Abby and her group slowly made their way toward one of the small internal harbors inside the lagoon inside the atoll where they expected to meet with Susan and Tzan. The trip to Mieni had started off fairly well and they were enjoying things so far, as they had gotten a good look at the atoll as they flew in, which from the air could be clearly seen as being similar to many of the other atolls located in this general area of the Pacific Ocean, in that the atoll was a ring of islands around a central lagoon. The main island of Mieni itself was larger and had presented most of the surprises that Horizon's scientists wanted to study for new species and trying to determine how they got to the islands, but they had agreed that the islands that completed the ring weren't super small either.
"Man... there's seemed to be a lot to see and do here," Malice commented with her tail wagging and sniffing at various things as they walked along. She didn't stop or push her muzzle into anything, but it was clear that the uplifted Husky was curious and interested in exploring.
"Yeah, plenty of places to swim and see," Sarah agreed, "and apparently a ship sunk in World War II."
"Actually," Sophie spoke, "from what the military guy that's been supervising the pull out of US military equipment and ordinance said, the ship wasn't sunk during the war. It was sunk AFTER the war as a target ship. Essentially the US Navy scuttled and sank its own warship."
"Details, details," Roger answered, "It'd still be a neat thing to see and learn about... if you're into history."
The others eventually chuckled as they made their way toward the docks, where they could see a couple of the newly uplifted Animalians that were part of Mieni's population. Both were female with one looking like an uplifted dolphin, and Abby guessed a Bottlenose Dolphin and matched one of the male uplifted Dolphins that had been part of the aquatic center that had been part of the Lyre Zoo. The other looked like an uplifted Hammerhead Shark, though none of them knew precisely on what exact species it was. They could all notice the personality differences between the two as they approached. The dolphin Animalian was practically dancing up and down the portion of the dock they were on and only periodically stopping to snack on some cooked fish that was on a small plate on a folding table that had been set up.
"It'll be great and fun!" the dolphin Animalian said with a smile as she danced, "and people will have fun watching us have fun."
They watched as the shark Animalian rolled at least one eye and rolled the lips on her mouth to show her teeth for a short moment before looking out toward the water. It was clear that that shark Animalian was irritated by something, though to Jessica's, Malice's, Sarah's, Travis's, Simon's, and Roger's sensitive ears, they guessed it was the dolphin's tone of voice. It wasn't necessarily a "bad voice," but it was high enough in pitch that when reinforced with the dolphin Animalian's obviously bubbly personality it could come off as annoying to others.
"We're supposed to show that we can still get along despite obvious differences," the shark Animalian said slowly and then looked up to group that approached them. She then nodded in the direction of Abby and the others.
"Hello," Abby spoke first, "I take it you are Susan and Tzan?"
"I'm Tzan," the Hammerhead Shark Animalian said slowly.
"I'm Susan," the Dolphin Animalian added with a smile.
"I am Abby and this is my mate, Samson," Abby introduced herself and her mate.
"I'm Malice and this is my sister Sarah," Malice introduced her sister and then her mate, "and this is my mate Simon."
Sarah shook her head and then sighed and patted Travis's shoulder, "This is my mate, Travis."
"I'm Jessica and this is my boyfriend, Roger," Jessica introduced herself and Roger.
"Rabbit," Malice said in a joking voice.
"Not mates?" Susan asked.
"My parents were okay with me becoming an Animalian, but they felt that was enough," Jessica explained, "So I won't get my second dose until after I've matured into a state like my friends naturally, by which point being a "double doser" would be irrelevant. So, Roger and I will have to wait until we turn eighteen to become mates."
Susan and Tzan then looked to Roland and Sophie who were the last to introduce themselves.
"You're both human," Tzan commented.
"Well, yeah," Sophie answered, "Abby, Sarah, Jessica, and I were ALL human before the first outbreak of the Animalia Virus. I'm simply the only one who hasn't become an Animalian, by accident or design."
"Her name is Sophie and my name is Roland," Roland commented. "We... we might decide to change in the future, but that's for another day."
Everyone nodded.
"Anyway," Abby spoke, "we'd heard about you wanting to do a... sitcom?"
Susan nodded, "Yes. Well... I like to have fun and Tzan here is often grumpy, but she's my friend. When a male Hammerhead is uplifted, I'll be her maid of honor and when a male dolphin is uplifted, she'll be my made of honor."
"That was your idea," Tzan answered, her voice sounding a bit grumpy, "but... in a way, we are stuck with each other. She won't leave me alone and I really don't want to go off where I might run into real trouble without help."
"I'm not bad," Susan protested.
"When you're sleeping," Tzan answered, "anyway, because we're sort of stuck with each other for the moment, one of the Horizon scientists said something about... the odd couple."
"That was an old TV show," Jessica spoke, "Two people who couldn't be more different living together... and in a way... being friends."
"Yes, that's what the scientists said to us," Susan gave a very enthusiastic grin, "it sounds like fun."
"And I take it that's what you want to do?" Samson asked sounding a bit curious.
"A bit more "reality" based than the old show," Tzan answered, "in that we'd follow through our daily lives and the things we go through as they happen rather than scripting made up stuff... Perhaps I'll convince Susan to be more serious and less annoying."
"And I'll get you to be happy and have fun!" Susan smiled back, unaffected by Tzan's comment on Susan's personality.
"Well... that'd certainly fit the theme," Simon commented, "though... if you two can avoid killing each other and respect each other's personal space... you'd have something that could well help change a lot of opinions on Animalians."
"Sure," Tzan replied and again rolled her eyes.
"Yes," Simon commented, "It'd show greater differences of personality and how you can resolve conflicts... Which would be helpful, even if it isn't like the girls' webcam show to publicize Animalia."
"And could work well in tandem with the over all channel," Sarah commented, "and if successful with a lot of views... who knows, maybe Hollywood will come a calling to actually make it into an actual sitcom. You'd be TV stars."
Susan chattered with excitement at that while Tzan managed a slow nod.
"What we need are some cameras," Tzan then spoke, "The Horizon labs guys and Ran and Gaz with the group working to set up the resort have agreed to let us have a office with a computer to learn and upload the episodes on... But we need cameras that we can keep with us at all times and don't have to give back to Horizon for their experiments and preferably ones that could also work under water."
"We'll talk to Clara about that once we get back to Lyre/Animalia," Malice assured her, "all these time zones... I'm not sure what time it is back home right now."
"I think we're past the international date line," Sarah said to her sister, "I think that means it's already tomorrow here when compared to home... or maybe it's yesterday here..."