week two | dates

[marriagebroker]

Kiss the girl~!

Or guy.

Or person.

Or Messmer's snake.

Comments

shoko and maya

[marriagebroker]

Shoko and Maya are taken to a beer garden. It's nice, it's cute, the crowd isn't too rowdy and the weather is great.

Highlights

• There are IPAs and sours and all types of beer.
• There is some bar food too, like sliders.
• There are hammocks in a little courtyard with fairy lights too.

[scooptimistic]

You think we can nab a hammock without spilling?

[ They're just so cute... ]

[irreversal]

If it's you, Maya, I'm sure we'll figure it out. They look comfy, don't they?

[ She has gone ahead and gotten them each a beer. ]

Should we grab some food, too?

[scooptimistic]

Of course! What's a beer without snacks? We should get some edamame at the very least!!

[ Sorry, Edamura. ]

[irreversal]

That's not disrespectful to Mame-chan, is it?

[ Sorry, Edamura........ ]

How about I save us hammocks, and you get the snacks? I'm really not picky when it comes to food that goes with drinking.

[ Surely nothing will go wrong with eating and drinking in hammocks!! ]

[scooptimistic]

He'd understand.

But sounds like a plan to me! I'll be right back!

[ Off! To grab! Snacks!! ]

[irreversal]

[ As promised, Shoko will go to secure hammocks! She might have had to persuade some people to let her have their spot so that she and Maya could have hammocks next to each other, but having a whole-ass TV crew helps, too.

She'll wave at Maya once she's back with snacks! ]

Over here~

[scooptimistic]

[ Maya has acquired--edamame and little pretzel bites with beer cheese! And she's beaming about it. ]

Great job, Shoko! I knew I could count on you!

[irreversal]

Of course, of course.

[ Now that everything's here, though, Shoko supposes she'll just... sit on the hammock for now, rather than fully lay in it. At least until she's through with her beer. ]

So? We said we would check in with each other each week, wouldn't we? How are you holding up?

[scooptimistic]

[ With a sort of mile-long stare at nothing in particular and I'm mandating this is one of the later dates in the week-- ]

I got confessed to.

1/2

[irreversal]

[ Shoko would never so uncool as to choke on her beer, but— ]

[irreversal]

[ —she does visibly pause mid-sip. ]

That felt fast.

[scooptimistic]

You're telling me!! I got completely blindsided!!

[ AAAAAAAAA ]

[irreversal]

That's got to be the first one in among all of us, right? I'm not surprised it was for you, hehe.

[ is this helping ]

[scooptimistic]

That can't be right.

[ This is not helping ]

[irreversal]

[ Shoko just stares at Maya for a moment. ]

Alright. You weren't expecting it, clearly. Who confessed to you?

[scooptimistic]

Luka.

[ Can. Can you blame her for being surprised. CAN YOU-- ]

[irreversal]

[ . . . . . . . .




No she cannot. ]

Ehhhhh...?

[scooptimistic]

Exactly!!!

[irreversal]

Guess I don't really know him at all to know if he's just like this or not, but still...

What did you tell him in response?

[scooptimistic]

I asked him if he could wait for an answer. Since I didn't really know how to respond at the time.

[ So. Some breathing time. ]

[irreversal]

I think that was a fair response, especially since you were so blindsided by it.

[ A rather unkind thought passes through Shoko's mind. Did he do that as a publicity stunt, especially given the timing after his rather theatrical and dramatic Truth Booth with Yingying...? What the hell, man, these idols... ]

How do you feel about it? Other than shocked, I mean.

[scooptimistic]

I... don't know.

[ Whew. ]

I thought at first that he was just a gaudy sort of flirt... you know, like a butterfly, just going from flower to flower? But he's had these moments where he seems...

... Less rehearsed. I was just thinking those moments were fascinating. But I didn't think he... liked me.

[irreversal]

Less rehearsed, huh...

[ She supposes that's as close as anyone can get to sincerity, when it comes to someone in Luka's profession. There is something to be said for that, she hopes. At the end of the day, it's a peek behind the mask. ]

Maya, you do have a way of being able to cut through the noise and reach people easily. And earnestly, too. [ Frankly, it's something she wishes she could do, herself. ] I wouldn't be surprised if that resonated strongly with someone like Luka.

[scooptimistic]

Well, when you're a journalist, you have to find ways to see through the bullshit, so to speak.

[ Wow.

She eats one of the pretzel bites, debating this. ]

But I have to admit, getting to see past the golden sheen of some of the people here... I feel like I like them better underneath all of that.

And you're just perfectly you. [ Thank god for Shoko. ]