Disclaimer: Jurassic World is owned by Universal Pictures
"Hello?" -Phone or radio.
"{Alpha!}" -Dinosaur language.
As she worked on the raptors on the slab-like tables, checking the unconscious dinosaurs' health, the vet glanced toward Owen who had something between his fingers, twirling it back and forth. "So, what's the story about that fancy necklace?"
Slightly surprised at having his inner thoughts interrupted, Owen shook it off. "Hmm? Oh, this? It's something that belonged to my grandfather, he died about a week ago and... Well, he had this sent to me."
Not many people knew about Owen's family which caused the vet to continue to dig as she wrote something onto the clipboard. "Huh, so what's the story behind it?"
Owen chuckled a bit as he continued to turn it in his fingers. "Grandpa was a bit of an oddball. Came back from the African campaigns in World War II claiming that a shaman had given it to him. Said that placing the blood of an animal into it would give you special abilities and able to understand that animal's speech. He was an animal trainer though, had this big grizzly that he called Steve who listened to him all the time. They used to go out into the woods for days at a time, just him and Steve. No one would hear a thing until the two would stumble out with grins."
With a laugh, the vet looked over her shoulder as she finished up. "Sounds a lot like you and these beautiful girls if some of the stories the other handlers tell are true." She then looked over at him with a smile. "Well, if you want I can take some blood from your girls and give it to you."
Of course, Owen laughed a bit before he shrugged. "Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"
Getting out of bed after yet another bad night of dreams, Owen cracked his jaws and started for the bathroom. 'At least it wasn't more nightmares of what happened... Just dreams of running through the jungle with the girls as a raptor.' He stopped near his door and smiled as he heard his girls downstairs. After what happened with the Indominus, all four had become docile and subservient hence why he trusted them enough to keep in his house. 'Though I am thankful that they're all alright... I wonder why Charlie listened to me when to stop and not to listen to the Indominus...' It was then that Owen stopped as he entered the bathroom and saw a raptor in the mirror. "Girls, which ever one of you..."
Trailing off as he noticed that the raptor's mouth moved with his voice, he blinked. 'No way... There is no way...' Now wide awake, he brought up one hand and waved it, with the raptor in the mirror doing the same thing. Then he took a glance toward his arm to find that it was not a human arm, but a raptor's.
The scream woke the four recovering raptors downstairs, though only Blue could move as the other three were too injured to do so and laid in their "nests", frightened for their Alpha. Nonetheless, the raptor beta rushed up the stairs until she reached the room claimed by her Alpha and looked in to see a large, male raptor staring at something. Growling, Blue strode in as she guessed what had happened. "{Get away from Alpha, now...}"
Much to her surprise, the raptor turned and stared at her before it spoke in Owen's voice. "B-Blue? Did you just talk?"
Confused, Blue walked more into the room and tilted her head. "{Why do you sound like Alpha and make not-prey sounds?}"
The raptor then tapped himself on the chest. "Blue, it's me! I... I have no idea what happened, but I got turned into a raptor..."
For several moments Blue did not move until she walked in and began to move around him, sniffing. 'Hmm... Sounds like Alpha and smells like Alpha... Is Alpha? Not another Not-Alpha?' Her eyes then lit up as she realized what this meant and began to nuzzle him as a purring sound escaped her. "{Alpha!}"
All Owen did was groan. Suddenly, he realized something and blinked. "How... am I going to explain this to Claire?" Having felt Blue continue to nuzzle him, Owen reached over and shoved the affectionate raptor away some. "Blue, I need to think..."
Curious, Blue just watched as Owen paced around the room some. "{Why does Alpha worry? Just tell mate that Alpha is now what he should be!}"
Just under a minute passed before Owen sighed and shook his head. "Right... just tell her..." As he walked over to the phone, Blue following, Owen decided to ask a question. "By the way, I've noticed that you and your sisters are much... calmer, you listen more. Mind telling me why?"
The sound of claws scraping against wood caused him to turn and blink as Blue scrapped one foot against the floor. "{We... pack made mistake in following False-Alpha. Should have followed you, Alpha. You proved you cared for Pack while False-Alpha didn't. Never did you hurt pack, while False-Alpha did. We listen to you now, Alpha. You proved that you should be Alpha. And now that you wear True-Skin, you're even more worthy to be Alpha.}"
Owen blinked at that for a moment as he sorted it through his head and widened his eyes. "And what about Claire? And Barry?"
A moment later, Owen could have sworn that Blue was giving him the "What are you, an idiot?" look. Something which was proven as she blinked. "{Alpha sometimes stupid Alpha. Mate is Alpha's mate and thus part of pack. Barry is nice, while not pack would not mind him becoming pack. Pack will not hurt them.}"
With a blink, Owen turned toward the phone. "Okay... this is a really strange day... And she's my girlfriend, not mate."
Reaching up with one of her claws, Blue scratched at an itchy spot. "{Alpha being stupid again, mate is mate. Blue and others can smell Alpha on her and can smell her on Alpha.}"
That bit of information caused Owen to pause as he attempted to use his claws to dial the phone. "... " After some thought, he shook his head and ignored it as his claws continued to press buttons. Finally, the transformed human brought the phone up to his head. "Hey, Claire, how are things going?"
On the other end of the line, he could practically feel her eyebrow raise. "The same as usual. The workers are still performing their duties to make sure that the park reopens on schedule... Why?"
While he shoved Blue away again, Owen cleared his throat a bit as his tail nearly knocked some stuff down. "Well... you wouldn't happen to have some free time today, would you?"
Now suspicious, Claire narrowed her eyes at the tone. "I can get off at around... late afternoon for the day. Did something happen?" At Owen's denials, she frowned even more. "Mr. Grady..."
As he winced, Owen just coughed a bit. "Well, it's nothing bad, just... weird. Anyways, if you could drop by later, that would be great, thanks!" He then hung up and groaned as he rubbed his head. "This is going to be a fun day..." Owen then looked toward Blue. "Anyways... I got to get some food for your sisters, would you mind sharing it with them?"
Blue just gave him an innocent look before she walked out. "{Alpha now being even more stupid. For that, I expect some Oreos.}"
It took Owen a moment before he stalked out after her. "Hey, wait a moment..."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Claire gave the phone a narrowed gaze. 'What is he hiding...'
Walking into Owen's bungalow, Claire looked around with a frown. "Owen? I got your call that you needed some help? Where are you?" She heard talons on the stairs and turned in time to see a large raptor walk down them. A moment later, Claire froze in place as she recognized it as being a male raptor. The fact that Blue followed it caused her to gulp. "Owen! We got a problem!"
Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the raptor sighed and then actually spoke in Owen's voice. "Trust me, I know that we have a problem."
Silence descended for several moments as Claire stared at him before she looked around. "I swear, Owen, if this is your idea of some sort of sick joke.."
The raptor then facepalmed. "Claire... this is no joke, trust me on that."
Seeing that she was still looking around for a camera, Owen rolled his eyes and walked over to a notepad and tore off a sheet of paper and then wrote on it to the amazed eyes of Claire. After that, he held it out to her and she read it aloud. "Dear Claire, yes, it's me. I have turned into a talking raptor..." Her eyes slowly rose from the paper and she stared. "Owen?"
Once more, Owen rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's me, and, yes, I am a talking raptor..."
Clare just kept staring at him before she frowned and slowly backed out to the door before she then looked outside. "... It's not even evening yet and the moon hasn't risen..."
It only took Owen a moment to connect the dots and he gave her the best deadpan expression as behind him, Blue did that odd laugh of hers. "I'm not some sort of... wereraptor, Claire..
She just shook her head. "Right... I'm just going to have your alcohol because I am entirely too sober for this conversation right now..."
After she walked passed him, Owen heard Blue huffing and turned toward her. "{Your mate is funny, Alpha.}"
In reply, Owen only closed his eyes as he tried to fight off his incoming headache. "Claire, I thought that you couldn't drink alcohol due to being on a diet..."
Her voice drifted out of the kitchen. "In this case, I think that I can make an exception..."
With a sigh, Owen used his claws to gently pull the blanket up over Claire who had fallen asleep after Owen had explained and re-explained all he knew before he winkled his now sensitive nose at the scent of the alcohol she had consumed. Shaking his head, he walked out of the room and nearly into Blue who was watching with interest. "What?"
Tilting her head to the other side, Blue chirped at him. "{Why did Alpha's mate drink funny smelling and tasting water?}"
Once more sighing, and noting that he had been doing a lot of it, Owen shook his head. "One, Claire is not my mate. And two... It's not funny smelling and tasting water, Blue. It's alcohol and she drank a lot because she was shocked..." It was then that he realized what she had said and glared at her. "And how do you know how it tastes?"
If a raptor could attempt to look innocent, Blue certainly gave it her best shot as she looked away and over her shoulder as she bent her neck back with wide eyes. "{What is Alpha talking about? I don't know how it tastes...}" She then twisted around and sped toward the stairs before she laid on her belly and slid on it down the stairs. "}Come on, Alpha, sisters want to see you now that you have true-skin!}"
As he closed his eyes, Owen counted to ten as he growled softly. "I swear... worse then kids sometimes..." Then he thought about it for a moment. "... Actually, kids will bite you and scratch too... so not that much different."
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, not having gone down the way that Blue always did and had since she had lived in the house after hatching, Owen paused outside what had been his living room. Inside he could hear Charlie hiss at Blue. "{You lie! Alpha one of Not-Prey, not like us though he be Alpha.}"
In reply, Blue hissed back. "{I see it for myself! Alpha like us in True-Skin! Look much better then being just Not-Prey, though his mate acted weird and drank the funny water! It was funny!}"
Echo's voice then spoke up. "{She act like you when you drank funny water that Alpha left out in closed metal bucket when we were hatchlings? Alpha was so confused why you acted funny.}"
For a moment, Owen thought back and he remembered a time back when the pack were hatchlings. In order to bond better with them, he had brought them into his home and taken care of them. Everyone, of course had thought him nuts and Barry kept visiting him. One time, he had been eating his dinner with a beer and had set it down on the counter top. When he returned, his beer was spilled out onto the counter while the raptors had played in a corner. A few hours later, Blue had acted extremely oddly but did get better. Owen had put it out of his mind, but now realized what had happened and stalked around the corner with a growl. "So... you don't know how it tastes, huh?"
Stiff for a moment, Blue gave him the best version of a sheepish look that a raptor could before she chirped. "{Sister does not know what she is talking about, Alpha!}"
That, of course, brought his attention to the others and he had to hold back a wince. In any other situation or place he would have laughed at the sheer shocked looks he was given by his pack. But, as usual, all that he felt was some guilt at the injured members. Out of all of the three, Delta had the least injuries, just a number of broken bones such as her ribs. Her torso and leg were wrapped in thick bandages to help her as she healed. Echo though had far more bandages on her to where they covered most of her body, concealing the horrible burns she had suffered from view.
And then, there was Charlie.
She had survived a near miss with a missile launcher used against her by InGen's soldiers. However, she was far from unscathed and nearly had not pulled through when they had found her the next day and brought her in to save her life. It was not just the broken bones or the slight burns she had suffered that were the problem. A glance showed Owen that, as has been the case since that day, her right leg ended at her "Knee" with only a wad of bandages with some of her tail also missing. It always caused his heart to feel like something was squeezing it. And though it had been an argument with the vets, they did save her and the last he had heard, they were creating a prosthetic for her. "Hey girls..."
Owen walked up close to the three healing raptors and let them take in his scent and the sound of his voice before Charlie cocked her head to the side in confusion. "{How is Alpha now hunter like us? Not not-prey anymore?}"
To Owen's surprise, Blue snapped at Charlie. "{Alpha may look different, but Alpha is True-Alpha, not False-Alpha like Fake-One.}"
All Owen could do was smile as he watched on as they conversed with each other about how strange it all was. Of course, then Charlie asked for him to stay and he sat down like he had seen them do before, much to the approval of the pack and started to talk...
After having talked with the pack for hours, Owen had fallen asleep in the room with the rest of the pack there also asleep. It was already dark out when footsteps entered the room and a slightly hungover Claire shook her head as she looked down at the large raptor. "What am I going to do with you..." Kneeling next to him with blankets and a pillow under her arm, she paused for a moment before she reached out and touched his skin. 'Amazing...' Then Claire paused and got back up as she laid blankets over the raptors and turned back to Owen. Just as she had placed a blanket over him, she heard a huff and turned slowly to see Blue watching her. "Um... hello, Blue..."
With a glance, she realized that the other raptors were all watching her as she tended to Owen. Quickly, she remembered some of what Owen told her and licked her dry lips as she spoke softly and quietly. "Don't worry... I'm just making Owen comfortable... that's all..." They continued to watch her as she placed the pillow under Owen's raptor head and then adjusted the blanket. Having done that, she got up slowly and backed out of the room with both hands in the air. "There we go... there we go girls... I'm not a threat..."
Once she was out the door, she gently closed it with a click. A few minutes went by before Charlie turned toward Blue with puzzlement on her face. "{Why did Alpha's mate act like that? I smelt fear...}'
Blue frowned as only a raptor could before she shook her head like she had learned from watching Owen for so many years. "{Alpha's mate worried that pack might hurt her, that we might attack.}"
Soft hisses and growls filled the room from the other raptors before Echo stared at Blue. "{We would never hurt Alpha's mate! She is part of pack and pack does not attack pack!}"
While she did not understand all the human sounds, Blue understood enough which caused her head to lower until it laid against the floor. "{Alpha's mate worried because when we met False-Alpha, we followed False-Alpha and betrayed Alpha and followed False-Alpha. Nearly killed hatchlings that smelt like Alpha's mate. Not her hatchlings, but from sister maybe. So Alpha's mate not trust us fully despite being pack. Alpha's mate is afraid of us betraying Alpha again.}"
The reminder was enough to dampen the mood of all of them before Delta slowly spoke from where she was laying down. "{We made a mistake... False-Alpha was not a true alpha. Cared nothing for pack like Alpha did.}" A soft hiss escaped from her mouth as she eyelids dropped a bit. "{How will we make Alpha's mate understand that she is not in danger from pack? That she is part of pack?}"
It was Charlie who lit up a bit. "{I know! Blue can bring Alpha's mate dead prey as gift! Will help her understand that she now pack!}"
For several moments, they all thought it over before they agreed and then slowly laid down to go back to sleep...
Having smelt cooking meat, Blue walked into the kitchen to find Owen at the stove as he danced and sang along to a song on the radio.
"I can't stop this feeling
Deep inside of me
Girl, you just don't realize
What you do to me!
When you hold me
In your arms so tight
You let me know
Everything's all right!"
Walking behind Blue, Claire just blinked at the sight of the raptor dancing and singing as it cooked breakfast. Slowly, she turned down to her mug of coffee and then looked at the fridge. '... If he did not put something in this coffee... then I wonder if it's too early...'
Meanwhile, Owen continued to belt out the lyrics.
"I'm hooked on a feeling
I'm high on believing
That you're in love with me!"
Confused as per usual with what her Alpha was doing, Blue blinked and then scratched her neck with one claw. Then, much to Claire's partial amusement partial confusion, Blue started to bob her head in time as the song continued. 'He's... got Blue dancing...' A quick look confirmed that, indeed, Blue was bouncing a bit from one foot to the other. Slightly bemused, Claire backed up and looked into the sitting room to find that all the raptors were bobbing their heads to the song. 'He's... got all of them dancing... I'm not even going to ask...' Claire made it back into the kitchen in time to see the most hilarious sight that she had seen yet...
Blue being behind Owen, copying his movements to the best of her ability, seeming to be having fun doing so. Her laugh as the song finished caused Owen to turn and blink at her, before he noticed where she was looking to see Blue finish dancing to the last few beats of the song. "Um... they kind of do that at times..."
With a blank look, Claire turned to look at Blue as the raptor changed her dancing as "I want you back" by The Jackson 5 began to play. Slowly, part of Claire could not help but wonder what kind of positive press it could make for the park if someone uploaded video of this while the corners of her lips turned upward. "Really..."
After having placed the pan of bacon on a turned off burner, Owen shrugged best. "Yeah... it just kind of happened one day... They're pretty good." He then began dancing next to Blue as Claire only shook her head in bemusement at their antics...
Not even a few minutes later, Owen had just sat down with his breakfast as he heard a growl and turned to see Blue giving him a look which caused him to blink at her. "What?"
Looking from his food to him a few times, Blue hissed at him. "{Why does Alpha keep ruining food but putting it over hot not-fire?}" She winkled her nose as Owen choked a bit on his bite. "{And how can Alpha eat ruined food?}"
With an annoyed look on his face, Owen pointed his fork toward her as Claire looked back between the two of them. "Now don't you start! I am not ruining my food by cooking it! It makes it taste better and is better for you." Having noticed that Claire was watching them with a raised eyebrow, he frowned a bit. "What?"
For a moment, Claire ate some of the yoghurt parfait she was having for breakfast and then sipped her coffee. "Just... wondering what Blue said since I can only hear one side of the conversation..."
As he blinked, the former human realized what it might have looked like and chomped down on a piece of bacon as he ignored his girlfriend's grimace. "Blue was complaining that I was ruining meat by cooking..." Said raptor growled again and caused Owen to shoot her a look. "Also, she has an issue with me eating eggs as well and... HEY! NOW THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!"
Once more giving Owen a look, Clare frowned. "Personally, after you laughed at me this morning when Blue dropped that dead campy in front of me and I screamed, I don't think that there's much not called for."
Chewing a piece of bacon as he pushed away Blue with his "Hand" when she got too close to his food, Owen grumbled. "I thought that you screaming was hilarious... besides, like I told you, Blue was trying to tell you that as far as she and the others are concerned, you don't have anything to worry about from them. To them, you're pack and that means that they won't attack you unless they have a really good reason for it." Slowly, a grin crossed his face. "Besides... Blue liked the fact that you gave it back to her."
Blue stopped nibbling her side at an itchy spot as Claire reached over and used her nails on it which caused the raptor to rumble in pleasure. "{Still do not understand why Alpha's mate did not want kill to eat, but happy that Alpha's mate gave it rather then waste it by throwing it into metal box.}"
Not understanding what she said, Claire frowned for a moment. "You're sure that she won't hurt me? Or the others?"
Shaking his head, Owen began to finish up his breakfast. "According to her, they won't. And I trust them and trust is a big thing in a pack, right next to respect."
For several moments, Claire stared Blue in the face before the human got up and walked over to the counter. Curious as to what his girlfriend was doing, Owen watched as she grabbed some of the leftover uncooked bacon and brought it over to Blue and held a strip out in front of her. It took Blue a few seconds to realize what she was doing, but both Owen and Claire could swear that the raptor's eyes lit up before she gently took the strip from Claire's fingers and then gobbled it down. "{Alpha's mate gives good meat... and not ruined by Alpha...}"
With a frown on his face, Owen watched as Claire took a deep breath. "You okay?"
However, she just nodded as she placed his plate on the counter as his claws were not the best at carrying things. "Yeah... still a bit nervous but..." Claire glanced down the hall and began to walk. "I think that I can do this though..."
There was a smile on Owen's face as he followed Blue to watch as Claire gave the others a piece offering of sorts by feeding them each a strip of bacon...