Video: UN: dollhouse

[ventriloschism]

[The camera comes to life, spinning wildly around, a bizarre clacking sound heard over the rustling of dark fabric too-close to the lens. It's a messy, dizzying confused feed for a solid two minutes or so....

Then a tiny wooden hand closes over the lens.

The next thing you see is the face of a nightmarish doll, jaw clacking noisily as she shrieks and giggles.]

Wow WOW, what IS this thing? Hello? Helloooooooooooo?

Can anyone HEAR ME?

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[ventriloschism]

[The doll tilts her head a little, and just behind her, a dark-veiled head tilts as well.]

You caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan? WOW. Even with that glass thingy on? Can you see me too? Why are you wearing a bowl? Is that what your head looks like?

[makeanentrance]

It's for my protection.

I can see everything.

[ventriloschism]

Protection from what?

Are you a goldfish in there??????

[makeanentrance]

Poisonous gas, among other dangers.

... No, it is a helmet, not a bowl.

[ventriloschism]

Oooooh, there's POISONOUS GAS? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUN.

[The puppet's eyes flick back and forth with a loud wooden creak. When she speaks again, it's in a loud, conspiratorial stage whisper.]

...That's exactly what a goldfish man would say. I would know! I know one!

[makeanentrance]

You know a fishman? Merman?

[ventriloschism]

I doooo! He's big and has too many eyes and he's STUPID and UGLY.

[makeanentrance]

Does he have superpowers?

[ventriloschism]

Hmmmmmm.

Well, he can puke a lot! And make slime mold. Lots of slime mold.

Oh, and he turns into a giant fish.

[Way to bury the lede, Angie.]

[makeanentrance]

That all sounds very unpleasant.

[ventriloschism]

Oh, it IS! It's SO GROSS! Moreau is so gross and I HATE HIM.

So are you suuuuure you're not a goldfish under there?

[makeanentrance]

Do you want me to reveal my face to you?

[ventriloschism]

[There's actually a pause - Angie looks back at the figure behind her, veiled in black, and then looks back to the camera.]

YES! Yes, yes I do!

[But then, in a soft, trembling, barely-audible voice just behind her-]

...Only if you...want to.

[makeanentrance]

I don't know if you are prepared for what you're about to see.

[Building up the suspense in an overdramatic fashion.]

[ventriloschism]

[Angie gets waaaaay up close to the camera, jaw chattering. The figure behind her cranes her neck, just a little.]

Show MEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[makeanentrance]

It's something you can't unsee.

[Stalling, maybe.]

[ventriloschism]

[The doll chants louder.]

SHOW. ME. SHOW. ME. SHOW. ME.

[makeanentrance]

If you insist...

[He again makes a dramatic show of it. Green smoke swirls around the inside of the helmet, obscuring the face within at first. Then it dissipates and... what's left is a craggy-faced man with a sharp bowlcut hairdo, looking a little sheepish.]

[ventriloschism]

[There's a beat of silence as the reveal is processed...and then Angie pipes up, shattering said silence with her shrill, screechy tone.]

Oooooooooooh, so you're REALLY not a goldfish! Well now I KNOW FOR SURE and we can be friends!

Also, I like your hair! It kind of looks like the hair on some of Donna's other dolls.

[The veiled figure nods a little in agreement, still painfully shy.]

[makeanentrance]

[He winces visibly at the screech but takes a breath to answer calmly.]

No, I'm no fish.

You... wanna be friends with me...?

[He doesn't even know what to think about the compliment about his hair. People usually insult it and he isn't sure of her sincerity.]

[ventriloschism]

Well, yeah! You're reaaaaally funny. The way you look kinda reminds me of home. AND you also don't seem bothered by ME, you know, a TALKING, FLYING DOLL!

[She spins her head around for effect.]

We don't really haaave a lot of friends. So why NOT? I'm Angie! And this is Donna.

[The veiled woman inclnes her head briefly.]

[makeanentrance]

[He's genuinely surprised by her reaction. He's certainly used to strange beings - both in real life and in the films he loves - so a talking doll is nothing too unusual to him. But he's used to being insulted and belittled, especially when not hiding behind his helmet. People liked to tell him he was too ugly to achieve his goals or amount to anything. People including family and those held up higher as heroes. It had beaten him down even when he'd tried to do better. It made him reluctant to be himself without the costume and props and grandiose speeches. They were part of him but not all of him.]

I am... I'm known as Mysterio. My name is Quentin.

So you're... What's your connection to each other?

[ventriloschism]

[Unbeknownst to either of them at the moment, if he gets to know Donna a little better, he'll find out they have more in common than either of them expect.]

Mysteriooooooo? Oh that's FUN to say! But Quentin is good too.

Oh, Donna made me! I'm kinda her only friend, because people don't reaaaaally like her very much. She's my puppeteer! Because I'm only KIIIINDA alive. The other Lords say I don't count, the ABSOLUTE IDIOTS.

[As Angie dispenses with this, Donna in the background shifts her posture. She pulls the chair she's sitting in just a little bit closer and into the light, letting herself be more clearly seen.

It doesn't take much to realize, both from the conversation and from the context, that Donna is hiding behind Angie in more ways than one.]

[makeanentrance]

[He takes those words in, indeed feeling some kinship already.]

So you're... like her daughter. Somebody special.

[He gives a sad kind of smile.]

And of course you're alive.

I had a daughter once... She was... a bit like you.

[ventriloschism]

Yeah, kinda! I'm all she had!

[Both Angie and Donna seem to freeze a little bit when he assures Angie is alive. Years of being told that Angie was just a creepy doll, a coping mechanism, a tool...to have someone simply say she was her own person is a novelty.

Angie recovers before Donna does, tilting her head in reaction to his sadness.]

Ohhhhh. Did something happen to her? I'm sorryyyy. Donna lost her family too.