[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

[lohengrins]

I don't have much choice.

[ deadpan. i'm sorry jude, he's just...stating the facts...as he knows them. suddenly, he sighs. ]

Allow me to ask the questions. Do you have a purpose: something you strive to achieve over the course of your life?

[talim]

[ jude's lips part in surprise, expression turning into one of curiosity rather than total humiliation. how is he so laid back about this? the seven mysteries of percival. ]

... I do. There's a lot I could tell you, but if I went into detail, this wouldn't exactly be a speed date anymore. What I will say is that, no matter what, I'm going to change the world. At all costs.

Whatever it takes; that's the ideal I'm striving toward. I've chosen a path, and I'm sticking to it.

[ jude clears his throat. how, exactly, does he follow up to that? what's your favorite color? ]

Percival, what about you? What lead you to the path of knighthood? Is there something — or, perhaps, someone — you wish to protect?

[lohengrins]

[ percival's brows raise at that, and he leans in the slightest bit, eyes clearly alight with interest. that's a good answer -- one he likes. ]

Ha. Easier said than done, but it's an admirable goal -- one I can both respect and understand.

[ oh right, he has to talk about himself in turn. in all his arrogance, it's...a surprisingly difficult endeavor for him. ]

Those who cannot protect themselves. I suppose that I believe a home is a right that everyone deserves. It's more than a nation: it's the right to live in peace and seize prosperity, should you choose to.

[ he gets a bit too immersed in it, truth be told -- the question alone has him caught in a dream of sorts. ]

Hm. And how do you intend on changing the world you've come to know?

[talim]

[ that makes two of them; percival's answer is just as pleasing. jude can't help but smile, genuine. a smile that reaches his eyes. ]

Spoken like a true knight.

[ jude hums in thought, pondering his answer to his next question. several seconds tick by before he speaks. ]

Research. Trial and error. Science. Even more research, more trial and error... It's a process; a cycle.

But I'll accomplish what I set out to do. I never expected it to be easy, but it will be worth it. I used to doubt myself. Sometimes I still do. But now...

[ now, he has the confidence to know that he can change things. milla is the one who helped him seek out and discover that confidence within him, but that confidence is jude's own. it's something he's needed to continue to nurture and grow, a never-ending trial in itself. ]

To put things into simpler terms: I wholeheartedly agree with you. Strong, weak... It isn't about that. Everyone has a right to coexist with one another, with the environment, with the grass beneath their feet.

[ is it obvious that his particular line of work involves environmental studies? ]

But I have to say... These questions and answer are a lot more engaging than those slips of paper.

[lohengrins]

[ yet another answer that pulls him in. his eyes light up with a small ember at the mention of research. ]

A scholar, then. How keen of you -- I've spent the past few years traveling across the skies, studying each and every land I've come across...from the ecosystem to how the very kingdom itself is ruled.

Nothing can be reformed...or reconstructed without being understood.

[ that last line gets a smirk out of him. it's somewhat haughty, but mostly amused. in this instance, it's an indicator of endearment. ]

Ha. You've been keeping my interest, so I suppose it's demonstrated its payoff. Tell me about your fieldwork.

am i tagging this back one month to the day later? you bet i am

[talim]

Traveling across the skies? How? Are you a wyvern trainer?

[ that's the only way jude knows how to travel by air. ]

Well... it's a long story, but I'll try to summarize it as best I can. I come from two worlds — Rieze Maxia, where I grew up, and Elympios. They were separated by something called a schism for a long time, but when the schism broke, the worlds came together. Unfortunately, they're... well, they're different.

Rieze Maxia is flourishing, bursting with life. Elympios, on the other hand... the world itself is dying. Nature, plants, trees. Open fields of brown as far as the eye can see.

I'm looking into a solution to change that. To rebuild, and trigger regrowth. It's a long process, but I'd say that success will be worth it.

And I will succeed.