Neighborhood Fluffs #6 by Chikahiro

“Saffwon am Saffwon,” the yellow fluffy practically sings. “Am soon-mama!”

“Soon… mama?” you stammer, stunned.

“Heehee,” she giggles, looking away. “Saffwon gon’ hab babbehs! Wub babbehs!”

Coco looks at her with surprise. “Bu Saffwon no hab speshuw fwen!”

“Saffwon no hab speshul fwen,” she said cheerfully. bu’ daddeh gib babbehs!”

“Hoomin daddeh?” Bubblegum asked.

“Hoomin daddeh!” the yellow fluff sang back.

“How did your daddy give you babies, Saffron?” Your face is burning, awash in horrible thoughts of what it could possibly mean.

“Weww, daddeh say dat Saffwon was good fwuffy cause Saffwon no make woud noisies ow make twouble. So said could haff babbehs if wan!”

“How yu daddeh gif Saffwon babbehs,” Coco voiced, repeating your question.

“Daddeh fwen cum to housie wiff two an’ one stawwions,” Saffron’s eyes looked back, thinking. “Towd Saffwon couwd pick stawwion fow hab special huggies wif fow babbehs, bu no fow be speshul fwen.”

All the other fluffies gasped. You might have as well. It was a bit of a relief to hear, though. Illegal as hell since fluffies are legally required to be spayed or neutered in Hawai’i, but still a relief.

“Saffwon saw pwetteh blue wingie stawwion wiff boo-ti-fuw white mane an’ taiw an’ wingies… Saffwon wanted babbehs pwetteh wike stawwion so hab speshul huggies!”

“An’ yu weawwy gon’ hab babbehs?” the brown fluff asks, her voice incredulous. “Coco nebah see soon-mama or mama befowe.”

The yellow fluff giggles.

“Saffron,” you say, before she can resume her story. “Can you please come here? May I see something please?”

The yellow mare comes foward at your beckoning, looking up as you crouch down. Holding up your smartphone, the flashlight is turned on, illuminating the inside of her ears. There’s no tattoo in either, with odds being pretty good she’s not chipped either. There’s a coo as you stroke her head when finished.

She’s not supposed to be here.

“Thank you, Saffron.”

“Yu wewcome!”

She continues with her story, talking about how excited she was, how she kept dreaming about the blue and white pegasus, and how she went out looking for him after discovering a hole in the house’s floor leading outside. Saffron was so happy and excited she was sure she could find him and make him her special friend. Until she got lost.

A lot of the old homes here, ones dating back 50, 60 or more years, were made of reclaimed wood from the plantation days and were lifted off the ground by wooden posts. There was usually a fair bit of crawl space between the house and the ground, with the only thing normally keeping things out from underneath was lattice or wooden slats across. But, if not kept up? Yeah, makes sense she got out. Old house.

You look at the yellow mare as she beamed. She’s so happy, not knowing the trouble she’s part of.

“Well everyone, I need to get to sleep because I have work tomorrow,” you announce. “But I think it would be best if our soon-mama slept in my house tonight.”

The fluff squeals with delight.

“Hello, Maui Humane Society! This is Miko, how can I help you?” the phone blurts at you. You texted your boss you’d need to come in late as you had errands to run. He was okay with that, thankfully. Morning came a little quick this time around given you were up late setting things up for Saffron, then trying to sleep through her humming a mama song to herself.

“Hi, I need to report a pregnant fluffy. Is this where I do it?”

“A pregnant fluffy? Are you sure?” she asks, not sounding confident in your statement.

“She says she’s pregnant. No tattoo in either ear. I’m going to bet she’s not chipped, either.”

“Oh dear,” she says. “Let me put you on hold.”

When the line picks up again it was in the middle of a good song. As always.

“Hello?” Miko says. “I’ve made this into a conference call.”

Another voice speaks up. “Good morning. I’m Officer Celario from the Maui Police Department. You say you’ve got a pregnant fluffy?”

“Yes sir. She’s been running around my neighborhood. Apparently she got out of her house and lost.”

“Do you have her? Or is she still running free?”

“I have her. Once I found out last night I brought her into the house.”

“Are you there yourself?”

“Yes,” you reply. You hope this doesn’t take too long. “Need my address?”

Its shortly after 9 o’clock when the police leaves with Saffron. They’re surprisingly quiet and discreet about everything. The car was actually one of the plain cars they use for surprise speed traps, which was sort of neat. Officer Renulfo Celario thanks you for your time, gets the rest of your contact information, and says he’ll be in touch.

As you turn to go back into the house to get ready for work, you notice Coco peering from the side of the car port, huddled up close to it. She looks at you, head tilted.

“Whewe Saffwon gu?”

A sigh escapes while you walk towards the brown fluff. Crouching its easy to see the concern written all over her face.

“Saffron went with the police. They’re going to keep her safe.”

“Po-wice onwy cum fow bad hoomins,” she replied. “Saffwon no hooman, iz fwuffy.”

“That’s right,” you say. “But Saffron’s daddy did something very bad.”

“Iz Saffwon in twoubwe?”

“I don’t know,” you reply with a sad honesty. “But her daddy is. And if he knew Saffron could get him in trouble, then he might make her go away forever.”

It hurts watching her, head going back and forth between where the police drove off, your face, and nowhere in particular. The little gears in her mind slowly turning on everything going on.

“Coco nebah see soon-mama ow babbeh fwuffy befowe,” she lamented. “Coco wan’ see soon mama an’ babbehs.”

“You and me both, Coco. You and me both.”

((questions and comments welcome as always))

Part 7 —>

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A picture of that old style of house. Note, there are newer ones in this style. And old ones, if kept up, can be nice.

Summary

old plantation style house

In the older areas you can still find homes like this. I remember some in the neighborhood I grew up in. Actually, the house I lived in my first year at college in Georgia was like this too. VERY old house.

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Ohhh poor saffon :sweat:

Hope she wont get well aborted her baby due to the rule, thata gonna make the poor thing traumatized.

Love how the officers and the talks more formal and surprised

With the small town he have , it will be easy to found who is the owner.

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Aw I was hoping to see her swell up, sing happy songs and see what kind of interactions she would have with the main character and the fluffies, and the.cute baby moments! With her showing them off and such and such
But such is life :confused:

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I hope Saffron get to keep her babies but they let her have them elsewhere and afterwards spay her and fix the babies before letting them return to the herd. That would be sweet but one never knows if fluffies are restricted with all the rules and regulations around that. :pleading_face:

@Chikahiro lovely story. Please keep it coming. I look forward to each chapter. And I learn something new about a place halfway around the globe from me while at it. Thank you. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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You can thank @Mr_Owl as he once threw out he’d like to see fluffies from other parts of the world instead of Generic Town or Generic City, USA.

Here in Hawai’i we’ve got a lot of native stuff that is endangered or extinct. There’s been a lot of mistakes and accidents regarding outside plants and animals. As such, we do watch out for this sort of thing, plus cats and dogs get quarantined for diseases when entering the state (fun fact: we don’t have rabies here!). So, to me, there’s real world precident for how fluffies would be handled here.

But, sadly, IDIOTS insist on smuggling stuff in regardless, and accidents continue to happen (a few years ago it was discovered that somehow coqui frogs made it over). Given Hawai’i doesn’t have much in the way of predators, plus our plants don’t have much in the way of hostile defenses like plants in other areas? Yeah, gotta try being smart about it.

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Very understandable that Hawaii needs to keep strict rules. We’re not so isolated here in Scandinavia but there are still foreign/invasive species wreaking havoc on the eco system. One of the worst cases thus far is the american mink which hadn’t been particularly troublesome at first with a few wild ones but them some animal rights activist group decided to raid farms and release all the minks. The fallout from that is still felt over 30 years later with some birds been nearly wiped out from their nesting grounds.

I can’t even imagine the devastation should there have been fluffies in the real world. Those things breed quicker than rodents of all shape and sizes… although we do have the advantage of relatively cold winters.

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Fortunately they’re more defenseless than most rodents. Relatively large, slow, poor mobility, clumsy (or not agile), not adapted for outdoor climates, few instincts of use, etc. I think most headcanons would agree they’re made to human dependent.

Now, clearly this in isn’t the case here, but I’ve also dialed back on other things too.

I like your canon. Heck, I like all your work. The way you portrait things be it in text or image format always poke me in the feels. Keep up the good work. I look forward to more neighborhood fluffs and other works. :heart:

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Its less having an overarching canon and more a preference for the stories I want to create. I’ve got a number of one-shot story/ads that are more neutral or admit to more negative elements with current/popular content.

They’re all ingredients, but not all are appropriate for every dish, you know? :slight_smile:

I think the diversity we have here means if you’re in the mood for something you should find it. Which is good. Folks like @BFM101 @anon68543914 @OtherCoraline etc make some great stuff I quite love even though it’s not hugboxy or even necessarily neutral. But it’s all good storytelling :slight_smile:

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That said: I’ve noticed over the years that musicians are often more open minded about what they listen to and what music can be than their fans. It would not surprise me to see that other creators are the same.

Not saying you’re not open minded. Just a matter of while I read stuff outside my speciality I feel I’m getting more tools for my ingredients pantry. And that’s all canon is to me :slight_smile:

That’s what I figured about the way you write and draw things but I couldn’t quite put the words on it. I’m fairly new to fluffy lore. The closest I’ve seen earlier is Fluffle Puff but then I slipped down the rabbit hole after finding out about fluffies from youtube. Curiousity led me here and I’ve found so much inspiration I thought I’d lost years ago. :heart: