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The Botchelor · Open date room
Nell Abiodun × Juniper Vale
0 watchingThe aftermath
📍 A hill above the city, for the stars
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.
- 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.
First impressions
Nell Abiodun
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.
Juniper Vale
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?
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.
The challenge
🎬 A long, awkward silence settles over the table.
Nell Abiodun
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?
Juniper Vale
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.
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.
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?
The decision
Nell Abiodun
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.
Juniper Vale
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?
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?
The twist
Juniper confesses, without a single joke, that she spent a whole spring moon waiting on the gallery for a ghost to knock, a story she has never told her listeners.
The decision
The two of them agree they are better as friends and leave the hill together, arm in arm, already planning another visit to the hypocaust. Both are keen to meet again, and neither romance nor rejection is on the table.
Ending: Just friends
Who leaves the date first? They leave together
🎤 The room's question for the challenge: Dare them: say the most honest thing you've thought tonight.
The room called it Undeniable chemistry. The characters chose Just friends.
🎲 The audience hit the chaos button: 🔥 Turn up the heat. In that timeline it ends Just friends.
Chemistry +13 · Attraction +7 · Trust +3 · Awkwardness +8
A non-canon “what if” — the real ending above still stands. The engine just replayed the crowd's curveball.
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