<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>Date: Tria 47, 81379 Time: late morning Place: Off the southern coast of Swaraj </td></tr></table> Thri busily adjusted the banner over her homemade puppet stage. It was made of waterlogged wood, and looked like it had been thrown together in three minutes. It was held down on the gorund with heavy rocks tied in each of the corners. The box had a window in the front where the puppets could be seen from, and a little door in the back where Thri could slip inside. The box was colored a bright red with crude blue and yellow designs on the sides. There were yellow curtains hanging over the opening in front, to obscure a view of the inside. She had a large red banner with golden letters hanging over the top of the box that read “The Amazing Sockbat." Thri had been planning the show for months and had spent hours and countless pricked fingers sewing together the characters for the act. She was expecting a good turnout, at least better than the other times. Her audience was bound to have told others about her amazing show. She had a few chairs set up in front of her stage, just in case her audience wanted to sit and watch for the entire show. Few ever did, but she was optimistic. In high spirits, Thri glided to the back of her box and slid her plump little body though. After closing the door behind her, she nervously started to go over her lines. Others would start showing up any time now.
Gliding through the depths, Aubi couldn't suppress a happy little twitter of excitement. Her brain was buzzing along, talking away to her in it's trademark splurts of random tangents. Currently, it was chanting "sockbat!" repeatedly, making the rather childish aquabat supress a giggle. Sockbat. Just hearing the word set her off on a gigglefit. The three pound of gummiworms she'd ingested before darting off to the show couldn't be helping. At this rate she'd be laughing like a retard throughout the entire thing. Spotting the makeshift puppet theatre, and more than pleased that it had been exactally where it was supposed to be (her only real pet peeve was bad instructions) she grinned widely and with a flick of her tail made a beeline for the chair which was, in her mind, closest to the front. Both hearing and feeling the presence of someone rustling around backstage, Aubirus squirmed in her seat and breathed a large bubble in restlessness. "Is the show gonna start soon?" she asked loudly, although whether she was talking to herself or the performer wasn't exactally apparent.
Thrid sorted through her various puppets, making sure all the ones required for this particular act were easily at hand. She put them in little piles below the stage, though what puppets went in which piles was a mystery known only by her. As she placed them on top of each other she hear a voice outside the box. Sliping the sock in her hand on to her tail, she crawled over to the opening and poked her head behind the curtains. She saw another aquabat seated in one of her provided chairs. Thrid smiled childishly, oblivious to the fact that she could actually see her. Thrid withdrew her head. “Yes miss! We are almost ready...We're just…waiting on one more actor…" Thrid shuffled around the floor, looking for a particular puppet that had eluded her original search. After a few seconds and a triumphant “AH HA!" Thrid placed the puppet in one of the middle piles. She took a deep breath, for her mother had always told her it was the best way to divert stage fright. Thrid had never had stage fright in her life, but she attributed it to her ritual breathing before every show. The mustard curtains slid back with a glorious whirl to reveal a dark blue back drop, dotted here and there with light blue circles, meant to indicate bubbles. A sock puppet appeared on the stage with a sliver of green skin visible beneath it. The sock was a greenish color, with little pieces of yellow sewed on to it. The button eyes were a light purple and it had strange frills on the sides of its sock head. The show had begun. “This is the story of the Amazing Sockbat."
Aubirus grinned widely when the voice of what she assumed was the performer announced the show was soon to be underway. Squirming in her seat to get more comfortable, Aubi absently tugged at the net bag hanging around her neck, pulling open the drawstring opening and fishing herself out one of the abalone's she'd gathered for herself earlier. Slurping the sweet, slightly slimy flesh of the shellfish, she had to pop the entire shell in her mouth when the first puppet popped up to free her hands. Clapping as best as one can when you're underwater, Aubi cheered loudly in a series of highpitched clicks from the back of her throat.
Thrid made a silent smile as she heard the applause. Her audiences never seemed to cheer too often so it was a special moment. Remembering that she was in the middle of an act, she gave the puppet a jerk as if to wake it up. She proceeded to bounce it up and down to indicate that it was moving. The puppet character swam along, humming a merry tune. “One day an unsuspecting aquabat was going for a swim, when suddenly it came upon a strange and fantastic object." A cutout of a sock on a stick inched into view from the side. As the puppet ‘approached’ it, the bobbing stopped. “The aquabat picked it up and immediately felt a rush of power flow through him." The puppet leaned over and brushed the cutout, then shook as if racked by electricity. Then the puppet fell motionless and the cutout sank from view. “He knew his life would forever be different, for he had become…" The puppet disappeared and there was an awkward silent moment where Thrid franticaly searched the floor. Finally, a similar character appeared triumphantly in the previous puppet’s place. “SOCKBAT!" Thrid declared. The puppet was almost identical to the other, but sported a red cape with a ramaithian ‘S’ on the back. It had a red mask and a sock on its tail and either ear. Thrid waved the puppet around, as if it were flying (which is absurd because everything underwater seems to fly). She got so enthusiastic about her performance she even allowed the tips of her ears to appear above the opening. When she finally calmed down, she embarked on a long adventure full of evil dust mites and bunnies, damsel aquabats in distress, and petty villains and evil masterminds constantly thwarted in their plans for sock domination. After about half an hour or so, during a scene were one of the Amazing Sockbat’s most beloved socks was kidnapped by the dastardly Dust Bite Mite, all the puppets disappeared from the stage and Thrid’s excited voice sounded from within. “Will Sockbat ever see Leftard again? Will the Dust Bite Mite fall for Susan Socky’s clever scheme? Find out, after the intermission." With that said, a large sign with the bold red letters ‘Intermission’ was placed in front of the opening of the box. Thrid squeezed herself out of the theater box and swam over to Aubirus, sitting herself in one of the chairs beside her. “What do you think?" she asked with a huge grin.
