Chapter 14
The cry had gone up. “BIGGES POOPIES!” Dammit, dammit, dammit! Adam hoped he didn’t have to deal with this. Part of him wondered how he could hear the sea fluffy since it was underwater and he was not…but sea fluffies said ‘Fuck you’ to every other part of physics, so why start following the rules now? Adam rushed over, glad the mummahs were in an isolation tank. There was even a dividing partition to slide across the tank to separate the mummahs and babbehs. The top of it, which was the bottom to the mummahs, was sky to look like the bottom of their tank. The bottom, which was the top to the babbehs, was designed to look like the sky. They were fed using an underwater auto feeder for seafluffs. Yeah. They sold and made those things. Adam supposed if there were harnesses to walk cats, rats, and even bearded dragons, someone had made an auto feeder for a sea fluff. He tried not to think about it too hard, honestly.
Adam could really only watch the birth. Short of sticking his hands and arms in the tank, there wasn’t much to do. There was a glove that went into the tank to manipulate a fluffy, if necessary, but that was it. Interestingly enough, the fluffies got shot out, almost like how a seahorse male birthed babies. Yup, the male. Luckily the sea fluffs didn’t have this…interesting quirk. They were birthed by female sea fluffies, but in the Mill they would not be raised. Most of the mummahs were captured wild, so they needed to get the good genes and pairings out of the pairs, and then the good behaviors in them. He watched as the fluffy was birthing each…foal? Pup? He didn’t even know what to call it.
The first foal was eye watering red with a little nub of a horn. It cheeped as it slowly sank to the bottom of the tank, unable to do much more than flail at the moment. It found the feeder nearby, and began to suckle, the fluids mixing with the water before the mesh covered filter cleaned the water.
The second foal to emerge was white; a very good start for this sea fluffy to produce a good colored foal. This foal was a pegasi. Again, no sense for these things. It had tiny little wings that seemed to have webbing. Maybe they acted like flippers? It too sank to the bottom before clumsily flailing over to the feeder.
A third foal slid out, a seaweed green color. It was an earthie. Or what equated to an earthie under the sea. He really didn’t like these things. The foal began to drink from the second feeder. There was one teat left, and hopefully either no more births or one left. It seemed there were no more, as the placenta now floated out. Adam shifted the divider so it cut off the mother from the foals.
The sea fluffy mother tried to swim down, only to see the divider as the bottom of her tank. “Wha? Whewe babbehs? Babbehs? Nu hidey! Cum tu mummah!” She called, her swimming now a bit more frantic. Adam used the glove for the top compartment to bring the placenta to the surface to scoop it with the net and dispose of it. He ignored her crying, and then checked on the foals. They were done feeding, and Adam used the glove below to check them. The first born was a colt from what he could tell. Luckily the genitals weren’t different, but it was hard to tell with the fluff swaying in the water, and the eye watering color.
The second it was much easier to tell. A filly. Perfect. She’d be in the breeding program in no time. Adam gave the girl a little stroke on the head, giving her a bit of comfort, for being born lucky. The third…well, they may dispose of him yet. There wasn’t enough sea fluffy stock to just eliminate those with less popular colors. If he probed to be a hidey fluffy, as in liking to spend his time playing hide and seek in his surroundings…he may just make it. They had to have some sort of gimmick, after all. Hidey fluffies was for the sea fluffies. They were encouraged to play hide and seek and the owners encouraged to find places the fluffy can hide. However, the fluffy had to be trained to come out on the off chance the owner couldn’t find them. After all, a fluffy’s version of hiding was mostly covering their eyes and giggling about how they couldn’t be seen. Even if the third born could blend into a tank’s fake seaweed, the giggling would give him away.
Adam made a note on the chart. The first was unattractive, but a unicorn. The second was a perfect candidate for breeding provided no health problems were present. The third may be a candidate for a hidey fluffy.
Unfortunately, right after that birth, the stress of the other mummah made another sea flufff mummah give birth. She was due any day now, so it was luck that she wasn’t miscarrying. Adam hurried over to watch the birth.
The first was unfortunate, Adam could already tell. He thought it was a lump of shit, but no…it was a fluffy. It couldn’t even be a hidey fluffy. It sank to the bottom, and Adam used the glove to snap the neck so it couldn’t use any of the milk. He nudged the body into the corner for collection later. He thankfully wasn’t skilled enough for that. He had to snap the neck instead of crushing the body because of the scent of blood. The mother didn’t seem to notice the lack of chirps over her own ‘scree’ing due to the pain of birth.
The second was more promising. It was a deep blue and had fins of light turquoise. It was beautiful, even if Adam still thought the things were utter abominations. He nudged this one towards the auto feeder. A keeper for sure. A unicorn too.
The third born was unfortunate, but in a different way. A pretty green, but the left fin was too small. A pity. If only it looked like a clownfish, they could have bone with a Nemo look. But there were no deformities. The neck was snapped again, and nudged over with the other dead body.
Fourth born fared better. It was sand colored, and dappled like sand. A very good start. It was an earthie. It was sure to become a great breeder, whether it was male or female.
The fifth and final born was interesting. An alicorn, but it wasn’t the best color. The green was not pretty at all…but it was an alicorn. Adam sighed. It lived for now. The superiors could decide if it lived later. Species or color. Funny how it worked out. The regular fluffies he worked with would have called for culling the fluffy. They had prettier alicorns.
Adam slid the divider across, and heard the mother trying to get to her babies as he removed the placenta, then wrote on the charts. The alicorn had a question mark by it, along with a short explanation of ‘good species, poor coloring. Unsure what to do due to small stock.’
It was a relief to leave that room behind. The air was drier, and the room less warm. The halls were always colder than needed since the fluffies usually needed uncomfortably warm rooms. Adam checked his schedule. He was working with special fluffies again. Glow fluffies. They were…peculiar. Either their horn glowed, or the body did. Either way, they needed specialized care, and a lot more food. A lot of energy went into glowing. They generally lived shorter lives, though they were loved.
They had to be kept separate, due to jealousy issues between them and other fluffies. They were proud of glowing, and other fluffies would get jealous. They were also fought over, due to fluffies being afraid of the dark. They were like a living nightlight…and a few had gotten crushed due to them wanting to be close to the light.
Adam stepped into the dim room. It was so they as workers could see the intensity of the glow better. A brighter glow meant the fluffy was healthier and growing right. Even though most glows were a dim glow like a covered nightlight. They could make brief flashes of light, but it left the little things exhausted. Adam approached the group of little foals. As all fluffies, they were separated into colts and fillies. As his shadow was in the pen, the little fillies looked up at him. They had no chirpies currently, all walkie talkie foals.
“Nice mista! Am hewe to wook at pwetty fwuffies?” She asked, wagging her fluffy tail. She was pink with a purple mane and tail. Her horn was purple as well. She glowed all over.
Adam nodded. “That’s right. And to make sure you’re growing right.” He held his hand out to her, and she obediently went into the ‘upsies’ pose.
“Yay! Upsies!” She giggled, wiggling. She giggled as Adam gently moved each limb to ensure it had the full range of motion.
Adam checked to make sure there were no visible defects or marks that developed. The most was a little bruise on her nose that she claimed was when the ‘meanie waww nu move.’ So she ran into the wall. Adam made a note to make sure they had better padding. They thought at this age the fluffies would have better coordination. Adam checked her fur color, and it looked like it was growing in beautifully. He patted her head and set her down so she could play.
The next foal to get upsies was a soft blue fluffy who’s horn glowed, lighting the way.
“Upsies! Wheeee!” The foal did get nervous as Adam tested her back legs. Her tail went between her legs.
Adam sighed. He had to check their privates to make sure they weren’t damaged.
“Nuuu! Nu towch speshul pwace! Nu wook!” The filly flailed.
“Little filly, I have to make sure you’re healthy.” Adam said.
“Pwomise nu towch?” The filly asked.
“I promise.” Adam said. He didn’t think of it, but when he saw the filly looked a bit damaged down there, he looked confused. “Has anyone touched you down there?” He asked keeping his voice calm.
The filly nodded fearfully.
“A human?” Another nod. “What did he look like?”
“W-wed fwuff.”
Adam was surprised he even got this much out of the filly. Well, it narrowed down the search. Red hair was the minority. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll make sure nobody touches you like that again.” He set her down, and gave her a soft pat on the head. Messing with product was one thing, but screwing the things…that was just sick. He sighed, and continued with his investigation. The glow fluffs were usually brighter colors. Hardly any weren’t pastel. Adam left, and made the report.
It certainly made a stir. Even if fluffies weren’t seen as animals, sticking a finger in them was sick, even more so to do it to a young filly. What was more, was that it could cause the foals undue stress. They could become scared of people, which would permanently ruin them. Nobody wanted a pet that was permanently petrified of them. One that was afraid their owner might violate them.
As much as Adam wanted to find the guy and punch him out…it wan’t his place. Besides, he had another mission in mind. The angora fluffs.
He was sure now. He wanted to adopt one. He just had to find out which one. One that looked more like a bunny with its patterns, or a fanciful colored one? Green had always been Adam’s favorite color and there were some very pretty shades of green.
He went to the room of foals, looking over them as they hopped around. He knew he wanted an earthie. That much was certain. He watched the things hop around, their face fur cut shorter so they could see. They giggled and played with a ball they had. Adam found himself looking at a bicolored one. Its front half was off white, a cream color. The back half was a soft brown. All of its hooves were cream, making it look like the fluffy had little socks on his back hooves. As much as he looked at the other ones, his eyes kept going back to that fluffy. There was nothing particularly impressive; it wasn’t the biggest or strongest. It certainly wasn’t the quickest, the most energetic, or the most lax. There was just something about it that caught his eye. He wanted it.
He had to go to his bosses. Though he got an employee discount, the angoras were really expensive. They were exclusive to the Mill, after all. He got a discount, but in exchange, he had to make sure he updated them, and posted on social media about the fluffy. Essentially advertising. He’d create a second account for that.
Adam used the discount to get the things he’d need for the fluff’s care. All that was left…was a to get the fluffy and name him. He was between Pablo and Milo. Ultimately he decided on Pablo after saying the names out loud a few times. He went with a small smile into the room. He rarely smiled in the presence of the fluffies, but they beamed back at the worker. Adam went right over to the little fluffy, carefully lifting him up. “Hey, little guy. You’re my new fluffy. I’m going to call you Pablo.” He said.
The fluffy gasped happily, and beamed. “Fwuffy haf nyu daddeh? Wuv nyu daddeh! Wuv nyu name!” it babbled. It cuddled into Adam, cooing into the hug. The other fluffies were jealous, but also happy for their friend.
“Do you want time to say goodbye to your friends before you come with me?” He asked. The fluffy nodded and was set down. He set about giving hugs to all his friends.
“Pawbwo wiww miss fwiends. Yu aww wiww git gud housies!” He said optimistically. Adam took him after that, putting him in a carrier. It was time to head home, but for once he had a fluffy.
hope it will live happily with him.