Mobian Daylife #2: The Otter and the Wisp

 Athena was a peculiar girl. She loved pretty pink things, sugary sweets and makeup, but also loved wading around in mucky swamp waters, handling slimy lampreys(as best as anyone could) and wading through tide pools where one could potentially step on a lionfish and clock out for life.
This was Athena the Otter, and she was a peculiar girl.

The bright summer morning sun beamed down heavily on Soleanna this day, far away from all of the happenings in Central City and even further from the off-world shenanigans happening to poor ol’ Laik.
The city was a coastal one not unlike Apotos, but where the architecture there was clean, smooth, and the city structured in tiers, Soleanna was sprawling and had a regalness to its overall look and feel, no doubt thanks in part to the royal family that lived there.
Where Apotos sported smoothed, white stucco and mortar, Soleanna was chiseled rock and rough edges, weather-worn and ancient, but well kept just the same.
Unlike most dwellings around Mobius, Soleanna was one of the few areas of the world where humans co-existed with their more animal-like counterparts. As a far more primitive, rarer species, humans were always at the mercy of any Mobian-born threat as they lacked the special abilities and means to protect themselves.
They also completely disowned Dr. Ivo Robotnik as their own, but that is a story for another time.

Athena stepped outside of the lavish manor her family called home, a little sling bag across her shoulder, a bit floppy sunhat atop her head and her usual thick pair of eyewear on her face, without which she would be nearly blind.
The otter was a grad student from the College of Soleanna, having studied the subject of marine biology extensively, thanks in no small part due to her lifelong fascination with aquatic life of all sorts, but especially the shellfish variety, as was apparent by the pattern on her bikini this day.
She strolled merrily across the front yard, walking past the carefully tended rose bushes that lined the front of their home, and retrieved two large buckets by their wire handles from the side of the house. She whistled a merry little tune to herself, an expression of joy and peace accentuating her beautiful face.
Her thick tail wagged behind her as she made her way through the gates that cordoned off her family’s property and made for the closest path to the ocean.
The Egg Empire had fallen thanks to the Resistance and the “heroic efforts” of Sonic the Hedgehog and another member whose name she had forgotten. The thought only came to mind as she noticed crew members hauling wreckage of the evil genius’s machines from the ocean. Some of which, to her delight, would be left for sea life to build homes within.
Others, such as the Egg Hawk Mk3, being towed currently, needed to be removed as it leaked a great amount of fluids from the hole in its side.
Her destination was thankfully on the other side of this specific beach today, far away from the crowd that had formed to witness the sight. 
She was here to take advantage of the low tide with an entire tide pool field that was just screaming her name.
Or maybe that was her maid yelling at her to at least put on a button-up shirt, who knew.

Athena descended the final few steps with grace, choosing to hop off the last one onto the soft white sands in a childlike fashion. The two empty buckets in her hands swung from their handles with a creak suggestive of rust or salt corrosion.
The motion had set her heavy chest into a quick state of motion before settling back down, catching the eyes of more than a few onlookers nearby.
“Hey, baby!” One man yelled, a bear around her age. He sat inside the open hatchback of his car.
“Wag that tail over— Hey wait, ain’t that Athena?” Another man said, a squid from the look of it. She didn’t want to make eye contact.
“Aw, what? Yeah, you’re right! Forget I said anything,” he turned back to his friends, the dudes, the volume of his voice lowering. The sound of a cold can of soda cracking open followed.
She knew they were poking fun at her now. Not that she cared, guys like that thought she was weird, a “real nut” that loved the water more than the land, where all the fun was. That was all right, though, because it was true! 
The water and the creatures that lived there. That was her source of happiness, and that was all that mattered. Well, that and her studies.
The otter readjusted her sun hat, the big floppy one with the pink bow tied around the top and a fake hibiscus sewn in. It had been a gift from Jeeves, her favorite butler, when she turned 14 and has used it every year since.
Her family’s servant force was like an extended family to the otter, she thought as she walked along the beach, taking in the cool breeze coming off the ocean this afternoon. Jeeves, Maddie, Batholomew. Even the family’s cook. The loud, rotund Unger the Hippo was like the uncle she never had. They were all so great and wonderful, couldn’t imagine her life without them.

As she stepped into the field of oceanic pock marks, already she could tell that life had found itself trapped in many of the pools as surface waters rippled at the sight of her.
Athena the Otter. Daughter of Lucia and Nall Otter. Covered in a grey-blue water-resistant fur, tall and slender, with a prominent posterior and chest region that filled her less-endowed classmates with envy.
“Well, she didn’t get them from me,” her mother had declared during one comical discussion over dinner a few years ago.
“Obviously,” her father quickly replied. Everyone had laughed, her mother laughing so that she had tears welling up in her eyes. The manor felt so homely, so comfortable. 
It would be a real shame, she thought, when it came time to leave it.
“Juuuust as soon as I can discover a new species!” She said aloud, only the gentle surf and the cackling gulls there to agree with her.
And it did.
Athena wore a bright pink two-piece bathing suit that, like her favorite hoodie, featured white trim along the hems. Her top was tied off at the back in a big knot while her bottom piece clutched her rear with the sort of force that one would think she’d simply fall apart should one of the knots come undone.
The otter was naturally beautiful in every physical way. An offspring of an impeccably well-bred family history dating back centuries. Athena wasn’t unaware of her looks, but she also didn’t care about them either. Rarely did she ever brush her hair, shower as often as one should(especially one in her social position) or perform her general upkeep. She liked to get dirty, to come home smelling of salty sea brine and the slime off fish scales. 
She wasn’t like the girls Soleanna typically produced. Sure, she loved cute, pink things, dresses and things people would consider “girly girl”, but the fact still remained, and the potential suitors were well aware of her oddities and kept far away—much to her parents’ dismay.
And she was just fine with that. No time for dating, not even interested in mingling. Must. Become. Smarter!

The first few tide pools turned up very little in the way of anything interesting. Her “Return to sender” bucket was just that: It was to collect life she knew wouldn’t survive until the rising of the next high tide. She’d simply scoop up the specimen and place it inside, then dump it into the ocean later.
It was already filled with a lethargic-looking squid, a few smaller crabs and a shrimp.
She sighed to herself. She knew that full well that no amazing discoveries were going to come of this, that her trip here today was for academic purposes; To write about the sorts of creatures of the Soleanna coastline that most commonly see themselves stranded inland, but still that inkling of hope always remained, swelled even, as each outing began. Then ebbed and degraded as the minutes ticked by and each pool picked through.
It was an analogy she liked. The ebb and flow of hope, comparing it to the ocean tide. Gosh, what a nerd, she thought.
The big, exciting discoveries weren’t going to come from these pools. She looked out over the horizon, the bright blue sky and the deeper shade of blue below stretched out for what seemed like an eternity. The greater Mobius. That was where the real discoveries were going to be made. Not here in these little—
SPLASH

A heavy flopping sound snapped Athena out of her contemplation. It went silent again for several seconds, then was followed up with another splash and an incomprehensible high-pitched rambling.
Had a critter fallen into a pool and couldn’t get out? She dashed to the location of the noise, leaving her buckets behind. One hand on her hat. She jumped entire pools with ease, some as wide as eight feet in diameter! The lack of true upper support meant the impacts hurt, but she’d manage.
Finally, she came upon the location of the chattering: The pool was much deeper than those surrounding it, at nearly four feet, inches deeper than the average Mobian was tall. Seawater filled half of it, the surface rippling as tiny fish scattered to get out of the way of the giant that now loomed over their prison.
Her glasses slipped down her muzzle twice as she scanned the pool. Finally, she caught sight of the source: It was… an alien? No, surely not. Most sea life could be compared to alien life, but most of those dwelled miles below the surface.
And yet, there was this odd creature, lethargically flopping about before her.
She climbed down into the pool with a metered eagerness. Approaching from the far side so as not to spook the smaller creature further. The blue alien tried once more to climb the wall, but quickly slid downward, hitting the water in a chattering, lethargic tantrum.
How it had not noticed the otter’s approach was a bad sign, she realized. It was ill, it had to be, she thought as she waded silently toward the little creature.

Upon it at last, her eyes opened wide in astonishment: It wasn’t a sea critter at all, but a Wisp! A very peculiar one. Shaped like a Flying Squid, its body was elongated with a rubber-textured surface to its flesh. Its head was tubular as most squid species were, with the familiar fins protruding from the top of its hood that—were this an actual squid—would have helped propel it through the water.
Athena had taken some classes on Wisps, even read a few books on them after their kind migrated to Mobius following yet another one of Sonic the Hedgehog’s “heroic” exploits.
It had been one thing to save Planet Wisp from Robotnik, but allowing the Wisps to flood Mobius afterward with no consideration for the native species was so incredibly reckless. Worst of all, she and her comrades in the study of not only marine but terrestrial life were all certain that Sonic and his band of overly supportive friends likely heeded little—if any—of the warnings that had been published.
She wanted to growl. To smack the surface of the water in frustration. Best not to approach the subject right now. Focus on the issue at hand, girl! 
“Hey there, little guy.”
The squid-shaped Wisp turned over with a FLAP! Its bright orange eye stared up at the pretty otter with a concerned expression behind a thick pair of glasses.
She knew the Wisp was inherently friendly. Never a single report in all the years of study since they came to earth has ever resulted in the aliens reacting negatively to Mobians, or any creature, when they could help it.
The keyword there: When.
The Wips produced several different types of energies that were quickly discovered could be utilized—weaponized—so even when the studies had concluded that Wisps were inherently harmless to Mobius and its wildlife overall, the destructive nature of their power when combined with a “Wispon” was immense.
But only by bad people, she had to remind herself whenever news of the Egg War played on the giant television in her father’s study. It was only ever by bad people.
Through its singular eye, the Wisp expressed sheer terror at first, but could not muster the strength to maintain it. In its dazed, weakened state, the otter could have been one of those horrific tentacled demons for all it knew. 
It lost consciousness.

Athena was taking the same steps she had traveled just a short while ago, moving upward at a steady pace, step by step, with heavy buckets full of her odd finds hanging from each hand.
The Wisp, whom she carefully scooped up, had been placed in the only place she could think of without hurting it: In her bathing suit top! I single, blue tentacle-like appendage protruded from her cleavage and dangled limp over the band of her top.
The summer sun was high in the sky now, and the smell of brine that had attached itself to her outer coat of fur and lodged in her sandals was ripening in the heat, the scent catching the senses of all those she passed. One wouldn’t have been able to say whether it was the odor or the sight of the blue noodly thing sticking out of her bikini top.
How her straw hat had stayed on her head the whole way there was to be anyone’s guess.
The sliding glass doors slid apart silently as she tripped the motion sensor. The cold air-conditioned interior of the aquatic museum hit her at full force, sending a quick chill down her body as she stepped inside.
It was midday, during the school year, so visitors were minimal. A few Mobians here and there, an older human couple out enjoying their twilight years together by watching the fish. It was the best time to visit the aquarium part of the museum if one had an interest in such things.
“Miss Athena, what in the name of— Where are your clothes?!” An older gentleman in a while lab coat said, voice muffled by a thick grey mustache. His small, round glasses sat just behind his nose.
“I’m reeeeeeally sorry I came in here dressed in my bikini, Mister Rufus, but you see—“ She said, shifting from one foot to the other in an impatient manner. “I found something really interesting and need to get to the lab ASAP!” 
The old greyhound looked at the half-naked, bouncing otter before him, trying to mind where his eyes wandered. She was his employee, and while the situation was highly peculiar… “Please hurry then, but do put on a lab coat at the very least, would you, girl? This is a place of science! DIGNIFIED science.”
She nodded, and her glasses slid down her snout. “Yes, sir! Thank you, sir! Right away, sir!” And she was gone just like that, disappearing down the hallway, cupping her chest the whole way.
The old hound dog yelled, “Miss Athena, you forgot your buckets!“
“Takecareofthoseformethanksboss!”She yelled as the elevator doors closed.

Athena never put on a lab coat. Why would she? She was only using the employee break room to warm up some of the leftover meatloaf she’d left from yesterday’s lunch in the fridge and a can of chicken stock from the communal cabinet.
She’d dried the Wisp first with some cloth, then propped the sickly-looking alien onto a clean sponge. Feeding had been slow-going at first, with the Wisp only taking small sips from a spoon. It wasn’t long before the sips became gulps as the creature, clearly dehydrated, began to fluff back to life. It suspended itself upon the elbows of its two long tentacles now, awaiting the next spoonful of broth.
“You’re looking so much better already, little guy. Here, try some of this,” She spooned a tiny piece of brown meatloaf and held it in front of the tiny squid-like alien. “It’s meatloaf. It’ll give you protein and the iron you’re probably missing.” She smiled, revealing the huge fangs inside her mouth.
The Wisp couldn’t help but beam a smile of its own back at the sight of the otter’s beautiful smile. It eagerly snatched the chunk of loaf and stuffed it into its mouth…hole? 

“There ya go! Think you can feed yourself now?” The Wisp wrapped one of its tentacles around the spoon and lifted it with ease. “Oh, nice, I knew you could do it. Now finish your meal so we can get out of here. I’d rather no one else—“
The door to the break room opened, and in came two of her coworkers. 
“…see me here on my day off.” She said, hanging her head.
Their name badges said “Cole” and “Train”. They were newer hires, transplants from Central City. 
One whistled, looking Athena up and down, while the other stepped up to the fridge, claiming his lunch. 
“Ya know old man Rufus ain’t gonna allow you to work in a bikini, right, Athena?” The brown-haired mongoose said as he popped the top of his food container and placed it in the microwave.
“Duh! I’m only here because I found a sick Wisp while studying the tide pools. It was closer than my house and I—“
“Whoa, relax, girl. No need to retell the story,” the older, black-haired rat said, “Don’t care, honestly. We were just taken aback by that the two-piece you’re wearing is all.”
“Oh…” She said, exhaling lightly as she watched the Wisp spoonfeed itself. “Well, feel free to look at it then, I don’t care.”
Athena was an interesting one in that she seemed to care very little for how she was publicly perceived, or appeared to at least. Some thought she was just oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t only a very beautiful girl, but her body had been often compared to Rouge the Bat—The most curvaceous jewel thief to ever live!
Her mother had begged the question of why her daughter was still single despite her vast array of qualities, most of which greatly exceeded her physical appearance. It was a question Athena tried and most often failed to answer. It’s not that she didn’t want a boyfriend, it’s just most found her to be… really strange and off-putting.
The Wisp let the spoon go, allowing it to crash to the floor. Then, as if suddenly fully recovered, it shot straight up into the air, spinning, looking like the blades of a helicopter had detached from the vehicle and flown astray.
And then it dived back into Athena’s bathing suit, quickly making itself comfortable betwixt her cleavage!
“Oh dear,” She said, tilting and scratching the top of her head, her little pink tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she gazed down at the little squid-like alien that had just made itself home between her boobs.

Later that night…

Athena, now dressed in loose-fitting pink pyjamas. The front of which buttoned up and was covered in a deep red hibiscus pattern, lay across her Queen-sized bed, fingers crossed, hands lying on her belly as she gazed upward at her new alien friend as it curiously flew around her bedroom.
Since it made its full recovery, the Wisp’s true color had returned: A vibrant oceanic blue, almost Royal Blue but not quite. The energy it left in its wake was like a lingering bioluminescent gas. Harmless in small quantities, but should the Wisp feel threatened or find itself in a Wispon…
The squid-shaped Wisp flittered about the room, not focusing on one singular object for too long. It flew threw the air like a squid might glide through the ocean, but unlike a squid, the arrow-shaped hood did not move, nor did it have all of the tentacles a squid normally possesses; Only the two long appendages that trailed behind it like streamers as it flew about.
“You’re a curious one, that’s for sure.” Athena sat up, crossing her legs. Her hair had been washed and laid in streaks, a not-so-simple feat for an otter with water resistance. She rarely ever took the little topknot ponytail out, but she’d figured it had been long enough since the last time.
Six months was long enough, right?

The Wisp knocked over a cup of pencils, then flew to her shelf of stuffed critters. Moving from one toy to the next, inspecting it with a level of intensity that betrayed the creature’s size. Rubbing its non-existent chin with its tentacle nub, squinting, looking it up and down. 
It paid particularly close attention to her Obeanie Collection; The oceanic life line, specifically, one that she had to import all the way from Opotos! But she got the entire set: Coelacanth, Giant Squid, Arapaima, Tiger Fish, Spider Crab, Chambered Nautilus and the Horseshoe Crab! 
The Wisp got a bit too close to the rounded squid doll and knocked it over, sending it tumbling to the floor in a silent impact on the soft carpet. Athena slid out of bed, laughing at the sight and the Wisp’s reaction as it hid behind her upright dresser. 
“It’s all right, little guy, you didn’t break it. See?” She held it up and shook it; the beans that made up its filling rattled in her hand. “You know, you’re kinda shaped like a flying squid, which is kinda ironic now that I think about it.” 
She held the clearly undamaged Orbeanie squid doll into the air as the frightened Wisp slid out from behind the dresser, a look of remorse smeared on its tiny face. 
“See? All’s well… Hey, do you have a name?” The otter’s face lit up. It wasn’t the new, undiscovered sea creature she always dreamed of finding and then naming, but giving a Wisp a Mobian identity was almost—ALMOST—half as good.
The Wisp clearly pondered the question, once again scratching the imaginary chin beneath its large, singular eye, then gestured with a shrug, “I dunno,” it was saying, or so she assumed. There was probably a translator out there somewhere.

“Do you want a name? I can give you one if you want!”
The Wisp’s eye went wide, and it jumped up and down mid-air in a show of excitement and, she hoped, eagerness. It expelled copious amounts of its blue energy as it did so, which she dearly hoped was JUST harmless energy.
“This Orbeanie, the giant squid,” She held it up to it one more time before placing it back on its empty shelf location. “His name is Caspian. How does the name sound?” Athena turned back to the Wisp as it floated motionlessly in the air before her.
“Uh… No good?” But no sooner did she raise an eyebrow in question did the Wisp jump-scared her, flying at her face and wrapping its tentacles around her head in a hug. It purred in a way that only a Wisp probably could. It jumped back and shook its entire hood.
“So you like it then? You want your name to be Caspian?” She asked one more time, her own face lighting up with excitement now. 
It nodded in agreement, its smile made apparent by the little creases on the sides of its eye.
And then it shot itself down her pyjama top. She screamed, not in terror or fright, but in laughter. The Wisp, now known as Caspian, glided like a feather all across her upper torso, covering every inch of her front and back, tickling her and sending her into a laughing fit as she fell back onto the bed.
Then, in a scene right out of a horror movie, the alien squid burst through the first few buttons of her pyjama top, waving and smiling at the otter that had saved its life.
“Sorry, bud, you can’t sleep there. I’m not wearing anything underneath, and I toss and turn A LOT,” Athena explained as she pulled Caspian from his hood and gently flung him through the air. She buttoned her top and lay back in bed.
“I have one question for you, Caspian, and I know you can’t answer, but…” She lay back down, gazing up at the same ceiling she’d looked at every night her entire life, right before sleep took her away.
Caspian silently hovered beside her, resting on the empty pillow space beside her head.
“What happened to you, anyway? How did you wind up in that tide pool half dead?” She didn’t expect an answer, but she asked anyway.
The only reply she did get was the tiny snoring of a tiny squid-like alien. Her new friend.
Her only friend.
“G’night, Caspian.” She said before cutting the bedside lamp off.