It felt good to be home again for Abby. While she still had a lot of catching up to do to stay ready for the IAC, she didn't feel that she'd fallen too far behind and was quick to catch up. In that she couldn't wait for the actual games, just to see where she ranked against the other competitors. It also gave her the time to review some things that they really didn't have time for while out on Animalia Ambassadoria's scouting mission to the Amazon. The main thing following Susan and Tzan's "Odd Couple" series. The web-show they made wasn't too bad with how they arranged their episode plots, though it was clear that it involved a lot of random filming or their day to day events and then editing what they'd filmed into a coherent plot later, but so far it had worked out fairly well.
Abby had just come into her room from a shower and gotten her laptop up and running before moving to get dressed for dinner. She'd check to see what Tzan and Susan were up to. When their webpage did come up, it showed the new episode was up and titled "Oddly Brazen." Abby clicked on it and then sat down to watch.
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The scene opened with a shot of Tzan and Susan seated at their breakfast table and eating. The two looked calm, but that calmness always seemed to hide and conceal something, which was soon revealed.
"So, are you ready for another fun full day of excitement?" Susan asked to Tzan with a smile.
"We're life guards, Susan," Tzan answered after swallowing the food she had been "chewing" on, "If something "exciting" happens, it means someone is in trouble."
"Not all the time," Susan answered, "a pod of dolphins could come in and play with the visitors. That's fun."
"Fun for them and you," Tzan countered, "they seem to be a bit hesitant around me."
"That's because you don't come out and play," Susan pointed out, "I tell them you're nice and friendly, but you just sit up there in the watchtower with a grump face."
Susan then made an exaggerated frown to the camera.
"I do not!" Tzan protested, "I'm just more concerned on the job of making sure that people are safe while they're swimming. I don't want to be distracted by random dolphins coming in."
The two quietly took a few bites before Tzan added something.
"And neither am I flirting with the dolphins that do come in," Tzan added, "Gaz gets pregnant and you go into overdrive about having babies."
"But it'll be family for her and Ran," Susan answered, "don't tell me you don't want to lay a shark egg and have babies, like Gaz will be."
"First," Tzan corrected, "Great Whites give birth to live young. They don't lay eggs. Second, that has nothing to do with what our job is. If some hammerhead comes in... and someone drowns because I'm flirting with that shark it will look bad on me."
"No it won't, because you'd never let that happen," Susan answered, "You just need to be more confident."
The scene then ended with Tzan raising her hands to hold her head in them. As she shook her head, it was clear to the camera scene that Tzan's eyes were squeezed shut.
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Abby chuckled quietly at the scene. She didn't doubt that Susan was sincere when Susan told Tzan that Tzan would never let someone drown, but it was clear that Susan didn't fully comprehend or pay attention to WHY Tzan wouldn't let anyone drown. It still showed how well the two got along and how different they were from each other.
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The next scene opened outside and at the beach, and it was clear that someone was holding the camera as it moved to show the sight of people doing various swimming and beach related activities. The angle appeared to be just high enough up that the view went down a good portion of the beach. For the moment things seemed quiet before Tzan could be heard speaking.
"Don't be too judgmental on Susan," Tzan spoke, "Many of the other Animalians here have mates and they have recently been confirmed to be pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Shoot... a little while back Kirana... she's a sea krait that was uplifted around the same time as Susan and I... laid a clutch of eggs. I think Susan's heard about this and that has her proverbial biological clock ticking."
There was a brief silence before Tzan finished, "Not that that is a bad thing, I suppose... but Susan and I don't have mates at the moment. So all we have to focus on is our work. Hopefully, Susan remembers that."
The camera then turned to zoom in on where Susan was. She was presently leading a group of children into the shallows at another end of the beach in what was a fairly quiet. The then panned out to look to the sky for a brief moment, showing it to be a near cloudless day and like many a day on Mieni, a day pretty close to paradise. With that, Tzan spoke again, though now more narration on the day than anything else.
"Another clear day," Tzan narrated the camera she held, "and hopefully another day of peace with no difficulties."
There were a few more moments of calm before the sound of some commotion coming from the beach could be heard, though there wasn't that much could be seen. In fact the camera had a fairly quick change of sight so that instead of looking out onto the beach and the people swimming, it was now on one of the armrests of the chair in the lifeguard tower and got a look at Tzan's back. The audio soon picked up as Tzan could be heard talking to Susan.
"Tzan!" Susan called with some urgency in her voice.
"What's going on?" Tzan called down as she set the camera down on the chair as she stood up.
"A shark has come into the lagoon! A big one!" Susan spoke urgently and pointed out to a point in the lagoon, "I saw it!"
"Could you identify the species?" Tzan asked.
"All I saw was the fin," Susan answered, "but I had to get everyone out so that there was no risk. Could you shoo it out? Or get Ran to shoo it out? Please..."
"Okay..." Tzan said slowly as she was seen to walk down the ramp to the beach below, "I'll go check on this shark and make sure it doesn't cause any trouble. You keep an eye on things."
A few moments later, Susan was seen to come up the ramp and picked up the camera. Susan held it to focus on Tzan as she made her way through a nervous looking crowd and Susan's narration was heard.
"It was a big shark that had come in... I got everyone out of the lagoon, but it was still scary," Susan spoke, "Tzan's gone out to shoo it out.... She's so brave. I really hope she's okay that it doesn't decide to go after her..."
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That scene at the beach continued for awhile until suddenly a "battery low" warning flashed across the screen and then went black, indicating that the camera's battery had worn down. Abby continued to watch as the screen soon came back into focus at another scene.
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The new scene was actually looking out at the front door to Tzan and Susan's residence on Mieni. Susan's voice was then heard in narration.
"Okay, we had some excitement today, a hammerhead shark of the same species as Tzan came into the lagoon," Susan spoke, "it was scary at first, but I suppose it has a happy ending. See, when Tzan went out to chase it off it noticed her and well.... let's just say it liked her. And I mean it really liked her. And while she's tried to act like she's wanted company, he has responded well to this interested hammerhead. So, we've uplifted him and given him the name Brazen Hammer. And we are all getting along well. He doesn't actually look too bad."
There was a pause for the moment before Susan called toward the door.
"Okay, you can bring him in!" Susan called.
The door then opened to show Tzan leading a male Hammerhead Animalian in. He was wearing clothing that looked over-sized on him, though that was probably an indicator the clothing being more for Ran, which would be bigger since Great Whites were larger. He didn't quite look as sullen as Tzan often did, but he did seem interested in Tzan, who managed a small smile.
"And this camera shows you to the world?" Brazen Hammer asked as he looked between Tzan and the screen.
"It's how we record things for the show, but Susan and I have set some rules that we've agreed on if you're concerned on privacy," Tzan spoke.
"No nudity, no sex, now shower scenes, and nothing dirty," Susan spoke from behind the camera and nodded, making the image shake up and down as Susan forgot she was holding the camera, "That way if you want to be romantic with your mate... we won't be showing anything naughty."
"That actually sounds fun," Brazen Hammer spoke in a slightly humorous tone, as though he was teasing Tzan.
"Watch it," Tzan said in a low voice, "I think we'll try take some things slowly... get to know each other fully and let you adapt to being an Animalian. For... as eager as you are, certain things are new... and that will take time."
"Okay," Brazen Hammer said slowly.
To that Tzan nodded and then turned to the camera and spoke, "and this is Brazen Hammer. He will be staying with Susan and I, and you may see a lot of him in future episodes. And if he behaves himself, he prove himself to be a possible mate."
The screen went to black with Brazen Hammer giving a a big grin.
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"Cute," Abby mused as the episode ended.