dualislogs | they show you how to swim

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Yeah, she didn't know what that all was, but she can get private military programs. So she doesn't need more explanation than that, military programs do weird things all the time, the Spartans back in her home are evidence of that being more or less normal.

Instead, she's just going to inch closer, probably all up in his personal space as she leans to squint more at his eyes]

My roomie has glowy blue eyes that look like these, said they were from a program or whatever back where he was from too.

[Humans are humans, right. More efficient ways of killing other humans are pretty much par for the course in most of the worlds he's heard about. And obviously, here. Killer robots and all.

But...
South, please.

As she inches closer, he inches away. A little closer? Away. Until finally, he's got all of his weight on a single leg and another inch away would result in him losing his (precarious) balance and falling on the floor. He brings his eyes to her finally, eyebrows furrowing, confusion showing in them. And his lips part to say something- but she speaks first.]

Black hair, scar on the side of his face? Yeah. We were both part of the same thing. Then we ran.

[No, don't run away little bud, she's just getting a good look, come back!

When he brings his eyes where she decides is an acceptably close view, she narrows her eyes again to study them. Spartans also have funky eyes, and it's not even the eyes themselves that have her curious, exactly. Mostly, it's that people from the same worlds can show up here.

Should she be on the look out for anyone she knows from home? Maybe. She's not sure if it's hope or dread that tightens in her stomach at that thought, she dislikes the emotion either way. But, after a moment, she does move back to a more polite distance from him, nodding as she looks down at his face]

Yep, that's him. Is he always so...bubbly?

[Maybe not the right word, but the guy was like a dopey puppy sometimes from what she's seen.]

[His eyes are larger than Zack's. Differently shaped too, but that's pretty obvious. They're not identical. Not on the outside, at least. But regarding the eyes- what is identical, is the pattern of the mutated irises in both eyes. There simply is no difference. Unless South has a photographic memory, she probably wouldn't notice- but they're entirely and completely the same, even down to darker and lighter blues- and the pattern of bright green around the pupil is, again, identical.

Mutation, of course, makes them shift and ebb and flow- makes the light that refracts off them brighter than the light around them. And... unlike Zack, he's not exactly proud of them. So he glances away shortly afterward. Even with the distance making things a little less awkward.]

Pretty much. He's always got energy. But he's really strong, too. And he's a good person.

[The best, actually. He really is. He turns his eyes back to South- nodding, just slightly. And unfortunately for her, he's thinking along the same lines she is.]

Is there anyone from your world here? Other than you.

[If asked, South would insist her memory is incredible and nothing escapes it. In reality, other than the glowing and having blue, she doesn't really recall more details about Zack's eyes, and doesn't much catch the similarities. They're different and stand out around here, even with all the weirdness this place has, or honestly she probably wouldn't have even remembered Zack's eyes. ]

Eh, he's alright. Pretty sure I could still beat him at push-ups when he's not cheating. [Because that's what happened, cheating, of course.]

No, thank god. [She replies quickly, lifting her chin a little. See, she's not bothered one way or another about being the only one here, really] Didn't even know if it was possible until I seen another guy with glowy eyes.

Surprised he hasn't challenged you to squats yet.

[That would've been right, wasn't it? He'd had the record for that for years. But hey. Diversifying? ...Maybe? Anyway. Her comment about cheating makes him laugh. Even if his version of laughter was solely in his eyes.] Good luck. No matter how strong you are, he's gonna be hard to beat. It's not like he gets tired or anything.

[But the other thing. South's brisk enough with her response, but he gets it. He really does. He'd been pissed when he arrived here, sure. But as months had gone by, the arrival of people he cared for made it worse. The Heart's shallow pleas, their inability to say whether not all of them would stay alive long enough to get back? Even worse.]

...Hope no-one close to you gets taken here.

Probably seen my awesome thighs and knows better [she nods like it’s a god known fact, but has to roll her eyes with the next bit] I would’ve easily beat him at the push ups if he hadn’t cheated, kid. Even then it was more of a tie than a loss.

[South... just doesn’t reply to the last of it. She’s entirely torn with if she misses people enough to want them here, if she just wants to keep this all to herself and have something just hers for once, or if she doesn’t want them dealing with this shit ever so they better fucking not show up. A big part of her wants to be selfish, but even that’s a split opinion. So. She’s just simply going to ignore it, for now at least and for as long as her mind will let her. It’s cropped up a whole mess of thoughts and emotions that she’d rather not deal with ever, but especially right now.]

[Awesome thighs. ...Okay.
Being called a kid. ...Okay.

He rolls his shoulder before moving his head to one side, shutting his eyes as he stretches out a muscle. And as he opens them, he responds.]

You don't have to feel bad about losing. SOLDIERs are enhanced anyway. It's not like it's a fair contest.

Whoa now, okay, no. I didn't lose, alright? And the only unfair part was he hit me up for a push-up competition when I'd been drinking for hours before. Giving him a teeny, tiny edge. So it was a tie, and it was because he cheated. So. Get that all straight.

[She puffs up her cheeks a second between fussing over the absolutely accurate details, pointing a finger at him as she insists on what's what.]

they show you how to swim

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