Puppet

"Aw, c'mon! We just want to play with ya," said the green puppet, and the pink puppet nodded in agreement so energetically that its trunk-nose flapped up and down.

"Yeah! Play!" The pink puppet added in its squeakier, more nasal voice. The pair of them began to sway and bob, with their arms swishing from side to side, dancing to some unheard music.

"Play with me... like friends do," Eli asked carefully while taking a small step backward, "or like how someone plays with a toy?"

The two puppets stared at him for a moment, eyes as unblinking as ever but it still managed to feel like a stare. Then they slowly turned. Painfully slowly, jittering the entire time, as if taking every due care to make the movement as exaggerated as possible. The pink one's face screwed up tightly, mouth crumpling in on itself in an expression of displeasure. They just looked at each other, and then just as slowly turned back to face Eli, who froze in the middle of taking another step back.

"You can't just ask us that question," snipped the pink one, waving its noodle-thin arms in the air. "Nobody ever asks that question!"

"Nobody," repeated the green in its deeper voice, and waved a three-fingered felt hand in Eli's direction, pointing clumsily. "But you're smart, huh? Mister Know-it-all!"

"Oooh, I bet he's smart enough for a guessing game!" The pink one began to bounce up and down excitedly. "I know just the game, I do! It's a game called, What Will You Find in Your Closet Tonight?"

"Raincoat," said the green one, rolling the R with a soft growl. The jagged white felt that it had for teeth didn't seem to be as soft and silly-looking as before.

"Shoooes," said the pink. Eli kept moving back with gentle steps, but even though he hadn't seen them move, the puppets seemed to be closer than before.

"Some rope."

"Smiles and laughter."

"A big surprise."

–

A puppet is most commonly comprised of felt and stuffing, operated through hands and wires to give the appearance of life. In Hollywood, they may have more than just the appearance of life.

Physiology

It can be noted that what mechanisms supposedly control a puppet's functions do not actually attach to anything, despite first appearances. For example, a puppet can be "operated" by a single arm that clearly belongs to a human being, except that arm is rising up from behind an obscuring surface that could not possibly conceal a fully-grown human being. Attempts have been made to ascertain what is actually controlling puppets, with the prevailing theory being that they might be the appendages of some extra-dimensional godlike entity that is slithering into reality through unseen fissures in the fabric of the universe, and perhaps further investigation would be a bad idea.

Culture

Puppet culture, such as it is, seems to be based around emulating the world around them. They play at performing jobs, although clearly no actual work is being done or money exchanging hands. Additionally, many of these jobs seem to be deliberate misinterpretations of actual jobs, such as garbage collectors literally making a collection of garbage. There is also an extraordinary amount of singing done, usually with upwards of ten puppets taking part. It often includes a poorly choreographed dance routine that relies heavily on flailing limbs and bouncing in place.

For now puppets are content to live whatever strange lives they've created for themselves, with no sinister motives yet perceived. The majority of puppets, as best can be determined, live in Alphabet City, which is full of many doors and low walls that could conceivably be hiding a million full-time puppeteers, but which probably aren't.

Demographics of Hollywood
Aliens ★ Animals ★ Cryptids ★ Devils ★ Humans ★ Mutants ★ Puppets ★ Robots ★ Toons