[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

[alphonse]

It's the Palai.

[As if that alone explains any weirdness. Maybe forced social interaction will do Waver some good if he's this nervous about it. Or he could take a cue from Al and just carry on like he's Exempt despite being as trapped as anyone else.]

They mean well, but I'm pretty sure no one here is going to take all this seriously.

[teratias]

I guess you're right.

[About both things, but especially it being just the Palai and what they do. They were just...enthusiastic. About everything. Constantly.]

I...really hope not. I don't even know how that'd work in hopping between worlds and stuff.

[alphonse]

I don't think they really understood that either.

[Jumping in without the facts also, unfortunately, seems to be the Palai way.]

Or that some of us are really far apart in age or only interested in certain types of people. Even if you wanted to treat this like real dating, it'd be impossible with the way they've got it set up.

[teratias]

[Enthusiasm trumps all, for better or worse.]

Do you actually think they'll act on any of this? Like trying to set people up on real dates after?

[alphonse]

[The mental image of being stuck one-on-one somewhere even more awkward manages to cut through his above it all routine.]

No. No way. As soon as we can get out of this, we'll make them listen.

[The entire species. That's worked out well so far.]

[teratias]

[That's probably the sternest Waver's ever heard Al. It's...pretty intimidating, given his size and the armor.]

You'd probably be more persuasive than other people here, I think.

[alphonse]

I really don't want to scare them if we can help it.

[But realistically, they can only indulge so much.]

You'd think they'd have better priorities than wasting our time right now anyway.

[teratias]

It isn't just wasting our time, it is wasting theirs too! If they're serious about stepping up to the Uvi, then this is...not that!!

[alphonse]

[He gives the barrier a long, blank stare.]

They've had this power all along, and this is how they use it.

[teratias]

I guess not being war like extends to everything, including defense.

[The Palai are so, so much.]

[alphonse]

[He almost hopes some of the Palai are eavesdropping--if just so they don't have to wait as long for an explanation--but when he glances back to check all he gets are cheerful waves like they're excited that the speed dating experiment is playing out so smoothly. So, so much is right.]

And not being practical. Maybe we'll never learn how to talk to them.

[teratias]

[The palai are just special, that's the only conclusion to be drawn.]

Well, most of their practical stuff has kind of worked out? I mean, their society and city is pretty okay, there's just these weird trade offs.

[alphonse]

I like it better when those trade offs don't involve us.

Do you think this is really how they get together?

[teratias]

Partly? But it might be good for larger groups, so hence....us sharing in this.

[alphonse]

[A room full of Palai gleefully asking one another terrible questions... Yeah, okay, that might make sense for them after all.]

I guess they think we need all the help we can get. Doing it this way is like an odds game--try your luck with the whole group and eventually someone might say yes.

[teratias]

It isn't a bad thought. Just...badly executed, I suppose.

[And unwanted!

Mostly just unwanted.]

[alphonse]

At least it isn't supposed to last long, right? I mean--.

[Case in point: time's up and the magic chair's ready to go. GOOD LUCK, WAVER.]