"Isn't your family's farm a bit out of the way?" one of Nate's friends' at the University of Wisconsin asked him as the two sat in their dorm room on campus.
The room was fairly clean and open. The dormmate could see some photos that were of Nate's family and one that was the closest to him was one of him and Shuixing together. The photo showed him standing before her with the Water Buffalo Animalian standing over him with her arms around him and holding him to Shuixing. Nate also seemed to be looking up and back in the photo to Shuixing's eyes. Both had small smiles as they looked to each other. It made for a rather cute picture and was one of the few Human/Animalian pairings that were out there that the dormmate knew of. Of course he also knew that given Animalia's breeding rules, that Human/Animalian pairings ultimately turned into Animalian/Animalian pairings of the same species so that they could have families of their own. Couples between Animalians of different species or Animalians and Humans where there would be no conversion or two different species were pretty rare.
That was something that sat in his dorm-mate's mind as the two sat and had been talking over some things, including Nate's relationship with Shuixing and the return of several of the Bowman family farm's cattle to the farm toward the end of the summer before Nate came to college. The dormmate found it very interesting for how much and how well Nate and the Bowmans seemed to get along with Animalia and Animalians. To the other college student, Animalia was just a small town in northwestern Nevada that had resulted form an accident that had lead to an awful lot of luck that allowed them to live fairly well off without working. It wasn't necessarily something bad, but extraordinarily lucky and he figured that Nate having grown up in Wisconsin and on his father's dairy farm was more used to hard work and the related responsibilities.
"We're not too far out of the town we're near," Nate answered, "and to a certain extent... the land we own would be enough to build some additional structures as needed. So in the short term, some of the cows may have to live in town and commute, but in the long term they would be able to get a shot to move into new homes..."
"Assuming winter doesn't hit hard and fast," his roommate answered.
"Yeah... I don't think it'll be done before winter," Nate commented, thinking on the blizzard that had blown through the previous week in the upper Midwest, "but that will be a long term thing. Until then... some people might just need to get used to those that are different from them."
Nate watched as his roommate gave a shrug while his own thoughts drifted back to when Blueberry and the others that had been sent for uplifting came back to the Bowman farm...
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"So... Shuixing won first at this tournament she was in?" Mr. Bowman asked as he and Nate sipped a few mugs of coffee before really getting started for the day. They could see the green of the grass on their front lawn through the main windows in that room as the two talked together.
"Yes... she was strong and swift and she moved with a lot of grace," Nate answered his father with a small nod, "it was great to see her win."
"What was Grace doing there? She's only two years old," came Meryl's voice as the older woman came into the room from the kitchen, referring to a Grace Katch, whom she had met at church.
"I said she moved with grace," Nate repeated, lifting his voice a little, "I was describing how Shuixing moved."
"Why would Shoosie move with Grace?" Meryl asked, "Didn't see her at church."
Mr. Bowman sighed as Nate tried to explain things to Meryl. The woman's hearing issues were problematic. A part of him figured that Meryl might be a good candidate for Horizon's Project Phoenix, if only to make it easier for discussing things with her, but he had the sense that Meryl wouldn't accept it and might not even fully understand the request. It was one of those things that was frustrating, but Mr. Bowman felt he had no real choice, as there wasn't much that he could do other that give Meryl a safe place to stay and do what he could. For the moment he was quiet as a knock at the front door made him and Nate both turn toward it.
Mr. Bowman made his way to the door and opened it to find a small group of female Bovine Animalians standing there. Judging by the coloration of their fur and hide, he guessed they were Brown Swiss, like the cattle he raised on his farm. They each wore a pair of jeans and a large tee-shirt that was somewhat stretched over a fairly expansive chest, though on the lead female there was something that Mr. Bowman noticed fairly clearly. Hanging around the female's neck was a soft rope/twine chord that was looped through a hole in what was normally an ear tag used with livestock. It was a means to help owners keep track of which animal was which without actually branding the animal. What was even more telling was that on the side of the tag that Mr. Bowman could see was the listed owner, Ulysses Bowman. This Brown Swiss Cow Animalian had to be one of the older ones that he'd "donated" to Horizon for uplifting.
"Hello, Ulysses," Blueberry spoke politely, "we've come home..."
"Blueberry?" Nate spoke from behind his father and looking away from Meryl, "I'd thought you'd settled into Animalia and the community there..."
"It's a nice place," Blueberry answered, knowing that Nate might recognize her from the times he'd been able to go to Lyre/Animalia after her uplifting, "but it's not quite home in our eyes."
"And you came back?" Ulysses Bowman said slowly.
"This place has always been home, and you've been kind to us, Ulysses," Blueberry answered with a small smile, "and the girls and I figured... that since we've gotten all the formal educations that we need now... we have a business proposition for you."
Mr. Bowman slowly nodded and stepped back and held the door open. Blueberry and the others came in quietly and ducked through the doorframe. They were a bit shorter than Shuixing was, but then they also lacked Shuixing's horns. They came in quietly and in single file with the others following after Blueberry.
"Nate, why don't you take our guests to the kitchen," Ulysses Bowman said to Nate as Blueberry approached. Nate nodded and the procession passed Meryl by with at most a slight acknowledgement of the older woman's presence. Meryl, meanwhile, seemed more focused on wondering where Shuixing was, as that was the Animalian that Meryl had met.
"Shu-ze didn't come?" Meryl asked.
"SHUIXING IS ON HEIYA ISLAND," the last cow spoke loudly and then followed the others into the kitchen.
Ulysses Bowman raised one hand up and waived it back to Meryl as if to quiet her for the moment. He was a bit curious about what this all was, though he was also admittedly curious about this offer was. He hadn't expected the cows he'd donated to return to his own farm in Wisconsin and wondered what would be offered. When he came into the kitchen he found collecting glasses of water and passing them to Blueberry and the others.
"So... Blueberry... what's brought you here?" Ulysses asked to her as Nate shut off the water faucet, "I would have thought you'd be happy in Animalia?"
"I am happy as an Animalian," Blueberry answered, "but as I said... we didn't really feel at home in Nevada. And this is home. As such... the girls and I have been talking some things over."
Ulysses slowly nodded and sipped his coffee.
"And we came up with an idea that we thought would be of help to you," Blueberry continued, "Help improve your sales and care for the cattle you're still raising here."
"And with our youth back we can help with production, too," another of the cows that Ulysses Bowman had donated commented.
"You'd come back to sell your milk?" Ulysses Bowman raised an eyebrow and looked over to Nate who shrugged.
He then heard the crinkling of paper as Blueberry pulled out a small stack of papers from her back jeans pocket. The papers were a bit wrinkled and looked like they would be folded several times to fit in the pocket, but Blueberry had no problem with it. Once she'd gotten the papers out, she handed them to Ulysses carefully. He looked at them to find that they were vaccination notices from Horizon along with related testing material.
"Since Animalian females that are older than seventeen human years are always lactating, regardless of pregnancy," Blueberry spoke, "we are producing again. And Horizon has found and confirmed that so long as we stay up to date on our vaccinations we can produce without the risk of creating an outbreak..."
"And I think our milk tastes even better now," a third cow added.
"Thus we could improve the quality of the milk you sell as well as add to the quantity that you sell," Blueberry added.
"And you'd want to be paid for giving milk?" Ulysses Bowman asked.
"Not just the milk but as additional hired hands," Blueberry spoke, "we can help with the cattle that aren't uplifted... care for them and see to their feeding as needed."
Ulysses raised his mug to sip his coffee again.
"And you know Nate can't stay here forever," Blueberry added as she looked to Nate and then back to Ulysses Bowman, "his first meeting with Shuixing might have just been an interest in martial arts moves and movies... but from what I've seen between them... that's fast becoming real love. And at the same time I don't think she wants to live here full time... or in the area full time."
Ulysses looked down and didn't say anything. A real part of him hoped that there would be a way he could pass the farm onto Nate. His son had worked hard worked well with the animals and equipment used and he personally felt that that was something that Nate had earned the right to carry on from him. He didn't notice Blueberry's brown eyes focused on him. However, he also recognized that Nate was growing more and more interested in Shuixing and that attention was returned. While he didn't necessarily like the idea of losing his son, he found he could respect Shuixing and found her better than Nate's mother who'd effectively left him over the work it took to run the farm and left him with Nate. He'd vented that frustration plenty of times while feeding the cattle and cleaning up after them, moving them breeding barn during their mating season.
"And we can help you," Blueberry spoke calmly as she looked Ulysses Bowman, "do more work... increase production... even help you and Meryl personally."
"Meryl might be a bit difficult," Ulysses spoke.
"We have good lungs," Blueberry asserted, "if need be we can make sure she hears us."
"I may not have many rooms available right now... you might have to settle for a bit of a commute to the farm," Ulysses spoke.
"And we've saved enough up from some odd jobs in Animalia to get started with that," Blueberry asserted, "and can do the same here with what is needed. As some of the other farms in the area may need an extra hand or two. And we're more then willing to offer our help to do the work and help the local community... because this area is home."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"And how's that gone?" the roommate asked, "the work, I mean?"
"Fairly well," Nate answered, "it took a little bit for the state government and the Feds to get full confirmation that Blueberry and the others were vaccinated... but they've also worked well with many of the other tasks. Moving hay bales working with the cattle that weren't uplifted... as well as a few odd jobs here and there around town as well. The real thing will be on how well the milk sells for... and much of that will be with our town's local farmer's market. If it does well enough things could work out very well..."
"And Blueberry's been making eyes at your dad?" the roommate teased, trying to see what the result would be.
"At times," Tad commented, "I think she may have grown up listening to him complain about some of the things that went wrong in his marriage with my mother and sort of bonded to him. Thus when she was uplifted, that old memory made her want to be his friend. Whether or not that goes further... that's up to them and not something I'd want to pretend on."
"And here I thought most people fantasized about getting it on with an Animalian," his roommate teased, "girls go for the male's big muscles and equipment and boys go for the female's big breasts."
Nate blushed a little bit, as he'd had a couple of those sorts of day-dreams about himself with Shuixing, but knowing some things about her past, he was hesitant about that next step as he didn't want to do anything that would hurt her emotionally. That aside, though, with regard to Blueberry potentially being interested in his father, "I would make it a point not to fantasize about my father's sex life."
"Good point," his roommate chuckled.