Daily Camp Cretaceous related posts

< Friday, July 15, 2016

It has been two hundred and eleven days.

Thirty weeks (and one Leap Day) after beginning a two-week promotional tour for an amusement park's expansion, the newly-christened "Nublar Six" finally set foot on the mainland as they reunite with their families at an undisclosed port in Central America. They're older, messier, scarred, changed...but alive.

Yasmina and Sammy come out to their parents, making their intentions clear and finding themselves welcomed...and Kenji finds himself welcomed, too, as Mrs. Bowman accepts him into the fold with her two kids. They even have time for an interview before they go, sharing one last laugh before facing whatever the world has in store for them...because for now, it's over.

[Ch1] [Ch2] [Ch3] [Ch4] [Ch5] [Ch6]

The ocean breeze caressed over the kid's skin as he ran around the luxurious yacht. He was so used to it that even the slight sway of the hull didn't have him falter as he reached the bridge, trying to reach the control room. The captain greeted him. “One day I'll become captain so I can get a hat like yours,” little Kenji said, pointing to the hat the man wore. The man smiled, “It takes a lot of work little kid, it’s a big hat to fill. Let’s see.” He said, taking out his hat and trying it on the kid’s head. It fell on his face covering his eyes and he laughed. He stayed there for a bit asking questions and watching everything. It was fun until a voice speaking in a language he didn’t fully understand started approaching. Always in a suit and lace-up shoes, well curated beard, the first signs of grey hair showing up; the man that walked in, even as the attention was not of them but talking on the phone, still imposed his presence.

"It reminds me a lot of the time we spent stargazing during our night watches on Nublar. Not as many here, but it’ll do."

My wife finished her Yasammy fanfic, go check it out! (be aware, rated M)

Like, a lot.

From: But I'm a cheerleader (1999)

< Tuesday, July 12, 2016 >

Sammy Gutierrez chills with her friends in the cave as they plan on how to better care for the dinosaurs: putting their heads together, Darius and Sammy come up with a plan to flood a depression with water in order to give the dinosaurs a peaceful place to live.

Unfortunately, Yaz and Ben have to bow out in order to collect the baby dinosaurs and talk about her feelings or something trivial like that. Fortunately, Yaz still has Darius and Brooklynn to help her...but Darius goes to keep the Tyrannosaurs off Sammy's back, which is appreciated. Brooklynn also decides that she would rather run around with dangerous animals than do some dirty work, which is less appreciated.

Thus Sammy is left to work alone...and work, she does. She builds a dam. She climbs a shaky tree. She hauls herself up a cliff, descends into the rank darkness of the tunnels, and struggles with engineering. She finds herself stalked through the labyrrinth by a skeletal foe she thought deceased, and dodges fire and hides in the shadows. Winged beasts descend on her from the sky, forcing her to make her escape by hurling herself off a cliff...

...and she survives. She accomplishes her mission. She's muddy, bloody, scorched, soaked, aching, shaken, and bruised, but she did work today, she accomplished something, and for her farmgirl self, there is no greater joy...except, maybe to feel the warm hand of her beloved friend in her own, and to feel the rush of the sky as they leap into the water together at the end of the day.

yaz uses crutches throughout season 2 of jwcc! she uses both the other campers and physical objects to navigate not being able to use one foot. she has to use mobility aids post-injury, just like ben. if we argue it's "realistic" for ben to be disabled-post injury, is it not a double standard not to allow a female character that same treatment? is it not a double standard to brush over someone we see use disability aids more often in the material (1 episode vs 1 season)? why are we (as the collective) not interested in researching the realistic outcomes of an ankle injury from a fall impact in comparison to a puncture wound? is it because we can only acknowledge disability in the extreme? is it because harm to a radicalized woman's body is more uncomfortable or less interesting (more normalized compared to a white man)?

and to affirm this rule, why do we not consider sammy as disabled as ben?

sammy also nearly dies, like ben. sammy is also punctured in a vital place, like ben. sammy also likely has organ damage/nerve damage of some sort due to the toxin/her borderline death. sammy also can't walk in the immediate aftermath. she needs a mobility aid (in the form of everyone's physical support)! sammy's situation is 1:1 with ben in terms of how dire it is, but only one is ever depicted needing a wheelchair (seriously. can you think of any art of sammy with an aid? any fic?). only one is commonly accepted as physically disabled with long lasting health impacts. why? why is there no emphasis on how scorpion fish venom can cause chronic pain? chronic muscle weakness? long term nerve damage?

why are we not interested in the pain, and complex lives, of women?

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

After finally enjoying a full night together for the first time in a week, the CampFam and a ten-days-recovered Mae finally relax and attempt a celebration with the reprogrammed BRAD-X, but two of their babies are not in a party mood and the other is in need of surgery for her mind-controlling torment chip. Less than half a day after their reunion, the group splits up again: the girls taking Angel and Rebel to an environment that suits them, Ben and Mae to take care of Firecracker's surgery, and Darius and Kenji hang out with BRAD until their robotic friend reminds them to check on Kash in the cave.

The girls quickly find themselves on a puzzle-solving adventure, trying to find the proper home for the Spinoceratops babies...and it's not with their father. Moving them to the arctic biome is a smarter decision, but putting three teenagers without driver's licenses into operation of an industrial vehicle is less so. Stranded in the cold and at risk of freezing, the girls make their way to a nearby snowglider with the help of the babies' powerful body heat...but they soon get a message warning them of danger from the others.

Ben and Mae receive a warning of their own, though: after luring the young Brachiosaurus down to the medbay and sedating her, Mae removes Kash's prototype chip and helps her back outside...where they find Darius and Kenji with a warning that Kash is missing! During their search for Mae and Ben, Darius also overheard Kash and his mysterious rescuer talking about disposing of Pierce in the most recently-finished biome: both parties rush to rescue the dinosaur, with Mae and Ben searching the medbay while Kenji and Darius venture into the biome itself. In over their heads against a pack of Dilophosaurs, the woman and boys are rescued by the teenage drivers operating an industrial vehicle.

But all of this was simply a trap set by the island's new arrival: Kenji's father, Daniel Kon, arrived after the holiday to rescue Kash from his prison...but instead found that his prodigal son had returned from the dead. The tables turn back to the kids' favor in an instant, with Kash subdued by the BRADs and the promise of rescue now well within their grasp. The kids return to the compound as guests and finally relax in privacy...but even after a few hours of relaxation, they find themselves uneasy again. Daniel won't let them call home, Big Eatie is refusing to eat, Mae is recovering after some genuine medical treatment, Sammy and Brooklynn get caught snooping around for information about Sammy's family ranch, and Kenji learns that his father still intends to proceed with using this island as a dinosaur gladiator ring.

Kenji determines that they can solve this problem tomorrow, and they all find an uneasy solace in sleeping alone for the first time in months...

< Thursday, July 14, 2016 >

Everyone wakes up on a peaceful island. Little Eatie greets her battered mother in the jungle biome; Brooklynn goes down to the gas-free drill and stabilizes it; the one-day girlfriends take the kids to their snowy home (Ben is there, too); and Kenji finds that Toro spent the night digesting his prey in a frozen stasis, and smashes the controller to free the poor lad now that the Tyrannosaurs have returned home.

Having repaired the doors and shuffled all the dinosaurs back to their homes (and having found a third Velociraptor lurking about somewhere), Darius and his friends sit happily at the end of another productive day. Kenji even works up the courage to get himself back in Brooklynn's good graces...but the day is not over yet.

A boat arrives from Isla Nublar--after a day's trek back across the island and a careful navigation to the northeast, Mae has led Dave and Roxie back to their kids...and Brandon Bowman back to his brother.

Darius and Brand are reunited.

The kids are saved.

REST IN PEACE, SAM NEILL (1947-2026)