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Tradeport, a massive city that is considered a hub of activities, dolls are plentiful, they are trade goods afterall. Itzi’s synthetic stomach is knots from what it said to Sage. Anger, vitriol, it still feels justified in many ways. The ship finally goes into port, Itzi hasn’t moved much since too much requires extra winding. Stepping off, it will need to a worthwhile inn, its mint should be enough for a city like this.
Its head strains with an endless stress, inflicted by its past and itself and others. The dire sun was whispered together with the southern scorching sands to make an unpleasant heat for one used to living in the colder climate of the Valewood. Perhaps its gone without winding much longer than it’d like, it can feel it.
Steps require leaning against a wall, if it had lungs, its breath would be ragged.
A cherub, a demi-angel made from a person, wanders the pathways of the city, her smile is wide and she hums pleasantly. People don’t trust cherubs, agents of angels that are in the heavens, their will puppetted and controlled by their angel. She notices the struggling doll, cocking her head in curiosity. “What a curious doll…” her soul sight provided by the halo notices many small irregularities that draws her towards the poor thing.
“Do you need help?” She asks, standing there with her hands swinging back and forth from her sides.
“I-..” Itzi was about to brush her off, but the halo, the smile, the golden hair in a messy bun. “I need to be wound..” It gestures towards its key in the back, “clockwise…” It hates being a burden.
Her smile is so warm, her delicate fingers grasp the key and slowly wind the doll. Her animate force tingles into Itzi, feeling so sweet, so warm. Its body shudders as the winding continues. “What’s your name? Mine’s Joy!”
The doll pushes its own smile out, “M-Mine is Itzi…”
“Itzi… Itzi Itzi Itzi… your name is fun to say!” She giggles as the winding finishes with a ‘click’.
“Thank you… your name fits you well…” It says with a smile, “are you a fallen angel?” Curious and uninitiated.
“Nooooopppeeee!” Accentuated with a giggle, pridefully so, “I am a cherub! I am a person made into a mini-angel!”
“A mini-angel… huh…” It says, “interesting…” It perks up, “Oh, uhm, do you know any good places to stay for the night? I need a good inn that I can pay for a service to wind me up in the morning…”
Joy gets a devious idea, smiling, was it from her halo or something genuine? Unsure, but, “Why don’t you stay at my room? I have a little inn that I rented out for like a few months, I’d be happy to wind you!”
Itzi shirked from that, suddenly relying on another person after yelling and screaming at Sage over its own feelings is not a good idea. “I-I don’t know I’m pretty unstable, I… am not a good person to live with.”
“Ohhhh don’t worry sweetie! You could never upset me!” She says with complete confidence.
“I’m sure.. I’d find a way…” Itzi sulks as Joy gently lifts its chin up.
“No no no, silly, it’s like physically impossible for me to be anything but happy!” Stern words with such a big smile, that’d be a really weird thing to lie about.
“Oh-” There are a lot of ways to process what it was just told, but at this time, Itzi is taking none of them and simply leads with “How-?”
“Cherubs trade something away whenever they become one! I traded my bad feelings away for Joy! That’s why I’m Joy!” She says with a sweet little giggle.
“Oh-” There are a lot of ways to process what it was just told, but nah, not gonna.
—
The immediate impression of the room was that it was well lived in. Trash that hasn’t been picked up here and there, drawings covering the wall and even the bit of the floor is taken up with scrapped scribbles, yet, still has a sense of self care, the bed is made and the furniture is well taken care of. “Welcome to my place~” Joy sings as she steps in, excited to show off her new temporary roommate.
“Only one bed…” The doll shirks at that fact, much more used to sleeping and waking up alone. The thought of sharing a bed with someone felt uncomfortable, it hopes that Joy has a solution for this, hoping she notices its discomfort.
“Yep~ That means we can cuddle at night!” She giggles excitedly, “I’ve never had a doll to cuddle before!”
“I-I uhm, haven’t uh-”
“Oh, don’t worrrryy~ you don’t need to know someone that well to cuddle them!” She grabs at the doll’s wrist, bringing it to the bed and it resists only slightly but not enough for her to notice or care.
“I-I- this is a lot-” The doll complains, fretting over every bit as Joy sits it down onto the soft bed. Her hands gently touch its chin as she sits with it. The cherub’s golden eyes are in a heavenly arrangement with her smile and beaming halo.
“You’re safe, there’s no need to fret about what’s going to happen if you bed with some silly girl.” She giggles, “you don’t need to be afraid of some touching.” Her hand slides onto the top of Itzi’s thigh, the doll’s breath would be rapid if it could breathe, its internals ticking rapidly is the closest it gets.
Words cannot leave its mouth in a proper pattern or order, she is a very pretty woman and her smile is very kind. Her touch is gentle, intimate, but there isn’t a sexual charge to it. Itzi’s mechanisms flutter, it wants to run but it’s not sure why. It knows it yearned for kind touching in the past, but now faced with the reality of it, it seems so scary…
Delicate fingers touch its chin, turning eyes to lock together, a thumb touching its synthetic lips. Its eyes tremble slightly, showing so much emotion for a little doll, even Joy notices but she can tell the poor thing is so damaged, neglected, and lacking so much that can be helped. The line of vision is broken as the doll’s head is brought to her chest, held gently against it. Her heartbeat is rhythmic, calm, and tempered perfectly in tempo with her breathing.
Being held is nice…
Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to be held by her more…
—
The night was a bit of a blur, Itzi couldn’t focus on any individual moment with how sweet and kind Joy is. It can feel its own mind obsessing over every detail in a maelstrom of feelings bubbling up. Her very breath circulated the room, there was a sense ease that was overwhelming to all anxiety that was in the pit of its chest.
Joy is just perfect, isn’t she? All it took was a gentle night to convince Itzi of this immutable fact, health is not a concern, she is here, she will make things easier, right? Hyperfixating on every moment, every detail, every single little bit. She could wind it up, she could cuddle it, she could give it the attention it yearns.
The morning air is crisp, the sea washing its kiss onto the wind. Tradeport’s activity bloomed as the sun climbed out of the blanket of the night. Itzi sat up, its body slow, lethargic despite its good mood. It almost forgot for a brief moment that it needed to be wound.
Joy was already awake, happy as ever, she was sitting in a chair sketching away at some paper, humming to herself. The doll spoke up, “excuse me, Joy,” its words meek and tired, “could you wind me up?”
Her eyes don’t break from the art at first as she finishes a few more strokes, a charcoal leaving its mark along the blank world. She seems to specialize in portraits, Itzi waits feeling anxiety as it seemingly is ignored. She was so attentive last night, a fear of it being only a novelty welled up in its mechanical heart before Joy held up the drawing, “Hey Itzi!” The picture is a rather lovely, with an interesting more fictional style, portrait of Itzi. “Itsyou!” She giggles at the pun to herself, an absolute comedian for an audience of herself as the pun doesn’t land for the doll.
“O-oh!” Stunned by the amazing gift of being drawn, Itzi tries to get up without thinking and falls down to the floor as its body doesn’t have enough winding. “It’s lovely!” Without skipping a beat, “Could-uhm,, could you help wind me up?”