lake party invite + mingle (open)

[channellings]

Who: any and everyone!
Where: the lake and nearby!
When: right now! (july 7th, afternoon)
What: motha 👏 fuckin 👏 lake 👏 party
Warnings: Language (!!!) for now, will be added as needed!



[no, this is not a joke and yes, it's an actual invite to a party over the network from the username: cock.licking.idiot (and no, that's not a joke, either).

those who decide that they'd rather not be square will arrive at some unspecified patch of lake shore (thanks, klaus) at a similarly unspecified time (good work, asshat) to discover that something resembling a slapdash but heartfelt lake party along the northern waterfront. a couple of tables have been dragged out of nearby cabins and now hold a probably inadvisable quantity of foods, at least half of which don't belong at a party by any means. is this what rationing looks like? this is definitely what rationing looks like. there's also an alcohol table, filled pretty sparsely early on in the party but gathering bottles and cans throughout the day. (word of mod says feel free to wing it on what kind of alcohol we have!).

a number of chairs sit in a wobbly line in the stone-filled waterfront sand, most of them not meant for beachgoing but nearly all of them able to recline. about fifty feet down the beach seems to be the splash zone, where all water horseplay exists well out of range of splashing those sitting in beachside chairs. some people dive or cannonball off the mostly-sturdy pier, while others seem to be batting around a-... is that a beach ball they have? no, it seems to be a balloon that says "get well soon". how fitting. please, someone bring them a fucking beach ball.

(this is a mingle! go ahead and make top-levels or tag into other people's.)]

Comments

i let's get this started

[obeir]

[ A strong contender for Most Prominent Lineface appears in the form of another android wandering by, of Wallace Corp. design, his hands in the pockets of his long coat and holding it closed in a way that suggests he isn't concerned about how unapproachable he looks. As is his inclination, he's been systematically mapping the layout of the new prison he's found himself trapped within.

The woman perched on the steps is regarded with an impersonal cautiousness, but it's the sign that has him slowing his stride and eventually pausing out of curiosity. ]

What's the catch? [ He wonders as he surveys the offered canned food. He'd learnt very early on in Deerington that free food or refreshments generally meant they'd been tampered with. The effects weren't always unpleasant, per se, but... he hasn't survived this long by being foolish. Or trusting. ]

[brickbat]

It probably tastes terrible? Some of these cans look like they'd been there for years.

[ Is the flat, sprawling drawl, making herself bigger like taking up more than one train seat so the manspreading creeper next to you has less room to do so. In the split second before her average!android senses register what he's made of, more like her than not, this other lineface is just a big, tall, human man, and forget deerington; she'd had enough of trusting those long before that, the second she broke through her programming.

Then the pieces snap into place and she genuinely entertains the possibility that this place is making her hallucinate; before this the closest she'd ever met to another android was Kagerou, who resembled a humanoid exactly not at all. And now? Suddenly two of them in the same day, or so her senses tell her. Three counting David, who is probably floating around here somewhere being both charming and slightly off-putting. (Not to North, of course; she approves highly of being off-putting to humans. Putting them off a cliff, if necessary.)

The point is, she's far too suspicious by nature to demonstrate a second time the warm reaction Ash received, and is now in fact now questioning his authenticity. And David's. ]

Hey, you. [ he's right there, north, you don't have to--never mind. ] If you're some trick this place is playing I'm not buying it. ]

[ The little rotating circle at her temple dips yellow, very briefly red (too brief for human eyes to catch, in fact), then back again. ]

Stop trying to make us think there are other androids here. We were fine in Deerington and before that I was fine--alone.

[obeir]

You know what I am?

[ K's astonishment quickly overtakes his caution as he regards the woman — a fellow android who has known Deerington, no less — even more keenly for several moments, and with open curiosity now. There hadn't been any others in Deerington during his captivity. Only other types of AI, including Tech Boy, but nothing and no one quite like K himself.

Being acknowledged for what he is and then condemned for it in the same breath is a familiar experience, and painfully so. Hopefulness and uncertainty and confusion play out across his face, and eventually settle into an almost crushed look for a second or two before he carefully shutters his expression again.

Pulling his coat tighter around himself, he bows his head in the nonthreateningly meek manner he's learnt to adopt to avoid conflict. ]

I'm— sorry to have bothered you. [ It's stilted, almost but not quite a question; he wants to stay and speak more with her, but he's worried now, and doesn't seek to inflict his presence where it isn't wanted. ] I wasn't trying to do anything, I just... saw the sign.

[brickbat]

[ ....well, shit. That is decidedly not how this is supposed to go, although--surely if the Technicians wanted to fuck with her somehow this is how they'd do, it right? With a giant sad puppy who reminds her strongly of John? The scatter of conflicting emotions (hope, always hope, that monstrous feathered thing), the meekness--all the things that had made him suspect when they found him outside the Cyberlife warehouse. She hadn't wanted to take him with them; he was too close to humans, a living (non-breathing) security system who would betray them the second they let him in.

But she'd been wrong about him.

Shit. Things were so much easier when she wore so much armor nothing could crack it, when her only goal, her only thought was simply to survive, yet....that's not who she is anymore. At least. Not all the time. It's a work in progress. ]

Wait.

[ She hops up from the steps, hands up in front of her in the universal show of unarmed...ness, what is grammar, eyes big, body language entreating. Exactly the opposite of his, in fact, posture clearly inclined to be just as closed leaning the whole way in to welcome. It's like. Super difficult, and she's not great at keeping her feelings off her face, but she's trying. ]

Wait, please. I'm sorry. You don't have to leave.

[ She trails off, unsure how to proceed even if the apology slides out without friction. What would Markus do? ...probably not reach immediately for dark humor, but oh well. He's not here, so she'll just have to flail along as best she can. ]

It's not your fault I have--trust issues. [ the en dash apparently intended to represent more baggage than LAX, as one does ] I just don't know anything about where I am or what the rules are here. It's easier to think you're probably just Technicians fucking with me.

[ Is this tall fellow still in the vicinity? Or has he taken his coat and fled? North will uh, continue on as if the former is occurring. ]

The last place I was before this was for months, and there was never another android this much like us. I can tell you're not a Cyberlife android... [ her mouth twists, uncertain; this is definitely, definitely not her wheelhouse ] but you're close enough that it feels like a crazy coincidence we'd all show up here at the same time.

[obeir]

[ Experience dictates that the wisest course of action is to remove himself from the situation before things escalate to violence, as he's come to expect from humans, from other androids, from everyone. Understandably, in the case of other androids, when he was ordered to hunt those who had freed themselves from human control... control which he is still subject to.

But nothing about her manner suggests violence or disdain, just an awkward sort of penitence. And that has his full attention. Though he has sort of drifted a few steps away, he pauses where he is to watch her. Maybe hope will make a fool of him yet, because he finds himself wanting to believe everything she's telling him. ]

I'm a captive, too. Pulled from one prison to another, and now one more. [ Meaning: he has never actually known freedom, in any form. ] I don't know anything more than you do.

[ A Cyberlife android. Definitely sounds like she's referring to a manufacturer, so he offers: ] The Wallace Corporation made me— if that means anything to you. I haven't heard of Cyberlife. Probably we're from different worlds... [ Thanks, Deerington, for teaching him all about the multiverse. But that isn't going to deter him now. The way she's been talking, it isn't just the two of them here— ]

You said us. There's more? Like you? [ Like them? But even now he hesitates to include himself, so used to being the unwelcome outcast even among other outcasts. That's what happens when humans can't be bothered to clean up their own messes (or rather, when their 'messes' possess the strength to rend steel and have a penchant for murdering humans), and so design even more androids to throw at the ones they've lost control of. ]

[brickbat]

[ Ughhhhhh, different worlds again. That isn't really all that surprising, given that she's also had the Bullshit Deerington Experience, but it is frustrating as hell when it just adds to the new set of parameters this place has, ones she has to learn all over again, and the influx of other androids is only the exception that proves the rule.

Not that that in any way prevents it from being an exception she'll gladly take. The ring embedded in her temple turns to yellow, not red this time, and her expression as she studies him hews thoughtful, pulling apart the words and turning them over to find their meaning. ]

Look, do you want to sit down? We could be here a while.

[ is that part of a smile?? My god, MAYBE. She gestures to the few like, sad sticks of porch furniture, because those legs ain't gonna fit on the front stairs.

Should K deign to join her she occupies a rocking chair on its last legs (haha) by tucking her knees under her chin, arms locked around her ankles. ]

Yes, there are more. I don't know the Wallace Corporation, or any of the others, but they all seem to treat us the same no matter where we're from.

[ You hear how she is refusing not to include you in us, here. It's like it doesn't even occur to her or something! Meanwhile he hasn't actually said "all humans everywhere are shit," or anything, but she can read between the lines of words like uh. Prison. That, of course, surprises her far less than different world could ever have the capacity to, even if she ends up in a hundred of these places (dear ra9 no). ]

We don't know each other, and I probably didn't inspire much confidence just now - [ that's definitely a smile, one self-directedly rueful; she knows what she is and won't apologize for it, but occasionally maybe, maybe wishes a little bit she were less impulsive ] but if we're all stuck in this fucking place, we should look out for each other. We can't trust the humans to do it.

[ That imparted, which she knows for several rational reasons might not be welcome, she looks down at the tips of her shoes just to break up the sense of expectation, a piece of hair loose from her braid falling across her face. She blows it away with an irritated ffft out of the corner of her mouth, then cocks her head at him, an inquisitive bird. ]

You said one more. This isn't your first time in one of these shitshows?

[ it is amazing how much more vulgar she gets the longer she's alive. ]