week four | mingle

[marriagebroker]

Final week at the estate! Final week with your friends. Final week with your beaus. Time to make the most of it, everyone!

In fact, to celebrate this fact, today there is a cake. It's nothing special, just a nice little cake to enjoy with your morning coffee or throughout the day. Yay, cake!

And when Wei Wuxian arrives that morning, he is going to call out once again for everyone to join him, near the cake.

"Everyone, I have another announcement!"

Hell yeah, announcements.

Boom Boom Room | Dates | Property Damage
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Voting

Comments

[crimsin]

Oui, that is correct. The house La Roux has been defunct for an age, remembered only in dusty old tomes.

I borrowed the name upon my exile.

[embellwish]

[ He did mention losing any sort of status he used to have... combined with this information, there's only so many ways this secret can go. ]

Then you must have come from influence, right? Before.

[ If vampires are in control in their world and he had a fall from grace, then there's plenty of incentive to not tell the humans he's living among where he really came from. ]

[crimsin]

To say the least.

[ He pauses, considering. There are plenty of chances for him to withhold information here, but that seems silly with everyone's cards literally on the table. It was always his intention for this to come out at some point during his stay, so the producers have done him a favor in that regard. ]

In the grand hierarchy of vampire nobility, you have your lords, your dukes, some who even name themselves king if their territory is large enough. Above all, however, sits the Lord Emperor, ruler of vampirekind the world over.

That man is my father.

[embellwish]

[ Nico prince reveal.... ]

Mm..... it makes sense, why you wouldn't tell them.

[ It must be hard enough for them to come to terms with sharing a space with a vampire, let alone the flesh and blood of the kingpin of their oppression. ]

Are you afraid... they'll reject you?

[crimsin]

Even after so long, I would not blame them if they did. When it comes to crimes against their people, my hands are no more clean than my father's.

[ Nico lived in his father's house, under his father's rule, for nearly a millennia. He has been Nicodème d'Adelphe for far longer than he ever held the name La Roux. ]

[embellwish]

[ She quiets, letting the weight of that statement settle in. Her eyes close, and she takes a deep breath. Like she had said when she'd revealed her card — she's not in a position to judge about such things. When she opens her eyes again, she shakes her head once. ]

People change for all kinds of reasons — because tragedy struck, or because they finally found happiness. [ a beat. ] There isn't much I didn't do, trying to bring back my home after the star fell...

[ Her hands aren't clean either. In fact, it's impossible to quantify how many people must have fallen victim to her half-mad attempts to re-conjure the past, draining the life from all in the vicinity. Though Nico doesn't need to know the specifics — only that she, too, carries a burden of remorse, for the lives taken at her will. ]

But you wouldn't believe I'd do anything of the sort now, would you?

[crimsin]

[ That makes him feel a bit better, knowing she understands. Yingying likely isn’t the only one, either. All of their skeletons have been put on display, not just his own.

People do change. He knows that better than anyone. ]

Non, mademoiselle. I would not. We all have things we are not proud of… what matters now is how we choose to move forward.

[embellwish]

[ She hums in agreement. ]

Then, I hope you might believe those people will feel the same one day.

[ People do change, and they do things they're not proud of. That doesn't make them past the point of forgiveness of progress, though. At least from what she's seen of Nico in these past few weeks, his motivations to break the chains of the humans in his world seem genuine. That sincerity.... will get through to people, one way or another. ]

[crimsin]

[ He laughs a little, a huff of breath that doesn't hold much actual humor. But there is hope there. Hope that everything will turn out alright after all.

Crimson eyes flick up to meet hers. ]

Are you one for hugs, Yingying?

[ HE WANTS TO HUG HER ]

[embellwish]

[ She is opening her arms immediately?? Of course she will take a hug... ]

Hehe. Come here...~

[ She'll give him a nice, firm hug around the waist, her body strangely cool to the touch — on account of what she shared with him before at the fair, about her form being illusory. Especially apparent is the strong scent of wisteria up this close with her, to the point that it might be dizzying if breathed in for too long. ]

[crimsin]

[ Yaaaay hugs! He gives good hugs, or so he's been told. Warm and sturdy and strong, a gentle squeeze, mindful as ever of his incredible strength. The scent of wisteria doesn't bother him as much as it might a normal person, but he won't overstay his welcome, regardless, pulling away after a few moments. ]

If you do not mind me saying, I think you have been quite the pillar of support these past few weeks.

[embellwish]

Hmm, do you think so?

[ She gives him an affectionate pat on the waist as he pulls away, pursing her lips in thought. ]

I feel like I'm the one getting lots of support though...~

[crimsin]

You have given it in equal measure. You are always so quick to talk to everyone. It is like you know just what questions to ask, or what to say in any given moment.

[ He gives her a smile. ]

I am glad you could be here with us.

[embellwish]

[ That makes her smile, warm and open. Nico really is so sweet, saying what's in his heart so clearly. They're alike that way. ]

Mm, I'm glad, too. It wouldn't normally be possible... so it feels like a miracle, in a way.

[ For the reasons she'd told him about on their last date — the state of her body, and so on. ]