"I'm glad you're enjoying the student teaching side of things," Sophie commented to Roland as the two of them were finishing up their dinner for the evening.
"I'm mostly just glad that they were able to get me into a school here in Dallas," Roland answered, "as neither of us have a car... and flying might be quicker..."
"The state is big enough that it'd be pretty difficult to commute back and forth," Sophie finished for her husband while lifting a forkful of baked chicken up to her beak.
"And saves on things related to living expenses," Roland agreed, "as if it was in some other town... I'd need to rent something there or stay in a hotel... and then... then I could see you and your beautiful crest."
Sophie looked down at her beak, noted the capital d shaped crest on its dorsal side. It was still there and dominated her vision when looking down, though it largely had the same dull coloration as the rest of her. It wasn't as big as Roland's crest; it lacked the bright blue his crest had. In some ways, Sophie felt rather flattered that Roland found her crest attractive. A lot of what she'd read on Pterosaurs, and the species Pterodactylus specifically, had the theory that they like many birds could well have certain elements of size and coloration that was suited for display and the crest was one of those things. And within their half of the duplex that they presently shared with Jackie and Maya Lopez. Jakie and Maya lived in the southern half of the duplex while they lived in the northern half. They had good contact and were becoming fairly decent friends. Sometimes, such as now, Sophie almost wished that they had met Jackie and Maya earlier so that they could have invited them to the wedding they'd had over the past summer. For now, Sophie hoped that she and Roland could be there when Maya had her baby.
"You flatter me," Sophie managed a small smile after chomping a bit on the chicken.
"Mostly keep you in a good mind for what we'll have to do," Roland spoke carefully, "regarding what will come for the Year of the Snake celebration that will be coming up soon."
Sophie sighed and nodded. Animalia always celebrated Chinese New Year in its own way, just as it often had things special for other holidays. The "Great Snow War" to essentially celebrate the Christmas Truce in World War One in December. Painting the eggs from Chicken Animalians for Easter. Various fireworks and specials for the Fourth of July and Animalia's birthday in the summer. The great communal feast that was held in Great Hall for Thanksgiving in Animalia. All of these things were there when Animalia started and covered, back when she and Roland were Animalia Ambassadoria's only Human members. Chinese New Year was one of these celebrations, and for Animalia it was often a celebration that directly related to those Animalians that matched the animal for the year.
The previous year, their respective parents used "the Year of the Dragon" to become Dinotopians. Her parents, Remington and Vera Albers becoming Mamenchisaurus Dinotopians and Roland's parents, Tyler and Persephone Luwrie, becoming Alamosaurus Dinotopians. Both had been happy with their choices, and they cheered hard for Sophie and Roland as they competed to win the Year of the Dragon contest in Dino City. Being cheered on was something that Sophie liked and despite Pterodactylus being a relatively small animal, when compared to what most people knew about dinosaurs, she had a lot of pride at winning "Ms. Year of the Dragon" and that Roland won the "Mr. Year of the Dragon." That pride was now balanced by other factors.
The Year of the Dragon Contest had been in Dino City because since there were no actual dragons, the fact that many bones of extinct animals, often dinosaurs, got labeled as "dragon bones," had left the Dinotopians and a few specific Animalians that came from extant species that either carried the "look" of a dragon or carried the word "dragon" in its name. The size of the larger Dinotopians, however, made travel to Lyre/Animalia and the Claw Coliseum, however, and that had the Year of the Dragon be at Dino City. Since there were no modern snakes of comparable size, and no one had become a Titanoboa Animalian, the venue for the Year of the Snake returned to Lyre/Animalia and the Claw Coliseum. This made for a tougher position for Sophie and Roland, as they still had their coursework to consider. Sophie had found the classes and work at SMU Dedman School of Law were tougher than what she took for her bachelor's degree at SMU, and she didn't think she could miss days and lectures because of it. Roland, meanwhile, was finishing up his own general education courses and had been starting his student teaching with the start of the post-Christmas semester. Those schools couldn't give Roland the time off to go to Lyre for the traditional role that the winners of one Chinese New Year contest played in the next year's contest.
"Yeah... I know," Sophie nodded, "I wish things weren't as tight as they are... but they are our responsibilities."
"Might also keep you out of all that drama going on over that supposed bar fight between two Elephant Animalians," Roland commented.
"From the reported statements, it was more a fight between two Humans coming out of a sort of jealousy," Sophie answered, "the issue regarding Animalia was more that stolen samples of the Animalia Virus were used as part of a pretty low-level scheme for revenge and not much more. Neither was ready for the onrush of animal instinct and weren't in a position to see themselves as part of the same herd at the time."
"Still... best to be away from that," Roland commented, "although... I don't think we'd flown back from Christmas break when the actual incident took place."
And they had enjoyed a good Christmas break. Seeing their parents was fine, but the big thing had been more to meet up with Malice and Simon, and even Sarah and Travis. Samson and Abby were still with the Browns and helping with Ava and the farm, though they did learn that they expected to move up to the property in Montana that her uncle had gifted them as a wedding present in the spring. The only ones who were missing were JC and Pauline, who were still in Gondwanaland, and Jessica and Roger. From the emails and phone calls they'd had, the play that Jessica had been in had done well enough that it had kept going in Las Vegas for a while, and there were some whispers on them having a bit of a tour with the play in the near future. That had been good and gave Sophie something to smile about over Christmas Break, before returning to law school and Roland back for student teaching.
But Roland was also right in being away from the present legal mess. For when they returned to campus, she found that the incident in Desert Flats had drawn attention, and particularly the legal battles over jurisdiction and other related legal matters. One of the professors ultimately said that the group that had sought to move the trial and adding charges that went beyond theft, illegal distribution of the Animalia Virus, and a public disturbance was a case of trying to score political points and not actually administering justice. Sophie had her thoughts on the matter but figured it best not to draw things into a bigger debate as that wasn't the purpose of the classes being attended. Though, that whole issue wasn't something that Sophie and Roland were making their decision on.
"True," Sophie agreed, "and after we have things washed up from dinner... we'll give Dakota and Harper a call. Dakota won the herm category last year, and so far as I know... they will have the time for the contest. So, it won't be too hard for them to come and pick up the trophies we have for male and female, respectively."
"And the group running the Year of the Snake contest knows?" Roland asked as they stood up to begin clearing the table and placing the dishes in the sink to rinse.
"Yeah, I called them over my lunch break, and we did tell Malice that over Christmas break as well," Sophie told him.
"And she wants a visit for her and Simon over the summer as part of a "housewarming" party," Roland chuckled.
"Right now, in all this polar vortex... I'd give anything for housewarming," Sophie managed back.
Roland chuckled again. The pair finished all that work in seeing to the plates, forks, and glasses that were used were rinsed, and would go into the dish washer after leaving for class or the student teaching, and which required some rather early mornings. With no leftovers from dinner, they then moved to the living room where both of their phones were placed on a small table that was in front of their couch. Roland took the lead here and ran one talon tipped finger over the touchscreen and set on the phone's speaker mode. It filled the room with the blank "whirr" of the dial tone, but it would also be something that would enable both to hear the answer once the phone was dialed. A series of beeps then followed as Roland dialed a number that they'd gotten from Jeremy. A series of rings followed, but didn't last long as a voice then answered.
"Hello?" came the voice, a bit lower than Sophie's but also higher than Roland's.
"Hello, this is Roland and Sophie Luwrie, is this Dakota or Harper?" Roland spoke into the phone, hoping they weren't interrupting anything with the two Dakotaraptor Dinotopians.
"This is Dakota," came the answer, "Harper is out running an errand or two... likely seeing to things that will relate to making sure things are in order before our trip up to Lyre/Animalia for the Year of the Snake contest. Do you need a ride to the airport for it?"
"No... Roland and I don't need a ride," Sophie spoke up, "in fact... our class schedules and other responsibilities are such that we really can't go at all. Thus, we need a favor."
"You can't go?" Dakota said, "but you both won last year for the males and females in the Year of the Dragon," Dakota pointed out.
"The school I'm student teaching at can't give me the time off for it," Roland answered.
"And my course work in law school is a LOT harder than what I had for my bachelor's degree," Sophie added, "I could travel and miss the days, but I'd fall behind... and with some of the other stuff that is likely to be coming over the next four years, I really can't afford to let my grades slip. Otherwise... the hurdles I'll have to clear to get a law practice going will be too high."
"That doesn't sound fair to me," Dakota said plainly.
"Life generally isn't fair," Sophie sighed.
"Harper and I will do anything we can, what would you need?" Dakota asked.
"Merely that you plan ahead on the day you fly to Lyre/Animalia," Roland answered, and then gave Dakota address for the duplex that was provided for the married couples residences that SMU provided, and was extremely clear on the specific number for their own.
"That's the address that we have," Sophie added when Roland finished the address for the duplex, "now Roland is pretty busy nearly all day right now while he's doing the student teaching, but I have some moments during the day when I could be here to had to you and Harper the trophies that we won and that you would then have to hand down for us."
"So, you'd want to know when we'd be flying out to Lyre?" Dakota asked.
"On your way out," Roland spoke, "we wouldn't want to impose a special trip on you and Harper."
"It'd be no special trip," Dakota assured them, "we can come up in a couple of days for dinner. See how married life is treating you two and the like. It'd be something that would provide for something more than contract work helping the state's game wardens keep things like turkeys from becoming nuisance animals... not to mention the helping ranchers remove excess wild hogs from their properties."
"You're sure...?" Sophie asked, "I mean... Roland and I have been closer to Jeremy and Heather... and by extension Tyra and Rex..."
"Yes, but pretty much all the first batch of Dinotopians likes you two in some way," Dakota answered, "and in that, just about everyone knows of you. Your work on Animalia Ambassadoria goes even further. Add in the politeness and everything else at the Year of the Dragon contest last year, that's worth the extra effort to make friends and lend a helping hand."
Sophie looked over to Roland and both of them said, "thank you. What day would you and Harper want to come for dinner?"
"In two days, say around seven in the evening," Dakota answered, "that would let you both avoid scheduling issues?"
"Yes," Sophie nodded, "and... thank you."
"It's no problem," Dakota replied, "see you both then."