perfectmatch | week three

[ That gets her to blink owlishly. ]

You can tell something like that...?

[ like. she's gonna confirm it in a second. but first??? ]

It's true I don't have any... not in this form. [ a beat. ] I had no idea vampires had such keen senses.

Oui. It took me a bit to realize at first. There are so many of us in that house in such close proximity, so many from different worlds that I could not make heads or tails of some things.

[ But yes, he knows. ]

My senses are quite keen. Keener still when it comes to blood.

[ Well, that makes sense. It must be hard to tell, except when he's alone with someone. Letting out a tiny sigh, she bites off the remainder of the strawberry on the stem while she thinks of a way to explain this to him. ]

The me you see in front of you — you can think of it like an illusion. That's why you don't sense anything.

[ She doesn't have blood... she's not even physically there in front of him in the literal sense. ]

I do have a physical body, with blood and everything... in the wisteria. It's not possible to separate it from the wood, so I can only really interact with you all like this.

[ You know, he thought there was also something weird about that tree, but he never really went poking around. That explains it, though. ]

You are… in the tree. How? Why?

[ Is it a curse? It sounds like a curse. ]

[ ..... ]

...A long time ago, a star fell from the sky near my homeland.

[ Carefully, she places the stem down back in the still open box between them, expression sobering. ]

Everyone in the village gathered near our sacred wisteria, praying hard for salvation. But the star carried a strange substance from beyond. Most couldn't withstand being exposed to it... but the tree and I could. We became... intertwined, then.

[ She laces her fingers together, trying to communicate to him that amidst the chaos of the disaster, being exposed to that strange substance had allowed the tree to swallow her, in a sense, preserving her in the truck away from the rest of the carnage. ]

I'm not sure about the "why" it happened to me... [ of all people. ] But, I know that it was how I survived that night.

Mademoiselle…

[ So, it was a curse, in a sense. A curse and a blessing all rolled into one. ]

I am so sorry. [ ... ] I am glad, for what it is worth, that you managed to survive. It means we could meet now. You and all the others, too.

[ She lets out a soft puff of air, almost a chuckle at those words, chin coming to rest on her hand. ]

I didn't use to see things that way.

[ Being the only one to survive, well... some would say that was an extreme stroke of fate. It never felt much like a blessing, in the century that followed, though. Only now has her opinion started to shift. ]

Everything's gone, you know? The people, our customs, even our language. [ She's the only thing that's left, her and the wisteria. She keeps her tone distant and light, not wanting to do more than scratch the surface of the depth of the loss. ] Even though I survived, sometimes I would wonder why I couldn't have just stayed with everyone.

[ .... ]

Lately, though... I'm grateful to have this second chance at life. With all of you.

[ He hums a little, the sound so soft but so full of understanding. Their circumstances aren’t the same, but similar. There are some days he misses his home something fierce, wonders how things might have been different if he had been able to stay with his family.

Yingying’s family is gone. There’s no going back for her, and it’s a bittersweet sort of ache that twists around his ribs on her behalf. ]

I am glad we have been a bright spot for you. Some more than others, perhaps?

[ Even if Yi Sang is the gloomiest motherfucker in existence. ]

Hmmm? Everyone's been really precious to me...

[ She sing songs, very innocently, resting her cheek on a hand. Playing coy never gets old. Besides, at this point in the game, there's sadly only crumbs to report on, woe is her. ]

There's not anything special going on for me just yet, sweetheart. Despite my best efforts...~

week three | dates

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