All Around the World is Waking

[survivethesiren]

Black against black. Besides an occasional spark of lightening high up within the clouds that blanketed what went for the Grid's sky, nothing pierced through the darkness that expanded out in front of Gem. Even her own suit's lighting could do very little against the darkness here at the edge of the Sea of Simulation.

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[fight4theusers]

Tron had taken a light-runner out to the Sea, drawn back to the place he considered the location of his "rebirth." Now he walked along the rocky shoreline, his gaze often drawn to the white sun that shone over the water, casting an eerie glow over the dark waves. Here was where he had crawled out, barely alive, his code flickering and rewriting itself, becoming who he was once more. But it hadn't been enough, had it? The recent encounter with the Siren had shown that all too clearly. Remnants of Clu's insidious programming still remained in his code, waiting for him to lose control, waiting for him to revert back to that monster.

Catching sight of another program along the shore, he frowned and paused, intending to turn back the way he'd come, but he soon recognized the white Siren. Again, he hesitated, but decided there was no real reason to avoid her. Stepping forward, he made sure he was in her line of sight.

"Gem," he said in greeting. "You are far from the city."

[survivethesiren]

"...As are you." Gem stood up as she saw Tron approaching, silently cursing herself for not having noticed him earlier. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him--far from it. But she had hoped to return to the Armory to gain a new suit before another Program or User saw the black that had marred the material on the right arm of it.

Despite knowing it was a futile gesture, Gem moved her coated hand behind her back slightly as she stepped forwards toward Tron. "I searched my data banks many times...I do not think I have ever visited the Sea." Tron had proven that he could be trusted not to betray her. So he was allowed emotions. Though she had most likely made it clear last time they met--intentional or not.

Letting her blue eyes catch his for a moment, Gem looked back over the black expanse, her face unreadable. Her tone, though, had a ting of regret.

"I wish I had seen it before Clu poisoned it."

[fight4theusers]

"It is not a place many visit, now," Tron said, casting a glance at the dark waters. He was lucky that the poison had taken no hold on his own systems, even for as long as he'd been immersed in the sea. Perhaps it only was meant to affect ISOs, or perhaps he was an old enough program that it did not have any negative effect on him.

Or maybe you just don't know if it has, yet...

He shook that thought away and turned back to Gem. "It was much more impressive, before. Flynn called it a 'place of ideas.' I think you would have liked it."

His brow furrowed as he caught sight of her hand held behind her back. "What..." Stepping to the side, he reached out and caught her elbow, gently tugging her arm into view. "What happened? Are you all right?"

/sneaks on from work. Shhhh.

[survivethesiren]

"I'm sure I would have." She smiled sadly, letting out a slow breath. Place of ideas, indeed. She couldn't imagine what it had been like, to watch the first Isos come from the water. Ophelia, Quorra, others. She herself had never seen a normal Program such as herself come into being--it had to have been moving. It certainly had been for Flynn, that much was clear. "It's still peaceful, though. Just more desolate than hopeful

[meghedi]

Jazz had found herself out here today, crouched at the edge of the Sea, because she missed someone.

Two someones, in fact.

Mika had been her best friend since the ISOs had first manifested, and after her death in the Purge, Jazz missed her terribly. Then there was Augustine, the ISO that had been her first boyfriend. They had broken up shortly before the Purge began, and Jazz was convinced he had died the same time Mika did.

"I miss you guys," she whispered, reaching down and poking at the rocks between her feet.

[survivethesiren]

"Unless you are friends with rocks, I am curious whom you are speaking to." Gem had seen the other woman approach, muttering to herself. Perhaps she was being unkind, but she had come to this place to get away from others. And yet here was Jazz, one of the bartenders from End of Line.

Gem vaguely knew the female Program's story. The details weren't in her databanks, though--lost in her reboot...or perhaps they were never there at all. No matter.

Stepping closer, she tilted her head, keeping her black coated hand at her side. "Regardless, the only who can hear you currently, is me." Her voice held no malicious tone, but it was not friendly, either. As with most Sirens--her netural tone was one of detachment.

[infeykted]

The ISOs weren't the only thing that had come into being here, so many cycles ago. Far more recently the edge of these digital waters had seen birth to something else. Something far more sinister.

Something that hadn't gone very far.

nFeykt paced slowly along the incline she had made her temporary resting point. She glanced at the ground, and then reaching down scooped up a handful of code fragments from her last victim, scattering them again like glitter.

Bored.

Her sensors caught onto something however. Perking up, she could make it out, just over the ridge. Another program? Yes, it appeared to be so. Another one, all alone.

A narrow smile slowly spread across her features, and her eyes flashed with viral energy as she moved closer at an even pace.

[survivethesiren]

Gem had been staring at the black that coated her arm for a few long moments when she felt the presense of someone else, moving towards her. As a Siren, her program recognized Programs quie quickly--but this? Was something else.

Something that boded ill for her.

Standing up completely straight, Gem turned to face the female coming towards her. Her stance was rigid--her Siren program flaring to life as her movements became more robotic. Sirens had few defense mechanism--and save her disk and speciality fingers--no weapons.

This meant, as usual, she would have to talk her way out of the situation.

Fair enough. It was what she did best.

"Program. Identify yourself."

[infeykted]

nFeykt did not possess much data on the different programs of the Grid, not yet - she knew a Security Program if she saw one, and likewise a User, but she had never encountered a...whatever this was, before.

Stopping a few paces away, still slightly elevated above her by the terrain, she took in the other being with a look of distant curiousity; her head cocked to one side, sweeping her from head to toe with unblinking green eyes.

Finally she stopped and lifted her head again to meet the program's gaze. She grinned with cold mirth, showing her teeth.

"nFeykt," she answered, all sweetness and dark amusement. "And yourself?"

[survivethesiren]

"Gem. My name is Gem." Her own tone was tight and robotic, revealing nothing. Gem had made it her business to know everything for Cycles. It was the price she had to pay for Zuse's reprogramming of her. And while she was different since her reboot--that need to know about other programs, before they knew about her.

For a program with no defenses, it was the best way for her to control the situation.

"What is your designation?" She did not move forward, but despite her uneasy feeling, she did not take a step in retreat, either.

Gem & Clu continuation

[survivethesiren]

Original thread started here.

[a_perfect_end]

Gem did not look best pleased at this turn of events.

Clu did not back up when she approached. He matched the motion, stepping neatly further inside her personal space.

"It won't be a problem," he hummed, and gripped her shoulder before she could move out of range. His touch was light on the surface, but just the wrong side of too firm. "Not if I take care of it."

Not a question, but Clu would still wait for a response. She'd matched him well in End of Line, after all.

[survivethesiren]

"You've taken care of enough, Clu." Gem's internal warnings were already going off--this was wrong. She was a Siren--and save her fingers, there were no defenses for her kind. And this was not the End of Line.

Here? Clu could easily end her, and no one would ever know. For that fact, and that fact alone, Gem allowed his touch on her shoulder and did not pull back. Her circuits flared briefly, but Gem attempted to keep them dampened, focusing on how the black water felt on her arm, and the way Clu was looking at her.

She knew that look--that sickening confidence that both him and Flynn always seemed to have.

"I'm fine, Clu. I don't need your help." Her voice hummed, the Siren programming attempting to persuade. It wouldn't work. But it was worth a try.

[a_perfect_end]

Sharp claws and a lovely voice. Those were a Siren's weapons, and they cut true. You've already done enough.

He hid it by pulling closer, inches from her face.

"It's reading you, right now," he said, and his thumb caught and pressed against the circuit running to the inside of her elbow. "Trying to figure out what you are."

So was he.

[namesram]

Ram had been walking slowly along the shore, shifting his light-jet baton moodily from one hand to the other. He'd meant to fly all the way to the remains of the Portal, but the turbulent sky and his own misgivings had brought him to ground at the edge of the sea, and he hadn't been able to bring himself to take off again.

Here, somewhere, Tron had pulled himself to relative safety before their strange meeting at End of Line, back in the past. Cycles later, after the Portal was gone, Ram had found him on the shore. The security program was back in the city now, the city Flynn had named after him, trying to pull things together -- including himself. Ram had no doubt that he would do it

[survivethesiren]

Hearing her name, Gem stood up, tensing for a moment before her processors recognized him. She hadn't expected to meet anyone here, and yet...the edge of the water seemed to be calling to a great deal of programs.

It made sense, in a way--it was here that their Creator had met his end...where the Isos had met theirs as well. And those who knew Tron...it was his place of rebirth.

A flicker of a smile hitting her face before disappearing, Gem stepped forward, moving closer to the other program. "Ram...I did not expect to have our next meeting here."

[namesram]

"I didn't either." He picked his way cautiously down the fragmented slope to join her, brow wrinkling in worry at the creeping blot on her sleeve. "Is that...?"

[survivethesiren]

"...it is." Gem sighed, annoyed at herself. "It's fine. I was just curious how it would react to me." Lifting her arm up to her face, she shrugged. "It's stopped spreading, and I feel no affects. I'm sure it's fine." She kept repeating it; to reassure him or herself, she wasn't sure.