Week 2 Matchup Ceremony;

[omnivoracious]

❤ Week 2 Matchup Ceremony

[ It's Time.

The Overseer will call everyone outside, to the 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-- and Cyrus and Douki-chan continue to be seated together.

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

Hello, everyone. Choices for our third 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 eight 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.

Due to the unfortunate departure of Dohalim, Kuchiha and Vivy, our matchmakers have changed some of the Perfect Matches and also discovered a trio of three. I will inform one of the three of this development next week, to assist them.

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Comments

[reappraise]

[ They nod in agreement to everything she's said— it's true, they can't really theorize too far until the Overseer says she'll throw them a bone tomorrow. However, they feel pretty confident at least one of the two return matches are correct... which leaves only one or two slots for the new pairs to be correct. Hmmm.

Before they can start getting too discouraged, though, their attention has also been brought by the stares. First things first, they shake their head, meeting her eyes. Truthfully, they look a little self-conscious, too. ]

Not to me. But maybe to others...?

[ What is the source of these judgmental stares... their first thought: is it because Marcille is popular? Is Johnny interested in Marcille? Second: is it weird for them to be close? They always thought everyone would think an interspecies romance would be fun and exciting... ]

I like being close.... [ They confess, breaking eye contact. Back on their home planet, if they hugged someone too hard with their infectious affectionate energy, it was no big deal; gems could be fixed pretty easily if they accidentally underestimated their own strength. Now is a little different. ] But I know I'm not soft like a Lunarian or a human might be. Being close might be uncomfortable to you, or hurt you by accident. That's my only worry.

[ They don't particularly care if others have a problem with it, even if they can't help but notice the stares. ]

[saucerous]

... It feels like there's no privacy in this house most of the time, so I'm a little surprised if no one saw us before tonight.

[After getting through all the other possible pairings between weeks, they'll eventually have to move on to deciphering the one (ones?) that were added this week. That means talking about their own match, which, with the eyes on them, she'd rather do after they leave the stage. At their hesitance, she leans forward for just a moment as if to draw them in for a hug, then changes her mind, instead taking their forearm in one hand and threading their fingers through the other (LOOK, TREVOR, SHE'S HOLDING THEIR HAND).]

You're afraid of hurting me? [She sounds surprised, not that Dia is capable of it (she saw them with the boulder), but that it's holding them back. They've behaved mostly as friends throughout their growing connection - maybe that's why she, in turn, is so concerned that her kisses were unwelcome ones.]

You haven't done anything to hurt me so far. But it's true that I don't know anyone like you, and that's... now that I think about it, unprecedented things always come with a lot of unknowns. Let's try and figure out what it means for us to be close.

[reappraise]

Mm... let's do that.

[ Their smile becomes a bit more peaceful, relaxed, as their hand closes around hers. They're not sure what this nervousness is in their chest— sure, it's been fine, the way they've been clinging onto some of their human companions (that put up with it). But this is a different kind of closeness, isn't it? The gem they know who is intimate with others only ever complains about how their body is a burden.

At their heart... what's worrying them more is that she'll find their differences to be a burden, too. ]

It goes both ways. I've never met anyone like you either... so I have my own learning to do. [ They close their other hand around their joined ones. ] But I meant what I said. I want to get closer and closer, whatever that means for us. What anyone else thinks.. I'm not worried about it.

my guy do we need to do another serious chat thread after this

[saucerous]

I'm pretty accomplished at teaching! Especially if you're a quick study. [Marcille isn't necessarily trying to intentionally insert some levity into the conversation - actually, she speaks with complete seriousness. Despite that, what she says might be just the breath their conversation needed. They're still surrounded by all the flash of the ceremony, after all.]

That's probably a good thing, because I think Trevor might be thinking some terrible things about me right about now.

[She's had little time to get to know him like some of the others, and while feeling judgment from someone like Johnny is painful, there's something that stings especially about someone who doesn't even know her hitting her with that scrutiny.]

I heard that sometimes that on "reality programming" they try to make people out to be acting in good or bad faith...I hope I don't actually turn out to be some kind of villainess.

im down if u are to go --> later... to continue talking shit about trevor and johnny

[reappraise]

[ No.... they actually look sad when she says that, conflicted over what they should say. They can't deny that Trevor is giving mad hater energy over there, but they also know that Trevor is a genuinely nice person who just sometimes can't really like. Communicate what he's thinking or feeling in the moment. How do they defend Trevor while also consoling Marcille... ]

I don't think that will happen. I chose first, so I'm the one who made things this way. And everyone here thinks of you quite highly.

[ Dia says that to be reassuring, eyes darting away only to check on what's even happening with the ceremony. ]

Besides, I'm the one... that made things strange between myself and him. By acting the way I did last Saturday. So if he feels upset at this turn of events, it's probably my own doing... I'm sorry you've gotten dragged into it. But in the end, this would've had to happen eventually. The Overseer said last week was...

[ They trail off, not wanting to say it outright. ]

ye! let's do --> later but maybe they'll have that talk post-challenge? i can start either way

[saucerous]

I guess it's impossible to avoid all hurt feelings entirely in a situation like this.

[She's referring to a multitude of hurt feelings her now: Diamond, who felt last week that no one really tried to understand them. Trevor, for extending himself Even her own, maybe, a little bit, at the closing of one door so firmly in her face at the revelation about the blackout.

To say nothing of the countless others who have felt hurts little and large over the course of their weeks together. For the most part, they all keep pressing on.

The reminder of the retroactive blackout, where they came so close to losing someone's hope for their future, prompts her to speak more firmly, sitting up straight in her seat.]

You should talk to him: It's not your fault, either. When things have calmed down, I'll try to smooth things over with him, too. He's not going to want to say anything to me tonight. [She sighs.] I think we surprised Johnny, too. [Marcille speaks of him with more familiarity and fondness, having spent time with him recently. If diamond had changed their mind, maybe tonight would have gone differently.]

OK sounds good!! and ty 🥺

[reappraise]

[ They nod— they were already planning on trying to corner him at some point. Now that they're aware of what it feels like to feel unwanted at one of these hugely public ceremonies, they have empathy for it happening to anyone else. Which just so happens to apply to both of the subjects of this conversation. ]

Is it really that surprising, though...? We're not so different.

[ Both of them are love enthusiasts, pretty, and kind (in Diamond's case, kind enough, until they have a reason not to be). That's enough similarities in their mind to warrant this not being an out of the box pair up. Privately, they theorize that Johnny has some other reason to react this way, but they have the tact to not speak on that theory when he's like, right there. ]

Maybe I'll try to see what Johnny is thinking, too. Later, though. He seems like he'll be gloomy after this... and I'm not sure yet how to cheer him up when he's down.

np! i'll hit your tl

[saucerous]

Maybe it isn't so surprising. From the beginning, I knew we had similar interests, but looking back at it now I think everyone probably thought we were friends, not a match.

[And anyway, maybe the line between the two is a lot shakier than she's even considered before. Friends become more all the time, in stories and in real life, but she's never thought about that for herself before now, especially with the way her connections have been changing rapidly, week to week.]

Johnny is much better than he's giving himself credit for, and I think that helps him push people away. Anyway, if he just stopped complaining, maybe he'd learn something... [He is like right there, though, so she doesn't go into too much more detail than that.] But I think he's great...and surely someone will recognize that before we have to leave here.

[He's been on her mind too since they had the chance to speak one-on-one more. Marcille doesn't want to put into words that, with only one additional light this week, she and Dia are standing against some significant odds. They all still have to worry about winning, somewhere in the middle of all this feeling.] I've seen so much more from everyone.