DOLLSHAPE.

@dollshape.bsky.social

64 Followers 20 Following

18+ content. a band with a doll in it. multimedia vocaloid project by @roadietripp.bsky.social‬. no "generative" "machine" "learning" used in this project. SUPPORT THE PROJECT: https://ko-fi.com/dollshape

En points to Teto, who is wearing a cyberpunk off-shoulder jacket, revealing her red bra underneath. En says, "Your bra strap is showing!"
Teto and Roadie crouch down next to the Shadow's headless and lifeless body, its wrist still suspended in mid-air by the spell En cast on it in the fight. Teto calls over to En. Teto: "En, I'll use this Shadow carcass to teach Roadie a few things. Find out where the kid went." En begins walking away from the group as it responds. En: "Gotcha. Nice shot by the way, Roadie. You gotta teach me how to shoot like that sometime." En's speech bubbles have a strange gradient to them, from white to a light gray.
The trio - En, Teto and Roadie - stare past the viewer at the shadow just off-panel. En points toward Roadie with a devious grin on its face. En: "Now, if you don't mind sticking around, my pal Roadie has a gift she'd LOVE to send, care on delivery!"
Multiple panels in one page, a first for DOLLSHAPE. PANEL 1: The stranger has poofed back into the small child from earlier, and is now hiding behind Teto while En prepares to fight. En: "Scoot, take cover!" Teto: "GO! HIDE!" PANEL 2: En now focuses on the dark figure who interrupted their conversation and readies itself. PANEL 3: En blocks a punch from the figure as Teto helps Roadie off the ground. Teto: "Let's find the handcannon! En will handle the shadow!" PANEL 4: En slips out of his block and grabs the shadow's wrist in one hand, while bringing his finger and thumb together with the other. PANEL 5: En snaps its fingers, creating two pink circles reverberating energy around the shadow's wrist. PANEL 6: The trio watch their enemy struggle to free their wrist from the alchemical energy circles. En: "HAH! Get fuckin' OWNED!" Shadow: "FUCKING SHARDS!"
The four shards form a lazy circle as they talk to each other. Roadie is holding a new handcannon cylinder in one hand and her empty gun in the other. Roadie: "Alright, so I'm TECHNICALLY real, but NOT REALLY. KINDA, but SORTA NOT." En pleads with Roadie, clasping its hands together as if in prayer. En: "I mean, when you put it like that, it DOES sound pretty insane. But like, it DOES explain the disjointed memories, right?"
Between Roadie and En, we see the stranger begin to explain something. Stranger: "I think I've heard about something like this. We're part of an individual's mental defense mechanism. If an individual suffers from prolonged periods of trauma without an adequate way to process that trauma, the mind 'breaks' into something like a 'personality shard.' The 'shards' then take control of the mind in times when the brain feels it needs to protect itself."
Roadie wipes her soot-covered face with her sleeve while En looks on with concern. Roadie: "Ughh, I'm covered in soot now, thanks." Teto places a hand on En's shoulder. Teto: "What I've just demonstrated is the mind protecting itself, from itself. You can't kill anyone here who is a major piece of the mind." The stranger in a battle vest coils with surprise. Stranger: "IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE SENSE?! AM I THE ONLY SANE ONE RIGHT NOW?!"
Roadie and the stranger join back with Teto and En, the two pairs glancing at each other as they rejoin each other. Roadie: "Alright, we're clones or something. What gives with the secrecy-" Teto interrupts Roadie, crossing her arms with her matter-of-fact response. Teto: "No, you're not clones. I don't think either of you would be able to manage the gravity of what all of us actually, really are."
Roadie leans back against a door held up by nothing in non-euclidian space, a sickly green mess of pixels radiating in the background. She looks with irritation at her copycat, who is crossing her arms with a concerned expression. Stranger: "I wish I could give you answers, but I'm just as stumped as you. All we know is that we both feel that somebody copied someone else's style, but our ink isn't from a catalog. They're our own designs. The logical conclusion is coincidence, but we have the exact same tattoos. It's so unlikely as to be impossible."
A heavily distorted, low colour depth render of Kasane Teto, Roadie and En. Teto is sitting down on the couch with a ball of energy in her hands, while En lays across her lap, seemingly passed out. Roadie is hanging limply over the side of the staircase between the stair rails. Text: "DOLLSHAPE. Support now on Ko-Fi."
The little girl with purple hair re-enacts a story about a bully, swinging a fist in the air with a smile on her face. En and Teto listen attentively while sitting on the ground at her level, while Roadie mopes against a door within the green non-euclidian space that looks like the front door to the Cartomancy Cafe. Kid: "...and then the bully told me 'beyblades are stupid,' so I BOPPED him in the shoulder and he said 'ow!'" En offers an encouraging smile to the child. En: "Awesome, kiddo! Way to stick up for yourself!"
Roadie crouches down to the floor in deep distress as Teto places a hand on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. Teto: "I can explain all of this, Roadie. Just focus on being calm for now." Just in front of them, a small girl with purple hair is clinging to En's hip by grabbing onto its hoodie. En looks down at the girl. En: "Are you okay, kiddo?" The girl nervously replies, "m-mhm..."
Roadie strides toward the copycat with anger as Teto clings onto her arm, attempting to hold her back. Roadie: "I don't know who the FUCK you are, but you're not leaving-" Teto shouts over her. Teto: "ROADIE!! CALM DOWN!!" The copycat recoils in fear. Copycat: "HUH?! A GUN?!"
Roadie and Teto walk down a snow-covered sidewalk. The backdrop is pixelated and in low colour depth. Roadie: "Forgive me if this is a weird question, but what's the deal between you and En?" Teto gently points a finger upward, a fairly universal gesture of incoming clarification. Teto: "No 'deal.' I just teach him alchemy because he's an alchemist. It's the right thing to do."
Roadie and Teto walk next to each other in front of a pixelated background of brown town houses with snow on the ground. Roadie admires her new revolver as Teto looks on with slight concern. Roadie: "I'm pretty impressed, Teto. The trigger pull is smooth and light, the recoil is manageable with just one hand, the gun itself is light and balanced... This gun is pretty damn good!"
A render in low colour depth of Teto, En and Roadie in front of a heavily pixelated background. Roadie seems to be wearing new clothes, specifically a black Toronto Blue Jays hoodie. Another character is cropped off on the right side of the panel, wearing a leather jacket with various patches on it.
An unnamed customer in a black hoodie, pigtails and round glasses chortles and guffaws while Roadie and Teto both begrudgingly wait for an order to be made with irritation. Customer: "so she was all 'fuck ICE' but she livestreams in 50's outfits! NOBODY in that time period would say that! WAHAHA! What a wokey, am i right?!" Roadie: "...ma'am, this is a fucking coffee shop."
Roadie holds a plastic bottle in her left hand. it's an opaque white with a brown label that says "Spice Milk." She analyzes the back of the bottle as she holds a coffee cup in her right hand. En looks on as Roadie studies the bottle. Roadie: "Whoa, you got new creamers?" En: "Yeah, new line from Aphelion Solutions. That's 'spice milk,' a mild, seasonal flavoured creamer."
Teto hands a metal cylinder over to Roadie across a computer desk, with a charred mortar & pestle sitting on the desk on top of a sigil drawn in chalk. Roadie holds a gun with a missing piece in the center of it. Teto: "Alright, Roadie. Your ammunition is ready. You can test it, but not at a range. This isn't supposed to be a known technology." Roadie: "Right, secret alchemy shit. I'll take it to the woods and bring some targets with me. You can come if you'd like? Tell me more about how it works, or judge my shots?"
En observes Teto as she snaps her fingers, creating a fountain of sparks emitting from a mortar and pestle placed in the center of a sigil drawn with chalk on a plywood desk. En watches quietly, but look unsettled about something.
A low-colour-depth, dithered image of Gumi, dressed as Beat from the video game UNBEATABLE, pinning Teto down to the armrest of a couch by straddling Teto's hips, tightly gripping her hand and pushing down on Teto's opposite shoulder. Teto is dressed up as Penny from the same game. Gumi is gritting her teeth and staring angrily at Teto, who is laughing at Gumi's attempt to threaten her.
En and Roadie stand behind the cafe counter, waving goodbye to a customer. En has a big smile on its face, but Roadie seems a bit nervous or pre-occupied. Roadie: "See ya tomorrow morning, Amity!" En: "Hope the coffee gets ya through the day!"
En and Teto sit on the couch deep in a conversation as Roadie leans against a wall, staring into the distance off-panel. Posters litter the wall behind the couch. En: "So the material and am-cell magick requirements are co-related to the number of atomic and sub-atomic transformations caused?" Teto: "Pretty close, yes. Even I'm not sure of the specifics, but I could get you in touch with somebody who can explain it." En: "I'd love that!"
En and Roadie lean on the front counter of the Cartomancy Cafe as the ceiling above them shines in bright cyans and blues. Roadie sips on her coffee. En: "Alright, teto's laying in my bed upstairs. I'll sleep on the couch until she can walk on her own. She gave me textbooks to study for the alchemy stuff, but it's nothin' i can't handle. Speakin' of which, how are you handling things?" Roadie: "'m fine."
Teto lays on the ground, observing the bright, glowing ball of energy and fire as it shoots arcs of purple energy at her from above the bloody sigil. Roadie joins in with Teto, watching the ball of light like a campfire from the comfort of the ugly chesterfield. En dances in a corner as it sings a song to itself, the alchemical orb sizzling and zapping away. En: "Hum-di-dum, I'm an alchemist~"
En gently lowers the under-dressed doll onto the tile floor in front of the couch, the opened box En carried into the room having been emptied and left behind. En: "Alright. I've got the sigil down, the mint and the lead. Are you ready?" Teto winces and shivers as her warm shell comes into contact with the cold floor. Teto: "J-Just be q-quick, your f-floor is so c-c-cold..."
On the right side of the panel we can see Teto's pierced ears and the side of her head. Her face is cropped out, but we can see that her notable curled sideburns are now relaxed and straight. En walks in through the open archway connecting the front area of the cafe to the backroom. It carries a box, caught between its arm and its waist. En: "Hey-yooo, Teto! I found the stuff I need upstairs." Teto: "Sure. Put them in the center of this room. I'm drawing a reference sigil for you on my phone."
Teto lays her head against the armrest of a couch, her legs draped across En's lap. Teto continues her thoughts from the main room of the cafe. Teto: "...and so, your Great Times Six Grandfather is an alchemist, and you might have the gene which makes you an am-cell carrier." En looks toward Teto with curiosity. En: "An alchemist?" Teto: "Yes. An alchemist."
En wrestles with Teto's limp frame as it tries to get the doll off the ground and supported against its shoulder. The maroon-haired doll infodumps at it while it grunts with effort. Teto: "More than 600 years ago, a human being was born with a mutation. That mutation was am-cells, a new blood cell that masks itself as other cells in the circulatory system. This mutation was passed on for generations before the first alchemist discovered the power of the am-cells by accident, while practicing an occult ritual. And that alchemist is your great-"
Teto's back is leaned up against the cafe's front counter, the doll wincing in pain as the ceiling sizzles in blues and cyans overhead. En crouches down next to the doll with concern. Teto: "tsss... my head..." En: "Teto, you're hot to the touch. Roadie went to get... I don't know something. ANYTHING. What can I do to help you?"
Toda drags Teto's motionless body by her wrist as she looks down at the stricken doll. Toda's face softens, but her cheeks stay madly flushed like tomatoes. Toda: "I'm so glad I found you again, my love. Once I get rid of these vermin for you, we can be together forever! When we get back, I'll even prepare your favorite, belgian waffles with salted butter and chokecherry syrup!"
Teto lies motionless on the invisible ground in the non-euclidian ether with Toda crouched down above her, hands still firmly gripping her face and wrist. Toda's eyes squint as she looks down at her opponent with disdain. Toda: "I loved you so much. I tried to understand why you'd put us in so much danger. And for what? Some petulant NON-BELIEVERS?! Didn't you love me, too? Why didn't you think about what I wanted?"
Teto approaches the intimidating maid in green, the non-euclidian backdrop still an ugly combination of thorny greens poking through the dark purples. Teto clenches her fists, but walks up to the maid at a casual pace. The maid refuses to break her polite posture. Teto: "Toda, what an unpleasant surprise. Let's cut to the chase. You and I both know you can't touch me in a scrying bubble, so tell me what you want and I'm sure we can work somethi-" Teto is interrupted.
En and Roadie cower behind Teto as we observe them in the distance from behind someone we haven't met before. A green bow and pistachio-coloured frills punctuate the black dress this figure is wearing. Creases run along their elbows, their hands placed in front of their waist and out of our line of sight. Toda: "Ahh... Teto, is it? Is that the awful name you use, now?"
En and Teto look at each other with serious looks on their face, as Roadie observes uncomfortably. The green-haired punk nervously plays with her hands as the pair have a conversation. The coffee shop owner's hands are in its hoodie pockets, while the doll's arms are crossed loosely beneath her chest. En: "So you're telling me, a cartomancer, that 'magic' is real?" Teto: "Depends on whether you spell 'magick' with a 'K' or not, but yeah." En: "Oh, sure, there's a fuckin' difference cuz YOUR 'magick' is 'real' or whatever." Teto: "En, you're getting emotional."
The trio walk together through the purple, non-euclidian expanse. Teto holds a hand in front of her as En and Roadie look toward her. Teto: "Okay, let's start with the basics. I'm a conjuring doll. I'm a construct made from a human soul, held together by this shell and dozens of sigils and spells." En barely cracks a face at the revelation, observing the doll's ball-jointed fingers and wrist. En: "Holy shit, I was certain those were myths."
The trio stand up together. En smiles at the doll, while Roadie points to her. Roadie: "En, that's my guitarist. Teto, meet my boss at the tarot cafe. Its name is En." En smiles widely. En: "Nice to meet ya! Big fan of your work, HUGE fan!"
Roadie and En sit on the invisible floor, still surrounding by the non-euclidian distortions of purple and black. Roadie apologetically lifts an open hand to En. Roadie: "I tried pretty much everything I could think of at this point. Unless there's something I'm missing, we're stuck."
Roadie and En walk through the all-encompassing, non-euclidian, purple distortions, seemingly adjusted to their new environment. Roadie: "We've been walking for like, twenty minutes, En. We should've figured SOMETHING out by now." En: "Yeah, it feels like we haven't even moved. So weird..." Roadie: "Have you made any sigils out of blood lately?" En: "You think I can afford to lose the damage deposit? This is the first time I've seen anything like this. The fuck is this?"
Roadie frowns with a hand on her hip as En works on the machine, now identifiable as an industrial coffee dispenser. Roadie: "FINE. I get it, En. You got a coffee shop to run. Responsibilities. Schedules. Income. But what the fuck happened to you? Since when did you give a shit about any of it? I think you've gotten old in that yelling-at-clouds way."
The barista in the white hoodie leans on a machine behind the counter of a coffee shop. The punk with green hair leans toward her boss, with a warm smile. Roadie: "Come on, En! It'll be fun! Miko could just stay in the studio while you take her place on-stage! It'd work! Plus, you'd be able to play music live again, and I'd be able to get to know you a bit better. It's a win-win!"
A punk wearing a purple-screenprinted, black t-shirt presses buttons on a cash register. Her hair is shaved on the left side of her head, save for her sideburns. The hair falls to the right side of her head and fades into a vibrant green, her hair dye seeming to stay colourful in spite of the overgrown roots. She looks over to an androgynous individual in a white hoodie standing next to her. Roadie: "...and as soon as we took the stage in the VR club, Miko just... froze. She spent like 40 hours obsessing over getting the show right and she forgot everything. Not a single song was performed right." The non-binary fellow next to her stares down into a coffee cup used as a tip jar, seemingly unamused. Its hair is pink, silver and green, with a long strand falling in front of its face.
A maroon-haired doll named Kasane Teto sits gracefully atop a counter in a coffee shop, observing a magical pink ball of energy in her hand. The sign for the coffee shop is displayed on the front of the counter, labeling the store as the "DollShape Cartomancy Cafe." Alongside the doll on top of the counter are a cash register, a tip jar and a display shelf. The ceiling is an overexposed, non-euclidian distortion of cyans and deep sea blues. Behind her on the wall is the cafe's menu written in chalk, and the title of this chapter: "DollShape - Chapter One: The Doll & The Alchemist."
A doll named Kasane Teto, with maroon hair and a black bodysuit, holds an orb of pink energy in her hands as she sits gracefully atop a counter. The front of the counter displays a sign for the DollShape Cartomancy Cafe. On the counter with the doll is a cash register, a display shelf, and a tip cup. Behind her is a wall that the menu and prices are listed. Right near the ceiling is text that says "DollShape - Chapter One. The Doll & The Alchemist. The ceiling of the cafe has been overtaken by an extremely bright cyan and deep blue distortion.
Teto lays on the floor watching the alchemical reaction, a spiral of flames and sparks above a sigil made out of blood and basil leaves, while Roadie watches from the couch. En dances around humming a tune. En: "hum dee dum, i'm an alchemist~"
En gently drags Teto onto the floor, an open cardboard box left on the couch. En: "Alright, I've got the sigil down, the mint and the lead. Are you ready?" Teto winces as she's laid on the cold tile floor. Teto: "J-just be q-quick, your f-floor is so c-c-cold..."
En walks into a back room, with the viewer peering just over Teto's right shoulder. Teto's face is obscured, but her twin drill side burns have been uncurled and her ear piercings are in full view. En smiles with its eyes closed and a cardboard box clutched between its right arm and its hip. En: "Hey-yooo, Teto! I found the stuff I need upstairs." Teto: "Sure. Put them in the center of this room. I'm drawing a reference sigil for you on my phone."
En sits on a couch while Teto lays across it, resting her head on the armrest and sprawling her legs across En's lap. Teto: "and so, your great times six grandfather is an alchemist, and you might have the gene which makes you an am-cell carrier." En: "An alchemist?" Teto: "Yes. An alchemist."
A character sheet of Mikima "Toad" Toda, a Porcelain/Bark maid doll construct. A powerful maid doll that is very volatile. Text too long for image description.
En struggles to lift Teto up to his shoulder from the ground, as the ceiling of the cafe, the roofs still burning in bright cyan and blue hues. Teto begins explaining herself as En struggles. Teto: "More than 600 years ago, a human being was born with a mutation. That mutation was am-cells, a new blood cell that masks itself as other cells in the circulatory system. This mutation was passed on for generations before the first alchemist discovered the power of the am-cells by accident, while practicing an occult ritual. and that alchemist is your great-" Teto is interrupted.
Teto is leaned against the Cartomancy Cafe front counter as the roof continues to sizzle in bright cyan and dark blue distortions. Teto winces, mumbling to herself as En looks over her with concern. Teto: "tss, my head..." En: "Teto, you're hot to the touch. Roadie went to get... I don't know, something. ANYTHING. What can I do to help you?"
Toda drags Teto's body by the lifeless doll's wrist, its head dangling helplessly from its neck. Toda looks down at Teto, her expression softening but her cheeks and nose still flushed deep red. Toda: "I'm so glad I found you again, my love. Once I get rid of these vermin for you, we can be together forever! When we get back, I'll even prepare your favorite, belgian waffles with salted butter and chokecherry syrup!"