week three | dates

[showhost]

You worked up your courage and asked someone out on a date! Good job!





Now you have to hope the producers are kind re: where they send you.

Comments

[counton]

[ A quiet nod. That's good at least, since it seems like it'd be kind of rough to be put in that situation. Even if you didn't have feelings for the person you were up there with, it's still a dismissal you know is being witnessed by your peers, and that can be rough to go through.

Sanji's a pretty impressively strong willed guy though. After all, he was willing to make a complete buffoon of himself and stuff cigarettes up his nose while being on tv. Lessing could never. ]

That's good at least... and everything that happened after it too?

[ With Asa... ]

[hgeegh]

[Sanji's feelings toward the matches, and therefore the truth booth by extension, are complicated in some ways yet simple in others. He thinks Dorothea was more unsettled by the outcome than he was; for her sake, he's been careful not to make a big show of the negative result.]

If you mean the ceremony, it was what it was. We can probably expect emotions to run high all the time.

[Personally, the ceremony didn't bother him as far as his matchup went. He was called up at a contentious time, and Asa genuinely had better things to do than sit with him.]

[counton]

[ A good guy with a lot of concern for people... maybe women a little more than men, but people in general. That's part of why Lessing wanted to talk to him today, though he's focusing on Sanji first, before slowly redirecting the conversation to that topic. ]

Seems like it's going to, and not just about the match making either.

[ He doesn't give an example of what he means, but Ritsuka's confession about her actions prior to this show had just come out, including all of the big reactions some people had to it.

Lessing's own face is impassive, hard to read, but he's clearly studying Sanji carefully for any signs of a reaction to the bait he just laid out. ]

[hgeegh]

. . . Yeah.

[As expected, it's another loss on the slot machine. Sanji runs it again, expression taking a solemn turn.

He's not so obtuse that he doesn't understand where Lessing is going with this. The latter cares for Ritsuka, and she really went through it the other day. Out of his element as he is, Sanji worries for her, too.]

But that's to be expected when you have a house full of people from all over.

[counton]

To an extent, yeah.

[ He's broken up fights between students like that before. Though in this case... ]

People will probably work it out among themselves for the most part too, but...

[ He trails off for just a moment, sitting up a little straighter as he fixes his gaze very firmly on Sanji now. ]

Until they do, the people experience those high running emotions could probably use support from people who are a little more level headed. People from both sides of the fight.

[hgeegh]

[Sanji's hand rests limply over the slot machine's button.

Really, Lessing can be talking about anyone. The house has its fair share of strong, explosive personalities that more often exacerbate arguments than defuse them. (In fact, Sanji counts himself among them; he just hasn't had a reason to get truly angry yet.) Considering recent events, however, two particular sides come to mind.]

I promised Ritsuka that I'd watch over Josuke. As for her . . . she's been through enough. I don't care what the others have to say; I have no intention of ruining her vacation.

[counton]

[ This is one of the reasons that he wanted to talk to Sanji about this, because he'd gotten the sense that Sanji would understand what he was saying here.

Though more importantly, he wanted to talk to Sanji, because he didn't think Sanji would isolate and shun Ritsuka. It's not a smile, not exactly, but the corners of his mouth relax a little at hearing that. ]

Not ruining it isn't just leaving her be after all of this though. It means still spending time with her, and making sure she's having a good time too.

[hgeegh]

That's a given.

[He bets on the machine again. It's an ostentatious thing, full of noise and flashy lights, but still easy enough to ignore.]

Ritsuka has been nothing but considerate since our first day on set. I'm not gonna treat her like none of that meant anything.

[counton]

[ Now is when the corner of Lessing's mouth actually twitches up a tick.

Relaxing his posture, he holds his hand out for some of the money he just foisted onto Sanji. ]

Here. I'll try at least once.

[hgeegh]

[A brief melody plays as he wins a modest bet. Sanji glances at the sudden hand in his periphery, then meets Lessing's eye with a smirk.]

Didn't I say to start slow?

[He deposits a fair amount of money onto Lessing's waiting palm.]

Don't spend it all at once . . . Well, not that it's our money.

[counton]

[ Lessing shifts the coins in his hand, taking just one as he stick in in the slot, and pulling the crank on the side to start the flashy, colorful wheels in the front spinning. ]

I don't think you can spend that much on these machines.

[ He could go to some of the other tables, of course, but it's not like he actually knows the rules of games like poker. A perpetual poker face is only going to get him so far when he doesn't know which hands are good. ]