All My Numbers.

[The Count]

OK... So I hope to use this one to introduce the haunters roaming through the counting chatteau, not to mention my own imagination. Will take this one by one...
But here's the first short installment.

Nothing But 0.
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"Counting is vonderful... Counting is ecstasy..." could be heard as the vampiric voice echoed through the halls of his castle. True enough, it had been empty and devoid of life save for his own lone figure—along with the brood of brown bats hibernating in their belfry, shut away from the shining rays of Phoebis' diurnal circuit—the doomicile was now replete with creeps and creepettes of all manner of haunts. Upon reaching the drawing room, he paused for a moment and tapped the side of the wooden bookcase—the mahogany frame binding within its creaking hold manuscripts long forgotten from memories past.

Flickers of light eminated from the small rounded bulbs—dazzling determinedly within their protectively domed jewel jails—while the mathematics master searched for and found, dissatisfactorily, two trinkets his good friend had left behind when Ed parted, claiming he had an urgent appointment with one of his perspective business partners. Yes, the Count had the marble 0 perched on a small dusted clean stand—along with a black batty badge that bore the same digit in ghostly white glowing relief—he would have to charge one of the bats with delivering the badge to Edward, lest he be detained outside the castle's gates.

"Vell, nothing ve can do about it now... Ve'd better get started vithout him" the Count said, a small frown forming at the corners of his mouth. "But think of all the fiends he'll get to meet vhen he finally does return!" The thought cheered up the counter, as he moved off to rouse his ghosts from their deep sleep.

 

[Ruahnna]

As in, "All My Children?" How droll!

 

[The Count]

Countdown to a Beginning
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Later that night, a weary traveler sat down in one of the comforting armchairs propped up within the Count's castle's living room (although perhaps it would've been fairer to call it an "unliving" room given the nature of the doomicile's residents). "So did you get your meeting over vith vell?" asked the Count of his long-time friend and sometimes roommate. "Yes, I had the meeting at 10 o'clock AM, it ended in an hour's time." A small sigh escaped past Ed's lips, filling the air with an uneasy feeling betwixt the two masters of monsterdom. "Anything wrong?" queried the vampire hoping he could alleviate the toymaker's tension. "No, it's just... Well, I talked with Cath and Beth and Lisa and Ryan as well..."
"Their sintillating stories are still going strong I trust" stated the Count, as he too enjoyed the occasional dive into the reading room whenever a new chapter was made available, it's words appearing as if by a magic all its own transporting him and Eduardo to a world of utter delight.
"Yes, and I guess that's part of it. But what's really got me down is..."
"Go on" the Count insisted, wanting to hear what troubled his fellow fiend's mind.
"Well... Seems like I just can't make up my mind as to what I want to create. Every day I receive the shipments of new figures, wrapped within the loving care of the plastic casing locking their precious cargo safely throughout their sojourn to my store back in Hensonville. And there's always news of some virgening franchises that either interest or inspire me, like those Only Hearts Club dolls or Tandem Twin statue/figures... Makes me think, OK, I'll develop a line of lovely ghouls each focusing on a different trait like a lightning lady, fireball-headed female or thirteenth grave with gimmicky names such as Voltage, Bonfire, or Trixidecca respectively. And these would be set apart because they'd have their own numbered tombstones, forming a perfectly continuous sequence, paired with some of our Muppet monster bretherend."
"That seems like a fine idea. So vhat's stopping you?" "That's just it, I don't really know. My mind's mind argues with me and it's always disappointing to say the least whenever we reach an impass, prompting me to discard the lineups that materialized in the clarity of my inner imagination and have to start all over again. Sometimes... I just don't really know what it is I want."

Ed sighed once more as silence soon claimed both he and his haunted home's host. The Count leaned his chin on the flat of his lavender palms, his fingers absently sifting the hairs of his coiffed goatee. "You know vhat I think" he managed to say after a long while. "No, but please illuminate me, as I value your opinion quite highly." "It seems to me that you doubt your own potential. Vhen that happens, only one person can help you recover your own purpose."
"Mmm? Do you think so?"
The Count paused for a second, as music slowly started to trickle inwards, invisible to the naked eye but palpable to their black hearts. Ed was instantly moved as he perceived the dulcit tones of his angel of the night.

Autumn, unseen: If just one person believes in you.
Deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you...
Hard enough, and long enough.
It stands to reason, that someone else will think.
"If he can do it, I can do it."

Making it...
Count: Two whole people, who believe in you.
Deep enough, and strong enough.
Believe in you.
Hard enough and long enough.
There's bound to be some other person who.
Believes in making it a threesome.
Making it three.....
People you can say, believe in me.....

Uncle Deadly, emerging from the shadows: And if three whole people.
Why not -- four?
All of the singers harmonized as they sang out: And if four whole people.
Why not more, and...
more, and...
more....

By this time, a chorus of creeps were visible, just outside Ed's line of sight and outside the room's hallway. They all joined in the song, coming out of the woodworks and nowhere in particular at the same time.
Autumn, taking the lead once more: And when all those people.
Believe in you.
Deep enough, and strong enough.
Believe in you...
Hard enough, and long enough.

It stands to reason that you yourself will...
Start to see what everybody sees in...
You...

And maybe even you,
Can believe in you... too!
The song finished and humming still in the castle's chilled eerie air, Edward softly smiled at his numerian namesake. "Thank you, I needed that." He stretched out his arms to hug the Count, slipping a marble 1 into the master's coat pocket. The Count stepped back to retrieve the present, inspecting it fondly as Batty Bat swooped down from the ceiling at that moment clutching a black badge like Ed's. The visitor from Hensonville afixed this badge onto the mathematical MC's coat's left shoulder, Batty perched proudly above the ghostly glowing white 1 embossed upon the black bat-shaped surface.
"Ah, I think ve're ready to begin!" cried out the counter of all manner of creatures of the night.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Ed! I missed this over the weekend somehow. Anyway, this is wonderful! I like how you're writing about your frustrations in starting this project and I love the "Just One Person" song. I think you've got a solid beginning here, but now you know, I can nag you again! So, more please! (And yes I know you're going to turn right around and point the nagging finger back at me...is coming is all I can say about my story)

 

[The Count]

Thanks Beth. And as I can now say... Honestly not sure where to go next. Would porbably prefer to go to that 2-girl I talked about with you privately, as it would then open the possibilities to simply bring in all the monster Muppets I've imagined. But I want to wait until Catherine has a chance to read and/or reply first, since I've been talking to her about the ghouls (the other potential path of creation aluded to in the previous segment).
So we'll see what happens. And if you're going to nag, I'll say that my next installment depends on whether you update your own story.

BTW: On a somewhat related note, I got the USA map with each state represented by a monster Muppet finished. Those'll crop up here and there throughout this narrative.
And please forgive me if this tale doesn't seem to have any sort of conclusion in sight *small joke*, as I intend to keep adding as I feel like doing so.

So all I can say is... We'll see where I go from here as I wait should more feedback comes. Hope that's OK, now get to posting more story!

 

[The Count]

Double Take
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The Count knocked on one of the adjoining dormitory rooms' doors, in an attempt to get the castle's residents to come out and meet Ed one by one. "Hello? Anybody in there?" "Just a minute... Getting dressed in here" came the reply from within, followed promptly by "which pair of shoes would be best?" "Vhat about your black ones" answered back the vampire before being asked the same question twice by the same voice inside the chamber. "Didn't I just say the black ones?" Obviously flustered, the person behind the closed door could only retort with "um, that was... uh, my other half." "Ah" the Count reasoned to himself walking away, that little lightbulb of comprehension not fully efulging its usual brilliance.

To say that Ed was surprised when he made the young Muppet woman's acquaintance would be an understatement. Of course, he was aided by his counting counterpart, introductions clearing up the matter. Her peachy felt skin glowed underneath the twinkling of the light afforded them by the unliving room's spinning spidery chandelier. Blonde hair swirled down in ribbons of dirtied darkened hues and perfectly pure blonde highlights. Standing next to the Count, she seemed to carry herself with an air of higher stature, much like Mokey Fraggle towered over the rest of her five Fragglish fratmates. The black dress she wore swayed in the brisk breeze created as an after-effect of the buggy blades overhead. Though the dress reached only up to her chest, a ghostly silver faux furry fringe topped her off leaving the bare outline of her shoulders barely visible. Ed felt the smoothness of a black velvet gloved hand, whereas wisps of light magically trailed her sparkly black-shoed heels. "May I present miss Claire" the Count proclaimed, the fair lightly skinned perfectly coiffed head leaning in for a small greeting kiss. "And don't forget about my..." she said before turning half a step to her side, "other half, Obscuré" sang out a second head marked by her darker toned skin and hair as she too leaned in for a peck on Edward's cheek.

"My, my... So, you're, um, both together?" asked the blinded business man. "Yes... We were born this way" uttered Obscuré, followed by Claire "Two of a pair, a matching set." "And we're always dreaming..." "And scheming..." "Jotting down rhyming couplets of verse..." "Not to mention passages of what you'd call ushgush." "But our real passion..." "Or obsession..." "Are shoes!" they both said at once. "We absolutely love shoes..." "Can never go wrong with a good pair of fancy footwear..." "After all, shoes do make the woman." both said as they had habitually taken to finishing each other's sentences. "Must be part of that half stuff I've been hearing about" thought Ed to himself. "Well, I'm pleased to meet you girls, maybe you'll favor me with a dance at a later time." With that, he bowed to both and left the Count with these double dames. "He seems nice..." Claire casually noted. "You should introduce us to your friends more often" Obscuré intimated, a sly wink directed at the head of haunted house. "Yes, vell... He's been a long friend of mine. Spooking of vhich, did you receive your badge yet?" "Yes, here it is" Claire said, reaching into her dress's pocket and handing the black bat badge to Obscuré, who proceeded to pin it on her furry fringe's left shoulder, showing off its embossed ghostly glowing white 2. "That reminds us... We happen to have something for you two" mentioned the dirtied blonde haired head. "From Claire and me..." "To you Count, as a token of our esteem." The girls produced a white marble 2 which made the Count quite happy, counting now two creatures of the night in his counting castle.

 

[theprawncracker]

WOW!!! Ed this is SO cool! I absolutely love it! And now, it's my turn! *rolls in penguins cannon* More please! (MWoO ha ha ha!)

 

[The Count]

Oh yeah? *Rolls out muffin cannon and aims it at Ryan. OK, your move buddy.
Waiting for two others to read and post, names of which are posted there up above. That, and I'm not sure who/what I want as #3. Oh well, I'll talk it over with my helpers and post when I get the chance to do so.

 

[Ruahnna]

Ooh! Ooh! I missed this until just now! How exciting! I do love the two-headed Claire--I find that, when picking out an outfit or shoes, most of us of the female persuation feel like two people at once....

And I liked how you owned up to your worries and concerns about starting. It is daunting, I know. But I will tell you two quick tales:

First tale: One of my friends is an artist (also a published poet) and she loved to read art magazines and art books, but they made her positively paralyzed with indecision about her own art. She reorganized her bookshelves, and the art books were temporarily inaccessible while she rerouted things to other shelves. During this period of weeks, her own art took off like gangbusters. She left her art books in an inaccessible place. Comparing her work to the work of others did not inspire her--it cautioned her, and art must be fearless to be, well, art.

Second story: When I am writing on one thing and that one thing has my complete attention, I call it "falling down the rabbit hole." I am, literally, obsessed with what I am doing, and cannot even seem to remember that I need sustenance and sleep. (There is, apparently, some sort of genetic failsafe which causes me to put home-cooked food on the table for my children and spouse at semi-regular intervels and do laundry and dishes and the like, but very little else registers when I am whole-heartedly into a story.) This is not unique to me, nor is it typical of every artist, but the concept behind it is the same as the previous story: Your art is your own magnificent obsession. It MUST come forth whether the crowds cheer or turn away. If you follow that muse, it doesn't matter what other people think about what you do--and it doesn't even matter, really, what YOU think about it when the passion of creation cools. Art will out, like truth.

And in case you are wondering, I think this is one of your best things yet, Ed. Very honest. I'd hug you but I'm loading the muffin cannon....

And you know what THAT means.

 

[The Count]

Huh? Sorry, but I was falling down with you. Incidentally, how do you stand on your head?
*Hee. Trust me, more will be posted... School stuff in the way and other things that need tending to, like the new machine that I should be learning how to use.

And thanks for the stories Ru... Will probably drop you and Beth a message tomorrow about who'll be the next to get the spooklight shone on them.