Test vs Cupidity

"I would say I hope we meet again but I've already promised to return as soon as I find a cure for what I've come to think of as Midara Overexposure. So with any luck we'll be back again very soon."
With his goodbyes said Test made for the door, planning to pass by Shari's stage on his way out of town, he was curious if she'd taken any of his advice to heart. With any luck he'd also bump into Marisa as well, while her help had been less instrumental in what had occured he'd still wanted to thank her.

When the reached the stage Shari was sitting on it with a frown on her face. None of her puppets could be seen and she hadn't seemed to have noticed them.

"Is something the matter?" Test asked, his voice filled with genuine concern.

"Gah!" Shari shouted as she fell over.

"Are you okay?" Reisen asked as she hopped on stage and helped the puppeteer back up.

"I-I'm sorry!" Shari said as she bowed to Test. "I-I'm tr-trying to fo-follow your ad-advice, but its hard!"

Test joined Reisen and Shari up on stage.
"It's fine. May I ask what your having difficulty with?" Test said politely. He really wished he'd been less harsh with the girl the first time they'd meet.

"Th-The plot st-stuff. I-I-I just c-can't think of anyth-thing!" Shari said as she slumped down like a puppet with its strings cut. "Wh-Why is writing s-s-so hard?"

With this Test could sympathise. Writing is very hard.
He tried to offer some helpful advice. "Perhaps you can start with what you want to be doing onstage and work backwards from there. What do you like having your puppets do?"

"A-abuse me." Shari admitted with only a small amount of shame.

That had not been what Test was expecting to hear, but now was not the time for judgement. "Ok, now we just need a genre. What kind of stories do you like to hear?" Test said, trying to mask his surprise.

"I-I do-don't know." Shari admitted.

"Is there perhaps some story Marisa or Ms. Miranda tell when you're all hanging out together at her inn that you never get tired of no matter how much they tell it?"

"N-Not re-really." Shari told him.

It looked like he was going to have to ask some uncomfortable questions if he was going to make any progress.
"Well is there a specific context you'd like your puppets to abuse you in?" He asked, his discomfort with the subject plain to hear.

Shari blinked at him and tilted her head. "C-Context?"

"Like what kind do story do you like to tell you're self about it. What reason do you like to give for why the puppets are doing... what their doing."

"Th-there's no st-story. I-I'm j-just a usele-less screw u-up." Shari said.

"Didn't Poe kind of tell us about this the other day?" Reisen whispered to Test.

Reisen was right. This did seem like exactly the sort of thing Poe had talked about. Test put a comforting hand on Shari's shoulder. "There, there. You're not a screw up. These things just take time. Look I'm going to be back here at some point to drop off the cure for the humans and I'm sure that by then you'll have a show that will completely blow me away." Test said, meaning every word of it.

"I-If you sa-say so" Shari said, not quite believing him.

"Either way know that I believe in you. You've already mastered controlling the puppets. Now you just have to find the right tume and story to make them dance to."
Test wished he had some sort of novel or book of short stories he could lend her as inspiration, but unfortunately what few books he had on him we're all of a very practical (or very esoteric) nature. He'd have to pick one up for her on his way back here.

"Bye." Shari mumbled as she got up and walked back stage.

Reisen let out a tired sigh as she watched the puppeteer go.

"Bye" Test said, with as much joviality as he could muster.
He gave Reisen a look that made it clear he shared her frustration before brightening up.
"Before we leave I wanted commend you. When we got here you were worried that you were going to lose control and hurt me. But look at you we were here for three days and you stayed in control the entire time. Except that one time but really I blame myself there, I should have done better against Marisa so as not to trigger such a reaction. All in all this is exactly why I keep telling you not to underestimate yourself, your self control and mastery over your condition is greater then you give your self credit for." He said to her, a smile on his lips.

"Maybe I'll agree with you one day." Reisen said as she shook her head and smiled back at him.

With that Test marched confidentiality out of town. With Reisen at his side he was sure he could take anything the world would throw at him.