tl;cr meme

[marriagebroker]

post your character, people reply, give them the deets. you know how this goes.

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[beatmatching]

no one's looking here anymore right? right? i apologize for how long this is probably gonna be. here goes-

i've said in other comments but both oocly and icly me and luka weren't expecting him to get a ship! me oocly because looks at the Everything he is, like yeah he's pretty and talented but that comes with enough baggage to sink the titanic. luka on the other hand has never had a romantic bend even if you consider hyuna—his relationship with her kind of just happened and after it fell apart, he kind of bundled it up in a box he keeps tight against his heart where he feels it always, but never looks at it.

luka really was coming in here for more media + pr-- not only for himself but also for ALNST in general! like yeah there are "free" humans here but even that is beneficial for the human trade in ALNST bc look at the diversity and diff kinds of humans there are! buy them now! closes my eyes. anyway, so luka's goal really was just to make sure he had a presence which both comes extremely natural to him and is also what he's good at. he's also no stranger to being sexual/sensual thanks to his father (seriously just look at him in Blink Gone he knows exactly what he's doing), so if this was a show that involved sexual tension, luka was sure he could slay! his intentions after were to do more PR and enter ALNST 50 (current canon) and although yeah he knew about the wish thing he never gave it any real thought because anything he earns is property of his father, not him. it's just basic reality and wwx asked luka early on what he'd use the wish for, and even putting heperu aside??? theres nothing he wanted. he wouldnt wish to see hyuna again because of his pride which is probably the only want he had so... yeah.

overall this round had people were in a whole earnest, heartfelt and genuine even if they couldn't express it right from the start, or at the least had those who could make some type of connection with others (simple if not deep). it's such a bad match for him as someone who's spent his entire life suppressing what it means to be human as a form of survival, along with the futility of making connections in a world where humans are pets/objects. so with that background in mind, here we go pt 2...

their first thread! week 1 was pretty much luka in Stage mode always.

he flirts in their thread because as maya herself put it, luka was flirting with everyone (minus poppy)! which wasn't a diss on maya he was just Playing the game. looking back though, she did manage to get him more as himself with the kick ass comment even if it was briefly. this is more because "kick ass" is something he associates with Hyuna so it's very clear in his mind! but also he knows his body is uh. held together by bubblegum and alien prayers. which while it's something he doesn't advertise, he IS aware of! also his answer to "I'd rather just have you sing a song you like!" was his way of answering "I don't have a song I like" question. lukas impression of her after this thread was pmuch nothing special--though he did think it was unlikely that his version of seduction would be particularly effective with her. he has confidence in himself always but considering the ease with which she batted away his flirting + in general her candor, he figured there were better fish to pursue for the sake of TV.

enter thread two--which happened entirely by coincidence bc of edamura. he was also a bit more aggressive in the kiss than even he'd normally be, because he was frustrated by edamura not playing and aggression is how luka vents a lot of his emotions bc lol ;;. but! she didn't take it poorly all things considered and it's not like he was even going for the romantic angle in it, so he was happy to talk (bitch) about edamura, yay! which led to hand holding which, while not particularly deep, is something he genuinely likes which are pretty rare. if he was a normal guy the thought that she was being considerate (maybe flirting?) to him with the keeping warmth comment would have Registered in some way, but instead it just kind of threw him off (not in a bad way!) because uh. no one shows concern for him ever? and while people did here (and had before this!) it was more direct and hers was... hmm. it felt like it kind of just happened so he didn't feel the need to push back against it. it just was/was simple! he offers her his shoulder to slump dramatically against after, something he likely would have done anyway but he did it with some actual Whisper of a want here because of the handholding/general thread tempo.

as i mentioned in plurk, she then proceeds to entirely throw him for real with the "I exist" comment. it's just something so incredibly bold and framed in a certain way that he def got hit with shades and vibrations of hyuna so he laughed. legitimately laughed and then decided he was interested in pursing her (for show purposes!) simply because she was more fun than he had realized. he's in a good mood now, so he's more playful/teasing which leads us down the dolphin to him falling head over heels for her in a few comments. he did very briefly consider if letting her pet him was a good idea but as luka is someone who craves affection/love at his core...he couldn't say no. plus its not like he had even asked her? (he would have never) and once that happened it was done because now he actually had a crush on her which is something that has happened once in his life up until this point and aaaaaa. tbh he would have kept her there for as long as he could but he pulls back first only because he realizes he is no longer in control of his heartbeat which is a DEFCON1 moment as that's something he's been trained to do/forced to do that the fact that's he Not is a Big Deal. and yeah the "I like your interviews" was confession #1 fdlfjks

their talk on the truth booth picking is funny because he's still Processing that and again while he would have asked her on a date anyway...he did it more casually because of everything that's happened so far. how much feelings were involved here im not sure, but it was more than the 0% it was for everyone else. double this when he gives her the flower because he would have gone with a more suave line but the real reason he did was because yeah. he just wanted to give it to her! from him to her and it is very simple but it is real. and then he asks and she agrees to pet his hair again and he sinks even further, aware of it even more now. theres another small doki here that she didnt just do what he asked, she made him say please-- luka is someone who will always push in some way and he's a power bottom what can I say, yeah. one general trend i want to point out is that as soon as she started to get to the real him in the spin the bottle thread, you can notice how he relaxes in his speech with "okays" and stuff. because thats real luka speaking, not idol luka!

match ceremony 1 here we goooo aka luka rubberbanding from being in a great place to a poor one because he's aware of how alien (lol) he is compared to everyone else. he's less sulking and more deciding that the stupid chatter after isn't worth his time, and as an introvert being away from people helps! ngl though, he was pleased that maya came to see him...but bc he was very much in a place where he felt extremely alone he didn't reach out to her in the way he (wanted to) and this is him sulking here. but he does eventually come around to talk to her because it IS what he wants and as she affirmed she wanted to, why not! she passes a pretty significant check in this thread with the god comment-- actually in a way, luka does see himself as a god/savior.

"Make me your god, I can give you everything"

is a direct line from his song "Ruler of My Heart" which he wrote to Hyuna. but he seems himself that way bc of heperu, not because he actually wants to be that. so while it wouldnt have changed him liking her, the fact that she said she didn't was a point in his (good/pos) affection towards her.

with that in mind he mentions to wwx that he is interested in 1 person during their interview which is. something hes not sure he wants to admit himself (because it is a real interest and not one for the show), but he does so, yeah. he requests an aquarium date for them because of all the dolphin talk! and he goes into this date with the general thought of being more open but not with any grand plans in mind. he asks her if she likes it because he honestly doesnt know if she does-- not bc he wanted credit for doing something just for her. he has a crush yeah but hes also aware to some extent that its rooted in some way to how he misses hyuna, so its a very much Wait and See approach that. does not last long at all because she kisses his hand back

a hand kiss means nothing to him but the fact its from her and the fact that one again she does it without him prompting entirely seals the deal for him. thats why he blushes and shows her what his expressions really look like because shes gotten there and shes in his heart now. and because hes in actual luka mode (and bc he has a sense for these kind of things), he confesses to her pt 2!!!! in a way even she cant mistake. their date is pretty adorable and he does make a note to push less hard than he normally would... like he wanted to kiss her on the lips here but he doesnt because she asked him to wait, and its not like she dropped his hand so...he can be patient! he can be a good boy (maybe). this is also where penguin courtships gets entirely cemented into his vernacular because as someone who knows NOTHING about romance.... clearly maya must be telling him this because its helpful/its what she wants!!!!

so then the hyuna thread happens which despite being very hyuna centric, is what pulls him away from just projecting the old love of his life onto her and fully seeing maya as just maya. by this point hes talked to a few people about being a pet-human and they've all been "wtf" or been angry for him. neither of those responses work for him, so the fact that she acknowledged that she didnt like it but also didnt think it was fair to force him to face it... really meant so much. this was when his affections turned into more than infatuation because... even hyuna couldnt do this for him. him and hyuna were at odds with their view on their life: hyuna wanted to escape/fight back and luka didnt see the point in it. but here was someone who was willing to Hear him out and just let him process it and that means more than luka could put into words.

fast forward to truth booth talk and this is the first time his yan rears its head because ...he doesnt want to lose her. he does think her and aventurine are a match and he doesnt think hes her match but who cares about that, he has shots to take!

relevant to the next thread but also in general: the only reason he doesnt fumble this going forward is because of her, because he starts to mirror how she comforted him because he has no idea how this is supposed to work. the most he would get on his own is to hold her close, but because they went back and forth when he spoke of hyuna, he knows to do this for her here in the rager thread! i forgot to mention it in other threads but also for now and the future, thats probably his usual perfume regardless but now hes def not changing it ever since she liked it.

all in all tho ig the pattern repeats itself where luka goes into the match ceremony in a great mood but then almost crashes out...f djskljfs. so the reason he wasnt really around on the rager was bc he was writing + practicing the song he sang to maya during picks. originally i had picked out a song with a more manic/obsessive tone... but as we wrapped rager thread i realized that he had shifted to feeling more secure with her.

which is why the main thing he wanted to get across with that song was that he wanted to be better for her. they didnt really talk about it (maybe they will one day!) but luka has committed murder either directly or indirectly with some degree of accident involved. luka even to this day, would not hesitate to kill anyone...EXCEPT for her. because he thinks that she'd be disappointed in him/not want him to do that even if he personally doesn't really get it. so him saying this is a big deal because hes like: if you let me in I'll try to be a better person for you. not that the him then was bad but...she makes him want to be better and to Feel more than just cruelly and logically survive.

it was definitely too much admittedly, but luka is too much! still, he cant help himself. he noticed it didnt quite land (or rather that she needed to process) so he was legit down about that because singing is the ONE thing he does well and if that didn't work... yeah. THEN his mood gets even worse because he sees how smitten edamura is with her when he wont let go of her hand first (plus WWX told him about this!) and he nearly crashes out. i mentioned it in meta but luka is emotionally impulsive which is always present in his threads despite how even he might come off most of the time.

he asks her question one because he wants to make sure he still has a shot and the second question...he originally wanted to ask her if she liked anyone as much as him/liked him more than edamura. hes feeling very anxious for all of the above reasons but when she offers to go talk to him now (because he was willing to wait and Stew i mean plot murder) that helps him a lot. so instead of asking her that and outing edamura's crush he goes the spite route (if that guy isnt gonna admit it himself im not doing his job for him), and instead just kind of flops miserably on the ground. he doesnt mind waiting but he takes competition/jealously very badly and hes dying squirtle. but hearing that its not his fault (he doesnt fully buy this but he does buy that he still has a shot!) helps, which means hes able to get out what the heart of his issue is: she makes him happy but he doesnt feel like hes helping her as much. this is super important to luka as hes someone who has a desire to serve (ironically)/provide despite how domineering he can be. but they basically talk it out, so its okay! no stabby