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

[be_notorious]

"Can ya?" He sounds interested, tipping his head as he looks at her and squinting his gray-blue eyes some. She doesn't seem like a Lightbearer. Probably would have had a ghost more 'social' than Drifter's has been in quite a while.

But the little asshole drone can't even talk anymore so what's the point in it showing its lying face, anyway.

"Let's switch it up then. Not needin' to breath, or bein' invulnerable but heavy as hell. Meanin' you fall into the water or somethin', they're gonna need a crane to drag you out."

[ferrokinetically]

"Have to have the right shoes for it. Figured it out when I was around 16." She smirks proudly at the comment. It's always been something she's been proud of figuring out for herself. And something she enjoys doing, not that she gets do it much. Humans were never really happy about displays of power that blatant.

"Not needing to breath. The other one sounds like a disaster."

[be_notorious]

"You got the right footwear for it now? Or do I get to be surprised seein' a woman float off like a balloon sometime? Come on, Sister. I'm sort of a combat judge back home. I live to be impressed."

He puts his coin away (and by putting it away, one means he made it disappear somehow) and leans forward to see if she's into putting on even that little show.

[ferrokinetically]

"I almost always wear the right boots," she smirks. "And I do live to impress." That is not an untrue statement, she loves the chance to show off, especially to people that actually respect it. That's rare where she's from, for the most part humans are just afraid of mutant abilities.

She looks around quickly to see if anyone's watching then moves her hands under the table. A green mist swirls around her hands, weaving in between her fingers like a snake and then she moves off the ground and out of her chair. "Sideshow trick. I could do more but..." she gestures her head around to other people as she sets herself back down. "Don't wanna freak anyone out."

[be_notorious]

Nice performance. It's not like the powers he's used to, they're their own thing. A damn helpful thing, if he can make some friends here like that. "Here's hopin' we meet in a more open area. But you're right, nothin' good ever came of upsettin' the locals." He adds grimly.

Something they probably both know to be true.

"So, okay. One more of those hypotheticals, and speaking of judgin'. You're given a large sum of money and told to place a bet on a contest. Now, this ain't gonna be you fightin'. It's other people. Would you do it on intellect? Chess, or go, or cards. Would you do it on physical? Two sides just brawlin' it out. Boxing, a ball game, that sorta thing. Or somethin' based of manhandlin' reflexes. Vehicle races, fighter ships. That sorta thing.

"You can't interfere. All you can do is take this money and bid it in somethin' you think you can make a good call on."

[ferrokinetically]

"I'd love to. Don't get to show off too much back home." Here and there but when powers got outlawed it made things a lot more difficult. She's still got hope that maybe someday they'll live in a world where people can freely use their powers but that's a long way off.

"Damn. Another intense one." She has to think a bit more about this one. "If you hadn't added the bit about interfering I'd have gone with a vehicle race." And cheated. "You're killing me with the interference thing." She scrunched her eyebrows up as she tries to think about which would be easiest to win. "Maybe fighting. Ring match. Even if I lost it'd be interesting." She leans forward. "You have to give me an answer to that one now."

[be_notorious]

"To your credit, doin' it somewhere private also lets it be somethin' of a surprise fo everybody else. People keep sayin' they got their abilities watered down. A damn shame."

But an understandable one, on the part of the High and Mighty that deemed his task more important than any of theirs. Sure, fella. Bring ol' Drifter here where a Worm God can still see him. His screening policy could use some work.

"I'll say that vehicle race sorta thing." That gunfight sort of thing. "I know how the quality of equipment can throw a match in your favor."

[ferrokinetically]

"That's something I hadn't heard much of yet." And it's something she's not happy to hear.All the more reason for her to find a place to test things out now. "There were a lot of laws back home that meant not many of us got to fully see what we could do." She's had people suggest that she doesn't really know the full extent of her powers, but she's not sure she'd count that as a reliable source.

"Did you work with equipment back in your home? Or just a hobby?"

[be_notorious]

Drifter had been spared, he thinks, because his own abilities have a 'cooldown' of sorts. He can use them in bursts, but then he needs to rest and gather himself again. Which can be great news or bad news. He does know he doesn't want to blow his load too soon.

"A bit of column A and a bit of column B. Havin' armor and good weapons is necessary for survival back home. We had that big invasion, the messy sort. Been goin' on for... Hell... as long as anybody can remember, and we got immortals of a sort. People who have been around for centuries."

[ferrokinetically]

"Well, at least you'll be prepared if things go to shit here." Which they probably will. People couldn't possibly last long here without at least considering organizing some sort of rebellion.

"So, does that mean those immortals have been trapped for centuries fighting in that invasion?" Because she's already tired of constantly fight and it's been less than a decade. If that was the case then those people really got the shit end of the stick.

[be_notorious]

"Well, not all of 'em are fighting. Some of 'em were trying to lord over the survivin' humans for themselves. There were a bunch of uh... real heavy minded Lightbearers- that's what they're called, that decided to go an' make the Warlords stop. Not like there's a whole lotta humans left anyway an' what the hell chance is there against immortals, right? But yeah, all it's been is fightin'."

He explains briefly, but adds, knowingly cattily-

"good for the guns and armor business, though."

[ferrokinetically]

"Sounds like humans. Always trying to find a way to have the upper hand." There's a hint of bitterness there that she's not trying to mask. Not like she ever really tries to mask her dislike for humans.

"I appreciate you looking on the positive side of your business ventures." At least he can still find some positives in all that.

[be_notorious]

"Nah, not really. Humans don't got much of a chance, not like they used to. They just kinda get by." Drifter makes a so so motion. Traveller's fault, really.

"You see, this big alien thing showed up an' gave humanity knowledge. A big golden age. An' it prospered... Alright, I'll sneak in one more. What do you think helps people more. Givin' 'em fish, or teachin' 'em to fish? Or do you think there oughta be some middle ground. And if there was a middle ground, what should it be?"

[ferrokinetically]

"That's too bad." It's hard for her to muster too much sympathy.

"You're good at this," makes her wonder if he does question and answers like this back home. "Isn't teaching someone to fish the middle ground?" she shrugs and gives a slight smirk. "Teaching is always the right choice. If you just give people shit then what do they do when you're gone?"

[be_notorious]

"What about the old ones? An' the youngin's? Or the sickly? You willin' to fish for the ones that are in some shape where they can't do it yet? I'm bettin' you're not all the way the survival of the fittest type."

He leans his arm over the back of the chair, and with his other hand makes a space between his fingers.

"Am I right? You got a little bit of a givin' nature?"

[ferrokinetically]

She chuckles. "Good point. Guess I'd have to fish for the ones that can't get it themselves. Everyone else is on their own though. Can't be too giving."