Baby lately the plans we're making

[headandhand]

WHO: Open to all Dualizens
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Our Crazy Jane's Gallows!
WHEN: January 7-10
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining faces - maybe even a few folks without 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 just fine! But for the rest of you, the Head knows this is gonna 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 (possibly invasive) personal questions and receive results - or ignore the card and yeet yourself straight into a brand new friendship, whatever works! But don't be too shy - you've only got ten minutes together, and if you just sit in silence for the whole ten, 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?!

Upon arrival, most will be ushered in by the Admins into the Gallery. Just ignore that large painting on the graffiti wall. Once inside you can begin to mingle and meet your fellow Dualizens, the city has also provided box wine, crackers and cheese as refreshments, a lovely Charcuterie spread laid out for any to sample while looking at the art and mingling.

This month there are two other lovely items for your amusement or horror! First off is a Karaoke machine, how the hell did they pull off getting every song you can think of with lyrics to all? Though, nearly every foul word is replaced with the sound a goose honking, have fun with that! Also, along with your normal note cards of questions you will find blank paper and kiddie packs of crayons. Make some art and leave it behind or leave it for your new friend!

Comments

Markus | Detroit: Become Human

[notspartacus]

The arrival here, the very existence of this place, should have been impossible, or so he tried to tell himself at first, even as the Head had explained everything to him. There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Maybe Shakespeare had a point. He wasn't consumed by disbelief, the ground, the dormitories, all of it was real and undeniable, and he wasn't overwhelmed by all the new and heretofore unheard of alien species, but he was suspicious. The odds an infection were to require such lengths to combat were desperately low, and any A.I. trusted with such a task would have gone about different means.

He's spent some time combing back through the network available and meeting network redundancy after network redundancy, but gleaning enough information to know at least one other android from his world was here, and that was enough to get him to attend the NAPs event without any sort of urging. He can't help likening the event to speed dating once he's there, and he takes a seat with a handy note card full of suggested questions, but also a few sheets of paper and some assorted crayons. Whenever someone has a seat, the man with the heterochromatic eyes is sketching a skyline deftly with a black crayon that may be recognizable to certain people.

He looks up when someone takes a seat, smiling pleasantly and setting down the crayon long enough to reach across the small table and offer his hand for a shake. "I'm Markus. Is this your first networking event?"

It's better to play naive when an unknown A.I. might be watching, isn't it?

[skyward_eyes]

"Actually, I've been here since June," Nida answers as the man settles in across from the stranger. His eyes move over the skyline and he smiles softly to see it. It isn't exactly familiar, but he definitely appreciates the creation.

"Would it... be okay if I drew a little too? I've never seen these here."

He does shake Markus's hand and until he's told it's okay to reach for paper and crayons, he just watches with a smile.

"The events aren't really fun very often. And very often strained. But such is life here."

Not fun, and very strained.

[notspartacus]

Nida's question actually gets a slight chuckle from the typically serious android and he nods, motioning toward the paper and crayons. "Of course. They aren't mine. The city provided them, I think."

He nodded at Nida's explanation. He didn't speak from a position of experience, of course, but it made sense to him nonetheless. "People being forced to talk to each other tense?" He smirks slightly at that, an unspoken apology for the sarcasm. "I can see that."

[skyward_eyes]

Well then, Nida pulls paper close and takes a crayon out. And then produces a knife, to work the thing to as close to a point as he can. Something to give him something to work with. Clearly he's the sort of guy who knows a little about art. And within moments with the black crayon he's recreating the gallery they're in, from the angle they're at. Including impressionist versions of the art here.

"Of it's not just that. If you don't talk enough... the powers that be get annoyed. You don't want that. The shock isn't worth it. It's like we're rats in a maze to this place."

Better to get them disaffected quickly. On their guard. So that less people are replaced with robots.

[notspartacus]

That caught Markus' attention more than most other things the locals, or at least the older kidnapees, had told him. "What sort of shock?"

He hadn't been told they'd been tampered with before being reactivated, or awoken, here, but that must be what Nida was suggesting. He knew he couldn't ask too much here for fear of prying eyes or ears, but it was a simple enough question.

Even as he awaited an answer, he took note of Nida's skill with a simple crayon and felt a pang of sadness. Carl would have loved him.

[skyward_eyes]

Nida definitely takes another colored crayon, sharpening it. A dark gray, barely different from the black. And in the swells of back he draws out a bit of a pattern. A room number in the dorms. Interesting. And soon that is covered up by the black color again. A quiet offer to explain more later.

He's still working on the art of the room, adding Markus to it.

"An unpleasant kind, and sometimes people say stupid things."

[notspartacus]

Being an Android had its advantages and he documented the room number for reference later, nodding.

"Do you think it's more or less smart to say nothing at all?"

[skyward_eyes]

"I think it's more important to talk," Nida answers, but the way he looks up at Markus briefly.

Please, those eyes are saying, understand the double meaning. That one should talk, but not about anything of consequence.

"For instance, I feel that I should ask you what your favorite medium for creation is. You've got clear artistic talent. So you probably have a preference for how you create. I like pencils."

[notspartacus]

He did understand. He'd been an activist, on the run, hiding in plain sight enough to know when to be mum about anything of substance.

And he remembered how to act when under someone else's control.

He smiles, shrugging slightly. "My..." What was he supposed to call Carl? He'd been his friend, his father, his confidant...and his owner. "Mentor preferred acrylics, so that's what I have the most experience with. Carl Manfred, if you're...familiar? It's a pretty well known artist."

[skyward_eyes]

"Never heard of him," Nida admits easily as he sets his picture of the room aside and picks another piece of paper to start instead drawing a strange structure. "That isn't saying much though. I hear a lot of people that are here are from a place called Earth. I am not."

[notspartacus]

He'd heard that himself, but he didn't think he'd meet someone from another planet so soon after arriving. Interested, he leans forward, interested.

"You're not? Where are you from?"

[ferrokinetically]

There's a mechanical quality to Lorna's attendance of this NAPs event. She never particularly enjoys them but it seems like a necessity to go. Meet people. See where it's taking place. See if anything happens. It's all routine at this point and it's probably obvious by her bored expression that she's just going through the motions as she walks over to the man sketching a skyline. She tilts her head as she looks it over and then looks up at him with a small quirk of her eyebrow. After a slight pause she takes his hand in a firm shake and then sits down.

"Nice doodle," she says in a tone that threatens to betray her indifference. "Nah," she shakes her head. "Not my first one. I think I've lost count, they're all pretty much the same shit different location. You're new though." Or just someone who never came to them. She's betting on new given the question and just the general look of the man.

[notspartacus]

"Thanks. I was trying to recreate it from memory." And by that, he apparently means recreating in as much detail as is afforded by a crayon a perfect depiction of some city's skyline. It's almost too perfect, actually.

He smiles slightly at her observation, but also takes note of her demeanor. Everyone has different coping mechanisms and this woman's is apparently aloofness. It reminds him of someone very dear to him and he can't deny the pang of loneliness at her absence. "Is it that obvious?"

[ferrokinetically]

"You must have a pretty good memory," she replies with a curious arch of her eyebrow.

"Extremely obvious," she says with a quick smirk. Though, in all honesty, she assumes he's new simply because of the fact that she doesn't recognize him. She comes to all these things and not recognize someone is a key to either them being new or them being a loner.

[notspartacus]

He smiles, giving her a slight nod. "I have a pretty extensive memory bank, yeah."

And at her further remark, Markus just laughs, shaking his head slightly. "I guess I need more practice at blending in. Got any pointers?"

[ferrokinetically]

"Lucky you. Or maybe unlucky, depending on what you remember." Some things were better left forgotten and a good memory could be a blessing and a curse when it comes to that. She tilts her head at his question and lifts a lock of her green hair and lets out a laugh.

"Does it look like I try to blend in?" There's clear humor in her tone. "When I want to, black wigs helped." But now she definitely didn't want to.

[notspartacus]

"I try to make sure the good memories are brought up more often than the bad." There were a lot of them lately, but they gave him strength, not remorse.

His eyebrows raise at that, though, and he tilts his head slightly in curiosity. "Your hair's naturally green?"

[ferrokinetically]

"Good luck keeping to that in this place," she replies in a tone tinged with bitterness and cynicism. The longer she's been here the harder it's been to find good memories. Honestly, the good memories she can find are all from home and those just manage to make her even more sad. Focusing more on any subject but that is a welcome change for her though. Lorna's never shied away from talking about her mutation or the weirdness that comes with it.

"Yup, lucked out and was born this way. Saved me a lot of money during my rebellious teen years."

[notspartacus]

"The bad defines who we are as much as the good. It's not necessarily a bad thing." He's aware how naive that makes him sound, and how idealistic, but he does actually believe it. Carl had, as well. It was a difficult lesson to shake.

He smiles at that, though, the tone familiar and welcome, and bringing to mind a sad memory already, though he was glad she wasn't here. "You sure those are over?"

[ferrokinetically]

"Bad usually doesn't make a person better." Her tone doesn't even try to hide how naive that sounds to her. Maybe it's her own cynicism that pushes her to believe that the bad brings out the bad in the people it touches. It twists them and eventually pushes them to do the extremes because they start to really think there's no other option. Or maybe that's just what it's done to her. Sadness washes over her as she thinks of Marcos and his abundance of idealism and optimism. Somehow, despite everything, he manages to hold onto that and she's never gotten how. Or why.

His comment manages to bring her out of her sadness and she chuckles. "They're long gone. Now it's my rebellious adult years where I try my best to lead the other rebels." Mostly she's just failed at that. Miserably.

[notspartacus]

"But it can. It shows us who we really are, and who we can be. Sometimes people need that." He had. All of his people had. It had proven to him he had a lot more patience and optimism than he'd ever known, and that he'd been able to share that when his people had needed it most.

He laughs at that, actually looking down at his own trench coat before looking back to her. "You know, that does come with some pretty cool jackets."

Re: Markus | Detroit: Become Human

[waypastasking]

Steve hasn't even gotten settled in yet when Markus started questioning him. Steve smiled at him. "Hi Markus, I'm Steve and no, I've been to a few of these. Figured it would help me meet people," He shrugged some.

Steve glanced at the drawing. "That's good. Do you draw often?"

[notspartacus]

"Meeting people's a good idea." He was new, but he knew better than to get into specifics at a place like this. There were too many variables in who might overhear. He looks down at the art in question, rudimentary as it is, and smiles.

"I draw as often as I can...which isn't often, sadly. Do you?"

[waypastasking]

Steve smiled, nodding his head. "Yeah, actually I wanted to go to art school, but..." He paused not exactly sure how to finish his sentence so he half smiled and shrugged. "things happened," He finished.

"We could draw more since we live together or we will once we leave here."

[notspartacus]

"Don't they always?" He smiles, and there's something in his eyes that suggests he knows a lot about that. "School doesn't make you an artist, though."