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

[neveroutwrenched]

Yeah. I get it. You don't answer to anyone.

[He falls silent. What the hell was he even doing? He draws his shoulders up, arms still crossed. Threats clearly don't mean much to Rinzler. And Ratchet wasn't the threatening type (there wasn't much point). But sitting around and hoping wasn't really an option...not when the lives of people he cares about are on the line. Especially not Alice.]

Do you have friends? People you care about?

[notglitching]

[The glare lingers, flat and hateful. Rinzler doesn't. Clu isn't here, so he doesn't have to. But it's far too easy to call another signature to mind, face and voice and source twisted with disapproval. Noise stutters audibly harsh and uneven, and Rinzler's fingers curl halfway to a fist at either side. It takes effort not to turn away.

He wants to move. To fight. To do anything but pace and glitch inside the cell. But there's no way out, nothing to fight, and in his current shape he'd probably derezz if there were. Right now, Rinzler's having trouble seeing the loss there. But if the user's words aren't anything he wants to listen to, at least they offer a distraction.

...of a sort. The enforcer's stare draws out, and the eventual slight tilt of the mask is more suspicious than anything. Why does it want to know?]

[neveroutwrenched]

[Tension. The weight of the silence presses in; or rather the lack of words. None of the noises ticking away mean anything to Ratchet, but their harshness is palpable.

With no answer, Ratchet has to assume the worst. Maybe the program wasn't capable of friends. Maybe it just didn't care. Either way, Ratchet wasn't sure how to make his point. If it was even possible.]

You have something that's important to you, right?

[notglitching]

[Something. The shift of phrasing doesn't escape Rinzler's notice, or the complete misread of his reactions it implies. Still, this assumption, he's just as content to let the user make. If it thinks he's too glitched—or too simple—to be capable of caring, it has all the less leverage to use against him. And all the less reason to extend its threats to those the program can't protect from here.

If that's even what the user's leading up to. Rinzler can't map the trajectory, but he gives a wary nod. Yes. He values 'something'.]

[neveroutwrenched]

[Well that was something at least. Ratchet wanted to believe there was more to Rinzler than just violence and killing; he knew this wasn't just some low level AI. Rinzler was smart, aware, very, very sentient. But sentience didn't go hand in hand with understanding.]

Maybe just, keep that in mind. Keep in mind that you can't hurt what's important to other people and expect it not to come back to you. To what's important to you.

[It's not a threat. It's not really meant as one, anyway. Just a reminder; Ratchet doesn't think there are any threats that could really faze Rinzler, and if there were they wouldn't be coming from him. He wouldn't admit it, but in some ways this visit was more for himself than Rinzler. Being on the same ship as someone who was actively hurting people around him and doing nothing; being unable to do anything about it, really....it was killing him.

Alice was important to him; Peter by some distant extension. He didn't know J but it didn't make her death less of an affront. This wasn't a threat, it was an obligation.]

[notglitching]

[Ratchet might see it as an obligation. Rinzler? Is fairly sure he just received another threat. He's glad the user didn't understand his question before. If it believed him capable of friendship, then it would have more to target. More to hurt. Or is it just trying to "warn" him how the rest of them will act?

Either way, it's not a reminder Rinzler needs. He meets the user's stare, as he adds two words to the MID's display]

Not waiting.

[Peter wasn't. Alice wasn't. Even Alan-one wouldn't be, not anymore. He'd been leaving them and theirs alone, but they were hardly returning the favor. And it wasn't going to stop. Not until they were finished, until they'd taken every part of him that might have fought back in defense away. Maybe not even then.

But Rinzler hardly cared what they decided to do with the lapdog they'd create. He cared about here and now, about the time he still had, and about this user's stupid, pointless efforts to twist all blame straight back to him. It's nothing he couldn't have expected? Is this a threat after all, or just a justification? A reminder that he'd earned everything they'd done. Everything that was coming.

Rinzler doesn't know. He doesn't particularly care. Noise rises, clipped and harsh: a low, static-laden growl. Intimidation or accusation, if the user thinks it makes a difference at this point, it's much more crashed than he is. They weren't going to wait. Why should he?]