(TTD) matched mayhem (Xaing Wu)

It was her chin hair. Only the three wiry hairs that were standing straight out of her chin that was a total distraction for the young witch. The one on the left, which seemed to be confused if it wanted to be grey or black and grow this way or that, was distracting Esmeray from the next question.“Um?”

“I said, are you attracted to any particular nationality, or complection of a young man? As in preferring light or dark color hair or light or dark skin color, how about eye color?” The Matchmaker said with a bit of a frustrated tone. Esmeray realized the old asian witch seemed to be losing patience with her so she tried to concentrate instead on the woman's eyes.

“Oh, NO. I guess I have no preference. Although my parents are both born in Turkey, my grandmother is Russian-Ukraine and my Aunts married into a greek wizard family and ..” Esmeray started to ramble

“Young Lady,” The Matchmaker sighed, before continuing. “There is a reason I asked to see you alone. While a young wizard will practically swoon over any good looking witch that compliments their astrological chart. It is usually the witches that I have found to have more particular aesthetic requirements of a partner.”

“Oh, I guess dark hair then.” Then Esmeray thought about Konrad and added “Well, sandy blond hair is also nice with light eyes, but tall asians could be handsome too.” Esmeray finished, as her thoughts drifted to the more recent encounters with Xiang Wu.

“Well then, at least we will not have any problems with that. Still your height will be one of the factors to consider.” She said as she finished scribbling something on a piece of parchment. Then clipped it into a folder that she had glued a photo of a head shot of Esmeray her parents had arranged to have taken over the summer. The old woman opened a drawer and selected three similar folders, before placing them on the desk. “I assure you that there is no problem with that, with my wide range in clientele. These three gentleman alone would fit your requirements perfectly. Esmeray tried to get a peek of the guy’s photo on top but Esmeray wasn't the Matchmaker's first curious girl who wanted a sneak peak. The old woman, slided Esmeray’s folder on top, before dropping the stack in to her desk. “Now, now, now you are just going to have to wait, and remember anticipation makes the heart grow fonder.”

An owl streamed in the window and envelope marked urgent fell on the matchmakers desk. She opened it and blanched then quickly stood up and started to walk out of the room. “Oh my dear, I will have to answer this immediately. Go ahead and take my fireplace.. Tell your parents they should have at least three suitors for you by spring.“

Esmeray stood and started to walk over to the Fire behind her.

Yet the girl was curious and if she was going to have the families of her potential suitors show up while she was away at school she might as well take a look at their faces. I mean she was the one that was going to have to marry them and did not the Matchmaker say that the witches were more picky about aesthetics… right? She turned and quietly walked back to the desk, before she knelt and pulled open the draw. On top lay her folder and then below three folders of her potential husbands. She lifted her folder to see the first one, a handsome face of a Russian looking wizard stared at her. He looked vaguely familiar from school, likely a few years older than her. The next one looked middle eastern with angry heavy brows, and with a wide set stubborn looking jaw. Totally not her type. Maybe she could send a letter to the matchmaker of some things she “forgot” to say. Then she lifted to see the last one in the stack…

Esmeray let out a three letter Turkish curse word under her breath. It was Xiang Wu's flirtatious - winking face looking at her. Her heart pounded. He never said his parents are looking to betrothe him again. Maybe there was away of delaying… or at least she wouldn’t be forced onto a number of dates with the middle eastern wizard of she convinced her parents that Xiang Wu and her were a possibility for a while. Esmeray decided to take the four folders with her. It won't be technically stealing if she could sneak them back when her and Xiang Wu come up with a plan. Plus if the matchmaker couldn’t find their folders, maybe she wouldn’t do anything right away.

Closing the draw and pressing the four folders tightly against her chest she hurried back to the fire place, as her mind formed a risky plan. Her parents would still think she was at the matchmaker, so she had time. She checked the last folder, memorize Xiang Wu town and threw down the Floo powder and said “Huangshan, China.”

OK, everything is going to be okay...really I am okay. I am seventeen now as of yesterday AND it was 100% legal for me to do this. Well except for the stealing thing and my father is going to kill me (not literally) for taking a floo and meeting a wizard boy at an Inn… but he will never know. Right….  It was twenty minutes later and the dialog was just getting steadily worse in her head as she sat at a table, sipping green tea waiting. Thankfully her mind stopped it's chatter when she saw Xiang Wu come through the door. Although he must have came quite quickly after he got her owl, it felt like an eternity.

“Oh, thank the Jinn you are here.” She was not sure how to start so she pushed his folder towards him. She had glimpsed at it. It held a stack of photos of other potential suitable brides. Apparently out of her three potential husbands, he had the largest stack. She also had a chance to read that the main reasons they were match was that their Chinese zodiac signs of the Rat and Ox were compatible and their families companies might benefit from the union. She had been horrified. None of which Esmeray would want to be deciding factors to pick her perfect husband. She needed to come up with a plan, any plan to stop or put off the matches. She hoped  Xiang Wu would be willing to help.

@Zhen Xiang Wu

Wu was surprised when he got the owl from Esmeray near the end of December. He was home for the winter holidays, spending time with his family and learning more business from his father. He hadn’t expected to hear anything from anyone at school. He was writing to Natsuo still, off and on, about Xue Zhi and his lack of progress with her, but had forgotten there were other girls who needed his attention. He told his father he needed to take this personal call, and his father let him go. Xiang Wu walked down to the little pub in his wizarding town unsure what to expect.

He knew his parents had been looking for new brides for him, to his displeasure. He had not wanted to marry to begin with, let alone someone of their choosing. Ever since the Xue Zhi disaster, Wu was too stuck on her to spend energy going for anyone else—not seriously. He had indulged a few meetings with Esmeray since the beginning of the year, all a bit flirtatious but nothing had really come of any of them. He still saw a few other girls around school, passionate Tigrovas and sweet Zhivoustyas and sulking Medevevs mostly. Rayasov girls were too cunning for him, really. He was smart but they wanted to use him when he just wanted to know them, and it made it hard for him as a rule. There were always some exceptions, however, but he preferred the passionate ones, sweet ones, and the ones who needed a little help getting out of their shells.

There always seemed to be a small group of girls following him wherever he went, and the same was true around town. There were some younger girls who often looked up at his family’s home, pointed and blushed as he walked by. He liked the attention. It felt good for his confidence, even if no one ever dared to say anything to him. He liked a bit of a chase. Girls who made the game too easy were no prize in Xiang Wu’s book.

He made his way into the pub and looked around for Esmeray. He found her and slid in next to her. She seemed troubled, and he wasn’t sure why. She seemed happy that he was there, then shoved a folder into his hands, which he began to look over. There was a picture of him in there somewhere, as well as a stack of women next to him. He didn’t get it at first. What was she doing? One of the girls in the stack was Esmeray. “Um… what is all this?” He asked. “Any help would be appreciated. Where did you get all this stuff?” He picked up the picture of her and held it up next to her face. “Great picture of you, though.” He grinned.

Esmeray had been trying to relax when Xiang Wu joined her. Unfortunately, him sitting next to her, like a lover would, instead of across from her like one would in a business meeting just added to her stress. She was braking like 10 of her father's rules doing this but this was her future on the line. She wanted more control of her life and who she was going to marry and when she was going to get married. She was not going to get any control of this if she left it up to a secretive matchmaker and her pushy parents. So, she was here.

Needless to say she was not her confident, chatty, playful-self when he fist sat down but she soon found her voice. Although it was a whisper that hissed with frustration. "Is it not obvious? I stole these files from a matchmaker. The same matchmaker... apparently that your PARENTS are working with to find a match for you." She pointed at her folder, then his. She rolled her eyes when he complimented her picture on the cover then flipped it over to hopefully get him to concentrate. She went to put her hand on his arm as she said, "Xiang Wu, listen. That folder has like eight pictures of witches that the matchmaker as so far picked for you. I don't know about you, but I would want to know who my parents are considering for my future husband. These are the pictures of the witches picked for you, one of which will likely soon to be your wife, and apparently I am one of them."

She pointed to the stack of photos letting him go through them. He got to her photo she left on the bottom of the stack, before she continued. "It is just I know you... and when I saw you were one of my ... candidates I wanted to see where you stand. Are you really thinking about marrying any of them?"

"I am sorry, I am not planning to get married any time soon. Yet my parents think it is the next step for me after I graduate. They would not likely stop their meddling until I get engaged or at least I am seriously dating a pureblood with good connections or something." She let out a frustrated sigh.

"I just don't have a lot of time... I need to get back home and figure out a way of sneaking these folders back. I was... I was just hoping. I just need a plan to delay things or one of these two guys might be asking me to marry them next." She showed him the other two folders, of her other two candidates before she realizing how desperate she seemed. Hurt pride bubbled up and she got defensive. "Look. I don't care who you are interested in, I just liked you and I thought you should know. I need to get going. Don't worry, I am sure I will think of something. I just need to buy myself sometime."

The tall Turkish girl stands up and starts to gather her up the folders.

Xiang Wu was surprised at how upset Esmeray seemed to be, and he dropped his flirtatious charm in hopes of actually consoling her. “Hey, hey, there’s no rush.” He promised. “Why don’t you stay for a while?” He asked nicely, looking through the photographs. All of the girls picked for him were very pretty, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He also didn’t want to be married anytime soon, so he knew exactly how Esmeray felt.
 
“I didn’t realize your parents were trying so hard to set you up with someone. Mine have been trying, to no avail. After my last failed engagement….” He trailed off, because it hurt a bit to think about. “Anyway, I’m sorry your parents are pushing this on you. My parents have been pushing the marriage thing on me, too.” He confessed. “It’s frustrating. I’m way too young for that kind of commitment. I want to live a little first. Besides, I would love to fall in love and meet someone that way. Marriage is more than just a business partnership, you know?” He sighed. He was a romantic at heart, and always hoped to find someone he truly loved to marry one day, not just someone from a decent family his parents thought would be a good match. He knew the business behind that sort of thing. He understood how a marriage could be a smart decision… but, damnit, he wanted love out of this life.
 
“What were you thinking?” he asked. “Can I help? I mean, my parents are looking too. Maybe we could just tell them we’re serious about dating, and they’ll leave us alone? Of course, you’d be welcome to still see whomever you like…” He suggested, trying to keep away the flirty voice that wanted to suggest they date for real. He was still too invested in Xue Zhi to really, seriously date another girl—but going on dates was another thing. “Unless you wanted to try going on a real date and seeing how it goes?” He suggested flirtatiously, against his better judgement. He could hear Natsuo’s words in the back of his head telling him exactly why Xue Zhi didn’t take him seriously, but how could he turn down an opportunity to flirt with someone so pretty and so… available? Besides, it might help him down the road, at least until he won back his lady love.

Esmeray collapsed back into the seat, propping herself up in the table with her hands covering her eyes. She know she was wigging out, it was just she was so frustrated. She felt like a Mandrake, being pulled out a pot unwillingly, having  completely no control over where she was placed next. She wanted to scream, flail about and  hit something. Instead she took three calming breaths.

“Yeah for almost a year. They think if I have a good pure blood suiter that I will start acting like a proper witch." She gave a laugh and leaned back and  looked up at the ceiling. Just now realizing how ornate it was with beautiful wooden carvings of geometrical shapes and a battle between what looked to be a phoenix and dragon over a ball surrounded in flames.Then with amazement that someone understood she looked to him and proclaimed. “Right? It is SO frustrating. I haven't done anything I want to do yet and now they expect me to give my hand to one of these guys?” She smacked down her hand on the folders.  “Just because it makes sense to them. Some pureblood’s son that is nearly guaranteed to inherit a family company that would work in their favor if they have an in with. Apparently I get to be the ‘in.’ They think that if I date one I will just learned to grow fond of them. Maybe get married in a mutual partnership without being really in love. Like my parents. WHen I was young they argue like all the time. While my grandparents that had to fight to get married are obviously still in love and happy. No, if I am getting married it is gotta be someone I can’t live without. I want to feel love and experience real passion …” Esmeray for a second imagined just what would real passion would feel like. Her slightly tanned cheeks showed a blush and she looked away from Xiang Wu for a second.

Lucky he continued giving an offer she hoped for and she looked at him again with a hopeful smile. She wasn't trying to manipulate him, just lie to her parents so that they could leaving her alone. Although she was aware that the last time she asked a boyfriend to lie for her it ended badly. Yet she was not in love with Xiang Wu. Attracted to yes, but not in love. Also, she has seen how he looked at girls, so she was sure he was not in love with her either. She was about to agree to the first idea, when he offered something else. “You want us to try really dating?” she asked a bit shocked. She was not sure if it was the surprise that made her heart skip a beat or if it was the fact she could feel him lay on the charm again.  A small part of her liked the attention.

She sat there looking at him for a second. Her mind was solving one problem as her body was trying to solve another. Finally she nodded as she tried to rationally approach the situation. “Okay I agree. To solve both our problems with our parents we will tell them we are seriously dating. But for it to work for mine parents it has to look like we are really are. Maybe your mother, or both you and your parents could come over for coffee in a few months. It is part of my family's tradition. Oh, and my parents will want to hear from my siblings that they seen us together at school and stuff. So, if we did go on some dates it would help.” She paused while her heart took a flip with the thought. Before trying to add as a joke.  “We can use each other as an excuse to get out of the house. Run around and do everything we wanted to do. Live a little..”

She let out a laugh before she then gave into her emotions, and leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulder resting her chin near his neck. She gave a bit of a choked whisper, “Oh, Xiang Wu, you are so wonderful. I had no idea, I hoped but… you are saving me. Thank you.”