Edited - 07/18/15
Disclaimer:I own nothing of the masterpiece that is Jurassic World. However, Emerson and her non-previously seen coworkers and family are of my own creation.
Author's Note:Holy crap guys. 1,000+ views, 69 alerts, and 34 favorites. I love you all. It's only been a week! As I'm sure you all may have noticed, this story will be updated once per week, every Sunday, starting today. In addition, I would like to thank all of the following for the favorites and alerts, as well as the reviews are answered below.
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Reviews:
Lyanna Arwen Narsilia – Thank you very much for your lovely comment. I really appreciate it and kudos to you for first review. I hope to hear more from you!
ariah23 – Thank you! I've gone to great lengths to develop Emerson Langley as a person with her background and experiences, so I hope you continue to like her.
Like The Cat I Am – Most definitely! I've set a policy for myself to update at least once a week so that I have meetable set standards. I'm really glad you're hooked though, because that means I'm completing my job as a writer ;). I hope you continue to enjoy!
strafica – Thank you! I really appreciate the support.
Pinnney – And I can't wait to post them! I know the feeling of excitement, and since I've only seen a few good OwenxOC stories, I decided to write my own.
Without Further Ado, I give you…
"It is nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."
John Templeton
Chapter Four – Friendliness
Four Days.
Four full days had passed since Emerson's new job had begun and the woman now found herself walking into the office an hour early, Friday morning, planning to bring into effect the plan she'd started to accumulate on her very first day.
As she moved through the hall down to the large room that housed her and her coworkers, Mer was pleased to find a small box on her desk, that upon opening, held five small black devices.
Raising one of them up to her ear Emerson pressed the device and was pleased when she heard a clear and concise rattling sound.
'Attempting to clicker train Velociraptors. What have I come to?' Mer thought, giving herself a degrading shake of the head, despite there being no audience to bear witness.
As she continued to investigate the box's contents thoroughly, checking each device for its functionality, Emerson finally moved to placing the devices upon her bookshelf, keeping a single device in her pocket as she moved to the center of the room with a notepad and a few different colored pens.
It wasn't until Barry Fortier walked in an hour later that he amended to never again be late to work.
It wasn't too much that the interesting movements his coworker was making were particularly outlandish, so much as the fact that she was standing atop the center table in her green vest and black high-waisted shorts an orange shirt that put construction workers to shame, maneuvering barefoot as his tenured friend Owen prowled around the table, inspecting her motions from a lowered angle.
"How about a right arm bend?" Grady suggested, prompting Emerson to reach down and pull out her red notebook, scrawling down words in shorthand.
Restarting the movement, Emerson made a short noise from a device in her left hand before placing her right arm in the military hand signal for halt, with her arm bent upwards and hand scrunched into a fist.
"But I feel like that's too close to the 'Go' command, with two fingers waved forward", Mer countered, tilting her head to the side in thought.
"How about straight arm? Out to the side? I get that you didn't like the idea earlier, but still..." Owen trailed off.
"It's not that I'm completely against it", Emerson pointed out, "But you need to look at it from my point of view. After watching you work with the girls for only a week, I can see clearly that much of your work relies of physical stance, such the way you hold your arms out. While it may be a steadying motion to you..."
"It's a territorial stance to the girls. They see it as me making a claim on my space", the rugged man surmised.
"Exactly, Ranger Rick. Which is why we can't use an open arm signal as if you happen to do that in a situation where you're only trying to calm them down, it could be taken as you giving the command for go...", Emerson finished, taking the offered hand and shoulder as she hopped down from the table and took a seat across from Owen, pouring over a military handbook for possibilities.
"So... What exactly are you two doing?" Barry questioned, moving in towards the room and drawing attention to his direct presence rather than melding into the bustle from personnel walking down the halls.
Looking up from her work, Emerson turned her head sharply, causing her brown braid to tumble over her shoulder.
"I was consulting with Owen for a training method I'm working on, regarding simple commands," Mer explained, causing Barry to look over at the two individuals with growing confusion and concern.
"And this required you on the table why?" He demurred, having trouble seeing a reasonable answer.
"For point of view! The raptors are going to be down in the paddock, looking up at Owen, so we have to make sure that form any point in the area they can see him", Mer answered as she slid her hiking boots back onto her feet.
"And he wasn't on the table because...?"
"Too heavy," Owen finalized.
Both he and Barry probably had a good fifty pounds and five inches on Emerson, and seeing as how the table wasn't built for standing in the first place...
The group partook in a brief moment of silence as Barry's mind processed the information, before he threw himself back into the conversation.
"So what do you have so far?"
That evening, Emerson found herself sitting in a booth at the Dave & Buster's sports bar and grill restaurant that was placed on the main street in the resort and attractions district, still with her coworkers, albeit showered and now freshly dressed. Apparently, her coworkers came to dinner every Friday there, and she was now permanently invited.
In fact, she hadn't really left their side all week, this being the first time she'd stepped foot in the resort area other than when she first arrived.
Emerson hadn't had the need however.
She had soon found out that despite the extravagant living quarters provided, such things as mass privacy and gates that were closed between the hours of one and four were slight turn-offs to many.
Despite the fact that the six foot gates were exceedingly climbable so long as you possessed some semblance of athleticism.
Mer personally thought it was interesting that Jurassic World operated its housing system much like the military with its on and off base monetary exchange.
Those who lived in the staff compounds around the island received their base salary for their job, seeing as how the buildings supplied bill-free water, electricity, and even had a commons kitchen in the lobby area where breakfast was served for those interested.
Whereas the individuals whom chose to live in trailers, or bungalows, or any other such mode of temporary home, were paid extra in their salary, to compensate for lodging expenses.
'It's a great deal either way', she thought, admiring Corporate's care for its employees.
After spending the past few hours with the men at her table, Emerson finally decided to split off for her weekend activities, bidding the two men farewell as she pulled out a few bills from her wallet, leaving the cash with them for her share as she exited.
Adjusting the straps of her backpack, Mer relished in the evening breeze that washed over her, rolling in from the large pool of water.
Knowing that she'd be working in the park for the foreseeable future, Mer had made a promise to herself against rushing around to all the sights, as she knew that it would only lead to boredom with the amazing attraction, but glancing over at the water, the brunette figure remembered it to be the location of the Mosasaur Exhibit, one of her favorite prehistoric studies back in school.
This had been made so by Michael J. Everhart, a celebrated paleontologist whom currently served as an adjunct curator at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas, and had been offered an opportunity to teach a seminar on many of the prehistoric water-dwelling creatures at Yale, which he of course accepted.
It had been an amazing learning opportunity that'd moved the great Mosasaurus up to the number two space on her paleontological favorites list.
Right behind the velociraptor, of course.
Placing a a foot decidingly forward, Emerson strode towards the exhibit, hands placed in her shorts pockets with thumbs poked out.
With her park personnel identification tag still visible, clipped onto her vest, Mer approached the large pool, following the signs to where she arrived at the underwater tunnels, devoid of any tourists due to the dinner rush currently going on at Main Street.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
Emerson turned her head to see a brunette woman with soft blue eyes, making her way toward her in the standard khakis and blue polo Jurassic World staff uniform.
Mer thanked her lucky stars that as an 'off-the-books' enclosure, her own personnel weren't required to wear a uniform.
"Very. Although she's probably a couple hundred times bigger than any of her ancestors", Emerson answered, turning her focus completely to the woman whom was now next to her.
"Interested in Mosasaurs?" The lady questioned in surprise. By estimate, she looked anyway from mid twenties to early thirties.
"Had to be", Mer chuckled, turning to reveal the I.D. upon her left breast pocket. "I studied them for several years as a paleontology major."
Surveying the girls lack of enclosure listing upon her tag and casual dress of a quarter button-up brown tank tucked into denim shorts with a leather belt and green vest, the employee made a guess on the occupation of the tanned girl in front of her.
"You work with control?"
Mer shook her head in a negative gesture.
"Nope. I've been the trainer for the Velociraptor Paddock for the past week. Emerson Langley," she introduced holding her hand out and shaking the woman's.
"Penelope Fischer. I'm the lead Mosasaur handler and I do most of the shows", she replied as the two started walking down the tunnel towards the other side.
The mosasaur continued drifting above them in the pool.
"So you work with Fortier and Grady, right?" Penelope questioned at the two girls reemerged above the surface and started to lap their way back around the enclosure to Main Street.
"That's right. He and Barry are my coworkers", Mer answered.
"So you get to train his little pack and he's just okay with that?" She asked in slight disbelief, causing Emerson to wonder exactly what sort of rumors got out to the park about the crazy staff of Sector 9.
"Well I don't really train them directly", Em redirected. "The way it works is that I help feed and care for and even interact with the girls, yes, but for the true training, I devise actions which I teach to Owen, who then passes the methods on to his pack. Since he's the one who's spent the past four years with them and gone through the imprinting process with them, he's the one who most qualified to deal directly with them.
"So the more appropriate job title for you is Grady Trainer", Penelope state with a smile.
Mer laughed.
"You said imprinting process. I thought it was something that happens when they're born. Isn't it?"
"Sort of. The thirteen to sixteen hour period that happens after hatching is the most critical, where hatchlings respond the most to the first moving stimulus they receive, but contrary to popular belief, it's actually in the third to eleventh week that's the most important. Either way, it's the action of the animal, not the action of the human, that is classified as imprinting," Emerson stated, judging the blank look on Penelope Fischer's face.
"I worked at an aquarium before this. I've never really dealt with animal sciences before other than handling food and such," Penelope clarified slightly, as Emerson gained a new understanding of her newfound friend.
"So what kind of shows and such do you do?" Emerson questioned, eyeing the main tourist area as they neared it.
"Well first and foremost, I do the shows up in the bleachers, for feeding and such, as well as other special events. Have you gotten a look at the faculty maps of the Mosasaur Pool?" Penelope asked, leading on to a new topic.
"Not really, why?"
"Well the Mosasaur Pool is actually shaped like a two ring target, with a thirty-five foot wide fence that goes around the outside in a crescent, only not touching near Main Street since the Advertising Department thought it'd be cool for tourists to get a closer look at the Mosasaur from the restaurants. That crescent area is used as a SCUBA attraction, since the wall dividing the Mosasaur and the coral fish area is clear."
"That actually sounds quite cool", Mer commented, thinking about how the handlers would keep their charge from ramming the wall for fish.
"Yes. Very. You wouldn't happen to have a SCUBA license, would you?" Penelope questioned.
Em nodded as the two women came to a halt at the viewing area next to the giant tank.
"Well in that case, if you aren't busy, would you be up to helping me with a diving tour on Sunday? It could help you socialize with some of the other employees, as well as get some under-the-table money for before you get your first paycheck. It's pretty simple, seeing as how you just have to swim in the back of the group and make sure people aren't doing anything they shouldn't be and such. I only ask since my usual assistant is gone for the week back to Spain where she lives," Penelope questioned, holding her breath.
"Yeah, sure. I don't work on weekends except for having to feed the girls in the mornings, but that's at six. I assume your tour goes later?"
"Great. Thank god", the handler let out with a sigh. "In that case, if you could meet me by the arena at eight tomorrow, Saturday morning, we can get you some gear so that you'll be ready Sunday."
Nodding, Emerson traded one of her newly given business cards with the handler, exchanging contact information.
"Sounds good, Penelope. It's getting late and near curfew for the compound, so I better run, but I'll see you tomorrow morning", Em granted, departing.
"Bye, Emerson."
Stopping, Em corrected the Mosasaur Handler with a smile.
"My friends call me Mer."
The drive home wasn't necessarily eventful, as the most excitement she had was a very large snake that slithered across the road in front of her Jeep and the following squeaky sound that Emerson made.
Still without a torque wrench, Emerson hadn't yet been driving her bike around, but she at least had the fact to thank that there hadn't been any decent weather yet, so she wasn't missing out on much.
From what she had seen, Owen and Barry both lived in their own bungalows, but seemed to drive together in official vehicles, although she'd heard that the former was an owner of a motorcycle, himself, though she had yet to see the elusive creature.
If all else came to pass, she'd need to see if Owen could lend her the tool.
When she arrived home, the first thing Emerson did to prepare for the night was strip down and grab a pair of shorts and a tank, before heading to the shower. But after that, she spent the next twenty minutes looking at her alphabetized and categorized by genre movie collection, a trait she'd picked up from her own childhood home, where they owned about a thousand movies.
As the important choice came to a close, Emerson grasped Miracle, an Ice Hockey movie, to watch as she sat down on the couch.
As always, a read and review is most welcome!