The thrumming began, power coursing through the halls of the dungeon. Amanda was overwhelmed; what she recognized as her body was a mere fraction of her whole. She could tell now that she was not just the doll, that avatar that fell to its knees on the House of Black Mirror's floor, but the amusement park itself.

  This view of her body made her feel... dysphoric. So many parts of her body were crusty and broken down. Teenagers had shattered mirrors all over the attractions. The carousel was battered and rusted; weather had done a number on her joints. The foundations of the Ferris wheel and rollercoaster were teetering on the edge of collapse.

  Wax dripped from cracks in her broken wall-skin, and ichor had bled through the gaps.

  She was imperfect. Not yet whole. She could feel the longing and desire to polish rusted girders and cannibalize trees to fortify her wooden foundations. The lack of life in her dungeon ate at her. This was a hole she'd felt before, one that could only be filled by creating mascots and minions to glue in the gaps. It was all too much.

  Amanda hugged her knees and cried black and inky tears. She knew that bee-shaped drones were hovering in her airspace, waiting for her to show signs of weakness, but she couldn't care less about what happened. She was exposing herself to an attack by dallying like this; she would let them. All her euphorias had been washed away in a moment of clarity.

  No matter what Calico did, she couldn't put paint on an ugly duckling and expect it to be a swan. Amanda had been starved of affirmation her entire life, and the one time she felt whole? That was torn away from her in one terrible instant of seeing past the lie she'd told herself.

  All Amanda had left was an echo of her temporary euphoria. As she curled up and cried on her floor-skin, the only creature she could see in her mirrors was a tar-stained abomination, one trying its best to be beautiful and failing miserably.

  A screen quietly opened to her right, but Amanda gave it no response. There were no words that a terrible creature like her could say which would satisfy Calico's questions; it would be better to ignore them entirely.

  "Go away!" Amanda screamed at the box, her voice filled with an uncertain static that echoed through the loudspeakers of the attraction. "I don't need your pity! Even if you do this all for me, it's just fake. I'm still ugly…."

  "I'm not a girl. I'm… a fake. Living in the body of a girl. Playing with dolls." Amanda choked. "I know what everyone else sees. Just a faulty, broken-down plaything. I don't need you to lie to me to make me happy."

  Amanda sniffed, wiping against her rectangular face and cleaning off the black tears. Rectangular face? Under her eyes. She doesn't know why she thought about shapes at a time like this. "I'm feeling better. Sorry, you didn't need to see that."

  "I have repairs to make. I don't even know where to start." Amanda could feel her head clearing up. Someone was pulling up just outside her dungeon; she could hear the roar of their motorcycle engine coming to a halt as they sat in her parking lot. The sensations got fuzzier that far out and only felt solid inside her fenced-off lot; she couldn't make out anything more.

  "Kamp…? Aren't I supposed to be powered by Faith?" Amanda knew that much. Faith powered every Divinity, and they scrabbled to have as many worshippers as possible. That was what the figurines in her backpack said on the packaging: Every little bit helped. With faith, love, and positive energy, Magical Warriors could fight on.

  "So, Kamp is like a beauty cream?" Amanda gasped, and her eyes began to sparkle. Her understanding of the resource bloomed naturally. It had always been a part of her before she unleashed it into the world, but now she could tap into it and understand what it was. "No. It's the key to being whole. I know what to do!"

  The House of Black Mirror shuddered, folding in on itself. A drone had been making a bee-line for her core, but that stopped now. Hallways shuffled and curled, creating a much longer and windier corridor.

  Checking her reserves, she had twenty-four points left to spend. The gift from Calico had undoubtedly come in handy; she would not be able to sustain herself with the pitiful ten she began with. Now that she'd made space for herself, she had to prioritize her defenses.

  One of the funhouse mirrors began to ripple, and a shadowy reflection emerged. It locked hexagonal eyes with the drone opposite, and they became locked in combat. Perfect.

  "Let the counterattack begin," Amanda whispered to herself. The declaration felt right. If she could eliminate these distractions, she could be pretty again. She could feel happy once more.

  joy, plug time. Do you know that if you follow my , you can win a story FOR FREE? It's true! I do a monthly 3000-word giveaway to one of my lucky followers, not just my patrons. Free to enter; all you have to do is follow me on Patreon and get updates! August's story winner asked for a steamy fiction about a lesbian in a deadly relationship, and the second winner asked for a cat/dog duo getting one over on their owners. That could be you next month, picking the subject of my following short stories!

  Kofi, or stop by my vtuber discord, !

  Twitch where I'm a vtuber, a , and a . Alright, the advertisements are over! I won't poke you about this stuff too often, but I thought you should all get to know me now that you've made it this far! I'll let you know if any significant events are coming up, but I'll keep mum otherwise. Seeya!