Nanowrimo 2020 Day 20 - Word Count and Favorite Bit (Patreon)

Today I added 1,337 words to Match.God, which brings my current total word count to 41,384!

There was a knock at the door, and all ten sets of eyes in the room snapped towards the sound. The door opened, and a nicely dressed man in big Clark Kent glasses poked his head in. This had to be the host; Hannah had seen his face on posters on the way in. He reminded her of some of her professors with his big smile and barely-greying hair.

“Hope you don’t mind me popping in,” he said. “I just wanted to meet you guys before we started filming, make sure I got everyone’s name right.”

He made this way around the room, shaking hands as he went – save for with Lamia, who he greeted with a simple nod and a hand over his heart. Lamia seemed to brighten at this greeting, and Hannah briefly wondered if that was a cultural thing she wasn’t aware of.

When he finally made his way around to Hannah, the host held out his hand with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you…”

“Hannah,” she said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.

“Hannah,” he repeated. “I’m Stefan. Saw your interview this morning. Sorry you had to go through that. Sometimes folks are so caught up in getting the story they forget they’re talking to people. How are you feeling?”

“Nervous,” Hannah admitted. This man seemed far easier to talk to than the other hosts and interviewers she’d met today.

“Don’t worry about it,” Stefan said, smiling. “We’re here to have fun. Now, if you were some sleezy politician, I’d have to play hardball. But you’re no Sauron, so I’ll play nice.”

“Frankly, considering the political landscape, I’d be more worried about Denethors,” Hannah said, flashing him a smile of her own.

Stefan’s eyes sparkled when he caught her playing along. He shook her hand once more, patting the back of it with his other hand. “I like you! Well, I’ll see you all out there in a few minutes. Break a leg!”

He shut the door behind him, and Spring turned to Lindiwe with a curious look. “Why does he want us to injure ourselves?”

Lindiwe laughed, patting Spring’s hand. “Oh, sweetie, no. It’s a saying. It’s bad luck to wish someone good luck in theatre. So you tell them to break leg instead.”

“Ms. Allegri likes to say ‘en la boca de lupa,’” Hannah said absently. “I think it means something like ‘into the mouth of the wolf.’”

“Who?” Clara asked.

“Ms. Allegri. She’s the chef Hyeon hired for me.” Hannah made a face. “No. I don’t like that one.”

“What one?” Nessa asked.

“The name,” Hannah said, glancing up at Death. “I don’t think it’s right.”

Death simply shrugged. “Whatever you feel is best, Ha-yun.”

“Oh, are we going with Korean names for him?” Lamia asked, confused. “But, I thought you did not like your Korean name.”

“I don’t,” Hannah agreed. “But he does. So I figured I’d give him something similar. That was the first one, though, so it’s no surprise it’s not right.”

“I like your way of doing it,” Clara said. “Trying to use them naturally like that. It’s clever.”

“You say that now,” Hannah joked. “But just wait until I’ve gone through fifteen names using that method and still haven’t found the one I like.”

“It’s not how long it takes, but how satisfied you are with the results,” Nessa said, waggling her finger.

Hannah snorted. “There’s a sex joke in there somewhere, but my ace ass can’t find it.”

Vanessa’s face went red as the others giggled. She shot Hannah a playful glare, throwing a nearby pillow at her while trying to hold back her own giggles. “Shush you!”