Olympe sat quietly at a table that had long been part of her room, but for years it had been more for decoration and where Juliet Renard-Argenté would place letters and pictures sent to her by her family. Now though, it would have a practical use as her day to day studies were now increasing and the conversion to becoming a Percheron Horse Animalian had improved her mental fortitude in many ways and improved her strength and physical coordination even more. It had made for a bit of a surprise for her family when they were invited up to Juliet's chateau and vineyard to meet the "new" her. The reunion had been pleasant and her father actually seemed happy that she'd taken an interest in athletics and there were of course promises for continued connections between the new Animalian colony and the families that Juliet had done business with before. The one thing that had changed was she needed a much sturdier chair than before, not to mention a bigger bed.
After all, the Percheron was a relatively large draft horse and it left Olympe much heavier than she was as a Human. Muscle had a lot more weight than fat, and in converting, Olympe had lost most of the fat in her body, and what remained seemed to be in her well developed breasts, and had gained a lot more muscle. She wasn't built like a body-builder, but neither was she going to be seen as a pushover by anyone. She was looking over some of her own homework, where the biggest problem had more to do with the fact that pens and pencils were largely built for hands much smaller than what she now had, but she maintained enough focus to get through it. She'd just about finished when there was a knock at the door. She looked up to see that it was Juliet standing in the open doorway and looking to her keenly.
"Hello, Ms. Renard-Argenté, I trust things are well?" Olympe answered with her ears perking up.
"Reasonably," Juliet answered, "though, I've just looked over the tape the Animalia Ambassadoria crew put together."
"You did condone the interview," Olympe pointed out, thinking there would be some anger at giving it.
"I did," Juliet nodded, "but I thought they would mostly be asking you on how you did at the IAC and what you felt about it..."
That got Olympe to think back on the IAC and her participation in some of the various track and field events that she participated in.
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The IAC was fun for Olympe as she was well pleased with her now muscular body and brought back some memories, some going back to even before Madame Renard-Argenté offered to help her get an education even with her mental deficiencies at the time. She could remember seeing the Olympics and seeing people run, through discuss, and shotput, and all sorts of other sports. She liked listening to when they played the various national anthems when a team or individual won Gold. She noted that her father seemed to like those things especially, and there were some times when Madame Renard-Argenté would invite the family members of the girls she was schooling to come up and they'd have dinner and even enjoyed the Olympics as a group. Now, as an Animalian, Olympe wondered if her dad's interest in the Olympics was the reason for her name.
Regardless, it had brought about a great deal of interest in the IAC and its events, many of which mirrored those Olympics. They had races, long jump, high jump, various throwing events, and various others. All of which Olympe wanted to try, and she signed up for nearly all of them and began training, glad that the Lyre High School's Track and Field facilities were still in tact to practice on. Of course, with some events, Olympe found that watching it on television and actually playing the sport. That came with her first attempt at throwing a shotput, which had gone wildly off target and nearly hit someone. Fortunately, no one got hit or hurt and a female White Rhinoceros Animalian named Elly ultimately gave Olympe some pointers. From there, Olympe learned quick and proved to be quite a natural at a few events, particularly the ones that played more to her physical strength.
Her size and musculature served to slow her down in many of the racing events and limited how high she could jump. She also found that while many of the poles used for things like the pole-vault were strengthened to support the weight of larger Animalians, which Olympe found she fit into as a Percheron Horse Animalian. It limited her placement in many of these events and she was often in the middle of the pack with many of them and few she came pretty close to the bottom of those finishing, but with those things, Olympe was just happy to participate and do reasonably well when compared to things that many normal Human athletes did. But then came the things that played more to her physical strength and that was where she'd found she could really shine.
These matches were often divided up by weight as well, largely to avoid having a horse test its strength against a rhinoceros, and that gave Olympe a chance to actually cheer Elly on as she threw against the other megafauna Animalians. Then came Olympe's turn as she threw against a few other horse, cattle, camel, and even a llama Animalian. There was even a female Moose Animalian that was also competing. Olympe watched as the others that were ahead of her. Then finally, Olympe's turn came and she moved into the set area where she was to throw. Olympe collected the ball and hefted it up with ease and then curled it up to her chin. The initial referee marked where Olympe took her position and where the shotput was to be thrown from. The referee then gave a whistle and Olympe then went about throwing the shotput with all the twisting and then heaving it out with all her might. She then watched its flight through the air as it landed in the grass of what had been the football field with a soft thump and then bounced before rolling.
Another ref then came across the field to where the shotput first hit the ground and then put down a stake at that point. That ref then came in took a measuring tape box and began to walk out to the stake while the first referee held the tape down to the starting line. Olympe watched and listened as they then spoke out the official measurement, which was then relayed to the crowd in the stands, which was then put up a digital scoreboard that had been put up just before Animalia got started. When Olympe looked up to it, she noted that her name and measurement moved all the way up to first place and she couldn't help but smile a bit, as she really didn't expect to do that well, particularly after the lower finishes in some of the other events she'd tried. The bigger surprise was that the crowd cheered and when she looked to the crowd she saw a family of Striped Skunk Animalians with the female cradling one infant and holding up a sign that read "way to go" in French.
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"Olympe!" came Juliet's voice snapping Olympe out of her thoughts.
"Huh... sorry... you mentioned the IAC, and I got lost thinking of it," Olympe admitted, "you were saying?"
"I was saying, who told you that I am romantically involved with Juan?" Juliet asked, "and why did you tell this to Animalia's web show?"
"We all thought you were," Olympe admitted, "I mean... he's been here, he's helped you with things, and he's been polite, and you both seem to get along. I... I thought you'd want people to know that you were happy and found someone that wasn't just out to chase after you for your body."
"Juan has been most respectful and helpful with my work here with you and the others," Juliet answered, "both you, those that converted, and those that did not convert. But our relationship is PURELY professional."
"Professional... you mean, you're NOT dating?" Olympe frowned, "but... you looked so happy..."
"We are happy... but it's a professional happiness, not a romantic one," Juliet answered, "and other things aside, that's how it's going to have to be. Remember, he LOST his license in the US because of getting addicted to pain killers. He's needing to prove he can do it again and adding into it France's standards to teach are different from the US. I've managed to get the government to okay an online program for him and an apprenticeship here as part of that program... but that could still take YEARS before he'd have the grades to pass and earn certification. And there, that then means we cannot be involved romantically because of the teacher/student relationship."
"That would be problematic," Olympe said slowly, "I'm sorry... I... I thought you really liked him and were happy.."
"In a way, I am happy with him and privately, between you and me, he does meat many of the things I'd want in a future husband," Juliet gave a weak smile, remembering some of the counseling lessons that she had been assigned to help deal with her own reignited libido and the incident at the Meat Market in Lyre, "but there are professional reasons not to... and things that relate to Animalia's Edicts."
"Edicts..." Olympe blinked, "but you're both foxes, that edict on breeding shouldn't apply."
"It does," Juliet answered, "and for a few reasons. One is that there are multiple species of fox. So saying something is a fox doesn't necessarily mean they're the same. And there there are some critical differences."
Olympe looked curiously to Juliet.
"First, keep in mind that by species, I am a Red Fox," Juliet spoke, "a species that is known for having multiple color phases. The most common is the standard red fox coloration like... like Miss Mallow." Olympe noted some distrust in the romance novelist that had come to the new colony. "But there are other color phases for the Red Sox. This includes Grey, Cross, Black-Brown, Silver, Platinum, Amber, and Samson."
"No gold?" Olympe wondered and noted that Juliet nodded.
"No Gold color phase," Juliet nodded, "Juan is a Golden Island Fox, which is a hybrid between the Red Fox and Artic Fox and using specific color phases to get that specific hybrid Fox species, and usually is a result of selective breeding in the pet trade. And in nature Juan's hybrid species, while it's possible as the Red Fox and Artic Fox do have their ranges overlap, it isn't common and the the Golden Island Fox is normally sterile as a hybrid. In this Juan, if he wants to have children would need to be with another Golden Island Fox..."
"And you want to have children?" Olympe blinked.
"Eventually," Juliet answered slowly, "but because Juan is a hybrid Fox... he and I cannot breed... He will be a good friend and hopefully a good partner in the future. But because of the edicts... we cannot marry and have a family."