Part Two
“What is it?”
“Ian, I’m covered in blood, guts, and shit. Can we please deal with the current issue first?”
“Right. Sorry. Let me get the hose.”
“Take care of Dusk first. I’ll see how much I can get cleaned off on my own.”
Shit. He’d forgotten all about Dusk. He scooped the unconscious fluffy up and brought him into the modest sickbay the compound offered. Whoever had been tasked with creating the place seemed to have been given some pretty specific instructions, because there was enough sedative to bring down a herd of elephants. Twice.
Probably in case we have to sedate Sunset for some reason. She probably needs a hell of a dose.
Regardless, it was pretty helpful having access to an infirmary at all. He didn’t even have to dig through the well-stocked medicine chest to find what he needed; he’d been using these himself since they’d arrived. They didn’t do much to take the edge off, but he wasn’t even going to consider anything stronger.
Grabbing a pill bottle, he rushed to the kitchen, and carefully scraped a tiny sliver off. Is that 1/100th? Maybe a little more…better cut it in half just to be safe, he mused as he quickly reduced the tiny sliver further. It should be enough to calm the fluffy down; even unconscious the poor creature’s heart was racing so fast.
After administering the medication he stood by, waiting. After about a quarter of an hour Dusk’s pulse slowed to a safer level. Ian relaxed, setting the fluffy down in his nest so he could sleep. Now to learn what Sunset was planning.
He found her attempting to hose herself down, unsuccessfully. The hose was already shorter by several three-inch-long segments, and as he watched it became shorter again as her grasping tail sliced cleanly through the soft material. He stifled a laugh.
“You really don’t think about how lucky you are to have hands.”
“I think about it all the time recently.”
She rolled her eyes, an impressive gesture considering she had six of them. “At least I don’t have to use my mouth for this shit anymore. Not something I’d choose to experience again. Can you please get me cleaned off?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that now.”
He flinched a little as the cold water hit her, but she didn’t react. Apparently that particular instinct had been one of the ones she’d lost in her transformation. It made sense, though, considering that breathing seemed to be mostly a psychological thing for her now. When she slept she didn’t seem to breathe at all, and usually even when awake she’d only take the occasional breath to steady her nerves or to speak.
She turned around a few times, making sure he could thoroughly remove all the remnants from her rampage. Once she was finally cleaned to her satisfaction she shook herself violently, spraying Ian with droplets of water. “Hey! You did that on purpose!”
“Woof.”
“Shut up.”
Sunset chuckled, a strangely incongruous sound considering her appearance. The little bit of normality seemed to help with whatever she was dealing with right now. But she grew more serious quickly.
“Can you grab me some blankets? Towels? Lots of cloth, preferably thick.”
Maybe the water had more of an affect on her than she let on. Still, it was nice to see something, well, fluffylike from her. He’d never known her before, but it seemed like she was actively trying to bury everything from her past life. Maybe it was a coping mechanism for all that’d happened, or maybe it was just a byproduct of the radical changes she’d undergone.
There was quite a bit of material to work with. While there hadn’t been much in terms of amenities like towels to begin with, a few short raids to a nearby town had solved that. Of course, it brought a whole new heap of problems seeing all the bodies, but he’d firmly put that in the “don’t think about it until I’m dying” part of his mind.
“Thanks. Now, I’d do this myself, but it’s pretty tricky doing fine work with this tail. Can you please wrap the ends of my legs? Lots of layers, if possible.”
“Why? You aren’t thinking you’ll…”
“Just do it, please.”
Ian did as he was asked, but it wasn’t particularly easy work. Her bladed legs were far sharper than anything even semi-organic had any right to be, and eventually he had to resort to using several layers of rugged synthetic-fiber straps to keep them from cutting through any cloth he wrapped around them. He did manage to do it, though, after many false starts and quite a few nicks.
“Thanks,” Sunset’s tone was genuine and much warmer than he’d heard from her before. Then she jumped him.
He reeled backwards, partially in surprise and partially from her weight. She was much, much heavier than her size implied. “Oof, you’re heavy!” he said involuntarily, then winced. Probably not the best thing to say. “Sorry.”
Sunset wrapped her front legs around him, and he realized she was trying to hug him. He returned the gesture, and felt a little of the tension in her go. “I really needed this…wait, sorry for what?”
“I just called you heavy…”
“And? Oh, right. I’m a fluffy, Ian. Being heavy isn’t a bad thing, not for us. We want to be big and strong, it’s programmed into our nature. Probably as a sick joke, but it’s still there.”
“Right. Sorry, with the way you talk and look that’s really easy to forget.”
“Don’t worry about it. This is nice. It’s the first time I’ve had a hug in a long time, since before…Ian, I think there’s a way we can keep Dusk, but it’s not ideal. Neither way is ideal.”
“What can we do?”
“Well, first option is I can just go massacre fluffies from time to time. It seems to have helped this time. With the number of people I’ve already killed, what’s a few more bodies on the pile?”
“I know you don’t think that.”"
“It’d make life easier if I could. Right, option one is out. Option two…well, there’s a good reason for me to be reluctant to mention this…”
“Go on.”
“Ian, do you know how old I am?”
“No. Your mother never mentioned it.”
“I’m 26 years old. One of the first fluffies ever created.”
“How…?”
“How am I still alive? I think it’s the same reason why most of the individual component species are ignored by the infection, when humans and fluffies aren’t. I was distinct enough that the infection didn’t treat me as a fluffy, so I had the opportunity to reach my maximum life span naturally. I probably only had a few years left, though. Mother said we wouldn’t live more than around thirty years best-case.”
“That means if we make enough changes to Dusk for him to not be recognized as a fluffy…”
“The urge to kill him should go. Ian…fluffies are designed to be easily altered, and we have the equipment to handle it, but the process, I don’t know if it’s worth it.”
“If Dusk agrees, I don’t see the issue.”
“You don’t because you haven’t been through that. I have. Believe me, there’s no way you can explain it to him. Ian, you can’t begin to imagine the suffering.”
“I don’t have to. It’s not my call to make. Should we do it?”
“If he agrees…just don’t blame me if there’s nothing left of him by the time we’re done.”
Part Five
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…Oh? ~reads with more interest~
Was almost expecting a bit of ‘monster mash’ with
If it wasn’t for it being made innocently about normal hugs. xD