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

[therevanchist]

Oh. [Well, good to know, she supposes.] Something of a prodigy, then?

[you see what i did there]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Thank whatever deities that might exist that he wasn't sipping his coffee at that very moment. Because yes, that was perfectly correct. He was.]

Yeah. Something like that. Used to get called that sometimes.

[therevanchist]

[Revan's not sure what she said, but that's the least unexplained thing today.]

With all the expectations that come with that?

[She's sympathetic, believe her.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh, far more expectations than one might assume. I was supposed to be something. Smartest person in the room.

[But he shakes his head. It doesn't matter.]

What do you do, wherever you're from, Revan?

[therevanchist]

I'm a Jedi Knight.

[If she's trolling him, it's an Oscar-worthy performance.

Also she just gave herself a promotion, but she doesn't really give a damn what the Council thinks.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh, that's cute. If Billy or Teddy was here, they'd totally by it. David? Nope. He chuckles as if she's telling a joke, because there is no way Jedi are real.]

Yeah, you have the force and everything, and a lightsaber to boot.

[therevanchist]

[What is it with everyone here doubting her? Jedi are rare, sure, but it's not the kind of claim you can get away with lying about for long.]

I'm not sparking up my lightsaber in a restaurant. But... [She holds out a hand and her coffee cup floats into it.] Yes, the Force and everything.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Really, that's supposed to convince him? Julian's saved him from falling from great height into a lake. His telekinesis was more impressive than moving a single cup into the air.]

Telekinesis does not a Jedi make. I've known too many telekinetics to be impressed.

[therevanchist]

[Revan can't figure out where that element of amiable scorn is coming from, but her confusion is secondary to what might be important information.]

Where are you meeting Force-users who aren't Jedi?

[She sets down her coffee mug and her hand drops below the table. That's where the lightsaber she doesn't want to have to use is.]

Don't tell me there are Sith here.

[helpdesk_hero]

[She's... really holding to that Force story, isn't she? David looks a bit confused. Was it possible that she wasn't joking?]

There aren't any Sith here. Sith and Jedi are from movies. Right?

[He's sounding very concerned now.]

[therevanchist]

We're in holovids, sure, but--

[--Oh. Oh damn.]

We're not fictional, David.

[Revan's not sure if she should be insulted or not. Did he think she was going around dressed up for a costume party?]

[helpdesk_hero]

[That... isn't possible, is it? He just sits there and stares for a long moment. His jaw doesn't drop, but it's a close thing.]

Jedi are real? The Sith are fucking real? Have... have you ever met a Wookie?

[therevanchist]

[Revan guesses she's probably not going to have a lightsaber fight in the next five minutes, and her hand reemerges from under the table.]

I have one on my crew.

[If this isn't the weirdest conversation she's ever had, it's certainly in the top ten.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Wow. A wookie on her crew. David just shakes his head. Sure, he's been on space ships and through the multiverse, but Jedis? Those are the thing that shock him.]

Forgive me. My world has these stories of something a bit like you. Including wookies. I guess maybe someone from my world managed to stumble into whatever part of space or the multiverse you're from to learn of Jedi.

It's just strange. Like finding out your favorite cartoon character is real.

[therevanchist]

[She'll...just pretend that comparison wasn't kinda unflattering.]

To be honest, I think I'd prefer not to have a holodrama made of my life.

[For so many reasons.]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Does it help that he's never heard of her specifically? So she's not the cartoon character. It's just... uncanny.]

So far as I know, there isn't one of your life. Just of Luke and Leia Skywalker, and Han Solo.

[So not her story, right?]

[therevanchist]

[She shakes her head.]

Doesn't ring a bell.

[helpdesk_hero]

Then perhaps George Lucas merely postulated your world.

[Because clearly the Skywalker story would be one in history if it happened.]