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fnaf-is-awesome201 · 3 years

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I want you to talk about dinosaurs

Really? You do?! Hell yeah! Okay, I'm gonna ramble for a bit about dinosaurs so hope you don't mind if you do mind then I'm sorry. This is gonna be a long post, just warning you now.

Okay, so dinosaurs are cool as fuck and I love them so damn much. They’re just so... awe-inspiring. And they’re some of the coolest animals to ever walk the earth. Some were gigantic, with necks that stretched up towards the sky. Others were tiny, maybe even smaller than a chicken. Some had sharp teeth and claws (usually the most memorable ones like T. Rex and such) and some had armor-plated bodies (like the ankylosaurs). I love them all to death and I love how unique and diverse they were! All these fantastic beasts that one day just disappeared forever. I want to see one. I know, that’s crazy, and Jurassic Park shows how that could be a very bad idea, but I want to see one. Not just in the pages of a dinosaur book. I want something I can touch and feel and just see how truly magnificent they were. Dinosaurs like Dilophosaurus, Velociraptor, Parasaurolophus, Edmontosaurus, Albertosaurus and so many more! I want to see them all. How they lived, what they looked like, how they acted...

Tyrannosaurs are some of the biggest carnivorous dinosaurs, with T. Rex being the most famous. No one talks about the other Tyrannosaurs! Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and probably several others yet to be discovered! These were the “tyrant lizards”! They’re big and scary and utterly fascinating! And T. Rex was the king. Tyrannosaurus Rex, or “tyrant lizard king”, was huge! 40 feet long on average and with a powerful bite, I’m willing to bet they were quite a sight to behold! It’s probably the most famous of the dinosaurs, and I can see why! It commands your attention and your curiosity more than most, and it makes for a great movie monster! Those huge teeth and crushing jaws mixed with it’s powerful legs and instinct to hunt make it an exciting creature!

Even so, it was not the biggest carnivorous dinosaur to roam during the Mesozoic! Even Carcharodontosaurus, the “shark-toothed lizard”, was bigger than a T. Rex! Or Giganotosaurus! I suppose T. Rex gained more of a spotlight because it’s easier to say the name, but there are so many other large predatory dinosaurs that deserve attention and public view!

The smaller carnivores are super cool, too! Allosaurus, the “different lizard” (and my personal favorite medium-sized carnivorous dinosaur) had a narrow head and large claws on it’s three-fingered hands. I’ve seen fossils up-close of these guys, and I have to tell you, it’s amazing. It may not be as big as your favorites, but it is an amazing dinosaur! They have horn-like protrusions over their eyes, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. They are absolutely beautiful and fascinating creatures!

And as for Velociraptor, you might know them from Jurassic Park. However, the real velociraptor is not nearly as big as those ones, which stand at about 6 ft. tall. The real velociraptor was about the size of a turkey! At about 2 ft. tall and 6 ft. long, Velociraptor (”speedy/quick thief”) was a tiny terror. They most likely hunted in packs to bring down animals much larger than they are. The sickle-shaped claw on both feet was used to puncture, not to tear. They were quick and effective hunters. They were also intelligent, based on the fact that they had a large brain compared to their body size. I love Velociraptors. I really do. I want to understand how they work, what they looked like, and how they lived.

Then there’s the herbivores! Undoubtedly some of the biggest animals to ever roam the Earth! The largest dinosaur currently on record was the Argentinosaurus (”lizard of Argentina” or “Argentina izard”, etc.), a monstrous titanosaur that was about 120 ft. from head to tail and likely weighed nearly 100 tons (200,000 lbs. or so)! They were huge! bigger than even the biggest land-dwelling animals today! Taller than giraffes, even! And you most likly don’t know the sheer scale of dinosaurs like triceratops or Stegosaurus! I’ve seen a Triceratops skull up-close, and I must tell you it was much bigger tahn I thought it would be! Triceratops was about 30 ft. long, with a neck frill span of about 6 ft. and horns that could reach over 3 ft. long! It was much bigger than your car, to give you some scale! And Stegosaurus is quite a sight even as a fossil! With a length of 21-30 ft. and a height of about 14 ft., this massive dinosaur had a very tiny brain. It’s brain is said to be the smallest brain proportional to body size of any dinosaur (any brain size currently known, that is)! Isn’t that fascinating? I’ve seen them up-close, too, and I can tell you that they have a very small head for such a large animal!

Then there’s hadrosaurs, which are amazing on their own! Look up Parasaurolophus, Lambeosaurus or Iguanodon and you’ll see what I mean! There’s so many more, like Corythosaurus, Oranosaurus, Tenontosaurus, etc.! They were herd animals, staying in large groups and nesting together. There’s even evidence, like in the case of Maiasaura, that they took care of and watched over their young! Most of them were pretty big, but an even more fascinating feature was their crests. These dinosaurs often had large crests on their heads, though their function is still debated. They could have been used to make unique calls or to amplify their calls, or they could have been used to identify each other! It really is interesting to think about it!

Then there’s the real oddballs, such as Psittacosaurus, Saltosaurus, any of the Ankylosaurs, and even dinosaurs like Dilophosaurus (two-crested lizard), Monolophosaurus (one-crested lizard), Spinosaurus, and the Pterosaurs! Ankylosaurs (like Ankylosaurus or Euoplocephalus) were large, heavily-armored reptiles, with Ankylosaurus even having armored eyelids! Their backs were covered in bone plating, and they were often covered in spikes or nodules. Several also had a club of solid bone on the end of their tails! The muscle power, combined with the club, could cause some serious damage! Only the most ferocious or desperate of dinosaurs would dare to try and take on these living tanks! The only way to have an advantage would be to hit it from beneath or to flip it over, which wouldn’t have been easy. Spinosaurus was quite an odd creature. With its odd proportions and dense bones, it was likely quadrupedal to help balance it’s weight. It had large, heavy, hooked claws on its arms and a long skull filled with cone-shaped teeth, perfect for catching slippery fish, but not so good for tearing flesh. They were very top-heavy, and likely walked on their knuckles like an anteater so they didn’t dull down their claws. Then there was the sail. It’s still unknown what exactly this sail was for. It would have made it a bit more difficult to move around, but it may have been used to regulate body temperature or to serve as a display! There’s also a possibility that it had webbed feet! While it may look very weird to us, Spinosaurus was perfectly adapted to life by the water! Dense bones helped keep it submerged, likely with only it’s nose and eyes above the water (like a crocodile), while it’s teeth and claws helped it hunt fish and other water-dwelling creatures! Basically, all of that weirdness had a very unique and cool purpose! Spinosaurus looked very different from the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3, but it’s still just as cool! Then there’s the Pterosaurs. Some as small as bats or small birds, and the largest being about the same size as a small plane! They fill a specific role it the prehistoric world, later filled by birds! Pterodactyl was not a dinosaur, but Pterodactylus was! The largest of these creatures, standing taller than a giraffe and with a wingspan of about 50 ft, was Quetzalcoatlus. It’s thought they were likely scavengers, like vultures, but may have occasionally caught their own food. Some Pterosaurs would travel long distances often to reach their nesting grounds, while others did not. Like bats, Pterosaur’s wings were made up of a skin membrane stretched between the body and the elongated finger making up the outer edge of the wing. They were light-weight animals, and everything about them was evolved to make them perfect and graceful fliers, though this likely made them very awkward when on the ground.

Then there’s also the prehistoric marine reptiles! Mosasurus, Tylosaurus, Plesiosaurs, Pliosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, and many more! Ichthyosaurs were basically like the dolphins of the prehistoric oceans! They had almost fish-shaped bodies and long, usually toothed beaks. I’d definitely recomend looking up a picture of these guys! They breathed air like all reptiles and did not have gills. All prehistoric marine reptiles breathed air, similar to today’s sea turtles or sea snakes. Mosasaurus was a large predatory marine reptile, with lots of teeth and a long, slender body with a powerful paddle-like tail and four flippers instead of legs and feet. Tylosaurs are similar (I think... if I remember correctly...), though if I remember correctly, not all of them had long tails, and some had large powerful flippers instead of a long tail. Plesiosaurs had a very long neck, a small head with interlocking teeth (essentially creating a fish cage), and a large, slender body with a very short tail an four large, powerful flippers. Some of these animals preyed upon other marine reptiles and larger marine creatures, while others only ate fish and other small marine creatures. They’re all so unique and look nothing like anything we have today! And there’s so many more that I haven’t even talked about that I would seriously encourage checking out!

I’ve loved dinosaurs for as long as I can remember. I even still have my first dinosaur book! It’s a neat picture book full of pictures of dinosaur sculptures and dinosaur names! I have a sauropod plushie that I’ve had forever! He’s a little beat up and has a few places where he’s been sewn back up, but I still have him! And I have a model Kronosaurus that I can show you if you’d like! I love dinosaurs so damn much, and I really want to know more about them! I want to know what colors they were and what their skin feels like! I want to see one someday, but until then, fossils are just as good! I FUCKING LOVE DINOSAURS AND THEY’RE SO COOL AND I WANT TO PET ONE SO BAD!

Anyway, that’s my long, rambling post about dinosaurs! I’m glad I got that out! Hope I didn’t confuse you or bore you. I just really love dinosaurs and get super excited and disorganized when I talk about them! I love them so much and they’re really amazing once you start learning about them!

#ask #asks #anon ask #dinosaurs #late night ramblings #sleep deprived ramblings #rambles #long post

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artificialqueens · 4 years

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If you ever wanna be in love (I'll come around), Chapter Three (Branjie) - Athena2

Previously: Brooke pretended to be Vanessa’s fake wife Now: Vanessa is Brooke’s fake girlfriend, but they end up spending more time together

A/N: Thank you all so so much for the amazing feedback! It really makes my day and I’m so grateful for you all. I really hope you like this chapter, and I’d love any comments you have! Thank you 1,000 times to Writ for being the most amazing beta!

Vanessa floats into work the week after dinner. She and Brooke really did it. Her friends agreed, and she knows the other workers–and most importantly, Paul–don’t suspect a thing.

For the first time, she actually enjoyed a work function, and she can’t help but wonder if it has anything to do with Brooke’s thigh touching hers at the cramped table, or her soft voice hovering by Vanessa’s ear all night. Either way, she should be spared from work events for a while. After Brooke’s mom’s party, their work is done.

But if Brooke is with her, maybe another dinner wouldn’t be so bad.

—

“Ready for thrifting tomorrow?” Vanessa asks A’keria first thing Friday morning, waiting for her groan. A’keria and Silky didn’t enjoy thrifting like she did, usually ended up stamping their feet by the door waiting for Vanessa to hurry up, but it’s always more fun to go with them than alone, modeling ridiculous outfits and comparing each other to ugly animal figurines.

“Me and Silk have the Saturday shift tomorrow, remember?”

“Oh. I forgot.”

A’keria must know she’s upset, because her expression softens. “We’ll go next week, okay?”

“Yeah. Maybe I won’t go tomorrow. It’s more fun with a group.”

“If you wanna go with someone, you could ask Brooke,” A’keria says, nonchalant even though just the mention of Brooke’s name makes Vanessa’s heart speed up.

“You want me to ask Brooke?” Vanessa prays A’keria doesn’t notice the red creeping into her cheeks.

“That’s what I said. I just think it makes sense, since she’s your fake wife and all. I know you had a good time with her at dinner.”

Vanessa shushes her, even if it’s just them in the children’s room. Asking Brooke makes sense, Vanessa admits, but she doesn’t know what the rules are, what their situation is. Sure, they had texted about Gilmore Girls and Vanessa is posing as Brooke’s girlfriend next weekend, but does that mean shopping is on the table? Does fake dating make them automatic friends, or are they still just acquaintances who smile awkwardly at each other at Nina’s parties?

Vanessa types a text to Brooke all in one go, heart pounding, and presses send before she can chicken out. The children’s room has its own office, and Vanessa makes several excuses to run inside and check her phone all morning, but there’s no reply. Brooke is probably working, she figures, and the thought of Brooke teaching kids or inspecting fossils makes her smile.

Just after her ladybug rock-painting activity, her phone lights up with a reply.

Brooke Lynn Hytes: Thrifting sounds fun. I can drive if you want.

Vanessa scrambles to reply, and just like that, she’s spending Saturday with Brooke.

—

Vanessa climbs in the passenger seat, and Brooke meets Vanessa’s sunny smile with one of her own.

Yesterday, she had just finished a planning meeting for the T-Rex exhibit opening when she saw a text from Vanessa inviting her to go thrifting if she wasn’t busy, and Brooke’s heart nearly stopped, discussions on layout and invitations flying out of her brain.

Sure, she was going to spend Saturday working on her speech for the opening, but she has weeks for that, and Nina’s been on her to take a break and not work so hard. Brooke knows she’s right; she’s almost molded to her desk chair at this point, in her office until the sun sets some nights, before continuing on her kitchen table in between bites of salad. A day with no work couldn’t hurt, and that fluttery feeling in her chest when she thinks of seeing Vanessa again isn’t bad either.

Vanessa grins as she settles in her seat. She’s wearing a huge black tie-dye Led Zeppelin shirt, and she sure can pull it off.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Vanessa says.

“Of course.” Brooke can tell from her excitement that thrifting must be something she loves, and her heart warms at the joy bursting from Vanessa. “You really like thrifting, huh?”

Vanessa blushes. “Yeah. It’s just fun. There’s so much cool stuff in there, and you never know what you’re gonna get.” She pauses, takes a breath. “Oh! There’s an ice cream place nearby, if you want to get some after.”

“Oh, sure. I love ice cream.” Brooke says, cheeks burning. As much as she loves ice cream, there’s the uncertainty of time with Vanessa, how they should interact. Most of dinner had been answering questions, a certain order to it all. What will they talk about without that structure? She’ll probably be so boring Vanessa will regret this whole day.

“Me too! It’ll be fun.” Vanessa’s confident and calm, like she senses Brooke’s nerves and wants to soothe them without making her uncomfortable, and Brooke is grateful. She takes a breath and lets Vanessa’s voice calm her.

The thrift shop looms in front of them, and Vanessa is bouncing like a little kid, out of her seat before the car stops and practically running to the door. They walk inside and Brooke gasps at the stuff covering every surface, a treasure chest come to life.

There’s shelves packed with dishes, vases, teacups, books, candles, and random trinkets. Posters and pictures spread along the walls like vines, with clothes racks and tables of more stuff forming a maze through the store.

“Isn’t this awesome, Brooke?” Vanessa looks up at her, eyes sparkling. She suddenly realizes just how tiny Vanessa is in flat sandals instead of heels like at dinner, and her stomach lurches.

“Yeah,” Brooke agrees. She follows Vanessa as she confidently heads straight for the books. There’s such power in Vanessa’s walk, and Brooke can’t stop watching her. She likes how wide Vanessa smiles when she finds something good, how she parades over to Brooke with a hat shaped like a pizza slice perched on her head and polka dot scarf around her neck, even how she insists on buying an ugly little pig figurine because she “felt bad for it.”

It’s not until Vanessa is checking out that Brooke realizes she was so busy watching Vanessa, she never looked at anything for herself.

—

The ice cream place is a tiny box with a large ice cream cone on the roof, and Brooke stares up at it as she and Vanessa sit at an umbrella-shaded picnic table in the back. Rainbow sprinkles scatter as they eat, Brooke with a waffle cone of strawberry cheesecake swirl while Vanessa makes her way through cookies and cream. They eat in silence, Brooke trying to think of something to say. In her experience, dinosaurs are boring to almost everyone over the age of eleven, so she needs something else to talk about. But what?

“It’s so weird eating ice cream during the day,” Brooke settles on. “My mom always made us have dinner first.” She flushes sunburn red, but Vanessa nods.

“It’s one of the only good things about being an adult,” Vanessa agrees. “We have bills and shit, but we can eat ice cream whenever we want.”

Brooke snorts and crunches on her cone. “So, um, how’s the library?”

Vanessa lets out a bark of laughter. “Sorry, it’s just—summer is wild in the children’s room.” She shakes her head and smiles. “Yesterday this lady showed up and I think she was a library card dealer. You know how magicians pull the scarf out of a hat? That was her with library cards, just pulling ‘em outta nowhere. The woman had six cards, all with different names! I don’t know how she got them all.”

“Maybe she goes around collecting them,” Brooke suggests, joining Vanessa in her laughs.

“She wouldn’t be the first,” Vanessa mutters, and Brooke wonders what goes on in that library.

“How long have you worked there?”

“Seven years,” Vanessa answers. “I never planned it, it just happened. I went to college for English, and the job opened right after I graduated. I usually did some awful retail job in the summer, so I applied as another option, and I’ve been there ever since. Never really thought of doing anything else.” She shrugs. “It gets wild, but I love it. There’s some kids who came in the first time when they were four or five, and I made their first cards, and they still come in and talk to me about school and stuff. It’s just nice, y’know?”

There’s real warmth and love in her eyes as she talks, and Brooke can picture her helping kids cut out a craft, or scanning shelves to find the perfect book just for them, and those early feelings she had of wanting to be closer to Vanessa swell like a balloon, eager to learn more about her.

“Yeah,” Brooke agrees. “It sounds like you’re really happy there.”

“Yeah.” Vanessa finishes her cone and leans in, stealing Brooke’s breath. “So. Dino girl. You ever dig up fossils?”

Brooke nods enthusiastically. “I’ve been on two digs in Montana. One was for an internship in grad school and one was after I became head of the museum department here. We didn’t find anything big, but we did get some triceratops fragments and baby hadrosaur bones.”

They had been some of the best weeks of her life. Not even the blinding sun or hours of back-aching digging that sent dust up her nose were enough to crush the thrill of brushing dirt aside to see what lay underneath, her pride and excitement in doing what she had dreamed of since she was a child clutching her dinosaur toys, twisting her mouth to say their names.

“That’s really cool,” Vanessa says, and Brooke doesn’t think she’s faking it. “Wait, did you dress like Indiana Jones? Tell me you at least wore the hat!”

“Indiana Jones is an archaeologist, first of all, and my hat had a much wider brim—“

“So that’s a yes.” Vanessa’s lips turn up into an adorable smirk.

“Yes.”

Vanessa squeals. “I want pictures!”

“Later,” Brooke promises.

Vanessa smiles, and Brooke smiles back, and she doesn’t want the day to end.

—

A’keria has a date that night, so Vanessa has the couch to herself and stretches her legs out on the newfound space. Her legs barely fill two cushions, admittedly, but still. She’s mindlessly flicking through channels when her phone buzzes. It’s from Brooke, just two words: As promised.

Vanessa opens the text in confusion, only to screech at the image on her screen: Brooke standing in the dirt with mountains behind her, in hiking boots and khaki pants, sleeves of her dust-streaked white shirt rolled up to reveal hands and forearms smeared with dirt. And on her head is a light brown hat, closer to that guy from Jurassic Park than Indiana Jones.

She zooms in and sees Brooke’s smile, so wide it takes over her whole face. She looks as happy and proud as Vanessa has ever seen anyone look, and her heart floods with warmth for Brooke, doing something she loves so much.

Vanessa: Nice hat. All you need is a whip to complete the look.

Vanessa: Btw, Jurassic Park is on the sci-fi channel.

Brooke: Bold of you to assume I’m not already watching it.

Vanessa laughs out loud.

Vanessa: Nerd.

Brooke: It’s so good! The special effects still hold up.

Vanessa: Nerd.

Brooke: Bookworm.

Vanessa snorts again. Obviously Brooke must have seen how fast she snatched up a new YA romance at the thrift store.

Vanessa: Dino Girl.

Vanessa: Enjoy your movie.

Vanessa turns to the sci-fi channel, watching the characters meet those long-neck dinos–she’ll have to ask Brooke their name–for the first time. Vanessa’s brother played the VHS tape until it wore out, and she spent years when she was little thinking a dinosaur would appear in their kitchen and pull her apart with its teeth. She hasn’t watched it in a while and she settles in, relishing the feeling of watching the movie with Brooke, like they’re occupying the same space and sharing the same experience even in separate apartments.

And maybe she pretends Brooke is there with her.

—

The week goes by, and Vanessa begins to sweat over dinner with Brooke’s family. You’re not really dating, it doesn’t matter, Silky assures her, but it doesn’t work. Meeting a girlfriend’s family has always taken her smooth confidence and stomped on it, making her cower under stares and decide which parts of her to show and which to hide. She’s never able to be herself, the whole thing like a formal job interview where the smallest stumble could ruin her.

Vanessa knows all too well how judgy people can be, and though Brooke is kind, there’s no telling what her family’s like. Vanessa wonders if tiny things like Brooke’s punctuality and neatness hint at strict parents.

Vanessa wants to be as good as Brooke was, to win her Oscar for the role of fake girlfriend like Brooke did for fake wife. She wants to show Brooke’s family just how smart and funny and charming she is, show them she’s perfect for Brooke even if it’s not a real relationship. And she really, really wants to spend more time with Brooke.

They’ve been texting more and more, Vanessa unleashing triple- and sometimes quadruple-texts, which she only does with friends. They’ve talked about their pets and demanded pictures, Vanessa melting like butter at Brooke’s two cats curled up sleeping together and insisting she has to meet them someday. She leaps every time her phone buzzes, eager for these glimpses into Brooke’s life, even just pieces of her workday. But she still wants more, wants to hear Brooke’s laugh and see her smile, and she asks Brooke for coffee the day before her run as fake girlfriend.

“Should I bring anything?” Vanessa asks as soon as they sit down with their coffees.

“Just you. Seriously,” Brooke insists as Vanessa starts protesting. “My mom never wants anything, so my sister and I just get her knitting stuff and dinner gift cards. If you bring anything, she’ll ask me why I didn’t tell you not to bring anything.” She rolls her eyes and Vanessa laughs.

“No presents, got it. What should I wear?”

Brooke shrugs. “You can wear anything. It’s nothing fancy.”

“I know, and I know we’re not really dating, I just…I don’t want them to think I’m not good enough for you.”

Vanessa cringes at the memory of visiting her last girlfriend’s parents, the night woven of harsh stares and rude comments, the girl’s family looking down on Vanessa for everything from her bright floral dress to her library job. Vanessa cried on the way home and ended things a day later. She doesn’t want to assume the same of Brooke’s parents, but she also doesn’t want to spend another night hiding in the bathroom, staring at her hair, her face, her clothes, wondering what part of her wasn’t enough.

Brooke’s eyes are kind as they meet hers. “They’d never think that, I promise,” Brooke says softly. She pauses, then adds, “And neither would I.”

She’s so sincere it gives Vanessa a lump in her throat, knowing that Brooke would never think less of her.

Vanessa nods shakily. “Okay. Maybe I’ll do a sundress,” she says, trying to brush off how touched she is.

“You look good in everything,” Brooke says, staring into her coffee.

“You too,” Vanessa says, equally avoiding eye contact. Then she smirks. “Even that safari hat.”

“I should’ve never shown you that picture,” Brooke groans, smiling too much to be mad.

They finish their coffees, and Vanessa can’t wait until tomorrow.

—

Brooke’s parents live half an hour away, and Vanessa spends the morning whipping up the perfect playlist.

Playlists are special to her, back from when her brother taught her to make CD mixes of her and her friends’ favorite songs. She’s moved beyond burning CD’s, but playlists are still special, an act of love for whoever she makes it for—hunting for perfect songs, reading lyrics and seeing how they fit, making each song count. A way of saying I know you with songs instead of words.

With Brooke, it’s a challenge of sorts, one she wants to succeed at. She wants to pick perfect songs they’ll both like, filling the car with a movie-worthy soundtrack and laughs and heartfelt confessions. A playlist with songs they’ll hear in a grocery store sometime and instantly be snapped back to this day.

She spends so long on the playlist that she has to rush getting ready, brave enough to wear her bright pink dress and matching lipstick. She runs to Brooke’s car and is so distracted by the amount of soft-skinned legs Brooke’s shorts show off that it takes three tries to buckle her seatbelt.

“You look really good in pink,” Brooke says.

Vanessa turns the shade of her dress. “Thanks.”

Brooke heads down the street, reaching for the radio, but Vanessa swats her hand away. “Ah-ah-ah! I made a playlist.”

Brooke’s eyes light up as Vanessa gets the AUX cord going, and she hums approvingly as Rihanna blasts through the speakers. They ride in silence, swaying along to the beat as they leave the city and buildings are replaced with open fields.

“So, um, we don’t have to do anything special relationship-wise,” Brooke begins. “My parents won’t know we’re faking. They’re not exactly…observant. I mean, I had a crush on Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for years and they had no idea.”

Vanessa snorts. “Yeah, you seem like a Willow girl. I always liked Buffy the best. Got a thing for blondes, I guess.” She realizes what she’s just said and almost slams her head into the window. She needs another topic to gloss it over…

“So they’re okay with you being a lesbian?” she blurts, cringing harder at her damn mouth. Maybe she should just jump out of the car. “Shit, sorry, you don’t have to–”

“It’s okay.” Brooke sighs. “Yeah, they’re okay with it. I didn’t tell them until I was 20. They always want us to be happy, but they kind of…take a while with stuff they don’t expect?” Brooke opens her mouth and closes it, like she’s trying to find the right words. “They weren’t thrilled about me playing with dinosaurs when I was little because ‘dinosaurs are for boys’. They tried to get me to play with other stuff and I cried. Then they realized how happy I was with dinosaurs and let it go. It was kind of the same when I came out. They were quiet, then my mom cried and said if I was happy, she was happy.”

Vanessa resists the urge to grab Brooke’s hand and soothe those feelings between her words, to calm tiny-Brooke’s fears that she wouldn’t get to play with her favorite toys and older-Brooke’s worries that her parents wouldn’t accept her.

“I’m glad they’re okay with it,” she says instead. “And I’m glad you’re okay,” she adds, hoping Brooke knows Vanessa means it, understands that she would’ve comforted her if she had the chance.

“Yeah.” Brooke pauses. “What about your family? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Vanessa shrugs. “It wasn’t really a big thing. I was 14, me and my mom were in the car and I kinda shouted I like girls at her. She said she knew and it didn’t change things. My dad isn’t really emotional, so he just kinda shrugged and went on with it. He’s good though. My brother too.”

“I’m happy it was okay for you,” Brooke says, soft and genuine.

The playlist transitions into Lorde, and they talk about work for the rest of the drive, pulling into a cheery yellow house before Vanessa knows it. Brooke opens her door and two screaming kids run down the driveway, tackling her legs.

“My sister’s kids,” Brooke explains before hugging them. “This is Sam,”–she nods to a tiny blond boy—“and Sophie”–she nudges the pig-tailed girl.

“You’re Aunt Brookie’s girlfriend,” Sophie says, flashing a gap-toothed grin.

It throws Vanessa, hearing it like that, even from a six-year-old. For just a second, the thrill of the word pools in her stomach, the way it always did when she was called someone’s girlfriend, and she forgets that things aren’t real, that she and Brooke aren’t really in love.

“I am,” she says, and it doesn’t feel like lying. “I’m Vanessa.”

“Let’s go inside.” Brooke sets the kids down and they tear inside.

Brooke turns to Vanessa, apology in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I haven’t brought anyone to a family thing in a while. My mom, she’s…she’s worried about me being alone since I was a kid. Everyone wants me to date again, even the kids ask. I’ve tried, but no one clicks.”

Vanessa shakes her head, daring to stroke Brooke’s arm just once, to soothe her. “My mom’s the same, don’t worry. And my brother’s kids would’ve done the same thing. Except those demons would’ve knocked you over.”

Brooke giggles, and it gives Vanessa a little rush, knowing she calmed Brooke. Brooke leads Vanessa into a cozy kitchen of people obviously trying to act natural despite their excitement.

“You must be Vanessa,” a woman she assumes is Brooke’s mom says.

“That’s me,” Vanessa answers, and she’s pulled into hugs by Brooke’s parents. It’s funny–Vanessa can’t see much of Brooke in their faces, but Brooke holds herself just like her father, has the same warm smile as her mother, tiny things that prove Brooke belongs here. Brooke’s sister and brother-in-law are next, both thrilled to meet her.

Vanessa pulls out the tulips she hid in her purse and gives them to Brooke’s mom. “Don’t blame Brooke, she said not to,” Vanessa says quickly. “But I wanted to.” Vanessa’s mother wouldn’t dream of going to someone’s house empty-handed, and it’s rubbed off on her.

Brooke’s mom happily puts them in a vase, and Vanessa knows she really likes them.

Vanessa sits with Brooke on a squishy couch, skin tingling where her knee meets Brooke’s. Brooke around her family is… different. She’s self-conscious at first, fidgeting with her shorts and glancing at Vanessa, making sure she’s okay. But Vanessa smiles at Brooke and she slowly loosens up, a rope unraveling bit by bit. She helps her mom in the kitchen, talks about work with her sister, even calms the kids when they start terrorizing the place. It’s a new side of her around her family, one Vanessa is grateful to see.

“How did you two meet?” Brooke’s mom asks.

She and Brooke glance at each other.

“Our friend Nina introduced us,” Brooke says. They’d decided to stay as close to the truth as possible. “Vanessa works with her at the library.”

“Oh, you work in a library?” Brooke’s mom asks eagerly. “Do you like it?”

Vanessa flinches, because this is how it started with her ex-girlfriend’s family. Just an innocent work question. Then it was do you even need a degree for that and soon she was in an interrogation about her education and family, sinking into her chair and burning with embarrassment. But Brooke’s mom is smiling, interested rather than judging, and Vanessa unclenches a jaw she didn’t know was clenched.

“I love it there, actually. I do crafts with the kids, and we have our summer carnival coming up…” she keeps it light, figuring Brooke’s sweet family doesn’t need to know the amount of dirty diapers patrons leave behind.

They move to dinner, and everyone is so calm and polite, it’s almost… Strange, in a way. Vanessa’s family shouts over each other and laughs loud enough to be heard outside, and she’s never wanted it any other way. Here, someone asks her about work, or what she does for fun, and everyone is quiet enough to listen. It’s her own little audience, one she doesn’t have to scream for, and Vanessa turns up the charm. She compliments Brooke’s mom on the food and has them all in tears over the non-disgusting library stories.

Vanessa is so deep in the moment, in how natural it is, that she’s distractedly planning a weekend for Brooke to meet her family when it hits her that this isn’t real. Brooke won’t meet her parents or play with her nieces and nephew or devour her mom’s chicken and rice, because this isn’t real, and everything she ate becomes a rock in her stomach.

Vanessa offers to help with the dishes, but apparently Brooke’s politeness runs in the family, because they won’t let a guest clean. Instead, she stays with the kids and finds herself in a deep conversation about Legos with Sam. It’s better than conversations she’s had with adults, if she’s honest.

There’s coffee and a damn good chocolate cake and more hugs, and then she’s back in the car with Brooke.

“Are you okay?” Brooke asks. “They can ask a lot of questions.”

Vanessa waves her off. “They’re fine, Brooke. I’ve been asked worse, believe me.”

“Well, thank you again for this. It was fun.” Brooke’s voice is honey-sweet and velvet-soft, and it sends a shiver down Vanessa’s spine.

“It was no problem. Your family’s really nice.” This is it, she realizes. The agreement is over. But she needs more time with Brooke, needs it like air. “Hey, would you want to come to the library carnival with me in August? My boss liked you a lot. There’s no rides or anything, ‘cause that’s some legal shit, but we’ll have games and food and stuff.”

“I’d love to,” Brooke says earnestly, and something settles in Vanessa’s heart. Some sort of lightness, of joy, carried on the promise of being with Brooke again.

Vanessa’s foot brushes something, and she peeks and notices her lipstick fell out of her purse. She reaches to pick it up, then stops. Because surely Brooke, polite to a fault, will make it a point to return it, and then Vanessa can see her that much sooner.

#rpdr fanfiction #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #branjie #lesbian au #fake dating au #fluff #if you ever want to be in love #athena2 #concrit welcome #submission

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jurassicparkpodcast · 5 years

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The Science of Jurassic Park & More: Part One

During Jurassic June, we had an idea to go above and beyond the articles we would normally bring you - we wanted to get YOU involved. So, after some careful consideration, we decided to dive into the world of the Science behind the Jurassic Park films. What kind of questions did we all have? And who could answer them?

Well, after collating some questions from some amazing community members, I am happy to share that Doctor David Button from London’s Natural History Museum is on hand to answer all our questions.

All images in the article ahead are also courtesy of our friends at Jurassic Vault – so go show them some love if you haven’t already!

Let’s delve deep into the world of palaeontology, and how it links to our beloved franchise.

A chicken is really a relative much closer to a T. rex than other bird species? That includes the way it walks.

A chicken is not any more closely related to a T. rex than other bird species. However, fowls like chickens are one of the older lineages of birds and so – along with other relatively ancient groups likes ostriches, emus and tinamous – can be particularly useful in helping us to understand what dinosaurs were like.

However, when it comes to figuring out how dinosaurs like T. rex walked, there is a big difference between them and living birds – the tail. In most dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus, the tail anchored powerful leg muscles, whereas in birds the tail has shrunk, these muscles have moved, and they have developed a unique crouched posture (we can see this evolutionary transition through groups closer to birds, like raptors). This means that Tyrannosaurus would have walked in a rather different way than living birds.

In terms of sizes (and how they moved), which dinosaur is the most and least plausible to its real-life counterpart?

The most accurate dinosaurs in appearance, size and movement are the ornithopods (Iguanodon and the hadrosaurs). We have extensive remains of many ornithopods – especially the hadrosaurs, from which we not only have many skeletons but also extensive skin impressions informing us about their original shape and the texture of their scales. In Edmontosaurus this extends right down to remains showing us the original presence of a soft-tissue crest, as seen in Jurassic World Evolution. Fossil trackways show us that they usually walked on all fours but would have been able to run on their hind-legs, as in-game. They also show that they lived in groups, so their behaviour is also generally plausible – although, in real life, the hadrosaurs would have been more than capable of using their size and strength to fight off smaller aggressors, just as the Iguanodon can.

In terms of size, appearance and behaviour, Dilophosaurus is probably the least accurate dinosaur in the entire franchise. Dilophosaurus was twice as big in real life, at over 6m long. Its head looked very different in real life – the skull was more elongate, with a narrow, hooked, snout. It also lacked an extendable neck frill and did not have venomous spit. The least accurate dinosaur in terms of how it moves may instead Spinosaurus. Some recent studies have suggested that Spinosaurus may have been quadrupedal, very unlike its appearances in Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Evolution. However, this remains controversial, as it is difficult to verify from the scant fossil remains we have of Spinosaurus.

Other competitors for the least accurate dinosaur in the Jurassic Park franchise are Velociraptor and Troodon. Velociraptor was much smaller in real life, measuring only 2m long and weighing as much as a turkey. Its running speed is also inaccurate – in real life Velociraptor would still have been able to outrun a human, but would have been nowhere near as fast as a cheetah, unlike in Jurassic Park. In addition, it would not have been able to pronate its wrists in real life. This is a common problem in the depiction of theropods in Jurassic Park, but is particularly noticeable in Velociraptor as it means that, in real life, its hands would probably not have been flexible enough to open doors.

Furthermore, although smart for a dinosaur, Velociraptor would have been about as intelligent as a bird of prey – not as intelligent as an ape, as suggested in Jurassic Park III. This means that their behaviour may not have been as complex as portrayed in the Jurassic Park franchise – in particular, there is no strong evidence of pack hunting between raptors in the fossil record. Velociraptor, of course, would also have had a full plumage of feathers in real life.

Troodon would have had a full pelt of feathers and lacked venom in real life, like the above examples. We also have no evidence of it living or hunting in large mobs. The problems only start there, however. Its… um… unique lifecycle as seen in Jurassic Park: The Game would never happen in real life. A reptile that laid its eggs in bodies would open itself up to problems of infection and disease in the unborn chicks.

Feathers on dinosaurs, we know that some species did have feathers, but I hear that there is no evidence of larger theropods like T. rex having them. So, are feathers, species specific or do we know think most theropod like dinos had them?

Understanding what many dinosaurs looked like is difficult, as skin and feathers are rarely preserved, and the evolution of these features was highly complex. However, if we look at all the data we have, we can begin to work out the most likely appearance of particular dinosaur species.

Preserved feathers are primarily known from small theropods – such as the crow-sized Microraptor and wolf-sized Zhenyuanlong. This has been used to suggest that only small dinosaurs had feathers. However, large dinosaurs are rarely found in depositional environments capable of preserving feathers, meaning that this may be a false signal. Indeed, preserved feathers are known from the 9m tyrannosauroid Yutyrannus, proving that at least some large dinosaurs did have a coat of feathers.

Even where we don’t have direct evidence of feathers, indirect indicators exist. For example, even though no preserved soft tissues are known from Velociraptor, ‘quill knobs’ on its arm bones indicate that feathers were present. These lines of evidence show that feathers would have been widespread in coelurosaurian theropods – the group including tyrannosaurs, compsognathids, ornithomimosaurs, therizinosaurs, oviraptorosaurs, dromaeosaurs, troodontids and birds. However, much variety in the type, spread and presence of these feathers still exists. Tyrannosaurus itself is a good example: we know that its ancestors were feathered, but skin impressions from Tyrannosaurus and its close relatives such as Albertosaurus show areas both of naked skin, and scales. This shows that much of the body would have been scaly. However, it does not mean that feathers were completely absent.

These tyrannosaurids may have lost or reduced their feathers due to their large size – such big animals would have suffered heat stress if they retained a thick plumage. Yutyrannus lived in cold climates, and so would not have had these problems, and may have needed the extra insulation. In this way, it seems that although feathers appear to have been ancestral for – and widespread in – coelurosaurs, individual species may have altered, reduced or lost these feathers due to their size, ecology or environment.

Evidence of any kind regarding skin texture is very rare from other theropods, but includes extensive skin impressions from the abelisaurid Carnotaurus, which show that it was covered in scales. This suggests that feathers may have been rare or absent outside in non-coleurosaurian theropods, and so species such as Allosaurus, Spinosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus were probably scaly.

Looking at other dinosaurs, we have very little evidence of skin texture in sauropods, but those we do have are scaly. Comprehensive skin impressions are well-known from ornithopods and ankylosaurs, showing that they were scaly (and also that ankylosaurs were covered in armoured osteoderms). However, multiple smaller ornithischians are known preserving a variety of quill-like structures, showing that at least some heterodontosaurids, ceratopsians and other ornithischians carried quill-like structures. How widespread these were, and in what way they are related to the origin of feathers, is presently unclear. Unravelling this mystery will help us pin down when feathers originated, and how widespread they may have been in dinosaurs.

So, in summary, it seems that many dinosaurs were scaly, and this may be ancestral for the group. However, feathers were widespread in coelurosaurs, and may have also been present in other theropods – especially in small species. Still, it seems likely that feathers would have been reduced or lost in many larger theropods. Featherlike structures are also known from some ornithischians, but whether those represent early stages in feather evolution, or unrelated experiments in dinosaur integument is presently unknown. Unfortunately, data is lacking from many crucial dinosaur species. What we can say, though, is that dinosaurs were certainly very diverse in their skin texture and appearance.

Sauropods - how does do their necks work? Are they stiff like a giraffe or bendy like a crane? Does it vary be species?

I’ve seen various depictions of sauropod necks - from snake-like, to crane-like, all the way to more stuff like a giraffe. Does the flexibility of the neck vary from species to species to species? Are you able to give some answers on the flexibility of the neck on some sauropods like Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, or Armargosaurus?

Most of the flexibility in a sauropod neck was at its base, with the remainder of the neck more limited. They were nowhere near as flexible as the body of a snake, due to the nature of their neck vertebrae – they were relatively long, and were braced by overlapping cervical ribs, limiting its flexibility. This, along with biomechanical constraints associated with their large size, also means that they would not have been able to perform the tight contortions that the necks of some modern birds, such as flamingos, can do. However, their necks were more flexible than that of a giraffe, as they were formed of many more bones – whereas a giraffe’s neck has only seven bones, those of sauropods could contain up to nineteen. Consequently, it is best to think of sauropod necks as, overall, somewhere between that of a giraffe and a crane in flexibility. Nonetheless, sauropod necks were very variable both in their overall length, depth and inclination; and in terms of the size and shape of the individual neck vertebrae: this varied in substantial differences in neck flexibility and posture between sauropod species.

The necks of mamenchisaurids and brachiosaurids, for example, were relatively stiff. The neck vertebrae sported long, overlapping ribs – these braced the neck against bending, but reduced its flexibility, particularly when trying to move from side-to-side. The neck of Brachiosaurus would have been carried relatively straight, in a roughly diagonal inclined posture – not flexed in a swan-like way as sometimes reconstructed. This compromise in lateral flexibility for the sake of stability emphasised the role of the neck as a tool maximising vertical reach, allowing Brachiosaurus to browse at the canopy level.

The necks of diplodocids – although also very long – were quite different. The cervical ribs were much shorter, allowing the neck greater side-to-side flexibility. However, the upwards flexibility of the neck appears to have been quite limited along most of its length, preventing it from being curved upwards – instead, up-and-down movements would have been made at the base of the neck. The necks of diplodocids could have been swept through the side-to-side direction and, to a lesser extent, upwards, allowing them to reach all around them. They could also supplement their vertical reach through rearing on their hind legs.

Dicraeosaurids, such as Amargasaurus, had very short necks for sauropod standards. Their neck vertebrae had both relatively short cervical ribs and were short overall, promoting flexibility from side-to-side and downwards. However, the large neural spines – especially in Amargasaurus and Bajadasaurus – would have constrained flexing of the neck upwards, as this would cause the spines to interlock. This, coupled with the overall short length of the neck, would have meant that dicraeosaurids would have been able to reach all around themselves for medium-high shrubbery, but would be unable to crane their necks to reach into high trees. Possibly the most flexible necks among sauropods belonged to rebbachisaurids, which had necks similar to those of dicraeosaurids, but they both lacked the tall neural spines and had also lacked some of the articulations found between the bones in the necks of other sauropods.

So, the necks of sauropods varied substantially between species in terms of both their overall dimensions, attitude and flexibility. This reflected, at least in part, feeding behaviour: neck anatomy indicates both the original browsing height and foraging strategy of sauropod species. The necks of some sauropods, such as brachiosaurids, primarily served to extend vertical height, whereas other, such as diplodocids, could be swept through horizontal and vertical arcs to reach through a large feeding envelope without having to move the body.

We’re going to wrap up part one of “The Science of Jurassic Park & More” there. Join us next week for part two – where David talks about new dinosaur discoveries, dinosaurs being able to swim, and much more!

For now, make sure to follow him on Twitter if you aren’t already, and stay tuned to The Jurassic Park Podcast for all the latest Jurassic Park news!

Written by: Tom Fishenden

#article #tom fishenden #doctor david button #david button #ask a paleontologist #paleontologist #paleontology #dinosaur questions

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