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Challenge #01939-E115: Baby's First Flight

I'll spread my wings and learn to fl- oh, crap, sorry, I didn't mean to knock that over. I underestimated my wingspan. -- TheDragonsFlame

The thing about wings is, they're the largest part of any flying creature's anatomy. They have to be. In order to independently lift one's own body-weight, most of that weight has to be doing the heavy lifting. And if you're flapping to do it... well... there's a reason why the largest flying birds in the world employ the strategy of gliding for most of their flight time.

And flight muscles burn a lot of fat. You can't just paste wings onto human-like arms and expect them to act like an angel's. For a start, the leverage is all wrong. And all of these arguments were cycling around the engineering sections of Project Kymera. A combination Black-Ops and Sub-Rosa scientific project to create the Enlisted Man. Again. And like all projects of its ilk, it was doomed before someone even thought it was a good idea.

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Challenge #01938-E114: Shark Generosity

Temptation comes in many forms, 30% off for one. -- Knitnan

Sale season was something Shayde was used to happening during the new financial year. Something that this new age didn't have. What they had, instead, was tax season. Which lead to the tax season charity sales. Excess stock that the companies could no longer afford to store, was to be sold at a discount to those who could otherwise not afford it.

Shayde, who could afford anything she liked now-a-days, still

Challenge #01937-E113: Very Important Tools

Why on Earth would you ever need more than one of those? -- Anon Guest

"Listen. There is a philosophy about the right tool for the right job. And these tools all have a different job."

"But six different spatulas? Why?"

"This one's best for scrambling. This one's best for tossing. This one can flip a pancake with ease. This one is good for chasing things around on a griddle," the chef laid them out as he spoke. "This one's excellent for

Challenge #01936-E112: Recurring Pathology

You finally decide to re-arrange or clean up an area and find stuff. -- Knitnan

"This is not a collection," said Rael. "This is a hoard."

Eyah sighed. "Yeah. I might have a problem."

Rael leveled a ersatz-telepathic Look at his fellow Faiize. It said, You may have made the biggest understatement since some alleged genius claimed that black holes are 'a bit heavy'.

"Okay. Yes. I have a problem. I can not stay away from glittery objects. I mean... I have

Challenge #01935-E111: The Brat Who Would Be King

The modern 'royal' needs the stamina of a marathon runner, the patience of Job, the ability to be pleasant to the most boring bunch of Social Climbers and have a cast iron bladder. She must also be a Constitutional Law expert and a crack shot. The rest of you just have to put up with anyone who wins a popularity contest. -- Anon Guest

You may have heard the words, Nobles oblige, or, uneasy rests the head that wears a crown. These

Challenge #01934-E110: True Tall Tale

You can find out a lot about a Nation by reading it's 'fairy tales'. -- Anon Guest

Civilisation tells stories. Oral history, moral fables, just-so legends, and in the case of humans, rampant fiction that builds and mutates as it goes. And every now and again, you meet the Fae Tales. Stories of otherworldly beings who have mental processes that squirm like worms, who steal children for laughs, who either prey on the mad or avoid them like the plague. There's something

Challenge #01933-E109: Once Upon an Adventure

We 'narrative apes', don't just tell stories, we play games to pass the time. -- Knitnan

Humans are an inventive lot. They invented inspired desperation as a survival instinct. They invented fiction to make their lives more interesting. They're one of the few cogniscent species and the only known Deathworlders to have boredom. They can multitask, and some of them can multitask, apparently, faster than light. Some are capable of multitasking with mind-boggling precision. Others can't remember what they were doing two

Challenge #01932-E108: Cute, Fluffy, Dangerous

It looks adorable, acts so very cute, and even smells attractive. Don't go near it with barge pole. There's got to be some huge catch. -- Anon Guest

Humans are bizarre. At any given moment, they will attempt to tame and then ride any beast bigger than one of their domestic canids[1]. They will coo over and attempt to pet any given venomous or aggressive creature. But it was on the planetary system WEP969HU84I, nicknamed Planet Cutiekiller, that another aspect of

Challenge #01931-E107: What Does it See?

...I gazed into the sun. You would not see it unless you were looking, but it was there. There was a pupil, an iris, cornea... Then... the sun... blinked. -- Anon Guest

It took less than a second. Just like any blink you or I may know. Nobody else saw it because you just don't look at the sun unless you want to risk going blind. Plus this is the sort of thing that you could literally blink and miss.

There had

Challenge #01930-E106: Deathworlder Rituals

You can’t not look at explosions. -- TheDragonsFlame

There were warning signs up surrounding Unsuitable Food Eat. Humans celebrating inside. Small, harmless explosions expected. Fireworks warning. And a pictogram of sparks and explosions with an alert sign. Even the newest of Havenworlders to the Galactic Alliance learned that Humans liked to celebrate with sparking fireworks, loud noises, and shocking expulsions of streamers, as well as other loud noises.

And inside, was a typical Human party. Loud people. Loud accessories. Loud clothing.

Challenge #01929-E105: Wrong Hostages!

You’d be surprised at how much stuff you can screw up with 24 hours, the proper motivation, and a screwdriver. -- TheDragonsFlame

Rael glared at the human in his company. "Do you mean literally, as in fasten, or figuratively, as in ruin?"

A devilish grin. "Ruin," said Shayde, already digging into her extradimensional pockets. Not even dragging their contents out into what passed for the light. Finding what she wanted by feel. One tool emerged. A relatively small swiss army knife.

Challenge #01928-E104: Tag, You're Undead!

The homo genus utilized the persistence hunt as one of its primitive hunting strategies. The homo genus, including homo sapiens, is remarkably well suited for this. We are relatively hairless for mammals (it's actually just much thinner than most mammals' hair), bipedal, sweat over-actively, and our legs (from the soles of the feet to the connection at the hip joint) are very well suited to distance running.

With that said ... I just learned that a few Kenyan villagers ran down a cheetah

Challenge #01927-E103: Clean-out in Aisle Seventy

The joys of 'Bargain bins' and 'end of Season' clearances. -- Anon Guest

Sale (n): A period of time in which retail emporiums lower the prices of their merchandise to cost or slightly below cost to save on storage fees. -- The Cynical Dictionary.

Wise men said that only fools rushed in. They were the ones who spent their savings on shiny gimcrack that wouldn't even last a weekend. Therefore, when the doors opened on the Big Box Mart Once A Year

Challenge #01926-E102: Science Fiction, Double Feature

Let's hear it for all those cheesy Z grade movie monsters. -- Anon Guest

Shayde had started another side business. The facade declared it to be Armpit Theatre Entertainment. And a placard on one of the windows proudly proclaimed, We show the worst that humanity has to offer! Closer inspection revealed a subtitle to that which read, Yelling at the screen is encouraged if you are funny.

Was this one of her jokes on the rest of civilisation? Or was she making

Challenge #01925-E101: Tragedy Tomorrow

Today's program consists of the Men's choirs, Poetry reading, original, Poetry reading from one of the set poems, and children's dance. (See The Goodies, "Eisteddfod from the Welsh. Eistedd, bored. Fod, stiff.") -- Anon Guest

Colony worlds, once cut off from their progenitor planet, have to deal with what they've got. B'Nar took everything nerd-related with them owing to the fact that it was settled by genetic engineering companies and their nerdy, nerdy staff. And their equally nerdy families. The assembled Greater

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Challenge #01939-E115: Baby's First Flight

Challenge #01938-E114: Shark Generosity

Challenge #01937-E113: Very Important Tools

Challenge #01936-E112: Recurring Pathology

Challenge #01935-E111: The Brat Who Would Be King

Challenge #01934-E110: True Tall Tale

Challenge #01933-E109: Once Upon an Adventure

Challenge #01932-E108: Cute, Fluffy, Dangerous

Challenge #01931-E107: What Does it See?

Challenge #01930-E106: Deathworlder Rituals

Challenge #01929-E105: Wrong Hostages!

Challenge #01928-E104: Tag, You're Undead!

Challenge #01927-E103: Clean-out in Aisle Seventy

Challenge #01926-E102: Science Fiction, Double Feature

Challenge #01925-E101: Tragedy Tomorrow