On a certain sunny summer Monday a small stuffed dog watched his owner flop down on her makeshift bed. The curtains were closed to keep the heat out so it was relatively dark in the room, but atop the loft bed, where the stuffed toy had been laying for a while, it was still very hot. He had heard his girl complain about the heatwave before it had even started, so he knew it was coming, but now that it had arrived, his owner seemed to no longer enjoy drawing, writing, or any of her other hobbies for that matter. She just seemed lifeless, no energy whatsoever. Not that he could blame her, he knew she didn't do well in the heat. After all, he had been with her for over a decade. He knew her so well he could tell how she was feeling by the way she opened the door or how she sat down in her chair.
Fikkie, that was the stuffed dog's name, quietly crawled a little closer to the edge of the bed so he could look down at his owner. She was practically laying on the floor next to her two big stuffed guardians, the lion and the orca. He could tell how badly those two wanted to cheer her up, and so did he, but neither of them could talk to her. They didn't really need to to comfort her, though. The curlyhaired girl pressed her forehead against the killerwhale's for a moment before she got up again and took the stuffed lion under her arm. "You guys need a bath. There is nothing else I can do anyway. It's too hot to even try."
Once she left the room, Fikkie jumped up and all the other stuffed animals came to life as well. "Our poor girl has been having such a rough time lately," one of the other two stuffed dogs said. She was an old Berner Sennen toy that had been with Fikkie and the girl for as long as he could remember. Her name was Claire and she was very well loved. Alpha, the other stuffed dog, shook his head sadly. He was a big slightly scarylooking Doberman plush, but he was very friendly. He was a newer edition to the family, but he had nearly been with them for a year so he had gotten to know the others quite well. "Giving us baths always seems to cheer her up, though," Diego said. He was a sabertooth tiger from a film franchise, but Fikkie always forgot which one. It didn't matter, though, the little dog plush found him fun to be around. Diego was quite old as well.
Zebbie the zebra shook his mane. "I could use a bath, I haven't had one in a while," he said. He was an older plushie as well, and the girl had dug him up from an old box the day before. He was really glad to be back and meet some new faces. Alpha was new, of course, and so were Appa, Spike, and the three Pokémon. Appa was a big fluffy sheep kinda thing. Fikkie didn't really understand what he was exactly but he didn't mind, because Appa was really friendly and cuddly. The three Pokémon were Tyrannitar, Gyarados, and Raikou. They all looked very intense, but they were nice once you got to know them. Spike was the newest edition to the family. He was a large tiger and oh boy, was he the softest thing ever. Fikkie had almost forgotten what it was like to be that fluffy. His stuffing wasn't exactly the newest, but his outside still looked great. His girl took very good care of him, of all of them really.
A big sigh sounded from down below the loftbed. "What is it, Octobius?" Mother Rabbit asked gently as she walked over to the edge of the bed to look down. She was the oldest stuffed animal of their whole pack, and her age was showing slightly. She had a few holes in her face and her eyes weren't as new as they used to be. The girl had recently reworked the rabbit's ears though, and they looked great now. Another big sigh came from below. "I just want to cheer her up, it's not fun to see her cry all the time..." It was the big orca, Octobius. He had been there with Fikkie and the others for many many years. He loved their girl very much and he wanted nothing more than to make her happy.
Father Rabbit came to the edge of the bed too. He had almost been with them as long as Mother Rabbit. "Hang in there, big fella," he said. "It'll be alright. Saskia always gets back on her feet, no matter what. We just have to stay here at her side to support her." The two crocodiles nodded. "Oh, right you are," Gwenn said. She was a strong, wise, old girl. Like Mother Rabbit she always knew what to say, and Fikkie liked that about her. Croco, the other crocodile plush, nodded in agreement. Little Panther peeped up her tiny little head from behind the covers. "Will she be okay?" she asked quietly. Fikkie smiled. "Definetly. I'm sure of it."
Then they heard Saskia's footsteps coming up the stairs and once again, all of them laid down quietly.
Throughout the rest of that day, Saskia proceeded to wash all of the stuffed animals, exept Spike and Appa because they were so new they didn't need to be washed every few weeks, and she laid them all out in the sun to dry. Fikkie loved drying in the sun with all of his friends, it was very relaxing to him. Their girl came to check up on them almost every half hour. The washingmachine had drenched them a little more than usual, so some of the animals took a bit longer to dry, even during the heatwave.
Then, once the sun had finally set, the girl took all the stuffed animals back up to her room. She put the lion and orca down on her makeshift bed and she started to take the others up to her loftbed, but once she got to Tyrannitar, she stopped. "You could use a little bit of work," she mumbled. "You've got dust stuck in your spikes. Guess the washingmachine wasn't able to get those out for you. But I have just the trick for that." And thus Tyrannitar was put on the desk instead of on the bed. Once the girl took a closer look at Croco too, she saw he had the same problem. "Hm, does anyone else have any issues? I might as well repair you all at once."
Once she had said that, Fikkie, and multiple of his friends too for that matter, would have cried out "Yes please!" if they could, but they had to rely on Saskia to judge whether or not they needed a little extra care. She was able to pick out a lot, though, because she too knew them very well. And thus Fikkie, Zebbie, Gwenn, Mother Rabbit, Father Rabbit, Diego, Claire, along with Croco and Tyrannitar, ended up on the desk. Some of them just needed a good brushing, others needed some more work. "Alright then, let's get started," Saskia said softly, a sweet smile on her face.
Fikkie watched as Zebbie got operated on by Saskia's steady and confident, yet careful hands. She replaced all the stuffing and stitched up all the holes she could find, exclaiming an "oh dear, oh dear" whenever she found another one. Finally, Zebbie looked brand new again. Fikkie saw the proud glimmer in his eye and once Saskia picked him up next, he was really excited. "Yay! My turn!" he thought happily to himself.
First she cut open one of his back legs and started gently removing all the stuffing. Soon she realised that the hole wasn't big enough, so she decided to cut his belly open as well. Fikkie just laid back and let her do her thing. He felt much better once all the old stuffing was removed. "Gosh, look at that! You really need some new fluff, huh buddy? This stuffing was way too old."
After restuffing Fikkie, Saskia stitched him back up and hugged him softly. "Ah, much better. Right?" she said quietly. 'Right.' Fikkie thought with a smile.
'Much better.'
