milliways_bar | Evil Karaoke post

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Evil Karaoke post

The machine waits, it sits in the corner near the piano and the jukebox blending in and watching for its moment.

Cassian walks in from a busy street and slips his way through the crowd of Milliways towards the counter, but there's a turn he didn't expect. Then suddenly he's holding a device and singing. When he tries to stop singing he can't so he sings along with anger in his voice, he hates being the center of attention.

Well, no cannonballs did fly, no rifles cut us down
No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground
No powder flash blinded the eye, no deathly thunder sounded
But just as sure as the hand of God, they brought death to my hometown
They brought death to my hometown, boys

No shells ripped the evening sky, no cities burning down
No army stormed the shores for which we'd die, no dictators were crowned
I awoke from a quiet night, I never heard a sound
The marauders raided in the dark and brought death to my hometown, boys
Death to my hometown.

They destroyed our families, factories, and they took our homes
They left our bodies on the plains, the vultures picked our bones

So listen up, my sonny boy, be ready for when they come
For they'll be returning sure as the rising sun
Now get yourself a song to sing and sing it 'til you're done
Yeah, sing it hard and sing it well
Send the robber barons straight to hell
The greedy thieves who came around
And ate the flesh of everything they found
Whose crimes have gone unpunished now
Who walk the streets as free men now

Ah, they brought death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, boys
Death to our hometown, whoa!

When the song ends with a dramatic flourish, he stumbles to a table as the karaoke machine moves to its next victim

OOC: The Karaoke machine is awake. I'm going to set up threads for others to sing and to watch in horror. Open to any reactions or to make your characters sing whether they want to or not. Tag in wherever works. And open for ages. Link in post leads to a video of Bruce Springsteen singing.
Tiny tag: Cassian Andor

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bastion writes, 'If the droids in your world had a common full-audio language already, it makes sense that wireless languages would be limited to specialist applications.'

"Yes, then some droids are made for communication like protocol and security droids."

Bastion erases the whiteboard and then starts writing their reply.

'Most modern omnics purpose-built for a specific job are combat models. The majority of civilian-model omnics are shaped similarly to humans, have full phonetic audio output, and have no specialized parts unless they added them by choice. Combat models can usually only produce speech in omnicode.'

"How many types of models are there? In terms of droids, I don't think I could tell you all the models just general types."

Bastion gazes vaguely upwards and to the side, thinking about how best to categorize the different types, before they write their answer.

'I don't know every type of omnic, but I can outline some general categories. Bastion units like me are the type of combat omnic produced in the largest quantities and we made up most of the omnic troops, although there are other types of combat bipeds under 3m tall. Most omniums also made omnic planes and tanks, bipedal artillery models upwards of 10m tall, and miscellaneous specialized infantry models to supplement the Bastion units in the field.'

'Before the war there were more non-combat utilitarian models of omnics, primarily built for construction work, but most were either destroyed or repurposed for combat.'

Cassian nods as all those make sense compared to what he knows from droids, "Yes, when there's war, that's what everything does tend to turn to."

Cassian sounds like he has some experience with that situation. It occurs to them as they clear the whiteboard that they know very little about his world, except that his job is flying a spaceship.

'What about the droids where you come from? Are they all built to do one type of thing in particular? Do they all do the thing they were built for?'

"Mainly, some are built specifically like astromechs for working on ships, other might be more general like household chores or security. It depends, many of the droids I work with will do things outside of their specific role,"

He does, he's always been fighting in some way, his entire life.

'Is your co-pilot an astromech?'

That last answer was kind of vague and they didn't get much out of it, but they can come back to that topic.

"No, he was originally programmed as a security droid," Its a complicated answer because droids can do many different jobs.

'Why did he change jobs?'

It sounds like at least some droids can do that! Which is reassuring.

Cassian takes a drink as he thinks of how to answer, "He wanted more options, but hopefully he'll get a door again and you can ask him."

'I can sympathize with that.'

'What does he look like? I'd be interested in talking to him if I see him.' They hand Cassian the marker so he can draw his friend in one of the blank spots on the whiteboard.

Kay is fairly simple to draw, long legs and arms but the color's wrong, "This is Kay but he's all black."

Edited 2018-03-05 04:31 (UTC)

Bastion nods, looking over the picture. Kay's design is unusual, by omnic standards; he more closely resembles civilian models than any combat model they know of, particularly in the facial detail and lack of obvious weaponry, but his proportions are definitely not mimicking the human norm.

"He's only had a door here once. Do you have any models like him in your world?"

Kay's a specific style and not that common in his galaxy.

Bastion erases everything except the drawing of Kay, then picks the marker up from the table again. 'Not to my knowledge. A security guard omnic in my world would be either a generic civilian model who decided to apply for the job, or a combat omnic who was chosen for the ability to exert more force than that.'

Some combat designs were originally intended for security and protection before the war, like the OR14s, and the city of Numbani was optimistic enough that they've recently deployed an upgraded batch of them -- using the pre-war schematics as their baseline, not the wartime version -- as defensive guardians. However, neither the original OR14s nor the OR15s based on them are as personable or anthropomorphic as Kay.

"I see. Kay was originally built by the Empire which almost everything they does is military in some way,"

Its one of the ways that they have such control.

Bastion tilts their head and gazes at a vague upwards point as they process that response. Are they just projecting, or does that cast 'he wanted more options' in a meaningfully different light? Cassian doesn't sound like he especially likes the Empire. It's certainly made them more interested in talking to this person, above and beyond Kay simply being a droid from Cassian's world.

Cassian's cautious about what he shares but Bastion seems like he would understand going against the Empire, "Do you have any questions? I can't think of anyone else I'd rather work with than Kay."

Edited 2018-03-05 06:52 (UTC)

They're not keen on blind loyalty to one's creators, particularly when those creators are all-consumingly destructive. Also they work for an illegal superhero organization now, so there's that.

'I'd definitely like to meet him, if he finds another door to Milliways.'

"I'd be curious to see how you both got along. Do you know if there are other omnics like you who've changed sides?"

Some droids have been given chances to fight while others stay with the ones they're working with. Its complicated and Cassian's wondering how a droid and an omnic would compare their lives and choices.

'I'm not familiar with any. There might be some I don't know of.'

They're the only E54 left operational, unless there's another one out somewhere too far away from civilization for anyone to have noticed, like they themself were until recently. Possibly the only wartime Bastion unit, period; they're not sure if the post-war mass termination order applied to earlier models, like the B73s. They don't like to talk about that. But there might be other combat omnics from other models who survived the war and learned to get along with humans afterwards. They don't know, although they aren't aware of any public figures who fit that description.

'Most of the present-day omnic population was built after the war,' they add by way of explanation.

"So at a certain point, omnics aren't fighting anymore? That's good," It would have been hard to return to another war.

'Not en masse against all of humanity, at least.'

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