week one | match ceremony

[showhost]

The weather is temperate and mild for the match ceremony on this fine Saturday evening, and the crew leads everyone onto a balcony with a cute seating set-up of couches and love-seats. The vibes are Trendy. There are enough places to sit for everyone, but there are only two single chairs, so everyone else is gonna have to cozy up on the couch. Or you can cuddle up in the chairs. I’m not your mom. Also there is only one egg seat. There's mood lighting, like fairy lights.

To one side, there's a small stage of sorts, with a podium where the characters will place their hands to lock in their answers.

Wednesday and Ryuji are led off to the other side so that they can take a seat of honor over on a comfy couch to one side--close to the other contestants, but just far enough away that it's clear they're getting special treatment. Don't you wanna go to the Honeymoon Suite now? Huh???

Anyway.

There are non-alcoholic drinks for people to take at will (all the better to catch spittakes on camera), and the weather is breezy and nice.

And, standing in front of the makeshift stage, with a set of seven unlit lights behind him and one lit light, stands the Overseer. He is dressed the part, of course. He also... looks tired for a moment, but he snaps back to his Proper Hostly Character as soon as the cameras are properly on them and everyone is settled in.

He presses a hand to his chest, sweeping the other outwards.

"Welcome, everyone, to your first Match Ceremony!"

He beams, all classic Tsukasa Sparkles. "As your host, allow me to explain how this will work."

For... the audience mostly. Maybe also for Ryuji? He's not sure how many of the contestants still don't know. It's fine.

"The lights behind me represent each Perfect Match. If--no, when you manage to light every single one, you'll have won, and you will all receive your wishes. For each Perfect Match you find at this ceremony, a light will be lit! And it is your task to figure out which pairs led to those lights appearing."

He nods firmly, eyes and expression shining with confidence in the competitors sitting before him. "And you do not even have to worry about losing a wish this week! It isn't possible for you to have a blackout, since Miss Addams and Sakamoto were a Perfect Match. Congratulations!"

Get on with it, Tsukasa. He clears his throat, pauses just long enough for there to be an inevitable easy cut to commercial break when they edit this later, and then:

"We will begin this week with Team Wonder."

He extends his hand to Dorothea, the other pressed over his heart. "If the lovely Miss Arnault would come up to start us off...?"

Looks like it’s the moment of truth, so strap in.

--

The ceremony has finally arrived! Each character on Team Wonder will be called up in an order determined by the producers (read: rng'd). Each will get their own sub-toplevel that characters can react to at will.

After the matches have all been locked in, we will then find out just how many you all got right.

Otherwise, feel free to use this log for reactions/toplevels for pre- and post-ceremony, and anything else you please. The world of reality TV dating is yours to embrace.

Comments

[counton]

[ No arguments at all here. ]

If we're focusing on who goes to the Truth Booth next, then we're probably better off picking a set who didn't match up at all this week. It's more of a shot in the dark, but our odds aren't any worse than trying to figure out which set of us was correct.

[haircared]

That seems pretty risky...

[ Both are unlikely to get them a correct match, but a 1 in 7 versus 1 in... several thousand? ]

Are you talking about Will and Yanami?

[makeine]

No, I think Ritsuka-chan's right. I'd rather vote for a one in six chance than anything outside it.

[ it's just sensible. and has nothing to do with how her chest feels so heavy. ]

Me and Will-kun are obviously a match, whatever that light might imply otherwise, so let's save us for a rainy day.

[counton]

If you'd rather not go, then I don't think we should send you two.

We can try to send one of the matches, but we'll have to narrow down who seems like the most likely possibility in that case.

[makeine]

[ ...

thank goodness will isn't here right now, though she still glances to check before she replies. not... to the first part, though. ]

That's easy. If we're discounting the ones the producers might've handed Tenma-san.

[counton]

That does help narrow things down some.

[makeine]

Right? Then it's just like, a handful of them.

[ definitely not including minami and will though, ]

We can just throw them together this week and see who has the best chemistry!

[counton]

[ No... Lessing likes Will as a person, he seems like a good guy. He would hate to see him actually be Minami's match at this point. ]

That's probably our best option.

[haircared]

A few days ago, I would've wanted to send you two, but without you sitting together at the ceremony.... we don't gain a lot, if it were wrong.

[ Rubs his temple... ]

If we send one of the six other matches, we could at least further narrow it down, even if we don't guess the right one. We have a lot more to gain this way.

[makeine]

[ flinching a bit

josuke that was so mean. ]

Y...Yeah. I agree, so... yeah.

[haircared]

[ He's not oblivious to the fact that her feelings just got hurt... it's just that this is the answer that seems most logical. He tilts his head sympathetically. ]

Sorry, Yanami. I wish it was you two sitting together this week instead. If I knew things were gonna turn out this way, I would've tried to pick you.

[ Because she said her fee fees would get hurt if no one picked her... : ( ]

[makeine]

No! It's fine. I mean, yours might be the one -- we don't need a total loss, our banger decision yesterday aside. I'm okay.

[ she's

totally okay! ]

[haircared]

[ He does Not think things are fine.... ]

Could be, could not be. I'm not gonna say for certain. There's still a lot of time before the next vote, and people are showing their true colors pretty damn fast. [ Minami is a demon.... Akechi is a petty bitch.... are there any more PLOT TWISTS he should know about?? ] We're gonna need your intuition still, so hang in there, yeah?

[ He leans down his head to try to meet her eyes. ]

[singurarity]

What do you think about you and Mark?

[haircared]

Gotta admit, I think we're one of the more likely ones. Along with you and Lessing, or Sanji and Dorothea.

[ Wherever Mark is, he sneaks a glance towards him. ]

We don't know each other that well yet, so it's just on my gut feeling. I'll probably know better by the time we actually have to vote...

[singurarity]

Yeah, that makes sense. Next week should help us figure it out a little more.

[ She pauses, trying to figure out how to word this. ]

I know it's early, but if you think you'd really like to work on knowing him romantically, just let me know? I don't want to hurt anyone.

[ Like she is already thinking very firmly platonically about Will due to Anna friendship! She can do this too! For the boys! ]

[haircared]

[ That makes him arch a brow, momentarily confused. ]

I get what you mean, but it's a little soon for something like that to be set in stone...

[ Even talking about being exclusive with anyone so early makes him a little nervous, even if he'd rather not be dating multiple people at once, either. It's complicated. Turns out his complicated family problems had an impact on his feelings towards intimacy. ]

You're not gonna hurt my feelings either way, okay? I told you yesterday, I was thinking of picking you.

[titlecard]

[ He catches Josuke's eye and gives him a small, friendly wave, but leaves it at that. Really, it's best to leave him and Ritsuka to their conversation. He really likes them both... so as long as they're all still friends, that's what's most important right now. ]

[singurarity]

I'm fine with considering it, but I'm not sure how we'd even begin narrowing it down...

[ Her headache's back. ]

[counton]

[ He gets it... ]

This didn't really give us much to go on in the end. Maybe we would be best sending one of the sets to the truth booth, and trying to pick entirely different couples for the matching ceremony.

[singurarity]

Okay, then. Just your opinion--which ones do you think might be a contender here?

[counton]

[ He has to stop and think about this for a moment. ]

Dorothea and Sanji or Mark and Josuke.

[ And admittedly... ]

If I'd been the one choosing a match you would have been my top choice, because I feel the most comfortable with you, but I'll be honest a week isn't enough for me to gauge anything beyond the fact that we get along fairly well. I sort of assumed you picked me because we agreed to work together on figuring this out too.

[singurarity]

You and Josuke have the same idea, it sounds like.

[ A pause, lightly tapping her chin. ]

That was part of it, but it's not like I don't think you're attractive, either. Right now, I don't really have romantic feelings for anyone, but not everyone is the same, so I wanted to try to avoid stepping on toes, too.

[ Haaaa. ]

But we'll spend more time together next week, right?

[counton]

[ Oh...? Oh... That comment about finding him attractive seems to take him by surprise for a moment. She'll be learning one of his tells soon as just one ear tilts back as he pulls his face back into something more neutral. ]

Right. Maybe the six of us should meet shortly before we vote for who goes into the booth next, and compare who has a stronger sense it might be at that point?

[singurarity]

[ Was that surprise? Did she surprise him?

... Heh, that kind of feels like a victory, and Ritsuka grins a little. ]

I think that's a good idea. Any of the other pairs might also have figured out more, too. But at the very least, we'll have something to work on.

--Which reminds me, I found that song I was telling you about!