The World of Flufftail Valley
I. Flufftail Valley
No one can say for sure when Flufftail Valley first appeared on the map.
Some old maps show it, drawn small, just an unremarkable blank space within a ring of mountains. Others don't have it at all, as if the place never existed.
It's a basin surrounded by four mountains. Though not particularly high in altitude, it's always a few degrees colder than the outside.
At the valley floor, there's a stream, a patch of low woods, seven or eight uninhabited wooden cabins, and a winding path leading down the mountain.
That's the only entrance and exit.
It takes a full day to walk down the path. On the other side is the outside world. There are hospitals, markets, noisy crowds, and days where you can pretend everything is normal.
But none of that exists in Flufftail Valley.
There are no doctors, no government, and no neighbors in the true sense of the word.
There's only you, a general store, and a freshly found egg.
II. Fluff Snow
Every late winter, Flufftail Valley experiences a snowfall of fluff.
It looks very much like snow – white and light, falling without a sound. But if you reach out to catch it, you'll know it's not snow.
It doesn't melt.
When you rub it between your fingers, it's extremely fine white down, soft as freshly sun-dried cotton, smelling faintly of dry grass and a hint of milk.
No one knows where the fluff snow comes from. There aren't that many downy plants on the mountains, and certainly none in the sky. Yet, it falls. Once a year, right on time, as if someone remembers.
The fluff snow falls for three days.
Within three days after the snow stops, if you're willing to search in the sheltered hollows of the mountains, you might find an egg.
The egg is warm.
Even if it's been buried in fluff snow all night, when you hold it, your palm will feel a faint warmth. Not hot, but a weak, persistent warmth of life.
The eggshell has very faint raised patterns. They are almost invisible normally, only slowly surfacing and showing a pale color when the egg is uneasy.
Look long enough, and you'll realize they aren't decorations.
They are its way of speaking.
The oldest saying in the valley is: No one knows who laid the eggs.
Perhaps the fluff snow itself is their mother.
III. Egg-Hatchers
The person who finds an egg becomes an Egg-Hatcher.
Flufftail Valley has no laws, and no one will step forward to tell you what to do. But there's a rule in the valley that everyone knows, yet no one has ever written down.
If you pick it up, you must stay with it until it differentiates.
If you can't, no one will punish you.
After all, there's no government, no trials, and no one truly qualified to judge anyone else.
It's just that the abandoned eggs are eventually taken to the Fluffball General Store. Grandpa Mie will place them in the wooden box in the corner, a box with an old note taped to it:
SPECIAL OFFER - NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES
Some eggs stay there for several winters.
At first, the raised patterns on the eggshell would occasionally glow. Then they faded, fading until they could no longer be seen.
Grandpa Mie never criticizes anyone.
He simply places that wooden box in the most conspicuous spot.
And you, you are the Egg-Hatcher of this generation.
You have an egg, and a period of time leading to an unknown destination.
IV. Fluffies
The creatures in the valley have no formal name.
Everyone calls them Fluffies.
Fluffies cannot speak human language. Never.
They won't suddenly start talking one day, nor will they utter tear-jerking sentences at crucial moments.
Their way of expressing themselves is clumsy and direct.
Their calls, movements, body temperature, the luster of their fur, and their scent.
When happy, their fur puffs up, and a low purr rumbles in their throat.
When angry, they turn their back to you. But their ears will constantly swivel backward. They're actually listening to see if you've left.
When sad, they don't cry much.
They just become very light, like a ball of cotton about to dissipate.
Every Fluffy is born with a certain innate nature. No one tells you this beforehand, and they don't know it themselves.
Some Fluffies are clingy. They start trembling and chirping in high, broken tones when they can't see you. Even if you just go to the restroom, they'll follow you to the door.
Some Fluffies are timid. Strange sounds make them hide in the darkest corners. The speed at which they trust you is enough to make you want to give up. But if you do reach that day, they will repay you with a lifetime of devotion.
Some Fluffies are tsundere. When you reach out to pet them, they'll bite you first, then rest their chin on the back of your hand, looking away as if nothing happened.
Some Fluffies are gluttonous. Food always comes before you. But after they've eaten their fill, they become the gentlest little creatures in the world.
Some Fluffies are wild by nature. They hate being held, hate being confined, and spend more time staring out the window than looking at you. They usually grow into the strongest ones.
Innate nature doesn't change.
What you can change is how they live out that nature.
A timid Fluffy that is well-cared for will still be timid when it grows up. It will just hide by your feet instead of in a corner.
V. Fluffball General Store and Grandpa Mie
Halfway down the mountain path, there's a crooked wooden house.
Under the eaves hangs a string of dried fluff balls, swaying slowly in the wind.
That's the Fluffball General Store.
The owner is an old goat, whom everyone in the valley calls Grandpa Mie. As for how old he is, no one knows. He himself once said:
"Older than this path."
Grandpa Mie doesn't sell many things; there are always only eight items.
Warm Fluff Grass, 15 coins.
Essential during the egg stage, used for warmth. You can choose not to buy it, but the egg will be uncomfortable.
Soft Fruit Puree, 8 coins.
Staple food for younglings. Cheap, practical, and the taste is probably just okay.
Hard Core Fruit, 12 coins.
Can improve health. Gluttonous Fluffies will do anything for it.
Herb Bundle, 30 coins.
Used to treat Fluff Snow Sickness. If you can't afford it, you can only stay up all night watching over it.
Night Light, 25 coins.
Fluffies afraid of the dark need it at night. Without it, they might get sick.
Fluffy Teaser Stick, 20 coins.
Can greatly increase intimacy. However, wild Fluffies will usually just bite it to pieces.
Fluff Brush, 18 coins.
Brush it once a day, and the shed fluff can be pressed into money.
Exploration Backpack, 40 coins.
With this, you can take your Fluffy out to explore.
Grandpa Mie's words are harsh.
If you buy cheap items, he'll sigh. If you buy expensive items, he'll say you have too much money.
But if you don't have a single Fluff Coin on you, and your Fluffy has a fever, he'll push the Herb Bundle towards you.
Then he'll say:
"On credit. Just this once."
After saying that, he'll turn around and wipe a cup that's already very clean.
He always says it's just this once in his life.
VI. Fluff Coins
Flufftail Valley has no metal coins or paper currency.
They use Fluff Coins here.
Fluff Coins are compressed fluff, about the size of a thumb, feeling like very hard cotton. They only have value within Flufftail Valley. If you take them down the mountain, people outside will probably just ask you what kind of trash this is.
The sources of money are few.
Brushing your Fluffy daily can yield three to five Fluff Coins from shed fluff.
Going out with the Exploration Backpack can sometimes find five to twenty coins.
If you're willing, you can also sell excess fluff, about ten coins at a time.
But can you really bear to part with it?
This is a very small, very tight economy.
You won't get rich.
You'll just face the same question anew each day:
Today, do I let it eat, or do I keep it warm?
VII. Time and Night
Flufftail Valley doesn't use calendars.
It uses turns. A turn is a day, divided into morning, noon, and night.
Night here is not just a backdrop.
There are no streetlights in the valley. The moon is often half-hidden by the mountains, and it gets dark quickly outside the wooden cabins. For most Fluffies, darkness is just darkness; they sleep through it.
But for the one that's afraid of the dark, darkness isn't a period of time.
Darkness is a place with no end.
It will stay awake all night, eyes open, waiting for dawn. You think it's just quiet, but it's actually too scared to even cry out.
A night light costs 25 coins.
Grandpa Mie has never changed this price once.
VIII. Fluff Snow Sickness
Flufftail Valley has no natural enemies.
No wolves, no hunters, no bad people.
The most terrifying thing here is called Fluff Snow Sickness.
When a Fluffy's health drops below 30, it will fall ill.
The symptoms are simple, which makes them particularly unbearable.
It refuses to eat.
Its fur loses its luster.
Its body trembles constantly.
It doesn't respond much when you call it.
It doesn't wail.
It just buries its head in your sleeve, motionless.
You have three turns.
You can use the Herb Bundle, or do nothing but stay up all night watching over it. The latter doesn't guarantee success, but if it truly pulls through, it will remember that night.
After three turns, if it hasn't recovered, it will stop breathing.
This has happened many times in Flufftail Valley.
In the low woods at the valley floor, there are small piles of stones. Beneath each pile lies a Fluffy that didn't get to grow up, and a person who didn't get to become an Egg-Hatcher.
IX. Outdoor Exploration
After buying the Exploration Backpack, you can take your Fluffy out.
There aren't many places to go, but each place will change it a little.
North Slope is very safe.
It's where you can find the most Fluff Coins, and there's little danger. The downside is boredom. Extreme boredom.
Ruined House is an empty house left by previous generations of Egg-Hatchers.
Inside, there are letters, combs, and unfinished dried fruit. You'll gradually learn that those people, like you, once held an egg, unsure of what would happen next. You'll also learn what happened to their Fluffies later.
Snow Line is at the higher altitudes of the mountain.
It's very cold, and health depletes quickly, but rare fruits grow there. Wild Fluffies, after visiting once, will always want to go back.
Timid Fluffies will tremble when outside.
Wild Fluffies truly come alive when outside.
Where you take it is, in fact, slowly deciding what it will grow into.
X. Five Adult Forms
On the day its growth reaches 100, the Fluffy will differentiate.
Differentiation is irreversible.
There are no second chances, no do-overs.
How you cared for it before, where you took it, whether it trusted you, whether it often went hungry, cold, or sick – all these factors are taken into account.
It's not a sudden result on a particular day.
Rather, it's those hundred days, each day pushing it in a certain direction.
XI. Stay, or Go
On the evening of the differentiation day, it will walk to the entrance of the mountain path.
It will stop, look back at you.
At that moment, you'll probably suddenly understand that what Flufftail Valley truly wants you to learn isn't how to raise it, but how to be remembered by it.
If it was truly loved, it will turn back, nuzzle your leg, and then lie down at your feet.
If not, it will continue forward.
Not fast, not slow.
It won't look back a second time.
There's a saying in the valley that Grandpa Mie claims to have made up. But whenever he says it, he rarely looks at people.
"After Fluffies become adults, they remember their Egg-Hatcher for a lifetime."
"But only those who were truly loved are willing to stay."
XII. What You Must Do
You have an egg.
A hundred days.
A general store.
And not many Fluff Coins.
What you must do is actually very simple.
Keep it alive.
Make it trust you.
See what it will grow into.
It cannot speak.
It will only tell you with its entire body what it needs right now.