Ugly Truth

I've made the mistake on my main blog of not putting a pinned post with all my short stories. So, to avoid that tedious task again, I'll go ahead and make this post with what I have so far and update it as I go along.

Enjoy!

Here's the link for the second "pinned" post, it will have my individual short stories on it:

Short Stories Pin

Flufftober 2025

Built May A Doll Challenge 2026

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~ Series ~

Reborn

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Reunited

Part 1

Trust

Part 1

Part 2

Visions

Part 1

Let Me Go

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Just Like Us

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Silence

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Shell-Shock (dedicated to Subwhizz ❤️)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Factory Default

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Intentions

Part 1

Part 2

Jealous

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The Grass on the Other Side

Intro

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Bloopers

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Incorrect Quotes

Part 1

Part 2

CTA's

Lou

UglyDolls Movie Rewrite

Meeting Lou Excerpt

~ Art ~

Nap Time

Hugs

Beach Boy

Brothers

Sleepy Boi

Picture Perfect

Baby Blue

Infected

Glasses

Popular

Proposal

Eternal Ice

Shell-Shock

~ Headcanons ~

Random

Lou and Ox

Ox's First Moments in Uglyville

Origin of the Exposition Robots

Y'all should read the post 😭 it's a lot and better said than what I can summarize.

What I'm going to mention is due to, like, literally one sentence that they mentioned in the post and it's about the robots and their purpose for being in the movie.

Actually, let's forsake saying "in the movie" because we're gonna treat this like the factory and all that is real. Because movies can pretty much do whatever they want, but the realities of the world itself are what we're sorting through.

They're called Exposition Robots. Why?

Who. The heck. Knows. They don't even really give JUST Exposition. I have a strong feeling that Lou learned that word and went "that sounds really smart and sophisticated" and dubbed the robots that because he felt proud of himself every time he used it.

Which probably goes for every big word he uses 😂

That scene when he's talking to Moxy and her group about letting them stay and he says something along the lines of:

"What kind of benevolent leader would I be if I didn't allow every doll a chance to fulfill their dreams?"

Benevolent? Yeah, he learned that word, loved how sophisticated it sounded, and got attached. I have a personal headcanon that he uses words like that in the wrong context, but the other dolls either don't know what it means (like Tuesday) so they can't correct him...or because it's Lou and they're not sure if they're allowed to correct him.

"Mindless sycophants!" — yeah, Tuesday didn't know what that word meant, and I'm pretty sure the only reason Lou learned that word was BECAUSE she didn't know what it meant, so he took that as a double insult toward her.

I'm getting distracted...what was I talking about—

THE ROBOTS—

Okay, so, the purpose for the robots MIGHT be because they were originally the teachers for the dolls. Before the doll prototypes were made. Here's why:

✨ They have access to the Rule Book

✨ Still oversaw the training (as we see in the movie)

✨ KNEW what a doll's true purpose was even though they never told anyone

✨ All the other "obstacles" (dog, baby, training stuff) is mechanical

✨ They're shown in the videos about the Institute, but not Lou

Keep in mind that in the entirety of the breakdown of the Institute of Perfection, when the Uglies are walking through and they see the holograms and the short video, Lou isn't mentioned at all. There's not even mention of a teacher or prototype doll. The robots are seen in the videos (like the one where the dolls are graduating and one of the robots is dressed in a graduation gown; another standing near the portal whilst the doll walks through) but not Lou.

Don't you think, for a bit, that if Lou was really such an integral part of these dolls getting to the Big World that he would have been in the videos?

Like, Nolan doesn't even know who Lou is when he's first created. None of the new dolls know who Lou is. But they don't blink an eye at the robots.

Why?

Because the robots are literally the first thing about the Institute of Perfection that they see and interact with. I had to go back and watch a clip of the beginning and sure enough—

There they are. And there are even ones further ahead by the Individualization Scanners, too.

Maybe they're called Exposition Robots because they were there in the beginning?

Not just the beginning of the life of the dolls, but maybe also the beginning of the factory in general?

Maybe the robots weren't created to help Lou, but maybe Lou was created to help THEM.

Because what better way to teach a doll than someone who looks like them.

My guess is that the dolls were originally taught by the robots, but because the dolls couldn't connect with something that didn't look like them (again, going back to the whole theme of the movie with looks and, mind you, the Pretty Dolls thought the Uglies were something to be feared before Lou even mentioned anything to them) Lou was created.

The factory made something that looked like one of the Pretty Dolls in order to get them to actually learn.

If not Pretty Doll, why Pretty Doll shaped? 😂

Here's a wild card that definitely isn't in line with my short stories, but that's mostly because I'm just now thinking of the idea thanks to Maxintime—

What if Lou isn't a prototype for the Model 12 Dolls, but he's actually a prototype for what the factory wants the Exposition Robots to look and act like? Because the dolls don't learn as well from something that looks so different from them?

What? Out of order?

Haven't posted the other days?

I don't know what you're–

____

Imperfection was a small place, it really shouldn’t have been surprising that some friendships lasted a lifetime, and some people were just really hard to get away from. It was a talent, really, that Lou could go as long as he could without talking to people just by keeping himself hidden away in his office. And the extroverts, like Moxy, absolutely thrived.

Unfortunately, it also meant that you had to be extra careful when it came to interacting with those around you. If you made an enemy, somehow, then you couldn’t just move cities or live far enough away to not interact with them. The most you could do was go to the Big World and just…never come back.

Mandy earnestly considered doing that, but a decision like that was extreme for multiple reasons. One, because she would have to leave her friends. Two, it would essentially mean remaining comatose for the rest of her existence.

Not really ideal, even if she felt tempted to do so.

Micheal — not the blue-haired one, there were just too many dolls with the same name that it got confusing sometimes — and her had dated in the past. Way back in the past, like when she had first arrived at the Institute. Before the Spy Girls had recruited her onto their little team. Dating wasn’t something most dolls did back then, considering their literal one purpose in life was to just go to the Big World and love a human child, but some indulged. It helped pass the time for the whole three months they were there for the training. And since Mandy had always passed on the chance for the Gauntlet, anyhow (thinking herself too blind to pass), she resigned herself to a more permanent residence at the Institute.

And then Michael showed up. Emerald green eyes. Brown hair. Tan felt. Granted, that combination of physical traits had probably cycled through about 50 other dolls before Michael had come along, but Mandy had sworn, back then, that he was different. He was a Model/Accountant doll.

What child, in all honest to goodness, would want an accountant doll.

But Mandy was still bitter and petty, so maybe that was just her thinking. Needless to say, it hadn’t worked out. Things had gotten messy and it didn’t help that she had tried to hide her nearsightedness from him. And Michael had eventually broken things off, dated someone else, and then left for the Big World like everyone else had done back then.

Since the portal had been permanently opened, dolls that had gone to the Big World years ago suddenly found themselves able to return. Not all, but some.

Mandy almost hated the fact that she wished Michael had been horribly mutilated. Moxy wouldn’t have approved of such a thought. Friendship and kindness and…whatnot.

But Michael was different.

And of course he had to go flaunting whatever new girl he had decided to go steady with now—

No, that was a good thing. It was fine. It was all good. Mandy didn’t even care that—

“Ah, I’m not surprised you’re still here.” Mandy stiffened at the voice that had approached her from behind. She had been about to head up the platform to go to the Big World for a bit and see her kid. Not that she needed to (she usually wouldn’t this time of day), but she certainly didn’t want to be here.

Mandy turned, pretending as though she had just noticed him and hadn’t intentionally been avoiding him for the last ten minutes. “Oh, hey,” she forced a smile, adjusting her glasses. Only her friends would know that meant she was nervous. She did well to play it off, though. “I was just heading out. Do I know you?”

She did. She wasn’t stupid. But she wasn’t about to let him know that she still remembered who he was.

It worked, briefly, because Michael’s own smile faltered for a second, glancing between Mandy and the girl clutching his arm like this wasn’t how he had expected the reunion to go. Or worse, perhaps he had told this red-head their history and Mandy “forgetting” who he was made him seem like the fool.

“Michael,” he answered with a tight smile back on his face. Right. As if there weren’t a million Michaels in this place already. Thank God the Uglies actually had original and literal naming. “Years ago?” He added, when Mandy still pretended not to remember him.

Oh, she was tempted to keep playing dumb, but her acting skills weren’t that great. So, finally, she widened her eyes like she was remembering. “Oh! Michael- yeah, I remember you.”

Unfortunately.

Michael’s shoulders relaxed, and he gestured with his free hand toward the red-head girl holding onto his arm. “This is Mandy. Mandy? This is Daniella.”

“Hi,” Mandy at least gave a real smile to Daniella, who returned the expression. Well, somewhat. Daniella was subtly looking her up and down, trying to get a read on Mandy. Or maybe trying to gauge if competition still existed. It didn’t. Mandy gestured with a thumb back toward the portal, slowly walking back toward it. “Well, I’d love to talk, but I was gonna head out and see my kid, so…”

“You finally went to the Big World?” Michael asked, genuinely surprised. And that made it worse. Was that supposed to be an insult?

“Uh-” maybe she shouldn’t take it as one just yet. “Yeah, I did, actually.” She fidgeted with her glasses again, and Michael finally clicked the pieces together about her eyesight. But he didn’t say anything outright about it.

“Well, congrats, Mands,” Michael straightened. Oh, the audacity to call her that nickname like they were still friends! It wasn’t even creative! He had replaced all of one letter. “Didn’t think you were interested in the Big World at all, since you stayed here for so long.”

Okay, valid, but wrong. She had stayed because she thought she hadn’t had a choice in the matter. But valid because she did keep coming back to Imperfection for a reason–

“Probably have yourself a special someone, too, huh?”

Not that reason. And, again, he had said it so genuinely. And glanced over at Daniella like a personal example of a “special someone.”

Mandy’s eye twitched. Was that why he had returned? For her? It sucked that she didn’t have the full story behind these two, but she didn’t want to make them think that she cared by asking about it. “Well I don’t really-”

Wow, they looked so disgustingly in love. And why did it make her jealous?

Screw it.

Mandy straightened, pushing up her glasses a bit further up the bridge of her nose. Expression serious. “Uh, yeah, actually. I met someone a while back. A…special someone.”

Those two things weren’t inherently wrong. He was special (in one way or another) and he was, indeed, a someone.

Michael’s eyes met hers when she said that, suddenly looking more interested. Daniella relaxed, seemingly appeased that her “competition” was with someone else. “Really?” Michael asked, trying to appear nonchalant as he did so. “You’re dating someone?”

“Mhm,” Mandy pursed her lips, arms folding neatly behind her back. Now would be a really good time for Moxy to pop in like she usually did whenever it was an inconvenient moment. No such luck this time. And she knew Michael would want to know who. “You might know him. Goes by Lou? Louis?” She rolled her eyes dismissively.

Michael’s smile froze on his face. “The…teacher?” Okay, when he worded it like that it sounded bad. “Is…that how you passed the Gauntlet?”

And it sounded worse when he said it like that.

“What?” Mandy choked, then quickly shook her head. “No! What?” She couldn’t even protest the thought enough. “I- It’s a new thing,” she explained (lied). “And, no, I made it to the Big World on my own, actually.”

“Right,” Michael nodded once. And man, did it sound like he didn’t believe her. “Well, maybe if you two are free this afternoon, the four of us could go out to eat?”

“Hm?” Mandy blinked, smile freezing on her own face now.

“A double date!” Daniella beamed, speaking for the first time since this conversation had started. And she looked genuinely excited to go on one. “It’ll be nice to see Lou again!”

Ah, right, they were from Before. Before things had gone South. So they didn’t know about all the drama. Which didn’t matter, anyhow, since it was all water under the bridge in Imperfection. They would probably have questions for him, though.

“Double…,” Mandy murmured under her breath, trailing off and then looking away like she had to think about it. “I- That…yeah, that works. What…time did you guys-”

“How about 6?” Michael suggested, giving Mandy a skeptical look now that she really didn’t like. Did he think she was lying? She was, but, like, there was no way he would know that.

And Mandy met his gaze evenly, accepting the silent challenge to prove whatever doubts he had about her totally not fake relationship. “6 sounds perfect, actually,” she nodded and walked past them, not toward the portal now. “I’ll go and…let him know about the plans right now.”

“Yeah,” Michael squinted as Mandy walked past. “Tell him we said hi.”

“I will.”

———

Mandy quickly shut the office door behind her, back pressed to it and glasses slightly askew on her face. Lou was sitting at his desk, pen twirling in one hand and the other hovering over the keyboard like he was half-heartedly typing something. He arched a brow when she barged in, looking unimpressed. “So, there’s this thing called knocking—”

“We’re going on a double date,” Mandy blurted out.

Lou blinked, still not really reacting beyond the eyebrow raise. “Who’s…we?”

“You, me, Daniella, and Michael.”

Lou sat back in his chair, twirling the pen still like this was just a regular Thursday. “Well, tell Daniella that I don’t know her well enough to go on a date, so-”

“You’re going as my date, idiot.” Mandy finally pushed herself off the door and approached his desk, fixing her glasses in the process. “And, before you ask, I don’t know why I dragged you into this. I saw Michael, tried avoiding him—”

“Wait,” Lou held up a hand. “Blue-haired Michael?”

“No, a different one,” Mandy waved dismissively before going back into her rant. “But I tried avoiding him and it didn’t work and he has a new girlfriend named Daniella and it’s just a really long story because him and I used to date, but it didn’t work out, and so I told him about you because something in his tone sounded judgy and you know that I hate judgy—”

“So, you…thought that I was the best choice for fake partners,” Lou gave her an incredulous look, “considering you…hate judgy.”

“Well, no one’s perfect,” Mandy rolled her eyes. “But that’s not the point. He asked if we were available at 6 to go on a double date with him and his girlfriend so I said yes and now…here we are. And I need you to basically just pretend you’re my boyfriend.”

Lou finally leaned forward in his chair, elbows resting on the desk and the pen fidgeting between his hands. “For how long? Won’t he be here for, I don’t know, forever?”

“Just for at least tonight,” Mandy clasped her hands together in front of her chest, giving him a pleading look. “And then we can say we broke up or something.”

“Well, that’s entirely unbelievable,” Lou grinned. “Who in their right mind would break up with me? He’ll just think you’re crazy if you give him that story.”

Mandy deadpanned down at him. “Neither of them know about your little ‘destroy the portal’ thing from last year. So I could totally tell them about that and maybe I won’t seem so crazy.”

Lou’s grin didn’t falter. “If you’re trying to threaten my reputation in order to get me to agree to this, you’re a year too late, sweetheart. Two people finding out is hardly a threat when I don’t even know who they are.”

“Then I’ll tell Luckybat about the fake fortunes you’ve been stuffing into his cookies.”

…

“Just for tonight?” Lou squinted.

“At least for tonight,” Mandy crossed her arms and stood her ground. “I can’t guarantee we won’t have to fake it for longer, but it won’t be a permanent thing.”

For the sake of not overloading my pinned post, I'm making a separate link similar to my short stories and Flufftober. This post will be updated until May 31st of 2026, and you can access the stories by going to the "Built May A Doll" link on my pinned post at the top!

Day 1: "Why Would I Help Someone Like You?"

Okay, so, ironically enough, I was watching and reblogging all of ya'll post your amazing ideas for this challenge whilst struggling the whole day to think of something XD

Needless to say, I decided to rewrite a short that I had posted four years ago because surely none of you remember it. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

And, yes, it has been a long time since I've written a SHORT story, why do you ask?

_________

“Absolutely not.”

Ox had been bracing for rejection, but not so soon. And not certainly from Moxy. Or any of the others. “Look, I ain’t sayin’ we get him back into trainin’ or anything,” he held both hands up to placate the group around him. All seated at the diner he had intentionally invited them to because A) Wage was working today and B) food was usually the best way to introduce a controversial topic.

Like the fact that less dolls were returning from the Big World and they had, up until that point, been twiddling their thumbs for the last few months trying to pretend like nothing was happening. Because not all dolls came back. Whether they chose to stay with their kid instead of returning to Imperfection…or something bad had happened. The former reason obviously was no problem.

But they weren’t dealing with the former reason. 

“But we can’t keep ignorin’ the fact that we’re startin’ to lose more dolls than what the factory is makin’,” Ox finished. He had more to say, of course, but putting everything out on the table right at the beginning wouldn’t be wise. Especially now that he knew his friends were against the idea.

“Well maybe they just like being in the Big World more!” Moxy reasoned, desperate for anything now. Anything other than going to Lou for help. Anything but that. Even it meant kind of implying that Imperfection wasn’t on par with the Big World when it came to what dolls preferred. 

Literally anything would be better than going to Lou. Why would Ox even suggest that?

“”Plus,” Mandy spoke up this time, keeping her voice at an actually reasonable level for a diner, “dolls just don’t come back sometimes. Stuff happens. Dogs. Babies. Kids play too rough. It’s…hurts to think about, but that’s just part of being a doll.”

“Yeah, you know all that you just listed?” Ox waggled a finger in her direction. “Sounds familiar, don’t it?” 

Mandy gave him a flat look. “We’re not fishing the Gauntlet out of the ocean. Lefty already destroyed half of it and the other half has, like, eight layers of paint on it.”

“We wouldn’t need the Gauntlet if we just ask Lou,” Ox pointed out. 

Wage spoke up this time, finally, which was a shock because Ox had thought, out of all of them, that she would have been the one to protest first. “Weren’t you the one that said no one needed Lou or his training, though?”

Ox opened his mouth. Closed it. Faltered. Spluttered faintly. “That– I…,” he shook his head roughly, pushing his plate away as well. “That was somethin’ just heat of the moment, alright? There was a lot goin’ on and I was kinda busy makin’ sure that–” He stopped, then shook his head again. He didn’t have to explain himself for something he had forgotten the reason for. “Point is…,” he took a breath, “Lou actually knew what he was talkin’ about when it came to…survivin’ in the Big World. Dodgin’ dogs and hidin’ from babies. All of it.” 

“All of it?” UglyDog questioned. Because of course he would choose to nitpick that one part, out of everything else Ox had just said. 

“You know what I meant, stop pickin’ holes.”

Moxy opened her mouth to object. Anything. Literally anything would be better–

“I think we should.”

Ox tried not to choke on his own spit when Wage spoke up to say that. He wasn’t complaining, obviously, that someone was agreeing with him, but his arguments and points hadn’t been directed toward her, really. He had assumed she wouldn’t want anything to do with Lou, save for knocking him upside the head. 

Instead of voicing his surprise, though, he went with it. “Uh– Yeah, see? Someone agrees with me.”

“You can’t be serious,” Moxy gaped at the orange doll sitting beside her. 

Wage merely shrugged, looking more interested in her food than the actual conversation, which was probably the only normal thing about the actual situation so far. “I wanna see the look on his face when someone throws the first tomato at him halfway into a lesson.”

Ox deadpanned, ears lowering to either side. Of course, yes, there wasn’t a genuine interest in this being beneficial. It was for entertainment.

Which was part of the problem! They were used to just having fun and being happy that rules were never needed for the sake of survival. The only rule back in Uglyville had been to stay away from the flower. And, even then, that rule had really only applied to Moxy.

And she had literally broken the one rule he had enforced. 

Rules weren’t their thing. 

But again…beggars couldn’t be choosers. He supposed if he had support, it didn’t exactly matter what the intentions were behind it. 

Forcing on a smile, Ox rested his elbow on the table. “You know what? Yeah. Imagine it– We give Lou this opportunity to teach and do his thing, only for the dolls to throw it right back in his face. Literally. Maybe the dolls could use somethin’ to come back to.”

That caught attention. Moxy pursed her lips. Would more dolls come back from the Big World if they had something entertaining to do that didn’t involve random nonsense? After all, the most united she had ever felt with the Uglies and Pretties alike had been when they all banded together against Lou. 

Mandy, however, suddenly wanted to backtrack. How odd. Ox tried not to grin. “Woah, hey, I don’t like the guy, but making him out like a martyr seems a little much, don’t you think?”

“It does sound kinda bad, huh?” Ox hummed, pretending to suddenly think about it.

“Oh, come on,” Wage rolled her eyes, forgetting about the original reason Ox had brought this whole thing up and looking over at Mandy now. “After all he did to you and Moxy? I think he deserved more than that washer. Public humiliation isn’t that bad, anyway.”

“I guess not,” Mandy hesitated, “but do we really need to trick him into being humiliated?”

“He tricked us,” Moxy pointed out under her breath.

“He did do that,” Ox agreed, nodding in Moxy’s direction.

“So we’re gonna stoop to his level?” Mandy countered. Ox made a hum of agreement for her point as well. 

“It’s not stooping if he deserves it.”

“That…kind of sounds petty,” Lucky added quietly. 

“Okay, then what do you suggest?” Moxy looked over at the bat. 

Lucky looked genuinely confused, because he hadn’t realized the discussion had transitioned from “let’s ask Lou for help” to “how should we deal with Lou in general.” Hadn’t they already assigned him janitor duty? If they weren’t asking him for help on the matter of training then the conversation should have ended already, not completely targeted a problem that didn’t even exist.

He opened his mouth–

“You know what, new idea!” Moxy brightened, apparently abandoning the fact she had asked Lucky for a suggestion in the first place. “We let Lou go back to teaching. I bet that’ll be more embarrassing for him. Especially since he can’t go to the Big World and we know it.”

Mandy groaned, putting her face into her hands, but Ox smiled brightly and gestured with both hands like Moxy had suggested the best idea he had totally never heard before. “That is a great idea, Mox! I knew I could count on ya to come up with somethin’!”

Lucky looked between Ox and everyone else like he had missed something important in the conversation, but the bunny simply sat back and gave the bat a wink. 

Lou was a great teacher, actually, especially when it came to teaching how to manipulate people into thinking your idea was theirs all along. 

—

“Absolutely not.”

There it was! The denial, but now from Lou, which Ox had totally planned for ahead of time, so he smiled through the rejection. “Now, hold your horses. Just think about it, alright? Ya wanna get back into teachin’, don’t ya?”

“First off, I taught because I had to,” Lou started, completely deadpan. He was already in a bad mood from, well, everything. His hair was a mess. Clothes shrunken and he had forsaken the blazer back at the shed because it genuinely didn’t fit anymore and he looked ridiculous with it on. “Second off, no, I don’t want to teach the same dolls that want nothing to do with me. Why on earth would I help someone like you?”

“Not entirely true,” Ox kept up his smile, tone almost casual. “They actually want you to teach.”

Lou squinted down at the bunny, skeptical. “Who is ‘they’, exactly?”

Ox had deliberately told the others he would be the messenger for “Moxy’s” idea since he and Lou had a history. A noble sacrifice, really, on his part. One could almost call him a saint. “The dolls.”

“I said ‘exactly’, bunny, not the vaguest answer in the world.”

“Moxy, Lucky, me, Wage, Mandy, Babo–”

“Mandy wants me to teach?” Lou’s expression changed slightly at that, eyes genuinely widening a bit. And, if Ox didn’t know any better, he would have thought the tone of the question had sounded a touch softer. Sincerely shocked. 

Perfect.

“Uh huh!” Ox nodded. His expression sobered a bit, ears lowering. “But, yeah, I guess I can’t blame ya for not wantin’ to teach or anything like that again. So I won’t bother ya about it–” He pivoted on a foot to turn and leave–

Lou opened his mouth, then glared. Oh, wait a second. He knew exactly what this bunny was doing and he wasn’t falling for it. Lou knew emotional manipulation when he heard it. He had practically invented it! 

Also, how dare Ox use Mandy to try and trick him. That was low. 

Two could play at that game.

“Well, hold on,” Lou spoke slowly, watching as Ox stopped like he had been prepared to do so anyhow. Yeah, that rabbit thought he was slick, huh. Lou, in turn, sighed and looked away like he was genuinely conflicted. “If…you guys really need me–”

“Want you,” Ox clarified, like somehow needing someone took more pride-swallowing than wanting someone. 

“Then I guess I could,” Lou continued without acknowledging the correction. “But you’d have to monitor the sessions, obviously,” Lou let out a lengthy sigh, as if just thinking aloud.

Ox blinked, smile tightening. “Pardon?”

“Well, you know the dolls won’t listen if it’s just me,” Lou put a hand to his chest, frowning as if any of this actually mattered to him. “And I would hate for this idea of yours to go to waste because they didn’t take it seriously. Having you there would make it mean something.”

Make it mean something. 

Lou could have phrased that a million different ways. Ox knew that he could have, because the blond could rephrase one statement over and over and the meaning would somehow change each time. Which meant that Lou phrased everything with intention.

In this case, emotional manipulation. 

“You…want me–”

“Need you,” Lou clarified, tone slightly firmer because wanting someone, to him, was definitely more humiliating than needing someone. 

Ox hesitated, staring at the blond for a long moment before his expression softened slightly. Still confused, but he didn’t have a good reason not to monitor the teaching sessions. “Well– I mean, I guess I could. If ya really need me to. It would help them pay attention, wouldn’t it?” He asked, more to himself than to Lou specifically.

Lou’s expression brightened. “You’re right, it would. I didn’t even think of that,” he rolled his eyes, smiling, as if he hadn’t been the first to give that reasoning. “See? This is why I’d need you there. You can catch onto things that I might not notice. Make sure they pay attention whilst I’m doing the teaching part.”

That was definitely supposed to be a brush to his ego. Ox could sense it. He could tell this conversation (deal?) had gone from him trying to convince Lou to teach to Lou convincing him to monitor like it had been Ox’s idea all along. 

Unfortunately for the others, that would mean no tomatoes. Because the dolls, as Lou said, would actually take the teaching a bit more seriously if their mayor was the one enforcing it and watching over the sessions.

Ox had a feeling Lou had known what their intentions had been right from the beginning. 

He stuttered. “I guess I could–”

“Great!” Lou smiled wide, already walking past Ox and turning on his heel to shoot finger guns at the bunny. “I knew I could count on you, buddy!” And then he turned back around, heading for the shed.

Ox’s eye twitched, lips pursing, because those last words were like getting something thrown back in his face. 

Let me preface by saying that this is absolutely my return in light of the AI slop that decided to reignite my interest in curating actual content.

This challenge is technically just something I'm doing on my own, but I'm also listing out the prompts for any of you that want to write, draw, outline a thing for these prompts as well. I'm using these prompts for both UglyDolls and Hazbin Hotel (once I make the Tumblr account for that fandom) so if you want my HH account, I can send it. I think there's a couple of you also in that fandom, but I'm not sure.

Also, the title for the May challenge was supposed to be, like, a play on words for "Write me, please" but I used all my brain cells coming up with the prompt list so I wasn't about to try and be creative with the challenge name. Feel free to change it and input a new challenge title or something. Anything.

I tried finding an already made May challenge and none of them were really IT, so I said "screw it" and made my life harder by making my own. Below is a list of dialogue prompts that stood out to me from random Pinterest posts and the AUs that are listed are from daydreaming prompts and unpublished stories that I've made before in UD and HH, so, no, I'm not creating completely new ideas. I'm essentially rewriting plots I've already written and actually posting them instead of gatekeeping them.

Write May, Please!

May 1st : "Why would I help someone like you?"

May 2nd : "Just trust me."

May 3rd : "Is now a bad time to tell you I'm claustrophobic?"

May 4th : "Can I bother you for a second?" - "You always bother me, but go ahead."

May 5th : "For once, I'm not the bad guy here."

May 6th : "Stay away from me."

May 7th : " Sorry doesn't fix everything."

May 8th : Time Travel AU

May 9th : Infection AU

May 10th : Body Swap AU

May 11th : What If? (choose a moment/scene/anything and make an alternate "what if this happened instead")

May 12th : Random Child (I play with this one a lot XD but basically a random child shows up. No one knows how or why, but who's taking care of it now and how does it go?)

May 13th : Found Family Moment

May 14th : Mind Control

May 15th : Letters (like, the kind you write, not like actual alphabet letters XD)

May 16th : Myth AU (this can be dragons, fantasy royal stuff, anything your heart desires)

May 17th : Mental Bond (your characters, doesn't matter how many, can now hear every thought from each other)

May 18th : First Meet (recreate the first meeting between two characters, or more characters, cause you can do what you want XD)

May 19th : Gone Blind (character went blind. Feel free to not explain it and just jump straight into how they suffer and deal with it)

May 20th : Fake Dating

May 21st : Assassin AU (yes, I...have actually written an UglyDolls story with this prompt and just never posted it. Spy X Family based, so be prepared)

May 22nd : Memory Loss (also feel free to not explain how or why)

May 23rd : Movie Plot AU (basically, shove two fandoms together. I usually use either A Quiet Place of How to Train Your Dragon, if those examples help your understanding of it)

May 24th : Stuck In An Elevator (again, no explanation needed. Elevators suck)

May 25th : Found Asleep (your character is found sleeping, perhaps maybe for the first time ever, and- oh my word, why are they actually cute like that? vibes)

May 26th : Human AU

May 27th : Trapped Together (again...feel free to not explain)

May 28th : Forced to Tell the Truth (whether they're playing Truth or Dare, under a curse, trapped in a room that requires them to answer questions truthfully in order for everyone to escape...yes, I'm doing that last one. Already have)

May 29th : Babysitting AU (another random kid, but whatever character you chose for the random kid prompt? Change it to a different character, but the one you did choose is the one that actually ends up being good with kids. Think fun uncle or fun aunt vibes. Everyone is thrown for a loop)

May 30th : Tricked You Into A Date (whether they were tricked by friends or one of them secretly wanted a date, make it happen. This was solely so I could write it for HH, so I will actually have to come up with an UD story on this)

May 31st : Wearing Something Different (one of the characters wears something outside their usual. Everyone chokes)

Obviously, this isn't, like, extremely organized because my intention isn't to rally together a whole new contest or anything. This is purely for me to get back into writing and to practice fixating on two fandoms at once without giving more favour to one over the other. If you want to join this? Go for it. No pressure. And you don't have to tag me or anything if you decide to use these prompts or participate in the challenge.