Foalout 4 – Sanctuary Hill – Chapter 47 – Lothmar
One body transition later Johnson awoke groggily in the memory lounger and unhooked himself from the IV. “Glad I made the call on the fluids.” Johnson added feeling gross as he walked his way to the decontamination arch to wash off. While Johnson was rinsing out his vault suit he could hear the familiar clickity clack of fluffy hooves on pavement approaching. “Wha’ daddeh doin?” You sighed as you were hoping for some alone time but gentleman and sundae had noticed you from down the street on their way back to the houses safe room and decided to come bug him.
“Just cleaning myself and my clothes.” He looked over at the two. “Would you two like a bath while it’s on and warm?” You add sitting down on your cleaning stool after tying your vault suit around your pelvis like a sumo diaper since you didn’t want to wear it again after just rinsing it out and showering.
Gentleman looked at Sundae. While they had been regularly cleaned with a rag and the like this was the first time water was relatively exposed to the foal. “Dat soun’ wike good ting daddeh.” Sundae added gently tapping gentleman forward before following. Johnson took his supplies out of the shallow wash basin and set most of it on the ground. As he moved the basin under the spray so it could start collecting he picked up Gentleman first.
“Here we go.” He added moving the foal under the water spray to rinse him off initially before pulling out the basin and setting him down.
“Tiny wawwa am funny.” He giggled before relaxing as the stomach high water changed to waist high as he sat down in it. “Bettah den wickies wif dah wag.”
“Speak of the devil.” Johnson muttered getting his own wash cloth ready and started to lather up the foal. “Keep your eyes closed till daddy says so.” You added making a mental note to get some ‘no tear’ baby like products since fluffies were probably sensitive to irritation.
“O’tay!” Gentleman hummed to himself while you scrubbed his coat and complied for the most part when you indicated you’d be pulling his leg or the like to get to something. “Cawefuw wif gentwemans nono’s daddeh…” He huffed towards the end.
“Sorry bud, don’t want you smelling like pee.” Gentleman huffed indignantly at the claim. “Don’t worry, you smell very pretty now.” You add taking the foal out and setting them on the towel. “Just roll around there and enjoy the sun while I take care of your mother.” The foal scooted about the cloth enthusiastically at this rubbing their face and sides off.
“Daddeh suwe know how too take cawe ob mummah.” She added with a smile while approaching.
“Just for that, no basin for you.” Johnson adds dumping the dirty water out before scooting the stool back into the spray and picking up the mare.
“Den wewe mummah get cwean?” She asked curiously till she was sat on your lap. She smiled with a look of ‘Do not threaten me with a good time’ as you proceeded to thoroughly massage her fluff and hide beneath.
“Dats dah good stuff.” She whispered between coos and pleased tones.
Seeing gentleman on their back sunning themselves without a care you leaned in for a whisper. “Don’t make it weird.” You added as you began to scrub her chest and stomache. She looked confused until she realized why you had said it. It took quite a bit of self control to overcome the ingrained ‘bad touch’ protocols that often caused a fluffy to say something when a human interacts with certain parts of their body. But she held back because it felt good to get cleaned up down there after two days of on and off again encounters with Director. “Tank’ou fow bestest cweanies sp~ Daddeh…” She added before indicating she wanted down and Johnson shut off the decontamination arch.
“allright gentleman, I need you to get up so we can dry off your mother." You added drying your hands on the other portion of the towel before lifting him up with a mildly disappointed look as you set him back down on his feet on the street. You then proceeded to towel off the mare. “Now then, meet me at the house and we’ll get to the brush.
The two looked at each other excitedly. “Bwushies!?” There was no time for upsies. “Wace ou’ mummah!” Gentleman added taking off as his mother was leaning over.
She looked indignant. “Nu faiw.” She added as her face let up and she pursued. Johnson chuckled as he picked up his supplies and dropped them back in the garage and threw his towel and spare vault suit into the laundry hamper. He threw on another spare vault suit and grabbed the pet brush before catching up to the pair waiting and waving him down from his porch beckoning him to hurry.
What was this feeling… It was so familiar and yet he couldn’t place from whom. “Coming, coming…” He added putting on a fake smile to mask the roiling emotions in his head. “Lets enjoy the sun.” He added sitting down on the stoop.
“Hmm, I cleaned gentleman first… so maybe I should brush sundae first.” He added in false consideration watching their faces. “But then again, I can finish gentleman that much quicker…”
“Dat am twue, mummah can wait.” She added pushing forward the foal who hopped up onto Johnsons lap for the bit of bonding. Gentleman was a little ticklish but that’s what he liked about the brushing process. “Good job my boy. Why don’t you go and explore the garden and tell me what you find while I brush your mother?”
“Dat sound fun, otay.” Gentleman added hopping down and going into the one bit of decent grass in all of sanctuary. He began pocking around the various bushes and flowers.
Sundae you made sure to take some extra time to really fluff up her neck and shoulder fluff since she had a mane like quality to her. While she liked her mane getting fluffed she seemed to be very enthusiastic about rubbing into the brush while you worked her face and melted as you brushed her back. The warm loaf of fur on your legs brought back some old memories of your youth as you tried to suppress your last pet ownership memory where they were being rounded up for burning due to a mysterious disease.
You sat there for a good fifteen minutes just enjoying each others company as you watched the clouds. Eventually Gentleman came back. “Daddeh daddeh. Gentweman find widdwe wocky peopwe.”
You chuckled, knowing he had found some of the hidden gnomes. “Is that right buddy? How many did you find?”
“Uh uhm… One and one. . .And one.”
“Is that right. Do you know what that number is?” Johnson asks curiously.
“Uhm… One and one am, two? Yes two.” You could tell they were thinking.
“So two and one is?” Johnson added curiously.
As if following the numbers ‘one, two, three’ in their head they finally said. “Thwee! Fin’ twee wockie men.” They added triumphantly.
Sundae clapped and you joined her. “Well done. Hmm, maybe I should start scheduling some school time for the fluffies?” Johnson added holding his chin.
“Am schoow dat pwace whew humans do dah weawny thinkies?” Sundae asked curiously.
“Im impressed Sundae. That is correct. Before the bombs, humans used to have schools till you were an adult and even then you could go to institutes of higher learning. That’s where ‘the institute’ gets its name.”
“Sundae wan weawn since diwectow wike smawts. Can teach tummeh babbehs so many new tings.”
“Gentweman wan weawn too so can teach bwuddah and sissies tingies!”
“Guess I’ll figure something out then.” While you could potentially tutor the fluffies, the classroom sizes might get out of hand fast. So automating some of the most basic lessons might be for the best. “Would you like to go inside then while daddy does his work?” With affirmation from both you open the door and proceed upstairs to open the saferoom for them as well. After a short goodbye you head back downstairs and to your workshop.
You grab some tools and components and lay them outside the front door before grabbing some various cloth, hides and stuffing materials and heading back to the workshop. You set down the supplies before loading up a series of build sequences in the robot assembler and it requested the necessary components that awakened one of the Handies on standby that would begin loading components from storage in the background.
Johnson proceeded to make a large pillow bed before trimming up a single vault suit and sewing it back together in a square as a cover liner for one side of the pillow and connecting the corners with some hooks and leather straps. The cover would keep the pillow from getting dirty and could be easily cleaned making it fitting for the general fluffpile. Next came a large rectangular wooden piece for a base frame, no more then an inch or two high though so even young foals could get in an out of bed. With a liftable side rail that an adult fluffy could easily get over and an older foal could probably eventually overcome with a bit of effort.
Remembering the amount of cleanup when he helped Daisy give birth he decided another cover in case she got immobile towards the end of her term might be useful. You could remove the top cover from the litter box and line it up to the back of the bed then and it’d do a majority of the cleanup. Johnson made the slant in symmetrical padding and added slots for a tray to serve as food and water trough in one end. He started writing down ideas for a stationary ‘Ms Nanny’ they could wall mount with a sprayer and buffer attachment. It would clean up any streaks left behind on the poop end, oh and a vacuum nozel on the other to suck up crumbs and the like. The bed should have ample room for the initial three and even the whole family at least until the foals got bigger.
He’d figure out a new sleeping situation by then. “Im going to have to move the crib out of the room to make space…” Johnson thought to himself in sudden realization what he was effectively building. “One thing at a time…” He sighed starting to transport the finished products over to the house. By the time he was returning for the second load the first of Hulks friends was coming out of the machine. You finalized their programming and designation. “You are ball.” He added and the eyebot shell that had been coated in a thick safety coating of rubber like a kong toy beeped and bonked. “Your primary purpose is entertainment of fluffies. Give priority to entertaining hulk.” The eyebot clonked a few times. “Show me ‘tug of war’ tool.” As he says this the eyebot opened an eyeris from its backside and a bit of hemp rope with a knot lowered out. You grabbed the rope and walked them outside. “Commence resistance test.” As you said that the ball begins to try and fly away from you sporadically jerking to different sides. “End test.” Johnson added satisfied.
“Head that way towards the big tree and look for the green fluffy. The other robots will show you the charging ports.” The eyebot boop bop’d in response before retracting the rope into its body. Setting down the bedding pile on the lawn Johnson proceeded to remove the door from the hinges so he could begin to modify the door on a saw horse. He marked it prior to cutting and proceeded to carve out the pet door with a ceramic slab and rubber seal. He glued a metal plate to the ceramic and attached a sliding arm so the plate could be lifted up and into the house when a sensor received a proximity signal from a pair of collars he’d make after.
He tested it by broadcasting the signal from his pipboy and watched as it lifted as he had planned. He nodded and set the door aside and proceeded inside with the bed. “Hewwo daddeh, woah!” Gentleman added getting out of the way since Johnson could barely see carrying this thing.
“Clear the floor in front of me.” He added waiting as he heard some scampering. You set down the support and bed in one go. “Oof… I’ll put that in place once im done.” Johnson added proceeding to take the door off the hinge.
“Why daddeh taking doow?” Gentleman queried.
“Daddy needs to install the fluffy door. Wont be long.” He adds finally undoing the hinges and proceeding to take the door down the stairs. Johnson proceeded to process the second door in a similar way before heading back upstairs to grab the crib since it’d be easier to move with the doors off. Sundae and gentleman were examining the bed and testing it out as you carried the bit of furniture past.
“I should get rid of this…” Johnson added with a sigh. After a bit of debate he took out the coin and gave it a flip. “Store it in case someone needs it.” You groaned moving it to one of the storage buildings. You stopped to stretch after walking back into the street and snagged the lighter big circular bed with the square cover and carried it under your arm as you saw the new assaultron with its rubber plated ceramic armor, boxing glove hands and a low quality head without the laser cannon. They also had a regeneration field so the fighting could go on for longer.
“You will be designated smashy. Your job is to play fight the green fluffy known as hulk when requested. You may operate with ‘Ball’ to entertain your target. The other robots will direct you to charging ports if you require one. Raise difficulty incrementally when sparing until you’ve determined a difficulty level appropriate for Hulk. Raise difficulty slightly after they grow accustomed until they grow accustomed again. Repeat until you are unable to raise the difficulty due to armament. Run a different sparring program for each fluffy if they challenge you and adjust progress as appropriate to subject.”
“Acknowledged.” The assaultron added pounding its gloves together.
As you followed the robot around the corner you saw hulk followed by the older foals chasing the floating eybot with the parents laughing and cheering them on. “That house is designated ‘the ring’ for training. Please wait there Smashy.” You add pointing to the empty house that Director had fought with Hulk previously.
“Dadd-dee!” Hulk bounded over and hopped from leg to leg excitedly while the foals continued to chase the low flying ball that bobbed tantalizingly close to them. “Huwk get two smashy bashy fwiends!” They add watching the fighting one approach the house.
“Well yes hulk, friends is plural. I would obviously make you more then one.” Hulk had a face like he didn’t understand but didn’t let that stop him from showing his appreciation before heading off to challenge Smashy to a throw down.
“Don’t mind me, just installing a new pillow for the nest.” You add propping the pillow against the side of the tree before clearing out some of the junk inside. “Feel free to make yourselves at home after. If you make a mess, ask the metal friends to wash the cover for you.” You add placing the large circle into the hollow tree.
“Famiwies sweepies good tonight.” Peaches add and the others concurred.
“Speaking of sweepies togetha~” Durum added segwaying with all the subtlty of a semi parking inside of an orphanage after crashing.
