Sam Adams Guide Chapter 11 - Episode 1 - Pillows Tribute (Author: Oculus & Pillows)

Summary

Mr. Adams’ Guide to Practical Fluffs - Part 11 – Episode 1: Pillows

by Oculus and Pillows

Featuring art by Pillows

continued from Part 10

“Work for Mr Adams? But dear, you don’t strike me as the real estate type.”

Your mother is right.

“I mean, do you even know how to close a business settlement?”

You are currently in the middle of a video call with your parents. The call is being conducted from a bunker which has been arranged to resemble a recreation of your room, so as to fool anyone that calls you by video. Having announced to your parents the decision to leave your previous job and work for Mr Adams, your parents are puzzled by this choice. After all, and given your many years of service at your previous job, the announcement came rather suddenly.

“What are you doing at ABAP exactly? You’re not a veterinarian, and you don’t really have that expertise.”

Struggling to come up with a good excuse, you say that you are currently working as an assistant to Mr. Adams.

“I’m surprised that Sam would even be looking for an assistant.”

As your father say this, Sam himself joins the video call. The window opens up, and you can see Sam in his office.

“Oh, hello Sam,” says your dad. It has been a while since the two have last spoken.

“Hey there,” says Sam, calling your father by the name he’s always known him.

“Sam, I’m a bit surprised that you have hired our son,” says your father.

Sam, with a smile on his face, winks towards you, as he turns his gaze to your father.

“I’ve known your lad for almost a year now. He’s been helping conduct research on my book about fluffies. While neither of us are fluffy experts, our approach was to write a layman’s guide to the various fluffy breeds that were distributed by Hasbio.”

“I didn’t know you were working on a book! Why haven’t you told us that?” voices your mother, conveying her surprise.

“It started out as a hobby. I met up with Sam, wanting him to introduce to a breed he’d recommend as a pet. We ended up covering something like 30 different breeds, and now he’s planning to write a book about it.”

“Well son, it sounds like you have landed a big opportunity for yourself, working as Sam’s assistant.”

The rest of the call seemed to go as per normal. However, as the call continued, and while Sam maintained his happy demeanour, you could see the eye bags around his eyes. Knowing the man to get a healthy amount of sleep, the once youthful Sam seems to be pressured about something.

You stare at the iron ceiling of the bunker, the sole giveaway that the apartment you are in is not your actual home. You wonder how long you will be in this place. You wonder what’s on Sam’s mind.

~

It is morning, and you have been instructed to bring a plate of Eggs Benedict and fresh coffee to Mr Adams in his private office at 35 Nerry Road. As one of Sam’s maids does some quick measurements and prepares a butler’s suit for you, you get the sense that Sam is a bit serious about the job bit.

Upon entering the room with silver tray in hand, you see Sam, at his table, his body in a slump. His hair is a bit of a mess, and both hands are on his head. Whether it is a headache, a frustration, or just listlessness, it is clear that Sam is unhappy.

“Whats the matter, Sam?”

A tired and heaving exhalation comes out of the man, as he plainly states, “I just don’t know how to continue with my book.”

Bringing the tray to his table, you lay his carefully prepared breakfast before him. Trying your best Alfred Pennyworth’s attempt, you say, “Your breakfast, Master Adams.”

The joke alleviates Sam’s spirit, as he says “Just call me Sam, laddie.”

As Sam tucks into his eggs, you reason with him.

“But surely you know so much about fluffies. You spent so much time with them.”

“It is not that simple laddie,” says Sam, upon finishing a morsel. He then continues, “A lot of my research was reliant on actually visiting Hasbio, as well as reading up the records. And now it is all gone. Whatever he did, he took everything. Not just the patents. The transcripts, the interviews, so many things are now gone and lost to time.”

“Why not use those impractical breeds? I mean, they could enter different dimensions, and we could get more info about the different breeds from timelines similar to ours.”

“What, and risk all that nonsense all over again? And given that its inter-dimensional travel, I might not even get the exact history I want. This is not time-travel.”

You understand where Sam is coming from. Although you had gotten to known breeds like the Mutagen and Meh, you had mostly known them through adventures in worlds different from yours.

As you watch Sam finish his breakfast, you ask the one thought on your mind.

“Is there nothing we can do?”

Upon finishing his coffee, Sam thinks for a moment. He turns to you.

“I can think of only one thing.”

~

~Pillows~

~A Tribute to The Rejects~

You are currently at the fluffmart area of the ground floor of ABAP. (And thankfully, you’re out of the butler suit.) In contrast to the many breeds that you had seen many months ago, only half of the number of fluffy breeds are now available, due to the machinations of Hasbio Sam.

“Fwuffy wub nyu mummah!”

But, and as you see a happy child hugging her new Carpdime fluffy, you take comfort in knowing that some favourite and classic breeds still exist in this world.

Sam brings you to an enclosure that has various fluffies of a Type 2 breed. However, they look like none of the types 2 you have seen before. They do not resemble a Gowdie, a Foxhoarder or even a Muffin. You thought they were a Coalheart, but the body structure is not quite the same.

You see that the breed has a rather unusual name.

“Pillows?”

“That’s what I’m wondering laddie. This was another one of those breeds where the creator disappeared not too long ago. All the blueprints related to this breed were destroyed at both Patent office, as well as Hasbio. We’ve trying to understand this breed, but we have little to go on.”

“Well Sam, what do you know about the Pillows?”

Sam sighs a little.

“I guess it is time I showed you that place.”

~

You’ve been walking underground for over an hour now, but Sam seems to be guiding you towards some area deep beneath ABAP.

Flicking on the switch, you see rows, and rows of metal cabinets.

“Whats all this?”

“This is everything ABAP had on Hasbio. Or rather, as much as we had managed to acquire. We don’t have the patents, but what we had was genetic data, and an archiving of various breeds. We have kept it here though, and under protection.”

Looking at the wealth of information that ABAP has acquired over years of monitoring fluffies, you gasp, “This is incredible!

So what do you want me to do?”

With a matter-of-fact look on his face, Sam addresses you, “If I’m going to finish my book, laddie, I’m going to need your help.

I need you to look through the various cabinets, and see which breeds I have not documented yet in my book so far. We’re going to start with the Pillows, since they seem to be in danger of disappearing.”

~

A day has passed. Looking through the cabinet with all the data on the Pillows breed, you try to decipher what little remains of the genetic blueprints, as well as records of Pillows breed fluffies sold at ABAP. So far, you know that there were two different versions of Pillows fluffies. Following Type 2 conventions, both versions had legs that lacked fluff, compared to the body, and the head to body ratio is longer. However, the earlier iterations of the Pillows breed had shorter legs, whereas later releases had much longer legs.

It is coming into the early hours of the morning. You’ve pored through the data about the Pillows breed. How it was one of the last fluffy breeds released when fluffies were still considered “biotoys”, before official legislature had deemed them as sapient animals. There was also a lot of mention in the documents about intentional weaknesses and defects left in the Pillows breed, like how their hooves were softer compared to other breeds. But there just doesn’t seem to be enough information. As you keep looking through the documents, you’re starting to have a sense of the difficulty Sam is going through.

RING!!!

The shrill sound of a ringing telephone in the basement interrupts your concentration. Mounted on the wall, you go up to it, and pick up the call, wondering who it is.

“Hello?”

You hear your name, and a familiar voice, as he says, “Are you there? It’s me Johann.”

Surprised, you asked, “How did you know I was here?”

“Sam told me about the whole research thing. I think you should check out the Fluffy Planet channel today. At 2pm.”

“Why Fluffy Planet?”

“You’ll see.”

~

There’s a bunk bed near your little research area in the basement, along with a television. You managed to get a good power nap, and are now ready to watch the telly.

You hear the Fluffy Planet jingle, followed by the appearance of Gilda, one of the presenters on Fluffy Planet. You have not seen the channel in a while, but you remember the last time you saw Gilda was when she was interviewing the creator of the Emotional Support Fluffy breed.

“Today, I am pleased to present Miss Caird. She was the creator of the Pillows breed of fluffies.”

Initially drowsy, the announcement awakens your senses. Your eyes flare up, and you sit up straight, you mouth agape, as you stare at the television screen.

Miss Caird strikes a figure of a woman with rather plain looks. Remembering how Micah Mixalot demonstrated a presence and showmanship, Caird’s gait and appearance speaks of a humble woman, fitting a woman who prefers not to be in the limelight. Dressed in smart business casual and high heels, she manages a simple smile, as she sits down in front of Gilda.


>"So tell us a little about yourself. When did you join Hasbio?"

"I worked as an independent contractor in 20XX and was hired for a genetic scientist position a year later at Hasbio’s main headquarters in the US."

>"How long were you with Hasbio?"

"I was there for roughly two years."

>"What attracted you to Hasbio?"

"I did some small work for their parent company, Hasbro for their pony lines as a small-time food scientist. When Hasbio was launched, I was shown a few small-time contracts which interested me and when I was given the chance to score a long-term contract, I went for it. Fluffies, even in the beginning, always interested me. They’re the closest thing we have to real-life chimeras. A creature that is a sum of a dozen other things."

>"Why is the name of the breed Pillows?"

"Well, when I got started, I got assigned designation PLL. It's not uncommon for us--, well, I mean, them, to use it as a starting point. Explains why some poor bastard got stuck with AID.

But you can't pronounce P-L-L. I thought about calling my strain 'Pills' or 'Pulls' but I don't have to work in marketing to tell you that you can't sell 'Pills' to kids. Then I remembered pillow fluffs. 'Pillows' fluffies wasn't a trademarked term yet so I took it. I figured, hey, free advertising, right?

No one told me until it was approved and far too late to take back.

Would you believe me if I told you that I truly didn't know about pillowing until I had the name?"

(audience laughs)

"Of course, I had heard the phrase 'pillow fluffies' in passing but I didn't know what the term had meant. In my mind I imagined those, what were they… Those stuffed animals you could turn into a pillow? I thought it was just a cutesy name for a stuffed animal."

>"Do you have any idea why so many genetic engineers and/or their respective breeds have such weird names? I can understand Carpdimes, Buwwitoes and Marcusmaximuses, but names like FierceDeityLynx, Black-Dragon-Blood, AIDS and MEH are really kinda kooky."

"From what I've heard, back in the beginning, getting a brand-name was fairly easy. You listed which ones you wanted and you would probably get one of them. Then Hasbio realized how much bank they were sitting on and started copyrighting all the good ones. Plumps, puffies, softies, fuzzies, plushies, cushions, you name it, they took it.

Eventually, I guess the higher ups just got tired of the fighting over trademarks and just started assigning people letters. I was technically 'P-L-L-OS'--, the Pillows Strain Overseer.

Some people started using the letters as a backronym. You know, assigning a phrase to a bunch of letters. DBK is Dirt biker, FOF is foal out four, BDB is black dragon blood."

Others, like KMEB, MEH and AIDs leaned into it. AIDs especially. Poor guy got the luck of the draw but what could you do?"

>"How familiar are you with some of the older genetic engineers who were at Hasbio? For the record, we’re still trying to understand the work of the people who created the KMEB, Meh and Coalheart breeds."

"I was coming in as they were on their way out. I didn’t have much contact with them but I really respected their work. The most contact I ever had was a positive appraisal from KMEB on one of my genetic sequences, I think."

>"People keep saying that there were a lot of scandals associated with Hasbio. Why would that be the case?"

"There were. Many of the Hasbro subsidiaries had issues, whether it be infighting or outside influence. Seemed there wasn't a day that went by where there wasn't some kind of HR meeting or passive aggressive memo being handed out.

I think due to the nature of the work, Hasbio had it the worst, *especially* after the Cleveland incident."

>"What made you leave Hasbio? People cite the scandals but we’re trying to understand what those scandals are."

"A lot of the higher-ups were, somewhat understandable, unsatisfied with the specimens that were being produced. After a few of my own specimens were exterminated, I took a leave of absence, during which I had a bit of run in with a stapling gun and injured my hand. Around then, I put in my resignation. I didn't see the point of going back."

>"What is your opinion of the rise of independent breeders who have developed fluffies ever since they have gained rights as semi-sentient animals? Whats your opinion of the more rural/farm based approach to fluffies that genetic engineers like Carpdime have started employing?"

"I don't know how to feel about it. On one hand, it keeps certain fluff lines alive while still maintaining at least some form of consistency with the breeds. Pillows were originally designed to be completely unable to thrive without human interference.

It seemed not to last, however. I’ve heard reports of small herds of Pillows currently living within forests without any human presence."

>"With Hasbio now gone, do you see yourself joining any new corporation that may fill Hasbio’s place, or will you work independent? For reference, Carpdime and Muffin have described themselves as ex-Hasbio employees who are now working independently."

"If I was given a more flexible contract, I could see myself working under another corp. Pillows were meant to be somewhat open-source, if you excuse the outdated term.

>"How do you feel about the sudden destruction of Hasbio? Along with the sudden erasure of all the genetic patents, including yours?"

Miss Caird does not answer the question. She stares at the ground, biting her lips. She gives a simply reply, the best she seems to manage.


“I prefer not to say. I’m still coming to terms about it.”

RING!!

That fucking phone again, disturbing your concentration. Though you want to keep watching the final moments of the interview, you consider that the call may be too important to ignore.

And true enough, as you bring the receiver to your ear, you hear Sam’s voice.

“Laddie, come quick. Someone important turned up!!!”

Oh really, who?”

“It’s the creator of the Pillows breed, Ms Caird!”

~

Within the ground floor of ABAP there is a veterinary sector, where owners can bring their fluffies for a routine check-up, or for a medical emergency. Currently on the table is a small little cyan coloured foal with a blue mane and purple eyes. Judging from her hooves, you can tell she’s a type 2 and, after spending the past day researching the breed, you can tell that this is a Pillows breed fluffy. She is currently being attended to by a male vet, one of the many working at ABAP. From his name tag, you gather his name is “Blake.” By Blake’s side is another man, most likely the owner of this foal.

As you step into the room, you overhear the end of their conversation.

“She’ll be here soon.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry to trouble you all about this.”

As you step in you see that the cyan foal waves to you. She smiles, silently

“Hello there, little one!”

“I’m afraid she can’t hear you.”

You turn to Blake, asking “What do you mean?”

“Petal here has a severe case of microtia. Basically put, she was born deaf. She doesn’t have an ear drum or canals.”

A deaf fluffy. That thought horrifies you a little. You’ve had experience volunteering for the deaf, so you can only imagine how difficult life is for a deaf fluffy.

There are a few symbols lying around on the table. Petal walks up to one of them, and holds up a card that has a milk bottle illustrated on it.

13

“So you want milk, huh? I’ll get you a cup of milk.”

As Blake walks to get the cup of milk, you heard to voices behind you, that of a male and a female.

“And here is the veterinary area.”

“That’s good. Is she here?”

As Ms Caird asks this, Sam looks at the table and sees Petal. And he smiles.

“Yes, she is.”

You are a little awestruck at the moment. So far, the only genetic engineer that you had met was Muffin, the creator of the fluffy breed of the same name. But now, you are meeting Miss Caird, the creator of the much older Pillows breed.

Petal’s owner is relieved to see Ms Caird too, as he exclaims, “I thought I wouldn’t see you again!”

“I know. I heard about the whole thing with Hasbio. It seems to be that, moving forward, Petal as well as your other fluffies are going to be receiving their check-ups at ABAP instead.”

Unintentionally you ask, “Other fluffies?”

“Petal is one out of three fluffies I currently own,” narrates Petal’s owner. “I ended up adopting her and her brother Punk, who were the survivors of a feral herd that was illegally hunted. The other two fluffies I own are both adult mares. PJ is an ex-breeder mare who was used to make Christmas foals, while Pelusa was an abandoned fluffy who was suffering from psychological trauma.”

“That’s real nice of you to adopt those fluffies, especially since they seem to come from different backgrounds.”

“Indeed, but I also have to make of their well-being due to their past history.”

Blake comes into the room, and places the cup of white beverage on the table with a straw. Petal, while remaining silent, scrambles for the straw, and drinks readily.

45259 - artist_pillows miwkies_week mspaint petal safe

“So how is Petal at the moment? Is she still affected by the loss of her brother?”

“Loss?” you ask.

“Yes,” laments Petal’s owner, as he relates, “there was a terrible accident. Punk somehow landed up in the laundry without my knowing. And when I finally found him, he was too far gone. Petal and PJ have managed to move on, but Pelusa is still struggling to come to terms with his disappearance.”

“I’m sorry to hear.”

“But Petal’s fine. She’s been growing up fine, but I still need to keep an eye on her due to her condition. Teaching her has been difficult, since apparently there’s a lack of a syllabus for deaf fluffies.”

As he talks, Petal finishes her drink. Feeling satiated, she lies down. Miss Caird goes up to Petal, and examines her. Sensing a familiarity from this nice missus, Petal opens her mouth, and lets Miss Caird check her teeth and gums. Letting her hands roll her around, the genetic engineer checks her legs and body.

The last this she checks is her aural area. They remain blocked.

“All good, all clear.”

Ms Caird cradles Petal in her hand, gently stroking and massage the little one. As the foal is deaf, she is reliant on tactile suggestions to ease her. The soothing feel of Ms Caird’s fingers relaxes Petal and after a while, she falls asleep.

~

You are currently at a café located on the ground floor of ABAP. Petal’s owner had left not too long ago, and Sam has taken the opportunity to officially introduce you to Ms Caird.

“I’m please to meet you. I heard from Mr Adams that you’ve been researching the breed I created.”

“I have,” you replied, “but I am afraid I had little to go on. Which is why I was surprised that you came back. I have so much to ask about the breed, as well as Hasbio itself.”

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come,” says Ms. Caird. “I flipped-flopped on the idea a little. But then I heard about the loss of Hasbio. For a moment, I was worried that Petal may have been affected as well, which is why I had to check to see if her owner was still around.”

“You seem to be really attached to Petal there.”

“I am. I feel responsible for the way she turned out.

When I worked the Pillows breed, Hasbio was starting to cut corners with a lot of engineering. You see, we were still working with the marketing of fluffies as biotoys. The breed thus had issues with skill deformities, most present as face numbness or rigidity which is a direct cause of malformed nerve endings.

Originally, it was believed that her eardrums were intact, but covered with skin that had grown over the ear canal.

However, an MRI revealed that there were no ear drums or canals! Her inner ear was still intact within her head but it was malformed. The cochlea was absent and there were no pathways to connect it to the brain in any meaningful way.”

“How did you come to meet Petal and her owner?”

“At the time, he really wanted to get a cochlear implant for Petal. Hasbio kept denying his request, claiming that it was impossible, but he kept trying. I found out about the case after a while from social media, and it bugged me because this was a case that was the result of my own shortcuts. Even though the Pillows breed was supposed to be domestic, the feral herds survived without anyone to care for them and, in addition, a foal like Petals existed because of the defects inherent in genetic engineering.

So I wanted to do what I could for Petal. I wanted to help develop a cochlear implant for Petal, the first of her kind. But alas, I then found out about the MRI.

But I still check up on Petal. She’s been very obedient, and is definitely intelligent. I’ve been trying to work out a syllabus for deaf fluffies.”

You are in awe of Ms Caird.

“You have a good heart, Miss Caird. It’s not your fault that Petal was deaf. And surely there’s many other fluffies thata re born deaf.”

“Yes, but that defect came about through the shortcuts I left in there. I know I can’t help every deaf fluffy out there, but his persistence inspired me. And I think the effort was worth it – Petal has proven to be fairly intelligent, despite her limitation.”

There’s a question on your mind. One that Miss Caird did not answer during her official interview. Sensing the opportunity, you ask her the question.

“How do you feel about the sudden destruction of Hasbio? Along with the sudden erasure of all the genetic patents?”

“Laddie….”

“It’s okay Sam. I take it you saw the interview.”

“I did, yes.”

“I was on the spot. And it’s something I’ve actually been thinking about,” says Ms Caird. She avoids your eye contact and looks to the side, as she keeps talking.

“Being a part of something for so long and then losing it can make you feel strangely… meaningless. It doesn’t matter what memories I associate with Hasbio, whether they be negative or positive, because at the end of the day, it was a part of me. I looked forward to going into work. I loved talking with my coworkers and discussing ideas. Of course, there were bad times, times where I just felt like giving everything up. But it’s gone now. And I don’t really know how to feel about that.

On one hand, we lost a lot by the closure. Many people, like myself, weren’t alerted to it and didn’t have time to back up our files. I do know of some archivists who are backtracing the current code to get the originals and some archivists that have whole libraries of the stuff but we’ll have to wait to see if that comes to fruition.

On the other hand, Hasbio had a heavy hand in all the patents which caused a lot of restrictions and limitations.

Without that and the horrible executive meddling that seems to be present in all Hasbro subsidiaries, it’s easier now to get a fluffy strain going. I’ve seen a lot of good work coming from the newcomers to the breed.”

“Well, I am really happy you came back. It was a good pleasure to meet you,” you say, as you offer your hand.

Receiving it, she shakes it, and smiles.

“And you as well. If you need any further help or information regarding the Pillows breed, I am more than happy to help. I am hoping to start some new work with my breed.”

~

A few days have passed, and you had managed to type out a report on the Pillows breed, based on your findings, as well as through continued discussion with Miss Caird. Having sent a copy of the draft to Sam, you happily place the metal cabinet on the Pillows breed back in its place.

Stepping back, you see the many other breeds that you may have to go through. You’re not sure where to go next.

13 Likes

I was going to take a bit of a longer break from the Guide, but an opportunity came up that I could not pass up on. I am grateful to @pillows , as she helped co-author this chapter of the guide.

Some notes:

  • The answers provided to the interview session is all Pillows’s work. She also has to be credited for explaining Petal’s microtia defect.

  • Due to how odd the interview came out here, it can be read on its own here

  • You can read The Rejects series here. I also am looking forward to the reboot of the series.

  • I really enjoyed writing Petal here. I plan to do a seperate tribute piece focused solely on the Rejects, especially with Petal.

This overall chapter more focused on hugbox, with the next fluffy breed I plan to go over for the guide is the Bluefluff. However I have yet to decide what other breed I’ll go over with it. And don’t worry, there will be some adventures and interdimensional shenanigans in future chapters.

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Really loved the collaborative approach taken for this chapter, very fortunate that this opportunity came up to work direct with the artist! I was looking forward to this Pillows feature for a while and was not disappointed.

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I’m happy to hear! I’ve been wanting to collaborate with Pillows since the middle of last year, when she reappeared for a while to comment.

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Wonderful work! It is really does give an entirely different feel with a first hand account and interview.

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So would it be okay if I started my own series with a protagonist named Sam (no last name, just Sam) or would that be too easy to confuse with this one?

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Sam is a pretty common name so I don’t see why you have to ask permission for that. I mean, someone pointed out to me that the name “Samuel Adams” is also the name of a crafted beer brand.

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