trans_9 | Wake Me Up Before You Go [Open]

Kelly opened her eyes slowly, looking up at the ceiling. Her head was pounding, but at least she was back. She barely remembered running those mazes or puzzles, or whatever the hell it was GLaDoS had had her do. And all for what? Cake? She didn't even particularly like cake. Vaguely, she recalled being released from the pod and stumbling back to the room she shared with John. She must have taken a shower seeing as she was clean. But other than that, she'd simply dropped into bed and fallen asleep. Sitting up, she ran a hand across her face glancing slowly around. Not much had changed, but she had no idea how long she'd been out for. Though there really was only one way to find that out.

Sliding into her clothes, she threw her jacket over her shoulders, strapped her sidearm on under it, and stepped out of the room. The first thing she noticed was that she was hungry. Incredibly hungry. Frowning, the Spartan set off toward the mess hall to fix that. From what she could gather through overheard snippets of conversation and the small changes in those crew members she recognised, she'd been out for a month, or close to it. A whole month? If GLaDoS were a person, she'd have had it by the throat right about now, headache or no. Pulling her out of action for a month! She wanted to smash the goddamned thing.

Eating the slop that Stacy provided quickly, (and she ate a lot of it) she rose to her feet again. It was difficult to get a Spartan on edge, that was a fact; but anyone watching the tall, pale woman would be able to tell that she was almost fidgety. Simply the thought of that entire time out of action, and what cold have happened to her team and her friends in her absence was enough to make her want to run the whole ship looking for each of them. Instead, she simply set off down the hallways, keeping her speed low. She needed to run. To move. To do something to get rid of the growing tension she felt.

She hated the thought that she'd been taken out of play for so long. How had the Nightmare King problem worked out? Most of the crew didn't look dead tired like they had the last she remembered. But some members weren't in their usual places. Had they lost anyone? She needed to know these things. Needed to find out. But for now what she needed to do was run. Clear her head. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the city and upped her pace, blurring along the streets and past the buildings. She needed to soothe her nerves.

Spartans didn't get jumpy.

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Sherry was picking herself up off the floor, and dusting her knees off when Kelly peeked her head in. "It's me," she answered and winced. "Where've you been? I haven't seen you in so long." Which, as far as the child was concerned, was a cardinal sin.

At least Kelly, like Claire and Leon, had come back.

There was a moment where the Spartan's expression almost looked guilty. She always seemed to be running down the poor girl. But it brightened at least a little at the sight of her. She was glad Sherry was alright. Or at least, mostly alright. At the girl's question however, she sighed. "GLaDoS. I'm sorry about that. I'd smash that damn machine if I could find its processor."

She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Not if she could help it.

"You assume that Stacy would let you," Sherry pointed out, and finished dusting her knees off. "But, I'm glad you're back," she added and looked almost like she'd missed Kelly.

Which she had. "It was kind of scary without you around," now that she had a moment to think about it in hindsight. Her lips, unconsciously, continued to run, "All of my hiding places have been damaged, so I was looking for a new one. Were you running around the city for exercise? You should be careful. I mean, I know that you can, but, you should be, just in case a building decides to keel over." This runnyosis of the lips was in addition to the small steps Sherry took as she sidled over to Kelly and hugged her.

"I don't see the point of keeping a machine like that around." Stacy was fully capable of gathering information on them by herself. She didn't think the ship would be lazy enough to farm out that job to an obviously psychopathic computer. "Glad to be back." Kelly for her part, was her usual self, to the point. But if one knew her well enough, they make have noticed a slight upward tug at the corners of her lips.

Kelly though she most probably didn't recognise the emotion in herself. Had been worried about the little girl. Far more than was ordinary. "I'm sorry. I would rather have been here with you than in GLaDoS." Kelly was sure she could have helped. Or at the very least kept the girl out of danger. Though Sherry seemed to be completely fine. "I'm sure there'll be plenty until the city is cleaned up. And even after that. I was running just to run, it helps me think, and keeps me calm. It'd take more than a building falling on me to keep me down." She smirked lightly. When Sherry stepped over and hugged her though, there was a moment's pause, before the small girl was easily lifted off her feet and held close.

"I was worried about you." It was odd. She'd never have admitted that to anyone else. She'd never even have thought to before. But with the girl, it was easy to be honest.

"There wasn't really anything to worry about," Sherry tried to assure Kelly, unsure of how well it would go over. "I got a little hurt, but I'll be totally fine in a day or two." It was her doctor's popular theory that she was actually made of rubber (as all children were, of course).

Sherry laid her head against Kelly's shoulder and sighed. Not as good as a Mom Hug, of course, but still pretty good. Definitely something she could become used to.

"No? Well, I suppose I'll take your word for it." The sudden concern that she'd felt, not knowing whether the girl was alright or not still puzzled her. But she didn't dwell on it. "In the fighting?" It was a guess of course, but seeing the damage, there must have been some sort of battle, or some sort of cataclysmic event that would have damaged the city to such an extent.

Kelly was content to hold the girl close, rubbing her back softly for a moment. It was a mite awkward, and she wasn't sure she was doing it correctly, but hey, she tried.

Sherry puffed out her cheeks when Kelly rubbed over the still tender skin of her her bruised back and sighed. "Mmhmm, a big gust of wind picked me up and threw me into a wall. I had a bump, too, but that's gone now." It'd been ridiculously easy to fall asleep on, though, but Sherry had chalked that up to being dead tired.

"I bet Mom will be glad to see you again," Sherry added as an aside.

Wake Me Up Before You Go [Open]

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