Month: September 2025

Jessie was grumpy.

For one, the beach was packed – not a single inch of sand didn’t have some random towel or umbrella occupying it, the multicolored blanket of various claimed spots stretching off into the distance in both directions, leaving her standing there with her own towel and a frown and little to show for it.

The sand was hot against her hooves, the sun hot against her back, and she wanted nothing more than to enjoy a cool splash in the ocean waves… but, it seemed, that wasn’t to be, today.

“Ugh.” She grumbled, turning to walk back up the boardwalk to the parking lot, and, rather rudely, bumped something out of the way as it blew against her in the slight breeze.

It… felt like a beach ball, if she was honest? Soft, squishy vinyl giving way at her shove, compressing against the wooden rails with a squeak of surprise and alarm.

It was only as she looked up that she realized the toy was a person, bright red lifeguard shirt and whistle adorning an orange and blue inflatable otter currently staring at her with eyes wide in surprise.

“O-Oh! Um. Sorry, I didn’t think you were…?”

The otter shook their head, decal face frowning. They gestured at their wrist, where a watch would be.

“Uh…?”

The toy reached into their scarf, tugging out a little book – and, with a motion that seemed shockingly fast for what it was, whipped something out of it.

A small sticker was slapped against the deer’s thigh, drawing Jessie’s attention. It… looked like the otter, sort of…?

Instantly, Jessie began to feel full, her swimwear growing taut and tight. Her tail, small and cervine, exploded outwards into a thick inflatable otter tail, coloring changing to orange with a blue stripe – and the otter, miming giggling, reached up and tugged off the lifeguard shirt as best they could!

It was over in an instant, leaving Jessie just enough time to see they’d blown up into a proper clone of the lifeguard before the shirt bounced harmlessly off of her new plastic otter snout, big blue nose filling up her vision.

I-I’m the lifeguard?!

Skai wasn’t nervous.

Far from it, in fact. What kind of phoenix would he be to be scared of something as silly as pool water?

…Still, though, as he stared into the sloshy reflection of himself, distorting with the distant splashes of the few people in the pool this early, he couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive. 

His domain was the sky, and fire. A pool of water couldn’t be more different.

…and, admittedly, he wasn’t the greatest swimmer. He was nervous about swimming in general. Much less in public.

So, as he turned to head back to his chair and put his sunglasses back on, it was with no small amount of defeated grumbling about how hot it was and how he’d totally be in the water if he felt like it… grumbling that, unfortunately for Skai, carried.

Across the pool, a little lifeguard was busying themself polishing their vinyl for another long day in the sun – Drift was, naturally, best suited for it. They barely needed naps, and floated better than any of the other community pool lifeguards, so of course they got the early shift. Naturally!

Perking up at the sound of grumbling and talons on the concrete pool deck, the otter watched a forlorn phoenix plop back down in their chair, longingly staring out at the water.

Hmm. Worth checking out! After, uh, another coat.

So, as Skai closed their eyes to take in the warm sun, there was a sound to their right; opening them took in a rather large blue nose, goggles, and a pair of bright plastic decal eyes staring back at them.

“Uh.” Skai said, helpfully. “Can I… help you?”

The inflatable otter nodded, and gestured out at the pool with their paws, making a little swimming motion before tilting their head questioningly.

“You’re wondering why I’m not swimming?” The phoenix asked, bewildered.

Drift nodded.

“…I, uh.” 

Skai sighed.

“I can’t swim. Never really learned, and I’m… worried.”

Drift blinked, before slowly nodding. Hmm.

One of their paws dove into their scarf, seemingly searching around for something, before with a little pop! they pulled out a… sticker?

A tiny, white sticker, shaped like an inflatable valve?

Before Skai even had time to react, the sticker had been slapped onto their tummy by the otter’s plastic paw – sending a shock through their whole body! It was ice cold, and as Skai glanced down in shock, there was a POOF…

…and when the smoke cleared, two toys stood there, a bewildered squeaky phoenix and a cheerful lifeguard otter.

Drift pointed out at the pool water again, and made a fingerless gesture best described as a thumbs up.

Skai sat there for a moment, bewildered, before glancing out at the water.

Huh. Pool day, here I come!

“Hey, where are you? The line’s not getting any shorter.”

The hyena sighed, hitting send and stuffing her phone back in the little waterproof bag she’d taken it out of. This whole outing had been Banana’s idea and she was late?

Oh, well. She’d enjoyed the time out in the sun so far, anyway – a little longer wouldn’t hurt, surely?

The waterpark was brand new, as far as Lena could tell – having just opened a month or so ago to local fanfare, the crowds eagerly waiting to get in and spend some time in cool water and splashy slides a testament to how hot the summer had been as a whole!

It beat retail, that was certain.

“Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Lena looked up, just as the wolf tugged her into a big hug, tail idly wagging. “Ready to go in?”

“Sure,” Lena grinned, gesturing with a paw. “After you!”

The park, inside, was loaded – crowds hustling and bustling to and fro, a sea of swimmers and giggling parkgoers, otter-themed gifts and souvenirs scattered here and there. Right, the mascot was an otter, wasn’t it? Drift, or something?

“Why don’t you go find a slide or something?” Banana offered, giving the hyena a little bump with her hip as she eyed up a food stand. “Enjoy your day off! Been a little while since your last one, hasn’t it?”

Lena nodded, standing up a little straighter. That… did sound fun, she supposed. Might as well, right?

She set off after the two picked a place to meet back up – the big wave pool! – and began to wind her way deeper into the park, past splash pads filled with giggling kids, some sort of photo opportunity spot, a few places selling beer in the shade… she was so focused, even that when the bounced off of something soft and beachball-like she half assumed she’d wandered into a stand.

Glancing up, she met the gaze of a curious-looking toy gazing back.

…The same otter from the signs? And the merchandise?

“Drift?” Lena said, blinking. This was no mascot suit, or even a costume… this was… the real thing!

Drift, to their credit, simply seemed amused. This probably happened often.

Luckily, the crowds seemed a lot thinner this way – it was close to lunchtime, so she imagined a lot of people had stopped their swimming to find a bite to eat and drink. Drift offered a paw, surprisingly strong, and helped her back up.

“Can you, uh, explain the whole pooltoy thing?” Lena asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. People here and online seemed to be pretty crazy about the whole thing. In general.

Drift gestured to their snout, and shook their head. No talking, it seemed.

They did seem to consider the question for a moment, though, before digging through their scarf for a little notebook and flipping through it with surprisingly dexterous paws before producing a little sticker, holding it out to Lena.

It… looked like a cartoony pooltoy valve. She took it, holding it in her paw.

Drift pantomimed sticking something to their tummy, before nodding in a “find out the fun way” gesture.

Well. Couldn’t hurt, could it?

Lena stuck it to her tummy, feeling it paradoxically stick to fur with no issues – before, immediately, she felt… funny.

Fur began to smooth out around the sticker, flattening into hyena-patterned vinyl plastic as she watched, enraptured. The sticker sank in before popping back out as a real valve, soft to the touch and (thankfully) capped, as her midsection began to gently fill with air.

Drift watched approvingly, taking a step back to observe!

Her footpaws changed first – swelling up and simplifying into flattened, rounded mitten-like footpaws, pads and claws simply printed-on detailing. Her hands went next, following similar steps… as did her tail, swelling from base to tip until it, too, was lovingly rendered in air-filled vinyl!

The last to go was her face, smoothing, simplifying, rendering itself in decal and plastic, until, with one last sqrk, Lena was… a pooltoy!

She felt so light, so floaty…

…Wait. She’d taken a while, over here. Banana was waiting at the pool!

With a quick squeaky “Thank you!!”, Lena trotted off down the path, passing a few guests who stared after her in amazement, before, to her surprise, the wind picked up.

Normally this would’ve been welcome in the summer heat, but when you’re full of air and haven’t fully adjusted quite yet… Lena went flying!

She bounced, rolled, and tumbled into the water, splashing with a light sploosh! A pair of paws, gently, grabbed handles she didn’t know she had.

“Wowwww, look at you!”

Banana stared down at her, fur soaked and eyes bright.

“You’re definitely ready for a day at the pool, now!”

“Oh, wow… I haven’t seen a photo-op spot like this in years!”

Intell was, of course, referring to the little cardboard cutout display that decorated the welcome area of Drift’s Lagoon – a brand new waterpark that had opened this summer. The otter-y mascot was plastered all over the place, bright orange squeaky plastic and welcoming face bringing in crowds by the hundreds… really, who wouldn’t want a photo with them?

The human hurried over to the display, peeking around at the various spots for photos – Drift on a reef with a snorkel and goggles, a beach-y scene, a little mock lifeguard tower you could sit in with a cardboard otter… and one of those old tourist trap style “stick your head through” scenes, Drift’s lower body standing cutely under the hole.

Well, obviously he’d have to do that one. The others didn’t even come close!

Setting his phone down at the right angle (and out of view of the crowd, he hoped), Intell set the shutter to ten seconds, hurrying around to stick his head through.

Flash!

The camera’s flash blinded him for a moment, the spots resisting even hurried attempts to blink them away, so he reached up, rubbing his eyes with a paw.

Hm.

He stared at the squeaky orange-and-blue appendage for a moment, turning it over to peek at the blue pads printed there, before shrugging. Weird that he’d never looked so closely at his paw before, but, hey, he was having fun. A little oversight could be forgiven, right?

Setting up for the next photo, Intell positioned the phone facing the lifeguard tower’s top, clambering up and struggling a little to fit his big ottery tail (which, he noticed, had pushed his trunks down in the back. Hadn’t he bought a size bigger to avoid that?), but with a few squeaks and a few extra shoves, he managed to make it fit.

Flash!

Blinking away the blindness, his snout stuck out in front of him as it always did – big blue nose cutely shining in the sun, slightly transparent but all the cuter for it.

He started to get up, his toy tummy barely touching the handrails of the lifeguard stand. Huh. Had he been this big when he got up here…?

Waddling over to the phone, Intell peeked at the photos – sure enough, he’d been this same size and shape the whole time. Weird that he’d forgotten?

As Intell set up for the last photo, a passing guest stepped on his tail – the air, with nowhere to go but in, traveled up his body… until, with a FOOMP, his glasses went flying, just in time for the flash to off.

Drift shook their head a little, paws resting on their overfilled tummy, and they huffed. There was no phone, no trunks – just their goggles, their scarf, and a sense of being a little too puffy due to the hot day!

Sun must be hotter than I thought!

As far as Willow was concerned, the new water park was a splash hit.

It had, apparently, opened earlier in the summer to little fanfare – in fact, she… barely remembered seeing anything about it, outside of a few flyers posted at the grocery store she frequented and a TV spot or two between shows on cable. Maybe it was just small enough to fly under the radar?

It wouldn’t be for long, anyway, if it was drawing crowds like this.

Easily a few hundred people were milling around in the wave pool, many more scattered across the sea of chairs and tables, chatting over drinks and the occasional splash from someone jumping in – but what really held her attention were the slides.

Willow loved waterslides. Hard to beat them, really! One had held her gaze all day, towering into the summer sky – Alpine. Themed after some snowy mountain (Matterhorn, maybe? The sign had a little yodeler…), it twisted and turned its way down through a small copse of clearly landscaped trees into the pool, the occasional screaming guest rocketing out into the water with a splash and cackling laughter.

She had to ride it.

The steps wound up and away from the concrete pool deck, grip-padded wooden stairs that spiraled up and up, the shuffling line of excited poolgoers steadily dwindling as Willow walked higher, gazing down the long, long length of the slide to the whitewater end.

Just as she made it to the top, her excitement had built to nearly bursting – and she took a step forward.

She blinked and almost missed it; the tip of whoever had gone down in front of her’s tail was… rounded. Soft?

Hmm. She shrugged, sliding into the launch area of the slide and grabbing the sides. Normally, there would’ve been someone up here watching for when it was clear, but… well, aside from the line…

Willow launched herself, giggling as she plunged away into the watery dark, the tube lit by see-through panels here and there!

Down, and down, buffeted by water jets and the occasional splash, she flew faster than she’d ever gone on a slide, until-!

SQRK!

…She collided with a raft, stuck at the bottom of the slide, and pushed both herself and it out of the end with a PFOOMP, splashing into the pool as the toy went spinning away. As she went under, she thought she caught a glimpse of the toy frantically waving paws? around in a pantomime of frustration, but…

Willow popped back up to the surface, a little faster than she thought she would. The toy was still flailing around, slowly spinning on the surface.

She felt… stiff. Weird.

Pffffssssssssh.

Her paws felt funny, as she raised them up. Fingerless, plastic, squeaky mitts, her pads and pattern printed on. She giggled. It felt neat!

She laid back on the surface, tail swelling up behind her, as the toy otter (huh! How’d that get stuck in the slide?) floated over, gently grabbing on as her fur turned to plastic.

The otter was gesturing, both at her, and themself, and the little LIFEGUARD scarf they were wearing. Uh oh!

“S-Sorry about the slide!” Willow would’ve said, if her snout wasn’t plastic and grinning. A toy, complaining about sliding? That was funny!

Drift, to their credit, mimed a little sigh.

…More toys made the pool more fun, they supposed.

“…Help wanted, huh.”

The noodle dragon was, currently, staring at the front door of the local rec center – they’d apparently lost a lifeguard for the day shift earlier this summer, and, well, the pay seemed… fine. Being a lifeguard couldn’t be that hard, could it? Sit in a chair, swim a bit, occasionally help a kid or two out of the deep end?

The free admission to the pool and gym facilities were just a bonus at that point, really.

Pushing the door to the lobby open, Eris was surprised to find how chilly it was inside, but that didn’t really deter them from trotting over to the front desk, a bored looking secretary sitting behind it typing away at her workstation in an attempt to pass the day that little bit quicker.

“Can I help you?” She asked, glancing up over her glasses at the dragon.

“Um. I’m interested in the lifeguard job?” Eris offered, trying to muster up a smile.

“Finally got a bite, huh. Go down this hallway over here, sweetie. Last door on the right.”

Eris nodded, wondering how long the interview would take – they’d originally come up here to swim, anyway. Hopefully not long enough that they’d have to try again another day, right?

Pushing the door open, Eris padded down the hallway, peeking into offices and rooms as they passed. It didn’t really seem like all that many employees were actually here, today – and they hadn’t been told who they’d be meeting for the interview…?

Finally, they stopped at the door the secretary had mentioned – a plain wooden door with a little handle, which they, after taking a deep breath, pushed open.

…It wasn’t an interview room.

Lockers lined the walls, a few scattered benches here and there with various pool-related belongings occupying the space that wasn’t empty. The secretary had sent them into the locker room for the pool?

They were starting to turn to leave, figuring it had to be some sort of mistake, when… something caught their eye. On the nearest bench, almost positioned as if to catch the eye as someone turned to leave, was a little box, a “New Hire” label on the lid conspicuously staring back at them.

“Uh…huh.” Eris said aloud to no one in particular, stepping over to take a closer look. A cursory shake certainly didn’t yield anything special.

Neither did the sniff test.

The lid being lifted off, however, just brought more questions than answers. Inside, was a small red scarf emblazoned with LIFEGUARD and a “+”, and a pair of goggles.

Not… particularly standard affair, but whatever works, they supposed?

Slipping the scarf on, Eris was surprised to find it was actually quite a bit bigger than they’d thought at first, falling down around their upper chest easily enough. The goggles came next, fitting snugly against their head…

…They felt weird.

Standing there, in the chilly pool locker room, the distant sound of splashing in the pool and laughter echoing around them, they felt… tight.

Sqrk.

They heard it before they saw it – their tail began to scrunch in on itself, shrinking down as it fattened up, fluffy noodle dragon fur smoothing out and lightening as the tail began to grow more orange, a ring of blue tipping it. Blue rings began to pop up around their wrists as well as they watched, their whole body beginning to swell and shrink all at once as their balance grew weird.

Eris wobbled in place as their tummy swelled, new little valve peeking out of their shirt as their proportions grew somehow stubbier and longer all at once, ears shrinking down into little orange circles as their snout swelled, nose turning a welcoming bright blue…

…and in a blink it was over.

Drift rubbed their eyes for a second, draped in unfamiliar clothes and surrounded by fluffy fur all over the floor. Sheesh, the cleaners must not have come by yet today!

Tugging their goggles down over their eyes (and tugging the weird shirt off and stepping out of the shorts), the toy otter squinted at the schedule on the wall. Gosh, they were late!

With a few sqrks, they hurried out to the pool, the newest hire of the summer!

“…Wow!”

The fox-dragon held a paw up, squinting out across the beach against the bright noon sunshine – it was… perfect! A whole day and most of the beach just to himself, with nothing to do until dinnertime… really, who could ask for more than that?

Finding a particularly nice spot to stick their umbrella and roll out a towel, Beeps decided to lounge around in the shade and listen to the surf and gulls, sunglasses on and the sounds of the seaside lulling him off to an almost-nap… until, with one big gust of wind, something bumped up against him.

Well.

Bumped up against all of their things, the warm sunshine tinged… orange?

As Beeps opened his eyes, lifting his sunglasses to get a better look, he was greeted by the sheepish decal face of an enormous inflatable otter, trying their best to stand back up after toppling to the sand in the wind! They were easily a story tall, big tail trying to regain their balance… until Beeps reached up, bracing the toy’s tummy with his own paws until they could stand back up.

“W-Woah…” Beeps managed as the big otter brushed a little sand off of their tummy with a squeaky paw, offering a sheepish shrug as an apology. “You’re… you’re really big, huh?”

The otter nodded! It was true, after all.

“…How’d you get so big?”

Again, a small shrug. A pump, probably.

Beeps stared up at the big, big otter, and wondered for a moment about what it would even be like to be a pooltoy. Probably great at the beach, he imagined.

“Could, uh…?”

The rest went unspoken, as Beeps had second thoughts, but Drift seemed to connect the dots, rubbing their chin for a second before nodding.

The huge toy squatted down, holding out a paw invitingly as if they were going to pick the foxdragon up, and, well, Beeps wasn’t passing that up.

Gently, Drift lifted him into the air, before with a speed surprising from air-filled plastic, pressing their snout to his… and blowing!

Instantly, Beeps felt his cheeks blow up – then keep blowing up, tummy beginning to swell as all four limbs and his tail stuck out straight! His fur began to smooth over, patterns simplifying into printed facsimiles of themselves, and, with one final big puff, a cute little valve popped out of the new toy’s tummy!

Lowering Beeps back to the ground, Drift clapped their paws together with a loud sqrk, before taking a little bow – just low enough to knock the umbrella over, something they seemed not to notice.

Beeps, however, was feeling airheaded – but he giggled all the same, squeaking his new tummy with his mitten-y paws.

“Perfect!” He squeaked, pointing out at the crashing waves and sun-speckled sea.

“Let’s go swimming!”