Isn't this what it wanted?
Everyone knows what it's been thinking all this time now, and yet…
The arms around the plush doll tightens ever so slightly. Rose hasn't put it down for what has to be hours now, but it doesn't complain. If this simple act comforts him, it can find comfort in it too.
Void, Faker and Minus have returned to the main room a few minutes ago, and seem to be talking normally now. No one commented on the state of the note. Maybe all of them felt the need to crumple it, D was simply the one who couldn't hold back.
He didn't mean to, it truly believes that. Out of everyone else, he'd be the one to understand how harrowing this note is. It's not an extension of good will like Minus claims it is, although it can be interpreted that way. It's everything the plush doll wants to say to the only people it knows, every one of its waking thoughts put onto paper. And it believes they all know that, if the heavy weight that has settled over the set is any indication. The sudden, straightforward sincerity is uncomfortable, especially from something they can't entirely perceive to be a person even if they wanted to.
Minus has picked up the note to read it aloud now, and they're all listening together — their solution to the issue they had with Faker's choice to read everything written on it. Laying everything bare means no one gets to hide anything, and no one gets to know more than the others. It's funny how Faker seems the most unsettled by this arrangement other than D.
It's quiet at first, but gradually more and more interjections of comments appear, and they're having small banters, then actual discussions. Every word has a hint of irony and sarcasm to it, poking fun but not berating. It's the only way they know how to dilute their emotions.
Minus and Void are the most at ease. There aren't anything personal written for Minus, so he's taking his time to make minor jabs at the others for choosing to talk about their issues to a plushie that looks like themselves; Void never discussed anything too deeply with the plush, and his part has already been read by another person anyway, so he is calm as his part is being read out. Plushie guesses he was only peeved about what Faker did because it could've been worse.
Rose and D are a different story, and Plushie feels the worst for them since they weren't involved with the dispute in the first place. Everyone already knows about Rose's grievances with his own life, but he never likes talking about it. Out of a sense of shame, perhaps, that he's so used to having no one. Rose only interrupts the reading to say Plushie's thoughts are well-put. Plushie appreciates that.
Everyone is mostly silent during D's part. It could be because that's the first part Plushie had chosen to write, and they're still warming up to the note reading, but Plushie could feel there's more to it. Maybe he'd used a few too many words to describe what it's like to be him. D doesn't look anywhere but down, and the whole room is tense along with him. Plushie feels its heart sink into the ground as nothing reaches out to it from the murky waters. Until, finally, at the end of his part, he sees D nod, the motion just barely noticeable, and suddenly the sky in Plushie's head clears. A quiet understanding that hasn't been reciprocated until just now. If he could cry, he probably would be crying, regardless of if he'd be told off for his tears.
As Faker's part comes up, he goes to leave the room, saying there's no point to him being around for it. Void half-heartedly attempts to make him stay before letting him off, but not without calling him a coward after him. There's a reason he felt the need to read the entire note, Plushie knows it. It's why he knew he couldn't police all of them into reading the note how he would've wanted them to, despite the tiny, stupid hope that it wouldn't turn out this way. Faker getting to read the note first and Void calling Faker out earlier was the worst case scenario.
As self-centered as he is, Faker never talks about himself genuinely. He's good at pretending to be shallow, though, which is probably why everyone is surprised to learn he has things to get off his chest, too. Void says that he deserves worse than what he complains about for what he did, and D agrees. Rose only clutches Plushie tighter to his chest. Minus just shrugs.
At the end of it all, all eyes turn to Plushie with a new found clarity, but none speak for a long moment. What do you say to someone who's twisted all your selfish acts into tokens of kindness, simply because he has nothing else?
‘…You've done a terrific job, Doll,’ Rose eventually breaks the silence. He might've been the only one capable of doing so.
‘Yeah, uh… Good job,’ D chimes in, more quietly. ‘It's a good note, I mean it. And your outfit totally doesn't look awful.’
Plushie can only squeak indignantly back in response. That gets a small smile on D's face, and maybe that's enough to him.
‘Now that this is over with, can we go back to doing asks?’ Void deadpans, clearly exhausted from having met his ‘feeling emotions’ quota for the day, ‘Pretty sure we made the entire audience uncomfortable with whatever melodrama that just happened.’
‘I'm fine with that,’ replies Faker, who seems to have snuck back into the room with everyone else at some point, and who Minus greets with noticeable enthusiasm.
And so, things are back to normal for now, albeit with some lingering tension. Plushie lets himself be okay with that, especially when it means he finally doesn't have to be left alone on the floor anymore.
…Though, he does wonder if Rose is planning to put him down at all in the foreseeable future.
