Dragging his suitcase behind him, Blue hurried through the frigid December night toward the warm light shining through the hotel's front door. It was well after midnight, and seemed like it could begin to snow again at any moment. The cold and the snowfall after noon was why it had taken much longer than Blue had expected to reach the hotel. Looking up, the dragon admired the tall twenty storey sandstone building. It was the sort of big stone and brick edifice that just didn't get made these days. With two large round towers on the corners, and a whole host of features; cornices, carvings, pillars and lacy stonework - it certainly had character and personality.

Despite it's ancient exterior, the website promised it to be a modern, refurbished hotel, perfect for a warm, cosy Christmas gathering. The illuminated ground floor windows promised warmth and shelter from the cold night air. Shivering gently, the big dragon pushed the handle on his suitcase down, locking it back into the stowed position. He was pretty well wrapped up in a heavy overcoat, big scarf and gloves but even thick winter clothing couldn't hide the fact he was a dragon. His huge blue wings with green tips were a big give away, as was the heavy scaled blue tail. His ears were blue and sharply pointed, and like most reptilian creatures he had no hair. Instead he had a ridge of green spikes that started between his ears, moved down the back of his neck and under his clothes, and re-emerged along the back of his tail. He wasn't overly tall and there weren't many shoes that could fit over his blue feet or contain his sharp green claws.

"Stupid... ancient... hotel!" Blue grumbled as he lumbered his way up the steps with his heavy bag. "Why don't they have a luggage ramp?"
At the top he allowed his heavy case to drop onto the top step, and then resumed wheeling it behind him as he made his way into the large revolving doors that separated the hotel from the outside world.

Beyond the bronze and glass door the cold air ceased, replaced by a very welcome warmth. Bright lights illuminated the marble hall, and a curved mahogany reception desk was set a few paces ahead of him. A bank of bronze doors on the wall opposite had to be the elevators, while to the left and right large glass doors led into the lounge and restaurant respectively.

"Good evening, sir!" A cheerful voice greeted the dragon from behind the desk, and Blue turned from admiring the lobby to admiring the receptionist instead. The blue and white fox raised a hand in greeting, muzzle drawn into a warm smile, "How can I help you?"

Tugging his scarf loose, pulling off his gloves, Blue made his way up to the desk. The fox was wearing a white shirt, bright christmas tie and waistcoat and his name-badge said Flinty, "Hi... I'm Blue, I've got an invite for the grand Christmas party being held here."

The young fox moved his arm stiffly as he made use of his PC, eyes briefly looking at the screen and then back.
"Welcome sir, we have been expecting you. Your room is ready, but I just need you to sign a few forms to check in."

"Sure, what's first?" Blue asked, leaning on the desk with his long heavy tail swaying from side to side. "I'm just glad to be here at last, the traffic was murder and then I missed a junction on the motorway."

"Sorry to hear that, sir," said the fox as he placed a form before Blue, offering him a pen. Blue frowned at the young fox's hand, for his claws seemed strange; soft and fuzzy instead of sharp and pointy. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, the dragon assumed it was nothing and turned his attention to the form.

"Sorry, I'm feeling a bit sleepy, visions getting fuzzy. Uhm, what's this one?" He peered at the form, resting one arm on the counter so he could follow the text with his pen.

"Oh, just the usual bits and pieces, you agree to be responsible for your actions, if you break anything it is your own fault, the hotel is not responsible for anything left in your car, things like that."

"Mmhmm," murmured Blue without much interest, scanning down the form to the blank line at the bottom of the form. He filled in the date first and then with a flourish signed his name, "Anything else?"

"Just one or two more," the fox said, a glassy look to his eyes as he laid out a larger form, Blue couldn't blame him for looking bored. He'd be bored too, if his job involved handing out the same form for hours on end.

The dragon turned away to read the form, moving a large and jolly-faced orange plush toy closer to him, so he could lean his arms on it instead of on the uncomfortable marble. It was certainly a cute creature; white wings, dark orange antlers and ruff, and adorable blue button eyes. The whole critter was draped with tinsel, wearing a tiny little elf hat for its ears to poke through. Blue admired it for a moment, briefly wondering if the hotel sold them, before turning his attention back to the form.

It was long and boring, tiny legal text about legal indemnity and agreeing not to hold the hotel responsible for this or that imagined happenstance. He signed it, then moved onto the next which was all about breakfast and dietary requirements. He signed, pushed the page to one side, and sighed at the next form. This was a warning about the possibility of how maybe some of the food had once perhaps been within a hundred miles of a nut and could therefore maybe, just possibly, have been contaminated somehow. Blue signed it and pushed it onto the pile.

The car park terms and conditions Blue didn't even bother to read, he just scrawled his name and the date at the bottom. The next form was weird and made the dragon pause for a moment, for all he'd stayed in hotels he'd never come across something like this before.

"King-size, queen-sized, miniature-sized..." he mumbled as he read over the form, "Hmm, I guess you have a lot of different sized folks staying?" He ticked king-size, and carried on reading.

"Oh yes, sir," Flinty murmured, "It always helps us to know just how big someone wants to be." Blue shrugged and signed the form, and moved onto the last one with a sigh of relief.

"Now about the next question I do feel it is the most important," Flinty murmured, folding his hands on the desk and staring at the dragon.

"Yeah sure, that was a lot of forms," Blue grumbled, tracing the pen across the line of text and blinking at what he saw.
"Hm, what's this? Do I consent to plush?' Eh, if the plush toys are as cute as this creature here," said Blue while gesturing at the toy nearby, "Then no, I don't mind if there are some in my room, go for it." He signed the form, filled in the date and dropped the pen atop the pile, "Is it ready now, can I head up?"

"Ah, sorry sir," Flinty murmured, "You just agreed to not need a room. Please enjoy your..." The end of that sentence seemed to linger for a while, but never came. As he paused, Blue stared in shock as the fox's soft blue and white fur seemed to flatten down against his skin of its own accord. It lost the soft sheen of life and grew pale and fuzzy, like velvet or cotton. His eyes had changed to blank discs of black glass and his smile was now a line of stitching across his muzzle, and he didn't seem to be moving at all any more.

"What the hell?" Blue stared in shock as the fox slumped to the ground with a soft rustling noise. He had fallen backwards below the level of the desk, sitting on the floor, arms and head flopping too as he grew still. The large plush toy still looked like Flinty, and was still dressed in his clothing, but he was now no longer a living breathing creature.

As he turned to run for help, Blue only managed one step before tumbling over with a startled yelp. The dragon's feet had suddenly grown heavy and unwieldy, and as he twisted to look he saw they were swelling up to ridiculous proportions, smooth scales being replaced by plush cotton.

"Oooh, n-no way," he stammered and muttered, leaning forward to prod one of his feet. It was soft and his finger sank into it, displacing the stuffing inside, "Aah," he gasped, for the plush outer lining was spreading up his leg rapidly as it started to swell. Throwing his head back to shout for help, Blue choked and then pawed at his mouth helplessly as he felt his lips seal shut. It happened so quickly, one minute he had a tongue and teeth and a voice box, and the next it was all soft cotton and firm stuffing with a simple line of raised embroidery for a smile. He could feel it against his fingers as he squirmed helplessly, looking around desperately for someone to help him while he felt his whole body begin to swell up.

Falling back against the reception desk, Blue's head sank down against his chest. He was growing larger, thicker, heavier! His arms were dead weights against his sides, his clothing had burst, and his normally smooth scaled hide had been replaced with a soft artificial fuzz. He was now twice as big as usual, and still growing; his legs had become two long stuffing filled tubes, his stomach now a big mound of plush fuzz. Along with this Blue was also finding it harder to think. Thoughts grew as fuzzy as the rest of his body, bit by bit his vision was growing blurred, and soon everything went black.

The whispering cascade of hundreds of beads settling inside Blue's torso made the immobile dragon slump sideways to land on his stomach. Stitching was pulled tight, soft beans rustled, and stuffing popped and shifted, forcing Blue's body into a large crescent-shaped curve. His wings folded out to act as big plushie armrests, while his nose now almost touched his tail. His hind legs tucked up against his tail, sewn in place to stop them from shifting about. His front legs now lay on either side of his muzzle, and his back and sides formed a huge beanbag seat with room for at least three or four people to cuddle down on. As suddenly as that, Blue was now just a big, snuggly, bright and colourful, dragon-shaped beanbag sofa.

-0-

The main lounge of the Grand Floret Hotel was described on various travel websites as "classical and cosy". In person it was even better, with a warm and cheerful atmosphere to make guests feel welcomed and comfortable. It had a rich burgundy carpet, with a heavy-pile shag that engulfed most patrons' paws. To match, the walls were covered in warm red and gold paper, with long stylised patterns in loops and whirls. The look of Victorian splendour had been finished off with a set of heavy drapes, matching the carpet and framing each one of the tall windows.

The room was illuminated by many tall standing lamps, positioned next to coffee tables by each cluster of seats - a mixture of leather armchairs and Chesterfield sofas. At one end of the room was an empty bar, and near that a grand set of mahogany doors led into the dining room. However, the centrepiece of the lounge was its gigantic fire, which filled a whole third of the right hand wall and was surrounded by an antique marble fireplace. The pillars had been carved to resemble squirrel tails, with thicker brushes at the tips arching out to intertwine and form the mantlepiece. At this time of the evening the room was pretty empty, as most guests had retired for the night and the bar itself had closed at midnight - only the rather pricey room service options remained available. Not everyone had given up and gone to sleep, as two figures sat near the centre of the room, either side of a chessboard.

It was hard to miss the dragon sitting closest to the door. He had smooth ice-blue scales covering his back and sides, and light pastel blue scales across his chest, neck and stomach. He was also bare chested due to the row of dark grey spikes protruding from his back. These were jagged curved spikes of bone, which matched the coiled horns that sprouted from the top of his head. He had a shock of silver feathers for hair, an unruly mop that surrounding his pointed ears and horns. His tail was long and also bore feathers around the tip, whilst his lower half was decently covered by baggy silk trousers. Although a dragon, he had no wings.

Sitting opposite him was a much smaller figure with purple fur, and black arms and legs. His species was easily identifiable from his dark ferret mask, and he was dressed in a loose grey shirt and matching trousers. Said ferret had a huge grin on his face as he leaned forward, intently focusing on the game in progress.

A log tumbled in the fireplace, slipping down into the bright orange heart of the fire and causing a cascade of sparks to shoot up the chimney. The noise was enough to make Vikja, the dragon, look up from the chess board and toward the hearth. The fire seemed safe enough, and the white and grey cat curled up on the hearth rug seemed undisturbed by the noise and shifting flames.

"Hey, are you going to make a move?" his opponent asked, drawing the icy blue dragon's attention back to the game. "You've been nursing that bishop for five minutes now."

"Sure, Static, I'll make a move soon," he chided the purple and black ferret, "And you're one to talk, your last move took much longer than this."

The ferret fluttered his black wings, casting a mischievous smile in Vikja's direction and curling his feet up under his long, noodly body, "Maybe so, but you seem distracted. At least I was concentrating on the board."

"Perhaps," Vikja said, staring at the pieces laid before him, "I was just wondering why that young feline is sleeping there and hasn't gone up to his room."

"Oh, you mean Snack?" Static asked. "I think he enjoys the warmth from the fireplace more then his bed. He was there yesterday too, at least until the manager closed the lounge."

"Fair enough," the dragon said, idly tapping the bishop he was holding against one of his horns, planning his next move. "Felines are just peculiar creatures, almost as enigmatic as you weasels- oh! Ah ha!" He placed the bishop in its new location and smiled over the board at Static, "I do believe that is check."

"Yes, but this is mate in four," Static shifted his queen, and removed Vikja's bishop from the board.

"No, that can't be..."

The dragon spent some time staring at the board, trying to work out how to get out of this situation. During this, the carriage clock above the mantlepiece began to chime the quarter hour. Further distraction came from the hotel manager, walking in ahead of a couple of bellboys struggling under their heavy load. The same manager was on yesterday, too; a red fox by the name of Vulpine, with glasses and tall pointed ears tipped in black, and shy grey eyes.

"... and you really have no idea where Flinty has gotten too?" He was asking one of the bellboys. "It isn't like him to abandon the front desk without calling someone."

"Afraid not sir," the polar bear rumbled gently, as he helped his companion maneuver the large blue and green dragon beanbag sofa through the doors, "Just that note saying this thing has been delivered and we has to move it in here. Ain't that right, Eid?"

"Yeah," said the otter on the other end of the sofa, grumbling as he lugged it across the lounge, "No idea where he is. Boon is right, we've not seen hide nor hair of him."

"Annoying... oh well. Set that thing down near the fire. Ah, uhm, excuse me sir," the manager said, leaning down to gently shake Snack by the shoulder. "Sir, please wake up."

Snack lifted his head and blinked, letting out a soft mewl and stretching gently. His feline eyes reflecting the dull glow of the fire for a moment. "Mrrf... oh, mister Vulpine, is there a problem?"

"We just want to set this piece of themed furniture down nearby, and I didn't want my men to trample you."

Snack stared at the large dragon beanbag sofa, and helpfully scooted to one side, "Wow, that's cool, looks way more comfortable then all these leather chairs." The young feline had grey fur over most of his body, with white running down his neck and beneath his clothes. Dressed in loose trousers and a T-shirt, he seemed quite comfortable with nothing on his feet - this stood out quite a lot as one foot was all covered in white fur, whilst the other was grey with white toes. His tail was also thicker and fluffier than most house-cats, and his eyes shone bright with firelight as he gleefully examined the new plush sofa.

The polar bear Boon and the otter Eidolon positioned the dragon sofa to one side of the hearth rug, and moved back to allow their boss to get a good look at it. "It'll do, at least it matches the Christmas tree," said Vulpine, gesturing toward the tall pine tree at the other end of the room. "Blue and Green seem to be this years colour scheme, then? I wanted black and gold, but I got told no."

"Ah well, them's the breaks, sir. Looks comfy though," rumbled Boon, idly running one hand against one of the folded wing armrests. "Can we give it a go?"

"Perhaps on your own time," Vulpine muttered, looking up toward the door, "Back to work though, both of you. Eidolon, I need you to man the desk until I find out where Flinty is. Something must have happened to draw him away." The red fox adjusted his glasses, looked around the room, and grew flustered as he saw Vikja and Static staring at him.

"So sorry to interrupt your game, gentlemen - and your nap as well, sir," he nodded to Snack, who was busy circling the dragon chair. "We'll leave you to your evening, although I should remind you that the lounge will close in an hour." With that, he ushered the two bellboys along, and then back out into the lobby.

"This is neat!" Snack declared as he clambered up onto the dragon, sinking into the soft, bean filled chair, squirming around to dig out a hollow between the wings, "Beanbags are the best!"

"Looks comfortable," Static agreed, smiling gently as he watched the feline snuggling down. "I'm half tempted to join you."

"Ooooh, sounds like you want to concede then?" Vikja said with a sly smile, moving one of his pawns forward a space. "Quite understandable, I'd be happy to accept your surrender."

"Ha ha, not a chance!" With that, Static turned his attention back to the board and made his next move. The game passed back and forth for another fifteen minutes, before Vikja eventually had to concede defeat as he was forced into checkmate.

"Another?" he challenged, a grin spreading across his scaled muzzle. "I won't let you off so easily next time."

Static looked over at the clock, which showed twenty minutes past midnight. "If you pick up the pace, I think we have time." Vikja nodded and began resetting the board, and Static's eyes wandered.
"Aww, look at that," said the ferret, pointing at the large dragon beanbag, "Snack is going to need someone to pull him out of that."

The young cat's weight had slowly pushed all the beans beneath him out to either side, forming a large cosy pit. This was making the dragon-wing armrests fold in toward the centre. It did look very comfy, Snack himself had sunk so low that only the tips of his ears and the occasional flicker of his tail could be seen.

"Cute, but I'm not going to let the adorable cat distract me too much, you are going down this time." Vikja had reset the board with himself as White, making the first move of the next game..

-0-

Snack pushed his paws against the flexible bean-filled fabric of the dragon. He mewled and arched his back, stretching to get comfortable. Wriggling his shoulders against the plush material, he sighed happily at the snuggly soft feeling of the giant plush sofa. As he sank lower into the pit, the edges folded over and the cat squeaked in surprise as something slid over the top of the dragon and landed atop him with a soft floomph.

Opening one eye, Snack stared at a sudden plush toy which was now sandwiched between his muzzle and the beanbag. It was orange all over, with darker orange antlers and fuzzy neckruff and actual buttons for eyes. It even had a zipper running down the centre of it's chest. Shifting his head, Snack tipped the toy over and then used a paw to pull the tag straight so he could read it.

"Jellybean the Wolpertinger?" he murmured to himself, "Well I dunno what a wolpertinger is, but you're cuddly and all mine for now."

Snack squirmed about on his back, wrapping both arms about Jellybean and squeezing him so very tightly, enjoying the cuddly softness. The feline closed his eyes and murmured to himself, so warm and cosy in that snuggly little den of fluffy blue and green dragon. He didn't see as Jellybean's blue button eyes softened and pressed inwards, beginning to change! They were becoming less like buttons, and more like actual eyes.

That wasn't the only change; Beany's soft mitten paws were separating, growing and developing into movable plush fingers. They were still somewhat stumpy and plush like, with fake plastic claws, but more flexible than the solid mittens they had been before. However, Snack's hands and feet were changing in the opposite direction; his fingers were sticking together, his fur and claws quickly becoming plush and vinyl.

The little grey feline curled up, squeezing Jellybean again and sighing warmly as he drifted to sleep. The toy was good to cuddle, his sofa-bed was so warm and encompassing, and everything was just right for him to nap. So he wasn't paying much attention as his fur disappeared, his clothing gently eaten away by the spreading plush cotton. Its influence crept up his arms, gently and quietly engulfing his body in snuggly warmth.

As all his fur turned to plush, a new change moved across them both; the orange Jellybean was growing, while the grey Snack was shrinking. The more the cat murmured and cuddled the toy, the more mobile Beany became. Conversely Snack was finding it harder to keep hold, as he was no longer a flesh and blood creature. A tag had grown from a seam now trailing down one of his legs, with the name "Snack" printed on it - and his thick, floofy tail gave in to the plushie onslaught, turning limp and still.

Jellybean stretched, wriggling his paws and looking at the new cat plush curled up next to him. They were now of a similar plushie size, at just under two feet each. Snack's zipper grew up from the fluff of his chest, and the motionless cat now sported a pair of glassy plastic eyes. Through all of this he remained asleep, quite relaxed and snuggly where he was. The wolpertinger grinned to himself, wiggling underneath Snack and pushing the cat up with his feet.

The large dragony beanbag pit shifted and moved beneath them both, and then one wall sank down as the beans moved themselves about. Snack rolled over, mewling gently as the pair of plush toys slid from the beanbag, landing on the floor with a soft thump. Jellybean froze immediately, eagerly returning to performing his role as plush toy. Despite his fall, Snack remained quite asleep, yet to wake up and discover his new predicament.

-0-

The soft thud distracted Vikja again, who looked over. The chair was occupied and then it wasn't, and so he had just vanished.

"Huh, what the hell?" Vikja stood up out of his chair, and as Static attempted to ask a question he raised a hand, moving across the room to the beanbag sofa. "Sorry, but Snack was there and then he wasn't. Where'd he go?" The dragon stumbled as he trod on something soft, reaching up to grab the mantlepiece to stop himself falling.
The soft novelty chair was empty, and the big blue and green sofa was back to being an uninterrupted soft surface. Lifting his foot slowly, Vikja leaned down to scoop up whatever he'd just stepped on.

"Is- is that a plush toy of Snack?" asked Static, flicking his wings uncomfortably as he looked over the grey and white cat who sat limp and floppy in the dragon's hands. Now he had said it, the plush did very much like Snack, colours and patterns and all.

"It is, but where's the actual Snack? I didn't see him get up and leave, we'd definitely have noticed."

"No, I just heard something fall and looked over here, and now..." Static trailed off, frowning at the toy Vikja was holding. The ferret bent over to pick up another soft toy from the floor, "Oh, and here's another." He had Jellybean held by a foot, looking between the two. "This is weird."

"Oh, is that the one that was up by the front desk?" queried Vikja, as he paced around the dragon chair before glancing toward the door out into the lobby.

"I don't think so. That one was small and sat on the desk, this one is much bigger! You don't think that maybe..." The unlikely and impossible realisation came to both of them at around the same time, and they both glanced to the Snack plush, before then looking back up at one another.

"Well, it does look really very like him. But it's not possible is it? I mean, come on..." Static didn't finish his sentence, before hurrying over to the door and poking his head out into the lobby. Vikja could hear him talking over to the bellboy at the desk, before he slowly walked back over.

"Eidolon says he didn't see him leave, either. Maybe this is some sort of prank? So he maybe snuck out the window, and left this behind?"

"That's a bit far for a prank, it's still snowing and I think we'd have heard if the window opened. No, something very odd is going on in here."

"Maybe we should go have a look elsewhere?" wondered Static, turning the Jellybean plush over in his hands as he looked it over. "I mean, he's not here, so it'd be worth a try. And it is getting late, as well."

Vikja looked at the cat in his hands, before nodding at Static and heading toward the door with the soft toys. "Yeah, let's go have a look around. It's probably just someone playing around, it's the sort of thing I could imagine our hosts doing for a bit of fun."

"Sirs," the otter bellboy said, his head peeking in through the door, "I am afraid the lounge is closing for the night now. I need to lock up, could you collect your personal belongings and vacate the room?"

"Oh, Eidolon wasn't it?" Vikja said. "We were just about to head out. Quite strange actually, but we can't find Snack the cat. He was right there sleeping, and now all we have are these plush toys. He's vanished! Isn't that odd?"

Eidolon gave the light blue dragon a quizzical look, and glanced toward the fireplace, "I know I didn't see him leave, but he doesn't seem to be in here now. I'm sure he just got up to go to bed, and left these behind. But if you like, I can put them in lost property and we can give them back to him in the morning."

Vikja looked at Static for support, but the ferret just shrugged. "It seems reasonable that they're his, and he's just left them behind and dashed off for something. We'll hang onto them for now, and I'm sure we'll see him at breakfast. C'mon, let's just head up to our rooms." He tugged the dragon past the otter, and out into the lobby. Once they were there he moved on towards the elevators.
"But I was going to ask him about-"
"Yeah, I thought you might," said Static. "Look, that poor otter probably has no clue what is going on. I mean, we were there and it seems odd to us, but do you really think just because we say it, he's going to believe Snack was- was kidnapped and replaced by a plush toy?"

Said out loud like that, it started to seem ever more implausible. Vikja glared back at the lounge, snorting as he pushed the call button on the lifts. "Probably not. I don't know, I want to find out more. It's weird. We know we didn't see him leave, and all we have are these toys."

"Yeah, but that's all we have, and we'll go round in circles quite quickly. I don't think we'll be able to find out what is going on by sounding crazy or causing a panic," said the ferret, his ears and tail twitching in thought. "Tell you what, how about we go back to my room and see if we can learn anything about these toys? If not, we'll see what we can find in the morning. It's a mystery, and I do love mysteries!"

The elevator arrived, and Vikja smiled softly as he stepped into the lift. The dragon couldn't help but like Static's plan, and his attitude was a bit infectious, "OK then, lets go upstairs and see what we can learn. I bet it's probably some trick being set up by the hosts, Garn or Ross. Hey, maybe it's a contest and there's a prize, perhaps if we can work it out before morning we can win before anyone else even realises."

The doors closed on them, and the lobby fell quiet.

-0-