they show you how to swim

[headandhand]

WHO: All Dualizens, old and new
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Dualis Oasis
WHEN: Nov. 7-10
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!


Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining faces - maybe even a few folks without faces - but hey, this city welcomes all types. Chances are, if you’ve just arrived, you're seeing some pretty crazy things, unless you're used to an eye-blinding amount of neon, robots, weird-ass technology, magic, and an omnipresent police force...and hey, if you are, congrats, you're gonna settle in juuuuust fine. But for the rest of you, the Head knows this has gotta be pretty overwhelming, right?

Well, since your quaint individual processing units are probably having a hard time, why not link up with another one? By which the Head means...

Hello, new citizens of Dualis,
and welcome to your monthly Network Adjacency Protocol~!

NAPs are a monthly community networking event similar to the Earth concept of speed dating! Two citizens (new arrivals and old hands alike) are placed at a table together with a handy cue card of queries to help break the proverbial ice. Ask queries and receive results, or ignore the card and yeet yourself straight into a brand new friendship! But don't be too shy, you've only got ten minutes together, and if you just sit in silence for the whole ten, the Network Admins are likely to come supervise and try to repair the uplink through a mild shock to the ol' central nervous system. You might find yourself saying all sorts of unintended facts about yourself if that happens...probably better to just make friends, right? Who doesn’t like friends?!

The weather outside may be taking a turn toward chilly, but you can still get your swim on during this month’s NAPs, held at the Dualis Oasis, an indoor temperature-controlled aquatic amusement park with giant slides, swimming pools, and lazy winding float rivers. Appropriate swimming gear is required for entry to this part of the park, but there are a number of shops just outside that will gladly sell you swimwear and accessories.

For those of you who wish to avoid a humid environment or just hate fun, a dehumidified lounge and restaurant offer quieter, dryer spaces for chatting and snacking. The actual speed-friending itself is in progress here, but you’re welcome to stick around and continue conversations with your new friends.

So c’mon, what are you waiting for? Just dive right in for fun and friendship - the water’s fine, fine, fine, just like everything else in this fair city. But hey, remember to play safe. No running!

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

"They make a pie with those things. Usually not candied before," David smiles. If only he was a baker. As it was, he was more the chef sort. Still, he's supposed to be helpful here, and it is a shame to have someone not know about it.

"You take a pie crust and it's filled with pecans and a mixture of egg, butter and sugar. Probably some other stuff too. I don't really make pies myself. But pecans are definitely a favorite, especially in pie form."

[theirondragon]

"Pecan pie..." It sounded like some kind of custard, vaguely Orlesian, and damned delicious. He'd have to see if he could find a recipe in the library. "Tell you what, David. I'll make you a pie."

Because when you're as massive as the Bull, you knew how to figure out how to feed yourself.

[helpdesk_hero]

"That's not something you have to do," David admits, smiling softly. But he definitely wouldn't mind it. "My mother used to make pecan pie. It was a holiday favorite."

[theirondragon]

"My Tama wasn't really a pie person, but then again, most of Par Vollen doesn't really 'do pie'." It was a delicacy he grew a love for in Orlais, as his waistline proved. "And I never said I had to, specs. Just going to."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Tama? I don't suppose you're willing to let me use my next question to ask for a description of the term," David grins, because yes, the pie is lovely, but he's definitely curious about a lot of things.

[theirondragon]

"Sure, yeah. I keep forgetting most of you people never heard of Qunari." He nods. "We're raised in age groups, by the Tamassrans. They teach us letters, figure out what we'll be good at, what roll we'll have in society. My Tama was the best."

[helpdesk_hero]

Qunari. It's a word that David tucks away.

"It's alright. I suppose most people who see you react to your appearance more. Perhaps you just were assuming that a lack of reaction meant I already understood. But while we're not raised in age groups, I'd refer to that as classmates or year-mates. People we're educated with. Usually we make our own choices as to what our roles in society would be. Not that I'm suggesting your way isn't good."

Because he's used to all sorts of things, and who is to say that a world like that wouldn't be nice, provided it didn't turn Mutants into slaves. Which, no doubt, it would have.

[theirondragon]

He shakes his head. "Nah, not quite. Most people don't get Qunari even if they know what we look like. We don't exactly have a good track record with southerners. A long time ago, some prophet said we'd bring the Qun to all the lands, bring order to chaos, and all that crap. They don't usually get along with other cultures. They get conquered, convert, or they die."

He shakes his head, though. "Nah. I've been away from Par Vollen a long time. I've met a lot of people the Qun wouldn't suit. Good men and women, and the Qun would end them, because they didn't work out. The way of the Qun is good for some people, but not all of them."

Not him, even, not now.

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh. All of that sours David's expression just a touch. Which is justified from his side. After all, it was often mutants that behaviors like that were turned against back home. And it hurt to think about.

"Sometimes it's hard to break free of the mind-sets of our childhood. But it is often that which we are taught that we realize doesn't work very well when we go out into the real world. Hopefully the people you met who the Qun would not be good for find themselves free of it. Even if that does go against your prophet's word."

[theirondragon]

He chuckles. "We'll see. Somebody's still waiting to tell somebody else the war's back on, so-" and he shrugs. "I was sent to keep an eye on the south, and I did for a long time, until they didn't like the decision I made anymore. Whatever the Qun's business is now?" H shrugged, though there was a very slight tension, maybe regret, in his voice. "It's not mine anymore."

[helpdesk_hero]

War. Hopefully it was never back on. But with religion driven cultures who believed they had a destiny... it could be far harder to keep peace. A lot harder when there were other religions extant. So David pities Bull's world.

"Not yours anymore?"

[theirondragon]

Bull would argue the Qun wasn't a religion so much as an all-encompassing way of life. Qun in qunlat literally translated to "the way" after all. Still, it wasn't his life anymore.

"Nope. Not anymore. See, I lead a band of mercenaries. When it came down to it, it was them or my boys. Let a ship sink. They didn't like that."

[helpdesk_hero]

A religion and philosophy,rolled into one then. Still dangerous.

"You chose family over origin. That's never easy," David agrees. If only he'd had the courage to stand for his team over the X-Men in general. If only he'd helped Josh and find where he'd gone. But no, this was what it was.