Props: To KineticHeart, for Sarah and her opinion! You're the fuel to this beautiful fire, and I couldn't thank you enough!
Something in Rachel refused to let her believe that she was standing here again. Here, between Elektor's camera and those two armchairs. At the very least, she couldn't believe a week had gone by. That it wasn't the same day.
Soon enough, though, she had to believe it. After all, the camera was rolling. And Tangle was being paired with Sticks this time.
"You know, they say not to judge a book by its cover," she said to start the episode. "…But what about its synopsis? That little summary that should either be on the back or just inside the front cover? What's wrong with reading through that little snippet, still finding yourself uninterested, closing that book, and continuing your search? That's something I thought about recently. Take care of yourselves, folks. Anyway, welcome to Thoughts of the Unknown, where we judge love stories by their synopses!"
The applause from Elektor and Sarah were a little more enthusiastic than usual. They must have liked that little monologue.
"So… Tangle and Sticks are the ones on the table this time," she continued. "…Tell me why I think this is a match made in heaven. They're both chaotic, right? We all know that. I just… I feel like they'd never get bored of each other. There would always be some sort of fiasco for those two to enjoy together, and they'd enjoy it with unified energy. There's some serious chemistry going on here! But that's how I see it. I could be wrong. Let's get our second opinion for tonight, our special guest, Sarah!"
She and Elektor applauded as Sarah made her way over to the tattered seat.
"Alright!" she said, sitting in the cleaner seat. "So… two elements of chaos shipped together. Thoughts?"
"Okay, this one just screams chaos and possible society collapse, to be honest, and I love it," Sarah replied. "Sticks is more fueled by paranoia than just the pure 'I wanna fight something' like Tangle is, but I could see them getting along pretty well."
If you listened close enough, you could potentially hear Rachel mutter "Same" when Sarah mentioned the paranoia.
"…Actually, now that I think about it," said Sarah. "I'm not sure if that's concerning or not- BUT anyways, I still ship it!"
"That seems to be the unanimous agreement!" Rachel smiled, standing up. "…Well… if you can really achieve unanimity with two people." She turned to Elektor. "Elektor, what do you think?"
"H-Huh? What? Me?" he responded, as if he never thought in his life he'd actually speak on the show… even though he'd hosted the thing before. "I mean… you guys are right, I'm pretty sure. Nothing more filled with chemistry than two agents of chaos plowing through life together."
"True, true," Rachel nodded. After a beat, she then said "Well, folks, that's going to do it for this week. Next week on Thoughts of the Unknown… let's bring our good friends, the Chaotix, in for an episode. How would our hyperactive adventurer mesh with her polar opposite, an agent of solitude and silence? Tangle and Espio next week! See you then!"
Then, the three packed everything up. Elektor packed his video equipment up, Sarah rolled the green screen back up, and Rachel had perhaps the most arduous task: moving the chairs back over to the side. The poor thing.
Just as she'd set the tattered chair down, she heard what sounded like her phone vibrating from within her backpack… and electricity shot through her body.
Sarah and Elektor were discussing the weird guy Elektor had run into on his way here… something about claiming the Chaos Emeralds weren't real?… but it was only ambient noise to Rachel as she, without thinking twice, dashed over to her phone and checked it, having her lovesick hopes confirmed in the form of a text. Rather… its sender.