zero: 00000 [video]

[yorisearching]

[All the camera shows is Yori's face and a fall of loosely curled blonde hair; she looks brisk and businesslike.]

If this is Flynn's new system, he has got to work on his coding. Does anyone know where I can find an I/O tower? Or-- [She falters, just a fraction.]

Tron? Are you here?

[A hopeful smile, flickering back to friendly neutrality

Comments

[savior_n_black]

[ voice; video until otherwise stated ]

...Um. So, I guess you're a friend of Rin-- I mean...Tron's?

[ Catching himself, there, and saying the name pretty quietly. Oh man, this can't be good. ]

[yorisearching]

Then he is here? [She grins at the unfamiliar orange-haired program in relief.] I wasn't expecting to arrive alone.

Yes, I've known Tron almost since he was compiled. We've been companions for cycles. My name is Yori.

Is this Flynn's system? It isn't what I expected at all.

[savior_n_black]

...You could say that.

[ Houston, we have a problem. ]

This isn't Flynn's system. It's not any system at all, it's...um...complicated. This place calls itself "Abax", and it's a really weird city? Erm, like I said. It's complicated.

Yori-san, are you in the morgue---uhhh, I mean hospital still? W-Where you woke up? Because this is going to take some explaining, and...well. You'll need some clothes, and shoes, and stuff.

[ Oh, yeah. Shaking his head a little, and frowning at the camera. Then...well, even going so far as to give an awkward little nod at it. ]

I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Or, well, you can call me Ichigo if you want.

[yorisearching]

I don't know what a morgue is. But I haven't left the quarantine shell yet.

[She shifts a little, and the strange material confining her rustles with the movement. At least it isn't charged.]

I didn't want to bring Security down on me before I understood the system.

[That's a long name to have no recognizable numeric code in it. And she doesn't recognize the extra syllable added on her own name, either. Strange customs here. She'll have to hope they're understanding of a newcomer's foreign syntax.]

It's very kind of you to offer help, and I could definitely use the explanation. How do I rez in proper armor in this...city?

[video; encrypted, unhackable]

[notglitching]

[...
..
.

He's staring at the feed. Video on. There's still a thin break in down the side of the facial render from his most recent fight. But the features are familiar. Known. Easily recognized. Programs don't change, after all. Aren't meant to.

She didn't.

Rinzler stares. Sound harsh, grating-not a rumble, not a low ticking, but a loud, grinding catch of conflict. Something broken. His expression matches, near enough. Head dips. Raises. Light flickers up in faint reflection from the collar of his shirt, backlighting his pupils: red-orange glow. Flickering. Faltering. There's no speech. No real motion. But he can't stop staring.

She.
She.
(Yori.)
She can't be here.]

[yorisearching]

Tron!

[She pulls the tiny screen closer, thumb brushing the image. Worry tempers her delight.]

What have you been fighting that could do that? [She knows his skill, and it's no small feat to get so close.] Are you all right?

[The color registers well after the damage, and she notes the increased encryption.] Are you running camouflaged? How much have I missed? [An irritated breath.] I expected to be with you.

[video -> text; still encrypted, unhackable]

[notglitching]

[He flinches.

Not from the reprimand. Not from the harsh crackle of redirect or press of command or any of the fifty other fractured processes bearing down with nausea and pain and shouldn't-shouldn't-can't. No. He knows-he knows what he was. What she's looking for.

But it's. Not. There.

And she can't be there and she shouldn't and he saw-he didn't-Clu-

The program's head drops, form clenching, curling in, and his noise breaks, harsh static stuttering out almost like speech. Because he's not alright, and she can't be-shouldn't-it's his fault and he's not what she's looking for and she shouldn't be asking that and WHY.]

Yori-

[Rasping. Broken. Barely a sound in the static of errors and mismatch and failure. The feed cuts. He. Can't. Can't/shouldn't/won't/can't, can't, can't. She shouldn't she doesn't she doesn't know (how, why) and he won't let it happen and he won't let her won't let her can't-]

Not Tron.

[yorisearching]

[Since it's obvious he is Tron, Yori can only assume this is confirmation of the need for disguise. The face could belong to another program, or a User; she doesn't know how many programs might share Alan-One's features.

But Tron knows her, she saw that, before pain flooded his eyes like an unexpected reformat washing a sector away.]

[Something happened to him, and it hurts like viral code that she has no idea what. She only knows the grief, sharper than an active disk. Directed at her.]

[The keyboard is a terrible, slow approximation of proper data input.]

What name would you prefer I call you?

Is there anything I can do to help?

[double_discs]

[audio-->text]

Y- Yori...

[There is a long stretch of silence--or so it would seem except there seems to be some sort of static-y rumbling on the line as if the connection is bad perhaps--before anything else is forthcoming from this id. When the replier finally does speak back up his voice is strained, the already gravelly pitch of his tone only making it that much harder to hear him clearly.]

Y-you're..here. No. [The rumbling noise rises in volume until it sounds distinctly more like a growl than static.] You shouldn't be. Not...here.

[The audio function suddenly cuts off but the connection remains intact. After a long moment text appears on the screen of the phone.]

Not the Grid. Not Flynn's system. No I/O towers.

Tron is not here.

Energy can be found in various places around the city. Alternatively: can be provided in person via exchange if necessary.

This is a part of the User world. [Likely. He wasn't entirely convinced yet. Not like what he remembered.]

[yorisearching]

[That was Tron's voice, Tron's recognition, but the connection was different from the first transmission. Yori added it to one more confusion that she hoped would make sense eventually.]

[She answers in kind, typing awkwardly. If someone were hunting Tron, if this system were hostile...she can think of several dozen reasons Tron might say these things, and none of them good.]

I apologize if I should not have used that name openly.

I would like to meet when possible. Where can I find you?

[The User world. She didn't know what to think about that claim, except that Tron wouldn't lie about it. It would explain the awkward, counterintuitive device and the complete lack of response in her present environment. It would not at all explain how such a thing was possible, but this is Tron.]

[double_discs]

Irrelevant.

Your location known. All residents arrive in hospital morgue. Transit to there simple.

Confirm: need for energy is imperative?

[Okay, so he didn't actually think that but it was the easiest only easiest slip for his processor to let by without utterly breaking his system. Normal people would call it an 'excuse'.]

[yorisearching]

Enough reserve for now, but without system energy to draw from I'll need it badly within half a millicycle.

Someone calling himself Ichigo is offering aid with local clothing. Is he trustworthy?

[Because who would she ask if not Tron?]

[snowwhitesoul]

...Tron?

[There's a pause as Rukia considers her words.]

You are from Quorra-san's world, then?

[yorisearching]

[Yori smiles at the unfamiliar face.] I don't recognize that name, but there are plenty of programs I've never met. If this Quorra had heard of Tron, then I expect there was a connection.

I'm from the Encom system. Flynn was transferring a group of us to his new Grid. Does that match what Quorra said?

[snowwhitesoul]

Ahh, yes...Tron.

[Rukia knew little about Tron, but she knew enough about Rinzler. Fought him to protect Quorra in another city like this. More than once, even. Needless to say, her opinions of Rinzler were not very high.]

Quorra-san said she was an...ISO?...from "The Grid". Likely, it is the same place.

[yorisearching]

Is an Iso a kind of program? I've never heard of the term, but Flynn meant to try some new things in his system, so it probably is the same.

[She hesitates.]

Do you know...how long Tron was there? [Without me, she doesn't add. Which isn't necessarily true, present lack of memory or not. But it feels like it.]

[stand_witness]

[ Comment not here ]

[ But nothing cures that pesky post-death hangover like information gathering. Soundwave is watching with pointed interest. ]