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

[exceptionalcrook]

Kind and considerate aren't priorities in a bizarre situation, which Duke knows. He's been through more than enough to be ready for that quickly, although he still takes a few seconds to sit up and glare in annoyance as if this is any other morning.

He throws the pillow back at Seifer and sighs, getting out of bed. "My phone, please?" he requests dryly, reaching for it. "What's the situation?"

[firacrux]

Kind and considerate are very rarely priorities in Seifer's book, much less in the midst of a situation. One that surely had to be a mistake... right? After verifying that Duke's phone was also showing the same date Seifer handed it over.

"Check the date." Voice as grim as his expression. He didn't know what was going on yet, but it sure was weird. Just out of curiosity he moved to the window, letting that pillow lay where it landed after clipping him. Whatever, more important things! Maybe it was just an error and everything outside was...

Empty.

"...This ain't good."

[exceptionalcrook]

In the half-second between throwing the pillow and checking the date, Duke watched the pillow whiff off of Seifer and was disappointed he didn't react more. Then he understood exactly why he didn't react and bolted upright, throwing the covers off and immediately reaching for his pants. Next he digs under his mattress for the handgun he'd stashed there.

Third, he joins Seifer at the window and takes in the sight of the empty street, frowning.

"Okay, this is some Haven-level shit."

[firacrux]

See this is why Seifer wears clothes to bed, Duke. Because shit will hit the fan at a moment's notice and he'd rather be ready to move as soon as it did. Frowning out the window Seifer moved to open it so he could stick his head out and listen, just in case there was more commotion within the city elsewhere.

Nothing. Nothing at all. Few things could be more eerie than a effectively silent city.

"I'd ask what Haven is, but if it's like this I dunno if I wanna know..." Whatever had happened. He glanced back at Duke, his typically surly and over-confident demeanor having given way for once to some genuine worry. Grim worry.

He doesn't say anything more, instead going to check his own phone for any messages. Surely people will start cropping up to ask what's going on, right? Unfortunately there didn't seem to be anyone sending messages out just yet, so he sent a few to the couple people he had been working with last he remembered.

Now what? He looked back over at Duke. "Hey, how good are you at usin' that thing?" The gun, of course.

[exceptionalcrook]

Seifer's got a point, but sleeping comfortably pays off 99% of the time whereas sleeping prepared pays off 1%. It's a risk Duke is usually willing to take.

The silence is loud for Duke too. As they look out over the empty city he can just hear their breaths and the breeze moving between the buildings, something he isn't sure if he's heard before.

"Haven's the town I'm from, and weird things happen there," he explains briefly. "Everyone disappearing is -- I'm pretty sure it's been done." Including him. "Audrey mentioned something about that," he adds, mostly to himself.

Memories of his hometown aren't pressing, though. This moment is important, and in it, Seifer's face looks darker than Duke had ever seen it. He frowns.

"Good enough at it." Not that he's proud of it, but Duke knows his way around a gun and is more than a decent shot. While he's no veteran or police officer, he's held his own against both in firefights. "But I'm hoping we don't need it. No one's moving down there, which might mean no one to fight."

[firacrux]

Sure, but that 1% could be the difference between life or death! Then again, Duke probably didn't need to worry about it as aggressively as Seifer did.

"Any idea how it got fixed?" Other than robot overlords becoming less of an asshole than they currently were. Somehow Seifer doubted asking nicely would do the job. And no, they aren't, but once Seifer seemed satisfied with Duke's answering he'd ducked under the bed to pull out a large gym back that was... much heavier than a gym bag had a right to be. Along with it he heard a grumbling croak, sleepy and quiet, but familiar enough.

Seifer tossed himself on the floor to get a closer look. "Eos! You look rough." About as tied as they'd woken up, but Hyne is he glad to see his pet made it. Yep just going to work on coaxing him out while continuing his conversation with Duke.

"Ain't for people, Iterations, those fuckin' clone bots. Just 'cause we can't see or hear 'em doesn't mean they're not waitin' for us to come crawling out." Which meant it was time to be ready for anything. "Hope you don't have any plans, I'm takin' you on a field trip."

[exceptionalcrook]

Yeah, Duke wasn't from a place where folks sneak up on sleeping people often. Why would they when some people didn't even need to be aware or present to kill? Subtle wars, man.

"Yeah, I got an idea." Once again Duke thought just how much easier things would be if Audrey were here. If anyone could've convinced the Head to stop, it'd be her. "But she's not here, so we'll have to come up with something else."

At least the dog's okay. Duke has a soft spot for that croaky little scaleboy.

"Why wait for us to come crawling out?" he asks. "If they wanted to kill us now, why didn't they come in here and shoot us in our sleep?"

[firacrux]

Assassination was a real threat, as was surprise all-out-war in the middle of the night. They were trained to be ready at any eventuality to dispatch into a war zone. There were plenty of them to pick from, after all. And if there weren't, well... Garden would just make one. That was their business plan.

"Sounds like that option's out the window in our case," Unless Audrey conveniently showed up to lend a hand. Somehow he doubted they'd be so lucky. He plucked the dog up from the floor, gave him a good squeeze, then plopped him on the bed so Eos could spend a few moments waking himself up at his leisure while Seifer went to work unpacking and loading his gunblade. Which, yes, that's what he's been hiding in that gym bag. A big fuckoff sword with some sort of trigger mechanism attached.

"More fun to watch us squirmin' like maggots while they pick us off?" Alright maybe Seifer's morbid. Or maybe there's more to it. "Whatever the purpose of leavin' us alive is, I intend to make sure the Head knows it was a mistake." Provided his forge is still in place anyway. He regarded sleepy Eos a moment, and now with Helios unpacked... went to grab the backpack he stuffed Eos in when they had to go for a long trek. No sense in wearing the poor dog out.

Maybe Duke will do the honors of holding on to him since he's got range on his side.

[exceptionalcrook]

Duke's last time avoiding an assassination attempt had turned into drinking wine at his friend's apartment and they'd still been successful. He doesn't envy Seifer his instincts, however right they might be.

"Sadly." If there was one person he believed could bring things to a nonviolent conclusion it was Audrey. Seifer apparently has already discounted that option, and Duke tilted his head as he pulled the gunblade out and loaded it. "Does that thing work? Because it doesn't look like it'll work."

"You think it's that kind of sadist?" Because he did. Slipping on his jacket, he reached out for the backpack with the crocdog in it (whatever that weapon is, it didn't look easy to move with). "Do you have a plan for that?"

[firacrux]

Seifer was never a diplomat, peace talks aren't exactly his wheelhouse. As far as he's concerned peace was never an option, but then again he's never experienced such a thing. How would he know what to do? The Head's kidnapping them was an act of war, Seifer will respond accordingly.

But his focused destruction paused at Duke's question and he shot him an incredulous, offended look. "Does it work!?" He handed Eos over, now wholly consumed with being offended.

"I'll have you know gunblades are one of the most powerful weapons anyone could hope to master, and I'm one of the best." He's arrogant, but he's not lying. "I've already killed one of those Hyne-damned clonebots with this and a fuckin' dragon. Does it work he asks." He muttered that last part in a huff. With that said he went about strapping his harness on and sheathing the blade like it was light as a feather for him, all while giving Duke a scandalized look.

He was too offended to even remember Duke's last question.

[exceptionalcrook]

"Are you serious? That thing?" Once the crocdog pack is safely attached Duke points at the gunblade with an arched eyebrow. "That looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I don't know what's going on in your world, but in mine you'd blow your arm off with it."

He slipped on footwear while Seifer grumbled and prepared himself. "When the hell did you kill a dragon?"

[firacrux]

Evidently he's just going to have to show Duke the gunblade in action, because he just was not going to believe him. "'Course you can blow your arm off, you can blow your arm off with anything if you're dumb enough. Damn thing doesn't shoot, how d'you think it works?" Gosh, Duke, obviously.

It's too bad he doesn't have Squall around to challenge to a fight anymore. That'd solve the mystery. "Just before we went down for our nap. I need to go check and see if everything's there, and you're comin' with me." Duke has been volunteered, evidently.

[exceptionalcrook]

Nope, he wasn't. If you were going to use it to slash at someone, sure, it could work, but that's clearly not what Seifer intended to use it for. "You loaded it! What else is it supposed to do?"

Seeing a gunblade fight would quell any hesitations Duke had with the weapon, but that will have to happen without Squall. "Fine," he replies. "Just promise me something. Wherever we're heading, you'll let me help plan the route."

[firacrux]

It is absolutely a slashing tool, the cartridges weren't meant to be projectiles at all. "They provide a shock wave, not a fuckin' projectile. You see a barrel on this thing?" There is definitely no barrel. Nowhere for a bullet to actually escape, only vents for the explosion itself to not blow the weapon apart.

He huffed at that, raising an eyebrow at Duke suspiciously. "The hell d'you know about plannin' routes?" Or where they're going, for that matter. Sorry, Duke, he's slipping into combat mode and it makes him suspicious of everyone until they've proven themselves. Once they're all loaded and kitted he'd motion for Duke to follow, peeking out the door before heading out into the common area of their dorms. Seemed abandoned, for now.