The Living Doll
Why are fluffies “bio-toys”?
And why aren’t they pets?
I mean, a dog is essentially a bio-toy; you play ball with it, give it strokes, bathe it, clean it, care for it, pick up its poopies, you treat it like a close friend.
So what stops you from cutting off its legs pillowing it? What stops you from making it eat it’s own crap? What stops you from taking its young and drowning them in a bag?
All cruel stuff, no sane person would inflict harm on them right?
So what differentiates them from fluffies?
Simply put, fluffies aren’t real.
You can do whatever you want with them. They’re toys and that’s all they can ever be.
A simulation of an animal. Even it’s thought processes have been mapped and thought out. You can even wipe their memory with ease and download a new mind into them. They’re all essentially the same.
They’re not natural and never will be, they came from parts of animals spliced together to form a pig-hamster-horse that talks, is colourful, poops and eats.
They don’t have a nature, it’s all artificial, it’s all programming.
Their programming allows them to respond to certain stimulus.
They see a human and they react a certain way just to grab our attention. Their programming allows them to mimic a somewhat stereotypical cutesy and needy child. Have you ever noticed that in a room with one adult and many other fluffies, they’ll still seek out our attention no matter how many fluffies are there to play with or keep company.
They’re designed to tug on our heartstrings, in a very cynical ploy. Everything about them was thought out in a boardroom somewhere with unfortunate scientists tasked to bring what is essentially an interactive cartoon and bring it into existence.
They were made specifically to be kept indoors or the garden.
Specifically human conditions.
To be around humans who would watch over them. They were made for us to be our living room pets.
They struggle to prosper elsewhere (how many ferals survive?) and, originally, weren’t meant to breed (until the company wanted baby fluffies to be a thing, what a disaster that was).
But it’s the program, their “mind” if you can call it that, that makes them a toy.
And why they’re not treated as a living being. They merely mimic sentience. It’s also artificial and designed for a particular purpose.
Their programming was originally and specifically designed to appeal to young children.
Hasbio really had it all thought out.
A toy that could potentially grow up with your kid (if you didn’t replace it of course). A toy that could talk and be cheery and spend time with your child when you’re not there.
A child would play with them, a friend they could pick up instantly from a shelf and it would always be their friend.
For as long as they lasted. Or at least until the next release.
Fluffies would have been released on a seasonal cycle with new colours and features making the previous obsolete.
Think like a mobile phone is, but more interactive and requiring your full attention.
Male fluffies would like running, playing with balls, getting lifted up high. Females would be more maternal, be creatures of comfort, love playing with soft toys and being more pleasant and soft to hug.
Speaking of hugs, do you wonder why they love it so much?
And why they think it cures hurties?
It’s a programmed response, a comforter. Their minds can only comprehend pain at one level. A hug acts like a placebo, a placebo that blocks out feeling pain. Well maybe.
The company had this idea in mind that if your child fell, scraped their knee, took a knock; the fluffy would be there to comfort your child and hug them.
It’s an artificial response to injury, but they don’t know how to recognise minor to major injuries consistently. Even if inflicted upon them, the gravity escapes them. Losing a limb is on the same level as being sorry sticked on their foul asses.
They’re programmed to comfort your child. Huggies cure hurties, they’re programmed to believe that.
And by that psychological concept, Huggies cure their hurties too.
No matter how big or small, the pain feels the same, the Huggies cure all pain.
Retarded or what?
And as it’s programmed into them that all injuries can be cured by huggies, whether human or fluffy, they cry out for huggies if they’re hurt by anything from small to fatal, and are all too happy to run out and disregard danger to give huggies.
As they can cure all of their ills.
And to a fluffy they all want to be good friends, good mummehs and good fluffies.
Everything about a fluffy is designed (cynically) to appeal to our better nature, to adore them and to love them.
All of their flaws and traits planned out (except for their bowel problems and poopies), the product was never made to last long.
If anything, the flaws were always part of the plan to make you buy an upgraded fluffy when they became available.
They’re programmed to be an instant pet, one that will respond to your whims, will make you feel less lonely and plug that gap in your life that can only be filled by companionship.
They respond and behave based on a programme that was conceived by scientists who believed all the friends of young kids acted like this and that a toy horse eating spaghetti is cute.
You tell me if that’s natural or what?
They’re meant to be literal creatures of comfort. A colourful companion that you know isn’t permanent.
They also, very cynically, appeal to another type of fantasy too.
That pets see us as their parents. Why do you think Hasbio wanted them to be pretty childlike?
If the kids don’t want them, then they’d appeal to young adults and people who loved kids.
A creature that you can buy from the store that acts like a small child.
Hasbio quite happily pander to this idea, and feed into the idea that they are substitutes for children. Why are so many of their toys similar to human babies?
Wouldn’t you just love it if your pet was actually able to call you mummy or daddy? Fluffies can certainly do that
Hal had seen these things in the papers, online, his buddies at work had talked about getting their kids these new toys on the market.
Super cute too.
”Fluffies”
And they were fairly new to the market. Hasbio had released them into the wild as part of a marketing campaign.
Real Life My Little Pony.
Designed to appeal to MLP fans as well as small kids. Hal had seen grown adults, men and women, they had them, walking down the street with these things.
They cooed over them, giggled. They couldn’t take their eyes off the things. The fluffy would look up warmly and with so much love in their eyes.
“Daddeh”
He had been surprised at how much a grown man could love a pink creature like that.
They’re meant to be toys after all right? He’d never seen a grown man act like that over what was a doll, especially in public
His kid had been after one though, well two of the things. Apparently they’re extra cute when there’s two of them. Extra cute means extra dollars.
His son had heard that they like playing together and that two can make baby fluffies too. That meant extra dollars too, more of the things?! For real?
Hal had thought this over, a stuffed toy that makes babies? They looked so real though.
What were these bio-toys?
“Fluffies” as it turned out, weren’t stuffed except for bio-tissue. The bio tissue allows for a true bond and connection between your child and the fluffy. The fluffy can grow with your child. They can grow up to be the bestest of friends.
Or so the ad spiel said.
A toy made from “bio-tissue”, whatever the hell that was.
They were everywhere you looked and a lot of places kept them in stock.
Pet stores soon stopped selling dogs, cats and fish. These things were the future and the old pet stores that sold domestic animals would be a thing of the past.
You feed them, you clean them, you clean up their crap? That seemed a lot of effort for a toy.
They’re pets under a different name!!
It was kind of like tamagotchi. Hal begs to think about the many tamagotchi he had as a boy. He had a lot of them. They never seemed to “live” long. Hal was happy to keep them in his pocket until he needed to be entertained. But forgot about them when he grew bored.
The world before mobile phones was a strange one.
Hal had seen a deal for a starter kit, everything you could want to keep a fluffy.
$75 dollars seemed a lot. But had all to could want to sustain them and maintain them.
Now for the fluffies.
He decided to buy a fluffy for $100, a purple fluffy which had a shock of red for a mane. It smiled joyfully and reached up its arms when the owner guy went near him.
Hal smiled at the little guy. He seemed to be the cutest of the bunch. His bright colours stood out, and the purple reminded him of The Vikings in his hometown in Minnesota.
The owner held the thing in his arms, cradling it and walked over to Hal.
The fluffy’s big eyes could catch anyone’s attention. They looked into Hal’s excitedly and lovingly. Like you’re the best thing ever.
The fluffy greeted him. “Hewwo?” “Aw oo nyu daddeh?” “Fwaffy Wub oo” “Fwaffy Wub Daddeh”
There was just something really charming about the thing. Such big and vibrant eyes, it’s teeth sparkled and they had a look of such pure joy.
Hal secretly could see the appeal, they were very cute. There was something about the way that they called him “Daddeh”, it made his heart flutter a little. Even his own son when he was around didn’t speak to him like that. Last time he did the kid was barely out of diapers.
The deal was made and the fluffy was put in a lined box full of hay for warmth. It shivered inside the box, it whimpered and was scared of the sudden darkness.
An instructional manual was given to Hal too. The guy who ran the store told him to follow it like a bible. He’d need to follow it carefully and not deviate. They were still new and the kinks were being worked out but the most important stuff had been worked out first.
Hal figured it couldn’t be more difficult to play with than setting up his son’s Xbox.
And what a pain in the ass that was! At least there’s no cables involved here.
Why did he need all of the stuff in the starter kit?
Besides it’s not like his boy wouldn’t know what to do with the thing.
Playing with the little thing looked easy.
He had seen them in the window hugging and rolling a ball. What more could it want? They didn’t seem to want anything complex. Or expensive.
He was hoping this wouldn’t be a drain on him. Since he only had his son at weekends, and sometimes a few days in the week, everything felt like a competition with his bitch ex wife. She was an actual harpy.
Hal brought both boxes with the fluffy inside and his son leapt out of his chair. He’d been playing Xbox half-heartedly, he knew his dad was bringing him a fluffy home. His birthday was tomorrow but he couldn’t wait to see the fluffy.
Hal placed the box down with a smile, he told his kid to open them when he was ready. The boy prised off the top of the box. He gasped when he saw what was inside.
“Hewwo nice mistah aw oo nyu wittew daddeh?”
He smiled back joyfully and picked it up straight from the box and spun him around so excitedly. The fluffy giggled and loved the “gud uppsies”.
And his son loved that little thing, he said it was the best birthday present ever!
He named the little thing Berry, Hal had been surprised that it was a boy fluffy with pretty colours like that.
He looked at the fluffy’s ass and lo and behold, there was its set of balls and a small tube indicating the peen.
A boy fluffy? Like Roger’s son has?
Hal began to ponder what made it so different than a girl fluffy? Was the girl fluffy meant for girls? So what was this male, and what exactly was different. Did it matter? But then again was this why his son wanted two? A male and a female to come as a pair?
Berry was a charming little fluffy. Even from day one at the store from when Hal laid eyes on him.
He greeted Hal every time he walked through the door after his security shift at the hospital. No matter how hard or awful, the fluffy was there to greet him and look up at him as if he couldn’t wait for him to get back indoors.
Always the same “hewwo nice Daddeh. Do Daddeh hav nummies maybe Sketties?”. Hal always raised a smile and ruffled the fluffy’s mane and it giggled.
It also meant his son stayed over more often. Hal would keep the fluffy, his ex wanted no part in it but began to seethe over the phone more about hogging all of the time with his son.
Hal would always laugh and remind her of the time where she wouldn’t let him see his son at all for a year.
The fluffy certainly had a draw to it.
His son loved taking the little guy to the park, he would take it out and play with a kite, play with a little ball.
Everyday his son would come home from school and play with the little guy, he would watch TV with him, let the little guy watch him play Xbox. Show him off to his friends online or through that Zoom thing or whatever.
His son enjoyed all the good stuff that the fluffy had to offer. Hal hadn’t seen his son as happy as this in a long while.
And then the kid had an accident with Berry.
It happened when he took him out to the park to play frisbee with the little guy.
Hal didn’t exactly get to know what happened but a bone was poking out of Berry’s front leg.
It looked pretty fucked up.
“Aaaaaaghhh!!! Aggggghhhhhhh Huhuhuhuhuhu su hewties pwee Daddeh giv huggies go hewties pwee giv Huggies fo hewties huhuhuhuhuhuhuhu”
The fluffy sure was loud when it was hurt, but damn if that was human leg it would sting like a bitch.
The guy who had helped his son at the park in bringing the fluffy back had experience with these.
His leg was patched up. But only Temporarily. Just to stop the bleeding. Though it was only a trickle, the open wound would be a problem.
He would help Hal with what happened next.
“What do you mean I’ve gotta cut it’s leg off?!” Hal fumed. Who the fuck suggests these things?!
The man looked calmly back, he replied “I’ve been around these things. Even owned one up until last week. They’re no ordinary toy. Have you ever seen a toy that bleeds and has bones? If you don’t want to waste money you’ve got to cut its leg off and patch it up or it’ll get infected and stop working. It’s in the instruction manual on page 88.”
Hal looked stunned. What the fuck?! Cut off its limb? And they instructed how to do it in the book?
The guy had his manual, the same as Hal’s never read version, and opened the page.
“How to safely treat your Fluffy’s injuries: How to safely amputate a limb”
Hal looked at the book incredulously. For real, something like this in a book.
Hal stammered, “Won’t cutting its fucking limb off destroy its resale value?!”
The guy raised an eyebrow as if Hal said something pretty stupid.
He responded, “You’re kidding me right? It’s not a mobile phone. These things only lose value once you get one. They’re bringing these things out on a cycle anyway so they’d lose all resale value, even if it’s in pristine shape. They’ll always get replaced. You can’t exactly return it back to the store and get another one for free. The stores have policies to stop refunds for broken fluffies due to how brittle they are”
Hal couldn’t believe it. But the guy assured him he would help him otherwise Berry would be permanently obsolete. What the fuck had he bought?!
Hal took the steps and followed the guideline for the first time, using the guy’s manual. He cut the limb off as directed with the man looking over and keeping Berry in place and readying some bandages and a suture.
The fluffy screamed as the blade cut through its bone. The blade made a snap, like the sound of breaking plastic, but went through like cutting a hard biscuit. What were these bones made from? It wasn’t exactly as gruesome sounding as cutting through bones would normally imply.
Blood spattered from its leg oozing out.
So these things really do bleed Hal thought. Even seeing the blood on the old bandages he couldn’t believe it was Berry’s.
The fluffy begged for Huggies and begged. It cried out how much pain it was in. Hal was beginning to get annoyed with the sound of its voice.
The guy then patted Hal on the shoulder and said.
“Dude, just hug it. Trust me”
Hal looked at the man, his look was disbelief, and then he hugged Berry and his tears and cries began to ease until he just made a gentle huuu sound.
The fluffy began to sleep.
Hal hadn’t realised but he was cradling and rocking Berry just like a newborn.
Was that all it took to stop the crying from an amputation?
The fluffy had expelled faeces from itself and it’s tears had dried into its fur around its eyes. A toy pet that poops real crap and cries and gets injured. Wow.
The guy left his number for Hal to text him any time for advice. In fairness, Hal definitely needed him and he thanked him for helping his son bring back Berry to help him.
The guy then said he’d have a drink with Hal sometime. He said Hal was lucky, his own fluffy got gravely injured and nothing in the book could save it. All that would need to be done was pressing in the reset button located in its neck.
Which permanently turned the fluffy off.
He then shown Hal where it was, moving away the hairs on Berry’s mane to reveal a hard lump, a callous that didn’t move on Berry’s neck. Hal fingered over it.
“If your fluffy is broken and cannot be fixed or saved, press that button hard into the neck. It shuts them down permanently. It’s pretty hard doing it no lie but that’s all that could be done for my guy. Did it two weeks ago. I’m pretty sure I’ll get one soon again though. Wait until what they release in the update.”
Hal fingered over the hard lump. Just doing this and it turns off permanently. The fluffy cooed thinking it was being stroked while it slept.
Hal turned over his shoulder and seen his son at the entrance to the garage.
His son had been filming the whole thing from his phone. From injury to amputation to the advice.
The fluffy had made so much mess all over the place. It stunk horribly too. Looked like he was going to have to clean all of the shit out over the weekend after all.
Hal began to think maybe fluffies were the revenge that all those neglected tamagotchi toys wanted to take on the kids who had left them in a cupboard for the battery to die.
That explained the amount of crap. Or justified it.
He hadn’t realised how disgusting it was, a toy that actually shits.
Jesus how did they approve that?
And over the next few weeks, the fluffy had left its mark over the home.
Or had it done already?
Hal hadn’t realised how much the place stunk of its crap. The litterbox looked like it needed to be changed all the time.
That’s if it was used.
The fluffy’s mobility was extremely limited. And slowed it down considerably. No way was it going outdoors again.
It was never such a bother before.
In fact, the shitty smell was an afterthought. It didn’t bother Hal and he had always kept on top of its litterbox. So what if it stunk! His boy was happy with the fluffy and it didn’t make looking after it such a chore!!
Ever since the amputation, the fluffy just crapped wherever it wanted.
Hal had also noticed that the fluffy had not been eating its own food.
It was leaving the kibble for long periods before it would attempt to eat it.
The fluffy had cried all night.
Hal had only noticed that since the amputation. It had been weeks since that afternoon!! Fucking hell would it ever give him peace?
He got up furiously, he was pissed off and wanted to shut that thing the fuck up.
He opened the door quickly. The fluffy let out a startled scream.
“Pwee Daddeh su darkies nee huggies huhuhuhuhuhuhuhu”
The fluffy was in tears and lifted its remaining front limb towards Hal.
Its eyes looked so sad. It looked so pathetic but there was something in the way it looked. Like a child who was scared.
Hal felt his anger swallow into his body and he let it out again with a huff of his breath.
He crouched and began to give the fluffy a hug. The fluffy began to coo and its crying began to soften until it went into a snooze. The telltale sign a fluffy is asleep is that it’ll always make a cure snooze and snore sound. Hasbio had designed it to help encourage kids who couldn’t sleep to be able to sleep.
It seemed to work on grown ass men too.
Hal felt tired and wanted to get back to bed. It was 3am already, he’d been rocking the fluffy like a baby since 2am.
The fluffy cried every night now, and Hal’s routine was changed.
He always woke up grouchy in the morning and the fluffy had greeted him with a request for food at all times.
The fluffy’s voice was becoming less endearing, the fluffy’s sentences would always begin with “daddeh”.
He began to feel a pang of resentment hearing the word “Daddeh”. It was always followed up with a request.
Always for more food. Always for huggies. Always for Sketties.
Hal had realised his son had stopped playing with the fluffy since the accident.
Hal began to think maybe he had done the hard work all along.
Well, there was one time (maybe a few) were Hal’s boy was doing something to the fluffy.
Definitely not playing.
The fluffy used to scream and Hal would shout upstairs to make his son shut it up.
His son had been putting pins in its soft formed hooves and making it walk on them as well as burning it with the heated up metal part of a lighter.
Giving it a smiley burn mark embedded in its skin, making a dark mark in its fur with the scarring.
His kid would just hug the thing after hurting it just to stop it crying.
And it worked.
The fluffy would always stop crying out, the abuse could be kept quiet too.
But even then he stopped and got bored of harming it for fun.
The fluffy had lost all allure to his son and had become another irritating thing to ignore.
It didn’t matter if you hurt it, hugged it, or did anything.
So long as you fed it that’s all that mattered.
It would greet everyone with Daddeh and it didn’t matter what you ever done for it or did to it.
Quite simply his son had grown bored of this model.
The new model of fluffy was just around the corner. He had been looking online at the advertised release coming soon.
One night his son came up to him and asked if he could have another fluffy for Christmas.
He shown him a website on his phone with fluffies which had far fancier colours than Berry.
Hal looked bemused, “But son, you’ve already got Berry and shouldn’t he be enough?”
His son looked back blankly.
“Who’s Berry? You mean that shitrat, dad? Look he’s broken and he’s not working. These fluffies are a lot better the new ones that are coming out……”
Berry? Hal then realised his son hadn’t been referring to the fluffy as that for weeks.
Shitrat? That’s pretty new.
“Look kid, look………you’re not looking after the little guy. Until you prove to me you can look after him then I’m saying no to a new fluffy.”
Hal’s son stomped off in a huff. Hal began to wonder if he’d chill the fuck out at his mom’s for the weekend. Maybe even all of the week. Have a break from each other. Maybe get the place clean too. The smell was beginning to bother the neighbours.
Hal took time off his job. He hadn’t realised how much he had to do.
Hal was exhausted.
He had cleaned the carpets of the crap but the stains and the solvent used to clean it off left very visible marks.
A permanent reminder of where Berry had laid cable.
Hal had kept Berry out of the way for the cleaning.
He put him in a closet were the mop bucket is normally kept. The fluffy protested but it’s not like he could exactly move out of the way either.
“Best for you to be out of the way while I tidy”
He put Berry’s rear in the litterbox and a bowl of food and water in front of him. He kept the light on and closed the door.
That way, the fluffy could eat when it wanted and crap when it wanted. Because that’s all it ever did other than sleep and breathe.
Problem solved.
Hal was sure he had heard the thing crying. He turned up the music on the radio, he’d get the place in order for whenever social services called around.
They had been due for weeks but kept rescheduling. They were due fairly soon and the place had to look better for routine checks.
And the place was clean.
The smell of pine disinfectant was strong, so he opened up the window to let fresh air in. The cold air breezed in and the place felt fresher again.
It felt like his home before the thing had dirtied the place.
Maybe he would have a few days of peace, getting reacclimated, doing what he wanted in the house. He had missed that freedom.
He certainly didn’t want to deal with Berry.
He felt drained and wanted a break.
Hal decided he would let the thing out now after a day or so. He wondered if the litterbox would be full of crap.
He had it locked in for days after all. Why not put the toy away if his son wasn’t here to play with it.
Look after it.
Whatever.
He braced himself for the shitty smell.
And the familiar greeting. Of “Daddeh”.
And nothing.
The fluffy had looked miserable and was quivering.
The food hadn’t been touched, and the water looked like it had a few licks taken. There wasn’t even any poopies, the fluffy had farted in there but nothing that air freshener couldn’t fix.
Hal felt kind of bad for locking the guy in.
But he did need to clean up.
And be himself. He felt far less stressed.
But now he just felt bad looking down on Berry.
“Huggies little guy?”
Hal picked him up and hugged him. Hal could feel the fluffy shaking and then settling.
There were no tears and no poopies. It didn’t say a word. It looked thoroughly miserable.
“Wub oo……Daddeh” it had whispered quietly. It could no longer cry. And it’s heart hurties didn’t feel any better.
The fluffy had settled into a corner in the room and didn’t move.
It curled into itself facing the wall. It just wanted to close its eyes.
It was the quietest it had ever been since Hal had bought it for his son.
A few days later, Hal’s son had walked through the door with his mom.
He looked delighted with himself. And she did too, bitch.
Especially with what he was holding.
“What do you think Dad? I named him Bluebolt. He’s very cute huh? Have you seen his mane?! He’s just like Dashie!!”
Hal raised his eyebrow, “but son, what about Berry?”
His son paused, and then responded “dad, I don’t want to keep a broken toy. Bluebolt is so much better than Berry. He’s old season, Bluebolt is in at the moment……”
His son continued but Hal had heard enough.
“Son I don’t want you to keep that fluffy here, you can keep it at your mom’s. I don’t have enough time to look after myself, you or another supposed toy.”
An argument broke out between Hal’s ex and himself. Was she really expecting him to look after something she bought? He had enough problems keeping one.
She fumed back and screamed and shouted.
Hal wouldn’t be seeing his boy for a week now. Hal felt drained and tired, he needed to recharge and he knew it. He felt better knowing his son wouldn’t be staying for a while. Harpy fumed when she realised she would have to look after Bluebolt. Well, what did she expect to happen without talking to Hal first?
His son no longer wanted Berry and Berry had barely moved or murmured in days.
Hal read through the instructions. He found the manual in Berry’s old starterbox along with receipts. It hadn’t been that long ago when he had bought him. He wished that he read through this sooner. He had made a lot of mistakes according to the manual.
And a bigger mistake buying a fluffy.
As he thought, his son was right though he didn’t want to admit it.
The manual explained why Berry wasn’t being very fluffy-like.
The fluffy’s program had broken down.
Fluffies are exactly like physical tamagotchi, they rely on being cared for and catered to to keep them mentally well as well as physically.
When hungry feed, when dirty clean. When hurt or sad, comfort.
But they all need to be done constantly.
And consistently. Even discipline is counted as attention and fluffies thrive from attention.
Berry was indeed broken now. He had remained quiet for days and barely touched food. His ass hung over the litterbox and he barely moved from it.
Berry would murmur how much of a bad fluffy he was. And cry more.
You can turn a fluffy off but it’s permanent.
Mentally, Berry may as well have been in the tamagotchi graveyard.
It was no longer talking or even greeting. And barely eating. Hal hadn’t been called Daddeh in days. This was the easiest it had been to take care of Berry in all of this time.
The next step was the wan die stage.
A seemingly endless loop of the fluffy expressing it wanted to die and then suffering a grand mal type seizure.
Hal had researched that fluffies appear to suffer a form of epilepsy. Researchers were still trying to work out fluffies and how best to treat them.
Not even Hasbio really knew beyond the basics.
The wan die stage had yet to be triggered.
But that’s at the point when a fluffy is under constant, traumatising pressure.
Hal and his son had neglected the creature to depression.
Should he switch it off?
The instructional manual showed the precise way to switch it off for good.
Hal followed the instructions and placed his hand around the fluffy’s next and his other at the base.
The fluffy began to coo when he felt his Daddeh begin to stroke his mane.
Was he a good fluffy after all?
Berry had looked up, his father had him pinned. Was this a new huggies? Was this-
Hal applied the pressure with his thumb and broke the fluffy’s neck. The off button had now been pressed into his neck bone permanently.
Hal would make sure that he wouldn’t let his son bring another fluffy over.
The instruction manual included what to do when the fluffy had “expired, stopped working or was ready to recycle”
”Place in the box and take back to your store of purchase where they will be recycled as bio-waste and collected by your local authorities”
He found the box that Berry had first come to the house in.
He was smaller back then, far less fat and more cute and vibrant.
Hal squeezed the body in and took the box to the car to take it back as instructed for safe disposal at the store.
Something told him his son wouldn’t exactly care if Berry was gone. So he didn’t message him.
On the way to the store, Hal had noticed various boxes by shops and building and in alleyways that were just like Berry’s.
Fluffies were out on the street.
They were begging for food, huggies, someone to save them and their babbehs.
There were so many of them.
It was completely unexpected, they hadn’t been released to the public for all that long.
And people were dumping them just like this?
Or were they lost or had they escaped?
There was a lot of them.
He seen a few people picking them up. The cutest ones, the babies were always taken first.
Every fluffy had looked up expectantly and wanted huggies.
They were all begging for food and asking for nummies.
Just like Berry.
Hal began to wonder maybe he should’ve left Berry on the street instead.
But that would’ve been irresponsible. He looked at the fluffies.
None of them looked happy. Except for when a human was close by.
A complete 180 degree change, and you’d never guess they were miserable little beings.
Berry in his state would never have been able to survive in the street.
Probably starve or get hit by a car.
That didn’t feel like the right thing to do to just leave it out on the street to expire.
Would these guys actually be rescued from the streets?
The sheer amount of crap around them seemed to suggest no.
And not any time soon.
They all looked up at humans the way Berry had looked up at Hal.
And always called out for “Daddeh”
It somehow didn’t feel as charming that they all said it like that and he had learned that weeks ago.
He stopped the car outside the store and took the box by disposal as instructed.
He felt completely disappointed by the whole experience.
The store owner understood and took the box outback and stacked it onto another box awaiting to be collected by City Bio-Waste Collection.
He came back inside and thanked Hal for returning the fluffy “relatively intact”.
“Let’s just say I don’t see a lot of people who follow that manual book. You’ve seen a lot of them out there haven’t you?”
The store owner tried to interest Hal in buying some new foals that had come into the store today. They’re always snapped up by people who’ve just lost fluffies, the owner insisted.
“They’re not really my thing but thank you for helping me with Berry”
“Suits yourself, but if you do want another in the future. We never run out of stock of fluffies so come on by!”
Hal walked out the store to his car, a couple had gone in after he had and bought the foals that the guy tried to hawk onto him.
Figures.
On the drive back, he took a different route due to a collision and drove down close to where his ex and his son lived by. Not his normal route but a diversion that would only take a little longer to get back.
At the traffic lights he looked over and saw another fluffy. This thing looked close to expiry.
It was a pale blue colour with a rainbow mane. Except a lot it’s skin was exposed on its back and face. And part of the mane was missing. It looked like it had been burnt.
Boiling water? It’s skin had a lot of fresh blisters and it’s body looked bloated.
It’s soft hooves were beginning to swell and it could barely move. It’s body was beginning to swell. A guy taking pics of it remarked it had a but plug in it to stop or from shitting.
It was a horrible sight.
The fluffy was trying to raise its arms up towards the humans who had walked by, and the fewer who had stopped to gawp had taken pictures of it to post online.
The fluffy had been begging.
“Pw-Pwee…………pw-ee hewp……fwaffy……Pwee……giv…….huggies fo………hewties……Bwu-bowt hab su……many hewties……………”