[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 She'll also give you a letter, which may give you more questions than answers since the information is a wee out of date.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

[secondadvent]

[ Something about her reaction strikes Akechi as a little strange, like she's a bit too surprised to see him here, but it's a strangeness he decides not to dwell on too much. They've both been kidnapped to another world and forcibly been made members of a coven, after all, it's normal for people to react differently than expected when placed in a strange situation like this.

The Palai looks to Ann, then to Akechi, then back to Ann. Hmm, maybe it would be better to drag the newbie to someone else... on the other hand, it's good to work on improving the bonds you already have -- so the lizard lets go of Akechi's wrist and slinks off to pester some other poor soul instead. ]

She was rather adamant about connecting me with an old coven member, I couldn't say no. [ Well, more like he didn't have a choice because she literally grabbed him by the wrist when he tried to ignore her. ]

It's good to see a familiar face, though. Kurusu-kun told me you were here too.

[pussywhips]

[ At least she seems to realize that she's acting super effing suspicious and she'd better get her act together—well, probably? It's hard for her to tell whether Akechi is just putting on a front himself—whether he knows everything that happened and is just pretending to be friendly for some nefarious purpose. Or maybe he doesn't know? He could still be pretending for some nefarious purpose, though.

God, her head is spinning. This is why she leaves the strategy stuff to Akira and Makoto. She'd rather just be there to set things on fire.

But okay, fine. Playing it cool. She flashes him a smile, tugging absently on one of her pigtails. ]

Yeah, the Palai are pretty big on bonds and stuff. [ Too bad Akechi will never appreciate them!! ] You talked to Akira already? When do you come?

[secondadvent]

So I've noticed. It's a bit... much. [ He says "much" but the word that actually sits in the back in his throat is "disgusting". He's never needed bonds, the only one he can rely on is himself. The one connection he's managed to foster with another human being was going to be severed with a bullet about twenty-four hours from now. ]

I arrived here about two hours ago. Kurusu-kun found me when I was holding an egg for one of the Palai.

[pussywhips]

[ Maybe he didn't actually say disgusting, but Ann can only imagine that's exactly what he meant. Some of the old resentment and anger comes back to her now, as if he'd never left the Phantom Thieves at all. It had always made her skin crawl to act so friendly to him, knowing what his true aim was—and to have him act so friendly to her in return. ]

Oh, did they give you one of those too?

[ She glances towards his empty hands, secretly hoping to hell that he didn't just ditch the poor defenseless egg somewhere. That seemed like something he would do. ]

[secondadvent]

Yes. They just shoved an egg at me. [ Honestly, he probably contemplated the idea of simply ditching it somewhere, but he's not that cruel. Besides, it would be pointless - something like that wouldn't further his revenge plot at all. ]

Luckily the parents came back for it after a while, but it was awkward, holding somebody's unborn child like that. I was afraid I would drop it.

[pussywhips]

[ Don't perpetuate the cycle of parental abandonment, Akechi... ]

Yeah, it's a little weird, right? [ Being responsible for a living thing like that... they're only teenagers, after all. It's still hard enough being responsible for themselves. Looks like teen pregnancy just isn't in her future! Not that it ever was.

Ann doesn't actually have an egg of her own, but Akira and Haru both do. She's noticed that taking care of it is, surprisingly, a full time job. ]

I guess it's a good thing it was still just an egg, though, right? I mean, it could've been an actual Palai baby. That probably would've been way worse.