dualislogs | they show you how to swim

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!

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Vincent rolled his shoulders in a brief shrug, unmoved really. Their differing opinions on resorts had no leasting meaning.

"Alright." Maybe his world had never tapped into the lifesblood of their planet. "Do you use fossil fuels?"

It really didn't, and someone who was willing to take a difference of opinion and let it slide was absolutely valuable.

"Fossil fuels? That's, uh, like gasoline and the like? Yeah, my world uses that. Some places use magical energy, some use solar or wind or water energy. But over some periods of time it's fossil fuels. How else is a car gonna work?"

"Electricity." He shrugged again. "I...used to work for a power company. They used giant reactors to pull life energy from deep within the planet and convert it to usable power. It nearly destroyed the world. I wouldn't recommend it."

Life energy from the what now? Nida's definitely looking at that concept in horror. He can beyond see the inherent issues of the thing as soon as 'life energy' is stated. That's sick.

"Yeah, that's totally not cool. At all. Evil, even."

"It was only a legend...until it proved to be true." He nodded his agreement. It certainly wasn't something he could argue with. "Now the reactors have been shut down and...we're rebuilding."

"Rebuilding is a painful process. Because part of it always seems to be putting to rest those things you once loved and now can't have back. Still, it's vital for the process of moving on I suppose."

And he wants to move on, his world needs it to.

"It is, and we do nothing but find more ghosts." What were you supposed to do when everywhere you turned, more of Shinra's sins reared their heads?

"Ghosts?" The stories of them exist in Nida's world, but it isn't really something they've ever had to worry about. "You mean, like, for real ghosts? Semi-transparent and all that?"

He releases a sharp exhale of breath which, if the very slight rueful smirk was any indication, must have been an attempt at a scoff. "No, but the Shinra left a lasting mark on everything they touched."

Nope, that rueful smirk isn't indication enough that it's a scoff. Which makes Nida a bit disappointed. He was hoping some world really had those. It would be really cool. But sometimes you have to adjust to what you have and live with it.

"The Shinra? I'm guessing that's something associated with that power company you mentioned. I'm just trying to figure out if it's a nation that the company is in, a group of people behind it, or the company name itself."

Clearly one of those three. And he's curious about the rest of it.

"Everything they touched? They did more than just power and apparently vehicles?"

"Effectively, Shinra Inc controls everything, from the economy to the political infrastructure." He nods. "And yes. Originally, they were a weapons manufacturer."

That makes Nida go a bit pale. Sure, he doesn't interact with the real outside world all the time. But he GETS how bad that is.

"I hope someone blew it up."

Because if not, he's scared for Vincent's world.

"Their roots run deep." Deeper than they'd realized. "The Planet tried, but there was more." And now, trapped here, he can't stop them. His only comfort is he's brought with him the very thing they need. Chaos.

"There always seems to be more," Nida agrees, a sick sort og fatigue in his voice.

There is always new darkness, new pain, new people seeking to tear everything apart.

"Some people just want to watch the world burn I think."

"Yes." Vincent nodded. It sounded like a joke, but it was truer than anyone ever gave it credit for. "Some are made to desire it, others are born."

Born to burn the world? How is that even possible? That seems... sick. Then again, there was the whole group of people no his world that were like that. Some Sorceresses seemed born for it.

But what was the truth?

He knew enough that weren't like that.

"I think the ones who are made to are the more destructive."

"And then there are those who are born with power beyond understanding, who learn the truth too late, and desire destruction out of rage and betrayal."

They, Vincent thought, were the most dangerous of all.

That, Nida frowns, sounds a bit like Vincent has direct experience. Is that possible? How strange. And it almost sounds like a Sorceress. Well, the evil ones of the near past. Except they gained their powers beyond understanding. Interesting.

"Something bad happened in your life in relation to such a thing?"

Such a simplistic way of defining the subject. What had occurred with Sephiroth was beyond such simple definitions, of course, but to really get into any sort of detail about it, he'd have to tell the story of his planet. He didn't want to bore the man.

Instead, after a moment, he nodded. "Mmm. And he nearly destroyed the world. The Planet itself defeated his plan."

That the planet could fight was an interesting thought, and Nida tilted his head at that.

"That life energy stuff? Does that meant he planet itself is sentient, to be able to fight back?"

"It's...the Planet is everyone, and all life. The Lifestream flows through it, and becomes us, and we return to it when we die. In a way, it isn't that the Planet itself is alive, but that we are the planet."

Wow. That's... That's beautiful. If his world was like that, well, he might not fear things nearly so deeply as he did sometimes.

"That's a spirituality I could get behind. Makes me feel warm inside."

He'd never really thought of it as something beautiful, really. It just...was.

"How do you know that isn't the truth?"

"That it isn't the truth for your world, or for mine? Because it isn't at all in line with the god that created our world. The god we had to kill."

Being at war with your own god was a bit of a mess.

"It could be. Gods are...simply being more powerful than ourselves. There are many such beings in my own world." And many facets of reality.

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skyward_eyes - 2019-12-27 16:15 (UTC) - Expand

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