I had a sister once used to say, "Just when things get darkest, that's when you look for the light." Unless, of course, it's too dark to find it- and boy, was it dark that day.

It felt like somebody grabbed onto my heart and shook it up when I saw the Outfliers come in for a landin', carryin' a hunched and blackened body between 'em. I don't know how, but as soon as I saw them, I knew. I just knew. It was my own sister, and I'd already heard her voice for the last time. I was stumblin' over my own wings and I couldn't feel the ground under my feet as I ran to meet them, blood poundin' in my head like a sharptooth's roar. The closer I got, the more sure I was. Short beak, wild curve in the crest... it was Priss. I was near enough to touch her, but I couldn't. My claws were shakin' so bad I could hardly hold my arm straight.

"What happened?" My voice was hoarse. The words didn't feel right, like a stranger had said them instead of me. The Outflier wouldn't look at me. I needed to know.  I remember grabbin' his face, but I don't remember willin' myself to do it. "WHAT HAPPENED?" He flinched at the shout, and I can hardly blame him. I'd have scared myself if I weren't so far gone. The shock had done me in- I couldn't see, I couldn't think. None of it made any darn sense. It was Priss. "The skyfire got her." His eyes were sad, and he looked away quick. I had my answer, but it didn't make it feel any more real. It took all my strength to shuffle on behind as they carried her along, feelin' nothin' but empty. Her light had gone out, and I'd never seen anything shined as bright as that.

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It was just startin' to get dark when they set her up on the ridge so Old Divebomb could speak the final rites. Can't say why, but I remember the silliest things about that night. A few dried treestars swirlin' around on a gust of wind. Some longnecks fightin' in the distance, raisin' some kind of racket. Rude. Fella next to me wouldn't stop itchin' his darn beak. Must've been comin' down with a case of the flakes. Old Divebomb just kept talkin', but I'll be spiketail's uncle if I remember a single word he said. All I could hear was the last thing Priss said to me, clear as if someone were whisperin' it in my ear, over and over again. "I'll be back soon," she said, with that light in her eyes. "Don't wait up." Well, I wouldn't have to wait up ever again. My eyes stung, and a few drops fell onto my shoulders like hot skywater. You think I'd expect myself to cry at a time like that, but those tears took me by surprise. Priss would've wiped them away, said 'Buck up, life's too short for cryin',' like she always used to. Back when I was barely half her size, and she meant all world to me. We both knew just how short life could be. But the tears just kept comin' anyway, and there wasn't anything left to stop 'em.

"When the Great Ones throw the skyfire from the black clouds, these things sometimes happen." Old Divebomb droned on, close to finishin' up. "Priss was a strong, courageous Flyer- a downright asset to the roost. She will be sorely missed." Huh, the old windbag never liked her much, always givin' him a piece of her mind. He was probably thankin' the Great Ones in his head as he said it. He'd probably want to go and shake their brute claws for doin' him a favor, if he weren't such a coward. Somethin' hit me then, straight out of the blue. Why did these things happen sometimes? Weren't the Great Ones supposed to be some big old Flyers that lived in stormclouds? Why didn't someone go find 'em and tell 'em to watch where they're throwing their dang skyfire! If somebody had, then maybe the blind old sons of sharpteeth wouldnt've hit my sister! I set my jaw and clenched my fists, tears dryin' up then and there. If nobody else would do it, then I would go talk to 'em.

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I was still shakin' on and off with anger later that night, back at my own nest. I knew what I was gonna do, suicide mission or not, and all I had to do was wait for the right moment. But nothin' ain't ever that simple. I could hear Dante's lumberin' fool wings comin' from a mountain away, and pretended not to hear his claws clackin' on the ledge outside. 'Course he shuffled in anyway and stood there for a sharptooth's age, breathin' all heavy.

"Etta?" "Yeah?" My tone might've been a bit harsh, but he was the last Flyer I wanted to see just then. His cool head and slow thinkin' were just the thing I didn't need, and just hearin' his voice was enough to throw more fuel on the fire. "Just wanted to make sure you're alright." It was hard to see his face too clear in the moonlight, but his tone was enough to tell me he hadn't taken the hint. "I'm fine, and I don't want to talk about it." Might as well spell it out clear, or he'd be there all night. And it didn't do a lot of good in any case. I could see him tiltin' his head to the side, like he was tryin' to figure out what I really wanted from him. I guess he thought he'd figured it out, 'cause he started walkin' toward me. His heart was in the right place, but his head sure wasn't.

"I'm so sorry, but there ain't nothin' anyone can do to change what's happened. Only thing left is to go on livin' like she'd want you to." He reached out for me, but I smacked his hand away without even thinkin' about it. "Dang it Dante, can't you see that's what I'm tryin' to do?!" And those words cut. I could see the hurt and sadness in his eyes, but right at that moment I needed him to hurt. I needed somebody to hurt as bad as I was hurtin'. Priss was gone! Life just wasn't allowed to keep on movin' after that.

He shuffled a bit and looked at me from out the side of his eyes, like he was tryin' to get some sympathy. It usually won him a smile, but now that old trick just made me even madder. I stomped my foot and gritted my beak, fists clenched so tight I could feel the claws cuttin' in. "Get outta here with that nonsense! You think I need your no-good self hangin' around right now? GIT!" I shuffled forward and threw out my wings. I think it must've caught him off guard, because he stumbled back a few good paces and almost fell clean off the outside ledge. He huffed and dusted himself off, tryin' to regain some composure, but I could tell I'd ruffled him bad. He raised his hand, dropped it. Opened his mouth, closed it. Looked away, looked back at me. I was about to snap at him again, tell him to make up his darned mind, when he settled on crossin' his arms and givin' me that look.

"If you're dead set on bein’ miserable, then don't let me stop you." He huffed again, gave me a glare that could scare off a sharptooth, and spread his wings, turnin' to take off from the ledge. I turned my back, refusin' to watch him go. The whole thing felt bad. Why couldn't he see where I was comin' from? Any other day I might've gone after him, but nothin' was gonna change my mind on this.

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I went through time like a dead flyer walkin' after that. Barely ate, couldn't sleep, just kept my eyes glued to that horizon. Those Great Ones always come back sooner or later, and I sure as anything wasn't gonna miss 'em. They sure were bein' slow about it, though. I can't tell you how many times the bright circle rose and fell with me stuck there waitin', but I do remember the day I first caught sight of those black clouds, rollin' in the distance. The skyfire was already in my veins, and I took off after 'em without so much as a word to anyone. I flew faster and straighter than I ever had before, head-on into a cold-as-death gale; my skin went numb but that fire in me just burned, burned, burned. The wall of clouds grew and grew the closer I got, until it looked like I was flyin' toward a big, dark mountain. Faster than a fallin' rock I dove, right into the heart of the storm.

Now, things get a little hazy from there, but I'll tell it as best I can. The moment I crossed into those clouds everything got real dark, and real cold. The wind was coming from all directions at once, and it was all I could do to just keep my wings from bucklin'. Big dollops of skywater were slamin' into me from all over, goin' up my nose and stingin' my eyes. How the heck was I supposed to find anybody- even a giant somebody- when I couldn't even open my darn eyes? I shouted myself hoarse, but I couldn't hear my own voice over the roarin' of the wind in my ears. A flash of light, brighter than the brightest thing I'd ever seen seemed to come from all around, along with a crack of noise loud enough to shake my beak clean off my head. The giant flyers were throwin' the sky-fire straight at me! With my ears ringin' and my eyes shut tight I started to lose all sense of direction. I was flappin' my wings as hard as I could, but I might as well've been tryin' to beat down a mountain for all the good it seemed to be doin' me. There was a funny, sick sorta smell in the air, and my skin was startin' to prickle all over. Now, my mind had sorta shut down by this point, and all I could think was "Etta, you're gonna die, and there ain't a darn fool thing you can do about it." I just kept on flappin' and kept my eyes shut tight, waitin' for those monsters to strike me down, waitin' for the next breath I took to be the last.

It sure seemed like it was takin' a while, though. Went on so long that the wind was slowin' down, and the pricklin' started to go away. Was that what dyin's supposed to feel like? I'd always thought it would hurt, but soon I could feel the warmth comin' back into my bones, and some sort of a light was shinin' so bright I could see it through my eyelids. So, I opened 'em. Couldn't hurt to see what kind of afterlife I'd landed in, after all. I don't think I can rightly tell you the kind of surprise I got when I saw the blue sky stretchin' out above me, and those rollin' black clouds below.

I soared there in silence for a while, between the sky and the storm, just thinkin'. I was still alive, so that was somethin' at least, but I hadn't seen anything even close to a big Flyer with fire for wings. 'Course I hadn't seen much of anything at all. I took the risk for a few more shallow dives, but the whole thing just felt wet and empty. Nothin' but the skyfire itself, and the roarin' that came along with it. Where were the Great Ones, and where was the skyfire even comin' from if they weren't around? I couldn't even start to guess at an answer. I sighed and looked up to the sky, squintin' against the light, just so I wouldn't have to see the darn storm. I flew like that for a long while. The bright circle had been sittin' up there the whole time, behind all those clouds. Still shinin' like nothin' at all was goin' on beneath it. The heat of it was startin' to hurt, like it was lettin' me know it wasn't happy. 'Get on out of here. You're not gonna find something that wasn't ever there in the first place,' it scolded, scorchin' my poor back. It sounded just like Priss. 'Go home, beak-brain!' The hot tears came again, fallin' down into the storm, but I was laughin' too. She always was the one with sense. I followed the storm to its end, and then I turned back.

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And, that was that. Well, mostly. I went back to the roost just long enough to apologize to Dante, and to say goodbye. Our old home was startin' to feel a mite smaller than I liked. There was more of the world I wanted to see before I settled down, and darned if I wasn't goin' to go out there and see it. I told him I'd come back some day, and maybe I will. But we both know just how short life can be.


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Link to FF version: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13019391/1/Too-Dark-to-Find-It

For the June '18 prompt swap. My prompt was:
At least once in our lives, most of us face a phenomenon our minds can’t even begin to understand. Write a LBT story that revolves around the theme of the unknown and the implications that follow an unexplainable event of your choice.

Aaaand this is officially my longest entry to the fanfiction prompt challenge at over 2,200 words! Hey, that's a lot for me

Hope this was somewhat enjoyable! I wanted to challenge myself, so I wrote in first person AND in an unusual dialect. I apologize if it's confusing for any non-native English speakers

I wanted to give Etta some time in the spotlight and explore her backstory, particularly how she came to be living without other flyers. Her line "I once had a sister..." in LBT XIV was always intriguing to me, because it implies that she doesn't have one anymore. I had fun writing this, even if I did maybe bite off more than I could chew 

For this month's prompt, which was to re-visit an old prompt. I chose February's:
Your protagonist for this piece is widely considered to be the Great Valley's foremost expert on love, but one day, they are approached by the last dinosaur they ever expected to see, with his/her most challenging request yet

Didn't have time for much editing, but oh well Kind of wanted to write it in the style of a TV show episode

Here's the link to the entry on FF.net:https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12595944/1/Guido-s-Day-Out


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The wind bit through his short coat of feathers and nearly tore him from the ledge that he clung to. He began having second thoughts.

The day had started with rapt excitement as Guido caught sight of the endless clouds moving at great speed across the open sky. It had been a while since he had last flown, specifically since he and Petrie had met Swooper at Black Rock. Petrie hadn't been at home, and he didn't want to wait- the wind was hardly ever this strong in the sheltered Great Valley. But, now, clinging to a narrow rock face a longneck's length from the ground, it didn't seem like such a great idea.

"Okay, Guido. You can do this." He swallowed hard and pulled himself up to the next ledge. It was wide, stable, and certainly high enough. "You can do this." He moved to the lip and flexed his wings, ready to go without thinking. He caught sight of the ground far below him, and that got him thinking pretty fast. Guido nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to catch a hold of the rock face, but was caught first by a particularly violent gust of wind. Tumbled, tossed, turned, with wind buffeting every inch of his body, the small Flyer managed to extend his wings and stabilize himself. Heart beating out of his chest, he opened his eyes just in time to see a flurry of leaves engulf him as he tumbled into a tree. His descent continued until, the sense thoroughly knocked from him, he somehow ended up cradled in a small bush blessedly close to the ground.

As Guido was waiting for his head to stop spinning and his body to regain feeling, a cacophonous racket nearby rang in his already aching bones. Undergrowth tore apart violently to allow passage to a young Swimmer, who threw himself to the ground nearby. Heavy sobs racked his form, and he seemed to be in some great peril. Guido groaned. He was hardly in a condition to be aware of the newcomer. The destitute Swimmer looked up, realizing he wasn’t alone. He crawled over to the fallen Flyer, pressing his nose in close to Guido’s face.

“Oh, man, you’ve gotta help me! I messed things up so bad! I’ve gotta let her know how sorry I am- what should I say?!” Guido stared into the Swimmer’s fearful eyes, still dazed and completely out of touch with the situation. He groaned again.

“Feels like I’m… being torn apart by Sharpteeth. I don’t think my heart is beating anymore. Going to die. Please…” He was going to say, ëget help,’ but never got the chance. The Swimmer’s eyes widened, and he looked close to tears.

“That’s… Perfect.”

He was gone as quickly as he came, leaving Guido to recover, or not, on his own.

-----

Fortunately, after dragging himself back to his nest and sleeping for a full two days, Guido wasn’t much worse for wear. Sore, hungry, humbled, and counting himself the luckiest Flyer in living memory, he set out early on the third day to look for food. Lots of food. Not so fortunately, it turned out that the Swimmer he’d met had been of a particularly gregarious sort. He was getting a lot of stares, whispers, and outright congratulations for “saving a relationship,” and being a master “love expert,” whatever that meant. Guido did enjoy the attention, but he only smiled politely, and waved his fellow Great Valley residents away. Breakfast was the only thing on his mind.

Having finally found a secluded spot, Guido shuffled his aching body among the branches in a short, sturdy tree, scooping up slow-moving crawlers in his beak. Climbing for food was one thing, but after yesterday he intended to stay as close to the ground as possible. Absorbed in his repetitive task, he fell to thinking over the strange events of the windy day. It was an easy thing to laugh about in retrospect, and it felt good to have an interesting story to discuss with his fellow valley residents again. After the buzz around the Black Rock incident had died down, there hadn't-

HHWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!

Every feather on Guido's body puffed out in alarm as he grasped at the tree branch, finally tumbling off into the free air. A rough, rounded object broke his fall, and he scrambled to get a hold on it. Opening his eyes in a dizzy haze, he met an even larger pair in front of him.

"Oh. Hello, Guido."

After a moment to let his vision clear, Guido recognized that he'd landed directly on Mr. Thicknose's face. Surprisingly, the big dinosaur looked... unsurprised.

"Ha! Hello yourself! What's with all the yelling?"

"Oh, just... getting myself some breakfast."

More than just unsurprised, the Hollowhorn sounded downright depressed. Guido took a closer look and noticed the puffy dark spots around his eyes, his slouched posture, and the untouched treestars littering the ground around him.

"Is, uh, everything alright, big guy?"

"Yes, yes, I just-"

He narrowed his eyes and gave Guido a more focused look.

"Actually, I heard a... rather interesting tale about you this morning. Concerning a pair of swimmers. It wouldn't happen to be true, would it?"

"Well, I guess I don't know exactly what you heard but, uh, it's probably mostly true?" Guido found himself unwilling to disappoint the downtrodden Hollowhorn.

Mr. Thicknose's face brightened considerably. "Oh, excellent! Then, perhaps there is something you can help me with!" He said this more to himself than to Guido, and immediately began walking in a predetermined direction. Guido scrambled to a perch on Thicknose's crest, and sat in a bewildered silence. He couldn't imagine what the larger dinosaur might need his help with, but he had no other plans for the day. The ride was pleasant with a full stomach and the light of the bright circle warming his feathers, allowing Guido to soon fall into a stupor close to sleep. He woke and nearly tumbled from his spot at a sudden stop in momentum.

"There."

Guido glanced around groggily, trying to figure out what Thicknose was referring to. The only thing he could see of any interest was a small group of four-footers, taking breakfast at a short grove of trees not too far off. One of them looked to be another Hollowhorn, like Mr. Thicknose.

"Isn't she beautiful?"

Guido nearly toppled a second time. "Oh." He took another look at the Hollowhorn. She was... sturdy. She could have been around Mr. Thicknose's age, or somehow even older. It was hard to tell with Hollowhorns. "She seems... nice."

Thicknose sighed, looking wistful. "She's stolen my heart completely, I'm afraid. She came in with the farwalkers after the last cold time, and never left."

Guido scratched his head. "Well, what's her name?" The two sat in silence, watching the other Hollowhorn eat. It was just a little creepy.

"I don't know." Mr. Thicknose admitted at last.

"Well, why don't you ask her?" The Hollowhorn started at this- Guido could feel the larger dinosaur's muscles tense beneath him.

"Well... I don't think..."

"Aw, come on! What's the worst that could happen?" Guido was overcome by a strangely specific vision of being trampled by an angry female Hollowhorn while Mr. Thicknose fled in terror. He shuddered. "Well, what's the worst that could happen to you, anyway? And besides-" Guido paused. "You're not exactly getting any younger." Thicknose looked injured by this in a profound way, and Guido regretted it immediately. However, it seemed to have struck the proper chord.

“Yes. Yes, you’re right. I suppose I must face my doom sometime- why not today?” Mr. Thicknose was always a bit on the dramatic side, but seeing him so despondent worried Guido.

“Hey! Hey, it’s not that bad! And look-“ Guido dropped behind Thicknose’s crest. “I’ll be right here with you! She’ll never see me back here!” He peeked over the crest to gauge Thicknose’s reaction, but couldn’t tell much from the top of his head.

“… Thank you, Guido. That would actually be a comfort.” He took a rough, shuddering breath and started forward at a brisk pace. As they approached the female his steps became shorter and shorter, his pace slower and slower, until Guido was certain they’d be at it until the bright circle sank behind the valley rim and rose again the next day. Finally, Mr. Thicknose stopped entirely. Unable to see from his spot behind the crest, Guido waited for something to happen.

“...” It was sure taking a while.

“…”

“Oh! Hello, didn’t see you there!” Her voice was rich and not unpleasant, though Guido still couldn’t guess her age.

“… Uh.” Not a great opening line.

“… Can I help you?”

“… G… Guh… Uh…” Ouch.

“Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m going to ask you to leave.” Guido made his move without thinking. He swung himself up to the top of Thicknose’s crest and spread his wings in supplication.

“Hello! My name’s Guido, and this is my friend…” Shoot. Guido made a mental note to ask him about his given name later. “… Mr. Thicknose. He noticed that you’re new to the valley, and wanted to drop by to say hi!” An awkward silence hung in the air as the female Hollowhorn stared at Guido, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Her face contorted in a mirthful snort, and she broke out in raucous laughter.

“If that isn’t the strangest thing I’ve seen in my life! Well hello, Guido! My name’s Holly. Does your friend know how to talk?”

“Y-yes! I apologize! I don’t know what came over me, I just-“

“Oh, don’t worry honey, I have that effect on people.” Guido snorted. A Hollowhorn with some spunk! “Would you two care to join me for breakfast?” She nodded to indicate some low-hanging branches she’d been working on. Guido was pleased to spot more than a few crawlers hiding among them.

“We’d be delighted.” Mr. Thicknose tilted his head to give Guido a warm smile, his eyes shining with youthful excitement. Guido returned the smile, and shrugged. It was going to be a good day.

Right under the wire >.>

Aaaaaanyway it's late, and I have a lot of schoolwork to do still, but here's my entry for the prompt challenge I usually sweat over every sentence when I write, which is why I don't do it too often. So, I tried to lay off of that a bit here, just for my own sanity, and to see what I could do with a looser approach. Whether or not this is any good, I definitely enjoyed writing it

Here is the link to it on FF:https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12346650/1/Three-Children

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"Well, that accomplished nothing."

A sturdy, mature female threehorn smiled at her mate's grumbled complaint. They were a pair among many, trudging through the dust of a barren landscape, greyed by stress and lack rather than age. Four healthy children gallivanted close behind them- too rare a sight those days. The young ones kept the steady pace easily, playing and laughing among themselves.

"Oh, I wouldn't say nothing, Topsy. We have some direction now, at least." She had adopted her habitual tone of jovial superiority- a trait that Topps mostly found maddening.  He had grumbled before times had gotten bad, and she firmly believed that he would go on grumbling long after they were both piles of old bones.

"Bah! One direction's as good as another. No food anywhere, and sharpteeth behind every boulder. And Atra, don't call me Topsy!" Everyone knew that he hated the childhood nickname, and few dared to call him by it to his face any longer aside from his mate and a few of her friends.

"Whatever you say... Topsy."

Topps snorted- she was always teasing him. Maddening... but endearing, none the less.

They walked in silence for some time. The sky was growing dark, the harsh oranges of the dead land around them slowly fading into the muted greys of twilight. Atra preferred this time of day; it was easier on the eyes, and easier to forget where they were. Sometimes, when there was just enough light left to keep to the path, she could almost see their home as it once was- dense forests with green food as far as the eye could see, the streams and lakes teeming with shining swimmers that would jump into the air and glisten with the light of the bright circle. By day, it was hard to believe that such a world had ever existed. It was, she knew, a world her children would never see.
"Topps?" She said, suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Do you... think the herd is making the right decision?"

"Well, the lands we chose were always the greenest in the past. Who's to say there isn't a little green still left at the bottom of the world? Too bad we have to walk the whole way first." She grinned at his rare, dry humor, then subsided into melancholy.

"Still... There are a lot of rumors coming from other herds. If the Great Valley really does exist-"

"Oh, stop that right now! If the other herds want to starve to death chasing a hatchling's story, then it serves them right- more food for us! Luckily, threehorns are born with a bit more sense than that. At least, most of us are." He shot her a sideways glance, and instantly regretted the jab at seeing the flash of despair that passed over her face.

"We'll... we'll find some place nice." He gruffly attempted to console her. "Somewhere that the children will like. I promise." Her empty smile hung awkwardly between them, and she turned to mind the children as the elders called a halt for the night.

----

Later on, between the sleeping forms of Topps and Atra, one of the hatchlings was stirring. The young threehorn raised her head from sleep and blinked her eyes in muddled confusion. Something must have woken her, but she was at a loss as to what.

CROAK

She scrambled to her feet and was about to call for her mother, when she spotted the source of the noise: a particularly fat hopper, perched smugly at the edge of their nesting site.

CRRRROAK

Cera, as she was called, took a moment to fully waken. She looked over the sleeping forms of her small family, and noted the slight lightening of the sky that foretold the bright circle’s arrival. It was unusual for either of her parents to sleep past this first light, but she didn’t question it. As far as Cera was concerned, if her mom wanted to sleep in instead of her usual habit of waking at daybreak, then that was fine with her. She'd had precious little time to explore their new nesting site, and for a brave, fierce threehorn like her, that just wasn't acceptable. And now, by luck, the perfect opportunity had opened up.

CRO-ROOOOAK

With hardly a thought the young one bounded forward, intent on smooshing the fat hopper where it lay. The crafty green menace was not about to wait for this; trading leaps and dodges, the two were soon long out of sight, with a broad yawn from one of the other hatchlings the only hint at the night's disruption.

--------

"CERAAAAA!"

Topps raised his head groggily, his blurred eyes adjusting to the sight of his mate running rampant, and his four daughters stirring beside him.

His... three daughters.

"Cera!" His sudden alertness was punctured by the distant roar of something very large, and quite probably very hungry. "CERA!" Topps was on his feet, moving toward his mate. "Atra, watch the children, I'll-" Topps lurched to his knees as a force larger than he could comprehend shook him to his bones, and a massive crack split the air. The thick rumbling that followed, punctuated by the ringing in his ears, culminated in the stomping of many feet as the herd began to panic.

"EARTHSHAAAAAKE!" Topps could not tell if the bellow came from one voice or many, and it was soon drowned out as the rumbling became a roar, and the ground beneath them began to buck and heave. He felt his mate stumble into him and set his stance to brace her, vaguely aware of their daughters crowding their feet. The massive threehorn willed all of his strength into holding his stance, knowing that a slip, a misstep, a fall, could prove fatal. In a bare minute that seemed to stretch for an eternity, the shaking subsided. Topps took in deep, desperate breaths, his shaking legs almost making up for the stillness of the earth. He could feel his mate's sides heave with her breathing, and soft cries sounded below him, filling his heart with ease. He chanced a downward glance at his daughters- all three shaken, but alive.

Three... but not all.

His heart sank again, and he heaved a sigh. A quick glance around did little to comfort him. A few threehorns mulled around the broken landscape, grouping up with one another in a daze, but the herd had been decimated. With a glimmer of hope he caught sight of his mate's sister- it was a small piece of fortune that the children would not have to lose an aunt.

As they've already lost a sister.

The admission tore at him, and he immediately rejected it.

"Tops... we should... go to the others." Atra shifted to regain her own footing. Her breathing was heavy, and there was a dead look of resignation in her eyes, uncharacteristic and frightening. Tops snorted.

"Of course! But, w-what about-"

Daddy...

The cry was soft, nearly stolen by the wind. Topps and Atra looked at one another in complete shock, and the hatchlings glanced around in confusion.

"Daddy!" Louder, and the direction was clear.

"Cera..." Topps took a few cautious steps forward, then barrelled toward the call heedlessly. His small family trailed behind him more slowly, huddled close to one another in apprehension, and the remnants of shock.

"Daddy! Where are you?!"

"CERA!" A massive precipice opened before him and Topps pulled up short, dust and small stones careening into the depths.

"Daddy!"

"Cera!" He could see his small daughter on the far side, and the pure relief filled him with warmth. He could hear Atra behind him, sending the other children off to their aunt. This struck him as a little odd, but the thought was lost in his joy. He turned to call her over.

"Dear, look! Cera-" His mate's eyes were full of pain, and they pushed against him like a wall. "Cera's... alive." As he turned back toward Cera, he took in the full breadth of the precipice for the first time. It stretched as far as he could see in either direction, with sheer walls along both sides. If they stopped here to try to save their daughter, they would all die. He knew now what Atra had already figured out: Cera was right in front of them, but she may as well have been on the other side of the great wastes. Atra pushed past him to stand by the edge.

"Cera... I love you, dear." Her voice sounded distant and broken as she called across to her daughter.

"Momma! I'll find a way up! I know I can!" Cera was close to tears, and her voice was tight with fear.

"Of course you will..." Atra whispered. In a raw moment, the pain flashed out of her eyes, replaced by a look of violent determination. "Cera! When you make it over, find the Great Valley! Whatever you do, don't stop searching! We'll meet you there! I... I promise!" Atra's voice carried as strongly as ever, but it was tinged with a desperation that turned Topps' heart to ice. Seeing Cera's face light up at her words only wounded him further.

"Y...yeah. Yeah! Like in the stories! I bet I'll even get there before you- I'll find it before anybody!" As she reached the end of her statement she was throwing words back behind her, already racing toward the valley that she knew couldn't be far off.

"You'd better hurry, Mom! I'm going to find it first!"

The two stood in silence, watching. She seemed terribly far away already, and terribly small. Topps turned his head, looking to meet his mate's gaze- she turned away from him quickly.

"Atra..." His voice was uncharacteristically soft, giving way to a vulnerability and confusion that he wasn't used to feeling. "Atra, those are just stories. The Great Valley doesn't exist. Why would you-"

"Don't you think I know that!" Atra turned on him suddenly, slamming her front feet defiantly to the ground, forcing Topps back a step. He regained himself quickly, meeting her glare with his own.

"Now hold on, I only wanted-" Atra snorted loudly and turned heel, leaving her mate to rejoin what little was left of their herd. As she walked, she hunched her shoulders against the sobs she knew she could not utter, and the tears that flowed unseen from her eyes.

"Bah!" Topps huffed and tossed his head in frustration, still failing to understand his mate's motives. His mood softened as his eyes strayed automatically back to his daughter's retreating form. Later, down a dark and terrible road, his mate's promise would ring in his heart once again. But, for now, he stood in silence, believing that his beautiful Cera was lost to him forever.

Featuring Rhombus' Taunt as the Philosoraptor! Feel free to post your captions here, or if you are feeling ambitious, create your caption in the style of the original Philosoraptor

Link! http://my.smithmicro.com/manga-studio-5.html

This is not spam, I promise Just wanted to bring this to the attention of any aspiring digital artists! Clip Studio Paint (Previously known as Manga Studio) has been over 50% off for a couple of days now. The digital pro version of the software is currently only $20, so if you're in need of a competent program with powerful brushes, but don't want to pay a king's ransom to subscribe to the adobe cloud, this is a very good opportunity
The EX version of the software is also over 50% off, bringing it down to $87. It's a useful upgrade if you want to use it for animating, but otherwise not really necessary.
I just started using it a few days ago, and I'm pretty pleased so far. The painting tools are very intuitive, I was able to do this pretty quickly:

This is for the LBT animated series project... I think this is the right section for it


Introduction.

Ok! Animation! I will try to organize this to the best of my ability, but forgive me if things get a little jumbled
If you find you are having trouble grasping a concept, please feel free to ask questions. There are also many wonderful animation references on the internet, as well as many wonderful books on the subject. I am mostly doing this from memory

Before I begin I would like to raise one more point. The most importaint thing is to observe motion, make decisions based on your observations, and keep practicing
While these are guidelines based on the ways that traditional animation has evolved in western studios, they are by no means the only way of doing things. As a professor of mine always said, the only reason we learn the rules is so that we can intelligently break them

I am by no means a professional, and I am still learning too. So here goes! I hope someone learns something from my nonsense

There are many different tools you can use for 2-D animation. A good freeware program to start out with is Pencil, which I have used before:
http://www.pencil-animation.org/
You can also do it with pencil and paper, if you have a lightbox (or some way to light the paper from behind) and a scanner.
I will be using Flash MX for this tutorial.

As we all know, the basis of traditional animation is making a lot of drawings of the same thing with slight changes
But how do you decide how many drawings you should make? How do you keep from losing track of things? How do you keep the character looking the same in each drawing? Well, we will examine all of these questions in detail

The goal of animation, or at least the kind that we are doing, is to achieve the illusion of lifelike motion through the changing of shapes over time. It is important to remember this, and not overcomplicate things for yourself too early in the process.


How do I decide how many drawings I should make?

Well, that requires a bit of explanation.
There are two core principles in animation. They are called 'Timing' and 'Spacing.'
The timing of an action is literally how much time it takes to complete the action, start to finish. There are several ways to figure this out. You can record yourself performing the action, or search for videos online of that action being performed. You can get a stopwatch or other form of timer and time yourself doing it. You can get a friend to do it, and time them. Also, a bit less accurate, but it works in a pinch, you can visualize the action in your head, and time that (I don't have a stopwatch, so I use online-stopwatch.com ). Once you figure out the timing of the whole action, you can break it down into smaller pieces. For exaple, let's say your action is a yawn and a stretch. Once you time the whole action, you can time the yawn, and time the stretch separately. These may overlap, but knowing the timing of each can help you keep things smooth. And you can always adjust your timing by adding and removing drawings if things don't look right.

Once you know your timing, you figure out the number of drawings that you will need to fill that time by deciding on your 'frame rate.' Your frame rate is simply how many drawings will appear on the screen for every second of animation. There is no required frame rate, you can use any one you want, but the standard used by large studios such as Disney is 24 frames per second. This means that you have to make 24 drawings to make one second of animation.

This takes a lot of time and energy though, and making that many drawings isn't always necessary to make a good animation. Many times those studios will switch to 12 drawings per second. They call this putting an animation "on twos," because, while the frame rate actually stays at 24 frames per second, they let each drawing take up two frames. That way they only have to draw half as much, and if they reach a point where they need more detail, they can easily switch back to the full 24 drawings per second.

So that's timing! Now, we're on to spacing. Spacing is a bit more complicated. Spacing refers to how far apart your drawings are from one another. Two animations with the same timing can look very different if the spacing is changed. To demonstrate this, I will use the 'bouncing ball,' which has been done many times before.



Though these all take exactly the same amount of time, changing the spacing changes the type of motion taking place.

Things can get kind of complicated, but the main thing to remember is that spacing and timing work together to determine the time and speed that a movement takes. The closer together your drawings are, the slower they will appear to be moving, and the farther apart, the faster the motion will appear.

For example, take these two spacings of a simple arm movement:



Each drawing of the arm represents a different frame.
There are the same number of frames in each, so they both take up the same amount of time, but the first arm will appear to be moving at the same speed the whole time, while the second arm will appear to be moving faster at the beginning, and slower at the end.



This is an exaple with fairly subtle differences. The more dramatically you change your spacing, the greater the difference you will see between animations.
Good spacing may be difficult to get the hang of at first, but the more you practice, the more you will come to understand it.


How do I keep from losing track of things?

With so many drawings that go into an animation, it can be easy to lose your place and get overlaping actions and timing in general confused.
There are a lot of things you can do to help with this. One of these is to draw keyframes. Keyframes are the most important drawings in an animation. They are the drawings that define the action that a character is taking.
Think about what your character is doing- let's say you are animating a character yawning. Now that you have decided on the action, you have to decide what the most important poses will be, the ones that will make the action unmistakable. There are many different ways to keyframe any given action, but we will keep it simple in this example. We will say that there are three key poses: before the yawn, the peak of the yawn, and after the yawn. Drawn out, they might look something like this:



Okay, so we have the keyframes. Once we get our timing, we can place each keyframe at its appropriate frame number (or you can do this in the opposite order, and figure out your timing and keyframe numbers before you draw your keyframes). Let's say we timed it out, and figured that the whole action will take about 1.4 seconds (When I do timing for a stand alone action, i try to include short pauses with the character before and after so it does not look too rushed). To figure out how many frames your animation is going to have, just take the number of seconds and multiply it by the frame rate. In this example, we will use 24 fps. 1.4 x 24 = 33.6. We obviously cannot have 6/10ths of a frame. Whenever I am left with a decimal for frame number, I round the number up or down depending on the circumstance and what the frames are being used for, but you are free to deal with it however you like. So my final number is 34. I now know that the finished animation will have 34 drawings.

Now we break it down further, and decide that the character will reach the peak of the yawn .6 seconds after the start of the animation. .6 x 24 = 14.4. So we will say that the character will reach the peak of the yawn at frame 15.
Now we can easily figure out where our keyframes go! Before the yawn can simply be placed on frame 1, the peak of the yawn on frame 15, and after the yawn on frame 34. Set up in Flash, the timeline looks something like this, with each black dot representing a keyframe (we are only looking at layer 1 right now, don't worry about the other layers):



Now that we have our keyframes set up, we need to draw the inbetweens, which are simply the drawings that fill in the blanks between the keyframes. The easiest way to do this is to pick the frame in the middle of your two keyframes and draw that one in, and continue to fill in the space in between your frames until you feel that they are close enough together for you to go through and fill in the rest of the blank frames.

Remember your timing and spacing, though! the frame that is exactly between two frames might not be the exact middle point of the motion taking place. Frame 8 is the frame directly in between your first two keyframes, but let's say that you wanted the yawn to start off slow and get a little faster as it reaches the peak. In this case you would want to put your middle frame a bit closer to your second keyframe. I chose to place mine on frame 10, as such:



Remember it is ok if some of your inbetween drawings aren't perfect, or look a little strange. They tend to look better in motion, and you can always go back and fix something if it really stands out and looks bad

So we go through with the process, deciding where to put the inbetweens based on our spacing, doing tests and fixing mistakes as we find them, and eventually we end up with a completed animation of the action



Once you are happy with it, you can go back and make a different layers over the animation to add cleaner lines and color, or just go over it with a darker pen/pencil if you are doing it on paper. But that is a whole different process that could be the basis of another tutorial, if anybody wants another one


How do I keep the character looking the same in each drawing?

This can be very difficult. Keyframes help a lot, as does something called 'onion skin' in animation programs, which shows the faint outlines of your previous frames in the frame you are currently working on. When using pencil and paper, you get this same effect by using a 'lightbox,' or any lighted surface that lets you see the outlines of your previous drawings through the paper.

While these help a lot, there is a very important tool that helps you remember how your characters features line up, and what their proportions are. It is called a 'Character Sheet,' and I highly reccommend it.

A character sheet is made by drawing a character in its basic standing position, and drawing horizontal lines accross the paper at each important point on the character. Common important points are the bottom of the feet, the top of the head, the shoulders, the knees, the waist, etc. Once you decide on these lines, you can use them to draw the character at a 3/4 view, side view, and back view, plust as many more rotations as you want. The end result looks something like this:



It's also a good idea to keep other reference drawings handy, such as poses of your character walking, jumping, or performing common actions, as well as drawings of common facial expressions.
This can be a huge help in keeping your character looking like the same character throughout your animations.


Conclusion.

So, those are the basics! If there are any questions or anything I forgot to explain, let me know

Also, if anyone needs help with learning how to use pencil or any other animation program, or setting up a work station for traditional pencil and paper animation, I would be happy to help

I'll be off of the internet from tomorrow the 18th to the Sunday the 20th, spending some quality time in good old Chincoteague, VA!
We've owned a townhouse there for the entirety of my life that we visit regularly. It's quite a fantastic place! It's very small, very beautiful, and(outside of tourist season) very quiet. It is a salt marsh, though, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say that you grow to love the smell
I'll try to upload some photographs upon my return! It's definitely a place worth seeing.

Yeesh! It's about time! I've been meaning to start this topic for months.

I guess I'll just jump straight into it, then!

First order of business: Shorty's relationship with Bron.
I've read some very engaging discussions on this in other topics already, they've been quite fascinating.

I personally wouldn't go so far as to say that Bron explicitly dislikes shorty(though it's possible he finds him a bit tiresome at times), but it's apparent that he cares for him very little, if at all. Throughout the 10th film and the Big Longneck Test, from here on referred to as the 'BLT'(yum), Bron seems to largely ignore Shorty(intentionally or otherwise), only interacting with or mentioning him at Littlefoot's instigation. In fact, the only time he addresses Shorty in the BLT is to assert that he is, in fact, not ready to take the BLT.
(Bron and neglect seem to go hand in hand, incidentally. Try to count the times he almost seriously injures Littlefoot during the 'Dad' song in the 10th film. Nothing against the guy. Perhaps he just has poor judgement?)

Anyways, that leads up to my next point; Shorty's apparent lack of leadership skills in the BLT. This could simply be blamed on lazy/overworked/indifferent writers jumping on the easiest road to a completed episode, but let's give it a run for its money anyways.
First off, we know for a fact that Shorty successfully lead a group of much younger longnecks prior to meeting up with Bron. Assuming that Shorty is an abysmal leader, the fact that they survived could possibly be attributed to one of two things:
1) They were orphaned for a very short period of time.
2) An extremely convenient case of dumb luck.
Judging by their level of organization(rather than scattering at Bron's approach, they grouped behind their leader and trusted him to defend them), I find the first option rather unlikely. And the second option was kind of a weak excuse to begin with.
So, the conclusion that I prefer to draw from this is that Shorty is, in actuality, an inherently capable leader.
But how can we accept that without completely ignoring the events in the BLT? Well, when I say 'inherently capable,' I mean just that. Shorty's leadership in that situation was a quality awakened by necessity. I don't think he was consciously aware of it, or that he specifically considered himself a 'leader' at the time. I think that, in his mind, there is no connection between his journey with the younger longnecks and the simple, controlled, clear-cut concept of leadership promoted by the BLT.
As a product of this, he has a clear idea in his head of what Bron wants to see in him, which happens to be a slightly skewed concept of 'leadership.' So, of course, Shorty would aggressively assert himself as the kind of leader that he thinks bron wants to see as a means of earning his favor and praise. Rather than spurred by a need to control, a lust for bullying, or submission to a superiority complex, I feel that the events in the BLT were a product of frustration, determination, and quite possibly desperation. After all, Shorty had been told repeatedly that he was not ready to take the test, only to see Littlefoot(who in Shorty's mind practically drove a stake into he and Bron's relationship) permitted to take the test before him.

While examining Shorty, it is essential to remember that he lost both of his parents, and possibly many more unspecified friends and family members(the way he reacted to Littlefoot's 'brothers' suggestion makes me think that he may have, at one point, had siblings). While the younger longnecks who arrived with him may not remember the events that orphaned them, I think it's safe to say that Shorty does. In the end(likely a product of this) he chose to look up to Bron as a father figure, and it seems only natural that he would continue to attempt to earn the older dinosaur's love and respect, despite being pervasively neglected.


Whew! I feel like there was a lot more I wanted to say... I should have started writing this down a long time ago! Oh well, I'll post more if I think of it.

I feel bad every time I post a one or two-line response, but dang, it just takes me so long to organize my thoughts

Heheh, this looked like fun

Ask away! I have a good chunk of random knowledge, and I might end up being a mildly interesting person, in and of myself

Yep, after months of dormancy, the one-post-wonder has returned!
I figured making a new topic would be less confusing than digging up my old welcome post, so heeeeere we go!

My name is Erika. Feel free to call me by it, or by any part of my username. Whatever works for you, works for me  

I'm currently a freshman in college, majoring in 2D animation, but I'm seriously considering joining the air-force instead. I will always truly love drawing, but I just don't think I want to work in the industry. I'm too meticulous when it comes to art   It breaks my heart to have to do a rushed job to meet a deadline.
Other than art, my interests vary widely. Whenever I have the time, I'll read any book anyone throws at me. I love mathematics, and really want to take more math courses. Another reason not to be in art school, haha. I have a passion for aviation and space exploration, and am currently working towards getting my Private Pilot's License. Honestly I just love learning. Share whatever knowledge you might have! You'll win my eternal gratitude.

You all seem like amazing people from what I've seen so far! Thanks for being patient with a noob   I look forward to talking with you guys!