[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

[actus]

Depends on the person. It can be a lot, or nothing at all.

[ some people have great public personas where they don't mean a lick of what they say. others always speak from the heart. and then there are people that tell white lies. it's really a mix. ]

I try not to say things I don't mean. It's usually better that way. [ a mild shrug. look, he's trying to open up here. he wants to help you, sad guy. ]

[lalliho]

[Even taking the attention off him the smallest bit seems to help quiet his fidgets. He gives what...seems to be an approving nod.]

Good. People should just say things. How are you supposed to do anything if they don't? Or trust people?

[actus]

[ that's quite the question. he actually fidgets as well, twisting his bangs around on his index finger. ]

... It's hard. Trusting people, I mean. Sometimes it's just a leap of faith.

[ but geez, not everyone is so trustworthy. ]

I'd like to think that not everyone is bad, and even people that lie have a reason. That there's some good still in them.

[lalliho]

[Lalli nods again.]

...Yeah. They think it won't hurt that way.

[actus]

It usually ends up hurting more that way.

[ in the long-run, the lies end up hurting way more than the hurt they were aiming to prevent. ]

[lalliho]

[Ah... This guy. This guy gets it. Lalli shifts, then sets his hands in his lap, apparently done with all his anxious habits. Now even his breathing doesn't do much to disturb his stillness.]

...I'm Lalli.

[actus]

[ -- SOCIAL LINK ACQUIRED. ]

Akira. Nice to meet you. [ he means that. mostly. he restlessly adjusts his glasses on his nose, though. ]

... Think we have to make it through everyone before they let us leave?

[lalliho]

[oh god... The way Lalli's eyes widen should indicate how little he'd thought about it. What if... What if!!]

They can't do that. That's wrong.

[actus]

[ this poor guy. he almost feels bad. ]

You can probably just wait out the clock. Or just eat.

[ since they aren't really monitoring things. ]

[lalliho]

I guess...

[unsure tho]

There's too many people here. Why do they even think this will work?

[actus]

It probably works for them.

[ that's his only guess. ]

And they want us to be happy, too ... But they probably don't realize this isn't how things work.

[lalliho]

[huff.]

Happy if they helped us get home. Making us date or whatever is trying to make us stay.

[actus]

[ ... trying to make them stay, huh? it hits a bit close to home, and he's quiet for a moment, a tiny streak of guilt appearing on his face. ]

There are definitely worse fates, I think.

[ ... and now his chair is beginning to move. sorry, new friend!! ]

[lalliho]

Wait --

[NO COME BACK, TELL HIM ABOUT THESE WORSE FATES SO HE CAN AVOID THEM AAAAA WHY DID THIS HAVE TO BE TERRIFYING... He twists in his seat to try and spot Akira again, but he can only manage a quick gesture to his signet he isn't sure the other will see before he has to give up and go back to being a bread goblin. Call him...]