[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

[probablynoteren]

[Her accidental partner of the moment is looking a little disoriented and at least as embarrassed; also, shrinking into his chair a little, which looks really funny given that it's more or less a Palai-sized chair. How are these holding all of them.....

Lenka shakes his head, looks around as though for help, and then seemingly resigns himself to the situation, or at least to reassuring his seatmate.]

They're... always like this. Ever since we got here. [hers is an unfamiliar face] Even if you tell them you're not a Palai.

[Like, honestly, why are they so interested in human mating rituals. He still doesn't actually want to know.]

[goodlistener]

[her chair, with the energy band and all, is barely holding her as it is...

it's a little humiliating that she has to rely on reassurance from someone else, but—fortunately jeanne is so flustered she isn't even thinking too much about that sort of thing. she blinks openly at lenka, listening with concern (for herself, and also him, and anyone else being pushed into "mate" talk).]

I know they are persistent... also, this is something they do out of kindness. I can see that companionship is important to them, but,

[she made a pledge to live without a man in her life.]

[probablynoteren]

[She's probably new, and hasn't yet gotten used to the Palai's intrusiveness or effusiveness -- a little reassurance goes a long way, even if it's disconcerting to think of himself as more used to this sort of nonsense (he's not!!). At least he's fairly sure the Palai won't go too far beyond this in pushing mating on them.

Then again, he hadn't counted on them using their magic for this, either. Things are escalating a little too much?! Considering they still don't know how long they're stuck here.]

We have companions. I don't think they understand humans, uh, mating. [he cringes a little at having to say something like that] I mean, the coven keeps each other company, as comrades.

[This isn't coming out right, is it.]

[goodlistener]

[she's new, but she's also a saint who becomes embarrassed easily by almost anything having to do with romantic love or desire.]

Please don't talk about the—mating. [jeanne just gently coughs in her hand, there, as if to politely punctuate her point.

that said, though, she doesn't seem to be bothered at all when he brings up the coven.]

It's still the case that there are newer members of the coven, such as myself.

[probablynoteren]

[He's just embarrassed because he's a teenager underneath all the lensflare and fanfare of his canon and also he hasn't really had occasion to deal with romantic anything. Or a lot of girls his age, or appearing to be his age. Consequences of life on the wild side.

Lenka also clears his throat, a sort of mutual signal that they should. Move past that. He's okay with this.]

Sorry. Uh. [her comment about the coven does get him to look up, tilting his head] But we're all in the same boat, I think.

[The same ship, in this case.]

We don't need events like this to work together.

[goodlistener]

[same, though... there isn't time to get hitched and have babies when you're listening to the voice of god and leading the french armies.]

That is true, and I believe we can all cooperate as well, but we may have given the Palai the impression that we aren't as close as they would like.

[this is what she was getting at.]

[probablynoteren]

[Leadership is truly the ultimate cockblock..... that and innate awkwardness. Go team--

Jeanne's assessment of the coven's relationships gets another curious look, which turns into a thoughtful one while Lenka tries to think of instances where they may have given the impression the coven isn't as united as it should be.

Well, it's not all that united in the first place. They've kind of been thrown together like a bad salad with live prawns in it or something.]

Do we give that impression? Or... the Palai just want us to be even closer.

[Too close......]

[goodlistener]

[jeanne sits back in her chair, allowing her hands to rest in her lap as her eyes drop to scan over the table.]

Either way, there are probably more independent loners—

[probablynoteren]

I guess that's true.

[He doesn't recall having met anyone particularly given to going off on their own... but that's always a problem in larger groups trying to cooperate. Especially since they seem to have come from farflung corners of the universe and space-time and whatever else. Even most of the ones trying their best are probably cooperating under duress.

But if he tries to imagine someone like Soma in this sort of situation... Yikes.]

But I think this would just make it worse.

[goodlistener]

Perhaps so. Or there is the possibility it could force them to speak with others, even unwillingly. I'm only trying to give explanations for the Palai...

[probablynoteren]

I know.

[It wasn't really his intention to deny or argue with her; it's more his reaction to the Palai's bizarre ideas in real time, thrown to the wind because obviously their hosts aren't given to listening right now to anything other than questions about the game. And possible gossip.]

I guess I'm more used to just... working together. Than sitting and talking.

[Of course there are times when words are important. But this feels a lot more like twiddling his thumbs, particularly given what they just went through.]

[goodlistener]

[well, he's not wrong... even if jeanne tries to deny it, she'll always be more at home in a battle situation than one where she has to face potential suitors for the prospect of "romance". she lifts her gaze, smiles knowingly at lenka, and raises her shoulders in an innocent-looking, but blunt shrug.]

Action is always an important piece of things, too. [and, no, not that kind of action.] In any case, it seems like you're one of our own who won't be a problem, where cooperation is concerned.

[probablynoteren]

[He ducks his head at the understanding look, but his shoulders relax a little -- at least she knows where he's coming from. He's never particularly felt the need to deny his battle instincts, though he knows better than to overuse them in social situations.

That being said, he's pretty much bumbling about blind in this one, but it looks like he isn't the only one. At least there's that. Jeanne gets a quiet nod.]

I don't think a lot of people want to be here, but... I don't think we're going anywhere, if we don't work together. [somewhere deep down is the awareness that he's on a time limit; but it's not a helpful awareness, most of the time] We should at least protect the place where we live right now.

[For practicality, if nothing else. He's somewhere in between, in terms of motivation.]

[goodlistener]

[good boy, lenka]

That does seem to be the reality.

[she almost wants to laugh—the held-back amusement is obvious in her eyes and tugs at the corners of her lips. he really does word things in a very honest way.]

I prefer to protect this world for the sake of the Palai. They've taken us in, and provided for us. Normally, they're generous—even if we can't always fully appreciate their efforts.

[aka, he could be practical, but what about also just being a good person?]

[probablynoteren]

[One eyebrow ticks up in confusion -- he's not entirely certain what he's done or said that's particularly funny, since all they're talking about is a matter of basic cooperation (though gone a bit sideways here in Aimintas) -- but the failure to beat around the bush is really just a product of who he is and where he came from.

The situation isn't quite the same, but there's always that balance between human kindness and fundamental human self-interest. When push comes to shove, you can't expect everyone to be able to live the same way: so you do what you can yourself, and live according to the better principle as long as you can.]

They're doing their best. [his mouth quirks a little, wry; he can acknowledge that, definitely] So we should do ours. I want...

[He stumbles to a stop for a moment. There are too many things he wants: for the Palai to live in peace, as absurdly peaceful as they are; for the coven to succeed, but that's perhaps just an excuse; he needs to be home again, for too many reasons at this point. They're not mutually exclusive, but there's the creeping feeling that they can't all come true.]

I want us to succeed here.