Chapter 9, everybody! In which Wilson reflects on how he and Willow first met….It's not as romantic as you might hope. :|

And have you noticed that Wilson never smiles in-game?...

Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment

Portal © 2007 Valve

A few minutes later, obviously feeling much refreshed, she and he swapped places, with him admonishing her against sneaking food while he was gone. She stuck her tongue out at him and sat down on the couch.

When he returned, it was to find her fast asleep.

He sat down on one of the arms, watching her. Now that she had some food in her system, falling asleep wasn't so much of an issue. They'd sleep, eat again (and other things, possibly), and then head out on their merry way.

He scratched at the side of his face, thinking. They ought to see if there were any first-aid kits around—they might need them later.

And then what if they escaped? Who knew how much time had passed since they had destroyed their jailer and been put into suspended animation? But something had failed, obviously, for the other test subjects on their floor to be dead to the point of desiccation.

Look at her—she smiled when she slept. She must be having pleasant dreams.

He couldn't help but feel a little sore at what she had said—true, he didn't exhibit much mirth, but consider their position….Except for the fact that he didn't recall smiling much before that, either.

Say, pal, why the long face?

He was doing his level best to ignore the supervisor after yet another crack at his intelligence. He had spent years educating himself, and now this dunce with an IQ of none was trying to drag him down.

That made him think—maybe they were performing psychological tests? He had read a bit about that being one of the acceptable—

Don't think too hard—you might forget to breathe.

"Oh, shut UP!" he bellowed, restraint forgotten.

The laughter told him that the supervisor had gotten the reaction he had wanted. Steamed, Wilson headed for the next test—

And something fell on him.

What an obvious violation of safety—wait….It wasn't something, it was someone.

"Who on earth are you?" Wilson squawked, restraint forgotten.

She was a young woman, with dark hair pulled into pigtails, and she was looking at him in disbelief. "There's someone else here?" she asked, obviously stunned.

Oh-ho! The mute lunatic finally speaks! The test track supervisor crowed. Wilson spared the nearby camera an irritated glance before turning back to her.

"Of course there's someone else here—this is a scientific facility! It requires hundreds of people to even run!"

For some reason, this statement elicited a dark chuckle from the test track supervisor, the sort that made the hairs on the back of Wilson's neck stand on end.

It matched the dark look the young woman was giving him. "Look, I don't care who or what runs this place—I'm getting out of here," she announced. "Care to join me?"

Oooh, yes, do, the test track supervisor said. A cooperative testing initiative—this should be fun.

The young woman fired a portal at the nearby camera, sending it clattering to the floor.

Wilson couldn't help but splutter in alarm. "What are you doing? That's vital testing apparatus! You can't just tear it up like that—"

"Knock it off," she commanded. "And I've changed my mind—you can't come with me. Anything that he approves of, I don't do."

"He's a test track supervisor—it's his job to…." He trailed off as what she said sunk in. "Wait—was he supervising your track?"

"If that's what you call it."

Wilson gaped in alarm. "He can't do that! Each track has two test track supervisors—the same one can't be supervising two test tracks at the same time!"

"How do you know?"

"I work here!"

Just like that, she was done—she spun on her heel and walked off, heading for the emancipation grill.

"Hey, wait!" he squawked. He ran after her, but she had already reached the elevator.

It didn't move.

She jumped up and down in irritation, but it still stayed where it was. Strange, they were supposed to move when the test subject entered it….

Wilson stopped outside the elevator from her glare. "I'll wait for the next one," he muttered.

I've got news for you, pal—that elevator isn't moving until both test subjects get in.

She glared at the ceiling, a look of pure venom, then scooted aside enough for Wilson to get in. He did so.

The elevator slowly made its way to the next test track. Slowly being the operative word.

"Uh, hello," he tried.

"Shut it," she commanded.

He tried very hard not to sigh.

'Cooperative Testing Initiative.' It was already going so well.