week one | match ceremony

[marriagebroker]

Today's Match Ceremony starts the moment the sun goes down. They will be led to a courtyard on the estate, filled to the brim with lanterns of all kinds and plush couches and chairs for them to sit on. The place is lit bright by the lanterns and the vibe is very cozy. There will be a few camera crews lingering around, ready to catch sight of the contestants as they settle in and get comfortable. There is also food and beverages, some alcohol, some non-alcoholic, for everyone to partake in.

In the center of the courtyard is a stage, hanging above it are eight lanterns, none of which are lit up. Wei Wuxian stands in the middle, dressed to impress for tonight's festivities. In one hand, he has his flute, in another, a cup of huangjiu. He lifts it merrily, giving a laugh before knocking back the alcohol and tossing the cup away. (A staff member nearby catches it, thank god.)

"Welcome, everyone! To your first match ceremony! I am your humble host and we're here to see if chemistry can happen, even under duress~!"

A staff member nearby grimaces at that. It might be the same staff member who caught the cup. It's fine, the producers won't punish him. Probably.

But characters will notice that there is a podium next to the stage for them to lock in their answers.

"For those who are new to this, let's talk about how this works. First, I will call up one of the members of Team Suibian and they will go to the podium over here, make a choice of who they think their match is, and together you will press your hands to the podium to lock it in."

He gives a hum, twirling the flute in his hand a few times before grasping it by the end and using it to point at the contestants.

"As a result of your choices, the lanterns above me will light up with however many perfect matches you've chosen. It is your job to figure out which of the choices made tonight are indeed perfect matches. If you aren't able to get any of them right, you will get a black out. Which means, someone will lose their wish. Don't do that!"

He'll let his warning hang for a moment before smiling, tapping his shoulder lazily with the flute and then grinning broadly.

"With that, let's get started."

——

Each character of Team Suibian will be called in random order, under the selections top level. Feel free to react there!

After the matches, the results top level will reveal how many are right!

Otherwise, feel free to use this log for any reactions, catherding, whatever you want for the match ceremony.

Comments

[hexensabbat]

[Doing math.........]

For what it's worth, we could either greatly increase or greatly decrease the probability of the rest of the matches from today's ceremony if we send one of these duos to the Truth Booth this upcoming week.

[nrangel]

Send a likely match and have an easier time with the others? Makes sense to me.

[hexensabbat]

Yeah, exactly! Either we've found one of the three, or we know the others are way more likely! It's a win-win.

[nrangel]

A solid plan as far as I'm concerned. The question is who feels ready to test their luck, or maybe who feels ready to put on a show for the rest of us?

[scooptimistic]

Right.

Ideally, we could get one of those lights right, but there were a ton of really good potentials out of today.

[ So. Hm. ]

What do you think, Ringo? About any likely ones?

[hexensabbat]

[Uhhhh.]

... We could ask everyone to rank how likely their matches are from one to ten?

[scooptimistic]

One being "wildly fanciful" to ten being "pretty much set in stone"?

[ordimame]

If I'm being brutally honest, which I think is something Odile-san will appreciate, mine opinion is a solid. . . . . .







Two.

[phenomerom]

[ Hm. ]

Five.

[gamboler]

Unless something emerges in this coming week to change our minds, then that might be the play. The question is deciding who to send...

[ A thoughtful pause. ]

We'll know much more about each other in due time. Personally, I think it might be a little amusing to send Miss Serpilia and Mister Luka, but if I had to choose at this exact moment...I have a good feeling about Miss Shoko and Miss Poppy.

[scooptimistic]

I wouldn't want to make someone go into the Truth Booth twice in two weeks, even if Luka would be fine with it...

[ Just. No. ]

But I was thinking about them too. Or Verso and Nico.

[gamboler]

[ They can let Luka rest, even if Aventurine would love to see the chaos... ]

I thought about them as well. [ A beat. ] Which would you think the safer option is? Based off your intuition and observations.

[ It's evident to all of them that Nico and Verso get along so well, and logically, Aventurine can see the sense in them being matched, but he also...

It'd be a shame to send them out of the house so soon if they are a match, that's all. ]

[hexensabbat]

Yeah, you think so?

[Hmmm!!]

I could see it! They seem like they've got a good thing going, and Poppy was so confident about picking her!

[U GO, POPPY]

[gamboler]

She did, and Poppy seems like the type of woman whose opinions aren't easily swayed.

[ There's also the fact that she seems relatively, well, normal, and after what Shoko had told him about the other night...he can see the sense in a match like Poppy for her. ]

Between them and yourself and Miss Furina, which do you feel is more likely?

[beatmatching]

[ when he's returned from his reading session in a cozy fit. ]

The odds of us being a pair is only about six percent, it's a bad bet.

[gamboler]

Isn't that true of just about any pairing? Miss Yingying aside, that is.

[ At least Luka has at least one potential match eliminated for him. ]

[enscene]

Hmm, but they didn't choose each other...

[The audience will probably want to see some hopes and dreams get dashed next week, let's be real.]

That's too much leaving things up to chance for me. I'd be far too nervous.

I would, however, find it agreeable to send the two demoiselles. Miss Shoko would put Miss Poppy at ease in that gazebo.

[gamboler]

Maybe we'll wind up so certain of our choices we won't even need Truth Booth to confirm them for us. Wouldn't that be something?

[ ...Yeah, even taking his luck into consideration, that's not going to happen. They're due for some drama, and he's more than willing to bet they'll get it this week. ]

And what about yourself and Miss Ringo? I think you have a good shot in there, as well.

[phenomerom]

Nothing personal, Mr. Aventurine [ yes, correct name this time ], I would also vote against Mr. Luka and Miss Serpilia. However ... [ what's the word he's looking for ] ... interesting their dynamic might be, it's hard ignoring the fact that their match was chosen purely by chance. As much as we know you have faith in your luck, I'm not so sure about the good fortune of our group as a whole.

I'd rather vote for Miss Shoko and Miss Poppy or, say, yourself and Miss Maya.

[irreversal]

[ Shoko had pointedly kept herself out of the 'ranking' conversation just now, but maybe Aventurine will pick up what she's putting down when she says: ]

There's a long time between now and the next Truth Booth.

[ A long time for things to come to light, like they had at the feast the other night. ]

[nrangel]

Not loving the way you said "a little amusing" there. Come on, now...

[crimsin]

[ He might have caught those glances earlier, and so after people have cleared off a bit, he meanders over. ]

A moment of your time, mon étoile?

[fireball]

Well, we certainly aren't sending Serpilia up with Luka.

[ Crosses her arms over her chest. Huff!

... followed up by an eep. ]

But, uh, I wouldn't have picked Shoko if I didn't have a good feeling too, so...

[fireball]

[ Hmm... ]

The odds increase as you remove variables, right? So it might make sense to focus on one of the later pairings from the ceremony...

Which might make you and Furina our best bet.

[hexensabbat]

We're a pretty good option, I think! But still, so are you and Shoko, if you feel strongly about the match.

All one big set of 18.75% probability.

So, what d'you think?