milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Mun is sad. The Bears lost the Superbowl. Captain Ryan, however, is extremely happy. Captain Ryan is also still a puppet. The latter is directly responsible for the former.

So, here's the deal. Come talk to the super happy friendly puppet and cheer the mun up. He's currently setting up dominoes at one of the tables, though the fuzzy fingers means he rarely gets farther than ten or so tiles. In return, your pup can mock* Ryan when he returns to normal. Enjoy!

*Mocking may not be conductive to your pup's health.

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What a strange activity, Sophie thinks, and then blinks, and peers closer. Is that an imp, or -

"Gracious!" she exclaims, aloud, eyes flying open.

At least it's not as terrifying as the scarecrow.

And at least she knows she can't be responsible for this one.

The puppet jumps and flails at the explanation. "Awww, I had it up to 15," he pouts, which involves crossing his arms and lowering his brows, since he's incapable of frowning.

"But now I can start all over!" he says, beaming at her. "Want to help?"

"I'm, er, sorry to have disturbed you -

"- help with what?" Sophie feels compelled to demand.

Is it some arcane kind of magic spell?

"Oh, that's alright!" he assures her. "You can help me set up the dominoes! I'm having some trouble because my hands don't work too well like this," and he holds his left up for her to see.

Sophie leans over to inspect the hand; she can do this rather well, seeing as her eyes are still close to the size of saucers.

"You aren't usually like this? Oh, dear - are you under a spell too?"

First dog-men, then puppet-men - what'll it be next? Sophie thinks, unable even to muster up proper shock.

Ryan shakes his oversized head. "Nope! Usually I'm much taller," he says cheerfully before tilting his head thoughtfully. "Unless it's a full moon night, then I'm furry too! I don't know if this is a spell, though. I just woke up like this."

He looks her up and down. "Are you under a spell? You don't look like a puppet," he says doubtfully.

"Oh, I - er, my dog is," Sophie says, rather flustered. (It might be noted that she doesn't actually answer the question.)

"I should certainly hope I'm not a puppet! Being old's quite enough, thank you."

Pause. Then, curiously: "You don't seem terribly upset by the change."

Ryan jumps up excitedly. "Your dog's under a spell? What sort of spell? I can speak dog! Do you think that would help?" he asks, speaking very quickly.

"Well, it was a bit of a shock, but I've never been a puppet before, and I find it makes me very happy, though I'm not entirely sure why," he replies beaming. This is said both quickly and cheerfully.

And rather unnervingly so - especially to Sophie, who was in something of a Mood when she came into the bar.

"Oh - er, he can speak human, occasionally," she explains, blinking at the puppet. (It's a bit like dealing with Lettie. Well, perhaps a twelve-year-old Lettie.) "He's a bespelled human, actually; he can turn back, but it takes tremendous effort.

". . . were you unhappy before being a puppet?"

"Oh! That's a bit like me, but in reverse," he says, nodding. He tilts his head, thinking of how to answer that question.

"I guess so," he says at last. "I had a lot of things to worry about before, but they all seem so silly now. I was never this happy before I was a puppet!"

"- you sometimes turn into a dog?"

Sophie is trying hard to keep up.

"So you were bespelled before turning into a puppet, and then there was another spell that turned you into a puppet on top of that - is that it?"

She wonders whether she should offer to try to turn him back; but after all, she wasn't able to fix the dog-man. And he does seem - well, perfectly well off as he is.

"Have you any - family, or anything, that will be worrying about you?" she tries.

He smiles. Well, he smiles more, since he can't stop smiling. "I turn into a wolf! Only it's not a real wolf because I stand on two feet and I haven't got a tail. It's an infection, only Bar says I'm not contagious while I'm a puppet, which is good because otherwise I'd have to go outside and the demon rabbits tried to eat me two nights ago." He shudders.

"All my family's on the other side of the Door, but I'm dead so I can't go home anyway. Suzi's kind of worried about me, I guess, but I don't know why. I work for her making jewelry and stuff, but I'm still learning." He pauses his babbling, suddenly looking shocked.

"I'm sorry! I should've introduced myself! I'm Captain Richard Ryan, but you can call me Richie!"

O.O says Sophie, who has never yet met any of the Milliways dead, and then, for good measure, O.o, o.O, and O.O!!!

Possibly the spell has deranged his mind?

"I'm Sophie Hatter," she says, clinging to the part of this conversation that she is still sure makes sense, and, cautiously, extends a withered hand.

"Er - pleased to meet you, Richie. Jewelry-making must be an interesting occupation; I used to make hats myself."

Making polite conversation with not-so-inanimate objects is second nature, by now, and the rest, Sophie shoves firmly aside for the moment.

Ryan is completely oblivious to her reaction, and reaches out to shake her hand with his soft fuzzy hand. It only has four fingers.

"Pleased to meet you, Sophie! Jewelry is interesting, though I was looking into how to make swords and things like that. What's it like to make hats? I'm sorry to say I don't usually wear hats unless it's very cold out, and then they're only the woolen type!"

It has four fingers, and it's squishy.

Still - it's no stranger than feeding a fire demon, Sophie tells herself, firmly, and it's not the poor man's fault.

"It's about as exciting as you'd expect," she admits. "Swords, is it? Are you a -"

She eyes Richie, rather doubtfully. No one, at the moment, could look less like a soldier.

"- blacksmith?"

"No, I'm a jeweler. I was just looking into making swords. Garion's teaching me how to use them, and I thought it would be nice if I had my own and didn't have to borrow his all the time!" Well, that's one reason anyway, and the only one he cares about as a puppet.

"Well," Sophie says, "I suppose it's useful."

She's wondering how that felt four-fingered hand would hold a sword, and decides it's better not to ask.

"And I imagine plenty of - adventurers, and so forth, come into this place looking for equipment. Not that I'd know much about swords and battles and things."

"I do! Well, not swords so much, but I was British SAS when I was alive!" He beams at her. "I know all about battles and guns and tactics...and..." He looks horrified, as much as he can with the permanent smile on his face.

"I used to kill people. That's awful," he says, voice full of despair.

. . . oh, dear.

This is what one might term 'out of Sophie's league.'

"Er - well, that's what one does, as a soldier," she says, looking at him with some worry, and pats him on the felt shoulder.

"Kings will go to war. There's not much any of us can do about that."

He's silent for a moment longer before he crosses his arms. "Well, I'm not going to kill people anymore. It's just...mean!" And he stamps a little puppet foot for emphasis.

[OOC: And I must beg slowtime so I can sleep.]

"I think," Sophie says, fervently, "that that's an excellent decision."

[OOC: Sure! I will not be about much for the next couple days, but I'll tag when I can, if you like. Thanks for thread! :D]

"Thanks!" he exclaims, beaming at her. "So did you want to help with the dominoes? I'll be glad to teach you!"

[OOC: No rush! Slowtime is love.]

Sophie gives him an encouraging smile, and sets her sewing aside on a table, carefully.

When it comes to a choice between dominoes and weeping puppets, she is all for the dominoes.

"All right, then - it looks as if you set them standing up, yes?"

[OOC: SO much love.]

Ryan nods. "Like this!" He demonstrates by setting up three tiles. "And when we get enough of them, we do this!" And he pushes the end one over to show the cascade effect.

Sophie sets four dominoes straight, and then pokes one with a bent figure; the dominoes wobble and totter.

It's . . . surprisingly entertaining.

"How many is 'enough'?"

"However many you want!" Ryan says brightly. "Or until the bucket's empty, but we can always ask Bar for more!" He starts setting up a new line.

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