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]

[ She purses her lips, pouting while she sets her gaze off somewhere distant. ]

Mm, interested in my wish? Feeling extra curious about me now, are you?

[ Teasingly. After Rom's big apology, leveling with her about spirits and ghosts, she's feeling extra motivated to tease and bother him more. Before, it'd seemed... well, his wariness was noticeable. ]

I can tell you — it's just for fun, after all.

[phenomerom]

Haha, who wouldn't be curious about one as charming as yourself?

[ Again, this would be a lot more flattering if his delivery didn't feel just kind of off with how casually and dead-pan he says it ...

But he gives a soft clear of the throat afterwards. A little more seriously: ]

And it only seems fair. We're fellow participants, after all. Everyone's wishes should be equally important, no?

[embellwish]

Is that your way of saying you want me to go first? Hmph.

[ Not very traditional.... but, at the same time, Rom has spent the better part of this game looking at her in quite a grim light. She considers him for a moment, before relenting, leaning her back against the trunk of her tree. ]

...As you may already know, this form before you isn't physical.

[ He's sensitive to the supernatural, he said. It should've been easy for him to pick up on, if he could sense the spirits of her homeland to such an extent — even people who aren't blessed with his talents notice that there's something off about her. The relative coolness of her body, the ethereally soft and smooth skin, her hair longer than should be manageable... how she never seems to be seen out of sorts or disheveled. Anyone would find it strange after a while. ]

My physical form is too corrupted to be removed from the wisteria. You could say the star that fell caused "mutations," in a way. [ ..... ] Even I don't know what it may look like inside here...

[ She taps a hand on the trunk. The vision before Rom is only a replica created by Yingying from what she remembers she looks like. For all she knows, there's no longer anything resembling a person inside. But, as before, this is something she can relay calmly to Rom, who's only ever met her with casualness and a sort of grave seriousness hanging over their conversations. ]

I'd like to wish to allow my body to be separated from the wisteria and survive. That's the only way I can return to living in any normal sense.

[ Others have suggested she wish for a new body entirely... but this is the answer she's settled on, after a lot of deliberation. ]

[phenomerom]

[ He understands that, he thinks. The desire to have her original body back, instead of a pristine new one, even if the wish might come with risks. She's been through so much, after all, and he can imagine her original form is what she links to her memories of that lost village -- her loved ones, who she carried for so long. He can understand the desire to be whole once more in the form for which she was loved and cherished, even if it might emerge scarred.

Rom had been listening quietly to Yingying's explanation, responding only with a small nod at first. But when he smiles afterward, it's a little gentler than that usual Cheshire grin he wears -- something a little softer and more genuine. ]

I see. I very much hope it comes true, Miss Yingying.

[ Pause, before he gives a low laugh, a little bittersweet. ]

I'm afraid I can't do anything as grand as offer you any sort of blessing. Unfortunately my skills are limited to dealing with the unpleasant and malicious ... [ A glance down at his hand, and a blink in thought before he looks back to her. ] ... I wouldn't want to jinx your wish. Preparing for a worst case scenario feels like asking for trouble, after all. But I've also been taught to prepare failsafes for every occasion, so. If you'd like me to try and craft something so that you can carry the wisteria's energy with you, I'd be happy to. I'd like to be able to help in any way I can.

[ But that's his own selfish desire. He won't foist it on her. ]

But otherwise -- I'll be sincerely wishing for your success. I think everyone would be overjoyed if your wish came true.

[embellwish]

"Carry the wisteria's energy?"

[ She tilts her head, eyes lighting up with curiosity. Despite her deep connection with the tree, in her own world, very little is understood about it, so she only has her own innate knowledge to go off of with regards to how it's alive and dependent on her. ]

So you were a total sweetheart all along too, Rom, [ She reaches out to poke him gently in the chest, teasing. ] And you hid it from me all this time.