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

[pretendtoneedme]

You know, at this point, he's not even going to blink at a teleporting cat in those colors. Normally that would get him to do a small double-take, but fuck it, right now he's got Wanda again and that's the best news he's had in close to a month. The one great thing about house arrest was being able to be with his family for two solid years, but it had come with a separation from his friends and other parts of his family, namely Nat and Wanda. Not having any of them here now... well, in short, that really sucked.

But now there's someone and Clint sighs heavily in relief as he hugs her, ignoring the kitten hissing at him (he's had too many animals get pissed off at him invading their space during missions to care at this point). The hug is tight and obviously means a lot to him, and she'd know why, but eventually they had to pull back and say actual words.

"Did you just get here? I haven't seen you in the dorms or on the network." And he's pretty sure he would've caught wind of her one way or another if she'd been around for any length of time. Still. At her own question, though, a look of mild confusion spreads over his face, meeting her eyes and clearly not hiding anything from her. "What village?"

[minus1twin]

Wanda gently shook her head. "I'll explain it later." If he didn't remember then it wasn't important. She'd eventually tell him everything she could remember. Clint wasn't someone she purposely kept things from but that was all in the past and Wanda wanted to focus on their future and whatever that might bring.

"I arrived a few days ago. I live in room 504. I was getting a job and trying to get my barrings." This was the first time that Wanda had actively gone out with the intention of seeing who else had been brought here. It had taken her time to adjust and time to remember everything between the sadness of Earth and the chaos of memories that had flooded back to her from the village.

"I'm sorry I didn't try and find you sooner." She hadn't known that he was here but it wasn't really a surprise. Clint was always there for her... in one way or another.

[pretendtoneedme]

He didn't remember, no, but at the moment that didn't matter. Nothing matters, really, other than the fact that Wanda is there, and in one piece, and all the ridiculously amazing things that means. Considering how many people were around that knew his name but seemed to have an overall negative opinion of him, even though he wasn't the guy they knew, it was a huge relief to have someone around who knew him and who he trusted to watch his back without hesitation.

"504? You're next to me, then." His hands move to her shoulders as he grins a little; she'd know all too well that he'd of course been suspicious of the empty room next to his, but he didn't have the tech to be able to break in and search it. Having Wanda next to him relieves at least part of his paranoia (although, granted, not a huge part). "It's just me, though. Cooper, Lila, Nate... Laura... they didn't come over." Clint's face falls as he makes that statement; he's used to missing his family, but he's also used to being able to go home to them and knowing more or less when he'll get to see them again. Being in this strange place without them, after two years of happily and very firmly being stuck with them, is definitely not any kind of a picnic for him. Only the thought of getting through whatever the Head's plan is and getting out is stopping him from going rogue and trying to destroy everything.

"It's okay. You had to get your feet under you, and you're here now. Wish you weren't, but I wish I wasn't, too." Clint's been studying her since he pulled back, and even being distracted by thoughts of missing his family, Wanda would know that look on his face. It's that look of concentration and focus, the look that picks up every detail and catalogues it for later, the one that doesn't appear nearly as penetrating as it really is. He hasn't seen her for a year, and so she's getting the full force of it. "You look tired."

[minus1twin]

Wanda met his smile with one of her own. This was Clint but before the snap or perhaps right after it had happened. He wasn't scared by the years of being without his family or those he loved. If it was up to her, she'd never let Clint remember more. Wanda didn't want him to feel the pain of losing his closest friend.

"I am." She spoke softly and exhaled a breath to keep herself steady. "I'm so happy you're here." It was selfish but Wanda didn't care. She had part of her family here and that was all that she needed. Even if it meant carrying the weight of painful memories alone. "It's alright." Her voice tightened and it took her a moment to finish her thought. "We'll get you back to them or find a way to bring them here. I won't let you be without your family." Wanda felt the tears gather in her eyes but she didn't let them fall. Clint would have no context for the loss she felt.

"Sorry." She placed a finger to her cheeks to try and stop herself from getting overly emotional. "It's been a long day. Um..." Wanda's lips pressed together. "I have a lot I want to tell you." Nothing concerning home but the village and she wanted to tell him about both Tommy and Billy.

"I have son's." Wanda smiled after she said this and waved a hand. "They are both here. I'd like you to meet them. They aren't mine exactly. They're from another universe but... their family." It didn't matter what iteration of Clint this was, he understood what family meant to Wanda.

[pretendtoneedme]

It's not alright is his initial reaction, and he opens his mouth to say that, but he's cut off by her insisting that they'd get him back to them. Watching her with that very clear "no more bullshit" look on his face that she's well aware of, Clint brings a hand up to her chin to tilt it up to face him. "If I go, you're coming with me. No arguments," he immediately says, because he knows she's going to try and protest it somehow. "Laura'd be angry if I left you here, and you and I both know that getting her angry is a really bad thing. Not to mention how Cooper and Lila'd react if I told them I found you and didn't bring you home for a visit."

The farmhouse hadn't quite become home to Wanda like it had to Nat, since Wanda had been to it many fewer times over a much shorter time, but she knew it was always available to her as a home if she ever needed it, and Clint knew very well how much his family loved her. She needed a place to just let everything go and be herself, have a good bed and a roof over her head and enough food and not being required to wake up and save the world any day. It was the least he could do for her after everything she'd been through, and his family had jumped to help her in the same way without his even having to ask.

Still. He was not prepared for the comment about sons, and it showed as his face quickly went utterly baffled, and then carefully blank. As she continues, though, things start to make... at least a little more sense. "One of the kids here, he talked about the alternate universe thing. Sounds like he knows a... 'me' from his home. So it's probably the same thing. You already met them somewhere? How?"

[minus1twin]

"Yes. It was a village like this but primitive. You had taught me to use a bow, hunt and carpentry there." She pressed her lips together in a smile. "No matter where I go or what you remember, you are always yourself Clint. I will share it all with you in time." It was years so it wasn't exactly something she could recount all right now.

"But let's go somewhere else to talk. Do you mind stepping away from this?" She knew that he had arrived with a friend and she didn't want to pull him away when she knew that they likely wouldn't be coming back. There were other things she wanted to ask Clint about but this wasn't the place.