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

[skyward_eyes]

"Magic," Nida chuckles, backing up a few steps and pushing up the sleeve of the arm she had grabbed. Along that arm is a tattoo, one made of swirling blues and greens and violets, a complex pattern of lines that seemed to dance with the colors and evoke the idea of wind in motion. "You should really consider redeeming your coupon. Granted it's simpler than back home, but I like it."

[whosthemonsternow]

Right. Magic. Coupon. She's still not really sure where she stands on how real or legit or whatever all of that is- though she's pretty well sold after seeing this display...

"Alright pal," She starts, eyeing him before relaxing her pose a bit, "I won't break your wrist or nose right now, but only because I wanna know more about the magic stuff. What else they offer?"

[skyward_eyes]

Interesting. Still, he keeps some distance from the woman, just in case, his body still in a loose approximation of a ready stance. Wouldn't be hard for someone to see that he's very well trained indeed. Up to space marine who fights giant lizards standards? No. His hand to hand definitely can't match. But he's wily.

"See, talking like that just leaves me wanting to climb this building and leave you alone. Would it kill you to say please? Probably. You look like the same type as Seifer. Anyway, they've got a lot. My brother has these weird shadow-tentacle things. I saw a spread of elemental magic, flight, barriers, healing. All sorts of things."

[whosthemonsternow]

She wants to cross her arms over her chest in a stubborn, defiant way at being asked if she could say "please". But she doesn't want to get her hands tied up if he comes at her again, either. So she just rolls her eyes briefly before keeping her gaze fixed on him.

"It's a "you name it, they probably have it" kind of thing?" She asks, aggressively ignoring the comment of some brother of his. Brothers. Who needs them? "You, what, just go to them and say you want shit and get it?"

[skyward_eyes]

"Don't know. Didn't dig too deep. I'm more caught up in wind, water, and flight," Nida admits. He didn't bother looking to deep into other things. What would the point be?

"And I had a coupon for arriving. So yeah, that's about the process."

[whosthemonsternow]

It sounds easy enough, but now her mind's racing with various ideas of what she could get her hands on. Fire maybe, electricity? Something dangerous...

"Your's sounds boring, can you do anything cool or just wet people and flutter around?"

[skyward_eyes]

Really? That's what she's taking away from this? Nida rolls his eyes and shakes his head at her.

"Well, as you can't do anything at all, clearly I'm far cooler than you."

[whosthemonsternow]

“Hey bud, I don’t need magic powers to not only be awesome as hell, but kick your ass, too.” She insists, but there’s a touch of a grin with it, almost teasing but still sharp enough to mean business.

[skyward_eyes]

"Oh, you're probably correct," Nida agrees. He knows that he's not the best at this sort of thing. "But that doesn't mean I have to stick around to deal with it. There is this lovely building I can climb."

[whosthemonsternow]

She’s overconfident as usual, but she does honestly believe what she says, most of the time at least. “You don’t think I know how to scale a building? I’d be a pisspoor marine if I couldn’t do that.”

[skyward_eyes]

Well that's amusing. Nida just smiles. "I've been doing it since I was ten, so if you can keep up, I'll be very, very proud of you. As for now, missie, I'm needed elsewhere, to get more marks on people."

[whosthemonsternow]

“Well I’m Russian, so.” She says it like that has any weight to if she could keep up or not, she doesn’t even know either, okay, but she’s saying it nonetheless.

“How many you have so far?”

[skyward_eyes]

Russian? That makes literally no sense to Nida, so he shrugs. And he smiles as he backs a bit further from her.

"Twenty today."

[whosthemonsternow]

She scoots up along after him as he backs up, advancing after him because she isn't done playing yet.

"That's all? Weak."

[skyward_eyes]

“I’ve been at it two hours,” Nida counters. No, don’t chase. Don’t make him blow you back again. “Do you really have to do this now? Because, lady, I have other targets. My boss gets out of work soon and he needs another blue mark.”

[whosthemonsternow]

"Eh, that's child's play." She insists, and grins again, "Didn't seem to concerned over him earlier when you were playing spider monkey. Sure you're not scared?"

[skyward_eyes]

"I've killed dragons. I'm not really scared of a woman with a bad dye-job."

He has blown time, and he needs to get going, the woman isn't the sanest thing.

[whosthemonsternow]

"First off, pretty boy, it's an incredible dye-job. Secondly, big deal, I kill giant alien monsters practically daily. Dragons would be a walk in the park." She insists with a half chuckle.

[skyward_eyes]

Pretty boy? Nida grins. Yeah, he is pretty cute, isn't he? Even if she's REALLY not his type.

"That's definitely the comment of someone who has never fought a dragon before."

He grins at her because yeah, he thinks she'd probably get all munched up if she even tried ot. How silly, to assume she can handle a dragon.

[whosthemonsternow]

No, no grinning, that is not a compliment!

"It'd be a fucking breeze. Show me a dragon, I'll slay it's ass from here to the moon and back, get a few or several pairs of dragon-skin boots." She boasts as she squares her shoulders, more than confident she could totally take on a dragon- well, maybe with her armor but... whatever, she totally could!

[skyward_eyes]

Oh yes, absolutely going to take it as a compliment and run. Can't catch him. Well, probably can, but whatever. But he laughs.

"I wish there was one around, so I could watch you get chomped."

[whosthemonsternow]

"Find me a dragon and I'll embarrass the hell out of you, pal." She insists again, narrowing her eyes at him.

[skyward_eyes]

"No dragons here," Nida shrugs before turning, once again, to leave. He doesn't have time for you or this, lady.

[whosthemonsternow]

"Guess you'll just have to believe I could destroy one." South insists, because she's very much she can handle any dragon nonsense after the Covvies.

[skyward_eyes]

"No belief without proof, lady," Nida waves off as he walks away. He doesn't need to deal with a woman like this.