Kobold King

I'm embarrassed to say there aren't many issues keeping me away, but I'm... rather disconnected from the RP and keep having a hard time getting back into the current moment of it. I'll do my best.

2 hours ago, Cognizantastic said:

@Kobold King, I'm going to be completely honest.

Nothing of import in the plot can happen without your characters.

I can't say that I understand your IRL circumstances, but I still thought I'd put that out there.

Which character should I make my highest priority?

11 hours ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

This month, I thought I'd come in under my word count goal. You see, I wound up writing about 1,700 words that I soon cut, as they didn't match the rest of the story. So, to try and make up for that, I wrote a little extra each day, pushing myself to write a little more than usual. 

The result? Even subtracting the 1,700 words I cut, I'm still nearly 3,500 words over my goal for this month.  

That's awesome!

And it reminds me I really should make a word count goal for myself too.

8 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I wanted to give blood in high school, but I was too skinny. 

Considering I'm now underweight enough that I'm trying to gain weight, and that it's been a losing battle so far, I don't think I'd be able to give blood now, either. :/

On the bright side... you don't have to worry about vampires?

1 minute ago, Kaymyth said:

Ahh!  You've snuck back in again!  Just when I thought that I was the last pony avatar standing...

Clearly you must duel to the death.

There can be only one.

2 hours ago, Hemalurgic_Headshot said:

Have you even noticed that most dystopian novels are set in the United States (or what's left of it)? The Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, Steelheart... Why don't we have a dystopian India? I would read a dystopian India novel, or for that matter, a dystopian Australia too.

What would dystopian India be like?

Not a novel, but I believe Mad Max: Fury Road is set in Australia.

EDIT: Also, 1984 is set in Great Britain.

4 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I'd read that.  So is she the only one, or are there other heroes like her? 

She founded a group of heroes called the Knights Nine, after it became clear that even with her own Superman-esque power set she simply wasn't enough to take on a universe of threats on her own.

The problem is... a good number of these "heroes" are themselves dangerous maniacs who only consented to join her team after she thwarted their various plots and convinced them that they'd be better off fighting for her to protect the world. They include among their roster a mutant man-lion with a hunger for human flesh, a billionaire inventor who engages in some incredibly morally dubious research programs, a pair of sociopathic children with the powers of super speed and teleportation, and a literal angel who was banished from heaven for attempting to jumpstart the apocalypse and end humanity and all its wickedness in a scourge of radiant fire.

The world, safe to say, is not in the best hands.

(If you're interested in hearing any more, I'd rather take it to PMs. I actually intend to write stories based in this one and don't want to reveal all the spoilers out in the open. :ph34r:)

2 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

So what if this new setting?

It's a superhero setting of my very own, actually. It's jam packed with alien armadas, malevolent spirits, evil demigods, science fiction technologies gone horribly wrong, and other horrible things that constantly threaten a beleaguered superheroine's goal of preventing humanity from being annihilated within her lifetime.

It's a losing fight.

3 hours ago, Mistbornwithakitty said:

I'm 5'6 and the shortest of all my friends (5'8 to 6'2 guys and gals).   It's kind of nice, but infuriating too. 

Especially when they look down at me and say "You're just so short!". 

Why yes, I'm so glad you finally noticed.

Smirk slightly and tell them that one day they will make admirable step stools.

3 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

Ooh. Same setting as the one you'd done some worldbuilding on before vanishing into the Nethersphere lurking for a while?  

You so spectacularly overestimate my attention span.

1 hour ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

That's creepy. Pretty sure I'd have trouble sleeping for months after reading it. 

You should totally write it.

That could actually potentially fit in the setting I've been working on here lately... I'll have to keep you updated.

25 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Chickens though.

Flight is actually surprisingly vital for a healthy, natural chicken. They use it to get onto high branches and evade predators.

21 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

One theory I heard was that, at its most basic level, we fear the uncanny valley because we fear corpses. Robots, puppets, that oil painting you made in seventh grade art class—those things all look almost human without quite getting there. They look close to real people without being them. And what is the ultimate and most familiar thing that looks like a real person but isn't really one?

A corpse. 

So when you're watching The Polar Express, trying to connect with the characters and story but unable to shake that vague sense of unease coiling in the pit of your stomach, it's just your brain whispering, "Corpses! Corpses everywhere…." 

Of course, there's also room for ancient evil spirits masquerading as people, or aliens doing the same.  

Evil alien spirits masquerading as corpses?

Consider the uncanny valley. The inexplicable discomfort and even fear that we feel when confronted with something that looks human but isn't quite there, like puppets, animatronics, clowns, or tax collectors. There's something in our brains that tells us when something is pretending to be human but very definitely isn't one.

Consider biology. Nature is cheap. No animal has an ability that they don't need. You don't find a flying creature that doesn't ever have to fly. You don't find a fast creature that never has to run.

So riddle me this.

What evolutionary pressure made spotting the inhuman so necessary for us?

11 hours ago, Cognizantastic said:

Arsenal: Operative Espinoza, for this training exercise you need to select either a yet-unstated query, or a challenge of your nerve as an agent. I'm told the civilians call it "Truth or Dare". So, soldier, what do you choose?

Adelmo: I choose the yet-unstated query, sir.

*Arsenal leans intimidatingly close*

Arsenal: Were YOU the one to introduce Florist to marijuana, leading him to plant that Satan's Cabbage in near-every open spot of soil in the Dalles?

Adelmo: ...

Arsenal: ...

Adelmo: I shift my request to challenge of nerve, sir.

*Arsenal reclines in his seat with a devilish gleam in his eye*

Arsenal: Request accepted. I challenge you to ride to Portland with minimal support, alone in an war-torn city where you will likely be murdered by resident Epics or starving locals, all in pursuit of a target of minuscule strategic value.

Adelmo: ON MY WAY, SIR.

*Adelmo hops on a motorcycle and rides away without another word*

Arsenal: ...No excuse for the Devil's Lettuce he got spread everywhere, but Calamity is that man a soldier.

...wait, this sounds suspiciously like something that could have happened in canon.  

Why did you post your What Happened in The Dalles post here instead of on the main thread as a flashback?

1 hour ago, StrikerEZ said:

Did you know there's a city in Missouri called Mexico?

So they're the ones who are going to pay for Trump's wall!

7 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

That's much more workable than a concept that best lends itself to a beak mask and parachute pants made out of faux fur.  

I mean, no one ever said the themes were mutually exclusive...

2 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I have tried four times already to find any potential iteration of that costume that isn't at least 95% ridiculous. 

I have concluded that it is impossible.  

Do you think Batman gave up after just four tries? Do you think the Green Lantern came up with his iconic suit the first try without having to scrap his original idea of actually wearing a giant painted lantern? It just takes more effort!

13 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

My train of thought a minute ago: 

Wayne Manor —> Malfoy Manor —> Personal loss —> criminals roaming free —> Bruce Wayne clutching the mantelpiece wrestling with his own cowardice —> Draco Malfoy doing the same thing —> An AU fic where, instead of fading into the background like a good defeated bully, Draco uses the family money to help the Aurors take down the rest of Voldemort's forces as a costumed vigilante.  

Except there are no bats around Malfoy Manor for him to be traumatized by as a young child, so there's not really an animal he could be particularly frightened of-

Wait.

...

Hippogriff Man.

On 1/27/2017 at 8:28 PM, Cognizantastic said:

Today, I found out that security guards at our school get weekly emails with a "new couple" list of the names of students suspected to be an item, so they can better identify who to keep from kissing and such.

The anti-PDA forces here are mildly terrifying. 

Just out of curiosity, is the entire guard squad made up of dead-eyed men who shamble from place to place with a lifeless gait, reporting to a professor in a green bowler hat who really hates kissing for some reason?

1 hour ago, Quiver said:

That awkward moment when you have an observation to make about modern comic storytelling, and don't have the time to make it. 

So...anyone who is interested, I will have a rambley comment to make about Marvel after work.

I wanna hear!

Just now, The Queen Mother said:

*Tosses meditation rock at Kobold's head.*

She shoots! She scores!

You just made the Buddha cry. :'(

2 minutes ago, The Queen Mother said:

Ahem. I don't believe that that's quite what I said. We need to get rid of some of our crap regardless of my current reading material. :-) I only mentioned "attachment" because of the way that you hit the fetal position at the mere idea of giving away a book.

That's totally what you said. I heard you clear as day from your meditation rock.

5 hours ago, The Honor Spren said:

Now I didn't know this at the time, but we were NEAR THE SAME SPOT MY SON DIED, IS THAT WHY--

Either you had a son and a very tragic story I missed hearing about during my hiatus or there's a reference here I'm not getting.

@The Queen Mother has been reading a lot of Buddhist literature and has decided we need to purge our household of attachment to worldly things. As a result we're getting rid of a lot of books for which we have the e-book copies of, as they currently sit on our shelves and are never ever touched.

We have the complete Wheel of Time series in hardcover, all seven Harry Potter books, and both The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Very slight wear on some of them; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was dropped a while ago and has a broken spine.

Anyway, we're willing to send them off to someone on the forum if they want 'em. They're all free for the price of postage; you can PM @The Queen Mother for details and arrangements.

EDIT: The two Stormlight books have been claimed.

EDIT 2: The Wheel of Time books are going, going... and gone. Remaining are the Harry Potter books and the complete Alcatraz series.

EDIT 3: The Harry Potter books are now gone.

EDIT 4: The Alcatraz books are now gone. That's all, folks!

52 minutes ago, The Honor Spren said:

That was a fun one to draw!

  Hide contents

I went ahead and read a little bit of What Happened in Portland for extra information. At first I thought that I could draw him with his vulture on his arm, but then I realized that I don't know how to draw a vulture and while making a picture for someone else is not the best time to learn. So, I imagine this as him giving Funtimes the death glare for turning his radio into a piece of steak.

I am beaming ear to ear right now. This is utterly fantastic and you should feel utterly fantastic. 

...the Queen Mother looked at this and said immediately that without his hat and glasses he'd look a lot like me. Given how strikingly close this is to how I envision him in my head, I am now pondering the implications of my apparently having subconsciously modeled my insane necromantic supervillain off of myself.