Response to this post w/ @lustrous-dawn
"I guess we're a bit too similar--we're good at putting up a front," Rio sighs. It's as exactly as Zhen says, and it sucks how right he is about it all. Here she thought she was doing a good job at her performance before she ran into someone who almost completely saw through her.
What stings the most was that her attempt was just that: an attempt. An unsuccessful try to reconnect to someone she forgot. She almost convinced herself that she was back to someone she used to recognize in the mirror.
Nor was it fair for Zhen to be caught up in Rio's negative vibe. She knew next to nothing about him, but given what she's seen so far, it's clear that he didn't deserve to be caught in the crossfire like that. Had she known prior about his uncanny ability to peer through someone's facade, she might've approached it differently.
She saw the way he brought a conversation to a brighter mood. Taking something that was headed towards disaster and reviving it into something a little more uplifting. Fitting, given the phoenix motif. It's only fair she does the same.
"I will say, sometimes when you don a persona like a piece of armor, it feels like you're putting on a performance in a more literal sense. Like a costume," Rio smiled at the comparison, thinking back to a fonder memory of her doing just that.
"I suggest you try it sometime and go heavy on the pomp and circumstance (maybe not here). 'Crank it up to 11,' as some humans say. I bet you'd have an entire room around your finger." You'll find some social situations less suffocating if you decide to take it that way."
"I've been having fun with it. If you do happen to be in Castelia City, look for a ramen shop. I bet you'd like the finale to the show I've been putting on."
