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

[silentnarration]

Squall makes a bit of a face at the thought of being carried. He's been in enough humiliating positions today, thanks.

"I can walk." He hesitates while reaching for his jacket, pulling his hand back when he decides against it. Better minimize unnecessary movement for now. He's done enough damage running around ground zero like this.

He's still able to huff at the dog joke though.

"Just give it a treat." And a moment later, and far more quietly. "Thanks."

Even if Nida did just threaten him with physical violence.

[skyward_eyes]

Good, because Nida's tired enough that he doesn't think he could really be trusted to carry Squall right now. But he does roll his eyes at the suggestion of giving a dog a treat.

"To do that, I'd a) have to have a treat, and b) risk getting close enough for my allergies to start killing me. Note for when you end up back home? Please ban dogs from the bridge. I'm sure young-Nida will thank you for it. Without saying anything. You were... can be intimidating."

And that's just that. He opens the door and holds it open for Squall.

"Don't thank me, Commander. I'd do this for anyone."

[silentnarration]

Squall blinks at that. Intimidating? Well, Nida's not wrong. Squall did maintain that unfriendliness for a reason, even if it backfired spectacularly. He sighs quietly and steps outside, carefully cradling the plugged wound on his lower left side.

"I'm still human." Just saying. "Dogs don't belong on the bridge anyway. I'll tell Rinoa not to bring Angelo." She shadows Rinoa so well, it's easy to forget she's there sometimes.

Possible wrap point here?

[skyward_eyes]

And what an unfriendliness it was. Almost palpable in the old days, could cut it with a knife. Though, after a moment, Nida does rush back to his bed and pull a small leather box from under his pillow case. The proper size for a Triple Triad deck.

If he is going to be in a clinic e is at least going to sort his cards and see what came with him.

“Thanks. At least Seifer’s Dog was hairless.”

No, no there will not be context there.

I don't mind but we might wanna hash out what he tells Squall later. He has questions

[silentnarration]

Squall is working on it. Baby steps. He eyes the box with interest but doesn't say anything. He'll be happy to find his own deck in the room later.

As for Seifer's Dog, he's just going to leave that there. He's had enough headaches for one day.

Could do a brief skip and then have Nida taking him to breakfast somewhere?

[skyward_eyes]

“You can have my shoulder if you need,” Nida lets Squall know as he closes the door. “I injured side of course. I don’t want to start you bleeding by bumping you weird.”

Seriously, was Squall like this in the war? Because Nida pities his teammates if it’s true. Martyr complexes, what could you do?

Sounds good!

[silentnarration]

Squall huffs again. It's tempting to shrug off the offer, especially since Nida doesn't seem entirely comfortable with his presence. But with the way the injury is actively aching now, it doesn't take him long to move over and put a hand on Nida's shoulder.

He's no martyr really. Loner tendencies aren't all that easy to shake off when the friends he shed it around aren't here. He stays quiet as they venture out in search of a clinic. At least the city isn't lacking in signage and there's a sizable clinic nearby - one with a robot receptionist that quite cheerfully signs Squall in. There's barely a wait before he's seen either and the clinic itself is apparently capable of dealing with the kind of injury Squall has immediately.

For free.

[skyward_eyes]

There are a lot of things that Squall can probably get away with when Nida is around, much to Nida’s displeasure. One of those, though, is not hovering over Squall until his issue is dealt with. Instead he stays in the waiting room, flipping through cards and sending half-hearted text messages to people he already knows.

Frankly, it’s a shock when Squall is back out without this taking until morning. Nida is left to look up at him in shock.

“Did they kick you out? I can find another place. “

[silentnarration]

Squall is holding a hand to the side of his head. Everything has gone by so fast he feels a bit woozy. He blinks, almost missing Nida's question. He shakes his head and lowers his hand to pull up his shirt. A white square bandage is now over the wound.

"It's done. The doctor said I'll be fine in a day or two." He shakes his head again when his vision doubles and he covers his face again with a quiet grunt. "... with some side effects."

[skyward_eyes]

Wait, what? Nida stares. Even magic didn’t do that much that fast. Then he moves to Squall’s side. He looks a bit unbalanced.

“Side effects?”

[silentnarration]

He could still walk a straight line if he has to. If straight lines are wobbly. He's not complaining about Nida being close right now. He feels floaty.

"Painkillers?" Maybe. "There were needles. Everything else were machines. Nicer-looking than ours. Kind of like Esthar..."

[skyward_eyes]

Oh that is bad. Worse if Squall hasn’t eaten in a while. After a moment Nida nods to himself.

“Come on, let me get you something to eat. You need it.”

[silentnarration]

"Okay." There's no reason to argue so he'll just tag along, especially since the nurse at reception will just wave them off without payment. It's almost like being back at Garden.

"I don't get you, Nida. You didn't seem happy to see me but you keep helping."

[skyward_eyes]

“You’re not wrong. I’m not sure just what you represent for people I care about here,” Nida admits after several minutes of quiet thought, still keeping a slow pace to help get Squall where he needs to be. Which is for food.

“At the same time, there is this part of me, call if SeeD Nomura If you want, that demands certain behavior. It’s a fucking hard balance.”

[silentnarration]

Squall frowns, but again, unfocused. Fun.

"You said Seifer's your brother now. That's nice..." Does he actually sound kind of wistful? Can he blame it on the drug haze later? "But I get it. We're soldiers. We obey the chain of command." A pause. "I didn't change that in the future, did I?"

[skyward_eyes]

“Fuck. Time. Travel,” Nida curses under his breath. Because effectively that is what this is. At least for Squall. The worst part of back home, among all the other worst things, was stable fucking time loops. “And I hate being a soldier.”

Still, he speaks up as he actually answers, making sure it is clear that it is an answer. Or, at least, a counter question.

“Do you really want a glimpse at the future, Squall? Rumor had it that it was time travel that got you into the mess in the first place. Do you really want more of that?”

[silentnarration]

Squall's too distracted to hear those curses though he'd agree. Time travel is fucked.

A tighter frown. "The rumor's true." He ended and started the time loop. He tries not to think about it too hard though he may be tempted to study it in Esthar sometime. "And I don't." Just a tinge of upset creeping his way in there. "I really don't. But you're here. We have to live together. I can't hide from it forever."

It's really fucking tempting though.

[skyward_eyes]

"You really can," Nida insists. "Because I don't like to think about Garden, or talk about it. So you're perfectly safe if you don't bother asking ever again."

Seems like a fair arrangement, right? Right.

[silentnarration]

Squall falls silent for a long while. "For now maybe." Because he really doesn't want to know. The fact that there will still be a Ultimecia in the distant future is scary enough. And it's been a really long day. Just let him run from this unexpected situation for a while.

"But if you get upset because of me again, I'll have to know."

[skyward_eyes]

“And you’ll get nothing from me until you order it from me,” Nida answers simply. Which isn’t simple at all. “You really going to pull rank here, Commander, where it doesn’t exist?”

Because, frankly, Nida doesn’t know shy he would do if Squall did. It... would probably be bad. He just doesn’t know how.

[silentnarration]

What? Why does he have to pull rank? It's just a question. Ugh, it's so hard to focus.

"I'm not going to-" He cuts himself off, frowning again. "I'm supposed to be fine with you acting weird because of things I haven't done?"

Actually, now that he's said that out loud, that about sums up his life since graduation. He's going to look miffed now.

[skyward_eyes]

“You’re going to be fine with it because it isn’t your business. I seem to remember you weren’t prone to prying. Or has that changed because of one girl?”

Maybe that will get Squall to lay off things. Because Nida doesn’t want to talk about them being betrayed. About him being betrayed by the man he had thought he loved. It still hurt.

[silentnarration]

Mrgh.

"Whatever..." Fine. He'll drop it. He's tired. He's had one too many emotional conversations for a day. Instead of prying, he opts to move closer and lean against Nida more. One hand on his shoulder.

"Can we go back? I'm not hungry."

[skyward_eyes]

The touch brings Nida up short, and the admission softens his expression much like the injury had. Concern, Nida is built on concern. Just didn’t know it.

“Yeah, we can go back. I can go out and get you something to eat too. If you haven’t eaten today you’ll need it, for healing. Please?”

Listen, he’s trying to handle this, but things have been bad today. Looks like he has to trot out another apology.

“I... had to deal with traumatic reminders of a bombing today, leave my witch boyfriend alone and trust him to take care of himself even though he’s unarmed of anything but his magic that I’m still adjusting to. After that I was more or less abducted by the cops to be taken in and find out that the other man I see as my brother, who died months ago, was alive and here somehow. And I fought with him. I’m sorry I’m testy but in a way I’m in a very bad place and seeing you reminds me of some things that happened when I was last home and...”

He can’t even look at Squall. He looks aside instead.

“A lot of bad stuff happened to me. A lot of stuff I didn’t want to remember. And unfortunately you serve as a reminder. Not because of anything you did. You’re a good man, Squall. It was all because of what has happened to me.”

[silentnarration]

Squall listens and does his best to process. That's a lot to learn about Nida at once while his head's not fully in the game. But he understands. Shit happened. He nods and squeezes Nida's shoulder.

"I won't ask," he promises. He knows what it's like to want to keep all the trauma and pain to oneself. "I'm sorry I pushed." It's been a long day and he's been on edge the whole time too. After a beat, he adds. "Let's... find something on the way back. I'll eat and go to bed."

He doesn't want Nida making multiple trips because of Squall's own stubbornness. Also... "If your boyfriend's name is Billy, I saw him after things died down. He was tired but well enough to harass me to see a doctor."