Masks: Science Fiction

At first we believed it was just one of those golden harvest moons that everybody gets all excited about. Some people took blankets and went outside and had moonlit picnics in the park by the golden light of the moon, and that was lovely. I'm happy for them. But then they came, articulated puppets the size of a man or slightly taller, with impassive porcelain faces and painted lips and gold-mesh patterns imprinted on their cheeks. It was like a horror movie. I figure that they chose as their sample spot Venice during Carnivale, and so they saw all the celebration and the welcome of the puppets, so they decided to dress like that since it was easier than pretending to be human. Since then, I've seen them pretending to be human, and I tell you, the puppets were better. Uncanny valley land, man.


Inspiration: A combination of the moon phenomenon that just happened, and a Flickr pic from Carnivale.
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: But man, this is some gorgeous photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesfarma/7133092599/ I'm a bit embarrassed that my story idea doesn't live up to it.