Stanza V · Round Two

Margery Ledge: We need somewhere the Office can't audit. Somewhere off every ledger in the city.

Cassius Fenn: Darling, nowhere is off every ledger. I've checked. Professionally.

"Brass" Coyle: Ha! I know a place. Under Bellmouth. The Encore Hall. Nobody pays taxes on a punch!

Lucan Strand: You've been there.

"Brass" Coyle: ...Have I? Huh. Feels like I have. Smells like I have.

Madam Reprise: Welcome, welcome! Fugitives, debtors, darlings - the Encore Hall turns no one away. We only ask one thing.

Madam Reprise: Perform. And when the house says ENCORE, you perform again.

Ansel Brigg: And if we don't?

Madam Reprise: Then the house performs you, dear. It's much less flattering.

Madam Reprise: Oh! And look who's come home. Brass Coyle. The Ninth Bout. We kept your seat warm. We kept your fight warm too.

"Brass" Coyle: ...Do I know you, lady?

Madam Reprise: Everyone knows me, champ. Nobody remembers me. That's the act.

???: Places, places! Act One, the newcomers lose!

Rook Marchetti: Says who?

???: Says the script!

Wren Halloway: These stagehands don't bleed. They just... reset. Like a scene change.

Edda Quill: And look. Every time one of them hit twice, they took a little light from the footlights to do it.

"Brass" Coyle: Liniment. Rosin. Wet rope. ...I used to tape my hands in here. Third mirror. Always the third.

Dr. Pell: Coyle, your hands are shaking.

"Brass" Coyle: Nah! That's just the old jitters! Ha! ...Ha.

"Brass" Coyle: There was a kid. Skinny. Ears like jug handles. He used to hold my towel. What was his name...

"Brass" Coyle: Hey! HEY! That's Big Mattie! He retired! He opened a bakery!

Mirela Vost: Then the bakery is a ledger entry and Big Mattie is still here.

"Brass" Coyle: They hit you once, and the crowd cheers, and they hit you again. Same punch. Same spot. That's an Encore.

Hob Tallow: That's cruelty, Coyle.

"Brass" Coyle: ...Yeah. Used to be my favourite part.

Danny Fairweather: Coyle? COYLE! You came back for the rematch! I knew you would. I kept the ring warm!

"Brass" Coyle: ...Danny. Danny Fairweather. You held my towel.

Danny Fairweather: I hold the BELT now, champ! You gave it to me! The Ninth Bout! You went down in the ninth like a sack of coal!

"Brass" Coyle: ...Yeah. I did, didn't I.

Danny Fairweather: Madam says I have to keep it. Every night, somebody tries to take it, and I win, and they say Encore, and I win again.

Danny Fairweather: I'm so tired, champ. My hands don't stop.

???: ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!

Cassius Fenn: Oh, I know this crowd. They don't want a show. They want the same show.

Nell Ashgrove: ...Mm. They clap so loud. Do they ever sleep?

Wren Halloway: They're not people, Nell. They're applause that learned to stand up.

Edda Quill: It's all written down. Every bout. Every fall. Thousands of pages, and they're all the same page.

Wren Halloway: Someone's been feeding the Hall a story and making it tell it forever.

Edda Quill: The margins have notes. In pencil. 'He threw it. The house paid him to throw it. Keep the boy fighting. The crowd loves a champion who can't stop.'

"Brass" Coyle: ...

Ansel Brigg: Coyle.

"Brass" Coyle: I was in debt. Real debt. The house said, go down in the ninth and you walk out clean. Kid gets the belt. Everybody wins.

"Brass" Coyle: I walked out clean. I walked out and I kept walking and I hit my head on every wall in Umbrage till I forgot I ever walked out.

???: Rehearsal! Rehearsal! The newcomers lose, page four hundred!

Lucan Strand: We're not on your page.

Dr. Pell: The stagehands are getting stronger every time we beat them. Like they're learning the scene.

Edda Quill: They are. That's what an encore is. A scene you've practised.

Danny Fairweather: Champ! You're back! Did you read the script? I win. I always win. Please don't make me win again.

"Brass" Coyle: Kid. I'm gettin' in the ring.

Mirela Vost: Coyle, you're seventy years old and you can't remember your own birthday.

"Brass" Coyle: Ha! Then I'll pick a new one! Today! Happy birthday to me!

"Brass" Coyle: I threw the ninth so I could walk away. Now I'm gonna fight the ninth so HE can.

Danny Fairweather: I'm sorry, champ! My hands won't stop! The crowd won't let them!

"Brass" Coyle: Then I'll stop 'em for you, kid. Keep your guard up!

Danny Fairweather: ...It's quiet. Champ, is it supposed to be quiet?

Madam Reprise: ENCORE.

Madam Reprise: Bravo! Bravo! Oh, you were marvellous. Again! From the top!

"Brass" Coyle: Lady. Show's over.

Madam Reprise: Show's never over, champ. That's the whole point of me. Nobody in this city ever gets to do anything twice. I give them twice. Forever.

Madam Reprise: You think he's suffering? He's the most important man in Umbrage. Every night, he WINS.

"Brass" Coyle: He's tired. I can see it from here. I'm tired too. Been tired for twenty years.

"Brass" Coyle: Ring the bell, Madam. Ring it twice. Second bell ends the fight. Everybody knows that.

Madam Reprise: Ladies and gentlemen! The Ninth Bout! One more time!

"Brass" Coyle: One more time. Then never again.

Madam Reprise: ...No encore? There's always an encore. There's always...

"Brass" Coyle: Not tonight, lady. Tonight the bell rings twice.

Danny Fairweather: Champ... who won?

"Brass" Coyle: Nobody, kid. That's the good part. Nobody won and nobody has to fight it again.

Danny Fairweather: I'm twenty years old.

"Brass" Coyle: Nah. You're forty. And I'm seventy. And we both missed a lotta birthdays. Let's go get cake.

Danny Fairweather: ...Can it not be chocolate?

Rook Marchetti: Oh, I KNOW that kid. Come on, I know a bakery. Owned by a Big Mattie.

"Brass" Coyle: Hey. Warden. You still in there?

"Brass" Coyle: I remembered the kid's name 'cause of you. Thanks. ...I'm gonna forget a lotta stuff still. Head's like a bell somebody kept ringin'.

"Brass" Coyle: But I'll remember this. Ring-a-ding. Second bell.