spellbinders | [WORLD ONE] AIMINTAS (INTRODUCTION)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[You know. He can see where this is going. Part of him goes, "No, you know this will likely end up in regret. Look at all of the fish puns. Look at all of the fish puns. If they were confident about the quality of their food they wouldn't resort to copious fish puns."

The rest of him goes-]

This is a bad idea, but, even so, we have to try this. If we don't we may never get the opportunity to try it again and we'll always be curious until the day we die.

[Which, in his case, is maybe five minutes after he goes home, and he knows this, but he's trying to stay positive through a mix of resigned weariness and repression with mixed results. There's worse fates.]

Precisely! We can say we've tried it and add it to our memoirs: Hook, Line and Sinker: Ode to Trout Margaritas and Seaside Punnery.

[She marched right on in. May as well start this rodeo and hopefully not end the night in gastrointestinal distress. They'd had enough of that back at the hub, but nobody seemed ill coming out of the place. That was good. Fingers crossed?]

I smell a best-seller. And beer batter.

[What were these intensely pitying looks that Caesar was get- oh, right, it was the fact that there was two of them (and thus merely passible) opposed to three (the prime number.) Still, he's good at ignoring them. They pitied their lack of triad; he practically sparkled (metaphorically: literally shining with the light of the sun would be awkward at best) as he suaved- yes, suaved, not just said, to the Palai working there-]

We'll sit at the...bar.

[He thinks. He had no idea about the minimum drinking age in Palailand or what a lot of the laws were like in general, but you know what? It didn't matter. He didn't care, because for things like this what was important that you sold it: you said it with a smile and conviction. And then people usually went, "Sure, sounds legit." And not only that! He also didn't care because they were staring at the two of them with pity because they're two and not three but not all things had to be done in sets of three, fuck you, and, yes, Palai, sometimes you really did need a moment alone. Yes. He was spite-metaphorically sparkling at the Palai.

Whatever.

Company's good. No complaints there.] After you.

[This to Madhuri. She didn't get the suave or the sparkle, she more got the conviction of we're being stared at this is what's called a show we got this.]

[Caesar, the hero. The eyes on them wasn't the biggest deal for her, accustomed to being ogled, even with a sense of pity. They were pushing their culture, and some folks just didn't gel with making things a three-way.

She wasn't that adventurous. ...Maybe. Jury's out on it.]

Why, thank you~

[Alright, so they didn't have an Elto, but maybe having the presence enough to fill in that gap might at least give them a little breathing room. She would part ways with him to go for a bar stool, but not without a lingering look and a rather coy nip into her bottom lip as she did so. A show was precisely up her alley.]

[...god, the second he showed his power he'd be mistaken for one - again - and words couldn't describe how old that was gotten. Still. He smiled in return, actually pulled out a seat-]

For you. [And-]

[And then an echo.

-then Suzi twitches, limbs contorting, raising in a way they shouldn't bend, a trickle of blood like - and Caesar thought this for one moment before both wanting to laugh and hating himself for thinking this at such a moment - but like an accident in the kitchen with spaghetti and sauce going everywhere. Except with blood. It had that same artless nuance, like the thing possessing her was trying to make her bleed but had no idea how bleeding worked. It was like that.

Then his master spoke up, offering to make the kill for them so they could go on ahead- of course she did. Lisa Lisa had always been like this. She seemed stern and…was. Severe. She was severe but also kind. Like a mother. Which was why he immediately insisted that he’d do it. Suzi and he weren’t as close as they could’ve been, but they were close enough, and he wasn’t leaving the task of a mercy kill up to his mother.

And then Jojo spoke up (bless him) said that he had an idea (bless his ideas) and as Suzi twitched he turned and said-]

[An offered seat, and she made way for it. But amid the silly game and small lizard eyes staring, it was like a hammer to the brain. One strike. Two. Madhuri gasped and raised her hands to her temples to fight what felt like her eyes and her brain threatening to spill out of the cracks that would soon form in her skull. Not again, not here...!

She sees a poor young woman twitching in pain, posed like a marionette twisted in her strings, and three figures standing in only momentary horror. But it seemed they got their act together quickly enough, enough to speak of who may eliminate the unfortunate host. It reminded her of Thancred, the silly bastard, body made a puppet by Lahabrea.

But as a plan was made, despite Madhuri's curiosity, the Echo decided to slowly pull her back...]

[But her mind reeled. So much red... it was hot and dry that night, the air rife with the smell of blood, of fire that charred both armor and flesh. The battle cries mingled with anguished screams of many wounded and dying below, and all she could do was fling arrows, throw a protection to a warrior before a fireball would burn him to a crisp...

But a horrid crackling sent all eyes, both friend and enemy, to the sky. Weapons and magic, magitek walkers all ceased as the looming red moon above shuddered and burst, revealing a pair of thin and craggy wings. The fear of it slamming into the planet and putting a crater in the battlefield twisted into something far worse.

Dalamud couldn't be stopped after all. Gods, the damned moon was housing something.

The red moon erupted into pieces, falling to the earth in streaks of fire as the great black dragon roared in anger, in glee. He was free now, and any below who had voices left uttered the same thing: "The Dreadwyrm..."

He sailed through the air as if in a dance, the Dreadwyrm's fury taking the form of massive flares singing through the air before destroying everything in their path. As pillars of fire and death light the night, the war was forgotten. Soldiers on both sides turned and fled in terror. Madhuri stood still, hands shaking on her bow.

She would die tonight, then. Her family, her friends... everyone. The Dreadwyrm would burn the planet.

So she waited, and she watched. It would only be a matter of time until a flare would eradicate the world beneath her, taking her with it. Even when she shut her eyes, the black turned to an overwhelming red against her eyelids. She felt light as a feather. She felt no pain at all. In fact, it-]

[WORLD ONE] AIMINTAS (INTRODUCTION)

no subject

I'm sensing an opportunity to have the Echo trigger, if'n you like. Either during the meal or later.

I'm in. I love surprises. Surprise me.

no subject

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2/2 let me know if this doesn't work and I'll edit :|b

1/2 Works for me!

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