Mr. Adams’ Guide to Practical Fluffs - Part 11 – Episode 2: Spoons
by Oculus
Featuring art by Spoons, Shadysmarty and Carpdime
~
“Being a part of something for so long and then losing it can make you feel strangely… meaningless.”
That was what Miss Caird told you while you were doing research into the Pillows breed. As an ex-member of Hasbio, she would definitely have had familiarity with the inner workings of what was Hasbio. Miss Caird noted that due to their initial status as biotoys, many early fluffy breeds had intentional genetic defects. This oversight may have led to many engineers leave the company, and with it, many projects on various different fluffy breeds being abandoned.
You think back to a discussion you had with an alternate version of Sam Adams many months back, regarding how certain breeds were prototypes. Fluffy ponies were always a work in progress, and there were experimental breeds, along with the defined commercial breeds, as well as independent breeds that existed in the wild. Breeds like the KMEB and MEH, which were made early in the development of fluffies and were abandoned not long after, would have been somewhat experimental. Breeds like the Carpdime and Foxhoarder, which have a long history of commercial release and existence in the wild, would be “defined” fluffies. And then there was Pinkyfluffy, the breed that baffles even Samuel Adams. Everything about the Pinkyfluffy is an anomaly, given the supposedly sordid history of Hasbio.
You feel somewhat happy that Miss Caird had expressed an interest in returning to the field. But alas, and as you had noticed the endless files of metal cabinets, you know that there are many other genetic engineers who had lost interest in the endeavor.
~Spoons~
There was a name that caught your interest while you were trying to decide the next fluffy breed you wanted to research. While looking through the various names, you found a cabinet that had the name “Spoons” engraved on it, along with a few others. It caught your eye for the same reason that the Pillows name interested you – it was a rather innocuous name, based off a household item.
The dossier on the Spoons breed was very bereft. Compared to the amount of work that went into cataloguing the more popular breeds like the Carpdime and Foxhoarder, there seemed to be even less on the Spoons. Prior to looking through the archive, you never heard of the Spoons breed. Flipping through the, there was nothing that marked the Spoons breed as fundamentally different from the more popular breeds. Off-hand, you can tell it was a type 1, much like the Carpdime and Marcusmaximus, but beyond that there was nothing else that seemed to mark the brand as “unique”. In the file there were a few reports on observations about the Spoons breed existing in the wild, as well as a rather cute image of a foal being hand-fed milk from a bottle. The only interesting thing is a group of fluffies on a lawn, wearing a vest, and eating grass. Nothing too out of the ordinary, save for one of the fluffies being used to roll over the cut grass for some odd reason.
Closing the dossier, you place it back within the metal cabinet where you first found it. Taking a step back, you stare at the metal cabinet, and then pan your view around the room. You get an uneasy feeling, something drives you posit to Samuel Adams the following morning.
Getting to the first floor of the ABAP building, you look for the catalogue responsible for covering the available breeds that could be purchased at ABAP. And, true enough, there is no listing for a Spoons breed.
~
The following morning finds you back in the butler suit, pushing a tray with a plate of steak and eggs. Putting the cart aside for a short while, you open the door and find Mr Adams watching the morning news.
“Morning laddie!” greets Sam in his bathrobe. Unlike the last time that you saw Sam, he seems much more energetic and cheerful. Judging from the lingerie you see slightly peeking out of underneath the king sized mattress, you have a sinking suspicion that he had some activity the previous night.
“Morning, Sam,” you say as you push the breakfast cart in. “Had a good sleep?”
“That I did, laddie. I had a good read of the report you did on the Pillows, and I’m somewhat happy about the new developments of the Pillows breed in the world.”
Within minutes, Sam is wolfing down the steak that had been prepared for him. As he eats, you feel it’s the right time to ask the question.
“Sam, I know that we’re doing research into fluffy breeds that still have a presence in the world, like the Carpdime and Foxhoarder. But with all the archives gone, is there any significance to researching a breed that has gone extinct? Especially if we lack information on it?”
“What got you started on that thought, laddie?”
“Miss Caird said to us that losing all that information, all the history just makes it all so, meaningless. We’re working with a lot of information that seems to be lacking context and further thoughts beyond what we can guess. And while there are some people who put in a lot of effort into their work, what Hasbio Sam did just sort of nullified it.”
”I get what you mean. Its why I was in a slump a few days ago.
I think, I think the most we can do is just try our best. The world is moving on, and they’re creating new breeds all the time. The sudden demise of Hasbio has seen some of ex-Hasbio staff returning to developing fluffies, and breeds that were once considered abandoned are now being reworked.”
You look outside of the window. In the distance, you can see a small group of lawn fluffies working on the lawn of one of the more affluent residents of Nerry Road. Like in the picture you saw in the dossier earlier, the fluffies are wearing a high visibility vest. But you noticed that none of the fluffies are being used to roll over the grass. It’s a minor observation, but something starts to click into your head.
Sam notices that you are distracted by something in the distance and asks, “Whats the matter, laddie?”
“Nothing. Just watching some fluffies doing gardening.”
~
That thought persisted all the way to the underground of ABAP, as you returned back to the cabinet where you had put aside the Spoons dossier. Returning to the picture, you then realized what was so unusual about it. Despite being a type 1 fluffy breed, you notice that one of the dams is incredibly bloated.
You are wondering how you missed this detail. You are familiar that, in the distant past, pregnant fluffy mares used to bloat up before childbirth, an unusual phenomena that was phased out after a while. So far, the only fluffy breeds that you know that still exhibit this physiological oddity are specific Type 2 breeds like the Foxhoarder and Muffin. But this is the first time that you have seen a Type 1 breed exhibit this behavior.
You then turn to the image of the fluffies being observed in the wild. You realize that at least one of the images features a similarly bloated dam. You notice that each of the image is attached by a paperclip to a report. You had glossed over the report previously, but you decided to give this one a read.
You carefully observe the two images. In one image the orange fluffy, clearly the “Smarty” is resting in front of the cave, keeping one eye open, while the rest of his herd is deeper within the cave, keeping warm by huddling together. In another image, the same herd leader is looking over its feral herd and is deep in thought. As opposed to the more carefree and playful nature demonstrated by its herd, the Smarty concerned for the well-being of his herd, and his trying to determine the best course of action to maintain the safety of his fledgeling group.
You are wondering whether there were further records about this surveillance project. But there was none, and you suspect that this was one of the things that Hasbio may have expunged. The last image involving this specific orange herd leader has him confronting another herd leader, this time a blue one, but in alleyway in a city. This particular photo has no accompanying report, rendering it another conundrum.
You take a good look at the photos of the bloated dams that were safeguarded by the orange fluffy’s herd, and the bloated dam used by the domestic lawn fluffies. Something didn’t seem right about seeing these bloated fluffy dams, especially considering that they were a Type 1. For a brief moment, you remember the dream you had of the exploding fluffy dam. Somehow, these bloated dams remind you of that dream of the fluffsplosion.
~
The next morning you mentioned this to Sam while serving him his breakfast.
“I’m surprised that, despite being the Type 1, those dams had a characteristic of bloating up before giving birth. I thought that was a trait only seen in Type 2 breeds like the Foxhoarder and Muffin fluffies.”
Sam sighs, as he sadly notes, “It was an intentional defect that Hasbio had left in some of the early fluffy breeds. The Marcusmaximus had that trait, as it was one of the earliest breeds.”
A bit baffled by that realization, you then blurt out, “ But I’ve seen pregnant Marcusmaximus mares give birth, and they never bloated up!”
“That’s because they’re a descendant of the original Marcusmaximus. The authentic Marcusmaximus mare was supposed to bloat up during pregnancy. I don’t know if the engineer behind the project corrected it when he came back last year, as his return was rather brief, compared to Carpdime’s return. It’s why a lot of the fluffies of Marcusmaximus breed are not authentic, as they are the result of continuous cross-breeding while trying to keep some of the traits. But the one thing that was edited out through the preservation act was this bloating trait.”
“I can see why you would want to breed out or edit out this trait, but wouldn’t it seem inauthentic considering that it was one of the original generation had?”
“I think it’s a difficult question. The general consensus is that a breed might die out, but there is a hope that a breed could continue in some way or rather. At one time, it was generally believed that the Carpdime breed would die out, but the popularity of the breed resulted in the AIDS and FierceDeityLynx projects, both of which continued preserving the memory of the Carpdime. Likewise, the Gowdie breed preserved some of the genetic lineage of the original Mutagen, Marcusmaximus and Aichi breeds.”
“But eventually Sam, they would die out, wouldn’t they? I mean, continuing a breed under a different name doesn’t mean it’ll last forever.”
We don’t know. That’s like say the original pitbull is extinct. Which is the case. But the pitbull breed still survives, even though it is very different from its predecessor.”
“Why didn’t they completely remove the trait?”
“Some saw it as cute. Also, it’s a means of keeping a particular fluffy breed more domestic by limiting its reproduction to a domestic setting. It’s much like munchkin fluffies are not capable of reproducing without intervention.”
As Sam says this, he takes out tablet, and, with a fre presses off a button, shows you a video of a bloated Carpdime dam.
“I’ve never seen Carpdime dams bloating up during pregnancy!”
“It was a one-off project Carpdime did. I actually talked to him about it, and he mentioned that, at one time, it was a trait that Hasbio was trying to foster. It was going to remain that way until Shadysmarty showed a better alternative.”
“Shadysmarty? As in, the Shadysmarty breed?”
“Yes. The Shadysmarty breed was one of the first fluffy breeds to not have the immobile pregnancy trait. Fluffies were originally designed to produce a large amount of foals purely for high production, which is why they bloated up, but Shadysmarty demonstrated how the same process could be achieved without having the mares bloat up. Of course, and fluffies were deemed to be sentinent animals, the emphasis on high production was removed, which is why fluffy populations are a lot more manageable now.”
~
Shadysmarty sounds like an interesting guy. Perhaps you should research him next. But you want to see if you can find out more about the Spoons breed. From what you can gather, they were an early breed in the development of fluffies, making them similar to the KMEB, MEH and Mutagen breeds.
You had seen the image of the foal being fed milk from a bottle, but you just noticed that a report had been attached to it. The report was rather brief, but seemed interesting.
For a brief moment, you wonder what happened in Cleveland. You turn to the final document that you find in the dossier, which is that of a blue fluffy hugging a corgi. Attached to a note it that merely reads, “Blue and Ruff.”
~
The following Tuesday evening finds you in Sam’s private study. His eyes are currently perusing a few documents you had prepared, as well as Spoon’s own documentation regarding the Smarty named Listen and his herd, as well as the two pictures of Blue and Starsplash.
“This is really interesting information. Is there any more?”
“I’m afraid that’s all there is, Sam.”
Bzzzt! The vibrations of a cellphone made their audible presence known, and Sam reaches for the cellphone in his pocket. After a brief introduction, the muffled voice from the other hand causes a visible consternation on Sam’s face.
“Who did you say tried to reach us?!”
After a while, Sam calms himself down.
“Alright. I guess we’ll have to work things out with him.”
Sam places the phone on the desk, and takes in a deep breath. A little concerned, you ask, “What happened, Sam?”
With a straight face, Sam explains, “It’s Mutagen. Or rather, it’s the genetic engineer of the Mutagen breed.
His lawyer just contacted us about a cease & desist.”
END OF PART 11
