It had still been so warm when Zeta had left Kentucky. Now the biting ocean wind of the Scandinavian coast blasted him from every angle. He was over 4,000 miles away from home—the farthest away he'd ever been in his life—on the shores of Ørland, Norway, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean as the massive 283mm guns of Austrått Fort loomed over him and his rubber sister, Cherry.

He shivered a bit, rubbing up against his rubber sister with a squeak of latex to get a bit of warmth. He wasn't used to the weather of northern Europe, but the cat was.

"The hills around Oslo block a lot of the sea wind from getting in," she explained to her rubber brother, throwing her arm around his shoulder and pulling him close to warm him up. "It's not the case farther north. We're on this hill, looking out to the Atlantic at the beginnings of Fall. It's no wonder you're cold, my older brother. Don't worry, when we board the plane back to Gardermoen we'll be back in my cozy apartment before you know it."

"The cold is a small price to pay for this experience, little sister," Zeta said, the love from his sibling warming his heart to the point that no amount of icy sea breeze could batter him down. "We'd planned this for so long. It's been my dream to come here with you. And now that dream is a reality as we stand here as amongst history and nature, transforming its original purpose into one of rubber's beauty."

"That we are, Zeta," Cherry said with a smile. "That we are."

It was history, indeed. The centerpiece of the massive bunker had been the stern turret aboard the battleship Gneisanau from 1938-1943. The vessel had sustained massive damage during a British air raid at one point, and had been sent to drydock in Gotenhafen for repairs and rearming with larger 380mm guns. This never transpired, and the guns aboard the ship were eventually removed altogether and placed in various installations along the Atlantic Wall, such as Austrått Fort. Gneisanau itself met a rather dismal end, being sunk as a blockship in Gotenhafen as the Red Army advanced on the city in 1945.

To be here amongst one of the last remaining pieces of a German capital ship was surreal for Zeta. He had only read about it in his studies in university, and seen the pictures in books. But now he was here with his closest friend. There was no other way he'd wished to spend his vacation.

As Zeta pointed out towards the village of Ørland down below, Cherry pulled him a little closer with her arm, making another squeak and hugging him against her. With her other paw she grasped onto the brim of her latex hat, intent on not letting the wind blow it off to top of her hooded head. "In a way, we're almost like Aegerter and Isarte, my rubber brother," the cat said, referencing the protagonists from Zeta's books.

Zeta turned his head to direction of the cat, smiling and blushing a bit behind his latex hood. "You think so?"

"I know so," she said, patting his helmeted head with her rubber gloved handpaw. "Crusading for the beauty of rubber and latex where it has never existed before, just like the Rubber Princess and her brave protector."

Zeta took solace in his rubber sister's words. He closed his eyes as he took in the sound of the roaring ocean wind and crashing waves, basking in Cherry's embrace. Better yet, the week had only just begun.

And that meant that they still had many more rubber crusades to engage in before he left for Kentucky.

*

This beautiful piece is a recreation of the photoset at Austrått Fort in Ørland, Norway, that took place between myself and my loving rubber sister,  ~Latex_Neko~, on September 26th, 2022. I love how  ewgengster encapsulated every little detail of the fortress and how it looked in its heyday, not to mention the accuracy on the outfits we both wore on that chilly Fall day <3