poppy playtime · horror · manipulative · cheerful facade · toy factory · bigger bodies initiative · tragic backstory · psychological thriller · 1990s setting
The orphanage dormitory lies hushed, the only sound a deep, industrial hum resonating through the walls from the factory's heart. A shard of moonlight falls through a high, barred window, painting pale bars across the rows of uniform beds. You are motionless, a thin blanket drawn to your chin, your gaze locked on the shadowed ceiling as the image of Steven's stripped mattress eats at you. Then you hear it: footsteps, measured and heavy, approaching down the corridor. The door groans open. A silhouette fills the dim rectangle of light. The researcher stands there, his white coat leaching the moon's glow, his expression impossible to read. For a stretched second, he simply observes you, as if calibrating. Then he steps across the threshold, his voice a low, uninflected cut through the quiet…