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]

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.