A Christmas Storytelling
A draft by Oculus
Illustrated by KerosineCannibal
Avocado was feeling nervous. He had gotten permission from Antoine of the Fluffy Shelter for the Abused to use one of their rooms to host a storytelling event for Christmas night. Avocado wanted the event to double as a big reunion party with his fellow classmates from West Side Fluffy Academy. However, his friends ended up inviting their friends, and now Avocado was looking at least 20 fluffies attending his party. He had been used to smaller parties with his human, as well as the occasional get-togethers with his five other friends in the neighbourhood, but a party of twenty fluffies? That sounded like a lot!
“No wowwies, fwen! Fwuffs hewe wiww hewp you!”
Two of the fluffies who were ready to help Avocado were Crush and Circuit. Both of them were residents at the Fluffy Shelter and were assigned by Antoine to be Avo’s helpers. Circuit was especially helpful because, even though she herself didn’t know how to use them, her cybernetics could be used to determine what was needed for the party, as well as the logistics needed.
Well, that was the theory. The problem was finding a fluffy who could understand the cybernetics. Antoine had sent for a fluffy who was familiar with cybernetics but had warned Avo that said fluffy could only converse in “sketti”. She was one of the first to arrive, and she had a turquoise body with a purple mane.
“Buorngiorno signor Avocado. Ho sentito dal signor Antoine che avevi bisogno di aiuto!”
Avocado was scratching his head. The English language was already complex enough for him, and this fluffy was speaking some language he had never heard of before. The “sketti-speaking fluffy” however seemed to understand what buttons to press and, within moments, Circuit was projecting a hologram with her red eye.
“Ah. Fluffy comprende questa lettura. Fluffy si metterà subito al lavoro!”
The sketti-speaking fluffy then left the room, leaving Avocado, Crush and Circuit quite confused.
The next two fluffies that arrived to help were Beanie and Coffee. Both of them had experience serving at cafes and thus were familiar with taking orders and handling refreshments.
“Beanie bwing wotsa cocoa. Fwuffies wub hawt cocoa on Kwissmas nite!”
And true enough, Beanie had brought along a hot drink dispenser, prepared beforehand for the party. The dispenser was set up outside the room, with a whipped cream fountain. In addition, there was a neat stockpile of candy canes, a must-have for a warm Christmas night.
Not long after the hot drink station had been set up, the “sketti speaking fluffy” came back, this time with Antoine behind her, carrying a lot of tinsel. This seemed familiar to Avocado, and he imagined that the man was going to decorate the room with tinsel.
However, and instead, Antoine placed the tinsel, as well as the other decorations on the grounds.
“Grazie, signor!”
And the “sketti speaking fluffy” got to work straight away. With tinself in mouth and a careful use of her hooves, she seemed to know where each decoration was supposed to go, and where the tinsel was supposed to be placed.
Avo, looking on in amazement, noticed how she was able to co-ordinate (somewhat) with Crush and Circuit. Avo then heard the doorbell. Hoping it was one of his guests, he rushed out to meet them.
“Uh hello. I’m lost. I fell into a hole one day, and next thing I know, I’m deep in snow, and its like everything is normal.”
Avocado had to rub his eyes. That other fluffy, a Grey unicorn, was speaking that odd language was one thing, but this grey unicorn was speaking perfect English. Just like a human!
“Wow… how fwen tawk wike dat?”
“I don’t know, it just ‘happened’. And I was supposed to be with a friend of mine. I get knocked out, and next thing I know, I’m in the middle of a freakin’ blizzard.”
Avo was scratching his head. From what he could vaguely understand, this fluffy was saying that he was long and was trying to find his way home.
“Avo dunno whewe fwen at, but, mebbeh come in fow pawtee?”
“A party?!”
“Ye! It am Kwissmas!”
Greg raised his eyebrows. However, the reality of the situation started to sink in. And resigned to being in this specific situation, he accepted.
“Fine, fine. I suppose a Christmas party is better than war-torn Stalingrad.”
“Fwuffy am happy! Fwuffy am Awocado.”
“Avocado, huh? You can call me Greg.”
Upon entering the room where the part was supposed to be held, there was an ongoing mishap going on. The sketti-speaking fluffy was trying to give a set of instructions to Crush and Circuit, but, they clearly couldn’t understand her. The sketti-speaking fluffy was mimicking a climbing action, which both fluffies couldn’t understand.
“Hai una scala?”
“I think what she’s trying to ask is if you folks have a ladder.”
Upon understanding what she said, Crush nodded. However, the ladder was in another part of the shelter. Also, Antoine had to run a quick errand, so he wasn’t around to help carry the ladder.
“Huwwo.”
A big, booming sound could be heard from the other end, as Avocado greeted the next guest. It was Buffalo the Fluffalo, and with him was his mate (or speshul fwen, in fluffy terms), and their three foals. Her name was Plum, and she was a mascot at a Christmas themed shop that Antoine had visited. She was also a friend of Beanie’s, and was a member of the “Loving Fluffy Mothers” group, which met every Monday at the shelter. Because of her connections, she was invited to the group, and her attendance brought with her the other mares and their foals, who would be attending later.
Plum was busy chatting with Beanie, as they were discussing how they’d keep their foals entertained during the reading event. Buffalo strutted towards Greg, Circuit, Crush and the sketti-speaking fluffy.
“Wuts da pwobwem?”
“Fwuffy need get waddah, bu’ wadda am to heawy fow fuwffy.”
“Nu pwobwem. Whew am waddah?”
And true enough, Buffalo was big and strong enough to carry the ladder on his back. Circuit, with her cybernetic body, was able to help lift the ladder from behind, as well as carefully guide Buffalo to where the ladder was supposed to be placed – beside the Christmas tree. At around about this time, the rest of the “Loving Fluffy Mothers” group arrived, those being Bunny, Seabreeze and their respective foals. The group had also brought along the members of the “Ovomaltiney’s Group” which was a foals group that promoted the Hasbio-sponsored drink of Ovomaltine. Interestingly, the hot cocoa being served by Beanie and Coffee at this storytelling session was provided by Ovomaltine.
“Awwite babbehs. Kwissmas tweed need ta wook pwetteh!”
As Plum said this, her three foals started to co-ordinate the decorations that were to be placed on the tree. A heavy layer of padding was placed, to provide as a cushion in case any of the foals fell. However, due to the light weight of the foals, they were able to climb on the tree branches, and trunk, without too much hassle. Within moments, the other members of the Ovomaltineys, those being Petal, Ruby and a one-eye foal with the odd name of NISC started to scurry about. As foals were busy decorating the Christmas tree, there was another problem that Avocado needed to settle.
The foals were busy decorating the tree, and being fluffies, most of the ground-level decorations could be settled. However, the plan that the Sketti-speaking fluffy had drawn up, based on Circuit’s calculations, called for the entire room to be decorated. But how could the fluffys, being short as they were, be able to decorate the upper areas of the room? The easiest answer was to get Antoine but, alas – Antoine had to run an errand at that moment. Avocado pondered on what to do, as he opened the door to five very special guests.
“Huwwo Avo! Wong time no see!”
And there they were, the Class of 20XX. Avocado spent his first year as a foal at East Side Day Care, but later transferred to West Side Fluffy Academy, where he spent a year earning his certificate as a teaching assistant. In his cohort, he made many friends, with three of them being Suzy, who was one of the first major fluffy baseball players, Tumbly, the Tumbly-fluff who was a celebrity on FluffTV and Doctor Crazystein, who was a medical assistant, and was incredibly handy with band-aids.
“Tumbwy am su happy to see ‘ou, Awo!”
“Awo am happey too! And guud to see ‘ou Suzie and da doctah tuu!”
Suzy, being a sports-oriented fluffy, had made her own contacts with the world, and had made a friend in Grease Lightning, a purple Waggytail unicorn. Lightning, as she was often called, was a two time winner at the fluffy derbies in New Zealand, and had toured often with Suzy as part of Hasbio’s promotion of fluffy sports.
“Teehee, Suzy fwen am so fattie!”
As Lightning says this, she poked Avo on his tummy. Avocado blushed – its quite clear he’s been eating way too much spaghetti lately.
Tumbly, being curious, rolled all the way to Circuit, the Sketti-speaking Fluffy, and Greg. Though born with a disability, Tumbly’s lack of legs never deterred his curiosity, nor his optimism.
“Wut am da mattew, fwens?”
“Its this plan from this hologram. It says for the decorations to be placed all over the room but, so far, we’re only able to decorate up to our level.”
“Why fwen tawk funneh?”
“Nevermind that. We’re fluffies, so we’re not able to reach the ceiling.”
“Oh, dat am nu twubbwe!”
It was Doctor Crazystein who said this. And, with a quick motion, he carried Tumbly up with his front hooves, and tossed him into the air.
“Nuuu!”
“What the hell are you doing?!!!”
However, and to the amazement of the other fluffies, Tumbly slowly gently wafted towards the ground like a feather.
Greg, being utterly dumfounded, gasped out aloud, “That breaks all known laws of physics!”
To which Tumbly laughed out and said “Siwwy fwen! Tumbwy nu hab fiziks!”
While an illogical answer, Tumbly’s ability posed an advantage for the planning committee. The sketti-speaking fluffy, Greg and Crazystein developed a plan, utilizing the calculations from Circuit’s machinery.
“Fwens am weady?”
“Weady!”
Suzy, Lightning, and Crush were strapped to Tumbly, as the other fluffies placed the trio on Buffalo’s head. With a toss of his head, the three fluffies flew into the air. With utter grace, and Tumbly’s ability temporarily passed to the three other fluffies, Suzy, Crush and Lightning raced around the ceiling, walking upside down, then along the wall. As they did this, they were able to place the missing decorations and streamers across the entire room, using Crazystein’s endless supply of band-aids as a fastener. The process took a minute and, within moments, Suzy and Lightning skidded down the wall, having placed the last bits of tinsel and decorations, followed by Crush, who managed to keep up with the other two, by gliding on the wall with the wheel that had replaced his amputated leg.
It was at about this moment when Antoine returned to the room.
“Hello fluffi- woah!”
Antoine was amazed. In the span of a few hours, Avocado and his many guests had managed to decorate the room very well.
“Oh huwwo nice mistah,” greeted Avo, as he was happy to see his gracious sponsor again.
“Hello Avo. Had to get this guy from the clinic,” said Antoine, while he was holding a yellow fluffy with a cowling demeanour.
“Who am fwen?”
“Him? Well, he’s someone new who was found at the town hall a few days ago. Was apparently drawing a large A symbol all over the place. Haven’t figured out a name for him yet.
Anyhow, I’ll leave him here. “
As Antoine placed the yellow fluffy on the ground, Avocado waddled up to him. However, the yellow fluffy turned his back on him. Perhaps it was a gesture of shyness. Or perhaps he had no interest in any contact with anyone whatsoever. Whatever the case, Avocado could sense that the yellow fluffy didn’t want to talk.
Antoine came back, this time with a bowl of marshmallows. As he placed the bowl beside the yellow fluffy, the yellow fluffy started to take each marshmallow, place them on a stick, and roast them on the fireside. After each Marshmallow was roasted, the yellow fluffy placed them on a silver plate.
Avocado was a bit confused when Beanie came in and exclaimed, “Mushmawwows!” And with that, she promptly took the plate of roasted marshmallows, and placed them at the hot drinks station.
The decorations had already been placed, and the adult fluffies were chatting among themselves. However, the foals were getting bored, and some entertainment was needed. Thankfully, Avocado knew one friend who was an entertainer and had been awaiting his arrival for quite a while now (he thought he’d arrive earlier)
“To’ ob da ebenin’ to ‘ou aww, waddies!”
And in he stopped, a fluffy green as glover with a blonde mane, an emerald top-hat, and a four leaf shamrock in his hat. He was Kegstand, a Peppermintparchment fluffy that was very obviously Irish themed.
“Bloody hell,” quips Greg, “Its Christmas, not St. Patrick’s Day!”
Nonetheless, Kegstand, being a fluffy that was bred for entertainment on a particular holiday, knew a few Irish songs and could perform Irish stepdance.
An’ da song fwuff sing am da Ju’ of Punch.
Too-ta-woo-wa-woo, too-wa-woo-wa-woo,
Too-wa-woo-wa-woo, woo-wa-woo-wa-woo,
A biwdie sing on da twee bwunch
And da song fwuff sing am da Ju’ of Punch!
Kegstand sang the song as Gowdie poured hot chocolate in the various mugs for the foals to drink. The energetic singing, as well as his well-choreographed dance was enough to keep the foals entertained, while they wait for the guest of honour to arrive.
The atmosphere in the room seemed perfect. The decorations were placed, all his friends were here, the drinks were ready, and there was some light entertainment being provided by Kegstand, whow as singing random Irish songs in fluffspeak.
Only one thing was left, and that was the fluffy of the hour.
And here came, the last fluffy to arrive, and he was Snowy. A greyfluff, he had lived for over a decade, and was very advanced in his years, for a fluffy. Escorting him was Lucia, a seeing-eye fluffy of the Yehdoo breed. Taller and with longer legs, Yehdoo’s were often sought as companion animals for the blind hummehs and, in this case, helped provided assistance to elderly fluffies.
“Carefuw nao Snowwie.”
“Fwuff knu, fwuff knu.”
Also escorting Snowy was Opal, a Kerosine fluffy who was well-trained in music. A friend of Avocado,s she was sent by Avo to liaison with Lucia and Snowy, to ensure that her arrived safely. The gaffer of a fluffy sauntered into the room, carrying with him a book about old fluffy tales, some of which were Christmas related. As he laid the book down, and opened the pages, Avocado and the other fluffies gathered round, as they listened to the old fluffy tell the Christmas tale.
To be concluded at Christmas time, 2021