On the User picking her up again...

[quorralated]

Are you sure this is a good idea? Not that it's my place to question a User, but...you have other programs, don't you? I wouldn't want to take your attention away from them too much.

Besides, it's been such a long time since you last booted me up. You're pretty - what's the term? - oxidized at this.

Well, if you say it's all right...

Is there anything to read around here?

Comments

[mailerdaemon]

You'll find that these Users tend to be easily distracted. They're much like Bits in that way, I suppose. [And that's as close to sympathy as Exim's going to get. Sorry, Quorra.]

...Read? There must be old read-me files around here somewhere. Have you taken a look?

[quorralated]

Mine used me for a long time before her real life commitments became too great. I understood at the time, but I just can't understand why she's choosing now to start this up again. Nothing has changed. It seems to me that most Users just can't prioritize like a program can.

Read-me files are boring. I'm talking about User books. They're fascinating, especially the fiction ones. Have you ever read one?

[mailerdaemon]

They are flawed. [Or so all the propaganda says.] But they can do some truly astonishing things when they calculate all the steps correctly. We wouldn't exist otherwise.

[That earns a blank look.] ...I'm afraid not. What are they like?

[lifes_short_pop]

He shoots her a look of sympathy.

"Unfortunately, Users don't have any idea what they're doing, and Muns are just plain sadistic."

Eager to change the subject, he adds, "I have a copy of Digital Frontier on my disc. Figured it would help if I read the manual."

[trythebackdoor]

[Repressing a grin.]

Oxidized?

[quorralated]

Oh, they're astonishing! [Quorra grins.] It's pretty amazing what Users can create with just their imaginations. Whole entire worlds. The Grid isn't the only thing they created out of thin air.

[quorralated]

"Most Users," Quorra corrects him, smiling. Flynn may have not had a plan, but he did know what he was doing. Sometimes. Somehow. She believes so, anyway, even now, after everything.

"I've read that one more times than I can count," she muses. "Flynn used to get embarrassed. He said he'd learned a lot since writing it. I used to tell him it didn't make what he wrote any less true."

[quorralated]

[Quorra looks anxious.] Is that wrong?

[trythebackdoor]

[Grin spreads. He shakes his head.]

Not wrong. Just different.

What's your mun got in store for you?

[mailerdaemon]

[Exim smiles shyly.] It isn't? ...Well. Maybe I could convince my User to share one of these "books". Just out of curiosity, you understand. -You certainly know a lot about Users, program. How'd you learn all this?

[lifes_short_pop]

"So...so have I," Jet admits. "Before...Well, before the incident, I thought of it all as metaphor, but after seeing that it wasn't..."

He looks very shaken and upset at the mention of Flynn. "I've heard he's gone. Looks like none of us will get any answers as to 'why' or a chance to say 'goodbye' or...or anything at all. Damn him anyway."