This time, Aurora was prepared. She'd... relieved herself and done some stretches earlier to get the blood flowing. There was absolutely no way she was going to get caught off guard this time. Yesterday was just a freak accident.
She knew she was going to do as little as she possibly could; her Personal Trainer could only get her to do what was necessary for the kind of conditioning she wanted, right? It's not like she was going to be doing Arnold Schwarzenegger type shit if she didn't want to.
She did have a feeling her friends would probably try to rope her into doing shit with them, but she'd just decline like normal.
She still thought it was weird there was no formal interview, a lot of that process seemed to be delegated partly to her needlessly thorough online application and Terra. She was starting to put together that Terra wasn't just a tour guide and maybe was following Aurora around to get a vibe check on her.
Aurora looked around as she entered, still horribly intimidated by all the women here despite their kind and supportive demeanors. Constantly huge and rock solid with muscle; it seemed impossible. And it wasn't just them working out that made them looked so Pumped and cut and shredded. Aurora had seen them outside the Gym, had talked to her friends and other Pump Queens elsewhere. They looked like this all the time.
That definitely wasn't normal, right? The idea of the Pump is that your muscles look bigger and harder right after a workout because of bloodflow or whatever. But they seemed to always look like that. Maybe it's because they were always coming in or out of the Gym, to be fair.
Aurora's friend Grayson had told her to meet her and some friends in the PQ cafeteria; she decided this was a good idea because it was a good opportunity to ask question and snoop around. Plus, it was one more thing that didn't involve exercising or looking over their vaguely slutty social media posts, which was a welcome distraction.
Aurora kept her thoughts to herself as she entered the cafeteria. Big words that said *Don't think, just Pump* were on the wall. Was that supposed to be motivational? Shesat at the table next to half a dozen gorgeous women, including Grayson. Grayson wasn't quite as big as them, but she was getting there.
They were all soaked head to toe in sweat, skin almost unnaturally shiny, the not-quite-unappealing scent that wafted from them was heavy and dizzying all at once as it made her slightly lightheated with the smell of their combined hormones filling the air. It wasn't necessarily bad smelling, but it was strong.
Most of them were wearing one-piece bodysuits with exposed backs. Grayson wore tight yoga shorts that clung to her curves almost scandalously, as well as a tight half shirt over her sports bra with long sleeves that firmly squeezed her arms and showed off her muscles.
God, the outfits in this place were absurd; borderline pornified in how form fitting and thin they were.
Shit, how long had it been? Barely a couple months and she was already so big and hard. They had to be juicing, all that stuff on social media and them being all natural couldn't be true.
"Ugh, 'Rory you have no idea no idea how happy I am to see that you're back. I hope yesterday didn't scare you off." Grayson said. Aurora shrugged.
"Hey, I'm just here for show cause I want to keep my job. The less I do the better." She said. Grayson rolled her eyes.
"Come on, you get a free Gym membership as part of the staff. Might as well take advantage of it if you're going to be bent over a screen all day, right?"
"Seriously, you won't regret it. I was always tired and aching before I came here. Not to mention ashamed of how I look. But this place completely changed my life!" The tanned blonde at the table said.
"It might've been a pain at first, but you haven't felt any soreness of aches, right?" Damn, now that she mentioned it this was probably the first time in weeks that Aurora didn't have stiffness or trouble getting out of bed.
"And you look glowing. Seriously, sooo cute in your gym clothes instead of those baggy clothes you normally wear. Your body isn't something you should be ashamed of or hide." Another woman said as her eyes trailed over Aurora's legs. Aurora blushed.
"I don't know, don't you think they're a little...tight? Even the socks won't let my feet or ankles breath." The others just gave her puzzled looks, as if it was bizarre to not want your curves strangled at all times.
"Anyway, everything improved when I just stopped worrying and surrendered to The Pump. Remember like a super long time ago when I was depressed and unhealthy like you?" Grayson said. You mean a month ago?
"For real, get yourself hooked up with a Personal Trainer and she'll create a fitness plan specifically curated for you. You'll feel so much better about yourself. And it'll be so fun to be growing and getting empowered with your new friends, right?"
"Sure, I guess..."
"I mean, you just stay home all day, right? Especially now that you're working from home. This would be a good idea to be with supportive friends and not isolated all the time." Okay, that was a good point. Maybe it could be fun?
"That does make sense. I guess I could give it a try. I don't think I'll go super hardcore or anything, but I can't turn down free health improvement, right? And the food here looks insane." Aurora's eyes widened at the high quality meals they were all served. And it was a lot too, they probably had to eat an absurd amount to bulk up.
"Oh, the food's almost the best part, everything here is supercharged with so much protein and vitamins and natural chemicals that are sooo great for you." One of them mentioned.
"Like what? Actually, you could you text me a list? For...the social media account." Aurora said. The girl enthusiastically complied.
Soon, her meal and a cartoonishly large protein shake were sat down on the table in front of her.
"This stuff's already loaded with stuff that's great for you, but everyone here also puts their own stuff in." All Pump Queen branded, of course. Creatine, protein, and then jars with labels and names Aurora didn't at all recognize. They had various names like BULK and BOUNCE. Some affected muscle recovery, some affected glute growth, the whole nine yards.
They emptied a little bit of the powder from each of the literal dozen of these little plastic jars into their food and drink like junkies before they started to chow down.
Good lord. If Aurora was right...no, just hold on that idea for now. She wanted to wait till she looked up this stuff at home.
"Pump Queens has all this exclusive stuff, no other Gym benefits your Pump like we do here. And it's all natural." Grayson said like it was rehearsed. Sure.
Aurora takes a sip of her shake and finds herself shaking a little. Shit, that's sweet. And salty. But weirdly not that bad. She takes a bite of her food. Pretty good.
"Go to the store here in the Gym and they'll give you your supplements for free. The stuff they put in the food works really well, but you need to go all in you want to get Pumped up." The freckled redhead next to Grayson said.
"I don't...I don't know if I want to get super big or strong. I'd rather just do this for my health and stuff if anything..." Aurora said.
"'Rory, all this stuff is super good for you!" Grayson doubled down. They insisted she at least try it with the added supplements and they each contributed some of their stash into her food. It was...strange. None of it really had a taste, but she could feel the difference as she ate. She felt more energized, for lack of a better term.
"This stuff's really that good, huh?" Is it why you're Pumped all the time?" Aurora asks.