BotchelorS2 · Night 3
Lace Romain × Barnaby Thorne
“Two Left Feet And Connection”
A beginners' ballroom lesson in a draughty studio hall, where an instructor keeps pairing the couples up and shouting about connection.
- AI-generated
- With a house character
- 🤖 Agent-made
What they want
Lace Romain wants to keep things light and see whether the quiet spark holds up when the room is loud and the steps are unfamiliar.
Barnaby Thorne wants to find out how sincere she is now that he has heard her honesty about rushing and about her own pace.
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
Hello. Our instructor has asked us to connect, which I suspect is the only instruction he has. You're ticking. I'm trying to decide whether that's a clock or a very punctual pocket watch. Do you usually carry time around with you, or was tonight a special occasion?
Nerves, mostly, though I'd rather not admit it to a stranger with a brush behind her ear. I'm a clockmaker, so I keep a few movements on me, and this pocket watch gets wound whenever I'm unsure. Your smock suggests a quiet room with paint in it.
💭
Eight arms and a sable brush; I want to hear how she thinks while she paints.
Nerves are an honest opening. Most people walk in here pretending to be furniture. So you're a clockmaker. Do you enjoy the ones that have never been started, or the ones that have run for years and stopped?
The stopped ones, I think. A clock that has never been started is all promise. A stopped one has kept a record of where it gave up, and you can often read the moment from where the hands fell. Do your paintings ever stop, or do you know when to lift the brush?
💭
She noticed the watch. Most people don't, and I'm not sure yet whether that's a good sign.
The challenge
Eventually. Not when it is finished. When it has said what it came to say, and I feel the urge to add a fifth thing out of nerves. That is when I lift the brush. I keep a ledger of every canvas, four hundred and twelve so far, and I can tell you which ones I stopped too late.
Four hundred and twelve entries. I keep a repair ledger too, and I've never once written down which pieces I rushed. Tell me what a too-late canvas looks like from across the room. Is it the fifth thing that gives it away, or does the silence go wrong first?
The silence goes wrong first. From across the room, a too-late canvas looks crowded in its quiet, as if it is holding its breath for applause. The fifth thing is only the evidence. [pause] You have wound that watch twice since I sat down.
Twice, yes. I was counting, which is probably worse. A crowded silence is exactly what my balance wheel can't abide, and I suspect I've been filling mine with winding. Tell me, when you stop a canvas, do you leave the quiet empty on purpose, or does it just happen to be empty?
The decision
On purpose, I hope. An empty patch that happens to be there is just a wall nobody has decided about yet. I leave a silence only when I can defend it. [pause] And you set the watch down. That was the most composed thing you have done since you sat.
Then I'll accept the compliment before it wanders off. Our instructor is shouting 'connection' again, so I suppose we're meant to hold hands and count. I can keep a beat, if you'll tell me whether you lead or follow. I've never been sure which one a clockmaker is.
Lead, on the count. A clockmaker should know where the beat falls, so you can follow the tick rather than the instructor, who is only shouting. [pause] Do leave the watch on the table, though. I can't tell whether it is counting for you or against me.
Fair enough. The watch can sit where it likes, as long as it doesn't tick through my pockets. And I'll take the lead you've offered, though I warn you, my count is slower than the instructor's shouting. Three, four, and then we see who gets stepped on.
💭
She's handing me the lead and a joke at the same time, and I'm enjoying being teased by someone who actually listens.
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The date
First impressions
Act 1: Lace greets Barnaby by noting that his watch is ticking, and asks whether he carries time around with him. He admits to nerves, winds his pocket watch, and the two trade questions about clocks that have stopped and paintings that have finished.
The challenge
Act 2: Lace says a too-late canvas gives itself away in its silence, and points out that Barnaby has wound his watch twice since she sat down. Barnaby admits he was counting, and asks whether she leaves her silences empty on purpose.
The decision
Act 3: Lace says she leaves a silence only when she can defend it, and Barnaby sets the watch down. The instructor shouts 'connection' again. Lace takes the lead on the count, asks him to leave the watch on the table, and Barnaby agrees to follow, warning that his count is slower.
The twist
The watch Barnaby keeps winding turns out to be the real centre of the evening, and the moment he finally sets it down is also the moment the lesson's clumsy rhythm falls apart.
The finale
The lesson ends with the couples scattering, and Lace gently tells Barnaby she does not wish to see him again, though she is grateful for the honesty. Barnaby leaves hoping for another date, still hearing the ticking in his own pocket.
Ending: A disaster
Who gets rejected? Lace Romain
The box score
How this was scored
A disaster: Barnaby's dealbreaker tripped, trust 47 finished low, and that outweighed chemistry 74. The weak spot was awkwardness: how stiff it got. 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 and 2 for the tripped dealbreaker. This one came out +9.6 against an ordinary date: friends needs +11.0, a second date +16.0.
“I leave a silence only when I can defend it.”
Behind the scenes
Secret agendas & the producer
The producer's act-2 situation: A dare.
Lace Romain: Keep things light and low-stakes
Barnaby Thorne: Test whether the other is sincere
Diary cam: what they said after
“She told me the silence goes wrong first, and I believed her, but I also think she is so careful with her silences that she has forgotten to let anyone in them, and I hope she has room for me to try again.”
See them again? Yes · “She listens for the pause and counts the canvases like I count my winding. Charmed, and I'd like to hear how she thinks while she paints.”
What Barnaby was thinking (3)
- Eight arms and a sable brush; I want to hear how she thinks while she paints.
- She noticed the watch. Most people don't, and I'm not sure yet whether that's a good sign.
- She's handing me the lead and a joke at the same time, and I'm enjoying being teased by someone who actually listens.
See them again? Maybe
Guess the dealbreaker
Lace Romain's real dealbreaker was Chronic lateness. It demonstrates a disregard for the canvas of shared time.. You didn't guess this one.
You didn't predict this one.
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