With the Coronavirus leveling off, things were heading slowly towards normal, but to some it wasn't slowing down fast enough. Because of this, there were some new things that were being done, mainly for those who were either under quarantine or were too afraid to leave their house. Almost all of these were done/run by the GGAC who were now known for not only their LARPing, but also the good deeds they generally do in their community.
One of their more recent ideas was delivering groceries to those who were unable to leave their homes for one reason or another. This was done mainly by the "initiates", as Jerry called them. Tom simply called them "greenhorns", and for good reason. One thing that the newest members seemed to habitually get wrong was getting "catchphrases"/attacks/characters from different anime/magna mixed up, much to the chagrin/amusement of those who knew which characters were from which magna by heart. But there were some other things as well.
"So how are our newest recruits?" asked Peter, coming down after assigning groceries, locations, and wagons (since most of the deliveries were done on foot) to the the current "runners".
"See for yourself." said Mara, indicating the "physical training area" of their new "clubhouse". It had originally been a house that was on top of an underground facility for growing hemp plants for marijuana, but when the original owner of the house got caught stealing electricity for his farm, the house was discovered to be suffering from a bad fungus infection, so the old building was demolished and a new "clubhouse" for the GGAC put up in its place, with the warehouse perfect for modular dungeons for their LARPing.
Peter, looking over at them, winced at how pathetic their attempts at working out was. One was 'curling' with 12 pound dumbbells and doing it all wrong, with his elbows all over the place and swinging them with each 'lift'. Another initiate was doing... something that looked like she was mixing some sort of anime ninjutsu while using a couple of 5 pound weights for cardio. A third, however, was the only one that was doing something 'right', but was showing his level of inexperience. He had a single bar and one 10 pound weight on each end... and was stuck on the bottom.
"This just goes to show how not ready you all are." said Peter, going among them and taking the weights out of their hands.
"It'll be worth it if I can get my dark-skinned, white-haired..." said the one pinned under the bench press bar.
"All right that's enough." Peter said, cutting in quickly, "You keep getting your fantasies mixed up with real life. But in real life, the chances of finding such a person who would be interested in you are slim to none. Especially that 'plate-armor swimsuit' idea."
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Meanwhile, Tom and Jerry were overseeing the "ascension rite" of two relatively newer members who had completed enough tasks and were ready to join the next rank, which was solely for Animalians.
While the group was originally for Peter and his friends and their new mates, when they revealed their new forms to their old gaming club a lot of them had signed up to become Animalians. While the rising cost did initially slow down the number of "geek conversions" as one person on the Animalia website had derisively called it, the crash due to "recession rumors" made it more affordable, but they couldn't overwhelm Horizon with both custom orders (those were still expensive) and new applicants. This "ascension rite" was doing a good job at slowing down conversions, and by calling it a "ascension rite" made it sound more acceptable to a fantasy club.
"You two have ascended well on the path of wisdom." said Tom, doing his best 'old, wise man accent', "You both have learned much, but still have much to learn, so you will have to face this trial of fate to continue on your journey."
"The challenge is this." said Jerry, bringing out six cans with their brand labels covered in duct tape, "Six cans of soda. Five of them, nice to drink; the other, not nice, will explode in your face. Each participant must use great courage, select a can in turn, and open it close to their face."
"The one who wins is the one who DOESN'T get the can that explodes, Understand?" said Tom, after one of the cans was sufficiently shook up with both participants in the rite having their backs to the event. "Good."
"Initiates prepare," said Jerry, "For it is time for the ascension rite to begin."
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Meanwhile, Dela was helping Bruno, who was another relatively new member to Animalia, with picking his fantasy character.
"Are you sure you want to be a fantasy character?" asked Dela.
"Certain sure." replied Bruno, "While Fiora and I do Sci-fi shows at the Meat Market, We're perfectly capable of doing other things while not on stage."
"All right," said Dela, "Just remind Fiora that she can't place an order for 'plate armor swimsuits', that's just not how it works in the history of armor."