Neon Jungle

[voiceless_anon]

Who: Anon, OPEN
When: Now.
Where: Somewhere near the Arena.
What: Anon is newly (re)rezzed and very confused, and is looking for somebody who'll explain what's going on.
Warnings: Probably none.

Comments

[benignspybot]

Ram frowned at the simple gesture but it was a thoughtful look with his brows furrowed and teeth chewing on the inside of his lip. "You can't talk?" he asked softly, barely audible over the crowd but that was the idea. He didn't figure anyone else needed to know.

But wasn't it kinda odd for a security program not to be able to talk? Wasn't it a little...counter productive? Unless he was only meant for brute force... Which Ram wasn't seeing so much with that beta-like innocence radiating from the blue-circuited program.

Mentally, he shrugged it off. He smiled again, encouragingly. "My name's Ram. I'll help if I can. Um... what do you need to know?" He bit his lip again in another thoughtful gesture then brightened up as he processed something. "New here? I haven't been here long myself. But I can tell you what was told to me!

"See, this System's got a glitch over in this place they call 'the Portal' because of some massive explosion. It keeps zapping programs into this System from literally anywhere--including apparently any time, too. Don't know how; don't know when it'll decide to behave again; but that's the story.

"So. Where are you from?" Although as soon as he asked it he had to wonder how the other program would answer which made him wince as he processed over how cruel it was to ask. It was just his nature to ask questions and gather information--written into his code quite literally--so it slipped out before he'd realized it.

[voiceless_anon]

Anon shook his head when Ram asked him whether he could talk. Until now, it hadn't actually occurred to him to wonder why he couldn't. It hadn't mattered earlier. There had been commands, and executing those commands, and that was all.

Anon listened eagerly as Ram explained what had happened. He couldn't reference the meaning of most of it, but he stored the explanation anyway. It was good of Ram to take the time to talk to him.

Though Ram couldn't see it, Anon smiled behind his visor at Ram's last question. That, at least, was easy. He pointed straight down, the gesture decisive. He'd been made for the Grid - had never known another system.

Point made, he opened his hand towards Ram. What about you? Where are you from?

[benignspybot]

Well that was a simple enough answer. Ram smiled and chuckled in relief. "Oh. You're from here after all, huh? I see." Lucky him.

Ram considered the gesture and the implied question it represented for a second before he answered. "This isn't my home System. I'm originally from a private server though it's hooked to a large network," the internet, "so I get out from time to time." Mostly to go to the ENCOM System and gather information that wasn't exactly meant for him or his User. But that was besides the point. "I got here by accident through that glitch I just told you about." He made a face at that. "Not my idea of a good practical joke," but he shrugs. "I'll make do."

Yori had said he could probably go home if he wanted anyway. The thing was he'd gotten so much information out of this place that was relevant to his directive that it seemed a waste to leave too quickly. What if he couldn't get back? If he missed out on a vital piece of information because he'd left too soon he'd kick himself. So he'd stuck around. For a while longer anyway.

"...So I guess that means you know more about this place anyway," he realized with another chuckle.

[voiceless_anon]

Anon nodded slowly at Ram's description of his own home system. He'd never met a program frm outside the Grid, and he found himself studying Ram with interest. He didn't look any different from other programs he'd known.

Anon shrugged again when Ram suggested that he knew the Grid better than he did, holding up a flat hand and rocking it from side to side. The architecture, yes, he knew that - or at least he had. But things had changed between seeing the Recognizer about to crush him, and onlining in a quiet part of the City. He knew nothing of what had happened, and the alterations implied that his memory gap was probably a lot bigger than a few microcycles.

Scrolling neon letters from above one of the Arena entrances caught his eye, reflected as it was in the building opposite. He remembered Clu making a speech during his one time in the Arena, and wondered if that was a standard process. If it was, it might be a good way to catch up onthe news - and if not, maybe the games themselves would tell him something.

Catching Ram's eye, Anon pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the Arena entrance and tipped his head on one side in invitation. Come watch the Games with me?

[benignspybot]

Ram nodded in understanding. "From a different time?" he asked. That would explain why the security program only knew the Grid 'so-so' rather than fairly well. Especially for a Monitor whose job was to know its home System like the back of its pixels so it could protect it as best could be. Even if Ram was opposed to most security programs on principle he couldn't not admire them for their dedicated work. And he rather enjoyed pitting against them despite the dangers of it on occasion.

The surveillance program glance over Anon's shoulder at the Arena beyond and back again. He smiled and nodded. Why not? That was what he was here for, right? To check out how this place worked compared to back home.

[voiceless_anon]

Anon nodded in agreement when Ram guessed that he was from a different time. He was glad that the program had figured it out on his own - specifics were a little hard to demonstrate. Once upon a time, he had known every data track and partition on the Grid, but not now.

When Ram agreed to go watch the Games, Anon perked up, his head lifting eagerly. He gestured to Ram to follow, trusting that there would be signals for the crowds to follow, once inside. His only experience of the Arena had been in through the back doors and in the Disc Wars battles - he'd bypassed all the public seating. Well, he'd been in a bit of a hurry at the time.

Once through the door, Anon looked around at the bewildering variety of seats listed on the screen projection. Most had red 'full' markers over them, a few had orange 'near capacity' tags, but Section P-53 was still green. Anon pointed at the marker, looking back at Ram.

[benignspybot]

Ram followed Anon's lead. Inside, he was amazed at the scale of the complex. The Games were obviously a big deal here in this System. He glanced up at Anon's gesture and nodded.

"Good choice," he said softly. He wasn't worried about being heard over the crowd because the words weren't all that important. But frankly he'd prefer less of a crowd. He wondered how long that section would stay green when there were so many programs still milling about looking for places to sit.

[voiceless_anon]

The noise was such that Anon barely heard Ram's reply, but he saw the nod perfectly clearly. He checked the markers on the wall, heading for the slice of the stands designated P-53 and turning his head to make sure Ram was following and hadn't been stuck behind the crowds.

It was a fair walk, caught up in the flow of programs all intent on going the same way. Some peeled off as they went, however, heading for some of the orange-marked segments and thinning the crowds a little. Then it was a long climb up the stairs as Anon headed for the highest point - further from the action, admittedly, but also somewhere he could sit and not feel like his back was exposed every second.

[OOC: I'm basing the Arena on a scaled-up version of Rome's Coliseum.]