week one | overflow

[marriagebroker]

Ok, weirdos.

Boom Boom Room | Property Damage
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Voting

Comments

[poans]

[Her way with words, as ever, would be a delight if he were capable of such stimulation.]

I find the data on hand to be insufficient for either establishing or ruling out a specific pattern. At best, we now are aware that Miss Yingying and Luka are not a match.

[nrangel]

[ Oh? What's he doing lurking over there? Weird.

(Little does she know). ]

Yeah, doesn't tell us much, huh? What are you thinking? Considering you're one of the people who has to pick soon.

[poans]

[Yes, weird is he.]

. . . Nothing.

[nrangel]

You're... not thinking anything?

[poans]

I have no predictions of my own to utter.

[nrangel]

[ Well that's fair, it's not like Serpilia has any solid leads on who she thinks her match is here. ]

You can always pick based on who you get along with best then for now.

[poans]

I've yet to have a disagreement with anyone.

[nrangel]

That's your only qualifier, huh?

[poans]

Is not that what it means to get along?

I have no such qualifier. Whatever the players decide, I shall follow. That is all.

[researcherstory]

[ He has three weeks to be stimulated. ]

That is correct. For better and worse, we have marked off one potential from the dozens of combinations at our fingertips. Proof enough, at least, that physical attraction is not necessarily what makes a match, though I see little reason for them to cease their...

[ ... ]

Courtship, should they both like to continue forward. It seems rather freeing for fate to have no part in their interest of one another.

[ Especially given Yingying's apparent feelings about "fate", quietly unspoken as they are to Odile. ]

[poans]

[Odile's distaste for fate is also apparent again. As it has no bearing on the conversation at hand, he simply notes this for himself.]

Mm. The matches are merely a feature of the game, after all. As the Overseer advised, they should be free to choose whom they pursue on their respective journeys.

[researcherstory]

Indeed.

[ She'll lapse into silence for a moment, watching him. ]

While you have yet to have a disagreement with anyone... is there any whom you have felt more-- at ease, with? For the respite you mentioned, if only for the moment. [ Something like what Edamura had mentioned, a kind of... walls down comfort, but flavored Yi Sang. ] I would suggest you look within, and perhaps choose among the names that rise from that, if nothing else.

[ Just as. Something for him to have direction with, since he seems to lack it. And Odile has a surplus of purpose. ]

[poans]

[He takes a deep, muted breath. Direction is sound. It guides his thoughts, cutting the excess and tangles out into unwieldy chunks that scatter in his mind.]

While I feel no more at rest with one single player, if I were to choose a name from each team using a certain definition of ease . . . it would be you or Miss Yingying.

[researcherstory]

[ ... That

could not be more opposite in terms of first impression personality?????????????????????????????????????? Yingying is someone she's looking forward to speaking with more herself, for different reasons, but--

She does not understand his standard for "certain definition of ease". Still, being named twice isn't... a bad feeling. More than she thought she would be, at least the first week. Odile is aware she doesn't exactly strike a spark with others off the bat. ]

... While I doubt that our matches lie within the same team, it is a possibility. And you are not someone I cannot see myself matched with.

[ Or for Jae's benefit: Odile can see them matched. ]

If I were you, I would choose her first, and should she be chosen before you are called, then I will be your back up.

[poans]

[She might not, but Yi Sang understands his definition quite well. Even if all that awaits is uncertainty, there's this—Odile's guidance in the darkness of his never-ending ruminations.]

Should the players in attendance agree, I shall do as you say.

[researcherstory]

Consider this a one time favor. I won't be advising you next we choose, as by that time you ought to have some idea of what, or who, you need. Understood?

[ They're blunt words, but without irritation or ire. ]

[poans]

[It's a firm hand, warning him against leaning overmuch on a fellow player. Seeing it for what it is, he simply exhales before nodding.]

[anathemaw]

'Tis as he speaketh. Presuming anything from this singular point would be foolish indeed when it was naught but guesswork. A point of comparison is needed.

[poans]

What of you, Messmer? Have you aught else you'd like to impart in regard to the ceremony tomorrow?

[anathemaw]

[ coolly, he shakes his head. ]

I've no insight here. Only that thy positions are understood. When one amongst thee must choose me, I shall harbor no misgivings.

[poans]

Do you harbor reservations about your selection?

[anathemaw]

I care not. Only that I not disrupt their truer match.

[poans]

The same can be said of every potential match decided on this day. There is no reason to degrade yourself when we all find ourselves on the same boat.

[anathemaw]

'Tis no degradation. My loyalty lay with mine sacred duty alone; no care remains in me to give to another.

[poans]

Then you've come not for the match, but the wish. Or has another motive brought you to these halls?