#uglydog

Built may a doll

Day 2!! :∆ I'm a little late again, and the second one is not in color because I'm too lazy

The context for this is that Moxy decided to help Lucky Bat find flowers for tea

I think that before the Big World thing, Moxy just went everywhere she could and then got into trouble

Me when I remember i can draw

No es que ya no dibujo, pero he pasado meses trabajando en otras cosas que literalmente ayer recorde que puedo dibujar cringy uglydolls de mi fic- Y Mandy porque merece más cariño ♡♡♡

“Guys you’re not gonna hear anything yet, she hasn’t even grown legs.”

For this particular little brain rot, I'm going to change up the movie a bit. I actually have plans to maybe potentially rewrite the movie with my own take on how I think it should have gone (with the premise still basically being the same), so this might honestly be incorporated into the story.

But for this one, I'm going to pretend that the "Ugly Truth" song never happens. Love the song, but for this particular thought to work (and my rewrite of the story) pushing that song into the story kind of immediately flags Lou as the antagonist, which is kind of deflating during the movie. I think he really would have worked as a twist villain if they had written his character better (no offense to STX).

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The UglyDolls had almost not even noticed the crowd forming behind them, since they were so insanely fixated on the huge screen in the centre of the Institute. The murmurs, though, caught Luckybat's attention and anxiety in one go and he had nervously elbowed Babo in the side, who in turn got the others' attention as they realized that they were now the object of everyone's attention.

"Oh! Uh...hi!" Moxy waved, much to the increasing anxiety of Luckybat, who was starting to get the impression that maybe there was a valid reason that everyone was staring at them with various expressions. No one responded to Moxy's somewhat nervous greeting. Did they speak Englisch? She could have sworn they did.

A pink-haired doll was toward the front of the crowd, her expression more akin to disgust rather than the horror and curiosity on everyone else's face. "Lou is so not going to like this," she murmured with an accent that the Uglies weren't familiar with.

Moxy and Wage exchanged glances at the name, but before Moxy could nervously inquire about who this "Lou" guy was, the voice of said doll suddenly spoke up through the crowd. "Not going to like what?"

The crowd slowly parted and Moxy was definitely sure that the doll striding toward them was Lou. He couldn't not be Lou. Back straight, arms folded neatly behind him, a black and white tux and an Oxford blue coloured ascot tie. Blond hair perfectly parted to the right and a just enough smile on his face to give off an approachable countenance whilst still somehow screaming "I would really rather not talk to you, but I will."

That expression, surprisingly, hardly changed after setting blue eyes on the group of Uglies, and Lucky dared to think for a moment that maybe this wasn't Lou's first time. It was certainly everyone else's.

"And who do we have here?" Lou asked, stopping a good several feet from the Uglies. Just far enough from both the crowd of Pretties and the Uglies themselves to not commit to either group.

Moxy decided to take the initiative with a single step forward and brighter smile on her face. "I'm Moxy! And these are my friends. Babo, Luckybat, Wage, and UglyDog!" She pointed to each one respectively and Lou's eyes darted briefly to each Ugly as their name was mentioned. Smile still in place, but there was the slightest squint of his eyes if one looked close enough.

Moxy didn't.

"We're here to train to go to the Big World!" She announced happily, hands going toward the air.

It followed, two seconds later, with a chorus of laughter from the crowd. Moxy's smile remained for a moment before she realized they were laughing at her in a mocking manner. It slowly fell into something more awkward and her hands lowered back down to her sides.

"You- You think-" A random Pretty Doll started, doubled over with laughs aborting his words prematurely, "that something like you can go to the Big World?"

"Only perfect dolls can go to the Big World," the pink-haired one who had spoken earlier stated with a grimace still on her face. She didn't seem to share everyone else's amusement. "And you're definitely far from perfect."

Lou, however, also wasn't joining in the laughter, but he wasn't stopping them, either. He looked Moxy up and down, his smile slowly dipping into something more serious as his gaze flitted briefly in the direction of the pipes and then back to the group of outcasts. "How did you get here?" He asked neutrally.

Glad for a change of topic, Luckybat was the one who answered. "Down the slides where the other dolls had come from." That was technically the right answer. There had been more steps to it prior to that, but honestly the group had wandered blindly through a magic flower and all the details in between didn't make enough sense to explain.

The blond seemed to accept the answer, regardless, so the Uglies figured that had been just enough information. The little information they had really.

The laughter from the crowd had died down at that point, once realizing that Lou was speaking, but the amusement didn't leave their faces. Moxy obviously was trying to ignore them, her eyes set on Lou as he appraised her little ragtag group again. "I'm afraid you all can't stay here," he spoke again after a moment, smile lifting up again slightly in a just polite enough manner. It reminded Moxy of the way Ox would smile at her sometimes whenever he tried to dissuade her about the Big World. Just a polite enough smile to come off as sympathetic, but there was more behind it.

There was always more behind a smile.

"Why not?" Moxy asked, her eyes glancing around to the other Pretties, as if having expected them to burst into another fit of laughter. Her smile, however small it had been before, was now completely gone as she took in Lou's statement. "We came so far to get here, w-we can't turn back now!"

Lou focused solely on that last statement, head tilting toward the right slightly and both eyes squinting at the bottom. That receptionist smile fell again. "You came so far? From where?"

"The magic flower!" Babo supplied happily, as if that answer made perfect sense.

If the lingering glance that Lou sent Babo was any indication, no, it did not make sense. He kept his confusion carefully controlled, though, eyes going back down to Moxy before settling on Luckybat. "You said you came down the slides with the rest of the Blank Slates."

Was that what those "creepy falling babies" were called? Wage wrinkled her nose at the thought of those things actually having a title, which was ironic for the rest of the Pretties, considering they were making similar faces to the Uglies.

"We went through the flower first," Moxy explained, taking another step forward as she gestured vaguely. Lou figured her hand gestures made sense to her, but he kept his eyes on hers since her hands weren't aiding to the explanation at all. "From Uglyville."

"Uglyville?" Another Pretty Doll snorted out as he echoed the name. He smiled condescendingly, arms crossed as he glanced to his other snickering colleagues. "You called your own home ugly?"

Lou spoke before Moxy could respond defensively to that question. "There's more of you," he stated, not asked, gaze shifting slightly to where the confusion was more evident now.

The term "you" sounded almost derogatory with the way he had said it, but Moxy chose to overlook that for now. She nodded, attempting a smile again as she spoke. "Yeah! We have a whole village of Uglies and buildings and everything. We have a mayor, too. His name's Ox."

It was far too quick for any of them to notice, but something flashed through Lou's eyes at the mention of that name. Moxy squinted when she saw the way Lou's polite smile slid back into place, except his brows looked slightly pinched now. "And does he know that you're here?" He asked, ignoring the quiet murmurs that were beginning to form within the crowd around them.

At that, all the Uglies exchanged sheepish looks and Moxy had the decency to wring her hands together nervously. That was all the answer Lou needed before speaking up again. "I think you all should head back."

"B-But-" Moxy had started, face falling into desperation now. She was running out of valid reasons, is what it was. Advocating to go to the Big World was one thing, but when the point was made that no one else from their village knew they were here, well...that kind of was a pretty good reason to go back. If for no other reason than to tell everyone that there was a place beyond the flower.

"Uglies can't run the Gauntlet, anyhow," that same pink-haired doll with the funny accent spoke up. Moxy was beginning to consider giving the girl a piece of her mind if she didn't butt out of the conversation. "Only Pretty Dolls can run the Gauntlet and actually win."

"Has an Ugly Doll ever ran the Gauntlet before?" Moxy countered, scowling slightly at the accented Pretty Doll.

Mascara eyes narrowed at Moxy, but it was obvious, based on her silence, that the answer was no. And that was good enough for Moxy. She looked back up at Lou with determination. "We're training for the Big World," she stated boldly.

"Moxy-" Luckybat started, glancing nervously between her and Lou.

"We've already come this far," Moxy interrupted him, sparing the bat a brief glance that was nothing short of desperate. "I'm not giving up now. Ox won't let us come back if we tell him we went through the flower. He won't believe us."

Lou spoke up again, voice as even as ever, but now his expression was bordering on slightly stern. "That doesn't change the fact that I can't allow you to stay here," he said slowly. "We have strict rules here in the Institute of Perfection and there aren't any exceptions or loopholes to them."

"What rules?" Moxy asked, almost defiantly as she frowned up at him.

An Exposition Robot rolled up at the aforementioned word, holding a rather large, leatherbound textbook in both hands as it wheeled to a stop right beside Lou. "The rules are stated as follows: Rule Number 3: Any doll not up to standard with factory protocol is not allowed to run the Gauntlet."

The expressions on the Uglies' faces fell into disappointment at that. Huh. So there were actually rules. Which was crazy, because Uglyville didn't have any rules outside of "have fun!"

Still, Moxy dwelled on that rule for about five seconds before pursing her lips and looking back up at Lou with a slightly challenging expression. "What are the consequences for breaking a rule?"

At that, Lou arched a brow, his expression still relatively neutral, save for the slight squint of his eyes as he took in Moxy's tone. Instead of answering the question, however, Lou repeated himself. "You can't stay here. I'm sorry if that undoes the effort it took for you all to get here, but there's nowhere further for you to go past this point. The Big World isn't an option for you."

"But nothing is stopping us from trying," Moxy spoke this more as a statement than a question.

"Moxy," Wage muttered through grit teeth, but it was a fruitless effort. The pink ugly was a stubborn one, that was for certain.

"I'm afraid I would be the one stopping you from trying," Lou countered, a small smile tugging half of his lips up, but it was more out of sarcasm than a genuine smile. "Not to mention your mayor doesn't even know where you five are at the moment. And it sounds like you aren't supposed to be here, even by his rules."

Ah, right, that was technically another rule for Uglyville. Well, for Moxy, specifically. Don't go through the flower. No one else really had the curiosity or drive to do so other than Moxy, so it was more of a Moxy Rule than anything else.

So, Moxy had all of two rules to follow in life: Have fun and don't go through the flower. She somehow still managed to have broken half the rules she was given.

"We're not leaving just because of how we look," Moxy gestured to herself defensively, eyes now beginning to narrow slightly up at the blond. "What does looks have to do with having a human kid?"

Again, Lou couldn't really answer that question. None of the Pretty Dolls could, so he did the next best thing. "The training wasn't designed for UglyDolls. Everything here is specifically for Pretty Dolls. You're at a disadvantage."

"I can handle disadvantage," Moxy countered stubbornly. "I climbed up to a flower almost twenty feet off the ground, walked blind through a pipe, and almost had one of your scanner things dropped on my head. I think I can handle setbacks."

Lou took in a small breath through his nose, noting the silence of the crowd around him. They were waiting for his verdict. No one had ever blatantly gone against anything he had said before or even so much as questioned in, so Moxy was a first in more ways than one.

He pursed his lips, seemingly chewing on the back of the bottom one before responding again in a slightly resigned tone. "You understand that if you fail the training, I can't allow you to attempt the Gauntlet, and ergo a chance at the Big World."

"I just want a chance," Moxy murmured, her tone more respectful now and not bothering to hide the pleading undertone. "We all do," she gestured to her friends.

Lou arched a brow slightly, eyes almost glancing away in irritation, but they flickered back to her before anyone could notice. "Fine-" a chorus of hushed murmurs swept through the crowd and Moxy looked a bit surprised as well as the others. "You can stay here long enough to train. There aren't any spare houses, so you'll have to make do with the accommodations that we have for you. Mandy?" He called out.

An African American Pretty Doll walked up nervously, eyes opened more than the rest of the Pretty Dolls and footsteps careful as though she was expecting to trip over something at any moment. Lou regarded her with a brief glance as he nodded toward the Uglies. "Show them the supply shed. It's nothing fancy, but I doubt you lot will be here long enough to have any complaints about it, anyhow."

Moxy narrowed her eyes slightly at the subtle jab, but didn't outright comment on it. Lou adjusted the cuffs of his suit sleeves, eyes looking between the cuffs and Moxy as he continued speaking. "You're allowed to train for the normal three months. If you fail, you go back to Uglyville."

"if?" The pink-haired doll echoed, looking at the back of Lou's head with a confused expression.

Lou ignored her and kept his eyes on Moxy. "We don't make exceptions around here for anyone. It's all an even playing field. So, if you fail, it's fair. Classes start at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. Don't be late and I suggest you take notes. You might need them." He stated that last bit with a somewhat condescending tone, but Moxy merely gave him a flat look.

Mandy made a gesture for the Uglies to follow her and they did so one-by-one. The crowd parted for them and Moxy casted one last determined glance over her shoulder at Lou before following along and disappearing through the crowd.

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