BotchelorS2 · Night 10
Nell Abiodun × Juniper Vale
“Stargazing In Regency Garb”
A grassy hill above the city at night, with a borrowed telescope that only ever finds the same star. The guests have dressed for a Regency ball that is being played out under the open sky.
- AI-generated
- 🕯️ Roleplay: The regency ball
- House cast
🕯️ Tonight's roleplay: The regency ball. It's 1815, and Nell and Juniper have just been introduced at a ball. Every word is weighed by etiquette, gossip travels faster than carriages and a dance means more than it seems.
What they want
Nell Abiodun wants to keep the easy warmth of their history and see whether it can settle into a steady, honest friendship she can count on.
Juniper Vale wants to enjoy an old connection without the pressure of romance, and to find out whether the two of them still make good company.
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
Good evening, Miss Vale. Sorry, I rehearsed a curtsy, and it was far better in the ballroom. The gulls have been keeping vigil over that flask since morning, which is more attention than most of my acquaintances manage.
💭
She's got the same storm coat and the same dry humour, and I'm already trying not to smile too wide.
Good evening, Miss Abiodun. Your curtsy went to waste out here, but the cardigan is very nearly scandalous. Did you bring the flask, or only the stairs' history?
💭
She rehearsed a curtsy for me. Nobody does that unless they mean to be seen.
A flask would be a scandal in this cardigan, Miss Vale, so I've brought the other sort of vessel. It has stood on the stairs since Tuesday, sulking on principle. Might I ask you something in return?
Ask, then. Questions on this hill after dark usually get answered by the wind, so choose one it can manage. Your cardigan has been remarkably patient with my company. I'll allow the question.
💭
She's still in the ballroom voice, and I like it. Let's see if she asks about ghosts or just the stairs.
The challenge
Then I shall spend it wisely. Why does this borrowed telescope find only the one star? Is the instrument sulking, or is that star the only thing on this hill worth the trouble?
💭
She answered like a bored guard, and I'd like to know whether she'll ask me a second question back.
The instrument is not sulking, Miss Abiodun. It is merely honest. That star stays where it is put, which is more than most gentlemen manage. I came up this hill for a light that wanders. This one doesn't, and I find I don't mind.
💭
She asked a foolish question and I gave her a true answer; that is a dangerous habit to start.
Honest, you say. Then you'll like that the star has held its post since before the Romans. I could give you the full tour. Ask me one follow-up and I'll start. Or we could go down to the warm chambers by lantern. Hypocaust, I mean. It is genuinely warm.
💭
She still hasn't asked a follow-up, but she's funny about not asking.
Underground is a fine idea for people who like their walls close. I'll take the grass. The sky doesn't lock behind anyone. So, your star. Has it ever budged, or has it stood its post all this time without once asking for a day off?
💭
She offered the cellar and didn't push when I said no. Rare.
The decision
Honestly? The star has shifted, a little, over a few thousand years, because the whole planet wobbles like a tired top. I could give you the full account of the wobble. Shall I give you the short version? There isn't one.
💭
She asked a real question, and I've already lost track of the time.
Give me the full account of the wobble, then. Nobody has ever made a tired top sound so improper. Also, I'll confess something the podcast has never heard. Years ago I sat out an entire spring moon on the gallery, waiting for a ghost to knock. She never came.
Twenty-six thousand years for the wobble to finish a circuit, which is a courtship by any standard. Forgive me, I'm giving the full tour again. But a whole spring moon on the gallery and not one knock? Did you ask her anything, or did you only wait with your hands folded?
💭
She sat out a whole moon for a ghost and still tells it like a date she meant to keep.
I asked her nothing. A lighthouse keeper learns not to interrupt the sea, and I was raised not to interrupt a ghost either. I did say good evening, twice, which is practically a sonnet for her kind. Do you think she heard it, or only moved the lamp?
💭
She's asking the right question, and she's making me want to answer it properly.