Plush Hearts

All plush Pixel characters start out as a crystalline Plush Heart, which in addition to functioning as their version of a soul and having its own face, emit pulses of vibration as frequently as what their heartbeat would be at the time. These pulses, though invisible, carry a weak psychic influence that allows the Plush Heart to control their body, and if a Plush Heart is swallowed, this psychic influence carries over to the pred if they can’t (or don’t) resist it. Plush Hearts can take full control of any type of plush “doll” if they are inside, but their influence requires them to be inside, which is why it is very common to see Plush Pixels with at least one zipper. Because of this, the shared internal dimension a Plush Heart has will almost always contain extra zippers in the form of the zipper key only, which can not only be used to replace broken zippers but also materialize ones on non-plush items and turn them into plushes, which does not impede its function but if this effect is used on a non-plush character, as they are turned into a plush their soul will materialize in their new body as a Plush Heart.

When a Plush Heart enters a plush “doll”, they can sense everything they would if they were any other character, through their new body. If the plush “doll” that a Plush Heart enters already has a Plush Heart inside, the new one can’t control their new body, but they can use their pulses to communicate with the other Heart(s). If a Plush Heart is placed into a costume that is then worn by another character or their body is large enough to allow another character to “wear” them, the Plush Heart has control over their body but motion can be impeded by the wearer’s resistance. When a Plush Heart is removed from the body, they can still control it if they remain in contact with it, allowing Plush Pixels to easily transfer their Heart to another body if they want. However, Plush Hearts cannot move on their own without a body, which makes them quite weak while outside their body, but they aren’t helpless, as they can still use their pulses to attract the attention of other characters.

When a Plush Heart rests within the body of a plush “doll”, whenever anything but another Plush Heart gets into their body, it can be gradually turned into more of the “doll”’s stuffing, the Plush Hearts’ equivalent of digestion. When a non-plush character is turned into stuffing, their soul will be turned into a Plush Heart. This process can be controlled or even halted altogether, allowing Plush Pixels to store things inside. Most Plush Pixels just store things in their internal dimension, which is also full of their own stuffing. However, the character’s own Plush Heart cannot be moved to their internal dimension as doing so would cause it to be unable to be recovered.

Characters connected with the Realm of Souls are capable of creating blank Plush Hearts, meant to be put inside a non-Pixel living plush to allow them to have a Plush Heart too. After all, for most non-Pixel living plushes, “It's awfully hard to think with a head full of fluff.”  As soon as the blank Plush Heart enters a non-Pixel living plush with a soul, the blank Plush Heart takes their soul and effectively becomes it, skipping most of Digitization entirely. These characters do develop a Spirit over time but do not start with one as a result of skipping that part of Digitization.

Note: Plush Hearts are completely indestructible, but cannot move on their own without a body.

Note: If it has not already been established, Plush Hearts have all the senses any other character would have, even without a body.

Note: Additionally, if it has not yet been established, transformation effects other than those used by Plush Hearts that turn characters into plushes will also cause their soul to become a Plush Heart.