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

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Excuse you, Squall was more than convinced it was Seifer's fault they were stuck in onesies. He shrugged at the yell.]

Not my fault [(you suck)].

[He plops down next to Seifer, frowns and has to shift to pull that stupid moomba tail out from under him. And also push the hood back up. How do people see in these things?]

You distracted me. [He sucks.]

[Seifer has mastered seeing by awkwardly arching his head up so he can peer under the beak. It's working out okay for him. Take the other controller Squall they might as well make a competition.]

Don't lose focus in battle. You taught me that.

[Hey, he hasn't been able to throw anything back at Seifer while he's here. Let him have this. Squall sees the little blinking message that seems to indicate another person can play, so he picks up the second controller... and presses start?

These things are weird. Though uh...]

... How do you play?

[He's pressing some random buttons here... and finds the accelerate button. Hah.]

You sneakin' into my fort is a greater threat than this.

[He will be the biggest buzzkill! Honestly he's only a buzzkill because Squall's right. And how dare he be right! That is a crime.

Uh oh, now Squall's joined the party. Seifer smirks over at him. Oh this'll be good.]

You gotta figure it out just like I did.

[This is going to bite him on the ass later.]

[Dammit, Seifer.]

I can destroy the fort if I wanted to get you.

[The thought of Seifer buried under pillows and blankets? Hilarious.

He huffs at Seifer being a dick about teaching him as usual. Thankfully he's used to mashing buttons to figure out how to work things and the game is far more intuitive about it than moving Garden was.

It's Kart racing time, Seifer.]

And ruin the sanctity of the pillow fort? What kind of monster are you?

[There's that smirk. The pointless back and forth. He misses that sometimes.

Oh, it's Kart racing time. Time to see who the best button masher among them is! Probably Zell but he's not here.]

Someone who doesn't care about pillow forts.

[Which speaking of he kind of wants to pick up a pillow to throw at Seifer's stupid face. But the game is on and he doesn't have hands to spare. Unlike a certain someone.

It's going to be an intense game. Squall tries to aim for the speed boosts and traps, leaving behind banana peels and sending green shells zipping behind him. And maybe trying to crash their karts whenever Seifer is nearby. He's still falls into a miserable 5th by the end though. Dammit.]

You're a terrible person. I think you need to know that.

[It's completely inane, but that's what makes it nice. For perhaps one of the first times so far they're bantering about something that's utterly meaningless. No weight. No stress, no baggage.

Seifer does have a few appendages to spare, but astonishingly doesn't think to use them this time to give himself an edge. He's too busy concentrating on playing the game to remember that he could sabotage Squall. It's too bad really, a missed opportunity!

It's great fun. Mutually crashing into each other. Targeting all their traps and attacks at each other. In the end Squall comes in 5th... and Seifer? 3rd. Which isn't really a win but it's beating Squall so it counts. He whoops his victory at the end, leaning over to elbow Squall with his "wing" while cackling.]

Yeah! Take that.

[Comforts are overrated!! Even if he is enjoying how fluffy everything is. If only they aren't so bright and colorful.

He scowls when Seifer manages to secure 3rd place. And that whoop and elbow earns Seifer the pillow that Squall wanted to toss at his face earlier.]

[That's just Squall's training talking. Comforts are nice. They've been denied them forever why can't they indulge a little now and again? The bright colors are entertaining don't be such a buzzkill Squall.

Seifer flops back with a surprised squawk, and it's about now he remembers he has a whole lotta arms. All of which he puts to use flinging every pillow around him at Squall in retaliation. Hah!]

[Seifer did it first!

Oh shit. Squall's eyes widen at the appearance of tentacles. He forgot Seifer has them. Dammit. He raises his arms to block and falls back. After the first few hit, he grabs a pillow and raises his shield-

That immediately jams against the low 'ceiling' of the pillow fort, pushing the blanket that serves as a roof up. It tugs on the 'walls' and the cushions that make up the sides start to tilt inward.

Welp.

He throws the pillow anyway. Might as well get a last blow in before the whole fort crashes down on them.]

[Playful ribbing was not a pillow to the face! Squall started this war. And deserved every one of those pillows!

Of course that quickly left Seifer without much ammunition, or anything to defend himself against Squall's stupid bright shield. He manages to cover his eyes with a wing and his hood before the final pillow, and entire fort, comes crashing down on them both.]

See what you did!?

[Everything is Squall's fault tonight.]

[This place just gets weirder and weirder. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Rinoa practically has Seifer and Squall radar, maybe she'd miss them. Or maybe if they weren't so obvious. Regardless, here she is, ready for a sleepover. Or something.

And she's puzzled. Because... well...]

...Don't you guys do anything besides wreck stuff?

[No probably not. Why is she always playing Mom?]

[What he did? He threw one pillow! (two now.) Seifer lobbed the entire arsenal. There's a shift in the Squall lump under the pile of blankets as if he's ready to argue back when--]

Rinoa?

[He turns. Not that it matters. Between the hood of the onesie and the collapsed fort, he can't see anything. Though maybe that's a good thing. He aborts his attempt to free himself when he remembers what he's wearing.]

... We're fine.

[Very smooth.]

[And then Squall took down the fort with his dumb shield! Buried under a pile of blankets where he couldn't quite find himself Seifer started to try to push enough out of the way to escape.

And then froze... Oh no. They've been found. Even worse they're dressed in the most humiliating pajamas ever.

...Salvage it.]

We found it this way.

[They are. The worst liars. Seifer's still going to try to disentangle himself, he has plenty of arms for that.]

[It's okay. They can all be embarrassed together.

Rinoa wastes little time in lifting the blanket to take a peek underneath. Now this is just silly. At the end of the day, she's kind of a child too, isn't she?]

Why do you guys get to have all the fun. I wanna play, too.

[Meanie boys never letting Rinoa join in. She almost pouts. It's hard to tell if she's being serious or not.]

[But his image!

Squall makes a wild grab in Seifer's direction when he feels the disturbance on his side of the fort, possibly getting his giant-red-paw-covered hands on one of the shadow arms right as Rinoa peels up the edge and he looks like a deer caught in headlights. If a deer is one Squall Leonhart wearing a moomba onesie anyway.]

We're not--

[The words die when he shoves the hood off his head out of annoyance, lifting the blanket more and finally getting a good look at Rinoa. What even is the animal pattern on her? Oh Hyne, is she pouting?]

... We... can find another fort. [His tone gradually turns into a near-awkward mumble.]

[As long as everyone's embarrassed it's fine. Especially if Squall is the most embarrassed.

Seifer also briefly looks like a deer caught in the headlights, though it fades pretty quickly when Rinoa indicates she wants to play too. That's actually cute and makes him feel a lot better about this situation.

...Squall shoves his hood off only for Seifer to reach over and smush it right back over his head, cackling. Meanwhile he extends his shadowy tentacle arms to start lifting the collapsed fort back up.]

Or we can fix the one you tore down.

[Of course he's going to take a moment to chastise Squall again because apparently that's how he's getting his amusement tonight. Harassing Squall.]

Come on help me put it back up.

[Not so secretly, she looks overjoyed. Although maybe that's their apparel. They're adorable. Well. The tentacles throw her off a little, but... She's seen weirder stuff. A grin rapidly makes its way over her features and only grows when they agree to put it back together.

She retreats just long enough to let them do exactly that, thinking she's severely under-dressed.]

You guys look cute. Next birthday celebration we have, it's gonna be a sleepover and you guys gotta wear those.

[Princess' orders.]

[Why are you like this, Seifer?! Squall makes an indignant noise when his moomba hood is tugged down over his head again, lower than it normally would have fallen too, making him struggle a little to get his hand in a position to push it back up without the paw getting in the way.

Any attempts to glare at his rival dies into another startled look at Rinoa's suggestion, turning faintly embarrassed at being called 'cute' so directly (he is not!) before he looks away.]

Our rooms aren't big enough.

[A pause. Didn't they just talk about this? Being constructive? It's not like it's a bad suggestion, even if he instinctively wants to shy away from it. He sighs softly.]

Maybe we can use the other place.

[Warehouse. He grudgingly gets up to help rebuild the wall, which isn't going to go well with the giant paws. He's knocking them over as fast as he stacks the cushions. He frowns at it, annoyed, and tries to be more careful... Only to knock it over again. Dammit!]

[Being embarrassed about their situation suddenly didn't matter anymore in the light of that expression of joy on Rinoa. The tentacles are creepy, but they're so useful! Unlike Squall's paws, apparently.]

Come on Leonhart, the hell are you doin'? Rinoa going to have to show you how to put this up?

[Rinoa might have to save him, his paws aren't very conducive to construction it would appear. Wait...]

Hang on what makes you think we're gonna....

[...They're gonna. Sigh. There's really no way Seifer can say no to Rinoa. Or even argue the cute point. How did they get themselves into this mess again? All dignity lost. They're supposed to be hardened, terrifying mercenaries. Not "cute"!]

...We'll have to bring things down.

[There's nowhere to sleep. Easy enough to fix with a little effort.]

[It's hard not to laugh at their exchange. Or at the idea that one of them has proven moombas are not the most capable creatures. Chocobos aren't either, but one of those things you can ride and not the other and that actually does make a difference.

As she's contemplating just how she'd go about making a sleepover happen, Rinoa nods slowly.]

We could use my place. I get the feeling Loki wouldn't mind. He might be a little confused about it. [Do princes even have sleepovers?] We could invite him to join, too.

[Because she really is taken with him. And unlike her, it seems like he's on his own here. She wants to give him a sense of belonging. Leave it to Rinoa to try and include everyone.

Diving under the blankets again, she tries to push Squall aside. He's not going to get anything done with those paws of his and she's not afraid of a little manual labour, as it were.]

[~~Please don't ride a Seifer-chocobo.~~

Loki?

[Has Squall met Loki? Wait, she has a new roommate? Okay he probably should have noticed the other side of the room being lived in the few times he went over to her room but!!! Who is Rinoa's roommate!!!

The thoughts are distracting enough that he's easily pushed aside by Rinoa, stepping back in a daze and... bumping right into Seifer.

It's a little small in here with three people, isn't it.]

[~~What's the matter, Squall, jealous?~~

At the name Loki Seifer glanced over questioningly, his expression echoing Squall's word. Who's Loki? He's not sure he'd be willing to sleepover with someone he doesn't know. This is embarrassing enough as it is.]

I can't imagine Aqua would have a problem if we used my dorm, or hell Squall and Nida's.

[Honestly that'd probably be the easiest one. Seifer grunts as he's bumped into, shadowy tentacles quickly adjusting to keep from dropping the fort back on their heads.]

Watch it, Leonhart.

[He snaps, with no real venom in his tone.]

[Oh. Neither of them seem to know who Loki is. She'll have to change that, lest they get far too protective over her. She knows how they can yet.]

Yeah. He's my new roomie. [She thinks about how to describe him. Maybe try not to discuss the whole magic angle of things.] He's a prince! Not really sure what he's the prince of, but he sounded impressive. Said he has a brother.

[Thumbing at her chin, she looks distant for some moments.] Can't cook, but likes food. Has a really great sense of humour. I like him. I really want you guys to meet him, too. I don't think he's like us where we've all got each other, so I want him to feel comfortable.

But... we can have it wherever you want.

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

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