User blog:PyroGothNerd/Eye for an eye 33: The Doll Maker

We get a lead
"Iris"

"Ugh, just a little longer..."

"You have to get up..."

I slowly opened my eyes. I hadn't slept well the previous night, and had hoped to make up for it today, but apparently Mister Oculus had other plans.

"Why?" I asked, sounding rather pathetic.

"I got a lead on the Doll Maker's location, so we need to go get him." he responded.

My eyes flicked open wide. We had been searching for months, while not telling the others of our plans.

"Skip the shower today, Iris. You'll wake the others up, and they'll try to figure out what's going on." He handed me a black jumpsuit to wear, my dress would give me away, and be highly impractical.

I decided to at least do a quick spongebath, first. I didn't want to smell completely horrid.

One I was done, Mister Oculus and I began to sneak out of the Ruined Infirmary. Although I could have just made a Zilvra dome around us that Mister Oculus could have then teleported, it would have attracted too much attention, so we had to do it outside.

"So where is he?" I whispered, as we began to walk out.

"If my sources are right, in some little town in England. Small place. But-"

He stopped and looked at me, "Transgression has been spotted nearby."

I shivered. I had not directly encountered her for quite some time, and wasn't sure if I was ready to face her.

We were almost to the exit, when Mister Oculus stopped.

The Slender Man was standing in our way, smoking a pipe from where his mouth would be if he had one.

"Going somewhere?"

Three is a crowd
Mister Oculus stood there, shocked.

"What are you doing here?"

The Slenderman blew out a puff of smoke (somehow) and sighed. "Oh Oculus, I heard everything. You and your little...friend...aren't very quiet or sneaky."

Mister Oculus swore under his breath, trying not to let me hear.

"So, what makes  you think the Doll Maker would listen to a Fear he's only met once, and some girl he'd probably want to turn into a doll?"

Oculus groaned slightly, "Listen, we-"

"What you need-" The Slenderman interrupted, "Is someone who was close to him, understands what it feels like to be betrayed by someone he trusted."

I grew uncomfortable, remembering what Mister Oculus told be about how Transgression was created, and how it made Mister Oculus worry about me...

"And that would be you?" Mister Oculus asked in an annoyed tone, snapping me back to what was happening.

Another puff of smoke, "Yes, that would be me. We were quite close before he fell, and I knew him very well...well enough to know just how to convince him to join us."

Mister Oculus thought about it. I could catch glimpses of his thoughts racing through, since he wasn't able to completely block them. He pondered the part about Doll Maker trying to turn me into a doll multiple times, which worried him greatly.

He eventually sighed. "All right, but if you even START to do anything I don't approve-"

"No problem."

Attack
Forming a dome around The Slenderman was difficult. His Azoth repelled my Zilvra, so I had to make a really big dome because of it, instead of the small one I would have normally made for teleportation.

Mister Oculus was right about the town, it was very little. It was also very dirty, dark, foggy, and overall unpleasant. It was also empty, which worried me.

I then noticed a tricycle on the ground. It was covered in scratches.

"Something's not right." I said uneasily.

"I agree." Said Mister Oculus, "Slender-?"

The Slenderman glared at him, "Do NOT call me that."

"Fine, but what do you-" Mister Oculus stopped short, and looked at the ground. There was a bit of string, which started moving.

"IRIS! PUT UP A BARRIER! NOW!"

I did as he said, just before the string shot up, aiming for my chest.

"The Wooden Girl!" The Slender Man exclaimed, "We need to get out, FAST!"

"Where do you think you're going, darling?"

I turned around. Transgression was standing there, her long arms lunged towards me, and I put up another barrier.

The Slenderman whipped her with one of his branch-like tentacles, buying us enough time to take his advice and "RUN!"

We went into a dark alley, and Transgression ran right by us. However, at the end of the alley was a strange looking girl.

"The Wooden Girl" Mister Oculus growled.

I created Zilvra tentacles of my own, and whipped at the Wooden girl, but she caught it, and soon string flew towards my face, but missed, and hit Mister Oculus's eye and chest, instead. We both felt a rush of pain, before The Slenderman, using two of his tentacles, grabbed us both, and pulled us into a small shop.

The Wooden girl lunged, but was pushed out by some invisible force at the entrance.

Hats
The shop was filled with a vast assortment of dolls, but I was too busy trying to help Mister Oculus to worry about the details. He was gritting his teeth and swearing, trying not to scream.

I used some Zilvra to form a patch, but that didn't help. Then I remembered his blood had Zilvra in it, so I decided to try something. I controlled the zilvra in his blood, which was extremely difficult, but it worked and I was able to stop his bleeding.

I used Zilvra to try and patch up his chest, but that wasn't helping, either.

Suddenly, his hat fell off, and his body went limp.

"Oculus?" I said. I panicked, and my thoughts rushed Please no, please he can't be dead, is that even possible?

Then I heard one of his thoughts, '''The Hat, Iris. Put it back on the head of the body'''

I did as he said, and his body quickly returned to life, but he quickly regretted it as he felt the surge of pain from his chest, and started screaming.

At this point, all I could think to do was hold him, so I did. I held him tight, tried to tell him everything would be allright, before finally, I started crying, too.

Eventually, the bleeding stopped and he stopped screaming, but I was still crying. He pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it to me. Eventually, I stopped.

"Better now, Iris?" He asked, trying to ignore his own pain.

I wasn't sure, I had so many questions. What was Transgression and the Wooden Girl doing here? Where were we? But I decided to start with one question in particular...

"Why did your body die when your hat fell off?"

Mister Oculus looked uncomfortable. "Well," he coughed, "I, well, made this body seperately. I'm actually the eyes on the hat, and the body is more like a puppet...kind of..."

"But, I've seen you take off your hat-"

"For no more than a few seconds, and never more than two feet away from me. There actually was once the hat fell off during a live episode, so we had to improv and pretend the episode was about calling 911 and--"

He stopped, he was shifting uncomfortably. Many of his thoughts failed to escape me.

The Slenderman groaned, "Have your awkward confession time later, right now, we have to find-"

"Me"

The Doll Maker
Standing at the desk of the show was the Doll Maker. He stood there, cleaning one of his dolls.

The Slenderman stood up. "Doll Maker. Long time, no see."

"Please, old friend, I go by Drosselmeyer, now, and I am perfectly content owning my business, so go away."

Slenderman stopped, thought for a moment, and then continued. "But you've never truly lost your power, have you? That's why we're safe in here."

There was a long, awkward pause.

"Tell me, Drosselmeyer, are you really content making dolls that will never move? Dolls that you cannot truly caress and romance to your heart's desire?"

Well this is starting to creep me out.

Drosselmeyer lowered his glasses, glaring at Slenderman from above them, before sighing. "I still have a couple of my old dolls..."

Three girls came out, about my age, one made of porcelain, and the other two of wood. Mister Oculus stood between me and them, before remembering what I said before about how I was the bodygaurd, not him, and contented to stand next to me.

Slenderman looked closely, smoking his pipe, and blew smoke into one of their faces.

"Impressive. You kept them all this time. But, they seem a bit- " He rubbed his finger on one of their faces, causing his finger to have a thick coat of grey on it

"-dusty. and you would never let one of your dolls get dusty...unless, of course, you grew desperately bored of them...a problem you never had before...back when you had enough dolls that you could rotate them, and never grow bored, even when you weren't making new ones. You had one for whatever romance you had in mind. They all had their turns."

This is getting creepier.

"You lost Angelica, didn't you? One of your favorites. Such an angel, treated you like a king."

Drosselmeyer nodded. "The only willing doll I ever had."

"Pale blonde hair, white dress, vibrant green eyes."

Drosselmeyer began to tremble, and Slenderman continued, "What ever happened to her?"

Drosselmeyer slammed his fist on his desk, at which point tears began streaming down his face "WOODEN GIRL SHATTERED HER TO PIECES, ALONG WITH THE OTHERS!!!"

He sobbed, and his remaining dolls went to him, trying to comfort him, but in vain.

Finally, Slenderman put his hand on Drosselmeyer's shoulder. "Isn't it about time she paid for what she's done to you? To your dolls? To Angelica?"

Drosselmeyer sobbed a little more, before getting up, and glaring at Slenderman, glancing at me and Oculus, before making his intentions clear.

"My darlings shall be avenged."

Return
We returned at about lunchtime. The other fears were surprised to see Drosselmeyer, but warmly welcomed him.

They were surprised, however, that Mister Oculus had not rapidly healed like he usually does, and Pestilence had to (reluctantly) heal him.

Drosselmeyer cleaned up his remaining dolls, apologizing to them for the neglect, and promising to make it up to each of them, in his "special way."

Pestilence decided it would be best to give him a soundproof room further away from the rest of us for them to stay in.