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

"I don't care about the axe!" he mutters, annoyed. He has to drag his eyes back to look at Thane. "I'm a mercenary. Fighting's what I do."

Ugh, why does everything he say sound like a petulant child right now? Even he's getting annoyed at himself.

He gets that, kinda. Can't give people time to process and panic or worry. Squall looks down and pats at his chest to make sure he's whole and present.

"I don't mind helping. You need someone to test it with, right?" Yep. Helping is definitely the reason why. It's not just because it's cool and he wants to go again.

[Pet's are a good distraction though if Wanda got a pet it'd be a replacement for her son's which is probably an unhealthy way to handle the loss.]

I think they do. It's happened in my world too though I wasn't part of the group that did it.

[She'd read the report and heard the details from Clint... the other Clint. Not the one that was here with her.]

Besides that, this is the second time I've been at a place like this. The last place was nearly the opposite. A lot of grass and trees.

"Yes. I need to figure out the distance and how far I can be." She looks thoughtful for a few seconds and then tilts her head. "There are other things I should test."

"There's a story there, but not precisely what I meant." He shook his head. "Has no one ever...served you cookies made with salt rather than sugar or lined your boots with itching powder? Truly nothing?"

She shakes her head in return. She can't think of a single prank that's been pulled on her, April Fool's Days included.

"You know, I don't think anyone's ever served me cookies at all that didn't come from a store. You do that kind of thing often?"

"Field rations? Are you in a military?" He's never had them before, because training in a fully furnished and functioning castle wasn't like being on the march with an army, but he's read enough books to have heard the term. And it's something he's always been a little curious about, since his life is very similar but also very different in many ways.

And right about then he starts a little as he realizes he - well, they - forgot something.

"Oh! Sorry, what's your name? I'm Ventus, but everyone calls me Ven." He gives her one of his usual bright, cheerful smiles, then nods at her food. "And I think your... hamburger is starting to fall apart."

Ven's question catches her in the middle of a mouthful, so she's distracted by chewing and investigating his allegations concerning the structural integrity of her meal, but after a few seconds she manages to reassemble the burger and swallow.

"Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero, 203rd Cadian regiment." Mira dabs her fingers on a napkin as she answers, a very un-Guardsmanlike fastidiousness, but she is an officer. "And yes, that would be a military unit."

"What?" Just don't teleport him into a wall and he'll be okay with this.

Your sister.

[And his nephew. Which is another matter that doesn't, well, matter. Not actually his nephew.]

There was this thing, a bit back, where for some reason we were remembering things from other people's lives. I remembered something about you, and we talked about it a bit.

"I can see long distances. Sometimes other things too. How people die. Other things." But talking about that usually just upsets people for some reason. "I can also see inside," she taps her head. "But nobody would want to help test that."

He tenses at the last bit. Yeah, that doesn't sound like a great thing to help with. Though with the number of things she just listed...

"Are you a sorceress?"

Humans are always looking for the next source of "free" labor, even when adequately paying workers would be less expensive.

[ Because there's no way that an android of such sophistication is cheaper than just paying a detective. ]

But it's not really about the bottom line, is it? Perfect obedience is priceless, after all.

[ He rolls his eyes. Fascists never change. ]

I can't imagine things got easier for you after you proved yourself less than perfectly obedient.

[ Erik laughs softly. ]

Maybe thirty years ago, among very particular people. But no, not "common" necessarily. Although many people throughout the world in various different cultures and eras used hallucinogens for a variety of purposes. Most commonly for spiritual journeys.

[ He hasn't ever bene much for it, but not for any sort of puritanical rejection of altered states of consciousness. It's the vulnerable state such things leave one in that he can't stand. ]

But that's among humans and mutants on Earth. What of your people?

[ He doesn't even know what they're called, and that seems as polite a way to ask as he can come up with. ]

[ They never used the "Evil Mutants" part of the title. A little too on-the-nose. ]

Live with my family. Raise my children.

[ It's literally all he's ever wanted. Depressingly modest goals for how unattainable they are. ]

What lofty dreams do you have?

I gave up on dreams a while ago. Suppose I'll have to come up with some new ones. I wanted to be a professional men's figure skater once. Then I wanted to go to Harvard. They weren't very keen on having a mutant applicant. They wanted me to leave Xavier's school if I wanted to apply, perhaps because I could pass. Or maybe they just didn't know what to do with a guy of my abilities. Which was stupid.

Now... I just want to see my friends be happy.

[And alive.]

[ Erik's brow furrows slightly as the young man describes how magic works and it sounds... complicated. A little difficult for Erik to grasp without seeing it in action. Everything he's seen and done seems much more concrete, much more real, in comparison.

It's all what you're used to, really. ]

So are these guardian forces like... they sound almost like the fae. Creatures from folklore. [ Ugh. He does his best to keep distaste out of his voice because it's not a comment on quality so much as personal interest. ] How do you gain their favor? Or is that more of what you don't know about the process.

"No, I'm a..." what was she exactly? "A FreakAngel." Good enough. "And an Arkady." Even better. Really, she has no idea where her powers come from. Nobody does. "That's a very specific thing to ask someone."

"Does that not leave your physical body vulnerable?"

That's a curious question than anything. He's intrigued as to how it works — if he's seeing and hearing out of this non-physical form then is he more likely to be taken off guard should someone attack his actual form? Can he remain aware of the surroundings in both of his forms at the same time, etc.

[It sounds like a day on Omega.]

The drell don't typically leave Kahje. [To satisfy that 'what are you' curiosity.] Those of us that left may indulge in such things but I would guess it is unlikely. [A clear indication he has met very few of his own people outside of his home planet. Or, "home planet".]

And Kahje is...an honor among the drell. We live among the hanar and owe them a great debt. It would be unwise to indulge in mind altering substances while we work to do the things they cannot.

[In other words it's not very common.]

However, our skin is mildly toxic to humans. Prolonged contact sometimes causes minor rashes and hallucinations. I suppose there's a bit of irony in there somewhere.

Ah, a young mercenary. That explains some things.

"I see." He turns from the wall to face Squall, still not looking annoyed or affected at all. "You could stand to think a few steps ahead before acting."

He laughs with simple amusement, shaking his head gently. "Heavens, no. That suggests I have a propensity for baking, which I sorely lack. If you're interesting, I may be able to locate a few."

It's undoubtedly apparent in his slightly wide-eyed blinking after she reels off that title that Ven has no idea what any of that means. He knows "military" from reading books, he's heard of a lieutenant, maybe even a second lieutenant at some point, but he's not at all sure how it fits together with anything else he knows. Is that above or below a captain? Even his own way of life hadn't really prepared him for something like that, though there are other similarities.

"I've never had a lot to do with the military, any military." Well, there was that one time, with 626... but he's not about to mention that now. "Is it a really hard thing to do? I've heard it is."

Mira knows as little about civilian life as Ven does about military, and the question catches her off-guard. Is it hard? Compared to what? Cadia is a fortress by necessity--it can't possibly be as hard as going unprepared would be when the forces of Chaos inevitably overran the world.

"Sometimes," she decides after a moment. "You have to follow orders, even bad ones, and things can go from fine to disastrous almost instantly. War is like that."

She got a very vivid demonstration of it right before arriving in Dualis, but enough time has passed that it no longer trips her up to discuss it, even if her eyes go a little distant as she remembers.

Mira might not be prepared for the way the look in Ven's eyes mirrors her own after her last sentence. He's certainly seen that in person, even if he's not in the habit of running around shouting about everything he's been through. (He knows most people won't believe him if he tries. He doesn't believe him half the time, and he lived it.)

"Yeah... it is." But this is supposed to be a fun time, a chance to meet new people, and so Ven shakes it off as best he can and gives her another smile. "What about in your off time, though? What do you like to do for fun?"

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i've been bitten by the bug ...

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