kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

[headandhand]

WHO: Open to all residents
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: The RoCocoa Cat Cafe
WHEN: Aug. 10-14
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, 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?!

This month’s event is held at the brand new RoCocoa Cat Cafe, a sparkly new establishment that caters to children and the young at heart with iced and hot cocoa drinks of all kinds, delicious pastries, age-appropriate live music, and of course many friendly kitties who love to lounge in laps. The cats are of all shapes, sizes, and colors, including some who may look a little different from what you expect, or may look like an ordinary cat but are actually anything but ordinary underneath that adorable fur coat. All cats in the cafe are adoptable, too, if you meet a new furry friend and just can’t bear to go home without them!

So pull up a chair, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a sugary treat or two with the resident furbabies. You might just meet your new two- or four-legged best friend!

Comments

[silentnarration]

"Reality's not that pretty." Seifer proves that. And if Cid and Edea's relationship sounds like a storybook, then they probably prove it too.

"I just want to walk my own path." Not what someone else tells him. Not what 'fate' decided for him. Though with Nida from the future, he's not really sure that's possible.

He blinks at her reaction. He really meant for it to be a compliment, kind of. He's said some things that sounds a lot like how she'd say it. He's not too sure if that's her rubbing off him or just a part of his personality that he never allowed to come out.

He shrugs, his half-smile still there. He'll never admit when he's joking at least.

"Maybe. I've done a lot of reckless things since I met you."

[etherealsage]

There are sobering words there. Reality's not that pretty. Rinoa knows he's right, but saying that is hard. Of course she wants to believe things are and were better than the truth of the situation. Is that adamant optimism or just plain foolishness? Quite possibly a bit of both, actually. She won't be admitting it aloud anytime soon, but... She can at least concede on the inside that Squall's brutal way of looking at the world isn't necessarily an inaccurate one. It just seems so much worse to perceive it that way.

She nods slowly, turning his words over in his head. And when he makes mention of his own reckless demeanour, she can't help but smile. That's true. He's definitely done some dangerous things. To get to her. To help her. To save her. A lot of things that have been less about logic and reasoning, and more about feelings. Rinoa eyes him with a quiet and transparent appreciation. Maybe it's never really dawned on her how much he's done for her. Maybe she should be more thankful for that.

"That's not untrue. Might be a bad habit to pick up, though," she jokes gently. "The world can barely handle one Rinoa. What do you think they'd do with two?"

[silentnarration]

It's a very thin line between pessimistic and realistic.

He huffs and ducks his head. Smiling? Definitely still smiling. He didn't have time to appreciate how much his feelings for Rinoa had grown. They had a little time after he recovered from time compression and at the party. But...

"I don't know but they won't be able to stop us."

Because he will cut down anyone who tries to take her this time, even if it means fighting Esthar.

[etherealsage]

There's something about him, then. Something that Rinoa can see, but can't fully understand. She's good with intuition a chunk of the time, but it isn't foolproof. When it comes to Squall, she's still figuring him out. What makes him tick. What drives him. What kind of individual he is. And what the real Squall is like underneath the past that caused him to close himself off to the rest of the world. It's going to be a long journey, but she suspects it will be worth every tooth-pulling effort.

After a moment, Rinoa grins. Grandly.

"Yeah. That's right. They won't stop us." She shakes her head, straightening her posture a bit, and admittedly feeling a bit more confidence fill her veins. "I won't let them." And then a moment later, and she softens ever in slight. "I'm so happy you're here." Not that he has to suffer, but she's thankful she has him. Others haven't been half as fortunate. She truly is blessed.

[silentnarration]

The grin makes something... light fill his chest. A warm sappy feeling he really isn't familiar with at all, a little scary but nice all the same. His smile is interrupted briefly when he remembers the cat is still on him and, instead of letting it have its way this time, he picks it up into his lap so he can lean forward easier. Reach out and... he hesitates, uncertain what to do before he carefully brushes her hair aside.

"Me too."

And he is. He really is. If the way he hugged her and wouldn't leave her side when she arrived is any indication. He's scared for her but Rinoa managed to keep up with trained mercenaries in their fight to save the world, even if she got into trouble a lot, needed Squall's help a lot. She's has the strength to have his back and, for once, he's willing to rely on that.