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

[poans]

[Virtually anything is fine in Yi Sang's book, so Rom will not be hearing any complaints.]

Emotions were sure to rise with the revelations unveiled tonight. In declaring the presence of possible falsehoods, you cut through the tension and gave our fellows the necessary pause to gather their thoughts.

[phenomerom]

[ Maybe he shouldn't be surprised after last week's eloquent speech that Yi Sang is a lot more astute than initial impressions would indicate. Rom blinks, then smiles as he resumes setting out cups. ]

I'm not sure how much effect it will have, if any, given the gravity of the situation. But it wouldn't have felt right not to leave the escape route open for anyone who might be desperate enough. [ ... ] There are times and places where cruel methods are necessary, but I don't believe this is one of those. Wouldn't you agree?

[poans]

[His features tighten into a faint frown.]

Such methods . . . It does not please me to see others suffer.

[It's a nonanswer, if only because he's also accustomed to a penchant for cruelty and violence. He'd rather avoid such a thing as much as possible.]

[phenomerom]

[ The evasive nature of that answer doesn't go unnoticed ... but he'll let it slide for now. ]

I'm glad we're on the same page.

[ And while he'd be more roundabout for most people, he suspects that for Yi Sang, maybe just being blunt is the best approach. So, casually, as he starts spooning instant coffee mix into the cups: ]

How are you faring, Mr. Yi Sang? With this unpleasant surprise they've sprung on us.

[poans]

Worry not, for I am fine.

[This time, the tried phrase comes lightly enough to be sincere. He really is all right.]

However, I am not at liberty to speak on a certain matter printed on the card assigned to my name. Could this be true for you as well?

[He'd also like to check on Rom while he's here.]

[phenomerom]

[ Hm. Well, the delivery sounds believable enough. He won't pry for now, though he can't help staying alert -- when the vast majority of those secrets sound tailor-made to sow discord, he wonders how many of them are going to skate by relatively unscathed.

With that said -- ]

Aah, myself? [ As he fills the electric kettle. ] Well -- I'm sure everyone can guess which one was mine. It is what it is. It's not something I normally talk about, but ... I suppose I'm getting off easy compared to everyone else. Haha.

[ Click, as the turns the kettle on. ]

[poans]

[The click of the kettle is deafening in the ensuing silence.]

I . . . cannot.

[Through the process of elimination, he could pinpoint which secret pertained to Rom. However:]

I cannot guess which is meant to be easier than the rest.

1/2

[phenomerom]

[ That's ... kind of cute, he thinks? It's probably what some people would call cute. The fact that Yi Sang seems to genuinely believe all of the concerns voiced in those cards are deserving of the same level of concern.

That 'cuteness' is the only thing keeping him from lying simply for love of the bit.

And even then, only barely. ]

[phenomerom]

[ He sure had hesitated for a hot second, brows raised under the brim of his hat, but he gives a soft exhale afterward. -- no, it wouldn't feel right to lie to Yi Sang when he seems to be considering the matter so seriously. So: ]

Mm, what was the wording ...

[ He didn't even bother taking his card. Rom leans against the countertop as the kettle starts bubbling away, seeming perfectly at ease about the whole matter. ]

'One of you was abandoned by your parents for being too creepy,' I think it was. That was mine, I'm fairly sure.

[poans]

[He looses a quiet sigh. Morality is a trifling thing in the City, but that doesn't mean he has to like what goes on in it or elsewhere in creation. He hopes nobody else can lay claim to this secret; that Rom should be able to do so at all is heartwrenching.]

. . . No person should have to endure such a thing, in particular from those they trust.

[phenomerom]

[ Rom's smile doesn't budge an inch. ]

Most certainly not. But I've never been a normal person, and by the standards of normal people, I did qualify as 'creepy.' It may not have been pleasant, but in this case, it was simply a logical outcome -- something that couldn't have been helped.

[poans]

[And thus, the image sharpens.]

Rigorous though reason can be, it is a choice to follow the mind or to let it form freely. Logic alone does not define humanity, Rom.

[And so, while he can accept that this is something that happened, he refuses to believe that it was an inevitability—that Rom was fated for abandonment.]

[phenomerom]

[ At that, his smile thins just a fraction. ]

I suppose not.

[ The snap of the kettle's switch signaling the water boiling gives him an excuse to look away, and Rom busies his hands brewing the two cups of instant coffee. (Elsewhere in the house Edamura probably gets a stomachache.) ]

... was your relationship with your parents good, Mr. Yi Sang?

[poans]

[That is Edamura's comeuppance for smoking.]

In the eastern region of the City, a name carries the wish of the keeper's parents. Mine, though possessed of multiple meanings . . . is likely meant to invoke an ideal life.

[What turbulence he's faced in his life didn't come from family. He hopes this sufficiently answers Rom's question.]

[phenomerom]

[ It certainly does. ]

I see.

[ There's the clack of ceramic on the countertop as Rom gently places one of the cups before Yi Sang. ]

Imagine, then -- you are the parent of a child that you have so fondly named. [ His delivery is even and calm, steady. ] But once the child learns to speak, they talk about things you cannot understand. About monsters, ghosts, horrible creatures. Ill omens and ominous signs, and sometimes their warnings about incoming accidents even come true. There's no explanation for these happenings, nor for the child's odd behavior. They are insistent they're being honest, that none of what they say is for play or for fun. A doctor reveals nothing wrong with them. And yet, they are fundamentally terrifying. ... is it not also human to wish to distance yourself from such a creature?

[poans]

A child I named fondly . . .

[He draws the cup close to peer into the coffee's murky depths.]

. . . would be no creature, but a precious family of mine. If that which cannot be seen frightens us so, then the child must be just as terrified, if not more, of what he must endure in isolation. If the disconnect is a matter of perception . . . I would seek instead to understand his heart, ere the crack grows and the child's self-perception shatters.

[phenomerom]

[ He'd kept a hand braced against the countertop near where he'd deposited the coffee cup, looming a little as he watched Yi Sang while waiting for a response, and Rom exhales softly at that before pulling back. ]

... your parents named you aptly, Mr. Yi Sang. That's quite the idealistic response.

[poans]

I am also odd.

[Growing up, he was always something of an oddball. It was difficult for him to express himself and to be understood in turn; however, most people accepted his eccentricities and let him be. He was seldom bothered by virtue of his talents, which were considered desirable by society.

Yi Sang looks up from the cup. Rom, from the sounds of it, was led down a different path.]

. . . I cannot claim to know the depths of your pain, Rom. What I can say is that you are quite the compassionate individual, indeed, to regard your parents so.

1/2

[phenomerom]

[ Rom gives a slight cant of the head at that, thinking, as his gaze slides aside. -- pain? Has he been in pain? Physically, certainly, many times, but never beyond a level he could survive. But he knows that's not what Yi Sang means.

His silence is broken only so he can fetch his own cup, taking a small sip of the coffee. (The coffee Edamura brews tastes better.) ]

... it's not compassion.

[ His usual showmanship's been completely cast aside for the moment; his delivery is quiet and even. ]

I simply know how things are. I am an anomaly, not meant to exist alongside normal people barring special circumstances. -- and even among those of my kind, I'm abnormal. Different. [ Potentially harmful. ] Accepting my parents' path of action has nothing to do with compassion. To expect otherwise would simply be unrealistic.

[ -- he'd realized at a young age that he was something different and other. And so long as he could keep that fact in mind, he couldn't be hurt by his parents' actions. They hadn't been cruel to him; they had simply done what was logical. It hadn't been his fault that he'd been cast aside. ]

[phenomerom]

[ Rom takes another small sip of his coffee before he giving a wan smile. ]

You're terribly kind, Mr. Yi Sang. But people like you are rare. ... it's not a bad thing that you're idealistic, and I hope you get to stay that way.

[poans]

[Out of consideration for the hospitality, he takes a sip himself, though his chest twists at the words that follow.

Rom's logic is a lifeline. To cut it would mean to fall into a pool of untold emotions; acceptance of the facts is therefore a necessity to sidestep the yawning despair below. It's a tightrope on which Rom walks, drawn far over the heads of others, who roam a seemingly separate plane.

Yi Sang's idealism has invited unimaginable harm, both to himself and to others. In thinking he could get away with doing what he loves innocently, time stopped and everything lost meaning. He knows now where he's erred, and he won't change. But Rom . . . ]

That day at the parlor, what inexplicable visage etched itself into your retina?

[phenomerom]

[ Rom blinks at that. Regards Yi Sang neutrally for a moment.

Then it's the return of his usual showmanship. ]

Ahhhh, that? No need for you to worry about that now, Mr. Yi Sang!

[ Complete with dramatic hand gesture. ]

That ice cream parlor was haunted, certainly, but it wasn't much more than a garden variety malicious spirit lurking there. I made sure to keep a vigilant eye on it, so it shouldn't have affected you at all. I'm glad I was able to be of service~

[poans]

[As he suspected, there was something there, which Rom shouldered alone. The crossing doesn't appear to go both ways, and the thought weighs Yi Sang's eyes shut.]

. . . Thank you still, for your care.

[That wasn't a mere service. Even if it isn't exactly compassion, there's still a warmth to be found in Rom's heart that's worthy of validation.]