Shaping

The kitchen doorknob turned, and the door swung open without a sound. Yu Sheng stepped out carrying several large bags and greeted a dumbfounded Irene nearby. "I'm back." Irene's eyes went wide, clearly failing to process what had just happened. "Didn't you go out shopping? Why are you coming from—" She broke off abruptly, as if the realization had just struck her. "No way! You open a 'door' just to come home from a shopping mall?!" "I gave it some thought. Since this door leads not only to foreign domains but also to some 'distant place' in reality, there's no reason it shouldn't work for places closer by," Yu Sheng said smugly. "Besides, I also tested bringing objects and living things through the door. It looks like as long as I keep the door stable, they can pass through without a hitch..." Irene listened in a daze, but her curiosity was piqued at the mention of living things. "Living things?! Where did you get living things? Where are they?" Yu Sheng held out his hand. "Before heading back, I caught a mosquito..." Irene: "...?" Miss Doll gained a whole new appreciation for Yu Sheng's brand of creativity, after which her attention couldn't help drifting to the large shopping bags he had carried in. The first thing she spotted was a carton of eight-treasure congee. Yu Sheng unpacked the contents of the bags, first setting down the carton of congee, and then showed Irene the rest of the supplies. "I found lightweight clay. Because I bought such a massive amount, the shopkeeper tossed in some free tools, but we probably won't need them. Those are for miniature dolls. To make a body for you, we need this—I bought a rolling pin... "Over here are hair and paint. I bought the good stuff. Not the absolute most expensive, but close enough. "Oh, by the way, I couldn't find clothes that would fit you. Do you think..." "No need." Irene waved it off. Watching him unpack, her face was already alight with anticipation and excitement. "I can 'shape' the clothes myself. Like I said, this body is mainly a medium and a temporary vessel... Wow, that's quite a haul! Yu Sheng, you really went all out, didn't you?" "Well, duh. If I'm doing it at all, either don't bother or do it as well as possible," Yu Sheng said, though he furrowed his brows and shook his head. "Though honestly, we're probably still missing some things. I heard there are clay drying ovens, putty, softening oils, primers, makeup tools, and whatnot, but when I looked at them, either they were meant only for miniature dolls or they were things I couldn't learn in a short time. Plus, I have another question—clay takes time to dry. Without a drying oven, half a day won't be enough for large parts to dry and harden..." "It's fine, none of that matters as long as we can get a frame together," Irene said in high spirits, her tone turning uncharacteristically gentle. "The important part is the ritual. Yes, the ritual—otherwise I'd have just had you buy an off-the-shelf doll. Why go through all this trouble?" "Good enough then." Yu Sheng exhaled and began sorting the pile of supplies into categories. "Then let's do this in the attic. There's plenty of space up there, and a big table." Irene nodded vigorously, but then she suddenly noticed another bag nearby. Its contents looked somewhat familiar. "...What is this bag of lotus roots for?" Miss Doll looked thoroughly baffled. Yu Sheng paused what he was doing, looked up at Irene, then down at the bag of lotus roots. Two seconds later, he gave a dry chuckle. "Well, uh, that's Plan B in case my craftsmanship sucks. The way I figure it..." Irene tilted her head and pondered for a long moment before she finally caught on to Yu Sheng's train of thought. She instantly leaped up from her red velvet chair. "No way!" "Really no good?" Yu Sheng sounded a bit disappointed. "I thought these roots were shaped pretty nicely. Took me ages to pick them out." "Of course not!" Irene's eyes bulged. "Let me tell you, prepared meals are bad enough, but if you give me prefabricated parts, I'm lodging a major protest..." "Fine, fine," Yu Sheng sighed, carrying the bag of lotus roots into the kitchen. "I'll use them to make fried stuffed lotus roots later, then." A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Irene. She had a feeling her grand escape today might not go quite as smoothly as she'd envisioned... Yu Sheng, on the other hand, was now brimming with confidence. Having packed up the tools and materials needed to shape the doll body, he picked up the supplies with one hand, tucked Irene's picture frame under his arm, and reached for the kitchen doorknob. Irene caught on quickly this time. "...You're going to open a 'door' just to go to the attic?!" Yu Sheng thought about it, realized that did seem a bit outrageously lazy, and gave an awkward chuckle. With the materials and Irene in hand, he turned toward the stairs leading up. The house had a spacious attic right above the second floor. Though called an attic, it was more like an extra level partitioned off during construction because the ceilings had been built too high. It was about half the size of the second floor, with two street-facing windows and a skylight—which explained why, from the outside, the house appeared to have three floors. Except when cleaning, Yu Sheng rarely went up there. There was hardly anything in it. Aside from a large table that seemed to have been put there simply because there was nowhere else to keep it, there were only two squeaky old chairs. At night or on overcast days when the light was poor, the overly cavernous attic always took on an eerie, somewhat creepy quality. Right now, however, it made a perfect "workshop" for shaping Irene's body. Yu Sheng made two trips, fetching some potentially useful tools from the second-floor storage room, an old desk lamp, and the assortment of strange items Irene requested for the "ritual," hauling everything up onto the big table in the attic. Irene's picture frame rested at one corner of the table, propped up against a stack of old books serving as a makeshift stand. She quietly watched Yu Sheng bustle to and fro, quieter than she had ever been, lost in thoughts unknown. Yu Sheng sat down in front of the big table, the old chair creaking beneath him. Clumsily handling the clay and spatula, he began testing their properties. Irene suddenly broke the silence. "Yu Sheng." "Hmm?" "I'm really about to come out of this painting." "Yeah, assuming everything goes smoothly." "...I never imagined a day like this would actually come," Irene muttered under her breath. "Truth be told, I gave up hoping years ago..." "Feeling sentimental all of a sudden?" Yu Sheng looked up at the painted doll, who seemed unexpectedly emotional. Irene sat on her chair in the painting, hugging her teddy bear and rocking slowly. "Nothing. Just... thank you." "Save the thanks for after we pull it off," Yu Sheng exhaled softly, as if easing the slight tension in his chest. "Now tell me, what's step one?" "Candles. Place one at each of the four corners of the table, and light another beside my picture frame—the basic torso has to be finished before the candles burn out." Irene's expression turned serious as she began guiding Yu Sheng on how to use mundane, everyday materials to shape a vessel for a "living doll." This was the first time she had ever passed down lore belonging to "Alice's Cottage" to a... "human." "Draw three concentric circles on the table. The area within them will be your working space. Then draw a line from each of the four corner candles so they intersect at the center of the concentric circles... Try to make them round... Actually, never mind, just don't make them square... "Write my name at the center—I-rene—in the Old World Common Tongue... Ah, you don't know it. Grab a piece of paper first, and I'll show you how to write it. Whatever you do, don't misspell it. "Next, we need your blood. Just a drop, mixed into the clay, followed by the tea powder and rose oil we prepared earlier. Don't add too much of either, or it'll mess with the shaping—put the prepared clay lump in front of me first, and I'll channel the first 'spirit infusion.'" Irene issued instructions step by step, and Yu Sheng carried them out meticulously. A quiet, focused atmosphere settled over the attic. Their usual bickering faded away, replaced by an increasingly synchronized rhythm of cooperation. ...Well, not that synchronized, really. Irene mostly relied on being broad-minded, while Yu Sheng relied on sheer confidence. The process was far more exhausting than Yu Sheng had initially anticipated—not just physically draining, but mentally taxing. He could feel the "ritual" Irene mentioned taking effect. The arrangements he couldn't comprehend were beginning to operate under some "law" and "power" beyond his understanding. And as an ordinary person ( ) performing such a "ritual" for the first time, even though Irene handled most of the spirit infusion, Yu Sheng still felt a distinct "drain of power" on a mental level. Yet Irene had warned him about all this before the ritual started, so Yu Sheng didn't panic. Instead, he kept his composure as best he could, executing every step she asked of him with utmost precision. Gradually, the body of a doll took shape beneath his hands. Crude, shoddy, and crooked. Even the two legs were of different lengths—and one arm had snapped in half during the process, mended with wire and water. Yu Sheng suspected he might not have much talent in this area. Still, one way or another, things were finally nearing completion. "You can blow out the last candle now," Irene said from inside the picture frame, gazing at the body on the table with an unprecedented gravity and solemnity. "Then place me directly in front of the body, where the head would be." "Got it," Yu Sheng replied, getting up to carry out the instruction. "And then?" "And then I need a minute to comfort myself and steel my resolve..." Yu Sheng: "...Why?" Irene looked like she was about to cry. "It's so fucking ugly... Even if I can reshape it later, right now it's just so fucking ugly!"