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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Two words, subspace pocket dimension.
     
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  2. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

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    Iname. Can she get infected? Cause she's got superspeed and PietroQuicksilver was mentioned.
     
  3. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Like any New God she has magic resistance and chemical resistance, not to the extent Grayven does but her body should be able to fight it off.
     
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  4. infinityDivided

    infinityDivided ******** of Doom

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    Corrected.
     
  5. Sorrow

    Sorrow Getting sticky.

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    I don't quite understand... Why is Ahr'ian doing this? Is he some sort of Atlantean Supremacist upset that Atalantean Biomancy is being used by non-Atlanteanian's? He's just a big jerk? Just for shits-and-giggles???
     
  6. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    He is a massive racist so you may have just figured out why he's doing this.
     
  7. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    I can totally see Common Sense Paul making a video like this:

     
  8. Threadmarks: The Other Half (part 13)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    12th July 2012
    13:04 GMT -8


    I shrug, trying not to look as relieved as I feel.

    "Eh. You know."

    Because I can do control spells and I can do battle spells. But I'm not so good at doing both at once while someone actually tries to kill me. Magic armour plus transformed Earth Pony should let me do what Grayven does and just shrug off people hitting me. But I've seen the scars from where he couldn't and I'm not ready to try that quite yet.

    I smile, some of the tension going out of my shoulders.

    "All the better now you're here."

    Because I can do this. Probably. But having someone here who's got a lot more experience than me means that I'm less likely to get something really wrong.

    I feel Circe touching my spells with her magic, feeling out what they do and how much effort they're taking. Even without a horn I can manipulate far more magic power now than I could before my transformation, and after I set spells up keeping distinct spells running in parallel is a snap. I thought about making the spell I'm using to prevent elemental manifestations harder to understand, but if we're trying to find whoever's responsible for this attack, then-.

    "You've made that spell simple to understand on purpose, haven't you?" Circe smiles at me. "You cunning minx."

    I tilt my head back, chin held high in pride.

    "Cunning pony."

    And there's an exception for a very narrow band of sympathetic resonances, so that if I do this-

    The concrete and tarmac around us jumps up, forming a short defensive wall.

    -then it behaves a little more like a hill or fortress. Not as good as if I reinforced it directly, but it's a lot tougher than it should be. It took me hours to work out how Maud was doing that, but even with the bruises it was time well spent. So if-.

    Everything goes white for a moment and I immediately heal myself, blinking-. Yes! Tarmac beats lightning! This is starting to look like the work of someone who's strong but lazy. I mean-

    I start trying to reverse-engineer whatever it was that whoever that is did to hurl lightning like that, my etheric senses running along the channel in the way Circe's did my spell. And I'm not exactly feeling anything impressive. Like I thought, high power and…

    Auto-targeting? Huh. So it's not targeting me specifically, it's just taking shots at targets of opportunity. But I've seen Misa dropping people off and it hasn't tried blasting any of them. What's the characteristic it's looking for? It's not how much of a threat it is, because it was blasting buildings when Grayven got here.

    "Sunset, it would be wise to raise your defenses."

    Huh?

    "Magic defenses? I've already got those."

    "No, your shields against direct attack. These buttresses are reasonable, but-."

    Oh, darn it. She's right. The few battlemage lessons I was able to persuade Celestia to give me didn't take into account the sort of weapons Earth has. I mean, I'm a small target-

    I wave my right hand, creating an area around me where all objects and energies are predisposed to avoid hurting people.

    -in cover, so I'm not exactly an easy target.

    I take a step to the left.

    Moving around might be better than bunkering up, but I don't know what magic is being used here and I don't want to split my concentration. Genomorphs might get converted by those.. insectoid things.

    Equestria does not have anything like those.

    I turn to look at Circe.

    "Is this oka-"

    A beam of rainbow light shoots past my nose, disintegrating a neat hole through my dugout.

    "-y?"

    Okay taller walls now. I don't need to be able to see all that well to keep suppressing the summoning effect.

    "I think that it is, yes."

    "What even was that? It-."

    Actually, what did it do? Was it homing in on me? There wasn't an explosion when it hit home and I didn't feel any sort of pressure shift that might be caused by teleportation or matter nullification. I spread the area of the safe zone outwards to increase the chance of it 'catching' another shot like that, boost my armour and start trying to examine that spell and the lightning spell for shared elements.

    Okay… I think

    "Is that the guidance system?"

    "The guid-. Hm." Circe nods. "I think you're right. I think it is."

    "Okay, well, I can misdirect it-. Actually."

    I bend down and pick up a small stone. Yes, that should do… I trace a small sigil on it with my right foreclaw and imbue it with a little power. And throw

    It sails over the area covered by my ward and-.

    And I blink to clear my eyes as lightning hits it. Twice.

    And then the rainbow beam hits it.

    Ooooooh.

    Oh, this bit isn't going to be fun.

    I hold my right hand out to the side, draw mana into the material world just over my palm and wai-.

    Lightning strike. And two, three, four, f-.

    The glowing ball winks out as the rainbow beam shoots it through the middle-. Through the middle because the ward is only protecting living people and a ball of energy isn't a living person.

    I pour mana into my right palm, raise my left hand and conjure a beam of light-.

    Hah! It curved around! That's pretty clever. Once we're finished here I'll do a proper analysis and work out-.

    Circe pats me on the head.

    "I'm sure that's very interesting, dear, but perhaps you should focus on the here and now?"

    "Right, okay. It look like-. Grayven?"

    "Listening."

    "The lightning and rainbow beam home in on magic. If you-"

    I pull more power into the world, but this time surround it with a minor dampening spell so that it won't look like it's there.

    One.

    "-hide anything magical with a disguise ward, the spells shouldn't trigger."

    Two, three, four… Five.

    Yes!

    "Right. I'll bear that in mind. Is Circe with you?"

    She leans towards me. "Yes, I am."

    "You've got lots of experience undoing human transformations. Would you mind having a go at some of the locals? We… Didn't get to all of them fast enough."
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
  9. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  10. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'that you're'

    This sentence feels weird

    Maybe:

    'whoever did this'

    Seeing as Arion is a massive racist it may be targetting non-humans and it can detect that Sunset isn't a human, either because she registers as something like a New God or because it can detect she's a pony.

    'is being'

    'It sails'

    Which she caused.
     
  11. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    It would maybe be worth it for Circe, Sunset and Atlantean/Venturian biomancers to study the insectoids more thoroughly to see if they can reverse the effects, even for those transformed for a long-time. At least to rule out the possibility of curing/reversing their condition, if nothing else. Cranius is good and all but his arcane education (pun semi-intended) is relatively lacking.
     
  12. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    No, those are correct.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  13. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    Needs a full stop at the end.
     
  14. Agent Orange

    Agent Orange Experienced.

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    'Ah! Senpai is here! The day is saved!'

    I don't expect anyone else to have this reaction to Circe appearing before them but it makes sense in this context.

    ...

    I thought she transformed into Alicorn? Doesn't that already make her as strong/tough as an Earth Pony?
     
  15. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Ah, Sunset. And this picks up just on Circe's arrival. Time for the ladies to magic the shit out of the bad guys... Seriously, to quote Banner in Infinity War: "Haha, now you guys are screwed!"

    Heh, not ready for the true close quarters stuff, eh? Understandable, she is still young. It's also refreshing to not have a teenager (or young adult, at this point) to feel as if they're invulnerable.

    Always helps to have someone who can check your work, eh? Especially the 'cool big sis' figure in your life.

    You can use it as bait if they try to dispel it, eh? The question is whether someone as old as Arion the Elder would fall for that. Then again, he may not consider that anyone but a 'true Atlanean' could manage it.

    Awww, you can see the 'Eee! Sempai noticed me!' running through her head, can't you? x3 Not discounting the shipping yet, you know.

    'This' presumably being a casual twist of the spell matrix, eh? 'Press X to smash an attacking enemy.'

    Good to see she's picking up Earth Pony Geokinesis. Helps that she was working with one of the stronger equestrian experts.

    Man, that brings my opinion of Arion the Elder down a bit (not that it was very high to start with.) I'm reminded of a quote from 'Kill Six Billion Demons' about the DemiUrges of the universe using the power of the creator god 'as a man might use a particularly sharp rock.' All that power, and he's using it like a caveman.

    Some sort of racial profiling thing, perhaps? It seems the sort of thing Arion the Elder might use. Either purity of blood (read 'how similar to pureblood Atlanteans') or the like... Targetting the buildings is the spell trying to hit those inside? Or some sort of proximity trigger.

    Sure, Alicorn of Ambition. But even the mightiest Sorceror can still be brought down by a rock in a sock.

    You don't have some kind of missile-deflecting spell? Then again, Equestrians don't go in for bows much. More thrown rocks and spellbolts. And any deflection spell might not work well on bullets...

    That's a rather vague effect. Bet it costs a lot more energy than a more defined spell, but works much better...

    Oh, sure, now she's tempting Murphy. Sheesh. Also: Scary thought.

    Even Changelings aren't that... Evil.

    Yikes. Might want to add a spell to warn you to duck. Or perhaps one that forces you to before your reactions can catch up.

    Remember though: Concealment does not equal cover, nor does cover equal concealment...

    At least she can focus on the important things rather than 'Oh dear Celestia, I nearly got killed!'

    Huh. Like a leader charge, which serves as the channel for the bulk of the lightning? Except noticeably longer between charge and strike...

    Let's not try that right on top of you, though. Work at a distance. Preferably a big one.

    ...'Foreclaw'? Her armour has talons? Interesting.

    ...Oh, that's significant! By Jove, my dear, I think you've cracked it!

    Almost like reverse thunder... "I'm not overly fond of what follows..."

    That was on the rock... Now, what next...

    So the beams track active mana, not passive stuff like people's souls. Which explains why it's not targetting fleeing civilians: they're not mages.

    Circe, there's encouraging, and then there's patronising. You're walking a fine line there.

    At least she kept Sunset from getting distracted. That would get people killed.

    And active magic at that. Because it doesn't seem to be tracking Iname or Grayven...

    You better hope it works...

    All quiet? Looks like the gamble paid off.

    Not that Grayven really uses all that much magic, beyond Godspeech. Much like OL, he's not really suited to the finer Arts.

    Craaaap. I hope they're well-contained. Because that's a biohazard just waiting to bite back...

    Such a casual outlook to fighting animate stone and lightning bolts. Then again, given the weirder things in Equestria, I'm not surprised she's blasé about it. And I though Grayven was headed to beat mage face. o_O Are we sure she's actually talking to Grayven? No, wait, this is probably something he came across on the way...


    Phrasing's a little awkward. Perhaps 'impressive' or 'to impress me.'
    Hah! It curved around!
     
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    And this is why racism is worthless.

    He's probably much more skilled than this but just thought that he didn't need to show off and waste time.

    With his power he honestly doesn't need much skill.

    You'd know something about that.

    Or that's how she calls fingers.

    She's a three thousand year old sociopath that turned thousands of innocents into animals.

    She probably can't do better than that.

    Paul has started using magic.
     
  17. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    Without wishing to get too far into pony racial politics, Alicorns are Earth Ponies, Unicorn Ponies and Pegasus Ponies.

    Though isn't it interesting that the first episode refers to them as 'winged unicorns'?
    Given how Celestia likes to suppress information, I'm not sure that Sunset has actually heard of the changelings.
    She's still not entirely used to having wiggly worms attached to her monkey hooves.
    Sunset left Equestria as a student, and hasn't actually encountered that much weird stuff in Equestria outside of books. And she mostly focused her studies on pony magic.
    Thank you, corrected.
    Oh, no. She's not a sociopath.
     
  18. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Fine, borderline-sociopath then.

    Her actions do suggest a lot of sociopathic tendencies.
     
  19. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

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    I suppose that depends on how you look at it (and on what actions definitely took place on Earth 16). If you're referring only to stuff she did in this story, of course, then it's fortunate that we can directly ask the author, because that seems not to have been his intention. This may be a difference in ethics between reader and author, though.
     
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  20. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Order magic should help yo undo transforms... Or.make the transformations stable... who knows with magic?
     
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  21. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    The Genomorphs came through the portal as changelings, was Sunset just not around for that at all? Seeing what happens to a synthetic novel species seems like something she'd want to monitor.
     
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  22. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    It depends a bit on what backstory Zoat is going with, but afaik Arion encountered (and built) Shizo tech in his time.

    He should know that non-magical threats are an issue as well.

    Unless he thinks the Unmen are caused by a curse or something?
     
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  23. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Like what? Serious question. She told Grayven why she started killing people, and it was self-preservation. Her emotional reactions to other characters are relatively normal. I though, anyway. I mean, she's not particularly nice to people she doesn't know, but in human history that's pretty normal.
    I... Don't think she was there? Alright, she's probably heard of them by now, but she doesn't have any details.
     
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Turning people into animals and enslaving them.

    Lacking any regret or remorse for any lives she has destroyed.
     
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  25. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Do you think that all historical slave owners were sociopaths?
     
  26. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    No, but it doesn't exactly change my mind that Circe has some sociopathic tendencies, even if according to you she's not a full blown sociopath.
     
  27. DougA

    DougA Getting out there.

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    Also, ANCIENT GREECE. Morality, even ethics were totally different, in too many different ways than we can count. There were actually several different kinds of slave, with different words for each, including penal slaves, for criminal behaviour...usually for a fixed term, not permanent. And war captives, who were treated with some respect. And other kinds, too, just read Salamis by Turtledove, he goes into it in that series a bit. Basically, have to judge her by the morals and standards of her time, which were radically different from ours.

    Jason's trip to steal the golden fleece from another country was completely ethical...by classic Grecian standards.
     
  28. Flightless Man

    Flightless Man Versed in the lewd.

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    We don't have to judge her by ancient rules. She's alive now and a part of society( If she stayed on her island and only transformed the travellers who invade/land on her island, then yes we could judge her by ancient standards. But she sings in Vegas.). if in 3'000 years she can't adapt to new morals and standards, she hasn't kept up with advancement. When a grandparent is casually rascist, yes we go they are from a different time and they don't mean it the same way (generally because of the age and mental condition, we don't correct them.), but they are still wrong and Circe has all her mental faculties.

    You only get the "from another era" pass, when you retire from society and are not keeping up because your going to die soon/your brain is degrading.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
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  29. Bramble Thorn

    Bramble Thorn Verified Silhouette

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    Zoat, you are kind of being fucked up here.

    Slave owners at least had a level of removal from their actions, and at least they were not doing the initial enslavement. And as far as I know, none of them, used magic to go from metaphorical dehumanisation to literal dehumanisation by giving those they enslaved animal features.

    I agree calling bad people sociopaths is a scummy 'virtue signaling' way to gain internet points, and Darko should cut that crap out?
    But wasn't it you said that if you were dropped back into the revolutionary war period, would have no problem killing Washington as a traitorous slaver? Think of Circe as Washington, plus she didn't inherit the slaves, she did the enslaving herself buy right of conquest, and then used magic to physically mutilated the slaves to less human forms so they wouldn't be able to escape their lot easily. She is useful, and what is happening now is more important then what happened in the past (and let's not forget that past was as recent as last year IIRC), but that doesn't mean her actions were really defensible, just pardonable.
     
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  30. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    When we saw Atlantis, it showed the Atlantean guards using laser rifles and that Starro was cryogenically frozen in the Atlantean Science Center which is run by the Atlantean Royal Science Advisor Vulko.

    Vulko, who was a good enough scientist that he helped create the cure for the Starro-tech.

    And in the tie-in comic Kaldur revealed that Atlanteans were turned into water breathers by a combination of technology and magic. So YJ Atlantis had genetic engineering thousands of years ago.

    And according to Word of Greg Kaldur's Waterbearers are technomagic.

    Despite that, Zoat made his version of Atlantis magic based.

    So unless Zoat has a story point in mind about Atlantis used to be high technology but abandoned it for magic, I suspect that Zoat will remain consistent with his depiction of Atlantis as a magic based culture.
     
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