Television Bears

[Ice Bear]

Grizz and Panda had a rough first night. The sleeping bags weren't what they were used to.

At least they had a place to go to. They had stopped by Dan and Bob's place to ask where Ice Bear's house was. Fortunately Dan and Bob recognized Grizz and Panda from their conversations with Ice Bear. After all, Dan wasn't about to let a total stranger into Ice Bear's house, but these weren't total strangers to Ice Bear. Plus Ice Bear had sent them to sleep at his place.

They got up, groggy, deciding to find work. First thing's first though: they needed to go to the Sty and Fry. Panda had seen it on the way in to the Cavern Grotto community. Dan lent them some coin to get some food, since they were new to the area.

Panda was slow to wake up.

"Grizz... let me sleep a while longer..."

"No time Pan-Pan, we need to get food." The big grizzly bear said, pulling on Panda's arm.

"... okay fine." Panda said, waking up, being groggy and sluggish.

Panda checked the OmniTwitter. A bunch of people he didn't know talking about things he lacked context on. Just like the Twitter he used to know. Except this felt stranger yet.

"Grizz, what makes you so sure we'll find work... all our attempts at finding work in San Francisco failed... even that coffee shop one." Panda said, pessimistically.

Grizz was cheerful. "Well this isn't San Francisco... this is a different town where we can start fresh and new. And everything is within walking distance!"

Panda was always a bit more pessimistic... he meant well, but it was just the fact every time they tried something, it seemed to blow up in their face. What made it worse was three bears always stood out. Then again, Grizz had a point. This was a fresh start for them.

They got up and walked out of the cave to the Sty and Fry. Mina was on duty as usual.

"Woah, more bears!" Mina said gleefully.

"Our bro got us here somehow!" Panda stated. "You might have met him, polar bear with a big axe."

Mina had to put her tray down. "Ice Bear? You... you're Ice Bear's brothers... he said so much about you. Poor dear was in tears while you two were gone. I'm gonna get you two fish and chips on the house."

"Woah, Panda's a vegetarian... got anything for him?"

"Oh! Sure, I'll get him some chips and our Tofufry." Mina said. "You two take a seat wherever you like."

Panda and Grizz sat at the nearest table.

"Woah, Ice Bear gets around. I wonder where he is now. He was on a mission I think." Grizz said nonchalantly.

Panda was trying to tweet on his phone. "Ugh... nothing concrete is coming to mind." Panda said, disgruntled.

"Maybe you need some time to organize your thoughts." Grizz quipped.

"Twitter is how I used to organize my thoughts!" Panda said in despair.

"Relax bro, we'll figure it out." Grizz said as Mina came by with Ice Waters with lemon.

"Two drinks for you."

"Thanks ma'am. Hey... you wouldn't happen to know if there's a job for me and Pan-pan here." Grizz asked.

Mina thought for a moment. "Nothing comes to mind. You could always try looking at the bulletin board in the town square, people post odd jobs. I think Ice Bear got his first job that way."

Mina walked away, as another patreon needed her attention.

Panda had finally figured out how to watch Dataverse TV on his new fandangled phone.

"Hey, I got TV on this thing... and the only TV station I see around these parts is a local public access TV station. Looks kind of weird. Like... beyond the indie scene of the bay area wierd." Panda was mesmerized by what he was seeing. It was Pinkie Pie doing party tricks and 'magic' tricks... well at least the ones you learn in the third grade. It was very surreal.

Grizz had an idea. "Public access? Hey... let's get on public access and show off our skills! It will be great."

Panda was reluctant. "Well... remember what happened with Nom-Nom?"

"Yeah, but this would be us! We get to do whatever we want on public access... within reason." Grizz thought. "We might get our foot in the door somehow. Someone might notice us."

Panda was shy about the idea, but with no better idea how to go about it, he decided he'd try Grizz's tactics. After eating their meals, they'd go to the public access TV station.

"Okay, we'll give it a try."

[Ice Bear]

The brothers headed towards the local public access TV station, which was not really that fancy from the outside. The building was covered in vines and had a giant sign on the side saying "Ambrosia Public Access". The door on the side seemed to be the only enterance available to the bears. So they went in.

Panda noted how cluttered the room was. "Look at all these props... why would public access need all these props?"

Grizz was confused. "Why not? Props and lighting are needed in every show... no matter how big or small. Heck bro, you never know when a model airplane might come in handy." He said, holding up a prop 747.

"Ahem". A public access worker tried to get their attention. "May we help you?"

Grizz immediately took notice. "Yes! I am Grizz and this is my trusty middle-bro Panda. We are looking for a timeslot on public access."

The public access grunt was reluctant. Plus they had no slots to fill.

"I'm sorry... but we have no slots today-"

The worker was cut off by another worker urgently running.

"Sir, we have a problem... the person who got on public access... dressed in a devil's outfit, said 'hail Satan' and then said 'Righteously motherf***er'. We were able to pull him off the air before that last bit aired, due to delay. We need someone to fill the next hour pronto!"

The worker who was attending the bear brothers took notice. "Looks like it's your lucky day! We do require a call-in segment within your show, but outside that, you're good to go. What kind of show are you doing?"

Grizz scratched his head. "Um... a variety show. Me and Panda are gonna talk about a variety of subjects. Heck, let the viewers in on it. I'm flexible!"

Panda was shocked. "Grizz, I don't do good on TV!"

Grizz said "Panda, all I want you to do is find subjects about this town and other areas to talk about. You're good at research, I'm gonna be the main bear talking. Don't sweat it. I have faith in you!"

The worker said "you guys ready?"

The bears nodded in sage agreement. They were about to go onto public access... would they make fools of themselves? Perhaps. But nothing would top the devil uttering a curse word on a free to view TV station in such a blatant manner. They could certainly do better than that.

[Ice Bear]

"Well, that was a blast..." Panda said. "You really should be careful with telephones, Grizz."

Panda and Grizz walked off the set. Grizz was confident in what he did. "We did good though, and you helped me. I feel the call-in segment was a bit weak. Only got one or two real good calls in."

Grizz then saw a weird looking animal-like creature on all fours. It was the Sylveon who headed a movie studio in town named Ambrosia Studios.

"Ahem... you two... were very good for Public Access. You didn't deserve to be on public access, that's how good you were."

Grizz thought it was an odd way of putting it, but decided it was a compliment.

"Well, me and Panda take what we can get. It's been a wild ride here in town." Grizz said, hugging Panda.

"Well, it's gonna be an even wilder ride for you two. I'm hiring you two. Grizz, you are to be our main news anchor and personality." The Sylveon said with a wide grin. "And Panda, you get to be our technical intern. Don't worry, it's paid. I don't believe in doing something for free if you're good at it."

Panda and Grizz smiled so wide. "Woah!" they said in unison. "Us?!"

"Of course. I look on public access sometimes for talent... or people who are mentally unstable enough to be mildly interesting. You fit the former, for sure."

Grizz was grinning ear to ear. "That's great man! We will not let you down. When do we start?"

The Sylveon nodded his head. "Soon. Within the week our studio will have a radio station built onto the side. It will be Radio Ambrosia, Channel 5. The first commercial radio station out of Ambrosia. I'm also working to get Mokugakure to set up a relay station, but that's down the road so to speak."

The brothers were amazed. "Ice Bear is gonna be so proud of us! We got our first jobs that hasn't backfired yet!"

The Sylveon just stared at them, smiling a bit as the brothers cheered up and down and all around.