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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. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Or just dating/courting each other.

    Now I wonder how Saul would react to the fact that one of his alternates is actually fucking a corpse.

    Unless Paol is waiting until marriage or until she's alive.
     
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  2. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    According to Nehekharan law, he's her concubine. But there's a lot of difference between a 'ex-spouse of conquered enemy on display' concubine and 'I'd marry them but it doesn't make political sense' concubine.
    It's living tissue.
     
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  3. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Which is over a person that's still sorta dead.
     
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  4. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Are concubines allowed to have other romantic/sexual partners (officially)? I'm not sure if that was how it functioned in real-life cases, or whenever it comes up in fiction, though there are several variations (I'm not familiar with how the ancient Egyptian practice worked). The Roman context here has the masculine version concubinus though the female counterpart is concubina so I suppose concubine still functions pretty well as a gender-neutral term.
     
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  5. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    When, how and why did this happen? That seems much more interesting to read than the recreation Earth Prime trade routes.

    Paol is a foreign chief/prince who doesn't stick around in Khalida's harem. Khalida can't feel touch to any extent (or at least I think that her bound soul can't yet interface with her Paol-refreshed body that way). Paol doesn't love Khalida. Both of them should be aware enough of political implications to not just go for it for purely carnal reasons. I don't know if Khalida even posseses a libido in her state and Paol's is currently being satisfied elsewhise.

    Given all of the above there myst be something more going on.
    Shouldn't it be "that converge" due to streams not being people?
     
  6. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    How much do you think that the nation of animated skeletons cares?
    Pretty much the night after they met. Not that she could really get involved at the time, but he and Aranei made her feel included.
    No, she can feel touch. Just not with her meat.
    For her, it's about regaining something that she lost due to Nerfarata and Nagash. For him, it's about a long term relationship prospect.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  7. Clell65619

    Clell65619 Making the rounds.

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    Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh...
     
  8. The Froggy Ninja

    The Froggy Ninja The Blade Will Never Die

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    I'm kind of curious about the Lizardmen. On the one hand, they love infrastructure. On the other, they're zealots with variable levels of willingness to negotiate in pursuit of the Great Plan. On the third, Paul's Ring is actually pretty similar to some of their magitek like Void Cubes or God Engines, if significantly smaller and more versatile, which is neat.
     
  9. Zig

    Zig Not too sore, are you?

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    Neither do most of the Pauls when they first start out.
     
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  10. Michael Vonica

    Michael Vonica Know what you're doing yet?

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    Are you saying that Paol is tickling her funny bone?
     
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  11. ForeverShogo

    ForeverShogo Not too sore, are you?

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    So what exactly does Khalida look like now that she has a meat suit to wear? I can't find any images of what she was supposed to have looked like before she became a walking corpse.
     
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  12. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Yes, but in this case it actually matters, since it means she can be controlled lock stock and barrel by Nagash.
     
  13. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    My guess is a highly attractive woman with facial characteristics reminiscent of those common to people from Egypt.
     
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  14. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    the fundamental things apply, as time goes by
     
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  15. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    And when two lovers woo, they still say I love you
     
  16. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    He liked the correction that was in the same post.

    No one in this discussion claimed that being enslaved is good to a people. Clearly, it is not. It may, however, under some circumstances and with some policies, be better than the alternatives. Under other circumstances, it may have no positive qualities at all. This is all anyone in this thread has ever said. It is a conditional, not an absolute.
     
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  17. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    On that you can rely
     
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  18. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    No matter what the future brings as time goes by
     
  19. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Her mask is modeled off of what she looked like before she was a walking corpse.
     
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  20. Threadmarks: Workhorse (part 11)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    4th October 2012
    15:11 GMT


    I stretch out my arms and legs, spreading the wings of my wingsuit and catching the air rising from the hillside.

    Bleez catches up with a single wingbeat, looking over the canvas holding me in the air.

    Her mouth moves, and I can't hear a word of tree!

    I swerve around it, flailing slightly before catching the air current and getting a little more lift. This is very different from using a power ring. I know I'm perfectly safe, but my heart is actually racing.

    There's a click as Bleez activates her microphone.

    "This isn't flying. This is falling." A twist of her wings and she's gliding on her back. "Without style."

    "I don't have wings. I can fly by power ring, but that gives me perfect control and turns the whole thing into an exercise of the mind."

    Getting a little low open the wings gain a little height and over the ridge!

    "This engages my body. I feel this. Can you imagine not feeling the air moving through your feathers when you fly?"

    "Yes? I've been in space. But I guess I sort of get it."

    A lopsided flap and she barrel rolls around me, giving me an eyeful of her 'aerodynamic' flight gear.

    "But is that really the best your people have?"

    "Anything bigger and I'd be wearing a microlight."

    I angle down and retract my wings to gain speed in the descent.

    "Short of growing wings, this is about as immediate as I can make flying."

    There's a sharp intake of breath through the headphones.

    "That's so sad!"

    "It's pretty normal for humanoid species."

    "That doesn't make it less sad. How did your species used to get around?"

    "Ah, well, our really distant ancestors used to swing between tree branches using disproportionately long arms. After that we just walked everywhere until we started domesticating horses and building boats."

    I stop diving and open my wings again, causing Bleez to shoot past me as I exchange speed for lift.

    "Really? Whaw. That must have been slow."

    "It beat having our early civilisation controlled by soul-eating demons, but I suppose that it's hard to do a pure cost/benefit analysis."

    "Ooh, can you get me the number of that thanagarian who got reincarnated as humans? I'd love to hear about the sort of music we made back then!"

    "Yes, no problem. I'm sure that Missus Cantrell will be happy to hear from you."

    I'm not sure what sort of geographical upheaval caused this sort of landscape, a 'hill' that covers an area the size of central Europe with all manner of interesting features. Rivers have carved out valleys, water wearing away soft soil and leaving hard rock promontories and spines. Larger mesas produce interesting air currents and possible landing or taking off zones-.

    This is all artificial, isn't it?

    "How long did it take to put this place together?"

    "Like, two hundred years? It was pretty great for flying when the planet was first settled, then generations of thanagarians kept working on it until we got this. This is the beginner swoop-slope. I haven't been here since I was… Seven, I think? There are harder runs in other places."

    I angle towards a valley, not trying to test my reflexes but just looking at the natural beauty of Havania as shaped by the hands of its residents.

    "Hey, listen."

    Bleez flies directly in front of my, blocking my view and effortlessly matching my pace.

    "You didn’t really say anything when I told you what I wanted to do with Havania after Mother dies?"

    "I'm on holiday."

    "Yeah, but you have an opinion, right? Whether it'll work or not?"

    "I don't know the ins and out of the Thanagarian Empire's government to know whether it's plausible or not. Looking into that aspect would very definitely be 'work'. Could you-? I can't see where I'm going at the-"

    She flaps and rises above my flight path. No, nothing in the way but artfully dressed landscape.

    "-moment-. Thank you. What you described sounds plausible, but I don't know the people involved. I also don't know how your fellow Havanian thanagarians think of this. You might inherit the position, but every leader needs some way to get other people to go along with them and I doubt that you've got a particularly large home guard."

    "They're cool with it. Father did a lot of the things I want to bring back while Thanagar was busy getting Equalised. Industrialisation stalled after Thanagar was Unequalised and the military started leaning on us to 'know our place', but powerful people like becoming more powerful."

    "Completely true, but are they going to want to have a whole lot of aliens come and live here?"

    "More people to lord it over. Literally, because we can fly and the owners of the industrial areas will be lords. But it still won't be as bad as Downside."

    "To start with."

    Bleez gives me a look of irritation.

    "I'm not going to turn it into Downside later! That goes against everything I'm trying to make happen!"

    "I believe you. But will they?"

    "Huh?"

    "Downside's probably less of a mess since the manhawks got cleared out, but it's still rife with violence and crime gangs. If you bring people like that here en masse, they're going to keep doing what they know in a nicer setting. I don't need to do special research for that."

    "But we'd treat them better."

    "Overcoming old habits isn't quite that simple. It would help, certainly, and if you were working exclusively with… Children or something, it might be enough, but with top thugs who manage to bring their whole gangs along with them?"

    "What about if we do law enforcement better?"

    "That would just mark out your police as different dressed Wingmen. Ideally, police should come from the community they're protecting-. Remind me to give you a copy of A Short History of the British Police before I leave. Essentially, you're going to want to vet people heavily at the Thanagar end and make sure that you've got the civic and social infrastructure in place to support a migrant population, and then… Make sure that it works in practice on a small scale before expanding it. This sort of thing is the work of a lifetime, and I really respect that you want to get started with it."

    Bleez thinks for a moment.

    "Do you..? Know anywhere that's done something similar that I could look at?"
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2022
  21. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should say 'to'.

    I suppose Bleez is a little naïve about how what she wants will end up in a few short generations. At least she's got Paul to point out some obvious flaws.
     
  22. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Ehh, some of those civilizations may have been controlled by soul-eating demons.

    'those Thanagarians who got reincarnated as humans'

    'shaped'

    'what i wanted'

    'keep doing'

    Some may not if they're given better work opportunities.

    No reason to engage in crime when you have a paycheck and can work in a job that doesn't have a high likelihood of your body being dissolved in acid to cover your killers tracks.
     
  23. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Ah, the beautiful mess of migrants and integration.

    Do too little and people import the problems of their home countries.

    Do too much and people shout at you about oppression and culture
     
  24. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    Only Hawkgirl got reincarnated, her husband was human wearing her dead crewmate's wings. Both reincarnated but only one was a true born hawk.
     
  25. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    Paul really can't stop himself from working, can he?
     
  26. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Heh. I would not have taken OL for such a thrill-seeker. Still, it's as close as we can get to actually flying, at least until they can miniaturise jet engines to provide lifting thrust, and do it safely. Which I doubt will happen in our lifetimes...

    ...I'm guessing he has a Kinetic Belt on standby, and his rings are presumably in a pocket. Plus a spotter in Bleez.

    Pfft, says you. Some people don't have natural powers of flight...

    Interesting. I guess this is some manner of athletic course for Thanagarians, with carefully shaped landscaping to make for interesting atmospheric conditions...

    That would probably be a fascinating sensation for a Thanagarian, the first few times. I wonder if they have a sort of motion sickness related to that.

    ...I'm guessing either so tight it might as well be body paint, or lots of skin showing...

    On the one hand, he's probably a lot heavier than she is, so can get a lot faster before hitting terminal velocity. On the other, he's not nearly so aerodynamic (despite her... :p buoyant... qualities.)

    Yes, kind of shocking. But we're tool users, we make do.

    :rolleyes: Of course, to the naturally flying anthropoid, that's sad...

    And believe me, humans have impressive endurance in that respect. For instance: Horses may be faster on the hoof, but they can't keep that pace for long without having to eat, and they can't eat on the run... Funnily, dogs mesh quite well with our movements...

    Humans are nothing but patient, when it comes to getting somewhere... Or at least, we used to be. <glances at all those Dashcam compilations my father watches on Youtube...>

    I can understand that appeal. There's still a lot of music and musical styles lost to the depths of history because people stopped performing them and forgot about them... And those depths come a lot closer to the present days than many might think.

    As if they'd leave anything to chance like that?

    Ha, I was right, it is an exercise park for fliers.

    I have no doubt some of those harder runs include paths through canyons and/or caves. I bet there's always some idiots who push their limits too hard and crash badly.

    :eek: Gah, Navi flashbacks. I never even played Ocarina of Time and I heard the sound.

    And I'm sure Jade would like to hear about you trying to nudge him into doing work on his holiday.

    I doubt she'd have gotten in your way if there was any risk to you...

    Yeah, big dreams sound nice, but there's a lot of hard work to be done to make them reality.

    Are they really cool with it, or just saying so to keep you happy? How well do you trust them, and how deserved is that trust?

    It's a fine line to walk... Or fly, in this case.

    It might not be a conscious choice, you know. People are people, no matter what species they are...

    ...And there's always the saw of 'Sounds to good to be true.'

    Yeah, the assholes will keep being assholes, no matter the setting.

    Then you risk resentment over 'cultural misunderstandings', 'heavy-handed police states' or 'oppressive racial profiling'...

    Hopefully it goes better than the evolution of policing London... There were a lot of ups and downs before they got that far.

    ...That sounds an awful lot like work, Bleez...

    I wonder if her employers would be fine with her taking a trip off-world with OL. I mean, she could probably spin it as 'information-gathering'. It would probably be very educational for her, certainly, especially if she visits Earth. Would also let her meet the Hawks face to face. Though it's going to be very tricky to let her see the best of human law enforcement without landing headlong in 'Oh no, that supervillain just kidnapped my alien princess!' territory... :D



    I expect that should be 'swing', unless some of our ancestors were flying squirrels. :p
     
  27. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    He does work as a superhero, which is a very risky profession.
     
  28. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    No, there's only one. Prince Khufu was human.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  29. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    What's Jade doing this episode? Not flying?
     
  30. Radix

    Radix Not too sore, are you?

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    Did we evolve from tree swingers? I was under the impression we evolved from land-walking simians. Which actually isnt too uncommon, plenty of monkeys essentially live on the ground.
     
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