Ichi - By the Eyes of the Blind

>You wake up. You know you have to, because daddy says so.
>“Ichi, I’m going to work now. Need something before I go?”.
>You still feel sleepy, but you do your best to think about what your daddy asked you.
>“Ichi haf make poopies?”, you finally tell him. You don’t actually have a strong poopie feel, but daddy usually praises you when you go to the litterbox.
>The litterbox is a strange place that gives a funny feeling at your hooves when you walk on it. It also doesn’t smell pretty at all, and that’s how you’re usually able to find it.
>“Well, you can do that by yourself, buddy”, daddy replies. “Is there something I can give to you?”.
>You smile. The answer is simple here.
>“Can haf huggies?”, you ask.
>You hear daddy chuckle. “Now we’re talking!”. You feel his hands picking you up and then hug you, holding against his chest. You place your head where you know you can hear his heart and make your happy noise.
>You love your daddy more than anything you know. He’s strong, his voice makes you feel happy and he smells pretty.
>You feel you nose itch. Sometimes, especially when he’s going to “work”, he smells almost too pretty. And when this happens your nose makes… makes… ma-a-a…
>Atchoo!
>“Sowwy dahdeh… Nose make sneezie”.
>Daddy chuckles again. “My after-shave’s too strong for you, huh? Sorry about that”. You feel his fingers touching your nose and making you giggle. “Want me to turn the radio on?”.
>The radio is mysterious thing you can’t touch or smell, only hear; it makes a thing called “muu-zik” that makes your ears and your tummy feel pretty. You love listening to the muu-zik, especially when you’re with daddy. Sometimes he sings along with the radio, and you sing too, even if you don’t know the words.
>The problem is, when the radio starts singing only daddy can make it stop. It doesn’t listen to you, even if you say “please”, so you think that the radio is a bit of a meanie.
>“Nu, dahdeh, no wadio, thankies”.
>“Okay, champ”. He puts you back in your playpen, and pats your head. “See you later, then!”.
>You always feel sad when you hear the door closing, because it means that daddy is going away. The first time he did it you were really scared because you thought he was never coming back, so you started crying and made a lot of bad poopies.
>But then daddy came back and not only he wasn’t angry, but he talked with you, cleaned you and even gave you the fluffy daddy!
>The fluffy daddy is your best friend (after daddy, of course). Even when daddy has to go to “wowk”, the fluffy daddy is always with you.
>Thinking about daddy makes you feel a little sad, so you search around until you find the teddy bear plush: he’s exactly where you left him, on your blanket nest. You bury your face in his fluff and cry, but only a little because you promised daddy to be a brave fluffy when he’s not home, then you hug the fluffy daddy tightly.
>“What do you want to do, Ichi?”, the fluffy daddy asks.
>You giggle. You like when the fluffy daddy talks; not only because he has daddy’s voice, but also because he speaks with his tummy.
>“Ichi wan’ pway!”, you tell him, and then start searching for your ball. After some time, your hooves feel the soft, smooth feeling of the toy; it is resting against the litterbox, and you feel yourself giggling again at the thought of the ball making poopies.
>“Ichi pway baww!”, you playfully announce to the fluffy daddy when you feel his fluff against your cheek again. For some reason, he never joins you; you touched his front hooves many times, though, and they are really soft, a lot softer then yours… so maybe he’s not strong enough to lift the ball?
>Luckily, he’s very good at giving you hugs, and you can play with the ball by yourself, after all.
>After some time spent pushing and nosing your toy around, you feel bored. You waddle around your playpen, sighing softly; it’s too late to play the “waiting for daddy” game, where you try to guess when the door will open and you will hear daddy’s voice again. So you just go back to your nest of blankets and lie down hugging your plush. Before falling asleep, you ear him saying: “Ichi is a very good fluffy”.
>“Ichi vewy sweepy fwuffy…”, you reply, yawning. And, before even realizing it, you are in nappie place.

>Nappie place is really strange. When you described it to daddy, he told you that that was something called “dweam”, something that not only fluffies but also humans do when they are asleep. ¬¬¬You’re not entirely sure he’s right, but daddy is way smarter than you are, so you believe him.
>But nappie place is still a very strange place. Whenever you go there, the sounds, the smells and the things you touch are totally different from those you are used to. Sometimes the fluffy daddy is there with you; and sometimes even daddy is in the nappie place, and those are the best dweams you can think of. Except that one time where daddy told you he didn’t love you anymore and brought you back to the fluffy shelter. You cried and cried, but when you woke up daddy was there with you and you realized it was just the nappie place being meanie and giving you a really bad dweam.
>Sometimes, there are other fluffies in the nappie place. Not meanie fluffies like those from the shelter, though: these ponies are your friends, they give you hugs, they play with you, they share nummies and even let you sleep in the fluffpile with them! But when you wake up they are all gone, and you feel really sad.
>These time, however, you’re all alone in the nappie place. It’s warm, and there’s a funny smell that you don’t remember but that’s at the same time very familiar. It makes you feel… safe. Loved.
>Home.
>You start babbling softly, and you feel a voice answering at you. You don’t understand the words, but just the sound fills your tummy with joy. You feel someone hugging you, the sensation of being enveloped in fluff that smells really pretty, that voice again.
>And this time, you understand the words.
>“Mumma wuv bahbeh… Gud bahbeb, gif wuv”.
>And, before you even realize it, you’re not in the nappie place anymore: you’re beck on your blankies, your head resting against the fluffy daddy. You feel sad wawa trickling on your face.
>“M-m-mumma…?”, you whisper.
>No one answers.

>“Yeah, he said he dreamt about his mother”. You are onto daddy’s lap, enjoying a session of belly tickles. He’s talking with Wawey, the nice lady from the shelter.
>You like Wawey. She smells really nicely and she always bring you candies and other sweet nummies.
>She’s not here now, though. Daddy has a strange toy called “telly-fon” that he can use to talk with other humans, even if they are not here. And the telly-fon can speak too! He must be the wadio’s brother or something.
>“No, I wasn’t here when it happened. He told me that when I came home”.
>You did your best to remember what happened in the nappie place so that you could tell daddy about it. You kept talking about it to everyone, the fluffy daddy, the ball, the blocks, the water bottle… even the litterbox!
>It seemed important, even if you don’t know why. You didn’t even remember you had had a mumma, before dreaming about her!
>“Yeah, probably. I mean, considering what you told me about his family…”.
>The belly rubbing and daddy’s warmth are making you feel sleepy again. You start yawning, and close your eyes.
>This time, you don’t go to the nappie place.
>When you wake up, daddy is still talking with Wawey with the telly-fon.
>“…but I don’t think there are many chances to find another blind fluffy, and…”.
>“Dahdeh, wha’ bwind?”, you ask, opening your eyes.
>Silence. Then you hear Wawey’s voice through the telly-fon. “Nice job, genius”, she says.
>“H-hey, I thought he was sleeping!”, your daddy replies.
>“Wha’ bwind?”, you repeat. “Bwind mean gud? Ichi gud fwuffy?”. You start feeling worried: daddy’s voice doesn’t sound right, and maybe it’s your fault!
>He starts petting your back fluff in response. “Yeah, Ichi, you’re a good fluffy. Don’t worry about that”. He falls silent for a second. “And blind means… special. You have a special tail, remember?”.
>Thinking about your tail makes the saddies go away immediately. “Yay! Ichi wan’ weaw taiw! Pwease, dahdeh, gif Ichi taiw!”.
>“Okay, just give me a minute”. You hear him say goodbye to Wawey, then he puts your special tail on you.
>You love the special tail! No other fluffy at the shelter had one, you’re sure of it. It’s long, soft and silky, and you love cuddling with it. It smells a little bit like you and a little bit like daddy, so it’s like you’re bringing him with you when you’re wearing it.
>You even tried to suckle it once to see what it tasted like, but daddy told you not to be a dummy fluffy.
>He’s probably right, because when you tried to lick the fluffy daddy it tasted really yucky.
>After having you wear the tail, daddy usually let you roam the living room as you like. The living room is a lot bigger than your playpen, and you don’t know it very well, so you often bump into things. You always say you’re sorry, though.
>When you’re tired of exploring, you usually roll on your back and play with your tail, smiling.
>Not today, though. Today you have questions.
>“Dahdeh, bwind mean special, wight?”
>“Yeah, right”
>“Den special mean bwind?”
>“Mmh… Yes and no… But I guess in your case it can be true”.
>“Oh. Otay”. You frown, trying to concentrate with all your might on the other things you wanted to ask daddy. “Um… Dahdeh? Ichi haf ask sumting”.
>“What’s the matter, buddy?”
>“Uh… um…”. You take a deep breath. “Can Ichi haf fwuffy fwends?”.
>Daddy doesn’t talk for quite a long time after you ask him this. You stop rolling on your back and try to reach for the sofa to hug him. “W-why dahdeh no tawkies? Dahdeh angwy wif Ichi?”.
>“N-no, Ichi, I’m not angry!”. He picks you up and hugs you to show you he still loves you. You obviously hug him back. “It’s just that… you told me that the other fluffies at the shelter bullied you, right?”.
>You lower your ears. “W-wight…”.
>“So… why do you still want to be friend with fluffies? Aren’t you afraid they’ll still be mean to you?”.
>You’d love to say a lot of different things to answer the question your daddy made: you’d love to tell him that you fluffies like to be together, playing, giving and receiving huggies, sleeping in a fluffpile and sharing your nummies; that now that you have a new, wonderful tail and you feel beautiful, the other fluffies will surely be nice to you; that what you felt when you were in the nappie place with your mumma made you feel you tummy so happy and light… But you’re a fluffy, so words are not really your forte. “Bu’… bu’ maybe no all fwuffies be meanie wif Ichi…”, you finally murmur, your face buried in your daddy’s clothes. You feel the sad wawa coming, but you don’t want daddy to notice because you promised him to be a good and brave fluffy.
>“Well…”, daddy says after a while. “I think something could be arranged…”.
>“Yay!”, you exclaim, wagging your tail madly. “Dahdeh bes’…”.
>“Hey, hold your horses, Ichi! You know we can’t have another fluffy here, right?”.
>“Ichi know! House too wittwe!”. Also, you’re not sure you want some other fluffy living with you. You fear daddy might love the other fluffy more than he loves you.
>“Exactly. But maybe we could, you know… Have a playdate. What about that?”.
>“Yes! Ichi wan’ pwaydate, Ichi wan’ pwaydate!”. You stop bouncing on daddy’s lap and sit down. “Wha’ pwaydate, dahdeh?”. Well, it has “pway” in it, so it must be something fun!
>“Um… Basically, daddy and other fluffy owners meet somewhere and let you play together”.
>This sounds like the most wonderful thing in the world! “Ichi can haf fwends!”, you babble excitedly. “Go to pwaydate now? Fwuffy dahdeh can come wiff?”.
>Daddy laughs, and you feel his hand petting your head. “No, Ichi, daddy has to find other owners with special fluffies first. You have to be patient, but I promise you that the very moment I find someone who has a special fluffy like you, you’ll have your playdate. Okay?”.
>“Otay dahdeh…”, you feel sad, because you really want to become friends with other fluffies right now.
>But if daddy say you have to wait, you’ll wait. Because you love daddy more than anything, and you know he’s always right.
>To make you feel better, daddy even turns on the radio, and the two of you start singing with the muu-zik, even if you don’t know the words. You are much happier, then.
>When daddy goes to bed, he puts you back in your blanket nest. The first thing you do is go hugging the fluffy daddy while telling him about the playdate.
>“Ichi is my special fluffy”
>“Yeah, Ichi special!”, you agree while curling under your favourite blankie. “Special means bwind, and bwind *yawn* mean special!”.
>And the last thing you think about before falling asleep, hoping to go to the nappie place again, is this.
>You are really proud to be blind.