"Easy there... we don't want to snap the table while trying to extend it," Jessica's father commented as he and Jessica extended the Mariana family table out to allow for more guests to join them personally.
They had often attended the general feast at Animalia's Great Hall, but this year had carried something a bit different. For Jessica's parents it was in recognizing that their daughter truly was growing up and maturing. For some time they could pretend it wasn't happening or that she would always be in the form she'd gained when she first converted. It was something that was something that would always reflect a parent trying to protect their perception of their children. However, things had drastically changed, even since then. While Jessica's ears were rather small, by rabbit standards, and stood erect from her head, they put her height at above her father's height easily. At the same time, her maturing toward being an adult Animalian was becoming more and more obvious. Her hips were wider than her mother's, her bust was easily larger than her mother's, and Mr. Mariana had also noticed that every few days Jessica's showers lasted longer and he could hear soft moaning, event threw a wall. There were also cases where he and his wife had found measuring cups of milk, that Marianas knew they hadn't bought.
Jessica was growing up, and Mr. and Mrs. Mariana could also recognize that Jessica was attracted Roger Lightfoot, the former pet and technically adopted brother of Codey Lightfoot. Roger had always been polite, courteous, and respectful, which Mr. Mariana respected. From what Jessica's parents could see with Roger, it was also pretty clear he was also growing up and that the two remained close. Thus the two had arranged for this year's Thanksgiving to be something of a private affair and have both families have dinner together. It was something that the Lightfoots agreed to and something that Jessica was clearly excited for.
"It's not like Roger hasn't been here for dinner before," Mrs. Mariana commented from the doorway with the scent of squash and other veggies cooking drifting through the doorway.
"Yes... but this will be a big family dinner," Jessica said nervously, "Codey may be a bit weird... but I don't want to make a bad impression."
"And you won't," Mr. Mariana commented as he turned and lifted up the table extension from where it was leaning against a wall and then laid it down in the middle area that they'd opened up. It set in smoothly and easily and he then lifted a finger to Jessica as he moved to stand on the other edge of the table. Once there, Jessica then pushed in to lock the extended table into place.
Just as everything clicked in when there came a knock at the door. Jessica was quick to turn and bounded from the dining room through the living room to the front door. She opened the door to find Roger there in a light gold polo shirt and black dress pants standing there with a warm smile. Codey was slightly behind him and to Roger's right while Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot brought up the rear of the procession. Mr. Lightfoot was carrying a large metal baking pan, from which Jessica could smell the cooked turkey coming from. That was one thing she missed about being Human, but feeling Roger give her a warm hug and feeling his muscles press against her was enough to make her feel quite fine with being a Rabbit Animalian.
"Hey, Jess," Roger said to her, "can we come in?"
"Yeah, come in, everything's almost ready," Jessica spoke as she stepped back and waived her arm to usher the Lightfoots in, "Mom should have space for you to set your baking pan down and then carve the turkey... and other than that we're about ready to eat."
"And you're okay with everyone eating turkey?" Codey asked, "I mean Roger has been fine... but I don't..."
"I'm perfectly fine with you having turkey," Jessica assured the other teen, "my parents didn't convert and I've had no problem with them enjoying the things they've liked."
"That's good... I didn't want to be mean or anything," Codey answered a bit nervously.
He'd grown up a bit, though he wasn't as athletic as Roger, but he had grown a bit more from where he was as a freshman. Some of it was likely the result of some of the physical education classes that WSA ran in addition to some of the martial arts classes that Codey and Roger took together. It was something positive, but there were some times where Codey wasn't quite as confident in other ways. Jessica nodded and stepped back, doing her best to show that wasn't going to put him a position that would make him uneasy.
"Did you see the parade?" Mrs. Lightfoot asked as she and her husband came in and Jessica then shut the door behind them.
"It looked pretty good... though the wind made it pretty clear that they'd be having trouble with the parade balloons," Jessica commented.
"The guys had to be strong to hold them down," Codey commented, which Jessica nodded to.
"Makes me thankful that we're here," Mr. Mariana commented, "our snow storm came through before Thanksgiving and blew through."
"I think we're all thankful for that," Mr. Lightfoot laughed.
"What are you all thankful for, aside from the weather?" Codey wondered.
"To have a good family... a loving bandmate... and the promise of having family friends," Jessica answered with Roger nodded.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the group agreed to meet at Animalia's Great Hall for the communal dinner. For the Albers and Luwrie families they couldn't help but notice how some things had changed, mostly regarding those who weren't there. For the past two Thanksgivings, they had attended the feast or came in to pick up Sophie, Pauline, JC, or Roland at the end before heading home, and had often enjoyed talking with some of the Dinotopians that attended. Even Heather Green, who's first interaction with Sophie and Roland hadn't been great, and Tyra Wrex, who could be quite open about how great sex with Rex was had actually become relatively good company, and it was something that actually helped them get over and forgive Heather for what had happened at the start of Sophie and Roland's Sophomore year at Lyre High. Sophie had privately wondered if her mother had gotten more into it because it gave a chance of marveling at Luke or Andrew, but a part of her really didn't want to dwell on that.
This year, however, most, if not all of the Dinotopians had gone to Dino City. There were a few that were left, though Sora and Yuki had plans that took them away from the Great Hall, Sherry was seated with Wanda and the pair were discussing Sherry's participation in the events in Dino City over the summer and some of the additional work down thanks to the first snow storm that went through earlier in the week. They knew that Samuel Spike was still living in Nevada, but he had gone to having his Thanksgiving dinner with Nadia Wisemans and her parents for Thanksgiving in Reno. In this there really wasn't that much going on, and despite Dinotopians not being a part of Animalia for as long as Abby and Samson had been, there was a strange sense of emptiness without Tyra's voice carrying out some tease at Heather.
"Things seem much quieter than in years past," Mr. Luwrie commented as he sat down on one bench opposite his wife with Roland to his left and Martin Brown to his right. There was some background noise as people were talking, the scraping of plates, and even the sound of chewing as people ate.
"Much of that is probably the fact that many of the larger Dinotopians moved to Dino City," Roland commented, "as while the Great Hall here has the height to let them stand comfortably... many other buildings, even in Animalia, didn't."
"Yes..." Josephine Brown spoke up, "Nearly all of the buildings in Animalia were built in response to what happened on the farm and going through town. Thus the tallest Animalians were a limited number of Giraffe Animalians and the heaviest were the Elephant and Orca Animalians. Thus as the tow was built for the uplifted Animalians... they were built to that size. Which then made them too small for even Heather and her grandmother. And while some of the other ranches and farms... that might have fallen victim to the initial outbreak might be willing to share with Animalia in terms of land area... the town now is beginning to reach the limits of the land available to it from our ranch/farm..."
"Which would raise the cost of construction in the area as the land becomes more valuable," Julia Wesley added in, while trying to fit Belle into a set of plastic booster seats that were set on the bench between her and Thomas. Their older daughters sat on the other side of Thomas Wesley.
"Which would make having Dino City something they can be thankful for," Sophie commented, "while we have friends and family that can all be here together."
There were a few claps from the others present. Abby set down her glass of apple cider while Samson nodded beside her.
"Except for Jessica," Malice commented, "who's having a special family night... with Roger."
"Didn't she say that their arrangements had both families meeting?" Travis asked as he looked to his bond-mate's sister and barely noticing the final click as Thomas got Bash buckled into his booster seat.
"Yes, it was," Sarah commented, "so the whole Lightfoot family will be there... not just Roger."
"So... they like to watch?" Malice joked.
"Malice!" Sarah scolded while Simon put his head in his hands.
"Given that Jessica is only seventeen... like Sophie... I would hope that she is smart enough to wait until she is eighteen to get involved in anything like that," Mrs. Albers commented, "she's only a child."
"By law..." Josephine spoke slowly, "by biology... that is entirely a different matter. And as an Animalian... her libido and other urges will be higher than a normal Human's... and even if she were still Human... at seventeen, she's probably past the point that most Human teenagers actually begin experimenting with sex on their own."
"Look... I can understand those like Abby and Sarah being active earlier..." Mr. Albers spoke, "being double dosed super charged everything in that regard. But I didn't really start having those urges until I was seventeen... and I didn't even lose my virginity until I was in college."
"Yes... but girls start puberty SOONER than boys," Julia told him, "and the fact that you had the desires before you were eighteen shows that those desires predate being of legal age shows that the issue is not something easily handled. You can argue that it would be more "moral" that Jessica or Sophie wait until their eighteen. But that doesn't change that the desire exists. You do recognize that, right?"
"Well... yes..." Mr. Albers acknowledged.
Sophie nervously let her eyes dart between her parents to her friends parents and hoped that no one let it slip that she and Roland had already lost their virginity together. It wasn't something they'd planned and they'd generally managed to avoid further incidents like that since then, but it still happened. And while she and Roland thought their parents might have had a bit of jealousy with regard to the Sauropod Dinotopians, that fact that their parents were adults made that a moot issue.
"And we can understand wanting people to be patient," Thomas commented, with one side glance to Mary Alice, "and none of us would force you to accept anything... but some times we have to admit where we don't have the control we'd like to think we do."
"It's why Animalia has the mandatory sex education classes for all incoming students," Roland told his bond mate's father, "it helps provide some understand on safe sex, STDs and how they can be treated and what the warning signs are. Essentially trying things to cut down on teen pregnancy, STDs, and related issues that go beyond trying to deny that everyone will want to have sex."
"It's not that we oppose that... or don't understand, dear," Mrs. Luwrie said to her son, "It's just that... you and your girlfriend will always be the little kids we raised as parents. It may seem odd... particularly as you both are growing up. But we've seen you as innocent children and that's sort of the image we'll always have."
"Children always grow up though," Simon commented, "and right now... it may be best to be thankful that Sophie and Roland have grown up into responsible and intelligent young adults... and in their relationship seem to be as close as you are to your wife or husband."
The Albers and Luwries both traded glances and eventually answered, "we are thankful for that."