#i dont know which of the conductors is a muppets fan but idk roll with it

[charaznablescanontoyota]

"hey, wait," shigeo says from somewhere up in the theater rafters. "you guys remember lunchbox? you think lunchbox is from this car?"

"who?" roxas asks.

al squints upwards, and just narrowly sidesteps a glob of paint as it falls from the brush shigeo's using to letter signs. "i dunno, isn't it kind of insensitive to imply all puppets come from the same car?"

"yeah, but he had the same deal where his bottom half was, like, either you couldn't see it or it was hard to look at," shigeo says.

"who are you even talking about?" roxas's voice drifts up from the empty orchestra pit, a little more impatient than before.

"a 'turtle' we met," trish says. she's down there with him, hammering together a ramp for - well, al's not sure exactly what. some kind of stunt. roxas seemed excited about the prospect of a ramp. "in the arts and crafts car. he was a 'puppet', too."

audrey clears her throat from the wings. "muppets."

"what?" roxas asks.

"they're muppets. the ones in this car." audrey steps out onto the stage in a costume dress that's still clearly half-fitted - al can see pins in the hem and sleeves - and crosses her arms over her chest, surveying the faces around her for any sign of recognition. "come on, you guys don't know the muppets? i mean, i knew al wouldn't, but -"

"oh, is that like the 'cookie monster'?" trish asks from the pit.

audrey pinches the bridge of her nose. "guys. seriously? you don't know kermit the frog?"

"i think i've seen him on a bag of chips," shigeo muses.

al turns to audrey, scenery painting all but forgotten. "is shadow a muppet?"

"no, he's a hedgehog," she says immediately, then pauses. "well. maybe he would be if he was here, actually. i don't know how this car works."

there's a long silence. it's hard to tell how many of them are imagining shadow as a foul-tempered puppet flopping around the stage, and how many of them are just wishing shadow was here with them.

"who do you think controls them?" shigeo asks, eventually. "is it like a psychic energy thing, or...?"

"it could be a singular person," trish agrees. "some kind of -"

"- 'master of puppets'," audrey finishes for her, entirely deadpan. "yeah. okay. wakka fucking wakka."

"ONE HOUR TO SHOWTIME," a voice hollers from backstage. the teens all jump to attention and scramble back to their jobs, or at least to trying to look busy. there's no telling what the penalty will be if they don't get this right; even if it's just spending the night in the theater and trying again tomorrow, that's still a waste of time.

"the little blue one said he's getting shot out of a cannon," al says quietly, to no one in particular. "do you think they feel pain?"

"why is that your next question?" shigeo yells down.

"it's ambiguous," audrey says. "most of them don't have, like. bones. i don't think. unless it's funny for them to have bones."

al laughs, a little hysterically. it's been a long day. "that's insane."

"when is it funny for them to have bones?" shigeo asks, alarmed.

"if they die, i imagine," trish says, like this makes perfect sense to her, over the sound of hammering from the pit.

"well - i mean, okay, there's a whole. they do a whole retelling of treasure island, and..." audrey looks around again, checking expressions. "none of you know what that is, either. okay. hey, i swear to god this is an award-winning show where i'm from."

"do you think they have food here?" roxas asks. "i'm hungry."

audrey sighs in a way that says she knows the answer, but the rest of them aren't going to like it.