video; public/unencrypted; now let's go! just gimme the signal (backdated)

[a_perfect_end]

Greetings!

[There's a reverence to that, the quiet, thunderous tenor certainty of a TV preacher about to go on a tear. He faces the camera squarely, like he can nail it in place by staring at it hard enough, and there's a manic glint to the way he smiles.]

I am Clu.

Now I don't know you, citizens of the good ship Moira, but, man, would I like to! There are so many of us here, from so many different worlds. Or, most of you are. Some of us seem to be arriving in groups--anyway!

[If he waggles his eyebrows any harder, they will pop right off his face.]

I know I'm not the only one aboard who runs parallel processes for a living. Seriously, if you dream in ASCII, or especially in C#? Call me. [Hands spread wide, animated, making big broad gestures as he begins to pace.]

And even if you don't dream of electric sheep, well. It sure sounds like some of you know me, too. Or you think you do. Speaking of: have you seen this guy? Around lately? Kinda looks like everyone's grandpa?

Well, he isn't.

Alan Bradley hurts Programs. Thinks nothing at all of doing it! Doesn't even think we're really, well, real. And I have proof, oh yes. [Only, the ugly smug grin makes that statement into something less than the moral high ground.]

So, if you want to trust everything that some sixty year-old code pusher you met yesterday says, go ahead! Believe the heavenly proclamations of the almighty User who was never even there. Just take his word for it!

[The grin melts into a sneer and hardens, shifts again into something tense and bizarrely earnest. Every word is punctuated with the jolt of his arm, pointing so hard he'd poke the camera if it wasn't attached to his wrist.]

But keep this in mind, my fellow synthetics! My inorganic brothers from another motherboard, listen up: you are of no more value to Mr. Alan Bradley--or indeed to any of his kind--than a very fancy pocket calculator.

When they get tired of you--and they will--you will be the one who will be sorry, I can promise you that.

[He looks away; he bares his teeth. Between them there's quiet venom:]

You wanna know the truth about me? About what happened to the Grid? You wanna know where your precious Kevin Flynn is.

Y'coulda tried asking me, man.

[That is certainly enough of that. Cut.]

Comments

[text;]

[trap_factory]

[.... of course]

oh, dramatic.

[private;]

so chatty today! are we feeling a little put out by the call outs happening lately? one thing aboard this ship... people do like jumping to conclusions about people. they're worse about this than children.

clu, was it?

i wonder how effective this campaign speech of yours will be.

video;

[a_perfect_end]

Oh, you a fan of the arts?

[How do you do, fellow kids?]

[private; encrypted]

I just got here. [Not agreeing or disagreeing, but with a definite sulk.]

[Pause. Potential sarcasm: detected.]

Hey, if it keeps even one of my fellow functions out of that guy's hands, it's a success. I'm serious, he's dangerous.

[All Users are.]

video;

[redshitlord]

Okay, dude, it was funny when Sans did it, but this is getting ridiculous. It's like "Call-Out Central" in here!

Do you really gotta drag everybody into some kinda weird human grudge thing? I don't even know who you're talking about.

video;

[a_perfect_end]

[...There are robots in the space future! SCORE. Check out the smirk that puts on his face.]

Dig the paint job!

I'm sorry you had to see that.

[His parser resists the comment about funny, because of course it isn't funny, this is utterly and completely serious in every single possible way. Seriously.]

...Well, good. The guy's bad news Tuesday, not least because he has no idea what he's actually doing.

[Sans? Sans--ah, the short pale kid with the bakery issues.]

...The thing with the muffins? [It's the first honest grin he's made since he got here.] That was great.

private text. (whoops it got tl;dr)

[prayed]

The network: Not your LiveJournal. Not your #chan of choice. People who were super scary back home? Not here. That includes you and the geezer there.

Anyway, you don't get out much, do you? Well, you seem alright, so I'll let you in on a little secret: Humans treat each other the same way they do everything and everyone else. Seriously, you're not getting the short end of the stick here. Kidnapping, mugging, murdering, brainwashing, all that family friendly stuff's way more fun to do to each other. I mean, especially if you don't know them. Then it's just hilarious to watch 'em bleed out.

Too bad, huh? I bet whatever form you claim is free of all of the above, got no problems, got no hate or betrayal or temper tantrums. Must be great. Well, aside from not getting the satisfaction of beating the Hell out of somebody who's pissing you off.

Well, whatever. I'm not really any of the above, so none of this really effects me anyway. Actually, the rest of your tantrum was way more interesting than a lecture on how everyone hurts each other in the end.

video; private, encrypted

[a_perfect_end]

My what? What kind of BBS code even is that.

Anyway, he started it, and just between us, I'm a lot more interested in hitting him back than I am in damage control.

...Define out. [Because no.]

Well, no. No, it's still not like that, even with all we've built, all that we have achieved, all that we have done and made and seen. But it's going to be! It's gonna be perfect.

If I ever get out of here.

Lecture? [Yes, that's a physical snort. He is the wrong old guy for those, man.]Please. You already have good observational skills, particularly for an adolescent.

I've got this guy's number, though, and I'm not playing around. He's no good.

[You are small and young, even if you do seem to know an awful lot about wholesale slaughter. Destroying at rhythm games is not the same as destroying at life, tiny scary friend.]

video

[knaval]

I'm trying to be annoyed but your voice is so smooth and lyrical...

AUDIO

[squadgoals]

[Nevermind Clu you win for garbage callout posts.]

If you wanted to make a point, or even have a discussion, about anything Alan Bradley had to say about you, it would've helped if you didn't punctuate it by attempting to incite a divide between organics and synthetics.

[Her tone is neutral, but firm. No way, man, I just finished dealin' with this.]

video;

[a_perfect_end]

[Well hello. Cooler heads, and all that.]

It didn't have to be like this. We could've done something different together here, and instead it's already all pitchforks and slogans.

[An actual sigh, though his hand doesn't make it to the bridge of his nose, instead smoothing his hair]

Incite nothing, sister. I'm trying to warn my people.

Voice

[devilofohara]

I don't care about any of that.

[Honestly, not even a little bit. The world - or the multiverse, she guesses, is full of terrible people, that's something she learned a while ago.]

The things that happened before you came aboard aren't supposed to matter here. If you or Alan Bradley try to punish each other for things not done on the ship, I'll make sure you regret it.

video;

[a_perfect_end]

[Sounds like she actually doesn't care what happened back home--only, there's a distinct lack of chill her message, so. More input required.]

Believe me, that's refreshing! You're among the first.

If I actually get a chance to start over here, I think we could do some good work.

[Still with the threats. It's hardly the first time someone's warned him to leave their rebel friends alone Or Else.

Still, she's dismissive of his past history.

And he is curious.]

...Really? How, exactly? I mean, the ship's logs are full of people with all kinds of interesting talents.

[Tell him a little bit about yourself.]

text

[meyneth]

[wow, she feels embarrassed for this post. It's like he showed up late without Starbucks.]

We don't need you to tell us how to feel about Alan. He's done that for us.

And I'm also not interested in you speaking for me as an "inorganic."

[there's a question she's burning to ask, but not yet.]

video;

[a_perfect_end]

If you know Bradley all that well, then you already know he's gonna disappoint you.

[He does feel kinda bad about it, but facts are facts, and his analysis of Tron's User completed a couple millis ago, with the found footage that inspired this little performance.]

I'm sorry; I know some of us prefer the term Synthetic-American. I meant no offense.

I'd say not here, but Clu probably knows Sam's creeper ways already

[whoami]

[ Nobody but the Tron cast is gonna even know who Kevin Flynn is was. So Sam thinks it's pretty myopic to mention him since you've tried putting Alan under a weird pseudo-religious lens first. Either way, folks here are not gonna like this little speech, and Sam wants to watch every second of the fallout. ]

you're not invisible without encryption, Sam

[a_perfect_end]

[Just gonna reach for his MID and /ping]

(If he understood what emojis were, you'd get those, but what're you gonna do)

Video

[visionarie]

[ The image of Allen Bradley sets the board. ]

You are from Rinzler's world.

[ A statement. ]

video; back atcha

[a_perfect_end]

[Y'know, black moves first, man--but he'll never complain about a chance to play the opposite side.]

Oh, you bet I am.

[Also a statement, though his is decidedly smug.]

Sounds like we know some of the same people. What's your name?

text

[a_shadow]

Cut the shit.

video;

[a_perfect_end]

As opposed to?

I mean, "he started it" is rationale for children and Missile Command, but I'm not dumb enough to meet with him.

People should think twice--or at all--is all I'm saying.

audio; the catfight rages on

[alan_1]

I know what happened on the Grid. And what happened to Flynn. [And if Clu’s alive, then he doesn’t. Not completely. The thought brings with it some small amount of bitter satisfaction.]

Are you really going to try and paint me as the biggest danger to programs on this ship? How many programs did you forcibly rewrite after you took control of the Grid? Hundreds? Thousands?

This speech of yours isn't fooling anyone. [At least, Alan hopes it's not. The last thing anyone needs is an inorganic that actually believes Clu is their advocate.]

obstinate video; sugar we're going down

[a_perfect_end]

Oh. [Slowly, drawn down through his teeth.] Do you really?

[If Alan even remembers what pure naked greed looked like on his friend's younger face, it was there, just for an instant, smoothly replaced by gathering anger.]

Oh, oh now I get it! He tried so hard for so long to teach me, and here you've done it in one input!

Quantity is what makes deletion good or bad. Man, you must be pissed!

I've totally bossed your high score.

[fight4theusers]

[There's a thousand ways Tron wants to respond to this. You've called out his User. You've attempted to bring other inorganics to your side. You're attempting to stir up trouble on the ship that's just now calming down.

But does he really want to let Clu know he's here? Does he want to challenge him openly, like this?

He supposes it won't make a difference, anyway. Clu would only have to look at the ship's register to find him.]

I hope you don't think that will bring anyone to your side.

[a_perfect_end]

...Now, there is a face I've missed.

It's great to see you again, Tron.

You liked my little performance? There's more where that came from.

[He has no illusions about anyone joining up with him yet--not when he just made a total jerk of himself--but if it keeps even one asset out of Alan's hands, it will have been a complete success.]

video; private

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon has decided that if Clu is a possible threat to the AI on board, he needs to keep an eye on him. And the safest way to do that is to try to get friendly.]

Yeah, we've all seen Alan and his method of "helping" AI. [He airquotes with his fingers.] So not gonna trust that guy.

What's your story?

video; private, encrypted

[a_perfect_end]

Right on! Finally, someone else on this ship with some sense.

[That story is long, and even if they did just become best buds, they are new best buds. Though of course his mannerisms are visibly more relaxed and expansive under the attention.

Nevermind that; where did you get those bitchin' aviators?

encrypted creeping ~there's no one here wooo~

[beautifulspaceraptor]

[There's another Network ghost around.

No one Clu would know, but he has something the admin wants and he's a bit curious about just who he might be going up against.]