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

[embellwish]

[ ..... ]

...Hehe. You must be absolutely terrified of me then, right?

[ She says that with a laugh after a long pause, smile distant. Yingying can read between the lines, connect the dots from the way he'd acted back when those visions had appeared. More than that, she knows there's truth in what he suspects. There have to be countless spirits, many malevolent and filled with resent, clinging to her coattails still. They've found their way to the other side now, yes, but decades past a hundred years is a long time to leave a mark on someone. ]

It's not the first time I've been seen as a wicked spirit. [ In fact, that is the more common way she tends to be perceived, rather than the kind, benevolent fairy they've all come to know. ] Something was terribly wrong, anyhow. There were countless spirits that merged with me that day.

[ So... he's not wrong. She doesn't seem to take offense, at least, and true to her word, it doesn't seem like this is the first time that misconception has been made. ]

[phenomerom]

Haha. Yes, I'm afraid it's more than just your stunning beauty that's kept me somewhat wary ...

[ This would probably be a lot more flattering if it weren't for the grim context, and his almost deadpan delivery as always ... Sorry Yingying, he actually does mean it, his vibes are just as atrocious as ever.

But -- things do make sense now, he thinks. The maelstrom of presences that Yingying is always surrounded by, the very nature of it constantly in flux. Rom regards her for a moment before giving a slight cant of the head. ]

Does ... it not affect you at all? Their presences.

[embellwish]

It did, for a very long time.

[ She confirms that much for him, actually relieved to talk about this candidly with someone else. The nature of the catastrophe was more than environmental. It had been supernatural, too. ]

Everyone's dying wishes.... their desires to live, their resent that the star had fallen on us, their wish for the fete to have not gone up in flames, their despair for their loved ones, their fear — all that and more, I needed to bear after their souls became entangled with mine.

[ It had been a constant cacophony of agonized screams, begging, pleading, demanding for a fate to have gone differently, for the prayers to have been answered instead of coldly ignored. ]

So for the longest time, I tried to appease them however I could, even if it meant hurting someone else. [ To some, she still is a wicked spirit, roaming the earth and leaving piles of drained corpses in her wake. ] Only recently have they all been set free.

[phenomerom]

[ 'However I could,' Yingying says, and he has an inkling of what that might have meant. And yet, he can't bring himself to blame her for it. The interplay of spirits and ghosts, curses and grudges is complex, after all -- it's not always as simple as a malicious spirit choosing to prey on people simply for the sake of it.

Rom is quiet as he listens, his expression remaining that studious neutral, and he only gives a small nod when she first finishes speaking. 'For the longest time.' He wonders how long that would be. Years? Decades? Centuries? What had her age been listed as on those profiles so long ago ... unknown, was it? ]

You're surprisingly intact, considering all that.

[ Maybe it sounds harsh, but he means it as a neutral statement. ]

Those who have a bear a burden for so long usually can't remain as themselves, where I'm from. They're usually taken captive or warped by what's binding them for all those years. ... your resilience is remarkable. It must have been difficult.

[embellwish]

[ The neutral statement is welcome and refreshing — Yingying is more than used to most people treating her in a sweet, cloying manner, eager to win her attention or favor. In reality, she levels and gets along better with people who can talk to her like this, directly and without preamble. It's easier this way, too, to see what she is really like underneath the role she plays as a fairy. ]

That's what the Bureau told me, as well. Normally, someone exposed to the level of mental strain and contamination I was, for over a century... would lose themselves entirely.

[ She's something of an anomaly, only explainable by being the first to come into contact with that strange substance from the stars. ]

Now, though, it's more the resulting physical ailments that are a concern. I suppose the spirits have little to do with that, though... unless you have some insight? [ She laughs, her smile vague. ] My condition is a mystery to the people in my world, though you seem very learned about this kind of thing.

[phenomerom]

[ Her condition, hm? Rom's gaze slides away from her at that, instead briefly directing towards the patio windows -- towards where the wisteria tree sits outside. Of course, he doesn't know all the details, but he can see enough that he can hazard a guess. ]

... I'm sorry to say I'm only human. My spiritual sensitivity is abnormally high, but it has its limits. So I wouldn't want to come to any hasty conclusions about your condition. But.

[ Returning his focus to her now. ]

With access to my research materials outside of this place, I may be able to find something. [ A brief pause as he considers what to say, and how to word it, before continuing. ] He hasn't told me any details, but Edamura-san has mentioned wanting to use his wish to help you, if things go as planned with this game. If that isn't quite enough, I can offer you my assistance, however far that might go. I'd like to be able to help, for both of your sakes.