While Maelewano was a rather interesting mix of modern and ancient, both in architecture and culture, it was time to move on to the next part of the colony tour. New Zerzura was considered one of the "hottest" colonies due to it's association with a long-lost Pharaoh, and due to the fact that temperatures hit 100+ degrees on a regular basis. Due to this there were places to refill water bottles with signs in English, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs reminding both inhabitants and visitors to drink plenty of water and take proper precautions against sun.
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Ling and Mr. Hyun were one of the most interesting visitors, not only because they were both from North Korean, but because Mr. Hyun was clearly outside of his comfort zone. While he was doing his best to pay attention to everything around him, Ling wasn't helping all that much because she was apparently coming into season, and flirting with him.
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What was probably the most intimidating were the Anubian guards. When they weren't on official "patrol" they had used temporary fur dye to color their fur black and wore ancient Egyptian-style loincloths, which showed that their musculature development wasn't obscured at all by their fur.
The cosplay stage was considered one of the popular attractions where people and Animalians could dress up in ancient Egyptian-style costumes and showing them off. Fleur clearly had the most fun because she dressed up as a harem dancer and did a private dance on the stage. But because Janice wasn't there, and she had been assigned to Homosexual Anonymous classes after her colony tour was complete, things buried deep down in her consciousness were coming to the surface and mingling with her newly awakening heterosexuality as a manifestation of what some would term social anxiety. She was definitely glad that she wouldn't be facing such "trials", as some called it, alone, but Janice wasn't helping by showing off pictures of herself, Milly and her mother, and others during their maternity classes. Maybe to encourage her, or maybe to spite her, she didn't know which.
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What was probably the highlight of the visit was the showing of the movie that Venus and Mr. Hakimoto had made about the Curse of the Pharaohs while Venus was wintering in New Zerzura. While it was very informative about what the Curse of the Pharaohs was, as well as separating fact from fiction, the jump scare at the end tended to cause some people to jump in their seats, faint from pure shock, or (most embarrassingly to them) wet themselves.
While there was a brief reunion with Clara and Rick who were taking some time off during the IAC, what was probably most interesting was Clara and Rick's meeting with Ling, which was both Mr. Hyun and Ling's first meeting with the "First Family". It was also considered fortunate that Clara had decided to bring some "heat suppressant" pills for Ling because Mr. Hyun didn't think they would be needed, not knowing what they were for.
While it was a little unusual for Adi to refer to New Zerzura by it's Arabic name, Madina Almalja, it made sense that she would do so since she was Muslim.