dualislogs | i've been bitten by the bug ...

i've been bitten by the bug ...

WHO: Open to all residents
WHAT: Inoculation Season, plus your regular monthly NAPs session
WHERE: Throughout the city, with NAPs held at The Ax Hole.
WHEN: Sept. 10-30 for plague shots and associated side effects; Sept. 10-14 for NAPs
WARNINGS: Please use if applicable!

So tell me, what do you prescribe for these symptoms?

Remember that awful plague that wiped out the city's entire original population? You know, the entire reason you've been brought here? Well, the medical science community of Dualis has been hard at work concocting a cure for as long as anyone can remember, with minimal results. But during the morning of the 10th, news of a breakthrough is announced is a special city-wide bulletin. All media channels are overtaken with this message, and alerts hit every citizen's phone. The best part? Science needs your help!

There's no formal approval process for new vaccines and medications, just a series of volunteer trials before it's determined whether what's being tested is effective. All residents are invited to participate in these trials, with a bonus of 200 extra duos as compensation for their time and possible suffering. Simply head down to your nearest MedDualis clinic and inform the MedDroids supervising that you're reporting for your civic duty. Participants will be given a quick, easy, and practically painless inoculation shot in the arm, and will walk out the door 200 duos richer. Neat, huh?

Participants will be warned that like all experimental drugs, there may be side effects. A non-comprehensive list of those possible side effects includes: minor appearance changes (hair/skin/eye color), enhancing or reducing senses (smell, taste, hearing, sight, etc.), sudden mild development of extranormal abilities (telepathy, super strength, super speed, etc.), the ability to share dreams (if you're not tired of that sorta thing after last month), and/or loss of control over abilities you already possess, or those abilities misfiring. Hey, at least death isn't included on this list!

Any intrepid Dualizen who comes down with a case of weirdness as a result of doing their civic duty will find that weirdness will wear off by the end of the month. The Head thanks you for your sacrifice!

Don't you feel the fever like I do?

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining faces - maybe even a few folks without 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 an exciting new establishment called The Ax Hole! The 'Hole is an indoor ax-throwing range plus bar plus mid-price grill-type restaurant, the first of its kind to find a home here in Dualis. You must be at least 18 to drink and/or throw axes, and if you are throwing axes, there is a limit of one drink per hour. The bartenders are very strict about enforcing this rule, and employees are available to give safety instructions on proper ax-throwing technique and supervise activities.

This is a family-friendly establishment, so anyone under 18 is welcome in the restaurant section and the viewing room between the restaurant and range to watch the ax-throwing action, but they are absolutely not allowed inside the range, even just to watch. In fact, anyone who wishes admittance to the range must sign a waiver stating that they understand the risks of participating and agree to hold the Ax Hole free of liability in the event of any accidents that cause injury or death.

If that hasn't scared you off yet, come on down and meet your new neighbors! Oh, and do try to exit with at least as many fingers and limbs as when you entered, OK?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"Do you mean the human known as Strange? What he does changes nothing. It is still interchangeable. His lack of understanding of his own abilities is simply that." Strange is a sore subject, alright David? Even though that man will never get the jump on him again. He'll see to it.

Now that was something he was comfortable with nodding to. "Yes, 'quantum entanglement' is something she said."

And now it is Steve's turn to look like he's seen a ghost because for him Pietro died almost 8 years ago and he needed a minute. His grip tightened on the mug he was holding when he looked up at Pietro.

"Not everything to know about a person is in a file. You know that, right?"

"Exactly."

Aleifr's actually pleasantly surprised by that. The man at the other end of the range didn't look like he'd been in a fight in his entire life, and he'd have expected the obvious answer to elude him.

"Better to keep your weapon in your hand unless you're absolutely certain the fight's over." He says as he walks back over to the throwing mark. "But it's fun, so some people make a game of it."

"I did not expect so many to be so proficient at it."

Having someone more often than not get in line and actually be good at throwing an ax at a target is a bit odd, but also makes his job just slightly easier.

"Though I suppose if you can throw a knife or a dart you can throw an ax, given the proper adjustments to your technique are made."

He's given this thought.

"What gave you that idea?" Aleifr replies, somehow managing to convey sarcasm without any change in his voice or facial expression.

Steve was right, of course, but Aleifr just sort of projects antisocial even when he doesn't mean to. In response to Steve's other question ...

"Drink. Eat." He glances around, briefly nodding in the direction of the throwing range. "Throw some axes. Better than the usual fare for these things."

Steve had seen a lot of people today and many of those people looked much like Squall did, so Steve Relaxed.

"Do you have any cards. Teach me?"

Steve laughed quietly. "I'm good at reading people," Steve explained quickly. "Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I'll try not to do it anymore." It would be difficult, but Steve would do it if it meant fitting in.

"Throw axes? I can do that too," Steve said. "Funny, huh?"

He smiles proudly, content for Hank to believe he'd created this very same beer from the very ether rather than magicking it from the cooler. Yes, he'd technically stolen it, but there was no way for it to be linked to either himself or to Hank. No harm, no foul.

He laughs, shaking his head. "There's no need to apologize, Hank. It is your beer, after all." And he finishes his own before also replacing his own in the same manner.

"You draw?" Well David is genuinely surprised by that, but it is a pleasant one. He'll admit that he isn't as up on Avengers as he is on other people.

"The figure skating was nice. And being from Chicago and with grandparents out in the 'burbs it was easy to find plenty of rinks and even places out in general to enjoy it. But drawing would be nice. Having something you could do all year."

"Yes, Stephen. And he understands his own abilities."

He wants to ask if Loki feels threatened. He isn't going to prod at the man that much. It would be rude. Besides, there are more important things to think about here.

"So quantum entanglement really is achievable. Damn, I'm more interested in that than the Imagination Drive. I wish I was home to work on it."

"I do," Steve said, looking around for a napkin. He found one and grabbed it, scratching on for a few minutes. He listened while he drew. Steve looked up, sliding the napkin towards David.

It would show a caricature of David, figure-skating, rudimentary but legible.

"Can't you skate inside?"

Wow. There's a serious possibility that David's never had anyone draw him before. And it makes him smile, soft and fond as he pulls it closer.

"Can I keep this? I'd really like to. And yeah, you can, but I only did rinks when I was training or competing. I like outdoor skating more for fun."

"I'm great at a gun range. And I'm good at darts. I've just never had the lumberjack experience or the Daniel Day Lewis training to pull off ax-chucking.

"Maybe I can figure it out. I was telling Connor that this is gonna be somehow relevant to the future story and I'm gonna have to rescue someone with this shit. That's how weird-ass narratives work, right?"

Everyone, at some point, has a thought they are in a story. Hank's gotta appreciate a good ridiculous Chekhov's gun. Except it sucks when you fumble with that gun.

That was a question she hadn't really thought of for herself in what felt like a very long time. "Whatever kind we can find. They all have beauty to them, especially in the mess we have now." Any flower was a good flower when you'd accidentally flooded all of the United Kingdom.

"What's your favorite thing to draw?" She countered his favorite question with one of her own.

"Do you always notice when your voice raises? Or do you sometimes realize too late that you're shouting?" To her this explanation explained everything. Sometimes people's thoughts accidentally shouted. The hint of a grin touched the corner of her lips. "If you say so then I guess you don't feel guilty."

Ignorance is bliss. But he shakes his head after a real, actual drink. "Nah, didn't want to insult you by the doubtful prodding. Some people get pissed at that shit."

Sometimes people have to check if their supposedly-conjured-out-of-nothing-but-is-actually-stolen beer is well and truly beer. And hey, one good turn serves another. He's not going to turn it down.

"I've been tryin' to figure out how they've been fuckin' with everybody's abilities. I mean, the humans with training are fine. People with anything remotely exceptional?" God included, he guesses? "Take a hit when they come here."

He knows he's probably not the first one to try and figure it out. But he absolutely is going to try.

Tim hasn't seen any Avengers movies--not that his genre is above being that kind of meta, but alas, the companies would never allow it--but he is absolutely picking up what Hank is putting down, and nods. It's not a comforting thought, but it's also not one that he hasn't considered himself. "I mean, I feel like myself, but I guess I would if I were a clone implanted with Tim Drake's memories, too."

"You know my fuckin' partner had a clone kidnap me and hold a gun to my head once? Sucked ass. I was lucky that we managed to do something about him. I ended up with the gun at one point and they both had similar wounds already. So I had to ask 'em questions. The clone had downloaded memories, turned out it knew everything too."

It. Not he. He will not call that fuckin' thing a 'he', it held a gun to his head!

"I had to gauge from how emotional Connor was when he responded to something." His son's name. Connor had cared enough to look into what had happened to Hank's son, to figure out why he hated androids so badly. And that's what told him.

"It was a pain in the ass either way."

"I'll try too. So don't worry." She tried to give her best comforting smile to accompany the words. Someone didn't need to be a telepath to tell that the idea made this woman uncomfortable.

She shook her head at the question. "No. They're not." Sadness touched her voice with that response. This was not a subject she wanted to linger on for very long. They might not always get along but ultimately they were family. "Are your friends?"

He shot her a half-hearted glare as he tried to shake off the soda from his fingerless gloves. It was his first time wearing them too. He's mostly just grouchy for various reasons, don't mind him.

"Why bother in such a small building?"

"Connor is a wonderful person. Better than the rest of us." So much better actually. No matter what happened or what they did Connor had still tried to have faith that they could be better. He even had faith that maybe they could make up for all the mistakes they made.

"I never saw much of the world either. We weren't really allowed to leave." First her parents had been against them leaving the small town they were born in. Then her parents had sold her to the government and they'd definitely not wanted to let her leave. "Were you allowed to leave or did they make you stay?" She blinked and looked at the light with interest.

"I've never met an android." in her world they weren't even a thing.

Sokovia?

[ He laughs softly and shakes his head. Those poor bastards. It's an expression of solidarity. Nowhere in the Balkans made it through the Soviet era without scars. ]

I'm familiar with the area.

[ He manages in heavily-accented Sokovian. It's with an unmistakeable Polish accent, oddly enough. Even polyglots can have things they stumble over. ]

That is something of a coincidence. I'm sure your brother is more tolerable than the one I know.

"It's fun." A simple answer that comes with a grin. It wasn't exactly the truth though but he seemed so grumpy that a bit of teasing felt needed. "I only realized I could do it a bit ago. Now I have to figure out the limits here." There we go, a much more honest answer.

She's the one asking random strangers!

"You knew how weird it'd sound. Are you done?"

Maybe he should move...

"Doesn't bother me any." Aleifr replies with a brief shake of his head. His moods are relatively opaque, but he doesn't have anything to hide.

He gives Steve a brief once over. "Doesn't surprise me too much, actually. You look like you know how to fight."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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i've been bitten by the bug ...

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