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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. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Kalmin doesn't have the firmest grasp on workplace safety, though. Entirely appropriate for an omnicidal genius inventor, of course. Still, I expect Tad is taking all suitable precautions to delay the inevitable explosions...

    Very sensible. I wonder if Kalmin feels slighted by that caution? :cool: Probably not, I suppose, since he'd have personally challenged the project leads if he had any complaints...

    Because he'd probably realised any significant change to their designs would have come from somewhere. Of course, there's a difference between copying.. and inspiration.

    Inspiration, OL. Seeing a slightly different way of doing.. whatever it does.. should give him a few ideas.

    ...Invent novel FTL? You made protective cages to allow you to ride along on someone else's method. :rolleyes:
    "It still counts!"

    You know he almost certainly has. No need to dance around the question...

    He says it like it's a point of pride. I don't think he's interested...

    Unless he's going for some manner of achievement checklist, I doubt he plans that far ahead...

    To be fair, some laws are a little... odd. Mostly the little local laws that get put down on the books for one specific case, and no-one ever bother to enforce. But I get the feeling Tad doesn't mean those sort of laws...

    "Well, that sounds like a boring way to live."

    Unfortunately, some people just aren't wired that way... The social outcasts, the habitual offenders, the oddballs and freaks that everyone else just find 'wrong'...

    Hmm? Has Kalmin turned up? Brace for explosions, lads, ladies and everyone in-between.

    Ah, the graduates Kalmin and OL picked up during that little 'heresy' breakout a couple of episodes back. I see they're settling on fine.

    ...Oh, boy. I can already get an idea of where this is going...

    They're either going to fall in love at first sight...

    ...Or try to kill each other. Then again, Who knows how Qwardian romance works?

    Oh, don't worry, OL. I'm sure they'll be fine.

    ...I can't even picture how that would work. I can't imagine how seeing it in person must be. It sounds like God's own Photoshop toolset...

    "Please don't tell me this is 'Kalmin'? I was expecting better..."

    To be fair, when most of your friends on Earth consider tight faux-leather materials in bright colours to be 'defensive equipment', your scale can get a little skewed. At least until they get smacked around by a bad guy and accept the upgrades offered.

    Handy. A whole armoury at her fingertips? And in the fingertips too. :V

    To be fair, I doubt even Solomon could recognise some of the crimes against science that fill your labs. Even if he'd done some reading on modern discoveries.

    o_O ...How old are you, again? Also, being the smartest human doesn't count for much when you're one of three present.

    True, that is a sensible idea. After all, you might feel nostalgic, or have a moment of realisation about some other conundrum while poking at it. I mean, even Kalmin might have moments when he's stuck on some new death ray, goes to have a think about it while fiddling with an old fancy and goes, "Ah-ha!"
    Also, as a wargaming enthusiast, I still have my oldest painted models in a box. Stuff painted without undercoat, or sprayed from a chrome rattle-can because teen me though it 'looked cool'...

    What, and these days, you recycle failures? Admirable, but where's the sense of history?

    Well, at least we're getting Explosions. :p

    Oh, stop flirting and kiss, you too! Honestly, children!

    Okay, we have Explosions. Now for the Science! Seriously, does anyone else get the feeling by the time we cut back tomorrow, they'll be closer to flirting about their weapons designs than actually trying to kill each other? Because this feels like the most violent form of a 'Meet-Cute' I've ever seen...


    Double Space.
     
  2. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    That's Billy Batson's superhero name.
     
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  3. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    A crazy Sivana with ideas.

    A truly terrifying idea.

    He's a villain, of course he's going to make things sound better for him.

    But Paul loves dancing.

    I'm getting the feeling the two aren't so different in Qwardian culture.

    Or just look back and laugh at youthful mistakes.

    It may be both honestly.
     
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  4. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

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    Oh nooo. They're going to mate!
     
  5. MagnumForce

    MagnumForce Making the rounds.

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    "Hey, I know how to solve this, whoever does the most damage to the Reach wins!"

    "Deal!"/"Challenge accepted."

    *every Reach citizen shivers simultanously*
     
  6. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  7. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    It's always fun when a ship you never expected but are now super interested in appears in this story (relationship, not spaceship, which might be a necessary clarification in this story :p). I'm still a bit bummed about Canis Minor/Kaldur and Ted/Io not being anything. I don't know if there's any chance of Alan/Diana but those two have the time.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2021
  8. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    I find it interesting how non-rebellious and imitative of his father Thaddeus Junior is. Like, I bet that there are plenty of rules he wouldn't dare to break, but even in the trivial or personal stuff he is willing to just do as he was taught to do even well into adulthood.

    It makes me think that, given a different environment and some reason to mentally separate from his father, he might become a much more well adjusted individual. Senior has a hard time even amicably communicating with or understanding his own parallel selfs, but Junior evidently has no problem understanding, agreeing with or putting himself into the shoes of (some of) his family members. And he even listens to his Mom's rules, a person who is very different from him. Again, even as an adult.
     
  9. Silveraith

    Silveraith Argent Phantasm

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    Ph.D or PhD, the 'H' shouldn't be capitalized.
     
  10. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thaddeus Sivana Junior is... I think he's seventeen at this point.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  11. Pez

    Pez Spaceman

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    Why do I feel like this is a line from someone I should know, and my brain just can't come up with it. Part of it is saying Megamind, and other is saying Abridged Perfect Cell.
     
  12. I_S

    I_S Getting sticky.

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    Seeing them together, its eerie how similar the Sivanas clan is to just baseline weaponeers in terms of logic.


    I'm no longer certain the weaponeers are not the result of Sivanas engaging in time travel and making their own society. I know they aren't right... Canonically Qwad was'nt founded by time traveling Sivanas clan creating their own society?
     
  13. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Ah Mad Science Flirting... always fun to see.
     
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  14. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    This potential romance reminds me of Penelope and Stewies relationship.



     
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  15. Sorrow

    Sorrow Getting sticky.

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    I really like the Sivana's, even if they are (mostly) all pyschos, at least they can stand on their own.
     
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  16. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    Woah. I thought they were quite a bit older. If they are already better adjusted than their father at this age they might not even have inherited all that much of his particular neurodivergence.

    How old are Magnificus and Beautia?
     
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  17. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    There's definitely SOME sort of "bang" at that point.
     
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  18. AverusBlack

    AverusBlack AKA Aisling

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    Singularities don't count, I think
     
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  19. Threadmarks: Onslaught (part 7)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    24th August 2012
    14:08 GMT


    "So… How are you finding it on Maltus?"

    Nauca hesitates a moment then-.

    A roar echoes through the air and the ground shakes!

    He hesitates a moment longer, making sure that there's not going to be a follow up. Then he uncringes. Slightly.

    "So far, I like it. I'm a lot safer here than I was on Qward, I've got access to better materials to work with and… I don’t know, I kind of like having an objective to work towards beyond 'do this and we don't kill you'."

    "You don't get that from Kalmin?"

    Nauca shakes his head as a little way away Orange Lanterns move in to cover the evacuation and warn people away from the combat zone.

    "He's trying to work out how to teach Weaponers so that they'll turn out like he did, rather than the way most Weaponers did. We're trial runs. He won't kill us accidentally because even if we don’t turn out how he wants us to, he still needs to understand what went wrong."

    "You.. are aware that you don't need to stay with him, right? Maltus actually has a civilian economy, along with the organisations that make up N.E.M.O., and you're perfectly welcome to train for any position."

    He nods.

    "Thank you, but… I really like destroying things. I just want to know that I've achieved something by destroying those things, you know?"

    "We need people like you in the Orange Lantern Corps."

    "I know, but I think I should finish school first. And… I don't really like the idea of using a weapon an alien made."

    I shrug. "It's your life."

    He looks back towards the combat zone as golden lightning leaps skyward.

    "Who was that human? I think I recognise the dimensional overlay defence he used, but I've never heard of a human with something that advanced."

    "That's Thaddeus Sivana, and… A small proportion of humans are vastly more intelligent even than normal 'very clever' humans. He's one of them. He also… Tends to regard everyone and everything around him as a potential experimental subject."

    "He's a Weaponer?"

    "No, because human social structures don't have that title. He isn't part of our ruling elite, he doesn't make weapons for our soldiers, and I don't think he's old enough to qualify. And he's never used qwa matter."

    "He's… That young?"

    "Where we're from he can't legally drink alcohol or drive a motor vehicle."

    "Who enforces that?"

    I nod. "Yes."

    "I see. Are there others like him?"

    "His sister's on Maltus now, if you want to speak to her. She wanted to talk to the asylum wardens, but she's probably-."

    My ring shimmers.

    "Probably available. Excuse me." I raise my ring. "Illustres here."

    Dox's face appears.

    "It's time. Come to my office for briefing."

    "With you momentarily. Ah, Georgia's on Maltus. Is-"

    "I know."

    "-it alright if she turns up?"

    "If it wasn't, I would have told you the moment you appeared."

    "I meant, comes with me to your office."

    Dox frowns slightly. "Of course. I would value her input."

    I narrow my eyes slightly. "Who are you, and what have you done with Vril Dox the Second?"

    "That turn of phrase isn't as funny as humans seem to think it is. We have a complicated security protocol for dealing with shapeshifters and illusionists, and having reviewed the data on the damage they can cause I assure you it is no laughing matter."

    "Right. Sorry."

    "And neither is the fact that I like Georgia. Both Ratchet and Brande regard this as 'progress' on my part. Do you disagree?"

    "No, just.. a surprise. A pleasant surprise. Good for you, both of you. I'll go and find her now."

    "E-." Dox hesitates. "Thank you. End."

    He disconnects, and I lower my ring.

    "Is there any chance that Daciya will negotiate a ceasefire?"

    "What's a ceasefire?"

    "A temporary cessation of hostilities while both sides rearm."

    "He was going through her equipment. I don't think she thinks she has anywhere else to go to in order to rearm."

    "Then I suppose that I'll have to stop them. Excuse me."

    I wrap myself in armour, construct armour and the stuff of desires and drives and fly at speed back to the vault. Fortunately, the building is designed to withstand quite a lot of force being directed at it, so it's unlikely that a Controller will feel the need to involve themselves. A stray plasma bomb detonates on my defences, but otherwise I'm able to convey myself through the somewhat-ravaged corridors into…

    Daciya has recovered several of her abandoned projects and is hastily assembling them into something that's greater than the sum of their parts, a crackling golden bubble shield holding off some sort of flash-fabricated probe that Thaddeus is poking at it. There's some radiation, but it doesn't look that dangerous.

    "Alright, knock it off. One-"

    Golden energy arcs towards me and fails to penetrate my construct.

    "-warning."

    "She started it."

    "I'm not your mother, Thaddeus. And this isn't a duelling arena."

    "I don't duel with-. Actually-."

    "Daciya, this is a draw."

    "But I'm-." I glare at Thaddeus, who appears to recognise that he might have gone a bit far. "She still started it."

    "And he's challenging you to a duel. You can fight him again later, somewhere where it won't inconvenience anyone else. Stand down, now."

    Glaring, she twists a linkage into place, before nodding.

    "Two days, in the southern duelling grounds."

    Thaddeus nods. "Agreed. Try a little harder next time."
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2021
  20. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    [Shipping Goggles]It’s a date.[/Shipping Goggles]
     
  21. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'hesitates a moment'

    The two love birds still going at it.

    'than even normal'

    'He also'

    But space ships and sci fi scooters that fly he can.

    She is vastly more intelligent than you Paul, and Dox most likely values that.

    Love is in the air.

    Oh, just shut up and do each other.
     
  22. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Now I'm interested in how that conversation went. Did Ratchet and Brande genuinely wonder if Dox was replaced when he admitted that he liked Georgia?
     
  23. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    In a few sentences I like Dox vastly more than before, especially after the encounter with Grayven.

    This probably is the way Weaponers (to be) do each other, or at least start the process. And it clearly works for (some of) the Sivanas too.
     
  24. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    The Shipping Lantern Corps, subdivision of the Star Sapphires

    Oh, so they were on Maltus.

    Yeah, please don't blow that one up guys.

    Teddy is doing well so far, I think. Trying to kill each other at first sight is an accepted court ship ritual among the superhero/supervillain community.
     
  25. l---erddad---l

    l---erddad---l Wait, google can see this?

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    I don't think they'll be destroying a planet, but more because no matter how smart he is, it's hard to jury-rig your way to beating thousands and thousands of years of prep from people on your level that can also alter matter at will with a thought (because Maltusians are busted and have a... I wanna say symbiote species they bound to? anyway, it granted them dynakinesis+telekinesis to an insane degree).
     
  26. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    No, I think that's okay.
     
  27. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    they
     
  28. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Probably finds it a bit odd he's not at risk of execution for failing at something. Or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It's probably liberating, if a bit unsettling for him, I bet...

    Like I said, probably finding the lack of immediate punishment for things odd. To be fair, though, given the presumed Qwardian upbringing... That expectation is probably deeply ingrained.

    ...Honestly, I'd be worried about Kalmin if he didn't at least threaten them once or twice. Just for old times' sake.

    ...Man, how big is the little spat between Daciya and Tad getting? If they start breaking out personal atomic weapons, we'll know it's serious... And I'm surprised Kalmin is looking into the social sciences like that. Guess he believes Qward needs a better class of Weaponer, given how what's-his-face turned out.

    Heh. Do what you love, and you'll love what you do.

    What if he manages to develop his own Orange Ring from basic principles? Would he be willing then?

    ...If this were Earth, I'd be worried that Tad had somehow replicated the Wizard's Lightning. Which the Sivanas have done in the comics, forming their own villainous little group. Briefly.

    Congratulations, kid, you've just had your first scrape with Earth's particular brand of Malign Hypercognitives... :cool: And you even survived unharmed!

    I can understand his confusion, given everything Tad's done has been just like a Weaponer would...

    Not that he'd bother with such mundane options. Why drive a car when you can just build a mag-lev speeder? And I doubt he sees alcohol as anything other than a waste of valuable braincells.

    The implication being that Tad does what he wants because no-one can stop him from doing it... Besides his parents.

    Admittedly, speaking with Georgia would probably be an enlightening experience if he was wanting insight into the social sciences... Especially their ability to be weaponised.

    Ah, another mission? Right back into the saddle, eh? I guess things went well enough on Yuna that Dox isn't rethinking OL's deployments...

    Where it anyone else, I'd be concerned that he's not interested.

    But this is Dox we're talking about. Mister 'Social skills are irrelevant' himself.

    ...Wait, what? :confused:

    I'm guessing it involves long annoying waits in secure containment while people prod you with sensors and probing questions? Kinda like Worm's 'Master/Stranger Protocols'...

    ...Are we really sure this is the actual Dox? Then again... Learning to actually like people is good.

    :eek: Impressive progress. He actually remembered basic politeness.

    ...OL, think about what you asked. Weaponer logic has only one kind of ceasefire: When one party is dead.

    "That's an odd concept. Why would you let an enemy live to get stronger?"

    Welp, time for the giant orange hands of restraining?

    Okay, kiddies, time to stop flirting. Things are getting a little too noisy.

    Good thing that was you. I suspect anyone else, other than Kalmin or a controller, might have had trouble surviving that.

    In other words, kids: Stop making all that noise and get a damn room.

    Huh, looks like she's been getting into it. Nothing like a rivalry to spark some inventive use of parts, after all.

    Preferably somewhere well away from anything valuable, or fragile. Like a city...

    It's a date, then. Ah, young love. Or hate. Well, they're two sides of the same coin, after all.

    Well, then. Time to collect Georgia for her own meetup with a sweetie. Knowing she's older than I was thinking (I figured the younger twins were like 15, tops) makes her and Dox just a little less awkward. Who knows? Maybe her skills at the social sciences can help him break out of that crusty shell he's got. It's already got a few cracks forming, after all...
     
  29. Khettien

    Khettien Perpetually confused

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  30. Sockmonkey

    Sockmonkey I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    If Thaddeus figures out qwa matter, does he get to call himself a weaponer even though he's not Qwardian? It's really never come up before.
     
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