One might think that the passage of a solar eclipse would make for easy and "safe" viewing. After all, it would have the moon slide between the light of the sun and the Earth itself. And in some spots it would mark for a brilliant show as the sun's rays wrapped around the moon while that section of the Earth was temporarily in the moon's shadow, but all of that still didn't mean that the potentially harmful rays of the sun were removed as a result of the eclipse. Those various rays could still do damage to organic eyes that were not evolved to look directly at the sun. And it was something that even Animalians, with all their physical strengths, couldn't avoid and this included the Dinotopians at Dino City. This meant that anyone outside would require specialized sunglasses in order to watch the eclipse directly outside, though the fact that Dinotopians and the most diverse sets of skull shapes that those sorts of glasses could be difficult.
However, Dino City had the means to get around that issue, and that was to provide for the use of technology. Jeremy saw to Horizon setting up a camera on the roof of their building which would then broadcast the eclipse live. That in turn would give the residents the ability to watch the eclipse on a screen set up in the Dino Dome and would make use of a technological look at the eclipse. The cameras wouldn't suffer the sort of damage that would come from the sun's rays and wouldn't be able to project those rays when watching it on screen. It was something that made things safe for all those that gathered in the Dino Dome to watch the eclipse. Though it was some of the interesting parts of this viewing that had their own amusement.
"Dark!" Manuel declared as he looked around the room and to the large screen that was to show the sky. For the moment all the lights were out and all that the young Dinotopian could see was that it was dark in the room and left him squirming a bit in Tyra's arms.
"Yes... yes, it is," Tyra said to her son, and noted there Rex was holding Jonah, who was scanning the area where the Ramos/Green family was presently standing, and largely looking to where Heather and Jeremy were as they watched with their hatchlings, Mason and Anna-Poly, "but that's all part of having things ready for the eclipse. It's dark in here, but when it starts, the cameras will show things on the screen. It's super rare and fun to see."
"Dark!" Manuel repeated, "no wanna nap!"
"It's not time for a nap," Tyra assured him, "it's all part of having things ready for the showing of the eclipse."
That mattered little to the roughly two-year-old, who simply repeated that he didn’t want to take a nap, and which was soon picked up by the other three hatchlings, even though taking a nap wasn’t presently on the agenda. Heather then gave a small glare to Tyra as she got a kick in the boob from Mason as her hatchling gave the call for not wanting a nap.
“No nap, it’s just dark,” Rex assured Manuel which got things to relax a little bit.
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And there were others that were there too, and it was something that created some odd surprises when they interacted. And a meeting between Albert Slash and Tyler Pug was one of those sorts of meetings, partially as one didn't expect Dino City's Police Chief, and a Carcharodontosaurus Dinotopian would hang out with a punk rocker Amargasaurus Dinotopian. There was the obvious expectation that things would be polite, largely because Animalians in general had seemed to be less prone to the sorts of things that often lead to fights and distrust among Humans, but that didn't mean that many expected such cordial relations. But then, Dino City had also grown a lot since its first year and many of those present weren't there for when both the police chief and punk rocker became Dinotopians. And by now, Tyler Pug had long worked off his community service and was able to work with keeping his band going.
"I'm surprised you're here... wouldn't your job keep you at your desk?" Tyler asked to Slash.
"A lot of protocol would say that... but things here have tended to be quiet, and this has been such a big event... that I'm here as part of the security team," Slash answered, and then held up a walkie-talkie, "but if anything comes up, my officers that can't be here can contact me as needed."
"And you're still here?" Tyler wondered.
"What they're advertising for this eclipse is interesting and rather rare," Slash replied, "it's something I couldn't pass up... particularly when I can technically do part of what my job as an officer of law enforcement at the same time."
Tyler looked over to see where Ursala was likely flirting with the male Tyrannosaurus Dinotopian that had joined the Dino City PD.
"And you're not protecting your officers from being flirted with?" Tyler asked.
Slash noted Tyler's look and turned his neck. It wasn't as long as the Sauropod Dinotopian's, but he also wasn't impeded by the long neck spines that Tyler had, and it was still flexible enough to look around. His officer was standing there beside one of the doors that lead out of the gym in the Dino Dome. It was a spot where that officer wouldn't see the screen well, but would also be able to respond if something happened in front of them and could provide protection and even a "shield" if someone tried to storm in. And sure enough the female Tyrannosaurus Dinotopian was there, and without the group that she'd been coaching to get them out of their past issues, and was likely flirting with the officer, though so far, Slash's officer wasn't responding.
"So far, he's fine," Slash answered, "and if she wins him over ultimately... that's that my business. I'd only need to worry if she's physically trying something or he's being unprofessional while on duty."
Tyler shrugged and looked back to the screen, which was now coming on, "it's starting."
And they did look up to see what the camera caught. Some of the screen's dimmers were set in a way that the light wouldn't be blinding to those watching the eclipse as it happened on the screen, but things would be enough that they could still see the light change and filter as the moon began to move in front of the sun. There were a few clouds in the sky, but there weren't that many, and at first most of the action was with some of the birds that flew over the camera, and one pigeon even landed to peck at the camera for a moment before flying off. But then the moon began to move in front of the sun and there was an illuminated line of light that almost looked like fire as things continued to move... particularly once the moon was fully inside the aura of the sun. It left the chorus of "oh" rising from pretty much all present.
"That looks so awesome," Tyler commented.
"But everyone will have to go back to work once it's over," Slash reminded him.
"Band has a recording session," Tyler answered, "we may not be the biggest... but we're doing okay."