Where Fluffy Bodies Lie
By @Za
Chapter Six:
Apart
You are Sunset Sky.
It was winter now.
It felt like many forevers since your new-daddeh had left. If you knew how humans told time, you’d say it had been six months. But you didn’t. So you just called it many forevers.
The lives of the humans went on, while yours just fell to pieces. You bet the humans laughed and played and hugged in the warmth of their housies, enjoying their special friends and their babies. Babies that would grow up with mummahs and daddehs who loved them.
Babbehs that weren’t like you.
You lost two daddehs and a mummah.
You had nothing if not for your herd.
You were the smarty now, given the fact that your new-daddeh was the only smarty. So everyone had to like you. Everyone pretended to be your friend, but none of them really liked you. They’d share nummies and play huggie tag, but it was a lie to them. They just wanted you to like them so you’d give them nummies during the cold times. There wasn’t enough to go around this cold time. So they tried to buddy up with you. Because you were a smarty like your daddehs before you.
That is, before they abandoned you. Seether died and Strong Branch just walked away. You never saw him again after he gave you your name, and you could only wonder why. Were you a bad babbeh? Did you not deserve to be loved? He told you about his little brother, Cloud Softies, who had dummeh back leggies like you. But he grew to love Cloud Softies. Why couldn’t he love you? Why did he have to leave? You cried over it, dark time after dark time, until there were no tears left to cry. Friends gave you huggies. But the huggies only helped a little.
It was a nightmare trying to pick up the pieces when your new-daddeh left. You didn’t know anything about leading a herd. No one could tell you. Old age and injury had claimed the remaining members of the old herd, except Toughie Lenny and little Noon. Noon was a little baby when the herd was attacked, so he didn’t remember much. He was younger than you, making him the youngest of the herd. He didn’t have a real name, since your new-daddeh disappeared before he could give him one. When Noon asked what his name was, everyone just responded “nu kno.” So everyone just started calling him Noono, which eventually just shortened to Noon.
Noon was one of your only real friends, besides Cookie and Lenny. But Lenny was friends with everybody, so you weren’t sure he counted. He always looked out for you, though.
Lenny wasn’t as smart now as he was with Bocephus around, though.
But you didn’t like Bocephus. You were glad he was gone.
Instead of continuing to make the worst thinkies possible, you snapped back to real life. You were nestled in a fluffpile with Noon and Cookie, trying to keep warm as snow poured down from the sky above. Wind sliced through the hollow, cold enough to cleave even the fluffiest of fluffies in two.
“Noon? Cookie?” you whispered softly. Cookie looked up at you with soft eyes and a smile.
“Yus, Sunset?” she asked, looking outside before looking to you.
Everyone just called you Sunset now. That was a trend that came about when your new-daddeh left, most fluffies with before-namesies just shortened their names.
“Wai dummeh fwens wake Noon up?” Noon complained, rolling over behind you. “Nu wan.”
You giggled. Noon was silly.
“Sunset was makin thinkies,” you explained. “Is hawd to be smawty.”
Cookie listened snuggling up to you. Noon had fallen back asleep and was snoring loudly.
“Maybe Sunset nu shouwd be smawty. Maybe Cookie can be nyu smawty!”
Cookie just shook her head. “Cookie nu am smawty,” she told you. “Sunset am smawty.”
“Buh Sunset nu kno how be smawty!” you complained, looking outside at the snow. It was beginning to slow a bit, but not much. You’d probably be in this hollowed-out stump for a while.
“Den Sunset make bestest thinkies an weawn how be smawty! Sunset nyu-daddeh was bestest smawty ebah, oddah fwuffies say so!”
Yeah, sure, your new-daddeh was a good smarty. But he had others to teach him.
“Nu oddah smawties to teach Sunset how be smawty,” you sighed. You felt resigned to be a failure, even though Cookie was intent on cheering you up. “Mebbeh Noon be nyu smawty?”
Noon woke up out of his fake sleep and stared right into your eyes.
“Nebah.”
And then he turned right back over.
So… you were probably stuck. Was there ever going to be a right answer to this problem?
Cookie nudged you, so you turned back to her. She was pretty, with cream fluff and a dark brown mane.
“Cookie had to weawn da hawd way, back befowe meanie Shaw took Cookie away.” She looked away, seeming to reminisce. “Cookie nu awways kno whewe nummies am, ow what nummies am gud nummies, ow nuffin. Cookie weawn aww by Cookie sewf.”
You made a sour face at her.
“Dat sound hawd.”
She giggled at you, nuzzling you gently.
“It am hawd. Buh Sunset gotta take cawe of da hewd.”
Cookie pointed a hoof out into the clearing. In every hollowed-out tree stump was a big fluffpile. Mummahs, daddehs, babbehs.
Families.
Families like the one you never had.
“Hewd nee smawty, ow hewd gu fowebah sweepies.”
Why couldn’t your new-daddeh come back?
Why did you have to be born into a world that didn’t love you? It didn’t seem like the world loved anyone.
Noon turned around and groaned, blowing the orange bangs of his mane out of his eyes. Under his too-thick fluff, his tired eyes met yours.
“Nu wowwy,” he told you. “Ou am gud smawty.” He hugged you, and you hugged him back.
“Wook, da cowdies am goin away. Nu mowe windies ow cowd sky wawas!” You and Noon turned to see that Cookie was right, the snow had stopped and the wind had died down from a roar to a dull whistle.
“Can be smawty watew,” Cookie said as she bounded out into the snow. "Be fwen nao, an pway!
Noon trudged out after her, trying to avoid any particularly large snow piles.
“Gon make biggest snowbaww ebah!” he declared, beginning to roll his masterpiece around the clearing. Several other fluffies emerged from their dens to come and play, or to do what they needed to do.
So you went out with them.
And you played.
After all, the herd would still be there tomorrow.
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