May 7th, 1963, 5:02 PM:
Henry tapped his pencil on the desk impatiently, brow furrowed in concentration as he stared at his unfinished blueprints.
"I really don't know how we're going to make this work," he admitted with a frustrated huff, pulling off his glasses with a sigh. William looked up from his stack of documents across the table, lowering the property contract he was reading. "Make what work?" The boy asked.
Henry leaned back in his chair, pulling his hand over his face. "Making these things function like they should while looking... well, while not looking creepy, I guess," he grumbled.
William rounded the table to stand next to him, bracing himself with one hand on its wooden surface. "Explain it to me," he offered.
His friend sighed again, leaning forward as he began to point at the various springlocks detailed on his homemade blueprints. "See, if we try to do jaw joints for a human face, that will mess with any hair-pieces here; even minimal ones," he explained, motioning to the head. "And here-" he continued, pointing at some of the springlocks, "If we try to use plastic to make it look like skin, the joints will grind so much it'll wear away and expose the interior. We can't do that either."
"Not to mention the upkeep will be difficult and I'd have to make separate costumes for us since they probably won't be wearable," he grumbled. "So basically, I don't know how we're going to make this work."
His friend observed the blueprints thoughtfully, not saying a word as his dark eyes examined the various white lines and notes scrawled on its pages. The longer he went on without speaking, the more Henry's heart sank. If they couldn't figure this out... all their work would be for naught.
All because he couldn't build some basic machinery.
He opened his mouth, about to voice his despairs when William took the abandoned pencil on the table, beginning to lightly trace a figure around the naked endoskeleton on the blue-pages.
Henry craned his head around the boy, trying to see what he was drawing before he began to make out a roundly-shaped image around the first skeleton with soft edges and a top-hat sat between two circular ears.
Will finished doodling a plump nose and leaned back, examining his work.
"Then, don't worry about making them human," he spoke simply with crossed arms.
Henry leaned closer, eyes narrowing as he placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, gaze wandering over the image that looked back at him with a goofy, friendly face. The gears in his head began to turn as he mapped out how he'd make an animal shell instead, beginning to realize how much more feasible this would be-
"Animals..." he spoke aloud with a tone of wonder. "Will- this won't just work, but the kids- the kids will love this-!" he started, a grin growing on his face as excitement began to fill him.
His friend smiled a little, tilting his head at the blueprints. "Just an idea," he said humbly.
Henry moved the first page, scrawling a hastily written note in its corner about the change with some ideas for supplies and design pieces before moving it aside to expose the second. "Now the other, what's the other going to be?" He inquired excitedly, looking up at William.
William's smile fell a little as he considered that, looking at the endoskeleton he knew would belong to his costume. But what creature was going to represent the character he wanted to create?
Henry watched as the boy sighed, raising a hand to his chin, pinching the bone there gently as he always did while he was thinking carefully.
Not uttering a word to break his concentration, he observed Will slowly retrieving the pencil for a second time, bending over the paper as the sound of its light scratching tickled his ears.
Within only a few minutes, the boy had finished, holding still over the paper for a few seconds before reluctantly pulling away to show the drawing traced over the second endoskeleton. Henry adjusted his glasses as he peered at the figure, spotting the tall, bobbing ears, the big feet, and the whiskers protruding from a soft nose.
"A rabbit?" He asked quietly, looking up at his friend. Will nodded simply.
"It felt fitting," he added, a strange look in his eye as he crossed his arms. Henry looked back down at the table, pulling the first blueprint to sit beside the other, showing them both next to each other, just as much partners as their creators.
The image of them both performing, and the happy laughter and faces of children with boundless dreams blossomed in Henry's head and a smile tugged at his mouth.
He put a hand on his friend's shoulder, gazing at the characters. "We're going to make magic, Will..." he murmured reverently.
William smiled at that.
"Magic indeed."
