The Thanksgiving Dinner held in the Great Hall went quite well, and Clara was most pleased that not only were most Animalians living in Lyre or Animalia there but that many residents from Lyre that were Human came to enjoy the celebratory dinner with their Animalian neighbors. There was some fear on her part that the celebration wouldn't draw too many people from Lyre, even including Animalians that lived in the town, as per other arrangements and things, but they had a fair number of guests that Clara was more than happy to have. It was some hope that at least in their small corner of Nevada that Animalians and Humans could still get along.
"You know... MOOSE isn't a typical Thanksgiving Day meal," Lyre's mayor commented from his seat across from Clara and Rick, "Neither do I think they actually range this far south from the Rockies..."
"They don't," Rick answered, "a friend of my folks owns some land in Montana's Rocky Mountain area and they DID have Moose living there."
"So... you went up there to hunt... or?" Lyre's Mayor wondered.
"Partially," Clara answered, "Rick's folks were visiting him on their way here for Thanksgiving and apparently talked him into an invitation, which included a sort of demonstration of strength."
"So... this guy wanted to see how strong you are?" Lyre's Mayor chuckled and then shook his head.
"And since he didn't have any weights, we offered the suggestion of letting them hunt one of the moose on his property," Rick's father, Franklin commented his spot next to Rick and with his wife Peggy by his side, "and in the end it worked out quite well..."
A set of specialized baby chairs had been set up for Robert, Michelle, Hillary, and William and they made a few calls of contentment at hearing their parents and grandparents' voices while also eying the bottles of milk that was on the trays in front of them.
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The property was large and in a isolated part of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana. Rick knew they were closer to Helena, Montana than Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, but still after a two day drive from Animalia, he knew they had come a long way. And as they pulled up to a decent sized cabin in a secluded part of the mountains, both Rick and Clara could hear a series of soft calls from William, Robert, Michelle, and Hillary. Their four cubs were doing well and within the standard sort of development for their age, and while they knew they wouldn't be away from Animalia for long, neither parent could really wish to leave the four of them behind, even with a babysitter. Besides, Rick's parent's had also said they would be there when they got the invitation, and Clara did trust Rick's parents after their friendly meeting. Both of them noted the presence of Rick's parent's vehicle, an old Ford pickup truck parked in front of the garage that stood next to the cabin.
They came up to the side of his parents car and slowly parked. As she got out, Clara was quick check on the cubs, and rapidly found that their calls weren't for food or a diaper change, but simply for attention. Clara reached down to pick up William first and was rewarded by the little cub reaching up with his hands to caress her muzzle. She eventually smiled and nuzzled him before reaching in to pick up Hillary as well.
"So... do we go to the door?" Clara asked as she backed away and then kicking the back door on the passenger side shut.
"I would guess so," Rick answered from the driver's side, "This guy was a friend of mom and dad's when they were in college. I actually never got to meet him."
"They must have talked to him about you if he was so kind to invite us up to go hunting," Clara answered.
"I've never actually hunted moose before," Rick said slowly.
"Neither have I," Clara admitted, "but the principle of hunting for us is far more exciting... the thrill of the hunt and the chase... and in a way it's more sporting. In theory the moose shares just as much of a chance of escaping and killing us as we do of killing it."
"Most humans don't have the sort of natural weapons to take on such large prey by hand," Rick answered holding up a hand and briefly extending his claws on that hand.
"Even with them... we'll need to work together," Clara answered, "Since my territory was only in our part of Nevada and stretching across the border into California... I've never hunted anything as large as Moose. I have general experience with stalking, pouncing, and biting... like I showed you during the IAC, but with an animal THIS big... we'd need to work together."
To that Rick nodded and soon moved to collect their other two cubs.
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"You took these four little ones hunting?" Lyre's Mayor's wife asked with wide eyes, "but they're so little!"
"We only took them on the trip," Clara answered, "we didn't want to leave them in Animalia while we were gone. They didn't go on the hunt."
"They stayed with me at the cabin," Peggy informed them, "and if they were old enough to talk, they tell you they had lots of fun with grandma."
"Rar!" came a chorus from the four cubs that seemed to reflect Peggy's comment. It was soft, but it was still heard by those at that end of the table. It raised a series of giggles from Lyre's Mayor's own children as the cubs' response seemed to be on cue with what Peggy had said, and made them all the more adorable. There was some curiosity as to how long the four Mountain Lion Animalian cubs would keep their spots, but for the moment that wasn't the topic of conversation.
"So you agreed to essentially tag team the moose?" Lyre's Mayor asked.
"Yes," Rick nodded, "and it probably was a good thing, too. It was a bull moose and he did battle as hard as he could... and even though we're quite strong as Animalians... even together, that moose was about all that we could handle."
"But first came the meeting with man who owned the land and the cabin," Clara spoke.
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They eventually made their way up to the door, and found that the cabin looked quite good for its supposed age. The steps had been sanded so that there were no splinters and none of the logs looked old or worn. Maybe it was a new building or maybe it was simply well cared for. Regardless they made their way up, and before they could figure a way to try and knock to announce their presence the door opened to reveal an older gentleman. He wasn't much older than Rick's parents, but in many ways he did look older and to some extent weaker. He smiled as he saw them.
"You must be Clara and Rick," the man gave a healthy and happy grin, "It's nice to see you and meet you both. Franklin and Peggy have told me a lot about you over the past few days."
"We are," Clara nodded, "and with us are our cubs."
She then went through the cubs' names and each cub was bounced a little as its name was given. The man smiled at them almost looked longingly at them. To Clara it seemed like wanted children of his own, but had never had the chance.
"They look precious, but come in, come in," the man spoke and stepped back, "Your folks are already here, Rick. I figure you ought to have the rest of today to rest and look over the maps of my property... rather than get hurt after a long drive."
"Thank you," Rick answered, as it had been a long drive, "we may have to bring in some more things from the car, though."
"That'll be fine," the man replied, "but let's get those four somewhere comfortable."
The man then lead them along the way from the entry hallway and into a small living room, where they found Franklin and Peggy setting up a small playpen, and one that to Rick was all too familiar. He didn't remember being in it, but he'd seen a fair number of family photos of him as an infant laying in it and playing with stuffed animals or a plastic mobile that played music. There was one that he remembered of him standing in it with his lips around the top.
"You guys still have that?" Rick said with some surprise.
"Of course," Franklin said with a knowing smile, "You had a lot of mileage on this growing up. And I wish we'd remembered it when we first came to Animalia to see you, Clara, and the most adorable grandbabies in the country... but we remembered it with this trip and figured, you'd have more need of it now that we do."
"It is nice of you to offer us this," Clara spoke politely as she slowly lowered the two cubs in her arms into the play pen and setting them together on their backs. Rick did the same with the remaining two and it didn't take them long to find the large stuffed teddy bears in there with them and proceed to gum the plush toy's arms, legs, and ears.
"They look precious," their host gave a small smile, "Simply precious... you both must be very happy."
"We are," Rick commented, "but... I'm sure you have memories of your own children, sir."
"I wish I did," the man gave a frown, "I grew up with your folks and did okay in social situations... but I was never really calm with city life and neither did I want to go to 'Nam. Then my uncle died... and he owned the cabin and ranch here and to my surprise, he named ME his sole beneficiary. So... I eventually moved here and kept his ranch going. I've done reasonably well, especially with more local slaughter houses... and while I enjoyed working the ranch and raising the cattle... it took up a lot of my time, especially since my uncle bought the land out here where he's away from traffic and so on. I'm afraid I missed out on that."
There was another silence as the man looked down and gave a heavy sigh.
"Then came the Cancer," he said slowly, "I've been battling it okay... but it's been taking a LOT out of me and it could well mean that I may not have too many years left in me... but I got no one to give my ranch to... all my family's died of old age by now. I got no kids to give it to... I figure I can give it to the state and let them figure out what to do with it... but then along came Animalia..."
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"I take it he wants to join?" Lyre's Mayor asked, "Animalia, I mean."
"Mostly for the benefits that would come with double dosing," Clara answered, "renewed youth and health primarily. And that's where his wanting to see how strong Rick and I are came into play. He doesn't want to give up his ranch, though he has figured to try and make the time to go down into town and try and meet someone from time to time..."
Clara was silent on the other possibility that their host might ultimately find a female Mountain Lion and see to her uplifting. It didn't happen with every Animalian or even most Animalians than an uplifted Animalian and a converted Animalian would mate each other, but it was a possibility. And given the isolated area of his cabin, it was likely that the most common guest on his land that would match him if he went through Project Phoenix and became a Mountain Lion would be a mundane Mountain Lion. In fact their host had even admitted to seeing various Mountain Lions from time to time, but had had no real trouble, mostly as that he kept his cattle well secured during the months when they were most vulnerable to Mountain Lions. Now, because the original recognition of Animalians had allowed them protection under the Civil Rights Act had essentially treated Animalians as "equal" to humans, a converted human and an uplifted animal couldn't be prosecuted as they were both Animalians, but Clara had observed that there were times where some humans got a bit nervous to tense on that sort of issue and decided not to mention it. She didn't want a political fight on Thanksgiving.
"So... he's mostly trying to figure out what specific species to be," Lyre's Mayor mused, "well... if you hear from him again, either before his transformation or after... let him know that Lyre wishes him the best of luck."
"We will," Rick answered, "as he was most helpful in setting up the hunt for the bull moose we're dining on right now."
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They'd eventually found that their host, Horace Trifelter, owned a significant amount of land that he had been set up to raise cattle, complete with barbed wire fences in many areas and the cattle guard that had been at the turn off onto his property that Clara and Rick had found on their ride in. However, over the years, Horace had downsized the amount of cattle that he had on his ranch and opened up some areas as a sort of nature/hunting preserve. This had meant moving some of his fences to allow wildlife to have greater access to the areas opened up as a preserve, but it worked, and Horace added that he'd also marked the trees that marked where the limits of his land was.
It gave Rick and Clara full awareness on the area they'd have available to hunt in and how they would make their hunt. Dominating the area that was a hunting/nature preserve was a large stock pond that had originally been dug out to allow the cattle to have a place to drink without having to walk all the way back to the barn area. After Horace had shifted to a smaller herd, the stock pond had become a source of water for all animals and Rocky Mountain Moose tended to visit it the most often, even before the winter snows hit. With that, Rick and Clara figured to start with stock pond, as it'd be the most likely place.
And so the next morning, in their own hunting clothes, which essentially amounted to a tee-shirt and shorts that matched their brown fur, they made their way out to the south from Horace's cabin with Horace and Franklin following close behind. Horace was armed with a fairly powerful hunting rifle, just in case.
"I must say that's odd for hunting attire," Horace commented softly.
"Animalians are rather adverse to guns... some of it is likely the fact that many have been hunted by people and thus have learned to fear gun shots," Rick answered.
"And for those of us that are predators... one's own teeth and claws shows our strength and proves our health," Clara answered, "It's also more sporting than just shooting it."
"But if you miss..." Horace began.
"If we miss... we miss," Clara answered, "as Animalians, we're not solely dependent on hunting the way I was before I was uplifted. We're fully capable of going into a store and BUYING meat if we need to. This... this is just a vacation from the day to day stresses of running Animalia..."
"Right... Franklin and Peggy told me you were the mayor that little town," Horace answered, "the people okay with you?"
"So far," Clara answered.
Things were quiet again for a few moments before Rick and Clara spotted a lone bull moose standing in the shallows of the stock pond, which wasn't of great size. The moose was chewing on some grass that was growing right next to the bank and seemed unconcerned with anything around them. Of course, Clara could tell that the wind was blowing toward them and the moose wasn't actually looking toward them. With that, she and Rick crouched down low and looked through the undergrowth. Franklin and Horace also stopped, though they moved to stand nearby trees where they could watch.
"Okay," Clara began softly to her husband, "we don't want this to become a running fight... One, he's likely to run out of Horace's land before we'd catch him and two, running down prey is more a wolf's game. We'd be exhausted before we'd catch it."
Rick nodded and looked out at the moose again. It was still chewing on the grass. He then drew a claw and ran it through the dirt at his feet to give his idea.
"Agreed," Rick nodded to his wife, "I'll move around quietly to the west. I'll try to stay quiet enough that he won't hear me and will then move forward... you move the east and south a bit and come from the other direction... You may even want to be to the south of where he is. Come up to the edge of the clearing, and we'll likely see each other. And we'll then move together. If the moose turns to face me, you pounce on him from behind. If he turns to face you, I'll do the same... and if he runs, hopefully he run into one of us and it won't be a long chase."
Clara nodded in agreement at the plan. It had a good chance of working, primarily as the two of them would be working together and thus meant there was teamwork involved. It might not be typical for Mountain Lions, but as Animalians, they weren't typical Mountain Lions.
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"And so you caught it, and brought it here for Thanksgiving," Lyre's Mayor commented.
"Horace said he didn't want the meat," Clara answered, "but I think he was impressed that we were able to wrestle the beast down."
"I think the biggest thing that he was impressed by was the lack of blood," Rick said to her.
"No blood?!" one of Lyre's Mayor's children asked, sounding something that halfway between awe and surprise.
"Yes, the hide of many prey animals can be fairly tough, it serves to protect them from attack and from injury during their own mating battles," Clara answered, "and gathering the grip to break the skin isn't something that's easy to do, particularly while its alive. It's why so many predators go for the neck to either "strangle" the prey or to break its neck... though that depends on the size of the prey animal."
"And in a sense, all Clara and I needed to do was cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain," Rick nodded, "we didn't NEED to literally disembowel it in the field in order to do that. Once we got it two the ground, I held its antlers down and Clara delivered the bite to the neck and bit down just enough that the blood vessels going to the brain were squeezed shut and it died after passing out. It's something that's very clean... dealing with its blood didn't happen until after we cleaned and dressed it to bring it home... and added it to the Thanksgiving feast, as it was big enough to feed all of Animalia's predators."
"It may not be the typical Thanksgiving meal, but the bigger thing is the togetherness and essentially sharing what we're all thankful for," Clara answered.
"I'm thankful for turkey!" another of Lyre's mayor's children spoke while holding up a half eaten drumstick, earing a few chuckles.