Ratt stretched, taking up the entire length of the bed she had been sleeping on. It was a plain affair but far more comfortable than the cardboard boxes she used to sleep on. Blue and brown eyes found their way to the dark ceiling peering into the blackness that filled the room. There was something safe about the dark. Something comforting. She supposed it had always been this way for her, even during her days of hiding out in aperture.
She no longer needed to hide however. As she swung her legs off the side of the bed onto the floor memories played like a movie reel in her head. The first time she had seen those yellow eyes in the darkness she hadn’t known they would be her salvation. She couldn’t know. Then the coaxing that followed and the running after that. They had grown close in that short space of time, her and GLaDOS.
This was not her GLaDOS however, but a different one. One that had come from an alternate universe. A universe strangely devoid of her own alternate. Though there were signs that he had lived here once. Paints stored in secret places only she could know where to look. Sometimes she found a mural that GLaDOS had missed.
The thought of GLaDOS sent an ache through her chest. She remembered once more the night they had spent together after that valentines day. Here on this bed. Her hands rubbed the sheets fondly. A blush rushed to her cheeks as she remembered her lover that night. Bared and vulnerable in front of her. Although she hadn’t been the only vulnerable one.
A sigh of longing escaped her somewhat unwillingly. It had been a while now. Though that while seemed like an eternity. An eternity since GLaDOS had suddenly gone……inactive. Ratt remembered the day she called out to her android counterpart. Nobody had answered. Puzzled she had gone to investigate only to find…..nothing. She could only guess that GLaDOS had shut herself down. Or perhaps she was off playing games in another universe. Either way Ratt missed her terribly.
She got up and headed to the bathroom, flicking on the light. The face that stared back at her in the mirror showed the same tired eyes as always, but it was more…..feminine. This cheered her up a bit, it seemed the hormones were doing their job. GLaDOS had, had a plethora of things within her lab, including human hormones. What they had initially been for she had no idea but with GLaDOS asleep or away for however long, she was sure the android wouldn’t miss what little she took for her own purposes.
Gender was a confusing thing. It had taken a long time for her to realize her own. After spending years living as Doug Rattmann, she had finally come to terms with something she had always known. That Doug wasn’t Doug at all, that he was a she, and that her real name as she chose it, was Ratt. It was simple but it fit she thought. After all that time in the walls of aperture she had really lived up to her last name and now it was hard to part with that title. Besides, Ratt sounded cute and nice to say and it had a pleasant feeling on the tongue. She knew that was who she was.
The hormones had wrought quite a change thus far. Her skin was softer and more smooth. Hair had begun to stop growing in certain places, though it still grew on her face. Her voice had begun to change to a slightly higher register. Her face starting ever so slowly, to round out. The changes pleased her greatly and even though she still had to shave, she felt that for now this was something she could live with.
Pulling her hair back in its now customary ponytail she almost laughed out loud looking at herself. With the changes she was undergoing she almost started to see a little bit of Chell in her features.
Getting dressed she slipped on a bra, unfortunately it was a little big as she had stolen it from GLaDOS. But she usually filled it with padding anyway. Sliding on a baggy shirt and some sweatpants she strode out of her room and into Aperture proper.
Since GLaDOS had gone inactive, many of Apertures key components had gone on autopilot and other less necessary things, like lights and running water, had turned off. Luckily Ratt knew enough about how everything worked to get them up and running herself.
She worked her way down to the kitchen for breakfast. Aperture had stocked up on food supplies long before GLaDOS had taken over the facility. Precautionary measures in case of nuclear fallout or something. Ratt had made excellent usage of those stores. Pouring herself a bowl of cereal she made sure to take her medicine. The pills that GLaDOS had given her to help with schizophrenia. They kept the monsters at bay most of the time. Though sometimes things could slip through the cracks. It was a lifelong condition. Much like being transgender she thought with another chuckle.
She had grown accustomed to it at any rate. This was the way things were. Every day she woke up and went about her tasks, making sure to take her hormones and medicine. Then going back to sleep to start the new day over again. Still…..when, she wondered. When would GLaDOS return to her?
