they show you how to swim

[headandhand]

WHO: All Dualizens, old and new
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Dualis Oasis
WHEN: Nov. 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?!

The weather outside may be taking a turn toward chilly, but you can still get your swim on during this month’s NAPs, held at the Dualis Oasis, an indoor temperature-controlled aquatic amusement park with giant slides, swimming pools, and lazy winding float rivers. Appropriate swimming gear is required for entry to this part of the park, but there are a number of shops just outside that will gladly sell you swimwear and accessories.

For those of you who wish to avoid a humid environment or just hate fun, a dehumidified lounge and restaurant offer quieter, dryer spaces for chatting and snacking. The actual speed-friending itself is in progress here, but you’re welcome to stick around and continue conversations with your new friends.

So c’mon, what are you waiting for? Just dive right in for fun and friendship - the water’s fine, fine, fine, just like everything else in this fair city. But hey, remember to play safe. No running!

Comments

[final7thheaven]

Even though it hasn't been that long since Tifa last saw Aerith, it feels like years. Ages, a lifetime or ten. Surprise colors Tifa's face as Aerith launches herself at her friend and only a second passes before Tifa's arms wrap tightly around Aerith in turn. This has to be real. It has to be. Tifa doesn't know how, just that it is, the person in her arms is real and solid and breathing despite any scars that may or may not be visible, and Tifa is so, so grateful.

In all honesty, Tifa hadn't known Aerith was here. She'd known about Zack, even though they haven't had much of a chance to talk yet with everything going on. If she'd had some kind of warning about Aerith... well, no, she probably wouldn't be any more likely to handle it than she is. And despite being a strong woman, both physically and emotionally, despite not being prone to tears, Aerith's appearance has brought forth a few big tears that drip down Tifa's cheeks. Thank goodness she can hide them in her hair and the fact that she's already a bit water-logged.

There are so many things she wants to say, so many apologies that just feel flat against the back of her throat. "How could I not?" she manages to force out after a few long, hard seconds of just breathing so she won't burst into tears like she had at the City of the Ancients. And Aerith's words do at least confirm a few things for Tifa, letting them at least keep some honesty between them. "I've missed you. We all have, but..."

It was different between them. The only other woman in their group was Yuffie and for all that she was useful and had a good heart underneath all the materia kleptomania, Yuffie wasn't the same. She didn't have that bond that Tifa had shared with Aerith.

[floweroftheslums]

Aerith's hug isn't quite as strong as Tifa's—how could it be?—but it's as strong as she can manage. She'd wanted to apologize every step of the way towards the Forgotten Capital of the Cetra, to turn around and tell the rest of the group just what she was doing and to let them help her.

However, she'd known that if she did that, she would have been too frightened or they would have tried to stop her. Or, even worse, things still would have happened the way they did and it would do nothing but cause her friends to feel guilty about something that Aerith always knew was a possibility. That's something she never wanted to ever happen. Ever.

"Well..." Her voice is light as she pulls back from the hug with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes as she attempts to bring Tifa away from the self-recrimination she might be feeling. "I know that I'm pretty amazing, but I did leave you all and didn't tell you where I was going. You could've needed time to adjust to that."

It's half the truth and half teasing because that's what she does. The mention of missing her hurts Aerith and her smile slips before she shakes her head and replaces her smile. "We're both here now, so that's all that matters, right? And Cloud and Zack are here as well. I could think of a million worse things than that."

A pause.

"Like being kidnapped by Don Corneo again."

[final7thheaven]

Tifa can't put her finger on just what does it, what part of this situation and the words Aerith says that pops the balloon of guilt and grief that had welled up in her chest from the moment she spotted her friend. Maybe it's just hearing Aerith be the one to comfort Tifa. Maybe it's Aerith's confidence, something a part of Tifa has always admired. Or maybe it's just thinking about Don Corneo and everything that had happened just during that particular incident.

Whatever it is, Tifa manages a watery smile and an equally watery laugh, reaching up to brush away the tears that keep finding their way out of her eyes. Aerith's right, though. They have time to figure all of this out and Tifa has to be a better friend this time around.

"Oh please no," she says, still smiling. "I don't want to go through that again."

No one wants to go through that again and honestly, part of the reason Tifa wants to fight Shinra now is to shut down horrible people like him. She had known what she was getting into that day, but some young girls don't and no one, no one, deserves to go through that.

But speaking of Cloud and Zack...

"Has anyone told you about our memories yet?" she asks, thinking that this is the single most important thing she can tell her friend. Undoubtedly, Aerith has gone through the general welcoming speech and probably gotten a lot of world info from Cloud and Zack. But Tifa feels obligated to warn her about the rest. "Some of our memories don't match up with each other. Mine and Cloud's, for instance. He doesn't remember anything after the Temple of the Ancients. Vincent remembers years after Meteorfall. And Sephiroth doesn't even know about Nibelheim. He doesn't remember what he did then. Everything's so jumbled. I just... thought you should know."

All of these mixed up and missing memories are doing nothing to bolster Tifa's conviction about her own memories. She has a hard enough time reconciling Cloud's memories of the Nibelheim incident with her own. All of this just makes that a thousand times worse.