You can never say that I didn't try

[notglitching]

Who: Rinzler and OPEN
When: April 14th through the 24th
Where: the Hold
What: Rinzler killed some people and copes poorly. Set after this log.
Warnings: references to character death and mindscrew, glowy injuries, unfortunate assumptions. (See also: Rinzler.)


The first place Rinzler woke up in this system was a cell. He'd been locked in after a fight with his duplicate—with Tron. Not that the enforcer had been capable then of even hearing the older version's name. Rinzler had attacked because he had to, because the overrides built in his mind detected conflict and demanded he delete the source. Since then, he's shattered that if/then chain. Chipped away at the filters on his memories, even managed, once or twice, to speak.

But he's back where he started, and he knows better than to expect things to end the same way.

For the most part, visitors will find Rinzler seated on the low bench back against the wall. Circuits burn dimly in the shadows, almost outshone by the dull glint of fractured code that covers a full half of the enforcer's core. He's turned slightly to conceal the injured side, but the spiderwebbing cracks through code and armor are obvious to see, and he doesn't have the power to refresh his shell and cover up the damage.

The low rattle of corrupted code echoes through the cell and down the corridor, though it does nothing to compete with the invectives from the user locked in one door down. Rinzler approaches shutdown just once, curled up against the wall, and if the flickering lights and twitch of limbs is any sign, it's anything but restful. The program won't notice anyone approaching then, but he probably wouldn't mind being woken.

Once or twice, Rinzler rises, pacing, frustration and the need to move boiling up through the despair. There's nowhere to go, though, nothing to do, and even that much risks opening his damage further. Maybe he should. Fracture, break, rip himself apart and leave them voxels on the floor to claim and punish. Rinzler wonders if he ever tried before. If he does, he can't remember. He wonders what they'll make him into. Alan-one had told him what would happen, told him he'd correct the fault if Rinzler fought again. Now two users are dead, and if there's any hope at all, it's that they'll decide he's too worthless to salvage.


[[ooc: the duration during which Rinzler can be visited depends largely on the results of his trial, so there may be some time-wobbling. In particular, if he ends up with solitary confinement... no longer applicable; Rinzler will be visitable for both the trial period and his sentence. ETA 2: As of the 20th, temperature conditions will be improved thanks to Vision + co.

Prose and spam both welcome!]]

Comments

[notglitching]

A long stare, noise filling the silence. It's more direct than most of the users. He's just not sure that's a good thing. If he says yes, will it take that as a reason for reprogramming? Maybe, but it's not as if that's a new threat. And certainly, he isn't going to lie.

The helmet dips. A short nod.

[romanticsoul]

Until she has determined whether or not reprogramming him could be considered ethical, she wouldn't advocate that solution.

"Does your programming permit you to choose not to?"

She suspects so, but thinks it best to have these things confirmed by Rinzler himself.

[notglitching]

Oh, choice is another question altogether. And not one Rinzler particularly likes. He doesn't answer, not overtly, outputting instead a slight angle of his mask to one side.

Why is the user asking?

[romanticsoul]

"If you have a choice, I would like to know why you would choose to kill."

She can understand self-defence, even if she would struggle with using deadly force even under such circumstances, but could Rinzler not have incapacitated his opponents without killing them?

If not, she wants to hear that from him.

[notglitching]

The new question might be less personal, but only by virtue of sheer stupidity. Rinzler stares, noise ticking out into the silence. Is she glitched? Finally, he reaches for his MID.

Removes threat.

The words are typed into text, displayed in a holographic line projected from the tool.

[romanticsoul]

"There are other ways."

You don't have to kill someone to incapacitate them.

"You didn't answer my question. Can you choose to go against your programming?"

[notglitching]

Inefficient.

The retort's immediate. The next question? Only earns a long, flat stare. This user had expressed intent to rectify him by its own standards, and he's not going to spell out for it that the only way to do that is through code.

Even if the fact that the user needs to ask is glitched enough. He's a program. What does it think he's bound by?

[romanticsoul]

Well, that answers her question nicely enough. Usually her approach would be something along the lines of trying to convince him of the sanctity of life, but she has a distinct feeling that wouldn't really work very well in this case, so she will try an approach she can only think of as "Obi-Wan like". How to best make her point of view seem reasonable seen from the perspective of a murderous droid (or whatever he is)?

"This is an extremely inefficient use of your resources. You are wounded and incarcerated. There is absolutely nothing efficient about committing murder on this vessel."

[notglitching]

The helmet tips sideways, slow and deliberate. Or is it mocking? He doesn't like the way this user talks to him, like he were some beta in need of redefining. Like it had any right to set his parameters at all.

Threat: gone.

One of them, anyway. As far as Rinzler's concerned? His efficiency record is still pretty good.

[romanticsoul]

Anyone who still thinks violence is a good solution to any kind of problem is pretty much a beta in need of redefining from Satine's point of view, so he's not getting a different treatment than anyone else.

"As I understand things that condition is not necessarily permanent here."

Making killing a rather useless way of getting rid of a threat, to her mind, since it will come back possibly even more hostile than before.

[notglitching]

User (ID: Cannae_Spearfall) not rerezzing.

From what little he'd heard, the other user's status was less solidly determined. But they weren't anything he'd wanted killed, and the user he did isn't coming back.

Still more efficient.

[romanticsoul]

"Why were you targeted by them?"

He'd said that Cannae instigated the fight, so why was that? Does he know?

[notglitching]

The program's hunched shoulders twitch in a shrug, mask tipping up to nod further down the hall. If it wants to know the users' motives, ask the users. Rinzler isn't responsible for repeating their lies.

[romanticsoul]

"Do they know why Cannae attacked you?"

Because she isn't asking about Alice and Peter right now, that can be dealt with later.

[notglitching]

Malware.

And glitched malware, besides. Not quite strong enough to rate system threat, but certainly enough to be a nuisance. That wasn't its first offense. Just its stupidest.

[romanticsoul]

She's not sure she understands the terminology, but the dismissiveness of it pretty much tells her plenty.

"Taking a life doesn't mean much at all to you, does it?"

[notglitching]

Even the enforcer couldn't pretend away the significance of killing a user. But taking a life? Rinzler only stares for a long moment. The user's not actually looking for output, is it?

Of course it's significant. That's what he's for.