The arrival of October meant a few changes that had come along for Animalia's elephant herd, largely as the herd's accepted matriarch, Nzynga, and her bond-mate, Dean, were busy with their own college education that they were absent from Lyre and Animalia. In theory, Nzynga didn't have to go, given that she was an uplifted elephant, but like many other Animalians who had bonded to converted Humans, she went where Dean went. This changed a few things in Lyre and Animalia and how the Elephant Animalians were coping with some of the other new things, including working with Arnold's work with regard to Project White Lily and adaptation all the other things that related to being an Animalian, but they'd found that some of those changes weren't too bad.
"I must say I'm impressed," Arnold said slowly as Afia completed her latest set of squats and setting numbers that weren't that far below what Arnold managed.
"Still playing to all that macho stuff?" Afia asked slowly, serving him a reminder on what happened in their first meeting.
It was true that a bull African or Asian Elephant would be physically bigger and stronger than a female of their respective species, but elephant bulls tended to be separate from the main herd for much of the year and would only come in contact when the females were in season. Arnold had seemed to miss that part on natural elephant herd behavior and thus didn't expect much out of either Nzynga or Afia and thought that Dean was the "dominant" one among Animalia's elephants. And as such while a bull elephant was indeed bigger and stronger than the female, the female was STILL an elephant and not exactly something to be underestimated, which Afia was happy to show him.
"No... I learned my lesson from that," Arnold answered, "I would like to see myself as awesome and the "alpha" that you'd see with people... but I'd think you've given me enough bruises not to underestimate you."
Afia smiled as she flexed her trunk and set the bar on the rack that was there to rest it on, remembering some of those interactions. Including executing a judo throw on Arnold as part of introducing herself as part of announcing her role in helping Arnold through things that related to the programs Animalia ran that were there to help those that were homosexual before becoming Animalians. A lot of this related to developments that found that converted Humans that were homosexual were eventually influenced by the various animal mating instincts that would make them bisexual. It didn't necessary end the same-sex partnerships that some were in, but it did present some conflicting urges that could often be troublesome. At first it was a surprise, but in time a counseling program was developed that helped people adjust to things of that nature. Afia was assigned to help Arnold in that task, and things had gone fairly well in that regard, mostly as they shared work out times and all that sort of thing.
"So... you're learning," Afia gave a smile, "good..."
"And a lot of it not being something I'd thought would happen when I first converted," Arnold admitted as he thought back on his own conversion...
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"If size and power are what you're interested in... I'm surprised that you didn't go down to Dinotopia," Doctor Stein commented as Arnold followed him, "They would have larger maximum sizes..."
"Yeah... but they also need the most adaptations be made for them," Arnold answered, "it's where there's such a thing as too big. As an Elephant... I'd at least still have some functionality in buildings and things built for Humans... and either would help me with regard to what Project White Lilly has offered."
And that was a fair part of his reasoning. He'd been hesitant when Animalia first announced its Project White Lilly as a means to help those that had been professional body builders who had run into trouble, be it steroids or social issues, largely because at the time he wasn't sure about many things in Animalia and what went with it. Yes, becoming an Animalian would heal things, but at the time things looked very different politically and that the successes Animalia had had might be rather short lived. Thus he'd put that off and figured only to return to it later when he had more information.
Now, after four years, it was becoming clear that Animalia likely wasn't going anywhere. The community had begun to thrive in economic ways that were beneficial to more than just the Animalians themselves, and while the Covid Pandemic had hit them hard, as it did everyone else, there were now economic reasons to let Animalia be that weren't there four years ago. The present US administration, while it still blustered on various anti-Animalian dog-whistles, looked to be on the verge of a major electoral defeat and taking many of its enablers with it as even those that had supported it four years before were turning on it now. That gave Arnold the confidence to join in, and thus why he was there.
He'd already met with Anton, and was a bit surprised that a former body building champion was living his life as a high school gym/health teacher for WSA with Project Lilly as a charitable side project, but that tied into the successes that Animalia had had. Anton was supportive and accepted the pride that Arnold had himself and that went along with his specific choice of Animalian to become... an African Elephant. It seemed like an easy choice to have. Elephants were naturally strong animals and it would let him overcome all his old injuries and issues and that would give him a new shot. The Horizon scientists seemed to accept it and the scientist ahead of him was loosely supportive. Arnold liked that.
"Well just remember... that a lot of the sports that Animalians are in, body building in particular," Doctor Stein warned, "can have some cross over between most modern Animalians and Dinotopians, particularly when you get into modern megafauna like elephants and rhinos that can be fairly big in their own right. As an African Elephant Animalian, you may be comparable in size to some of the Dinotopians... and particularly the medium sized Dinotopians, where the comparisons and balance will be different. Thus just being an Elephant won't give you an automatic advantage."
They entered one of Horizon's transformation rooms which was part of how the Animalia Virus was legally distributed and one of the few ways it was legally distributed after Heather Wilcox's rampage during Animalia's second year of existence. Arnold nodded in acknowledgement of Doctor Stein's comment but he retained his own personal level of confidence about him.
"Yes... but as an Elephant Animalian... I'd hold an advantage over other Animalians," Arnold gave a cocky smile toward, "and from what's been reported... most Dinotopians, even some of the smaller ones, be they among the Raptors... the Pterosaur based Dinotopians that have converted and so on... are likely still to be grouped with Dinotopians and any Animalian-Dinotopian contests would be more in special events... not standard contests. Which would give ME an advantage."
"Perhaps," Doctor Stein spoke in warning, one which Arnold largely ignored, "but there are other Elephant Animalians that have shown interest in body building and some of the martial arts... thus it wouldn't be easy. You might be bigger and stronger... but that doesn't mean you'd be unchallenged or invincible."
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Afia interrupted Arnold's recollections with some obvious chuckles, as it would appear that the Horizon doctor that carried out Arnold's conversion had warned him about what could happen as Arnold met with other Animalians and those that would work the most closely with him. It was something that made him sigh, but it was enough for him to remember that Afia had rather easily proved that just because she was smaller and weaker than him, that did not mean that she wasn't an Elephant and thus a force to be reckoned with in her own right.
"So... Doctor Stein gave you fair warning and you ignored it," Afia laughed.
"Well... I hadn't met you, yet," Arnold admitted, "and at the same time... the transformation felt rather good... I lost all my clothes, but feeling all my muscles grow, old injuries and frailties fall away felt good. I felt younger... like I was coming back into my prime. And the only things that were odd were the tickling at my ears as they grew out on the sides of my head."
Arnold paused to flap his ears back and forth, and Afia watched as the two gray skinned ears moved forward and back, blowing a soft breeze in the weight room that managed to overcome the room's ventilation for a moment.
"The growing tusks hurt a little... but I ended up being more focused on the oddity of suddenly having muscles in my nose as it stretched in front of my face," Arnold continued and lifted his trunk for emphasis, "I mean... Humans don't have this and have nothing like it. Thus to feel like my nose was rubber and easily bendable... but under my full control... was an odd sensation, but once it was at its full length, I began to get used to it, and it's been a helpful tool."
"Even after your conversion completed?" Afia asked curiously.
"In a way..." Arnold nodded, "It's sort of like having a third arm... and that can be helpful. And gives a whole new meaning to the line "strong nose," doesn't it?"
Afia then watched as Arnold leaned over with his trunk and lifted up one of the hand barbells that carried a weight of close to fifty pounds and lifted it to his head like it was nothing. While it was a good feet of strength and demonstration of the strength that any Elephant Animalian had, and Afia suspected that Arnold's trunk was stronger than what he showed, because she knew she could lift more than fifty pounds with her trunk, she also knew that given the present situation... lifting things with one's nose wasn't exactly the healthiest of things.
"Maybe," Afia commented, "but given things... don't you think you're violating the rules regarding health safety at the moment?"
Arnold's gray skin paled for a moment before the barbell fell from his trunk, though he did successfully catch it in his hands before it could hit the floor. He said in a hurried voice, "I'll clean it!"