ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

[headandhand]

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.

Comments

[June 18-23 | Dualis Days After]

[sociallychallenged]

There's a cop that's not a robot, nor on duty that comes over and stands next to Cissie at one of the food booths. His jacket is unbuttoned and his face is tired, and he's not as revelrous as the rest of this quick recovering group.

It's one of those familiar booths, looking at a collection of flash-fried foods that he'd know from home isn't terribly adventurous. And he's in the mood for something familiar after a few days of missing particular people, the weight of thinking about this person in emergencies weighing on him.

He looks over to Cissie.

"Enjoying yourself?" He can't manage true levity to his voice, but there's a tired sort of hope there that some people are actually having a good time despite everything. Seems like most people are. Maybe a few are dragging it like anchors behind them as well.

[cisskabob]

Cissie has been staring at the menu for a little too long, spacing out a little at the comfortingly familiar fried foods listed in front of her. It's not that she doesn't notice the larger man near her, it's more that she's keeping to herself.

Still, when he speaks, she glances over at him to make sure he is talking to her. The tone and look on his face make her offer a small smile in return. It doesn't reach her eyes, and she doesn't even try to make it look sincerely happy. The way others seem to be carrying on as if nothing happened is strange and unsettling for her.

"I'm trying, anyway," she admits, giving a careless shrug. "Maybe it's because I'm pretty new here, but everyone else seems just fine with acting like all of that just... never happened. You?"

[sociallychallenged]

"So you're one of the new ones, huh? Right..." He says idly, placing his order for something rich and fatty and more unhealthy than what he should be getting, but his usual food monitor that informs him of his calorie intake so he can specifically not care about it isn't here.

"Yeah, I am too. I wish they'd taken at least one day for people to recover. Even if the mayor survived."

People were pretty scared. They could have used the breather, and the reassurance that the police were looking around. At least the flesh and blood ones. He shouldn't be so biased against these robot ones, he knows, especially after what he just went through back home. But they seem very hive-mindy somehow.

Maybe that's him reading too much into it. Probably.

[cisskabob]

Cissie nods in agreement, frowning slightly. It just isn't sitting right with her that everyone is carrying on like nothing happened, when someone was nearly killed and many innocent bystanders were hurt just hours before.

"That would have been nice," she agrees. "I mean, maybe it's a cultural thing? I've only been here a few days, so I have no idea, but where I'm from... that kind of thing might have shut the whole thing down, or at least meant a whole lot more security and screenings."

[sociallychallenged]

Hank snorts, before pointing up in the air and making a loose 'around' motion.

"Cameras are back up. With an AI in charge, that's probably enough for them. There's a massive security system and the cameras- at least around the platform area -were all hacked so no one got a video of anything that happened. Now the Head can watch everything again so I guess everyone's feeling A-OK and safe as can be."

He shrugs. "Still seems like they should have taken some time to calm nerves."

He doesn't especially like that much surveillance. Seems pretty iffy.

[cisskabob]

“Hmm.” Cissie hums thoughtfully to herself, looking up and around when he points. He has a, well. A point. The AI tech here is advanced and intense compared to what she’s used to, especially coming from Wonderland and the Village before landing here. It’s going to take some time to adjust.

Part of what he says breaks through her thoughts and she gives him a curious look. “All the cameras were hacked? I saw—whatever that message was and figured that had to be a hack, but. That seems pretty intense, the work that would go into getting into the surveillance system. You’d think...” she trails off, frowning to herself and glancing toward the area of the blast.

You’d think people with those kinds of skills would have wrought more destruction than they did. Is what she doesn’t even want to be thinking.

[sociallychallenged]

"Last time that happened in my world, it was a small group attacking actual servers at their locations. I have no idea where the broadcasting station or the camera servers are located or I'd look into it. Also I'm just a fuckin' beat cop right now. Bottom rung is hell."

He says, but obviously isn't satisfied with what he knows.

"I think they might have been limited by numbers and resources, personally."

[cisskabob]

She nods; she hasn't had to deal with anything like this in a while, even when she was home and still wearing the mask and helping with things like terrorist attacks in anything other than a volunteer capacity. The hows and whys were never her focus even back then. "That makes sense. I can't imagine it'd be easy to access all of that here."

Cissie can't help but smile when he complains about being a beat cop. He sounds like Tim when he's being denied access just because he looks like a normal teenager and not more competent than most adults on his bad days.

"Are you a cop where you're from, too? I mean--higher ranking, I assume, but you know what I mean."

[sociallychallenged]

He chuckles a little, and it carries warmly in his deep voice. "Yeah. At one time, I was the youngest Lieutenant on our force. I had a great record. Fuckin' annoys the hell out of me that I can't take a real stab at this."

He is sure he could make some headway. He just has to know where to start.

[cisskabob]

"That's impressive," she says with honest admiration, smiling. "Something tells me having to start again from the bottom isn't going to stop you, if you were that good before you got here, though. Not," she adds with a laugh, "that I guess I know you yet, but. Let's call it a feeling."

[sociallychallenged]

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Was it the irritability with the situation that gave it away?" He's still a little amused. He's not used to people being rays of sunshine around him. Thing is, she still looks like she cares what happened, she's not being willfully ignorant. It's genuine optimism in the people around her.

Shit, when was the last time he felt anything like that?

Hell, he thinks he knows. It was in that media tower, at that same broadcasting station, watching a skinless plastic man give his feelings on how badly he wanted freedom and how they could all live together.

He finally orders a concoction of fried fish and chips and chicken tenders. Because obviously that's not enough fried foods for his heart. "Nice having met some people on pretty good terms with cops." Or at least can be kind to them, anyway. "The ones with an actual personality at the department here are usually pretty on the level. There's not a lotta sell-outs or anything. By and large better than some precincts I've been a part of in Detroit." Amazingly less corruption, honestly, and he doubts that's all the constant surveillance. There's not a lot of shitty coffee room talk.

[cisskabob]

Cissie grins at him; he's not wrong, assuming that his irritability gave him away. He's reminding her of Tim and all of her friends when they run into bureaucratic red tape that prevents them from doing what they do best to help people. She orders her own food--chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks--and gives him a surprised look when he mentions Detroit.

"Detroit? Like, Michigan?" she doesn't bother keeping the hopeful tone out of her voice. "I'm from Pennsylvania. But it was... 2011 the last time I was home." Her tone makes it clear that she's not completely sure what year it was, and that's a little disconcerting for her to realize, even as she tucks that realization to the back of her mind to keep her awake at night later.

[sociallychallenged]

"Yeah, the one in Michigan. God I forget we don't all got the same year. I'm from 2038." In 2011 he was still a stacked tall blond cop who was climbing the ranks and doing DARE programs in schools. Though the reminder of his increased depression girth doesn't stop him from eagerly accepting a drink and his orders.

"I've already met people from different planets. Shit gets weird here. I'd think I was fuckin' dreaming but I've never had to eat in a dream." He hefts his box of food and steps away with it to give others space, already stuffing his face.

[cisskabob]

2038. That's not so far, compared to some of the people she's run into during her travels, but it's still significantly in her future. She smirks, and then laughs when he mentions having to eat in a dream.

"It takes some getting used to," she agrees. "I've been a couple places before landing here, so now I wonder if it'll be weird when I go home and everyone is mostly human."

[sociallychallenged]

"Two before here? What do you mean?"

He doesn't really like thinking about the idea that this shit isn't the only shit place they could end up. Honestly he's been hoping that this is a very special case scenario, and this is more like some Matrix nonsense than anything else.