Regina ultimately made her way to the Claw Coliseum, mostly to test out her ability to swim in her new form, after her lunch with Jeremy and run in with Heather. Much of this was part of what would go into her acclimation classes and so on, but at the same time she was a bit nervous as she really wasn't that much of a fighter and a part of her instincts had actually felt rather threatened by Heather, particularly in the fact that Heather had come off as territorially possessive of Jeremy. She never figured that she would actually become as aggressive in return, but yet it had happened. Thankfully things did cool down a bit after that.
She made her way to the pool, which smelled like fresh water rather than chlorinated water, which she supposed made some sense. Animalia had some fish Animalians and it would be likely that if the water was chlorinated that those Fish Animalians would be poisoned when the chlorine in the water went through their gills. She was simply pleased to get the opportunity to be able to swim again, which was something she'd missed after the accident that had hurt her spine and largely kept her confined to a wheelchair. She was about ready to dive in, when one of the doors opened behind her.
At first she ignored it, as she'd seen plenty on the news that indicated that many of Animalia's facilities for exercise had gotten a fair amount of business from even Lyre's Human population and that a fair number of Humans from outside the Lyre/Animalia area also come, often with the hope of winning over a single Animalian as a lover. Though from the things that ended up going on Animalia Ambassadoria's occasional "joke" episodes, it seemed that these attempts were more by those who saw what Animalians looked like with regard females and their buts and hip measurements or males with their muscle mass and had heard on the reporting that Animalians had a higher libido than Humans did and figured they wouldn't have to do much and the Animalian they wanted would be too horny to say "no." However, when a voice spoke to her, she soon realized that whoever was speaking was not another visitor to the Coliseum.
"Ah, Miss Ryan, you're ready," a male voice said to her and using her surname, "very good. How are you feeling?"
"Pretty good, glad to be able to walk again," Regina spoke as she turned to see Rex standing there with a clipboard and a note pad.
She blinked in some surprise as he slowly approached her. She could tell that he was bigger than Heather and Jeremy but was still smaller than her. His legs might be a bit longer than hers, but her torso was long enough offset that difference and her neck was actually a bit longer than his. She also figured the sail on her back, made by the long neural spines that extended from her vertebrae would also add more weight to her frame. He also lacked the large horns over the eyes that Heather and Jeremy had. The biggest thing though was the obvious presence of feathers that were seen on the back of his head, neck, and at the base of his tail.
"Rex Ramos," Rex introduced himself and offered his hand in a handshake, which Regina noted only had three fingers if you counted the thumb as a finger, "I'll be helping with some of your acclimation classes and so on... Some of it being as that since you are a Dinotopian, a lot of that data will be helpful in studying the actual extinct animals themselves."
Regina shook his hand and managed, "You have feathers."
Rex gave a small chuckle, as that was a statement he frequently got. Many people, even those who hadn't seen the Jurassic Park movies, had often had that statement, as many reconstructions of dinosaurs often depicted them as scaly creatures, especially the early scientists who thought them to be large lizards. The find of Archaeopteryx was considered something unique and not something that carried over into other dinosaurs. It was only in more recent finds where skin impressions were being found that showed more signs of feathers in dinosaurs that those opinions began to change.
"Yes," Rex nodded, "many paleontologists are beginning to theorize that a great many dinosaurs actually DID have feathers and that ALL dinosaurs at least had the genetic potential to at least have feathers on part of their bodies... Though we can't fully know for sure until we get more soft tissue fossils..."
"But I don't have feathers," Regina said slowly.
"Potential doesn't necessarily guarantee that you would have feathers," Rex explained, "and most of the soft tissue fossils that have made clear indications of feathers have been with Coelurosaurs, the smaller lineages that would interestingly enough lead to Tyrannosaurus Rex and to birds... though on different evolutionary tracts. With other Theropods, there just aren't enough soft tissue fossils to know for sure and most of the theories with them is that if they did have feathers, it would have only been over parts of their bodies if at all. And for Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus, that theory over whether or not it had feathers would go back and forth... As it is considered to be more aquatic than other Theropods and it is more closely related Megalosaurus, the first large Theropod found... and considered to be among the first large Theropods to evolve..."
"But not closely related to those that lead to birds," Regina said slowly.
"Not as closely as the Coelurosaurs, yes," Rex nodded, "but that doesn't necessarily make Spinosaurus any less interesting. And while a lot of my studies have focused more on Tyrannosaurs, I have had some contact with some of the paleontologists that do more of their research with Spinosaurs and their relatives. So... while we go through some of the things that will relate to helping you adapt to being an Animalian, and specifically a Dinotopian, I will be taking some notes that will relate to their research. Don't worry, nothing personal will be revealed."
"Okay," Regina said slowly with a nod, "Just out of curiosity... before we get started, I mean... who would win? T-Rex or Spinosaurus?"
Rex gave a heavy sigh, as the "who would win" question was something that was rather childish in his opinion. The only Animal known to go out of its way to kill others for things beyond mates or food was Humanity. If Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus had lived at the same time and in the same area, he was of the opinion that direct conflict would be rare, if at all, much as Spinosaurus didn't have constant battles with Carcharodontosaurus, despite living in the same general area. But that was a question he often got frequently, and one he blamed on Hollywood and the documentary series Jurassic Fight Club, as they traded in "excitement" that only came with fights and documented only the known prehistoric battles that were only a small part of prehistoric life and wouldn't even be similar to how modern animals lived.
"That would entirely depend on the situation," Rex said slowly with narrowed eyes, "On land, with its superior bite force, binocular vision, and more bulky body, Tyrannosaurus would have a clear advantage. Spinosaurus, while it is larger, is not an armored dinosaur in the way Ankylosaurus is... and since mundane Theropods couldn't pronate their hands, Spinosaurus's longer arms and claws wouldn't help it all that much... Particularly after the fact that more modern theories primarily have Spinosaurus as a quadruped rather than a biped. In water, Spinosaurus would have the advantage, as its narrower body and head would make it more streamlined and while Tyrannosaurus probably could swim, it probably couldn't swim with enough ease to do battle in water. It would more likely sink into the soft sand and mud, which your webbed feet would be more capable of handling."
Regina looked down, and while she had to balance on one foot to stick the other out and avoid looking at the tops of her greatly enlarged chest. She slowly wiggled her toes and noticed the webbing between them. She hadn't thought on that with regard to weight distribution, but she supposed it made sense.
"Also... I... uh... I noticed you're bigger than Jeremy and Heather," Regina commented, "aren't...?"
"They and Tyra are Syntixisaurus Rex," Rex answered, "and while Tyrannosaurus may even be the bulk of their DNA code, which I've been looking into, they also have DNA from Carnotaurus, which is far smaller than Tyrannosaurus Rex, and at present an unknown Sauropod. And until the DNA strand for Syntixisaurus is fully mapped... we can't be sure specifically as to who's DNA is dominant for which trait... A fully grown female Tyrannosaurus Dinotopian would be even bigger than me... as what fossils we've found have indicated that the females are larger than the males."
Regina blinked and wondered if that would include Spinosaurus.
"But that's not why we're here," Rex spoke, "If we're to start with your acclimation with swimming... let's start with that."
Regina nodded and hopped into the pool. She found that she did have muscles that could close her nostrils and that even if she went completely under water, she wouldn't be at risk of drowning. That was good, and she did feel relaxed in the water, something she really hadn't felt in awhile, and with the pool pretty open at the moment, she felt free to experiment a bit. Though she also found out a few things as she tried out. First was that her tail was too rigid to use it like a crocodile could. It could sway, but it wasn't super flexible the way a crocodile's tail was. By instinct she found herself at her most comfortable at the surface and with her legs under her, in which she sort of paddled forward like a giant duck with teeth. Though she also found that with her humanoid body she could also perform some strokes that she remembered doing before the accident, though any that required a lot of twisting or tight bending were extremely limited due to her sail. It wasn't something that could easily bend or fold but remained erect behind her.
"You're doing good," Rex said to her as she returned to the edge near where he was standing.
"Maybe... though diving is a bit harder and I think I'm going to have to be pretty conscious of this sail," Regina answered.
"Being aware of your size is going to be something that is going to apply just about anywhere," Rex answered, "all Dinotopians are BIGGER than most other Animalians and that size difference will also include certain strength differences that you'll need to be aware of and keep in mind."
"The sail will be something even more so than simply being bigger," Regina commented, "it can't fold and actually slows me down if I try to roll in the water. So, I'd imagine out of water and in a crowd... it could... bump into things."
Rex nodded, "So long as you're aware of it, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but you will need to pay attention."
"The difficulty in diving was also surprising," Regina reported.
"That's likely your bones now being hollow and essentially having air sacks in them," Rex answered, "it's something that saves weight and helps dinosaurs breathe and keep some measure of endurance. For the large Sauropods, it's something that is figured to be an adaptation to help them grow to greater sizes and for Theropods... it could help with that as well, but would also become a key part in the evolution of birds that would help them fly. Spinosaurus had more solid bones than other Theropods, but they weren't as solid as a mammal would have."
"Interesting," Regina answered.
And the rest of her exercises went fairly well. For the moment a lot of it related to knowing how to restrain her strength rather than finding out where her new limits were. She guessed that made sense, in that she didn't want to hurt anyone, but with her new size, which easily passed even some of the larger mammal Animalians, could be possible if she went "all out." She was still curious on where her new limits in fact were, but knowing where and how much to restrain herself was important, as she didn't want to shake someone's hand and accidently crush it. Rex also fully added in details on Animalia's edicts, which Regina was already vaguely aware of, but the refresher didn't hurt. The big thing was when the subject of the Mesozoic Fight Club came up...
"You don't like it?" Regina wondered, noticing Rex's eyes widening and then narrowing when she mentioned the brief interaction with Heather and then with the representative from the SyFy channel, "I would have thought that... well... T-Rex is supposed to be one of the biggest and most powerful dinosaurs out there."
"It was a great and powerful predator, yes," Rex answered, "fighting isn't what any prehistoric or even modern animals do ALL the time. It's one of the things that I found scientifically wrong with the documentary series Jurassic Fight Club. Life isn't all about fighting. There is also breeding, raising young, any and all social hierarchies, which would often be designed to lessen intraspecies fights. And while battles between different predators can occur, the series made it seem as though the only thing they would do is fight and didn't really explain anything... other than the forensics of the battle that was supposedly found. In that while the battle may have been real... the battle was the ONLY element of prehistoric life."
"Okay," Regina said slowly, "but from what little I've seen on the Mesozoic Fight Club is that it is more for those who do want to compete in that sort of thing... like MMA or Olympic Wrestling... or even boxing."
"And I can respect those who feel they need to engage in that," Rex answered, "but that's never been what I've been interested in. In many respects, I'd rather dig and discover things about the prehistoric past rather than engage in some sort of battle who's only real purpose is machismo. Especially when I have a lovely woman already... there is NOTHING that I really need to prove to anyone. If you want to get into it... that's perfectly fine. But it's NOT for me."
Regina nodded and accepted that answer. A good part of her was intrigued by it, as it would be new and exciting. But since it would probably take time before they would have enough competitors to actually have matches and that she would have more acclimation classes to go through, she figured she'd have time to wait. That would give her time to congratulate Jeremy and Heather on their wedding, even if a part of her was a bit jealous.