Decided I wanted to write a bit for a change. Also trying out colored eyes in these stories no sure if I like it yet.
Rain fell over the small city of Rockport. It was a slow rain falling with no sense of urgency. It was a welcomed rain as the summer heat had not been kind to the city. While the rain was an interruption to most businesses, Timo’s day won’t change much. Tim to most, Timo owned as small store on the southeastern side of the city, rather he owned part of a store. The building itself was a relic of the old days, originally a massive department store with a huge inventory visited by thousands. Today it was little more than an hallowed out corpse of its former glory. The outer walls, once a eye catching white and red design, were reduced to a drab grey and salmon. Ghosts of yellow parking lines still appeared on the asphalt parking lot. A lot so deeply cracked one might mistake it for gravel at times. Still not all of the store’s luster had vanished to the pull of time. The main entrance way was supported by large concrete pillars that still held the old red and white design, partly saved from the sun by a large steel canopy that now rang out as the dull rain struck it. Some years back the city thought of destroying the building and breaking the lot up for businesses. Some council protested the action and so the city shifted its plan. In short order the stores interior was changed over to a strip mall of sorts. Departments were changed over to individual store fronts, seven in total. It wasn’t clean, but it worked.
Of the seven stores Timo’s was the smallest by far. Having never been to the store in its department store days he could only guess as to the department his store now resided in but he guessed it was the perfume section. Every once in a while a strange scent would strike his nose and it always seemed different. Some days sweet, others acrid but never the same. He had mentioned it to some of the other store owners, wondering if they had smelled anything and none did. There was even a rumor started about Timo’s store being haunted by some old saleswoman still giving out samples but he ignored it. He gave little thought or care into such things. He had work to focus on, that was hard enough. Walking up to the main door Timo was not surprised to find several customers standing around. The while the building opened at 6pm but most stores opened at 615/630, save for the shoe store. Fishing out his key he entered the farthest door from the gathered people. Despite it being replaced relatively recently the city deemed automatic doors to be too expensive, a minor annoyance.
Once inside he quickly locked the door behind him. An act that caused one of the customers to throw up their hands and make some comment. Timo couldn’t hear them well through the glass and steel but he didn’t care what they had to say. It was 5:45, they can wait, will wait. Only once had he let people in early, it was a mistake then, it would be a mistake now. Upon entering stores lined the eastern and western walls, with the exception being the shoe store which was across from the main entrance. Taking up as much space as three stores it was by far the biggest draw. To their credit they had every kind of footwear possible, Jordan, Timberland, Vans, Wilson, Adidas, Crockett & Jones, Dr. Martens, Church’s, Grenson, the list goes on and on. It didn’t matter, if it goes on feet, they had it. People seemed to drive for miles just for that store and it never made much sense to Timo. He had never seen the interest in shoes beyond fitting his feet but in truth he didn’t need to. Shoes weren’t his thing, neither were cars, or hats, what he had a fascination in was animals.
From a small age he had always wanted to be a zoo keeper, or a nature photographer. Any profession where he could be close to animals in their natural habitats. Yet as he grew it became very clear that his life was not going to be so grand. When he was just a boy, his father took the family savings and invested in a great business deal. A friend of his planned on opening a tech business in town fixing pc’s and providing IT assistance. His father trusting his friend went in on this business idea and together they bought the last spot in this department store. At first things were slow, and then they just stopped outright. His father’s friend and the main tech behind this entire business died suddenly. He was a avid scuba diver and one day there was an accident. Timo’s father was despondent, with the loss of his friend and now fighting to keep a business afloat he seemed lost. His wife, Timo’s mother, was the one that saved it all, yet even now Timo wondered if she did the right thing.
While the business floundered his father was approached by a man to buy it from him. His offer was low, lower than their original investment but there was little bargaining room. The business was failing and it was only a matter of time, and everyone knew it. One night at dinner Timo’s father discussed selling it and his wife would not hear it. She was a proud woman who believed in following through, if the business was failing, then change the business and so they did. In a short month the tech store was gone and in its place a consignment shop appeared. Headed by his mother and ran primarily through orders and an online store the business began to bloom. Timo’s dad recovered and they ran the shop faithfully for years. It kept the lights on but did little else. Most of the money they made went back into the business, with a small portion being send to a family friend. The wife of the friend he had lost. She said she didn’t need the money but Timo’s father insisted stating that if not for his friend he never would have gotten into business. He was kind like that, it wasn’t a great deal of money and it was irregular but he always insisted saying that his friend would have wanted her to be taken care of.
As Timo entered high school and set his eyes on higher education his father had a turn for the worst. At work he collapsed and it was discovered he had a bad heart problem. Timo remembered clearly how even his stone faced mother, could not hide her fear and worry. It was bad, far worse than anyone could have imagined and in six short months he was gone. Timo’s senior year was spent in black, his mother’s way of mourning. That and throwing herself full force into the business. She worked constantly, and the business grew. In time she hired on Susan, a older woman of great size. Fat by all standards but only those than didn’t know her would even dare think. Susan had worked in the medical field for years and had dealt with strong personalities. Despite her size she was no stranger to hard work. With TImo’s mother they managed the store like clockwork, orders, payments, shipments all ran smoother with Susan’s assistance. As he finished High school he was conscripted to the store. His mother having insisted to make it a family store. Timo resented her then but looking back she gave him something few places offered for free, experience. She knew its value and he was glad she forced him into it. Then again if she knew what the store sold now, Timo wondered what she would think.
Reaching the pale blue door of his shop he instinctively drew up the key. He could tell it by feel at this point, making sure to lock the door after he was through. The door was steel like the other but he had made sure it was always well greased and the edges padded. He slipped off his wet boots and put on the nearby pair soft soled leather shoes, his trusty pair of loafers. Well worn and begging for polish he had bought them years ago and never once even looked at polish. Partly since he didn’t really care to polish any shoe he had but also because he knew it annoyed Bill, the morning manager of the shoe store. A nice guy by all counts but a man on a mission to make sure everyone’s shoes look good. If you hear him talk you would think he was the owner of the shoe store and not just a manager but if anyone was going up in that business it was him.
Walking quietly in the dim light of the store he set his bag on the glass counter, making sure to not bump the door bells. Each night he removed them from the door and placed them on the counter and for good reason. He didn’t want to wake the fluffies. While the bells were small he knew the sharp sound would ring out all the way to the back. The fluffies were used to their store life, at least most were but suddenly waking up in the dark can lead to accidents. Silently he skulked to the back of the store, having memorized the steps at this point and threw the breakers. Slowly he raised the dimmer switch till the store was bright enough to see. Not as bright as it would be when they opened but bright enough for him to start readying the products. The walls of the back were drab white, the same white as the outside of the building. It was a shade that didn’t reflect the harsh light of the fluorescent light as much as normal white would have, and the paint was cheap so it worked. The back room while to most people looked like a storm hit it, was exactly as he left it. The eastern wall was the least cluttered being the cleaning area / grooming area. Two separate sinks stood side by side, one a deep utility sink used primarily to wash products or fill buckets. While the other, a simple bathroom vanity held a half dozen small drawers filled with hand towels, soaps, shampoos, scissors and such. Above the sinks were several steel shelves bolted to the concrete wall. On which Timo kept a collection of corrective equipment. Timo had taken the time to attach several metal loops above the utility sink that that he could tie ropes to. With them he could suspend any product above the utility. Primarily for misbehaving products. Suspending them above the large sink insured that any excrement that it released could be simply washed down the sink.
The western wall had a door way that led to his office, the bathroom, and supply closet. This wall also held the majority of the products. Three heavy steel shelves each roughly three feet deep had been fitted with several cages. Most contained a single fluffy but a few of the lower cages had a pair of runts. As the light now filled the room several of them began to awaken.
"bwightie time… stiww sweepie… " A dull blue pegasus rolled over to hide it’s face. Timo glanced the pens making sure each of the fluffies were unharmed. His stock of fully grown products consisted of 17 earth, 5 pegasus, 6 unicorn and a single alicorn. All of decent colors, and all well past the 6 month point. Behaving well earned them a bed and huggie friend for night time snuggling. As the rest of the fluffies awoke he had already filled a large litter box. This was the routine each morning, wake the fluffies, morning shit, then it to the main pens with breakfast. He used the morning feeding to distract them long enough to fill the store room, since he never felt comfortable not watching them. He knew just how fragile they can be, and how reckless. One by one he opened the kennels and lowered the fluffies to the ground. “Daddeh! upies!” An orange runt said as he removed it from its kennel. It nuzzled his forearm as he moved it to the litter box. As he moved to the next one an acrid smell struck his nose, a familiar smell. Fluffy shit. At first he figured the orange one had just really needed to go but soon he found the source. One of the unicorns sat in the far corner of her pen, silently sobbing. Along the side of her bed a small pile of shit sat dried and soaked into the cotton fabric. Timo looked at her and she burst into tears. “am sowwie nice daddeh! huuu huu nu mean make bad poopsies.” She began sucking on her front hoof as more tears ran down her face. With a sigh Timo grabbed his gloves and lifted the fluffy from her kennel. “That’s the third time little one, you know what that means.” The product kept its eyes shut desperately hugging Timo’s arm. “Huu…hu… fwuffie am bad fwuffie.”
“and you know what happens to bad fluffies.” Timo asked as he walked over to the northern wall. Here sat several nearly fully covered cages. Unlike the kennels these had only a small opening in the front that allowed the fluffy to peer out. They were without toys or warmth, only containing a water bottle so the product wouldn’t dehydrate. The product sobbed as it was placed in the second cage, knowing better than to argue. He would clean it later, and made a mental note that her feed time would have to be sooner, but he knew it didn’t matter. She was incontinent, it happens to a lot of fluffies, most often when they get excited or when they sleep. He couldn’t sell her like that and any young she had would be more likely to have it as well. He sighed, a real shame too. He took a moment to check in on this weeks real trouble maker. There in the back of the first cage sat a deep yellow earth fluff, as Timo locked eyes with it. It puffed up its cheeks and stood to make itself look bigger. “Dummeh mustah daddeh, wet fwuffie ou’ of stoopid boxie. Am bestest, wan’ nummies and mummah.” This little one was a star baby, until his mother was sold. Ever since he has been terrible. Timo tried everything, keeping him with his siblings but he only bullied them and even stood on one trying to get out of the store pen. He tried reteaching him, keeping him with Timo as he ran the store but he only resented Timo more. This had been his third day in the sorry box, and Timo had a three strike rule. He never really liked using it especially with the younger products but this was business.
Products require food, care and space. All very limited resources, and if they aren’t going to turn a profit they are just a cost. Timo went back to his morning routine and as he was finishing up he heard the front door shake. He looked up to see a mother and child standing outside the door, the kid was very excited. She stared at the fluffies as they ate with a gleam in her eyes while the mother had a masterful resting bitch face.
"We open in ten minutes." Timo called out setting down the last earth fluff into the feeding pen. He had originally fed all the fluffs in the same pen but once he found that his alicorn was bullied away from the food so he always made sure to feed her separate from the pack. It wasn’t all the fluffies that had an issue but once one starts the others follow. That is one of the issue with fluffs, they are all followers, if one acts out, they follow it. It’s why so many smarties persist. The lady scowled and pulled her daughter away towards another store. The girl’s eyes never left the tiny horse creatures. Just as he turned to head to the back the door shook again. Not surprised he turned to repeat himself when Timo saw it was Johanna, his employee. She was a middle aged woman who had years of experience in retail and only worked here part time as a clerk. The handling of the products for the most part was Timo, though he appreciated her hard work and punctuality. Unlike the previous clerk she was kind to the products and understood how to speak to them. Most people fall into two camps when working with fluffies. Seeing them as toys or seeing them as animals. As a business owner Timo needed to see them as both, a toy with the needs of an animal. Food, water, shelter are all required but one must not lose sight that these things are to be sold. Johanna sat more towards the animal camp but has never done anything that would make Timo think she couldn’t be trusted. So when she did act attached he let it go, he knew in the end she wouldn’t hurt the business.
Now with Johanna here Timo was able to fill the store floor. It was set out simply. In the middle of the floor there were four pens in a square. Each quadrant held a group of fluffies. Separated by gender unless siblings only adult fluffies were kept there. The counter sat on the western side of the room, and that was where the recent mothers and babies where kept, behind the glass. At first Timo wanted people to be able to pet the babies but after a couple of incidents of theft and one crazed psychopath he keeps them out of reach. The front of the counter has air holes big enough to fit a finger through and the back is open a third at the top. So that fluffies can be lifted in and out. The design stuck since such small products can require constant care and cleaning. The mare were told that if they are in the front they have to understand that their babies are going to new homes and that they have to be happy for them. Often it was hard but if the mare put on a brave face they were rewarded with good food and even some Tv before bed.
On the far western wall sat the rescue kennels, smaller kennels than the ones in the back but he needed more of them. There were thirty six in total taking up the entirety of the wall, a concession he begrudgingly made. He wanted to keep a better flow of product, he couldn’t afford any stagnant product and this was the answer, free rescues. Basically how it worked was that if anyone found a feral fluff and wanted to rescue it they could simply bring it in, and he would take it. Its a great way to get new product but it had alot of down sides. Most common were the ones that abusers have had their fun with but don’t want to end it. If the damage is too severe it gets put down or “recycled”, that was the word they used. Fluffies are always listening and the rescued ones can pick up on certain words. To avoid panic or upsetting the product they have to use code phrases. Timo handled all the recycling, making sure there was little mess and none of the other products realized what was going on. Often he used a zip tie and a trash bag, quick and easy. Other times he used a ice pick, quick and done, no fuss no pain. He took no pleasure in it but there was little choice in the matter. He didn’t have the resources to restore them, and even if he did what good would it do. The product was so damaged it would never restore mentally. It was a mercy. That’s what he told himself.
The southern wall was where the entrance was and it also had a large picture window and that’s where he kept the eye catchers. The cream of the crop so to speak. Fluffies that either behaved the best or looked the best, ones that would make people stop and come in or at least make their kids want to. These too were kept under lock and key, not in a glass counter but rather a large kennel, sealed all around with only the side the window was on lacked bars. The window itself was the wall. The northern wall had the door to the back and on it was all the accessories one might need when caring for a product. Litter boxes, kennels, toys, sorry sticks, and other miscellaneous stuff. Several of the shelves were fluff related merch as well. Keychains, stickers, stuff as such things a kid might want.
Today though was an important day, it was check up day for the rescues. Every week, a vet student comes by from the local vet school and checks on the fluffies. They get school hours, the products are kept clean which in turn keeps the city clean, makes them more likely to sell and best of all its all payed for by the city. In truth Timo really didn’t understand the whole thing as Susan had set it up. She had friends in the city council and was supportive of the business if only because of the time they spent together. She was still technically a co-owner of the location and she used it to send and receive packages, thus the clutter of the back room. Timo felt as if she didn’t enjoy the business of fluffies but if she had a real problem she would have made it known. The rescue program being her idea made him think that maybe in her own way she understood that he didn’t do this solely for profit. No not just for profit but because he enjoyed them.
Fluffies became a phenomenon when he was little and growing up he had many experiences with them, on and off. More than once he played with a feral fluff and begged his parents to let him keep it. Only to have them turn it away or give it to the animal shelter which doesn’t house them and only puts them down. It was a bitter sweet relationship, as he grew he came to learn of the awful things they are capable of. He distinctly remembered one Autumn morning he was up north at his cousin’s house walking to get coffee when he witnessed a mare eat her own baby because she lacked any other food. The foal was old enough to speak, and it begged the mare to stop. Each weak bite inflicting more and more agony on the baby. The dumb mare didn’t even have the sense to start with its head, kill it quick. Timo wasn’t stupid, with one swift boot he ended that horrible mare. He felt vindicated, he felt good. Until a small pair of babies ran out from the alley, snow flakes landing on their tiny under fed bodies. “MUMMAH! NUUU! pwease nu fowevah sweepies… nee’ mummah.” The little things looked pathetically helpless as they clung to the mare. They hugged her as best they could with their hooved limbs, becoming more and more distraught when as they looked up and she still didn’t move. The more couragous of the two approached Timo. “Mu… cheep Mistah, pwease hewp mummah, Nu mowe, nu wan’ wose mummah. Chirp Babbeh wuv mummah.” All the vindication flushed away and he stood in the cold, wondering what he was to do.
The sound of the door bells being put up snapped him out of it, it was opening time. He could already see that woman and child walking towards the door, her resting bitch face not budged an inch as she marched towards the door. Johanna tried to say something but Timo had already slipped away. Normally Timo wouldn’t leave her in the lurch like that but then again she didn’t need his help and there was another matter he needed to check on, the pregnant mares.