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

[anathemaw]

[ it was hardly a disaster, thinks Messmer, but he keeps it to himself. He's already made his opinion clear - no need to wade back into that inexplicably murky conversation. ]

Thou wert among my choices.

[ he gives this information with little fanfare. ]

Wei Wuxian hath a passing strange interest in us. Thy name he put forth in our conversation. [ this, too, is given with little fanfare, but Messmer finds it curious enough to be worth sharing. He folds his arms - a little bit awkwardly, thanks to the protruding serpents, but he manages. ] Perhaps it is only thy prior choice that cast influence upon him. Yet his claims of full ignorance ring suspect in mine ears.

[phenomerom]

[ It's ... curious, certainly. Rom would actually agree on the word choice. It merits a slight tilt of the head as he ponders it, trying to imagine what on earth Wei Wuxian might have said to Messmer for him to bring it up now, in this fashion. ]

I see. [ ... ] I'd personally suspect he only mentioned me because I selected you last week, Lord Messmer. Of course, I have no way of knowing what he said to you, but -- I don't believe he thinks very highly of me. He was quite concerned I'd cause you harm, haha. You truly seem to be his favorite.

[ Is favoritism like that even allowed in a show like this? Wei Wuxian stocks continue to drop day by day in Rom's head ........... Anyway! He'd glanced aside in thought, but Rom returns his focus to Messmer after the moment's passed. ]

Then -- do you believe us worthy of gambling on next week? Mr. Verso and Mr. Nico seem to be the leading candidate thus far, but the position of second is less unanimous. I have my doubts, but ... if Mr. Wei's words have convinced you, I have no reason to refuse.

[anathemaw]

[ hold up ....... Wei Wuxian was worried that Rom would hurt him? Favorite or not, he can't help feeling moderately offended that Wei Wuxian apparently has such a low opinion of his abilities. Or his emotional resilience... or both. ]

His concern is naught but an irritating waste. I have no need of his cloying supervision.

[ he's gonna talk to him about this later... anyway. ]

He hath convinced me of nothing. I offer his words as curiosity alone - that thy suspicions of our commonalities might be evidenced.

[phenomerom]

Our commonalities.

[ Well. Might as well start getting into this, he supposes. Rom levels his usual stare at Messmer for a moment before tugging down the brim of his hat a little to shift its angle. ]

Lord Messmer, the commonalities I assumed between us fall into roughly two -- or rather three categories. I selected you during last week's ceremony under the assumption that all three are true. But things are a little different now. The first is still accurate, I believe, but ... the other two, I'm not so sure about any more. Hence, I have my doubts.

But that is just me. Of course, I also have no way of knowing what Mr. Wei truly thinks. So my question still stands -- do you still believe us worthy of gambling on next week?

[anathemaw]

[ Hiding under the hat... Once again, one of the snakes edges forward, nudging slightly into Rom's personal space to try and glimpse his expression, though Messmer himself looks impassive. All this talk, and he still doesn't know exactly what Rom is talking about. By design, no doubt. ]

Thou speakest still in ambiguities. [ the vaguest hint of frustration, although it's tempered again by that pervasive resignation of his. ] Yet I should not blame thee for thy distrust.

[ Rom not wanting to tell him things is very reasonable, he thinks. ]

Aye. The possibility remains that we are matched. Regardless of thy machinations, there doth worth remain in us.

[phenomerom]

[ For once, he looks at the snake, mostly because it's slid its way right into his field of vision -- meeting its eyes evenly from under the brim of his hat. But even before Messmer's done speaking, he looks up, hand dropping back to his side. Rom barely waits for those last words to drop before responding: ]

You won't ask?

[ Accompanied by an inquisitive tilt of the head. ]

Most would ask. What these commonalities might be. What I mean, what I might be thinking. What's changed since the first ceremony. -- does it perhaps mean nothing to you? It's all the same no matter what my intentions might be?

[anathemaw]

[ There's a pause before he answers. ]

... Thou wouldst tell me, were it thy desire. It is thy freedom to speak, or to keep mum. [ a beat. ] I will not pry thine answers from thee unwilling. Thine intentions are murky, but they doth lack ill intent. Such is my judgement.

[ is he curious? Yes, definitely. But he also isn't going to force Rom to tell him anything. Maybe he's being too soft; at the same time, with the scant bits of knowledge he's been able to gain on the man, he's come to suspect that Rom's squirrely act is more to protect himself than to hurt others. Messmer could hardly blame him for not seeing the ten-foot-tall warlord as one to confide in. ]