Early August all had its fair share of issues and surprises, but the biggest thing was in the responsibilities that came with it. For Abby and her friends, that was in the proverbial passing of the torch with regard to Animalia Ambassadoria. The show that had been thought up as a way to allow Animalia to have an unofficial ambassador to the world and thus show that the community of anthropomorphic animals weren't criminal or out to get anyone, and she and her friends, Sarah, Sophie, and Jessica became obvious choices. For Abby was likely the first Human to become an Animalian, at least as was recorded, in the initial outbreak and the rest were her friends. It showed that they all got along, and they would soon be joined by Sarah's pet dog, Mary Alice when she was uplifted, and would expand to include the boyfriends/bond-mates of each of them. The last to join them were Sophie's pet JC and his bond-mate Pauline after they were uplifted into Microraptor Dinotopians.
But now after four years, things were changing and all of them had college coming up. Malice's mate, a Wolf Animalian named Simon, would likely still be in Lyre/Animalia as he had graduated high school during their freshman year, but he was also finishing his training that would take him into the Animalia Police Department and join the other Wolf Animalians there. The rest all had college and America's colleges weren't going to be as flexible as WSA and Lyre High had been when it came to some of the travel issues that came up with Animalia Ambassadoria's coverage, and thus while the original group could potentially help here and there with some information on things outside Lyre and Animalia, such as polls on opinions on their college campuses like what some of the older Human members did through the previous fall before Covid got in the way, it wouldn't be the same. As such Abby knew that they'd need to pass the torch as it were. Animalia Ambassadoria would gain a whole new Animalian cast and few new Human members that couldn't be there full time anymore. The original group of Abby, Samson, Sarah, Travis, Malice, Simon, Jessica, Roger, Sophie, Roland, JC, and Pauline would handle the audition tapes for the new Animalian cast applicants.
"I'm going to miss a lot of this," Abby commented as she noted the others seated on the couch, chairs, and floor of the Brown family's living room as she put the first tape in, "the meetings and discussing what we'll do for the next episode and what is newsworthy..."
"Not everything can stay the same forever, I suppose," Sarah commented and then chuckled, "I mean... we're all kind of a picture of that. Before all of this began... most of us were Human and just looking to the next day... and then over one summer, Samson was uplifted, Abby became his mate... then Malice was uplifted and we became sisters. Jessica became a Rabbit and met Roger. Simon and Travis joined us... then Sophie and Roland became Pterodactyls and JC and Pauline joined us. None of us are who we were once..."
"And better for it, I think," Abby nodded, "though we'll still have some work here to do before we depart for college..."
"And some of us faster than others, with Dino City and all and the PET house there," Malice teased with a glance to Sophie who was seated next to Roland.
"I thought it was an Animalia Ambassadoria team there... that you and your folks were moving down there," Abby commented.
"It's not a PET House project," Sophie answered with a sigh, "We're going to SMU, which is in Dallas... and they are having all on campus learning... there is no college in Dino City. If Roland and I move there... it will be AFTER college."
"What about this new team down there?" Samson wondered.
"That's mostly going to be a brief visit with the Dino City Mayor and see if he'd be able to set aside a room that the new team could use or rent when something comes up in Dino City that they'd cover," Roland picked up while patting Sophie's shoulder, "Most of those that are "younger" and could convert are actually older than we are, and are at TCU, which is in Fort Worth... right next to Dallas. Thus at present any Dinotopians down there that are younger than us... are the Maisaura Dinotopian hatchlings."
"Wouldn't they still want coverage?" Travis asked curiously.
"From Animalia Ambassadoria?" Sophie answered, "they'd be fine with it when something big is going on or something during the summer as part of a colony tour... assuming 2021 isn't plagued with Covid struggles... but not as much with daily news. Heather says they get a small local paper from Glen Rose, which keeps up to date fairly well... and about once a week a reporter from Dallas and Austin come up for updates on the town and how they're interacting with the state park... which was part of why Dino City is in Texas in the first place. Thus for the moment they don't need a team there full time... but they would welcome occasional updates for things in the summer and so on. The idea would be to see if some space could be arranged so that the new team we pick here will have dedicated office space to work with rather than setting up camp in hotel lobbies or things like that."
"And what about your parents wanting to go down there... to Dino City?" Abby asked to Sophie and Roland as she put the first tape in, "Mom and dad sent me into the store to pick up some nuts for a recipe they were making the other day... and I could have sworn I heard them talking about it in another aisle... something about big..."
"I'm sure it's more about Roland and I wanting to move so far from Lyre/Animalia," Sophie answered, "and Texas is a big place. They have had their worries on that... Let's focus on the work we have to do... okay. We got a fair number of tapes with five minute interviews to go through."
Sophie breathed another sigh of relief when Abby nodded and pressed play on the VCR. While her and Roland going to college in Texas was a source of worry for them, just as JC and Pauline wanting to move to Vilcabamba after college made her worry for them. There were times where she didn't feel comfortable with how often JC referred to her as "mother," but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel motherly instincts toward her former pet. She loved him dearly and wanted him to be safe, and a part of her wished they could always be close. But she also had to recognize that JC had to be free to. That was all part of allowing him to be uplifted in the first place. The bigger thing though was that there were some times where she was also certain that her and Roland's parents seemed impressed with Andrew and Jen or Luke and Marjorie to some degree... but she and Roland tried to put the idea or image of their parents being interested in sex out of their minds... Going through the tapes would be a good way of doing that.
And going over the tapes did prove helpful and very informative. They had about twenty tapes to go through, and thankfully they didn't have to go through the tapes made by the Human applicants. Those tapes would be handled by the present Human members of Animalia Ambassadoria. As they watched each they took notes on what they felt looked good and what wasn't good and so on, and they had the plan to discuss things by the end of reviewing all the tapes in order to save time. It made taking notes important, but they were kept diligently. It took some time to go through them all, but given that it was still summer and they had the time still before they would all have college journeys to take, some longer than others, it was okay to get through them all.
"So... what's everyone's initial thoughts?" Abby asked she stopped the last tape and turned off the television after the last set up interview played.
The question was open ended to the refer to all twenty of the tapes they got, from Susie, a Hamster Animalian, Miles, a Black Tailed Jackrabbit Animalian, Harvey an African Lion Animalian, Daisy, a Spotted Skunk Animalian, Minnie , a Moose Animalian, Tom Terrific, a Cat Animalian (though his breed was unknown), Cooper, a Tortoise Animalian, Copper a Beagle Animalian, Kendra, a Mountain Lion Animalian, Ryan, a Grey Fox Animalian, Penny another Grey Fox Animalian, Natasha, a Blue Jay Animalian, Melvin a Barn Owl Animalian, Marvin, an Ocelot Animalian, Grace, a Zebra Animalian, Louie, an Orangutan Animalian, Jane, a Gorilla Animalian, Ben, a young Belgian Blue Bull Animalian, Betsy, a Black Labrador Animalian, and Bolt, a Dog Animalian (though while he looked like a Terrier... they weren't quite sure). All of them were younger than the original Animalia Ambassadoria cast, though some by not too much. Minnie and Jane were expected to be Seniors at WSA in the coming school year. Nearly all of them were from Lyre/Animalia originally and either got caught up in the initial outbreak and only got one dose or converted later after their parents and only got one dose. Miles' sounded like he had a bit of a New York accent, but it was thought that he was among those that recently came to Animalia as when Joanne paid to have her staff move to Animalia to keep them on. It was an impressive list, and with only twelve spots to fill, they had to make some quick cuts quick.
"Well... I think we can cross Ryan and Penny out," Sarah said slowly, "Their bits were nice... but its struck me a bit as though Penny was auditioning just to gain attention and Ryan was only following because Penny auditioned."
"Yes... he did seem uneasy, but I thought it was just being shy," Samson commented.
"Not with as much as he seemed to pause to look to the camera and hearing a female voice say "go" in the background," Roger commented, "I think they went together when they did their interviews... and while we made no rule against that, it does betray that Ryan was there for Penny."
"And Penny seemed rather dramatic about things related to her," JC commented, "if that is what you mean by gaining attention..."
"A lot of people are fans, though," Malice commented, "we can't blame people for that."
"No, but fame shouldn't be the reason to be on the show," Sophie warned, "I mean... we've been trying to build something reputable and something that would give Animalia something that would function like its own news agency and showing how we work and cooperate and so on... and trying to win fame doesn't really do that. I've seen some media bias maps posted online for news agencies... and a good many of them either place us as "non-biased and non-professional" or "extreme liberal bias and non-professional." And that won't help..."
"Really?" Jessica asked.
Sophie nodded her beak, "and a lot of the interjecting gifs and clips from cartoons and movies is a big part of why. A professional news agency doesn't do that. It's made us popular with teenagers and kids... but they don't really define policy... and a good many of the people that do define policy either find us to be completely biased or simply too silly to be trustworthy as a news source. In fact the episodes that we've done that would be considered more professional have actually gotten better reviews than those that have been the standard..."
"So... I guess you liked that Miles guy's report then?" Malice asked to Sophie. "He sorta sounded like the guys mom and dad listen to at night before tucking Belle and Bash in before... well... going to bed and enjoying themselves."
Sophie nodded. There were a few more nods and Abby moved to the master list that was on her notepad. With that Miles got a check-mark while Penny and Ryan had their names crossed out.
"What about Harvey and Tom Terrific..." Roger began, "I got a bit of a sports vibe from both of them... Harvey like he's wanting to be a sports reporter and Tom like's a bit of a sports fan..."
"Getting into sports wouldn't be too bad," Abby commented slowly, "and despite a lot of the hurdles that have been thrown around... as more people have converted and lived on in areas other than Lyre/Animalia... or one of the other colonies... it may not be too long before there would be enough Animalians nationwide to begin allowing them into various existing leagues as all teams would be balanced, in a sense, or they could have more Animalian friendly leagues for the same sport. And that's where both of them didn't do too bad."
"Except for the Brady references that Tom Terrific made," Sarah commented, "I think his owner was too much of a Patriots fan and it rubbed off on a very young kitten when he was uplifted..."
"And as the IAC remains popular... Tom Brady isn't relevant... unless he decides to retire and then convert," Pauline commented, "and Harvey seemed more excited about sports in general. That might work with ultimately trying to promote the stuff that Abby mentioned."
There were a few more nods and Harvey got a check by his name while Tom Terrific had his name crossed off. And so it went as the group went through the list of those that had made audition tapes and sent them in. There was some back and forth over some, as there were a few other cases where it seemed like the person auditioning had reasons other than just reporting on news from Animalia and covering how Animalians and Humans got along in their communities, but those that got a check mark had at least conducted a more serious interview and weren't just flirting or making it clear that there were other things in question, and ultimately it was agreed that they'd at least get a shot. From there they were left with a list of twelve names that had check-marks and they were: Susie, Miles, Harvey, Minnie, Cooper, Kendra, Natasha, Melvin, Grace, Louie, Ben, and Betsy. She and her mom might also have to review what the Human members decided on for the couple of spots to fill for Animalia Ambassadoria's Human members, but for now that would wait. Their present mission was with picking who would replace them after four fun years reporting on Animalia. With that was settled, Abby knew the original cast might only get one more show to hand things off to the new cast and from there count down the days until everyone would have to head off to college. They had all grown up together, and while it may have been in ways not originally expected when they finished the eighth grade, there was very little that Abby would change. Hopefully there would be some time for them to do something as friends and make sure they had each other's phone numbers while at college.