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

In his defense, he doesn't look a day over fifty-five. He's aged gracefully.

[Still, he's considering Erik for a long moment, trying to think of the best way to phrase the thing he says next.]

In my world, you were one of the first ones. So, it makes sense to think that. I'm sorry you had to experience that. I was one of many.

I suppose some things are consistent, then.

[ He's lost in thought for a moment. His counterpart, is he Jewish as well? Has he endured the horrors that Erik has? Or was he spared those torments? He could ask David, he knows. But it feels invasive, somehow. Gossiping about a man he'll never meet, prying into his most painful secrets for what? ]

There's only a few of us, here. Probably a good idea to stick together as much as possible.

[Oh yes, he is. The number definitely tells that story. But there's definitely this tension in David that almost seems to evaporate. 'Us'. 'Stick together.' He's considered part of this. He belongs to this group of people. Which was what he wanted after he lost it.]

Thank you. For saying us. And I can't help but agree. Other people here don't... the can't really get the way that feels growing up. The way people look at you. The way people attack us even when we don't do anything to them.

[ There's a lot of people in the world that can't comprehend what it was like for Erik to grow up. But isn't that what "Never again" is supposed to mean? ]

Nobody should have to know what that feels like.

[ He looks David in the eye, doing his best to express the sincerity of what he's saying. What David recounted so casually is Erik's greatest nightmare. After a lifetime of enduring the stuff nightmares are made of, the notion of having his mutant powers torn from him is a horror he can't imagine. ]

You are not what was done to you. You are still my brother.

[It's something that David doesn't know how to process, but he takes it as in stride as he can. And in this case, that means a smile as the timer rings. Time to move.]

I'll hold you to that, Erik. Because it's nice to be welcome. Just avoid considering us a 'Brotherhood'.

[ He laughs and shakes his head, smiling fondly. ]

Oh, no. Jean and Ororo set me straight on that about ten years ago. They told me the term was chauvinist. Haven't quite settled on a new term yet. "Siblinghood" is just... awkward.

[ And he'll be dead before he lets Charles stamp him with an X like his other monogrammed minions. Even with their newfound truce. ]

[Which wasn't what David even remotely meant, right? But if you wanted feminism, it needed to be more than just the X-Men.]

I meant more I wasn't really a fun of the work your group got up to back home, and with you making that joke, I realize that it's probably similar where you're from.

[ No, it wasn't even close to what David meant, and Erik is well aware of that. Sometimes he'd like to just enjoy a conversation without it turning into a trial. He fixes David with a level look. ]

You don't know what I did.

[ He has enough of his own sins to atone for. He's not taking on those of his multiversal counterparts. ]

If you want to ask, ask.

True enough.

[And yet it's the Brotherhood, and that's usually followed by 'Evil Mutants' so he could get it a little.]

If you could truly find peace between mutants and humans, what would you want to do with yourself?

[ They never used the "Evil Mutants" part of the title. A little too on-the-nose. ]

Live with my family. Raise my children.

[ It's literally all he's ever wanted. Depressingly modest goals for how unattainable they are. ]

What lofty dreams do you have?

I gave up on dreams a while ago. Suppose I'll have to come up with some new ones. I wanted to be a professional men's figure skater once. Then I wanted to go to Harvard. They weren't very keen on having a mutant applicant. They wanted me to leave Xavier's school if I wanted to apply, perhaps because I could pass. Or maybe they just didn't know what to do with a guy of my abilities. Which was stupid.

Now... I just want to see my friends be happy.

[And alive.]

[ 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. ]

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.

[ 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. ]

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.]

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. ]

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.

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

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

Thank you.

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

I'll see you around. I hope.

i've been bitten by the bug ...

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