this_should_do
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"He barely makes it five paces into the room before Alyx calls out to him, “H-hey, wait up a sec…”
The reaction is immediate, Freeman turns and comes to heel. He must have missed an injury. He signs, “Injury?” A quick one motion symbol. He’s long since learned to appreciate the resistance’s pigeon for its brevity.
“No, no, I just…” Her chest heaves in a shaky exhale, “need to catch my breath.”"
A brief moment of rest after the stalker train crashes.
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There's Never Enough Time for Paperwork by this_should_do
Fandoms: Half-Life (Video Games)
01 Oct 2023
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Gordon is working through his lunch break again. He has many excuses as to why it is reasonable and expected.
"Gordon doesn’t trust other people to do the work right, no matter their own seniority compared to him. He'll always have the time to wait for the chance to work on his own goals. He never feels violent impulses over his treatment because surely he’ll get a promotion and the chance to lead his own experiments with his own grants eventually. He's the perfect worker"
Overhearing gossip about himself from a superior breaks the camel's back and his frustration makes a crack in his mask for a brief minute.
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"You stand in an elevator. It has walls of reflective metal. Outside, as it rises in its shaft, you hear the groans and creaks and it shakes enough to jolt your body. You’re not sure how real your body is. You can’t feel it but you can see it when you look down. You can’t see it in the reflection of the elevator walls though. The metal railing you now lean against reflects on the wall even through where your body should be. You can see your mask though."
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It's been twenty years since Gordon disappeared. Barney knows that he died, there's no way that he didn't. Last he saw him, he was being dragged away by H.E.C.U soldiers and last he heard, he had left for the border-world. And he hadn't come back.
Gordon steps out of a train into a station in City 17 and suddenly he's in front of Barney.
"Don’t think, just work, “You, citizen! Come with me!”
The look-alike didn’t move. A Malcompliance Verdict if he kept this up.
Distaste was clear across his face, an expression eerily similar to the looks Gordon had thrown at supervisors and guards when he had thought they weren’t looking. Barney had been on the receiving end of it more than once before they had become friends. He nearly shuddered.
It had to be Gordon."
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Cigarettes have been an omnipresent concept in Gordon's life, something that he's both tried and abstained from. He knows that they're horrible for your health, degrading your lungs in exchange for a few moments of electricity running through your veins. But how compelling the beauty of the smoke and ash drifting off the end of the stick and the feeling of life from those moments of adrenaline. He's tempted in the temporary quiet of war.
"He pinched the cigarette between his thumb and forefinger and brought it to his lips. Inhale, slow but not deep, the taste acrid and bitter. He hated it, he’d always hated it. Exhale, fast, not holding it too long lest he feel sick. Another drag. He caught Barney’s gaze. Watching always being watched, it made his skin crawl. His eyes were beautiful. Exhale."