You lay on your bed as you toss a hacky sack up and down in the air, mind lost in thought. Should it be a landscape piece? Plenty of pretty places to paint in the bluffs. Nah. Probably done to death. You could do one of the more exotic place then you suppose. But of what? A desert? Nah, you didn’t like deserts. Alaskan mountain range? Maybe with an Aurora borealis. That’s a lot of colors to work with though. What about a taiga forest? Easier but it would make the color palette a lot more restrictive. ”It’d give you a challenge though.” You catch the hacky sack and lift your head up to look at Sera who was messing with one your dad’s old Xrox controllers. “What?” You ask. ”That restricted color palette you were talking about. It’d give you a challenge. Besides you said you could win the contest with one anyways right?” What was she...oh. “I uh...mumbled that didn’t I?” ”Yep.” You curse your genetics and lean back into your bed. ”You don’t typically put this much thought into any of your other paintings.” Your friend speaks up, still working on that controller. “Yea, well I’m not typically in an art contest.” ”You aren’t even in it yet.” “Yea, but I’ve made the commitment though.” Sera shakes her head and sighs. ”I still think you’re just giving into your sister.” You furrow your brow, tossing your hacky sack a little higher. “We’ve had this discussion last night. I’m not having it again.” ”Alright! Alright! We don’t have to…” There was a slight pause before Sera speaks up again. “What about a portrait?” “A portrait? Of who?” Sera shrugs, “I dunno. Maybe of one of the teachers? You could go a long way by feeding Mr. Spears’ ego.” “Sera, I’m not painting Mr. Spears.” ”Hey, just an idea.” You thought about it for a minute. A portrait wasn’t really a bad idea actually. No, not of Spears. But in general? Well, you weren’t the BEST at them. You’ve painted plenty but you were never one to get the anatomy right. You could paint landscapes and architecture for days! No sweat. But of dinos? There are so many different head shapes and body types to keep track of, not even mentioning their proportions. Humans are no easier. Despite all looking relatively similar, they are surprisingly complex when you get into the particulars. The different dino races are so easy to tell apart but the human ones? Their skin color was usually a dead give a way but dinos have been using that as a very dangerous crutch forever. Humans are really quick to point out when a dinosaur made a human portrait because they’d get a nose shape or hair type wrong for whatever race that human was supposed to be. Damn spear chuckers and their heightened pattern recognition. (You can say this if you’re basically half human right?) Hm... Yea, that could lead into WAY to many allegations of racism than it was worth. If you were going to do a portrait it was gonna be dino. Might as well stick with what you know. But of who? ”My idea of the faculty is still on the table!” You curse yourself again. “No. Not of the faculty.” ”Whatever ya say Amby.” You roll your eyes and look back towards the ceiling, continuing to mindlessly toss your hacky sack up and down. What about yourself? It wouldn’t be that hard to do. All you’d need is a mirror, or just a few photographs of yourself, plenty of those around the house. Buuuuuuut. That could be seen as narcissistic. Plus it really isn’t orignal. Oh yea, present the judges with a portrait of...YOU! The student they see probably on a daily basis. Yea, no, pass. You scrunch your snoot as you really begin to rack your brain. You needed someone, a dinosaur, who would be easy to paint. Someone who looked just like you preferably, but wasn’t you. Who in the hell would even- “*gasp*!” It hit you, literally, your epiphany made you forget about the hacky sack you were tossing and it hit you in the face. “Gah! Ow!” ”Woah! Amber what’s wrong?” “Ah...nothing.” You respond rubbing your snoot. “But, I think I have an idea of who to do a portrait of?” ”Oh! Who?” “My mom!” ”Oh! Mrs. Stella? That’s nice I gue-” “No, Sera, my MOM! The one who was best friends and in a band with your mom?” ”Ohhh. Yea, that’s actually not a bad idea.” “I know right? I’m sure there are plenty of reference photos stashed somewhere in this house. Plus, she looks just like me so it’ll be very easy to draw up a sketch.” ”And she used to work at Valcano High.” You gave Sera and incredulous look. “You’re still on the ‘me painting a member of faculty’ plan?” Sera shook her head. ”No no, think about it. A lot of the teachers at Valcano High were probably around when your mom was. Hell, Mr. Spears alone was probably principle when she was a student! It’d probably win you some points to paint a famous alumni and previous employee yea? By her daughter no less.” You place a finger under your snoot. Yea. Yea she was right. Your mom was somewhat of a celebrity at Valcano High. This could actually work. “Yea...no, yea that’s true actually.” You snap and stand up. Your mind was made. “That settles it. I’m painting a portrait of my mom.” You smile down at Sera. “But first, I need to get some photo references.” *groooooowwwwerrrr* Sera looked down at your stomach and then back up to you. “But first, I need to get some lunch...he he.” Sera smriks, getting up from her seat at your desk to follow you into the kitchen. ... After a filling lunch of grilled cheeses, you find your dad out in the back yard working on the lawn mower. “Hey dad! I have a question to ask you!” Your human father takes a break from fixing the old machine and brings up his forearm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. ”Oh, what d’ya want sweet tooth?” “Well, I was wondering if you had any old photos of mom lying anywhere?” ”Old photos? Probably in one of our old photo albums. You should ask her though, honestly you’re better off asking Stella for any old pictures of her. Why?” You cringe at his misunderstanding. “N-no dad. Old photos of MOM.” Your father looks at you quizzically for a moment before raising his eyebrows in realization. ”Oh...OH! Your mother. Uh, yea, I have some old photos of her still. I’d have to get them for you, they’re in the attic.” You beam. “Sounds great! Whenever you’re not busy of course.” Your dad grabs a hand towel from the side and wipes his arms from the sweat and grime. ”I can get them for you now, but uh...can I ask why?” You blink and look up into the air. “Oh. Uh, I’ve decided that I DO want to go into that art contest thingy, and I decided who better to paint than one of their most famous alumni?” You look back to your dad with an aura of innocence on your face. He nods his head and throws his towel to the side as he starts to walk back into the house. You follow behind him, passing Sera who had been waiting on the porch all the while. She casts you a smug grin and you stop before entering your home. “What?” ”Mmm, I could smell that hard working hunk from here.” You groan and shake your head. “Sera...no.” … You stand behind your dad as he pulls down the attic ladder in the hall way. Following him up the ladder you are hit with the smell of old wood and the stench of stale dust. Fumbling for a while your dad finally finds a string in the darkness and yanks on it, bringing light to the dark space. ”All right. Her old box should be around here somewhere.” While the human begins to search through old boxes, your eyes wonder around through all the old knick knacks and hand-me-downs from years gone by. Boxes of old clothes, a gaudy jacket with a monkey face on it, Stella’s wedding dress, which unfortunately seems to have fallen victim to what ever cloth hungry vermin is crawling around up here. ”Aha! I think I found it!” Glancing over in his direction, you see your dad pulling into view a box with writing scribbled on it. ’Fang’s stuff.’ Fang? Who the hell is Fang? You thought your mother’s name was Lucy? ”Heh. Yea, it was. Fang was just a uh...nickname your mother had in high school. It’s how I’ve always known her.” You said that out loud didn’t you? ”Sure did sweet tooth. You really take after me huh?” You sigh and roll your eyes. Bending over you look behind your dad who hesitated for a minute before finally opening up the box to look through everything. You scooch your dad over so you could help look for the photos. Several key items stick out to you. Guitar picks. A LOT of guitar picks. Some old sheet music. An old CD that with cover that looks like it was designed by one of those ‘graphic design is my passion’ people. Ripped black jeans with matching tank tops. An old pteroskull necklace. An orange circular object stuck out to you. “What’s this?” ”No way! Is that?” You look over the little device in your hand. It looked like one of those old roomba things, but...smaller? And with a pair of angry eyes glued onto the front with a...is that a rail gun? ”RAYmba! Wow, it’s been so long!” Your dad holds out his hand and you give him the little robot. “Ray what?” ”RAYmba! My old pet from high school!” “Your...pet?” You ask. You were beginning to think the attic musk was getting to your dad. ”Haha, yea! I got him just before I started dating your mother.” “Oh! That’s...cool?” Your dad turns to little roomba over in his hands inspecting it for a minute. ”Yea, now there’s a story and a half. Ancient Mous history right here.” “Yeaaaaaa. I’d love to hear it but...maybe later. I still want to get those pictures so I can start painting.” ”Oh! Yea, yea, sure. I can tell you later then.” He places his old ‘pet’ to the side and digs deeper into the box. Pulling aside a purple dress he grins. ”Ah, there you are!” With a bit more fumbling he pulls out an old album. Embossed lettering on the front. ‘A&L’ ”The ol’ photo album.” Your dad opens the first page and...wow! There she is. You’ve seen photos of your mom before but, these seem to be back when she was in high school. You’ve only seen pictures of her when she was an adult or as a little kid back at Grand Pa Ripley and Grand Ma Sam’s house. It’s very weird to see her at YOUR age. She really did look a lot like you, or, you looked a lot like her. Surrealness of the situation aside, this is all EXACTLY what you needed. You smile and nod your head. “Thanks dad, this is just what I needed...dad?” You glance over at your father and notice him staring at the old photos in front of him. He didn’t hear you. Distracted by the photos of days past, inspecting them with a sad smile, only snapping out of it when you called out to him. ”Huh? Wha-? Oh. Yea, no problem. Hope you have everything you need in here. A lot of memories in this old book.” He closes it and hands it over to you. Taking it from him, you stand up and watch your dad close up the box before pushing it to the side with the other boxes. Well...that was awkward. It was understandable you guessed. Your mom WAS his high school sweet heart. It’s been so long he probably never thinks about it too often. Exiting the attic Sera looks up. ”Got what ya need?” You hold up the photo album showing it off to her. She lets out a whistle. ”Damn girl, she’s a thick one.” “Haha, yep. Seems I’m spoiled for choice for all of the references I could use.” Coming back down from the attic, you father turns behind him before he lifts the ladder. ”Was that all you girls needed?” You nodded in response and he closed the door. ”Alright, “ he sighs. ”I need to get back to fixing the lawn mower, and then, eventually mow the lawn.” Sera pokes her head out from behind you with a sly smile on her face. ”I could help you out Mr. Mous!~” You inwardly groan, bringing the photo album up to your face. Your father just chuckles and shakes his head. ”I appreciate that Sera but, I think I’ve got it. It’s just the carburetor. Thanks for the offer though.” Your triceratops friend just smiles. ”No problem Mr. Mous. I’m willing to help with anything, just ask.” ”Heh, yea, if I ever do I’ll make sure to.” With that your dad leaves, with his back turned Sera makes a slight pout, muttering under her breath. ”I know how to fix a carburetor…” “ Guhhhh, what ever, I’ve got the references now. Let’s just get started on this painting.” … You drop the thick book of old memories down onto your desk and lift the cover, beginning to go over the many photos to try and find a decent reference. The whole experience was so...weird. So many familiar faces. Familiar yet...so different. Younger, their lives ahead of them. Your mom had a very strange choice in make up. You’ve heard stories of how she was this punk rock chick growing up so it wasn’t really surprising but still. The first few photos seemed to be much earlier in her high school career. Younger versions of family friends and people you’ve met probably once or twice show up. Sera leans on your shoulder and points to one of the photos. “HEY! There’s my mom! Wow, she was just as grumpy looking back in high school as she does today!” The photo she was pointing to was one of a teenage Ms. Trish sipping from a soda can in class and flipping the bird to who ever was taking the picture. Your mom snickering in the back ground. The pink tail just in the corner of the image gave you a clue as to who might’ve been the photographer. Flipping the page over and there he was. Reed in all his stoner glory. He has...literally not changed at all since high school it seems. Well, save for his bank account size. Scanning over the other pictures, you’re even able to catch glimpses of Aunt Rosa and your Stella in the back grounds of a few photos. According to them, they’d see your mom in detention all the time. She’d be caught skipping class or getting into a fight or something and be sent to help the gardening club after class as punishment. As interesting as all of these photos were, you just weren’t finding what you needed, so you begin to flip through the pages more quickly. Hoping to find something that’ll work great for a reference. Your search only taking a pause when you get to a face you’re honestly surprised hasn’t shown up earlier. ”Wow...he was a lot skinnier back then.” Sera quips. Yep, there’s dad. Sitting in the school auditorium laughing. The next few pages are similar in content. Mom and dad at a park, mom and dad and friends at the mall. There was one of mom giggling while dad kissed her on the cheek. ”Awwww! That’s adorable!” Your brow furrowed. “Yea, yea, all of these photos are cute but I need a good reference.” You respond. Flipping through the pages again you were met with amateur photo after amateur photo until… “Woah…” Near the half way point of the album you found one. A really really good one. It was a photo of your mom at what must have been prom. She was shredding away at her guitar in this amazing purple dress. Her snoot sported a wide ecstatic smile and the background lighting was just...just perfect. “This...this is the one.” You carefully slide the photo from out of the plastic sleeve and look it over. Sera’s mouth hung open as she got a look from behind your shoulder. ”Woah...Amby...you could look like that! Imagine if you let your hair grow out past your shoulders and wore her make up! You might actually be able to get a boy friend!” You spin your head around and sneer at the triceratops behind you who is now trying to contain her giggling. “Shut up! My hair and make up is fine as is!” The purple demon continues her giggle fit as you sigh and turn back to the photo. You set it aside carefully and flip back to grab a few more photos that were at different angles so that you could get a better idea of her proportions and figure. Once you were happy with the amount of reference photos you had, you slid the album aside and grab one of your sketch books. This probably wouldn’t be your last concept sketch, but you at least wanted to get the basic idea of what you wanted down. It didn’t take you long, after only a few minutes you hummed in satisfaction as you handed the book off to Sera. “Alright, what do ya think?” ”Wow! This is great. You managed to deconstruct the photo and make it look like it was drawn by a chicken.” She says through a smug smile, every word dripping with sarcasm. You roll your eyes and snatch the book from her. “It’s JUST a sketch geek. Won’t even be my last one. I’ll probably make several more until I get something I’m fine painting.” Sera leans back on your bed and crosses your arms. ”Yea, yea I know girl. I’m just messin’ with ya. But, now that you HAVE a sketch, and all the old dusty pictures you want…” She pulls the controller she was working on earlier from behind her. ”The weekend is still young, and you have a month to do this anyway. How’s about a little zombie killing?” You glance at Sera and then back at your sketch book. Sensing your apprehension to not stop while you have the momentum she speaks up. ”I was finally able to fix the joysticks from sticking all the time.” You groan. “Fiiine. I suppose I do have plenty of time anyways.” The triceratops smiles and tosses you the controller which you promptly catch. ”Good! Besides, I can hear your dad mowing the lawn now and your couch has a FANTASTIC view of the back yard window.” “Sera...shut up.”