While a vaccine for the Coronavirus was almost complete, the virus was naturally slowing down on its own, especially where and when it first took hold. Because of this, and the reopening process, there was a, very, slow increase of tourism. But these had to be cleared of having Coronavirus first before traveling, of course.
Fortunately there were plenty to do in Animalia and its colonies, both for tourists and residents. But there was a bigger problem than the Coronavirus going around. This was best summed up as "cabin fever", due to long periods of isolation and quarantine. While there was the occasional case of someone getting seriously hurt do to doing crazy things out of boredom, these were rare at best. But there were plenty of things going on that were funny enough to keep everyone from being gloomy.
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Nicole and Joanne were doing a workout session together for the first time, as a way of reconnecting between the two of them. But it was clear that, while Joanne had most of her "emotional suppression" problems, there was one problem that had, apparently, been building within her since her husband died. That was none other than sexual frustration, which was not helped by her feeling "spring fever" for the first time. While it wasn't dangerous, she was getting distracted by the occasional male fox. While it wasn't dangerous in any way, it did culminate in Joanne getting a little distracted and dropping a weight on the floor and causing a bit of a stir since it was a 5-pound weight. She was hit with a minor fine for damages, but fortunately the cause was forwarded to both Doctor Jones and Madam Matryoshka.
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Mercy had just gotten done with Skyping with Zach when "Mr. Smith" and a member of the Rhino Guard entered her new "office" in her apartment.
"What is it?" She asked, already irritated.
"We've actually got something for you to help out with." said Mr. Smith.
"Well, what?" asked Mercy, still irritated.
"One, now confirmed, surefire way of arresting drug dealers is hunting down those drug dealers who post extremely incriminating pictures of their own drugs and money on social media." said 'Mr. Smith', shaking his head at the stupidity. "What was done was an agreement to meet at a certain location, which is actually a sting operation.
"Why would they want to do that?" asked the Rhino guard member, who was now identified as an uplifted member.
"Flex on haters." said 'Mr. Smith'.
"So what does that have to do with me?" asked Mercy, now intrigued.
"Animalia is doing a criminal rehabilitation program called the 'Straight and Narrow Path'," said Mr. Smith. "And these 50 drug dealers arrested over last weekend would make a pretty good first class for this program."
"But what would I gain from this?" asked Mercy, still not seeing it.
"I was told that $50 million in cash was seized, as well as 150 pounds of marijuana, a quarter of a million in stolen goods, fifty pounds of cocaine, and 35 illegal weapons were also seized." said the Rhino Guard agent, reading over the list.
"...well, alright." said Mercy, after thinking it over. "I'll try it out for a little bit." After that, she was introduced to her first class which was a mixed bag of male and female drug dealers of various races. After explaining who she was, and what the program was, she got the chance to vent her frustration at how all of these drug dealers got caught.
"You morons." she said, "You're posting incriminating evidence of yourself on social media?! What did you think was going to happen?!"
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Anton also got a new group for Project White Lily, which were mainly male bodybuilders who had abused steroids enough to compromise their immune systems. Because of this, and the Coronavirus that had been going on, they had decided to join Project White Lily after they had seen the photo of Project White Lily's first successful group at their 'graduation ceremony'. Anton was a little overwhelmed at the amount of new members, since it was six times the usual amount. Fortunately Larry, Amos, and Esteban were more than willing to help out with the classes.
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Another thing that was both amusing and annoying was the simple fact that the militaries of various countries were interested in Animalia. While it was to be expected at this point, another member of the US military had shown up for conversion, much to the annoyance of Horizon. When the USAF officer was contacted at Claw Coliseum after his latest flying lesson, he immediately recognized the picture of captain 'Alex'. After he went home, he was shocked to see the eagle Animalian that had assigned herself to him sitting on their bed while wearing a transparent silk nightgown. It was clear then what she was after.
But what made it even more surprising for 'Alex', who was not only held the rank of captain in the US Military but was also an Iraq War veteran who had suffered relatively little injury during his time there. But the amusing thing was that he had chosen a horse as his new species, which was forwarded to Animalia's 'Mane Six', who were eager to meet him afterward, in a matter of speaking. He was easy to spot since he was a draft horse whose color was a tan buff, with his lower arms and limbs being pure white, and a pale golden mane. But the attention the six gave him was not at all what he was expecting.
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While Evelyn's fourth punishment wouldn't be taking place until June, now was a good time for her to meet the "multiheaded club", as Iphis, Ianthe, Medusa, and Medea called their group informally. While she was a little surprised at meeting them, and a little more surprised to learn that Iphis and Ianthe were herms, she was able to warm up to them, and they to her.
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What was considered a really funny thing happened during the renovation, and was one of Daisy's "adorably stupid" moments.
Daisy was spotted over by the "mix-your-own" paint mixer at the hardware store pouring seven colors of paint into one can and starting the mixer.
"What are you doing?" asked Dan.
"Making rainbow paint." answered Daisy.
"I don't think that works that way." said Snowflake.
"Look, Daisy." Confirmed Brawn. "When you mix all the colors together, you don't get a rainbow. All you get is a mess."
"Maybe it just needs a bit more power." said Daisy. But the button she pushed didn't increase the power. It's best to say that Brawn did speak true, because the end result was a mess.
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While things were messed up due to the Coronavirus, there were signs of it slowing down, so that was something at least.