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

[morethanatrickster]

"You mean aside from this one?" He cracks a broad smile. "Princes of the Realm don't really 'date' per se. It's more a mortal pastime." He rolls a shoulder, dismissive. He doesn't feel he's missed out on anything there.

"You?"

[magneticfields]

I had a child, once. She was murdered about ten years ago. It was better to want them and not have them, then to have her and lose her like that.

[ The pain isn't any less than it was. It's different. Not the searing agony of the fresh wound but a dull, persistent throb that haunts his every move. Still. Something of a heavy conversation piece. He shakes himself out of it. ]

So we can assume they returned safely to their homes, I take it?

[magneticfields]

[ Erik nods and holds out his hand to shake. ]

Solidarity, brother. Let me know if you ever need back up.

[helpdesk_hero]

Thank you.

[He accepts the hand and shakes it, smiling softly.]

I'll see you around. I hope.

[ichoosefight]

She scoffs in mock offense.

"Wow. Wow." Shaking her head with amused disbelief, she raises her hands in surrender.

"Okay, let's see. Oh! This was like, 6 years ago, give or take some time in an alternate universe. My boyfriend and I are at the mall to see a movie. And this is my boyfriend, we've been together a while already.

"An earthquake hits. I don't know if your world has a Gotham, or a New Jersey, but we don't get earthquakes. The mall is half-destroyed. Luckily neither of us is hurt, but we're surrounded by rubble and people who are hurt. I stop to help a woman up off the ground, and my boyfriend bolts."

She sits back, shaking her head this time at the memory of Dean.

"I didn't see him again for a full year. We never even got to see the movie."

[silentnarration]

He likes to think he's not easy to predict.

"I was hit in the head by a really heavy sword..."

[silentnarration]

He's watching her with some interest, more curiosity than anything.

"Sorceresses can go mad without a knight. A few already tried to take over the world." He rubs at his arm. "The world doesn't like you, does it?"

It's a guess but considering how sorceresses are treated in his world, he can't imagine he's wrong.

"How did the twelve of you find each other?"

[minus1twin]

I'm sorry.

[Wanda thinks back to everyone she's lost: her son's, her brother, Vision.

She shakes her head.]

I have lost everyone I've cared about. Sometimes, more than once, but I would never stop caring. Even if it meant that I wouldn't feel that pain anymore. [She offers him a sad smile.] I'm sorry but I can't agree with that.

I want a life with lots of love. Even if it always end in loss.

[Wanda nods her head to answer him.]

Yes. I think so.

[hellofishies]

"Everyone has the potential to go mad with the wrong push." There's an ominous edge to the statement. "How do they lose their knights?"

She smiles a little sadly and nods. "People who knew about us didn't like us much. Our parents gave us to the government. I think they thought we'd be useful. Or dangerous. We were." Luckily they eventually got smarter and kept more to themselves.

"We were born in the same place. So we've always just been together." And nobody ever knew why or how those births happened.

[morethanatrickster]

"I meant no offense, of course." At least not much of it. "Asgardians are effectively immortal. There isn't as great a call to produce an heir." But he allows her to proceed with her story, eyebrows raising. He didn't really need an understanding of 'New Jersey' to follow it.

"Quite a man you nearly had there. No sense of heroism. That's a shame."

[magneticfields]

[ He nods. Nina wasn't the only loss he suffered. It was just the most recent. The cruelest. The one that was due to his own personal failure. An attempt to heal the wound upon the world, at least in some small way, that he had managed to survive when the rest of his family had not. Her life snuffed out before she even fully understood how special she was. It still strikes him as an unspeakably cruel and selfish thing to do, to have a child when he knew what kind of man he was and what kind of life he had lead and how she would be forced to bear the consequences sooner or later.

He will need to find another way. ]

Loss is inevitable. Isolation is a choice. Sometimes choices we have made preclude others.

[ There are things he would have done differently. But it doesn't matter, now. He nods at the confirmation at at least the young men she spoke of might still be alive somewhere. ]

Small blessings.

[wickedprayers]

Thane considers his answer carefully. While he now knows his paranoiac level of caution isn't as necessary here there's still a level of privacy he wants to keep. There are some things...or at least the one thing that he probably shouldn't be so forthright with. However, it's important for others to know his skills should be start to form working relationships here.

"At a young age, I was trained in the martial arts. It's a sort of...rite of passage, for my people." Truth stretching here. Or bending, rather. It was indeed a great honor and a common thing for young drell to be given to the hanar and trained the way he was. "I am also a biotic. In short, I can manipulate the mass of an object, which provides a great many opportunities in combat. These two skills together make me exceedingly proficient in battle."

[wickedprayers]

He can't say that was an answer he had been expecting. He supposes that explains a lot.

"I see. If this damage to your head is causing you confusion, I would think it to be a serious problem. Have you been to medical?"

[ichoosefight]

"A real keeper," she agrees with a chuckle. "I made sure our reunion was suitably painful, rest assured." She spares a fleeting glance for the axe targets nearby. She'll find her way over there eventually. Violence is a good way to let off steam if you ask her.

"Now I think it's your turn, since that was technically my question."

[morethanatrickster]

"Yes, I suppose it is." He took a deep breath, thoughtful, attempting to muster up some sort of actual interest in the conversation. He'd always found it difficult to connect with mortals but that was his option here and he was having to make due. They were slowly proving to be more entertainment than he'd given them credit for in the past.

"Alright, then. You seem to have a tendency toward heroic action. Why? What's your motivation?"

[ichoosefight]

She raises her eyebrows at him. It's obvious he's bored, but she would have thought the earthquake would spice it up. It's not a great sign that he's focused on the heroics.

"I dunno, empathy I guess? I know I'd want someone to help me in that situation."

[morethanatrickster]

Well, it was a better response than one he'd likely receive from his strapping blond brother. 'It's what heroes do.'

"Desire for rescue rarely translates to heroics."

[silentnarration]

His eyes narrow slightly. Everyone, huh. He can't say she's wrong.

He shakes his head. "I've met sorceresses but no one knows much about them. One... forced someone to be her knight and he nearly died for it. I don't think the other ever had a knight. And one..." He pauses, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm her knight."

He shakes off the fleeting emotions.

"Were you still with the government before you came here?" Doesn't sound like a fun life honestly. People in power seem to go mad with some kind of perceived power and stop seeing other people as human.

[silentnarration]

He makes a face. "No. And I'm not going to." Don't lecture him, his eyes seem to say.

"I might not come back the same."

[ichoosefight]

"I wouldn't call helping someone to their feet 'heroics'. Do I need a reason to want to help people when I can?" She hums thoughtfully. He's not wrong about her.

"A negative example then. I've seen more than enough selfishness in my life, and I never want to be that person. Is that a good enough answer?"