[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

[secrowtary]

[ Finally, someone asking The Right Questions. Hibiki was really close to losing hope, but a mention of a training regiment restores his faith in people. ]

Any time of the day should be fine as long as you're working hard and putting your everything into practice, I'd say. What about you, though?

[thatdamnknight]

[flynn just knows what the most important questions to ask are.]

I have a preference toward early mornings, myself but agree that it matters little as long as you give it your all.

[no better way to start a day than get up ridiculously early to train!]

Do you train with any weapons or do you focus mainly on physical fitness?

[secrowtary]

I agree that early mornings are great for training. No one will interrupt you at that time, usually.

[ Hibiki understands this so well. ]

Actually, it's both. Without my blades, my primary weapons are knives, so I'm practicing throwing them every day. I also lean on agility during battles, so stamina is quite important to me. What about magic practice, though?

[thatdamnknight]

[and that, too, yes. no one can bug you about paperwork or your best friend wrecking havoc that early in the morning.]

It slipped my mind, truth be told. My normal magical abilities all rest with my blastia so I usually incorporate that training alongside my sword training.

[since his blastia is gone along with his armor, he hasn't been able to really train it at all lately.]

As for the magical ability acquired here, I've tried to train with it multiple times a day in order to gain mastery over it faster. How about you?

[secrowtary]

That definitely helps to save time, I suppose.

[ Nodding a few times, Hibiki notices a paper strip pop out from the bowl. He's ignoring it for now, though. Training is a really good subject to break the ice, after all!

They're probably in the minority... ]

I'm doing my best every day, but somehow I feel like I still have a long way to go. What power did you obtain?

[thatdamnknight]

[they're the best sort of minority: the sane sort.]

The ability to alter the age of things as I please, myself included. I've gotten the hang of using my powers well enough, but still can't see how this ability could be of real use.

[aside from making rotting food go back to being edible or something or sneaking into a kids only playground (sneaking in meaning paying full fare, obviously!).]

[secrowtary]

Let me think about it for a while... [ Is he seriously going to try to come up with an use for Flynn's power? Yes, yes he is. ] Couldn't you use it to rewind time after someone gets injured, for instance?

[ This is certainly how you speed date. ]

[thatdamnknight]

[this... this is a good idea. who knew something useful could actually come out of this speed dating hell?

flynn silently considers the idea before speaking again.]

Would you happen to have any of your knives on you?

[how to make this go from great speed date to best speed date: slashing open his own arm to test this theory.]

[secrowtary]

I do, I keep them close at all times.

[ It's better to be safe than sorry, after all. But in a moment, Hibiki hands him down the knife, having an idea of what may happen next.

He's not stopping Flynn, though. ]

I'd suggest inflicting a superficial wound, there's no need to overdo it.

[thatdamnknight]

[he nods and smiles as he takes that knife.]

A small cut on the back of my arm was my intent.

[an easily accessible body part and cutting that spot is less painful than say one's palm. perfect.

after having rolled up his sleeve, flynn slices it open in one swift motion. although not deep, it does begin to bleed slightly. let's see what happens. a little bit of focusing and, sure enough, the wound closes up. he has to wipe away the bit of blood to make sure, but no sign of a cut remains whatsoever. okay, now this is handy.]

You were right. [flynn wipes off the knife with his sleeve (there might not have been any but potentially handing it back bloody is rude) before offering it to hibiki.] Thank you for both coming up with that theory and allowing me to test it.

[secrowtary]

[ Hibiki doesn't even have to wipe the knife on his own, and that is most certainly enough for Flynn to get some brownie points. It's probably better to hide that knife right away, he doesn't want the Palai to see it during such an event. ]

You're welcome. [ It sounds a little bizarre in this context, something that he realizes just a little while after saying it. ] Are there any kind of limits to your power, though?

[thatdamnknight]

[politeness never hurts no matter how bizarre a situation! granted, flynn finds it more normal than anything else going on right now, but his judgment on what counts as normal might not be normal itself.]

I’m still in the process of testing it, but excessive usage does drain my strength.

[once things with the palai have settled, he plans on pushing the testing to limit and seeing how much he can do.]

I also can’t unmake something.

[he tried with a few pastries but he can’t reduce them to just the basic ingredients. Making a moldy muffin brand new, however, comes very very much in handy for someone who hates wasting food as much as he does.]

[secrowtary]

It makes sense, I grow tired after using my power for a while as well.

[ That's the only thing preventing him from devoting whole days to magic practice, to be honest. ]

Unmaking could be useful, but fixing is absolutely good enough in my opinion. Especially when you'll realize your full potential.

[thatdamnknight]

Yes, you're absolutely right. The pseudo-healing is already more than useful enough by itself so I'm sure further training will unlock further uses for it.

[he's so grateful for that suggestion, he truly is. being unable to heal others had been bothering him more than anything else. this serves as a more than acceptable replacement.]

Might I ask what your own power is?

[secrowtary]

[ He might not be saying it out loud, but it's really uplifting to see someone as serious about training as Flynn. His widening smile might be hinting at that, though. ]

Oh, of course. I just kept asking questions and didn't say anything about myself, that was rude of me. My power...it's paper manipulation. And to be quite honest, I'm not sure if I can put it into a good use.

[thatdamnknight]

[the fact that he views that to be rude (which it was not and flynn makes a mental note to say as much later) ends up scoring hibiki some brownie points with flynn, as well. politeness is a rare trait and trait he greatly values.]

Paper manipulation as in you can mold paper into whatever you wish?

[secrowtary]

Exactly.

[ It'll probably be faster to just demonstrate, so that's what he does in the next moment. It's surprisingly difficult to control already magically infused papers, but Hibiki manages to bring them together and form a medium-sized ball, nothing too elaborate. ]

I'm trying to come up with a method how to use paper offensively, but I can't quite imagine it doing much damage.

[thatdamnknight]

[what a fascinating ability regardless of its usefulness in combat. flynn curiously looks on as the ball forms but doesn't speak immediately. hmm what good can this skill serve in battle... hibiki managed to discover a use for flynn's ability so why not attempt to return the favor.]

It does seem an ability with more of a defensive functionality. [he taps his chin lightly.] Or one that can help promote an offense by means of distraction. For instance, this ball alone may not do damage but filling it with certain powders or even explosives can help you gain an edge in battle.

[easy to make explosives or smokescreens or the like! other shapes could be good for other things, too.]

[secrowtary]

Oh.

[ Cooperating with someone didn't come to his mind because well...Hibiki's definitely not a team player, but this suggestion is pretty good. ]

It didn't occur to me. It's true that I focused on the offensive aspect and ignored the defensive. I also considered the lack of durability a disadvantage...when it actually can become an advantage. I suppose I should start looking for a person who could help me out with this immediately.

[ Hibiki nods a few times, quite pleased with the outcome of this conversation. Flynn's ideas truly are throwing a light on his paper manipulation powers. ]

Thank you so much—oh, we were so immersed in talking about the possible tactics that we haven't introduced ourselves, I believe. I'm Hibiki Kohaku, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

[thatdamnknight]

[again with the manners and again hibiki scores some more points with flynn. he smiles warmly.]

Flynn Scifo and the pleasure is all mine.

[it really is. hibiki's turning out to be some of the most pleasant company encountered today.]

I have to say that I never expected to engage in such a meaningful conversation during this whole speed dating thing.

[secrowtary]

Neither have I, to be honest—

[ If only his chair would let him finish instead of guiding him to the other side of the room. If only. ]