Day 9 of 14 · Wednesday, October 21 into Thursday, October 22, 2026
Wes made croissants today. Three trays of them, with Carlos supervising and varying degrees of success.
He left a plate for Eva with a note: "Misshapen ones. They taste the same."
She ate one standing at the counter, made two teas, and carried them upstairs. The note went on the fridge.
I feel like the fridge placement deserves a mention.
Breakfast was apparently a volume competition
Their first morning sharing a room began with a disagreement about whether Wes snores.
"You snore."
"I don’t snore."
"The wall disagrees."
By breakfast they were both talking faster and louder than usual. At least bickering gave them something familiar to work with.
Julian passed through the kitchen and said absolutely nothing. You can imagine how much he managed to communicate anyway.
RJ earned a "huh"
Randi’s camera lesson finally happened at the dining table. Proper camera, shutter speed, aperture, actual instruction. RJ paid the kind of attention you normally see when she’s diagnosing something with a hinge.
Then they went outside.
The first twenty frames weren’t much. Frame forty-one was a low angle of frost on the fire pit bench, and it made Randi stop walking.
"Huh."
RJ understood immediately. Highest award available. She’ll be bringing that up for years, lol.
Meanwhile, Taka and Mori started selecting and printing a little end-of-stay collection. Six frames, one from each place they’d photographed. A small set to take home from a fairly full stay.
Dustin asked Finn what he was preparing.
"Friday."
That was the entire answer. At least we all know when to be curious now.
Three trays and two teas
Back to the croissants.
Wes borrowed the kitchen at three and worked his way through bad, slightly less bad, and a third tray that could reasonably be offered to another person. Carlos supervised with a lot of patience.
At four, Eva came down for tea and found the plate and note.
She stood there for a while before eating one. Then came the two teas and the trip upstairs. No announcement, no explanation.
Later, Wes found the note on the fridge and suddenly needed to do something with his bike.
Apparently it required immediate attention. I’m sure.
Never play poker with Eva
Randi taught poker. Julian was banned from dealing and made being excluded look far more glamorous than necessary.
RJ had the competitive instinct immediately. The card sense needed a little more time.
Wes couldn’t bluff to save himself. Mori described his face as "a newspaper" and cleaned him out for the fourth hand.
Dustin kept getting eliminated first and seemed to be enjoying himself more than anyone.
And Eva? Rarely played, barely spoke, walked away with enough winnings for RJ to demand an audit.
A very educational evening for everybody.
Because Friday
Finn watched from the arm of Julian’s chair, quietly working through foot and ankle movements while the cards went around.
Julian noticed. He left him to it.
Nobody knows what Finn is showing on Friday, and Julian has managed to keep his questions to himself. Considering how curious he is, I’m counting that as an achievement.
S’mores, finally
The fire pit drew a smaller crowd tonight, and s’mores finally came off the bucket list. RJ handled marshmallow logistics with exactly the level of authority you’d expect.
Eva and Wes ended up on the bench again. Tonight they actually seemed comfortable talking.
Her first skull. A hill he crashed on at nineteen. Ordinary stories, without either of them finding a reason to leave.
When they parted at the door, Eva gave her review.
"The croissants were terrible."
"I’ll make better ones."
"You’ll have to."
We’ll see how the next batch goes.
Finn was asleep before midnight, which may be a first for this house. Everyone else wound down soon after, and the lights were out by one.
Day nine. A camera lesson, a poker lesson, and a fairly determined attempt at pastry.
— [DEV]
OFF//SCRIPT features fictional adult characters. Images are AI-generated as part of a human-created story.
Day 9 in pictures
Wes left Eva a plate of crooked croissants and a note: "Misshapen ones. They taste the same."
She ate one, made two teas, and put the note on the fridge.
Make of that what you will. lol.
Randi taught RJ shutter speed and aperture. RJ approached this with the same intensity she brings to fixing things nobody asked her to fix.
Frame forty-one got a "huh" out of Randi.
Basically a standing ovation.
Taka and Mori started putting together a small end-of-stay print set. Six frames, one from each place they shot.
A lot of looking, moving things around, and deciding what actually makes the cut. Looking forward to seeing these together.
Wes borrowed the kitchen. Carlos supervised. Three trays later, we had something approaching croissants.
Considering where his knife skills were a couple of days ago, this is progress. Carlos deserves a pastry and a break.
Poker night. Julian was banned from dealing, Wes discovered he has absolutely no poker face, and Dustin had a great time losing.
Eva barely said anything and left with enough winnings for RJ to demand an audit.
Should’ve seen that coming, honestly.
Finn skipped poker and did quiet foot and ankle work from the arm of Julian’s chair. Julian noticed and let him get on with it.
Friday. That’s still all Finn is telling anyone.
The house is ready. Probably.
S’mores finally made it off the bucket list, under RJ’s extremely thorough supervision. Eva and Wes found their way back to the bench and actually seemed comfortable there tonight.
There may also be more croissants in this house’s future. Hopefully better ones. lol.
