week three | mingle

[marriagebroker]

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
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Voting

Comments

match discussion catherding!

[phenomerom]

[ Once the initial burst of elation after the Truth Booth victory has passed, Rom ... gets up on the counter. At least he isn't standing on it, though! He's put down his handkerchief and taken a seat at the edge, instead. A nice compromise between the stand-on-counter faction and the please-we-cook-on-that faction, hopefully. And from that position, he gives two loud claps to get people's attention. ]

Ahh, excuse me everyone. A moment, please.

[ Once attention is acquired -- ]

Thank you, thank you. First things first, let's give Mr. Nico and Mr. Verso our best wishes and congratulations upon their return from the Truth Booth. How wonderful that they were, indeed, a perfect match as we'd hoped! Hardly a surprise, but a welcome confirmation nonetheless.

With that said -- let's please consider our path of action for tomorrow's ceremony. Now that we have two pairings confirmed, there's a quite a lot we can take into account, yes? Our dear overseer's hint regarding the ratios of different pairings, any patterns we've spotted thus far in the potential confirmations, the one remaining unconfirmed light from our first ceremony, so on and so forth. After this, we'll only have one more ceremony, so let's make the best of our chances.

For those choosing tomorrow, please examine your choices carefully. For those not, please see if you can offer any advice to those who are. I believe general consensus is that we should prioritize same-sex pairings and pairings within a group, despite the gamble of randomly-assigned pairings for those left over, but do remember that fulfilling those criteria is not mandatory. [ Pause. Maybe that was too serious. A little more brightly: ] ... may we make tomorrow's ceremony a good one, everyone!

[ Showmanship dictates that he has to end that spiel with a doff of the top hat and a half-bow before he hops off the counter and retrieves his handkerchief to go back to mingling. Show's over, everyone! Go on, start discussing!!! ]

[researcherstory]

[ Yes, yes, yay, hurrah, etc etc. Odile and Ringo have been messing with fruit snacks, so she'll continue to idly... play with them, probably. ]

Thankfully, all of those I may choose for tomorrow do fall within one or both of those criteria, and the chances that we once again produce nothing in the way of new lights -- should our confidence in Aventurine and Maya be proved once again -- is rather low regardless.

[ Given. They have many new thoughts in general, but. ]

... I do not know how much we can "logic" our way through it, but if what we can offer does not inspire ideas, then what does one feel they need?

[ ... Odile about to make herself so uncomfortable for everyone else's sake. ]

I-- [ A sigh. ] I suppose... someone that can balance my... "inability" to speak frankly from the heart might be taken into consideration, for example, whether it be one who can read it without my telling or... someone that might give me the space to do so at my own pace.

[ please she's doing the most for y'all rn ]

Someone who understands what it is to be "other", alone amidst a crowd, among those similar to them and yet distinctly apart for some reason. Which is why I think perhaps Yingying could be mine, just as well as Yi Sang.

[ Her Yiyis. Poppy does not count among that trait though she just likes the girl's spunk. ]

[phenomerom]

Haha. I'd offer myself as someone fitting your criteria, Miss Odile, if the lights hadn't already disproved us as a match.

[ Hm. The Yiyis though. ]

... statistics aren't my strongest suit, but I believe given we've eliminated two pairings between Yingying with men, she may be the stronger candidate. Speaking purely in terms of numbers, of course. Does your heart call more to one or the other? As the romantics among us might put it.

[fireball]

[ pushing candies around. she has no opinions on countertops, ]

Alright, so we've got two confirmed pairs. [ A green and a blue candy are pushed off to the side for Furingo, and...

Poppy's acquired licorice from somewhere, one black and one red, for Verco. Niso? ]

So we know for sure that we have two yaois, two yuris, and two hets between the rest of us. Everyone seems convinced that Aventurine and Maya are one of the hets, so... [ pushes a pink and a blue candy beside the other pairings. ]

I guess we can go into the match ceremony assuming it's those two, so as long as Aventurine picks Maya, then we've still got me, Edamura, Rom, Odile, and Yi Sang picking.

[ Pushes another five candies off to the side. I don't know what colours they are that can come later. ]

We could try to find two gay combos and one het between us, but we don't have to. Still, that leaves Shoko, Serpilia, Yingying, Luka, and Messmer between the rest of us.

[ oh. pulls a face. the dude options are dire. ]

We know for a fact that Shoko and I aren't matched, and neither are Yingying and Yi Sang, nor Yingying and Luka. So Yingying's chances of being with one of the other women are pretty good. Meanwhile, Shoko and I both have better chances of being with one of the guys —

[ pulls a face again. jesus christ — ]

So I'd bet it's one of the two of us who's with one of... them.

[ ...

pulls out yet another candy and just eats it ]

[researcherstory]

[ SHE CONFESSED HER DISCOMFORTING FLAWS IN FRONT OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE SHE VAUGELY CONSIDERS FOND COMPANIONS AND YOU'RE OUT HERE WITH SHIPPING SQUARES?????????????????????????



sorry, ]

Can you kindly not use genres to describe people?

[beatmatching]

[ chewing on a gummy cherry oh so slowly before he speaks up. ]

I told Yingying yesterday, but assuming I'm paired with another male my guess would be Makoto and Yi Sang, in that order.

[ no he does not explain, but he does put a gummy grape into his mouth. yummy. ]

[phenomerom]

[ ... yaois, yuris and hets. He's heard these terms in passing enough that he's not going to get into it. Moving on -- ]

If you feel so strongly against being paired with a man, the algorithm hopefully should have taken that into account.

[hexensabbat]

Math tracks.

[Casually, from where she's at.]

But assuming Maya and Aventurine--which, we really need a short term for them if we're gonna be throwing their names around all the time--anyway, assuming them, only one of you can be with a guy anyway.

Both Serpilia and Odile have had two matches with men disproven, but... that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't them, either, so we should be careful of falling into that trap. Just ups their percentages with the other guys instead. For example: we know Odile isn't with Edamura or Rom. Therefore, her chances of being with... Messmer, Yi Sang or Luka are much higher. Narrows the options, so to speak.

I agree though that mathematically, Yingying is probably with a woman.

[embellwish]

If Shoko, Odile, and you all have a higher chance of being with guys...

[ yingying.exe is working.... ]

That leaves me and Serpilia, right? And Maya, if she isn't matched with Aventurine.

[irreversal]

[ the doomed shoko yuris..... ): ]

Given all of that, then, who are you considering for tomorrow?

[gamboler]

[ What a show...he almost feels like he should applaud - but he doesn't. ]

I still believe that I have a good chance at being paired with Maya. If that's true, then we can assume every other unconfirmed match from the first week is incorrect. This would also leave only one other mixed gender pair among us.

[ A thoughtful hum... ]

As it stands, if it's not Maya, the man I feel I'm most likely to be matched with is Edamura.

[ For Reasons. ]

[ordimame]

[he is, like. on his way out the door, pack of cigarettes in hand. NOT TO BE CAGEY HE JUST NEEDS TIME TO THINK!!]

[but then he stops. looks over at Aventurine]

[and grins a li'l]

[phenomerom]

[ Okay good because he doesn't need applause right now. ]

I see ... it certainly sounds like a good number of us believe in your pairing with Amano-san. Though I suppose if you'd like to -- [ take a gamble, he almost says, before realizing that might touch upon Aventurine's bias ] -- try something different, this wouldn't be a bad opportunity for it. As we've guaranteed another failsafe for the week, you don't necessarily need to stick to what feels like the safer option.

[hexensabbat]

I'm pretty confident it's you and Maya.

[Casually.



Because it's more convenient for my math that way.]

[ordimame]

[THANK YOU FOR NOT STANDING ON THE COUNTER ROM]

[but despite being one to choose this week, Edamura does not stick around for the post truth booth discussions. but he isn't sneaking off entirely, either! in fact he is easily found outside on the porch, a smoke circling lazily in the air above him, smoldering cigarette tucked between two fingers. sorry Shoko. share your stash with Bean]

[he looks pensive! a little out of it, but not in a concerning way. just like he is thinking really hard about something in the way he overthinks literally everything in his life]

[phenomerom]

[ How the turn tables. He'd spotted Edamura slipping out, so now it's his turn to go poking his head out a little later to see what's up with that. Rom has the tendency to move quietly, so unless Edamura's especially sharp-eared, he might get jumpscared by Rom's voice piping up from behind him. ]

I did ask everyone to consider their options seriously, but brooding outside like a chuuni delinquent feels a little overkill, doesn't it?

[ hehe ]

[irreversal]

[ her stash.......

It's not until later that she realizes her pack is missing, honestly, but she knows where to look right away. ]

Oi. You said you were done after last week.

[ - woman whose secret was that she broke her smoke-free streak after 5 years ]

finally crawls over here

[fireball]

[ maybe it's late. when discussions are winding down, and he's been on her mind. also hasn't been. also has been. there's been a lot to think about; there still is. or maybe it isn't late if he wouldn't still be up smoking, this is on me—

either way, out to the porch. ]

Oh! There you are.

[ said brightly as she joins him, inhales that bit of smoke. ]

I didn't know you smoked too.

[hexensabbat]

[Contemplative pondering............... Rom's got it more or less covered, she thinks, so...

She's just quiet for once this time, Musing.

Musing over Math.

This is my filler comment while Cal also Does Math.]

[phenomerom]

[ Cal, you are truly god's strongest soldier, i am just watching in awe at your gallant mathing throughout the cat herd ............

Take your time, but eventually Rom will amble over to lean against whatever piece of furniture is next to her. ]

You seem quite deep in thought for having called this puzzle easy. I thought you might have already figured it all out for us! Haha.

[crimsin]

[ Nico is here! When did he and Verso get back? Don’t worry about it.

Brightly, ]

Thank you for the congratulations Rom!

[ And then a bit more seriously, ]

I think we are indeed on the right track with Maya and Aventurine, though as a certain gambler might say, we could always shuffle the deck and see what happens.

[poans]

My congratulations to you as well, Nicodéme.

[The odds were, in fact, in he and Verso's favor. As for the topic of shuffling the deck . . . ]

In such a case, Aventurine has named Edamura as a potential match.

[reverso]

[Verso is also back! Looking a bit relieved, his nerves calmed, a weight lifted. That said, it seems like everyone's having a pretty fervent match ceremony discussion, and there's nothing being discussed that he'd flagrantly disagree with, so...

He's just here. For moral support. And if you need to flag him down for something, or say hi.]

[poans]

[Verso appears lighter, if more subdued for it, as if the weight of a mask has fallen with the booth's verdict. Once there's a lull in his share of the discussions, Yi Sang makes his way over to him.]

Is there aught on your mind, Verso?

[beatmatching]

[ hello verso! ]

How was it?