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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Arrival (for Hank/cops) (CW: mental health breakdown, Doom Patrol spoilers)

If there was one thing Jane needed today, it was to not be transported to an inescapable neon city run by an overseeing AI. But apparently what Jane needed wasn't important, because she hadn't needed to be stabbed in the back by the person she'd trusted most, to get dragged back into helping them, or teleport into a painting and be eaten by a kaiju cockroach either. So here she was, standing in the middle of a brightly lit street and covered in cockroach goo, in order to serve as someone's fucking science experiment. Again.

Even being back with the Chief was better than this. Flit agreed but when she took over to teleport back to the Manor, nothing happened. Her second try only moved her further into the city. They couldn't get out?

That was when the frenzy started.

With a growing wave of panic Jane tried to take the driver's seat again, but so did a number of others. A cycle of them wrested control one after the other, the struggle only escalating. Anyone on the street would see her thrashing as her outline blurred, her appearance shifting rapidly. She grabbed at her hair with both hands, seized, curled in on herself, sobbed, let loose a ragged, wordless scream of helpless fury as she sank onto the pavement. Her arms alternately cradled herself, flailed at anyone who reached for her, and reached out to be embraced.

The Ax Hole (CW: Doom Patrol spoilers, possible hostility?)

So they were captive, they were supposed to interact, and they were supposed to do it in a boozy grill where they could throw sharp objects. You didn't have to be a genius to see how that could go wrong and Jane rolled her eyes as she took a look around the Ax Hole, a name suggesting that whoever owned establishment was probably twelve years old. "I don't think the Head's as smart as it says it is," she remarked.

She got herself a beer and stood where she could keep an eye on the throwing range. There were a weird assortment of randoms here, but nothing that set her WTF meter off the charts; not much surprised her after her former housemates. Dualis was familiar in that way, and it was uncomfortable. It reminded her of too many places she'd been before: Doom Manor, Corpus Sanitarium, even Fucktopia.

The mandated socialization was straight out of Corpus and she wasn't greatly inclined to take it seriously, although she could at least use it to rule out a possibility in this uncanny place. The question she first asked any newcomers was "Are you being narrated?"

Connor's got no objection to weird - he barely knows what normal is. But he's still getting used to things that aren't normal in the sense that they break the laws of physics right in front of his face. That's still pretty new to him. He falters a little at the teasing tone - not because he thinks he's being made fun of, but as his LED flickers yellow with the weight of trying to figure this out, he still feels like he's somehow the one making a big deal out of nothing here.

He waves off the apology as he stoops for the axe and puts it back on the rack.

"Do you know how you do it?"

The fact that she seems to be able to take other people with her doesn't escape him, but there's a lot more to unpack before that point.

Hank's in the middle of what might be the banalest conversation he's ever entered with someone being accused of double parking. He's in full uniform, hair up in the half-assed topknot thing, looking at the alien version of an average soccer mom complain that she needed those extra ten minutes for her grubs.

His eyes slide from her, arms full of grub that's about the size of a human three-year-old, to the backseat where there are four other similar grubs.

"Ma'am. It's ten fucking minutes. I know what kids can be like but-"

When he sees said woman look away from him, be alarmed, he looks as well. And that woman? Does not look well. He looks to the woman, points a finger, "You get a warning," and he jogs off to do that. He knows there's probably an iteration presence. He'd really like to avoid anyone else getting tranqued the moment they show up.

"Hey!" He holds up his hands palms out and a little ahead of him as he walks towards her. Someone attempts to reach for her and that goes... weird. Okay. That's not right. She just flailed though, she didn't actively harm them. "Are you new?" He asks first.

"Oh no, he's that shit too. Fucker doesn't sleep so that's what he does, two jobs. I think he hates the roomba tech bit."

Hank snorts and shakes his head. "He doesn't sleep so he needs something else to occupy his time. He's easily bored. But no, they do that shit all the time. There was a whole batch of people from the same place." Then more hesitantly he adds, "You might run across some people that aren't technically 'real'. And that is a motherfuckin' trip."

That Gotham and X-Men thing? Still screwing with him.

If Jane were in control the iteration presence would have made her wary, but she wasn't. She was lost in herself when Hank stepped forward, eyes tightly shut and clenched hands white-knuckled. Her scream lowers into a demonic, reverberating growl and shifts into a high-pitched cry as her body continues to change.

"I want to go home!" Baby Doll sits up, her eyes running with tears. Sniffling, she hugs herself around the knees and looks up at Hank, all pigtails and big brown eyes. "I'm not supposed to be here! Where's Cliff?"

Then another shift happens and Hammerhead is in control, the edges of a tattoo showing on her collarbones over her gooey black shirt. "Fuck that and don't you fucking touch me, pig!"

This time Hank's a lot faster throwing it than before - maybe he's not thinking about it as hard. He smiles and turns to face Hank fully when the axe embeds in the target. He stifles it as he retrieves the axe.

"Don't go into a fight with just an axe," he tells him. "Or if you do, keep it in your hands."

Once again, he hands it handle-first to Hank.

"One more and I'll stop nagging you."

Pause.

"About axes. For now."

He wouldn't say he nags normally, but he wants to keep his options open.

Oh what the fuck, did her hair just change? Did she just magically get a fucking tattoo? Oh Jesus Fuck what even the fuck is this?

"Alright, I'm not gonna touch you. But I gotta ask you something. Are you possessed, are you more than one person, or is there some other ability goin' on? And I don't know if Cliff's here or not, I can try to look up his name once you know where you are, alright? You're new, aren't you?"

There are a few people looking over. A businessman heading home from some store another. He waves him off.

"Fuck off, we're talkin'."

They should really give people the option of some clean clothes or some shit because some people come in in a fucking state, don't they?

Connor's never even seen an axe in his very short existence, but he doesn't doubt he'll pick up throwing them around in short order. But it's nice to be told he needs supervision - to be treated the same as everybody else. So he nods at this without protest.

It's true, though - most people he's met here so far probably either have this mastered or would master it quickly.

"Has anybody given you trouble so far?"

Tannor's going so far out of his way to emphasise that it's just his job that either it's happened or he expects it to happen.

"You better not or I will shove your badge down your throat inch by inch, you understand?" Rising to her knees, Hammerhead stares Hank in the eyes. Slowly, she cracks a dark smile. "You think I'm possessed? Shit, what kind of world do you live in?"

"N-O spells no!" Baby Doll takes over again and opens her hand, reaches for Hank, wanting a hug more than anything. "Can you get us back? Please, I want to go back! Please?" She sniffles, nervous but hopeful.

"Don't worry, I mean what I said. But you really gotta not threaten me right now." Shit, that would not go over well. And he can see it attracting more attention. And he's pretty sure about himself. He's armed with some non-lethals (not much, but enough to do the trick if he had to), but he doesn't want to tranq someone loud and confused. And when Baby Doll moves towards him, he keeps his hands up, not moving forward or away. "Your other person said not to touch you, alright? So I can't do it right now."

It looks like there are some very innocent people in there. That quiver of imagery over her? That's more than her acting. That's someone else. But dear fucking god this woman is a goddamn mess. Literally and figuratively. The fuck is she covered in.

"You're in a place where that's possible, yeah. No judgment if that's the case. They're not gonna send you home yet. I'm stuck here until the end of my year, too. Yeah, it's fucked up. How about you ask me some questions about this place, and then we'll go see if Cliff's here, okay?"

"I'd know you weren't the real Connor if you stopped nagging me," he jokes perhaps inappropriately, taking the ax again. And, yeah, got a good point anyway. He'd never disarm himself. He'd retreat first.

He takes it back and takes up a position again, moves his feet and better faces the wall.

"This is gonna be that moment in a movie where I gotta remember this shit for later because I'm gonna have to throw an ax and save your life while you're tied to the railroad tracks or something fucking ridiculous. So I'll try to take note."

He doesn't know the phrase Chekov's Gun but he can make fun of it.

[ever seen a speedster try to sit still? even though it’s only for a few minutes at a time, it’s not easy for pietro to keep his restless energy contained; he keeps shifting position in his chair, drumming his fingers on the table, looking around the place like he’s bored - which he is. every minute he spends sitting here and talking to strangers is a minute he could surely spend on doing something more interesting. throwing axes at targets, for example. that at least sounds like it would be fun.

pietro hasn’t ever really seen a need for making friends - the companionship of his twin has always been enough for him. but there’s no real call to be hostile to the others who, like him, are stuck here in forced social interaction hell - not yet, anyway. he rapidly scans the card questions, blue eyes darting over the words while his mouth twists in a frown of disapproval. these questions are all incredibly dull, and pietro just doesn’t care to learn about the favorite color of the person sitting on the opposite side of the table. with a quiet, wordless sound of disapproval, he sets the card down on the table and leans in.]

Tell me - what would you rather be doing right now?

Edited 2019-09-13 14:56 (UTC)

Connor's patrol doesn't go through this area - he just has to pass through it to get back to the precinct. But it is Hank's area, so he's keeping an eye out as he passes through. (Not that it's a big effort to memorise Hank's patrol, but he still looked it up that morning and that probably says something about him)

It means that he's in the general area to hear screaming in the distance, and when he does, he breaks into a run. What he finds is Hank and a young woman in the middle of a loose crowd, and before he does anything else he's visually scanning both. Hank's fine, he's not injured. The girl is so clearly highly stressed he didn't need to scan her at all to pick that up.

"I need all of you to move along," he addresses the people gathering around them before anything else...and has to physically start chivvying them out of the way with some sharper words and a lot of glaring when several of them decide to ignore the skinny, harmless-looking traffic cop. A couple of drivers rubber-necking move on after he pointedly stares.

When most people have at least pretended to move on, he carefully addresses both Hank and the girl at once, just in case she can't answer...or can and doesn't like him making Hank talk for her.

"What's happened?"

And from across the table, Orren shoots her an amused little smirk.

"You know the answer to that, Revan."

"Only for chopping down trees," Mira says. Or the occasional locked door, but really, if an axe can get through it, she'll use a chainsword instead. "We train with swords for melee combat. ...Officer cadets do, anyway." Not much point in getting good with a sword if it's not going to be part of your uniform, after all.

Revan gives him a dirty look. Why are you like this, Organa? "Okay, here's different one: Why do you hate fun, Orren?"

She pushes her plate of fries toward him anyway, because she's a good friend.

"I'll remember that next time a doppelganger tries to kill us," he retorts as he steps back. Sure, it's probably inappropriate of them both, but not taking what's happened to them seriously feels good - it means it's not important anymore to be serious about.

"Tied to railroad tracks?" Connor blankly asks the obvious question, but figures he just hasn't seen enough movies and shakes it off. "So I'd better make sure you're perfect."

He can't help but roll his eyes at that. Some things never change.

"Would you be surprised to hear that it's not the first time you've accused me of that?" He asks, still smirking.

Very well, then. He'll play along.

"But," He starts, adopting a more conversational posture and taking a fry from the plate, "being that I grew up at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, I very much liked the idea of growing up to be a Jedi Knight."

Edited 2019-09-13 21:49 (UTC)

Aleifr snorts.

"Should have known." He replies, shaking his head. "I imagine steel's easier to come by where you're from."

Edited 2019-09-13 21:51 (UTC)

"You don't use steel?" Mira asks, frowning in puzzlement.

It turns out you don't actually have to know anything about how technology works to be able to use it, and consequently she's never thought about what makes a feral world feral beyond some vague idea that the people don't have guns or running water or standing armies.

"We do." He replies. "But it isn't easy to find."

His attention returns to the target and he does a few, slow wind-ups with the axe in his hand - tracing an arc from behind his shoulder to roughly eye level.

"Only the Iron Masters know how to find it in the Earth and shape it. All the steel on Fenris comes from them in one way or another. You either barter with them for it, take it off the men you've killed, or have it passed down to you."

Sounds like a discount (albeit less unsettling) version of the Mechanicus, but Mira doesn't mention that. Aleifr's touchy about being reminded how much his feral homeworld doesn't know. Instead, she pays careful attention to his movements, where the weight of the axe is, the positioning of his fingers.

"No wonder the Space Wolves relish close quarters," she says instead. "Those power axes of theirs must feel like a gift from the Emperor."

"I'd imagine so."

Aleifr lumbers down the range and pries his axe from the soft wood of the target.

"I'd like to see one of those someday." He inspects the head of the axe as he walks back toward Mira, checking it for any scars that are more than superficial. "See what sort of weapon the Allfather sees fit for his champions."

He walks over to Mira and holds the axe out to her, hilt first.

Edited 2019-09-13 23:48 (UTC)

"I'm no champion, but I've finally got my hands on a chainsword, so I can at least show you that. Space Marines often wield them," Mira says as she takes the axe, hefting it to test the balance--all in the head, of course. It looks much larger when she's holding it than when Aleifr did. "Sized for their hands, of course."

There's an excited little glint in his eye at that.

"I'd like that." He grins. "Hopefully there's some place to use it."

His eyes briefly dart down to her grip on the axe and he inclines his head toward her hand, silently asking if he can make an adjustment for her.

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i've been bitten by the bug ...

Crazy Jane | OTA

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Arrival

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pietro maximoff } @naps; ota

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NAP

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