I'm not even going to bother looking at the date of my previous update.
*looks anyways*
Okay I lied. And wow I'm slacking, I'm sorry! I adore the followers and reviewers of this tale and despite my 60+ hour work weeks and seemingly nonstop application processes to various colleges, I have a brand new laptop (HP Spectre, its snazzy). Writing is such a wonderful outlet for stress, might as well use it to churn out more of this story. Because there is SO much of it to come. So very much.
LET'S DO DIS THANG.
******

"Happy Birthday!" Jeremiah said to Rajiya as soon as she answered his Skype call. It was about 5:30am PST but with her laptop beside her bed she ensured she never missed a chance to video chat with her father. Especially since being able to speak to and see him face to face and in real-time was a relatively rare occurrence since he went to Egypt 18 months ago.

"Thanks Dad," Rajiya yawned as she sat upright and situated the computer so the puppets could join the conversation as well.

"You sure look cute," Jeremiah taunted referring to her loose top knot hair-do and smeared eyeliner from the night before. "I take it you did the whole, 'blow up the clubs as soon as midnight hit on your 21st birthday' thing."

"Of course, cant waste time with that shit," Rajiya answered, realizing then that she still hadn't slept off all the alcohol. She made a mental note to check Instagram after this conversation for the horribly unflattering photographs that Jake had surely uploaded. Mother of God.

"Did you take the puppets with you guys? San Francisco can be-"

"Super shady, I know. But no I didn't, I didn't need Blade slashing the Achilles tendons of every dude who wanted to buy me a drink."

Speaking of Blade, where was he? Pinhead, Jester, and Six Shooter were all there beside her, motioning to Jeremiah and interacting, however the monochromatic puppet was missing in action. Rajiya figured that he was either with Jake or wandering around the house.

Blade was not with Jake, though. He was in the living room trying to dislodge the remote for the gas fireplace from his hook, which was currently snagged.

"This damn thing," he hissed, waving his arm about and eventually knocking it off against the leg of the coffee table. That was when he noticed something under the blankets on the couch move. The bullets in his empty sockets protruded when an unfamiliar man in his late 30's sat up suddenly. Blade ran as quickly as he could to the study to hide. He felt very relieved that Jeremiah had Rajiya and Jake move back into the loft after his departure.

As he chastised himself for not making a break up the stairs for one of the bedrooms, Blade felt additional relief at remembering that this man who was dozing on the couch had come home with his mistress and Jake earlier that night. Well, morning. Only a few hours ago actually. To be exact. Damn, the humans were both legal drinking age as of today, November 18th. Jake's birthday was in October. Blade hoped there wouldn't be too many nights of partying like this one...
Jake's voice suddenly was heard in the living room, along with the stranger's and Rajiya's. Figuring it would be better to remain hidden until the 'coast is clear' signal was given, he began browsing the books nearest him to pass the time.

"Sorry the place is a little messy and we're all up so early," Rajiya said as she and Jake joined Marcus, their guest, on the couch. He was extremely good looking, ridiculously good looking; Rajiya suddenly felt frumpy and embarrassed of her disheveled appearance. He had on an Armani dress shirt, his vest and jacket laying on the coffee table, the pleats in his pants worn out by whatever the hell happened the night before. She wasn't sure if was her or Jake's idea to invite him home...Shit.

"No problem," Marcus said and ran a hand through his now messy medium brown hair. "I appreciate your hospitality." He and Rajiya locked eyes and smiled. Jake could feel the sparks fly and had to resist rolling his own eyes.

Meanwhile, Jester, Six Shooter, and Pinhead were watching cautiously from the upstairs banister of the loft. They examined the scene below with their typical protective scrutiny.

"Who's this jerk?" Six Shooter wondered aloud quietly. "Looks almost twice their age. What's he doing with Raj and Jake?"

"Not sure, guess they just wanted to give him somewhere to crash for the night," Pinhead suggested, although he himself didn't really approve.

"If he can afford an Armani suit, he can afford a damn taxi," Jester huffed. "I bet he's a creep."

"He might be, might not. His manners seem pretty decent," Pinhead said.

"His wallet is missing," Six Shooter added slowly, causing the other two puppets to look at him quizzically. "So I snooped through his jacket pockets while he slept, big deal! He's in OUR house."

Jester giggled unexpectedly at this, and the humans below looked up at the sound. The puppets barely ducked out of view in time.

"Guess I was wrong about who the creep was," Jester laughed, quieter and Six Shooter slapped the belled hat from atop his head. Luckily the sound of laughter in the living room covered the jingling.

"I don't think Blade ever came into the room last night," Pinhead, trying to steer the conversation back to its original content. "I'm sure he did some investigating of his own. In fact he's probably down there somewhere, I couldn't find him anywhere up here."

"Sounds like we need to have a pow-wow of sorts after this guy gets the hell out of dodge," Six Shooter said.
"OUR dodge," Jester added with finality before they retreated completely out of sight.

"You are such a skank," Jake scoffed as Rajiya closed the door behind Marcus after he exited the loft to catch his taxi. After about an hour of conversation, they all managed to piece together having met at a club in SoMa, Marcus lost his wallet at some point, and he was also heterosexual.

"What's that I smell? Jealousy?" Rajiya retorted when she sat back down beside her friend. "You're just pissed because he ended up being MY catch and not yours."

"I think what your distinguished nose is detecting an impending hangover," Jake sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "And Marcus' cologne lingering all up on our couch. And your hair. You totally made out with him last night."

"And you made out with that drag queen Marchonne. Cologne is better than lingering glitter, which you still have all over your own hair. And face."

"Okay that's enough..."

"And your pants probably-"

"SHUT UP."

"That sparkly shit is gonna be hanging around for weeks," Rajiya teased, shoving Jake with her shoulder. "Some sequins too, no doubt."

"Oh my god, do you ever shut the fuck up?" Jake tried to sound rude but was smiling.

"Booty glitter, booty glitter, booty glitter!"

"YOU'RE DEAD, HARLOT!"

The puppets took the sounds of the pillow fight now ensuing as their signal that it was safe to come out from their hiding places. Blade was definitely bored by then, and when he joined his comrades in front of the play fighting, hysterically giggling humans, he banged his hook against the black cast iron leg of the coffee table for attention.

"Um, EXCUSE US," he all but yelled. As best he could in a hiss at least.

"Oh, I beg your pardon," Rajiya said as she smoothed her hair and sat up, elbowing Jake to do the same. "You now have our undivided attention."

"Precisely who was that man?" Pinhead questioned, climbing up onto the coffee table with the other puppets to be at eye level with their humans. Jester found himself briefly wishing that he had an expression like the one Jeremiah wore in the past whenever lecturing the young adults.

"I think you owe everyone an explanation in regards to your boy toy," Jake said, attempting to stand and walk away but unable to do so because of the wave of post-drinking nausea that overtook him. He instead brought his legs up onto the couch in front of him and rested his forehead on his knees.

"His name is Marcus," Rajiya said, feeling the corner of her mouth start tugging into a smile but forcing a straight face. Getting interrogated by the puppets was no less serious than when her father would do it and granted them the same respect. "We met him last night while we were out and he needed somewhere to stay for the night, so we allowed him to come here. That's all, I swear."

"We saw the way he looked at you," Blade put in. "This isn't the last we'll see of him, is it?"

"The man lost his wallet and therefore could not get a cab to go home, what else could I have done!" Rajiya let out an unintentional laugh at this. "I didn't do anything regretful. I'm sorry that I made you all uncomfortable, that is the last thing I want to do." She frowned playfully. "Don't be mad at me, okay?"

"We just want you to be safe, is all," Six Shooter said earnestly and patted his mistress on the hand. He never particularly cared for lecturing their mistress, it was more Blade's forte to be the stern one out of all of them. But he has seen the very worst of humanity, and it was their purpose to keep Rajiya safe from it.

"Everything is going to be just fine, besides, Jake wouldn't let anything bad happen to me," Rajiya added quickly. Jake let out a miserable groan that she assumed meant he agreed. "Now don't you guys worry about a thing. Marcus is too old for me, anyways. He's 36."

Jester's face turned to the look of shock. "Ewwww Raj, he's totally weird and should NOT be around someone as young as you. Let alone flirting."

Rajiya flapped her hand, seemingly dismissing the matter as she gently pushed Jake over onto his side and laying herself down beside him. "Oh, come now. I think we exchanged numbers but honestly I doubt anything is going to come of it." She let out a yawn. "I'm going back to sleep, why don't you guys go outside today? It's pretty clear for this time of year..." Her voice began to waver off as she closed her eyes. The puppets knew then that the discussion was indeed over and ambled off of the table.

"Let's go peek through her phone," Jester said, leading the way up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Isn't that invading her privacy?" Pinhead objected, although he was all in favor of snooping through her phone the sheer honesty of his character caused him to feel a tinge of guilt.

"Maybe so, but there is no reason a man 15 years her elder should be attempting anything with her. What would her father think?" Blade replied in a low tone, feeling a different type of guilt. As though he had let Jeremiah down by allowing this Marcus individual to remain in the home and not forcing him out through their typical methods. Indeed, if the doctor had been here, Marcus would have been thrown from the front door and down the steps, then probably chased away.

It wasn't that Jeremiah was possessive of Rajiya. He had allowed her to date casually throughout high school as most teenage girls do. But he had also taught his daughter to keep a realistic attitude and state of mind when it came to romance; there would be ups and downs, beginnings and ends. But that she was young and the world was just becoming truly available to her and that an open mind to change was key.

Obviously, much to the puppet's dismay, Rajiya was not only a legal adult now but also a woman. Thus, they felt their assistance in keeping her on the right path to a safe and full life was definitely needed now more than ever. They all kept this in mind as they entered her bedroom and began searching for her purse. The sun had risen by then and there was enough room to find it, dropped haphazardly on her vanity.

Six Shooter climbed up the chair seated in front and retrieved the purse, bringing it down to the others. Blade held the top open with his hook as Jester began sifting through its contents until he found what they were looking for, the cell phone.

"However did you figure out how to work this thing? They don't have buttons on 'em anymore," Six Shooter questioned Jester as the smallest puppet pulled the electronic out and set it on the floor before proceeding to dig through the beige leather bag some more.

"There is this kind of pen that can be used on it to we can touch it," Jester said, muffled as he searched for the mentioned pen. "But it doesn't seem to be in here...Strange. Perhaps she left it on the desk."

A quick once over of the vanity and bedside tables failed to produce the stylus pen Jester spoke of.

"Hell, what do we do now?" Blade hissed in annoyance, lightly nudging the device with his boot as they all gathered back around it. Jester bent over to pick it up when suddenly the screen illuminated with the alert of a new text message.

M: Thanks again for last night, beautiful. I'd like to take you out this weekend as a token of my gratitude

"Token of my gratitude?" Blade scoffed. "That line is older than WE are. And I don't even think he used it in the right context."

"I don't care if he's the most eloquently worded man on earth," Pinhead said firmly. "The answer is NO. Jester, delete it or something so she doesn't see it."

"But I cant do anything without the pen," Jester explained, tapping and swiping his small wooden hands across the screen to no avail. The screen went back to black and the puppets' demeanor darkened as well. Their attempt to sabotage any further connection between Marcus and their mistress had failed, and the man had already taken the next step in furthering the dreaded connection.

"What if we break the phone or hide it?" Blade suggested, now upgrading his contact with the electronic to a hefty kick that sent it scuttling under her bed.

"We can't just break her stuff," Six Shooter said although he was irked as well. "She just barely got this one after the other one got messed up when she dropped it."

"Guess we'll have to just handle this as it develops," Blade answered, casting a glare to the underside of the bed as he sauntered out of the bedroom with the others in tow. "And that won't be much longer if we have anything to do with it."

As it turned out, Rajiya had lost her stylus pen while boarding a crowded cable car during her birthday binge. However, unlike the puppets, she did not need to pen to access the text message from Marcus. She was also none the wiser to what they had done to try preventing her seeing it. Hours later when she finally went back up to her room to shower and change before her and Jake went out to grab a quick bite and saw the message, she smiled broadly. The puppets watched her type out what seemed to be a friendly reply by the way she sighed contentedly.

"Think he'll be as easy to scare off as the others?" Six Shooter questioned as she tossed the phone on her bed and entered her bathroom.

"Of course he will be. I don't think in his 36 years on this earth that he's ever encountered anything quite like us," Blade replied, feeling resolved in a way. He was kind of itching to spook someone anyways, and who better than a person Jeremiah himself would have asked them to handle?

Indeed, Marcus had not seen anything quite like them before. But there was a lot that the puppets, and Rajiya herself, did not know about Marcus. In what they hoped would be a quick problem to solve would soon turn into one of the biggest challenges that any of them had ever faced.