datalaughing
Abilene, TX
Joined Oct 2004
Member #2,050
Posts
If there are any Brandon Sanderson fans out there, check out the new podcast I'm hosting, The Sanderlanche (https://www.thesanderlanche.com/). Three people who have never read any of his stuff before are experiencing it for the first time while I kind of shepherd them through it. Then we discuss the content a couple of chapters at a time. We're currently reading The Final Empire, the first book in Mistborn Era 1.
Vigo the Carpathian is watching you.
Testing
Posts on the new version of the site don't wrap back to this version. What happens if I post something here. Does it go over there? Or are they fully separate?
Look what's coming.
Cat names and a tie
So there's been no new Fantasy Fights round because the previous round is tied. In the past, my approach has always been first to wait a few days, which I've done. No solution. Then I usually threaten to either count my own vote twice or not count my own vote at all, whichever I randomly decide is more appropriate. So if you haven't voted yet, you have a little bit longer before I do one of those two.
So I mentioned in my last post that we're going to get a third cat. The breeder has our deposit. So now we're just waiting for it to be old enough to leave mommy. I've started thinking about names. Jennifer got to name both Dimitri and Katya. So now it's my turn. We're getting a Russian Blue kitten. So the idea is the name, like the other two has to be at least vaguely Russian-sounding or Eastern European. So I'm trying to come up with something good. Anyone got suggestions? Right now, my favorite is naming him Vigo the Carpathian. Then he can be the Scourge of Carpathia and the Sorrow of Moldavia. But I'm still weighing options. We've got time, after all.
Fantasy Fights: Magic over Might
Previous round results:
Magneto levitates by manipulating the metal on his own body, and Aang laughs and sends himself into the air on his glider by manipulating the wind. Magneto sends nearby pieces of metal flying at the boy, but in classic airbender fashion, Aang just slips out of the way of everything. The young air nomad isn't carrying any metal on his person. So nothing for Magento to latch onto. The Avatar leads the master of magnetism a merry chase through the skies, until he lures him close to a body of water and changes tactics. Aang drops like a stone into the water, and when Mageto approaches to look for him, a pillar of water bursts up over him and then freezes, trapping him into a block of ice. Aang wins.
Black Canary starts out the fight with her signature Canary Cry, but Harry reacts quickly, raising a sonic barrier between them. The soundwaves dissipate completely on contact. Harry quickly counters with an invisible lance of force, knocking her off her feet. As she leaps back up in one fluid motion, Dresden closes the distance and baseball swings his wizard staff into her head, knocking her out cold. The wizard takes it.
This round
Link vs Vin
Link is the legendary hero of Hyrule and very multi-talented. He beats up giant monsters, solves ancient puzzles and rescues princesses. Recently he's even become a mean cook. He's got the Master Sword, a powerful blade imbued with mystical evil-banishing powers. He's also got the Hyrule shield and his loyal steed Epona.
Vin is a mistborn, the most powerful of allomancers. A mistborn can burn any of the allomantic metals, which makes a trained mistborn practically an army in and of themselves, and Vin is one of the best. For those not familiar with allomancy, an explanation is necessary. An allomancer swallows certain metals, and then burns them inside of their bodies to imbue them with different powers depending on what the metal is. Iron and steel allow an allomancer to detect and then pull or push on nearby metal objects. This lets them travel quickly by pulling themselves toward metal or dropping metal (like coins) and pushing off of it to soar through the air. It can also be used to push a piece of metal into (or maybe through) someone else. Tin enhances the senses (which can be good and bad). Pewter gives the allomancer enhanced strength, balance, speed, endurance, and the ability to ignore pain. Zinc and brass let the allomancer manipulate the emotions of others. Some much rarer metals allow the user to do things like manipulate time in small bubbles, but the only super metal Vin ever used was atium, which allows the user to see a few seconds into the future, and thus anticipate the moves of their opponent. Vin is also an expert with a dagger, though as an allomancer she has to be concerned about carrying metal when facing other allomancers. So her dagger will be made of glass or stone, which makes it brittle.
Mr. Stay Puft vs The Flash
Mr. Stay Puft was a corporate mascot for marshmallows until he became the enormous Avatar of Gozer, the Traveler (thanks, Ray). He's a 112-foot tall behemoth made of marshmallow, and he's evil, crushing innocent humans and churches with equal disregard. He's kind of slow and lumbering, but he's also very tough. The ghostbuster's proton packs singed him some, but were ultimately ineffective until they crossed the streams to close the doorway that allowed Gozer into our world. If not for that he might never have been defeated.
The Flash is fast. Like really crazy fast. He's a hero, wise-cracking, fun-loving and just stupid fast. That's kind of all there is to him, really.
Pick one winner from each round.
Cat stuff ups and downs
New Fantasy Fights should go up tomorrow. If you haven't voted in the previous round, here's the link:
But this is about cats. So any of you who read this other journal may remember that a few months ago, we adopted a cat from a rescue in Dallas. Dimitri is a Nebelung cat who quickly decided that I was his human. He follows me around, sits in his cat tower at the window next to me on days I work from home and sleeps next to my head. He's pretty great. Here he is stealing my pillow:
Jennifer, however, is very jealous that the cat likes me best. When we decided to get a cat in the first place, we decided after much research that a Russian Blue had exactly the temperament we were looking for. So we got on a waiting list with a breeder of Russian Blues. We were a bit impatient. So we ended up adopting Dimitri pretty quickly after that. Now, about 5 months down the line, Jennifer was getting impatient again. Dimitri loves me and is a little stand-offish at times with other people, including her. She wants a cat who wants her to pet them. So a couple weeks ago I started looking at local animal shelters/rescues for a cat that would fit her criteria. That's where we found this girl:
on Friday March 9th we went down to the local animal shelter and adopted her. Her name is Katya, and she is friendly with everyone including the kids. So that's nice. I assumed at this point, two cats in, that we would remove ourselves from the breeder's list, but Jennifer said she wanted to stay on it.
We took Katya to the vet on Monday the 12th to get her all checked out. We'd been keeping her separated from Dimitri until then in case it turned out she had anything contagious. The doctor said she was in heat and had an ear infection from ear mites but that we should let the two cats interact anyway because if one cat in the house has ear mites, the other one is going to get it. So we set a date to have her spayed and went home to introduce them.
They don't get along super well. Dimitri is a little bit of a bully to the new cat on the block, and Katya is very timid, always retreating when he starts to follow. I thought maybe he was trying to play and she just wasn't interested. He is less than a year old, and she's 2 according to the pound, though I'm not sure how they determine that. Mostly he just follows her. There's a little hissing on occasion from either of them, and twice we've seen him walk up to her and smack her on the head. She just leaves.
So we introduced them after her vet visit last Monday. The next day, Tuesday the 13th, we get an email from the breeder. They've had a new litter of kittens, and if we still want one, we can have him in May. Jennifer says yes, absolutely. So in a couple of months we're going to have 3 cats. 0-3 in less than a year. That's kind of fast.
Yesterday I take Katya to the vet for her spay appointment. They weigh her, and she's almost a full pound heavier than her first appointment. I was like, wow, she must be living a lot better here than she was on the street or at the pound to be gaining that much weight that quickly.
Today I go back to pick her up, and the doctor explains that the surgery went well. He says, "I had to make a slightly bigger incision than usual because she was pregnant, but I'm sure you knew that." No, no we did not. "She was pregnant?" "Yes, very advanced actually. Probably about 2 months." When I leave I Google cat gestation period. 64-67 days. So if he was right on the two months, she could have had those kittens pretty much any time. Jennifer is outraged that they didn't call or anything to say, hey, by the way, your cat is pregnant, should we continue? I'm not thrilled either. Basically I feel like I just paid to murder a bunch of kittens. Which, not a great feeling, if you were wondering.
Anyway, she's back home and seems to be doing ok. The kids love her because Dimitri is scared of them and won't often let them get too close, while Katya is happy to sit in their laps and be petted. I think she must have been someone's cat before ending up at the shelter. Because she's very chill.
Anyone who has advice on having 3 cats around or helping cats get along with each other better, feel free to chime in. Anyway, that's what's been going on here. How's everyone else?
Fantasy Fights: Tiny But Fierce
100 imaginary points if you can identify the source of the subtitle on this journal.
Last round results:
Jessica Jones vs Ant-Man
Scott quickly shrinks down and starts jumping around and punching Jessica. The hits are powerful, but Jessica can take it. What she can't seem to do is land a hit of her own. He's just too small and quick. So it seems like they're at a stand-still, until Ant-Man tries his last-ditch effort. He grows enormous and moves to step on her instead. It works. Eww.
Quake vs Dark Willow
Daisy throws out an arm to shoot a blast of quake-force at Willow, but the evil magic girl deflects it with a wave of her hand. Then with a second wave, she rips Quake's skin from her body, and that's all she wrote. Once again, eww.
Time for a new round. Hopefully less messy than the last one.
Aang vs Magneto
Aang is the Avatar, master of all 4 bending disciplines. He can manipulate air, water, fire and earth. He can also use the Avatar State a connection to all of his past lives, harnessing the experience and skill of all of his many past lives to do incredible powerful things, such as creating new islands or surviving for 100 years encased in ice.
Magento is the master of magnetism. His ability to manipulate metal ranges from the microscopic to objects the size of buildings or even larger. He can use his powers to make himself fly (by wearing metal on his body) and his manipulation of magnetic fields extends to generating forcefields around himself to block attacks or even survive in space.
Black Canary vs Harry Dresden
Black Canary is an expert in a dozen forms of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. She's one of the top fighters in the DC universe, and that's without her power. The Canary Cry is a sonic shockwave she can create from her mouth that is powerful enough to destroy almost anything in its path if she's trying hard enough.
Harry Dresden is a private investigator and a wizard. He can manipulate the forces of nature. He's most skilled with fire and force, but he's got skills with wind and earth magic as well. His magical foci increase his ability to channel his power. For instance, his blasting rod can help him generate extremely powerful gouts of flame, while his shield bracelet lets him create a shield that can be tuned to block anything from bullets and magic to light and sound. He's got a bullet-proof duster and usually a gun in his pocket.
Pick one winner from each fight.
Fantasy Fights: Rosefall
This round, things weren't even kinda close. Previous round results:
Larfleeze vs M. Bison
Bison comes into the arena and does a bunch of lightning fast punches and kicks and then floats in the air to try and intimidate his opponent. Larfleeze counters by creating a couple of orange light constructs, which grab Bison by his arms and drag him into space where he dies a horrible painful death by vacuum. As they fly off, Larfleeze yells, "And bring back his stuff. It's all mine now!"
Shang Tsung vs Ruby Rose
Ruby is warming up for her fight when she sees her sister Yang approaching. Ruby runs to hug her, only to take a hidden blade straight through the heart. Shang Tsung transforms back into himself and then eats the little huntress's tasty tasty soul.
This round:
Jessica Jones vs Ant-Man
MCU Jessica Jones is super strong, very fast, incredibly durable and has faster than normal healing abilities. She can also fly, sort of, not really. She never really mastered the skill. So it's more like jumping super high and then having more control over the fall than most people would. She's also a mean drunk and quite a capable fighter. And season 2 of her series comes out tomorrow. Woo!
Scott Lang's Ant-Man can get really small and sometimes really big. He's got discs that can cause the same things to happen to objects they hit. It's unclear if they'd work on people, but they work on ants. So there's a good chance. He can also control ants. In addition, he's a very smart engineer and a more-than-capable thief.
Quake vs Dark Willow:
Daisy Johnson aka Quake is an Inhuman with a very versatile ability to make things shake. This can be anything from creating massive seismic activity to blasting a wave of power out of her hands to throw people across the room. She may even be capable of harnessing the power to such a degree that she could destroy a planet. Hence her future nickname, Destroyer of Worlds. She's also an expert in hand-to-hand and weapons combat, trained by Melinda May.
When Willow Rosenberg went back, she went very bad. She has crazy-strong but not super specific magical powers. Examples include, flaying a man alive with a wave of her hand, the ability to absorb the magic of others (even right out of books), telekinesis, controlling fire and lightning, maybe it's easier just to say, she magics. She does magic. She is magical. The end. Sidenote: she too may be capable of single-handedly destroying the world.
Pick one winner from each fight.
Fantasy Fights: Return of the Jedi bias
Previous round results:
Martian Manhunter vs Predator
Angry at being replaced by Cyborg in the Justice League movie, Martian Manhunter is out to prove that feature film bad guys have nothing on him. He comes in swinging. A super-powered punch puts the Predator through the ceiling of the arena and sends him flying. By the time the Martian hero finds where he landed, deep in a nearby forest, the other alien is gone. The Predator has activated his suit's camouflage ability, and since he can't see his opponent, the Manhunter has to reach out with is mind, trying to track the creature. He gets a general direction, if not an exact fix, and heads that way quickly, making himself invisible to match his opponent, and then intangible as well. Floating through trees as he searched, he only finds out that his invisibility isn't effective against the predator's species when a beam of energy passes right through him. He returns fire using his eye beams and just nicks the predator's camouflaged form as it moves away. The laser that missed the Martian Manhunter, though, did not miss the canopy of trees above him. The orange fall leaves light up like a matchstick, and before long, the entire forest is aflame. The Martian Manhunter can't escape and burns. Predator lives to fight another day.
Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Sylar
As they face off against each other, Obi-Wan activates his lightsaber. Sylar looks at it with interest. "Now how does that work, I wonder." And with a casual movement, he telekinetically pulls it from Obi-Wan's hand. However, it pauses in mid-air as Obi-Wan reaches out with the force to pull it back. "Come now, be nice." Sylar says, showing almost no respect for his opponent, and with his other hand he sends out a blast of ice, freezing the jedi's feet to the ground. This distracts Obi-Wan enough for Sylar to pull the saber to his own hand. He then flicks it off as he investigates the strange device, ignoring his immobilized opponent completely. "It's like a laser sword." He says with an interested tone. "The energy is focusing through a crystal, but what powers it." He looks down the barrel of the lightsaber, which proves to be a fatal mistake as Obi-Wan uses the force to reactivate his sword.
This round:
Larfleeze vs M. Bison
Larfleeze is the one and only Orange Lantern. The orange light is powered by Avarice, meaning that to be compatible with its power, you have to be way too selfish to want to share that power. So while the power of say, the green light is spread among all the members of the Green Lantern Corps, the power of the orange light is concentrated solely in Larfleeze. This basically he means he can do anything a Green Lantern can do, but way more powerfully. He also tends to create fake beings with his orange light to go out and do what he wants. It's almost like he has his own lantern corps, they're just all light constructs created and controlled by him, a personal army, if you will.
M. Bison is a megalomaniac with an unbridled lust for power. He is one of the most skilled fighters in the Street Fighter universe, using a martial art he invented. Integral to his fighting art is the Psycho Power that he wields. The power feeds off of hate and anger. It allows him to do things like float, teleport, add an energy component to his strikes and even mind-control some weaker minds.
Shang Tsung vs Ruby Rose
Shang Tsung is a powerful sorcerer who can live forever as long as he keeps consuming the souls of others. His magic is mostly fire-based, allowing him to do things like shoot flaming skulls at people, or create bursts of fire out of nothing. His signature ability, though, is a side-effect of absorbing so many souls. He can change form at will, shapeshifting to take on the appearance of others. It's not just looks, when he takes on the form of someone else, he gets some of their memories and powers as well. Centuries of experience have made him an expert fighter, whatever form he takes.
Leader of Team RWBY, Ruby Rose trained for years to become a huntress, the elite monster killers of Remnant. To this goal, she designed and built her own weapon, the Crescent Rose, an enormous, deadly scythe that she can wield with scary ease and precision. The weapon transforms into a sniper rifle for headshotting opponents from a distance or to fire while flying through the air so she can ride the enormous recoil. Her Semblance allows her to move between two points so quickly that it looks almost like she's teleporting, except for the trails of rose petals she usually leaves in her wake.
Pick one winner from each fight.