revivalproject | It's a Party in the Not-USA

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It's a Party in the Not-USA

WHO: York Stark, YOU
WHERE: Agrii Ship
WHAT: Holiday Time
WHEN: New Tick
WARNINGS: York’s broken filter

#FF00F8

This being his third year for this, York knows what to expect for New Tick. Pink snow, too much fucking glitter, and gifts buried in wrapping paper that also probably had too much glitter. The android also knows better than to touch anyone else’s wrapped up presents because unlike the organics around him, that zap goes all the way from his fingertips to his toes. It does not feel any emulation of good.

So he keeps going until he finds his own stack. Three this year? How generous, though seeing one in wrapped up in orange feels suspicious. Did it have to do with the various colors the aliens were wearing? And the orange gift is big, too. Almost as big as York himself. What the hell could that be?

For now, it’s ignored. The pink gift gets opened first, revealing a pretty metallic frame holding…

Holy shit.

York stares at it, then looks up and around for the other two - no, three - in the photo. Then looks back to it again, with Mini, Reeve, Richie, and himself captured in the likeness of a family photo. A family photo. Their family. The only one he considered like that back in Detroit was Duncan, who obviously wasn’t here. After last year’s gift of the matching suits, it was clear that the Agrii recognized them as a family unit. They were a family unit.

The frame is set onto the table with some reverence, because York doesn’t want to break it, even by accident. The purple gift gets opened next and oh. A sewing kit! That’d be useful since Miss Lark went home. She had to have gone home, since he hasn’t seen her in a long time and Little Bear was hanging around one of the Hawkins people. The little kit gets put into his hoodie pocket and he goes for the last one.

The orange gift. It’s nearly flat, thin, and a decent weight. The paper falls to the floor when ripped open and York staggers back. A riot shield from home, with the words ‘RIOT UNIT’ printed on it. The same riot shields that the police used to protect themselves when raiding Jericho. He kicks it away from him, then steps backwards quickly as it clatters loudly to the floor.

#0093FF

The pavilion is nice.

York isn’t really a water kind of android anymore. Not since what happened back home right before being brought to Temba. The terror of the raid, then the shock of cold water that threatened to ice his hardware - water wasn’t what York would consider a good memory.

Standing on the pavilion with the riot shield laying on the floor of it before him felt like a good step towards not being traumatized by it. It wasn’t like he had to get into it after all.

It’s tempting to push the shield into the water and forget about it entirely. It feelsl ike a ‘fuck you’ kind of gift to him, knowing how the police felt about androids where he was from. Or maybe this was supposed to be a gift about taking something from your oppressor to defend yourself with’ kind of thing. Irony, maybe.

 Either way, he glares at it for a long moment, then looks back to the serene water stretched out before him.

#FFC300

Fireworks aren’t really York’s thing back home, and he’s okay with that. But seeing the glee in the younger aliens as they run around, piques York’s interest. It’s not like he could hurt himself the way organics could. He’d just have to repair himself.

Hm, maybe that’s what the sewing kit was for? For himself and his beloved hoodie.

The android goes over to the table to light up his own sparkler, using the burning end to help one of the small aliens light their own before they’re running off. The joy he sees on the alien’s face is enough to have him smile himself. York may be a machine, but he’s not entirely cold-hearted. He starts following at his walking pace, keeping the lit end away from him so the sparks don’t land on the skin mesh. The other hand is tucked into the hoodie pouch as he files after the running children, grinning at their antics.   This wasn’t his idea of ‘fun’, but it’s entertaining at the very least.

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There's care in making sure his sparkler stays out of range of the other droid, and he holds the guy securely against himself. The swivel of the head draws York's attention that direction. There's a little nod of his head to acknowledge the guy, then back to BD.

"Having fun chasing with the rest of us? You want me to hold you so you can keep up. I promise not to drop you."

That would be a crime!

At least BD-1 doesn't seem terribly bothered by a few sparks. It'll take more than that to hurt him!

Cal grins briefly back at York, giving him a bit of a salute from where he sits.

The droid gives something of a petulant sound, he can keep up perfectly fine! -but he's not inclined to say no to being carried.

Look, York's being Good^{^TM} for once with someone outside of his family unit, let him take worry about getting sparks on BD-1! He heads back over to the table to dispose of his sparkler - now out - to replace it with a new one. This one burns sparkles of green and purple. Then he notices Cal and gives a nod back.

Then he starts chasing the Agrii children again, fingers curled around the droid in his arms to keep him safe. "And like this, no one will accidentally run you over, and you won't run into someone."

Droids just had to look out for each other!

There's a reluctant beep of consent to that point, because both scenarios are entirely possible with him. Anyway, BD-1 supposes he doesn't mind being coddled, seeming to make himself comfortable as York holds him.

You call this chasing, York? Faster, they're getting away!

York allows for BD to adjust in his hold, taking note of it in his own programming for future use as he starts back up in the running. He's not fast, like an Olympic runner or anything, but York has agility at least. One of the children trips and the android vaults over them like a hurdle with a happy yell.

It feels like a race only he and BD-1 are participating in but it's fun. He's not running from police or humans like this. Just fun in celebrating another year with everyone.

That's more like it! BD-1 lets out a beep in warning when they start closing in on the fallen child, and as York leaps, the droid squeals excitedly.

Sure, it's nothing compared to what he expects with Cal but not everyone can wall-run. But he's having fun and all the more happy that York's enjoying himself too. That's important!

Oh this is such fun, and BD-1's encouraging beeps keep his legs going. It's not like he got tired like a usual human did anyways. He's fully charged thankfully.

York sees a empty tall bench and he guns for it. His HUD is displaying the calculations - the push he needs to make with his legs at just the right spot to get the right arc - and he does it, just in time for a different alien to stand back up from where he was picking up... something, from the ground.

It's enough to trip up York and his arms open as his software aims to keep himself safe, and not BD-1.

Uh-oh!

BD-1 lets out a different kind of squeal, one in alarm as York starts tumbling. The little droid has at least been in enough crazy predicaments that he's not completely caught off guard. His little boosters kick in as he swings his little legs forwards to direct them better, softening his landing as he jets safely to the floor.

He's quick to turn about and hurry over to York to check on him though, beeping an anxious inquiry.

Unlike BD-1, York has no boosters or anything to soften his blow. The alien he's tripped over makes a noise of surprise just as York hits the ground with only his body making noise from the impact.

When the smaller little droid gets over to him, York's already pushing himself in a seated position back on his heels. There's some dirt on his face and clothes, but he seems to be okay. He's suffered through a lot more in his own world that a stumble is like a leaf falling on him more than anything. "You okay BD? I obviously didn't calculate an obstacle like that in the way."

At least it doesn't seem like York's hurt, and hopefully the Agrii wasn't harmed more than they looked surprised.

BD-1 borbles an affirmative, wiggling from side to side as though to prove said point. He hops back to give York more room if he decides to get all the way up.

The Agrii seems to say something, surprised and kind of upset, but shuffles along away from the androids. York watches him go, then watches BD-1 wiggle about to show that yeah, he's okay. There's more Agrii around now than earlier, maybe something was gonna start happening or something.

Things seem... tense.

"C'mere," is the only little warning BD-1 gets before the bigger android is scooping him back up and holding him protectively. He starts back towards Cal, keeping an eye on some of the Agrii starting to congregate, whispering amongst each other. Once back to the human, he looks to him. "Things seem strained around here, or is that just me?"

BD-1 is ready to be picked up when York moves to do so, beeping inquiringly at him before glancing at Cal as they return to where the Jedi's sitting.

It probably isn't a surprise that Cal's already looking in the direction of the Agrii, brow furrowed slightly. "...no, it's been pretty tense since we came back here," he says quietly, eventually looking back towards the two. "You two all right?" He figures it can't hurt to ask, since he'd seen that tumble, even if he knows they're both pretty durable.

Once to Cal, York carefully holds out BD-1 to him, still glancing around the area at the Agrii. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've dealt with worse shit back home and here. I think BD-1's okay."

Cal would have better luck asking him since there's probably some kind of Jedi thing they have between them. He does take a step closer to the guy, just in case. "I got a weapon wrapped in orange paper as part of my gifts. Did you get anything?"

Getting a riot shield seemed... ominous.

The droid gives the binary equivalent of an 'a-okay!' as he's quick to scamper up Cal's offered arm to settle behind him in his customary place.

"I noticed that, yeah. Bribery? Incentive?" He frowns. Either way, it had been a bit concerning. But so had the thing he'd received.

"I did. Another lightsaber. Not anyone's that I know, though..." He could have done without that particular onslaught of memories that came with it, but at least it hadn't taken him out as badly as the room below the engineering section of the ship.

Yeah, BD-1 is okay and that helps York's system feel better. It's one thing for him to get hurt because of his broken vocal filter and fuck ups, it's something else entirely if he gets someone else hurt in the crossfire.

Especially another droid being.

"A lightsaber- oh right. A weapon of colored light. It feels like bribery, but could also be them trying to prepare us for something. I don't know about the place you come from originally, but politics and violence go hand in hand and usually only one side is the victor."

Cal smiles wryly at that, though it fades almost immediately. "No, that sounds about the same where I'm coming from. Jedi were supposed to be peacekeepers for the galaxy. And then we were pushed into becoming generals and commanders leading the Republic's armies against the Separatists." He sighs, shaking his head.

"I hope things don't get that extreme around here."

York stares at him for a long moment, chest light under his shirt glowing that soft golden light as he does, then back to teal. "Yeah, that's a lot of shit to try and figure out. Jedi is someone like you, and the Republic is... bad? What about the Separatists?"

More human politics that he should not worry about educating himself on, but York can't help it sometimes.

"They better not get that bad. I've already dealt with humans blowing up our sanctuary back home, rather they not get explosive here, too." They were in space. That'd be really bad.

"Well...yeah. I was part of the Order, Jedi-in-training at the time. The Republic wasn't bad...but...I think they could have probably done a lot better at things. Something happened, it's gotten corrupted." Cal sighs.

"The Separatists... I don't think they were all bad. They didn't agree with things, they had their own problems and unfortunately chose to start a war about it. It started with trade issues from what I can remember. Then it became a lot worse. But I think both sides were just being used, everyone was being used. In the end, the Jedi were made out to be traitors, and now we've just been hunted down. My Order's gone."

It's always a sobering thing to acknowledge. It's always going to be painful to remember. But he's at least found a way to move past the fear, and to start finally trying to live and focus on what he can do rather than dwell on what he couldn't, or how he'd failed.

"I agree though. Guess that's where we come in. To make sure it doesn't get out of hand."

It's a lot to think about, but York's mind sorts the data with ease. Almost like he had a computer for a brain or something. The Order, the Jedi apprentices categorized under the name, and the Republic and Separatists in their own categories.

He does sober a little himself and frowns. "Sounds kinda like what Cyberlife did about deviated androids back home. We were the enemy, that we were trying to take people's jobs and that we'd deviate and kill them. All sorts of bullshit. And then the government turned the military on us."

He looks to Cal and his android friend perched in his spot.

"Yeah. I hope it doesn't get to the levels you and I know things can get to. That's how people fucking die."

"It seems like it's always so easy to get people to turn on others..." Cal says, shaking his head. "I'm sorry something like that's happened to you and your kind too." It's not something that should ever happen to anyone.

"Someone almost did die. Ny Ak was in a pretty bad state when Leo and I got there. Mu Ly wasn't holding back, and he only had a couple of butter knives as weapons." Which must have been just as painful to be stabbed by, he reflects with a wince. The power behind those strikes must have been something, but then Cal had felt the anger that had gripped Mu Ly when he'd attacked the older Agrii.

"It is, humans are usually easily manip-" York cuts himself off, thinking maybe he shouldn't piss off Cal by making blanket statements about humans. Especially since Cal's been pretty good by this android's standards, and while he doesn't hang out with BD-1 as much as he'd like, York likes to think they're pretty good friends.

He straightens up at the mention of the fight with... butter knives. Both horrifying and also impressive. York doesn't mention either adjective. "Shit. Things really are getting bad here, aren't they? Fuck. Butter knives?"

Cal snorts lightly at that, waving a hand. "They are, not going to lie there. I think that goes for most organic species though, and humans only make up a part of the galaxy."

He'd also agree with those objectives. Butter knives definitely shouldn't be used as a weapon.

"It... has been, but I think things also got a little more complicated and that pushed things over the edge." He makes a face, nodding. "Butter knives. They've been arming themselves with anything they figure can be a weapon."

"Good to know it's not just us." York doesn't even doubt that there's different worlds out there, even for him. Cal just comes from a time further out where it's a norm for him.

York lets out a simulated sigh, crossing his arms over his chest with a airless huffing sound. "Great. So we've got people trying to do murders planetside and now potentially getting assaulted by the aliens hosting us. I thought everything about this system was supposed to be better. I do not want to be brought down by a fucking butter knife of all things."

"I don't know what about any of this was supposed to be better, really. We were already being brought in without our say, asked to fix a messed up city plagued by storms deliberately made to keep the Agrii in check, but ultimately was too much that it just chased them from the place they'd thought of as home."

Cal shrugs. "At least you can see a butter knife coming."

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It's a Party in the Not-USA

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whoops I forgot the timeline on this one is technically befooooore the attack 9.9;;;

how dare [squirt bottle for aya]

/just guns it no regrets noooow