the thmgau rewrite

The Marionette Quintet

A couple weeks had passed since the incident at The Auction House. News had spread out that The Auction House had shut down due to what had happened, so the group had absolutely no idea where Pim & The Auctioneer were hiding out now.

Other than the occasional run-ins with Natalie, they didn't really need to use their weapons very much. Nora & everyone else did catch Sorrel up to speed with the hero stuff, showing them the book & all that.

Cherry had also started working out regularly, so she could wield her sword better. It had only been a week, but they were seeing a little bit of progress.

Progress on the play was going well, too! Next Thursday was going to be the date of the first performance, at the college theater, so everybody in the cast & crew were getting some last-minute stuff together.

Juniper was hanging out with the group in xyr dorm room, going over some stuff for the play.

"Now, Les, you're remembering to keep the necklace hidden under your outfit, right?"
"Of course! It sure would be useful if we could take them off though, wouldn't it?"
"I wish we could take these things off. It's so uncomfortable to sleep in."
"At least Allie's chill with us hiding them instead of forcing us to take them off, which, y'know, we can't take them off, so.."

A ding sound came from Juniper's phone.

"Oh! A text!" he said, checking his phone.
"Who's it from?"
"Allie."
"Speak of the devil."
"What'd she say?"
"She says the crew still needs a prop for the rose. She's wondering if we could go get one."
"The show's in a week & she still hasn't gotten a rose?"
"I thought we were going to use that rubber ducky for the actual performance."
"That would be funny, but, y'know.. director's rules. Let me just text her back... 'Of course, will get one ASAP.' That should be good!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the road!"

-

"There we go! That oughta fix ya up pretty well!"

A boy stood in a dimly-lit room. Paint cans were stacked neatly in a box, with a light green can of paint on a work desk. Wood, wirings, & other mechanical parts were scattered all over the place. 5 life-sized puppets stood in the room. Green, yellow, red, gray, & blue. The boy had just finished repairing the green one, painting over a part of the puppet that had been burned slightly.

"I've no idea how you got those scorch marks, honestly. Maybe I did it by accident?" the boy hummed. "I'll have to be a bit more careful with the lighter next time.."

He sealed up the paint can & put it back in the box, along with putting the paintbrush he was using in the sink.

"I gotta go check up out front, now!" she waved. "Gotta see if there's any customers! Buh-bye!"

With that, the boy left the room, leaving the puppets alone. The green one opened its eyes, glowing ever-so slightly in the dim room. It chuckled to itself, with a robotic-like voice.

"Ohh, I can't wait until this whole world is mine."

-

"Listen! Violet isn't a color! It never was & it never will be!"
"What about ROYGBIV? What do you think the I & the V stand for? Indigo & violet!"
"It should be ROYGBP! P for purple!!"
"That's a stupid acronym!"
"Your MOM'S a stupid acronym-"
"Can you two stop that?"
"Sorry, Cherry."

"Anyways," Cherry said, pulling her car up into a parking spot. "This is the place you said to go?"
"Yup," Juniper said, checking the map on her phone. "This seems to be it!"

The place the group had just pulled into was a small store called Alph's Amazing Animatronics.

"Well, let's hope there's no capitalist bananas in this store!" Kalani said as the group walked inside.

The building itself was quite large, but there were so many shelves with trinkets & oddities on them that it felt crowded. Every wall that wasn't a window was covered in shelves, from top to bottom. Various puppets & woodworks of all sizes were laid out for customers to pick out.

There was a boy at the counter, who the group assumed was the owner, considering he was the only other person there.

"Hi!" the boy waved. "Welcome to my shop! The name's Alph! How can I help you folks today?"
"Hey!" Juniper grinned. "Uh, we're looking for a prop for the play our university is doing."
"A prop! I've got tons of those!" Alph said. "What are you lookin' for specifically? I can probably help you out!"
"Oh, we're doing Beauty & The Beast, & the director asked us to get the rose, so, uh.. we need a rose."
"Oh, I certainly have a few mechanical roses around here! Let me see if they're in the back!"

Alph swung open a door that was behind the counter & went in there, digging around for something. In the back, Juniper could kinda see a few life-sized puppets in the back. One of them, although hard to see in the dimly-lit room, had glowing green eyes. It seemed to be looking right at aem.

After a moment, Alph returned from the back & shut the door, holding up a wooden rose puppet.

"Aha! Here it is!" Alph smiled, holding up the rose. She maneuvered the puppet so that it wilted, & then un-wilted, & then wilted again, & she did this over & over for a minute.

"It can wilt & unwilt as you please, & the strings are long enough for someone to do it out of sight, which should be perfect for a stage performance!"
"Oh, that's absolutely perfect! How much would this be?"
"$25!"

Juniper took out their credit card & put it in the card reader, paying for the rose.

"Thank ya! Have a nice day, & good luck with that performance!"
"You too!"

The group left the store, rose in hand, & got back into Cherry's car.

"Ok. You guys saw that too, right? The puppet guy in the back?"
"How could we not? It was staring right at us."
"Real creepy."
"I mean, it's just a puppet. What could it possibly do?"
"Is that a rhetorical question or do you want an actual answer to that?"
"Rhetorical."
"Ah."
"I'm sure it's probably nothing," Kalani shrugged. "Although, it has been a few weeks since we've had to use our weapons."
"Maybe we've restored the balance of good & evil, or whatever that book said to do."
"You'd think we'd be told if we did it."
"Yea. Let's just get this thing dropped off at the theater now."
"Sounds good!"

-

It was nighttime, & so the shop was closed. & yet, life still roamed.

Five life-sized puppets stood at a printer, waiting for it to print something.

"& just so we're absolutely clear, we have everything we need?"
"Yes, Sotry."
"& we know the plan?"
"Of course, Sotry."
"Excellent," the green puppet grinned as the paper finished printing.

"Then let's begin."