Hypnovember 2023
Prompt - 4.Soft
For BearInMind85
By Limewah

The too-clean scent of the reception area was unpleasant to most - but not to Sammy. For some reason or another, he had some cosy memories of going to the dentist - mostly for what came after, some sort of treat or another. 
This place felt especially comforting too, it was festooned with plush toys of all sizes, from bean-bag-sized squirrels right up to a smiling, sitting up lion that probably could have worked as a chair for a kid.
If the bear wasn’t a full-ass grown up, he might have considered trying to sit in it. But he stuck with the less comfortable chair. Not that there was anyone else in the office that day… strange that it wasn’t that busy.

He didn’t think much of it until he was ushered into the dentist’s office, already slightly dreading what the professional would have to say about his mouth. Or the small talk he’d start once he began to prod around inside.
The slender cheetah was friendly and welcoming, guiding him into the chair with some gentle small talk.
“You don’t seem all that nervous,” the dentist remarked as he slipped a mask over his face.
“No, I’m used to this kinda thing,” Sammy said with a little laugh. “I’ve been okay with them since I was little.”
“Oh… did they have plushies in the waiting area too?”
“No, actually. There’s a lot of them out there, huh.”
“Mhm. We think it adds some nice atmosphere to the place. Makes it easier for kids to get comfy and feel safe. Lie back.”
Sammy was getting ready to head to his happy place. He put on the dark glasses and looked up towards the bright light, opening his mouth before the dentist even asked.
He was expecting a routine checkup, but he did notice the hint of a frown behind the cheetah’s mask.
“Hmm… okay. It looks like there’s a few things we have to deal with here,” the cat remarked. “This might take a little while.”
“Ahn…?” that didn’t sound right to the bear… what had he missed? He tried not to think about the incoming bill - it wouldn’t help things for him at all.
“This is going to involve a little bit of anaesthetic..”
“How bad is it?”
“Don’t worry about it… it’s a good thing we caught this now.”
“Caught what?”
 Bite down on this for me.”

A piece of cottony gauze was pushed between Sammy’s teeth, nestled into the left side of his mouth. It had a slightly strange tang to it, and felt sort of soft and squishy, almost like he was biting into a marshmallow. Once that was in place, a tube was slipped in between his teeth and down towards the back of his throat.
“Bite down firmly on that, keep the cotton between your teeth and the tube… and just breathe.”
Sammy could feel the movement of gas, pushing into his mouth and down his throat. 

Was it just his imagination, or was the cotton softness spreading? He assumed it was just some anaesthetic in the gauze itself, but it didn’t feel numb so much as it did feel warm and comfortable. His head began to feel a little lighter, too, but not the sort of strange sensation that came before a drug like this would knock him out. He still felt conscious, and if anything, that feeling of soft warmth was intensifying. It spread further and further in his mouth, until the whole thing felt quite feathery soft. Like what he imagined those teddies in the lobbies might feel like. 

“Just keep breathing for me. Nice and deep. Take your time. Just let that feeling spread. You’ll be fixed up before too long.”

The cheetah’s voice was a soft purr, and it mingled with the gentle hiss of the gas and the soft cotton feel, blooming inside his mind and cascading down his throat. The softness made him feel sort of puffy, too, like his head was getting a little bigger. And with that came a feeling of soft, silky relaxation, like his worries and cares were being slowly unraveled and softened until he couldn’t feel or think of them anymore.
He liked where this was going…

He took deeper gulps of the gas, worrying the cotton between his teeth, until he noticed that he could barely feel his teeth any more. But he didn’t feel so worried about it. He felt soft, and cuddly, and safe. That was all he needed.
Sammy felt the sort of comfort he’d have while in a soft bed, but for some reason his eyes didn’t feel like closing. They felt sort of tight against his face. His lips closed and pulled into a smile that started as a sleepy relaxed one before pulling into a big, happy grin. His hands and legs lifted up from the chair as they shrank and turned stubbier, his stomach growing bigger and softer, and his head becoming plush and round.
Sammy liked being soft. 
He liked how the thoughts in his head were turning into soft cotton, and all those little aches and pains he used to ignore were all vanishing entirely. He barely noticed the tube being pulled from his mouth, just in time for his mouth to seal up entirely, his transformation into a soft teddy finally completed. And with that, like a switch was flicked in his mind, his consciousness dropped into the closest thing a plush could have to sleep. Just barely conscious, barely aware, just enough to feel those squeezy, squishing hands.

“There we go…” the cheetah said, taking the sunglasses off the big bear plush and giving it a testing squeeze. “All better. Let’s get you set up in the hall, big guy… you’re going to make a great new addition!”

Sammy would have cried out with joy, but he couldn’t. And he didn’t need to. He couldn’t breathe through his closed mouth or his plastic button nose, but he didn’t need to. Plushies didn’t need to breathe.
Nor did they need to think…
All they needed was to be soft and happy and warm and huggy! And Sammy was going to be so great at that.