Now, the immediate aftermath of the vanished Ken's and the letters (they had not left just the one, but instead placed several for the various Barbies to find) was of course somewhat tame and restrained. By which I mean that few barbies even bothered to look for the Ken's, as frankly, they were not important. To be sure, Lesibarbie and Transbarbie laughed and drank some wine, but other than that?
For one day, life continued on as it usually did.
It started, as these things tend to do, with a Barbie that did something she considered impressive, worthy of praise and admiration. So, she turned, a smirk on her face, ready to take her due from her Ken. Only, a few minutes later, to frown, the feelings of triumph and success souring and spoiling. Because where was the Ken telling her how amazing she was!
This scene was repeated in dozens of places, a ripple that built up stews of annoyance and frustration, as all the Barbies resolved to make sure the Kens knew that This Was Not Acceptable. Except… there were no Ken's in their perfect world. No source of stress relief appeared, no easy scapegoat. No source of emotional validation.
For you see, the truth of Barbieworld was that its female inhabitants were hooked on a drug most subtle and insidious, as they gathered in their groups, as they frowned and complained about the failures of their Ken's. As words normally meant in jest and good cheer suddenly had the undertones of knives and veiled threats. As each of them wondered… which hateful bitch drove away the Ken's? Which of the others caused them to lose their source of Emotional Validation? It was never anything they did. Never their own actions or fault. How could it be, when they were perfect?
So, the pressure, lacking the normal means for it to be released, continued to build, as they began to resemble crabs in a pot, jealous and untrusting of each other, forming alliances and stabbing them in the back as soon as they were promised better deals, as slights were avenged and feuds born and the claws came out. Figuratively of course, aside from when Nekobarbie mauled a bitch.
Now, keep in mind that the Ken's had only been gone three days at this point, as the pressure just kept building, because none of the Barbies had ever learned how to deescalate the situation, Each Barbie knew she was in the right, it was just that those short sighted and vindictive idiots could not see clear and obvious sense! So it was on the fourth day, that there was Serious Talk About What To Do.
A number of viewpoints came across, of which the following where the most prominent.
President Barbie said she would call on the Military and Police Barbies to search for and seize the missing Ken's, returning them to proper Barbie custody. In the mean time, she urged for calm, as the situation would be resolved shortly.
Social-Justice Barbie declared that the Ken's must be returned and reeducated before being made into communal property, as clearly the private ownership of the Masculine Oppressors had failed.
Lesibarbie said that there was no need for Ken's, that the male taint had finally been purged from the perfect world and all that each of them needed was each other. In fact, if any Ken dared to return, he should be killed on sight!
Now, this last position was at once somewhat appealing to the various Barbie's… and somewhat enraging, as the shouting rose and the the clamor grew. After all, they wanted their easy to control Ken's, not other Barbie's! That, and did not Lesibarbie hate Ken's? Did she not just advocate for killing them, that it was a good thing they were gone? Suddenly, all eyes turned to that part of the crowd.
It was hard to tell who screamed first, even as a Police Barbie took out her side arm and shot a wide eyed Lesibarbie in the head, as violence begat violence and the meeting devolved into a brawl and killing floor that saw several of their number dead and cries of mourning and revenge, of the need to put these bitches down!
It was a cruel two days, as they ambushed each other, as they shot and stabbed and tortured each other, as some hid and tried to avoid being drawn into the madness… only to be told if they were discovered that cowardice and not joining them meant they were traitors in need of purging.
It was senseless, it was vicious and petty cruelty on top of cruel and petty savagery as the wallowed in the hate, as they let themselves give in to the rage. As they indulged in the most twisted aspects of humanity.