Her hateful gaze was all too familiar, almost a mirror when he saw past the crimson color, and slit pupils. Because we all know the scientists of Jurassic World had proven themselves incapable of exercising discipline when it came to temptations. Why would it be any different with creating the Indominus?
It's not the Raptor DNA
is an Alternate Universe Jurassic World fanfic by SkullsandDuggery. Simply put, the Indominus rex (or Elise, as she shall be called from now on) has had human DNA added into her genetic mix. When Owen realizes she is intelligent enough to communicate with humans as well as raptors, in addition to having human self-awareness and the ability to feel empathy, what is he to do?
More complications are then thrown in when the Jurassic World Board and InGen start having disputes over her ownership, and the morality of having an intelligent, self-aware creature being owned and used as an attraction in the first place. Things will get better, though.
Quite famed for updating very frequently (until the updates stopped February of 2017 leaving the fic at 89 chapters) as well as having tight character development, and relationship building between the characters.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents:
- Elise and Dr. Wu, obviously. On another note, Carnifex's mother Madre del Diablo, who is not only an Ax-Crazy Spinosaurus, but refused to build a nest and take care of her egg after...getting it on with Sobek.
- Somewhat justified with Sobek. He doesn't actually know that Carnifex is his biological son, so he probably sees no reason to ever have spoken or interacted with him.
- Action Girl:
- The Raptor Squad, naturally.
- Rexy also gets to kick some ass when a rogue Triceratops attacks Elise.
- Let's not forget about Elise, shall we? She fought a Mosasaurus, the largest, most powerful predator in the park, in the water and lived to tell the tale.
- Advancing Wall of Doom: The rogue Triceratops slowly pushes Elise into the electric fence, which would be fatal. Good thing Rexy gets to save the day (with help from Lowery).
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Alexander did this to Elise by briefly resting his muzzle on her head, recalling long ago, how his dad does the same with his mom to reassure her.
- Affectionate Nickname:
- Owen calls Elise "Baby Girl" and "Sunshine", while Jackie calls Elise "Cutie-Pie".
- Barry calls Blue "Blueberry"
- Tim calls Rexy "Mama", and all the park workers call Rexy "Big Boss".
- A Girl and Her Beetle: Elise used to have a companion of sorts in the form of a beetle called Friend. Friend ended up disappearing after getting knocked into a stream by a butterfly.
- All Just a Dream: At the beginning of Chapter 41, Elise briefly imagines herself and her sister during their energetic youth, chasing and playing with each other. The difference is, they also had loving parental figures in the form of Owen, Barry, Claire and Rexy. Then, they tell her to wake up.
- Amoral Attorney: Bridges used to be a lawyer, although he's still very amoral.
- Animals Hate Him: Much like Delta to Vic, Elise gives the InGen lawyer a long, dangerous stare. She is also able to immediately pinpoint through his scent and mannerisms that Bridges is up to no good.
- Artistic License – History: An in-universe example occurs with Lowery who thinks that America kicked Britain's ass until they ran away. Owen corrects him that the war was simply proving too costly for Britain when they were also busy with several wars elsewhere.
- Arrogant Dinosaur-Combat Dinosaur: Sobek is a Blood Knight who itches for a good fight with Rexy, viewing her as a Worthy Opponent, but he dismisses Elise as a "Twisted One" and casually thinks about how he will kill her at the first chance because she's weak. Oddly enough, he sees fit to warn her of the coming storm.
- Apocalyptic Log: Dr. Wu makes one to hopefully answer all of Elise's questions.
- Asshole Victim: Bridges introduces the older poacher who tried to kill Sobek to Carnifex. Given the callousness of the poacher's reasons for hunting the old Spinosaurus, it's probably one of the only good things Bridges has done in the entire fic.
- Ax-Crazy: Most of the dinosaurs are only violent by nature. Not so with Madre del Diablo, Carnifex's mother and Sobek's one time mate; she constantly caused problems for her handlers, abandoned Carnifex's egg after laying it, and on her first day at Jurassic World she broke out and challenged Rexy to a fight. It ended poorly for the Spinosaurus. Claire refuses to even consider putting a Spinosaurus on display because of Madre, and even Bridges thought Madre was a nutjob.
- Badass Family:
- Berserk Button:
- Giving Blue regular Oreos, apparently.
- Entering Rexy's nest... unless under very specific circumstances.
- Rexy will tolerate loud noises nearby until 8pm exactly. Thus the construction crew working on a nearby paddock will immediately stop working and leave the moment the speakers in Rexy's paddock turn off.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Elise really is a gentle, caring soul who displays an almost childlike innocence and loves being with children, in addition to taking care of her ill sister until her passing. However, she can also become very, very violent if she is provoked into a rampage, and she will show you exactly why her scientific name is Indominus rex.
- Also not helped is that she's almost certainly mentally unstable from years of isolation- it's frequently stated that she talks to her little sister... who is little more than a skeleton.
- Out of the Raptor Squad, Delta is the most amicable and docile. This is also the same raptor who loathed Hoskins with passion and ripped him to shreds as he begged for his life.
- Elise really is a gentle, caring soul who displays an almost childlike innocence and loves being with children, in addition to taking care of her ill sister until her passing. However, she can also become very, very violent if she is provoked into a rampage, and she will show you exactly why her scientific name is Indominus rex.
- Blood Knight: Sobek enjoys fighting, and is all in for a good fight with a Tyrannosaurus (specifically, Rexy).
- Like Father, Like Son as well, since Carnifex takes after his father in his aggressive streak.
- Broken Pedestal: Briefly. Gray didn't like the Mosasaur attraction anymore after he believed Lilly had killed Elise. He gets over it, though, after it's revealed Elise is alive.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Lowery attempts to do this with the fake bird cameras all over the park by declaring to Elise that he IS EVERYWHERE! Elise responds by throwing mud at the fake birds, much to the amusement of the other control room staff members.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: When she finally meets Sobek for the first time, Elise is immediately put off by his rudeness and dismissal of her. Deciding whether to call him an ass (what Owen would have said) or a 'butt nugget' (what Rosie would have said), she decides on the latter.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In an A/N, Skulls says to beware of 'heart wrenching', 'death', then 'heart wrenching death'. It's the chapter about Small One's sickness, Elise's attempts to take care of her, and her eventual death.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Derick apparently crapped his pants over the prank Owen and Elise played on him.
- Bullying a Dragon:
- Debra seems to be awfully brave around Elise. It also doesn't seem to occur to Blake that shooting his mouth off at a fifty-foot, sapient, carnivorous reptile could be hazardous to his health.
- On a more villainous note, Bridges appears to be completely fearless around Elise, even as he tries to manipulate her and provoke her into losing her temper over a child he tripped. It helps that Bridges is mentally unstable, though.
- Many years ago, an extremely aggressive, borderline Ax-Crazy female Spinosaurus named Madre del Diablo was set to be a new attraction at Jurassic World. On her first day there, she broke into Rexy's paddock, and needless to say, Rexy was not pleased. It was a good thing the park was closed that day.
- Call-Back: Rexy defeats the rogue Triceratops by severing one of her horns - incidentally the same way she defeated another Trike many years ago. This mad prions-infected Triceratops also, rather morbidly, happens to be named Bakhita.
- Casanova Wannabe: Bridges makes frequent attempts at seducing Claire. Claire, who looks up to Rexy as a role model, is unimpressed.
- Chekhov's Gun: The tooth Blake knocks off Elise and which she gives him is later used by him to attack Bridges in self-defense. Granted, Blake is still murdered via gunshot, but if the direction the story is going and the general reaction of the reviewers is taken into account, it will play a role again as damning evidence.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Remember Zach's girlfriend? She's the one who uploaded the video that ends up saving Elise's life.
- Collector of the Strange: The Raptor Squad collects bits of junk and toys to decorate their nests with, not unlike modern birds. Delta has bottle caps while Blue has a boot she stole off of Owen's foot when she was younger. Blue also gloats and taunts Owen with this boot.
- Blue has since added a flock of sheep to her collection. She loves how soft they are.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Rexy takes to tossing bloody chunks of goats over the walls of her paddock, and the control room techys find it hilarious.
- Comically Missing the Point: Elise being Elise, she does not understand what's the big deal with the 'birds and the bees', leading to awkwardness that Claire promises she will later explain.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Obviously Evil Daemon Bridges is the head of InGen, which is bad news for everyone in the park, especially Elise.
- Cool Big Sis:
- It turns out the Indominus sisters really, really loved each other, the smaller one deeply admiring the bigger one.
- Rosie declares that she will be this to Elise. Elise is confused, since she is several magnitudes larger (and more mature) than Rosie will ever be.
- Cradle of Loneliness: Even after Small One's passing, Elise continued sleeping by her sister's body because
she just didn't have anyone else. Poor girl needed a hug. - Crazy Is Cool: In-Universe example. People all over the Internet start thinking Elise is really crazy when she went swimming into Lilly's lagoon to distract the Mosasaurus from Owen.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mr. Hart of all people turns out to be the one guy you really don't want to provoke. Jack learns this the hard way.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Limper destroys Carnifex after Bridges leads the T. rex to rescue Elise.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Sobek wants to beat Rexy in a fight, but he doesn't want to kill her. He respects her greatly, and hopes that after they find out who's superior they'll team up and kill Bridges. Once they do fight, this trope takes full effect.
- Defensive "What?": Owen gives one to Claire when he sees her watching him baby Elise.
- Dented Iron: Age has not been kind on Rexy and Sobek; Rexy is not as quick as she used to be, and is much more sensitive to outside stressors, while Sobek has been weakened by numerous diseases and can no longer defend as large a territory as he did when he was younger.
- Despair Event Horizon: The entire reason for Elise's rampage.
- Determinator: 10,000 volts of electricity isn't going to stop Rexy from rescuing Elise from a rampaging Triceratops.
- Does Not Like Men: Queen Anne the Baryonyx only tolerates one man in her presence, her handler Ed. Ed has to pass off Owen as a (very ugly) woman to get Anne to calm down and go back to fishing.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Elise used to talk a lot to a beetle, which she saw as a friend in her loneliness. What's the name she gave to the beetle? Friend.
- Doing It for the Art: In-Universe example. Elise enjoys delighting children and humbling people so much, she has forgotten the whole point of being an attraction in the first place is to bring in "dirty paper" (money). She's only reminded of it when the InGen lawyer comes in, and doesn't particularly care much for the bucks.
- Driven to Suicide:
- In an inner monologue, it's revealed this is what Elise probably would have done had she continued rampaging and failed to be shown kindness.
- Wu as well, after forking over all his information on the Indominus, realizes how shallow his work has become and decides that ending it all (in some spectacular fashion to get back at Bridges) is probably his best option.
- Dr. Jerk: Dr. Gerry Harding is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold example. He genuinely cares for the animals of the park, but he's not afraid to chew out their handlers for not taking proper care of them. It's also worth noting that he's pretty much the only human the Raptor Squad are actually afraid of.
- The Dreaded:
- Dr. Gerry is a humorous example. Blue absolutely adores Oreos but isn't supposed to eat them. So when Gerry shows up, she immediately spits it on the ground. Owen even notes how strange it is that they can stare down Elise but quake in terror of an old man.
- Rexy herself. No creature goes into her pen without her say so for a reason.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Elise's old pet beetle companion disappeared after getting knocked into a stream by a random butterfly. She promptly declares war on all butterflies.
- Due to the Dead: Elise is highly disturbed that Madre del Diablo wasn't buried but instead had her skeleton put on display. She insists that it's why the skeleton still smells after ten years, Madre hasn't been able to move on.
- Dumb Dinos: Averted - Elise is highly intelligent, and Rexy, Sobek, and the Raptor Squad aren't too far behind. The dinosaurs are key characters with as much Character Development and depth as the humans.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Nobody is going to forget that Elise caused the death of dozens of people and tortured innocent dinosaurs. Claire herself was going to put Elise down, and Owen gets a lot of dirty looks from the staff for trying to care for Elise.
- Epic Fail:
- The ACU team gets outsmarted by Elise, and they end up running off into the jungle after a nonexistent massive dinosaur while she comes back to Owen and Claire.
- Rexy's old adopted son qualifies too. He somehow manages to drown in the park lagoon even though tyrannosaurs are good swimmers.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Okay, Elise may not be evil, but the fact remains that she loved her little sister very much, took care of her before her passing, and has guarded her remains all these years. Claire is understandably shocked when she realizes this.
- Debra is set up as a mild antagonist for Elise, insulting her and making her doubt her self-worth, as well as calling her a monster... but the reason she did this is because she raised all the Apatosaurs that Elise killed in her rampage, and for her, it's like she lost her children.
- Subverted in Bridges and his Spinosaurus, Carnifex. While it appears he cares for the animal at first, it doesn't take long before it's apparent he thinks of Carnifex more as a giant attack dog than companion. The Spinosaurus himself doesn't show any sign of affection towards Bridges, only as the person who gives him food - live, juvenile tyrannosaurs.
- However, Double Subverted in that Bridges does genuinely care for the original Spinosaurus, Sobek - the one from JP 3. And he apparently adored his aging mother, whom Sobek saved from a rampaging Tyrannosaurus.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Bridges may be a corrupt Hate Sink, but he's not crazy enough to intentionally release a prions-infected animal on Jurassic World... maybe.
- He's also freaked out by Dr. Wu's Mad Scientist tendencies, especially when he's informed that Elise can breed with a Spinosaurus.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: All the carnivores hate lawyers on sight.
- Evil Smells Bad: According to Elise, Bridges smells a lot like a rotting corpse, as befitting his lying, manipulative personality. This is not exactly exclusive to him, as all the lawyers Elise meets possess a similar smell.
- This is how Elise concludes that Bridges is telling the truth about Tacet's past when they meet on Isla Sorna. She can't smell anything bad behind his words.
- Evil Is Petty: In addition to being a perverted, manipulative, greedy man, Bridges also trips a child, either to provoke Elise or just for the hell of it. That's...low.
- He also takes great pleasure in taking juvenile T. rexes from their parents and feeding them to his pet Spinosaurus because a T. rex almost ate his mom... and because he sees Claire and Rexy as symbols of Jurassic World, and dislikes them personally.
- Exact Words: Control's joke resume for Elise very much abuses this. Such as saying she's in shape and speaks three languages including sign language (the other two being T. rex and Velociraptor). Especially when it says Elise has "experience with dangerous animals".
- Expy: Bridges is very similar in terms of motives and personality to Vic Hoskins. Owen even lampshades this by referring to him as Vic's 'long lost brother.' However, it appears that Bridges is in fact even worse than Vic.
- He is also one to the book version of John Hammond.
- Fatherly Scientist: Surprisingly enough, Dr. Wu seems to genuinely like and care for Elise, even taking the time to prepare an Apocalyptic Log for her where he can hopefully answer all the questions she may want to ask. The fact that Elise is his only creation that has ever acknowledged him and wanted to know more probably helped.
- A Father to His Men: By all accounts, Commander Hamada was one, which makes Blake's hatred of Elise very understandable.
- Faux Affably Evil: On the surface, Bridges appears to be polite, civilized, and professional, even treating Elise like a normal person. He is also greedy, manipulative, heavily implied to be misogynistic, and seems to have a...thing with Claire.
- Female Gaze: When trying to find a way to stall Elise's euthanization, Owen considers distracting Claire by showing up shirtless.
- Fingore:
- Dr. Wu ends up on the receiving end of this. Honestly though, he deserves it.
- Come the revelations of Chapter 70, and no, he didn't deserve it at all.
- Owen reveals that Blue once bit off his finger. It got reattached, though.
- Dr. Wu ends up on the receiving end of this. Honestly though, he deserves it.
- First Time in the Sun: Elise roaming around her new paddock for the first time. She has finally fulfilled her promise to her sister of getting out and finding a new family, and is so overcome with joy she lets out a majestic roar.
- Tacet's moment is a little darker; while chasing Bridges, she pulls to a halt when she spots grass, tentatively poking it to see if it's safe to keep chasing Bridges.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Guess what the Mosasaurus' name is? It's Lilly. Say hello to the largest, most powerful creature in the park.
- Friend to All Children: Elise soon discovers she really enjoys delighting children, to the point parents soon approve of her and she allows kids to interact with her. She is happy at all the pictures the children have drawn of her.
- Friend to All Living Things: Elise; she delights visitors and goes out of her way to save bees and other critters in her paddock... except butterflies. Those die on sight.
- Gender Bender: Sobek apparently used to be a female, before he was changed by the frog DNA used in the creation of the old Jurassic Park's dinosaurs. Hmmm.....
- Gentle Giant: Elise is one, oh most definitely, especially after realizing how much she loves children. Her gentleness almost reaches Iron Giant-levels. But please don't piss her off. Please.
- Godzilla Threshold: Jurassic World generally adheres to one of Hammond's philosophies: if the park were shut down and abandoned, the barriers and fences would eventually rot away and allow the dinosaurs to roam unconstrained. Claire decides to break that rule when building a paddock for Sobek.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: One of the main conflicts in the story are the people who question whether or not it was right to forgive Elise despite her causing the deaths of countless people. She openly admits to her atrocities, and is trying to be better. In turn, there are humans and dinosaurs who stick up for her, and point out her traumatic treatment went into screwing her up. Her critics, however, are correct about how dangerous she is, and the deaths she caused. But their motivations and desires aren't always pure, with some people desiring to put her down, while others question her basic humanity.
- Grumpy Old Man: Sobek has become one in his old age; while he will still attack humans, and hates when they wake him up or come into his territory, he mostly ignores them because they are no longer worth the effort, and he can find better use for his time such as eating or sleeping.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed in regards to Queen Anne, the park's Baryonyx. While not as hyper aggressive as the Raptor Squad, she's angered quite easily and will react quickly against any perceived insults.
- Handicapped Badass: Limper (the juvenile Tyrannosaurus from The Lost World all grown up); as the nickname Sobek provides notes, he walks with a noticeable limp, but he's still a fairly large and aggressive Tyrannosaurus, and Sobek feels that Limper would make a good heir to Isla Sorna now that Sobek is living on Isla Nublar.
- On the human side we have the lawyer representing the public in Tacet's case, Carlos Fernandez. The man lost a hand and a foot to a cartel he was prosecuting years ago as a warning to back off and still boast about sending their boss to jail anyway. The guy also shows a borderline insane lack of fear in the face of massive creatures such as Elise and Tacet.
- Harsher in Hindsight: In-Universe, the burying of Blake by Elise that was laughed over is really just the first clue as to how much he understandably hates her.
- Heel–Face Turn: Elise's switch from ruthless predator to empathy capable intelligent being.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Blake is getting help for his Survivor's Guilt and feels he's ready to come back to work at Jurassic World, just before Jack, Bridges' assistant, shoots him dead in the old Visitor's Center.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Elise goes through one over the course of five days after her faked eating of Blake and realizing the extent of her guilt. When Owen finally finds her, she pours out everything that's been plaguing her heart.
- Rexy goes into one when Elise leaves for Isla Sorna, thinking she had lost another child after her adopted son from the old park.
- History Repeats: Invoked by Dr. Grant who reminds Rexy of her younger days by mimicking their first encounter. Shouting "HEY" and waving a red flare then throwing it at a target (a goat). She gets so excited by this she actually tosses the goat's carcass clear over the walls of her enclosure and roars so loud she makes half the park panic.
- Hot Springs Episode: Not quite, but Elise spends much of Chapter 66 meditating (as per recommended by her psychiatrist) and cooling herself down in a fountain, seeing as the park is under a heat wave.
- Hypocritical Humor: Bridges considers Homosexuality to be unnatural, and tells this flat-out to Elise, who points out that she's actually far more unnatural, being a genetic hybrid of multiple dinosaurs and humans. Then she also says that air conditioning is unnatural as well, but no one has a problem with that.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Possibly counts, due to Elise's human DNA. However, she technically didn't eat the humans she killed with her teeth, spitting them out instead (the fat guard who hid behind the truck is an exception, but she threw up the remains not long afterward) Granted, she does feel terrible about having done it before, and is not one now.
- Insult of Endearment: Blue refers to Owen as "Stupid Alpha".
- Interspecies Adoption: Rexy the T. rex has adopted Elise, Claire and Tim (yes, that Tim) as her children.
- Interspecies Friendship:
- Rexy eventually joins the Raptor Squad.
- Rexy and Blue.
- Rexy and Sobek.
- Irony:
- Elise used to have a red-level "very high" ranking in the aggression index. She was also advertised as the scariest dinosaur in the park so far. Now, not only has she been brought down to a green "low" index (the only carnivore in the whole park to be green), she mainly appeals to children and is a Gentle Giant.
- In the movie, Owen was the most insistent about having Elise killed. Here, he's the most insistent on keeping her alive.
- Insistent Terminology:
- You keep calling money "dirty paper", Elise.
- While everyone calls Elise an Indominus, Wu's papers insist that it's called "Indomitus". In chapter 74 we find out why.
- It Can Think:
- Besides Elise and the Raptor Squad, Rexy is also smart enough to recognize important people from the past, like Tim Murphy and Dr. Grant.
- Sobek as well. He is able to recognize Dr. Grant and still holds a grudge against him (and the Kirbys) for what happened during their last encounter. He is also fully aware that Bridges's actions are harming Isla Sorna and feels shame for not stopping him when at chance.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: When Elise is first communicated with, Claire, still in disbelief, insists on her being called "it". She continues doing so until her Character Development (see Not So Stoic below), but other people who have no respect for Elise or believe her to have an animal mind still call her "it".
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: To get Wu to give up his "classified" information, Bridges first knocks him out, cuts off one of Wu's fingers with a cigar guillotine, and threatens to feed both of them to Carnifex if Wu doesn't give up the information.
- Jerkass: Through her (very crude) conversation with him, Elise realizes Sobek is actually one. Maybe it's got something to do with his love of fighting?
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Debra may be a jerk who insults and hurts Elise's feelings, but she does have valid points- namely, that her rampage led to several deaths, including that of Simon Masrani, seven baby dinosaurs from the Petting Zoo, and the Apatosaurus herd that she raised from birth.
- Blake, the new head of the ACU, has similar grievances, as Elise killed several of his friends and his father figure (Hamada) during her rampage.
- Hart points out that he hates Elise because she's basically a Karma Houdini, who got away with a massive rampage and killing multiple people... by being taught "No, this is wrong," and getting famous. He also points out that if a human had done what she had, it wouldn't matter what their excuse was, they'd be locked away or killed, not put on display or allowed to play with children.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- According to her husband Rick, Debra is actually a very sweet person when she's not being a jerk. There's also the matter of her being a Petting Zoo caretaker and the one who raised the Apatosaurs that Elise killed during her rampage.
- Dr. Gerry Harding arguably qualifies as well. Yes, he constantly chews out handlers for not taking proper care of their animals, and the Raptor Squad is terrified of him, but he really cares about the animals, and also cries after the revelation about Elise's sister.
- Sobek becomes one after his fight with Rexy. He also warms up to Elise when she refuses to fight him, even deciding to become her mentor.
- Just Think of the Potential!: InGen still thinks Elise can be used as a weapon. Or rather, they still think Indominus rex can be used as weapons.
- Kafka Komedy: The sheer number of bad things that happen on Isla Sorna in the wake of Hart's rampage is hilarious.
- Kick the Compsognathus: On Bridge's first trip to Isla Sorna, a Compy scuffed his shoes. He proceeded to kick it to death, then had it stuffed and put in his office. Then there's the whole deal of feeding juvenile T. rexes to his pet Spinosaurus out of spite.
- Kindly Vet: Jackie, Dr. Harding's protegee. Whereas Harding is a Dr. Jerk, Jackie is a very sweet girl who takes an instant liking to Elise.
- Knight of Cerebus: The story certainly takes a darker turn when Bridges shows up.
- Like a Daughter To Me: While there's no denying Owen treats the raptors like kids, this is fairly typical of animal behaviorists working with apes and other intelligent animals. Elise, on the other hand, is personally like an actual daughter to him, something he becomes aware of.
- Line-of-Sight Name: After ruling out "Foxtrot", "America", and "Elizabeth" as names for the Indominus rex, Owen and Barry name her Elise after hearing the song Fur Elise by Beethoven. Lowery ends up sort-of-accidentally making "America" her official middle name, anyway.
- Little Miss Snarker: Elise may not be physically little, but she is just six, yet every now and then she likes to write out her sarcasm. Maybe it's in the 'blood'?
- Lovable Coward: Bark the Suchomimus is the fourth largest dinosaur in Jurassic World, but she's painfully shy and will back down from perceived challenges.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Elise's human donor is John Hammond, thus making him her genetic father. Her T-Rex DNA comes from Rexy, her Velociraptor DNA from the Big One and her Spinosaurus DNA from Sobek.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Wu, to such an extent even Bridges asks if he ever considered whether he should do something rather than could. Wu later reveals that this is because he had stopped caring about Jurassic World, and since John Hammond's dream was dead, he just wanted to see if certain things would work... and to Troll Bridges and the military.
- Mama Bear: Rexy is very protective of her adopted children. Just ask the rogue prions-infected Triceratops.
- Manly Tears:
- Owen and Barry both end up breaking and shedding tears during pack baby sister Charlie's funeral. Even Scott, the kid the Raptors nearly killed in the film, is respectfully silent when he's burying Charlie. Owen and Barry just can't because they're too upset. They also break down sobbing with relief after Elise is saved from being euthanized.
- According to Rick, Dr Gerry Harding went into his office and cried after finding out the truth about Elise's sister.
- Blake also ends up mourning in front of Commander Hamada's grave.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Let's do a little recap of Indominus rex, shall we?
- Overall body plan and bite force comes from Tyrannosaurus.
- Sleeker profile, instincts, intellect, and claws are from Velociraptor.
- Small horns, skull shape, bony osteoderms and eventually larger-than-Rexy size are from Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus, Rugops and Giganotosaurus.
- Abitity to change color comes from cuttlefish.
- Sapience, brain and hands with opposable thumbs come from Homo sapiens.
- Meet Cute:
- Between Carnifex and Tacet the Indomitus Rex; he initially thinks he's going to fight her, but stalls when it turns out she's a girl. Since they have similar genetic makeups, they both smell like one another, and Tacet is overjoyed at finally meeting one of her own species. The two fumble trying to communicate with one another before Carnifex invites Tacet back to his paddock for food.
- Elise's second, and proper meeting with Alexander was when she was startled into spitting a mouthful of water into his face.
- Morality Pet: Of a sort. Elise has the skeleton of her sister, Small One, to keep her company. Talking to Small One has helped her preserve some of her sanity during her time locked in the paddock.
- Meaningful Name:
- Lowery's proposed name for the Indominus is America, because America got 'tired of Great Britain's shit' and fought until it yielded, similar to what she does. Barry is quick to point out that Britain was not forced into yielding and gave the colonies freedom because they cost too much money and had other wars to focus on.
- Bridges' full name is Daemon Bridges. Daemon means demon.
- The park's Baryonyx and Suchomimus are named Queen Anne (bad temper and demands constant respect) and Bark (as in "Her bark is worse than her bite") respectively.
- Elise names a baby Ankylosaurus that she rescued Henry, after the late Dr. Wu.
- Menstrual Menace: At one point in the story, Blue grabs and smashes Owen's walkie talkie when it delays their run, leading Lowery to ask "What's her problem? She on her period?"
- Mexican Standoff: Between Elise, Tacet and Carnifex.
- Mood Whiplash: Chapter 61. The last transition goes from Rosie about to scream with joy over getting a new sister in Elise... to Bridges' security team screaming in terror as Sobek goes on a rampage.
- Mundane Utility: Elise likes to use her camouflage to mimic tattoos she sees on people.
- Mushroom Samba: Echo's reaction when she gets high on coffee of all things. Her hyperactivity is such that she single-handedly ends one-third of the paddock's rabbit population.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast:
- Elise has a fondness for classical music, especially the piece Fur Elise, which is how she got her name.
- Averted for Rexy- she can ignore the music during the day, but music at night makes her hopping mad.
- Lowery attempts this to distract an anxious Fuego from opening a door. Vivaldi does nothing, Mozart makes him vomit, and Eminem only pisses him off. He finally strikes gold with Shakira, to the point that Fuego completely tires himself out from dancing to her songs.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Hey there! We're the Raptor Squad, and that's.... Rexy.
- Mythology Gag:
- The rogue Triceratops is infected with prions, which were a major plot point in the novel version of The Lost World. It is also said to be transmitted by bites, similar to how the disease was also transmitted in the book.
- The aforementioned rogue Triceratops turned out to be Bakhita, the young friendly Triceratops from Jurassic Park: The Game all grown up.
- Rexy apparently used to have an adopted son, a male T. rex in the old Jurassic Park, but it died after somehow drowning in the paddock lagoon. In the novel, there were two rexes, an adult and a juvenile, and the adult drowned in a pool after getting tranquillized.
- The child at the beginning of the first Jurassic Park film who commented that Raptors look like turkeys later grew up to be Owen Grady.
- Sobek still has the burn scars from the climax of JP3, but everyone, including Bridges, is unsure of how and when he got them.
- Owen likes pointing out that unlike Claire, he knows how old his niece is.
- This isn't the first time a character who has never seen a Spinosaurus before remark on how its roar 'sounds bigger'.
- The new boss of Isla Sorna after Sobek leaves is the T. rex child with the broken leg from the second Jurassic Park film, all grown up.
- When Bridges is hiding the body of Blake, he tries stuffing him in the freezer of the old visitor's center, where he finds the corpse of the Velociraptor from the first film.
- Hart is killed in the same manner Ludlow was in The Lost World: Jurassic Park; held down by an adult carnivore so it's baby can learn how to make a kill.
- The boat that the ACU use to go to Isla Sorna is the same one that was used to transport the T. rex in The Lost World.
- Naked People Are Funny: Apparently a random guy tried to streak across the park.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Madre del Diablo, the Spinosaurus that was Carnifex's mother. Fun fact: She got that name before she got on the boat that brought her to Isla Nublar.
- The Napoleon: Queen Anne the Baryonyx is about a few feet bigger than a Velociraptor, making her rather unimpressive compared with the other carnivores of Jurassic World. She has a nasty temper and actively frightens her much bigger cousin Bark into submission.
- The Nicknamer: Most of the Dinosaurs use nicknames to identify people or other creatures, the only exception is Elise to showcase how much more human she is.
- Blue uses Stupid Alpha for Owen and Stern One for Rexy.
- Rexy uses colors, scents, or other notable features for names: Elise is White One, Blue is Blue One, Tim is her Tall Human, Dr. Grant is Dusty One for his scent.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Judging by his ideas of trophy hunting, the man on Isla Sorna who tried to hunt Sobek is very much based off Walter Palmer.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Elise, unless you piss her off.
- Noodle Incident: The "Oreo Incident" as Barry called it, when they ended up needing a new worker after the old one tried to pass off regular Oreos as double-stuffed Oreos to the pack.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction:
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Dr. Grant and Rexy regard each other as this, they both know they're old and they remember the past events of the old Jurassic Park, especially keeping the kids safe from the previous Velociraptor group that was led by the Big One.
- Hart reveals that he views Elise and Daemon Bridges as this- while they act all nice to the public, they've done some really nasty things and have gotten away with them largely untouched.
- Bridges invokes this when Elise confronts him for his cruelty towards Tyrannosaurs, citing her own irrational hatred of butterflies.
- Not So Stoic: Claire already revealed a more emotional side during her Character Development during the film, but here she cracks and breaks into tears as she sincerely apologizes to Elise for accusing her of eating her sister, thinking she was just a dumb animal, getting her locked in her small paddock all her life, and failing to help when she tried calling for it.
- Odd Friendship:
- Rexy and Blue, anyone?
- Rexy and Sobek count for many reasons. Not only were they the respective "Bosses" of their islands before Sobek was moved to Jurassic World, but they constantly growled and snarled at each other... until they beat the crud out of one another and became friends.
- Rexy and Doctor Grant haven't interacted much, but it's clear that they respect one another.
- Obviously Evil: Bridges, InGen's current CEO is this. He frequently stares at Claire's breasts and makes lecherous comments towards her, subtly insults Simon Masrani, is only interested in whether Elise can be trained for presumably military applications, and always attempts to use his good looks and suaveness to manipulate others. It doesn't help that he seems to automatically assume the powerful dinosaurs are male. Though since he considers the ''Spinosaurus'' the most powerful dinosaur ever, and both of his are male, its at least somewhat understandable why he might think that last one.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- If Blue refuses Oreos, it's a sign something's wrong with her.
- Claire, Lowery, and others are quite shaken when they see the normally proud Rexy suddenly sink into depression, as a result of Elise leaving for Isla Sorna without informing her.
- Opposite-Sex Clone: Elise is John Hammond's genetic daughter.
- Papa Wolf: Owen definitely counts for Elise.
- Parental Substitute: Not only is Owen this to the Raptor Squad and Elise, he's also had to act like this to his niece Rosie
- Please Wake Up: When Small One passed in her sleep, Elise thought she was getting better. Then she wouldn't wake up, she wouldn't eat, she was cold, and it wasn't until her sister began to smell that Elise finally realized Small One wasn't going to wake up again.
- Poor Communication Kills: Elise tried to get help for Small One, but her methods only freaked out her handlers and caused them to increase her isolation.
- Quizzical Tilt: Elise does this a lot, especially when she's confused.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Judge Marie concludes that Elise has the rights of a sentient being after having a conversation with her and seeing solid evidence presented in the form of the intelligence puzzle. She is also disgusted with InGen's unethical practices and abuse of Elise, and implies she may take more action against them in the future.
- Reformed, but Rejected: While Elise has changed and is accepted by the general public, several of the staff (Debra and Blake are highlighted) still hate her for killing those that they cared for during her rampage.
- Right-Hand Cat: Bridges' pet Spinosaurus, Carnifex, seems to be this. Their relationship is drastically different from Elise and her friends, however - Carnifex is more of a deadly pet or attack dog than loving companion.
- Rooting for the Empire: In-Universe; Elise becomes a big fan of the Joker and Godzilla (Joker because of his chaotic nature and declaring himself a freak, and Godzilla because of his status as a Person of Mass Destruction while also being a protector of innocents)
- Running Gag:
- Jurassic World's carnivorous dinosaurs seem to have quite the beef with greedy lawyers. Claire hilariously lampshades this when she states that Jurassic World prides itself on feeding its carnivores top-quality food and not lawyers. When seen from Sobek's POV, he's just labeled Bridges as "Death" because of the smell.
- The Raptors' Trademark Favorite Food are brought up several times- Blue is notably obsessed with Oreos, but the rest of Raptor Squad loves the little sandwich cookies as well. There's even a Noodle Incident where one worker tried to pass off regular Oreos as the Double Stuffed variety, leading to them needing a new worker for the Raptor Pen.
- The Scrappy: The Spinosaurus skeleton in the plaza (and the dinosaur it used to belong to) is an In-Universe example; in life she was Madre del Diablo, an extremely violent and ornery Spinosaurus that broke out of containment, challenged and was promptly killed by Rexy on her first day in the park. Claire had her skeleton mounted to try and make up for the loss, but with maintenance issues (the skeleton kept collapsing) and a lingering smell of death means that everyone, staff and tourists, hates going near the thing.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!:
- Dinosaurs and staff alike are rightfully terrified of Dr Gerry Harding. Elise is noticeably unafraid of him.
- Even Rexy respects Gerry, as at one point, she was going to eat his daughter. Gerry attacked Rexy's leg with a two by four. For this reason, Rexy calls him "Brave Elder."
- Sea Monster: Lilly the Mosasaurus. Really comes into place when Owen is forced to swim into the lagoon to rescue the as-of unidentified man, and he imagines Lowery to be playing the Jaws theme in the Control Room. Then Lilly suddenly reveals herself and eats the man, forcing Elise to briefly fight her while an unconscious Owen is dragged to safety by Barry and Blue.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Elise is one for Lowery and Jackie.
- The control room's staff are this for Rexy and Sobek. Control even dubbed their ship name SEXY.
- Shout-Out
- Silent Snarker: Behold Elise as she writes that she obviously cannot write when Lopez asks if she's writing when she started writing. Also counts as Little Miss Snarker, given her age.
- Smooch of Victory: Elise gave Alexander a grateful lick on the jaws, a well-deserved 'hero kiss' for saving her from Carnifex.
- Smug Snake: Bridges certainly gives this impression.
- So Proud of You: Owen had this feeling in regards to Blue when she made her first kill when she was younger.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Elise herself, and Delta and Echo. Charlie, unfortunately, wasn’t spared death at all.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When asked for her opinion on the method of displaying Sobek as an attraction yet also keeping the Spinosaurus away from guests, Elise suggests using long-range binoculars.
- A Storm Is Coming: Sobek warns Elise that something bad is coming, and she should be prepared.
- Stunned Silence: Dr Grant pales and becomes extremely quiet when Elise solves the ball puzzle like a human would.
- The entire Control Room team falls silent when Lowery accidentally submits a resume for a position on the ACU on behalf of Elise.
- Supporting Protagonist: Owen.
- Survivor's Guilt: Blake has a massive case for faking sick the day Elise went on her rampage. He also notes that Hamada would have been much more accepting of having Elise on the ACU.
- Take That!:
- Bridges is compared to creepy-ass Christian Grey. Nobody in the Jurassic World staff likes that book.
- There's also one directed at the annoyingly guttural Bat-Voice.
- The poacher Bridges feeds to Carnifex is a not-too-subtle caricature of Walter Palmer, who killed Cecil the Lion less than two months before Chapter 52 was published.
- Rosie got sick of having to watch Frozen all the time, and thus doesn't think it's a good movie to show Elise.
- Tears of Joy: Elise sheds these when Lowery gives her the Swamp Chestnut Oak acorn with American soil, allowing her to truly put Small One to rest. It heals the ache in her chest that has been plaguing her whole life.
- The Talk: Owen delivers some pretty poor, over-the-top Papa Wolf 'advice' to Elise upon finding out she can breed with Spinosaurus. Claire gently tells them that she will explain 'girls and boys' later to Elise. Owen then later learns that Wu mixed Elise and Tacet's records, and Tacet can breed with Spinosaurus while Elise can breed with T-Rex.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Part of the reason for Elise's rampage was being treated like a monster.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted- Elise is seeing Doctor Roth, a therapist, due to her many issues. Blake also goes to therapy to get his alcoholism under control and make peace with his Survivor's Guilt.
- These Hands Have Killed: Elise does genuinely feel guilty for killing all the dinosaurs and doing what she did during her rampage. Which is what makes her interaction with Love the baby Apatosaurus just that more heartwarming.
- Those Two Gals:
- Rexy and Blue seem to love partnering up a lot.
- Echo and Delta are seen together quite often throughout the story.
- Token Good Teammate: One of the poachers is noted as being a true hunter for giving a diseased raptor a Mercy Kill.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Elise is Small One's twin sister, not her older sister.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- It is unknown exactly how Rexy's adopted son in the old Jurassic Park drowned in his lagoon, seeing as T. rexes are said to be good swimmers. According to Tim, this son wasn't the brightest bulb.
- One of the people who shot at Owen and Elise with paintball guns makes a break for it when caught. He winds up trying to escape from Owen and Blue by swimming through Lilly's lagoon. It doesn't take a genius to guess what happens next.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- The Velociraptors really, really love Oreos. In fact, Barry uses them to lure the girls into their trailer. Blue actually takes ten minutes to savor one, and not one but two Oreos are used to motivate her into trying to solve the intelligence puzzle.
- Blue can tell the difference between regular Oreos and double-stuffed Oreos. She prefers the latter. Do not ever try to trick her, as the worker in the above Noodle Incident presumably discovered the consequences. Owen has a minor Oh, Crap! moment when thinking about what would happen if Blue found out about Oreo Thins, reasoning they would have to evacuate the island again.
- At one point, Rexy was grooming Blue by licking her, and accidentally took Blue's Oreo. Blue decides to leap into Rexy's mouth to get the Oreo back. Rexy is so startled that she immediately spits out the raptor and looks at Tim, hoping he knows what the heck is going on. Blue got the Oreo back.
- Charlie had a fondness for Cheetos. Echo shares this, but especially loves the Cheetos Puffs.
- Barry will also bring Delta churros.
- Elise loves honey. She licks it off her claws Pooh Bear-style!
- The Velociraptors really, really love Oreos. In fact, Barry uses them to lure the girls into their trailer. Blue actually takes ten minutes to savor one, and not one but two Oreos are used to motivate her into trying to solve the intelligence puzzle.
- Tragic Keepsake: It may have not belonged to her sister, but the squeaking sounds made by the chewing toy Dr Grant gave to Elise reminds her of Small One.
- Trauma Conga Line: Elise's life. She was created as a theme park attraction, watched the only being she loved slowly fade away and die and spent most of her life in what amounts to solitary confinement. And even after she's brought back from the brink the fact remains that she is in essence, a sweet, well meaning little girl trapped in the body of a giant copy-paste prehistoric super predator with all the predatory instincts there of who is the only member of her species and legally has no rights.
- Troll: Besides Blue and the boot incident, a Pteranodon named Twister also enjoys screeching into a small cave so that her voice will amplify and scare her neighbors.
- Doctor Wu. He knew the military would try to weaponize the Indominus, so he deliberately made Elise with DNA from the most uncontrollable dinosaur DNA samples he had on file- The Big One, Rexy, and Sobek.
- Tsundere: Blue is definitely a Type A, complete with Insult of Endearment.
- Undying Loyalty: Elise is fiercely loyal and protective of Owen. She's even willing to go tackle a Mosasaurus in the water to save his life!
- Blue and the rest of the Raptor Squad, Elise included, are all unflinchingly loyal to each other too. Owen puts it the best: You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.
- Ugly Cute: What Lowery imagined Elise's sister to look like, In-Universe, though the baby Indominus is anything but.
- Unexpected Character: Dr. Grant.
- Un-person: The last guy to mess around in the control room during business hours had all record of his employment deleted.
- The Un-Smile: Claire does this when trying to keep up her act for the investors.
- Vomit Chain Reaction: After what's presumably a hyperactive Mushroom Samba moment with coffee, Echo vomits onto Owen's boot. Owen then vomits into the nearby bushes.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: the fic never shy's away from discribing several animals vomiting, which is unfortunate for Owen cause he's a sympathetic puker
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Elise is just six years old. She bluntly tells Owen via writing not to be an arrogant human and that he is better than that.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 68, for good reason. A terrible storm ravages Jurassic World, Blake is murdered, his body unceremoniously dumped, Bridges will be getting his comeuppance, Sobek rampages and is now locked in what may or may not be a fight to the death with Elise.
- Chapter 70. Rexy and Sobek finally have their big fight; Rexy wins said fight, and somehow they're good friends after that. Then it's announced that Raptor Squad will be getting new, baby raptors. Then Wu's package arrives, giving his perspective on things and why he did them... as well as revealing who Elise's human donor was- John Hammond. He also gives Claire all the Dinosaur DNA samples, even stuff they haven't made yet, and Indominus rex Embryos.''
- Chapter 74. Turns out that while, yes, there were two eggs for the Indominus, Elise and Small One were twins. They came out of the same egg. There is a third Indominus, or rather, an Indomitus, and Bridges has been keeping it on Isla Sorna the whole time. He removed its vocal cords so it couldn't roar and alert anyone, but Hart let it loose, and it's furious. Also, Troodons are now loose on Isla Sorna, all the carnivores are running free, and Hart dies.
- Wham Line: To Dr Grant, at least. She can read.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Elise has human DNA in her, and she clearly has human intelligence and self-awareness, as well as a distinct personality of her own. Yet certain people refer to her as though she is a dumb animal, or treat her as property with no rights. This is an important plot point when the time comes to discuss Elise's future.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Elise has Trypanophobia after her time in the labs, particularly when the techs taking blood would miss her veins several times. It's to the point that the shock of realizing she hadn't noticed getting her blood drawn while Gray distracted her with a card trick was enough to make her slump in a dead faint.
- Would Hurt a Child: Downplayed example, but Bridges is still perfectly fine with tripping young children and pretending not to have done a thing in order to intentionally provoke Elise. He's also cool with feeding juvenile, inexperienced T. rexes to his pet Spinosaurus on the Isla Sorna base. Apparently, the purpose of this is to mock Claire and Rexy, even though the T. rexes are juveniles, and he's pretty much the only person watching this happen.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Poor, poor Elise. In addition to being deliberately designed as a Living Weapon and locked in a too-small paddock, she has to take care of her ill little sister, Small One. She tried to get help, she did, but the workers and Claire all misunderstood her, especially when she nearly took off a worker's arm trying to steal his raincoat to keep Small One warm. And despite everything she did like building a shelter out of sticks and mud for her, Small One soon passed away, and Elise had nothing but her skeleton to keep her company. It was a good thing Owen stepped in front of her when he did.
- Worthy Opponent:
- A non-violent example. A Gallimimus is named Secretariat because of her love of racing the tour bus that's driven by an older park employee. They've been going at it for five years now, and neither have kept track of the wins because they keep each other young.
- Blake also enjoys wrangling with a temperamental Pachycephalosaurus named Rocky.
- Sobek decides Rexy is his Worthy Opponent solely based on the two of them roaring at each other for a few minutes; she's a Tyrannosaurus, which he had to compete with for years back on Isla Sorna, and she's about as old as he is and thus has had plenty of experience fighting and hunting. His narration makes it clear that he thinks their fight will be one of the best he's ever had (and he makes a note to leave her alive instead of killing her like the others he's fought; good rivals are hard to come by, after all).
- Your Days Are Numbered: According to Dr Gerry, Small One was born with a weak skeleton that couldn't support her once she got past a certain age. Although they could have kept her alive had she gotten help, there wasn't much else they could have done for her.
- You No Take Candle: Elise's written English is fairly broken, due to her still learning the language beyond sign language. Doesn't restrain her sense of sarcasm, though.
- As the story moves on, her writing noticeably improves through repetition and practice.
She can read.
