CobraToon

Always making up

118 Watchers

49K

Page Views531 Deviations

Latest Deviations

See all

13th Floor by CobraToon, literature

13th Floor

When construction stopped on the half-finished office building near my apartment, they must have thought no one would care to go in. I found a gap in the plastic slat fence surrounding the lot plenty big enough to slip through and after that – no doors or windows or security at all. Just me and the empty shell of twenty all-concrete floors. All I wanted was the stairs. I'd recently heard about some incredible benefits of regular stair-climbing exercise. But I didn't want to climb a floor or two over and over, I wanted ten floors or more. Also somewhere open and empty at midnight, my favorite time for hard cardio. After starting to visit every other night, a small penlight in one hand and my water bottle in the other, I could only do maybe three or four floors before needing to stop and sit down. The rule I'd set for myself was that if I stopped climbing, I had to go all the way back down, do a set of pushups, and try again. Spending about half an hour a night on that routine, I was

Talk and Lies by CobraToon, literature

Talk and Lies

# INT Night # At a corner table in a moderately full bar, there is a group of women wearing a mix of professional and casual clothes, all of them politicians and lawyers and those aspiring to such. CLARA (female in her forties or fifties, friendly queen bee vibe, has big hair and chunky earrings, wears a somewhat rumpled but very nice suit and tie, carries a satchel bag) starts out talking to just the closest people but soon gathers momentum when more at the table begin listening. CLARA It's fine to trust men who talk big, and even to like 'em. Despite everything I’ve seen, for no good reason, I still do. In fact, all my husbands were like good luck charms. I graduated from my second go at college after divorcing my first, passed the bar exam while divorcing the second, and when I ran for election last year, I divorced number three just to do everything I could to help myself. She pauses for the ensuing CHUCKLES from around the table, waiting only until near silence. CLARA What

Phoenix Descending by CobraToon, literature

Phoenix Descending

# Scene 1 – INT Lounge # At the top floor of the second Mars colony's tallest building, there are enough wall and ceiling windows to make the room seem open air. The view outside is reddish desert landscape. Giant artificial habitat domes, gleaming under the morning sun, connect to the main building. Inside there are long couches, sandstone floors, a circular wet bar in the room's center and an elevator door at the only section of wall without windows. Wine bottles dot a few tables, along with mostly-eaten plates of food, cards and games. Five ornate glass chalices sit alone in a place of honor atop the bar, each with a solid stripe under the rim: black, yellow, red, green and blue. The green glass is still filled to the brim while the others are empty. Stretched out fully atop one of the longest couches sleeps PAUL, a giant of a man wearing only a loose undershirt and the gray pants of a uniform. His shoulders and forearms are like broad steel cables, yet his face is chubby and

Phoenix Ascending by CobraToon, literature

Phoenix Ascending

# Scene 1 - INT Housing # Narrow corridor with rationed lighting creating dim pools of illumination amid the darkness. The metal walls have many doors, each about ten feet apart with a perpendicular corridor between every set of five doors. The halls extending off into the distance for perhaps a mile or more. RUS, a slim and wiry man, creeps along the corridor. His clothes seem dark, but in light several uniform stripes of dark forest green can be seen wrapped around his gray sleeves, collar, chest and belt. A sheen of sweat covers his face and his eyes are wide and darting. Silence can't be easy on these metal floors, but he is both silent and quick. At any sounds, from the CREAK of a door to any distant echoing FOOTSTEPS, he pauses. Stopping at one intersection, he glances down to a small wristband device with a faint holographic map display. He peers around a corner at one particular door, then slips off into the darkest shadows of a nearby wall. A teen GIRL in a silver-white

T. Drink Mixer by CobraToon, literature

T. Drink Mixer

I’m given a view into some dingy bar. The sides of my screen show a large catalog of options, from adding various ingredients to shaking, stirring and frosting. A droid with a smiling face peers into my camera. “Dixie dunk with triple slash, raise the roof.” “What?” I scan the buttons again, first for the strange words I heard, then some kind of help screen for understanding orders. “Sorry, I haven’t heard that one. Explain it.” “Come on, man, you’re highly recommended, you should know this.” The operator sighs and holds up a hand to someone at the bar behind them. “Frost the glass, layer in custard soft gelatin starting with green, then red, white and blue, throw in a Dixie-brand dissolver at thirty percent velocity and top with cream and sprinkles. Got that?” Muttering apologies under my breath, I try to hit the frost button I saw earlier. Nothing happens. Then I spot the button to select a glass and tap the first one that looks like a wide custard bowl, which lowers down into my

T. Live Entertainer by CobraToon, literature

T. Live Entertainer

The job places me in a big droid, about as large as the dance club’s bouncer. With huge arms and a barrel body, at first I think I’ll be working as one the opponents in some kind of live action game. All around me are messy, paint-splattered walls of every color. With three doors out and small corridors beyond, I have to guess I’m in some kind of indoor maze. When I try to squeeze out through one of the doors, my nav overlay pops up, flashing and telling me to return to my station. So I stand in the center of the enclosed area and explore the rest of my options, checking what kind of attacks or defenses I might have. What I find are the buttons to ‘Sell Merchandise’ ‘Offer Daily Quest’ or call for help. The merch section includes things like special glasses that allow one to see through walls, modifications for the game’s weapons, plus more ammo and temporary buffs. I’ve been assigned as some kind of in-game vendor. A droid about half my size runs into the room and approaches me.

T. Game Tester by CobraToon, literature

T. Game Tester

The world that appears around me is full of bodies on the ground, soldiers in medieval plate armor fighting, flashes of colorful light zapping past overhead, and beyond that clouds of dust obscuring my vision. I don’t have any time to study more of the scene because in a quick puff of smoke my view shifts from standing among the crowds to crawling on the ground. My body becomes a tiny lizard as warriors rush in and start fighting the group I was in. Glancing around the screen, I find sword-shaped bars that probably represent health or stamina, but nothing for equipment or spells. Moving my feet in their restraints causes the lizard to scuttle around in the chaos, but none of the buttons on my controller seem to have any effect on my form. I can’t seem to jump or attack. All I can do is move. So I run, dashing between stomping legs and fallen soldiers, a maze of mud and steel and cloth. My health bar loses a few points each time an armored boot or downward attack comes near me, but

T. Corporate Purchaser by CobraToon, literature

T. Corporate Purchaser

I’m dropped into some kind of VR hub world with the logo of the United Nations in the center. My overlay includes a list of goods to buy for some anonymous client - and not much else. I look around. The world is set up like most shopping websites, with sections spread out over a 2D plane for food, clothing, electronics, furniture and decorating - but also manufacturing components, private contractor services, public auctions, something called the Trading Floor and a lounge. Everything just looks like boxes, with the section names floating above. Heading into the electronics section, the rows of boxes grow to tower around me. I peer inside one and find a full-size VR store, filled with racks and shelves of goods, but empty of customers. A sign near the door announces a sale on bulk orders of one thousand rigs - last-generation but with built-in projector screens - alongside a projection model of the rig in question. The next box store over offers security cameras in sets of a hundred

T. Film Animator and Public Driver by CobraToon, literature

T. Film Animator and Public Driver

A thin girl in a yellow dress, frozen in time, frolics in a huge field of grass below the bright blue sky. She smiles up into the light, radiant and pure. I have no body. I’m not physically present at all. After a moment I realize I’m in one snapshot of a VR movie, free to move around but stuck in this one moment of time. Looking to the horizons, I spot a few dark clouds off behind the girl, hovering over a tiny hamlet in a valley. The field appears to be at the top of a mountain, and the girl is staring away from the scatter of homes under clouds and off into the bright sunlight. Am I supposed to create everything that happens next? How? The first hand controller button I press turns the entire scene into a wire mesh world, with the girl and the grass given shape while everything else becomes flat background. A message in the sky reads, ‘Geniuses, the grass would be blown by the wind’ Is that the job? I reach over toward the girl but when I try to move her mesh a small message

T. Research Assistant and Media Sorting by CobraToon, literature

T. Research Assistant and Media Sorting

A rat twice my size approaches, nose and whiskers twitching. I hold my controls absolutely still. Even moving this droid’s camera eye could provoke the animal. The jaws open and scrape a few times at my clear, rounded casing. Several teeth look bloody or chipped, with ragged gums. After failing to break the shell open, the big rat spins around, whipping me with a crooked and scarred tail. As the animal exits my starting room, I move to follow behind at a slower pace. The droid they’ve provided me is basically a small orb. A camera floats in the center, always level but able to spin in a circle, while the orb’s clear casing can roll wherever I direct. Cool toys like this must be limited to certain places - like this animal studies lab. The twisting hallways beyond the first room are some kind of mansion for rats. I follow the big rat along a scuffed path in the floor. There’s not many of the vermin at first, but I do see them hiding within dark holes or occasionally scampering

See all

Watching 43

See all

Kevtrev

abonny

Th4rlDEAL

Dinnartz

phantom-inker

ChevreLune

Negaduck9

TheBourgyman

ChaosKomori

shepherd0821

WhistlinFrog

JezMM

Umberoff

TwinDragonsComic

Toivoshi

Watchers 118

See all

TheSergalLad

d4h4lt

bmeirell

Tebby651

Blankxs

skysoul25

SUFIyann

SrKrakenJack

kikaidernexus

burgar

ProudGayBoy

Scorptex115

Random Animation

Favourites

See all

Other Faves

Favourites

See all

Complete Story First Chapters

Pokemon: the Risen - E1 - HTML by CobraToon, literature

Pokemon: the Risen - E1 - HTML

Chapter 0 This time around, things are going to be different. The usual narrator is away and I'll be filling in. Don't worry, I follow his rules, mostly; just a brief introduction and then let the story tell itself. But I should warn you, I don't see this world the way he does. Things will be different, definitely so; I like to think a little realism will go a long way toward making things more interesting. Reality bites, but is all the more wondrous for it. We begin our adventure listening only to night's dry heat. It's too hot for the Kricketots to be still playing and even the Zubats and Hoothoots have gone to roost early. The only creat

My Mind of Murder - E1 by CobraToon, literature

My Mind of Murder - E1

Chapter 1 "Ready? Steady … Fight!" The stands must hold some billions of spectators, world populations seated in a space that questions sanity, tier upon tier of them screaming bloody murder at the two combatants. When one tier of stands has reached far back enough to make viewing the arena impossible due to the sheer distances involved, another tier sits above it, and another and another. Each successive tier is a little higher and a little more sloped, creating a hemispheric dome completed by a small circular glass platform at the very pinnacle for fans to watch down through. The fans in the upper sections must be buckled in, or usin

Family Matters - E1 by CobraToon, literature

Family Matters - E1

INT. FAMILY HOME KITCHEN – MORNING AT SUNRISE Warm kitchen that serves as the central location of the Family house, comfortably cluttered counters but all have recently been tidied and wiped clean. FATHER sits in his favorite chair at the head of the small dinner table, he sips his coffee and places dry cereal food before BABY in the nearby high chair. Father is a somewhat-bald man in his early forties, Baby is at most a year old. The creak as the kitchen's door opens causes Father to snatch up a section from the newspaper, previously a coaster for his drink. DAUGHTER enters the kitchen slowly, a girl of around twelve. She wears her nor

Request - The Wish Granter (part 1) by CobraToon, literature

Request - The Wish Granter (part 1)

“WISH GRANTER!” The burly man waves a thick wooden staff back and forth, knocking against the close-set trees and making a racket. “Come out wish granter, come out and grant my wish!” The large group of humans with him all shake their heads in despair, knowing the legendary forest spirit won't come out with all this noise. “Wish granter, my cause is just and my need dire!” The deep forest around him doesn't answer, and the only movement is the dappled ever-shifting shadows from the sun and trees. “Grant me the power I need to fulfill my desire, or … ,” the large man pauses, thinking, and

Dreamscrape by CobraToon, literature

Dreamscrape

A sword appears in his hand, a coal-black blade that didn't exist moments before. The surface shines of obsidian depths, as if the sword is not a sword, as if it is far more than a sword. He turns the sword at various angles to inspect it, examines the thin jagged crack that runs the length, checks the leather-wrapped handle to make sure it isn't loose – all the while avoiding the eyes of the other person in the dim windowless box of a room. She in turn only has eyes for the stone slab in the room's center, an alter to some half-remembered ritual. The surface, worn smooth by time and slightly inset, has been stained at the very center w

High War - Chapter 0 by CobraToon, literature

High War - Chapter 0

The small creature, no bigger than a badger, pulls a hefty twig from the sack on its mossy backside. It has many more to chose from, including those to be found on the ground around it, but this twig alone is held up for appraisal in the scant sunlight that reaches down through the treetops. Heft is roughly measured, the straightness is deemed satisfactory and one stumpy protrusion near the end seems to particularly fascinate the creature. And if the creature had not been moving around so purposefully, it might itself be confused for a mess of sticks and leaves animated by some odd wind. Its skin has the look of bark, with a soft moss-like fu

Craw-Land Logs 1 and 2 by CobraToon, literature

Craw-Land Logs 1 and 2

Crawland Exploration Log, Day 1 Today we plan to finally begin mapping out our little corner of the Talenta Plains. But first of course came the usual round of court business. We received two new additions to our "ruling class" as it were, being an exotic and well-spoken elven wizard, from Aerenal, complete with baboon familiar! And an agent of our financier, a half-elf of unknown powers. Following that we received our first contingent of "citizens" who we gave a place to settle down until we could parcel out farmland or whatever one does with such people. With that we set out, choosing at random a plot of land to the east to explore. The d

About CobraToon

Artist // Hobbyist // Literature

United States
Deviant for 11 years
He / Him

Badges

My Bio

“Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”

I love Anime and writing. Someday I'd like to write the scripts for original animation but for now I'm a writer-in-training creating worlds and characters and telling stories with them for my amusement. I'm always searching for people to collaborate with, especially visual artists; if you read something here that inspires you, I'd like to see what you make of it, or we can work together on something new. And I'm here to learn and help others learn. I want advice on how I can improve, I take on prompts and requests to sharpen my writing skills, and if you'd like a critique or some proofreading you only have to ask.

My 2022 avatar is a coin from the future, flipping as my fate is decided. This excellent piece was made by ChalklineChickadee as one of my prizes from a contest (check out the details below the piece, Talk and Lies) and I knew then I would use it for my next avatar. But yeah, I have this feeling like I'm in the air and don't know how I'll land. The general state of the world changed my hopes for last year and makes everything so much harder, but also I've got some things happening that feel like I could find a working path for myself with some luck. I haven't uploaded much here recently - yet I feel like more of a writer than ever after quitting my old material handling job several years ago and getting back into the habit of writing every day. I'm writing things I really like too, including some paid work! I don't feel like a true professional, but technically I might be? I probably have to pay taxes - from writing work! Wish me luck, and here's to a new year.