Dr. William Devitis stood outside the Hasbio, development center taking his daily cigarette break. It was a habit he had promised his wife that he would stop when they got married. He kept that promise for a year, until he started working for Habio. While many Doctors worked for Hasbio, William was unique among them. Williiam was a psychiatrist. Due to the various secrets surrounding Fluffy development and the strict non-disclosure agreements all the staff are under, talking to an outside therapist is not an option for Hasbio, scientists. To fill this void in Psychiatric health Hasbio, hired William.
The offer to work for Hasbio came to William right after he got his doctorate. It was an extremely generous offer for a new doctor, and with his mountain of student debt after years of schooling it was an offer William was in no position to turn down. He assumed that Hasbio wanted a psychiatrist for the same reason most major corporations do. Offer basic therapy, counseling, and monitor workplace behavior. He assumed it would be an easy and uneventful job. He was very wrong.
Before he even started working he had to meet with an attorney and sign multiple contracts. William had been under NDAs for drug trials before and they had nothing on the iron clad one Hasbio had him agree to. On his first day, he gave psychiatric evaluations to many of the scientists on staff. Most of them were shockingly emotional. It was clear how badly they wanted to talk about what was on their minds, and now that corporate had sanctioned it, they did just that. William could not believe the emotional weight and guilt that many of them felt. It was through these sessions that William was first introduced to Fluffies.
While there had been a few minor leaks and rampant speculation about what Hasbio, was developing, William had never paid attention to it. Now that Harvard graduate scientists were telling him of their various traumas and guilt related to the creation of talking chimera horses, he wished he had. Had this been any environment other than his current one he would have been prescribing them antipsychotics.
The things the staff told William about what was going on deeply disturbed him. Devlopment for Fluffies had been going on for years. While the current production and tests were mild, at least according to the staff, the early days were much worse. The early models of Fluffies were all grown in artificial wombs. These were often unreliable and could lead to horrible mutations in the early Fluffy prototypes. Extra limbs, organs, reptile like scales, something called “bone feathers,” and an untold amount of horrific Lovecraftian mutations. These mutant Fluffies lived short agonizing lives. However, none of the scientist had any guilt about killing them, their guilt was centered around how they were forced to prolong those abominations lives to study them. A doctor at least ten years older than William, had broken down crying in front of him after describing how he had kept a mutant fluffy alive for almost six months. The scientist even managed to teach the creature how to talk. Once it grasped the basics of the English language it asked to be killed. Eventuly, it devolved into simply repeating that it wanted to die.
While talking with clearly traumatized scientists about their immense guilt was often unpleasant, what truly disturbed William was talking with Scientists who were either indifferent to or even enjoyed their work. There was one scientist who was clearly a sadist who liked talking about their experience with burning and freezing tests a little too much. William had sent a recommendation of termination to the higher ups, but no luck. There were a few others whose intellectual detachment was so extreme that they would talk about killing Fluffies as calmy as they would throwing away trash. Despite so many odd and disturbed people working for Hasbio, the person who stood out to William the most was someone who he could not get the best read on. A woman who was so young, to already be a doctor she had to have been a child prodigy. She had long dark hair, pale skin and always wore black horn-rimmed glasses. Dr. Malin Crowlex, the woman who had become the public face for Fluffy development.
Malin was perplexing to William in several ways. Whenever she came to sessions, she always had a positive demeanor and would talk about her weekend and cute things her personal Fluffy had done before they got into any actual discussion. While she seemed to show normal affection and empathy, she also did not have the crippling regret that some of the other scientists had shown. She never brought up any past failed experiments or any guilt at all, and the few times William did attempt to steer the conversation in that direction she simply said; past experiments were unfortunate. Had he only talked to Malin, and none of the other Hasbio scientists, William would have thought she was perfectly normal and well-adjusted to a stressful environment. Knowing the psychological stress that so many of her colleagues were under it seemed odd that she was so normal. There was something not quite right about her and it both perplexed and scared William.
William dropped his cigarette onto the ground and stamped it out. He knew he had to quit again and given the stress he was under; he knew it was going to be harder this time around. He had no desire to start smoking again after he had last quit, but the excuse to spend some time outside even on a cold December day like it was, was difficult to pass up. He was just about to head back inside when he was met in the parking lot by Malin, happily smiling as usual. “Dr. Crowlex, I was just about to head back to my office. Is there something you need?”
“No, it’s nothing I need Dr. Devitis.” She reached forward and grabbed both his hands in hers. “You need to get to the office Christmas party! Now come on, your secret Santa gift is waiting.”
“Fuck” William thought. He had hoped to sneak out before the party. He had even already left the gift card he bought with the other gifts to avoid that obligation. He really did not want to go to the party. He found talking with his patients outside of a therapy setting to be awkward. It was difficult to make small talk with someone who had told you about their spouse’s cheating, and the enjoyment they sometimes got from performing horrific experiments. Now as he was being playfully dragged, he didn’t feel like he had much choice.
Despite how weird Hasbio, development is, it had an almost creepily normal office Christmas party. The usual stack of pizza boxes, Christmas cookies, soda pop, and tacky dollar store decorations. He was happily greeted by everyone there and it was just as awkward as William imagined. He decided to make the most of it, have a couple slices of pizza and pretend that some of the people here weren’t sociopaths. After eating and making some small talk he thought he finally had the perfect opportunity to sneak out. This was stopped when his exit was blocked by Malin, who held a decorative Christmas bag out to him.
“I know that we’re not supposed to tell the other person that we got them the gift, but this gift is special”. She was smiling ear to ear and practically shoving the bag into William’s arms.
He grabbed the bag and was shocked by how surprisingly heavy it was. ” Thank you, Dr. Crowlex” He set the bag down on a nearby table and started to pull the red tissue paper away from the gift. “This feels expensive, you did not have to go all out like this.”
“Nonsense, Only the best for my favorite head shrinker.” She smiled as she excitedly watched William open the gift.
Judging by the weight of the gift and that he was now feeling a glass container, William assumed she had gotten him a nice bottle of whisky. Instead, upon pulling it out of the bag he was met by a young Pegasus foal in a special cannister. The foal was white with a red mane and tail, and surprisingly a red stripe running from its head all the way down its back. He had seen quite a few fluffies since he started working for Hasbio, but never one with a pattern like this.
“Dr. Crowlex, you shouldn’t have.” He had never meant that more than he did at that moment. The foal, who had yet to open its eyes, squirmed around a bit in the canister and craned its neck to suckle from the rubber teat near the top. Having heard so many horror stories about them William was pretty put off by fluffies, but even he had to admit he still found them to be cute. “Thank you, I’ll take good care of them.”
“I knew you would love her.” Malin affectionately ran a finger down the canister almost as if she was saying goodbye to the foal. “Now I have it perfectly planned out. She will open her eyes in the next two days, and you’ll be off work then so you can be there for it. You will really want to be there for it, since she will imprint herself on the first people she sees. It is so magical to hear them call you mummah or daddeh for the first time.” Malin went on about fluffy ownership and let William know about the discount he already has at all Fluffy Mart stores.
As Malin continued to go on, William stared at the foal in the cannister. He could not help but think of the Family Guy joke about inconvenient gifts. He zoned back into reality to hear a bit more about how the Fluffy will have enough milk in the can till she opens her eyes but then will need to be taken out and bottle fed. After another hour of talking and saying his goodbyes William finally made it out of work.
As he drove home with the foal cannister resting on the passenger seat, belted in, he started to think about what had been thrust upon him. He also realized he could have just turned down the offer to take the foal, but it seemed too late now. It had been years since he had a pet, and maybe having a fluffy would be nice. He had been considering a therapy animal for himself to ease some of his work stress, though he was thinking of a golden retriever and not the cause of so many of his patient’s problems. He was also entirely uncertain what his wife would think, he had never even considered the idea of having a fluffy until now. He somewhat hoped that maybe she would talk him into taking the Fluffy back to work. “Oh my god, I love her so much!” April said as she took the fluffy cannister from William and stared at the foal inside.
April was a few years younger than William, and his wife for close to two years now. She, like him, was also in the medical field. She had spent a few years as a nurse and was now working to become a medical doctor. William’s job at Hasbio, as stressful as it often was, paid enough that April was able to quit her nursing job to work full time on becoming a doctor. Knowing that he was helping her make her dream come true, made it all worth it.
“I was honestly kind of hoping you would bring one home from work one day. I see videos of them online all the time and they are so cute.” April hugged the canister to her chest, absolutely beaming.
Any reservations William had about keeping the Fluffy, vanished as soon as he saw just how happy his wife was. He pulled her in close to him, careful not to crush the cannister in between them. “Well looks like I was right about stealing her. I guess losing my job was worth it.” William said jokingly.
“As long as we get to keep her it defiantly was.” She hugged William back still staring at the sleeping foal.
“So, any ideas for a name?” William asked, now realizing how much like having a kid this whole experience was.
“I think I already have one in mind. I was thinking maybe…” April started until William cut her off.
“Let me guess, Peppermint? No maybe Candy Cane?” William offered, assuming he had probably nailed what she was thinking.
April gave him a playful punch in the arm. “No smartass. I’m thinking, Candy Stripe.”
“Candy Stripe? Okay you hit me out of left field, any reason?”
“Well, her color and the stripe on her back made me think of the vintage Candy Striper nurses. You know the volunteer nurses they used to have with the red and white striped outfits.” April was also a lover of medical history as much as she was the study of modern medicine.
“That is perfect. I really love it; it fits her well. I honestly should have guessed you would have picked a name like that.”
Two days later just as Malin said, the moment of truth came. April opened the cannister, detached the waste tubes and pulled the foal free. April held the young foal in the palm of her hand. William stood close to her watching the foal in her hand and gently cuddling April. The Foal’s eyes finally opened as she looked around at her first glimpses of the world and the two humans watching over her. “mummah an’ daddeh?” The foal questioned.
“Yes” both April and William said. With just three words the Fluffy had already stolen both of their hearts. April struggling to find her words with how legitimately happy she was finally managed to say “We have a name for you too.”
“Weawwy name fo’ babbeh?” The Fluffy managed to squeak out starting to match the excitement her owners were feeling”
“That’s right. It’s Candy Stripe” April said to the excited foal.
“Babbeh am candy stwipe? candy stwipe wobes new name. Wub mummah an’ daddeh!” The foal stood up for the very first time in April’s hand and flapped her tiny wings. She looked at both of her new owners, the most genuine look of love in her eyes.
“We love you too Candy Stripe” William reached out and gently pet the Fluffy.
Authors Note: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed another story in the Successful Launch Universe. After the last couple of stories, I wrote I really wanted to do some more hugbox.
For those of you who may be wondering yes that was the same Candy Stripe, from The Abuser’s Virus. If you have not read that story yet, please do, it will give you a little preview of the grown-up Candy Stripe. As odd as it may seem that I am writing a hugbox story about a Fluffy that lead to a horror story, I think things like that are what make Fluffies so great. Expect some more of the loveable and terrifying skunk Fluffy in the future.