New kind of victory.

[etcircenses]

Who| Everyone on the District Tours.
What| The Celebration dinners for all the Districts.
Where| Specified in thread.
When| The second night they are there.
Warnings/Notes| Find your district below. Leave any questions here. And please add any needed warning into your subject line when appropriate.

Comments

[amplifying]

"...Oh." Go figure. Beck didn't spend a lot of time out with other tributes, to be fair and honest. It was kind of embarrassing talking to a guy who obviously knew him, but Beck didn't know anything about him if his life depended on it.

Change the subject. What was pride here? "London? Where's that?"

[alldeduction]

"London, England," Sherlock said, frowning. It was unusual for anyone not to recognize the city unless they were from a completely different world.

"I take it then that you aren't from Earth."

[amplifying]

London, England. Which was it, London or England?

Beck's confusion must have been pretty obvious if this Sherlock guy questioned him about it. Was he even from Earth? There were so many Users that were from different worlds and places, Beck wasn't exactly sure what Earth he was from. Or world. Either way, it was confusion. "I don't know. I lived inside of a computer. I was a program."

[alldeduction]

Well, that took Sherlock by surprise.

And very little took Sherlock by surprise.

(He should have known, he berated himself, should have pieced together Beck's past through footage, but it hadn't been important, especially after the man disappeared. The fact that he had been here was important, the fact that he had died was important, and the fact that he had returned was important, but everything else was not.)

".... A program. A computer program. But sentient?"

[amplifying]

"I could feel things as a program, too."

Not as much as a User, though. What hurt him in the Grid hurt him pretty bad now. Being low on energy was this awful, mind-dragging fatigue, and losing blood or any kind of body part or breaking or cutting (there was so much stuff to having a User body, it was ridiculous) could eventually lead to infection and/or death. He kind of had to learn that the hard way.

Beck rubbed the back of his neck, feeling kind of embarrassed by all of this. "It's different for me now, though. I feel things a lot differently now. Being a User is a lot more difficult than being a program."

[alldeduction]

Sherlock raised a hand to his forehead, slowly scrubbing at his temples. He wanted to yell impossible at the man, but this entire place was impossible.

"And they turned you into a... user... when they brought you here?"

[amplifying]

"I, I guess." Beck shrugged. It wasn't like he could remember much of anything. Then again, from what he heard about the Capitol and performing operations, he kind of liked not knowing what they did.

"The only thing I have left is my identity disc. I used to be able to use it as a weapon, but it's always attached to my back now. And if it gets damaged, I get damaged too."

[alldeduction]

"Your identity disk," Sherlock replied, watching him carefully.

Then, after a moment:

"Can I see it?"

So, so incredibly appropriate in the middle of a party, Sherlock.

[amplifying]

He wasn't the first one to ask!

Beck instinctively reached around his shoulders, to tug the disc from its circular dock so Sherlock could have a look at it. But of course, when it wouldn't budge.....oh yeah. Beck felt like he should have been embarrassed, but he wasn't.

Instead he just turned around, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to where the disc was. Attached to his body, just like any other part of him. It always felt weird, no matter how long he was here. "That's it, right there."

[alldeduction]

Sherlock stepped over and with absolutely no shame whatsoever, reaching out to run his fingers over it, frowning.

He'd never seen anything like it.

"No scarring?"

[amplifying]

Beck stood still as the User walked behind him, observing his disc. He knew his disc like the back of his hand (he was supposed to, anyway...), but anymore in this place he didn't know much about it. The Capitol had made things so complicated.

"None." Beck said, looking over his shoulder. "It's weird though. I don't feel anything when someone touches it, but if it cracks it hurts." He sighed. "The Capitol's made things kind of complicated for me."

[alldeduction]

"Well, that makes an amount of sense at least," Sherlock murmured, observing it. "Converting it into some kind of keratin material. So, like your fingernails, you don't feel direct touch but you certainly feel deep damage."

He pulled back, frowning at it.

"What was its original purpose?"

[amplifying]

"Yeah. That's the basics of it."

Beck looked down for a moment. "It was my primary source of identity. All of my memories were stored on it. It kept track of my functions, and even down to my circuitry. My identity disc is everything to me." Quite literally! "If you lose your identity disc, you become a stray program. You can't remember anything, even who you are."

He waited for a moment or two to go by. "It was also a weapon. We could throw it around and block other attacks if we really had to fight anyone." If only he could use his! "If I could show you, I would."

[alldeduction]

"Interesting. In essence, your harddrive. I wonder what would happen if it were to be removed?" He wondered allowed, a little morbidly.

Likely nothing, but he had no idea what the capitol did to transform a non-human into one.

Who knew how Beck was wired now.

[amplifying]

"I don't know." Beck shook his head. "I wasn't ever told that much."

And it's not like the Capitol would tell him anything. As far as Beck knew, he was just a robot. A robot that felt like a User's body and could bleed and feel. Who even knew.

"It hurts when someone pulls it though. A few arenas ago someone tried to pull me back and it hurt."

[alldeduction]

"Well, I'll have to keep an eye out in the arena for you," Sherlock mused, "See what happens if someone actually manages it."

Yeah that's not creepy at all, Sherlock.

[amplifying]

"Let's hope not." Beck muttered, giving Sherlock a nervous kind of grin. "It only happened once before, but it wasn't really fun. I glitch and everything when that happens."

[alldeduction]

"Glitch and everything," Sherlock repeated, a slight smile flickering on his lips.

"Well!" He said suddenly, the smile broadening and not at all sincere. "I suppose we must at least attempt to pretend we are enjoying ourselves. I'm sure we'll have a chance to chat later," He said, and with a little wave and without another word, he disappeared into the crowd.