[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

d!

[probablynoteren]

[Rain isn't anything new -- Lenka's done anything and everything from running to fighting to eating to hiding in all kinds of rain, but salt rain is a bit of problem, especially if you're trying to get it out of your eyes. He's busy trying to get his smarting eyes back up to snuff after walking through the wrong tiny Palai water fight, probably blocking the road a little...

... and then hey, he can finally at least get his bangs out of his eyes because there's no longer a minor ocean sloshing over them. It doesn't help that he's mostly stayed outside to help pull tarp over any exposed stalls and rescue food and the occasional Palai party favor out of the river the streets are becoming.

Anyway, it's just water, but it's still nice to have a respite. Lenka blinks when he sees Xion with her strange invisible(?) umbrella, then shuffles a little further in where there's space.]

Oh. You've gotten more powerful, huh?

[Or at least that looks appropriately impressive.]

Re: d!

[needmetoo]

[Xion glances over, her face turning slightly pink. She hasn't really thought about it all that much in those terms but... she has gotten a bit better lately, hasn't she?]

Yeah, I guess so. I did a lot of practice before, um... before the attack the other day.

[To be fair, she's pretty sure she won't be able to maintain the umbrella indefinitely. Not at its current size at least, so maybe she should bring up finding a more permanent shelter, soon. But first...]

You okay?

[It is kind of pouring buckets out there.]

[probablynoteren]

It's a good place to practice.

[He tilts his head up at the umbrella, which looks a little like it's melting but which is somehow staying up, and puts up a hand towards where it's distorting all the rain in a funny way. Kind of like the sky, but closer! It's pretty cool.

He stops just short of poking a finger into the barrier.]

I don't mind rain. [it's a little wry; this is kind of above and beyond rain at this point] But at least it wasn't during the fight. Can I touch this?

[needmetoo]

Hm?

[Glancing up for a moment.]

Oh, yeah sure. I don't think it'll do anything.

[Not with the way she's holding it up.]

[probablynoteren]

[It's water, so either way the magic looks unstable and he doesn't want to mess with it too much -- his own magic is the straightforward sort, but you never know! Lenka observes the strange umbrella for a moment longer before reaching the rest of the way and sticking his hand into it. Water immediately runs all down his arm, but it's not like he can get more soaked.]

Is it hard to make?

[As though remembering where they are, though, he retracts his hand and starts moving towards the nearest bit of shelter; which is really just a nearby stall with a tarp, the Palai aren't given to making their buildings particularly good for the rainy season.]

[needmetoo]

[She has to admit it's kind of startling to see the interruption in her little umbrella. It's not like anything she's ever seen before, and feels a bit strange with her magic too. She can't help but wonder if she could try to make the water go around his hand, and is halfway to trying when he pulls it back.

She blinks, shaking her head to get rid of the idea.]

It's... it's sort of hard to explain. It feels different from my magic at home. Maybe a little bit, but um... some of that's probably because I've been using it so much lately.

[probablynoteren]

Right. Magic uses energy.

[Even if he knows next to nothing about the principles of magic (assuming there are some, there have to be, right?), he's figured out that much from his own experiments. Not much of his magic is active; apparently sustaining random refrigerators takes relatively minimal energy compared to trying to do anything to them.

Once they get some shelter from the tarp there's no more need for the umbrella; it would almost be a pity to see it go, though. It seems like a pretty cool and versatile ability.]

Is it easier if you have something to use it on?

[Apart from the water, that is. He waves at the tarp around them. Maybe she can do something about the leaks...? It's an old tarp.]

[needmetoo]

[Frankly for Xion, it's a bit of a relief. She lets her arms drop, shaking them out a little from how they'd been cramping up. That, helping freeze a significant part of the Uvi's lair, learning to work with the solid form of water, not to mention showing all the Palai who asked (mainly children, but some adults too), not to mention all the practice she'd done beforehand...

His question catches her off guard.]

What do you mean? [She glances up at the tarp above them. She does notice the leaks, but they're all over the place.] Like... try to use it on the fabric?

[probablynoteren]

Yeah. Use the fabric to hold the water.

[Which means she'd need less water to create a barrier for the rain, and might be more efficient than plugging each leak with a spell on its own -- really he's just curious and would like to see more magic, but out of the corner of his eye he can see her shaking out her arms; he puts his gesturing hand down a bit sheepishly.]

... You don't have to do it now. I was just thinking.

[Out loud and idly; it's not like it would help them stay much drier after getting through that downpour, waterbrella or not.]

[needmetoo]

Hmmm...

[She continues staring up at the tarp.]

Maybe I could try later. It's just more sort of... scattered. [... that doesn't make much sense, does it?] With the water out there it was like creating one barrier. With this it's like... having to plug a bunch of holes at once.

[She could probably do it, but it required a different way of thinking about it, almost. And probably would work better with practice.]

[probablynoteren]

Yeah, later.

[He feels like he should emphasize that! He'd feel bad if she overworked herself for no reason other than idle curiosity. But if they're pursuing the train of thought right now, then... Lenka shakes his head and has another go at explaining his thought process. At the end of the day it's kind of like a confused duck trying to explain space to a flounder, but he'll give it his best shot--]

Does it help if you... don't think of it as a bunch of holes? Think of the tarp as an umbrella. And then, make a water shield around it. Does that make sense?

[It's a real question at the end, and also a check for understanding. He's not entirely sure whether stopping water or shaping water would take more energy.]

[needmetoo]

[It doesn't... sound all that different on the surface. But she's still trying to think it through, trying to figure out what he's getting at.]

So sort of like... letting it help hold the water up?

[Magic, it seems is a huge process of trial and error and experimentation. More than she might've figured.]

[probablynoteren]

Yeah. I don't know if your magic needs something to hold it like that, but that makes it one barrier.

[His magic has been, by its very nature, nothing but trial and error and experimentation, though he's had interesting results mixing it with the magic of others. That being said, even those who know magic don't seem to understand this kind, nor the magic that the Palai wield.

So it's not only a whole new world, it's a whole new world confused at itself.]

Is that easier?

[needmetoo]

I'm not sure, I don't think I've ever tried that before. It... it might help a little though, I think.

[It's something she's actually thinking about now. Nobody had really... done much to help teach her about her magic and what she could do with it. Not Qri, not Brie or Genette... Except for that one practice, it'd mostly been just her.]

I'll have to try it later. I guess... [she trails off for a moment, then shakes her head.] Never mind, sorry.

[Who wanted to listen to her complain anyway?]

[probablynoteren]

No, go on.

[Nobody had really given him much direction either, he'd really just been playing it by ear all this time; but that could be said for a lot of what he'd done back home, too. Sometimes, either you just don't have time for more thorough training, or nobody else has time to deal with you; or something a lot more important comes up.

The Uvi attack likely counts as something more important in this case, though it's debatable how helpful throwing a coven full of half-baked mages at it actually was.

Now they have a little time, though, and he's game to help however he can. Quite aside from being in this together, the better they can wield their individual powers, the stronger they'll be as a group.]

[needmetoo]

[For a few moments she hesitates, still reluctant. But eventually, she does talk.]

I... I guess... Even back home they wouldn't explain much about stuff like this. I... me and Roxas, sometimes, we'd try to figure things out. It's the same here too, 'cept they don't even tell us what we're supposed to be doing.

[probablynoteren]

It's a lot less organized than back home.

[He's not sure what Xion and her friend were doing, beyond perhaps learning magic; but he can certainly relate to how lost and haphazard everything feels -- it's strange, how used he is now to the military's structure and missions when the only directive he'd ever had before was to survive. But survival had its own rules and routines, where their sojourn in Aimintas has very little of even that.

It's freedom; but he's not sure whether that's a hindrance or a help.]

I wonder if it's a test.

[That's one of the bigger possibilities worrying him in all this: that they're deliberately being left in the dark to see how they fare with their own skills and whatever mastery they can grasp over the new ones. He doesn't like it. But there's little else to go on.]