[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

[apatheia]

Is this not how a date usually works?

[She's learned that there's some difference between a regular date and speed dating at least, but she assumed this was normal for speed dating. Clearly she's wrong here, please enlighten her.]

[alphonse]

Well, I'm not exactly an expert...

[But I have Opinions, his tone clearly says. Look, he's had a lot of time to think about this.]

But dating should be about spending time with someone you actually like, not asking invasive questions to a bunch of strangers.

[apatheia]

[ooc: sorry for the lateness! i lost the tag in my inbox, but if it's been too long, please don't feel obligated to reply.]

The questions provided do seem rather strange. [What does it mean, how to feel about being called "daddy/mommy"? Not to mention that as an android, she can't even relate to most of the questions.] But in that case, you're saying that dating should be done with someone you already know and not someone you just met, correct?

no worries!

[alphonse]

Sort of.

[Al, what did you get yourself into. Quit while you're ahead.]

It doesn't necessarily have to be someone you know well--a lot of times, people use dating to get to know each other better. It's more about being there because you actually want to be, because something about that person interests you.

[Mercifully, he stops there because there's only so long he can put off asking.]

Are you related to 9S?

[That's a pretty signature look.]

[apatheia]

[She listens attentively, doing her best to learn. Reconnaissance like this isn't exactly her forte or what she was even meant for, but she figures that with humans actually here, it's for the best if she learns as much about them as she can. Including what dating entails, apparently.

But that comes to a halt at his question. It's fair to ask, when she thinks about it.]

In a sense. We're both androids. [YoRHa units specifically, but as far as she knows, they're the only androids here.]

[alphonse]

I thought so.

[But it's probably rude to just ask if someone is an android.]

In that case, I'm even more sorry you got dragged into this.

[What a terrible introduction to human culture.]

I wouldn't take any of it too seriously. The Palai are taking their best guess at what would be good for us, but it's really not the kind of thing people would do on their own.

[apatheia]

[9S really has been making conversation with just about everyone, huh... She's not surprised in the least.]

Given how many people I've met who've been uncomfortable with this, that's not surprising to hear. [Poor Jude... Poor Flynn... Maybe poor everyone.] But the idea of "speed dating" isn't specific to only the Palai, right? Most people seem relatively familiar with this.

[alphonse]

Wait, really? I've never heard of it before.

[But he's fourteen. And a suit of armor. And from fantasy 1914.]

But I guess... there's a lot about my world that doesn't match up with anyone else's.

[He wants to think Amestris is classier than this, but honestly, he knows a few people who'd jump at the chance to speed date.]

That's so weird. Did they make it sound any better than the Palai's version?

[apatheia]

Being forcibly trapped in a chair isn't usually part of the experience, if nothing else. However, interaction with strangers seems par the course. [But it sounds more voluntary compared to all of this...]

[alphonse]

How desperate.

[Somehow, the suit of armor is the most judgmental person here.]

At least for us it can be something useful. Since we're all stuck working together, it's probably a good idea for us to meet.

[apatheia]

It's been an interesting way to meet people, if nothing else. [She sounds just the tiniest bit amused. As much as she doesn't like having been forced into this, she's had a lot of interesting conversations thanks to it.]