While the Parkers and Ericksons had a rather surprising Mother's Day in their home outside of Wall, South Dakota, and would eventually lead to some detective work being done after it to then talk with a Jason Quill who owned a fairly big ranch up on the border with North Dakota after Mother's Day, there were other Mother's Day events that weren't quite as dramatic...
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Sophie and Roland sat quietly as they watched the zoom camera being adjusted on the computer screen in their residence. The married dorms at SMU had enabled them to enjoy time in private that they hadn't really gotten as undergraduates. The dormitories were generally segregated by gender, and likely with the idea of preventing there being "adult" activity in the dorm rooms. Though, Sophie also knew that students had their ways of getting around that and could remember counting on both hands the number of people who had had sex in the dorm rooms during their freshman year at SMU alone. Now, though, that sort of "hiding" wasn't necessary for her and Roland as they were happily married. Though, the present "adventure" really didn't have to do with their marriage as it did with their families and the holiday.
That was more a Zoom/Skype call back home and contacting their parents, Remington and Vera Albers, and Tyler and Persephone Luwrie. From what Sophie and Roland could see, their mothers were trying to set chairs together and set the camera so that they could sit together and be relatively even with each other on the call. This of course led into issues where Persephone, as an Alamosaurus Dinotopian was a bit taller than Vera, a Mamenchisaurus Dinotopian. Adjusting the camera on their end also proved to be interesting, as while everything was adjustable, many things were built to more Human sizes, and while they had the means and control to adjust things without breaking them, there was some cases where things were over-adjusted and the camera went looking down at Vera's J cup and Persephone's K cup chests and then up to the white of the ceiling in the Albers' computer room/office. It was also enough to note that both Vera and Persephone were wearing white tee-shirts with a blue pterosaur on the chest and with little hearts around it.
"There!" Roland spoke, "I think you got it!"
"Thank goodness, adjusting that thing took forever," Persephone grumbled, "are you sure we're even?"
"About as even as you can be, mom," Roland answered, "but then... you're a bigger Dinotopian than Mrs. Albers. So... it's going to be hard to get things even."
"Get mom a booster seat, dad!" Sophie teased.
"I heard that, young lady," Vera answered, "do I need to ask if you and Roland have gotten us the Mother's Day gift of grandchildren?"
"We're waiting until after I graduate law school and have my practice open," Sophie answered, blushing underneath her pycnofibers.
Both sets of parents nodded. They weren't planning on having eggs until after the present administration was out of office.
"Did our Mother's day cards arrive?" Sophie asked.
They watched as Vera and Persephone both nodded with happy smiles to that question.
"And we loved them," Vera smiled, "It's something where I wish we could all be together for today... but the cards were lovely."
"And the words you wrote in each were even better," Persephone added, "though, there will be one more thing you can do for us..."
"This would be Roland's graduation, I take it?" Sophie asked.
This was also something that was to be expected. Roland had completed his student teaching and largely completed the work he needed to graduate. He'd also taken one of the early sessions for the Praxis Exam and Texas' other requirements for certification. They hadn't heard back on the score for those tests, but the grades that Roland had gotten were enough pass and gain his teaching degree. He might not have been able to walk and graduate with Sophie last May, but he would now and stood a good chance of having the clearance to start teaching in the fall with the first group of kindergarten students that would be attending at Dino City's school. From what they'd heard, they'd largely be children of some that had moved to Dino City and had either converted with their parents or were still Human. This then presented a different scheduling issue.
Remington and Vera, having helped Koji Tomoshita with her conversion, would be participating in some tests over the summer on Ishinowa Island with the new herm Mamenchisaurus Dinotopian. Sophie figured it was to collect scientific data that would provide comparable strength, speed, and agility data between male and female Animalians and herm Animalians. It was work that had generally been done with every Animalian that had herm members. That, however, meant that they wouldn't be able to help Sophie and Roland with the move to Dino City once the coming school year ended. They still had their normal jobs in Lyre, but they wouldn't have the available time off to do both. They had to make a choice, and since they would get some payment from Horizon and the foundations that Doctor Ramos worked on, it was clear that they would take the option that would enable them to earn money. This then left Tyler and Penelope to help with the coming move to Dino City. Tyler would be allowed to borrow the Albers' mini van that had been bought after the Albers and Luwries became Dinotopians and that would make a lot of things easier, but there would also still be a lot of back and forth to move everything that Sophie and Roland would need for their apartment in Dino City. That in turn meant that the Luwries wouldn't be able to get time off from their jobs twice within the month of may, once for Roland's graduation and then moving. They had settled on waiting until it came time for Sophie and Roland's move, but they also wanted to see Roland's graduation.
"Yes," Persephone answered, "can you..."
"Of course," Sophie answered, "while graduation hasn't arrived yet, it isn't that far off and I do have the ability to film it. It'd be the best Mother's Day gift I can promise to my mother-in-law."
"Oh, thank you," Persephone and Tyler said together. Persephone then picked up on her own, "your mother and I would hug you together if we were there... Thank you."
Sophie only smiled with a chuckle.
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Other's Mother's Day was a bit more low key and not involving as much in the way of long distance communication. Though, this didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't without it's own point of "excitement," and one apartment, not too far from the one that Simon and Malice shared, thee adults sat together on the couch in the living room.
"They look precious," Kicheko commented as Vita and Akia Crisoni nursed two pairs of Spotted Hyena cubs.
Vita and Akia had had a happy marriage together, and it progressed well since Vito became Vita. Shi and Akia kept Kicheko around as a close friend and that was essentially building up its own sort of Hyena Clan in Animalia while Vita worked within Horizon Light, which had also expanded a bit. Much of it ultimately came from Vita's past experience as a zookeeper, and essentially one who had looked after Akia before hir uplifting. But the zoo was small and most that came to the zoo didn't come to see the Hyenas, which lead to Akia's uplifting and then eventually Vito becoming Vita. Vita worked more as an assistant and not as a true physician, but her experience as a keeper actually helped hir understand when even Animalians were having some trouble and she could then help the doctors from there.
The pair had often debated on family planning and everything else. Vita's parents never fully understood hir decision to become a herm, let alone an Animalian, but they also seemed to love hir and wanted hir to be happy. This, of course, also then turned into pressures put on both Vita and Akia to have cubs with the added incentive of, "I plan to spoil my grandbabies rotten." It made for an interesting dynamic, and Kicheko occasionally caught some strays when Vita's mother offered suggestions on who Kicheko could marry. Though, one young man that had been mentioned had been friendly enough on the phone and through email, but nothing had yet reached the same point that Vita and Akia had. And for a time, economic concerns had kept Vita and Akia from starting their own family, but those did relax and by July of the previous year, they made their decision and went through with it. Vita gave birth to a male Hyena Animalian and a herm Hyena Animalian. Akia gave birth to two herm Hyena Animalians.
"The one thing I can't quite figure out is why the cubs Akia carried seem to prefer nursing from Vita and why the cubs Vita carried prefer nursing from Akia," Kicheko commented.
Vita licked the head of one of hir cubs as it nursed from hir breasts and gave a small shrug, "I don't know, either... but... they're ours. So... maybe they know we're herms and are more into their "father" than their mother."
"Maybe they sense our scents on each other," Akia commented and bounced one cub as it nursed, "Izzy, here, was a bit curious about you after a hug."
Kicheko only shrugged as the paired sets of cubs began to pause in their suckling. Things seemed peaceful and Akia and Vita both seemed happy. Of course, it also made for an interesting Mother's Day. Shi was a little bit surprised to be invited over, but it did feel good to be among friends.
"So... how are you enjoying being a mom?" Kicheko asked to Vita, "I'd imagine it's a bit different from what you expected growing up."
"The odd thing is that a lot of things don't change all that much," Vita commented, "I mean... they still have a sleep schedule that is very different from ours." As shi said this the infant in hir right arm began drifting off to sleep in hir arm. "And in some ways, I'd probably find them adorable even if I were still Human. Hyenas sort of get a bad reputation that they really shouldn't have, in my opinion."
Shi paused for the agreeing nods. And both Akia and Kicheko did nod in agreement with that statement. Akia with the added agreement on when one or more of the youngest Crisonis woke up hungry in the middle of the night.
"The big thing is more the sense of being able to feel both," Vita commented, "I love all of them... but I can feel the pride in being the the father of two and the mother of two at the same time. Each set is of me in a way... One of the... pleasant quirks of being a hermaphrodite now. Though... I'm still not entirely sure on how I'm supposed to feel. I mean... by dad was pretty hands off when I was growing up and my mom... well... she's nice and respectful... but she expected me to stay male before having kids and thus wasn't prepared for when I became a hermaphrodite Animalian."
"At least she is respectful," Akia commented, "there are some stories out there that make the news that show how little respect that some people have for others when they're different."
"And why we sent mom her favorite flowers for Mother's Day," Vita nodded, "and eventually... when these four are older, she'd want to meet her grandchildren."
"That'll be for when they're big enough to move about a bit more and we can get some time off," Akia nodded, "until then... it'd be best to stay with close friends and our four little ones."
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The Mariana home sat quietly as the family's patriarch, Luis, and his wife, Suzanne, settled in for a calm Sunday evening. The day had been quiet for the pair of them. Neither had to go in for work, which gave Suzanne some time to work on her flower garden, which was a set of pots that she kept on the home's back porch or hanging from hooks on the front window. Luis often helped her with hanging them, but they weren't totally out of shape. But as evening came in, things were quiet, and in its way the quietness was something that sat in the back of both Luis and Suzanne's hearts and minds. The only sound, at present was Luis cutting some carrots on a wooden cutting board at the counter. Suzanne was quietly seated at the dinner table and looking at an ornate card that had arrived in the mail and had familiar handwriting on it.
"What do you suppose she's doing right now?" Suzanne asked after a moment and looking up toward the doorway that lead into the kitchen, filling some of the quietness in the house.
"By now... I'm sure she and Roger are working on their dinner," Luis commented, "it is getting into the evening."
Suzanne didn't respond for a moment and looked down to the open card and read the signature again, Jessica Mariana-Lightfoot. Their only daughter. She could remember squeals of delight as little Jessica toddled around the home in her dresses and jumpers as a younger Suzanne or Luis chased after her. She remembered fun family game nights and the joy of seeing her grow up with every year. Neither of them had been particularly keen on Jessica becoming an Animalian, but she did abide by their rules and remained responsible, and she didn't rush into growing up as so many kids from the year Animalia started did. All of that was all things that Suzanne remembered and could enjoy, particularly with certain things like birthdays and Mother's Day. But that had all changed.
Jessica had grown up and had married Roger the previous summer. She'd won a part in a theatrical production in Las Vegas, and she and Roger were living there now. From what Suzanne knew, it wasn't a super big apartment, and the success of the play had included some travel and shows in other areas besides Las Vegas. It had been a good run and from what Jessica had said on phone calls and emails, it had gone fairly well and earned her some fairly decent money. For much of the time since Jessica's wedding to Roger, Suzanne had been fairly okay with things, as many things often had potential scheduling conflicts and the like. But the arrival of Mother's Day had her having a feeling of "empty nest syndrome," and it hit her hard. She wanted her baby-girl around, even if she was all grown up.
"We always had fun on Mother's Day," Suzanne said off hand in a voice that did little to hide how down she felt.
"I know," Luis commented, "but I'm sure there were plenty of times where you would have wanted things to be quieter. Like when we'd come home from a hard day at work and find that the group was working on Animalia Ambassadoria things and Malice was bit excited at that moment."
"I miss those times," Suzanne answered, "Jessica was often pretty good at getting Malice to calm down... both her and the Albers girl... Sophie."
"I believe she's Mrs. Luwrie now, dear," Luis answered, "they all had their weddings together, along with the reception. We were all there. And now, she's all grown up and moving forward. Isn't that what we wanted?"
"Yes... but..." Suzanne began to answer with a chime went through the house. It wasn't an actual bell, but it wasn't so electrical that it sounded like it came from a synthesizer. "Someone's at the door."
Suzanne set the card down and walked along to the front door. There were a couple of family photos hung on the walls and she glanced to them as she went by. Seeing Jessica's smile in them, including the ones after Jessica became an Animalian, made Suzanne smile as well. She came to the door and carefully reached for the knob and turned it. Then, as the door open, she revealed to familiar figures. On the right was a male brown furred Domestic Rabbit Animalian, his specific breed an unknown, and on the left was a white furred Rabbit Animalian with red hair. The exact breed or species was an unknown. From the paperwork, Judy was a Mountain Cottontail Rabbit, but that species of Cottontail did not have an all white coat as a color variant, and Judy, herself, was largely grey in color with the exception of the areas around her upper lip and lower jaw and then going down her front. It had long given the Marianas the possibility that Judy was a natural hybrid in that escaped pet rabbits had bread with Mountain Cottontails and that lineage had passed down to Judy, and that part then passed to Jessica when Jessica became an Animalian. Quivering at the sight, Suzanne couldn't help but feel herself begin to smile.
"Happy Mother's Day, mom," Jessica said to her before Suzanne pulled her into a tight hug.
"My baby girl!" Suzanne cheered happily, "oh you must come in! Luis! Luis! Come see who's come to see us for Mother's Day!"
Jessica smiled and followed her mother in while Roger closed the door behind them.