S a l e t é I I

XI - Yeux - Un

Little black lines.

There they were, as clear as day, perfectly visible by the light of a fire that served to shroud their hideaway in a warm haze. It didn't matter what angle she observed her digits from - her fingers always possessed those lines, those grooves, and her ball joints were equally clear.

Everything she'd been feeling, up to that precise moment, seemed to fall away within a matter of seconds, far from the forefront of her mind. A blankness had taken hold, banishing all other sentiments and all possible emotions.

Nothing. Nothingness.

She reached for her hand with the other, hesitating at first as she saw that her second hand also possessed those little black lines. Upon brushing her fingertips upon her wrist, she found that her skin really did feel like skin - it was smooth, and she wasn't crafted from some impossible material, as the reality before her would have suggested l.

And yet, something was... Off. Just slightly. The feeling was almost natural, but...

What... What kind of joke was this...? These weren't her hands... She wasn't a... A... A whatever a... A doll person was called.

She'd looked in the mirror countless times! She was a perfectly ordinary girl! There had never been any lines before, or strange joints, or...

She was normal! She knew she was, with every inch of her being!

That emptiness that had gripped her for the duration of her observations was rapidly beginning to fill, this time with a raw, swollen, profound sense of defiance, that emotion making itself known in her expression first and foremost.

"I understand that this must be a substantial shock, but - "

"What did you do to me?"

Monet's voice had snapped Cassie back to the present in a jarring manner, and she turned to the older girl - no, to the... The Jouet - as her anxieties proceeded to jump by leaps and bounds, dragging her by the scruff of her neck.

"I was fine until I woke up here! I was normal! Now I'm all... You did something!"

Cassie was raising her voice now, as best she could, desperate to get rid of the feelings that were spilling into her head, like a surge that couldn't be held - she had to get it out before it started gnawing, she had to get rid of it, it had to go, and it had to go now.

"Listen to me."

"Tell me what you did! And... And change it back! Right now!"

"If you will listen, I will explain."

Monet's tone was still calm, carrying that element of impossible stoicism. Calm or not, it did little to quell the tempest that was now brewing in Cassie's mind.

"Change it back! This isn't funny!"

Monet raised her hand again at this point, once again presenting the small, square shaped object that she'd shown her earlier - the so-called chip, or whatever she had said it was. Howwas that supposed to help? Cassie had never even seen it before.

"This chip - "

"Stop! I don't want to - "

"This chip..."

Monet had raised her voice now, to the point that it subdued Cassie's, the sudden rise in volume catching the girl off guard, at least to the degree that she fell silent for a few moments.

"...was installed as part of your schematics. They are designed to prevent a Jouet from being able to see particular things, namely the true nature of their existence. Yours was removed, and now you can see."