The end of the school year was often big for many students, and while some parents were looking at curtailing certain activities, there were others that weren't. Among them were a small group of seniors that went to the same school that Tim went to. For Vince Lake and the small group of friends, there was the case where despite having recently graduating from high school, teenage rebellion still ran high. Their parents had their say with regard to attending college and had their rules related to what they could do while living under their house's roof, but with summer now arriving, Vince and his friends figured a bit of an excursion was worth the adventure, and with Tammy Jones' family owning an old Volkswagen van, they had the means to travel together and see some of the sights together.
Touring Lyre/Animalia wasn't the most obvious destination for such a trip and their parents had their questions, and Tammy's even stated that she wouldn't be given the money to pay for any conversion. But none of them had any intent on becoming Animalians, they were just curious about things there and after seeing and meeting Venus at the prom, that kind of curiosity was only made bigger. Venus hung out more with Tim and his friends, and they were all Juniors, but they did meet the Sphynx Cat Animalian and generally found her both friendly and reasonable. They also noted that Venus didn't act "sex crazed" the way their parents said all Animalians behaved, and that brought them to Lyre/Animalia to see some of the sights learn some things. Though some of the tour ended up being more of a walking tour. Though, that also produced some surprises...
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On one of their tours, they had made their way into one of the areas where that part of Animalia looked fairly upscale, but had the road largely blocked off with a large black vehicle parked outside the residence. There were flags on the vehicle, and while the colors were red, white, and blue, it was NOT the US flag. It was the three horizontal striped flag of the Russian Federation, and for the moment there were a few Rhino Animalians standing guard and keeping things away from the car. One looked particularly grumpy.
"Is something going on?" Tammy wondered to that Rhino Guard member.
Before he could answer, the door to the building opened and man in a dark suit with a Russian flag pin on the lapel came out with a Brown Bear Animalian in military uniform following after him. The Animalian seemed quiet and subservient while the man in the suit looked triumphant. He also wasn't paying super close attention and Tammy, Vince, and their group could hear the man in the suit speak to the soldier behind him.
"Nu, Sergey, yesli uchest' vse obstoyatel'stva, ya by skazal, chto plan udalsya," the diplomat spoke, "Vozmozhno, «Gorizont» ne sledoval nashemu grafiku, i vaktsinatsiya, kotoruyu oni proveli, predotvratit obrashcheniye vashikh tovarishchey... no obshchaya situatsiya poydet NAM na pol'zu. Teper' u nas yest' obrazets, kotoryy my mozhem ispol'zovat' dlya kopirovaniya vaktsiny, a obrazets virusa v vashey krovi pozvolit nam sdelat' to, chto my khoteli s samogo nachala. Cherez god my smozhem sformirovat' otryad elitnoy pekhoty Animalianov, kotoryy prodemonstriruyet silu i moshch' Rossii, ne riskuya pri etom sprovotsirovat' nekontroliruyemyye vspyshki. Natsisty, upravlyayushchiye «Ukrainoy», stolknutsya s soldatami, kotoryye sil'neye ikh i polny reshimosti vernut' Rossii svoyenravnuyu provintsiyu, SOZDANNUYU ROSSIYEY. I «Gorizont» ne smozhet nas ostanovit'... a amerikantsy dazhe ne popytayutsya. Poskol'ku Horizon, skoreye vsego, ozhidayet natsionalizatsii svoyego biznesa... khe-khe... khe-khe... "kapitalisty" moi zadnitsy... MY budem kontrolirovat' virus Animalia v budushchem. Vse ikh kolonii budut NASHI. Vse ikh den'gi budut NASHI. I ikh budushcheye budet NASHIM."
They disappeared into the black vehicle without much attention being paid to the Rhino Guard members or the four Humans standing near by.
"What was all that?" Vince wondered.
"To be brief..." Aleksi Nozdrin spoke slowly and doing his best to keep from slipping into his own Russian accent and express his personal frustrations too much, "the diplomat is bragging on Russia's success in its dealing with the present US government and gaining scientific and strategic advantages to suit their objectives... and complete with mischaracterizations of Ukraine and its government and mocking Horizon's future."
"This was about the war in Ukraine?" Tammy asked the Rhino Guard member, surprised at the accent and frustration that was evident.
"In a way, but also plays into other things that Putin has wanted in international relations," Aleksi answered, "he hasn't governed as a Communist... but in many ways, the Russian state still plays a fairly big role in the Russian economy. And when Animalia got started, they had the hopes for gaining access and control over the Animalia Virus. Something that Horizon has largely kept control of and kept out of Russian hands. They might allow things, provided one follows set rules, but they've also made sure that one can't come in, get the Animalia Virus and then leave. Likely for fear of theft of Horizon's intellectual property and the weaponization of the Animalia Virus. "
"But don't Animalians not like warfare and all that sort of stuff?" a third senior wondered.
"It's more that Animalians do not like wars of aggression," Aleksi explained, "if someone were to attack a country where Animalians lived and they saw that as an attack on them... they'd be willing to fight. As it would be seen as a defensive fight..."
"Like defending territory," Tammy surmised.
Aleksi nodded.
"But what about Animalians not liking the scents related to gun fire?" Vince asked.
"Not all Animalians have a sense of smell as good as a wolf or a dog... and even among those that do, it should be noted that there will be Humans that are not fond of the scents related to a battlefield," Aleksi spoke, "no one really likes the scent of burning oil or cordite or any of the sorts of chemicals that come from modern weapons. But they accept it. So if an Animalian is ultimately willing to endure the scent, they can and will endure it. The bigger thing has been more nature of "machinery" in warfare that if one wanted a tank of for Rhino Animalians, they would need a bigger model as I wouldn't fit in what is there now... but that sort of requirement wouldn't necessarily apply for infantry. All that would be needed to be adapted is the rifle and hand held weapons that would be used."
"But wouldn't that Bear Animalian know he's being used?" the fourth asked.
"Perhaps... but he also won't have too many choices," Aleksi spoke, "the present American administration is quite compliant with Russian state interests, even if and when they make statements that sound critical. It's thus unlikely that he would try to defect, as the present US government would return him to Russia. But with the nature of how the vaccine works... it'll be a year before they can use that Bear Animalian to gain control of an active strain of the Animalia Virus to either weaponize or create their unit of Animalian infantry, so he also likely won't be facing combat anytime soon. And unlike with that Korean Water Deer that North Korea wanted to use to create an Animalian Super Soldier with, the Russians didn't uplift a Eurasian Brown Bear. They had a Human veteran become a Eurasian Brown Bear Animalian, thus he may already agree with a lot of Putin's lies about how the West wants to destroy Russia. Something that isn't true. There is frustration in multiple circles, but much of that is also aimed at Putin's government, not the Russian people... but most Russians that are already in line with Russian State Media won't realize they're being lied to until they get into situations where they're not being force fed propaganda disguised as news."
"That sounds rough..." Tammy said slowly.
"It is," Aleksi nodded, "and feeds into some of the side commentary that the Russian diplomat was bragging on. Namely the government's present attempt to nationalize Horizon Labs under claims of there being a "science emergency" and that Horizon is not "serving the interests" of the nation."
"That sounds rather Socialist to me," the fourth of the group commented, "you sure that he didn't mean that President Sleepy was trying to nationalize the company and the present administration is trying to restore private control."
"It IS rather Socialist with regard to government taking ownership of a private company," Aleksi answered and kept a low enough rumble in his throat to make sure there was no argument, "and the previous Democratic administration did NOT try to nationalize Horizon. The present Republican one IS, because Horizon had a difference of opinion on how things are to be done. And this is where, I must say that you Americans are quite stupid. You pay absolutely no attention to the news and then accept the lies of whoever screams the loudest. And then you make excuses for him based on labels put on his opposition by his party that were assigned forty years ago, and were essentially established by lies... and then you wonder why bad things happen."
There ultimately was no answer. The rumble and low voice voiced clear irritation and carried enough a threat that the fourth member of the group didn't want to argue, despite bragging on casting his first vote for the present administration and his family throwing a drunken party when the victory was announced.
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Though not all of the meetings dealt with issues that dealt with points of controversy. One of the sites that they were able to see, and that they could drive to, was the Claw Coliseum, where they had something of a very different run in. There was a sense of awe at the building's size, as most of what they'd seen from other news reports, Animalia Ambassadoria, or coverage of Chinese New Year contests, they were often seeing bits of the inside and thus didn't have a truly full look at the scale of the building.
"This place looks a lot bigger than what they've said it is," the third person in the group, Donald Deere, commented.
"Well... Animalia was largely built on land that was from a few farms and ranches that were on the western side of Lyre," Vince commented, "that'd provide for a lot of space to build on. Particularly when Horizon also helped assure that the original owners could be compensated financially..."
"I've also heard that Animalia's localized growth also provided inspiration for all sorts of stuff as well," Tammy added, "the Browns moved from raising horses and cattle to growing apples. The ranch that was to west of them and runs to the California border runs their honeymoon suites and all that. And with so many uplifted, that lead to a population boom which added interests that allowed WSA to expand. And while Animalia has had a lot of lucky breaks... they've generally gotten a lot of opportunities to grow that some people don't give them credit for."
"It doesn't look like the coliseum, though," the fourth commented, looking more puzzled than anything else.
"I don't think copying the actual structure in Rome was the intent," Vince told him, "more that they borrowed the name."
They came in and found that there was a lot of activity, even in the lobby. There were Humans and Animalians that came in showed an ID at the front desk and then went around one end that went toward a set of locker rooms. Tammy even noted various signs that made points of direction things that were in the building. This included things like the locker rooms, the gym, the pool, the main arena's floor entrance, higher level seating, the UFC offices, and an indoor jogging track.
"They got about everything one could want for exercise, though," the fourth added as they walked along and making sure to stay out of the way of others that were moving more purposefully. As for the moment, the group was more exploring Animalia and largely hoping to bring something back that would satisfy the curiosity that had been there from the skin care model, Venus, attending their school's prom.
"I think I've seen something that it's also helped a lot of Lyre's Humans get in shape too," Vince commented, "they're not like as insanely muscled as the Animalians are... but they've either had more incentive to make time for physical exercise or businesses in the area have arranged their hours so that people would have more time for it."
"I'd wonder on how everyone would balance things though," Donald commented while looking up to some of the larger windows to the north side of where they were. Those windows were letting in a fair amount of light coming in from the north.
"We generally do our best and be good neighbors," came a new voice from behind them and they turned to see a female Cat Animalian and a Human woman, both were in jogging shorts and a tank top.
They noted that the Cat Animalian and fine, but short, black fur, and thus wasn't Venus. But the two stood together, like best friends, sort of like how they remembered Venus standing with Tim and his friends at the prom.
"And some of us were neighbors, of sorts," the Human woman spoke, "strays that got uplifted in the initial outbreak often knew us... one guy had a host of stray Cats that came to love him because he cared for them. I think he ended up a Cat Animalian as well. But once the vaccine was developed and administered to make sure that the Animalia Virus wasn't infectious... we were able to learn a lot about those we may not have noticed before, and learned how much they remembered just from their time before being uplifted."
"And while we gained features that could be taken as rather exaggerated when compared to most Humans, the recognition on how much of Human society worked," the Cat Animalian added, "helped forge the drive to cooperate and work with those that had lived near us... and while I can't say what contact Mayor Clara and Deputy Mayor Robbie had with Humans before they were uplifted... I think a lot of that contact drove the creation of things like Animalia's Edicts and the emotional bonds that often formed. We knew and felt love before our respective uplifting, and realized that it was love, afterward. Sometimes parental, sometimes, fraternal, sometimes platonic, and sometimes romantic."
"And that cooperation helped us forge tighter friendships with the Animalians of Animalia," the woman added, "and in that, I suppose some of their interests wore off on us. Though, every one has their own pace. And no one judges... or at least no one judges the other's pace."
"And that inspires all the present work?" Tammy wondered, noting some people who didn't look like they were exercising coming out from the arena area.
The two looked to the workman and then shook their heads, with the woman giving a chuckle and the Cat Animalian giving a sound that almost sounded like a purr, but not quite. It was almost like it combined a "mew" and a "purr."
"Some of that is getting things ready for some of the IAC events," the woman commented, "Animalia holds them on the odd years, so not to conflict with the Olympics..."
"With the exception of the year that the Olympics got pushed back by Covid," Vince commented.
"That was an exception," the Cat Animalian commented, though seemed pleased when Vince and the others nodded.
"And they do a fair amount of stuff here at the Claw Coliseum that relates to all of that," the woman commented, "a big Greco-Roman Wrestling tournament, which draws a lot of attention. And every IAC also includes some comparison between Humans and Animalians, often as a means to show why Animalians haven't entered or been allowed into many professional sports leagues yet."
"A lot of that would have seemed obvious to me," the fourth member commented, "I mean... with all the photos, some of the Bull Animalians could probably play both Center and Guard on most NFL lines with a great deal of success. Shoot, some of the Sauropod Dinotopians could be the entire offensive line if they wanted to."
There were a few nods from both. They also noted an odd smile from both, that on certain levels was surprising. They had seen at least some of the bits for these comparisons from previous years and often only showed that only a high tier athlete could even hope to compete with most Animalians in certain sporting events, and even there, the Animalians they might beat would also be ones that were not based on animals that evolved for that purpose.
"A lot of that is true... but one also has to remember that Animalia is still rather new and many of the people who've made the questions or wants have been the most accepting and openly accepting of Animalia," the woman pointed out, "they WANT Animalia to be welcomed and embraced at every level. Which is quite good and noble at its heart, even if a touch unrealistic."
"A case where the heart is in the right place," the fourth member of the group said slowly.
"And why the comparison videos are made for the IAC," the Cat Animalian answered, "to show those differences and allow for a lot of the infrastructural progress to be made. For would it be nice to have to see Animalians within some of the various sports leagues, it wouldn't be practical or fair until there are enough Animalians for the local sports leagues and schools to have a roster for them... And I'm not talking about independent Animalian sports leagues, but fully integrated teams and that's realistically something that will take time, and time that many of us around today may not live to see."
"Yeah... I think about the only sport that has been able to do that integration today has been golf, and that has more to do with the nature of the clubs and the fact that Humans and Animalians are equally smart and where some of an Animalian's greater strength could come at a cost," Tammy commented.
"Yeah," the woman laughed, "so... are you four new to town? Looking to become Animalians?"
"We're just visiting," Vince answered, "an Animalian came to our school's prom... she mostly hung out with a group of Juniors and was very different from what our parents said Animalians were like..."
"The whole "addicted to sex" thing," Tammy said rolling her eyes.
"Well... Animalians do have a higher libido than Humans, so a lot of that reputation is earned," the woman commented, "though, it's also noted that a lot of it is romantic in nature. Things are rather open with regard to Animalians and sexuality, which some prudes have targeted attacks on as "prostitution," but that's also ignoring a lot of Animalian behavior and mentality... and even some Human behavior and mentality."
"We may be more open and willing, but we do NOT engage in prostitution in the pure sense of sex for money and having it be random," the Cat Animalian agreed, "one could say that a lot of it is either courtship and looking for "the one," or helping someone convert and choosing a method that is... pleasant. Much of the whole prostitution reference is mostly coming from people that are trying to exaggerate things in a negative manner and isn't helped when someone then tries to argue back in a way that also admits to engaging in what is being attacked on."
"And shows on where the hope for friendship is there if people could be willing to open up," Vince gave a shrug, "and thank you for talking with a group of tourists."