[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

[splinten]

[Dirk looks Geir straight on.

Then, he draws the top of Geir's head—]

Balls.

[The snout—]

Shaft.

[His nose—]

Head.

[rootandbranch]

Is it a human thing to not be able to wrench your mind away from what's between your own legs when you look around you? Or is something paining you there and keeping your attention? You should get a herbalist to look at that.

[splinten]

[This is reaching 'ok Caliborn I'll draw you candy porn' levels, and Dirk will not back down.]

No, Geir. It's none of those things. The truth is... I can't stop thinkin' about your skull.

I want your nose up my ass, Geir.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir bursts out laughing.]

Don't gallop so fast to a pasture where you can't graze! Sorry, Dirk. It would never work between us.

[splinten]

[STILL KEEPING A STRAIGHT FACE, he puts a hand on his chest. Right over his heart.]

Shit, man. I don't know I'll ever recover from this heartbreak.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir nudges him in the chest, over the top of his hand; eyes still glittering with amusement...]

You're tough. You'll survive.

What were we talking about, again?

[splinten]

How you need to write your name into the walls of Aimantis.

[He's pretty sure that was it.]

[rootandbranch]

I can't write... or read. So I don't want to do that.

I just want to remember this place somehow. Or have it remember me. Something more permanent. I'm not used to missing places. Is that really a tradition...?

[splinten]

Yeah. You carve the name of you and someone you like into a tree trunk or wet cement or whatever. Hollywood classic move, but even back to ancient civilization you find tons of graffiti that more or less says "I was here."

What about a drawing?

[rootandbranch]

[Geir's interest sharpens on Dirk's face. decisively:]

A drawing, I could do. A bad one.

[splinten]

That's the best kind.

[rootandbranch]

You want to help? To mend your broken heart...

[splinten]

I think that might just help me get over you. Thanks, Geir.

[rootandbranch]

Sure, Dirk.

[Geir ducks his head and glances up at Dirk rather shyly; that was a fun exchange, and he recognizes that Dirk is trying to help him with these weird new nostalgia feelings.]

Where should we draw it?

[splinten]

[Dirk really does want to help. He likes Geir, and he understands a little of what he is feeling. So maybe they can do something about it.]

A good pick might be a place people will see if. Not like a public monument stuck in the square, we're not going for full-on ostentatious here. More like a wall on a popular thoroughfare or somethin' like that. Mid-level ostentatiousness.

[rootandbranch]

--I know just the place. C'mon, it should be somewhere in the market!

[Geir starts determinedly moving that way, bouncing a little with eagerness.]

And what should I draw?

[splinten]

[Dirk follows along, as best as he can in pursuit of GIANT DRAGON. He may have to resort to flight.]

I can't decide that for you, bro. A man must look in himself and find the true expression of his soul when he wishes to vandalize public property.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir DOES stay slow enough that Dirk can keep up! this isn't his first rodeo spent in the company of tiny, slow humans.]

Okay, I think I've got it. But you still have to help, all right?

[splinten]

I can't tell if you mean in terms of creative direction or if you want me to leave a splinter of myself in this place.

[jokes only for himself]

[rootandbranch]

A splinter of yourself?

[Geir pauses in front of a marketplace wall, nicely set between the corner he and Dirk curled up in to get out of the rain, and a place selling pastries. nice. correct. all the most important things. he reaches out to touch the wall, then carefully begins to carve a shape.]

[splinten]

Like a bit of who I am. It's a metaphor.

[He gestures at Geir's initiating efforts.]

You could consider this a splinter of you.

[rootandbranch]

Hmmm... I dunno. I see what you're saying, but I feel pretty all-of-me. I'm not sure how much I leave behind anywhere.

[he's left himself very lightly imprinted on the world up till now, and even this is something he considers more of a broadcast of sorts than a piece of who he is. he doubts any of the places he's been remember him either; all of him that exists is right here.

unless Vern has some of him...? no, Geir decides, after a moment of thought and another adjustment to his creation. Vern has him, and that's why it's so important Geir doesn't leave him. he doesn't have a piece.]

Do you feel like you do that a lot?

[splinten]

[He didn't really expect Geir to follow this line of reasoning. Maybe he should have. The dude has a knack for finding the little cracks in things and pursuing them to their roots. For the argument itself, it's a matter of different perspectives on what 'leaving behind a piece of yourself' means, but the actual concept Geir is working with is something else.]

You're aware it's a question of semantics more than anything. 'Leaving a bit of yourself behind' can mean a trace or impression, and it doesn't require you to lose and component of yourself.

[He adds,]

I know you won't let me go if I don't answer your question directly, so no, I actually don't. I haven't been a lot of places, and most of the places I've been aren't exactly suited for leaving anything behind. There isn't much point in dropping a fragment in the middle of ruins.

[rootandbranch]

I don't know who Semantics is. They seem useful, if they can answer that sort of question.

[he turns a bright curious eye towards Dirk, and adds thoughtfully:]

...that's how I've always felt. Like there's no point. Now part of me wishes I had clawed up all of Odin's table legs. Impressions seem more important than they used to.

[he tugs back from the wall again to look at his creation: it's a single line in a simple, sinuous shape, not even the head of the snake there to distinguish it.]

Hey, add something!

[splinten]

[Oh Geir.]

Semantics is what words mean. If something is a question of semantics, then you're disagreeing less about the actual matter at hand than the words being used for it.

[Clarifying that just because, as before, he thinks Geir should have all his questions answered where possible. How else is Geir supposed to learn if no one tells him things?]

It could be argued they only make sense in a situation where the place you make an impression is going to stick around.

[So, you know. World destroyer dragon kind of is against that.

At least Geir isn't drawing Cherub sex. Dirk considers it a moment, and then takes out his sword from his sylladex. It's unbreakable, after all, so this should work.

The sword swings; sparks fly up. Dirk scratches in the outline of a hat.]