Tidbit Compilation

Strings

Alpha's expression was calm, but still had a hint of his usual sternness. He waved his hand to grasp her attention, then directed it to the ground in front of him. Slowly, Yoko put one foot in front of the other until she stood on the spot that he had pointed to. What he was trying to show her or make clear to her, she did not know. She only knew that Alpha's intentions were to help her become better at Manipulation. She was a fairly good puppeteer, so why was she having so much trouble?

"Yoko," Alpha said finally, "Look at your puppet. What do you see?"

She turned to look at her puppet, Sunbeam. "I see hinges," she answered plainly.

"Good, what else?"

What else? There was her soft, silky yellow dress that her mother handmade back when she was alive. There was the gentle, wooden smile that her big brother had painted with delicacy and grace. There were the solid oak hands, individual fingers, and every precise detail made to match the human body crafted by her father. There was the fluffy, cozy brown hair made of yarn that had been tattered and strung so much that it looked like actual hair. All of these features, and the first thing that Yoko thought of was the hinges.

"I see her dress. Her smile. Her hair," Yoko managed, refusing to let the meaning of all those things to her seep through.

Alpha wasn't impressed. He wasn't hearing the right words. "What else?"

There was her left hand, which had a chip in it from when her little brother tried to play with it. There was the bow in her hair that her mother had made from one of Yoko's old ribbons. Every aching detail echoed like thunder in her mind, screaming a desire to be heard. The stitch in the dress from when it was torn on a tree branch, the uneven snippet in her hair where Yoko had once tried to give her a haircut, even the painted orange nails on her fingers.

"Her bow. Her fingers."

Losing his faith in himself and his tolerance for Yoko's hindrance, Alpha continued, "What else? What makes her what she is?"

Yoko herself was beginning to get frustrated. She knew every inch of this puppet! What did Alpha want to hear from her? She broke down the sentence in her head. What makes Sunbeam what she is? What features make Sunbeam what she is? What features make Sunbeam...a puppet?

"The strings," she finally concluded, "The strings are what make her a puppet!"

"Yes!" Alpha praised her, finally satisfied with her response, "Well done, Yoko! Now, tell me what the strings do."

Yoko sighed. She knew what turn the conversation would be taking, even though Alpha hadn't fully began the object lesson. Hesitantly, she replied, "The strings control her."

Alpha opened his mouth to continue his seminar and get to the point, but Yoko stopped him.

"I'm sorry!" she burst, "I know that I have difficulty knowing where my strings are, but it's not my fault! I just can't see them yet! I'm trying, Alpha, I really am trying, but I can't control it!"

"Yoko, Yoko, calm down!" Alpha interrupted her, "I understand!" He had not been expecting her to get so worked up over the situation, and realized that he needed to try a different approach. Where was that hard-driven passion? How was he to bring it back out?

Yoko looked down at the puppet, then back at Alpha. "What do you mean, you understand?"

"I, too, struggled with finding the strings when I Mimicked the Manipulation ability. You have one of the rarest and most difficult of the abilities to master. Many don't know how to control it. I will gladly teach you if you will put your trust in me."