headandhand: (Default)
the head | the hand ([personal profile] headandhand) wrote in [community profile] dualisooc2019-10-20 07:11 pm
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TDM 002. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.

» 01. I LIKE TO PARTY AND BY PARTY I MEAN NAPS.

Look at all of these bright, shining new faces! There’s even a few less bright, less shining 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 the brand new RoCocoa Cat Cafe, a sparkly new establishment that caters to children and the young at heart with iced and hot cocoa drinks of all kinds, delicious pastries, age-appropriate live music, and of course many friendly kitties who love to lounge in laps. The cats are of all shapes, sizes, and colors, including some who may look a little different from what you expect, or may look like an ordinary cat but are actually anything but ordinary underneath that adorable fur coat. All cats in the cafe are adoptable, of course, for those who meet a new furry friend and just can’t bear to go home without them!

So pull up a chair, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a sugary treat or two with the resident furbabies. You might just meet your new two- or four-legged best friend!

» 02. TO TAG OR NOT TO TAG, THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Welcome, one and all, to a long-running time-honored Dualis tradition: the annual city-wide Dualis Marker Tag Competition! For this entire month, all participants who accept the challenge will be given a marker and set free to tag any other participant in the city by making a mark on their skin, while attempting to avoid being tagged themselves. Careful, though - the ink marks last a very long time, so you’ll have to wait until the competition concludes to wash everything off.

Markers come in all colors, even fluorescent, glitter, and glow-in-the-dark, and you can use however many markers your inner child’s heart desires. These markers will leave marks even on people who have chosen not to play, but you can easily purchase an armband, headband, or similar accessory that says NONPARTICIPANT if you so desire. Marking nonparticipants is considered extremely bad form and wins you no prizes, but "misfires" do still happen sometimes. It’s usually considered polite to offer a mistaken nonparticipant that you’ve marked a small reparation, like coffee or a more adult beverage.

Safe zones do exist! Any establishment can put out a sign that marks it as such - signs in shop windows, chalkboards outside bars, and the like; many do this, just to keep the general chaos and injury/property damage liability down. Tenants of private residences typically agree that their spaces are also safe zones, but that's up to y’all to hash out.

Have fun! And maybe try not to put anyone’s eye out, yeah?

» 03. TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT, THE BITTER AND THE SWEET ...

Looks like the Head’s been clued in to the quaint alien custom known as trick-or-treating. Is today Halloween? Who cares! You get free candy! Free candy for you, free candy for you, everybody gets free candy!

And rather than make citizens work for that free candy by traipsing around in costumes, the Head’s decided to cut everyone a little break and just have bowls of wrapped sugary delights placed strategically throughout the city. You never know where you’ll find them, or what types of candies the bowls will contain - chocolates, of course, and jellybeans and hard candies of every flavor you can think of, and treats you’ve probably never seen before now. Ooh, is that a snoobloo-flavored truffle? Only one way to find out! Eat it.

The treats are not poisoned or otherwise dangerous, but some do have a trick up their wrappers. Candies may cause temporary side effects: minor appearance changes, enhancing or reducing senses, sudden mild development of extranormal abilities, or loss of control over abilities you already possess. Some sweets are just regular treats and produce no effect except maybe cavities, if you don’t brush your teeth. Effects will remain until another candy is consumed that either induces a different effect or nulls the current effect and simply tastes nice. Enjoy!
theirondragon: (bull_009)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
I'm gonna go with probably not. That'd be too simple. This place doesn't do simple.
sirentologist: (Called)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
Nothing about the Vaults or the Eridians is simple.
theirondragon: (bull_047)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
The Chargers. It wrenched his gut thinking he'd never see them again. Krem and Rocky, Dailish...none of them. He smiled though, thinking about them, and about how much like himself this other him sounded. It was weird.

"Okay, so, whenever things get too much, back on Par Vollen, you could turn yourself over to the re-educators, you know. Get your head straight. That's what the stick's for."
skyward_eyes: Harry Shum Jr as Magnus Bane (Default)

[personal profile] skyward_eyes 2019-10-25 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
“I’ve heard worse arrangements,” Nida admits with a shrug. “My brother and I used to do that more in the past. We would fist fight most days. Back then and there people had powers associated with colors. It was weird. But mine provided about fifteen minutes where the skin was mostly impervious. Made for good fights. Still...”

He smirks and shrugs briefly.

“I’m a master with a stick. And I don’t just mean polearms.”
theirondragon: (bull_011)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 04:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He chuckles at that.]

Yeah, okay, settle down. What are Eridians anyway?
sirentologist: (Glory)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
An ancient race who vanished and left countless pieces of their civilization behind for us to find. The technology is staggering. A veritable treasure trove of knowledge.
theirondragon: (bull_081)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, a tough guy, huh? Nida didn't get it, not really, and Bull hadn't been expecting him to, either. It was all good, though. He didn't have to understand the motivations behind it to do Bull a favor.

And judging from the tension in the other man's shoulders, it looked like Bull could return it.

"Yeah? Maybe you can show me later, you know, after all this stuff's done."
skyward_eyes: Harry Shum Jr as Magnus Bane (Default)

[personal profile] skyward_eyes 2019-10-25 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
“I wouldn’t mind helping you out. I still owe the version if you I knew a few favors. Don’t seem likely to get a chance to pay up. So I’ll take it as owing you instead, Boss.”

Because Bull will always be his Boss, more than even Squall was.
theirondragon: (bull_054)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, sounds great. [Sometimes the past dies because it needed to, but he was gathering information, here, not trying to lecture.] This place seems pretty advanced. Does it fit with their stuff?
sirentologist: (Science!)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
No, however subsequent civilizations were built atop the ruins. It's possible--even likely--that any traces they left behind are underneath the city.
theirondragon: (bull_045)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
He nodded, satisfied with that response. He took a deep breath and readjusted himself slightly.

"Okay, so, if we're supposed to be good friends, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?"
theirondragon: (bull_047)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Now they're getting somewhere.]

You think there's something down there worth going for?
skyward_eyes: Harry Shum Jr as Magnus Bane (Memories of Lost Loved-Ones (Sad))

[personal profile] skyward_eyes 2019-10-25 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
“Well, my name is Nida Nomura, and I am from a world we took to calling Hyne after our creator god. I was a war orphan, sort of, and raised by a mercenary academy. Specifically I was trained as a spy and assassin. Similar to a Crow. A term I mostly know because I met a man who was one of that number.”

Made the place he lived rather interesting, hadn’t it?
sirentologist: (Default)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps. I cannot say for certain unless I uncover some clue.
theirondragon: (tumblr_inline_pl7slfTlij1vw85ve_540)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
"An Antivan Crow?" That's the only reason Bull could think of the man would use the term, but he nodded. He was Ben-Hassrath. It wasn't far off. "People of the Qun don't have families. We're all raised together in family groups. It's not so bad."
skyward_eyes: Harry Shum Jr as Magnus Bane (Default)

[personal profile] skyward_eyes 2019-10-25 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
“Yes. That was the term he used.”

Zevran has been... intense. In a very different way. Nida smirks to himself and enjoys a long sip of his drink before he continues.

“We were children. Human don’t really grow up like that. I started my training at eight. I’m in my twenties now. That I’ve survived so long is a shock actually.”
theirondragon: (bull_051)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 06:30 am (UTC)(link)
Okay. [He nods.] So. Say you find something. What then?
be_notorious: (060)

[personal profile] be_notorious 2019-10-25 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
You make 'em sound a hell of a lot bigger than the fab fuckin' diet at the moment... I seem to remember people doin' those.

[Do they still do those?]
sirentologist: (Siren)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
That is correct.
sirentologist: (Default)

[personal profile] sirentologist 2019-10-25 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Then I study it. Really, what is so difficult to understand about that?
theirondragon: (bull_008)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-25 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"Some humans grow up like that." He rocks his shoulder in a slight shrug. "Humans brought into the Qun." He could see, just watching the guy, something big happened in his past, probably several big things, and he hadn't been given a way to deal with it. You'd think some weird school that taught kids how to be soldiers would, but who was he to judge?

"That's simple, though. You're stronger than you realize."
wickedprayers: (4)

[personal profile] wickedprayers 2019-10-25 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
The more he's exposed to this practice during every NAPS, the more Thane finds the practice slightly intriguing when he thinks about, but in relation to humans as opposed to the AI that brought them here. He had heard of such practices performed by them even before he arrived here, which he thought odd considering how unpredictable they were. Humans didn't seem the type to limit themselves to a set time and a pile of questions. Weird fascination aside, he continued to attend for much the same reason. Information on who was coming in every month was vital. Who reacted poorly to being here, who reacted casually, who seemed to believe their reasoning for being brought here and who didn't — not to mention all the basics such as who might be a loose canon and who might be a valuable ally. There were many variables.

When Thane takes a seat he doesn't seem very phased at the way the large man dwarfs almost everything around him, but it would be a lie to say he didn't notice the impressive size. He could probably take numerous Krogan headbutts standing, for one. His hands fold over the top of the table and his posture is very much the opposite; stiff, purposeful, all business in spite of the all too casual and somewhat chaotic mess of the cafe. He scrutinizes the other a moment, both sets of lids blinking vertically and horizontally before he answers the question.

"Quite well," he responds with a polite nod of his head in a silent 'thank you' for the question. "You're new here." A statement, not a question. Thane is sure he would have remembered seeing the other around, even if the city was big and confusing as it were. "I hope finding your bearings hasn't been too difficult."
skyward_eyes: Harry Shum Jr as Magnus Bane (What Am I Looking At Here? (Confused))

[personal profile] skyward_eyes 2019-10-25 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Perceptive as fuck, that. Too many bad things that happened that he didn't even know what to do with. He was holding his life together with scraps of string and stubbornness. Other people's stubbornness.

"I'm really not, but thanks for the compliment."
theirondragon: (bull_053)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-26 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[He nods. See that? That almost sounded like a job.] And they're monsters and stuff, right?
theirondragon: (bull_086)

[personal profile] theirondragon 2019-10-26 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Once of the many reasons Bull opted to attend the NAPs, aside from warnings to the contrary, was exactly that: people watching. Now, on the outside, years of Ben-Hassrath training kept him from being surprised or slightly creeped out by the weird lizard man who sat across from him. Just wandering the streets of Dualis he'd seen some weird stuff, but nothing quite like this guy. It was slightly unnerving when he got right down to it, but by appearances it was just another day in the neighborhood.

Beyond the bizarre appearance, this new guy was pretty capable. His shoulders were set in a way that suggested he could just as soon shrug as take you down with a few swift moves, and he was obviously another one who opted to keep an eye on others to learn about them rather than ask 20 questions. He could respect that.

"Good guess. It's the horns, huh?" He grinned, "and yeah, it's not too bad. Funny thing is you keep moving straight, even if shit moves around, you get where you're going. Might go crazy if I think about that too much."

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