[This is a direct continuation of Eren’s Story, Part 1 following Eren and of Eren’s Story, Part 3 following mostly Jasper (red unicorn colt)]
With a tearful glance and warm smile, Julie grabs a clipboard with a form attached as he approaches Eren, trying to calm herself. “I’m thankful for the sentiment but you’ve never owned a fluffy, they are quite a handful in the best of circumstances. Jumping in with five, with at least one of which will need special assistance, seems overly ambitious. The time and resources alone…Are you sure you want to do this?”
Pausing in silence for a moment before exhaling a deep breath he had been holding, Eren responds, “I’m not so worried about the time or resources, I have enough to go around. Is it daunting, of course, but this may be just what I need in my life at the moment.”
Handing the clipboard over to Eren, “Well, fill this out and just leave any parts directly relating to the fluffy blank for now. I’ll make some copies once you are done to save you a bit of time before we fill that out.”
Heading back to the doorway, Julie quickly says, “Oh, and think of some names if you’d like, but it isn’t required.”
After taking a couple minutes to fill out the form, Eren sets it aside. During which, Julie leads the man from up front to a separate room where the smarties are kept. As he passes by, Mitchell gives Eren the stink eye and mutters, “Selfish bastard.”
Choosing to ignore the man, Eren turns his attention back to the three young colts who had finally begun to wear themselves out, though this did nothing to diminish the excited looks on their faces.
The red colt approaches, his excitement tempered as he speaks, “Nice mistah. Wiww be nyu daddeh, wight?” Eren quickly gave a nod before the colt continued, “Fwuffy an bwuthah hab heart happies but nu knu if nyu daddeh gud hoomin like Ms. Julie or munstah hoomin wike gib mommah Candy and daddeh Huwwicane and bwuthahs and sissies wowstest huwties an fowevew sweepies.”
Trying to give a reassuring smile as he reaches to give scratches behind the colt’s ears, “Well, I like to think I’m going to be a good daddy to you fluffies. I can promise you that if you are all good fluffies I will never give you…worstest hurties or forever sleepies.”
As apprehensive as the young colt had been he found himself leaning into Eren’s warm touch. This alone brought the other two in for a turn themselves. During the inaction, Eren used this time to give them all a once over, pondering a name for each of them.
The fluffies eyes light up as Eren asks, “So who is ready for a name?”
As assertive as before, the red colt shoves his way to the front again and says, “Fwuffy fiwst! Am bestest and desewb bestest namsie.”
Eren, having read a few things about this kind of behavior he picked the other two colts and slightly turned his back to the red colt while still being able to see him. “Well now, only good fluffies get to go first. Anyone claiming to be bestest is obviously not a good fluffy.”
The red colt, looking in shock, quickly regained his composure and shouted, “Nu! Bestest babbeh gets namsie nao!”
Playing on a hunch, Eren addresses the colt, “Well, I hear bestest babies are smarties. I know that other man that walked through wanted some fluffies and was sad that I wanted to be a daddy to you all. He went to go get some smarties instead, should I tell him you want him to be your new daddy?”
Before the young colt could even answer, Eren whispers down, “Ms. Julie told me he was a monster daddy.”
The two colts being held gasped as the red colt lets out a small scaredy fart as he looks up with sadness in his eyes, thinking back to how smarties were treated by humans and the smell of burnt fluff, “Nu! Fwuffy nu am smawtie, am gud fwuffy.” letting out a small resignation “Fwuffy wiww be gud an wait, but bettah get bestest namsie.”
Ignoring that last comment, Eren looks down at the blue pegasus in his arms, “Well now, you seem high spirited and full of energy, and you said your fluffy daddy’s name was Hurricane…” The blue colt nods before giving a sullen look, “Miss daddeh, su many heart huwties. Babbeh wuv daddeh su much.”
“…Well, how about we homage to him and call you Breeze.” says Eren as he offers a soft smile.
Breeze pauses a moment, looking confused. “Whud am homage?” Eren interjects, “Well, it means we will give you a name similar to his so you can always remember him.”
Looking overjoyed, Breeze gasps happily “Bweezy wikes dat nyu daddeh. Bweezy wuvs namsie! Bwuthah Bweezy has namsie!” The red colt sits back on his haunches with his front legs crossed over his chest, trying to ignore his brother.
Eren shifts his attention over to the grey colt who is eagerly looking back, “And you, you seem big and strong, like a rock. So Rocky, no, Granite, maybe, Slate, hmmm….Slater. I’ll call you Slater.”
Wiggling excitedly, Slater says “Fank yu nyu daddeh! Swateh am gud namsie for tuffie. Wuv namsie.”
Thinking to himself, “Toughie, huh?” as he places the two colts back into the enclosure before reaching for the red colt. Instinctively, the young colt makes an upsies pose in contradiction to his demeanor. Confused, it says “Whad? Why am upsies?”
Walking away from Slater and Breeze, Eren carries the red colt off to the side, speaking quietly but warmly. “Let’s have a little talk away from the others. I’m guessing your mama and daddy loved you a whole lot, didn’t she?” giving the colt another round of scratches behind his ear.
Nodding confidently “Mammah say am bestest and smartest babbeh, be bestest for mammah. Dummeh daddeh say aww babbehs am gud babbehs, nu bestest. Daddeh am wrong! Mama knu whud am tru.”
Eren responds “So partially right. Did your mama ever tell you what happens to bestest babies when they grow up? They become smarties. And do you know what happens to smarties?”
Nodding again, “Dey wead heads.”
Dropping his smile a moment,”No, well sometimes for a little bit. Lots of smarties think they are smarter than they are, but really they are just bullies. They do mean things to get what they want. Most smarties don’t live very long and those that do end up there.” Eren looks over to the room the other man went into.
Looking at the colt as he deflates a bit, Eren speaks before it can interject, “I promise that if you are a good fluffy I will make sure you are happy, warm, well-fed and loved.” pausing a moment to let it sink in “But, if you are a bad fluffy and think you can get away with being a bully then I can promise you that you will be sad, cold, hungry and alone.”
Surprisingly, the red colt doesn’t immediately respond, leaving Eren unsure how to feel. After a minute to colt replies, “Fwuffy am gud fwuffy, desewbe warm housie, nummies and wuv.”
Warily, Eren says, “Well see, but for now, I’m going to call you Jasper.”
Beaming up a moment, “Jaspeh has bestest namsie. Wuv namsie su much.” Turning to his brother, Jasper blows a raspberry at Breeze. “Betteh dan dummeh namsie.”
Eren quickly and firmly flicks Jasper on the end of his nose, “No, that is what I’m talking about. There won’t be any of that.” before placing him down next to the other two colts.
“Owwies!” Jasper gingerly rubs his snout with the side of his hoof as he eyes slightly water. “Fwuffy am sowwy. Nu huwt Jasper nyu daddeh.” Plopping down heavily on its rear.
The blue pegasus comes over and wraps Jasper in a hug. “It am otay. Bweezy wuvs Jaspeh nyu namsie. Gib huggies tu maek huwties gu away.”
Letting out a small huff, Jasper says “Sowwy, fwuffy nu mean bwutheh’s namsie am dummeh. Bweeze am gud namsie.”
Giving Slather a gentle rub on his neck, Eren says to Jasper approvingly “Better.”
“We will be leaving in a little bit, I need to talk more to Julie so I can take you home. Make sure to go make good poopies before I get back.”
The three colts all look up and say “Otay nyu daddeh.” as Eren begins to walk back over to the cage with the two other fluffies, while he still can overheard the three talking about their new names.
The green filly moves to sit up from snuggling against the blue colt once she notices Eren approach. “Hewwo again nice mistah.”
Leaning down to be at eye level, Eren attempts a friendly smile, “Hey there little one, you keeping good care of your friend?”
Giving a shy, slight nod, “Yes, gib wots of huggies an snuggies tu hewp huwties gu away. Fwuffy am hab bad sweepie-pictuwes an heart huwties. Su saddies.”
“I can see, hopefully he will feel better when he wakes up.” Eren says as he looks the blue colt over. “I don’t know if you heard, but I want to take you home and be your new daddy.”
A flicker of happiness shows on the filly’s face before suddenly flinching and then shifting to sadeness. “Fank yu nice mistah, but nu knu. Last mommah gib wots of huwties. Twash wuv mommah but mommah woud come home su maddies. Twash twy tu gib huggies tu mommah anyways.”
Trash sniffles as she speaks, wincing each time she says her own name, “Dat when mommah gib wowstest huwties and wowstest heart-huwties. Mommah taek away pointies an wingies and gib dummeh weggies. Mommah even gib nyu nu-pwetty namsie. Mommah thwow Twash away outta housie, yewwing weawwy woud. Twash hab nu mowe wingies tu fwy and wand in da twashies.”
Using a finger to wipe away a ear from the little filly’s cheek, “I’m so sorry that happened to you. I can’t give you back anything your old mama took away, but I can make sure she can never hurt you again.”
Still with a sadness in her eyes, “Dat am weawwy gud nice mistah but stiww nu wan gu. Nu wan tu weave fwiend. Was su stwong and su bwave. Hewped Twash nu gu fowevew sweepies.”
Trash is suddenly brought out of her words by Eren’s abrupt chuckle, giving him a confused look. “That’s ok, you will be happy to know I want to be his daddy too. He gets to come home too.”
“Weawwy?!” The forest green fluffy says, louder than she had meant to. She begins bouncing and scooting closer to Eren using her front legs, not stopping even as the pain of moving on her freshly bandaged wounds is evident.
Quickly grabbing a hold to stop the filly from continuing, Eren lifts her up as he latches on with the tightest hug she could muster. “Fank yu fank yu fank yu! Hab su many heart happies.” Tears streaking down her face as she tightly holds her eyes shut. “Twash pwomise tu neveh ask nyu daddeh fu nothin.”
Eren thinks to himself, “Doubtful, but I definitely see some of the appeal of these little creatures.”
Patting Trash on the head gently, “It is ok to ask for something you need just as long as you respect what daddy decides.”
Trash shuffles and wiggles nervously, “Nyu daddeh? Twash nu wike nu-pwetty namsie, can pwease hab nyu namsie?”
Stroking the filly’s mane, giving her a reassuring smile, Eren says, “Of course and thank you for asking so politely.”
Holding forest green filly with the jet-black mane at arms length, Eren quietly examines the ivory dappling along her rear and back before bringing her back in close. “Such a beautiful little filly should have an equally pretty name. One of my favorite flowers are lilies, how about I can you Lillian.”
Tears start to glisten Lillian’s eyes again. “Daddeh, dat am such pwetty namsie. Wiwwian wuv su su much. Fank yu.”
As Lillian nuzzled and cooed in Eren’s arms the powder blue colt made a small series of peeps and chirps as his crying in his sleep got louder. Lillian calmly glances back over. “Daddeh, can Lillian gu back to bwave fwuffy? Am needing mowe huggies.”
Carefully placing the filly back down next to the light blue colt, Eren turns around to see a smiling Julie leaning in the doorway. “You really are sweet with them, don’t let that be your downfall.” letting out a light, soft chuckle.
Julie picks up the clipboard as she makes her way up front. “Give me about five minutes.”
Eren offers a swift, faint nod as he thinks to himself. “Looks like I’ll need a few more supplies from Fluff-Mart.” as he reaches into his pocket and notices the scrap of paper.
Quickly, he pulls it out with his phone and types up a text message to Grace.
Hey, this is Eren, I decided to adopt from the shelter just down the road. Mind helping me by gathering up a few extra items so I can just run in and pay?
Glad to hear you found one you like and sure, what things can I get for you?
Eren composes a list of anything he might need as he moves to meet Julie up front. Stopping in his tracks, he peers back at the trio, focusing on Jasper, thinking for a moment, “Should I bring up the smartie signs Jasper is showing? Nah, maybe he isn’t too far gone because if I say something I know he will either end up in the incinerator or with that guy Mitchell.”
Julie notices Eren in the doorway, “Almost done, did you decide on any names besides Lillian?”
Snapping out of his haze, Eren replies, “Yes, the red unicorn is Jasper, the pegasus is Breeze, and the grey one is Slater.”
Julie makes a note to each page as Eren speaks before looking up, “What about the light blue earthie?”
“I don’t know what his personality really is yet or if he already has a name. Where was he found at?” he asked curiously.
Julie looked through her intake notes, “The woman that found them said he scooped them up several blocks away. Across from that new smoothie shop, in the alley next to that new gym…Buck’s Muscle Hut.” snickering at the name.
Letting out a laugh of his own, “Well then, let’s just go for Bucky for the time being.”
Twenty minutes later, Eren had the three colts in the carrier he had purchased during his first trip to Fluff-Mart. He had enough sense to already have his minivan started at Julie suggestion, apparently most fluffies were afraid of cars. He did what he could to alleviate any fears of being put into it. The other two were much easier, Lillian had ridden in vehicles before and Bucky was still out cold, though Eren noticed he was sleeping more soundly now as he placed the open topped box in the front seat.
Julie offering Eren a few final words, “Thank you again for saving this lot, you’re a saint. Oh, and you might want to keep Bucky and Lillian in a pen together separate from the others until they have a couple days to finish healing up.”
Offering a thankful grin in return, “Thank you for being so helpful. I’ll try my best with this bunch.” as he pulls out heading back to Fluff-Mart to grab the additional items.
Focusing on the road as he thinks “I hope I’m doing the right thing. It feels right at least. I really hope I can get through to Jasper, if not, I guess I could always try to abuse side of fluffy ownership. It seems fairly popular and my therapist even suggested it.”
Silently shaking the thought from his head, Eren face showing his distaste, “No. That’s not really me….is it? Hopefully it won’t come to that. I really hope I’m not in over my head here.”
As the three colts in the carrier ride in the back seat they all ramble about how excited they were, settling down from their previous fear of being in the car. Eren tuned out their words as he was deep in thought, not hearing their words…their new housie, their new toysies, their sketti, their huggie-friend enfie-mare, their no-lumps litter-pal, fluffpiles, special friends, babies, a saferoom, and FluffyTV.
Finishing his thoughts as he pulls up to the front of Fluff-Mart, “Oh well…What do I have to lose?”