The Brown family barn was a bit hectic as the Animalia Ambassadoria members gathered in the last few weeks of Summer, or at least the part of the summer that would come before the start of the new school year in Lyre/Animalia and others moved on to college. However, it was that latter part that was a big part of the present meeting, for after Animalia Ambassadoria moved toward more serious "reporting" rather than simply put out PR statements for Animalia, the group had evolved to include both the original cast members, now all Animalians themselves and a cast of Humans as well. However, the adding in of new Human members carried its own differences.
For Abby, Samson, Jessica, Roger, Sophie, Roland, JC, Pauline, Sarah, Travis, and Malice would all be going into their Senior Year at WSA, but not all the Human members were in that boat. Some wouldn't have too much to worry about, for Fred Stairs, Johan Eecks, Jenny Jenkins, Julie Jenkins, Rebecca Longshot, Lara Walkerson, Penelope Tellz, Athena Shepard, and Ronald Wilson were all underclassmen when they joined Animalia Ambassadoria, which meant a few of them were in the same grade as the show's original cast and would have one more year at WSA. However, Courtney Hedge, Katherine Keuchel, and Ryan Patricks were all Seniors when they joined Animalia Ambassadoria and that would mean they would be heading off to college soon and that would present its own challenges. It wouldn't necessarily be something that would kill the show or its present iteration, it would require some planning that went on before the school year started.
"Do you guys hold all your meetings in the barn?" Penelope asked as the group came in, following Abby and Samson as they lead the way.
"Not always," Abby answered, "but with as large as the cast presently is... the barn has the most available open space and the quietest atmosphere. Particularly as no one needs to come in to be milked right now."
That raised a few nods as there were some realizations at things like that. While sharing milk was one of the ways the Animalia Virus was passed, and if the Human converting was sponsored by Animalian or was involved with the Animalian in question, sharing milk was one of the options available and was even preferred. The Animalian would have the vaccination countered, offer their milk to the Human and be vaccinated again. However, Horizon had also found that while the vaccinations wore off after a year and had to be re-administered, that was only within the Animalian. There was no trace of the virus in a vaccinated Animalian's milk, and it had also been found that after a year, the virus did not reappear in milk samples provided to Horizon. This had added to the things that the Brown farm could offer with regard to things they could sell, though at present that wasn't in action as Abby had stated.
"So... is this like a check up or performance review?" Ronald Wilson asked as he sat down on one bale of hay that was set up as a chair, "like a "I'm sorry but we're letting you go" sort of thing?"
"No... nothing like that," Roland assured him, "though... while a lot of the raw number of views hasn't changed too much, I think adding all of you to the show has helped further the discussion as it were..."
"The comments section isn't full of complaints about token Humans or that sort of thing," Sophie nodded in agreement. She'd seen some of that in the two years before she became a Pterodactylus Dinotopian, but she'd put it aside for the most part.
"And some of the comments from people outside Lyre/Animalia have also come into greater understanding on the differences between Humans and Animalians," Simon nodded as he sat down next to Malice, "aside from the obvious. So the main message on how Humans and Animalians can cooperate and work together would seem to become more accepted."
"Which is a good thing," Sophie agreed and noted that many of the Human members wiped their brows and gave sighs of relief at that.
"But there are some things we need to plan through before the summer ends," Sarah commented as all eyes soon turned to Courtney Hedge, Katherine Keuchel, and Ryan Patricks who had been Seniors at WSA the previous school year and would be headed off to college. Courtney and Katherine were head to Cal while Ryan was headed down to UNLV.
"This is about if we want to stay on, isn't it?" Ryan asked with a sigh.
"Yes..." Abby admitted slowly, "because you're all going to college... and two of you to colleges out of state... we know that you may not have the time to put forward a lot of full fledged pieces and thus didn't want to get in your way."
"That'll help," Courtney spoke, "as some of the courses I signed up for are supposedly pretty tough."
"But with all the stuff that has gone on with how Animalia Ambassadoria has changed since you guys expanded your roster to include us," Katherine commented, "while we might not have time to cover a lot of Animalia related "news," we could provide some segments that will poll people's responses TO news in Animalia. And in California... that'd probably mean polling many that aren't Animalians or have family that are Animalians."
"Though... we know that most of the people in California have been pretty supportive of Animalia," JC commented.
"True... but it might still enable those outside Lyre and Animalia to get their questions offered and answered directly," Katherine explained.
Ryan sat and listened to the exchange and nodded and then chimed in, "and that might help with UNLV too... I mean, Las Vegas has provided a lot of money to help Animalia, largely because of some of the celebrity attractions that were "big" there before Animalia joining Animalia... but we all know that Animalia doesn't control Las Vegas and while the PET House has gained notoriety for being an Animalian sponsored supported fraternity/sorority at UNLV... they all still have to live and operate in a system that is far more Human centric than Animalian centric the way Lyre and Animalia are... the way the colony cities are. Because there are fewer Animalians there so far none a permanent residents. Getting a few segments... while they may be brief and not as in depth as what a lot of what you'd be doing here... might provide another set of ideas to work with. Show how people get along."
"That might still take a lot of work," Simon commented, "even if the segments are shorter. It's why I was largely away from Animalia Ambassadoria while attending the police academy..."
"And why next school year will likely have a whole new Animalian part of the cast after we graduate," Jessica added.
"My courses are easier," Ryan assured them, "and if Animalia is still supplying the camera and internet connection... I can manage to get in a segment or two here there."
"If you're sure you want to do it," Travis said to him.
"Of course I'm sure," Ryan answered, "working with you guys has been awesome."
"Not my exact choice of words," Courtney commented with a shrug, "but it really has."
That was something that seemed to put everyone at ease. Some changes might need to still be made, but they wouldn't be too hard to implement.
"Okay... we'll let you know on when the days that a new episode will come out to give you the time and awareness to get what bits you can cover filmed and then sent to us..." Samson spoke.
"And we'll try to meet them," Katherine spoke, "though... if not... don't wait and go ahead, as if something crazy comes up with our schedules, we wouldn't want to hold you back."
"Thanks," Abby nodded.
"So is there anything else coming up?" Fred wondered.
"The big thing coming up for the IAC that we can cover will be the Fashion Show that's attached," Jessica commented, "though much like the "Bare as You Dare" competition... it's something that the Modelling School puts on while the IAC is ongoing and thus drawing attention."
"Other than that... there might just be "back to school" sort of things to prepare for," Abby commented.
A few looked interested at Jessica's answer, though most of the male members, Animalians included, weren't too interested in that. Abby's answer drew some sighs, as even high school and college students didn't want the Summer break to end.