An Affectionate Stowaway - $5 Patreon Exclusive - WIP - 2/5/23 (Patreon)

Since "An Affectionate Stowaway" over took my last Patreon exclusive of in the last pole right before I began writing the "Pool Toy Retaliation" story, I decided this will be my next story before making another poll.

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The day had become dark and dreary, the town shielded from the sun by the dark clouds that loomed above. It looked like it could rain any moment. Gar almost wished he had brought his umbrella, but he didn’t have the energy to worry about it as he dragged his feet back home, Carrying his backpack over his shoulder with one arm. Being a third-year game design major at his art school, his brutal studies had practically sucked him dry. With not even the luxury to socialize, he would remain confined to his computer designing, rigging, and programming his work for hours on end.

Gar usually would slump back home from his campus to continue his toiling, but he needed to pick up a wooden pose doll from the art store in order to complete his next assignment. Entering the store, he found that it was rather inactive as usual, with the number of customers being few and far in between as he began to browse. In the aisle he was looking for, there were wooden pose dolls of all different sizes with varying amounts of joints, allowing some to be more poseable than others. Gar's tired eyes scanned the many different shelves, unsure of which one to pick as each and every one was the same to him.

It’s not like he had the energy to browse for very long, all he needed was to pick the one he needed and leave. But then, one particular little doll caught his attention, even waking him out of his exhaustion state for a brief moment. Sitting among the top row of wooden dolls, was a bright orange anthropomorphic lioness plushie. The sight caught him off guard, stopping in his tracks as he took a further gander. It didn’t just look at the place, it looked like it belonged in a different store entirely, like it was a mascot anime or cartoon. That being said, the details on the plush were incredibly detailed, from the beautiful smile, wide gleaming eyes, cute smile silky fluffy hair, and even the mane on it’s chest.

The doll was so incredibly well-made, it looked like an expensive anime figurine, with of course the fluffy appeal of a charming plushie. Adding to his curiosity, unlike the other dolls it didn’t seem to have a price tag, and didn’t even fit in the row as it simply sat on the very edge of the shelf in front of the wooden dolls. It was like someone had just left the doll there. Gar couldn’t help but imagine how nice it would look placed on his desk, just to have something cute to glance at every so often as he worked. Just as he was about to consider taking it to the cashier to check if it was actually for sale, he took notice of a medium-sized semi-posable wood doll on the opposite shelf.

Being exactly what he needed, he took his eyes off the plushie and turned around to grab the pose doll. It wasn't too expensive, giving him hope that he could afford the lioness plush if a price was indeed the case for it. But just as he turned around to take the plush, it was gone. Confused, he thought for a moment that it had fallen off the shelf, but it wasn’t even on the floor. Looking up and down the aisle, he could find no trace of it, as if it had just vanished. With a deep sigh, Gar figured that he had just imagined it, walking out of the aisle he took the wooden doll to the cash register.

Little did he know, that his backpack had been wide-open, as a tiny orange paw reached out from inside, quietly tugging the zipper closed. As soon as the young man got home, he dragged himself to his bedroom and makeshift office, reaching into his bag to take out his laptop and pose doll. But something was odd, he felt something soft and fluffy among his items, something that definitely wasn’t there before. Taking it out of the bag, his eyes shot wide open in shock, baffled to find lioness plush that disappeared from the art self in the palm of his hand.

—- 2/5/23

At first, he was speechless, just looking at the door with this belief, only to be followed up with panic as he dropped the doll onto his bed. “What the…” he mumbled as he stepped away from the plush. Gar couldn’t believe that had gotten in his bag, he didn’t even touch the plush let alone take it with him. Or did he? Pacing back and forth, he struggled to remember if he had taken the doll without thinking, or perhaps if he had intended to take it to the counter only to forget that he had put it away. No matter how hard he tried to remember, or how much he struggled to make sense of it, he could’ve sworn that the doll had disappeared from the shelf without a trace, but now he was only left questioning his own memory.

Eventually, he stopped pacing and just faced the wall, standing away from his bed. “Am I going nuts? Do I not remember taking it with me? Did I just shoplift?” He thought to himself, going into a silent panic before a soft-spoken and rather feminine voice broke the silence. “What's wrong cutie?” The young man felt his spine jolt as he quickly turned around, looking over to his bed too as he was greeted with yet another site that made him freeze in disbelief. Sitting on his bed, in place of the plush he had placed there, was a tall, slim, fluffy, beautiful woman with anthropomorphic lion-like features.

The woman looked bafflingly similar to the plush he had left there. In fact, she looked exactly like the plush, a life-size spitting image of it. It was like the very plush had instantly grown in size and come to life, which seemed like a ridiculous idea at first until he continued to examine her features. The woman's snow-white underbelly, and pastel fluffy orange fur were clearly made of some kind of fine cotton and faux fur, making which made her already voluptuous form rather cuddly and appealing. And it definitely wasn't a suit as, her clearly animated face gave him a welcoming and rather elegant smile, her piercing yellow eyes narrow towards him in a rather flirtatious manner, her legs crossed with her arms splayed to her sides, hands firmly placed on the sheets of his bed.

“Nervous about bringing a girl home for the first time?” she followed up with a teasing chuckle, tilting her head as she maintained eye contact with him. Though still completely dumbfounded, her voice made his heart skip a beat, talking to him with a soothing softness that actually managed to calm his anxiety a bit. The woman then sat up from the bed, leaning forward as she took a couple of steps toward him. “Normally I wouldn’t follow a man home on the first date…” she said soft spokenly, making Gar nervous as he backed up against his desk behind him. After a couple more steps, she was so close that their faces were only inches away from each other, with her chest fur just barely touching the fabric of his shirt.

“But something tells me this was love at first sight…” Just before their noses could touch, the young man could hear a purring growl from the woman, seeing a small but clearly visible fang spring out from the top of her mouth. Spooking the daylights out of him, Gar Jolted back and hopped back onto the table right as she swung her arms forward, nearly grabbing him in her soft but large plushie claws. Sliding off of the desk to his right, he backed up towards the door as her flirty smile widened with excitement. The plush woman eagerly wagged her tail as she watched Gar back up further, licking her lips as she slowly turned back towards him.

“Awww… playing hard to get?” she said with an almost shivering chuckle, crouching down as she held her paws up in front of her. “Well then, I don't mind catching my man before I make 'em a snack!” she followed up with a playful growl. Wasting not a moment more, the young man dashed through the door before making a sharp turn down to his left, right as the Lioness pounced toward him. At that moment as he turned, Gar felt something snag onto his hoodie, slipping out of it as he tumbled into the hall and heard a heavy thump behind him. Regaining his footing, he looked back for just a moment as he saw the plush crouched on all fours,  holding his hoodie in her mouth, spitting it out before lunging for him once again.