While the party generally went well for Animalia as a whole, it still wasn't quite the party that was originally hoped for. Malice was in a somewhat depressed mood as she and Sarah arrived at the Great Hall. Sarah held the pasta dish in a large carrying dish in her paws and thankful that the white painted handles didn't hold a lot of heat from when they'd reheated it before coming to the party.
"This would have been a lot more fun if we could have had the party OUR way," Malice commented, "Invite our friends over... Order pizza for Sophie..."
"And see if you could seduce one of the police dogs from Lyre or one of the wolves from Animalia?" Sarah asked.
"Not seduce... just to find a mate to "date" as mom put it," Malice corrected.
"Dating doesn't necessarily mean mating," Sarah answered.
Malice only shrugged, "I don't know why mom is always so worried... I mean... don't you want to be a mom yourself one day?"
"I suppose so," Sarah answered as they walked along, "but then we're only in high school. I'd like to at least be through high school before I end up having pups to raise and look after. A lot of things in human society costs money which requires jobs, and that includes raising pups."
"Human ways are weird," Malice answered. She had accepted Thomas and Julia's instructions about not breeding, but a part of her was fairly jealous that she and Sarah weren't allowed to when it was pretty clear that their parents were at the very least enjoying the physical aspects of breeding.
"Maybe, but it isn't like we're short of time," Sarah assured Malice, "with a human's lifespan... we can live to be over ninety, which is a long time."
Malice nodded as they paused to hear the sound of rubber "clopping" sound approaching them. They turned to see Abby's parents approaching with a large dish that smelled like sausages to the two Huskies. Sarah and Malice both wagged their tails at the scent. However, behind Abby's parents came Abby with Samson on her arm, or maybe she was on his arm. Sarah and Malice had both seen Samson before and had privately agreed that the stallion was very impressive. Now he looked even more impressive, which only fueled Malice's desire to have a mate of her own.
"Hi, girls," Abby said to Sarah and Malice as they came closer, "looks like it'll be some shindig."
Abby gestured out towards the parking lot and Sarah and Malice looked to see large numbers of cars parking in either the spaces provided or on the curb of the road that lead into Animalia's Great Hall. In that they could see some hope for greater integration of Animalia with human society and so on and put an ease to many of the fears that humans regarding the Animalia virus and the anthropomorphic animals it had created or turned some humans into.
"Yeah," Sarah nodded, "Probably not the party that Malice and I originally thought of... but if it helps Animalia as a whole, I see no problem with it. Shoot... maybe one of the Lyre or Animalia canine officers will be here and will take a shine to Malice..."
"And you?" Abby teased with a small smirk.
Sarah was glad her blush wouldn't show through her fur, "Well... if they're nice and all... sure. It'd probably make introducing them to mom and dad a bit easier when they learn we're dating police officers."
Abby gave a small laugh which Samson remained quiet on for the moment. Abby's parents only shook their heads.
"I trust you two have been behaving yourselves?" Abby's father asked.
"Of course," Sarah assured him, "it's just... the desire to find a loving mate like Abby did with Samson."
"Just don't get into too much of a rush for anything," Mrs. Brown said to the two huskies while Abby smiled and leaned against Samson for a moment.
+++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile, Jessica and Samuel were already in the Great Hall and looking through some of the exhibits for things the company that had created the Animalia Virus had been working to put together with others. Samuel was actually quite impressed with all the specific goods that were being produced that were for the benefit of all Animalians.
"This is all amazing," Samuel commented as he looked at a series of shampoos that lathered well with fur. It was a different method of cleaning, but he'd found that it workable.
"Yeah," Jessica agreed, "Normal bars of soap don't lather well with fur of any kind and now they're finding ways to get around that."
"Jess!" Jessica heard a voice suddenly cry out, "Jess!"
Jessica turned to see Sophie coming running up.
"Hey, Sophie," Jessica smiled, "You didn't bring JC?"
"JC hasn't been uplifted and is fine on his perch at home," Sophie answered, "I came to hang with by best gals. Have you seen Sarah or Abby yet?"
"I don't think so," Jessica answered, "Though Samuel and I came early..."
"Samuel..." Sophie said slowly and then looked over to see the uplifted hamster standing nervously beside Jessica. He was only a single doser, but looked quite well for a hamster. "Oh! Jess' pet... I must say, you do look well..."
"He looks quite cute," Jessica answered, "and hopefully we'll find him a nice lady hamster to court and ultimately marry."
"Jess..." Samuel said slowly and sounding embarrassed as Sophie held out her hand to him.
"Sophie Albers, it's a pleasure to meet you... again," Sophie said to Samuel.
Samuel slowly nodded and shook Sophie's hand. "It is nice to meet you too. You are one of Jess's friends?"
"Yes, the only one who isn't an Animalian," Sophie answered, "but human... Animalian... does it really matter what we are?"
"So long as we get along, no," Samuel chuckled.
"So, what were you looking at while waiting for the others?" Sophie wondered.
"Mostly just the stuff that they're developing for Animalians and all that," Jessica answered and stepped aside to give Sophie a view of the products that she and Samuel were looking at.