ayto | Week 0 Matchup Ceremony;

❤ Week 0 Matchup Ceremony

[ It's Time.

The Overseer will call everyone outside, to a new area. She stands at the podium behind a screen bearing two handprints, while the guys can sit in the seats and the ladies + Diamond will be directed to stand on the platform.

Behind her and off to the side, there are ten beams of light. ]

Hello, everyone. Choices for our first week have been made. When a couple has been announced, please come forward and place your hands on the screen. You will be locked in.

Once all couples have locked in, the lights will go out. For every couple that is a Perfect Match, a beam of light will appear. To win this game, you will need all ten beams lit. If no new beams have been added per week, you will encounter a blackout and one of you will be chosen at random to lose your wish.

As this is our first week, I will not be penalizing you, should we have no Perfect Matches. However, please keep this in mind going forward.

Now. Let's begin.

Premise ❤ FAQ ❤ Rules ❤ Truth Booth ❤ Locations ❤
Profiles ❤ Permissions ❤

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, can’t expect much from just the first week alone. Going forward, we can all organize ourselves a little better. Maybe everyone can come prepared if we arrange a meeting, with a list of what they want in a partner?

Anyway, it’s a good start. I think between all of us, we might end up with their perfect matches in a week or two.

[Especially since they’ll all have more to work with.]

I like your confidence! [She brightens right up immediately. That's right, Marcille! This can be done, and now they have what they need to take another pass at it.]

We should do it before the Booth next week. It'll give us a better idea who to send. A week or two... They say true love can't be rushed, but for those of us waiting for a wish, it's pretty tempting, isn't it?

[To say nothing of the overachievers and those who will be happy to leave everything else behind once they have their matches.]

I’m confident only because I’m seeing how successful we are already. I have faith we can recreate it again.

Count me in. I’ll be there. And who says true love can’t be… motivated to put itself on the fast track? I’d like my wish, too. Is that what you’re going for?

As long as we target the right 50%, even fixing half of those matches leaves us with just a few people who aren't together.

[It's really a question of who would take the wish over the true love, who sees them as equal, and who would only ever have come for one in the first place. If anything comes between their combined efforts, it would be those priorities - ones she doesn't plan on backing down from.

She smiles at the question, even if her mind is still caught up in that possible conflict.]

I want both. Is that weird? Though, in my case, getting one will make it easier to have the other. That's my hope, anyway.

I don't think that's weird. Many equate their perfect partner to happiness; and most wish for some form of happiness to boot. It makes sense that for most, they'd be related.

What's your wish? [Well, maybe that's too bold, and Rufus knows it. But he pushes and prods now and again, testing to see what people wish to tell him and what they don't.] You can be vague if you want.

My wish? [She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear.]

Because they live so much longer than most of the other races, elves lord their control over them. Magic, history, law... In many places, they have a hand in all of it.

I want people of all races to have equal opportunity.

[Vague or not, it's at least easy to get the sense that this is at the very lease a truncated version.]

[He’s quiet, wondering at an assumption of his, then asks outright — as always.]

Aren’t you an elf? Stop me if I’m getting ahead of myself, but—

[He markedly gestures at his ears, in turn meaning her own.]

My mother is. It's usually kind of a bother to explain, and since you're not an elf, you probably didn't even notice.

[People belonging to the more short-lived races can't really tell: Elves look like elves, and her rounder features and the blunted tips of her ears just seem like trait variations.

If there's any self-consciousness or embarrassment to go along with the reveal of this information, however, Marcille is completely poker-faced.]

I see. [He definitely wouldn't see the subtle differences, considering there are no elves on Gaia. However, her explanation does make some sense.]

That would explain why you care about the plight of the downtrodden. [Ah, there's some irony in Rufus having this conversation, and he seems faintly amused by it, a glint in his eye. But he's reigning back any further signs, trying to keep the tone invariable.] You have some investment in it. Family-wise, I mean.

A noble cause. And even better: noble means, too, doing it this way.

[This... reality TV show. Hurting no one, except maybe someone's pride or two.]

["The downtrodden?" She mouths. Sure, this is something that will give more people chances. No one will ever be torn apart again, if her dream becomes a reality. There's just something about the way that says it that makes her hesitate, defensive despite herself, ears twitching.]

There's nothing wrong with being a half-elf. [Marcille finally settles on responding, her voice firm - albeit testing the waters a little, trying to show him her lack of shame.] We're quite hardy, actually.

... It might be an unorthodox method, yeah, but I like the thought of it coming no strings attached. [Except the strings of a perfect match, she guesses. That's a lot different than selling a soul.]

[He has the feeling she's indeed testing the waters with him, used to the signs. He's been raised to survive in the crucible of the board room, cutting his teeth years ago with Shinra's business projects when he was just a teen. Barely a teen. Rufus knows when a conversation's skewed more assessing than open.]

I never meant to imply that. [That there was something being wrong with a half-elf.] Only that if there's a power imbalance, then that means someone must have a reason to complain about it. Thus, your wish.

If such a weighty problem can be solved so easily, only with participation in this game, then I can only wish you the best.

You don't believe that it can?

[He said something similar just a few moments ago, and now Rufus has circled back to it: The relative harmlessness of a wish that can accomplish anything, when all they have to do is make sure they've all found the right match.

It sounds too good to be true, logically, and she thinks he must be poking around the reality of the concept to be weaving it in like that.]

It sounds a little too good to be true. If forces out there exist, able to grant wishes on a whim to strangers across worlds, then they spend their efforts on… what?

[A gesture all around them.]

This? Entertainment? Romantic drama?

[Mind, it would be nice if it’s that simple. And Rufus is here on the off-chance that it is. But surely everyone’s questioned it at least once before their arrival?]

[What, like there's a chance that something that indiscriminately offers to grant your desires may take something far more important from you in return? That's silly.]

It's good to be cautious and know what you're getting into, sure. [She reassures his reservations at first, so as not to dismiss them.]

But... Just because a power is capable of something as powerful as altering reality, I don't think that's a reason to fear it or keep it locked away.

I think it's quite the opposite, actually. There's no good or evil about magic. Only usage. [She can't even begin to guess at the intentions of their hosts, even if high romantic stakes and drama really is all they're out for. But the contestants themselves are responsible for what they do with the power.]

Week 0 Matchup Ceremony;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject