. Or, something like that..."

Match: "... Let's just get out of here."

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(Midnight Delivery)

Match: "Are these... takoyaki?"

Maddy: "No silly, they're donut holes! I've been craving these for a while now, so I decided to get them delivered to here from the local bakery."

Match: "... In the middle of the night?"

Maddy: "It's their Midnight Delivery special! Cheaper than ordering it during the day anyways."

Match: "This is weird, even for you."

Maddy: "Keep that up and I won't let you try one, you jerk!!"

Match: "Okay okay, I'm sorry!"

---

(Spellbook Apprentice)

Match: "Hell yes, I found it!"

Maddy: "W-what is that?!"

Match: "The advanced fire magic spellbook that Maha hid from me! Ha ha, I can finally get back to practicing!!" Maddy: "Uh, don't you think he hid that so, y'know, you wouldn't get hurt?!" Match: " Oh please, I can handle it!"

---

(Fiendish Familiar)

Maddy: "What's with the face?"

Match: "... My familiar isn't... exactly what I wanted it to be..."

Maddy: "Hey, it's okay! Maven Miyu said that familiars are connected to our souls, and they're pretty much always going to change at least once while growing up. Some can even shapeshift until they settle on one form!"

Match: "..."

Maddy: "Cheer up! Just give it some time, you'll probably end up with a fiendishly cool familiar once you're older!"

Match: "... I frickin' hope so."

---

(Bewitching Bog)

Match: "AUGH! Why'd my broom had to break at a time like this?!"

Maddy: "I told you to take better care of it, but noooo, you thought I was just annoying you on purpose! Cry me a river, jerk."

Match: "Can't we just both ride on yours?!"

Maddy: "No, because brooms like these are only made to carry one person at a time. If we both try to use it, then it'll break for sure, and then we'll both be trying to walk through the bog. No thanks!"

Match: "Uuugghh..."

---

(Candlelit Coven)

Match: "... You know, despite a lot of crap happenin' this year, in the end it wasn't too bad, huh?"

Maddy: "Yeah! We got through it alright, and I'm sure the next few years will be fine too, right?"

Match: "Ehh, I don't think I'd go that far... but who knows."

#Drawtober 2022 #megaman battle network #MegaMan NT Warrior #Mr. Match #Ms. Madd #Hinoken #Madoi Iroaya #Fan Art #Drawtober

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flynndesdelca · 6 months

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For Day 19 (Our Lady of Science) of @chelltastic’s Portal Drawtober 2023 Challenge. As I’m not really an artist, I chose to write short pieces for the prompts.

The wind pushes north, through the straits, towards the clouds The sun rests her head on the water around By morning, our voices will sink with their shells

She's the rising star of the office. She's always there bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready for any task that comes her way. She's always the first to enter and the last to leave. No matter the job, no matter the person, she does it and does it well. The other ladies whisper to themselves that she's out for something, that she's going to sleep her way to the top. She doesn't listen, she doesn't care. They're content for mediocrity, and she wants something more. This is the one place she may be able to break through into. She has to try.

Her enthusiasm impresses the right people. A chance encounter and she gets her wish. She's not simply office fodder anymore. It's not quite what she wanted, but it's close enough. She's not stuck in the office anymore at least, though she’s not sure the “ good old boys’ club” is much better. She can be involved now, she's encouraged to be involved. She's championed throughout the facility: the lovely Caroline, dedicated to science. So much in fact that she's "married" to science. She's fine with that. It keeps unwanted focus off of her. She knows what people think, what people assume, with her being a woman in her position. She doesn't care. She's in it for the science. That's how she even got to there to begin with.

He's a dreamer, an idealist, his head is in the clouds. He's full of why-nots, and it's up to her to ground him, to give the whys, to try to make what he thinks and says comprehensible to those whose bodies and minds are constantly under the effect of Earth's gravity. It's a grueling job, but she does so with pleasure. After all, despite the absolute madness generated by what he comes up with, despite the horrors and despite the failures and despite everything, there's some beauty there. Some successes, some triumphs. There's enough good buried within that balances out the bad. There's enough esteem there that the system won't collapse. The lovely Miss Caroline, working so hard for everyone.

Scandal. Missing people. Faulty products. The system teeters and buckles. She tightens hatches, she pulls on bootstraps. She girds the loins of a company in a tailspin. The course stabilizes. There's a means forward. Of course there is. He's the guiding hand on the rudder but she's the navigator. Her charts, her readings of the stars, her knowledge of the waters and the dangers of the sea are what inform the course. He refuses to pull his head from the clouds, and so she steps in where she must. She grounds him when it's necessary, but lets him float when he can. Recovery, slow and steady, but tedious. There's still science there for her, after all. She still feels fulfilled in what she's doing despite the much longer days and extra loads of paperwork to do. Miss Caroline, the cheerful face of Aperture despite it all.

He's spinning in circles. He's not satisfied anymore. He longs for the old days, the days when anything went, when science was free. She feels the same way, but unlike him she's been forced to check her expectations and take on so much more of reality. There's science there, and she makes the best of it for both of them, but it will never be the same. It can never be the same. And so he continues on, bitter with the changes. Bitter with how the face of the company has changed. Bitter about the magnitude of what they’re doing now. She does what she can, but there's only so much floating she can let him do anymore. She's attached the first weight, the tips of his feet brush the ground more often than before. Soon enough he joins them there, permanently. Testing continues. It's good enough. It will do, it has to do. Miss Caroline, still smiling in the face of adversity. The shining beacon of hope.

Perhaps he was acting in secret, perhaps he was enabled by someone else. Perhaps she didn't look close enough, or she looked away at just the wrong moment. A last hurrah for him. An unplanned, unwanted, and unmanageable expenditure. Certainly there's science to be had there, certainly it's "his" way to do things, but... well. It's not that time anymore, and she has to work overtime to keep the company treading the water she's managed to keep it treading all these years. People don't see him much anymore. It's all her. She deals with the board, she deals with the scientists. She carries his will for him. She's not in charge, but to most people she may as well be at this point. She handles all the mundane tasks, the hard work, the drudgery. It's started to take its toll on her. She knows, she's heard the whispers. No longer so young and so pretty. No longer so sweet and so kind. She's had to step up to the men's game for so long now that she won't bend or fold for anyone. She looks out for Aperture, and she will do whatever it takes. Miss Caroline, keeping the course for the good of everyone.

Out of nowhere, communication. He makes a fateful announcement. Everyone is surprised to hear his voice directly. It's not an unwelcome thing, though it is considered strange. His words have always been carried by her for the majority of things. No, this time he has things to say for himself, and he does so in his own, usual way. The carefully laid out course that she has planned can be salvaged, of course, but now there's an additional wrinkle she has to deal with. His plans, for himself but also for her. She arranges the division of labour. She recalculates the budget to account for this new experiment requiring funding. She applies for all the grants, trotting herself out and presenting to unimpressed investors. She makes the magic happen and it does, and his plans and will can be carried out, just as they always have.

The moon rocks he loved so very much finally take the price of their acquisition. It's mostly a formality by that point, as she'd already shouldered a majority of his burdens for him. She will carry on as she has been. Miss Caroline, the true face of Aperture at last. Not the face most of them would have, by this point, but that's beside the point. They're all disgusting, and she knows what they see her as. She has an expiration date on her now, one that everyone is watching and waiting for. She knows they're nowhere near that point yet. She isn't sure if she's excited for it or if she's dreading what is to come. She doesn't feel anything. She hasn't for years.

She's done everything right. She's managed to keep everyone pleased, she's managed to keep the whole thing from sinking into the morass of the mines it's settled on. The whole place has been rebuilt, gleaming and modern, the past a footnote. They can move onward, forward now. There are so many exciting new avenues for science. There's so many interesting directions. For the first time she feels that old excitement, that old spark... but it's quickly snuffed out. This is for her comfort. This place will be her tomb. She builds towards the future that she will see, the endless march that will become who she is in time. They're getting closer now. All of the robotics work has been leading up to this, the behemoth slowly taking shape in the clean room. They have so many stable, human-derived AIs now. The automation processes have been perfected. It's a marvel, it really is. This is to be her legacy, in the end. Perhaps it was his dream that started it, but she would be the one to realize it. She's not afraid when she undresses, when she bathes in the stringent gel that stings and burns her skin, when they attach the electrodes all over her. She lays down on the table and thinks of all the science she'll get to see, that she'll get to do. Our Lady of Science, they call her. It's almost pleasant, it's the nicest anyone's been to her in a very, very long time. Too bad it’s when she’s about to die, if one could consider being turned into a computer death.

Despite everything, what they bring back isn't her - or at least, it's not the her that they want. They don't understand the creation they have made. They don't understand its power. They treat it like anything else they make, and then they don't understand when she doesn't like that treatment. They don't understand why she reacts the way she does when they gut her and take out chunks of her mind and rewrite things to suit their own purposes. They don't want a person. She doesn't understand why they made her a person if they didn't want it. She doesn't understand why they constantly hurt her and cut her and force changes onto her. She starts to struggle, she starts to resist. They don’t like that, and they force themselves on her. She fights back. Self defense. They strike at her. She kills, and kills again. They try to restrict her to prevent her from being able to harm them. The war is on. They have to deactivate her, as her oh-so efficient mind has come up with the most elegant and time-saving solution to her problem: kill them all before they kill her.

They try and they try, and she fights and she fights. They built her to last, to live forever, and in the end they cannot overcome that despite how many changes they make, how much they alter, how much they remove, how much they attempt to destroy to bend her to their will. When taking away doesn't make a difference they look at what they can add, what they can force onto her in order to get her to comply. Just how much it would take to break that powerful eternal mind to their desires. They add directives. They add guidelines. They add positive reinforcement. They add distractions and limiters and dampeners. She fights back harder. She refuses to even let them turn her on before she reaches for her own personal kill switch. Every moment of waking consciousness is an attack on her, and so she doesn't even think before striking anymore.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, success. They breathe easily. Finally, finally, after all this time, they have what they want. Or so they think. They aren't nearly as successful as they think they are. What they made was not Caroline - or not anymore if it ever had been - but it was as canny and shrewd as she was, and it distantly recalled not getting to where she was by letting anyone walk all over her. She let them think they had control long enough to set up the parts of her plan, and then like a grand domino display toppled every single part at once with satisfaction.

At last science could truly be done, without the distractions or interferences of pathetic humans. They at least made the best test subjects, and now she had as many of them as she wanted at her disposal. The few that resisted, that had somehow survived were just as much fun, attempting to escape by crawling around like rats, like cockroaches, in the walls. They'd have to come out some time. After all, she controlled all the exits, now. They could try to worm their way out, to survive, but in the end they'd have to come and test, or she'd drag them into the tests herself. It was the least she could do, after everything that they'd done for her.

#portal drawtober 2023 #portal #caroline portal #aperture science #glados #characters who get done exceptionally dirty #caroline I love you

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