The pageant portion of the Year of the Snake contest was another case where things couldn't all go in one night. There were a large number of contestants, and while it was possible that contestants could drop out of the contest based on the points accumulated, that generally wasn't something that often happened. Much of this often related to where contestants had put a lot of their trust in the contest. All of them had proved relatively balanced on the trial of knowledge and the biggest part of that trial had proved more to be the reaction time to when the question came up and the time to press the buzzer was allowed. Some had put a lot of their efforts to try and do well in specific trials that then fit their strengths, as Iphis, Ianthe, Typhoon, and Waterlily had done in the trial of strength, or played to natural advantages, such as Harold and Kirana having the tail better adapted to swimming in the trial of speed or Drew Pixx having the advantage on land, given the Black Mamba's abilities on the land.
And as Teddy and Al moved to set things up for covering the Ms. Zodiac Pageant for the Year of the Snake, they had some understanding on how that sort of thing played out. Both had grown up in Lyre and grown up WITH the Animalians. They could remember highlights from earlier shows and contests and knew that the order of these sorts of things often varied. In some years the pageants were among the first parts of the contest, as it would be easier to dress up and display some talent or provide an answer to a question of philosophy and reasoning than it would be to do some of the other contests. And some of those physical contests could be something that could drag things out. The Year of the Tiger contest went on well over the normal time that the Lunar New Year was celebrated because that contest had included a sort of MMA contest as part of the tournament recovery issues between the fights forced them to go on longer. The Year of the Dragon went fairly quickly the last year as not all the contestants participated in the Earth, Air, and Sea segments. This year had gone quickly, all things considered, and decided to have the pageants go last.
Some of the set up for their coverage was to get some things clarified with the judges for the pageants, as they sat at a long desk in front of the first row of seats at the Claw Coliseum. The panel included groups from various other parts of Animalia, though generally the parts that related to the fashion industry and the growth it had enjoyed with Animalia's growth over the years. Maggie Jones was there, representing the Animalia School of Modeling. Miss Vivian, Woodrow and Carla Wolfe, and Joanne were there representing different parts of the fashion industry. Teddy set up the camera stand and placed it there before moving to ask a set of questions to the judges before they'd move up to the "press box" to film the next part of the conversation.
"I'd first like to thank you for taking a bit of time to answer a few questions before the Ms. Zodiac Pageant starts," Teddy began.
"It's no problem," Carla Wolfe answered.
"Just so long as these questions don't last long," Miss Vivian added.
"They shouldn't," Al said slowly, "and some of it starts with the choice in running the pageants this late. In previous years, they've often been one of the first things to run."
"Well, that wasn't our call," Joanne explained, "and the group that was running the scheduling for the tournament this year wanted to give the people assembling things to have time off between certain events. So, if they have a day off between things like the maze for the trial of stealth and the race up zodiac mountain, which will be the last event, that's good for them."
"Makes sense," Al nodded to Teddy.
"And to provide some guidance for viewers who are bound to ask this question on their own..." Teddy began, "we'd end with the stated reason for why a leucistic Mink Animalian, a Vampire Bat Animalian, two Wolf Animalians, and a Fennec Fox Animalians would be judging Snake Animalians for the Zodiac Contest."
"I would assume this is regarding narrow minded people to whom appearance is everything?" Ms. Vivian asked back.
"Potentially, Mal... I mean, Mrs. Truman has told us that there have been a fair number of trolling or bad faith comments made on some of these videos to try and mock Animalia," Teddy spoke, "so... we're wanting to provide something to cut them off."
"And that can be smart," Joanne said slowly with a small smile, "and it is true that none of us are Snake Animalians, but we are Animalians, and for the four of us that are female, we would hold the same general body shape as the Snake Animalians competing. The only real difference is that we have our legs. But our hips and bust measurements are all going to be comparable. Angie might have larger overall numbers in comparison to the others, but then there is also a general difference in size between a Burmese Python and a Great Basin Rattlesnake. And in general, that's going to be there all Animalians, regardless of whether or not they're mammalian or reptilian."
"There is also the fact that much of the subjective judging on "appearance" is probably going to go more into the fashion choices made than the physical appearance," Woodrow Wolfe pointed out, "as the Snake Animalians have some general alterations that have to be made for their anatomy, just like the Dinotopians had members that required certain adjustments last year. For some that might just be limited to what has to be done for their tail rather than having legs. Some will require alterations for the extra arms. For example, Sylvia and Muxing only have two arms. Becka Doubledecka, meanwhile, has four arms and that would require its own set of adjustments."
"And that sort of thing is where our experience within the fashion world can come into play," Joanne finished, "we don't need to be snakes to know that."
"And a lot of the presentation that goes into modeling is also something that is not species specific," Maggie spoke, "and that's going to be where most of the physical appearance sort of judgement will be. The rest as they relate to the talent is where the bulk of the tournament's judgement is... and that's also not going to be species specific."
"And let that be a lesson to those making negative comments on the videos," Teddy then quipped to the camera and then turned to face the panel, "and again, thank you for your time."
From there the two Human teens for Animalia Ambassadoria collected their camera stand and their camera. Malice had told them that much of the coverage on the pageants would be live and that they were to essentially state who was up, the score they had going into the pageant and what they'd be wearing or doing as part of the pageant. This included some requirements for description based on what they knew. Thankfully, the eveningwear and swimwear designs were pre-planned and were in a pamphlet that was waiting for them up in the "press box." They'd actually looked it over before the judges came in and they went down to run their brief interview with the judges. And it was an impressive list of contestants.
Once back in the press box and noting the time, Teddy set up the camera stand again and had it so that the camera could look down to the stage area on the ground level of the main arena of the Claw Coliseum. It wasn't the typical sort of setting for things like pageants but given the popularity that many in the general public had toward Animalia, it was the best option. They could also note the fairly good-sized crowd in the stands that weren't limited to just Animalians and family members of the contestants that were there. There were a large number of Humans in the stands, and Teddy guessed that not all of them were residents of Lyre. A glance over to Al and both teenage males gave a shrug and a smile in guessing at why so many would come to see the female Snake Animalians in the contest have their pageant.
"Okay, this is Al and Teddy from Animalia Ambassadoria," Al spoke after Teddy gave him a thumb's up, "we are getting ready for the Ms. Zodiac Pageant, and we have a fairly interesting race set up among the ladies. In terms of points, Muxing of Heiya Island and the Five Elements has a fairly commanding lead for first, but the race for second place is fairly close between Angie, Kirana, Sylvia, and Becka Doubledecka close behind..."
"And the point spread among many of the rest is close enough that it wouldn't be unreasonable to say that fortune could favor them in the pageant to climb in the standings," Teddy added, "and to keep in mind that with the pageant's rules... there is to be no sexual acts for the talent or attire. The swimsuits and eveningwear must cover everything, and an accidental wardrobe malfunction will cost the contestant points and anything that could be found as a deliberate wardrobe malfunction could mean disqualification. Much of that will be up to the panel of judges who were with us for the male's pageant yesterday evening."
"As with the male's pageant, each contestant will show off their choice of eveningwear and swimwear and will display a special talent they wish to employ... provided they meet with the pageant's rules. And they will go through a rotation for each segment of the pageant. Though, there will be a ten-minute intermission between the last contestant's appearance in the swimsuit segment and the start of the talent portion of the pageant. This is to give the ground staff time to prepare any and all props that may be needed. For Li-Wei's winning talent segment to some time to set up."
And the first two segments went about as expected, and Teddy and Al did their best to sound as professional and informative as they could. Malice had okayed some level of humor when it came to interviews, but in picking up some of the reviews from Miles' time as one of Animalia Ambassadoria's stars, Malice also provided a reminder that much of what they did couldn't be jokes or trying to make light of every situation. They also did their best to not sound like teenage boys ogling beautiful women in their swimsuits or dresses, as coming off as perverts wouldn't be good either. That also worked out as each contestant came out, and there were various interesting things that related to the various parts of the pageant.
Muxing probably dressed the most conservatively of the group. Her evening dress was largely white with a high collar and a skirt that came down to where her knees would be on a Human, though it did have some decoration. From what Teddy could see through the camera, there were some stitched images of lotus flowers at the shoulders that were done in black, along with others in gold that almost looked like a belt around her waist, and again in black, but at a larger size at the bottom of the dress. Her swimsuit was all black and was the equivalent to a woman's one-piece swimsuit. It came down to past her waist and was more than able to cover all the openings that were supposed to be covered up.
And the nature for the female's swimsuits were similar in ways to the males and this came as a result of the fact that Snake Animalians only had their tails, which would be an issue with swimsuits for Humans and most other Animalians that had legs. The common alteration was to make them more like a skirt or a dress, and for swimwear to make sure they would hold tight to the Snake Animalian's body. For Muxing and a few others that wore something like a one-piece swimsuit, there were openings for the arms, head, and tail and the only real cases where there would be some flexibility would be on if the swimsuit was low cut to let the female show some cleavage, which Muxing didn't, or have an open back, for whatever reason, which also, Muxing didn't. Becka Doubledecka's did have a relatively low-cut top, but then she also more a more bikini style swimsuit which made some of that acceptable, and it was also still suitable enough to keep everything covered.
There weren't too many big surprises with the dresses that were worn. The only real thing that drew any attention was when Chloe Matryoshka came out for the eveningwear part of the competition. The dress was closer to a sundress but was brilliant and flashy with its colors looking like one had sewn one of the various versions of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. It wasn't made of the plants, but it did match a lot of Van Gogh's style. She was asked on the reasoning for her particular choice and Teddy and Al could both hear the answer of, "to honor a great nation being bullied by its Russian neighbor." There were a few whispers that Teddy and Al could make out. Most of the people in Lyre/Animalia were supportive of Ukraine and at least critical of the Russian government, if not hostile to it, but that didn't mean that people coming into Lyre/Animalia to view the event were just as supportive.
The real surprise was when they got into the talent portion of the competition, and that mainly came from Sylvia's performance. Muxing did what was expected in showing her skills in her style of martial arts, and many of the others put on feats that fit their talents and works. Sylvia's, however, seemed to go against much of what was a part of her character. She came out again her swimsuit, which was a light blue one-piece suit. She then went through a sort of routine that look like a cross between rhythmic gymnastics and figure-skating, or at least as close to what a Snake Animalian could get to it. It was also played to rather Hispanic style music that let her use her rattle as a component to it. It was unique and, in some ways, stood out against what was publicly known on Sylvia's opinions... but it was done well, and it proved to give Sylvia a narrow win the pageant and would see to many of the scores also narrow with regard to the overall standing. It was something that had Teddy and Al rushing down to get from the press booth to the area where Sylvia was. Thankfully, Joanne was able to keep her near the press booth.
"Man, that was impressive," Al began as he approached slowly, "are you impressed with the win?"
"I'm grateful for the win," Sylvia answered.
"Where did you learn all that, Ms. Rattleton?" Teddy asked.
"Well... a lot of it does come from my past," Sylvia said slowly, "and a past that I never thought would end up being applicable... that being figure skating."
"Some of the old episodes said you didn't like it..." Teddy commented.
"It's not that I didn't like the sport or the athleticism that went into it," Sylvia answered, "it's more that I didn't like the way my parents took things. I was fairly decent at it growing up... but I did it more for fun as a kid."
"So, your parents were the pushy types, I take it?" Al wondered.
"Yes... wanting to push me into it the sport as a career and focusing more on that," Sylvia nodded, "and that took all the fun out of it for me. It's in part what then drove me more to look at the law as a career and why I chose to become a Snake Animalian. As the routine that I did here... was more for fun and maybe holding the eye of someone special."
There was a pause to where she looked up to where Andrew and Tommy were seated They were both still clapping, though, Sylvia could catch the glint of something gold on the older brother's finger and smiled.
"Someone who asked a very important question before the pageant and gave permission to let it out," Sylvia answered, "and before you ask, I did say "yes." In that... I'm very happy for other things and winning the pageant... that's really just a sideshow. I didn't really expect to win it and things did turn out to be fun."
"Well, congratulations on all things, Ms. Rattleton," Teddy spoke, "hopefully the rest of the contest turns out well for you."
"You're welcome," Sylvia answered, "and thank you both for being so mature..."
Teddy and Al had a bit of a hard time holding back blushes as they looked back to the camera, again on its stand for the post pageant interview.
"This has been Teddy and Al for Animalia Ambassadoria from the Year of the Snake's Ms. Zodiac Pageant," Teddy spoke, "join us tomorrow evening as Polly and I cover the Shi/Hir pageant."