Author's Note: This is just a copy of s1's chapter. Since neither this chapter or the other are mutually exclusive, I'm just tacking both onto the end of each other until someone deletes one thread. There are a few spelling/grammar corrections as well.
Malice was quick to meet back up with Sophie after leaving Sarah to talk with Travis Fleck and his family. She felt good on that. Malice had set her sights on working with the police in the future, mostly due to her attraction to the uplifted wolves and police dogs, but she also did respect the work that they did. From when she'd been able to make some conversation with them, they did talk extensively on good teamwork to keep the streets safe from criminals and to make sure that everyone was safe. Animalia, so far, hadn't had much in the way of criminal issues, but one uplifted wolf mentioned that they did have to deal with a guy driving through Animalia at excessive speeds because he was late for something. That made sense to Malice, and in a way, Malice felt like she wanted to be part of that, regardless of whether or not she got a mate out of the deal.
A part of her also hoped that Sarah would come along with her, as huskies were well known for being good with regard to teamwork and how they worked well with sled races like the Iditarod. They'd work together and be partners and keep people safe, and if Malice got a handsome mate as well, that would be another plus. A part of Malice's mind also had some fantasies in which she and Sarah either lived in the same house with their respective mates and raising their respective families or would have their houses next to each other, so that they'd always be close, and that would mean keeping Sarah happy, and if that meant getting the ball rolling for Sarah with Travis, Malice was all for that. Sarah and Malice had all the same classes together and thus, Malice had been able to see that Travis liked Sarah, but got a bit shy when things got beyond school work and that Malice liked Travis because he wasn't trying to get in her pants the way a lot of the human boys seemed to want to. Thus with Sarah getting a boyfriend and being accepted by Travis's parents, Malice considered her work done and moved on.
Malice made her way out and soon caught sight of Sophie standing with a small group of humans in the main Great Hall area. She slowly approached to see that the girl was looking up toward the high vaulted ceiling to where a group of uplifted song birds were putting on a display of aerial acrobatics. They danced and flipped and dove in the air with a lot of grace and avoided things like the ceiling and the walls with ease. Both Malice and Sophie noted that the uplifted birds looked happy as they put on their display to demonstrate their flight abilities to the humans that had come to the party and to any "grounded" Animalian that might have any interest in watching.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Malice asked to Sophie.
Sophie looked over to see Malice come to stand beside her. On some level it would appear odd that all her friends were Animalians. Abby and Sarah were accidentally infected and became double dosers. Jessica joined of her own free will once the government agreed to let humans become Animalians if they wished, though her parents wouldn't let her double dose as well. Sophie was the last of their group that was still human. Now, Sophie actually had no desire to become an Animalian, but that didn't mean that she didn't find them beautiful and didn't have her own questions over issues and namely JC.
"It is," Sophie gave a small smile, "and it's nice to see things going well, though it's had me thinking..."
"You'd like to be a bird? Be able to fly?" Malice wondered, "maybe not as good as being a dog, but I'd have to admit, I've wondered what it'd be like to fly."
"No... not that," Sophie shook her head, "more about JC... I mean... all you Animalians seem to be just like people, if sexier and buffer than most normal people."
Malice took that as a complement and wagged her tail. Sophie then gestured to the uplifted birds as they did their aerial dance.
"And they all seem happy," Sophie commented.
"They do... and all of us that were pets or livestock or even mundane wild animals like being uplifted," Malice commented, "I've learned so much and I'm closer to Sarah now than I ever could have been otherwise."
"So... do you think it's wrong that I've kept JC as a mundane parrot?" Sophie asked as she looked to Malice, "that he's not happy?"
Malice watched to Sophie as the girl looked up to the uplifted birds and their dance again. This was something that Malice really wasn't ready for. She'd learned a lot from Sarah, her parents, and her new friends that humans had had a lot of things that always struck her as odd. Things like morality was one of them. To Malice, flirting with the uplifted police dogs or wolves wasn't a bad thing, as it could get a mate and allow her to ultimately have her own family in the future. If one was hungry, it wasn't wrong to grab something to eat as it would fill one's belly and keep one going. The morality issues that humans talked about over issues of being too unashamed in flirting, being needlessly provocative and "easy", being bad or taking things that weren't legally owned was something that Malice had only come to understand after being uplifted. She accepted many of them, as the explanations did ultimately make sense, but they were still issues that Malice felt were weird at times.
"I really don't know..." Malice said slowly, "a lot of these moral questions are all new to me... and I've never really thought about it beyond remembering what is right and wrong... stuff that Sarah's parents taught me."
"Oh," Sophie sighed.
"Could you just ask your parrot if he's happy?" Malice asked.
"Parrots and Parakeets can mimic human words, but that doesn't mean they can truly speak or answer questions in the way that we would understand," Sophie answered, "and the words that they say are words that human trainers have taught them. So it isn't like a mundane parrot could tell me vocally if he's happy."
"Do you think he's happy?" Sophie asked, "the way they are happy?"
"I'd suppose he could be if you're treating him right," Malice commented, "I felt real love for Sarah and her family even before I was uplifted because I was treated well and they'd been kind that way. It's what made me see Sarah as my sister and Julia and Thomas Wesley as my parents. I'm sure that if you've treated JC well, he'll at least like you... though if you REALLY want an answer to that question, you might have to a see if he can be uplifted which could open up other issues..."
"Other issues?" Sophie asked.
"Like what Anton and Marlysa have," Malice commented, referring to the gym teacher and his soon-to-be wife, "that he is uplifted and says that he loves you... You'd have to become an uplifted parrot to be with him..."
"That's assuming I love him in a romantic way as well," Sophie pointed out, "not all of us are looking for our future mates right now..."
Malice didn't immediately answer as she felt she had given the best answer that she could manage but simply didn't know enough to say any more. Eventually she gave a sigh and patted Sophie's shoulder.
"I really don't know what else to say," Malice spoke, "other than that I think you're a good person. Uplifting JC and/or becoming an Animalian yourself is entirely up to you."
Sophie slowly nodded and the two of them resumed watching the uplifted birds in their aerial ballet.