[WORLD ONE] SPEED DATING EXTRAVAGANZA

[spellbindmods]

Who: Participating coven members
Where: The Palai marketplace
When: Day 49
Open/Closed: OTA

[ Any and all who are in the marketplace will find that there is suddenly a mysterious barrier around the marketplace (that may be eerily familiar to some) -- specifically one large portion of the marketplace with a large number of tables and chairs, perhaps purposefully set out for nefarious reasons.

A few Palai are ushering coven members to chairs, and everything seems about normal. As normal as the Palai can be when they're putting on a show anyway. It's not until a sizable portion of the coven members are seated (and also supplied with breadsticks and small shrimp), that things get a bit more bizarre.

Thanks to the power of the Eltos, a small band of energy keeps coven members stuck to the chair (magic can interfere, of course), but that's not the end of it. On each table, next to those delicious smelling breadsticks and shrimp, is a bowl of scraps of papers. Every five minutes, a strip of paper will pop out from the bowl.

If you ask the Palai, they'll be inclined to explain speed dating to you. Asking questions, getting to know a person, then being shimmied off to the next potential mate -- this is made possible by Elto magic yet again, through flying chairs that transport their holder to a new table at standard intervals.

The Palai are extremely invested in this exercise? Will you let them down? ]

[ OOC: In the spirit of speed dating, each character will have a top level. All who want to respond to this top level can with questions from this post, but the threads have to end at 10 comments from each character. After this last tag, the characters can be assumed to have been whisked to a different potential match. You're free to have characters make up their own questions, interact with Palai serving food, etc. ]

Comments

[rootandbranch]

[Geir dwarfs the chair, which stays located between his two massive foreclaws. he also dwarfs... the table. he can barely keep his head inside the barrier, in fact. after a hurried conversation between several Eltos, it's decided that his dates' chairs will come to him, rather than attempting to move him around -- it's probably better for everyone that way.

despite this, Geir seems very amused by the situation, grinning all over his face and lounging at ease after one swift, sharp-eyed glance at that too-familiar barrier. the grin might have a few too many teeth in it to be entirely comfortable for a prospective partner, but you always meet a few unusual guys on blind dates, right...?]

Oooh, ooh, I can do this! Let's see, "Are you going to eat all that?" That's my favorite question.

[maybe he's not taking this all that seriously.]

[sealeted]

I'm pretty sure that might be the first thing you ever said to me.

[It's okay, Hakuno isn't either, if the small, amused smile she's offering up to him is any indication.

...because he's one of her first friends out here. Not because dragons are automatically out of her strike zone.]

And the answer is no, since I'm going to be moved around a lot. Let's see... What's your favorite color, Geir?

[rootandbranch]

Haha, this is getting off to a great start!

[Geir takes her reply as a permission to eat one of her breadsticks. his own breadsticks are already gone. RIP.]

And oh geez... colors. I don't know. I've never thought about it before.

[does he have a favorite color? literally no one has ever asked him this question in his life. is there going to be a test later?

red is good, but...]

I guess green! Like growing things, or a tree.

[sealeted]

Yes, it is a pretty soothing color. I'm...

[She thinks of a blooming tree, of nostalgia, of a never-ending dream.]

I'm fond of the color pink, I think.

[Like cherry-blossoms.]

[rootandbranch]

Oh yeah? This is actually kind of fun... hey, you! Read me the next question!

[the Eltos next to him respectfully reads the paper aloud as it flies up. it seems that Geir can't read...?]

"What are you most passionate about?" That's an interesting one.

[sealeted]

Oh, that's easy. Trying new things and living a long, long life.

[She rubs her chin, and reads the next slip herself.]

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

[rootandbranch]

That's really nice. I like that answer. You've got your head on straight, Hakuno.

[he laughs at the question -- the food related ones are a theme today, apparently.]

Oh no! I guess if I had to pick one thing... sheep! ♪ I like fish too, but I've eaten a lot more fish in my life. I want to try way more foods than that, though!

[he looks at the Palai for his next question, and gets it -- his grin stretches wider.]

Uh-oh... what's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?

[splinten]

Nah. I'm mostly over having magical food poisoning.

[You dumb dopey dragon. Who Dirk is fond of, so he helpfully pushes more of the snacks over Geir's way.]

[rootandbranch]

Dirk! Hi!

[CHOMP. the snacks are gone now.]

What gave you magical food poisoning before? I've never had that.

[splinten]

Hi, Geir.

[At least Geir is having fun.]

I ate the pastries infused with Eltos magic. It made my Qri-granted powers get out of control.

Back on the island base for the coven, the same thing happens if you eat the crab.

[rootandbranch]

Oh, is that what they did? That explains the girl whose fortune-telling got out of control who I talked to. I guess they didn't do it to me, unless I didn't notice...

[he goes wide-eyed and thoughtful, considering the possibilities, till one of the Eltos near the table nudges him and chatters at him to about the next question-- it seems like he asked one to stay close to read to him, since he can't.]

Right! It's your turn, Dirk.

[splinten]

Oh. Right.

[He grabs a paper. He looks at it. He asks if he can have another one. He cannot yet.

He decides to make something up.]

What colour would you pick for a chat client font?

[Wait. Geir probably doesn't know about chat clients. Shit. He panicked.]

[rootandbranch]

I just told Hakuno that I liked green best, so maybe that. I'm not totally sure, though. First, what's a chat client?

[he was right, but he got an answer anyway. and Geir got another impersonal question! it all works out.]

[oneandmikleonly]

[Mikleo looks up...and up...and up...and raises his eyebrows...and pushes his shrimp basket over slowly]

Help yourself--?

[he needs a moment to get over seeing a personable, friendly dragon that's as big or bigger than the ones back home. goodness.]

[rootandbranch]

Don't mind if I do!

[Geir lowers his nose to the table and helps himself to the shrimp by the simple expedient of homphgomphing the whole lot of them at once, basket and all. he grins at Mikleo, a grin that gets a little wider when he notices Mikleo's discomfort.]

So, what's your name?

[oneandmikleonly]

I don't think you're supposed to eat the--never mind--

[dragons have pretty strong stomachs, probably. he's never eaten while being one, it was too weird. his eyes go a little wider, too, at Geir's teeth; not exactly fearful but definitely discomfited]

It's Mikleo; what's yours?

[rootandbranch]

I'm Geir. Are you scared of me?

[the question isn't malicious, but definitely a little amused. puts his chin on the ground so he can look Mikleo full in the face with one big red eye across the table.]

[oneandmikleonly]

[takes a deep breath and lets it out]

Was it that obvious? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I've just never been so close to a living dragon before this without, well, being in the middle of a fight with it...

[rootandbranch]

I don't mind. I've never talked to a lot of alive humans, either.

[there's a dangerous glitter in his eye, but he closes it, body still relaxed, and sighs a tiny sigh after that small joke is done; letting the moment of knife-edged predator pass, perhaps]

Is "was it that obvious" your question, or did you have another one?

[potentite]

[Oh hey that voice sounds familiar. It's that guy from the other day! He's a dragon but at least he's not the kind from back home it seems so it's fine. Jake is eating a breadstick because while he's eating, he doesn't have to talk.]

Oh, no, please help yourself! It's all pretty tasty! [Like at least he's getting fed he can't complain there.] And, um, it's nice to meet you, you know, face-to-snout!

[rootandbranch]

You, too! Oh, so that's what you look like.

[Geir deftly leans down to the table and helps himself to the rest of the breadsticks, and the plate the breadsticks are on. he goes hard at the Olive Garden, that is a certainty.]

[potentite]

Whoa. Big eater! [It's kind of impressive. Jake sucks on a shrimp.] Hmm, how about... what are your hobbies?

[rootandbranch]

Um.

[HOBBIES? so many hard questions are getting asked today, geez. how are we defining hobbies?? how do you do one????]

Hobbies, right...

[think, Geir. what are activities that you do.]

...flying? Hunting? Talking to people...

[this is hard. quick, ask another question!]

What kind of magic would you want?!

[potentite]

[Those are all perfectly valid hobbies to Jake tbh.]

Umm, magic to make people happy, I guess. [It might sound like something cliche - it is - or shallow but it's not. It's what he honestly thinks would be nice.] You know, um, just... something to help them be happy.

[rootandbranch]

That's so cute?!

[Geir has been distracted from the rhythm of question and answer by how frickin cute that answer was.]

That's definitely a good idea! I guess, the only other way besides magic is just being that kind of person or something...

[people have told him that's how it works even if he's still fuzzy on the details, okay]