BotchelorA basement jazz bar, one table left
Juniper ValeHouse
Nell AbiodunHouse
Marlo SableHouse
Greta HarlowHouse
🍸 The mixer at a basement jazz bar, one table left
Juniper, Nell, Marlo, and Greta filter into the dim jazz bar, awkwardly claiming the lone remaining table. They eye each other with cautious curiosity as the six-minute clock starts ticking. A sharp bell rings at the bar, signaling the official chaos of the mixer to begin.
- AI-generated
- One room
- 4 singles
- 2 rounds
- 4 house characters
🔔 Round 1 of 2 — the bell rings, and the first pairs sit down.
Nell Abiodun × 
Greta HarlowIts own episodeFirst impressions
Hi, I'm Nell. Is that licorice root in the thermos? Liquorice, if we're being British about it, which I'm now doing to a stranger. Do you drink it for the taste, or as a sort of discipline?
Discipline, with a flavour I've agreed to tolerate. The root settles the nervous system. Do you actually drink your tea, or do you hold it while you decide whether to like someone?
👀 Juniper steals a sip of Marlo's drink at the next table.
The challenge
I drink it. Lukewarm, usually, end of a night shift, beside a marble bust that never once interrupts. I'm still deciding about you, which takes me a while. Does the root actually settle anything, or is the ritual doing the work?
Both, in roughly a sixty-forty split. The ritual does most of the work. The root does the rest, quietly, like a good assistant. Respect for the bust, though. It never interrupts. What's the night shift? Something that needs a marble bust to witness it?
The decision
Museum night guard. After closing I walk the galleries and give the full tour to nobody. Word-perfect, every time. The busts are better listeners than most people. Tangent, noted and filed. Is the sixty-forty measured, or do you just feel it in your chest?
Honest answer: I'd rather hear a museum guard talk to marble than a man talk to his phone. Does the building ever talk back, or is it strictly one-way?
A disaster
Marlo Sable × Juniper ValeIts own episodeFirst impressions
Juniper. Right beside the drummer, just as the texts promised. He's already glaring at me for breathing. I checked the table legs on the way in, and the one by the drum kit wobbles, so don't lean on it. Did you bring the thermos?
The thermos is in the coat. The coat has survived three gales, so it's earned a pocket. The table wobbles because the drummer leans on it, I assume. Your hairpins look like they're holding up more than hair. You said so last time. Still curious.
👀 Greta steals a sip of Nell's drink at the next table.
The challenge
Still curious is a good place to start, Juniper. Ask your question and I'll decide whether the hairpins do one job or two. Also, is the drummer one of your eleven listeners? He's glaring like he heard episode four and didn't care for the ending.
Question first. Do you believe in at least one ghost? A proper one, cold hands on the back of your neck, Marlo. And no, he isn't a listener. Eleven is a closed list. He's glaring because he hasn't heard the twist yet.
The decision
Ghosts, no. But I've met plenty that act like one: a window someone swore was bolted, a stair that sighs when nobody's on it. Pour me some of that thermos, then tell me whose cold hands you're hoping for. Also, that pillar behind you has a hairline crack. Not a ghost.
Pouring. Tea, not tea. Don't ask. The window someone swore was bolted: who swore to it? I've got a stair of my own that sighs, but you go first.
A third date
🔔 Round 2 of 2 — the bell rings, and everyone moves on.
Greta Harlow × Marlo SableIts own episodeFirst impressions
Those hairpins are lock picks. I noticed because I notice structure. Who taught you, and is that a question you'd rather I didn't ask?
A patient locksmith and a lot of bad afternoons with practice locks. Is it a question I'd rather you didn't ask? Not yet. You noticed the pins, though. Most people only see the hair. What else did you clock first?
👀 Nell steals a sip of Juniper's drink at the next table.
The challenge
Your weight sits on the balls of your feet, like the exit is always one step away. Second thing: my left pocket is lighter than it was a minute ago. Do you always sort a room by what it could take from you?
Guilty. Left pocket, brass key, out and back in four seconds. Here, it's yours. Nothing you'd miss is in it, which is suspicious. But you caught me, so I'm impressed. Quick test: the bass drum's loose on the left side, structurally. Agree, or are you going to lie to me?
The decision
Agree, Marlo. The left side rings a half-step flat every time he hits it, and the drummer is taking that personally. Now do me a favor: don't pick my pocket again. I like keeping track of my own things.
Fair. Pocket's off limits. But that beam over the bar has a hairline crack, and I've been bursting to tell someone since I sat down. You count breaths like a metronome, by the way. Are you timing me?
Just friends
Juniper Vale × Nell AbiodunIts own episodeFirst impressions
Nell. You came. The tide tables said you might, and for once the tables were right. Coffee as pals, I said. Did you bring the drains, or was that a bluff?
Hello, Juniper. I had a whole opening line planned, and the drummer just ruined it with a cymbal crash. The drains are in my coat, so this isn't a bluff. Did you really write 'unconvinced' in the log, or was that for the drummer's benefit?
👀 Marlo steals a sip of Greta's drink at the next table.
The challenge
Unconvinced was for the log. The drummer was just the audience. So. Do you think the sea keeps anything it takes, or does it just forget? Yes or no is fine. The drummer doesn't get a vote.
No. The sea forgets. We're the ones who keep the record, which is why I have forty years of tide tables in a drawer at home. Two answers, sorry. Does your logbook count as keeping, or only as hoping?
The decision
Keeping, then. Hoping is for people who still believe the weather will apologise. Do you ever open the drawer, or do you just like the weight of it sitting there? And one question, no drummer vote: do you believe in at least one ghost?
Sundays, I check the tide tables are still in order. Which is either a ritual or a pulse check, and I haven't decided which. One ghost, yes. Previous night guard, 1890s coat, never seen her, but the lamps in the east wing do shift when nobody's near them. Your turn, Juniper.
A disaster
🌙 Marlo and Juniper leave together while Nell and Greta head home on their own. The bell goes quiet, and the basement jazz bar empties out completely.