dualislogs | 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Perhaps, but why waste the funds if it isn't necessary?" He nods, smiling confidently, for no other reason that it seemed as though most weren't capable of their abilities here? Odd.

"Would you care for another beer?" He held his hand out, as though to offer an invisible bottle, a greenish gold ripple of energy filled his grasp, and another beer appeared, capped and frosty. He smiled.

"Holy fuck? You can just... fuckin' Make beer? Holy shit."

And then he has to do the impolite thing of pushing the dregs of his aside to put his finger in the current brew. Which feels cold and frothy? "This is fuckin' real? Honestly my friend over there can file reports with his head but I think you've one-upped him in valuable skills." And he nods towards where Connor is.

"And uh... sorry." He tastes the beer off the tip of his finger like he needs yet another affirmation that just happened.

He smiles proudly, content for Hank to believe he'd created this very same beer from the very ether rather than magicking it from the cooler. Yes, he'd technically stolen it, but there was no way for it to be linked to either himself or to Hank. No harm, no foul.

He laughs, shaking his head. "There's no need to apologize, Hank. It is your beer, after all." And he finishes his own before also replacing his own in the same manner.

Ignorance is bliss. But he shakes his head after a real, actual drink. "Nah, didn't want to insult you by the doubtful prodding. Some people get pissed at that shit."

Sometimes people have to check if their supposedly-conjured-out-of-nothing-but-is-actually-stolen beer is well and truly beer. And hey, one good turn serves another. He's not going to turn it down.

"I've been tryin' to figure out how they've been fuckin' with everybody's abilities. I mean, the humans with training are fine. People with anything remotely exceptional?" God included, he guesses? "Take a hit when they come here."

He knows he's probably not the first one to try and figure it out. But he absolutely is going to try.

"I honestly couldn't care less whether you believed it was actually beer or not." He smirked, taking a sip from his own, newly arrived beer. "It would be your loss."

Hank observations were troubling, though, and he wondered at what level of consistency things were limited, and how. "It's possible it's dislocation, or...spacial displacement? Heaven knows where we even are in relation to where we were."

He frowned at the thought as well. In his case, it may be something much more organic. "What theories do you have?"

"Honestly? Considering that he can bring people back from the dead. I think when he brings people in? He can put in whatever limitations then. I don't know that they are, or if they're permanent. So it has to happen when they come in."

He doesn't know if they're clones of their original selves, or if they're actually transferred and fixed, or what.

"Has there been anything in particular you've noticed?" He leans forward, arms folded and brow furrowed with interest, ready to listen 'cause at this point everything is helpful.

That struck a chord, and it was made obvious by the look of concern that crossed Loki's face before he could conceal it. The Head, it seemed, had returned him from the dead after all. Were the limitations of his magic due to its meddling? He worked his jaw as he processed the implications and nodded slightly at Hank's question.

"Yes. I've been attempted to explore this place, but my range is...limited. Astrally."

Hank squints, like he's thinking hard about something.

"About how far as compared to a city block."

He pulls out one of his post-it notes. "The Head has pretty good security. I'm guessing that it doesn't want people to just magic their way in for a face to face convo."

He looks thoughtful for a moment before glancing out toward the city, unseen due to the walls of the establishment.

"I assume you mean the segmented streets." He nods before frowning. "12 or so at most, though it's difficult to say with certainty, given the city's tendency to shift."

Hank writes that down on a post-it note. He has theories. He doesn't know how well they'd stand, but they are theories.

That wherever the Head's... epicenter? Wherever his main bulk is, it'd be twice outside of anyone's teleport length.

"Thanks, I'm hopin' I can figure out some stuff."

That caught Loki's interest to get him leaning toward Hank, almost conspiratorially.

"Oh? Am I to be privvy to these theories?"

"I've just been wondering where the Head actually is. I've been taking a wild guess that people are being limited in how far they can travel 'cause there's something that we shouldn't be getting to. Either the Head's main facility or the place where they bring people back from the fuckin' dead."

He takes a drink of beer, squinting hard. Because bringing people back from the dead is always something odd to think about.

"I may be a cop but I hate being jerked around as much as the next guy." He likes his job because it puts him in a good position to build clout and help people. He doesn't like how this whole system is ran, though.

Even knowing what he knew, even have been apparently brought back by that same mysterious process to which Hank referred, it seemed unbelievable. The gods were capable of powerful events, it was true, but resurrection? True resurrection? That was beyond all of them.

"Well, it must be a comfort to know you're at least being jerked around with the rest of us."

"I do like to see fairness in the world." He snorts, raising his beer.

The idea of resurrection grates on him; mostly because of who hasn't been blessed with it. Cole's memory still lingers, his loss an aching one. No one's ever resurrected him. Maybe it's unfair of him, but Hank still thinks it's unfair of the whole damn world that he's gone.

"Anyway, my guess so far is that wherever research is done is gonna be twice anyone's teleportation range. That way there's a clear zone that the Head can monitor. No evidence, really, just a 'That's what I'd do.'"

"As would I. Interruptions are always a nuisance." He was aware how shady that seemed, but he was the god of tricks and lies. Hank shouldn't expect anything less.

He took a breath to continue his train of thought when a bell sounded and he looked upward toward its source.

"That is to signal we're out of time, is it not? Perhaps we should continue this conversation elsewhere, at a later date?"

i've been bitten by the bug ...

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