perfectmatch | week four

Entry tags:

week four | mingle

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

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[ She looks at him for a long, silent moment, smiling quietly. ]

Worrying about me, are you?

[ Fondly, she reaches out to put an arm on his shoulder, giving him an affectionate stroke with her thumb. ]

I know that I can't go back... and that it'll never change. [ Part of moving forward is accepting the past. It's taken her a very long time to get to this point; it's not that it doesn't hurt still, but she's already past the point in her life where she had gripped fervently to the memory of her home, tried everything to recreate it. ] The only reason I wouldn't want more people to know... is because you're all too kind for your own good. Tripping over yourselves to save someone like me.

[his answer is immediate]

Of course I am. How can I not?

[he tilts his head towards the hand on his shoulder, before lifting his own to wrap fingers around her knuckles, squeezing gently]

It just-- [. . . she's right though. she can't go back, and it won't change. and maybe that means there's little use in getting upset about the past, but. . . as emotional as he can be, Edamura just can't help himself] -- it sucks, Yingying.

[ She squeezes his hand back, running her thumb over his knuckles. As ever, her skin is strangely cool, not quite cold, but lacking in warmth all the same. ]

Mm....

[ She's not sure what she can say. Yes, it does "suck." ]

Everyone's finally at rest now, though... and, for the first time, I feel happy again.

[ Thanks to all of them. She tries to meet his gaze, her heartfelt look perhaps communicating that. ]

[it's easy enough to catch his eyes with her own, and. . . that, in conjugation with her words, does quell some of the emotional tumult Edamura feels churning in his stomach. Yingying has been through so much, and yet. . . she still emerged from the ashes a kind, strong person]

[it's impossible not to admire her for that]

. . . I guess I can't argue with that. No one can.

[giving her hand another squeeze]

But I don't think you're supposed to be the one comforting me, here.

[AND YET. . .!]

[ She smiles, lacing their fingers together to hold onto him more firmly. Maybe a tiny bit of it is teasing. But it's mostly for the former part. ]

I'm only saying the truth.

[ It's an innocent remark, her smile sweet despite the somberness still shrouding her like a veiled cloak. ]

Haven't you comforted me a lot already? You even offered me your wish...

[ Which could be said with her usual flirty, joking tone, but she retains a level of earnestness instead, not wanting to make him feel like she's making light of things. ]

[even now, he can't help the tiny flood of pink that spreads across his cheeks. he never could, when it comes to her]

I've tried. . . but I suppose you're the one who gets to decide if it worked or not.

[his smile is genuine, even if it's a little. . . weak]

But if it has, then. . . that makes me pretty happy.

It has.

[ She nods, answering firmly while closing her eyes. ]

It's been a long time... since anyone has wished for my happiness like that. My moms, my uncles, my brothers and sisters, would do it all the time. It reminded me of those days...

[ Perhaps more than anything else, people earnestly wanting to wish for her health — Shoko, Edamura, Aventurine — touched her heart unlike any other. It reminded her what it was like to have someone worry for you, to wish the best for you, to want to see you live another happy year. ]

I was ready to give up when I came here. I just wanted to see everyone's wish granted, and then go to rest. [ ... ] But... I feel hope again, remembering being cared for like this.

[another happy many years!!!]

. . . does this mean you've thought more about my offer?

Mm, I have... I've been thinking a lot about how to use my own wish.

[ Which, in turn, has her thinking about Edamura's offer. She's not sure the extent to which the wish can change her circumstances... how far a single wish can go. There's a chance that to live again, the way she has been here, she may need more than one. But until that matter is confirmed — ]

When the time comes... I'll have an answer for you. [ There's still a chance they won't even get them, after all... but she wants to be hopeful about the fact that they will. ] Thank you, Edamura. Really.

[honestly, he has no fuckin' clue how these wishes are going to work. the concept exists for him in terms of fairy tales and fictional stories. . . so an actual wish? a real thing that they're all being given. . .? something that can transcend logic and make the impossible come true? that's extremely beyond his comprehension]

[but]

[that doesn't mean. . . he doesn't want to try. to use it for something good]

[but he meant it when he promised that he wouldn't push her. that he'd give her time to think about it, and accept her answer when it came. so. . . he nods, giving their joined hands a little swing as his smile softens]

Yeah. . . yeah. Anytime. Seriously.

Whatever you decide, Yingying. . . it'll be your choice. Okay?

[ She beams at him in response, swinging their hands together back, perhaps a few extra times for effect. It's taken time, but she can accept this level of care from him now — accept it with grace and the actual possibility of using it. She's really touched. From the beginning, she's thought of him as an earnest and sweet guy, and that opinion of him has only grown over their time here. ]

Mm... but you must be thinking of what you'll do after all this too, right? Will you simply go back?

[he has been nothing but earnest during his time here! except maybe to himself, but. . . even that has gotten better as the weeks pass]

I plan on it. I have. . . work to do back home.

. . . but Rom and I are going to stay in touch! We have a business arrangement we need to discuss.

[and also. other things. but. that one first, right?]

[ Oh.... is that the arrangement they have??? She's just going to take Edamura's word for it, thinking back to all he had said at the ceremony about picking Rom. She blinks a few times, wondering briefly if there's something she might be missing..... ]

Are you? You have business with spirits, hmm?

[ ....what does Edamura do for work anyway?! She realizes she doesn't have the faintest idea. Then again, that's pretty normal for her, stuck in the past as she is. ]

[help. . . . . .]

. . . no! Not in the slightest. I'd rather keep my distance.

[but then extenuating circumstances happen, and. . .]

But I do want to help Rom out, you know? He works. . . mostly alone.

[and that still rubs him the wrong way]

Mm, he seems to deal with all manners of the strange and terrifying...

[ Terrifying and strange things like her! Based on Rom's words, not hers. ]

I think he would do well to have someone like you at his side... someone who can be direct and sincere with him.

[ From what she's gathered, Rom is.... elusive, mysterious, difficult to get a gauge on. On the other hand, Edamura, in her eyes, has always treated her with honesty and earnest kindness, and doesn't have the same tendency to dance around a subject. ]

Is that why you picked him, hmm? Business?

"Unpleasant spirits". . .

[is how Rom had described them to Edamura, back during the very first week. the thought still makes his features wrinkle with distaste; after all, Edamura is a completely normal and average guy with no impressive abilities whatsoever. he should be keeping his distance from the supernatural!! he is deeply unsuited for the work! but. . .]

[even so, he smooths out his expression pretty quickly with a shake of his head. there is no point in worrying about that too much. . . considering he has now decided to involve himself in the "unpleasant spirit" world, regardless of his own abilities]

And no; I didn't pick him because of "business." I picked him because-- [a pause] . . . well, I gave all of my reasons last week, didn't I?

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week four | mingle

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