Fanfic / A Doll's Heart

A Library of Ruina fanfic and Prima Doll Dark Fic that follows an Alternate Universe, combined with part of the worldbuilding and story of the Anime Prima Doll. It starts with an unnamed protagonist, waking up in a strange cafe without any idea as to how she got there. Gradually, it is revealed that she is Malkuth, and an automata who had her episodic memory erased for a yet unknown reason. As she and her co-workers maintain the cafe, they try finding their role in the world.

Updated every saturday after the weekly Prima Doll episode here.

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Tropes

• Adaptation Distillation:
  • There is no pet cat (since the cafe is not named Kuronekotei) and Inaba doesn't appear in the story. Instead, Malkuth sabotages the light in chapter 8 all by herself.
  • The drink used to apologize in chapter 4 is absent.
• Adaptation Name Change: The cafe's name goes from 'Kuronekotei' ('The Black Cat') to 'Inochi no Ki' ('Tree of Life'). This is seen in chapter 7, which contains a line that is more or less the same as in the episode, but with the cafe's name changed.
  Gekka: Welcome at Kuronekot-
  Enoch: Welcome at Inochi n-
• Affably Evil: Zena, Baral and Luda have noticably mellowed out in comparison to their appearance at the end of Library of Ruina, but they are still very shady. They do not outright evict them out of the City like they did with the Library because the cafe has not risen to the grade of Impuritas Civitatis, but they do keep close tabs on them.
• Anger Born of Worry: In chapter 3, Yesod is furious because he was worried that Malkuth wouldn't return after she ran off without any notice.
• Art-Style Dissonance: As seen on the character page, the art style used for the characters is very cartoony, with relatively Big Anime Eyes and bright, unshaded colors similar to the Perception Filter, which doesn't convey the Crapsack World these characters belong in. It does, however, show how odd their dresscode ^note  The designs are relatively in line with those from the original anime, but the latter had multiple character designers whereas this story is all made by one person is, which is otherwise only shortly touched upon in chapter 8, when Nemo briefly calls Malkuth 'another weirdly-dressed tourist'. It also does a good job on hiding their true, rather gruesome nature of being mechanical prisons made to trap souls of deceased humans.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Yesod points out that they have this in chapter 6. Knowing that they are dolls, this makes some sense at the very least.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Several examples.
  • In episode 4, the characters were all locked in with haywire robots outside. In chapter 4, the Hana delegation fights the Church of Gears worshippers all on their own, while Malkuth and Angela go for a safe place.
  • Retzel merely threatens Haizakura in episode 5. Binah goes about it with sticking a Fairy to Malkuth. While there's still no blood, the pain she feels is fully described.
• Bilingual Bonus: 'Inochi no Ki' (生命の樹) means 'Tree of Life', as in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which the Sephiroth are part of.
  • Chapter 6 has Malkuth react on this, as she derives the flower decorations for the performance of this fact. Angela reacts by saying that they're not named after a literal tree and that the tree is themselves.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Ensemble is dead, Carmen has retreated, and there is even a new Inochi no Ki - this time as Malkuth's E.G.O instead of a regular building, ensuring it won't get destoyed as easily. Ayin has been granted a body of his own so that he can interact with the others and start as The Atoner. However, Malkuth herself is far beyond the Despair Event Horizon and became suicidal, ending up in an endless sleep.
• Book Ends: The last chapter ends with an automata waking up, seeing a seemingly-dead person in front of them and then becoming an employee at Inochi no Ki. In an explicit echo of the first chapter, Yesod talks to Malkuth at night. But in contrast to the previous instance, Malkuth doesn't wake up.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Every character has a color associated with them. Malkuth is associated with four of them instead (citrine, russet, olive and black). No one comments on this.
• Continuity Cameo:
  • Eileen makes a cameo as the leader of the Church of Gears in chapter 4.
  • Meow and the rest of the Musicians of Bremen (though none of them really make an appearance) appears in chapter 6. The Carnival doesn't name any members, but they are the 'address' Chesed goes to in the same chapter. Walter, Isadora and Julia are only mentioned by name by Hokma, but they also appear in chapter 6.
  • Nemo and Bada make a cameo in chapter 8.
• Dance Party Ending: Chapter 6. The original episode had it too.
• Dark Fic: For a Project Moon fanwork, it's rather tame and the original anime has shown little hesitance showing war flashbacks, but the very fact that this is set in the City makes it this. A very good example is Binah. Whereas Retzel comes to terms with her fate in the beginning of episode 6, Binah is almost restricted to the top floor and needs someone's help in order not to commit suicide. While, in the original anime, the Insert Song in episode 5 is simply about a lost cat in the rain, the Insert Song in chapter 5 in this story is Dareka no Shinzou ni Nareta nara with lyrics that fully detail the struggle with the fragility of life and coping. The specific bit in the story itself is about how the City and its people are Distorted and a Crapsack World.
  The City and its people are Distorted
  [It's] full of monsters, I realized
  Their foolishness rooted in desire
  Those eyes see everything
• Do Androids Dream?: In a literal sense, Malkuth reveals in chapter 9 that they do experience some kind of dreaming, even though it's not exactly on par with the human kind. On a deeper level, the answer is yes. To be exact, the souls of dead people.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Almost Tiphereth◊'s entire outfit. This is because their outfit reflects their dual nature.
• Fate Worse than Death: When an automata 'dies', they 'break' - as their bodies aren't living things (they are robotic bodies that can malfunction and be turned off at worst), the only way they 'die' is via Death by Despair. Their soul will cease to power their body, leaving them unable to act. However, said soul is otherwise still present as it cannot leave since their bodies were specifically designed to trap them forever.
• Foreshadowing: If you know where to look.
  • From the first chapter on, there are hints dropped that Yesod is the one who wiped Malkuth's memories up until its reveal in chapter 4.
    • In chapter 1, Angela states that they both know why Malkuth has amnesia.
    • In chapter 2, Yesod admits that he's not just a data storage, but also able to do something with memories.
    • In chapter 3, when Malkuth returns from Hana, Yesod erases her memory of her name as a punishment. She regains it swiftly thanks to Netzach.
  • Chesed mentions in the first chapter that Gebura's internal system shut down because of overexertion caused by someone. That someone was Binah.
  • Yesod complains about getting a headache after exiting the Warp train every time, but Malkuth is fine. Turns out that this is caused by Warp train employees secretly putting them in stasis just to find out more about their bodies. Unfortunately, they aren't as good in putting them back, causing side-effects. Qlipha also finds this out the hard way.
  • In chapter 7, Enoch meets a couple, and the man of the couple seems to see him as a Replacement Goldfish, going as far as wanting to adopt him. This does not end well. This loosely mirrors Angela being created to contain Carmen's soul, but did not end well. Both Enoch and Angela even eventually rebel against the man in question.
  • The biggest one is that the automata always refer to 'their body' that is created for them. They used to be human before 'Master' stuffed their souls into a robotic body after dying.
• Forgot He Was a Robot: Subverted. Because they have no heart and no blood, you get sentences like this:
  If he had blood, he'd grow red in the face, but he only gasps and his eyes go big.
• Furry Reminder: In chapter 2 is written about 'Tiphereth's metaphorical heart'. This implies they don't have a literal heart, thus leading to the title being a Non-Indicative Name.
  • This trope also leads to a short misunderstanding where Netzach says to Yesod that the latter seems 'kind of down' to him. Since 'something being down' means 'not working' in a technological context, Yesod immediately replies that he is up and running (as he's a robotic doll), while Netzach meant 'kind of down' in an emotional context.
    Netzach: You seem kind of down.
    Yesod: What do you mean, 'down'? I'm up and running right now.
    Netzach: ...I should rephrase that. [...]
• Insert Song: Because every episode of the anime features one, it is only logical that this story has them as well, but different ones. With the exception of the first two chapters, each chapter has featured one. Chapter 6 has Malkuth calling them 'cover songs', indicating that they're covers in-universe as well.
  • Chapter 3 features "Close to you", originally by niki. It serves as a requiem for the fallen employees that were under Hod's supervision in L Corp, coming in the place of 'Hoshishirube'.
  • Chapter 4 features "never ender" by kz/livetune, coming in the place of 'Hanahaori'.
  • Chapter 5 features "Dareka no Shinzou ni Nareta Nara" by YurryCanon, coming in the place of 'Ame no Mayoi Neko'. ^note  Both 'If I could become your heart' and 'If I could become someone else's heart'
  • Chapter 6 features 'Hand in Hand' by kz/livetune at its tail end, coming in the place of 'Yumesaki Hare Butai'.
  • Chapter 7 features 'Decadism' by Nuyuri, coming in the place of 'Matsuyoizuki'.
  • Chapter 9 features 'Phony' by Tsumiki.
  • Chapter 12 features 'Greenlights Serenade' by Omoi.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • The fact that they are automata is put in to differentiate from the people that willingly turn their body into a robotic one. Aside from that, they are also consistently described as being dolls and never as robots or androids. This gives them a much more Living Toys air to them than it would otherwise. This is something that matches with the source anime, that also does this.
    Chesed: You could clearly see that we're essentially human-sized ball-jointed dolls.
    Enoch: You know I don't need such an abundant meal, right? I'm a doll.
  • Tiphereth's ability isn't flying, it's levitation.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Malkuth. The story starts with her waking up and nary a memory. It turns out that Malkuth intentionally sacrificed her memories to Yesod, as he was dying due to not having eaten any memories for a while.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: This story assumes the reader has played through both games, and at least through Library of Ruina, because Zena, Baral and Luda show up as soon as the second chapter.
• Mundane Utility: As noted under Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids, they have their old capabilities intact. For example, Hod uses her innate capability to prepare all kinds of food, even though her specialty is patisserie. Tiphereth uses their levitation to quickly travel Districts, although it apparently tires them out.
• Mythology Gag: Angela's outfit is basically a traditional Japanese interpretation of her librarian outfit in Library of Ruina.
  • Binah's Fairies inflict pain upon the victim whenever the victim moves, and eventually fading in effect over time. In Library of Ruina, Fairy is a Damage Over Time status ailment that deals damage whenever the afflicted character rolls a dice, to fade at the end of the turn and halving the stack.
  • When Malkuth and Yesod encounter one of the Ensemble's bases, they find it to be a group of tents and some Smoke War-era vehicles. Yesod comments that he expected it to be more sophisticated than that.
• Never Say "Die": Played with quite roughly. This trope usually doesn't apply, with one exception - automata are never said to die. However, this is because they literally cannot - instead, they go dormant forever, unable to reach any kind of afterlife at all as they remain stuck in their body.
• Nominal Importance: The characters in the Continuity Cameo entry are all known to anyone who's played Library of Ruina, and even when the main characters say their names, the story flat out refuses to name them. A notable exception to this are the Head agents and the three from Hana, likely because of their positions of power, thus this trope.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: It may be hard to see due to the different coloration, but every character has returning elements in their clothing. While all of them are based on the kimono and have the same obi and ribbon, all of the girls tend to have disconnected sleeves and all of them have ruffles. The clothing of their male co-workers lacks said ruffles and they do not have disconnected sleeves. Somehow, Tiphereth has both.
• Oh, Crap!: Tanya as she realizes that Yesod is about to erase her memories, and that he did that to Eileen before.
• The Reveal: One of which is rather similar to one in Lobotomy Corporation to boot.
  • Malkuth's Laser-Guided Amnesia was the result of her letting Yesod eat all of her memories in order to ensure his survival. As a result, she cannot regain them as they were eaten.
  • Gebura was put into strain during the rebellion. The direct cause was Binah, but the indirect cause was Malkuth herself.
  • The automata are robotic dolls inhabited by human souls that power their bodies. Angela, the first automata, was Ayin's first experiment in transferring souls into artificial bodies. As Angela only inherited a copy of Carmen's memories, Ayin became dead set to perfect his craft.
  • Their creator , Ayin, is sealed within Malkuth's subconscious by Angela, along with all Cogito L Corp used.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: All automata are basically indistinguishable from humans. They are capable of complex emotions like humans are all the same. According to the reference images, they do not have 'backpacks' as in the original anime, turning their resemblance to humans up a notch. Gebura is a slight deviation of this, as she's more visibly robot-like due to her joints being visible.
  • Yet, the passerbies in chapter 2 do recognize Malkuth and Tiphereth as being robots, hinting that there's something that sets them apart visually still.
  • The human resemblance is mostly external and their emotional capability. They do not have a physical heart (see Furry Reminder), and when turned off, do no have body heat. Chapter 4 mentions that Yesod doesn't bleed, so it can be assumed that this is true for all automata.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: In chapter 3, Hod sings "Close to you", a Japanese song. The lyrics are set in romaji (as that is what would be heard), with the translation as alt text. This is also done when Yesod sings "never ender", with romaji as well, and with every other Insert Song following it.
• Sharing a Body: Tiphereth. In L Corp, they were two, but both of their bodies were destroyed and reforged into the current Tiphereth. They take turns controlling the body, depending on their energy levels.
• Ship Tease:
  • Yesod really, really cares about Malkuth. He spends most of the time she's away worrying about her, but doesn't admit it outright. When he arrives at the Church of Gears base, he shouts how he won't let them hurt Malkuth despite the fact that she was far from the only one present. He also clearly displays Anger Born of Worry to her. In chapter 8, this is turned up to eleven as they set out together on a mission.
  • Netzach and Hod. In chapter 3, he mentions how he missed her beautiful voice as she's singing an elegy on stage. Meanwhile, Hod is clearly trying to hide her reaction at Netzach's costume in chapter 6.
• Shout-Out: All chapters are named after episodes from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Because said episodes were named after lines spoken in the episode itself, these lines are also uttered within the episodes (or thought, as is the case in chapter 4). The exact significance of this is unknown, but automata are husks containing human souls, comparable to Puella Magi.
• Shown Their Work: There are a lot of Kabbalistic influences, from how Malkuth wears four colors to how the cafe is built up — Malkuth as the protagonist as Asiyah is the material world, the lowest floor being commonly accessible as Yetzirah represents a broader world, the middle floor being only rentable as Briah is less accessible to us, and with the upper floor being off limits for guests as Atziluth is the emanative, divine world.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The story ends with the song ' Greenlights Serenade', a song that was used to start Magical Mirai with, and is a very upbeat and energetic song. The story ends on a very sad note.
• Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Played with. According to Yesod, they are still equipped with all the stuff they had installed back when they were still working in L Corp. Back then, they were a necessity, but as they are now running a cafe, it has become this most of the time.
  • Tiphereth is able to fly, although they both call it 'levitation'. This, in addition to their original smaller bodies, was supposed to help them avoid danger better because they fulfilled a key role in the facility.
  • Chesed has a staff that is seemingly able to hypnotize Abnormalities. It's unknown why he has it, although using it on as much as one of them wears him out severely nowadays.
  • Gebura was made to fight, and even now she doesn't need anymore, she still has her sword with her.
  • Hod has an incredible learning ability, and can reproduce any given knowledge seemingly instantly. Back in L Corp, she taught employees everything they needed to master.
  • Yesod himself still has all information he collected, but it's useless now most of the time. He was also made to eat the memories of others in order to prevent them selling out their knowledge (as it already happened before). This is bad in particular because L Corp is gone, yet he still needs to eat memories in order to survive.
• The Voiceless: Hod, though not voluntarily so. It is the result of trauma, and she only regains her voice during the latter half of chapter 3.
• We Can Rebuild Him: Ayin started with this after he failed to get the desired result when he created Angela by trying to stuff Carmen's soul into a new body. He proceeded to turn several of his employees (and Garion) into robotic dolls to serve in the facility.
• You No Take Candle: At the end of chapter 3, Hod talks like this. Justified, because in contrast to the original anime, the system that regulates her voice has not entirely been restored yet. She can sing just fine, however.
  Hod: Oh, you... not annoying at all. In fact, I... thank you. Now I... not afraid... anything anymore.

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