[color=e6e8fa][b]“You’ll, uh, have to ask him yourself.”[/b][/color] Billy replies, arching a quizzical eyebrow in response to Maddie’s question. Already, Romeo was getting more attention than they’d bargained for. Even the less enthusiastic members of the cast seemed smitten by the joyfully wriggling canine. But he decides that it’s probably best to give Romeo some room to run around, lest he get antsy. At least this way he’ll be out of their hair for the duration of the meeting. Billy just hopes that he won’t have to deal with any chewed-up curtains. In one smooth motion, he drops to a squat next to Romeo, and unclips the lead. The effect is immediate. Like a bat out of hell, Romeo zips off to the back of the theatre, newly-clipped nails tapping an erratic rhythm against the hardwood floor; and if he squinted, Billy could almost see a cartoon cloud of dust trailing behind him.

Billy is content to hover around the fringes of conversation, but turns uncharacteristically quiet when the card finally lands in his hand. He reads it once, twice, eyes scanning over the looping, purple text like it held some sort of world-changing secret. Is this the chance they’ve been waiting for? A miracle to snatch [i]Abracadabra![/i] back from the cold, merciless clutches of death? He barely manages to suppress an incredulous laugh, forcing it back down his lungs, and turns it into much less conspicuous cough. Billy doesn’t want to get his hopes too high up  - that was just flirting with disaster - but this sounded like the real deal. There’s just one tiny problem - a month wasn’t much time to prepare a performance at all.

[color=e6e8fa][b]“A month…”[/b][/color] He echoes, teeth worrying away at his lower lip. Everyone just had to play their part, stay focused, and if nothing went wrong, they could actually make this happen. If something [i]did[/i] go wrong - well, there’s not much he can do about that, is there? Billy moves to lean against the stage, arms crossed loosely over his chest. They didn’t have enough time to come up with something original, but they couldn’t fall back on a tried-and-tested classic either. His thoughts shutter back to the note their mysterious benefactor had left them, to three words in particular - [i]‘take a risk’[/i]. But it won’t matter what they choose if they don’t manage to make this show a rip-roaring success.

Truth be told, Billy doesn’t know much about theater. He’d unfortunately spent a good part of Literature getting some shuteye. It was inevitable, really. When you had to take care of two younger siblings, work a part-time job, [i]and[/i] go to school all at the same time, you slept whenever you could; but he remembers just enough to draw up an opinion of his own.

[color=e6e8fa][b]“I agree.”[/b][/color] Billy starts, gesturing towards Ziggy and Noah in a wide, sweeping motion for emphasis. For a moment, he pauses, arranges his thoughts into something a little more concise. [color=e6e8fa][b]“Keep it simple - the script, the set, everything. A month’s not enough time to build something fancy, not when there’s so many other things to deal with.”[/b][/color]

After that, he just shrugs, and cranes his neck around to look for Romeo, which is probably why he ends up sounding a tad distracted. [color=e6e8fa][b]“I’m cool with [i]An Inspector Calls[/i], though. If not, [i]Deathtrap[/i] or [i]Waiting for Godot[/i] might be good. Just my two cents.”[/b][/color]