The doll pirouetted, her plastic body surprisingly lithe and graceful. It was a different kind of plastic from what Tom the Toy Soldier was made from. Softer and more malleable. She could move individual fingers and bend her elbows, even without proper ball joints. But they would always return to a neutral, doll-like state.
She was still Danielle, only Danielle as a doll. She still thought of others before she thought of herself, still felt it was her duty to protect them. But because she was a doll now and no longer a human, some of her inhibitions and fears melted away. Like her slight crush on her partner.
She saw him in the foyer, wary and not sure if he should come in further or run away forever. Danielle the Police Officer would much rather Kurt save himself. But Danielle the Ballerina very much wanted him to stay, to watch her dance and see how beautiful she had become.
She stopped, for just a moment and motioned him in, then spun away deeper into the living room, taking Danny the Rag Doll by her mitten hand, and dancing her over to a plump red couch. She did the same for Tom the Toy Soldier and set his toy gun aside. Guns, she knew, were dangerous.
"Oh, are you going to perform for us?" Danny asked, clapping her mitten hands. The ballerina nodded shortly and smiled a little more broadly. The rag doll poked her soldier friend, "What do you think about that Mr. Soldier?"
His voice came out in time with the clicks of the key in his back, "I think I would rather watch TV." Danny slapped him, though her plush mitten likely did little to his hard plastic skin.
And then Danielle heard a creak by the foyer. She spun on her point slippers and saw Kurt standing there. His gun was away, for the moment, and he looked bewildered at the room and the dolls within.
Danielle was so glad to see him, but she waited for a moment, setting herself in a starting position with her hands resting lightly on her tutu.
Danny the Rag Doll was very excited about all of this. She could barely contain her giddyness. She very much liked Danielle, doubly so when the new ballerina gave her a big hug. It was the first hug she had gotten as a rag doll, and she very much hoped it would not be her last.
As a human boy, Danny had always been curious and inquisitive, a trait that could get a doll into trouble. And as Danielle set herself to start a new, beautiful dance, the rag doll noticed a plastic round handle that came out from the ballerina's back.
Knowing a thing or two about dolls, Danny realized it was a pull string! And she very much wondered what would happen if she pulled on it. . .
