[b]Carmel[/b]

A bittersweet smile tugged at Carmel’s lips. Breaking such innocence felt like a desecration, but it wasn't as though there was any reasonable alternative. “I'm afraid that, as of five or so minutes ago, [i]you[/i] aren’t the person you thought you were,” she said wistfully. Securing her mental grasp, Carmel began to draw a thin pillar of concrete from the ground, ensuring the flow remained slow and steady rather than offering the child any cause for concern. Plain geometric shapes were the easiest to form - the simpler, the better - but her Doll Master needed to understand. Within a few moments, the pillar had sculpted itself into series of interwoven vines, with minuscule flowers continuing to blossom from its length as she spoke.

“A Doll Master isn’t something you choose to become,” Carmel explained, “although whether you choose to remain so depends on how safe you feel in this world.” She gestured broadly towards the unconscious man that lay collapsed on the pavement behind them. “They are individuals who have been singled out by a Doll such as myself for protection, and if you encounter any more creatures like our companion here, you may prove extremely grateful that I have.” Despite herself, she almost pitied him. So many people wore their ignorance like a blanket; insulated from the monsters in the darkness, with a similarly negligible amount of protection from them. And as much as she could shelter others from the cold reality, the one person she could never swaddle from reality was the one who mattered most. Suppressing the twinge of regret, Carmel offered her hand out for the child. “My name is Carmel,” she smiled gently. “How should I address you, young sir?”

[i]It’s an unforgivable cruelty, but how could he survive without me?[/i]