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 Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:41 pm
Azzo was sitting in his room again flipping through pictures in magazines tearing out good ones and smacking them on his cork boards. He was trying to get as many awesome puppet pictures up as possible as well as some famous hypnotists.
His door was open as it always was, and as he dropped the magazine he'd been tearing from on his desk a picture of his flew out the door. Giving a slight cussing Azzo quickly retrieved it, seeing it was his past assistant at the school he sat the picture down beside of Nax's picture. He was looking vexed at the two pictures scratching the back of his neck he pondered, "Now where to put you two... and I should really get some chalk board paint and paint one of my walls in chalk board..." It's not like the school would mind.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:45 am
Remi was working on a paper, or more specifically, escaping one. His eyes were sore and no matter how well you made a chair, after several hours, it hurt your back. Not wanting a hump at the age of 30, he got up and made his rounds. The thought came to him to go to the other floors and see if anyone was cooking anything in the kitchens. On good days, you could beg for a cookie or on better days, a cupcake. He was still waiting for the day when someone pulled a golden turkey out of the oven, but beggars could not be chooser. They could be hopeful though.
After kicking a book and a water bottle into his room that spilled out, he shut his door, he checked their kitchen to find it devoid of life and unguarded baked goods. Disappointed, he made for the stairs. It was while making his way down the hallway that a flicker of paper floated out from an open door, quickly followed by a boy who looked rather annoyed. Snatching the paper, he turned and went back inside, but left the door open. It was a invitation. Walking over, he looked inside to see magazines on a nearby desk and the same shaggy-haired teenage make plans to no one at all. “You might think about getting a goldfish. Less creepy than talking to yourself.” He pointed out. Most people would have settled for a hello first, but not Remi.
Welcoming himself in, he looked around and sat on the guy’s bed. “There. Now it won’t look so weird that you’re talking to yourself.” While other people said he did, Remi liked to point out that he never talked to himself. He talked to his computer, his notebook, the world at large. There was a difference.
Leaning, he picked up one of the magazines and flipped it over. “Puppets?”
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:24 am
Azzo paused when the guy walked in, he watched him for a second before shrugging, "I figure someone always walks in time to keep it from looking like I'm talking to myself." He placed the two pictures over his desk and looked at Remi.
"And yes Puppets, I'm a Puppeteer so to speak." He walked over and picked up one of the other magazines. Thinking, "And nah, I had a friend that had a goldfish once, he got tired of taking care of it and the blasted thing still lived even after he stopped feeding it..."
Azzo looked the guy over, "Hum, I've seen you around I think." He pulled out one of the pages and stuck it on the cork board near his closet.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:36 am
He gave a smile as he started to flip through the pages, leaning back and making himself comfortable. “So your door is a trap to lure people in and make you look sane. A goldfish would take up less space.” He pointed out, and paused at a picture of Jim Henson smiling up from the page. When it came to puppets, Remi’s understanding was limited. Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Show, and all the other shows created from Jim Henson, not to mention the creatures used in special effects, dummies, and the puppet village from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Pinocchio was a classic, but he never actually saw any shows on strings. It seemed very medieval to him. For one thing, there seemed to be a market for it. Secondly, there was a gifted student here who worked with puppets. To be gifted in such a bizarre subject wasn’t something he expected to stumble on. He really should go to more of the floor meetings when they did introductions in the beginning of the year.
“Name’s Remi. I’m a writer – so to speak.” He said, smiling as he tore his eyes off the page of Kermit playing a banjo to the other. Shakings wasn’t Remi’s gig. Hands were valuable to a writer and crushing them to prove who was the bigger man wasn’t something he was about to partake in. His uncle had a LOVELY habit of trying to prove he wasn’t too old by squeezing the life out of his fingers, making him swear off of the practice all together.
“I’m on the same floor. Room 23.” Remi jabbed a finger to the door to show the vague direction his mess of a room was located, before flipping the page. “Soooooo, puppets, eh? Like, marionettes or muppets?” He represented both by tilting his fingers to represent a marionette’s cross before flipping it into a hand puppet devoid of the sock. If he tried, he wondered if he could pull off a convincing Lamb Chop impression.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:14 pm
He watched Remi "That and a trap to get people to volunteer to help with my next show." He grinned as he continued working until he was happy.
"Nice to meet you Remi. Name's Azzo or if you're more Daring Riff-Raff as it's my stage name." Azzo was too busy to bother to try to shake Remi's hand.
"Marionettes are normally a common use, thought I do prefer volunteers for a more, 'lively' puppet show." He chuckled, "Did you know you could puppet people as well as those poor stringed puppets." He took from a box a few hooks and slid his chair along placing them in the ceiling. "I should've unpacked days ago, I hope no one's actually mangled in their boxes. It's a pain to untwist them."
He looked at Remi, "Would you like to help? If you're a writer you must be good with your hands." He displaced himself from the chair shortly after having all the hooks in the ceiling. "Besides these'll make me look even more sane I promise." He gave a chuckle as he pulled out a few boxes from the closet sitting two on the bed while unpacking one of the others.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:22 pm
“I’m good with my hands for many reasons, writing included.” His face spread in a suggestive grin, turning to watch Azzo unload some boxes from his closet. It had been a while, considering that Barren Pines had always been there, but he sometimes forgot that they got students that came in late. That or maybe Azzo was the type to leave his stuff packed for a while before dedicating himself to a room. Remi unpacked easily. Take box, open, dump on floor. All items would find their home on their own, shuffling to their corners or being picked up when needed to relocate to a more accessible location. The only stress he had with unpacking was forgetting there were fragile things in different boxes.
The bed bounced when the two boxes were set down, and Remi watched as hooks were set in the wall. They looked dangerous, and the idea of making someone a puppet gave him images of meat hooks and demented killers. “Sure, I’ll help.” His hand reached open to tear apart a box, ripping it and then reaching inside. “So by using people as puppets, do you mean tying them up in strings?” His expression cringed as he pulled out a princess marionette who had a maniac perm and who’s eyes rolled back when the head dropped to one side. He held her up, examining her limp body and shivered when her mouth opened. Creepy. He could see this thing grabbing a kitchen knife and scuttling at the end of a hallway in the dark.
“How can you sleep with these things hanging down, watching you?” The dolls eyes rolled back and forth when Remi tilted it, and he started to smile, finding it entertaining. Back. Forth. Back. Forth. “I’d wake up screaming.”
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:33 pm
Azzo laughed, "It takes a while. Normally I have things covering their eyes." He pulled out a cat Marionette, he couldn't help but be amused.
"Though you get use to them eventually, it hardest part is untangling them after having been in boxes." He was working to get the cat untangled and the limbs right. "I'm sure you could have a hostel massacre few times in dreams if you paid attention to them."
He chuckled, "At least I've kept them in different boxes this time, last time was horrendous because I couldn't find enough boxes."
He paused, "Oh I don't tie them up. I hypnotize them. Normally it's relatively easy as long as they are willing. I've been looking for a new assistant." He looked over to his board with his last assistants. "Naxish hasn't been accepted and last years... well she's not really living anymore... and I can't raise the dead."
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:43 am
Working out the strings, Remi started to pull out the bundles of knots and tangles that he could see. Taking the marionette cross, he held it out to see what strings still needed to be untangled. His fingers were nimble, well-exercised from tapping a keyboard, and luckily he wasn’t a nail-bitter. Picking at the chords, he looked up at the picture, before turning his head to Orzo. “She’s dead?” It would have been proper etiquette to leave it at that, but where there was a story, Remi wanted to hear all the details until the crying got to him. Rick-Rack didn’t seem the crying type, but who really knew who was more prone to the water works.
Lowering the princess to the floor, he took the cross and started to move it about, watching her jointed arms and legs jerk about, her head shake and do a poor rendition of the Electric Slide. “Was it…work related?” Death by puppeteering? That was a new one he hadn’t heard of.
He held out the princess for Elzo to take. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” He added, though his attention and turned ear showed he was all for listening. Remi’s fingers itched for a pen, not wanting to forget what could be a very interesting story. “You’re a hypnotist then, right? I guess that’s a way to make someone a puppet. What can you make a person do?” He heard of making people think they were a dog or squawk like a chicken, but what else was there to it? He was interested.
A knight was pulled out of another box, and Remi went back to fixing it’s strings. It’s armor was classic grey and it’s body attached to a white horse with googly eyes.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:45 am
Azzo hung the cat once finished near his bed and the princess on the other side. He heard the question but he didn't answer for a bit. "Well we were at the school doing a small show, and somehow something went wrong with the hypnotism."
He shook his head as he took out a dragon from the box that took two hands to work. "I've never had anything like that happen, I always test for suicidal thoughts and killer type deal."
He shook his head," Just about anything really, save anything they really don't want to do. Like you can't really make them kill themselves if they don't want to, or fall in love with someone they don't like. Just about like magic you have similar rules. Though sometimes you get lucky and find someone with a hidden Kleptomaniac tendency and can convince them to nick something from an audience member."
He chuckled, "Then you end up with a pretty good heroic puppet show."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:04 am
Now Remi couldn’t say he was teenager with a clean bill of mental health, but even he could point out crazy. It wasn’t clearly said what had happened, but when words like “suicidal thoughts” and “killer type”, you tended to assume that someone, or a bunch of someones, got hurt. The very fact that this happened on state and this kid was just brushing it off meant that it was either something that only resulted in her death or something worse. How could this guy laugh off something like that? Was he in some sort of denial phase?
All he could assume was that the assistant had suicidal thoughts that lead to her demise. Whether or not this kid was seeing therapy was unknown and Remi wasn’t here to take the place of a professional. More details of this story would leak out on their own and if not, the newspapers were a great way to find out. Deaths on stage usually meant an article in your local newspaper or at least an obituary for where the funeral was held.
Untying the knight, he held it out, giving a forced chuckle in response. “Yeah, I guess that can be pretty hilarious.” It probably would be good not to invite ex-cons on stage then. “You seem to have to deal with a lot on stage. I guess you can’t be sure how to judge who is most likely to spit in your coffee or try feeling you up when you least expect it. Hypnotism seems rather messy. Why do you want to work with people that much then? Wouldn’t these dolls just work better since they’re easier to control?”
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:43 am
Azzo shrugged as he was struggling to untie the dragon since it's two crosses got tied up in each other. "Sometimes, I mean you can normally tell who's too depressed or whatever to do something stupid."
He shook his head, "Something wasn't right about this one though... The school seemed to... cover it up." He looked as if he was confused, slightly getting choked up, and shook his head, "And puppets do work better, however normally I only use one volunteer along with my assistant."
"She wasn't the type to commit suicide though... so I can't figure it out..." He was brushing it off because he was still looking for answers, unbelieving of what happened really. "There has to be a reason..."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:58 pm
So Occo wasn’t dismissing the incident. It seemed to weigh on his mind, which seemed only natural. Being in control of a person and then having your assistant or the volunteer doing something unpredicted while under you watch too it’s toll regardless of what age you were. Even with that in mind, Elzo was still puppetering with a preference for people. Did that mean other people knew if he still didn’t have an assistant or was he just being very picky on who he was going to pick?
Remi wanted to find out.
First off, he had to pull the kid out of his mood. Leaning in, he tapped the puppet master on the side of the arm, pulling off his best serious-but-understanding look. “What’s done is done. It was all an accident. From what you said, it’s clear that you didn’t intent for anything to happen. Humans are weird. You can’t predict them. If that was the case, us guys wouldn’t have such a hard time understanding women.” He grinned and leaned back, looking over to the pictures that Elpo showed before.
“What qualifications do you need to be an assistant to a puppet master? I’ve got some free time on my hands and you’ve got me pretty interested.” Remi turned up to the ceiling, watching the dolls hang lifeless from their hooks. “Always thought Miss Piggy was pretty hot too. Got to respect a pig that is a feminist that knows karate.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:08 pm
Azzo blinked and looked at Remi, he seemed to think, "I suppose, but still. I kinda wonder if the sch-..." He coughed as he felt the general things of you're not suppose to talk about that and glared outside at the main building before shaking his head, "... you know what I mean right?"
Stupid Rules... "... Anyways, Mostly a small general knowledge of hypnotism, working puppets, as well as you know willingness to be hypnotized every once in a while. Along with a small hypnotism test to make sure you're not going to go about killing yourself on stage or what have you."
He chuckled when he heard Miss Piggy, "Ohhh yeah she's pretty awesome, I always like the relationship she had with Kermit."
"Also I heard there's a play with a "fairy god cat." He looked at the cat puppet, "I was thinking of going and taking fluffy there to see what I could manage. Think it'd be a good idea?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:21 pm
Moving away from the subject was best right now. Having his visit associated with old ghosts of the past wasn’t something he wanted. Bringing a more calm, relaxed, even fun mood was his game, and talking of accidents and death was only fun when he as kidding about breaking his neck while falling up the stairs. Moving on was the only thing he could suggest to Paco, and having nothing else to go on aside from puppets, he threw his arms back and laid down.
“Welp, my experience with puppets has only gone so far as making smiley faces on my fingers, I’d probably gnaw my own arm off if it meant living longer, and I don’t know jack nothing about hypnotism. As for testing it out, give me your best shot, Pablo!” He shuffled his back to get more comfortable on the bed and then breathed out. “I’m all yours. Do with me what you will.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:25 pm
Azzo blinked and started laughing, "How'd you get to Pablo?" He tilted his head, "It's Azzo."
He shook his head and lofted a brow, "Hum," He seemed to think as Remi offered himself up. Pulling from his sleeve a small crystal, it seemed to fade from a reddish color to a blue. Both oddly calming colors contradicting the color of red's nature.
He swung it back n' forth in front of Remi's eyes, "You're getting sleepy, very sleepy. You're eyes are getting tired, it's hard to keep them open~."
Azzo kept this up watching for Remi to nearly falling asleep before saying, "On the count of three you'll be in a deep sleep, one, two, three..."
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