The Year of the Tiger competition wrapped up with some celebration but with things being relatively minor in the sense of how things might be measured. The concept or idea that the Mister and Miss of the year would become "involved" went out the door with the fact that Heracles was married to Megara and the two of them had children that cheered for both their parents in their own way through the tournament. And to a degree, some of the rivalry that had started between Tuxing and Liao that started with that eased a little. Part of this was likely from the fact that Liao had had the idea that winning the contest would attract attention. Another part came by the fact that they had also attracted attention even before the final round, and before they could leave the Claw Coliseum after Tuxing won the crown, two familiar faces showed up that served as reminders of the attention gained.
"Ms. Tuxing, Ms. Liao," came the voice of Lenard Bearstone, making both turn to see the Siberian Tiger Animalian approach with Mikey holding his hand. This got both of them to give a small smile as he approached, though Tuxing also glanced to Liao as well. "First, I wanted to congratulate you on winning the title... though I also wanted to thank you for being there to look after Mikey during many of the male events."
"It was no problem," Tuxing answered, "and you did reasonably well... better than Heracles did with the climbing."
"To be honest, that doesn't say too much," Lenard said sheepishly, "the poles were tall enough that no one could jump to the top and while the claws helped... I'm not sure they were built with my muscular weight in mind."
Both Tuxing and Liao nodded at that. Tigers could climb trees, just as any cat could, but much like lions, their larger size, particularly with the Siberian and Bengal Tiger subspecies, was a hinderance to tree climbing. As either their weight would pull at the bark or other parts of the trunk of a tree and they could slide down, the branches would break under their weight. What gave Tuxing and Liao a bit of an edge over the other Tigress Animalians was that a lot of the training for balance had helped them focus and adapt to the challenges of climbing the poles.
"That's where childhood tree climbing comes in!" came Wayne Buck's voice as the other male Tiger Animalian came around a corner.
Wayne smiled to both Tuxing and Liao and had some excitement that there was no cold shoulder from them. He didn't notice that Tuxing only gave a polite nod and looked back to Lenard, though he did notice that Liao looked to him for a little bit more and that gave him the confidence to move in with his "plan."
"But all that was fun and awesome," Wayne commented, "a little more practice with some things and we'll give Heracles some run for his money. Getting the big lead, he had early..."
"A lot of the points between the males were pretty close to each other going into the fights," Liao commented, "Heracles only fortified his lead when Diego went down relatively early and then going undefeated."
"It was still awesome," Wayne insisted.
"And fun," Lenard agreed, "I would have liked to win... as it would have helped with some of the bills that were left behind from my folks, but I can manage, and I did get to meet new people. That were friendly and kind to Mikey."
Both Tuxing and Liao smiled, and Mikey did too. He was a bit sad that his older brother didn't win, but when seeing that Lenard wasn't heartbroken or anything, Mikey felt better.
"So, what are you doing for Mardi Gras?" Wayne asked.
"What?" Liao asked.
"Mardi Gras," Wayne answered, "it's part of a party, and Lyre/Animalia supposedly has a restaurant that will serve food to celebrate it. It'd be a great date!"
"A date?" Liao asked.
"That is, if you'd like some company for the celebration," Wayne answered, "A guy and a girl... a tiger and a tigress. Get to know each other better."
"Will, I suppose that couldn't hurt," Liao said slowly, "Tuxing and I aren't expected back on Heiya Island immediately..."
"Aside from school," Tuxing chided.
"You signed the permission slip for the excused absence," Liao answered.
"Like Lenny did for me?" Mikey asked to Tuxing.
"I suppose the principle is the same," Tuxing said slowly.
"Though we're looking at a long drive to Idaho," Lenard said slowly, "which is why I wanted to say thank you for all your help with Mikey."
"You wouldn't even stay for Mardi Gras?" Wayne asked, "I admit that I've come from outside Lyre/Animalia too... but I'm at least staying for Mardi Gras. One day wouldn't hurt."
"Well..." Lenard began.
"Great! It'd be a double date then!" Wayne smiled, "I'll pick you up and then we'll pick up the lovely ladies here and we can have lunch at that restaurant providing the Mardi Gras food. It'll be great!"
Lenard gave a bit of a sigh as he felt he'd been cornered into something but seeing a small smile on Tuxing's muzzle was enough to make him accept that. And privately, he wasn't expected back at his job for a few days anyway.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The date was reasonable, and Tuxing did find that the restaurant was set up to play to Mardi Gras. The Five Elements, in their time in Lyre/Animalia before Heiya Island got going was aware of the "celebration." The idea of using it for a date wasn't there, but they knew of the celebration. Though it also ended up with Tuxing and Liao having to do some laundry as they hadn't brought that much clothing, though a lot of it was fairly casual. Lenard and Wayne arrived in a pair of jeans and polo shirt, with Mikey having been dropped off at a daycare for the duration of the date. They made their respective orders and then settled down into a table by the window to eat.
"I'm grateful that none of this is involving any of the other things associated with Mardi Gras," Tuxing commented comfortably.
"Animalians may be well built, but some of us do have standards," Liao agreed.
"I think a lot of that is just kids having fun," Wayne commented, "perhaps not the smartest, but that comes with the mistakes of youth, if you know what I mean."
"The smartness of it would come down to what that person wants to do," Lenard commented, "the school district I work for... they put a fair number of morality type clauses in their contract and reserve the right to remove anyone if they find anything scandalous... nude pictures and things like that. It won't guarantee that one would be fired, but it can happen."
Wayne nodded and then looked over to Liao, "though... I have to ask... there was something about school... Are you...?"
Wayne liked both Liao and Tuxing, as they both carried an "exotic" air about them, but he was a good man and didn't want to come off as creepy.
"I'm still in high school, yes," Liao said bitterly and then sighed, "but it's a complicated thing." From there Liao explained that like Tuxing and the rest of the five elements, she had been kidnapped by a criminal gang and then removed from that region. By the time that she was rescued, after the Five Elements had already become Animalians, it had been years since her kidnapping and her biological family couldn't be reached or found. From there, she'd been essentially adopted by Tuxing to help her adjust and recover from everything, though with Samurai Prep established on Heiya Island and beginning its first school year the previous fall, Tuxing had enrolled her as part of a "last effort" to help her "mature" and recover. "In this, I am eighteen... I've just had to go back a few years in terms of schooling because that was where Heiya Island was able to calculate things based on my records." She then paused to glance to Tuxing, "in terms of actual age, I'm actually older than Tuxing is."
"I was double dosed, however," Tuxing finished which left both Lenard and Wayne surprised. But both accepted it after a moment, given that many countries actually recognized Animalians that had been double dosed as "adults."
"That must have been harsh... for both of you," Lenard said slowly, his voice calm and caring.
"In many ways..." Tuxing answered, "but in both cases, those who did wrong were caught and punished and both of us were stronger for it. It's let me and my sisters take on our roles as part of the Five Elements and focusing on martial arts training and given me time to also look after Liao as she's worked through her own stresses."
"They practically turned her into a mother," Liao teased at Tuxing.
They were then to pause as waiter brought their food and placed them in plates before them. They were all meals that suited carnivores, as all tigers were. But Animalians had also found over the years that some forms of garnish, seasoning, and sauce could be tolerable for carnivorous Animalians so long as it wasn't in excess. And while cats weren't as well known for their sense of smell as dogs, Tuxing could smell the spices coming from Wayne and Liao's plates. She could quickly tell that it was very spicy.
"You're sure that you can handle that?" Tuxing asked to Liao.
"Of course, I can," Liao answered, "if Wayne can handle it, I can handle it."
Tuxing accepted that, but given the scent the two plates gave off, she was grateful her order had considerably less spice in it. As they started eating, Lenard soon picked up the conversation from where it had been before the food arrived.
"I wouldn't say what you've learned is a bad thing, Ms. Tuxing," Lenard said, "it might be a good part of what's made you so good with Mikey. As... to a degree... since our parents died, he's been rather... nervous around some people. Possibly fearful of losing them."
"That'd be understandable given the past two years," Tuxing commented, "Covid's ravaged much of the world and surged and cycled in those surges. As I'm sure your parents were strong people..."
"They were," Lenard nodded, "they were big on ranching and taught a lot of that for both me and Mikey. It got me interested in rodeos, and I've enjoyed the non-professional contests in the summer. They were also very loving people with each other... and that's part of what creates the difference in age between Mikey and myself."
"I would have thought that your parents adopted Mikey," Liao commented before taking another bite out of her dish.
"No," Lenard answered, "Mikey and I are biological siblings. My parents were rather young when they had me and that got them to practice birth control for a while. Then when I was getting close to high school, the decided to have Mikey. Thus, I went to college and got my job as a school librarian in Ashton, Idaho, and Mikey was still pretty young and growing up with my folks."
"And now..." Tuxing said slowly as she looked to Lenard as both Liao and Wayne interrupted with cries of "hot" and got up with their cups and went for the water fountain. In theory it could also provide soda, and some Humans that came to the restaurants in Animalia did take that option, but for Animalians it provided water. It only left Tuxing thinking, "I knew that was too spicy for her..." After that pause she looked to Lenard and finished, "you're looking after your brother. It's quite noble, and he looks up to you quite a bit."
"Thank you," Lenard answered, "it can be lonely at times... but seeing him smile makes me happy."
"And that's something I like," Tuxing smiled, "and in a way... I also like Mikey. He seems rather sweet."
"He is..." Lenard said with a smile, "thank you."