Identifying the Source of Distress in Biotoys
or
Why is my Fuffy crying
We all know about the Hasbio created biotoys called fluffies. Even if you haven’t owned one, I bet you’ve seen at least one, if not more. And more than likely, if you have seen one, it was probably crying. But why is that? They were made to be the zenith in children’s toy development, a plaything that lives, that loves. Made by Hasbio to have real and genuine affection for their owner’s, we find one of the true faults in fluffies, a grim side-effect generated by their loving disposition. The fluffy biotoy is an exceptionally emotional creature, much like a young child.
And with the intense complexity of the emotional spectrum, like a child, fluffies are too intellectually stunted to properly understand them. All too often, it has been observed that a fluffy, when in an extreme emotional state, whether positive or negative, tends to fall into the unhealthy stages of that emotion: Happiness tends to fall into an almost manic state, with the danger being that it cannot maintain that level of joy for long periods, the Serotonin production within their brains not being able to regenerate that level of joy again over time. This has been theorized as to why many fluffies have what seems like the biotoy’s version of ADHD(Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), with a fluffy requiring new stimuli and new experiences in a desperate attempt to reacquire the levels of euphoria that meet or exceed their previous deeds. This can lead to extreme dips and lows in Serotonin production and management, leading to the notorious emotional depression of a “sad” fluffy.
In this scientific study, GenTek Neurochemists, Biologists, and Psychiatrists will be trying to unearth the mysteries of the Hasbio programming, the labyrinthian psyche that is the fluffy brain.
Experiment-226P
In this demonstration, we have a typical male fluffy, an earthie stallion. Fluff is phenotypical of the red through orange spectrum: genotyped at DNA Hexcode #D2180F with a secondary display of blue through light blue for it’s mane and tail. This test is a purely psychological one and is based on desire and want.
The red earthie, with a light blue tail walks into a small room, plain and with white walls. It is smiling but seemingly confused as to where he is.
“Hewwo? Wewe am udah fwuffies?”
A noise, like pneumatic pistons can be heard, causing the fluffy some slight distress until he sees a chamber in the center of the room, a platform with a plate of fresh spaghetti slowly rising in front of it.
“SKETTIES!!! FWUFFY WAN SKETTIES!!!”
As he tried to trot to the plate, the platform continues to lift, causing the plate to be out of the fluffy’s reach. Having approached the cylindrical tube holding the platform, he reaches upward and begins to tap his hooves against it, sobbing.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…fwuffy wan sketties…”
As we can see, the subject had a clear want, in this case the spaghetti. Once it is denied the want, it triggers clear distress in the subject. A clear example of a Serotonin spike and valley, seeing the want versus losing the want. This subject was chosen specifically for it’s baseline reaction, as the “lost spaghetti” experiment was performed on dozens of fluffy subjects, with some responding with more subdued crying but many more of which were far more distraught.
This is where the experiment shifts into three separate phases. Phase One of the True Denial Experiment will be performed on the subject we have already been observing. Note the reaction as it realizes that it will not be getting the want.
The red fluffy taps against the metal cylinder for several minutes, sobbing the entire time.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…hao wong tiww sketties…”
Minutes pass and the fluffy slowly stops tapping against the cylinder, slowly sliding down it, the crying now into full sobbing. It has begun to suck on one of it’s front hooves.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…am fwuffy ba’?..*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…fwuffy nu wike…”
And that gives us all three phases of the True Denial Experiment. In Phase One, the subject is exposed to the spaghetti, the want. Phase Two is the period in which the subject realizes it will not receive the desired spaghetti. Ending in Phase Three, the aftermath, in which we see that the subject hits their Serotonin valley, leaving the subject in a far more sullen state than if they had ever seen the want in the first place.
Trial Two is the Patient Gains Experiment. In this experiment, the new subject, an earthie stallion, as before but with phenotypical displays of the violet through blue spectrum: genotyped at DNA Hexcode #951099 with a secondary display of jet black for it’s mane and tail.
The purple and black stallion walks into a room identical to the one from before. Smiling, he begins to sniffle the air around him before he decides to start playfully chase his own tail.
“Fwuffy getchu! Fwuffy Getchu! *giggles”
And as before, the want is introduced.
The pneumatic piston one again raises a plate of spaghetti into the room, just out of reach of the fluffy. While not identically, the purple earthie starts to circle the cylinder, smiling and cheering.
“Sketties?..SKETTIES!!!”
After a few minutes, the confused stallion realizes that it can’t reach the spaghetti, as it trots over to the cylinder, leaning up against it and begins to tap the metal rod, a baffled look on his face that quickly turns to heartbreak.
“Fwuffy…fwuffy nu gets sketties?..*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…”
Now here is where the Patient Gains Experiment varies from True Denial. The fluffy is now going to be told that he will receive the spaghetti, the want in a few minutes.
A crackling voice resounds through the room. “The platform will be lowered in three minutes. You can have the spaghetti then.” The fluffy looks around, tears still falling down it’s cheeks as it wipes them away with it’s hoof.
“Weawwy?..pwomise?”
Note that the subject has a sudden and noticeable reaction to the positive stimuli involving the want.
The fluffy keeps looking at the cylinder, now walking around impatiently and nervously, it’s gaze always returning to it. Finally after the three minutes have passed the cylinder is lowered and the plate is now on the floor, the fluffy delighted as it runs to it’s reward.
“Yay! Sketties! Fank yu!”
It consumes the meal quickly, licking the plate clean after it has eaten the pasta. Afterwards it cleans it’s hooves and while still smiling, it is no longer playful or bounding around.
And that leads to the last phase of the Patient Gains Experiment, where the subject is now, while still considered “happy” on the emotional scale, is noticeably less happy than before the want was introduced. The Serotonin peak from the spaghetti and the brief satisfaction of acquiring the want results in an overall Serotonin valley that, while not as far a fall as out first subject, clearly effects the new subject’s overall happiness.
This leads us to the last trial, called the Greener Grass Fantasy Experiment. Our third and final subject, a male earthie with phenotypical displays of the light red through red spectrum: genotyped at DNA Hexcode #EC6CD0 with a secondary display of khaki brown for it’s mane and tail.
An earthie stallion with light pink fluff and a brown mane can now be seen in the room. It yawns and then begins to look around the room. At one point it seemingly finds the camera, closed up on it’s face as it nuzzles the device, giggling.
“Fwuffy wike ting’ dat gu *blows a raspberry”
As before we introduce the want.
The floor opens and the cylinder lifts the spaghetti, causing the stallion to turn around. He crouches and begins to shake his hindquarters, clearly excited.
" *sniffle *sniffle Dohs am sketties!"
He quickly realizes that the plate is too high for him to reach. He tries to lean up and leap a few times, the top of the cylinder out of his grasp. His eyes begin to water.
“Buh…buh fwuffy wan sketties…”
Now for phase two. The third subject will now be told that he will not be getting spaghetti, but in three minutes he will receive a reward even greater than the previous want. Note that the fluffy is not informed what the reward is, only that it will be better than the spaghetti.
The same crackling is heard, as well as the same voice. “You cannot have the spaghetti…” The reaction is abrupt, as the fluffy starts to look around and sob hysterically, clearly heartbroken.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu… why fwuffy nu gets sketties? Fwuffy ba’?”
“You will not be able to eat the spaghetti, but in three minutes, you will get a treat. A special reward that is even better than spaghetti.” The stallion slowly stopped sobbing, it’s eyes wide as it looked around for the phantom voice.
“Weawwy? Betah dan sketties?”
The voice doesn’t speak again but the fluffy’s mood instantly improves as it starts to bound around the room, smiling and singing.
“Fwuffy gunna gets a tweet! Fwuffy gunna gets a tweet”
The subject, having been told that he will be granted something better than the previous want, is now elated, with a Serotonin spike leaving him happier than when he came to the experiment chamber. Now for the final phase.
Three minutes pass, with the fluffy no less than excited than before. But as time goes on, it becomes less and less enthusiastic. After seven minutes, it is now lying in the far corner of the room, quietly sobbing, it’s whole body shaking.
That concludes phase three of the Greener Grass Fantasy Experiment. The subject, now realizing that they will not be receiving the imagined and superior want becomes despondent and extremely depressed, the Serotonin valley falling further than either of the previous subjects.
GENTEK SEROTONIN CHART E-226P
The conclusion we can deduce from this experiment is that a fluffy’s own desires can be dangerous to it’s psychological wellbeing. Lacking the ability to manage expectations, the studied phenomenon of Serotonin peaks and valleys can, over time lead to the biotoys being unable to experience “happiness” or “joy” in the same ways they once were.
Experiment-489A
Moving on from the psychological to the physiological, this next experiment is about response to negative physical stimuli and it’s effect on a fluffy’s emotional spectrum over time. We start with our subject, a female pegasus, pheontypical display of the yellow through light red spectrum:genotyped at DNA Hexcode #C4C120 with a seconday display of pale green for it’s mane and tail.
A light yellow fluffy mare with a verdant green mane and tail is strapped to a small metal table with leather restraints. Her wings are splayed out and stretched as far as they can at opposite ends of the table. It is crying and trying it’s best to look around, it’s neck locked in place.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…hewwo?..*huuu…*huuu…huuu…”
Suddenly, several needles begin to erupt from the table, piercing the flesh of the mare, eliciting a loud series of pained screams.
*SCREEEEEEE!!! BA" HUWTIES!!! WOWSTEST OWWIES!!! *SCREEEEEEE!!! NU WIKE!!!"
Note that while the needles are indeed causing the subject a great deal of distress, they are not puncturing deeper than the second layer of skin, nor will they leave any real lasting physcial harm or impairment.
After thirty seconds, the needles stop, the mare a quivering and sobbing mess. A man in a laboratory smock walks in and unstraps the yellow mare, freeing her and then taking her out of the room.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…nice mistuh pwease nu huwt fwuffy…”
In another chamber, the same yellow mare is now being lovingly stroked by the same man, her resting in his lap as she is given several treats. While the mare coos and is clearly pleased by the attention, she is still shaking and crying.
The subject, after the negative physical stimuli, is then given a counteractive positive stimuli, both physical affection to feed her desire for human attention and a food based reward. Note that while he consoles the mare, not once does he speak to her.
"*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…*coo…tank yu mistuh…*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…*coo…fwuffy hab wowstest huwties…
This subject was then placed in a neutral resting chamber with minimal interaction.
The yellow mare is now in a small saferoom, with only a bed, litterbox, and a wall mounted dispenser for kibble and water. She is still crying as she lies down in her bed.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…wan huggies an’ wuv…”
The subject is exposed to the same negative physical stimuli every twenty-four hours over the course of twenty days, with the same brief counteractive potitive stimuli afterwards each time. Over the course of the experiment, an interesting effect can be seen.
Day Three
The mare is screaming, her eyes bloodshot as she shakes against the table, the needles rapidly piercing her body, over and over.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! NUUUUUUU!!! NU MOW’ HUWTIES!!! *SCREEEEEEE!!!”
Once again taken by the same man, she is now in another chamber, receiving light strokes over her fur and several treats, just as before. Tears are falling down her face but she is shaking noticeably less than before.
*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…tank yu, nicest mistuh…"
The mare is now in her bare saferoom, lightly crying as she uses her tongue to clean herself.
“*huuu…*huuu…fwuffy nu wike be awone…”
Day Eight
Shaking her head and convulsing, the yellow mare tries desperately to catch her breath as she is once again ravaged by the needles.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! …*SCREEEEEEE!!! …*SCREEEEEEE!!!”
Now resting in the man’s lap, she smiles as she receives his attention, with only her breathing being slightly fast. She is cooing, her eyes closed and the mare is no longer crying.
“*coo…*coo…*coo…fwuffy wuv nicest mistuh.”
The mare has been returned to the neutral saferoom, she is walking around slightly, occasionally sobbing, but has seemingly made a make-shift game of galloping back and forth, slightly smiling as she tries to do it faster than each previous attempt.
Day Twelve
Sobbing and pleading, the yellow mare tries desperately to get loose from the table as the needles again rip into her delicate flesh.
“*SCREEEEEEE!!! …FWUFFIES NU FOW HUWTIES!!! …*SCREEEEEEE!!! …AM FOW HUGGIES AN’ WUV!!!”
The yellow mare is now singing in the man’s lap, smiling and looking up to him as she does.
“Fwuffy wuv mistuh, mistuh wuv fwuffy! Fwuffy wuv mistuh, mistuh wuv fwuffy!”
The yellow mare is now pushing her bed with her snout, grunting and giggling as she does. Once she gets it to one side of the wall, she then pushes it to the other side as fast as she can.
“Weady…an’…Gu!!!”
Over the course of the experiment, as the subject received the negative physical stimuli, she would of course become distressed. This led to dips in Serotonin and of course, depression. Once the counteractive positive stimuli was given, she would then become happier, her Serotonin levels rising. Day three saw an unusual phenomenon however, as the subject started to have her baseline Serotonin levels rise higher each day. By day eight the subject was now far happier than before the experiment had began and at day twelve, she experienced Serotonin levels only seen in fluffy mares that had recently produced offspring.
GENTEK SEROTONIN CHART E-489A
This did not last for the duration of the experiment however. Day sixteen showed a slight dip as her overall Serotonin levels seemed to be evening out.
The mare is in the man’s lap, cooing and enjoying her affection and treats. She is no longer singing but she is smiling, her eyes closed.
By day seventeen, it is clear that the experiment has caused her Serotonin levels to plummet into a freefall. The counteractive positive stimuli no longer being enough to counteract the negative physical stimuli. This leads credence to the previous theories within other experiments that show that a fluffy requires new and more exciting forms of joy and entertainment to keep their Serotonin levels from slowly dropping. By day nineteen, the subject had become despondent and unreactive to all stimuli except the negative physical stimuli.
Screaming wordlessly, the yellow mare tremors as her body is pierced by the needles again and again.
*SCREEEEEEE!!! …*SCREEEEEEE!!! …*SCREEEEEEE!!!"
The mare is in the man’s lap. She sits up, no longer smiling as he pets her. Her eyes are wide but she isn’t crying, her gaze downward. The treats are nearby and haven’t been touched.
The subject’s Serotonin levels dropped too low for the biotoy to recover, with the subject entering what is know as the “Wan Die” loop two days after the experiment officially ended.
Experiment-212F
In our last experiment for this discussion, we will be studying the relationships between offspring and mother and the ability to discern and identify distress in their offspring and to identify the source of that distress.The subjects are an earthie mare, with a phenotypical display of light blue through blue: genotyped at DNA Hexcode #1BB6CA with a secondary display of light purple for it’s mane and tail. Her offspring is identically DNA Hexcoded, but his mane has yet to develop as he is only two days old.
In a simple saferoom, the blue mare licks and cleans her foal, singing to it as she does.
“Mummah wuv babbeh, babbeh wuv mummah! D’wink wots ow’ miwkies, gwow big an’ stwong!”
The foal has a very small microchip placed under it’s throat and beneath it’s fluff, unnoticed by the mare. She takes the foal and begins to try to attach it to her teat, only for it to receive a slight electric shock. It began to instantly chirp and cry, flailing away from the mare’s nipple.
“Babbeh?! Wut am w’ong babbeh? Babbeh hab huwties?”
After a few moments, the foal has calmed, the ordeal from before forgotten. The mare smiles and begins to place the foal on her teat as before. The foal again is shocked, as it releases a sudden shrill squeak and even releases a small amount of waste. The mare is visibly concerned, as once again, the foal refuses to feed.
“Babbeh! Wat am w’ong! Teww mummah!”
This experiment attempts to see if the subject confronted with a distressed offspring that is below the age of communication can identify the source of her foal’s concern and manage the situation. A small electrode was placed into a microchip, and then that chip was hidden onto the subject’s offspring. The scientist in charge of the exercise was instructed to apply a small shock each time the offspring attempted to feed. A newborn fluffy foal requires constant feedings every few hours to survive so the subject will have the pressure of realizing that if she cannot find the cause of the foal’s distress, it will expire.
Clearly a decent amount of time has passes as now the foal chirps and squeaks rapidly, clearly hungry and sad. The mare is crying, unsure what to do as each time she tries to feed it, it flails and cries even harder, refusing to latch and suckle.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…Babbeh teww mummah wat w’ong p’wease!”
The subject clearly knows that something unusual has occurred with her offspring. A fluffy’s level of mental devopment isn’t that different from a child’s, with the exact level varying from fluffy to fluffy. While the subject wants to alleviate the obvious distress of her offspring, she has yet to discover a method to do so.
More time has passed as now the mare, shaking and crying, keeps placing the foal against her teat, as the foal screams and peeps, trying to use it’s little underdeveloped nubs to push away from her teat, with each time his muzzle makes contact with her nipple, he shakes and screams more fervently.
“BABBEH NEE” MIWKIES!!! BABBEH NEE" NUMMIES NAO!!! WISTEN TU MUMMAH!!!"
The subject is now in a blind panic. An unknown malady is forcing her offspring to refuse to feed and in her consternation of the now starving foal and the foal’s phantasmal bouts of agony, she has become desperate and frustrated.
The mare is cradling her foal, her body convulsing as she sobs. The little foal is no longer moving at all.
“*huuu…*huuu…*huuu…babbeh…*huuu…*huuu…”
Clearly the subject was unable to save her offspring. While able to identify that her offspring was distressed, she failed to be able to identify the source of that distress. The Hasbio programming that allows the biotoys to see and comprehend emotions in others are stunted when compared to a human’s, with the biotoys being able to see when another fluffy is sad, but without some outer form of communication, being unable to discern anything deeper about that sadness.
I hope that this presentation had been informative. We have made many discoveries that have only broken the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the artificial psyche and biology of the Hasbio fluffy. Please join me next time when we will be experimenting with organ and limb transplants and the effects of GvHD(Graft versus Host Disease) within biotoys.
Dr.Thomas Underhill
GenTek Biologist/Analyst
So in the spirit of theme week this is my submission. It’s a way too literal interpretation of the question of “Why is my fluffy crying?”
I had the idea and decided to finish it up and post it. If you are reading this and you haven’t, why not enter a theme week submission yourself? Even if you think you have nothing to offer, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Draw, write, sculpt, anything really as long as you have fun doing it. Have a wonderful day 