Boy oh boy, have I kept this one on the backburner for some time.

Back in September, my buddy Zergy had been sketching up a series of furry characters and generally playing with designs, and one of a goat he was asking my interest in. I didn't have a lot of interest in it as he did, so I asked if he could convert it into a sheep, and that's when I was onboard with it. So, while I was visiting him a couple weeks ago, I finally colored the sketch!

This is Marshmallow, but prefers to be known as Baa-Baa, much like a couple of farm family members he has. He comes from an Ioan mountain village home to other Softie sheep like him, his kind is known well for how unbelievably silky smooth and soft their wool is. It's used for some of the most luxurious linens and fabrics across the planetoid, which of course come at a high price, and that helped a pair of brothers start a small shearing company and earn a fortune.

At first, they were pretty great about it. Every so often they'd drive up the mountain to the village and offer the villagers a cheap shearing, then take their wool to be sold for craft making. As their profits increased, they also managed to invest in a truck fitted with machines that made it way faster to invite sheep in and be sheared, having it automatically spooled and was able to handle multiple of them at once, versus doing one at a time by hand. However, over time the business-owners became more complacent, their trusty truck was starting to show its age and they seemingly cared less, but they were the only individuals willing to trek up the mountain to help shear the villagers when their wool got too thick.

Then, what should've been the breaking point, their villagers began disappearing without a trace. It seemed with each visit the brothers made, it would be a shock if all villagers came back from their shearing. Usually one, sometimes two or three, would not emerge from that truck, and they'd leave without an explanation at all. Baa-Baa found out during a regular shearing, he hopped into one of the compartments to feed his wool into a spool, as he had done many times previously by now, but the machines inside were looking very worn down, and when it should've stopped, he found his soft and squishy body beginning to thread into it too. Panicked, he tried to call for help but the spooling machine worked too quickly, and his body was a collection of thin thread that sat in a spool. He got his answer, but not in the way he had hoped to find out...

There's no telling how much time passed from that moment, all that he could hear the outside world pass him by, until he ended up in a crafts store, for sale to buy. Thankfully the first customer to buy him was a chocolate-colored Eevee, who picked up his scent and strange design while on the spool, sparing the poor sheep from being made into some sort of clothing item or household decoration for the couch; at that point, who knows if he'd ever be found again!

Thanks to Chocolate's discovery, he was brought back to the Snickerdoodle family to stay while the Royal Family investigated, but it seems he found a proper home among other Softies like him, and other animals like him too! Baa-Baa loves to be cozy, sleep a lot, can be a little lazy and is generally quiet. In fact, he usually likes doing things that are quiet, so reading books, listening to music with the volume down, having some solitude, and taking naps. Being among other Softies, he's definitely taken a liking to being one, which he worried about some after being whisked away from home. Now, he doesn't turn into things as much as his other housemates, but when he does, he usually enjoys being an object of comfort for them, usually a pillow. Other than that, he often enjoys cuddling with someone, as they describe him as very plush.

Overall I love how this came out! He looks super cute especially now with color, and has a few different wool styles he puts on depending on the time of year, such as this one he usually has year-round.

Anyway, thank you for looking! ☁️