While the Coronavirus was causing a lot of annoying limitations, Animalia was the place where the restrictions were having less impact that other parts of the world. But that was mainly because there were more Animalians up and about and moving compared to other parts of the world. But that didn't mean that Animalia and its colonies were completely immune to the outside world, they were just doing better due to their seemingly stronger immune systems.
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When the Pandemic came to America, the GGAC came up with a surprising way of helping out. They got their members to deliver groceries and other necessities to housebound people and Animalians. While this was considered a good thing, there were some who were less willing than others to help out. Max was a clear example of this, especially since Buford and Aleta were "supervising" him. But what made it even funnier was the fact that he was forced to wear a sign that let everyone know what he was in trouble for, since it was part of his punishment.
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While there had been a plan to show Animalia Ambassadoria the ruins of the medieval monastery, current travel restrictions made such a visit near impossible. Fortunately Aggie was able to show a video tour of the excavation that was now going on there. There was a bit of a scare when a skeleton was found while recording, but it did provide a clue to what happened to the monastery. Carbon dating of the skeleton showed that whoever it was had died during the early medieval ages; other analysis showed that it was a male skeleton who hadn't done any manual labor; and final analysis showed that he had been killed by a sword straight through the heart. The discovery of a viking dagger, seemingly carelessly dropped around the same time.
All together, the evidence seemed to show that the skeleton was that of the Abbot of the monastery, and he had been killed by vikings during one of their raids. While the plans to build a medieval monastery as part of Scotland's "medieval" Animalia colony were still on the table, the original plans were scrapped due to the discovery of the monastery ruins. Fortunately, the architect thought that it was a good idea to make new blueprints based off of the excavated ruins.
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Mercy Elaga had also made a surprising discovery, partly because of the Virus, though not by becoming infected. A teenager had been 'recruited' (under protest, so he said) by his parents to clear out his recently deceased grandparents home. While clearing out the bedroom, they had found a really old safe hidden behind a sliding panel. Professional safecracking was out of the teen's parent's pay grade, but then that teen remembered Mercy and her 'reputation'.
While Mercy didn't like the FBI agent tagging along with her, she was eager to clean some rust off of her old skills and learn some more things about her new form. While the safe was old, the dial and handle were still functional and Mercy was ready to test her new hearing. Utilizing it, she was able to get the safe open on her first try.
But what was the most surprising was the fact that, while everyone expected it to be empty, it certainly wasn't. Treasures 'worthy of making the Sundance Kid dance with joy' (as one news site put it) spilled out of it the moment the safe opened. They ranged from gold coins and gold certificates to silver ingots to even old weapons. What made them all seemingly more valuable was the fact that all of them seemed to be from the golden age of the Wild West. While this wasn't really confirmed until they were appraised, it was a surprising discovery nonetheless.
After the kid posted his discovery on the internet, there were thousands of theories on why such a haul was in the house. The most plausible one was the theory that the house was once used by wild west outlaws to hide from the authorities, while another plausible theory was that at least one owner of the house was part of an unsung gang of stagecoach robbers.
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While Miss Fabina was the 'Top Dog' of Animalia's "Courtesan's Guild", as she now called it, she also had an uncanny eye for talent, especially among the newer members. After one rich woman had double-dosed into a fire salamander Animalian and had been caught rocking air guitar really hard, she had seemingly fainted from severe embarrassment and only came out of it when someone yelled in her ear "Should we let the air groupies in now?".
After Miss Fabina learned about it, she arranged to meet her and get her started on rhythmic guitar lessons. While initially reluctant at first, she was able to warm up to the lessons.
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Fiora was learning one of the unfortunate side effects about popular fame, mainly the rabid fans part. But fortunately, Bruno was not only her boyfriend, but was also seemingly capable of fulfilling the role of 'bodyguard' quite well. It was certainly intimidating to rabid fans to see a mouse of similar species more than a head taller than Fiora with muscles seemingly capable of crushing a human skull.