WEEK THREE MATCH CEREMONY

[potatomance]

ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MATCH CEREMONY

It's That Time! Again! Woohoo! Step on up, take your seats, place your bets and pray for mercy!

It is once again the same set-up, so you'd all better be looking spiffy and spruced-up.

Riri looks the same as always, but that's because it's Riri.

"Let's see how you did this time? Lucy the Pussy is up first, so don't waste our time and get up here already!"

This is why Riri doesn't have any friends, maybe.

Comments

[hearthwarming]

Oh? And why's that?

[ozzz]

Xianyun feels like the type to hold grudges. If Maruki is anything to go by, Phoenix is the opposite.

[alcoheal]

You're thinking that since your match is likely your opposite, the same is true for others'.

[They have been talking about this throughout the weeks... but it's really going to make things complicated in this home stretch.]

But not all of us, surely?

[ozzz]

Yukong and Aurelia are opposites, aren't they?

[Yukong is nice (enough); Aurelia isn't. Still, he gives the question a brief moment of thought.]

Do you believe it's Zhongli and Lin, then?

[alcoheal]

[HELP NOT THE AURELIA SHADE...sounds like a Mithra skill issue, but she cocks her head as she tries to follow the logic she's getting more accustomed to after this much time.]

They're less similar than we initially thought, but not the way you and Dr. Brenner are, I'd say. I'd be more likely to be his match than you if that were the case. [She says this with a slight curl of her lip.]

I don't know. I didn't think about them enough. They're both serious types, but not in the same way. Their magic centers on earth, but that's a little flimsy.

[ozzz]

[He gives her the faint arch of his eyebrow at that. Does Manuela have bad taste or what? What a worrisome woman.]

They're both engrossed in the past. If that makes them a similar match, then . . .

[He trails off, as does his gaze.]

[alcoheal]

[NO!! Also yes, but in this case, no. But as someone who used her own ambition to climb to the very top, she knows about that level of determination.

He gets distant again, a little like the way he did in the blanket fort, and Manuela leans forward in response.]

You just thought of something, [she prompts.]

[ozzz]

[Manuela, no!!

With a small nod, he turns back to face her.]

Well . . . it has nothing to do with the matches.

[alcoheal]

[Well, it's time to annoy him by continuing the conversation. She's a real pain in his ass, isn't she? Manuela gets into the same pattern she usually does with him without really thinking.]

You don't necessarily know that. If it stood out to you, you probably think it's important. [She's not saying it is important because everything out of Mithra's mouth runs the risk of being a random thought... but she knows he doesn't notice things that don't stand out to him. Much to her constant aggravated annoyance.]

[ozzz]

[He wonders about that. More than anything, his eyebrows momentarily lift at Manuela's words.]

No, it really doesn't. [Have anything to do with the matches, that is.] It's simply a feeling. How should I put it . . . if they leave this show together, it'll be too quiet.

[alcoheal]

[Simply a feeling... all right. She cocks her head to the side.]

I'm listening.

[First of all, talking about people leaving the show together might not directly have anything to do with the matches, but it does fact in to the discussion somewhere, doesn't it? Beyond that, since Mithra says he doesn't care about loneliness, what would too quiet mean to him? Why would he feel that way?]

[ozzz]

[Well, obviously. What is he supposed to do about that? On the other hand, her accompanying silence gives him ample time to gather his abstract thoughts until they're like grains of sand in his grasp. Even then, it's difficult for him to articulate what he's feeling.]

. . . The past is too much for a woman like her. She's better off forgetting it lest she boil over and get sick again.

[alcoheal]

[At the word "sick," Manuela finds her eyebrows raising.]

Lin has been ill? [That's news to her. Lin has always seemed closed-off and stubborn, but even someone who hides their pain well usually has a few tells. Manuela could tell, for example, how deep the wounds from her husband betraying her had really cut, even though she'd done all she could to move on by now?]

...Do memories make you sick?

[ozzz]

Of course not.

[He's lived much, much longer than Lin has. If memories made people sick, he'd be critically ill.]

She was holding onto frustrations without letting them out, so she ended up passing out.

[alcoheal]

[Okay but he both doesn't remember shit and IS critically ill, so, what are we supposed to do about that? Manuela holds her tongue, though someone who was actually observant of expressions might see her going to the effort of biting back her remark.

Hearing that Lin passed out, though? That's got her attention and concern. She leans in.] Really? When was this? Maybe I shouldn't be surprised... she's been working hard since the start and we've made so little progress.

[ozzz]

[Listen. This isn't about him.]

It wasn't here. I saw it in a memory. [Felt it, too. He can't say that he enjoyed the feeling.]

[hearthwarming]

I thought we tried to pick our "similar" matches that first week because of Yukong and Aurelia having many similarities...

[ She hums thoughtfully... ]

Manuela did suggest that there could be something for complementing each other. Maybe... on the surface, our only proven pair have those similarities, but maybe in less obvious ways, they have differences that complement each other well. I can't really say with what, specifically, but...

[ And then she just shrugs. Everything happens so much. ]

[ozzz]

[Don't look at him. He picked Aurelia and Lin. In retrospect, he thinks he should've voted for Yukong and Lin if they were choosing similar matches . . .

He also has no idea what everyone is saying. Yukong and Aurelia are opposites; this is firmly cemented in his mind.]

Then it's all the more reason to believe it's those two. Weren't they talking about choosing the same person the other day?

[hearthwarming]

Well... Either way, whether we decide to send them or Zhongli and Lin to the final booth, we'll be able to verify... Unless we get another sort of hint from the fairy this week.

[ But even so, there's so many... unknowns and variables here. ]

We do have another light to account for, to. What are the chances it could be you and Brenner after all...?

[ozzz]

[He supposes that's true. Frankly, though, the entire process is tedious and absurd.]

Who else could it be?

[hearthwarming]

Well...

[ . . . ]

You have a point.

[ozzz]

Are you that uncertain of your own match?