[WORLD ONE] AIMINTAS (INTRODUCTION)

[spellbindmods]

Who: The coven & Palai people
Where: In and around the city land of Aimintas
When: Days 13 & 14
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!

Just like how you arrived, the process of leaving the hub and reappearing somewhere else is quite quick and uneventful. Brie and Genette gather as many people as possible so that everyone can explore the new world together in a group, which is where they all land once Qri has worked her magic. If you weren't in the vicinity, or thought that not being social meant you'd get to stay on the island, you come along as well, though you didn't exactly show up with the group. A ▢ Everyone starts their journey a reasonable distance from the outer city walls of Aimintas. It's about a four hour trek to the rocks on foot, which Genette tells everyone to move towards -- though you're free to do as you please. You may discover that traveling on your own too far away results in something quite unpleasant. The initial terrain is quite interesting -- it's at least different from the hub island, though you may not be particularly impressed. There's sticky kelp to step in, water in the sky to look at and sand to get stuck in every orifice of your body. How do you like the new digs thus far? B ▢ Genette explains that the gang must enter the city of Aimintas to survive, but it's easier said than done. Maybe as something of an incentive, Genette climbs into Qri's caravan and it floats away, over the rock face. There go all the supplies you brought! The rest of you losers will have to climb through the craggy rock walls, hundreds of feet tall with very few crevices and cracks that are navigable. Hope you can climb...or maybe you can find a way to get through using someone's magic? The sun sets while the coven is busy trying to get through the craggy infrastructure (at least, that's the fate of those who don't find a quicker way to get into the city). Brie locates a large cave in one of the rocks, and that's where everyone sets up camp for the night. If you want to carry on, that's your choice...but who knows if anything that goes bump in the night is out there bumping in the night time? C ▢ What will your character be doing tonight? Sleeping on a hard rock? Stuck awake? Even if they do manage to fall asleep, they may be haunted by the occasional high pitched screech that comes through the night, though the location of the noise is unknown as of right now.

It takes about a day to travel to Aimintas, climb through the rocks and come into the city. Thankfully the city hub is close to the side of the city the coven managed to climb through, so civilization is awaiting. That civilization is decently modern, lizard-like and very, very nosy. D ▢ Upon entering civilization, the Palai are immediately curious and in awe of their taller, bipedal visitors. They've only seen people like those in the coven in pictures, and if they learn that your character has magic? It'll be as if an A-list celebrity just wandered into town. Because they're so enamored, the Palai will readily give coven members gifts as a token of their appreciation. What exactly do they appreciate? Don't be afraid to ask a few simple questions. They'll be more than happy to give out answers. E ▢ Some Palai, though, will want to see some of that magic before they offer up any gifts. Some may be a little demanding, just because their curiosity is so overwhelming. A harsh no will result in an apology and a gift anyways, but maybe just show them some magic anyway...? Even outside of interacting with the Palai, there's quite a bit around here to look at. Genette can be found in the middle of one of the parks, handing out the stored supplies to their owners. (Don't worry, she'll tell you where she is with a little telepathic poke. Your supplies will give you access to shopping and bartering...your status as a magical humanoid thing will only get you so far. F ▢ The Palai marketplace is rather large and home to a variety of businesses, shops and services. Want a good night's sleep? Want to eat a delicious shrimp wrap? Need your hub technology charged? You can do that here. What strange items will you fine? Is their technology level something you're familiar with? G ▢ Finally, the Palai are a people of culture. That culture can be quite unforgiving to those who choose to wander around alone. Some Palai people, after the initial wonder has worn off, will deny services to people who are on their own. It just doesn't compute! Your character is better off with a group of three, but a friend is fine. Travel in groups or couples and your character will find that they get fewer strange looks and questions.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed within the Palai marketplace, so no one will blame a coven-member for escaping the city for a bit. On the outside of the marketplace is a very large house with dozens of Palai congregating -- and my dozens, we mean at least 200. A Palai mate triangle just committed to each other, and this is certainly worth celebrating. H ▢ The guests feel blessed by the presence of a coven-member, and they readily invite any that happen by to the festivities. There's cake, alcohol, drinks, dancing. The Palai people certainly know how to get down. I ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[genice]

b | stripped down

( Victor evaluated the craggy rock faces, staring up and feeling himself avoid looking even further up, toward the ceiling of the ocean sky hung far overhead. It was something like being in an aquarium walkway, that distortion of light and swimming shapes, only it was the whole of the sky here. An illusion that at first made him feel pressured, like he would have difficulty breathing.

He'd dismissed that after a few calming breaths. Looking to Yuuri, being steady for himself and Yuuri, meant he dismissed the flight of fancy almost as soon as it came to mind. He needed to, even while he heard exclamations as people had rediscovered powers (save him from this incredible nonsense) of their own that had not been functional back on the hub-island.

Yet here, staring up at what he doesn't exactly feel like gamely climbing, he asks the people around him a question that seems relevant-ish. )

Think flying up and over is a good idea, bad idea, or acceptably risky idea?

e | sand and scales

"I really don't think my magic's very practical for use in the city limits." Victor held both his hands up, palms out, looking apologetic as he can manage as the small group of Palai around him step closer and ask for the nth time if he could just show them...

He sends out a short mental call using that connection he has with the rest of the coven, keeping his mental tone as neutral and pleasant as possible. Is anyone with an easy to show magic skill and the desire to perform for a small audience around the North end of the central market right now? I'd appreciate an assist, if you're willing.

wildcard | hit me up

( ooc: hit me up with a blank comment and i'll generate a random prompt; or hit me up with any random prompt of your own taking place in the city, including the stuff shown on the TDM and/or the upcoming 3-day celebration! )

e!

[mapsio]

[Even if she didn't feel like performing her magic for the 10th...maybe 15th time that day, Haru can't really resist someone's call for help. So she starts heading that way, sending a mental message back as she's walking.]

I'm on my way, what do you look like so I know who to come to?

[Look, just saying a "small audience of palai" doesn't help. There are mobs of them everywhere.]

[genice]

( his wonderful lack of a description wasn't helping? Victor smiles at the Palai and shakes his head again, keeping his mental communication succinct and to the point. )

Close to two meters tall, or six feet, if those measurement systems mean anything to you. Platinum hair light enough to qualify as silver, blue eyes. Black v-neck workout shirt. Male, human.

[mapsio]

Okay, I'll be there in five minutes.

[Maybe also distract the palai and tell them that someone is on their way? Whatever you have to do, Victor.

In exactly five minutes, a small young lady weaves her way through the crowd and stands next to the person she assumes is calling for help.]

Good afternoon, palai folk. I have something neat to show you.

[To Victor:]

Just go along with this for a moment, okay?

[And before he is able to say anything more about it.... Haru is creating a barrier around Victor. The palai seem impressed at the very least.[

[genice]

( He's great at stalling; so stall is what he does, promising another one of the visitors to the city would be along, another member of the coven. He's not wrong, though it takes another round of apologetic smiles and little shrugs and compliments to woven fabric and answering questions about life without a tail before she arrives; he flashes her a smile and waves, as if he's expected exactly her.

His relief is a gentle thing, suffusing through him as he relaxes his shoulders and makes himself stay unflinching as the barrier forms. Her warning was enough to be appreciated; Victor holds a hand up by his mouth and gasps, eyes sparkling. )

Wow! I'm completely surrounded! Amazing!

( Frightening in many different contexts, but he's fallen into the role she gave him: just go along with this for a moment. )

Now just what can this keep out? Or keep in?

( here he is, tapping a finger against his chin, quirking his eyebrows and looking back toward Haru without blinking. lead on, ringmaster. )

[mapsio]

[No harm will come to Victor if he does exactly what she says.]

Go ahead and knock on the barrier from the inside.

And now my assistant will you show you that he is completely trapped within my barrier.

[Haru is scanning the crown for something, a heavy stick maybe? She doesn't want to scare Victor by using an ax on the barrier. Though that would be a good display of her magic.]

Would you be against me swinging something potentially dangerous at this barrier?

[genice]

( Part of him considers the duality of what they should be practicing; speaking out loud while saying something different mentally. He figures he and Yuuri can work on that together more pointedly than they have been. Even in sillier ways, and this counts as silly, truly, it has an importance he's not quick to ignore.

Best not to dismiss a tool in their kit.

Victor knocks on the barrier, a smart rap of his knuckles against its surface. He mimes gentle surprise. )

So sturdy! So strong!

( his initial reaction is a sharp no, but he tamps down on that in order to deal with practicalities. a demonstration that caused injury was pointless. her chosen display of magic was the barrier; it made sense to test that and showcase its strength. he didn't have to like this to acknowledge it's good showmanship.

so he smiles. )

If your confidence holds, mine will too. Do as you know you can manage.

[mapsio]

[She is sorry for the real horror you're about to feel. She goes back to the bag of things that she sat down. Producing an ax, a good mid-sized one. Good for someone who may or may not be going into battle.

She was confident enough in her ability that she would be able to keep the barrier from even cracking!]

Now, my assistant will stand in this barrier as I hit it, okay? On the third hit, the barrier will shatter into sparkles.

[The palai seem interested.]

Now, please count along.

Stand at the very back, they won't notice. You're safe with me.

[Haru seems to know what she's doing, and she raises her axe. When her hits come they come hard. One hit, two hits....and finally three. On the third the barrier shatters into somewhat of a dazzling glitter. A glitter fitting enough for Victor, even.]

[genice]

( he does as she asks, smile bright and 100% PR approved as he waves at the gathered Palai, shifting toward the back of the barrier. his heart isn't ready for the hits of the axe. he can feel those reverberations through his bones, or so he fancies; he's still ready when the barrier breaks.

through the cascade of glitter, Victor goes into a bow with a flourish, coming up to applaud enthusiastically, alongside the Palai. )

Wow! Amazing!

( slipping around toward the side of his erstwhile saviour, he holds out a hand for shaking. )

Wonderful performance. Can't say I'd want to volunteer to be your second on stage all that often, but I don't think I did too bad managing on the fly.

( he winks. )

Victor Nikiforov. Thank you.

b

[girasole]

[He was going to say, "Acceptably risky." You know, because sometimes you had to. Sometimes you had to tempt fate in order to accomplish things. Sometimes you had to push forward and try shit, even if the shit seemed stupid. You had to take fate in your hands like it was reins and give it a solid crack.]

Acceptably-... [That's as far as he reflexively got before his brain went, "Whoa, hold on a second. This guy is asking for a reason."] Why.

[genice]

( Victor tips his head to the side, considering the man standing to his side. He looked like he'd be able to handle the climb while possibly carrying two other people on his back. )

Getting pulled into this whole magical mess left me able to turn into a dragon and, by merit of the fact I have wings, I can fly.

[girasole]

[He had been prepared for something stupid and...well, no, that's really it, stupid. If he was lucky it would be just stupid: if it was unlucky it would be stupid, but with that implausible edge which made you go, "That sounds idiotic, but what if, now I can't stop thinking about it."

(He had really spent too much time around Jojo.)

This, however? It got Caesar to take a step back, a small one, just to...you know, regard the other guy. He didn't look that fearsome, but neither did his teacher and Lisa Lisa could kick his ass and Caesar knew this for a fact because it probably happened a few times already.]

Really? Don't misunderstand. I have no reason to disbelieve you, it's just...

[You don't really look like the sort of person who'd turn into a dragon just saying.]

[genice]

( Victor looks like little more than an athlete, attractive or otherwise. He's self-assured of both these being factual: not particularly concerned with one, actively working on and maintaining himself for the sake of the other. Athleticism needed maintenance after all.

But it didn't make him seem a likely dragon, and he would never have thought of himself as one before. He still doesn't like to, but under the pressure of this atmosphere, considering the expanse of rock wall, considering his need to be at home in his own skin...

His lips pull up into a wry smile, shoulders hitched up in a shrug, hands held out to his sides, palms up. )

It was one of the, ah, what are we calling these things? Changes brought on in becoming part of the coven. Not exactly my natural state of being before the last few weeks.

[girasole]

[Putting it that way sounds like they all went through magic puberty stop it.]

And you can do it...anywhere? Anytime? Like...say, right now?

[He's got so many questions.]

[genice]

( they did go through magic puberty okay he was awake for all that??? )

Yes. Though I'd prefer to strip first. I happen to like this outfit.

( it's essentially sweatpants and an exercise v-neck in black. what is there to like or not like. the world may never know. )

[girasole]

...

Did... [This hand gesture is supposed to imply 'did you Hulk out and end up naked and learned this the hard way?']

b

[actus]

Flying?

[ how many people here know how to fly? it's perplexing and akira is a tad jealous. even with his powers back home, he couldn't do that. while his powers here were anything but impressive, he'd exchange them in a heartbeat for the ability to fly. it's kind of a big deal. ]

You can do that?

[genice]

Yeah.

( he glances over at yet another person he should probably get to know, debating inwardly. )

Since I got here. Or... ( he lifts a hand, gesturing to their group as a whole. his smile is polite and brief, but aware of their general situation. ) ... since the coven thing happened.

w (c) lemme know if this works for you

[probablynoteren]

[The screeches vary in volume, intensity and frequency, but they're always there in the distance -- hovering until you're just at the edge of sleep before making a break for it, and by break we mean breaking your attempt at any shuteye.

Visibility is just about zero outside of their little cave setup: little to no light gets through the mass of ocean above, unless you count the smallest flashes of luminescent deep(?!) sea fish, coral, or other strange creatures Lenka doesn't have a clue what to make of. The sky moves, though, great big billows of currents and waves visible even in darkness, cut by the luminescent lightning. It's almost like the screeching is thunder.

Since sleep isn't much of a thing on nights like these -- they're familiar, in their essence, the cries in the distance and the knowledge that something is hunting -- Lenka's climbed up to a stony crag not far from the cliff face the cave is carved into.

The little bottle of shimmering water created from worm mist much earlier in their stay is tucked next to him, providing illumination. That is, until he shifts at a particularly loud screech, and accidentally knocks it off the crag. Hopefully it doesn't hit anyone--]

laughs totally works, let's go for ignoble meeting

[genice]

( -- and it does, of course, hit someone. Victor, to be precise, who had been on his way back after leaving for the sake of emptying a full bladder. Life was full of these ignoble little necessities, made all the more apparent when having to camp under bizarre forms of northern lights and the cries of animals that sound like mother nature herself rebelling against the absurd cage they're all rummaging around within.

The bottle bounces off his head, tumbling on toward the ground as Victor mutters: )

Ouch?

( with little emphasis, more surprised than injured. the light of the bottle has him glancing down first, then up, immediately, looking for whomever had tossed the dratted thing. )

Hello?

[probablynoteren]

... Ah.

[Lenka had been busy facepalming at his own clumsiness -- honestly, was he this bad at keeping things together already after just a couple of weeks away? -- so he's leaning over the edge of the crag now and staring down between his fingers once Victor makes his existence known. He's just lucky it was a coven member and not some kind of wildlife or something.

... Not that it's lucky for Victor, but the bottle had been small and relatively light, so hopefully no lasting damage done. He's pretty sure. He should probably check.]

Sorry. Are you okay? That's, uh, that's mine.

[genice]

( His eyes look dry even if his smile is a wry one to offset any tendency toward drollness. )

I guessed as much. So who are you? It's not every night I have the pleasure of bottles being dropped on top of my head.

( he crouches down, picking up the plastic bottle and tipping it this way and that way, curious as to its convenience as a light of sorts. like the sky above in all its riot of movement; the least restive thing he's seen painted across the heavens. )

[probablynoteren]

Utsugi Lenka. I think we're both part of the coven.

[He hasn't actually hit wildlife, right? Do the natives around here count as wildlife??

It's kind of hard to keep talking down such a ridiculous distance, so Lenka starts slowly making his way back down -- using the cave and the little beacon Victor's examining as a guide and feeling his way across the rock. It's a good thing he didn't climb too high, but he still feels better when he has a good vantage point in times like these.

Once he's back on equal standing with his inadvertent victim:]

I just wanted to... keep watch. It's-- [screech, goes their helpful heavens] --hard to sleep through that.

[genice]

[ Lenka is moving (first? last? he doesn't decide), and for that reason Victor stays relatively quiet, only returning the introduction at first. ]

Victor Nikiforov, and we are, most likely.

[ unless there's some other motley crew to be a part of here and now. he's not sure he wants any part with any of them; he also doesn't get a choice. not right now. once he's joined by his companion of the moment: ]

... It's definitely not the worst I've heard.

[ he muses this having been surrounded by screaming infants on airplanes for sixteen plus hour flights. he's admittedly learned some coping skills with loud shrieks and screeches in the night. still. he glances skyward. ]

The visuals are more unsettling to me.

[probablynoteren]

[Nikiforov, huh? It's certainly easier to pronounce than Alisa Illinichina Amiella (on an aside, I still don't know how that's a Russian name), but that isn't saying much. Maybe he should go with the first name just so he doesn't mangle it--

Anyway, Victor's response has him looking back up at what's above them -- it's not much for visuals, since you can barely see anything, but that's the other unsettling thing. Having what is apparently millions of tons of water rolling by above your head is bit...]

... Yeah. I don't like it, either. It doesn't make sense. [as for the screeches, for the most part he's learned the opposite of sleeping through them -- sounds like that were to be paid attention to, back home, unless you felt like being separated from your limbs or worse] Can I have that back?

[He's holding out a hand for the small glowing bottle.]