[WORLD ONE | FINAL GOODBYES]

[spellbindmods]

Who: Coven members and the Palai
Where: The Palai Marketplace
When: Days 75 & 76
Open/Closed: Open to All
OOC Note: This is for any and all unresolved threads you'd like to get out of the way before the coven leaves Aimintas. Feel free to backdate specific prompts to whatever day is suitable for you.

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!

Since the Palai discovered that the coven is preparing to leave, they've been preparing for the moment their friends do eventually vanish. This means wrapping up large baskets of food and other supplies that will be given to the coven for their large caravan -- but they also like to give out little personal gifts to those that they recognize or have formed a bond with. Though the Palai are usually people of celebrations, this event is much more muted and personal. Gifts are given and they're certainly congregating, but there's also a dull hum of sadness in the air. The coven has done a lot for their people and helped them establish protection for themselves, so how they fare from here should be positive. With the Uvi gone, will another threat arrive? Who knows -- but the coven won't be here to witness it. A ▢ For those who have Palai children to take care of, the time for their final decision is here. Will they leave their hatchling with their people, or has it become a part of their own family? The Palai are fine with either decision. If your character wants to give up their Palai baby, this is their chance to say goodbye. If they don't want to, the time to choose has come. The Palai will tell them more about their children and how to care for them -- think a regular baby parenting class, except with lizards. B ▢ Certain Palai may have gotten to know your character over their time in Aimintas -- or maybe they barely know your character because they're newer! No matter who your character is, the Palai will give them personalized gifts. These can be based on your character's appearance, extremely insulting, just what your character needed, etc. C ▢ Finally, the Palai are grateful for what the coven's magic has done for them. Some of the Lyna have created little amulets out of the Elto bones, inserting them into glass spheres that glow and prevent some of the electrical sting. These can help your character amplify their powers, which may be fun to play with. Focusing on telepathy while using these amulets, however, will also amplify speech -- leading to some telepathic screaming that your character maybe didn't intend. D ▢ Wildcard! What unfinished business does your character have remaining in Aimintas? Now's the time to take care of it. They'll be gone come tomorrow afternoon.

Comments

[wingfic]

[Her mouth is working silent circles, no noise coming out. She shuts it and tries again.]

I don't get you.

[It's delivered with a certain amount of petulance, like, how dare you be a person she doesn't get. The world is unfair.]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir blinks, slowly, eyes widening; it wasn't what he expected. he doesn't really react much otherwise. he's still waiting...]

Um. Did you want to...?

[wingfic]

Well--yeah.

[She seems a little confused by the question. Why would you want to not get things, all things considered?]

[rootandbranch]

Did you think you were going to understand me by threatening me and yelling at me about my entire life?

[now, Geir is equally puzzled. that makes two of them.]

[wingfic]

Well--

[In truth, she hadn't really been thinking anything, focused as she was on her reaction to hearing Geir had tried to destroy his world.

Which, you know! Seems like a valid thing to focus on to her!! Gosh!]

I--you were talking about killing God and--what was I supposed to do?

[rootandbranch]

[Geir isn't feeling dangerous any more -- the knife being away makes a big difference -- but he's tired and dispirited now, feeling lost and lonely.]

I don't know what you heard or which God you look to. I said I bit a root of the Tree, at home, which is what I was born to do, thank you very much. That Name was written thousands of years ago. But if you were listening, we changed our minds and cauterized the wound, so the eitr wouldn't go deeper.

It's not your concern, anyway. Whatever we do in the end, we'll do because we want to. Nobody else can change that.

[he'd do anything for Vern... even destroy the world, in the end. as much as he might be realizing that he personally doesn't enjoy the idea, that's still true.]

--let me ask you this. Did you do much fighting when the Uvi attacked? Did you defend the Palai?

[wingfic]

[Tara-Fay is the type of person who doubles down on feeling wronged when she's told off, so she has a distinctly huffy look on her face as Geir talks, but she does actually remember him saying he "fixed" it. And if he's not going to (is he even capable of it?) destroying this world, or hers, it becomes something much less immediate.

That and "it's none of your business what I do" is actually a line of thought she groks pretty well. She makes a face and looks back out towards the market for a minute while she considers whether and how to answer.]

No. [She raises her chin.] I've had enough fighting, and it wasn't about me.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir lifts his head in turn; gestures with a wing at the city, at the Palai around them. his next words are pitilessly blunt and unlikely to make her feel less wronged, though he doesn't say them with any particular accusation.]

Then you've already watched someone's world getting destroyed in front of you without doing anything. The Palai who were killed are just as gone as anyone who would die when the Tree falls. Why are you asking me what I'd kill or step aside for?

[wingfic]

[She bristles and straightens.]

I wanted to know if you were going to destroy this world because I'm on it.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir's eyes soften a bit in a wry smile. this has kind of taken a turn for the amusing...

it's strange, but it feels like this conversation has clarified things for him, and in a weird backwards way he's grateful for that. maybe other people have to decide every day to destroy or preserve their worlds or not, too, in their own small ways.]

I like Aimintas, and we're not here much longer. You probably don't need to worry.

[wingfic]

[She puffs up a little--is he laughing at her! She doesn't like being laughed at! and brushes her hair back. She really doesn't get this dragon.]

Well, that's--fine, then, I guess. [She makes a face, like she's realizing that wasn't a very cool or coherent thing to say.]

[rootandbranch]

[he's definitely amused, but he doesn't quite seem to be laughing directly at her -- yet, at least. in the meantime, he upends the bag to drop his last couple of pastries onto the ground.]

Truce? Heavy talk makes for heavy stomachs.

[wingfic]

[She eyes him with some suspicion, like she thinks this might turn out to be one giant trick, or at least a really prolonged practical joke. Tara-Fay's worldview is not expansive enough to encompass world-destroyers who would rather eat pastries than fight. But it's not like she wants to fight either, not if she doesn't have to, so--]

Sure. [Lifting her chin again:] I wasn't going to fight anyway.

[She makes an aborted motion towards him, hesitates--is this what you do in this situation? She's not good with normal social situations--and ends up taking a couple steps towards him and stopping there. She tries to look like she meant to do that all along.]

[rootandbranch]

Sit. If you want.

[Geir's words are brief, but not sharp -- it's a sincere invitation, just not a voluble one. he ducks his own head to crunch up the last of the pastries on the ground. humans are so interesting, he thinks, almost awed. he doesn't have any doubts about his ability to kill her if he wanted to, which makes Tara-Fay as foolhardy as anyone he's ever spoken to.

somehow he feels... stronger? in the wake of that conversation. more settled, as if he's come to a conclusion about one of the questions that was plaguing him. it's very strange. he's not used to that.]