One thing ive learned in life...bad ideas make good stories.

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Ram's not exactly looking like his usual self. It's not just the suit color and circuits what seems the be all wrong, but his general demeanor.]

If you're expecting any sort of gratitude for this you will die waiting, user.

This is just something else to add to your long list of bad decisions.

Comments

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Oh, right. That is a good point.]

Certainly not new for us. [Ram is making a mental list of all the changes, the grows is part of the top ten list.]

What's up with you? [Ram so polite and charming, right?]

[ja307020]

[The confusion is pretty evident. You mean the lovely greeting earlier wasn't over Rinzler's actions? Well. Short version.]

Clu happened.

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Actually,...no! Go figure. Today is surprise day all over.]

[Ram raises a brow in a questioning way.] Let me guess, it happened when I was dead? What sort of party I missed? [Details, Tron.]

[ja307020]

[A nod.]

No party. Better you missed.

[An independent program in Clu's perfect system? Yeah, that would have gone over about as well as an ISO dance party in the admin building.]

[nomoremrniceguy]

Proper sentences, Tron. They do wonders when you need to explain things. What exactly did I miss? A virus? The MCP taking over?

[Clue was a party popper and he may as well walk around wearing a sign around his neck saying "Evil Megalomaniac". Ram's new point of view when it comes to self-sufficiency might be similar but he's not a mass murderer yet, at least.]

[ja307020]

[Tron huffs and produces a data pad from the storage slot in his disk port. A proper explanation is a little more than his damaged communications can handle, and his fingers move rapidly as he composes a text message. After a few moments, he shows Ram what he typed.]

The MCP was derezzed not long after you were. I'm sorry. I thought you were both gone when the lightcycles crashed.

Flynn decided to create a new system called "The Grid" with some plan involving Users and programs being able to interact more. He was vague about it, and didn't really seem committed to the project even though he imported me and Yori and several other ENCOM programs. He created a Codified Likeness Utility to stand in his place when he was called away... which was more frequently and longer than any of us liked.

The Grid had some chaotic elements and spawned programs called Isomorphic Algorithms without any intervention from Flynn. He got very distracted by them, and the chaotic elements were causing the system to destabilize, which he primarily ignored. I did what I could about the gridbugs and to mediate, but... Eventually Clu got tired of it and rebelled.

He nearly derezzed me, almost killed Flynn, murdered all but one of the ISOs, and rectified more programs than I can count. I was... partitioned and reprogrammed. It was a nightmare for all of us save maybe Clu himself. All in the name of creating his perfect system.

Somehow I don't think you would have gone along with that.

[Happy, Ram?]

[nomoremrniceguy]

[ Ecstatic, man. Now give him a nanocycle to process all this.]

What a load of crap. [And yes, basically that was the first thing that came to his mind after all that information. Seriously you all went insane after his dead or what? This sure didn't help his recent dislike for Flynn.] So, Flynn was not just clueless but also utterly stupid.

You are sorry. [So much incredulity in his tone.] You should have checked, but I guess you didn't care enough either.

[He's distracted by the information about the ISOs and the reprogramming. That was like nothing he had seen before. Ram is different now, but not that different. He wants to be a free organism, that meant that he's not about to let another program (admin capacities or not) to boss him around.] That CLU program sounds like a really charming fellow. But you say he was programmed by Flynn, my guess is that he was doomed to fail eventually. Poor bastard.

[ja307020]

[Tron doesn't reply, text or otherwise, to Ram's barb. It's not untrue.]

Clu made his own choices. We aren't locked to our makers that tightly.

Did you have a fight with your User or something?

[Blaming it all on Flynn lets Clu off the hook. Clu's the last program to be getting away with that kind of crap. It's odd to see this much bitterness coming from Ram. You were always the most optimistic one.]

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Ram smirks at that. It looks nothing like his usually good natured smile. His expression is more cynic, but he does look amused.] Oh, I know that now. Small compensations.

[At the mention of his user the amused look is dropped and gone in seconds.] Should I even be talking to him?

[Ram doesn't know CLU, and even if he can tell that the program was as nuts as the MCP he still blames it all on the user who created him. Not anymore, sadly.]

[ja307020]

Being passive-aggressive never suited you. And I can tell you that if you let it fester, you're just setting yourself up for madness.

You might as well inform him you're not taking his directives anymore, at least. Saves having to try and ignore the call.

[Tron punctuates it with a shrug. In the end it's Ram's choice.]

[nomoremrniceguy]

And, on the other hand, your lack of tact is not new. What's it tor you? It's not like you ever really cared. Your mission was always the only thing that ever mean anything to you. The rest, we all, were expendable. I don't recall asking your for advice, so cut it off.

[And he's going to choose the hard way, because he's tired of playing nice and he's too angry with Roy to choose diferently.] I don't own him anything. He ignored me for more than 200 cycles, is not like he will notice this.

[ja307020]

[Tact is for losers. This, though is important enough that Tron derezzes the helmet finally so Ram can see him frowning.]

Not true.

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Watch out, we have a badass over there Ram''s face doesn't change.]

I elaborate hypothesis and possible scenarios, Tron. That's why I was so good at my job, analyzing is an important part of my programing. In light of recent events, meaning you leaving us behind, I can confirm that your didn't care enough to stop and check if we needed your help.

I will ruin the surprise and tell you that yes, we needed you. I needed you. [The sarcastic tone was back.] But not anymore.

[ja307020]

[Yeah, because having all those tanks and things hot on your tail is really conducive to turning around, Ram.]

Missing variables. Believe what you want.

[Ram's words strike, draw a pained expression from Tron. Not to mention a complete sentence. He turns to go, since this accomplishes nothing.]

[nomoremrniceguy]

[Details. You could have avoided them somehow. Even Flynn did it, and Ram already established that Flynn was mostly useless.]

Don't worry, I'm done believing. [Ram watches him go, and only huffs, snarking coldly.] Now, that's a familiar sight. Your back as you walk away.