It had been a few months since Fluttershy had started talking, and things had become more or less a matter of routine in the fortress as things returned to a semblance of normal. With her continued development, Fluttershy had become a great deal more self mobile, and more conscientious of herself. Between that and Engineer and Medic working together to design additional toilets in every bathroom specifically for her use, she was now out of diapers as she was able to make her way to a toilet in plenty of time to use them whenever she felt the need. Medic had found it amusing that the only thing necessary to potty train her had been the creation of a potty she could use on her own.
With Fluttershy's increased mobility, trying to assign her to a specific caretaker for a day at a time became impossible, as she tended to actively seek out whoever she wanted to spend time with at any given time, although she seemed naturally fair minded as no one got skipped over. It was determined that, since she was naturally obedient and stayed out of dangerous areas and inside the fortress when directed, she could be allowed to wander where she pleased. They had simply hung a communicator on a string around her neck for her to call for help if she needed, and there was no longer an issue. She certainly enjoyed the company of her family, and they enjoyed hers, so this in no way decreased the time she spent with them, although it did help build her independence, something a team of mercenaries like themselves were eager to encourage for her own sake.
This also had the side effect of encouraging more communal interaction as anyone who was off duty would add to their off duty activities following her around to see what she got up to. This had led to Engineer eventually seeking out Soldier for an explanation of an anomaly he finally had noticed.
"So what's up, Engy?" Soldier asked when the technically talented merc approached him at his post.
"I was wondering what you could tell me about Fluttershy's new pet," he asked casually.
"You mean the chain chomp?"
Engineer paused for a long time. "How did you arrive at that name for it?" he asked cautiously.
"It's got a chain growing out of its butt, and it chomps things. What else would I call it?"
Engineer groaned internally, shaking his head. "So...how did it come to be here?"
"I teleported bread."
Engineer frowned. "I thought we'd determined not to do that anymore."
"I wanted to give Fluttershy an adventure!"
Engineer could only shrug. "So how did that lead to the chain chomp?"
"Fluttershy tamed the 3 day bread monster, and made it start breathing green fire. It went stale and crumbled, and she started crying. I scooped the crumbs into a bag, tossed the bag in the oven, and tossed the oven in the teleporter."
Engineer stared in shock. "I'm not sure whether I should ask why or how."
"Fluttershy was crying!"
Thinking about that, Engineer could only nod. "Valid answer for both."
"Thought I could rebake the bread monster for her. Came out as a chain chomp, already tamed."
Engineer thought about that. There were two possible explanations for how a chain chomp - that he was certain was native to yet a third alternate dimension - came to be here. The preferable explanation was an equivalent exchange scenario, leaving a confused plumber jumping over a defunct oven somewhere. However, this didn't explain why the chain chomp was apparently already imprinted on Fluttershy, as Soldier pointed out. The only explanation that accounted for that...was that was how chain chomps were actually made. For some reason, the idea of the Koopa King teleporting bread was unnerving.
"Well," he said aloud, "as long as she's happy, I guess 'how it works' isn't really that important, is it?"
"Arf! Arf!"
Almost in response to the discussion, or so it seemed, the chain chomp in question hopped around a nearby corner, racing past the two mercs. The end of his chain was attached to a scooter, a gift Scout had made for Fluttershy. The filly herself was perched on the scooter, her fore hooves gripping the handlebars happily. "Vroom vroom!" she giggled happily as she zoomed past her adoptive fathers.
Both found goofy grins on their faces as they watched her zoom past. Both promptly denied the existence of such grins to themselves, while promising themselves to tease the other about their grin later.
Soldier nodded. "Any other questions, Engy?"
Engineer shrugged. "Not really. I seem to be the only one trying to figure out the 'how' of all of this, anyway."
"Why look a literal gift horse in the mouth?" Soldier asked in confusion.
"For her own good."
Soldier stared at Engineer in shock. "What do you-"
"Daddy!" Fluttershy shouted through her communicator.
At that sound, seven mercenaries dropped what they were doing - in the dangerous case of Demoman, literally - and raced towards where her communicator's FPS - a tracking system within the fortress that the team used to keep track of her and each other - indicated she was. Enginner and Soldier were the first to arrive on the scene.
Fluttershy looked up at Engineer and pointed sadly. "Chompy's stuck!" she whimpered sadly, indicating where her pet chain chomp had managed to lodge itself in the wooden wall.
"Arf!" Chompy confirmed, wriggling helplessly.
Engineer sighed. "Hold still," he told the chain chomp, "and don't eat my wrench." Wedging his wrench into the huge mouth, he began to lever against the wall.
At that point, the other five fathers of the merc group had arrived, shortly followed by the concerned mother and big brother, as Fluttershy had defined them. Glancing at this, Soldier groaned. "This isn't going to work," he growled.
"What do you mean, mate?" Sniper inquired.
As Engineer successfully levered Chompy out of the wall, dropping him off his ungnawed wrench, Soldier pointed at this. "Every time Fluttershy calls for 'Daddy', all of us drop what we're doing and run to her aid...when nine times out of ten, she only needs one specific one of us. If she scrapes her knees, she only needs Medic to treat them, see? So we need a way to know which of us she's calling for!"
"What would you suggest?" Medic inquired. "Nicknames?"
"She's old enough to learn them and distinguish!" Soldier pointed out.
"True," Spy admitted. "Her vocabulary's growing well, even if her syntax still needs work."
"So what names she use?" Heavy asked. "And what wrong with her syntax? Seem fine to me." Spy simply sighed, shaking his head.
Soldier thought for a time. "Well...how about 'Daddy M' for the doc? That's pretty specific."
Fluttershy giggled. "Daddiem! Daddiem!" she squealed happily, bouncing around Medic.
Medic smiled. "Well, I suppose that works."
"But if we do that, we have three 'Daddy S's," Heavy pointed out. "And I no like sound of 'Daddy H'. Sounds dirty for some reason."
"Well," Soldier contemplated, "we could always-"
"Big Daddy!" Fluttershy squealed happily, hugging Heavy's ankle.
Heavy grinned widely. "Heavy is Big Daddy! I like!"
Spy chuckled. "So she shall nickname each of us by how she perceives us? Fitting." Everyone then turned to Fluttershy, waiting for her to continue.
She glanced around at them all in thought. She then pointed at Demoman. "Boom Daddy!" she said happily.
Demoman cracked up laughing. "I like the sound of that!"
Fluttershy scrunched up her face in thought again, then pointed to Spy. "Poof Daddy!"
"Poof?" Spy asked incredulously.
"Cause you vanish!" Heavy interpreted boisterously.
"Or cause she thinks you're-" Scout's taunt was interrupted by a jab with a cattle prod from the frowning Spy.
"Let us assume our enormous friend is accurate," Spy continued. "Besides, from her, I will like it." He kneeled down to pet Fluttershy.
After nuzzling into the caress for a time, she then pointed to Sniper. "Bang Daddy!"
"Bang?" Sniper asked.
"Must be short for 'Bang, you're dead'," Engineer interpreted. "You know, headshots."
"Or would you prefer Piss Daddy for your Jarate?" Spy suggested teasingly.
"Bang Daddy it is," Sniper said hurriedly, before Fluttershy could latch, with childish glee, onto 'Piss Daddy'. If she did, he'd never escape it.
Fluttershy giggled. She then looked towards Engineer and thought for a time. Then she smiled widely. "Dadenji!" she cried happily.
Engineer smirked. "Sounds like she cribbed your nickname for me, Soldier."
Soldier grinned. "I guess that means I'm just Daddy!" he said happily.
"No," Sniper argued, "that should still be a general call for all of us. You need your own nickname."
"Only fair," Heavy agreed.
Soldier sighed and nodded. He then kneeled down towards Fluttershy. "Alright, Fluttershy, what will you call me?"
Fluttershy grinned widely and saluted. "Daddy Sir!" she said sharply.
Scout laughed, scooping up the filly and hugging her. "Maybe that should be what we all call you from now on!" he joked.
As Fluttershy wiggled free of the embrace to chase after Chompy - followed by most of the others - Soldier did his best to hold back his tears. She...she called me 'Sir', he thought, doing his best not to weep in pure joy.