I have two ideas that I might like to use in a short story.

One of the stories would focus on a girl who had just come of age to find her creature and would take place throughout her first day of having the creature. The girl would be extremely excited and would welcome the new creature with open arms while showing it her life and introducing it to all the people in her life. However in the background of the story, there would be various things mentioning the controversy and problems surrounding these creatures. For example, a news reporter talking about an abusive owner or protesters on the side of a road claiming they should be free.

The other story would be about an adult who has already had a creature for the majority of their lives. Some time throughout their life, they would have lost a lot of their dreams and hopes for the future and would have almost become drone-like, doing the same thing every single day. Because of this, their creature would dull in colour, start to lose its shape, and slow its movements, seeing as they grow and develop as their humans do. In a sense, it would be reflecting exactly whats happening to its human. Once the adult realizes this, they would freak out and might try to understand what is happening to the creature, before following their dreams or trying to enjoy their life in the hopes of helping their creature.

I will probably use the second story idea. I like the first one more but I think it could work better as a short film or a comic or something rather than a short story.