i've been bitten by the bug ...

[headandhand]

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?

Comments

[cadiastands]

Having been one, along with everyone she knows, Mira thinks child soldiers are perfectly normal, and she's not so much surprised by that flicker of understanding as sympathetic. She ignores his question in favor of one of her own.

"Not a soldier but not a stranger to war?"

So much for lightening the mood.

[silentnarration]

"I don't know what those mean." An army? A type of alien?

"Sorceresses are the only ones with powers like yours where I'm from. They use real magic."

[hellofishies]

"Magic would be fun I think." Though she gets the impression he doesn't seem to think so. "I don't think we do magic." But she really doesn't know what they do or how they do it. Nobody has really figured out how it came to be that they were born with the powers they had.

"A FreakAngel is what we called ourselves. Arkady is me." She points to herself. "My name. I don't know where our powers came from. We were just born that way. Twelve of us on the exact same day with the same color hair, the same color eyes, and the same pale skin. All with freaky powers."

[magneticfields]

[ There are worse ways to handle the loss of one's children. Sorry, Cairo ]

How do you know that for sure?

[ It's a genuine question. For all that Logan's plans benefited him personally, he still doesn't know if they accomplished anything. Well, anything more than their usual mayhem and nonsense. ]

How do you know you didn't simply eliminate the other timeline. Or if this was the only timeline. There's no way to travel between them, how do you know the other still exists?

[silentnarration]

Faeries? I guess they're similar. No one's ever seen a faerie though. [Though Squall's been mistaken for one due to strange circumstance.]

We have to defeat GFs in battle to get their approval. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding them and asking.

[morethanatrickster]

He smiled mischievously as they continued toward the door. Loki had nearly a thousand years of practice at his disposal and quite a few tricks up his sleeves. "It would if they could see it," and Thane would notice, if he glanced back, that for all intents and purposes, Loki's physical body was gone. "But I've also spent several decades perfecting paying attention to several perspectives at once. I have honed the use of this skill in battle, after all." And that smirk turned wicked. "It's difficult to fight a foe on equal footing when you have to find the real one."

[minus1twin]

[Wanda is silent a moment, gathering her thoughts.]

I met my children. They were twins like me and my brother. Except that I never had children and the man- [She clears her throat.] Their father is dead in my world but it is the same man I had dated in the past.

[She takes a sip of her drink.]

They existed but not in my time. They can't. But they were still here and in the village I was at before. I had returned home between then and now. Five years past.

[magneticfields]

[ Normally, Erik might be amused by the younger man's jadedness. But coming from him, it hits deeper nerves than it would from most. ]

We failed you. I'm sorry.

[ They never were supposed to endure the same kinds of hardships that he and the others did. ]

[magneticfields]

[ Erik files away the names of what Thane tells him. If he tried to spell it, he'd probably get it wrong. But at least he knows the sounds of the words, now. ]

Who are the hanar, then? Are there any here? It sounds as if you have some sort of symbiotic relationship with them.

[ Again he laughs softly. ]

You must be popular at parties.

[magneticfields]

I'm going to assume you mean nobody from your world has ever seen one.

[ He gestures vaguely. ]

I'm sure somebody here has an auntie in the Seelie Court.

[ His eyebrows raise slightly at the explanation. It seems... barbaric, somehow. But also straightforward. Intriguing. But leaves him with more questions than answers. ]

Besting them in verbal combat is just as good as physical combat? Is there any way to know which one they prefer before you engage? What happens if you fail to impress them?

[magneticfields]

[ Erik shakes his head at this description. ]

Well. As if one didn't have enough reason to have an existential crisis at being confronted with evidence of the multiverse, eh?

[ Of course, her explanation of events is somewhat convoluted, due to the complicated nature of the events themselves, and he tries to retrace it to make sure he's understanding her correctly. ]

So in another reality, you had children with this man you once dated. In your reality, he has since deceased but I'm assuming he lived long enough to conceive in this other one. These children are both here in this city and in... another village that you were all at but is also not your native reality? And in between living at the village and arriving here, you spent five years in your home reality? Is that correct?

[helpdesk_hero]

What?

[Wait, no, that's not right. David shakes his head quickly. It wasn't Erik that failed him. And, in some ways, it wasn't even Charles, though he should have been there to help.]

No. It wasn't that. Humanity failed us. The lies we were always told growing up about equality failed us. Fear failed us.

[magneticfields]

[ It was the point of everything they did. Erik, Charles, Raven, Hank, all of them. Every argument they had, every breakup and reunion and debate and brawl. It wasn't for them. It was for the next generation, and the one after that. It was already too late for them by the time they started. The pain was never going to go away, real acceptance was never going to be theirs. The future was what mattered. It was still possible for them.

Except they had failed. In ways both petty and profound. ]

You'll never be their equals. You are their superiors.

[ So jot that down. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

You should know that I've never really bought into that line of reasoning. I believe it even less since M-Day. Though there are many who would agree.

[Of course, he didn't agree with their species name either.]

[minus1twin]

That is correct.

It was jarring. [She admits but then a smile takes over her features.] But I am happy I got to meet them. I don't think I'll ever get to have children and while they aren't exactly mine, I do love them.

They aren't in the city anymore.

[ichoosefight]

She snorts a laugh.

"Ooh, store-bought cookies. Enticing. I'm not sure 'prankability' is the best personality measure, though. What else you got?" She points at his notecards, ignoring for the moment her own stack. She's done this enough times to know she can think of more interesting questions than they have to offer.

[magneticfields]

Well. I suppose they're better at some things. Genocide, for example. Have more practice with it on their own kind, after all.

[ Erik's jaw sets. There are some things you don't ever really get over. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

They do. Genocide. Slavery. Oppression. It's sickening.

[And there's the bell. David sighs.]

That means we've got to move on. Maybe we can talk again another time, when you're more adjusted? I'd like to learn a bit more about your world.

[morethanatrickster]

"I can assure you, they would be the best store-bought cookies money can buy." Because Loki was, among many other things, a prince, and he had standards, alright?

He taps his chin thoughtfully for a moment, smirking after a moment. "No, no." He raised a finger, meeting her eyes. "I've asked mine. If this is to be a game, I believe it's your turn."

[silentnarration]

He looks away again when Thane turns back.

"You wouldn't have noticed if I'm not confused right now," Half- muttered and half spoken at a normal tone. He hates this head injury so much right now.

[ichoosefight]

"Oreos," she says in perfect understanding. That's a joke, of course. She hums thoughtfully and leafs through her cards, not reading any of them.

"Here's one: What's the worst date you've ever been on?"

[wickedprayers]

Naturally Thane glances back to confirm the lack of physical form. "Hm. A useful skill," he appraises with a nod of his head, taking note of the obvious pleasure Loki seems to derive from the thought of his strategic deceit. With no judgement, of course. This kind of thing was an art form.

"For decades," he mulls over thoughtfully. "Then you are an artist of camouflage, it would seem." He is clearly proud of his skills, and with that kind of pride tends to come a particular way of execution — smooth like a thick layer of paint over a canvas. Granted pride could also cause one to barrel ahead ungracefully like a drunken Krogan, but Loki didn't seem the type from what he's observed thus far.

[wickedprayers]

"Wouldn't I have?" he asks, though with the incline of his head and the lighter tone it's obvious he doesn't want — or need an answer to that question. Yes, he would have, he's certain.

"May I ask what it is you're so confused about?"

[salvagedlight]

Well that question just got tossed completely out the window. On one level, he's not exactly surprised; he's terrible at hiding his emotions and he knows it, so Mira being able to tell that he's got experience with that sort of thing isn't exactly a surprise. On the other hand, most people like to steer away from that topic of conversation. But, on reflection, it's probably not a surprise she doesn't since she's military. In his (admittedly limited) experience, military people tend to be very straightforward, since there's usually not time to spare to dance around an issue.

"I guess you could say that." Ven hasn't exactly lost his appetite, but he puts his sandwich down and picks up his glass, turning it around in his hands rather than drinking from it. "It's... kind of hard to explain."

[morethanatrickster]

And over the hundreds of years, Loki had perfected his abilities to just such an art form. The humans had long ago dubbed him the God of Mischief for his skills at deceit and his inclination to trickery, and he'd decided to make it a badge of honor rather than an insult.

"It would be more accurate to say 'centuries' really, but that's neither here nor there. I am God of Mischief. I should hope I'm good at it." He looks over to the other man, eyebrow arched questioningly. "And what of you, Tannor? What is your specialty?"