(Unable to bear the pain of Ms. Leading's treatment, the woman chooses to believe that Ms. Leading turned out fine.)

(She's inanimate... bloodless elegance... fatal fascination breeds... a bloom of misery..)

(Through his highest and his lowest, the revelations and defeats - Hunter is left with nothing but the thought of his Mother and the song she would sing to him.)

(While still longing for his first love, he turns his attentin to the literal sea he now finds himself on - one of dreams and great promise.)

(Here he acknowledges the truth behind the Oracles warning to him.)

(She appears to respond, hoping to meet in person and explain herself but is only met with another letter. He continues to demean her by downplaying his feeling for her as simple lust .)

(Again referring to her as a bloom or blossoming, but this time saying he would pluck her petals. This shows the level of spite he is grappling with. The entire verse here is Hunter fully aware that he is being unreasonable and callous but being unable to suppress his hurt.)

(Possibly referring to a call Hunter made to Ms. Leading or vice versa? Perhaps a call that somehow lead to him discovering her with another man.)

(Hunter tries to justify his outburst by explaining how vulnerable he was being and how costly it was for this to happen.)

(He resigns to the fact that she didn't actually do anything wrong.  She is only "doing her job".)
 
 
("I would never say those words to you", to me, seems like Hunter is saying that he isn't the type of person who would say such disgusting things and can't believe the words he just shouted at someone he loves.)

(Hunter watches as an inconsolable, defeated Ms. Leading strips her clothes off with reluctance and stands there whimpering. The sight of her like this, as a direct and sole result of his abhorrent behavior, finally thrusts him into clarity. All at once, he breaks down with guilt and tells her to stop what he's told her to do and put her clothes back on. Hunter is acting exactly like everything his mother tried her hardest to avoid.)
 
 
EXTREMELY  IMPORTANT   SIDE   NOTE   -   PLEASE   READ :    (TW  sexual assault)
 
i.  I struggled hard with how to phrase the previous two explanations  and tried to do so  in a way that aligns with my interpretation of the scene, but still gets across how inexcuseable all of it is. My second note will elaborate more on what  that means, but just know that I have zero intention of down-playing or dismissing any of the actions one might perceive in this song.
 
ii.   There are a not-insignificant amount of people whose interpretation  of  these lines is that Hunter  forces himself on Ms. Leading.  I personally see this scene as one in which he no doubt crosses many boundries, and appears to come dangerously close to committing rape, but does not.  My conclusion of this is based on my reading of the lyrics and context and also  my  many other's perspectives and opinions I've combed through online. Its possible that I subconciously choose to believe Hunter doesn't force himself on her because if that were the case  I  would  find Hunter  irredeemable  and  vile - and since TDH is my favorite band  I  wouldn't be able to reconcile him as a rapist with my enjoyment of the music and story.

(He rehashes the same sentiments, but with a heightened stress and aggression.)
 
 
(This time around, his insult turns into more of a command. He feels that if he wants her affection and she's just a product to be used, then it isn't really up to her. This is a continuation of the degradation he inflicts upon her as well as a disgusting, vile  attempt to soothe his ego and reclaim the love he jadedly feels entitled to.)

(Hunter attempts to impose a rationale onto her, betting she would say it was 'only acting' with these other men and that with him it was real. He ends the analogy with a snide remark about how, if that was her plan, it didn't seem to work out so well.)

(His scorn and mockery continue, resulting in a particularly cruel insult. In the final line, Hunter essentially tells Ms. Leading that being a prostitute is all she is good for,  so she should just go away and get back to it.)

(Hunter patronizes her using a dense slurry of wordplay. He asks if it was 'bitter' when she had sex with others, asking her if she even feels bad about it. While 'bitter' sounds like 'better', wondering if she had a better time with all those other men. In the same vain, 'tossed and turn' could refer to sex or to restlessness/guilt, and under-cover plays on undercover (behind his back) and under-the -covers.)

(He refers to her hands being red, as in 'caught red-handed', and insinuates that she sees him as just another 'client' of hers. He's disgusted by the thought of her just going through the motions with him as she would any other person.)

Blood,
Blood of the rose.
Follow in peace without the past.
Pray,
Pray for her soul.
She will die in a baptism of flame.                           (a reference to Battesimo del Fuoco from Act I.)

(She mockingly regurgitates the lies that she has been told - that if she does what she is told and doesn't complain, she won't be destitute anymore.)

(I'm torn between two interperetations of this; one in which she is nihilistically saying this feeling of love is only temporary  and once Hunter stops feeling bad for her he will abandon her so she shouldn't get her hopes up - or one in which she is saying that the despair she is living in will be over soon and she will finally be shown empathy.)

(Ms. Leading attributes this low self-image to her past; living without a home, immigrating as a stowaway  to find new opportunities, only to find herself in the Dime. This also demonstrates her and Hunter's common situation.)

(In a conversatin directed at herself, she belittles her self-worth.)

(She feels constricted by her circumstances, but has been 'evicted' from those feelings by Hunter (the flameless fire). She doesn't want to go cold, she wants to become the Flame. Simply put, she is falling in love with Hunter.)

(Hunteris smitten -  bouncing around the street, exclaiming his love.)

(After the interaction, he refers to The Pimp and The Priest as a 'Machiavellian dandelion', indicating that Hunter sees him as an untrustworthy and deceitful person - a weed that is polluting Ms. Leading's blossom.)

(The Pimp and The Priest inquires about his night with Ms. Leading and offers him a job driving her, and others, arround. He's effectively saying, in a mob boss type way, "looks like you had some fun with my services and didn't pay. don't worry, you can work it off.")
 
(To Hunter, still on cloud nine, acknowledges the encounter was weird but doesn't care as long as he can continue seeing Ms. Leading.)

(Hunter comes face-to-face with The Pimp and The Priest, referring to him as a 'squeaky wheel' for his loud offputing nature and a 'smiling swine' due to the pig-inspired masquerade mask he wears while in The Dime.)

(The two surrender to the moment, lost in an ocean of passion that overcomes pain, despair, or anything that exists outside of the walls of their room.)

(Ms. Leading may or may not have had any interest or attraction to Hunter when she enticed him, but to me this is a clear turning point for her emotionally. Instead of 'scream' or 'beg' for more, like she might if she were just doing a job and playing the part, she 'sings' for more. This feels more like  she is authentically and genuinely enjoying  herself, likely to her own surprise.)

(They sell the Dime as a place to invigorate yourself and fuel your 'inner fire'. To me this seems like propagandic language from The Pimp and The Priest that has bled into the clientelle and even to Ms. Terri - although her use of fire and flame imagery is one of resilience and rebellion .)

(To Hunter, her past doesn't exist. He has no concept of what he's doing here and why. Under the spell of love, he follows her wherever he's led .)

(They chant for him to 'get a job'. The Pimp provides jobs for the customers as a way of paying off their debts to him, and to increase the power and control he holds over people. This also implies how the women, such as Ms. Leading and his own mother, might've ended up here.)

(His witheld  emotions flood through all at once. With the pain he is holding and the love he is now feeling, Hunter is abruptly stricken with overwhelming emotion. He wonders, rhetorically, how she dares to show him such comforting, motherly love when he is still so wounded over the loss of his only source of warmth and security. He wants to feel this love without guilt but can't understand why the universe would taunt him with something so beautiful so quickly after his darkest, lowest moment.)

(Ms. Leading notes that he looks exhausted and distressed, kindly offering him her bed. This time, his heart doesn't have time to speak on his behalf. Hunter responds decisively.)

(Just as Hunter's mother 'danced around the truth'  in the end of Act I, this woman dances to the doors - a potential bit of foreshadowing. She sweetly frolics to the doors of a building , her warm and kind demeanor seemingly carrying Hunter with her in a comforting warmth. Additionally, she 'carries' him just as his mother carried him - "we dance around the room, my love i'll carry you"  - a familiar feeling that overwhelms him in a time where he feels so raw and abandoned. )
 
(Hunter finally  musters up a question, asking the womans name. She obliges.)

(In a brief moment of clarity, Hunter worries that her gorgeous lips could hide a lying tongue behind them. He reflexively fears that he is too vulnerable for something else bad to happen.)

(Before he can process what is happening, his heart speaks for him .)

(Transfixed, the world and all of its assaults on the senses are drowned out. The woman reaches out to him,  her words a silent miming to his powerless ears. Hunter is hesitant, unsure of what she's asking and why she would be asking it to him .)

(The last line here hammers home the confusing and manipulative nature of the Dime. By night it is a haven for sin and desire, in which the Pimp puppeteers, collecting money while extorting the ashamed customers and the poor women subjected to them. By day it is a bastion of holy praise and cleansing of sin, in which the Priest collects tithes as repentence in exchange for absolving the wicked patrons .)

(The Dime is a loveless place filled with only lust and momentary pleasures. All the while The Pimp counts his money while simultaneously playing the role of The Priest, soothing the sinful hearts of the clients .)

(A brief reprise of this line from The Pimp and The Priest from Act I.)

(As the train gets closer and closer, finally approaching Hunter, we can hear a violin playing a solemn melody...)
 
(With no plan and nowhere to go, Hunter boards the train.)

(This singing is the incoming train personified. It is on rails, devouring coal, and destined to barrel onward with no choice. In a way, this is symbolic of the City, the world outside of the Lake, the places its been, and the places its going .)

(He reflects on his mother's funeral procession.)

(Hunter spent all his life wishing he could leave his secluded home, but now he can hardly grapple with the dread and agony he feels.)

(Hunter imagines his life without ever having left the Lake, if he let his curiousity die and stayed sheltered.)

(He powers on, putting one foot in front of the other and clinging to any manufactured confidence he can muster. Also possible foreshadowing for future events..)

(Hunter resents that his Mother kept her life such a mystery, but realizes he can no longer blame his ignorance of the world on her. He is free to get the answers he's been looking for now and if he wants to do it, he can. The veil on the mysteries can only lift for him if he does so.)
 
(At the same time, this can reflect Ms. Terri's experience. She has lived a life with no autonomy, being forced into what to say, do, believe.  The veil of lies and agony surrounding her can only be lifted when the truth of her life is exposed.)

(Hunter can, physically and emotionally, no longer bare to stay in his home by the Lake. He begins to walk the path that his Mother would walk to-and-from when she worked in the City.)
 
 

(Even dead, Hunter sees his Mother as beautiful.)
 
 

(A great example of the use of double-meaning and sound-alikes that are core to the Acts.. He is emotionally devistated 'broken, alone', but it also sounds like broke and alone, now unable to provide for himself without his Mother..)
 
 

(Hunter holds back his tears, but also implies no one else is crying either, suggesting that the world doesn't know of her and no one will care that she's gone besides him. He places coins over her eyes and says one last goodbye.)
 
 

(Ms. Terri has one final bodily reflex before passing away in front of her Son's eyes.)
 
 

(In a drunked stupor, Hunter writes a bitter letter to Ms. Leading - leaving it at the aforementioned crossroads where they first met, instead of meeting her there face-to-face.)

(After some time, Hunter is out and about on his own. Embarassed and guilty over his poor choices in the City, he stumbles upon a brochure - a recruitment ad for The Great War that has broken out across Europe. He sees this as not only a chance to avoid the wicked influence of the City and remove himself as a burden to Ms. Leading's life after the pain he's caused her - but to get his act together and do something noble.)
 
 
(Hunter heads to the port where he sees massive ships setting sail with troops. He boards one of the remaining vessels and bids farewell to the City.)

(This song is from the omniscient perspective of the narrator. The narrator describes a woman coming across the letters on a beach and reading through them. Without knowing anything about the authors or the schism between them, the woman mourns their pain and hopes that things turned out well for them.)

(Finding himself in the same position he was in a year ago when he first came to the City, Hunter departs onto a lonely road and contemplates his future.)

(The climax of Act ii. Hunter, in an effort to return a scarf Ms. Leading had left in the vehicle, discovers her in bed with another man. The realization of what has been in front of him the whole time hits him at once; her profession, the meaning of the "appointments" she has, and the fact that he's been the one driving her, and her clients, to-and-from.)
 
(In this song Hunter explodes at Ms. Leading, verbalizing every emotion as it comes and escalating into a full scale break-down.)

(A Tango song, a genre that often deals with themes such as love, tragedy, and the meshing of the two. Sung from an omniscient point of view, this song deliberates on his infatuation, her insecurity, his obliviousness, and a glum foreshadowing of it all.)

(Sung from the perspective of Ms. Leading, this introspective song shows her self-degradating tendencies, but also shows her newfound optimism.)

(Hunter wakes up in Ms. Leading's bed to find her gone.)

(Hunter and Ms. Leading make love. The innocence, nervousness, and insecurity of his first intimate moments are eclipsed by the love and solace he is so desperately in need of, now more than ever. )

(Ms. Leading, with Hunter in tow, enters The Dime.  Hunter is completely unaware of where he has just entered and the significance that this establishment has, and will have, on his life. Not only do the staff welcome Hunter's fresh face, but so do the drunken, enamored patrons, imploring him to indulge in everything they have to offer.)

(Stepping off of the train, the first thing Hunter sees is a woman - one he is instantly enamored by. Within an instant, his problems simply don't exist and his panges of despair are alleviated. He is in a stunned silence, standing still in a world of his own. She approaches him.)

(While the train is headed to town, we get a more detailed look into the Church and the Dime that awaits them at the train stop.)

(Hunter is greeted by the Oracles. Since the very first words of this story, the Oracles have been looming, watching - but now they present themselves in person, seemingly trying to directly intervene.)
 
(Thinking nothing of these folks on the train, Hunter listens to their song. He takes it as general advice about the City they're approaching, unaware of the prophetic detail each line holds for him specifically.)

(As he walks along the path away from his home, Hunter contemplates everything he's known.)

(picking up immediately after the events of Act I,  Hunter discovers his Mother's nearly-dead body.  He can only assume that her death was caused by an unfortunate accident, or was self-inflicted.)
(Hunter expresses his lack of pedigree - or ancestry/lineage. He doesn't know who his father is and now has no mother.  He knows nothing of his family, history, or the outside world - and now, with Ms. Terri's gone, might never know.)
 
 

Messages from broken bottles fall,
on black sandy beaches.
Ink in vein across the page now run
from morning dew.
 
Hands which chance upon it,
lead to eyes which strain to read,
hearts which pound from love long overdue,
lips which press together, stifle rhythmic,
heavy breaths.
 
Oh, how she smiles from vicarious love,
from the one he writes about.
She must have been so glad for him to throw it out
 
Further steps lead to yet another broken bottle.
Again, the words contained have bled the page.
Whose tears were these which ran the ink?
From who'd they poured to make this streak?
Were they his, by chance, from telling her?
Or hers, by chance, from reading it?
They could have been collective,
they could have been from someone else.
Why don't we see what's at the bottom?
Why don't we see what comes next?
 
Oh, how she cries from vicarious pain,
from the one he writes about.
She must have been so sad for him to throw her out.
 
 
 
Let's just say she is better off somehow.
Let's just say she has never been happier,
than she is now.
 
We couldn't fake it, so why even try?
 
Let's just say she is better off somehow.
Let's just say she has never been happier,
than she is now.
Let's just say she is better off somehow.
Let's just say she has never been happier,
than she is now.

Dear Ms. Leading,

       In reponse to your repsonse, I'm simply unavailable.
I hope you got the message in the message that I sent - (shame on me for falling for someone so dense).
 
       In different times, I might've fooled around for
something warm - something with security as fleeting as the momentary rapture and the pleasure of collapsing in arms so welcoming to others, just like me...
 
 
 
       Come now, Ms. Leading, I regret to inform you
I've fallen out of lust. It must be so hard to understand.
Did you really think me a fool enough to play along, make-believing everything you said was true?
 
 
                                                       Hunter

Dear Ms. Leading,

       I hate to tell you that I no longer need your services.
The bitter, fabricating manufacturer of lust you have
been presented as doesn't do a thing for me. I now know your identity; a black widow who tempts her prey with promises of love.
 
       If ignorance is bliss, wish I were blissfully ignorant, but I'm not. I'm enlightened now, light has been presented to me - in spite of you.
 
Come now, Ms. Leading, I regret to inform you
I've fallen out of lust. It must be so hard to understand.
Did you really think me a fool enough to play along, make-believing everything you said was true?
 
 
                                   Hunter

It's ironic how I'd fall,
just to get back up again.
A fix to cure this ailing bitter agony.
 
Meet me where the road parts,
you remember where we first met.
So tongue-in-cheek with stale irony,
If it pleases you, it pleases me.
 
Just an innocent call,
a telephone call.
Just an innocent call..
 
Now, if you were in bloom,
I'd pluck your petals clean.
Although it won't seem so,
I can promise you, my ego's running me.
Then I'd be cold,
you were the only one that didn't fold.
But I just broke right down for you,
in an attempt to gain control.
 
Maybe I'm a waste of time.
Sacrifice another life.
 
You were the only one that didn't fold..
You were the only one that didn't fold....

Dance,
dance your decay.
All the while unknowing that you're led astray.
Sleep,
sleep through your woe.
While your voice slowly withers and melts away.
 
Sing, sing unto me,
the pleasure and the pain.
Reveal to me,
the reasons my love's not in vain.
 
Sangre,
sangre de la rosa.
Sigue en paz sin el pasado.
Rec�,
rec� por su alma.
Ella morir� en el battesimo del fuego.
 
Sing, sing unto me,
the pleasure and the pain.
Reveal to me,
the reasons my love's not in vain.
 
The world burns, but still we breathe.
The iron chambered heart a sieve,
that sifts through honest elegance,
and suffers from the wrong defense.
 
The world burns, but still we breathe.
The iron chambered heart a sieve,
that sifts through honest elegance,
and suffers from the wrong defense.

I woke alone,
put on my coat, ran for the door.
Down the stairs,
and made it to the second floor.
 
Stopped by the Squeaky Wheel,
a  Smiling Swine.
Stunned by the sight,
and fearing what's behind.
 
"Hey there!"  , he pleasantly began,
"Good day,"    he telescoped his hand,
"Is there a service I can possibly propose?
Ms. Leading seems to me
to be a proper butterfly"
"Then I suggest you pack your bags and learn to drive"
 
Tucked in my shirt,
and finally made my way outside.
He broke the scene,
a Machiavellian dandelion.
 
Blissfully plucked from the bloom of another.
 
But all the while,
she was still fresh in my mind!
And though it might be premature,
but ambition strikes
just when the mood is right!
The mood is right!
 
Now all the while,
she is still fresh in my mind!
And though it might sound premature,
but ambition strikes
just when the mood is right!
The mood is right!
 
====
 
Now all the while,
she is still stuck in my mind!
And though it might sound premature,
but ambition strikes me
when the mood is right!
And the mood is right!
 
Now all the while,
she is still stuck in my mind!
And though it might sound premature,
but ambition strikes me
when the mood is right!
And the mood is right!

 

Step right in!
Let her hips guide your desire.
 
Hey, kid!
Hey kid get a job!
 
They have ways!
To satisfy, to satisfy what you require.
 
Touch! Taste! Feel!
Two times, The Dime!
 
But the perks are more than price,
and the guarantee is clean.
"They're all clean!"
 
We know what the men all want,
and they know it isn't free.
 
Her history is left behind.
The ignorance has room to breathe.
They play a part and act a scene.
The prejudice, the guilty.
 
Take a chair!
You're not alone, the bed's your home tonight.
 
Hey, kid!
Hey kid get a job!
 
Wait right there!
We'll magnify and maximize your inner fire.
 
Touch! Taste! Feel!
Two times, The Dime!
 
'Cause if you boys are nice,
the ladies here are clean.
"They're all clean!"
 
We know what the men all want,
and they know it isn't free
 
Her history is left behind.
The ignorance has room to breathe.
They play a part and act a scene.
The prejudice, the guilty.

She prayed to the man,
with the twin in the mask.
But the world is numb and cold.
 
And the boy, all alone,
casually wandering home,
unaware of sobering reality.
 
Faster, save me, harder, I can't --
 
(Breathe in!  Breathe out!)
Let them all fold,
Let them all fold.
(Breathe in!  Breathe out!)
Let them all fold,
Let them all fold.
 
Hearts finish here.
Love decays while call girls perform.
He waits alone,
playing roles to suit lovers flue.
 
The lust and the sighs,
the Church and the Dime.
The cryptic clientele all careening inside.
The puzzling fa�ade steers pure from the divine.
 
(Breathe in!  Breathe out!)
Let them all fold,
Let them all fold.
(Breathe in!  Breathe out!)
Let them all fold,
Let them all fold.
 
Many wishes of hunger were wronged.
By the Pimp and Priest's thirst for a fault.
All the anger from a lover's lament.
Force fed in the stomach of sin.
Welcome to the world.

Everything you'd live and die for.
Reasons leading you through here.
Perished matriarchal bonds,
failing innocence of love.
When the world beckons your approach,
it swallows you whole.
 
You'll believe what you're meant to believe.
In the hands of ghosts, we're never responsible.
Wait to see what you're meant to see.
The veil lifts when you expose your soul.
 
Prayed I would leave this place someday.
Joined to alarm from long ago,
now unconcerned.
 
Euphorically floating upon wax wings,
where is the sun?
I still see her face; her beauty, her grace,
transfixed like a light in front of me.
It follows my soul,
and swallows me whole.
 
You'll believe what you're meant to believe.
In the hands of ghosts, we're never responsible.
Wait to see what you're meant to see.
The veil lifts when you expose your soul.
 
Left, Right!   Left, Right!
Left, Right!   Left, Right!
Left, Right!   Left, Right!
 
 
His branches reached so far before.
His leaves were bold extremities with great control.
Wasted along;  he died alone
 
 
You'll believe what you're meant to believe.
In the hands of ghosts, we're never responsible.
Wait to see what you're meant to see.
The veil lifts when you expose your soul.
 
 
She's inanimate..
Bloodless elegance..
Fatal fascination breeds a bloom of misery...
 
Helpless hiding tongues..
Bathed in revulsion..
Here lies possibility, wilting premature...
 
 
But the right hand hates the left.
And the sea's upset with the sky.
So we press on, press on, press on, press on,
in spite of the spite.
 
Happiness is a knife,
when the worlds on its side,
and your mind's on fire.
Don't you know that happiness is a knife,
when the worlds on fire?
 
 
Trying to find the trouble with the trouble I've found.
Begging my god to make the wheels go 'round.
Eat so much but I never get full.
Earth opened up and swallowed us whole.
 
Trying to find the trouble with the trouble I've found.
Begging my god to make the wheels go 'round.
Eat so much but I never get full.
Earth opened up and swallowed us whole.

(An introduction to some motifs, including a gloomy violin, that foretell the future to come. Hunter is now in early adulthood, somewhere around twenty years old.)
 
(Seen prominently in Act I, this album continues the use of double-meanings.  Berth literally means a dock or port for ships, but can also be read/heard as "birth". This Berth/Birth is symbolic of the beginning of Hunter's journey, leaving home for new lands and a re-"birth" from child to man.)