thisavrou | video; cw for character death

Entry tags:

tron: kevin flynn

video; cw for character death

[ Five days ago, the demon stalking Avagi's dark corridors and hiding beneath your bed upped the ante, and murdered Kevin Flynn.

The same Flynn who looks noticeably alive when he shows up on the network just today. He's in a pleasant mood, in one lab or another to judge by the backdrop, without so much as a hair turned to suggest there's anything out of the ordinary.

What the fuck. ]

Hey folks. Got a couple things for you all this morning.

The A.C.E. Team has some upcoming software updates in the pipeline. You might notice a brief network hiccup or two while your device completes the downloads.

If you have any questions or issues, give us a heads up. [ handy-dandy link to the network admin list is a go. ]

Second thing. [ All right, business is over, now he looks gently chuffed. ]

Some of you have expressed interest in learning how to meditate. I'd like to extend an invite to everyone, to join me in the greenery this afternoon for a little Q & A and a zazen demo. You'll want to wear something comfy, and bring a cushion to sit on, if you're creaky like me.

Hope to see you all there.

[ Yep, even some of you sourpusses. There's no escape from Flynn's easygoing serenity.

Even though he should still be dead and, point of fact, his cooling corpse is still in their makeshift morgue. ]

((ooc: yep. feel free to pm or pp me for questions! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ram has been taking a break from his explorations in favour of nigh on living in the library trying to help with research on this demon. In addition, he's been looking into User deaths, hoping to find something, anything that suggests a possibility of it being reversible.

When the video pops up on his ACE, half forgotten next to him on the desk, he almost crashes.]

Flynn!

[Where Flynn looks perfectly put together, Ram's circuits are dim and his expression bleak, but not quite so much as before he watched the video. The growing relief in his tone is obvious.]

You're back! How?! Where the frag are you? Oh Users, you're back!

[ Well, that's a voice he's not heard in ages. A face, too, one he'd be hard pressed to forget... ]

Ram? Ram!

[ Equal parts confusion, delight, and a step into concern at those dim circuits. ]

Looking a little rough there, buddy. When did you get here? Come up to Chem lab four, I've got a charging station you can use.

[While the first video had a clear background of the library, the second is a little shaky as Ram is already moving through the halls towards the lab. As wonderful as it is to see Flynn on screen, seeing him in person will cement whether or not he's really back.

...And he's maybe been neglecting his energy intakes over the last couple of days.]

Get where? I've been in the library the last two and a bit days if that's what you mean. What about you? What happened? How-- Not that I'm not overjoyed to see you, but how are you back?

Two days?

[ A murmur, set in mild bemusement. What? He lifts a hand, a placative gesture: Hold up and chill. ]

Slow- slow down. I haven't gone anywhere, man. Save your energy, we'll talk more in a sec.

[ In fact, he'll be waiting for the Basic out in the corridor, tall and composed, and just as whole as he was on the feed. ]

Haven't gone anywhere? Flynn, you were--

[But he stops himself and rubs a hand over his face. Something isn't right and he doesn't want to discuss it over video.]

We'll talk when I get there.

[The video ends, but Flynn is not left waiting long. Within a few minutes, Ram rounds the corner, a slightly strange sight with sweats on and a hoodie tied around his waist, making the cover rather obsolete.

Ram makes a beeline for the User and stops in front of him. He looks real. Tentatively, he reaches out and touches Flynn's nose, and with the confirmation that he's real and solid, grabs him into a hug.]

You're really back.

[ There's an element of finality to Ram's bitten-off remark he doesn't like. He guesses he's spoken to Alan, or Sam- Flynn has since accepted his impending death in the system, an eventuality he draws nearer to every day. All the more reason to treasure the time he has here.

On sighting Ram, he almost laughs, but offers instead an appreciative hum for both the program and his interesting fashion choice. He's definitely met Yori. The nose boop gets the edge of befuddlement in his smile, but Ram's grabbed him and he isn't inclined to offer protest, just a warm hug in return, and a slow pat just under his disc. ]

I'm here, old friend. It's good to see you again.

[Ram ducks his face into Flynn's shoulder, the grief and desperation of the last couple of days slipping away with each second that Flynn is still here, alive and warm.

Eventually he pulls back and smiles up at him.]

It's good to see you too. [The smile fades and he looks down, then up again with concern and confusion.] But I don't understand how it's possible. Everything I read said that, depending on the cause, there was only a short window during which Users could be resuscitated. And you... you far passed it.

[ Does he ever dislike being right. His smile fades, too, sadness at the edge of his mouth. ]

You're right. But, why don't you start at the beginning? Let's get you charging.

[ Lest Ram share in his fate, here on Avagi. ]

[Now he's even more confused. Just a few minutes ago, Flynn hadn't seemed like he knew anything had happened. Maybe he's talked to someone else in the mean time, Ram can't have been the only one who got the initial message.

He leans on Flynn a little as they head into the room. Now the rush that had come with discovering Flynn lived is fading, his low power levels are starting to catch up with him.]

I arrived eleven days ago, immediately following my deresolution at Encom. A couple of days later, I ran into you in the hall and we talked for hours, it was so good to see you again, but then three days ago I heard from Alan-1 that you... you had been killed. I took the evening to process and have been in the library since the next day.

Edited 2017-12-17 22:53 (UTC)

[ It's...really a good thing they've made it into the lab and got Ram seated, a charging loop around his wrist. Flynn leans against the edge of the worktable, pressing a palm flat to the smooth surface. ]

That is a lot to process, man.

[ He looks to say something else but changes his mind. Actuary programs aren't wont to lie, and this is Ram, besides. There's no reason he would. Finally, he admits: ]

I gotta say, I don't remember any of that. You're pretty unforgettable, Ram.

[ His hand strays to Ram's shoulder, and maybe the squeeze that follows is just as steadying for himself as it might be for the young Program. ]

Eleven days?

[Ram sits down gratefully and though he initially eyes the loop dubiously, as soon as it's in place he can feel the energy begin to flow and leans back against the wall with a sigh of relief, his circuits pulsing gently.

He stays there a while, humming in agreement with Flynn and letting himself relax.

Until Flynn says that.]

What? You don't? Could your memory have been damaged? Mine wasn't, but Users might work differently. Perhaps there's a way to correct it.

[He moves as if to get up, agitated by having time with his friend lost to Flynn, but the User's hand on his shoulder stills him and he settles again, his own hand coming up to cover Flynn's.]

Yeah, it's been... eventful.

That's not outside the realm of possibility.

[ Musing, while Ram's hand on his is a welcome touch. All right. Well, that explains a few things, just as it leaves the door open for a thousand other questions.

He's not happy to hear that he's apparently died here on Avagi, and with no knowledge of it. Not a hint. He can remember going to sleep the previous night, waking up this morning, attending to his daily routine, stopping by the Ingress memorial at midday, where he felt that strange pull... If he were a younger man, maybe he'd be busily freaking out right now--oh, that would absolutely be assured--but what exactly can he do about that bewildering bit of info, especially since it's apparently all said and done, and he's just as hale and whole as he was at breakfast? Flynn's had a long time to accept that the only thing he can control in life is himself, and even at this moment, it's no different.

Right now, though, he feels very keenly for Ram. The actuary's shoulder gets another squeeze. ]

We'll get to the bottom of this.

[ Shifting his weight, Flynn lifts his other hand, palm up. To anyone from the Tron System, the request is obvious, and comes with a polite request: ]

Mind if I take a look?

[Ram frowns and shifts so he's leaning a little against Flynn, just a little extra contact.]

I don't know how User death works, but from what I read, this is not normal. Is there a way to check whether your memories can be restored, or at least discover how they were lost?

[Did the demon take them somehow? Disorientation is a possibility, but memory usually returns after being triggered or a cool down period in that situation and Flynn's had both.

The hand on his shoulder squeezes and he squeezes back with a slight smile. Flynn's alive, that's the important thing.]

Hm? [He looks at Flynn's outstretched hand and his eyes widen a little when he understands.]

Oh! Yes, of course.

[He reaches back and unclips his disk, setting it Flynn's hand. How many times has he given his disk to his User, though never directly like this.]

Generally, Users don't come back in the first place. Not the way it is here, anyway.

[ It's a mild correction, a thought spoken aloud. The cycle of death and rebirth is a familiar concept to any Buddhist, but this is definitely a step removed. Or is it? Flynn wets his lips, shaking his head. ]

Status check says things are good, man. I'm not missing any time- except, apparently, where I am.

[ Wry. Boy, he thought he was done with time issues on this side of the screen.

Ram, you're way too good. He accepts the disc from him with care, and has to take his hand from Ram's shoulder to get to work. It's so delightfully vintage, a slice of nostalgia from Encom big iron, and lights under his touch.

Kid could use a hardware upgrade, still.

Flynn doesn't pry. It's not his style anymore besides, careful as he logs the time and then, there, hovering like a VHS snapshot in the short column of light above swirling blue, stands him and Ram, their first meeting that isn't today. Oh, damn. ]

[He compensates for the lack of hand on his shoulder by leaning a little more against Flynn, though not enough to overbalance either of them.]

So is resurrection a common occurrence here? Or at least possible where it usually isn't?

[More evidence that Avagi is strange even to Users. Though it is clearly the User world. Maybe he should go check out the inner workings some time, just to see what they're like.]

Whoa.

[Ram stares as his disk lights up and is soon projecting an image of the first time he and Flynn met. For a moment, Ram wonders if he should look away, a program's code should really only be viewed by their User. But curiosity gets the better of him, and besides, it's his memory.]

Is that what it's like on your side when we communicate through I/O towers?

Mhmm. Remind me to pull the relevant files for you. It's pretty weird.

[ "Whoa" is right. Any and all skepticism that remained dies a quick death. The ACE on his wrist feels heavy, and the call from Alan suddenly makes far too much, utterly hellish, sense. Flynn is all motion now, gesturing the memories away, offering Ram his disc back as he stands. ]

Sorry, Ram, we gotta put a pin in that for later. I need to find Alan.

Really? Cool, thank you!

[Now that's an opportunity not many programs get.

He looks up as Flynn suddenly goes from easy movements to hurried. Taking his disk back and redocking it, he nods.]

Right. Yeah, he needs to know you're okay. I'll-- [He glances back at the charging station. He's regained some energy, but he could do with longer. But he doesn't want to leave Flynn. He unclips the bracelet and stands up.] I'm coming with you. If you need to talk with Alan alone, that's fine, but I'm making sure you get to him in one piece.

[ Flynn is quick to take Ram by the shoulder once more, gentle but firm. For a second, the light in his eyes is unfocused, uncertain, but it soon sharpens to decisive clarity as he pulls him in for a hug. ]

I need you to stay here and charge, old friend. Please.

[Ram returns the hug, tightening his grip at the User's request. He doesn't want to, he wants to help but-- Knowing Flynn, arguing would take time before either of them conceded, and that would spend time and energy, the latter of which he is still short on. At his current power levels, he's not functioning optimally which, while not an immediate issue, could make potential confrontations more difficult and therefore risky.

He sighs and holds on for a little longer before letting his grip drop, bending down to pickup and reattach the charger bracelet. Too bad it's not a portable one.]

Alright. But on the conditions that you be extra careful and let me know when you get there.

[What?

No, this can't.

He didn't see it but he had heard and that was somehow even worse, and this just proves something is now just messing with him even more...

Flynn likely gets a small blip as if someone was about to respond to this. Barely a fraction of a second of video. Nothing concrete or anything that couldn't be waved off as a small glitch.

Granted it's enough that it shows exactly whose ACE did such before being shut down again.

Time to find a dark corner and not come back out of.]

[ Ram's exuberance has his attention at the moment, but don't think he didn't catch that blip, Sam. ]

[The past four days have been passed in an undifferentiated block of misery for Alan. His mind has ricocheted from grief to fear to loathing, separated by even worse stretches of apathy. In some ways, this experience of loss is brand new to him—there had been no ambiguity this time, just a body, broken and still and clear as day. In other ways, it is far, far too familiar.

So when a familiar face shows up on the network, Alan only feels the briefest glimmer of hope before reality comes crashing down again. The video was clearly taken before Flynn’s death. Is posting it now someone’s idea of a joke?

Alan’s tone when he responds could freeze oceans.]

Who is this?

[ Ram has his ear in another tab, warmly demanding his attention by sheer presence alone. ]

Maybe warn a guy the next time we move up a code push in the middle of the day.

[ Is he upset, maybe annoyed? Nah. Optimal chill, right here. ]

[The response isn’t enough to derail Alan’s suspicions, not when it’s still so blatantly ignorant as to what had happened—and not when Alan has dealt with monsters wearing familiar faces before.

He had died, once. It’s not something you easily forget.]

Please cut the act. You aren’t fooling anyone.

How did get Flynn’s ACE? Why are you doing this?

Alan.

[ There, a note of honest confusion. What the heck are you talking about? ]

What's up, is the feed bad on your end? [ Y'know, this is what happens when they forgo the rest of their testing phase. Footsteps down the corridor sound loud in his ear. ]

Give me a minute, I'll have to get back to you.

Flynn, no—

[The name escapes before Alan can stop it, though it’s still plenty angry. Angry and confused and frustrated at being shut out yet again. Not that it does any good. The call cuts out as the speaker turns away, leaving Alan in the dark with his heart in his throat.

It won’t be long before Flynn’s ACE suddenly lights up with new calls as Alan tries to get him back on the line.]

[ One minute is closer to ten. As soon as he's finished with Ram, Flynn hurries off and calls back. There's no lack of composure, no ripple to break the surface of his calm, but there's steel in his eyes, his voice. ]

Alan, I owe you an apology. Where are you?

[It’s so tempting to believe it’s true, to accept that it really is Flynn, alive and well, asking where he is. But Alan spent long enough waiting for Flynn’s reemergence the first time to know that he can’t accept anything at face value.

Even his old friend staring back at him.]

Tell me what’s going on. [Fear makes his voice sharp, alien.] Why were you acting like— [A beat of silence. Anguish flickers across Alan’s face only to shutter behind cold resolve.]

Why were you acting like you never died?

[ Honestly, his low voice threaded through with compassion, ]

I don't remember that.

[ His tone doesn't say he disbelieves Alan either, quite the contrary. Flynn stops at an intersection of station corridors, and briefly closes his eyes, needing to gather himself. ]

Ram told me he arrived on the station eleven days ago- I also don't remember that.

[Alan watches the image of his friend closely onscreen, looking for the slightest discrepancy, the smallest cause for mistrust… and can’t find it. After a long moment, he sighs and lets his suspicion slip—if only just slightly. He isn’t ready to accept all at once that Flynn is really here, alive and well.]

Back when we were on a ship, sometimes people would forget things when they came back. I’ve never heard of someone forgetting something so recent, but... I suppose it’s possible.

[With every word, a little more of the fight goes out of him. There’s another long silence as Alan considers… and then finally speaks again, voice quiet.]

I’m in my room. If this is a trick, then just…

[Make it quick. He shakes his head, leaving the thought unfinished.]

I’ll see you soon.

[ Not soon enough. The shadow creatures that stalked them once before must not be far from his friend's thoughts. Flynn can't fault him for being cautious- Alan's haunted expression spoke volumes.

Should he really feel so normal? Another status check, equivalent to a mental pat down, doesn't bring forth any discrepancy, and a quick look through his disc on the walk over offers no signs of editing.

But.

A light at the Ingress memorial snags his attention, flaring brief in the replay. Just this morning. Hmm.

True to his word, he shoots off a quick note to Ram once he's outside the suite- Made it. -before rapping his knuckles against the door, and docking his disc. ]

Alan, it's me.

[It’s a tense few minutes as Alan waits for the man who may be his friend. There’s still time, he thinks, to slip away before Flynn gets there and the impulse feels increasingly strong as he remembers his encounter with the shadowy doubles a few months prior. And yet, the need to see his friend’s face again easily outweighs it. He’ll stay. For better or for worse.

The knock at the door still makes him start. He hesitates—and then hears Flynn’s voice and finally gets up to open the door.

His friend looks just the same as he did the day before his death.

It’s difficult for Alan to completely erase his mistrust. But his hope is steadily growing, too.]

Well, [he says after a long moment, a weary smile slowly appearing on his face.] You don’t look like a monster.

[That. Is a heck of a thing.

Of course such a return is possible: it had happened for Alan-1 and for himself, and for several others since the Moira.

But here, without mainline Savrii input? How different would the process be? How true are the results?

Is it yet another kind of monster? And if it is Flynn, what does he remember?

Is he another iteration entirely? That happens, too.

The margins on all these questions are too wide to make direct testing advisable or even remotely safe.

Clu flatly avoids the library and keeps his Greenery obligations to the letter, never lingering there and entrusting the night blooming plants to the fickle mercies of the taskbots.

The observation deck is one of the last places he would prefer to be, but. Outer space is easier to handle than anything else in his immediate purview.

And so the stars want watching.]

[ Hours feel like the passing of days--his had started well, hadn't it, when he didn't know he'd lost nearly two weeks?--and Flynn feels every bit of his age. Older, a thousand and two hundred cycles pressed into a frame meant to carry so much less, steeped into the very marrow of his bones. Humans don't shatter when they die, their code doesn't unzip around all the atoms holding them together, shaking the splintered remnants of their very spirit across the floor. Bones break. Skin tears. They bleed, their bodies fail, the flame of their light gutters and winks out and they leave shells behind for their loved ones to find.

He should be resting. Should, but isn't, of course. There's a memory that is and isn't his running a loop in his mind, analog tape rewinding with a static-laden shiver: night-blooming flowers in a gloved hand, companionable quiet under a sunset, commingled gold and white light; a strong grip around his wrist, a face--the man--he's known for centuries. Clu. It's the best one.

His old haunts are empty, and Flynn hasn't the energy to search all of Avagi. He has Sam to find, too, and no wish to make network calls, to add to anymore distance. Outside the Greenery, Flynn stops to lean against the wall, breathing slow against the deep ache of his throat.

Long ago, seeking out his SysAdmin was an easy task, always a ping away, across a landscape built for such convenience. Who needed phones or walkie-talkies? Not them. Here, in the User world, something of that connection remains, atrophied from disuse but still there, familiar and certain- and he follows it like a slowly winding gold thread.

Under the perpetual storm, there Clu is. Of course. It's where every Flynn seems to flee to, and don't think he doesn't see the symmetry of finding him here. This time, though, there aren't sneers or biting disbelief, or the angry hum of discs ready for violence. Flynn walks the length of the room, making his footfalls heard, and comes to Clu with a touch to his shoulder (such a calculated risk), and a message spoken in silence: a white flower in the palm of his hand.

I remember. ]

Edited 2017-12-25 03:05 (UTC)

[Time out here was slow, a ponderous and heavy thing that moved in staggering increments.

He still had not been to see the body. He knew it violated certain expectations or conventions, that he should simply swallow his misgivings and make himself look.

But Flynn himself was not there. It was only--

A low wet gurgle like filth up out of a drainpipe and an ear-splitting shriek when it couldn't grab hold, scrabbling, too many limbs closing scabrous clutching hands vise tight on Flynn's hair, clothes, throat and Clu could not move as fast as he dared, had to allow for skin and bone and the wide, wild reactions possible in User terror, and all that not with his disc hand--

It was just a body. He'd lost his grip.

He'd failed and Flynn had paid for it.

...He should at least have the guts to visit.

But he doesn't. This place has shown him that again and again and again, fit to choke on it.

It's just easier to look outside.

Is every star a sun? Some of them are worlds. Not everything is what it ought to be.

The least of pings is loud and clear in this dead place--but this is something else, the tentative shiver of a plucked string, a resonance almost forgotten but never gone. The hall gathers the sound of a familiar tread, softened by acoustics, by habit, by time, underscoring the sensation.

Flynn is here, now, and trajectory data are still incoming when a hand graces his shoulder, delicate with calculation and reasonable fear.]

Wh--

[Turn slowly. Show him there's nothing wrong.

A small white flower rests in his open hand.]

You kept it why, we thought you were gone, I thought--

[The correct thing to do is run a status check.

So of course, instead, what he does is wrap both arms around his Maker and imperil Flynn's ribs under the strength of his embrace.

That poor flower is in mortal danger.]

[ Flynn freezes. The air escapes his lungs in an exhale that scrapes his aching throat on the way out.

This.

This is unexpected. Unprecedented. Reality, as ever, is more painful and more joyous than any desperate dream.

He can't say I'm here or It's all right or, most important and right on the tip of his tongue: I'm sorry. They're bits of broken sound, a soft, near-wheeze tight against Clu's ear, and the way, at last, Flynn's warm hands lift and press so surely against his back. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video; cw for character death

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

-placeholder

audio;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

Re: video;

action;

no subject

NOT HERE // direct response to content, however;

action;

action;

action;