Poppy doesn't remember much of her father; she recalls him only through the kapenia he wove for her and the doll he lovingly stitched to keep her company in his absence. He was pronounced dead before she could even conceptualise the idea of death, though his body was never found. In the years that followed, Poppy was kept safe by her mother - a true Varisian harrower, gifted with mystical power - as they travelled from town to town plying her trade and eluding the villainous sczarni. She taught little Poppy of the Harrow, of the Cosmic Caravan, and of the power of colours, but one thing she could never teach was of the curse which hounded their lineage. How could she, when it put poor Poppy at so much risk? One night, however, Poppy's mother left her in the care of their caravan and took off. She did not return. The little girl was not ready to move on to another town without her mother, and so the caravan decided it best she be placed in the care of an orphanage. Merely two years later, that orphanage would be destroyed in a blaze that claimed so many innocent lives... including that of Poppy. Death, of course, was not the end for her; in her final moments, her sorcerous power was awoken, anchoring her spirit to the only family she had left: her beloved doll. Newly sapient, the doll escaped the burning building with phantom in tow, and the pair of them set out to start a new life... but first, Poppy would need answers.
Poppy is the ghost thing, Dolly is the doll.