[WORLD ONE | POST-UVI CELEBRATION]

[spellbindmods]

Who: Coven members and Palai
Where: In and around the Aimintas marketplace
When: Day 39
Open/Closed: Open to All

After an appropriate amount of time for mourning, the Palai have shifted into a more positive mood -- they're a very resilient species, though there is a bit of a muted tone to their celebration. The whole event is a little hodge-podge, mostly because they aren't used to having to celebrate with the coven members added to the guest list. The Palai have gathered together all of their people and have invited the coven members to a small, intimate gathering -- the purpose of the event is to thank them for their service in fighting the Uvi, and the success of freezing the Uvi in their home. While no one knows how long the Uvi will stay gone, any amount of time without the Uvi being a concern is fine by them. The event takes place in the very center of the marketplace, with the Palai interacting on the fringes of the party throughout the rest of the large building. The coven members have time to spend by themselves, but there's room for moving around on their own and also spending time with the Palai if they so choose. A ▢ One of the more noticeable editions to the food the Palai have provided is a large pile of sweet, sugar dusted pastries. You may notice that something about them seems...odd, to say the least. It looks as if the pastries are vibrating slightly, but they smell divine. If you're so inclined to ask what the deal is, these pastries are magically infused by Eltos, which somehow gives them a sweeter flavor and enhances the sensation of tastebuds. The Palai sometimes eat these before meals in order to better the flavor of their entire spread -- though adding this energized magic to an already magical being means magic powers may be a little off kilter. Don't be surprised if suddenly your abilities go a little crazy. B ▢ The Palai aren't participating the party for two big reasons. One, the purpose is to celebrate the victory of coven members. The other reason, however, is one that may be more interesting to outsiders. While previously the Palai were peaceful people, happy to exist submitting to the Uvi, the coven's show of strength and valor has inspired them to be more aggressive in their approaches. Grown Palai can be seen working on makeshift weapons, but the idea of smaller tools like slingshots have already been constructed and almost perfected. The Palai youth have discovered these tools and are playing with them gleefully, though occasionally hitting each other -- and potentially you -- with energized, paralyzing rocks fueled with Elto energy. Watch out or you might get zapped! C ▢ Other Palai youth aren't as fortunate to be so distracted and happy. While fewer Palai died during this attack, the casualty number wasn't zero. Most Palai children still have at least one family member to care for them, but they're still a little disconnected from their people by means of grief. Some are milling about with the coven members, trying to eat or pester them for attention. If you're good with kids this may be more your speed, but those bad with children can find this irritating. Some Palai youth are more muted, however, content to just sit and listen to stories or eavesdrop on conversations. D ▢ For some people, rain isn't that big an issue -- but it certainly puts a damper (get it?) on a party. The Palai seem a bit confused by the sudden shower that comes in heavy as the evening dies down. The Palai have never experienced rain before, using irrigation systems and existing ground water as their means of hydration (both for themselves and for plants). Because the rain is coming from the ocean, the drops are large and salty, and the marketplace quickly begins to flood. The Palai move the party indoors for the most part, but that doesn't mean you or the food aren't already soaked. It's much warming underneath the roofs in the marketplace, but that doesn't provide much relief since the ocean rain is warm and humid. E ▢ Wildcard! How will your character handle this violent and volatile situation.

Comments

[alphonse]

b;

[Rocks he could have handled, but electricity sparking over his armor? Even Al can't act unfazed by that, to say nothing of the attention it could attract. He crosses his arms and looks down at the Palai children responsible with as much sternness as he can convey.]

You should put those away before someone gets hurt.

[His tone of voice is fairly gentle, all things considered, but a good look at him gets the kids to comply pretty quickly anyway. Al sighs and shakes his head as he watches them rush off.]

Tell me I'm not the only one who feels like a terrible influence.

c;

[Slingshot mishaps aside, trying to cheer up the mourning Palai children is clearly the most worthy cause of the night, and where Al spends most of his time. For the most part this amounts to letting them climb all over him, but after a while he transmutes some simple toys for them as well. Maybe they're getting bored of the figurines being lizard shaped, though, because when someone else walks by they're quickly met with clamors of oh, do them next! Well. This is no time to turn down a request. Al gives the newcomer an appraising look before he claps his hands and creates a tiny stone likeness of them on the ground in a flash of light. Congrats, you now have your own action figure.]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir is completely transfixed by the tiny stone dragon, even if Alphonse might regret getting the model for the figurine's attention.]

Wait-- what?!

[he pauses what he's doing and uncurls from his corner to sidle over to Alphonse, a feat for something thirty feet tall. that toy looked like him! where did it come from so suddenly?!]

How'd you do that?!

[alphonse]

[At first, whatever Al was going to say is cut off by Palai children who are entirely too excited about the object of their attention coming closer. Sorry Geir, but nothing is cooler than a dragon. Al carefully restrains one before she can make a leap for the poor guy's head, all the while standing to give him a better look at the figure.]

It's just alchemy. I hope you don't mind we borrowed your likeness. These kids are pretty hard to say no to.

[rootandbranch]

No, it's great! Can you make another one?

[Geir's reaction is pure excitement, not so far from the excitement of the little kids; it's very flattering, at least. alerted to the presence of the kids and their interest in seeing him closer up, he bends his head down so they can see him better.]

Haha, hi, guys...

[alphonse]

[Okay, that's pretty cute.]

Sure. Let me try something a little different.

[He claps and kneels again, transmuting a bigger stone dragon this time--one that's more akin to the size of a playground ride than a handheld toy. It doesn't take long for a couple of the kids to catch on and climb on top like they're pretending to ride the real thing.]

[rootandbranch]

Do they want to ride me? They could just ask.

[Geir puts his nose down to sniff at the stone dragon in amusement. it really does look quite like him...]

This is probably safer, though.

[he's gotten a vague idea that safety versus kids is something that people care about. he guesses that his parents cared a little about it, too, though not nearly as much as for these tiny lizards.]

If you'd make one more of them, I want a little one to give to my summoner. I think he'd like it.

[alphonse]

That and they'd probably never let you out of their sight again.

[Al's hoping he doesn't have to try and talk them out of asking. He likes kids, but seasoned and responsible babysitter he is not.

He gives Geir a nod and produces another small dragon, with a bit more attention to detail since this one isn't immediately going into the hands of rambunctious children.]

You got brought here with someone? That's lucky.

b.

[thatdamnknight]

[someone else has been giving far more lectures than he thought at this festival. kids playing with toys and bothering people happens no matter the world. them using electrically charged stones, however, made flynn go from tolerating their antics to flat-out lecturing any kid trying to use those on unsuspecting people. funny how a festival celebrating their victory ends up wearing him out more than the actual battle that led up to it.

oh well, someone has to play the bad guy when it comes to kids. it isn't fun, but needs to happen. hence why flynn offers al an understanding smile after having witnessed that.]

Not at all. That said, children need to learn what is and isn't appropriate. This'll do them some good in the long run.

[or at least stop them involving unarmed people in their mischief.]

[alphonse]

I hope so.

[Even the most basic moral high ground is hard to claim when they're the ones responsible for the Palai's newfound interest in weapons, but there's something to be said for damage control.]

Have they actually been listening to you?

[Flynn talks like someone with unfortunate firsthand experience.]

[thatdamnknight]

Moderately so. [his voice grows a tad weary.] They've learned to try to avoid shooting those off within my of field vision so that I don't lecture them any further.

[so it's a slight success?? which still is better than nothing when it comes children, but hopefully some of those lectures do end up sticking. at least he's been good with catching them in the act even when they're attempting to be sneaky.]

[alphonse]

So in other words, they'll probably try again as soon as we're not looking.

[True enough, he turns just in time to spot the kids peeking out from around the corner before they quickly duck out of sight again to avoid the wrath of the fun police. It's going to be a very long day.]

What do you think the odds of hiding every slingshot in the city are?

[thatdamnknight]

[flynn laughs softly.]

High but not as high as a few of the children hiding some slingshots themselves so that we can't take them.

[is he speaking from personal experience? yeah. yeah, he is. him and his childhood friend managed to get away with all sorts of mischief. any adult who took away one toy? well, they'd either find that toy again or something worse.]

[alphonse]

You're probably right.

[If asked he would deny ever being a troublemaker, but there's definitely a note of understanding in his voice too.]

Maybe we should just teach them to work on their aim.

c

[p_mortem]

[ That's... frankly, that's amazing. It's the second time anybody's made anything in Minato's likeness, but Al's a lot more detailed oriented than... well, he can show the Palai. ]

Here... You guys can have this too.

[ It's not quite alchemy, but it looks somewhat similar to what Al does: Minato pulls a glass bead out of one of his pants pockets, holds it on the palm of his hand, and in a blink, it becomes a sculpture of Minato's head in SBAHJ style and—

it's life-sized and made of stone and HEAVY. Minato drops it. It cracks on the floor and the nose falls off. ]

...

[alphonse]

[The Palai kids rally around their new prize, with one of the more enterprising ones trying futilely to stick the nose back on. Al, meanwhile, is going to take a moment to silently judge that art style. It sure... is something.

Still, the technique for producing the sculpture is impressive.]

You made that? [Head tilt.] From a bead?

[p_mortem]

[ The nose nub slowly gets ground into dust with all the manhandling, with zero chance of ever fitting on the face again, but this is the best use for the statue that Minato could hope for. He's finally rid of it, and steps back from the Palai to look up (and up and up) at Al. ]

Yeah. [ a beat ] Sort of. [ no ] It was already made. I just stored it as a bead, and then turned it back.

[alphonse]

[Well... Here's to hoping that Minato wasn't expecting to get his sculpture back intact.]

You... [He can't believe he's saying this, but.] You have magical storage powers?

[p_mortem]

Something like that.

[ It's exactly like that, but "magical storage powers" sounds lame? Please. There's also more utility to the magic, that Minato's slowly figuring out day by day, but Al's got the gist of it. ]

The magic you got is similar? With the toys...

[alphonse]

No, that's alchemy. It's a science.

[Tragically, he'll never stop making this argument.]

The magic [can you feel the disdain] I'm supposed to have can't do anything useful yet. It's impressive you can manage yours so well.

b

[teratias]

[Waver isn't the best with kids. He's too awkward, and that's just around adults. Kids? It's so much trying to be on their level and failing that he just saves himself the embarrassment and generally tries to keep his distance.

Al's much better with this though, even if...

...wait, did he just get electrocuted in metal and suffer no ill effects? That's weird.]

It's pretty hard to deny that there's been a shift in culture because of us.

[alphonse]

Yeah.

[He sits back down, trying not to sound too mopey about it.]

It's weird enough with the adults, but I don't know how to tell the kids to leave weapons alone without sounding like a complete hypocrite.

[teratias]

I dunno. You're in a big suit of armor. You look more authoritative because you're clearly equipped to touch them, where as the kids just....aren't.

[alphonse]

[Al hms agreeably. It might not feel right, but Waver isn't wrong.]

Careful. If you say that too loudly they might start trying to dress like us too.

[teratias]

Some of us have looks that are much easier to pull off, you know.

[alphonse]

That's true. You're going to have to try something drastic if you want to stand out.

[The coven is a pretty... visually eclectic bunch.]