you understand, i got a plan for us.

[headandhand]

WHO: Errybody in the city
WHAT: Marker tag and NAPs
WHERE: Everywhere in the city for marker tag; the Spenny’s near the dorms for NAPs
WHEN: July 10-31 for marker tag; July 10-14 for NAPs
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!

To tag or not to tag - that is the question.

Welcome, one and all, to a long-running Dualis summer tradition: the annual city-wide Dualis Marker Tag Competition! For the next three weeks, all participants who accept the challenge will be given a marker and set free to tag any other participant in the city by making a mark on their skin, while attempting to avoid being tagged themselves. Careful, though - the ink marks last three weeks, so you’ll have to wait until the competition concludes to wash everything off.

Markers come in all colors, even fluorescent, glitter, and glow-in-the-dark, and you can use however many markers your inner child’s heart desires. These markers will leave marks even on people who have chosen not to play, but you can easily purchase an armband, headband, or similar accessory that says NONPARTICIPANT if you so desire. Marking nonparticipants is considered extremely bad form and wins you no prizes, but "misfires" do still happen, on occasion. It’s usually considered polite to offer a mistaken nonparticipant that you’ve marked a small reparation, like coffee or a more adult beverage.

Safe zones do exist! Any establishment can put out a sign that marks it as such - signs in shop windows, chalkboards outside bars, and the like; many do this, just to keep the general chaos and injury/property damage liability down. Tenants of private residences typically agree that their spaces are also safe zones, but that's up to y’all to hash out.

Have fun! And maybe try not to put anyone’s eye out, yeah?

I like to party and by party I mean NAPs.

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining 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, then 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?!

Plus, you get to hang out for a while at the intergalactically renowned Spenny’s Diner! Spenny’s is a declared safe zone from marker tag shenanigans - until you roll out of the door, at least. So pull up a chair, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a cup or two of Spenny’s famous Electric Shock coffee, which contains 900 milligrams of caffeine per cup. Hope you didn’t plan on sleeping tonight!

Comments

tommy shepherd | ota

[expeditiousness]

no question, tagging's where it's at.

Maybe it's not exactly fair to let a speedster compete in the marker tag competition, for obvious reasons. But nobody's banned Tommy from playing, so he's gleefully going along with this time-honored tradition. When in Dualis, right? At least he's promised to keep the markers put away while he's on the clock at his gig as a courier.

And at least he hasn't acquired that second tattoo for magic invisibility yet.

But hey, games aren't fun if they're not a challenge, right? Catch Tommy if you can!

time isn't real and the nap party is always.

Unlike some grumps in this city, Tommy enjoys meeting new people, and a speed date-type friend-finding activity sounds exactly up this speedster's alley. Add in the location of a diner with delicious breakfast foods and extra-strong coffee, and Tommy's basically in heaven.

"The coffee here's great," he says, to whoever's sitting opposite, grinning widely as he rips open five sugar packets and dumps them into his newest cup, "but I don't even need the caffeine to vibrate. Wanna see?"

NAP

[helpdesk_hero]

Tommy. Not the first person of the day David is meeting. What he wasn’t expecting was to come over and sit with his coffee, only to find a familiar face. An awkwardly present familiar face. No expression from Tommy yet. Maybe this is a different world’s Tommy. Maybe he doesn’t know David yet. And the offer to see him vibrate...

“I’ll pass. But seriously, the only person I’ve ever seen use so much sugar with their coffee is Loki.”

[expeditiousness]

Tommy grins. If he knows Loki, there’s a good chance this might be the David he knows.

“You should get coffee with me more often,” he says, stirring the pile of sugar into the coffee. “This is only, what, the second time?”

Tagged, He's It

[skyward_eyes]

Okay, that isn't even fair. Nida hasn't even taken two steps outside of his work place, a declared 'no tagging' zone because of all the dangerous materials there, when there is a rush of air and feels something across his cheek. And immediately he knows what just happened.

"Dammit, Tommy," he curses as his eyes glance around. His own marker, a light shade of neon blue, is produced from his pocket. The secret, of course, is to find somewhere to ambush Tommy. And unlike Tommy, Nida knows this neighborhood. Or at least what it is today. All he has to do is climb over a building and drop down onto the other side and...

Coffee shop. He's going to get you, Shepherd!

[expeditiousness]

OK but how do you intend to catch up with a guy who literally runs faster than you can hear. And speaking of hearing, can you hear Tommy laughing as he zips around a corner? ‘Cause he totally is.

A coffee shop is an obvious stop for Tommy, and Nida knows that. Tommy isn’t in search of extra caffeine right now, but he stops and leans lazily against the cafe’s outer wall, marker twirled in his hand, as he waits for Nida to appear.

time isn't real and the nap party is always

[whosthemonsternow]

South's only had a couple cups of the coffee, she's mostly here for food, more than the useless conversations she's been having. No one's had any information to help her get out of this place, just nonsense that's not going to help her any. Bastards.

But food. All the food. Thank whatever god these people made up for the food-!

"That's gotta be the shittiest pick-up line I've ever heard." She replies after another bite of said food, raising an eyebrow to him.

[expeditiousness]

Tommy makes a quiet pfft sound and laughs, waving her dismissal off.

“That wasn’t a pick-up line,” he says, “I’m really good at those. Nah, I’m a speedster, that’s how I can vibrate. Name’s Tommy, by the way, but you can call me Speed if you want.”

The small mound of sugar hovering on the surface of the coffee is stirred in with a spoon, and Tommy takes a sip, then nods in approval. Perfect.

“What about you?”

TAG

[mrsarcastic003]

A blur, a whoosh of air, and a marker tag on his skin are a pretty good indication that Tim is dealing with a speedster. Superspeed is one hundred percent cheating, but it's not like this is his first rodeo. Apparently he's going to have to try. It would help if he knew the person better, but he can give it a shot.

"Cheater!" he calls after the blur laughing.

[expeditiousness]

At this point, Tommy's so used to hearing the accusation of being a cheater - friendly or otherwise - that he's begun to wear the title like a badge of honor. It's not his fault everyone else is a snail, right? And there was nothing in the rules prohibiting the use of superspeed, so it's not exactly cheating. Technically.

This callout seems friendly, at least, so Tommy screeches to a halt and slowly backtracks, grinning triumphantly at Tim. "Hey man, hate the game, not the player," he says, shrugging. "Nobody put a rule in against using superspeed, so I'm actually not cheating - I'm just better than you."

Revan | OTA come at me bro

[therevanchist]

[Revan is exhausted in every way it's possible to be exhausted. Maybe she ought to have begged off and just slept for a solid day, but her fatigue can't dampen her curiosity. The Force will keep her going, at least...and so will this caf--"coffee," they call it. She suspects a cup of it represents an unhealthy amount of caffeine, but if she starts getting heart palpitations, the Force can take care of that, too.

She sits at her speed friending table with her head propped on her hand, the fingers of her other hand drumming on her list of questions while she thinks unproductive thoughts, her weariness unconcealed...right up until the Force warns her to expect company. She straightens and the tired expression disappears under a friendly smile, a transformation so immediate and complete it's almost uncanny.]

Hello.

[Revan's wearing Jedi robes, which, depending on your perspective, makes her either a monk or a giant nerd willing to cosplay in public. At least it's a very high-quality cosplay. Maybe she's in the Rebel Legion.

OOC: I have a permissions post for Jedi mind-reading, and fourth walling is fine as long as your character doesn't have knowledge of the Knights of the Old Republic portion of the timeline. Also, I'll match format if you prefer prose.]

Coming At You, If you want to mind read, we can chatter on Disco.

[helpdesk_hero]

[There is something off about her posture, David thinks as he sits down across from the woman with his own coffee. Perhaps he's used to other people being slightly wrong but, he doesn't really know. No way to be certain what is on without more data, and there is no more data he can get. But he does nod his appreciation of what she's wearing.]

Those look comfortable. Sadly, robes went of fashion in my part of the world I'm from a long time ago. What's that made out of?

[Seems like a friendly way to start.]

[aleifr]

[The man that settles down across from her is ... large, to put it mildly. He's either seven feet tall or near enough that it makes little difference. Instead of having the relatively slim build of most humans that height, his broad-shouldered frame is heavily muscled to the point that either of his tree-trunk arms is probably thicker than her head. The shaved sides of his head and his forearms are decorated with tattoos - markings in a likely unfamiliar runic script. His clearly homespun and hand-woven clothing, though, looks at least somewhat similar to hers, albeit far lower quality.]

Hello.

[His voice is ... it's too much of a growl to be considered friendly, but it's certainly less irritated than the scowl that seems to be chiseled onto his face would suggest.]

[merged]

[ Heather was vocal about her thoughts on the NAPs. She's always been on the shy side and, initially, this event felt like a waste of time. She didn't want to get to know the people here, she wanted to go home, but after a month she's come to realize just how useful this could be. She knows what the likelihood of someone she knows showing up is but it doesn't stop that trickle of hope. And hope makes her do ridiculous things.

She slides into the seat across from Revan, a heavy feeling of disappointment clinging to her like a shadow. Christopher wasn't among the faces in the diner. Next time, maybe. ]

Uh, hi. [ She responds somewhat awkwardly, a touch cool and uncertain. She's done this a handful of times but she hasn't gotten used to it. She drops her gaze to the index cards of questions and blurts out the first one she sees. ] Do you have any allergies—[ Her brows furrow in confusion, her worries on the wayside as she comprehends what she just asked. ] Wait, what the fuck kind of question is that?

[ The kind of question you get when you read off a card. ]

[whosthemonsternow]

[Okay. Great. Her next boring person is dressed like a weirdo. Probably has no useful information, probably just full of bullshit that wouldn't help anything, much less her getting out of here.

Still. She has another plate of food on the way, and the third cup of coffee has helped jolt her more awake. She can handle another small talk with another stranger.]

S'up. Those your pajamas?

[South's in a tank top, jeans, and combat boots. Simple, comfortable, looks great in her opinion- and cheap. She's not spending that little bit of supplied money on bullshit clothes, food and booze are going to take up her "allowance", thanks]

Nida | OTA

[skyward_eyes]

Marker Tag!

This is the most sort of fun one can have with his training without, you know, getting paid for it. Actually, no, he didn't want to have to think about the part of the past that he did this for pay. Still, Nida's enjoying himself. His plan for his free time is taking advantage of people not looking up. In this case he's found a building that had a nice awning that extended over the sidewalk. It was a lovely little thing, covering a cafe, and really, the best part is how sturdy the awning is.

Nida, however, is laying down near the edge, marker held in one hand, the other hand ready for holding himself as he lowers himself down quickly to mark people passing below. He moves quick and pulls himself back up, hopefully before people can retaliate.

Re: Nida | OTA

[whosthemonsternow]

While it's true South isn't looking up, she is looking, eyes peeled and watching people with no small amount of suspicion. She's only been tagged twice, so far, while in the middle of some wild, rampant tagging mess. She's a little bitter about it honestly, but two wasn't terrible given how many people were wildly jabbing markers around. Still. She's not looking to catch another one.

She has her own markers within easy reach, one in her hand held more like a knife and ready to strike.

Her eyes were on the person just ahead of her, slipping up to get close enough to catch them with a swipe of bright purple, when someone else beat her to it. Someone...on an awning? Sneaky. Makes her think of Connie, and she's just going to stuff that awkward feeling of missing her teammate right down. Nope.

Instead, she narrows her eyes and lifts her chin a bit, walking more normal than prowling and strolling along the same path as her previous target. She's hoping to catch the person's wrist when they attempt to mark her from their awning, or at least be ready to dodge if she can't get a hold of them.

[silentnarration]

Squall has been on guard since the game started, especially since he and Seifer had been marking each other inside the dorms until they agreed it'd be considered a safe zone. Unfortunately for him, the cafe has some nice pastries and he let his guard down while he heads over to beat a lunch crowd.

It's while he's about to head inside that he feels it. The swipe of a marker across his back. (He's wearing something low-necked and sleeveless.) His eyes widen at the realization and he whirls around just in time to see the last of Nida disappear above. He frowns, glares up at the awning, and very maturely jumps up to push hard against it with both hands.

David Alleyne| OTA

[helpdesk_hero]

NAP Meetings

[David sighs as he nurses his Electric Shock coffee. Clearly he's someone that doesn't want to be here, probably because he doesn't think meeting other people is a mess sometimes. But he relaxes when people sit down across from him, offering a brief nod of greetings.]

Morning. I'm David. And I don't think this coffee is going to let me sleep for two days. Think they sell it for home brewing?

Re: David Alleyne| OTA

[whosthemonsternow]

Probably? Might have to try smuggling out a bag when I leave this place soon.

[Soon. Fuck. She can hope, right? She has a better chance of her next order of food coming soon, but she's still hoping. Not holding her breath, none of these people have any useful information, but. Whatever. She's trying to...stay positive.]

Agent South Dakota | Red vs Blue | OTA

[whosthemonsternow]

Wargames Tag

Armed with just about every shade of purple -and a couple of green- markers, South is enjoying this "tag" thing. When she first woke up in this strange as hell place, she was pretty sure she was having some sort of freak dream. Or maybe she died? The last thing she remembers is being on the way back from a mission, tumbling around the back of the ship, hiding her worry over North's injuries with irritated anger somewhat directed at Niner. Maybe they were blown out of the sky and she's in a purgatory... She's still not sure if it's real or not even days later, but at least she found something to pass time. Sooner or later, she'll find a way out of this place, but she can enjoy herself a bit while gathering information to do just that.

She's merciless, and has already gotten kicked out of a couple "safe zones" for giving a viper-like strikes with her marker regardless of the tag-free rules. Whoops...

At least right now, this time, she's out in a tag friendly place, lurking stealthily around a corner for her next victim with a neon glowing purple marker held more like a weapon. She's trying not to hurt anyone, not aiming for the face anyways, but she's competitive as hell and more than a little ready to show up any and every person she comes across.


NAPs

While not as ape-shit crazy for coffee as her brother or York, South can appreciate the caffeine kick. A drop-kick it seems, she's practically vibrating out of her skin. But that's fine, she can keep awake during this boring shit. She had been hoping to get some info, find out what's up or if anyone had any clues to exploit a way out of this insanity. So far, it's been a snooze fest.

But there's food. Thank god for that. She'll hang around a little longer with these people for food, only somewhat hoping to get anything useful out of them but not holding her breath.

She eyes the next person to sit down across from her, nudging her food lightly before letting out a heavy breath and asking, "Been here long?"

In the year of our lord 2019 I finally hit you up

[yondu]

NAPS

God he hates this 'getting to know you' shit, but if it gets his phone to stop buggin' him. He goes to his first table, figures he can come up with a solid excuse to cut out early.

But it ends up being a blue fella that parks in front of her, looking about as bored as she is. "Been here about a month." Easy question, impersonal answer, no cause for sass. At least not yet.

"That any good?"

He nods to her food. "I don't think it can put a fight no more, so no reason to kick it around."

tag!!

[silentnarration]

Squall is ready. He's trained for combat, for life-and-death situations. Sure, this is a game but he has a competitive streak too. The moment he picked up his yellow glittery marker and steps out of the dorm, he's ready for anything. He's already marked a few people by the time his shift ended (and gotten marked himself because unfortunately he can't play at work and his employers didn't mark it a safe zone. There's an unstated understanding that classy individuals don't play these games. They were wrong.)

He's been prepared (and hoping for) a sneak attack so when she emerges from the corner, his movements are instinctive. He avoids her attack and ducks around it to try and mark her arm in turn.

Aleifr Bjornsson | Warhammer 40K (OC) | OTA

[aleifr]

[NAPs]:

Aleifr isn't touching the coffee. He's finally gotten used to this place enough to get a decent night's sleep without being up the entire day prior, and his brush with espresso was enough to convince him that caffeine in large quantities isn't helpful in that regard.

The food, though ... that's another story. The concept of a menu is still novel to him. He's used to having to hunt for everything and be satisfied with whatever he, or his sisters, or Aila manage to catch or barter for. He's never been able to just say what he wants and have someone bring it to him - only rich jarls lived like that.

He enjoyed it, but he didn't want to grow used to it. That sort of privilege could soften a man if he allowed it to. Make him overly reliant and unable to stand properly on his own, if he needed to. He didn't plan to avail himself of it forever ... but for now, there was nothing wrong with a little indulgence. And indulge he does, judging by the three or four empty plates in front of him.

Maybe that part isn't surprising, though, considering how godsdamned big he is.

[Marker Tag]:

Aleifr doesn't have much interest in games, so he doesn't pay much attention to the announcements about marker tag. The first day or two of the game pass uneventfully -- a good chunk of the general population of Dualis are intimidated enough by his sheer physical presence that they don't want to walk near him, much less tag him with a marker.

He actually forgets the game is going on after the second day ... which is unfortunate for the fool who does eventually try to tag him.

He doesn't get a good glimpse at them at first. Just a figure moving out of the corner of his eye with something long and thin in their hand, something in roughly the shape of a knife. As the figure slinks in closer behind him, survival instincts honed by the harsh, unforgiving environment of Fenris kick in. You neutralize a threat, you evade it, or you're killed bit it.

He chooses the first, whirling around alarmingly quickly for someone his size and using one, massive hand to grab his would-be attacker by the wrist of the hand they're holding the blade with. His other clamps firmly around their throat, and in one, fluid motion, he carries them with the momentum of his turn and pins them up against nearby wall.

"What in the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He snarls, lips parted in a threat display of teeth.

causing trouble, i.e., marker tag

[scathefires]

Jason is one hundred percent not into this marker tag bullshit either, and though he's aware of it, he hasn't bothered to make it visibly known that he's a nonparticipant. Like Aleifr, his size means most people don't try to get in his space, and the permascowl in his expression doesn't exactly create an inviting aura to strangers on the street. This is fine; he's not here to make friends.

He happens to be passing by Aleifr when his unlucky assailant makes their ill-timed move, and Jason is knocked into the wall of the nearby building when Aleifr whips around to voice his displeasure at the kid with the marker. The back of his skull cracks against the brick, momentarily stunning him, and he drops to the sidewalk in an ungainly heap. It takes him a moment to catch his breath and shake the stars out of his eyes, but when he recovers, he's quick to yell up at Aleifr, indignant:

"The fuck do you think you're doing?"

Marker tag

[silentnarration]

It's not that he's not grateful to Aleifr for freeing him the first time they met but the guy's an obvious target and seems like someone who'd be a challenge to mark, so Squall follows him. It's only a short distance before he's close enough that a good burst of speed will get him an edge on a surprise attack. He makes his move.

And is summarily and effectively pinned. Ow.

He instinctively grabs at the hand around his throat, glaring at the giant for a moment. The man clearly did not get the memo. He looks up at his hand that's still holding the yellow marker with glitter - he's trained enough to not lose his grip on his 'weapon' that easily - shimmies the tip forward and defiantly swipes a mark across Aleifr's arm while staring him dead in the eyes.

That's what he thinks he's doing, dammit.