As others had their reunions and the "Year of the Rat" contest came for the celebration of Chinese New Year, Mr. Hyun and Ling were finishing up some of the looking over things in Animalia again, something that was offered as an idea for him to look at things now that he was an Animalian, himself. Many things really didn't change much from the first tour as the buildings were still the same and many of the people that were working there were the same as before. The only thing that had really changed was him.
The biggest thing often proved to be his balance, as he found that with his hooved feet, he wasn't just on "tip toe" as it were, but was literally balancing on the tips of the nails that made up his hooves. For the most part, Hyun had managed okay since his conversion, but there were some instances in which he'd caught some patches of ice on concrete that hadn't melted and he found himself sliding a little. Thankfully, Ling was there to catch him. Though, he was more thankful for the fact that no one seemed to pay too much attention to things like that. It was a bit surprising as he'd observed that Animalia Ambassadoria, while it had tried to be more authentic as a news organization for Animalia in recent years, relied heavily on gags and jokes, which would thus make Hyun's misfortune something they would want to see.
But they hadn't, and about the only reason Hyun had for it was more that they didn't want to create any international incident on the issue. As Hyun was officially still an agent and representative of the North Korean government and the relations between the US and North Korea were not particularly close. The unofficial part in which he was looking for a way that might enable him to protect Ling from what Chairman Kim had planned for her wasn't mentioned or fully known outside of himself and Ling. That was all part of how difficult things would be in that regard, which would on the surface make the official reason still look like the only reason for the moment.
"Eventually I will get the hang of this," Hyun spoke in Korean as he managed to recover his balance and leaning on Ling a bit for support as they had made their way toward the Claw Coliseum.
"You're already doing quite well," Ling assured him as Hyun was able to rebalance himself and they made their way into the large building.
The meeting was mostly in relation letting Hyun get a look at some of the membership prices for the exercise and fitness classes that were run there. Hyun wasn't normally one who would involve himself in a lot of those sorts of things before, as much of his work had been away from military commands and state sponsored athletics, but he supposed having some opportunity for exercise wouldn't be too bad. It would largely be something that would let him think over ways to deal with the present situation that he and Ling were in. However, as they came in, they were greeted by another Deer Animalian, Hyun guessed he was a White Tail Deer. At the moment he had no antlers, as the ones from last year had been shed and the new velvet covered ones hadn't begun growing in yet, but the most remarkable thing was in his size.
Hyun could tell this male was in fact male by his broad chest and well muscled arms and legs, somewhat visible even through the pants and shirt that the other male deer was wearing. He did note that Ling seemed respectful of him, but then, he'd found that many Animalians seemed to be respectful of each other at times and thus some of that could be the fact that this buck was approaching them as they came in.
"Hello... I didn't expect to have many new herd members coming for the evening's main event," the buck said to them, "though new members are always welcome."
"Ling and I are not part of any local herd that was uplifted here," Hyun answered as he watched the male approach. His height was a bit intimidating, though that was more due to the fact that White Tailed Deer were bigger than the Korean Water Deer.
"Yes, but you are still deer, and it would be impolite of me as "Great Prince" not to say hello and welcome you to the match," the buck answered with a small smile.
"Great Prince?" Ling asked, "you're royalty?"
"Not really," the "Great Prince" answered, "I was merely the oldest and healthiest male deer in the area when the initial outbreak began. I was uplifted in it and double dosed as well... It got me back in my prime and I was happy to integrate into Animalia."
"And you took the name "Great Prince" or..." Hyun asked carefully.
"No... I actually took the name "Thurston" after I was uplifted," the Great Prince commented with a rather sheepish look as he lifted one arm to scratch behind his head for a moment, "but on one of the days while walking along through one of the events in Lyre, I came across a group of kids that thought I looked like a character from some movie... It was fall at the time, so my antlers were there and looked impressive... so I suppose they just made the connection. It's sort of stuck as a nickname."
Ling and Hyun shrugged and nodded. Though, some of it was not as needed for them, as Water Deer didn't have antlers, but rather tusks on the upper jaw and both male and female Water Deer had them, though Hyun's were noticeably larger than Ling's. In this they couldn't really relate to Thurston's point about his antlers.
"But like many of the other groups within Animalia... while everyone gets along reasonably well, it's been nice to meet with the other Deer Animalians for events, chat, and fun from time to time. And thus while Korean Water Deer may not be native to the Americas... you are most welcome to join in some of the activities we've come for... and I'd actually hoped you'd join... show friendship and all that."
Hyun looked to Ling with some puzzlement as to what all this was and surprise that he was being invited to someone's idea of a gathering. Ling only smiled happily and gave a gesture to even urge him to accept the offer. Wanting to hold himself in Ling's good graces, Hyun looked to at least see what this was about.
"Is this something tied to the New Year celebrations?" Hyun wondered, knowing that Animalia had had a history of offering some form of celebrating Chinese New Year, largely after the Five Elements converted. Some of it was odd, given that few citizens of Lyre or Animalia actually followed the Chinese calendar, but he let that be for the moment.
"No," Thurston answered, "The UFC-A has a fight coming up and they have a pair of Gorillas to box it out. Might not be the same as the fall rut, but should provide some measure of competition."
"I'm not much of a fighter..." Hyun said slowly.
"We wouldn't be doing the fighting," Thurston said with a laugh, "we'd simply be watching the fight, and the guys they have working to run the UFC-A have a whole bunch of rules in place to make sure that the competitors stay healthy and that the referees can call the fight if anything happens that looks like serious injury might be possible. So far it's worked out all right and some of the other bucks in the herd wanted to see the match. And after hearing that you converted, Mr..."
"Hyun," Hyun gave his surname so that Thurston had some reference to use.
"Mr. Hyun, I thought you and your mate might be interested... it would allow you to make friends rather than stay cooped up in that little apartment."
"I..." Hyun began, continually surprised by some things. Even though he knew he ultimately would have to think of some defection plan to protect Ling from slavery, he still couldn't expect some of the kind or at least diplomatic receptions he'd gotten.
"We would love to come, if there is room," Ling offered, "as it would be nice to get out of the apartment for a little while every now and then."
Thurston smiled at that.