Submission (#4757) Approved

Added Reward: 9 Additional Buttons for the bonuses of +3 buttons for every 250 words, up to 1500 words in total.
My Story exceeds 1500 words, so I counted up to 1500 for the bonus.

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The Story:

Brownie entered his house with a small sigh, he had a long day of playing with his friends but now he was ready to relax quietly by himself now to recharge. He noticed Scoop was still out, and he had the house to himself. He smiled and went to the bedroom, he grabbed his candles and a fluffy towel from his basket, before going to the bathroom and setting them about carefully. The towel on the hook and the candles in a way that would set the right mood. He turned on the radio he had on the sink to a soft classical music channel. Humming to the music, he started the faucet in the bath, setting it to a good temperature. As the tub filled with water, he poured plenty of bubbles into the water, and added some bath salts to help relax his body and add a nice smell to the air. He then turned to light the candles, and shut off the light. He shut the water off once the bath was full, and stepped in carefully. He sank into the water with a content sigh. "Aaah, this feels so good-" He whispered to himself closing his eyes. The music playing in the background seemed to influence the way the shadows danced on the walls. The candles seemed to be enjoying the music.

He couldn't imagine anything would make this bath better. He really enjoyed the way the bubbles and the salts were softening his fabric, and helping his mane stay fully. This felt like the best way to charge his batteries. He sunk further into the water, so just his nose was above the water. The warm water radiating through his plush body, making him feel heavy and warm. The salts had floral scents, but the one that stuck out to Brownie the most was rose. It almost smelled like he had fresh petals in the bathroom instead.

The noise of a door opening pulled him from his thoughts, making him open his eyes and sit up more to listen better. The sound had caught him off guard, not having expected anyone. He decided to call out to see who it was. Not being able to see, and being caught in the bath, felt very embarrassing and a bit scary.
"Hello?" He called out to try to find out who had visited.

"Hi Brow-Brow!" Scoops called out shutting the door behind him and looking around for where the voice of Brownie came from. He wasn't sure if Brownie was in their room, or maybe in the kitchen?

"Oh Scoops, its just you!" He called, before sighing with relief, he hadn't wanted to have to tell a friend he was busy. Or for someone to be intruding that he wasn't friends with. While he did enjoy when his friends would join him at his home, he didn't like the idea of strangers just wandering in on him. It was such a relief when it was Scoops voice who called back.
"I'm in the bath!"

Scoops trotted to the bathroom door, and peeked in at Brownie. "How was your day?" He was excited to see him again. Brownie and Scoops had gone their separate ways today. So coming home, he was hoping Brownie would already be there. He had spent the day watching the birds in the shopping plaza.

"It was fun, Gummi and I went to the beach and collected shells, then Squash invited over to his house for gaming, and then we went to the park to play pretend, like we were the characters from the games." He explained, it felt like it had been a big day.

"Do you want to join me?"

Scoops looked at the candles, and the heat of the room with a bit of a frown. "I dont think I can.." He was afraid he'd be a puddle of icecream if he tried.

Brownie nodded understanding how melty his friend was, "I'll join you then. Do you want a bed time story?"

Scoops smiled, his tail wagging and splattering the floor with ice cream droplets, "Yes please!"

"Alright, go to your room and I'll be right there" Brownie smiled.

Scoops was quick to shut the door and scurry toward the room, leaving splatters on his way. He went right to the bookshelf and looked over the books. He ran his paw over a few books, before settling on one, excited to hear this one again. He took the book with him to the nest and carefully settled in, watching the door for Brownie to join him.

Brownie carefully got up from the bath, pulling the plug to drain the bath. Once the bath drained he shut the curtain and rinsed off. After that, he carefully dried off with his towel, chuckling at all the stars that fell off of him. He stepped out and finished drying with a fur dryer, looking almost like a chocolate cloud. He blew out the candles, and carefully picked them up, putting them on the counter for later. He figured he'd do his bed routine before going to bed, so he brushed his teeth and brushed his mane.
It was a few more minutes before he joined Scoops in his room. Scoops was laying in his nest, and looking up excitedly, with a book already picked out in his paws.

Brownie smiled and joined him in the nest, "You already picked out a book? You usually wait for me to help." He chuckled a bit, not minding but finding himself a little sad he didn't get to help decide tonight. Though he figured he'd choose tomorrow night. "Lets see what you've picked for us tonight."

Scoops smiled at him and pushed the book toward him. Brownie took the book and looked over the cover. "Goodnight moon." He read softly.

He looked at Scoops who snuggled more into the nest, and Brownie snuggled closer to him before opening the book.

He begun reading a book he'd probably read a hundred times, and would happily read another hundred. It seemed to be Scoops favorite. After each page, he would show the images, pausing to point out various parts of the room and making small comments to keep Scoops engaged.

By the time Brownie got to the middle of the book, Scoops was starting to dose off, but he sat up a bit trying to fight it.

"I dont want to go to sleep yet-" Scoops whined lightly.

Brownie chuckled a bit, setting the book aside so he could pet Scoops, "I know that sometimes it's tempting to stay awake at night, but if you stay awake all night, you will miss the day. And our friends are awake during the day, so you would miss your friends."

"But what if I am missing out on making new friends because they only come out at night?" Scoops asked, suddenly sad at the idea of it.

"Then, we can stay up, on the weekend. But tonight, we must sleep."

"Promise?" Scoops button eyes focused on Brownie, really wanting to make sure that he did get the chance to stay up this weekend. He wanted to see what was there when he was asleep.

"Pinky promise." Brownie said softly. As if to assure Scoops more, he also held up his paw, extending the pinky toe on his paw and reaching toward Scoops. Scoops reach his paw up and tapped toes with Brownie, Scoops seemed to take that well, and settled back into the nest.

"Okay- can you finish Goodnight Moon?" Scoops asked, sounding very hopeful.

Brownie nodded, reaching over and grabbing the book to finish. He found their page again and started reading again, continuing to point out parts on the pages for Scoops as well. Once the book was finished, Brownie noticed, Scoops had fallen asleep. Brownie smiled and kissed the top of his head, before getting up and putting the book away. He shut off the light, turning on the night light. He grabbed one of scoops favorite stuffed animal, and crawled back into the nest with Scoops.

Scoops snuggled closer to Brownie when he returned feeling safer with him there.

Brownie whispered to his sleeping friend, "Sleep well, Scoops. I'll see you in the morning."

Once settled and ready to start falling asleep himself, he thought gently, this is the most relaxing part of my day. When I get to be with Scoops and its just us.

He was grateful for getting to meet the sock puppet cursed plush dragon. Scoops was constantly melting, and a lot of other plush dragons and other creatures seemed to be overwhelmed with the mess that being around scoops brought. But, Brownie was just happy to have such a wonderful friend, that he didn't mind cleaning all the ice cream that seemed to be left behind by the melting dragon.

Brownies eyes fell shut, and his mind started to drift off.

It was quite a lovely, and relaxing way to end such a fun filled day, and Brownie hoped he could do it again tomorrow.