I'll follow behind you on rainbow road

[paragon]

Who: CAPTAIN AMERICA WANTS YOU
Where: The Baromanogerneson Residence (i.e., 5031)
When: May 9th
What: Mario Kart and subversion, two great tastes that taste great together.
Warnings: Please warn in subjects as needed!
[Open]

The thought had formed pretty much as soon as he'd opened the box that was left on the front porch. The people here need a way to talk. There are two rooms in the house where they would be free to do so. He'd come home one day — not long after the body had disappeared from the upstairs bathroom and all the cameras he'd ripped from their wiring between there and the garage had been put back in place in their absence with a friendly maintenance note left behind that all fixtures in need of repair had been seen to, along with a bill for the expenses — to find Natasha sitting on the bed, writing a note in Sharpie. He'd leaned against the door frame and watched her hold it up to the cameras and make a deal: Steve wouldn't break any more cameras, if they give them the privacy of their bedrooms. As there had only been the three of them at the time (despite the insistence in his head that the house has always been filled by his teammates, just as he remembers of the last few years before Wayward Pines), that had meant the master bedroom downstairs, and Bucky's upstairs.

It had actually worked, though Steve wouldn't have trusted the word of whoever's behind the cameras himself if it weren't for Natasha's daily inspections, and so far the deal's held.

But it's not — can't be — a luxury only afforded to them, for their own sakes. He's told others here and there, and he knows his friends have, too. It's not enough, but nor does he have a way to get people over without arousing suspicion. But then there's the Nintendo system. A little unorthodox, as far as his own methods go, but he'll work with anything he has.

He doesn't put it down anywhere in writing, letting news of the party travel by word of mouth and hoping that's enough to keep it out of the wrong ears. At least for now. There's a chance — a good chance — that it will eventually get the Sheriff's attention, but by then it will have had the effect it's supposed to and given the people here the chance to speak to each other truthfully. And if that comes down on anyone, it's gonna be the people prepared to deal with it.

The day of the ninth is a rainy one, a good day to stay inside and play games with friends. It also provides a good excuse to use the master bedroom just off the end of the foyer as a temporary coat room. Straight ahead in the living room, Mario Kart is all ready to go, and in the kitchen next to that, snack food and drinks are available.

((ooc: THIS IS A MINGLE POST. While I will be tagging around with Steve a bit, this is mostly to give people a chance to chat with each other without the cameras watching. Per Natasha's deal with the powers that be, the cameras in the master bedroom and Bucky's room upstairs have been removed. Natasha will be greeting people at the door and taking them on a "tour" (i.e., to the master bedroom to explain the camera situation, why the party's really happening, and that they are not to discuss the lack of cameras while elsewhere in the house). Feel free to wander in there any time for a chat, or simply enjoy some Mario Kart and refreshments! Commenting around is encouraged, and please note in your top-levels whether they're open or closed. If you have any questions for me I can be found on plurk (jeeps) or discord (jeeps#9644).))

Comments

BB-8 and Maybe That Other Guy | Open

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8, as usual, came with Poe.

The droid left his partner to scan the house, and had been on his way to find Poe and report back about the cameras missing from some of the rooms when he got distracted by the goings-on in the living room.

Specifically, the tiny pixelated pod racers.

Which is why BB-8 is now directly in front of the TV, trilling excitedly about having found something familiar. ]

[seaweedbrain]

[ For a long, drawn-out second, Percy thinks that the droid is probably part of the video game experience.

(And he thinks, this is so cool, which is followed by, how much did this thing cost?)

But the video game is Mario Kart and there are little race-cars zooming across the screen and he doesn't remember spherical-shaped robots being playable characters, even if his actual experience with video games is less than most.

He'd been sitting somewhere in the back while people played rounds of the game, but now he gets up to approach the droid, reaching out to maaaaybe touch it. ]

Wow, you are cool.

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 gives a little high-pitched chirp of vanity, swiveling his head dome around just in time to look Percy in the, er, eye? as he gets poked. He introduces himself, then asks for Percy's name, hoping maybe this human will know Binary. Someone here has to! ]

[seaweedbrain]

[ Percy can speak English, Greek, a little bit of Latin ... oh, and Horse.

(It's some kind of demigod thing, he thinks.)

But beepy droid sounds? That gets a blank stare, maybe an eyebrow-raise, and a: ]

Hey, little dude. What can you do? [ He doesn't look like much of a roomba. ] Is it totally rude for me to ask how your head stays on your body?

[ Would he understand anyway? Probably (most definitely) not. ]

[volitaunt]

[ A robotic sigh. How is he supposed to explain magnetic coupling when you can't understand him, human? Still, he tries, scanning the room for something magnetic he can roll away to to retrieve. He brings it back over to Percy, displaying his prize gripped in one clamp, and then he sticks it to the tv stand. Where it stays.

See, magnets. ]

[seaweedbrain]

Ohh. [ Magnets, okay. Percy nods, indicating his acceptance of this information as sound. ] Hey, that's cool. You understood me.

[ Of course he did, Percy. But droids are kind of a new thing to him, so pls forgive him BB-8, for all of his newbie questions now and to come. ]

Are you here with someone? Or are you ... like, your own person ...? No. Entity?

[volitaunt]

[ Sigh sigh all these humans exclaiming over such simple things.

...That does give BB-8 an idea, though, which means he's trundling off between the legs of partygoers to find Poe. Percy can follow! Or wait until he returns with his pilot in tow. ]

[seaweedbrain]

[ Uhhhhh ...

Percy has no idea whether to follow or stay where he is. But honestly, following a droid seems a lot more interesting than standing around watching people play video games, so following it is!

Now where is this little dude going ... ]

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 stops at Poe's feet, where he stands near the kitchen, and then beeps insistently. Poe smiles down at him. ] What, buddy--

[ Which is when Poe notices Percy behind the droid. He raises an eyebrow at the droid. ] Making friends?

[ Then he nods to the kid. ] I see you've met BB-8.

[birdcostumes]

[Dude. Okay, listen.

Sam is no stranger to robots or artificial beings. He's been in Tony Stark's lab. He's met Dum-E, and while he (luckily) never had to deal with Ultron, he's heard about him in detail. He knows Vision, too, and thinks pretty highly of him.

But he's never seen anything like this little rolly-polly orange bot. BB-8 distracts him from his game, and Sam ends up losing the round spectacularly. Normally he'd be mad, but he just passes the controller to whoever is waiting for the next round before squatting down next to the little robot to look it over curiously.]

Man, I bet Stark would love to get his hands on you, little guy.

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 tilts his head dome, giving Sam an equally curious once-over, both with photoreceptor and sensors. He tags the tracking device--everyone here has one, it seems--and chirps an inquiry to that effect, before adding that he doesn't know what a Stark is but he's Very Important to the Resistance and shouldn't be manhandled.

It sort of worked for Finn. ]

[birdcostumes]

[Sam doesn't understand any of that, and he can't tell that BB-8 is running sensors on him, but he definitely gets the sense that the bot is acknowledging him. The way he tilts his head even gives him the appearance of a cute, curious dog.

He starts to reach out to touch BB-8, but hesitates. Again, he's seen artificial beings with all kinds of ranges of intelligence. Is this cool, to just reach out and pet him? Vision sure as Hell isn't anybody's pet. Sam would no sooner treat him that way than he would any other person he knows, and he has no way of telling whether this little guy is a robot, or something more.

His eyes flick to what he thinks is probably BB-8's eye.] Is this okay?

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 makes a sound that, whether you speak Binary or not, is undeniably "yep!"

He's getting the impression that this is another human that doesn't recognize Compressed Binary. Poe told him once just to talk slowly to people like that, but BB-8 is 98.7% sure that his partner was joking at the time.

Still, to illustrate the inoffensiveness, BB-8 rolls forward to bump lightly against Sam's fingers, rattling off a series of sounds that mostly have to do with being a maintenance droid and the commonality of maintenance droids being patted, poked, or otherwise treated like small animals.

Just not manhandled.]

[birdcostumes]

[His own little drone pal isn't even the sentient type of robot, and Sam still treats him with care. BB-8 will not receive any manhandling from this quarter.

He hesitantly lays a hand on his main body at first, and then traces his fingers over an orange circle. Sam can fly, he knows Captain America and Iron Man and Vision and Thor, who is an alien; but he's still capable of being in awe. No matter what level of AI this bot is loaded with, Sam at least knows that he's never seen anything even remotely like him.]

Can you talk to drones? I've got one upstairs that I can see through. [Is this a silly idea? Maybe. But it might at least give Sam more of an idea of what he's dealing with here.]

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 rolls backwards abruptly, surprised, and then lets out a long trill while wriggling in place.

Can he talk to drones.

He shoots off between the legs of several partygoers, headed for the stairs, before realizing he should probably make sure the human is with him. Another cascade of cheerful noises, this time a listing of his numerous nonsentient "friends."

BB-8 rolls backward and forward again, urging Sam to hurry up. ]

[birdcostumes]

[Sam takes that as a YES. A very adorable, enthusiastic YES.

He laughs and follows BB-8, wondering vaguely how the rolly-polly droid might make it up the stairs.]

You need any help getting up there?

[volitaunt]

[ A small, buzzer-like noise in the negative. From three panels pop heavy clamps, which he uses both to shove upward and to stop himself from rolling backwards as he slowly bumps his way up the stairs. It's not the most efficient way to do things, but it works!

He could just shoot one of the clamps into the upstairs wall the way he does at home but. Poe told him it would be rude. ]

Re: BB-8 and Maybe That Other Guy | Open

[seeyaduke]

[Ana had seen robots before, but she had never seen a robot like that before. It amused her, and she sat on the floor near it for a second, her legs criss-crossed in her jeans. One finger brushed her lip and then she tapped the side of her glasses, scanning it just a little bit in a way that was probably rude. Of course, her scanner doesn't compare at all to his own, but she wanted some sort of form of reference.

After all, he was too adorable not to have one.

After listening to the chirps that he'd given, Ana just murmured:]

You're talking, aren't you?

[volitaunt]

[ Depending on her glasses' capabilities, she might be able to tell what he's saying--after all, it's Compressed Binary, and who knows how that actually works.

BB-8's head dome swivels around, and he whistles a confirmation, rolling closer to Ana as she does her scan. Of course he comments on that, too, the rudimentary nature of it. No one said BB-8 was polite. ]

[seeyaduke]

[Ana just nods for a moment, because Rex probably did think of compressed binary because he seemed to have thought of everything else after all. When there's the comment, Ana just chuckles because she can't not.]

You know darling, I think you are quite adorable, despite what you happen to think of my scanning. Do you have a name?

[volitaunt]

[ BB-8 rolls backwards, obviously surprised. Then he makes a noise that translates more or less as "exclamation!" and rolls forward again, chattering cheerfully.

His designation is BB-8, he's a BB astromech unit partnered with Poe Dameron, and her scans are rudimentary but the rest of the town is worse so it all evens out. ]

[seeyaduke]

[Ana had heard of the name Poe Dameron in some of the runs she had taken around the town, and she made a little nod. It was good to know that there was someone who had least had some kind of tech that was higher than the things that her parents might have used.

It was really annoying.

So she just added,]

I'm Ana. Ana Lewis.

[volitaunt]

[ He offers her fresh greetings, starts to ask her if she knows about the cameras, but stops after "knows about." He's learning caution from Cassian.

Instead of saying more, BB-8 starts to roll toward one of the camera-less rooms, pausing long enough to look back at Ana, indicating she should follow. ]

[seeyaduke]

[Ana looks at him when he stops, and her attention is drawn upwards for a moment as she thinks about it. Oh, she's not an idiot and knows about the ones in her house, she just doesn't particularly care at this point in time. Instead, she's just ignoring them and going out and about her daily life with what she remembers and with what she doesn't.

However, she does follow him feeling a little smirk on her face, though she doesn't know why. Maybe it's just because the robot is just that cute, and he reminds her of something else. But she's decided that she likes him and that's all there is to it.]

[volitaunt]

[ He stops in one of the downstairs bedrooms. The coat room, for tonight. The master bedroom on most other nights.

He rolls around behind the door and pushes it shut before chirping that there are no cameras present in this room, and one of the others upstairs. ]