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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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Raphael awoke to a pressure on his chest. Though he was scared, he couldn’t scream for help – the pressure prevented him from speaking. What was it? Was he going to die? He didn’t know, and it took all he had from slipping into insanity in that moment.

Just when he thought he was going to pass out, the door to the room he was staying in opened, and Doll was standing at the door, dressed in the same clothes he’d been in earlier. Did he not need to sleep? Whatever, that didn’t matter!

“Ah, the runes were right, there is a spirit here,” Doll said with the same tone of voice one would use to speak to a neighbour just arriving at your door, not one you’d use to announce that a ghost was in the room.

Raphael tried to speak up, but still found it difficult. What was weighing on him? Was it that spirit Doll had mentioned.

“Come on, get off his chest,” Doll said simply, gesturing at the empty air above Raphael.

All of a sudden, Raphael could breath again. It really was the weight of the spirit after all, Raphael thought. Why had a spirit been sitting on his chest in the first place?

“W-What’s going on here?” Raphael asked him, gasping in breaths of air now that he could breathe again.

“It looks like we found the being that’s been chasing you these past three days,” Doll announced, his face as placid as ever.

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Raphael said, confused.

“Oh, can you not see spirits?” Doll asked him.

“N-No. You can?” Raphael returned.

“Of course,” Doll answered as if it were obvious.

“What kind of spirit is it?” Raphael asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

“It’s just a woman, I’d say she’s about your age, maybe a little younger,” Doll explained.

Raphael was about to speak up, when Doll spoke first.

“She tells me she was killed when she was 21 years old. She says she died the same day you were born,” Doll said, rubbing his chin with the last sentence. “How interesting.”

Raphael didn’t know how to respond to that. Doll noticed the look on his face, and turned his gaze to an empty space at the foot of the bed.

“Are you the one who has been following Raphael around?” Doll said to the emptiness.

Of course, Raphael heard nothing. Doll, however, heard the spirit’s answer.

“She says yes, and apologises for stalking you. She says she’s been following you for a long time now, but she didn’t realise you could sense her in some way, so she finally worked up the courage to talk to you, as she wanted to apologise,” Doll continued to explain.

“T-Tell her it’s okay,” Raphael said to Doll.

He didn’t know how to feel… Someone had liked him enough to follow him around? It even sounded like she’d been following him for a while! No one had ever wanted to follow him around. Everyone tried their best to stay away from him, unless they felt like picking on someone… But now someone wanted to follow him! Well, he couldn’t even see her, but still… That pressure on his chest had been real.

“It will be quite annoying if I have to keep acting as an intermediary,” Doll stated and promptly left the doorway without another word.

Not long after, he returned carrying a thick book and several small vials of strangely coloured liquids. He sat them down on a small table in the corner of the room, and began mixing the ingredients together, occasionally consulting the massive volume he’d brought with him. What was he making?

Five minutes passed, and Doll was still mixing things together. Raphael was starting to drift back to sleep. However, as soon as he closed his eyes, there was a gentle poof sound, and Doll stood up.

“It’s done,” he said simply, walking over to the side of Raphael’s bed and handing him a vial of a brownish-orange liquid.

“What… is it?” Raphael asked him, nervous about imbibing the strange liquid.

“If my measurements were correct, which they usually are,” Doll said, and for some reason Raphael didn’t get the sense that he was simply bragging about his skills, “then it’s a potion that will allow you to see spirits, at least for a little while. Or, you could die, but that’s a very, very distant possibility.”

“That’s reassuring,” Raphael said quietly, taking the vial from Doll and knocking it back.

It tasted… well, like nothing. Raphael had expected it to taste disgusting – bitter, like medicine, but really, it just tasted like water and little more. A few moments passed and he didn’t notice anything different; he couldn’t suddenly see the spirit Doll had been speaking to, or anything of the sort. However, out of no where, his eyes began to feel as if they were being pricked with a thousand poisoned needles. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even cry out. And just as suddenly as the pain arrived, it left once more.

“What the hell was th-” Raphael started saying loudly, looking around the room.

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as his eyes landed on a woman his age standing beside Doll. She had her hands covering her mouth in expectation and sympathy towards the pain Raphael had obviously just been in. She was dressed in a timeless manner, and her blonde hair was neatly combed and held back in a braid. She was beautiful, Raphael thought, falling in love in an instant.

“W… H… H-Hi,” Raphael stammered out, feeling his face grow ever warmer.

“Good, it worked,” Doll said with a satisfied look, seemingly ignoring the very obvious tension that now filled the air between Raphael and the ghost.

“Wh-What’s your name?” Raphael asked the ghost, ignoring Doll’s statement.

“J-Jennie,” she answered quietly, stepping slightly behind Doll and blushing as heavily as Raphael himself was.

“I’m… My name is Raphael,” he said in turn, the two of them continuing to stare into each others eyes.

“I know,” Jennie said with an awkward smile.

“I think I’ll be going,” Doll said as the two remained staring at each other.

Doll left, taking the many vials and things he’d brought with him. Jennie closed the door behind him, and sat down in a chair beside Raphael’s bed. She looked anxious and excited, which mirrored Raphael’s own emotions.

“S-So, did you really die the day I was born?” he asked, but before she could answer, he suddenly felt self conscious about the question, fearing that asking something like that might put her off. “Wait, you don’t have to answer that, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” she said. “Yes, I was killed the day you were born – August 11, 1989…”

“That’s… crazy,” Raphael said, not knowing how to take that. What were the odds?

“Yeah,” she said awkwardly. She was still blushing heavily, and so was he.

They talked together well into the daylight without even realising it. It wasn’t a problem for Jennie, who didn’t need to sleep, but by the time the sun broke through the window of his room, he was on the verge of passing out. Somehow, Doll had realised they’d be talking all night, and just before he passed out, he came into the room.

“Come along, Jennie, we should let Raphael get some sleep,” Doll said to the ghost.

“Okay,” Jennie responded sadly, reluctantly getting out of the chair she’d been sitting in for several hours.

Before they’d even left the room, Raphael had drifted off to sleep. He slept peacefully, not being awoken prematurely this time. When he did awake, it was around 3 in the afternoon, and everyone was in the living room, relaxing. Doll was reading a book as thick as a tree while Umi and Jennie sat together quietly watching TV.

“I see you’re awake,” Doll said, not even glancing up from his book.

“Yeah, I feel totally refreshed,” Raphael said.

He took a seat besides Jennie on the couch, and she pressed herself against his side with a smile. He felt embarrassed but didn’t try to get her to stop, as he was quite happy.

“I brewed up some more of that elixir for Umi while you slept so she could see Jennie as well,” Doll said, slipping a piece of paper into his book and silently closing it and setting it aside.

“What do you guys do during the day?” Raphael asked Doll and Umi.

“Hmm? Not much, truthfully. Though, Umi has only been human and living with me for several days,” Doll answered.

“Oh right, she was a mermaid,” Raphael said, having briefly forgotten.

“Indeed. Often, I merely read during the day,” Doll said, returning to the subject they’d been on.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Doll left the living room to check who it was, and came back to with Thibaut Andrews and his wife, Sophia, following behind him.

“What brings you here?” Doll asked.

“We were in the neighbourhood and thought we’d stop in to see how you and Umi were doing and if you needed any help,” Sophia answered.

“We are quite well, I believe,” Doll responded, glancing at Umi who nodded.

Sophia looked like she was going to say something more, but before she could, both she and her husband’s gaze turned to Raphael, and she gasped.

“Hey! Aren’t you that serial killer’s kid?” she asked, sounding oddly excited considering the words she’d just spoken. “Wait, that’s impolite, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Raphael answered sadly.

“Sorry, sorry,” Sophia laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with guilt. “My husband and I are both interested in true crime. What was your name again?”

“Raphael. I’d prefer not to talk about that man,” he answered, the last two words coming out with a note of venom.

“Sorry again!” Sophia said loudly, bowing slightly, her husband doing the same beside her.

“This is Sophia Andrews and her husband, Thibaut. He was once a mermaid, much like Umi,” Doll said to Raphael, seemingly unperturbed by this new information about their housemate.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Raphael said.

“You too! What brings you here?” Sophia asked.

“Well I’ve had a rough life, and for the past few days I’d felt like I’d been followed, so I ran away into these woods. These guys found me and took me in,” Raphael answered.

“Oh dear! Did you ever find the person following you?” Sophia asked, taking a seat in a spare chair, her husband standing behind her.

“Well, uh… Kinda. She’s right here, but um, she’s a ghost,” Raphael answered, rubbing the back of his head and blushing.

At the same time he was saying that, Jennie was pouring herself a glass of tea.

“A ghost?!” Sophia cried in shock, jumping in her seat.

Her husband put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, a hidden smile on his face over his wife’s reaction.

“Are you alright, Sophia?” Doll asked the scared woman.

“I-I’m fine,” she answered, though she didn’t look to be fine, shaking slightly as she was.

“Excellent,” Doll said, producing a vial of liquid from some pocket. “Here, it’s a concoction to let you see ghosts.”

“Er, I don’t really want to see ghosts,” Sophia said.

Behind her, her husband gladly reached his hand and grabbed the vial from Doll. He took a swing, downing half the vial. It worked far quicker on him than it had Raphael, as Doll had refined the formula in the time since he’d first made it the night before. Seeing her husband drinking the potion, Sophia gave in and drank it, too.

“Hi,” Jennie said to Sophia and Thibaut, nervously pressing herself against Raphael.

“H-Hi,” Sophia responded, looking half ready to bolt.

Thibaut waved with a kind smile, his other hand firmly on his wife’s shoulder keeping her from rudely running away. As time passed, she seemed to grow accustomed to Jennie’s presence, and after about half an hour, Thibaut was able to release her shoulder.

The small group mainly discussed their lives; Sophia explained how Thibaut became human and how the two of them met. Years ago, he was somewhat of a ruffian in Coralville, the same city Umi hailed from. At one point, he got into trouble with the law after being framed for murdering the boss of a rival gang, and felt his only way to escape was to become human. In much the same way Doll first met Umi a few days prior, Sophia had been the first human Thibaut had come into contact with while wandering a back road late at night; she’d been out for a walk, something she still does often late at night, and saw him staggering around and secretly brought him home with her.

He remained hidden for 6 months, when Sophia’s father found him in their barn. Instead of becoming angry, he accepted Thibaut like a son in law, though at the time Sophia and he weren’t dating yet. It turned out that one of Sophia’s father’s friends growing up had been a mermaid, though he had been fully mermaid, and the two met on the beach one summer.

“Rather reminds me of how Umi and I met the other day,” Doll said after she’d finished her story.

“The two of you seem close, how did you meet?” Sophia asked Raphael, still too self-conscious to speak to Jennie the Ghost.

“Well, technically we only met last night,” Raphael answered nervously, blushing slightly.

“Wait, seriously? I would have thought you two had been together!” Sophia said, surprised.

“She d-died on the same day I was born 24 years ago,” Raphael answered, blushing harder.

“Whoa,” Sophia said simply, staring back and forth between Jennie and Raphael.

During a brief silence, the clock above the fireplace signalled noon. Doll got up from the couch, and began to leave the room.

“It’s time I make lunch, will you two be staying?” Doll asked Sophia and Thibaut.

“Sure! Thanks, Doll,” Sophia smiled.

While he was in the kitchen, the others continued to chat. As only three people in the room were capable of speaking, and one afraid of another, the conversation didn’t get too interesting, mostly discussing what they’d been up to lately. Before Doll returned to the living room, the conversation die an awkward death.

“Lunch is ready,” Doll said, entering the room, oblivious to the awkward atmosphere.

It was, as Doll seemed to make most of the time, fish. Since Umi had arrived, most of what she’d eaten was fish. It didn’t bother her, though, since she had been a mermaid and was thus used to fish, but where did he get all of the fish? He never seemed to leave the house, and when he did, she was usually with him.

They talked while they ate, the awkwardness of a few moments ago somehow already having died. After he’d finished eating, Thibaut remembered that he’d brought some books for Umi so she could learn sign language, and pulled them out of a messenger bag slung over his wife’s shoulder.

“Oh, I totally forgot!” Sophia said as he grabbed the books. “We brought some books for you, Umi. Hopefully they can help you and Doll learn sign language – y’know, once you learn to read.”

Umi nodded her head happily. She really wanted to be able to read, and more importantly, communicate. Doll seemed to be able to read her mind somehow, but how would she talk with anyone else?

“Thank you very much, Thibaut and Sophia,” Doll answered, accepting the books.

As he’d already finished his meal almost as soon as he’d sat down, he headed off to put the books in the reading room where he taught Umi. He was only gone for a few moments, and returned quickly, taking his seat next to Umi once more.

He hadn’t sat down for more than a few seconds when the doorbell rang and he had to get up once more. He placed his apron on its hook, having forgotten to until then, and left the kitchen to see who was at the door.

He returned once more a few seconds later, Willow following closely behind him. She was dressed in a thin, airy, brown dress that hung loosely off her green skin and danced around as if blown by an invisible wind. Every time she saw her, she looked so beautiful and otherworldly, Umi thought.

“Willow, this is Thibaut and his wife Sophia. Like Umi, he was once a mermaid. And this is Jennie,” Doll said, introducing Willow to the gathered party. “Everyone, this is Willow.”

“Hi!” Sophia said, getting up from her seat and shaking Willow’s hand warmly.

“Hello! Thank you for helping these two,” Willow said to her.

“No problem, no problem! Hey, are you a tree nymph?” Sophia said, changing the topic quickly, her eyes gleaming.

“Yes, I am,” Willow answered happily.

“Wow! I’ve never met a tree nymph before. You’re just as beautiful as I’d imagined you to be!” Sophia said, distractedly looking Willow up and down.

“My, thank you!” Willow responded, puffing her chest out a little with pride.

Sophia returned to her seat at the table, and Willow sat beside her. They continued to talk momentarily, simply discussing the weather, before Willow greeted Jennie.

“Oh, you can see Jennie without Doll’s little tonic?” Sophia asked her, interested.

“Well, we nymphs are spirit creatures, so of course,” Willow answered with a smile.

“Awesome,” Sophia smiled back, taking out a little notebook from a pocket and making a note.

“Why did you come here, Willow?” Doll asked the nymph after she and Sophia had finished their little talk.

“Oh, I wanted to see how Raphael was doing! I didn’t know he had himself a girlfriend!” Willow said, smiling at Jennie and Raphael.

“Sh-She-,” Raphael stammered, unable to finish his sentence because he was flustered too heavily.

“She isn’t your girlfriend? But you two seem so close,” Willow frowned.

“W-I just met her yesterday,” Raphael managed to answer, his face as red as an autumn leaf.

“I see,” Willow responded, looking between the two of them with a grin.

Willow looked at the table and noticed the fish they were all eating, and looked over at Doll.

“Doll, haven’t I told you that you need to eat more than just fish for every meal?” she said to him, taking on the tone of an admonishing mother.

“It’s simply the easiest protein to obtain,” Doll explained.

“But you have to eat other things, too,” Willow said.

“There are vegetables in this dish,” Doll pointed out with a straight face.

“That’s not what I meant!” Willow said, exasperated.

“I’ll go hunting tomorrow,” Doll said simply, his face as placid as ever.

“Just go to the grocery store!” Willow said, resting her head on the table.

“Very well,” Doll said at last.

“So, how are things, Raphael? Is Doll treating you well?” Willow said, lifting her head up and turning her attention to Raphael and Jennie.

“He’s a good host, though he tested his weird ghost-vision potion on me. That hurt,” Raphael said, rubbing his eyes, remembering the pain the potion had inflicted.

“You can’t just test potions on people, Doll,” Willow scolded.

“He consented and wished to see the ghost, Jennie,” Doll explained.

“I-It’s okay, I was just joking,” Raphael said, feeling like he had to cover for Doll.

“If you say so,” Willow sighed.

“Are you Doll’s mom?” Sophia asked, looking a little confused by the exchange.

“No, no. At least not biologically. Doll is a homunculus. I was just… close with his creator,” Willow explained, her face taking on a darker hue, as if she was blushing. “I helped raise him, especially since his father died.”

“Oh, I see. I remember attending the funeral with my husband,” Sophia said sadly.

“Well, I should probably get going. I just wanted to check in quickly!” Willow said, getting up from the table.

“We should probably be going, too,” Sophia said, looking at her husband, who nodded.

“Very well. Thank you for coming,” Doll said, showing everyone to the door.

“No, thank you for lunch!” Sophia responded.

“It was a pleasure meeting you two,” Willow said to Thibaut and Sophia on the porch.

“The same to you! Have a pleasant day, Willow,” Sophia said, giving Willow a small hug.

Twenty seven years ago, a crazed alchemist created a new lifeform, the first homunculus created in over 500 years. The alchemist referred to the new lifeform simply as “Doll”, not giving it a proper name. Doll lived with this alchemist, named Xavier Ludwig St. James, for 10 years, until the mad alchemist accidentally killed himself in a lab explosion. Doll was left without anyone to care for him, and he knew no-one: his creator had never allowed Doll to meet anyone, besides his own master, who had died 5 years previously. Doll had no experience with emotions, feelings, deep thoughts, so when his creator died, he felt nothing more than annoyed that his source of food had disappeared. He’d never felt any sense of loyalty to his creator, viewing him only as a means of shelter and food.

A few months before this, a young mermaid in the Atlantic by the name of Umi lost both of her parents when their house collapsed. Umi had sneaked out of her house that night to watch the glow fish in the park at the edge of town, something her parents never let her do, so she was safe from the collapse. Though her parents had been strict, she still cared for them, and with them gone, she no longer had anyone to turn to. She had no friends, he only family had been her parents. What was she supposed to do?

While living on the streets, she overheard a conversation between two mermages, magic users. They were discussing a forbidden magical technique that would turn a merperson into a human. Umi had always been interested in the human world, watching human cartoons every chance she could, so when she heard those words, she immediately continued listening, learning the technique.

Keep reading

#this is a longun #nearly 10 pages #i don't feel like it's as good as the previous chapters tho...

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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umi and willow

A cute one~~~

@3isoptrophobia @kragehund

#umi #willow

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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At the door leading from the kitchen to the back garden came a knocking. The sudden sound surprised Umi, who jumped a little in her seat, but Willow and Doll seemed used to it. The tree nymph got up from her seat and went to the door, opening it and letting in two small woodland critters: a rabbit and a fox.

Willow smiled and squatted down to talk with the two animals. The two of the critters produced various animal sounds, and neither Doll nor Umi could understand what was being said, but Willow seemed to have no problem understanding them, occasionally responding to their noises with similar noises.

After the conversation had pattered out several minutes later, Willow returned to the table that she had previously been sitting at before the interruption.

“It appears that there’s some trouble in the forest this evening. An amateur magician came by and started causing problems for the creatures and beings. I do so wish they would leave us alone. Your father was such a gentleman amongst humans,” Willow sighed wistfully, a sadness in her eyes.

“Those bothersome people,” Doll sighed in agreement.

Doll and Willow took turns explaining more of the situation to Umi, an outsider. It was a common occurrence for novice mages, alchemists, and other such folk to come into the forest, generally around sunset, and harass the locals. Most were looking to gather familiars, but some were looking for ingredients. The worst, however, were the ones who came into the forest looking to prove their worth by slaying this powerful being of the forest or that.

“So, what kind of bothersome amateur is it this time?” Doll asked.

“They say aren’t so sure why he��s here. Unfortunately, he’s a bumbling idiot, and almost set a section of the forest on fire earlier after a deer snuck up behind him,” Willow explained.

“Should we go take care of him before he succeeds in burning down the forest?” Doll said, seeming a little exasperated.

“Probably,” Willow answered simply, getting up from her seat once more.

Together, the five of them – including the fox and rabbit – headed off. The three bipeds followed the two quadrupeds, who knew where they were going. They walked for about 15 minutes before reaching a small clearing. In the centre of the clearing, there sat a man with a staff in one hand rested against his shoulder. He was seated on a large rock, and had his head cast downward in a clear sign of exhaustion.

“Hello there,” Willow said, kindly but with a hint of steel in her voice.

“Wha-Who are you?” the man said, jumping to his feet and readying his staff.

“I’m a protector of this forest, what are you doing here?” Willow questioned further, slowly getting closer to the man.

“I was… being followed. I didn’t know where else to go,” the man said, turning his head quickly from side to side, his eyes darting every which way.

“What was following you?” Doll stepped up beside Willow, taking a notepad out of his pocket.

“It- I don’t know… It was huge, and dark… like a massive black dog,” he answered nervously.

“I see. By the way, what’s your name?” Doll continued.

“R-Raphael Astor,” the man answered. “Who are you?”

“My name is Willow, I’m a tree nymph and protector of this forest. This is my son, Doll, and his friend, Umi,” Willow answered politely – almost too politely.

While she was talking, small lights began floating around her and Raphael. When they began to swirl around the anxious mage, he began to look less and less distressed; he didn’t seem to notice the lights as they circled around him and flitted at him.

“It-It’s nice to meet you,” Raphael responded, seeming somewhat distant.

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Would you like to come with me and get out of this dark forest?” Willow asked, still sounding very polite.

“Sure, thank you,” he answered, dazed.

The four of us headed back to Doll’s house. Along the way, forest creatures would come up to Willow, and exchange quiet noises with each other before running off just as fast as they’d come.

Back at the house, Doll prepared some food for Raphael, and Raphael, Willow, and Umi sat down in the living room. Willow continued asking the man questions; who he was, what he was doing, and so on. He had come to the forest after being followed for three days and nights; he wasn’t sure why his instinct had been to run to the forest, but that was what he did anyway. Slowly, he’d become more and more paranoid the longer he stayed in the forest, and started attacking anything that moved; he apologised for his behaviour, and Willow forgave him – after all, he hadn’t caused any actual harm to the forest or its inhabitants. Just as Willow had felt she’d exhausted her questions, Doll came into the living room, carrying a small plate of food, setting it on a dinner tray in front of him.

“Thank you,” Raphael said, his voice having lost the dazed, lost tone it had carried after Umi had seen those lights. “It’s been 4 days since I ate last. I was worried I was going to be poisoned…”

He dug into his plate of food hesitantly, but after taking the first bite, he scarfed it down with gusto. He ate so quickly that Umi couldn’t help but laugh in her own special way because the speed at which he ate reminded her of Doll, who always ate as if he were on the brink of starvation.

“What are you laughing at?” Doll asked her, somehow noticing her laughter despite her making no noise.

She shook her head with a smile.

“I think it’s how quickly Raphael here ate the food,” Willow smiled along with Umi.

“What do you mean?” both Raphael and Doll said at the same time.

“Well, Doll, you always eat like a man possessed, just like Raphael was just now,” Willow explained.

“I don’t eat much faster than any other person,” Doll said, serious as ever. Was he telling a joke?

“Are you joking?” Willow said, grinning. Now she was reading Umi’s mind, too?

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Doll answered, still fully serious. “That aside, do you still feel as though you’re being followed?”

“Huh? Oh, not as much as I was before… but I still feel it vaguely,” Raphael answered, scratching his head.

Umi shook her head unconsciously. The feeling he described reminded her of her own feeling that she’d been having since the nightmare she’d had. Though the nightmare was now rather distant in her mind, the feeling of having eyes on her wasn’t.

“Good, good! I had some of the others living in the forest set up boundaries. No one should be following you now,” Willow smiled.

“Thank you…” Raphael said, wearily. “I feel like I could sleep for days – I haven’t slept in three days.”

“Oh dear! Doll, why don’t you set up one of the guest rooms for Raphael to sleep in for the night?” Willow said, quickly standing up from the couch.

Before she had finished her sentence, she was already off, out of the living room, to go straighten up one of the spare rooms, despite having just asked Doll to do it himself.

Doll generally kept the house in a clean state, so it only took Willow a matter of minutes to prepare the room adjacent to Doll’s own for Raphael to sleep in. She then returned to the living room and grabbed Raphael by the arm and brought him to his room. Doll and Umi followed behind them.

“I apologise for her,” Doll said to Raphael, standing in the doorway while Willow straightened the curtains and hummed a tune. “She is very energetic and likes to dote.”

“It’s no problem, I’ve never been doted on before,” Raphael responded rather glumly.

“So, Raphael, what do you do?” Willow asked after she’d finished doing whatever it was she was doing with the curtains.

“Ah um… I’ve been training to be a mage… by myself. No one would take me on as an apprentice because of my fa-” he said, quickly stopping himself and continuing. “No one would take me on as an apprentice, so I had to train myself. It’s been tough.”

“I can imagine!” Willow exclaimed sympathetically.

“What school have you been training in?” Doll asked, showing a little bit of genuine interest on his face; he’d always been particularly intrigued by magic, not being capable of it himself as a homunculus.

“Fire, mostly. My fath-” he once again stopped himself from saying the word father, correcting himself. “My family has traditionally been fire mages.”

“I see,” Doll said. “My creator’s speciality was water, though he wasn’t a mage, rather an alchemist.”

“Creator?” Raphael asked, confused.

“Yes, creator. I’m a homunculus,” Doll answered, answering with a tone one would use to answer someone’s request for the time.

“Wait, you aren’t human?” Raphael said, stopping in place while he looked around the room.

“No, neither is Umi. Though, I guess, technically, she is now,” Doll answered, suddenly looking lost in thought.

“What? Is she a homunculus, too? It was kind of obvious Willow wasn’t human, but none of you are?” Raphael asked, before turning to Willow. “Oh, no offence intended, sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Willow smiled warmly as ever. “No, she isn’t a homunculus, she’s a former mermaid.”

“A mermaid!” Raphael exclaimed, suddenly sounding excited. “My uncle was a fisherman and often told me about mermaids! I never thought I’d meet one in person.”

Umi simply nodded her head, a little embarrassed by his child-like gaze.

“Can she not talk?” he said, directing the question at Doll.

“No, unfortunately the process of becoming human renders a mermaid mute,” Doll answered.

“Ah, man, that sucks,” he sighed.

Umi nodded her head glumly in response.

“Hey, is that a bathroom attached to this room?” Raphael asked, pointing at the bathroom door that was partially closed.

“Yes, it is,” Doll answered.

“Hell yeah! I haven’t showered in three days, do you guys mind if I use the shower?” Raphael said excitedly.

“You may, I’ll find you some clothes. You’re roughly the same size as my creator, so it should be hard to find something for you. I’ll set them on your bed,” Doll told him, heading out the door and down the hallway to the room at the end of the hall.

Umi followed after him, halfway down the hallway realising she hadn’t seen the room that belonged to Doll’s creator; she’d at least taken a peek in all the other rooms, but the door to this particular room always appeared to be locked. Doll noticed her following him, and stopped just before the door.

“Are you interested in what’s in my creator’s room? I’ve seen you trying to open the door before,” Doll asked.

She didn’t know how to answer. Would he be angry if she said yes? He didn’t seem to be too attached to his creator, but why would he keep the door locked if he didn’t feel something about him?

“This door was always locked when he was alive, and it’s merely a habit of mine to keep it locked,” Doll said, reading her mind as he always did.

He opened the door, and the two of them walked into the room. Aside from being the room where his creator slept, it also appeared to be something of a laboratory; there were specimens in jars on shelves, sandwiched between massive volume, and huge diagrams hung from the walls. There were at least three desks spread across the rather large room, each of them covered in more large books, beakers, and loose leaves of paper strewn all over the place. Unlike all the other rooms in the house, this room looked like a tornado had just come through it.

Doll walked across the floor, stepping over random books and other things laying on it, as if they weren’t even there. He was clearly used to the chaotic state of the room.

“Ludwig forbade me from cleaning this room, so I never have,” Doll said to Umi, who had become distracted looking around the room.

While Umi remained distracted by all the beakers and preserved specimens in jars, Doll went through his creator’s wardrobe, looking for clothes for Raphael to wear. After only a few minutes, he had a whole arm full of clothes. On their way out, Umi accidentally knocked over a picture frame. She picked it up, and saw that it had a picture of Doll, Willow, and a kind looking man she assumed to be Ludwig, Doll’s creator. Doll looked almost… happy in the picture.

Doll seemed to have noticed that Umi had stopped behind him, and went back to her side. He saw what she was looking at over her shoulder.

“That was taken a few months before he died. In the years before his death, he had gone a little… not quite crazy, but distant. Those last few months, however, he was the same as he was years ago,” Doll said, a little bit of something like sadness creeping into his voice.

Umi felt a little confused by the display of emotion. She’d seen him express some emotions before, but something about him sounding sad just didn’t feel right to her. She couldn’t place her finger on why, she just didn’t want him to be sad.

She set the picture frame back on the shelf it was on, and the two of them left the room, with Doll locking it behind them. After Doll set the clothes on Raphael’s bed, the two went back to the living room, where Willow was sitting on the couch eating some nuts that had been sitting on the coffee table. Umi and Doll joined her on the couch.

“He seems like an interesting fellow,” Willow said of Raphael after they joined her.

“Indeed. He doesn’t appear to be malicious, so I have no aversion to allowing him to remain her for the time being,” Doll agreed, taking a handful of nuts.

Some time later, Raphael came into the living room, a towel draped over his shoulders, wearing a set of clothes Doll had gotten for him. The clothes fit him well, even if they weren’t exactly his style, being of an older fashion Doll’s creator had been fond of. He felt like he had stepped out of a catalogue from the 70s.

“Thanks for the shower. Oh, and the clothes… And for letting me stay here for the time being,” Raphael said, awkwardly using the towel to dry his long, brown hair.

“It isn’t a problem,” Doll responded. “I get people staying here from time to time – like Umi here.”

“I’m just… not used to people being nice to me,” Raphael said quietly.

“That’s a shame,” Willow said sadly, frowning at his words.

Raphael sighed and sat in a chair beside the sofa Willow, Umi, and Doll were sitting on. He hung his head with the towel still thrown over his crown.

“Well, you’re welcome here!” Willow said, perking up and clapping Raphael on the shoulder with a big smile.

“Indeed, stay as long as you need to,” Doll told him.

Umi felt left out, as both Doll and Willow had said encouraging and kind things to Raphael, but since she was unable to speak, she obviously said nothing. Instead, she followed Willow’s lead and got up and clapped Raphael on the shoulder with a smile.

Raphael smiled at the three of them, sat in an arm chair, and looked like he was about to cry. The last time anyone had been this nice – or nice in general – to him, he was 8. That was over 20 years ago. These people seemed genuinely nice, though Doll was a little… off. But Raphael figured that made sense since the guy was an artificial human after all.

“Thank you again for taking me in,” Raphael said, looking up at the three of them once more and smiling.

That night, Raphael slept for the first time in several days, and the feeling of being watched was basically gone.

Until he woke up in the middle of the night.

Keep reading

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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So far my story has only a few characters, so I added a new one. This is Raphael. He’s a fire mage who Doll, Umi, and Willow meet when he runs into the forest where they live, running from Something. Initially, they assume he’s there to capture a familiar from amongst the forest’s inhabitants, but they soon learn why he was really there, and decide to take him in as he has no where else to go.

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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Umi if she was a shady private detective

https://picrew.me/image_maker/268253

@3isoptrophobia @the-mighty-birdy

#umi

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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doll when he’s like 30

...men.

Gríms. You know him. The other is Andrew Faulkner. Yandere country man, and that’s about it.

It’s good, but also quite limited.

@decadence-and-death @empyrean-elysium

#doll

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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Broke the four quota cuz this was cute and very versatile. Maybe its the anime disease in my brain. Probably.

Ragnhild, Faelyn. Grímúlfur, Melrakki. Adamaris, Llyr.

@the-mighty-birdy @6isgreaterthan7 @king-yeti @decadence-and-death

#doll #umi

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

Text

The hair options were sparse else I’d’ve done some more characters RIP

Work called me in so I’m starting picrews on main to cope

Me™️. Biker gang leader AU Ragnhild. Endre looks like a stereotypical demon lawyer who takes on deals with humans. Lucius in semi-dragon form. Ordinator would wear adidas 100%

@empyrean-elysium @the-mighty-birdy @6isgreaterthan7 @king-yeti

#doll

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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Umi had thought they’d be walking to town, which she was dreading, but instead Doll took a motorbike out of the garage and had her sit behind him. He didn’t fit on it very well, but they managed to stay on as they rode into town. It took about 20 minutes to get there from the house in the forest, and by the time they got off the bike in the parking lot of a shopping centre, Umi’s but was hurting. Her life since becoming human was full of new experiences, like riding on a motorbike for the first time.

“Do they have shopping centres where you come from?” Doll asked her as the two of them walked down the parking lot to the door of the building.

She nodded her head; they were not like the building that stood in front of them now, being much more chaotic, but they had shopping centres where she came from. Not that she could tell Doll that since she couldn’t speak.

“Interesting,” Doll said, making a note of that in his journal.

Doll grabbed a cart and told Umi to hold on to it. Over the past day, she’d gotten more used to walking without the crutches, but she still had moments of difficulty, so it was better to hold on to something than walk around freely.

They wandered the store for about two hours, sticking mostly to the girl’s clothing section to get Umi some clothes for herself; she got several skirts, shirts, underwear, and two pairs of flip flops – she didn’t like wearing shoes, and refused to try any on after the first pair Doll had her put on.

With the cart half full of clothes for Umi, they next went to buy some food – mostly just essentials like flour, rice, and the like. Most of the food Doll cooked was caught or grown in the forest around the house.

Umi wasn’t sure how he was going to pay for it all, since he had no guardian, and she felt bad for getting so much clothing.

“Don’t worry about the money, my creator left me a substantial inheritance, and I earn a good amount of money selling potions and the like,” Doll assured her at the register.

She nodded her head; he once again knew what she was thinking…

Their goods paid for, they returned home on the motorbike. Getting all the bags to somehow stay put while they rode was a pain they somehow had overlooked when they initially set off, but they made it back home without any big fuss. At home, Doll threw Umi’s new clothes into the washing machine, went to ask Willow to do the laundry, and Umi and Doll set off again to try and find Thibaut Andrews.

They asked around town for a while, speaking with many of Xavier’s acquaintances – apparently the town was something of a refuge for mages, alchemists, and magical beings – and after an hour found out where Thibaut lived.

Again they rode for about 15 minutes until the reached a small farm house at the edge of town. It was well maintained, and the small field beside it was full of corn. A man sat on a rocking chair on the porch, sipping what looked to be iced tea, and when he saw Umi and Doll coming his way, he stood up with a smile and waved at them.

“I apologise for showing up unannounced. Would you happen to be Thibaut Andrews?” Doll asked the man as he came down the steps of the porch.

The man nodded his head with a warm smile, his long black hair moving like the waves.

“I’m the son of Xavier Ludwig St. James. We met briefly at his funeral, but we were never introduced. This is my friend, Umi. She, like you, was once a mermaid,” Doll explained. “We were hoping we might ask you some questions about adjusting to life as a human.”

Out of the farmhouse came a woman in an apron. She looked to be the same age as Thibaut, and appeared to be quite pregnant. She came down the stairs slowly, and hooked her arm under Thibaut’s.

“Who is this?” she asked with a smile just like the man beside her, directing the question at Doll.

“My name is Doll. I’m the son of Xavier Ludwig St. James, an acquaintance of Thibaut’s,” he answered.

“Oh, the alchemist? It was sad to hear he’d passed, I’d heard he was over 150 years old! He gave us a potion to help us conceive. Come in, come in! My name is Sophia, I’m Thibaut’s wife, and interpreter,” she said warmly, gesturing for Doll and Umi to follow her and her husband.

She and Doll obliged, following the couple as they slowly walked up the steps. Sophia clung tight to her husband as they walked up the steps, and Umi clung to Doll as well, still not used to walking up steps.

“Welcome to our home! Please make yourselves comfortable, I’ll bring you some tea,” Sophia said, continuing to smile, as she left the living room.

The three of them sat silently in the living room, two of them not being able to speak, and one not having much inclination to do so. After a few minutes, Sophia returned with four tea cups, and handed them to each of the people in the living room.

“So, what did you need, Doll?” Sophia asked, after taking a seat next to her husband on a small love seat.

“My friend, Umi, is, like your husband, a former mermaid. She only transformed yesterday, and we were hoping to speak with your husband about adjusting to life as a human,” Doll explained for her.

“Oh, I see! I thought something about you felt familiar, you have to same sort of aura as my husband!” Sophia said, clapping her hands together with glee. “It’s not every day we meet people like my husband.”

“I imagine not,” Doll said, trying to smile politely, and almost managing it.

“So, how old are you, Umi?” Sophia asked the young girl.

Umi wasn’t sure how to answer, and sat there for a few moments before putting up her hands, numbering ten fingers, and then lowering all but two of them. Sophia looked at her husband, who made some hand gestures, likely using some form of sign language, before turning back to Umi.

“My husband says that it must be tough to transform at such a young age. He transformed at the age of 25. What happened to make you perform the ritual?” Sophia asked.

Umi looked at Doll. She hadn’t even told him, though it wasn’t like she could.

“Unfortunately, Umi doesn’t know any sign language, and I’ve only just started teaching her how to write and read English,” Doll said.

Umi looked down at the ground with a sad face. She felt like a burden.

Sophia looked at her husband, who said some more things in sign language-

“My husband says that it took him quite a while to get used to it, too,” Sophia translated.

“Do you mind if I ask questions for you?” Doll asked Umi.

She shook her head. She had no way of asking questions, but given how Doll always seemed to read her mind, he would be able to ask the questions she wanted asked anyway.

“Alright. First of all, are there any differences between you and a human who was born human?” Doll asked.

Thibaut smiled and shook his head.

“No, once a mermaid transforms they’re 100% human,” Sophia said, rubbing her stomach.

“I see,” Doll said, making a note in his journal. “Next, is it possible to return to being a mermaid?”

He sat quietly for a few moments, but then shook his head again, signing to his wife.

“He says that it might be possible, but in his studies and research, he hasn’t found anything saying that it is,” Sophia said.

“Right,” Doll murmured, writing more in his journal.

The conversation went on for another hour, with many questions being answered. In the end, Umi felt satisfied with the questions Doll had asked, and the answers they’d received. Though Doll had planned on leaving around 5 so he could get home and make food, Sophia ended up insisting that they stay and share a meal with her and her husband, so the four of them at in the dining room, with Doll and Umi leaving once their meal was done.

“Thank you very much for the meal,” Doll said politely.

Umi smiled and bowed her head slightly.

The two of them returned home.

At home, Willow was waiting for them. She was wearing the same gossamer clothing she had been earlier, and threw her arms around Doll when he walked through the front door.

“I did the laundry like you asked me,” she said, holding him tight.

Umi was a little confused. The tree nymph acted like Doll’s mother… Who exactly was she to Doll?

“Thank you, Willow,” Doll said, walking down the hallway while she clung to him.

“You can call me mother, you know,” Willow said, pouting playfully.

“I could, but I don’t refer to Xavier as my father either,” Doll stated plainly.

“C’mon, do it for me,” Willow insisted. “I’m not going to stop asking!”

“Very well, mother,” he sighed, relenting in the end.

“You said it, you actually called me mother!” Willow said loudly, tears welling in her eyes.

Before she could start crying, the small party of Willow, Doll, and Umi had entered the kitchen, and Doll got some cookies out for Willow. Doll’s cooking seemed to be the only thing that would calm Willow down when she started crying. The three ate their cookies standing around in the kitchen.

“Did you find that Thibaut guy?” Willow asked while they ate.

“Yes, we found him. His information was most insightful,” Doll answered.

“That’s great!” Willow exclaimed. She sure was an emotional person, Umi thought, then kicked herself because she’d cried several times since meeting Doll herself.

“Indeed,” Doll concurred. “I got some very useful notes. Since it’s late and we’ve had a busy day, I’m going to retire for the evening and add my notes to Xavier’s collection.”

With that, Doll left Umi and Willow standing in the kitchen. Even though Doll seemed to have no problems reading her mind, she never could seem to understand his actions. She wasn’t sure how to handle Willow. Doll always knew what was on Umi’s mind, but how was she going to communicate with Willow?

“What do you think of Doll?” Willow asked with a smile.

How was Umi supposed to answer? She couldn’t decide, so she nodded her head. She thought Doll was often incomprehensible, but he was always very kind to her, he was constantly teaching her new things, and he’d taken her in so even though she’d only known him for two days, she had grown quite fond of him.

“I see,” Willow said with a smile that seemed to carry some meaning that went over Umi’s head. “Well, I better get going to tend to the forest!”

Now Umi was left standing in the kitchen by herself. For the first time, she realised that she hadn’t really taken a good look around. Doll had shown her around the main highlights of the place the day before, but despite that she wasn’t paying too close of attention. So, she grabbed a cane Doll had found for her, and wandered around the house.

It was much larger than she thought it would be, and she ended up wandering around much longer than she thought she would. She didn’t know how long she looked around for, but at some point Doll came looking for her.

“Are you familiarising yourself with the house?” he asked.

Umi nodded.

“I saw you walk past the study a few minutes ago, and figured that was the case. Anyway, it’s nearly midnight, you should probably get to bed,” Doll said to her.

She glanced at a clock on the hallway wall and saw that he was right. All of a sudden, she realised how tired she was; they’d been rather busy all day, and now it was catching up to her. She started feeling a little unsteady from exhaustion. Doll seemed to notice, as he grabbed on to her arm.

“I’ll help you to your room,” Doll offered.

Umi felt embarrassed, and her face started feeling warm. Over the past two days, all he’d seemed to do was help her. She felt very grateful towards him. She’d never had friends growing up, but now it felt like she finally had someone she could call her friend; with that line of thinking, she also remembered when Doll had introduced her as his friend when they were meeting the Andrews earlier. Her face grew even warmer.

“Here’s your room. Rest well,” Doll said, trying to smile once more, and getting closer to success than he had the last time he’d tried to smile at Umi.

She nodded at him, still feeling embarrassed. After Doll left, Umi crawled under her covers, something she wasn’t used to and probably wouldn’t grow used to for a while, but in the end she fell asleep rather quickly.

That night, Umi had a strange dream; she stood in a dark chamber. Though there was no light, she could feel – sense, rather – the walls: close but not too close, far but not too far. Though she couldn’t reach out and touch them, she was positive they were there. She could hear water dripping somewhere into a pool; the shape of the room made it difficult for her to pinpoint if the sound came from before her or behind her. The chamber was filled with the smells of a cave, the smells of the earth. Then, out of nowhere, there was a light, a single spot of light radiating softly, not reaching the edges of the room. It emanated from beneath a dripping stalactite, the source of the dripping sound.

The chamber was barren, empty. The walls, though clearly raw stone, showed no tool marks, and Umi walked closer to one wall, running her hand down it. The stone there was cool to the touch – almost cold, even. She walked over to the pool under the stalactite in the centre of the circular room, looking down at its water. The water was blacker than night, and looking at it, Umi was filled with an uncertain sense of dread, as though something evil lurked in that small pool of blackness. She heard something start to speak from the inky pool, simply uttering the word “soon,” repeatedly. Though it was one word, it was filled with malice and hate. She backed away from the pool, and arms sprouted from the floor and from the walls, grabbing her and holding her fast. She tried to fight her way loose, but they were too strong. They began to push her towards the pool, but before she could get any closer, she was awakened by Doll.

“Are you alright? I walked past your room and saw you thrashing about in your sleep,” Doll said standing over her, a small amount of concern slipping into his otherwise placid features.

Umi slowly nodded her head, gripping the edge of her blanket tightly. What was with that dream? It had felt so real, it felt like she was truly being dragged into that dark pool. She was glad Doll had woken her up… After a few seconds, she shook her head. It felt like a lie to say she was alright.

“I’ll make you some warm cookies,” Doll said simply, patting her on the head. “I learned on TV that baked goods often make one feel better when they’re down.”

She smiled to him gratefully. Even though his mannerism was often indecipherable and weird, he always seemed to make her feel better when she was feeling down since she became human the other day.

Umi quickly ordered the blanket on her bed, and followed after Doll as they walked to the kitchen. She took a seat at the small table that sat in one corner of the kitchen and watched while Doll went about preparing cookies. She thought he must be really good at memorising recipes, as he didn’t seem to be reading one from any book, simply throwing ingredients together expertly.

It took Doll only a short while to put all the ingredients together, and when he was done with that he sat down beside Umi at the kitchen table with a mug of black coffee. The smell of the coffee was intoxicating: Umi had never had coffee before, or smelled it for that matter. Doll must have noticed her looking at his mug, as he got up and grabbed another empty mug.

“Do you want to try some?” he asked her, walking over to the coffee maker and looking back at her.

She nodded her head.

“Here you go,” he said, walking back to her and setting the mug in front of her.

Umi took a sip and recoiled slightly. It was more bitter than she was expecting. It wasn’t totally unpleasant, but it wasn’t really her cup of tea – or coffee, in this case. Doll saw the look on her face and got up once more, returning with a small bottle and a small dish of sugar.

“Creamer and sugar for your coffee,” Doll explained simply.

She put in a little of both and took another sip. Amazing! she thought. It was so much better now. She could see herself drinking it in the morning. The two of them sat and drank their coffee in silence for fifteen minutes, when Doll got up again and took the cookies out of the oven.

Just like when she’d first come here, the cookies reminded her of home, even though before then she’d never had cookies. They were warm, and fell apart easily, and filled her with warmth and happiness. Eating them made her largely forget the dream she’d had, though a certain uneasy feeling still lingered at the back of her mind.

“Are you feeling better?” Doll asked, some concern still on his face. Was he worried about her?

She nodded her head and smiled.

“I’m glad. When I entered your room, I was overcome with a very bad feeling, like something evil was there,” he said.

Umi frowned. She’d just forgotten about the dream…

“I apologise,” Doll said, seeing her frown.

She shook her head. She knew he hadn’t meant anything by bringing it up so soon. But, something about the fact that he’d felt an evil presence at that time too filled her with both a sense of comfort, knowing she wasn’t alone in feeling that way, and fear, knowing that something truly had happened.

“Would you like to study some more English in a bit?”

Umi nodded her head.

The two headed back to the study, and spent most of the morning studying. Doll was a much better teacher than one would expect him to be with how little he spoke and how non expressive he was. He made the lesson easy for Umi to understand, and seemed to cater it to her perfectly; even though it was only the third day of being taught, she was feeling confident. Doll speculated that because she already knew how to speak English, learning to write it as well was much easier than if she was trying to do both at the same time.

They broke at noon for lunch, and afterward sat together in the living room. Umi was watching TV, a program about sea life, and Doll was still reading the incredibly thick book – even with his accelerated rate of reading, the book would take him a few days to read in its entirety. They sat in silence, but Umi was used to that. For some reason, the silence when she was with Doll felt nothing like the silence she experienced when she was living on the streets as a mermaid – in fact, the silences when she was around Doll almost felt comfortable.

After breaking for about an hour and half, they returned to their studies. However, they were interrupted when the doorbell rang a few hours later. At the door was Willow, carrying large sacks in each of her hands, a motherly smile on her face.

“I got some vegetables for you two,” she said warmly, lifting up the two bags that must have weighed a ton as if they were full of feathers.

“Thank you, Willow,” Doll said politely, moving out of the way to allow her to enter.

“What, you’re going to make me carry them all the way to the kitchen? What a son you are!” she cried with good humour in her voice.

“I apologise,” Doll responded sincerely.

“You make it so hard to tease you,” Willow pouted.

“That isn’t my intention,” Doll said.

“Anyway! How are you doing, dear?” Willow said loudly, wrapping Umi in a bear hug.

Umi, of course, still couldn’t speak, so she nodded her head.

“Good, good! I felt something off earlier this morning, but it seems to be gone now,” Willow said, looking around curiously.

“Umi had a bad dream. I presume it was some form of warning or something,” Doll said, returning from putting the sacks in the kitchen.

“Is that it, huh?” Willow said, suddenly becoming lost in thought. “Well, I hope all’s right now!”

Umi nodded. Doll had helped her to feel better after that, but there was still the nagging feeling that she was being watched…

“I gotta head back out, just wanted to stop by and give you those veggies and ask about that presence! You two look after each other!” Willow said, hugging Umi again and giving Doll a hug as well before leaving.

“She comes and goes like a storm,” Doll said with a strange expression. “I heard someone say that on TV once, and it made me think of her.”

She started to laugh – or rather, she laughed in her own way.

Doll tried to smile at her, but once again he failed, and once again it made her laughter even strong. For some reason, making her laugh made him happy. Before she came ashore as a human and subsequently met Doll, she hadn’t laughed since before her parents died, though Doll didn’t know that.

“Let’s get back to studying, if you want,” Doll said once she’d stopped laughing.

She shook her head with a smile and pointed to the kitchen and then the living room. She wanted to eat and watch TV with Doll, her head was hurting from studying all day.

“Alright, I’ll cook some of the vegetables Willow gave us,” Doll said.

Umi smiled at him and followed him to the kitchen.

“Are you going to watch me cook? Is it that entertaining?” Doll asked, seeming a little confused.

She nodded, a smile still on her face.

Doll opened one of the sacks of vegetables, and a wide assortment of veggies spilled out over the kitchen floor. He immediately began carefully picking them up, avoiding stepping on any. There were many different kinds of veggies all mixed together, many of them ones Umi had never seen before. She got up and helped him with the clean up.

“Thank you for your assistance,” Doll said as she took a seat once they were done.

Umi smiled at him.

“Let’s see…,” he said, his hand on his chin while he looked at the veggies they’d just picked up, carefully considering what to make.

After thinking for another few moments, he quickly got to work, prepping some fish he’d stored in the refrigerator, then chopping some veggies. He had Umi help with the vegetables, placing a cutting board and knife before her on the table she was sitting at. She’d never really done any cooking before, but after Doll briefly showed her how to do it, she had no trouble cutting the vegetables, though she wasn’t sure what kinds of vegetables they were. Once all the ingredients had been prepared, Doll threw them in a dish and put them in the oven, joining Umi at the table while they waited.

A short time later, the dinner was ready, and Doll got up and took it out of the oven. The smells of all the vegetables mingling with the smells of the fish were intoxicating to Umi: she’d never had any of the vegetables Doll had used – peppers, onions, mushrooms… Now that it was time to eat, she realised how much she was looking forward to it. She really liked these new experiences that Doll was always seeming to show her.

He set the dish on the counter, and portioned out servings for Umi and himself, and brought them over to the table. As he sat down, she realised that they’d never eaten in the dining room, always using the kitchen table or eating in the living room. She laughed a little to herself, and tentatively stuck her fork into the food on the plate, skewering a large piece of mushroom.

She stuck it in her mouth and slowly chewed it. She didn’t know what she was expecting in the first place, but she was pleasantly surprised by the taste of the mushroom – Doll had told her the names of all the vegetables while she was cutting them – and found she quite enjoyed their taste. Next, she went for a piece of the bell pepper, in this case being the green variety. It, too, was good. Then came the onion. She found she wasn’t too fond of onions, but that didn’t mean she hated them. They certainly lent a pleasant taste to everything else.

“How do you like the vegetables?” Doll asked her, having already finished his heaping helping of food before she’d even gotten halfway through her own food that seemed child sized in comparison to how much Doll had eaten.

She nodded her head with a smile, showing him she liked them.

“That’s good. Vegetables are healthy and important for growing children,” Doll stated matter-of-factly as if he weren’t 2 years younger than the 12 year old Umi.

Umi took a little longer to eat, and when she was done, she helped Doll with the dishes. He’d done so much for her in the short few days she’d been with him, but she’d hardly done anything in return, the least she could do was help him with the dishes.

After they’d washed up, they retired to the living room, and continued reading and watching TV. Umi realised that she could turn on the subtitles, allowing her to practice her reading while watching TV.

“Did you have televisions underwater?” Doll asked suddenly some time after they’d sat down together.

He startled Umi a little, but she nodded her head. She didn’t know how they worked, but merscientists had engineered special televisions that worked underwater, and had secretly stolen cable from the humans. Most houses where she came from had a TV. Though, as with everything, she couldn’t tell Doll that.

“I see…” Doll said, setting his book down momentarily and jotting down a note in his journal.

How much was he able to write in his journal, given the simplicity of her responses? Umi wondered.

“It’s mostly simple yes or no answers,” Doll said, noticing her gaze lingering on his journal. “I would like to hear your voice, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem like something that will happen soon.”

He would like to hear her voice? What did he mean by that? Umi thought, confused, her face feeling warm.

“Is that why you’re able to understand English?” he inquired further.

She nodded again. Her father, a politician, had belonged to a faction that was favourable towards humans, and since she was young she had been learning English, though for whatever reason they never stressed learning to write.

“Interesting,” Doll said, still writing.

Doll was about to ask another question when the doorbell rang. He got up and left the room, returning a moment later with Willow behind him. She had a smile on her face, and covered tray in her hands.

“I know I just gave you two some food earlier today, but I made dessert and wanted to share it with you,” she said warmly.

“Let’s eat in the kitchen,” Doll said, helping Umi stand and heading to the kitchen.

They sat at the kitchen table once again, and Willow took the cover off the tray revealing a cake. She gingerly sliced it into pieces, placing three pieces on three plates that Doll had grabbed, and setting them before Doll, Umi, and herself.

Doll was the first to dig in. As usual, he seemed to be happy. Umi had known him for several days, but the only time she’d seen him really happy was when he was eating.

Umi herself took a bite, and was intrigued by the taste; it was somewhat sour, but not unpleasant. It was a very soft, moist cake, but there were hard pieces in it as well. The top was covered in a thin glaze that packed a bit of a more sour punch than the cake itself.

“It’s honey lemon walnut cake,” Willow said, smiling after taking a bite herself.

“Thank you for the dessert,” Doll said, having already finished his slice.

Umi nodded in thanks. She had enjoyed it a lot, it was full of flavours she’d never had before.

“It’s nothing,” Willow said, getting up and giving Doll a hug while he stayed seated.

The three of them sat and talked for about an hour after they’d finished their cake. Willow carried most of the conversation, talking a lot about the forest and its inhabitants. Apparently, she was something like a queen of the forest, being the oldest being living there. As such, she had many duties, and it was because of those duties that their conversation came to an end.

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

Photo

https://picrew.me/image_maker/433406

#umi

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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i feel like this made her look a little yandere lol i think it’s the eyes...

https://picrew.me/image_maker/395807

#umi

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

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i haven’t posted this character yet but this is willow. she’s a very emotional tree nymph sometimes called weeping willow because of her propensity for crying. she was the lover of xavier, the man who created doll, and acts like doll is her own son

https://picrew.me/image_maker/257476

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

Photo

https://picrew.me/image_maker/17569

#umi

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count-yeti · 5 years ago

Text

After leaving Umi’s room, Doll had gone to his creator’s study. Unlike humans, Doll, who was a homunculus, needed very little sleep, and only slept several hours a week; his lack of need to sleep was made up for by his resounding appetite.

He searched the study for two hours before finding what he was looking for: a leather-bound volume just like all the others on his creator’s shelves, but this one uniquely bearing the label of Thibaut Andrews, the name of his creator’s mermaid-turned-human friend. He’d never truly met the man, though he had seen him at his father’s wake; much like Umi, he spoke not a word, instead using sign language.

In the volume, his creator, Xavier Ludwig St. James, had recorded every conversation he’d had with Thibaut: ever since their first meeting in 1992, a year before Doll’s “birth”. Thibaut had come to Xavier as he’d heard that he might be able to restore his ability to speak, but ultimately his experiments failed, and Thibaut continued to be unable to communicate; despite this, the two remained friends until Xavier’s passing. Aside from that, it also mentioned many of the other difficulties Thibaut had experienced after becoming human: the difficulty of adjusting to walking rather than swimming, the difficulty of speaking in the thin air as opposed to the thick water – as well as the difficulty of breathing said air.

After reading the volume – a relatively thick affair, though this was no problem for Doll as he possessed above-average reading speed – Doll began to understand more of the problems Umi was facing, and the problems she would face in the future, and began to empathise with her more deeply. Though they’d only met that morning – or, rather, the previous morning, as though he possessed above-average reading speed, it still took him several hours to read the thick volume, and by the time he’d finished it was nearly sunrise – he had grown quite fond of her, though he wasn’t entirely aware of this fondness yet.

With time to spare before sunrise, Doll set about preparing breakfast for himself and Umi; he wasn’t sure what she liked to eat, so he simply made her eggs and bacon with some toast and jam on the side. Not longer after he’d finished cooking, he heard a noise from the direction of Umi’s room, and went to check on it.

Umi had awoken, but she had briefly forgotten that she wasn’t a mermaid anymore, and so tried to swim, something not possible on dry land, and wound up falling on the floor instead. Doll helped her up, and the two of them silently made their way to the living room, where Doll had set their food on the trays in front of the couch before the TV.

“I’m not sure what mermaids usually eat for breakfast, so I made eggs and bacon. Please, enjoy,” Doll said, gesturing to the place Umi had sat the day before.

Umi nodded her head in thanks.

The two of them ate breakfast together, silently watching TV. Even though Doll had nearly three times as much food as Umi, he still managed to finish before she did. She wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the eggs or bacon, but she enjoyed the bread quite a lot.

“When you’re finished, would you like to continue studying? While you work, I’ll tell you about what I read in my creator’s notes,” Doll asked her just before she’d finished eating.

She nodded assent, and ate her last forkful of food. When she was done, Doll promptly gathered up the dishes and brought them to the kitchen to wash them; while he was gone, Umi folded up the dinner trays and put them in their place behind the couch.

“Thank you,” Doll said as he came back into the living room and saw that she’d put away the trays.

Eating done, the two of them went to the study, and studied once more. Aside from his instructions to Umi, Doll was otherwise silent, as was his wont. She studied under his tutelage until noon, when they retired for lunch. She had made good progress, and felt confident about her letters. She had expected it to take much longer for her to learn the alphabet, but it had only been little more than a day’s studying for her to get the hang of it. Though, actually learning vocabulary, grammar, all that would take much longer…

For lunch, Doll once again made fish. He explained to Umi that fish was the majority of what he ate, aside from the fruit that grew on the trees behind the house. Umi wasn’t quite sure how he kept the house running and everything, but from what little she knew about how his… creator? Died she knew that it had happened only a few weeks after her parents had died. That was over three months ago, so how had he managed to keep the electricity on, amongst other things?

While she was thinking that after she’d finished eating, the doorbell rang. The sound scared her, and she jumped in her seat; if she had been able to make noise, she likely would have made some. Umi’d only ever heard doorbells on TV, they weren’t a thing where she came from. After recovering from her shock, she slowly followed behind Doll as he went to open the door.

“Oh, Willow. I wasn’t expecting you would be coming today, come on it,” Doll said as he answered the front door.

The woman standing at the door was gorgeous, though clearly not human – for one thing, her skin was green, like the colour of a leaf. Her hair was brown, but more like the brown off of a tree’s bark than any natural human hair colour. She wore gossamer like clothing that flowed off of her frame like sheets hanging from the clothes line. Her body seemed to radiate a natural aura, and it put Umi at ease.

“Umi, this is Willow. She’s a tree nymph who inhabits a willow tree behind the house; she was the lover of my creator,” Doll said, uttering the last sentence like it was any other piece of information.

“Who is this girl?” Willow asked curiously, squinting at Umi like a future mother in law inspects her future daughter in law.

“This is Umi, she’s a former mermaid. She can’t speak. I decided to take her in after finding her naked on the beach yesterday morning,” Doll said, still lacking any sense of tact in his speech.

Umi shrunk backwards at the last, unnecessary addition to his statement, feeling embarrassed. Doll could often tell what she wanted, but the boy was still surprisingly dense, Umi thought. She looked awkwardly up at Doll and Willow, who hadn’t really seemed to notice her embarrassment and had continued on their conversation.

“Did you need something, Willow?” Doll asked after a little while of talking with her.

“Huh? Not really, I just wanted to check up on you,” Willow answered, lovingly placing a hand on his cheek. “Have you been eating right? I see you ever day going out to catch fish. I hope you aren’t only eating fish.”

“I do eat more than fish,” Doll responded. “It’s just that fish is the easiest protein to acquire.”

“You are just like your father,” Willow sighed.

“Interesting,” Doll said quietly, putting his hand under his chin and thinking.

“Please look after this child,” Willow said to Umi, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Umi wasn’t sure how to respond or what was going on, so she simply nodded her head in agreement. So far, it was more Doll looking after her than anything.

“Oh, he’s grow up so much! It feels like just a year ago his father was begging me to teach him how to change his diapers,” Willow said, starting to cry.

Umi wasn’t sure how to react to the tree nymph’s sudden tears, and she simply stared at Doll. Doll, for his part, simply stood there as if it was a normal occurrence, his face the same emotionless mask as always. She felt exasperated at Doll’s lack of response, and calmly placed a hand on Willow’s shoulder, hoping to calm her down.

Instead of calming her, the gesture seemed to make her crying worse. Umi jumped backwards in shock. Was it her fault she was crying now? She looked around for Doll, but she couldn’t find him. Where had he gone while this woman who treated him like her child was crying so heavily? What an idiot, she thought.

A few moments later, Doll came back carrying a tray of cookies and milk. Was that really why he’d left? Cookies? What an idiot! she thought again.

“Here’s some cookies, Willow,” Doll said with his usual flat tone over the sound of her crying.

Willow looked up at him, her eyes puffy, and smiled a soft smile as tears streamed down her face. She stopped crying, and hooked her arm under Doll’s as he led her to the living room, where she sat on the sofa while Doll set up the dining trays. It looks like Doll knew what he was doing, Umi thought, feeling bad for calling him an idiot in her mind.

“You’re such a good boy,” Willow beamed as he set a plate of cookies before her.

“Thank you,” Doll responded simply, setting up trays for himself and Umi before the couch.

The two of them joined Willow on the couch.

“Do you happen to know a friend of Xavier’s named Thibaut Andrews?” Doll asked after they’d eaten in silence for several minutes.

“Thibaut, Thibaut, Thibaut…” Willow murmured, rebounding from crying only a few moments ago with surprising grace. “I think I remember him. He was the silent fellow at your father’s funeral, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, that is probably him. He, like Umi, was once a mermaid, so we wanted to ask him questions to help her adjust to living amongst humanity,” Doll explained.

“I’d never met him before the funeral, and even then we didn’t speak. I’m sorry,” Willow said looking at Umi and Doll in turn.

“That’s alright. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Doll said.

“Anyway, I think I’ve stuck around too much, I should probably get back to the forest,” Willow sighed as she stood up and stretched. “It was nice to meet you, Umi. Please look after Doll for me, dear.”

Umi nodded her head at Willow before the tree nymph left.

“It looks like we’ll have to ask around town about Thibaut,” Doll said, a strange look on his face, a look almost like apprehension.

Umi noticed the look on his face, and looked at Doll with a curious look on her face.

“I’m not fond of town,” Doll answered the look on her face.

She nodded her head. She couldn’t communicate any other way.

“Shall we go now, then? No, you haven’t bathed since you came ashore, have you?” Doll asked.

She looked at him curiously. She’d never really bathed before, there really was no need to when you lived surrounded by water anyway.

“Right, you were a mermaid, surrounded by water at all times, it was probably like bathing every time you moved,” he said, seemingly reading her thoughts, something he seemed to do often.

She nodded her head, agreeing. How was could he always tell what she was thinking? Could he really read her mind?

“There’s a bathroom attached to your bedroom, you can just bathe there,” Doll said. “I’ll find you some fresh clothes to change into; while we’re in town, we can get you a new wardrobe so you don’t have to keep wearing my clothes.”

Umi found her way into the bathroom, and stood there in the middle of the room… she wasn’t sure what to do. She’d seen people using bathrooms on TV, but never used on herself. It wasn’t really necessary while living underwater; if one had need to clean oneself, it was simply a matter of brushing ones scales with a cloth or using specialised tools for the job.

“Are you unsure what to do?” Doll asked as he came to set her fresh clothes on her bed and saw the bathroom door still open.

Umi nodded.

“Oh, there doesn’t seem to be any shampoo or body wash in here, I’ll be back in a moment,” he said after leaning over the bath, coming back a few moments later holding two glass bottles. “Here. This one is for your hair, and this one is for your body. Willow makes these for me. I’ll get the bath going now.”

He set the two bottles beside the tub on a small table, and turned on the bath faucet.

“The knob with the blue on it makes it colder, the red one makes it hotter. You should adjust it yourself, I don’t know whether you like it hotter or colder,” Doll explained, moving out of the way to let Umi adjust it herself. “If that’s all, I’ll leave so you can bathe.”

Umi nodded her head in thanks, and Doll left the room, closing the door behind him.

After the water had filled up, she turned of the faucet, undressed and got in the water. Even though she’d lived in water for the past 12 years, something about sitting in the bath was vastly, totally different. Maybe it was because she was human now, but the water felt so close, so warm. It enveloped her as she sat there surrounded by it.

She wasn’t sure how much time had past, but the next thing she knew, Doll was knocking on the door to her bathroom.

“Are you alright in there? It’s been 45 minutes,” he said through the door.

There was silence, of course, because Umi couldn’t speak.

“Right, you can’t speak. Would you make some sort of noise to let me know you’re still well?” he asked.

Umi obliged, rapping her knuckles against the side of the tub.

“Alright. Don’t take too long in there,” he said as he left.

After he’d gone, she decided to get out of the tub. Had she really spent 45 minutes in there? It passed by in no time at all. She dried off and went into her bedroom, where Doll had left her clothes on her bed. She had no trouble putting on the shirt, but the and pants were a different story; she’d worn shorts before bathing, which hadn’t been hard to put on, but pants were a different matter. Being born a mermaid, she’d never worn either – or underwear, for that matter – so they felt a little weird, particularly the pants. They went all the way to her feet! The feeling of the fabric against her legs felt… wrong. She got them on in the end, but she was going to have to ask Doll for more shorts if she was going to leave the house.

Now dressed, Umi went to the living room, where Doll was sitting on the sofa reading a book. She couldn’t see the title, but it was immensely thick, thicker than any book she’d ever seen before. Despite its thickness, Doll was reading it like it was any run-of-the-mill chapter book, his face an emotionless mask. He was engrossed, and didn’t notice Umi standing there until she sat beside him.

“I see you’re out of the bath. I assume it was to your liking?” he asked.

She nodded, and gestured at her pants, tugged at them as if they were too tight.

“Would you like some shorts instead of pants?” Doll asked, reading her mind as he always seemed to do.

Umi nodded once more, wondering once again how he was so good at telling what she was thinking. Was he really a mind reader?

Doll closed his large book, set it on the coffee table, and left the living room. He returned a few moments later, holding a pair of shorts in his hands and handed them to Umi. Then, he simply stood there, waiting for her to change. After a few moments, he realised his mistake, and left the room to allow Umi some privacy; despite being so good at reading her mind, he was often rather dense.

“I imagine transitioning to wearing pants after not needing to have done so in your whole life is quite odd,” Doll observed, his hand under his chin in the gesture he often made while thinking.

He pulled out a small notebook from his back pocket and wrote in it briefly. Umi wasn’t sure what he was writing, but she figured it was probably about the observation he’d just made. Was he keeping a journal of her? For some reason, her face grew warm.

“Let’s get going. I’d like to be back before 5 so I can catch and make dinner,” Doll told her.

With that, the two of them headed off to town.

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