spellbinders | [WORLD ONE] SPEED DATING EXTRAVAGANZA

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

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?

..........................

[Hakuno... takes a breadstick, and nibbles it, slowly and methodically, for as long as she can. After she finishes, she gives a defeated sigh, looks down, and mumbles.]

...had to remove only my panties and keep running around a dungeon. ...next question: are you a morning person or a night person?

That's just clothes, right? That's not a big deal. Don't worry about it.

[his tone is clearly sympathetic to her embarrassment, but it doesn't seem like a big deal to him. he goes around naked all the time, so it's probably fine. humans and their clothes...]

Hmm... you keep asking this stuff I've never thought about! Maybe a night person. Torches and magic lights are pretty, and my scales show up more in the daytime. Plus it's easier to get up when the sun is nice and warm on my scales already.

[he considers further, and adds, with scrupulous honesty:]

I mostly just sleep when I'm tired, though. If I feel like it.

[and time for the next question!]

Have you ever dated before?

[Not a big deal to dragons, maybe.]

I have not. Though, um, there have been a few people that have expressed interest in me, before. And once a friend of mine pretended to be my girlfriend to act as bait for somebody who was an enemy of ours at the time.

[Poor Jinako.]

How do you imagine your ideal mate?

What, you mean-- to have kids with?

[there are a lot of dimensions to this question, Hakuno.]

...well, I'm not sure how gender or biology works within your pantheon, so maybe? Or, more broadly, to love and live with?

[Hakuno doesn't... care about the gender of her partners, but 'mate' is a bit misleading.]

Oh, love and live with, sure. I'm staying with Vern, so anyone else is pointless to talk about anyway. And you've met him. He's prickly and growly and really nice underneath it all.

[he's fond.]

Oh, romantically?

[She had thought it was familial but hey, love comes in all shapes and sizes. She won't judge.]

I've met more abrasive people; he really has been kind to me.

I don't really know much about romance, so you tell me.

[amused at the ambiguity; Vern is the most important person in the world, and that's the only distinction that means anything to him.]

I'm not surprised he's been kind to you. He doesn't give himself a lot of credit when he is kind.

[in a more reflective tone:]

I guess he's got reasons not to, but...

[he shakes his head, though, dismissing the thought.]

--That reminds me. Have you found the person you were looking for when we talked before?

I suppose, for clarity, I should ask if you love him like you do your family, if you do, or... well, hm. I've never been in love, I've only been the target of those feelings. It's a complex emotion, from what I've learned—sweet, a little painful, overwhelming enough to drive you crazy, if you let it consume you.

[She falls silent, fiddling with her half-eaten breadstick.]

...no, Gilgamesh isn't here. Other people I know are, though.

[It's not quite the same.]

...have you found any more tuna?

...if I love Vern, I don't know if I love my family, so that doesn't really help either. He's just-- the most important. If that's what you're talking about, then yeah. Maybe I'm crazy, too.

[he hesitates at that; her partner still isn't here... that's sad. he's sad for her.

finally, gently:]

I got more fish, yeah.

Are the people who are here friends, at least? Allies?

[if they're enemies, maybe he'll be paying them a visit.]

No, I don't think that's crazy. But, somebody can be your number one priority without being a romantic interest. ...ah, I really don't know how to put this. Sorry, I guess it wasn't a fair question.

[She sighs, and takes a bite.]

...well, um. That's a bit complicated too. All of them were enemies I fought with my life on the line, and defeated at some point. But, we don't have to do that here. ...I'm happy that they can live here.

Are you happy to be here with them?

[Hakuno's chair twitches, since that was the tenth comment for Geir... think fast about that answer, Hakuno!]

Yes.

[She says it firmly and without hesitation.]

If anything, I wish more of the people I fought could show up here. They deserve to have a chance at a happy life.

...hey Geir, I know you probably want to go home, but... I'm truly happy I've gotten to meet you and Vern, all the same.

[It's not a question, but her chair jerks and hustles her off, all the same.]

[he laughs softly and ducks his head in the dragon's equivalent of a blush as she goes.]

[WORLD ONE] SPEED DATING EXTRAVAGANZA

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