[WORLD ONE | SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG]

[spellbindmods]

Who: The new coven members, old blood & Palai people
Where: In and around the city land of Aimintas
When: Day 61
Open/Closed: Open to All

The initial setting information found here should be utilized for threads here.

There's no official OOC account for the Palai people. You're free to roleplay their actions and reactions on your own, as in depth as you want -- asking questions, hand-waved interactions, becoming best friends. The new world is your oyster!

All characters are told briefly what their powers are by Genette -- no extemporaneous details. For instance, if your character has the ability to detect lies, they'll be told as such -- no warning about limitations, repurcussions or the like. They'll also be given a variant of this letter so they aren't totally ignorant of the situation -- though of course adapt this letter to the current setting and surroundings of the game.

This setting may be familiar to you -- maybe you caught a glimpse of it when you first visited. Maybe this is your first time experiencing this weird world and the panic is setting in. If you're totally lost, a tall human woman with a long scroll of paper will stop by to give you the run down. She'll also give you a letter, which may give you more questions than answers since the information is a wee out of date. (Maybe someone else can fill in some gaps for you). What you may not know is that this world recently experienced something of a tragedy. You wouldn't be able to guess this based on the festive energy in the air. The main marketplace where you've shown up finished reconstruction last night, and after grief comes joy to the Palai -- those lizard creatures you see wandering around. They're now hosting a festival to celebrate their success and the lives of those both still present and those lost. It's also a chance for them to host one of those big celebrations like they'd previously seen in human books. However, their resources are limited -- don't blame them if things are a little cut-and-paste! A ▢ One of the preferred methods for masking grief in the Palai world is playing games. Because the Palai are still on their shrimp kick (the old blood characters are probably sick of them at this point), the shrimp are being used as part of a few festival games: Shrimp Scoop: Live prawns have been placed in a tank of water. Instead of paper scoops, players are handed small scraps of cloth which they may then dive into the six-foot tall tank to try and grab the prawns with -- no hands! And no magic or your prawn will be revoked. For extra incentive, sacks of golden coins have been tied to the prawns. These coins can be exchanged for goods and prizes, though what your character receives for their coin -- no matter how bland or wacky -- is up to your character. Shrimp Shock: Dead shrimp have been placed in a wading pool. Your character and another character enter the pool while Elto shock the shrimp out of the water. With about 20 shrimp in the water, the character with the most shrimps caught out of the air wins an allotment of coins. Whack-a-Shrimp: Eltos have powered six large, stuffed shrimp dolls (made with cloth), that will pop out of cut holes in a large game board. Hit the shrimp as many times as you can in 30 seconds, and your number will amount to the coins you receive. Shrimp Fest: Is your character a big eater? Your character is given a plate of cooked jumbo prawns. If they can eat all 50 jumbo prawns in 30 seconds, they win 100 coins. B ▢ What good is a festival if there's no face painting? Don't worry, you have more options than shrimp. Palai have an assortment of paints and are making colourful designs on both their kin and coven members -- your request may not look exactly as you want it to since they have bumpy hands and claws that get in the way.

This is all pretty juvenile, but fear not! For the mature sort and adults of Aimintas, there's a more quiet part set up that may cater to your older interests. A softer atmosphere, away from the excitement of things. If you want to wind down from the thrill of being magicked away to a new world, this is probably the best way for it. C ▢ Fans of alcohol will find that the Palai have broken out their best spirits for themselves and the coven. Some of these aged spirits are decades old and have aged accordingly, giving them a bitter flavor with a nasty bite of alcohol. Others are more recently distilled or imbued with magic for an extra buzz. Accordingly, some drinks can get you inebriated pretty quickly. Some drinks are essentially giddy truth serums. Others may have an effect on magic or telepathy. Pick your poison! D ▢ The environment in this more secluded area of the marketplace is supposed to be more relaxed, but it's also the best place to sit if you want a front row seat to the fireworks exhibit the remaining Eltos are putting on. Through balls of dye and their electrical powers, they're quickly blowing up the sky with arcs of color that rain down in the form of bright pieces of glitter once the spectacle is over. They also have a special service they're offering -- the Eltos have a grasp on electrical magic, which means they can draw certain things in the sky with these dye balls. If you have a request for a written message or a drawing of some sort, they'd be happy to comply with your wish! For the real adult experience, however, you may want to check out the large rolling cart that Palai are pushing around the marketplace, landing it in the fireworks area. This cart is filled with all of the eggs that were a product of their mating season, and this part of Aimintas is the warmest. E ▢ For newbies and those who missed the egg train, your character can instead be Egg Parent for a Night. The Palai are holding their eggs to warm them for the evening, but (like most parents with new babies) they're certainly trying to show off their creations. Hold them, pass them around -- or maybe even act a fool and fend off a fiercely angry Palai parent.

Finally, the Palai are getting used to the standard familiar faces, so they aren't unaware that there are quite a few new faces in the mix. Based on how familiar your character is, they'll receive a nice little gift from the Palai. Older coven members will receive a scrolled parchment that lists them as honorary citizens of Aimintas and a handmade, harden clay sculpture of their likeness. It may not look a lot like them, but they tried. F ▢ What about new members? Well, they get the Aimintas Starter Kit: an unmarked vial containing Palai mating pheromones (makes your character affectionate, etc), a bag of cooked shrimp, a collection of their baked goods and energy drinks (containing Elto magic that makes magical abilities hard to handle), and a harmless paper flower. Your character likely isn't used to the dangers of some of these items, so maybe someone can help them...or is it too late? G ▢ Because the Palai recognize new faces, these new coven members will be dragged to other coven members who they do recognize. In an effort to help make introductions, the Palai are trying to connect new members with old members in order to foster friendships. Say hi to a new, awkwardly introduced covenmate...? H ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[apatheia]

a. no one needs this many coins

[This isn't the first time 2B's seen such a festive atmosphere and event, but this is the first time it's really felt right. For all its confetti and fireworks and dancing, the amusement park back home was much more hollow in comparison to this. Sure, the Palai are only imitating what they'd read about, much like how the machines were probably imitating as well, but for one, there's actually something to celebrate here. It makes it a lot more genuine in comparison.

And there are also working games here.

She's content just to watch others play, thinking the experience of the festival itself is fascinating already, but a few of the Palai invite her to play Whack-a-Shrimp, and it seems rude to turn them down. Of course, being the battle android with super reflexes that she is, she hits the shrimp more times than anyone was counting on. The vendor looks more than a little chagrined when they give all the coins she's earned, but now she's stuck with another problem.

She doesn't even need this.]

Excuse me, but would you happen to have any use for this? [Which is how we've come to this, 2B asking you if you want a hilariously large sack of coins. Help an android out??]

d. something human that isn't completely foreign to her, wow

[This isn't the first time she's seen fireworks, but it's the first time she's seen them among other people also watching the spectacle. Even though fireworks were constantly going off in the amusement park, it was more routine than anything else. None of the machines there would even bother to look up at them, and she always had more important tasks there than to watch something like a light show.

It's amazing what a change of environment and atmosphere can do for something she's already seen. Now, she takes a seat and watches, enjoying the sight and watching with a small smile on her face. Even when it ends with raining glitter down on everyone, it doesn't really bother her. Again, it's something of a novelty, and she'd find it hard to be bothered by it when everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves well enough.

Now that it's over and thus quiet enough to be heard without shouting, if there's anyone sitting nearby, she'll turn to ask:]

Have you seen fireworks like these before? [She's curious about what other people's experiences with them might've been like.]

h. wildcaaaard

[Have something else in mind? Feel free to toss a prompt/idea at me here! You can also bet that 2B's ???? at the clay sculpture of her if you need ideas. I can also be reached via PM or at ghostory!]

a

[rootandbranch]

[this dragon's attention has been caught by the sack of golden coins that the android is carrying. until now, he was tucked as quietly as a creature of his size could be off to the side of the festivities, but now his voice rises higher in an undignified squeak as he watches her approach and hears her question. he has one of his own to ask first. is that-- is that--]

Is that gold?!

[apatheia]

[There's something kind of incredible that she's even speaking to a dragon, what she long assumed was just a mythical creature from human fairytales and the like, but well. Here she is.]

Yeah. Golden coins, to be precise.

[rootandbranch]

[this is incredible. things like this don't just happen-- no, it has to be a trick somehow. there's something he's not understanding here. he has to ask.




finally, cautiously:]

And you don't want it?

[apatheia]

I don't have much use for it. [The wares in the market are interesting to look at, but she doesn't feel the need to buy much. What few things she has bought, she already worked through the money for them anyways.]

a

[transcutation]

Ehhh? You mean Cagliostro?

[She's looking up at the android in wide-eyed wonder, but honestly she's less interested in the gift of gold than the impressive show of force she'd been putting on earlier. She could probably make her own coins if she wanted... but the fact that this girl seemed not to care who had them was of interest in and of itself.]

Is it because Cagliostro's so cute?

[apatheia]

No. [There isn't even a moment's delay in her reply, although she sounds just a little bit confused. What does cuteness have to do with this...] It's because I have little use for this.

[transcutation]

Geh. [She makes a pretty un-cute face at that flat refusal. Her impression doesn't improve at the real explanation either.] You don't have any use for money?

[It wasn't like Cagliostro was particularly covetous of it either but it certainly had uses, especially being stranded here where her rupies weren't any good]

[apatheia]

Not really. There aren't a lot of things I buy.

[She's interested in learning how to fish using the sort of equipment they'd have here for that, so maybe she should save some for that?? But then she could probably just acquire it another way...]

d

[talim]

[ even though the brilliant spectacle is over, jude is still starstruck, staring up at the sky in awe. he doesn't look at 2b when he responds, speaking to the night air instead. ]

No. Never. I couldn't even begin to imagine anything like this.

They're amazing, though, aren't they?

[apatheia]

They are. [She looks back up towards the sky. It'd be nice if they had a chance to see them again, but they'll need to give the Palai another reason to celebrate first.] I'm surprised you haven't seen fireworks before though.

[talim]

Really? If anything, I'm surprised you have.

... Although I guess I shouldn't be. You and 9S have seen a lot of things that, back home, dreaming up would be downright impossible.

[apatheia]

I imagine it'd be the same for me if I tried to imagine your world.

[Although now that she thinks about it, she's not sure if she knows much about Jude's world specifically either.]

The ones I saw before weren't as nice as the ones here though.

d. something human

[dizzyingly]

[ Dizzy glances over to the young lady next to her, at first looking around to make sure she was the one being asked before answering with a small nod. It was still a little strange to have people talk to her so willingly. ]

I have, [ she says, ] but from a distance. I usually don't see them so closely. They're very pretty from here.

[apatheia]

[For her part, 2B thinks the mild confusion must come from how strange she is herself. She's used to people here thinking she's a little weird at least.]

Was the view better, seeing them from a distance? [With how large they could be, she could understand wanting to see them from far away.]

[dizzyingly]

Hmmm. [ She takes a moment to think. ]

I don't think it's better, just different. The fireworks are pretty whether they're far away or up close, but being able to see them with different perspectives is still nice. It feels like I'm seeing something new, even though I've seen it before.

[apatheia]

From what I've seen, there are a lot of new things to experience in general here. [Like humanity being around for one, but she also knows that her life experiences are pretty different from most people here.] So you might get a lot of chances to feel like that.

d

[bulletbiter]

[ Julius had picked a quiet place to sit, away from the commotion. He had chosen to wear a cloak that covered most of his body, but his face was still visible. ]

No. It's amazing how they made it work.

[apatheia]

[She nods in agreement easily, still in awe at the spectacle they all just saw.]

I've seen fireworks before, but not ones that had glitter in them like this. Maybe they used their magic for some of it.

[bulletbiter]

Possibly.

[ He says this evenly, as he has long since figured that magic was not something easily explained by science. ]

Electricity might have an effect on the chemical reactions in there. Unless these are projections?

[apatheia]

I hadn't considered that. [Given that the fireworks she'd seen before were indeed physical, but who was to say that was the same here?] Although I'm not sure where the glitter comes from if that's the case.

gimme that d

[pussywhips]

[ Ann is sitting down to watch the fireworks too, her face a mask of awe. These fireworks are pretty close to the ones she's already used to, but with an extra glitter surprise—she lifts her hand up, cupping her palm so that she can catch some of the glitter as it rains down.

She flashes the other girl a friendly smile. ]

Kind of, yeah. Though the last time I saw fireworks we weren't able to get this close—and it rained.

always here to provide the d

[apatheia]

It rained? Were the fireworks still able to go on? [She doesn't really know how fireworks even work, and her limited experience of rain also gives her little to go on about how it might affect them.]

[pussywhips]

Um...

[ She pauses. She actually has no idea if fireworks can still work in rain. Science isn't really her best subject... nothing is really her best subject except English. Well, whatever! ]

I mean, they usually stop them because nobody wants to sit out in the rain, you know? It was kind of a bummer, actually.

[apatheia]

Oh. I see. [She sounds just barely, barely disappointed. Fireworks in the rain sounds kind of nice to her, but that's because rain is a novelty in her eyes rather than inconvenient weather.] It's good that you got another chance to see fireworks then.

[Maybe that chance being in another world isn't exactly ideal, but it's something??]