As you near the secondary gates you hear the first hint of the coming interaction you’d have. “You’re telling me this here lemonaid will give me compliments?” Followed by the sound of a sigh from another person.
“Well no sir. Complimentary as in it’s a good or service provided for free.” The robotic Handy voice replies.
“Can Waidew hab shine?”
“Now that sounds like a good idea. Ya’ll got moonshine?”
“None safe for consumption im afraid. Complimentary alcohol is limited to beer, lager or ale. Whiskey, wine, bourbon, ice and cocktails require payment.”
“Two ales and some pure water for the animals.” Came a second voice.
“Come on Daddeh eawl, wet waidew hab some siwwy wawa too. . Owies~ wha’ dat fow?”
“Ou’ know how you get with siwwy wawa. Bessie no wan deaw wif dat again.” She added making a slight ‘ptooey’ sound remembering what she had to do to settle down her horney mate.
At that point you started to open the gates. “Greetings visitors and welcome to Sanctuary Hills. Names Johnson, how can I help you today?” You add with a weak smile that suggested you didn’t want to be here and would rather be doing something else if someone was particularly observant.
“Heh, johnson.” Klem added before sipping his ale as Earl gave him a side eye.
“Names Earl, this is my associate Klem. Farmers by trade, got a new type of livestock recently. Heard you knew something about these here uhm~”
“Fluffies.” You add casually signaling for a drink yourself and you clink bottle necks with Klem as if you’d been drinking buddies for years.
“Yep, that’s what they call themselves I reckon.” Klem added somewhat annoyed they had trekked all the way out here for the furry creatures.
“I was hoping to learn more about some of their, odd behavior and maybe get a checkup if you know a vet.”
“Well im no vet but I handle medical care for my five current fluffies and their foals so I wouldn’t mind taking a look.” You finish your ale and head over. “So I take it you’re not here for the bounty then?” You add in a somewhat disappointed tone as you walk over to the two fluffies and take a seat on the ground. “Handy, get my medical bag from the bench would you?”
“Certainly sir.” The robot added hovering off through the gates.
“Well at least not for Bessie, she’s been very cooperative. If she didn’t like Raider so much though I’d take you up on the offer for him.” Klem chuckled.
Raider huffed through his nose in an irritated fashion till Bessie tapped him across the chest with her hoof. “Daddeh~ be nice. Babbeh’s nee’ dere daddeh.”
“So no.” Earl adds.
“Fluffies are very social animals, I’d be willing to take both so they could socialize with other families.”
“No thanks I quite like the milk,” Earl adds.
“What if I throw in two head of Brahmin to replace them in addition to the bounty?” With your settlements you could easily arrange this.
Earl and klem scrutinized the offer. If the Sole survivor wasn’t careful he might sound desperate but for now they were just curious as to why you were offering so much.
“That’s mighty generous but I also like Bessies company.” You ‘tsk’ in a whispered tone knowing if you pushed things much further they might just leave or ask for something outrageous. “Shame. So you mentioned something about behaviors?”
“Waidew no twust ou’ mistah.” The leather ‘armored’ fluffy adds gesturing with their hoof.
“Raider huh? Let me guess, cranky- threatens you. Misbehavior, lying and the like? Calls itself smarty.”
“Huh, guy know’s his stuff.” Klem add taking a drink.
“It’s called smarty syndrome, A brain defect. Fluffies were released from the lab they were being developed at before they were finished due to raiders.” You add deciding not to tell them about fluffies being synths. “Currently the only known treatment would involve a bit of surgery and a procedure that would erase their memory but it would correct the behavior issues.”
Raider looks horrified by the prospect and slinks behind his special friend.
“That’s a hard pass then. I wouldn’t put Bessie through that and Klem likes Raider the way he is.”
“E’yup, plenty of excuses for fun.” The tone concerned you but at least it was only a smarty getting abused. Bessie seemed very relieved that her special friend wouldn’t forget about her.
“Yes, it is an emotionally painful experience for the partners from what I’ve seen. I have been testing a drug regiment but im not sure of it’s effects on certain fluffy organs yet so I’d want to keep them for at least a week for observation to ensure no complications would occur. So if you change your mind about adjusting Raider the options on the table. Were there any other behavioral issues?” As you say this the Handy returns with a doctors bag and sets it down for you before returning behind the stand to Klems eager anticipation as he orders a new drink.
You get a bandana from your pocket and lay it out on the street as you gesture for one of the fluffies to step up for an exam. Bessie obliges and Raider is now exposed once again.
“Well Bessie occasionally has strange, how to describe it… Ticks?” Earl add not satisfied with the word.
“Ticks?” You say leaning in to examine her eye with a tool.
“We’ll be talking about something and then out of nowhere she seems to be reluctant to talk further and then forgets that we were just talking about.”
“I see. Please open your mouth and stick out your tongue.” You say to Bessie as you get out a suppressor and check inside her mouth. ‘It looks like programming to keep them from blabbing about the institute is in tact at least. How to spin this…’
“The fluffies were put through a program of subliminal suggestions and hypnotism in the lab to develop certain behaviors and prevent them from leaking details about the project to non staff.” You say taking your tool and eye away from the fluffies ear.
“Hypnotism, that actually exists? I thought that was just pre war pop culture.” Earl adds astounded either acting well or buying the bluff.
“It’s why we put out the bounty since we didn’t want to inconvenience potential owners and customers.” You added pausing to listen to the mares heart and lungs with a bit of a giggle at the cold metal.
“If you’re willing to return them we’d gladly provide you a pair once the product is finished. Alternatively, we’d be fine with you keeping them if you agreed to have them sterilized and the foals fixed so we didn’t have to worry about a breeding pair breaching containment since we’re still attempting to capture or account for them all.”
There was a pause. “You’re not implying we cant leave with our pets if we don’t agree to one of those are you?”
“Apologies if that’s how it sounded. I realize talking about pets with owners is a testy subject and I may have mis-stepped trying to represent the companies interests. Im hoping you can understand my position as a director.”
“Diwectow?” The two fluffies added in a hushed low tone recognizing the rank in the institute.
“Out of curiosity, have you asked the fluffies if they’d like to return to the lab and the comfort of their safe rooms?” You add subtlety trying to plant the idea in the fluffies minds in the hopes of working another angel.
“Safe woom!?” Raider added running back. “Raidew can go back to safe woom!?”
“Well hold on,” Earl added as if to try and stop the fluffies from getting too excited.
“Bessie wike safe woom but wub daddeh… Speciaw fwiend, – no weabe Bessie, wight?” She added not wanting to be apart from her partner either. Her pleading tone reached him.
“No… Bu’ why no go back to safe woom? Much bettah for babbehs then dusty powch and pokey bedsie. No hab wowk for nummies eithew…” Raider added attempting to convince his love. Klem wanted to interject but Earl held against the flat of his chest to stop him wanting to see where this went.
“Do waidew weally cawe it bettah for babbehs? Or just wan cause better for ou’?” Raider was insulted but couldn’t say that wasn’t the case.
“Cant it be both? Cant Waidew also want cause feel it bettah fow you too?”
“I’ll go get what I need to check the foals…” You add deciding to give them a few minutes to decide.
After returning with your tools you were surprised to see them still there.
“We’ve come to a decision. You can take them till after the birth and the foals are suitable to take home. We’ll take you up on your offer to have them fixed post foaling and keep them if you can provide us with some supplies to make a decent coop for these two and their kids to live in.”
“Waider no wan wose wumps, but no wan wose famiwy eithah.” He adds leaning in as the two snuggle cheek to cheek.
“I think we can arrange that. You want raider to remain as is? Or would you like us to try the drug treatment so they’re not a bad influence?”
“Nah, I like a challenge.” Klem added with a wicked grin. “I wont spare the rod so hopefully the chillin won’ spoil.”
“Very well then. I’ll get you some reading on psychological issues we’ve noticed that can help you head off issues in advance in regards to the foals.” You add to Earl.
“That’ll be appreciated.”
You get the coordinates for Klem and Earls farm and get a proper provisioner route prepared to deliver the tools, supplies and a worker to build a radio tower so you could communicate with them if needed.
You offer to bring them in so they could get an idea of what foals were like in early stages of development and so they could observe their fluffies socializing. They accepted and the remainder of the afternoon was spent letting the future owners understand some of what they could expect from young fluffies. You then ate dinner and offered to let the two stay in the guest house overnight but they declined wanting to get in some travel while there was still light out.
Everyone waved goodbye. This pair was costly but it was hard to put a price on peace of mind. Just thirty more units in play. Well, 63 if you counted the 33 that were likely unrecoverable but baby steps.