"I heard something about that." Mr. Clayton responded. Or rather, Shawn made Mr. Clayton respond, the Puppet's voice coming out jovial and filled with a sense of genuine happiness and warmth.

"Sometimes I hear things that you do. It's more like I dream them. When I'm in my case sleeping and getting my 'Beauty Sleep!' Yucka Yucka!"

"But really, I do dream about some of these things. I just can't remember all of the details. Just like I don't remember Bradford killing....what was her name? The girl at the house that night? I remember something about you and her trying to get to me. And at the time I dreamed that Bradford killed her and that you got away, escaping through the back door or window and into the night. But like all my dreams, the details are fuzzy. Some are better than others."

Shawn didn't like the reminder of what had happened to Tiffany, but he just tried not to think about it too hard. That was Bradford doing it, not him. It wasn't his fault. "Well...he said that he dreamed there was a clown hidden inside a grownup. It sounded like Mr. Cherrywinks. Can he do stuff like that? Why would Leonard be dreaming it?"

"Really!?." Mr. Clayton said, sounding surprised. "That's so? Tell me more about it. This sounds like it could be something dangerous we need to look out for."

"Well, Leonard's been having dreams about clowns and writing them down. They're just about clowns doing stuff, but he says he understands the meaning, and it's that there's a clown hiding in an adult's body." Shawn was a little concerned that Mr. Clayton sounded surprised - it meant he might not have known this sort of thing could happen. "He doesn't know who it is, but if he's having dreams about stuff that's actually happening, is there any way we can help him?"

Mr. Clayton’s puppet face twitched, one eyelid clicking rapidly for a second and making a ‘clacketty-clack!’ noise.


"This is terrible!” Mr. Clayton shouted in a voice so loud that Shawn’s parents might hear. "Do you know what this means!!!!?Do you know what we need to do!!!!!?"

"Shh, not so loud..." The last thing Shawn wanted to do was have to explain to his parents why he was having an animated conversation with a wooden dummy. "What do you mean? I guess we have to protect ourselves, right?"

Mr. Clayton’s eye stopped clacking and his body contracted to fit more snuggly around Shawn's hand which was inside Mr. Clayton's cavity.


"You bet we do! Yucka Yucka! And it starts with finding out who this person is. You've got to get closer to Leonard. And you've got to find out if anyone else knows about this. No clue should be left alone. Any lead must be run to ground. We've got to launch an official investigation!” Mr. Clayton said with bravado in a high-pitched tone that was considerably less panicked and perhaps lower in volume than before, but still a bit loud.

"Do you understand what might happen if we let this just...happen!?"

"Umm, Leonard's younger than I am, he loves drawing, and I invited him to trick-or-treat with me. What sort of stuff do I need to find out about him? I played with him all afternoon." Shawn tried to find a more comfortable position with Mr. Clayton clasping his hand more tightly. "Could Mr. Cherrywinks restart the Circus like this? I thought it was gone?"

"No, I think we’ve taken care of the Circus. But that doesn’t mean that the Clown won’t come back and start taking kids again. His boss, the proprietor needs fouls, Yucka! Yucka!  And we can’t let that happen....” Mr. Clayton paused as if sounding concerned.

"You’re not going to like what I have to say next....."

Shawn met Mr. Clayton's gaze in the mirror a little nervously. With all the stuff Mr. Clayton had asked of him previously, something that made him concerned was probably really bad. "Why? What are you going to say?"

"Well...I didn't want to say it before” Mr. Clayton foreshadowed, clearly choosing his words carefully. It felt like anything Shawn might do to make Mr. Clayton speak was being deliberately filtered by the Puppet, somewhere inside of the Puppet's cavity near the part where Shawn's hand met with the rough interior fabric and wood. Filtered to soften the blow of the Puppet's words which were about to reveal some horrible truth about what was about to happen that could not be avoided.

"You’re not going to like it." He repeated.

"But sometimes the truth hurts." He said, building a second step to what was coming.

"Sometimes, whether we like it or not, we have to hear things that aren't what we want to hear." The third step now clearly in place as the Puppet gradually came to revealing what he was about to say.

"Mr. Cherrywinks is back. And you know what he's about. He's going to start taking kids again." Mr. Clayton explained, and he paused before revealing the ultimate truth that Shawn knew was part of the reality that was being explained.

"...and someone is going to have to DIE to stop him."

"There! I said it. I said it. Now I know you don't like to hear that last part. Because of our past discussions on this. Yucka Yucka! But I have to tell you how it is Shawn. I'm being a straight shooter with you. Just like 'Quick-draw-Mcgraw!'"

Shawn felt his stomach lurch a little, though he tried to keep his natural fear under control. It helped to pretend he was putting on a show - express yourself, but only do it in a way the audience could see and understand. "What do you mean? How would someone dying stop Mr. Cherrywinks? Isn't that what he wants?"

"I knew it! I knew you wouldn't like it. I knew you wouldn't want to hear about it. But there it is. It's a simple fact. Mr. Cherrywinks is back. And he's going to start killing everyone all over again. Just think about all those poor kids. And the only way to make him go away is if someone dies.”

"Don't blame me. I'm just the messenger. Maybe if I was a Superman or some other kind of super hero. But I'm not. I'm just a trifle. I know, I know, 'Dummy is a trifle.' I've heard it all before. The fact is, all I can offer you is what I know. And the only way I know how to stop that evil, kid-killing clown is to have one child take the place of all the children."

"A sacrifice."

Shawn didn't like what Mr. Clayton was saying, but he did appreciate the dummy's honesty. But it still wasn't exactly something he could just take at face value. "How would it work? How would sacrificing someone stop Cherrywinks?"

"How? How....HOW?” Mr. Clayton said with growing urgency. Then he just sort of paused. "Well, maybe I'm mistaken. Ha-HA!" He chuckled, bouncing a bit on Shawn's thigh, the wooden grooves of the Puppet's butt landing softly with each bounce.

"I mean, it's possible you're onto something. Maybe there's another way. Maybe no one has to die." He stated, voice filling with a distant, remote wonder, the voice of the hopeful or of someone looking up at the stars on a clear night sky.

"What is it?" He asked Shawn, breaking the moment.

"Well, ummm..." Shawn scrambled a bit as Mr. Clayton put him on the spot. "Maybe...maybe we can steal his nose and destroy it? That worked on the other clowns right? Or we could call the police and get them to shoot him? Or...can we trap him in the human body he's already in, somehow?" He was just tossing out ideas, with no real confidence behind any of them.

"Is that how it works?" Mr. Clayton asked with eagerness as if he wanted to resolve the issue and find a plan to move forward with. "How do we do it? Or, which one works?" He asked

"I dunno...I mean, in our show we switch bodies, right? So can we do that to other people? Like, if Mr. Cherrywinks takes over an adult's body, and we swap him so that it's the adult taking over himself?" Shawn tried to sound confident, but really had no idea if it would work or not. "Umm...though if we had to do it, how would we do your plan? Just so I know."

"Maybe....maybe" Mr. Clayton agreed, nodding his head, a dull look on the Puppets face like it was deep in thought. "Sometimes it just feels like we aren’t there yet. Like we’re just prisoners to greater things that are moving things along. I am just a trifle. A nothing. A piece of wood and cloth. A stupid thing. You should guide this one Shawn. You should be the one! Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. Tell me what to say and I’ll say it!" He said with glee

Shawn was thinking pretty hard himself. He wasn't sure what to do, but he had an inkling of an idea, so he decided to ask some questions to see if that narrowed things down further. "Leonard said he wasn't sure about it like the other stuff in his dream, but he drew Mr. Cherrywinks as a robot, and he had screens that hypnotized kids into working for him. Do you know if that's stuff that's actually real?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:54, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

"I don’t know. But it sounds really....dangerous. Like he is planning and planning and planning and planning." Mr. Clayton ruminated, his worry growing and voice gaining an extra octave each time he said the word ‘planning’ "PLANNING!!!!” He said shouted with a shrill voice that brought with it anger and resentment.

“We must find a way to destroy him. Otherwise, you know what he’ll do to those kids....”

Shawn sighed a little at Mr. Clayton's not-really-answer, but what else could either of them do. He looked Mr. Clayton in the eyes through the mirror as he tried to think of any other plans. "Is this one of those things where I need to say 'I give myself to Greater Ventriloquism' and hope it'll be okay?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

"That is a wonderful idea!" Mr. Clayton rejoiced. "Whenever we don't know what to do, we must offer ourselves up to the wisdom of something, much, much greater." He agreed, Puppet head nodding vigorously.
“Over to you! You know what to do! I'm with you all of the way”

Shawn took a deep breath, and momentarily pushed aside all of his fear and worry about the future. "I give myself to Greater Ventriloquism!" He said it with as much conviction as he could possibly muster.

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread: Dark Instructions