1st OS [Video]

[interim_ceu]

[The voice that sounds over the phone when he finally manages to clamber out of the body bag of all things and get the strange cell phone to dial a working number is shaky, bewildered and a little panicked.]

Lora? Roy! Someone answer me, please, what happened! Oh God, I know I've been working myself a little hard lately, but this is taking it a

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[savior_n_black]

[ video; voice unless otherwise stated ]

Whoa, man! Calm down, you'll be alright.

Listen, you're...uh...in a really weird city that's calling itself 'Abax', and I don't know how you got here, but you're definitely not the first to randomly show up.

[ Have one of those nervous little nods, Alan. Face twins everywhere what is this?!]

I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but...well...circumstances, and all.

[interim_ceu]

[Video still, and Voice. Text? What's texting? Is that like pager code?]

[Now he's giving you one heck of a dubious look. Even while he's squinting at the tiny screen and pulling it closer to his face so he can try and see without his glasses.]

Video phone, huh? Who manufact-...No, no, focus. Don't pull a Flynn, Alan, come on.

Uh, ok. So. Abax? Never heard of it. What state is it in? I'm assuming it's still California, right? I don't remember what happened, but if I'm in a morgue, it's bad, right? I need to know how to contact my friends. Or...

Do you know a Lora Baines or a Roy Kleinburg? Did they come in with me? It's very important.

[Lot of good it does to ask if someone's asked about him, if they don't even know your name, Alan, focus, calm down. He huffs indignantly at himself and shakes his head, trying to take a calming breath.]

Sorry, my name's Alan. Alan Bradley.

[savior_n_black]

Sorry - um, Bradley-san? Anyway, I don't know those names, and if they aren't there with you, they probably didn't get pulled in. Trust me, that's a good thing. And bear with me, here, because this is going to sound completely mental, but I promise it's all true.

This...isn't California. As far as anyone can tell, it's...sort of a city outside of the world? I know that sounds crazy, but trust me on this one; you'll see what I mean soon.
Oh, and don't freak out about the morgue, it's just this place's sick sense of humor.

Listen, I know it's creepy as hell, but you've got a toe-tag right? If it doesn't list cause of death, then you're not dead.

[interim_ceu]

[Bradley-san? So the kid is Japanese? He's interacted with a few of the Japanese investors over the years. He frowns lightly, shaking his head and just eyeing him, though.]

You're right. It does sound crazy.

[And then he blinked, and wiggled his toes and sure enough, there was a little string wrapped around one of his big toes. He reached down, grabbing the thing and staring at it blearily for a moment.]

Oh. I guess that's a good sign...[And then he's looking back at Ichigo.] So...uh...what am I supposed to do?

[yorisearching]

[Video]

[He looks exactly like Tron, and he knows Lora. Her Lora, who wrote every line of code and knit Yori together.]

[There's only one User he can be. Yori's hands feel strangely numb, but she stabs at the button for response almost without thinking. He's in distress. She can't not answer.]

Alan-One? ...Sir?

[interim_ceu]

[He sighs in intense relief at the sound of her voice, a shaky smile crossing his face.] Oh, Thank God, Lora! Look, where are you? Why am I in the morgue??? What happened, I don't remember anything after going to bed last night!

[Yeah, he's so frazzled he doesn't register the way she's talking to him right now. Just that it's her.]

[yorisearching]

[She can't. It's Tron's User and he needs help and--but he thinks she's her User and that is just too many levels of complication to deal with right now. Not to mention the unsecured channel, which she doesn't yet have the skill to be certain of encrypting properly.]

Listen, you can trust Ichigo, all right? We're all a long way from home, but he's a friend.

I know I look like Lora, but I'm not.

[She can't go into that now. Won't. Anyway, there are things more urgent.]

You might see...a couple of people who look like you. I promise to explain when I can.

Just--speak kindly to them. [It's a brief but definite tone of command, complete with implied or you'll regret it, and not the way Yori would ever have expected to find herself addressing Alan-One.]

Please.

[token_vengeance]

[Voice]

I suggest you calm down. You're friends can't here you.

[interim_ceu]

[Still video 'cause he doesn't know how to switch functions yet. :'|...]

Calm down??? I'm in a morgue, how am I supposed to stay calm?

[token_vengeance]

By looking around you, and listening to the people talking to you.

Causing a scene will gain you nothing.

[video]

[notglitching]

[The feed starts with a clattering sound. Impact. Somewhat similar to a phone that's been suddenly, inexplicably... dropped.

This. Is not Rinzler's day.

Have your own face... staring at you. Not entirely identical. At the moment, Rinzler's sporting a thin slice up the right side of his face, dead voxels glinting faint red-orange in the light from the phone. Without glasses, Alan probably can't pick out the hexagonal pupils, or faint orange glow coming up from below the program's collar. But it's there. Only fractionally more noticeable is the sagging of Rinzler's clothes by his left shoulder, before the camera's range ends. Most people have an arm there.

Harder to miss? The expression. Utterly. Completely. Blank. Frozen. There's sound, too-a grating rumble that skips, grinds out uneven, unsteady.

Yeah. Just. Staring.]

[interim_ceu]

Wh-...huh? [Was someone recording him and feeding the video back to him? Or...wait, no, different clothes. So did someone record him last night? He pushes buttons on the phone, trying to figure out who's sending the recording back to him.]

209485394332222222222*

Uh...Hello? Who's sending this. Where did you get this video?

[notglitching]

[There's a faint twitch at the voice. Flinch. The skipping growl rises a notch, buzzing at the edges with harsh static. Rinzler doesn't move though. Stare stays fixed. Rigid. He doesn't answer, either. (Can't.)

But something makes it out, all the same.]

User.

[Alan's face and features, yes. But the voice? Is different. Rasping, edged with an electronic harshness. Slow. Disused.
He's not supposed to have a voice. ]

[dontasktrix]

[Slipstream replies by video, so it might be obvious she's a glowy-eyed robot, with wings and rather sharp digits.]

What kind of allies do you have that you think waking up in a morgue is some kind of prank?! [And, she's snarky.]

[interim_ceu]

[And he just...drops the phone. With a completely shocked look on his face.

ROBOTS. TALKING ON THEIR OWN. WHAT. EVEN.]

[dontasktrix]

[And, whether he can still see or hear, she goes on talking.]

There's pointy-eared aliens, [Elves, actually,] space cadets, talking animals, and a robot is unbelievable?! It's not like I have loose bits and subroutines walking around on their own or anything!