"I'll see you tonight, Jeremy." said Heather, as Jeremy went over to Horizon to solve the mystery of why "Queen Mary" was more feral than other Animalians.
"See you then." Replied Jeremy.
---
Claw Coliseum wasn't like any other health club or YMCA that Heather had ever seen, and for good reason. Most of the art seemed to be inspired by ancient Greek artwork and statuary, and ranged from "tastefully decent" to "scandalously skimpy". While the fee for becoming part of the Alpha Prime Weight Management class, which included workout clothes and a locker in the only other place with co-ed locker rooms, was not unappreciated, the clothes at the built-in "Workout Boutique" seemed to be made to be as humiliating (to Heather) as possible. Others, on the other hand, seemed to think that they were skimpy enough to be both sexy and practical. Heather eventually settled on low-rise yoga pants and a comfortable cropped top, but it seemed to display her belly as unflatteringly as possible.
---
Heather was on her way to her warm-up classes when Marlysa intercepted her at the door.
"Your class is going to be over here, with the others." explained Marlysa, leading her to another door.
"What others?" asked Heather, thinking that someone who was somehow less than shoulder height was capable of leading her, if she had been unwilling.
"The others who became part of Project Dinotopia for the research before the official unveiling next summer." Answered Marlysa.
"And Who are they?" asked Heather, still a little confused.
"They're actually people who lived on your grandma's plantation/retirement commune." answered Marlysa.
"So what would happen to Tyra's land now that it's effectively vacated?" asked Heather, genuinely interested.
"It's effectively been returned to the state, but it's new purpose as a retirement commune remains the same." replied Marlysa.
---
After 15 minutes of meeting with the others in her class, the class began. It started with Synchronized Stretching, which was a combination of Tai Chi and conventional stretching, while basically interpreting music by Karl Jenkins or Enigma. After that, it was more energetic dancing/aerobics to energetic music, such as Zumba. Between each 15 minutes of music, there was only a brief pause to drink from water bottles, which had been specially designed for their enhanced strength and claws. After 4 whole hours of exercise in tropical-rainforest-in-summer temperatures, everyone broke for midday meal.
Midday meal was apparently designed to be as healthy, filling, and nutritional as possible without skimping on flavor. The man who helped provide custom drinks had owned a zero-proof health bar before the Great Recession, as it was now known, but had decided to join the Claw Coliseum to help with teaching good health habits. He had decided to use a Magic Bullet Blender/Juicer to help make health smoothies with the required amount of vegetables, per dietary type, without skimping on flavor.
Fortunately, midday meal was also a good time to talk to other members of the class. Heather was able to talk to a green and brown stegosaur Dinotopian wearing low rise yoga pants and a top designed to fit around her plates.
"So you're that one who helped grandma with finance?" Heather asked, trying to remember.
"Although I didn't show it," said Rachel Stega, as Heather was introduced to her, "I was getting sick and tired of being pigeonholed into a secretarial/accounting role with no chance to advance during the post-WWII prosperity age. When I was contacted to be part of Project Dinotopia, I immediately jumped ship to start over."
"So what are you going to do now?" asked Heather.
"I'm actually going to be part of the new Mesozoic Fight Club, which is part of the Animalia UFC system." Replied Rachel, shortly before Weight Training Class was announced to begin in 15 minutes.
---
The Dinotopia weight room, although it didn't have any treadmills or similar things, was actually quite challenging. Many of the weights not only had increasing amounts of tungsten, but also included larger weights that were pure tungsten. Both the heat, that was brought over from the Aerobic Dance classes, and the weights, some of which reached more than five tons, made it so challenging that, even though Heather didn't have any sweat glands, she still felt 'the yellow stains of her soul coming out her pores', and this went on for another four hours.
Many of the male Dinotopians made do with the heat by exercising in only gym shorts that left very little to the imagination. This often caused several young teenage girls to hang around the exercise area, squealing like schoolgirls at every flex and tense of the males tight muscles. After several of these, they were shooed out by Anton, who told them to be patient for the Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction that was part of the Animalia Thanksgiving Exposition and Fall Festival, if they wanted to date any of the members of the class.
---
Heather dragged herself out of the showers carrying her gym bag when her 'keeper', Tyra met her before she left.
"And just where do you think you are going, young missy?" said Tyra, in just the tone of voice that meant trouble for anyone who heard it.
"Home, where I can lapse into a coma." said Heather, exhausted but still worried.
"You're not getting off that easily." replied Tyra, causing a massive spike of worry to fill Heather. But fortunately, Tyra was able to explain. "You're officially part of Dinotopia now, and you've got your own part to fill at the next IAC."
"Wha...?" asked Heather.
"We're being asked to dance as part of the IAC opening ceremony for the year after next. But before that happens, we're expected to go to Choreographing Class before we leave." Clarified Tyra. "You can pick up the first IAC on DVD at the gift shop afterwards."
---
After class finally let out, Heather was dragging herself home, feeling four times as heavy as she was and only half as strong. When she got to where she was staying, there was a note from Jeremy saying 'There is a surprise waiting for you in your bedroom. J.'. After seeing this, Heather went a little faster, though not by much, wondering what it was to be.