perfectmatch | week three

Entry tags:

week three | mingle

No outright changes this week either. Week three rolls around, braced for impact as ever. The estate is still intact, the contestants are still motivated, things are looking good.

Well, aside from the fact you all had a blackout this weekend. That wasn't so good.

Either way, when Monday rolls around, Wei Wuxian seems to be in a cheery mood as he greets everyone Monday morning.

"Everyone, come here, come here. I have an announcement!"

Better go see what that's about, huh?

Boom Boom Room | Dates | Property Damage
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[ He actually has lots he want to ask about this magic -- what Chroma is, if he could see it, what it's capable of, so on and so forth -- but Verso doesn't seem eager to talk, so. He'll circle back later.

For now: ]

Just a little bit.

[He wouldn't mind talking about it! It just seems secondary to Rom sweating himself to death.]

Then forget about the image for a moment. And dress properly for the occasion. If you faint, fall into the spring, and drown, I'm going to say "I told you so."

Mm? You wouldn't save me if I started drowning, Mr. Verso? I thought you'd be that sort of gallant gentleman ... I'm a little disappointed.

I'm all about prevention. Which means you should at least remove the shirt, if nothing else. If you don't listen after that, well... it's simply out of my hands.

[ The only thing keeping what he's about to say from being intolerably insufferable is the fact that it's said pretty deadpan -- ]

You're trying to get me to take my shirt off, Mr. Verso? I didn't think you'd be so raunchy.

[Sir? Two can play at that game.]

I can and I will. Why are you denying everyone?

[ Damn. He'd thought that'd work. ]

... not all of us are blessed with physiques that people are eager to see. And I feel like you're providing enough eyecandy for the camera to cover for the both of us. Thank you for that, by the way.

[wow?? he's ignoring that]

And if they don't want to look, they can avert their eyes. I'm hearing excuses, Rom. Are you being self-conscious?

[ After a moment where he just Looks at Verso in his usual uncanny, owlish fashion: ]

Would you step just a little closer, Mr. Verso? I'll let you in on a secret.

[ like that's not ominous at all ]

[...Sure. Not at all ominous.

But isn't that what's expected from Rom by now? So, yes, he will indeed step closer as asked.]

Oh? Do share.

[ He waits until Verso's an armslength away before abruptly leaning forward, bracing a hand against Vero's shoulder. Sorta forces them to share a very intimate little bubble of space -- making it difficult for anyone else to see when he uses his free hand to lift the hem of his shirt just a little.

Just enough to show the edges of an enormous scar splashed across his right side, finger tapping at it just once to draw Verso's attention to it.

Then he drops his shirt hem and straightens back up. Secret over. ]

It's best to leave things to the imagination unless you're in fantastic shape, you see. Like yourself! Proving otherwise is bad for maintaining one's image. So please keep that a secret between us.

[Oh, buddy.

He doesn't even get a chance to be startled at the sudden bubble of small, shared space, his eyes instantly drawn to Rom's scar for how dramatic this gesture is. And that is... a very large, very prominent old injury. The sort that looks like it must've hurt terribly when it happened.

Veerso blinks. Frowns. When Rom straightens, he's looking at him again with furrowed brows, but he does accede, a bit more quietly-]

My lips are sealed.

[Verso, too, would have scars like that if he didn't heal from injuries so readily. Would he feel comfortable touting them if he had to wear them so all the world could see? The scar over his eye is one that clearly doesn't bother him, but he purposefully allows it to remain on his face out of personal... sentiment, so that doesn't really count.]

Do I get a story to go along with it? [That scar.] It must have been...

[Painful. Traumatic.]

[ That earns a brief laugh. ]

There's no real story to it. Ghosts don't like being challenged, so they lash out when confronted. It's just part of the job. Though I guess I did think I might die for a moment there, haha.

[ He's grateful that the onsen setting means they aren't forced to wear the usual lapel mics; thankfully the camera crew didn't catch sight of his little reveal, so he can probably go unheard for just a little longer.

There's a pause before he taps at his own eye, right side, a mirror to where Verso wears his own scar. ]

Is yours not the same? I have to imagine being an expeditioner also has its risks.

[Though I guess I did think I might die for a moment there. So, yes, traumatic.]

I'm glad you avoided that sort of fate. But keep in mind: some people find scars attractive.

[Arches his brow. He will not push the matter further, but... Rom shouldn't think he's going to be judged by old wounds, if that's the issue. Though maybe he just really doesn't want to talk about it.

But in a twist, Verso does not dance around the subject of his own scar. He seems to be keeping to his self-made promise of trying for honesty this week.]

My father gave me this. [He taps just beneath his eye, where the skin has healed over, but in that ugly way, mottled with scar tissue.] I gave him one in return.

[ hahaha why would a near-death experience cause any trauma, don't be silly, that's just normal job stuff :)

He'd just been giving a vague smile at the comment about scars being attractive, about to make some other insufferable quip about how that only applies when the original template (read: Verso) is attractive, but -- ]

... your father. [ For how detached and opaque Rom generally seems, he isn't unsympathetic. There's a pause as he blinks, clearly surprised by that reveal, and his voice is a touch more somber when he continues. ] That doesn't look like a trivial injury.

[ Unsaid: 'so why ... ?' ]

[Ah, Rom. He's appreciative of that small shift, that vaguely more somber tone. But for Verso, this is just a reality that he's accepted for a while now; he keeps the scar for a reason. A reminder.]

No, it hurt. That's for sure.

[A huff. It's a difficult subject on paper, but ironically this is one that he will speak about with relative ease, and even more so now that we're on week three.]

We got into an argument about... family. To put it simply, I didn't want to keep enabling my mother into doing herself more harm than good, even if it went against everyone else's wishes. Things got heated. Chroma was used. So.

Scar!

[ A fight within the family escalating to that extent. Of course, he's plenty familiar with these sorts of gruesome tales, given his long experience with hauntings -- filicides, family annihilations, group suicides and more -- but it's always different hearing about such conflict in person, face to face, directly from someone who had to endure such cruelty.

He laughs quietly, a slightly rueful tint to the noise. ]

You speak about it so lightly.

[ It's his turn to think, 'trauma.' ]

But I can see why you might. A scar earned for a good reason can almost feel like a medal, no?

[Yeah. Maybe a little bit of trauma. One more to add to the pile.]

It's more of a reminder. I keep it in times when I start to doubt my actions, the way I so violently pulled away from my family. Then I remember just how deeply entrenched my father was in his stance that he'd attack me because I wanted to leave.

[Hm. This makes it sound even more dubious. It is rather hard to tell this story with some of the finer details stripped away.]

It's just proof of how fractured we all were.

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week three | mingle

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