Miles was enjoying a quiet afternoon at UNLV. He was in his dorm room. It was one of the standard dorms and was apart from the PET House. The fraternity/sorority for Animalians was friendly and a few friends that had been there at WSA had also joined, but the actual housing there was a bit more limited. The college itself also held certain requirements for that freshmen also live in the main dorms for that year and could then move to fraternity/sorority housing, or some other residence in the years after. With most of his money being what he earned for Animalia Ambassadoria, Miles was in fairly decent shape financially, but he still had to abide by those rules. Of course, there were other benefits that came from that, which he was showing to his roommate.
"Damn... she's hot," his roommate, a young African American man, commented as he looked at a photo of Miles being hugged by Eloise, "and you got yourself a French girlfriend besides... it must have been a lot of fun over spring break."
"There was nothing like that," Miles answered as he remembered the picture.
He'd just made it up to Renardville to find that many of Juliet's first class were also on "spring break," which puzzled him a bit, though he had to admit that it could have been a coincidence that whatever college that Eloise was attending had their spring break at the exact same time that UNLV and many other American colleges were. They arrived at the same time and Miles found himself catching Eloise in a flying hug and then feeling her nuzzling her head and muzzle onto the top of his head while forcing his head into her chest. Once the excitement dropped down, she then went over a fair number of things since the summer. Most of the first class that Juliet had been teaching had grades good enough to choose attending one of the various universities and colleges in France, and Eloise had accepted that. About the only one who didn't was Olympe, and that had more to her taking up the work with the chateau's vineyard, though from what Miles had been told the Percheron Animalian was also taking some courses online. Then there was Juliets wedding to Raoul and Eloise talking about how seeing Juliet happy made her happy, and it almost sounded like the Rabbit Animalian was talking about a beloved parent.
"Why not? You're both Rabbit Animalians," his roommate questioned.
"Well... she's a Rabbit Animalian," Miles corrected, "and specifically based off of the Domestic Rabbit. And because there have been cases of escaped domestic rabbits and wild rabbits, in America, most of them would be some cottontail species, have been able to produce viable offspring, Animalia's edicts wouldn't forbid that interspecies breeding. Though, it's also something that can be complex."
"How's that?" his roommate wondered.
"Well... there are cases where mundane Red Foxes and Arctic Foxes have been crossbred for the pet trade," Miles answered, "and yet, despite both species being under the genus Vulpes, the hybrid offspring between them have proven not to be viable on their own. The Animalia Virus could make that hybrid viable, but it would only be workable with another Animalian of the same hybrid species. And that's all within one genus. In contrast, most wild rabbits and domestic rabbits are actually of different geneses."
"Maybe rabbits are just better at aligning things than other animals, if you know what I mean," his roommate laughed and laughed hard.
Miles rolled his eyes. That joke was rather old, and after becoming a Jackrabbit Animalian, the joke also lost a lot of its humor. But his roommate liked it and went with it, and he laughed long enough that Miles found himself chuckling at the humor more than the joke itself.
"I was getting to that part," Miles answered, sighing at how often this particular question came up. Pretty much all the Rabbit and Hare Animalians he'd met understood this, and a few of the Animalians that worked at Horizon had picked up certain things, but a fair number of others never seemed to pick up on that. It even included some Animalians, which at times could be puzzling, but Miles had also long accepted it. "The Argenté de Champagne, the breed of rabbit that Eloise is, is a breed of Domestic Rabbit. Its closest wild relative is the European Rabbit. And while the Black-tailed Jackrabbit, the kind of Animalian I am, has "rabbit" in its name, it's actually a hare. And hares are generally larger, less social, and don't live underground. Rabbits are generally smaller, more social, and will nest underground to avoid predators. And while some domestic breeds of rabbit, like the Flemish Giant can get pretty big, that could also be the result more of selective breeding and feeding that has done something that likely wouldn't happen with wild rabbits."
"Interesting," his roommate commented, "though... I gotta ask... why are you majoring in journalism again? You'd make a good scientist."
"Most of what I know about rabbits and hares was part of what I had to study for my conversion," Miles answered, "and Eloise is a friend... though, we did have a good time at the renaissance fair that Juliet put on at her chateau for spring break..."
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"A lot of this looks pretty interesting," Miles commented as he and Eloise walked along some of the booths that were set up.
They weren't on the front lawn of the chateau, likely as that was to be preserved for things that visitors would see when they came to Renardville, but they also hadn't torn down the planted areas for the vineyard that was on the property. Instead, they were in a back section and away from much of the built-up areas for either the colony or the main economic activity that took place on Juliet's land. They had gone past some of the grape vines that were part of the vineyard, and Miles thought he saw Olympe checking on them with a white Stallion Animalian, though he wasn't good enough on horse breeds to know the breed of Horse Animalian helping Olympe beyond the obvious point that he wasn't a Percheron like her. Once they got to the area they were at know, they found various tents and other things set up. There was a sort of jousting arena that had the combat area using large bales of hay fencing it off. The tents had other things set up, though some of them also seemed to have things set up on Medieval Japan, not Medieval Europe.
"Though... I'd wonder on why some of the samurai stuff is here," Miles commented, "I don't think anyone in Europe had real trading contacts with the Far East until practically the end of the Medieval period in Europe's history... at the earliest."
"Some of that is likely a result of Kasumi coming here and joining the Belles Bętes staff," Eloise answered, "She is Japanese... but has apparently had a great deal of admiration for all things French. Which lead to when she converted and chose a silver-phase Red Fox to be the kind of Animalian she wanted to be, and then played to a lot of that interest. It created a bit of a mess when we'd had a field trip to Heiya Island and Juliet heard her own name as the winner of a wet tee-shirt contest."
"That wouldn't sound good for teaching," Miles commented as they looked over a tent that had pictures and diagrams of how European knights compared to Japanese samurai.
Eloise nodded, "and France's standards would be at least similar to what America requires of her teachers. And discovering that she had a twin that wasn't related to her and using her name naturally angered Juliet. But she did recover, and Kasumi's come here to work at Belles Bętes and has even offered a touch of the orient to the Champagne region. Though, I think they're still working on a new name, as Kasumi doesn't want to be called Kasumi..."
Miles nodded and looked over some of the diagrams that showed the nature of the armor used, with the European knight also showing the progression of the chainmail used in the early Medieval Period to the plate armor worn at the end of the Medieval Period. There were even graphs that showed the effectiveness of each set of armor and how they improved over time. There were similar charts and graphs for the development of the armor the samurai wore. There were also pictures and things that gave him some indication that a lot of this Medieval fair had likely consulted a fair number of historians for both Europe and Japan, as some of the drawing of knights looked like those that came from outside France.
"So... she remains a fan," Miles commented, "Well... before you go back to your college, could you let her know that I wish her well in finding something appropriate. Something that won't get your teacher in trouble."
"I can," Eloise commented and reached for one of Miles's paw-like hands, "or we could do it together."
Miles raised one eyebrow, "Eloise... you know I'm a hare and you're a rabbit, right?"
"Yes," Eloise answered.
"And you understand that this was partially what created a lot of crazy trouble for you regarding trying to hook Ms. Juliet..." Miles began.
"Renee," Eloise corrected, "Raoul's family name is Renee, and I think Juliet and he have even worked out a hyphenated name, Renee-Argente. Given that the chateau, the vineyard, and everything else are technically in her name."
"To try and hook Mrs. Renee-Argente up with a different Fox Animalian who she had hired to help expand her school here?" Miles asked.
Eloise blinked and nodded. She and the girls had done all that, but they assumed that because Juliet and Juan were both Fox Animalians that things would be fine. Some of the details were quite embarrassing and they didn't recognize the potential consequences being as big as they could have been had the idea worked. But much of it had been created to make Juliet happy, as they saw how she had looked alone and sad at times and figured a husband would make her happy. Eloise still judged the motivation to be right, as Juliet had seemed much happier once she and Raul started dating and particularly after the wedding. The fact that Juan was also dating Raul's daughter made some things ever more interesting.
"We all apologized for all that," Eloise answered, "but, our only goal was to make Juliet happy and thought that because Juliet and Juan were both foxes, it would work and having a family would be nice. We didn't realize how far apart the Red Fox and Golden Island Fox are... with the latter being a hybrid."
"And a lot of that is my point," Miles commented, "we could never have a biological family, even if you wanted it. It's something parents have had to accept too, but they have stated that they're fine with being different Animalians because they have me as their son, and despite my dad being a Macaw and my mom being a River Dolphin Animalian... and my being a Jackrabbit, our DNA does show the familial ties. And my parents are okay with that. But at present, you and I don't have that sort of option."
"Maybe," Eloise commented, "but... for right now, I'm just looking for some fun and maybe dating. No breeding would be involved. And if things move forward... and they go beyond that, there would be options that would follow Animalia's edicts."
"So..." Miles began.
"Nothing in this is about permanence," Eloise answered and then got onto tip toe to nuzzle her muzzle to his.
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"So..." his roommate began, "you got laid and it WASN'T the start of a romantic relationship?"
"Not a formal one," Miles answered, "and it may not go beyond just that. Eloise has her college to go to, and I have things here at UNLV. Both of us could find someone that could be romantic matches. It was... more of a very pleasurable one-night stand. She took her birth control pills and mentioned something on timing to be safe..."
His roommate looked down to the picture that Miles had sent him on his phone. He could see Eloise's smile and noted her generous hips and bust. There was something in that smile that told him that Eloise might be thinking about more than just a "one night stand," particularly if their first meeting had been years ago while Miles was still the anchor for Animalia Ambassadoria. He'd had some one-night stands of his own, but if they didn't turn into longer romantic relationships, the girl didn't follow after him for years.
"Dude, I think she might be crushing on you more than just a passing fad," his roommate told him.
"But we hardly know each other," Miles answered, "I've done some coverage of Renardville for Animalia Ambassadoria, but my Spanish is stronger than my French and a lot of what I know about her is the basics. Where she came from, how Juliet Renee-Argente took her into her care and served as her teacher until she became an Animalian. There isn't much more than that. And when we first met, she didn't get the difference between rabbits and hares. She thought I was another rabbit."
"A lot of people won't know the difference between rabbits and hares," his roommate countered, "largely because there are so many similarities between them. The cute button tails, the long ears, the buck teeth."
"Our tails are actually longer than you'd think," Miles corrected, "we just keep them tucked up safety and comfort."
"Still, rabbits and hares are similar and outside of people in the biology and ecology department, many will see them as the same," his roommate reminded him, "and while you may not be as buff as some of the Cattle Animalians or the Dinotopians, but you've got a good enough body plan that just about any woman would want a date, at least... Human or Animalian."
Miles rolled his eyes.
"And she's seemed to pursue the interest for a while," his roommate considered, "just think about it, is all I'm saying. Who knows... it could bloom into something more. And from what has long been posted on Animalia's edicts, you can date, and you can have sex. The thing you can't do is breed."
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" Miles threw up his hands in disgust and earning laughter from his roommate.