Entry tags:
s-sob what am i even doing
...User? Hello!
Now what?[...glare. Growl. Headshake.
Rinzler's commentary: the helpfullest.]
[Oh. Noises, now. Welp, you're already more talkative than the version he knows. Grumpy, murdery, same difference, right?
Have a headtilt, some slightly more speculative rumbling. And then return text.]
Rinzler.
Provide: designation, function.
Have a headtilt, some slightly more speculative rumbling. And then return text.]
Rinzler.
Provide: designation, function.
[He doesn't like to talk much, but it's hard to communicate with his User using just pantomime. One involves less derezzing.]
[Oh! He can totally do that text thing, too. Watch this.]
[Oh! He can totally do that text thing, too. Watch this.]
Designation: Anon. Function: system monitor. ...Secondary. Primary system monitor is- was Tron.[Rinzler's of the opinion users aren't worth even the pantomime. Just growling. But the derezzing's the fun part!
...and confirmed. Noise shifts with irritation, rising to a snarl at that last name. The black mask jerks sideways, quick and angry. You have fun with that user-following, brogram.]
...and confirmed. Noise shifts with irritation, rising to a snarl at that last name. The black mask jerks sideways, quick and angry. You have fun with that user-following, brogram.]
[But somebody had to write you into existence, program. Users are okay. And Flynn is kind of awesome. You are the meanest security program ever, dude.]
[Anon's face isn't visible, but he's radiating an aura of sheer "wtf". What is your malfunction?]
[Anon's face isn't visible, but he's radiating an aura of sheer "wtf". What is your malfunction?]
What?[Nope. Not okay. And don't even get Rinzler started on Flynn. Enforcer. Not security. Get it right.
The question gets a turn, a glare. No face here, but still not hard to map the rigid hostility to the hunched form.]
Your function: unnecessary.
System perfected.
[And he'll just be ignoring all mention of Tron.]
The question gets a turn, a glare. No face here, but still not hard to map the rigid hostility to the hunched form.]
Your function: unnecessary.
System perfected.
[And he'll just be ignoring all mention of Tron.]
[You believed in them once. What about Alan-1? What's the phrase...? Ah, yes. "Attack dog".]
[He doesn't approach. Doesn't alter his body language from the open, quizzical one he's had up to now. But make no mistake. Anon is definitely alarmed now.]
[He doesn't approach. Doesn't alter his body language from the open, quizzical one he's had up to now. But make no mistake. Anon is definitely alarmed now.]
System is in danger from Clu and Abraxas. System monitors still necessary. Still needed. ...I'm still needed.[Rinzler didn't. And Alan-one was... he... he doesn't know. Go jump in an energy beam. >B|
...and oh, you little half-glitched beta, you don't... know? Rinzler stares for a moment. Noise quiets slightly. Users or not, he gets along almost reasonably with the iteration of you he knows, and well... if he weren't what he is, he might almost feel bad for breaking the news.]
False.
Information: outdated.
Clu won.
[Helmet tips slightly, towards his own red-orange lights. You're not talking to an ally, Anon. Or to someone on the losing side.]
...and oh, you little half-glitched beta, you don't... know? Rinzler stares for a moment. Noise quiets slightly. Users or not, he gets along almost reasonably with the iteration of you he knows, and well... if he weren't what he is, he might almost feel bad for breaking the news.]
False.
Information: outdated.
Clu won.
[Helmet tips slightly, towards his own red-orange lights. You're not talking to an ally, Anon. Or to someone on the losing side.]
[Anon follows Rinzler's motion, glances down at the other programs circuits. At the tetromino on his chest. At- at- it can't be- And everything seems to freeze all at once.]
[It can't be. It can't. Anon goes ramrod straight at the sudden realization. It can't be, and yet it is. ("Flynn! Go!" Watching helplessly from above as Tron fought off Clu's guards.) Tron died a hero. Except he didn't die.]
[Anon speaks, voice scarcely louder than a breath.]
T... Tron...?
[It can't be. It can't. Anon goes ramrod straight at the sudden realization. It can't be, and yet it is. ("Flynn! Go!" Watching helplessly from above as Tron fought off Clu's guards.) Tron died a hero. Except he didn't die.]
[Anon speaks, voice scarcely louder than a breath.]
T... Tron...?
[Mistake. He just meant to flag the color, flag his loyalties. But the monitor would remember the rest.
Noise catches, the glitching skip of code in conflict rattling loud and harsh as the mask jerks sideways in denial. Stance coils rigid, a hand twitching back for his disks. It's automatic, deep-coded compulsion. Delete the memory; delete the trigger. But he remembers more than he was meant to, and the reach for weapons stalls unfinished—there's little point derezzing the monitor to keep a secret everyone knows, now.
Of course, if the fury in his voice is any sign? Rinzler's more than tempted to opt for deletion on his own.]
No.
Noise catches, the glitching skip of code in conflict rattling loud and harsh as the mask jerks sideways in denial. Stance coils rigid, a hand twitching back for his disks. It's automatic, deep-coded compulsion. Delete the memory; delete the trigger. But he remembers more than he was meant to, and the reach for weapons stalls unfinished—there's little point derezzing the monitor to keep a secret everyone knows, now.
Of course, if the fury in his voice is any sign? Rinzler's more than tempted to opt for deletion on his own.]
No.
[It's almost impossible to accept this. Anon knows that Clu can pull some very unpleasant strings; turning Jalen from an ISO into a virus is proof enough in his eyes. But to- to pervert Tron himself is a level of evil that he'd never expected to encounter. And yet... and yet, here it is. Proof.]
[Anon is still a very young program time-wise. Barely rezzed before the Purge began. Barely functional for long before his sacrifice. But something in him, some piece of coding, keeps him from crashing entirely at this revelation. His shoulders drop. His spine straightens. And he looks at Rinzler with no trace of fear or anger.]
[Anon is still a very young program time-wise. Barely rezzed before the Purge began. Barely functional for long before his sacrifice. But something in him, some piece of coding, keeps him from crashing entirely at this revelation. His shoulders drop. His spine straightens. And he looks at Rinzler with no trace of fear or anger.]
Clu will answer for this.[Rinzler's changed. Over the thousand cycles, and a lot, more recently. He remembers more. Thinks more. Even communicates, sometimes.
But if there's anything that has always held true for Clu's enforcer? It's that threatening his admin is a good way to get killed.
The aborted reach resumes. The joined disk comes free with a flare of red-orange and white. Noise lowers to a growl, even and precise, the enforcer's black mask fixing on the monitor before shaking slowly. No words, but the meaning's clear enough. No. Clu won't.
Because it's Rinzler's task to make sure otherwise.]
But if there's anything that has always held true for Clu's enforcer? It's that threatening his admin is a good way to get killed.
The aborted reach resumes. The joined disk comes free with a flare of red-orange and white. Noise lowers to a growl, even and precise, the enforcer's black mask fixing on the monitor before shaking slowly. No words, but the meaning's clear enough. No. Clu won't.
Because it's Rinzler's task to make sure otherwise.]
Okay, another Program. Blue-white, meaning it's Encom-aligned. Maybe time to test his (admittedly, not that great) luck again. He's not going to find out the truth unless he asks.
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
[And that right there cuts pretty deep. That was the same sort of loyalty Tron showed to the Users. (To the good guys, in Anon's view.) His hand is halfway to his disc before he pulls up short. This is his friend. His mentor. And changed or not, he's not going to clash with him.]
[It's a struggle to lower his hand back down to his side, but he does. He shakes his head vigorously. No. No fighting. He won't do it. Can't do it. Rinzler may be changed, may be different, may be utterly and completely foreign, but he's still a friend.]
[And Anon will never derezz one of his friends ever again.]
[It's a struggle to lower his hand back down to his side, but he does. He shakes his head vigorously. No. No fighting. He won't do it. Can't do it. Rinzler may be changed, may be different, may be utterly and completely foreign, but he's still a friend.]
[And Anon will never derezz one of his friends ever again.]
Yup! Testing a Legacy-compliant AU for fanfic purposes. Not adverse to a game, though!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lifes_short_pop
2012-08-31 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, this is better than the reception he normally gets...
"You know what I am?" He smiles a little and rubs the back of his neck. "First time anyone's really believed me outright. Uh...please don't get down on your knees or anything. We're not that different from Programs in the big picture."
"My name's Jet. What's yours?"
"You know what I am?" He smiles a little and rubs the back of his neck. "First time anyone's really believed me outright. Uh...please don't get down on your knees or anything. We're not that different from Programs in the big picture."
"My name's Jet. What's yours?"
Edited 2012-08-31 20:30 (UTC)
[Open hostility and anger? Yeah, apparently a lot's changed since Anon got flattened by a Recognizer. -Oh, right, introductions. He visibly brightens at the question.]
[And he works so hard at it, too!]
Designation: Anon. Function is system monitor, User Jet.[And he works so hard at it, too!]
Heh. Glad you approve. Bloody shame he's not canon anymore
lifes_short_pop
2012-08-31 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[[Ah, Recos. Mun is old enough to swear at their Intellivision incarnations...]]
Well, the systems he walked through were nowhere near Anon's Grid; Encom's lab servers, his dad's home PC, the open Internet, and F-Con's network. Didn't help that the nutcase Kernel mistook him for a viral agent, Thorne was pretty much Abarax with User powers, and F-Con was good and pissed off at his antics by the time he got there...
"Security, huh? I should be glad you're not trying to take my head off. I was uploaded here without a whole lot of instructions, so I guess I'm going to try and find out what happened. Failing that, I'd like to figure out how to be the kind of User a Program wouldn't be embarrassed to have."
Well, the systems he walked through were nowhere near Anon's Grid; Encom's lab servers, his dad's home PC, the open Internet, and F-Con's network. Didn't help that the nutcase Kernel mistook him for a viral agent, Thorne was pretty much Abarax with User powers, and F-Con was good and pissed off at his antics by the time he got there...
"Security, huh? I should be glad you're not trying to take my head off. I was uploaded here without a whole lot of instructions, so I guess I'm going to try and find out what happened. Failing that, I'd like to figure out how to be the kind of User a Program wouldn't be embarrassed to have."
You are a good User, User Jet. For writing programs into being, all Users are deserving of respect. Have faith.[Just don't come visit the Grid, mmkay? Because that program your old man wrote is kind of... well, he's a little Axe Crazy right now. Sorry.]
"I'm not so sure of that. I've been writing code since I was a kid, but finding out Uncle Kev....I'm sorry. Finding out that Flynn's stories were mostly true shocked me. And not all Users are good, unfortunately. Some of them tried to enslave and attack your world as a way to gain power over other Users."
"To reformat a hard drive is like nuking a city, to delete a Program is taking a life. The Users...people like me...we have a responsibility to the Programs, one that shouldn't be abused."
"From what little others have told me, Flynn was experimenting with Program life inside an isolated system," He's not going to make an overt comment about how that might not have been sane, much less ethical. "But something must have gone very wrong."
"To reformat a hard drive is like nuking a city, to delete a Program is taking a life. The Users...people like me...we have a responsibility to the Programs, one that shouldn't be abused."
"From what little others have told me, Flynn was experimenting with Program life inside an isolated system," He's not going to make an overt comment about how that might not have been sane, much less ethical. "But something must have gone very wrong."
[Something did go very wrong. But how could Flynn have anticipated this? Could anyone? Anon shifts from one foot the others and looks off to the side awkwardly. How confusing the User's world must be, and how dangerous.]
...System administrator Clu executed a coup. The Creator- User Kevin Flynn- escaped. System monitor Tron derezzed during initial attack against the Creator. Sacrificed himself to save Creator. [Except what happened to Tron is a fate far worse than death.] ISOs slaughtered by forces under Clu's control.
...System monitor Anon derezzed. Sacrificed to save ISO designate Quorra from being crushed. -Was the only way to save her."Clu...I think I met him on this ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dear_mun system. Looks like Flynn, gold circuits, meaning he's an independent AI? If so, he was creepy, and overly fond of violent lightcycle racing."
Don't get him started on the "one-was-too-many" rounds of those he had to survive.
"I've seen a few versions of Tron around so I'm guessing that de-rez might have been preferable to what happened. If he is alive? Well, I may not be my father, but in a way, I owe him my life a few times over. If he can be saved, I'd like to try."
"I've heard others mention Isos, but no one wanted to tell me what they were. From the way the others talked, I thought they might have been viral agents. They're...not?"
dear_mun system. Looks like Flynn, gold circuits, meaning he's an independent AI? If so, he was creepy, and overly fond of violent lightcycle racing."Don't get him started on the "one-was-too-many" rounds of those he had to survive.
"I've seen a few versions of Tron around so I'm guessing that de-rez might have been preferable to what happened. If he is alive? Well, I may not be my father, but in a way, I owe him my life a few times over. If he can be saved, I'd like to try."
"I've heard others mention Isos, but no one wanted to tell me what they were. From the way the others talked, I thought they might have been viral agents. They're...not?"
[The other reaches, and the enforcer's grip shifts, ready to split his weapons, to fight. Combat makes things easy. All calculations and battle-traced vectors, movement and targets and derezz. But then the opponent's hand lowers, and the projections fade. Not a threat.
The ticking rumble builds in a snarl of rage.
A quarter-micro. Half. A full micro's wait, and the orange disk darkens. No fight here. No challenge. The black helmet shakes again, and this time, there's as much disgust to the motion as refusal. Fine. Back down, avoid conflict if you want.
But if you come after Clu, he'll delete you. Drawn disk or no.]
The ticking rumble builds in a snarl of rage.
A quarter-micro. Half. A full micro's wait, and the orange disk darkens. No fight here. No challenge. The black helmet shakes again, and this time, there's as much disgust to the motion as refusal. Fine. Back down, avoid conflict if you want.
But if you come after Clu, he'll delete you. Drawn disk or no.]
[It's the worst kind of internal conflict imaginable. On the one hand, Clu has utterly broken the rules and has to pay for what he's done (for the programs he's destroyed and the ones he's twisted beyond all measure). But on the other hand... Anon can't bring himself to lift a hand against Rinzler. This is (was)- is his mentor. The program he looked up to.]
[Duty or friendship? His directive or his friend? He can't decide. And so, he does nothing. He stands there, arms at his sides. Wide open for any attack Rinzler might launch. But he knows the other program won't do it. Intuition says as much. His next words are almost inaudible.]
[Duty or friendship? His directive or his friend? He can't decide. And so, he does nothing. He stands there, arms at his sides. Wide open for any attack Rinzler might launch. But he knows the other program won't do it. Intuition says as much. His next words are almost inaudible.]
I am... so sorry.
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