Strung

Conall Hammond's fame as an inventor soared long before his daughter's eighteenth birthday, but it is the gift he gives her that night that launches it to immeasurable heights. Aya, the life-sized ballerina that spins within her giant globed music box, wielding her violin as if she might begin playing it at any second, is a spectacle to all who see her.

She is also Emmeline Hammond's prized possession.

Designed after the music box her father had made for her as a child, Aya means the world to Emmy. For the first several months following her father's leave of absence under the employment of a new and mysterious client, Emmy showcases his magnificent gift alongside another gift: her own skill with the violin. Aya's presence on stage as an accompanying musical instrument has brought Emmy's musical quartet, Concordance, more recognition than they'd ever imagined.

Until one day, while Emmy practices her newest composition on her violin, Aya begins malfunctioning.

Suddenly, Emmy begins to realize there is something much more sinister unfolding behind her father's employer, and that there is a reason Conall Hammond created this life-sized version of his daughter's childhood music box. He is trying to send his daughter a desperate message, one he cannot tell her himself. Because Aya is not simply a perfected wax creation.

She is a small, confined keg in a much larger and deadly clockwork design. She possesses a beating heart and spirit of fire that matches Emmy's.

And she is fighting back.

© Copyright 2015

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"Strung" playlist: http://8tracks.com/ephemeralreflection/strung-score