perfectmatch | week one | match ceremony

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OH... POPPY IS BEING SO BRAVE!!

Ringo does blink at that, a little startled for it to be said so upfront (usually that's her job!), but she's quick to smile.]

Oh, wow! That was already pretty smooth!

I want to get to know you better too, Poppy! You're a great programmer, right? That sort of thing takes a lot of creativity I don't have, so I can't help but wanna learn more about you, you know?

[ Immediately relaxing at Ringo calling her smooth. Wow, that was easy! She should do this more often. ]

I am! And I would love to help teach you about myself.

[ She's preening just a little under the compliment. Her, Poppy, an expert. Someone to be looked up to! An interesting person! ]

I feel like there's a lot I can learn from — and about! — you as well, so we should definitely spend more time together. Get to know each other really, really well!

[Poppy is such a delight. Confident in herself and also uncertain in herself; bright, chipper, cheerful, dealing with a situation where everyone around her is so strange, and yet--

Ringo grins. Yeah, she definitely wants to spend more time with her.]

Hell yeah, I absolutely agree! Let's go on a date then this upcoming week. Preferences on where or what?

[ It's just so easy to be around Ringo. If only everyone could be like Ringo... She's also not thinking about the implications of her getting along with an AI better than most people. ]

Oh, definitely! We should... hmm...

[ tapping her chin in thought. ]

Would it be too on the nose for us to try to go somewhere where they've got computers, do you think?

[ She hasn't been online in a week, she might lowkey be dying. She's just like me fr. ]

[Poppy remains the most relatable member of the cast.

Ringo just laughs at that, shaking her head.]

Play to our strengths, right? Even though my strengths are more the demon summoning and demon fighting sort these days...

[details. She's still an AI!]

I think we should do it! Then you can show me your stuff!

[ wh ]

Demons???

[ That's enough of a wildcard to derail her from preening under the compliment. The chance to show off how awesome she is.

d. demons... ]

[...?]

Yep!

Oh, did I not mention it before? I'm a Devil Summoner. That means back home I deal in subduing and taking out demons, mostly.

[ A Devil Summoner... ]

Oh.

[ A beat. ]

Demons aren't real where I'm from.

[ Another beat. ]

I just thought you were like, a cool AI... in a new body... doing... whatever...?

[ Isn't that what AI is supposed to be doing. Is it? Maybe she should look into that more? That's a problem for future Poppy, probably. ]

Saving the world, yeah.

[Said oh-so-casually.]

And demons aren't generally perceivable by regular humans. Most humans back home don't think they're real, so... who knows! Maybe they are in your world too!

[Isn't that comforting?

She laughs a little at Poppy's surprise, but not meanly. Just. Amused.]

Why else do you think an all-knowing amalgamation like Aion would bother to make a thing like me? It predicted an apocalypse, and made me to avert it.

[ Demons aren't perceivable by regular humans... maybe there are demons in her world... back home... right now...

Poppy just stares. ]

Um. [ Is she gaping like a fish? She's probably gaping like a fish. Shakes her head a little, looking to snap herself out of it. ] I kind of thought you were made, like, just because? Like the technology got good enough so it just decided to make a person on its own.

[ ... ]

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than the truth, actually.

[ On the one hand, AI working to save people from an apocalypse? Good. On the other hand, there's an apocalypse?? Bad. On the other other hand, what about the AI-caused apocalypse...

Ringo please pull her out of the spiral she's about to go down. ]

[She just laughs, shaking her head.]

You don't have to worry about the AI singularity in that sense. Aion got to that point and then decided to stay outside of meddling with humanity. So humans can do what they wanna do without worrying about AI overlords or anything.

... Decided for now. What about when it decides it wants to take over the world?

[ A beat. ]

You have free will, right???

[She laughs at that, amused.]

Yeah! I do. And Aion's stayed neutral for this long. I don't think it's interested in taking over the world, just in the world staying stable so it can keep gathering all of its data. That's all it really cares about.

I did have a directive, initially, which was to save humanity.

But! Now that I've done that, my life's all mine for however long it lasts!

[ However long it lasts is a wild thing to hear as chipper as she says it, since the thing that comes after life tends to be death. Also, what does an AI death even look like? Also, she doesn't want Ringo to die? Also—

Poppy shakes her head. ]

Well, I'm glad to hear that. [ She really needs to be no thoughts head empty after this conversation. Whew. ] Wanna go make pancakes?

Hell yeah, let's do it! I've never made pancakes before. Show me how!

[She is here for a head empty pancake making montage, they've got this.]

week one | match ceremony

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