Mobian Daylife #5: Obligatory Beach Episode

 

"You can't just do stuff like this, Athena. Do you have any semblance of modesty whatsoever?!"
The last hours of the summer sun were ticking down as Mobians flooded the beaches of the Emerald Coast for one last day of summer fun. A tradition across the planet enjoyed by millions every year. 
The event had become so big that it was considered an international holiday, and everyone, right down to government workers and retail workers alike, was granted time off—or some semblance of it at the very least.
Those who chose to work were paid well for their commitment.
"I dunno what the big deal is, Lanolin. It's just a bikini!" Athena the Otter, a transplant from Soleanna and part of the latest group of new Restoration employees, questioned her new bosses’ obvious anger.
The otter was dressed in a cute two-piece bikini. Bright pink, reflecting her bubblegum personality. Perfectly matching the smooth curves of her body, accentuating some while hiding just enough to keep people looking.
She’d bought it on the spot because she thought it looked cute, not realizing how revealing it actually was.
Lanolin, dressed in a more modest tropical getup with an open button-up tied above her belly, had taken one look at the otter as she emerged from the boardwalk dressing stall and lost her mind.

She rubbed the bridge of her muzzle, as she always had when agitated. The Restoration was a respectable, reputable organization with family-friendly values.
Athena looked like she had stepped off the set of a bikini calendar photo shoot.
“You don’t understand, Athena!” She said through clenched teeth.
But the otter just cocked her head. She didn’t understand, not really. No one in Soleanna ever acted this way, and she worked for the biggest, most respectable marine biology lab in the city!
…not that there were many others, but still. The point remains.
“I guess I really don’t, Lano… Is it because my boobs are too big?”
Laik had just stepped away from a nearby food stall, sipping away at a fruit juice pouch, when his sensitive ears felt the tickle of that four-letter word. He wore a simple pair of sandals and blue two-tone swimming shorts.
“What? No, that’s—Athena, please don’t make me have to explain this to you,”
Nearby, a loud, raucous game of volleyball had started. Guys against girls. One of the men, a member of the Restoration, probably, had seen Laik and tried coaxing him over. Calling him by name, even.
But the wolf had found greater interest in the scene playing out between his friends.
“Is it because it’s too pink?” The otter asked again as she looked herself over, pulling at the straps on her shoulder and then the ones at her waist. “I don’t see a lot of pink clothing in Central City, now that I think about it…”
“Hey girl!” A grey crocodile in sunglasses said as he strutted by with his friends, she waved back.
“What a cutie! You alone, baby?” Another woman said, this one a neon orange squirrel in a one-piece red bathing suit and big floppy sun hat.
Athena smiled, flashing the other large prominent bodily feature: Her fangs. “Nope! Not alone, I’m here with my friends Lanolin and Caspian. Say hi, Caspy!”

Tucked between the otter’s cleavage, each boob held aloft by the Wisp’s tentacles, what had appeared to be some sort of lift was actually an invisible alien! The tiny squid-like Wisp momentarily dropped its camouflage and revealed itself to the squirrel, whose eyes went wide as she made eye contact with the purple one-eyed alien.
“O-Oh dear,” she said, hurrying along. “I suddenly have to be somewhere very far away. Goodbye.”
Caspian merrily waved to the squirrel as his purple flesh turned back to reflecting the otter’s fur. The motion of his arm caused the otter’s left boob to bob up and down wildly. 
More eyes than ever were falling on her now. One child cried, screaming for its mother.
Juice gushed through the tiny yellow straw and into the air as Laik suddenly clutched the silvery pouch.
“Come now, wolf, I think you’ve seen enough,” A tender voice said as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Renfri Loveless, dressed in a modest black bathing suit, the top held together at the center by a ring, ushered the wolf. “I don’t think it would be wise to get pulled into this argument.”

“Athena. Remove the Wisp from your cleavage. He is not a push-up bra, and you are a public representative of the Restoration. As your boss, I—“
“Hey Thena, race you to the water!” Root shouted as he zoomed past, dressed in a pair of swimming shorts and a matching tank top.
“Ohhh, you better wait for me, bugboy! See you later, Lano!!” The race was over before it even had a chance to start. Athena was fast, faster than any of the current members of the Restoration (Sonic notwithstanding), and even more so in the water.
Lanolin stood on the boardwalk, seething, gazing out over the open ocean as a cruise liner lazily moved across the horizon.
And she thought to herself. Maybe having Laik drop her off on a distant planet wouldn’t be such a bad idea at this point.
As long as there was no Athena, Renfri or Sonic, she’d be content.
“Hey Lanolin, come join our team!” Tangle the Lemur shouted, waving from the volleyball court. “You can play defense, ‘kay?”
The sheep waved back, “Okay, be right there!” The lemur beamed as she turned back to the group. Whisper and Jewel were there, along with Blaze, Silver and even Belle! Her friends.
Suddenly, she regretted even thinking about ditching Mobius for a new life on another planet. Look at all she’d be leaving behind. Did Mobius have its detractors? Most definitely, but more importantly than those, it had her friends. Her family. And for better or worse, it was her home.
“Don’t run away from your problems, girl. Stay and try to fix them, even if it means you have to slap one of them one or twelve times.” She smiled to herself.

“Ahahaha! Catch me if you can, Thena! Not so fast now, are ya?”
Root the Cicada flew back in the opposite direction, this time waving a skimpy piece of pink fabric wildly in the air like a victory flag. Caspian was trying to keep up but falling behind.
“Root, you better bring that back or I’m going to smoosh you!” Athena yelled, waving her arms wildly and exposing herself to the world as she furiously chased the cicada down.
Lanolin closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and whispered to herself, “An off-world vacation, however…”