#batman#dc#dc comics#bruce wayne#dick grayson#tim drake#batfamily#batfam#dc fanart
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One day, Stacy does convince the adults to let her bring the younger Puppets home for a weekend. What follows is a two day long video-game/TV marathon where they don’t leave the living room until Monday.
This piece was a lot of fun to do. Somehow managed to keep the anatomy looking pretty good too. Honestly my favorite piece of the year.
Art Featuring Hunter And One Of My Newer OCs, Danny!
HTaHHQ episode 4: Unarmed part 2
And thus Stacy is now a little bit more used to all the Puppets, though she's not terribly happy at Scout right now. Hopefully they can work through it, but we'll have to see.
Luckily, Stacy only blacked out for a few seconds before her senses returned. There was a lot of yelling involved, which was torture on her pounding head, but, luckily, she didn't seem to have landed on anyone. She sat up with a groan, and everyone was instantly on her. Danny buried his face in her shirt with a loud sob(gross), and the Puppets clung to them both while yelling questions.
"Are you okay?!" Canon clung to her hair, swinging in front of her face. Stacy carefully grabbed the Puppet and set her down, then patted Danny's head.
"I'm fine." She assured them quietly. "Just slipped, no big deal." She cleared her throat. "Did that loads of time at the ballet studio. Me, and several others." That was a lie, she'd never fallen that hard before. "Let's just go back to the movie..."
Danny nodded and finally stopped clinging to his sister. She went to stand up, but almost fell again when her right arm didn't move to support her weight. "Oh, I don't think arms are supposed to bend like that..." Bonzai muttered, and Stacy felt her heart stop when she looked to see what he meant.
The arm was twisted at the elbow, and when Stacy tried to move it there was instead a sickeningly grinding sound as it stayed still. She could still move the hand, however, but that was useless with the rest of her arm unusable.
"... Mary's going to kill me." She whispered. panic rising. They did not have the money for this. At all. She tried again to move the joint, but found it just as stuck as it was a few seconds ago.
She had no idea what to do. Should she try and wench it back into place? Leave it and hope Mary didn't notice? No that was insane, she couldn't go without the use of one arm for the next three months. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the wrist and prepared to pull.
"Wait!" Canon grabbed her hand. "You shouldn't do that! You could break it more."
"Well what's your suggestion, then? Because if Mary or Dad find out about this, I am so dead!" She hissed out, casting a glance at Danny. Luckily, he didn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation.
"Well... " She hesitated briefly, swallowing down the apprehension of the suggestion. "Riley's good at this sort of thing-"
"No." The reply was harsh and quick.
"Stacy, you have to." The blue haired Puppet pointed at her mangled elbow. "You can't fix that by yourself."
"Watch me." She attempted to tug, and was rewarded with nothing. The next few pulls were met with the same, and she realized with dawning horror that she had to tell someone. Canon sighed again as she realized what was happening.
"Stacy, we are going to Riley. Right now."
"No, I can fi-OWOWOWOW! Stop that!" She grabbed at the Puppet now on her head, pulling her hair. Canon dodged her weak attempts, leaning down into her view.
"You will go to Riley or I will go get Riley." She told the girl, who glared back, but even she knew she was defeated.
"Fine." She ground out, standing up. Danny stood with her, the other Puppets gathered in his arms. Except for Scout, who Jumped onto Stacy's shoulder with Canon.
"It's okay." The younger Puppet tried to quietly assure her as the group made the trip to Riley's room. "Riley's really nice, I promise."
Stacy ignored her, left hand digging into her sleeve as she approached the door to her possible doom. She stopped just before the door, in a moment that went on forever as she stared, unblinking, into space.
"Nope." She turned on her heel, fully intending on heading back to the playroom, but a loud thunk behind her made her stop. She turned just in time to see Scout sliding down the door, having launched herself at it. Stacy didn't even have time to murderously glare at the Puppet before it opened to reveal Riley in full lab gear, goggles down and mask up.
She pushed the goggles up, spotting Scout almost immediately. "I don't have the time to babysit. Tell me now, what is it?"
Scout didn't even hesitate before she pointed to Stacy. "Stacy broke her robot arm and needs help fixing it!" She informed the scientist. Riley looked up at the girl, who had angled away to try and hide her arm. It failed, though, as the Puppet could still see how obviously twisted it was.
"Hmm, I see." She turned and gestured. "Follow me." It took Stacy a second, but, reluctantly, she did as she was told. Only for Riley to suddenly pluck Canon from her head and hand her to Danny before shooing him and the Hand Puppets away. "Not you, I'm afraid. Why don't you go back and play. This is something we need to do alone, and we'll come get you when we're done." And then she closed the door, shutting them out.
Stacy watched this with no small amount of fear, wishing she could speak up to say "No, stop, I want them in here." She didn't, though, and instead stood silently as she'd always done. She jumped slightly when Riley cleared her throat, startled out of her thoughts.
"Off with the shirt so that I can take a look." The rhymes were getting looser, but Stacy wisely didn't point that out and instead took off her shirt, leaving her with just a plain pink tank top instead. She set it aside on the table and offered up her arm, which Riley grabbed to look at.
"Hmm, I see what happened, and it's an easy fix. Just come with and I'll, uh-" She had tried to lead Stacy to a work table, only for the arm to fall limply in her hands. Looking back, she saw the girl standing there almost too innocently, right arm now just a stump with a metal cap on it. "Clever." Was all Riley said about it, before heading to the work table.
Stacy followed, curious to how the Puppet would fix the arm. She kept her distance, but inched closer when she realized Riley wasn't paying attention to her. She may not like the Puppet, but she did want to see her fix the arm.
It was delicate work, however, as she'd twisted the elbow joint quite badly when she'd fell. It involved taking the arm apart at the elbow, so Riley could untwist everything. Gently, she pushed wires back where they belonged, making sure the joint itself wasn't cracked or shattered.
"Luckily, the damage isn't so great that I'm unable to repair." She told the girl. "But how this happened, you need to share."
"Hmm." A pause, because honestly it was kinda embarrassing. "... I was showing the others a dance and slipped..." She finally mumbled, twisting the hem of her tank top in her hand. "... Landed on the robot arm..." She was startled when Riley suddenly grabbed her stump, inspecting the area around the connector.
"Any damage to the flesh of your arm would be alarming." She told Stacy seriously as she examined it. "Lucky for you, there's no evidence of even a bruise forming."
"Okay..." She yanked her stump out of the Puppet's hands and rubbed at it to try and scrub the feeling of her rubbery gloves away. She wanted to scratch, but knew by now that would just cause her to bleed.
If Riley thought that was an odd reaction, she didn't give any indication of it and instead turned back to fixing up the prosthetic. This time, however, she talked as she worked, telling Stacy about the different parts she was working on and how they fit together. And she did it all in rhyme, which even Stacy had to admit was impressive, since she was coming up with all of it on the fly.
After some time, though, she finally finished and had put everything back together. She bent and unbent the elbow a few times to make sure things were working as intended, then presented it to Stacy. The girl grabbed it and, though she didn't explain it verbally, she did make sure Riley could see how she hooked it into the connector. It was fairly simple, but the Puppet still watched her do it with intense interest.
Pulling her long sleeved shirt back on, Stacy wondered how she could make it up to the scientist. Her eye caught the box of beakers, seemingly untouched since yesterday. She stared at it, mind turning over the consequences of each option before her. Taking a deep breath and willing her voice to be steady, she spoke up.
"I heard Nick talking about something yesterday." She was pleased with how casual she managed to sound, even as her heartbeat picked up.
"Oh?" Riley turned around, giving the girl her full attention and making her even more nervous. "What did he say?"
"He was talking about how he replaced the beakers you used on the show with ones made of sugar glass. As payback because you took his paint." She tried to keep from rambling.
Casting a suspicious look, Riley wheeled over and grabbed the box, taking out one of the beakers to inspect it against the light. Stacy could see it in her eyes when she realized she was telling the truth.
Expression turning briefly murderous before going blank, the Handeeman put the beaker back into the box and wheeled out of the room. Stacy following close behind, curious as to what she would do. Right outside, she found the others, and quickly indicated that they should all follow Riley, who was waiting for them in the elevator.
The ride down was tense and silent, everyone able to feel the anger radiating off of the scientist. Not even Bonzai tried to lighten the mood with a quick quip, too frightened of Riley's dark demeanor to even make the attempt.
Daniel suppressed a yawn as his pen lightly tapped against his notebook. Nick stood at the head of the table, trying to explain his changes to the script. Daniel was pretty sure he hadn't been thinking with those changes, considering he didn't seem to have an explanation for half of them.
He was pretty sure this meeting would end with all changes reverted. Just like every other time this had happened. Daniel was pretty sure Nick only made changes to be a nuisance and ruin everybody else's weekend. Still, he diligently took notes on the answers Nick did give, and hoped Mortimer would call the meeting done soon.
What neither he or anyone else knew, was that soon the meeting would be about something else entirely. Quietly, without anyone taking notice, the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open ever so slightly. A moment later, the door was slammed open, hitting against the wall hard enough to leave a dent.
"Nicholas Nack!" Riley shrieked as she burst into the room. "How dare you!" And then she threw one of the beakers at the artist, making everyone scream and yell. Beyond her, in the doorway, Stacy, Danny, and the Handpuppets could be seen, watching the whole thing go down.
"Riley!" Mortimer yelled as the humans dove beneath the table. That didn't stop her, as she began to chase Nick around the room, throwing the beakers at him.
"I'll show you to steal my stuff!" She shrieked as sugar glass broke against the walls. Daisy pulled one of the writers away as they barreled past, and she wondered just what was happening this time.
"How did you find out?!" He dodged another attempt, and the kids ducked back from the doorway as the beaker flew past and shattered against the wall. Danny was laughing, and the Hand Puppets were cheering Riley on, though they were all drowned out by the yelling inside the room. Stacy just watched, recalling a similar scene from her childhood.
When she was young, her mother liked to put on old tapes of Mortimer's Handeemen, and there was skit just like this, also featuring Riley and Nick. Back then the skit had really upset her, even with her mom assuring her it wasn't real and was just pretend. It hadn't helped and all subsequent viewings of the tape had them fast forwarding through the skit.
Watching Riley now, in the present, launch herself off of her stand and across the room at Nick, Stacy was pretty sure they weren't pretending now. Luckily, she was saved from trying to figure out what to do when Daisy finally spotted them and rushed out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"I'll bet you kids are hungry!" She said with fake cheer. "Why don't we go on down to the cafeteria, and I'll get you kids something to eat."
"But I wanna watch Riley kill Nick!" Bit protested, even as Daisy and Stacy worked to herd them away.
"Nope! Y'all don't get to see that today!" She hurried them along. "But don't worry, they'll be fine. This just... it happens sometimes. Don't worry." She gave a soft sigh, and Stacy felt the guilt of what she started build in her stomach.
'Better now than later I guess.' She tried to reassure herself. 'At least nobody knows that I helped with the prank. Except for Nick and Danny. I hope they don't tell anyone.'
Hi it's me again! And I have a new question for HTaHHQ. What are all of the puppet's and human's favorite genre of music?
Daisy: Enjoys country music, but like the fun kind. Not the sad stuff.
Nick: He’ll say classical music if asked, but in reality(and privately) he really likes pop.
Riley: Death metal.
Mortimer: Classical and dance music. Often partners with Riley if they dance, cause if she partnered with Nick they’d strangle each other.
Bonzai and Bit: Action music
Stitch: Enjoys lullabies and soft music
Canon: Also likes death metal. She stole some cassettes from Riley.
Scout: Whatever Stacy’s listening to at the moment.
Stacy: Watches a lot of AMVs so she likes the kind of music that were in AMVs in 2005.
Danny: Also likes whatever Stacy is listening to at the moment. He’s five and deaf, so he doesn’t have too much of an opinion really yet.
HTaHHQ episode 4: Unarmed part 1
Whoops, sorry, no new Outside chapter this week, or the next. Wanted to get this posted too so I could start getting more episodes written. Don't worry though, it will return next month! :D
"I don't see why we have to come here today. Can't you just do this at home?" Stacy complained as Mary led them into the Studio. It was a dark, stormy Saturday, perfect for staying inside. Instead, her and Danny had to go to "work" with Mary.
"Stacy, honey, I would love to just stay home but Nick's stupid edits to my script mean I have to come in. All of us writers have to." She sighed irritably.
"Yeah, but why can't Danny and I just stay home? I can watch him." She tried desperately.
"Because... it's illegal." Mary swept her unbrushed hair back. "Besides, I thought you liked Scout. You told me you wanted to spend the weekend with her."
"Yeah. At home. Not here." The thirteen year old deadpanned as Mary moved towards the offices. The woman sighed in response, reaching the end of her patience.
"Look, why don't you take your brother and go find her? It'll be a lot more interesting than what I'm doing."
"You mean tearing Nick a new one?" She asked, sounding interested. "Cause I want to watch that."
"You don't get to watch that. Go find Scout." Were the last words Mary said before towards the offices.
"Fine." Stacy groaned as her stepmother went into her office. She grabbed Danny's arm with her left and led him in the direction of the Sound Stage. He followed her eagerly, just excited to be there at a time he normally wasn't.
Her intent was to find Daisy and have her let them into the elevator to go upstairs. If they couldn't find her, she was planning on using the vents to get into the playroom instead. She remembered the way, mostly, and it'd be easier than trying to work up the courage to ask someone else.
Unfortunately, Daisy was nowhere to be found. They looked all over the Sound Stage, checked her House Set, and then looked in the cafeteria. But, sadly, no Daisy. Which meant Stacy had to pick the lock on one of the prop closets to reach the vents.
"Hmm, two children where they're not supposed to be." Stacy froze mid break in as Danny ran over to the Puppet, who sighed and leaned down to ruffle his hair. "Yes yes, it's nice to see you too, Danny."
Stacy struggled to keep her voice even. "Uh, w-where's Daisy?" She stowed the picks back under her glove as she stood up and turned to face the scientist.
She wasn't the scariest looking Puppet(poor Nick held that title, even among the other staff). But, Stacy had always held a fear of doctors, dentists, anyone who wore scrubs and a lab coat basically. Which Riley did, unfortunately, and it made the girl more nervous than the others did.
Well, that, and the forums talking about how she must be doing unethical experiments to get a dog as big as the Rosco puppet. But Stacy was pretty sure that was for in the show, not real life. Probably.
Riley let out a huff of annoyance. "In the writer's room with our annoying brat of a brother. His edits to the script have caused her scenes to be quite a bother." She sighed. "What do you need her for, anyway? And why are you two here on this day?"
"... Mary's the head writer." Stacy told her, clenching her sleeves in her fists. "And it's, like, illegal to leave us home alone or something. I don't know."
"Ah, I see, but you only answered question number two." She pointed out in a matter-of-fact sort of way. "What for you, could Daisy do?"
Stacy thought that rhyme was a little bit of a stretch, with the wording and all. But, before she could respond Danny clapped his hands, and pointed towards the ceiling. "Scout!" He told her excitedly. "We're here to see Scout!"
"Ah, I understand now." She did not look happy about it either. Stacy wondered why. "Fine then, I'll call the elevator down."
She led the two kids to the elevator doors and inserted her own key-card, unlocking them. Stacy waited uncomfortably as it slowly descended, trying to keep between her brother and Riley. It was difficult, as he kept leaning around her to talk at the Puppet, who listened politely.
When the elevator arrived, Stacy pulled Danny into it with a quickly muttered "Thanks". It took everything in her to not button mash the floor number she wanted. She did her best not to stare at the Puppet as the doors closed, but it was difficult when she could feel her weird wooden eyes piercing into her soul.
When they reached the upper floor, Stacy practically dragged her brother out of the elevator. It started to go back down almost immediately, so she hurried to the playroom, rushing through Daisy's sewing room to get to it. She didn't knock, but did ease the door open slowly so as not to startle them. When she got it fully opened, Scout flung herself and landed on her face.
"Stacy!" She screamed, and the girl almost had to peel her off her face. She lifted the small Puppet up to let her rest on top of her head.
"Hi, Scout. Mom's here to deal with some... script issues, I guess, and she brought me and Danny." Danny waved, and Scout waved back. "So I brought some movies for us all to watch."
"Yay, movies!" Bonzai latched onto her backpack, working the zipper open so he could climb inside. Stacy put the bag on the floor and he burst out a second later, with a video in his hands. "Terminatooooor!" He yelled, and Canon facepalmed.
"Yeah, we can watch that one first." Stacy told them and grabbed the tape, going over to put it in the player. She put it in and turned on the TV, hitting play once it had booted up. They sat back to watch, most of the Puppets migrating to sit on the human children.
Surprisingly, they managed to watch in silence, though Stacy and Danny did have their own commentary in sign language. Only Scout really understood it, but she didn't understand much. She had only just started to learn, after all, and was looking at the signs backwards.
The movie ended, and Bonzai immediately dove back into the backpack with Bit. Together they searched for another action movie while Stacy rewound the Terminator.
"Hey, how come there are only baby movies in here?" Bit asked angrily, popping out of the bag with a tape in her arms.
"I'd hardly call Shrek or Spirited Away 'baby' movies." Stacy frowned, picking up the anime movie. "Mom wouldn't even let me watch this one until just last year."
"But they're cartoons, and cartoons are so boring!" Bonzai complained.
"What kind of cartoons are you watching?" She muttered as she took the film out of it's box and crouched by the player. Louder, she said "I promise, Spirited Away isn't boring. Anime is awesome."
"Mom never lets us watch anime. She says it's inappropriate for kids." Canon told her, and Stacy sighed.
"Well, she's wrong. Sailor Moon and Digimon and Pokemon are all for kids." She told the Puppets, with Danny nodding along beside her. "And there's a lot more than just that. I'll record some episodes to bring next time."
"Okay but we can't tell Mom." A pause as Canon raised her voice so her siblings could hear. "Nobody tell Mom Stacy's showing us anime."
"Okay!"
"Sure!"
"Whatever."
Were the three answers she got, which she called good enough for now. At least she knew nobody would tell Mom, if only for the promise of Forbidden Goods.
While they watched the movie, Stacy sat with her arms full of Handpuppets. It was like holding a litter of puppies, as they never stopped moving and sometimes crawled away to do other stuff. At one point, Bonzai pulled out a couple of magnets to play with. As he pulled them apart to let them fly back together, he was startled when they instead attached themselves to Stacy's right arm.
"Stacy's a terminator!" He shrieked, and immediately teleported away.
"What?! No I-!" She jolted when a small, stuffed bear hit her on the head. "Dude!"
"Bonzai, what the heck?!" Canon followed him onto the bookcase he'd hidden on top of.
"She's an evil robot! The magnets are sticking to her arm!" He cried, and when Stacy looked there were two small magnets caught on her. She pulled them off and tossed them aside while Canon tried to calm her brother down.
"Hey! Stacy's not a robot!" Scout angrily shouted up at her siblings.
"Then what is she?" Bit asked, having picked up a small stick. Scout opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
"I... can't tell you that." She finally said. "But I swear she's not a robot."
A long pause of silence, and then Canon figured it out and smacked Bonzai off the bookshelf. "It's a prosthetic, you idiot!"
"Oh." Was all the fallen Puppet said as he laid limply where he'd landed. Canon face-palmed, followed by Bit, while Stitch went to check on their brother.
"Can we see it?" Bit asked excitedly, already trying to pull back her sleeve. Stacy yanked her arm up and away from the Puppet.
"No! You can't see it!" She snapped.
"Yeah, it's not that interesting anyways." Scout tried to help, very unhelpfully.
"You've seen it?! That's not fair!" Bit complained, and Bonzai Jumped over too.
"Yeah! You can't just show Scout! She's lame!" He insisted, to the human teen's unamused look.
"Scout's my favorite." Stacy told them bluntly, to two offended gasps while Scout cheered and then mocked them.
"Yeah, I'm her favorite! Who's lame now? Losers. Ow!" Canon smacked her head, turning on her eye lights.
"Don't be smug about it!" She scolded her younger sister, who grumbled and retreated to the top of Stacy's head.
"Hey, no hitting." Stacy tried to scold, then just gave a tired sigh. "Look. let's just go back to the movie, it's fine."
"No! I wanna see the robot arm!" Bonzai lunged for her, but Stacy yanked her arm away again and he landed on the carpet instead. "Come on! You showed it to Scout!"
"Yeah, and I'm not showing it to anybody else!" She retorted, while Danny picked up Bonzai. The puppet struggled against the five year old's hold, but ultimately failed to escape.
"I'm helping!" Danny pipped up happily as he sat back down to finish the movie.
"Yep. You are." His sister muttered. They managed about five more minutes of movie before Bonzai managed to escape Danny's grasp. He instantly went back over to her, draping himself over her arm.
"I still wanna see the arm." He said, and Stacy groaned as she fell back against the carpet, hands pressed against her face.
"Noooooo." She moaned out. "I. Don't. Wanna. Show you."
"Please! We all wanna see!" Bit piped up. Stacy uncovered her face and looked over at Stitch, who nodded. Her gaze turned to Canon, who looked away sheepishly.
"I mean, it's not like I don't want to see it..." She admitted quietly, and Stacy gave an irritated sigh.
"Fine! Fine. But you only get one look! And none of you get to ask me again!" She waited until they all nodded, before starting to roll up her sleeve, revealing just how long her glove really was. Carefully, she pulled it off, revealing gleaming silver metal that ended just above her elbow. The flesh that met the metal was scarred, rough and pale against the smooth brown that was the rest of her skin.
"Oooooh, so shiny..." Bonzai muttered. The four Puppets that hadn't seen it yet stared, transfixed, at the limb. Scout, who had also reacted that same way, just rolled her eyes.
"Weirdos." She muttered, though she also couldn't help but watch as Stacy flexed her hand and showed off the arm.
"It's really advanced, and really expensive." She told them. "And I'm supposed to go in for upgrades in a few months due to growth spurts."
"Why are you even hiding this? It makes you so much cooler than anyone else." Bit told her, and she shrugged, pulling the glove back on.
"Because I don't want them to know about it." Stacy said bluntly, letting her sleeve drop back down. "Now can we please go back to the movie? It's one of my favorites."
"Yeah, we can do that." Canon said, and then forced her siblings to turn back to the screen, which had been playing the movie the whole time. Giving a relieved sigh, Stacy did the same, settling in as she made sure her glove was on straight.
They watched the movie silently, the small Puppets getting way too into it in Stacy's opinion. But, at least they liked it, and that was all she really cared about. By the end of it, however, most of them were still riled up, including Danny, so Stacy put in Barbie Swan Lake instead.
"But that's a girls movie!" Bonzai complained, to which Stitch shushed him.
"You should give the movie a chance. The story is about a rather interesting dance." She told him, to which he groaned louder.
"Stacy can dance!" Danny piped up, to which Stacy internally sighed.
'Great word association there. Does everything have to come back to me?' She shook her head slightly, trying to keep from sounding resentful.
"You can?!" That was Scout, now staring up at her with wide eyes. "You never told me that!"
"That's because I can't do it anymore. The weight distribution is off with my arm." She told her.
"Can you still show us some moves? Please?" Five Puppets, and one younger brother, stared up at her, begging with surprisingly good puppy-dog-eyes. She could feel her resolve wavering,even as she focused on the TV.
"Ugh..." She hated being the oldest. Why did all the younger kids think she was cool? "Fine. I'll do a dance. But don't ask me for anything else today."
"Yay!" Everyone, including Danny, cheered, as Stacy moved to get ready. Lucky her, they were dancing on the movie, so she could just do what they were doing. It wasn't terribly complicated, as she'd been in a production of Swan Lake before, though not as Odette. The moves that were a little too complex, were easy to fake with a bit of effort.
It was easy to lose herself in it, just like she used to. Easy enough that she stopped looking at the screen, and simply did the dance from memory.
And thus, it was easy enough to misstep and slide on a piece of paper during a spin. A yell, and a loud, sharp thud as she landed, and things went black.
Hi uh I actually asked some questions before as anonymous cuz I didn’t have the app and I really like your blog! And I have two new questions specifically about HTaHHQ au. First off, do you see Nick Nack during the modern day being a cat dad? (Probably mostly a real cat or puppet one, u can choose). Cuz I can totally 100 percent see him as a cat dad, I just feel that sort of energy from him!! I mean we already have the resident dog mom. Secondly, what are ALL of the main characters (humans and puppets) favorite Pixar movie???? Sorry if this is a lot I’m just genuinely curious about your take on these ideas and thoughts.
Hi! Glad you’ve full joined the rest of us on this hellsite! :D
First question: Yes, I do actually. Nick is actually planned to get a kitten at some point in the series. There may be a whole episode about it, even.
Second question: Hoo boy I had not thought of that. Stacy’s used to be Toy Story, until a certain coup[le of toys ruined it for her. Now it’s A Bugs Life. Danny loves both Toy Story movies. Riley doesn’t have a favorite movie, but she did enjoy the scientific accuracy of Finding Nemo. Daisy also loved this movie for it’s themes of family.
Nick doesn’t have a favorite, he just likes the animation.
Mortimer doesn’t participate in Movie Night, as he’s usually too busy. He did like Toy Story though.
The Hand Puppets become obsessed with which ever movie they most recently saw, but Bonzai especially loved The Incredibles.
HTaHHQ Episode 3: The Vengeance of an Artist (part 2)
And here's the final part! Looks like the prank went pretty well, and Stacy's warmed up to another Puppet. At least, to the point where she won't run in fear. Maybe, she'll even help him with more stuff in the future.
Next episode will be out... idk. Might be the next thing I write actually. Until then, hope y'all have a good time. :D
"Miss Stein, I have a job for you."
"I don't have to do any jobs for you." Stacy told him, voice kept deliberately even. Nick felt a little put out, holding Scout up by her arm. The handpuppet just hung there,
"You doing one for Daisy." he argued, pointing at the little blue annoyance. Stacy huffed and, to his shock, stalked forward to outright snatch the smaller Puppet from his grasp.
"Don't hold her like that!" She admonished, settling Scout on her head. "Daisy will kill you if you hurt her."
'How odd.' He thought, watching Stacy handle the little cretin. Outwardly, he sighed. "Yes yes, I'm well aware of her temper. Now, come along. We have a job to do."
"We have to wait here for Mary." Stacy told him sternly, and he smirked.
"Oh, don't worry about her. She'll be busy for quite a while yet."
In the writers' room, Mary slammed her hands on her desk in frustration, a mess of papers spread out in front of her. "Why the fuck does he always wait until Friday to request plot and script changes?!"
"She'll be done soon enough, but it gives us enough time for you to help me." Nick told Stacy, who frowned. This wasn't good at all.
"... I still need to stay with Danny though." She tried, desperate to find any reason to refuse. This wasn't at all like when Scout took her to the playroom.
"He can come with and help." Nick told them, turning and starting to wheel away. "Now, come along. We're wasting time."
Danny seemed happy enough to tag along, but Stacy kept a tight grip on his hand as they followed Nick down the hall and to the elevator by the door. He inserted his key card, and then stood aside to let the kids on first. Stacy climbed into the tiny box nervously. The only reason she was deciding to trust him was because she knew the playroom was up there, and she could hide in there with Danny if needed.
Up, up, up they went, to the highest floor. And then down the winding halls to a plain door with a hazard sign and the words KEEP OUT underneath it in bright red. It was also covered in various science themed stickers, like cartoonish beakers full of bright colors, and various medical tools. It didn't take a genius to know who slept in here.
"Why are we outside of Riley's bedroom?" Stacy asked, and then immediately regretted it when Nick coughed lightly into his fist. That was the cue that he was about to go into a monologue. She recognized it, because he used to do it at least once a episode in the show.
"Well, since she stole my beloved paints, I've decided to do some research into her "science", and found that replacing her beakers with these ones made of sugar glass will be hilarious." He held out the beakers, and scoffed when he noticed Stacy's look. "Oh don't give me that look, she keeps all her dangerous chemicals elsewhere. She just likes to keep her beakers for the show up here where it's "safe". It'll be great when they melt during Monday's filming."
"And why do you need me?" The girl asked. She fought the urge to cross her arms and tap her foot, though her impatience still leaked into her voice.
"I'm banned from Riley's room." Nick deadpanned, and it took everything Stacy had to not facepalm. Of course. "Also, Danny told me you're good at breaking into places you're not supposed to be."
"Danny! That's a secret!" She rounded on him, feeling her face go hot.
"But Nick asked!" The boy insisted unapologetically. "And besides, you said it was a good skill."
"No, I said it was a good skill to know, not a good skill by itself. Also, stop telling people stuff about me!" She looked mad, and Nick thought that was a good thing. Certainly a better look then the scared little girl he and the others usually saw. Now if he could just encourage her to lose the baggy shirts... but no. Plan the makeover for another time. For now, it was time for revenge!
He cleared his throat, wheeling closer and holding the box of beakers out. "Will you do it, or not?" He asked bluntly, and Stacy crossed her arms.
"I am not getting involved in your stupid little-"
"I'll give you fifty dollars." He whipped out the fifty from a hidden pocket in his sweater, and the girl stopped mid sentence. After a beat she snatched the bill, turning and crouching in front of the door. She tucked the money under her right glove, pulling out a couple of slim tools as she did so.
"I can't believe I'm selling myself for a fifty." She muttered as she unlocked the door. It was surprisingly simple, and it made her feel uneasy as she put the tools away. She grabbed the box of beakers, then handed off Scout. She peered inside, noting the lack of Riley or Rosco. "It looks empty." She told Nick, who waved her on.
With a nervous swallow, she entered the too bright room, the door closing most of the way behind her. There was a large table in the middle, and a messily made bed shoved in one corner. The walls were covered in shelves that were full of books on all sorts of subjects. Any other time, and she would've loved to see just what kinds of books were there. But, she had a job to do.
She crossed to the shelf that held the box of beakers, and quickly swapped it for the identical fakes. Holding the box of real beakers close, she crossed the room back to the door. she heard something open behind her, Riley's voice drifting through. Thinking quick, she ducked under the table, hopeful it would be enough.
"Let's see, if we do the mentos experiment again that should be good enough. Could have the kiddies make volcanoes..." She muttered as she wheeled past. Stacy stayed huddled down, hands over her mouth to muffle her breathing. She watched the stand stop by a shelf, followed by the sound of fabric hitting fabric as she threw something to the bed. "Maybe baking soda? That might work better. Or maybe as a comparison between the two... Yes! That would be fantastic for an experiment!" Pencil against paper, and then the sound of things being moved. Stacy threw a desperate look towards where the door was still ajar.
Technically, Stacy could sneak out if she was quick. Riley was still talking to herself, and seemed distracted enough. But, she didn't know which way the Puppet scientist was facing. If she was facing the door, Stacy would be caught immediately, and then they'd all be in deep dookie. And she couldn't check, because, again, deep dookie if she was caught.
But, she couldn't just sit there for forever. And so, with a deep, quiet breath, Stacy leaned carefully out from under the table, just enough to check where Riley was looking. To her luck, it looked like her attention was completely absorbed by the books. A glance back at the door showed it had opened a little bit wider, with Scout, Nick, and Danny all peering in at her. Okay, she could work with this.
Carefully, she set the box of beakers down with as little noise as possible. With any luck, they wouldn't be noticed under the table. She then resettled into a runners starting position, noting how Nick was on her left and Danny on her right. 'Perfect.'
With a bang she burst through the door, grabbing Nick's sweater while scooping her brother up in her right arm. She managed to turn and drag them both out of sight as a startled "What the-" followed her out of the room. She turned another corner before finally letting go of both of them, hopeful that Riley hadn't seen them. And that she wouldn't try and follow them.
Unfortunately for Nick, he had been precariously balanced on one wheel during the escape. So, when Stacy let go of his sweater, he tipped over immediately with a loud thump. Scout landed on his chest, having been safely in his arms during the whole thing.
"That was totally awesome!" She yelled, as Stacy tried to shush her. She was still holding Danny, who was clapping, and thus didn't have a hand free to stop the Puppet from flinging herself at her face.
"Scout, shut up!" She hissed, grabbing her. She covered her mouth and waited to make sure Riley hadn't heard. "You can't let her know we're up here, or we could get in trouble."
"Oh please, like I'd let that happen." Nick had somehow righted himself, "standing" straight as ever and talking in a low voice. "Besides, you at least get to be up here since you became Scout's babysitter. Don't pout, it's true." He told Scout when she opened her mouth to object.
"Yeah, but we should still get out of here before she finds us!" Stacy insisted, ignoring Danny's pushing at her arm. She finally noticed as he kicked her side, jumping a bit and putting him down. "Oh, sorry Danny." She grabbed his hand, not wanting him to wander off and alert Riley.
"Right. Come along, this way." He led them down another hallway, a different way to get to the elevator without having to backtrack. This time there was no place to slide a key-card, which made sense. They were already in the forbidden area after all. They got inside, staying quiet the whole ride down.
Once back on the main floor, Stacy expected to go back to the Sound Stage, where her and Danny were before. Instead, Nick led them to the writing offices, and she watched as the Puppets and Danny disappeared into Mary's office. Stacy hung back, lingering in the hall to look around a little.
The doors had windows with frosted glass on them, like in the old noir movies her dad liked to watch. As a result she couldn't see inside, so instead she crouched down to peer into the keyhole of Mortimer's office.
The Puppet was there, bent over some paperwork, hat sitting on the desk next to him. Stacy thought he looked weird with it off, and not how he was supposed to. She looked away after a moment, content the magician wasn't doing anything potentially dangerous to anyone. Instead she finally followed the others into Mary's office, where her stepmother was berating Nick for something.
She stepped into the room, letting the door close softly behind her and cutting off Mary's tirade.
"Oh, there you are! Go get your stuff Stacy, we're leaving now before I commit a murder." She told the girl, who nodded and quickly left the room again. Danny followed a moment later.
"Mommy's mad." He told her, and she nodded as her voice rose behind them.
"-and how DARE you do this to me now! You know better! Do I really need to talk to Mortimer about this again?!"
"Real mad. Let's hurry so we can get home!" Together they rushed to collect their bags from Stacy's locker. However, during the walk back, she couldn't keep her mind from wandering to the little adventure earlier.
'Maybe Nick's not so bad. He didn't say anything about my lock picking skills at least. Maybe... Maybe I could do more jobs for him. Later.'
HTaHHQ Episode 1: First Meetings(part 1)
Stacy starts her punishment spending the Summer working at her step-mothers job as an Assistant. But she soon finds that things aren't what they seem to be, and must keep her wits about her to avoid getting caught.
First part of the first episode of my AU series! This will run alongside Outside, and serve as sort of... let's say reflection to the other fic. Part 2 will be soon!
Stacy laid her head against the car window, staring sightless at the passing buildings as Mary weaved through traffic. In the backseat, Danny sat reading a book on... the thirteen year old wasn't sure, actually. But it was probably something about cars or dinosaurs. That was usually what five year olds liked, right?
"Why am I even going again?" She asked. "This is more of a "you and Danny" kind of thing. I'm not needed for this, and I hate the show anyways."
"It's not a bonding exercise. It's a punishment." Mary told her sternly. "And it's also to keep you from just sitting around all Summer. Besides, it'll keep you away from your cousin, and I thought you'd like that."
"It's still going to be boring as hell either way." She said. "All I'm going to do is run around getting coffee for people."
"You'll be an assistant to the cast, not an intern." The older woman replied, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Trust me, there's a difference."
"Whatever." Stacy dismissed. "Just so long as I don't have to actually be on the show. My reputation would be ruined."
Mary snorted, but otherwise didn't say anything. Stacy wished she had music to listen to, but her dad had taken her IPod after the latest... incident. He'd told her she'd get it back when school started up again, but until then she was living a music less existence.
A tugging on her sleeve caught her attention, and she looked back to see that that Danny had put his book to the side and was staring at her expectantly. 'Ah, so it was dinosaurs.'
"
Stacy! Are you excited to meet Riley?
" He asked, an excited look on his face as his hands moved quickly. She nodded in reply, not able to turn around enough to answer properly. She wasn't actually excited about any of this, but didn't want to break his heart by saying so. "
She wants to meet you too! She has a big yellow dog, and sometimes she lets me play with him!
"
'
I've seen the show, Danny. I know about Rosco...
' She simply nodded again and turned back around, not wanting to see his excitement anymore. '
God, I want to go home. It's too early to be up with no school...
' She continued to ignore her brother as they pulled up to the building.
Stacy was out the door before Mary, using the advantage to catch Danny as he tried to run ahead of them. She held him by the back of his shirt as she grabbed her backpack out of the car, ignoring him as he bounced in place and lamenting the loss of the AC. Mary came around the front with a smile. "Are you two ready to head in." She asked both in sign and spoken language.
"No." Stacy deadpanned, finally letting her brother go. He ran to the front as they made their way across the lot to the large brick building. Mortimer's Handeemen was spelled out in huge letters on the front, with a large sculpture of Mortimer himself looming over it. The girl suppressed a shudder as she looked at it. '
So fucking creepy. I hate this place!
'
Inside the building, Danny made a beeline straight to an young woman with several other young kids around her. She high-fived him, then started signing to him which relieved Stacy. She almost followed, but was stopped by Mary placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Stacy. We have some paperwork to take care of before you get started." Stacy grumbled, but let her step-mother guide her down a different hallway.
They passed by several doors before finally coming to one. Mortimer Handee was what the name card said, which made Stacy wrinkle her nose in slight disgust as the woman knocked on it. '
Does Mary think I'm a little kid? Why would she bring me to some fake office for a puppet to sign paperwork?
'
"Come in, come in!" Came a familiar voice from inside. It made Stacy jerk in surprise, but Mary simply opened the door and ushered her inside, where behind a rather large desk sat Mortimer Handee himself. Or at least, the puppet. There was no chair, so Stacy assumed the puppeteer was behind the desk.
'
I know this is supposed to be a punishment, but I didn't think she'd go this far with it.
' She clenched her teeth, and did her best to resist the childish urge to hide behind Mary. '
I hate thisI hatethisIhateths-
'
"Ah, Mrs. Stein, and your daughter, I presume. I had wondered when you'd enter this room." He greeted them, looking up from some paperwork he was "doing". He put his pen down and set the papers aside, neatly folding his hands on the desk and giving them his full attention.
"Mr. Handee." Mary gave her a subtle nudge, and Stacy nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "This is Stacy. She's very... eager, to be working here this Summer."
'
Liar.
' Stacy refused to even look at Mary. '
Are you seriously gonna pretend I actually
want
to be here?!
'
"Excellent!" The puppet at least sounded pleased and reached for a folder, setting it in front of them and opening it up. "Everything is all ready for you , my dear. All I ask is that you sign this page here." He tapped the paper, and then set a pen beside it while Stacy leaned in to look at it.
"Uh, no." She told him bluntly. He blinked, somehow managing to get across a confused expression despite his very wooden features. If this was anywhere else, Stacy might've wondered how that was possible.
"And why not?" He asked, sounding curious.
"Well, first of all I'm still a minor. Even if I did sign it, it wouldn't make it legal because I'm under eighteen." She told him. "Secondly, I don't want to sign it." She crossed her arms, hoping to hide her shaking hands. It was nerve-wracking enough to talk back to a teacher, much less a ... whatever the puppet was supposed to be. But Mortimer just chuckled, closing the folder and pulling it back towards him.
"Those are fair points that you make." He told her, putting it into a drawer while she and Mary stared in disbelief. "Very well then, yours is a name that I won't take." He moved his stack of papers back where it had been and picked back up his pen. "Mrs. Stein, Stacy's needed on set. Her work will begin as soon as everyone she has met."
"Of course, sir." Mary grabbed Stacy by the shoulder and almost dragged her out of the office. A quick glance showed that she had the "I didn't think things through" smile Stacy had seen on her many times before.
'
Maybe this means she'll let me stay home?
' The girl wasn't that hopeful about it, but it seemed at least a little likely now. She clung to that as Mary led her down several more halls and to a room where the woman from before was waiting. The walls were lined with lockers not unlike the ones Stacy's school, though they lacked the little vents. Each of them also had a name-plate, and some were even covered in bright stickers.
"Lydia!" Mary called out as the approached. "Here's Stacy, ready and able to work." The false cheer she was exuding was almost painful to hear, though Lydia didn't seem to mind, or even notice.
"Great!" The woman said, looking far too happy for Stacy's tastes. "My name is Lydia, and I'm the head assistant around here. Welcome to the team!" She held her hand out, but Stacy just stared blankly at it. The woman wasn't phased, though, and simply let it drop without losing her smile. Mary, seeing her work was now done, turned to the girl.
"I'll see you and your brother after work. Do what Lydia says. And," She looked Stacy in the eye, lowering her voice just a little bit. "I do not want to hear about any incidents. Understand?" Stacy nodded mutely, trying to keep her expression neutral, and Mary turned on her heel and left.
'
Bitch.
' Stacy stared after her, watching as she left the locker room, closing the door behind her. She was yanked from her thoughts when by a loud clap behind her. She turned to see Lydia motioning her over to one of the lockers.
"Alright, so this one right here will be your locker. You can keep anything you want in here." She indicated the name-plate, and Stacy noted that it already had her name there, written in a sparkly pink pen.
'
Yeah, I'm changing that as soon as I can
.' Stacy promised herself as Lydia pulled open the door, revealing nothing but an id card hanging from lanyard. She picked it up and handed to the girl.
"This is your ID, and very important, so don't lose it. It'll let the others know that you're supposed to be here and working." She explained, indicating her own ID. "Blue is for assistants, green for guests, yellow for the cast, and red for the others."
Stacy looked down at the card, noting that it, and the lanyard, were indeed a bright blue color. She also noticed that it already had her picture on it and frowned.
"Uh, how does this already have my picture on it?" She asked, trying to think back to when that could've happened. 'I think that's from the yearbook.' She realized.
"Oh, your mom brought one in so it'd be ready for you." The young woman smiled. "Now, put that on and I'll give you the grand tour!"
"She's not my mom." Stacy replied automatically. Still, she put on the ID and followed Lydia through the other door and onto the Set.
It was the most hectic place she'd ever been. And that included middle school.
People were everywhere, talking and moving and cleaning. A group of young kids, Danny included, were in the middle of a game of tag while another assistant tried to corral them. In the distance she could hear someone yelling, which only got louder as something broke
"Oh good lord." Stacy muttered faintly. Lydia just took a deep breath and gave the chaos a large smile.
'Looks like it's going to be a great day today!" She said. Stacy just gave her a worried look. "Come on! I'll introduce you to Riley first. She's probably the one you'll be helping out the most." She started off, and Stacy found herself having to jog to keep up.
"So," She started, "what are assistants supposed to do? Because Mary didn't exactly give me a job description-!" She yelped an apology as she dodged around a couple of guys carrying a piece of the set, which went ignored both by them and Lydia.
"Well, mostly we're just here to assist. We do things like corral the kids, fetch props, put up the sets, that sort of thing." They paused to let a group carrying more set pieces pass. "Sometimes we also clean, but we also have a team that does that on the weekends."
"Ah..." Stacy understood a little better now. '
So I am an intern, then? Great, this is exactly how I wanted to spend my Summer...
' She had to run when Lydia suddenly took off again, making straight for a door marked
Lab Set
. They went inside, where a couple of other assistants were trying desperately to put everything together.
"No! No no no! That is not right!" And there was Riley Ruckus, puppeteer already behind the counter. "I gave you the instruction, in plain black and white! These beakers go here, the scales go there! And the chalk board should hanging in the air!" The puppet threw it's hands up, obviously exasperated. A golden retriever barked from somewhere out of sight and she sighed. "Not now, Rosco!"
"Hellooo Doc~" Lydia leaned onto the counter, adopting a tone Stacy had only heard in Mary's shows. "Sounds like the minions are treating you rough."
"Ah, Lydia. Finally someone most excellent!" The puppet clapped her hands together, turning towards them. "And it looks as though you've brought the new assistant."
"Yep!" She clapped Stacy on the shoulder and brought her in closer. "This here is Stacy, Mary's oldest kid." She leaned in with a conspiratorial wink. "And I brought her to meet the best one first."
"Not my mom..." The girl growled out, pushing the woman's arm off of her. She drew back when Riley suddenly stuck a hand in her face.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Stacy. I'm sure our time together will be just peachy!" The puppet had an open expression and eager tone that put the girl on edge, not helped by the fact that she hadn't seen the actress yet. So Stacy glanced between the offered hand and Lydia, unsure what to do. She was saved from making a choice by Rosco jumping up between them, paws on the girl's chest. Stacy near shrieked in response, jumping back and letting the animal fall to the floor.
"Rosco no! Down boy!" Riley scolded as Stacy quickly backed away. She ducked behind Lydia as the puppet ordered her pet to heel, making him go back behind the counter and out of sight.
"My apologies, he can get quite excited when seeing someone new." Riley explained once she'd gotten him to sit and stay. "I assure you he meant only to greet and not harm you."
"Yeah." Stacy gasped out, blinking rapidly. "No... no problem." '
Don't cry don't cry don't cry-
'
She was sure she'd never be able to figure out how, but somehow she thought that Riley actually looked a little bit worried about her. Before it could go anywhere, however, there was a crash as the two assistants dropped the chalkboard.
"Idiots!" The puppet screeched, turning away from them. Lydia took the chance to grab Stacy's left arm and tug her away from the beginnings of a yell-fest.
"I'd better go introduce her to the others. I'll see ya later Doc!" She said with a wave, which the puppet ignored, too focused on scolding the guys. Stacy winced as as Lydia let the door close behind, which didn't go unnoticed.
"Oh, don't worry about those guys!" She reassured the girl. "They're great at lighting and stuff. Less so with set building, so this happened pretty often."
"Okay, so we've still got to introduce you to Nicky, and then Daisy, and then get everything set up for the "dress rehearsal"." Lydia told her as they walked. "You'll love them, don't worry."
"Mmm..." Stacy wasn't so sure. It was one thing to see the Puppets on TV, but another, scarier thing to see them in real live. What she'd thought was just tricks to make them move so realistically seemed less likely with each puppet she saw. It made her wonder what exactly was going on, and if she even wanted to know.
'
Would it be worse or better if they were robots?
' She thought as they approached the
Art Studio Set
. This time the door was already open, and peeking in Stacy could see both Daisy and Nick inside and behind a table.
Daisy was "leaning" back against the table in what was almost a pose. Her arms were crossed in front of her on the table, and she had an almost relaxed expression on her face. Nick was behind an easel, checking around it every now and then as he painted her. He was also muttering, though it was too indistinct for Stacy to understand.
"Well this will make things a bit easier." Lydia said as they entered the set, making both puppets turn to look at them. She gestured to Stacy. "This is Stacy. She'll be working with us for the Summer."
"Delighted to meet you." Nick Nack said in his clipped accent, already turning back to his work. "I'm sure you'll do an adequate job."
"It's a pleasure, honey." Daisy said, not dropping out of her pose. "Danny's told all of us so much about you."
"I'm not surprised." Stacy replied, tugging her right hand sleeve a little lower. "I've told him before he needs to talk about something other than me to people." '
I have my gloves on, it's fine. Danny knows better than to talk about it anyways. It's fine. It's
fine.'
"Oh, he's told us nothing but good things, sweetie." Daisy assured the girl. She sounded genuine, but Stacy couldn't help but doubt it and looked away, still tugging on her sleeve.
"That's not the point..." The girl muttered, but she was ignored as Lydia went around the table and whistled at the painting.
"Lookin' good Nicky!" She said, slapping him on the back. He just barely avoided smearing paint all over it as he was jolted forward, quickly yanking the brush back. He turned to the woman with a glare.
"Lydia, please don't do that again." He told her with the tone of someone who had said the same thing several times before. "And the name is Nick. Not,
Nicky
."
The woman just laughed. "Sure thing Nicky. Good luck on the painting." She started walking away, pausing just long enough to motion Stacy to follow her. "Come on kid! It's time we start getting everything set up!" A pause. "Which means we gotta go back to the lab, since that's where the recording's gonna be at first. Let's go!"
Back at the lab set, Stacy found herself having to help the other two assistants. The younger one, a boy only a few years older than her, was named Johnny and seemed nice enough. The other was an older man named Bill, who seemed perpetually grumpy and eager to start arguments with Riley. However, helping them meant being in the line of fire when something inevitably went wrong and Riley started yelling.
"No no no! These are the wrong kind! Go back and get the right ones before we run out of time!" She yelled at Johnny, pushing the beakers into his hands. Meekly, he ran off while Stacy did her best to seem unnoticeable. Still, listening to her berate the assistants was beginning to get on the girls nerves.
'
Her legs aren't broken! Just put the puppet down and do it yourself if everyone else keeps doing it wrong!' But she bit her tongue, knowing that any mouthing off would be reported to Mary, and she really didn't want a worse punishment than this.
Eventually, with a few more fumbles, they managed get everything set up in time for filming. Stacy, not knowing what to do, decided to stick near Lydia in case she was needed. The two of them, along with Bill, sat near the camera crew and watched as the segment started.
It started as though Riley was finishing up another lesson, followed by a child asking a question about a different topic. Riley then started to explain an answer, sometimes in song, sometimes not. Sometimes, the kids would be doing experiments alongside the puppet, but more often than not they were just there as an audience.
Danny, of course, was sitting right at the front. This segment was his favorite, of course, so it made sense that he'd want to be as close to her as possible. And, while he was wearing his hearing aids, Stacy couldn't help but be worried about him.
Still, everything seemed to be going well. So well, in fact, that it was inevitable that something would go wrong. During one song, one of the kids, a boy just a bit bigger than Danny knocked over a beaker which rolled under Riley's counter. While the beaker was, thankfully, an empty one, that didn't stop the kid from crying about it. As a result, the director shouted cut while Lydia went to comfort the kid.
Stacy, on the other hand, just sighed and ignored the kid, instead going for the beaker. Crouching down to the side of the counter, she spotted it quickly and reached for it, only to look up when the sound of squeaking wheels caught her attention.What she saw left her frozen in a fear she hadn't felt for months.
While she had her theories for what made the puppets move so realistically, they were mundane things. Camera tricks, that fancy computer stuff, even just multiple puppets used for different things. But all of those theories relied on on thing, that they were still just puppets with an actor controlling them. But what she could see now threw all of that out the window.
These weren't just puppets. And she knew this because Riley had no actress.
