(no subject)

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Hey man. So you felt a connection to me, being a software engineer just starting to make your way into the world and wishing for a mentor figure? You've got lots of them around you, just open your eyes and look in front of you, man! The world itself is full of potential, all you have to do is listen. Besides, you know people. Very good people. Even those that aren't connected to the profession, they're just as important as the ones that are. Trust me. And keep at your studies. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love and miss my son, but uh...I wish he, you know, had a few more things going on than a dog.

So what about a game? Nah man, not that game,, I mean a journal game! You talk a lot about it, you browse the communities, but you get sidetrack and don't pick it up until a month later. Seriously, I know you miss being somewhere. So why don't we ask around? You have friends, they'll want to know.

Man, we are going to change the world. Or at least rock somebody's.

Comments

[inquisitive_nature]

If I might make a suggestion, good ser, but there is city_of_keys. I am, it seems, fated to head there myself.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Hey man, thanks for the info! I might him to check that out.

[inquisitive_nature]

It is no trouble. You are welcome for the information. The place is similar to a city I have been to before: a place called Sigil, the City of Doors.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Sounds kinda far o---wait a moment. Sigil? You mean the Planescape campaign setting in Dungeons and Dragons? I loved that game, man! That really takes me back, been a while since I rolled up a character.

may i say you have the best damn flynn name EVER?

[inquisitive_nature]

I am from such a campaign, actually. You can consider the City of Keys, then, to be the bastard lovechild of Sigil and amatomnes.

With one of the mods being a friend of my mundane's, I am quite fated for such a place. Similar and different as it will be, it still will not be as bad as other events in my life.

I can't take credit for it, it was the response of a friend when I told them I watched Tron Legacy.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Yeah, I heard about amatomnes. My mun had some friends that used to play there. That's pretty heavy man, might mess with my zen thing.

Guess you had it rough. Sadist DM?

Niiiice. http://i41.tinypic.com/eplptz.jpg

[inquisitive_nature]

Things could have been better. I spent three months stuck in a cursed item known as the Girdle of Femininity. Unfortunately, my own powers of curse removal were too weak to undo it, and my 'friends' decided my new condition was the perfect cover to infiltrate a brothel owned by the Thieves' Guild in a city we were in.

It's a long story.

Haha, *perfect*

[obi_wan_lebowski]

[beat]

Wow, man. With friends like that, who needs to look up CR?

ISN'T IT?

[inquisitive_nature]

On a related note, wooden washbasins make for surprisingly effective improvised cudgels.

[quorrathexplora]

FLYNN!

[wheresmyroute]

Uwaaah. To be so optimistic and supportive... it really sounds so nice to hear that someone else is looking for the same things you are too and help them out. Haaah, but it looks like the one I'm stuck with is only thinking about sending me to places where I might be tested to so many limits that is inhuman.

I guess good luck to both of us on finding a place to call home, maybe? Or something?

[obi_wan_lebowski]

People really underestimate those d4's, man. Any wizard with magic missile will tell you. I only wonder if you got to turn the tables.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Quorra...! Quorra, man am I glad to see you. How's the arm holding up?

[obi_wan_lebowski]

You know I heard about that. Seems like half the places on the grid are some kind of sophisticated torture worlds. Mine tells me you have a pretty bogus history already, have you tried appealing to that? We need more love, not more pain.

[quorrathexplora]

It's fine! It's... great.

Are you...

What places are you looking at?

[wheresmyroute]

It seems that the reason why mine puts me in places like those is so I can become... um, stronger, I guess is the right way to describe it? But he also seems to push on the fact on what I am would make either a hindrance to make that goal happen or perhaps a character development involving that... sometimes it just feels like a no-win situation.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Dunno yet. Mun's played at mayfield_rpg and that's all the journal experience they've ever had. They've got friends at tvk also. That first one's pretty heavy and "moves fast" I'm told. The second's mostly just full of kids right now, I'd probably feel way too out of place there. Y'know.

Quorra...tell me something. How's...Sam?

[obi_wan_lebowski]

...sounds heavy, man. Not cool. Mixed messages there like whoa. Your mun should cut you some slack by this point.

[wheresmyroute]

You have no idea how many times I say it's super crazy and the responses I always get is "Isn't it sad, Sacchin~?"! All. The. TIME.

[inquisitive_nature]

Magic Missile. The bane of many a summoned skeleton, not that I hold any pity for those foul monstrosities.

Ugh. Always gave me ... the creeps.

[quorrathexplora]

There is always grid_lined. If other places seem too fast.

Sam is well. He took charge of the company, and I am working as his personal assistant. It was a grave risk for him and Alan to overwork themselves, but I think it's starting to work out. Most weeks, we even get a whole Sunday without the urge to stop by the Encom Tower...

[knowsjulesverne]

Hey, at least Marv's easy to take care of.

[notglitching]

[Have a very surprised and somewhat familiar-looking program. Though the circuit color might give you pause.

Rinzler's been short his helmet since the user city he got stuck in decided to troll him glitch up his functions. Still, the program's reaction would be clear enough in the tense set of hunched shoulders, the erratic skip in his continuous rumble. The frozen expression just confirms it.

You might want to say something before he stalls out.]

[obi_wan_lebowski]

A grid-based journal game? Far out. Seems like there's other "me's" there, would that be a problem?



That's good, that's...great. I'm relieved to hear...wait. You got Alan to take time off?

I know you'd change the world.

[quorrathexplora]

It won't be a problem! There are about three of me, and the count of Trons and Rinzlers is all over the place. And I can't even play with that Flynn, since he's in the same headspace... And I miss you.


Well, it does help that things are going less in the wrong direction, and Sam is in charge and he is getting more into the swing of things. And in some versions of things, Lora helps with that.

[obi_wan_lebowski]

Wow. Why would someone say that to you?

Man. Have you ever thought of looking into meditation?

[obi_wan_lebowski]

...okay man, your old man does not have a good comeback for that one. At least you hit the arcade from time to time, right?

[obi_wan_lebowski]

[There's a pause alright. A mix of shock, sadness and leeriness as the figure's familiarity dawns on the old man.]

Tron...

[notglitching]

[There's another kind of freeze—twitch, stiffness, flinch—in response to the word. The program's eyes drop for a moment, pupils flickering blue-white, red-orange in turn. Then the stare—glare—comes up, noise an edged and ticking growl. He shakes his head.

Not Tron.]

[obi_wan_lebowski]

[Kevin sighs in response, looking immensely tired.]

CLU did something horrible to you. It wasn't right. It wasn't cool, man...

[notglitching]

[There's another slight twitch, a hitch in the continuous noise as his shoulders roll forward in a jerky shrug. The glower doesn't fade. He knows what Clu made of him (now). It doesn't matter.

He's still not the friend you're looking for.

(who you left.) ]

[obi_wan_lebowski]

[Something inside Kevin instinctively realizes what Tron is communicating...at least the guilt comes back with the memories of that day. It dawns on the system admin once more how many cycles have passed since that day.

How many impossible cycles a normal human could never experience.]

I'm sorry. Tron, I'm so sorry...

[notglitching]

[Rinzler's not trying to communicate anything like that. But the user's tone only adds to the building tension, and the name (again) gets a visible flinch.]

Not Tron.

[The words are quiet, but harsh, a static-filled stutter half snarled out with the jarring, building growl. Nothing he's supposed to do, nothing he's supposed to have. Speech isn't his function. But that matters less and less, these days.

And the user [Flynn] needs to stop.]

[obi_wan_lebowski]

[Kevin grabs a nearby model of bit, playing with it idly in his hands. More than anything, he needed focus for light meditation, something he very much needed right now.]

Yeah, I know. You aren't Alan's anymore. I don't remember what CLU picked out for you, but I know it wasn't "sprinkler" like I want to say.


[pause] Where'd you go man? ...Where are you?

[notglitching]

[Rinzler stiffens, reactions all too visible on his unmasked expression. He's not used to needing to control it. Anger (forgotten, ignored, Flynn didn't know him). Emptiness (why would he know, why would he care). The program shakes his head, in the end. He doesn't offer his designation.

The second question gets a pause. Head tilts in question, and the program's left hand clenches, just faintly, before dropping to a communicator. He transmits two sets of coordinates, brief text descriptions attached. It's far too much for him to say, even now, but that doesn't mean the data's not worth sharing.]

Location: abaxcity. User city. Glitching, draws from variety of systems. Current iteration [of him] present.

Location: grid_lined. Variant Grid. System currently under control: your faction. [The program's glare sharpens slightly at the mention, before he gives an almost apologetic shift and adds a self-reference note.] Not the same there. Different events, results. Probability (hostility): high.

[knowsjulesverne]

[That earns a more shuttered expression from Sam.]

It's closed, Dad. Been closed for twenty years.