After somewhat falling off the face of the earth for a while (aka barely surviving the nightmare known as moving), I've managed to claw my way back to my computer and get on with this story.
Rajiya listened to Jeremiah intently as he explained every detail imaginable about the trunk and the puppets it contained. She wasn't sure if she'd even blinked her eyes once during his story-telling. It was confirmed that she indeed had not, when he finally stopped talking and she found it almost difficult to bring her eyelids together.
It was silent for nearly an entire minute as Rajiya glanced from the trunk to the four puppets laid out, and back a few times. She pinched the bridge of her nose to ease the tension caused by her furrowed brow.
"Are you all right?" Jeremiah asked her, feeling himself smiling unintentionally at his daughter's pretty, perplexed face.
"Pardon my language, Dad, but are you shitting me?" she asked candidly.
Jeremiah actually laughed at this. "I can see how you'd suspect as much, but let it sink in. It's real."
"And so are they?" She pointed at the four figures in front of her.
"Well yeah they're not holograms-"
"Duh, Dad," Rajiya herself laughed. "I mean, alive? And honestly, living puppets is waaaaay more baller than holograms."
At this, Jeremiah began pawing around in the trunk again. He withdrew a small bound bundle, that unrolled like his sterile surgical packs at the hospital. It contained a syringe with detachable needles, several vials, and spare needles. He assembled the syringe and filled it with the liquid inside one of the vials.
"Honey can you hand me Pinhead?" he asked Rajiya, who reached over and gingerly picked up said puppet. They'd been named in the journal Jeremiah had read from. She passed him to her father, who turned him over and inserted the needle into the base of his neck.
"Doesn't that hurt them?"
"No," Jeremiah answered, accepting Blade next and repeating the process with him and the remaining two puppets. After they'd all been placed back on the floor in front of the doctor and his cautiously curious daughter, they remained immobile.
"How long does it take to kick in?"
"Not very-"
Jeremiah was unable to finish answering Rajiya before she shrieked and scrambled behind him because Pinhead began clenching his fingers. He put his hand on hers, where it was gripping his right shoulder rather hard for a 14 year old girl. They watched, fascinated, as all the puppets stirred to life and brought themselves to their small feet.
"Don't be afraid, darling," Jeremiah said to Rajiya as she leapt to her own feet when the puppets all rushed over to him excitedly. Jester wrapped his arms around his knee, and all puppets were chattering happily in a strange language. Rajiya eyed them suspiciously, but kneeled back down to their level slowly.
"Can you believe the last time we saw Jeremiah was when he was 18 years old?" Blade hissed to Six Shooter, who was shaking the doctor's hand vigorously.
"I ain't gonna admit to that, I don't want to feel even older than we are."
"I wasn't sure we'd see him again!" Pinhead put in joyfully, hugging Jeremiah's free arm.
"Hey!" Jester interrupted, his face spinning to a happy expression as he pointed past Jeremiah and directly at Rajiya. She looked behind her quickly, then felt a little stupid when she realized that the puppet was obviously pointing at her. Regardless of how weird that was on its own. "Who is this pretty lady?"
"How rude of me," Jeremiah said with a smile. "Got caught up in the moment. I'd like you all to meet my daughter, Rajiya. She will be your new Mistress."
"Nice to meet all of you-wait, what?" she exclaimed, turning her shocked face to Jeremiah as the puppets clamored over to her and began crawling about on her folded legs. Her surprise didn't even allow her to notice that Six Shooter had challenged Jester to a braiding contest with her long, thick hair.
"With me at work all the time, I think the extra company would do you good, especially since you've been staying home by yourself the past couple months," Jeremiah explained as Jester began bickering Six Shooter for dragging him into a game he'd obviously lose.
"Well, I suppose so.." she trailed off, taking notice of the random braids in her hair and smiling broadly. "Do they need to eat or anything?"
"No, just get their inoculations."
Suddenly, light flooded the room after Pinhead had climbed onto the bed and turned on the lamp that was on the bedside table. This allowed Rajiya, Jeremiah and the puppets to all get even better looks at each other.
"I hadn't realized it was past dark," Jeremiah said, standing and stretching after glancing at his watch. "Our plane doesn't leave until 6 more hours, but we better leave now to explain our little friends through airport security."
A few nights later...
The front door of the loft was slammed as an indication that Jake had arrived. Rajiya was changing into her pajamas upstairs.
"I'm here, slut!" he shouted upwards, tossing his bag onto the couch and plunking himself down on it.
"Coming, Boo Bear!" she yelled back, tossing her day clothes into the hamper before coming downstairs. She found her best friend sitting in the living room, kicking his shoes off onto the floor. Rajiya sat beside him and they embraced warmly.
"I missed you!" she told him, rustling his black hair when they pulled apart. Jake smiled as he shoved her hand away.
"Missed you too, are you all right?" he questioned. "You made it seem super urgent that I come over as soon as you and your dad got back."
"It's nothing bad," Rajiya began, when Jake suddenly jolted up straight. He rubbed his backside and glared down at the couch cushion.
"The fuck was that?" he demanded more than asked, slapping the throw pillow off the couch. He then screamed and jumped to his feet. "THAT'S what the fuck that was?"
Rajiya followed his long pointed finger to where Blade was sitting, fixing his fedora and hissing in displeasure at having been wedged under the pillow and then squished by the strange male in his Mistress' house. She began laughing as Jake got more frantic.
"It's not funny, Raj!" he barked at her, backing away from her and Blade. His scream reached the highest Rajiya had ever heard when he bumped into Six Shooter, who'd wandered in from the dining room to see what kind of shit hit the fan.
"It's okay, Six," Rajiya told the puppet when he took offense to being knocked into and reached for his guns. "Jake is new to this whole thing."
"Bitch, that's putting it lightly," Jake said, wringing his hands together and looking all over the vast living area. "Got anymore surprises for me-Oh FUCK there they are!" he exclaimed shrilly as Pinhead and Jester ambled down the stairs to join the festivites.
"I swear, there is only four of them," Rajiya wiped her eyes after she finished laughing. She felt slightly guilty for exploiting Jake's ability to become more girly than she ever could whenever he was frightened. She patted the couch beside her and the only reason he accepted her invitation to sit back down was because all the puppets, including Blade, were now on the coffee table.
"Sure nothing else is creepin' in those cushions?" he asked wearily as he joined Rajiya.
"Promise." She slung an arm around Jake and kissed him on the cheek. "I'd like to introduce you to the newest members of our entourage..."