A little story I thought of while Hiking the other day.


Sewton (pronounced "sow-ton") is located about a 3 day's hike into wilderness from the nearest train station. There's a small gondola that can carry a plush, or maybe a small animal, but not someone as big as Raymond. Raymond, for his part, has been missing his best friend, Honeybun. They lived together for a while, and were very close, but Honeybun moved away for a change of scenery while Ray stayed behind. After a three-week hike he finally made his way into town and was greeted with a town meeting of the residents of Sewton. All of them were plushfolk, and hadn't seen a flesh-and-blood person for a while. Most plushfolk were wary of people, and there may have even been some sort of resentment or superstition shared in hushed whispers among the crowd. The speaker at the lectern paused their speech, looked up and very happily greeted Raymond.

"Raymond!! Uh, welcome to Sewton! How are you, how was the hike?"

Honeybun had found her way into being mayor!

"Uhhh... Hey! Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important... Uhh, it snowed on me a bit back there."

Raymond waved sheepishly before Honeybun directed the crowd's attention back at themselves.

"Oh my! Everyone, let's keep this meeting brief, if there's snow just outside our town, then we have less time than I thought."

After concluding their final notes (which seemed mostly related to some preparations for the winter), Honeybun walked over to Raymond.

"Hey Honeybun!"

"Raymond. Love to see ya buddy, but this is LITERALLY the worst time you could have picked. I can't give you the tour or even introduce you to the people, I've gotta run around helping everyone with their last-minute preparations. Listen man, it.."

They were cut off by one of the townfolk calling to them, asking for help with carrying stuffing back to their house.

"Yeah I'll help you in just a second!" Turning to Raymond and putting a hand on their forehead, "Okay, there's about to be a lot of snow. Sewton gets like, 11 feet of snow on average every year, and it usually comes in one or two blizzards. My house isn't setup for guests, especially to meet your needs."

"Why don't I turn back, then? I'll just head home if now's a bad time."

"You'd be snowed out in less than a day. Besides that, the last train probably left yesterday."

"Damn... What now?"

"Town hall IS set up for someone made of meat to stay there, but I want to stay with you. Just... gather as much stuff as you can from my house and bring it all over to town hall. ...It's that one over there, with the red roof. Yeah, that one. I've got to go, okay? "

Honeybun didn't wait for a response, instead taking off with a wave and a tense smile.

What followed was a couple hours of running back and forth, with Raymond carrying anything he could from Honeybun's house, and Honeybun rushing between townsfolk, helping in any way she could. The flakes of snow started to fall after the second trip to the house, just a few here and there, and gradually increased in volume until it became difficult to make out the taller buildings. By this point Honeybun's belongings (including some furniture, a mattress, and many, many assorted odds and ends) were scattered over the floor of the entrance to town hall, near where Raymond set his bag. On one empty-handed return trip, Honeybun ran up to Raymond.

"Hey... Hey man, almost everybody's squared away, can you carry me and help me do the rounds on the houses? I want to make sure that everybody is fine."

Picking Honeybun up, Raymond forged through the worsening weather, visiting each house in turn, and confirming that everybody was safe. Eventually, that job was done and it was time to retreat into the safety of town hall. Slamming the door shut, Raymond and Honeybun collapsed just next to the doorway. They could finally share a tender moment, away from the blizzard, and once they were rested, catch up with one another.

Until they heard the murmurs of three other plushfolk -
"Woah!"
"Mayor Honeybun knows someone made of meat?"
"Look at the snow melting on his skin! I bet he's warm..."

Honeybun and Raymond looked at them with shock. After a moment more of this, Honeybun spoke up:

"Hey... Wanda, Carlyle, Blueberry... When did you get here?"

The plush wolf spoke up first. "We uh.. We saw that there was a flesh-and-blood person going to and from town hall, so..."
The snake finished their explanation, "We thought we'd see what it was about!"
The deer finished, "We wanted to know if there really WAS a flesh-and-blood person, y'know, cuz we've never seen one before"

Raymond looked to Honeybun, "you know these people?"
"I know pretty much everybody in town. But yeah, these guys are part of a secret club, that... really like warm-blooded people"

The snake slithered closer, and began to reach up to Raymond. "Yeah, we've never felt one before! I've heard they're warm and have a lot of resistance in their skin, nothing like fabric or stuffing..."

Raymond instinctively put an arm out and recoiled: "Yeaaahh, please don't touch touch me... Whhat.. uh... Honeybun?"
"Yeah, Carlyle... back off."
"Oh.. uh,, apologies."

After a second of silence, Honeybun got up from Raymond's embrace and addressed the three other plushes in the room: "It's been a long few days for all of us, and I'm sure we could all do with some rest. How about you three give me and Raymond some privacy, and we can talk in a bit?"

"Okay, yeah, we can do that" The gray wolf agreed, "Let's head upstairs and see if there's somewhere to set up camp."

When they walked out of the entrance hall, Ray and Honeybun sighed a breath of relief.
Honeybun sank into Raymond's arms and buried her face into his chest. "I've missed you buddy." Raymond got up to lock the door, and setting up the mattress, replied "I've missed you too, man."

Raymond grabbed a small pillow from his bag, and laid down on the mattress with Honeybun to get some well-earned rest.