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2021-11-18
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2022-04-28
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2/2
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To Be Loved Again (DISCONTINUED)

Summary:

You never know who will come into your life and change it forever.

Darlene Daedalus is a young woman who's been isolated thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic of the early 2020s. But while the virus has been a curse, she's found a blessing in having more time to work on her hobby: fixing up dolls in an art form known as doll customization. While at the thrift store, Darlene uncovers an incredible treasure, a Poppy Playtime prototype from the 1950s, and she's far too eager to take her home.

Little do they both know how much their lives will be changed. But will it be for the worse, or for the better?

Notes:

Content Warnings:

Covid-19 Pandemic, Immunocompromisation, Germs, Body Horror, Blades/Knives, Torture of Toys

If you feel there are any other warnings I should add, please let me know down below!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Nifty Thrifting

Summary:

Darlene goes to a thrift store and comes across a few dolls that really make her day.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was a stormy summer day in the small town, typical weather for Colorado this time of year. But that made it all the better to go out, with fewer crowds, fewer people, and most importantly, fewer germs. Of course, that last one was still an issue, given where Darlene was headed. 

 

2021 had been a difficult year, not as bad as the year before, but still challenging. Darlene had been stuck inside her small apartment, no different than anyone else, and even after all that had happened, she was still isolated. But on the bright side, the Covid-19 pandemic had done wonders for her sewing skills. For one thing, her small business was booming, though not in the way she’d expected. She’d become an expert at sewing fabric masks, and she made them out of the cutest prints to send to her friends. They were grateful, but she was still alone. No one could come and visit with her, they were just too far and too dangerous. 

 

So she turned to her old hobby, one she hadn’t had time for in years. And today, she was visiting the thrift store to see if she could find any canvases. 

 

The dim incandescence of the entrance greeted her with their warm glow. Antique lighting against vintage and outdated wallpaper, it felt like home. The smell was a little musty, but the cute kitty face mask helped muffle it significantly. Darlene took her time walking around the old storefront. The mismatched shelves were in so many conditions, some worn and splintered, others new and metallic, as though they were waiting for the old to completely decay before disposing of it. Shelves and clothing racks were lined with the typical wares, from ‘as seen on TV’ garbage to rusty pans and broken radios. There were all kinds of garments ripe for the harvesting too. Darlene found herself not looking at any particular sizes, just for fabrics that spoke to her. She came across a silky scarf with nice rich colors in its pattern, and through her gloves, it didn’t feel too slippery. So she added it to her basket and continued walking along. There were lots of good finds that day: a crocheted baby blanket, a few cotton knit t-shirts, and even some dishtowels with the cutest little fruit illustrations on them.

 

Darlene went through all the aisles to see what supplies she could find. Broken jewelry was always a must, from plastic beads from discarded children’s sets to old lady costume jewelry, she always found treasure. Today the pickings were slim, but she settled on a couple of broken bracelets, as well as a broach that reminded her of the blue hope diamond. 

 

But the most important section to check was the used toys. Darlene adored broken toys. Something about them was just so humble, so full of history. Every toy had a story, every doll had a tale to tell. They’d been loved by a child and lived a long and happy life, and now they’d find their resting place. This was Darlene’s passion, rescuing those that could not rescue themselves, fixing what was broken. She knew many dolls by name, and the ones she didn’t know, well, she was always eager to get to know them. 

 

This time was no different. Passed the grungy plush and sticky action figures laid her beloved dolls, and a bunch of new donations had come in since she last saw them. A few Draculauras caught her attention, their heads riddled with yellow stains and glue seepages. She picked them up. A Casta Fierce poked out of the pile, her arms missing, but she still had her shoes, a lucky find. Into the basket she went. A Maddie Hatter that still had her hat! Oh Darlene had been missing that detail forever, and the body would make for a nice base. No glue in the hair either, that would be an easy project. And to top it all off, a very special rarity was there. An Allistair Wonderland? Oh her heart practically SANG, Allistair was so hard to get a hold of, the things she could do with him, even when he was butt naked like that, her brain chemicals fired off happily at the flood of inspiration. He was immediately put in the basket. 

 

There were a few others she got giddy over. An old Barbie styling head, some My Scenes and Bratz from many years ago, a discarded Hairdorable that she couldn’t quite identify, and an ancient Snow White that had seen better days. She was a bit sad to see some Rainbow High dolls there. A poor Sunny Madison from the first wave had already been tossed out, missing a shoe and wearing Skylar’s clothes. Darlene was always disappointed to see newer dolls gotten rid of so quickly, they’d never had a chance to be loved. Sunny had a huge scratch on her face too, like someone had dug into it with a paperclip or a pair of scissors. The poor dear broke her heart, she simply had to fix her! So Sunny joined the basket too. It was getting heavy at this point, but at least their tags had been reasonable. Darlene wouldn’t blow her budget this month. 

 

There was a ring of the bell as someone new came into the shop, the assistant and nephew to the old woman who owned it. 

 

“Darlene, hey!” They called out from behind their pile of boxes. 

 

“Hey Owen!” She waved while keeping her distance.

 

“How’s our favorite regular doin’? Find anything you like?” 

 

Owen hefted his boxes over to the counter, adjusting his mask before he came any closer. Darlene was thankful for this. He respected her boundaries, and that meant so much. 

 

“You’ve got a lot of treasure this week. Who the heck is donating so many good finds? I’m gonna go bankrupt!” She laughed. 

 

“Well you know how it is, some people just don’t know the value of what they’ve got.” Owen laughed. It was his usual big belly laugh, could fill up a whole room. 

 

“So, whatcha got there?” Darlene asked, cautiously approaching. 

 

“Oh just some new consignment fodder. Old man from Englewood passed away recently, and his kids were getting rid of his old stuff. Aunt Cheryl sent me over to pick it up for ‘em. I tell ya, you would’ve loved this guy’s place, broken toy parts everywhere!” 

 

“Broken parts?” Darlene’s eyes were curious, but also horrified. 

 

“Yeah, must’ve been a toy developer of some kind, there were so many prototypes. Kids said he used to work for that old factory, uh, Playtime somethin’ or other?”

 

“Playtime Co?” Darlene looked at the boxes thoughtfully. “Owen, I HAVE to see what you have. You might be sitting on something GOLDEN right now!”

 

“How do you figure?” Owen asked? He hopped over the counter and went to look for his box cutter. 

 

“Playtime Co is one of THE most successful manufacturers of toys to ever live! Before they went out of business, they were responsible for so many of the toys our parents loved! You remember Huggy Wuggy?”

 

“Oh my god, that creepy little blue guy that hugged your arms for hours on end?” 

 

“Yeah! They made him!” 

 

“So they’re the ones I can sue for my childhood trauma.” Owen shook his head. “No offense Dollface, but some of those toys were just too much. Felt like I was getting stared at, ya know?” 

 

Darlene sighed. She knew Owen didn’t share her passion for toys, but she respected his boundaries, just as he respected hers. It was sad though, the Playtime toys were such a cool piece of history, a shame they were muddled with controversy.

“Fair enough. Some of them weren’t exactly the um...the best designs.” She couldn’t lie, as much as she loved toys, Huggy creeped her out a bit too. Something was so off about his smile, but hey, at least some people could appreciate him. “What I’m saying is that these could be worth something, like some actual money. Or what if the toy museum off of Jefferson got a hold of them? That would be so valuable for their exhibits!” 

 

“Ya think so?” Owen thought it over for a moment. “Well it would be nice to get some new shelves...and Auntie’s been wanting to save up for a better truck…” Owen looked over at Darlene timidly. “Would you um, be willin’ to help me identify these? You know a lot more than I do.” 

 

“Sure, on one condition.” 

 

“You want a cut?” 

 

“If there are prototypes, I want one. I wanna see how these guys were built.” 

 

“Alright, that sounds like a fair deal.” Owen twirled his boxcutter before flipping out the blade, a little zest back in his step as he cut the box open. But he wasn’t prepared to jump back and scream. 

 

Sitting at the top of the box was an absolutely demolished Poppy Playtime. She had one eye in its socket, a dress that was ripped to shreds, a rat's nest of hair, and a ton of marker and crayon residue on her arms. Darlene’s heart was almost audible as it shattered. This poor doll! Of course Owen would be freaked out, but Darlene was just hurt. Who had been so mean to this poor little doll? She supposed it would be natural for the toymakers to let children have their hands on prototypes, but this damage wasn’t the result of your typical playtime, this doll had been tortured . Darlene could see so many scratches, worse than your regular wear and tear, like she’d been cut up for fun. 

 

Immediately she grabbed the doll and held her close to her chest, a warm embrace. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “you deserved so much better.” 

 

Thankfully, underneath her spot was a much more carefully packed set of merchandise. 

 

"It's alright Owen," she said gently as she patted his back. "This should be fine now. Here, hand me the cutter, I'll open them up so you don't get scared again." She giggled. 

 

Darlene gently sat Poppy down in her basket as Owen handed her the knife. The two made quick work of looking through the boxes to see what was inside. And boy were they in for a surprise! At least one mint condition copy of every Playtime toy was there. Huggy Wuggy, Boogie Bot, Candy Cat, the whole gang was there. There was even another Poppy still in her box. But even more surprising was the number of doll limbs and fabric scraps. But the best treasure of all was the sketchbook that resided deep within the pile. Darlene was fascinated. 

 

"You can see exactly where they were going with the process!" Darlene grinned and flipped through. "Toy plans, concept sketches, it's all here, a look into the mind of someone truly genius!" 

 

"I'll say!" Owen chuckled. "How much ya think it's worth?" 

 

"To the right person, this is priceless. I mean the toys alone are worth hundreds, maybe thousands in the case of a few. You're looking at genuine, wave one designs, some that were previously never released to the public. They're rare."

 

"And what about the book?"

 

"The book is probably the most precious thing here, as far as I see it." Darlene held it gently, scanning over the pages. "It's a valuable piece of history, we HAVE to get this to the museum. Rose would FLIP over these! We've got to scan them!"

 

"You think they'd use the big museum scanner on something like this?" Owen asked skeptically. 

 

"Of course!" Darlene insisted. "They'd kill for this! Heck, I'd be willing to help curate it if they'd let me." 

 

"Honestly, I'm surprised you don't work there as is," Owen smirked. "You're practically a toy expert as far as I know, if anyone could educate the little gremlins on toy history, it's you." 

 

"You know I could never," Darlene started. "Too many people..."

 

"I know Dollface…" Owen sighed. "But you can't live your life in fear forever, ya know? Gotta bust out of your shell sometimes." 

 

Darlene nodded. "Thanks Owen." 

 

"Of course, anything for you ya weirdo." He laughed. "Here, let's finish labeling, I'll see about shipping this off to the museum on my day off. Thanks again for helping me figure out what all of this is. Feel free to take what you like." 

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"Sure I'm sure! You wanted a prototype, so take what ya like, surely it can't just be that ratty old doll, right?" 

 

"Hey, be nice!" Darlene went and picked up the broken Poppy again. "She's not ratty, she just needs some love. In fact…" Darlene went and grabbed a few of the patterns that were left behind for Poppy's clothing. "There, that's what I want." 

 

"You sure?" Owen questioned. "That's it?"

 

"That's it. This way I can fix her up easier. Making patterns is fun, but she's already a big project." Darlene patted the doll's hair fondly. "Besides, this stuff is better shared with the rest of the town, I don't wanna keep it all to myself. Let me know when you plan on seeing Rose, I'll come with you to help unload." 

 

"Aw Darls, you're too good to me." Owen took off his cap and held it to his chest bashfully. "Here, you want me to check you out at the front?" 

 

"I'd love nothing more." Darlene giggled. 

 

Owen thought he was slick, but Darlene knew the math in her head all too fast, he'd cut down the price of her basket in half. Some things never changed, he always seemed to repay her favors in ways she didn't expect him to. But it meant she had more doll fodder to work with, so who was she to refuse? She smiled brightly as she waved goodbye, and even through her mask, Owen could feel its sunshine radiating out. She hurried back to her car and threw a different tape into the deck, the Footloose soundtrack this time. Gently, she took Poppy out of the bag and hugged her again, right before buckling her up in the passenger seat. She was a fairly sizable doll, and Darlene wasn't about to let her get thrashed around. 

 

"We'll be home soon enough, little dolly. It's gonna be a good time, I'm gonna treat you to a spa day." Darlene took her mask off and threw on some hand sanitizer before taking the wheel. "I'm excited, you're gonna be such a fun project."

 

And while the little doll had felt her smile before, now she could finally see it. Poppy blinked just a little, unnoticed by Darlene, surprised to feel such warmth in her heart after living without it for so long. Unlike last time, she felt that maybe, just maybe, this was a girl she could trust. 

 

Though what did she mean by 'spa day'?

Notes:

Okay, so normally when I write on a whim, it doesn't happen this QUICKLY, but here I am after a couple of days with a first chapter pounded out for a fic I didn't expect to write?! Um hello, how did I get here?! So yeah, I have some friends who are really loving Poppy Playtime, and they sucked me in. ^^''' Bendy still stands as my primary interest right now, but it's not a surprise that I like this world too. I mean look at my love of The Nutcracker, living toys are kind of a thing I love by default. XD But yeah, as a resident doll lover, I thought it would be cool to have a take where a cursed Poppy doll ends up in the hands of a doll customizer, so Darlene happened and I think I love her now.

For those of you who don't know what I do outside of fanfictions, I make art in a variety of mediums, and one of them is doll customization. Personally, I prefer my stock to be old and used dolls, but sometimes I'll use new ones if I find them for a good price. The art form is all about remaking a doll to give it a whole new look and personality. My parents will jokingly call me Sid when they see me prepping my canvases, but it's all in good fun. ^^''' I mostly use Monster High dolls, but a lot of the name drops I left in this fic are dolls I've either thought about using or have used (the Armless Casta Fierce is actually my Dryad doll, Dina, she's a fan favorite on my Instagram, thebetastage). Darlene and I don't have exactly the same views on doll stuff, she's a lot more sensitive than I am, but I won't lie, I do love my broken dolls. ^^''' There's something very satisfying about finding a project to fix up. I've made dolls of spontaneous designs, characters I like in fiction (I have a steadily growing BATIM collection), and a lot of original characters (I'm actually remaking my nutcrackers, Auran and Loraine, right now, and some of my fic characters are planned too). I make them new hair, draw on new faces, and sew them new clothes, it's fun! And now for the first time, I get to share some of that process with you. I'll admit, it's a little odd and unconventional, but I do hope you enjoy it!

My long-time readers will know that this isn't the first time I've explored living dolls on this page. A long time ago I wrote "Therapy for Alice," which is one of my favorite one-shots, it was very therapeutic to work on (side note, I really want to bring the living Bendy plushies back for a story someday, I had a great idea for a kid in modern times finding them and being led back to the studio, but it's just never panned out beyond that). "To Be Loved Again" is kind of similar in its vibe, so if you liked that, you might like this. It's all about two girls helping each other through the things that hurt them, while also making art together. Though I will warn you, while I do love my horror and angst, I think this fic is a bit more gentle and fluffy. Like yeah, this is gonna bring up some awful stuff, but it's all meant to be healing. It's also short, I have multiple chapters in mind, but I'd like for this to be a nice little romp through the world rather than crazy and lore intensive like my other stuff. I'd also like to focus on both Darlene and Poppy's perspectives depending on the chapter, so you'll see some thoughts from both of them periodically.

As usual, thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Do let me know what you think in the comments below, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Chapter 2: Darlene's Doll Spa

Summary:

Poppy gets introduced to her new home and is given a bath with some other dolls.

But more importantly, you the readers get an update in terms of what's going to happen to this fic.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The drive back to Darlene's apartment was fairly short, but to Poppy, it felt like an eternity. Darlene had to make several stops on the way home, first the grocery store, then the craft supplier, and then the farm stand on the side of the road. It was corn season apparently, not that Poppy knew what that meant. But from the window, she could see the girl, her girl, laughing and being friendly with everyone she met, albeit at a safe distance.

 

Darlene was like an angel, you couldn't help but feel warm and safe with her. Poppy had known from the moment she held her that she was safe, something about her touch was so tender and light, so different from the last pair of hands that held her. She could've done without that burly man though, he was very rude. But he wasn't wrong. Looking in the side mirror, Poppy sighed. She really was worse for wear, she couldn't remember how she'd gotten this bad, but it was the worst. She hoped whatever this 'spa day' business was would help. 

 

She scrambled back to her seat as Darlene turned back to the vehicle. She wasn't ready to show her, wasn't ready to tell her everything. She didn't know if she ever would be. If people just thought of her as a regular doll, regardless of how special she really was, maybe life would be better. Maybe this time, she’d live peacefully.

 

Finally, after a fair bit of traffic, they arrived home. Darlene held her thrift store finds tightly in her arms, having put Poppy back on top of the stack, as she ascended to her space on the third floor. She turned the keys in the lock, walked through to her crafting room, set down her haul, then headed back to grab her ingredients for dinner. 

 

Poppy sat there in awe. She'd been surrounded by dolls before, that was to be expected when you lived in a toy factory, but this? This was magical. There was a large wall display with a gigantic bookshelf, and staggered throughout it was an army of beautiful dolls. It was clear they were all meant to be together, but each one was so distinct and unique, all so beautiful, just like the hands that made them. And how colorful they were too! She'd never seen a doll with pink and blue hair before, but there was one just like that with the prettiest pigtails. What she wouldn't have given to have hair like that. And there was another, with the most beautiful glittery eyes. They sparkled from the window's sunlight, a whole swirl of colors, like there was a miniature rainbow inside of them. Poppy didn't know you could have so many colors in one spot! And the clothes, oh goodness, they looked beautiful! Every stitch was carefully and lovingly pulled together, with so many patterns that Poppy had never known existed. Her world went from polka dots to so much more. What she would've given to feel as beautiful as all the other dolls.

 

Shuffling at the door told her to be quiet. Darlene came back in and closed the door to her apartment, rustling around the kitchen. Poppy carefully stood up, a bit wobbly from all the time spent boxed up, as she carefully toddled to the door frame. She watched Darlene as she put away the food, setting those odd green ovals on the counter. Must be she needed those soon. 

 

Darlene wiped her brow with her elbow and took off her mask when she was done, throwing it in a basket to be laundered later. And for the first time, Poppy could see her full face. Darlene looked very tired, but she had a beautiful smile, and tons of freckles on her cheeks. They were very cute. As the young woman finished washing her hands in the kitchen sink, she plugged the bottom and filled it with soap. She then crouched to grab something from the cabinets underneath, pulling out two large bottles and a brush. Oh, a hairbrush? That would be nice, though Poppy winced at the thought of all that tugging again. She sighed as she held her hair to her chest. It was so messy, she wasn't anywhere nearly as beautiful as she used to be. Why would anyone want a doll like her? 

 

But she was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as the footsteps once again drew closer. She scrambled back to the bag and hopped in. Darlene was none the wiser. She gently took the dolls out for a moment so she could get the other items out. Poppy saw her put the broken jewelry and fabric scraps on her desk. She wondered what those were for, another pretty doll perhaps? But soon enough, they were all put back in the bag for easy transport to the kitchen. Darlene set them all out on the counter and took everyone's clothes off. She made a face for a moment as an idea struck her. "Oh, that's right, I need that too!" She hurried off to another room, grabbing the laundry basket as she went, and returned with a glass measuring cup and a thing of oxi-clean. "There, that should help."

 

"Alright ladies, and gent." She gently patted the Allistair doll's head and giggled. "Welcome to Darlene's Doll Spa! Where a doll can relax and unwind after playtime." She laughed. "Time to give you all the treatment. We're gonna start off with a nice bath so everyone is nice and clean. Sound good?"

 

Poppy agreed, that did sound nice. She hadn't had a bath in many years, but she remembered it being a nice experience. Warm water, soap and bubbles, what a fun time! Poppy waited eagerly to see what Darlene would do. 

 

Darlene turned on the CD player behind her so it wouldn't be so quiet as she worked. The woman started with the Sunny doll with the scratch on her face. Poppy felt a connection with this doll, she too was very scratched up. But at least Sunny was still pretty. Darlene carefully took down her buns and ran her under some warm water. Then, there was soap, dish soap. "I know it's not super luxurious, but this stuff cuts through grease and grime much better. I promise, we'll get to the fancy stuff in a bit." Darlene scrubbed at the doll with an old toothbrush, getting into every nook and cranny until she was all clean. Sunny got rinsed, then she was back for another round. "Now we condition." Darlene chuckled. "You've got some lovely hair, and now that it's clean, we can make it smooth and tangle free." She laid down the doll on the counter and put some conditioner over the strands. Then she ran her brush through it until every strand was covered. She set the doll aside to let her sit for a while, before moving to the others. 

 

She sang along to the music as she worked. Poppy didn't recognize any of the songs, they were after her time sadly. But Darlene seemed very happy as she scrubbed away all the grime and dirt. And every doll she touched looked a lot better after a bath. And best of all, she talked to them. Surely she knew they couldn't talk back, right? But she still spoke to them, like they were old friends. 

 

"I can't wait to get you all on the worktable, oh you're all gonna be gorgeous when I'm done with you." She grinned. "It's always nice to have new stock dolls. I can't wait for you to meet the others, they'll be excited to have new friends." She looked over at Poppy. "Especially you. I never thought I'd have a genuine Poppy Playtime in my collection. We're gonna clean you up real good." 

 

Her smile was so warm and friendly, so tender, Poppy felt safer here than she ever had before. Though the mention of a work table unnerved her. What did her angel mean by that? She prayed that it was a safe place, a place where she'd be fixed rather than…no, she didn't want to think about that. She wasn't there anymore, she was free. Things were better now, they had to be. 

 

Darlene hummed along to her music as she went along. "Hmm, what shall we turn you into, I wonder." She looked to her dolls that were still conditioning. "I'm having a hard time deciding. There's so many projects I want to do, and so little time, you know?" She hopped Sunny's nose. "I still haven't customized a Rainbow High girl yet, looks like you'll be my first. You'll be good practice, I could use the challenge. My resin lamp finally came in, so we can make you new eyes. I haven't ever made my own before, at least not inset ones." She bashfully admitted. "But we'll need to learn, for you and for Poppy." She turned back to Poppy. "Don't get me wrong, the one eye look is cool too. I just feel like you'd be more comfortable with two. Though, oooooh, oh an eye patch could be fun, we'll have to think on that." She chuckled as she made a mental note. "I have yet to do a pirate doll, really need to add that to my list. But I think Sunny here is destined for something else. I mean you just scream kawaii fashion, I might have to go fairy kei for you, that would be super cute." 

 

...

 

Wait, no, stop. I can't do this anymore. 

 

Hi folks, it's Kat, the fic author. I'm sorry to say that I'm not going to continue with this fic. I thought I could make it work, but I'm a little too frustrated to keep writing this story under the Poppy Playtime name. It's not so much that I'm unhappy with the story, I actually like it quite a bit. I'm unhappy with the community. Between the developers and some fans doing some things that rubbed me the wrong way, I just don't feel comfortable writing this story with this game as part of the premise. I love fanfiction, and I love the potential of playing with premises from these indie horror franchises, but everything going on over the last several months has really soured me towards touching anything with this game, and that’s really sad. I’m going to link some videos that explain it a little better, just so you’re all aware of what I’m talking about.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E105U5d6i8w  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnLq_KztKLI  

 

So I've decided to shift gears and rework some aspects of this story to fit a new vision, something that's hopefully more fun to write that can explore my interests in a new way. As you know, much like Darlene, I am a doll customizer, and I want to write a story about that, because it's fun and I love that premise. So that's what I'm going to do. I don’t know if I’ll post it here. As of the time this update is coming out, I’m dealing with a lot in regards to some family medical matters, and as it is, I really want to get back to my other fics, so that’s likely going to come first. I'm still going to leave this fic here and mark it as being discontinued, because I don't want to take it away from someone who needs it. I know that probably sounds strange, but there are lots of unfinished fics I still go back and read, they're comforting and the work the authors put into them still deserves to be loved. I keep my old stuff around on the off chance there's someone like me out in the audience who needs that.

 

My apologies to anyone who's disappointed by this. I know it's not what you came here for, that's all I have to offer. Fanfiction is supposed to be fun, and if I'm not having fun, then it's not worth writing. If this premise of sentient dolls living with a doll customizer interests you, I invite you to stick around and see what comes next in my projects. I also invite you to go and write your own story with this premise. After all, this is fandom stuff, you can have multiple people explore the same ideas and get totally different things out of it, and if this really speaks to you, I think you should get to play with it for yourself.


If you're curious about where this story was going, I didn't have every detail planned out. But here as some bullet points for some avenues I was considering for it.

  • Darlene would find out Poppy was alive, and while initially spooked, Darlene embraces this and gives Poppy a make-over, letting Poppy choose what she looks like.
  • Poppy would not be revealed as Stella, because she is a completely different Poppy doll with a different soul inside of her.
  • Poppy's strange nature of being alive spreads to other dolls in Darlene's collection and brings them to life.
  • The Sunny Madison doll would be customized and become good friends with Poppy, they bond over their scars and are super cute.
  • Darlene likes to photograph her dolls, so she and Poppy would have a great time doing photoshoots together with her and the other dolls.
  • Poppy manages to keep her secret well enough that the two of them go out on adventures in town. They have a social media page with staged photos of things like going out for bubble tea.
  • Owen, Darlene, and Poppy take a trip to the museum to deliver the Playtime Co. merchandise to Rose, their curator friend. They get to use the cool museum scanner to archive the data, but they make sure to hide the secrets of how Poppy is alive so that no one can replicate it. 
  • Here's the dark one. I dunno if anyone caught this implication, but Darlene is a cancer patient, and her body is slowly falling apart. Poppy isn't ready to lose Darlene and offers up the secret behind her life to turn Darlene into a doll, so they can be together forever. Whether or not Darlene accepts this is undecided. Either way, Poppy and the dolls would have to be taken care of by a new owner. I won't lie, this hits a little hard, my dad is a terminal cancer patient, and at the time of writing this, he's sicker than he ever has been, some days he can barely stay awake or walk. We know it's coming towards the end and I'm not ready. I often write to cope, and I don't think I can properly end the story if it takes this path.
  • No matter what happens, Poppy and Darlene are good friends and found family, and no matter how long they have each other, they're so glad they got to be together. It's not the destination that matters, it's the journey, and the journey was always intended to be a good one for both of them.

 

Thank you for sticking around and reading my story, I hope you enjoyed what I had to offer. Sending you lots of love and great vibes for the rest of the week, take care! 

Notes:

Thank you for reading!

Notes:

This work is now discontinued.