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]

Yeah! Exactly!

For the record, I think Furina and I are a solid eight! That's the best I've got until we get to know each other better, but.

She's said a lot of things that I relate to. Or that I wanna know more about.

[nrangel]

So how would you two feel about taking the Truth Booth leap?

[hexensabbat]

I'm up for it if Furina is! I still think it sounds like a blast to go up there, and she's good with cameras.

[nrangel]

I bet the two of you would look incredible too. You're both so cute.

[hexensabbat]

Aw, thanks! Honestly, I feel like we could say that about a lot of this week's matches...

[And she has Thoughts about Serpilia ending up with Luka but. This isn't really the forum for it.]

But we're in a pretty good place! Not bad to have a lot of options for plausible matches. Especially if everyone keeps getting to know each other this upcoming week.

[nrangel]

True!

[ Serpilia's perfectly content to keep the focus on solving this little puzzle of theirs for now, which admittedly does still include her and Luka. ]

For one week and some guesses based on early impressions, I think us getting a third of them right is pretty good. It'll make it a lot easier to start working on the patterns here.

[enscene]

[A little nervous, actually! However - ]

This wouldn't be anything new to me! ...Being on Kamera that is, haha, not having my feelings judged in front of a demanding audience. I have no objections.

I want to speak with you more, too, though, Serpilia.

[nrangel]

Oh?

[ She looks a little surprised, but pleasantly so. ]

I hope you mean that as a get to know me talk, and not the way my boss sometimes pulls the old "Serpilia, we need to talk" move.

[enscene]

Hehe, don't worry, you're not in trouble. [Serpilia doesn't have to worry about appearing before the court anytime soon!]

...Why, should you be?

[nrangel]

Hopefully not!

[ She's been on her best behavior here! For the most part. ]

Then knowing that I'm not in any sort of trouble, I'd love a chance to talk with you more.

[scooptimistic]

From what she mentioned yesterday...

[ Hm. ]

I did think you fit a lot of what she described!

[hexensabbat]

Hey, really? That's great to hear too!

This stuff is all super new to me, but she's fun to be around and very pretty and stylish. Sooo... I'd say the vibes are good?

[scooptimistic]

[ The vibes... ]

Okay, then! At the very least, I think you guys are a pretty solid consideration right now.

[hexensabbat]

[The vibes!]

For some reason, that makes me pretty happy to hear.

[scooptimistic]

For some reason?

I mean, if I liked someone and someone else said we made for a good match, I think it makes sense to be happy.

[phenomerom]

Given what Miss Furina described as her type, the two of you really do seem like a likely candidate for a confirmed pairing. We have the following week to try and learn more information, but as things stand, I would also vote for the two of you to enter the Truth Booth, if you wouldn't mind.

[hexensabbat]

I'm cool with it. We'll have to see how Furina feels about it, of course. And how everyone else feels about their matches too.

We did a good job this week, I think!

... That mean you wouldn't wanna go in with Messmer?

[phenomerom]

Indeed, three matches is much better than I feared.

[ The way he was genuinely afraid of a blackout ... ]

I have no objections to entering the booth, if general consensus is that it may be a good candidate. However -- our chances are limited. As it stands, I think our priority should be trying to confirm the most likely pair. Lord Messmer appears to have too many others interested for me to say anything definitive.

[hexensabbat]

Popular guy, huh...

[She's amused but also pleased by this.]

Well, I'm not gonna argue that. We can get a temperature check with everyone saying how likely they think their matches are, and then use that as our guide for next week. And if something crazy happens, like, I don't know, Furina decides she doesn't like AIs, we can reevaluate before it's actually time to vote.

[phenomerom]

[ His gaze wanders over towards wherever Furina is for a moment. Given she'd mentioned something about 'wants you to be yourself,' he can't imagine she'd throw a fit about someone else being a near-human AI. But -- ah, that's not his information to give out, so. ]

-- fair enough. Assessing our options for the next few days sounds wise.

[enscene]

You really think so? I'd say our chance of success is around 75%. [So they're even on a very close wavelength here, apparently.]

I do hope we can talk more next week. Did you find that music? ...Oh, wait, we should make an announcement! Maybe once all this has died down.

[hexensabbat]

Yeah, I picked out a piece!

[Cheerfully!]

I don't know anything about music, but I listened to a bunch of options and I've given it my best shot. When all of this wraps up and we can relax a bit, I'll show it to you.

... Oh, yeah, announcements. Well. Things went pretty well! So I think everyone will listen.

[enscene]

[Terrified to find out how bad Ringo's musical taste is when she whips out the chiptunes.]

Right, we should finish with our review first. [She might have gotten a little excited to study that piece.] Better not interrupt them while they're on a roll, either.

[Maybe the talent show will be a good setup for the following week, after all. They've all be together for such a short time, but it's strange, realizing just how quickly things can change.

Poutily:] If only we could write! I'd have dozens of notes to deliver.

[hexensabbat]

[help.

But anyway, first thing's first:]

Notes? What sort of notes?

[She's extremely curious what sorts of notes Furina might mean. But she's coming back around to the music piece, because Ringo's excited to share it, too.]

[enscene]

Well, when I direct, I always take note of feedback during rehearsal. Things like observations about the actors' interactions or stage directions I'd like to change...

[As Ringo already observed earlier in the week, she's a hard worker, and as a director, she can be incredibly assertive and firm.]

This week's chosen pair was proof enough that a good show isn't all about what makes a good show, but if I could jot down my observations, I could share them when we meet like this.

[And she would be terrifying, probably.]