Tricia hummed to herself as she made her way into the tall, glossy office building. She power walked through the lobby, looking through her emails on her phone as she made her way into the elevator. She hit the button for the 9th floor, where Daniel’s office was, then paused as she saw an email from him.
Tricia,
Can’t make it to lunch today, there’s an emergency investor meeting. Some bullshit about the company’s vision or something. These stupid things tend to run long so I hope you’ll take a raincheck on lunch.
I also left you a gift in the 5th floor holding pens. I ended up buying the warehouse from that ForeverFoal bootlegger, they left something behind.
Hope you can find some use for it.
Daniel Turner
Tricia cocked her head at the email, hitting the button for the 5th floor.
As she rode it she scanned the rest of her emails, finding nothing urgent. She marked the few she would need to reply to later.
The elevator dinged and opened up to a security guard sitting with his feet up at the desk. He jumped to lower them, but relaxed when he saw her step out.
“Tricia!”
“Mickey! How’s today treating you?”
He grinned, leaning back further in his office chair. “Slow day, I can’t complain! How was your vacation?”
“Oh fantastic. I’ll send you the video I took.” Tricia rested a hip against the desk. “Daniel said he left something for me?”
“Uh…. Oh! Yeah!” Mickey leaned back and grabbed a key off a row of hooks behind him. “Room 6, on the left.”
“Thanks!” She took the key and Mickey waved her off.
Tricia walked down the hall, peeking into the rooms she passed. Each one had a low wall across the middle, just tall enough to prevent fluffies from jumping over it. Most of the rooms had the lights on, indicating there was at least one fluffy kept within, but they stayed hidden behind the low wall.
Stopping at door 6, Tricia unlocked it and stepped inside. She let the door close softly behind her, curious as to what Daniel left for her.
There was a quiet sniffle from a cardboard box in the corner. She sat down on the low wall, setting her purse down.
“Hey there, I’m not going to hurt you.” Her voice was low and soothing.
A head peeked out of the box, both Tricia’s and the fluffy smiling as they recognized each other. “Well, hello Ringo!”
“Nice wady!!” Ringo bounded across the pen to her, his overgrown bowl cut covering his eyes. “Wingo suuuuu happy tu see yu!!”
“How’d you end up here, buddy?” Tricia brushed his mane out of his face, revealing his cloudy eyes tinged red from crying.
“Mistew Twebow tuwn off wites wun dawk time an’ nu cum bak! Ringo suuu scawed! Den meanies cum and take Wingo, put in sowwy box and bwing hewe! Dey nu gib Wingo tummeh sketties ow boo-boo juice! Just icky kibbow!!” Ringo pressed his face into her hands. “Dey nu gib Wingo his pwetty taiws!! Huu!!”
“You poor thing!” Tricia cupped his tear stained face in her hands. “Don’t you worry though, I’ll make it all better. You stay right here while I find you a leash and some scissors to deal with your mane.”
“Nu weab Wingo!” He protested, putting his hooves on the low wall as she stood.
“I need a leash to take you home with me! I can’t have you wandering off along the way!”
Ringo stared at her while he processed the information. “Miss Twicia… be nyu mummah?!”
“Mh-hm! I have an empty saferoom just waiting for a good fluffy like you!” She patted him on the head. “If you can stay right here for me, we’ll stop and get you a nice juicy foal on our way out!”
Ringo grinned, revealing his crooked and shattered teeth. “Weawwy?!”
“Of course! We need to rebuild your tail collection, so we’ll go find you a pretty one!” Tricia picked up her purse. “Now you be good, I’ll be as fast as I can!”
“Otay, nice wady!!”
Tricia smiled back at him from the doorway. “And you can call me Mummah if you want!”
“Otay, Mummah!!!” Ringo’s tail wagged so hard Tricia wasn’t sure how he wasn’t achieving flight.
As she walked back to the elevators she typed up an email.
Daniel,
What a lovely gift, you have no idea how excited I am to have him.
I can do a late lunch or even a dinner if that’s what it takes, you’ll never believe the story I have to tell you about this little guy!
Let me know when you’re free!
Tricia Delinard
Awesome work per usual, Maple. Would definitely be up for reading a Ringo arc.