"You've got to snuggle with me." Mr. Clayton said, as if reminding Shawn about a task that Shawn had forgotten about.

"Papa likes it when it he takes me away from you. So if you're snuggling with me in bed, he'll be sure to come out." Mr. Clayton ventured.

Shawn sighed. "You just want to be cuddled, don't you?" Still, he didn't have the time or energy to argue more, so as he crawled into bed, he made sure Mr. Clayton was close and under his arm.

"This is what it's about." Mr. Clayton said, pushing his wooden frame against Shawn's body.

"I love you." The Puppet said. "How could I be without you?" He asked. "I know Bradford made me hurt Tiffany and made me kill you....well, the other you..." He let his voice trailed off.

"But I love you. I really do."

Shawn made himself not back away from Mr. Clayton, even though that was his instinct. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to do those bad things.” He told himself he was just trying to make Mr. Clayton happy, but even deeper down, he didn’t want to admit that hearing that from the dummy genuinely did make him feel better.

"If I ever did anything to hurt you, I'm sorry." Mr. Clayton said, snuggling his warm body up against Shawn.

"What do you think about what Leonard said? About Ralph's Mom? When we go to sleep tonight and Papa comes, what are you going to ask him?" Mr. Clayton asked. If Shawn had done that, had asked three questions in a row Shawn's Dad would have disdainfully asked 'What is this? Twenty questions?'

Shawn briefly wondered why Mr. Clayton felt warm, but was a little worried that the answer might scare him. Instead, he focused on the more answerable questions. "I don't know about Ralph's Mom - you're the one who put him there, you should know something about her, right And when I see Papa, I'm gonna try and ask him why he doesn't like me."

Mr. Clayton started at that comment, his head jerking up from the pillow like a squirrel or racoon that had been caught rummaging through the garbage.

"I didn't put Ralph's Mom there. That wasn't me. In, fact, I think we should kill Ralph's Mom!! Yucka! Yucka!"

Shawn was a little surprised at Mr. Clayton's surprised reaction. "What do you mean, you don't know? I was there when things changed - it was definitely you who made Ralph and...and Bobby remember they lived at her house."

Mr. Clayton shook his head.

"Nope. I just spun the wheel. I opened the gates. I changed the course. I didn't decide where the river took us or what number the wheel landed on. I didn't put Ralph's Mom there. That wasn't me. I just changed it so that whatever other possibility could happen, happened."

"It's not my fault that Ralph's evil-Mom decided to take that moment to move it."

"And about Ralph's evil Mom....." Mr. Clayton said in a coy voice. "Let's come out and say it." Mr. Clayton intoned. "Come on. Say who it is. You know who it is and I know who it is."

"So just say it. Who or What is Ralph's Mom."

Shawn was quiet for a long time. But he knew the answer Mr. Clayton was expecting, and he knew it was probably the correct one too. "I think Ralph's Mom might be Cherrywinks. Or at least works for him."

Mr. Clayton now nodded his head enthusiastically in agreement. Or at least that's what Shawn was making him do.

"Bingo!  BANGO!!!!  BONGO!!!." Mr. Clayton rejoiced in total agreement.

"That's what I was thinking. And you know what? I also think that Ralph's Mom is taking kids. Because Ralph's Mom is Cherrywinks!"

Shawn nodded along, thinking on what that meant. "He's different now, though. He wasn't hypnotizing people before, right? And the Circus was destroyed. So what does he want now?"

Mr. Clayton nearly whispered the next thing he said to Shawn

"He wants the same thing as always. He wants to feed someone souls. And who is he trying to feed? " Mr. Clayton asked Shawn, his voice trailing off in near silence.

"Is it for him? Or...you know...the Proprietor?" Shawn still had nightmares about that well, and what it had done to Bradford. "Can Greater Ventriloquism stop him? Either of them?"

Mr. Clayton nearly whispered the next thing he said to Shawn

"That's right." Mr. Clayton intoned. "The Proprietor." Mr. Clayton hushed the words as if just saying them too loud might bring on some kind of unwanted attention from some unknown force.

Then he suddenly broke out into an unexpected, joyful, raucous laugh "Yucka! Yucka!"

"You figured it out. You put all the pieces together. And just in time for you to move out of the neighborhood. Such a shame. With you gone, that means everyone will be taken." Mr. Clayton said in a sad tone, a kid realizing that all his favorite toys would be discarded.

Mr. Clayton sighed. "Well, you better speak to Papa soon. It might be the last night either of us see him for a while."

Shawn had thought along similar lines, but it was still scary to see Mr. Clayton spell it all out like that. Still, he knew he couldn't just leave. "We can't move out of the neighborhood if that's what's happening. If Cherrywinks steals all those souls, he'll be more powerful - and he hates us. He'll chase us down and kill us both. We have to stop him from taking people somehow."

"Yucka! Yucka!" Mr. Clayton chuckled an inappropriate laugh, given the circumstances. "We've got to do something. That means we also need to stick together. That means you can't just throw me away now that your moving. And if you move, you'll need to come back somehow. Are you planning just to abandon your Mom when she comes to pick you up?" Mr. Clayton's words came out like racing thoughts, with no respect for the sequence of reality nor the sequence of events. Just pure rumination of events and feelings and possibilities.

Shawn felt like he'd been moving from crisis to crisis lately, and hadn't really had a chance to figure out his own future. "I might be able to convince Mom that you're part of an acting exercise I'm supposed to do. But we can't leave here until Mr. Cherrywinks is gone..."

Mr. Clayton raised one paint-shipped brow"Good luck with that. I'd bet that your Mom has her own plans for you. Also, your Mom's a jerk. That's something we're both aware of. Have you ever noticed that she never really cares about anything that you want. If I was a betting Puppet, I'd bet on your Mom's plans more than yours. Just promise me you'll keep us together. Don't abandon me in this neighborhood alone!"

Shawn wanted to make the argument in defense of his Mom, but when it was just him and Mr. Clayton, it sounded really hollow. "Mom's a jerk...but Dad's kind of a jerk too. I miss when they kept each other busy."

Mr. Clayton suddenly and without warning was annoyed. "You're being a fag. We both know it. You're stalling because you don't really want to do the 'switch.' The words came out harsh and biting, even though just moments earlier Mr. Clayton had told Shawn that it was dangerous and asked Shawn if he had really wanted to 'do it.'

"Could it be that you really don't have as much trust in Great Ventriloquism? Or is it that you really are afraid to meet Papa and would rather see your Dad." Mr. Clayton mocked, his carefree 'Yucka Yucka' attitude now giving way to bitterness.

"That's it isn't it? You're afraid. I knew it!"

Shawn gave Mr. Clayton a scowl, like he was being bothered by a younger brother. "I was ready to do it before you started talking about Leonard and stuff. You're the one who was stalling." Besides, Mr. Clayton said he had to sleep first, and he could hardly sleep while arguing. He rolled over a little to end the conversational distraction and do the 'switch'.

And with that Mr. Clayton's mood suddenly changed, all snuggly and warm. "OK,  you know the magic words. He said, nuzzling up to Shawn and expecting Shawn to say what was necessary for the them to make 'the switch.'

Shawn nodded sleepily, a little uncomfortable with how close Mr. Clayton was, but too tired and too polite to push him away. "I give myself to Greater Ventriloquism."

Shawn's Puppet - Mr. Clayton Joins thread:

OOC: Shawn's Puppet - Mr. Clayton: Changing Bodies