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

[researcherstory]

[ Oh.

Well, this does make things easy, since-- ]

I was intending to ask you the same, Yi Sang. It'd be both an honor and a pleasure to accept.

[poans]

[He nods, returning the sentiment as a no small part of him is pleased with this development.]

Then it is decided.

[The yaoi, it seems, will not be written into tomorrow's chapter for him.]

Later . . .

[poans]

[After Luka takes Yi Sang away by the hand, the latter returns alone. He makes a beeline for Odile, wherever she may be at this juncture in the discussion.]

Miss Odile, might I have a word?

[researcherstory]

[ Resorting to chewing on pocky sticks since her fruit snacks have been used for discussion, though she doesn't much mind since things... seem to have settled at least, and Odile tilts her head at Yi Sang's... beelining, which isn't particularly like the man she'd come to know so far. ]

Certainly. Here, or elsewhere?

[poans]

[On the one hand, this would be a beneficial public conversation for the rest of their team. On the other hand, glancing around the room, he'd much rather make this as much of a private spectacle as he can.]

Elsewhere should suffice.

[researcherstory]

[ Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Well, Odile sees no reason to refuse that point, so she finishes her stick of pocky before rising to her feet, inclining her head for him to follow as she folds her hands into her sleeves, leading the way.

Afar from the others... perhaps one of the ponds, though he had come from somewhere that way, hadn't he? She considers it regardless, drifting from the sounds of voices until naught but those of insects remain. The heavens reflect their twinkling dots (unknown to her, like something on the tip of her tongue before she relents and sets it aside) within the dark, shallow depths of one such pond she stops at. ]

Is something the matter, Yi Sang?

[poans]

[It's an ideal night to admire the stars above and below in the company of a pleasant companion. Regrettably, that will have to wait as he steps up beside Odile, his ruminative gaze fixed on the pond before them.]

. . . Luka has appealed to me to choose him for the ceremony.

[researcherstory]

... Has he, now.

[ An interesting development. She churns the "why" in mind and finds nothing, but can at least pinpoint it to "when". ]

Is it in regard to the reason he would consider you a match for himself? You needn't say more than you can, only judge if you find truth in it yourself.

[poans]

[Odile's discretion and boundary are appreciated. While he has no trouble exposing himself, there's a reason Luka went through the trouble of taking him aside, to say nothing of overburdening Odile's shoulders, so Yi Sang settles for a nod.]

Mm. He believes it would be advisable to test the thread between us; as we had already reached an agreement, however, I declined to make another decision without bringing the matter to your attention first.

[researcherstory]

[ While the iron is hot still, and they're able to experiment a little more freely with the victory of today.

... It does, in some small way, feel alike to salt being rubbed against a wound. Odile hums softly, carefully tucking her long coat into her legs as she crouches down to stare better into the pond. Lightless as far as her eyes can see; the pinpoints of light are interesting, but bear little consequence. Her companion's expression does more, but...

...

She can't exactly see it either, like this.

If Yi Sang did choose Luka, where would that leave her? The other one she'd feel inclined to choose is Yingying, but she-- is popular, her name has come up plenty, though it would seem by any plan's standards that she was freed this week from being chosen. She would choose her for the same reason she would choose Yi Sang too, so it isn't as if there's any stretch of the imagination where logic is concerned.

Still. Thinking does little when one does it by themselves, and so she gestures him down as the silence lingers. ]

Thank you for your consideration, Yi Sang. I would have been surprised if we'd shown up tomorrow and our thoughts were unaligned. [ Hurt, too, but... that isn't important. It really isn't, and so she swallows her disappointment before she continues. ] Allow me to ask you this, then. How do you feel about it? Yourself and Luka, whether it be in similarities, differences, or both?

[poans]

[Silence is a strange thing. Depending on the moment, it can be deafening or delicate as to shatter from the slightest noise. Wrapped in its embrace, it's a wonder which Odile wears around her shoulders like a shawl as she stares into the water.

At her gesture, he kneels down to study the same surface of the pond. As far as he's concerned, their thoughts are still aligned. The only conclusion he's made in regard to the ceremony thus far is that he'll choose Odile. Luka's proposition is a new development, and he's not keen to sit with it by himself for so long that he squanders everything he's been granted.]

If I were to summarize our similarities and differences with a single phrase . . . it would be that we're two sides of the same coin. We exist in a space of our own, alike yet isolated by what sets us apart. This is as far as my feelings go on the subject of matches.

[researcherstory]

[ Alike but isolated, two sides of the same coin. Reflections, in a way, though she doubts either movement mirrors the other. Yi Sang is tepid where Luka seems to burn, and Luka is selfish where Yi Sang relents. As far as that goes, yes, she can see that -- but she thinks of all that Luka had told to her what would be his opposite, which might fill in the cracks of himself, and

it isn't Yi Sang. Not as person to person. But listing traits down -- yes, she can understand, a bit more, the thought process behind it. Few others would be able to claim the same of either. It could be possible. As likely as anything else they've tried, with moderate more success on that basis.

Still.

Odile rests her chin in her hand, turning to look at him a little more properly. ]

And what made you desire to ask me? I'll be sore if it's just because of the two suggested in our first week, Yingying didn't work out.

[ She says this lightly, so she doesn't mean that he would intend any ill-will, but... she did take for granted that he'd like to, when she'd been intending to ask him the same. For reasons only she can explain. ]

[poans]

Miss Yingying has naught to do with my choice, which harkens back to our first meeting.

[The two have always been separate in his mind in spite of Odile's remarks about the likelihood of his failed matchup with Yingying. The first instance they were named together took place before the ceremony, after all. When he was asked around whom he felt at ease . . . ]

What misunderstandings borne between us were the result of my vague words, yet you've always sought to illuminate what I obfuscated. Like the crepuscular rays that pierce the clouds barring their path, I, too, saw the struggles of your search in the dawn ahead. In speaking to you, I now understand . . . that the place I seek need not be a location, and that all paths, however long or short, bear meaning.

[For Odile is a woman most passionate who scorns half-hearted efforts. She pours all of herself into her pursuits; her sharp tongue and what hate she might have felt in the aftermath of her previous romantic endeavors alone are proof of that. And so . . .

Yi Sang's lips curl at the corners as he turns his head to meet Odile's eyes.]

. . . Miss Odile. My mind has not changed.

[researcherstory]

[ To their very first. Yi Sang's words sound stronger, more convinced, than when they'd met, and later when he'd ask her thoughts. Her mouth softens in it edges, just slightly, and matches his a moment after in its gentle curve, face warming a little in both embarrassment and pleasure.

Odile knew he could smile. Still, her tone takes on a somewhat warning note. ]

He may be correct in that you two are a match. That, I cannot deny. [ As likely as any other. The warning fades as she continues however, quietly grateful. ] But I'm glad to hear your decision remains as it was before, Yi Sang.

[ Sincerely.

She chuckles lightly, turning back to the pond and dipping her fingers in it. ]

I could scarcely believe that the young man I spoke to so few weeks ago would sit beside me now, as convicted in his words and steady in his gaze as you are -- but it's proof of this very journey, both long and short it may feel, that you can do both, and have always been able to. [ ... ] I have always believed such.

[ And is exactly why she continued to pull his thoughts from those muddied waters, to glean them and better made them understood to both himself and others. Odile is not an overly optimistic woman; she relies on logic and realism to map the world before her, but... that doesn't mean she wouldn't prefer to look at someone and see what they can do, rather than what they can't. Yi Sang had always been able to overcome his unsteady stumbling and walk with a stronger stride -- he needed only the people to believe that, and the time to see it himself. ]

Do make sure you tell Luka of your decision, difficult as it may prove. He's quite the stubborn force it would seem.

[poans]

[He nods to her warning. It's true that Luka might be his match. Once, Yi Sang had been drawn to another reflection of his; though there hadn't been a light, it had been the start of looking for it. There is a probable likelihood that he and Luka could be connected in ways that he and Odile aren't.

He observes her hand in the pond, and how the water welcomes her presence. There are ways the two of them are connected that he and Luka aren't, either. Regardless of what the algorithm has decided, that, too, matters. So let this be the first choice he makes with a full heart, walking straight as opposed to nodding along half-heartedly, as Odile has done.]

I shall do what I can.

[And must, for it isn't a matter of difficulty. He might not get the chance tonight. In such a case, he will make time for Luka, and Luka alone, in the near future.]