I always had plans to return to Lupine and his family after the first chapter, but I knew in order to do that I had to finish up Josef’s storyline. For anyone not caught up, this now officially takes place after Requiem For A Doctor but all you really need to know is Spike’s ownership and some family connections which you can find out through this storyline anyway.
After how dark Requiem got I’m happy to try something a little lighter again.
Kathy Parker knocked on the door, hoping she’d found the right address, when the door opened she instantly knew she had.
The homeowner smiled at her. “You must be Kathy, come on in. I’m Nicola but you can call me Nikki.”
Kathy stepped in and shook Nikki with her free hand, her other one holding the carrier cage with Spike and Lily inside.
“I figured you were, I can see the resemblance to Danny.”
Nicola Hanson shared her brother Daniel’s thick auburn hair, though Kathy noted that her accent was much less pronounced, though the Scottish twang did pop up here and there.
Nicola nodded. “Aye, I get that a lot. Lewis and Danny are just through here.”
Nicola led Kathy through to the Living Room where Lewis and Daniel were still looking out onto the garden where Lupine and his family were still enjoying themselves in the child’s playhouse. Lewis felt something small push in-between them and saw Daniel’s nephew Craig trying to look out the window himself, though his little five year old body couldn’t quite see over the windowsill.
“Want see the Fluffies.” He spoke with the determination of a child who doesn’t understand failure.
Daniel chuckled and lifted Craig up so he could see the family at play. “I think the wee-yins like yer house.”
“Fluffies play with Craig?”
“Maybe, we’ll see whit yer ma says.”
Seeing Nicola at the doorway, Daniel carried Craig over to his mother, handing the little guy over while Kathy placed the carrier on the table and hugged Lewis.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice.” He said as he let her go.
“No worries, was off today anyway. And mum and dad are happy to look after the kids. Give these two a rest.”
Kathy opened the carrier door and allowed Spike and Lily to come out, Spike staying as close to Lily to make sure her wheels didn’t lose control.
“Hewwo daddeh.” Lily smiled up at Lewis.
“Hello Lily, you been a good girl for Kathy?”
“Yeh daddeh, Wiwy an Spike be su gud fow Kath-ee. Awntee Han-a wook afta babbehs whiwe Wiwy an Spike hewp daddeh.”
“That’s right, Daniel’s sister has a Fluffy family living in her garden, they look friendly but we want you two with us to keep them calm and show that we’re not mean humans who want to hurt them.”
“Can Spike see Fwuffies pwease?” Spike asked, putting himself into an upsies pose.
Lewis nodded and carefully picked Spike up, being cautious of his missing wing, despite the wound being fully healed he still tensed up if it was ever touched or brushed against something. Lewis carried Spike over to the window and let him watch the family at play.
“Dey nu wook wike Fwuffies Spike eba see befowe.”
Kathy came up beside Lewis and looked out the window as well. “That’s cause they’re Huggalo Fluffies.”
“Huggalo’s? What the hell is that?”
“They’re distantly related to Fluffalo’s, sturdier build to help not break quite so easily. They were also bred with better temperaments, less likely to have bitch-mares or Smarty syndrome, not impossible but rarer. They were designed for elderly customers, people who couldn’t look after a Fluffy 24/7 but still wanted a companion, Huggalo’s are more self-sufficient though the downside is that they NEED a partner, think how bad Fluffies are when on their own and multiply it, it’s not uncommon for Huggalos to enter the Wan Die stage just from isolation alone. Made them an easy target for abusers which is why they discontinued the line, but you still see them from time to time, this is the most I’ve ever seen in one place though.”
“Kath-ee know hew stuff.” Spike said impressed.
Kathy smiled and scratched his head. “I’m a Fluff-Mart manager Spike, they pay me to know these things. I’m surprised you’ve never come across them before Uncle Lou.”
“The Farm’s a big place, we might have had some in at one point and they slipped by me, but no, never seen anything like them before, must be rarer than we thought.”
“Well the good news is they are incredibly friendly, almost to a fault but for us that’s a plus.”
Kathy turned to Nicola. “I don’t know if you want to keep them but if you do then they’ll make great house-pets, plus their rare as all heck so you’ll get decent money for the foals if you decide to sell them. Although I recommend using me as third party to weed out any abusers or breeding mills.”
Nicola looked at Craig in her arms, his little eyes still fixed on the Fluffy family outside. “I think we’ll keep them, we’ve been discussing getting a Fluffy for Craig for a while, seems the perfect lot just walked into our garden. We’ll hold off on the foal talk until Nathan gets in, but we’ll call you if anything comes up.”
“Alright then.” Lewis said picking up Lily with his other hand. “Shall we go introduce ourselves?”
So as not to feel like they were ganging up on the Fluffies, it was agreed that only Nicola, Lewis, Spike and Lily would go outside first and the rest would come once the introductions were out of the way. Lewis placed Spike and Lily on the grass, Spike staying close to his mate to help her wheels with the rougher terrain.
As they approached the toy house, Mulberry peeked out the windows and his little face lit up when he saw them approaching.
“DADDEH, MUMMAH! Wook, nyu hoomin fwiends.”
In a heartbeat, the family of four all gathered outside their little house, Daffodil, Pine and Mulberry in a line with Lupine sitting in front to greet them. Cynically Lewis understood what Kathy meant when she said they were easy prey for abusers.
Lupine waved at them. “Hewwo nyu fwiends, am Woo-pine, dis am speciaw-fwiend Daff-o-diw, an babbehs Pine, an Muwbuwwy. Dis am famiwy homsie bu nyu fwiends awe wewcome tu stay.”
Nicola leaned in to whisper to Lewis. “He’s got better hospitality than most of my friends.”
Lewis chuckled and turned back to Lupine. “Hi there, my name is Lewis, this is my friend Nicola, and my Fluffies Spike and Lily.”
Spike waved at the family, Pine and Mulberry gasped when they saw Lily’s wheel-frame.
“Nyu fwiend hab wheewies fow weggies? Dat am SU coow.” And immediately the two youngsters ran over to ask Lily a million and one questions, Spike was a little iffy about letting them so close since he knew Lily could be self-conscious, but when he saw her laughing and chatting with the colts he knew she was ok.
Daffodil walked up to stand by her mate, a worried look in her eyes. “Am dis hoomin wand?”
Nicola nodded. “Yeah, this is my garden, that toy house belongs to my son.”
Lupine and Daffodil looked horrified. “Nu mean tu take homsies fwom wittew hoomin. Famiwy weave, nu wan twoubew.”
Nicola nearly jumped forward to stop them from leaving. “Now hold on there, we actually wanted to ask you, if you want to that is, would you like to stay here with me and my family. You can live inside and stay nice and warm.”
Lupine and Daffodil looked at each other, they did love their little home even though some problems were arising, the weather was getting colder and the open windows were putting a chill through the house, the plastic walls were holding the damp air a lot more making things that bit more uncomfortable, and the human litterbox was starting to smell REALLY not pretty.
But still, this was their home, their first home as a family and they loved it.
Lupine looked back at Nicola. “Can famiwy stiww visit homsies sumtimes?”
Nicola nodded. “Of course, you can even play with my son Craig in it if you like.”
Lupine cheered. “Famiwy hab nyu mummah, bestesh bwite-time eba.”
Pine and Mulberry stopped playing with Lily as they heard their fathers cheer. “Nyu mummah?”
The two of them raced over to join their parents in hugging Nicola, who had broken in happy tears at the love she was receiving. Seeing the happy welcome, Daniel and Kathy made their entrance, Daniel carrying Craig in his arms. Lewis stepped back to allow Nicola to make the proper introductions between the Fluffies and Craig and went over to join Nicola.
“Lucky that worked out, I’d feel bad if I had to remove them, they seem to love that little house. Strange that a Fluffy would take to living like a human.”
“Huggalo’s are quite intelligent for a Fluffy, likely Lupine had a human owner at one point and is just copying what he saw them do, he doesn’t look that old so likely he was a colt when the F.A.07isolation happened, stuck inside watching his owner work from home.”
“Maybe, but he’s got a new owner now, and I’m sure Spike and Lily will be happy to have new friends they can visit. I might even see if I can get Pine and Mulberry to take a fancy to one of their daughters.”
Kathy rolled her eyes. “Still with that Fluffy Mill mentality Uncle Lou? You gotta update that old brain of yours.”
“Really? You think you have a better idea.”
Kathy smirked as she brought out her phone and set it to video-record.
“I might do.”
Lupine was tidying up his little home when he heard a knock at the door, he opened it to see a grumpy Spike on the other side.
“Weww Woo-pine, Spike made it, dee-spite yuw diwect-shuns.”
“Ahh fwiend Spike, wewcome. Woo-pine hope yu pwepawed fow unfowgettabew nummies.”
Spike walked past Lupine into the home. “Nyeh.”
As Spike took a place at the table, Lupine headed for the kitchen only to see smoke coming from his tiny plastic over.
“OH SKY-DADDEH! Woo-pine’s woast am wuined.”
Looking out the window, Lupine caught sight of the fresh grass growing in the garden.
“Bu wha if, Woo-pine wewe tu take gwass nummies an dee-guys it as Woo-pine nummies. Ho, ho, dewightfuwwy devawish Woo-pin.”
Lupin put one foot out of the window to climb out, and the kitchen door opened with Spike coming to check up on him.
“WOO-PINE!?”
“OH fwiend Spike, Woo-pine was jus… stwetchan weggies on da windowsiww, i-so-metwic exacise, cawe tu join?”
“Wai is dewe smokies comin out yuw nummie cooka Woo-pine?”
“Wha? Ooh, dat nu smokies, dat steam fwom da steamed skettis we habben. Mmm, steamed skettis.”
Spike glared at Lupine before turning back to the living room, Lupine wiped sweat from his brow and jumped out the window to gather as much grass as he could.
A few moments later Lupine walked into the living room and placed two bowls of grass on the table.
“Spike, Woo-pine hope yu weady fow mouth-wawa-ing gwassies.”
“Spike fot yu say we habben steamed skitties?”
Lupine laughed. “No, ho, ho. Woo-pine say steamed GWASSIES. Dat wha Woo-pine caww aww nummies.”
“Yu caww aww nummies ‘Steamed Gwassies’?”
“Yeh, it a wegionaw diawect.”
“Uh-huh. Wha wegion?”
“Um… upstate New Yowk?”
“Weawwy? Coz Spike fwom Yu-ta-ca an Spike neba heaw anee-wun say ‘Steamed Gwassies’.”
“Oh nu in Yu-ta-ca, it an Awba-nee expwess-shun.”
“Oh Spike see.”
The two of them dug into their bowls, Spike noticing something weird about his food.
“Yu knyo dese gwassies awe quite sima-wa tu gwassies ousside.”
Lupine laughed again. “Ho, ho, ho , no. Pat-en-ted Woo-pine Gwassies, owd famiwy resip-ee.”
“Fow steamed gwassies?”
“Yeh.”
“Yeh, an yu caww dem Steamed Grassies, despite da fact dey nu eben cooked at aww?”
Lupine suddenly felt very awkward. “Ye… yu knyo… eh… mm… wun fing Woo-pine shouwd…excoose Woo-pine fow wun sec-und.”
“Of couwse.”
Lupine jumped into the kitchen and just as quickly jumped back out again with a yawn.
“Ahh, dat wa wondafuw. Gud time hab by aww, Woo-pine pooped.”
Spike nodded and stood up from his chair. “Yes Spike shouwd be…”
Spike’s eyes grew wide as he saw a wreath of orange bursting from the doorway to the kitchen.
“GUD SKY-DADDEH WHA HAPPEN IN DEWE?”
Lupine turned and without thinking blurted out.
“Auwowa Boweawis.”
Spike was gobsmacked. “A… Auowa Boweawis? At dis time of yeaw? At dis time of bwite-time? In dis pawt of da countwy? Wocawised entiwewy in yuw kit-shun?”
“Yeh.”
“…May Spike see it?”
“…No.”
Lupine led Spike outside, ignoring the smell of smoke emanating from the kitchen.
“WOO-PINE!” Daffodil shouted. “Da homsies am buwnin.”
“Nu speciaw-fwiend, it jus da Nothewn-Wights.”
Spike turned to Lupine, a stange look on his face. “Weww Woo-pine, yu am odd Fwuffy. Bu Spike mush say, yu steam gud gwassies.”
Spike nodded to Lupine and walked away, trying to ignore the screams of help coming from the house.
“CUT!”
Kathy stopped recording and put her phone away.
“Guys that was perfect, once I edit this all together we’ll have the next big viral hit, we’re gonna be internet famous.”
Kathy turned round to Lewis, his face one of confusion and disgust as he shook his head at his niece.
“Fucking millennials.”
“Bad wowdsies daddeh.”
