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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Wanda's brow furrowed at the sudden hesitation. She had thought it was the cats, perhaps he had just noticed that the one on her lap only had one eye or maybe... maybe it was something else. She didn't know what it was but she wanted to put him at ease if she could.

"I can try and help if you want. I don't want to hurt them or you."

They were very well trained cats which Wanda supposed was normal for a cat cafe. Then again, this was her first time being in a cat cafe.

The cat on her lap turned and looked up at David before batting playfully at the strips of newspaper. It seems determined to try and get it but he also doesn't seem to remember that he has legs because he is wiggling towards the edge of Wanda's lap without actually getting up.

"I'm trying to keep anyone from being hurt, Ms. Maximoff," he says, and he is mostly intent on the cat. That wiggling is a good sign, usually prefaces a pounce. David wiggles the makeshift toy briefly before jerking it abruptly away, smiling to himself when the little feline pounces at it. That's something. He keeps toying with the newspaper creation to keep the cat distracted.

"That's one. But I'll need to keep playing to distract it. Can you handle the one on your head?"

Wanda tensed when he used her last name. She hadn't given it to him and since she didn't recognize him then he likely knew of her or perhaps he was from an alternate universe like Tommy and Billy. Either way, it was uncomfortable when she knew so littler about him.

"Thank you. I can get this one."

She lifted her hand and from the tips of her fingers red mist danced. Wanda discreetly watched David's reaction as the red mist curled around the kittens claws and gently dislodged it from her head without injuring either of them. She felt the space above her head begin to distort as if the creature was going to teleport again. Wanda let the red power gently surround the kitten, helping it relax as she lifted it off of her head and placed it safely on the ground. As soon as it's paws were on the ground and the power released it teleported on the arm of the chair and meowed as if Wanda had given it the greatest of insults.

Wanda smiled at the kitten and scratched beneath its chin as it purred. "I'm sorry little one but you can't stay on my head forever." It really looked like it wanted too.

The cat on her lap wasn't even paying attention to her anymore. It was wiggling its way towards the edge of her needs and after a little teasing, it accidently rolled off Wanda's lap to fall feet first onto the floor. Wanda jumped in surprise at the sudden loud thud of the cat.

Oh, that's the thing, David pointedly did not look at the manifestation of Wanda's power. That shade of red wasn't something he'd ever seen in person, and he just didn't think he wanted to see that right now. The casual display of a power that he's never understood, has feared from her son, and has been concerned to be on the receiving end of. Again.

"Seems like you're free now," he says, setting the newspaper toy aside to scoop up the fallen kitten. It goes promptly onto his shoulder thanks to his own actions, and seems content enough to stretch out there, especially given David scratching behind an ear.

"I have you at a disadvantage. I'm David."

"I am. Thank you." The reply was soft and carefully spoken. Wanda wasn't sure what to expect from this boy but she doubted it was pleasant. It was nothing against him, only that her life was never that easy.

"Right again." David was a common enough name but still...

"And what's your last name David or would it be better to ask how you know my name." She didn't stand from her seat on the couch. Wanda was very careful with these kinds of things. She didn't want him to think that she was going to hurt him in any way and being still was the only way she could think to do that.

Well now that is a fair point. A very fair one. "Alleyne. I'm... I suppose it's hard to explain. I'm from a version of Earth that there's a Wanda Maximoff. Not you, I think. Another Wanda Maximoff. She's a hero, known as the Scarlet Witch."

How could he know that Tommy and Billy have explained it already?

Wanda's expression soften around her eyes and in the set of her lips. It was lucky for them both that she was accustomed to bits and pieces she'd learned from Billy and Tommy before arriving to this world.

"I only know a little of her but not much. Billy and Tommy has told me some. From what I do, our powers are all that we share and even that is a little different." Wanda wasn't able to alter reality. Her power came from the Mind Infinity Stone and was greatly influenced by its limits (or lack their of) and function.

"Do you know of either of them?"

So she knows Billy and Tommy, that's interesting. Perhaps from that 'village' place that Tommy had mentioned. Which was a concept David had a hard time processing even when he was in a place not unlike it now. He does pull over a chair, not wanting to shift the feline he'd teased off of her with the newspaper toy. What? He likes cats pretty well, and it's cute there. Once he's got a chair turned generally in her direction he sits down and nods.

"I do. Tommy and I worked at the same place for a little bit. And after I met him I came to work with their team, the Young Avengers for a while. How well I 'know' them is rather up to interpretation of course. As for the Wanda from my world, I've never met her, so I don't really have a point to compare you to her."

Because there was no way he was going to hold what he knew of that woman against this one.

"I can definitely summarize by saying the twins are good people in my experience."

As if realizing the shift in conversation, the teleporting white tabby walked along the armrest of Wanda's chair and sat. It was an intelligent creature, knowing the way to get attention wasn't to sit on Wanda but to meow until her hand came to rest on its back. She was distracted but petting the cat absently at the same time.

She smiled, beaming as if she was a mother. She'd only lived in the village with Tommy and Billy for a little less than a year but it was difficult not to think of them as an extension of her family when they reminded her so much of herself and her late brother. "They are. I feel lucky to have them them." More so now that she's lived through her time with Vision and experienced his death.

"I was told that Billy works for a coffee shop?"

"Yeah," David agrees. Both on the front of being lucky to have them and on Billy working at a coffee shop. "He does, a different one from this one. He makes a mean latte."

Which probably isn't a great compliment, but he's sticking by it anyway. Especially since David sort of, well, lives off of coffee. It's a useful thing to have as a skill. But this place practically runs on coffee, given how many coffee shops David's seen here.

"I could give you the name of it if you want. Not that things are always easy to find here."

Wanda's expression softened. "I'd like that." She could easily get the name but there was something comforting in learning it from someone who knew her son.

"Are you close with Billy or Tommy?"

How does one define close? He does tear another piece of paper off of the newspaper behind him and quickly scribbles down the information for Wanda and passes it over. But it's there, in part, to help him to figure out how to answer.

"Before coming here I only knew Tommy for two days. I spent a few months with Billy and his team doing some heroics stuff."

Is that evasive enough? Maybe. There can be complicated things when it comes to the twins and him.

"I see. So you're friends." It was a loose word but one that might cover whatever it was that David is to her son's without pressing the details of their relationship. She adored her son's but it wasn't her place to question their friends... technically.

"It's nice to meet you though."

Her lips pressed briefly together. "I get the sense that you aren't happy to meet me." She was different but Wanda could feel the tension electricity in the air. Perhaps something had happened, she really didn't know enough.

Friends is definitely the safest general description given the complication that was his connection to the twins. And he doesn't mind that either. They've been good friends and a positive impact on his life.

"We're friends. Known Billy longer, but somehow Tommy better for how little time I had to know him back in our world."

But then there's the other thing.

"More like I'm taking a moment or two to readjust personal biases. You're not the Wanda Maximoff of my world, and I want my opinions of you to be based on who you are and not my opinions on her and her history."

"I see."

She paused thoughtfully and then suggested something that might help. "I need to find my son's. I haven't been able to speak to them yet. Maybe next time we meet, we can talk more." When he wasn't comparing her to someone she knew nothing about.

“Of course, Miss Maximoff. And sorry to be awkward. Really, I just wanted to help you escape the cat pile.”

He does offer a smile before offering hand out for a parting shake. Because he has to respect a woman who, even though they aren’t her sons from her world, would still care deeply for the twins.

“Until next time, good luck adjusting.”

She took his hand and smiled. "You did help. Thank you."

Wanda nodded her head before heading off to find her son's.

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kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

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