With the official Judgement from February 2nd being an early spring, winter was officially waning. But spring would come sooner for some parts of the US than others. But in other cases, early spring would mean a lot of new beginnings, both for Animalia and others.
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"So these are the cows from the Bowman farm that aren't any good for milk?" asked one Horizon worker as the cattle trailer backed into the loading dock.
"Yes," said Shuixing, "They're from Nate's farm."
"Just be sure to tell Meryl that, if she decides to get converted, she might not automatically become the herd matriarch." said the worker, as the cows were led into their 'changing rooms',
"Why is that?" asked Shuixing.
"The herd matriarch, from our notes, is usually the one who the cows recognize as the oldest of their herd." answered the Horizon worker. "They might recognize her, but they also might treat her as a newly added member of their herd."
"Good to know." replied Shuixing, sending the e-mail to Nate.
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"So your cousin's name is Fleur?" asked Steve, only knowing part of the reason why Janice was so uncomfortable with being around Fleur.
"Yes," answered Janice, not liking the reminder, nor the invitation to her first show at the Meat Market. "She got all her paperwork filled out, so now she's a part of Animalia."
"So you don't like associating with her a lot?" asked Steve again as Fleur, as a newly converted, double dosed, fox Animalian began her routine.
"She kept 'ugging my tail at our family reunion." said Janice, shuddering a bit at the memory and at the fact that Fleur was seemingly flirting with her from across the room during her routine, though the crowd wasn't paying attention to that or was thinking she was flirting with one of them.
"Don't worry about it." replied Steve, "She's already registered for Homosexual Anonymous classes. You won't have to put up with that for too long."
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Annie, still a little upset that she had been assigned a 'bondmate' to 'de-program her homosexuality', as some homophobic politicians called the Homosexual Anonymous program, even though it was more about learning how to deal with her new heterosexuality. Still, Stuart R. was doing a great job of helping her adjust, even if they haven't gotten 'past second base', as it's sometimes known. Still, meeting Stuart had sent a thrill through her she never felt before, but chalked it up to her Animalian instincts.
Also, telling the main office about some friends who would be happy as Animalians had had a lot less rancor attached to it than she thought. Apparently such a thing was known as "granting sponsorship", which would grant a 5% discount in the 'filing' and 'conversion fees'. She would be glad to see some of her old friends again, even if homosexual "basher", "Jezzie" still wasn't found yet.
Even still, she still needed to get ready for her "first date" with Stuart, which was considered part of the program, which included dinner and a workout (movie, etc. for others). She was feeling rather nervous, both with not being familiar with "straight dating" and 'nerves', but she was confident because she knew Stuart well enough that he really did care about her, even with his reputation at the Meat Market being well known.
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While the black scabbardfish was still on the table for Project Abyssus, one new donation definitely caught their attention.
"Remember the first time you saw that scene in the first Alien movie where a chest burster alien bursts out of that actor's stomach?" asked one scientist, bringing a covered tank into the conference room.
"I do," answered another scientist, "but it was a long time since I last saw it."
"More chilling than that is the knowledge is that there's a fish on earth that resembles that." said the first scientist, dramatically removing the cover from the tank, showing that it was holding a black dragonfish.
"What the..." said a third one.
"This is a female that was caught at night near the surface." continued the first scientist, "The males always remain below 1000 meters below at all times, while females can swim from 500 meters during the day to all the way to the surface at night."
"I'm sure Allura wouldn't mind help." said the second.
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While winter was stubbornly giving way to spring, Animalia was getting ready for all kinds of new beginnings, especially the 2019 International Animalia Convention.