[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

[rootandbranch]

Oh.

[Geir lets out an enormous sigh - Dirk can quite literally feel it in the air all around them, since he's sitting in a cave made of Geir's wing and side.]

I'm sorry your friends died. I never, um-- everyone was supposed to die in Ragnarok, too. So I never thought about that being bad till just lately. But I know that people dying can hurt.

[it's an incredibly awkward expression of sympathy, but heartfelt. Geir's only recently been introduced to people dying not being the end goal, but all he needs to do is consider what he'd feel like if Vern died to believe in "avoid people you know dying" fervently as a concept. Death Is Bad is a clearly delineated if badly articulated point of understanding for him now.]

What are you going to do instead?

[splinten]

[I hope this gust of sighing ruins Dirk's hairdo. Dirk understands the sincerity, regardless of how it may affect his styling. Geir has been fairly upfront when he thinks something doesn't make sense, and false sympathy doesn't really jive with that.]

Thanks. One of our friends is going to go back and redo the timeline so that we can have a do-over on it. That means that this version of me will stop existing, which makes me doubly without a purpose. Some other iteration of Dirk Strider will have that responsibility.

[He's the dead end, the Game Over. He is the Dirk that just has to move on.]

Honestly? I have no damn clue what I'm going to do. In the spread of possible afterlives, this is a decent pick I guess.

[rootandbranch]

I don't know either. Vern summoned me before it was time for Ragnarok because he wanted to start it faster. But then he liked me, so he changed his mind.

[it's a very short, stark précis of an incredibly involved and fraught period of their mutual lives. Geir is apparently as blunt with his own story as he is with the stories of other people.]

Now we're hiding from my family and I have to decide if I can be alive.

[that should be an incredibly dramatic statement, but it's said with the same glum resignation as "I drank all the milk already and I still have two Oreos left."]

It sucks!

[splinten]

Yes. "It sucks" is exactly the phrase that comes to mind to explore the question of whether or not one has a right to actually live.

[Dirk is deadpan in this, but it isn't really a criticism. He is used to Jake's own way of approaching things, and Roxy's, and Jane's, and then there is his own. Geir, in a way, fits in.]

I'm a little perplexed here about why the question is if you can be alive instead of how you should be alive.

[rootandbranch]

Really? That's not something you think about?

[Geir scoots his nose closer to Dirk. this is a valuable new insight.]

[splinten]

I think about whether or not I should be alive or not all the damn time, but in that respect I'm not considered a healthy specimen of human mental functioning.

[He is concerned that he is teaching bad lessons here? He doesn't want to teach the lesson of how HE thinks.]

Let's try it another way. Do you like being alive?

[rootandbranch]

Sure. Don't you?

[ouch.]

[splinten]

Not as a rule. My thinkpan is just not wired to enjoy my state of being. It's kind of a problem.

[Important lessons for Geir: don't be Dirk.]

Why are you questioning whether or not you can be alive?

[rootandbranch]

I was born to do a thing and I'm not doing the thing, so there isn't really a point? It's like a sword that decided it doesn't want to fight. You could use it as a plowshare, but that doesn't really make sense.

[he thinks about the conversation more.]

Huh. I don't really know a lot about this, but you should probably have more fun?

[splinten]

While I'll agree that a sword probably would make a bad ploughshare mostly because I don't know what a ploughshare is, you're more versatile than a sword. There's basically an infinite number of things you can apply yourself to compared to something inanimate capable of extremely limited actions.

Also, you are seriously underestimating swords. They can carve pumpkins or slice up potatoes into french fries. You can even use a sword to pry open a tight jar of pickles.

[You cannot and you should not, Dirk Strider]

Probably, yeah. My best efforts never really panned out that way.

[rootandbranch]

I mean... I know I can do other things. And I want Vern to be happy. But I was born to do just one thing. It's not really like a human. Everything I do that's not that is-- making the choice that me and Vern hanging out is more important than everything that was supposed to happen to the whole world?

[he's wistful... are those pickles really worth a change to the whole course of the world, Dirk Strider? are they really? ponder deeply the relative value of the pickles.]

Of course I'm going to think about that.

[also, hmmm...]

--and you should tell me what you like to do.

[splinten]

[Dirk listens to this, because pickles are great, but obviously Geir is dealing with something important.]

That's a question of value judgements, but I assume you're aware of that. [He feels like Geir is intelligent, in that while there is a naivety to him, Geir also questions the root causes of things and interrogates underlying assumptions in a way that lets him think critically.] Do you know what happens if you keep putting off Ragnarok?

[A pause at that last question though.]

That question borders on the conspiratorial.

[rootandbranch]

Ragnarok wasn't supposed to happen for thousands more years... but it was also supposed to happen as soon as I woke up. So it's all confused now.

[Geir considers what this means.]

I don't think anything happens exactly, but a lot of people want me to change how the future goes now. Maybe they know more than I do. Or maybe they're just scared of what I'll decide.

[he tilts his head.]

What's conspiratorial about it?

[splinten]

Maybe it's a combination. Knowing more means they should know enough to tell you the information you need to decide.

[Informed choices for dragon!]

It's the kind of question a person asks while planning to do something with the answer.

[rootandbranch]

They don't want to tell me anything! They want to use me... that's the problem.

[he tilts his head further.]

Obviously I want to think of something fun for you? I like you.

[get with the program Dirk.]

[splinten]

Then they're definitely afraid of the choices you might make and are too stupid to realize how information will help you make better choices.

[DUMB ADULTS probably. One assumes.

Then Dirk kind of. Pauses.]

Oh.

That should not catch me off guard as a thing you would state like an obvious fact.

[And yet, here is Dirk.]

[rootandbranch]

You answer my questions, but you keep changing the topic back to me! It helps to talk about me, but you act like you don't want to talk about yourself much. That makes me think you extra need to do something fun. The only thing I can tell you like is swords.

[Dirk wasn't wrong about Geir's ability to think critically. a lot of lies are just misdirection, and while Geir knows he isn't the most acute and can be tricked easily by a clever enough liar, he can at least watch peoples' reactions and recognize patterns. Dirk doesn't seem comfortable with his joyless, existentially doubtful life. which makes sense, honestly.]

Also, you're pretty nice. I can tell that too! I'm glad I met you.

[blunt as always.]

[splinten]

[What the fuck, Geir.]

What the fuck.

[Dirk puts his face in his hands because he CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS SINCERE NICE DRAGON DESTROYER OF WORLDS.]

[rootandbranch]

[now Dirk knows how Vern feels.]

Uh.

...

[is he dying? that's a lot of facehands.

Geir pokes him with his nose.]

Are you okay.

[splinten]

No. I'm the goddamned family wet blanket. I'm the no fun allowed police. I am psychologically incapable of processing as benign and pleasant a situation as the World Serpent incisively picking apart my self-hatred to call me a nice dude who needs to have fun. This is why I'm the only dude who can never get high at a party.

[Somehow, all of those things work together as they are muttered into his hands. Somehow.]

[rootandbranch]

[glum again]

I'm not really the world serpent right now. I think Qri put my god-name in the wagon.

[they've gone over the edge of a conversational cliff here and this interaction can only get more surreal from here on out. it's the fucking Wild West of existential feelings here, kids.]

[splinten]

[HE MADE THE FRIENDLY SUPPORTIVE DRAGON SAD he actually has to rise out of his facepalm for this.]

This will make perfect sense or none in about ten seconds, but I have to ask how you can take someone's name of any kind and put it in a wagon.

[rootandbranch]

I don't know either! I guess she wrote it down on something. I want to ask, though. It's really weird not to have it there.

[hesitates, still thinking about that -- not having the option to take his name and destroy everything is extremely unsettling, even if he doesn't want to do that right now -- but eventually decides that he's still talking to Dirk, and that's the more important thing. pokes him with his nose again.]

I'm just Geir, though.

[splinten]

[oh my god he got nose-poked by the dragon]

You know that probably has some major relevance to your existential question here. [a pause] I'm not dodging your question, I just think it's an element that needs to be put into consideration while you work through this.

[rootandbranch]

[the nose nudging has now happened TWICE. you've been thoroughly nudged. Geir huffs a sigh.]

I don't think so. I put aside the name when Vern and I decided not to start Ragnarok yet. It's not really different, except I can't change my mind and it feels weird.