Nesting Instincts- James' pillow pile

Every so often, James liked to go through his large collection of stuffed animals and re-organize them, giving each one a once-over to make sure that they were still in good condition and didn't need any cleaning or repairs. After all, the collection was just a pile in his room, with blankets and pillows strewn about as well. He would sometimes sleep in the pile in his bun form, surrounded by soft and cozy things. So every so often he would need to replenish the stuffing if it was slept on too often and became flat, or if he tossed and turned in his sleep he might accidentally catch one with his cloven paws and scratch a poorly sewn eye off or something. Rare, but still a potential. Plus it was nice to change things up, get everything tidy, and go down memory lane.

He would go through the pile in his doll form, so he could more easily grab things, and figure out what needed repairs or washing, as well as sorting everything into different categories.
James was currently at the starting stage, surrounded by cuddly things and sorting them into different piles. In one pile, he had thrown all the blankets together to be washed. He was now pulling pillow covers off any pillows he found and tossing the covers into the same pile with the blankets, and the naked pillows were tossed to another pile, to remain naked until their coverings were washed. When he was done with that task, all that was left was the pile of plushies. He took his time going through each one and looking them over, making sure they were doing ok. He would make sure any longer fur was brushed out and the stuffing was still nice and plump, filling out the plush well with no squished areas. Then he would make sure any eyes, buttons, or sewn on details were ok, check for loose threads, and then give them one lace once-over before setting them in a new pile to be sorted later. He went through each plush this way, making a small pile of plushies that needed to be fixed in some way. Mostly it was just loose thread he could fix up, or a deflated plush in need of stuffing, but one plush in particular was a bit more worn out. It was faded, with a few patches sewn on that seemed newer. The plush was severely deflated from ages of cuddling, and it looked like it had seen its fair share of things, lived a full life.

James saved this plushie for last, as the others were quick fixes, he could follow his usual routine, of loading the wash with pillowcases and blankets, and then bringing the small pile of plushies to a workstation he had laid out on a table. The first one, he was able to quickly secure a loose eye button, and do a bit of brushing on the longer bits of fur. The second one took a bit more work, as the stuffing had gone flat and the plush looked sad and floppy when previously it had been able to sit up straight in a regal-looking pose. For this one, James had to carefully cut the stitching on the back so he could pull the old stuffing out, then replace with new stuffing. He made sure to get as much stuffing as he could into the plush, neatly stuffed into each limb as well, before sewing it up in such a way that the plush looked as good as new. By then, the washer had finished, so he swapped the load of laundry into the dryer, and went back to work with the plushies.The last few were smaller fixes that didn't take too much time, and just as he was about to start on the last plush, the timer for the wash went off, signalling the blankets and pillowcases were dry, and most importantly warm. Freshly laundered clothes and blankets were always a comfort to him, so he abandoned his project to pull the blankets and pillowcases out, smelling a few to enjoy the subtle fabric softener's scent. He quickly brought his haul to his room, making quick work of the warm pillowcases and placing them strategically in the pile that was slowly looking more and more like a nest that would perfectly fit him in his bun form. He eyed his watch, then the soft looking nest, then at the warm blankets. While he did still have some more things to do today, the soft nest and the warm blankets were quite inviting...

"I suppose just a little nap couldn't hurt..." He mused to himself as he spread the blankets around in a comfortable position in the nest. With the last blanket flung up and over himself, he reverted back to his bun form and snuggled into the warm nest, quickly falling asleep.