That Violet Disciple - Poppy Playtime

3 - Special Gift

Yin stood over the crushed remains of Miss Delight. Even though her head was in several pieces, her eyes still seemed to follow him.

Yin flipped the lever and the metal security door went up. Miss Delight's skull crunched a little when the weight lifted. Yin tiptoed around her and backed down the hall a safe-ish distance before looking away and quickly looking back. Still dead. He tried again, looking away longer. No motion. Good.

He walked as fast as he could to the schoolhouse. The paranoia was getting to him. He tried to focus instead on the stuff he wanted to find, starting with a bag to carry everything. The lockers were empty or still locked, but there were a few backpacks left in the halls and classrooms. None of them big enough for what he needed, though.

Eventually he stepped through a hole in the wall into what looked to be a classroom for older kids. The bags there were bigger, and he ended up claiming an abandoned messenger bag. He tried his best not to make any assumptions from the decorated notebooks and bedazzled pink pen inside, but he was careful with them as he set them in a pile on an intact desk.

Okay, he had a bag. Now for the stuff to put in it.

He started ransacking everything around, feeling like a genuine thief and getting an odd thrill from it. He was careful not to break or tear anything that looked like it belonged to a kid.

Upon peeling off a stuck closet door, he found a rolled up shag rug. Perfect! Not even bloodstained!

He raided the office cubes and found a suspiciously heavy-duty looking stapler, and a huge pair of shears stuck into the top of a desk.

His hasty pace slowed when he passed a water fountain. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything since he got to the factory, and that was... a day ago? Two? He wasn't quite desperate enough to break into one of the vending machines, at least not for the sugary products. But the possibility of plain water coaxed him to try the fountain's handle.

The thing let out a noisy hiss. Yin let go and instinctively checked all the dark corners around him. He set his jaw and reminded himself that there was only one teacher, and that he definitely crushed her under a metal door.

He held down the fountain's handle. The hissing sputtered, then a thin trickle of brown, gritty water flowed out. Yin grimaced. The pressure increased after a few seconds, and after many longer seconds, the water started to clear until it looked... mostly drinkable. It was murky, but a better color.

Yin sipped a little and held it in his mouth before spitting it out. It didn't taste like it would instantly kill him, at least. He took another sip and slowly swallowed it. His face pinched. It tasted bad, but not any worse than he remembered.

Yin managed another mouthful, then stepped away. His thirst demanded more, but his gag reflex wouldn't handle it. Besides, he still needed some more supplies. Where did classrooms usually keep their first aid kits?

He found one on the top shelf of a cabinet. He was about to crack it open, but then spotted a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He checked the bottle and smiled to find it unopened, then shoved it into his bag.

Finally, he grabbed a pad of paper and a pen.

Yin went back to the statue with a bounce in his step. He rounded the corner and DogDay was still sitting there, but noticeably perked up at the sight of Yin. "What is all that?" DogDay asked.

Yin set the bag down and emptied it onto the floor. He grabbed the paper and pen and wrote, "I want to try to put your guts back in and staple it shut, then cover it over so it won't reopen. It might help with the bleeding and pain so you can move easier."

DogDay tilted his head at the paper. His hands tensed and his ears twitched back. "Okay. If you want to."

Yin narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to if you're not okay with it."

"It's better than bleeding out. Besides, doubt it can compare to what they did already. I-I also don't want you worrying so much about me, so if doing this will put your mind at ease, I won't stop you."

Yin picked up his jaw and started to write again, but decided against it. He didn't have enough paper to address all that. Instead he wrote, "Lie down flat."

DogDay complied. Yin opened the alcohol bottle and poured it into his hands, rubbing it between his fingers and over his forearms. Some previously gotten nicks loudly protested the sanitizer's presence. Yin bit back a reaction. At least he knew the alcohol could still do its job.

Now for the far more unpleasant part. He knelt before DogDay's torn torso and set the stapler nearby. He carefully unclasped the belt and let it loosen. Trickles of blood seeped out from the edges of his fur. Yin kept one hand on the belt and hovered his other hand around the spasming mass of flesh. He threw a curse and a prayer at the ceiling, inhaled, and slid his hand against that sausaged amalgamation of several human organs.

The sensations were incredible, and not in a good way. The feeling of the pulsing organ—was it even an organ anymore?—against his palm. The various, indistinct squelching sounds as it slid into the body. The smell was like rotting fish stuffed with iron and soaked in rancid milk, the kind of smell that grabbed him by the face and forced its way down his throat.

Yin's heart skip a beat with every pained groan and writhe from DogDay. If this 'didn't compare to what they did already', Yin did not want to imagine what this poor toy had already been through.

The organ set into place. Yin slid the belt beneath and tightened it again to keep things still. Then, he grabbed the stapler. There was a decent amount of skin left that Yin could seal up, so he folded a bit over itself and stapled it together. The stapler let out a harsh chink and fired the staple clean through. It held firm. Yin folded and stapled more skin.

For every staple that went in, DogDay twitched with pain. Yin did his best to use as few staples as possible, but he wanted to make sure the wound was sealed.

After what felt like forever, Yin set down the stapler.

"H-hey, angel?" DogDay stuttered, "I think I'm gonna... s-sleep this one off. Okay?" His arms and head fell slack.

Part of Yin wished he'd passed out earlier. Despite it, he still had something else to do, and this one required some craftiness.

He completely removed the belt, relieved no blood seeped out from the stapled wound. He stapled one end of the carpet to the belt, using it like a measuring tool and cutting the carpet to size. The shears were concerningly good at cutting through the thick upholstery.

Yin folded and stapled, eventually forming a crude sock. He tucked it around DogDay's torso and tied it snug with the belt. After adjusting it a bit to make sure it was secure, Yin sat back on his heels and smiled, quite proud of his handiwork. Now, instead of a torn and bloody mess, the amputated torso ended in a swath of slightly dusty carpet. Hopefully DogDay would feel better once he woke up.

Honestly, sleep sounded amazing. Yin shuffled over to sit next to the giant toy, his back against the console and head leaned back on the cool metal. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled as he did his best to relax. He wouldn't sleep long, just until DogDay woke up.