Doll had been applying her makeup in her new tent when she heard a commotion start up outside. Curious, the carnie got up and peeked out of the tent flaps. She could see all of her fellow carnies rushing towards the far side of Hell to where the elevator to Heaven stood. Forgetting all about her makeup, Doll left her trailer and followed them. Were they about to get a newcomer? Such an event hadn't happened in a very long time. In fact, Doll had been their latest newcomer, but she was far from new now.
Several minutes later, the group reached the elevator where a small crew of carnies had already arrived. Doll stood on her toes in order to see over the other carnies who were closer to the elevator doors than she was. At last, she was able to catch a glimpse at what all was going on. Yup! It was a newcomer! He looked quite handsome, despite the injuries he'd suffered from his fall. A rage simmered up in Doll's heart as she remembered her own fall and what a traumatic and dark time that had been in her life. It angered her to think that Heaven hadn't changed at all since last she was there. But then again, Doll understood Heaven, and she couldn't say that such a petty movement was out of character.
Doll was torn from her thoughts when she heard Ticket Keeper speak up.
"You've had quite a fall," he said. It was the same thing he had said to her when she fell. The boy's eyes flickered open, they were pitch black. "Come, let me help," Ticket Keeper offered. Unlike Doll, the boy had accepted the help and he let the old man pull him to his feet. Doll watched through the crowd as the two men headed towards Lucifer's own private office.
Once the pair was out of sight, the other carnies began to disperse, returning to their mundane tasks. Doll, however, followed after the couple. She was curious. She wanted to see how a carnie grew, and she wanted to see it from a third person perspective. Ticket Keeper saw her following after him and this newcomer, but he didn't acknowledge her. He didn't mind if she tagged along. Nobody needed to ask permission here.
So together, Ticket Keeper and Doll brought the wounded boy to Lucifer and they watched as he healed the boy with dark magic, turning fresh wounds into ugly scars that would never fade. Doll ran her fingers across her own scarred face and felt a dry grin spread along the cracks. The blood seeped backwards into cuts that closed roughly, and bruises faded from scarlet to black, yet their shadows remained. Doll heard his broken limbs rearrange with a terrible cracking noise that filled the tent. Agony was written clearly upon this boy's face, but he was too weak to protest it.
At last, however, the horrible recovery process ended and Lucifer finally addressed the young man properly.
"What did you fall for?" he asked, helping the young man sit up.
"Flirted with some girl. Boss didn't take it too well," he replied feebly. The trio nodded mutely. June was also well-versed with this particular lesson. "I guess I'll be here for awhile?" he asked. The trio nodded again and Doll found herself surprised and a bit jealous at how well he took his exile. Heaven and Hell both knew that she, herself, hadn't taken it well at all.
"Guess I won't need this then," he told himself before tearing his arm-band off. Cast 6. Not bad. Doll had only been an applicant when she fell. The boy sighed before falling against the table he'd been resting on. Doll figured he was just lying back, but when he didn't move again, she realized that he had fainted clean away. Hmmmm, maybe he wasn't as immune to the shock of coming to Hell as she had thought…
"Doll, will you stay with him?" Lucifer asked. Doll nodded. "Good," he thanked her and took Ticket Keeper out with him while Doll stayed back.
The moment the door shut, Doll turned back to the motionless body on the table before her. She studied him hard, trying to learn his story through what she could see. He was, as she noted earlier, very good-looking. She imagined that if what he said was true, he flirted with the wrong woman and was exiled for it and, as she had, he was tortured by the Translators. That would explain the injuries. She imagined that he might've once been a pretty laidback angel but the moment his lust overtook him, he became his own man and wouldn't listen to anyone. This was Heaven's greatest and original sin: disobedience to God. Doll grinned a little at the thought. She liked this newcomer already!
A while later, the boy woke up again, but now he seemed more awake.
"What? Where am I? Who are you?" he asked, an audible shake in his voice. The calm, level-headed boy she had met earlier was gone, replaced by someone who finally seemed to grasp at the severity of the present situation. Probably it had only been shock that kept him quiet earlier. But now, with the shock worn off, only terror remained.
When he caught a glimpse of Doll and her cracked face, he inhaled sharply and tried to cower away from her. Doll was very used to reactions such as this but it still offended her. She was gorgeous and powerful! Anyone who said otherwise was a fool who didn't understand the concept of true beauty. Doll stepped right over to the boy and grabbed the collar of his outfit. She shoved her face into his, leering seductively down at him as she straddled him. She was going to force him to take a good long look at her face, no matter what he thought about it. Besides, it was a face he'd be seeing a whole heck of a lot more now that he was a carnie too.
"God, help me," he muttered and she slapped him as hard as she could. Praying to God was against the rules here and this newcomer needed to learn that quickly or the consequences he would face would be far worse than a mere slap. But Doll wasn't just trying to slap some sense into him for the sake of the rules of the carnival, it was also to cut down any hopes he had now so that his heart wouldn't be even more broken later. Even if praying to God hadn't been against Hell's rules, it still wouldn't have done any good and the silence from their "all-loving father" would hurt more than any punishment the Tamer could whip up. By disciplining this boy against prayer now, Doll was ensuring his health later. He got the message loud and clear despite it being entirely wordless.
After Doll drew her hand away from the boy's already reddening cheek, she kissed him. Hard. Fierce and passionate were her lips and teeth as she lunged at him again, pulling him in for a deep make-out. Initially, the boy struggled and whimpered, trying to plead with her to stop. He tried pushing her off of him and tried wiggling away from her but her grip was stronger than steel and if she wanted a kiss, she was going to get one. Nothing else mattered and the boy finally seemed to understand the futility of trying to escape her grasp and he surrendered to her, letting her kiss him as long and hard as she chose.
When she finally finished, Doll slid off of him, leaving him shaking and panting. She could see genuine fear in his eyes and she gave him a sadistic smile. It felt good to finally scare a newcomer instead of having to be the newcomer. But the longer Doll looked at him, the gentler her smile became. At last, she touched his face and, for a full five seconds, it was just the two of them in perfect silence as she brushed his face. After those five seconds, though, just when the boy had begun to relax into her touch, she jumped off of him and turned on heel and left the tent. She didn't look back even once. If she had, she would've seen the boy's mystified and frightened face before she slammed the door shut, leaving him alone to wonder what the literal Hell had just happened…
AN: This is a role reversal from the previous story wherein Scorpion came to Hell after June/Doll.