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?"

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.]

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.

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?

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?"

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.