p align="center"Steve the Headcrab/p
p align="center"Author's Notes/p
p align="center" /p
p align="left"Well. Can't say I expected to be typing this./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Hey, Ben here! I guess it's time to actually talk about this mess. (affectionate)/p
p align="left"Now that this thing is actually finished, I might as well talk about the making of it. This fanfic started as a joke fic that I wrote a literal decade ago. Can't remember what the reason for it was, but there it sat online for many years, gathering dust and forgotten to time. That is, until Black Mesa released. That's right, the Half-Life remake had finished development, and I decided to stream it for old times' sake. Then, this funny little fanfic popped up in my mind again and inspiration struck. I had no real intention of coming back to this, but the story and ideas kept going through my mind until I caved and wrote a follow-up chapter, and the rest is history. The thought of "Steve emis/em Lamarr" kinda influenced the rest of the story, and the ending of Episode 2 where you send her (and potentially the gnome) to space felt like a perfect end to this story as well./p
p align="left"And then, emit /emhappened. If you were active on the internet in 2020, then you may know of a certain Half-Life-related series that was making waves. If so, then you've probably noticed the references I've made to it (and the subsequent gnome series). It was another major defining force in motivating me to keep writing the fic. The occasional release of Freeman's Mind 2 episodes also helped as well, though I don't think I referenced it in the story much, if at all./p
p align="left"The most difficult part of writing this was scenes where I didn't have any in-game locations or dialog to go off of. So, basically every scene with Dave. I don't have much expertise in writing, so it was hard to come up with original ideas. Well, as original as you can be while using a pre-existing world and characters./p
p align="left"Despite all of this, people seemed to have enjoyed it! I was honestly shocked to see the positive feedback this got. It was just a meme-y joke thing made on a whim, but it attracted an audience!/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Now, the all-important question:/p
p align="left"Will I write any more fics?/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"emEhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh /emprobably not./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Sorry if this disappoints you. As I've said, I'm not good at writing. Never have been. The wonderful American school system ruined any hopes of me actively wanting to do so. As it has with most things I used to enjoy, actually. Funny, that. Anyways, unless the perfect inspiration strikes at the perfect time, I don't think there will be any more stories from me./p
p align="left"Well, it's time to wrap this up, I think. Thanks to everyone who read this silly fanfic thing! Making enjoyable content is my thing, even though this wasn't a medium I expected to find success in. Speaking of.../p
p align="left"If you're interested in following my future antics, I do streams and Let's Plays and other funny video game things! (I'm even one of those funny Vtubers the kids are all about these days!) The links are in my profile if you're interested!/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"In the meantime... This is where I get off. Thanks for the ride, guys. 🐙/p
p align="center"Author's Notes/p
p align="center" /p
p align="left"Well. Can't say I expected to be typing this./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Hey, Ben here! I guess it's time to actually talk about this mess. (affectionate)/p
p align="left"Now that this thing is actually finished, I might as well talk about the making of it. This fanfic started as a joke fic that I wrote a literal decade ago. Can't remember what the reason for it was, but there it sat online for many years, gathering dust and forgotten to time. That is, until Black Mesa released. That's right, the Half-Life remake had finished development, and I decided to stream it for old times' sake. Then, this funny little fanfic popped up in my mind again and inspiration struck. I had no real intention of coming back to this, but the story and ideas kept going through my mind until I caved and wrote a follow-up chapter, and the rest is history. The thought of "Steve emis/em Lamarr" kinda influenced the rest of the story, and the ending of Episode 2 where you send her (and potentially the gnome) to space felt like a perfect end to this story as well./p
p align="left"And then, emit /emhappened. If you were active on the internet in 2020, then you may know of a certain Half-Life-related series that was making waves. If so, then you've probably noticed the references I've made to it (and the subsequent gnome series). It was another major defining force in motivating me to keep writing the fic. The occasional release of Freeman's Mind 2 episodes also helped as well, though I don't think I referenced it in the story much, if at all./p
p align="left"The most difficult part of writing this was scenes where I didn't have any in-game locations or dialog to go off of. So, basically every scene with Dave. I don't have much expertise in writing, so it was hard to come up with original ideas. Well, as original as you can be while using a pre-existing world and characters./p
p align="left"Despite all of this, people seemed to have enjoyed it! I was honestly shocked to see the positive feedback this got. It was just a meme-y joke thing made on a whim, but it attracted an audience!/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Now, the all-important question:/p
p align="left"Will I write any more fics?/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"emEhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh /emprobably not./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"Sorry if this disappoints you. As I've said, I'm not good at writing. Never have been. The wonderful American school system ruined any hopes of me actively wanting to do so. As it has with most things I used to enjoy, actually. Funny, that. Anyways, unless the perfect inspiration strikes at the perfect time, I don't think there will be any more stories from me./p
p align="left"Well, it's time to wrap this up, I think. Thanks to everyone who read this silly fanfic thing! Making enjoyable content is my thing, even though this wasn't a medium I expected to find success in. Speaking of.../p
p align="left"If you're interested in following my future antics, I do streams and Let's Plays and other funny video game things! (I'm even one of those funny Vtubers the kids are all about these days!) The links are in my profile if you're interested!/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"In the meantime... This is where I get off. Thanks for the ride, guys. 🐙/p