Sales shot up. Customers rushed in. The name of Playtime Co. was everywhere, shining brightly on the billboards in the streets, painted in colorful letters on the storefronts of toyshops. Everybody wanted a piece of it, of the miracle they had seen on the sizzling screen of their television. Children fought to get plushies, toys, replicas, figurines, puzzles, everything that included the mascots of Huggy Wuggy or Kissy Missy. The factory was flooded with visitors everyday, from long-time customers to an endless flow of journalists from every corner of the world.

The staff was completely overwhelmed as Elliot Ludwig gleefully opened the factory; there were tours and visits to organize, interviews to give, toys to present. The success Huggy had met with children encouraged the leading team to introduce Kissy Missy as his feminine counterpart, and she was welcomed just as well as Huggy. The factory also saw it as a way to expand their audience, for Huggy had only been considered as a toy meant for boys only.

The public opinion had been completely swayed by the mascot, and whole lines of people streamed outside the door, sometimes just to be able to get a glimpse of him. Huggy had a special room dedicated to him, with walls painted in various tones of blue and mini-Huggies stretching their elastic arms across the ceiling. Each parent who wished to offer their child a moment with their favorite toy had to pay a price relatively affordable, but which was inevitably going to increase.

However, attention wasn't always positive. People critical of such technology, and the secrecy with which it was kept, questioned the safety of children around the toys, what they were made of. Elliot Ludwig answered each question, each interview, assuring the perfect training his toys had received, and the safety of the components they were made of.

Huggy's Playtime consisted of one activity only for now, always supervised by Leo, his trainer. Stella Greyber would often come to visit, to see how things were going, but to her there was nothing to worry about. Huggy was placid, and even if he lacked the warmth she would have liked him to have toward children, he did his job well for now. Various wooden cubes, each with a letter carved on their side, were strewn all around him; a child would come, say his name, and Huggy would pick the right cube to form the word he had heard. To him names were meaningless, but he understood that they were important to humans. The child would then stand next to him, beaming with joy while Huggy raised his paw in his usual marketing posture. An adult would produce a small metallic box, and a flash would always blind Huggy as the machine clicked. The little box intrigued him, but the flash was unnerving, and he had to force himself to stay still, not to push the child away.

However, this activity wasn't the only one the factory offered, for Kissy Missy had gotten her own room as well, and it attracted just as much visitors as Huggy's did. Stella would also come to visit Kissy; she liked the pink toy, and the eagerness with which she greeted parents and children alike. Stella could tell adults were more at ease with Kissy, even going so far as to touch her fur, whereas there was a coldness, a careful wariness when they were in Huggy's presence. Stella understood their reluctance, for she herself would not get willingly get close to him, unless she absolutely had to; she feared that this would become a problem later, but for now the factory was thriving. She couldn't focus on her personal worries.


Kissy Missy's room was an absolute wonder to kids. The door was adorned with carefully crafted vines, which opened into false blossoms around the colorful letters, "Welcome to Kissy Missy's Garden!"

Kids were greeted by big cardboard trees, spreading their fake, rigids leaves in the air. They had been planted everywhere throughout the room, following a strict pattern to recreate a natural forest, with their foliage painted according to Kissy's colors. False paths of dirt had been painted on the ground as well, weaving between the trees and the painted flowers blooming between their roots. Kids could play hide-and-seek in the puffy bushes. Hidden speakers played a gentle music, in an effort to create a fairy-like atmosphere. Rainbows, stars and butterflies had been carefully hung in the air, out of the children's reach, to heighten the peacefulness of the place.

The trees were spaced enough so that kids wouldn't get lost, and all paths led to the clearing where Kissy Missy was waiting for them to come. Numerous stylized benches had been placed around the edges of the clearing for parents or children wishing to rest. The rest of the clearing was full of little puzzles, games and workshops, most of them oriented toward a feminine audience. Kissy was presented as the gentle giant guarding the forest, welcoming the young adventurers into her realm. During her frequent visits, Stella had noticed that unlike Huggy, Kissy was very eager to learn and interact with children and parents alike. For instance, she had quickly memorized how to shake hands, which continuously surprised adults, to wave, and even to bend wherever kids were talking to her. She played with them, too, and Stella had often seen little girls sending a ball rolling toward her; after a few tries, Kissy had picked up the game and she had pushed it back with her paw, to the kids' great joy. Kissy was also easier to approach, and the leading team hadn't judged necessary for her to have a trainer; she simply wasn't capable of attacking someone. The activity kids loved the most was perhaps the braiding workshop; Kissy would lend her arms, and little girls would eagerly come to patiently braid her fur, adding glitter, pearls, ribbons, and whatever came to their hands. At the end of the day, Kissy's arms were covered with tiny braids, all full of gleaming pearls and shiny ribbons, and the sight of her staring at her intertwined fur in wonder was truly a comical one. Employees had to undo the braids every night, and now the fur on Kissy's arm was slightly curled. The mascot didn't understand the purpose of these decorations, but she liked spending time with the kids. She could move wherever she wanted in the room, which was always quiet; adults had been warned that Kissy was a shy creature and that noise would only frighten her. Kids understood this too, and they didn't want to scare the only toy which they could play with for now.


The success Playtime Co. encountered was truly intoxicating; the marketing and innovation team were overwhelmed by the amount of work. Drawings and plans of new toys were constantly made to boost the sales. The living toys weren't seen as a threat by the media, and the public was extremely eager to see them; more were planned to be introduced, twice a week in performances similar to Huggy's. The factory seemed unstoppable, a monster bursting with money as time slowly went by.