It was a warm, comfortable summer evening – the perfect time to hit the pool! The rush of mid-day had long ended, and, as far as the cat was concerned, that meant the pool would be quiet. Perfect for getting those long, exciting strokes in…
…and, uh, as selfish as it seemed, they enjoyed having the pool all to themself.
Adult swimming, and all that.
So, as Nouv gently unlatched the pool gate and slipped inside, they were more than happy to see that apart from themself and a lifeguard tower with a towel sitting in it, the deck was completely empty!
Perfect.
Picking a chair closest to the gate, the cat laid out their few items they’d brought with them – a towel, certainly, but also a magazine and their phone, for when they inevitably tired of the water and wanted something else to do.
Tugging their shirt off to reveal their cute little fluffy tummy and (admittedly) the need for a good swimming workout, Nouv eagerly hurried over to the edge – only for a tweet! to halt them mid-run.
They blinked. A whistle?
Behind them, they realized as they turned around to find the source of the sound, was… a toy. A stout little toy otter, by the looks of it, goggles pulled down over their decal eyes and whistle still clutched in their cute little printed snout.
A little printed-on-nametag read “Drift.”
The toy shook their head, pointing off to their left. Nouv looked.
“No running around the pool,” The rules sign helpfully read. It… wasn’t very readily viewable from anywhere but where the cat was standing, Nouv realized.
“O-Oh. My bad.”
Drift nodded, before waddling away around the edges of the pool as Nouv turned back to the pool’s crystal blue water, shimmering beneath the evening sky with the pool lights beneath.
The cat swung their paws back and forth, before diving in, plunging into the refreshing depths with ease! They swam around underwater for a moment, enjoying the feeling, before surfacing at the edge…
…and being greeted by a very cross looking pooltoy lifeguard, who, once again, gestured to the sign. No diving!
“Sorry!!” Nouv hurriedly said, watching the otter shake their head again, this time finding a chair nearby to sit in to watch.
They swam around for a few more minutes before finally hauling themself out at the stairs on the far side, trotting around the wet pool deck until the warm evening air began to chill – and then ran the rest of the way back to their chair, almost slipping once or twice!
Nouv bent over to grab their towel, dripping everywhere, when there was an audible SMACK, and something stuck to their rear.
The cat blinked, starting to look back – but, for some reason, moving felt wrong.
They stared forward, standing up, as their paws began to shake a little, moving into an almost “look at this!” pose… which, a pair of pooltoy otter paws placed a small piece of cardboard into, just as their paws flattened out into cardboard, too!
The cat tried to shout in surprise, but… well, standees don’t really do that, now do they?
Drift, for their part, decided to pick the cardboard cat up as best they could waddling over to the entrance – after all, tomorrow the kitty would remember the rules if they spent all night holding them for others to read, right?