SHOWMASTER HEART GAME (SUNDAY)(MORNING)

[showmaster]

A familiar voice can be heard above you, you're not sure if they're talking to you or not but it does feel like you're part of this conversation:

"What a Wonderful Story that you have. I've read it many times when I was feeling sad. You know, I wanted to keep it in my personal collection, but it doesn't seem that's going to be possible. To grant my wish, I'd have to sacrifice what it means to be a reader ... to become the story. That's The End that I'm looking for.

...

...

...

...

..."

Comments

[ticketmaster]

Yes. Did I ever tell you what that meant?

[She tilts her head at the fist and then...she gives a fist bump anyway.]

[audacity]

[ hehehehe ]

Can't remember if you did. Can you tell me now?

[ticketmaster]

[Holds up a coin!]

Heads, I tell you! Tails, I won't!

[audacity]

[ huffs out a breath, fond ]

Always back to chances, huh.

[ticketmaster]

Well, you could always guess if you want to take that kind of chance instead~

[audacity]

[ considers that ]

Heads, you tell me. Tails, you won't, but I get to guess. Sound okay?

[ticketmaster]

[hands him the coin.]

I accept the bet.

1/2

[audacity]

[ Awesome.

flips the coin, and... ]

2/3

[audacity]

[ tails! ]

[audacity]

[ hands the coin back to her, thoughtfully ]

You know, I talked to the Legends of my Family and the Arias not too long ago. What they wanted was to not be Legends anymore. To be free of the "rules" that gotta exist in this world when there are Legends. They asked if we really wanted to be Legends, ourselves, and honestly...I don't. I don't want rules and immortality and dying-not-dying and everything. I wanna be a normal person.

And when I've talked to you, you've never been too interested in that stuff either. You've cared about chances. About having a fate, but not submitting to it either. The determination to keep trying, and how that makes us human.

So my guess is...you wanna burn your story, and stop being a Legend, and stop being tied to the Showmaster and the boat and everything. More than anything, I'd guess you wanna be free.

1/2

[ticketmaster]

[First.

She laughs at the coinflip, a strange laugh but a laugh nonetheless, ha ha ha ha ha.]

[ticketmaster]

See, I like it when people lose bets and still find what they're looking for.

You are mostly correct. I wish for the "Legend of the Storyteller" to stop existing completely. Not just forgotten, completely erased.

But I want Legends as a whole to be burned.

[audacity]

Like, the whole idea of Legends?

[ticketmaster]

Correct.

[audacity]

...do you think there's a way to get that, and still save the Showmaster's bro?

And...do you still not know what that'd do to us? Like, me, and the other passengers?

1/2

[ticketmaster]

I don't know. The only promise I made with him was to keep his sister alive and to help her with whatever she needs.

And I don't know what it would do. It might erase all of us and this world completely. Or maybe it will just erase our history and humans can live peacefully. Maybe you will go back to your worlds, maybe you will become words in a page, or maybe you'll continue to live in this world.

But.

[ticketmaster]

I did say I was a selfish individual after all.

[audacity]

...you did. But you aren't as selfish as you like to make yourself sound.

[ticketmaster]

Hmmm?

[audacity]

You made that promise to her bro, and you've kept it, even though it's cost you plenty. You've helped us when you didn't have to, more than just to serve your own ends. You might be "selfish", but that's another way of calling you "human." Not a bad thing, all in all.

[ticketmaster]

[She stares at him.

And then without any word, she shoves a ticket named "REGRETS" into his chest. :)]

[audacity]

[ heh

takes it ]

What am I looking for, to find the End of the Line?

[ticketmaster]

You have your own wishes, but if there is one thing you want to find, the Library is here.

One more thing.

[audacity]

Got it.

Yeah?

[ticketmaster]

You are a kind friend.

[And then she shoves him through the subway door.]