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

[ordimame]

[this is so much worse than the envelopes!!]

[each secret narrated aloud seems to be worse than the last, and by the time the list is halfway finished, Edamura is already standing there with hands clenched into tight fists, knuckles white. he looks ready to about face and leave— completely uninterested in playing along with this charade— when—]

[One of you killed your father. Or did you?]

[. . . and then he goes perfectly and utterly still]

[irreversal]

[ Shoko, whether in a willful, stubborn attempt to ignore what's happening, or to break the tension - who knows - has her box of cigarettes in her hand, but is pointedly holding it away from Edamura. ]

Ah, ah. You have to ask me this time instead of pulling that shit from the other day.

1/2

[ordimame]

[her voice pulls him back from. . . wherever he had gone during those few quiet moments after his own secret had been read aloud. back from the sea of memories best left forgotten. . . ? it's hard to say. either way. . . he tilts his head towards her, expression softening, though it still remains fairly unreadable]

[ordimame]

[a sharp exhale. . . and he holds out his hand, fingers slightly curled]

Spare one for a guy who can't seem to quit?

[a pause]

. . . please.

[irreversal]

[ Without another word, she flips the top of the box open and slips a cigarette into his palm, pulling her lighter out of her pocket with the other and igniting it, so they can light their unlit cigarettes together. ]

Hah, your mom probably hates me right now.

[ordimame]

[. . . a soft exhale. something that is almost a laugh, and the light upward tilt of his lips is wry]

Nah. She wouldn't blame you for my bad choices.

[a pause as he inhales a deep lungful of smoke, the glow of the cigarette almost lighting up his features]

. . . she'd hardly blame me.

[kind, thoughtful, patient, loving as she was]

[irreversal]

[ She does the same, falling silent as she draws the smoke into her lungs and savors it, savors the way it burns and numbs at the same time, before expelling it through her lips. ]

She was a good woman, huh.

[ She waves her card at him - the one about suturing a friend's corpse to let a student take over it - just. To get it out of the way. To let him know just what her hands are capable of, after leaving his question unanswered the other day. ]

[ordimame]

She was a great woman.

[he says, exhaling smoke with each word. it lingers in the air around them like a heated fog before dispersing into the night. and before he can say anything else. . . she offers him her card]

[. . .]

[he takes it after only a brief moment of hesitation, flipping it over to read the words written on the front. a sharp inhale]

Shit, Shoko.

[what a fucking awful thing to have to experience. as if having to mourn the death of her friend wasn't bad enough]

[phenomerom]

[ He spotted that, unfortunately. Which secret seemed to earn that physical reaction -- the rigid shoulders, the set jaw. Not even on purpose; it's just hard for him not to stay alert to his surroundings.

Hm.

But once the narration finishes and discussion starts unfurling around them, Rom abruptly plops his hat onto Edamura's head, rudely demanding his attention. ]

Makoto-san, I wonder if I could ask you for a quick favor?

[ordimame]

[and just like that. . . he feels it. the sharp yank of something dragging him out of his murky memories and back into the present. there isn't much of a visible reaction-- a slight tilt of his head, hand lifting to push the brim of that hat up enough so he can blink in open bemusement-- but other than that. . .]

What. . . ?

[if he seems a bit more out of it than usual, don't worry about it!]

I-- sure? What is it?

[phenomerom]

[ Rom smiles in that usual opaque way of his. ]

Could you show me how to use the French press?

[ Yes, he is asking that now. ]

1/2

[ordimame]

[. . .]

[ordimame]

[. . . . . . . .]

[. . . the tiniest of smiles breaks through his otherwise completely unreadable expression]

Yeah. Sure. [it's without his usual exuberant energy, but he is trying!] If we're going to spend time together, you're going to have to learn to drink something other than instant.

[LOOK HE EVEN TRIED A JOKE]

[phenomerom]

Much appreciated.

[ He's also going to let Edamura keep his hat for the moment as he starts nudging them towards the kitchen. ]

And instant isn't all that bad, you know? Some mixes are quite good these days, and even come in fun flavors. Wouldn't you be curious how a strawberry shortcake instant coffee tastes like?

[ -- it's not that he actually gives a shit about coffee methodology right now, of course. It's just that returning to a familiar, routine task helped ground his thoughts whenever he was taken aback by something, back when he was younger. Maybe it'll help Edamura, too. ]

[fireball]

[ wh

whoa?

Give Poppy a moment to recover before she gives him a friendly little shoulder bump. ]

Seems like they don't know shit, huh.

[ Or did you leaves room to interpretation, so she's going with that. ]

[ordimame]

[h-hahaha. . . well. . .]

[. . . her little shoulder bump startles him out of his thoughts, nearly sending him rocking aside. he collects himself quickly, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out in one fell swoop]

They know a little more than I'd like for them to.

[fireball]

Or, you know, maybe they don't.

[ Come on man!! Take the out!!

Her features soften. ]

But, I mean... I think if someone did that. [ Someone who is Edamura. ] They'd probably have a good reason.

1/2

[ordimame]

[. . . god. Poppy. Poppy!!!]

[he can't help the tiny smile that cracks through his otherwise unreadable features, because. girl. girl!! don't tell a guy they probably had a good reason for murder!!]

[ordimame]

[a deep breath in. a slow breath out]

. . . the story is actually pretty long and complicated, so I'll just skip to the end.

Unfortunately-- [the heatless way he uses that word makes it clear he doesn't mean it] -- the stubborn old bastard is still very much alive.

[fireball]

[ listen, she still thinks they're basically the same person, so if Edamura did have the capacity to kill someone then it would HAVE to be for a good reason—

But, no, her shoulders sag in relief at that revelation. Also? Her smile widens a touch, at exactly the tone he uses. ]

Shitty dad, huh? Been there done that. I mean I hate my mom more than my dad, and my sister more than my mom, but, you know, I get it.

[ A beat. ]

Wanna get a drink?

[ She is not so much one for smoking... ]

[poans]

[It's difficult to miss the tension roiling within Edamura, so much so that one can feel it radiating off of him. When he very visibly freezes, Yi Sang turns to him and says lowly so as not to fight with the voice-over:]

Edamura?

[ordimame]

[his entire body jolts as that voice drags him back to the present, away from the wave of unpleasant recollections that have rendered him motionless]

Yi Sang. . .

[blinks a few times]

. . . what is it?

[poans]

. . . If you require a change in scenery, none shall begrudge you for it.

[In fact, he'll go, too.]

[ordimame]

I--

[for a brief moment, he thinks about refusing. deflecting. saying he is okay, and that he doesn't need to be anywhere else. but. . . no. that's not true]

[it might be nice to give himself and everyone else here a little bit of space]

. . . yeah. All right.

[. . .]

Are you coming?

[poans]

[He nods. He can always come back later, but it's not for Edamura to sit through something painful or uncomfortable in a place like this.]

Shall we go on a walk?

[Just like they did when the apparitions roamed.]