Diane sat at the greasy fast food dining room booth watching her daughter play with the cheap toy that came with her meal. She’d been crying about it nearly all month. ‘I want a Happy Meal! I need a Happy Meal! Bleh blah yakkity-yak-yak’. Hasbio had recently partnered with McDonald’s for a new tie-in. There was apparently a new movie coming out about fluffies and holy shit they were merchandising the ever-loving Hell out of it. Toys, both ‘alive’ and your more mundane variety. Clothing. She’d even seen a Fluffy cereal! Which dim-bulb had thought that one up? Did it turn the milk shit-brown? So here she was after a promise made while she was hungover and wanted her bratty kid to shut up.
The toy the little girl had wanted as a fluffy. A real, true fluffy! The commercials had promised a variety of colors but….her dumb kid brain didn’t fathom that Hasbio would be dumping their unwanted stock with only a few of the good colors mixed in to dodge false advertising claims. The kid had gotten a brown one. A poopie. She’d wanted to ask for a new one but the glare her mom had given her as the first look of disappointment crossed her face made her reconsider.
“Nyu mummah?” The little brown baby asked after it had been pulled from the cardboard box. It chirruped and wagged it’s tail excitedly.
“Uhmm…I guess. Should I give you a name?” The girl was unoriginal so she kind of just blurted out the first thing she saw: “You’re Nugget!”
The baby was so excited! A name! A real namesie! Getting up on it’s hind-legs it would do a little dance. “Nuggeh wuv namesie! Wuv su su much! Wuv nyu mummah!” It came back down and did a cheerful spin. Luckily for every customer receiving a kids meal, these foals had been corked and deprived of fluids for awhile. If not this particular specimen would likely be pirouetting in a ribbon of it’s own shit and piss from joy.
“OK, Nugget, lets play a g…” The little girl was cut off as she’d begun picking up the fluff. It began to spaz out, kicking around and screeching. “BAD UPSIES! ONLY BABBEH NU UPSIES!”. OK. Back down to the table it went. The girl looked to her mother, the woman having a self-indulgent look of ‘See? This is what you wanted’ scrawled across her face.
“Mom. Can you look after it for me?” Not Nugget. The girl had apparently already forgotten it or really gave such zero shits about the creature to use it’s name. She’d gotten up and scampered off to the play-area where a bunch of other kids her age were currently losing their minds and screaming like animals. Most of the other tables containing parents looked the same as her own. Each had at least one shitty-colored fluff, a handful of scattered food, and people with grumpy expressions. One parent had so little fucks to give about the whole thing that they’d let their kid’s fluff take a highdive off the table. It lay on the beige colored floor with it’s neck twisted, eyes staring blankly at the fluorescents up above. Eventually a bored looking teenager came and swept up the ball of fluff into a dustpan, knocking it away into the trash.
Diane watched as Nugget began to eat the remainders of her daughter’s food. A crumb of nugget here. The corner of a French fry there. It babbled all the while.
“Haf nyu homesie. Cuddews. Toysies. Nummies…” It wobbled around the table, as happy as a clam. “Cheep! Peep-eep! Was dis?” It stepped into an open container of sweet & sour sauce. “Sticky wawas! No wike sticky-wawas! Hewp! Nyu mummah hewp Nuggeh babbeh!”
Before it could get out and cause a mess across the table, Diane lifted the fluffy up. It of course screeched again, flinging it’s legs around. The sauce packet had clung firmly to one, and she gave a brief laugh before dropping the unfortunate soul back into the cardboard box it’d came in. The box rattled around a bit. “NYU MUMMEH DUN WIKE DAWKTIME, HEWP BABBEH!” It cried as she sealed it up. It tried to climb out but these things were pretty damn useless at doing anything. It cried and begged. Thumped against the sides. “Nuggeh babbeh gud babbeh! Nu sowwy-boxsies! Am gud babbeh!”
It carried on like this before it heard it’s new momma’s voice. “Mom, I’m ready to go!” New mommah said, the foal’s heart filling with joy. She would help! There would be a new house, and a warm bed, toysies, all the things it had already babbled about.
“Nyu mummeh! Gud babbeh in hewe! Nuggeh dun wike box!” The fluffy heard the older new mommah say: “Alright. Throw your trash away, lets get out of here.” The box was lifted up, Nugget excitedly trembling from within. The top would lift up and the darktimes would go away! It’s new owner would be smiling and….that never came. There was a creak of a trashcan door opening and Nugget found itself even deeper darkness than before. There was no new momma. Instead, there was rustling from all around. Foals which had met similar fates. They pressed and pulled against their cardboard tombs, crying out in a shared agony of abandonment. “Nyu daddeh, wan wubs…” Came a sob from Nugget’s side. “Mummah! Wowsest ouchies! SCREEEEEEE!” This was from all the way down in the trashpile. The poor fluffy in question was being crushed slowly from all sides.
‘Nyu daddeh!’ and ‘Nyu mummeh!’ was called out again and again. They never came, and Nugget found that more voices were added on top. Soon box had became a cacophony of tortured wails. Many forevers of crying. Eventually they would forget, or maybe be too terrified to be able to recall. The voices had become peeps and squeaks as the foals reverted back to chirpy-babbeh status. Nugget found that the walls around were becoming compact. Bowing in. Eventually all the noise of the restaurant had gone away, and only the sounds of skittering insects and the occasional peep could be heard.
I was at Mcdonalds one day and noticed how disposable the toys were. Fluffies are in the same boat. The wonderful art was made by @anon9587322
