Lexia looked over the list of forms that came along with preparations for WSA's Fall Break that would be coming later in the month. It was one of those things where she could say she missed being a mundane Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot, as paperwork and bureaucracy wasn't part life. Of course, the fact that she stood a better chance of being caught for the pet trade or eaten by some wild cat or eagle was a reminder that there were major plusses that came with being an Animalian and living in accordance with Human laws. But that didn't mean that the fact that this included things like bureaucracy wasn't baffling to her at times.
"We have to fill all these out?" Lexia asked as she looked over to Miles and the other Animalia Ambassadoria members, both Human and Animalian, "even though we'd filled out other forms for the "Talk Like a Pirate Day" coverage?"
"Pretty much," Miles nodded, "it's a separate break and therefore separate permission is needed. The school will want it to make sure no one decides to skip out on school and with international travel, it's something that can help against other issues."
"Other issues?" Lexia wondered.
"Like... say someone grabs you at the airport and you get carried off," one of the new Human members offered, "if you fail to show up, things like the flight times and schedules can then led investigators to what happened and in turn lead to the rescue."
"I've already gone through something like that," Lexia said pointedly, "and it was why I was uplifted."
There were a few nods that followed, and even the one who'd made the comment nodded as well. Lexia's story was shared with Animalia Ambassadoria, and when she arrived in Lyre/Animalia, she'd been introduced to the team and had a few interviews with them as they set about going over what had happened to her and leading to her uplifting. It then in turn lead to her becoming curious in the series and the work that went into it and she remembered all of that fairly easily...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So, your job is to report Animalia's news?" Lexia asked to Miles as she met him and the other members of Animalia Ambassadoria, with Jenifer Jenkins there beside Miles.
"Some of it is news... and largely intended to be "ambassadors" for Animalia in a way that isn't going to be like a politician," Miles answered.
"And it started as something rather lighthearted to show the fun Animalia has had and things like that," Jen-Jen commented, "though as the show has grown... so has a lot of its responsibilities, and many of us that were among the first Human cast to join after Sophie and Roland became Dinotopians, we've seen a lot of that change... though, it's also approaching the time for us to go."
"Time for you to go?" Lexia blinked in shock and surprise.
This startled her, as from everything she'd heard about Animalia, it sounded good. It sounded like a society that was kind and generous in ways that wasn't there in nature. That somehow managed to balance individual and group desires in a way that predator and prey Animalians weren't competing against each other the way mundane animals would. They also got along reasonably well with Humans and the biggest issue there had been attempts at exploitation, which never worked because of how many Animalian instincts developed and changed from their mundane forms. The only reported "problems" was when Humans converted and weren't ready for the base instincts that came with becoming an Animalian, but those issues also proved remarkably rare.
"Yes," Jen-Jen nodded, "see... when Animalia Ambassadoria started, its first cast were all freshmen in Lyre High School. WSA hadn't been built yet... They gained one senior in Simon, but he graduated and largely left the cast after that, as he wasn't IN Lyre to stay up to date with Animalia Ambassadoria's schedule. And that sort of issue remained."
"The show evolved over time... with Sophie and Roland becoming Dinotopians, and her former pet and his mate then joining the cast," Miles picked up, "and then adding in the first Human cast members after that. But they all retained the same thing that Simon ran into in its first year. They were all in school and Animalia Ambassadoria was essentially an after-school club for them that happened to provide news about Animalia for people to see. It was something that made me a fan, and when the original cast graduated and finished their last summer on the crew, they passed the torch on down to the next cast."
"Though, they also made sure to try and balance out new Animalian recruits to replace them and included students from all grades at WSA when the first Human cast members joined," Jen-Jen explained, "this then staggered who was here and who wasn't and would mean that Animalia Ambassadoria wouldn't have to replace the entire cast every year or every four years. They'd just replace one or two a year. It makes choices easier."
"It's also provided for a pretty good college fund as well," Penelope Tellz added with a smile.
"And all for school?" Lexia asked.
"Partly," Miles answered, "you don't have to join in order to go to school."
That made Lexia think for a moment. She had learned a lot from her uplifting alone, and some tests put her capabilities on par with a high school student and had been going through some remedial lessons through the summer to help her get ready for some of the court cases that related to her being smuggled into the US. It only raised her curiosity more about things like school and Animalia Ambassadoria.
"I think I might rather like joining," Lexia said to him, "a lot of it sounds interesting... but everyone can't stay?"
"It's become something like an after-school club," Jen-Jen commented, "once we graduate... we're looking at going on to college. Many of us may still be able to do some polling on campus or send in clips via email and stuff like that. But since colleges won't follow the same schedule or have the same flexibility that WSA has had for Animalia Ambassadoria, we have to in order to meet college requirements."
"I see," Lexia said slowly, "well... I would be interested in joining the club. It seems like fun... and I could even cover some true crime type stuff. Even if it's low in Lyre/Animalia, that doesn't mean that Animalians haven't had to deal with those issues in some way."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From there, a lot of the interview served as Lexia's audition tape as she discussed how she'd been smuggled from Guatemala to Mexico and the things that the smugglers had done to move her about. There were some things that were quite "simplistic" in nature but were generally accurate and that won over a fair number of votes and Lexia was ultimately selected to join Animalia Ambassadoria. Among the other new members was a male Cat Animalian named Tim Wypres, a female Human teen named Bailey Lemon, and male Human teen, Wagner Olie. They made four new recruits replacing the four that had graduated WSA the previous spring and were now in college, and they were looking over permission slips regarding a trip to the new French colony over the coming fall break.
"What about those of us that were adults when uplifted?" Lexia asked, "I like the school and I'm learning a lot... but many of you are also living with parents and have them to sign off on these permission slips."
"I'd think for you, you'd just need the teachers to okay the permission slips," Tim spoke, "just in case some kind of scheduling conflict comes up."
"Yes, the plan would be that we'd go in and do our coverage and would be able to either enjoy the fall break at the colony," said Miles, "or return to Lyre/Animalia. And provided there are no difficulties, we'd be able to do so within the time allotted for the fall break."
"And what would we do there, if we were to stay there for fall break?" Lexia wondered.
"Well, Madame Renard Argenté's chateau is pretty big and has a fair amount of land that is actually part of France's wine industry," Miles answered, "most of the revenue has come from that. But Madame Renard Argente, herself, focuses on educating and helping those that have had mental deficiencies. She essentially uses the chateau as a private run special-ed school and has made it open to even poorer people that she feels might have been missed in the French school system. Some of it I think has some family history that is personal to her, so I wouldn't want to pry on that."
"But the conversion process would fix that? Right?" Lexia tilted her head in puzzlement.
"It can, and to a degree that is an option, if the families want it or accept it," Miles nodded, "though not all do. A few of the parents of the new students have rejected conversion options because of some rumors that were going around that Madame Renard Argente was involved with a Hybrid Fox Animalian and didn't want their children brought into those sorts of shenanigans. They ultimately accepted her being a teacher for their children and having access to visit them through the year because those rumors were proven false, but the fact that they existed was enough to deter conversion requests."
"We wouldn't be getting into those fights, would we?" Lexia asked.
"No, and neither would we really interrupt their school schedule, as they may not have a break while we're there," Miles spoke, "in that we're to stay out of the way as much as possible. We could then go out and about a bit, see some of the countryside and things like that. But we'd need to have all the permission forms filled out."