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]

[ Well. That voice over sure is..... Something.

Yingying is quick to take her own envelope, one of you is the only survivor after your home was struck by a meteor, and fold it over so the text is facing up. ]

As some of you must already know... this is mine.

[ She can admit as much with serenity, even if her smile is strained. A lot of them already know about her poor health, that something must have happened to her homeland.... this is the source of all of that. The catalyst of the tale. A falling star struck the earth, and took the lives of countless people — and countless more after them, though the card doesn't say that. ]

But these other ones... some of them have sensitive information, right? [ Her smile is sympathetic and sad, feeling worse for her companions than for herself. It must be a total shock to hear some of these things, especially if they're things done with regret. ] ... I'm not a saint, either. I'm not fit to judge.

[ That is to say... she has a feeling such information coming to light could really change someone's opinion of another. Her card might not say it, but she hardly has room to condemn someone else... maybe that'll give a spot of comfort to anyone who's secret was blasted out in front of them all like this. ]

[nrangel]

Kind of how I'm feeling right now.

[ Her voice trails off, getting a little quieter as she goes. How do you express sympathy for something as catastrophic as that? Yingying has already been pretty open with them that her situation isn't good. That if they don't get the wishes they need at the end, then things really are dire for her more so than most. ]

I'm so sorry, Yingying...

[embellwish]

[ Likewise, she's not really sure what to say in return, either. It's alright? Well, it's not. ]

They say it's a miracle I survived... and that I've lived this long after. The star fell over a hundred years ago.

[ All she can think to do is relay neutral information about the Perishing Star. It feels... awkward, to talk about her grief so suddenly, and so, the facts of the matter are simpler to handle. ]

We didn't know it at the time, but... that star brought the end of the world with it.

[nrangel]

[ It makes sense to Serpilia. A nice, objective retelling of a personal experience makes it a little easier to discuss. Not that she's exactly fishing for information, but... ]

I can't even imagine...

[ For more than one person here to face the end of their world is cruel, especially when the game offers the hope of another chance that it could pull away at any second depending on their own performance at the end. ]

[embellwish]

[ She smiles, the curve of her lips faint. ]

It's alright. I know that it's never coming back.

[ Yingying knows better than to use a wish to bring back what she has lost. Twenty or thirty years ago, she might've had a different opinion. There's a degree of genuine acceptance that she carries, somber and heavy as it is. ]

I didn't used to feel lucky, but, I do now.

[irreversal]

[ Shoko feels... numb, mostly. Not even angry, or afeared, or disappointed at anything else she's heard. She's just... tired. People are going to react however they wish to. She's not interested in guiding the discussion one way or another. It's not as if they need to solve whose card is who in order to win—

But there Yingying is, her warm voice and sympathy cutting through the static in Shoko's mind. ]

Yingying... even now, you're more worried about everyone else.

[embellwish]

[ That makes her smile, exasperated from where she's sitting. ]

I am.

[ Her own card... she's already shared this among a few of them. ]

Watching over others is what I do best. [ She'd shepherded all the souls from the catastrophe, too, and before then, even, everyone in her homeland entrusted their wishes to her. It's always been in her nature to be like this. ] You already knew about the star, after all. So did a few others.

[irreversal]

[ She supposes that makes this a little easier - the fact that her secret isn't so secret at least for a few others. Shoko should count herself fortunate to be among the few...

Shoko remains where she stands for now, having thrown courtesy to the wind by smoking indoors. She at least remains courteous enough to make sure she's not smoking right into Yingying's face. ]

That's why it's so easy to adore you, you know. You're always taking care of others...

[ ...Which is an odd thing for a doctor to say, perhaps. ]

Even after everything you've been through.

[embellwish]

[ It's those words that finally get her to avert her eyes, looking down at a random spot on the floor. Easy to adore, huh? Her chest feels tight, but the only sign she's feeling any worse is a neutralizing of her expression. ]

That's because growing up, everyone I knew always wished for my happiness. My moms, and the rest of my family...

[ Yingying was Bloomfete's beloved little princess, raised by the village with adoration even though she'd been abandoned at the foot of the wisteria as an infant. It's hard to put to words what an impact being on the receiving end of all of that love has had on her, how it informs her relationships with others. ]

And I was always entrusted with everyone's wish. [ For as long as she could remember, on the New Year, people came bearing gifts to ask her earnestly for their most precious desire. ] Maybe not anymore... but the feeling still remains. Wanting to grant happiness.

[ That's what a fairy should do. ]

[ordimame]

[. . . . . . .]

[whatever he is feeling right now, he sure isn't wearing it on his face. which is very unlike someone who is normally so expressive and emotive that it's a wonder he doesn't wear himself out]

. . . is it okay? For everyone to know?

[he knows the story of her homeland's fate is a painful memory to recount. to have it laid bare. . . he can only imagine how her old wounds ache now]

[embellwish]

It's the truth, isn't it?

[ Whether it's "okay" or not... the fact remains that this is her history, the reason why her health is like this, why her life is the way it is. All would've come to k now it, eventually. Her smile is faint and distant, when she meets his gaze. ]

I only learned this recently, but... that star falling came to be known as the start of the apocalypse. [ ..... ] It's something everyone in the world knows about, in the present times. We just happened to be the ones that were there....

[ Why did it have to be us? That had been the question that had rung through everyone's minds, when it actually happened. All that being said, in her home world, she doesn't have a choice between everyone knowing and not. ]

[ordimame]

. . . yeah. It might be the truth, but it's your truth.

You should get to decide when and where to share it.

[not!! like!! this!!!]

[embellwish]

[ 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.

[fireball]

[ ... she didn't know it would be something so dire.

Poppy sucks in a breath; fiddles with the hems of her sleeves before approaching her. ]

Is that why you've been so alone... god, I can't even imagine.

[ That feels. Way beyond something she can help with? Like something nobody can help with, actually. ]

[embellwish]

Yes... that's right.

[ Poppy's put it so succinctly. She confirms it for her not because she's looking for comfort or to be pitied, but because she knows such matters are out of the realm of imagination for most. It had been for everyone the falling star killed, too. ]

That star carried a strange substance from space... I happened to be able to withstand it. Me and the wisteria. [ Everyone else, though... she won't get into the gory details. ] That was all a very long time ago.

[fireball]

... Still.

[ Still. She should probably be comforted? That's just — at the very least it should be something she should check in on her for, shouldn't it? She's visibly uncertain. ]

Are you okay? I mean... is there anything I can do?

[embellwish]

[ Oh, Poppy... she can see how visibly uncomfortable this is making her. This is exactly why there are some people who were better off not knowing the intimate details of this — it was enough for Poppy to understand that she was alone. She hadn't needed to know all of this. Her brow furrows sympathetically, seeming to hone in on Poppy's feelings rather than her own. ]

You've all done a lot for me, just by giving me a place to belong.

[ Her smile is strained with sadness, but it's a smile nonetheless. ]

You remember, don't you? About how I can't communicate with others. [ She knows she does, but she asks just to guide her along the conversation. ] This form before you is a bit like that, hmm... "virtual reality" that we saw together. An illusion. The catastrophe left my health quite poor...

[ ..... ]

So, without knowing it, you've helped me feel a lot more hopeful, being so eager to help me.... I don't know if you know how much that meant.

[enscene]

[She’d been getting increasingly agitated as the different lines were read out, and but now Furina is just a little unstable-handed leaf, taken to quivering with both fear and something that sits a little tighter and hotter in her bones.]

You’re the only one left… and the tree is all that you have. [Her voice is quite low.]

[embellwish]

[ When she spots Furina's quivering, her expression softens with sympathy. Even if she doesn't quite understand her reaction... she can see that a nerve has been struck. ]

Yes.... that's true.

[ Even now, there's fresh wisteria pinned into her hair, the aroma of the flowers hanging around her like a cloud. ]

Nothing remains from there, except the two of us.

[enscene]

It must be lonely. [Softly, a little knowing.] No matter how many people know, it's also something that can never be fully shared. [The memory of that fear--of being all that remained--is rooted deep within her. That's something that belongs to Furina, herself, too, after all, and not just the job she performed.]

Would that make you afraid to leave it behind?

[She doesn't know the full extent of Yingying's deterioration or that she literally can't be separated from it as she is now. She knows only what she's observed: that she can't be away from the tree and that her connection to it runs so much deeper than sentimentality.

But Furina also isn't talking about such a literal definition of separation. Yingying seems hesitant to take that offered hand, and in Furina's experience...that kind of stubbornness often goes hand in hand with fear. Or maybe Furina is just naturally a coward.]

[embellwish]

[ ...What might have Furina gone through, to put that so succinctly?

Yes, it's a weight that can never be shared, not to its full extent. No one can know what it feels like to be that alone, unless they've similarly been ripped apart from everything. She wouldn't wish it on anyone, even if it meant someone else understanding the true depth of her loneliness. Unbidden, she reaches over to put her hand atop Furina's, eyes deep in thought. ]

...Of course. I could never leave it behind.

[ She's physically bound to it, yes, but it's so much more than that, too. It symbolizes all the springs she spent with her mothers, all the wishes made by her people, the place where her life truly began. The tree has been a part of her for as long as she can remember — even before she was entombed inside it.

Her hand tightens around Furina's, wanting to share something with her, if only so she might also learn... what loneliness Furina seems so well acquainted with. ]

Did you know? There used to be legends that I was born from the wisteria. When I was a baby, I was found among the petals.

[ She starts there, weaving the beginnings of the tale that makes her so inseparable from it. ]

[phenomerom]

[ Probably a little later on, after some of the discussions have died down a little bit, he'll approach when things are quieter around her. ]

Miss Yingying. If I may extend an apology to you.

[embellwish]

[ An apology... she's been hearing a lot of those tonight. Just people feeling sorry for her situation and her loss, she supposes. But the kind that Rom offers seems much different, more personal, like he's the one who's offended her. She blinks at him, genuinely not seeming to know what he's talking about. ]

Hm? What for...?

[phenomerom]

[ His brow lowers a little at that, smile gaining a slightly bitter edge. ]

I'd been operating under some cruel assumptions about you. Usually, even if a person is haunted by ghosts, it's one or two, a handful at most. If there are more, it usually indicates ... something is terribly wrong.

[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. ]