The Space Opera Working Thread

reply to post by nenothtu

Great stuff that... Hey, maybe during the 'enchantment' the Dragon made you take off your duds?
Kind of like a self pealing banana before he started to chomp you up? Could go that way, why not?

I've been working on adding blood and spray and gore but it's looking more like You, Sslar and the Dragon had a food fight with cherry jelly.

I'll keep at it... It's a great learning experience...

reply to post by silo13

...Hey, maybe during the 'enchantment' the Dragon made you take off your duds?...

*BIAD gulps and blushes* Can Dragons really make you do that?

*Whispering to himself and clutching the hem of his dress*
must hold on, must hold on, must hold on...

Great pics Neno... I'm trying to 'add' some texture to them and certainly don't mean
any disrespect... just me banging about, here's a mess I made earlier!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cda8f7212e12.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by A boy in a dress


I wouldn't worry about "disrespect" - You folks have the conn from here concerning the pictures, because I've done all I can do with 'em!

That picture is what I was talking about when I said it needed to be "gored-up" a bit.Whoever heard of a bloodless stabbing with a claymore or a bloodless gnawing with 9" serrated scimitar fangs? The skeletons are also a welcome addition - I didn't want to have to hunt them down and deploy them in 3D - I'd have still been at it this time next year!

Great post, BIAD!

Should have embedded your gore besmeared version of the picture in the post, right after the 12th paragraph ( the one that reads:
"Pachua roared into the roof of the cave as the Caliburn pierced his flame-wrapped heart and
the writhing of his body scattered bones like spilled dominoes. Neno pushed the sword even
further and a grunt of exertion was his only sound. ")

I half expected neno to light his cigar from the flame on his arm before extinguishing it!

BTW, I just noticed that the big knife on neno's hip in your picture resembles a cross between an "Arkansas Toothpick" in my collection and the old Celtic bronze "short swords" found in the British Isles over the years, which I have a peculiar fondness for... now I gotta GET me one of those, even if I have to make it myself!

reply to post by A boy in a dress

BIAD - Great posts! Really enjoyed them both! I've got a follow up to post about Adam and how the group will enjoy their victory - or not? I can't wait to see what happens! Andddd, well, I was in hopes somehow that stiletto heal of yours was going to come into the dragon killing. Oh well. Maybe next time.

I have to tell you though I kind of got the old 'Space Opera Shudder' when I read the part about Silo's bazooms busting her bodice... I had a friend ask me for a picture last night. I've been in the sun (picking cherries) for the last week and I'm reallly brown (and red) - but it makes a nice contrast to the 'white' skin on top... So, there I was trying to set up the camera for 2 shots, jump unto place on my chair, look up and say 'macaroni' and on the second shot my, well, my 'bodice' fell down! ROTFL! So I got that first shot - the nice demure, batting my eyelashes at the camera shy young thing pose, but the next one I was pulling a 'Janet Jackson'! And this morning I read poor Silo had a boobinis bust out too!? 'Insert Jaws theme song here'...

Have a great Day! You've made mine!

Wow... I didn't know Adam was dead until...just now. I'm gonna miss him. I really liked his strong 'braw' character.

Well damn, now I'm crying... *sniffles*

Oh! And good job there BIAD! I knew that heel would come in handy for something! Plus I figured you'd rather use that heel instead of taking a chance on breaking a nail.

Later all!

reply to post by silo13


I'm pondering whether to allow Muckles to re-attach the heel with the
substance inside the tongue of Pachua, that way it pulls the old bag
further into the group!

Now for the next part of the show!...

reply to post by silo13


I'd pay perfectly good money for that second picture!

I couldn't figure out a way to make the broken heel work in the dragon slaying. I tried, but the dragon already had 3 antagonists, and I couldn't see BIAD disregarding Tibb's prohibition that "this was something neno had to do on his own". That sort of reminded me of a scene in Firefly, where the captain (Malcolm) is fighting an antagonist, and has been thrown over a rail, near to meeting his doom. Two crew members appear, and Jayne, the mercenary type, is about to blast the antagonist and save the captain, when the other one, an old war buddy of the captain, stops Jayne and says "no, this is something he's got to do on his own". Captain Mal's eyes go wide, and he says "NO! It's really not!" whereupon the two crewmen dispatch the antagonist in all haste.

I can see that scenario working here, since neno seems to be pretty pragmatic as concerns assistance when he's about to take a butt kicking! "By any means, fight, but by ALL means, fight!"

So far, my 'net hasn't been cut off, and the equipment for the new internet didn't arrive yesterday as promised, so I'm flying by wire here for the time being. I checked, and it appears there's a good chance that this new internet may be functional at work, too, so between that and this refurbished laptop (which I had to refurbish AGAIN Saturday - it developed apparently insurmountable problems - couldn't find the boot sector on the hard drive - which I promptly surmounted) It should serve to alleviate some of the sheer boredom between patrols.

Speaking of patrols, I saw 3 deer, a blue heron, and what was either a really HUGE red fox, coyote, or red wolf while on patrol this past weekend. Add those to the otter and the osprey (neither of which I knew lived around here until I saw 'em with my own eyes). I dearly DO love it out there in the green!

Just read your most recent post, Silo. Great work there! It brings the reality of "contact" right to the front - the death and destruction, the fact that it's not always the "other guys" that take the beating and pay the price.

Sometimes, your own just never come home unless they're carried by others.

It brought a tear to my jaundiced old eye, so I'd have to say it works, and with some power!

The scene where neno takes a beating from Dag, and just tries to pin her arms to minimize it, rather than beating back reminded me of my first wife. A red-headed spitfire, that one was! She'd occasionally get what they affectionately call "the red ass" at me, and try to beat the hell out of me, for no good reason that I could figure out. Generally, I did just what neno did there - pinned her arms in a bear-hug, and held on for dear life until she wore herself out trying to get loose. Took a couple of hours, some times.

Only one time, when she drew a leg back to kick me while I was trying to eat a supper I'd had to cook for myself after work, did she realize she may have over-stepped her boundaries. All I did then was push back my chair and stand up, ready to meet the assault, and probably meet it with some malice. Must've been the look in my eye, but that kick never landed. She just said "one of these nights yer gonna die in yer sleep!" and stomped off in a huff. I never died in my sleep, but there may be a good reason she's an "ex" now! For what it's worth, we got along a lot better after the divorce than we did before it, and I'd say we're "friends" now!

Just another one of those Space Opera "coincidences" that make you go "hmmmm..."

reply to post by nenothtu


Hi Neno,

... I saw 3 deer, a blue heron, and what was either a really HUGE red fox, coyote, or red wolf
while on patrol this past weekend. Add those to the otter and the osprey (neither of which
I knew lived around here until I saw 'em with my own eyes).
I dearly DO love it out there in the green! ...

You're a wildman of the woods, huh?!!

reply to post by A boy in a dress


Well, it's a lot closer to being "home" than this brick fortress in the ghetto in which I live! My "ride" to and from work is regularly late in picking me up (3 hours late yesterday, after a 12 hour shift) and folks can't quite figure out why I never get upset and out of sorts about it!

Now if I can get that internet option to work out there in the green, I may NEVER come home!

reply to post by nenothtu

I couldn't figure out a way to make the broken heel work in the dragon slaying. I tried, but the dragon already had 3 antagonists, and I couldn't see BIAD disregarding Tibb's prohibition that "this was something neno had to do on his own".

Yeah, a little semantics there... I mean he did do it on his own... Just forgot to cut off the head, which means the dragon was dead but not dead dead... Something a character brought up way back when - sorry I can't remember who it was.

Strange as it sounds (maybe to an outsider but not to you two) - I didn't know Adam was gone until he was gone. And that whole Dag thing? I just gotta shake my head. I wrote it the first time without the 'beating' scene, that Neno just held her. Then I got mad. So mad Adam was gone. And then there's poor Dag, who'd finally 'found herself in him' - and is now alone. Yeah, it pissed me right of royal and I just wanted to hit...ermmm I mean, Dag just wanted to hit something! (Damn, I have red hair too). EEEKKK!



BIAD Would be kinda cool to have a pair a red spike heals stuck together with dragon slobber. I mean, it's magic isn't it - and who knows what kind of magic dragon spit contains? What ever it is I bet it could come in handy later when the groups in deep black pickles and no way out!



Added Note: Out in the boonies there Neno? Have a fine time of it! Great stuff that. Keep your eyes open for the tall woolly ones!

BIAD:

I hope you don't mind, but I used your version of the Dragon Slayer picture in my most recent post. I'd have liked it to be somewhat bigger, but it still works better than my version, as is. If you have objections, let me know, and it can be zapped right out of there.

Silo13:

Yup, out in the boonies for 12 hours a day or so, 3 days a week. I'm loving it - it sure beats working for a living! I always insisted when I was younger that the ideal situation in life was to be able to make a living "working" at something that was really a hobby, and I've pretty much found that niche.

I can't complain.

Oh, and in the final analysis, neno DIDN'T kill the dragon on his own. it's likely that he would have been eaten without the intervention of Sslar, and Silo. Silo's crossbow bolt blinding the dragon on one side gave it a blind spot that neno exploited, and the combined efforts of Silo and Sslar enraged Pachua to the point where it could no longer think straight, which enabled the final blow.

Then BIAD stepped in and covered neno's back when his end was upon him, unawares. All that will have to be acknowledged in a post. No one after St George can slay a dragon all alone. The team here is a team, not a demi-god and a support crew. No matter what posterity records, we all know what REALLY happened, don't we?

Yup, we all know how it really went down, in spite of what the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson choose to write AFTER the events!

reply to post by nenothtu

Oh, and in the final analysis, neno DIDN'T kill the dragon on his own.

Yeah, I know... Was just making sure Tibbs didn't get his nose out of joint. I'm sure it will turn out it was the right thing to do all along... I hope!

Enjoy your boonies!

reply to post by nenothtu

let me know, and it can be zapped right out of there...

It's all yours and I lay it at your Dragon-stomping feet!

This ain't neno's first rodeo at eating "dragons".

I refer you to this post, which was my first post in the story, and contains the following passage:

Just the memory of Khalamzadar produced an involutary shudder. He still had nightmares about it, and expected he always would have them. It wasn't an entirely negative experience, though. It had it's moments. For example, there was that inquisitive newby in the party that rescued him. THAT memory brought an involuntary, toothy, grin. He probably shouldn't have done that, but he couldn't help himself.

It started out when he took them back to his camp, to show them what life on the wild side of Khalamzadar was like - and the whole planet was the wild side. when they got to the camp, the newby noticed an indefinable "something" hanging over the campfire, looking like a section of ribs.

"What's that?" the newby queried.
"Uktena ribs" was Neno's response.
"Could you be more specific? what's an 'uktena'?"
"Cherokee mythology, earthside, tells about a giant, horned snake called an uktena. Now, this here critter LOOKS like a snake, a really big 'un, but its got sort of 'pincers' on the sides of it's head, at the corners of it's mouth. It uses 'em to hold and rake in whatever it catches, and they look sort of like prehensile deer antlers. since it looked like a horned snake, I named the species 'uktena'. That there is a section of ribs out of one. It was gonna be supper, before you folks saved my day."

Mr Newby blanched, and replied "You were going to eat a SNAKE?"

Nenothtu studied him for a split second, and without cracking a grin replied "Why hell yeah I was gonna eat it. Scroggin' thing would've eaten me! Fair's fair, ain't it? There's enough left if you wanna try a bite. It ain't half bad."

Newby turned pale and headed back for the rescue ship at a fast pace, Neno's cackling laugh wafted after him. Good times, eh?

Looks like there are just some bad habits he can't seem to shake!

"Cherokee mythology, earthside, tells about a giant, horned snake called an uktena. Now, this here critter LOOKS like a snake, a really big 'un, but its got sort of 'pincers' on the sides of it's head, at the corners of it's mouth. It uses 'em to hold and rake in whatever it catches, and they look sort of like prehensile deer antlers. since it looked like a horned snake, I named the species 'uktena'. That there is a section of ribs out of one. It was gonna be supper, before you folks saved my day."

That thing sounds downright nasty, lol.

Was it good?

Edit done!

Have a good one! Don't get et' up by any bears!

Here's a link worth reading...

Writing Mantra: "The only way out is through"

(Speaking on writing)

If you go through the process, you will find your way out.

Every journey has its twists and turns. You may not be able to see where you're heading around the next turn, but the fact is there is a path.

And the only way out is through.

Enjoy!

reply to post by silo13


Yes it is like a journey ans sometimes, memories that are long forgotten can
be found at the roadside. On a rare occasion, a memory can be seen standing
in your way... blocking your journey.
Only through symbolism and a hope to make better any of these dreams and
recalls, can we progess along the pathway and reach the goal that the writer
and the reader wants to acheive.

Or you're just plain crazy!!

reply to post by A boy in a dress

Dang but those legs just keep getting longer and longer!

Ok, Got a question.

You brought up Silo's 'father'... That has me really intrigued.

The original Silo was 'made' at LAB. But, there was question of U-Man DNA slipped into the 'soup' that made her. Trying to keep some kind of bloodline alive. Which fits right in with The Neno story line!!! (ALL COOL)!!!

So, LAB 'made' the original S.I.L.O including some specific DNA, then destroyed the other 1-12 Silo's.

My question.

Who at LAB wanted to make sure Silo had that DNA needed to make Neno, and, who would be the 'second' Silo's father be?

Interesting stuff that. Nothing that needs to be answered right now but something to keep in mind maybe?



PS - Are you gonna get that heel fixed or start carrying it strapped to your thigh? THAT sounds way cool.