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

[blitzcheer]

A little later, that might be impressive, once Tidus considers the force and power necessary to pull that off. Right then? It looks like what someone could do with a blitzball, and you couldn't have given Tidus a better offer with the tools they have.

The blitz ace's grin is the last thing on his face before he dives, calculating the ball's projected drop zone, how fast he'll need to swim to get there all the while swimming. And he'll need to be fast: passing the volleyball to and fro gave him a good idea of its weight, and so it's his training that'll need to work for him here.

The ball is beginning to show the end of its curve downward when a splash emerges, a wall of water kicking up before the body in it can properly be made out, using his body itself to catch it, but an arm wrapping around it before both he and the ball disappear back inside. There's a bob, like something—or a someone—might come back up as a person is usually one to do in those situations.

But there's nothing—not until the ball comes out sharply with a splash, going up, but falling back down into the water to be knocked back out a second time, and a third. It's a test, before Tidus is sure enough to send it upwards a good height (nothing close to Zack's, but still a feat) to then have a foot come out to meet it, sending it flying in Zack's location.



and what a good thing that Zack isn't quite your average human.

[legacy_blade]

Damn good thing that Zack wasn't the average human. His reflexes were sharp, so he had more than enough to account for how fast the thing was coming. So it was that he was close enough to knock the thing up in the air, getting it to bounce just enough for him to set himself under the ball and give it just a bit of a bounce. Just enough for it to barely cross over into what Zack had decided was Tidus's side of the game. First rule, make the opponent use more energy than you do.

[blitzcheer]

It's really not as cool if Zack doesn't make it fly, but that's not going to stop Tidus going for the ball, the attempts to eat at his stamina for the time fairly appreciated, all the things considered: the guy loves to move, and he wasn't getting this with some basic back and forth.

He goes for the ball with his entire body, ready to catch it with arms and his chest when it comes down, flipping off his back and be straightening in the water. Deliberates their close proximity now, how to approach: gives its a bounce into the air and—

it hits the water before his hand readying can do anything.

Oops. Look, blitzballs aren't this heavy, alright. How ever Zack may want to acknowledge that, the second time will go off better, with the ball aimed in the same off-course Zack had provided Tidus with, a hefty speed to it again.

[legacy_blade]

Oh yeah, well, Zack's snickering. Quite a bit. Because come on, that was absolutely funny, the way he floundered like that. Pretty sure Tidus would chuckle if he was in a reversed position. Laughter, after all, is the joy of life.

He happily reaches up to his the thing back and barely misses it, just fingertips short. Oh well, sometimes they all make mistakes. Which in this case means him splashing off through the water to retrieve the thing.

"Good job!"