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[not_tron]

 [Gooood morning, Paradisa!

As the sun slowly rises, a man stirs on one of the couches in the Lobby. The circuits on his dark armor brighten and steady from where they were once a dull, even blink, not unlike a computer that's been awakened from standby.

He mutters something about system restarts always getting the best of him - as if any program could resist - that's picked up by the open journal nearby if anyone's listening. The man opens his eyes...

Only to immediately go on high alert. He sits up to get a better look at his surroundings. This does not look like the Grid. What in the Users' name is that light, and where is it coming from? Flynn's mentioned a sun to him, but he's never spent much time describing it except to say that it's almost like the Portal that illuminates the sky when Flynn enters the Grid. They were usually too busy to go into much detail - it was always too easy to get interrupted by gridbugs, and CLU had started giving Flynn weird looks when they talked about it, so Tron had refrained from asking questions about the User world in front of him.

Something is wrong. How did he get here? Even a total change of the system couldn't have done this. The last thing he knew he was just coming back from patrolling for gridbugs. Was he glitching? His code had always been stable. Alan-1 had worked hard to keep it that way, even if Flynn had made some changes to upgrade him for the Grid instead of the ENCOM System. He doesn't ask the obvious question aloud, but it is all he's calculating at the present time: where am I?

One option is to explore, and he's already on his feet to do just that when the journal catches his attention.] A book..? [He asks aloud, frowning when his words appear on the page.] Flynn's books never did this...

[Anyone listening might find that his voice sounds exactly like a certain old man or a non-rumbling version of a certain CLU-serving program. It would be easy to mistake them for each other. And Alan? Well, he went to bed last night - Sam and Kevin could confirm that - but now he's nowhere to be found...]

((Loss start! Open to everyone!))

Comments

[sameteam]

You already know about the Castle? What about the game room?

[not_tron]

It's certainly not the Grid, that's for sure.

The Castle has the Games? [His interest is piqued.]

[sameteam]

The Games? [Sam pauses, a little confused.] The disc battles? We don't have disc battles here.

You're in the User world.

[not_tron]

That's right, the Users I've seen here haven't had discs... [Though Flynn had had one on the Grid.]

What sort of games do Users have?

[sameteam]

Video games! [Smiling brightly again.] They've got a whole room of them.

[But then Sam ducks back down into a reverent, shy tone,] Do you wanna play?

[Because ohgod his hero forever and ever slkjdfs]

[not_tron]

[Well, he should keep an eye on the small User, and he is curious about these 'video games'.]

That would be nice. Why don't you lead the way?

[sameteam]

Okay! [Sam quickly darts into his room to first retrieve his tron action figure before heading out through Alan's door with a very excited bounce to his step.]

[not_tron]

[He follows the happy little User out the door - Sam really reminds him of Flynn. According to the Creator his own User was never so excitable.]

What are you carrying?

[sameteam]

[Sam pauses to turn around and smile, a sudden shyness overtaking him. Holding out the little figurine,] My dad gave it to me. You help me not be scared.

[not_tron]

[It's him! He's surprised and his eyes widen a little. A little construct of him that a User carries around to not be scared. It's flattering and heartening that he can even protect this User when he's not there.]

Thank you.

[sameteam]

[Sam beams up at Tron, holding the little figurine protectively. It really does give him little bursts of courage when he needs it, especially now that he's seen his hero in person. Man, he wishes Alan were here to see this.]

Are you good at video games.

[not_tron]

[Too bad "Tron" is really Alan.]

I've never played any. Are you?

[sameteam]

Yeah, my dad taught me everything! [Grinning broadly.]

[not_tron]

I think I have my work cut out for me then.

[sameteam]

[Sam grins brightly up at Tron, eagerly leading the way to the game room.]

You might be pretty good.

[not_tron]

[Tron follows, as curious as Sam is eager. He nods his assent.]

Some things must be similar out here as they are in there.

[sameteam]

What's the Grid like? [Sam asks as he pulls open the door to the game room and flicks the lights on, illuminating the many, many arcade-style games.]

[not_tron]

Darker. Most things are black except for circuits.

[Tron just stares at all the games. It's so unlike anything he's ever experienced. Sure, he's outside the User world now - but now he gets to see just what exactly systems like the Grid look like on the outside.

The music certainly catches his attention, as well as the sound effects of each game.]

And quieter.

[sameteam]

I like the noise. [Sam gleefully picks out a spot at Gauntlet, grinning up at Tron.]

[not_tron]

It's a bit like the End of Line.

[He looks over some of the games as they pass them - that one had said Recognizers! - before resuming his post at Sam's elbow.]

How do you play this one?

[sameteam]

That's in the Grid. [Sam pushes the start button before he starts explaining.] This one is magic, this one is fight, and this one is combo! It's a big attack that takes down more enemies.

[not_tron]

Yes.

[He's a little thrown by starting before he even knows what to do, but the program is generally a quick learner. He nods, stepping forward to the second player's controls.]

Okay.

[He quickly loses a life. He's not very good!]
...I was derezzed.

[sameteam]

[Sam glances over at Tron with a shrug.] You have two more lives! [And keeps pounding away at the buttons.]

Get the big skull guy!

[not_tron]

[Second chances? Okay, if that's how the User world worked.

Big skull guy? Identifying the mentioned character, Tron begins to attack.]

Understood. [Quickly learning just which buttons to press, when.]

[sameteam]

[Sam glances up at the serious response of Tron, awe written so clearly across his face and Sam's so distracted that his character easily gets taken down by the boss in about two hits.]