Moving into a new place was always a big thing, and for some, it was often entirely on their own. For Sophie and Roland Luwrie, however, things were a bit different. While their work on Animalia Ambassadoria had actually earned a fair amount of money, most of that had been invested by their parents to go into a college fund and made money through investment that would then pay for college once completed. That had been partially why Sophie, Roland, JC, and Pauline had agreed to go to SMU for all their undergraduate work. The other part had been more to be closer to Dino City.
There were some of the obvious jokes on Sophie and Roland moving to Dino City, given all that had happened when Heather proved that becoming a Dinotopian was possible, but much of that had also been passed over. That made sense, given how Heather had turned things around after that point. Some of the biggest worries came more from Malice from time to time, as steadily the group of friends that had been born when Animalia started began moving away and with Sophie, Roland, JC, and Pauline moving the farthest away, but so long as contact was made, Malice seemed to be doing okay. That then kept Sophie and Roland focused on the move to the apartment/hotel building in Dino City, Skybax Heights.
Most would move on their own, some things had been pretty tight in that regard. Both Sophie and Roland had saved money over the years, much of which coming out their work for Animalia Ambassadoria, which had paid well. After a year or two at college, though, they also recognized on why their parents had put the lions' share of that money into savings accounts for college and so on. College had been expensive, and law school for Sophie would ADD to her costs. And some of their summer work, while it may help, wouldn't cover everything. The result was that while they knew they had an apartment lined up at Skybax Heights to live in they didn't have a car or truck of their own to transport everything. The thankful thing was that was where friends and family came into play. The Albers had loaned the Luwries the mini-van they'd purchased after becoming Dinotopians so that Tyler and Persephone could help with the move, and Heather had come up from Dino City as well. Heather had also borrowed Rex's truck to pick up to help with the furniture that wasn't provided at the married couples housing that the young Luwries had had as Roland finished his undergraduate work and Sophie started law school. Now, the last part of moving out from Lyre/Animalia could be started.
"Okay, we'll wait here with Heather, while you two get your keys," Tyler said to Sophie and Roland.
"Though, be quick," Persephone added, "as... there are the last bits of things that you two will be moving from Animalia to here."
"Easy to do," Roland commented, "we did call ahead to Arcelia that we'd be on our way with the end of Sophie's first year in law school. She should have the key ready and the only thing we need to do is sign some forms that would secure the rent to own status of the apartment."
With that, Sophie and Roland hopped out and headed in. For the moment they didn’t carry anything, just in case there were some other hiccups in play, but both were fairly confident that the biggest and most financially costly things had already been taken care of. Much of which Sophie had also long figured was a result of the connections that Sophie and Roland made with the others that were part of the first group of Dinotopians and the first birds that had been uplifted into Dinotopians. It made being assured a place to live a lot easier, particularly with the residences that would be permanent for them and not part of the hotel being further up on the neolithic styled skyscraper.
They came in to find the Magpie turned Archaeopteryx Dinotopian at the main desk. From what they knew, she wasn't always there and had staff that did a lot of the day to day work with regard to the guests for the hotel and potential new residents to the apartment section of the tower, but then, Sophie and Roland also had the sense that this was another case of Arcelia being among the first birds uplifted into Dinotopians as part of the steps up to JC and Pauline becoming Microraptor Dinotopians. Arcelia looked up as she heard the door open and then smiled to the two Pterodactylus Dinotopians.
"How was the ride?" Arcelia asked.
"Not too bad," said Sophie, "the weather has been good and so on... though, the REAL ride will be with the back and forth from here to Animalia."
"There are some things that we had to leave there because they wouldn't fit on a permanent basis in the married couple's housing at SMU," Roland nodded, "things like beds and so on."
"Wouldn't your parents keep those?" Arcelia wondered as she shuffled with some paperwork on her side of the counter, "for when they have hatchlings?"
"They're essentially waiting on that," Sophie spoke, "and when they do... they'll be Sauropods. My siblings would be Mamenchisaurus and Roland's would be Alamosaurus. Our present twin beds would be good for them between the ages of one and five... but by the time they get to be in their teens, they'll dwarf us in height and weight."
Arcelia slowly nodded and moved the papers up onto the counter, "this would be your lease and everything that would note the rent to own system for the apartment. Just sign and date on the marked line for resident. It'll also have the apartment number on it. You'll actually be next to Norrie and my apartments. Though, I think some of the Pterosaur Dinotopians you two taught to fly are on the same level, so... once you get fully settled in, you be near a fair number of friends."
"And hopefully there will be the opportunity for old and new friends who aren't Dinotopians or aren't here to be able to visit," Sophie answered, with her mind thinking on the friends she'd grown up with in Lyre and became the core of the first Animalia Ambassadoria team, and that included JC and Pauline, who were still in Gondwana Land in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but she also thought about the friends they had made over the past school year, Maya Lopez and her husband, Jackie.
"The hotel has space," Arcelia answered with a nod and looked at the forms, "I'll go photocopy these and will be back with your keys."
Roland and Sophie smiled to each other as things moved forward. They'd remembered the initial coverage they did on things like Skybax Heights as part of the initial tour for Animalia Ambassadoria and now they'd live thing. It was something that in with the "great adventure" to move forward and ultimately be there for both Horizon and Dinotopians. They could hear the copy machine run, and it wasn't long before Arcelia returned with the papers and a small paper envelope. Roland took them and looked into the envelope first, and felt pleased with what he found. There were two metal keys, that looked like they were silver in color, but probably weren't made of silver. They also looked similar to the keys that both his and Sophie's parents had for their homes in Animalia and were drastically different from the hotel rooms that were in the tower that had the scan locks that keyed into set cards for that room. It was something that provided him with a smile and when he smiled, Sophie smiled.
"Come on, we'll have some stuff to do before we gotta get on the road again," Roland said to her, and pointed to the room number on the paperwork they'd signed, "but we're getting there..."
"Right," Sophie nodded, "thank you, Arcelia."
"It's no problem," Arcelia answered with a smile.
They came out to find Tyler and Persephone standing with Heather between the two sets of vehicles. They were looking more to the sky and engaging in some small talk. The weather wasn't too bad at the moment, but Sophie and Roland both figured it best to get the bookshelves and things from the truck out first, as the bed didn't have a top that was part of the truck and it'd be best not to risk things with regard to rain. Sophie gave a few happy cries of "we got it" as they came out and Roland noted some looks of pride on his parents' faces while Heather gave a playful shrug of her head.
"Hopefully we didn't keep you waiting too long," Roland spoke as Sophie rattled off the room and floor number in excitement.
"Not too long," Tyler spoke, "though we'll want to get going quickly and mostly just get what things you want to leave here in before heading out for Animalia to get the things from there." As... there will be a bit of a timetable. And we don't want to test things with Heather even more than we have to."
"You'd be coming for the second part of things?" Sophie asked to Heather as she overheard what was going on between her husband and his father.
"If you're looking at bringing full bed frames, desks and tables... and mattresses, it may be better to have a truck for the extra carrying capacity. That minivan may have more cargo space than a standard car, but there are some things it just can't carry... a normal mattress is one of those things."
"Thank you," Sophie said to her, and then looked to her in-laws, "thank you..."
"You can call us mom and dad," Persephone smiled, "I suspect your parents won't mind Roland calling them mom and dad, too. As we're all family now..."
"Okay," Sophie smiled, "let's get the big stuff first... before we fall behind or something else happens."
And that work was all fairly easy. The lose shelves from a bookcase were the first to be pulled out and were handed to Sophie. Heather and Tyler then worked out the now empty bookshelf, though once it was far enough out from the confines of the truck's bed, Tyler was able to easily hold the whole thing by himself. Heather then pushed a good sized personal safe out to the tailgate. Persephone took that and then moved to hustle ahead of Tyler, as while the bookshelf wasn't heavy, it was probably still awkward and setting it up would be more a two person operation. Heather finished up the parade with the last thing that had been in the bed of the truck, a modest sized grill, which Roland knew would be destined for the outdoor patio that their new apartment would have. The idea of grilled fish made his mouth water a little.
They made for a bit of an interesting parade as they made their way through the entry doors and onto one of the central elevators. Roland didn't have as much to carry for the moment, but then he also had the paperwork and the keys. He knew that the apartment would be locked, and while his parents or Heather could charge through the door if they wanted, that wouldn't do well for their rent. And with most of the people still at work for the day, it wasn't as though they would be waking people up. They were still quiet as they reached the door and Roland slid out one of the two keys. It fit within the lock and it turned with ease. The group then quietly entered. The area was fairly open and had a large room lit by the mid afternoon sun coming in from the west.
"So... the balcony is directly to the west from the entry area," Sophie said slowly.
"Yeah, but the overhang will also give some shade," Heather commented, "and there is a sort of storage room that's walled off for things like your grill on the outside."
"Most may not see that from the ground all that well or based on the architectural theme that Dino City was built with," Roland commented, "would that door have the same lock?"
"Probably," Heather answered, "all the doors in mine and Jeremy's house have the same lock. Though, Sophie and Roland will have the added benefit of being higher up. The better to swoop down on things."
"We can take off from the ground," Sophie answered, knowing that the others knew this and would chuckle at it.
Roland was quick to follow Heather to make sure that this storage area on the patio would work, as it wouldn't do well to have their grill or its equipment in a position where things like rain, hail, or lightning could easily damage it. Sophie, meanwhile, set to looking over the entry and room area they'd come into. The western to southern edge of the building had a bit of a curve to it, and fit the general outer shape of Skybax Heights, though the area where the patio was came in a bit further than other parts of that area, and was likely to fit the overall area of the apartment. Directly by the door to the hallway, there also seemed to be smaller door that would go into a closet while on the other side of the patio there was a larger door that would lead to what would be something that could be set up as a laundry room. The area to Sophie's left was divided in half. The north end of the room was likely a living room, or set up to be one with ports on the walls for electronics, TV, cable/satellite/internet connection devices, and so on That north end was then divided by a wall that formed the south end of the room, which as Sophie walked toward it, leaning the spare shelves against the wall, found that was a relatively simple kitchen with a sin underneath the south end of that room with a mixed electric oven and stove set inside a low cabinet on the north side of the kitchen.
"Things look like they'll be pretty simple," Persephone commented as she set the safe down on the floor, "and you'll need things like a fridge..."
"Yeah... the adds stated that each apartment would come with a oven and stove that would come as part of the unit, but certain other appliances would have to be added as needed," Sophie agreed as she worked her claws to undo the packaging tape for the safe. It would make sense to get things like the lease for the apartment in there as quickly as possible. "Which will all mean that Roland and I will have plenty to do to set up an actual home in the long term... and that once we have everything from Lyre/Animalia, things won't be entirely quick or easy. But it'll be part of the adventure, we'll be neighbors with some of the friends we made before now, and my phone should still have internet access and reception, so we can still call you two and my parents as need be. Though, it may be some advice on recipes, placing things, and so on..."
"It does look like they got some platform levers for you and Roland," Tyler commented, "and the oven looks big enough for a big turkey."
"A lot of that was likely with some preparation for the varying sizes that many dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals had. There were Sauropods as big as Alamosaurus and Pterosaurs as small as Pterodactylus in the fossil record. So they couldn't just build things only for big Dinotopians. It's clear they went with some of the same things they did for school furniture at WSA to let smaller beings be able to use the same materials that a larger Animalian might need."
"That's good," Tyler smiled, "does that safe come with a key or combination?"
"From the information we got when we bought it for this move, it should have both," Sophie spoke, "one would be a failsafe for the other."
The box was easily opened and it did come with an instruction booklet, which pointed to the lock that was on the top front of the safe. There was a key hole for it, and a small brass key was in a plastic bag with the instruction booklet. Roland and Heather came back in as Sophie looked over the instructions and noted the marked code for the safe being 9462. She thumbed the numbers in the right order and then lifted on the lid. The latch for the safe gave a soft click as it unlocked. The inside of the safe was clean and open and was big enough to hold papers in it. Roland handed the lease to Sophie and she put it in the safe. For the moment, she also put the instruction book in the safe as well.
"Now all we'll need for that is our birth certificates, conversion paperwork, original voter registration for the transfer to Texas's system, and my selective service paperwork," Roland commented."
"Which is back in Animalia," Sophie nodded, "among the other things that we decided not to pack before starting the last college year last fall. For now, though, the safe will ultimately go in what will be our room, but with everything related to the move, it can stay out here."
Roland nodded as Sophie handed him the key for the safe and they began making their way back to where they had parked outside. They shuffled around making sure the apartment keys were on their own keyrings and Roland added the safe's key to his. This part of the present "moving" was getting the smaller things that Sophie and Roland had been able to take and put in the married couples residence at SMU the past school year into what would be their permanent residence in Dino City. This included things like clothing, picture frames, books, CDs, CD players, and pieces of personal equipment that cold be packed and moved around. With the extra hands, this wasn't too hard to do and not everything was brought up. As Sophie and Roland would obviously need clothes to get from Dino City to Animalia to get the things that were still there...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The drive was long and took a few days in and of itself. This was sort of thing was a given, considering how large of a land area that Texas occupied, the states that they'd have to cross to get to Nevada and then where Lyre/Animalia was in the state. That distance couldn't be carried in a day. And threw the years that had come with the journey from Lyre/Animalia to SMU, Tyler and Persephone had gotten good at measuring on where they'd need to be to keep to a schedule and what hotels had the best deals along the way. Some things would be a bit pricier given that the trip would include a round trip from Dino City to Animalia and back for Heather, Sophie, and Roland and then a final trip back to Animalia for Tyler and Persephone. But for the older Luwries, being there to help their son and daughter-in-law took precedence over everything else. And thankfully, the hotels that they used and favored were good and acceptable.
Things like chairs and furniture may not support their weight, but a lot of that was a given. While Animalians generally didn't solely live in Animalia or its colony cities, many of the Dinotopians, and particularly the larger ones, often were limited to those colony cities, like Dino City. For many of the structures that had been built for Humans and were a bit limited when dealing with Elephant and Giraffe Animalians with regard to things like height and weight requirements for them. With Dinotopians, that was even more so an issue. Tyler could well understand those frustrations, as in the office spaces of the mechanics shop that he managed, he had to be extra careful with regard to making sure he didn't hit his head on a ceiling, not to mention the care that came with any sort of bathroom visit that would need to be made during the day. He could and did manage things well, but that didn't make it easy, and made places like Dino City more convenient for other Dinotopians. In the future, as the world got more used to Animalia and Dinotopia and all the rapid changes that came with it, many of those things would ease a bit as more places were built to the larger scale, and until then, they'd have to make do.
"You know... you two don't need to cram everyone into one room," Heather commented on one morning on the way back to Animalia, "Horizon actually pays me fairly well with regard to the work on coming up with the images for ads, and Jeremy's position in running Project Mesozoic is pretty secure. I could take my own room..."
"It's okay," Tyler spoke, "we don't mind things... and with the way so much of the rest of the climate has been looking, it may be easier to keep things together. It would save on prices."
"Besides, you're doing an awful lot that you don't have to," Persephone added and patted Heather's free hand, "Tyler and I... we're doing this for son and daughter-in-law..."
Heather glanced over to Sophie and Roland, who were the only ones actually seated at the table they were using. Heather, Tyler, and Persephone were more kneeling down and doing their best to keep their tails from being too much of an obstruction to other foot traffic in the dining area. Like Heather, Sophie and Roland were eating some eggs and sausage that the hotel provided for their breakfasts while Tyler and Persephone were enjoying a cereal and fruit mix.
"They're close friends," Heather countered and glanced to Sophie again, "and it might come off as odd, given our first meeting while I was trying to look for ways to financially help my grandmother... and then with what happened after I became a Dinotopian. Most people would probably just be glad to see me out of their hair, one way or the other. But... Sophie... she gave me added reason to reform and help in ways that at the time, I may not have even known I needed. And while I have apologized for everything... a real part of me will ALWAYS want to help, as I feel... I feel that I'd owe them that much. Not just for forgiveness but for a new start."
Tyler and Persephone shared appreciative smiles at that. They had had their worries over the years, particularly with regard to the immediate aftermath with regard to how much Heather Wilcox/Green had reformed, but they could also note on how far the Syntixisaurus Dinotopian had come. Roland had told them plenty from things he'd learned from Sophie and the interactions that were had after he'd been cleared from the hospital and later after he and Sophie became the Pterodactylus Dinotopians they were. There were some things that didn't quite go as Heather likely planned they would go, like her apology dinner after Sophie and Roland became Dinotopians, but in many ways they did work with what was intended. It was also something where they'd also told Remington and Vera on how proud they could be of their daughter while working out their own plans to become Dinotopians.
"All the same, you've done a lot," Persephone spoke, "and with the way things are going financially, it'll be easier to keep everyone together... Keep costs down and have some measure of security."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The arrival back in Animalia worked well, though it also came with its own challenges. They had been on the road on Memorial Day and Heather got a call on the confrontation between a Russian diplomat, who'd been extremely aggressive and verbally threatening with Horizon's CEO when he insisted on America's laws regarding conversions be followed. There had also been mention of an angry American state department official who joined the Russian diplomat in the verbal threats. Thus, after backing her truck up onto the Luwrie's driveway, had to walk in to Horizon's main office to see on what was wanted. That left Sophie, Roland, and the Luwries to go about the work of packing things into both the minivan that Remington and Vera had loaned Tyler and Persephone and the truck that Heather had borrowed from Rex.
Moving the small things was very easy, and the biggest issue was more on moving between the Luwrie and Albers homes to get it, but Remington and Vera had given Tyler and Persephone their keys house to help with the move, so the biggest issue was more on time and effort than anything else. Especially when Sophie also knew where her parents had filed and preserved all the things that she would need to take back to Dino City. These things, like her voter registration and the forms needed to move it from Nevada to Texas, at least on Nevada's end, was there and put into a manila folder. The same went for both her conversion documents and her birth certificate. Those things were easy to get, and Persephone and Roland did the same with the same sorts of documents he'd need from the Luwrie home, along with things like the selective service card and number that he'd had to fill out and apply for when he turned eighteen. Many of these things were easy to take care of. Other books and papers and things took a bit more time and effort to pack, but they all made it into the minivan with ease, and this also included things like the bed linin.
The things that took the most work and effort came when it was time to furniture. The Albers and Luwries had set aside plenty of things from their homes in Lyre after they became Dinotopians for Sophie and Roland to use. For while Sophie and Roland might be a bit taller than most people, they were still about the same size as a normal Human, while their parents after becoming Mamenchisaurus and Alamosaurus Dinotopians needed bigger pieces of furniture. There was, however, enough of it that it wasn't likely that Heather's truck could carry all of it, at least not all in one go. And some of the travel arrangements had been such that even Tyler and Persephone didn't want to do multiple back and forth trips of this nature. The one thing they could do, was rent a U-Haul moving truck, which would have even more space. Technically, because of the size of the vehicles that the Albers and Luwries had bought to fit their new sizes, their licenses had also had to be upgraded to suit the size of the vehicles, and the small office in Lyre had expanded with Animalia over the years. And it was Tyler bringing that truck to park on the street that Heather returned to.
"A U-Haul?" Heather raised an eye-ridge.
"There is some extra furniture that our folks are giving us and that we've looked over," Sophie spoke, "and while your truck can help with some things... it can't get all of them."
"Though, admittedly, that also wasn't recognized until other things were looked over," Roland admitted.
"We might still need the added help of moving things into both vehicles, particularly if we run into any more rain on the way back," Persephone added.
Heather sighed and then nodded, "hold on... I'll get some tarps out to set things up to keep furniture off the bed of the truck. I suppose you can start with the clunkier items that wouldn't fit in the van and so on into the U-Haul... and next time, think things through!"
"Sorry," Persephone and Sophie admitted.
"It's okay," Heather laughed back, "Jeremy and I end up with those sorts of things from time to time... and much of what Horizon called about involves governments not thinking things through before they decide they want something and are prepared to use force to get it."
"And you were able to fix it?" Roland wondered.
"I might have been able to fix some of it..." Heather said slowly, "but in the long run, I think that Horizon may be facing it's own proverbial crisis as the present administration moves to try and nationalize the company..."
"The idiot..." was the reply, to which Heather agreed.
"Mr. Qvite is fairly certain he can win the lawsuit that will be needed, if it comes to that," Heather agreed, "but it will present some trouble, at least for awhile."
That added some sense of nervousness, but it was also something that Sophie and Roland couldn't do anything about at the present time. Sophie would have wanted to present some argument to help Horizon, but a person just finishing their freshman year in law school wouldn't get the chance to actually present things in court as anything other than a witness. This left them working more with efforts to load up their furniture and things, and that did take, but they managed. Couches, easy chairs, the entertainment center, a dining room table with four chairs and other things were all packed and loaded so that they wouldn't roll around. The U-Haul truck that Tyler had gotten also came with tie down straps to help with those things. They also put the mattresses from Sophie and Roland's beds in there as well. It saved on some space for things that went into the bed of the truck that Heather had borrowed from Rex, and they were wrapped a tarp that was designed to repel water and also had straps to hold things down. Sophie and Roland then ran some last double checks on things that were also in the minivan, like the old televisions that had been in the Albers home before Remington and Vera got bigger TVs to make operating them easier. Old tapes, DVDs, and other things were also loaded, though Sophie also noted that some of the home movies that her parents had made of her and some that Tyler and Persephone had made for Roland were also there, and that might present the idea for gifts for father's day when that came up. Once they had everything gathered and packed, the checked things off and were set for the last bit of what was the start of the great adventure for herself and Roland.