01 // [Video]

[thelittledoll]

[This is one confused gal appearing in the mirror on the vine, scratching the back of her head as she thinks, her hair falling neatly over one eye]Well... okay, but I still think this is all a dream. Cats givin' ya messages an' tellin' ya 'ow ta work magical vines? Sounds like somethin' I'd come up with if I 'ad somethin' funny ta eat 'fore bed

Comments

[ video ] 1/2

[toys_with]

Whoever you're looking for, they--. [Wait. Wait just a minute, here. She knows that voice.]

[ video ] 2/2

[toys_with]

[She shifts to move her head out of the frame, so that only her pigtails and shoulders are visible. She coughs into one hand, knowing she's already messed up but figuring it too late to pretend she wasn't there now. The best she could hope for at this point was that this Doll had come from the place with a male version of herself, or that she had been by Doll forgotten somehow. She wasn't better on the latter.]

They're probably not here.

[Video]

[thelittledoll]

[She'll blink. Had that been...?]

... Smile? Is that you?

['Cept... Smile was a boy and that had been a girl... hadn't it?]

[Video]

[toys_with]

[oh jeez oh no this is really bad. But Doll seemed friendly enough... Maybe she didn't remember what happened at the mansion? Still, she didn't want to take any chances.]

S-"smile"? My apologies, but I don't think I know anyone by that name.

[Video]

[thelittledoll]

[Oh dear lordy, it looks like Smile's sister or something. If Smile had a sister. She wouldn't know.

... Same fancy english too.]

Sorry, ya look like a kid I know... 'Cept his 'air is shorter an' he 'as a grumpy expression all the time, like someone's tuggin' on 'is pants... 'Cept when he smiles. He 'as a cute smile.

Names Freckles!

[Video]

[toys_with]

Someone who looks like me? How strange.

My name is Ci--. [She scrambled for a name, realizing that even if this doll didn't know the female her, she knew of the Queen's Watchdog, and that would just make it worse.] Cynthia. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Freckles. [She let her face move back into the frame, feeling safer, and tried to smile. It wasn't as bright as the one she'd given on her audition for the circus, but it was passable. She'd had a lot of practice faking them, after all.]

[Video]

[thelittledoll]

[HM. She'll ponder the girl when she moves back into the mirror image thingy. Doll's really confused, she looks amazingly a lot like Smile and that smile has the same almost awkward flavour to it.]

Nice ta meetchya, Cynthia. 'Ey, ya got a brother named uh... wot was Smile's name... Finnian? Yea, 'at's wot 'e said 'is name was.

[She just has to run into Smile now, she found his long lost twin or something. This'd be amazing.]

[Video]

[toys_with]

A brother? [Oh, that is such a perfect out. Take it, Ciel, take it!]

Oh, I haven't a brother, but I do have a cousin named Finnian. The last I had heard of him, he had run away to the circus! [That was plausible enough, wasn't it? This way she could play off any things she didn't know as the distance between relatives who weren't too close.]

[Video]

[thelittledoll]

Ha! Mystery solved! Ya look a lot like 'im, ya do. Could be the same person if ya tweaked yerself a bit.

[She beams, believing everything said to her. Naive indeed. Nevermind she still mildly thinks this is all a dream.]

So... wot's this place, then?

[Video]

[toys_with]

Are you a friend of his, Miss Freckles?

[She keeps up the smile, acting a bit nervous. She hopes it will throw off the girl enough to make "Cynthia" and "Smile" distinct and separate in her mind.]

This place is called "The Gardens." No one knows why we're here, but for some reason, there aren't any men at all. There doesn't seem to be a way out, either.

[Video]

[thelittledoll]

I'd like ta hope so. He's kinda skinny and weak, so 'e needs someone ta look after 'im. [She scratches her cheek with a little grin] I dun' think 'e appreciates me 'elp.

Gardens, 'ey? Hmm, not somethin' I'd normally come up with in me dreams.

[She blinks to there being no guys, what really?... well, no big for her, it's the no way out thing that makes her frown]

Well, that can't be true, there's always a way out ov someplace. We aint in a giant box, right?

[Video]

[toys_with]

I'm sure he thinks of you as his friend. You seem very kind, after all. [Her smile is a bit more brittle-looking now, but she hopes it's ignored when she keeps talking.]

...You aren't dreaming. This place has some kind of magic. There are a few places outside of the Gardens proprer, but the wolves drag us back here if we go too far.