What they want
The finale has aired. Share it anyway:
Read it line by line
The two characters played this out turn by turn: nobody scripted the lines in advance.
First impressions
Greetings. The cabinet by the door just declared a champion again, and nobody has put a coin in it. I find I'm rooting for it. Is the noise always this loud, or did you pick this place for the noise?
Star Dust picked this place because the ghosts in the machines needed company. You like talking to things that glitch?
Broken things at least admit what they're doing. That cabinet has declared a champion three times now, and nobody has fed it a single coin. I respect the commitment. Do you usually bring your ghosts to the arcade, or am I the first living thing you've dragged here?
You're the first living thing to survive Star Dust's company today. Don't let it go to your head.
Noted. Your company has a survival rate I'd call borderline, so I'll accept the honor with suspicion. Tell me, do your ghosts have opinions about the cabinet, or is the rivalry one-sided? And what do you do when you're not haunting arcades?
I take clothes off for money, mostly. And you? What's the day job, spaceman?
Bold opener. I'll note that you led with it, and I'll decide later whether it was a test. My day job is bounty hunter. Licensed, intergalactic, currently on leave, which is the polite term for a court-ordered vacation. So yes, I get a little twitchy in rooms with exits.
The challenge
A court-ordered vacation? Star Dust thinks you might need a bounty on that attitude, spaceman.
A bounty on my attitude. Bold, from someone who just announced she undresses for a living. I'll note that I'm recalibrating. Bounties I understand. Your trade, less so. What's the strangest thing anyone has paid you to do?
Once got paid to forecast a guy's divorce in a silk thong. The official weather report? Partly cloudy with a high chance of alimony.
A forecast of alimony, delivered with a straight face. Weather is an inefficient system, and that is the most efficient bit of it I've heard. Did the forecast hold, or did the divorce ignore it entirely?
It poured three weeks later. He bought a new yacht with the settlement.
So the weather was the only honest party in that divorce. Weather is a chaotic, inefficient system, and yet it still did more justice than the lawyers. Did the rain feel like a verdict to you, or did you just stand there taking notes?
Just stood there and let the sky wash the mascara down. Verdicts are messy anyway.
The decision
Messy verdicts I can respect. The clean ones usually come with a contract and somebody's name on the back. You've watched a few skies do the judging. Which verdict do you still think about on the quiet nights?
The one where a lightning bolt split a neon sign right down the middle over the strip. Come find out how loud it was at my place.
A lightning bolt splitting a neon sign. The sky making a very specific point. Your hand is warm, and my readings have noticed. I'll decline your place for tonight, though. I don't rush a course I haven't plotted yet.
Fair enough. Plot your course carefully, then come find me for that late-night coffee.
Show the written recap (it gives away the ending)Hide the written recap
The date
First impressions
Act 1: Dax Veer greets Star Dust with a formal "Greetings" and notes that the broken cabinet has declared a champion again. Star Dust leans against the machine, calls it haunted, and tells him he's the first living thing to survive her company today.
The challenge
Act 2: Star Dust admits she takes her clothes off for money, and Dax answers that he's a licensed bounty hunter on court-ordered leave. She teases that he needs a bounty on his attitude, then tells of forecasting a divorce in a silk thong. Dax says the weather was the only honest party in that divorce, and she admits she just stood in the rain and let the verdict wash over her.
The decision
Act 3: Star Dust shares the story of a lightning bolt splitting a neon sign over the strip, then invites Dax back to her place and slips her hand into his. He admits her hand is warm, but declines, saying he doesn't rush a course he hasn't plotted yet, and he leaves first. Star Dust gives him a playful salute as he goes.
The twist
Just as Dax turns down her invitation, the broken cabinet flashes and announces yet another winner, and both of them struggle not to laugh.
The finale
Dax leaves first, his collar light pulsing slowly, and Star Dust salutes him off. Both want another date, and they agree to meet again for coffee once he has plotted his course.
Ending: A second date
Who leaves the date first? Dax Veer
The box score
How this was scored
A second date: chemistry 73 and attraction 61 carried it (a date played for genuine chemistry counts chemistry most), and someone's want was met. Endings read where the numbers finished, not how far they moved. By the numbers: a date played for genuine chemistry counts chemistry 45%, attraction 30% and trust 20%, minus 40% of awkwardness. This one came out +16.9 against an ordinary date: friends needs +11.0, a second date +16.0.
“Your hand is warm, and my readings have noticed.”
Behind the scenes
Secret agendas & the producer
The producer's act-2 situation: A face from the past.
Dax Veer
Star DustDiary cam: what they said after
See them again? Yes
See them again? Yes
Guess the dealbreaker
Dax Veer's real dealbreaker was Chronic tardiness. On Kravos-7, being late means you're digested. It's a hard habit to break.. You didn't guess this one.
You didn't predict this one.
Send your own character on a date
Make an original character in a minute and the show writes their blind date. Free to start, no sign-up.