Logs:Chill Day

Chill Day
Dramatis Personae Joshua, Lily, Steve	2020-11-06 Keep showing up expecting a riot and I guess we'll have more of em.
Location <NYC> Sara D. Roosevelt Park - Lower East Side
There's a march that's still passing by here, long and loud, a cacophony of clashing chants and drumbeats, Lady Gaga blaring from the bed of a truck slowly crawling along to offer a ride to those who can't march, annoyed drivers honking loud as they wait at the cross streets, smaller-voiced bike horns beep-beeping back at them. Joshua is, at the moment, gamely ignoring the nearest contingent of marchers belting out, "-- we're not just our DNA, mutant rights are here to stay!" all Just Slightly offbeat from each other. Crouched by the curb in khaki quick-dry cargo pants, a lightweight blue zip-up hoodie over an orange tee shirt with a slightly-past-season grinning jack-o-lantern face on it, red and black kippah, medic pack (with NYCAM patches) on the ground beside him, his current focus is a young person in front of him. They're sitting on the curb with a face a bit too pale and greenish, a dinged bike tipped onto its side, a head wound that has leaked a copious amount of blood onto their tee shirt, a wealth of road rash running down one leg where their leggings tore open. "-- should probably get it checked out when you're out of here," Joshua is saying, "s'no way to tell if it's just twisted or actually broken without an X-Ray." Occupied with the patient, he's keeping only a peripheral awareness of the march that's passing them by, trusting his current buddy to keep an actual eye on the shifting situation. A situation which, just at the moment, has sprouted a pair of large black-faced Guardian robots, just detaching themselves from the wall-o-cops at the back of the march to hover down closer. "You are blocking a public thoroughfare," one of the Osbots announces, "You must relocate at once." Lily’s eyes flit back from Joshua to the march, back to Joshua, to the patient, back to the march, in a frenzied repetition. The empty plastic water bottle in her hands has been crushed for a while now, but she still fidgets with it, twisting the neck of the bottle back and forth. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail that falls onto the top of her pack, a waterproof outdoors daypack that seems possibly overpacked. On the back of it there is a red duct tape cross, matching the one starting to peel off the back of her grey zip-up sweatshirt. The barest hint of a blue tee-shirt peeks out below the hem of the sweatshirt and over the top of Lily’s jeans, tucked into paint splattered boots. For a moment, she doesn’t react to the announcement, then she realizes. “Oh, um, we can’t relocate,” she says, with a forced brightness over the tremble in her voice. “We have a patient?” Her eyes are going wider - she steps in between the Osbots and Joshua as best she can, flashing the duct tape cross. “They can’t move yet.” The Care Bears for this action are technically the 'Wellness Team', but that's not stopping people from calling them 'Care Bears' and the volunteers themselves seem unfussed either way. They're marked with pink duct tape armbands, and mixed into the crowd in twos and threes, distributing food, water, and cough drops as they go. Steve is marching along with one such small knot, dressed in a tan canvas jacket over a light purple t-shirt with a cute (yet fierce!) chimera and the words 'Chimaera Art Space', comfortable blue jeans, and black combat boots. He's dragging a red wagon laden with supplies that his teammates are handing out, and the shield slung across his back is styled with Friend Bear's belly badge: white, with two cheerful yellow sunflowers crossed, each beaming a cartoonish smile. He had been chatting with a teammate walking alongside him when he spots the Osbots on the move. His eyes narrow and he hands the wagon over and pushes his way through the crowd toward the confrontation, though he likely could not see the who the robots are talking to at first. When he does see them, his eyes go very, very wide and fix on Lily's face. His hesitation only lasts a beat, and then he's moving with more urgency, slipping between the slow-moving marchers to reach the medics and their patient. His posture is carefully relaxed, his expression determinedly neutral. "Excuse me, Officers," he nods coolly at the robots, then at Lily as he comes to a stop beside her, "Miss. Is there anything the wellness team can do to help here?" Joshua's shoulders tense with the sound of the smooth mechanical voice speaking behind him, but his expression remains calm. He shifts, just slightly, too, when Lily does. Rising a little bit higher in his crouch. "We'll be moving along in just a minute. This person in injured, but their ride is on the way." He's not moving any faster with laying the wrap careful and neat, pinning it to itself. "Can you wiggle your toes for me," he's asking the patient, quieter -- they're very wide-eyed, now, but oblige. The Guardians are less obliging. "You are blocking a public thoroughfare," one of them repeats. The other is just reaching for Lily, none too gentle as it attempts to bodily shove her aside to take another heavy step toward the curb. The water bottle drops from her grip. “We just need a minute,” Lily echos Joshua, taking just the tiniest steps back as the Osbots draw closer, open hands raised just in front of her chest. “Come on, just a minute.” Her focus whips from robot to robot as she tries to block their path with her slight frame. She doesn’t spare a glance for Steve when he stops beside her. “Can you,” she gestures helplessly at the figures, now uncomfortably close, “do you know how to-“ Wherever that question was going, Lily doesn’t get a chance to finish it - the wind is knocked out of her, the force of the Guardian’s shove sending her all too fast to the ground. Steve's weight shifts subtly down and forward and his hands lift slightly as if to make an appeasing gesture at the robots. When the Guardian shoves Lily aside he steps in where she had been standing in front of Joshua and their patient, with only a quick concerned glance at where she'd fallen to the pavement. "These people are medics," he says, slow and level, "they are helping a patient and you are interfering with their duties." His hands are still up and his eyes are scanning their surroundings, but his stance is solid and he will not easily be moved. "Shit." Joshua is leaving their patient in the hands of their companion, grabbing his bag and hastening to Lily's side. "I'm sorry, I had to -- are you okay?" Even as he's asking this, though, the Guardian that had just shoved her is turning its attention back to Lily. Trying to shove Steve, though this takes more than its previous perfunctory effort. "Assaulting a police officer," the robot is informing Lily and Joshua in its same level monotone, "is against New York law. Do not attempt to resist arrest." "You have got to be kidding me," Joshua mutters, quiet, reaching a hand to help Lily back to her feet. A frown crosses his face almost as soon as he's extended his hand, something uncomfortable shifting in his expression. As she falls, Lily just manages to cover her head with her arms, hitting the ground and rolling onto her back. She’s still dazed after hitting the ground, but there is no blood, no crack against the concrete. It takes her a moment to recover, another moment before she is able to take Joshua’s hand. “M’fine,” she mumbles, pulling herself back to standing. Lily glances over her shoulder at the injured protester, then back at the Guardians, confused expression shifting quickly into anger. “I didn’t touch you.” Steve leans back in to the Guardian's push and does not budge, though his hands remain up and open outward, the picture of harmless compliance. "So am I assaulting a police officer because you shoved me, too?" he snaps at the Osbot, still blocking its path. "Or am I interfering with your 'lawful' duty now? Either way I suppose you'd best take me in." In a calm aside to the medics, "Kind of seems they're not great at multitasking. Maybe you can wander off while they're busy with me." Joshua's attention has skipped back to Steve and the robots, a small frown pinching his brows. Perhaps its this small wandering of attention or perhaps the continued threat looming and a desire not to get separated by the crowd, but he doesn't immediately release her hand until he's already started to hasten away, melting back into the march. By the time he does let go the pain of the fall is already melting away, the incipient bruising faded. "Attacked an officer's fist with your face," he grumbles once they are safely on the opposite side of the street, the moving crowd between them and the standoff. "Sorry," he mutters again, though he's already back to scanning the crowd as he moves. "Thought this would be a nice chill day." Lily follows Joshua’s lead, her hand curled tightly around his as they slip through the crowd. She bumps against some moving bodies as they maneuver, the first bump against her arm leading to an obvious wince, the last one hardly registering. When Joshua drops her hand, she rolls up her sleeve experimentally and glances at the smooth, uninjured skin. “Thank you.” A beat, and she sighs. “I suppose this is a ‘chill day’. All things considered.” Before they move on, she risks a glance back, the image of Captain America standing off against the robocops reflecting in her eyes. — The offbeat chants have cycled through a few iterations now - the crowd in front of them has settled on “Hey hey, ho ho, robocops have got to go!” Behind them, someone is gamely trying to start a round of “Allred was a freedom fighter” to no avail. Lily is calmer now, falling in easy step beside her buddy. She glances back again, nudges Joshua slightly and points out the celebrity with the shield a little ways behind them. “I’m just going to go thank him real quick.” Her pace slows, dropping behind a few other Care Bears until Lily is walking beside Captain America. “Captain Rogers.” Lily twists her head, gives the man a soft smile. “Just wanted to say thank you for earlier.” A small frown - “With the robots.” Steve's misadventure with the Guardians earlier didn't last long. The robots cuffed and brought him to the human officers on site, who promptly released him to rejoin his team. The other Care Bears are still fussing over him and staying closer than they probably need to when the medics approach them. Steve's eyes skip aside to Lily when she addresses him, and he bows his head slightly. "It was nothing. I knew I'd be ok even if they actually processed me, which wasn't likely." Glances at her again, the darting glance quick and almost furtive. "I'm sorry I didn't stop it hurting you. Those things are so darned twitchy, and there were so many folks around..." His lips press into a thin, miserable line, his head shaking short and quick. "Couldn't take the risk they'd escalate." Joshua glances back to Steve when Lily points him out, acknowledging this only with a small nod and an adjustment of his pace to fall back alongside Lily. His eyes track first to Steve's bandaged hand and then to his shield. A small twitch of smile pulls very briefly at his mouth. It fades quickly enough into the same kind of Resting Serious Face he's been wearing most of today. "They are -- really jumpy," he agrees. "Not much respect for patient safety. Have you all met? Lily's one of the newest members of our team." Lily gives a small shrug. “I understand. They’re quite awful machines.” Her expression darkens, just briefly, but a small shake of the head and she’s back with the small, tight smile she’s been defaulting to all month. She blushes a little at the introduction. “I don’t think - I’ve seen you around, but not been introduced.” Right after Joshua says her name, Lily’s eyes focus on Steve’s face, biting her lip as she waits for the reaction. A hand reaches out, hesitantly, to shake. "Hey there -- Joshua, right? Good to see you again." Steve nods at Joshua. When he looks back at Lily this time his gaze lingers, but his expression is carefully, deliberately neutral. "I ah -- no, we haven't met." Blushing, now, he accepts the handshake, though his own right hand is neatly bandaged and does not successfully close around Lily's. "It's -- it's a pleasure, Miss -- Lily. You can call me Steve, if you like." His eyes drop to the red cross on her sweatshirt. "I'm glad you -- it's good that --" He stops, his expression twisting with frustration. "I mean to say, I appreciate what you do out here, both of you. Wish there weren't such a need for it." "I mean --" Joshua glances again to Steve's shield. The pink armband. The wagon full of water. "You all are really keeping everyone together." His hand falls to rest on his pack, eyes turning back out to scan the crowd. "Joshua, yeah. Maybe one day I'll run into you when nobody's having a crisis." There's a faintly dubious note to his voice, that carries through to the quieter, "Maybe one day nobody'll be having a crisis." Whatever Lily is looking for, she doesn’t seem to find it - her tight smile relaxes into a brighter, more honest one. “Steve, then.” Her grip is light, drops from Steve’s bandaged hand after a single shake. “One day, hopefully, none of us will needed,” she offers hopefully. There is a brief faraway look in her eyes. Her next words are vaguely wistful; “I’m - not glad, but grateful, to be out here with you all.” "Oh, yeah -- this is important work, and we surely do our best," Steve agrees easily enough. "I thank my teammates, too but -- well, they have more opportunity to hear it from me." He glances over at one of the other Care Bears, a soft-spoken middle-aged woman presently distributing foil-wrapped burritos from an actual picnic basket under one arm. Looks back at the medics. "Amen to that. Some of us are planning to hold recovery events for the support and logistics folks, so keep an eye out if that sort of thing interests you. But in the meantime -- we've got water and food and such for you all, too." He smiles, adds a little absently, "Can't riot on an empty stomach." "We expecting a riot?" Joshua glances at the basket, but doesn't take a burrito. "Recovery?" His brows lift. "What like -- decompressing? Emotional support?" His brows pull together for a moment. "Probably be especially necessary after tomorrow." More matter-of-fact than anything else. He glances, brief, to Lily. "You gonna stick around here after?" “It seems like this city is always on the verge of a riot.” Lily reaches out gratefully for a burrito, tucking it into a water bottle pouch on her pack. Joshua’s question catches her off guard. “Um. Maybe a little after.” Her eyes dart to Steve, brow furrowing. “It doesn’t feel right to leave yet? But I’m not sure how much longer my host will be accommodating me.” A small pause, then she adds more - “I don’t want folks to feel I’m intruding on their community indefinitely.” "I -- was speaking more generally, yeah." Steve blushes again, but seems reasonably at peace with his embarrassment this time. "Decompressing, emotional support, maybe just just space to be together when we're not scrambling." His expression does something complicated at the mention of tomorrow, but he nods all the same. "Didn't take any shifts tomorrow but -- I trust those who did to put something together for after the service. It feels so surreal that it's happening at all, after --" He looks down at Lily again, his lips compressing. "I think a lot of folks don't really know how to feel about you right now, but...you recognized his chosen family, and you helped us, and -- that's not nothing. Could even be a place to begin." "Keep showing up expecting a riot and I guess we'll have more of em." Joshua's expression is a little bit tighter. He looks away from Steve and Lily and back to the march. "I'll be on funeral defense tomorrow." It's just a little lighter when he adds, "Hard to intrude indefinitely. Stick around long enough and it's your community, too." Something tightens in Lily’s posture, after a moment released by a soft sigh. “I shouldn’t have assumed. Riots or -“ The sentence is aborted. “Well. I owed it to you all. For watching over him all this time.” A breeze brushes flyaways out of her face as she focuses on the marchers ahead of them, studiously avoiding looking at either Joshua or Steve. “I guess I will - be seeing you both tomorrow.”