Being plunged into darkness was not really pleasant, especially if it was in the presence of a living doll, Andy would confirm that, he had barely opened the glass cage when the light flickered and went out, he immediately put his back to the wall his hand hovering near a hunting knife hidden behind him.
"Okay..." he murmured softly, trying to hear the redhead's small feet, then finally he started speaking while keeping his weapon within reach, "Poppy? Are you there?"
The light finally comes back on, making his blue eyes travel from left to right, the blond-haired young man bends down trying to find Poppy who of course did not stay there during the blackout, in any case one thing is for sure it comes from the glass box he has just opened and that leads him to only one logical conclusion.
"A security device?" Smith wondered, looking under the table, then clicked his tongue as he opened the empty toy chest. "But why? She doesn't seem dangerous..." A brief memory of his encounter with Huggy Wuggy stopped him. "Or not?...no, she would have already attacked me if she were really dangerous...in any case, she's my only lead before Playcare, I have to find her."
Retracing his steps, he glanced at a half-open door. Opening it fully, he discovered an indecently long corridor. Walking slowly, he looked back for a moment, still confused, thinking how the room he had just left had no place in a factory. It looked much more like the inside of a house, Poppy's room serving as a bedroom for the life-size doll. Was it some kind of symbolism, given that it was the company's first toy? He might have believed that before his encounter with Huggy, but now Andy thought it was something much more complex.
The buzzing of the neon lights above his head annoyed him as much as the sound of his footsteps echoing through the factory; once he reached the end, he had the pleasant surprise of coming across a crossroads with, right in front of him, a door bearing the name of the founder of .
[Elliot Ludwig]
With the door locked, Andy began to look for another way, the one on the left being closed and just in front of the gate a corpse of Boogie Bot that seemed to have been crushed on the ground, displaying a more pained expression on its face the blond wondered why the living toy seemed to have been the target of so much violence, walking on the path to the right this question looped in his head about the whys and wherefores.
"This way"
Blinking rapidly, the human spun around, fists ready to swing, only to see that he was indeed alone here.
"...at least they're not ghosts," he said to himself with a touch of irony, looking at the handle placed high up, fixing one hand of his GrabPack on it, he used it to swing over the hole. "Whoops! Okay, I'm not quite at Tarzan's level yet."
He quickly came across a cardboard cutout of Huggy Wuggy, which raised his eyebrow a few centimeters when he saw the promotional item. Looking at the red button suspiciously, he finally shrugged, thinking that it might be interesting.
#Press#
"Laugh"
Wow, he hadn't imagined Huggy's voice like that, it's more cheerful than expected, still curious he presses the button again.
"Does anyone want a hug?"
"Well...yes? Once all this is over, I wouldn't say no to a hug," joked the blond, pressing again.
"Hold me tight, I promise I won't bite."
"Ah? You wouldn't lie to me?" he chuckled, remembering his chase through the ducts and the giant toy's mouth full of fangs.
"Come on, come closer"
"I would hold you until you (background noise)"
"...why does it sound sinister?" he wonders, finding that the recording seems arranged to give chills to the listener.
Turning around, he began to push the barrels blocking his access to the door. Once finished, he entered the room, which contained only a key hanging at the back. Taking it in his hand, he raised one of his eyebrows, looking at the poppy flower adorning the handle of the key.
"I have a feeling someone really likes this flower," the young man simply commented, putting the key in his pocket.
Retracing his steps, Andy finally opened Elliot Ludwig's office. From his first steps into the room, a feeling of déjà vu washed over him. He then noticed the resemblance to where Poppy was, proving that it was the founder of Playtime who had intended it. Looking around, Andy found children's drawings hanging on the walls, making him smile as proof that Elliot genuinely loved children. Of course, his eyes also caught sight of the toys depicted in the drawings: Huggy, Poppy, Bron, Cat-Bee, and...what was her name again? Ah, Kissy Missy, the female version of Huggy. Smith grimaced at the sight of Bron's corpse under the ventilation grate. Then a detail disturbed him. Bending down to inspect the dead toy, he noticed a code around its neck, which was itself connected to the metal grate.
"Did they hang him?" the human naturally wonders, looking inside the conduit with a frown. "Cruel punishment," he sighs, placing the body in a corner.
He would sincerely like to understand how toy manufacturers could have created a new form of life; his finger pushes the body, noting that to the touch it resembles plastic, but underneath it is much softer, like spongy flesh, confirming to him that the external appearance of toys is nothing more than an illusion to hide their true nature as ancient living creatures. Andy sighs as he gets up.
"I shouldn't be surprised after meeting Huggy," he said, running a hand over his face, trying to process the numerous assumptions flooding his mind.
How did they do it? By what means did they manage to create living toys? And above all, why do they do it?
While inspecting Elliot le Smith's office, he finds a new VHS tape with the founder's name on it.
"Well, let's see what we have here," he said, putting the cassette in the player and leaning back against the desk.
"Playtime Co. is the work of a great man named Elliot Ludwig."
"Divorced, but a family man at heart."
"His goal has always been to offer extraordinary toys to extraordinary children all over the world.
"Ludwig spent countless hours at the factory, working tirelessly overtime in order to constantly innovate and surprise."
"In the 1960s, a tragic family death had plunged Ludwig to his lowest point."
"But with so much ambition,
He got up and continued…to realize his vision of the Playtime Co. toy factory."
"Ludwig could never be content to leave a project unfinished.
But how could one man create such an astounding empire?
"How did he manage to remain determined even after suffering such pain? A tragic loss?"
"It all started in the fateful year of 19-"
Seeing the film stop just before it became interesting for him, Andy sighed and opened his logbook containing the information he had collected before and after entering the factory. Flipping through the pages, he came across the one concerning the founder of Playtime and added what he had just heard.
"When did he die again?" the blond wondered, pushing the eraser of his pencil against his lower lip. "Eighty-four? Or ninety?" Finally shrugging his shoulders, he finished taking notes, placing his notebook on the desk and putting the sheet he had picked up earlier right next to it.
{Experiment 814}
Remarks :
This experiment used a live rat.
The rat was fed 3 portions per day for 2 weeks.
At the end of the two weeks, the rat was killed and immersed in a mixture of poppy flowers and preservative gel.
A week later, an electric shock was applied to the rat (still in the gel) in an attempt to revive it.
The rat remained unmoved.
Analysis:
I still believe in the poppy's potential. Its unusual properties lead me to believe that the right mixture and method could have beneficial effects on life. The poppy has long been imbued with strong symbolism, and I don't believe that's without reason. Perhaps an object larger than a rat would yield different results.
"...it's officially a Frankenstein story," murmurs the human, recoiling in disgust as he connects this to the very nature of Huggy and the other toys he found dead. Walking in circles around the office with his arms crossed, Smith is really trying not to panic. "So...someone did experiments on rats...and it ended up giving birth to living toys..." He quickly jots down his thoughts, then stares at the sheet of paper on the desk that seems to mock his logic.
The blond boy doesn't understand how this note ended up here. Elliot Ludwig doing this kind of thing seems improbable to him. The tape speaks of a hardworking man who wanted to make children happy. His mother loved and respected this man. The idea of him participating in this kind of experiment is completely out of character for him. Shaking his head and making his long ponytail sway, the young man focuses on what's most important: what this note tells him. First, that there have been hundreds of experiments using rats as guinea pigs, and that the poppy flower is at the center of it all. The most disturbing part is the passage suggesting that larger test subjects would be needed. This sends shivers of fear down his spine as he imagines more reasonable things, like guinea pigs or monkeys, but then he finally thinks that those responsible for the experiment used human beings.
"If they ever did that to people..." the blond boy murmured darkly, abruptly closing his notebook and putting it back in his bag, trying not to think about people being subjected to experiments like the rat's... "...let's hope not."
After going around in circles for a while, he finally tore off the grate at the back of the office and discovered with satisfaction a duct large enough for him, climbing inside he had a brief thought about the blue monster that had chased him a few hours earlier.
"I hope he's doing well."
Arriving in a deserted maintenance room, the human jumps to the ground, absentmindedly dusting his hands. He looks at the unlit power poles and realizes he'll have to play electrician again. He prepares to roll up his sleeves-
#BOOM!#
He wasn't very proud of his start of fear which made him send the hands of his GrabPack in the general direction of the noise, panting he leaped back ready to fight the next murderous toy that would dare show its face to Smith.
"Oh! Uh, sorry!"
The thin, feminine voice froze him in place. Blinking stupidly, he looked up at the threat that had taken him by surprise and felt his jaw relax slightly. Imagining it was one thing, but facing that doll-like face displaying such lifelike human emotions was incredible: her porcelain skin, her large sky-blue eyes, her flushed cheeks, her bright red pigtails, her dress with little bows everywhere, her expression of sincere regret. In short, seeing all this, Andy uttered the following sentence.
"How can a girl be so pretty?"
...
The doll's blush confirms to Andy that he had thought aloud what he probably should have kept to himself; coughing rapidly, he tries to regain some composure in the eyes of a very silent Poppy after the human's compliment.
"Uh, well, I didn't mean to say that...well, if you're really...I should stop there," he sighed, taking off his cap and revealing his pink fringe to Poppy's eyes. "Hi, I'm Andy."
"...hi?" said the redhead softly, smiling a little at the blond's clumsiness. "Nice to meet you Andy...uh sorry for scaring you, actually I wanted to thank you for freeing me, you can't imagine how long I spent locked inside," she said sincerely.
"Well, you're welcome?" he said, shrugging, though inwardly he was glad Poppy was more talkative than Huggy. "Although, to be honest, I did this because I was hoping you could tell me what's going on here." He maintained eye contact with the redhead, already noticing her posture stiffen and her feet shift back with a slight, discreet step, as if she were preparing to flee. "Listen, I came here just to find an answer, but... since I arrived, I've been finding toys that are dead or trying to kill me, and you're the first person who can tell me what's happening here..."
For a moment he thinks she's just going to run away and leave him here, then she closes her eyes and breathes deeply, when her sky-blue eyes open they plunge into the dark blue of the human.
"I suppose answering some questions is the least I can do for the one who freed me," he said with a hint of teasing. The human smiled, relieved not to have to pursue her. "I'm listening."
"Okay...so tell me..." he rummages in his jacket and pulls out the photo of his mother and holds it up to the redhead "Do you recognize the woman in this photo?"
Squinting her blue eyes at the photo, the little doll felt her heart flutter when she saw that smile which she thought was just a memory.
"Dr. Smith..." said the redhead in a soft voice. "Is she the reason you're here?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed hopefully, taking a few steps forward. "Do you...do you know if—"
"No...I..." she stood up, one hand supporting her forehead, as flashes of events from ten years earlier suddenly returned. "...I don't know what happened to her...the last time I saw her she was at Playcare with the orphans..."
"Was she alright?" Sonia's son asked quickly and hopefully.
"Yes...but I don't know what happened next, sorry Andy," the little doll quickly apologized.
"No, no, don't apologize...at least it means she didn't just disappear," he sighed, running a hand over his forehead. "That's something...so she was definitely at Playcare that day."
He suspected as much; his mother would never have abandoned an injured child. It was even her golden rule as a doctor to always be there for those in need of help. Sighing, he stared at Playtime's most famous doll.
"Ten years ago"—once again Poppy's posture became stiffer and her little fingers tightened on her dress. "All the employees disappeared...just like that, thousands of people vanished, and the same for the orphans...so tell me, Poppy, what happened ten years ago?"
He must know, the worst questions are those that remain unanswered, especially when one wonders what happened to the most important person in one's life, his jaw clenches as he sees the fleeting gaze of the little doll who opens and closes her mouth several times, seeming to struggle against herself, then she finally closes her eyes and turns her gaze away from him.
"I...I...I can't...Andy...you..." she hesitates, her small fist clutching her dress. "What happened...you'll only understand once you're at Playcare..." she breathes heavily, wanting to calm the emotions shaking her whole being.
...
"..." he blinked once, taking his lower lip between his teeth, he didn't take his eyes off the redhead without saying anything, then he emitted a thoughtful hum "Okay"
Poppy's head moves so fast that her neck threatens to break as she watches the human use their Grabpack to send a hand onto the power coil.
"Okay?" the doll repeated incredulously. She had expected to have to argue with him to convince him to help her join Playcare, but his sudden acceptance took her by surprise. "Just like that? You said you wanted answers!?"
"Well yes, but you just told me I'd get them at Playcare," he replied, turning around a pole so the cable touched it. "Anyway, I had to go there, so it works out well."
"I...I thought that after escaping Huggy you would want to escape..." the redhead softly admits, which draws a raised eyebrow from the blond.
"Let's just say I wasn't expecting that," he joked, pausing for a moment to look at the ceiling, thinking about the giant plush toy that must be bored up there. "More seriously, I'm too stubborn to give up; I've waited ten years, so an hour or two more is nothing to me."
He supports his statement by pressing the second coil to restore the current, bringing his hand back into place, he looks at Poppy smiling, then his expression becomes sheepish as he runs a hand over the back of his neck.
"Well, I didn't really escape her, you know," he admits under the astonished gaze of the blue-eyed doll.
"Eh ?"
"Actually, he chased me and was even about to catch me...and then I managed to throw him into the void," he explains with a short laugh. "But...he held on."
"...so you have it..." she doesn't finish her sentence knowing already that in this situation Andy only had one option against Huggy.
"Uh...actually I...saved him"
...
Poppy blinks once, her jaw relaxing a few centimeters, her brain trying to understand what the human just told her even though honestly she is plunged into denial.
"You saved him?" she murmurs in astonishment, for a moment she believes it's a lie but seeing the blond man's frank and confident look she knows he's not making it up.
"Yes," he assures, letting his hand fall back to his side, his mind replaying the moment he ran to help the toy that was trying to eat him just before. "I...I saw its eyes calling for help and...I saved it..." he smiles again. "Honestly, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I had let it die without doing anything."
"...even if..." she now looks at him with a softer, even fragile emotion, but one that pushes away her fear. "Even if he tried to kill you?"
"Well, it's not a great first impression, but the guy was starving, and besides," he said with a teasing smile, turning his back on Poppy to show off his backside in his jeans, "I think I look good, don't you?"
"Pfff!" she clapped her hands over her mouth to try not to laugh at such a vulgar joke, but the damage was done, her laughter won and echoed through the factory. "Hahahhah! hhaaaahahaha!"
Andy, proud of his little joke, lets her laugh for a moment; once she has calmed down, she catches her breath while wiping away a tear of joy lingering in her eye.
"You...honestly, you're crazy, you know?" she said in a laughing voice.
"Thank you," he said, bowing, then regained his composure, pointing to the place he had arrived from. "We'd better get going, shouldn't we?"
"Yes, you're right," she whispered, pulling a small piece of paper from her dress, which clearly had pockets. "We need to get to the Game Station; from there we'll take the train that will take us straight to Playcare."
"Very well then, we-"
"I'm going ahead to see if the way is clear," said the little redhead, disappearing into a conduit under Andy's alarmed gaze.
"Wait..." Seeing the red streaks disappear into the duct, Andy sighed, running a hand over his face, which wore a weary expression. "Never separate...why doesn't anyone follow this rule?" he sighed, retracing his steps and reaching out to pull himself up into the duct. As he walked, he wondered if his new friend was reliable, which made him chuckle slightly. "As if I could complain..."
Finally leaving, he returned from Ludwig's office. His gaze was drawn to Poppy, standing on one of the armchairs, holding a pair of square glasses stained with blood. Her expression resembled... nostalgia? Andy didn't know what Poppy was thinking, and this made him nervous and suspicious, wondering why she was locked up and not killed like the others. What was so special about her besides being Playtime's first success? Other questions plagued him, such as how she ended up locked up for over ten years and survived. He eventually pushed these questions to the back of his mind, realizing that if he continued like this, she wouldn't help him in his investigation, which was increasingly resembling an episode of The X-Files.
"Is everything alright?" asked the blond man, which made the redhead jump slightly as she quickly placed the object back on the coffee table. "Sorry...I didn't mean to disturb you."
"It's nothing...I..." she exhales a heavy breath, her small shoulders relax and her blue eyes scan the room "...it just feels so strange to finally be out...it's been so long since I've been back here"
"Oh..." he said eloquently, rummaging through the desk drawers, wanting to keep himself busy. "I imagine you must have some serious ants in your pants," he joked, observing the diagrams of a toy called Love Bug.
"Yes..." she laughs a little as she sits down in the armchair, highlighting her small stature. "It feels so good to be able to scratch my nose."
"Great Scott! Just thinking about it makes me itch," he shuddered dramatically, making the doll giggle. Meanwhile, he continued to study the files he had just taken out, then one of them caught his eye. Carefully unfolding the pages, he finally came across a strange passage: "The schedules of..."
What he sees doesn't please him at all, nor do the small notes at the bottom of the page which certainly don't come from a toy manufacturer, putting the paper aside he reads the one that interests him, finally nodding his head firmly he packs everything up then takes off his backpack, he knows they should hurry but he has been running around the factory filled with deadly toys for a while now and strangely it has given him an appetite.
"By the way, did you have time to check if the way was clear?" he asks, opening his bag.
"Yes, don't worry, there's no one left on this floor," she assures him, which greatly reassures him. Poppy's sky-blue eyes then fixed on the assortment of food spread out on the desk and on the neon green bottles. "Um...do you always carry so much stuff?" she asks with a slight discomfort in her stomach when she sees a packet of marshmallows.
"If there's one thing my grandfather taught me, it's to always be prepared for the worst," he replied with a smile, removing his cap and revealing his pink streaks to the curious gaze of the little doll. "What are you waiting for? You must be hungry after all this time."
His casual remark couldn't have been more accurate.
Andy Smith watched Poppy start eating while moaning with happiness as she finally felt something fill her little tummy; in fact, the blond boy was almost grateful that she was smaller than him, otherwise she would have easily devoured all his provisions.
"OOOhhhh...it feels so good..." she sighed, rubbing her full belly while lounging in the armchair with the intention of staying there forever.
"Glad to see that it pleases you," he said, nibbling more gently on the bag of marshmallows, opening his logbook with one hand and began to note his latest observation as well as his latest discovery.
It felt good to take a break; he knew he would have to delve deeper and deeper into this factory. The chances of surviving were slim, but it was far too late to turn back, and besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.
Finishing his work, he gets up, attracting Poppy's attention, who climbs into one of the office's conduits.
"I'll follow you through the vents, if I see anything I'll let you know," she explains, smoothing her dress.
"Very well, but remain discreet, okay? We don't know what awaits us," he said, putting his GrabPack back in place.
"Don't worry, I know this factory like the back of my hand," she assures proudly. "We'll meet up further on."
Nodding his head, he leaves the office, not without thinking that it is really nice to have someone who can guide him in this factory. Returning to the closed gate, he opens it with his Grabpack. Moving forward, he looks in panic at the immense chasm formed after the floor of the corridor collapsed. Fixing one hand towards a support bar, he swings over the void. Landing on the other side, he releases the breath he could not hold. As he gets up, he walks down the endless corridors of Playtime when his ears pick up a sound other than the noise of the neon above his head. He easily recognizes this melody; it was the same as in the room where Poppy was locked up.
(Nice voice, anyway) said the blond with pink bangs.
After passing through closed doors and admiring an absolutely adorable Cat-Bee poster, Smith finally arrived at...a huge hole?
He doesn't know what was at the origin, but today it's an abyss of darkness devouring the light, and right on the edge is his new friend, far too relaxed for his liking; one simple misstep would be enough for her to fall.
"Be careful!" he said, stepping towards her; she turned her eyes towards him with an amused expression on her doll-like face.
"Don't worry about it-
Suddenly a hand emerged from the chasm and grabbed Poppy, pulling her away in a second under the helpless gaze of the blond man who reached out his hand towards her.
"HAAAAAAAAAAaa!"
"POPPY! NO!"