"Thought I'd let you know, doing great so far! I just have a question: Are you going to make this a colour drawing? It's fine if you want to keep working with pencil - nothing wrong with that. I suppose it's easier to erase if you muck something up, that does make more sense then."

Perched on my nightstand, Wheatley chattered on as I observed my near-daily ritual of drawing. I had a small stack of printer paper on my lapboard and a selection of pencils and pens I always like to keep at the ready - regardless of what actually gets used. I'm sure I grinned as it occurred to me then that he would make an entertaining commentator. Should I ever want to bolster views on a YouTube channel, I could record his yammering with a desktop microphone. If anyone asked - and I doubted anyone would - I would say I found a voice actor that sounds a lot like the real deal.

After all, what's easier to believe: inter-dimensional portals popping up in my dorm, or a single person in this world of over 7 billion that sounds exactly like a beloved robot character - however statistically unlikely?

Gina made it her mission to try and come up with the best questions to ask Wheatley. To her credit, she thought of some really good ones. I never would have thought to ask him about things he liked or disliked. I was more concerned with details that could potentially confirm or debunk theories about Aperture, and the overall lore of the Valve universe.

-and maybe confirm the events of Blue Sky.

I couldn't do that at this stage, though. Wheatley was still very much a core. Had I caught him in human (or at least hard light) form, things might have been different.

"So, you came through a portal... in the wall?" She chirped eagerly.

"Actually I was tossed through, quite abruptly at that." He complained. "Can't imagine that would bode well for my internal components. Thank god I'm not one of those older models without a solid state drive." He rolled his optic as he said that. "Once they start clicking, it's the beginning of the end - it's actually quite annoying, you want to feel sorry for the poor guy but all you're hearing is click... click... click... click click... click... and maybe some grinding or screeching and just ugh! Sounds horrible! Eventually they just can't boot up anymore and you're relieved! Not only because they're no longer suffering, but because there's FINALLY no more clicking! I know they can't help it, just a little pet peeve of mine. Like how spacey carried on about well... space. Anything space related. Wouldn't shut up about it- What are you doing with that pen? Are you drawing over that? Ah! What- Why are you erasing it? That looked fine! Wait- Wait I get it! Sketch the basic form, run over it once in pen, then erase the outlines! That's clever. That's really clever!"

"Attention span of a gnat." I told myself. Gina shot me a look of silent agreement.

I found it flattering that he took an interest in what I was doing. Normally, people watching over my shoulder makes me uncomfortable. I can't say it didn't here - as there was still a sense of pressure to perform in front of one of my favourite video game characters - but I didn't really feel the urge to turn him away. Oh, who was I kidding? I was miles high!

"Oh now this looks like something out've a colouring book doesn't it? Nice, crisp clean lines - not implying that it's a simple drawing, I imagine a child couldn't pull off this L.O.D - in case you're wondering that's "level of detail". Nice acronym there. Read it on that webpage you had open about 3D stuff earlier. Interesting stuff, that - but see you closed the webpage so I didn't really get to finish it - actually I suppose I could've just said something, but you looked like you were busy so I didn't want to bother you- Oh so you ARE going to colour it! You know what'd go great on this? That BLUE marker right there! Just a suggestion, just a suggestion..."

Markers clicked and clattered as I swapped between colours. All the While, Wheatley continued to provide a play-by-play. He was curious as to why I would scribble on a separate sheet with certain colours, and scolded me for being wasteful when I tried to explain the concept of swatches. He quickly changed his tune when I showed off the final drawing.

"Is that- you've been drawing ME this entire time!?" He tilted in his casing like a bird fluffing its feathers. I laughed. Of course he'd enjoy a self-portrait. "I'll be honest here, you really got my good side. Look at that! That is one handsome looking core if I do say so myself."

"I still can't believe I missed the portal." Gina whined. "Did you see inside!?"

I nodded. "Right into her chamber."

Her jaw dropped. She gave me a pouty look, like I'd just kicked a puppy or something equally deplorable. "That is so unfair!"

I laughed nervously. It had been cool to see the inside of the place - and put my hand on real Aperture panels - but seeing GLaDOS there, staring back at me was kind of creepy. I shuddered, thinking of how utterly real the murderous AI had looked then - far beyond a mere scratch and dent texture job. It was real in a way that made me uncomfortable - approaching uncanny valley? Wheatley looked positively photo-real himself (but far less menacing). Metal, what had once been white paint, minor scratches and dents in all the right places, chipped optic-

Actually, that must have been annoying for him. Would it cause double vision?

Now I was beginning to ramble, if only internally.

Knowing what GLaDOS was capable of, I could not help but feel nervous about if and when she planned to return. Should she decide she didn't particularly like us for some reason, the only thing between me, Gina, and Wheatley - and her was the portal. If anything particularly dangerous from Aperture happened to come through-

"I'm running out of things to ask." Gina announced. "Hey, isn't there something else we can do with him?"

I shrugged. "Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe we could go out somewhere and take him with us?" She looked hopeful. It occurred to me then that she might be getting bored sitting and basically watching me draw. With Wheatley mostly fixated on that, it didn't give her much of a chance to really interact, and I could tell she wanted to have some fun of her own. It was like meeting your favourite celebrity and the whole time they were more interested in someone else. I felt bad.

"Any place in mind?"

Her face lit up. "Maybe we could take him to a museum? Or the park?"

I looked out the window. "Are you sure you want to go out? It's kind of snowy out there right now." There wasn't an immediate problem with taking him out - aside from what other people might think of two girls with a chatty, British-sounding robot riding a bus. I also wondered how sensitive to water Wheatley might be. Would accumulating snow be enough moisture to cause serious damage? "Wheatley? How um... waterproof are you?"

His optic narrowed to almost nothing, and he started to tremble. "W-what!?"

"Wait! Calm down!" I cried, waving my hands. "We just want to make sure of the kinds of conditions that might hurt you, I mean - so we can avoid them!" He didn't look convinced.

"What she means is, would snowfall cause you any problems?" Nice save, Gina. I let out a sigh.

"I- I don't know." He wasn't shaking anymore, but he still looked shifty and nervous. "I've never been outside the facility, so I really don't know what weather of any kind would do to me."

"So, what are we going to do?" Gina asked. That was a good question, what kinds of indoor activities can you do with a large metal sphere?

"Cafeteria?" I suggested. It was a long shot. "Obviously not the pool." Wheatley visibly cringed at that word. "Sorry."

I thought of football and chuckled to myself.

"Oi! What's so funny?" Wheatley chirped.

"Nevermind, it was a bad idea." Gina noticed my smirk and returned one of her own. She knew.

"Well you've got me curious, why don't you share with the rest of the class? It might not be that bad, you should give yourself some credit."

"Football." I mumbled. Gina and I both started chortling, while Wheatley's optic narrowed to a pinprick and darted between the both of us.

"Rude!" He huffed loudly. "What is it with you humans and football? You think just because you've got arms and legs that you can just go around kicking and throwing things? Is that just a thing with your species? Am I just going to turn around one day and- OH GOD I'M ROLLING!"

He'd gotten so worked up, he managed to rock himself right off the end table and land on the floor with a soft thunk. Naturally, this made the two of us laugh even harder. "Thought you out to know that I'm currently upside down. Might need a little help with this one, please! Help! Come on, it's not funny!" He waggled his handles in a futile attempt to right himself, reminding everyone involved of a flipped turtle.

"Sorry-" I squeaked, fighting back tears. "Are you okay?"

"Maybe we should put him on the computer chair instead, the arms might stop that from happening again." Gina suggested as I turned him upright.

"What is it with humans and violent sports?" He carried on. "And it's not just things like me, you lot run the risk of injury as well. Masochism is what it is, but perhaps sadism is a better word. You know, team sports and all... seems like it'd be both. Masochism and sadism happening at the same time- excuse me what are you doing? I was in the middle of something and the both of you just think it's fine to go and pick me up? Not even gonna ask first? How would you like it if someone- oh is that, I see what you're thinking, this is sturdier than the table. Ah, there'll be no rolling off of this thing. Oh it spins around too!"

"I guess this is how we're getting him to the caf." Gina joked.

"Fine, you win." I dug around in my nightstand and retrieved my wallet and change purse. I still had some leftover chinese food, but I also wanted to see what the special for tonight would be. The lunch lady - Carol - was a really great cook. Before you ask, no, there was no possible relation to Caroline. Carol would never have viewed Cave Johnson in such a positive light after witnessing the kinds of business decisions he made. Had it been her in charge of the company, she would have taken it in an entirely different direction.

Wheatley made noise and carried on all the way from the dorm room to the elevator, and then to the cafeteria. There weren't many people there at the time, aside from a sleepy looking male student, the cashier, and Carol - who poked her head out from behind the kitchen counter. I left Wheatley with Gina and immediately approached her to find out what was on the menu for tonight.

"Cream of broccoli soup!" I cheered. Carol always made it with cheddar, and it was so thick and creamy that you could pour out the contents of a small, styrofoam serving cup into two bowls. If you were to add some extra milk to each bowl, you would have two full portions. Even then, it was really creamy and delicious! For two-fifty, it wasn't a bad deal at all! At least, not in my mind. I always looked forward to days when Carol's cream of broccoli soup was served. There was soup almost every day, but the selection was rotated.

I gasped when I saw something wrapped in tinfoil in a heated display case on one side of the counter. For 99 cents a pop, I knew then that I would simply HAVE to splurge! I brought my order to the cashier, grabbed a spoon and two forks and paid in cash.

When I returned to Gina and Wheatley, Gina was busy asking him even more questions! I suppose her creative muse had recharged and was ready for another round.

"Guess what I got?" I announced in a singsong voice.

"Oooh! It's something hot again!" Wheatley announced.

I placed one of the tinfoil wrapped goodies next to my soup, and a second one in front of Gina. "I thought of you, too." I said. "Bon appetit!"

She looked at me with confusion at first, then began to unwrap the tinfoil and looked ready to scream.

"Ohmygod! You're so evil!" She laughed. "Thanks!"

I beamed from ear to ear. "Wheatley, I would have gotten one for you too, but you know." He blinked, but was silent for a minute or two before mumbling that he "didn't get it". Gina and I laughed and joked amongst ourselves as I slurped my soup and we both munched on our baked potatoes.