#dollsolace.

[dollsolace]

"sorry, but i can't leave. not yet." — @moldcursed

donna's hands, clasped behind her back, wring together anxiously at ethan's determination.

she was not daft. miranda's true intentions had become clear. each of them — the ones she'd claimed as her children — were nothing but pawns to her. expendable assets to achieve what none of them had known to be her true goal: her reason for the sudden appearance in a village so inconsequential that no maps harboured its name nor location. the realisation that everything had been fake left an ache in her chest. all of her devotion, swelled over years of wishes granted and anxieties sated, sours.

" mother m — " words are abruptly cut off, the bitter taste of betrayal coating the inside of her mouth and hanging heavy on muttered words. her words. spoken from between pale lips, muffled by the veil obscuring her features, rather than the mouthpiece she so often preferred. angie, a mirror of herself, hides behind her. porcelain fingers clutching mourning garb so tight you can almost see tiny fists quivering.

" she will kill you. " voice barely above a whisper, rasped from years of self inflicted silence, her gaze averts from ethan's battered form. " you won't get your rose back. " it isn't a threat. she was no longer under the spell the prophet had weaved through lies and false promises. it's a warning. one she so strongly believes to be the truth. many times she had witnessed miranda's strength, and pessimism was rooted deeply into her psyche. he could not win with sheer determination alone. not against her.

weak. you're weak. the realisation of what you'd always known makes your bones ache, sluggish heart pulsing in agonisingly slow beats with the weight of your crushing guilt. it was too late, now. your guilt will not absolve your sins. no atonement will take back what you've done: no matter how oblivious you were to her tender manipulation. you carried out her will, did as you were instructed. now, after everything, you were left to die.

" we want you to kill her. " donna grows rigid at the shrill voice that comes from behind her. they were one in the same, her and angie. shared cadou meant shared thoughts, feelings, emotions. the betrayal looms over both doll and woman, though only one has the capability of voicing as much — for the others fear weighs too heavy.

[dollsolace]

❛ i guess i don't really care if it's dangerous or not. i'm going either way. ❜ — @crucialelement

" you'll die. " angie croons from her place held securely in donna's arms, whole body seeming the sway to a rhythm only audible to herself. a bout of sinister giggles follows the singular nod from donna. confirmation that, should emily depart from the relative safety of the beneviento estate, her survival rate would diminish greatly.

not that it was particularly high with the doll-maker and her dear friend. or anywhere in the village, for that matter. whether she was heading for miranda, or merely breaching the threshold that separated them from the icy zephyr of romania's winter. it had become a macabre scene of gruesome slaughter. one that left no survivors: that retained no mercy.

" then what good will you be? " a soft thud followed by a patter of light footsteps as angie scurried across carpeted floor to skip playfully around emily. " dead in a ditch. left to rot. " porcelain sings once more, and despite the sigh of dismay that follows — as if truly caring for the fate of the woman — there's a twinkle of twisted amusement at the prospect pf someone so strong, so willing, only ending up a corpse. nothing achieved. nothing to show. so much strength wasted.

[dollsolace]

❛ i'm kind of lost. ❜ — @viralcure

the figure stood at the propped open gates to the beneviento estate had been almost silent upon their approach. at least, it seemed that way. donna had been far too engrossed in the petals she'd been tenderly plucking, carefully depositing each into a worn leather pouch perched in her lap. it wasn't until the quiet snap of a branch prompted her to raise from her crouched position instantly, spinning around to face the stranger.

hands folding together in front of her, feigning a false sense of confidence, donna feels the familiar sensation of her pores twitching and vibrating; smells the sweet scent of hallucinogenic toxins pouring from the flora surrounding her, settling to the floor and creeping towards rebecca. it wasn't much — a dose small enough to elicit some unease and shadows that shift eerily in ones peripheral.

" lost? " a scratchy, high - pitched voice comes from behind donna, porcelain companion revealing herself from where she'd been tucked behind the lord. there's a creak, barely audible over a warm breeze, as her head cocks: marbled eyes rolling over the new addition to their company. the distorted hum of a rhythmless song begins, growing closer as sculpted ceramic waltzes throughout rotting plant matter until she's stood before rebecca.

" an unlucky place to get lost. " the sing - song lilt in her words is almost mocking — like she knows some little secret her new friend isn't privy to. " i'm angie. that's miss beneviento. " despite speaking, angie is too busy skipping around rebecca to poke and tug at whatever she can reach to gesture to to the lord — though donna does nothing. only stands and stares.

[dollsolace]

she's afraid of dolls but she's being so brave and seeing if Donna needs help 🙏🙏

pale hands, skilled in their craft, halt mid stroke at the approaching figure. cloaked head tilting just enough to catch the woman from her peripheral — anxious, as she always was with strangers — she gives an almost imperceptible nod of her head. an acceptance of the offered aid.

angie seems to gasp in delight at their newcomer, legs that had previously been swinging to and fro from her seat perched on the edge of the workbench now pitter pattering across the floor towards maddie. small, porcelain hands reach out to grasp their pant leg, tugging them towards the array of threads and needles lined up beside the doll donna was tediously painting a visage to.

" come come come!! " the small doll huffs impatiently, shifting instead to start pushing at the back of her legs to speed her up — a surprising amount of strength behind fragile ceramic. " can you sew? " angie chirps, unblinking eyes trained on maddie as donna lifts her back up, setting her feet down on the bench so she can skip towards the red head: face unnervingly close to their own as she awaits their answer.

[dollsolace]

PLAYLIST SHUFFLE: world so cold by 12 stones; ""is there a cure for your sickness? have you no heart?"" — @pretty-isnt-pretty-enough ( for sheva )

a gasp, high pitched and indignant with her offence, springs from the small porcelain doll, entire tiny body seeming to move with her surprised disgust — whose feet pattered as she hurriedly scurried to donna's seated position.

the woman had her head tipped forward, fingers picking at the skin around her nails as the others icy words sank in. sickness . . . no heart. they crawled into her ears and melted into infested grey matter, leaving teeth clenching and bottom lip trembling beneath the safety of her veil. no heart . . . no heart? no heart no heart no she had a heart. she did. she had to. what else could it be? that ached so terribly, confined by a cage of rattling, lonely bones. it didn't beat. no, not anymore. not for a long time: but it remained. it felt. guilt, loneliness, disgust. what in her felt, if not a heart? if not her heart?

even with the addition of her best friend, huffing with the effort it took to crawl up into donna's lap, she does not move. does not lift her head, does not halt the anxious tearing of skin. not even when tiny porcelain hands raise to cover hidden ears.

" watch what you say to her!! " angie screeches out, cool cheek pressing against a cloaked forehead in an attempt to subdue growing distress. 'a heart?' it echoes in the little doll's thoughts, consciousness melded into one thanks to their shared parasite. " you don't know anything! " if she hadn't been so concerned with the heavy head held between slim fingers, perhaps she would even attack the woman for her gall. " you should just leave!! before me and my friends get you!! "