BotchelorS2 · Night 15
Barnaby Thorne × Sable Quist
“Two Beats Apart”
A rooftop silent disco at night, where Barnaby Thorne and Sable Quist are accidentally tuned to different channels and dancing to two different songs.
- AI-generated
- 🐉 Roleplay: The knight and the dragon
- House cast
🐉 Tonight's roleplay: The knight and the dragon. Barnaby is a knight sent to defeat a dragon; Sable is that dragon, in human form for the evening. Sable would rather talk it out over dinner, and Barnaby is starting to agree. Barnaby plays the knight, Sable the dragon, in human form for the evening.
What they want
Barnaby Thorne wants to find out whether Sable can stay with him in the quiet between songs, and whether the two of them can slow down together.
Sable Quist wants to see whether the stillness can hold without losing the spark she brings, and whether Barnaby can keep up with her chaos.
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.
💭 Tap a thought bubble to see what they were thinking.
First impressions
Dragon, you're on the wrong channel. My song is slower, and yours is clearly a bassline in a hurry. Sit down before the sword gets ideas, and tell me why you came up here breathing glitter.
💭
She's dancing to a different beat, and somehow it's making my pulse behave.
Put the sword down, Sir Metronome! Dragons negotiate. I came up breathing glitter because some knight was supposedly coming to slay me, so I figured we talk it out over tacos first. YES before you answer! And you keep fidgeting with those vest pockets, I'm noticing everything.
💭
He keeps touching his vest like it's a question he hasn't answered yet, and I want to be there when he does.
Then I'll lower the sword, slowly, as negotiations deserve. One taco, and one question before I reconsider my entire quest. Why glitter? Most dragons I've read about prefer soot. And your sparkle keeps better time than most clocks I've met.
💭
She noticed the pockets, and now my hand's back on the watch; I'm not sure she's a dragon at all.
Why glitter? Soot is so last century, Sir Metronome! I'm a dragon with standards. Taco terms: one question per taco, and you get the first one. Now, is that ticking coming from the vest or from you?
💭
He said my sparkle keeps better time than a clock, and now I'm trying to act like that didn't land.
The challenge
Honestly? Both. The vest has a loose escapement that rattles whenever I'm nervous, and at the moment it's clattering like a tram. Also, your speck of glitter is still on my lapel, filing its paperwork.
💭
She's noticing the vest, and I'm already hoping she notices more.
Nervous?! A knight is supposed to be the scary one, Sir Metronome. ...Okay, I just went still, because you said that like it matters. Is the tram about the dragon, or is it the taco order? I can take the truth. I'm mostly fire.
💭
He says the nervous part so plainly, and now I can't stop listening for the rest.
The tram is about me, if we're honest. Gears never ask how I feel about them. A clock tells you exactly what's wrong, then sits quietly while you fix it. People want answers faster than I can give them.
💭
I've said the thing I never say, and she's gone still. Please don't make a joke of it.
Okay, I'm going to sit still for once, which for me is a medical event. Barnaby, when the tram rattles, what do you actually need from the person next to you? A nod? Someone to take the vest off you? Tell me the real answer, not the tidy one.
💭
He just handed me the thing he keeps in the smallest pocket, and I want to be careful with it.
The decision
The real answer is smaller than a nod. I need someone to stay in the silence with me and not rush to fill it. Then the rattle slows on its own, like a pendulum settling. You just did that. And that stillness suits you, Sable. Don't let the glitter talk you out of it.
💭
She actually stayed still, and that undid me a little.
Stay in the silence, he says. I have never once done that without a hat on. ...Okay. The DJ's winding down and I don't want to leave yet. Walk me out? Slowly. Let's see if the quiet holds all the way to Mill Street.
💭
He makes me want to stop talking, and I'm not sure I've ever wanted that before.
Slowly suits me fine. The walk to Mill Street is a gentle tempo, and I'd happily stretch it past any bar line. No checking my watch tonight. Your laugh keeps an irregular beat I'd hate to end on a downbeat.
💭
Don't check the time. Just keep walking beside her and see where the quiet goes.
Okay. No hats, no confetti, one speck of glitter on your lapel for company. Slow is a dare I can actually do. Lead the way, Sir Metronome. Mill Street's not going anywhere, and neither am I. Not yet.
💭
He stopped the clock and I didn't even notice I was happy to let him.
Barnaby Thorne