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

[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.]