dualislogs | ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

WHO: The entire dang city.
WHAT: Dualis Days, a week-long summer celebration.
WHERE: Central Square Park and the rest of the city.
WHEN: June 17-23.
WARNINGS: Terrorist violence, likely some blood and injuries. Please warn in individual threads!

June 17; Central Square Park.

Every year for as far back as anyone can remember, the start of summer is heralded by the week-long festival known as Dualis Days. This celebration officially kicks off at midday in the middle of Central Square Park with a commencement speech by the current mayor. This year marks Marcelina Dubanowski's third term as mayor of Dualis; she is an average-sized, middle-aged human-presenting woman with blonde hair styled in a short bob and a plastic, toothy smile that never seems to turn entirely off.

"Welcome, one and all!" she begins, with the practiced cadence of someone who is quite comfortable with public speaking. She invites all citizens, new and old, to spend the next week indulging in festivities in all districts of the city and getting to know their neighbors a little better. This is a joyous time of celebration, and the crowd responds with enthusiastic applause as the mayor finishes her speech and introduces this year's parade marshall, Peshtigo Tengfei.

Tengfei blows a whistle six times to signal the start of the parade - and this is where the celebration goes sideways.

A loud explosion tears through the air, and it's followed by panicked screams and the sharp screech of microphone feedback. A bomb has gone off at the platform where the mayor was standing, collapsing the wood and tearing it to splinters and dust. Chaos erupts in the gathered crowd, and as the people shift in all directions to get clear of any possible additional bombs, a loud siren cuts through the cacophony, calling attention to the sudden crackle of video feed present on all television screens throughout the city, including those set up in the park to broadcast the mayor's speech for those standing far from the stage. The picture is plain, a black background and bold white block letters filling the screen:

WAKE UP
WAKE UP
DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES

The final image is an anatomical graphic of a human heart, displayed for about three seconds, and then the feed goes black again.

Confused murmurs sweep through the crowd as citizens resume tending to the injured and evacuating the area until official first responders arrive.

June 17-23; aftermath around the city.

Dualis Days continues as scheduled, though Mayor Dubanowski is unable to enjoy the festival, as she is spending the week in the hospital recovering from her injuries. A team of Iterations guard her door - no visitors allowed - but the news media frequently report updates on her condition. Nothing to worry about, folks! Return to your celebrations, and don't mind the increased visible presence of the Hand as Iterations are stationed every few blocks throughout the city. It's only for your protection, after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I guess so. You have to focus it, but the magic does the rest."

Honestly, Aqua never really questioned it. Cure magic has always been useful and magic in general has always been a part of her life and her training.

"Does your world not have magic?"

“Oh we do. And it is quite complicated. Except when it is literally magic that alters reality at the whims of certain people. Magic is something that is studied for a long time. And even if you know a lot about it like I do, you still have to have a gift for it.”

Which David decidedly did not. Which he was okay with most of the time.

Altering reality gives her pause for a second before she remembers that Xehanort managed time travel. Altering reality isn't much of a stretch after that.

"That's very different from what I know," she admits. "I guess our worlds are different. But as long as I'm here, I'll use mine to help. My spells just need time to recharge."

So she can't always use it and certainly not constantly. Still, she's here and there's a crisis going on. She may as well be useful.

“Been to enough different worlds to get where you’re coming from,” David shrugs. He’s been to too many different universes.

Still, he is hoping to be useful, and in this case he rubs at his wrists. Frankly he’s getting a bit sore.

“Spell work isn’t always useful I imagine. Sometimes that is a mess. So be careful, massive internal damage is serious.”

Aqua nods seriously. "Of course." She understands injury, even if most of them in her world can be healed by magic. In a place like this and with the current limit to her spellpower, she doesn't want to risk anyone else's life more than she has to.

"I'll do what I can and I'll be careful with my magic. But we should both try to see what else we can do to help."

The situation they're in won't stop for conversation.

She isn’t wrong. David is just... he’s already tired. Still he starts looking around for more people to help.

“Thanks for reminding me. More moving on autopilot right now than anything else.”

Because this whole thing is a bit much for him. And even with he reminder that it’s okay to relax in the face of this.

"I understand," she says gently, nodding. "I was like that at first, too." But she has grown used to helping in crisis situations, albeit typically as a warrior and not anything else. Still, she remembers what it was like in the last world, the Iteration, and she knows how overwhelming a crisis like this can be.

"Here. Why don't we stick together for a while?" Aqua suggests. "Two sets of hands are better than one."

“I guess I don’t really know what to do without a team,@ David shrugs. He is used to managing while shouting directions. Solitary is not his gig. But then Aqua offers and he smiles.

He shouldn’t say yes. She could help more people alone than she could with him. In fact they could help more people separately. But... but right now he might need an anchor. Before his brain thinks too much about the smell of the bomb in the air.

“You’d be okay with that?”

Aqua can understand that. For a long time, she'd gone on adventures alone, but she had always treasured the times she had with Terra and Ven most. Sometimes, there really wasn't anything quite like having a team.

She nods once, a gentle smile crossing her face. "Of course. Sometimes it's really better to work with a team," she points out. "We'll be faster together than we are apart."

Faster together. For half a second David frowns, thinking of the one 'faster' person he knows. Then he shakes it off and nods to Aqua.

"Yeah, we will be. I used to work with a healer actually. A bit different from how you do it, but it's nice to be on a team again."

He cracks his knuckles a bit and tilts his head toward where he hears a bit of moaning further on. That would likely be their next target.

"You know any other forms of magic I should know about?"

Aqua hesitates at his question. She knows plenty of magic, but she isn't sure how much of it is actually working here. It seems to be hit or miss and Curaga is the only healing spell she knows works so far.

"None that seem to work here," she finally says. "But after the last world I was brought to, I'm happy to have anything that works." She pauses as something else comes to her. "Although, I have a weapon that I use to channel my magic. It's in the shape of giant key, but I promise I don't use it to hurt anyone."

Just in case she has to pull Stormfall out and unintentionally surprises him.

A giant...? Well, he supposes that's not the weirdest thing he's ever heard of. After all, Megan has a tiny soul knife. Still, the warning is useful. Though not to his experience of magic.

"So effectively it serves as a magical anchor, or perhaps a foci. Interesting. If it's only a single spell now, it's even more like an artifact. I suppose you're lucky in that manner."

He catches sight of a group of people and gestures for them to head that way.

Aqua nods, following along with him to find someone else in need. "The last world I was brought to like this I didn't have anything. No magic at all worked and I couldn't even summon my keyblade. So, I'm just grateful that this world's dampening effects aren't the same."

But he's right, though. They have more to do and should probably be doing that more than talking.

Dampening effects. Yeah, David's aware of those. Never been on the receiving end of something like a suppression collar, but he deals with it.

"Well then," he says as he pushes them through the crowd to the next group. "Time to get to work."

Aqua nods, following closely. They have a working relationship and will be able to help as many people as possible. That's all they can ask for now.

ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

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Wrap point? Y/N?

wrap! \o/