There was a lot to learn about Animalia, as Triton and Thoosa soon learned. Fortunately the acclimation classes helped them learn quicker than they otherwise would. But they weren’t the only ones learning things.
—-
Steve was waiting for his new bar “supervisor” Tim Pyre to show up for his first day. Apparently he had more experience in mixing alcoholic drinks from his time in Mafia-era Vegas, not that he was complaining. As he was still in high school, he wasn’t allowed to drink, and thus he was more experienced with mixing zero-proof drinks.
When Tim finally showed up, he was cursing under his breath and spitting somewhat.
“You alright?” Asked Steve, a little concerned.
“Kinda.” Replied Tim, “Just learning one of the disadvantages of an amphibian’s sticky tongue.”
“Which is...?” Prompted Steve.
“‘How do you get rid of the nasty taste of a bombardier beetle?’ Bleh!” Said Tim, spitting again.
After Steve got him some Animalian-safe mouthwash and his new uniform, Steve led Tim over to a college sorority girl from UNLV at the bar who had too much to drink the night before and was now looking both like death warmed over and barely having the strength to even grunt. On seeing her, Tim immediately had a flashback moment to his early days and began mixing one of his old drinks.
“Here you go.” He said, finishing the mixing and bringing it over to her, “This should cure anything you’ve got. Just don’t ask what’s in it.”
“I can see why you were able to get this position quickly.” Said Steve, as the girl started sipping her drink and immediately started looking and feeling better.
“Some of my knowledge goes back to when the mobsters were in the shadows of Vegas.” Replied Tim, just before the girl gave off a large burp. “I can teach you some of what I know.”
“And I can show you some of the Prohibition-era booze we have downstairs.” Answered Steve.
“I’ve never had a chance to work with Prohibition booze before.” Said Tim, already coming up with new recipes.
—-
“... so there’s a real government agent from the Treasury Department here?” Asked Quarry, heading down to the goldmine in the Burrows with Orlando.
“We don’t know her real name, but she doesn’t mind us calling her Shirley McLoon.” Answered Orlando, “She’s the one who serves as the contact between our goldmine and Fort Knox. Most of the gold we mine here goes there by armored trucks, but we get money for it as well as a small amount for our goldsmiths.”
“Wouldn’t it be a security problem to keep the gold here safe?” Asked Quarry, seeing the loading dock where the latest Armored truck was getting loaded.
“Shirley McLoon already thought of that.” Replied Orlando, “She’s provided laser tripwires, concealed sensors, and card key locks for the tunnel that the armored trucks arrive and depart.”
By that point they had reached the mine, and Quarry was a little flabbergasted at the size of the seam. After a little orientation and some lessons, Quarry was seemingly ready to begin mining. Though when she began, it quickly became obvious why they thought she was ready. Apparently the claws of burrowing Animalians were strong enough to not only tunnel through soil, but also claw through even hard basalt. Granite still required tools, but due to burrowing Animalians’ increased strength, they only needed a pole pick with a head of tempered steel rather than the more advanced tools that humans needed.
After only three hours of work, Quarry managed to excavate, with her bare claws, 50 pounds of gold. Most of it went to Fort Knox, but she was able to get $500 in total for it. There were also a few precious and semiprecious stones unearthed, but most of them weren’t the million dollar ones that one would expect to find in dedicated gem mines and weren’t the size of gems with the name of Koh-ih-noor, or the Hope or Culinan diamonds. Either way it was a good way for Quarry to build a nest egg for later.