Influential Otters: Zsofia Smoothcoat

Morning chaps! I am beginning to think I am deliberately being kept in the dark. No one has turned in a report about the last time travel expedition and We are about to send the next one off. It is all extremely dubious. Young Lucas hasn’t given me his write up of his field trip either, he was so excited about it too. It is all quite perturbing I can tell you. In the spirit of attempting to find out what is going on, Lucy Littlepaws spoke to Zsofia Smoothcoat as part of her Otters of Influence series. She has agreed to let me publish it here in tandem with the Otterbank Times Publication. It is a fascinating read, but does nothing to allay my suspicions…

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This is Lucy Littlepaws with a fantastic new episode of Influential Otters. Last week I managed to pin Zsofia Smoothcoat down for a chat. She had not long returned from the second time travel expedition and I thought she might be able to give us a sneak insight into what has been happening. Zsofia is an extremely gregarious Otter and typically heads up the Raft’s endeavours of the more adventurous nature.  I caught up with her at the decoy training gym where she had been practicing some scurrying, diving and underwater barrel rolls.

Keen to get the interview underway before she had to rush off to go in search of the next adventure, I got on with the first question.

Hello Zsofia, you have been an integral member of the Holts expansion team since you joined us a year ago, can you tell us what made you volunteer for the time travel team?

Hello Lucy as soon as I heard that otters were needed for these time travel adventures, no not adventures, experiments I thought, that is the job for me. As part of the expansion team, my main role was chief scout, I frequently led teams out to suss out new land for Holt extensions and annexes. This involved a lot of exploration and this new time travel venture seemed like the perfect nest step. Also, time travel, quite honestly I am surprised there is anyone at all who doesn’t want to join the team.

So, I sense a love of adventure and trying new things? Have you always done this sort of thing?

Of course! As soon as I finished at the Danube uni, I hot-pawed it over to the UK, the Holt seemed like a very amazing place to make a life. Even as a young kitten I was always exploring the riverbanks and convincing my friends to join me in adventures. We had a little adventure club you know, with special hats!

Oh yes, hats, I do love hats. A special hat for an adventure club sounds perfect. I notice you are sporting a very fine hat at the moment and are rarely seen without one, where did you get your love of headwear from?

I have loved them ever since I was a tiny kitten, my grandad gave me my first one on my first day of nursery school. Part of the reason I wanted to join the UK Holt was the propensity of the inhabitants to sport very fine hats!!

So, the burning question, can you give us any hints about what went on during the most recent time expedition?

Oh yes, it was a very smooth endeavour all the equipment worked perfectly and everything was going absolutely swimmingly, well that is, until…oh no er…no… I, er…no. sorry.

Not even a hint?

Absolutely not. We have been given strict instructions by Brian Russetcoat that we shouldn’t say anything just yet. Apparently divulging information so close to the actual event could cause the people involved to do different things which would mean Peter and I would remember a different future past we all decided this wasn’t ideal…

Well, if you are sure, but this sounds extremely intriguing! Lastly, I would just like to ask some quick questions to get to know you a little better:

Do you prefer to have lunch and breakfast, or brunch?

Does it have to be either/or? Couldn’t I have all three? Exploration and time travel is hungry work you know!

What is your favourite thing to do in your spare time?

I absolutely love synchronised swimming! It is so invigorating and we have such an amazing team!

Thank you Zsofia it was lovely talking to you, by the way, I agree about brunch!

Lucy Littlepaws (Journalist)