Many people came to Animalia to rebuild their lives with the panacea that was the Animlian Virus. Many of the volunteers of Project Phoenix acclimated very quickly to Animalia and soon found mates to bond with. Here are a couple of stories about some of those couples on Valentine's Day.
Bennie and Mariana were heading to a seafood restaurant in town that catered to those Animalians who fed more on fish than anything else. While Bennie could still eat other kinds of meat and enjoyed a nice stack of ribs on occasion, he found that he had a stronger craving for fish that other types of meat. It would be nicer if the fish were of a wider and fresher variety, but you could only get so much this far inland. It was one of the reasons that the orcas were looking forward to when the island resort will be opened.
The restaurant was fairly packed, namely with other fish-eating Animalians like otters, dolphins, and eagles. The restaurant's discount for couples was obviously a big factor for business, but the crab buffet was also an obvious attraction. Looking around, Bennie and Mariana could spot a few faces that looked familiar and one that definitely was.
"Hey, Eugene!" called Bennie as he and Mariana headed over to the table where two bald eagles were sitting.
"Bennie, how have you been?" asked Eugene.
"Doing well, coming for dinner with my girl," said Bennie before looking at the female eagle that was sitting with Eugene, "I'm guessing you did to?"
"Yes, this is my girlfriend, Melanie," said Eugene, "Melanie, this is Bennie."
"I know, I heard about him getting his legs back before I got here," said Melanie.
"Oh, you're a converted?" asked Eugene. He had trouble telling for sure. Some Animalians didn't carry over the hair they had as humans, namely because of their species. There was the occasional exception like Sylvia Rattlerton. But some people just went bald like what happened with Bennie and these two bald eagles.
"Yeah, it took a while to get used to not having hair," said Melanie, "But at least I don't spend so much time looking after it. Feathers aren't that hard to maintain. And you don't have to worry about that slick hide of yours."
"True enough," said Bennie, "Though lying on my back is a problem." He reached back to the fin on his back for emphasis. He often wished his had appeared on his head like Mariana.
"Oh, I know what you mean," said Melanie, "Wings aren't that easy to cope with either. But it's definitely worth it to be able to fly. Don't you like being able to swim better?"
"Yes, but there's not as many places to swim at around here," said Bennie.
"Looking forward to the island resort, eh?" asked Eugene.
"You know it," said Bennie, "I'm not sure if we want to move there or not, but it's definitely a place we'll be frequenting."
"Say, where is Mariana?" asked Eugene.
Bennie paused and turned around. Mariana had apparently wandered off while they had been talking. Probably got too hungry and went over to the crab buffet. Sure enough, he spotted her at the buffet talking to some otters. "Oh, I guess she wanted to eat first," said Bennie.
"If you can get her back here, there's room enough for all of us," said Eugene.
"Ok, but we'll be carrying bigger plates than yours," said Bennie as he walked towards the buffet table. Mariana was still talking animatedly with the otters. The male was definitely a converted judging by his hair and the female was an uplifted because of her lack of hair.
Mariana spotted Bennie coming and said, "Hey, Bennie. I want you to meet Mike and Mary. Mike was part of Project Phoenix too."
"Oh? What were you cured of?" asked Bennie.
"I was stuck in a coma," said Mike.
"Oh, wait, I've heard of you," said Bennie, "Weren't you in that coma since you were 13?"
"Yeah, that was a year ago," said Mike.
Bennie stopped and pondered at that. He knew that the Animalian Virus could make kids older but he hadn't met many aged-up kids personally. "I'm guessing it was a shock to wake up like that," said Bennie.
"Yeah, I still feel like a kid inside, even if I look like this," said Mike, indicated his mature, muscular body.
"That's why he's been too nervous to ask Mary to mate with him yet," said Mariana.
Bennie had been taking of a sip of his drink at that and Mariana's comment caused him to do a spit take. But instead of the drink coming back out his mouth, it ended up going out of his blowhole instead. "Mariana, we don't talk about that in public," he hissed.
"That's what I told her," said Mike, giving Mary a slightly annoyed look.
"Well, I was wondering why you were so shy about that subject," said Mary, "I didn't realize that you viewed yourself as being so young."
"You're even younger than me," grumbled Mike.
"In otter years," said Mary.
"Well, I was think we could give these two some advice," said Mariana to Bennie.
Bennie rubbed the back of his head and said, "Yeah...this is something I might be able to advise about very well. Er, maybe Eugene and Melanie would help with this one." He was a little reluctant with throwing the eagles into this mess, but Bennie wasn't likely to be able to help Mike by himself.
"Good idea," said Mariana, "Grab some food on the way back." Bennie sighed as he followed his mate back to Eugene's table. He hoped this evening wasn't going to get too awkward.