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

She tilts her head curiously. "You can't go on a slide?" That seems a bit strange and definitely sad. "Have you ever tried one?" Maybe it won't cause that much adrenaline and he's just being afraid to try things. Or it could be a complete disaster and it could release a monster on everyone.

It was even possible is fear over the Galian beast being released will make the adrenaline release that much worse.

"No. It's...dangerous. I...a scientist performed experiments on me. When...threatened, I transform. I don't have complete control when that happens."

Her brows furrow and she looks at him with quite a bit of concern. "Why did they preform experiments on you? That doesn't seem very nice." Not that people are usually nice. The exact opposite actually, as she'd found out in her own world.

"Can you learn to control it? Maybe I could help!"

He frowned, looking down, crossing his arms. "...We had a disagreement. He shot me, and then he...had a...new specimen."

He shook his head. "I don't know. I've never tried."

"That's not right." But a lot of things weren't right. It's a childish sentiment and she realizes that. Doesn't stop her from expressing it though. She's always one to just say what she thinks, after all. There's a little frown on her face. "I'm sorry, sweets. People shouldn't be experimented on."

There's still a hint of a frown on her face. "We could try together. Not here. A place without so much risk."

"Mmm." It had been some time ago, but the memories still haunted him. He remembered the things Hojo had done to him, in his nightmares, and the guilt that came with it, for his idleness.

"It was my punishment." But he didn't seem intent on expounding on that claim, instead looking over to her in confusion. "What do you suggest?"

"I'm sorry." She takes his hand suddenly and squeezes it gently. There's sympathy in her expression and tone.

"You don't deserve punishment." At least not as far as she was concerned. She tilts her head to one side. "I'm not sure. There's a lot we could try."

He tensed at her touch but didn't withdraw his hand. Instead, he looked down at it, uncertain, confused, and frowned. She was wrong on that, he thought. He did deserve punishment for wall he wrought on the Planet, but that was a moot point not worth debating. Instead, he focused on the other. Could he learn some degree of control?

"...I wouldn't know where to start."

She squeezed his hand gently then pulled away and locked both of her hands behind her back. "Sometimes it's lonely." But she doesn't bother to elaborate on that thought. Instead she quickly flits on. Whether or not it's done on purpose is left up in the air.

"Of course, silly boy. You've never thought about it before. Nobody ever knows where to start until they think on it." Obviously, right?

"Lonely?" Sometimes Arkady spoke in riddles, but he more time he spent with her, living with her, the more he was starting to realize she was simply vague about things he didn't want to discuss more than she was overtly oblique because of any sort of strangeness in her mind.

It was endearing, really, and he was beginning to enjoy her company more than he probably should. "...where do you think I should start?"

"Here. It's lonely here. I've always had Connor and Karl and Kirk and everyone else. They fight, fuck, argue, and most of them didn't know what to do with me after what I did but they were around." And now they're not. So, it's lonely. Very lonely. Usually she wouldn't have elaborated on the statement, but for some reason she found herself a bit more open. Though, there's still a forced smile on her face. It's tinged with a hint of sadness, but still a smile nonetheless.

She moves on from that subject rapidly though, like a gust of wind coming and going. Opening up her own issues and loneliness would be a can of worms that just didn't need to be touched. Besides, Vincent was probably not someone well suited for dealing with the sort of tumultuous feelings she holds towards the way her own life went. He's got enough of his own demons to deal with.

"Start with the thing most simple. What triggers it?"

"After...what you did?" And like the wild, Vincent is swept up in her breeze. The longer he's spent with her, the easier it's been to follow her. He might be quiet and withdrawn but observing people had always been a talent.

"Threat. Stress." He knew what caused the transformation, but he never knew how long it would last or what would fall when it happened.

"It doesn't matter." The brightness in her smile is clearly considerably more forced than it usually is. Out of all the people here she might trust Vincent the most, but that makes it even harder for her to open up. Talking about herself is hard enough when it doesn't also include burdening someone already struggling with their own issues. So, she's dodgy, in a weird effort to not have to cause him anymore strife than what he deals with on his own.

"Ah. Then that's what you start with! Ways to manage stress, right?"

He frowned, concerned, while looking over to her, but didn't give voice to his worry. It was in his eyes, though. 'It matters to me'. But he didn't say it.

"it's...hard, when you're in battle."

"You have enough inside you without other people's stuff." It wasn't hard to pick up on what he was saying without saying. She cheated a bit with her abilities, but the sentiment his expression carried said a lot all on it's own. It was sweet for him to worry. Bittersweet too. Everyone worries back home too. It's strange that she almost finds herself missing that.

"That's why you start small!" She nods enthusiastically and then tilts her head. "Do yoy do battle a lot?

"I'd rather...other peoples'." That came out wrong and he frowns in frustration before shaking his head.

"How?"

"Not mine." A bit of sadness crept but she pushes it away and moves on quickly, maybe a bit too quickly.

"Small situations you wouldn't usually do that make you kinda uncomfortable maybe?"

"Maybe." Normally he just avoided things that made him uncomfortable, but not at a risk of releasing the beast inside of him.

they show you how to swim

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