"This all seems rather... odd," Gus Numan said with some degree of oddity as he sat at one of the tables at the Dino Dome, "and surprising."
The area, just like the Claw Coliseum in Animalia served not only as a spot for major events to be held, but also for basic workouts and even for some after school activities and so on. This included some areas that had some chairs and benches set up in the main entry room to the Dome that could allow for the Dino Dome to become a bit of a meeting place. Which served to help Gus Numan and his partner Robert Randyson in adapting to their specific changes and meeting with other Dinotopians who shared some situations that were like their own. This had them meeting with a black scaled Ankylosaurus Dinotopian named Walter and a Cenozoic Mammal Animalian named Dory. Gus had learned her species was Doedicurus Clavicaudatus and came from a group of mammals that were armored like Ankylosaurs were, though their closest living relative in the modern world was the Armadillo.
"In what way?" Walter asked as he looked between Gus, who'd become a Utahraptor Dinotopian, and Robert who'd become another Ankylosaurus Dinotopian, "assuming you both made your decisions together... you should have been aware that while Utahraptor and Ankylosaurus had comparable lengths that the armored Dinosaur would have more weight behind it because of the armored scutes that band around its body and back."
"Well... in a way we did," Gus said slowly as he looked down his muzzle and then over to the feathered arm that looked rather wing-like, as it reached over to Robert's more scaled arm that wasn't too different from Walter's in many ways, "I guess we really didn't expect just on how much the size and weight difference would be."
"But when the guy at Horizon here said we'd meet someone with a similar relationship to ours... we thought," Robert said slowly, "we thought it would be another homosexual couple that had become two different species of dinosaur... not a heterosexual couple pairing a Dinotopian with a Cenozoic Mammal Animalian."
Dory looked over to Walter and then shrugged, "I suppose that can be surprising when many Animalians often partner together between the same species... the whole edict against interspecies breeding, but Walter and I agreed that if we have kids, we'd adopt kids and raise them that way. Family doesn't have to be genetically related to be good. And emotionally, Walter and I just seemed to bond. Which is good. I need to stay on my birth control pills, but the bond we have is emotional... and the sex is wonderful..."
"Even if her fur tickles," Walter commented.
"You like it," Dory shot back while elbowing him.
"You still..." Robert blinked.
"Doedicurus is smaller than Ankylosaurus, but it's still a strong animal and in many ways," Dory answered with a chuckle, "and it's not like Walter or you grew to the exact size that Ankylosaurus was. So, we manage and get along with ease. And we can help as you two adjust to things..."
"If you could start from the beginning," Walter added.
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"You do know there are some clear differences between Ankylosaurus and Utahraptor?" Jeremy said to Gus as the two looked to the male Syntixisaurus Dinotopian.
"Yes," Gus nodded, remembering the male Dinotopian lead his partner off a few moments earlier to one of the conversion rooms in Dino City's Horizon Labs office. "But we went with our favorites and since we are both male, there shouldn't be any problem with the breeding edict, right?"
"No, there should be no problem," Jeremy answered, "I'm just making sure you're aware of these differences."
"I am," Gus answered with a nod and the two then made their way to one of the conversion room that his conversion was to be in.
Gus went right in and sat down right away to remove shoes and socks while Jeremy readied the syringe needed for Gus's conversion. Out of the corner of his eye, Gus noted the size of the container part of the syringe but remembered something that Horizon had found with this particular method that the volume injected could equal a "double dose" and thus wouldn't need two shots. After a few moments, he then felt Jeremy lift the sleeve of his shirt and then wipe his shoulder with an alcohol swab.
"You may feel a bit of a pinch," Jeremy said slowly.
"I've never been afraid of needles," Gus answered and held his sleeve up to allow Jeremy the easy ability to provide the injection. There was a bit of a pinch as the needle went in, but as Jeremy pushed the plunger down, Gus was confident that things would be fine.
"Welcome to Animalia," Jeremy said slowly, "and welcome to Dinotopia."
Jeremy left almost as soon as he finished with the injection and Gus sat back as he felt his body grow warm. The bed that was there was reasonably soft and comfortable, though he could feel through the springs that it was designed to potentially support beings that would been in a much higher weight class than many of the other Animalians that were based off of large animals. Though, that obviously made sense as things like dinosaurs and various Cenozoic mammals were at times bigger than their modern-day relatives or descendants. Though, Utahraptor wasn't really in the category that many would think of when they thought of large dinosaurs. It was among the largest Dromaeosaurs at around 23 feet long, but it was still going to be well smaller giant Theropods like Tyrannosaurus or Spinosaurus and it certainly wouldn't compete with the Sauropods. But Gus had always loved Utahraptor as being from his state and among the group of dinosaurs that was often held up as among the smartest.
As his human hair fell out, he looked down to his arms, which were the warmest of his entire body at present. There, he could already see the first changes that were occurring. His pinkie finger was shriveling away while his nails lengthened into claws. At the same time, long brown flight feathers were starting to push out from his skin, and he could see them clearly. It wasn't too long before they'd grown out to a point where the feathers gave his arm a sort of wing-like look, which was expected. Skeletal analysis on many Dromaeosaurs had found nobs in the bones that indicated anchor points for flight feathers, like modern birds had them. It was a surprise in many ways, but made some sense given the specific group of Theropods that Utahraptor came from that distantly included modern birds as descendants. He didn't see it, but other feathers were growing out all over his body as well. On the sides of his head from behind his eyes they were a creamish-tan color while the rest of his feathers were a more standard brown color.
Before his eyes, he watched as his face began to push forward into a reasonably narrow and scaled muzzle. The scales on that muzzle were also darkening from his normal peach colored skin to a brownish-black colored muzzle. As Gus ran his tongue over his teeth, he found that they were now lengthening and becoming far more pointed. He also thought that he was growing more teeth, but he really had never counted how many teeth he had as a Human and thus couldn't be sure if what was going on was him growing new teeth as he became a Dinotopian or that his flat Human teeth were altering and reshaping into the sharp and pointed teeth of a Theropod Dinotopian. He opened his mouth and heard his jaws click a bit, even with his lips still being there. He soon pulled them into a smile.
"Awesome," Gus thought to himself as he suddenly felt a lot more mobility and dexterity develop in his big toe, or at least what he thought was his big toe.
He lifted up one leg and soon saw the reason why. His arch had and was lengthening with some soft cracking sounds as new bone was fed into the arches of his feet. It was something that would allow for him to stand in a more digitigrade stance, like Jeremy did, though with the obvious differences that Dromaeosaurs were known for. His "big" toe had actually been pulled to the side of his foot and had shrunk down to a sort of dew claw on the inside of the foot. The next toe had gotten longer and larger and gained some independent muscle movement, and it was that made him think it was his big toe. To make things even more pointed was the toenail on that toe had also grown out into the long sickle shaped killing claw that Dromaeosaurs were known for. The next two toes had also grown larger and gained claws, but they weren't as big as the killing claw. His pinkie toe was also shrinking away.
Gus got to his feet and staggered a bit for a moment as he adjusted to the digitigrade stance his feet were now built for. At the same time his clothes were feeling a bit tight. Not too tight, but he felt stronger, and things seemed particularly tight around the back of his pants. Getting the sense that this was his tail coming in, Gus pulled on the back of his pants a little and got them down enough to let his tail grow out. Craning his head back, Gus watched as the brown feathered appendage pushed back from the base of his spine with the feathers at the end of the tail fanning out a bit. With this, Gus felt well enough the transformation and moved to collect his shoes and socks before approaching the door. He gave one knock and announced that he was done. He could hear Jeremy operate the lock and the door then opened. He then found that while Jeremy was still taller than him, the difference was not as great as it had been before his conversion.
"Is Rob done?" Gus asked, referring to Robert.
"He is and is putting on his clothes, though the door is open," Jeremy gestured to the door that had been just to the west of the one that Gus had come out of.
Gus went to that door and pulled it open to head in. He found his partner, Robert Randyson, buttoning a pair of pants in the back. It gave Gus a bit of a shock and surprise. Gus was about as tall as he was, though for Robert it was more for a longer torso than for Gus. Robert's feet were also fairly digitigrade, but the arch wasn't as long as Gus's. It then let Gus look to see many of Robert's other changes. He'd been built fairly well as a Human but was even better and bigger now with wide shoulders with thick black osteoderms running in lose bands around his neck and back, though they got a bit further apart the further they moved from his head. His tail ended in an Ankylosaurus' distinctive club and wasn't too much longer than Gus's feathered tail and also had the heavy osteoderms running in bands down the tail as well. His head seemed the most armored with backward facing spikes from the back upper corners of his head and behind his jaw.
To a degree, Gus expected some of this given that Robert had chosen to be an Ankylosaurus, but it was still a bit of a shock to see just how much bigger Robert had become. To a degree, their research had found that some paleontologists felt the 30+ foot maximum length for Ankylosaurus was a bit too long and the maximum length for the animal might be limited to around 26 feet long, which wasn't exactly tiny, but neither was super large either. It would be larger than Utahraptor, which was only and 23 feet long, but not by much. The real difference was in their weight. Utahraptor as a Dromaeosaur, even as one of the contenders for the largest Dromaeosaur, was going to be relatively light weight to give it the ability to move and keep after fast moving prey. Ankylosaurus as an armored dinosaur was going to carry a lot more weight, and Gus could even see that in the layers of muscle that he could see on Robert's body.
"Hey, Gus," Robert said as he turned to face his partner, "you're looking good... and fluffy."
Gus wasn't sure if the comment was more about concern about being crushed by Robert's muscular and armored weight or it was a response to being called "fluffy," but he did know his answer was prompt, "You're going to have to be on the bottom now."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Though... concerns on being crushed did remain and came as we started setting our apartment," Gus then finished.
"Has Robert rolled onto you in the night?" Dory asked curiously.
"So far... no," Gus answered, "and we have managed. For in a way we did expect there to be a bit of a size difference..."
"It was just surprising to see how much of a difference there was in some regards," Robert added, "Gus is bigger and stronger too... wider shoulders and while you can't see them... he has a six pack of abs under his feathers. Yet, despite comparable length and height... I've put on more muscle mass than Gus did and the osteoderms aren't exactly light, either."
"That they aren't," Walter nodded, "though many of the armored dinosaurs grew that heavy armor to protect against large Theropods that may try to take a bite out of them... and for Ankylosaurus, this included Tyrannosaurus Rex. But if you both knew this... they'll be something that you'll have to cope and work with each other on."
"We can help to a degree," Dory added, "but some of the things that work for us may not work as well for you. As my armored back helps shield me, in a way... and our biggest issue at times has been more to wake up and found that when we've rolled in the night, we've managed to knot the sheets around our tails like some kind of trap."
Gus gave a bit of a chuckle, "just talking about things might do for now. As in a way... Doctor Green at Horizon was right that your relationship is in a way similar to mine and Robert's... don't exactly as you're a straight couple and we're a gay couple, but similar in matching species some might not see as a couple."
Walter nodded and then smiled and looked over to Robert, "and that'll be good... and there could be a lot to talk about. Particularly with so many coming into Dino City, they could really get some matches for the Dino Fight Club in..."