Being Mayor of Animalia did keep Clara busy, and now with four cubs to raise she often had a lot of work with them too. Richard did a lot, which Clara found she loved greatly and couldn't help but be amazed at. Before she was uplifted, if she ever ran into an adult male while she was raising cubs, she'd have a fight on her paws as an adult male would be liable to kill her cubs to get her to mate with him. As an Animalian, however, that wasn't an issue as Animalian family structures seemed to mirror Human family structures, and having Richard as a mate was something she greatly enjoyed and seeing him with their four cubs was precious, especially as a lot of what Richard did allowed her focus on a lot of the work that related to being Animalia's mayor.
A lot of that work related to signing bills and handling how the city would implement them and to a degree coordinating things with Lyre, given how close Lyre and Animalia were. The other major thing often related to keeping some things that related to Animalian heat cycles and their respective mating seasons, particularly with those that would be in relation to certain seasons of the year. That, however, generally revolved around basic reminders with regard to Animalia's edicts and to insure that mated/wedded pairs looking to have children went to a place that would allow for it, which would mean either going home or to the campground/ranch site that was west of the Brown's farm, known affectionately as Lover's Woods. And generally those things worked rather well, though there were some surprises that came there.
"I trust you're doing okay?" a male voice came from the doorway to her office making Clara look up to see Robbie standing in the doorway.
Clara looked up to see that it was Robbie, her Deputy Mayor. Normally his tasks related to coordinating city council meetings and handling some of the smaller nuts and bolts type work that related to running Animalia, though at present he'd been away from his post, as his wife Martha was in heat and decided they were ready for a family. As far as Clara knew, he was at his home with his wife starting a family.
"Robbie!?" Clara spoke with some surprise, not actually expecting him back from his time off, yet, "You're..."
"Well not yet," Robbie gave a small smile, "but... I'd think we're well on the way to parenthood. Martha's resting at the moment... and I'd thought I'd check in on a few things briefly. By now... I THINK we've been successful, though that will take some awareness from Martha, which I won't know until she wakes up... and confirmation from a doctor, which could take some time before their tests can determine as to whether or not she is pregnant... But, I'm optimistic."
"Well... that will be good," Clara said to him with a smile, "I hope the two of you will be happy..."
Robbie nodded with a small smile. In many ways, he already was very happy. Martha was beautiful as a Red Fox vixen, and the more they'd talked and gotten to know each other, the more he found that the Animalia Virus had only matched her physical body to the inner beauty that was always there. In that, he found himself loving Martha even more, and he was greatly looking forward to having a family with her. But for the moment, she was resting after some passionate love making, and Robbie had come in to check on a few things that had been going on while he had been out. Among them were some updates on the Mister and Miss Farmhand Competition, which he felt it a good idea to update Clara on before returning home to see if Martha was okay and needed or wanted something to eat or simply wanted him.
"We will be," Robbie smiled, "though... we may come by for parenting tips from time to time."
Clara laughed at that.
"Anyway, I only came in to check on a few things, and the city council has made a few small decisions that are refining things related to the Mister and Miss Farmhand Competition," Robbie spoke, "I thought I'd update you on them... just to let you know."
Clara nodded on that. Some of the ideas on that were something that had been suggested or offered that had related to some of the things that had made it onto the internet and had mostly related some of the things that related to the physical build of Animalians and so on. On certain levels there were a few things that made going along with it, particularly with what the original idea was to be silly, in that the suggestion for the competition being so purely based on image was worth little more than outright rejection, as while Animalians were all very well built that didn't mean that was all they could live for. Animalians were well built and there wasn't that much about the physical build of Animalians that could be truly criticized, and from what Clara knew, much of the original concepts for the contest had ultimately been criticized for that reason.
However, the contest was adopted, but in a way that seemed to remove the aspects that had emphasized sex and appearance from it. It was something that Clara did respect and actually respected more than anything else. It was something that made the contest all the more impressive. Hopefully whatever had been proposed hadn't gotten away from that.
"I trust nothing has been made too weird," Clara commented, as some of her thoughts worried over some things that had been suggested as ideas for things for Animalia to move forward. There were some things that were rejected purely for being either too weird or being of such a nature that there was nothing acceptable with the suggestion.
"There HAVE been some weird suggestions, but the council has rejected those outright," Robbie answered, "I'm not actually bringing any of those sorts of things."
Clara gave a sigh of relief at that.
"The ting that they've decided on is mostly on formalizing the competition," Robbie spoke, "and that all of this relates to the things they've already decoded on. The biggest thing though is that they've also formalized the specific dates on when they'll start the specific events for the contest and what will be tolerated for the contest and so on. They will also have the formalizing of who will be contributing to the work and what will be tolerated to the work and what will be allowed... Though this will also include what will be allowed and required with regard to the work load and so on..."
"So they aren't changing the "events with regard to the work?" Clara asked carefully.
Robbie nodded, "Correct... and that for the nature of the work that to improve and allow for the work that in all that work and nature of said work that those participating in the competition will be limited to those who are outside the Lyre and Animalia School Districts..."
"Outside the school districts," Clara said slowly.
"With regard to the competitors," Robbie said slowly, "Particularly in the fact that they don't want to pull out those who are still in school. The Brown family will still sponsor the competition, but with regard to Martin, Josephine, Abby, and Samson Brown... with Abby and Samson still in school, Martin running the farm, and Josephine still on the Animalia City Council, it was agreed that they would essentially run completion and would provide guidance for it, but wouldn't be "part" of it. They may help where they can with regard to the work that actually runs their farm... especially with regard to what they need for it.... but in the competition, they would be more as the judges to make sure that the work is done right and that competitors don't essentially ruin the farm because they don't know any better. There would also be setting aside specific areas for that purpose as well. Essentially to make sure that Abby and Samson are able to graduate and so that we don't end up bankrupting the Brown Farm with the competition."
"That makes sense," Clara commented, "though... I'm sure that wasn't an easily reached decision."
"From the notes, it wasn't," Robbie nodded, "but it was agreed that with people that will likely be the contestants either not being familiar with farming practices or familiar with the layout of the Brown Farm, it would be wiser that the Browns serve as judges and guides for the contest to make sure that A) the work is done correctly and that B) contestants don't go off the Brown property or into a different part of the farm where the specific parts of the contest might do more damage than anything else."
Clara nodded. From what she knew, both Abby and Josephine had had some interest in the contest and that Josephine had ultimately agreed with other council members that the contest shouldn't simply be a parade of Animalians in essentially "naughty farm clothes." That lead to the ultimate end decision had lead to contest being a competition at how well or how quick the contestants could do the farm work rather than being a "beauty pageant with farmers." Most of the decisions on the portions of the contest related to the specific work that the Browns did to run their farm, which then made having the Brown's being in more judging and guide positions more important, as they knew how their farm worked and knew how to do the work, which not every contestant would know how to do.