Chapter Text
“Noooo!” Kitty threw her head back screaming, eventually she dropped to her knees and repeatedly slapped the floor.
“Ugh! This is the tenth outfit we tried, and he STILL looks good!” She yelled as she glared at a very smug blonde, while Tuesday and Lydia (albeit also frustrated) tried to calm her down.
Lou smugly leaned back against the wall behind him as he posed to add insult to injury, “Well… I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but… I told you so~”
Kitty frowned at him.
“I am really impressed…” Nolan said as he examined the blonde up and down. “Looks like Lou wasn’t bluffing.”
“He wasn’t even exaggerating.” Meghan added.
They all turned their heads when they heard the door open.
“Hi, Lou!” Moxy greeted, as she entered not fully noticing the group, as she had her eyes on the ground focused on the doormat she stepped on to wipe her shoes while closing the door.
Finally she turned to fully look at the blonde, “I’ve got some news for—Ohhh… wow.”
In the middle of the room, surrounded by other dolls, makeup equipment, hair products, and discarded clothes, was Lou… in a dress.
A red, sparkly, long dress with a slit.
His hair was lightly brushed and curled up into a bob to look more feminine. The eyeliner and eyeshadow really brought out his blue eyes.
“Uh… watcha guys doing?” Moxy asked, looking back and forth at every doll in the room in hopes of getting an answer.
Lou smirked, crossing his arms as he stood with one leg in front of the other, head tilting, “What’s wrong, Uggabug? Never seen a pretty boy in drag before?”
Moxy’s face dropped, immediately frowning at the blonde’s latest nickname.
It seems the more accustomed Moxy is to coming over, the more Lou would often find nicknames that ticked her off, just to playfully spite her unannounced visits.
While the girls giggled over the exchange, Michael decided to answer Moxy’s previous question.
“The girls were talking about each other’s new outfits, saying how good they looked. Lou said he agreed and wasn’t surprised it looked good on them, which… sounded like a compliment at first.” He started.
Moxy raised a brow, opting him to continue.
“But then Lou said, it looks good on them because he’s the doll we were all ‘modeled’ off of and said, and I quote, ‘If it looks good on you, that’s because they tried something similar that looked great on me.’ —And yeah, obviously that caused a debate.” Michael tiredly explained.
“And so the girls made a bet, and said they’d prove to Lou that he won’t look good in every outfit the three of them wore.” Nolan added.
Meghan chimed in, counting with her fingers. “They’ve tried goth, preppy, lolita, cottage, casual, and even hippie —all were successful failures!”
“Mhm.” Lou hummed in agreement as he walked towards the couch, and sat down himself down. “Sorry ladies, I know my life’s a drag, but that doesn’t mean I look bad when I’m in it!” He dramatically kicked the dress up, when crossing one leg over the other, and tossed his hair when moving a strand away from his eye.
Moxy blinked, looking him up and down again. “…Okay but you actually do look kinda amazing.”
Lou froze for half a second.
Then he recovered, “Of course I do.”
Straightening his posture as he looked at Moxy again, “Now… you said something about some news?” He asked her.
“Huh? Oh, yeah!” Moxy finally remembered what she came here for. “You remember the history teacher that I keep saying I really hate?”
“Hildegard?” Lou asked to confirm.
“Yeah!”
“What about her?”
Moxy sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, “Well… I kinda fell asleep during class again… Hildegard went on about how she appreciates that I’ve been controlling it for a while, but she wants to know why it’s so hard for me to stay awake sometimes...” she paused for a moment.
Lou held out his hand as a gesture for her to continue. “And?”
Moxy continued, “I told her it’s because after her classes, I go over to your place to study with you for hours—”
Lou’s eyes widened.
“—And every other time, I go back to my kid’s world to be with her and so I was really tired and… why are you making that face?” Moxy stopped as soon as she noticed the terrified look on the blonde’s face.
“What… did she say next?” Lou hesitantly asked, still appearing to be very tense.
Seeing he ignored her question, Moxy brushed it off and answered. “She said something along the lines of how she didn’t know I was acting as leader already, and said that I wasn’t allowed to manage my district unauthorized. Then I told her I was ‘authorized’ and told her that you let me take charge of Perfection and let me do the work, because you didn’t want to do it anymore and because the other dolls are against the idea of you acting as any kind of leader.”
“Which I…” Moxy trailed off, before sheepishly continuing, “…apparently didn’t realize I never mentioned it at all to anyone there, when I signed up for the classes. Hildegard seemed pretty surprised when I told her I was leading the institute. And got even more confused when I called it “Imperfection” instead of its old name.”
Lou clutched the sides of his head, as he stared down in horror, “Oh my god….”
His voice was quiet enough that Moxy didn’t hear as she continued on, “And then she asked why none of the prettydolls wouldn’t want you to lead and why they wanted me to represent so badly that I had to do it before graduating—”
“What did you tell her?” Lou immediately cut her off to ask, his tone was more panicked. “Did you tell her everything?”
Though she was confused and a little concerned for the blonde, she answered him, “I didn’t even get to explain anything, because right after that, she stopped me and said she’ll just come over to see for herself.”
“With the other two teachers too.” She added.
She rubbed her chin in thought, “Which would kinda be exciting, since I haven’t met Professor Caradoc or Rosa yet. You’ll be able to introduce me!”
“And… when is this?” Lou asked.
Moxy answered, “Uh… later this afternoon?”
“This is terrible!” The blonde said, as he shot up from the couch and ran to another room, kicking off the heels as he sprinted off.
The others stayed in the living room, but looked to where the blonde went bearing looks of either concern or confusion.
“Lou?” Tuesday worriedly called out.
All they could hear was Lou’s incoherent ramblings as he, by the sound of it, started pulling the outfit off and tossing it into view. The radiant red fabric landed in the middle of the doorway.
“Hey! Be careful with my favorite dress!” Kitty yelled as she scrambled to grab the discarded red dress from the ground.
Not wanting to walk in on him still changing, she yelled from where she was, “What is up with you!?”
“What is up with me!?” Lou said almost immediately, reappearing through the door frame, as he was almost completely dressed save for one arm he was still wiggling into the shirt’s arm hole.
Momentarily dropping her irritation, Kitty said in a confused tone, “How did you change back and wash the makeup off that fast?”
Ignoring her, Lou answered himself, “What’s up with me, is that my betters are coming to the institute, and are going see that I’m practically jobless!”
Nolan blinked at him. “You have a job, though.”
“I have a mop.” Lou corrected sharply.
Michael raised a brow, “That’s still employment.”
Lou whirled toward him, “It is custodial work, Michael. And it’s not a position one from their status would consider a real job!”
Moxy stepped forward, hands raised slightly. “Okay… but you said you didn’t want to lead anymore. And that being a janitor was some sort of ‘retirement’ plan to you.”
“That is not the point!” Lou snapped, then immediately smoothed his vest like he could iron his thoughts back into place along with it.
He snatched his scarf from the console table where he left it, and frantically tied it while pacing.
“You don’t understand. Hildegard, Caradoc and Rosa are NOT going to like the idea of me ‘quitting’ the job I practically peskered them all through class to earn!”
He gestured vaguely upward, “I managed to show them I had potential, and… I admit, I might’ve over shared some of my emotional motives during private discussions, that made them kinda biased….”
Lou’s face scrunched in regretful thought, his lips nervously pressed together in an expression the others didn’t miss.
He shook his head and continued, “If they see me scrubbing floors and dragging trash bags around—”
“That’s a little dramatic,” Meghan muttered.
“—they’re going to assume I got forcefully kicked from my spot!” Lou finished darkly.
Moxy slowly said, “…You kinda were?”
Lou stopped walking.
He turned slowly toward her, giving her a look that told her ‘I’m aware’.
Tuesday folded her arms. “Why are you so scared of them finding out? You can just tell them you don’t mind… right?”
Lou hesitated.
His jaw tightened as he exhaled sharply through his nose before speaking up again, “Moxy…”
The pink doll tensed up when she heard his tone.
She looked up at him, his serious expression making her uneasy.
“You and the other uglydolls… aren’t supposed to be here…” Lou said slowly.
“We’re doing this bit again?” Nolan flatly asked. “I thought we were past this.”
“No.” Lou turned his head at the freckled doll, “I mean the uglies are technically not supposed to be living here! Not without a permit.” He explained a little more clearly.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Come again?”
“Permit?”
Lou dropped his arms, sighing up at the ceiling before preparing for a long explanation.
“Every new toy, be it whatever company we came from needs to be officially registered as a green lit toy before they can just freely live anywhere.” He started. “Let alone merge with other hometowns.”
“Green lit?” Tuesday asked, tilting her head.
Meghan lifted a finger and said, “It means approving of a project so it can proceed with production. So… I think Lou means the uglydolls needed to be approved of for them to be… legal citizens?”
Lou snapped his fingers and pointed at the girl, “Right. Thanks Meghan.”
Then he continued, “Speaking of… I’m not even sure if you’re actually called ‘uglydolls’. That name came from the pretties labeling Ox as their opposite…”
“When I met Ox, I got curious and checked the Collectible’s city hall for any dolls like him. And so far, I only found other ugly toy brands.” He said as he held a finger up, “There’s these weird ugly smiling rabbit things called LaVoodoos in the pop mart files, but Ox looked way too different and admittedly much better than them…”
Holding up another finger he said, “Then I found these things called Grusslures, which was short for Grumpy Silly Creatures… It was closer, but none of them looked right…”
With a third finger he added, “I even went to the Japan merch files and discovered something called kimokawaii… and no. I was ice cold from what I was looking for again…”
He walked back to the side table and leaned against it with one hand to support him, “After searching for so long with no leads on what Ox is, I concluded that he was probably a canceled doll and he was the first and last of his kind… Imagine my surprise when you told me there was a whole town of you.”
He looked away from everyone as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “But the fact that your town was so hidden that none of us knew about it, nor is it officially known by the city, means that… you guys still aren’t green lit.”
“So, basically…” Nolan carefully spoke up, “…all the uglydolls are… breaking the law in this world?”
“Pretty much…” Lou said, his lips flattened into a thin line.
“What?!” Moxy looked at the blonde in shock and disbelief.
She really hoped this was a joke, but so far the blonde has been very honest about everything he knew. Albeit never to speak about it until the very last minute, he does in fact, tell the not so very pretty truth…
And speaking of last minute…
“Lou!” Moxy said through gritted teeth, “Why didn’t you tell me we were living here illegally!?”
Lou paused and stared at her, before innocently smiling in a very unsettling way as he tilted his head, batting his eyes at her while tenderly saying, “Oh, honey…—What would that have done exactly!?” Almost immediately he switched to a scowl and used a more aggressive octave.
Moxy moved back, a little surprised by the outburst.
Lou huffed out a short laugh and continued, “Apart from the fact that everyone else is just going to think I’m making it all up to kick you all out —Why don’t I remind you, just what kind of stubborn you are.”
He fluttered his lashes and dilated his eyes, as he leaned down tauntingly towards Moxy.
“I don’t care about your rules, Lou. I’m gonna train and go to the big world! I’m gonna prove you wrong! Oh, uglydolls aren’t allowed to run the Gauntlet? Teehee~ I don’t believe you! I’m sorry, I’m gonna go run it anyway!” He said in a higher pitched tone, and even added a little feminine twirl.
Moxy bit her inner cheek, trying to hold herself back from glowering at the blonde. A small shade of red that was barely noticeable due to her already reddish pink entirety, bloomed across her face out of embarrassment.
Still she replied, “Okay, first off… when have I ever gone ‘teehee’~” she mimicked his earlier inaccurate impression.
“Second, I don’t talk like that!” She poked a finger at the blonde’s chest.
Lou didn’t even bat an eye, as he continued to stare down at her.
Tuesday stepped forward, worry knitting her brows as she decided to focus on the more important topic, “Lou… what happens if they find out?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
And that was worse than anything dramatic he could’ve said.
Moxy swallowed. “Lou.”
He exhaled slowly through his nose, “At best? They’ll let it slide and leave you alone. Sometimes when the ‘migration’ isn’t all that large they don’t bother with the paperwork… They have better things to do. But that’s when, like… maybe, a handful of off branded toys are lurking around.”
“And at worst?” Nolan asked.
Lou’s jaw tightened, “At worst… they decide that the uglies shouldn’t continue being residents here, regardless of mutual agreement to binding our home places together. And that’s probably the more likely outcome, considering there’s like hundreds of you roaming around.”
The weight of that settled heavy.
Moxy’s voice dropped. “You mean… they’d send us away?”
Lou didn’t look at her.
“They’d send you somewhere…” He said quietly. “Maybe they’d just send you back to your town, and prohibit any long term visits.”
“Or… there’s a chance, at the slimmest possibility, that the uglies really are reject dolls after all… then the recycling bin is making a return…”
The words hung in the air like dust no one wanted to breathe.
Moxy’s fists clenched, “That’s not fair…”
Lou’s head snapped toward her.
“Fair?” His laugh was sharp. “This system isn’t built on fair, Moxy. It’s built on market viability and public perception.”
“That’s awful.” Tuesday whispered.
“Yes… it is.” Lou replied flatly. “Why do you think my life is the way it is?”
Moxy stepped closer to him. “Well why do you always act like this is all inevitable? And why are you more worried about what the professors think of you letting us stay, than about us getting sent away?”
Lou’s composure cracked for half a second.
“Because!” He snapped, making gestures towards the floor as he continued rambling. “An entire unregistered community doesn’t just slip past their system out of sheer luck.”
Propping his hands on his hips, he asked them. “So guess whose name is attached to every clearance override in the last year?”
Everyone slowly looked at him.
Moxy’s eyes widened. “You?”
“Yes.” He said bitterly. “Me.”
The room went very still.
“I’ve been quietly redirecting inspection schedules. And… writing excuse emails since you started studying.” Lou admitted.
Michael stared. “You’ve been… covering for them?”
Lou rolled his eyes before looking away, “Don’t make it sound noble. I did it because it was easier than dealing with you. I told you like a hundred times, I’ve succumbed to all of this already.”
“That’s not what that sounds like.” Tuesday said softly. “Not entirely at least.”
He ignored her. Better to not entertain stupid assumptions.
Moxy’s expression shifted. The anger drained, replaced by something heavier.
“…You’ve known something like this the whole time.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Lou let out a frustrated breath. “What would you have done? Stopped training? Stayed hidden? You’d have marched right into City Hall demanding equality!”
“That’s because we deserve it!” She shot back.
Lou threw his arms up, “Well even then, rules are still rules! You think I enjoy this!? We’re basing this off what toys have been green lit because those that haven’t are expected to be disposed of by humans by now.”
“Because at the end of the day… We're only alive because humans made us. If we’re not wanted or up to their expectations, we’re discarded. So I personally find Collectibles choosing immediate recycling or relocation a very merciful act, compared to what humans decide on doing.”
“They either toss you aside to slowly decay in the wrong trash bin, store you away, put you on display —or in a child’s case, grow up and only remember the bad memories that came whenever they played with you and decide to shoulder the blame on you.”
No one said anything after that.
They all just stared at Lou as his words began to sound a little more personal and specific…
“Um…” Nolan started, but then closed his mouth.
With a sharp inhale, as he combed a hand through his hair, Lou calmly looked at the group. “So… Here's what we’re gonna do.”
He pointed a finger at them and said, “You make sure nobody in the institute or your town so much as even tries to talk to the three of them.”
And with a hand to his chest he said, “While I find the remote to open up the Gauntlet and shut off its cameras, so I can talk to them privately to explain everything, and convince them to let all of this slide.”
“Uh…” Kitty squinted at him and raised a brow. “Why the Gauntlet, specifically?”
“Hildegard’s a life sized doll…” Moxy responded.
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
“How tall is she?” Lydia asked out of curiosity.
“As tall as the baby.” Moxy and Lou answered at the same time.
“…”
“Well…” Michael with a frightened laugh. “Not to worry! You won’t even see me within a twenty feet radius if that’s the case!”
“Same.” Kitty said, raising a hand to agree. Everyone else did the same thing.
Moxy looked at Lou again and asked, “How are you sure trying to convince them would be a good plan?”
Lou stayed quiet for 3 seconds, before averting his eyes as he quietly admitted, “Because… in some way they… kinda care about me?”
“They hear me out over a lot of things that they don’t normally have time to listen to… and, as much as ‘such power’ never worked in my favor… I can only hope they hear me out on this one.”
Lou waved them off, “Now just leave me alone while I prepare for… unwanted confrontation…”
Everyone else all looked at each other as they silently thought of the same thing.
They’re really about to rely on Lou and his ‘status’ for something this big?
But then again… what can they do?
With a few reluctant sighs they all picked up their belongings and headed to the door.
As they walked away from Lou’s house, Moxy was in deep thought.
She slowed her pace, so she could talk to Meghan, “Hey… Meghan?”
“Hm?” The curly haired doll looked down at her.
“Uh… you know law stuff, right?” Moxy asked, to which Meghan nodded in confirmation.
“I am a lawyer, aren’t I?” She playfully said.
“Hm… well, I just wanted to ask… Since Lou can apparently communicate through email, would he be able to file a complaint through one too?” Moxy asked her curiously. “Like… without having to go there or have to… physically be there?”
Meghan tilted her head, raising a brow at the pink doll. Though she was confused, she still answered, “Oh… well, yeah.”
She then looked up as if she was reciting from the top of her head, “He can remotely file a complaint very easily if he has connections to the right people. He doesn’t even have to be present during inspections. Any questions he can answer virtually, be it messages or phone calls.”
She finally looked back down, “But why are you asking about —Moxy?” She looked back and forth between her sides only to find the pink doll gone.
She looked behind her and found her running back to Lou’s house, “Moxy where are you going?”
Seeing as the pink doll ignored her, she could only sigh.
“Meg?” Michael walked back to her. “Why’d you stop? Come on.”
She looked at her boyfriend and decided to shrug it off and walk away with him.
“Lou!” Moxy yelled as she slammed the door open, spotting the startled blonde in the middle of the room.
Lou shot up from where he was crouching in shock.
His hand was still lifting the couch, clearly looking for the remote he said he needed to find. And judging by where he first thought to check… he definitely misplaced them again. (Which… isn’t even surprising to anyone anymore… This guy can’t even find own shoes after kicking them off.)
He snapped his head towards the door and glared at the pink doll.
“My god! What is wrong with you!? Can’t you let me steel my nerves in peace?” Lou yelled at her as he picked himself up.
“You lied!” Moxy yelled, pointing at him.
Lou’s face scrunched, dumbfounded. “Huh?”
Shutting the door behind her, she marched up to him and repeated, “You lied!”
“I heard you the first time, what exactly do you think I’m lying about?” Lou said glaring down at her.
“Filing a complaint wouldn’t be that much work for you! Even if you didn’t ‘feel like it’, you could have easily reported me and the other uglydolls through email!” Moxy answered back. “You don’t even have to be present the whole time! You have the power to kick us out without leaving your house!”
“What? Where did this come from…?” Lou shook his head, “And why are you bringing this up anyway?”
“Because, now I know you’re not entirely honest when you say you didn’t want to deal with us. Or that your willingness to cover for us is because you ‘give up’ or whatever indifferent excuse you always spit out.” Moxy declared, daring to stare straight into his eyes.
She pointed up at him again, “Admit it! Covering for us like this has been way more work for you than if you had just reported us, and had a robot replace you —if you really did want to step down.”
“I do want to step down.” Was the only thing Lou admitted, before arguing back, “But whatever underlying sentiment you’re imagining here doesn’t exist. Maybe I’d rather an uglydoll take my place than a robot?”
Moxy immediately rebuttals, “A robot doesn’t have to be tutored, or ‘bother’ you every day for advice. The only issue you named about the robots was that they were boring teachers. If that’s the only problem then I know you can live with that as long as you can live in peace!”
Lou turned around and crossed his arms, “I’m still not seeing your point. But I’m surprised you’re aware of the fact that you have been bothering me everyday.”
But Moxy wasn’t buying it. She came closer, just right behind the blonde, stubbornly crossing her arms as she demanded. “Tell me why you spent so much time hiding us and helping me.”
Lou’s hands tightened around his own arm, as he stayed quiet.
So Moxy continued, “Tell me.”
Still nothing.
On her tip toes, to get closer to his ear. She kept shouting. “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!”
“OKAY!” Lou yelled, snapping his head to face her. His face fuming in irritation.
“You wanna know why?”
Moxy only nodded, arms still crossed.
“Because you and your little town of crooked crusaders, already infected the institute with your stupid… colors, and games… and parties! And you already vandalized every single one of the houses here with… adorable… graffiti…” With each word his tone was losing its bark, and instead he sounded so unsure with himself.
Moxy could tilt her head at him, confused.
Despite his awkward tone he kept going, “It’s too late to bring the old institute back. And quite frankly, the grey color palettes were driving everyone insane, so if you all left it wouldn't be so peaceful for me because the others would be way too miserable to actually focus on getting kids.”
“As for you!” Lou leaned down, as he pointed and poked right where Moxy’s nose should be. “It’ll be an even bigger nightmare for me, because you’re the reason all of this change started!”
He paced back and forth, brassily waving his hands as he continued his frustrated ambling, “Because you just had to be the hero, all the blame is most likely gonna go to you. And your punishment might be worse. But since you have a kid waiting for you in the big world, I can’t live with that. Because my purpose was to send dolls to kids, not take them. You’ve unfortunately passed the point of being recyclable, so getting thrown out is no longer an option for you.”
Moxy blinked at him.
“I’m not looking to gain a psychosis from that in my subconscience. I don’t need your annoying little voice haunting me if anything happened to you. So kindly appreciate all my efforts of keeping you here, after everything you’ve already done, thank you very much!”
Moxy continued to gawk at him in silence, processing everything he said.
“Oh my god…” She slowly said, placing a hand to her chest in realization.
Lou stared at her with half-lidded eyes, crossing his arms again.
With a sardonic grin she said, “You like me!” as she playfully punched Lou’s arm.
“Excuse me?!” Lou defensively moved away from the touch and looked at her incredulously.
She cupped her cheeks, as her eyes gleaned at him, she repeated herself in a more teasing tone. “You like me! I see it now!”
“No!” Lou quickly denied. “I… I tolerated you on occasion! But at most? … It’s the exact opposite of ‘like’…!”
Moxy crossed her arm as she gave Lou a challenging look. Daring him to continue.
“Yes.” Lou pushed on. “I hate you because you’re…” he began counting with his fingers “…too happy.”
“Mhm.”
“Too bubbly.”
“Okay.”
“Your eyelashes are too long!”
Moxy could only look away with a surprise smile.
“You’re too inclusive!”
She nodded at that.
“And your company is so loud that once you leave it feels like I’m sitting in a graveyard. And that drives me insane.” Lou finished.
“Okay. I’m sorry.” Moxy held her hands up in mock surrender. “Looks like I was wrong… you don’t like me.”
Lou squared his shoulders as he nodded.
“You REALLY like me!” Moxy punched the air below her in punctuation.
Lou’s eye twitched.
He was one step away from yelling at the cackling pink doll to get out of his house.
Moxy pushed down her giggles before saying, “Look… I’m glad you like me, okay? It’s good to know you actually see me as a friend, Lou!”
“I don’t like —friend?” He paused as soon as he heard that.
“Yeah?” She said, like it was obvious. “What else would I mean when I say you like me?”
Lou stared at her.
Oh.
He unclenched his fists in relief.
“Well… Nothing. But I’m still not…” And then he closed his mouth again.
Does he need to deny this one?
He was already on good terms with Mandy and he did give in to Tuesday and the others including him in their ‘circle’.
And Moxy was the first person he tolerated since this all started.
For goodness sake, he even danced with her.
No…yeah.
There wasn’t any point in arguing.
Slumping shoulders, he sighed. “Well… I guess you have grown to be as likable as you are annoying —Ouff!”
His arms immediately shot up, as he looked down at the shorter doll hugging him.
The pink doll had her arms wrapped around him tightly.
Lou grimaced as his eyes darted everywhere in the room mentally debating whether to let her continue or push her off.
“Oops.” Moxy’s eyes opened in realization, immediately, she let go of Lou. “Sorry! Force of habit… We’re not on a hugging basis yet, are we?”
Lou’s arms lowered, quickly wrapping them himself before fixing his face to be more relaxed and nonchalant.
“Uh… yeah. That’s still a little too touchy.”
Moxy rubbed her arm, “Sorry…”
One glance at her, Lou almost felt bad.
He rolled his eyes, and held out his hand.
“We can have a celebratory handshake… if you want.”
Moxy’s eyes lit up again, and used both her hands to take Lou’s, and shook it enthusiastically but carefully.
“I didn’t think we’d ever be friends, in a way where you’d say we’re friends. But here we are now!”
Lou cooly shrugged it off, “Well… I don’t care if I’m still viewed as an enemy, but I guess I shouldn’t turn down palatable conversation if given the chance.”
Moxy snorted at that.
“Hey…” She started, lightly squeezing his hand. “Good luck later. I trust you.”
Lou looked down at her hands, before adjusting the hold to squeeze one of hers back.
“I appreciate that…”
.•.•.
Everyone in the institute was going about their day.
Some dolls were walking to a nearby place to eat, some were sitting on the benches talking, playing some sports outside. A couple of them were crowded beneath one doll who was dangling off their roof because they slipped while they were trying to fix a plank.
The usual routine.
Until…
“Oh my doll!” A doll suddenly yelled, quickly hiding behind her friends. “Who are those?” She whispered in a hissed tone.
Slowly coming into the Imperfection’s entrance, a very antique but elegant and beautiful looking doll came through the gates.
She didn’t look anything like the prettydolls or the uglydolls. And… she was almost as tall as the gates, only needing to duck down to prevent her silver crown from grazing against the top.
She had dark blonde hair, purple eyeshadow that didn’t do much to warm the vacant stare from her literal sleepy doll eyes, pink blush and lipstick on, and she wore a pink, long sleeved gown, with a bow at the top of her bodice.
She moved across the district, with her hands in front to lift the skirt where her feet were stepping.
She looked around, ignoring the petrified dolls that stared at her in fear, and only finally stopped when she spotted a certain pink doll already walking towards her.
“Hi!” Moxy waved up at her.
The Victorian doll’s eyebrows furrowed down at her informality.
“Hello, ma’am.” She corrected her.
With an audacious grin Moxy replied, “There’s no need to call me ma’am, professor.”
Ignoring the displeased scowl sent her way, Moxy took a quick look at the rest of her.
“That’s the plainest dress I’ve ever seen you wear.” She told her shamelessly.
“Caradoc and Rosa said I should dress in ‘quieter’ clothing, as my height was already ‘intimidating’ as it is.” Hildegard answered in the same flat tone.
“I see.” Moxy said, still smiling idly. “And the tiara?”
“It’s glued to the top of my head, what about my tiara?”
“Nevermind then.” Moxy waved it off, “Speaking of Professor Caradoc and Rosa… where are they?”
“Hilda, you prissy gank!” An elderly male voice shouted.
Moxy tilted her head to look behind the giant doll to look at the voice’s owner.
Heading towards them was a teddy bear wearing a blue coat jacket and a grey fedora. He had a cane which was tucked under his armpit, as both his arms were occupied pushing a wheelchair, where a rag doll was sitting.
“First you made us walk behind you, when you know your massive dress is a hassle to tail behind, and now you left me to push Rosa through the darn hill of packaging beads!” The bear, who Moxy assumes is Caradoc, complained as he struggled to push the wheelchair due to the aforementioned beads that were still stuck to the wheels.
The rag doll in gym attire and a visor hat, definitely ‘Rosa’, was trying to help the bear by taking the cane from the bear and began poking the wheel gaps.
When all the pesky beads were out, she gave the cane back and rolled the wheelchair herself to be right next to the victorian.
“This place is… very cute.” Rosa said, looking around her. “All these asymmetrical and unique houses are so adorable.”
“And colorful.” Caradoc said, also admiring the place. “It used to be so grey because Louis couldn’t decide if adding more color would be unprofessional or not.”
Hildegard added, dismissing the other two’s positive comments. “The more I look at this place, and all these dolls that I’ve never seen before, the more I’m convinced they swindled their way in here and damaged property to accommodate their hideous lifestyle.”
Moxy gulped.
The tall doll looked down at her, which actually made Moxy tense a bit, as she said to her, “But… since Louis has been helping you get through my class, I’d like to hear him explain everything first so I can understand why he’s been hiding this from me.”
“Us.” Caradoc corrected.
Hildegard didn’t acknowledge the correction, instead she continued to scan the area for the blonde.
“Well… I told Lou about your visit, and he said he’d prepare a place for you to talk in private.” Moxy explained to her.
“How sweet.” Rosa said with a smile.
Moxy noticed that while Hildegard was being a snob like usual, the other two teachers seem to be acting like this is just a family holiday gathering.
Caradoc adjusted his hat as he looked around, “So… where is that boy?”
“Right here, sir.”
They all turned to the left and found Lou coming their way.
“Sorry, for taking so long.” Lou said, giving a light bow of respect once he stopped in front of them.
“Louis!” The bear spread his arms out and ran up to hug the blonde.
Lou froze in place, as he quickly glanced at Moxy and around the open area accidentally making eye contact with some judgemental dolls before looking up at the sky hoping his blush wasn’t visible.
The bear finally released him and looked at him up and down. “Hey! You’re back in your old uniform… Where’s the suit I gave you?”
That made Moxy subconsciously lean closer in interest.
Lou’s old suit was a gift from one of his professors?
That’s… kinda sweet.
Caradoc reached for the scarf and fixed the collar around it. “Well, I see you still have the scarf, but… what happened to the rest of it?”
Lou cleared his throat, gently moving the bear’s hands off him before answering, “It uh… got washed by accident. The rest of it shrunk…”
Moxy covered her face with her hand, shielding her face from the bear, grimacing when she heard that.
She was left unnoticed though.
“Aww, darn.” Caradoc offered a remorseful look. “That’s unfortunate.”
“Little Bluuuuuue!” Rosa sped towards him and practically threw herself towards the blonde, who braced himself for another tackle.
“Ah!” Lou quickly caught the both of them, before they could fall. And politely pushed the rag doll back down onto the chair she forced herself out of.
“Heh… Miss Rosa…” With a firm squeeze on her shoulders, Lou forced an embarrassed smile and hissed through his teeth, “I told you not to call me that in public.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Rosa giggled, apologetically covering her mouth. “I just can’t help it. Your big blue eyes are what I missed the most every time you leave!”
Flustered and frustrated, Lou was about to answer back but immediately stayed quiet when the sky above him went dark.
He looked up to Hildegard hovering just above him, staring down at him with a perplexed look.
He recoiled when she leaned closer.
He flinched when he felt her touch his hair.
“What happened to your hair? I thought I taught you how to fix this…” Hildegard asked while twirling a stray blonde lock between her fingers.
Overwhelmed, Lou swatted all three of them away and stepped back at an appropriate distance.
“Nevermind how I look right now, please! Hands off!” Lou said firmly and defensively. “Let’s just go and talk already…”
He turned around and motioned for them to follow, “The gauntlet is this way… it’s the only ‘building’ that can fit…” He looked up at the giant doll behind him, “…you.”
Hildegard nodded, and followed Lou.
Caradoc and Rosa followed.
.•.•.
“My… I remember when you first showed me your blueprints for this project.” Rosa said, as she looked around the interior of the mockup home.
The blonde was currently pushing her chair; an offer she accepted.
“Yeah… and I remember being really happy when you approved of it.” Lou said quietly.
Rosa looked back up at the boy, “And what happened? Why does it seem so…” she looked around again to double check if she really did see some dust collecting itself in certain areas, “… unused?”
“Uh… well… no one uses my training equipment anymore… That’s what I wanted to talk about, actually…” Lou slowly said, stopping the wheelchair and walking past Rosa to face all of his former teachers.
Rubbing the back of his neck as he decided to start, “You see… when Moxy and a couple of her friends came to the institute, they kind of… changed the perspective of the prettydolls here about Perfection… and well, I tried to get rid of them so they didn’t ruin the whole order I had here… but I couldn’t keep them from running the gauntlet. And so… I decided to sabotage them by running it with them—”
“You ran the gauntlet?” Caradoc said in mild shock.
Lou’s face grimaced in guilt. “… yes.”
“Again?” Rosa added to the bear’s question.
Lou’s head ducked lower as he quietly answered with another, “Yes…”
Hildegard crossed her arms, though ‘disapproval’ was her ‘default’ expression, she didn’t look like that. Rather, she looked concerned.
“Louis, I thought you learned your lesson the first time… Your project was approved for the other dolls to train in, but it's programmed to automatically fail those who aren’t meant to leave their district.” She told him gently. “You included.”
Lou groaned under his breath, “Yes… I, very much, learned my lesson from the first time…”
But he quickly added, “But in my defense, the first time it happened wasn’t even my fault. Ox coerced me to run the gauntlet with him because he wanted us to cross the finish line together… I didn’t really know how to escape at that time, because it happened in front of thousands of prettydolls…”
Hildegard hummed to let the blonde know his explanation was acknowledged.
“Well, what about this time?”
The look in Lou’s eyes shifted into something a little more dull.
“I… don’t really know.” He answered honestly.
He looked down as he tried to explain, “But, I guess a part of me knew… the second all the uglydolls came back… with their entire town coming along to watch as well after I attempted to get rid of two dolls… I knew I couldn’t keep my good image alive any longer…”
He sighed and finished with, “Joining in the gauntlet was probably just my desperate attempt to say I haven’t surrendered yet. Not until there really wasn’t any way for me to fight back…”
All three antiques looked at him in silence.
“Oh, Lou…” Rosa sighed tenderly.
“I partially understand that… I think.” Hildegard told the blonde. “But, what I don’t understand is why you went through the extra effort of hiding this entire civilization of… ugly dolls?”
Lou tried to fix his posture and cleared his throat.
Carefully, he confessed, “Because… Moxy actually wants to lead this place. Not just for her, but for everyone here….”
He continued, “I learned how to make this place orderly. But I didn’t know how to make it a home that every doll, including me, would like.”
He turned away from all of them, not wanting to make eye contact right now. “I’ve come to realize that leadership just wasn’t my thing. I enjoyed what I benefited from it, but now that I lost it, it’s not something I’d go another mile to get back.”
“I’m sorry I wasted all your efforts on me because I chose to give up and quit…”
Neither of his mentors made a sound and that, somehow, was worse than if any of them had snapped.
Lou kept his back to them, jaw set, shoulders rigid, braced for disappointment.
Finally…
“Louis.” Hildegard said his name in that measured tone. But, it was weirdly calm.
Lou blinked, surprised by the lack of venom.
He slowly turned around.
Hildegard stepped forward, towering but composed, her expression unreadable.
She studied him for a long moment before saying, “You are not a failure for discovering you don’t actually enjoy the authoritative position…. Many rulers with that temporary fever don’t realize that right away.”
Lou only blinked at her.
“But…” She added, eyes sharpening slightly, “concealing an entire unregistered population under your authorization… is catastrophically irresponsible.”
There it is.
Lou straightened instinctively, “Yes, Professor.” his cheeks lightly flushed pink, as he muttered.
Caradoc leaned on his cane. “You understand why dolls need to be green lit, right?”
Lou nodded, “If a company is caught producing and selling unregistered toys, it could cause some legal problems and might cause them to shut down… which would be harmful to the already green lit toys if they came from the same factory…”
“And?” Rosa prompted gently.
“…Production of any toys from that company might stop altogether, which means I practically doomed the prettydolls.” Lou finished.
Silence.
Hildegard folded her hands in front of her.
“Why didn’t you report them?”
Lou didn’t hesitate this time.
“Because sending them away would’ve been wrong.”
That surprised even him.
He swallowed.
“They changed the institute.” He continued, quieter now. “The pretties actually enjoy their company. And I guess… I just hated the idea of taking this to the council. It kinda felt like I’d be proving even more that… I’m just a big fish in a pond, swimming back to the ocean for help…”
Caradoc tried not to laugh, “Uhh… that’s—”
“Not a real metaphor, I know!” Lou cut him off. “But you get what I mean…”
The bear and rag doll laughed, while Hildegard’s face stayed the same with the exception of a small upturned curve on the corner of her lips.
“Alright.” Hildegard started, “What are you planning on doing, to make sure the council doesn’t find out, exactly?”
Lou looked up at her, surprised. “Huh?”
The Victorian doll rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. “Well clearly, you don’t want to kick out these unregistered dolls. But they can’t stay hidden forever. How are you planning on keeping them here?”
Wow. They already gave him a pass? That was a lot quicker than he thought. Maybe ‘the power of hoping’ was finally on his side.
But knowing he still has to answer, Lou contemplated for a moment, before boldly telling them, “…I’m going to fix the paperwork.”
Caradoc squinted. “Define ‘fix.’”
Lou inhaled slowly, as if preparing to explain something he already knew was stupid. Which it was.
“You said it yourself. Toys need to be green lit because companies have to officially register production runs. Approval records are stored in the human factories’ archives. Every batch, every brand, every serial number.”
Rosa tilted her head. “And?”
“And if a brand was never properly filed… it looks like it was never approved. Which is probably the case with Moxy’s people.”
“Yes…” Hildegard said carefully.
Lou straightened slightly.
“So I’m going to access the factory archive records. The older ones. The ones that aren’t checked unless someone’s auditing a company.” He gestured vaguely. “There are millions of toy lines. Most of them discontinued. Forgotten.”
Caradoc’s eyes widened. “You’re not.”
“I am.” Lou said calmly. “I’m going to insert a late registration file. Backdated, stamped, and signed. Filed under ‘delayed distribution approval.’”
Rosa blinked twice, “…In simpler terms, dear.”
Lou sighed.
“I’m going to make it look like the uglydolls were approved years ago but their release was delayed due to ‘market testing complications.’ Which explains why they were never seen in the city. Which explains why no one noticed them.”
Hildegard’s stare sharpened.
“You’re going to commit forgery…?”
“Yes.” Lou said flatly.
“And you’re just openly admitting to us that you’re going to tamper with human documentation?”
“Yes.”
Caradoc stared at him. “Do you even know how to do that?”
“Eehh.” Lou sheepishly looked off to the side.
“Lou…” Hildegard said slowly, as if she was scolding a child.
Lou lightly laughed it off, “Well… when one gets stuck in the same place for years, they tend to explore what they can do in said place. Such as… occasionally checking how popular prettydolls got with human kids. Which… I’m a little disappointed that we’re still four bars behind Hattel’s Gwendie and Trent dolls…”
Rosa tilted her head, squinting her eyes at the blonde boy. “…How did you…”
With a proud snort, he added, “Carrington’s firewall is garbage.”
All three antiques stared at him unamused.
Caradoc removed his hat, to rub his forehead, “I’m sorry…” The bear said carefully. “Did you just say you breached a human manufacturer’s firewall?”
Lou merely replied, “Breached is such an aggressive word.”
Hildegard’s eyelid twitched.
“Louis.” Her voice dropped into that terrifyingly calm register. “Tell me you did not illegally access corporate archives out of curiosity.”
Lou clasped his hands behind his back like a student caught mid-misconduct. “I wouldn’t say out of curiosity…. I just wanted to know if we were ever… loved. If being made and tested was worth it in some way, at least…”
Suddenly remembering something he said, “Also… I had no idea I was the actual mascot for prettydolls. It’s ironic how my face is in ads but kids aren’t even getting a doll that would look like me.”
At those words, the three toys glanced at each other. Their faces all holding the same concerned and knowing look.
Rosa sighed, and looked tenderly at Lou. “We should’ve checked on you sooner.”
Lou looked at her, “What?”
“You’re thinking about children and their world again.” Caradoc slowly said.
Lou’s eyebrows furrowed, “And what does that have to do with anything?”
Hildegard said, “Well, if your mind has returned to children to the point where you’re hacking into toy reviews to see your doll type’s worth to the youth… then you’re clearly thinking about her again.”
“Excuse me?” The blonde said, giving the life sized doll a serious look. Former mentor or not, he’s making it clear to her that he wants her to stop right now.
Without hesitation Hildegard said, “Vanessa.”
Lou tensed up, he slowly backed away glaring up at the Victorian.
“Hey!” He pointed up at her. “I thought we agreed not to say her name!”
He rapidly shook his head as he added, “Why are you bringing her up anyway!?”
Caradoc held his hat to his chest, as he spoke to the blonde in a sympathetic manner. “Because we know it’s hard for you, even now, to let go of her.”
“Funny you say that, when you’re the reason she even came back to mind!”
“And every time she does come to mind, you act like this…” Rosa said, pushing her chair forward.
The closer they got, the more Lou stepped away from them.
“Lou…” Hildegard started. “Since the institute is mostly no longer your priority… May I suggest that you return with us? To the city.”
“Return to what?” Lou's eyes immediately snapped at her.
“To the city. Come back with us.” Hildegard repeated. “I’m sure you can still execute your little plan there. And you’ll be able to tutor Moxy there too.” She tried to reason. “I just think… that with you, no longer employed here, you’re better off—”
“Ohhh, okay okay!” Lou forced himself to laugh, after cutting Hildegard off. “I think I get it now.”
He turned his head to look at each of them, his brows knitted down in anger. “This was never about the uglydolls wasn’t it? You don’t actually care what happens to them. Moxy’s little slip up was just an excuse for you to come here and force me to come back with you!”
“What, now that I don’t have a stressful job that keeps me distracted, you can’t trust me with a looser job? Is that it?” Lou asked all of them.
Caradoc blinked. “That’s not—”
“It is.” Lou shot back, backing away another step. “You think I can’t be left alone with my own thoughts and need to drown me in other things to avoid them.”
Rosa’s expression softened as she said, “We just don’t want you to spiral or isolate yourself.”
“I didn’t start spiraling until I heard you were coming to visit.” Lou snapped.
“And while it’s too soon to say I have ‘friends’, I can at least say that I have company that comes frequently enough that I don’t isolate myself.” He defended, “taking me back with you is isolating!”
Hildegard’s voice lowered, “Louis.”
He refused to look at her.
She kneeled down, adjusting her gown to sit on the floor and be at a closer proximity to the blonde. Which was a position Lou always hated her doing, because he felt even more like a child to her when she does it.
“We know how you feel, okay?”
Lou forced a laugh as he glanced up at her, “Oh, you know?” He laughed again. “You know?”
He stepped away from her again as he glared at her. “What exactly do you know?”
“We know that you’re hurting.” Caradoc replied. “Believe me, so are we.”
“Yes.” Rosa said with a sympathetic smile. “We know the pain of humans moving on from us, and not moving on from them. It takes much longer, and trust us… though we finally found peace, it wasn’t easy.”
“Yeah. It’s not easy.” Lou said bluntly. “But it’s not the same… so stop acting like you can understand me.”
“Because you…” His fingers motioned back and forth as it pointed at all three of the professors. “…are antiques. Your era is over. You’ve been here since the 1900s, of course you finally moved on!”
Hands to his chest as he continued, “You were lucky to be out in that world to watch growth and change between you and those humans, while I got discarded because I held ‘bad memories’ that I didn’t even cause.” He tried to hide the quiver in his voice, blinking back tears.
“Our pain isn’t the same. You’re holding onto bittersweet nostalgia, while I have nothing but hateful words replaying in my head.”
He turned around, and walked at a decent length from them, so he can have an easier time fighting the wet fogginess in his eyes.
“You don’t know anything….” He said, quiet but loud enough for them to catch.
“That’s not true.” Rosa insisted.
“Really now?” Lou spun back around, marching towards the rag doll. “You know the feeling of needing help lifting your head every morning, because your own thoughts added to your weight?”
He then turned his head towards Caradoc, “Have you ever sat down in front of the recycling bin like it was just a cozy little fireplace and felt jealous of all the dolls that got put out of their misery right away?”
Lastly he turned his head towards Hildegard, “Do you ever get teased in your dreams? They make you believe you’re falling, and then you suddenly wake up the moment you were prepared to hit the ground!”
All three antiques looked down at the blonde, concerned by the vague yet grim articulation of his emotions.
Hildegard did not answer immediately.
She didn’t correct his tone or scold him for raising his voice.
She simply looked at him.
Lou’s breathing was uneven now. He hated that they could probably see it.
Hildegard rose from the floor. Not towering this time, but standing with a deliberate calm.
She went straight to taking the blonde’s hand in hers, before he could move away.
“Can you tell me…” She sang softly to the blonde, “what it is you're afraid of?”
“Oh my god…” Lou groaned, quickly pulling his arms out of hers, and walking away from the Victorian.
Hildegard placed her hands on her bent knees, as warmly looked down at him. “Can you tell me why I'm afraid it's me?”
Lou rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he refused to turn back.
“Can I touch you?” She placed a hand on his shoulder, which he slapped away, walking off again, this time he didn’t stop, especially when she followed.
“We've been fine for so long now…” She continued to sing to the blonde in that condescending motherly voice. “How can something go wrong that I can't see?”
“'Cause I'm holding on…” She placed her hands on her chest, “And I won't let go.”
Gesturing a hand towards Lou, though he couldn’t see her, “I just thought you should know…”
“I am the one who knows you! I am the one who cares! I am the one who's always been there!” Hildegard sang with her arms spread out as she walked around Lou, hoping to face him but he turned the other way every time he caught her in his peripherals.
He tried shaking her off by heading to a different room, but she followed after him as she continued, “I am the one who's helped you! And if you think that I just don't understand… then you just don't know who I am.”
Lou let out a tired huff, and decided on attempting to tune her out. He sat down on a stray building block lying around, and held his head down in his hands.
He tried to ignore Hildegard as she kept going, “Could you leave me?”
“Hey, kid, it's us…”
Great… now Professor Caradoc’s joining in.
“Could you let me go under?” Hildegard continued above the bear’s soft tone.
“Please have some trust…”
And there’s Miss Rosa adding to his headache. Lou heavily sighed.
Hildegard continued over her, “Will you watch as I drown—”
“—And wonder why?” All three sang at the same time.
Dropping her arms in exasperation, Hildegard breathes out, “Are you bleeding?”
“Are you waiting? Are you wishing? Are you wanting all that she can't give?” Caradoc followed, taking a step with each question.
Lou’s shoulders tensed.
In a more stressed octave, Hildegard asks, “Are you bruised? Are you broken?”
“Are you hurting? Are you healing? Are you hoping for a life to live?” Rosa sang right after, just like Caradoc, she inched closer with each question she sang out.
Hildegard followed the two and moved to be as close as them to the blonde.
“Does it help you to know… well, so am I?” The victorian belted out, the other two joining in to overlap with her.
Hildegard leaned closer to the blonde again, “Tell me what to do—”
Lou covered his ears.
“Look at me…”
He turned his head to avoid eye contact with the bear.
“—Tell me who to be…”
He closed his eyes when Rosa came into view and followed with her voice, “Look at me…”
“So I can see what you see!” They all sang as Lou hunched in on himself.
They all walked around him, trying to get the blonde’s attention.
As the two harmonized in the background, the victorian sang out again, “I am the one who'll hold you! I am the one who'll stay! I am the one…. who won't walk away!”
Hildegard stopped right in front of him to bend down to his level and gently remove his hands from his ears, “I am the one who'll hear you…”
Lou only glared at her, as she looked him in the eyes while continuing,
“And now you tell me that I won't understand…”
“You don't understand.” Lou cut in, and pulled his wrists out of her grip.
She continued anyway, “But I know you know who I am.”
Lou hopped off the building block and pushed past the antiques who continued to pester him.
His body was slowly swaying back and forth as he walked, his head too foggy from all the overwhelming noise of both his professors and the thoughts spinning around his head.
He stopped to collect himself, but that only urged the tall doll to approach him from behind.
“'Cause I'm holding on…” Hildegard sang softly, reaching for his shoulder again.
“You say you hurt like me…” Lou sang under his breath, mostly to himself.
Her voice got closer, “And I won't let go…”
And in that moment Lou’s eyes scanned the room and spotted the same box of knitting equipment from before.
His brows slowly turned down as he sang in a more aggressive tone, “You say that you know….!”
He ran towards the box while the other three ran after him.
Quickly grabbing one of the needles, he hysterically pointed at them. “You don't know!”
“I know you don't know!” His head was spinning, and as a result each swing he made was lame and aimless.
Despite that, the other three had to move away every time he was close to striking them. Though the blonde wasn’t aiming with the sharp end, they were still cautious while trying to approach him.
They continued to call out to him, but was left ignored and drowned out by his own voice.
“You say that you're hurting! I know it ain't so!” Lou belted out as he fought back tears, swinging at Caradoc and missed.
“You don't know!” He swung at Rosa next, who was able to roll away in time.
“Why don't you just go?” He tiredly threw the needle at Hildegard, who moved to the side with it barely grazing her sleeve.
Lou dropped to his knees, “'Cause it lays me low… when I say…”
“You don't know…” His head hung low, as he finally ran out of energy, his voice cracking at his final words.
He was breathing like he ran a marathon inside his own head.
All three antiques looked at him from a respective distance.
Hildegard subtly looked back and kicked the needle away. Just in case.
She then made a motion to walk towards him.
Until she felt someone tug her gown.
She looked down to see Rosa, who was looking up at her in return and shaking her head.
They looked at each other for a while before the Victorian sighed.
“Louis…” She calmly called him.
Lou didn’t acknowledge her.
She continued anyway, “We’ll be leaving you to do what you need to do now… But we’ll come back tomorrow.”
She turned around and ended with, “I hope you change your mind by then. I’m sure moving to the city would be better for you.”
With that, Lou heard the sound footsteps fading away.
His breathing gradually slowed. Not really calm, just emptied.
He pressed his palms flat against the floor.
“…Of course they’d come back tomorrow,” he muttered bitterly to himself.
He dragged a hand down his face, before forcefully pushing himself off the ground.
He was ready to head for the exit until he heard the sound of the clinking.
He turned around and caught the needle from earlier slowly rolling across the floor.
Brows knitting together, Lou looked at the direction the needle rolled away from.
“Hey!” He shouted. “Who’s back there?”
It was quiet for a hot second before a pink figure finally shuffled out of her hiding spot.
Lou’s eyes narrowed in, unamused and annoyed when the doll, whom he already suspected it would be, finally came out.
Moxy slowly brought her hands up and timidly smiled at the blonde, “Hi…”
When Lou’s face didn’t seem to lighten, Moxy waved her arms around in surrender.
“I’m sorry… really… but I just got worried.” She admitted, before she finally lowered her hands. “I shouldn’t have, I know… but I just really wanted to be here if you need help.”
“It is… technically my fault you had to do this.” She guiltily rubbed her arm.
Lou’s face relaxed a little, but still held a frown.
He then asked, “How much did you hear…?”
Moxy bit her lip, as she hesitated to say, “… quite a lot…”
“You ran the gauntlet before?” She suddenly asked. “With Ox?”
Lou huffed and waved off the question, “That’s not something I like remembering. Don’t ask about it.”
Moxy didn’t push any further.
The pink doll rocked back and forth on her heels, as she awkwardly stood in silence with Lou, until the blonde decided to start moving again to leave the faux house.
Moxy followed after him and tried to keep up with his pace.
“Um…” She debated in her head whether it was a good time or not.
Though it was already too late to back away, Lou acknowledged her, “What?” He reluctantly said.
Still walking by his side, Moxy looked up and slowly asked, “Who’s Vanessa?”
Lou stopped walking.
So Moxy stopped as well, a little nervous.
The question didn’t hit him like the others had. It didn’t ignite him. It didn’t make him defensive.
It hollowed him.
The room suddenly felt emptier. Quieter.
“…You really don’t know when to stop digging.” He muttered.
Moxy winced. “I can— I don’t have to know! I just —They said her name and you looked like someone pulled the stuffing out of you.”
Lou stared straight ahead. Jaw tight.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that part.” He said.
“I wasn’t supposed to hear a lot of things today…” Moxy replied gently.
That got the faintest exhale out of him. Not quite a laugh.
He resumed walking. Slower this time.
“She was…” He began, then paused like he didn’t like any of the possible words that could follow.
“…the closest I could have to a kid of my own, before ending up here.”
That made Moxy blink up at him in shock.
She and Lou made eye contact, before he opened his mouth again.
“Vanessa Carrington… the Pretty Doll creator’s daughter.”