Ivy found herself waking up unusually early that morning. She had become accustomed to staying up as late as possible working in the tunnels, then sleeping in till the afternoon. It felt strange waking up before the sun had risen. But she used to do that all the time. She was getting too comfortable. That was a problem. The break would come to an end, and she needed to be prepared for that change.
Mia was still fast asleep. Hopefully Mia's late bedtime wouldn't affect her too much. Ivy sat up and stretched. She would have to untrain herself to sleep in. When the games started up again, there would be more to organize and more supplies to distribute. This was her job. The overseers had left her in charge of these people. It was the one thing the overseers made her do that she didn't hate.
Organizing and working here gave Ivy more motivation and drive. But there was a risk in putting too much trust in her own abilities. Something could happen to her, and she needed to be prepared for that. If she was shattered, who would the overseers leave in charge? Not Ruby, that was for sure. Ivy began to circle through names and faces. Hard to tell. A small grunt from the bed pulled Ivy out of her thoughts. Mia was stirring.
"Good morning, Mia!" Ivy announced cheerfully.
"It's early, isn't it? Why are you up so early?" asked Mia.
"Because this is when I woke up. This way, we'll have more time to play together," Ivy said. That made Mia smile. That was another duty that Ivy couldn't neglect. Mia always came first. She came before anyone or anything else. Ivy needed to work. But she couldn't forget about what and who she was fighting for.
"Yay! Let's go ahead and play!" Mia sang, leaping out of the bed.
"What game would you like to play first?" asked Ivy.
"Um... how about we play a pretend game? It's been a long time since we've played one of those!"
"Okay, do you want to play it in here or do you want to go outside to play it?"
"Outside!"
"Alright, let's go." Ivy gently led Mia out into the hall. It was time for her to turn her thoughts to happy silly things and away from her own fear. After all, what was the point of living if you couldn’t enjoy life from time to time? That was another thing that Ruby had taught Ivy, and it was another thing that she needed to remember.
The city was glinting and glimmering under the first rays of sunlight. Ivy couldn't decide which was lovelier, the crimson of the evening sunsets, or the bright golden of morning sunrises. It was as if she could see the whole city waking up. The streets began to slowly fill with dolls.
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"I don't think Rosy is up yet. I was hoping I could play with her," said Mia.
"Well, you can always play with her later in the day. We've got plenty of time, remember. So, what kind of pretend game do you want to play?"
"I want us to be humans!" Mia said without any hesitation. That certainly wasn't the answer that Ivy had been expecting. Of all the things to be, why had Mia chosen that?
"Alright... we can be humans," Ivy said after a moment.
"Yay! So, the street is the world, and our apartment is The City of Glass," Mia explained.
"O-okay."
"But we don't like the city of glass, so we never visit. We think that the city is very pretty to look at.”
"I see."
"We also have our own house where we live together. It only belongs to us! Doesn't that sound cool? I really like the idea of having a house that only belongs to you!"
"Yes, that does sound cool," Ivy said. Mia grabbed her hand and tugged her along.
"This is the house where we live! We spend all our time playing and resting. Every once in a while, you go to work so that we have enough money to buy food. Because humans need to eat! But life is very nice when you're a human because you never have to fight with your friends," said Mia.
"Well, humans have fought each other before. There have been plenty of wars between humans," Ivy pointed out.
"Oh," Mia muttered. She looked down at the ground and then up at Ivy and back again. "I changed my mind; I don't want to be a human. I just don't think I know enough about them. Do you think being a human is nice, Ivy?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know any humans personally after all. But if I were to guess the majority of humans don't have to fight to the death on a daily basis." That felt like a good response.
"Humans grow and change right? Dolls don't," said Mia.
"That's true. All human children grow up and become adults. We dolls will always be the same age. We were built to stay the exact same forever."
"So, I won't ever be big like you. Hm, I won't ever get to go with you," Mia whispered. There was sadness in her eyes now. So that was what this was about. Ivy knelt down next to Mia and rested her hand on the child's shoulder.
"I have to protect you. You know that, right? The only reason I don't let you come with me is because I want to keep you safe. Everything I do for you, I do because I care about you, and I don't want you to get hurt."
"I-I know. But I can't help you with anything!"
"You don't have to, Mia."
"But I want to! I-I just feel so useless."
"Don't say that! Y-" Ivy began. But Mia cut her off.
"I changed my mind again. Let's be humans," said Mia.
"Mia, you aren't useless. Don't you ever say that. I just want to keep you safe. You're smaller than me and it is my job to protect you."
"But I'll always be smaller than you. I'll never learn to protect myself or others. I have to stay this way forever," Mia said softly. Everything she was saying was true. Now Ivy understood why Mia had been so upset. It wasn't just as simple as feeling left out. Ivy couldn't blame Mia for feeling trapped. If Ivy were in her place, she would probably feel the same way. But Ivy didn't know what to tell her. She wanted to make Mia feel better. But it was hard to comfort someone when the truth was this awful. This was a time when words were useless. All that Ivy could do was hold the miserable child tightly and pray that Mia was comforted.