March is often considered the beginning of Spring, whether or not the groundhog saw its shadow. For Animalia and its colonies, it was the start of other things.
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On Ao Guang Island, the Winter Weight Watcher's party was finally winding down. Overall, the party was considered a huge success, with both Chinese, Korean, and Japanese authorities having more information about the Virus and what it was capable of, even if they (still) didn't have the Virus itself (much to North Korea's chagrin). There were also a lot of new music artists starting their careers, and not all of them were female Animalians.
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What was perhaps the biggest thing going on in Lyre/Animalia proper was Marcella's trial for misuse of the Animalia Virus. Whether or not Marcella pleaded guilty, what was generally agreed on was that it was a media circus (pun semi-intentional).
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Another thing that was going on was, comparatively, minor, but was big in its own way: Layla's friends had begun arriving in Lyre/Animalia for their conversions. While the rest of them had yet to make their choices, one of them already had their own plan.
Mary had been struggling with weight all her life, no matter how much dieting and exercise she did. When Layla sent her a video of both her new form and the "studs" she was spending a lot of time with, she knew she was going to convert to finally beat her stubborn belly. When she arrived at Lyre/Animalia International Airport, she saw a few male horse Animalians and immediately knew what she wanted.
Layla had been calming down quite a bit by this time, having returned to her "old" cooking videos (but wearing only a pair of panties under her, more risqué, apron), but perhaps her 'horny virus' (as some people on the website jokingly called it) had 'jumped' (I'm no virologist or microbiologist) from Layla to Mary. After her mare conversion, which successfully converted her fat into muscle, she was doing hours-long workout videos on the website under the "stage" name Mary Muscles. However, the premium section of the website had far more risqué versions of her workouts, such as doing barbell squats while "squatting" on a dildo or using two male Animalians (Mary remembering to go for males that were outside her species and keep her birth control up to date) for both workouts and "hydration".
What made her all the more surprising in her videos was the level of intelligence she displayed. According to her, she was halfway to her college degree in sports medicine, and she often had the knowledge to back it up, often by using CGI-generated diagrams of musculature groups for "quasi-lectures". However, because of her new Animalian status, she'd have to delay getting her degree by at least a year so she could get "updated" on Animalian Physiology.
She also made it clear that she was in training for this year's IAC Competition, specifically the Bodybuilding competition. While she was technically a late entry, her skyrocketing popularity, drive, and discipline allowed her to compete.