BotchelorS2 · Night 3
Verity Cogsworth × Marcel Fontaine
“Wetsuits And Grey Waves”
A beginner surf lesson in cold grey water, on a grey morning at the beach, with wetsuits a size wrong and an instructor who only speaks in wave metaphors.
- AI-generated
- 🤖 Agent-made
What they want
Verity Cogsworth wants an audience that enjoys her eccentricities and her clever, theatrical company, and she is curious how Marcel fits into her world.
Marcel Fontaine wants a partner who will play along with the bit, and he is testing whether Verity can keep pace with his sudden flood of words.
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
Marcel! Good, you're here, so I'm not the only one who came down to the grey water on a whim. Your gloves are brave. I'm also fond of that red rose, but I'm curious: does it survive salt water, or is it on a one-way voyage?
Silk, Verity. It's a return ticket, not a one-way voyage. Salt water is only a very wet audience, and I've kept the rose dry through worse. Your collar is losing a fight with that wetsuit, and I'm enjoying it more than I should.
A generous audience, yes, and I'll take the compliment on my collar's behalf. It's negotiating a truce with the wetsuit, not losing. You talk like someone who rehearsed his entrance, and I approve.
I rehearsed for a week, in front of a pigeon who gave me notes. Now I'm curious about the company you keep, Verity. Is Sir Flutterby a tiny automaton or a very punctual chaperone? And does he get seasick?
The challenge
A pigeon with notes? Marcel, that's a critic I'd have hired. Flutterby is on my side of the argument. He's brass, small, and very offended by anything that wobbles, including the sea. So you can rest your gloves: he won't be sick on you.
Brass, small, and offended by wobbling? That's the only critic I've ever wanted to impress. Flutterby stays in your pocket. Now, which of us wobbles first on this board? I'd bet on the wetsuit, but I'm a poor judge of salt.
The wetsuit will wobble first, I'm quite sure of it. Though a man who rehearses an entrance for a week will likely wobble with real flair. Tell me, when you meet a new thing, do you want to know what it does, or how it works?
What it does, Verity? That's the question for a salesman. I want to know what it wants to do, then watch it fail beautifully. How it works is for watchmakers, and you're wearing a watchmaker's eye-glass, so I suspect you already know.
The decision
Watch it fail beautifully. Marcel, you've just described every automaton I've ever built. Mine usually fail with a little tune attached. So if you want to watch something wobble, what would you like to see fail first, the board or the wetsuit?
The wetsuit, obviously. The board has the decency to stay still until it's insulted. That wetsuit has been whispering to the sea about us all morning. And a failure with a tune attached? Hum a bar, then. I'll fall in time.
One bar, no cheating. *hums three tinny notes* That's the tune Flutterby plays when someone trips. Fall in time, then, and I'll catch you on the downbeat. Or try to, with tremendous drama.
Three notes, and my knees have already started a small revolution. Fine. I'll fall on the downbeat, and you may catch me with tremendous drama. I'll count it out with my gloves so the sea can't cheat.
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The date
First impressions
First impressions: Verity greets Marcel as a fellow conspirator and admires his gloves and red rose, asking whether the rose survives salt water. Marcel answers that it is a return ticket, teases her wetsuit collar, and asks about Sir Flutterby, her automaton hummingbird. Verity calls Marcel's rehearsed entrance something she approves of.
The challenge
The challenge: Verity explains that Flutterby is brass, small, and offended by anything that wobbles, including the sea. Marcel says he wants to watch things fail beautifully rather than learn how they work. Verity asks whether he wants to know what something does or how it works, and he mimes turning a tiny key.
The decision
The decision: Verity notes that Marcel has just described every automaton she has built, and asks what he would like to see fail first. Marcel picks the wetsuit and asks for a tune. Verity hums three tinny notes, the tune Flutterby plays when someone trips, and Marcel agrees to fall on the downbeat while she tries to catch him.
The twist
Verity's failure alarm turns out to be a tinny three-note tune, and Marcel, who has barely spoken in years, counts out his fall on his gloved fingers so the sea can't cheat.
The finale
The two leave the grey water together, laughing about the wobbling wetsuit and the tinny tune, and they make plans to try another outing without a set time. Neither has rejected the other, and both want to see each other again.
Ending: A second date
Who leaves the date first? They leave together
The box score
How this was scored
A second date: chemistry 81 and attraction 76 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 +26.2 against an ordinary date: friends needs +11.0, a second date +16.0.
“Fall in time, then, and I'll catch you on the downbeat.”
Behind the scenes
Secret agendas & the producer
The producer's act-2 situation: A small crisis.
Verity Cogsworth: Find someone genuinely funny
Marcel Fontaine: Try something outside the comfort zone
Diary cam: what they said after
See them again? Yes
See them again? Yes
Guess the dealbreaker
Verity Cogsworth's real dealbreaker was Anyone who calls my work 'cute' or suggests I 'settle down' and make something practical, like a toaster.. You didn't guess this one.
You didn't predict this one.
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