#he can also turn into a triceratops which is my favorite dinosaur

[thenukacolachallenge]

i’d say sorry for the Sasaki spam, but, you know, my house

[doubleddenden]

Okay I had a whole thing typed that was my review for the new Pokémon dropped in Indigo Disk, but tumblr ate it, so take 2

Starting with my favorite, Archaludon. It's a dragon, a kaiju, also a stapler remover, also a bridge with power cables inside. This is a really cool design overall and fixes what I dislike about Duraludon, and it's fun to play with. 9/10

Hydrapple fixes what I dislike about Dipplin, but does make Flapple and Appletun a bit obsolete. Regardless, it's a fun idea and concept- I love that 7 Syrpents (which I guess aren't individually pokemon on their own? Slowbro Shelder situation I guess) make up 1 pokemon. It's silly but fun. 8/10

Also these two are neat because the concepts tie into New York/ Unova if we look at it through lense of Archaludon's Sky Arrow Bridge being based on Brooklyn Bridge and Rainbow Bridge, and Hydrapple clearly being a Big Apple reference. Very creative

Onto the paradoxes

Raging Bolt is interesting. I prefer Raikou, and I'll be the first to admit that I do not give a shit about how many cultural or historical references are in a design, if it looks like shit its a shit design. But this design is pretty okay, and because of that I can appreciate ALL of the inspirations that went into its design.

First off, with the Beast Paradoxes drawing inspiration from dinosaurs, we have Raging Bolt as the Thunder Lizard- aka Brontosaurus. That alone is meat, but it's still pretty mammalian compared to Walking Wake- that's because there's references to something called a Questing Beast. In Medieval times, before the age of cameras or fact checking, a description of an animal far far away- such a giraffe- can get twisted abd distorted via several games of telephone until we get to a creature that combines the lower body of a leopard and deer and the neck and head of a snake- aka the Questing Beast. Raging Bolt plays a bit with all of these ideas in a pretty unique and fun way. 8/10

Iron Crown- admittedly the Justice Paradoxes suffer a bit from the same "just make it a robot" mentality that plagues other Violet Paradoxes, but the Swords of Justice got the better end of it, I'd say. Iron Crowns in particular actually fixes what I hate about Cobalion by adding segments to the legs and thus making them feel less like bipedal knees on a quadrupedal animal.

It's signature move, Tachyon Cutter, also looks so cool in action by making the horns HUGE and GLOWING. That's awesome imo. 8/10

And now the new paradoxes we knew were coming

Gouging Fire, Entei's Paradox. I'll say that I like it, although this is the least changed of the Beasts and is basically just Entei in a fancy hat. Hey, that's fine though.

The dinosaur Entei is based on is some kind of ceratopsian blend. I personally thought they'd go in that direction with a triceratops design, so I was close. The head dress piece actually gives me Ho-Oh vibes, in particularly the gold and greens, which could be purposeful and root the Beasts Paradoxes back to the Beast's master, Ho-Oh. Fun design, 8/10

Iron Boulder. This one imo is more of the "robot" angle but done in a very good way. I like Terrakion best out of the Swords to begin with, but only at certain angles in 2d (they murdered him in SV. Murdered. He looks like a cross eyed frog now.) Iron Boulder takes the bulky build of Terrakion and makes it work better in 3d by incorporating spherical and cone builds along its body and head.

It definitely looks the LEAST like a psychic type out if any psychic type I've ever seen, but that's fine. Like Iron Crown with its twin horns and Iron Leaves with its 3 blades, Iron Boulder has a cool looking sword move- his turns his two larger horns into ONE MASSIVE GLOWING BLADE. THAT'S REALLY COOL! 8/10

And now. The Boy

Terapagos is a cute design that becomes more elegant, refined, and Stellar as it becomes stronger. While I'm a bit disappointed at how they handled it in story after a year of build up, I do think the designs after it's base form are incredibly detailed and creative.

The type patterns on its shell actually shift and change smoothly to other types, and the Terastilized form is even more incredible by representing every type plus a hat version of its original form. Beautiful, yet imposing, and a tad silly. The dome is an interesting take that I believe might represent the world or perhaps even a larger turtle- the design could reference one of many World Turtle mythologies and possibly have it represent a planet in space, or maybe a Turtle floating in the ocean, perhaps it's even a reference to the Tale of Urashima Taro. If Terapagos was available in Blueberry Academy- which I think it started out that way in planning- it could even represent the Terarium itself. Perhaps a deeper story was originally planned but dropped- like the castles and gigantic tree of Crown Tundra.

Regardless, base form is a 6/10. Its cute but kinda pointless. The other forms though are 8/10 though for incredible execution, wonderful and pleasing use of color, and overall just being great.

This batch of new Pokémon is way better than Teal Mask's, let's be real. For the paradoxes, I'll say the Future ones got better after Iron Leaves, while Walking Wake was the peak for the Beasts. Ogerpon wins for cutest legendary with the best build up, but Terapagos definitely wins for best design. This batch is an everall 8/10

[gerec]

Au-gust 2022

1. Underwater 2. Artist’s Muse 3. Countryside

-----

4. Dinosaurs

Pairing(s): Cherik (as kids) Warnings: N/A

A sequel to this ficlet written for AU-gust 2020!

Once the movie ends, they’re all herded up the stairs to Erik’s bedroom, where their various foam mats and sleeping bags have already been laid out on the floor. They’re much too excited to fall asleep quickly, though luckily, Erik’s mom pretends that she can’t hear them giggling and whispering to each other as soon as she closes the door.

“That was such an awesome movie,” Alex says, from his spot between Hank and Darwin. Charles’ bedroll is right beside Erik’s, who’s decided to forgo the bed so he can sleep with everyone else on the floor. “The dinosaurs looked so real.”

“Yeah, it’s way better than looking at old skeletons,” Darwin adds. “I mean, the museum was fun but imagine if the dinosaurs there were like the ones in the movie! How cool would that be?”

Predictably, Hank scoffs, because he loves science and history and – since their class trip – has decided he’s going to be a paleontologist when he grows up. “You know none of that stuff is real, right, in the movie? Skeletons are real; they’re the remains of an actual dinosaur.”

That sets off a round of bickering between the three friends, which Erik promptly ignores, rolling his eyes and scooting his sleeping bag closer to Charles.

“Did you like the movie?” he asks, nudging Charles’ shoulder and slipping him a piece of candy from his hidden stash. Charles has already brushed his teeth so he can’t eat it now, so he tucks it under his pillow like a secret treasure. “Jurassic Park is one of my favorites.”

Charles sighs. “I loved it. I loved all the different species of dinosaurs, especially the triceratops.”

Erik wrinkles his nose. “Really? But he doesn’t do anything except lay there on the ground! Even the brachiosauruses were better than the triceratops!”

Huffing indignantly, Charles counters, “I can like him if I want to, Erik! What about you? I bet you like the T-Rex ‘cause he’s big and scary and has the sharpest teeth!”

Erik grins widely, baring his teeth, making Charles laugh when he pretends to take a big bite of his arm. His squeal draws the attention of the others, and pulls them into the discussion about everyone’s favorite dinosaur.

(Hank, Alex and Darwin all choose the velociraptors, which doesn’t surprise Charles at all, since they also tend to travel around in a pack and work together to cause a surprising amount of chaos.)

“Okay but who’s your favorite character?” Darwin asks, “I liked Dr. Malcolm. He was smart and funny.”

“Me, I liked the chief engineer, Ray. Too bad he got eaten,” Alex says. “What about you, Hank?”

“I guess…Dr. Wu the main scientist? He was really smart, cloning the dinosaurs from DNA. Not that you can do that in real life but it’s still kinda cool.”

“Erik?” Snorting loudly, Erik grabs an empty cup and drops it rather dramatically over his Captain America action figure. “I liked the lawyer getting eaten by the T-Rex.”

Everyone groans in his direction, then turn expectantly towards Charles to hear his pick.

“I liked Dr. Grant,” Charles says, after careful consideration, even if he’s been thinking since the ‘T-Rex in the rain scene’ that Dr. Grant is the absolute best. “He’s smart, and handsome, and he took care of the kids.”

That draws a rather intense look from his best friend, Erik’s brow furrowing in surprise before his lips turn down and he whispers, only for Charles’ ears, “You think he’s handsome?”

“Well yes, I mean—”

“You like him? Like…like him, like him?”

Charles’ cheek flush hot from the pointed questioning, and decides to turn the spotlight on Erik instead. “Maybe? Why, are you jealous?”

If anything, Erik’s expression turns even more sour, and he ducks his head under the sleeping bag so Charles can’t see his face. “What if I was?”

“Then I’ll tell you that you’re being dumb, Erik Lehnsherr, because I don’t like anyone more than I like you.”

“Really?”

Charles smiles and pokes his finger at Erik’s covered head. “Yes, really.”

“Hey what are you guys whispering about?” Alex interrupts, which is enough to nudge Erik out of hiding, pulling his head out from under the sleeping bag to grin over at Charles. He fluffs his pillow a bit and rolls onto his back, moving around until he’s pressed up against Charles’ side.

“Nothing. Everybody, go to bed,” he says, reaching out to give Charles’ hand a quick squeeze. “Goodnight, Charles.”

“Goodnight,” Charles answers, and doesn’t let go of Erik’s hand.

[dinosaurtsukki]

[ the same eyes as you ]

prequel to ‘it’s good to be home’ (read here)

pairing: tsukishima kei x f!reader

word count: 1.5k words

contains: slight angst, tsukishima is a FATHER

anon: henlo can you do one with tsukishima where he breaks up with reader and the reader just found out she's pregnant with his child, and then time skips he saw the reader with a child and he's like shookt and you can do whatever you want after that shhsahagag that's all i got. Sorryy if that's too weird.

a/n: omg YES PREGNANT!READER BUT MAKE IT ANGST !! i’ve been so excited to write this one and ngl it’s a bit short but i hope you like it !!

months ago, you would have never thought you’d be hiding a positive pregnancy test from tsukishima. in fact, he would be the first person you would show it to. in your mind, you could still see the way his eyes would light up despite the nervous quiver of his mouth at finding he was going to be a father. 

but after the fight you two just had, after hearing tsukishima say the words that put a period on your relationship, you kept the information firmly to yourself. you didn’t care if the child in your belly was also tsukishima’s. he said he no longer wanted you in his life and so, you were going to walk out of it. 

maybe months ago, you thought he would make a good father. 

“so, are you going to have the baby?” your friend asked. you decided to move into her place after leaving the apartment you and tsukishima once shared. you bit your lip, placing a hand over your belly, trying to imagine another beating heart inside of you. 

as much as you wanted to, you still couldn’t bring yourself to completely hate tsukishima kei. you wished things to go back to the way they were, that you would open your eyes in the morning and find his arm wrapped around you again or hear him mumbling an apology in your ear and a ‘don’t go’ that you were more than happy to oblige to.

you couldn’t bring yourself to let go of this baby and you were willing enough to raise them, even if tsukishima was no longer in the picture. 

...

tsukishima would rather die than admit that he quite liked it when he had to tour for school field trips. of course, he hated it when kids were rowdy but he found that they weren’t as annoying as adults said they would be. most of the time, tsukishima found that they were interested enough about the museum exhibits to be silent and pay attention. 

and most of all, tsukishima loved the funny questions that they would ask. his favorite one from the tour he just did earlier was when this young girl asked if it was possible that dinosaurs were furry or had hair since the fossils didn’t exactly said that they wouldn’t.

‘you sure are going places,’ tsukishima laughed to himself, shaking his head as he left the floor for another tour guide to take over with a fossil-digging activity. tsukishima suddenly remembered that at one point, he did consider having kids.

except, the person he wanted to start a family with was long gone. 

tsukishima was still filled with regret for saying those things to you years ago. after you left, the realization that the apartment, that was now technically his, was too empty. the bathroom didn’t have its usual amount of your skincare and hair products. the kitchen cupboards didn’t have your favorite cereal and tea. and the bed. it didn’t smell like you anymore. tsukishima actually stopped sleeping there for a week because it felt so wrong

he had half a mind to call you up and ask you back but you also changed your contact info, much to his surprise. and when he finally did get ahold of your number, tsukishima couldn’t press ‘call.’ 

after everything he said to you, would you really want to come back?

tsukishima did try to move on, tried to open himself up more to new relationships and meeting new people. but in the end, things never quite worked out. and tsukishima would always know that you were the one that got away.

‘no point in dwelling in the past,’ tsukishima reminded himself as he entered the museum cafe to get some lunch, which was funny because that’s exactly when the past caught up to him.

right when he sat at his table was when you sat at yours and when you looked up across the two tables between the two of you, your eyes landed on your ex-boyfriend.

“tsukishima kei,” you involuntarily said aloud.

“y/n,” you heard him say in reply. his eyes widened as he took in the sight of you. the fact that you were older was a given, but he couldn’t deny that you looked well. especially since the last time he saw you was when you were leaving his apartment.

“well,” you felt a wry smile tug at your lips. “look at you.”

you couldn’t put a pin exactly on how you were feeling. maybe years ago you would have turned away at the sight of him. but you had raised a whole child by yourself without his help. at this point, there wasn’t anything you were afraid of facing head.

“yeah,” tsukishima swallowed. “how have you been?” 

you had a feeling that tsukishima was drifting in and out of his comfort zone at this point so you knew you had to take some control. and with that, you decided to sit at his table.

“quite alright, actually,” you smiled. “got a job and a house and all that fun adult stuff,” you chuckled. with a pang, tsukishima realized you were playing on an inside joke between you two. he remembered that day you two went shopping for apartment furniture, laughing at the fact that you two were now ‘finally becoming adults because we bought a dishrack now’.

“ah, same here,” tsukishima nodded.

“you work here?” you asked, gesturing vaguely at the museum.

“yeah, curating and doing tours,” tsukishima said. he knew very well that he wasn’t being conversational but that’s because he wouldn’t be able to control himself. years ago, you left because he hurt you and he wanted you back for so long. and now, you were right here in front of him.

and then, you decided to finally drop the bomb.

"when i left, i was pregnant,” you said. tsukishima felt his world go cold as he stared at you in disbelief.

“did you...?”

“i kept it, her, actually,” you laughed before falling silent and looking softly at your child’s father. “...she has your eyes.”

as if on cue, a young girl ran into the cafe and into your arms. “mommy!” she exclaimed. tsukishima watched with wide eyes, recognizing the little girl as the one who asked the funny question about dinosaurs earlier during the tour. aside from his eyes, tsukishima could see that her hair was just a darker shade of blonde than his. but her smile, that was yours.

“hey, honey. how was the tour?” you smiled, fixing the ribbon on her hair that had come loose.

“it was great! there was this really big triceratops skeleton that was even bigger than you and then we had a fossil digging activity and i dug up a lot of them!” your daughter continued to chatter. over her head, you had a clear view of the look on tsukishima’s face. his mouth hung slightly open and other than the rise and fall of his shoulders, you couldn’t tell if he was breathing. his eyes looked close to watering.

“oh, it’s mr. tour guide man!” your daughter grinned, turning around to face tsukishima who looked like a deer in the headlights now. “mommy, do you know him?” 

“he’s... an old friend,” you said, patting your daughter’s hair. “now, why don’t you run along first? mommy’s only going to talk for a few minutes,” you smiled.

“grown-up talk?” your daughter wrinkled her nose.

“yes, grown-up talk,” you chuckled. your daughter hopped off your lap, waved a little goodbye at the man she didn’t know was her father, and ran off.

“i... i have a daughter?” tsukishima whispered, watching her leave. “why didn’t you tell me?”

“i don’t think it would have fixed anything, between us, i mean,” you sighed.

“but, i could have at least known,” tsukishima said. “i... all this time...” he sighed and hung his head, finally opening about what he wanted to say.

“i wanted to reach out to you, to get you back.” 

“why didn’t you?” you asked. “all this time, i thought you wanted nothing to do with me.” 

“i guess we’re even,” tsukishima chuckled mirthlessly. “but, i hurt you more. you had to raise her by yourself, didn’t you?” 

“pretty much,” you pursed your lips, remembering those first few months when you definitely needed someone around.

tsukishima swallowed. he had no right to ask for this, not after everything he’s done or rather, failed to do. but he wanted to at least let you know that he wanted this. “can i be there, for the rest of her life? for the rest of your life?” 

“not going to lie, i’ve been having a hard time letting people in after we broke up,” you said. “but... i have missed you, tsukishima kei.” 

it felt as if a huge weight was lifted off tsukishima’s chest. he didn’t deserve this second chance, but now that he had that, he wasn’t going to let that go.

“we could start small,” he offered. “i could come see you guys once a week if you like.” 

“that sounds good,” you nodded. “she’s a lot like you, you know? one hell of a smart mouth,” you chuckled. 

“i better brace myself then,” tsukishima laughed, genuinely now. “what’s her name?” 

“hikari,” you smiled. 

“hikari,” tsukishima nodded, looking out the window of the cafe and watching hikari, his daughter, laughing with her friends in the museum lobby. “she has your smile, y/n.” 

▸ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ◂

taglist (still open to anyone who wants in!): @montys-chaos​ @miyumtwins​ @strawberriimilkshake​ @pocubo​ @sugawara-sweetheart @akaashisbabydoll @laure-chan​ @therainroguefanfiction​ @atetiffdoesart @stephdaninja @oikaw-ugh​ @charliefredb​ @dramaqueenweeb1469 @tremblinghearts @applepienation @doodleniella @haikyuu-my-love @waitforitillwritemywayout @kattykurr @tpwkatsumu

[dedenjoe]

I’VE BEEN PAINTING MINIS

So my brother got me into painting minis and scratch-building my own minis. I really want to show off what I've done so far!

This is DRUNKLE! The Hammered Lizard Wizard! He was a gift from two very good friends of mine. I did my best to paint and shadow him (one of two that I applied a wash to because I lost my wash D:)

This is Wash Tub Friendo! Or Babushcrab... Can’t decide which is a better name.

Did I mention I have SIX CRABS!? They are part of a traveling caravan! Still a work in progress. But this little friend is Chauffeur!

Clack-Clink! The sound of claws and pints of beer! and also her name!

Snappers is perhaps the ONLY crab who is more prepared to STAB than to SNIP! He’s got a +1 sword and no qualms about using it!

This is my favorite crab thus far. TREASURE CRAB! His name is obvious sure, but his job is an important one. Carry the treasure and pinch whomever gets to handsy! 

This is Potato Jones. They carry potatoes and less important cargo but are no less loved amongst crustacean merchants!

Though not the owner of the Crab Shack Traveling Merchant Caravan, Rider Ronda is indeed related! She and her Runner Ryuti usually have they’re own adventures out and about the many magical lands!

This is Theun! My character for STRAHD. The town’s executioner turned hero! He ended up leaving the party to join the mountain folk so now I’m playing another character (literally just finished the mini and now I won’t be using it for the campaign...)

BEHOLD A STAR SPAWN! No crazy story. Just a big fishy guy. I really liked painting him. Painting the water the best part!

Oh... and this is the PROTO-CLOWN CONTAINMENT UNIT!!!!!! Built him out of an Easter egg, a plastic lid, a tripod, and some miscellaneous toy bits! I am SO proud of how this turned out! 

THE PROTO-CLOWN WITHIN! Both the reason for containment and the FUEL for the machine! DON’T QUESTION IT! Just make sure it never ESCAPES!!!... Also...

Remember to smile!

These next few aren’t complete obviously... But I am excited to start painting! This here is a Laser Dino Commando I put together using some robot bits, a toy gun, and a dinosaur toy! Primed and ready to receive a colorful coat!

This little lady is actually what was left of like... four minis that had been destroyed by the cat of the house. Now cobbled together into a demon warrior!

Yet another Laser Dinosaur! Triceratops with what I can only assume to be a triple barrel GAUSS CANON!!!

And finally... TANKYLASAUR!!! You can barely see the dino in this Laser Dinosaur. But its there and I cannot wait to paint!!!

[country-club]

Games #3

#1 / #2

*gif not mine* Warnings: mentions of puke and embarassment Wordcount: 1.959

> Remember Rafe owing you a tour?

Yesterday you hung out with Sarah and her friends. It was fun, though you were left with a headache. Thanks to JJ. The day went by rather quickly and around 8pm you called your friends to play a game of skribbl, an online drawing game. They updated you on what’s going on at home and your ‘ex’. Were you technically dating? You can’t say for sure. But it felt like you did. He quit talking to you a week before you left. In return, you told your friends about your newly made friends and Rafe. Do you like him? It’s too early to say. Is he cute? Yes. Picture? Haven’t got one. How old is he? He looks 18/19. Does he have any cute friends? Well, there’s Topper.

“Oooh, I can be his bottom!” One of your friends cheered.

“I’ll let him know, hon.” You replied.

“Yall I’m beating your asses. Do you want to play or talk about y/n’s boyhunt?” One of the guys asks. You finished the game and continued talking. One of your friends sent you a link over chat.

“Is this him, y/n?” She asks. You clicked it and found Rafe’s Instagram page. It only had a few pictures, the latest being one of him, Topper and another boy, tagged as Kelce.

“Yep, that’s him.” You scrolled through his pictures. Sarah had commented on one of his pictures. You tapped her name and looked through her feed as well. Not much here either. What about the other Pogues? Kiara was the only one you could find. The boys probably didn’t care much about social media. Kiara had some photos of baby turtles on the beach, a few of her looking stunning in every outfit she wore and 2 pictures with the boys. You sent the pictures to your friends.

“Ok, so Kiara is the girl, the boy on her left is John B, the one behind her is Pope and the blonde one is JJ.”

“Y/n, you have been blessed, you know that?”

“Are all the boys in Outer Banks this attractive?” Your friends asked. You nodded.

“Most of them are.”

“So, will you leave any for us?”

“I think John B and Sarah are dating, and Pope looked like he has a thing for Kiara. But I’ll introduce you for sure.”

“What’s JJ short for?”

“Yeah, and why is it John B? How many John’s can there be on an island?” You weren’t sure. You discussed possible names and theories. It was about 11pm when you said goodbye and hung up.

You walked downstairs to stretch your legs, debating whether or not you should go for a walk. Hmm, yes. You grabbed a hoodie, put on some sneakers and out you went. Putting on some music and shuffling through your playlist. The sky was clear, and you could see the moon and stars above you. Your guilty pleasure started playing and you almost bumped into a lamppost, trying not to make dance moves whilst walking. You walked past Sarah’s house and got caught in the headlights of a car on their driveway. You almost had a heart attack. Taking out the earpiece your shyly waved at whoever was inside. They turned the lights off. You saw a tall figure getting out of the car. Rafe.

“Hey, y/n. What are you doing out?”

“Hey, Rafe. What are you doing alone inside your car, on the driveway, at 11:30 at night?”

“I asked you first.” He said playfully.

“Just taking a walk.”

“I was about to head over to Kelce.” Kelce was the guy from his Instagram picture.

“Was?” Rafe laughed. You walked closer to him, so you could actually see his face and stop talking loudly outside.

“Didn’t think I would run into you.” What did he mean by that? Is he not going to go to Kelce because of you or does he-. Your thoughts were interrupted by Rafe’s voice. He must have noticed your confusion. “I believe I promised you a tour.” It took you a second to realize what he was talking about. You had asked him to show you around Outer Banks yesterday.

“Right, you owed me one.” Rafe nodded to his car and opened the door for you. You got in and pulled the door close. Rafe got in behind the wheel. He looked extremely good tonight. His hair wasn’t as slicked back as usual. It made him look softer. It wasn’t hot at all outside, yet he was still wearing shorts. What is it with boys and shorts even though it’s cold?

The two of you drove around Figure 8 for a while and continued on The Cut. Rafe didn’t talk much, so it was up to you. “Do you want to play 20 questions?” Rafe looked over to you.

“Only if we can take turns.” He said. Alright now you just had to think of a question. You still wanted to know what happened two nights ago. Who he had fought and why. It’s too forward.

“What was your favorite dinosaur as a child?” Rafe didn’t have to think about it.

“Triceratops.” He said.

“Still is, am I right?” You didn’t really ask. They are simply the best. Rafe took his time to come up with a question.

“Alright, if you could find out how you were going to die, would you want to know?” Well goodbye dinosaur talk.

“I don’t think I would. No matter how much I hate surprises, I’d rather not be scared of cars or bathrooms for the rest of my life, you know?”

“Why would you be scared of bathrooms?”

“I don’t know I once read that a ton of people have died in bathrooms. It’s where a lot of accidents happen you know.” He looked at you, a bit confused, amused and impressed.

“If you could go back in time to change something, what would it be?” Rafe sighed.

“Not using my dad’s money to buy a bike.” You wanted to ask more questions, but he wouldn’t let you. “I don’t want to talk about that.” Rafe added. He stopped the car. “Can I show the around the boneyard?” This is starting to sound like The Lion King. Elephant graveyard? You opened the car door and got outside, as did Rafe. Rafe locked the car and led you to the beach. There were tree trucks and branches around the beach. It does kind of look like a boneyard.

“What do you think is the ugliest animal in the world?” Rafe asked. Right 20 questions. Truth or dare, without the dare part. You had to think for a minute. What is the ugliest animal?

“Those birds from the Jungle Book. They scream so loud.”

“Vultures?” Yep those, you nodded. You were walking on the boneyard and couldn’t see much. You tried to be careful enough to not trip and make yourself look like a fool. The stars were still very pretty. You could see the Little Bear, it kind of looks like a saucepan. And there you go. Your foot got stuck on a tree branch. However, before you could hit the ground you could feel two arms holding you up. You stood up straight again.

“You alright?” He asked. To which you nodded.

“Yeah, just got distracted for a second. Can we sit down for a minute?” You asked. Rafe dusted away some sand off a trunk and sat down. You sat down next to him. “What is something you wish you were better at?”

Rafe looked up at the night sky. “Making my dad proud.” Why wouldn’t Ward be proud of him? “I just feel like sometimes I can’t do anything right, you know?” You nodded. Was this his soft spot, his dad? You didn’t ask any further questions, seeing as you barely knew him and the subject sounds personal. You looked up again as well. Seeing his face turning your way in the corner of your eye. You could feel his eyes on you. The moonlight was bright enough for him to see your features.

“Is there any memory you would like to erase from your mind?” You couldn’t help but laugh nervously and feel embarrassed already. “What’s so funny?” You looked at him and your eyes met. His blonde hair was getting slightly pushed around by the wind.

“What I’m about to tell you. Promise to keep it between us?” He promised. “Okay, so before moving to Outer Banks I had a boyfriend situation going on. And we were at my place after a party, where he had maybe a drink or two too many.” You sighed, feeling the redness on your face appear. “And we were about to..you know. But he couldn’t, because of the alcohol and then he threw up in my bed.” Rafe tried his best not to burst out in laughter, instead he put an arm around you. “He left after that. So, there I was, cleaning my barf-covered bed and desperately spraying deodorant through my room. We haven’t talked since and I’m not counting on it anymore either.” Rafe started rubbing your back.

“That really sucks man, I’m sorry that happened.” Did he just call you ‘man’? “It wasn’t supposed to be your first time, right?” You must look like a tomato right now.

“I believe it is my turn.” You switched the conversation. “What was your first crush like?” When the word left your mouth you felt like a 12 year old again. Rafe blew out some air.

“I think it was the babysitter we had as kids. She was really sweet and artsy, and stuff. Also really pretty, like you.” You couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, I invited her into my pillow fort to eat Cheez-its with me.”

“And?”

“She friendly declined my offer.” You burst out in laughing. “Hey, I didn’t laugh at your story.” He angrily joked, punching your arm.

“Mine was worse.”

“True.”

You softly punched him back. “Hey!” Rafe fake moaned, pretending you had hurt him.

“Aw, I’m sorry. Kiss to make it better?” Rafe pouted and nodded to you. As you were debating whether or not to kiss his arm, your phone started vibrating. It was your stepdad. “Shit.” It was already 12:30. He must’ve realized you weren’t home and you didn’t leave a note.

“What’s up?”

“It’s my stepdad, I really have to go home like right now.” You mumbled as you got up and started heading to the car.

“You gonna get into trouble?” He sounded the tiniest bit worried. Maybe you would. You had been staying out late the past three days and didn’t pick up the phone when your stepdad called. As Rafe pulled up a couple of houses before yours, you thanked him and got out. “I should walk with you, so your dad knows you weren’t out alone.” That somehow makes sense. He got out of the car as well and you speed walked to the front door. You unlocked it and walked inside. As if shot for a horror movie, your stepdad put on the living room lights.

“Y/n? Where have you been and why didn’t you answer my calls?”

“Steve, I’m sorry if I made you worry. I was taking a walk and bumped into Rafe, Ward Cameron’s son-“

“I remember who Rafe is. So, he just left you to walk home on your own? Do you know what time-”

This time it was Rafe who cut your stepfather short. He had waited outside and stepped in. “I would never let y/n walk alone, sir.” Your stepdad nodded.

“Bedtime, y/n. Goodnight Rafe.”

“Goodnight.” You gave Rafe a hug, to which he wrapped his arms around your middle.

“Goodnight, y/n.”

You walked up the stairs and called it a day.

#4

~Taglist~

@emmalvei-blog​

[thesvenqueen]

Jurassic Park

Rating: M Pairing: Kristanna Also on AO3

Note(s): oops...neglected this for a minute, by bad. hopefully can get back to updating this too. 

Previous Chapters ( One Two Three Four Five Six )

{Chapter 7}

Anna sighed as she placed a new shirt over her head, already feeling much better than moments before.

The storm had hit as Anna and the doctor were half way back to base. Needless to say, they had been absolutely soaked by the time they had returned. Wanting to change & burn sometime as she waited for Kristoff’s arrival, she decided to run up to their room, shower & change. 

It was strange though, Anna realized as she brushed out her slightly damp hair, Kristoff was still not back. Surely it wouldn’t take this long to return. 

Then again, Anna had been able to go well above the slow pace the tour cars were going. Not to mention, she wasn’t obligated to come to a stop at an exhibit if a dinosaur was to approach. So, it was possible that the tour was just going longer than expected due to something actually appearing.

A sudden roll of thunder made her jump, and she turned to face the window. 

The storm was pounding upon them now, the rain heavy and thick. She could make out a few trees in the dark of the night and see the tops bending over slightly at the force of the wind.

The sight made Anna uneasy. If the storm was this bad, there was a chance that could have held up the tour as well. Automated cars or not, they could still manage to get stuck in the mud. 

Not to mention the storm could easily mess with the mechanics that made the cars drive on their own. 

Anna shook her head, shaking away the thoughts.

No, no they were fine. They had to be. They were all probably downstairs in the lab or the control room waiting out the storm and waiting for her to have dinner.

She could see it now, Olaf and Lex going on and on about a mile a minute over the dinosaurs they had saw on the tour. Sven lounging back in one of the chairs, either lost in thought or watching the kids talk with a smirk on his face.

Kristoff, more likely than not, was probably asking Dr. Hammond as many questions as he could about what he saw. 

Still though, Anna couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that sat in the pit of her stomach. 

She’d expect Kristoff to come up to find her if he knew that she was back and in their room. After their moment earlier this afternoon, Anna was surprised he hadn’t taken advantage of more alone time. 

Especially when he owed her a full detailed description of everything they saw, if they saw anything that is. Plus, if it was near dinner time, they surely would’ve sent someone up to grab her, wouldn’t they?

The uneasy feeling quickly grew to concern as another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. 

Something wasn’t right, she could feel it now.

Wasting not another moment more, Anna threw the towel into the bathroom and bolted out the door.

~.~

“Lost contact? What do you mean you lost contact?!” Anna yelled, confused and worried.

“That’s just it.” One of the techs mumbled, a lit cigarette held between his lips, “We lost contact with the cars a couple minutes ago. We haven’t been able to gain it back since.”

“How can that be?”

“We thought it was the storm,” the tech said, Anna catching the name Ray along his coat, “However, looking into it seems one of our other guys decided to cut power to certain areas of the park.”

“What? Why?!”

“Not sure,” Ray said, turning to his computer, “But we haven’t been able to turn the power back on to those areas. Seems our guy was a good hacker, he was able to create a bug that keeps us from doing anything to the areas he turned off. Only he can do it, I can’t. No one can.”

“So...so you’re saying they’re stuck out there?”

“Yes.”

“With no communication, no way to reach us?”

“Yes,” Dr. Hammond said, looking to her solemnly, “I’m afraid they’re out on their own for the time being.”

“Ok, so they just sit tight till we can get them. No worries then right?”

Dr. Hammond & Ray shared a look, one that made Anna’s heart sink. “The cars were stuck in a particular exhibit that the electrical fence are...strongly needed. Unfortunately, that exhibit also got hit with the bug.”

Anna’s eyes widened, “Which exhibit?” Dr. Hammond looked away from her, looking towards the floor to avoid her gaze. “Which exhibit Doctor?”

“The T-Rex.”

The air seemed to rush out of Anna’s lungs all at once. Feeling light headed, she found the closest chair and slammed into it.

No. 

No, there was no way. She refused to believe it would end like this. 

They were fine, they had to be fine, he had to be fine.

“How long ago did the power go out?”

“About 20 minutes or so.”

“And how long would it take you to break into the bug?”

“Too long.” Ray said, sighing deeply, the tip of his cigarette lighting as he took a deep breath, “By the time I managed it, there is no way of knowing if the dino is still there or not.”

Anna looked away then, placing her head in her hands.

She wanted to scream, wanted to break down and cry at the idea of everyone, her Kristoff could be gone. 

There was no way, absolutely no chance in hell he would give up like that. He was stubborn as anyone, a fighter till the end no matter what it was. 

But even he couldn’t go against a dinosaur, especially a T-Rex. His favorite Anna remembered bitterly. 

What a cruel twist of fate for him to be taken by the creature that he had loved his entire life, had admired and studied more than any other beast they’d uncovered. 

It was even crueler for an image to appear in her head, of a shocked and scared Kristoff sitting in the car as the creature emerged from the forest. 

Anna grimaced at what could have come once the dinosaur had spotted them.

He’s not gone. Anna thought, We don’t know if they’re gone. They could be fine, they could be just fine. Everyone just waiting in the car for someone to come take them back to base.

What if they weren’t? 

Dr. Hammond had mentioned the power was out in that exhibit, the fences completely useless. Anna bit her lip at the memory of the goat being placed near the fence as bate, to lore the T-Rex out for them to see during their tour. It had cried and struggled against the chain that had held it in place.

No doubt that the goat would’ve lured the T-Rex to the fence at some point. 

Maybe the beast had appeared after they had passed the exhibit. Maybe it had found the goat long before they had started the trek back to base. It was possible, they’d burned a lot of time at the Triceratops. There was a good chance that the T-Rex was nowhere near the fenceline, wondering about somewhere else in the enclosure with a full belly. Leaving Kristoff, Sven and the kids to sit by in the rain safely, bored and waiting for someone to show up.

Anna clung to the idea desperately, trying to not even think about the idea of them being gone. Of him being gone.

“Dr. Hammond.” Anna looked up, recognizing the man from the raptor exhibit. Robert, if she remembered correctly, stood in the doorway. “You asked for me sir?”

Dr. Hammond coughed, turning to him, “Yes, I need you to go to the T-Rex exhibit if you can with the gas jeep.”Anna looked to Dr. Hammond confused. Not even a moment ago, it had seemed the man believed the group was lost. Apparently, he still had a bit of hope left just like Anna.“I need you to go bring our guests back, their vehicles seem to have broken down.”

“Can do.”

“I’m going with you.” 

Everyone looked to Anna then, who now stood tall, a feeling of determination swelling within her. 

Robert grinned at her, “Got plenty of room, may be a bit tight fit on the way back but we can make due.”

“Very well.” Dr. Hammond said, a small smile on his face and Anna could see the slight spark of hope in his eyes.

~.~

Anna braced herself for what she may see when they came upon the T-Rex area. She didn’t know what to expect, what could be waiting for them when they rounded the corner.

Would it be perfectly peaceful, the jeeps sitting in waiting, everyone inside just annoyed at how long it took for them to arrive?

Or, would it all be in complete and total disarray? The cars crushed or torn apart, the T-Rex potentially still there or even worse…

She couldn’t bear to think that, not now. 

The idea they were fine, all completely fine & alive was the hope she would cling on to. 

The little sliver completely disappeared, however, when they came to the exhibit. 

“Oh my god.”

It was as they feared, the T-Rex had in fact escaped. 

There was a massive break in the fence, cables broken apart and concrete slabs seemingly crushed from where the massive beast had broken through.

A nearby building, assumed to be a bathroom of sorts, was completely obliterated. Wood and broken cement were all over, as though an explosion had occurred within the building itself. 

That’s not what made Anna’s heart begin to race, what made her eyes wide in worry and fear.

There was only one jeep, it’s doors now wide open and she could tell before they pulled up beside it that there was no one inside.

The other car was completely gone.

“No.” Anna whispered, scrambling to get out of the jeep as soon as it came to a halt, “No no no, Kristoff?!” Anna cried, moving quickly to turn on her flashlight.

The rain had stopped, a brief break in the storm but the wind howled around them. The thunder still rolled above her as Anna ran quickly to the abandoned car.

The doors left open as though someone was in a hurry to get out. Bits of what seemed to be plastic covering & some brochures were scattered along the back seat. Anna tried to fight back the tears as she looked over the inside of the car again and again. Hoping, pleading that Kristoff would appear at some point.

But he didn’t.  

The light of her flashlight caused something to flash, and Anna looked towards the source. There, sitting in the cupholder, were a pair of sunglasses. 

Kristoff’s sunglasses.

With shaky hands, Anna reached out and grabbed them. Biting her lip, she tried desperately to not think about the fact that this may be the only thing she managed to find of her husband. 

What would be left of him.

The realization suddenly hit her. If this was the jeep Kristoff was in, then that meant the one that was missing was the kid’s.

Shit.

“Dr. Arendelle!”

Anna looked over to see Robert moving towards the wreckage of the bathroom. She stuffed Kristoff’s sunglasses into her pocket as she ran to catch up to him.

There is a roar off into the distance, bringing Anna to a sudden halt at the sound. Looking towards the surrounding trees, she shines her flashlight towards the echoing roar. “I...I think it’s ahead of us.” 

“It could be anywhere.” Robert said, looking towards the trees with her, “With the fences out, it can go in and out of any paddock it likes.” 

He was right. The beast could be anywhere, not to mention if the doctor was right from that morning, it could do so very, very quickly. 

Suddenly, a loud moan came from the wreckage of the building. Anna looked back, shining her light across the broken bits of wood and brick to try to find the source of the sound. 

Taking careful steps, Anna looked over the destroyed bathroom slowly, making sure not to miss anything. There is another moan, and Anna turned quickly to the source.

The light catches an injured, bloody arm. Moving her light, she sees a familiar face.

“Sven?!” Anna cried, scrambling over to him. “Sven, can you hear me?”

Together, Anna and Robert are able to remove the bits of wreckage from on top of Sven. As Anna moves the last piece, Robert stands to shine his light down upon the scene, giving them a better view of Sven’s body.

There are a few scratches here and there but Sven seems to be completely intact. That is, till the light hits Sven’s left leg.

Anna gulps at the site. His ankle is bent at a strange angle, completely turned opposite of his leg. There is a large rip along the side, revealing a deep cut going from his mid-calf to his thigh. His pants are completely caked in mud and blood. 

A belt is wrapped tightly around the top of his thigh, no doubt a last stitch effort to stop the bleeding while he can. 

“Shit, he may have passed out from blood loss.” Robert murmured, kneeling back beside Sven, “Oi, Sven, can you hear me?”

There is another groan, Sven’s brows furrowing, and then, “Remind me to thank John for such a great weekend.”

Anna can’t help but to smack her forehead, “Damn it Sven, now is not the time for jokes.”

Another roar made Anna jump, the sound much closer than the one from before. She looked to Robert, who kept his eyes on the trees. 

“Can we chance moving him?” Anna asked.

“Please, chance it.” Sven groaned, his eyes barely open now. 

They move quickly, each putting one of Sven’s arms over their shoulders and moving him to the back of the jeep.

“What happened?” Anna asked, not able to hide the desperation in her voice.

“The T-Rex.” Sven said, groaning slightly as he moves to make himself comfortable. “It broke through the fence, guess the power was out?” Anna nodded, “Figures. Anyways, it broke through and the kids caught his attention.”

“Where are the kids? Where’s Kris?” 

“I’m getting there.” Sven said, but Anna sighed with impatience. “The T-Rex started attacking their car, so Kristoff found a flare and got it distracted.”

Anna stopped then, hands frozen in place on the side of the jeep. 

“But me being an idiot, I lit a flare and got it’s attention which is how I ended up over there.” Sven leaned his head back, running his hand down his face, “It followed me to the bathroom and tried to snag me but missed, completely destroyed the building. I was conscious long enough after to tie off my leg but, I couldn’t see anything else from beneath the rubble.”

“So...the kids? Kristoff?”

Sven looked to her, sadness in his eyes, “I’m sorry Anna, I really don’t know I--” He sighed, looking down to his lap, “I heard the lawyer scream...I’m guessing you haven’t found him?” Anna shook her head. “Figures. He hid in the bathroom before, when the T-Rex first broke through. Completely abandoned the kids and took off...it must have found him. Serves him right...As for Krisotff and the kids I...I really have no idea. I’m sorry, I really am. I can only assume that--”

Anna shook her head, fighting back the tears that were threatening to spill over. “They have to be here.” Anna said, picking her flashlight back up and walking towards where the other car would’ve been. 

“Dr. Arendelle, I must insist. We have to get going.”

“No!” Anna yelled, “I’m not leaving without them.”

“Dr. Arendelle,” Robert called once more, “I’ve seen plenty of animal attacks before.” Anna scanned the road, managing to spy a few tire tracks mixed with strange marks. As though something large had been dragged nearby. “People just disappear.” The marks seemed to go towards the fence line, along with what Anna soon realized were the T-Rex footprints. “No blood, no trace. That's the way it happens.”

Continuing to ignore Robert, she moved towards the crumbled remains of the cement fence, stepping over the fallen cable lines as she came to the edge.

Looking out, she realized that the track and fence were up on a hill as she was facing the top of a very large tree. Shining her flashlight, she directed it slowly down the tree, noticing a few branches broken along the way.

Curious, she continued going down till she spotted it.

There, lying at the bottom of the hill and upside down, was the other car.

“I found it!” Anna screamed, “I found the other car!”

Not bothering to wait, Anna scrambled down to the bottom of the hill. 

“Kris!” Anna cried, tears in her eyes as she came up to the beaten up jeep, “Kris, can you hear me?!”

There was no answer. 

Anna immediately got on her hands and knees, looking inside the jeep. “Kristoff? Olaf? Lex?”

Nothing.

The vehicle was empty. Mud and glass from the shattered windows were the only things inside.

“Did you find them?” 

Anna turned to Robert as he came up behind her, trying to fight back a sob, “No. No they’re not here.” 

Robert sighed, his brows furrowed. 

Another roar echoed through the trees from above, closer than the last.

It was coming, it was heading straight back towards them.

“We have to go.” Robert said.

Anna wanted to fight back, wanted to refuse to leave until she found them but she knew she couldn’t. The T-Rex was drawing ever closer, would be upon them in only a few minutes and they didn’t have any more time to keep searching. She looked down to the ground in defeat. 

They were gone. Her worst fear, the one she had dreaded since the moment she was told they hadn’t returned to base, was coming true. 

This was it, she had to accept it now.

Anna began to look back up to Robert, but something caught her eye. Tilting her head, she raised her flashlight, pointing the light at the mud just beside Robert.

“Wait,” Anna said, standing slowly, trying to get a better view. “Is that..?”

As she came over, Robert looked down, shining his light where hers currently shown. Looking down at the mud, she could see clear as day a set of shoe prints. 

“Footprints.” Robert said, surprised. He moved his flashlight slightly, “Three sets by the look of it.”

Anna let her tears spill over then, huffing a laugh in utter relief. “They’re not here.” She said, following the trail with her flashlight as the footprints led away from the crash site & into the forest. 

They were alive, they were ok. 

For now at least, there was hope.

[bi-ologistofthehills]

Here’s my Jurassic Park/World OC! Thanks to @thats-the-tea for asking to see her!

Name: Emily Grant

Appearance: blue eyes, sandy brown hair, tanned skin from working outdoors

Clothing style is very much, jeans, jean shorts, khaki shorts, tank tops, flannels, button downs, tall socks, hiking boots. Also sweaters. Gray dress slacks and suit jacket, white tank top(her formal wear).

Personality: temper (a Grant family trademark), sarcasm (another Grant fam trademark), blunt, generally a good person

Skills: Paleontology, surviving crap she shouldn’t have survived, can shoot a rifle, can take notes like nobody’s business, speeches (for universities, museums, etc.)

Other: lives in Bozeman MT, Head of the Paleontological Field Team at the Musuem of the Rockies, paleontologist

Backstory:

- Born June 20th, 1981

- Alan Grant is her dad

- was an complete accident

- mother died in car crash when she was like 1

- Alan ends up raising her and surprise, surprise, she ends up almost exactly like him

- her favorite dinosaur is a velociraptor

Role:

• Jurassic Park:

- is 9 (she turns ten like literally two weeks later)

- she is totally at the dig site, probably off “digging up dinos”

- she ends up going with her dad and Ellie to Isla Nublar

- sees the Brachiosaurus and just stares at it. Four hours later and she’s still in awe.

- Alan lets her pet the baby velociraptor before he finds out what it is. Then the Overprotective Dad mode kicks in.

- When they find the Triceratops, Emily insists upon staying with Ellie. Alan let’s her.

- Does not go with Ellie and Muldoon to find the others.

- Comes in at the end of the ice cream scene with a shout of, “Ice cream! Ellie, you didn’t tell me there was ice cream!”

- While in the bunker she gets hungry and after getting ignored by all the adults, she just sneaks out.

- she ends up in the visitors center and runs into Lex and Tim like five seconds after Alan walks out.

- when they hide in the kitchen, Emily mutters, “Six foot turkey...” under her breath

- Emily manages to evade the raptors in much the same ways as Lex and Tim.

- when Tim tries to slam the door on the freezer raptor, Emily reaches him before Lex does and she presses her back to the door in an attempt to close it. When this doesn’t work, she throws out her right arm to brace/stabilize herself more. The raptor poked its mouth out the door a bit and just takes a bite.

- Lex and Tim manage to half carry her out of there after they lock the door. Alan just flips upon seeing her, but there’s not much her can do, since there are raptors to deal with.

- Emily ends up with bite mark scars on her arm. She also has horrid PTSD and nightmares. (If anybody’s got tips on how to write this, let me know)

- hates thunderstorms

- new fav dino is the brachiosaurus

- like a couple months after they get back, Alan has to go on a business related trip(likely some speech at some university) and has to be gone for a couple days. Emily is really scared to be without her dad, understandably, she’s got PTSD and she’s TEN. While he’s gone, she find this spare fedora of his and just latches onto it. He lets her keep it.

- Alan ends up changing all the door handles in their house to round ones. He also, after her begging and begging, teaches her to shoot a gun at age 13.

• Jurassic Park 3

- Emily lives a relatively normal life, until the age of 17 (she turns 18 three days later).This is when Alan and Billy galavant off to Isla Sorna.

- Emily’s in college at the time(I wonder what she’s studying? *cough* paleontology *cough*) and hears about it via Billy calling her before he and Alan leave.

- Emily begs her dad not to go, but does he listen? No.

- She totally chews him out later.

- She lives a once more normal life, besides the slight intrusion of Jurassic World opening in 2005, until 2013(she’s 30).

- It is then that she gets an email from Simon Masrani. It’s a job offer...

- Basically, he wants her to come be a consulting paleontologist, which basically means she studies dinos to ensure they have proper habit, food sources and are happy and healthy. She also uses her paleontological knowledge to do this.

- Spoiler alert: she accepts it. Mostly because she just can’t resist the dinos. Alan is initially very upset about this, but eventually realizes that Emily is doing it because she A) dinos and B) wants to get over that fear that she’s still got from JP

- She starts working there and ends up meeting Owen and my friend’s OC, whose name is Lizzy and is the assistant raptor trainer.

- They help her become not so afraid of raptors (she still doesn’t like them, but can be in their presence without having a panic attack).

- Emily becomes fascinated with the relationship between the trainers and the raptors and starts researching and analyzing it.

- that fedora... still around...

• Jurassic World:

- 32 years old

- In between Claire’s investor speech and the raptor paddock scene is Emily’s opening scene.

I’m leaving off here today, but I’ve got so much more on Emily. I just don’t have the energy to write like twenty more paragraphs....

[missweber]

Here’s the final part of this story for Day 7 (Free Day) of @lardo-week! Please excuse any typos, but I am falling asleep as I type. AO3 version goes up tomorrow. I had good intentions, but Benadryl.

(Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6)

Read the entire thing on AO3

Chapter 7 - to arrive where we started

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time"

–T.S. Eliot

A year after Lardo graduated, her bà ngoại moved into a retirement community. It wasn't quite assisted living, but assistance was available. 

At first, Lardo's mom looked at it as a failure on her own part. As a dutiful daughter, she should be the one to look after her mother in her old age just as her mother had looked after her during infancy.

Lardo knew all too well what it was like to struggle with the idea that what you thought you should do wasn't always the right thing to do. 

Bà ngoại had laughed aside the idea as she patted mom's hand. "We would murder each other, my precious girl. Besides, I'm going because I want go and before I have to go. And all of my friends are there. I'll be able to play cards every day, if I like."

Oh, yes. Cards. Lardo had seen bà ngoại at the card table. Bà ngoại at the card table was like Lardo at the pong table. 

It didn't take much imagination to see a younger bà ngoại kicking everyone's asses at flip cup. 

Scratch that. It didn't take much imagination to see bà ngoại kicking everyone asses now.

"What are you smiling at, child?" Bà ngoại asked with an innocence that fooled absolutely no one.

"The way you're going to totally dominate the canasta table. So, do you need any help moving? I know some big strong guys who owe me a favor or five."

And so it was that all four foot ten of bà ngoại led a procession of current and former hockey players down the halls of the Fern Hill Retirement Community. Lardo wasn't sure what grapevine had been called into play, but all of her bà ngoại's friends had found some reason to pass through that part of the building. 

Later, Lardo would swear she saw one woman fan herself like she was Blanche from the Golden Girls.

If the smugness radiating off of bà ngoại could be converted into energy, all of Boston would be shining like the sun.

Bà ngoại had few enough things that none of the guys had to make more than two trips. Ransom and Holster took their leave as soon as they were done, as did Snowy, but from the look of things, Tater had gotten himself adopted by a couple of elderly Russian widows, while Bitty had locked in on the community's most avid bakers as if he were a butter-seeking missile. She wasn't sure where Jack and Shitty had gone off to, but they could look after themselves.

The larger pieces of furniture had been set where they needed to be with little fuss (except for one carved wooden table which had to be set just so), and all the boxes were placed in the appropriate spots as decreed by Lardo's clipboard.

"Do you need any help unpacking, bà ngoại?"

Bà ngoại waved her off even as she dug into the one box that she had carried herself. "No... actually yes. I would love it if you got my bed made up. I have a few things I need to do before I can call this place home, and then I think I will take a nap."

It didn't take long to find the sheets and make the bad, thanks the clearly labeled boxes. When she returned to the living room, she smiled to see the old photo of her ông ngoại already set up on the carved wood table, right where it belonged, surrounded by the familiar vases, bowls, and incense burner. 

But bà ngoại wasn't done with whatever it was she needed to make this place a home. She held a large framed picture to her chest and was clearly deciding between two possible walls. 

"There, I think," bà ngoại said, pointing to the wall next to the kitchenette. "Can you help me hang this?"

This was a framed picture of a blobby, spiky animal—supposedly a triceratops—in faded pinks, yellows and oranges. It was an unskilled drawing, but Lardo could see the beginnings of a sense of color, of form, of light.

"Yeah," she said, voice thick. "Let's do this."

There was measuring, and marking, and squabbling, and a couple of bent nails, but eventually the picture was up.

"There. Now this is home," bà ngoại declared. Her late husband's photo and her granddaughter's drawing were both where they should be, and apparently that was all it took.

Lardo hugged her gently, remembering when bà ngoại had been the taller one and she was the smaller one. 

Lardo had been Larissa back then, a little girl who had loved dinosaurs almost as much as she loved her bà ngoại.

"Do you remember how you always said you wanted to be a paleontologist when you grew up?"

Lardo sort of remembered that, but what she actually remembered was—

"You always used to get so mad when your parents told people how you used to pronounce it!" bà ngoại said gleefully.

"Arrrgh!" Lardo cringed in embarrassment and tugged at her hair. "They said it was cute! I hate being called cute!" 

The way bà ngoại smiled said that she knew damned well just how much Lardo hated it—and found it cute.

"I remember how much you loved making up stories with your toy dinosaurs. Do you still have that big plush one?"

"Mr. Steggy?" She scoffed. "Heck yeah I still have him!"

"Good. I thought it was a little sad when you stopped being so interested in dinosaurs."

"Mr. Steggy is forever. And now I'm into ducks, which are, like, stealth dinosaurs."

She still remembered the little thrill when she learned that dinosaurs were still around in the form of birds. 

They hadn't gone extinct.

They just weren't what you expected them to turn out to be. But they were still there.

She hugged her bà ngoại goodbye and went to collect her boys.

The others assumed that her thoughtful mood on the way home was due to the idea of moving her grandmother into a retirement community, but that was only part of it.

She thought about all the times her family asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. 

At first, she had wanted to be a paleontologist the way other kids wanted to be astronauts, back when it wasn't the reality of the job you wanted but the cool factor of ACTUAL MONSTERS or SPACESHIPS.

Then, there was the dream of being an artist.

And fuck it, she was an artist. She just also happened to be an equipment manager for a professional hockey team, a job that wasn't in any way, shape, or form on her list of dream jobs at any point ever.

But, via a 'happy accident,' George had mentioned something to Thirdy about needing to train up a replacement for Stu, and Thirdy had said something to Marty, and...

And because a previous 'happy accident' had led her to Jack and a job that got her away from that miserable deep-fryer, here she was.

She had taken to the job like a duck-billed dinosaur to water. It hadn't taken long for the team to take to her. Of course it helped that Jack already loved her, Tater already adored her, Snowy already admired her, and Poots already (rightfully) feared her.

She was jolted out of her musings when Jack pulled up in front of Haus 2.0.

"Later, gator?" Shitty asked. Lardo didn't say anything, but gave him a lingering kiss. 

With training camp starting up soon, it made more sense to crash with Jack and Bitty during the week. In another year, she and Shitty would probably be ready to find a place of their own, so it didn't make sense to move into our out of either place completely.

Jack and Bitty had to go on a grocery run, which Lardo suspected was an excuse to give her some alone time.

Jack was a good bro, really he was.

Lardo let herself into the condo. The picture hanging next to the kitchen pass-through was familiar enough that she didn't usually notice it anymore, but now she stopped to look at it.

Bitty had declared that Still Life With a Fuckton of Jam was one of his favorite graduation presents, and the fact that he hung it by his beloved kitchen said more than a 'thank you' ever could.

She passed by her Junior Show sky-scape as she cut through the living room. She loved that it was owned by someone who saw it being made and who wanted to hang on to the memory of the making of it.

No, this wasn't what she pictured when she thought about being an artist when she grew up, but that dream was still very much alive. Just not in the way she had expected it to be.

It was better. She would never say this out loud, because it would completely nuke her cred, but it was all tangled up in love. 

Even when she was doing work for hire, it was still about the people. She still went to the Macey's used bookstore where the steps she had painted enticed young readers up to a nook furnished with cushions and hidey-holes. And every time, Macey still gushed about how she had wanted a staircase like that in her bookstore ever since she saw one as a child, and now she had the store of her dreams, and wasn't it wonderful?

She was halfway through another commission, this one for a friend of Snowy's who needed a re-do on his mask after getting traded to the Aeros. Jukes was super-psyched about the retro-futurist space-themed design she was doing in the Aeros' silver and red, so psyched Lardo half-suspected that kid-Jukes would have said he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up (possibly a hockey-playing astronaut—he was Canadian, after all).

Snowy had taken one look at the design and had declared that by the end of the season, Lardo would have a three year waiting list, and that if he weren't so superstitious about his current mask, he'd be next in line after Jukes.

Having another job (one that she loved) gave her the freedom to pick and choose the art she wanted to do the way she wanted to do it and for the people she wanted to do it for. One day, she might be able to do it full time and she really hoped she would get there.

The important thing was, she was an artist. It was an essential part of who she was and who she would be, just like Bitty didn't need to own a bakery to be a baker.

She flopped down on the bed in Jack's guest room (which was already halfway to being 'her' room). She was exhausted enough to want to nap, but too keyed up to do so.

So, she picked up her bedside sketch pad, flipped to a mostly empty page, and began doodling.

She started with a triceratops.

[acat-lady]

Noodles Soup For Your Sniffles

Summary: Claire has a cold and it’s up to Owen to get her to go home and rest, even if he has to push her on the office chair down to the lobby and to the car (literally).

“No! I’m fine~!” Claire insisted with a stuffed nose. It was very evident that she was not doing that well. She wouldn’t admit it but she had a headache from hell and each time she swallowed, it felt like shattered glass was going down her throat.

She had been gradually getting sick but her stubborn nature had prevented her from working on shaking this cold off before it got worse. Now she was to the point of regretting not taking something when Owen had asked her to.

“Yes, you are~!” Owen sang begging her to go home early, take the rest of the day off. He watched her stare blankly at her laptop screen for thirty seconds. She was so out of it by then, that she didn’t even know what she was doing anymore. “Babe, please~” He gently brushed his fingers down her cheeks and pressed his lips against her forehead. “You are boiling! Come on, I’m driving you home.” He offered.

“I have work to do!” She shook her head after pulling away from him. “Besides, I already drank like three bottles of NyQuil...I’ll be fine.” Claire insisted, without an ounce of energy left in her. The redhead gently rested her head against his chest and hugged her arms around his waist gently.

Owen sighed, lovingly brushing her hair with his fingers. Without any warning, he tried pull her up from her chair but Claire was fast and even when sick her reflexes were sharp. She had managed to grab from the arm rests, her fingers tightly curled around them.

“C’MON!” He cried in defeat.

“No-oh.” She shook her head.

“I’ll make you my special soup and we can watch some fun cartoons!” He tried to make this appealing to her.

“What am I? five?” She looked up, her green eyes were exhausted.

Owen twirled her office chair around so she could face him and kneeled in front of her. “Okay, how about we cuddle on the couch here? Just a couple of hours.” He suggested. Her appearance was begging for some rest.

Claire shook her head, “I’m so behind with this stuff. I can’t afford lose more time.” She twirled her chair back around. The redhead hadn’t been very productive that day.

“Okay, that’s it!” He tried pick her up again but she was stronger than she looked and was gripping onto those arm rests tight. He knew he could ripped her away from them, but he would end up hurting her and that would make things worse. “Don’t make me tickle you!” He warned her.

“I’ll throw you out of the window, Grady. I promise!” She rolled back on her chair a couple of inches away from him.

“Okay, you win.” He shrugged and casually started humming and whistling to himself, his fingers curious around a few things she kept on her desk.

Claire smiled, her victory short-lived after being interrupted by a sneeze that made her complain in pain.

“Bless you.” Owen frowned, he hated to see her sick like this. Claire wasn’t the kind to get sick often, but when she did it got her badly. The redhead blew her nose and that’s when Owen had a glance of her trash can; it was a white mountain of tissues by then.

Claire smiled faintly and turned her attention back to her laptop. She closed her eyes and slowly rested her head over her arms, barely being able to reach the keyboard from there.

Owen quietly started gathering some of her things, putting them in her purse, and also looked around for her jacket. He hung them from around his shoulder, and without a word he closed her laptop on her.

“Hey!” She tilted her head back up, “I am trying to work here?” She coughed. Without a word said, the raptor wrangler started pushing her chair out, rolling it into the hallway with Claire still sitting on it.

“No! Owen, I swear!” She screamed, holding firmly from the arm rests.

He pushed her down the hallway and around the elevator corridor at a moderate speed, “hold the elevator!” He called out, noticing two guys were just stepping out right when they had come from around the corner. They looked puzzled wondering why Owen was pushing the boss around on her chair, but did as requested. They kept the elevator opened for them, their eyes glued to the couple. Owen thanked them, pushing the chair into the elevator and pressing for the lobby so they could head to the car and then home.

“Call security! I’m being kidnapped!” She exclaimed in irony, the doors slowly closing in front of them. She rolled her eyes annoyed by the look in the face of those two guys.

“Don’t be melodramatic!” He laughed. “You are totally enjoying this.” Owen called her out on it, still standing behind her, allowing his fingers to gently brush her long hair.

“Mommy is sick~” Owen murmured, placing a finger on his lips letting Aiden, their three-year-old, know to keep it low.

The toddler nodded and mirrored his dad’s action, also placing his finger against his lips. Aiden crawled into the back seat of the car and on his own, he got comfortable in his car seat. Owen buckled him up and messed with his brown hair before closing the back door.

Claire was resting her head against the car window, she had dozed off for a few minutes while waiting for Owen to pick their son from the petting zoo. The sound of the engine starting up waking her up. She sighed, her hand gently reaching out for Owen’s lap and rubbing it. He took a hold of her freckled hand and bringing it to his lips, he kissed it gently.

“Hey baby~” The redhead looked back to their kid whom smiled at her, “did you have fun with Trixie?” She faintly wondered. Claire adjusted and turning around, she reached out so she could tie his shoelace.

Aiden nodded, “They let me ride her today and I fed her a branch!” He shared happily, wiggling his feet. Trixie was his favorite dinosaur in the petting zoo, he had named the baby triceratops after the one in Toy Story 3.

“Leave that!” Owen rubbed Claire’s back gently, “I’ll tie them up when we make it home.” He promised. He had singlehandedly built home for Claire the moment she told him she was pregnant. They had moved in together into her Hilton’s business suite after he insisted not to miss a single day of the pregnancy. On the side, he had demolished his bungalow and started building a lake house for his family in that side of the island.

Aiden had learned to unbuckle his car seat and once Owen had pulled over, he opened the door and ran off, “Owen!?” Claire called out, she didn’t have the strength to run after their energetic kid.

“On it!” He got out of the car and after catching the kid, he swept their son off his feet. He hugged him from his belly and let him pretend he was a plane for a few seconds before landing on the ground. “We don’t want to give mom a heart attack, do we?” He asked the toddler.

He shook his head, “is she going to die?” He frowned. “I heard her say she felt like she was going to die.”

“No, but we have to be good today so she can feel better soon.” Owen asked of their kid, “we can go back to getting her all worked up tomorrow.” He winked.

Still inside the car, Claire was fighting with the door which was refusing to let her out. “Of course...” she finally gave up, hitting the door a few times, “He forgot to put the child lock in the back but leaves ME locked in!” She mumbled to herself before resting her head against the dashboard.

Soon enough, Owen was back and opened the door for her. He handed Aiden her purse and jacket and the man slowly pulled Claire up into his arms so he could carry her up to their house.

“Don’t touch me, you ass...” She whimpered against his neck, nosing close into it and hugging him tightly.

“C’mon, Champ! Let’s make sure mommy starts feeling better.” Owen motioned for their kid to walk ahead before he pressed a kiss on the redhead’s forehead.

“No~” She cried, her arms tightly wrapped around his neck. “Don’t leave me alone...” She pouted, Owen had managed to change her into a pair of flannel pants and one of his navy T-shirts.

“I won’t, beautiful.” He smiled, this was about the only thing he liked about Claire being sick. Once she admitted she needed to get some rest, she’d be as clingy as a baby koala and Owen would get to take care of her and keep her safe.

The redhead nodded and slowly helped him tuck her under the covers of their bed. Once she was comfortable, Owen grabbed the thermometer and had her keep it under her tongue until it started beeping, she had a 104 fever.

“What does it say?” She frowned.

“It says that you are hot~” Owen couldn’t help but flirt with her. Claire rolled her eyes and tugged from his shirt, she wanted to cuddle.

Owen set the thermometer on top of her nightstand and turned her cellphone off. He adjusted on the edge of the bed and let her snuggle him close. The redhead moaned softly and nuzzled into his chest, she closed her eyes and let the touch of his fingers relax her as they brush her hair.

Once he made sure the redhead had fallen asleep, he quietly stood up and tucked her gently leaving her to rest. He grabbed her cellphone on his way out and carefully closed the door behind him.

The man went looking for their kid whom on his own had decided to pick up all his toys and put them back on their place like mom was constantly insisting he should. Owen smiled at him from his bedroom door, “kiddo, wanna help me make mom some soup?” The kid looked up and nodded.

They both headed to the kitchen and Owen made sure to fill a small pot with water and set it on the stove to heat. He had also chopped some veggies and taken care of everything else. Aiden had ran to the bathroom to wash his hands and once back, Owen picked him up so he could carefully drop all the veggies into the water and add the noddles as well.

After pulling a chair from the kitchen table, Owen let the kid step on it so he could easily stir the soup. After a minute or so, the adult put the lid on and let it cook.

They didn’t stop there, Owen had brought the chair over to the sink and now the toddler was helping him wash the remaining dishes from breakfast and the few they had used for the soup. The kid playing the soapy sponge over the dishes while Owen ran water over them. They also folded some laundry together and fixed the living room.

“Why don’t you go pick a movie to watch with mommy?” Owen suggested while he served some of their noodles soup into a bowl and grabbed a spoon. He set it all up on a tray including a glass of water and some medicine.

Dad carried the tray to the bedroom and Aiden the Blu-ray he had picked for them to watch. The kid turned the knob around and quietly pushed the door open. Claire was still fast asleep. Owen carefully set the tray on the corner of the bed, and bent down to take Aiden’s shoes off. The kid reached out so dad could pull him up onto the bed.

Aiden crawled his way over to Claire and gently pressed a kiss on her cheek, “Mommy?” He called out softly after hearing her moaning and turning around to find him there.

“Hey baby, what are you doing here?” She murmured sleepily, her arms reaching out to hug him closely. “Daddy and I made you some noodles soup for your sniffles.” He explained. “You are going to eat it right?” He offered the puppy eyes Owen had him practicing while they were cleaning and folding the laundry.

“You made me soup?” She kissed his forehead before nodding, agreeing to eat.

“And I picked your favorite movie so we can watch and snuggle!” He crawled back to the edge of the bed. Claire sat down and tucked her hair behind her ears. She smiled letting Owen set the tray on her lap and closed her eyes feeling his lips pressed against her forehead.

“You did?” She acknowledge her kid before thanking Owen for the soup.

“The Little Mermaid.” He nodded and let Owen take the movie so he could set it up. Aiden went back to snuggle his mother and watched her slowly eat her soup. 

“And why is The Little Mermaid my favorite?” Claire was actually interested in that answer since she wanted to hear his logic behind thinking it was that way.

“Because she has red hair just like you!” He explained. “Uncle Barry brought you some medicine.” He pointed out at the pills and the cough syrup on the tray.

“That’s right, we are both redheads.” She nodded. Owen walked around the bed and snuggled close to Claire and their son. He pressed play on the movie and watched their son start singing along and Claire quietly eating her soup.

He shifted in bed, bringing his arm around Claire’s shoulder and kissing her cheek. She set the tray on her night stand and got comfortable, hugging him close. She nosed into his neck and closed her eyes.

“I feel so much better now~” She confessed softly, pressing a couple of pecks on Owen’s lips.

“I’m glad you do, gorgeous.” He smiled relieved.

“Can I go back to work now?”

[jacscorner]

Quick Review of Super Sentai Shows

I haven't seen a lot of Toku shows, but I've always wanted to get me thoughts out on them. I've seen every Sentai show starting from Gokaiger and after. Even though that's not a lot, these are still gonna be kind of long, so I'll tackle Kamen Rider shows at a later date. Each of these 'reviews' will be a paragraph or two in length, a quick few sentences on each Ranger, and will have a letter grade after it. Maybe someday, I'll go into greater detail, but just not today. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: My opinion on Gokaiger might be a little bias, but this is my favorite series. Gokaiger follows the adventures of a band of pirates as they look for a treasure that can only be found on Earth. Meanwhile, the Earth is being invaded by a Space Empire that has, in one way or the other, screwed them all over. This draws them into the battle as they fight to protect the Earth in order to protect the treasure, slowly growing to like the Earth as we get cameos and guest stars of previous Rangers-I might not be familiar with much of them since I've hardly seen much of the older shows, but I do love the crash course on Sentai Teams. The main gimmick of the show is the ranger's ability to transform into the rangers of previous shows, but when in their main suits, Blue and Green trade their gun and sword respectively to duel wield, Yellow and Pink also pull this. Gokai Red, Captain Marvelous: The fact that might just be his real name is hilarious. Probably, in my biased opinion, the most badass pirate n fictional history and best ranger so far. Gokai Blue, Blue: Cool guy and his personal arc is awesome. Also, there's an episode when he SOMEHOW holds five swords. Suck it, Zoro. Gokai Yellow, Luka: Wannabe Nami from One Piece, but she's still pretty cool. Gokai Green, Doc: Team smart guy and is probably the funniest character. He trips and falls around in the fights and although his own arcs are pretty petty, he's still enjoyable. Gokai Pink, Ahim: A Princess who's both Team Heart and team badass. Thankfully no 'princess laugh' Gokai Silver, Guy: 6th Ranger and a literal Super Sentai fanboy, complete with an autograph book and it's really funny. Gets his own powerup form that's kind of lame, but his gimmick is to transform into other 6th Rangers. Grade: A+ Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters: FBI agents fight Hackers. Okay, no, not quite that: a science institute is dragged into Cyberspace-I mean Hyperspace, with the only ones able to escape being 3 kids. These 3 kids grow up to become the Go-Busters. This is a super serious series-well, as series as these shows can get-and it's everything I could've asked for. Unfortunately, that was also kind of the problem. Anyway, they fight machines that have been infected with a virus by a homicidal computer avatar-even though a lot of these robots are made from machines that aren't electronic in nature. Go-Busters gave the feeling that there was a lot of good ideas going into this, but they weren't taken far enough. Each of the 3 main Go-Busters get a robot partner that is both a helpful side character AND helps them pilot their respective mech. Each of the Go-Busters also has a superpower due to being absorbed into Hyperspace, and a computer-based weakness. Red Buster, Hiromu: The most skilled member of the group, as well as the most socially inept. His super power is to run at super speed, and his weakness is to freeze up...but only when he sees or hears a 'chicken'. His partner, Cheeda Nick, is a humanoid robot that turns into a motorcycle and acts as Hiomu's older brother. Yellow Buster, Yoko: A hotheaded tomboy. Her special power is super-high jumping, and weakness is needing to keep the calories coming-AKA, needing her battery charged. Her partner, Usada Lettuce, is a rabbit-themed robot that part times act as a best friend and part time a nagging parent. Blue Buster, Ryuji: The oldest of the group and the one who has to keep Hiromu and Yoko from pulling each other's hair out. His super power is super strength, but his weakness is overexerting himself-overheating. In which case, he goes berserk and could destroy himself. His partner, Gorisaki Banana, is a gorilla-themed robot that is a doting, overbearing parent 24/7. Beet Buster, Jin: A super genius who was trapped in Hyperspace. He appears as a digital avatar that's remote-controlled by the real Jin who's still trapped. He really lived up this dry show by being funny and he even has a good arc. Unlike the previous 3, his mechs can be piloted without his robot partner. Stag Buster, Beet J. Stag: A humanoid robot that acts as Jin's partner. Unlike the other robots, he actively joins in the fight and is also funny. He constantly steps in front of people and interrupt them while talking. When transforming, it looks like excess parts from him form into Jin's suit, but this could just be cosmetic. Grade: C- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: According to this show, during the age of dinosaurs, Aliens invaded and tried to take over the Earth, but the Dinosaurs beat them. To get revenge, they caused the ice age. But team mentor, Torin, stored their souls so they could be used again to fight the aliens-as oppose to using them for the other aliens who've surely came from other shows.  Anyway, cut to modern times when the aliens come back and the souls of the dinosaurs must find new wielders of their power to defend the planet. This is the typical goofy nature you should expect from these shows. Each Ranger uses a gun to transform, to fight, and get their own special weapon. Also, a bunch of smaller dinosaur batteries that can turn into upgrades and other tools. Kyoryu Red, 'King': Or Daigo, but almost everyone calls him King. The Fanged Hero who's a hotheaded shonen protagonist-get use to me saying that. His dinosaur is a Tyrannosaurus-because of course it is. If you've seen the last 3 Dinosaur-themed heroes, you should've known. Kyoryu Blue, Nobuharu: Or Nossan. The Armored Hero is literally the best character in this show. He tells bad puns and is a middle aged handyman who helps take care of his niece with his sister. His spirit is a Stegosaurus. Kyoryu Green, Souji: The Slashing Hero, a high school student who studies swordplay from his father, who runs a dojo. His dinosaur is a Velociraptor. Kyoryu Pink, Amy: The Horned Heroine, a high-class sophisticate who is always trying to get away from her fortune and be normal.  Her dinosaur is a Triceratops. Kyoryu Black, Ian: The Bullet Hero, European archaeologist-in the same sense of Indiana Jones, just replace the whip with a gun-who's also a playboy. He gets his own arc with one of the main antagonists. His dinosaur is a Parasaurolophus. Kyoryu Gold, Utsusemimaru: Or just Uchii. The Thunderous Hero is a feudal era Samurai who survived due to one of the main antagonist, Dogold(a living set of armor) taking his body. They have a constant rivalry that is pretty awesome to watch. His dinosaur is a Pteranodon. The next couple of rangers are mostly suplimentary. They won't appear as often as the main team, if at all. Kyoryu Cyan, Ramirez: Another person from an unspecified part of Europe. The Steel Hero is a jolly guy who SOMEHOW slims down when he transforms. He's actually a spirit who assists the rangers from beyond the grave. His dinosaur is a Ankylosaurus. Kyoryu Gray, Tessai: A Chinese Martial Artist and another Spirit. A disciplined warrior. His dinosaur is a Pachycephalosaurus. Kyoryu Violet, Dr. Ulshade: The Marine Hero, an old man scientist who originally built the heroes their transforming gun. He retires from hero duty and his granddaughter, Yayoi, takes after him-both as a scientist and as the Marinte Heroine. Their dinosaur is a Plesiosaurus. Kyoryu Silver, Torin: Torin is actually a defector from the invaders and eventually becomes a ranger himself. His dinosaur should be himself since he's a bird, but no, it's a Deinonychus. Grade: B+ Ressha Sentai ToQger: Thomas the Tank Engine. Okay, no. ToQger follows a group of childhood friends as they find themselves on the Rainbow Line, a train powered by children's imagination. With the Rainbow Line in danger by their counterpart, but the Shadow Line, who's goal is to cover the world in darkness, the ToQger uses their imagination to, well, imagine themselves as rangers to fight the Shadow Line. This series is a mix of a comedy and a drama, slowly growing darker and darker into a rather somber show. It's still a how focused on the power of friendship, but it's kind of deep. The Ranger gimmick this time, aside from trains, is that they switch their colors, and weapons, with each other. ToQ 1gou, Right: The energetic leader of the show, another Shonen-ish main Red. The most imaginative and childish of the group. ToQ 2gou, Tokatti: A Blue klutz, but he has a few endearing moments. ToQ 3gou, Mio: A no-nonsense Yellow ranger. ToQ 4gou, Hikari: The real lancer of this series and the Green Ranger. Is equal to Right, but is also his total opposite. ToQ 5gou, Kagura: The least skilled out of the group, but she's the most imaginative. And here, that's a big deal! ToQ 6gou, Akira: A defect of the Shadow Line, who joined the Rainbow Line to 'protect the rainbow'-cause you can't have a rainbow if the world is in darkness. Best ranger of the series. Grade: B Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Naruto Sentai! No. Ninninger follows the adventures of five Grandchildren of an incredibly powerful ninja, the Hoka-I mean, the Last Ninja. They fight an army of demons-literally-who were sealed away by the Last Ninja himself. They're heralded by his former student, Izayoi, who aims to collect the 'Power of Fear' in order to resurect the Demon Leader. The monsters are created by Sealing Shuriken, which was what was used to seal him away, and infusing it with his demonic magic, transforming inanimate objects into demons-kind of like how a lot of Japanese Demons, 'Yokai', are made up of inanimate objects. Meanwhile, the ninjas are able to use ninjitsu, literal ninja magic, with the use of special shuriken. Ninninger has a lot going on with its story, to the point where it can feel like there's too much going on. The Wild Brilliance-Aka Ninger, Takaharu: Another Shonen-ish protagonist. He's the red ninja. The Rumbling Cloud-Ao Ninger, Yakumo: The blue ranger, team lancer who grew up in England...and apparntly went to Hogwarts since he can cast normal magic with a wand. The Dazzling Stillness-Ki Ninger, Nagi: Yellow Ranger, would rather work at an office then be a ninja. He's...kind of forgetable, honestly. The Flower in the Wind-Shiro Ninger, Fuka: The White Ranger is sister of Takaharu-everyone else, in relationship to the other, are cousins. The least skilled of the group, but she starts getting into her stride later on. The Shimmering Haze-Momo Ninger, Kasumi: The Smart Girl and the Pink Ranger. Is the best Ranger in a technical sense, since she's easily the smartest member of the team in terms of ninjitsu and is an aspiring scientist. The Shinning Star-Star Ninger, Kinji: An American Ninja/Cowboy...who transforms with a little cheeseburger, as oppose to the sword everyone else use. And he fights with a gun/guitar/sword. HE is best Ranger of the series. (He's the 6th Ranger and the only one not related to the main cast). He pursuited being a ninja after being inspired by the Last Ninja. Grade: C Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: Power Ranger Furries. No. Well, kind of. In an alternate dimmension, there is a land called Zyuland, home of the Zyumans. In universe, a group of anthropomorphic animal. In reality, a bunch of guys a little too enthusiastic in their cosplay. Our Red Ranger, a Zoologist, while studying animals in a forest, stumbles upon a giant cube, a Link Cube, which transports him to Zyuland. Meanwhile, Earth is attacked by a group of intergalactic aliens, the Dethgalien, who are only invading Earth because it's a literal game for them. In fact, they even have this neat arcade them, with monsters getting an 'extra life' with coins. After four Zyuman end up on Earth after it gets damaged, Yamata and the four of them have to fight to protect the Earth, while also trying to find a way home for the Zyumen. The Zyumen transform using Zyuoh Changers, which are cube cellphones. Monarch of the Skies-Zyuoh Eagle, Yamato: Token Human who prior, was given some Zyuenergy from Bard, an Eagle Zyuman who found Yamato while he was young and got into a serious accident. Thanks to that, Yamato is capable of transforming into the Red Ranger, while also getting Eagle wings. He also gets 2 more transformations. Yamato himself is a little less shonen then the previous two guys, with a strong passion for animals. As an Eagle, he can see great distances. Monarch of the Seas-Zyuoh Shark, Sela: The Blue Ranger and a Shark-Woman. She has super hearing and is serious. Her shark dorsal fin can, apparently, cut people. Monarch of the Savannah-Zyuoh Lion, Leo: This Yellow Ranger picks up the slack for Yamato's lack of shonen conventions. A hot blooded, Lion-Man warrior with a sonic scream...er, roar. Also, Lion Claws. Monarch of the Forest-Zyuoh Elephant, Tusk: This studious young man is the Green Ranger. He's studious and straight forward to a fault. He's an Elephant-Man with a super sense of smell. He can also stomp around with Elephant Feet. Monarch of the Snowfield-Zyuoh Tiger, Amu: The White Ranger, the most easy going of the group. She's a Tiger-Woman and have a super sense of taste. She fights with tiger claws. Monarch of the World, Zyuo The World, Misao: He is the best Ranger, period. Kidnapped by the Dethgalien, he gets forcefully infused with 3 other Zyoumen: a Crocodile, Wolf, and Rhino. What makes him the best is his overall arc as a character, being socially inept and fostering some misplaced guilt on the death of the Zyoumen. Grade: B+ Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: The most recent Sentai Series, following a rebellion group in their attempt to overthrow the evil Jark Matter, an organization that has already taken over the entire universe. The universe's last hope are the prophesied Kyuangers, who transform with the use of Kyutamas-little spheres based off of the constellations that they put into wrist-mounted blasters. By the end of the series, there is a grand total of 12 heroes. Unfortunately, this show REALLY loves caste herds AND is still Red centric, so we won't get much in the way of small groups mix and matching, and more so we'll divide the characters into certain groups or they'll have some kind of chemistry, and they won't interact with other people. (Ex. A and B hand out, A and C hang out, but C and B won't hang out.) To add onto that, the last couple of episodes or so really makes the show drag on, as though the writers struggled to write an ending AND reach the episode quota. But, it does give me a lot of 'favorite rangers', so pros and cons. The Super Star-Shishi Red, Lucky: The shonen protagonist to end the all-at least, as far as I've seen. His whole shtick is that he's lucky and sometimes it comes off as a deus ex machina, and other times it's more of in a symbolic  sense, ala "you make your own luck". His constellation is Leo. The Poison Star-Sasori Orange, Stinger: A mysterious lone wolf from a planet of humanoids with Scorpion tails. Speaking of, his constellation is Scorpius. He has a pretty intricate arc involving his brother, as well as with his partner below. The Ring Star-Oushi Black, Champ: A robot wrestling bull. That alone makes him a canidate for best ranger. He also goes through an arc of his alone, as well as one with Stinger. He's as big of a ham as they come, as he seems fully aware of the show he's in. His constellation is Taurus. The Beast Star-Ookami Blue, Garu: An anthropomorphic Wolf who's constellation is, yes, Lupus, the Wolf. He's another hot head who bonds quickly with Lucky. He might be my favorite ranger purely because of just how endearing he can be, like an actual dog. The Trick Star-Tenbin Gold, Balance: A robot-uh, I mean mechanical lifeform/android who's part of a pair of thieves with the guy below. He can control other pieces of machinery. He is flamboyant as all hell and he's so fun to watch. His constellation is Libra. The Silent Star-Hebitsukai Silver: An emotionless alien who has psychic powers. He follows Balance along in the hopes of achieving emotions, something his species has given up on like the Vulcans from Star Trek. His constellation is Ophiuchus, but he acts less like the Serpent Bearer and more like the Serpent itself. The Shinobi Star-Chameleon Green: A freakin' ninja from a suppose planet of ninjas! She's a sassy tomboy with her constellation is Chamaeleon. The Speed Star-Washi Pink, Raptor 283: A lady robot who was built to helm their speceship, the Orion. She's more or less an otaku, but they do their best to make her come cute and not cringey. Her constellation is Aquila. The Food Mei-Star-Kijika Yellow, Spada. A chef who...I guess comes from Space Spain. His constellation is Dorado. The Dragon Ma-Star-Ryu Commander, Commander Shou: The commander of the Kyurangers and the rebellion. He's eccentric and, although as much of a dork as Raptor, is so cool! His arc is early on in the series and it really shows just how great he is. A definite candidate for best ranger! He's an anthropomorphic dragon, so of course, his constellation would be Draco. The Big Star-Koguma Skyblue, Kotaro: A young Earthling-one of two Earthling Tokens-who joins the resistence and even goes through boot camp! His constellation is Ursa Minor. The reason for being the 'Big Star' is because he has a powerup that lets him grow to a giant size! He ends up looking up to Stinger as an older brother figure. The Space Bu-Star-Houou Soldier, Tsurugi: A Kyuranger who was put into cryogenic sleep. He's a haughty bastard, but considering he was the first president of space, he can kind of get away with it.  You'll either learn to love him or learn to tolerate him since he does get better. His constellation is the Phoenix. Grade: B Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patoranger: Cops and Robbers Sentai, the Sentai. Following Kyuranger, the show follows along the 3-way feud between the Lupinrangers, a group of phantom thief-themed sentai, the Patorangers, a group of cop-themed sentai, and the Ganglers, a Mafia-themed batch of villains. The three groups fight over the Lupin Collection, a group of magical McGuffins that were collected by the Phantom Thief Lupin(yes,that one.) The Lupins want them to get a wish. The Pats want them to fight the Ganglers. And the Ganglers want them cause power. The show LOVES the Lupinranger, with the Patoranger getting much less screen time. At the same time, they also get the most character development. Meanwhile, the Lupinranger get the most screen time and the most upgrades and weapons. Lupin Red, Kairi: UNLIKE the last, like, 3 Sentais, Kairi isn't a Shonen Protagonist (OMFG!). He's a confident and suave guy, but it's a front since his wish is to get back his older brother, who was kidnapped by a Gangler-and they weren't on good terms when he was taken. Lupin Blue, Toma: Cool, collected straight guy of the team. His goal is to get back his fiance. Probably the most interesting of the three thieves since his episodes either push him into VERY uncomfortable places for the character, or draws heavily on the memories of said fiance. Lupin Yellow, Umika: Team Little Sister. Her goal is to get back her friend. She has a romantic subplot with Patren 2gou and it's surprisingly interesting. Her episodes are surprisingly rare, at least, to me they felt rare. Patren Ichigou, Keiichiro: Hard boiled, no-nonsense cop. Comes off as an angry cop in the beginning, but is simply trying to uphold justice and protect people. His a rivalry with Lupin Red, but as Keiichiro, becomes a pseudo-older brother to Kairi. Patren Nigo, Sakuya: Bumbling oaf cop. A rookie who wants to prove his worth and struggles with confidence-but when he does get confident, it goes to his head quickly. Is endearing and honest and his episodes revolve around rising to the occasion. Patren Sangou, Tsukasa: Straight man(woman?) cop. Usually the one who has to rein in her other partners. Doesn't get too much attention. Lupin/Patren X, Noel: Double Agent kind of who works with both Lupins and Patrens. Can be kind of obnoxious and feels superfluous to the plot, but is a fun addition to both sides. Grade: A

[kaijuzilla]

MOD Review: Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom

(Warning: This contain spoilers so please avoid spoilers if you haven’t seen the movie or play the game)

So Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom came out and my friend see this movie and he said “it’s guchi” and me watch the movie and it’s actually really good. But before me and my friend watch this he told me with that the movie is like The Lost World and I actually agree with him it is like Lost World! Hearing that blow my mind but then watching the movie it’s just so good. Also TBH everytime I watch Jurassic Park movie series I usually call out who’s gonna die in the movie which is kind of fun spotting who is gonna die in the movie. Each scene in the movie is really good and things I might remember (*gross sobbing*). 

And now for the story:

(Before getting to this this involves Site B which said that the Site B is gone and half of all dinosaurs on there are gone too even the Spinosaurus due to climate changes. Which all the Dinosaurs are transfer to the park.)

It start off with two guys in the submarine scavenging the Indominuis Rex skeleton in the Mosasaurs den which they got the sample and die from the Mosasaur. While the other team above with the helicopter got the sample and the engineer yellow jacket guy trying to close the den and calling the marine guys but as Rexy came he did the most dumbest thing. He screams and run instead of standing still or something but he manage to escape when he catch the ladder of the helicopter. But nope the Mosasaur comes in and eat the yellow jacket dude and he didn’t close the den making it able to escape. Meanwhile news is broadcast the island saying the volcano is gonna blow up and destroy the whole island and the dinosaurs too and people are protesting the government to save the dinosaurs which they are refusing. Which is where Jeff Golblum comes in and take his shirt off to show his sexy body to the audience (that didn’t happen sorry lol). JK he comes in to tell them that the dinosaurs also have rights to live because they’r here before us and this is their world to live in. Claire return to join her team to free the dinosaur alongside with a hacker dude and vet girl (i don’t know much their names so i just calling them Vet and Hacker). The tv bring news that government made new rule if anyone bring them here will be punish which is dumb cause there also flying lizard dinosaurs that can live (lucky dinos).

Claire got a call which bring good news as she visit John Hammonds friend or relative big house. (RIP Richard Attenborough) She is brought with good news that John friend Benjamin found an island where the dinosaurs can be free to roam on and call it home and his assistant Mills tell Claire that Blue is still alive and is the last of her species (RIP Echo, Charlie, and Delta) and she need someone who can get her back calm and nice with out force. This bring or show Maisie who is grandaughter of Benjamin daughter who die in a car crash which she tells her grandpa what her mom was like but he never told her yet. So she goes to Owen who is building a house (which good construction) and try to convince him to come and get Blue and all dinosaurs off the island but he refuse and tell her to let Blue die which shock her as she leaves. This cut to the scene where Owen in his RV watching old videos of him and the baby raptors which he miss them all so much so he he change his mind and decided to come along with the gang to get Blue back. They got to the island with some solider alongside to help out too as we get a heartwarming moment as Vet sees one (maybe) her favorite dinosaur the Brachiosarus (This bring me memories back to when I was like very young I always wanna see a dinosaur like real dinosaurs come to life). As Hacker got to one of the building vents he got the powers on and trackers of all dinosaurs located on the map. Owen, Vet, and some soldiers go to get Blue while Claire and Hacker stay and look at the map giving them information on Blue while soldiers are out there getting dinosaur. As that happening the volcano is getting active so they’re going fast as they can till Owen found Blue. During this the soldiers reveal their true colors which turns out they’re here for Blue for something else. 

As they tranq both Blue and Owen except one bullet in Blue body the Vet said she won’t live if she doesn’t get treated so she help them to bring Blue back to life as the Volcano began to act up shaking the island and unleashing lava. Owen laying on the ground and getting licked by a Pachyrhinosarus and escaping the lava by dragging his body away Claire and Hacker escape from the Baryonox (Not Rexy) out of the ladder tunnel door thing. This is when Owen runs to them yelling to run as a stampede of dinosaurs are running away from the volcano. The gang found a gyrosphere to get into but Owen didn’t get in when a Carnotaurus comes int to find something to eat before it dies but fights another dinosaur and got beaten by it. Rexy came in to stop the bull horn dinosaur to tel it to stop and just run away. As the Claire and Hacker are stuck in the gyrosphere in the water Owen came to get them out before they drown inside of it and Claire learn all of this is a lie and someone has betray them. But then seeing Rexy and the Baryonox carrying away they follow and seeing they’re getting their teeth and putting them in cages on the ship. As they got onto the ship as the volcano erupts they notice a cry in a distance as they lost the Brachiosarus who was running on the docks crying and begging to them to come back as it dies with the island making this scene actually sad.

As the Vet try to recover Blue wounds she ask them to get a blood doner which they turn to Rexy but Claire and Owen woke her up as they’re getting blood from her.  They got Blue the blood and the bullet out of her as to Maisie who discover the lab which show Owen with the raptors which she really likes and somewhat following what the raptors are doing. But learn that Mills is making a new hybrid call the Indoraptor which she was scared when seeing it and was lock in her room. Owen and Claire are on investigation to find out what they’re doing with the dinosaurs but was than caught and cage with the other dinosaurs and it turns out Mills is using this to get more money. As rich people came Mills kill Benjamin and Maisie escape her room finding out Mills kill her grandpa and seeing picture of her mom (I think). As dinos getting sells Owen and Claire escape with a help of a headbutting dinosaurs busting through the wall and cage too. But later meet Maisie who is sad that her grandpa pass away and show both Claire and Owen what Mills has made. Turns out the Indoraptor is only train and made for just killing if you have a lazer pointer to target at meaning this thing is just a murderous cat prototype. But as one of a familiar soldier tranq it in it’s cage and try to pull it’s teeth out he got his arm ripping off and this thing smiled as it was tricking him thinking it was asleep. Which than escape and kill 5 rich people and some soldiers too. When the gang try to escape Mills got frustrated and tell her that Maisie is actually Benjamin daughter brought back to life like the other dinosaurs till the Indoraptor came and killing the soldiers. This lead the Indoraptor to chase Owen, Claire, and Maisie the whole time which chase Maisie more. While thats happening Blue is feeling all better still cage up as both Hacker and Vet let Blue escape and kill the scientist who made the Indoraptor and 2 soldiers as three of them escape from the explosion but gas are being release to the cages which can kill the dinosaur if they don’t get out before the gas slowly kills them. We then learned that the Indoraptor can also open doors too as it creeping it’s long arms to Maisie but Owen come to shot it but trying to pretend it’s wounded it show that it’s kill is actually bulletproof as bullets just drop off the surface.  

Blue comes in to save the day instead which some how Blue kick the shit out of this hybrid ass out of the window which is like holy shit did Rexy have steroids in her blood when donated to Blue. Claire came back with the lazer pointer as it trick the Indoraptor be stuck on not strong glass as Blue jump on it and killing it with the Triceratops skill horns making it a cool death scene. But Vet and Hacker found them to tell them that the dinos are gonna die if they don’t open the gates which will let them all loose to the wild. Claire doesn’t want to like release them to the wild and let them die but Maisie decided no they deserve to live and open the gate which is good choice TBH. As dino escape and Mills got tear in half from Rexy and Carnotaurus Blue leave Owen saying “she doesn’t want to be held captive I want to be free”. After all that Jeff Golblum tell them all that everyone is welcome to Jurassic World meaning now all dinosaurs are now everywhere as Rexy broke into the lion cage meeting the present day King, Mosey about to eat some surfers, and Blue running and now free traveling the world now seeing what the world is like now. And also Owen and Claire now taking care of Maisie. 

So that’s JW Fallen Kingdom and I might give this one uhhh... 7.5/10

The movie is good and it might be better than the first Jurassic World. Even though this is like Lost World it still good and the characters are interesting and Jeff Golblum taking off his shirt cause it’s getting hot in the movie (JK again lol). One thing that got me like point down is some of the people are dumb to know what to do when they see a T Rex, They should have learn what they’re doing with hybrid dinosaurs, THEY LEFT BRACHY ALONE ON THE ISLAND QAQ BRACHY NOOOO, and not training the Indoraptor very well.

The new hybrid Indoraptor is very interesting which seeing it gave me some horror movie monster vibes and it’s personality like tricking it’s asleep and dead is like a smart move but training it to just kill with a lazer pointer is just dumb it can still kill you with out the lazer pointer! I know it’s just a prototype but geez some the people didn’t learn what happen to the Indominuis Rex.

What I can say about this movie is it’s really good and I like i. The characters are good, seeing Blue alive still is good, and just watching it still bring back memories like when I was a kid I want to see real dinosaurs and I have feel that what the movie like giving us like the feeling and nostalgia it has onto us and that poaching is bad again.

Welp that’s all I got to say but before I go~

WHAT CAN I SAY~ EXCEPT! YOU’RE WELCOME!

[coeurdastronaute]

Essays in Existentialism: Jurassic

I really love your fics so I was wondering if you'll pleaseee write a clexa jurassic park au Tks

“Most meat eaters walked on two feet. This made them faster and left their hands free to grab their prey,” the professor explained, clicking the pointer so that the page changed. “Most plant eaters walked on four feet to better carry their heavy bodies. Some plant eaters could balance on two feet for a short time.”

“What about T-Rex?”

“What about them?”

“When do they show up and did they hunt humans?”

“Here we have the first instance of failure to read the material,” she shook her head and walked in front of the lecture hall.

Almost two hundred students watched her as she cross her arms and smiled as she shook her head. This was her favorite misconception, and her favorite way to tease an entire group of freshmen. The professor leaned against the desk at the front of the room, with a giant projector screen displaying a large graph behind her. She felt powerful like that.

“Millions of years separate the faintest inkling of humans and dinosaurs. We probably wouldn’t be sitting here today if we coexisted during the same time period. Not even because of the sheer amount of predators,” she explained before clicking through a few slides until she came to the graph she wanted. “There is a little gap in the estimates, but the Earth had about fifteen to thirty percent less oxygen than it does now. That means about five times the amount of Carbon Dioxide existed, which is thought to have contributed to the fact that everything was so damn big back then. Yes?”

“Could dinosaurs exist now?”

“No.”

From the back of the lecture hall, a gentleman smiled and watched the professor push herself up from leaning and begin to walk around, emphatically explaining with her hands so that every set of eyes was trained on her, riveted by her passion and explanations.

As the professor moves around the class, he melts into the crowd, unnoticed in the sea of eyes, but still, they are just like the kids around him, glued to the woman who is so excited, she has to push her glasses up on her nose from time to time as she explains, who has to shove her hands in her back pockets to keep them from gesturing to explain magnitude and such.

“That wraps up week seven,” the professor offered as the familiar shuffling that indicated the end of the allotted hour told her. “Remember, next week we will be tackling differentiation and specialization! If you close your eyes and sniff the air you can smell it. Tests are coming. Start preparing.”

Melting into the crowd, he pulls the phone out of his pocket and makes a phone call as the sea of students rush past him.

“She’s the one.”

Hot as all hell, the day hung there, dirty and thick and angry at nothing in particular. The tropical afternoon made it impossible to breathe, while the sun itself pulled every ounce of sweat it could from bodies as sacrifice for existing. It was a warped version of the angels share if she ever heard it.

From her spot against the fence, Clarke ran her forearm over her eyes and pushed the sticky ends of hair from where they stuck, though nothing truly helped.

She was familiar with heat and sweat.

Her eyes never stopped moving, following a herd moving through the upper wall of the far valley before a truck pulled up and stole her attention.

“Dinner is served,” Raven called happily as she hopped out and slammed the door. Some animal squealed and complained in the crate in the bed.

“That’s my line,” Jasper complained as he parked.

“You’re late.”

“We had a little problem with the new pens over in quadrant Charlie,” the driver gave a pointed look to the girl in the brace.

“That’s what you want to hear when you’re surrounded by creatures that are literally faster and bigger and sharper than anything else on the planet.”

“Listen, I fixed it. There was an over--” Raven tried to defend herself.

“Please don’t do the engineer stuff again,” Clarke sighed as she grunted and opened the truck lift.

“I need to take a look at the wiring for the converter panel over here. Thought I’d catch the show first.”

“It’s not a show.”

“Sure it’s not,” Raven teased, earning a smile. “Release the pig.”

“She’s not a toy. She’s a dinosaur. I can’t make her put on a show, no matter what Jaha thinks I’m capable of.”

“You got the raptors to behave.”

“I got a pack of starving animals to believe that I was the only reason they could eat. I’m a long way off of--”

“Okay, none of that boring animal junk. Can you make them ride tricycles yet?” Raven interrupted, leaning against the truck as the other two carried the giant crate with the help of the keepers at the paddock.

“Did you fix the island’s surge problem yet?”

“I have a feeling you’re closer to the tricycles than I am,” Raven acknowledged before heaving herself up the first few steps toward the observation deck.

From atop the stand, the three stood there and watched, waiting for the beast to show.

“I haven’t seen her since the last trainer...” Jasper began before trailing off when he looked at Clarke. “Who really wasn’t as good as you, and had it coming, I guess.”

“Total asshat,” Raven agreed.

The trainer shook her head and crossed her arms, leaning back and waiting for the inevitable. The other two leaned a little closer until everything stilled. The ground shook. The trees parted and trembled. The pig squealed and fought to climb a wall it hand no chance of making a foot up.

And then nothing.

A few heartbeats went by, and everything tentatively resumed itself, the world kept turning, the sky kept sitting there, the clouds yawned.

The growl was quiet, subtle, melting into the world of the island. Clarke heard it though as she scanned the tree line. A few seconds later, it burst forth, teeth glistening and legs churning with all its might before eight inch teeth serrated dinner and swallowed it in two gulps.

“Holy fuck,” Raven and Jasper breathed in unison, unable to blink or take their eyes from the dinosaur below.

It let out a long roar, that shook the world and echoed from the stars, that brought quiet to the island for a long moment, as if everyone knew this was different.

“Yup,” Clarke chuckled as she made her way down the steps. “Buy me a drink at the canteen. I’m thirsty as hell.”

For a full minute, Lexa stared at the stranger who now sat on the other side of the desk at her office. If she had been the type to be amused at such jokes, she was certain she would have laughed for the entirety of the pause that settled itself in the room quite comfortably. Instead she settled for quiet and a disbelieving stare that turned into an incredulous lean back in her chair, oddly disappointed the the meeting about potential funding to continue her dig in China was a ruse for a madman’s stupid prank.

“I do need you to say something, Dr. Woods. I have a few other appointments before I head back...”

“To your island,” she supplied, slightly amused.

“Yes. I leave in the morning.”

“To go back to your island of dinosaurs.”

“Correct.”

“An island that has genetically modified, brought back from extinction after millions and millions of years, dinosaurs, that used science which I can only imagine is still light years away from being stable or even... real.... that Island?”

“Yes,” Thelonious Jaha nodded with a warm smile, watching as the scientist leaned forward once again and tried to form more words to express her disbelief.

“You have to go back to the island with... what? Triceratops? and let me guess, you have... What? Ornithopoda? Just... running around?”

“We do have a nice little collection of those. Quite gentle creatures. My favorite though,” he explained, crossing his leg and folding his hands over his lap, “I think are the Apatosaurus. Did you know that they fight like giraffe’s often?”

“Often,” Lexa barked a laugh and caught herself before sitting up a bit straighter and blanking her face from the outburst. She pushed up her glasses and took a deep breath before a giggle escaped once again. “Often this happens. That Apatosaurus fight. Like giraffes.”

“Dr. Woods, I came to you with a serious business proposition, one that I think is more than fair--”

“You want to visit your fantasy island that is populated by dinosaurs brought back from extinction by DNA collecting and replicating methods which are... impossible at best... to study and monitor your collection... or real, live dinosaurs. Is that a good summation, Mr. Wells?”

“Fairly fair, I should say,” he agreed, smiling at her kindly.

“Mr. Wells, the wealthiest man in the world, spent his money making dinosaurs,” Lexa shook her head and whistled. “Well, I wouldn’t have guessed that one. But if you’ll excuse me, Mr. Wells. I have a class at three thirty I should prepar--”

While she spoke, she watched him reach toward his briefcase, which she assumed meant he was ready to depart after she rudely berated his craziness. Instead, a stack of pictures slid across the expanse of her desk.

“Those are not doctored in the slightest, Dr. Woods,” he explained as the paleontologist surveyed the array without picking one up, leaning closer than she would have liked to pretend. “I approached you because you are the best in your field, the most well-respected and honored scientist in the study of evolution and especially paleontology, and many of your theories have not only proven true, but also helpful in the development of behavior models of our subjects.”

As Lexa picked up a picture finally, her guest stood and watched her squint, trying to find the falsehood.

“My terms are simple. Just come see the park, Dr. Woods, and the money will be made available in a grant the second you step back off of the plane in this city.”

A plane ticket made its way to the desk beside the images. All the doctor could do was stare back at the man who placed it there before her eyes were drawn back to the image in her hand. It was impossible. There was no way.

“If you have any questions, my business card is here,” he smiled and pulled it from his jacket pocket. “I hope to see you soon, Dr. Woods. We could really use your expertise.”

Still stunned and unsure what to say, Lexa heard him leave as she leaned back in her chair and swiveled away from her door, holding what looked the picture of a pterodactyl soaring. She shook her head to get the inkling of belief from taking root before she picked up the business card.

From behind her sunglasses, Clarke watched the small prop plane land and turn around at the end of the small runway. The metal of the jeep was hot against her hip, but still, she leaned there and waited for the professor who was coming to tell her how to do her job, as if training or working with animals could be taught in a classroom, as if it could be taught by a bone hunter who wrote articles and--

“Holy shit,” she whispered to herself as the door finally opened and the dorky, middle-aged professor with a paunch belly and affinity for wearing tweed and smoking pipes turned out to be a ridiculous beautiful, legs-straight-from-Olympus, short-shorts wearing, siren of a there’s-no-way-she’s-a-doctor, doctor.

It took a moment, but the trainer swallowed quickly and crossed her arms, not letting the momentary distraction keep her away from indignation too long.

“So that’s the person that’s going to tell you what to do,” Raven observed as she leaned over the top railing of the Jeep.

Clarke pursed her lip and crossed her arms tighter around herself.

“She’s here to study and offer feedback.”

“Looks like just your type.”

“I don’t have a type.”

“You do,” her friend chuckled. “Too good for you and unattainable.”

Before she could argue the point, the newest arrival shouldered her bag and made her way from the tarmac. The closer she got, the more Clarke was vividly aware of how right the engineer was, and how much it bothered her.

The tan of her legs, the way her sleeves were rolled up, the old baseball hat that betrayed hair that lingered somewhere between chestnut and auburn, that curled up near her ears in the heat. Clarke was taken with her jaw and her collarbones, though she would never admit it.

“Hello,” the professor smiled awkwardly.

“Dr. Woods, this is Clarke Griffin, our trainer--

“Handler,” Clarke corrected.

“Of the dinosaurs,” Lexa took the hand offered to her and shook it before pulling off her sunglasses and tucking them into her shirt. “Because there are dinosaurs here.”

Her eyes made Clarke gulp, her words made her smile.

“Yes ma’am. I handle the dinosaurs.”

With a polite shake of her hand, Lexa shook her head and sighed as it dropped, still almost amused at the situation.

“If there are dinosaurs, I can’t imagine they handle well.”

“All animals handle well enough if you listen to them.”

“These would be multi-ton creatures that have millions of years of evolution and survival skills--”

“Two minutes on the island, and you’re calling my job a bunch of useless garbage,” Clarke inhaled deeply and nodded to herself. “You could at least wait to tell me how to do my job until after you see me in action, Professor.”

“I’m... I didn’t. I’m not here to tell you how to do your job.”

“Good.”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot--”

“I think it’s just fine. You’ll be gone in a few days and that’s fine enough,” Clarke opened the back door and motioned for her to get in.

Still distracted by the blonde and the lips and the words that came out of them, Lexa furrowed before slowly crawling in the back seat of the Jeep. She put her sunglasses back on and fanned herself through her shirt.

“Hi. I’m Raven. Head Engineer, persistent tag-along,” the girl in the passenger seat turned around and held out her hand. “You met our resident surly handler.”

“Lexa.”

With a smile that grew larger as she took in the newcomer, Lexa watched Raven turn around and say something to Clarke that was eclipsed with the roar of the engine back to life. Raven’s laugh was silent though her head tilted back as if she were enjoying herself.

Lexa leaned back in the seat as they began to rumble along through half a road into the jungle. All she could wonder was why and how she ended up here.

The jungle was thick and lush, sprouting up on both sides, blotting out the sun so that it came down in little shots of pure gold through the canopy. Lexa jumbled in the back over the uneven path that was barely a road to start with and more of a trail that was confiscated by the trees every chance it got.

When they emerged, Lexa wasn’t ready. The sunlight blinded her for a moment before it all registered and she saw them.

From the driver’s seat, Clarke looked at the professor in the rearview mirror, the astonishment catching again. She exchanged a look with Raven who shook her head, but that didn’t stop her.

Lexa didn’t notice they weren’t moving. She noticed the articulation of the spine of the stegosaurus. She noticed the sheer size of the apatosaurus. In a flash, she peeled off the sunglasses and leaned closer over the edge of the vehicle, gripping it tightly before murmuring to herself that it was impossible. As far as the view stretched, as far as the eye could see, nothing but life existed, pure, primeval live.

“Well, what do you think?”

“That’s... Those are...” Lexa shook her head. In a second, Lexa dug in her bag and slipped on a pair of large, round glasses.

“You didn’t think that it was real?”

“How can it be real?”

“Magic,” Clarke grinned, amused at herself.

“Those are... those are... Those are...”

“Yeah.”

“A doctor,” Raven rolled her eyes. “She doesn’t even know what those are.”

“Can we...? What? How?”

“Mr. Wells is going to meet us at the main property,” Clarke said before starting the engine once again.

“Can’t we stay with them?”

The amazement was infectious, and Clarke couldn’t remember losing it, though she did in the grime of her day-to-day life. Raven was right. She had a type, which apparently included hot professors with big glasses and old baseball hats and legs that were godly.

“You’ll have plenty of time,” Clarke promised.

Lexa didn’t hear anything. She stared, wide-eyed and blown away by the giants that walked along the valley floor. She was certain her heart didn’t beat at all the entire trip.

The science, the show, the behind the scenes parts, Lexa was absolutely intrigued by, swallowed up in it the moment the handler and the engineer dropped her off at the main entrance.

Before she knew it, the day was over and her notebook was filled with notes and questions and ideas and observations, and she hadn’t even made it back out to the park that blew her mind.

“Finally escaping the lab, professor?” a familiar voice greeted her as Lexa attempted to make her way toward her room to try to type up her notes and see what else she wanted to look into in the morning. She had stacks of reading the doctors lent her so that she could be up to date on their findings. It was highly classified and she had to sign a million contracts just to read them, but she looked forward to it.

“I think I could live in there,” she confessed, head still twirling slightly.

“Where are you heading?” Raven asked, walking alongside the doctor, dragging her leg gently, appreciative that she slowed slightly.

“Just back to my room. I’m supposed to have dinner with some of the scientists in an hour to go--”

“You don’t want to do that.”

“I don’t?”

“Come slum it with the hired hands. I promise it’ll be way better.”

“I’m not sure your friend likes me very much,” Lexa remembered, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and pushing up her glasses. “And you’re not exactly a hired hand.”

“We all are in our own ways for Jaha. Trust me. Even you are. You just don’t know it yet.”

All she wanted was to shower and go back to her room, and yet Lexa decided that detoxing from the science, from the pounding feeling in her head that came from the impossible existing, it was too much.

“Plus, Clarke doesn’t warm up often to people. You can’t take it personally. She’s an animal person.”

“I don’t know that I’d consider these animals.”

“You have a lot to learn, doc.”

The little cantina was a slice of actual life in the middle of what felt like the Twilight Zone. Perched on the far side of the main compound, behind the employee’s only fence, leaning against what was left of an almost drained lake, the little open, sided hut was the nightly gathering place for everyone. Clarke enjoyed it as much as she could, though it made her feel as if she was missing out on actual life, far away, away from the tiny dome of the island.

The sun hung around, lazy and disinterested in leaving the day to give into the night. The big, fluffy clouds caught on fire and became embers, while the people below sipped drinks and ate from the communal buffet.

The addition of a stranger had everyone awake and buzzing. The little staff were all experts, all knowledgeable, all adventurous and running from things, and yet as tough as they strived to be, any kind of newness, of new person, made them yearn for the real world.

Clarke avoided it as much as possible. Something about a new person reminded her what she was running from, why she escaped from real life and wound up in this zoo.

She knew what Raven was doing, and Clarke wanted nothing to do with it.

The back porch looked out onto the field that led into the trees. From atop the slope she sat and drank the beer and let it cool her down, a near impossible feat in the weather.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” a voice behind her offered. “After meeting with Jaha, I understand why.”

Clarke didn’t move, didn’t say anything. She just took another drink and listened to the noises of the world beyond the tree line.

“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job. I came to study behaviors, not to... to... train them. I told him that’s impossible, and he said you said the same thing.”

Wringing her fingers, Lexa ran her hand up her neck and tried to think of what else to say, hoping not to do anything else to piss off the person she’d be working with for the next week.

“Anyway. That’s all I wanted to say.”

“Would you like a drink, Dr. Woods?” Clarke offered without turning around.

Somewhat relieved, the professor smiled to herself before grabbing the bottle offered and taking the seat beside the lounging handler.

“Lexa. You can call me Lexa.”

“You survived your first day. That’s impressive.”

“I don’t know how you do it every day. How long has it been?”

“About sixteen months.”

“Goodness.”

Both drank and stared at the sunset while the jukebox played something behind them. Clarke sighed and relaxed further while Lexa leaned forward and listened beneath the noise to what was happening out there.

“The Diplocodus sing at night,” Clarke offered.

“Like whales.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

From across the cantina Raven watched the two sitting on the back porch and congratulated herself on a job well done. It was no surge-proofed server system, but it was something.

For two days, Lexa soaks up everything that she can. She can’t imagine her eyes being any wider at every glance and nook and cranny. The entirety of the island is mesmerizing. For nearly four hours just one day, she spends sitting in a Jeep on the edge of a field observing. She filled up three notebooks in the short amount of time.

As much time as she spends observing, a certain handler spends just as much observing the professor. It isn’t on purpose, just always seems to work out that way. Something about the nerdy, quiet, passionate, smart, funny, kind... and the list raged on as Clarke tried to make an excuse for her gazing. Something about her just distracted Clarke at inconvenient moments, had her spilling words out of her mouth, even when she thought she was being quiet.

“Are you busy, Professor?” Clarke realized she was asking as she stumbled upon Lexa at the cage for check ups.

She’d meant to walk by, to leave her with possibly just a wave, while she assisted the vet with some notes. Of course, Clarke was suddenly a mess, and very much angry at her best friend for planting seeds that actually took in the arid desert that was her mind.

“Depends on what you may have for me today,” Lexa smiled in that way that felt like dew on ankles at dawn.

“I don’t think you’ve gotten a proper introduction to what I do.”

“Do I finally get to go into the employees only section that’s hidden behind those high walls and heavy doors?”

“No, but I promise you’ll have a better time than examining with Dr. Lame.”

“Dr. Lima is going to give me my first contact with dinosaurs.”

Clarke smiled to herself and flicked the keys in her hand.

“Trust me,” Clarke offered. “I rarely disappoint.”

The ride to the southern side of the island was bumpy and even worse than the one from the airport, but Lexa held on and for some unknown reason, trusted the handler. She regretted her decision precisely six minutes into the trip as she was nearly bounced out of her seat, earning just a grin from the driver who shrugged and adjusted her sunglasses.

Far in the horizon, clouds emerged from the horizon, angry and black, contrasting perfectly with the bright white-blue of the clear sky. Lexa shielded her eyes as they hopped along and recognized the storm coming in the way the breeze shifted and then calmed to almost nothing.

“How far are we?”

“Can’t you enjoy the ride?”

“Has anyone?” she retorted. “There’s a storm coming.”

“It hasn’t hit the first set of islands yet. We won’t see that for another hour or two,” Clarke promised as the Jeep slowed and stopped.

“Now you’re a meteorologist?”

“I’d like you a lot better if you were nicer to me,” the handler grumbled, pulling herself up by the crossbar and sliding out of the rover. Before Lexa could muster a reply, the blonde shouldered her bag and walked around, towards the front.

Half tripping and half afraid of being left, Lexa scrambled out after Clarke.

“I’m plenty nice to you,” she argued, pushing up her glasses as the tall grass tickled her bare legs. “You’re the one that’s rude to me.”

“I brought you out here, didn’t I?”

Lexa almost slammed into Clarke’s back, she stopped so quickly. Humming to herself, she met the challenging blue eyes and a smirk and swallowed deeply, blaming the humidity most of all.

“Yes, but you’re very surly, did you know that?”

“Surly.”

“Surly.”

“I don’t mean to be, it’s just... people talk a lot, don’t they?” Clarke asked, almost too honest and real, such a flip that it caught Lexa slightly off balance. “I don’t like wasted words.”

All she could do was follow down the faintest semblance of a trail. She wanted to ask more, but she felt like they were all wasteful kinds of words, no matter how she flipped them around and examined their surfaces in her head.

“We don’t breed, we reproduce,” Clarke explained as she came to a stop finally, digging through her bag. “Which makes herd dynamics easier.” She let out a low whistle.

For a moment, nothing happened.

The trees jostled, the shrubs moved, the earth shook slightly. With a squeal, a blur emerged and rammed into Clarke’s side, knocking her over in a fit of actual laughter. All Lexa could do was watch as the baby stood atop her and nudged her with a dull snout, rooting under her arm.

The trees moaned and came down to their side a few seconds later as a full grown triceratops came forward, timid and waiting at the edge. Lexa took a step back, eyes wide. She’d been close to the specimens before, but behind the glass back at the lab, in the paddocks used for observation.

“Okay, okay, enough,” the handler shoved at the teenage rhino sized creature that hovered over her. “Easy there buddy. You’re getting bigger and stronger.”

“That’s a...” Lexa trailed off slightly before she felt a giant breath on her shoulder and wet, sloppy lips on her shoulder. A horn met her eyes when she turned toward the adult.

“Yeah. It is,” Clarke chuckled.

Gone was the tightness of her shoulders, the defensiveness of her face. Clarke was a new person, full of life and joy. She righted herself despite the insistence of the animal that nudged her hips and ribs.

“Looks like Doreen likes you.”

“Doreen?” Lexa swallowed and met the large, doleful eyes of the thing that nipped at her shoulder, covering her in slobber.

“I like giving them old lady names. They remind me of old ladies. Nice and gentle, would give you hard candies,” Clarke grunted as she pushed back against the newly forming horns on the baby as it lifted her. “But get them mad, and they’ll take you to town with a wrath of many years lived.”

“Can I...”

“She doesn’t bite.”

“Just slobbers.”

“I thought they’d be a good way to properly introduce you to the real thing. This is what I do,” Clarke laughed as she got pushed again by the antsy little critter who came up to almost her shoulders. “They’re real and alive, and have personalities. You hypothesize on what makes them do what they do.”

She ran her hand along the plate of the dinosaur’s shell, feeling the unique texture, smiling to herself as she did.

“Who is that?” Lexa asked, nudging her chin at the thing still nudging Clarke.

“CJ.”

“CJ. Not a very good old lady name.”

“Clarke Junior,” she explained, blushing slightly at the admission. “I never thought I’d have to explain that to anyone.”

“She definitely has your legs.”

“I think she takes after my personality.”

A slobbery nose dug into Clarke’s bag, and Lexa grinned at the display.

It took impending clashes of thunder for Clarke to convince the good professor to retreat back to the main part of the park. It took a promise of taking her to see the herds on the southside of the river to get her to not mope.

The entire ride back, Lexa raved, and asked a million questions, her eagerness overpowering her fear of the weather and her worry about the ethics and implications of what seeing an actual dinosaur in real life, would mean. Clarke just smiled and answered what she could, amused at the way in which this girl was absolutely in love with the science of it.

As the rain started to fall, they dashed into the cantina and still, Lexa couldn’t stop talking, couldn’t stop gushing. Clarke realized it was maybe the best thing she’d ever done, to get a girl like that so excited and alive. She didn’t know how, but she liked it.

Gradually, the evening grew later, the rain came hard, the water coming down in buckets and the lightning flashing. Everyone emptied out as the lights flickered. Clarke was exhausted, but in no way eager to miss a second of Lexa, and she hated Raven for it.

“So we’ve made it clear that you love this, but you never told me why you study bones,” Clarke finally ventured, balancing the beer bottle on her knee as she leaned against the wall in their little nook.

“You never told me why you’re a handler,” Lexa countered, pushing up her glasses before tilting her head back for a long swig.

It was the drink and the hour, but Clarke let her eyes linger too long on the slope of her neck and shoulders.

“You first.”

“Fine,” the professor finally sighed with a grin. “I just like that for something so old, we don’t know anything about it. All of the information is there, we just have to find it. It’s a giant game. And I like hunting for them.”

“It was the cool hats and the digging, right?”

“And the computer models. That’s what really sold me.”

“I’m serious.”

“I went to the museum when I was a kid. My dad didn’t hang around much, but I did skip school and he took me to the museum, and we learned about dinosaurs. After that, he always sent me something about dinosaurs when he could. I don’t know where he went,” she shrugged. “Just stopped coming around, but I don’t know. The dinosaurs stuck.”

“See? That’s a much more human answer.”

“I’m human.”

“You use the scientific name for things and speak in numbers. You’re far from human,” Clarke chuckled and earned a look. She earned a blush and leaned across the table slightly, propping her cheek up and really looking at her.

“Tell me your deep, dirty secrets then,” Lexa finally managed.

“I’m boring. Good mom, good dad. I just always liked animals, and I didn’t like school. I did odd jobs. Horse trainer when I got out of high school. Dog and obedience classes. I joined the circus for a bit.”

“You’re lying.”

“Yeah, a little,” she grinned.

“I went to school to be a large animal vet, and I worked at a zoo for a long while. And then I just… My dad got sick, and I got an offer from Jaha that I jumped at to get away from home.”

“That sounds more like it.”

“Have you ever held your hand up to a tiger’s paw?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“I never thought anything would beat that feeling,” Clarke explained. “And then I came here.”

“But this place… it can’t… it can’t sustain this. The animals…”

“It’s not as perfect as they make it seem,” she agreed. “We had a bacterial outbreak that killed off a few dozen, and the raptors are showing signs of--”

“Raptors?”

That had been missing from the tour. Clarke gulped when she realized the words that came out of her mouth. Frantically, she searched her brain for a way to back track it, though none presented itself rightly.

“Um.”

“You’ve bred predators?!” Lexa yelled.

Clarke didn’t like that very much. She did, actually. She liked how angry she looked because her jaw was tight and her eyes were fire. But she hated it.

“I didn’t do anything. I just help try to keep them all alive.”

“There’s no way this place is safe.”

“We have high walls, lined with electric charges, and the predators are kept separate.”

“I can’t believe this,” Lexa stood and grabbed her bag, ready to march out.

Quickly, Clarke grabbed her arm and tugged her back.

“Where are you going?”

“To shut this down.”

“Believe me, it’s too late for that.”

The storm roared outside, and Clarke stood there, holding Lexa’s arm until she yanked it away. Slightly wounded, she just waited for the inevitable lashing that she was almost growing to expect from the professor.

Instead, she was met with quiet.

“You can’t be okay with it,” Lexa shook her head.

“I’m not, but I was too far in before I found out. Now I have all of those animals, like you met today, and I can’t just trust anyone else--”

“No, I get it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you apologizing for?” Lexa asked, cocking her head slightly. Once more, in that place, in this room, around that girl, she felt overwhelmed.

“I don’t know. It just felt right.”

Once more, she shook her head and was met with a kind of grin that made her forget about giant carnivores who could eat her in one bite. Until she remembered.

“I should, um,” Lexa pulled away slightly, unsure how she got to be standing so close to an animal handler in the middle of an island in a jungle inhabited by extinct creatures. “I should go to bed.”

“Yeah, um, me too,” Clarke agreed, clearing her throat. “Tomorrow? See you early for the trip out to the river?”

“Yeah.”

With coy eyes, Lexa darted away as fast as her feet could take her without looking like she was running. Clarke stood on the porch and scratched her neck as she watched her look back and hurriedly look away.

And she hated Raven once again.

NEXT

[jurassicparkpodcast]

LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar | Plus New LEGO sets!

Wow, New York Toy Fair kicks off with an explosion of Jurassic news - starting with the announcement of a new LEGO mini-series, LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar! Read the synopsis below via PR Newswire:

"Set in 2012, three years before the events of the Jurassic World movie, LEGO Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar picks up where the story left off from LEGO Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit. Newly hired animal behaviorist Owen Grady and Assistant Manager of Park Operations Claire Dearing team up on Isla Nublar to deal with everything the Jurassic World park throws their way. And "everything" includes runaway dinosaurs, ongoing construction to expand the park, tourists everywhere, unpredictable tropical weather, and an impulsive boss! Plus, a mysterious saboteur with surprising ties to the park's past is on a quest to find a legendary treasure and destroy Jurassic World forever! What could possibly go wrong? Everything."

Last year on NBC, we got a glimpse of this expanded universe with Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit - a fun romp, while occasionally absurd dip into the Jurassic LEGO expanded universe. If you haven’t seen the two-part short yet, you can actually pick up the DVD on the shelves. The shorts introduced a pretty interesting thread into the story (one which I will not spoil here), so I’m interested in seeing where this new mini-series takes that story.

Legend of Isla Nublar will explore new story-lines and obviously non-canon developments in 13 episodes later this year!

Next up, LEGO also announced brand new LEGO sets to connect with the upcoming mini-series. Take a look at information below via The Brothers Brick:

75938 – T. rex vs Dino-Mech Battle 716 pieces | $89.99 USD | Available Fall 2019

Danger! Danny Nedermeyer is roaming Jurassic World park in his huge Dino-Mech on a mission to steal the treasure hidden in the Isla Nublar volcano. But first he has to face the mighty T. rex. Jump in the boat with Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, Vic Hoskins—plus baby Velociraptors Blue, Delta, Echo and Charlie—and speed to the battle scene. Fire the boat’s stud shooters at the Dino-Mech. Put the T. rex to sleep with the tranquilizer gun. You must stop Danny before he finds a way to smash into the volcanic rock and steal the treasure!

This LEGO Jurassic World dinosaur toy play-set includes 4 new-for-June 2019 mini-figures: Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, Vic Hoskins and Danny Nedermeyer, plus 4 baby Velociraptor toy figures—Blue, Delta, Echo and Charlie—and 2 bat figures.

Molded, build-able LEGO Jurassic World T. rex toy dinosaur figure features new-for-June-2019 colors, snapping jaws and a posable head, arms and legs.

Dino-Mech features an opening mini-figure cockpit with detailed dashboard, snapping jaws, posable head, arms, claws, legs and tail.

LEGO brick-built volcanic rock features lava elements, an opening function and a treasure chest with assorted treasure elements inside: 11 gold-colored coins, 4 gold-colored-bars, 1 gold-colored cup and 4 gem elements.

Toy boat features 2 stud shooters, a tranquilizer gun, ammo storage container with 4 ammo elements and Owen’s walkie-talkie element. (Please note: boat does not float in water.)

This dinosaur toy play-set for kids includes Vic Hoskins’ tranquilizer gun.

Accessory elements include Owen Grady’s walkie-talkie and Danny Nedermeyer’s soda can element.

Kids can re-imagine thrilling scenes from the LEGO Jurassic World animated series with this collectible toy.

This LEGO Jurassic World toy construction set makes a great dinosaur gift for kids.

Jurassic World T. rex dinosaur toy figure measures over 4” (11cm) high, 11” (28cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide.

Dino-Mech measures over 5” (14cm) high, 12” (33cm) long and 5” (13cm) wide.

Volcanic rock measures over 5” (14cm) high, 7” (20cm) wide and 5” (13cm) deep.

Toy boat measures over 5” (13cm) long and 3” (8cm) wide.

75937 Triceratops Rampage  447 pieces | $59.99 USD | Available Fall 2019

Take a ride on the awesome new LEGO Jurassic World Egg Spinner with Simon Masrani and Allison Miles! Then check the sign for directions to Jurassic World’s gyrosphere. But, watch out—there’s been a power failure and the mighty Triceratops has smashed through the fence and escaped! Jump in the buggy with Owen Grady and speed to the rescue. Dangle a carrot in front of the mighty dinosaur to distract it and save the tourist. There’s never a dull day in Jurassic World park!

This LEGO Jurassic World dinosaur toy play-set includes 4 new-for-June-2019 mini-figures: Owen Grady, Simon Masrani, Allison Miles and a tourist.

Jurassic World Egg Spinner ride features three build-able dinosaur-egg seats for mini-figures and a spinning function, plus an entrance gate with 2 flame elements, queuing area with 2 fences, queuing sign element, steps to access the ride, trash can with a lid, and a sign with directions (to the Jurassic World gyrosphere, gift shop and museum).

Turn the switch at the back of the egg spinner to make the eggs go round.

Molded, build-able, new-for-June-2019 Triceratops LEGO dinosaur toy figure features a posable head and legs.

Also includes a collapsible fence with a ‘Danger –Electricity’ sign element, and a fence with Triceratops information sign.

Push the post on the collapsible fence to play out a Triceratops escape.

Buggy has space for a mini-figure, plus detachable wrench and walkie-talkie elements, plus a carrot (dinosaur bait) attached to a long stick.

Also includes the tourist’s brick-built ice cream.

Kids can re-imagine exciting scenes from the LEGO Jurassic World animated series with this collectible toy.

This LEGO Jurassic World toy construction set makes a great dinosaur gift for kids.

Egg spinner ride measures over 4” (12cm) high, 4” (12cm) wide and 7” (19cm) deep.

Entrance gate measures over 3” (10cm) high, 5” (14cm) wide and 1” (4cm) deep.

Triceraptops LEGO dinosaur figure measures over 3” (8cm) high, 7” (19cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide.

Dinosaur fences measures over 3” (10cm) high, 9” (25cm) wide and 1” (5cm) deep.

Buggy measures over 1” (3cm) high, 2” (6cm) long and 1” (4cm) wide.

75935 Baryonyx Face-Off: The Treasure Hunt 434 pieces | $59.99 USD | Available Fall 2019

Rush to stop Danny Nedermeyer and Sinjin Prescott’s dangerous treasure hunt in LEGO Jurassic World! According to legend, there is treasure hidden on Isla Nublar and Danny and Sinjin have a map and old video tape to help them find it. But when a Baryonyx dinosaur thinks they are trying to steal her fish, they have to hide out in an old trailer. Help Owen Grady and Claire Dearing fix up the offroad buggy. Then drive with them and Red the dog to catch the bad guys before they steal the treasure!

This LEGO Jurassic World dinosaur toy play-set for kids includes 4 mini-figures: Owen Grady, Claire Dearing, Danny Nedermeyer, Sinjin Prescott, plus a Red the dog figure. 

Offroader features space for 2 mini-figures, rear storage space, attachment point for the trailer, brick-built flashlight and fuel container, plus a screwdriver element. 

Trailer features a build-able antenna and assorted plant elements on the exterior, an opening door and a detailed interior with a build-able computer and bed, plus assorted elements including a coffee cup, movie camera and frying pan.

Jungle scene features a build-able palm tree, hidden treasure chest with a reveal function and 6 gem and 2 gold-colored bar elements inside, plus assorted elements including plants and 2 fish. 

Press the trigger to reveal the hidden treasure chest.

Molded, build-able Jurassic World Baryoynx dinosaur toy figure features snapping jaws and a posable head, arms and legs. 

Weapons include Owen Grady’s tranquilizer gun and Sinjin Prescott’s machete. 

Accessory elements include Sinjin Prescott’s hat, bag, map and videotape. 

Danny Nedermeyer and Sinjin Prescott mini-figures are new for June 2019. 

Kids can re-imagine exciting scenes from the LEGO Jurassic World animated series with this collectible toy.

This LEGO building set makes a great dinosaur gift for kids.

Offroader measures over 2” (7cm) high, 5” (13cm) long and 3” (8cm) wide. 

Trailer measures over 3” (10cm) high, 5” (14cm) long and 1” (5cm) wide.

Jungle scene build measures over 5” (14cm) high, 5” (14cm) wide and 3” (8cm) deep.

Baryonyx dinosaur figure measures 4” (12cm) high, 11” (28cm) long and 1” (4cm) wide.

75934 Dilophosaurus on the Loose 168 pieces | $19.99 USD | Available Fall 2019

Explore LEGO Jurassic World with Owen Grady and build his drone to look after the dinosaurs. Meet Hudson Harper, a kid who knows everything there is to know about dinosaurs. And build the market stall in the shape of a dinosaur head with LEGO bricks. But look out—a young Dilophosaurus has escaped and is creeping up behind Hudson. Fly to the rescue with Owen’s drone, fire the net shooter and capture that dinosaur. Every day is an adventure with this action-packed LEGO play-set!

This LEGO Jurassic World dinosaur toy play-set includes 3 mini-figures: Owen Grady, Hudson Harper and a park worker, plus a new-for-June-2019 Dilophosaurus toy figure. 

Drone helicopter toy features a mini-figure cockpit, 4 spinning rotors and a net shooter function. 

Dinosaur-head-shaped market stall features a display container, 4 poster stickers, flag and assorted elements including a shovel, broom, 2 hats and 2 popcorn boxes.

The Dilophosaurus figure has posable jaws. 

Hudson Harper and park worker mini-figures are new for June 2019. 

Kids can re-imagine exciting scenes from the LEGO Jurassic World animated series with this collectible toy.

This LEGO toy construction set makes a great dinosaur gift for kids.

Drone helicopter toy measures over 1” (4cm) high, 4” (11cm) long and 4” (11cm) wide.

Market stall measures over 3” (9cm) high, 3” (10cm) wide and 2” (6cm) deep.

Incredible! Looks like there are some really fun sets in there, with my favorite being the Dino-Mech suit! While it’s completely absurd and something I’m sure we’ll never see in an actual film, it’s still fun to see brought to life in LEGO form and most likely brought to Legend of Isla Nublar! Let us know what your favorite set is in the comments below!

Thanks to Pablo for the heads up on Facebook!

Source: PRNewswire | The Brothers Brick

Written by: Brad Jost

[ntrending]

Scientists worry that shrinking national monuments will hurt their research

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/scientists-worry-that-shrinking-national-monuments-will-hurt-their-research/

Scientists worry that shrinking national monuments will hurt their research

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is suing to defend Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in Utah. They’re trying to protect more than 400 archaeology sites, where scientists have found thousands of important fossils—including Diabloceratops, one of the oldest known triceratops and David Polly’s personal favorite. When Polly became the president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, he never expected that filing lawsuits would be part of the gig.

“We’re primarily a scientific organization,” he says. “We have a scientific conference, we have a scientific journal. But part of our organization’s mission is developing policies and best practices and advocating for vertebrate fossils.”

On December 4, the Trump administration announced that they intend to reduce Bear’s Ears to about 15 percent of the 1.5 million acres designated by President Obama last year. The executive branch will also shrink Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to about half its current size, which was put in place by Bill Clinton in 1996. Polly says that the changes to the national monuments in southern Utah affect at least ten percent of his whole organization, about 2,200 scientists.

Scientists worry that private enterprises such as mineral excavation and drilling will disturb the fossils and wildlife at the monuments, and that this presidential action will lead to funding cuts that will limit both research and science communication. Popular Science spoke to three scientists about their research—and their concerns about how cuts to Bear’s Ears and Grand Staircase will affect it.

Allison Stegner

Allison Stegner, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studies packrat middens in the Bear’s Ears national monument. That might sound cute, but the research involves anything but fuzzy rodent gloves. These small mammals collect carnivore bones, coyote poop, and the regurgitations of raptors and owls. “It’s really charming,” says Stegner.

Because packrats are so picky about the rocky hovels where they spend their lives, a single family can occupy the same space for thousands of years. This makes them ideal archaeological assistants. “If you were to dig a hole through the sand you would find ancient, buried levels of the packrat nest,” says Stegner. By exploring these layers, she learns about how different species—plants, animals, long-gone mollusks, and even a juvenile parrot—have responded to past environmental changes. With this data, she makes hypotheses about how Utah’s native species will respond to future climate change. She has found that small mammal populations remained pretty much stable over 5,000 years. But that all started to change over the last couple centuries. Lately, species have been disappearing.

In addition to her packrat work, Stegner surveys fossils across the monument. She has found the bones of a phytosaur, an extinct crocodile with a long snout and extensive body armor. She’s also tracked down some Permian fossils that help paleontologist piece together how different species moved from the water to the land over the course of their evolution.

Stegner says that oil and gas mining pose a threat to the rare fossil beds in Bear’s Ears, which shed light on how different species once interacted. “I have no problem with multi-use land in any way, but I do have a problem with giving over this incredible place, that is so important culturally and scientifically, to [serve] the interests of a few people,” she says.

Seth Bybee

Seth Bybee, life sciences professor at Brigham Young University, started hearing reports of fireflies in Utah in 2012. He wanted to investigate the diversity of local firefly populations. He started to collect fireflies in the state, but realized that the research was going to be slow going. Then, he had the idea of harnessing the power of the masses. With the help of Christie Bills, then a collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Utah, he set up a website where citizen scientists could report their firefly observations. Their project took off. “We think we’ve discovered three new species, though we have to do a lot of leg work to make sure,” he says. “We’re pretty excited about that.”

Western fireflies are the party insects of the Pyractomena world. They tend to come out earlier and stay out later than their eastern counterparts, which makes them easier to spot. Volunteers can submit their sightings with a timestamp and habitat information. Undergrads or trained citizen scientists venture out to check the site, which the researchers then load onto a map of fireflies in Utah.

Bybee says that convincing people to submit data was easy. “Turns out Utahns love fireflies,” he says. “It was not a hard sell to get people to participate.” And the project is a popular public service to people who want a luminescent camping experience. Bybee says he gets as many requests for information on where the fireflies are as submissions with new sightings.

Many of the firefly sightings lie with the national monument. Bybee says he doesn’t know how the shrinking public lands will affect his research, or the firefly populations. He anticipates some early conveniences. “It might actually make it easier on us because we don’t have to get as many permits,” he says. But he worries about how the changes will affect his research over time. “We might lose the possibility to get down there and look at these things in untarnished habitats,” he says.

Robert Gay

When Robert Gay was an undergraduate studying paleontology, his research cleared a dinosaur species of cannibalism charges. Other scientists thought that Coelophysis, a bird-like dinosaur, ate its young because they found some bones inside the Coelophysis rib cage. But Gay disproved this theory. “My work showed that the animals had been underneath, not inside, the animals,” he says. “And some of the bones would not have been able to fit down the esophagus.”

Now Gay looks for fossils in Bear’s Ears. He knows exactly what will happen if the monument status is taken away. He’s already lived that scenario. Barack Obama only designated the monument in December 2016. While Gay was working in Bear’s Ears before the change, one of the sites was looted. The skull of a crocodile mimic called a Pravasuchus was returned to staff at the petrified forests of Arizona. The researchers there published an abstract announcing they had the fossilized head right as Gay and his research team discovered the rest of the body. It fit perfectly.

When the site became a national monument, extra law enforcement were assigned to protect archaeological sites. Now, Gay says he is concerned that funding will be cut and his dig, right off the highway, will become a beacon for fossil thieves. “It becomes harder to do the work,” he says. He was also hoping that the area could someday be turned into a dinosaur park display, because of the diversity of species in the area. Visitors might be able to imagine Utah as the Jurassic (or Triassic) Park it once was, with many species of dinosaurs and mammals interacting. Tax dollars fund scientific research, after all, and U.S. citizens deserve to get their money’s worth. Now, he says that dream is a long shot, and people are less likely to view—and be amazed by—the megafauna that once ruled the region. “The public may never get to see this site,” he says.

Written By Ellen Airhart

[terrordave1]

I’m pretty sure I speak for every dinosaur fan over forty that JURASSIC PARK (1993) was a game changer. I was twenty-two years old when it premiered and remember being totally blown away at the site of realistic looking dinosaurs on the silver screen. I had no trouble whatsoever relating to Dr. Alan Grant as he fell to his knees, all teary from seeing his lifelong obsessions come to life. True, the character was seeing them in person and not in a theater like we were, but it was pure magic nonetheless. Nearly twenty-five years later, I was finally able to get a taste of what it would have been like to be Dr. Grant thanks to an official JURASSIC WORLD Universal Studios exhibition that made its way to the Field Museum of Natural History last month and is running through January 8, 2018.

The tickets were sold in time increments and I bought mine in advance online for a 5:00 pm showing on a Sunday evening. They weren’t cheap and just to do the exhibit costs $25 for adults, $20 for children, and $22 for seniors. So, contrary to what the ill-fated lawyer suggested in the first movie, there ain’t no “coupon day!” I believe, however, that if you’re going during normal museum normal hours, there’s probably a cheaper bundle option.

We showed up an hour early and parked in the main garage across the street ($22.00) before heading to the museum on foot. Incidentally, from a dinosaur lover perspective, I do highly recommend this museum. Not only is it home to the famed T-Rex, SUE, but also has an amazing “Evolving Planet” section that takes you on fossil journey five billion years in the making. I’m fortunate to live and have grown up about twenty minutes south and this has always been one of my favorite Chicago attractions. Having now visited many other natural history museums, I still consider this to be one of the greatest and, yes, I’ll cover it more in depth at a later date.

During normal Museum hours the exhibit can be accessed through the main building but, since we were there after closing, we had to walk around to a side entrance (if you’re facing the museum, go to your left where the big Brachiosaurus skeleton is displayed).

Please note that if you buy your tickets online it will say to just bring a valid ID to pick them up at will call but that’s not as easy as it sounds. Just to be on the safe side I printed my receipt anyway and it was a good thing I did because when I handed my ID to the guy running the register he gave me a weird look and informed me they “don’t give discounts to Illinois residents” (???) After I explained that I purchased my tickets in advance, he asked for the receipt so, bottom line, print em!

With our tickets in hand, we waited for our scheduled time before finally being directed down a walkway that advertised the animals living in the fictional park. This would eventually lead us to our “boat” that was to take us to the island, Isla Nublar. Personally, I thought this was a clever touch as it totally made me feel like I was participating in the movie. Before boarding, we had to pose for a souvenir photo in front of a green screen which would be available to us after the experience was over.

The boat had windows which showed a virtual sea (too bad they couldn’t have had the room rock a bit for added realism) and while we sailed we were treated to a video discussing the cloning process of the dinosaurs.

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After the boat “stopped,” we eagerly entered the “theme park” (sorry for all the “quotations” but we are in the land of make believe here). The way they set it up was ingenious; like we were getting a special behind the scenes tour at a zoo. Having done my fair share of those at several different accredited zoos, I thought they were spot on. It was a great way to see the “animals” without needing an actual island to do so; they were simply “off exhibit.” It was a brilliant touch so far as keeping the whole experience as real as possible. We walked past the iconic gate with the torches and just as I was trying to take in everything, there was the neck of a Brachiosaurus swaying like in the films. My mind was effectively blown!

I’m not going to lie, as soon as I saw it I squealed like a giddy schoolgirl and noticed my two teenagers slowly start distancing themselves from me. I’d already watched several YouTube clips prior to forking out the cash for these tickets but, trust me, seeing it in person is so much better and photos and video just can’t capture the feeling of being in their presence.

We passed by the head of a Parasaurolophus as we entered the second room. Actually, my kids had to practically drag me since these were timed tickets and the group behind us had already caught up during the time I was panting in front of the Brachiosaurus.

In keeping  with the films, the next section dealt with the creation of the dinosaurs via their DNA extraction from prehistoric mosquitoes trapped in amber. It sounds perfectly scientific though there ain’t a snowball’s chance in Hell of this ever happening. No matter, I was in a Universal movie now and decided to pretend that it already had.

    The best touch was the incubators; one with eggs and the other with newly hatched Parasaurolophus. What was cool was staring at the babies and seeing them gently breathe as if alive.

This was the one room where it was my turn to rush the kids. I didn’t come here to see fake science, I came to here see fake dinosaurs (that I could pretend were real) and was eager to see the next one. In this case a couple of “Gentle Giants,” Pachyrhinosaurus! I was pleasantly surprised by their choice of ceratopsian and their not going with the more obvious and traditional Triceratops. It was a mother and her calf (do we call baby ceratopsids calves?) and the juvenile stood close to mom which was neat but, at the same time, seemed a bit more rhino than reptile. Shouldn’t she have had a clutch?

    Flash photography wasn’t allowed when viewing the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptor (identified as being “Blue” from the movie) so the photos I took look terrible. At the end of this post, however, you can see them in my video footage if you choose to do so. I’ll say this…BOTH of those dinosaurs were stunning and moved just like they did in the films. My cheeks glistened from the streams of dino-geek tears!

The last dinosaurs featured in our tour were Stegosaurus and then, their Grand Finale, Indominus Rex.

Indominus Rex, of course, is a Hollywood creation which, to be honest, I was never a fan of. I do understand that it was engineered to make JURASSIC WORLD stand out from its predecessors but would have preferred they used a lesser known, real one, instead. I always saw the JURASSIC films as an opportunity to bring fame to obscure dinosaurs, just like the first film did for Velociraptor and the third for Spinosaurus.

  Of course we had to “exit through the gift shop:” which, in this case, was loaded with officially licensed Universal goodies. There was some great merchandise but pricey even by gift shop standards. I really wanted to get one of their plush T-Rex’s but the kids discouraged my frivolity. Ugh, let me tell you how much fun it is after your kids outgrow you!

Dad: “Can I keep him?” Kids: “NO!!!”

We located our souvenir photo and saw that we were being attacked by Indominus Rex, thus explaining why were told to look terrified while they were taking the picture. I insisted that we buy this to commemorate our incredible evening but, after the cashier rang me up. I’m pretty sure my face matched the way it looked in the photo…nearly $30 for one damn picture!!!

If you’re on a budget you can obviously forgo all the bells and whistles though I do believe the exhibit itself is worth shelling out the cash for. It was an experience I will never forget and would love to do again. As we returned to our car I was reminded of a quote from the Henry Wu character in JURASSIC WORLD, “You didn’t ask for reality, you asked for more teeth.”

This exhibit, my friends, gives you a fair share of both!

Dave Fuentes~

Chicago’s Field Museum Welcomes JURASSIC WORLD: the Exhibition! I’m pretty sure I speak for every dinosaur fan over forty that JURASSIC PARK (1993) was a game changer.