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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. Threadmarks: Feasibility Study (part 1)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Feasibility Study

    15th November 2012
    13:27 GMT -5


    "So…"

    I look around the Tower's library. This is where we met up before our sojourn into Hell to get Satanus. Which I suppose means that we can rule out anyone associated with him as 'the hole in the universe'.

    "Do we have any idea what he was trying to do?"

    Sephtian nods, barely able to turn his attention away from the notes that he and his team have spread out over the writing desks.

    "Yes, I believe so. We will know for certain if we find a second machine like the one you destroyed."

    "A-. Second?"

    "John Constantine was attempting to balance himself. You saw that there were far more Order-attuned crystals than Chaos-attuned ones. You also saw that he had caged raw Dream-stuff."

    "And Demon John said that he'd been using the balcony which opens onto the Dream storm outside."

    I glance out of the window. From the outside, it looks much the same as it did last time.

    "What was he doing?"

    "He did not get that sand from Morpheus. As far as-" He turns back towards the tables, looking for something-. "-we-. Ah!"

    He strides over to one of the tables, and I take a moment to be impressed by how far the water armour designs have come in such a relatively short time. He's moving easily despite being in the open air and unless the light catches him at exactly the right angle I wouldn't know it was there. Pushing two pages aside he grabs one from beneath them and brings it back to me, ignoring the disgruntled crablantean who was studying it.

    "Here, you see."

    I try making sense of the diagram, but… It's well beyond me. Quinn doesn't appear to have been all that impressed by Atlantean notation. Some of what he used reminds me of John Dee's writing, but this is far more sophisticated.

    "I don’t suppose that you've translated his notation-?"

    One of the researchers raises her head. "Come back in two or three years!"

    Sephtian jerks his head around and glares at the impetuous researcher. "Orange Lantern could decipher it in two or three years. We are the mostly highly skilled professionals on Earth."

    The researcher appears to be torn between her desire to give her honest opinion and her desire to avoid insulting her boss.

    "One to two years."

    "That's better." He turns back to me, looking for somewhere to spread out the-.

    I take hold of the paper and attach it to a construct flipchart.

    "Thank you. This part appears to be a depiction of the part that processed the raw chaos of the storm into sand." He shudders slightly. "I had no idea that was where the sand came from."

    "I wouldn't get too enthralled. I don't think Morpheus would be too happy if we started mucking about with it."

    "That.. is.. a good point. But will he complain about us studying a device that already exists?"

    "I don't know. I've never spoken to him. Do you have someone on your team who specialises in understanding powerful elemental beings?"

    In the background, someone snorts.

    For a moment, Sephtian doesn't reply. The eyes of more than a few of the other researchers have turned our way.

    "No."

    "Oh. Well, the only person I know of who's spoken to him recently is Sandman, but I don't think they had an in-depth conversation. I can only suggest that you avoid doing anything that John Quinn didn't and stop the moment he complains about it."

    "Yes, of course. Even going as far as John Quinn managed to will take us… 'One to two' years and teach us a great deal."

    "Do you know what he managed to do yet?"

    "That is easier to understand." He sighs. "Though Sandman absorbing so much sand and the destruction to the machine makes it harder to understand the specifics. He extracted sand from the storm outside and used what remained to create a smaller 'tame' storm for his own use. Combining both elements allowed him to manifest the man you knew as 'The Golden Boy' as an intelligent being derived from John Constantine's own memories and sense of inadequacy. But between the records we have found and the remaining Chaos crystals, we think…"

    He pauses, and I imagine him rechecking his figures in his head.

    "We think that he may have been attempting to impose structure on the Dream itself."

    "Sure, that's… Possible. We saw the city-."

    "All of the Dream."

    "I don't see Morpheus tolerating that."

    "I don't either. But I do not know what else it could be."

    "Dream spaceship?"

    He blinks in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widen.

    "I mean, I'm just hoping, I've got no idea-."

    He grabs the paper off the construct board and runs over to the team working on the desks.



    "Okay."

    It would be nice if it was something like a Dream spaceship. Unlike most afterlives, the Dream is universal. It's just that travelling through it reliably is such a pain that it's not worth it, and then there's the fact that actual gates that physical objects can use are virtually unheard of.

    But it's not going to be that. It's going to be him trying to Anti-Life the Dream or something else equally ridiculous. Normally the range of Anti-Life exposure is limited and if it's not constant then people can recover. Plug it into their dreams…

    There aren't many ways into the Dream. Erebos is as well defended as it's going to get, and the Tower of Fate is… Well, there's a reason why we came in through the balcony. Lock down the Tower and no one is getting in.

    But this place went from a curiosity to a weak point for the entire universe.

    I'd suggest destroying it, but I've got no idea if that's even possible.

    We need to get John back here just to make sure that nothing goes wrong, but he's in no fit state to look after himself, much less the Tower of Fate.

    Who else..?

    The construct Helmet of Demon Fate precipitates out of my ring, hovering in the air.

    "How may I serve?"

    "It turns out that I need a doorstop. Well volunteered."
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2022
  2. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

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    ‘he may have’
     
  3. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    ...Glorious. The demon Fate could save years of work.
     
  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    You have.

    Though you were mergedwith the Ophidian at the time.

    That poor, underappreciated elementalist.

    Oh shit.

    I thought he was planning on using Thorn to spread Anti-Life through plants but this is worse.
     
  5. scooterboo

    scooterboo Getting out there.

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    If we find
     
  6. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    I somehow doubt Apokolips hadn't tried this already.

    It's a problem with too high stakes in general: if a single action, like a physics experiment or something, could destroy all of creation you know it actually won't because otherwise at some point someone would most likely already have done it and creation would be gone.

    Kinda takes the tension out.
     
  7. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    Or the action succeeds in most of the universes and this is the rare universe it didn't happen in. Yet.
     
  8. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should say 'most'.

    I'm guessing that one elementalist decided to stop coming to their meetings due to being snubbed? Also, Paul spoke with Dream when he was looking for Melinoë and the latter tasked Paul with finding Sandy. So that should say 'I've hardly spoken to him.'.

    Nice to know Paul still has access to this guy. How long will he be serving as the interim guardian of the Tower of Fate?
     
  9. chxenocide

    chxenocide Getting sticky.

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    Before clicking the link, I was assuming this was implying Sephtian was the specialist after having to deal with Paul.
     
  10. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    Awww.... did the dolphin guy get kicked out?
     
  11. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    That's still a worry, yes. The possible suspects we know of that have appeared on-screen is a very exclusive list (including Dark Druid, Johnny Sorrow and Doctor Impossible, at least), but all of them are very, very dangerous people. Anti-Life-related or not, any one of them may be lurking out there somewhere, just waiting to cause trouble...

    Ah, high-level experimental thaumaturgists at work. Let's hope they don't start pulling out the string and pinboards, or things may get odd.

    Oh, dear. The big worry is, who would it be used on?

    ...That suggests the intended result is much more Chaos-aligned than Orderly. Bad news.

    To be fair, Morpheus' pouch of Dream-sand was being passed about in the world for nearly a century, so I don't doubt there are traces amounts of it floating all about the world, never mind within the Dreaming.

    Heh. An aquatic creature's version of an encounter suit. I can bet they put a lot of effort into keeping the generating parts compact, lightweight and durable. Some of them aren't exactly world-class athletes, after all.

    Not impossible. There are ancient manuscripts that people still haven't translated, and not for lack of trying, either.

    Yeah, you're basically the Atlantean equivalents of Starfleet engineers. Always overquote expected times, in order to look better for getting it done fast. :p

    Still not terrible. Could probably work even faster if they could employ machine-learning decryption techniques. o_O Though that might run the risk of the VI becoming self-aware and going mad with power. This is the DC Universe, after all. :D

    Ah, Lanterns. For when you need instant tables and pinboards.

    True. And it's likely to have far-reaching consequences anyway, because Sod's Law is always out to get you...

    Oh, boy. Here we go. The perceived 'loser' of their out-there circle of magical sciences...

    ...I'm guessing the last person who they might have called quit...

    And believe me, you will know when he complains.

    Just in case someone tries to repeat it someday. Especially on someone important.

    Do be careful with that stuff, by the way. It tends to disagree with mortal biology, I would expect.

    ...Shiiiit. I suspect that would have narked Morpheus right the hell off. Never mind the implications for all life in the universe that's capable of dreaming.

    The bottled Baghdad, after all, is a creation of Morpheus. It's not surprise that the things he makes have more natural order to them over the wild places where reality bends and opens cracks into the Dreaming..

    It's still a terrifying idea.

    Don't worry, it's just OL being OL.

    ...Oh, boy. OL, this never seemed like the best idea anyway. It rather smacks of 'Warhammer 40,000's use of Warp Travel. And flitting about space using the collective realm of all conscious thought was never the best idea.

    Let's just hope that Spehtian comes back and says, "I've discussed it with the others, and we are pretty sure it isn't. Also, we all agree that's a terrible idea. Please stop trying to make it happen..."

    ...What if he wasn't looking for a way to travel within this universe? Rather, he was building something akin to a Shiftship from first principles? That could probably explain some of the random dimensional castaways, too, depending on how long he's been working on it...

    I think Morpheus keeps the entrances limited for good reason. The last thing he'd want is tourists.

    Assuming he ever wants to take over again. Then again, New 52 John ended up using one of the Houses of the Dreaming as a base for Justice League Dark, as stupid an idea as that was.

    Now, did OL call him out, or did he sense the line of thought and step up in his master's stead? Some Construct Lanterns do retain a bit more self-awareness than others.

    As long as he's given very sharply defined restrictions, he might well be useful.

    So, the clean-up after John's little bout of tomfoolery is starting to play out, I see. Making sense of what Quinn was doing, trying to work out who he worked with, if anyone, and if any of his former prisoners are still running around out there laden with Anti-Life, or something like it. I suspect this will keep OL busy for some time. Fellow does seem to get creative when he's got nothing to do...
     
  12. dw7thdoctor

    dw7thdoctor Getting sticky.

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    Is this chapter implying they were able to get demon fate off the poor guy's head safely? because I hope that is the case.
     
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  13. PDV

    PDV Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer

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    It does indeed. There's a surprising amount of parallels between the Endless and the powers of 40k. Though with added grimdark, of course.

    Not Del, though. She's not part of the universe, she just took Barnabas out for walkies and found the way through Destiny's maze.
     
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  14. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    I wonder if Dolphin dude fucked off to Venturia, where his perspective might be applicable to their research for the same reason he'd be useful here.
     
  15. Agumentic

    Agumentic Not too sore, are you?

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    That was Desire, actually.
     
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  16. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    That was Desire.

    The SI did sort of communicate with Dream when he went looking for Sanderson, but it wasn't much of a conversation.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
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  17. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

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    .... Dear god. The lines have become so blurred.
    In any case, Can you even anti-life an Endless?
    As beings that are the embodiment of the totality of things, they're already connected to it in someway.

    I imagine it would be redundant.
     
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  18. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Maybe he tried something he shouldn't have.

    Despite being cute, dolphins can be pretty psychotic.

    He also talked with Dream around the time Melinoe was kidnapped.

    Yep

    They may potentially be connected to it, but it may just be a small connection and what Quinn was trying to do could have made their connection much bigger.
     
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  19. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    And if your superiors find out about it then you'll see it stop and you'll go crazy unless unless you're like Brad Boimler.

    And even then you'll be remembered for being lazy.

    At least Miles will get the respect he deserves.

    As if that will stop Paul.

    It wouldn't be John if it wasn't weird.
     
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  20. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    What did she end up advising him to do in such a case anyway? Was it at all useful when heaven actually did invade later?
     
  21. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    It doesn't matter. He didn't read it.
     
  22. Xmaster3000

    Xmaster3000 Know what you're doing yet?

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    Shouldn't it be "is Sandman"?
     
  23. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  24. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    It's just a nickname for Richard. And they have one of those.
     
  25. Bramble Thorn

    Bramble Thorn Verified Silhouette

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    And he didn't get his ass reamed for that?

    I mean, "Pssh, elemental experts, who need expertise on such a piddling thing."
    *Blows off report about Silver City invading*
    *Silver City Invades*
     
  26. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    ...well. That gives an extra reason for Morpheus to aid Sandy and the heroes. Even if it wouldn't work, it causing damage would still Not Be Something Morpheus Wants.

    Also well timed for this arc to happen in the lead up to the Netflix Sandman series
     
  27. w34v3r

    w34v3r Versed in the lewd.

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    Ok When did Demon fate appear last because I've forgotten it entirely.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2022
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  28. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    During the story with Earth 666 and the New Reichsman. I believe Krummkreuz was the title, but I could be wrong
     
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  29. jonasquinn

    jonasquinn I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    I mean yeah but if you’re going to take that stance then nothing ever has any tension because someone will always have tried and failed in the past or will try and succeed in the future, especially in a setting with a multiverse

    Its like Owlman in Crisis on Two Earths, it doesn’t matter that he didn’t end the multiverse because a version of him will inevitably succeed
     
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  30. Radix

    Radix Not too sore, are you?

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    Past Participant.

    Future Tense was Truggs that introduced Demon supergirl and the invasion. Past Participant had Demon Fate invade in chapter 6 and was defeated and assimilated by OL. The rest was them on demon earth.

    The Reichsmen were in Krummkreuz which was part 2 of the demon story where they got reinforcements from Earth X.
     
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