10th September 2012
18:22 GMT
Lord Malvolio holds his third ring-blank in his left hand as it
slowly evaporates.
"And so it ever is. See you anything awry in my process?"
I shake my head slowly.
"No, but I only saw a small part of what you did. You… Your green glow is so bright that it's difficult for me to see what you're doing in any detail.
"
I
barely remember what the process for forging a ring was in the comics, just… Ganthet scowling and treating the whole thing like forging a ring with metal. I assume that it was a limitation of the medium, but… Kalmin uses equipment to handle it as well. Maybe it's something that
can't be handled by a person just with their connection to the relevant colour.
I could ask Hinon, or one of the other Controllers who've been forging rings for the Corps. Except that the techniques they use might not work for me, and that would implicate them in the whole 'helping Lord Malvolio' thing.
Would someone from 17th century Manchester actually have been called 'Malvolio'? It's a
possibility, Shakespeare's plays would have been in circulation if that's where his mother got it from. Given how he was puzzled by me not wanting to give the other Lanterns' names, it certainly seems plausible.
If his parents wanted a joker, well… I imagine that they'd be surprised by how he turned out.
"I suppose… Maybe they shouldn't be created as separate units, but paired with particular lanterns. Do you have a normal sized personal lantern?
"
"Nay. Priest was of the opinion that personal lanterns are a crutch best avoided."
I blink.
"What?
"
"He instructed me that they were an unnecessary crutch, much as a man who has lived a life free from sin has no need of indulgences."
"So… You… Don't need to recharge your ring?
"
"I do not. I see that you are surprised."
"Surprised that it's possible, and surprised that you got the hang of it back in the seventeenth century.
"
"What does the age matter to the nature of a man's soul?"
"Fair point. I just meant that you wouldn't have had all that much time to get the hang of it before running out of power.
"
"Priest reinvigorated my ring when its fires began to ebb. His tutelage is why my domains are an entire Sector and not merely limited to the Earth, and the memory of the time where we worked together is why I refuse to slay him for his later treachery."
"How long did it take you to learn?
"
"I do not know. We were far from the star of Earth, and the training was too exhausting for me to keep track of the passage of days." He regards me with curiosity.
"You mean to say that you have always recharged from your lantern?"
"Yes. Except for the time I was bonded to the Ophidian, but I assumed… The part of us that was
her was handling that.
"
"Priest warned me that it might take longer than a normal man's mortal span to learn the required techniques. Even now he questions my mastery."
"Did
he ever make a central power battery?
"
Lord Malvolio actually smiles.
"Methinks that he would condescend even unto the Guardians for their reliance on such fripperies. No, he did not."
"Modern Earth has a saying: perfect is the greatest enemy of good enough. One powerful Lantern, however impressive, just won't achieve as much as a dozen who need personal lanterns. I don't think that the Guardians would intentionally cripple their Lanterns, so there must be something else going on.
"
"A man may oil and sharpen his sword without caring a whit for its wellbeing."
"Yes, but it's still sharp and free from rust at the end of that. 'You can recharge without a personal lantern' is just… Too big a deal.
"
"I think there is more to the affair on their part, but in truth I do not know them well enough to be sure in my condemnation."
They did have
Guy researching high complexity techniques… But I'm focusing on ring crafting at the moment, and I'd rather get a cooperation agreement in place
before asking Guy to talk to the man who punched Jordan through a planet. Guy loves the Green Lantern Corps, and I can't see that conversation going well.
"Okay, so you've never tried forging a ring using a personal lantern?
"
"Having none, I have not."
"I'll give it a go then.
" I float my newly created personal lantern up to me.
"Please don't mess me about when I transubstantiate.
"
"Continue at your leisure."
Okay then. I don't step out, but rather hold up the lantern in my left hand and press my right hand against the spout part.
Rings are a focus of the desires of their users, but… I don't think anyone wants a ring purely to
have the ring. I mean, in some places it's a status symbol, but what they want is the status. Others want all sorts of outcomes…
Are there any ring-shaped desires in here? Preferably marked with the orange sigil? I can search for desires relating to control and creation and shape them, but I've got no more reason to believe that will work than…
Anything else I could try, so I may as well try it as well, I suppose.
The Honden is now richly decorated in ring-adjacent desires, and I regularly check them to make sure that no one in my Corps is heading for crazy town.
Ring-adjacent…
Do rings have spirits? Are ring AIs spirits? I wasn't joking about thinking that I might end up coming here full time once I die properly, so I suppose…
Is there anything here that doesn't fit?
Yes, my Agent.
Other than you, you beautiful snake you.
Yes, my Agent. Here.
Oh. That's…
Interesting.
I withdraw my right hand, a ring around my right ring finger.
"You have managed the feat? How?"
"I don't think I have.
" I take a closer look at the ring. Simple design, no additional AI…
"This is Larfleeze's ring. It was destroyed when I… Died. Completely disintegrated by qwa-matter. It-.
"
Malvolio's head jerks up, and his face twists into a snarl.
"Your pardon, Lord Illustres, but it seems that I must return home. Some fool has tried to release mine most contentious prisoner."
And who would that be, again? No, I'm not joking. I honestly don't remember. Did you mean the young man calling himself Arion? Or is it someone else?
