dualislogs | ya gotta wanna be a battering ram

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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

By now it was growing close to a year for Seifer, and he was still no more prepared to see Squall face to face. This particular situation, however, made it just a little bit easier to deal with. Huffy, pissed off Squall always was his favorite to mess with.

As for his questions? Answers will come in time. Unfortunately they aren't cut and dry, precise easy answers. They're complicated and leave everyone with more questions and anxieties in the end. Fun. Right now, however, the most important thing is Squall's a belt mummy and it's the most hilarious damned thing in the world.

"You could say that," Seifer drawled at the 'kidnappers' with a lazy grin. "Thanks for roundin' him up for me, always determined to skip out on the fun, this one." He gestured vaguely at Squall, yes absolutely talking about him like he's not even there. Finally, after Squall's demand Seifer leveled him with a totally innocent and taken aback look. It's so convincing Squall, how could he be so rude!

"Tch, not even a please? For that, I think I'm leavin' you like that a little longer."

If Squall was a cat, his hackles would be all raised. He was doing a good job replicating that impression though. He jerked forward at Seifer's taunt but the duo were still holding him back, so he just ended up making frustrated noises.

One of the two 'kidnappers' laughed good-naturedly. "We could tell. He was all dressed up but he was going the wrong way. We'd be happy to help escort him to the festival if you wanna join us."

Ineffectual fury was a good descriptor for the way Squall was glaring at all of them right now. It lasted all of three seconds before he sagged. Calm down. Seifer had a thing for riling him up and anger was obviously not working on any of them.

"Fine... Just let me walk on my own." Would this work or would they just piss him off more?

Squall was doing a fantastic cat impression and it was working wonders on Seifer's mood. Watching him puff up ineffectually and harmlessly about this whole thing was just too damn funny. He could almost hear the hiss!

Seifer considered the question very seriously, really mulled it over. Took a nice. Long. Time. To mull that over. Then, right when it looked like he was about to accept their help he offered a faint shrug and decided: "Eh I can probably take him from here, he's all tied up where's he gonna go?" All the while grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

"Wanna do the walk of shame yourself? I suppose we can allow it." Mostly because he doesn't feel like dragging Squall himself. Even if it would be funny.

Squall's calm lasted about half way through the long thinking session. His scowl and frown growing increasingly deeper the longer Seifer took his own sweet time. Damn this idio-- oh thank god.

The duo had been chatting between themselves while Seifer obviously drew it out. When Seifer spoke, they grinned and righted Squall back on his feet and patted his back. "All yours. Have fun!" One of them even ruffled Squall's hair before walking away, eliciting another growl from Squall.

The commander of Garden finally stalked up to Seifer to glare at him.

"Untie me, Seifer," he demanded. He was too tired to even argue being 'allowed' to walk on his own. As if being kidnapped wasn't bad enough. After way too long a pause, he finally added reluctantly. "Please."

... look, he was tied up and had no leverage. He could kick Seifer's ass after he was free.

The shit-eating grin didn't falter, though there might have been a flicker of something in his eyes when Squall stalked up close, doing his best impression of trying to intimidate him. Exactly what that flicker was was hard to say, but it definitely wasn't the gleeful mirth he was expressing otherwise.

"Nah, I like you better this way. Maybe I'll go find a leash to hook to you." He held up a finger. "Try again later, with some real manners." Instead he just shoved Squall toward the party. Come on. We're going to have some fun.

Even if it's entirely Seifer's fun in parading Squall around mummified. He's just making this worse on himself he realizes. Also doesn't care.

He really really is. Squall doesn't see that flicker at all. He's been angry at this place since he woke up and now he's getting to redirect that frustration on Seifer.

"Seifer!" he growls in frustration, stumbling from the shove before he catches his balance and turns around to walk. He takes another moment to calm himself a bit before he talks again, "we don't have time for this."

Going to a party now? After being kidnapped?

Seifer is excellent for redirection. Providing a service he hadn't even intended to! You're very welcome, Squall.

Unmoved by the frustration, Seifer just moved to walk past him, after shooting Squall an expectant look. Clearly he wasn't letting the other man off the hook so easy. He just expected Squall to use his own feet for walking. "Don't have time for what, Leonhart? All we got is time."

Seifer doesn't seem too surprised by this whole kidnapping thing, honestly.

There is a maddening childish urge to boot Seifer in the ass... but he doesn't. He grudgingly follows, striding up until he's more or less walking alongside him.

Why isn't Seifer more concerned about being here?

"If that AI wasn't lying, there's a device that can send us home."

If there's one thing Seifer's good at it's bringing out those childish urges. Kudos to Squall for his restraint, as being bodily hauled around after Seifer kicked his ass while he couldn't fight back would be incredibly humiliating.

"Sure, if it's tellin' the truth. But they ain't gonna let us outta here until they're done with whatever they want out of us. So might as well sit back and enjoy the ride."

Does he sound like he might be speaking from experience here? Perhaps.

At least this line of conversation is distracting him somewhat. Not by much but he'll take it to being hauled around by overly dressed festival-goers, or a Seifer trying to piss him off.

He's staring at Seifer incredulously now. Seifer? Just lying back and taking it?

"... what happened to you? You're not going to fight back?"

He'll get back to pissing Squall off in no time, not to worry! It has always been one of his favorite games.

Yup. Just taking it. Well. It's more a recognition that there's no clear enemy to even fight. How do you fight the experimental terrarium you've been put in?

"What do you mean what happened to me? The hell is there to fight?" He gestures broadly. "The city? The entire police force? For what? Hell we don't even know if they're against us."

Squall's frown deepens.

"That computer running the AI. We can find someone who actually knows something, who can point us home. Find out if the device exists." He's tense again. "I'm not going to stay for a year cause they asked nicely for our DNA!"

He just wants to be home, not help a city he's never heard of. He doesn't want to be away from Rinoa. And yes, he's being openly emotional.

"The AI runnin' this joint you mean?" Again he gestures at the huge city crawling with robots, and other robot-like things. "The AI with the power to whisk us wherever the hell it feels like. Where it might not even exist in a centralized location to fight? How the hell do you think you're gonna pull that one off, mister hero?"

They don't have a choice, is the point he's making. Just like they've never had a choice before. Digging your heels in and railing against it does absolutely nothing. Take it from Seifer, who's too fucking tired of always fighting the losing fight, they should just enjoy themselves for a little while.

Seifer paused to regard Squall silently for a time. Once again expression unreadable. It's weird seeing Squall emotional. Maybe all that bullshit had been good for him, in the end. At least someone got something out of it.

The Golden Boy. Of course. The fucking fated hero. The universe's favorite.

Squall just glares at Seifer for a moment, having slowed his pace to a stop. He ducks his head to quell the frustration and confusion. This isn't the Seifer he knew. What the hell happened? Or is this city just one huge hallucination courtesy of the mindfuck of Time Compression? Maybe Squall never escaped like he thought. He can't even be sure after waking up here today.

But what else can he do but keep fighting? That's the only constant in his life. At least this time he has the choice to fight for himself.

His voice is quiet when he speaks again, determined. "I found a way to the sorceress from the future. I can find an AI."

Got his ass kicked a whole bunch, lost damn near everything he ever knew or cared about in the process, and then spent half a year as a science experiment for equally all-powerful Hyne-knows-whats. Who knows, maybe they're both still in time compression. Wouldn't that be a trip?

Fighting for yourself is just as overrated as fighting everyone else's dirty wars.

"You do realize an AI ain't a person, right?" And that Squall was now lacking in every resource he had back in Garden. No support network. No money. No weapons. And no idea where to even go. Fate won't drag them by their nose anymore.

A trip Squall may prefer being blissfully unaware of at this moment.

He clenches his fists tightly. His frustration finally reaching a boiling point. No one ever left an instruction manual for what he's supposed to do once he allowed himself to actually Care.

He barrels forward suddenly, aiming to throw his shoulder into Seifer.

Seifer will be sure to ruin his day don't worry!

Uh oh. Ineffectual tied up rage? Seifer just smirks, dodging smoothly to the side when Squall charged him. He's been sparring with Nida, Seifer has plenty of practice avoiding rushes. No one left a manual for how to be a real person either. Still working on that one.

Enjoy the run, Squall! Seifer's not about to hold still and get run over.

He's doing a good job ruining his day already!

Squall sees the dodge but barely has enough freedom of movement to stop, let alone turn. He charges past Seifer, manages to stop short of falling flat on his face before he whips around and runs at his rival again.

He rears back to swing a high kick, which is just going to end with him falling hard on his side regardless of a hit. He's mad. Not fighting smart.

Mission success!

Seifer let out a "tsk" even as he moved to dodge this one as well. He has full range of motion, and is still in excellent shape after all that wilderness living he's just done. Really, a fight now was pointless, even more so with Squall restrained as he is. There wasn't ever a chance.

"You're doin' a great job of provin' my point, Leonhart." Seifer reprimanded. "Flail around until you land on your ass like an idiot. What happened to your tactical planning skills?" Because this was a piss poor example of them. But hey, if he did fall over, Seifer would just move over to sit on him. That should do the trick in keeping him in place!

Seifer has always been physically stronger. It's part of the reason why Squall keeps rising to his challenges. There's something to chase. None of that applies here though. Squall trashes the moment Seifer's weight effectively keeps him from getting up.

"Get off me!" He keeps shouting and kicking for a minute before the fight just goes out of him. He thumps the back of his head against the pavement, breathing hard and with some difficulty with Seifer still sitting on him.

He couldn't care less about his image or tactical skills right now. He'll regret losing his temper later, letting himself get bested by Seifer because of a tantrum. And for what? He shuts his eyes and does his best to gather himself.

"... stop telling me not to fight." He sounds tired. Anger fizzled out for now. "It doesn't sound like you."

All that thrashing just has Seifer laughing. They're getting some pretty amusing looks right about now, yet no one seems especially inclined to help Squall up. Idly, while he's down there and flailing like an idiot, Seifer plucks at a few buckles to start removing his excessive belts. He's had his fun, he'll help now.

"Nope," Definitely not getting off of him until he's sure Squall's done trying to fight him.

"I ain't tellin' you not to fight," Seifer corrects. "I'm tellin' you you don't know what to fight yet."

In other words, Seifer's telling him to sit back and observe. Try to figure out their situation before pulling a him and jumping in half cocked. Take it from the expert in bad decision making: It never works.

That isn't too surprising when he's been trying to get help unsuccessfully the past couple hours. Having someone start tugging at the belts is novel though and it's enough of an incentive to go still quicker.

He's feeling better. No less humiliated but he's gotten a lot of the frustration out. He huffs (as well as he can with someone bigger than him sitting on him).

"Fine... you're right." The most reluctant of admissions, but it's not like things could get any weirder today. He keeps looking to the side though. No need to watch Seifer gloat over any of this. "Why are you taking this so calmly?"

Good man. With Squall behaving himself somewhat Seifer will continue freeing him of his belts. At least enough to get his arms free so he can get the rest of the damned things off by himself. Eventually he'll let him up, once he's satisfied Squall's definitely chilled out.

Enjoy being crushed under a fat ass, Squall.

"You're damn right I am," Seifer crowed, positively oozing arrogance. What a smug asshole. As for the question he shrugged. "Just got outta another kidnapping science experiment. What's one more?" Frankly his life has just gone from bad to worse to weirder to weirdest. There comes a point where you just run out of steam for screaming.

To be fair, there are a lot of belts to get through. The moment his hands are free, Squall is going to take a moment to cover his face and just lie there for a minute. This has been an unnecessarily long morning.

He's not making a fuss anymore so once Seifer lets him up (with a helpful shove on Squall's end because damn he is heavy), he's going to get up and struggle with the rest of the belt harness. There are so many on him, it's ridiculous. He might need help with the ones buckled behind him too.

He stills at the explanation and just stares at Seifer in disbelief. It makes sense but to get kidnapped twice?

"What do you mean another?" A pause. "How long have you been away from home?"

Which means he'll probably have to let him up, since he was likely sitting on a fair few. Ah well, lose his comfy seat. What a tragedy! Seifer can only imagine it's been a stressful day, doesn't mean he's not going to pick on Squall for it though.

Eventually he did let him up, he just wanted to savor his rare victory just a little longer. The shoving earned a chuckle with him skittering away a couple steps to discourage Squall from resuming his fight.

Yep. Seifer would be wearing that same expression were the roles reversed. "I dunno, 'bout seven months give or take? At least this time I didn't have to craw my ass outta an unnecessarily deep fountain in the middle of fuckin' winter." He had had a lot of complaints that day. And freezing. So much freezing.

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