edgeoflife | Summer Solstice

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Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice Fair

The sun is shining, the Mognet is working again, and the summer solstice fair is here! The WRO hopes to makes this an annual thing, but this is the first year they're doing it. Everything you could ever want from a fair is here and open to the public.

*Fair Rides: Ferris wheels, a mini rollercoaster, that thing that looks like an octopus and spins around--the WRO spared no expense to make sure everyone would have fun here today. There's even a gravity ride that takes you up to the top of a pole and then drops you!

*Food: So much food. So much unhealthy food. Funnel cakes, hot dogs, burgers, ice cream, you name it. And it's all fairly cheap too, since the WRO promised to pay for half of what the merchants sell!

*Carnival Games: And most of them aren't even rigged! The Gold Saucer donated games for the fair and there are so many games. There's your standard shooting games, some basketball games, a dunk tank, hoop tosses, you name it. A few are rigged, though, so buy beware! There's also a few card tables set up in a tent for those who like their games a little less wild.

*Speed Dating: ...yeah, the WRO has no idea. This came with the Gold Saucer stuff, along with a Cait Sith and Moogle mascot pair that will coax anyone they can into sitting down and participating.

*Job Fair: With the influx of new arrivals, both native and Streamers, some employers see a golden opportunity to get some jobs filled! In one corner of the fair is another, mini-fair fill with tables and presentations on various workplaces: the WRO, ShinRa Tech, the volunteer emergency services of Edge, and the Highwind Air Taxi Service, just to name a few. Anyone of working age is welcome to wander in and have a look around.

Of course, the fair is taking up the entire center of Edge, so there's lots more to see and do!

[[Feel free to make your own top levels! Welcome to Edge of Life!]]

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Now there was the sort of reaction he was expecting. Or, rather, that was the one that he thought would come from Cloud, given the state of things when he last saw him. Taking a deep breath himself, he put both of his hands on Cloud's shoulders.

"Take a moment. Pull yourself together. You're not gonna fall apart on me this fast, are you?"

He knew what question Cloud was trying to ask. This was a whole new level of weird for him too. A different version of people they knew running around? Kind of crazy. Of course anyone would want to confirm identities, just so make sure that they don't have people confused for one another.

Oh! So it wasn't a costume.. She took a moment to think on that, but remembered what Lea had shown her about the phone. There were a lot of new and wonderful things she had yet to learn about. She could ask more about them later. Right now it wasn't the main topic.

She nods quickly to Cloud's question, letting herself relax. He wasn't a threat to her. He just wanted to talk to her and she really needed someone to talk to considering how far her friends were.. perhaps she'd never see them again. It was a thought that kept her up at night but she wouldn't let it melt into the conversation now.

"I do, its.. its melancholy here, but its nice. I've met a few wonderful people and they're having this festival which is just a breath of fresh air really. It seems like everyone really needed it.."

She fidgets with her hands in her lap, then looks back up at Cloud.

"So! ... So, um, we're .. supposed to get to know each other I think... What do you do?"

Rufus wasn't narcissitic, he was just cocky. There's a difference.

Still, he relaxed at Zack's answer. "Then is it safe to assume you are the Zack Fair from this Planet and not another?"

[Rufus chuckles a little]

It was bound to happen sooner or later. She's clever.

"I can't promise you'll be in the main labs, you got that fur and it might cause problems, but if I have my way? I'm hiring you." She offers her hand. "Marianne, I work with the WRO."

Go buy some, you moocher! He already shared his first one with a coeurl.

The comment made Cloud smile, glancing down at the cone in his hand - and had to hurriedly rescue some of it that was trying to escape, half-melted. Looking back up at comment, he shook his head.

"Sixteen," he offered softly, "you belong here, don't you?" That was the easiest way to separate this without having to try and start talking about his older self immediately. Cloud was starting to feel slightly annoyed he'd missed the time that had passed... but well.

That was how the Lifestream worked wasn't it?

"I died in the reactor," Cloud said, giving a little shrug. It was getting easier to say that, but the aching in his chest was still hard to ignore.

"Oh don't worry, I've worked in labs all my life. I know when to be cautious around objects," said Winston with a smile.

He grasped her hand, shaking it gently but firmly. "Dr. Winston, it's a pleasure to join your group. I hope my science can benefit your people. I used to be part of a group called Overwatch, who was made up of adventurers as well as scientists. We were a peacekeeping group."

"I'm going to guess there is a reason why you'd put it like that," he replied, half hoping for an answer himself. "But yeah, I am. As for why I'm here, I couldn't tell you."

Zack thought that, perhaps, he needed to answer that question before it could be asked. People didn't just get shot out of the Lifestream all the time. Personally, Zack could only think of three people that might have done that. Not including himself, of course.

No, and I have asked.

[Rufus gently nudges the kits apart before they get to shredding each other]

There has been no signs of Sephiroth or anyone that might cause us problems whatsoever. But why ask me? I'm sure Reeve would tell you.

"That was going to be my--Keiko, down--my next question, yes." Rufus casually picked the offending couerl up off his table-desk. "And yes. There is...another Zack Fair, currently wandering around, only he comes from a world where he survived his wounds outside Midgar...and was apparently in my wedding party. Forgive my caution."

That was your own damn fault for sharing with a coeurl!

Sixteen... Still so young. Did that mean this Cloud never went through all those experiments? Honestly, Zack was thinking about asking. Thinking about it, but likely wouldn't go through with it. It still didn't explain how, exactly, that Could was still so young. Hell, the guy should have been ( technically ) older than he now!

Zack opened his mouth, but as cut short with the next response. He died in the reactor? As in... No. No, that didn't happen. It didn't happen that way at all. So jarring was the claim that he sort of ignored the other tidbit of information that the kid had dropped on him.

"Hold on. You... Died? That's not what happened. I was barely conscious at the time, but that's definitely not what happened."

"Great, that's what the WRO is." Marianne reached down for the folder of new employee materials. "There's a mission statement somewhere in that mess, don't as me where though. We're looking to get a sort of...temporary-to-permanent lab in the city, since if anything weird happens it's goin' to happen in Edge first. Always fucking does." That's what happened when you lived near the hellhole that was Midgar city ruins. "You interested in working here?"

Melancholy? He wondered what she meant, but Cloud wasn't sure how to ask, so instead he just nodded hesitantly. He'd not really noticed, but then Edge looked... like a smaller, cleaner version of Midgar without the slums underneath, so it was rather familiar to Cloud.

It felt... lighter, perhaps, but that might be the lack of mako-glow and smog.

"Good," he said with a small smile, then snorted softly, "I'm... sort of new in Edge, and what I was doing before... doesn't really... exist anymore. I don't know."

He shrugged, wondering what he was supposed to do, now. He still hadn't figured it out.

"... do you have something you'd want to do?"

Treating this as any conversation was working reasonably well - far easier than thinking about the real purpose behind something like speed dating anyway...

I guess that's what you'd want, if you choose a pet like this..?

[Cloud eyes her as she devours the ice cream she tipped from his hand onto the ground with quick, neat licks. Soon the only thing that will be left will be the cone itself.

Though, they probably won't just be pets, Cloud thinks, glancing up at Rufus. Not with this owner.]

Cats, man. They did what they want. Zack's only thought regarding that was that Rufus was going to have a handful when 'Keiko' got bigger.

"Sorry about that," he said. "Wish I knew myself."

It would make things easier to adjust to, if there was something he was supposed to be doing. Knowing if this was a permanent change or just a temporary one would also be nice. Yet Zack wasn't going to sweat it. What will happen, will happen. He was just going to take advantage of what was being given.

"Another me? From a different world?" That within itself was perplexing. "Is that even possible?"

Also showing up to Rufus' wedding. Huh. Zack wondered if it was something other than obligatory. It wasn't like they were especially close now was it? Still. Weird to think about.

"Who was the lucky person?"

Of course he wasn't going to be able to keep his mouth shut. Go fig.

She's clever, her sister is protective. Ideal, really, though that may change as they get older.

[So, no, they won't be simply pets.

Iseurl finishes her treat and begins to climb on Cloud for more. Rufus barks out an order in (shaky) Wutaian, though, and she backs off]

At least they're not queens. They're vicious.

He knew how to train couerls...and what he didn't know, Tseng did. They would be fine, but he was a little indulging right now.

A shame Fair didn't know what he was doing, and then came the rest of the questions. Rufus sighed. "It is, I met him....and it doesn't matter who I was married to, as I am not married to him here."

"Oh c'mon... It's not gonna hurt to tell me since it's not a thing for you," Zack grinned. "Not like it's going to be Tseng or something."

He snickered at his own joke. There was sure a mental image. But man... Who would wear the dress? Probably Tseng, honestly. Like he wasn't cleaning up after everyone anyway...

"What was this other me like? How did he even get here?"

How did he manage to survive all those bullets?

The only sign that Zack's joke got to Rufus was the fact that he looked down at his couerls and refused to look back up for a moment. Tseng again? Really?

"You would have to ask him, but from my understanding it had much to do with the fact that Cloud Strife did not survive Nibelhiem in his world."

She knocked it out of his hand!

Oh--- Cloud winced, instantly feeling both guilty awkward. He should probably have said that differently, but saying it outright made it easier for him to actually deal with it (as much as he was dealing with it... could you deal with something like that?). He took a step closer, because different Zack or not, it was Zack.

The hand he'd reached out sort of hovered awkwardly, barely brushing Zack's arm before it dropped back.

"... sorry. It's..." Cloud paused, grimacing a little, "I met my... um, older self here, he said that too. But I... tossed Sephiroth into the reactor and then, I guess, I didn't last long enough." It ended softly, and apparently while it was easier to say he died, how still brought up the feeling of steel going through him and feeling guilty as he looked up at Zack.

Cloud shook his head and looked up at this Zack instead; it made it easier to keep the memory a memory, even if he looked upset.

"It must be the proximity to this world's former capital then," surmised Winston as he adjusted his glasses. He had done some reading on the trip here after all.

"I am. I'd much rather be in the thick of things if anything happens. However, I will have to require parts to be combat ready in case anything happens. Are you familiar with a tesla coil by any chance? It's a form of induction coil for producing high-frequency alternating currents. I use it to power my primary weapon."

Oh, she liked this guy. Monkey. Whatever, why did she always end up with the weird ones in her department?

She snorted. "Yeah, we have those, but you use it to power a weapon?"

"That's correct. With the correct amount of focus and the right equipment, it becomes a weapon known as a Tesla Cannon. It was my own personal design, no less. Most of the Agents of Overwatch design and maintain their weapons, as well as have a strong background in the sciences depending on where they specialize and were previously positioned, such as mechanics or Dr. Zeigler's nanotechnology."

"...right. I can get you one, but I need the blueprints for that because this is the first time I've heard of using those things for more than music."

...That Cloud Strife did not survive Nibelheim. Those words stop Zack in his tracks. Briefly, there was a vice grip on his heart, all the air sucked out of his lungs. He couldn't quite comprehend Cloud not making it. If he hadn't... Then that would have been just one more person that he wouldn't have been able to save - unable to do anything for.

It didn't sit right with him. Not at all.

"And the experiments?"

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Summer Solstice

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