While Lexia did enjoy the warmer weather down in Argentina, she knew she had to be getting back to Lyre. As fun as it is with Animalia Ambassadoria sending her across the world to cover the news, she did want to graduate from WSA along with the rest of her class. And winter break didn't last forever. Though there may be a bit of a delay for her returning home. Apparently, there was a big winter storm in the States. Most of it seemed to be concentrated in the Midwest, but Lexia wouldn't be surprised if it stretched all the way to Nevada.
In the meantime, she had some work in editing her footage from New Patagonia. Fortunately, it could emailed back home at any time. Quite frankly, Lexia didn't have to do the editing herself, there was a crew in Lyre that could do that for her. But she might as well remove some of the unimportant footage as well as making sure she didn't send back any bad stuff. Besides, it was fun to look back at her memories of the place.
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The first footage was a look at New Patagonia itself. Much like Buenos Aires, New Patagonia was build on an area of the pampas. Which meant the tall buildings stood out from a great distance amongst the vast flatland. Like other Dinotopian colonies, its architecture was mostly neolithic-based. Of course, the fossils uncovered in South America are among the largest found in the world, with titanic sauropods like Argentinosaurus and sizeable theropods like Carnotaurus. As such, to make sure there was enough room, tall apartment buildings were built. And instead of looking the typical glassy skyscraper, they were designed to look like megalithic structures. The basic block shape wasn't flashy, but they were quite stable. A few of these tall buildings were connected at the top floor in way that looked like crosspieces in the style of Stonehenge.
Lexia flew around the outside of the city with her Go-Pro camera to give everyone a good view of the city before landing and talking to the camera, "As impressive as this city is, it should be noted that style isn't something you find in Argentina. And I'm not just talking about it being scaled for Dinotopians. Megaliths are only found in the Old World. An Incan style was considered, but the Incas lived on the other side of South America from the pampas. There have been other considerations of what to add to the city. A water park was considered, but the amount of water alone would be too costly. However, there are other things that make this city important."
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There is a wide shot of a large block-shape building with four helicopter pads on the roof. "This is the Animas Medical Center," said Lexia, "In the remote parts of Argentina, sometimes a quick trip to the hospital could mean the difference between life and death. Some places are too small to have a large hospital or lack the equipment for important surgeries. So this medical center was built to those who can't get to Buenos Aires or another city in time can come here. And while we do have supplies of the Animalian virus stored here, we do not offer it as a cure-all for every patient that comes in. Uses of it are reserved for if there's no other way to save them or they've suffered such a crippling injury or incurable disease that only conversion can give them a better life again. People can still apply for conversions here, though they have to go through the proper paperwork and pay the fees for them."
As Lexia reviewed this part, she thought about all the craziness she had apparently missed while she was down here. Mothers accidentally taking the Animalian samples their children brought home. A pair of high school senior girls become elephants and having a brawl that destroyed the bar they were in. It was quite clear that Horizon Labs was going to have to provide more security with their virus samples in the future. Especially since the worst American mistake was coming back into office and probably start trying to repress Animalians again. Animalia had come too far in the last 8 years to be set back by some careless hands. While they had been able to get through the first term, he and his cronies would be looking for any excuse to put limitations on Animalians.
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While most of the buildings in New Patagonia were built like standing stones, one location stood out like a gem among pebbles. The flashy building looked like it had been plucked out of Las Vegas, particularly with its big neon sign shaped like a peacock's tail. The name 'Plumagem' stood out in big flashing letters.
"And here we have New Patagonia's nightclub, a place that caters too...a different crowd than you would usually find in a Dinotopian colony. As you can see by just looking at the owner here," said Lexia, standing next to Paula Saul. The herm peafowl was wearing a tied-up shirt and low-rider pants that gave a full view of hir stomach as well as showing off hir bust. "So, I guess the first question everyone would ask is what is someone like you doing down here?" asked Alexa.
"Well, as much as I'd like to run my nightclub in Rio de Janeiro, the economy and competition is a bit too steep here. Besides, down here, they're wanting something to draw in tourists," said Paula.
"But don't you miss being in Rio de Janeiro?" asked Lexia.
"Sim, it is true. The people in this part of Argentina aren't as festive as back home, but I hope to turn that around. Or find someone who can run the club while I take sabáticos to Rio," said Paula. Hir Brazilian Portuguese did stand out quite a bit to the Latin American Spanish of the area.
"So another question is why have your club be...this motif instead of something, well..." started Lexia.
"Prehistoric?" asked Paula. Shi chuckled and said, "Meu querido papagaio, a whole city should not be devote to just one theme. That would be drab and boring. My club, like myself, stands out from the crowd by daring to be bold, brilliant, and flashy." To emphasize this, shi spread out hir tailfeathers in a glorious green and blue fan behind hir back only slightly blocked by her spread wings.
"I can see that," said Lexia, "Though you do know that your customers will be mainly Dinotopians, right?"
"Oh, things are scaled up for them," said Paula, "And Senhora Rachael has been helping me set up this club and provided a few workers until some of the locals work up the nerve to work here. Of course, me and my fellow birds have cavegirl outfits to please the crowd as well."
"You perform in your nightclub?" asked Lexia.
"How could I not?" asked Paula, "In this drab, flat part of the world, all eyes should turn to the most colorful and curviest of birds." Shi ran hir hands up hir body, hoisting up hir breasts for emphasis.
Lexia rolled her eyes and said, "Vanidad, tu nombre es Paula."
"Vaidade, teu nome é Paula," said Paula without the slightest hint of shame or offense.
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Lexia wished there had been more to show, but the colony was only getting started. They were starting plans for a stadium like the Dino Dome, though that will still take a few months to be built. Lexia wasn't sure when the Argentinian fútbol started, though New Patagonia was hoping to have it complete in time to host a game. Not that Dinotopians were allowed in professional sports yet, but it would be interesting to watch a game played by raptors.