perfectmatch | the truth booth

[ Hello, friends! The final truth booth is here and Wei Wuxian is here to lead the two contestants that were voted for to the booth. ]

My friends! It's time to go, you're the lucky two voted for today and so, I will guide you to the path to take and let you see what fate might await you.

[ He claps his hands together and grins, leading them through the estate and out the back, where he stops at the path that leads out to the truth booth. The walk they'll have to do together. ]

Here we are. Please, be on your way!

[ It looks like the rest of the house was in agreement - or, at least, enough of them were still willing to vote for Messmer for it to matter. He turns his eye on Odile, giving her a single nod of understanding. ]

... So be it. Let us see what fate hath been prepared us.

[ There aren't any nerves - giddy or fearful - to be found in Messmer; he is, as always, disaffected, facing this next challenge the same way he's faced all of the rest. Regardless of his lack of energy, he still offers Odile his hand before they begin to walk. ]

[ Indeed, so there had been -- enough to entrust Messmer with this task, and also trust in his judgement with choices. Odile's similarly calm, both in confidence and in knowing that whatever comes of it will give them enough information for everyone to have their wishes, and she looks at his hand for a moment before settling her own against it.

Such a gentleman as always. ]

Fate is a silly thing -- it is better to shape the future you want with your own hands. But I will walk this path with you, because what lies ahead may give us opportunity to do just that.

[ Shape their futures, in its own way. It's going to be a quiet affair as she starts forward with him, so that ambient music better be working overtime. ]

[ It seems a very glib thing to say to him. He was born with a cursed soul to a god in the flesh - very little about his life was ever his to shape at all. Odile is lucky, he thinks. But he's also sure she doesn't need to hear that from him. All men have the power to choose, and he'd made his choices; all that's changed is that he's now choosing differently. ]

... Confidence, indeed.

[ maybe she's lucky, but he's sure she's done her fair share of fighting to seize her destiny, too. She's just that kind of woman. He'd imagined a potential visit to the Truth Booth to be shameful, but Odile isn't a bad person to walk down the path with.

That said... is all that's being said. Messmer has nothing more to add while they walk, either. Enjoy this footage of two old people walking on a path while the royalty-free backing track plays!! ]

[ Literally just walking!!! Sorry!!! Nothing to see here, play a commercial if you really want some revenue out of it!!!

... It is nice just to be quiet with him though. Pleasant company to read around, to sit with. No wasted words, no awkward conversations, it almost makes the odd trek towards the end feel like a normal walk she might have with anyone else. Or-- not anyone else, because rarely does she allow others to walk beside her hand in hand like this (never, actually, but it is what it is), but... that same feeling.

What a waste of film!!! ]

[ You will never find an immortal who doesn't appreciate a solid moment of peaceful silence. His thoughts are much the same: no need to make excuses or fend off additional remarks on his height or his misdeeds or whatever else. Viewer counts and ratings aren't concepts that Messmer is aware of, so there's not even a distant sense of guilt over not making good television.

Unfortunately, the (long) silence will be broken when they eventually reach the gazebo. His feet carry him over the threshold, and, spying the panels they're about to step on, Messmer looks down at Odile once again, finally making a comment. ]

Thy judgement I have heard already... yet I would to thee speak further of it. [ a beat. ] By what arcane mechanism we are paired I know not. My knowledge is only thus: thou art no counterpart of mine. Let not my deeds reflect upon thee - not in mind nor the minds of others. They are mine alone; I will not permit them tarnish thee.

[ He breaks it, and it's... a surprising way he does so. Odile cranes her neck back at him, smile amused. ]

You're sweet, Messmer, but if they suddenly decided to change their minds about me because of what someone else said or did, then they are nobody I would like to converse with. Much less spend time around.

[ She turns a little better to him, continuing a bit softer. ]

I can assure you this: though you are someone who has done much worse in his life for the sake of another's love, you are not the only one who has done so. And I remain close with them nonetheless. Could you imagine why?

[ he could point out that they're not exactly here together of their own volition, but it's a moot point; she's spent plenty of time with him this week before this little excursion. ]

I could imagine thou carest little for the opinions of outsiders.

[ this is delivered somewhat dryly; it might be, like, 20% of a joke, whatever that might mean for Messmer. ]

That is in part the truth. But the full of it is that they show remorse for their actions, if not in their behavior then in their choices.

[ ... Neither of them are touchy people. He had offered a hand because it was polite, and in return she reaches to gently take his other one. Just for the moment, to show him that it isn't a matter of their forceful togetherness that she stands tall beside him. ]

You would not do it again. That means more than you think, Messmer, because I have no reason to doubt your words.

[ he tenses when she takes his other hand, clearly not expecting it (or any kind of touch, for that matter) - the higher serpent even arcs up slightly in alarm - but he doesn't shake her off or yank his hand back. It's nothing more than a kind gesture, and he's not so immature that he can't accept it. Again, he bows his head slightly in understanding; still, his words continue, resolute: ]

Thy words would attest to mine own. I have spoken no lies - neither previous nor at present. Fair Odile, thou art no consort of the Impaler. Let it be known.

[ if she lets him, he'll carefully untangle their hands, then step aside so that they can take their places in the booth. ]

[ Fair Odile... When has she ever been "fair" anything. Still, she can see his words for what they are -- and so she does let him, stepping up to the booth with a small nod.

... Briefly, she wonders how the rest of the group is doing... Surely she won't be coming back to some kind of mess... ]

[ Wow, old people, huh?

Just like that we cut to commercial! What's the commercial for this week?

A retirement home. It's luxurious! It's well-maintained! It's affordable! You should definitely put your parents here. That's just going to play for a little while until — ]

[ We are back! At the Truth Booth. Messmer probably had to crouch a little to fit inside but it's not so bad, not so bad at all.

The screen fzzts to life again, leaving them in the quiet of the afternoon. The camera is intensely focused on the two of them. One of the camera guys is trying to Messmer's snake to look at the camera the way you would get a dog to look when you're taking a picture. It's fine.

Images of the two of them appear on the screen and now... the moment of truth! ]

[ Odile. Messmer. Two people from wildly different backgrounds. Did the algorithm think of them as a match?

Well... ]

[ It did. Doves come bursting out of nowhere again, swirling around the gazebo. Confetti spills from the ceiling. Cheers are heard again. Butterflies flutter past them.

It truly seems like this is a perfect match. ]

[ ........................................... ]

Whoo. Hip hip hooray. Yippee.

[ Please all these theatrics if Messmer's snakes eat a dove live on television then it's what they get-- ]

As I expected, however. Our backgrounds are different, but... there is a single similarity between them, something that I confess I had realized sooner than this past week, Messmer. That is what made me so very confident in our match.

[ as he suspected...! As everyone else might have suspected, his reaction to being right is extremely minimal - he just sighs slightly, taking some minor relief in having solved this particular puzzle. Only 24 hours to go, and then ...

Well, then the difficult part begins. But Messmer takes comfort in knowing it can't be harder than anything that's come before.

Odile's comment draws his attention back to her - sort of. The snake near his shoulder is very clearly distracted by those doves, so his eye is looking somewhere over her shoulder rather than at her. He's got the right direction!! ]

... Another who would claim similarity yet utter no word of it.

[ first Rom, now Odile. What is with you people??

The snake lunges at a dove and grabs it easily in its mouth while he says this, by the way. ]

Edited 2025-06-28 00:54 (UTC)

[ Hot. ]

I don't know how much you would appreciate it, is all, but -- well, I suppose this week was a tell-all anyway.

[ And she did said she'd explain herself, so she intends to. ]

My mother abandoned my father and I before I was even named. [ This, she had said at that horrid reveal party. ] I have resented her ever since. Nonetheless... I was drawn to chase her shadow, even as she'd saw fit to cut both of us off without a single regret to her name. And so I traveled to Vaugarde to find remnants of her, and in turn of myself.

[ Perhaps he can see the single nugget between them, then. ]

It is a small thing, yes. But you are honest in your words and direct, uncaring of the others' opinions, and those, too, are things that I know of myself. We are more alike than expected -- including in our own privacy, and our dislike of things being spoken for us. I am rather happy with how things have turned out.

[ HOT? WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE^2

just kidding, it's her saying she's happy about this that actually surprises him. Yes, she's repeatedly said she doesn't care, but there's a vast gulf between indifference and rather happy. His eye widens a little bit, if only for a moment, and he has no response at the ready, silence stretching for a scant few seconds. ]

... Then in thy satisfaction, I will mine own take.

[ if Odile is pleased, then he has nothing to be displeased about. His part in this game is over. ]

How did thy quest conclude?

[ the poor dove is still cooing and shedding feathers everywhere as the snake wraps it up on its coils and continues working on swallowing it... ]

I learned no more about her than I did myself, but I found many who were the same as I along the way: those who searched for something that they did not have themselves, and in that there was comfort.

[ A comfort she would not trade the world away for, and her fond tone can speak as much to that. ]

I hope you have found something the same here, among those who have been othered as we. Against all odds, I have again been saddled myself with them.

[ Though again, it doesn't seem she hates that. No, these are her little guys (gender neutral) now. It's unfortunate but true. ]

the truth booth

WEEK FOUR

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

a speck of dirt on my screen made odile's icon look like she had a nose suddenly, very scary

not the nosedile

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/?

2/?

3/3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject