headandhand: (Default)
the head | the hand ([personal profile] headandhand) wrote in [community profile] dualislogs2019-09-09 10:14 pm

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?
notalive: (and then restart)

[personal profile] notalive 2019-09-18 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
He wonders if this is what humans deal with all the time. Self-doubt and guilt and thoughts like shrapnel flying around their heads and sticking into the soft parts. As a machine this would have been pointless nonsense wasting processing power. But it's not like he can tell his brain just not to dedicate power to these particular thoughts.

"I'd be the best one at axe-throwing for at least the first ten minutes." Maybe all humans deflect compliments too, even as hearing them feels like a warm balm soothing the shrapnel wounds. It takes away some of the tension in his body, along with the hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's go." He takes the axe out of the target and puts it back where they got it - he's trying to get into the habit of doing that kind of thing, since he doesn't think he tidied up after himself or after anyone in his whole existence as a machine. Learning some new skills is as easy as a few calculations and muscle control; some are a long process of habit learning and repetition.

"I'm done with NAPs for this month." He pronounces it N-A-P, so there's not even a joke about sleeping in there.
sociallychallenged: (0 7 7)

[personal profile] sociallychallenged 2019-09-18 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Connor's always been hard on himself. He's always been fast enough. Smart enough. Everything enough. But even before he was a deviant, in those moments when Hank would notice how he'd immediately be hard on himself, blame himself for his shortcomings.

So he puts his hands on Connor's shoulders and makes him look at him once he's done putting his fucking ax away (because what is their life).

"Connor. You're perfect. You're weird and goofy and sometimes screw up, but you're perfect. So don't be so hard on yourself, alright? You're tougher on yourself than I am on me. I'm mostly just mad at the world."

He lets go then. "You can always come back later. You're better at talking to people than me. I need to get the fuck out."
notalive: (when i'm with you)

[personal profile] notalive 2019-09-20 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Connor stares at him, a little startled at Hank's sudden shift of attitude...but then the feeling that builds behind his thirium pump in the moment that follows. For a second, he has the pedantic thought that someone who screws up and is 'goofy and weird' can't be perfect by definition - but even pedantry doesn't abate the rush of odd pleasure at Hank telling him that. The closest thing he can compare it to is the old satisfaction of completing a mission, only infinitely, dizzyingly deeper.

He finds himself rubbing his chest directly over the pump for a second as Hank releases him.

"I'm not...not really sure what to say..." he says softly, fumbling over the words a little, flustered. His LED's gone yellow just working to figure out the right thing to say to something like that.

"Let's--Yeah, let's go."

He'll figure it out better out of the way of other people.
sociallychallenged: (1 8 2)

[personal profile] sociallychallenged 2019-09-20 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Hank sees the light turn yellow again. He sees Connor rub over his "heart". There's that pang of worry, but he realizes then that maybe it's not bad, like Connor said. It's just him thinking. Maybe for fucking once something he's said is sinking in.

"I'll argue to the end of time against you beating yourself up, don't worry. I'll not shut the hell up ever. I owe it to you to be just as annoying."

That yellow light gets another rub with his thumb, a fond one rather than a concerned one, before he walks around him to the door and pushes it open with his shoulder.
notalive: (demon wants his pound of flesh)

[personal profile] notalive 2019-09-21 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
There's that feeling again - like he has a task to complete, but he doesn't know what the parameters of it are, and without knowing that, he can't do it. But he has to do whatever it is - he wants to, and he recognises the emotion that comes with it: frustration.

His head tilts minutely into Hank's thumb as it brushes his LED - the tiniest sliver of Hank's skin touches Connor's own, and he feels something like a spark, like static electricity passing between them.

As Hank draws his hand away, Connor's head moves a little with it, as if chasing the sensation before remembering himself.

"That's not the reason you're annoying, don't blame that on me," he says in a sudden fit of daring, following Hank out the door.
sociallychallenged: (0 2 2)

[personal profile] sociallychallenged 2019-09-21 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[Continued here]