"You did quite well!" Shuixing said to Nate as the early rounds for the male participants completed.
"Well a lot of it seemed to relate to things I'm already pretty familiar with," Nate answered, "granted dad and I never had to pull a plow before... but it's not something we don't know about. Some of the classes I've been taking at the University of Wisconsin have related to theory on how to plant and plow and where, when, and how to change directions if need be... and that'll ultimately depend on the topography and the plot that is owned."
And a lot of that was true. Nate was glad to have been allowed time to come to Lyre/Animalia to compete, though he also knew that it would mean that nearly all of his time was to be committed to both training and homework. As he was now in his spring semester and if he wanted to graduate, he'd have to complete his classwork. He was able to borrow a lap top from the college in order to go through his classes while in Animalia/Lyre for the competition. This had included basic classes on agriculture and what to do, though some of these classes had also come in years before he'd met Shuixing, but he still had classes to take and it would mean a lot of his time would be spent handling other responsibilities he had to abide by. Now with it being February, it wouldn't be too long before May, his graduation, and with Blueberry pregnant, the Bowman farm was secure and Nate could then move to Heiya Island to be with Shuixing full time. For now, just seeing her in person made him smile.
"And you're training has turned out quite well," Shuixing smiled as she ran one hand along the front of Nate's sweatshirt and feeling the firm muscles they covered.
"Well... a lot of what I have is from all the hard work on the farm," Nate admitted, "and as you could see with the Zoom training sessions... the college's gym, while it will let me in with the proper masks and so on... a lot of the equipment wasn't built for Water Buffalo Animalians. So I can lift the bars and all that... but some of the machines can't handle my weight all that well and some of the barbells aren't big enough to hold the weight that would challenge me."
"It still worked," Shuixing smiled underneath the mask she wore, "and now we'll have to see on how well my half of the contest goes."
"Which I'm sure you'll win," Nate assured her, "you're the bravest, you're the smartest, you're graceful, and you're the most beautiful."
Shuixing felt herself blush heavily, though it was unlikely that Nate would be able to see it through her black fur. While they did try to avoid having things being too much like a beauty contest, there was a lot of that sort of thing that did remain as part of the competition, at least with the females. But there was some element in which many Animalians felt fine with it, and while Shuixing didn't have the sort of experience that Maddie or Iowa had at "displaying herself," she had grown a bit since being freed and becoming an Animalian and her added skills in martial arts getting better and better she'd begun to grow more confident with herself. Meeting Nate and finding him attracted to her over her giving him martial arts lessons only made her happier, and once Nate became her bull, pretty much all of what she'd went through before Animalia was gone. She had her mate and the man she'd spend her life with. And while he had his school work to work on, that didn't mean she wasn't going to assure that her gained confidence wouldn't go to waste.
They went from the field area where the bull's preliminary contests to the Claw Coliseum where the pageant was to go on. Because of the pandemic, all of the guests that were able to attend in person were special guests and either personal friends or family of those involved. That allowed Ulysses and Blueberry to come in, as well as Nate to watch those "cows" that would be participating in the pageant. Most of the rest could only watch on television, which was how Shuixing's sisters were watching. Some couldn't come for other reasons. Meryl and Olly still had their shop to run, and from Nate had told Shuixing they'd also had a a rather contentious call with Olly's sister that related Meryl's pregnancy. That had to be something, though given the difficulties in getting permission to come into Lyre/Animalia from Heiya Island, Shuixing wasn't going to complain.
She made her way through to the dressing room area that one of the locker rooms had been set up for. Many of the others were already there and were either ready or getting ready. Among them was Strawberry how looked over to see Shuixing as she came in to prepare for the pageant, which would play to some of the "beauty" elements that went into these sorts of things, along with some basic talents that was there to picked up along the way as well. There had been some posts online that suggested that the pageant be little more than all the participating Cow Animalians to come out and show how much milk they could produce. That was quickly shot down. Shuixing's talent would relate to her own skills in martial arts and specifically within the element she represented with her sisters. Strawberry's was to sing, and from what Shuixing knew, it was a folk song that Ulysses had often sung while working.
"So... how did the bulls make out?" Strawberry asked, "How'd Nate and Ulysses do?"
"Well... a fair a mount of went as would be expected," Shuixing answered, "one of the bulls that was uplifted from the Brown Farm actually won the race, but only just barely beat Brawn who would be expected to do better in the final round and the "Mountain Race." But Nate did well enough to qualify for the finals."
"And Ulysses?" Strawberry wondered.
"He did better than a few of the Belgian Blue bulls," Shuixing answered, "and probably had the most "professional" job out of the group... but because a lot of this was a race, he didn't make the finals."
"He and Blueberry have said he didn't expect to make the finals," said Blackberry as she also came in to get ready, "be he wanted to show that just because we're diary cattle that we can't work beyond giving milk or anything like that."
"And he did look pleased that he'd beaten a few of the Belgian Blue bulls... often because they couldn't keep the plow straight or balanced," Shuixing reported, "which meant having to stop and rebalance the plow or having to go back and start again if the plow completely rolled."
The other two nodded while the three of them got dressed. Shuixing had a specialized gown that would give her freedom of movement and carried a bit of an oriental style to it. It then had the year in Chinese characters on the bottom of the white dress and with two stitched images of the outline of a Water Buffalo's head and horns done in black which were supposed to represent her and Nate. For come the summer, when Nate had graduated from college and the pandemic was more under control, it was hoped that she and Nate could have their wedding, but that was still in the future. And for now, there was still the pageant to go through.
And they did go through with it with their fair share of ups and downs. There were fewer cows that were participating than their had been bulls, though some of this was expected given that a good many men became bull Animalians to work with their body building careers and not much more than that. Not many women often became cows, often because they were portrayed as fat or clumsy or lacking grace, odd given that strength, power, and athleticism were often attributed to bulls, particularly those used in bullfights, like the Spanish Fighting Bull, which Brawn was, or those that were used in western rodeos, and bulls and cows were the same species, cattle. Animalia had done a decent job of breaking down some of that perception, but then at the same time, given the rather voluptuous build that all female Animalians had, gaining wide hips and a large chest would be the result of becoming Animalian, and at the same time, while it was true that all Animalian females constantly lactated, regardless of whether they were a mammalian Animalian or whether or not they had been pregnant, the cow Animalians often needed to be milked more frequently. And a fair number of women often chose other animal species to convert to avoid that sort of thing.
This gave Shuixing a good chance to prove herself in that the overall competition was smaller, and for the moment they were only competing for the four spots that would take part in the final challenge, along with the four bulls that had made it to the finals already. This had the potential to make things rather close as each contestant went through their routine. Maddie did something of an interpretative dance, which wasn't sexual as the festival was to be advertised for broadcast to all age groups. Strawberry sang. Blackberry juggled, and this even included things that would be at risk for breaking. But Blackberry seemed to have very soft hands and nothing was broken. Shuixing went through her round of exercises, which actually carried the point of breaking things, namely sets of cement blocks with her fists and feet. And given the stage she was on, she was also glad her gown had come with a set of light grey pants that came down to her knees. And as each group they then waited for the judges to give their scores and name those that advanced to the final round.
Eventually a decision was made and Itegami stood up to speak for the judges, "this contest was a close one. As all of the contestants have demonstrated the strength, skill, beauty, and noble nature that can be expected from all animals, including bovines. The four that will be moving on are Blackberry Bowman in fourth, Maddie in third, Brunilda in second, and Shuixing in first."
Shuixing blinked in surprise at placing first, as she'd known that Maddie had been one of the few Human women to become a Cow Animalian and Brunilda was one of the Brown family's cows. Both of them had experience with being Cow Animalians well before Shuixing became a Water Buffalo, that was something that Shuixing expected would given them an advantage. But she didn't get too much time to ponder over how she made it to first in the preliminary rounds as she looked out to see Nate clapping happily for her in the stands.