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22/06/1998​

Dear __________________,​

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Masrani Global and InGen would like to offer you an exciting opportunity: an expecition that will hopefully allow you to make full use of your expertise. The expedition will leave in the final quarter of this year. We must necessarily keep details at a minimum at this time. If you are interested, please respond at your earliest possible convenience. I will respond with further details, as well as contract and compensation information.​

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Attached below is a non-disclosure agreement. Please enclose the signed NDA with your response.​

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Thank you,​

Vic Hoskins​

InGen Security Division​

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___________________​

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04/10/1998​

Dear __________________,​

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Thank you so much for expressing your interest in the expedition. Allow me to introduce you to Masrani Global/InGen's latest venture: Jurassic World. Subsequent to the tragic events at InGen's Jurassic Park, and the later San Francisco incident, ownership of InGen and its properties transferred to our CEO Simon Masrani, and his one mandate from the late John Hammond was to bring happiness into the world.​

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Jurassic World will be the fulfillment of John Hammond's vision, a high tech theme park utilizing and improving upon Jurassic Park's infrastructure on Isla Nublar. In order to begin development, however, the island must be re-tamed. That's where you come in. Masrani Global seeks to take back Isla Nublar, recapture useful assets, and destroy assets that cannot be used. As you will see in attached materials, you have been chosen due to your expertise and experience as a vital part of this mission. The expedition leaves in two weeks.​

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Please find attached the contract and information regarding compensation. We hope the numbers will be to your liking.​

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Please contact us with any further questions.​

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Thank you,​

Vic Hoskins​

InGen Security Division​

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___________________​

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05/10/1998​

Dear Mr. Masrani,​

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The specialists have been contacted. Most seem interested in taking part in the expedition, and so everything should be ready to go.​

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This will be a cakewalk.​

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And don't worry: leave the raptors to my guys.​

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Yours,​

Vic Hoskins​

InGen Security Division​

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___________________​

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Submit character sheets to the GM.​

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May I ask for a further explanation of the rules and a rubric for the character sheet? Or is this not open to everyone?

 

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Personnel Dossier​

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Last name:​

First name:​

DOB:​

Nationality:​

Specialty:​

Skills:​

Career highlights: ​

Height:​

Weight:​

Distinguishing features:​

ID photo (if available):​

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Bio:​

Next of kin: ​

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Rules

1. Character sheets must be submitted to the GM for approval.
2. Godmoding is prohibited, as always.
3. Characters should have a reason for being interested in the mission, and should ideally be specialists in an area you're actually interested in.
4. Plays may not create dinosaur characters.
5. Players should aim to kick butt in their posting - we like character, here; no one-line posts.
6. You might get eaten, but this will never be a surprise for you. If your character is going to die, the player and the GM will work it out so the player goes out with a bang.

 

Can you clarify rule number three, please?

 

OOC: If your character is a chemist, it helps if you know something about chemistry (or are interested in researching it).

 

Requiring players to have a Real Life speciality relevant to re-taking an island from its dinosaur inhabitants is going to limit your player base somewhat.

 

OOC: If you want to play a zoologist, you should probably not find doing some research on zoology boring, is all. I'd like to think it's like writing any character.

 

IC: Father Emilio Carracosa, SJ - Paleontologist
On the boat

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The priest reclined against the rattling shelf and tried his best to distract himself from the boat's rolling by humming an old tango tune as it played through his earphones, and drilling down InGen's list once more.​

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Tyrannosaurus. ​

Triceratops. (He scribbled a note: Sickness. Berries?)​

Stegosaurus. (Same.)​

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There was a laugh from outside the galley. It startled him, and he cursed in the odd mix of Italian slang and Spanish that marked him as an Argentine.​

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Dilophosaurus. (Venomous.)​

Compsagnathus. (Same.)​

Apatosaurus.​

Brachiosaurus. (How does the island support populations of sauropods?)​

Maiasaura.​

Parasaurolophus.​

Microceratops.​

Othnielia.​

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He always forgot Othnielia every time he tried to memorize the list. Othnielia were small dinosaurs, probably unassuming in life. Carracosa chuckled at the idea of an unassuming dinosaur, like a pigeon or squirrel.​

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Euoplocephalus.​

Styracosaurus.​

Cearadactylus.​

Pteranodon.​

Velociraptor. (Possibly Deinonychus?)​

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The list continued to include plants and insects that had been cloned. The Carracosa compared this list with the island map, making note of the huge swaths of the island that documents he'd been provided with hinted contained labs and other...other what? ​

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He sighed, kneading the bridge of his nose. This was the way of things. InGen kept helpful information out of their hands for, seemingly, no reason. The Masrani merger was public, the plans to reopen the park had been announced in interviews, the legal battles had already been fought after San Francisco. Why did it have to be this way?​

​

As Carlos Gardel crooned into the priest's ear, he sipped coffee to stave off exhaustion, and his eyes swam as he stared at the files. He shut his eyes against sea sickness. "Why didn't we take the helicopter?" he'd asked. "So no one knows we're coming," was the response. It made a certain amount of sense - they didn't want to agitate the animals. But still, the fact that Hoskins had said "no one"... that was disturbing.​

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Carracosa shook it off. With another sip of coffee, he stood, and left the galley. Some night air would do him some good.​

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And the island loomed.​

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Thursday, March 28th, 2002

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Johnson shouted a curse at the top of his lungs. For a moment he worried about keeping quiet, but it didn't matter anymore. They knew where he was. They were coming for him. And now his boots had stuck in the godforsaken mud. He groaned and pulled, losing his balance but, unable to fall with his feet stuck, merely twisted his ankle - he stifled a shout and hoped he hadn't done anything that would further hamper him. He remembered reading somewhere, briefly, that rain made it harder for animals to track scents. He was grateful for the memory, hoped it was true. A whimper escaped him as he stood back up, a sob that rose up to meet a thunderclap. In the flash of lightning he could better see the trees. He recognized this clearing - it was maybe a twenty minute walk from basecamp. How cruel to make it so far, to come so close. No, he wouldn't give up. He bent low and scrabbled at the muck to try and free his feet, and seeing the knife strapped to his thigh, simply cut through his laces. Johnson pulled his soaked, be-socked feet free of his thick heavy boots and scrabbled for firmer dirt, his right ankle protesting. It didn't matter. He'd deal with it when he got back to camp, warm and safe and armed with a weapon that could protect him from these things. Did anyone know what had happened? The drones would be grounded in the rain, so no one would see. Had any of his team managed to make contact, let camp know there was trouble before they...? Johnson's stomach turned itself inside out as he remembered what happened to his colleagues, how he saw their bodies burst and void their guts like wet plastic bags spilling groceries.

Pain shot up through his leg and the world flashed white as he fell over against a tree. He regained his bearings, his eyes shooting through the darkness. Where were they? Dimly, he felt he could hear their footfalls, their ragged breathing. He yelled - not words, just a roar, a defiant and frightened shouting that went on and on, he didn't know for how long, just until his throat felt ragged and nothing else came out. He'd read somewhere that bears and lions scared easy, that if you yelled and banged pots and pans they'd go away. These were bigger than those. But they were animals. He thought they were bigger. He couldn't tell. Were they.... invisible? He stood, catching his breath, feeling his twisted ankle swell. A sprain. He listened, tried to hear over the rain. A low, vibrating sussuration. A snort. It was like getting punched in the stomach - he felt himself deflate. Fine. He wouldn't make it easy.

Johnson hobbled, staying close to trees, finding dense vegetation, using his smaller size to his advantage. He could hear the footfalls behind him. He tried to count. There were at least two of them, whatever they were. He imagined what they might look like, pictures flooding back into his minds eye from long lost children's books, from news footage, from internal documents and packets. One of the creatures in the briefing was said to be able to camouflage. That was it. The realization brought a single comfort - these weren't monsters, just beasts. He noticed too slow that he could see ahead of him, that moonlight was filtering in. And another sound: waves. His heart quickened, and he felt his head swim with a surge of adrenaline. The plants thinned as he approached the tree line. He could see it now - the beach. He scanned back and forth. Where could... there. A fire. Basecamp. He was further south than he'd hoped, but it was there in the near distance. He rested for a moment against a tree, gathering strength, preparing to drag his ankle across the sand. Thankfully, it was wet. He growled and pushed himself off the trunk, feeling the sand shift under his left foot, stumbling on his right, step-leaping onto his left foot, dragging his right foot heavily. He didn't dare look behind him. If they camouflaged maybe they wouldn't come out into the open. He remembered reading something about that. Something about that had stuck in his memory. He momentarily cursed their need for secrecy - animals might be less inclined to approach floodlights and engines.

"HEY!" he shouted, waving his arms. "HEY! I'm out here." He was close enough now that in the bright moonlight he could see the the logo on the side of one of the larger temporary sculptures by firelight: a lowercase "b" and what looked like the diagram of a molecule. Maybe the things given up the chase. Maybe they didn't bother with the beach. Johnson picked up his speed, pushing himself. He could feel ligaments in his ankle protesting, maybe tearing, but if he was alive... He saw two lights appear in the camp, and begin to move. A vehicle! They'd hopped in a jeep and were coming for him! Distantly, above the rain, he heard the horn beeping. He waved. "Yeah! I'm here!" The approaching lights slowed. "You have to keep coming!" he yelled, his throat still sore from before. "My ankle! I need you to pick me up!"

But then Johnson realized why they'd stopped. Heavy footfalls coming quickly, and then a great galumphing whoosh of air as a massive black shape ran past him, and skidded to a stop. He remembered what it was he'd read, with almost crystal clarity: it was possible they'd developed the camouflage trait as a consequence of genetic tampering, but the species itself were most likely plains hunters, running fast but unable to make tight turns. Sure enough, the creature had to take small laborious steps once at rest to face him. It would look comical in another situation. But it only cut him off. Once turned it stared him down. It wasn't the biggest one of these beasts he'd seen, and its head reminded him of a bulldog. "What are you doing?!" he shouted to the jeep. "Come get me!" He felt an enormous weight on his back, and it wasn't until his face was in the sand that he realized another creature's foot was on his back. The weight lifted, and he rolled to face the sky, and the two bulldog faces in the moonlight, jowls dropping saliva. He strained up, peering between huge legs to see where the Jeep could be, but the last thing he saw were teeth.

___________________________________________
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Father Carracosa entered the common space, still carrying a coffee mug, trying his best to use his need to not spill to also steady himself. Boats were bad enough in good weather, but in a storm they were almost unbearable. He saw a few of the rest of the team, people he'd only met briefly: Ryan Gordon, another paleontologist, and Keyshawn Williams, the medic. As he entered they were telling what sounded likea dirty story, but reigned it in when they saw the priest's approach. Carracosa grinned to himself - some people tended to treat him like a dour parent, forgetting that he was human. In his time as a Jesuit he'd traveled the world and seen a great deal. Whenever he saw these two, he remembered how he'd written their names in his journal, in the phonetics of Argentine Castellano: "Rae-en" and "Killan" - the first man's name was easier, but he'd first said "Kay-chown" for the latter. Thankfully they had both been gracious. Claude Auclair sat on a couch, separately but not absently. He was grinning at the story, but he was also engaged in cleaning some instrument Carracosa didn't recognize, and the process seemed meditative. Almost all of them, the priest mused. He presumed Sunita - now there was a name that was easy for him to pronounce, all the vowels behaving exactly as he expected - had separated herself from the rowdy men, and was likely still in her quarters.

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The priest sat in a chair sat across from Claude, in a corner, shifting the chair to face diagonally towards the tiny table where Gordon and Williams had rested their drinks. They all exchanged polite nods. The priest allowed himself a grin, taking a small pleasure in the awkwardness his clerical presence so often inspired in new acquaintances. He took a sip of his rather terrible coffee. "So," he managed, his deep voice filling the space. "I have a question that is usually only asked to children but I think it's relevant to our current, uhh..." He gestured vaguely in the air, looking for the word. He found it, snatched it. "...predicament." He rested the coffee on his lap, and smiled through a pregnant pause. As if by divine providence, Sunita appeared, groggily, in the doorway. He would get everyone's answer after all.

"What... is your favorite dinosaur?"

TAG: @The Jedi in the Pumas, @T4M1-7, @darthbernael, @Vehn (Combo?)

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Barry frowned. This was a thankless task. Thankfully, there was an indoor component to this exhibit, disguised as an enormous fallen log with a window in it where audiences - Barry cringed internally at the word - would watch the T. rex eat. His mind wandered briefly to a bigger problem: how were they even going to catch her? Focusing, he surveyed what he could see of the forest beyond the thick glass of the viewing station. The renders were impressive, but it didn't look anywhere near that, now. Barry had trouble imagining it getting there. Below, they were building the elevator that would deliver livestock directly into the pen. "Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom," it was called.

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He sighed. Maybe these creatures were better off just continuing to live their lives, like they had now for the last ten years. Barry leaned against the wall. Owen had his face up against the glass, eyes shielded against the halogen bulbs. He was muttering something to himself, working something out.

Barry heard the door open, and a gray haired man dressed a tad too formally for this meeting clipped in, shaking out an umbrella. Jason Timack, Jr. They had to meet at night because so much construction was happening during the day and they'd found an enormous amount of damage on some electrical components. Barry had heard the whispered word "sabotage." They had been very busy, was the point, and Jason was very apologetic. That said, once the sun started going down it was actually hard to illustrate what they needed to talk about. Barry didn't bother with formalities. He called out across the closing distance: "Owen says it sucks. No, what he said was, 'It's not good enough. It's dangerous.' I'm saying it sucks. Tell him, Owen."

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29

 

Combo with @BobaMatt @darthbernael @The Jedi in the Pumas @Vehn

IC Ryan Gordon, Keyshawn Williams, Father Carracosa, Claude Auclair, Sunita Chandra

Ryan Gordon may have been an officer and Keyshawn, most likely, enlisted when they’d been in the service, but that didn’t change the sense of brotherhood they would share and it showed, when Father Carracosa walked in. They’d been sharing bawdy stories from their time in and there was something about a priest being present that made one want to trail off. Ryan had twigged Claude as prior service, even if from another country, based on how he’d reacted to their stories and he made a mental note to talk to the man more, later.

Claude roared in laughter as he listened to the two Americans about their military service. Despite being French the former military man could relate in a lot of ways to overseas deployment and the rigors and trials that brought to one's life. Memories of Afghanistan came back to him. The unforgiving mountains, the tribalism of the people, the arduous task of hunting an enemy that took cheap shots at their FOB whenever they could as a reminder that they were in control and not the other way around.

As the priest sat down, Ryan turned toward him and Claude, picking up his drink and rolling it between his fingers. Claude finished the drink in front of him and quieted down as a priest entered the room. He had been raised Catholic so he cleaned up his act as introductions were made. He said a quiet prayer for success of the mission. More for good luck than anything else.

Then the priest asked a very loaded question. The question made Ryan smile, it was the type of question that one would ask young children or, whenever he found himself in the dinosaur wing of a museum and a child realized what he did, they asked him.

Claude looked over at the older man, the smile still on his face. “Hmmm, yes it’s relevant but I have a counter question, which period? I know they all fall in the Mesozoic Era but do you mean overall or which from the Triassic, Jurassic, or Cretaceous Periods? I will admit I have a favorite from each.”

Carracosa laughed. "Show off." He winked.

Meanwhile, Sunita Chandra hovered at the doorway to the common room.

Having feverishly reviewed her notes from her doctorate thesis, compared with the species listed for Isla Nublar, and studied up on those not fully familiar to her, Sunita could just not get to sleep. It was not just the storm, which roared like a primal beast and clawed at her porthole, but those creatures it evoked. Those miracles that she was now journeying to see. She was as excited as a schoolgirl.

When the news had first come out of what they had achieved – far outstripping Roslin’s Dolly the Sheep – Sunita, like the rest of the world, had been suspicious of an elaborate hoax; a publicity stunt for a hi-tech animatronic theme park.

Then San Diego had happened, and the astonishment, horror, and wonder had reverberated around the globe. Sunita was one of the wondrous. She had leapt at the chance as soon as the invite had come. She was actually going to see them!

And now she was on a ship with a group of soldiers. As soon as they had exchanged greetings and salutes, she had scurried off to her cabin to study. And to escape. It was not just guy-talk. It would be army-talk. She hated all that taking orders and saluting crap, and knew instinctively they would hate her; a former Greenpeace activist. A hippy chick.

But curiosity and insomnia had overcome her. She wanted to know what they were like, and if she should be alarmed that the professor had brought along all these soldiers… to save some animals? She was not surprised, and a little pleased, to find them all still up in the common room.

Sunita paused at the doorway as the professor caught her eye and made his innocent inquiry. It would be interesting to hear their answers. She stayed back, not announcing her presence to the others.

The golden-eyed one’s retort immediately smashed one of her prejudgements. He knew what he was talking about. Maybe not just a grunt?

She leaned in a little, keen to hear the other answers...

"Jurassic," Claude Auclair replied in a thick French accent, "but I don't have a particular dinosaur. I'm more concerned with man's encroachment into the natural realm. I'm a big believer in leaving things as they should be and not pretending to play God."

He let those words hang in the air. Perhaps the others would characterize him as a zealot. He wasn't overly religious but he did have strong convictions about where men should meddle with the natural world and where they shouldn't. Years of fending off poachers in Africa had taught him that much. He sat back and studied the others quietly.

For Keyshawn Williams, sharing war stories wasn't a pride thing. It kind of built rapport and camaraderie fast between strangers. The lived shared experiences. Keyshawn actually hated telling stories. All of his were pretty traumatic or...

Oh no, he'd gotten lost in thought again.

He looked around as he took a sip from his glass of water. Okay... seemed like dinosaurs were the topic of conversation. That fit. Unfortunately...

"I like the raptors. Like the t-rex ones and they small. Um... I figure that's the one I'd be....If I was a dinosaur. Cuz I'm like....y'know...Lil tall, slim... Not like a giraffe. Are giraffes...wait, what are giraffes? Anyone know? Never seen a giraffe. Never seen a rhino either. I seen plenty gators though. Used to think gators were dinosaurs when I was younger. Anyone ever seen a gator bite the tire of a pickup?"

If you didn't know what you were talking about, change the topic to something you did know about.

Ryan chuckled at the priest’s response, “You hired me not just for my flying skills.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a flash of clothes as he listened to Claude and Keyshawn. It had to be the last of their little ‘company’ and she seemed to want to be a part of the proceedings, even if she was hesitant.

Glancing at the medic, "Sure that’s just water in there bud? I mean the vodka decanter was just next to the water.” he said as he slipped off his seat. Grabbing an unused cup, he headed over to the woman, “Hi, I’m Ryan, we don’t bite, why don’t you join us and I’ll grab you whatever you’d like to drink.”

Sunita froze like a rabbit in headlights. But only for a moment. To be honest, she had been trying to find a way to enter the room, and Ryan had kindly delivered the opportunity.

She flashed a smile and took a step in. "Thanks. Is there any vodka left? I'm Sunita, by the way."

Ryan turned back to the others, “Well…I really did have a reason for my question. I don’t know how deeply the rest of you have studied the list of dinosaurs we’ve been given but…only six of the sixteen creatures on it are actually from the Jurassic Period. Even Rexie, well the version everyone is familiar with, didn’t exist until the Cretaceous. The other nine are all Cretaceous Period dinosaurs.”

Stepping out of the way so Sunita could enter, “If we’re talking Jurassic, hmmm, Archaeopteryx or perhaps the Allosaurus would be my favorites.” he said, finally answering the initial question.

 

The priest grinned. "Well thank some of you for answering my question, uh, directly? My favorite dinosaur is the Carnotaurus sastrei." He sipped his coffee. "Because I helped discover it."

Dock, Isla Nublar

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Vic Hoskins waved his men forward to grab luggage and supplies as the team disembarked. He'd watched as the approaching resolved from a weird black spot against the night sky to a looming boat-shape, finally coming to rest against the pier. He'd waved lamely, realizing too late that it would probably be invisible in the relative darkness.

He called out: "Sorry about the cloak and dagger crap, cover of darkness and all that. I promise Masrani had his reasons. I'm Victor Hoskins - you've been getting my emails for months now. Nice to finally meet in person. I'm sure you've got lots of questions, but we'll talk more about that in the morning. I want you all well rested, so you'll find your bags in your lodgings. But before we all hit the hay... who wants to see one?"

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Hoskins imagined that the sheer amount of construction already underway would be a surprise to the team. He chose not to say anything about it. Ahead, the skeleton of the future visitor's center was taking shape, looking for all the world like a pile of fossils itself. Surrounding the outline of a still-unpaved causeway were the footprints of a few buildings, but by far the most complete construction was being completed on a few paddocks - they needed somewhere to put the beasts, after all. By the camping lights, Hoskins was always struck by how much they seemed like pioneers - soldiers landing on the shore of a hostile wilderness and establishing civilization. He also knew enough not to say that sort of thing out loud.

He led the team off on a branching path, this one mostly dirt and underbrush, toward a corral. He called out, and a man in a hunting blind flipped a switch, causing a floodlight to turn on with a k-thunk. Within the large fence was a creature about the size of a wild boar, with thick skin like a walrus, a dark brown dappled with round, lighter markings. Its eyes were wide as it stumbled over its own feet, charging the fence with stubby horns, finding balance, and dashing off again. It filled the air with a terrible bleating - the creature was terrified. Eventually it settled on the opposite side of enclosure from the assembled group, not taking its eyes off them, continuing to raise a huge, nasal sounding ruckus.

Hoskins chuckled. "We call this one Cera. Like from The Land Before Time? Imagine seeing that movie and then finding out only a couple years later we had the real thing down here in Costa Rica." He tossed an apple into the enclosure. Cera approached it, sniffed, but retreated again to scream. "We'll get her to eat. This whole area is gonna be something like a petting zoo. We caught Cera wandering too close to camp. She's our mascot, in the meantime. Pretty soon we'll get her some friends. Maybe a Littlefoot, a Spike...I don't remember the other ones. " He searched their faces.

They'd all seen the movie, right?

"Well what do you think? A real life Triceratops!"

TAG: @darthbernael, @The Jedi in the Pumas, @Vehn, @T4M1-7
Outstanding tags: @HanSolo29 rolls over into this week

 

Combo with @BobaMatt @Vehn @darthbernael @The Jedi in the Pumas

IC Ryan Gordon, Keyshawn Williams, Father Carracosa, Claude Auclair, Sunita Chandra
Isla Nublar

When they arrived at Isla Nublar, Ryan immediately found himself with an odd feeling about the man who greeted them, Vic Hoskins. He seemed altogether too…ahhh that was the word, enthusiastic, about the project. Ryan had to admit that the entire project was quite intriguing and that he hoped that his years of study would be more than validated by the creatures but Hoskins enthusiasm was something else entirely.

Claude squinted as he adjusted to the tropical climate. He could never quite get used to the heat. The temperature in such places was a far cry warmer than what he'd experienced in his native France. The heat reminded him of some of the tours he'd done in Africa for the French Army. Those had been mean fights. Hard fights.

Sunita peered through the dark tropical night as the ship finally reached their destination. It felt all very surreal and mysterious when they were finally secured by the pier and they clambered across the disembarkation ramp. That moment when you step back onto terra firma again; back to reality. Yet Sunita felt like she was entering a fantasy island.

It had been an interesting voyage and after their drinks, Sunita had learnt just a little more about her teammates. Ryan had proven knowledgeable and kind. Claude remained a mystery. She had heard him roar with laughter before she and the priest had entered the room, but he seemed otherwise the strong silent type. There was a look in those eyes, like he had seen terrible things. Sunita had not dared asked him about the scar yet, but she guessed it was an animal. Ranger or poacher? she wondered. Or some time as both? The hunters sometimes switched sides in Africa, depending on the money. She had decided from the height and shape of the wound that the scar was from a big cat.

And then there was Keyshawn, another enigma. He gushed out nervous words in that characteristic accent, but Sunita decided there was more to him, too. Masrani had hired him for a reason, some specialty, even if was not dinosaurs.

Sunita blinked as Vic Hoskins greeted them somewhat cheerfully for the late hour. Though she was tired, a thrill passed down her spine when he said… “who wants to see one?”

Suddenly she was wide awake and full of wonder again.

* * *​

Hoskins led them through the compound that was obviously still under construction and off the main path to a small enclosure. The lights and, it seemed to Ryan, the people around terrified the creature inside. From the shape and distinct bone plate crest it was obviously a Triceratops but its size was such that it had to be a young one. The way it shied away from the fencing when it saw them suggested that there was a reason why it was terrified of humans, besides probably having been taken away from any adult Triceratops. The fact that the young dinosaur was not eating was a worrisome fact. He shook his head when Hoskins tossed the apple into the compound and then glanced over at Claude and Sunita at the quip about creating a petting zoo and lineup such as from the old children’s film Land Before Time.

“Hmmm, petting zoo you say. If you’re following the logic of your joke I certainly hope you aren’t planning on including Chomper. I doubt the guests would want their limbs removed by a juvenile Tyrannosaur.”

Claude followed the others quietly taking in the surroundings. A man named Vic Hoskins greeted them. He gave a brief nod. He wasn't here for chit chat. He wanted to see what this entire adventure was about. He got his answer moments later as his dark eyes analyzed a living, breathing, dinosaur. Not just any dinosaur. A Triceratops.

Hoskins mentioned The Land Before Time. That movie, the entire reference, went way over his head. He might've missed it growing up in Marseilles. Or it may not have been as widely circulated. He frowned slightly and shook his head, "What is this Land Before Time you speak of?"

Sunita’s heart thundered in her ribs as Hoskins led them past the construction site of the future visitor centre and down a jungle path. Then the floodlights blazed and she saw it. A triceratops. A juvenile, a female. A real, live, breathing, moving triceratops.

Sunita fell to her knees in wonder. A miracle. Hoskins was speaking but Sunita hardly heard him, gazing into the corral. Her head spun. She was witnessing an anachronism from a different era that had crossed time from over sixty million years to face them now. Sunita sagged under the weight of just trying to imagine all the changes and evolution that spanned that bridge.

And she was beautiful. The skin, the smell, the voice, the way she moved; Sunita took it all in.

But the animal was not happy. Sunita could see her reactions to the humans and the lights. Some of that was instinct, some of it was learned. She realised dinosaurs had a whole lot of learning to do in this modern world. And when needed, evolution was a very powerful force.

Hoskins said he would get her to eat and joked about making a petting zoo.

Sunita rose to her feet again and faced him. “You won’t get her to eat like that. All you are doing right now is getting her to associate apples and humans with stress and fear.”

She pointed into the corral. “She could grow to be twice as big as an elephant, and charge faster than a rhino. You have created a miracle here, sir, but you also need to respect the power of nature that you have awakened.”

 

OOC: Nudging things along.

Fr. Carracosa

Father Carracosa was overcome. It was as if his eyes couldn't focus. A dinosaur. Living here before him. Moving. Breathing. Part of his brain searched for the strings, the mechanical joints, the stilted movements that would give it away. But her breath was dewy in the floodlights. Her eyes were wet. Real.

Carracosa knelt. Acknowledging that reality, his empathy buckled. This creature was terrified. Still: Hoskins was not a man to be trifled with. "I wonder," the priest shrugged, "how much you know about raising a young Triceratops?"

"Bah!" Hoskins snorted, hands on his hips. "I show you people a real dinosaur for the first time and all you've got for me is sob stories? Unbelievable... this is a fun group..." He shook his head.

The vibration in the ground rose gradually enough that no one in the group immediately attributed it to anything strange. When Cera began tossing her head and crying out into the blackness beyond the floodlights, it was curious, but who knew what a scared baby animal was liable to do. Suddenly, a roar like a steamwhistle and horns arcing through the bright white light.

________________​

Barry

It wasn't unusual to hear distant animal calls on the island. It was the sounds of screams that alerted Barry that something was amiss, and he poked his head out of the exhibit just in time to see a massive floodlight fall and crash, its shifting position casting strange shadows across the great horned head of an adult Triceratops. The commotion wouldn't help - seeing people running would only make the beast madder. Luckily, the floodlight caught fire when it crashed into the ground, which... nothing like fire to calm everyone down.

Barry hurried back, and said to the man in the suit: "Sorry, sir, something's come up."

Then to Owen: "We have to go. Right now."

TAG: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @Vehn, @darthbernael, @T4M1-7, @The Jedi in the Pumas

 

IC Sunita Chandra
Isla Nublar

Sunita nodded along with Father Carracosa's question, then frowned at Hoskins' waving off their concerns. She was about to remonstrate with him further, when an antediluvian roar flooded her senses, silencing everyone. The ground shook with the vibrations.

Sunita froze for a moment, processing that unbelievable sound. Almost every species that has ever evolved successfully on Earth throughout time has been hardwired with a single all-overriding instinct; to protect their young.

Sunita looked again at young Cera, crying and bleating, then considered the quality of the answering roar. She turned to Hoskins.

She breathed in and out, then said, "Does Cera have a mommy?"

 

IC Ryan Gordon
Isla Nublar

"Bah! I show you people a real dinosaur for the first time and all you've got for me is sob stories? Unbelievable... this is a fun group..."

No sooner had the words escaped Hoskins mouth than the cry of the baby Triceratops drew a response, a long, loud steamkettle sounding roar. There were crashing sounds, ones that were drawing closer to the enclosure that held the baby.

"Does Cera have a mommy?" Sunita asked, as the ground shook and more crashing sounds, lights tipping over, came closer.

He glanced at her, then at Owen “You left the mother free to roam and locked up her baby?” Shaking his head, his head shifted, glancing at Claude and Keyshawn. “Guard these, even the daft ones already here?” he asked them as he moved between Sunita and the oncoming adult Triceratops.

He looked around, but there were odds and ends, pieces of the equipment that made up the encampment, all around. It basically created a corridor that would funnel the mother toward it’s baby.

“Back toward the docks?” He asked and suggested at the same time, reaching out to take Sunita’s arm to guide her back in that direction.

TAG: @BobaMatt, @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @Vehn, @T4M1-7, @The Jedi in the Pumas

 

Vic Hoskins

Hoskins shook his head. "I think this one just came looking. No escapes. How was I supposed to know? We found the run all alone. Thought she was an orphan!"

"What am I working with?"

"I just had all their equipment brought to their quarters."

There was a loud crash as the adult Triceratops charged into one of the four Masrani Jeeps parked at the head of the path. A voice came from nearby. "I think she just wants to take the baby." It was the priest, crouched behind an active floodlight. "Can we get them to leave?"

Gordon was bellyaching about something Hoskins couldn't hear, but then he spoke up above the din: "Back to the docks?!"

The mother triceratops had recovered and, blinking and irritated by the floodlight Father Carracosa hid behind, backed up to the middle of the main causeway before whipping her body around to point her horns at the assembled group. She shook her head and snorted, blinking hard, her eyes adjusting and readjusting, pawing at the ground and placing herself between the assembled team and an attraction titled "Tyrannosaurus Kingdom."

Hoskins nodded to Gordon: "Sounds like a good idea."

He backed away quickly, then turned to sprint, but suddenly found himself flying sideways. It felt like he'd been hit by a car, but a small one, taking his legs out from under him and sending them up over his head. Cera. She'd charged him. As Hoskins crumpled to the ground he regretted the petting zoo idea.

Tag: @darthbernael, @Sinrebirth, @T4M1-7, @HanSolo29, @Vehn, @The Jedi in the Pumas

 

IC: Claude Auclair
Isla Nublar

Claude struggled to keep up with the others. His English proficiency was about 90% but he didn't need to be a master to realize the situation they all found themselves in at the moment. He shot a look at the others. This was all going south. It was all fun and games when they were kicking back enjoying drinks. He'd spent enough time on preserves in Africa to know when animals could tip the scales in favor of their own desire to survive. This was one of those times.

He watched, passively, as Hoskins was absolutely obliterated by a Triceratops. It was nothing new to him. Man playing God. Man playing with fire. Still the time to act was now. Hoskins was down for the count. He wanted to make sure it wasn't him, next.

He took a step in the direction of the docks. Only a step. Nothing too rapid. Nothing that would set the Triceratops off. Slowly, cautiously, he inched his way backward toward relative safety. Toward relative freedom.

Tag: @BobaMatt, et al....

 

IC Ryan Gordon
Isla Nublar

The chaos of the situation continued to increase. No sooner had Hoskins replied then the juvenile triceratops had taken him out, flung him along the path. The older, French member of the team had the right idea though, slow movements that shouldn’t attract too much attention.

The priest was the closest, near the floodlight, Ryan between Sunita and the older dinosaur. That the younger one was loose didn’t help their situation though. He knew that the two dinosaurs would want to get out and away but the relatively narrow space of it wouldn’t help the older one to turn around.

Which, of course, was when Owen made his move. Ryan nodded at the younger man’s words, shaking his head as the man raced at the older dino. The slide could distract the beast but there were no guarantees.

He stayed between Sunita and the older one, backing, glancing over his shoulder with a couple dips of his head, indicating she should maintain a slow pace backward as he used his larger bulk to hide her movements as he moved back just as slowly.

He glanced back and forth, looking for other exit points between the large containers. Another look before him and he let out a breathy sigh. “Carracosa…you’re in the shadows…back away as quietly as you can.” he said in a voce he hoped was just loud enough that the priest would hear it.

TAG: @BobaMatt, @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @Vehn, @T4M1-7, @The Jedi in the Pumas

 

IC Sunita
Isla Nublar



Sunita's world trembled as the adult triceratops stormed into the causeway, flinging jeeps aside like cheap plastic toys. The beast was so... so magnificent!

Sunita was immobilised by a mixture of thrill, awe and terror. All the study in the world had not prepared her for coming face to face with this leviathan for the first time.

Then she witnessed Cera destroy Hoskins and her hand leapt to her mouth, narrowly preventing a scream from escaping.

She felt a hand take her arm and blinked, glancing across. It was Ryan - the pilot. She sagged a little in his grip, grateful for someone to snap her out of her trance, guide her through this chaos.

"Yeah... the docks..." she mumbled in agreement, backing away as he directed.

Claude followed with them, and the ranger's movements were careful and expert. But Owen... Owen charged straight at the juvenile! Then he slid under the smaller dinosaur. Sunita had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, but she knew how it must look to the mother triceratops, and what instincts it would provoke.

Still in the protective grip of Ryan, she nonetheless called to Owen in as small a voice as she could, "Be careful! Just let the child reach her mother, leave a path between them..."

@Sinrebirth @darthbernael @Vehn @The Jedi in the Pumas @HanSolo29

 

IC: Jason Timack, Jr.
Isla Nublar

It was clear to Jason from the beginning that this trip would be a mistake. He didn’t like the heat, nor could he tolerate the extreme humidity and constant rainstorms that were typical of a tropical climate. He had wanted to send someone else; a divisional leader or executive assistant who could benefit from stretching their legs and distancing themselves from the cubicle farm. But no such luck. The Board had emphasized the severity of the problem and had insisted that he should deal with the matter personally.

And the problem that had demanded his direct intervention?

Sabotage.

The construction timeline had also fallen behind schedule, but the main concern was sabotage of the work itself. By sending him here, it was as if they expected him to solve the issue with a simple snap of his fingers; they told him to 'work his magic'. While Jason Timack was certainly capable of performing miracles—through his efforts, he had built his company into a thriving enterprise—even he had his limits. The idea of spending his personal time on a tedious task didn't appeal to him, either. Especially when this could've been avoided with the proper oversight. That was Masrani's wheelhouse, not his.

The only consolation was the opportunity to observe living, breathing dinosaurs. But even that privilege became tainted when Owen Grady, alongside his chaperone, confronted him about the incapacity of the animal enclosures.

Jason had merely stared at the two men with a thin smile. He wasn't in the mood to explain his reasoning to them. Who were they to question the expertise of his trained professionals? Of course, it had crossed his mind that his engineers may have miscalculated when they had designed the specs, but he wisely kept his mouth shut about that.

In the end, it didn’t matter who was at fault. The situation quickly deteriorated when a triceratops suddenly charged through the area in pursuit of its young, causing screams, a flash fire… and panic. Jason froze in his initial shock. He realized that it would’ve been easy to become swept up in the ensuing chaos; to fall victim to the hysteria… but several voices rose above the din, and he was able to recenter himself. It allowed a more rational mindset to prevail.

That’s when he noted Grady ordering everyone to clear the area. The irony of him heeding the man’s advice, especially after he had adamantly declined to consider his opinions about the enclosure, was not lost on him. Nevertheless, Jason did not argue. He complied with the man’s wishes. A sense of imminent danger had pervaded his being, and that had a tendency to bring things into perspective.

"Goddamit, Barry," he grumbled under his breath, frantically searching the scene for his chaperone. He wasn’t sure why he had turned to him at that moment. Maybe he only wanted to find someone to blame for this mishap—or to provide some kind of logical explanation.

Even then, he did not wait for the man to acknowledge him. Jason gritted his teeth and began to backpedal from the scene.

TAG: @Sinrebirth; @darthbernael; @Vehn; @T4M1-7; @The Jedi in the Pumas; @BobaMatt