Chapter Text
‘I’m home.’ To Lance, waiting in her bedroom for her return, Eri’s voice sounds listless. But it always does these days and it doesn’t carry the catch that means she’ll be clinging to him and crying as soon as her shoes are off. Her day at school must have gone well.
He listens to her take her shoes off and walk to the bedroom and then she kneels down in front of the shelf, eye to eye with him. ‘Hi, Lance.’ She looks tired but she smiles at him, eyes brightening. ‘How was your day? School was tough.’ Her smile falters. ‘Ah, I don’t want to do homework.’
Lance’s owner is not the most diligent of students, but she doesn’t want to do homework because every time she gets stuck it reminds her that she can’t go to her grandfather for help. Sometimes she sits Lance on the edge of her desk for moral support, or so she can complain to him about difficult problems, but it’s not as if he can explain things to her.
‘Let’s go online for a bit instead. I want to see if anyone is selling nice dolls’ clothes second hand. Do you want to come and look too since I’m buying for you?’ Her hands scoop him up, warm and soft, and Lance is carried across the room to her desk where she carefully poses him in a sitting position, knees against his chest and one arm draped over them. She’s very deft now — he remembers when she’d been both more tentative and more clumsy and he’d wound up with limbs all over the place. ‘Wait for me a moment, I’m just going to change out of my school uniform and get the laptop set up.’
Lance is glad he’s already been set up with his back to her before she changes for once. It’s not her fault, but it’s so embarrassing, and it’s not as if he can look away. The laptop is soon set down next to him with a thud that shakes the desk slightly. Eri sits down and moves him slightly, then turns his head so he’s looking at the screen, stroking a disarranged lock of hair back over his shoulder afterwards.
‘Haha, you look so intent,’ she says. ‘I’m glad I bought those eyes for you, they really suit you. So pretty.’
The laptop starts up and Lance watches images cross the screen as she opens the internet and starts searching.
‘What do you think of this jacket? It would look good on you.’
’I like anything you buy me, but how much of this month’s allowance have you spent already? You need to eat something other than bread for lunch more than I need a new jacket.’ She can’t hear him, of course, but he says it anyway. Too much of her allowance has been spent on dolls’ clothes lately — she used to buy sweets for her grandfather, now she buys clothes for her doll, but her grandfather could have told her not to spend money she needs for herself.
‘Oh, second hand dolls!’ Her mouse hovers over an auction of a Davi. There are a few auctions of Lance-types showing on the screen as well, Lance wonders if they’re being sold for money towards more interesting dolls. It’s to be expected, after all, he was sold to her as a good starter doll. That doesn’t stop it hurting. ‘What do you think, Lance? We could do with a bit more company.’ He can’t turn away from the screen to look at her, but he can hear the tears in her voice.
If another doll would make her feel less lonely… and she said “we” so it’s not as if he’s being replaced. Not really.
‘You guys are so expensive, even second hand,’ she complains after scrolling for a while. The screen keeps pausing as she stares anyway, enjoying looking at other dolls even if she can’t afford them. ‘Oh!’ She clicks on “buy” for this one almost as soon as she opens it, sloppy pictures of a Yeonho with cute, delicate features and large eyes. There were a few of them in the shop so Lance has seen them before, they’re not as common as his own type, but not a rare edition either. ‘I can’t believe that was so cheap! Such a pretty doll.’
’Cheap is relative. How much of your allowance did you just spend?’
‘I guess I won’t be buying anything else except food this month, though,’ she says as if answering him.
Lance is listening to the splash and clatter of Eri doing the washing up in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. There is a larger splash as she lets whatever she was holding fall back into the bowl and then the patter of her feet as she runs to the door.
A moment later she screams and Lance feels a moment’s utter panic — what was she doing opening the door so carelessly, she lives alone, it could be anyone, oh god, is she hurt? — before her voice thanking someone breaks through his racing thoughts and he realises she just screamed in joy. Thank goodness, but what just happened?
The door closes and he hears Eri walking around, talking softly. Whoever was outside the door didn’t come in — no second pair of footsteps — and he doesn’t think she’s on the phone. It is, he realises, probably the new doll. Water starts splashing again — she was that happy about a new doll and she’s gone back to doing the washing up? He can still hear her voice. Maybe she’s set the other doll up to talk to while she does housework. It seems unfair.
Finally Eri’s footsteps approach the bedroom and she throws open the door. ‘Yeonho, this is Lance.’ She kneels down in front of the shelf, still cradling the new doll in her hands. Yeonho is naked, she hasn’t dressed him yet, and wet. Judging by the matted state of his wig Eri probably had to clean him. There are scuff marks all over his body as if he’s been kicked around the floor and more deliberate cuts up his arms that could have been made with a craft knife. ‘Lance, this is Yeonho, you’re older so you have to be nice to him, okay?’
Eri lies Yeonho down on the shelf next to Lance. Yeonho whimpers, ’M-master,’ as soon as her hands are no longer in contact with him. It’s been a long time since Lance heard another doll’s voice. He’s more glad than offended that Yeonho’s entirely focussed on Eri and barely seems to have registered his presence. Certainly he wouldn’t know what to say.
Eri is rummaging through the box of dolls’ clothes. ‘I should buy you some clothes of your own. Lance’s clothes will fit you since you’re both R-line, but I don’t know whether they’ll suit you. You probably need something cuter… but maybe this… and this…’
‘I’ll try to look good in them, Master. I’ll wear anything you want me to. So please, please, keep me. I’ll be good… I’ll be really good…’
Eri picks Yeonho up to dress him and pauses for a moment, stroking the matted hair as if she can sense how much he needs calming down right now. It’s shocking for Lance to realise what second-hand really means. He’d been thinking of this as Eri’s new doll, he’d been scared of being replaced or abandoned, but for this doll those things have already happened.
Eri tries on one thing after another, new combinations of clothes that had been Lance’s until today, smiling happily as she gets more into it. Once she’s found a combination she likes she grabs the camera and Yeonho is so awestruck at her wanting pictures he’s completely silent for a while. Eventually Eri sets him on the shelf beside Lance, carefully posing him with his knees tucked up and his arms around them. Lance isn’t facing him, but he can see the other doll out of the corner of his eye. She sits back and smiles at them, eyes bright with happiness, then stands up and goes back to her neglected chores.
’Master?' Yeonho cries softly. ’Master, where are you going? Why are you leaving me?’
’She’s only gone to do the washing up.’ It’s the first time Lance has spoken to someone who can hear him and he’s not sure it’s a very good start.
‘Huh? W-washing up?’
’To clean dishes.’ This is inane and not particularly helpful. It’s not as if Yeonho is really concerned with whether Eri is cleaning dishes. Lance is meant to be nice to him, it would help if he had some idea how.
‘Master.’ Yeonho’s crying. Not tears of course, any more than they speak words, but Lance can hear sobbing.
‘Stop crying,’ he says and, when Yeonho does with a startled gulp, ‘that was the happiest I’ve seen her in months.’
‘Really?’ Yeonho’s voice is soft but, for the first time, not scared or tearful.
Lance doesn’t repeat himself, but Yeonho seems to have calmed down anyway. Maybe that will do for now.