TDM 002. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.

[headandhand]

» 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!

Comments

[theirondragon]

Right, so, wherever they'd been together, this other him and this Nida guy, it wasn't this weird. Either that, or the other him was actually a demon or something weirder. The thought of something weirder than demons was enough to keep him awake at night, and he was pretty sure if there was any place with anything like it, it would be a place where the buildings didn't stay put. In that respect, Dualis sort of reminded Bull of the Fade, which was a memory he could certainly do without.

"Kind of, but not really." He shook his head. Shit it was weird to even think things like this. "So, uh, the other me. Did he tell you much about himself? Where he came from?"

[skyward_eyes]

If only it were as simple as them being dreamers of this place. Perhaps that would be better than the hell this was turning out to be.

“I don’t know as much about the Qun or his most recent work. I knew about the Chargers. I knew about what he actually was, though I mangled the pronunciation enough to not trust myself with it. Of course he wasn’t free with that information. We knew each other a while and he recognized similar skills within me.”

Even, to some degree, an experience with life being chosen for him. But that didn’t matter.

“I know magic was frowned on in his world, and among his people.”

[theirondragon]

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]

“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]

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]

“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]

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?"

[skyward_eyes]

“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?

[theirondragon]

"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]

“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]

"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."

[skyward_eyes]

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]

He chuckled, reaching across the table and giving the other man a pat on the shoulder. He was already starting to see what the other him saw in this guy.

"Don't sell yourself short, big guy. You're still breathing. That's step one."

[skyward_eyes]

"Oh Hyne, don't call me 'big guy'. Because I'm tiny compared to you."

And he's so very, very tiny. But he thinks it works anyway. Bull's definitely got a smile from him.

"I missed you. I miss you."

[theirondragon]

The Bull grinned broadly at that, laughing loud enough to draw attention from some of the nearby tables. He has a big chest, alright? He resonates if he's not careful.

"That's the joke, but now you ruined it." He smiles, though it's not fond, not yet. "I can see what the, uh, other me saw in you." And that was something in itself.

[skyward_eyes]

“You mean other than himself when our schedules aligned?”

It was a joke the Bull he had known had appreciated. Perhaps this one too. Because it’s all so similar. The laughter, booming and rich. The smile, careful and Nida hopes that it speaks of appreciation. And the compliment. He’ll take it and run.

“I ruined nothing, not yet. I’m sure I can manage it if I put my head to the task.”

[theirondragon]

That caught a big grin from the enormous man and a hearty chuckle, rough, promising. "So, you like to ride the Bull, huh?" Nida was the type who needed a release, a deeply profound one, and there were few things the Bull couldn't provide in that arena. He assumed there must be something, but he hadn't stumbled upon it, yet.

"Nah, why do that when there are way better things to work out?"

[skyward_eyes]

"I really did enjoy it," Nida admits. He'd only given it up out of necessity. But that isn't here or there. "I'm not assuming anything about it, though. Would be wrong."

He's not wrong about the better things to work out either. In fact, it makes him laugh.

"Survival is what I'm working on here."

[theirondragon]

"Yeah..." Bull didn't have to remember their time together to know that was true. Bull had confidence in a lot of things, and the bedroom was one of them. "Hey, survival's important, big guy." And he winked. "And comes in a lot of different packages."

[skyward_eyes]

"Damn, I've missed your sense of humor," Nida smirks, shaking his head. The big guy makes him relax in ways he'd forgotten about. And he likes this too. Companionship, even without knowing each other.

"Yeah, you and all your different packages. You're going to fit in here. Just... trust me when I say there are other sorts of demons here, in forms you might not recognize. Be careful about that."

[theirondragon]

And there it was, that puzzle piece he was dreading, but assuming was going to slip into place regardless. Demons. It always had to be demons. And what's better than demons? New ones. He hissed, sucking air between teeth as though the news stung. It sort of did.

"Of course it's demons. It's always demons."

[skyward_eyes]

"The evils of the world are quite like demons, no matter that world," Nida shrugs. "Here, it's in the form of people made of machines. It's horrid."

[theirondragon]

Some of the tension went out of the big man's shoulders at the explanation. Machines who looked like people he could deal with. In fact, he was fairly confident he could figure out how to bring down anything you decided to throw at him if he had enough time to prepare, but demons? Demon got into your head, made you see and hear things that weren't there, could take control of you when you were least expecting it. He'd had enough of demons.

"Oh, okay. You mean 'demons' not 'Demons'." He nodded. "That I can deal with."

[skyward_eyes]

"I know you can. But trusting the authority here? Really bad idea. Thought I'd put it out there early. Encourage more caution when you're snooping around."

Consider it courtesy for his boss.

[theirondragon]

"You mean the people in charge are hiding stuff from us?" He grins, chuckling. If there was a country in which that wasn't the case, Bull had never encountered it. "Thanks, big guy. I'll keep that in mind."