The Spring Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction was set up and functioned in much the same way the fall one functioned around the previous Thanksgiving. And like the previous one, Abby was pleased to find that her uncle, JT, had come again to serve as the auctioneer for it. Though not everyone who had been in the previous fall auction were present for the spring one. Some, like Jill, weren't there because they had either found their bond mate in the first auction or found their bond mate elsewhere after it. In fact, Jill spent much the Spring Fair and Festival going plans for the wedding with Beauregard in the coming summer. Others weren't there because they were either in College or at WSA and the break for Easter wasn't as long as the Thanksgiving Break had been.
Some others were present at the auction but weren't participating. Miko was among them and actually found that Maho was also among them. She sat down with the Red Crowned Crane Animalian in one of the back rows of the auditorium where the auction was behind. The chairs were robust and the Gigantoraptor Animalian was quite pleased that it didn't creak under the weight of her muscle mass as she sat down. The thing that got Miko the most curious though was that Sora and Yuki weren't present, and while Miko didn't see the young Velociraptor Dinotopians with their mother all the time, she had actually seen enough of them at both acclimation classes and at the gym that she'd found that she was getting better at English. Japanese was still Miko's primary language and there was a fair amount that Miko still needed Maho's help as a translator for, but she was getting better.
"Are Sora and Yuki in the auction?" Miko wondered as she looked around, as she liked them in a grandmotherly sort of way. In fact Yuki's excitement for a lot of things reminded Miko of her own grandsons, though they were also younger than Sora and Yuki.
"Yes," Maho nodded, "they've had a lot of fun with some of the new Animalians that we've gotten and the spring fair... but I suppose with Spring on the way... eventually... there is the sort of flights of fancy that a mate is desired."
Miko slowly nodded with some understanding. She'd found out plenty about Animalian desires, especially after becoming a Gigantoraptor Dinotopian, and a part of her looked at how well built Animalians were and how they seemed to pair up and bond with their mates so easily that she did wish to share in it, but there, she would prefer until she'd finished in her lessons on paleontology and biology so that she could be beneficial for the future colony in Japan. Rex was a pretty good teacher, and Miko had felt she had learned a lot, though a lot seemed to also reinforce things she'd also learned taking children and then grandchildren to the natural history museums over the years.
"I'm actually surprised that you're not participating in the auction," Maho then commented, "You are getting better with your English..."
Miko craned her neck a bit to look down toward her chest, presently covered by comfortable dress that was both warm and soft before she answered, "but most of those that have "complimented me" have been more interested in what's under my dress rather than what is in my soul... And while I wouldn't mind finding a new love... I'd like that to wait until after I've finished my lessons with Dr. Ramos and can return home, as any new love for me will also need to get along well with my children and my grandsons."
Maho slowly nodded. In a way she agreed with Miko's reasoning. Miko already had existing family that even if they didn't become Animalians would probably be brought to the colony in Japan when it was ready and with the importance of her lessons with Rex. Miko's use of the word "doctor" in regard to Rex was in the fact that he held a doctorate in paleontology and that his expertise in the field was to help with what some paleontologists in Japan had hoped for when Miko returned home that she could help them with their fields of study and on educating Japan's people on prehistoric life.
"I suppose I can understand," Maho answered, "I'm mostly here to make sure that no one does anything to abuse my baby girls..."
The two then sat and watched as the bachelor/bachelorette auction progressed. Naturally the uplifted Percherons all got high bids, mostly from human women who had come for the Spring Fair but a couple of single mare Animalians had also put in some fairly high bids for them as well. Miko thought that some of them had some rather dopey looking grins on their faces after winning their date and walking with the uplifted stallions, but then she also figured that women could be just as turned on by men as men were by women. The uplifted Percherons also had seemed like quite a good catch, and Miko had been tempted to place a bid, herself. Sure, as a Dinotopian she and the Percherons could never breed, but since the auction was to provide some money for either the building of Animalian colonies, pay for recovery of areas affected by natural disasters, and further the research into the Animalia Virus, there was the thought that one date couldn't be a bad thing. But Miko did restrain herself.
Eventually the auction did see Sora and Yuki come out. While they often did many things together, including their workouts and their work with regard to working on clothing designs for Animalians that would be both fashionable and functional, their different personalities were fairly obvious as their turn at the auction was presented. Yuki was more forward as she waved to the crowd and twirled, essentially showing off her feathered arms and tail, which did attract a fair number of bids. To Yuki's surprise the winning bid came from a Lyre High Senior.
"Hello, Yuki," the Lyre student said with a small smile, "you have a cute name."
"Thanks," Yuki answered, noting the man's dark jeans that looked like they were new and paired with a black tee-shirt with the "Jurassic Park" logo on it and the green and white plaid button down shirt that he wore over it, "What's yours?"
"Nothing anywhere near as cute," the Lyre student admitted, "My parents named me Ezekiel and my friends have called me Zeke."
"Zeke isn't a bad name," Yuki offered him her arm.
"You're just sayin' that," Zeke said as he carefully took Yuki's arm, and obviously looking careful about not bending her feathers.
Yuki noticed this and only shook her head chuckling. She and Sora as Velociraptors were both proof of the close relationship between dinosaurs and birds, and particularly in the fact that birds evolved from Theropod dinosaurs, in that not only were they fully feathered but the feathers on their arms actually looked like wing feathers and that they shielded their hands and fingers to some degree. This raised some puzzlement, as they converted at around the same time as their mother, yet their mother when she became a Red Crowned Crane Animalian, her wings grew on her back whereas it looked like Sora and Yuki's arms were wings. The best explanation they'd gotten was that while Sora and Yuki had the flight feathers on their arms, they weren't actually for flight and thus didn't actually count as wings.
"No, really, Zeke isn't a bad name," Yuki insisted.
They slowly walked together for a bit, going down a flight of stairs at edge of the stage and towards a side door that would take them out of the auditorium.
"So... what is your plan?" Yuki asked, wondering if she was overdressed because he was dressed so informally or if he was underdressed because people didn't normally go on a formal date in a tee shirt and jeans.
"I was actually thinking on something a bit more athletic," Zeke answered, "Something like a round or two of racquetball... see how bad you beat me and get to know each other a bit more before going to dinner. I have some more formal clothes in my car for that part of the date... but I figured we'd go out for the athletic part first. We can shower and clean up for the more formal part before going to dinner."
"This isn't some trick to see me naked, is it?" Yuki teased.
"I don't think they'd let me in the girl's locker room," Zeke answered.
"The locker rooms at the Claw Coliseum are unisex," Yuki told him, and practically giggled when she saw his eyes widen in surprise.
The facility HAD become a major institution for people to go to for health and exercise reasons. She'd found that Lyre really didn't have an equal outside of its outdoor pools for summer recreation and tennis courts for the same purpose.
"I'd never do anything to hurt anyone," Zeke said quickly, which only made Yuki giggle even more. Eventually Zeke caught on that she was joking with him.
"So... a Jurassic Park fan?" Yuki asked.
"I've liked the series, yeah," Zeke answered, "though... ever since Horizon figured out how to allow for Dinotopians, I've been interested in seeing just how accurate the science for it was. And while in many ways it was accurate... there was a lot of issues that were also quite wrong."
"Like the raptors," Yuki commented.
"That's actually something that got cut out of the movie," Zeke answered, "I actually have a copy of the book. Scientists have actually given dinosaurs a genus and species name. So, while the lion is formally known as Panthera Leo, the present scientific name for Velociraptor is..."
"Velociraptor Mongoliensis," Yuki answered.
Zeke nodded, "Well, in the book, supposedly there was some sort of debate between Doctor Grant and Doctor Wu over the specific species name that at the time, the Dromaeosaurid, Deinonychus was known by the scientific name Velociraptor Antirrhopus and that Grant wanted to know which specific scientific name, Mongoliensis or Antirrhopus with Grant referring to the later while Wu referring to the former."
"Of course the height of Velociraptor in the movie is actually closer to Utahraptor and not even Deinonychus," Yuki commented with narrowed eyes.
"True, but then it WAS a movie," Zeke answered, "we can't expect EVERYTHING to be one hundred percent correct..."
He paused when he noticed that Yuki's eyes were still rather narrow, almost as if she were looking at prey or in frustration over the movie's depiction of the raptors.
"Come on," Zeke eventually said, "If you're going to tease me over a unisex locker room, it's only fair I get a shot in over a movie's depiction on raptors."
That did get Yuki to relax a bit more.
"And besides, I think I'd prefer you to the movie's raptors," Zeke told her.
Yuki happily smiled at that, "Thank you."
Meanwhile, Sora was more reserved than her twin sister when her turn came up, and despite being as well built as Yuki and being as strong as Yuki, the winning bid for her was actually lower than the bid that Zeke had made for Yuki. However, she found that that while that wasn't the only difference. While Zeke was an eighteen year old High School Senior, and one year younger than her and Yuki, Sora's date was in his twenties. While Zeke actually was from Lyre, Sora's date was from New York and as they went out the same exit that Zeke and Yuki had earlier, Sora found that her date shared her and Yuki's interest in fashion.
"So... I've seen a couple of articles in Animalia's magazine that you and your sister are interested in fashion designing," the man stated with a rather happy smile as he and Sora walked along the hallway.
"Yes," Sora answered, "Though... mostly with regard to Animalians and some of the... unique challenges that go with it."
"Such as sizes and anatomical features," the man's smile remained, "particularly for beautiful Dinotopians like yourself... I'm actually surprised my winning bid was so low..."
"It's probably because I'm shyer than my sister," Sora admitted looking down, embarrassed at having to admit that her sister was more dynamic than she was. They were interested in many of the same things, but Yuki always tended to be more forward and excited, even after all they'd been through before Animalia came along.
"Well... don't tell her, but I think you're the prettier Yur-ah-kaa-zee," he continued to smile, "You have this soft twinkle in your eyes that I didn't see in your sister."
"Yurikazi," Sora corrected him on the pronunciation of her family name and glad that the black scales on her muzzle and the white feathers on her cheeks hid her blush.
"But forgive me, where are my manners," the man's smile remained, "My name is Francois Proquiet. You could say that we share the same career goals... designing great clothes for people... though, I've done a lot of my work in New York. Animalia has been interesting and has left me curious, especially with some of the articles that I've read..."
"A lot of what Yuki and I do isn't too different from mainstream fashion styles," Sora commented, "as many of the designs aren't too different... but we have to adapt for sizes and features like wings or a Stegosaur's back pates and dealing with fur and feathers, which have certain thread count requirements to cut down on irritation issues, which can be different between a mammal's hair and a bird or dinosaur's feathers."
"Yes, and I've been intrigued by your theories you and your sister have talked about," Francois commented, "which is why I came... and only found that you were so beautiful... If there is any place you would like to go for dinner... I would be happy to be your escort and we can talk."
Sora happily nodded and the two walked along.