Meeting Roland at the school's Valentines Dance was something of a pleasant surprise for Sophie. She hadn't expected it, but in a way she didn't mind. After all her friends had either found a boyfriend or had fallen in love and pretty much gotten married thanks the assorted accidents that the original Animalia outbreak had lead to. Abby, Sarah, and Malice were all transformed by accident and found their mates. Jessica was only a single doser, but she had found companionship and friendship in Roger that Sophie was sure would lead to marriage when the two of them got older. It was something that was good for all of them, and Sophie was honestly happy for all of them, even Jessica. She might indulge in a "Jessica Rabbit" joke here and there, as Jessica had always loved the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" cartoon. It was a great case of irony that Jessica not only decided to become a rabbit but that she'd ultimate started dating a male rabbit named "Roger." But as she watched Jessica smile in the crowd of high school students dancing with their dates, be they Human or Animalian, Sophie was happy for her friend.
That had left her as the oddball out as she was only one out of their group of friends that didn't have someone to at least have the hope of romance with in the future. She knew she was still young and she had plenty of time for all that in the future, but the fact that her friends had all found love and three were essentially married was just another reminder about how fast their world had changed. This time last year, they were four eight graders looking forward to the summer and then going into high school. Now, Abby was a physical adult horse Animalian, a strong and beautiful American Quarter Horse mare with Samson as her mate. Sarah and Malice were physical adult Siberian Husky Animalians with Sarah mated to an uplifted Dalmatian and Malice to Simon, a transformed human thanks to Project Phoenix. Jessica was a single doser and Mountain Cottontail Animalian, though some testing had confirmed that Judy, the rabbit that had given Jessica her dose of the Animalia Virus wasn't a pure Mountain Cottontail Rabbit. A small percentage of her DNA indicated that Judy's family tree included domestic rabbits that had been kept as pets in Europe and traveled with settlers. This obviously lead to pets getting lose and rabbits being rabbits lead to Judy's mixed heritage and thus Jessica's coloring. But, Jessica and Judy were both happy and Jessica had found herself a boyfriend, leaving Sophie alone... Until Roland had nervously approached her at the refreshments table.
"Would you like to dance?" Roland asked her, his voice sounding nervous.
Sophie smiled to him as she watched him straighten his glasses. She kept that smile on him as she gave a soft underhand toss to send her plastic cup flying through the air before it landed in a nearby garbage can with a soft "click" as the plastic up landed among other discarded plastic cups.
"Sure," Sophie said after a moment and with her smile undiminished.
The two slowly made their way out into the middle of the gym floor. The music was presently slow and fairly romantic sounding and Sophie gladly took Roland's hand and in hers, while feeling his other hand wrap around them to rest on the small of her back.
"I'll need to war you... I'm not much of a dancer," Roland admitted weakly as the two began to move together to the music in the best that they could manage for ballroom dancing.
"It's okay," Sophie assured him, "I'm not that much better."
"As important as you are here in Lyre and with Animalia?" Roland almost gasped.
"All I am is an "ambassador" and mostly with the intent of providing some good PR for Animalia," Sophie answered, "I'm really not that important... and even there, I got the role because most of my friends became Animalians and one of them was the first human transformed."
"And now anyone who wants to join can... though there's all the assorted hoops that have to be jumped through in order to join," Roland commented.
Sophie nodded as they moved with the music. Neither was extremely graceful and both spent a lot of time making sure they didn't dance into other couples on the floor, but they managed and Sophie didn't care all that much. After a few moments, Roland came up with a new question.
"Have you ever thought about converting?" Roland wondered.
Sophie thought for a moment, "From time to time, I suppose... as Animalians really aren't that different from Humans with regards to how smart they are and the basic outlook on the world."
They continued for a moment and Sophie caught another sight of Roger and Jessica dancing as well. Despite being the same age, or at least roughly the same age, Jessica was easily taller, stronger looking, and more curvaceous than Sophie did, and that was despite the fact that Jessica was only a single doser. That made it fairly clear that there were plenty of advantages to joining Animalia, and since a double dose would mean that she could join Animalia and become younger as a result, she'd figured it'd be something to do in the future and push old age back further. With that, Sophie gave Roland a bit of a smile.
"And it isn't as though there are no other advantages," Sophie commented, "and I'd figured it'd be something to push old age back later."
"A different theory from what most other people have given for joining Animalia," Roland commented, "but that's your choice..."
Sophie nodded. From there, Roland came up with another question.
"Well... if you ever wanted to join sooner... what kind of Animalian would you like to be?" Roland asked.
Sophie thought for a moment before she answered, "Well... I'd actually like to fly... sort of like my pet parrot JC."
"I think the zoo had some parrot Animalians in their aviary before the outbreak," Roland pointed out.
"Of several species," Sophie answered with a nod, "but that's beside the point. I would like to fly and I like the bright colors that parrots and parakeets have."
"Sounds nice," Roland commented.
"So what about you?" Sophie asked, "Have you thought about joining Animalia?"
"Yeah," Roland answered, "though... the specific animal that I'd have to choose hasn't been too specific. Mostly any animal species that has good eye sight."
Sophie noted that based on Roland's glasses, and she had no problem with it. A lot of people joined Animalia to heal either injury or disease or even illness or other medical issues, and it made sense that someone like Roland would probably want to join Animalia to deal with his vision issues.
"That'd include just about every bird species," Sophie commented, "I think all of them have reasonably good eyesight."
"Good to know," Roland commented, "Though... I'd have to wait until I turn eighteen if I decide to go through with it..."
"Your parents don't approve?" Sophie wondered.
"They have nothing against Animalia, but they don't think Humans should become Animalians," Roland commented, "So... it'd mean that I'd need to wait..."
"That's okay," Sophie told him, "For the moment... their is no rush."