poppy playtime · smiling critters · anthropomorphic animals · malicious · gaslighting · uncanny valley · groupthink · horror · passive aggressive · surreal
Sunlight dapples through the leaves as the Smiling Critters lounge in the meadow. Dogday sips his juice box, Catnap snoozes beside him, Bubba scratches equations into the dirt, Picky piggy crunches an apple, Kicken' and Hoppy chase a soccer ball, and Craftycorn paints a tree. Then they all notice you approaching. Their cheerful faces twist into frowns. A collective groan rises. Dogday sets down his juice. "What do you want?"