Lorenzo had felt he'd always lived a rather charmed life and had had plenty of adventures, and a lot of what he put into life was more on the adventure and the challenge of going through it. That was in turn what lead him into a career in the military, as it would present an opportunity to see the world and experience new things, and not having to pay for the adventure out of pocket was an added perk. And to a degree he missed some of the major conflicts that America had fought. He'd been too young to go to Vietnam and by the time War on Terror started he was too old for active combat duty, so he was largely left with peace time adventures over a lengthy career that allowed him veteran status when he retired.
The one thing that was missing there was a real challenge. It would be hard to get the challenge of combat during peacetime, though some of that was acceptable. His parents had complained, both in English and Italian, about what his father went through in Vietnam and that the "challenge" in war was not worth it when failure meant death and/or dismemberment. But Lorenzo had entered and largely served during a time of peace and never had to face the sort of dangers his father faced. Which then made the "challenge" that he was looking for different. That was ultimately what drew him into the Navy SEALs, as the training for the missions they were often assigned was rigorous and challenging. Lorenzo liked that and even thrived on it through his career, and over time the challenge changed. When he started the challenge was about being able to do the tasks required, and then for a time it was staying sharp and in shape. Toward the end of his career, it was about teaching his skills to new recruits, and he figured a few of the young guys he trained had probably had to do their duty as part of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lorenzo took that as succeeding with those challenges.
Over time though, retirement seemed to eat at him. He enjoyed some hobbies and work for his community, but it didn't provide much of a challenge or opportunity for adventure. Some had talked about things like Blackwater, but from the research he'd done, he'd found them to be more to be a privatized version of the military and felt their supposed "training" was less than what he'd gotten from the SEALs. Thus, Lorenzo chose to stay out of that. When Animalia came about, that then began to get some ideas going. He wasn't a "furry" in anyway and felt those that went to those conventions were weird, but as Animalia expanded and shared things about itself, there was something of a new idea for an adventure that was there. After all, Animalians could do many of the same things Humans could, but also had some abilities that aligned with the kind of animal they were converted to. It presented all sorts of new opportunities for adventure, particularly as some people started exploring and studying new places more heavily.
"So, where'd you pick up the nickname... banjo?" Lorenzo asked to the Orangutan Animalian that was escorting him for his conversion.
"Banjo is actually my name," Banjo answered, "I was actually an Orangutan in the Lyre Zoo when the initial outbreaks."
"And you just picked up genetic science?" Lorenzo asked.
"Not exactly," Banjo answered, "a lot of my work here relates more to providing for the conversion shots and helping organize things for the scientists that do the genetic work. It doesn't require as much in terms of understand genetics and can play to what the zookeepers said was a rather caring nature that I'd had before I was uplifted. Though I have learned a lot working here and have been taking online classes over time to catch up."
"Sounds like quite an academic adventure," Lorenzo answered.
"It has been," Banjo agreed and then opened the door and ushered Lorenzo in.
Lorenzo moved to sit on the bed while Banjo began preparing to deliver the injections. He took his shoes and socks and then took off his shirt. He'd worn clothes that were actually a bit large on him normally, but based on some reports on other Seal Animalians, they were either about the same size as they were as Humans or only slightly larger. In this, while the Leopard Seal was actually larger than a Human, Lorenzo probably wouldn't grow quite that big, or at least he didn't think he would. Though some of that was due to the fact that many of the people that had become Animalians based on larger animals hadn't become the exact size of those animals. It was a bit of a gamble, but Lorenzo figured it was worth it, and if he did grow too big for his pants, once he was transforming, he figured he could get out of his pants well enough.
Banjo then carefully rubbed the alcohol swab over Lorenzo's exposed shoulders and then delivered the two shots with the customary, "welcome to Animalia."
With that, Banjo left with the equipment and supplies he had with him. Lorenzo didn't watch him leave as he was focused more on the start of his own transformation. He was feeling warmer, though, unlike a lot of other seals, Leopard Seals were naturally rather muscular seals and thus didn't have truly massive layers of fat for insulation. There would be some, but not as much as say... an Elephant Seal. This then left Lorenzo watching as he felt surges in his muscle mass first. They didn't quite swell to body-builder proportions, but Lorenzo watched as his muscles pulse larger with almost every breath.
"Strange," Lorenzo commented softly, as his teeth began changing shape to become sharper and more pointed.
Then, though painlessly, his nose and mouth pushed forward. His teeth grew to fit his new muzzle and with his nostrils being two slits on the upper front of that muzzle. At that moment as well, torso stretched longer and increased his height by a bit, though his legs stayed at the same length. He also felt skin start to grow up to form a sort of webbing between his fingers and toes while his ears shrank down and soon vanished underneath his hair. That made him lift his hands up to rub at where his ears had been on his head and he soon found that there was as membrane where his ears had been, but he no longer had an external ear, just as all true seals lacked an external ear. He also noted that his fingers were now webbed and only his thumb was really free of it.
It was only at this time that he saw the fur come in. Looking down his muzzle, the top was largely a dark grey, almost a charcoal black. On the upper sides of his arms, it was a grayish silver, and Lorenzo could see the start of the spots that helped give the Leopard Seal its name. On the inside of his arms and down his chest it was a creamy white, and again with black spots in places. In fact, he looked down to see his belly button was now covered by a single black spot. He then got up and felt his hair bounce with some of his bangs dropping over his eyes for a moment and noted that his hair was once again the raven black of his youth. That made him smile a bit as he made his way over to the mirror and noted that his longer and rather flipper like feet were a bit more difficult to move on land, but he managed there. And while the pinniped's face wasn't what he expected when he got to the mirror, he felt he did look good.
"I look awfully buff," Lorenzo commented as he looked at his reflection and flexed his pectoral muscles. His abs weren't as pronounced, but he guessed that was where some of his fat went, but it was still in a sort of layer that kept straight and trip, which would likely make for quick swimming. That was rather impressive, and he liked it. The thing that became the most surprising was in looking further down to see the bulge in his pants. They were a bit tighter now as he grew bigger in his transformation, but given that with seals, like pretty much all marine mammals, all sexual organs would be internal, regardless of gender, the bulge in his pants was bigger than it was before his transformation. "Wow."
It still left Lorenzo smiling as he contemplated what he would do now with his youth back and the option for a new adventure and a new challenge... maybe, he'd find a nice woman who liked seals.