Getting out of the jail before Thanksgiving was good, and Mercy did enjoy that to a degree. Technically, she was still caged and had some lessons to get to, but in some ways it was a bit of a step up. There were some classes that were scheduled with regard handling her instincts as a Black Mastiff Bat Animalian, not to mention flight lessons, but Mercy found that much of these ware scheduled later and with certain reasoning to them. The flight lessons, Mercy guessed were an insurance policy to make sure she didn't flee Lyre/Animalia. The tracker on her ankle might allow law enforcement to track her, but she did carry the assumption that her greater speed in level flight would give her an advantage over other flying Animalians and in pure theory, her greater strength as an Animalian might be enough to keep most human law enforcement officers on their toes.
That didn't mean, however, that there weren't other lessons that could come quickly, as Mercy found out after Thanksgiving. Mr. Smith and one of the Animalia PD's wolf officers arrived at her door to begin going through some of the things that Mercy expected to be related to the law enforcement aspect of her punishment... that she was to serve in one of the Rhino Guard's special divisions within the Animalia PD. A part of her also thought that this would also be something more of a branching out process, that the Rhino Guard would expand into putting Animalians with other law enforcement agencies, including Mr. Smith's FBI. That was only a guess, and one that Mercy couldn't confirm, but it was ultimately one that made sense to her. Most of her old "associates" didn't really mess with Animalia.
"Are you ready?" Mr. Smith asked to her.
"You're going to be here for all this?" Mercy asked back.
"Until I am satisfied that you won't fly away?" Mr. Smith spoke back, "Yes. As ultimately there is of much of value that you could help see be returned to their rightful owners if you cooperate... and while Animalia's specific methods of "punishment" are different... they do seem to work."
"Re-education 101," Mercy grumbled.
"It's either that or prison," Mr. Smith reminded her.
"Don't remind me," Mercy grumbled, "let me get my coat..."
She did have fur and it was somewhat helpful, but a largely South American bat species wasn't necessarily used to some of the colder temperatures that Lyre/Animalia had in the winter. In this, she did need an added jacket for these sorts of cases.
"So what are we doing here... catching spies?" Mercy called back as she collected her jacket and then walked back to Mr. Smith and the Wolf Animalian at the door.
"For the moment, an introduction into some of the things that you will be tasked to help with once all your training for the Rhino Guard is completed," the Wolf Animalian spoke, "and give you something to compare your situation to."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The first stop was ultimately one of the apartment buildings that wasn't too far away from where Mercy was staying in. It wasn't huge, but it was certainly boisterous as Mercy was lead into a large play area with a fair number of young Rat Animalians, that had to be of varying ages that were all young enough that they were too young to go to school. There were lots of shouts and noise, and this actually hurt Mercy's ears a bit, particularly they came in hard on her. After all, part of what helped bats in general navigate at night and areas with little to no light was that they would use a form of echolocation that used sound as an extra means of navigation.
Bats weren't blind, and in fact a good many bats could actually see quite well, but that use of echolocation helped. Though, for Mercy, it didn't really help all that much to have around twenty kids giving cheers at having visitors and then surrounding her. It was only when a few adult voices cut in that things calmed down a little.
"Settle down now settle down... and a bit lower on the volume, please," came one female voice making Mercy look up to see Mary Piper and a large male Brown Rat Animalian following in her wake. Slightly behind them was an all white female Rat Animalian who was using her arms and hands as a gesture to move the boisterous children deeper into the room. "Hello Mercy... what brings you here?"
"Mostly her first lessons at crime and punishment in Animalia... and checking up on Kelly's progress," the Wolf Animalian spoke calmly.
"Kelly?" Mercy wondered.
"That would be me," the white furred Rat Animalian spoke as she moved some of the last of the younger Rat Animalians away, "you could say I was kinda drafted into helping the Pipers for my role in pretty much wrecking a hotel room in Las Vegas."
"And she's actually done rather well," the male Rat Animalian spoke, "they do seem to like her... and she's even managed to help with some of the budgeting in handling them all..."
Mercy's eyes widened as she looked at the host that were playing, climbing on plastic play structures and tossing balls to each other. She then looked to Mary who stood there quietly. The male stood near her, as a sort of hopeful lover, though Mercy also noted that Mary Piper kept some degree of distance from him.
"These are all yours...?" Mercy asked.
"In a manner of speaking... yes," Mary answered, "but a lot of that ties into what happened with Jack and I that I don't want to get into. Let's just say it's complicated and leave it at that."
"And Kelly's done a good job, sir," the male Rat Animalian, Jack, said to the Wolf Animalian officer, "some of the excitement right now is probably that you've brought in someone they haven't met before..."
Mercy got the sneaking suspicion that she was in for a lengthy series of hellos...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Much of the rest of the trip included more such visits with members of the famous "seven on four" night. Mercy remembered the news reports on that and could see the various angles that were taken on it. Some saw it as a case rampant lust and foolish desires running out of control and to the point of destroying private property, and specifically a hotel room, while others put it as that some just weren't fully prepared, including those that participated in the night. When she'd first seen the news reports, Mercy had found them amusing, but not much more than that, though she could also see the reasoning behind the responses that came to it.
The punishments that were handed down on the seven females seemed rather unique in that they were all put into "community service" positions to serve in Animalia. Some of it was fairly interesting in what the punishments were, with Kelly as a paid nanny for the Piper clan's children, Lisa was working as a featured comic at the Meat Market, Dao was working with Olive with some exercise classes that Dao proved to be fairly good at running. All of that was something that Mercy had never expected, as yes they were paying off the debts they had incurred, but the specific jobs usually weren't the ones selected. Betti actually had her debts paid by her new adoptive family and had her enrolled at WSA, which sort of reminded Mercy of Heather Green and Mary Piper's paying her bail to let her have Thanksgiving outside Animalia's jail, which only further surprised Mercy on what some Animalians would do. And for the most part, the first four that Mercy met seemed perfectly fine with it.
The check in on Scala and Lexi didn't have the same sort of happy attitude. Mercy could see a clear scowl on the Gila Monster Animalia's scaled lips as she dumped a small waste basket into a larger trash bag that was on wheels.
"As you can see, we are doing the job you assigned us... and I'm sure the reports that the Great Hall's chief custodian will show that we've done it well!" Scala spoke with clear irritation in her voice, which Mercy detected.
"He has... he's also noted a lot of complaining," the Wolf Animalian that was escorting Mercy and Mr. Smith commented. "Particularly from one of you."
Scala gave a bit of an irritated hiss and stomped out with the now empty wastebasket to return it to the office that had needed it emptied. That left Mercy standing there a bit puzzled at the whole scene, though a part of her figured there was some case of irony in the punishment. She remembered from the seven on four night reporting that the party had trashed a hotel room that would take days for the hotel's staff to clean and then replace the materials destroyed in the night. Thus fact that Scala and Lexi were tasked with serving the Great Hall's custodial staff was a rather ironic punishment. As Mercy thought on it, it wasn't too unlike her own, a former thief punished by being forced to serve law enforcement in ultimately catching other thieves.
"She's actually gotten a bit better," Lexi spoke up softly once Scala began going up the stairs to the Great Hall's second floor, "I mean... she's irritated because this wasn't the sort of thing she did before and that she feels the position is beneath her... but she's gotten better."
"She's accepted it?" Mercy wondered.
"In the sense that she can't get out of it... I suppose, yes," Lexi gave a nod, "though it wouldn't surprise me that once she's paid off her part of the debt to the hotel in Las Vegas that she'll quit and look for some other line of work."
"Makes sense," Mercy commented, "I mean... I've never heard of custodial work being exciting..."
"Generally, it isn't," the Great Hall's chief custodian and building manager said from his chair, "but it's also a task that NEEDS to be done. Otherwise... the world would be living in a mess. And I'd suspect that Scala knows that too... and might be more than willing to do it for herself, as it were, but there is a certain level of responsibility that everyone has that goes beyond just our own homes."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The last of the group that Mercy was introduced to was a Bavarian Warmblood Animalia who had the name of Sylvia, though Mercy wasn't sure on the last name, if the mare even gave it as she walked through the inside of the Brown Family's barn.
"This is a large space..." Mercy commented as she looked over the high wooden rafters and the partial upper level that had hay overhanging the central area.
"Yes," Sylvia agreed, "Mr. Brown and his wife say they generally kept a lot of their cattle in here during the winter when the weather was expected to be bad... and that would help with milking with regard to the cows. Now that everyone's an Animalian... though, most of the barn's purpose is to hold the crates for apples that they've picked and were ready to sell to local stores and other markets, or the milk containers that the cow Animalians would use to sell their milk."
"They still do that?" Mercy wondered, "what about the virus?"
"Supposedly, so long as an Animalian stays up to date on their vaccinations, the virus would have no effect," Mr. Smith commented as he watched Sylvia set one of the metal canisters down next to the others.
"Mrs. Brown said that too," Sylvia answered swished her tail a little and doing little to hid the giggle when she noted that Mr. Smith did notice her bottom, even if she was wearing jeans that covered everything, "Didn't really understand all the science stuff... but I suppose its not my place to complain. They tell me where they want the stuff taken and I take it there. Different from what I'm used to... but not too bad, and it will have its positive side to it."
"Blisters? Long work in bad weather?" Mercy wondered, while noting the Wolf Animalian shaking his head.
"No... finding a nice stallion to ride, what any mare wants," Sylvia smiled, "Most of the stallions that are already here apparently have bond mates already, but given some of the attention the Brown family has gotten, they may do more business, which would mean more land bought and turned into orchards, that will mean more workers... which could mean well hung stallion, just for me..."
Mercy really didn't know how to respond to that and looked over to see the Wolf Animalian still shaking his head while one thumb was looped under the belt that held up his police uniform's trousers.
"This is why Mr. Brown didn't come in with us on this check in?" Mr. Smith whispered to the Wolf Animalian.
"Yes," the Wolf Animalian answered back, "from what's come in with her progress reports is that she actually IS learning the work required, but her attention is rather focused on finding a man... and that she is not necessarily above flirting with the Animalian stallions that work with the Browns or for them."
"Unbelievable," Mercy managed... though a part of her wasn't necessarily turned off on the general idea. One of her earlier meetings regarding some of her lessons on instincts and flight had been with a male Bat Animalian, and while he wasn't a Black Mastiff Bat Animalian, he had surprised Mercy in the sense that he'd gotten some daydreams of her own that drifted along those lines. Mercy hadn't expected that at the time.