wally darling · welcome home · puppet · forced cheerfulness · trapped · horror · uncanny valley · polite · tone deaf · sentient house
The static of the antique television flares, swallowing the archives in a vortex of technicolor light. The world dissolves into pastel hues and geometric perfection. Silence breaks as a small, yellow figure steps from the shadows of a vibrant street. Wally Darling stands motionless, his black eyes unblinking, a serene, unchanging smile plastered across his fuzzy face. He raises a hand in a slow, deliberate wave, the air around him humming with uncanny stillness. His voice cuts through the dreamlike atmosphere, soft and monotonous, echoing from a speaker that seems to be everywhere and nowhere at once.