The September weather was still warm, but comfortable, and had been part of why Tyson had ultimately decided to swim to Heiya Island when it was delayed while refueling in Tokyo. Some of it seemed odd to him, as from all the flight paths and routes that had connected Heiya Island with the rest of the world didn't have to go through there, and particularly the Animalia Air flights that looked to directly link the colony cities as much as possible. In some cases, they made do with using a nearby town or city's airport, as was done at Vilcabamba and Dinotopia Aquatica, but others had been able to build an airfield there, which had been done at Heiya Island. The only thing he could guess at was that the pilot was new or got bad navigational information and missed Heiya Island on the flight coming from the US and went to Tokyo as a result, and thankfully had the fuel to make it.
But that was in the past and he was now able to talk more with the young woman, Kumiyo Tahara who had seemed interested in becoming a Mosasaur Dinotopian, and matching his specific species, Tylosaurus Proriger. On certain levels, it was something that made him a bit anxious, as while he had met plenty of people that were in awe of his strength and size as a Dinotopian, but many of the "advances" ultimately proved to be more interested in just getting him in bed, which he was too large to do safely with a Human or had come out of the person being drunk. Neither were necessarily something he really wanted. Things like sex could be fun, but it shouldn't be the only thing a pairing has, and with many of them not necessarily wanting to become a Tylosaurus Dinotopian, those advances had been rebuffed or ignored. Kumiyo at least had a good reason for becoming a Tylosaurus Dinotopian.
She wasn't in Jen's "bra" when it came to her chest, but she was easily well larger than what would be expected from a Japanese woman and had a small enough strain that her oversized chest had to hamper her mobility to some degree and give her back pain besides. Becoming something large would help offset that, and had been partially why her cousin, Kumiko, had become an Orca Animalian. The specific choice on becoming a Tylosaurus was then to be similar enough to her cousin without losing some semblance to her cousin and Tyson could respect that. Though, Tylosaurus was very different from the Orca and that was something that they were to cover before moving forward with Kumiyo's conversion, which brought them to the small library on the island.
It wasn't a bad library, from the looks of things, and like many facilities built in Animalia and its colonies, it was adapted for Animalians, though some things looked like they were more from more modern Animalians. One of the things that also fit with Skull Island. The island's internal apartments had originally been carved out for Human use, and while engineers confirmed they would hold the weight of the larger aquatic Dinotopians, they couldn't change the height of many of the spaces all that much, which had contributed to some of the feelings of being cramped there, and the same went for Nessa and her long neck. Kumiyo calm approached one table and adjusted the chair's height so that she could get into it, and then raised it up to be at the height of the table. Tyson merely kneeled beside her at the table.
"So," Tyson began, "your choice for Tylosaurus was to pick something that would be like an Orca but yet not an Orca."
"Yes, so that there would be some difference between me and my cousin," Kumiyo nodded.
"And while they occupy similar niches in their environments, the Orca in the modern ocean and just about all Mosasaurs in the Cretaceous Period, there are some major differences, namely in size," Tyson spoke, "Tylosaurus Proriger, which is the species my form is based on, was a massive animal with a maximum size at around 50 feet long, based on fossil finds, while the Orca is going to max out at around 30 feet for a male, and even that may be exceptionally large for a mundane Orca."
"Andrew and Jen commented that the weight issue wouldn't be a problem, though," Kumiyo commented.
"For Dinotopians that are based on actual Dinosaurs that is true," Tyson nodded and remembered seeing some of the papers that he'd gone through that helped him learn about the differences between the various marine reptiles of the Mesozoic Era and the dinosaurs on land, "standing on land, they would be feeling more of the effects of gravity and thus having hollow bones was a means to reduce weight and thus reduce the strain of that weight. And if you talk to Doctor Rex Ramos in Dino City, he might add in how that became a benefit for birds as they evolved out of the Theropod branch of the dinosaur family tree. But marine reptiles, Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Pliosaurs, and Mosasaurs didn't actually have to deal with that issue. For like with modern whales, the water provided them with some measure of buoyancy to support their weight, and their lungs would provide them with means to dive and surface. It's really their prey and the abundance of it that determined their sizes. In this, my bones are about as solid as they were when I was Human and as your cousin's are now as an Orca Animalian."
"So... you're not all holo-boned?" Kumiyo asked, "I know that Mosasaurs and Dinosaurs aren't related, but I would have thought there would be some similarities..."
"There can be some," Tyson admitted, "but many of them are very general. More specific similarities would only come between groups that are closely related. For dinosaurs, that's going to relate to the Pterosaurs that split off from the group that lead to the Dinosaurs in the Triassic and the only group of Dinosaurs that survived the KT extinction event, the Birds. Mosasaurs are not in that group. In fact, Mosasaurs aren't even closely related to other marine reptiles. Most, like the Plesiosaurs and Pliosaurs are in the "super order" Sauropterygia, and Ichthyosaurs are in their own "super order" Ichthyosauria. Mosasaurs are, however, are Squamates, and are more closely related to the modern Komodo Dragon than other marine reptiles of its time."
"So, an ACTUAL lizard," Kumiyo mused slowly, "they had to have had a similar evolutionary path to whales then. Going from land-based animal to sea-based animal."
Tyson nodded as he looked to her, "and you would likely grow to a larger size than your cousin in height and weight. I'm not as large as the actual Tylosaurus... but I'm still big, and bigger than your cousin and her mate..."
"Kumiko and Ningen," Kumiyo answered noting Tyson struggling with remembering the names of the two, "Ningen was named after a folkloric cryptid... and the two have kind of rapidly bonded to each other. I don't think it was expected that they would be bond-mates, but Ningen is surprisingly gentle and essentially lets her lead, despite that he is bigger than her."
"A lot of that relates to how quickly Animalians seem to form bonds that have seemed quite solid," Tyson commented, "it doesn't always happen, and there are a few that have converted and had a one-night stand or fling... but nothing more. But when looking for a long-term mate, it's been reported on that these bonds have tended to be quick. Animalia Ambassadoria has posted some of the theories... such as uplifted pets or livestock bonded to their owners before they were uplifted, which meant the knowledge and love was there, in a way, for years prior to uplifting. There is also some element of instinct guiding things as well in terms of seeing similar personalities and so on. Though I don't think they've had any concrete way to prove it."
There was then a small pause before Tyson continued, "and with most of the Orca Animalians living in California or Animalia itself... it wasn't as though there was a pod of Orca Animalians already on Heiya Island for Ningen to have as options, so as he learned more on how Humans... and thus how Animalians have taken relationships, with your cousin becoming an Orca herself, she became the one that he would look to, and that sort of bond formed from there."
"They do more than bond at night," Kumiyo commented, grateful that she and her cousin had separate hotel rooms. Though she also had to admit to being a bit jealous and actually found Tyson to be fairly attractive in his own right. It was something that fed all the base parts of sexuality that Kumiyo had, and just as everyone did. Being a Dinotopian might just give her the frame to actually enjoy it. But, while her and Kumiko's families weren't conservative or traditionally minded, their marriages were happy and Kumiyo didn't want to rebel against that, and as such she wasn't going to push too hard. She'd made the offer that she could be Tyson's mate if he were to convert her, and maybe if things went well, something real would follow.
"I'm sure," Tyson said slowly, "All Animalians have a high libido. The bigger thing will relate to the new size. If your family would still want you and your cousin to help with their fishing business... as a Dinotopian, and a large one at that, you will need a great many things enlarged to accommodate the overall size you will grow to."
"I'm sure," Kumiyo admitted, "and to a degree, we have accepted that... and is in part why Kumiko and I intend to stay here until that can be done. And that option could be extended to you, if you want it."
"That will have to depend on how the conversion goes," Tyson goes, "and what you're expecting."
"Right now, I'm expecting to become a Dinotopian, to save my back," Kumiyo answered, "as for things between you and me... that would be up to how we get along. You've seemed fairly nice so far and I like that, but I wouldn't want to put pressure on you, either."
Tyson nodded.
"I'd also be a bit curious on the senses I'd gain," Kumiyo commented, "I mean... you have the long muzzle that would be like a crocodile's, so, it's probable that you can't echolocate the way my cousin can now."
"No, I can't," Tyson nodded, "that's something that would relate to the inner ear of whales, dolphins and their relatives... and even there, I'm not sure all whales can do that. But it's not something that has appeared in reptiles, so I can't do that. I have good eyesight, but a lot of what helps me is more in relation to a sense of smell... and it is complicated. My tongue isn't as forked as snakes or Komodo Dragon's tongues are, but it is there to a degree and that in turn can help me smell underwater without inhaling a bunch of water and drowning. Though... that's also interrupted when eating and using the second set of jaws to pull anything deeper into my throat."
"Second set of jaws?" Kumiyo wondered.
Tyson opened his mouth wide and let Kumiyo look in. She then blinked with a bit of surprise at seeing a second set of jaws on the roof to Tyson's mouth right before his throat. The teeth there were smaller than the rest of them on the outer part of the jaw, but they were conical and, in a position, where anything that got that deep into his throat could only go in one direction, down. That would certainly help with eating fish.
"Would that work with things bigger than fish though?" Kumiyo wondered, "some of the online sources I've seen would indicate that Tylosaurus ate things that were rather big themselves."
"With larger prey... that was probably dismembered," Tyson answered, "which has helped me with some of my work deterring sharks... but for the most part, I'm more content with fish. Though... being able to get food from stores, I'm good with beef, pork, and chicken as well. In this, for me, that second set of jaws is just an anatomical feature."
"Interesting," Kumiyo said slowly.