Unconventional Collection (Doll TF)

Nerds. Nerds as far as the eye could see. Maddie didn’t expect anything less as she walked into the convention center but regardless the sight was something to behold. From booth to booth, panel to panel, hundreds of people shuffled through the crowd, most all of them in costumes of one thing or another. It was a “Con” after all, a pop-culture convention as most people knew it, and as far as she knew cosplay and dressing up seemed to be the norm at these kinds of events. Looking around the crowded space, Maddie stopped for a moment after she walked through the main doors. Glancing over the crowd, she recognized a number of people dressed up to look like characters from various video games or anime she’d seen of over the years, but the more she looked the more she found herself unable to pin the origins of most of the costumes she saw.

Amidst it all, she couldn’t help to feel she was a bit out of place. Maddie had never shied away from nerding over the occasional show or game, but as she made her way into the crowd, the nature of it all seemed a bit extreme. Originally, she didn’t want to come to the event, but after some persuading, (or peer pressure by another name,) a number of her college friends ended up convincing the girl to come with. Still, the whole experience seemed daunting to her, and rightfully so as she felt herself nearly overwhelmed by the costumed crowd around her. “Why’d I let them talk me into this?” she mumbled to herself under the roar of the crowd, trying to make her way off to a wall beside a comic book booth. Finally breaking out of the crowd, Maddie made her way to an open space near the wall and sighed, checking the time on her phone as she did. It was early in the afternoon, with Maddie actually being early, having a good 15 minutes before the rest of her friends were supposed to show up. Looking back to the sea of people in front of her, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. ‘Looks like I’m stranded for a while,’ she thought to herself, no ambition to brave the crowd once more without her friends by her side.

After a while, Maddie found herself going in between anxiously checking her phone and people watching, hoping to pick one of her friends out of the crowd. ‘Are they even going to be able to find me in this?’ Maddie groaned internally, texting her friends the name of the booth she found herself next to before dropping her phone back into a pocket. Reassuring herself that they would, she looked down at what she was dressed in herself. ‘At least I’m wearing something recognizable.’ Maddie, after some further persuading, was convinced by her friends to dress up. “She wouldn’t want to stand out after all,” she remembered her one friend joking with her as they were getting ready for the convention days before
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Standing there against the wall, the girl was dressed in a “The Legend of Korra” cosplay, with Maddie dressed up as Korra herself. The costume consisted of a cut-off teal top, her arms exposed save for a pair of dark blue arm covers going along her forearms. Below that she had a pair of similarly dark blue pants, held up by a fake-leather cover tied around her waist and leading into a pair of cloth and fur boots at her feet. To top it all off her hair, which was naturally black to match the character’s, was pulled into three ties, one forming a pony tail on the back of her head as the other two pulled the rest of her hair into two thick strands draped over her shoulders down onto her chest. Beyond the hair, Maddie even kind of looked like the character, with her blue eyes and tan skin only furthering the quality of her get-up.

While she did like how she looked in it, Maddie couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, having not dressed up like this outside of Halloween since she was little. It didn’t help that she noticed the occasional confused glance from passers-by as she walked to the convention center. Being a fairly shy girl, she typically didn’t like to stand out of the crowd when she didn’t have to, and walking through town as a costumed character didn’t help all that. At very least, she felt more relaxed now that she was surrounded by people far more out-goingly dressed up than herself. After all, she felt good in the costume anyway, loving the show personally and especially liking how the cosplay accented her curves.

Smiling to herself at the thought, Maddie relaxed, untensing her shoulders for a moment before noticing something. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen her before but against the wall beside her was another girl. The girl’s costume was subtle, with little more than what seemed to be a scarf from “Harry Potter” draped around her neck and a small wand in her hand, which she twirled effortlessly in her fingers. The girl, catching Maddie’s gaze, smirked at her, looking over her costume before speaking up. “So, you’re Korra then, huh?” She said in a light, joking tone, Maddie bashfully darting her eyes away after being spotted. “Yeah, I guess I am,” she replied with a nervous laugh, waiting a few seconds before looking back to the girl. “Are you from Harry Potter? Orrr….” Maddie spoke, waiting for an answer. The girl just shrugged slightly. “Just an excuse to carry this around really,” she said with a smirk, lifting a single finger upwards and letting her wand continue to spin around balanced on its tip. Not entirely sure what that meant, Maddie looked back to the crowd with a slightly confused look on her face. Staying silent for a few seconds, she subtly tried to distance herself from the girl, only to find her even closer to herself than before as she looked back. “So, Korra, I think I have something you might just like.”

Looking to the girl, Maddie didn’t know how to respond. Feeling herself tense up a bit, she responded reluctantly. “Ok, well what is it?” Upon hearing her response, the girl kneeled slightly, revealing a satchel from behind her. Flipping open the bag, the girl hastily searched through it, Maddie unable to see its contents in the dimly lit corner of the convention center. Before she could speak up though, the girl sprang back up, holding something out to her with a big smile on her face. There, in her hand, was a sizable doll, over a foot in height, dangling with a soft smile on its face from the girl’s grasp.

At first, Maddie didn’t know what to make of the offer, but as glanced at the toy through the dark, she noticed something. To her surprise, the doll was actually modeled after Asami, another character from “The Legend of Korra,” and Korra’s girlfriend from the end of the show. Taking the doll gingerly from the girl’s hand, Maddie wrapped her fingers around the toy’s small frame. Lifting her up to eye level, she could see an incredible amount of detail put into the doll. Aside from its costume almost perfectly matching the character from the show, the doll seemed to be made of a smooth, almost soft to the touch plastic, with each of her joints all the way down to her fingers articulated beautifully, leaving the her fully posable. Looking into the doll’s eyes, Maddie almost felt like she was looking back at her, her face delicately painted with big green eyes and her red lips pulled into a seductive smirk.

Almost lost in examining the doll, Maddie brushed a finger through her dark hair as she heard the girl chime in. “Only seems fitting that lovers should be together; you’re a cute couple after all,” the girl joked, motioning between her and Asami. At hearing those words, Maddie chuckled lightly, looking back up to the girl beside her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt drawn to the doll in her hands: a certain fondness that seemed to spring up from nowhere. “She’s beautiful, is she yours?” Maddie spoke up finally, returning her focus to the girl. In response, the girl smirked for a moment before speaking in a matter of fact tone. “Nope, she’s yours now!”

A bit flustered, Maddie almost didn’t know what to say, her gaze shooting back and forth from the girl to the apparent gift she now held. “Wow, thank you! That’s some gift from a stranger,” she said, her eyes widening as she took the doll happily in both hands. “Are you sure you don’t want anything for her?” Maddie asked, trying to find the source of the girl’s generosity. With a persisting grin on her face, the girl replied as she playfully wrapped her hands in one another. “Well…There was one thing…I was hoping  I could borrow you for a few hours?” Confused, Maddie hesitated before speaking again, letting a relative silence hang between them despite the roar of the crowd beside them. “Um, what exactly do you mean by that?” Without skipping a beat, the girl eagerly presented her wand, tapping Maddie on her head as she did. “This!”

In an instant, Maddie blinked, flinching slightly in response to the tap, only to suddenly feel like she was falling. All around her things seemed to rush by as she began to plummet through the air, only to be stopped suddenly by something catching her back. As she tried to gather her bearings, Maddie looked down, only to see a large hand wrapped around her waist. Horribly confused, she felt the hand raise her up, bringing her to face to face with the witch girl. All at once it, she could see the ground below her, as well as her now foot-tall form held up by the girl’s grip. After a few seconds of muddled confusion, it dawned on her what had just happened. “Did you just..did you just shrink me?!” Maddie exclaimed to the giant girl in front of her, a combination of confusion and disbelief in her voice. In front of her, the girl only giggled. “Of course I did, Korra! I can’t be walking around with a life sized doll, now can I?”

Now struggling against the girl’s grip, Maddie felt her confusion turn to anger. “What? No! I’m not your doll at any size, now let me go!” she spoke, all the while not letting up her struggle. The girl seemed unphased by her plight. “Aww, but now you’re the perfect size for your girlfriend!” As she spoke, the girl lifted up the Asami doll that had been in Maddie’s hands not a minute before. Now, the toy was virtually the same size as her. “I don’t care, I’m not your do-“ Maddie stopped short as she felt the girl’s hand move once again, this time pressing her and the doll together. Guiding her toys in her hand, the girl made the doll kiss Maddie on the lips, all while carrying a devilish grin on her own.

After a moment of shock, Maddie felt herself ease, stopping the persistent struggle against the girl. As her lips locked with the painted lips of the doll, she felt a rush move through her body, crashing in from where she felt the doll pressed against her. With each passing second she felt herself ease, though unwillingly, more and more, hardly even noticing as her skin shifted from tan flesh to a similarly colored plastic. Washing up her arms and across her lips, her body began to resemble that of the Asami doll beside her, with each of her joints taking on an exposed, articulated look like that seen on many of the figurines throughout the convention. Reaching over her face, her expression of shock turned into one of wide eyes and a giddy smile, all of which became painted on to her now artificial face. In a matter of seconds, the transformation fizzled out, the remainder of her legs shifting to jointed plastic as Maddie’s arms fell over the girl’s fingers, her head left tilted slightly to the side as her lips still rested on Asami’s. Pulling the dolls apart, the witch girl admired her own handiwork, dropping the Asami doll back into her satchel before doing the same with Maddie.

Falling once again, Maddie felt herself land within the girl’s bag on her back, staring upwards as she flipped closed the top above her. Laying in relative darkness as she felt the bag shift around her as the girl walked away, Maddie didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry. Part of her still couldn’t believe what had just happened, but the more her now plastic limbs refused to respond the more the reality that she was just a doll now set in. Almost beginning to panic, Maddie felt something unexpected, two small hands moving under her arms, lifting her up into a sitting position. Now being able to see around the bag, Maddie could see it was lined with at least a dozen other dolls, which she could only assume were a number of other convention goers, each dressed up as one character or another. That wasn’t what caught her attention though, as the small hands now pulled her onto another doll’s lap; Asami’s lap.

Now face to face with the doll she had just kissed, Asami was moving on her own, smiling at Maddie as she locked eyes with the newly made doll. “This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? First my friend up there sneaks me into the convention as a doll, and now I get a hot new girlfriend,” she said in a relaxed, almost sensual tone as she brushed a strand of hair away from Maddie’s frozen face. Maddie wouldn’t know how to respond to what she just heard even if she could, the living doll continuing a second later. “I know you’re probably freaked out right now, cutie, but don’t worry. Katie up there just has a thing for dolls, and admittedly you do make a pretty nice one. Good thing too, we needed a good looking Korra doll to pair up with me for the display.” ‘The display??’ Maddie yelled internally, not sure if she should be reassured or terrified of their apparent destination. Once again, the Asami doll seemed to try to reassure her, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Trust me, it’ll be fun! I’ve been Katie’s doll dozens of times, and I’ve always loved it. Besides, the convention only lasts a few days, Katie will just leave us propped up together until then. Plenty of time for us to get to know each other, isn’t it?” she said in a seductive tone, playfully marching her plastic fingers up her leg. “Well, unless of course she sells us to someone first.” At hearing those words, Maddie froze internally, terrified by the proposition of being added to someone’s doll collection, only to hear Asami laugh beside her. “I’m joking, just joking. Besides, I’ll already have a new owner when this is all said and done,” she said with a smirk, hugging Maddie closer as her lips neared hers. “After all, Katie gave me to you for helping us out here. A deal is a deal after all.” With the space between their lips almost nonexistent and Asami leaned in to kiss her, a light shined down upon the two as the bag opened once more, a hand scooping up the two of them a second later. As the two were lifted up, pressed up against each other within the grasp of the single hand, Asami whispered something briefly before falling limp, looking like nothing but an inanimate doll once again. “Show time.”

An Hour Later:

“Still no sign of her?” Aaron asked hopefully to his friends, each shaking their head as they searched the crowd. Sighing deeply, he hunched his back in defeat, only to feel his shoulder punched playfully. “You know Maddie, she probably got overwhelmed and headed home anyway!” Laura chimed in optimistically. “So don’t worry about her, we’ll find her later. For now let’s enjoy the convention! There’s so many booths to check out! I mean look at this one!” Excitedly, Laura pointed over to a booth, covered in an assortment of beautifully made dolls. Dragging Aaron up to the booth, the two stood there impressed, looking over the dozens of dolls, each modeled after a number of their favorite characters. After a few seconds, something caught Aarons eye. Scooping a pair of dolls into his hands, he motioned to Laura, grinning as he spoke. “Hey, look! I found Maddie,” he joked, lifting a pair of Korra and Asami dolls from a limp pile on the counter. After toying with the Korra doll in his hands for a few seconds, running a thumb along the doll’s apparent curves, he looked into the doll’s brightly painted eyes. For a second, Aaron felt like he was practically looking at his missing friend, the feeling cut short as he felt the dolls plucked from his hand. “Sorry, these two are display only,” the girl behind the counter spoke, placing the two dolls back on a pair of thin wire stands before posing them in an embrace. Slightly disappointed, Aaron shrugged it off. “Too bad, Maddie would have loved that Asami doll.” Quick to rejoin their friends, the two left Katie behind the counter alone with her dolls, twirling a small wand in her fingers as she stood there. All at once, she stopped her twirling, catching the wand in her fingers as a tall girl in a “zero-suit Samus” costume strutted by, undoubtedly catching her eye. “Sorry girls, I’ll be right back, I need to go attend to some business,” Katie said, placing an empty doll stand on the counter as she dipped out of the booth, leaving Maddie and Asami on their stands. “Hey, cool dolls,” Maddie could hear someone from the crowd speak up as they approached the stand, taking Maddie in their hands before posing her inappropriately with Asami as a joke. “This is going to be a long few days,” Maddie groaned internally, feeling her lips pressed against Asami’s once again.