perfectmatch | week two

[ Both can be Yingying, she surmises after a moment, after reflection on the words. As the woman hides her expression, as she claims she has no regrets.

...

Odile is not one for physicality, though she understands the need for it. She raises her hand to plop onto Yingying's turned head, rubbing it slightly. Far more gently than one might expect of such a harsh woman. ]

It's fine to regret meeting people who make your life a little more lonely. But know that loneliness is proof of the fun and happiness you had with them, and hold it close to your heart. Not, [ wryly, ] that it makes it easier to part, nor to not miss someone.

[ Her hand retracts back to her lap, head forward. ]

You of all people should not hide your heart, asking others to speak from theirs instead. Even the trees must take time to rest before they bloom anew, Yingying.

[ She blinks, surprised at the sudden head pat. No one really shows her that kind of affection... turning to face Odile, she stops her pedaling for a second, needing the respite. ]

Mm... I know that well.

[ Any fondness she feels for anything, and any answering sadness, is proof that she's still alive, and proof that she had love in her life once. Being here's not different from that. ]

I really don't have regrets, though. [ Hiding her expression maybe, but this is the truth. Rather than anything outright negative, her expression is just... a little empty, devoid of that flourishing charm. A lack of enthusiasm, maybe. Even after her talk with Wei Wuxian, she has a hard time thinking about the future at all, especially when it's brought up like this. ] I would have taken any chance to spend time with people again.

[ Whether it was a weird dating competition, or some other request. She sighs, and it's less dramatic than the usual type she does at the house, less put upon. Odile is always talking about how old she is, but does she know how long Yingying has spent in solitude? ]

It's been over a hundred years... since I've gotten to be like this with everyone.

Edited 2025-06-11 02:08 (UTC)

[ Another long lived, though it little surprises her. One does not have an "unknown" age without being some sort of elder being... which does bring to question, Odile thinks idly, Verso's own. Perhaps something to ask after, though it may matter not in the long run. Not even in the week's. ]

What keeps you from it?

Edited 2025-06-11 02:13 (UTC)

[ She laughs, leaning back in her seat. ]

I've been sleeping, on and off, for a very long time.

[ Which is part of it... it feels easier to confess to these things while they're out on the water, away from everyone else. Perhaps it's easier, too, because she doesn't feel that Odile will pity her, or suddenly turn and start acting super worried about her. It'd feel... pitiful, that way. Yingying has mentioned that she's in poor health to more than a few of their number, but none know the real extent. ]

The wisteria has kept me alive, all this time. The real me. [ Raising her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, her smile turns wry. ] You mentioned the wisteria as a "chain," before... you can think of my physical body as a link that can't be separated from it.

[ Will Odile be able to read between the lines? There's a body, some would say close to a corpse, corrupting away in the center of the trunk of that tree. The Yingying here in the boat with her, is a manifestation of the "freedom" she's wanted for so long. In that state, there's not much she can do. But her magic talent is raw and immense, and it allows her at least this much movement, to project this illusion before Odile now, at least while in the competition. ]

It's complicated, how things ended up that way... all the same, contact like this just hasn't been possible since back then.

[ Maybe it makes a bit more sense in hindsight, the innocent curiosity Yingying seems to show everything, her willingness to become friendly and close with everyone. Starved for experience like this, maybe. ]

[ ... So the form she has now is naught but her desire, manifested not unlike Sadnesses, or the remnants that seemed to drown the world with their silence. It's familiar in a way. But it is not her in full, for a third belongs to the tree that sits splendidly among the others.

No, Odile will not treat her differently, nor will she pity her in that patronizing way. But she is not lacking in emotions -- only removed, awkwardly, from expressing them best. She knows this herself. Yingying is one deserving of empathy, and she can at least give the other woman that. ]

It is little wonder you tire so easily, choosing to keep a form outside of your tree.

[ Poor health indeed. They're at least a ways enough from shore that Odile rests back in her seat as well, comfortable in some way, staring up at the clouds as she turns it over in her mind. She was not wrong to say that Yingying could not walk a path with Yi Sang, but that was without knowing the truth in full. And... in knowing the truth, she thinks it was wrong to say so. Respite need not be so temporary; birds make their nests in the branches of far worse, in branches that could barely hold the snow, returning again and again to seek the same home they'd chosen.

...

That, too, is a kind of companionship. A beneficial one. One... that may be needed, for a bird with weary wings, who can do no more than stumble along the path that lay before them. ]

If you are as much of the tree as it is you, Yingying, do you think a cutting would be be sufficient enough for the purpose of further manifestation?

[ Odile might not see it this way, but she sees it as a sign of her care for her companions here that her immediate response is to try to think of something that might better her condition. She smiles to herself, gaze still far removed from the charming wisteria spirit that's haunted the halls for two weeks now. There's a serenity that she bears, an acceptance, regarding her fate. ]

They already determined that my body is too corrupted to be separated or exposed safely. I'd likely pass on...

[ If the tree were cut or altered in any way. It's not a pleasant thing to talk about, so no one's quite aware of the extensive tests and research and worrying that was being done over the wisteria back at home — it really is in a fragile state.

She lets silence sit in the air, before asking her opinion genuinely — of all the contestants, Odile is the one she thinks who's perspective she can trust on this matter. ]

...What are your feelings towards the wish we're all meant to receive, should we solve this grand mystery? That's the solution Wei Wuxian suggested.

[ Silence is not an unwelcome thing. It offers one time to think, to recontextual, to pry at possibilities. The water ripples latently with other couples as they sit and, at last, Yingying breaks it. ]

I believe I have somewhat of a unique position to answer this, though you do as well.

[ Being one who sees them granted. Her own... is a secret, and she doesn't explain further before exhaling and giving her thoughts. ]

Wishes... have their own sets of rules, of consequence, and of limitations. The Odile of two weeks ago would have scoffed, because she would have half-heartedly asked the Favor Tree for her coin to land on heads and never saw the result.

Now, I know they can come true in the most logical of senses.

[ Odile pauses, watching the water, then turns to Yingying with a somewhat softer, but still firm tone. Her normal, just a little gentler. ]

My feelings are this: it seems an easy solution, and I would encourage you towards it. However, [ however, ] you must be wary of the way you word it, and the repercussions that might come from its granting. They are not free. They, like anything else, have a fee, even if it isn't readily apparent. So long as you are prepared for that possibility, as the wishes granted by this show may differ than how they would be granted whence I came, then I would like you to continue to be selfish and live beholden only to yourself and those of your choosing.

[ What might wishes be like in Odile's homeland? In her own, they were simply for fun and good fortune — to have something to look forward to and strive towards. It was a prayer, a hope, and didn't always come true. After all, the heavens don't watch over people just because they are prayed to, and she learned that the hard way. Her eyelids lower, feeling just private enough to show some of her own fatigue, emotional and physical. ]

It's hard for me to imagine a future for myself, is all. [ Straight to the point — maybe she and Yi Sang have that in common, too, not having an image in mind for what's going to become of them. ] The wish might solve my health... might. But where would I go from there?

[ In her own dimension, she doesn't speak the language of the modern world, she knows nothing about modern technology, or even the ramifications of the historical event she witnessed first hand. She can feel so out of place, sometimes. Being here has been like a dream — everyone's on equal footing, learning about each other and still becoming close. She doesn't want it to end. Yingying sighs, a tad overdramatic. ]

I don't mean to mope and make things all about me, sweetheart. [ She says eventually, moving to tuck a long strand of her hair behind her ear. ] Just thinking out loud. I'm going to think about what you said about the wish... you were the only person I felt I could ask.

[ ... Is that so? Because of her opinions on fate, or because of their less than ideal footing? Odile sees the overdramatic sigh for what it is -- in part sincerity, in part quitting conversation, and she corrects her simply. ]

I wanted to learn more of you, Yingying, and so I have.

[ Her problems of where she might go after are, indeed, self-reflective. Nothing Odile can push one way or another, nor more than she can Yi Sang's. At most she can listen and give her thoughts -- but ultimately, that is their respective roads to follow.

... Regardless of where Yingying might leave to, she would like to see the woman have the choice at all. It is a shame, to be rooted so. ]

Besides, it suits me well enough to have you do all the talking. Sharing things isn't my strong suit.

week two | dates

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path to nowhere spoilers

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continued ptn spoilers.... looks up

whoa... lesbi

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