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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. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    moreandbiggerandgreater to you, too.
    Thank you, corrected.
    Do you feel like that could be fixed by allowing your life to be subsumed by some manner of director or overlord? If not then you're only half way there.
     
  2. AR760

    AR760 Experienced.

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    If you have issues finding your own way, why not try placing your fate, or even your time in the hands of someone else? Why struggle with a sense of aimlessness, left to be tossed about, rudderless, hither and yon by the winds and whims of circumstance and coincidence when you can work towards a cause which gives your life a sense of meaning and purpose?

    By having no direction of your own, you are merely going in circles. Why not let someone else chart that course, and you simply steer in accordance with their direction?

    You can feel like you finally have a place in the world. Like things can finally be contextualized and reordered in a way which allows for everything else to fit. To make sense. To finally stand on solid ground.

    What do you have to lose? After all, it's not like you are doing anything with your life as it currently stands. No more need for that guilt. No more need for that regret.

    By marching to the beat of a drum, even if it's not completely yours, the path forward might finally feel clear.

    Simple direction and purpose.

    Your life is currently empty as it presently stands.

    Why not try something new?

    Aimlessness = Purposelessness
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2022
  3. Bud-E

    Bud-E Stand up so I can push you down!

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    I felt bad for Faust and Zard then I remembered the death count for the split world and I no longer feel even the slightest amount of pity for these two bastards.
     
    BookZone, Lord Ernest, Chirox and 5 others like this.
  4. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    as -> has
     
  5. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  6. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Railgun and fire
     
  7. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

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    ......... Anti life? Seriously? WTF.
     
  8. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    Oh Faust, you certainly have missed a few things. That and being egotistical was his downfall.

    ...Huh, now that he's brought up I wonder if his kids will appear at any point.

    Oh, Balewa is healing Zard. This will be interesting. I wonder what his view on Roanoke and everything will be.
     
  9. Pain3128

    Pain3128 Know what you're doing yet?

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    New here, how do I read this, there's an old version, a new version that appears to not be updated as much as the main thread? like.... as someone completely new to this where do I go to start?
     
    Someguy Somewhere likes this.
  10. Pain3128

    Pain3128 Know what you're doing yet?

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    Ok, I think I get it, the archived version is purely the story without the decisions and is updated periodically, so read that until I get to the end of it and then migrate here.
     
  11. szypty

    szypty Getting some practice in, huh?

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    Doing nothing is perfectly fine. Means you're already ahead of all the cunts who work tirelessly to actively make the world a worse place!
     
  12. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    Resting isn't doing nothing, it's gathering energy and healing from what you have done
     
  13. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    Depends on whether you want to read the discussion or not.
     
  14. crazygrox

    crazygrox Versed in the lewd.

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    Was this what you meant to write? Or did you mean to write:

    "No, it was precautionary. The Anti-Life fragment is aimlessness equals purposelessness, and it encourages servitude in those uncertain as to their life's direction."

    ?
     
  15. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    I think that's a valid use of 'to'.
     
  16. PDV

    PDV Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer

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    > One thing you must always prioritize is yourself. You are the tool with which you will work, in the future, and tools must be maintained.
     
    ChestBurster, Lord Ernest and Vorian like this.
  17. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    Comma instead of semicolon.

    It's updated at the same time as the discussion thread. The archive thread keeps the whole story in one place while the discussion thread is spread across three forums.
     
  18. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  19. Huttj509

    Huttj509 Getting sticky.

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    I do see where the parsing difference is. Interpretations of what is being encouraged.

    it encourages (servitude) to those uncertain as to their life's direction. -> 'to' works fine, as servitude is being encouraged to the uncertain

    it encourages (servitude to those uncertain as to their life's direction). -> in this interpretation 'to' reads as an error, as it seems like servitude to the uncertain is what's being encouraged.
     
  20. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    You missed one parse -- the important one: who servitude is being encouraged to.

    There's a subtle distinction between "encourage X to" and "encourage X in". In the latter case, it's bringing out the qualities of X in the subject. In the former, it's making a suggestion to the subject to try X.

    If it helps you understand, try rearranging it: "To those uncertain as to their life's direction, it encourages servitude."
     
    Lord Ernest likes this.
  21. Threadmarks: Tower Offence (part 13)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    8th November 2012
    11:52 GMT -5


    Dr. Balewa touches Zard on the lips, and the noise ceases. He's clearly still trying to scream, though I'm not sure whether that's because of his injury or the lingering effects of Anti-Life exposure.

    Or he's reconsidering all of his life choices-. Yeah, I'm going to leave that sort of thinking to Alan. Zard learned magic in Tibet. What sort of Lama has judgement that bad?

    "I am curious why his defences failed while mine remained."

    Not that hard to work out from my point of view. He made contact with the Life Entity. The white light contains the orange light, so it almost certainly registers what he does as 'power ring' rather than 'magic'. Given that he's prime White Lantern material, he's going to need to know at some point, but…

    "That's an ultra top secret Maltusian secret that I'm not going to tell you while we're in enemy territory."

    The vines make a play for me, and I reward their persistence with a disintegration ray.

    "Constantine?"

    Dr. Balewa rises and gestures, a wave of white passing outward from the ground to a height of about two metres. The vine walls ripple, trying to escape before his magic… Just turns them back into normal vines with no Anti-Life crystals. The parts it touches gradually stop moving, an effect which flows up the vines to the parts Alan is valiantly trimming.

    Two more slashes and he cautiously backs off, watching the vine closest to him grow buds which open into small white flowers. He regards the mass for a moment and then looks down at us.

    "Are we done here-? Is that Wizard?"

    "Wizard and Faust were prisoners of Fate. I suspect that we will find thet Blackbriar Thorn is at the centre of things."

    "I guess old super villains don't die or fade away, they just wait until your back's turned and then jump you."

    Sanderson explodes out of the vines in a flurry of blade swipes and severed plant matter.

    He stands there for a moment, breathing hard, as the vine pile behind him collapses.

    "I think I'm going to pave my garden back home."

    "Don't make any rushed decisions, or at least meet a concrete supervillain first." I glance at the vines. "Blackbriar Thorn was connected to those, wasn't he?"

    "He can control plants without a direct connection. I do not dare hope thet being exposed to Anti-Life would also make him foolish."

    Alan looks around, frowning. "What happened to Constantine?"

    "I suspect thet he was taken by the vines. I do not know what happens if a demon is subjected to Anti-Life, or if his nature will provide a measure of protection." He raises his right hand and draws a line in the air. "I can track his seal, now thet Wizard is no long obscuring the traces."

    A moment passes and he looks down.

    "Ah."

    "Underground chamber?"

    "Yes."

    "That sounds like a job for-."

    "A guy who can turn into sand and move through earth like it's water?"

    I look at Sanderson. He interrupted me. That's new. Good for him.

    "Yes, but we're going to need to get the rest of us down there as well. I suggest taking a look around and getting ready. And watch out for roots."

    "I hear you."

    He drops, his legs losing coherence first and merging with the ground, then his torso, arms, and last of all his head.

    "This sounds like a job for Team Lantern. Unless-. Doctor Mist, would those flowers have any sort of anti-Anti Life properties?"

    "A weak one. They would serve better as a conduit for my spells. Why do you ask?"

    "I can cause plant growth."

    "I'll make an excavator."

    Alan generates a great borer construct, spins it up and presses it into the ground. Earth is shoved aside, great heaps piling up and Alan pushes the construct deeper.

    "Would you care to explain?"

    "I got a lesson from Lantern Medphyll. I can cause controlled plant growth by forcing the Green into things. Euanthe doesn't like it when I do it, but I doubt that she can feel it here."

    "Can you send the vines down the hole which Blue Lantern is making?"

    "Maybe?"

    "From what we have seen of the Anti-Life and this place, it is likely that it is within Blackbriar Thorn. Freeing him will be difficult."

    "Killing him would be easy, though. He'd get better in a year or so."

    "We cannot take the risk thet he is reborn with his Anti-Life infection still in place."

    "True. Alright, let's-."

    I frown as I spot Faust fleeing as fast as his legs can carry him, grab him with a construct and carry him back, dropping him next to Mr. Zard.

    "I can shoot one of your legs off as well."

    Flashing a mild look of disapproval my way, Dr. Balewa taps Faust lightly on the forehead and he collapses into a stupor.

    Right, my turn. I float upwards, reaching out into the Green with my rings. Forming the required pattern, linking myself to the fundamentally inhuman desires of plant life, it's not any easier.

    All Things Strive.

    "Blue Lantern? Could you-" The vines shudder before vigorously expanding in the general direction of Alan's drill. "-add a little space around the edge at the top?"

    "Can do."

    I watch as the vines and their little white life flowers burrow down the borehole, latching onto the exposed sides of the tunnel and extending towards the drill head.

    One more evil wizard -possibly two if John's been infected- and then we can just free the brownies and wreck this place before going to fight Quinn.

    Here's hoping.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2022
  22. AR760

    AR760 Experienced.

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    It says something about Paul that his immediate assumption is that things between Quinn and the group are ultimately going to result in outward battle and conflict.

    I mean, he doesn't seem to have considered even the idea that Quinn was working to isolate and cure the individuals in question of Anti-Life. Or that Quinn himself might be prisoner. Or that there might be a diplomatic solution to the issue at hand.

    Paul genuinely seems to have become naturalized to the nature of superheroes and conflict that comes with DC at the very least, haha.
     
  23. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Nice. You remember to not spill qny important details when bad guys are around.

    Remove "that".

    "happens"
     
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Everything up to this point says that Quinn is a bad guy, so it's easy to see why Paul is acting like this.
     
  25. LanguagAe

    LanguagAe Getting sticky.

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    I think it’s more that he has the right mindset. You don’t mess with anti life and it feels like Quinn’s has been doing making more crystals attuned to it.
     
  26. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should be capitalized, since it is a proper noun.

    I think it's because, as far as Paul knows, Quinn has taken something that Paul considers his in John Constantine. As such, unless there is a good reason to do otherwise, he considers Quinn an enemy to be defeated. And that's before the revelation that he seems to be doing something with the Anti-Life Equation is taken into consideration.
     
  27. AR760

    AR760 Experienced.

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    Has the story explicitly said yet that Quinn was the one to engage with the Anti-Life infections and weaponization attempts? Genuine question.

    Because the jury still seems out on whether he is responsible for it, or is trying to figure out a way to fix the entities in question.

    Or hell. The CDC as a matter of practice frequently experiments with weaponizing incredibly deadly viruses and pathogens in an attempt to study and find a way to cure them. The kinds that if let lose could kill millions, if not more.

    Who is to say that Quinn isn't doing the same? Especially given Darkseid is an existential and consistent threat for Earth in most DC settings, and previous magic has even touched upon Anti-Life principles before iirc?
     
  28. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    The fact that he didn't bother to inform anyone on the League that he was doing this does not paint him in the best light.
     
  29. xSieg

    xSieg Making the rounds.

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    Paul hasn't gone native, he has just accepted by now that being genre-savvy is better than being rational in his comic-book verse
     
  30. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    I really like the dynamic of Balewa being this chill mentor figure, with Paul as his far too brash, violent pupil
     
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