sheets all on the floor just like an ocean ...

[headandhand]

WHO: All y’all!
WHAT: Your regularly scheduled NAPs event for the month
WHERE: Fort Pillowtown
WHEN: Oct. 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?!

This month’s event is held at a new, super-comfy all-ages establishment called Fort Pillowtown. As the name suggests, it’s a large indoor space filled wall to wall with permanent pillowforts. There are a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors, with each individual fort constructed of gauzy hanging sheets, strings of soft lights, warm blankets, plush toys, a mini television with on-screen menu for choosing movies to watch and video games to play, and yes, lots and lots of pillows. Snacks and drinks of all sorts are available for purchase, as are whimsical onesies and comfy slippers to wear. Board and card game sets are also available to borrow or buy. Sounds like a dream, right?

So pull up a pillow pile, get to know your new neighbors, and enjoy a well-earned and comfy chill-out session. And hey, if you end up napping at NAPs, rest assured that it’s absolutely allowed.

Comments

[hellofishies]

Maybe they'll just send us back then? [ There's a clear hopeful quality to her voice. It would be nice if they just realized this was a stupid plan and just sent everyone back. Unlikely. But nice. ]

Or maybe the data won't be garbage? [ Also unlikely. Arkady couldn't imagine how this kind of data could be useful at all. Especially not for what the Head seemed to want. ]

[bravers]

Maybe. [That's not exactly what he's thinking. And certainly his experience. Instead...] Or they'll get rid of us and get some new samples. I don't know enough about it to say for sure.

[His experience in this kind of thing is limited. He's sure as hell not going to say it- not to a complete stranger, most certainly- but he's got experience. Four years worth, but the Head... It's different to the hack of a human scientist Hojo had been. Isn't it?

...It's similar, actually. And that thought's kind of disconcerting.]

...What's your name? I haven't seen you around much.

[hellofishies]

I'd like to hope for sending us back rather than just getting rid of us. [ That's a much more negative view than she wants to have right now. Not that the thought hasn't occurred to her. She's had thoughts like that before. They didn't go anywhere good. They lead to fear and fear leads to mistakes.

It's frustrating being somewhere against her will again. But it's not a frustration she'll readily share with people. It's hers to keep. ]

Arkady. [ She smiles. ] I haven't been here too long. [ And she's not that great at making new friends. It's been a long time since she's really had the opportunity to. ]

[bravers]

They'll go with whatever's easier- disposal or relocation. They're machines.

[If anything, that's the single thing about all of this that he's confident in. And the one thing his own skirmishes with a number of machines back on his world had taught him. Machines don't care about ethics- they don't get dissuaded, and they don't run. Hence the Shinra's weapons department getting the funding they got after their (mostly) human SOLDIERs abandoned them, or ran.

They follow their programming. Nothing else. And that's usually the most efficient action to take. Nothing else. He lowers his eyes at the thought- raising them when she says her name.]

Cloud.

[He returns, keeping his eyes on her. He's not exactly one to trust. Not easily. But he's seen her around before this particular session. Never spoken to her, sure. But she's distinctive-looking enough for him to have noticed her.

...And she doesn't seem terrible. He's mostly kept himself to himself out of lack of trust for anyone he didn't know (and a complete lack of trust in some faces he knew) but...

She seems okay.
So.]

...Keep your head down. None of us know what they really want. Any of them.

[hellofishies]

Machines that have a purpose. So maybe they can feel and think too. [ But she really has no idea. Maybe it's just optimism to think they might have more to them than just programming. Robots aren't something she's got too much experience with though. ]

Cloud. I like the name! It's like thinking about a nice day where you lay on your back and make stories about the clouds. [ Which is a nice fun thing to think about. Surely it must mean that somewhere inside him he's nice and fun too. Maybe.

Or the name doesn't represent anything. Who knows. ]

You don't trust they only want what they've told us? [ Does anyone trust that? She hopes not. It would be very naive if they did. ]

[bravers]

You think so?

[That. sounds weird. But it's not exactly something that could be impossible. This place is hundreds of years ahead of anything he'd ever seen after all- the logic applied to the machines the Shinra came to rely on could be the same as logic applied from the earliest humans to them. It's flimsy, unreliable. But it's all he's got to go on. And flimsy and unreliable is better than nothing.

...Plus, there's what he saw some months ago. Something capable of thinking and feeling would've done something different when looking at its creator, wouldn't it?

He... doesn't know. He pauses, his eyes turning to the panel of the small TV in the fort- before returning. Arkady's cheerful tone completely disrupts the darkness that's loomed into his thoughts.]

Most people make jokes. Like they're the first person to think it's a weird name.

[Something which he's found more irritating than the joke, to be honest. But.]

Does 'Arkady' mean anything? In your world?

[Her last statement makes him withdraw a little, again and he moves his forearms to the tops of his knees, raising his head to examine them as he speaks.]

Nope. One learned from people, the other group are people. I learned in my world that's usually the problem.

[Wow. Misantropic, much? That's probably better clarified.]

... Not everyone's untrustworthy. Just most of them. [That'll do.] Here's... probably not the best place to talk about that. All of this is monitored.

[hellofishies]

Think? Probably. Feel? I don't know. Maybe I'll see. [ And that settles that idea. If she gets a chance she'll see if they can feel. Or try to. Maybe it's not the best idea, or the safest one, but it's an idea. One that may give her some answers to the strangeness of this place. Or it may give her nothing. But testing things is what she's supposed to do. It's all she's really good at doing.

She frowns and tilts her head slightly. ] Cloud isn't a funny name. It's a nice name. Kolfinnia Kokokoho is a funny name. [ A tiny smile breaks the corners of her mouth. KK would try to kill her if she knew she's told someone that name. Luckily she's not here and will never know!

The question he asks about her own name gets an actual laugh out of her. ] That my parents were hippies that did too many drugs. [ She grins. ] It means from Arcadia, a land of peace.

[ When he withdraws she hesitantly reaches out to put a hand on his arm. ] Groups of people are usually the problem. [ Her voice is gentle with a slightly sad quality to it. People always became infinitely worse when they were in groups. ] Some individual people aren't so bad though! [ She continues to smile a bit sadly. ] And sometimes the people who aren't trustworthy are just a bit messed up themselves. [ And sometimes people are just bad. That she knows all too well. But she tries to focus on the more positive side of things. Someone has to be the optimist. Or at least seem like one.

She shrugs and gives a nod. ] We're probably monitored a lot. We're subjects, not guests. [ And that actually does bother her. But she tries to not let it show too much on her face. Maybe all they really are is just ants in a big human ant farm. ]

[bravers]

[Kol... what? His face changes expression, finally, from a pensive look to faint astonishment. Yeah. That's an unfortunate name. Arkady's smile is somewhat infectious, so he turns his eyes away before he finds himself imitating it.

...He's still guarded, of course. Even if Arkady's manner is certainly easy, open, honest. Even funny. She... actually seems nice, too. But he's still guarded. At the very least, a light breath escapes him- if only to signify amusement. Especially at the comment about her name.

But that hand. Even though she hesitates, he still pulls his arm away. It's instinct.]

...Groups are worse, yeah. But some individuals can be just as bad. Groups only give them power, but without them, they're not harmless.

[Sephiroth, Hojo. There's a few people that fit that. But.]

Yeah. But these things aren't for learning peoples' favourite colours, or drinks. Or meaningless things like that. They can't be.

[hellofishies]

[ She pulls her hand back when he pulls away and folds them across her chest. There's still a smile on her face even though she feels a bit bad for making him pull away. ]

Sorry. [ Her voice stays low and shrugs a shoulder at his comments. ] It's dangerous to think anyone is ever completely harmless. But maybe it's also dangerous to think the opposite too. [ When people start thinking everyone is bad then they get very paranoid and then everything gets muddy. ]

It could be about our favorite things. It all depends on why they want to know about us. And what we're really subjects of.