Summer Solstice

[lifemods]

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!]]

Comments

OTA

[anesperience]

Speed Kidnapping

A Summer Solstice Festival seemed like a wonderful place to go to and get to know people. Or at least the city. Terra wasn't so good at the large social crowds. But she dressed as nicely as she could, hair up with a green ribbon and a red dress with long belled sleeves. She kept a dagger tucked in her tall boots because lets be honest, she grew up being a Magitek knight. She wasn't going to go to a strange place unarmed.

But it was so bright and beautiful! There was noise and laughter and music. It was like Edge had lit up over night, the melancholy lifted like clouds parting and sun shining down onto the people.

For once, she didn't feel like she was standing out with her choice of clothing colors but that didn't mean she wasn't accosted rather suddenly by two mascots. Despite her attempts to flee them, as politely as possible she somehow ended up agreeing to sitting down at one of the table, hands folded on top and cheeks pink.

This was not how her day was supposed to be going. She wasn't sure what 'speed dating' was but she was also absolutely certain this wasn't the time for it. She had hoped to reach the job fair....

This isn't Food

The sizzling is what caught her attention. She hadn't heard something sizzle quite that much. Sure, there was pan frying but fried food wasn't... It wasn't a thing. Terra had never seen it before. She ate either Vector slop, rations or the occasional extravagant meal provided by Edgar's kindness.

She leans to see what was just dropped into what appeared to be a very hot pot of sizzling oil and out comes a.... tube? One of the children beside her takes it and takes a big bite out of it, revealing it to be a cake filled with cream.

..Well that just.. .. She smiles incredulously, looking back at the selections.

"What is that...?"

Food!

[seekthelight]

Considering he and his brother had, just a couple days ago, pickpocketed a huge crowd and made themselves a decent amount of money, Sora was itching to spend it on something good. He knew better than to use it all on silly things but..it was a fair! With delicious food and games and--okay mostly food. That's really all he cared about.

So Sora had picked out what he'd wanted and bound over to the booth, standing on his tiptoes to hand the gil over to the man in trade for the delicious treat. The young boy was quick to bite into it despite how warm it still was, bouncing on the tips of his toes in delight.

He hadn't even been paying attention to the woman standing there but when she spoke Sora looked up, licking his lips so he wasn't quite as messy looking--hint: he was still filthy--and giving her a brilliant smile.

"It's a snack cake! Deep fried!"

Smol filthy child!

[anesperience]

Terra turns to look at him again, taking note of how he looked. The dirt on his face and clothes but more importantly how bright his smile was. She had seen dirty children before, but rarely had they looked so happy upon first blush.

"A snack cake..?" She thinks about it a moment, then turns to purchase one for herself. "This is the first time I've ever had one.. of either, really. I don't know what deep frying is.."

Obviously it involved a vat of boiling oil. She wasn't quite sure how good for a person that was but she carefully blows on the fried snack cake, glancing at Sora.

"You promise to eat the rest of this for me if I don't like it..?" She had a feeling he wouldn't mind before she took a tentative bite.

...This was the strangest thing she'd ever eaten, she was certain.

\o/

[seekthelight]

"Mmhmm!" The confirmation comes from around another mouthful of the treat, Sora doing his best to give her another smile but it's really hard to do when one is trying to chew something. So he clears his mouth as quickly as he can, mouth getting wiped on his sleeve in the process. "You stick things in hot oil! Fries them up and makes 'em really tasty!"

Seriously. It's the best. Especially to a small child.

Sora's eyes light up at her question and he bounces on his toes again, head nodding wildly.

"Uh huh! Can't let it go to waste, lady!" he chirped before taking another bite of his own treat, watching her with wide eyes and secretly hoping that she didn't like it.

Ugh so cute

[anesperience]

Terra laughed at how happy he seemed. It was good to see a bright happy face. She wondered if being dirty was just a today thing, with the festival going on, or if he was one of those orphans... There seemed to be quite a few and not a lot seemed to have places to go in the evening.

She decides that though she likes the taste of the fried treat... That she should be gentle on her stomach. Of course, that was the only reason.. She smiles and offers it out to the boy.

"No, we can't. I don't think its something I like too much, but I'm glad you're here to help me finish it."

At least she could feed him. She looked around to check other foodstands, wondering if he'd like anything else too.

"What's your name..? I'm Terra, I just arrived here."

[seekthelight]

Just because he was an orphan didn't mean he had to be unhappy all the time! Things were a lot better now than they had been, that's for sure.

"It's your lucky day, miss!" Sora cheered as he took the second treat from her but he doesn't attempt to eat it right away. If he can, he's going to hang onto it until he can find Roxas. He could eat it, there's no question about that. But he wants to share with his brother!

Sora pauses mid bite when she asks his name, the little boy's smile becoming a little bit shy--a practiced move.

"I'm Sora," he murmured, scuffing his foot a bit. "It's very nice to meet you, Miss Terra!"

[anesperience]

If it were someone else, they might have been able to pick up on the practiced style of that smile but to Terra.. He was a little boy, who looked so small and alone.

So she kneels down, despite wearing a dress, setting her stocking'd knee against the dirt. "Its wonderful to meet you, Sora. Are you here by yourself..?"

She wondered if he had parents here. There were a lot of orphans but she was leaning towards that he most likely didn't have parents. She felt for each and every one of them. She'd taken in orphans in her old world, why couldn't she try to help them here too?

"Did you want anything else to eat..? I could get you a proper meal too..."

[seekthelight]

Good. This was going to work out in his favor then.

"No, miss! My brother's here with me!" the little boy said sweetly, rocking back and forth on his heels and toes as he nibbled at his first fried treat with a shy smile still plastered on his face.

Soak it up, Terra. Fall for his charms.

"A proper meal?" Sora's eyes go wide. "Really? You would?"

[anesperience]

Terra nods quickly and stands. She starts to offer her hand to him but remembers his hands are full. So instead she turns to motion to the different stands. She could see where some places were probably healthier but...

"Do you have anything in mind..? Oh, or should we go find your brother..? I wouldn't want to just feed one of you and I should have enough for both of you."

If she could help these two out she would be glad. There were so many other children but it was good to start somewhere. They probably needed more than food. She wondered if she would have enough..?

She was certain to see them again though. Maybe offer them a place to stay at her little apartment..?

Speed dating :v

[backwatertrooper]

Cloud wasn't sure how he'd ended up here, and he'd been half-way out of the chair when someone sat down across from him. He froze, deliberating for a moment, and then, embarrassed to have been caught before he could leave, sank down in the chair again.

Peering at the young woman across from him, she looked... pretty flustered too, actually. At least he wasn't alone in that, then, though it wasn't really something he'd have wished for anyone else.

"... they caught you too, huh," Cloud said softly after a few moments of silence, spurred more by his own embarrassment than any desire or daring to actually say something.

\o/

[anesperience]

Terra smiled awkwardly at the boy across from her. She folds her hands in her lap and tries to look ... less stressed than she actually felt. She wasn't sure how this worked but it seemed other people were talking to one another, so. maybe it was time to make friends?

"Yes... Its very hard to get away from them, especially.. the one in the cat costume. Very insistent."

She sighs softly, giving him another weak smile. She felt worse for him than for herself at the moment.

"My name is Terra. I should let you know, I'm not.. from here. I'm from the Lifestream... I think everyone has been calling us streamers..?"

c:

[backwatertrooper]

If Cloud was more self-assured, less shy and awkward, he'd try his best to make her feel better, because it was hard to miss how tense she looked.

"Cloud," he gave her a little smile as well, and decided, for the sake of simplicity, to not bring up that he was technically a Streamer as well. It was apparently not exactly the norm, him and Zack (and the clone).

"It's not really a costume," he said instead, gaze flicking between the tabletop and up at Terra, "the cat, I mean. It's like a... doll someone's given a personality." Hopefully that would be reasonably clear, since she clearly wasn't exactly familiar with robots.

Not that Cloud was himself either, really, but he knew of the concept.

"... I hope you... like it so far?"

Aside from not being home, of course, Cloud thought with an internal wince.

[anesperience]

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?"

[backwatertrooper]

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...

[anesperience]

"Oh..?" Well, she supposed he was starting from scratch too. Perhaps they could find something together. Working together worked better in her past. Without people beside her she would have been lost.

"I don't know... I was raised in the military and have fought my whole life. Just.. one fight to another. This is actually kind of a break..."

Her laugh was a bit awkward, clearly not sure if she should have said that but it wasn't like they were in that same world. They were somewhere new now, and it seemed peaceful.

"I guess I just... I want to learn more about life now while I have the opportunity. I understand how to fight but I don't understand.. people as much"

[backwatertrooper]

Cloud made a surprised little noise, then looked away, a little embarrassed it'd slipped out. But then he nodded.

"I was in a military organisation for the last two years," he said frowning a little. Of course, ShinRa had been so much more than that, but he had been with the military branch, so that counted, he thought.

When she continued, Cloud listened and felt like he could've heard those words from someone else, from listening to Zack. Not something Zack would've said of course, but...

"I know there's... volunteer emergency services for Edge," he said after a moment, thoughtfully, "they help during fires. Maybe that..?"

He'd seen it while having a look at the job fair earlier, and had the same thought, that it might be applicable. She was also older than he was, so if age was an issue, she should probably get a job even where he couldn't.

[anesperience]

"That could be an idea!! I have.. er.." She stopped, thinking a moment. "...Well, I had a connection with fire.. but.. I can't seem to control it here. The world feels different, less... Maybe I'm just not sensing things like I used to."

This was probably a very strange conversation. She needed to clarify before he was weirded out what she was trying to explain.

"I wasn't from where I came from in the first place. When I was a baby I was taken from one world, they just called it the Esper world and unfortunately I was never able to learn its true name.."

This was probably making things worse but she forged ahead.

"So I ended up in the military from... from birth I suppose, then later I found out I was actually from there.. My father was an Esper, a.. .. Its a magical being, I guess is the best way to describe it. But um.. that's why.. why I said the thing about the fire..."

Oh her face was burning, that was too much information. She wrings her thin fingers together, biting her lip.

"..I'm sorry. That was probably too much."

Speed kidnapping, something Aerith has experience in

[gardeningaia]

Aerith sits herself down at Terra's table out-of-turn, waving the man who was supposed to join her off to the next table with a smile and then turning to the other girl. "I love your dress," she starts, because it's such a pretty dress. "You look a little overwhelmed right now, though. You're having fun, right?"

She's been dead three years, but her forwardness hasn't been blunted too much.

o_o

[anesperience]

Terra might have blushed a bit at the compliment. It was only due to her friends that she had any idea about fashion or wat looked good. She generally just bought things she liked the color of and her favorite color was red. It reminded her of fire.

"I.. I am, to be honest. I haven't been here long and this is just a lot of people.." She looks around, hand pushing a bit of hair out of her face.

"I'm trying to! I mean, I've tried food I've never had before and I'm seeing a lot of how people are in this world but I guess.. Its just a lot to take in at once."

This was rude of her, she hadn't introduced herself. "I'm sorry, I'm Terra... And you are..?"

Please be a friend, please be a friend.

[gardeningaia]

"Ah, that makes sense! Edge is a big city. One of the biggest around...I think." Those last two words are mumbled a bit; things on Gaia have certainly changed since her death, and it's not like she could keep track of all the changes on the surface world.

Aerith's eyes widen a little when Terra mentions "this world", but judging from how quickly and easily she smiles afterward, she's certainly not like the street preachers decrying Streamers. "I'm Aerith! It's nice to meet you, Terra." She offers a hand over the table to shake, but she doesn't stop talking. "But no wonder you're feeling overwhelmed. I'm sure I would be too in your shoes."

[anesperience]

Oh thank goodness, it was a friend. Terra closes her hand around Aerith's and shakes it firmly. Her grip was strong and she felt more confident knowing that Aerith wasn't going to be shouting her down or making her uncomfortable. She seemed very nice.

Terra returns her hands to her lap to fidget with them as she looks around, pony tail brushing against her back gently.

"I'm learning. I've seen almost the whole world back home and then... Then some things happened and I had to relearn everything. And this isn't the first time I've changed worlds, though that was when I was a baby."

She smiles as she looks back at Aerith. "So you're from here..?"

[gardeningaia]

Handshake! Terra's grip is stronger than she expected, but Aerith's is firm in return and she smiles broadly. Though Terra looks around, Aerith's eyes rest on her attentively as she talks about her needing to relearn things. Some kind of memory issue...? Maybe she could relate to Cloud. It's very curious that she's switched worlds before, even if it was as a child.

"Soooort of," Aerith says. There's a moment of hesitation before she explains. "I haven't been around in a few years, before Edge was built, back when Midgar was still standing. ...You see, it's not just people from other worlds washing up in Mideel. There's also been some people who used to be dead." She pauses, then gives Terra an uncertain smile. She's not quite sure how anyone from another world understands the cycle of life and death, never mind how they'd feel about unexpected hiccups in it. "I'd be one of them. I promise I'm not a zombie, though, you can cast a phoenix down at me if you want."

Better to treat it with some levity. She's not the only one this has happened to, so she doesn't want to feel weird about it. Even if a little weirdness is inevitable.

[anesperience]

Terra wasn't sure if she was more surprised there were phoenix downs here or that Aerith had been deceased a short time ago. But to get weirded out or upset? Absolutely not! Terra could think of at least one person she wished was still alive, and that was only just the first person who had come to mind.

She reaches across quickly, grabbing both of Aerith's hand with the biggest smile she'd ever had, at least Terra thought.

"That's so amazing!! You get another chance, you get to see everyone you love again and they get to see you!!"

She wondered if she had seen any yet. Terra was elated on Aerith's behalf, almost wanting to jump up and hug her but restrained herself

Though that was a bit due to shyness because she was now realizing that she'd grabbed this poor girl's hands out of no where.

[gardeningaia]

"Oh!" It's a little gasp before she grins back and holds Terra's hands in return; the other girl's enthusiasm is a surprise, but it's encouraging too. "It is amazing, huh? I haven't seen everyone yet, but I've seen a few friends, and they've been happy. My mom...is probably going to cry like crazy and I'm not sure how I'll get back out of the house, but I really want to see her too."

She says it mostly as a joke, but she won't be surprised if she genuinely does end up needing to sneak out from Elmyra's watch. Considering the last time her mom hadn't wanted her to leave home, and she did anyway... well it hadn't ended so great. Leading to the strange return from the Lifestream.

[anesperience]

"Hopefully your mother will have faith you'll return. You've done so already, right?" Though, having to wait a long time while the girl was known as just 'dead' wasn't exactly a pleasant way to wait for anyone's return.

Part of her was maybe hoping this Lifestream would be kind and pluck someone Terra knew from its waters. Then she could at least thank him for everything he'd done for her, without even realizing the impact he'd made before he died.

"Have things changed a lot since you've been... um.. Gone? People keep mentioning a place called 'Midgar' but I haven't explored that far outside of Edge."