dualislogs | they show you how to swim

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sounds like a smart person," Zack grins at her. "Because, you know, my dream growing up was to be a hero."

Had he managed it? Zack frowns briefly as he considers his final act. And then he lets it go. Just smiles again. Because this place deserves happiness and cheer for now.

But the offer of friendship has Zack offering his hand out. "It would be my pleasure to be your friend Miss Aqua. Especially if I'm continuing a great legacy."

It's all so familiar that Aqua half expects him to ask her out right here and now. Thankfully, he doesn't and she doesn't have to come up with an excuse on the fly like last time.

Aqua shifts on the floating raft and nearly loses her balance on the water. She manages to stay upright long enough to shake his hand, her grip firm, but the motion does finally turn the raft over on her and dump her into the water. She sputters when she finally reemerges, pushing her blue hair out of her face again. Just her luck. Grabbing the inner tube before it floats off without her, she manages to use her normal High Jump to push off from the bottom of the river and propel herself high enough to land back on the inner tube. It's somehow graceful, even if she has to shift a bit more to make sure she doesn't just flip right back over.

"I think being a hero is something you just have to keep striving for your whole life," she continues, like nothing happened at all. "It isn't a goal post you reach, but a state of being and a way to live. As long as you keep trying, you'll be one."

Oh, something happened. A lot of something happened. Through all of which Zack is trying, very hard, not to laugh. He loses it when she lands back on the intertube with no issues. That... that was more than he knew how to handle. And it's wonderful. She deserves applause, and he gives her a brief one.

"I definitely strived for it my whole life."

Now isn't that an interesting statement to make.

She might be just a touch embarrassed as she finally gets herself settled on the raft again. Her cheeks sure are on fire and she tries to gaze down at the water until her face stops feeling like it's going to explode on her.

"That's all you can do," she finally responds. She does take notice of how he worded his answer, but isn't sure if that's something she should comment on or let it be. "One of my friends had a hard time with it, but I think it's one of those things you can't say you are. You just... act it and work hard at it and even if no one ever says 'you're a hero,' you'll know you are one just because of how much good you do. Or even try to do."

She lets out a soft sigh, trying not to remember how she treated Terra when he was suffering and reaching out to her. She has the title, but after what happened... can she really call herself a Master? Can she ever call herself a hero after all of her failures?

"What I'm trying to say is that as long as you try, that's what matters."

Maybe she needs to hear it as much as say it.

"Does it help when the guy whose life I died to save sorta seems like he's going on to save my whole world? I feel like I should get bonus points."

Not that he sees it like that. But who else but Cloud could really manage to save the world? He believes in his little friend in that specific field of achievement. Cloud just kept proving himself to Zack, and it was shocking at every turn. Sure, he'd always assumed his friend was a talent waiting to be discovered. But he hadn't thought it would happen so soon.

Aqua's face falls at that very obvious phrase. Zack died? How upsetting. Her mind immediately jumps to Terra. In a way, that's what she did to save Terra by throwing herself into the Realm of Darkness, but that hadn't been permanent. Not like death.

"I think it does," she says quietly, barely managing to hold onto her emotions. "I think saving anyone's life gives you a step up towards that goal." She pauses for a few seconds and then offers, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a hard topic."

Edited 2019-11-23 02:16 (UTC)

Dying seems to be a thing that Zacks do. Hopefully for good causes. Definitely a good one in this life time.

"Well, I'm glad it's a step. Maybe I'll make more steps here," he offers with a wide smile. Bright and happy and positive. Even death couldn't get him down. In fact, he tilts his head curiously at her. "It's not really a hard topic. I returned to the Lifestream. Which means I'll get reincarnated into something. Hopefully something nice. Well, I guess I can't right now, but this place is good too. My friend Cloud is here. The one I saved. So I can see how he's grown since then."

And it's a good thing, to see him walking and talking and thinking. That means more to Zack than anything else.

"Is that what happens on your world when a person dies?" Aqua asks carefully. "They get... reincarnated?"

That is definitely not something that happens in her world or universe. People die and their hearts disappear. Or they give their hearts to someone else and live on that way. It's all a little complicated and definitely not what Aqua thought she would be talking about today. It does, of course, make her think of the Master and that brings her mood down just a little bit, for all that she tries to hide it.

"I'm glad you have your friend at least. Having friendly faces does help."

Oh man, the Lifestream is a hard thing to explain apparently. Other people from other worlds don't seem to have the same thing, do they? Then again, he hadn't believe it either until he'd seen it.

"Yeah. So, like, the energy of our planet is like. That. Flows in EVERYTHING. So when a thing dies, well, it returns to that flow. The Planet learns, it lives, and when we're ready, we move on. Maybe part of us, maybe all of us. But we are the way our planet learns."

And it's beautiful. Which Zack only realized after he died.

"But yeah. My friend is here. My girlfriend too. Other people as well."

they show you how to swim

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