Po/History

Overview • **History** • Relationships • Gallery

## Background

Po is a sea otter and has the ability to live on land. He moved to the capital of a land city where he obtained a job as a marine correspondent for a company, in which he is highly appreciated for being able to speak both seaspeak and landspeak and being a great asset to expanding the company into the ocean. However, due to the cultural differences between sea creatures and land animals, Po is shunned by his coworkers for eating fish, as the act of eating another creature is seen as despicable on land.

After a day's work, Po casually returns home accompanied by one of his coworkers, Gil, with whom Po tries to have a conversation. Noticing that he looks hungry, Po offers him a bag of sardine crackers, but Gil rejects it and warns him not to pull those out on the train since for land animals eating meat is immoral and illegal. When going through an underwater tunnel, Po points out how it reminds him a lot of his home, a dark environment where he caught and ate fish and shellfish that glistened in the dark, but is interrupted by Gil who gives him a big lick on his hand. Po remains calm at this and gets off the train when he reaches his stop. He is followed by Gil who apologizes for what he had just done, but Po claims that Gil can always eat him if he wants to, even if it's not allowed on land, and it is the cycle of life that allows it.

The next day, Po observes how Gil is scolded at work and is later used as an example to compare them. After work, Po meets Gil again at the subway station and greets him. Gil apologizes for what happened at work and declares that maybe he is not cut out for his job. Noticing how distressed he is, Po asks him if he wants to lick his hand, and Gil politely rejects the offer. Later, both are dragged by a multitude of animals that enter the train and Gil asks Po if he is okay, noting how uncomfortable he is. Po states that in the ocean it is never this crowded and Gil replies that the same goes for his hometown too. He tells him that he just has to be patient as a lot of animals will be getting off the next two stop. Gil thanks Po for being quiet about licking him, claiming that he does not know why he did it. He has been so overwhelmed lately, feeling lonely and starving, and Po's kindness has made him feel worse. Both of them are squeezed by the crowd, and Po declares that he never understood the concept of loneliness until he came to the land, recounting how all his coworkers look at him as a monster whenever he eats fish. Even when his work is valued, he does not think that anyone understands the real him. He reveals to Gil that he has been lonely too. Taking Gil's hand, Po explains that when sea otters sleep, they hold hands with their mates to avoid being swept away by tide while they sleep. Holding hands makes them feel very safe, so for those who are not used to crowded trains, Po suggests that they hold hands until they get off the train. As soon as the train arrives at a station, both Gil and Po struggle not to be swept away by the crowed of people leaving the train. Despite managing to not separate, they ended up being thrown out of the train. At the station, Po declares that Gil is a gentle black panther, and he is no longer lonely. He invites Gil out for a drink, and Gil agrees. They both walk away still holding hands.