(Untitled)

[acts_of_gord]

[OOM: Gordon had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day once.

Yesterday, it had some competitionWhen Gordon finally came in from walking the lake last night and went upstairs, he found his note to Alyx about going outside undisturbed on the bed. More importantly, he found the bed undisturbed as a whole. This... didn't surprise him, all things

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[52_dropoff]

Charlie didn't sleep in a bed, either. But that was because he felt it was high time to dedicate a full day to outdoor meditation (seeing as how spring was arriving). He enters the Bar from a night's rest on the bare earth (apparent from the dirt stains on his sweats), gets a large glass of water, some fruit, and a chai tea, and looks for a place to sit.

He sees Gordon and nods hello.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon glances up and raises a hand in greeting. The chai smell reminds him that he should probably get something to eat at some point fairly soon (he's not a big fruit person), but for the moment he's just staying where he is.

[52_dropoff]

"Good morning." One look at Gordon tells Charlie that the scientist turned warrior is exhausted, but that's not unusual. Indeed, he wonders if anyone who's seen the sort of nightmares Gordon has can sleep well.

[acts_of_gord]

"Morning," Gordon answers, glancing a moment at the dirt stains. "How's the weather out there? Drying up yet?"

It's a harmless enough subject, and anyway he only really came in because he was tired of the drizzle, so... yeah.

[g00d_d0ggie]

Alyx hasn't come down to the garage to play with D0G in nearly a week. Clearly, this means that Something Is Wrong. D0G has come up to the main bar area to investigate.

Woop? he inquires, leaning over the back of the couch to peer down at Gordon.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon glances up at the noise, blinking. "Hey," he says. "Hi there, D0G. How're you doing?"

[g00d_d0ggie]

D0G makes a noncommittal noise, then leans a little closer to Gordon, inspecting him carefully. The human doesn't look injured...

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon holds very still. The droid means well, he's sure, but Gordon doesn't know him well enough yet to read his body language. "Uh..."

[watching_you]

Gordon looks like a sad picture drawn in sidewalk chalk on a rainy day.

Veronica can sympathize.

"Hey." Her tone is gentler than her words might suggest: "Is this a private moping party or can anyone join?"

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon glances up a moment, then nods to the empty space on the couch. "Suit yourself," he murmurs, and then frowns. "I'm... sorry. You seem familiar, but..."

[watching_you]

"Veronica. Don't mind me, I've just spent all day taking stake-out photographs in the rain. Fire is my friend."

She holds out her hands towards it, and one of the improbable fish attempts to nibble a fingertip.

"We met... ages ago, yeah? I remember the glasses."

And the nerdy tie, but that's probably not worth mentioning right now.

[acts_of_gord]

"... the FBI agent," Gordon suddenly says. "Under the table. I remember now."

Damn. That was a lifetime ago.

"How've you been?"

[md_donighal]

Presently, there's somebody else watching the fire. Gordon may not, however, notice him until he reaches in to see if the fish will come near his hand. (It turns out they flee his touch.)

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon glances up at that, blinking a few times. "Donighal," he finally says. "Long time no see."

[md_donighal]

Michael nods. "This is a fact. How and where've you been?"

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon runs a hand over his face. "City 17 and environs," he says. "Alyx, Barney and I went up the mountains to see if we could map the spatial distortions a little. D0G wandered off into a cave and when we followed him, we got separated by a Xen tentacle lifeform and wound up walking out into City 17."

[acts_of_gord]

He's seen that face before, hasn't he? He's almost sure...

"Ma'am?" Gordon says. "Your name wouldn't be Major Shepard, by any chance?"

[acts_of_gord]

"We met at Halloween," Gordon says. "When you got the odd powered armor. I had a different face at the time, I'm afraid. My name's Gordon Freeman, i don't know if you'd remember me?"