PictureBook – The Jealousy of Toys By Benamon Tame

Syster fell to the ground. Her lower arms caught the floor, the sound of china scrapping into the old wood and marking the thick varnish. She arched her back and lowered herself further as her upper arms took her weight, her forked hand digging deep into the wood, as her lower body continued to curl and brought up the box that held her high up like a scorpions sting. The voicebox twitched and the other voice continued to mutter, mumbled and jumbled words barely audible but punctuated with rare clarity;

“She lied…

…too deep…

Our fault?

…no….

..so tired.

“Syster clattered round and raising her head she smiled as only porcelain can, with the sound of chewed chalk, and grasped at the pile of feathers beside her. She briefly watched the thin trails the feathers made behind her, bright in taken red, before her gaze shifted and she crawled off in search of Nephalim.

© Benamon Tame – ‘The Jealousy of Toys. Typewriter remix’ – Juxtaposer, Iris Photo Suite, Scratchcam, Snapseed, Blender and Pictureshow. The additional elements in the typewriter remix were created using Lo-Mob, Labelbox and Phonto

Syster was second of my lost Toy Room denizens but she was the first I made after Calopie knowing I wanted a series. The initial idea of Syster was a Jack in a Box, oversized and looming over the other toys but as a started to put it together a different story started to emerge. Most of the toys have names taken from mythology and religion, something that had a connection with their story or reflected part of their character. With Syster I was reminded of my Automatic Eloise, the Clockwork Sister (who herself would be later drawn into the series) but with this one she is the bullying older sister who bribes and threatens and uses for her own ends behind a mask of sisterly love and care.

Sister to Syster, the misspelling echoing the wrongness in any friendship she declares.

Her appearance marked her as one of the first to take the lead and move away from her ‘toyish’ origins, she has remade herself by her own designs and aesthetic, giving herself an extra set of arms and exchanging one hand for a fork, a useful tool for her ‘surgery’ and for intimidation. What might have been the jack box is now more a weight she drags behind her, a small prison she has filled with others (or the parts of) maybe her own conscience and innocence that she cut out as an inconvenience and hindrance to her designs.

Only she knows and will not say, though occasionally when she thinks no one is watching she will stop and talk to it, to taunt and argue before hurling it behind her again in dismissal and disgust.

For most of the toys, Syster is a necessary evil, she has a (power/skill/imagination?) to modify and change the toys, they come to her knowing she will help them but not knowing the price or if she will ‘reinterpret’ what is asked of her for her own amusement.

Some of the toys are only filled with their own story but along with Babel she is one that touches many others, Loki let her be and used her services and when he was deposed she remained neutral. She does as she wills and because she is needed she is tolerated.

Syster represents the ingenuity and curiosity of children but with the dark innocence of the Lost Toy Room

© Benamon Tame

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