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

[ordimame]

[makes direct eye contact and sucks in a looooong drag of smoke]

Last one. I promise.

[his lips quirk in a tiny grin. last one indeed!]

[irreversal]

Yeah, yeah. Savor it. I don't think Wei-san is going to give me another pack next week now that he knows these are bad for us.

[ She'll go ahead and grab another stick for herself. ]

Gimme a light?

[ or they can do the thing where they butt their cigarettes together-- ]

[ordimame]

[oh my god. A LAUGH. . .]

Why did you tell him? We could have had it all, Shoko.

[he has a lighter on him— he probably stole it from her, too— but I personally want the cute cigarette butt thing so]

Lean in?

[he tucks his own smoke between his lips and takes another, much smaller puff, so the end lights up in a tiny orange glow]

[irreversal]

[ She leans in just as his cigarette flares up anew and lingers there, though her gaze stays fixed on him. ]

Hah. I know. I should've kept my mouth shut, but he always gets me talking somehow.

[ Once her own cigarette's lit, she'll straighten back up, drawing in a deep lungful of smoke (don't do this, kids!!) and then letting it out. ]

Wanna talk? Or wanna just hang out here for a little while?

[ordimame]

[. . . also watching her as she leans in, something soft in his eyes, mouth curving into a tiny smile. she draws back soon afterwards, and he averts his gaze back out towards the garden. as lovely as it has always been for the past three weeks]

He's pretty good at that. [asshole] . . . let's just hang out for a while. Maybe once I sort out my thoughts, we can talk.

[irreversal]

[ Shoko returns the expression; something about all the time she's spent with Edamura has made her feel more at ease with him, even after knowing what she knows now. ]

Sure thing. Take your time, Makoto.

[ She'll eventually cast her gaze back out to the garden, too, watching the flicker of fireflies through the haze of smoke. ]

[ordimame]

[he could say the same about her!! Shoko is. . . comfortable. not in the same way he meant two weeks ago when he thought about picking her at the match ceremony, either. she is comfortable in a way that is so much deeper than that. so much much more important. truly, he is happy to have met her]

[. . . and all of the things that haunt her, too]

[the silence stretches on for at least five minutes, punctuated only by the way the cigarettes sizzle in their hands. Edamura's is nearly gone by the time he speaks, thoughtful and pensive]

Did you come here to find someone, Shoko? Or for the wish?

[irreversal]

[ What did she come here for? There are some days, here, when she feels like she's forgotten. ]

...Neither, really. I just wanted something... different. A break, mostly. To be honest, I don't know what I'd even use a wish for, if we manage to get that.

[ And as for finding someone... it was never that, truly. She thought this would be a nice way to meet new people - people so far removed from her regular network made up mostly of people in her line of work - but with every week that passes, and every conversation she has with their dear Overseer in particular... ]

Maybe I came here to be seen.

[ for all her parts. Not just Shoko, not just Dr. Ieiri, not just a sorcerer, but not just her, either. All of it.

...It's why she's happy to have met him, too. Life can be unfair, and it puts them down paths that aren't glamorous, or honest. But they're still them. ]

[ordimame]

[. . .]

[they really are so much alike]

Do you feel seen?

[he asks, voice soft. because he likes to think he has seen her, in all of her multi-faceted selves. confident and cool. playful and teasing. haunted and burdened. tired and a bit lost]

[after all, she has certainly seen him]

[irreversal]

...Yeah. I do.

[ And it's not just... finding romance, or a match for her, though maybe things have played out that way without her meaning to. It's... enough, more than enough, even, to have found companions like him. ]

And you?

[ordimame]

I do, too.

[he feels much the same way. everyone told him to be more confident during his first week here, but truly, all he wanted. . . were connections. something he could call his own, separate from his life as a confidence man]

[gently, he rocks to the side to bump their shoulders together, before righting himself again]

. . . it's actually kind of a strange feeling. I don't think I've been this honest since I first became-- [. . . are there cameras on them. he looks around briefly to make sure there aren't any, before continuing] -- a confidence man.

[and he had STARTED out this whole venture LYING, even if that was mostly to himself]

[irreversal]

[ She smiles knowingly. For Shoko, too, it's been a strange feeling, talking to people about her past who weren't there to witness it, having to poke and probe at all the ways it's made her who she is today more honestly than she ever would have bothered to at home. ]

Are there people you want to be more honest with, then?

[ Since this is still part of a discussion about tomorrow's matches, and all. ]

[ordimame]

[he meets her smile with something more akin to a grin]

I've spent this week being honest with those people.

[a pointed glance; she should know that she was one of them. also: this is not what she meant, but he is deflecting!!]

[irreversal]

[ Edamuraaa... Shoko winds an arm around him!! ]

That's not what I was asking about, and you know it.

[ordimame]

[ffffffftttt she's got him there. . . and yet, he doesn't pull away, instead draping his own arm around her shoulders even as he complains in a slight pout]

Everyone keeps asking me this! This cast is so nosy.

[timeline sorcery: pre-Rom thread]

[. . .]

. . . but the truth is, I don't know. [. . .] I don't believe in that super idealized version of love I talked about during our first week here. And it's not like I had time for relationships before now. . .

[. . .]

So. . . it's been kind of hard to know.

[irreversal]

[ She pouts. ]

Hey, don't lump me in with everyone else. I thought our bond became special this week.

[ But! She shakes her head, chuckling. She's sure that for Edamura, especially, trying to navigate all of this has been difficult, given his past and his nature. ]

I get what you mean, though. But maybe that idealized version of love isn't what the producers had in mind for you, yeah?

[ordimame]

It did!

[he will not deny that fact!! but that's why. . . she kind of gets it, isn't it? this is something he has talked about with others-- Wei Wuxian, Serpilia, Odile, Rom himself-- but considering their similarities, he does feel a little bit like. . . Shoko gets it]

[she's a little guarded, too. even if her walls are far different than his own]

[her words bring him pause, simply because-- despite all of his overthinking-- he hadn't considered the kind of romance the producers may have had in mind for him. actually. . . does that even matter? he isn't talking about his "perfect match" right now, anyway]

. . . I suppose a few people have crossed my mind over the past couple of weeks. But I never knew if it was because I just wanted more time to get to know them, or whether it was because I-- [. . . gestures. vaguely. like that will help]

[. . .]

I don't really think I'm a four week kind of guy, Shoko.

[he thinks he may be a bit too closed off for that]

But--

[he cuts himself off]

[irreversal]

[ tags this from bed bc i simply need to wake up to the response in the morning-- ]

But--?

[ Truth to tell, Shoko hadn't figured herself a four week kind of gal, either, but bonds really do move in mysterious ways, she's realized. Maybe Edamura's reached a similar conclusion- or maybe, just this once, he's realized not to think too much. To just let himself feel. ]

[ordimame]

[GO TO BED, ANNA--]

[and it's definitely the latter. do you know how much overthinking he has done in the past three weeks? so much overthinking. either way, he lifts a hand to scrub at his face a bit, smoke trailing from what little is left of his cigarette, before he answers. completely exasperated. with himself.]

What if.

I am.

A two and a half week guy??

[he sucks so badly I'm sorry]

[irreversal]

[ . . . ]

Hah?

[ordimame]

[khhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]







I kind of feel like you're judging me right now.

[because he should USE HIS WORDS instead of just talking around it. but directly addressing it feels a bit. . . it's a bit scary, when he doesn't really understand where he stands. it's why he had stepped outside! to think about what he wants to do tomorrow, free and clear of anyone else's math or suppositions about what their official matches are]

[irreversal]

[ Maybe a little bit, but. ]

So? I'm still waiting on an explanation. But take your time.

[ She'll just. Look out at the garden again and keep smoking, ]

1/?? sorry. so sorry

[ordimame]

[she's so kind to him. . . he draws his arm away from her shoulders so he can gesticulate when he talks, the smoke from his smoldering cigarette trailing after each movement]

So it's like. . . ! We should all be thinking about our perfect matches tomorrow, right? The people the producers paired us with? I have a few thoughts on mine, and with Nico and Verso being confirmed, it's pretty safe for me to play around with my matches. See what happens! Get us some information! That's. . . logical. Isn't it?

[ordimame]

[. . .]

But then there's a part of me who kind of wants to pick just based on-- [. . . how he is feeling? what he wants to say? what he wants to use this final choice to convey?] -- just based on this.

[thumps a hand right over his heart]

And I don't really know how likely it is for this person to be my match. I have logic and reasoning for every single person I've picked for mine thus far, but I can't. . . think of any. For them.

[ordimame]

[quickly]

. . . n-- not that there isn't any! I'm sure if I really thought about it, I could--

[waves his hands at her]

But for some reason, that doesn't--

[. . .]