Chapter Text
It was November 1, 1957, the second anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War. The number of single mothers was steadily increasing, as were the children who didn't know when their fathers, uncles, and brothers would return home, or even if they were still alive. Many mothers didn't know how to answer their children, often leaving them in suspense.
Then a small company partnered with a toy manufacturer to create The Play Fellow Workshop. They developed a small program featuring a single character, Wally Darling, a 'living puppet' artificially created in the company's laboratories as an experiment. Through television, radio, and mail, he was able to connect with children across the country, regardless of their economic circumstances.
In those years, Wally sat for two hours every day, from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm, on a high wooden stool, behind him a red theater curtain, although the color wasn't visible on TV back then, since everything was still black and white, so those details don't matter much.
Wally received calls, usually from children, but also teenagers. He read the letters the little ones sent him, read children's stories, taught letters and numbers, and once a week they conducted a survey of three topics he could teach the children. The list was very varied, ranging from fixing a clock to learning how to plant carrots. Wally did it, and the children loved it; two hours were enough to take them away from their harsh reality for a while.
Although, truth be told, Wally was advised to slip in small touches of patriotic propaganda in the program. Why? To instill loyalty in children to their country, to train future soldiers who would go to war and give their lives without hesitation for the future and prosperity of the country.
Everything was going perfectly; the children adored Wally. His distinctive appearance was instantly recognizable. And The Play Fellow Workshop was ready to take a giant leap. By 1965, they had created nine live puppets—a complete team of them—and expanded their recording set, recreating a neighborhood of the time, for a new children's program that wouldn't see the light of day for some time. Their scientific facilities were also being developed; now there was demand from other companies to own their own custom live puppets.
But it wasn't all rosy. Puppets are friendly and social by nature, but they are also very prone to copying everything they see and hear, like small children. However, unlike children, it's very difficult to correct copied behavior in puppets. The only way to reverse something learned was through electroshock therapy, which rewound the puppet's mind to the day they were 'born,' and they would have to be taught everything again, as their pre-installed memories and skills were completely erased. The team learned this thanks to Wally. Being the only puppet for so long, he was always following members of the film set, many of whom had inappropriate customs and language. Wally quickly picked this up.
When filming began, Wally maintained his old personality, pretending until the cameras stopped rolling.
Off-camera, his mild-mannered personality turned arrogant, his soft voice became harsh, and alcohol and cigarettes became part of his routine. This didn't sit well with the production team.
The team secretly debated whether to rewind his mind, but his creator, Ronald Dorelaine, flatly refused. Wally was still his property anyway; there wasn't much they could do about it. So the quickest solution was to create their own new Wally. But they didn't know that someone had already overheard them.
Play Fellow took all seven puppets to the depths of the laboratories to rewind their minds and create a new reality for them, ensuring they were perfect.
Wally was left alone, along with another puppet they had discarded, no longer needed.
Wally was deeply affected by being locked underground, hidden from the world, by being abandoned by the people he once trusted, by being left alone. At least they gave him a room with a private bathroom.
But they took his wife, Julie, from him—a loving relationship no one knew about. They took her, they snatched her away; he couldn't even say goodbye.
Wally spent days grieving this loss. He couldn't imagine a life without her. Why live an immortal life without the love of his life? He tried everything.
He cut his wrists in the bathtub. He didn't lose consciousness, and the bleeding stopped after a few minutes.
Hanging. He weighed little, and the ropes he could find were of poor quality.
A gunshot to the temple. He would wake up in his bed the next day.
That love and sadness, with nowhere to go, soon transformed into anger and hatred.
His only companion was that abandoned puppet, originally created to teach children the importance of agriculture and livestock. Oliver. No middle name, no last name. Just Oliver. And he was a pain in the ass to Wally, at least at the beginning.
The farmer kept insisting on keeping Wally company, but the shorter man always pushed him aside. But after so much persistence, Wally stopped caring whether he was with him or not, to the point where Oliver practically lived with him in that room, sleeping on a small sofa they had left there.
The place where they lived was underground; it was the laboratory facility that descended thousands of meters. The filming sets were on the surface.
Many scientists lived in this subterranean place, either out of necessity or simply because they didn't want to go through so many security checks every time they left and returned from the labs. The situation was similar for the staff in general. The place was like a mini-city. There was a small secondhand clothing store, a convenience store, and a cafeteria, as well as several rest areas. The standard rooms didn't have private bathrooms or windows (Wally didn't have windows either), so there were public toilets and showers on either side of the facility. (I used the game Pressure as a reference.)