children, wake up; hold your mistake up

[headandhand]

WHO: All new and remaining Dualizens
WHAT: A mysterious return! And the start of Act II.
WHERE: Begin at the dorms, move on to wherever else in the city you want.
WHEN: Right meow c:
WARNINGS: Please use these in thread headers if applicable!

Maybe it’s a stream of sunlight that invites you back to consciousness. Maybe it’s a sound - a slammed door, your roommate’s snores, panicked shouts in the hallway. Whatever it is that wakes you, you find yourself in a plain bed inside a plain room, groggy and disoriented.

Maybe this room is a familiar sight, or maybe it’s a place where you’ve never found yourself before. Whether you’re new to town or an old hand at navigating the neon-lit streets of the city outside the dorm room window, one thing is for certain - you are one of only a very few people still populating this city, and not much about Dualis is as you last remember it.

Time to wake up and start looking for answers.

Comments

OTA, Shaun is extremely cross.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun has no idea where the fuck he is, but he is pissed. He's supposed to be home. He's supposed to be home with Georgia, and not who the fuck even knows where with no one but himself and the voices in his head.

[Thanks.]

"Do not start with me right now," he mutters. He pushes off the bed and heads immediately out the door, looking for answers. Like where the fuck is George?

[Shaun will be stalking through the hallways of the dorm, and then eventually the city. He is looking for answers or his sister, and he is real mad.]

[fuckregularpeople]

The woman who answers him is just as complicated as Shaun is, dealing with the voices no one else can hear too.

"Don't do it," she mutters under her breath, fingers gripping her own clothes hard, trying to hold herself together in the middle of the dorm's hallway. "Trust me, it's not going to help anything."

Then her outline blurs, her shape changing -- just a little, enough for her body to shift. A tattoo appears on her neck that wasn't there before, a heart with wings on it.

This new form of the girl yells out and punches the wall, her fist easily passing through one layer of plaster and plywood. "FUCK THIS!" Hammerhead shouts, her hands going to her head in frustration. "THESE MOTHERFUCKERS JUST NEED KILLING!"

Jane grabs the wheel again and she shifts back, looking the same apart from the ink disappearing from her skin. Jane shuts her eyes and breathes deeply.

"Do me a favor and fuck off?" she says to Shane. "I'm in the middle of something."

[adaptiveimmunities]

He holds his hands up. "Hey, I'm not about to interfere with someone having an intense conversation with themself. Totally happy to fuck off just as soon as I know where to fuck off to. Don't supposed you happen to have seen a woman around may age? Short black hair? Wears sunglasses and looks annoyed?"

[fuckregularpeople]

"Haven't seen anyone else." Jane looks at Shane through narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him, and in a matter of seconds she goes from grasping at pieces of herself to standing up tall. "Who the fuck are you? Are you new?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Yeah, I'm new, and I'm supposed to be traveling with my sister." He scowls. They'd left Wonderland together. They were supposed to be able to stay together. Turning up wherever this is by himself is bullshit.

[fuckregularpeople]

"You might be out of luck." Jane doesn't know anything about Wonderland beyond the regular fairy tale. Neither does anyone else in her head. She keeps in control and looks at him, briefly grateful for the distraction.

"How do I know you're a real person?" The woman in front of him changes: her outline shimmers, her body seeming to blur, and when it settles she looks different: straight streaked dark hair instead of a cloud of dark waves, blue eyes instead of brown. In a much cooler voice, Dr. Harrison asks "What was your last memory prior to waking up?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"How do I know you're a real person," he mutters irritably. And then she changes and his eyebrow goes way up. Well, that's new. It doesn't make him any more sure that she's real (his delusions are very realistic), but it's definitely new.

"Uh. I was in what was left of Wonderland. George and I stepped through a portal to go home. And then boom. I woke up here."

[fuckregularpeople]

"Wonderland?" she asks, prompting him: please share more. The psychic nudge she gives is subtle, but solid. "As for your question, you're welcome to test me. My name is Dr. Harrison; what's yours?" And who is George? She'll have to ask.

"You must be so confused."

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Shaun Mason," he replies. He would have given her an answer anyway, but the psychic nudge goes a way toward reducing his belligerence and irritation at the situation. "And yeah, I am a little confused. Because the Core said we were going home, and we were together, and now I have no clue where I am or where she is."

[fuckregularpeople]

So he was susceptible to her suggestions; that was good to know. "It's good to meet you, Shaun." Dr. Harrison pauses and takes a look at him; he was new, and that was intriguing. Especially now.

"Were you hurt in Wonderland? Was George?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Not recently," he he says with a shrug. "But I mean, we were there for more than two years, and shit definitely happened." After all, they'd both died more than once, and there were enough events that injuries definitely did happen. "Where the hell are we?"

[fuckregularpeople]

Dr. Harrison studies Shaun coolly, not yet seeing a threat (another new arrival, most likely) but aware he could be one. "I can imagine it would." She meets his eyes with a brief smile. Ignoring his question, she prods, "Did you die in Wonderland before you woke up here?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Not recently," he says again, because... yeah, he definitely died a few times. "But that shouldn't have anything to do with what's going on here, because--as I said--we were supposed to be going home, and there are supposed to be two of us. Where is this place?" Because don't think he hadn't noticed that his question wasn't answered the first time.

[fuckregularpeople]

"Ah. Not recently." That was worthwhile information. While Dr. Harrison couldn't definitively declare what it meant, it was certainly notable. "What about George?"

She cants her head at him, thoughtful. "Tell me about Wonderland." It'll likely feel like a compulsion more than a suggestion to him.