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

[cisskabob]

Oh.

Oh.

Cissie can't say what she thought Jason's reaction would be, and she can't say she thought he would immediately just believe her and agree with her that he deserves better than what he's been given and what he accepts... But whatever her thoughts were, they're gone as soon as he presses that kiss to her hand.

Her heart tips over in her chest, feeling like it stutters or stops for a second, and when he smiles at her, it happens again. She has to remind herself to breathe, letting out a soft exhale as she meets his eyes.

Of course she knew that she's loved him, but Cissie is a firm believer in the fact that love is not always romantic. She readily and easily admits and expresses that she loves her friends, that they are her family. She would have admitted to anyone that she loves Jason, that she counts him as one of her closest friends. They've been through too much together and losing him the way they did hurt just as much as losing Kon or Bart--if not more, in some ways. Jason, Steph, Tim... They were her family, back in the Village. She's had shared history with Jason from Wonderland. Of course she loves him.

But it isn't until right now, this moment, that Cissie realizes that maybe, maybe her feelings for Jason might be something deeper and different than the way she feels about Tim or her other friends.

Sure, it's possible she's had a crush. That there may have been some flirting in their interactions. She might even had admitted it if someone had called her out on it. But she's had other crushes before, and that is definitely not what this is.

All of this happens, the thoughts and realization cross her mind so quickly that Jason probably doesn't even see the way the world has sort of tilted under her. She's not angry anymore, though. She's still sad; sad that Jason doesn't see his own worth, sad that someone who supposedly loves him would hurt him, sad that she can't do anything to fix any of it.

Like Jason, Cissie doesn't stop to really think and consider her next move. She squeezes his hands and smiles back at him before she leans up and presses a kiss to his cheek. She pulls her hands free and wraps her arms around his shoulders, hugging him again. She says the first thing that comes to mind. "Thank you for coming back."

[scathefires]

It's not so much that he believes her, but he wants to try, for her sake if not for his own. Funny how it's easier to do harder things when it's for someone else and not yourself, right? Jason's known he cares for Cissie since they first met, back in Wonderland, when she showed him unprompted (undeserved, he'd say) kindness without expecting anything in return from him. He's known he's had something of a crush on her at least since the ball, and those feelings only deepened after he became a teenager again and she did what she could to offer the boy he used to be a measure of comfort in a difficult situation. He'd punched those feelings down, though, because he knows that Cissie is much too good for him, and he's already had enough heartbreak in his life. Why screw up a friendship with complications? Nah.

But now ... hell, he'd gone and died again, and she'd mourned him. She's glad he's alive again, and making her even a little bit happy is a worthwhile cause, in Jason's opinion. She's only known him a short time, and she's demonstrated that she cares about him more than people who've known him for much, much longer. She thanks him for coming back, and his arms pull her in just a fraction closer, holding her tightly as the tears return to his eyes.

"How could I stay away?" he asks, softly, and if his voice trembles, he doesn't care. What's important is that he loves her, no matter how that feeling is sorted, and they're together again.

[cisskabob]

All Cissie can do is give a soft, surprised laugh at that; it may be shaky, but it's still a laugh. She hugs him even closer for a moment, holding him tight for another long moment. When she does finally pull back, she takes a moment to brush at her face, to wipe away the tears and scrub at her face before smiling up at him.

"Do you want to get some really unhealthy fried food with me and check out the rides? Maybe beat some of these rigged games?"

[scathefires]

"Yeah ... yeah, I'd like that a lot." Jason can't help smiling as he rubs at his eyes. He's never thought of himself as particularly lucky, unless it was with the bad kind of luck, but he has that feeling now, even if it's brief. He's lucky to know Cissie; he's lucky that they keep getting moved to new places together; he's lucky to be alive again so he can spend time with her, on something as normal as carnival rides and games and junk food.

"I think between you and me, we can give these game-runners a serious run for their money."

He offers a bent arm to her, an invitation to link hers with his, an unspoken Shall we? It's another of those old-fashioned gentlemanly gestures that might seem out of place to anyone who doesn't know the Jason underneath the cold, hard shell he typically shows to the world, but he doesn't need to use that facade with Cissie.

"D'you think they've got chili dogs anywhere in this place?"

[cisskabob]

She laughs at that, because she is sure that the two of them can get themselves banned from the games if they try hard enough--or even if they don't try. Which might be a fun game in and of itself, but what she says is, "We can win each other giant stuffed animals."

Her smile only grows when he offers her his arm, and she slides hers into his cheerfully, gratefully; just minutes ago, she thought she'd never, ever see him again, and now here they are, about to play at being normal people at a carnival. It's hard to think of when she was last as happy as she is in this moment.

She leans into his side slightly and reaches up with her other arm so his is trapped between both of hers. "I bet they do. I even saw deep fried Oreos earlier!"