CURTAIN CALL

[guardianofsplendor]

[Once all is said and done, the Leading Player turns her attention back to everyone else. She claps her hands once and the lights turn off and on in quick succession in an attempt to gain back everyone’s attention.]

Ladies! Gentlemen! Cast, crew, and audience alike! Under the usual genre conventions this would be where I would demand you vote to choose your fate, to stay with my troupe or have one of you sacrifice yourselves to the flames and bring this game to an end. However, you’ve all already made your votes clear and due to executive demand we’re obligated to present you with the ending you’ve earned by stealing my crew and forming a united front. You’re all real cute, with your private Plurks. [Wow, bitter much, LP?]

So enjoy your happy, sappy ending. I’m sure Denny’s will love having you. [She snaps her fingers and the fires in the pit finally extinguish.] Show’s over. Fastrada, get the others. Lewis, take the curtains, get the ghost lights, clean up the house. Berthe, take down the page since someone would rather go be a hermit handing out seeds to children than help me with CSS. And turn off the email notifications, I don’t even want to look at this!

[The remaining stagehands, those who didn’t respond to the cast’s attempts at friendship, look at each other and split off, posture a little downtrodden as they slink into the wings or the house. One of them starts to gather up the ghostlights from the side of the stage; another begins stripping the curtains.

The Player herself hops down from her platform, landing easily. For a moment, she stands looking down into the pit, posture tense. One hand rests on her hip; the other hangs at her side, still holding Hans’s winter coat.]

Charlemagne, get the throne.

[Still up there, the Balladeer sidesteps the stagehand as he comes to take the chair, and cautiously begins to make his way down the stairs. The Player pays him no mind; she takes a breath, straightens, and steps around the pit towards the apron.]

And as for all of you - [It’s not clear who she’s addressing now but it’s not the characters.] - we hope you’ve enjoyed your time with us, as participants or even simply as spectators. Hopefully you’ll join us the next time around. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be. [She snaps her fingers and seemingly out of nowhere a hat and cane appear. The coat doesn’t fit the aesthetic, but she slings it over her shoulder nonetheless. The stagehands moving the platform away and taking down the lighting rigs part before her as she turns and strides upstage.]

I’m erasing myself from the narrative
Let future murdergame casts wonder
Where the Player went to
When she left the stage

Go turn your new page,
And I’ll watch this burn...

[She pauses before the last curtain, letting the orchestra continue the song without her for a few phrases.]

I forfeit my rights to all this. Whatever you took from my office, just give it to him. [She jerks her head towards the Balladeer.]

Let him have the memory
Of when this was ours…

...the world seemed to burn...

[Without looking back, she parts the curtain, steps through, and is gone. The remaining stagehands filter out a few moments later, leaving a bare stage and a quiet theatre behind them.

But, of course, there's still a little more magic to do, isn't there?]

Comments

[trettende]

[ Hans got kicked in the nads he deserves to have a sit down too. That said, he's taking this "back from the dead" thing really well-- after the shock of seeing the Balladeer up on that stage again wore off, and he started seeing proof that the real Bal was hiding under there, somewhere, Hans has decided he's 100% down with whatever stage magic was used to bring them back. He still has questions, he'll likely have them for a while, but more important than anything is the fact that they made it. Somehow.

Well, because of True Love, apparently. How embarrassing. Bal might be the real deal Showrunner now, but when Hans steps over to join him on the couch, he's smiling at him same as earlier. Nothing's changed except everything. Maybe it's not so embarrassing to admit you're in love as long as you know it's all worth it.

And this? This is worth it. But just in case, before he tries leaning in and throwing his arm over the Balladeer's shoulder, he prefaces the next bit with this. ]

Stop me if this is embarrassing.

[ Okay, get ready. ]

Tale as old as time,
True as it can be...
Started off as friends,
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly.

[tellthestory]

[He totally saw you get kicked in the nads and, while he didn't laugh, you kinda deserved it.

The Balladeer laughs a little.]

I'm surprised you don't think it's embarrassing, Hans.

Not such a little change,
A bit, to say the least

[trettende]

Both pretty damn scared
Neither one prepared...

[ Actually this going to end with Hans being the Beast, so maybe he'll cut himself off, clearing his throat. ]

I'm kind of past shame at this point, it's been a very long day.

[ For both of them, obviously. Hans leans a bit against the Balladeer's side. ]

But I don't actually know where to go from here, with this... [ He waves a hand between them. Relationship? True love? ] The last thing I was expecting was for my life to turn into a love story. Singing is easier than having feelings.

[tellthestory]

[What, like he's not]

I don't either. This, or the rest of it. I guess I'll have to send everyone home sometime, but for right now...I kinda just want to sit here, for a little while. [He cocks his head at the crowds for a second.] I'd also be okay with sitting at a Denny's.

Later, though, where are we going?

[trettende]

[ He definitely is but admitting it out loud might be a little too much. Just know you're Belle, Bal. You tamed the Beast (aka: his ego.) ]

You've more than earned a break.

[ He arches a brow. What's a Dennys? ]

After... the show, you mean? I'm... I don't know. Not like home is an option for me, anywhere but the Southern Isles is fine.

[ Probably not Arendelle unless Anna pardons him...... ]

[tellthestory]

We could go to France. Or anywhere, really...do you speak French? I'm not sure if the translation mechanic will hold once we're out of this story.

[trettende]

Yes, I speak French. And English. [ You mean we haven't all been speaking Norwegian this entire time? ] And German and... Well, let's just say you have to learn a lot of languages when you're trying to be the perfect suitor.

[ tmi, Hans. ]

[tellthestory]

I only speak English, so that's good. Wait, is that...your third language?

[trettende]

Danish is my first, German was the second. Then Norwegian and English and finally French.

[ What else do princes do besides learn etiquette and languages and history... ]

Admittedly, my French isn't as strong as my English, Romance languages have so many verb tenses.

[ The power of royal tutors. He's obviously enjoying showing off. ]

[tellthestory]

As long as we can still talk. I didn't even think about that...

[He scans the others. French, Norwegian, Japanese...well, he knows what their native languages are, he used them all back in his very first song to them.]

I'll need to try and make sure it still works. I don't know if I can just learn French.

[trettende]

Princes have to learn a lot of languages, I'm not too concerned.

[ He'll learn whatever you need him to learn, Bal. Plus I could always say he speaks as many languages as Frozen was translated into and then we'd really have a list on our hands. ]

Can you translate like you've been doing here? With your new powers? ...Which are really cool, by the way.

[tellthestory]

Maybe? That part's latent, I'm not sitting here thinking about translating everything for people. The audience wouldn't understand if we were all speaking different languages.

Once they aren't there anymore, though, it might not be needed? Could be I can, but that won't help the people I'm not with... [Hm.] But we all understand each other well enough now. I'm sure it'll be okay.

[trettende]

How much of it are you doing consciously? Don't tire yourself out too much. You're still a person, show-runner or not.

[ Like, okay, maybe that "I'll definitely rest after no-sleep week" didn't work out for obvious reasons, but Hans still pats Bal's shoulder to remind him. Someone's gotta look out for the guy looking out for everyone. ]

I'm sure in the end... if we want things to work out, they will. Somehow.

[ Who knew Hans could have so much hope? But after a day like today, it's hard to deny it. ]

[tellthestory]

Not much now. It's running itself. [Most things do, for the most part.] I'll just get us all out of here in a little bit, and from there I don't know what I'll need to do.

I'll make sure it works out okay, though. As much as I can.

[trettende]

I know you'll do your best. We'll figure it out.

[ They're all kind of in his hands now, but after the trust Hans has put in Bal, this is just another small step. ]

And we can always travel, I'm sure there's a lot out there you'll want to see for yourself.

[tellthestory]

There's so much I want to see! We could go practically anywhere now - it's not like she picked you guys to kidnap because she knew you already. So I can probably just take us wherever too!

[trettende]

[ Aw, that's cute Bal, you're so excited! ]

We can see it all. I'll follow you anywhere.

[ This beats going home by far... ]

Even, uh... even Arendelle, if you want. I'm sure you'll be welcomed there.

[tellthestory]

....I mean, I'd like to visit Anna and Billy, but I'm not trying to get you frozen.

[TITLE DROPPPP]

[trettende]

[ I cannot believe this, too bad the implication is lost on Hans. ]

Maybe we can work something out. Anna seemed pretty supportive of me kissing you, so... maybe she can talk to Elsa? I don't want to hold you back.

[ As nice as it would be to just have him to himself... that would be the dickish thing to do. And Hans is trying so hard not to be that guy. ]

[tellthestory]

We'll see.

[He's doubtful - people aren't usually cool with attempted assassins, in his experience, and they shouldn't be. But now's not the time to worry about it and maybe upset Hans.]

I'm sure we can work something out. And Hime says we're welcome in her embassy, so if nothing else, we can all meet up there.

[trettende]

I can always hang back with Seymour, if nothing else.

[ He's got a grand total of one friend, at least... But hey, as long as he never has to see his family again, even being exiled from Arendelle is fine. Totally fine. ]

Yeah, Hime seems understanding. Her world sounds surprisingly... normal. Considering she's got blue hair and everything.

[ There are way stranger things with Hime's world but Hans doesn't... know them. Just let him hope. ]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer snorts.]

What? Her world's insane.

[trettende]

What, really? But she seems so nice...

[ Hans, you did not unlock Hime's PreCure backstory at all. ]

[tellthestory]

You know God is her legal guardian, right?

[trettende]

Wait, what?