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?

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"It would be useful to discuss this further away from prying eyes." He smiles. Somewhere near the shifts, but not in them. No one could guarantee they would remain together. "Do you fancy a stroll through the park?"

"I do like to see fairness in the world." He snorts, raising his beer.

The idea of resurrection grates on him; mostly because of who hasn't been blessed with it. Cole's memory still lingers, his loss an aching one. No one's ever resurrected him. Maybe it's unfair of him, but Hank still thinks it's unfair of the whole damn world that he's gone.

"Anyway, my guess so far is that wherever research is done is gonna be twice anyone's teleportation range. That way there's a clear zone that the Head can monitor. No evidence, really, just a 'That's what I'd do.'"

She nods excitedly. "Yes. First I thought I had to hold on to someone to take them with me. But I found out I didn't." And it was a very neat thing to find out. Useful.

She blinks. That's weird. And sounds a tiny bit crazy, and trust her she knows crazy. "What do the creatures look like?"

"That's true. It moves." Changes. She liked the sound of that. "It should be exciting. I don't usually have trouble knowing things when I'm close."

"Most of my friends would say I'm not so great at the friend thing either," she gave a shrug. At the very least they'd made it clear to her that she wasn't a great friend prior to her accident. They probably weren't that wrong. She'd done a lot of things that made it hard for them and then they'd been left with the after effects. After effects that were hard to understand and harder still to deal with.

"And most of my friends are even worse than I am. Definitely worse than you could be." But she loved them all the same. "Hey! I'm as nice as I act until I have to be something else."

"Wow, you're really selling it." Jane glanced at Arkady drily for a few seconds then shoved her hands into her pockets and sighed. It wasn't just inconveniencing someone, it was constantly being the inconvenience, and Jane didn't believe Arkady understood.

"You don't know me," she said firmly. "And I don't know you either, so I don't know if that's true. But you seem nice, so I hope things are fine for you. I hope you make friends."

"I'll look forward to it." He smiles, standing. "I'll see what more I can assemble on soul forges."

"As would I. Interruptions are always a nuisance." He was aware how shady that seemed, but he was the god of tricks and lies. Hank shouldn't expect anything less.

He took a breath to continue his train of thought when a bell sounded and he looked upward toward its source.

"That is to signal we're out of time, is it not? Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere, at a later date?"

"I look forward to it as well. And I'll be excited to see it. Have a good day, Loki."

He smiles and offers a brief nod as his goodbye as he leaves.

So am I to understand my counterpart is eighty-four years old? No wonder I look different.

[ Not that he's aged much in the last twenty-two years, but he's gliding past that because he still doesn't have an explanation for it. Maybe it all catches up with him in the next few decades. ]

When I was there we were a little older than teens. [ Erik was in his thirties. ] Didn't make much of a difference, I'm afraid. Biological imperatives and the freedom to express yourself for the first time in your life, I suppose. [ He's quiet for a moment. ] For the first half of my life I thought I was the only mutant in the world.

[ A lonely experience he never quite got over. ]

In his defense, he doesn't look a day over fifty-five. He's aged gracefully.

[Still, he's considering Erik for a long moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase the thing he says next.]

In my world, you were one of the first ones. So, it makes sense to think that. I'm sorry you had to experience that. I was one of many.

[ Erik can appreciate that. For how much murder he's committed, for how much blood is on his hands, what truly brought him peace was anything but. Family. The school. Genosha. All earned with a different sort of blood and sweat.

He takes a long breath in and considers his words before speaking. ]

About twenty years ago, the president of the United States developed a fleet of robots. They were called Sentinels. They were twenty feet tall, equipped with large-caliber automatic weapons and jet engines. Constructed with special plastic, ceramic, and silicon polymers that were entirely non-magnetic. Designed with state-of-the-art surveillance and detection technology and tasked with one thing: eradicating the mutant race. It was the one and only time I've encountered artificial intelligence. As far as I know, that is the only reason anybody built them.

"No, I don't know you and you don't know me. But you remind me of people." A lot of people actually. Which was a bit strange all on it's own. Or perhaps just a bit interesting for one person to remind her of quite a lot of other people.

"Maybe we'll get to know each other though." She starts to get up as she realizes they've probably met their time quota. "I hope we'll talk again sometime. But, if you really don't want to, at least take care!"

"And you relish the opportunity to be lost?" He could think of another who saw far more than most who could cherish the same. Loki was fine with uncertainty himself...as long as he controlled it.

"Or the opportunity to figure new things out." Things that were better than what she usually saw back home. Though that was getting better. Or going to soon. "But getting lost might be exciting too. You never know what you'll find."

"So you can take me with you right now?"

Please help him not say anything rebellion-like in this trying time. Her question just makes him frown in annoyance. What does it matter what they look like?

"They all look different. They have different powers and abilities."

"Not many have." It was a very small country.

Wanda smiled and shook her head. "I understand. The only reason I brought it up is because there are others who know me here and I'd rather you hear it from me." She remembered what it felt like to have the scepter, the Mind Stone, seep into her thoughts. It felt like she was always on the brink of madness, held together by her desire to be strong and fight.

"I hope we can be friends."

[Wanda can't stop the smile from lifting the corner of her lips. That really does sound like her brother. Maybe they are the same.... in a sense. It was hard to tell but she wasn't going to throw her assumptions at Erik. That hardly seemed fair to someone she'd just met.]

Yes.

[She glances down at her empty glass.]

Whiskey neat.

[Drinking alcohol straight is a by product from coming here from a cold climate. It's the best way to stay warm.]

"I could back home. I didn't even have to be there anymore!" And she sounds very proud of that. "I'm not so sure about here. I haven't tried taking anyone with me." It's something she wants to try now. If she can maybe that would be helpful to other people here.

"Can you describe any? Have they always lived in your head?"

[ Erik orders another round for Wanda and sips his own. It seems as though she's uninterested in continuing the conversation about the unusual coincidence of surnames. One he doesn't even have, he just knows a guy who does. A guy who isn't here.

He can't shake the feeling that she wants something from him, but it's beyond him what it could be. ]

Music's not bad.

[ He comments idly. ]

I suppose some things are consistent, then.

[ He's lost in thought for a moment. His counterpart, is he Jewish as well? Has he endured the horrors that Erik has? Or was he spared those torments? He could ask David, he knows. But it feels invasive, somehow. Gossiping about a man he'll never meet, prying into his most painful secrets for what? ]

There's only a few of us, here. Probably a good idea to stick together as much as possible.

[ Erik quirks an eyebrow. ]

I suppose I can wait until the next person joins my table. Until then... [ He refers to his card. ] If you had one extra hour in a day, what would you do with it?

[ Erik laughs. ]

Should I tell them I've already lived through the '60s once? Might be a variable that disqualifies me entirely.

[ Not that Erik was ever experienced in that way. He never found much appeal in losing his faculties, and intentionally inducing hallucinations was not something he was interested in doing. Still. Maybe the overlords don't know that. ]

[Oh yes, he is. The number definitely tells that story. But there's definitely this tension in David that almost seems to evaporate. 'Us'. 'Stick together.' He's considered part of this. He belongs to this group of people. Which was what he wanted after he lost it.]

Thank you. For saying us. And I can't help but agree. Other people here don't... the can't really get the way that feels growing up. The way people look at you. The way people attack us even when we don't do anything to them.

He smiled at that. "True enough." Loki himself enjoyed the exploration of the unknown. "On both counts. What sorts of things have you found?"

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i've been bitten by the bug ...

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