Hazel was a bit apprehensive as she came up to Horizon when it came time for her conversion. Some of the sponsorship and push that Horizon wanted to help serve their new Animalian Colony down in Texas made some sense, as while Project Mesozoic would likely gain some popularity, most of what people would likely go to first were the larger and better known species. And now that the new colony was open, people might well be willing to join and move there as things would be built to suit those new sizes. Among Pterosaurs, though, the only one that most people knew the name of was "Pterodactyl" and even there, most often confused it with a different species, Pteranodon. Dimorphodon, though, didn't fit into either category. It wasn't large and it wasn't well known.
However, the sponsorship that Meg had offered had helped and Hazel did like the idea and even accepted Horizon's idea for the sponsorship. There was some interest in staying with her friends, as Pearl, Meg, and Lunette had all been friends, but there were various opportunities and things that came with many of them. Lunette was often "loony" enough that it was quite possible that shi and the other herm wolves might simply move off to another state just to move about and find things, and Hazel, herself, admitted there were some areas of curiosity that she had with regard to the new colony in Texas. That curiosity had been why she'd agreed to go with Project Mesozoic, even if it meant an inevitable move to Texas. That gave her enough confidence to head into Horizon with her signed paperwork.
And so she came in turned her paperwork in at the lobby as part of the appointment process. She was then directed to a set up waiting room and there she waited quietly in a chair. The room was fairly quiet for the moment and she contented herself to looking at a magazine and found that it was on all things, modelling. To her surprise, the cover depicted a rather typical model that Hazel had generally matched in terms of build over the years, slight and small in stature while standing beside a Mink Animalian who stood at the near opposite end. The Animalian was slightly taller, far more voluptuous with wider hips and a bigger bust. But both wore the same dress and in a way made it look good. Printed in big white letters was the word "new trends." She'd wanted to get a look at the article and her fingers had just reached the edge when a male voice spoke to her and made her jump.
"Um... it's Hazel? Isn't it?" the voice asked.
Hazel jumped in surprise and the magazine clattering to the floor and turned to find Jeremy just behind the doorway with one nurse/attendant to his right and a Pterosaur Animalian to his left. From some of the things Hazel had seen with Animalia's web page was from Animalia Ambassadoria. Here, Hazel felt a slight tinge of jealousy in that despite being at least seventeen years old, the Animalian had proportionately wide hips and a decent bosom. Hazel also noted that Pterosaur Dinotopian had her beak largely pointed downward.
"Yes..." Hazel said slowly finding her voice.
"It's okay," Jeremy spoke with a small nod as he backed up, "We're ready for you and you'll be fine here... This is Sophie. Once you have completed the transformation and get clothing that will fit you... she will help you with flying."
"I wouldn't be sent to a Bird Animalian?" Hazel wondered as she looked over to Sophie as she stood up, and noticed the pycnofibers on her neck and the back of her cloaked wings and then up to Jeremy.
"While the actual flying would be similar, because Pterosaurs are quadrupeds on the ground their method of take off is different from birds," Sophie answered, "My bond mate and I have to do a sort of push up with our wings to get into the air before moving into a more normal flight pattern..." She then raised one talon fingertipped hand to nudge the crest on the top of her beak, "though with my crest... I've also found that in order to see forward, I need to tilt my head downward while flying in order to see forward clearly... I'm not sure on what species..."
"Dimorphodon," Hazel answered, "You...?"
"Pterodactylus," Sophie answered, "I think Dimorphodon might be a bit different... it was one of the earlier Pterosaurs."
"From the early Jurassic, yes," Hazel nodded, "though... I'd gone with it a bit in the idea of having to deal with feathers or..."
"Pycnofibers," Sophie answered, "it's a hair-like structure that would have more in common with feathers than with hair. And it's something that many Pterosaur imprint fossils have left. And after more research into the Sordes species of Pterosaur, the first to have been found with them... there is the perception that they were present in a fair number of Pterosaurs, at least in part."
"Part of the whole fluffy Dinosaur thing?" Hazel wondered.
"That's part of the new theories," Jeremy chuckled, "and with Horizon's Project Mesozoic we can start to prove some of that given how few soft tissue fossils have survived. I'd think a lot of the theory now sits that Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs all at least have the potential for coverings other than scales, but there will be questions as to which specific species it will manifest in and to what degree."
"So... I'll be part of that?" Hazel asked as she followed and found Sophie walking along beside her.
"Yes, but a lot of that won't be until you get to Dino City," Jeremy answered, "and that will mostly be some photos, questions, and the like. From there you'd be pretty free to get started with what you want to do."
Hazel slowly nodded at his and as they actually began to approach one of the transformation rooms at Horizon a new question seized her, "I'm actually a bit curious as to why you're still here... didn't all the Dinotopians go to the new colony?"
"Well... most of the DNA samples for the Animalia Virus are scheduled to go down there... and I am to be Horizon's chief scientist there," Jeremy said slowly, "but my younger sister is in part of a synchronized swim team that's been organized for show with some of the others that are in her class and they will have a show here in Lyre/Animalia as part of the IAC. So... my wife and I are staying until after my sister performs. We'll then drive down with the last samples that will go to the Dino City Horizon offices."
"And my family and my bond mate's family still live here in Animalia and Lyre..." Sophie said slowly, "Roland and I might move down to Dino City after college... but we haven't planned that far ahead yet. And since it will be my Senior Year in High School coming up... there's still really all the planning for school and applications and loans and other stuff to worry over... but connections between Lyre/Animalia and Dino City are pretty good. You can't fly straight in by plane, but the drive from Dallas to Dino City isn't too bad."
Hazel slowly shrugged and let Jeremy and the nurse open the door. Sophie simply moved to wait out in the hallway. She entered the room and was rather quiet with regard to the rather Spartan nature of the room, but then from some of the things that Meg had said regarding stories on couples that joined Animalia together, a Spartan room was actually easier to clean than something with a lot of decoration. She simply moved in and sat down. She noted that while Jeremy was there, it was actually his human assistant that was actually preparing the shots.
"You're not doing the shots?" Hazel asked.
"The syringes that are designed for my fingers are all in the Dino City Horizon offices," Jeremy answered, "and technically with that colony open... I'm supposed to transfer there. So... for the moment I can supervise but not much else with regard administering the doses even if the labs here had the larger syringes that I could handle."
"You will want to remove your shirt... and potentially your bra," the nurse spoke, "they will likely restrain your wings when they grow in."
"Though it may take enough time that we will be able to head out before your wings actually grow in," Jeremy also added.
Hazel slowly nodded and undid her shirt. While she had done some low level modelling in the past and ended up in some low budget adult entertainment roles thanks to a lack of agents, there was a bit of unease, though some of it had been at seeing on how big Pearl and Lunette got after their conversions. She'd been on the small and thin side before, which had been fine for high end fashion and hadn't hurt her in making friends with Pearl, Lunette, Meg, and a few men as well. But most of those relationships with men that were personal never got beyond coffee or a beer or two. It left her feeling a bit jealous she supposed. But she managed and she barely noticed the shots being administered. It was only when Jeremy said "welcome to Animalia," and then departed the room with the nurse that she noted that anything had happened.
She watched as Jeremy and the nurse departed and things really didn't register until she heard the door click shut. It started with a bit of a tickle on her shoulders and that drew her attention down to them. And their she found laying over her shoulders and partially obscuring the pink straps of the bra she was wearing was her hair. It was falling out and landing on her shoulders, tickling her skin as it landed. She sighed and then remembered that unlike most Animalians that were based on more modern Animals, Dinotopians seemed to lose their Human hair as part of the conversion process. She regretted it, but sighed and lifted a hand up to brush off the fallen hairs. It was then that she noticed her hands. Her fingers didn't really change, but she'd noticed that the skin on her arms was darkening, turning to an almost solid black or blackish grey color while small but sharp looking claws began to grow from each fingertip.
"It's happening..." Hazel said slowly and then brushed he fallen hairs away, finding that this blackish scale like coloration ran all the way up her arms and up to her shoulders, which were actually starting to itch a bit.
The scales had a sort of small pebbly pattern to them, similar to those that covered Jeremy, though she guessed that Syntixisaurus Rex didn't have feathers. However once she got past the shoulders, she found that the hair like structures on Sophie, pycnofibers, were growing on her. Unlike the female Pterodactylus who was largely black, white, and grey in coloration, Hazel found her coloration a bit more earthy. Going down her chest they were largely of a whitish color with periodic black speckles to them. On her dorsal side, however the coloring was more of a dark brown with black speckles that either formed bands or patches of black.
"I did... dn't… want... to be... fuzzy," Hazel said slowly, worried about needs for care for them as she got to her feet and found some of her speech a bit more difficult.
As she got to her feet she also found her feet a bit constrained by her shoes at the same time. She began working to kick her shoes off while running her tongue along her teeth. Her shoes and socks came off easily, revealing clawed toes and actually lengthening feet. They weren't at quite the same proportionate length that Meg had, but they were definitely longer than the more plantigrade feet that Sophie had. However, Hazel's focus was mostly on her teeth for the moment. Her back teeth had shrunk down to small conical pegs, however she also found her front teeth had all grown in size and were growing pointed. And as she moved her tongue in her mouth she could feel a noticeable gap between those teeth that began to get even wider at the very front of her mouth dividing both the upper and lower jaws.
And then her bra really began to dig into her shoulders and back and on her breasts, actually as a small wave of pleasure hit her. It made Hazel look down again to see the small B cup bra that she wore starting to be pushed outward. Her breasts, covered in white with black speckled pycnofibers were actually growing larger, and in a way it felt good. Each surge of growth was enticing and Hazel could feel her nipples push forward into the padding of her bra, but now as they went from being just barely Bs to modest Cs, the bra was getting too small. She hastily reached behind herself and worked to undo the hooks, not easy as her growing chest and a tingling sensation on her back and under her bra as well, but she did manage. And as she got her bra off, she felt a relieved bounce on her chest that Hazel had never felt before. It was something that growing up had made her a bit jealous when other girls grew up and out and attracted boys, Hazel didn't. She'd barely ben an A cup when she was seventeen and even at twenty, her chest was at the largest a small B depending on the make and model of the bra. Now, however her chest was actually surging outward with to black scaled nipples poking through her pycnofibers as they swelled into the D range with each breath.
"It... feels... good... to... have... bre..ssts…" Hazel spoke slowly, feeling her lips seeming to harden, particularly around the front of her mouth and then wrapping around her teeth and then she gave an in involuntary flex of her back muscles and felt two things move there.
She made her way over toward a nearby mirror and was pleased to see her now bountiful bosom enter the mirror's frame first and then followed by the rest of her, which was growing more robust and muscular. She wasn't going to be in Meg's league anytime soon, but a part of her realized she'd likely be a bit bigger than Sophie. As while Pterodactylus was the more famous of the two, and considered the more "advanced" by scientists, Dimorphodon was actually a bit bigger. And as she moved into the mirror she could also see sprouting out from her back two elliptical wings. Like her arms and her legs they were largely covered in black scaled skin, but they grew out and grew strong and it wasn't too long before Hazel could actually flap them behind her and even wiggled the three little fingers at the apex of the wings.
"Al... most..." Hazel managed to speak as her face began to push forward into the hard beak that Dimorphodon was known for. It wasn't perfectly like a Puffin's beak, as it was longer and not the sort of perfect half circle that the Puffin had, but neither was it the long, narrow, and flat beak that Sophie had. The bones in her jaw cracked a little as her new beak grew out. Some of it might have also been the clicking as her new teeth clicked against the bone of her jaws. As she watched her new beak grow in, Hazel also found that behind her mouth and head was also covered in pycnofibers, all largely dark brown with black speckles in them. The one exception was a ring around her eyes. There the color was actually a dark purple. "Done..."
And then came the final part of her transformation. The sport shorts she wore had enough stretch in them to let her hips grow wider and her posterior to grow out to essentially balance her new bust, and they still had enough stretch in them that she could pull them down a bit and let her tail grow out. It grew out long, covered in black scales like her arms and legs and was tipped with a diamond vane of soft tissue and cartilage at the end. As it grew out, Hazel smiled and managed to twitch it slightly and actually found herself pleased. She didn't expect to be as fuzzy as she was, but she could feel the strength in her wings and looked forward to her flying lessons.