For better or worse, the issue of a strip club and casino in Dino City had been settled, to the relief of some and the annoyance of others. But now the focus of Animalia could be on getting ready for Animalia's celebration of Halloween, Spookyville. But there were a few things going on that were rather funny, even if some of them were considered crossing the line a little bit.
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One such thing was related to the announcement that the two contenders for the 2020 Boo Haw Haw were Sailor Moon (as played by Shyra) and Rogue the Bat (as played by Mercy), due in no small part to last summer's Animalia Comic Convention. This was causing a big debate on who would win so it was decided to do this for Spookyville's Boo Haw Haw as something different. But this had a few unintentional side effects.
Miles was doing a story that was a kind of prequel to Spookyville when another guy came racing by him, bumping into him and causing the camera he was using to get knocked off-center. The guy that bumped into him didn't even stop to say sorry, just a quick, "Hi there, bye there!" Though why was quickly apparent when Mercy gave a loud scream of disgust. She then came out herself with little but soap suds and water to provide modesty (but there were a few obscuring bars added later) and was chasing the guy, though why became obvious afterward.
"You get back here and pick every one of those dead bugs out of my shampoo and body wash! I mean NOW!" Mercy yelled as she pursued the guy who had bumped into Miles. But Miles wouldn't know about it until later. Apparently the debate on who would win the Boo Haw Haw had gotten so fierce that it had triggered an unofficial prank war between the fan groups of the two contenders. This prank was one of those that had crossed a line, but it had mainly been mostly harmless so it was allowed to play out.
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Another thing was when Nicole came home and saw her mother and Steven Blair talking about something. Nicole confronted her mother about her "infidelity", as she called it, but when she learned that Steven was actually talking about Joanne babysitting Steven and Fleur's fox kits after they were born, she was left mightily embarrassed about her outburst.
It turned out later that Fleur had checked into the Maternity Ward as she neared her due date due to her four fox kids really starting to weigh her down. Steven had just turned up to ask Joanne about babysitting the kits after they were born. Nicole was willing to help out a little bit, after the misunderstanding was cleared up.
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Brawn, Snowflake, Dan, and Daisy entered Horizon Light Hospital because Daisy was really eager to meet "Uncle Edgar", as she called him. But the receptionist at the front desk had a surprising thing to tell them.
"He's still recovering from his surgery but it won't be too long before you can meet him." said the Receptionist.
"But whyyyyy?" whined Daisy, who really wanted to meet him.
"You might know that Edgar survived an assassination attempt on him by a drug cartel because he wouldn't pay his "protection fee". But whether it was a holdover from his Luchador days, or just another ace up his sleeve, he survived having 17 bullets in his body."
"17?!" said Brawn, surprised.
"Yes, so it was decided to wait until he had all the bullets removed before he gets his special medicine." answered the receptionist.
"But when can we see him?" whined Daisy again.
"Most likely tomorrow." said the receptionist, much to Daisy's slight relief.
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Meanwhile, Hunni Bunni was doing another report for Eliza, much to the amusement of those who watched it and the combined amusement and irritation of Eliza. Hunni Bunni was supposed to be doing a report on what secretary birds do, but her report was that they were the ones who helped organize bird of prey conventions and discuss their pay, such as the agreement for vultures to clean up after lions and other predators, for example.
"Hunni, do you really expect us to believe that?" asked Eliza.
"Hunni thinks so." said Hunni, much to everyone's amusement.
"Time for the truth." said Eliza, bringing up a really unusual bird Animalian up on Skype.
"That was a very amusing report, Hunni." she said, with a distinctly Swahili accent. "I especially liked the 'fair day's pay for a fair day's prey', but that has nothing to do with what we actually get up to."
"Huh?" said a student.
"Hello, my name is Ria, and I'm a secretary bird." said the bird Animalian, introducing herself, "We do get our name because we look like old fashioned secretaries, and while I do handle the administrative tasks in Maelewano, that has nothing to do with what my kind really get up to."
"Oh." said Hunni.
"What makes us really unusual is the fact that we prefer to hunt for our prey on foot rather than fly." said Ria. "That was how we were spotted in Maelewano, because of all the locusts that were there."
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"So this new arrival is the professional belly dancer you've been talking about?" asked the official at Lyre/Animalia International Airport.
"It is." said Miss Fabina.
"Does she have any special preferences?" asked the official.
"She did ask that she NOT have a snake chosen for her." answered Miss Fabina, "She'd prefer to pick her own species, but she'd like it to be one that could easily survive in a middle-eastern desert, since that's her 'heritage'."
"Right." said the official, sending the appropriate notes ahead to Horizon.