dualislogs | kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Squall is super sure normal cats don't have tentacles stretching out of their mouths. But this orange tabby sure does. One very gross, very large (how does it fit inside the cat??) tentacle that's currently wrapped around Squall's ankle as he half-drags the clingy creature over towards his newly-arrived girlfriend. A couple other cats (a cyclops and one that looks like it was recently electrocuted) seem to have taken to him too as they trail after him.

"I'd worry about spilling them on these... cats." The 'cats' is added rather reluctantly. In the meantime, he's just going to casually rest a hand on the small of Rinoa's back so she doesn't bump into any more people.

He shakes his foot to see if it'll dislodge the cat but nope. Still there. He looks miffed as he wonders if it's actually safe to be in a cat cafe.

Rinoa casts a look over her shoulder toward Squall and for a moment, pauses when she sees his expression. He doesn't appear to be having a good time. And to be fair, the pause in how he calls them is warranted. Strange little things they are, right?

She takes a long drink from her cocoa before she finds words to speak up. And then: "I guess you're right, but somehow I think they could take it. To be fair, I have yet to see any of them go for it, so maybe they don't like chocolate?" Or maybe it's kind of like Angelo where one isn't supposed to be feeding chocolate to animals.

"Let's go sit. You can bring yours with you. I'm sure he just wants some pets!" Leave it to her to have an interest in just petting animals. The initial arrival might have been a strange one, but meeting new faces in a cat cafe? That is super cool.

A cat with tentacles coming out of its mouth is worrying, especially when said tentacle is wrapped around his ankle.

"I don't think they're supposed to eat chocolate..." He still sounds distracted. Another tinier tentacle is casually curling up his shin as the cat (is it still a cat at this point?!) purrs more and snuggles. He hopes he doesn't have to take it home.

He sighs at her suggestion. "Yeah." Sitting sounds good. It's an awkward half-limp half-drag towards an open table while escorting Rinoa. There's been a spiked sense of protectiveness since he ran into her at the dorms. He had clung to her for a while, happy and relieved to see her before he could regain his composure and just talk to her, catch her up on as much as he could. It's only been over a month but he missed her. He didn't even bother hiding that.

In a way her presence here and the time frame she was kidnapped from confirmed the things he'd been told about this multiverse business. He still doesn't trust this city though, for all that it's given him opportunities to catch up with Seifer and Nida (kind of). He's glad she's here but also wishes she isn't because he's not sure he can protect her from everything. It's complicated.

He rests an elbow on the table and leans his face against his open palm, bored with this social event already. His other hand is stretched down beside him to awkwardly scritch at the top of the cat's head. He stills suddenly when something on the wall catches his eyes.

"Your name's on the performer's list..." He looks back at her, confused. She found a job already?

Rinoa could not help but chuckle, witnessing the most difficult task that was him dragging his poor feline friend along. But at least he was coming. Worst case scenario, she could always pick up his little furry companion and give him some snuggles. What cat didn't want a lot of attention? And to be fair, Rinoa had a lot of attention to give, which was probably best considering she otherwise would have spent it all likely nagging Squall in some way.

Honestly, he should have been adopting every tentacle cat for his very over-eager, yet cute, girlfriend.

Once seated, Rinoa wasted no time in burying her face into her cup of cocoa. Yet she came back up for air when Squall addressed her. Peeking over the edge of the porcelain rim to him, she grinned, though it was a bit sheepish. Music never really was her forte, though she supposed she could hum a bar or two.

"Oh, yeah," she began, "That's what I was assigned? Or whatever you want to call it." She paused for a moment, wondering if they knew anything about her past. It might beckon as to how she got into such a position, after all. "I get to entertain the kids here. And the cats. I'm really happy about it. Not... that you seem to like this place much, but that's okay. We can go on dates in other places."

Sometimes Squall wonders if he's the only one with a normal view of the world, or he's surrounded by people with odd taste. Rinoa gets a sour look when he sees her laugh at his predicament. Tentacle cats are distressing. Why can't one of the normal cats latch on to him? Things with tentacles are usually trying to do some variation of killing him!

... which this one doesn't seem to be trying to do (yet) but still.

He blinks and sways when the cat latches on to his wrist and tugs to get him to continue petting its head. He sighs and reluctantly resumes, receiving a loud purr in return. He supposes it's kind of cute.

He tilts his head, his blue eyes wide and oddly expressive as he listens.

"I can come here." He doesn't really like a lot of other places, except the warehouse they're fixing. And if Rinoa is happy in this cafe, then it's good enough for him. "What do you play?" He didn't know Rinoa played any instruments, not that they've had any opportunity to talk about things like that. He can't help but picture her on the piano and a look of confusion crosses his features. Why did he think that? Just because of Laguna's dream with Julia... Oh.

Oh.

Rinoa takes several moments simply to look between the two in a quiet admiration. She's never really asked him what he thought of animals and for the most part, his interaction with the cats at the cafe gives her enough information, she assumes. Although she makes a note to bring it up sometime in the near future. When she really considers it, it's not as though she and Squall know a great deal about one another. With everything that was happening back home, it's not as though they had a lot of time to dive into that. Not that Squall's a complete mystery. Simply predictable over time with his 'old habits die hard' kind of lifestyle.

He's obvious when he wants to be, that is.

His question pierces her thoughts of their shared pasts and for several moments, she simply stares at him. She's no grand musician and she's certainly no Julia. "W-well, it's not as if I've really had any lessons," she begins, trying to fan herself off from the way she's reddening. "I can carry a tune, though. And... I guess I can touch a piano or two. I played a little when I was younger." She looks as though she wants to continue, though when it comes to parsing through a mother's passing, Rinoa seems to define it as a nigh untouchable subject. To her, that's kind of when things began to go downhill between her and her father.

Squall and the others very clearly know that their relationship isn't exactly on the friendliest of terms.

They really don't know much about each other. The downtime offered here (for now) will be interesting to explore but he's prepared to even if it scares him too. If there's anything he learned from his friends during the war, it's to push through his fear of accepting people into his life. Allow someone else to get to know him. And Rinoa already has a place past his defenses.

He senses that pause. Normally he'd just let it slide but it's Rinoa. It's not just about being her knight, he's her boyfriend too. He gets caught by a tentacle when he tries to move his hand, looks momentarily frustrated and resigned before cautiously holding his left hand out to her across the table, palm up. An attempt to be encouraging.

"Julia... right? Laguna used to watch her play every night." He looks miffed after. She knows that. They talked about that, didn't they? Not so much him as Selphie anyway. That girl loves talking about Laguna when she happens to take part in the dream of the past.

She doesn't want to, but she tenses at the mere name. Rinoa, knowing it very well, has never even thought of her mother as simply 'Julia.' And the Julia of Rinoa's memories... Well. It's not something easy for her to talk about. in fact, she's largely tried to avoid discussing it. It wouldn't be the first time she's put on a brave face and while she's often been inclined to be rather transparent with her feelings, avoiding discussion of her mother and how that's impacted her as an individual has been a far more preferable course of action. That Squall is asking...

Rinoa doesn't know what to make of it and she isn't well-versed at hiding her feelings, so even as she's dipping her head and trying to hide, she suspects she's very obvious.

Eying his hand for some moments, Rinoa eventually reaches over and takes it. No, it's not like it's the first time it's come up. It's just that usually Rinoa puts up a pretty firm wall. Julia is kind of... a sacred topic. Or maybe she just hasn't worked through it. "Yeah, she played a lot when I was little. Or maybe she sang more. I... can't really remember as well as I'd like to. I remember her doing both, though. Dad said she could have been famous, but she chose to be with him instead. Maybe he was joking, though."

...A little hard to picture her father having a sense of humour, though.

He can't imagine Caraway smiling, let alone joking. But family is... different, right?

He's relieved when she finally takes his hand. It was starting to feel awkward and he wasn't sure if he should take the hand back. He closes his hand around hers and listens.

"You were really close," he notes carefully. He can guess at what's bothering her but he's not entirely sure what to do about it. The last time someone close to him went away, he became who he is now. He's silent for a while before adding, "it's okay to miss her, you know."

Close. They could have been. If Julia had lived longer. Rinoa's concept of close isn't a particularly good one. She can't even say if she knows what the word means.

Eventually, she simply holds Squall's hand between both of hers. His words reverberate across her insides and echo. Of course it's okay for her to miss her mother. She's never thought otherwise. It's just a little different to show it than it is to simply think it. She's vulnerable about a lot of things, but it's almost like there's a frailty to her when it comes to Julia.

Maybe due to that lack of closure.

"I... know that," she manages to get out, though not easily. "I guess it's just easier not to... talk about it. Not like I've had a lot of time to think about it after everything that's happened. And as a kid, I just didn't understand it. Now that I'm older, I still don't really get it. Wish we could have been together longer. Maybe I'd understand who I am more."

He nods slowly, looking at their hands as he brushes his thumb against hers. Grief. Loss. In a way he's thought about it a lot. Feared it. Even now, he's still scared of it.

"Who you could be if she never left?" His voice is soft, contemplative. He doesn't want to assume but he's not sure if he's saying this right. "You might be a different Rinoa." Maybe she'd never have joined the Timber resistance. She could be a famous pianist and singer like her mother. Who knows.

He sighs. "Sorry. We don't have to talk about this." He's terrible at this.

Rinoa shifts just enough to bring their hands up. Pressing them to her forehead, she ducks down. Perhaps she's trying to hide herself behind them. Perhaps she's fidgeting. She can't really say what encourages her to do such a thing. Only that she does.

His words settle with her, but not pleasantly.

"She didn't leave; She was taken," Rinoa begins, her voice on the cusp of a whisper. "You're right, though. I could be someone entirely different. You and I might never have met, for instance."

Or her and Seifer, which she decides is smarter not to say.

He lets her maneuver his hand however she wants. He's already letting a cat have its way, not that far off to let his girlfriend do the same. He wiggles the tips of his fingers to gently press against her forehead though, trying to comfort.

There's a twitch of tension at the idea of them never meeting. He can't imagine he'd have turned out the same way if that's the case. Hell, he might never have gotten out of D-District Prison.

He's silent for a while. What can he say to this when he himself never dealt with his own issues and fears? He looks at the table. His voice quiet when he speaks.

"I like this Rinoa. She's kind and pushy but she's always there for her friends even though one of them's a jerk. She's not afraid to speak her mind and do the right thing. I think... your mom would be proud of this Rinoa."

Would she? Rinoa wonders for a moment who she's become and how that reflects on her family. Well, her mother, anyway. It seems as if the entire world knows what's become of her and General Caraway. She shakes her head slowly. She's not done anything impressive or left much of a mark on the world save the idea that she freed a horrendous sorceress and then inherited her powers.

Her head tips, not fully convinced by Squall's words and finding the irony in the situation. She's the one oft trying to be encouraging for him. It's not supposed to be the other way around. She eyes him for some time and finally releases a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"I am who I am, that's for certain." She manages to muster up a gentle smile and as her gaze lingers upon him, she squeezes his hand once more before she releases it. "There's no way to know for certain, but this is the life we've both been given. It's how we played the cards anyway ~~all open, same, plus, random~~. At the end of it all, I'm happy that we can be together, Squall. Thank you."

His cheeks pink as he carefully takes his hand back, resting it on the table instead. He really isn't meant to be the encouraging one. She can tell how bad he is at it. It wasn't any better the last handful of times he tried either.

He nods, still somewhat embarrassed when he meets her gaze again but there's a warmth in them too. Reserved for her because she's earned that much in their time together.

"I'll be here... We can figure it out together." There's a long path ahead of them. A lot of uncertainty but it feels manageable if they're together. Though that reminds him... He hasn't told her who else is here, has he?

"There's something I should tell you."

"I'll be here..."

Rinoa warms at the words. It isn't the first time he's said as much. Each time he's said it, it's filled a part of her that she didn't know needed it. This time is no different. In the face of adversity, he will stand with her and provide her strength when she no longer has her own. In hindsight, she can't think of a time anyone has ever offered her that before she met him and the others.

And well. The nameless one that's left her conflicted emotionally.

She nods slowly and tips her head at him, "...What is it, Squall? You can tell me anything."

Rinoa's given him something he never had either. Filling that void he didn't know he wanted filled. He kind of wants to take her hand again. He's not sure when he started getting so sentimental and... clingy, but it's fine if it's with Rinoa right?

"It's... We're not the only ones here from home. There's Nida... and Seifer. They... were in another world before this. Taken like us. And you were there too."

She pauses for some moments. Ah, yes. Her head tips and she nods slowly. "I know."

And after consideration, she practically buries her face in her cup of cocoa. It's easier to focus on the cocoa rather than on him. "I mean—" she begins thoughtfully before she finds her words again. "I met Nida. I knew Nida was here before I knew you were. He's... older than I remember. Explained that there was another... me?"

She shakes her head. Rinoa still doesn't know how she feels about that.

"Rather, he knew a different me. And I... might have run into Seifer. Literally." Another long drink. "...You two getting along?" she asks, words mostly muffled by the porcelain of her cup.

He's going to pretend he's not jealous that Nida found her first. That is an absolutely ridiculous thing to be jealous over. He's definitely not entertaining this random piece of emotion. He also probably should have warned her way earlier about Seifer being here. Oh well.

He's frowning again, more confused than upset.

"I think so." A pause. There's a sense of disbelief as he says. "He cooks dinner for us." Then he shakes his head. "I think we're trying to be friends but it doesn't change what happened in the war."

He means what he himself has not done for Seifer rather than what Seifer's done to him. But of course he doesn't clarify that.

At first, Squall's response doesn't sound particularly promising, but then he continues and Rinoa simply stares at him blankly. "...He cooks?" She can't remember him ever cooking for her. Maybe he cooked for the Other Rinoa.

Still, his words continue and she folds her hands together thoughtfully. "To be expected. None of this is going to get fixed quickly, if at all. If it makes you feel any better, he was tense with me as well. But... we'll work on it."

And she knows Squall and Seifer are just too stubborn to not work on it, too.

Squall shrugs or tries to. He forgot he's still hand-napped by the cat.

"He's... good at it. He'll probably invite you too. He's still a jerk but he keeps trying to take care of us anyway."

He frowns again as she continues and nods in response.

"I know. I think I want to..." He should probably try to resolve that last near-argument he and Seifer had now that this is brought up. He sighs and leans the side of his face against his hand, grumpy. That same crease between his eyebrows she sometimes pokes fun at him for deepening. Why do feelings have to be so difficult? Ugh.

She's seen that look on his face many, many times since they've met. Rinoa eyes him, a bit apologetic. There's a lot to unpack there. Seifer and Squall knew one another as children and while Rinoa knows that bare minimum, she understands there's some things that she can't help either of them with. Squall and Seifer's relationship has to be something she's kept separate from. She understands there's complexities at work there that don't involve her. In the same way that complexities between her and Seifer don't involve Squall.

When she starts thinking about the three of them as people, she comes to realise just how complicated they all really are. And they all have a plethora of emotional baggage, evidently. Rinoa's not exactly proud of that.

"Try not to worry about it too much," she reassures Mr. Grump, doing her best Squall impression, hand pressed against her temple to mirror him. "Give him time. Sounds like you've already started, so it's just one small step after another, right? If he's cooking for you, that's a good direction to be in. If you guys can learn to rely on one another in dire straits, then there's potential for something more." Which is more than she can say in her own situation. She's no combatant. At least, not a very good one. And as long as she can't control her abilities, Seifer has no reason to ever rely on her. She understands she's a liability more than she's an asset.

He's indicated as much that he's not concerned by Rinoa and Seifer's past relationship. How much of that stays true now that Seifer is around them remains to be seen. Things are complicated. There's a lot they're learning about one another. A lot of the past to unravel.

Squall thinks Rinoa has been keeping up just fine. She's not a trained mercenary like they are which just makes it more impressive that she's managed to hold her own. There's room for improvement of course. Squall can rattle off a list of critical improvements she can make.

He blinks when he realizes what she's doing. Confusion turning into more grump as he looks at the wall with a huff. He looks at her out of the corner of his eyes, almost sulky. Almost.

"We'll be fine in a combat situation. It's everything else." He missed out on all the prime socializing stages of his life. It's a lot to learn again. "I don't know how you do it. Talk to people."

His reaction only makes her grin all the more. She loves pushing his buttons. She just can't help it. Somehow she suspects that he'll forgive her. If not within minutes, then surely within days when he finds something else to be sulky and moody over. But that's just the way he is and honestly, for as much as Squall can sometimes irritate her, she's not sure she'd like him if he was anyone other than himself. In those slivers of darkness, she finds a brilliant light.

Maybe he just doesn't always recognise that it's there.

As he continues, she stops mimicking him and simply sits on his words. He thinks she's good with people, hm...? That's a high compliment and she's not sure she agrees. "Mmmwelllll, I just kind of open my mouth and words come out." Smiling again, she clarifies, so he knows she's taking him seriously. "I don't always have a plan. In fact, I never do. I just kind of rattle off whatever's first to come on out. But this also means I... definitely say some wrong things at the very wrong times. Unfortunately." He should know. He's been on the receiving end of that.

Actually, they both have foot-in-mouth syndrome, don't they?

They do when Squall bothers to talk. He's starting to open up more nowadays and it's a strange process. He tries not to think too hard about it. Of course he gets irritated when Rinoa and the others make fun of him but this is how friendship had always worked out for him in his limited experience. Seifer picks on him, Quistis tries to poke him into opening up, Rinoa pressing his buttons, and so on.

He'd miss it if they suddenly stopped.

He turns his full attention to her, looking thoughtful (doesn't he always?) and nodding as she explains.

"No one's perfect." That's why he doesn't like to speak his mind. It's safer when no one knows him, but he can't learn if he doesn't make mistakes. Ugh. "It feels like you know exactly what to say sometimes." Or maybe he really is more predictable than he thinks. "I don't think anyone else has a plan either. Not even the adults."

kitty at my foot and i wanna touch it.

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