Chapter Text
Maisie Lockwood was of an age where people- mostly Mr. Mills, because Maisie could count the people in her life on one hand- insisted she was far too old for childish nonsense like toy dinosaurs.
Maisie had countless model dinosaurs and enjoyed setting up her own museums and dioramas, often taking them down to the Estate’s actual museum and posing her figurines in front of the much larger models.
She also enjoyed making her own Jurassic Park, though it never looked as good as Grandpa’s model. Depending on her mood, the dinosaurs would escape and rampage, as was the fate of the real park (and Jurassic World). In other games, Maisie would be the dinosaurs’ keeper and friend, and rule over them all.
Mr. Mills was most disdainful of Maisie’s oldest toy, a plush purple T-Rex named Barney. Grandpa said Maisie’s mother had given her Barney when she was born, but Maisie had never seen photographs to back that story up. Still, she’d had Barney as long as she could remember.
Maisie wondered if it was Barney’s inaccuracies that made Mr. Mills so scornful. Barney had smooth white stitching instead of fangs. His claws were closer to yellow toenails, and completely absent on his mitten-hands. Barney’s eyes were incorrectly sewn on the front of his head, black and twinkling instead of yellow and reptilian.
Or maybe it was that Barney was geared towards children in preschool- Iris would insist she say nursery school- though Maisie remembered some of the children in the show had been around her age, or even almost hitting puberty.
Maisie hadn’t watched the show in years, but when she was younger, she’d longed for the children to come out of the screen and play with her.
Maisie was old enough now that she knew friends didn’t actually hold hands and sing kumbaya- or nursery rhymes- all the time. Not that Maisie really had any experience with friends. Except Barney.
Maybe she was getting too old, but she still remembered being that lonely little girl cuddling with her Barney in front of the television, captivated by the lyrics “Barney comes to play with us whenever we may need him. Barney can be your friend too if you just make-believe him.”
Maisie still didn’t have any real friends to take Barney’s place. Perhaps she was just going crazy from being in the manor her whole life with only Grandpa and Iris and Mr. Mills.
Anyways, Barney helped Maisie set up her dioramas and displays, not seeming to realize that real dinosaurs were a lot less friendly than he was, even when Maisie could rattle off facts about numbers of teeth and bite force. He liked to pose with the exhibits in the museum, and while there were other dinosaurs that came alive in the show, none of the larger models or skeletons came alive. Maisie was both disappointed and relieved.
One day, Maisie and Barney were playing hide and seek in the museum. Maisie was much better at hiding than Barney was, and much better at sneaking. As Barney rounded the triceratops skull, Maisie crept out from behind a pillar, sneaking up on Barney.
She jumped and roared, and Barney laughed. “You were hiding and seeking, Maisie.”
Maisie had to admit that it was a lot more fun to startle Iris than Barney.
Maisie counted to ten while Barney ran off to hide. Maisie could hear where he’d gone- he didn’t stomp like a real T-Rex, but couldn’t sneak like a raptor, either.
Before Maisie could look, she heard footsteps, and not Barney’s. She ducked back behind the base of the triceratops skull, watching as Mr. Mills and another man discussed selling dinosaurs.
She managed to spy the code to the laboratory. 7337# was almost laughably simple. Grownups really had no clue sometimes.
Once they were out of sight, Maisie ran, grabbing her stuffed Barney. She had more important things to worry about.
Thankfully, Grandpa believed her and said he’d handle it, but Maisie found it difficult to sleep that night.
She eventually gave up and climbed out of bed, glancing at Barney on her pillow. She debated about leaving him there, but he sprung to life as soon as the thought crossed her head.
“It’s important to get lots of sleep, Maisie.” he told her. “You want to have energy to play tomorrow!”
Maisie frowned. Tomorrow would be just like any other day. This was far more exciting.
“I have to see what’s going on.” Maisie cracked open her door and tiptoed out of her room. She crept downstairs, and Barney followed her, thankfully staying quiet, if not silent. Then again, nobody else would hear him anyway.
Maisie really wasn’t sure if she was losing it or not.
Maisie slipped through the museum, past the lifeless dinosaur exhibits, and typed 7337# into the panel. Didn’t that spell teeth in that old internet number code? Mr. Mills really needed to get better passwords, not that Maisie was complaining.
The lab was fascinating. Samples spun on a centrifuge- if this were Barney’s show, they’d probably sing Ring Around the Rosie and dance around the centrifuge- but Maisie moved on silently.
She found eggs in a glass dome, warmed under a heat lamp. Maisie pressed her face to it, and Barney said the baby dinosaurs were sleeping.
“They haven’t hatched yet.” Maisie whispered. “Are they going to sell these guys?”
Her eyes were drawn to a computer monitor, where a video was still left up.
Maisie hit play, and a man named Owen Grady talked to the camera about training raptors. There was footage of one biting him whenever possible, and then Owen talked about Blue.
“She’s extraordinary.” Owen said, going on to say that she showed empathy and curiosity, unlike the other raptors. Maisie watched Owen tilt his head, and Blue mimicked him. Maisie realized she was tilting her own head along with the video, but couldn’t bring herself to stop.
“Empathy is important.” Barney said. “That means you know and care how others are feeling. Blue and Owen look like good friends.”
Maisie wished she had a friend like Blue. How cool would it be to befriend a real dinosaur? It would certainly be cooler than Barney, as nostalgic as he was. And Blue, shockingly, seemed almost as friendly as Barney.
Maisie looked around the lab, wondering if any of the dinosaurs Mr. Mills mentioned were here. She peered down a dark hallway, and slowly crept into the black.
A black, clawed hand reached through the bars of a cage, and Maisie froze, but Barney laughed.
“It looks like someone wants to be friends. Hello.”
Maisie still stood, wondering if the hand would rip Barney to shreds and stuffing, imagination or not.
Instead, the hand inched towards her. A dark claw caught on her hair and curiously pulled, rather than snatching and mauling her.
Maisie smiled, thinking of Blue’s curiosity in the videos. “Hi.” she peered, trying to see more past the dark, scaly hand. It was the exact opposite of Barney’s bright purple, plush hands, but it wasn’t hurting her.
Inching forward, Maisie spotted red eyes in the darkness. As her eyes adjusted, the dinosaur began to take shape. It was some sort of raptor, but not like any of Maisie’s figurines. Pitch black, save for its gleaming teeth, red eyes, and a gold stripe running down each side.
“My, what big teeth you have!” Barney’s tone was still quite cheerful. Maisie was suddenly sure that, if this dinosaur wanted to eat her, it would have done so already.
“Hi, I’m Maisie. And this is Barney.” Maisie whispered, starting to smile. It looked like her wish had already been granted, and she had her own, real dinosaur now. “Do you want to be friends?”
The dinosaur slowly pulled its hand back, and Maisie followed it. The raptor was caged, and Maisie suddenly felt quite sorry for it. There was barely any space to move, and it was certainly worse than having the whole manor to wander, as boring as that felt most days to Maisie.
Maisie tilted her head, and to her delight, the huge raptor mirrored her, just as Blue had copied Owen.
“You’re extraordinary.” Maisie murmured, moving even closer to the cage. Without thinking, she started to sing a song that she’d probably outgrown. “I love you. You love me. We’re best friends like friends should be. With a-”
She paused, switching to humming the tune. She wasn’t quite ready to give this dinosaur a great big hug and kiss, like in Barney’s song, but she’d definitely found a new friend. And she’d make sure they didn’t sell him, so maybe one day, they could be a happy family.