Abstraction ➳ Owen Grady

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"WHAT ARE YOU wearing?" Ally looked down at her field clothes. Mud stained khaki cargo shorts, hiking boots, and an equally stained button-up plaid shirt. Generic and practical for her field of work, unlike Claire's polished grey dress and black heels. She shrugged, "My field clothes?" She wasn't exactly trying to impress anyone with her tidy looks and ironed clothes, the dinosaurs wouldn't care. Neither said anything else on the subject of clothing or appearance, that had always been a place of discourse between the two, even as high schoolers.

When a Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe pulled up in place of a Jeep, or even a vehicle with four-wheel-drive, Ally almost laughed but slipped into the passenger seat regardless. Claire pressed one of the buttons on the central console and one of the gates opened below the monorail boarding station, allowing access to the service road. Sections of what once belonged to the old park remained scattered along the wooded areas, whether out of carelessness or to serve as a reminder.

It all passed in a blur, along with Claire's descriptions of each exhibit, or mentions of some of the species that they had engineered. The dense tropical forest faded into a lush valley with a wide, flat floor. Ahead was a running herd of gallimimus and next to them was the large shadow cast by a lone brachiosaurus. Ally rolled down the window and stuck her head out to see the entity of the large herbivore. "The Gyrosphere Valley is where you'll probably be the most," Claire pointed out.

Alysanne Sattler was overwhelmed by the power and beauty of Jurassic World. The shrill ringtone coming from Claire's phone, however, was out of place and brought Ally back down a sobering state of mind as she remembered how Ellie had described the first park. "You're kidding?!" the redhead exclaimed, but after a moment, she sighed, "I'll be right in." Already suspecting that the interruption would end her private tour of the island, Ally slumped back into the leather seat, thinking about how to spend the rest of the day. "They need me in control," Claire stated, only mildly disappointed.

"Just let me out here," she responded, unhooking the seatbelt. The door was already open and she was climbing out into the valley. "Ally!" came the panicked protest. After being cramped up in planes, boats, and now cars she was glad to have the open expanse. Alysanne leaned back into the car through the rolled down window. "What? I can catch the monorail back to the resort. You need to go to work."

"Fine," Claire bit back, still not sounding pleased with her rash decision, "I'm sorry about this though."

Ally shook her head and pulled out her field journal and pen, "It's fine, Claire. We're both too good at our jobs."

The park manager didn't protest again, she was antsy now to get back and now the extent of what was going on. Before Claire drove back and called Ally back to the car. "We can meet up for supper, though. I'll give you a call later when this is all sorted out."

It was nearing six o'clock when she returned to the resort, already her notebook was littered with notes of the various species she had observed and small drawings of each one done more so to pass the time than anything else. Heading up to her room, Ally swapped hiking boots for sandals and pulled her hair back into a poor excuse for a bun. Seeing as though Claire had yet to call her by eight, she set off in pursuit of a meal and a strong drink.

Isla Nublar had been converted from a disaster zone to a world-class tourist trap, right down to the overpriced souvenirs and theme park food. Though she couldn't complain about Margaritaville, it had decent food that tasted twice as good after a few drinks.

It was an odd time of the year when the park's attendance was in a decline and surprisingly at eight o'clock the restaurant was almost empty, or at least the bar was. Alysanne took a seat at the bar and opened the menu that had been sat down in front of her.

"Your order?" asked the rotund bartender after several minutes. She took one last glance down at the laminated pages, "Ah, can I get an Incommunicado and the Lava Lava Shrimp?" He jotted down the order and disappeared into the kitchen before returning to make her drink.

The man that took the empty seat next to her promptly let out a relieved sigh and laid his head on the scratched wooden bar. Alysanne eyed him curiously but returned to nursing her drink. "Rough day, Owen?" The bartender asked, chuckling as he popped the cap off a Corona and pushed a lime wedge into the neck.

"You've got no idea," came the mumbled response that elicited a louder laugh from the friendly bartender. "The girls must be going through that rebellious teenage streak," the man muttered with a hint of sarcasm.

"Which one did that?" Ally caught herself glancing at the stranger sitting next to her, and the scabbed over cut that ran down the length of his right forearm. It looked deep, painful, and not properly cleaned or tended to. "Blue. I forget about those damn retractable claws."

It was after that statement that Ally couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. There was only one group of dinosaurs that had retractable claws. "Eudromaeosauria," she announced, catching Owen's undivided attention and that of the bartender as well, "which genus?"

"Velociraptor," Owen responded, taking a swig of the pale lager. Her eyes widened. Alan had told her so many stories about velociraptors before Jurassic Park existed, for the longest time that had been her favorite dinosaur. "They bred Velociraptors again? Even after what happened at the last park?" Ally asked.

"Only four," he quickly added in a casual tone, but it seemed that it was four too many after hearing stories from Ellie and Alan about the deadly and intelligent creatures. A hush fell over Ally as an uneasy feeling welled up in her gut. It faded instantly when the bartender set down a second mixed drink next to her half-eaten platter of shrimp. "Owen here is our raptor dad."

"I was there when they hatched," he explained. "You imprinted on them," she took the words from the tip of his tongue.

He quirked a brow, both amused and impressed. "You don't seem like a regular tourist."

"No," she smiled, looking down at her calloused hands for a moment, "I'm a new researcher." Owen turned on the barstool with a piqued interest in his new colleague. She held out her hand, "Dr. Alysanne Sattler, but you can call me Ally."

His handshake was strong and firm, but fleeting. "Owen Grady," he introduced himself. "Just Owen," that came as an afterthought but it earned a soft laugh from Alysanne. A plate with fries and a burger was slid in front of him and it was only then she remembered the rest of her own dinner. "What are you here to research?" The question was muffled by the unreasonable bite that he had taken of the burger.

Ally took a sip of her drink, clearing her throat. "Interactions between sauropods and theropods." She picked up the last of her shrimp. "What do you do with the raptors?"

"Behavioral research," he responded. It was mostly small talk that persisted between them for another hour until Ally requested her bill. She stood, pushed the stool back under the edge of the bar and turned to Owen. "It was nice to meet you," she said and he nodded in a manner that said 'likewise' while polishing off a second Corona.

Before she got too far away though, he spoke. "Hey, if you ever want to meet the girls, I'm at the raptor paddock on the east side of the island."

Ally smiled back over her shoulder at him. "I'll keep that in mind."