dualislogs | Midnight, not a sound from the pavement

Midnight, not a sound from the pavement

WHO: All residents of Dualis + special guest stars
WHAT: Strap in, kiddos, it’s a ~memshare~
WHERE: In your head. Or, you know. Everywhere you go to escape that.
WHEN: August 15-24
WARNINGS: Don’t forget these if they’re applicable!

It’s been a few months, Dualis, how are you settling in? New arrivals, we know it’s sudden, but we hope you’re making new friends already and settling in well! You’re all gonna fit in juuuust fine around here.

Things have calmed down after the supposed terrorist attacks during the Dualis Days celebration, and there’s still no news about that strange network broadcast. But maybe that’s for the best, right? See, the Head really does have everything under control.

But speaking of heads…

Over the course of these next few days, yours might be feeling a little funny. Maybe you just aren’t quite feeling like yourself. Or there’s an ache that just won’t quite go away. Or maybe you’re perfectly fine! Which is completely optimal, honestly.

Except--that memory you suddenly have. Is that really yours? And what about those fainting spells that seem to come with premonitions...or are you perhaps remembering something you repressed long ago? You’d probably remember something like this, though, wouldn’t you?

It’s perfectly natural to be concerned. However, if you approach your friendly neighborhood MedBot or clinician, they’re going to be pretty stumped. It appears there's nothing really wrong with you, but hey, here's some mild painkillers if you want them. And if you try and consult the Head, all it’ll be able to do is give you it’s most sincere condolences. It seems that there may have been some complications with the transfer process, but these should definitely wear off soon! In the meantime, why not visit your local clinic for a sedative and some painkillers?

Good luck, denizens. Looks like you’re in for a bumpy week or two...

[[As a reminder, these memory shares can happen at any point in time during the span of the event, not just when your characters are sleeping! You're also welcome to have them experience no side effects at all, all the way up to fainting spells and headaches a la Cordelia circa season 2 of Angel. Feel free to reach out to your friendly neighborhood mods if you have any questions!]]

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[Hank is chuckling again, expression unseen, but the hurt on it is obvious at that moment. Even when he had Cole, his wife had long gone. So he's sitting here, holding Connor (who is growing warmer?), a strange android dog, with another old dog back home and he's thinking about how close he came to having a full family.]

[Even if nothing came of him and Connor, which will be most likely the case, it would have still been a good family. Maybe even the perfect family, because he would have had someone with the patience for parenthood and without the burden of in-laws.]

[Hank closes his eyes and swallows, holding back a sting. It has the added misfortune of making his breath catch, which is harder to hide than every internal scar showing in the creases of his mouth and the wrinkles around his eyes, but the action keeps his eyes from actually welling up. Last thing he needs is to ruin a good moment of Connor and his new dog.]

Kids are just little people, anyway. You got some tiny little asshats that key cars and tear apart dolls for the fun of it.

Think you wanna take her outside? See if she wants to try playing? She might just want to patrol.

[With Connor leaning on him like that, he feels Hank's breath catch oddly, and doesn't understand it, but it doesn't seem good. He worms his arm up behind Hank's back to hold onto him in turn, because maybe that'll help. The touch calms Connor, why shouldn't it do the same for Hank?...He's still working on this whole being close thing.]

Sure, in a couple minutes.

[He does want to go out with Maggie, see what she does outside, but the main thing stopping him, and he doesn't mind voicing this to Hank, is:]

I don't wanna move yet.

[Hank finds himself wincing back another wave of heat behind his eyes because he can tell what Connor is trying to do.]

Yeah, I don't think I do, either.

[He offers that, at least. He can't figure out why it feels like too much, even then, but it does. Like he just tore out his own heart and said, 'Hey Connor. Here's a dog. My thoughts on my son. And here? You can have this too.' And just planted the bastard raw and beating in his hand.]

[Emotions are a morbid ordeal.]

[He smiles, totally unseen by anyone but Maggie, at the words. Then he promptly lets out a very human-sounding oof as Maggie clambers right on him in response and flops down on his chest, disrupting his fan system.]

Two minutes, OK?

[Then he'll get off the floor and - reluctantly - disentangle himself from Hank. He likes being with Hank like this. Likes Hank.

...He's never actually seen any two people be like this with each other before, it's slightly unsteady ground for him. But Hank doesn't seem to mind - and if there's one thing he trusts, it's that Hank will tell him as soon as he crosses some kind of invisible human boundary.

But for the next exactly two minutes, he gets to sit there with his eyes half-closed, Hank's breath slow as it shifts both their bodies minutely, heart beat a mostly steady rhythm. It's relaxing, and focusing on that rhythm lets his brain slow its usual restless humming.

And then Maggie puts all her weight directly on his stomach - he grunts in discomfort - and stands up.]

That was exactly two minutes.

[They have a dog who can tell time.]

Edited 2019-09-08 04:48 (UTC)

[Hank knows this goes a little beyond casual friendship. Especially 'male' friendship, where boundaries are important. Maybe at some point he'll tell him that he treats him more affectionately than he would any of his casual male friends. He has held a female friend something like this before; the time Thompson lost her partner and needed someone to hold her for a little while. The time Justine saw some real shit at a crime scene and needed a big bear to grapple onto for a good ten minutes.]

[He wishes, strangely, that in the months after Cole's death, that someone had held onto him like this then. Or held him. Woulda been fuckin' nice.]

[But there's Maggie, at exactly the two minute mark ready to get up. And he releases Connor from his side. At least in the time that passes, any flutters in his appearance are gone.]

Go on, get out of here. Tell me how it goes.

[He's quite slow in releasing Hank before he stands up easily. He's still in his work uniform, but just discards the heavy coat on the bed along with the bags and pulls off his tie.]

You're not coming?

[Maggie stamps the ground with her feet, staring up at Connor as if to hurry him along, and he ruffles her ears affectionately, still watching Hank. He's not quite breaking out the puppy dog eyes, but there's a definite look that says Connor had expected him to come along - wanted him to, even.]

[He didn't even pull out the puppy eyes, but the tone is super effective. Hank holds out his hand again for Connor to help him up.]

Alright. Let's go see what she can do.

[It doesn't take much convincing. Someone wanting him around makes all the difference.]

Don't worry.

[ Connor grasps Hank's wrist and pulls him up easily, then finds himself examining Hank's face when he stands, looking for any sign of…he doesn't know what. ]

We won't leave you behind.

[ He's grinning like it's a joke, but...he's not totally sure it is. ]

Maggie, come on.

[ Maggie's at the door before before Connor's even let go of Hank's arm. ]

[There's definite fondness there by the time he's standing, a little bit of humor at the certainty that he is in no way going to be able to keep up. But he still wants to see it, because he wants to see Connor happy.]

We going to the roof or to the street?

[Considering the performance he saw in Detroit, this is a legitimate question.]

Because if we go up I just wanna stay within earshot.

For now? The street.

[But the roof will come later. Hank can be sure of that one. Maggie doesn't really act like most dogs would at the prospect of a walk; she's walking alongside them perfectly calmly, stands in the elevator next to them without doing any more than looking up at them occasionally like she's making sure they're still paying attention, then joins them quite calmly as they head outside.

But Connor doesn't know much about how real dogs act.]

Did I mention I played fetch with Sumo? Once I figured out what he wanted.

[Did he mention why he had to carry Sumo home, because this is why he had to carry Sumo home.]

He's a lot faster than he looks.

It's a St. Bernard thing. They were rescue dogs. Big and strong.

[And Hank makes 'grr' sound and makes a half-hearted flexing motion.] He had more energy when he was pup. Tires out pretty quickly now.

[Which is probably his fault. Hank's infectious exhaustion.]

She suits you, you know. [He indicates Maggie walking primly by Connor's side, trotting like a show dog by Doberman resemblance.]

[Hank makes an odd sort of motion and growls, sort of, and Connor glances at him sharply out of the corner of his eye on the way to the main doors.]

I'll take him on shorter walks from now on.

[He's learned his lesson about Sumo's stamina. Maybe he can even build it up a little when he gets back.]

Does she?

[He glances down at Maggie, who's already taught him everything he knows about dog posture, given that Sumo just lumbers everywhere. It's endearing, but Maggie's almost overly correct, he can tell that just by... OK, he sees the point.]

Yeah, I guess she does.

[Outside, they follow the path around the side of the building, and Maggie's immediately on what looks like full alert, less following Hank and Connor than following the perimeter of the building. In fact, a moment later he watches her pull ahead of them, focussed totally on what she's doing.]

I wonder if she'll ever understand that's not her job anymore.

Maybe she likes doing it.

[Hank offers as he follows along, watching her patrolling behavior.] I mean, it's not that different from how dogs are bred. The flesh and blood ones were made for something. Sumo likes to give people attention because he's a rescue dog. She's doing what's comfortable.

[She just needs to figure out other things she likes, too.]

[He never thought he'd sit here and have to consider comfort zones in androids. But that's where he is in his life. Branching out of a comfort zone is one thing, a wonderful thing for people that need to do it. But what if what you're comfortable with is actually the right thing, and not the wrong thing? What if it's the wrong thing and it's never occurred to her to be any different.]

Same goes for you. It's only your job if you want it to be your job. [Hank observes, maybe heavily, because he knows that he pushed Connor to get that patrol job. But he'd honestly hoped Connor would want it for the same reason he likes it; the chance to help people who need it.]

[Maggie stops her sniffing to pay attention to one of the city's drone pollinators, and she tips her head to keep her attention on it. At least distracted enough from her 'job' she's willing to give a light chase out of sheer curiosity.]

[He looks round at Hank - he can hear the tone of voice at his last words there.]

I wanted the patrol job - I wanted to help people. If I find something else I like better, I'll quit and do that. It's not a big deal.

[No, it feels like a big deal. But it shouldn't be a big deal, and he doesn't want to make it one. Hank didn't force him to take his job and if he didn't want it, he'd quit. Maybe he will find something he likes more, and if he does, he'll jump on it. Figuratively.]

Maybe she...

[And he stops there, because Maggie's watching a tiny drone fluttering around the grass, and that's what pulls her away from her patrolling. She chases - just a few steps, like she's cautious about it, enough for the drone to flit up out of her way - but it's enough that Connor's beaming suddenly.

He steps forward, clapping his hands to get her attention - and it does immediately; her head snaps round, ears pricked. They stare at each other for a second...

And Connor takes off running, quickly reaching full speed and going full tilt across the grass towards the car park - he can hear Maggie's paws pounding the grass behind him. Right before he reaches the tarmac, he jumps at a street lamp, pivots in midair and pushes off the post to run in a different direction, back across the grass - and laughs, the sound caught in the wind, at the sound of Maggie rebounding off the post as well a second later.

He'd heading back towards Hank, getting closer by the second--

-when Maggie reaches his ankles - he goes to dodge right, but she's faster and moves along with him, hits him right in the calves and sends him down onto the grass.

He could be back on his feet in an instant, but he doesn't, just rolls onto his back - just in time for Maggie to stand right on his chest and start licking his face. He's scrunching his face up as he half-heartedly pushes at her face.]

[Hank might only be a pet-dad now, but his pet-dad powers kick in and by the time Connor's running back with Maggie? Fucker has his phone out and taking a video. So he gets a full view of Connor just running back and getting fuckin' wiped out by the dog, and then frantically licked in the face.]

[He continues to take the video through a few more seconds of Connor's assault, before he gets to his knees next to him and turns it around and plays it.]

[Just to show the android how he looks when he's having fun.]

I even managed to keep you mostly in frame. [Hank sounds proud of himself.]

[Connor doesn't notice Hank filming at all, not until he's sat up and found that if he buries his face in Maggie's neck, she can't lick him and...it dries his face off somewhat. He's still got half his face smushed against Maggie's - neither of them are panting in the slightest - when he leans in to the phone.]

She could have caught me before I even reached the lamppost.

[It's true, she was already right on his heels before he rebounded off the post. He doesn't sound disappointed at having been no match for her, though - if anything, he sounds fond, even a little excited about it.]

I think we found a hobby, huh? Didn't we?

[He dodges Maggie's renewed licking as he talks to her, and it's Hank he's grinning at all the while.]

We looked pretty good.

[Nodding at the phone screen. He was mostly watching Maggie, but it's interesting seeing himself on video - for someone who checks himself in the mirror probably more times than he needs to, he's never seen video of himself.]

Just be careful, alright? Don't get yourself killed. [So says Hank, the guy that's forever concerned about Connor's welfare, even when he didn't like him all that much. It's worse now.]

You fuckin' break her or break yourself, once you're fixed I'm gonna bitch at you for months. You hear me? You're gonna get so sick of me fuckin' raggin' on you. It's gonna be worse than it is now.

[And, as soon as he's done? He settles completely down in the grass.]

You do look good, though. [He lightly observes as he also watches the video.]

Don't worry, I will be.

[ He has to be now - if he dies? He's not coming back. And he assumes Maggie won't either. He doesn't want to endanger her. At the thought of it, he finds himself tugging her closer, like he's apologising for the thought even crossing his mind. She licks his LED, and he huffs out a laugh. ]

You'll have to work pretty hard to make it any worse.

[ He's still grinning all the same. And at Hank's compliment, he shakes his head a little, fondly. He's not denying it or anything. All androids look good. Obviously - made that way. ]

A guy I met mentioned parkour - it sounded like what I did when I was chasing suspects. I was thinking I'd try it out. Me and Maggie both.

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Midnight, not a sound from the pavement

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