edgeoflife | Summer Solstice

Entry tags:

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!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If Tifa hadn't walked them off, Cloud would probably have stood still for a moment, a little startled at the easy motion of her arm linking with his. But he was, honestly, quickly distracted away from it by her elaboration.

"Oh, it's---" Cloud murmured, because yeah, he knew about the bike, since his older self had told him about what he did, doing deliveries. He nodded, and was again both awed and jealous, just like when his older self had told him, but now even more since Tifa was painting such a vivid picture.

"... that sounds great." Cloud certainly wanted that, except he couldn't... really. Maybe. What if--- Looking up at Tifa, Cloud chewed his lip. "You think that would... work for me too? Maybe the mako's helping too, and then..."

Cloud shrugged, grimacing a little. He'd had the same thought, about if he was the one driving, but he wasn't convinced it could be that simple.

She watched him struggle with the idea. There was so much - so much - she wished she could have gone back and helped her own Cloud through. So much pain and uncertainty he hadn't needed to go through or at least not gone through alone. She couldn't take everything he was going to have to struggle with away from this younger Cloud. He was Cloud. Whether he believed in himself or not she did, and she knew he would make it through and come out stronger on the other side. She couldn't take on his own fights for him, no matter how much she wanted to. But - she could help. She could always help. A hand up, a word of faith, a smile of encouragement or agreement...

Cloud was Cloud. No matter his age. And she loved his stubborn determination to do things for himself. If he'd let her stand nearby and help him, just a little though...

She stopped walking but she left her arm through his and she turned to meet his eyes with her own.

"Maybe. If its in fresh air instead of an enclosed space. If you're in charge of it instead of along for the ride. It's worth trying. Isn't it?"

Luckily he'd had Zack at least for a little while while in Midgar, but of course not from the start... and not for long in general. But either way he did sort of need someone to believe in him for him.

Thinking it over, gaze dropping away from Tifa's, Cloud nodded slowly after a few moments. A constant flow of fresh air might actually help. And it'd always been easier if he was facing the road straight on, something which, of course, usually hadn't been possible while he was a passenger in anything after he left Nibelheim.

"... I like that idea," he said quietly, nodding as he looked up with a wry little smile on his face, "I'd be willing to risk motion sickness for that." For a bike in general, but particularly for something like what she'd described his older self rode.

Then Cloud frowned, realising she'd understood immediately what he'd reacted to and why he'd done so, to prompt this turn in the conversation, and as far as he knew, Tifa didn't actually know about it. So when had she..?

"... How did you find out I have motion sickness?" Cloud sincerely hoped it hadn't been in an awkward or embarrassing way, for the sake of his older self if nothing else. But how else would you find out something like that, anyway?

She watched him think it through and didn't rush or push it. Cloud's monster motorcycle might be a little much, especially at first, but she was sure they could find him something to at least try with. And, perhaps - perhaps she was thinking too far ahead but wouldn't it be nice if her Cloud could help this one work on that bike and they could perhaps help each other...?

She smiled at his agreement and nodded, already wondering if Cloud - or Cid - might have an idea of where to at least borrow a bike for a test drive. And then he asked his question - and it was her to turn to go still and blink. She was so used to knowing Cloud that having someone ask how she did threw her, surprised her - but it didn't offend her and she smiled after that brief pause.

"He's my best friend." She stated it simply but, to her, it explained almost everything. But then she hummed an amused sound and started walking again, gently tugging.

"Several years ago, we were going after a Huge Materia." She had no idea how much this Cloud knew about what his older self had accomplished. How much he knew about what a hero he'd become. How much he understood the looks he might sometimes get just for looking so close to the same. She doubted he'd had time to hear the details yet though even if he had heard any rumors and some details, most of the details, only their team knew anyway. "In Junon. We stole a submarine." And kidnapped a dog but she didn't go into that or the team of soldiers they'd kept on board the entire time either. One weird thing at a time. "None of us could drive it. Except Cloud. We hoped. Except - he didn't really feel comfortable in the sub. It was deep underwater, with a very tight interior. Heavy, oppressive, claustrophobic." She watched him from the corners of her eyes as she described it, waiting, hoping, he'd understand, maybe, the feeling she was describing and understand she was understating Cloud's not 'feeling comfortable' in that environment.

"I thought the sub with the Materia was going to get away but then someone suggested that Cloud try driving the sub, that it would give him something to concentrate on. So - he did. We got the Materia," and attacked by a demon plant or three, "and after that, it was pretty much a given that if Cloud was driving he'd feel better."

She looked over at him and gave his arm a very light squeeze.

"It's okay to have problems, things that make you stumble or unsteady. Everyone does." She paused for a moment, hesitated over it. It wasn't something she liked to admit and certainly not confess but - if they were sharing weaknesses... "I hate being alone. But as long as we keep working at them, that's what matters. Right?"

The answer was startling as much as it made Cloud happy. It was, after all, exactly what he'd wanted, growing up. Something he'd wanted but something that definitely hadn't happened, and that Tifa had come to the well at all had been a surprise.

Cloud ducked his head, a small smile he tried to hide on his face in evidence, pleased to know that, even if things obviously went bad this had, at least, actually happened.

"A submarine?" Cloud asked, shaking his head and following when Tifa started walking again (he'd have to make an effort to not have to walk along given their linked arms). He just listened, the details cut loose from their context, but Cloud didn't mind. He'd get it sooner or later and he hadn't... felt up to asking his older self when he met him that first day in Edge.

Cloud tensed a little at Tifa's description, growing slightly pale. That sounded about as fun as being stuck on a several hours journey on a helicopter, except with added water all around.

Swallowing down the ghostly impression of vertigo at the description, Cloud shook his head.

"I guess it was just luck he figured it out..." it was said in a thoughtful tone, with Cloud glancing down at his free hand, flexing it slowly. Really, unless he was missing something, that wasn't something even his older self would've learned before it happened... it made Cloud feel pretty good, both for his older self and himself.

Looking up at his arm being squeezed, Cloud stared silently for a moment, then nodded slowly. But he looked away too, feeling a bit uncertain whether that could really apply to him right now. It wasn't like he'd done any of what it seemed his older self had managed, after he survived...

"I guess so..." he said softly, agreement for several things even as he hesitated over it, then frowned at Tifa, both understanding (it really wasn't fun being alone) and not (because a lot of the time he didn't mind, it was just easier that way). "I try to."

Even if he often felt like the failure made the effort worthless.

"But I'm not sure motion sickness works like that," Cloud offered up, but he was smiling as he said it.

Edited 2016-06-27 11:37 (UTC)

She watched him mull it over as they walked and maybe she took a bit of a longer way around to her bar's stand just to give him time for that. There was no rush and besides - he had a lot to work through. More than just the average streamers who were at least coming into brand new lives. Cloud was coming into one that had already been lived in a way and she imagined that only added another level to the difficulty.

She thought he was up to it though. It wasn't his life after all. Not anymore at least. His life was unwritten for him now and he could make it anything he wanted, now that there was no mad scientist to interfere, no insane general to jerk him like a puppet, no world ending around him and a fractured mind and memories. Cloud, she very firmly believed, could take on anything, do anything he set his mind to even if it took some trial and error and side trips. She didn't know what this one would do - but she thought it would be something to be proud of.

She hoped she could help, even just a little.

His smile, and his little summary, brought her own smile washing back over her face and some of the tension she hadn't realized had snuck into her shoulders at old memories slipped loose and relaxed again.

"Well, maybe we'll stick to fresh air and control for that one," she gave him a teasing answer, happy, and then stopped walking to hand him the giant stuffed chocobo. They were at the stand.

"Hold this, please? I'll get you something to cool down. You want a drink or flavored ice or both?"

The whole thing really was weird, and felt both like a reassurance and that somewhere he'd failed to be quite strong enough to hold out. Cloud tried to not think about the implications so much, but he was Cloud Strife so of course he did.

Right now, though, he was mostly thinking about the possibility that he might actually be able to ride something and not get motion sick. Or at least have it mitigated...

And then Cloud was staring into that huge and very ugly plush chocobo as it was pushed at him and he grabbed it reflexively, giving it a small frown. It was so ugly... Well, at least he wasn't the one who'd get stuck with it.

"Yeah," he said softly, drawn back into an anticipatory little smile, "he... um, your Cloud suggested that too." It was kind of funny both his older self and Tifa had suggested it, but that just seemed to cement the possibility that it might work.

"Oh... flavoured ice? Please." Cloud swayed on his feet, then had to stop, because while the huge plush wasn't really heavy, it was unwieldy.

'Her Cloud' huh? It was cute and the noise she made was close to laughter but she didn't mind. If they were going to make a distinction she supposed there had to be some way to talk about both Cloud's without overlapping them and confusing things. Hearing that he's suggested the same thing -

"Great minds," she teased, tapping the side of her head. "We'll have you on a bike in no time at this rate."

And then she gave a little nod and a bounce on her toes before turning and heading over to the stand.

"One flavored ice, coming up!"

A little embarrassed when Tifa almost laughed, Cloud ducked his head. But it was so awkward this thing. How was he even supposed to talk about himself, when that meant someone else instead of just him?

But still, he smiled at the comment about the bike and nodded, feeling cautiously excited about the possibility, and followed Tifa the rest of the way over to the booth. Now that she'd brought it up, he realised some flavoured ice didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Summer Solstice

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

seem like a good place to wrap it up?

:D Yeah, works for me