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

[metamorphotic]

[a familiar, friendly face is a godsend right now, honestly. both seifer and his weird-looking pet get a warmer smile of greeting from nick.]

Tonight, the house recommends whiskey - always does, when I’m runnin’ it. Which I guess is gonna be all the time, now. [SHRUG.] So ... yeah, whiskey. [she nods to the crocdog.] Anything for your friend here?

[firacrux]

[Eos, ever the ray of sunshine no matter how dire the circumstance, does a gleeful little dance once he's inside in greeting to Nick, wiggling right up to her to demand some pettings.]

Let's go with that, then. [He offers casually. Seifer doesn't drink enough to have a favorite. He should probably not start on whiskey but hell, wasn't anyone around to lecture him about it one way or another.] As for him, if you got a tray or somethin' layin' around for water I'm sure you'd be his best friend...

More than you already are.

[He added, glancing down at the dancing animal. Everyone is Eos' best friend.]

[metamorphotic]

He's cute. [she smiles a little more warmly as she leans down, hand outstretched for the crocdog to sniff and give approval before gently going for an under-chin scratch.] What's his name?

[petting tribute complete, nick hops off the stool and slips back behind the bar, first placing her guitar in its stand between the bar and the small raised platform that serves as a stage. she washes her hands, then pours a whiskey neat to slide across the bar to seifer and returns to the front of the counter with a bowl full of water for his companion.]

So, how're you two holdin' up?

[firacrux]

Eos. [The little leathery animal skipped past the sniffing part pretty quickly to wiggle right into smashing his face into her hand for pets. The under chin scratch earned some pleased weird croaking sounds.] As you can see, looks scarier than he is.

[What with the teeth and all. While she set up Seifer sauntered over to prop his gunblade against the counter as he hopped up onto a stool. No sense in hiding that he's armed anymore, the Head likely already knew anyway.]

Eh, lot easier salvagin' when there ain't anyone to ask questions. Problem is ain't enough people for the weapons to go around anymore. Yourself?

[metamorphotic]

I think most of the scary-lookin' ones are like that.

[nick herself, for example. she spent a long time cultivating an intimidating persona as a way of shielding herself from being hurt. and up until a few years ago, when she dropped the act? it worked.

she rejoins seifer at the bar, taking a seat again at her stool, but her smile falters slightly when he asks about her. she's still not used to anyone giving a shit about how she's doing, and it catches her off guard every time.]

I'm ... [she picks up her drink and stares into the glass for a moment, then shrugs.] I ain't dead. So I guess I can't complain too much, right? [she smiles again, an attempt at masking the sadness knotting up her insides, and hastily downs the rest of her drink.]

[firacrux]

You know, you've got a point.

[Himself included, and his posse. They weren't always the best behaved, but the being scary part was largely to keep people away. It was very effective.

Ah, yeah, he gets that look. Casually he reaches out to offer her a comforting pat on the shoulder. She doesn't need to say it, he gets it.]

Mmm. [He sipped at his whiskey, lacking the fortitude to down it the way she could. Seifer wasn't exactly an experienced drinker.] You can. Might as well, ain't like we've got any eavesdroppers.

[He gestured grandly at the empty building, frowning darkly. Everything about this was wrong. As much as he was avoiding admitting to himself how upset he was over everyone disappearing the least he could do is lend an ear to a fellow lonely soul.]

If you wanna get it off your chest, anyway.

[metamorphotic]

Big Brother’s always listening. [she gestures out into the room full of empty tables with a sardonic smile, then shrugs.] Nah, it’s just - I been doin’ this a while now, y’know? Gettin’ tossed around these fucked-up places, fightin’ off monsters ...

[she frowns, and reaches for the bottle on the counter to pour herself another drink.] I used to work real hard to keep people outta my life. Thought that’d make it hurt less when they eventually left, ‘cause they always do. But it’s hard to live like that - sad and empty, and I decided I didn’t wanna do it anymore.

[she pauses, sips her drink, considering how much more detail she wants to offer.] In all this time I been gettin’ kicked around from one to dimension to another, I got to be friends with a couple guys who were at least a thousand years old each. Both of ‘em were ... [broken, but resilient in their own ways. stronger than nick ever imagined herself.] Well, they’d been through a lotta really fucked up shit, wars and death and pain, and they’d both been real lonely for a long time. And I thought - I mean, I ain’t a genius, I know people don’t stick around forever, ‘specially in places like this. I knew if I stopped pushin’ people away, if I got to know ‘em and care about ‘em, it’d hurt a lot whenever one of us’d leave. But I don’t wanna live to be a thousand years old if I spend most of that time keepin’ everyone else away just ‘cause I’m scared of gettin’ my heart broke. Better to’ve loved and lost than spend lifetimes in loneliness, y’know? That’s what I decided. [she nods sharply, firm in her decision, but her voice begins to waver:] So I knew it’d hurt to lose the people I - [love] - the people I care about, that’s just how it works. Just didn’t think it’d hurt this bad.

[drifter. hank. even vergil, though she’d already mourned him after he was murdered. nick looks down at the glass in her hands, her face reflected in the surface of the whiskey, mouth pressed tightly into a thin line. she takes a deep breath and forces a small, sad smile back onto her face as she looks up again at seifer.] It’s fine. I’ll live. ‘Cause fuck if I’m gonna let this place be the thing that kills me.