Chapter IV: Home
Previous Chapter: Chapter III
Mark walked into the local FluffMart for the first time. He’d seen new ones being advertised on TV lately, stuff like ‘Grand Opening! Fluffies love FluffMart! FluffCo branded items always in stock!*’
FluffCo branding not guaranteed, FluffMart not responsible for any death or dismemberment from products sold at FluffMart
He sighed, but they had all sorts of shit for fluffies. In fact, it was nearly the only store which did, which really helped their popularity for fluffy owners. The inside of the place was incredibly tacky, bright colours, cartoon fluffies smiling on the walls. He even saw people walking fluffies around in the store, on leashes with harnesses. A couple he noticed dribbling shit from time to time on the floor. Employees scurried to clean up after them. ‘Fuck, not again’ he heard one of them utter. Some people even used small strollers, pushing their fluffies around like babies.
This place is fucking surreal.
Mark could hardly believe all this was borne out of the HasBio PETA incident. Sure, he heard the stories, but somehow despite the terribly bad state of fluffy development at the time of their ill advised release, people still bought them in droves. Nearly half of all the purchases might have been by abusers, but FluffMart and HasBio were making bank from all the products and marketing for the creatures. As long as there was money to be made, the corporate execs didn’t care one iota about the feral epidemic. At least Fenrir was getting off the streets.
Each aisle had different products—there was food, feeding items like bowls and treats, litter boxes, pads, beds and blankets, not to mention a whole toy section. He even found specialised sections—toys for pillowfluffs, enfie time toys… enfie toys? Wait, what’s an enfie toy? He took a look at the tag. ‘This product intended for stallions and colts expressing a desire for sex “special huggies”. For mares please try out our special huggie friend and good feels items.’ Seriously?
Well, maybe they could be useful. At any rate, Fenrir was still relatively young, it’s something Mark figured he could check into later.
For now, he looked for all the things which he thought he’d need. Then he saw the creatively named ‘Sorry’ aisle. This aisle had ‘sorry sticks’, ‘sorry whips’, muzzles, straps, ‘sorry boxes’, etc. Wow, they really lean on the ‘sorry’ preface, he thought. Supposedly FluffMart wouldn’t sell anything too extreme, but some seemed to really push the limit. He saw a product called ‘Simple Special Lump Snipper’. ‘Jesus Christ’ Mark actually said aloud.
‘Poopie Place Plug—For Ages 2 Weeks+’
Is your fluffy making bad poopies, even with litterbox training? This simple plug will remind your fluffy what happens with bad poopies—taking their poopie place away for tummy hurties!
These descriptions are really over the top. Next was the ‘Litter Pal Punishment Simulation Playbox’ …Okay, this is getting crazy. Time to leave this aisle.
He had what he came for, and that certainly was not on the list. After picking up some items for a safe room for Fenrir, he thought he’d browse around a little longer.
It was then he noticed a sign along one of the side walls, indicating they had fluffies for sale. Ah, they have an adoption centre. Let’s see what all they have.
Making his way along the wall with all the glass pens, he saw various fluffies in varying states. They had all types—earthies, unicorns, pegasi, even alicorns. Some of them started calling out to Mark as he walked past. ‘Nice mistah, pweese take fwuffy, am dancie fwuffy fow nice mistah!’ a green unicorn colt exclaimed, dancing to try to get Mark’s attention.
‘Sorry, buddy. I already have a fluffy’ Mark replied. ‘OU!’ Mark heard a voice coming from a bit further down. He walked over to see an orange colt in a section marked Smarties—Discounted Price, Free Neutering Available.
'Yah dummeh hoomin, am tawk 'ou. Wissen tu smawtie. ‘ou wet smawtie fwuffy out nao ow gib sowwie hoofsies an poopies!’ the colt continued.
‘Uh, I don’t think so’ Mark replied. ‘Stoopeh hoomin, wet smawtie out NAO!’ the colt began to stomp his hooves in protest. Then Mark noticed a sign near the Smarty section advertisement board.
If smarties act out, each pen is equipped with a water spray bottle. The water is scented with sulphur to ensure fluffies react appropriately to the awful smell. Please feel free to spray to punish bad behaviour.
Mark pressed the button and a nozzle sprayed the colt with water for a few seconds.
‘SCREEEEEEEE BAD WAWA! Huuuu wai bad wawa huwt smawtie? Wawa smeww vewwy poopie. Nu smeww pwetty… huuuu’ the colt cried out. Mark chuckled. It was the best thing he saw all day.
He pressed the button again. 'EEEEEEE!’
Mark found it hilarious that they included this feature. It’d probably also cater to abusers looking to purchase a smarty, meaning more sales as your average person would be turned off by a smarty’s bad behaviour. Honestly, that’s one reason he found it surprising he even adopted a fluffy. Had he not found Fenrir and felt that empathy, he likely would not have had one at all.
These things were rolling around in Mark’s head as he was heading towards the checkout when he saw the Second Chance Pillowfluff Rescue section. Damn, they looked pitiful. One of them spoke up, but it wasn’t what Mark expected. ‘Nice mistah…’ the fluffy started. Mark checked the information tag on the fluffy’s pen.
Name: Beanie
Sex: Male, Pegasus
Age: ~2 years, Full Pillow
Background: Suspected abuser household / found next to a trash pile / missing wings and left eye
Yikes… ‘What is it, your name is Beanie?’ Mark started.
‘Yesh, am Beanie. Can nice fwuffy pweese go wid mistah? Nu wan much’ the fluffy said, with hardly any inflection. He was speaking in a sad monotone.
‘I’m sorry, boy, I just adopted another fluffy. I’m not sure I can handle two right now, I’m sure a nice person will take you though.’ Mark felt really awkward, but he had to do right by Fenrir and give him enough attention, especially right now.
‘Beanie un’stan mistah, buh weewy nu wan much, jus’ wan mistah gib Beanie foweba sweepies. Wan die.’
The fluffy said this with no emotion, not even sadness, as though he had completely given up.
What the fuck?
Mark was really saddened by that. But there was just no way, right? He can’t do that. He didn’t even have the heart when his childhood dog died to be there when he was put down, in tremendous pain from cancer.
‘I’m so sorry, Beanie. I…’ Mark couldn’t find the words. He just walked away, the fluffy staring blankly into space.
As Mark was putting his things on the counter, the woman at the register smiled and asked him ‘Hello sir, did you find everything you were looking for?’ He felt incredibly shitty after seeing that miserable pillowfluff.
‘Well, I did get what I came for, but this place is a lot to take in. I’ve never been here before. I saw the pillowfluff section just now. One of them was incredibly depressed.’ he replied.
'Yeah, we get that a lot for first time shoppers. It’s best not to think about it. Sometimes when they get to that state, there’s nothing you can do. But don’t be too down on yourself, I know a girl who comes in every week and takes the ones who ‘wan die’. She takes them home and gives them laced sketties and holds them as they fall asleep.’
Mark took a moment to process. It was incredibly depressing, but also somewhat relieving. Maybe he wasn’t strong enough, but someone was. Still, he hoped that maybe somewhere out there someone would see one like Beanie and could save him for real.
‘I take it you just got a fluffy?’ the clerk asked, noticing him spacing out for a moment.
‘I did, I adopted a feral who lost his family. I came in here just looking to get some supplies to set up a space for him but then I saw everything else in here and it’s a lot different than I imagined.’
She could tell Mark was uneasy, so she offered some advice. ‘Look, I can see you’re overwhelmed, but don’t worry. Most of the time people don’t know what they’re getting into, and some of them react in bad ways. Sometimes they want to hurt every fluffy they see, sometimes they want to try to save them all. It’s never healthy to be purely one thing or another, you’ve got to take it in moderation. And from the looks of it, you’re well balanced. I’m sure you and your new fluffy will get along great.’ She smiled.
‘That’ll be 107.54.’
Oh, right. This is a business. Mark got out his wallet, hoping he was making the right choice.
Fenrir woke from his sleep, he didn’t know how long he had been asleep. He also couldn’t tell if it was the dark time or the bright time from inside the recovery room. The room had no windows, just dim bright things. Slowly adjusting his vision, he turned his head to look around and saw not his new daddy, but the other nice mister sitting at the corner desk looking at a bright blocky thing.
‘Nice mistah, am daddeh hewe? Fenwiwr am wakies an miss daddeh.’
The sudden talking got Tenzin’s attention, and he turned to face Fenrir, putting down his phone. ‘Ah you’re awake’ he returned. ‘Sorry, man. Your daddy isn’t here yet, but maybe in a little while. Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten since you’ve been here.’
It was true, Fenrir realised his tummy was somewhat hungry. ‘Yus, Fenwiwr am wittew hungie. Fenwiwr can hab nummies?’
‘Of course’ Tenzin replied. ‘But you’ll have to eat in the room with some other fluffies, will that be okay? Can you do that?’
Fenrir felt a little scared. Other than his mother, he had never met another fluffy who wasn’t a baby, wasn’t one of his siblings. He balled up tightly and shook, remembering the bad monster, his siblings all gone. ‘Am scawed mistah. Am fwuffies be gud? Nu huwt Fenwiwr?’
‘Dude’ Tenzin sighed. ‘Don’t worry. I can’t say that they’re all super nice, but nothing’s going to happen to you. I’ll be there. If they do anything they’ll get put in a timeout.’
Fenrir relented, he was hungry. He walked towards the edge of the cubby and sat on his hind legs, holding his front legs in the huggies pose. Tenzin walked over and lifted him out, taking him to the feeding room which was there for visits longer than simple check-ups. Some fluffies had to stay for surgeries, or were there for treatment which couldn’t be handled by an outpatient visit.
Tenzin opened the door and Fenrir looked around with wonder. There were quite a few fluffies in there! There were mummahs with babbehs—chirpie babbehs, talkie babbehs, quite a few of them. Other fluffies were running around and playing with balls. ‘Hee hee, wuv baww! Wun suuu fast!’ one of the fluffies said, chasing it across the room. A couple of mummahs were nursing their babies, singing the ‘Mummah’ song to them. ‘Mummah wuv babbehs, babbehs wuv mummah, babbeh dwink miwkies fo’ gwow up big an stwong~’ he heard one of them, as she cuddled all her foals, suckling them. Then Fenrir saw bowls full of… nummies? It was different that any nummies he had seen before. But the other fluffies seemed to really like it. ‘Mmm dis su gud nummies, sowft and taste pwetty!’ one of them exclaimed.
The FluffCare centre tried to feed them healthy, high quality wet food while they were being treated there. Included were vitamins and other nutrients that might help speed recovery and fulfil some of the dietary requirements staff were sure some owners would neglect to manage for their fluffies. Tenzin sat Fenrir down facing the other fluffies and got their attention. ‘Listen up, fluffies.’
They turned and gasped, and Fenrir heard random ‘Who dat? Nyu fwen?’ as the fluffies looked at him. ‘This is Fenrir, he’s a bit sad right now, and he’s going to be your new friend for today. Be nice to him, and make sure he eats and gets to play with you guys’ he continued.
‘Hewwo Fenwiwr’ one of the fluffies said, smiling at Fenrir. ‘Am Jewwew, be Jewwew nyu fwen? Pway baww? Hab nummies.’ She giggled at him, clearly very excited. Fenrir didn’t really know what to make of it, but he gave it a shot.
‘Hewwo Jewwew, am stiww sweepies, buh mabbeh pway affa nummies?’ Fenrir asked, giving her an unsure look. ‘Otay fwen!’ Jewel replied, running back to her ball.
Fenrir started walking slowly to one of the bowls to taste the food when a mare came up from behind him and picked him up by the scruff. He was really surprised, and it made him give a tiny bit of scared poopies.
‘Eep!’ he peeped out. The mare placed him on her stomach and began licking his poopie place. ‘Siwwew babbeh’ she said. ‘Mummah wiww gib wickie cweanies. Nu weddy fo big fwuffy nummies yet.’ He didn’t know what she was talking about.
‘Wah, wah am fwuffy doin? Nu…nu am widdew babbeh. Am Fenwiwr.’ She began to coo at Fenrir, grabbing him and placing him by her teat, trying to force him to drink.
'Nuu, nuu mawe fwuffy, nu am widdew babbeh, am Fenwiwr! Nu know ‘ou, jus wan boww nummies, nu wan miwkies!’ Fenrir began to shout out louder. Tenzin hadn’t left yet, as he was checking on a couple of the fluffies with bandages and this grabbed his attention.
Oh, shit, here she goes again.
Delilah, an older mare, had been brought in for dialysis, a weekly event. She wasn’t expected to last much longer, maybe a couple of months left. She had some dementia beginning to set in, and she believed any small fluffy that came into her view was one of her foals, as though she were still a new mother from years ago. This time it seems Fenrir had been the one to meet her gaze.
‘Delilah, we talked about this. He’s not your baby’ Tenzin huffed at her as he grabbed Fenrir out of her grasp, placing by one of the feeding bowls. ‘He’s not a baby at all, and he needs to eat proper food. You don’t have babies, remember?’
‘Nuuuu… wai take babbeh, am onwy widdew babbeh, Dewiwah nee’ babbehs, babbehs nee’ mummah. Gib widdew babbeh backsies, pweese nice mistah…’ she cried at Tenzin.
Instead of talking back to her, he grabbed one of the stuffed foal toys used to distract mares when they needed to do special procedures that couldn’t be done with anaesthesia. The mares would instinctively try to ‘help’ the baby by wanting to hold it, coo to it, distracting it from anything else around her. He placed it right in front of her, and it worked like a charm.
'Babbeh! Tank ‘ou nice mistah, mummah wuv babbeh, su good fwuffy baby, smeww pwetty!’ She burst with glee, cooing and cuddling the stuffed toy, none the wiser.
That being over, Fenrir finally began to nom on the nummies in front of him. It actually was really good! It was the best food he’d ever had, considering all he ever had before were tiny bits of milk, poopies, trash, and whatever he could forage from the surrounding woods where he lived before. He ate his fill and began to wonder about a lot of things, like when his daddy would come, and why big fluffies seemed to not listen to him. His mummah never listened, and this other fluffy mummah seemed really strange. It made him have thinkie-place huwties. It was then that Jewel noticed he was sitting alone, and she came over right away.
'Fenwiwr, wan pway? Baww am weewy funsies, 'o wan pway huggie tag? Big mistah awso sez ‘ou am saddies. Du nee’ huggies?’ Jewel probably would have kept talking if Fenrir hadn’t replied.
‘Sowwie Jewwew, nu know hao pway baww. Nebba see baww befow. Buh Fenwiwr wuv huggies.’ He reached out to hug Jewel and she grinned widely, returning the embrace, exclaiming ‘huggies!’ It did make Fenrir feel better, if only a little bit.
‘Dummeh! Nu gib huggies to speshul fwend!’ a voice barked. Fenrir panicked slightly. He stopped the hugging to turn his face and look at a bigger colt, glaring at him, huffing. It looked like he’d pounce on Fenrir at any moment.
‘Wuhh? Speshul fwen? Wuh am mean? Fenwiwr jus wan be fwend wid Jewwew…’ he stammered.
‘NU!’ the other fluffy interrupted. 'Dummeh Fenwiwr, Huntah know ‘ou wan Jewwew, buh nu can hab Jewwew. Am bestest fwuffy, bestest fwuffy get aww mawe!’ Hunter began to pounce at Fenrir when Tenzin intervened.
‘Op op op’ Tenzin chided, picking up the rambunctious colt. ‘I don’t think so, you little shit.’
‘Wet Huntah down nao! Nee gib sowwie hoofsies to dummeh fwuffy!’ Hunter shouted, squirming in Tenzin’s grasp. ‘You’re going in the sorry box for the rest of the day, can’t have you causing problems with the other fluffies again’ Tenzin snidely remarked, holding in a chuckle. He walked out of the room, the sounds of ‘NUUUUUU! FWUFFY NU WAN! NU AM BAD!’ wafting their way towards Fenrir’s confused and shocked ears.
After Tenzin and Hunter had left the room, Fenrir finally had a moment to exhale, and he turned to Jewel, who was still softly giggling and humming. ‘Jewwew, wai fwuffy fwend twy huwt Fenwiwr. Fenwiwr onwy wan be gud fwuffy fow udda fwuffies an nice mistah…’ he asked, trying to understand the situation.
She just laughed, responding ‘Oh, am onwy Huntah. He am speshul fwen, but am siwwy. Awways tink Jewwew wan udda fwuffy babbehs. Buh nu weewy. Just wan Huntah babbehs, den can be soon mummah! An hab babbehs, an be nyu mummah, and hab suu much happies!’
Fenrir was very confused. He didn’t understand why she wanted babies, do all mares want babies? He thought about this but didn’t really know the answer. Yet again he had more thinkie-place hurties. ‘Fenwiwr dun know wat to tink, onwy know wan be fwends, nu wan fitesies ow huwties.’ He looked back at Jewel, a confused expression on his face.
It seems stallions can give mares babies? It started to sink in a bit, remembering his mummah and the stallion at the park. He gave her huggies and she said she was having babies. Fenrir remembered… he gave Jewel huggies! Wait, he gave his sissy huggies!
‘EEP!’ he suddenly blurted out. ‘Buh Fenwiwr gib mawes huggies, du mean Fenwiwr gib babbehs??’ he asked Jewel, looking panicked. He just now getting older, and not having had anything taught to him, had no real idea yet how babies happen which made him very worried. This made Jewel laugh a lot, and Fenrir didn’t think it was very funny!
‘Hahaha, siwwy Fenwiwr. Huggies nu gib babbehs, dat am speshul huggies. Speshul fwen gib speshul huggies wen fwuffies am owd enuf. Den hab babbehs.’ She continued laughing, but this relieved Fenrir. He certainly didn’t ever want to do anything like that, he only wanted huggies and love. That was special enough, he thought.
‘Otay… Fenwiwr wewe scawed, buh now feew bettah.’ He lay back down, with Jewel chasing the ball in front of him again. She pushed it his way and he began to push it for her to run after and chase. He liked watching her and the other fluffies play. Maybe he too would be like that someday, but not today, he thought, he still had saddies. All this barely had time to sink in when suddenly, the doctor lady came in.
‘Hello fluffies’ she said, them all responding in kind. She turned to look at Fenrir then, and spoke. ‘Fenrir, guess what? I found someone looking for you!’
Fenrir’s eyes widened. ‘Am daddeh?’
Just then, Mark came in behind the doctor and Fenrir got a smile on his face.
‘Nyu daddeh!’ he exclaimed as he trotted over to him.
‘Hey buddy, I’m here!’ Mark smiled as he lifted the little fluff up and gave him a hug. ‘You get to go home with me now, and I got you some things to make you more at home.’ This made Fenrir feel so much better. Losing Eurydice was something he kept remembering, but when he thought about it, it just made him sad. If he was with daddy, maybe he wouldn’t be saddies anymore.
‘Daddeh, nyu daddeh make Fenwiwr wots happies, buh wiww Wuhdiss be wid Fenwiwr an daddeh too?’ Fenrir asked, remembering some of the things Mark had said earlier about her coming back to stay with them in the pretty box.
‘Not yet, Fenrir’ Mark replied. ‘The nice lady here has to find out what happened to her. She doesn’t want other fluffies to have forever sleepies like her. That would be sad, wouldn’t it?’
Fenrir frowned a bit hearing this, but he agreed. ‘Yus daddeh, nu wan moww saddies foww fwuffies.’
Dr. Neustadt turned to Mark. ‘I’ll give you a call soon and let you know if we figure anything out. Again, I’m terribly sorry it happened. I’m sure you would have liked him to have had his sibling as a friend.’
‘That’s alright’ Mark replied. ‘I’m going to take him now, anything left to do, just give me a call. I’ll pick up her ashes as soon as you have them. Thanks again for looking after him.’
Fenrir’s daddy held him to his chest as he walked out of the FluffCare centre, and it felt so nice. His mummah never carried him anywhere! But daddy was really nice. Did that mean daddies were always nice like this? Fenrir wondered as they walked, with Mark placing him in a soft blanket inside a box on the front passenger seat. Being in the box, Fenrir got a little worried he was in trouble. When Mark got in the car and started it, it gave him even more worry.
‘Daddeh…’ Fenrir stammered. ‘Aww wheewie box maddies at Fenwiwr? Am daddeh maddies at Fenwiwr? Am shaking’ The whole car was vibrating and it made him very nervous.
‘What? No, not at all Fenrir. It’s just how the car, er, wheelie box can take us to your new house.’ Mark also remembered about the sorry box associations—there really were a lot of things to remember—and realised Fenrir might think that’s where he was. ‘And the box is just so you can sit and be safe while in the wheelie box. The seats are too big for fluffies, especially young colts like you’ Mark finished.
Fenrir quickly felt relieved. ‘Otay daddeh, wiww be gud foww nyu daddeh’ he said, looking at Mark with a small smile. This little guy was certainly growing on him.
Once they got home, he brought Fenrir and a couple of bags inside. Inside the bags were a number of toys, some food and water bowls, fluffy treats, blankets, and care guides to help Mark understand exactly what he should be doing. One thing he did know was that he had to set things up, and that’d take about fifteen minutes at least, so he had to find a way to keep Fenrir occupied. He sat the little fluff down on the sofa, and created a little divot in a blanket he placed beside one of the side cushions while Fenrir bounced around a little, looking at the room, saying various things like ‘Housie suu biggies, am pwetty, wuv housie!’ It made Mark crack a small grin, but he had to go back outside.
‘Fenrir…’ Mark tried to grab his attention with his stern voice, inflecting to indicate he wanted to ask Fenrir something.
‘Yus daddeh?’ Fenrir stopped and sat looking up at him.
‘Daddy needs to go outside and get the rest of the things I got for you. I’ll only be gone a very short time, so I want you to be good and lie down in the blanket right there. I’ll put some music on for you to listen to, but don’t get off the sofa, er, the big soft high place, do you understand?’
Fenrir slowly walked over to the blanket and curled up ‘Yus daddeh, Fenwiwr un’stan.’
‘Okay, good.’ Mark hit the remote for the stereo and put on a piano playlist. He’d heard from his mother that their cat really seemed to find pianos calming, so he gave it a shot.
Fenrir began to coo. ‘Am pwetty soundies, daddeh’ he uttered, seemingly enjoying it.
With that, Mark felt at ease, and he retrieved the remaining items from the car. He brought in the litter box, the sand, and a childproof barrier intended for human toddlers, relieved that Fenrir was still in his blanket trying to hum in a thankfully endearing tone deaf way to the piano as it played in the background
As he set up the litter box in the adjoining room, Fenrir peeked over the back of the sofa, hearing the noises his daddy was making.
‘Wuh am doin’ daddeh?’ he asked, still peeking timidly.
‘Hmm? Oh, I’m setting up a litter box. It’s a place you can go to the bathr- I mean, make good poopies.’
‘Make poopies in bawks?’ Fenrir asked, checking for confirmation.
‘That’s right, buddy. If you need to make poopies, they go in here. Those are good poopies. If you make poopies outside the box, those are bad poopies, and that’s not good. They won’t feel pretty, and will upset daddy, and daddy doesn’t want to be upset at you buddy.’
Fenrir knew about good poopies. His mummah made him and his siblings eat bestest sissy’s poopies sometimes. She called those good poopies, and Fenrir really didn’t like those. But his new daddy was really nice, so he thought he could do good poopies for him, and he’d be very happy.
‘Fenwiwr du nee gu poopies. Can Fenwiwr gu tu bawks?’ he asked, making sure he could leave the sofa.
‘Of course, buddy. I’m back inside now, so you don’t have to worry about staying on the sofa at the moment.’
Fenrir hopped down and trotted over to the box. He easily squatted, something like a cat, in the soft sand. The sand felt pretty on his hooves, a lot of the human ground felt hard and not pretty, but the sand was good.
‘Awesome, Fenrir!’ Mark smiled as he finished up.
Fenrir was happy his daddy was happy. But now he knew he had to make good poopies, so he turned around to eat and lick clean the poop he had just placed in the sand.
He started to open his mouth when Mark, shocked, exlaimed ‘Fenrir! No, what are you doing?!’
Why on earth would Fenrir be doing that?
It was going to be a long week.
Next Chapter: Chapter V