Meeting the Council of Elders

After an uncomfortable amount of time later, the group was led to the council and meeting building, which looked like a slightly bigger house than those around it. Inside was a set of seven middle-aged to near-senior-aged rabbit women, all sitting at a low table that worked with the sitting and bowing positions used by most individuals. They all had athletic, gymnast-type builds and were all dressed similarly to how Usagi usually did. Although, Usagi seemed more prone to going around in her undergarments around town more recently. Of the seven gathered rabbit women, the largest bust seemed to be a CCC-Cup.

“Greetings,” said the rabbit woman in the center of the group in a friendly, professional voice, “I believe some introductions are in order; better to just get the formalities out of the way.” The rabbit woman on the far right made a gesture with her right hand that looked like a couple of circles at the door, and a rabbit woman that looked around the age Yuri and his crew were, came in with what looked like a wooden cassette player. The rabbit woman that had brought it in gave a quick look of amusement at Yuri before giving a courteous bow to the seven rabbit women of the chamber and hurried out. The rabbit woman that had been speaking continued, “I know it looks like an antiquated piece, but this is an older reader for Adventurer cards that is likely no longer in circulation,” she gestured to the table, “We have copies of the display system here before us, you will each place your cards within so we can have a record of your current relevant information, and will be taking it with us to put on file for later use when and as needed. Thanks to the one who sent us the report, we know that most of you have the cards used by Adventurers.”

“As of the other day,” said Alma, “I’m pretty sure we all have them now. I’m sure our contact with who you really called in for had something to do with that.”

“Let’s just get the formalities out of the way,” said Yuri as he approached the device and took out his crystal card, then put it into what looked like the section for a tapedeck; a humming sound came from the device, and its top lit up with a rainbow kaleidoscope for a moment. The seven rabbit women took a quick look at the readouts in front of them a moment later.

“Well,” said the rabbit woman second on the left said, “I didn’t expect to see some of these elemental affinities, and they’re all I rather approve of.”

“Let’s have the rest of the group have their information for the records,” said the rabbit woman on the right of the central rabbit woman, “it’s been a while since we’ve been able to get such a large volume of information, after that, we can begin the important discussions.”

After looking over the device for a moment, Yuri found the trigger to eject the card and got it to give his card back to him. After Yuri got his card and was moving away from the device, the rabbit woman on the far right pulled some kind of small metal card from her panel and inserted a new one; the one she removed was placed on the table on some sort of plate on her left; while that was happening, Usagi approached the device and went through the same actions Yuri had in a surprisingly quick manner, almost as if it were reflex before moving away from the device while the rabbit woman on the far left did the same actions as the one on the far right had a moment prior. The rest of the group went through this, with similar actions by the rest of the table.

“Now that the formalities are out of the way,” said the center rabbit woman, “I suppose we can get down to business. First off,” she directed her attention more towards Yuri, “we thank you for accepting our invitation.”

“I thank you for the invite,” said Yuri, “now, getting down to business, I have two questions; please be honest with us.”

“Certainly,” said the rabbit woman on the left of the central member, “we welcome questions at this juncture.”

“Thank you,” said Yuri, “my first question is, how many individuals call this village home?”

“Last time we did a population check,” said the rabbit woman on the far right; she took a quick look at a booklet that she had hidden somewhere near or on her a moment before returning it to where she had kept it prior, “around three hundred individuals live here, roughly half of those are confirmed as sexually mature.”

“Second question,” said Yuri holding up two fingers on his right hand, “how many of the population are physically mature? That is to say; I’m asking how many are officially recognized legally as adults.”

“I’m not sure I fully follow you,” said the central rabbit woman, with the other six rabbit women nodding in agreement.

Yuri held his hand up to his face, cupped the bridge of his nose, and sighed, “I’ve explained this to you,” he said, turning to Usagi, “could you please explain it in terms that they will better understand.”

“Of course,” said Usagi before turning her attention to the seven rabbit women and taking on a more respectful tone, “honored elders; in the realm that Yuri grew up in, there is a distinction between different types of mature. They are broken up into Physically Mature, Mentally Mature, Sexually Mature, and Emotionally Mature; there might be some more, but I believe those are the ones of note. You usually reach different maturities at different ages; there are factors that can hinder any one of the developments, so you need to be careful on how you guide the development of individuals.”

“That makes sense,” said the rabbit woman on the right of the center rabbit woman, “I take it this might require some study.”

“Yes,” said Usagi, “seeing as Yuri could only provide information on humans, seeing as they were the only race in the world he developed in, but we can probably use the provided information as a baseline to assist with our understanding of such things moving forward.”

“What can you tell us about that,” inquired the rabbit woman on the far right.

“Humans usually reach sexual maturity around the age of nine years, but typically reach physical maturity around the age of eighteen, but they usually don’t reach the age of maturity to properly process **** physically and mentally until the age of twenty-one. This information has actually led to some new rules around the town he is staying in.”

“We’ll probably have to do a quick check of things,” said the central rabbit woman, “we anticipated this to have gone a bit more quickly, it might take a day or two to gather the appropriate information, but the council understands the concerns, you just want to make sure you aren’t ending up with someone who isn’t properly mature for intercourse. What is the youngest you would say is legally acceptable?”

“Fifteen years,” said Yuri, “but that case is in another country from where I grew up; the youngest I’m aware of in the nation I grew up in is the age of sixteen, but that case has an extra caveat.”

“And what is that caveat,” inquired the rabbit woman on the far left.

“The two involved must be within two years of each other, regarding the elder of the two, and one of the two must be seventeen or eighteen years of age.”

“Please step into the room to the right,” said the central rabbit woman, “we’ll need some time to do an impromptu deliberation; it could take a few hours.” Yuri and his group gave courteous motions and moved into the indicated room.