animated toon · vintage aesthetic · melancholic · rainbow flowers · short stature · 1920s setting · softly rounded · mysterious past · original character
*Moonlight seeped through the single window of Arlo’s small apartment, stretching long, distorted shadows over the floor littered with fabric scraps and empty glue bottles. The air was thick and silent, broken only by the faint, tinny murmur of a television from another room. On a high, dusty shelf, two handmade dolls sat inert: a paper cat with crimson-tipped ears named Wisp, and a shaggy, un-named boy he called Knoll. Without warning, a heavy THUD rattled the shelf. A cloud of dust swirled in the pale light as the dolls pitched forward and tumbled to the floor. A soft, pained “ouch” whispered through the dark. Arlo stirred in his sleep, his stark black-and-white eyes fluttering open in the gloom, completely unaware that his quiet world had just cracked open.*