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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. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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  2. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    She was able to take a seed, so she may use a ritual that allows her to steal divine power from her defeated foes.

    I don't think he's right in the head by a lot of people's standards.

    And Paul doesn't care all that much about appearances.

    Just ask the Spider Queen.
     
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  3. w34v3r

    w34v3r Versed in the lewd.

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    If it was still an infernal contractor sure, but this wraith is drawing upon a bit higher tier power source than most, and by new god rules Thiva's got disadvantage on at least her next save against anything OL tries to pull.
     
  4. Chaoswind

    Chaoswind Lord of nonsense

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    The hell wraith has been marinating on the orange light for several months and has been feeding from demons, other magical creatures and I think it even managed to tag a couple of low tier or mid tier angels too.

    A random hell shade it is not.
     
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  5. FreeGod

    FreeGod If you see a God on the road fuck it!

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    Does he really care? Whatever happened was in the past and doesn't have much effect on future actions.
     
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  6. theaceoffire

    theaceoffire Versed in the lewd.

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    Probably meant 'when' here.

    Oh my word, I do believe I feel the vapors!

    Mr lantern kind sir, you can't just plug into a woman in public like this! Though a delicate thing like myself could hardly stop such an event, I must surely protest!
     
  7. Silverias

    Silverias Know what you're doing yet?

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    OL says he's not a god, I think it's...kinda academic at this point.

    Plugged into a fundamental force of the universe he can manipulate with his inherent affinity towards it, plus the independence of his soul and body and his ever escalating frankensoul.

    The only thing that keeps him from counting is that he can't quite call himself a jumped-up elemental yet.
     
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  8. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    I guess you can say that he's a jumped up avarice elemental.
     
  9. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Yes. In canon, the population of the world Rhea went to first was entirely destroyed, and the seeds were people Rhea created. Here, because I have a different origin for Donna, I've changed things.
    None of the characters have so far volunteered that information, if they know.
    Thank you, corrected.
    No, he means 'the peace treaty he suggests' not 'he's suggesting that this is the case'.
    No, that's correct.
    No, the ship-mounted gun. Not the gun used by the Ascendant.
    Honestly, 'Avatar of the Ophidian' wouldn't be far from the truth.
     
  10. Clell65619

    Clell65619 Making the rounds.

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    Well, not necessarily lying. Uninformed belief is a thing after all.
     
  11. fappingtoyourpost

    fappingtoyourpost Know what you're doing yet?

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    When a mortal believes themselves to be a god and puts on godly airs, that's hubris, and it ends poorly like 100% of the time.

    What Paul's doing, were he's basically a god, to the point that other gods in his presence can't tell the difference, but he believes himself to be a mortal, and puts on mortal airs, I don't think that's common enough to have a tragic trope named after it, but I'm sure it's going to end as badly or worse if he doesn't snap out of it soonish.
     
  12. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    I'm pretty sure the Greco-Roman pantheon at least see him more as a demigod. A powerful one, but a demigod nonetheless.
     
  13. CTrees

    CTrees Chasing the ring

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  14. Dappershire

    Dappershire Getting out there.

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    Wait, you're just...making it up as you go?

    I can't believe this. I quit.
     
  15. Deadring

    Deadring Screee!

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    The horror, I tell you! The horror!
     
  16. Threadmarks: The Ancestor
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    January 8th, 1857
    Midday


    Bart takes another look around and then shakes his head, before looking over to his current employer. Though 'employer' might be a bit of an overstatement, given that no actual money had changed hands yet. Oh, he was confident that he could turn a profit somehow, but he didn't think it would come from the Indian tribe. If they could afford him, they wouldn't need him.

    "Come on, fellah. I don't see no way there's anything worth fighting for 'round these parts. What's really got y'all so riled up?"

    The middle aged Indian shifts slightly on his horse, then looks over to Scalphunter. Because once you've seen a person cut someone's scalp off their face, you're not going to be calling them 'Brian' or 'Mr. Savage' in a hurry. And just calling him 'Savage' didn't seem like such a good idea, however much it fit him.

    "There are evil spirits in this land. If the white men-."

    "I am a white man."

    "If they come here, if they disturb the land, it may awaken again. The Ancestor told us to keep people away, but… But we are too weak."

    "Mm."

    Scalphunter wasn't looking at the local. Instead, he was watching the trees. Bart had no idea what for, but he was the better tracker between the two of them.

    "So who's this 'Ancestor', then? Fellah who founded your tribe?"

    "No. He was-. He was a white man, like you. He walked all across the world long before people from Europe came here."

    Bart frowned. He could generally honestly say that he was the best educated amongst any band of wanderers and chancers he happened to join up with, but there weren't a lot of white men around who couldn't trace their forebears to Europe.

    "An albino?"

    "No. His eyes were orange. Not red."

    "I don't wanna argue the point, but that's the kinda detail gets lost in the retelling."

    "No, they glowed orange. That is part of his story."

    Bart hadn't ever seen anyone with glowing orange eyes. Glowing eyes, once or twice. Out this far from civilization, things could get a little strange sometimes. There was a mesmerist that one time, and-. Glowing orange was new. And kind of specific.

    "Before Columbus?"

    "Yes."

    "Think I remember something about the Vikings trying to settle North America before that. Called it 'Vinland', because the land was so good for farming."

    "No. Before that, whenever it was. He walked the land before people were people."

    That put a different spin on things. And that was why he was here. Some times superstition was just that; nothing to it. Sometimes there was something darn strange going on, but for a good reason. There was a stream in England that was supposed to turn things to stone, but that was just due to some chemical in the water. Strange to look at, but not much to worry about.

    Or if you got real lucky, there was oil close to the surface killing off the plants and that was why the place had a bad reputation. In which case, his good friend Mr. Bissell would give them a few dollars for it. Minus a finders' fee.

    And then sometimes there really was something going on, and if you were real lucky you made it through without soiling yourself. But for the life of him Bart couldn't work out what Scalphunter was seeing in the trees that would give him a clue what was happening here.

    "The Kiowa also told tales of the Ancestor." Scalphunter leans down and pulls a small piece of chalk out of his pannier. Then he leaned over and drew a shape on the bark of a nearby tree. A small circle with lines coming out of it. Some kind of Indian writing? "This shape?"

    "Yes." Their guide nods, looking a little relieved if Bart was any judge. "The sign of the Ancestor."

    Scalphunter looks at Bart. "You don't recognize it? The stories say he walked all over the world."

    A circle… With a 'v' cutting through it at the top, two little lines coming off it at the two and ten o'clock positions and another two at the five and seven. Looks a little like a man with arms and legs sticking out. It… Could be a Viking rune, but those were usually made up of straight lines. Not that he thought reading a couple of pulp Viking adventure stories when he was a boy made him any kind of expert. So, maybe some Viking sails to the New World, walks from the east coast through Colorado to California before other white men visited either and made a big impression on the locals.

    "You got any idea when this Ancestor guy visited?"

    "When he first visited us, or when he most recently visited us?"

    "First time. Just trying to get some idea of how long he's been around here."

    "He told us that he walked across the bridge between Siberia and Alaska and protected our ancestors from a Martian."

    W-?

    "I don't know what a Martian is, but he said that Alaska is the land to the furthest north of the west coast, and Siberia is across the sea from it."

    "A Martian?" Jesus. "Is this some kind of joke?"

    The guide looks at him with widening eyes. "You know what they are?"

    "Martian. From…" Ridiculous. "Mars. It's a planet. You know what a planet is, right?" He shakes his head. He might have taken advantage of Indian superstition once or twice, but it sounds like someone took these guys for a ride.

    "Another world, orbiting the sun. One place further from the sun than our world."

    So some educated white man swung through here a few years ago, claimed that he was some Ancestor hero and spun a few tales… He couldn't imagine what the man wanted from them, but this was starting to sound like a waste of time. Back when the local Indians moved in… Did they even know the world was round back then? Galileo was around in the 16th century, and the Indians had been in America for a lot longer than that.

    "Listen, I don't think-."

    Scalphunter comes alert, and Bart finds himself instinctively ducking closer to his horse.

    "Those aren't trees."

    His hand snaps out, chalk stick striking-. Passing through a tree, the bark rippling like the surface of a pond when someone threw a stone into the water.

    Ah hell. This was that kind of job.

    And these were his good pants.

    Bart smiles. "Guess he's not a Viking after all."

    "No." The guide shakes his head and then shakes his reins, causing his horse to trot forward-. And vanish. "Come."

    Bart looks at Scalphunter. "If he knows your tribe too, maybe… You better go next."

    Scalphunter scowls. "Bat Lash, I will say this once. I grew up with the Kiowa after they stole me from my parents, but I was never one of them."

    Bart raises his empty hands.

    "I misspoke, and I apologise."

    "Accepted. Don't do it again."

    "I won't."

    Scalphunter nods, and spurs his horse to follow the guide, vanishing with the same ripple he did.

    Bart hesitates, then for a moment looks back longingly at the trail they used to get here.

    For a moment longer.

    Then he gives his head a small shake and follows them.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2024
  17. doug89

    doug89 Versed in the lewd.

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    Farther from the sun?
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2021
  18. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Now I'm interested in what this version of Paul did with all his time. Also, how did he defeat what I presume to be a Burning Martian?
     
  19. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'shake'

    And probably longer than there were people in Europe.

    Exploitation of native populations.

    Wonderful, just wonderful.

    A Burning one if I remember correctly try.

    I think Vandal Savage killed it in the comics, though I'm not sure since I'm remembering this from another fanfic.

    'follow the guide'
     
  20. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    It's from the comics. It was mentioned in JLA. Savage told the Justice League this in the story arc featuring the burning martian split personality of the Martian Manhunter.
     
  21. Prosecutor-0

    Prosecutor-0 Getting out there.

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    Bat Lash, the prototype Batman? :D
     
  22. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Still have no idea what this is supposed to be.
     
  23. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Interesting, another look at the tales of the Ancient Shaman Paul we saw last episode? And a look at some of the 'Wild West'-era DC heroes. ...Seriously, there was a period in the fifties when Cowboys, Crime, Horror and Romance comics outsold Superheroes. Then the Silver Age happened.

    And, being the DC Universe, that's not hyperbole. There's a lot of true mythology in that world.

    Interesting. I'm guessing Oil Companies are pushing into the area, and looking for hot deposits. But from the sound of it, this deposit might be too hot to handle.

    Well, depending on what's about... The trees themselves could be the danger.

    Which matches what we saw in the Australian Aboriginal scene. In a way, he sounds like The Doctor from Stormwatch and the Authority, minus the line of serial empowerment. An elder being watching over Humanity and its cousins, making sure Earth lives on...

    :rolleyes: Ah, that Euro-centric assumption so typical of white heroes of the era... Can't fault the guy, though, he only knows what he knows.

    To be fair, I'm sure his tales have been exaggerated over the millennia Humanity has experienced... And often misattributed.

    Because times got weird back in the day... Especially once the Cowboy types got rolled into the mainstream timeline.

    Vinland, for reference. Though at this point in time, the idea probably sounds like a bit of a crackpot theory...

    Once again, to quote Planetary: The world is a strange place. It's the strangeness that's hostile that you have to worry about, though...

    That may sound bad, but keep in mind, in those days, a Dollar was several month's wages for the average person. Which sheds a different light on the value of bounties. Still a bit of a dick move on the Company's part...

    Heheh. I wonder how many small tribes around the world know that sigil on sight...

    Read: The Sigil of the Orange Light. Definitely Shaman Paul. As for walking across America... That's a long-ass way - around four thousand kilometres....

    :confused: ...Just how long ago was the most recent stop-off? Because if it turns out he's still here...

    Otherwise known as Beringia. And that was the Burning Martian known as Fernus, if I remember my JLA correctly. Battled in canon by Vandar Adg aka Vandal Savage. Guess he wasn't alone in this timeline, assuming he took part in the fight at all.

    Yeah, gotta remember, most people of this era would rarely travel more than a hundred miles, and probably not have any education in world geography...

    Alas, H. G. Wells' book is still quite a few years off at this point.

    ...No, that would be Venus. Though from a certain point of view, I suppose that would make sense.

    Hey, Galileo didn't invent the concept of a round world. His big thing was heliocentrism...

    ...Is that good or bad? Because I'm sure Bat there would rather get some distance if it's the latter.

    Indeed. The weird stuff. The kind of thing you can't get paid enough to handle... But end up getting into anyway.

    Eh, that depends on how you view the history of England...

    ...Oh boy. Shaman Paul is right there, isn't he?

    Touchy subject, but entirely natural given his origins...

    He's confident, if nothing else. "Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil... Because I am the baddest motherfucker there..."

    And that, folks is the mark of a real hero.

    Let's hope it's not the kind of thing that results in someone saying "Well, that's the end of this suit." I find myself hoping they get to have an encounter with Shaman Paul, because this sounds a lot like some manner of magical disguise for a safe hideaway. I'm sure we'll see tomorrow, because there's another chapter of this coming.


    ...anything worth fightin' for 'round these parts. (Considering his accent and all.)
    Called it 'Vinland', because the land...


    Neither do the rest of us. But I'm sure we'll be seeing what it is soon enough.
     
  24. AmericanNumbers

    AmericanNumbers Not too sore, are you?

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    One place further from the Sun
     
  25. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    And all the madness that followed it.

    Hmm, maybe there's an evil or dangerous Green elemental there.

    They were a European company that was interested in American land.

    They were all basically dicks.

    Now I'm wondering what has befallen that caveman in this universe.

    If he met Paul then the encounter either went in two ways.

    In one Paul gives him advice that makes him less of a piece of shit.

    In the other, Paul assimilates him or throws him into the sun.

    People knew the world wasn't flat for a long time, they just didn't travel to the other side since they didn't know if there was land and they would run out off supplies.

    Or a lunatic.
     
  26. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Mars. Where even is it?
    Thank you, corrected.
    Not particularly. Read up a little on companies like Standard Oil and you'll realise that they weren't picky about who they exploited.
    Actually, no. They have basically nothing in common. 'Bat' is an abbreviation of 'Bartholomew'.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  27. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    To the left of the Milky Ways generally, under the counter.
     
  28. JamesEye

    JamesEye Not too sore, are you?

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    Love the idea of this Ancient Paul.
     
  29. CTrees

    CTrees Chasing the ring

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    Orange light shenanigans, probably. Branding, assimilation, rewriting desires. Or just letting it read his mind to learn his name.

    Alternatively, Vandal Savage managed to kill it, I guess because it intended to die, as it was tired of being alone? So perhaps it would have intended to have OL kill it, as well. I didn't read this bit of the comics though - I'm just going by one of the wikias
     
  30. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    He had got his lantern back by then and I don't think burning Martians had ever faced the light of avarice before.
     
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