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

[ichoosefight]

Oh you poor, poor soul, to have lived this long without coffee.

"It makes you feel more awake. It's awesome. But kinda bitter, so people add milk and sugar to it most of the time."

[aleifr]

He nods along with her explanation, brow furrowing slightly as he gives the menu another once over. His head cocks to one side, like a curious dog, as he starts to weigh options.

"'s it strong?" He asks, pausing momentarily before clarifying. "Can you get drunk off it?"

[ichoosefight]

She gives him an odd look, wondering what's wrong with him that he thinks alcohol makes you feel more awake.

"It can be strong, yeah. But it's literally the opposite of alcohol."

[aleifr]

A look that he doesn't appreciate, even if he stops himself from outright scowling. He knows that alcohol doesn't wake you up on it's own, even if he doesn't know enough chemistry to know that it's a depressant. It can, however, be mixed into other things and he doesn't know now you make coffee.

He just ... He realizes from the look that he's probably asked a stupid question and he's frustrated by that.

"I see." He grunts. "Less interesting."

[ichoosefight]

You'll have to forgive her. She's not used to dealing with the multiverse or time travellers anymore.

She sighs wistfully.

"Spoken like someone who gets enough sleep. Oh- one second." She hears her name called, and retrieves her latte along with an extra cup. She pours out a little and offers it to him.

"Here, try. It's a big thing where I'm from, it'll probably come up again. Oh, but it's hot though, so don't burn yourself. Totally ruins the experience."

[aleifr]

Aleifr snorts derisively at the insinuation that he gets enough sleep. Not bloody likely with the sleeping quarters he has here.

When she offers him the cup, though, he accepts it.

"Where are you from, if I can ask?" He asks as he gives the coffee a cursory sniff. He can smell the milk in it, but the stronger scent's the one that's filled up the store - rich, earthy, definitely bitter as she'd mentioned. He's not entirely sure that he likes it, judging by the way his nose crinkles.

Still, she was kind enough to offer it to him, so he'll try it even if he's a little leery of it. A small sip at first, though, letting it linger on his tongue once he's sure it's not too hot.

After a moment spent puzzling it over, he swallows.

"Different."

Not bad, but not good enough that he sees the appeal that it apparently has - especially in a place where people seem able to just pick and choose whatever they want to eat whenever they get hungry for it.

He takes another sip - a larger one, this time. When he lowers the cup, he's got bits of latte foam hanging off the whiskers of his mustache.

[ichoosefight]

"Gotham," is the short answer. "It's a city, kind of like this one. The differences will probably be lost on you until you learn more about modern technology, I'm guessing. It's all way past global trade." She shrugs. It's not really important how it's different anyway. The basic culture seems more or less the same, mods or no mods.

"It's an acquired taste," she agrees before taking a sip of her own drink. A happy sigh escapes her. Yes, that's much better. This is how her day should have started, instead of with explosions.

She covers a laugh with her fist. It looks like he has a milk mustache, which is hilarious on such a big man.

"You've got a little..." She gestures at her own lip to illustrate.

[aleifr]

Judging by the look on his face, she might have been right about the explanation being lost on him. He got 'city, kind of like this one', and 'trade', but that was about it.

As for the sudden latte foam-mustache ... the confusion on his face at her gesturing probably doesn't do anything to make him look less amusing. He does catch on eventually, though, discovering the foam with an experimental swipe of his tongue before using his lower lip to strain it out of his whiskers.

An incredibly attractive display, he's sure.

"Thanks."

[ichoosefight]

Oh yeah, so hot. She has to restrain more laughter. She isn't actually trying to be rude.

"No prob. The hazards of foamy beverages."

[aleifr]

"Apparently." He replies, the barest hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

He hasn't encountered many foamy drinks before. Some of the ales he's had, sure, but most of them didn't hold on to their head quite as much.

He drains the rest of the latte she'd given him in one swallow, this time taking care to wipe any extant foam off of his lips with the back of his hand. Then, he holds out his other hand - the clean one, or rather the cleaner one given the state of him.

"Aleifr." He introduces himself, rounding the 'a' in his name to the point that it almost sounds like an 'o'. "From Fenris, if that means anything to you."

He doesn't expect that it will, but it had rung a bell for at least one person, so it isn't impossible.

[ichoosefight]

She shakes it, trying to place the word 'Fenris'. She's heard it somewhere.

"Stephanie, but you can call me Steph." She then proceeds to drain about a third of her own large drink before she remembers. 'Fenris' was the name of the wolf from Norse myth. It was supposed to eat the world, or something. Most things in Norse myth wanted to eat the world, she figures.

"Fenris, is that Scandinavia? Or-" Was it always called Scandinavia? She can't remember.

"Viking territory, I'm guessing?"

[aleifr]

Seems like a fairly safe bet looking at him. Runic tattoos on his arms, shaved sides of his head, full beard, wearing a tunic ... it all checks out, but all she gets in return is another confused-dog head tilt.

"Viking?"

[ichoosefight]

She shrugs.

"It was worth a shot. They were explorers and conquerors in my world, a long time ago. They had a myth about a monster called Fenris."

[aleifr]

Aleifr's brow furrows. Could be simple coincidence, but given how damn big the universe is turning out to be, it strikes him as unlikely.

"Your world?" He asks. He nearly called it 'Gotham' before he remembered that's the city

[ichoosefight]

She nods over her drink. Even before the caffeine hits her blood the latte is a major comfort.

"Alternate universes. A lot of us- most of us, probably- come from different worlds. Some of them are really similar, some of them not so much. I've run into two people from my own world already, and one from a world that's so similar you could hardly tell the difference."

[aleifr]

'Universes'. Another unfamiliar word, but the rest of her explanation overlaps enough with what Mira had told him that he can make sense of it. He might not be thinking in the correct scale - he imagines worlds among the stars instead of multiversal reality - but the principle of 'somewhere else' is clear enough.

However, that doesn't answer the question he'd been trying to ask, so he shakes his head.

"No, what's it called"

[ichoosefight]

"Oh." It had been a pretty vague question, after all.

"It doesn't really... have a name like that? I mean, the planet I'm from is called Earth, but that's just one planet."

[aleifr]

It had been, and that was on him. However, her answer doesn't clarify things much. He doesn't know what she means when she says that Earth is only one planet because he isn't sure what the hell else it was supposed to be.

Maybe she was describing something he simply didn't understand, maybe they were both just tired. Either way ...

"Haven't heard of it."

Not that he's heard of many planets, with his grand total of three.

[ichoosefight]

His world might not be advanced enough to know about planets. It was a fair amount to sort out, and none of it terribly important at the moment. She shrugs again.

"That figures. Don't worry about it too much, that's my policy. Other worlds are weird. All worlds are weird, come to think of it."

[aleifr]

She gets another snort of laughter out of him with that, and a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Suppose so." Though so far he's inclined to say that the Upplanders are the strange ones. Seem to love overcomplicating things.

"Don't know if I'm going to get used to these fucking buildings."

[ichoosefight]

"Give it time," she suggests reasonably. "People can get used to just about anything, in my experience. And it doesn't sound like we'll be leaving any time soon."

[aleifr]

"Yeah."

That's less of a grunt and more of a growl, and he folds his massive arms across his chest.

No problem with her. He just hates the damned situation.