It had been one year since that fateful day in the park.
The worst night of her life, losing her mother's warmth to hunters...
Followed by the new warmth of a friendly passerby.
The start of her new life, and a brighter future.
~~~
Fries could barely believe that it had been a full year since he first picked up that shivering little puffling, not expecting her to live more than a few hours in his care. Yet here she was, a year later, completely shining.
At this point she was completely weaned, her eyes fully opened and her yearling teeth fully grown in.
Not only was her physical form pristine, but her mental state had flourished from Fries' influence. His teaching had really struck a chord with her, and she was rapidly learning new things- and surprising her caretaker in the process.
Just within a few months, Puffball had been completely caught up to object children, and Fries had even been considering sending her to the local school in the coming year.
But now was time to celebrate how far she's come.
-
Fries had the whole celebration planned out- a special meal, a nice visit to the park, and of course, lots of cake and presents.
Speaking of cake, the potato object had asked a certain someone to bake something special for the occasion.
-
"How does that look?" Pin held up the cake, letting Fries get a good view of the pristine dessert.
It was a double-tier cake, with the bottom layer resembling a multicolored forest scene, and the top tier painted in all colors of the rainbow. A miniature frosting figure of Puffball sat on top of the cake, with a candle sticking out of her head, and the words "HAPPY 1st YEAR!" written beneath her in pink frosting.
"Oh- that's perfect!" Fries held puffball close, shielding her eyes to keep the cake a surprise. "How much do I owe you?" Just as he reached for his wallet, Fries was cut off by Pin. "Actually, just think of it as a gift! It was really fun to make, I don't need any pay." The salted object was surprised by this notion, furrowing his eyebrows and looking at the cake's details. "But that cake had to take hours!" "Well, actually, I had some help..."
Pin smiled and looked into the other room lovingly. "Coiny dear, come here and meet Fries! He's the one who rescued that puffling I was telling you about!" A short copper object peeked around the corner, walking into the room and standing next to Pin. "Fries, this is my boyfriend, Coiny." Coiny smiled and reached a hand out to Fries, introducing himself. "Yeah! Me and Pin are a perfect duo! Partners in crime!" The copper coin put a hand on Pin's shoulder, earning a blush out of the thumbtack. "And I take it that's your little puff? I've never seen one in person before, just on nature shows and stuff." Fries knelt down to show Puffball to Coiny, who gave her a quick pat on the head before turning his attention back to Pin. "So, I suppose we should get this cake over to my place, huh?" Fries straightened himself up, adjusting little Puffball in his arms. "Ah, of course! Why don't you two go on your walk while we get this thing over to your house." Pin lifted the cake tray up, while Coiny ran to grab a box.
~~~
The walk in the park was lovely, and Fries had allowed Puffball to fly during most of their outing. She loved gliding through the breeze, briefly perching in nearby trees and chasing pigeons off of the path. Hell, Fries had to actually grab a pigeon out of her mouth, as her predatory instincts had briefly kicked in upon seeing the birds frantically flutter away from her.
"Alright, lets get some cake in you...so you don't try to eat any more birds!" Fries was holding Puffball again, ruffling her fur and picking pieces of feathers out of her teeth. "Fwies me bird chase! Me catch bird!" Puffball was usually pretty quiet, yet when she got excited she could be quite the chatterer. Fries simply chuckled as Puffball talked about her bird encounter, smiling with every word that came out of her mouth.
Her vocoding was really starting to smooth itself out, with her voice following a pleasant melody rather than the random notes that it used to contain. Just listening to her talk was like music, and sometimes Fries would start a conversation with her just to hear her beautiful song.
-
"Happy 1 year anniversary, Puffball!" The group of objects cheered out to the little pink creature, all sitting around Fries' kitchen table. There was Pin and Coiny, as well as a few other objects Puffball had never met: a bomb, a flower, and even that green jello kid that had taken over Fries' shift at the restaurant. These were all friends of Fries, and they had all come to celebrate Puffball's day. Songs were sung, food was served, and the cake was sliced.
And that was the day that Puffball realized she LOVED cake.
"Woah! Slow down there!" Fries had to grab the little puffling and pull her back, as she had her jaws opened wide, her teeth mere inches from the entire cake, just about to finish off the pastry in one giant bite. "You can have another piece, but I'm sure our guests would like to have some cake as well!" Puffball grumbled at this, settling back into her stable hovering position as Fries sliced her another piece, the other objects at the table laughing gleefully.
-
The rest of the day went off smoothly, with Fries settling down on the couch with Puffball after the guests had left. He had a special gift for her, something that he was surprised he could even find. But he had seen it at a market stall, and knew that he needed it right away.
He gently placed down the neatly wrapped package, helping Puffball unwravel the ribbons and paper, before revealing the item inside.
It was a framed photo, taken by a nature photographer.
A large purple puffball, nursing a litter of 5 pufflings, with a tiny pink runt.
The last image of Puffball with her mother, moments before her life was taken.
~~~Author's Notes~~~
It's the 11th, fuckos. Puff time.
I legit didn't know what to do for this chapter lol- but I guess I figured it out.
and yes coinpin is epic
anyway, i might not post a chapter next month bc college is starting back up- so yeah, take this as your last puff fix for a little while, unless i get some free time to write
thats about all i have to say
-Fire