App for outer_divide

[waspromisedcake]

[- OOC Information -]

Name: Megan
Do you play any other characters in Outer Divide? No

[- Character Information -]

Character Name: Chell
Fandom: Portal
AU or OU: OU
Canon Point: end of Portal 2
Journal: waspromisedcake
Icon: http://www.dreamwidth.org/userpic/2336136/1490818

Appearance: Chell has an athletic build, is an average weight, and I've headcanoned her height to be 5'5". She appears to be mixed race, with dark brown hair and raggedy cut bangs, very light blue eyes (they often have a wild eyed look, which is understandable after her isolation with only murderous AIs for company), and full lips. There are scars around her knees from the advanced knee replacement she had in the first game.

History: Chell's history

Also, a bit of headcanon: in Portal 2, there's an Easter Egg where one can see science projects by school girls for Take Your Daughter to Work Day. This was the day GLaDOS was activated and locked the facility down. On the posterboard of one project is written "By Chell." It's possible that in this world, Chell could be a popular name, but I choose to believe this is the game's protagonist. On the posterboard, she mentions her dad several times, so it's assumed her father worked for Aperture.

Now here's where it gets sticky. In the comic Portal 2: Lab Rat, it's revealed that Chell took part in a pre-testing questionnaire, which leads some to think she volunteered to work for Aperture of her own free will as an adult. I don't think that's true though, since the facility was in lockdown. I believe she was locked in the testing facility since she was a child, probably in some sort of stasis pod that still allowed her to grow and age, almost like being in a coma. When she awoke, the AIs told her she could leave if she agreed to be a test subject first. They gave her the questionnaire, and a psychological profile was done on her, stating that her tenacity level was incredibly high. The notes on the report added, "Test subject is abnormally stubborn. She never gives up. Ever. Rejected: DO NOT TEST." After this result, she was locked back in her stasis chamber until the scientist Doug Rattmann, the only human in the facility up and walking around, found her file and guessed that she'd have the tenacity to defeat GLaDOS, so he reworked the computer system to move her up to Test Subject #1. And that leads us into the events of Portal.

Personality: Chell is possibly the most stubborn individual ever. She may be trapped in a testing facility, having to play along to get through the tests, but she also plays by her own rules. She refuses to speak to any of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the facility, so as not to give them the satisfaction of making her answer them. For this she gets referred to as "brain damaged" and a "mute lunatic." Also, she stubbornly refused to answer an essay question on a testing questionnaire. Granted, the question was: Why should Aperture Science accept you as a research volunteer, and would anyone file a police report if you went missing? It makes sense that she wouldn't dignify that with a response.

It's noted by Rattmann that Chell is not the smartest or most athletic, but what she lacks there, she makes up for with persistence. She's never failed to make it through a testing chamber, no matter how complicated. This woman can think fast on her feet, since at the end of the testing she's standing on a moving platform that first tries to knock her off and then leads her to an incinerator, but she uses portals to escape. She doesn't lie down and allow things to happen to her. Chell is a fighter, and her will to survive is her strongest trait. Faced with nearly insurmountable odds, she faces each obstacle standing in her way and does what it takes to succeed and keep on living.

It's clear that she doesn't let jabs or insults get to her, or else she uses her anger at them to work harder to escape. None of the insults GLaDOS throws at her cause Chell to respond. It's a given that pretty much anything GLaDOS says to her to try and rile her up is a lie. The AI calls her fat, a murderer, and an orphan whose parents didn't want her. Based on the fact that Chell was brought to the facility on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, it's obvious that she at least had a father that cared about her enough to bring her in. And one can see either in third person mode or by looking at Chell through the portals that she isn't fat.

Basically Chell enjoys making things difficult for her captors. Around normal people she probably won't be difficult for the sake of it, but her attitude will always be a bit standoffish and wary of others and their motives. She looks out for herself, first and foremost, and though she can see the benefit of helping others (like Wheatley at the beginning or Portal 2 and GLaDOS later on), it's usually in conjecture with helping herself. She's not the self-sacrificing sort.

Despite all her adversity, she has her faults. Being trapped in a testing facility and in stasis for most of her life means she's stunted in several ways. She really doesn't know how to interact with people, and emotionally, she's a mess. Being a robot's plaything would mess with anyone's head, and though she appears to cope well, she's missed out on a lot of her life and she's bitter about that. Chell has always been more street smart than book smart, and as a result her reading level isn't terribly high, and she doesn't care much for math. Her skills are more practical, learned in the field rather than in a book. Once she's around people again, she'll put up walls at first, worrying about protecting herself. Her answers will be short, simply because she's not used to speaking, and because she doesn't want to give too much away. She'll be a loner, because that's what she's used to, but once she sees the benefit to pooling resources and working together, she'll come around. Chell will probably never be chatty or incredibly open, but one can hardly blame her after all she's been through.

Powers/Abilities: Chell is able to problem solve like a boss. It's what she did at the testing facility. She figured out how to get from A-Z in order to pass the test and open the door to leave the testing area. After she leaves the designated testing area and strikes out on her own, she uses the skills she's learned to figure out ways to get from Point A to Point B. She's terribly stubborn, which was noted in her psychological profile and almost disqualified her from testing. Chell's stubbornness means she will never, ever give up, no matter what.

Her main physical ability is being able to survive long falls without breaking her legs. In the first game she had advanced knee replacement, with springs coming down from the back of her calves and curving under her feet. After GLaDOS was defeated and Chell passed out in the parking lot, the Party Escot Bot accidentally destroyed these springs as he dragged her back into the facility. In the second game these were replaced with long fall boots.

Possessions: Her clothes (orange jumpsuit, white Aperture Science tank top, blue under clothes), long fall boots, and a scorched Companion Cube.

Reason for Playing: This is a survival game, and no one is better at surviving than Chell. She faced off against GLaDOS (twice), Wheatley, and countless turrets, and in the end, GLaDOS admitted that killing her was hard, and that Chell was free to go. Plus I just love Chell. I love that the creators of the games said Chell is capable of talking, she just chooses not to give the AIs the satisfaction of getting a response out of her. Now that's true stubbornness! The environment she comes from interests me as well, and I want to explore how she does in the game's environment.


[- Writing Samples -]

First person: Chell at dear_mun #1. Chell at dear_mun #2.

Third person:

It had to be a trick, or some sort of trap. Why would GLaDOS be letting her go? Chell's body tensed as the elevator raised her up past the singing turrets. GLaDOS could have easily had her killed there. She had no portal gun, no where to jump down to as an escape. But the fact that the turrets had let her pass just put Chell more on edge. Her senses were alert, ready for the "Just kidding!" and the elevator's descent far back down into the depths of the facility that had been her prison for who knew how long? There was no telling how old she was now, or how long she'd been locked in the Relaxation Vault before it malfunctioned. What was the world like out there?

Not that she was going to find out. Chell was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. So when the elevator stopped at a nondescript door and it opened to reveal the sunshine, Chell found herself in a daze. She stepped outside, watching the wind ripple through the fields of... what was that? Had she been gone so long that she had forgotten things a child would know? Maybe she really was brain dam-- WHEAT! It was wheat. Oh no. That just made her think of Wheatley, the moronic personality core.

Behind her, she heard a noise and spun back around to see the door slam shut. Almost immediately, it reopened and a blackened Companion Cube (the one she had incinerated) rolled out before the door slammed shut once more. There was a moment of hesitation, as she was still under the impression that this could all be a trap. She waited, holding her breath, but nothing happened. The door remained closed, the cube sat there quietly (Of course quietly, she told herself. Companion Cubes can't talk.), and the sun shone down on her, warming her shoulders.

At last she stepped forward and picked up the cube, getting a bit of soot on her hands. She examined it, turning it this way and that. Her lips twitched with a content expression.

"Hi," she murmured, voice scratchy.