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.