Poppy Playtime: Illusion of Control

Reunion

We set off to explore the former living quarters of the orphans, traveling through the main hall, multiple bedrooms, and kitchens. In the center of the bedrooms were statues of Smiling Critters designed to watch the kids' behavior. No doubt there were cameras in the eyes and a speaker in the mouth if they had to say something to the rowdy – or misbehaving – children. There was one that still seemed to be working. The large statue of Bobby Bearhug still had glowing eyes and swiveled around to watch our movements. My friend's dim light bounced off the statue, showing off its faded red color. We even came upon a room that held a couple of hospital-like beds. This had to be where the kids went to quarantine when they were not feeling good. There was even a room that held some baby cribs.

"Experiments on the kids was bad enough. I hope they weren't doing it on the babies, too." My friend commented.

During our exploration, we re-routed wiring and found batteries to power the doors and ultimately the backup power generator. We were deep into our investigation when I heard a set of soft footsteps. It was possible that it could be Catnap. So I told the human to stay put while I went to check it out. I crept forward as the footsteps stopped. There was a creaking noise followed by soft sobbing sounds. My blue head peaked around a corner into someone's sleeping chambers. There sat Kissy Missy on the bed. She was cradling a picture of a little girl. Could this be who she was before her transformation into a living toy? If only I remembered things like that....

It was clear that she was deep in thought as she stared at the picture of the human girl. I considered saying hello, but didn't want to startle or interrupt her. Instead, I found myself staring at her fluffy, immaculate – and don't forget shiny! – pink fur. I don't know how she was able to keep it so nice in this old, stuffy place.

"Who is it, Huggy? Is it Catnap?" The human whispered up to me. But I barely heard as I kept taking in Kissy's wonderful figure. "Hey! Earth to Huggy! Who is it?" I still had not answered. So the person crept up next to me and looked for himself. "Oh, it's just her again." He breathed a sigh of relief. "We should go say hi." My friend insisted and began to step forward. I finally woke up from my trance when I realized he was gonna go disturb her.

"Er, no!" I exclaimed and picked up the person.

"Hey!" He squealed as I plucked him away from Kissy's room. The floor board seemed to squeak a bit as I dashed in the opposite direction. I had a feeling she looked up from the photo at that time. But since I ran away too fast, she wouldn't have seen us.

"What was that for?" He spat at me.

"We shouldn't bother Kissy Missy. She seems....busy." I made up an excuse for what I just did. My yellow hand kept ushering the person forward, so we could finish our task.

"Is that her name? Kissy helped me open a door earlier when I got stuck. She seems really nice. Not like a lot of the other...Bigger Bodies things."

"Oh, yeah! She's the best." I agreed with him.

"Wait a minute, do you have the hots for her or something?" He caught on to my emotions.

"No, why would you say something like that?" I nervously replied. My face starting to get hot with embarrassment. The human chuckled a bit before saying: "Yeah, you totally do!"

"Okay, fine. Maybe I do like her.... a lot." I crossed my arms over my chest and confessed.

"So, have you told her yet?"

"Er, no not really." My fingers nervously scratched at my arms. I flinched to a stop when my fingers hit a bandage.

"What are you waiting for, man? I think she would totally dig you." My friend urged. But all this talk only made my face flush even warmer.