Sometimes, what starts off as a simple idea becomes a lot more complicated when it's executed. For instance, it had seemed like a good idea to do another bachelor/bachelorette auction for the single herm Animalians for Pride Month. After all, there had been only five of them to start with: Everix, Elena, Holly, Rocket, and Date. However, Date's announcement about the auction to win a date with one of them had a far bigger reaction than anticipated. Many people wanted to be a part of this event, but not just as bidders. They wanted to become hermaphrodites themselves, not necessarily by hooking up with one of the five ladies (if the term applies) who were up for auction.
It's taken a while to get through the multiple requests for hermaphrodite conversion. First there was the matter of determining why these people wanted to become herms. There were plenty of people who were transgender, but some people are just more confused about their sexual identity. Becoming dual-sexed wouldn't necessarily solve these issues, so it was best to determine what they really wanted before doing something irreversible. Of course, some people were a lot easier to see why they needed help, having gone through less reputable avenues to have gender-reassignment surgeries. And since back-alley surgeons often aren't the best at their profession, the results were enough to convince anyone they need a conversion.
Of course, with so many people who were wanting to become herms, not all of them would necessarily be pairing up. As such, the Herm Bachelor/Bachelorette auction was needed more than ever. And it can be very hard to coordinate such a large group of people, dual-sexed or not. So Animalia needed someone with experience to this kind of auctioning.
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Abby was glad to be back home. Her first college semester hadn't been an easy one, namely because of the pandemic. There was also a bit of pressure being the only mare on campus. She had gotten plenty of dirty looks from girls who viewed her as competition and plenty of leers from guys who cared more about her curves than her face. Which was pretty absurd all around as Abby was attending class alongside her mate, Samson. And Abby would rather not think about the looks of envy/lust that Samson generated as well.
But next year ought to be a significant improvement now that the pandemic was in recession. And Abby could just relax at home now. Well, not complete relaxation. She had work to do for the IAC. But at least this IAC was more about comparing with Olympic athletes rather than actual competition. And there was still some summer reading to take care of.
Abby's ear twitched as she heard a knock on the door. She answered the door to see JT. "Uncle JT, good to see you," said Abby, hugging him. She no longer towered him since his conversion, so it was less awkward.
"Hi, Abby, how's college treating you?" asked JT, hugging her back.
"Oh, not as wild as I expected it to be," said Abby with a shrug.
"Well, you can't expect an agricultural college to be that exciting," said JT, "But at least Animalia is never dull."
"You can say that again," said Abby, "Especially with the IAC this year."
"And you're doing a triathlon again?" asked JT.
"More of a demonstration of how an Animalian would measure against an Olympic athlete. Though right now, I'd say the athlete would have the edge. I haven't had a lot of time to swim this last year," said Abby.
"Ah, well, you've got running and biking to make up for it," said JT.
"So what about you? Is this auction harder than the last?" asked Abby.
JT sighed before walking over to the couch and sitting on it. "Well, the main problem is that the, uh, contestants are still sorting themselves out. People trying to figure out if they want to be herms or not," he said.
"I've heard of one person who's actually asexual, but they've felt incredibly lonely because of that," said Abby, "And they want to be a herm so they can finally know what sexual attraction feels like."
"Yeah, but that's just one out of dozens," said JT, "And that's not even the trouble of what they want to become. Not everyone wants to be the herm species already establish, they want to be new ones. They want tigers, cobras, donkeys, rats, rabbits, dragons..."
"Wait a minute," said Abby, "There aren't any dragon Animalians."
"I know that," said JT, "But plenty of idiots still think we have them in reserve. I don't know if they'll end up Komodo dragons or Dinotopians."
"I'm not sure if Dinotopia is ready to expand into hermaphroditism," said Abby.
"Well, they better get ready," said JT, "The way this current craze is going, it's only a matter of time..."
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Since the Herm Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction was going to take longer than expected to get organized, the original herm participants were pursuing their own interests, which mainly involved getting ready for the IAC. Some of them were taking these games more seriously than others, comparative demonstration or not.
For instance, Rocket the mangrove killifish was putting hir all into hir training. Shi felt like this was part of the reason shi was uplifted in the first place. Though there wasn't much reason to doubt hir skill. Shi can leap quite a considerable distance from a standing position, even considering shi was a fish.
But Rocket wasn't neglecting hir ability to swim. Shi was currently swimming laps around the pool in Claw Colosseum. Shi might not be the fastest swimmer among fish Animalians, but shi was still easily faster than any human. Anyways, it felt good to feel some water through hir gills.
Shi had done about 15 laps when another Animalian came to take a dip. It was Alena, who had also been filling up hir time while shi waited for the auction. "Room for one more?" asked the herm bull shark.
"Not a problem," said Rocket, "Were you wanting to race? I think I have an edge there." The difference between the two herm fish was obvious. Rocket was more slimmer, more streamlined, even with hir generous curves. Alena was much more solidly built with muscles, which was clearly a result of hir training for the bodybuilding competition.
"No thanks," said Alena, "I just came here to unwind after a workout. Not sure which I want to do more, the bodybuilding competition or the auction."
"Are you going to be in the men's division or women's division?" asked Rocket.
"Women, of course," said Alena, "I identified as a woman before I converted. Maybe I'm not completely woman, but I've learned to accept it. Besides, Iphis and Ianthe competed in the women's division."
"Well, I hope being too buff won't hurt your chances of romance," said Rocket.
"More like enhance them," said Alena, "I've got quite a long list of people wanting to date me. How about you?"
"Uh, I'm not sure," said Rocket.
"Don't worry, there's bound to be someone who'll be impressed. Especially if you do amazing in the IAC," said Alena.
"Which is why I need to train," said Rocket.
"Well, don't spend all your time training," said Alena, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Er, Jane a dull girl. Ah, whatever."