week two | match ceremony

[marriagebroker]

Tonight, we're back in the courtyard. It looks similar to last week with the slight exception, there is now a plush couch near the stage, and a single lantern already lit above the stage. There's still food, drinks, all sorts of things available for the contestants to snack on and enjoy.

On the stage is Wei Wuxian, looking presentable in his hanfu for today. He's busy twirling his flute in hand as he waits for the contestants to show up and find their places, and when they do he'll extend both arms out, welcoming the cast.

"Second match ceremony! You're exempt from a black out tonight because you've already found one of the matches."

He'll gesture to that couch from earlier, which seems to be The Special Seat for Ringo and Furina to sit at if they'd like.

"Now, we know how this goes so let's not delay anymore! Team Wangji, it's your turn to announce your matches!"

Comments

[embellwish]

[ At that, she turns thoughtful, curling a finger under her chin. ]

Mm. Wishes don't just come true because we want them to, and prayers can go unanswered.

[ There is no such thing as hoping hard enough that something will happen — on that, she and Odile are aligned. Perhaps that's why she doesn't feel personally slighted by the results, even if it is sad. ]

At the same time... holding onto that wish or prayer even in the face of that, that's the most powerful thing someone can do. [ Griping tight to an ungranted wish, or a love that's star-crossed, she genuinely thinks that's beautiful. ] For the sake of the game, this was probably the only time that it'd be good for this to happen.

[researcherstory]

[ A nod. On that, they clearly agree. And... at the very least, one of them can speak their thoughts freely about it. ]

Too soon, and it would have given us nothing. Too late, and... well. It may have left us just as in the dark -- with both our feelings and our thoughts. Though all seem to be taking it well enough.

[ Perhaps because of the timing, though... she will have to check in on a few, for her own peace of mind. Because she's FOND of them. Gross. ]

[embellwish]

[ She nods, not saying anything, while drifting her eyes off to Yi Sang, to Poppy and Shoko, to Nico and Aventurine. ]

Mm, it seems that way.

[ A pause, while she reflects on her own feelings, calm as they are. ]

I think I really thought it could have been me and Yi Sang, but... I'm happy I got to choose him today, anyhow. He seemed totally shocked that I would, yesterday.

[researcherstory]

... I would have preferred to be wrong about what I said last week, truthfully.

[ Even as she dislikes all this fate and algorithm nonsense... ]

Will you continue to choose him? Not in ceremony, but outside it.

[embellwish]

...I'd like to — if only to keep getting to know him, and learn more about him.

[ He can be hard to read. But what he'd said about staying by her side, sitting through the night at the root of the wisteria, that was real. ]

He can be really sweet. [ Maybe, like Rom says, he has L rizz, but that's part of what makes his strangely romantic lines so charming. ] It'd be nice if I could get him to see that.

[researcherstory]

I hope you manage. He really can be charming, though I've never been on the end of them.

[ Their relationship is...

...

Different... ]

In any case, I'm glad. I believe you two are good for one another -- as friends or else. Yi Sang is very grounding, for better and worse, and you bring out a different side of him.

[embellwish]

[ Maybe she does bring out another side of him. The quiet sincerity, the awkward fluster, they're both things she wishes more people would get to see, but she can only pry it out with her careful, experienced touch. Are there really no others seeing this cute side to him? It's a shame, if so... ]

He was the one going on about wanting to spend every night with me, [ he's not even here and she's putting him on blast, since she mercifully decided against it in front of everyone at the ceremony, ] So I guess we'll see just how friendly he wants us to be. I wouldn't mind our story getting bolder... ~

[ Then again, he can barely look at her for more than a few seconds, so he might be totally clueless in anything extending past holding hands. She took his first kiss, after all. ]

[researcherstory]

[ Odile is at least not seeing it. No one shows her a cute side. The words startle a small laugh out of her though - every night, my -- but she knows Yi Sang means it poetically, harmlessly, given his nature. ]

Oh, did he now? What a surprisingly smooth man he is, wooing you so. They do say it's the quiet ones you have to keep an eye one.

[ She is not above bullying Yi Sang when he isn't here. ]

[embellwish]

[ Of course, it's all fun and games. Yi Sang is sentimental and caring, but he's also stiff, awkward, and passive. For all she knows, he might just be a really sincere guy with no feelings of attraction to her at all, based on the total lack of reactions whenever she tries to make an advance. Even if that were the case, she's still touched by the wholesome kindness he's showed her, so either way, she'll be keeping him close and will continue messing with him.

Plus, it's fun to joke about. Odile gets it. ]

Hehe. I had no idea thoughts like that were up there in his head...