SDF Round 2 - Upstream Color - Part 2

With a flourish, Vulgare pointed to the top of the animatronic dinosaur's head. "Your opponent's up there. Name's Panzen. He's a real comedian, that one."

They could just barely make out the brown figure of their opponent from where they stood on the ground. Josefina recognized him as the cat-like creature who had run into her when she first arrived at the studio.

"Winston will arrive in a while to give you your scripts. Said he had to do it in-person. But in the meanwhile, you might want to get acquainted."

Anger flared up in Umozozi, but it quickly died down. He had no control over the situation, and didn’t want to go feral again or continue to hurt Jo. He needed to stay calm. If he could keep all interactions to a minimum, maybe he could stop hurting people.

Walking to a ladder on the wing of the plane, the baboon slowly crawled up. His wrists and ankles ached and it was difficult to breath. Umozozi ignored the discomfort until he reached the wing, and then collapsed painfully into a heap. He curled up on the side of the wing, trying to shove agonizing thoughts out of his head.

The mantidfly acknowledged her friend, then made her way up the dinosaur at a deliberately slow pace. She didn't want to overexert herself this round if it could be avoided. Thankfully acting from a script wouldn’t be too strenuous an activity, but she still didn't look forward to it. Acting had never been one of her strong suits, but she focused on that to prevent her mind from wandering.

Panzen had been contemplating the history book and the voices of the past round when his opponent arrived. Now wary of their presence, his attention shifted to them. Rumors had been going around about how the ape-thing had gouged his opponent’s eye out, and how the insect helped. Winston had said something about them visiting their opponent in the hospital... However, he had heard some rumors about himself, including one where he had supposedly taunted and beaten a crippled opponent. It was likely the rumors about the pair were false, if not significantly exaggerated. Panzen decided the best course of action was to assess his opponents and go from there. In the very least, he hoped that they were worse actors than he was. Though that was about as likely as him being accepted into college.

He decided to climb down to the insect, as the ape-thing was well out of reach.

To better access his opponents, Panzen decided to start conversation with something fairly innocuous. If the rumors weren’t true, the insect had seemed nice enough before.

"Acting, can you believe it?" his voice was flat, stripped of any variation in tone.

"Um, well it is a film studio," Josefina replied, slightly unnerved by his monotone. She couldn’t help but wonder if what Panzen had said was out of exasperation or delight. It was impossible for her to tell.

"...is it? Huh. Could've fooled me. Winston can't seem to make up his mind between that and a fight club."

"....yeah."

"Are you alright? Or are you normally this standoffish? It's not because I bumped into you the other day, is it? Because I-"

"No, that's not it. Sorry. I've just, got a lot on my mind." She glanced at Umozozi. Panzen followed her gaze suspiciously.

The baboon ignored them.

After more awkward small talk, Winston arrived without his usual fanfare. He even looked slightly disgruntled. Three crocodiles followed behind him, Large, Martha, and one that none of them had seen before.

Winston put on a smile that seemed less flashy than usual. “Before we get started, I want you all to give a warm welcome to Winky,” he said, seeming pleased with his alliteration. “He’s going to be interning under Vulgare.”

The dull brown crocodile strolled up to the caimon and in voice that could only rival Winston’s in hamminess said “Nice to meet you Vulgare. I’m sure our contestants will have no trouble with this “Panzen” or whoever.”

Vulgare looked less than pleased, “"Yeah, sure. I could've handled them myself but welcome aboard."

Winky chuckled, then flashed his assigned competitors a wink. "Alright, everyone get on the afro. Winston will let you know what's up when you're all there."

Panzen grumbled something under his breath, less than pleased with Winky’s favoritism, and then started back up the stairs. Josefina waited for Umozozi before they all gathered on the very top of the large t-rex animatronic’s head. They were there for a few seconds before Winston made another grandiose entrance, purple confetti shooting into the air behind him.

Umozozi gnashed his teeth at the appearance of purple graffiti. The texture of the fake hair on the rainbow afro made his feet itch. But at least the surface under the hair was sturdy. The baboon sat down, sinking back into his malaise.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting, but you’re the last performance of the day. And I couldn’t rush any of the other contestants with their performances.”

Umozozi shuddered, wondering if Phil was okay. Josefina looked at the ground, trying not to think about what might’ve happened. And Panzen twitched his tail thoughtfully, wondering what had become of Ian.

The weasel let out a defeated sigh, “Even though they all had fabulous performances. I tire of this format. I need something to spice the action up. How about this? Since you're all aspiring artists, you have a choice. You can either follow the initial plan, or collaborate on a scene. You can make any changes, and act it out anyway you like. But all three of you have to do a good job, or you all fail. However, if I like what I see, you all pass,” Winston smiled, his good mood seemingly returned, “ I for one vote for the collaboration! All three of you are so very talented, I doubt you could fail. Now, my crew and I are going to set up the cameras. You can make your decision while we do that.”

Josefina's eyes narrowed. This new proposal sounded too good to be true, as had the contest itself. However, to her chagrin, she found herself considering it. If it were genuine, no one needed to get hurt. And they would all pass. 

She immediately turned to Zi, antennae raised optimistically, "What do you think? It could be...fun?"

Panzen was relieved. He wouldn’t have to act by himself, and he wouldn’t have to resort to fighting two intimidating creatures. If the rumors weren’t true, then Panzen would have nothing to worry about - besides his own acting. Panzen showed no signs of his relief and kept his arms crossed, watching and waiting to hear the baboon’s answer before voicing his opinion on it.

Umozozi had perked up, hearing that there was another option. He wasn’t much of an actor, but he had taken a screenwriting class in college. Maybe he could tank the performance! The thought quickly dashed out his mind, realizing Winston would know and probably have some sadistic response. The baboon’s shoulders drooped.

“Sure, Jo. Why not? We thought this was a writing contest anyway, so might as well write something,” He turned to the myrtze, “Do you agree? I don’t want to fight anyone anymore...  and I guess it’s a win-win for both of us, even if this win is staying in this godforsaken tournament.”

"Yeah, I'd rather not fight anyone either.” The baboon seemed genuine, though Panzen remained dubious.

“Say, I've already met Jo here, but I can't say we've been introduced yet." He held out his hand. "I'm Panzen."

Umozozi grasped the myrtze’s hand, “Umozozi, or Zi if you prefer. Jo and I used to work for Eclipse.” How long ago that seemed to the baboon now, and the sting of losing his job had now been replaced by the pain of attacking a childhood hero.

“What’s your profession? You wouldn’t happen to be an actor perhaps?” Umozozi asked, feeling a return of his old self.

Tensing, Panzen pulled back his hand. He'd seen an issue of that magazine in the waiting room, and was slightly jealous they had such accolades. "Yes, because I have the vocal and emotional range for such a profession."

Josefina looked between them awkwardly, but the myrtze just continued on without allowing that to sink in.

"No, I'm not an actor. I'd actually like to be an artist."

Panzen’s sarcasm bothered the baboon, but not enough for him to comment on it. “Well, the world needs more artists and writers,” he said lamely instead.

Winston returned to the three competitors. “Alright. I’ve got my cameras set up and perfect scripts depending on your decisions, So, what will it be?”

Josefina nodded,  “Yes, we'll collaborate.”