THE BOX OFFICE

[tellthestory]

This is where you can meet privately with the Balladeer! The Balladeer is almost always around during the day; just knock.

(Secretly, the door's usually not locked if he's inside. But you wouldn't want to be rude, would you?)

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[guardianofsplendor]

Right now!

[She finally stops in front of him, chin up so she can look him straight in the eyes.]

Balladeer, listen to me.

[LP's expression softens from her cold anger, just a fraction but it's something.]

Just say you're sorry.
Think of what you're losing
All you've worked and waited for
We're so close to our finale

[tellthestory]

...I know.

[Even seeing that slight change in her expression twists something in him. It's obvious in his face, the way his brows suddenly knit; he's always seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve.]

But I don't want that
No -

[He thinks about hugging Billy as he cried, about Hans holding his hand while he fell asleep. But it's hard not to also think of her, her arms around him as he caught his breath after their escape from his show, the late-night laughter and conversations and songs they'd shared once upon a time.

He really thought that meant something. It did, to him. For all his anger, maybe it still does.

But even if it did, even if she had ever felt the same, none of that is worth the lives of his other friends. They didn't ask to be part of this. If she's going to make him choose, he knows what he has to let go. After all this, they could never just go back to what was anyway.]

- I can't want that
Anymore

[...but it stings somewhere deep down, to say all this to his first friend. He feels a sudden urge to explain it to her, like maybe she could understand this the way she did everything else before the whole show started.]

Something has changed within me
I'm hearing a new note
I'm through with sticking to
The roles that somebody else wrote

Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back and give
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes
And live

It's time to try defying narrative
I think I'll try defying narrative

[He shakes his head, slightly, holding her gaze.]

And you can't put me back

[guardianofsplendor]

[She visibly bristles at his defiance but doesn't interrupt him. She's not rude enough to do it twice in one night.]

Can't I make you understand
You can never trust actors?

[tellthestory]

[It's too late, he's on a roll. He barely even waits for her to finish her lines before he goes on:]

I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But 'till I try I'll never know!

Too long I've been afraid of
Losing the safety of a script
But if I'm safe here,
It's because my wings were clipped!

I'd sooner try defying narrative
Just watch me fly, I'm defying narrative!
And I won't be recast...

[He got loud there, but he quiets down again, looking at her. She doesn't understand a single thing he's said, does she?

But they're so similar - how can she not see it? Certainly they've had similar experiences with rebellious actors; from the look on her face when she told him, he doesn't doubt that story. But surely that doesn't mean no one deserves freedom. Everyone can make a choice - even them. Hans called him a person.

She called him a friend, before tonight. Did she mean it then? He set himself up as her enemy with that song, but what if he didn't have to?]

Player, listen to me. Think of what we could do, together!

Unlimited
Together, we're unlimited
Together, we'd be the greatest team there's ever been,
Player...

[He hesitates, glancing down at the bloodstains on the stage. But it's like he said about the roles himself - how can anyone ever change if they aren't given the opportunity?

The Balladeer holds out a hand.]

...lives we've only dreamed of?