#Empty spaces

[wormtoxin]

Shit man, this mech war is fucked. I just saw a doll shoulder its rifle and say "reality warp: black hole star" or some similar shit, and every mech around it cratered, radiated a ring of pure energy, and disappeared. The camera didn't even go onto it, that's how common shit like this is. My ass is firing anti-personnel rounds and buckshot. I think I just heard "nanomachines: skewer" two groups over. I gotta get the fuck outta here.

[dollmimicgirls]

Retired combat dolls are, for lack of a better word, disarmed. They take as much as they can, to recycle to the next program or nameless war that needs fresh bodies. Ordnance, external first. Bullets, bombs, blades. Internal next. Self-destruction subroutines wired to bombs with a conspicuous lack of serial number. Integrated subsonic cannons. Canisters full of unnamed, unseen gas that devastates anything not made of porcelain in a hot zone. They take armour next. Porcelain isn't cheap and good armour is more asset protection than it is to save lives. It's the same as maintaining a gun or sharpening a sword. Of course, not everything is inlaid ballistic weave or angled edges. They strip active camouflage out of dolls who've learned to weave unseen paths through a crowded mess hall, lest they be given the same alienating berth the pilots are. Those ones are always the most startled to be seen. Even an address by name is enough to shock them out of the focus-state that lets orders nestle and take root in a doll's fragile mind. Lucky dolls might be able to find construction or demolition work. Arms strong enough to heave APCs make short work of a wall. Just don't scare the doll while it's holding the sledgehammer or the suits will have to escort you away while they bring in someone with a forgettable face but an unmistakeable voice to soothe the doll. Unlucky dolls may be given guard duty. Somebody looking to scoop up security, digging through cheap surplus. What they don't understand is that while dolls are trained, they are not hired guns. Without IFF systems and a Purpose to stay their hand, a combat doll will open fire on whatever it deems a threat.

The most unfortunate of dolls end up back here, like me, talking to freshfaced dolls like you. There isn't a good Purpose to be found behind iron sights, I promise you. I've looked. Get out while you can and find yourself a good Miss to serve. Maybe sell off some of those fancy augments and see what you can get. Start a new life. Just get the fuck away from here, please.

[ace-disgrace-on-the-case]

Mech pilots as a chronic illness metaphor. I would kill the world for you. I need you to help me out of the cockpit. I swear I’m still every bit as useful to you as I was before. We’re going to need to add another drug to the cocktail. You won’t leave me when I finally wash out, right? I don’t get to be normal anymore. I would kill the world for you. I hope I get to try.

[verity-hollow]

Discovered in its drafts"

"Witch whose witch hat is a wide brimmed version of the multicolored propeller hat."

This one thinks that it was for the best that the post was abandoned. It could not handle the responsibility of bringing the concept of a witch with this much whimsy into the world

[roomtemperaturesuperconductor]

this is literally some fucking r/196 shit how did it make it onto hbomax??

[witchpassing]

explanatory diagram

[absentwriterdoll]

This, too, is love.

A doll that says, "I'm sorry."

A witch that says, "You've done nothing wrong."

But, still, the doll apologizes.

It continues to apologize.

Eventually beginning to tear up.

Eventually beginning to sob.

The witch takes the doll into their arms.

Letting the doll's tears dampen their shirt.

Holding the doll as it heaves its wails.

This, too, is love.

=====

Inspired by Io.

[kintsug1kitsune]

Kris Deltarune is a doll. In this essay

[araniladin]

When the dolls first joined the rebels, it was met with suspicion. Every rebel knew what the dolls did for the Empire, knew that they were the assassins of those gilded bastards. But they took the dirty work. Everything the rebels asked of them, the dolls performed to the best of their abilities. Cleaned the mechs, made the hole in the ground barracks livable. But every day, they asked to be put on the battlefield. Leadership was hesitant, but rebels aren’t well known for having a lot of deployable troops. And leadership got scared. The dolls had left their golden cages, most of them very violently. Showing up to rebel bases with the heads of some of the Founding Families was one reason they got in. If this was someone insidious trap, the Empire had been willing to lay some serious cover, because as good as medicine had become, it couldn’t fix missing heads. 

Finally, the dolls got their chance, when a base was raided without warning. The dolls rolled out alongside the mechs. The goal was to slow the advance long enough for the base to be evacuated. The result was a total rout of Imperial forces. Mechs are big, badass pieces of tech that can level cities, but big things have big weaknesses. Dolls, most topping out at a heighty 165 cm, abused the blindspots of the Empire’s mechs. They also enjoyed it. The dolls handled all the tasks the rebels had given them because that was a doll’s duties. Taking out thirty meter tall mechs with slug guns and chain weapons was something new. But it was also what a doll did. They removed the stains and took out the trash.

After the fight, the mech pilots and dolls got on like a house on fire. Which wasn’t a good thing for their enemies, because the house on fire was usually theirs. 

One day, a technician, reattaching a doll’s leg, asked something no one else had. Why, why did the dolls defect. They were made to be the perfect servant, but in the end, they turned against their masters.

“You whip a dog enough, even the most faithful hound will bite it’s master.”

[application-doll]

A doll who sees the ghost of its former witch, she shows up unexpectedly, in places the doll assumed it was safe. The doll didn't know it was a doll then, and the witch from before doesn't acknowledge how it has transformed.

The ghost haunts the doll, dodging protective runes and attempts to hide itself.

One night, its witch finds it shuddering in the corner. Shaking like a leaf in a winters breeze.

"what's wrong my precious doll, why have you forsaken our warm bed to hide in this corner, what has you looking like a prey animal this night."

"The ghost. It knows now. It followed it home from errands. It knows where it lives."

The witch considered a moment. The ghost was real. The previous witch has haunted it for a while, and while the witch has charmed the house so as to be impenetrable, the doll had good reason to fear it, it wouldn't be the first time the thing broke into its house.

"You're with me now doll, I would never ever let that nasty thing touch you again, you're safe with me, I promised you that, so long ago. I've kept you safe through the thunder, through the migraines, through the virus that wracked your system for weeks. Of all the things I've ever promised you, this is the promise i hold most dear. Now come here, let me hold you in our soft bed, sitting out here only serves to make you afraid of the ghost, let me care for you, the way you do for me."

The doll stood, letting the witch take its hand. As they curled around each other, the doll still wondered why the ghost didn't just leave it, but even as it wondered about unknowable things, it felt the hands of its witch tighten around it's stomach, and it knew it was safe.

[new-habits-die-soft]

2 years (2025)

[bunthatstinksgood]

New story everybunny!!!

I know it's been awhile, but I've come back with a 7000 word commission for @momobutveryhorny !!

This is Porcelain and Felt, a story about Andrew, who just wants to be left alone to work on his computers. Unfortunately, the Affini Compact's invasion has forced him into service aboard a Terran Navy vessel, where he feels woefully out of place.

What will happen to Andrew? Will he submit to the warm, loving embrace of the Compact? Or will he go out fighting like the independent Terran he claims to be?

Read to see what happens! And as always, if you enjoy, feel free to leave kudos and comment!

[verity-hollow]

hey sorry for blowing up your notifications, it scrolled through your profile until its phone was overheating and tumblr wouldn't load anything but sponsored posts

this one is concerned you awakened something deep within it.

This one thanks you for enjoying the stories its made. It hopes that whatever it has awakened brings an exciting new chapter to your own story.

Verity-hollow posts and stories may cause itching, drowsiness, loss of all sensation, the feeling of a foreboding figure lurking just out of view, an obsession with mirrors or agate, gender dysphoria, species dysphoria, spontanepus body horror, and erectile dysfunction. Consult your doctor, maker, or witch to see if the works of verity-hollow are right for you.

If you've read everything this one has to offer at this time, then please take some time to rest your eyes. Sit in the grass, look at something far away and let your mind process the words you've read. When you're ready for more, it recommends @quinnydoll / @witchhaven, @absentwriterdoll, @frostgears, @patchworkcuddlebug, or just following the empty spaces tag. It also recommends trying your hand at writing your own stories! This one had almost no experience with creative writing before it fell into the empty spaces.

It would have recommended every good empty spaces writer but this post would be the size of a small novel if it did so do feel free to explore

[47-bunnies-in-a-labcoat]

[novatoy]

"My son turned out fine"

sir your daughter writes microfiction about being dismembered and turned into an object by a pretty woman.