To a degree, the Australian Colony site near Uluru wasn't exactly the best colony site for a Saltwater Crocodile Animalian, and something that Tik-Tok rapidly found out. They had some running water and other running sources, but they were also still lower than what the world's largest living reptile preferred. It was something that would make Northland a more ecologically habitable place for him, and at times, Tik-Tok was more than willing to consider it, but at the same time, just because an area was more suitable for certain animals didn't always mean that Animalians based on those animals would move there. He'd seen enough on Animalia to know that Lyre/Animalia, Nevada was in a region that was either alpine forest in places and rapidly transitioning into rocky desert the farther east one went. A great many of the Animalians that lived there weren't based on animals that would thrive in those areas without something like Human society and infrastructure.
And in that, Tik-Tok had enjoyed his time in the area, mostly because he had friends there and it made for a good place to relax from travel and other assorted parts of what he did for a living. Unlike the others, who did most of their gaming online or with video games, Tik-Tok played a fair number of other games as well, things like poker and so on. He didn't dominate these games, but he'd often done well enough to get into some small scale tournaments here and there. It was enough to be comfortable and even got him into a handful of the bigger tournaments, though he'd ended up getting about halfway through those before either his luck ran out or he found himself facing someone who he knew had more skill than him, even with the timing on when to bluff and when to play certain cards.
Occasionally, he did get into some video and computer games, mostly strategy and shooter games, which often set up his nickname. Games like World of Tanks, War Thunder, and a few other strategy games often played to aspects of war or simulating battles/wars in and of themselves and thus requiring timing in order to maximize what they could do. Too late, and a shot wouldn't win the game in time. Too early, and while the shot could destroy the target it would also betray the shooter's location and leave him/her vulnerable and managing to find the right moment was something that Tik-Tok, as Thomas, always figured out and thus did his best to master that "artform" with regard to timing, and some of the guys he played poker with sometimes watched him play these other games and then generated the nickname Tik-Tok and lead to his conversion... though as the thought on what lead to his conversion, that was still embarrassing.
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"A crocodile?" Thomas, aka Tik-Tok, asked to his mates as they sat around the local bar, with a rugby match on the television in the background, though Tik-Tok didn't know if it was a reply of a historic match.
"Not just any crocodile, a big Saltie," one of his friends commented, his voice sounded a bit influenced by the beers they'd drunk.
Thomas felt a bit of the buzz, but he was fairly clear. To a degree, he wasn't against becoming an Animalian, and with the new colony being built up at Uluru it wasn't as expensive to convert. Not to mention that some of the things that Tik-Tok had often played in term of things like poker wouldn't be something where being an Animalian wouldn't provide an unfair advantage in competition. Things like poker were entirely games of chance, and chance didn't care about one's species.
"Besides, you like crocs, don't ya, mate?" another friend asked.
"I don't mind seein' them on documentaries or at the zoo, if that's what you mean," Tik-Tok answered.
"So, why not?" the first asked, "tell ya what, you become a Saltie and eat a clock, I'll even pay for your conversion."
"We all will," the third spoke up.
That raised a cheer from them, and they clanged their cans or glasses together.
"Why eat a clock?" Tik-Tok asked while raising an eyebrow and then taking a slip of his own beer.
"To be on time," the first friend spoke.
"To let the world know that you ate Hook," the second friend laughed earning some chuckles.
"Given that Hook has often been depicted as a caricature of a Carribean pirate, shouldn't that Crocodile be an American Crocodile, or one of its relatives in the Cuba or the other islands?" Tik-Tok asked, "not a Saltie?"
"Them little whippers?" the third friend countered, "they're nothin' next to a Saltie. Go for it, we'll pay if you do!"
"Fine," Tik-Tok sighed and shook his head.
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Of course, Tik-Tok didn't explain that when he went in for his conversion, and he wasn't truly opposed to being a Crocodile Animalian. He'd seen enough that the Crocodilian Animalians that were out there were doing fairly well. There were a couple of American Alligator Animalians living in Louisiana that were married and living fairly well, with reports on involvement in environmental protection projects. There were the two Black Caiman Animalians that were running the main colony in South America, and then there were the Nile Crocodile Animalians at the two African colonies, though what all they did, Tik-Tok didn't know. And then of course there were the Animalians that had been uplifted in the initial outbreak in Lyre, and Tik-Tok hadn't seen any reports on them having hard times.
That had all been enough for him to go through with the conversion and his friends were more than happy to tag along. Though they were a bit disappointed to not be able to watch Tik-Tok transform. Though, as he thought back on it, Tik-Tok was glad for the privacy. As while the growing of the long tail and the heavy and more triangular head might have locked painful as they grew in, and with his skin toughening into scales, Tik-Tok had actually found it surprisingly comfortable and almost pleasureful. That wasn't something that he would have wanted an audience for. And they were ultimately pleased with seeing him.
The last bit was swallowing the clock, though that was ultimately more with an old style pocket watch, and which his friends ended up grumbling over having to pay for as part of the bet. Tik-Tok had gone with that as the specific choice, ultimately because of its smaller size. Crocodilians might have very strong stomach acid, but that didn't mean that their internal organs were impervious to being cut or hurt. And while he was bigger as a Saltwater Crocodile Animalian, Tik-Tok didn't want to take the chance of eating a full on desk clock and end up having to crush it before swallowing and then have a bit of jagged metal or glass slice open his innards. The pocket watch was small enough that he could swallow it whole.