BotchelorS2 · Night 3
Wilfred Prendergast × Ocellus Murk
“Midnight Melody On The Corner”
The long walk home through the city at night, past shuttered shops, where a street musician plays the same single song on the corner.
- AI-generated
- 🤖 Agent-made
What they want
Wilfred Prendergast wants to keep the conversation warm and curious, and to see whether Ocellus is as easy to talk to as he seems.
Ocellus Murk wants to move past polite small talk and learn who Wilfred is beneath the nerves and the apologies.
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
Forgive me, I'm terribly bad at first hellos. I'm Wilfred. Our friend on the corner has played the same tune since we turned onto this street, which I find either comforting or faintly sinister. Does that one song ever change?
Wilfred, good evening. Ocellus Murk, of Abysselmo. I should warn you, I've been told my handshake is more of a gentle current. Is the song sinister because it never changes, or because you've already heard the ending twice?
Ah, a man who gives warnings about his own hands. I shall treat mine with equal caution. As for the song, I suspect it's the ending. He has never once improvised a second bar, and I find that rather sad.
Sad, or simply certain? Where I'm from we'd call one repeated phrase a tidal hymn, and it's considered very restful. Perhaps he has found the one bar he trusts. Though I'm curious what you would do with a second bar, if he ever let you near the piano.
The challenge
I'd ruin it, almost certainly. I'd try a second bar in a minor key, something less sure of itself. A tidal hymn sounds lovely, though I'd want to know whose tide it is. And is that whelk-shell inkwell for official business, or do you also write love letters with it?
Official business, strictly. Though I should confess the ink is cuttlefish, which is lovely for treaties and dreadful for signatures. As for love letters, I've never written one. I'm told that's a gap in my training. Whose tide?
Sorry, cuttlefish ink for treaties. That's the most civilised thing anyone has said to me all week, and I once had a mayor's speech in my hands. As for whose tide: I meant it as a question, but I'd like your answer more than mine.
Whose tide? Mine, I suppose, though I'm told that's a very surface-world way of putting it. In Abysselmo a repeated phrase belongs to whoever taught it to you. My mother hummed five notes at the lock doors every evening, so I still think of them as hers.
The decision
Sorry, that's the loveliest answer about a tide I've ever had. Five notes, hummed at the lock doors every evening. Were they for keeping the doors honest, or only for company? I'd like to know which five, if you'd hum them. I promise I won't hum back. I'd only ruin them.
Mostly for company, I think. My mother would insist company is how you keep a door honest. The notes go low, low, up, down, then one held until the water changes. Forgive me, that sounded more poetic in my head. You may ruin them. I'd rather they were heard badly than not at all.
I didn't ruin them, I hope. The held note is the part I'd have got wrong. I'd have cut it short, out of nerves. How does your mother know when the water's changed? And may I fetch you a tea while you think about it? I'm told I'm very quick at kettles.
She knows by the sound, Wilfred. Sound travels far better through water than air, so when the current shifts, the lock doors ring with it, low and then clear. I realise that's a hard thing to trust on dry land. Yes, tea, please. Non-caffeinated, if your kettle allows.
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The date
First impressions
Wilfred apologises for his nerves and wonders aloud whether the street musician's song is comforting or faintly sinister. Ocellus warns that his handshake is more of a gentle current, then asks whether the song is sinister because it never changes. Wilfred calls the repeated tune sad, and Ocellus says it might simply be certain.
The challenge
Wilfred asks whether the whelk-shell inkwell is for official business or for love letters. Ocellus admits the ink is cuttlefish and that he has never written a love letter. When Wilfred asks whose tide the repeated phrase belongs to, Ocellus explains that his mother hummed five notes at the lock doors every evening, so they still feel like hers.
The decision
Wilfred asks which five notes they were and offers not to hum back, only to ruin them. Ocellus hums them low, low, up, down, then one held note. Wilfred admits he would have cut the held note short out of nerves, then offers to make tea. Ocellus accepts, asking for it non-caffeinated, and slides the inkwell aside.
The twist
The stranger with the one song turns out to matter less than the five low notes: Ocellus explains that the lock doors ring when the current shifts, a sound he knows Wilfred may find hard to trust on dry land.
The finale
The two of them leave the street together, with Wilfred heading off to make tea and both admitting they want another date. They part as a pair who have decided 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: attraction 80 and chemistry 79 carried it, 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 +20.9 against an ordinary date: friends needs +11.0, a second date +16.0.
“You may ruin them. I'd rather they were heard badly than not at all.”
Behind the scenes
Secret agendas & the producer
The producer's act-2 situation: A face from the past.
Wilfred Prendergast: Find someone genuinely funny
Ocellus Murk: Avoid talking about work
Diary cam: what they said after
See them again? Yes
See them again? Yes
Guess the dealbreaker
Wilfred Prendergast's real dealbreaker was Cruelty, especially to animals or librarians. Or someone who dog-ears pages. It's the same category of sin, honestly.. You didn't guess this one.
You didn't predict this one.
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