[WORLD ONE] SPEED DATING EXTRAVAGANZA

[spellbindmods]

Who: Participating coven members
Where: The Palai marketplace
When: Day 49
Open/Closed: OTA

[ Any and all who are in the marketplace will find that there is suddenly a mysterious barrier around the marketplace (that may be eerily familiar to some) -- specifically one large portion of the marketplace with a large number of tables and chairs, perhaps purposefully set out for nefarious reasons.

A few Palai are ushering coven members to chairs, and everything seems about normal. As normal as the Palai can be when they're putting on a show anyway. It's not until a sizable portion of the coven members are seated (and also supplied with breadsticks and small shrimp), that things get a bit more bizarre.

Thanks to the power of the Eltos, a small band of energy keeps coven members stuck to the chair (magic can interfere, of course), but that's not the end of it. On each table, next to those delicious smelling breadsticks and shrimp, is a bowl of scraps of papers. Every five minutes, a strip of paper will pop out from the bowl.

If you ask the Palai, they'll be inclined to explain speed dating to you. Asking questions, getting to know a person, then being shimmied off to the next potential mate -- this is made possible by Elto magic yet again, through flying chairs that transport their holder to a new table at standard intervals.

The Palai are extremely invested in this exercise? Will you let them down? ]

[ OOC: In the spirit of speed dating, each character will have a top level. All who want to respond to this top level can with questions from this post, but the threads have to end at 10 comments from each character. After this last tag, the characters can be assumed to have been whisked to a different potential match. You're free to have characters make up their own questions, interact with Palai serving food, etc. ]

Comments

[thatdamnknight]

[explain dating? okay, sure. that's nice and simple and nothing having to do with actually taking part in these godawful speed dating shenanigans. not to mention, someone lacking the knowledge of what dating is deserves to know when they're forced to participate in something similar.

yup, flynn's more than happy to explain.]

Regular dating involves two people doing a variety of activities over a longer period of time to determine whether or not they're compatible as a couple and if they wish to pursue a long-term partnership.

[apatheia]

[Worry not Flynn, there will most likely not be any awkward speed dating questions! Weird questions asking about what should be basic common ideas might be frequent though.]

How long does it usually take for them to determine if they're compatible or not?

[thatdamnknight]

[he will take questions about common concepts over awkward dating ones any day! so please, ask away.]

It depends on the person. Some people figure it out within even a few days while others require years in order to be certain.

[flynn himself preferring the latter, or at least more than 5 minutes. seriously, who even came up with this silly speed dating idea to begin with?]

[apatheia]

I didn't realize it could be so difficult to ensure something like compatibility... [When everyone you know is working towards the same, singular goal, things like compatibility seem kind of like a given.] Have you been able to find someone you're compatible with through dating or speed dating thus far?

[thatdamnknight]

[and awkward returns. why bring up the topic of him dating, why?]

No, I haven't. I've never honestly been too interested in dating or finding companionship of this sort.

[he's married to his work and HAPPILY married to his work.]

[apatheia]

I see. I'd thought that all humans were motivated to reproduce, but perhaps not.

[THE AWKWARD ISN'T STOPPING, SORRY. She get not being interested in romance though, so she nods.]

But I think I understand your sentiment. Finding romance has never been of importance to me either.

[thatdamnknight]

Well, romance and reproduction aren't necessarily mutually exc--

[flynn bites his tongue before finishing that sentence. nope, he will NOT be the one to explain that. please do not make him explain that. ignore his slightly red cheeks, as well.]

I--I mean... [he clears his throat.] Can I ask what you do find important then?

[apatheia]

[So many humans have been turning red in the face during this... Is this some kind of illness?? That'll have to wait until a different time.]

... My duty. [In the past, there wouldn't have been any hesitation in her reply. In some ways, there's still no hesitation. After all, there could be no greater honor than to fulfill her duty by actively serving and protecting humanity.

But in other ways, she doesn't know if it's really this simple. Free from Command and the Bunker gone even if that wasn't the case, the only one to determine what she's supposed to be doing is herself. It's different, that's for sure. And there are some aspects of her duty that she's pretty glad to be free from now.]

[thatdamnknight]

[an illness called being a prude.

the reply brings a small smile to flynn's face.]

I can understand that.

[as a knight, little else matters more than one's duty. romance and the like definitely fail to matter even half as much in comparison.]

May I ask what your duty is?

[apatheia]

To serve and protect humanity. [Made a million times easier and more fulfilling by actually being in contact with humans now, who would've guessed.]

[thatdamnknight]

[ah, now that sure sounds familiar. her style of dress also matches that of a certain someone, that blindfold especially. flynn has to ask.]

You wouldn't happen to be an android, would you?

[apatheia]

I'm an android, yes. I take it that you've met 9S? [Unless there's suddenly another YoRHa unit here, she's pretty sure she and her partner are the only androids.]

[thatdamnknight]

That's right. He spoke about humanity in a similar manner to yourself. [which no one else has. plus...] And you both wear identical blindfolds so I assumed you might be from the same world as him.

[apatheia]

We both belong to a specific group of androids, so I doubt anyone else would look so similar to us.

[Even back home, YoRHa are kind of special compared to the other androids.]

He's really met quite a lot of people here already.

[thatdamnknight]

He does have a very friendly and caring personality so I'm not surprised. In the short time I've known him, he's already helped me out on several occasions.

[given him a sword, lent flynn a jacket and just been a general pleasure to chat with! what a great android!]

[apatheia]

That sounds just like him. [She's not smiling, but there's no mistaking the fondness in her voice. It honestly makes her happy to know that 9S is meeting so many people and getting along with them.] But I'm glad to hear it.

[thatdamnknight]

[her tone of voice isn't lost on flynn and it ends up making his smile grow. he can understand how she feels. watching someone you care about make friends and enjoy themselves makes you happy like nothing else.]

Have you and 9S known each other a long time?

[apatheia]

... You could say that, yes. [She's known 9S longer than he would know himself, but she only has herself to blame for that. It's not something she wants to dwell on.] We're partners.

[It's the best way to describe their relationship without going into messy details.]

[thatdamnknight]

[partners, huh? flynn'd go one step further and call them friends more than partners. her reaction certainly seemed one more fitting of a friend, but he keeps the comment to himself.]

Is he your partner in battle or in some other regard?

[like information gathering or something of that sort.]

[apatheia]

In battle and out on the field. [Not every mission included a fight!! Just 99% of them...] He's also in charge of my maintenance.

[thatdamnknight]

What sort of maintenance?

[flynn's honestly curious. he knows androids aren't humans, but has no idea what sort of upkeep they might need.]

[apatheia]

Running diagnostics on my internal systems, making sure there are no bugs and whatnot impairing my functions, ensuring there's no infection from a logic virus—things like that. As I can't perform these sorts of tasks myself, 9S's help is vital to me. [It'd be possible for her to do it if Pod was here with her, but even then, it's not like she really knows the specifics of how things work. That was never her job.]

[thatdamnknight]

[so much falls on 9s' shoulders. it's an impressive task list, even if flynn doesn't fully understand what most of that entails.]

He sounds like an invaluable partner. Though, is there a reason why you can't do the maintenance yourself?

[apatheia]

I'm not familiar with the particulars of how we work. Even if I was though, I'm not capable of accessing my own internal functions as I am right now. [If Pod was here, maybe, but even then she can't do more than take Pod's word for what she should do.]