The night seemed to proceed in the usual orderly fashion, with all closing down except for the front desk. Nothing stirred outside, not even a mouse plushie.

Throughout the hotel, a great many people were sleeping soundly, in rooms of all shapes and sizes. But at the top of the tall hotel, in the biggest of rooms, all was not quite well.

Up in the penthouse suite, in one of the many bedrooms, a weasel snored loudly as he slept. A massive bed bigger than a king-size remained quite neat and well made, as on top of it had been placed a small cushion. On top of the cushion slept a little weasel beneath a small blanket. Truly, Deezberry was living the opulent life for a few days. This was his good luck and just reward for being among the first to arrive. Although he'd had such a trying time trying to keep the staff on side, convincing them that he really did need a bedroom all to himself in the same way as any other guest. It didn't help his case that he'd had to stand on the check-in counter before anyone noticed he was there.

An almighty thump sounded from the next room with such volume and force that it raised Deez up from his cushion, and toppled him unceremoniously to one side of it. His orangey-brown paws clutched at the pillow as he pulled himself upright.

"Oof! Aw, what the- some of us are trying to sleep, you know!"

Silence, then. Not that it mattered so much now, as Deez was wide awake and with a growing curiosity as to what just went bump in the night. Large, unfriendly green clock digits told him it was 3:23am as the weasel reluctantly crept out from his bed, quietly tiptoeing towards the door. No more noises were happening, which somehow felt even more suspicious. So, a large magnifying glass appeared from nowhere for him to peer through - suddenly, Detective Deez was on the case!

The penthouse suite had two levels. Up some stairs were the bedrooms and master bathroom, and below him were other rooms; kitchen, second bathroom, study. The biggest space was taken by the lounge, which stretched over two floors with a lovely big window that gave a fantastic view of the grounds and surrounding areas. Even in the dark, there were some lights that made the really rather pretty. Couches and seats and table were all dwarfed by a large Xmas tree, traditional pine and decorated in all manner of baubles and tinsel and shiny things. Deez had already taken a few of the best to hide in his room, but what remained was still pretty good. The tree had been stood upright when he went to bed, but right now it was on its side. Not the sort of thing it took a magnifying glass to see, but he kept it out anyway!

Besides, it served useful when he reached up and used it to switch on the lights. A soft glow took over the room, and Deez looked from his perch on the balcony facing the giant lounge. Plush toys were everywhere; a gazelle and a badger were sprawled out on the sofa, mice and ducks and geese were cosily nestled among tree branches, and a silly giant polar bear sat at the tree base, posed as though maybe he’d knocked it over or dropped it. There were at least thirty more toys around the room, with many on the floors and some on tables and chairs. One particular overachiever was a fuzzy golden canine with a big red hat, who somehow had become stuck on the lamp all the way up in the ceiling.

Deez looked over towards the other three bedrooms, but the door to each one gave out a faint trail of Zs in different colours, suggesting they were all fast asleep. So, the weasel took himself downstairs, sliding down the banister and landing cheerfully on a soft cushion he'd set up for just this purpose. Hey, if he was sharing a penthouse, he would enjoy it as much as he could!

It seemed obvious that the falling tree had made the noise, but Deez couldn't really understand how it had fallen over in the first place. It wasn't a small thing, it was a very big thing. By himself the little weasel had no way of standing the tree upright again, so that'd be something for housekeeping to fix. Or maybe the bellboys would sort it out. The polar bear seemed to have one of their uniforms on, which was quite cute; it really made the scene look like he was moving it somewhere, and then he'd just stumbled and over it went. It was a silly idea, nothing more.

Until one of the plushies started to move by itself, anyway. The white stoat toy rubbed his head a little, and then peeked up at Deez with those button eyes.

"Oooh, hello there fellow mustelid! It's a bit early to be awake, isn't it?"

The weasel looked somewhat surprised, rubbing his eyes like he didn't quite believe what he was seeing. "I... huh. But you're a-"

"Plush? Yes, I know. It's quite new and I'm getting quite fond of it," said the toy with a squeak, wiggling his plushie butt and tail as he ambled over to where Deez was stood. "We're working hard for the party. Aren't we, everyone?"

The other plushies started to come to life then, as well. To see them all moving was a bit hard to take in all at once, and Deez sat back on the warmed carpet in disbelief. Ahh, underfloor heating, just the ticket to making those pratfalls warm and comfortable.
"Well," said the slightly derpy polar bear, easily the biggest plush in the room. "Sorry, the noise was me! I dropped it. I was trying to get Kaed down from the lamp. I thought he could climb down the tree."

"But he's a plushie!" chirped the gazelle from on the sofa. "Can't he just fall down?"

There was a sudden silence, as this idea took a few moments to filter into each of their soft-toy minds. Then, the plush wiggled itself free of the ceiling lamp and just fell down, plummeting and landing with a soft whump. Oooh, he shook his head around a bit after that, but he seemed alright. His hat had fluttered down somewhere nearby, and mutely he went to retrieve it.

Some chatter began to start up among the plushies, but Deez spoke over the top, "Erm. That's nice and all, but what are you doing here? And how-"
A big plush mitt came around Deez’s head to muffle him. "Shhh. Awww, someone's cranky because we woke him. Group hug!"

"Ah- No, that's nice and all but-"

Too late. Deez was penned in by a sudden stampede of dozens of plush toys, moving surprisingly quickly for inanimate objects! Quickly, the weasel was wriggling, trying to ferret his way out of the little pile.

Quin the stoat began to do a bit of sewing, using some of the material around the room and a little bit of magic to make something new. Part of an orange rug, a warm sunny-coloured throw, some stuffing from a pillow and a few touches of white, and he held up the result; a nice, weasel-sized set of animal pajamas!

"Ta-da, it's a kigu! I think it'll help you back to sleep, it's all nice and warm. Oooh, and it has a stripy orange tail, and a cute face, it's a skunk! You like those, right? They're the ones with the super giant snuggable tails..."

Deez might have objected if he'd had chance, as the warm kigu was quickly tugged onto him with the help of a number of soft paws. They didn't feel at all animatronic to the touch, just genuine plush material through and through. This was going to be an odd Xmas, but hey... couldn’t complain about an early gift, right?

Wearing the skunk pajamas, Deez felt a bit silly. He looked back at the big plush stripy tail, and then pulled back on the fake ears. "Okay, I admit this has been pretty cute. Mm? I can come and play tomorrow a bit. Er, yes. Gonna get some sleep though, now, it's really late."

"Aww, well okay. Um! You sure you don't want to come and help us decorate the hotel? Still quite a bit to do before tomorrow," said Quin.

Deez didn't really get a choice before the stoat pulled down the hood and he couldn't see. But he could feel, though; everything started to get really warm all of a sudden. He tried to push himself free of the hood, but found it to be quite stuck in place! From his feet and arms, the little Deez began to tingle and shiver. Each of his extremities became bigger and plumper, turning big and orange to go with the kigu he wore. A deep softness flooded through him, and it became harder to move as the change kept going; his tail was stretching and swelling out to become the soft stuffing of his new skunky tail.

Oooh, it felt rather like he was growing, the weasel within the kigu becoming all warm and toasty and changing into cotton. Nice plump legs, a sudden shudder as his heartbeat stopped, and so many silly floaty thoughts that crept into his mind as the transformation pushed up over his head. Oooh, he was a skunk! He could now see again through the plastic eyes of the pajamas, looking at his big pudgy nose with a black tip, as well as his cartoony paws and feet. He even had a zipper running from his neck to his tummy, so he could still act as a mini kigu! It was all so sudden, and he was ever such a silly skunk; bright orange with white highlights and stripes, warm and pudgy and ever so cuddly, as the stoaty Quin chose to test out. Curling his long mustelid body around, he gave Deez a nice big squeeze.

"There now, don't you feel better? Sure you don't want to help us downstairs?"

Deez the skunk giggled, and thought about it for a few moments. "Oh, hey, alright then! If you really want my help."

Quin giggled. "There's only one day left! We're going to need absolutely everyone..."

-o-

The sun was only just in the sky as the teal-haired otter emerged from his room. Everything was quiet, which seemed very strange as all the bedrooms nearby were open; lights off, all empty. Nobody here had seemed like an early riser, but perhaps they knew something he didn't. Well, this was a holiday, and Jason wasn't going to worry about things like that.

He was freshly showered and out of his room. He had glasses atop his big otter nose, a white hotel dressing gown around his shoulders, and a fresh cup of tea in his webbed paw. He took a sniff, and then a sip, and looked out of the window at the sunrise as downstairs he went. What a nice room this was!

The room seemed a little different today. The floor had gained a few pine needles, which seemed natural from such a giant Xmas tree being in the room, but there were lots more of them than he would have expected. Jason giggled, and pushed a few around with an otter foot, and sipped more from his cup. Hey, if everyone else was out and about, he didn't want to waste too much time up here! Guess it'd be best to finish his tea and get dressed.

On the table underneath the stairs, there sat a large otter plush. Its fur was blue, its paws webbed, and its face stuck in a derpy grin. This was unexpected and sudden, it definitely hadn't been there yesterday; Jason had the feeling it was there specifically for him to see.
“Awww,” he said, quietly. “What a cutie!”
A soft velvety blue covered it from top to bottom, with a thicker fluffy crest of fur from its head down to its tail. It was about five feet long, sprawled out like it was waiting to pounce plushie fishes, grinning cheekily as though his fish-catching success was guaranteed.

"Hee hee, let's get a closer look at you," murmured Jason, setting his tea down and scooping the otter up in both arms. So soft it was, so comfy and easy on the arms and paws. Quite heavy for what it was, but still very snuggly! Jason leaned his cheek against it and nuzzled up, taking a nice deep snoofle. Giggling, as well. So new and so sweet, who could have left it here for him?

With the otter plush snagged under one arm, he picked up the tea and moved over to the couch. Jason didn't see or feel the subtle change that started up his paw, otter greys and browns changing to a teal colour that was much more like his hair. So bright and colourful! Not paying attention, the otter sat down and sprawled out with his feet up on the couch, leaning his head back on the armrest. Looking upwards, he relaxed more, keeping the plushie nice and warm against his chest. Webbed feet played idly with its tail. There had been thoughts of getting downstairs as quickly as he could, but he seemed to be quite settled here now. Nah, why rush, with such a nice otter to rest with?

That's about when he saw the change. It had come so far already, and the bright teal had slid its way up his arm and was now creeping over his chest. It moved quickly and he didn't have much time to react, but when he did he found himself clinging even tighter to the otter plush. Their noses pushed together as he peered into those shiny red eyes.

"Ahh, is this your fault, little otter? That's a neat trick," he said. Amusement became surprise when his teal paw began to stretch and puff out into a big mitten, a little tickle down either side as seams traced their way up his arm and along his body. A strange sense of vertigo crept in as he began to fall backwards, shrinking down and down as the bright teal wrapped around his whole body.

The blue plushie chirped, and its eyes twinkled, and it watched happily as his new otter friend changed. Those paws became mittened and his feet soon followed, with Jason's nose getting even larger, developing into a plump otter muzzle rather like the plushie one! It was blue otter paws which now moved to give Jason a hug, squeezing quite happily to cause the teal otter body to let out a silly squeak!

That was pretty funny, and they both giggled at it together. They were two otter toys now, with one teal and one blue, and no difference between them except for the colour.

"Otters aren't that seasonal though, are they?" said a Nall, the marten appearing from his hiding place behind the sofa. The otters were both bigger than the little familiar plushie, and looked down with some curiosity. The otter twins didn't have much to say beyond squeaks and chirps!
"Very cute though. You're so big, the pair of you, I'm sure you'd look good out in the lobby..."

They began to change again, as Nall raised his paws and willed it so. From their smooth fuzzy heads he convinced antlers to sprout; a pair for each of them, soft and artificial as they stretched out. It made the otters look so silly, they collapsed into fits of giggles just looking at each other! This cheered the marten on and encouraged him to keep going, and so their noses changed one after the other as the marten rubbed soft plushie weasel mitts against them.
The noses were big and so felty soft to the touch, stretching and pushing out to be longer, much more like caribou noses. Webbed feet and paws fidgeted and stretched as they changed into soft hooves, with stiff cloppy bases that clicked and clacked against one another. Their large bodies stayed long and velvety, and each of them kept their cartoony colourful hue. Blue and teal, they did go quite well together. Perky ears flicked up as they changed, becoming thinner and twitchier and not so very ottery at all any more. Small and stumpy legs drew into long, thin ones, and their tummies barreled and swelled out to make them even pudgier and snugglier. Stuffing shuffled inside, Jason was still able to feel the sensation of his innermost ottery self melting to become the soft, squishy filling of a deer toy. This spread through him from nose to tail, and down from head to legs. Everything still tingled for a few moments after the pair stepped off the sofa together. Now they were even taller, and they made very pretty reindeer plushies indeed.

Nall scampered ahead of them both, tail waving to grab their attention and encourage them to follow him towards the door. It took a few moments, but they did so quietly

"Hey, looking good, you two! Let's get downstairs with the others. Bet if we look hard enough, I'm sure we can find you a sled to pull, as well..."

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