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

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?"

[aleifr]

It's clear almost immediately what's happened when Aleifr gets a look at the boy he's got pinned against the wall. The kid's white as fresh snow, and on second glance it's clear what he's holding is a marker - something that jogs Aleifr's memory as to the whole bloody game going on. His snarl subsides, and he releases his grip.

"Don't do it again." He growls through gritted teeth, irritated that he's been made to look like a fool for his overreaction. Only angering him further is the fact that someone else got bowled over in this mess.

"Telling an idiot not to fucking sneak up on people." He grunts, turning towards the man on the ground. He does, however, extend a hand towards the smaller man - offering to help him up.

"You alright?"

[scathefires]

"He's a kid," Jason spits, ignoring the question and waving away the offered hand while he pulls himself to his feet without assistance. The ground dips and Jason stumbles on unsteady feet. Cool, that might just be a concussion. Just what he needed.

He could let this go. Maybe it's an honest mistake; Jason doesn't know Aleifr and doesn't know the reasons why he acted the way he did. But adults mistreating kids is something he feels very strongly about, in the category of don't do it, and that's how the situation reads to him. So no, he won't be letting this go.

"Don't you have anything better to do than manhandle some kid who's just playing a stupid game?"

On slightly more steady feet, he takes a step toward Aleifr, sizing him up. Jason's a big guy, but he's got nothing on Aleifr. A smart man would shut up and walk away, not escalate this into a full-blown fight.

But nobody ever accused Jason Todd of being smart.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size instead?"

[aleifr]

If Aleifr is in any way intimidated by Jason's posturing, it doesn't show. The only shift in his expression is a slight narrowing in his eyes that signals further irritation.

"I'm not interested in fighting you. Or him, for that matter." Aleifr growls, nodding his head briefly in the direction of the boy -- who's decided that he wants to be somewhere other than here and is currently retreating down the street. "I saw someone creeping up behind me with something that might have been a weapon, and I dealt with it. I saw that I was mistaken so I let him go."

He was within his rights to defend himself from what a perceive threat, and while he might have scared the boy, Aleifr did no harm to him.

"This doesn't need to go any farther."

Aleifr's fairly certain his words are falling on deaf ears, though. This one seems to have made up his mind and decided that he wants a fight. Aleifr isn't interested in giving him one -- in his mind, he's apologized for his mistake, the boy's learned not to repeat his, and there's no reason to not look at it as the misunderstanding that it is ... but if Jason keeps pushing him, he might regret that.

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.

[aleifr]

Aleifr's eyes slowly move from Squall, to the stripe of ink across his wrist, and then back to Squall once again ...

Then he releases the smaller man with an irritated snort.

"Fucking marker tag." He grunts, recalling the little message he'd received a few days ago.

[silentnarration]

Squall grunts and rocks forward when he's released. He rubs at his throat.

"Yeah. Marker tag," he repeats. "You might want to get a nonparticipant armband." A pause and a shrug. "Or join in."

Aleifr might get a lot of people with how deceptively fast he is.