on getting bumped back to pre-AU for game apping purposes

[perfectisnteasy]

So this is it, huh? You really gave me the big rollback. 2.0. Proper canon review and everything.

Sure you're not maxin' out your system resources, here, kid? I mean, I know I'm a vital program to this whole Thing you're goin' through, and you've got a game plan. But I'm not likin' the idea of not being the one calling the shots.

That's okay, though.

Games change.

I should know.

Comments

[userless]

Ooooh, look at me, I'm Clu and I don't like it when I'm not in control

Get used to it, Program.

[...look at me, I'm Gibson and I have no self-preservation instinct]

[perfectisnteasy]

Oh, look what the Recycling Bin spit up. Good to know they'll let anything in here.

[userless]

Speak for yourself. I'm a perfectly respectable program, you know.

[perfectisnteasy]

Mm. Course you are. How could I forget all that respect that'cha showed me.

[userless]

[That gets a laugh.]

No, no, see, you have to earn respect. Anything you had you lost the moment you turned on the User.

[perfectisnteasy]

[oh. oh, sure, yes, go straight for The Big Button and jump up and down on it, Gibson. CLU's still smiling, but his eyes go dark]

No, see. I don't know what they teach you in those little Colonies of yours, but ... [a little, humoring sort of laugh] You've got it backwards, man. [and the laugh drops out of his tone] Just like everything else.

[userless]

[It was still much more recent for Gibson than for Clu--oh yeah, and unforgivable. Don't forget that part.]

You know what we teach in my Colonies? Nothing. Because you destroyed them, too. Not that I have to remind you of that.

And if you're going to rant to me about how he betrayed you? Skip it. You're the one who never bothered to ask him what perfection meant.

[perfectisnteasy]

[Button Number Two: CLU doesn't make mistakes. his disc is coming out from behind his back, now, thank you.]

Clearly, destroying the Colonies wasn't good enough, if I still have to listen to you.

[userless]

[...Yeah, Gibson's good at pushing those. Not the best skill to have, really. A significantly more useful skill is lightcycles, which is why he's fingering his baton and ready to jump on it at a moment's notice.]

What's the matter? Can't handle the sound of the truth?

[perfectisnteasy]

I should've rectified you cycles ago.

[translation: nope. and he flings his disc, aiming to knock the baton from Gibson's hands]

[userless]

Too bad you failed at that, too!

[Yeah no he's going to dodge as quickly as he can and then gtfo.]

[perfectisnteasy]

[oh, not if he has anything to say about it. out comes his own cycle, and he's off after him]

[userless]

[No way, bro. Clu's bike might be faster, but Gibson's got a lot more experience in off-Grid situations. He'll just weave his way to get into the nice rocky canyons where he'll have the advantage....

Hopefully.]

[firstaward]

[Perlis can't bite back an impressive sneer.] Yes. You would know about game-changing, wouldn't you?

[perfectisnteasy]

Matter of fact, I would, sweetheart. I'm sorry, should I remember you?

[the tone of voice he takes suggests that he doesn't think she's worth remembering, whoever she is - even if there's a nice thick layer of charm over it]

[firstaward]

Perlis. The Game Grid. Ring any bells?

[Because yeah. She's pretty ticked off about the whole "force programs to fight to the death" thing. Wrong Clu, but she'll take what she can get.]

[perfectisnteasy]

[he's seen so many programs go through the Grid and get derezzed and repurposed that, honestly, it doesn't even really matter to him at this point. she's just another compilation of data - especially if she didn't cut it. but if she did, well ...]

Depends. How'd you rank, Perlis?

[firstaward]

[That stops her dead. How did she rank? The last memory she can pull up is fighting Aurora. And then something happened with one of the other combatants, the one with no name.]

...Second round.

[perfectisnteasy]

Only the second? [he shakes his head] Geez, no wonder I don't remember you.

[firstaward]

[Twitch. That hit a nerve. And out comes the ol' disc.]

I doubt you remember any of those who you had destroyed. But don't worry. We remember what you did to us all too clearly.

[perfectisnteasy]

That's okay. [he smirks as he draws his own disc] I can fix that for you. Only take a second.

[firstaward]

I'd sooner throw myself into the Sea of Simulation than forget what's happened. [Even though Perlis can't quite hide the anxiety on her face.]

You stay away from me, System Administrator.

[sameteam]

The Castle's okay. [Leaning on his arms, watching Clu.]

hogod thread whiplash. lol.

[perfectisnteasy]

.... [oh look, it's the competition. smiling to counteract the scorn he can't quite keep from his voice] ... Yeah, you would say that, wouldn't you, short stuff.

B'awwwww

[sameteam]

[Sam frowns a little, not understanding what's going on.] I'm tall for my age. The doctor said so.

[perfectisnteasy]

Well, good for him. I'm not so sure about your definition of "okay", though, kiddo. How'd you figure that one out?

[sameteam]

You can wish up almost anything but people. [Like his dad. :( ] Alan watches out for me.

[perfectisnteasy]

[so Alan-1 is there, too. great. he's already outnumbered by Users. ... that's okay. there are ways around that. he'll keep up the pleasant facade for now]

Oh, yeah? So, what, you just ask for somethin' and it's there? That's handy.

[sameteam]

Uh-huh. I got my Tron action figure from home. [Maybe he should wish up a Clu one next. :39]

[perfectisnteasy]

[echoing him, because seriously, wait, what does that even mean] Action figure.

[sameteam]

[Sam reaches into his pocket and pulls out the small figure, pressing the button on the chest to light up the blue circuits.] Uh-huh. This one's Tron.

[is0latedthinker]

[He's going to store that little 2.0 bit away for later. He knows it's you, CLU - he wants to see just where in the timeline you're from. Totally playing innocent.]

Flynn? What do you mean?

What happened to your clothes?

[perfectisnteasy]

[well, well, well, if it isn't Alan-1. the other Fabled User, the game piece he'd been trying for in the first place. it figures, CLU thinks. it really fragging does. have a dour chuckle as he shakes his head]

It's a long story, man. Looooong story. But the clothes don't make the man, do they? Heckuva greeting for an old friend.

[is0latedthinker]

[So he's still Kevin's enemy - and by association, his own. No regret for what he did to Tron, he bets. But Alan schools his expression into one appropriate for his act.]

I can't believe you're back. [He takes a few tentative steps forward.]

[perfectisnteasy]

Can't keep me down. You oughta know better than that, Alan. [he's grinning, and to his credit, he WILL go in for the hug - it's just that the grin might not be quite wide enough, the hug not quite so eager and just a nanosecond late in coming - he's good, but he's not 100%. there's an underlying current of Creeper]

[is0latedthinker]

[That's right CLU you're a creeper. Not bad - but he's been through this before. He claps CLU between the disc and shoulder as he returns the hug.]

Where have you been for the last 20 years? It couldn't have been on purpose. You wouldn't have left Sam or your miracle.

[notglitching]

[Oh, hey. Familiar face. Well, the face might not be so familiar, come to think of it. But that strained-sounding constant rattle? Probably is.

Tronzler Rinzler will just be... standing. At a reasonable distance. Really, he wouldn't be here if his user hadn't made him. Vocal functions take a while to access, but permissions or no, he's not unaffected by his last seven user-months outside the system.]

...destination?

[perfectisnteasy]

[CLU's eyes slide over to Rinzler, slowly. the fact that the other program ditched him and derezzed his jet to save Flynn's skin is still very fresh memory, to him, and it rankles. a lot.

why is Flynn so much better than him, to EVERYONE? he reprogrammed you, you were supposed to be that devoted to HIM. so the response comes out pretty curtly]

Paradisa.

[notglitching]

[Rinzler doesn't have that memory. At least not of his own. He pulled some interesting memory files off a user's disk once, though.

All the same, he remembers more than he's meant to, by now. Head stays low, his usual hunch putting him below the other program's height. He doesn't meet the admin's eyes, though his own stare won't quite stay down, either.

A short nod. Acknowledgement. Sound ticks out, faintly unsteady. He doesn't have much else to query. Even if he were meant to ask.]

[perfectisnteasy]

What, now I get the guilt? ... That's nice, man, that's some fine timing.

[notglitching]

[Surprise brings the enforcer's stare up more quickly than defiance could have managed. There's a skip to his sound. Irritation he can't contain. Or doesn't bother to. It's not as if much can happen to him, here.]

Guilt?

[From you? Or for you, either way. Nothing Rinzler would have expected.]