2016-12-06 23:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tanks4thememory
tanks4thememoryWhat does a computer program do when stranded in a highly illogical world on the other side of the screen? The answer would likely vary from program to program. Some might just shut down, unable to cope. Some might have a great time. Some might even seek to dominate it, to try and mold it into something more akin to their own world. But for a certain hacking program, there was ultimately only one option; adapt.
Not that he accepted this from the beginning, of course, being the stubborn program he is. When he first arrived, Clu's primary focus was on finding a way to return to his home system and his normal life without ending up back on the MCP's decompiler. Which, he found, was easier said than done. The fact that he had reason to be highly suspicious of Nautilus and its recruitment methods didn't help matters any. Snatching people up seemingly at random was far too much like the MCP for his tastes, and the fact that Nautilus' call apparently tampers with people's perceptions before doing so made matters even worse in his opinion. All Clu knew was that he needed to get home and he needed to get home ASAP, preferably to a time before he'd encountered Nautilus' call.
The world of Nautilus made no sense to Clu. It behaved like a system in some ways, but not others. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to those brought to the city, the way it functioned, or even its location. What people claimed was an offer of more, to him seemed less, especially since he had difficulty restoring his natural abilities. Much of Clu's first months in the city was spent in futile attempts to make logical sense of the city's illogical nature, and giving himself a headache in the process.
Clu's frustration, confusion, and anger at the situation and at Nautilus came to a head after the Bad Ending storm. He suffered a catastrophic malfunction that resulted in a hard reset. But that situation ended in a net positive, allowing him to forge a closer connection with Wheeljack, even naming him his secondary User. And having a User in Nautilus granted Clu some vital stability that allowed him to begin to properly adapt and accept his place there.
As Clu spent time in Nautilus his suspicions of it gradually waned until he no longer believed it to be harboring some malicious intent. Incompetence and perhaps insanity? Sure. But not malice. He'd seen a malicious sysadmin, and Nautilus didn't fit the bill.
And while he wasn't any happier about living there, he gradually came to accept it. He was dead if he went home after all, and annoying and dangerous as Nautilus could be sometimes, living there was still preferable to a certain and painful deresolution, which was all he had to look forward to back home. He might now believe that his presence in the city was a mistake on Nautilus' part, but it's a mistake he has to live with.
Though the people he met in Nautilus certainly helped matters along too. It was really the people he's gotten to know and care about that have made living in Nautilus more than just bearable. Aside from Wheeljack, he met and befriended the likes of Scott Summers- with whom he celebrated his first Christmas-, Kale, Leanne- who adopted Clu as a surrogate 'papa'-, Irene, and most recently, Evgeniy. And much to Clu's delight, his own User and creator, Kevin Flynn, eventually arrived in Nautilus as well.
Though Clu still loves and respects his own Creator like one would a father, Clu's views on Users in general have shifted drastically after over a year spent living among them. At first he was surprised to find out how much like programs Users were; in system, such thoughts would have been considered borderline blasphemous, but with the evidence all around him, Clu could hardly deny it. The more he got to know the Users around him, the more he realized that they were no more than flawed people like himself. That's a difficult thing to accept of one's gods.
Even more so was the discovery that humans aren't even aware of the programs and the world they created on the other side of the screen. At least, they aren't aware that their programs are alive and sentient. Accepting that not only are his gods flawed individuals, but that they don't even know that he and his world properly exist has left Clu rather bitter about the concept of Users as they were in system where he was once an enthusiastic supporter. He's not entirely convinced that there's not some unseen level of reality above them yet where Nautilus is just a bored User typing away at a keyboard, unaware of them and their lives.
And by extension, he no longer accepts anyone as being infallible, no matter their level of Ascension. He's learned to respect people on an individual basis, and tries to treat everyone as an equal, rather than thinking of himself as less important or of a lower class just because he's a program. Anyone- even a Deva- who acts like a jerk without the excuse of a storm will get called on it. Just as those who have proven themselves worth respecting are respected based on their merits, not simply because of what they happen to be.
Clu's also found a new purpose in Nautilus, putting his talents for information gathering to work as part of Irene's Task Force. It's strange, being on the side of those enforcing the rules (such as they are in Nautilus) rather than being the one breaking them. But whether or not he's fond of Nautilus, he's more or less accepted that it's his home now, and like any good program, will do his part to keep his home system up and running smoothly. Or at least in one piece.
Clu's time in Nautilus has forced him to turn his entire worldview upside down. He's had to accept that those he'd once considered gods are just people, and that the system and his place in it was not what he thought. And having learned that, he's had to try and forge a new life and a new function for himself on the strange world on the other side of the screen. So far he's been fairly successful, though it hasn't been easy. But only time will tell what the future holds for this misplaced program.
Not that he accepted this from the beginning, of course, being the stubborn program he is. When he first arrived, Clu's primary focus was on finding a way to return to his home system and his normal life without ending up back on the MCP's decompiler. Which, he found, was easier said than done. The fact that he had reason to be highly suspicious of Nautilus and its recruitment methods didn't help matters any. Snatching people up seemingly at random was far too much like the MCP for his tastes, and the fact that Nautilus' call apparently tampers with people's perceptions before doing so made matters even worse in his opinion. All Clu knew was that he needed to get home and he needed to get home ASAP, preferably to a time before he'd encountered Nautilus' call.
The world of Nautilus made no sense to Clu. It behaved like a system in some ways, but not others. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to those brought to the city, the way it functioned, or even its location. What people claimed was an offer of more, to him seemed less, especially since he had difficulty restoring his natural abilities. Much of Clu's first months in the city was spent in futile attempts to make logical sense of the city's illogical nature, and giving himself a headache in the process.
Clu's frustration, confusion, and anger at the situation and at Nautilus came to a head after the Bad Ending storm. He suffered a catastrophic malfunction that resulted in a hard reset. But that situation ended in a net positive, allowing him to forge a closer connection with Wheeljack, even naming him his secondary User. And having a User in Nautilus granted Clu some vital stability that allowed him to begin to properly adapt and accept his place there.
As Clu spent time in Nautilus his suspicions of it gradually waned until he no longer believed it to be harboring some malicious intent. Incompetence and perhaps insanity? Sure. But not malice. He'd seen a malicious sysadmin, and Nautilus didn't fit the bill.
And while he wasn't any happier about living there, he gradually came to accept it. He was dead if he went home after all, and annoying and dangerous as Nautilus could be sometimes, living there was still preferable to a certain and painful deresolution, which was all he had to look forward to back home. He might now believe that his presence in the city was a mistake on Nautilus' part, but it's a mistake he has to live with.
Though the people he met in Nautilus certainly helped matters along too. It was really the people he's gotten to know and care about that have made living in Nautilus more than just bearable. Aside from Wheeljack, he met and befriended the likes of Scott Summers- with whom he celebrated his first Christmas-, Kale, Leanne- who adopted Clu as a surrogate 'papa'-, Irene, and most recently, Evgeniy. And much to Clu's delight, his own User and creator, Kevin Flynn, eventually arrived in Nautilus as well.
Though Clu still loves and respects his own Creator like one would a father, Clu's views on Users in general have shifted drastically after over a year spent living among them. At first he was surprised to find out how much like programs Users were; in system, such thoughts would have been considered borderline blasphemous, but with the evidence all around him, Clu could hardly deny it. The more he got to know the Users around him, the more he realized that they were no more than flawed people like himself. That's a difficult thing to accept of one's gods.
Even more so was the discovery that humans aren't even aware of the programs and the world they created on the other side of the screen. At least, they aren't aware that their programs are alive and sentient. Accepting that not only are his gods flawed individuals, but that they don't even know that he and his world properly exist has left Clu rather bitter about the concept of Users as they were in system where he was once an enthusiastic supporter. He's not entirely convinced that there's not some unseen level of reality above them yet where Nautilus is just a bored User typing away at a keyboard, unaware of them and their lives.
And by extension, he no longer accepts anyone as being infallible, no matter their level of Ascension. He's learned to respect people on an individual basis, and tries to treat everyone as an equal, rather than thinking of himself as less important or of a lower class just because he's a program. Anyone- even a Deva- who acts like a jerk without the excuse of a storm will get called on it. Just as those who have proven themselves worth respecting are respected based on their merits, not simply because of what they happen to be.
Clu's also found a new purpose in Nautilus, putting his talents for information gathering to work as part of Irene's Task Force. It's strange, being on the side of those enforcing the rules (such as they are in Nautilus) rather than being the one breaking them. But whether or not he's fond of Nautilus, he's more or less accepted that it's his home now, and like any good program, will do his part to keep his home system up and running smoothly. Or at least in one piece.
Clu's time in Nautilus has forced him to turn his entire worldview upside down. He's had to accept that those he'd once considered gods are just people, and that the system and his place in it was not what he thought. And having learned that, he's had to try and forge a new life and a new function for himself on the strange world on the other side of the screen. So far he's been fairly successful, though it hasn't been easy. But only time will tell what the future holds for this misplaced program.
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