Andrew decided to head off. So, along with his new “prizes,” he left the arcade and took the bus home. It occurred to him that he should probably have left the little dolls at the lost and found. By all rights, he had stolen them from that hippie girl. Still, something in him just had to take them, and he had followed the compulsion without a second thought.
Entering his house and going to his bedroom, he dug out the dolls and set them up on his desk. They were exquisitely made in every detail. Andrew thought back on some of his friends and their tabletop gaming, how they spent hours hand painting small figurines, trying to make them as realistic as possible. These dolls, or figurines, left the gamers’ best work in the dust. From the texture of their skin to the nails on their tiny fingers and toes, every detail was exquisitely rendered.
Slowly, Andrew began to study each of them in turn. First came the demoness, perfect in all her purple-skinned glory. At first, she looked pretty typical, with the expected horns, wings, and tail to go with her red eyes and hair. However, her face displayed a surprisingly cute innocence that belied her supposedly darker affiliations, especially with that terrified, helpless expression. Meanwhile, her armor seemed little more than a glorified metal bikini and choker. Bracers and greaves adorned her limbs but kept her clawed hands and feet free. Andrew recalled that the demoness used those as her primary melee weapons, saving her magic attacks for long-range.
The next figurine was a mage of some kind. From her ears, one would guess her to be an elf. Dressed in a robe-like outfit with a slit to reveal one of her long legs, she brandished a white staff with some kind of crystal at the end.
Next in line came the cyborg. That is, the dark-haired Asian girl resembled a cyborg with a more fantastic vibe to her enhancements which included her right arm and both legs. Constructed from what looked like hammered brass, her cyborg parts still managed to come across as feminine and elegant thanks to their idealized shapes and a lovely flowered design etched into their surface. In contrast, the large crossbow on her back lacked any kind of delicacy, and the steel arrowhead jutting from its front probably weighed several pounds all by itself.
Last in line came the fairy, a tiny girl with shimmering opalescent wings and a ferocious appearance. Her leather bra and loincloth wrapped around a sinuous body covered in intricate tattoos and a few dramatic scars. Blonde hair hung over her shoulder in a thick braid, and an eye-patch concealed one of her glaring aqua eyes. In her hand, she gripped a long spear decorated with a single feather the length of her entire forearm.
Andrew sat there and stared at his new acquisitions for a good while. Eventually, it occurred to him that he ought to feel a bit embarrassed about being so fixated on a few dolls. He just wasn’t that type of weirdo. So, he forced himself to move away and go about his business like a regular, well-balanced person.
The rest of the day quickly passed much more unremarkably. Soon, night came, and Andrew settled down in his bed to sleep. Briefly, he allowed himself one last look at his small collection before lying back and dozing off.