Halloween on the Grid...if you can catch up with the idea...

"That can't be right..." The voice heralded the sound of booted footsteps as two programs came into view, walking down the avenue that led to Flynn's arcade. "Why would Users act like malware to demand more energy supplements? It makes no sense."

"I'm telling you, Tron, that's what the file shows." CLU's presence was announced by the bright yellow glow of his circuits, highlighting the hand he waved at the slightly taller system monitor walking beside him. "When the User world goes through a period of increased darkness for this time-stamp, Users disguise their renders and demand energy supplements, or 'treats' from other Users living nearby. Failure to offer the supplements leads to 'tricks' from the disguised Users."

Tron was shaking his head at this information. "But what is the point of disguising their renders? Without disguising their tag-reads, everyone would know who was demanding these 'treats' or threatening with 'tricks'. There is no point...no User would open the door to them and the Users would then know who could not be trusted."

The system monitor's tone was exasperated and slightly grumpy from the thought of Users acting like malware when they could be so easily identified. It was as though he felt it was a personal affront for someone to attempt to be a disruption, whether or not the disruptive force was in the system or not.

"See?" Tron was saying, "...Pointless."

CLU kept walking towards the arcade. The light of the portal had been shining long enough that Flynn should be nearing the street entrance to the arcade very soon. Maybe his User could explain to Tron more about this User holiday...CLU certainly wasn't having much success doing so.

"Tron, Users don't have tag-reads when they aren't on the Grid," CLU told the other program, frustrated by the gaps in knowledge regarding the Users that his friend had. It made things so difficult to discuss sometimes. First, figure out what information CLU had, then what information Tron didn't have, then try to find a way to fill in the gaps—which usually led to the discovery of more gaps in Tron's information files. Letting Flynn expand Tron's information base was the easiest option to take in most instances.

The sparingly-lit form near CLU came to an abrupt halt. Tron turned back to look at the system administrator program, disbelief clearly showing on his face.

"No tag-reads?" he asked. "How do they know for certain who they are dealing with then? Any malware-behaving User could take advantage of them by pretending to be someone they trust! And then they have an entire holiday dedicated to doing just that!?"

The system monitor was obviously horrified, the security coding in his base code recoiling from the thought of not being able to trust anyone around him...not even on as simple a level as confirming their identity when they were standing next to him.

"I don't think that's how it works," CLU began to say, before noticing the arcade's door moving slightly. "Oh good, Flynn's here; he can explain it...he wants to do something like what they do in the User world here on the Grid during this visit."

Tron's head swung back and forth between staring at CLU and the now-opening door to the arcade; a look of near-panic crossing his features.

"Flynn wants to do what? Here?"

There wasn't enough time for CLU to reply; Flynn had already joined the two of them as they stood there, Flynn's usual "Greetings, programs!" making it impossible for Tron to have heard anything that CLU would have said.

"Hey, guys! Ready to give trick-or-treating a try?" Flynn turned towards CLU with his next question, "You did tell Tron about Halloween, right?"

"He did," Tron blurted out, " and...I'm so sorry you have to live without trust, Flynn!" He grabbed Flynn and said, "I'll make certain you can trust all the programs around you—you can know you're safe, even if they do act like malware!"

With that said, Tron dropped his grip on Flynn's shoulder and turned back to the street, rezzing up a lightcycle as he did so.

Moments later, Flynn was blinking at the sight of his oldest friend in the system disappearing into the distance. He raised his hand and pointed after Tron, speaking to CLU as he did so.

"Did he just—?"

"He did," CLU confirmed. "He's off to protect you from Halloween on the Grid."

"But I thought you were going to explain it to him..."

"I tried," CLU said, not sure if he was amused or tired of watching Tron try to understand User protocols. "There seems to be a missing element in the information transfer. You seem to have better luck in that respect."

Flynn nodded his head slightly, the faint blueish light from the circuit lines of the nearby buildings showing him clearly.

"You did at least warn him about trying to scare each other, right?"

CLU's grin was a little rue-full at that point. "Funny thing, we were still getting to that point..."

"Oh me oh my," Flynn said, a grin growing on his face as he spoke. "Well, I think we should catch up with Tron before he finds the Halloween decorations I coded for the administration complex before I came here."

At that news, CLU's grin grew even wider. "Flynn," he asked carefully, "what did you do...?"

A/N-a ridiculous bit of drabble because I couldn't sleep.