sheets all on the floor just like an ocean ...

[headandhand]

WHO: All y’all!
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Fort Pillowtown
WHEN: Oct. 7-10
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable!


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 a new, super-comfy all-ages establishment called Fort Pillowtown. As the name suggests, it’s a large indoor space filled wall to wall with permanent pillowforts. There are a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, with each individual fort constructed of gauzy hanging sheets, strings of soft lights, warm blankets, plush toys, a mini television with on-screen menu for choosing movies to watch and video games to play, and yes, lots and lots of pillows. Snacks and drinks of all sorts are available for purchase, as are whimsical onesies and comfy slippers to wear. Board and card game sets are also available to borrow or buy. Sounds like a dream, right?

So pull up a pillow pile, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a well-earned and comfy chill-out session. And hey, if you end up napping at NAPs, rest assured that it’s absolutely allowed.

Comments

ii

[merged]

[ Heather likes to be seen as cold—distant from the rest of society; the kind of girl who would step over a stranger in need or ignore a lost wallet on the ground. For the most part, she tries to stick to that facade. The bad girl. The dangerous girl. The invisible girl.

But that's never been her, even when she tries to be cold and distant. She wears her heart on her sleeve, her emotions on a loudspeaker that she tries to cover. She's gotten better over the years, better at swallowing those desires to help, to be kind, but one day you learn that safety is more important than kindess.

Luckily, that hasn't been the case here. As the fort crumbles, Heather lets out a quiet: ] Shit [ She assumes immediately it's her own fault but it's Charle's apology that pulls her from her shame. She clears her throat and moves to assist, kneeling by his wheel where the sheet snagged. ]

Mind... if I help? [ She berates herself for not asking first; she doesn't want him to think she believes him incapable. ]

[axiomed]

[ charles grimaces to himself, annoyed that he couldn't avoid such a simple mistake. ]

Oh, yes. Please feel free.

[merged]

[ It takes a small tug, a twist of the wheel, and a minor tear to the fabric to free the wheel from the soft sheet. She gives a tiny beam more to herself, a pride in such a small accomplishment. She looks up at him where she kneels; her smile tight and careful like a girl not used to smiling often. ]

And there you are. I'd have thought they'd make this more... handi accessable. [ Then again, she doubts the Head cares much for things iike that. ] Will you need any more help? I wouldn't mind.

[ It's not like she's got much else to do, really. ]

[axiomed]

[ charles chuckles at that, waving a flippant hand. ]

It's fine, I'm used to it. And I'll manage. I'm simply not used to navigating the minefields of bedding.

[merged]

Then how about a navigator? [ Friendly, if a little awkward—like a girl who doesn't make such offers often. The last thing she wants is for him to get tangled again or, worse, fall. People aren't assholes here all the time but they do have an occasional one. ]

[axiomed]

[ charles smiles. ]

Well I wouldn't say no. Please, if you could.

[merged]

And yet you could and my feelings wouldn't be hurt. [ She informs him with something of a smile. The last thing she wants to be is pushy—sometimes people don't want company and that's usually her.

Usually. ]

I'm Heather Mason. [ An early introduction is a rare thing on her part but that's what these silly damn things were for—and she's more aware now that every new person is a possible ally in whatever future fight they'll have to go through to really return home. ]

Been stuck here a couple of months now, each month these NAPs are held in weird new locations. [ She looks to him as if she's telling him something unbelievable. Nothing is really unbelievable anymore but she did think it was stupid. Like the fort. ] Last month, it was an axe tossing place. Nothing like getting to know our fellow kidnapees over beer and sharp weapons.

[axiomed]

[ he boggles. ]

They do this every month?

[ it seems a little childish, but . . . well, perhaps it works? who knows. ]

Well, I hear men do favor sharp weapons.

[merged]

They say it's to help us get to know one another; I say it's another pointless distraction. [ But one that's useful now that she looks at it in another light. ]

And most men shouldn't be allowed to touch them. [ Does she have a slight problem with men? Probably. ]

[axiomed]

[ seems legit. ]

Distracting us from what, though?

[merged]

From the fact that they're lying to us. [ She tells him it as if it were factual. And it is, though it's hard to guess that by the way the city seems to go with the flow.

Curiously: ] Did you believe what the Head told you?

[axiomed]

[ charles folds his hands on his lap. ]

No. I have had bad experiences with people asking about DNA in general.