#ben and darius shared trauma

[pokemon1oadvanced]

This show and its parallels

[aristaspark]

Although I have an idea, what is the order of your favorite characters between JWCC and JWCT??

Good question !

Jwcc:

1- Brooklynn. I don't know, I just love how savage she is. I love that she knows what she wants and that she always stands her ground (I was sooo team Brooklynn during the phone gate). And I relate so much to her struggles when it comes to her feeling like an outsider in social settings. I like the fact that she's kind of the "popular girl" archetype but introverted and genuinely socially akward at the same time, and not in a quirky way. I feel like a character like Brooklynn has rarely been done, if ever.

2- Kenji. I've always had a soft spot for the annoying boy no one can stand and Kenji fits the description to a t. I love him even more because they actually explained what had led him to be that way (he's not just annoying for the sake of it, it's merely the result of his father abandonment) and it just makes sense.

3- Yasmina: I really like her, and as much as I like Brooklynn, I think Yaz is the one who resembles me the most 😂 I found myself relating to her so many times. She's the least annoying and the most mature tbh.

4 - Darius: I really like him, and I like the storyline with his dad, it explains his fascination for everything jurassic well but he's at that place because he's often too one note for my liking. Like, he does struggle to put himself in other people shoes to understand them even when he's the one in the wrong and he is REALLY idealistic, sometimes to the detriment of actual people. But I like him 😂.

5 - Ben: Ok, don't kill me. Ben is really hard for me to place because I kinda not like him in some seasons but like him in others lol. If we're talking season 1 to 3 Ben, I find him annoying and too immature, it puts me off. The season I dislike him the most in is season 3 where he's really selfish and makes some really questionnable decisions, but I do like the storyline. Now, season 4-5 Ben? Love him, I'd place him above Darius and maybe even above Yaz.

6- Sammy: Sorry, but as an introvert Sammy is really too much for me even from behind my screen 😭 She struggles with respecting people's bondaries or straight up respecting people who don't share her worldview. And idk, she's too optimistic it puts me off sometimes 😭 I like her, I simply like her the least overall.

Now, Jwct

1 - Brooklynn : What can I say, I'm loyal 😂 No but I really love where they took her character because it doesn't come out of nowhere, the seeds of her "downfall" had already been planted in jwcc and I live for it. People who say she's not the same watched jwcc with their eyes closed I don't care 😭 And with all the trauma she's been through I feel even more for her, and I can't wait to see what the end of her story will be.

2 - Kenji: I absolutely love him in jwct, but for different reasons I guess. They turned the stereotypical narcissistic boy into a man who's desesperately trying to find light in the pit of darkness that his life has become and I feel so much for him. Idk, I relate to him so much and I just want him to get the good things he deserves.

3 - Ben: I love him so much in jwct. I find him funny but touching at the same time. What I will say might sound controversial but I think one of the reasons I like him so much more here is because Bumpy is not there. In jwcc he always was kinda detached from the group because he was glued to Bumpy so much that she had become part of his character, but jwct, by removing Bumpy for most of the season, allowed him to really find his place in the group and to developp an identity outside of Bumpy.

4 - Sammy: LOVE HER TOO. She's so much more...idk...balanced? She still has that optimistic personnality but she's allowed to be more nuanced and I love that for her. She's able to listen to others and to learn from her mistakes which is a big evolution when we look at jwcc (we can see this especially in her scenes with Yaz). So yeah, stan jwct Sammy.

5 - Yaz: I still like her, but I feel like her personnality took too much of a drastic turn. She kinda feels like a different character in a way and it's kind of a bummer because I liked her "harder" side. In season 2, especially, I feel like her character can be summarized with a single word (therapist), and that's never a good thing. But I like her because, let's be honest, they wrote her to be likable, but she's missing something.

6 - Darius: Little disclaimer, me putting him last doesn't mean I don't like him, I love them all in jwct, but someone has to be last 😭 I like him in season 1 and his inner conflict regarding Brook's death/his involvement in her demise. But in season 2 I really feel like he's just kinda there. And the way he confessed really left a bad taste in my mouth which affected my view of his character. The fact that he had the nerve to throw Kenji under the bus is messed up on so many levels and he has yet to redeem himself in my book. So I'm waiting to see where they'll take his character because this could simply be the foundation for a very interesting arc, and I hope that's the case.

[stormbound58]

JWCT Bingo Card

I made this instead of studying for my exams. So here'z my Bingo Card for the First Season of JWCT!! Shout-Out and Credits to @livsmessydoodles for their art work!

Me: *Prays for Kenji x Brooklynn break up*.

Either Dr. WU or Daniel Kon would be mentioned or Appearance.

This is set whether be Long Before/Pre/During/Post/LongAfter Dominion.

Yaz has PTSD on touching Dinos.

They get Hurt badly or up to a Major Death or so.

I know one of them WILL have a breakdown *looks at Darius*

DINOSTAR/DARLYNN CONTENT

What If... Bumpy and Toro team up and fights the Atrociraptors or other dinos

Brooklynn Alive and is either Captures or she turned Bad Girl

This is a Jurassic Park/World, there's 'bout to have a New Dinosaur/Hybrid and Dino Fights Dino

Brooklynn pulls the "Ghost Ben" move

Yasmina x Sammy Are/Will Be Engaged

Chaos, The Last Baryonyx will be in (JWCC: S2:Ep8; Title)

The Boys are Fightinggggggg!!!

Allo w/ blind eye: *spots Darius* Imma give this broken child more trauma!

What Do You Guys Think? Share Your Theories!

[mangosaurus]

now that the trailer's been out for a few days let'sssss talk about how the rest of the camp fam might react to finding out ben knew brooklynn was alive (since kenji's reaction has already been made thoroughly apparent LOL):

SAMMY - denial denial denial. not over brooklynn, but the fact that ben would keep them in the dark like that. less so because she's a naturally empathetic and forgiving person but more so because it'd be hard to accept that ben couldn't trust them. especially after their whole thing in s1e05, sammy would have thought they'd be past this by now. still, i think her and ben might be able to get over that hill faster than him and kenji

YASMINA - hurt, confusion, but maybe ... understanding? i think after all the work she's put into healing her trauma, she'd try to see things from ben's perspective. not only have they always shared a sort of kinship with each other, but a big part of yasammy's strife in s1 had to do with yasmina pulling away from sammy, so she might be able to personally relate to ben doing the same thing to them (i.e. hiding the truth from his friends). i'd make reference to a plot point from s2e01 to further support this speculation buttttt i don't wanna spoil that for anyone who hasn't watched the recaps, so i'll just leave it at that for now!

DARIUS - this one is ... hard. darius has a tendency to shut down in situations where he feels guilty or betrayed: it happened in jwcc season 1 when ben fell from the monorail, it happened in jwcc s2 when brooklynn made that "cool dad" comment, it happened in jwcc s5 when kenji sided with his father, and it happened once more in jwct in the aftermath of brooklynn's "death" (which he admits to himself circa s1e02, "you're right, i did hide!"). so i can very much see darius responding with ... cold despondence. a kind of deafening disappointment. but, i don't know if darius's hurt over ben hiding the truth from them would totally override the relief and hope he might feel at finding out brooklynn is alive, in contrast to kenji's anger. if they get more details on brooklynn's whereabouts, the kinds of things she's been up to, i can also see him being more willing to look past that, partially out of an obligation to make things right (still feeling guilty about standing brooklynn up the night she was attacked) and partially out of sentiment (being in love with brooklynn). meanwhile, kenji wouldn't have these same hangups, at least not to the same degree as darius; while i believe kenji still loves brooklynn, maybe even looks back on certain aspects of their relationship fondly, i think he's well past being deeply, truthfully in love with her. basically, i don't think there would be as much multiplicity to his emotions in this situation in comparison to darius, which is what makes summing up darius's potential feelings that much more difficult for me

[thebutterflyeffectjwcc]

Heyyy!

Hope you’re all doing great!

I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the emotional arcs in Camp Cretaceous, and I was wondering—do you plan to dive deeper into Ben’s trauma after everything he went through on the island, especially his time alone and the whole experience with the monorail? That storyline was so intense, and it felt like there was a lot more under the surface that could be explored.

Also, I’m super curious if you’ll be touching more on Yaz’s fear of losing Sammy. Their bond is so strong, and after what happened with the Scorpios Rex, it makes total sense that Yaz might carry some serious fear and anxiety around that. I'd love to see more of how that affects her and their relationship moving forward.

Just really love these characters and their growth, so I’m super excited to see where you take their stories!

Hey !!! I just woke up to be honest , this hit the inbox at 1 am so I was asleep (sleep schedule..its slowly recovering yall ✌️) , Cali will likely respond as well when they get up but we have a 3 hours time zone difference so it'll be a few hours sdfjs but doing great !! I hope you're doing great !

So this story is very much a Darius-Centric fic and ,,,series mostly ngl skfjd but I can say we definitely will be touching on those topics as there is some time later on in Caterpillars especially where we have the moments to expand into Ben and Yaz's anxieties and trauma from both the Monorail and The Scorpius Rex ! Cause ngl I gotta agree, the storyline in that moment with Ben was so intense and they didn't ...explore it enough I think, Ben has some reactions to pterosaurs in the later seasons but its...mmm not as in depth as I would have wished BUT it is a kids show so I kinda get it but damn I wish we got more on those feelings from Ben and the others, we got a nightmare from Darius but other than that ...more could have been done and if it had a higher rating I think we could have gotten that ! So it's definitely something we'll be touching on ! And I can say the same for Yaz in the story later on too, like we get some good things with her and her feelings but its definitely more explored with our story We go a lot into all of them to be honest, we get some really intense emotional arcs and some intense story, Kenji gets to be more than a rich boy with insecurity, can't lie I love some of the scenes we have coming with him later on <3

I'm sure Cali will have more to add ! but yeah !! We definitely plan on it ! I don't know how much to say without spoiling things because I'm terrible at not spoiling things, I get too eager to share sdfkjs - 🐺

[it-fits-i-ships]

Combing through every single episode of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous for Yasammy moments to write meta analysis about part 7 (master post with all previous and future parts)

I'm back with the clips from the long-awaited season 5 so let's get into it!

I love the fact that, once the camp fam is (seemingly) safe and well-fed in Kon's investor suites, Yaz starts to relax and talk about going to sleep, she looks directly at Sammy as she says that she's going to bed because Sammy has been her main source of comfort and calm and as such Sammy is inextricably linked with relaxation, calm, and comfort in Yaz's mind, Yaz wants to share her feeling of relief and safety with her favorite person, which Sammy is quick to respond to with excitement

I think it's really cute that Yaz and Sammy both snuck out at the same time to go sleep in the common room, their conversation in this scene is a subtle reminder that they have all been through some really traumatic things, Sammy says she's not used to sleeping alone anymore and Yaz agrees that it doesn't feel safe, all of the kids have this shared trauma but Yaz and Sammy most often go to each other to talk about their own personal trauma, and then there's the sweet moment where Sammy is offering to have a sleepover with Yaz so they can both be more comfortable (before they realize the others had the same idea) that I love, it's very clear that Sammy cares a lot about Yaz's comfort and safety and spending time with her

Yaz and Sammy chilling together and playing cards while everyone's running around doing their own thing? Adorable!

Also, remember in part 5 of this post series when I said that Yaz was funneling her energy into helping Kenji with Brooklyn so she wouldn't have to think about her feelings for Sammy? Well now they're both doing it! Seriously, Yaz and Sammy are both such hopeless romantic dorks and, while I think they are genuinely happy about Kenji and Brooklyn being together, they really throw themselves into this whole date planning thing because they both have all of this pent-up romantic energy that isn't going anywhere because Yaz is in the throws of processing her queerness and Sammy is clearly holding herself back until Yaz is ready so she doesn't freak Yaz out (I'll talk more about that in later posts), which means that setting up and focusing on Kenji's date with Brooklyn is a welcome distraction for both of them

Can we talk about the physical affection for a second? Yaz and Sammy are, like, constantly touching each other's arms and hands or doing little shoulder nudges like Yaz does when Kenji compliments their decorations, they already look like a couple when they come up to Kenji and Yaz starts talking about "seeing new sides" to Kenji, Sammy is holding her arm with both hands, talk about dropping hints! They also physically check on and comfort each other all the time, like when Yaz falls from Ben's shoulders or when the earthquakes start and they pterodactyls get upset

They are also clearly first in each other's thoughts because when Yaz realizes that two of them have gone missing she lists Sammy first and when Sammy and Darius are looking for the others Sammy calls out to Yaz first, which makes sense because they are both very important to each other and I think they've been spending a LOT of time thinking about each other lately

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yaz is a real ride or die! She didn't think twice about grabbing a stray pipe and ambushing a fucking nothosaurus to protect Sammy (more on this general vibe in future posts)

Yaz and Sammy jumping at the chance to be on the same team for the chip mission is super cute and the back-and-forth and banter they have going on the whole time gives me life, Yaz's face when Sammy asks why they're hiding if there no one for the BRADs to notify and they aren't lethal is priceless, it just screams, "You are so smart," it's the mutual respect and admiration for me

I'd like to take a second to appreciate the romantic golden hour lighting they put on during the scene where Yaz is admiring the forest and Sammy says maybe they could go to a real forest some time, this conversation feels very much like a metaphor for their relationship, here they are mutually enjoying their current situation, Yaz thinking about how it would be even better if circumstances were different, and Sammy implying that those more ideal circumstances are in their future, this comes at a point when Yaz is starting to wish that she could be even closer to Sammy whereas Sammy has clearly been thinking about having a closer relationship with Yaz for a long time

Both in this scene and in the campfire scene we see that Sammy won't let Yaz put herself down (a habit Yaz is still clearly working on breaking) and gazing lovingly at Yaz as she speaks, Sammy is really trying to drop some hints for Yaz that she is very interested in her

[a-ratt]

So, I started watching Camp Cretaceous

From an aspiring screenwriter’s perspective, I’ve gotta give this show a pretty high rating. I mean, at the start I had some critical thoughts on how a dinosaur park doesn’t have a lot of cameras watching the hijinks these kids get up to, but of course this show is aimed at a younger audience so I allowed it some room to get away with a few things.

Once things picked up, I got really, REALLY invested in it. Things progressed really well, the pacing was really good, the characters and their development was done in a way that was believable.

Ben going unhinged after suffering through a repetitive cycle of survival he didn’t want any part in was honestly amazing.

The kids’ desire to protect dinosaurs no matter the cost was something I went back and forth on. On one hand, they should be focusing on survival, on another they’re kids with bleeding hearts. Ultimately, I decided that it was believable, especially when the characters themselves argued over what was the right call, such as in the end of Season 3.

Season 4, however, has me questioning the writers’ decisions.

After three seasons of being trapped on the island, they decided to take risks and leave the main franchise’s location behind. Its a daring move, but it gives them a lot of creative freedom to work with.

However, they end up on another dinosaur infested island, but it’s also a secret testing ground for the rival corporation of Masrani, the guys who own Jurassic World? I feel like someone would have noticed, and I don’t know how much legal control there is over owning dino dna or breeding them or whatever, but I feel like there’s some plotholes here.

The use of advanced, sci-fi tech I can be alright with, except this new island uses a lot of advanced tech that hasn’t been seen before. It feels a lot like I’m watching a Mass Effect show now, minus the space and aliens. 

There’s also the sudden addition of romance, which I think is a good direction to explore the character dynamics, but the romantic relationships they chose is something I don’t agree with.

Kenji and Brooklyn are similar, but their characters don’t share that much chemistry, in my opinion. They haven’t had the build up or foundation as, say Darius and Brooklyn, both acting as the main leadership during times of crisis. Kenji himself has felt more like a sibling to the rest of the cast, and at times I feel like he’d pair better with Darius, due to how many times they rely on each other across the many seasons, if the show allowed it.

Besides the romantic aspect of the season, there are some highlights, such as the return of several dinosaurs from the franchise and the exploration of PTSD that these kids have yet to acknowledge over three seasons prior.

So, my final verdict for the current four seasons?

Seasons 1 to 3 are pretty good, because they explore the characters, the setting, and some of the mysteries of Isla Nublar.

Season 4 is iffy, because it addresses the interpersonal relationships of these teenagers that have accrued a lot of trauma, but also feelings for each other. Though, how it handles them, and how it handles a new setting for the show, is rather precarious at best.

Also, give these kids a break man

[pink-cosmic-kisses]

just some uhh um post show headcanons

THESE GUYS ARE ALL I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT LATELY so i'm going to share some headcanons for the characters after they finally get home haha

ben

- very chill and easygoing, yet somehow still very alert to his environment

- doesn't care for his appearance much anymore, much to his mother's dismay. his hair is constantly messy and, rather than collared shirts and khakis, he opts for more comfortable clothes when he can, like t-shirts and sweatpants

- has severe nightmares about his experience in jurassic world

- joined an art club in school and takes drawing classes in his freetime

- also joined track because he has a lot of built-up energy that he needs to burn in healthy ways. also, i reckon he really looks up to yaz and enjoys competing with her, which is why i think he'd do track lol

kenji

- tries to talk to his father more often, but they still bump heads a lot

- still lazy, but is working to improve his grades and such since being with the others helped him realize his issue with procrastination

- constantly convinces his dad to pay for trips so the camp fam can meet up often

- took up piano for fun and realized he really enjoys playing. he got his dad to sign him up for lessons and can play quite a few songs by memory already

- still struggles with keeping his feelings bottled up, but is slowly learning to open up with help from darius and sammy

darius

- his mom and brother are a LOT more protective over him now, which can be a bit exasperating for him to deal with

- adopted a pet dog to help cope with trauma, probably named it a dinosaur pun or something stupid like that

- tries to avoid a lot of his directly jurassic world related interests, such as the video game he used to play all the time, but still loves dinosaurs and such all the same

- very irritable, his family will talk to him and he'll lash out for no reason whatsoever. he often needs to talk to brand for comfort

- even though his dad's death still hurts, he's come to a better standing with it and is learning to move on. he finally painted the model dinosaurs in his room and is more open to talking about his death with his family

yasmina

- likes to draw the camp fam a lot, especially sammy. when they have group calls, she gives them little sketchbook tours

- she gives ben a lot of art tips in individual calls, and lowkey loves seeing his drawings even though they're not that great

- her hurt ankle still affects her, and she's started wearing a brace to help quell the pain during competitions and practices. it sucks, but she's very grateful that it isn't worse

- cut her hair short after she got home

-after getting closer with brooklyn, she has a newfound interest for makeup and fashion in general. she likes to practice when they meet up, although she's not very good at it. ben jokes about it sometimes since she jokes about his drawings so much

brooklyn

- still travels around the country for her channel, and whenever she's near where her one of her camp friends live, she insists that she must visit them before they go back home

- started doing ballet, but has a lot of trouble keeping up with the schedule due to her youtube filming schedule

- went on hiatus on social media for the first couple months that she was back home, but has since gotten back into the groove with encouragement from her friends

- kenji and her are especially close, and they love doing stupid youtube challenges whenever they're together (i/e chubby bunny challenge, friend does my makeup challenge, etc)

- loves singing, but only does it for sammy and darius at the moment

sammy

- she constantly apologizes to her family for leaving home without permission, but they've definitely forgiven her. no matter how many times they say that she's forgiven, she still feels horrible

- loves baking!! whenever she's with the camp fam, she makes them baked goods to share during their activities

- very into hockey and american football

- joined show choir and has performed a lot of shows ever since. she absolutely loves the rush of dancing and singing on stage, and it's especially nice when the camp fam comes to watch her

- made them all friendship bracelets and mailed them to everyone :D

and that's it for the headcanons so far! i want to write/draw something for a couple of these but i might not since i'm lazy lol

[ultrashadowkai]

Camp Cretaceous 4x04

Yaz has PTSD

Trauma manifesting as nightmares time

Is there a shower in this base? If so, why have none of these kids used it yet?

What's wrong with Kenji?

Yaz has had enough running from dinosaurs for twelve lifetimes

Kenji's bravado is going to get himself nearly killed

Yaz's response is incredibly worrying

This is Horizon Zero Dawn

Mantah Corp made a machine that can be turtled. Considering the environment these BRADs work in, this seems like a big design flaw

Great, now we're in a frozen tundra

Great, Yaz is having hallucinations.

Dr. Mae named the dino Piers?

Is Piers dying? I don't want Pieres to die

Oh no, we have eleven episodes in this season. This can't be that easy. What's going to go wrong this time?

At least the kids can form a support group with each other over their shared traumas

There's going to be a big rift between Darius and the rest of the kids (don’t know where Ben would lie) about the safety of the dinosaurs over their own safety

This walking modern nerd-stereotype has anger issues

[aquaquadrant]

the little things

Kenji’s mouth is dry. “Ben…?” he croaks out.

Ben swallows. “Oh,” he says, in a very small voice. “It’s you.”

~*~

Ben’s been reunited with the other campers, and seems to have come out the other end of his experience stronger than ever before. But as he slowly finds his place back within the group, a bigger picture starts to emerge, piece by piece.

Rated T for: mental illness, mild language, panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety, insomnia, eating disorder (not in a traditional sense, but definitely not a healthy relationship with food)

A/N: Hey Camp Cretaceous fandom, y’all mind if I uhhhh write six-thousand words about Ben’s trauma?? Basically, Netflix kept recommending the show to me so I watched the first ep out of curiosity and then ended up binging the whole thing in like two days, and now here I am.

(Dear sweet, patient, regular readers of mine: I’m so sorry my main fic’s been delayed but I promise it’s getting updated next week, I just had to get some feelings out about Sad Dino Boy)

Hope you enjoy, please reblog and leave a comment if you do! - Aqua

Click here to read on A03 (with more complete tags)

~*~

the little things

~*~ 

Ben Pincus has returned from the dead, and he’s never been better.

The other campers are amazed. What he’s been through must have been horrible. He thought he was the only one left, that there was no one to help him and no hope of rescue because he was presumed dead. It would’ve been enough to drive anyone into despair, or off of the deep end.

But Ben shows no signs of this.

They didn’t find him holed up somewhere, near starvation and waiting to die, like one might’ve expected. They didn’t find him at all, really. He found them, and by coming to their rescue, no less. And when he did, he wasn’t a trembling mess, he wasn’t a half-mad ball of paranoia, and he wasn’t a hollow-eyed skeleton fueled solely by desperation. 

He’s an all new and improved Ben, the best version of himself.

He hasn’t just survived, he’s flourished. He’s brave, he’s confident, he’s capable. He gives his opinions freely and without second-guessing himself, suggesting things the old Ben would’ve recoiled at. He fits seamlessly into the team like he never left. He faces problems head-on with determination and grit and not a trace of fear.

The turnaround is unbelievable. But even more important is that while he’s a new and improved Ben, he’s retained all the best parts of his old self.

Ben is easy smiles and meticulous organization of a leather waist bag and doting affection for a four-ton armored lizard. He’s sensitive and soft-spoken and accepts hugs from his friends gratefully. He still can’t quite pull off coolness, with a voice that sounds as gangly as his limbs look and an awkwardness he hasn’t grown out of.

And it’s perhaps because of this that no one thinks to look closer. This image is an easy thing to accept because it’s what they all want to believe, that Ben is okay- in fact, better than okay. But the truth is not always big and obvious upon first glance.

It’s the little things, as they soon find out.

~*~

That first evening after Ben’s return, after Mitch and Tiff and everything else, they don’t eat dinner.

They all ate their fill at the campsite and, after a month of scarcity, it was more than enough to sate their appetites. It’s Darius who thinks to ask Ben if he’s hungry, remembering that the boy hadn’t had the chance to eat with them. They have a good stockpile of food at the moment and he figures Ben must’ve been struggling.

But Ben shakes his head with an easy smile, and says, “Nah, I ate earlier.”

Darius leaves it at that, because there’s still so much catching up to do. They show Ben around their clubhouse, make plans for where to build a bunk for him (he insists he’d be just fine sleeping on the ground next to Bumpy, but they all veto that immediately). They talk well into the night about the day’s crazy events, filling each other in on their own sides of the story, and everything that’s happened since Ben got separated.

There are some more tears, some more hugs. But ultimately, the mood in the clubhouse is ecstatic. They never thought Ben had survived the fall so to have him back is better than a dream come true, it’s a miracle.

Darius thought he knew what it was to experience a miracle when they first saw that bonfire smoke on the horizon. But if he had to chose between the miracle of them finally leaving the island or the miracle of getting Ben back, it’s not even a competition.

Eventually the exhaustion catches up with everyone, and they turn in for the night. Bumpy parks herself underneath the clubhouse, her presence incredibly reassuring. Ben ends up sharing Kenji’s bunk because it’s bigger than Darius’s even when occupied by two, and the older teen had insisted in a very faux-casual way, to which Ben had rolled his eyes but nonetheless seemed touched by the gesture.

Darius takes the first night watch shift and gets to see all his friends sleeping peacefully. And even though Tiff sailed away with their only means for escaping, he feels a lot more hopeful than he has in a long time.

~*~

It’s canned peaches for breakfast.

A far cry from yesterday’s buffet. But no one’s complaining because the meticulous rationing of their food, courtesy of Darius, means they’re all starving by meal time and couldn’t care less what it tastes like. Darius is in the process of separating the food out into bowls, half a can for each of them, when he realizes Ben has yet to take a seat. He’s lingering at the edge of the room, watching.

“Hey,” Darius calls, “you coming or what?”

Ben shakes his head. “Thanks, but I already got my own breakfast.”

Before Darius can respond, Brooklynn shoots Ben a look. “What? Where?” she demands. “You holding out on us, jungle boy?”

Darius shoots her a look, but Ben just gives an easy smile and unzips the leather pouch that’s reclaimed its spot around his waist. He withdraws a small handful of bright red berries, no bigger than blueberries. It’s not even a fraction of the half-can of peaches the rest of them are settling for, and Darius sees his own unease reflected in the others’ eyes.

Brooklynn glances away. “Oh. Um, sorry. You don’t… you can have some of ours, you know?”

“I’m good.” Ben tosses a couple berries into his mouth. “You guys go ahead, I’m gonna go check on Bumpy.”

“O- oh, okay…” Sammy murmurs, watching Ben go with uncertain eyes. “If you’re sure…”

They’re silent for a moment.

Kenji inhales quietly through his teeth. “So… that’s weird, right?”

Yaz leans forward in her seat. “What do you think, Darius?” she asks lowly.

Darius bites his lip. Even though dinosaurs are his specific topic of interest, he’s gained a lot of second-hand knowledge about general biology and psychology. After all, he has to understand the processes behind behavior in order to identify patterns and deviations.

And right now, he has to admit that Ben is displaying a very concerning behavior.

“I’ll talk to him,” Darius decides.

There’s a collective sigh of relief around the table, and the others start eating. It takes Darius longer than usual to finish his serving.

~*~

“So, uh, bottom line is… you don’t need to feel bad about eating our food. You’re as much a part of this group as anyone else, and we’re happy to share.”

After a couple tense days, Darius is finally talking to Ben about the food situation. Or rather, talking at him. Because Ben’s not looking at Darius- his eyes are tracking the small spider that’s crawling along the railing next to them. Normally, Darius would take it as a sign of boredom and inattentiveness. But there’s an intensity in Ben’s eye that’s a little unsettling-

Quick as a flash, Ben shoots out an arm. He crushes the spider under his thumb and swipes it into his mouth. And then, untroubled as can be, he returns his focus to Darius as if nothing had happened.

Darius has overheard Kenji teasing Ben about eating bugs, and Ben has admitted as much in the stories of his time alone. Berries and grubs were what he lived on. Darius, for one, can’t imagine being hungry and desperate enough to snatch a bug off the ground and eat it.

But it’s even harder to imagine having access to real food, good food, and still choosing to eat bugs.

“Don’t worry so much,” Ben says lightly, patting Darius on the shoulder as he turns to go. “I can take care of myself.”

That does it. “You can’t keep living off berries and grubs!” Darius finally snaps.

Ben whirls around. “Says who?”

“Basic human biology!” Darius retorts.

Ben glares at him, but there’s something shaky behind it. “Darius, I told you it’s fine,” he says evenly, though he doesn’t fully meet Darius’s gaze. “Don’t make a big deal out of it. Please? If I’m hungry, I’ll eat.”

Darius hesitates. “You promise?”

Ben breaks into an easy smile. “I promise.”

Darius sighs. It’ll have to be good enough, for now.

“Okay.”

~*~

Darius knows he isn’t the only one still concerned by Ben’s lack of appetite.

Right from the start, Ben was the scrawniest one among them, and it’s only gotten worse. But surely he’ll have to eat at some point, right? Basic survival instincts will win out over whatever stubborn mindset is holding him back. Plus, it’s clear that he’s got enough energy to run and climb and stuff with no problem.

Maybe it’s not as serious as Darius thinks. Maybe Ben just needs time.

~*~

Ben doesn’t know what’s wrong with him.

He just- he can’t take their food! Why don’t they get that?

And it’s not because he’s stubborn, it’s not- no matter what Darius thinks. There’s nothing wrong with letting others help you (as long as you don’t let it make you soft, of course). After all, he relies on Bumpy. He just… when he looks at the food, and imagines eating it, he just knows it’ll sit in his stomach. Like a rock, weighing him down.

Plus, plus, if he gets used to eating like that, it’ll just- it’ll be harder to cope once it runs out. He’s already gotten used to roughing it and it was hard enough the first time, he can’t let himself slip back into complacency. And- and really, how long do they think it’s going to last? They’ve searched all the previously inhabited areas of the island and there’s no more food for them to scavenge.

Do they think they’ll be rescued before it runs out? No one is coming to save them. They know it as much as Ben does- they wouldn’t be bothering with rafts if they didn’t. Do they think they’ll escape, then? Sure, because their current attempts have been going so well.

No, they just aren’t thinking long term. Ben is.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

~*~

It’s the sixth day in a row where Ben eats nothing but berries.

He wants to search around some more, see if there’s anything more substantial. That would require him to leave Bumpy, though. And he can’t leave Bumpy. But the hunger is excruciating. It gnaws at him every waking moment, keeps him up at night. He’s never felt such hunger in his life, not even close. He can’t keep going like this, can he?

But there’s nothing else.

Except… something’s crawling up his arm. Something small, and leggy. Ben turns his head, squinting to focus his eyes in the dark. It’s some kind of beetle, with a shiny shell that catches stray shafts of moonlight poking through the roof of his lean-to.

Ben stares at it for a moment. Then, before he can think, he snatches it up and pops it into his mouth. He barely registers any taste, mostly just the crunchy texture. And even though it wasn’t any bigger than a quarter, after he swallows, he feels… fuller. Even if it’s purely imagined, it’s a comfort.

Berries and grubs. It’ll have to be enough.

There’s nothing else.

~*~

Ben continues to decline their offers of food.

~*~

A few weeks after the reunion, Kenji is starting to get antsy.

As the self-designated ‘pro-fun police’ (a clever play on ‘no-fun police,’ if Kenji does say so himself), he’s made it his responsibility to make sure none of his friends just keel over and die from stress one day. That means it’s his job- no, his duty- to lighten the mood with copious amounts of joking, goofing off, and, of course, pranking.

Jumping out to scare his friends while they’re trapped on a dino-infested island might, on paper, sound like a bad idea. But it keeps everyone on their toes, and the relief of realizing they aren’t facing a dino attack, just Kenji pulling a prank, helps keep any real anger at bay. It’s typically an exasperated annoyance, which Kenji will gladly take. His main targets are Brooklynn and Darius, because he can’t fathom doing that to Sammy, and Yaz is- while perhaps in the most need of lightening up- super freaking scary.

But now that Ben’s back, Kenji knows what he has to do.

Before, back when they were just campers and not survivors, Ben was easily the most frightened of them. The kid was scared of dirt. And his over-the-top hysterics always managed to, somehow, put everyone else at ease. Because if Ben was scared of something, that didn’t really mean anything. Again; scared of dirt.

(Now, if Yaz is scared of something, that’s a different story).

Since Ben’s, uh… departure, they’ve been sorely lacking that energy in the group. Kenji would wager he’s not the only one who misses it. He used to have so much fun riling Ben up with just a couple words (none of the others are so easily baited). And whenever Ben would freak out and instantly cling to him, like some kind of scrawny spider monkey, it made Kenji feel… capable, in a way.

Like, if Ben was trusting Kenji to protect him, maybe he wasn’t so useless after all (which was becoming an all too frequent feeling as the others continued to adapt and grow, leaving Kenji struggling to keep up).

Problem is, Ben’s really hard to scare now.

It’s not always obvious, like when he’s bragging about taking down Toro or itching to blow things up. Sometimes it’s the little things. Whenever they’re out in a group, foraging or gathering supplies, and there’s a sound in the distance that makes them all freeze, Ben’s frozen in readiness, not fear. He looks more like Yaz, tense and waiting with his fists up and eyes narrowed.

Sometimes, when they aren’t occupied by any particular task or imminent threat, and have the chance to enjoy some downtime, Ben drifts off to the side and just… watches, all tense, silent, and anxious. He’ll watch the tree line, or Bumpy on the ground below, or even just the rest of them as they go about their business. Kenji is sure he’s not the only one who’s noticed but none of them bring it up.

It’s… unsettling, seeing Ben like this. Kenji figured he just needed a couple weeks to fall back into the rhythm of the group, to see that he didn’t have to be this loner Rambo type of guy anymore. But even though he talks with them easy enough, seems to enjoy their company, and has a good handle on teamwork, it’s like there’s a part of him that can’t fully shake that mentality.

At least, not without help.

~*~

 Kenji’s plan is- in his humble opinion- pretty dang brilliant.

He waits for a time when it’s just him and Ben in the main level of the clubhouse (Yaz is running laps around their perimeter, Darius is in his bunk writing in his nerd book, Brooklynn and Sammy are upstairs going over inventory) and then announces he’s going for a shower. His daily showers are common knowledge at this point, so Ben just nods in acknowledgement and goes back to leaning against the railing, watching Bumpy graze down below in that tense-silent-anxious way of his.

Kenji sets up the shower and lets it run (he’ll go down to the river later and get more water to make up for the waste, because even though he tries to avoid manual labor whenever possible, it’s totally worth it in this case). And then, being more careful and silent than he’s ever been (except maybe in cases where he’s being hunted by dinos), he slowly creeps up behind Ben before leaping forward with a shriek, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Ben doesn’t just jump and scream. He jumps, screams, then spins around and swings a fist into Kenji’s jaw in one smooth motion.

Kenji’s laughing even as he staggers back, his jaw stinging (because at the end of the day, even though Ben’s kind of a badass now, he’s still Ben and his arms are pretty much chicken wings so there’s no real harm done, just a bruise at most). Plus that’s a valid reaction, considering everything, and he can’t say he didn’t deserve it.

“Oh man, I totally got you!” Kenji says anyways, to rub it in. “You should see your… face...”

And Kenji trails off because now he’s seeing Ben’s face.

What Kenji expected is this:

Once Ben realized it was just him pulling a prank, he would get mad. In that totally non-threatening dorky Ben way, where he scrunches his nose and puffs out his cheeks, his little fists clenched at his side like an irate toddler. Maybe he’d stomp off but it’d be worth it because being mad is better than being tense-silent-anxious and it’d give him the chance to be annoyed with Kenji. And maybe Ben being annoyed with Kenji would help everything feel a little more normal, a little more like before.

What Kenji gets is this:

Once Ben realizes it was just him pulling a prank, he doesn’t get mad. He starts shaking. Violently, uncontrollably. Like he’s suddenly come down with hypothermia despite being in a tropical jungle, staring at Kenji all the while and not saying a word. His chest rises and falls rapidly in little panicky breaths and the kind of fear in his eyes isn’t the kind that’s funny. It’s glassy-eyed with shrunken pupils that dart around Kenji’s face, frightened and searching, as if he isn’t fully seeing it.

Kenji’s mouth is dry. “Ben…?” he croaks out.

Ben swallows. “Oh,” he says, in a very small voice. “It’s you.”

Kenji hasn’t heard Ben’s voice sound that small since before, and it doesn’t feel like a victory.

By now, of course, the others have noticed the commotion and it doesn’t take more than a second for them to piece together what happened. Yaz rounds on Kenji with a furious snarl and whisper-screams a lecture about how stupid and irresponsible he is. Darius is immediately trying to mediate the situation while Sammy frantically asks Ben if he’s okay, to which he doesn’t respond. Brooklynn steps in, citing an unboxing video about dealing with shock, and when she goes to put a hand on Ben’s shoulder, he lets her.

And now Kenji realizes where he miscalculated. Ben never showed discomfort with physical contact before because he’d never been surprised by it before (because Ben has gotten scary good at being alert, always keeping an eye and an ear out on his surroundings even in the middle of a conversation). And when it came to his friends, it wasn’t unexpected for Sammy to rush in with a hug or Darius to pat his shoulder or Brooklynn to playfully knock elbows.

But Kenji snuck up on him, so Ben’s first thought wasn’t that it was a friend. It was that he was going to have to run for his life, like he has countless times since being stranded on this island.

Kenji apologizes over and over again as Darius gently leads him away by the elbow and Brooklynn talks to Ben in low tones while Sammy squeezes his hand and Yaz takes up a lookout position because they can’t afford for all of them to be distracted even though she occasionally cuts a glare at Kenji out of the corner of her eye so it’s really debatable how vigilant she’s actually being.

Throughout it all, Ben doesn’t get mad, but he doesn’t stop shaking.

 ~*~

 Darius explains it, later.

“The sudden fear reaction signaled a bunch of adrenaline to be released into his bloodstream, to give him the energy needed for running. And then, when he didn’t, there was nowhere for that energy to go. It’s like, even though his mind knew there wasn’t any danger, his body wasn’t convinced.” Then, a sympathetic look. “You didn’t know, man.”

Kenji only nods. But knowing doesn’t make it better because even though Ben’s stopped shaking he doesn’t turn his back on Kenji anymore and somehow that’s a million times worse than if he’d gotten mad.

 ~*~

 There are claws wrapped around Ben’s shoulders and shrieks in his ears.

Wind whips his face and his stomach lurches as he’s carried through the air, weightless, at the mercy of the Pteranodon. He’s never felt so small and utterly helpless before, not once in his life. Even his screams aren’t big enough to carry, snatched away by the wind and deafened by the roars of the terror-birds fighting over the right to tear him limb from limb.

And then he’s falling and has other things to worry about.

 ~*~

 Ben stops sharing Kenji’s bunk.

 ~*~

 In a rare moment of downtime, Yasmina is curled up with Darius’s field guide, adding a few more illustrations, when she feels Ben staring at her.

It’s not the first time she’s felt him staring at her. It is the first time, however, that she decides to stare back.

She means it to be playful, at first. She meets his eyes, one brow quirked as if to say, ‘What, is there something on my face?’ But instead of glancing away in sheepish embarrassment or jolting out of a daze, Ben just stares back. There’s no emotion in his expression at all except intense focus.

The faint smile drops from Yasmina’s face as she stares back in surprise. Then, with ever-growing confusion and a fair amount of alarm, she realizes that Ben’s shoulders are rising, tense and hunched like he’s trying to make himself look bigger.

Like an animal.

Yasmina knows what it is to stare down a wild animal. She’s felt predatory eyes on her before and either bolted or turned to face the challenge. And that’s what it is, for some of the dinos- a challenge. Sometimes they’re testing your mettle, and standing your ground is enough to make them back off.

Ben must’ve learned that, too. And for whatever reason, he’s slipping into that behavior now.

It’s a ridiculous thought. This is Ben, her friend. Her very scrawny friend who can’t weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet, and prefers a diet of berries and grubs. And yet, here he is, staring her down like she’s a particularly bold pack of Compies that’s decided to threaten him.

Yasmina gives a slow, deliberate blink. “Ben?” she calls. “What’s up?”

Just like that, the spell is broken. Ben gives a violent start, blinking and shaking his head. Yasmina sees confusion flash across his face, and then realization. And now the embarrassment comes, but it’s darkened by something like horror.

Without a word, Ben turns and darts away, scrambling down the ladder to the alcove underneath the house where Bumpy’s napping.

Yasmina lets him go, too baffled and unsettled to form words.

 ~*~

 Eventually, Yasmina tells Darius about it.

His expression is troubled as she runs through the incident. But in the end, there’s nothing more he can tell her than what she’s already worked out on her own. It’s just another side effect of the mindset Ben has adopted throughout his isolation. Those habits were what he relied on to survive, and it’ll take time for him to realize he doesn’t have to constantly be on edge now that he’s got a team to look out for him.

Though privately, Yasmina wonders if maybe the rest of them should take a page out of Ben’s book. Seems like he’s got a better handle on survival than they do.

(And then she thinks how Sammy would react, if Yasmina started acting like a wary animal around her, and she realizes Ben’s methods come with a price.)

 ~*~

 After Ben runs the Compies off for the first time, staring becomes a defense tactic.

It’s not always the Compies, who are slowly but surely learning not to mess with him. Sometimes it’s the Parasaurolophus in the river, or the lone Pteranodon perched in a tree, or the group of Edmontosauruses grazing on the hilltop. As soon as he feels their eyes on him, he knows his best chance is to stare back, to show that he’s willing to put up a fight, that chasing him wouldn’t be worth it.

Obviously, there are some dinosaurs that doesn’t work on. But if Ben can drastically cut down the amount of time spent running for his life by standing his ground, then he’ll take it.

All he has to do is not back down.

 ~*~

 Ben avoids Yasmina for the next few days.

 ~*~

 Brooklynn wakes up in the middle of the night with an unshakeable feeling that something is wrong.

Her bad feeling is confirmed when she gets a look at the moon. Based on its position in the sky, she should’ve been woken up by Ben to take her night watch shift at least an hour ago. This practice, established by Darius months ago who insisted they should always have at least one person awake, has already become routine within the group. Brooklynn couldn’t sleep fully through the night if she tried.

Ben’s only just recently become a part of the routine. Immediately after his return, Darius thought it best just to let Ben settle in and get as much rest as he could, now that he had the security to do so, and everyone agreed. Ben had insisted he didn’t mind, but Darius stood firm, so it’s only been within the last few days that Ben took part.

But this is the first time he hasn’t woken Brooklynn up and her heart is in her throat as she rushes to the lookout point-

Only to find Ben sitting right where he’s supposed to be, looking out over their compound as a small candle burns next to him.

As soon as Brooklynn’s relief passes, it’s replaced with anger. “What are you doing?” she whispers furiously.

Ben, not at all surprised by her presence, gives her a sidelong look. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You were supposed to wake me up, so I could do night watch.” Brooklynn struggles to keep her voice low, so as not to alert the others. “What gives?”

Ben shrugs. “I knew I wasn’t gonna sleep tonight, so I figured I’d just take the whole watch myself.”

“That’s not how this works,” Brooklynn hisses, crossing her arms. “Even if you can’t fall asleep- and I’ve totally been there- you have to lay down and close your eyes and rest. You need to rest.”

Ben breaks into an easy smile, but Brooklynn can see the annoyed creases at his eyes. “Hey, it’s fine. I can-”

“Take care of yourself, I know,” Brooklynn interrupts, hating how frustrated she sounds but unable to help it. “But you don’t have to. We’re a team. We can take care of you too, alright?”

Ben stares at her for a moment. “I know that,” he says, sounding uncertain.

Brooklynn softens. When she reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, he lets her. “Then… why?”

“I don’t know,” Ben admits. The muscles beneath Brooklynn’s hand are so tense, it feels like they’re going to snap. “I don’t know.”

They finish the night watch together.

 ~*~

 Brooklynn almost hates to bring it up to Darius.

Dude’s stressing almost nonstop about everything, all the time. And it really isn’t fair for him to be responsible for the rest of them, including Ben. But Darius is the only one who seems to have the… what’s it called, emotional intelligence, she supposes, to weigh in on the situation.

(Sammy is a close second, but her brand of caring is a little more touchy-feely, and this doesn’t seem like the right time for that.)

Darius is immediately worried, pointing out that Ben might accidentally fall asleep on watch if he keeps this up (something Brooklynn hadn’t even thought about). He promises to talk to Ben about it, and that’s that.

Brooklynn is only slightly relieved because she knows if Darius had a real fix for the problem, he would’ve said so. And if Darius doesn’t have a fix for it, maybe there isn’t one.

 ~*~

 Those first several nights, Ben doesn’t sleep at all.

And it’s not for lack of trying. But how can he sleep, when it’s pitch black and the jungle is full of unfamiliar sounds and he’s got no one but a baby Ankylosaurus by his side? He soon finds it’s even worse without Bumpy, though, because at least he trusted that Bumpy would wake up if there was any danger, as her senses are more powerful than his.

On his own, there’s no one to wake him up. So he has to stay up, and settle for catching short scattered naps throughout the day (if he can find a tree to hide up in).

It’s hard, but he’d rather be tired than dead.

 ~*~

 Ben is taken off night watch, but still ends up awake more often than not.

 ~*~

 Pyromaniac is a word no one ever expected to become synonymous with Ben, and yet here they are.

It’s one of the first things he always suggests as an answer to a problem; blow something up. Darius has a million reasons for them not to do that; they could get hurt, they could start a wildfire and burn the jungle down, they could attract unwanted attention from predators.

But that doesn’t stop Ben from cataloguing everything on the island that can be used as an explosive, memorizing their locations or creating hidden stashes. It doesn’t stop him from using the candles that came with the scavenged emergency kits. He’ll light them for no reason, just to watch the small flame flicker back and forth.

(Someday, months later, they’ll encounter a horrific hybrid dinosaur that is drawn to flames, and they’ll all think about how unsettling it is that Ben shares this trait, but none of them will say it.)

 ~*~

 It’s been one week since Bumpy left, and Ben is starting a fire.

Just a small one. It rained all day and he’s soaked to the bone, which normally wouldn’t be a huge problem considering the jungle climate. But now that it’s nighttime, there’s a chill in the air and he can’t afford to get sick. It’s risky, because at night he knows the light could draw attention to him, but his teeth are starting to chatter so there’s no helping it.

When a Stegosaurus stumbles upon him, baying low and angry at finding another creature in its territory, it’s the fire that makes it balk. Rumbling displeasure, it retreats back into the dark jungle. Ben quickly adds torches to his arsenal, using the rest of his shirt as tinder.

Fire is safety.

 ~*~

 Ben lights his candles in silence.

 ~*~

 “You can’t just run off like that,” Kenji says, deadly serious.

Ben scoffs. “I think you’re forgetting who defeated Toro,” he says with an easy smile.

“You’re not invincible, Ben!” Kenji snaps. The anger churning inside him is deceptively hollow, like it’s masking something else. “And I can’t lose you again.”

Ben isn’t smiling anymore. “You won’t,” he mutters, pushing past Kenji. “I can take care of myself, now. I don’t need you to play the hero and protect me.”

Kenji wants to protest that’s not what this is about, and that’s never been what this is about, but Ben is already gone.

 ~*~

 Ben still lives off berries and grubs.

 ~*~

 “… and so I was thinking, berries have seeds in them, right? So if we plant some, we’ll have our own berry bushes at the clubhouse. It’ll cut down our foraging time in the mornings for sure, and-”

“Uh, who are you talking to, Ben?”

Ben blinks at Yasmina’s voice, the girl having only just entered the room.

“Um, Bumpy?” he says, as if this should be obvious.

Yasmina glances out at the compound, where Bumpy is fast asleep and well out of earshot.

“… right.”

 ~*~

 Ben can’t sleep, even when he’s actually trying.

 ~*~

 “Alright,” Darius says, “so we need to get the T-Rex out of Main Street so we can do another sweep for supplies. Any ideas?”

Ben’s hand goes up.

“For the hundredth time, Ben, we aren’t going to feed the T-Rex to the Mosasaurus.”

Ben’s hand goes down.

 ~*~

 Ben feels more at home with Bumpy than the other campers.

 ~*~

 “You know we didn’t mean to leave you, right? We would’ve come back for you if we’d known…”

 ~*~

 Ben never talks about getting off the island.

 ~*~

 “You have to tell us where you’re going, Ben, you can’t just disappear-”

 ~*~

 Ben keeps slipping away.

 ~*~

“Blowing stuff up isn’t the answer to everything!”

~*~

 Ben keeps saying he’s okay.

 ~*~

 “We’re a team, we have to work together-”

 ~*~

 Ben keeps smiling.

 ~*~

 “Don’t you trust us to protect you?”

 ~*~

 Ben doesn’t know.

 ~*~

 Sammy finds Ben sitting on the roof of the clubhouse one day.

Her footsteps are loud and obvious as she approaches him. No chance of sneaking up. She knows he’s noticed her, from the subtle shift in his body. He doesn’t acknowledge her, though, continuing to stare off over the jungle and into the horizon, his skinny legs slotted through the railing and dangling over the edge.

The sun’s about to set, a few stars already twinkling in the purple edges of the sky. Sammy can remember another night, months ago, where Ben wasn’t here but everyone else was and they spotted bonfire smoke in the distance. She remembers the way her heart raced, the overwhelming joy and relief flooding through her. And yet, there had been undeniable heartache, because the realization that they’d made it out only meant it was more unfair that Ben hadn’t.

Sammy breaks the silence after a few moments.

“Are you okay?”

Ben doesn’t look at her, but she can see the easy smile that slants across his face, dying sunlight reflected in his eyes.

“Yeah.”

Sammy sees the lie for what it is. None of them are okay. No one who’s been through what they have would be. But there’s a certain danger that comes with not being willing to admit it, and an even greater danger that comes with not being able to see it.

“Y’know, it’d be fine if you weren’t.”

Ben doesn’t answer.

Sammy sits with him until the sky turns dark.

 ~*~

 It’s the way he struggles to eat anything he hasn’t obtained by himself.

It’s the way he sometimes goes off on his own without telling anyone.

It’s the way he talks to himself when he thinks no one else is around.

It’s the way he takes any concern for his safety as a personal attack.

It’s the way he leaps at the chance to blow something up.

It’s the way he can stare silently for hours.

It’s the way he smiles a little too easily.

 ~*~

 It’s not jumping at every unexpected movement, or screaming awake from night terrors, or flinching away from the slightest touch. It’s not loud meltdowns or hysterical sobbing or uncontrollable fits of rage.

(Even though those will come, someday, when the island is just a memory.)

It’s the little things, that- once you notice them- keep piling up.

And suddenly, they don’t seem so little anymore.

 ~*~

[aion-rsa]

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Reveals That Friendship is When Trust Defeats Loneliness

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In Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, a group of teenagers from very different walks of life learn that they have to depend on one another in order to survive the ordeal of being abandoned on an island full of dinosaurs. As much as the series revolves around escaped dinosaurs, jump scares, and corporate conspiracy, at its core are six lonely teenagers who really just want to have someone to connect to. By the time the season has concluded, those teens have found that they can trust each other with their lives, if not with everything else.

Darius

The series opens with Darius, a video gamer who wins a trip to Camp Cretaceous by successfully completing a game mission. He’s the only one of the Camp Cretaceous campers who truly loves dinosaurs for their own sake, and his only ulterior motive for being at Camp Cretaceous is to fulfill a promise he made to his father: that they would go to Jurassic World together.

But his father is gone. It’s not completely explained until episode 4 “Things Fall Apart”, but even from the first episode there’s the heavy implication that Darius’s father has died. Although his brother and mother both seem supportive, it’s clear that the loss of his father—who shared his passion for dinosaurs—hit him hard. When he arrives at Camp Cretaceous, it’s clear his father is present in his thoughts, and he’s determined not to waste a moment of his opportunity to be on Isla Nublar.

It makes sense that Darius would find like-minded fellow dinosaur lovers at camp, that he’d find a kindred spirit to help mitigate the loneliness he feels in losing the person who understood him best. But instead, he seems to be alone in his passion. He wants the other campers to like him, but that seems almost unattainable in the first few episodes, where he has no real way to connect with these other, not-dino-loving kids. In fact, they label him “Dino Nerd” early on—not in a complimentary way—and Darius is treated like a kid by older, richer, cooler Kenji. When Darius bails Kenji out for breaking the rules, landing them both in deep water, and discovers he’d fallen for a false sob story, he’s justifiably angry, but not angry enough to keep Kenji, who claims insider VIP knowledge of the island and park, for leading him on a second misadventure.

The two don’t like each other until far later (and even then, Kenji is mostly insufferable), but that bond of rule-breaking—and saving each other’s lives in dino encounters—starts forming the friendship and trust they’ll need when things get tough. It ends up being Kenji’s rightly-placed trust in Darius that helps Darius become the group’s leader. But it’s also the memory of Darius’s father, pledging that even when things fall apart, “we pick up the pieces and keep going,” that becomes Darius’s own inspirational speech—and one that the other campers quote back to him when he’s at his own moment of hopelessness. Their faith in him helps him realize that the memories of his father go with him everywhere, and when he tells them about his father’s death toward the end of the season, it’s less awkward for him than it is for the others, because they’ve helped him come to terms with it through their belief in him.

The Cattle Drive

The isolation of both Brooklynn and Yasmina is the focus of the third episode in the series: “The Cattle Drive,” as well as Sammy’s complete lack of understanding that people might prefer not to be surrounded by others. Sammy, daughter of ranchers, who has several siblings and extended family living around her, can’t fathom that a person might be a loner. When Kenji says, “You know how sometimes people just wanna be left alone?” She bursts into laughter, responding, “Kenji, you’re hilarious.” But Yasmina has no interest in being drawn out of her shell. As an athlete, she practices alone. Her hobbies are private. She has no interest in inviting the criticism of others, so she shuts everyone out.

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Brooklynn, on the other hand, is the focus of thousands of viewers on her own social media channel. She’s constantly taking footage to share with her followers—and she’s constantly under the scrutiny of strangers, desperately craving their approval. “There’s a lot of pressure when your whole life is about being popular,” she confesses to Darius. She can’t fathom that anyone else in the group might just really want to be liked, even if it’s not on the same scale. And while she admits later on that she’s not great at “IRL friendships,” it doesn’t initially occur to her that maybe what she needs is for real friendships, rather than the adoration of strangers, to make her feel validated.

Sammy’s speech to a sinoceratops, showcasing her own bravery as she tries to befriend the huge dinosaur, hits Yasmina right where it counts: “It’s hard to trust strangers,” Sammy says, promising, “I’ll trust you if you trust me.” Suddenly, Yasmina realizes that giving someone her trust is exactly what she needs, and the two become fast friends.

The Betrayal

Ultimately, it’s because that trust is betrayed that Yasmina is so crushed when Sammy reveals she’s been spying for Mantah Corp. Sammy is Yasmina’s first real friend. She defends Sammy when Brooklynn airs her suspicions that Sammy stole her phone. So when Sammy admits to her own lies—only after she’s been caught red handed—it totally undermines every ounce of faith she’d developed in others.

Sammy’s first loyalty is to her family, whom she clearly loves deeply��enough that she’s willing to risk everything to save them. But she’s also the type of character who easily gives her love and friendship to others. In the middle of a group of strangers at camp, she’s the one determined to make connections and friendships—the one unwilling to accept loneliness as a default. She’s open with herself, and one would think it would make her the worst kind of spy. (The fact that the kids do catch her supports that theory.) 

When she tries to make up with Yaz, it’s with that same selfless sharing of herself. After Yasmina risks herself to save Darius and Sammy, gratitude and admiration push Sammy to try to mend the rift between them. “That was amazing,” she says. “You’re amazing.” (The speech may encourage viewers to suspect Sammy’s feelings for Yasmina are also romantic, especially with the precedents set in Dreamworks series like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. If there is a romantic tension underlying their friendship, these scenes pack an even harder punch.) But forgiveness doesn’t come easily; it takes more than just an apology and gratitude to bring Sammy and Yaz back together.

Last Day of Camp

It’s been hinted at that rich-kid Kenji is mostly left to his own devices when he’s at home. He’s full of put-on confidence, but when he talks about going home, the first thing he says he’ll do is go down to the bowling alley in their mansion, where the staff always lets him win. But as he describes it, he loses all enthusiasm. “Life of a VIP,” he says mournfully, looking at Darius. Later, he describes that he and his father have almost never shared an experience together, countering that sadness with a reminder that he’s wealthy, as though that should make up for his time alone.

Ben, still mocked by the rest of the group for his fanny packs and non-sugar, non-caffeine lifestyle, doesn’t argue with the teasing of the others, because he believes they’re right. He feels like he’s the one holding everyone back. The best friend he’s made by this episode is Bumpy, a baby ankylosaurus, that he was unwilling to abandon the way the adults abandoned the campers. 

When the other campers ask why he came to Camp Cretaceous, he acknowledges it’s because his mother wanted him to face his fears—but instead, he’s only had more things to be afraid of. And he’s tired of it, to the point that he realizes in order to be one of the team, he has to take a risk, too. That moment of risk and triumph is when he becomes a real member of the team, finally. It’s also why his loss in the next episode hits the other campers so hard.

To Friendship

As the campers believe they’ve finally made it out of Jurassic World alive, taking the monorail down to the South Ferry Docks, Sammy offers a toast to “the six of us being best friends for life,” the other campers don’t share her optimism. Brooklynn feels like friendships take more than a few days to form; Yasmina insists that they were only thrown together, and that their lack of anything in common will make it impossible to maintain any semblance of friendship after camp. 

But the crestfallen faces of the group make it clear that they don’t want that to be true. They want to believe that they’re friends. As Sammy protests, they’ve been through too much together to not be friends. But Ben reminds them the odds of their ever seeing each other again are small, and they sit in silence, stewing over that, each of them sitting alone in their own seat on the monorail.

Just one episode later, as the first season concludes—and they realize that they won’t be saying goodbye to each other until rescue comes—Darius reminds them that until help arrives, “we’ve got each other.” The nicknames that at the beginning of the season felt like teasing have become their proud monikers. They’ve learned that their trust is much better placed in each other than in the adults running the park. The friendships that they protested just an episode before have formed solidly, and the five remaining campers no longer separate themselves, sitting alone, mourning a lost opportunity. They interweave their arms, or lean on each other’s shoulders, acknowledging that they’re better together.

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And that wherever they go from here, Sammy’s right. They’ve become friends, and maybe even something deeper: they’ve become a team.

The post Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Reveals That Friendship is When Trust Defeats Loneliness appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[p0m0u]

I personally love Darilynn, I think they have great chemistry, in terms of friendship and “co-leader situation” (as Dave would say), because they don’t compete with each other but support each other and they give in when it’s necessary (obviously they clash too because they are teenagers -and humans-). I think their relationship could easily develop into a crush, although my fave ship for Darius is Benrius. Aaaand this contradicts my otp, which is BenYaz (I’m a delusional, I know).

The problem with Darius ships (for me) is Darius age: even though he is kind of mature for his age, I see him still too “childish”, too focused on his interest (Dinos, Dinos and Dinos), like any other kid of his age, and with a recent trauma, to think of crushes, at least for the time being. I could be wrong, obv, but being the main character does not mean that you are going to have romance for sure. In fact, the fandom tends to pair everyone with everyone, but what if only one ship is canon and the rest are unrequited crushes o no crushes at all? We’ll see.

As for the age gap, I say it once more: if you are shipping Kenji and Brook, Ben and Darius, Yaz and Darius, Yaz and Brook, etc. in a healthy, proper way, the age gap shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, in ep 3x4, when Brook asks Sammy if she has a secret crush, she proposes Darius, Kenji and Yaz. The gap between Sammy and Darius is 2 years, so if the creators/writers are putting this through Brook, it means it can be a possibility = it’s OK.

On the other hand, I can’t say I dislike Benji because I really enjoy their shippy moments in first season (and other funny moments like “Kenji is in charge” or “Respect the captain’s hat”, among few others), but beyond that I think that Ben kind of takes distance from Kenji since ep 1x4 (min 20), when they have a clash because Kenji makes fun of him in a cruel way. Yeah, it’s true they later reconnect, and they share a parallel scene (Kenji takes the fanny pack, Ben takes the captain hat), but 1)That happens between other characters, and 2)Ben’s attitude towards him is like “I fought a big, scary dinosaur, I don’t need your protection anymore”. At least that’s my interpretation after rewatching the show (and very unpopular opinion, I suppose). Despite that, I must say that I find Benji more plausible than KenYaz, for instance, and I will be supporting them if they end being canon, of course, but my otp will always be Benmina.

To be honest, the first time I watched the series I didn’t thought of ships until ep 2x7, when Ben and Yaz meet again. I’m aware that Yaz is interested in Sammy, but I think that maybe Ben has a crush on Yaz. And I’m not saying this just because the hug scene; it’s in little details (I can develop if anyone is interested, I don’t want to bore you more than necessary with my poor english ramblings). And yes, at the same time, I think that Ben and Darius relationship improves in the 3rd season, and they have some potential.

Last, but not least:

1)Darius is kind of “obsessed” with Ben’s fall, and he wants to “save” him by discovering what is wrong with him (3x1), by searching for him after the Scorpius incident in their base (3x7, and he ends being saved by Ben is the same fashion as Ben’s fall in season one), by trying to convince him by force to leave the island with them (3x7 too, they have this wrestling scene) and finally reaching his hand in 3x8, in a parallel with season 1 and ep 3x7.

2)As for Kenji, he does something similar to Yaz in The Long Run: he ignores his fellow campers plan (Yaz ignores the warnings about Scorpius) and runs desperately with laptop where Brook is supposed to be (Yaz runs desperately to get the antidote to save Sammy). And the two eps share something more in common: Ben making a distraction!

I think I don’t need to develop Yassamy ^^ But my conclusion is that if the “love dynamics” or “love code” of Camp Cretaceous is saving the loved one, then the ships should be Yassamy, Benrius and Kenlynn. And that’s why I was saying earlier that 6 people doesn’t mean 3 pairs necessarily. Maybe Yassamy is the canon pair and Kenji and Ben have unrequited crushes on Brook and Yaz, respectively… I don’t think it’s the main point of the series, but unrequited crushes would add some realism, too.

If I’m wrong, you can come at the end of 5th season and drop a 🤡 in the replies, I’ll kindly accept it 🙃

And that’s all! Sorry for the loooong post.

Is there anyone else in the jwcc fandom who doesn't ship Darilynn and Benji? Their dynamic never came across as shippy to me

[ultrashadowkai]

Camp Cretaceous 4x03

One of this season’s antagonists is named BRAD. I can’t get that out or my head

That's more accurate for a saber-toothed tiger to live. Not really but it's better than a hot dry desert

Oh look, familar danger

Um, hi sandwich science lady? Can you get these kids back to civilization or are you going to turn on us and cause problems

No communications on the island at all in any form, not even to call for help in the event of injury or some other immediate emergency? That's real safe science!

So we’ll be going into the spooky forest later?

Darius keeps running into adults who share his enthusaism with dinosaurs. Hopefully, he won't get hurt this time

There it is. She works for Mantah Corp

If these kids could just keep their mouths shut and play dumb, they can go home with less trauma. Yes, Mantah Corp is a Problem but so is the corporation behind Jurassic World

Yaz, no! Don't help this ship!

Not everyone who works for an evil company is evil. Heck, not everyone who works for an evil company knows they work for an evil company

Wait! I don't want the compy dead!

So technology will be our big physical threat this season and its name is BRAD

"See, she's not evil," I say desperately hoping I'm right

What are those cube things they're eating?

Drugs. The dinos are being fed drugs

Yaz spends some time with Ben for one day and Ben thinks Yaz has a crush on him

What does it say that this villain is playing with a fidget spinner?