Main Characters:
Nao – An enchanted plushie that can turn into a living creature and also has some rather interesting powers.
Daniel – A 16 year old Skunkboy.
Charlotte – Daniels 6 year old little sister.
It was almost noon and Daniel hurried back home from the groceries store. His parents were at work until the late afternoon and his sister was hungry, so he had to buy at least some stuff so he could make sandwiches. On his way back he noticed one of his friends hauling several boxes out of his garage and scatter their content around on some tables he put up.
"Looks like he´s having a garage sale, better go and see whether he got something interesting." Daniel silently said to himself and walked over.
"Oh hey, trying to get rid off your junk? Well, i better come over and look what i can buy ridiculously underpriced."
The slightly obese Leopard turned around and laughed.
"Weeellll, some of us have to earn their money so they can go to Dungeon-Con. Unfortunately i don´t have a rich boyfriend that buys me tickets and stuff for sexual favors."
Daniel immediately began to rummage through the boxes with the computers and technical equipment. "Yeah. And you´ll never get one if you don´t start that diet. With all the money you save from junkfood you could visit Dungeon-Con twice. Say, are you going to sell all of your computer stuff? If yes, i take everything for 200$."
"Yeah, i´m fully concentrating on fantasy and cosplay now. You can borrow my handcart. You´ll need it when you really want to buy everything. Wait here, i go get it."
Daniel squealed in happiness once his friend disappeared in his house. He got a few rarities in there and they all were in good shape. That stuff was easily worth 500 bucks. Then he suddenly remembered his sister who was waiting at home.
"Oh shit. Charlie will kill me when she sees this. I better look around and see whether i can find something for her, so she won´t be mad at me for being late."
He searched through the other boxes and finally found some plushies.
"Dammit, i can´t bring home plush-orks. Doesn´t he have any normal........"
Daniel pulled out a snow-leopard plushie. It had black hair and a kinda sad looking facial expression, but it still looked cute enough so his sister would like it. He took it and asked his friend as he pulled the handcart out the garage: "How much do you want for that plushie?"
His friend´s eyes widened and he looked around before moving closer to Daniel.
"You know what? You can have it. It´s yours. But be warned, that damn thing is cursed. I tell you, since my aunt left that plushie here, things keep disappearing and they end up in places where i never put them."
Daniel put the plushie inside one of the two boxes he loaded up on the handcart and laughed as he paid his friend.
"Haha, looks like you better invest that money into a few psychiatrists sessions. Cursed plushies, that´s ridiculous.”
Daniel pulled the handcart inside their garage and had a closer look at the contents of the boxes he just bought. “Ohh sweet, That old laptop will easily sell for 300$, i just need to polish it up a bit hehehe.”
“THERE YOU ARE! I´m almost starving and you wander around and buy uninteresting stuff from garage sales. I bet you haven´t even got something for meeee!!!”
Daniel jumped up and turned to his angry little sister Charlotte. She stood in the doorway to the house, wearing her pink dress. A pink angel of revenge, he thought to himself and giggled lightly. He got the plushie and handed it to his sister.
“Not so fast, i brought you this cute plushie. Now why don´t you go and play with it while i make the sandwiches.”
Charlotte blinked and her mood instantly changed from angry to happy.
“Ohhhh, thank you thank you big brother.” She grabbed Daniel and kissed him on the cheek before running off with her new toy. In her room she placed it on her bed and looked at it. It was pretty big, at least 30 inches.
“Hmmm, you are almost as tall as i am. Ohh i can´t wait to snuggle into you when i´m having my afternoon nap later. But first you need a name. Hmmm, i will think of something when finished lunch. I can´t think with an empty belly, hehe.”
She placed it between her other plushies and went down into the dining room to have her sandwiches. When she came back, she noticed that her new plushie wasn´t sitting in the same place where she put it. She carefully walked up to the plushie that was now sitting on the floor, leaning against a bed post. Then she remembered that her brother left to go to the bathroom while she was still eating. He must have moved it. That had to be the only explanation for it.
She placed it on the bad again and turned around, starting to think of a name for her new friend.
“Okay. Let´s see how i name you. You need a cute name, since you´re cute. So, how about Pete, or Gordie. No these aren´t cute at all. Oh, i know. How about Mr. Fluffytail. That is a cute name, isn´t it?”
She turned and danced around in her room happily repeating that name over and over, when she suddenly heard a soft male voice coming from the bed.
“Actually, my name is Nao. And i´d prefer to keep that one. But if you wish to name me Mr. Fluffytail, then i will accept that too.”
Charlotte stopped and turned around, looking at her plushie as it sat at the edge of the bed. He suddenly didn´t look like a plushie anymore. He looked like he became alive, although his size and proportions stayed the same. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Charlotte ran out of her room, screaming. She ran down into the kitchen where Daniel was cleaning up.
“Daniel Daniel, that plushie in my room is alive, and he talked to me, and he told me his name, and he was sitting there staring at me, and . . and....”
Daniel almost dropped the plates he was about to put back into the kitchen cabinet as his little sister came running into the kitchen and dragged him with her. She dragged him all the way up into her room and pointed to the plushie that was lying on the bed lifelessly. He walked over to it and sighed loudly.
“Okay, you evil plushie. If you don´t stop scaring my little sister, i will put you into the washing machine and spin you with 1600 spins per minute. So be a nice plushie and behave.”
He turned around and left the room. “And now stop being silly. I need to return the handcart. Play with your plushie or have your afternoon nap, i´ll be back soon.”
“Okay, but please come back quickly.” Charlotte walked over to the plushie and examined it closer. He felt just like a regular plushie, there were no mechanical parts inside that would let him move on his own. She decided to have her nap so she walked over to her wardrobe and got out of her pink dress. She just hung it inside the wardrobe when she heard Nao´s voice again.
“He´s not really putting me in the washing machine, isnt´t he? Please don´t do that. That always makes me dizzy and i always feel nauseous after it. I will be a good plushie, i promise.”
Charlotte almost wet herself as she saw Nao approaching her slowly. She fled into her wardrobe and closed the sliding door.
“NOOO!! Go away. What are you and why are you alive? Plushies aren´t alive.”
Nao knocked at the wardrobe door.
“I am a plushie, a magical plushie. I can explain. Please don´t be afraid, i am not evil. Please come out.”
Charlotte opened the sliding door a bit and peeked out. Nao was standing in front of the wardrobe and smiled at her shyly. She stepped out of the wardrobe and eyed him warily as she moved around him and walked over to the bed and sat down on it.
“Okay, then explain it. How comes that you are alive? What kind of magic is that?”
Nao sat down on the floor in front of her and scratched the back of his head.
“I don´t know exactly about the kind of magic that turned me into a living being. My first owner told me that i was made by his older brother a few weeks before he died from some mysterious sickness. After his brother died he wished for me to become a real friend, and one night when there were a lot of shooting stars in the sky his wish came true and i became alive. I stayed at his side until he finally died from old age about 15 years ago. After that i was passed around in his family until your brother finally bought me and brought me here.”
He stood up and walked to Charlotte who was attentively listening to him.
“All i want is to be a good friend to my owner. I am not evil, please let me be your friend.”
Charlotte slid off the bed and hugged Nao tightly. He really didn´t expect that reaction since she was just totally scared a few minutes ago.
“Aaaahhhh, please don´t squeeze me like that.”
“Hehehehe, i´d love to be your friend. And i´m soooo sorry that i thought that you´re evil.”
Charlotte finally loosened her grip on Nao and climbed back on her bed.
“But before we do anything else, we will have our afternoon nap. And since you´re my friend now, you can come and cuddle with me.”
She laid down and patted on the empty spot beside her. Nao blushed a bit and climbed on the bed, lying down next to her. They both snuggled up against each other and only a few minutes later Charlotte slowly drifted away into sleep. Nao looked at the sleeping girl for a while and then gave her a light kiss on her nose. He smiled and hugged her before turning back into his plushie form.