This is technically chapter 09 Part 1 of 2. I didn’t plan for it to be split up, but like the last chapter of Uphie, there was a tone shift that felt jarring if put as one long post. Plus I’m having Part 2 of 2 looked over by a third party individual, as I want it to be “perfect” in a sense. But I still hope you enjoy this one.
A middle-aged man in a suit steps forward as numerous people in lab coats, surround him.
“Alright listen up everyon-”
“What the hell is this request?!” A man suddenly asks in disbelief.
His question was met by murmurs of agreement.
“We do research that involves Fluffies!” A woman exclaimed angrily “Not… whatever this is!”
“Yeah!” A couple of people cried out in unison.
The middle-aged man rubbed his head in frustration.
“Now hang on everybody. Just let me explain”.
“We came here to do genetic research. Not teach a bunch of Fluffies how to sing… My Way by Sinatra?!”
“Yeah!” The others cried out in unison.
The middle-aged man took a deep breath and slammed his fist on the table, quickly silencing everyone in the room.
“Okay! You don’t want to do this? Fine! You go up to upper management and tell them that you do not want to handle a request from Miss Zeri Lucuques herself. Yes! The daughter of the man who pays our salaries and one of the potential next CEOs of Silver Strider Industries. Who also agreed to increase our department funding by one point five percent if we succeeded… So who wants to go up and tell them that we can’t do it?”
Awkward silence. The people looked at him with stunned faces.
“What? Nothing to say? You guys were pretty vocal a few seconds ago”.
Another awkward silence. Some people looked away nervously.
“S… sorry” One of the people.
Other people murmured the same.
The middle-aged man sighed.
“Okay then. Let’s go over the details… To put it simply, we have six months to get a bunch of Fluffies to sing a perfect rendition of My Way for some sort of Fluffy shelter anniversary event… That’s not too hard, right?”
Week One:
Over the course of the week, we received twenty two Fluffies at our facility, and we noted that all Fluffies shared certain similar characteristics:
- Pegasus variants
- White fur
- Blonde mane and tail
These Fluffies originated from numerous high-end Fluffy mills and farms all across the region, with immediate delivery service, highlighting the extreme importance of this job request to Miss Lucuques. As such our team is very aware that failure is not an option.
The job request in itself is challenging, but not impossible. My Way is rather slow paced in comparison to more modern songs and the lyrics should be easy enough for a Fluffy to understand. The only issues are the request to have the Fluffies sing without any trace of their Fluff speak, and whether they had enough brain capacity to memorize the song in complete detail.
Furthermore, Miss Lucuques has requested that we perform our tasks with high ethical standards. So no purposeful harming of the Fluffies both physically and psychologically. However, she has also stated that she is open to discussion if unethical actions are deemed the best solution to get desired results.
Miss Lucuques has also raised a very good suggestion: Pleasure Fluffy serums. From personal experience, she confirms that such Pleasure Fluffies display an ability to learn a broader vocabulary and have a better grasp of pronunciation. However, she has also mentioned that if we were to go this route, we would need to find a way to limit their overwhelming “adult” urges and their obscenely large genitalia, as she does not want such factors to undermine their “cuteness” and their ability to sing
To be very honest, this seems to be our most viable option and after our team went through a lengthy brainstorming session we figured that spaying the Fluffies before applying the Pleasure Fluffy serum was our best method. Fortunately, Miss Lucuques was more than agreeable with this solution. As such, by the end of the week, we managed to procure Pleasure Fluffy serum from an official vendor, as well as spay all twenty Fluffy foals.
It optimal that we spayed that at such a young age, as it will not create any lasting psychological trauma.
Unfortunately, we had two cases of inexperienced staff handling spaying, leading to the death of two Fluffy foals. Both staff have been reprimanded, but that doesn’t change the fact that we lost two foals. Luckily Miss Lucuques already predicted this and had informed us that she didn’t need all twenty two Fluffies to be able to sing. At most she just needed four, and with twenty remaining, we still had room to experiment on different methods and techniques.
With this in mind, we split up the remaining twenty into five groups of four, which each group housed in their own Safe Environment Cages (SEC), numbering from one to five, and variable conditions have been implemented to ensure a higher chance of success.
Variables applied:
- Application of serum.
- Background audio
[SEC-01] PF half serum - My Way played at 50% speed on loop.
[SEC-02] PF full serum - My Way played at 50% speed on loop.
[SEC-03] PF half serum - Alphabet song played on loop.
[SEC-04] PF full serum - Alphabet song played on loop.
[SEC-05] No serum - No background music
For SEC-01 and SEC-02, My Way has been played on loop in the hope of ingraining the song subconsciously.
For SEC-03 and SEC-04, the Alphabet song has been played on loop in the hope of helping build a solid foundation before proceeding with task requirements.
SEC-05 has been assigned the role of Control Group. No serum and no music, as we would like to see if it is possible to teach a Fluffy to sing without any external influence.
As the Fluffies are still in the newborn stage, we have not started the training program. Instead our team has ensured that all remaining 20 Fluffies are in safe and comfortable living conditions.
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Week Two:
We have begun application of PF serum to Fluffies of SEC-01 to SEC-04. No visible changes to be noted as of yet. In regards to the audio playing in SEC-01 to SEC-04, the foals have not shown any negative behavior or resistance towards the looped media, but it is still far too early to tell if the music will serve to benefit the Fluffies. We will only be able to tell once we start training.
In regards to the training program, the Fluffies are still in chirpy stage, so any teachings would be pointless. However, as the Fluffies have started opening their eyes, we have started the acclimatisation process. Certain experienced members of the team have been assigned the role of guardian, entrusted with the task of caring for the Fluffies and helping them get used to Humans faster, as well as satisfying their needs for familial affection. Meanwhile, the rest of the team had started brainstorming on possible methods to ensure project success.
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Week Three:
The twenty Fluffies have entered the “walking and talking” phase, and have all begun to demonstrate an ability to walk, as well as utter basic phrases, but as they are still only able to form basic words, teaching has still not proceeded.
In regards to the audio, still no negative behavior or resistance from the Fluffies of SEC-01 to SEC-04, as such we have kept the music playing.
Our staff are still focused in maintaining a healthy and comfortable life for the twenty Fluffies. Aside from that, we have noted a size differences between the Fluffies in relation to the PF serum applied, with the Fluffies of SEC-02 and SEC-04 being roughly an inch larger than the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03, whilst those Fluffies were roughly a cm larger than the Fluffies of SEC-05.
In regards to our primary task, our team have devised two methods that we plan to apply to our Fluffies: Repetition and Structured.
Repetition
We plan to implement this teaching plan onto the Fluffies of SEC-01, SEC-02 and SEC-05. The theory is that Fluffies need to be repeatedly instructed in order to properly learn something, so we plan to have them just keep listening to My Way at normal speed and go through the lyrics verse by verse.
The main goal is to have them learn the entire song by heart, before moving to singing without Fluff speak. We do have some reservations, but it’s worth trying.
Structured
We plan to implement this teaching plan onto the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04. The idea is to use proper, structured teaching methods, and we have received permission from Miss Lucuques, to hire a professional instructor. Technically there are individuals who have experience in teaching Fluffies how to sing, but they do not have experience in teaching a Fluffy to sing without Fluff speak, as such we have instead hired a highly accredited vocal instructor, who has plenty of experience in teaching young children how to speak properly, as well as how to sing.
He will be working with us on a monthly contract. Mondays to Fridays. 9 to 5.
Payment has been fully approved by Miss Lucuques.
We have also utilized two storage rooms to serve as classrooms. Classroom A will be used for the Fluffies under the Repetitive teaching program, while Classroom B will be used for the Fluffies under the Structured teaching program.
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Week Four:
The Fluffies have now begun to talk in proper sentences, as such we have started the learning process.
We explained to all twenty Fluffies that in order for them to be Good Fluffies, they need to sing My Way perfectly, and played the song at normal speed, so they could understand what they needed to sing. They seem to recognize the difficulty of the task, as most displayed nervous or fearful behavior, but we reassured all twenty that we would be here the whole time to guide them, and hopefully the thought of being a Good Fluffy would serve as motivation for them to see this through.
The Fluffies of SEC-01, SEC-02, and SEC-05 would become very familiar with Classroom A and the song My Way. During the start of the week, all three batches showed promise, seemingly being able to learn the entire first verse.
However, by the end of the week, they showed less promise, with the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 showing difficulty learning the second verse, and often mixing up the lyrics of both of the first and second verse, leading to constant confusion. The Fluffies of SEC-05 show even less promise, with the Fluffies first showing resistance to learning the second verse, due to the difficulty of learning the first, followed by tantrums caused by confusion between the first and second verse, and then an outright refusal to learn.
One thing to note is the difference in emotional maturity, with the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 showing greater patience than the Fluffies of SEC-05, with the most likely factor being the application of the PF serum.
Meanwhile, for the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, the instructor had not started lyric memorization and instead focused on building their foundation: Learning the alphabet, vocal training, and pronunciation exercises. He has stated that these were methods that he would usually employ to his younger students. However, he has highlighted that he is unsure whether these methods would truly work on Fluffies, due to their fast rate of growth in comparison to Humans.
Regardless, Structured seems to show more promise than repetition, so we have no complaints on our end.
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Week Five:
Repetition training is showing to be a lot less effective than we had hoped, one primary issue is the case of boredom. Understandable due to “child-like” nature of Fluffies. After an hour of song memorisation, we noticed that the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 would begin to lose focus before eventually losing all motivation, and they would require a few hours of stimulation just to regain focus, which is throwing us off.
Meanwhile the Fluffies of SEC-05 had basically given up, seeming to treat the boredom as though we are psychologically torturing them and completely refusing to learn, throwing tantrums and begging for leniency. This in turn affected the motivations of our SEC-01 and SEC-02 Fluffies, as such we have put the SEC-05 Fluffies back in their Safe Environment Cage and allowed them to play with their toys. However, we have reprimanded them slightly and labelled them as bad Fluffies.
We do wonder if that would motivate them to attempt memorizing the song again. But, one of our staff highlighted a potential issue. Having them memorize the song without fixing their Fluff speak, will most likely lead to a scenario where they might remember the song entirely in Fluff speak and having them try to sing without Fluff speak would be like having them memorize the entire song from scratch.
With that in mind, we are considering scrapping Repetition, especially as Structured is showing greater promise.
More importantly, in the case of Structured, the instructor was still focused on foundation building for the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, but has commented that these Fluffies demonstrated a faster rating of learning on par with some of his brighter young students, and has also added rhythm and tempo lessons on top of the existing. We note the Instructor making use of games to make the learning process fun and engaging. Something we may implement in our Repetition methods.
It is clear that Structured is making great progress. We have heard the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04 say certain phrases without Fluff speak, such as “lived a life” as opposed to “wived a wife”. “There” instead of “thewe”, “I stood tall” in place of “eye stew taww”. Very promising.
After a discussion, we’ve decided to continue testing both methods for one more week. If Repetition continues to be ineffective and Structured continues to show promise we will consider transferring all Fluffies under the Repetition program to the Structured program.
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Week Six:
Repetition continues to show little promise. The Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 have managed to learn the second verse, but we noted two problems:
- They only memorized the lyrics in Fluff speak.
- They can’t actually sing in line with the actual tempo of the song.
It has become quite clear that Repetition is not an effective means of learning, as we initially thought, or rather the way we taught via repetition was not properly planned out, but as we basically wasted two weeks worth of effort and have essentially started from scratch, we’ve decided to stop Repetition and transition the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 into Structured.
For the Fluffies of SEC-05, calling them Bad Fluffies last week seemed to serve as motivation, as the Fluffies had stated their desire to learn again. However, we would soon realize that this motivation was more of a mental burden.
Due to the difficulty of the task and the inabilities to make proper progress, the Fluffies of SEC-05 were seen to be suffering from an immense amount of stress. We have observed the Fluffies of SEC-05 breaking down in tears, or going hysterical, muttering “tu hawd bu nu wan be bad fwuffy” over and over again. As such we have decided to stop. We have put them back in their Safe Environment Cage, and in order to stop further stress, we have stated that they are Good Fluffies for trying their best.
This seems to have resolved the situation, and we will figure out what to do with the Fluffies of SEC-05 at a later date.
In the case of Structured, progress was going well. The instructor had completed establishment of foundations for the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, and had proceeded with lyric memorization. We note that he had approached this aspect rather differently from ourselves. Instead of going through the song repeatedly like we had done, he had highlighted how the song was broken down into verses and chorus.
By the end of the week, the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04 were already able to sing the first two lines of the first verse of My Way without any Fluff speak, which was very promising progress and more than enough evidence to support the transition of SEC-01 and SEC-02.
One minor thing we noticed was that the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04 showed the same rate of learning, which was interesting as it highlighted that though different amounts of the PF serum had been applied, changes would only be from a physical level, with the Fluffies of SEC-03 still smaller than those of SEC-04. We will continue observing for any further changes.
Regarding the transition, the instructor has highlighted that the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 would be have to start from foundation building, so he would not be able to teach them alongside the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, and would need to divide his time, teaching SEC-01 and SEC-02 separately from SEC-03 and SEC-04.
We had a discussion about this, and figured that this was the best way to proceed:
The instructor would focus on the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02. They would start with foundation building and learning core principles, the same way SEC-03 and SEC-04 did during their first two weeks of Structured.
The Fluffies of SEC-05 would join, as a test as well, though we have low expectations of them at this point.
Meanwhile, our team would focus on the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04. The instructor designed numerous lyric memorization drills for the Fluffies to go through, and had provided us with thorough guidelines on how to teach them the verses and chorus of the song properly.
We will see how this goes for a week before deciding if any alterations are needed.
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Week Seven:
The Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 have been taking to the new program well. They’ve been responding positively to the instructor and the new teaching program, with the Fluffies displaying eagerness towards the new lessons.
The Fluffies of SEC-05 initially showed the same level of eagerness, happy to start the new lessons, but near the middle of the week their lower levels of emotional maturity began to show, with the lessons lacking enough stimulation for these Fluffies, though the lessons were similar to playing games.
By the end of the week, we received a complaint from the instructor regarding disruptive behavior from the Fluffies of SEC-05. Constant complaints about boredom and a need to play with toys. Such behaviour was also having a negative effect on the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02, as such we had the Fluffies of SEC-05 moved back to their cages, while we figured out what to do with them later.
For the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, the drills were going well. The instructor had given our team detailed instructions on how to go through the lyrics with the Fluffies and good progress had been made, with the Fluffies able to sing the entire first verse without Fluffy speak.
We feel very optimistic that we can complete Miss Lucuques’ request before the deadline.
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Week Eight:
The Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-02 continue to make good progress with the instructor. We have noted that they are doing well with foundation building and core principle training, as well as noticed their ability to say certain words without Fluff speak, such as “live”, “knew”, and “laughed”. A welcome improvement from past weeks.
However, the instructor has made mention of strange behavior from the Fluffies of SEC-02. Odd pauses mid-sentence and cases of these Fluffies staring out into spaces every now and then. Nothing alarming as of yet, but a matter that definitely required continued observation.
As for the Fluffies of SEC-03 and SEC-04, they’ve continued to make good progress with lyric memorization, and we’ve made a start with learning verse two.
However, similar to the Fluffies of SEC-02, we had also observed similar behavior from the Fluffies of SEC-04. Odd pauses mid-sentence, staring out into spaces, strange mutterings. A common correlation was that all eight Fluffies had full PF serum applied.
Like the Fluffies of SEC-02, the matter is not yet of great concern, but will need careful continued observation.
Regarding the Fluffies of SEC-05, we tried to resume lessons again, but all four have outright refused our request. Throwing tantrums if we try to pull them away from their toys. It is a pointless endeavour to try and get them to complete the required task, as such we have left them to their own devices within the Safe Environment Cage.
We aren’t exactly sure what to do with them, so we sent an enquiry to Miss Lucuques.
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Week Nine:
During the start of the week, the Fluffies of SEC-02 and SEC-04 had displayed startling behavior.
Violent mood swings, sudden spasms, vomiting and outcries of pain. We needed to sedate SEC-02-01 and SEC-04-03 when they suddenly went berserk, attempting to harm the other Fluffies. Fortunately we were quick enough to intervene before any others got hurt.
For their own safety and the safety of the others, we’ve kept ALL the Fluffies of SEC-02 and SEC-04 in separate padded Isolation boxes.
We are not entirely sure why this is happening, but we highly suspect that it has something to do with the PF serum and the Fluffies being spayed. Some sort of cellular imbalance is our main theory.
As for the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03, they were still behaving perfectly fine, only slightly shaken from the sudden actions of their fellow Fluffies. We allowed them some time to rest and calm down, and by the middle of the week, they were more than happy to resume with lessons.
The Fluffies of SEC-01 had completed foundation building and core training, and the instructor had started with lyric memorization.
As for the Fluffies of SEC-03, lyric memorization drills had continued with these Fluffies already able to go through the second verse.
We aren’t fully sure why the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 are acting fine, but we suspect that it may have to do with the fact that only half of the PF serum was applied. Needless to say, this development has certainly lowered our optimism about the success of completing Miss Lucuques’ request, and we may need to consider back up alternatives.
Regarding the Fluffies of SEC-02 and SEC-04, we are currently monitoring their status, but we are unoptimistic about recovery. We believe that this issue will worsen over time. However, we’ve taken blood samples in the hope that we can find a solution to this issue, especially as we are uncertain whether SEC-01 and SEC-03 will suffer from the same illness.
Miss Lucuques has already been well informed about this, and has told us to keep her fully updated. She will arrange for replacements if deemed necessary.
Regarding the Fluffies of SEC-05, we’ve decided to keep them as a back up plan. We are currently exploring other methods to complete Miss Lucuques’ request, without the use of the PF serum.
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Week Ten:
There have been significant amendments to our job request.
We are not sure what happened, but Miss Lucuques has asked if we could complete the job request within three weeks. However, Miss Lucuques has also stated that she understands if our team cannot do it, and has agreed to a one percent fund increase regardless, with permission to end the project prematurely if we were certain that it could not be done.
Naturally our team had their reservations about being able to complete the task, but after a long discussion, we decided that we could at least try to do it. Miss Lucuques had certainly provided adequate motivation, agreeing to a two percent fund rise if we were to complete the job successfully.
It does help that we are certain that the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 would not end up suffering the same fate similar to that of the Fluffies of SEC-02 and SEC-04. The blood samples would reveal that the bodies of the PF full serum Fluffies were disintegrating on a cellular level. It seemed that their bodies were rejecting the chemical compound, due to being spayed, and trying to purge it out of the body. But in doing so, would destroy the cells. A case of the body killing itself in an attempt to fix itself.
We did not have a cure for this, and we estimated that they had a week to live at most. As such, we euthanised them to prevent further suffering.
As for PF half serum Fluffies, it would seem that applying only half the serum had allowed for their bodies to adapt to the chemical compound. All of the benefits and none of the demerits.
In regard to Miss Lucuques’ task, it meant that we still had a chance of completion. The foundation had already been established for the Fluffies of both SEC-01 and SEC-03, and all we needed to do was lyric memorization. The key issue was keeping these Fluffies focused on learning. Given the significantly shorter time frame, radical measures needed to be taken, to ensure that the distractions were kept to a minimum.
The main problem was that the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 could not fully focus on learning to sing, as they required stimulation from time to time. Playing with toys was a big one with our four hour sessions requiring at least two forty minute breaks for the Fluffies to play with toys, and taking away the toys would lead to a loss in motivation.
So we needed to figure out a way for them to lose interest in playing with their toys. Unfortunately, we only managed to come up with one rather controversial method.
The Mother Napolitano procedure was a controversial method applied by some Fluffy farms to counter a Fluffy mare’s fear of dark colored foals. Rubbing alcohol was applied to the eyes to render the mare partially blind, more importantly, it took away her ability to see color. This same method was employed to test for something known as the Color Stimulation theory.
The idea was that color was a core part of a Fluffy’s psyche. A fascination with bright colors. A repulsion for darker ones. Of course it was not the same for every Fluffy, but the main point was that color played a crucial element in a Fluffy’s everyday life. So what if you took away the color? Dull grey blocks and balls. An environment of just white and black. Take away the colors, and what would happen. The Color Stimulation theory sought to test this.
The result were that the Fluffies would focus on their other senses. Hearing, smell and touch. The Fluffies of this experiment were said to be extremely docile and very receptive to commands. No longer able to find stimulation through colors, they focused on other means, such as singing.
We did try to do this without the Mother Napolitano procedure. Replaced their toys with white blocks and balls. Took away anything with bright colors. The only problem was that they would focus on whatever color were left. Their blonde manes and tails. Red and blonde hair from our team. Our eyes. Maybe if we had more time, we could have done this more ethically, but unfortunately desperate times called for desperate measures, and Miss Lucuques has given us permission to proceed.
We applied anesthetic to avoid complications, then moved forward with the procedure. It was rather straightforward. Cotton swabs doused in rubbing alcohol. A single dab to each eye.
The Fluffies naturally complained of “burnie hurties” and in order to help them adjust, we let them rest for a day, with all our staff fully attentive to any of their needs. It did help that some of our staff felt guilty about the procedure, showing full attention to make sure that the eight were comfortable and cared for. We proceeded with classes the next day.
The results were better than we hoped for. No longer able to find stimulation from color, the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 had grown bored of playing with their toys and had instead seemed to find a new source of stimulation from singing.
We noted that they were much more responsive to the Instructor’s teachings and seemed to memorize the lyrics much faster. By the end of the week, the Fluffies of SEC-01 were surprisingly able to memorize the first two verses of My Way, whilst the Fluffies of SEC-03 had already managed to memorize the first two verses, as well as the first chorus. All of this entirely without Fluffy speak.
We had also observed all eight Fluffies singing My Way during off hours. No Fluff speak at all, with perfect pitch. We can only hope that they would have enough time to memorize the entire song.
Regarding the Fluffies of SEC-05, under Miss Lucuques’ orders, we were instructed to keep them comfortable in their Safe Environment Cage while she tried to figure out what to do with them.
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Week Eleven:
Due to increasing time pressure, we’ve ramped up the lessons. The Fluffies of both SEC-01 and SEC-03 were taught at the same time, as they were all roughly on the same level of progress at this point.
Miss Lucuques had also offered monetary motivation to the Instructor, stating that if the Fluffies were able to sing the entire song without any Fluff speak, then she would agree to pay for the extra three months salary that he would have earned under the original deadline. Needless to say, there’s a lot riding on this job.
Fortunately, the Mother Napolitano procedure continues to remain effective, with the Fluffies seeming to find satisfaction in memorizing the song without Fluffy speak, and had even taken to supporting one another in this learning process.
In terms of progress. By the end of the week, the Fluffies of SEC-01 had managed to learn the first three verses and the first chorus and the Fluffies of SEC-03 were already memorizing the second chorus.
If they maintain this rate, we are highly optimistic that we can meet the deadline.
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Week Twelve:
We actually managed to do it. Or rather the Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 had done it. The entire song. My Way by F. Sinatra, sung entirety without Fluff speak. We held a demonstration for Miss Lucuques and she was very impressed.
She has already made arrangements. The Fluffies of SEC-01 and SEC-03 were to be transported to a church. We weren’t given the specifics. Perhaps a wedding.
The details don’t matter. What’s important was that we had succeeded on the job request, and Miss Lucuques has already processed our two percent fund increase, as well as the three month bonus for the Instructor.
She has told me to hold a party for the whole team and bill her the expenses.
I just hope that the Fluffies perform well under an audience.
I’m sorry if the story feels rough. It’s hard to write when my heart’s not fully into it, but Part 2 my heart is definitely put into it, so look forward to it. I’ll try to get it released asap
