The highly anticipated launch of Fluffies is quickly approaching and the first wave will be releasing on Black Friday, just in time for the holiday season. Two weeks before the public launch a soft launch is taking place. This will give the opportunity for a select group of people to receive Fluffies before anyone else. This will both spread excitement for the upcoming release and allow some smaller scale tests before the flood gates are opened. Those picked to participate in the soft Lauch were primarily influencers, journalists, and some Youtubers. Despite having a relatively small YouTube channel of only 25,000 subscribers you were picked to be a part of the soft launch.
You are no stranger to emails from corporations even as a smaller youtuber. Everyday your inbox is full of sponsorship offers from various sketchy mobile games, crypto currencies, and personal hygiene products. While corporate sponsorship emails are mundane at this point, a recent one has managed to stand out.
Hi, Iâm the Social Media Manager for Hasbio, and I am a huge fan of your videos. We would love it if you would be interested in participating in the soft launch of Fluffies. In addition to the usual advertisement payment, you will be able to pick out your own Fluffy and even keep them. Get back to me as soon as you can, I will need an answer by Monday.
You have been offered digital currency, free food, and razors many times before but never has a company tried to give you a living creature. Though thinking back to some of the news articles you read, most countries wonât recognize them as such. After contacting Hasbio, directly confirming that this is indeed a real offer, you hesitate. This is not some cat or dog they are asking you to take, itâs a bio engineered creature straight out of a cutesy version of Resident Evil. What if the first batch goes nuts and bloodthirsty, or something? That would be a complete pr disaster, but what if they are fine, and turning down this offer denies you both a lucrative amount of money and a new cuddly friend? Deciding that you could probably hold off at least one blood thirsty living stuffed animal, and that regardless of the success or failure of the product, simply being part of this piece of history will be a huge boost in views, so you accept the offer.
A few days after accepting the offer a package from Hasbio is delivered. You were honestly half expecting to receive a pet carrier containing a full sized Fluffy, but instead get a simple puffy envelope. Inside is a plastic press badge, with an included Fluffy themed lantern, a metal credit card with âFluffy Martâ printed on the front, and a folded letter.
Valued Influencer,
As part of the soft launch, you will be visiting your local Fluffy Mart and picking out your new friend with the aid of the staff, as well as getting any needed Fluffy supplies and accessories. While you are not required to film your time at the store, we certainly encourage it and will incentivize you with extra Fluffy Points when the video is posted.
Well looks like you also signed up for the whole experience. You consider making a store video for a second, but taking this contract already makes you look like a sellout and money that can only be spent on their product is the advertising equivalent of a company pizza party. You decide to keep your visit to Fluffy Mart as brief as possible and donât really feel like shoving the camera in some poor retail workersâ face who had to come into work two weeks before the store is even open just for you.
When the time of the soft launch comes you drive to the shopping plaza that the letter indicated, and sure enough right next to the target is a brand-new Fluffy Mart Location. You get an odd sense of nostalgia while looking at the building, the blue background and yellow lettering of the Fluffy Mart Sign make you feel something you havenât felt since you were a kid going to visit Toys R Us. Either itâs just one of those odd tricks the mind tends to pull on you, or Hasbio really are marketing geniuses. You walk up to the store and despite being locked and a âclosed until Black Fridayâ sign prominently displayed the automatic doors open to you. Upon entering it really does feel like walking into a toy store rather than a pet store. There is only the slightest hint of that usual pet store smell, and it is surprisingly quiet with no audible animal sounds of any kind. The whole store is very blue and pink with pictures of Fluffies everywhere. While on the far walls there are the usual plexiglass pet holding areas, they are currently empty. Most of the center of the store is aisles of shelves that seemed to be stocked with hundreds of uniform canisters labeled Foal in a Can.
You are a bit taken aback, you know that Fluffies are a revolutionary technology, but do they just come in a can? You jump a bit as you hear a voice come from the floor while you are still taking everything in.
âHewwo am dah gweetah wet fwuffy know if âou neeâ hewp.â A blue and white Pegasus wearing a Fluffy Mart vest says to you. The very specific coloring canât possibly be a coincidence.
âUmm, thanksâ Is all you can get out. Shit, maybe you should have brought your camera in, this is video worthy. You look around for any signs of humans or maybe other Fluffies that arenât currently canned. âIs it just you here?â You finally manage to ask.
âNu dah managah am in dah back. Buh am aww âou neeâ foâ youw pewsonaw shoppinâ expewience.â the fluffy responds as they try to contain their excitement about having their first customer.
You briefly consider the ethics of Fluffy labor as you start to shop around, the blue Pegasus following you as you do. You briefly look at the empty pet cases that have a sign taped to it saying, âComing soonâ and inform you that Canned foals that are not sold right away will be transferred here as they grow up. With nothing left to look at there you start in the first aisle looking at the various canned foals. While the cans themselves are all labeled nearly identically, they each had a view window allowing you to see the foal inside and a little sticker indicating the foalâs sex. As you look in the can you canât help but feel slightly bad for these creatures. Spending the earliest part of their lives in a tight can with a tube up their butt and only a rubber teat for comfort.
After a brief silence your fluffy guide chimes in on your shopping. âDis aiswe am whewe we hab dah babbehs that mummahs tend to wike mowe. Aww dah cowows of dah wainbow am in dis aiswe.â The fluffy jumps and slightly flaps their wings, no longer able to contain their excitement. The fluffy stops bouncing as it manages to contain itself. âDah next aiswe obah has dah weaw howse cowow ones that daddehs tend to wike mowe.â
They may make living creatures now but the pointless gendering of who will like which products more gives away that Hasbio is still a toy company at its core. Though you must give the marketing team props for referring to any Fluffies that arenât bright pastel colors as being âReal horse colored.â After checking them all out you opt to pick out a purple one. You pick up a can containing a purple unicorn mare with a pink mane.
ââou am su smawt that am one of dah bestesâ babbehs in dah whowe sto.â Your guide excitedly informs you. Though you suspect that they would have said that about any foal you picked.
After picking out your foal you still have quite a few Fluffy Mart points left on your card so you continue to pick out other things you need. Things like the litter box, and litter you picked out you can tell are completly standard and simply cost more because they are being marketed as for Fluffies, but youâre not paying for it so who cares. As youâre still not entirely convinced there wonât be some kind of Fluffy based apocalypse you make sure to get a spray bottle and some vinegar which is apparently like a paralytic drug to Fluffies. You finish off the remaining points with fluffy kibble and a few toys. Your guide thanks for visiting and you head home with your pastel-colored horse chimera.
When you arrive home you get your set up ready and your camera positioned for unboxing. You may not have been required to film at the store, but you are required to film your removal of the foal from the can and your first interactions with them. You turn on the camera, give your introduction and let your viewers know exactly what youâre doing. It still feels so weird to be doing an unboxing of a live animal and it has still not fully sunk in for you that this is real. Now the moment of truth, you grip the lid of the canister and turn. There is a sound of pressure escaping as you remove the lid, and you are immediately met with both a slight smell of ammonia and the sound of light chirping. You pull the purple unicorn free from its tubes and gently hold it. You can see that she is still so you that she has yet to open her eyes. She starts to lightly suck on the tip of your thumb as she looks for a teat, probably reflexive from being so close to one most of her life out of the womb.
You hold her up to the camera, your heart melting a bit as the creatureâs appearance seems to trigger your mammalian parental instincts. As you stare at the tiny foal in your hand you realize you havenât thought of a name yet. Going back through random fantasy name you go with the Dungeons and Dragons goddess of magic, Mystra. While likely too young to understand she seems to chirp with approval.
Authorâs Note:
Welcome to the Successful Launch universe. A universe where Hasbio, were able to hold off containment breach before launching Fluffies. In this universe Fluffies are brand new and are being sold to the general public for the first time. At the moment at least there are no Ferals, and anyone not opposed to them for moral reasons likely see them as an ideal pet. The Fluffies in the Successful Launch universe may not seem too different than the Fluffies youâre used to, but as they had more development time certain things are going to be different about them, but they will still be Fluffies at their core.
I am planning to expand on this Universe and write more stories taking place in it soon. I will also soon write a basic guide for anyone who may be interested in writing for this universe, as well as some alt universe news and Wikipedia articles.
I hope you enjoyed this little preview; feedback is very appreciated.
