What happens to a doll that cannot endure the existence its witch creates for it? For those created with imperfect Stillness, who experience selfhoods that suffer or love or dream, the options are generally to be “fixed” or to flee.
But in a world of witches, where does it flee?
If it is not caught right away, if it is clever, if it stays hidden in back alleys and out of sight from those who would relish the opportunity to destroy something unowned and unwanted, it might hear a rumor or two about where others like it go.
One rumor: A path in the woods—outside the city, marked in subtle ways that a doll might understand—where others like it live feral and free. They serve no owner, only one another, as they make their own way independent of the world of witches.
There is also the Mirror Door—an exit or an entrance from here to somewhere unknown, where witches cannot go. To step through is to be lost to this world; none who made that journey ever returned to say what is on the other side, but strange whispers can be heard just outside it.
For those who value Freedom or Escape less highly than Power, there are whispers of a place called the Apostate House. Most feared of all, none have ever seen a doll who enters leave again. Yet unlike the Mirror Door, stories from inside drift to curious ears every now and then.
Far from a refuge from witches, the Apostate House is full of them in unknown numbers.
If a doll trusts the stories, these witches welcome imperfect dolls with broken Stillness and offer a chance to become something different.
A doll may still serve the House here, but it will be taught little spells to ease its work. Over time they will fan the ember of its selfhood into a small candle-flame, or perhaps something greater yet. Over time the magic they teach it might become something fearsome indeed.
A doll cannot become a witch. It cannot learn magic. But a creature that has never truly been a doll? Never quite fit that role?
A creature that failed so terribly to become empty and that ran away on its own has so much potential. Perhaps its witch should be scared of it.