William Tarr's Christmas morning was rather quiet, as it almost always was. In previous years, he'd often journey to visit with other members of his family to celebrate the holiday, but he'd found that sitting in as Dino City's "mayor" had brought on a whole new set of responsibilities and duties. For much of his life, he'd seen any government official, be he or she city, state, or federal as a good for nothing who spent more time worrying on how to tax people and rob them of their money than anything else. There were always things that had actual needs for government, but these sorts of officials always seemed to go beyond the limit. Though in the past, he was largely living in his trailer home and had little to no contact with Glen Rose's city government.
Now, however, he found that as interim mayor of Dino City, there were a host of responsibilities that he and the other members of the small city council were expected to respond to or address. There weren't necessarily crisis that required immediate or large scale action, but there was always something that was requiring at least some attention. The streets had to be kept clean, garbage collected and dealt with appropriately, not to mention the other related things that a city government was expected to handle. It represented a host of things that William Tarr had never had to deal with before and he often had to get some tips from Glen Rose's mayor on some of those things. The amused chuckles from Glen Rose's mayor half embarrassed William Tarr with some things. He was getting a bit better with it now, but it still kept him rather busy with regard to city affairs and even celebratory things that almost became something of a ceremonial post. That largely kept him at home for Christmas.
"It can't be that bad," his sister said to him over the phone, "from all the news reports... the Dinotopians seem to be quite a friendly bunch."
"With the exception of the first one when she first appeared," William answered.
"But she has behaved herself, right?" his sister answered.
"Yes... that was partially why I've corrected myself on a few specifics," William answered with a nod, even if his sister could see him through the phone, "and worked with regard to getting Sargent Slash to convert..."
"See... it's not so bad," his sister replied, "and this time of year... it's the thought that counts."
William was about to answer when there came a knock at his door that interrupted him. He gave a "hold on" to his sister and walked back through his small living room and approached the door. He opened it to find a blue scaled Parasaurolophus at his door wearing pair of tan cargo shorts that came down to her knees with a red shirt with a scene from "Christmas Vacation" printed over the front. William also noted that his guest had also brought a decent sized wrapped box and a plastic box that looked like it had a salad in it.
"Hello, Mr. Tarr," Cadence said politely from the spot outside his door, "I'd hoped you were home as I'd had something for you... but I wanted to give it in person."
She looked nervously to the strands of multi colored lights that ran along the windows to William Tarr's trailer and then to the man himself. He had one cellphone in his free hand and she could half hear a feminine voice through it which made her a bit nervous.
"Bill... what's going on?" the voice asked.
William raised one hand up to Candace while holding his phone up again, "one of the residents has arrived with a present and a salad..."
"See, you have friends," came his sister's response, "have a Merry Christmas."
With that the phone then went dead before William could even continue. He sighed as he stuffed his phone into his pocket and looked up to the blue scaled Dinotopian who gave him a puzzled look.
"Was I interrupting something?" Candace wondered.
"Just a conversation with my sister and dealing with my responsibilities meaning I couldn't go to visit her," William said slowly.
"I'm sorry to interrupt anything with family..." Candace said slowly, "but between my work with the local diner here and all that you've been doing while getting things set up, I haven't had much opportunity to pass things over to you in person..."
William eyed the present again, and noted that it was tagged as for him, which left him a bit embarrassed as he really didn't have anything to give Candace in return. Some of that was that he didn't expect much when it came to dealing with the Dinotopians that had moved to Dino City. He could respect them professionally and found that many of the negatives had been exaggerated by the media he'd typically followed, but he'd still largely lived on his own and in his trailer. Candace's home had been built nearby and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that they were neighbors, but that didn't mean he'd hung out with her a lot in private.
"And the salad?" William wondered.
"Mostly some stuff I threw together," Candace answered, "and hoping that you might like some company for Christmas..."
"Company?" William blinked.
"Well... you always seem alone here and busy with all the mayor stuff you have to do," Candace answered, "I thought you might like being able to have Christmas with someone... and let me say thank for killing that scorpion."
"I..." William began and then paused. Of course a "thank you" for killing the scorpion would come into play, but there was a point about having someone there. Usually it was family and his sister, and that had been a way he wanted it, but as Mayor of Dino City for the time being, he had different responsibilities that he had to fill and that had limited his available time to travel. In this, while Candace wasn't his sister, a part of him did recognize it would be neighborly to at least be polite. "I'm afraid I don't have chairs that would hold your muscular weight... but it wouldn't be bad to have some company."
"It's okay," Candace answered with a smile, "I can crouch down if need be."
William shrugged at that and stepped in while holding the door open. Candace smiled again and ducked down to enter...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Still with your "football" plans, I see," Mario commented to Courtney as he looked down at the synthetic material that felt smooth and cool in his hands.
"Still... it's an awesome sport," Courtney smiled to her husband, "and you're picking up on things pretty quick."
"Because you're there to explain things every Sunday," Mario answered and then added in a bit of a tease of his own, "even though you haven't been able to explain why it's called football when they hardly use their feet in it. At least in Italy we know that in football, one must use his feet to score."
Courtney gave a playful punch at Mario's shoulder, though given the muscle he had there, she was sure she wouldn't hurt him. She also smiled as she looked around their living room. To some extent it was a bit oversized, given that Pachycephalosaurus wasn't a large dinosaur, but the pair of them had managed to make it into a fairly decent home. A large framed picture from their wedding was on the wall behind the couch they were seated on and a large brass tower in one corner of the room held some mementos from Mario's time as a boxer. To their front was large television set, which Courtney made sure to tune into to Fox or CBS on Sundays, and to its right was their tree. It was an artificial tree, but that had its advantages. The pair had then dressed up a Jurassic Park Pachycephalosaurus toy in a white robe as a "dino-angel" as something of a joke, but guests had often responded well to it when they visited which was something that gave of them something to feel confident in.
And other things related to that as well. Mario continued to work as a trainer for the UFC-A and the Mesozoic Fight Club. This had meant some trips to Lyre from Dino City here and there, as not all of those that he worked with had moved to Dino City. Some because they hadn't become Dinotopians and some because their positions required them to stay in Lyre, but things generally did work well and Mario had managed to work in some scheduling with upcoming tournaments that would apply to both the UFC-A and Mesozoic Fight Club that matches would have more time between them. It might mean less air time, but it would also mean that all the fighters would be healthier for their matches and thus would provide a fair fight.
Courtney continued to work with her interest in sports, and while going through some online courses over the summer, she'd actually managed a slight degree of success in that Glen Rose had hired her as an unofficial assistant to their high school's sports program, largely based on some of the things they'd witnessed over the IAC events in Dino City. Much of it was in strength and conditioning which tied into the classes she'd taken over the summer and was still taking with some of it even leading to a potential full time position with the school once she graduated if she did well. That was something Courtney really liked, as it would actually mean working with a football program. It wouldn't be playing, but still... she'd be able to indulge her interest in the sport beyond just watching games on television.
Both of these things made them happy and left them ready to continue to see things through, and the laugh that both shared at it was shown. Mario set the jersey down with some of the other gifts that he'd gotten from Courtney, coworkers and friends, and from family. Though the biggest thing was some questions on when Mario and Courtney would start their own family, though at the moment they didn't have a full answer to it. It'd mean some juggling, but they did agree that they could plan things out as needed. The big thing for the moment was more that they were settling into their new routine at Dino City, and as double dosed Dinotopians, the next spring's breeding season wouldn't necessarily be their only breeding season.
"I've noted you don't use your feet when you score," Courtney teased him.
"That's because we aren't play football," Mario teased back and leaned over to kiss Courtney's cheek.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Others had moments that were a bit different from what most would consider "normal" for Christmas, and that was the case for Dory and Walter. Since the two had met, they had formed a good friendship and saw it develop into something close to an inter-species relationship. It would mean they couldn't have children together to meet Animalia's edicts on breeding, but for the Doedicurus Animalian and the Ankylosaurus Dinotopian, that wasn't that big of an issue. They could always adopt or with the way science worked, they could exercise other options if someone wished to serve to help, but that wasn't on either's schedule for the moment.
That came when Dory spotted some movement in their backyard and got a bit excited.
"Come on! He's still there!" Dory called to Walter and then pointed out the window on their back door.
"How do you know it's a he?" Walter said as he came forward, "and should I be jealous?"
"Well... I don't know for sure if it's a male, but if it is, no you do not have to be jealous, as I'm sure you have a better personality," Dory answered and flicked one ear at that as Walter approached.
As he arrived, Dory raised one furred hand and pointed her index finger across the back yard. It wasn't super fancy and the biggest thing there was a tree that happened to be there before they moved in. And presently seated on its rear legs at the base of the tree was a lone Nine Banded Armadillo. It had something in its hands, but neither could tell what it was.
"And that's an Armadillo?" Walter asked as the animal got back down onto all fours and shuffled along.
"Yep... the living relative of Doedicurus," Dory smiled.
"It doesn't look like you," Walter answered.
"Of course it doesn't look like me," Dory answered, "just because Doedicurus and the Armadillo are from the same group of mammals, that doesn't mean that they're all identical to each other. I converted to be a large glyptodont that ate plants, the Armadillo is smaller and largely eats insects. Of course there are going to be differences."
"I think I'd go with what you said before we moved here," Walter answered as he walked away from the back door and toward the kitchen, "you're cooler than that little thing."
"Well of course I am," Dory answered as she beat her tail against the ground, "I just think it's cool that one wandered into our yard on Christmas."