#just wanted to gib you peeps a heads up

[reginrokkr]

Once I'm done with this week's exams on Thursday, it'll be over for you 🔪 (gently).

[rvmmm21]

. six things vampires love about puppies .

[vampiremum!irene x puppy!wendy]

. . . . .

In Joohyun’s definitely unbiased opinion, Seungwan has too many habits that make her the cutest girl in the world. 

Here are just a few of her favourites:

one: 

Mornings aren’t the best, the vampiress especially can attest to that. But luckily, they have ‘Sunshine Time’ before school. Just as the gentle morning rays peep through the curtains, Joohyun dutifully rouses little puppy, peppering kisses over soft ears, feeling her actions prompt a string of tiny yawns, one big stretch, and the groggiest little mumble of “luv u mummie”. Joohyun’s heart sings at the sound of her title, and she tells her Wannie that she’ll never stop loving her too. They brush their teeth, but before they even think about getting ready for the big day of learning ahead, Joohyun’s bent forward with Seungwan’s both hands around her wrist as she toddles over to the window. 

She’s aimed for her favourite spot in the house, other than the play room, of course. It’s a homemade bed thing that Joohyun had crafted from an old duvet and some spare blankets. Joohyun thinks it kind of looks like a dog bed, but she only smiles when Seungwan gravitates towards it, knowing the penny will drop when little puppy is older. Within minutes, they’re in their routine position; Wannie snuggled into her blankies and the vampiress sitting right where the light draws the line into darkness. Joohyun’s knees hurt sometimes from the strain of how she’s sitting– staying in the dark but also reaching over as much as she can to give Seungwan the head pats she deserves (and whines if she doesn’t constantly get).

Because it’s still relatively early in the morning, Joohyun more often than not finds that Seungwan’s checked into Dreamland yet again. An adoring sigh leaves her as she detaches herself and lightly pads over to the wardrobe to get her uniform out while her snoozy puppy snores lightly in her puddle of sunshine.

They’ll pack lunch together.

. . . . . 

two:

Seungwan’s sense of smell is vigorous, which is great because it’s also how she shows affection. Sometimes, Joohyun will find herself with a chestful of mopey puppy in the middle of the day while she’s doing whatever she’s doing. She presses her nose into Joohyun’s clothes, or even just her collarbone and takes lungfuls of her mummy’s scent. 

“What’s the matter, puppy?” she coos, gently tilting her sniffling Wannie away from her.

Seungwan’s too upset to talk. She wriggles, wanting to latch on again. But Joohyun won’t give in. Not yet.

She takes the tip of a velvet ear between her fingers, giving it a few soft rolls and watching erratic breathing calm down. Truthfully, there’s no need to even ask what the matter is. Those teary eyes can hide nothing from her.

So she resigns, letting Seungwan quietly cuddle into her front.

“It’s maths homework, isn’t it?”

There’s a small nod against her followed by heavy inhales. The vampiress whispers to her baby until the hiccups even out and Seungwan is sound asleep. They’ll work on those equations later on.

Joohyun swears if maths were a person, they’d rue the day they ever hurt her Wannie.

. . . . .

three:

On a slightly more serious note, Joohyun has had to have some talks with her baby about self-assurance and dignity. It was on a walk one afternoon, and Seungwan had seen some other kids over by the swings.

“Swings! Push Wannie?”

Seungwan is always this excited about swings. Swingy Time gets her Wannie just as hyper as Swimmy Time. Joohyun holds her hand as they approach the swingset, ready to wait their turn. She looks down to see a tail held high, poking from underneath the seam of her puffy winter coat, something she learnt puppies do when they’re feeling friendly and happy.

That is, until Seungwan realises that, on second thought, she… didn’t really want to go on the swings after all.

As they near, the vampiress swallows a surprised gasp when Seungwan just… anchors herself to the ground. It takes her a while to figure it out, but when she observes closer, the problem shows itself larger than life. 

They’re not hybrids, just regular children.

A pang of heartache twists into her chest as she watches tiny hands move at the speed of light, furiously tucking her tail up and under her coat so it’s way out of sight before making grabs with outstretched arms at the baseball cap on Joohyun’s head.

She knows what Seungwan is doing, but she asks anyway, ready to teach her. “Why, baby?”

Guilty ears flip back and sadly droop down. Seungwan knows she’s been read, but she can’t help it! Those kids are going to run away if they see gross dog ears sticking out of her head!

“G-gib Wannie,” she pouts, quickly remembering her manners when Joohyun raises a brow down at her, “pl-please… mummie.”

“You’re hiding your ears, aren’t you?” The vampiress crouches. “Wan-ah, don’t do that. Don’t hide those cute ears and that happy tail. Mummy loves those so much.”

Seungwan is all but convinced. You may like it, mummie, but– ”when they see, they say Wannie’s weird.”

It’s time to be firm, and Joohyun holds a pouting puppy still. “Look at me, baby.”

Teary eyes meet hers.

“Those kids are not going to make fun of you. And if they do, then mummy won’t be happy with them. And you know what that means, right?”

Seungwan can’t hide her evil smirk. Extra brussel sprouts for their dinners.

“You’re not weird for having these,” she emphasises her point by smoothing a warm, chocolate ear and Seungwan’s eyes begin to close. She squeaks when Joohyun moves to untuck her tail from the base of her coat. “Or this.”

She’ll save the real talks about self-esteem and insecurities for when her puppy is older, but for now, Seungwan just needs to know that her mummy will have her back, come what may.

Hand in hand, they make their way over to the swings and the playing children. And aside from the initial blatant questioning about where she got those added features, Seungwan made a few new friends at the park that day.

(Joohyun was ever ready to pounce at the slightest hint of mean-spiritedness she felt– but she realised that it was just that no beating around the bush way that kids ask questions). 

. . . . .

four:

Oh, oh, okay. So Seungwan is a nervous little puppy as much as she’s a friendly one, right? And Joohyun finds that hilarious and heart-wrenching all at once when she watches her pup trying to make new friends but can’t seem to find the right way to introduce herself. It takes all her cooperating brain cells to not either roll about laughing or scoop the little thing up and smother her in reassuring kisses when the ‘I’m Shy, It’z Me’ stance comes out. 

Ears pressed flat, eyes burrowed into the ground, tail stiffer than a wooden plank.

The other hybrid kid pokes unsure, searching sniffs at the air around her, clearly very interested in becoming friends.

Aigo, you need a boost, don’t you baby, Joohyun coos, coming up with her magic hands to help her relax. “Wannie, come on. Say hello.”

She gives her shivering puppy a few butt pats to ease the tension. “Aigo, Chaengie won't bite. Look, she’s curling her tail! She wants to play with you, Wannie!”

A coffee-coloured ear springs back up, curiously folding over as Seungwan cocks her head. Chaengie wants to play too? She quickly glances back up at her mummy, as if double-checking with her that that really was the case.

“Mhm,” the vampiress assures with a few more tail pats of encouragement. “What have we said about manners, Wan? What do we do when someone’s happy to see us?”

Seungwan pauses for a second, but eventually looks up with soft, shiny eyes, whispering, “wag tail, mummie.”

Joohyun thinks Seungwan’s innocence in situations like these is astounding, but she knows she’s got the right idea. She smiles and nods in affirmative praise. 

We show them we’re happy to see them too– 

– so yes, puppy, wag tail. 

“Good girl! Go on, you can do it.” Her comforting presence takes a flame to the frozen fluff, and it begins to swish back and forth. Tentatively at first, but then like a speedboat motor, a couple hours later when they’re frolicking in the park, playing tag and one hundred percent best friends now.

Joohyun and Jisoo watch from afar, wondering how those silly kids were ever so shy in front of each other in the first place.

. . . . .

five: 

If Joohyun has one complaint, it would be the misfortune of physical growth. The vampiress misses the times where her arm span alone was enough to wrap puppy in a burrito hug during movie nights or… whenever a set of curious eyes spied her mummy’s arms lacking in… well, her. Unfortunately nowadays it’s a bit harder to cocoon her baby like she used to so easily do, only because Seungwan’s sprouted a few inches skywards. But Seungwan doesn’t know that. She still thinks she’s as little as she was when her mummy had spooked her and taken her home that night. 

And Joohyun’d be damned if she ever changed that.

. . . . . 

six:

Turns out that one way ticket to Nibble City was actually an All Seasons VIP Pass, because Seungwan is unstoppable.

Whenever she finds something she really, really loves, she does these little nibbles on them to show it. And it isn’t just limited to her dino-shaped butter biscuits or Pippin either. There are many things she loves! Mummy the most, of course. And then there are the inanimate objects.

As much as Joohyun doesn’t mind it, Wannie’s habit can prove to be a challenge. Especially when she finds the corners of pillowcases suspiciously frayed when she’s having guests over, or when she’s trying to stir Yerimie’s favourite kimchi soup, only to pick up the wooden ladle and find its handle all wet and indented with tiny teeth.

“Seung-Wan-ah!” she calls… in that tone.

That tone that soon has muffled, panicked thuds reverberating through the house as a little someone makes a break for her toy fort where she’ll be safe from the dragon’s wrath. 

She thinks she’s so slick until the dragon herself barges through that door, effortlessly bypassing all Seungwan’s meticulous booby traps and her blue blanket moat. Her castle, her safehold has just been ruined! All lines of defence defeated by the monster herself!

Her fort is under siege, so like any good ruler, Seungwan resorts to playing the deadest of dead. It’s never very effective though, because with just a few tickles, the dragon is able to conjure an innocent little puppy back to life.

“Wannie….” 

“Yis, mummie?” she replies, giggling softly.

And then the dragon’s gone and her mummy is back all of a sudden.

Joohyun shakes her head at how easy it is for Seungwan to make her forget why she was mad in the first place.

. . . . .

There are so many more things to list, and the vampiress could go on for centuries about Seungwan’s endearing quirks.

So perhaps she will, but for now, it’s time for a dino-shaped butter biscuit and some cuddles.

See you soon!

small note: this makes me think of you. when you see this, i hope you smile too.

an even smaller note: not proofread. i'll do that in a sec. but i missed them so much too! didn't expect to churn this out at this time but here we go.

[airxn]

@hyperium​​ inquired – u  know  what  Fuck  u  😘 😘 😘  gib  kissies  to  BOTH  hyperion  bois

     He adjusts his grip on Timothy. The exhausted doppelganger's head rests on the face of his shoulder– too tired to really shake himself awake. Airin can’t blame him. They didn’t expect to be called by Jack in the dead of night. Yet this time, Jack didn’t carry that demanding tone over the echo device. His frustration wasn’t aimed at them. His voice was raspy, like he couldn’t sleep, and him asking for the two to come over felt more like a plea then a demand. 

     Airin couldn’t deny an innocent request, so now he walked down the hall of Jack’s home, carrying his sleepy Timothy. Not moving too fast or too slow. He doesn’t want to wake him up more than they already had. Besides, Jack’s alarm system already informed him they were here. Airin just wants to hold onto the moment of carrying his sleepy boyfriend bridal style for a little bit longer. Timothy’s gentle, sleeping face was cute enough as is without him also clinging to him. 

     “ …Jack? ” Airin peeps, using his back to open the bedroom door. The man sat in a tousled bed. His gaze seemingly distant as he stared into the sheets. Who knows how much he’s drank, or how many drugs he’s taken by this point. As it takes him a moment for him to acknowledge his partner’s have arrived– only looking to them silently as Airin approached the bed.

     Once before him, Airin begins to set Timothy down– placing his head in Jack’s lap. Timothy asks if they’re here in a tiny murmur, and the shifter replies with a soft ‘ mhm ’. Before letting him go entirely, Airin places a tender, long kiss on the doppelganger’s forehead. An affirmation of his safety and permission to fall back asleep. 

     He moves so slow as he brings himself back. Not wanting to disturb the exhaustion or this moment of peace. Airin takes a seat beside Jack. One hand propping himself up, he uses his other hand to brush a strand of Jack’s hair back into place. His gaze flutters over his features. Checking for any sign of discontent or even a wound. Airin's hand then cups Jack’s face, moving in to give a gentle kiss on the cheek. 

     Even as the kiss comes to a slow end, Airin remains close, asking in a hushed voice. “ Are you okay? ”

Send 😘 to kiss my muse.

[wolframsparks-blog]

Pity

"CHIRP! CHEEP!"

You're a tiny fluffy foal. You've just entered a cold, uncomfortable world. You can't see a thing- it's all dark, and every now and then there's a blurry flash of red. There's something yicky covering you, loud humming noises everywhere and it smells really not-pretty. You cry out for help, hoping for something to come and save you.

"Kylie's foal."

You hear something else- deep, murmuring. You can't understand what it means.

"Just the one foal? Well, nice change from the constant miscarriages, I guess." There's a pinch on your tail that makes you squeal, then a rushing sensation, and you can feel your entire body is now off the ground. You flail in distress, waving your little leggies around and swinging to and fro.

"Colours are nice. Great result for a first-time mother, in fact. Beautiful golden tail, mane will grow out the same colour soon enough. Light brown coat with reddish patches. Not overimposing, like the blue and hot pink bullshit the mares seem to like."

"Well, it works in our favour, doesn't it?"

You're flicked hard in the ribs. It really, really hurts, and you yelp in pain. "Alright, little guy. Off to see mummah."

Mummah? It's the first word you've recognised. It somehow makes you feel better. You don't know why, but you feel like mummah is something big and warm and safe. You feel yourself being taken away- you hope it's to see mummah.

"Babbeh! Kywie haf babbeh! Gif babbeh, babbeh nee' mummah!"

You're rested back down on another surface. It's gritty and even more uncomfortable than the last, but there's a new smell here that catches your attention and you start to wriggle towards it. Then something pushes you the final inch and you come across some sort of lump that you instinctively suckle on. It's delicious! You slurp the thick, sweet liquid as fast as your little body allows you to.

"What do you think of your first baby, Kylie?"

"Kywie wuv babbeh!" You still don't understand what's being said, but somehow you know this voice is mummah.

"Look, Kylie. You know how we talked about new mummahs and daddehs, and how good babies get the best mummahs and get to live in big houses with lots of toys and a pretty saferoom?"

Mummah starts to shake up and down a little. "Kywie wememba!"

"Well. You see, humans... humans are more likely to want to be a new mummah or daddy to a fluffy if they think that fluffy has been abused. Hurt. If they think the fluffy has had a hard time." There's a pause. "So we want you to be mean to this baby. Say mean things to it. Tell it it's ugly, an ugly, dumb, poopie baby. Hurt it, if you need to. Feed it and clean it, just be really mean to it as well."

"W-wha? Nu! Nu wan be meanie ta babbeh! WUV babbeh!"

"Kylie, you love this baby?"

"Yes! Wuv babbeh mowe dan anifing!" Something shifts around you, and you find yourself buried in a world of warm, soft fluff.

"So you'd do anything to help this baby get a lovely home with a nice mummah or daddy?"

"Mummah do anifing!"

"Well, being mean to this baby will help it get that. A saferoom to play in. Walks outside. A name. More toys than you can imagine."

There's an uneasy silence as you carry on suckling greedily.

"O-okayee... huuhuuhuu... mummah be meanie ta babbeh."

****************************

You've finished drinking the tasty milkies and had the yicky mess wiped off you by mummah. Now you're lying on your own. Is mummah still here? Where is mummah? You peep and chirp desperately, too weak to stand.

"Why don't we try the song now, Kylie?"

"Huuhuhuuu... nu wan..."

"You want what's best for your baby still, don't you?"

"Huuhuuhuu..." you feel your mummah's voice come closer.

"Mummah hate babbeh, babbeh am stoopi, babbeh poopy babbeh, hope babbeh... huuhuuu... hope babbeh dwown."

"That's a good girl. Now. I'm going to leave for a minute. I want you to carry on singing that song. Do it for your baby, it's what's best for it."

There's a banging sound, then silence, then you're lifted up and you feel yourself covered in mummah's warm, soft fluff and squeezed tight.

"Nu wowwy babbeh... mummah wuv babbeh weawwy! Mummah nu wan be meanie to babbeh huuhuu..."

You wriggle deeper into mummah's grip and chirp. You don't understand what mummah's saying, but her voice right now calms you anyway.

"Mummah wuv babbeh, babbeh wuv mummah, babbeh dwin- EEEEE!!!"

You're violently grasped and lifted away from mummah. You have hurties all over your body now, and you're so scared!

"Congratulations, you stupid bitch. We've been patient with you and let you keep trying to have babies because you wanted to. Honestly, after this many miscarriages any other breeder would have you disposed of."

"G-gibe babbeh back!"

There's a THWACK, and a loud, piercing "SCREEEEEE!". "You couldn't do a simple task that we asked, so we have to take your baby away. I hope you enjoy going back to having babies that die while they're still inside you."

"STAP! HUUHUUHUU! MUMMAH WIWW BE MEANIE TO BABBEH, JUS' GIB BABBEH BACK! BABBEH NEE'- EEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

You hear mummah's cries fading into the distance. This doesn't feel right. Why are you leaving mummah? You want to be back in mummah's warm fluff! You don't like this!

"What now?"

"I have an idea. Meet me back in rearing room two."

You spend a while longer wriggling around as you feel yourself carried further, until you come to a stop and you're left helplessly dangling by your tail.

You hear chirping and cheeping, but it isn't from you. Are there other fluffies like you close by?

"Ready?" The voice softens. "This is Elena. She doesn't have a sense of smell- pure luck for us. Dumb as anything too. Watch this."

You're placed down somewhere. The chirping is closer this time. You wriggle around, and you come into contact with some more fluff, which you nestle into.

"Oh my God, Elena!"

"WHA'? Wha happen? Why wake Ewena?!"

"Look! You've had another foal! You must have had it while you were sleeping!"

"Wh-wha?" There's a sound of something shifting, then you chirp as you feel something softly nudge you. "Dis am Ewena's babbeh?"

"Hang on, let me check." You're lifted up, then there's a sniffly sound. "Yes, Elena, this is definitely your baby. I'm sure of that."

There's another sniffly sound, and you're placed back down. "But it also smells bad. Like a poopy baby."

You're nudged a few times more. It's not very comfortable. "Dis bad babbeh?"

"Yes. It's a bad baby."

You're nudged, more violently this time. "Mummah nu wan yucky poopie babbeh!"

"Hey, now, Elena. Remember what we said before about bad babies?" There's a pause. "We said that mummahs have to take care of all babies, even bad poopie babies."

You're shifted back a little. "Okayee... mummah take cawe of poopie babbeh. Bu' nu wanna. Is wowstest babbeh."

"That's fine. Just clean it every now and then and give it milk. I'll be very, very disappointed if you don't."

You feel yourself propped against another fleshy lump, and you latch on and begin to suckle. The milk isn't anywhere near as nice as the first drink you had; it doesn't taste of anything in particular, with a more watery feel, and you finish all of it quickly.

“That was fast.”

"Yeah. Foal smell's a stimulus for lactation. Elena here doesn't produce as much milk for that reason, so we might be pushing it by bringing a third foal into the mix. Hopefully this works out."

You burp and wriggle around until you find some fluff and cuddle up into it.

"Come on, don't give me that. Looking at me like I don't know how convoluted this seems. Trust me, nothing empties wallets like a foal describing how its own mother mistreated it."

****************************

You're a brown-and-red fluffy foal. You live with your mummah, a sky-blue fluffy with a creamy-coloured mane and tail, and your two siblings. Bestest babbeh is a colt, a slightly darker shade of blue than mummah with the same cream tail. Neks-bestest babbeh is an orange filly with a pinkish tail. You're worstest babbeh, or bad babbeh, or poopie babbeh. It always gives you bad heart-hurties whenever they call you that. You don't understand why mummah doesn't love you.

"Mummah wuv babbehs... babbehs wuv mummah..."

You're waiting patiently for your siblings to finish their fill of milkies. You're so jealous of them, their little tails wagging behind them as they greedily suckle as much milkies as they like, occasionally mewling between slurps.

All of a sudden, a brown lump falls to the floor behind bestest babbeh.

Bestest babbeh burps. "Sowwy mummah... nu mean make poopies..."

Mummah leans over, almost knocking neks-bestest babbeh away, and hugs bestest. "Nu wowwy babbeh. Was accsiden'! Wowstest babbeh wiww cwean."

"Nuuu!" you whine. "Nu wan cwean poopies!"

"Dummeh babbeh!" Mummah yells, still clutching bestest. "Cwean poopies ow nu get miwkies!"

You hold back tears as you waddle over to the poopies and nudge them with your nose. The litterbox is all the way on the other side of your enclosure, and you leave most of the poopies in a brown smear on the floor as you push them over. You can smell it on your face too. You struggle to get what little is left up the side of the litterbox. But eventually mummah seems satisfied, so you return to her for your fill of milkies.

"Nu!" Mummah boops your nose, and you cry out in pain. "Babbeh covad in poopies! Yicky!"

You hang your head meekly. "Mummah cwean babbeh?" Mummah gives lickie-cleanies every day, and even though she gives more attention to your two siblings, she makes sure you're kept clean too.

"Mummah nu wick poopies!" Mummah boops you again. "Babbeh take baffie!"

You tremble. Mummah made you take a bath in her water-bowl before, and it wasn't nice. "Pwease nu m-mummah..."

"BABBEH TAKE BAFFIE OW NU GET MIWKIES!"

You walk over to the water-bowl and dip your hoofsie in it. It's even colder than you remember. Your tummy rumbles. You don't have another choice.

"EEEEE! Cowdie!" You try to edge into the water slowly, but miss your footing and stumble straight in. You splash around for a while before you're able to drag yourself out, damp and sobbing. Then you stumble over to mummah for what feels like the longest walk of your life and suckle the rest of the milkies that are left.

"Babbeh stiww hungwy..."

Your mummah doesn't reply, playing with bestest babbeh in her hoofsies and giggling. Mummah not loving you is always the worst part. You don't understand what you did wrong for mummah to not love you- babbehs are FOR love and huggies, after all. Every time she says mean things to you or ignores you you get a painful sinking feeling in your heart that's worse than any boops of hoof-hitties.

Desperate, you waddle back to the water-bowl. There's a food-bowl next to it with what's left of mummah's dry oat nummies. You bend down and take a bite. It's not nice. It feels like when you get mummah's fluff in your mouth by accident. But right now you're so hungry that you scoff it down.

All of a sudden, you feel yourself being lifted. "EEEEEP!"

“Goddamnit, Elena, what the hell is this all over the floor?”

“Babbeh make poopies, su wowstest babbeh cwean!”

“For fu- and you made him clean up in the water bowl again? What did we tell you about that the first time? You know what, it doesn’t matter. Because this baby’s big enough to eat adult feed now. He won’t be staying here any more.”

Your mummah looks shocked. "Babbeh weave mummah?"

"Yes, Elena, this baby's leaving. The other two will probably be going soon as well, so I'd enjoy your time with them before that happens."

You catch a glimpse of mummah, looking worried and clutching bestest babbeh tightly, as the man takes you away and the only other fluffies you remember disappear behind a door forever.

You're in a long, warm-looking room with lots of boxes on each side. Each one glows a dim yellow, with woodchips covering the bottom, a litterbox, a pretty-coloured bed at the back and a few toysies. On closer inspection, most of them have fluffies inside. There are more fluffies than you've ever seen, red, green, pink, white, some sleeping, some running around aimlessly, some tapping against the no-see wall at the front and yelling "PICK FWUFFY!" or "WAN NYU MUMMAH!"

"Eye-level. Best seat in the house, kiddo. You're welcome." The man opens the door to an empty enclosure three rows up and drops you inside.

"Babbeh neva see mummah again?" You ask.

"No. You're never seeing mummah again."

You sniffle. You feel like you'll miss mummah, even though she was always a meanie to you.

"Babbeh haf odda fwuffies fo' pway an' huggies an' singies?" You ask, taking note of all the other fluffies around you. Maybe they'll be even better than mummah. Maybe they'll love you and be really nice to you.

"You get thirty minutes of playtime after breakfast every day and an hour in the afternoon. Now," the man says, "why don't you make yourself at home here. I have other things to do."

You don't understand what that means exactly, but it sounds like you'll get to play with other fluffies soon enough. You hope that's the case, because it's really lonely where you are now.

****************************

"Look at this little guy!" A strange lady is bending over towards you and giving you nice scratchies all over. "What's your name?"

"Nu have name nice wady," you reply, as politely as you can. "Am jus' wowstest babbeh."

"Well, that's not nice!" The lady replies in shock. "Did your mummah call you that?"

"Yus... mummah say babbeh am wowstest dummeh babbeh an' awways be meanie ta babbeh." You struggle to hold back tears. 

“Well, if I took you home, I definitely wouldn’t call you that.”

"Wady be nyu mummah?" You blurt out. You've had a lot of different people you've never seen before approach you, and you know by now that it means they're thinking about being your new mummah or daddeh.

Suddenly, one of the other fluffies on playtime jumps in. "NU TAKE DAT FWUFFY! Pick fwuffy, am bestest fwuffy! Weawwy weawwy wan' nyu mummah!"

"GET BACK, YOU", one of the regular humans snaps at the other fluffy, so aggressively that it even makes you scaredy. The nice lady seems to notice that it scares you and gives you soft strokies under the chin. You push against her hand affectionately.

"Oh, how much for this one? He's simply adorable," the woman asks. You can smell her strong, flowery scent, and her voice soothes you and makes you feel safe. You really, really hope this lady takes you home.

"Ninety for this one."

"NINETY?" The woman jumps up. "Oh, I'm very sorry, little one. I don't think I can afford to be your new mummah."

It takes all the effort you have in your body not to cry as the woman walks off and starts to take interest in other fluffies in the play area. You creep away to the corner, hoping nobody notices you.

You don't get to play with other fluffies as much as you'd wanted. Almost all the time you spend is alone in your enclosure. You've been here for so long that you're bored of what few toys you have in your pen. The play area has more, but they're all raggedy and broken and there's so many fluffies around that it's impossible to get your hoofsies on them. The fluffies aren't as mean to you as mummah, but they still aren't very nice and won't play with you ever.

The humans start putting the fluffies away for the end of playtime, one by one, while you're still sulking in the corner. Cries of "WAN MOWE PWAY!" and "NU TAKE FWUFFY!" ring out. Eventually you're one of the last fluffies left.

"Son of a whore," one of the humans says. "I really thought she'd take him. Are we just mad? I mean, is it really unreasonable to ask for a price less than a hundred for an animal that can fucking talk?"

"When there's others going for forty, maybe," the other replies. "We'll have to lower the price on him."

"Damn, damn, damn.” The first man sighs. “We weren't all wrong. The colour scheme and history of abuse are generating interest, just fractionally less than we need to sell him. I was really hoping we'd be rid of him before his mane turned."

"How long do we have?"

"Well, it wasn't even visible a week ago. Perfect golden mane. Now there's puke green around all the roots. It'll probably have covered all of it within another week."

One of them lifts you up in his arms and you ready yourself to return to your enclosure. "Once it covers it, he'll be down to forty. Maybe less."

"Well," the other human replies, "we could... we could send him to Hyde."

"I was having that thought myself," says the human holding you. "They DO tend to fetch more over there. He could be ideal."

There's a moment of silence between the two. "OH NO!" One shouts. "It looks like you have an infection, fluffy!"

You perk up. "Wha'? Wha' mean?"

The man holding you plays with your leggies. "Yes, you have an infection! Oh, no, we'll have to get the vet to look at this."

You're quickly carried down the long room through a set of doors, then through another, reaching an dull-looking, nasty-smelling white-and-grey room. There's a dark man dressed up in a funny-looking way waiting in one corner.

"Hyde, how's it going," says the man bringing you in. "We think this one has a... uh... INFECTION."

The dark man looks at him, then at you, and prods your leggies. It doesn't hurt, but it's uncomfortable. The whole room is uncomfortable. You don't know what you're doing here or what's going on, and it sounds bad.

"Yes, that's an infection, alright."

"Wha' fecshun? Wha' mean?"

"It means that you're in danger! You have 'sickies', and it could end up killing you!"

Your tummy turns over itself. "FWUFFY GET FOWEVA SWEEPIES?! NU!"

"Shh, shh, it's OK. Right now the sickies are only in your leggies. We're going to send you to sleep- short sleep, nice sleep, like at night-time- then we're going to make the sickies go away and save you."

You understand most of that. "M-mistuh make fwuffy betta?"

"Yes, I'm going to do all that I can. There's going to be a sharp scratch, then you're going to fall asleep.

Sure enough, there's a terrible sensation in your shoulder, and before you can cry out, you feel your body weakening and your eyes start to shut.

****************************

You slowly open your eyes. Some memories start to come back to you. You remember the dark man in funny blue clothes, who's standing in front of you now. You remember the 'fection. Did the man make your 'fection go away?

"Wuh... wuh..."

"Shhh, shhh. It's OK, fluffy. Your infection is gone."

You breathe a sigh of relief. "F-fankoo mistuh..."

The man doesn't have a happy look. "I'm sorry, fluffy, but we had to do something very serious to make your infection go away."

You're confused. What did the man do? You try to stand up, but your leggies feel funny. They're all really itchy, too.

"I hope you know that this isn't the end of the world. We did what we had to do to save your life."

You're leggies aren't budging, no matter how hard you push. You look down to see what's going on, and you have a horrible revelation.

"WUH-WAA-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! WEGGIES! WEGGIES! WEGGIIIIEEEES!!!"

The man tries to shush you and calm you down, but you keep on screaming and screaming for your leggies. You pant and look around desperately until you run out of breath and all you can manage are short bursts of air, somewhere between sobbing and sniffling. This isn't right. This must be a scary dream.

"Will you take him away?"

"Sure," says one of the other men still in the room. You’re lifted up, still wide-eyed and gasping for air. Looking down, you can see where your legs used to be now. They're thick masses of bruised and swollen skin, some crusty, almost black blood still coating the area, with vaguely cross-shaped scars held in place by what look like metal wires.

You're walked down a different room with two of the men. Thoughts race through your head, more than you can handle. You think of not being able to walk wherever you like. You think of never being able to play or give huggies again. You don't even think you've had proper huggies before. The last thought makes you sadder than anything.

"Do people actually buy these ones?"

"Cuidado, cuidado. Español. Don't want to say anything incriminating in front of the fluffy."

The humans carry on talking between themselves as you're carried into yet another long room.

<<It has an appeal. Fluffies run around and get lost and break things. People think a fluffy with no legs is the same but without those problems. Not always the case, of course.>>

This room has lots and lots of boxes on each side. The boxes are larger than where you used to live, each reaching from floor to ceiling, but narrow, with old dark-green-painted wood on either side and a lattice of metal wires at the front. Most have fluffies inside, and most of the fluffies you can see are missing leggies.

"WAN MUMMAH HUUHUUHUU!"

"WHY TAKE WEGGIES? WAN WEGGIES BACK!"

"HATE DIS! HATE DIS! TAKE FWUFFY WAY WAAAAAAAH!"

The further you go in, the louder the chorus of wailing fluffies becomes, and the acoustics of the room gives it a spooky, unnerving emptiness. You can hear every pitter-patter of the man's footsteps on the floor.

<<People don't like intentional amputation, though. The fluffies have to believe that there was a valid reason for it, so that the buyers do, too. So, on a lot of occasions, they'll only take three legs, or two, or take something other than legs. Less suspicious that way.>>

The two men stop, and you dangle in front of a pen with a miserable-looking black fluffy. This one has his two front legs missing. His rump is raised in an awkward-looking position.

"N-nyu daddeh?" He asks meekly, tears staining his cheeks.

The two men move on. <<My God, this place is miserable.>>

<<That's the idea. Customer sees a sad amputated fluffy in a comfortable pen, they think there's nothing they can do for them. Customer sees a sad amputated fluffy here, they think 'how sad, I bet he would be happier if I took him home and gave him somewhere pleasant to live'.>>

You keep going until they reach an empty pen, right at the very end of the room in the darkest corner. In the pen next to it, a blue fluffy, who looks like he's had his entire back half mangled and two back legs removed, wails incoherently and bangs his head against one side of the pen.

The man places you in your pen, facing towards the entrance. The ground is rough and gives your tummy and leggies hurties. There's a food-bowl in front of you and a litterbox right behind you. That's about it. It's narrower than it looked from the outside- even if you had leggies, you don't think you'd be able to turn around.

"Welcome to your new home, fluffy," the man says, closing the front entrance. All that's left to look at is the tall metal gate in front of you and the crumbling grey wall behind it. "Sorry about the infection. We did what we had to do to make sure you didn't die."

You cry as the two men walk away, leaving you alone with the choir of moaning fluffies. You're not even sure that forever sleepies wouldn't be better.

****************************

"This one at the end? Forty-five. For eighty you can also get a bundle of extras, which I highly recommend- video guide on owning handicapped fluffies, few toys, some specialist equipment for amputees and entitlement to a free full checkup in the first six months."

"I'll go for the eighty deal, sure." The strange lady picks you off the ground and hugs you. You cry tears of half-sadness-half-joy as you're held in your first-ever huggie, unable to hug her back.

"Great! Follow me, I'll get the paperwork sorted out front."

Mummah carries you away from your pen. You're so happy to finally leave it behind.

"How did you lose your legs, fluffy?"

"Mistuh say... huuhuu... fwuffy haf 'fection... fwuffy take sweepies, den when wake up nu haf weggies..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the lady says. "And you've been here ever since? Well, don't worry. Mummah has a big house for you to live in, and soon I'll get you some toys, and a saferoom and a cozy warm bed. How does that sound?"

You notice one of the fluffies in the pens look devastated as he overhears mummah. You're just so glad that you've been chosen. "Yes, fwuffy wike dat, mummah. Wuv... *sniff* wuv mummah."

The man in front walks new mummah over to a bright, colourful room. Your eyes are so used to the dim grey room that it's almost hard to look. You're dropped on a counter and the man gives some paper to mummah which she starts scribbling on.

One of the other men shows up.

"Hey."

"Hola.”

<<What's the situation?>>

<<Kylie miscarried again. She's clearly not working out as a broodmare.>>

<<No. Have her sent to Hyde, he'll arrange to transfer her to the milk-bags.>>

New mummah hands the paper back to the man. "What were you two talking about?"

"Just some things that happen here. Bad things." He strokes your back. "Things we can't talk about in front of the fluffies. They're sensitive animals."

"Fair enough," says mummah. She lifts you up and hold you in front of her. "You don't have a name, do you?"

"Nu... nu haf namie. Mummah gif?"

"Hmm... how about Autumn?"

Tears start to form in your eyes. "Awtum... w-wu... wuv... huuhuuuhuu..."

Mummah pulls you in and hugs you. "Oh, there, there, Autumn, it's OK. You're OK now."

"Awtum sowwy... nu knu why cwy..."

"It's OK. Let's just go home. How does that sound?"

You nod your head and smile, and mummah places you in a carrier and takes you away. You're still crying. You don't know why, but you still feel sad. But mummah's right. It'll all be OK once you get to your new home. You'll never have to feel sad again.

[inexcon]

RSI Comm-Link: DISCOVERED: The Best Mistake

The Best Mistake

Today’s Discovered pulls an excerpt from the Imperial Cartography Center archives to share a story from the fledgling days of the organization (when it was still known as the Government Cartography Agency.) We’ll hear firsthand from expedition leader Seline Novikov on the mysteries uncovered during the initial charting of Hades II.

BEGIN RECORDS:

2534.07.11_02:27 SET

After eighty-five hours of silence, I finally got word from the home office. Turns out there’s a reason the comm drones have been so spotty. Seems the initial jump charts aren’t proving as stable as first thought. Real comforting to hear that after you’ve already gone through, right? Donovan’s attempting to rechart a more secure path, but it’s going to take time. We should be fine with limited communications and we definitely have enough supplies to last till they can get a shipment through — even if there might be a few complaints about having to eat nothing but heat-em-ups for the last week or so. No, our biggest problem is that we won’t get the extra equipment we need to start doing the detailed surface scans of the third and second planet. Not quite the start I was hoping for my first time as lead.

Out of curiosity, I had Jans rig up two of our normal scan-packages with some extra environmental protections to see if we could get any worthwhile information while we waited. However, the package dropped onto world two got clogged within a few minutes and stopped broadcasting, and the world three package didn’t even make it to the surface. Guess we’ll have to leave the reports as “ash” and “craters” respectively for now. It’s going to put the resource analysis way behind schedule, but I’m hoping the brass will understand.

On the brighter side, until the jump gets sorted, we will have a legitimate excuse to focus significant additional resources on the data returns from the split world. Who knows, maybe before any of the other teams arrive we’ll be able to figure out what caused the fourth planet to break in half.

2534.07.13_22.44 SET

Jans just nearly took my hatch off its hinges trying to wake me up. I was going to start yelling about bothering me off-shift, when I saw the datapad that he was excitedly shoving in my face. The world two probe had survived. It’s a weak signal, but it’s there. The best theory that we’ve put together is that the atmospheric ash has traces of kherium in it and as the storm moves, it disrupts the broadcast signal. We didn’t get much this time before the ash bank blocked the signal again, but the weather forecast shows that we might have another break in about four hours.

2534.07.14_07:03 SET

I’m absolutely exhausted, but am still too wired to sleep. The forecast was right and we were able to get another burst of data before the window closed again. When we took a quick glance through the packet, Gibson pointed out that what we had initially taken for land deformations in the orbital scans actually had a pattern to them. Fast forward through three hours of intense arguing and analysis, and Gibs had convinced all of us — they’re not naturally occurring. Which means whatever’s down there is probably manmade. Well, not “man” made. I mean, unless we found where the Artemis crashed, we’re potentially talking about a sapient xeno-species.

Jans wanted to pull together a team to go down and have a look, but no way we’re cleared for that. I pointed out that we’ve been listening since we got here and haven’t heard a single peep from the surface, so if anything is down there, they don’t exactly seem eager to talk. Plus, after what happened with the Xi’an aliens, I’m pretty sure we’d not only lose our jobs, but possibly be jailed for making unauthorized first contact. Both Gibson and Jans gave impassioned speeches about how this was our once-in-a-lifetime chance to make history. Even Lace said that we should go, and Lace won’t even listen to music on shift because it’s against policy.

I held firm. As much as I want to go check out what’s down there, our job is data analysis. Maybe once the surface team arrives and has a chance to do a full sec by sec, we’ll get the green light to check it out ourselves.

2534.07.14_07:37 SET

I’ve been looking at the scans. The pattern creates almost a network. You can start to see hubs and branches that connect and spin off. I wonder if they’re some sort of mine? Perhaps they’re a massive earthworks project that’s used for transportation? Agriculture? To be honest they remind me of how our town was arranged around the initial colony outpost at its hub, but if this is a settlement or a city of some kind then —

I really need to stop sitting here speculating. It’s not getting me anywhere and I’m sure once someone goes down there they can figure it out. Not that it will be easy. You park anything down there for too long without the right shield and you can basically kiss it goodbye. You would probably have to set up —

And there I go again. Okay, I’m gonna grab a can of coffee and see where we are with the drone launch for this afternoon.

2534.07.14_07:41 SET

I just realized that the surface team will need to really hurry when they arrive to try to preserve anything at risk. I mean, imagine finding out that we missed being able to study important alien artifacts because the caustic atmosphere got to it before we could. It’s probably not a huge risk. Who knows? Maybe it’s all been there for centuries. But on the other hand, maybe there’s a clock counting down and we just don’t know it yet. Hopefully, the jump point will open soon.

2534.07.14_08:16 SET

Screw it. We’re going to go take a look. What’s the point of exploring the unknown if you don’t actually go explore the unknown?

2534.17.16_19:12 SET

Definitely not first contact. It was like we had accidentally wandered into some forgotten pit of hell. Ash everywhere. Everything in ruins. Nothing alive.

We had waited for another break in the storm, and set down near the package drop site. Jans had hoped to be able to do some maintenance on the scanner before we left. We knew at most we’d have three or four hours down there. Our suits’ oxygen wasn’t the problem, it was the corrosive ash. Stepping out of the shuttle, we had almost no visibility through the dense atmosphere. Our lights penetrated only a few meters before they were swallowed by the darkness. It didn’t help that our comm range was a tenth of what it should be thanks to residual kherium. We tied a lifeline to make sure no one got lost, and set an excruciatingly slow pace.

Even with those constraints, we came upon signs of life almost immediately, but not any life itself. The surface was terribly scarred, seemingly torn apart by impact, but there was no mistaking the manufactured fragments that were littered throughout the debris. Initial scans of the pieces came up with question marks. We collected samples where we could. I found a smooth piece slightly bigger than my hand that had a peculiar non-repeating pattern etched into it. I stared at it the whole ride back and I couldn’t tell you if it’s some language, an intricate aesthetic design, a natural feature of the strange material or some combination of the three.

It was Lace who found the first intact entrance. The structure lead deep underground, but it had collapsed in on itself almost entirely. Standing there looking around at the size of the archway and the dimensions of the architecture made me feel like an alien for the first time in my life. It was clear that this was a world where Humans didn’t belong.

We were debating if we should proceed farther when Jans sprang a leak in his suit. We had to quickly reseal it and even with the patch in place and holding, we hurried back as fast as we could. It looked like enough things had died on that world without Jans needing to join them.

As I sit here, my head is spinning trying to process everything we saw. One question, though, keeps returning — how soon can we go back?

END OF RECORDS

Seline Novikov, one of the first Humans to ever step foot inside a Hadesian ruin, was removed as expedition leader a week later when the jump point re-charting was finished and the GCA received word of the unauthorized landing party. When asked if the decision to go down to the planet was a mistake, Seline replied, “Oh, yeah. Best one I ever made, too.”

http://bit.ly/2tKZ1rT