OOC: Results of Roll

Bobby got to his feet and rubbed the tears away from his eyes as the new kid began to make a break for the stage, presumably to run off and tell the clowns.

Then, suddenly, the kid stopped a few feet away from staircase as he glanced back at Shawn.

"Hey. I know you." He said to Shawn. "I know you."

"You were in the television for the movie, for...for...for...You were in the television for the movie, for...for...for...ummm...inside the TV. You were in the...the movies, for...for...for..." he was thinking now.

"For other kids." he finished, not being able to place the name of one of the movies that Shawn had appeared in. Suddenly, the threat seemed to be resolved, at least for now. He was making his way back to talk to Shawn and Bobby.

Shawn fought down the panic in his throat and tried to give the kid a smile. "That's right, I'm from the movies. What's your name?" He sat down cross legged on the wooden floor and tried to be approachable. Hopefully Bobby would follow his lead.

Bobby sat down, his own face still streaked with dried tears, eyebrows furrowed with worry at what the kid might do. How he might react. Whether he would run and tell the monster or not.

"My name is Ralph" The kid said. "I live...live in...live at 68 Wolf Road, Eggerstedt, Ohio, 43002." he replied with noted practice.

"I don't live there no more." He clarified. "Since...since...since...since..since Mr. Cherrywinks came. And then I was in his pet store of the souls. And then I was making a deal to do. So now I'm in Carney at the part that is called Side-show Alley."

"That's where...where..where they have all of the games of Circus. They have lots of things I have...have...have to do. The games of the Circus." He finished.

It had been months, but Shawn vaguely remembered hearing about the Pet Shop from the house. It seemed this kid had made the same deal he had. "What kind of games do you have to do?"

"Ummm..." The kid said. "Gotta help run for the games. And too, make the prizes 'cause Side-Show Alley not done yet."

"And because...because...because...because the Circus isn't not done either. It's not open. We gotta, gotta get the prizes ready. 'Cause anyone who comes to the Circus, Cherrywinks for take their souls. And the prizes are there for...for...for...for getting them in and things. People like prizes."

Shawn tried to keep his tone kind, reassuring, and non-judgemental, just like the host of Cousin Casper did back on public access.  "Ralph, do you know what this building is for?"

"Ummm...you're the kid for...for...for the movies for kids." Ralph repeated, unable to get past his own thoughts. His own view of the world. Shawn had seen it before with young kid actors that they would bring in onto sets. It was hard sometimes to get them to focus. They had such a view of the world that whatever ideas they were trying to get across at the moment, were the most important. Sometimes these kids, usually younger ones, would drive directors crazy. They weren't doing it on purpose, they were just so young and so unable to think of the world in any other way then one that revolved around them.

"You've in all for...for...for...for..for..for..for...for...the movies of kids." Ralph said again.

"This is the House of...of..of..of..of...house of...of...of...of...of...house..of..of..of..of...of...house of...house of...house of...house of...house of......"

"House of the Master Maker." he finished, finally spitting the words out, struggling to work through them.

"He a great magician for..for..for..the Circus of Evil. But he still gone until Mr. Cherrywinks can bring...bring..bring...bring...bring...bring...bring him back. He got to kill a kid to bring him back. Take off the kids nose and put a clown nose on for make into the Master Maker."

"Then Master Maker come back and Circus of Evil real close to opening." 

Shawn gave Bobby a look: this was a clear wake up call for why they shouldn't be here. "Ralph, do you know if there's a way out?"

Ralph just shrugged, seemingly unphased by Shawn's worry.

"I have not seen kids like you here to a while." He said. "You wanna play?"

"We could just use the Book." Bobby said, drying tears from his eyes. Shawn could see that he was holding a jagged piece of paper from the ledger in his right hand. It had the names of Bobby's family members and whomever else was in the same chart on the same page as them.

"Maybe, Ralph. Let me talk to Bobby for a second." Shawn leaned over to Bobby, noticing the ledger page in his hand. "Should we take Ralph with us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Sat 10 Dec 2016.

Bobby looked at Shawn and then back to Ralph. It was a good ten seconds before he answered. His face was still marred with streaks of those tears, eyes puffy.

"Yeah." he said. "I feel like..."

"Like maybe we kind of let everyone else down before. I don't know. We had to do what we did. And so we did it."

"But I don't think Will made it." He gulped slightly, choking on that last admission.

"And you um...I mean. What you had to do in the cabin. This might be a way to set things straight. Maybe to help someone or something."


He looked over Ralph for a second.

"It doesn't mean we actually have to play with him, right?"

Shawn nodded solemnly. "I don't think we had a choice back then, but we have a choice now, right?"

He looked up at Ralph. "Hey Ralph, do you want to stay here? Or do you want to leave?"

"We didn't." Bobby said, in a voice that suggested he was still trying to convince himself.

Ralph sprung at the idea.

"Yes!"

"You got candy?" Ralph asked, his tongue coming out to lick his bottom lip.

"What we gotta do to get...to get...to get...to get...to get...to get...for candy?"

"The Circus isn't open. They don't got no candy here." He explained.

Shawn frowns and looks at the Book. "Okay Bobby, do you remember how to use this to get home?" He was fairly certain he had been told there was a trick to it, but it had been so long he couldn't remember how.

"No." Bobby said. He began to thumb through the Book for an answer.

"That's the...the...the...the..the...Fortune Teller's Book." Ralph added with a helpful observation.

"Shut up." Bobby snapped at Ralph. "I'm trying to concentrate. I don't need any of your blabbering."


He continued to thumb through the Book, crisp pages moving beneath his fingers. Finally, he stopped at a page.

"Look!" He said to Shawn.

Shawn could see it. It was his room. Just sitting there in the middle of the page, like he was watching it through a window.

"We probably need to just step through it I guess. Just like we did to get here."

"The Fortune Teller's Book." Ralph said, a note of wonder in his voice.

"Shut up already with all of that!" Bobby snapped again, chastising Ralph for his interruption.

Shawn breathed out a sign of relief - he didn't want to stay here any longer than he had to. "Okay, Bobby, you should go through first, then I'll send Ralph through, then I'll come. That way we can be sure it'll work." He was already trying to figure out how to explain Ralph to his parents. Explaining Bobby was already hard enough.

Bobby pawed at the image gingerly and Shawn saw his hand appeared on the other side of the window. It was distant and somehow appeared further away. After pulling his arm back, Bobby looked at Shawn with a weak smile. Knowing Bobby, it would have been the kind of thing he would have enjoyed doing under most circumstances. But Bobby's face and overall demeanor hadn't really changed that much since reading the ledger. And so under the circumstances, a weak smile was the best he could offer.

Bobby jumped into the Book and suddenly appeared on the other side of the window. His hand came back through the other side, grasping at Ralph's own hand and pulling him through the Book and into Shawn's room.

Shawn takes one last look around before putting his hand on the image and going through!

OOC: Shawn joins thread

Shawn: We've Got Some Explaining To Do...