dualislogs | kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

WHO: Open to all residents
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: The RoCocoa Cat Cafe
WHEN: Aug. 10-14
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining faces, but hey, this city welcomes all types. Chances are, if you’ve just arrived, you're seeing some pretty crazy things, unless you're used to an eye-blinding amount of neon, robots, weird-ass technology, magic, and an omnipresent police force...and hey, if you are, congrats, you're gonna settle in juuuuust fine. But for the rest of you, the Head knows this has gotta be pretty overwhelming, right?

Well, since your quaint individual processing units are probably having a hard time, why not link up with another one? By which the Head means...

Hello, new citizens of Dualis,
and welcome to your monthly Network Adjacency Protocol~!

NAPs are a monthly community networking event similar to the Earth concept of speed dating! Two citizens (new arrivals and old hands alike) are placed at a table together with a handy cue card of queries to help break the proverbial ice. Ask queries and receive results, or ignore the card and yeet yourself straight into a brand new friendship! But don't be too shy, you've only got ten minutes together, and if you just sit in silence for the whole ten, the Network Admins are likely to come supervise and try to repair the uplink through a mild shock to the ol' central nervous system. You might find yourself saying all sorts of unintended facts about yourself if that happens...probably better to just make friends, right? Who doesn’t like friends?!

This month’s event is held at the brand new RoCocoa Cat Cafe, a sparkly new establishment that caters to children and the young at heart with iced and hot cocoa drinks of all kinds, delicious pastries, age-appropriate live music, and of course many friendly kitties who love to lounge in laps. The cats are of all shapes, sizes, and colors, including some who may look a little different from what you expect, or may look like an ordinary cat but are actually anything but ordinary underneath that adorable fur coat. All cats in the cafe are adoptable, too, if you meet a new furry friend and just can’t bear to go home without them!

So pull up a chair, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a sugary treat or two with the resident furbabies. You might just meet your new two- or four-legged best friend!

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"Detroit," he answers easily enough, trying to gently discourage the clawing his thigh - he doesn't feel pain, per se, but it's a weird sensation. "This is actually my first time leaving the city."

And then, a full few seconds after he's answered, he remembers the situation they're in.

"Uh, that's in the United States." He frowns. "I'm not sure what the best answer is anymore."

If there are aliens and other worlds and if half of what he's already heard is true, some of the people here won't have heard of Detroit, maybe not even the USA.

[So Connor's not the only person who came in like that, just like he was told. It's nice to establish these things early--]

DN-- [He frowns.] DNA. It's the substance in your body that holds of all your genetic information.

[Maybe children just don't learn these things until much later. He wouldn't know, he's never been one. Which brings him to his next, totally socially acceptable and completely normal to ask someone, question:]

How old are you?

So, they want our generic information, huh? Well they're not gonna get it!

[ He doesn't know what that means, but the Head is definitely being framed as the bad guy so Finn is just gonna run with it. ]

I'm 16. Why?

“I’ve heard of it, from a man who was a Detective there. I don’t know how this place compares to what Hank remembers of your Earth, but I can say for sure there is at least one reason in this city who can talk about his Detroit place with you.”

Nida offers it with a smile. No reason to assume This Connor is that Connor. At all. But he is trying to comfort the new arrival

[Somehow David doubts that. But he doesn’t want to upset this kid.]

Perhaps so. I don’t know how to approach it though.

[ Yeah... Finn doesn't really think so either. But it's worth a shot, right? It beats charging in blindly and probably skronking up all sorts of blizz they shouldn't have. ]

I gotta get back in that temple... But I should get myself a new pack first. And a sword. Just in case.

[And it's a good thing that Finn doesn't say any of those words, because they don't make sense.]

You should look for a guy online, Cloud Strife. He might know where you could get a sword.

"A computer, clearly," Nida answers as he slides into his seat with coffee. He loves coffee, and this is a good excuse. But this is pretty easy, he doesn't bother looking at the guy too much, because clearly the guy doesn't want it.

"That is studying us, because it wants to learn about living beings. Maybe to steal our minds."

Well, he looks a bit familiar, doesn't he? Not that David can be sure. It's been a long time. He settles down in the chair and sips a hot chocolate. Been here long enough that more coffee seems stupid.

"Well? I think the most interesting fact is that I spent a few years living in a mansion with a training center under it that ran holographic simulations."

Cloud Strife, huh?

[ That's a pretty rad name. Sounds like a quest! ]

Thanks for the tip. Online... that means I need a computer, right?

[ Too bad he doesn't have BMO here. He's going to need to learn how to use computers that don't talk now. ]

[It's a terrible name, and David will argue for that. But his roommate is a great guy. Teaching him magic.]

Yeah. All of the dorm rooms come with them. Terrible ones, mostly.

[Pause. He considers letting this go, he really does, but] Genetic. Your genes.

[Finn could have said he was anything between 10 and 20 and Connor honestly wouldn't have batted an eyelid.]

Just wondering. We are supposed to get to know each other, right?

[That's a perfectly safe alternative to, 'I wondered how old humans can get without knowing basic information'.]

"Oh, you've met Hank," Connor says, looking up from the cat and perking up in recognition. "Right, I was his partner on a case. Same Detroit."

It was only a few days, even though it feels like a lot longer - just because so much ended up happening. And maybe because when you've only been alive for three months and only truly alive for two or three days, a few days is already a lot.

"Where did you come here from?"

"That simply makes to much sense." He replied with a slight amusement, as he tossed the cards back down, looking to the person who said across from him. The fact he doesn't look to closely at him is a second check in the 'okay person' box, right after Coffee, good taste there.

"Ahh, so we could in fact be in a bad 50's B-movie." he replied, before shrugging. "It had to be that or Skynet." Everyone knows Terminator right? Also as someone whose worked with sheild, he's a hypocrite for judging computers.

Oh, it was that Connor. Nida's eyes are almost dancing with delight to hear that, a smile actually curving his lips. There was no chance in hell that he wasn't going to harass Hank over this.

"So you're that Connor. The partner. The one who got left at home. Well, I suppose he's not alone anymore."

Clearly this other man is delighting in Connor's presence too much. Enough to even overwhelm Nida's strange deja vu from seeing this man.

"Oh, where I come from isn't very important. I wanna ask you questions about Hank. We're friends, you see, but he doesn't open up about himself much."

Uh-oh, Nida definitely doesn't know the term Skynet. Terminator was not a movie his boyfriend had told him about.

"Uh, sorry, you're going to have to clarify here. I'm pretty sure the 50s you're referring to and the one in my world's history are very different."

Speed Friending~

"This is-" She paused thoughtfully. "Odd."

The situation itself wasn't jarring or new. It seemed as if she had gone from one experiment to the next, though that didn't align with her clone theory or what little she knew about this city and its lack of inhabitants. Wanda had to treat this place as something new and while she was determined to learn more about this strange ever changing city, their hosts appeared to be determined for them to get to know each other.

Wanda had never tried speed dating or speed friending before but she didn't see a reason to protest. It would be good to know who she was going to be living with and maybe she'd find someone she knew. Her misty green eyes looked down at her notecard as a chime told them that it was time to switch partners. Her lips formed each question as she silently committed the questions to memory.

Who is your hero?
What is your favorite food?
What makes you laugh the most?
What would you sing at Karaoke night?
Do you like surprises? Why or why not?
How would your friends describe you?
What's your favorite Zoo animal?
Do you collect anything?
How many pillows do you sleep with?
What are your hobbies?

She looked up and finally laid eyes on the person sitting across from her.

Surprise Cat Pile!

While Wanda didn't really mind the questions or the concept of speed friending, she relaxed when there was a break in the fast pace game. She moved from the tables over to a small plush sofa. She closed her eyes and relaxed against the comfortable seat, only to feel a heavy weight on her lap. Apparently Wanda had taken the cats spot and it had decided to claim Wanda's lap as its new spot.

The cat looked like a mix of a Russian blue and a tabby cat with odd black stripes around its tails and on either side of its cheeks. It had a single large emerald green eye and its tail was split into two tails. When Wanda met its gaze she felt a gentle pull on her psyche that was commanding her to pet the kitten. She recognized the mental manipulation instantly and gently put up a mental barrier to stop the cat from influencing her. When she was finished protecting herself from the cat, she decided to relent and start petting it anyway. It purred happily in her lap, while the tips of its tails curled in affectionate twitches.

Wanda was content but after about ten minutes of petting another cat notice her.

This one was a white tabby cat with glowing aqua blue eyes and blue streaks lightly outlining the gray and black stripes on its little body. It had to have been a kitten because it was small enough to fit in Wanda's palm if she were to hold him. Wanda was thankful for its light weight because the kitten blinked in and out of existence, only to land on Wanda's head. It meowed loudly and then flashed the room a toothy smile filled with far too many sharp teeth. Didn't think a cat could smile? Think again.

She couldn't see it but Wanda got the feeling that the cats were trying to claim her in the way that only cats did. It wasn't uncomfortable but she didn't want to move and disturb them.

She was stuck.

Edited 2019-08-12 16:17 (UTC)

He recognizes her even as he's walking to the table, and it definitely makes Nida hesitate. Chances are, this isn't the Wanda he knows. This isn't the Wanda Billy and Tommy know. This isn't the woman who was family to them and who they needed and who Nida had sat in his room after fucking up his ankle, drinking with the twins to try and provide some degree of comfort before there had been, well, something akin to a cuddle puddle at the end of a very tipsy night.

Chances were this wasn't the woman he'd wanted to go to and ask for advice on how to ask her not-son out, before she'd disappeared. Chances were when he sat down she wouldn't even know him.

Didn't matter, though. He wanted to make a good impression, because sooner or later Billy and Tommy would find her, and what she thought of him mattered.

"This is going to sound like a very strange question, and I know the answer is probably know. But is there any chance I look vaguely familiar to you. Maybe if you imagined a more military hair cut, took off the eye liner, shaved me?"

It's too much to hope for, Nida knows as he sits down. Far too much. But if it is her... oh boy the conversation they need to have. Mostly summarized as 'they're here and they need you'.

There is something vaguely familiar about her, but David? David can't at all place what it is. What he can place is that the woman, intended or not, seems to be developing a collection of felines, and that earns a chuckle from him. David, seated at a nearby table and working his way through trying to read a paper ~~something cats clearly didn't respect of course, given the one or two that had claws at the thing earlier~~, looked at the woman with pity. With speed-friending on a break, a the place had emptied out a bit. A new phase of people would show up soon enough for another set of rounds.

And David? He didn't mind waiting. He had the day off of work to do this. Which was a blessing. This thing was his monthly reprieve from work he hated.

And this woman? She could be a distraction.

"You seem cozy."

Hank doesn't want to be here. Most people in their right minds don't want to be here. But his supervisors actually encouraged it; honestly, he wonders if these introductory conversations are just a good way for the Head to get relevant, helpful information out of them.

But he didn't expect himself to be sat across from an escapee from a late nineties early naughts industrial rock video. Honestly, this guy's whole aesthetic is shit he'd watch on MTV as a teenager. You know, back when MTV was still somewhat watchable.

"They're just generic conversation starters. I don't think it matters."

He should probably have more of a reaction to glowing red eyes but he's written parking tickets to two people with red eyes and four with glowing eyes just this week.

Tommy really shouldn’t be so surprised to see Wanda here. Whatever cosmic forces keep picking up people and shuffling them through the multiverse seem pretty capricious, and Wanda’s already been through so much. Why wouldn’t she get picked up again? Why wouldn’t Tommy be confronted with the painful memory of losing her in the village? What are the chances it’s the same Wanda he spent time getting to know there? Slim to none, he guesses, but shakes off his shock and puts on a smile as he takes the seat opposite her.

“Hey. Wanda, right? I’m Tommy. This might sound crazy, but I kinda know you. It’s a whole multiverse thing, hope it’s not too weird.”

Edited 2019-08-12 16:55 (UTC)

An odd disjointed amount of time had passed since she'd lived in the village. When she was first returned to Earth she had forgotten everything. Years had passed, five of which she had no memory of, and battles had been fought. There was finally calm and then she was brought here and the memories flooded back to her. It had hurt at first. Not remembering but realizing that she'd forgotten some of the most important people in her life. She never wanted to forget them ever again.

So when Nida began to ask if he looked familiar, Wanda didn't speak but studied his features. She tried to imagine him younger with the clean military cut that he was describing and like a final piece of a puzzle it all clicked into a larger picture.

"Nida? Is it really you?" Her accent was thinner than it had been before and she looked years older but she knew him. He was friends with her sons.

"Nida." Wanda disregarded the cards and leaned forward, hope and panic twisting equally in her chest. "Are they here too?" She almost didn't want him to answer but she needed to know and Wanda knew that Nida would have the answers.

It was her. Nida doesn't bother to hold back the relieved smile he offers her as he leans forward in his chair. This was good. This was very good. By the time she finishes her question, he's beaming.

"They are. It was bad when Observers took you away. I may have lifted some of Sam's vodka and got some beer from Bull. Sorry about the underaged drinking. We all needed something. Hyne above, Wanda, I wasn't sure how to help, sorta bad at that stuff. Lets see, that was back in February for them, so it was five months there without you. Then about two here. Give or take a little math."

For them being a telling phrase, in its own way. After all, he does look older, doesn't he? Picked up almost two years himself, but he managed, the best he ever could.

"Fuck, I want to text them right now, really. But I'm stealing you for a few minutes first. Better prep you because the old limits or whatever aren't here. They have their powers back, or some of them. So Tommy's always zipping around. Billy... Got to see some of what he does. Your boys are brave, Wanda. And amazing men. I'm privileged to know them."

There is far more, and definitely far more overt fondness in Nida's voice as he talks about the twins. Clearly things have changed since she saw him last.

Edited 2019-08-12 18:29 (UTC)

Nida looks pretty happy to hear this - and Connor tilts his head minutely, a little catlike himself to match the one purring like some kind of engine on his lap. It seems to have given up on clawing him - instead it's curled up with both tails wrapped around its body, and petting it like this is oddly pleasant. And it gives him something to occupy his hands instead of fidgeting.

"That Connor," he repeats dryly. "Yeah, I guess I am."

He's going to make a wild stab in the dark and say Hank's talked about him a bit. It's a bit weird to find himself the subject of conversation - in a context that's not 'fucking androids taking our jobs/ruining the city/demanding freedom'. He likes it - sort of.

"Did he also tell you we've only known each other for less than a week?" Connor says, leaning back a little in his chair with the ghost of a grin. "I don't know how much more I could tell you."

That's true! But also Connor snooped through Hank's personal record, explored his house and went through the kind of intense experiences with him that made opening up almost inevitable...so maybe he does know more than most. If he wants to tell it.

"But you can try asking."

"No, he left that out," Nida admits. Damn, Hank, Nida wouldn't have thought you had it in you, old man. That fond in that little time? Interesting. Very interesting.

"Was he always so... Not fun? I mean, the guy has surly written all over him. I don't even know how I managed to sit through a conversation with him. Except I sort of owed him for not arresting me."

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kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

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Re: Tim Drake-Wayne | OTA

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Wanda Maximoff | MCU+6i CRAU [OPEN]

Speed Re-Friending

Cats Because Cats

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speed (is his name and also his game) friending.

Speed Re-Friending

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