Re: [Portal: Holly & Noah]
As far as Holly was concerned, the lifeline was useless, right? The gap behind him wasn't giving, and he didn't think for a minute that they were going to go nuts trying to extricate him. He was a loose end, and it would be in their best benefit to eek everything they could from him and then let him quietly disappear. So, yeah, he was hooked up to a million things, all of them sending back telemetry and data. There were cameras on that helmet he'd wrested off. And, unlike the machinery standing a few feet in front of him and dormant, he was still transmitting information. That stuff? Those machines? Were covered in vines and gunk, and it was as if the ground itself was trying to devour it, consume it somehow.
So, right, that was the basic situation. Holly thought moving was good. If he kept moving, it was good. And he was trying to breathe deeply, not hyperventilate, not let the bone-seep cold get to him. Thud, thud, thudthudthumpthud. He was supremely aware that Noah was right there, and that if he, Holly, lost it? Noah was going to lose it, and that was what kept him walking. It was that he didn't want Noah to be so fucked up he couldn't manage. And he did listen. Holly. He did. He was coughing at the time? So the comment about the snow-ash hit home hard. He didn't go back for the helmet, but he did reach up to where his suit met at the shoulder, and he tore. He wore multiple safety layers under the yellow suit fabric, and he tore hard enough to sever the sleeve and secure it around the bottom of his face, like some makeshift bandanna.
Spike, spike, no, calm. Calm. Calmcalmcalm. He breathed. Stopped and looked around. He couldn't hear anything from the town. He couldn't hear anything, except Noah was there, this constant presence under the ringing. Ringing that, at least, let Holly knew he was getting closer to the part of the woods where he'd arrived in town both fucking times he'd come here. But he could feel the guy. Not like a voice? Like something more. So, right. Calmer. Calmer. Breathebreathe. And it was fucking cold. And it felt... devoid. It's so cold down here. Can you see? He was looking around. It's like a mirror. A fucked up, dead, quiet, snowy mirror. Like Silent Hill. Noah, it's fucking Silent Hill. Which, of course, came with all the visuals Holly associated with Silent Hill, all the fear and gore and horror. Fuck, fuck, no stop thinking about that. Stop..