A few days after Chel's uplifting, Sophie came out of school with a bit of a spring in her step that she found that little could stop her from feeling. Ih8ulibs was still a major pain in the comment section of the Animalia Ambassadoria pages, but even his actions wasn't going to get her down right now. And that was because Roland was scheduled to be released from the hospital, where he'd been since the first day of school. Sophie remembered that day with Heather's attack on her and how Roland came to her defense and her help, and in a way that action on Roland's part really warmed her heart. Though being bitten and wounded also scared her greatly.
It was an odd and yet amazing sensation to Sophie. They'd likely met at times in Middle School, but it'd never been enough that they'd remembered the other's name. But then on the previous Valentines Day, with Sophie feeling a bit inadequate when compared to her friends, with Abby, Sarah, and Malice having full bond mates and Jessica having a committed boyfriend, Roland approached her worked up the nervous courage to ask her out. They'd then hung out, worked with Animalia Ambassadoria together, and through the end of her Freshman year and through the Summer, she'd felt herself growing closer to him. He was nice, smart, loved Animalia, and had been a perfect gentleman to her. And when Heather attacked and bit him, Sophie felt so afraid for him, but he survived and would be getting out of the hospital.
This was sort of an indicator that she'd found an actual boyfriend, someone she could be with. Or at least to her it was someone she'd want as a boyfriend. That was only further reinforced by the conversations she'd had with him when she was able to visit him after school. He commented on him being afraid that Heather would kill her and he felt driven to do whatever he could for her. It seemed like Roland was having many of the same feelings, and that made Sophie smile even more. And now, Roland would be released from the hospital and Sophie wanted to be there for him, and thus she walked from the school to Horizon Light, where she found Roland in his room, though he was now dressed in some clean clothes that his family had brought him.
She was alone on this visit, as the others had gone to listen in on the debate at Animalia's City Hall over the bachelor/bachelorette auction that Abby's uncle had. But then, that might give her some privacy with Roland.
"You're just in time," Roland commented with a smile after Sophie came into the room, "I don't know if you heard... but my blood count is back up to normal levels and things are good enough that I can go home today."
"I know that, you told me on email," Sophie said back tapping the laptop that Roland had been loaned to watch Heather's punishments and so on, "And that's why I'm here. I want to walk out with you... even if it's only to your parents car and they drop me off at my home... I want to walk with you... my hero."
"He... hero...?" Roland stuttered with a small smile.
"You saved me from Heather," Sophie answered, "like Sir Lancelot out to save a Princess."
"Technically Lancelot was interested in Guinevere," Roland countered.
"You know what I mean," Sophie said back and playfully swatted at his shoulder. "You came to your girlfriend's aid to save her from an insane attacker despite long odds. That makes you a hero in my book."
"Girlfriend...?" Roland's grin got even more hopeful.
"I am your girlfriend, right?" Sophie asked and leaned over to him, with their noses almost touching.
"I'd always hoped so," Roland answered and managed to lean closer and the two kissed. It wasn't super passionate, as Roland still had time to fully heal before the stiches could be taken out, but it was enough for the two of them to fell comfortable and confirmed in their relationship status, which made Sophie feel glad as well. She didn't want to admit this openly to Heather or Jeremy as part of her "volunteer work" with Horizon, as she didn't fully trust Heather to be entirely polite and while she had some sympathy for Jeremy regarding his guilt with Polly, she'd also found Jeremy to be something of a jerk. He didn't seem to hate Animalia, but he also seemed to think that the only thing Animalia had going for it was tourism or farming, but while the Brown Farm and Mieni's tourist attractions were big, Sophie had seen enough to know that Animalia was branching out.
"So when do your folks arrive for your discharge?" Sophie asked.
"After work... we have a little while," Roland answered.
Sophie then nodded.
"So... how goes the work with Horizon and getting Heather to change her ways?" Roland asked.
Regardless of what issues of secrecy, Sophie couldn't not tell Roland about the mission and what she was helping Horizon with, as it did help with her own wishes and idea of joining Animalia as a Pterodactylus based Animalian. Of course, in the back of her mind, that was also in the hope that Roland would agree to join her, though Sophie knew that both of them would have to convince their parents to sign off on the conversion or wait until they turned eighteen. Though for the moment, with Horizon still in the research part of the project, that wasn't quite the pressing issue, yet.
"Well... I think we're making progress in all directions," Sophie answered, "I don't think that Heather was ever the sort of cartoon super villain who hates everything and everyone as part of some mad desire for global conquest... and from what I've been able to find... is that in many ways... she's had a lot bad luck that she doesn't know how to counter. That doesn't excuse what she did... but I think we are making progress."
"Do you think she'll earn her way out into full freedom?" Roland asked slowly.
"I don't know..." Sophie admitted, "if she keeps progressing as she is... maybe a few years down the road... but that assumes she keeps progressing."
Roland then nodded, "and what about the research? Getting you the chance to be a Dinotopian based Animalian."
"That's actually coming along quite well," Sophie gave a small smile, "Research wise, anyway. Heather has been a big help there and a Japanese scientist that has voiced some ideas to Horizon was brought in with some added ideas on how to essentially allow for the fossil DNA to combine with human DNA as part of the transformation process. Heather did it because her family history has an atavistic trait that is very rare, but marks a connection between humans and our reptilian ancestors when reptiles first evolved from amphibians. Outside of that, while the Animalia Virus might recombine the fossil DNA into a complete strands, if it has enough to work with, it wouldn't transform people. That's probably the REAL reason you weren't infected by her."
"I'd rather fly with you," Roland commented.
Sophie felt her heart flutter happily. Eventually she gave a cough and composed herself to continue her answer.
"Anyway, Jeremy and Doctor Stein then started on a theory of adapting the Animalia Virus with that "snake-heart" trait for all the Dinotopian strains of the virus," Sophie answered, "but there, the project then hit a delay, as natural history museums didn't want to share bones that would likely be destroyed in the DNA extraction process, so the theory was to work with Heather's DNA samples for the testing out the theory, and that showed some success, but the Japanese scientist, Doctor Miyamoto had the idea that using some of the stem cells from the Axolotl salamander might work better and even reduce the number of fossil bones needed for the process of developing the virus..."
"That might work... but wouldn't you still need to get the DNA?" Roland wondered.
"There we were saved by the success of Project Thylacine," Sophie gave a smile, "Melbourne's nephew and his fiancé brought it up from Australia and became Thylacine Animalians. That success once published got many of the museums more interested in the project, both with the idea of bringing back at least some dinosaurs but also many of the species that went extinct thanks to human hunting and so on. So, they did get the DNA needed."
"And how did it work?" Roland asked.
"Quite well... it will still take multiple fossilized bones to get a complete DNA strand and there still could be the potential of having to use related pterosaurs for my conversion... if we can get my parents to be okay with it... but from the tests on tissue and blood samples and computer tests based on that, it' work out well. Some of the Axolotl DNA may cross over, but from what they've identified in the tests, they've been able to isolate the genes for the Axolotl's healing factor and so on... so there is minimal cross over and the resulting "Dinotopian" will be mostly dinosaur... or pterosaur in my case."
Roland smiled, glad to see Sophie happy and not stressing over things. As with his laptop, he had been able to follow the productions that Animalia Ambassadoria made. The episode with jokes worked out okay, but the one he liked the best was actually one that showed a large number of "slice of life" type shots. One followed a pair of Lyre policemen, the former "K9" unit. The partners were a human male and a German Shepard Animalian female. Not surprising, it was Malice doing that "ride along." The pair talked about how well they worked together and how the Animalian had helped wrestle down a thief during the IAC that had pulled a knife and tried to stab the human officer, and how the human officer trusted his partner fully and named her as a godparent for his children. One set of shots was actually shot by Sarah and Malice's parents as they went through their day, as sort of a reminder on how well they'd all worked together. Another was actually shot by Martin and Josephine Brown showing JT talking with them and even volunteering around the farm on various issues. The shot ended with Roger having dinner at Jessica's house and talking with Jessica's human parents, and showing that Jessica's parents never cringed or felt fearful, and ended with the line, "We've all been friends for over a year. Don't let one person's insane act make you forget all the good things we've done together."
The episodes worked out fairly well, though Roland had noticed ih8ulibs continuing to stalk the comment section, and had become far more aggressive in the hateful things he claimed. The only difference from before was now he was actually starting to debate people that countered him, and he seemed to get a real kick out of antagonizing Sophie directly over her friendships with Animalia and so on. Roland got some sense that those debates as ih8ulibs went after Sophie, her friends, and everything she cared about was heavily stressing Sophie. Thus seeing her smile felt like a good thing.
"So with that front cleared, it was cleared that the Axolotl that was brought for the experiments was uplifted and is working with Doctor Miyamoto now," Sophie continued, "She's taken the name Chel... and I think she's taken some interest in Doctor Miyamoto much the way Kirana took interest in Harold on Mieni... but I don't know for sure."
"He must have been kind to her, then," Roland commented, "though that'll then lead into what next...?"
Before Sophie could answer, there was a knock on the door and she and Roland looked up to see Roland's parents standing in the doorway. Roland's father was very different from his son. While Roland was on the smaller side, his father was a rather stocky man, though Sophie had found that he shared Roland's smart and kind nature.
"What next, we go home, sport," Roland's father said with a smile, "Your girlfriend can even stay for dinner if she wants to."
"We got all the paperwork signed for your release," Roland's mother added, "You're clear to go."
With that, Roland stood up out of the bed and stretched as he looked to his folks. He ultimately took the borrowed laptop and put it under his arm and then offered his other arm to Sophie. Sophie took it carefully and walked with him. Roland's parents smiled at the scene, and Sophie swore she heard Roland's mother say, "young love" as they all began to make their way out. They'd still have some effort to get them to sign off on the transformation, as Roland had long said that his folks were fine with Animalia, but becoming an Animalian wasn't necessary to support Animalia, and Sophie knew that her own parents weren't keen on her becoming an Animalian either. Convincing them would take time, but for the moment that was something to move on to in the future. Right now, she was with her boyfriend and he was healthy enough to leave the hospital. For the moment, that was enough.