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

[gamboler]

[ Well, then. How...tactless, and yet an ugly part of him acts reflexively, committing each and every one of these facts to memory. Friends are weapons, information is a tool. Secrets hold power —

And so does his own. Something he had been so desperate to keep from the cameras, even for how he danced around the truth for these last few weeks. Only once has he admitted to it, and that was behind closed doors, away from eyes that are always watching.

He wears a practiced mask, effortless and easy. Were it just a few weeks ago, no one in this room would think twice about his smile, and yet — it isn't a few weeks ago. These people know him now. They are his friends.

His lips quirk, a mirthless laugh escaping him. ] Well, well...don't we all just have a few skeletons in our closets. Let's see — deception, patricide, negligent homicide, religious genocide...and to think! We've all just been playing house and growing cozy. If you ask me, they should have started the first week with this little stunt. It would have saved us all sooo much time.

[ Oh, he's mad. He doesn't pick up his card — he doesn't need to, does he?

"One of you is always gambling with your life to escape your job." ]

[crimsin]

[ No, he doesn't need to pick up his card. If not for the already obvious giveaway of having "gambling" in the statement at all, Nico knows. He knows enough.

He reaches out, quietly, to rest a hand on Aventurine's arm. ]

[gamboler]

[ Reflexively, his jaw tenses, swallowing the words on his tongue as he glances over at Nico's. Of course he knows. More gently: ]

What? Don't you have anything to say?

[ How is he just...staying so calm? ]

[crimsin]

Do you not hope that the bonds we have formed over these few weeks mean more than this?

[ He motions to the table, at cards and envelopes scattered around its surface -- those not already clutched tightly in the hands of their friends. ]

I am sorry, for what it is worth, that these things were shared this way. That was the risk, non? The gamble?

[irreversal]

[ He doesn't need to.

And he doesn't need someone to tell him to calm down, either. Instead, Shoko stands leaning against a wall - as she always does - with an unlit cigarette in her mouth, holding the box up towards him in question, a fresh cigarette already peeking out from within. ]

[gamboler]

[ He doesn't need to calm down, he's just amused, that's all. So amused that he doesn't hesitate a moment to go stand next to her, taking the offered cigarette and hooking it between his lips. ]

...Thanks.

[ ...This is so fucked up. ]

[irreversal]

[ Her lighter comes out next, which she ignites and holds up between them, so they can light up together. ]

You're welcome.

[ She takes her first drag, savoring against all good reason that first hit, the way it burns inside. The way it feels like something, in spite of how hollow she feels at times. ]

That was the leash you can't slip, huh?

[embellwish]

[ Oh, dear.......

She watches him calmly, wondering if this is what he's been keeping so tightly under wraps throughout the rest of the game. Everyone is vulnerable about something, everyone is emotional about something. Whatever was laid bare by the others clearly seems to have struck a nerve. ]

Where there is a secret, there's always a reason for keeping it.

[ That doesn't mean any of it is right, but even Aventurine's secret was kept for a purpose. Deception and patricide, at least, may have some explanation... ]

Do you need a moment to yourself?

[gamboler]

[ She's reminding him of something with which he is intimately acquainted. That doesn't ease the tension in his shoulders, and the smile he turns to her is a dishonest one, wrapped up in confidence he doesn't feel. ]

Not at all. I just find it all so...amusing. Don't you, Yingying?

[ Hers...it must be the one about her home being struck by a meteor, right? It lines up, with what he knows about her, about the terrible truth they have in common. ]

[embellwish]

[ He doesn't mean it this way, but his question is like a barb. Simply, with honesty: ]

No, not really.

[ He's not being literal, but it doesn't feel right to play along, so she answers sincerely, instead. Where he flashes a dishonest smile, she keeps her expression serene, calm, like an undisturbed lake. That her home was lost in an instant is a fact of life, one she's been forced to accept over the last hundred years. The wound is still raw, always will be, but its perhaps not so recently made as the others'.

Maybe she ought to get a better understanding of his own secret, before disentangling the rest. ]

What does it mean, "gambling with your life?"

[nrangel]

[ Her expression tightens for a moment at "negligent homicide" before relaxing again. ]

If they were going to do this in the first place, maybe... It seems like they're just trying to stir the pot here in the eleventh hour...

[gamboler]

[ A huff of humorless laughter. ]

So we shouldn't indulge them. Is that what you're saying?

[nrangel]

I think we at least shouldn't have any fights among ourselves.

[ If people want to get angry at the staff, well...

The ones that are behind this probably aren't ones they ever interacted with directly though. It's not like the cameramen are the ones deciding to air their dirty laundry out to the world. ]

[ordimame]

[Shoko has already provided him with his doctor-prescribed (haha) dose of nicotine, so. . . he stands nearby, just watching Aventurine out of the corners of his vision as he inhales a lungful of smoke. gods. what a shitty habit]

[who would have thought a stupid lighthearted dating show, of all things, would break his quitting streak. three times, even]

If you don't laugh, you'll break instead. Is that it?

[spoken like someone who knows how that feels]

[gamboler]

[ Hey, look, he's got his Shoko-prescribed smoke as well! Aventurine's not even much of a smoker himself, only picking it up as a social habit to get him in the right places — but right now? He needs this. They both do.

Fated wanted his life to be a tragedy so much, if he doesn't treat it like something a little bit amusing, he'll feel like he's actually lost for once. ]

...Oh, not quite. It's more like...laughing to hide what's already broken.

[ordimame]

[hah. . . a slight upward tilts of his lips]

You sound a little edgy when you say it like that.

[but it is not said unkindly]

[poans]

Aventurine . . .

[He steps closer, a hand raised as if about to reach out.]

Are you all right?

[The answer is plain, but he would like to hear what Aventurine has to say with his own words.]

[gamboler]

[ Never better is the answer that immediately springs to his lips, but it gets no further. Such a hollow lie would feel grossly dishonest to Yi Sang in particular, after how often he indulged Aventurine's questions with the truth.

Instead, he's silent for a beat, a weight settling against his shoulders. ]

...Not in the least.

[ He never is. ]

Have you guessed which is mine? It's...rather obvious, unfortunately.

[poans]

[The honesty is inwardly met with appreciation from the knowledge that it's a sign of trust, or respect at the very least. Hence, he'll also be careful on his end.]

I may have deduced the truth from what has been made public knowledge . . . but I shan't give voice to it, for doing so would be superfluous in its callousness.

[fireball]

[ ... sidling on up to him. Heyyyy there buddy. ]

Uh, you okay there?

[gamboler]

[ No! Thanks for asking.

...At least he doesn't seem to be about to launch into another yap, instead glancing over to Poppy, arms crossing. ]

Miss Poppy. Not afraid of heights, are you?

[ He has a hard time imagining her as...most of these. ]

[fireball]

[ Yeah something very not great is up here, but aside from going quiet as everything was read out she hasn't had as much of a reaction, so she can take one for the team here. The team being the two of them. ]

Nope. Mine was, uh. The pandemic one.

[ ... ]

That was like, a year ago, though. And it's pretty much over now [ i guess?? ], so it's fine.

sadly retypes this much worse than before after my oopsie doodle

[enscene]

[Furina will find Aventurine later, before she's due to head back over to the Honeymoon Suite and once she's had time to sit with her own combination of fear, sadness, and anger. She's too emotionally stripped to easily agree to neutrality, so she needs the refuge for the night to think about it more. At least she has an entirely different estate when she can have those thoughts.]

Fontaine is the nation of justice, not contracts.

[Unfortunately, the one who could help him there tends to mysteriously vanish every time Neuvilette is within a hundred feet of his location...but Furina knows none of this.]

...But I do know several people who are experts in precise language, if you'd like them to workshop the content of your wish.

[The letter of the law is such an exacting thing... Furina has nothing to do with the Opera nor does she desire it, but she can put him in touch with the right people.]

NO......victims of the refresh war

[gamboler]

[ By the time Furina catches up with him, it hardly feels sufficient to say he feels raw. He's felt the gaping jaws of despair, the wings of hope, and everything in between this evening, but now that he's come off the high of choosing a new direction for himself, the schemer within him is already calculating, considering plans, laying out possibilities. No doubt the sense of dramatic irony that injects itself into his life will find a way to twist his wish if he lets it, so better to take every measure to ensure a guaranteed win.

It need not be a true gamble to not still be thrilling.

It seems Furina understands his line of thinking, too, and so when she approaches, he greets her with a weary smile, but one that finds its way to his eyes just a little bit more easily. Already, what Shoko and Yi Sang told him is proving to be true.

He really doesn't have to face this on his own, anymore. ]

...I may just need to take you up on that. Getting away from those who will be after me will be no small feat. And you know what they say...be careful what you wish for.

[ A tilt of his head. ]

What do you intend to do when all this is over, Miss Furina?

[enscene]

I don't generally like relying on favors. [And it's true; she prefers her requests to be things that can be argued, paid or, or otherwise honored in a way that doesn't take it out of her own merit. However, sometimes being able to call in something otherwise unobtainable isn't a terrible power. So long as she doesn't come to rely on it, Furina can stomach it. Sometimes it's even a little funny.] But I'm fully confident we'll figure out the wording of your wish. It'll work out perfectly!

[Please let it work out perfectly. Her intuition feels really good about this.

She's almost too busy being hopeful about the outcome to hear his question but she does catch it and tilts her head quietly to respond.]

I'll have plenty to check in on when I get back, but I'm not in any particular hurry...everyone knows I'm on a hiatus. I'd very much like it if Ringo returned with me and would stay by my side. Then... I think I might skip the show when it airs, so maybe I'd like to be out of the country when it happens. [After staying on this estate, doesn't somewhere like Liyue sound like the perfect destination?]

On the one hand, everything has changed...but on the other, it feels like things are exactly where they should be, and it feels so...normal.