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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. theaceoffire

    theaceoffire Versed in the lewd.

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    But cousins, Basil! COUSINS!
     
  2. jasonh23761

    jasonh23761 Not too sore, are you?

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    Welp, gentleman, the situation has escalatored.
     
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  3. Doccer

    Doccer I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    I find it ominous that he doesn't tell her that.
     
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  4. Soul Shocker

    Soul Shocker Not too sore, are you?

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    "Hey, can you make me a Yellow ring? Thanks."
     
  5. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Unless she's not your fully standard Wealoner.

    Even a scumbag has limits.

    Unless he doesn't want to be anywhere near her again.

    It could honestly be a 50/50 chance on whether he wants to go back or not.

    His home may be too crappy, so that's one reason to leave, but people may still want to go to their homes even if they are shit.

    You did participate in the death of at least two of his students, so there's that.

    He may do it just to make you feel pain.

    Or someone else that has carved out their own piece.

    Though Sinestro may not know about Earth's situation.

    Or that version of you is keeping a low profile, or this guy was taken before that version made a name for himself.

    People are alike all over.

    Shit.
     
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  6. Bud-E

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

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    Do you have to be a host to a Light Entity to become enlightened and is Malvolio enlightened too or just so filled with the green light it colors his words?
     
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  7. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Dr. Mist proves you don't have to host a Light Entity to be enlightened. However, it's possible that Parallax was inside Joseph Harolds the entire time and that the room he was in was keeping the Yellow Light Entity incapacitated. Maybe the Weaponer (who is most likely Lysis) was trying to force Joseph to gain lantern like abilities by shoving Parallax in him, and enlightenment was a complete accident.
     
  8. Finagle007

    Finagle007 [Verified Great Old One]

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    Except that Parallax is currently imprisoned in the Green Central Battery on Oa, where it's been since the Guardians obtained it from Larfleeze and stuck it there millions of years ago. Nobody's had a chance to let it out, and Mr. Harrolds doesn't have a green ring to serve as a connection the way Paul did when he first summoned Ophidian. So this has to be a lesser fear entity, akin to the Terror Thing.
     
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  9. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Did Mr Zoat say that? Because I can't remember if he confirmed whether or not Parallax is there.
     
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  10. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    That's Paul for you.

    Convincing marriage deities to divorce and helping people achieve enlightenment.
     
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  11. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Depending on the powers they have, or the tech they have, Superman, Batman, Blue Beetle, or any similar superpowered people or those with advanced tech could do it.
     
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  12. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Mr Zoat, I just noticed that the latest episode is supposed to be Episode 134, not 133.
     
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  13. Duke Long

    Duke Long Glomerulus

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    Probably it’s because she already knows. They did have a conversation about this only a few chapters ago.
    Also that human (I think he might have been a police officer?) who was red-enlightened in the Renegade universe.
    I don’t know how the emotional embodiments work with the negative universes, but I would guess that there are separate ones for the negative and positive universes, and therefore the version of Parallax in this universe is maybe not contained.
     
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  14. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

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    Was Parallax confirmed to be kept in the battery in this universe? I genuinely forget. This world was established as thaumatically weak, but that the souls don't have to be non-existant. And if this is an evil doppelganger of Hal Jordan, I don't expect him to be friendly.
     
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  15. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Power Ring's depiction has varied from "willing villain" to "ring's hostage."

    For example, there was a comic in which the ring was really channeling Regina George.

    Like making Harold order drinks and then pour them out just to show everyone that Harold will do whatever he's told.

    So he might be a willing villain, or he might be a victim.
     
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  16. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
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  17. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    So what exactly gave the extra 1%? I don't feel like I am picking up what you're putting down in this chapter.

    Nor do I understand how the lockup fear bombardment gets you up to 99% enlightenment (Larfleeze never got avarice enlightened after all), but I'm not sure we're already supposed to know the exact mechanisms behind that anyway.
     
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  18. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    It doesn't get you to 99%. Constant reflection on your fears and their nature gets you to 99%, it's just that constant exposure either makes it easier to keep your brain in that mode or kills you.

    Coming to understand the universality of fear and its interactions with other thought processes gets you the last 1% if you were heading in that way anyway.
     
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  19. RoninSword

    RoninSword Sky God

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    At the very least, Parallax in this universe isn't trapped in Oa. And Paul did one time think about how Parallax (one version at least), only took hosts who didn't have a yellow ring but were otherwise ideal.
     
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  20. Threadmarks: Fear Ourself (part 10)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    20th January 2013
    13:10 GMT


    A yellow sigil burns on his forehead.

    Parallax.

    I guess that's why the green rings back home can affect yellow objects: he was never imprisoned.

    Behind me Jade shudders, her soul flaring yellow in my sight. She can fight it to a degree, but much like the Ophidian affecting a person's desires you can't completely fight Parallax when it tries to influence you. The fears are already there.

    "Parallax."

    "Is that your name for this?" His mouth… Extends further into his cheeks than it should, and I'm getting flashes of unusually sharp teeth. "What we… I… Ah."

    He doesn't understand what it is. Parallax might not even understand. I knew in advance… Roughly what was happening, and so Ophidime knew as well.

    "She wasn't lying. We find that extremely strange. And…" His glowing eyes refocus on me. "You. You know what.. we are."

    "I had a similar joining with the Embodiment of Avarice."

    "And we are… Fear. It is…" He looks up, at-. At the universe. "A glorious music. We.. can hear… So much…"

    "It's the same for me. Even without the Ophidian I can unfocus my mind and feel the interlocking networks of desires, thwarted and fulfilled. I didn't hear it as music, more like a… Picture, or an abstract sculpture."

    "And that is why we can hear you hardly at all. The part of you that is the Ophidian does not have fears."

    "That's probably a part of it. Do you mind me asking what the Weaponer offered the part of you that is Joseph Harrolds?"

    "She fears her own worthlessness, and that worthlessness being known to her peers. It motivates everything she does and doesn't do."

    "It might just look like that to you because you can see-. Hear her fear and can't hear other things."

    "No. No. We can hear it ringing clearly."

    "I'll take your word for it, then. Ah. Where was the Parallax part of you hanging out before coming here?"

    "We don't… Remember. We remember… Everything… Fading. But it did not concern us. Concern-. Why do you call it Parallax?"

    "It once demonstrated the ability to use multiple power rings simultaneously."

    "That's 'parallel'."

    "I'm sorry?"

    "Using multiple power rings. That's 'in parallel', like bulbs in a high school science class circuit. Parallax means 'the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object'."

    "Oh. Then perhaps I misunderstood the explanation. Do you have another name you'd prefer?"

    "We..." He looks puzzled. "No. Though… Joseph Harrolds' memories and feelings are more vibrant than what our other half thought and felt. We are happy to be addressed by his name."

    "Alright, Mister Harrolds: what's next for you?"

    "I want to hear more of the song. I want it to play everywhere in a glorious symphony of terror!"

    Ah.

    "Are you sure?"

    "More sure than we have been of anything that we can remember."

    "But have you considered the value of subtlety and differentiation?"

    His eyes dim slightly as he turns his attention on me. That's a little creepy.

    "Explain."

    "The Ophidian wants to possess everything all of the time. But that means that one thing is as good as any other, there's no difference between one desire and another. Whose fear would mean the most to you?"

    "No... Hm." Mr. Harrolds frowns thoughtfully. "We admit that some of those against whom Joe had a personal grudge… The idea of them with their faces twisted in a rictus of terror before we kill them… That does have a greater appeal."

    "That's what happens when you bond with a mortal creature. It affects your perspective, the way you understand the universe. To a being of pure fear, all fear is fear and there's nothing else to say. To you"

    "We feel different. We aren't sure that you don't have an angle-."

    "Of course I have an angle. That doesn't mean that I'm not telling the truth."

    "What is your angle?"

    "I want a yellow power ring, a lead on Sinestro and to speak with the Weaponer who put you in there. I'd also like to stop you going on a rampage and terrorising everyone to death."

    "Your perspective is helpful, but we find ourselves curious as to what you fear."

    "Personal annihilation."

    "Hm." He peers closer. "True. But there's something else."

    "Heights?"

    "No." He smiles, his mouth extending up his face in an open display of inhumanity. "You fear… Getting it wrong. You change things, risk things, and the idea that you might be wrong and that you've misled everyone makes everything resonate with a constant unease."

    It's… Not as intense, but I suppose that he's right. Comic-Parallax… After the 'no-Jordan-wasn't-just-crazy' retcon, exposed people to their fears in order to possess them. This Parallax doesn't need a new host, so it's probably just being a dick.

    "Okay, well, thank you for pointing that out. I also get a bit self-conscious in social situations, and you might be able to pick that out-."

    "You embrace chaos but you still fear to misstep."

    "Follow a rule someone else came up with and everyone expects you to follow and it's as much everyone else's fault as yours. If you do your own thing, that's all on you."

    "How compassionate of you." He takes a step back, and then rises into the air. His outline shimmers for a moment as armour appears around his body-. Armour that looks a lot like mine, secondary colour and sigil notwithstanding. "We genuinely have no idea where the Weaponer is, we have no idea how to forge a ring and we have a home to return to. We wish you the best of luck."

    He turns to face this universe's anti-Earth and then accelerates into the sky.



    Guess this is a bust, then.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2023
  21. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should say 'thought'.

    I really want to see the aftereffects of this and how it will later come back to Paul.
     
  22. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    I know, right? Parallax be like: "You fear messing things up. Imma go mess things up."

    What a chad.
     
  23. Bigking321

    Bigking321 Not too sore, are you?

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    Well...

    At least he seems friendly towards us? Like a nice acquaintance or coworker. Nothing deep or meaningful but generally positive.

    Oh boy... this... is gonna have consequences isn't it.
     
  24. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Well I suppose that could have gone worse.

    In the Smallville comics, for example, Parallax did know how to make rings.

    Which he used to make all those Batman villains in Arkham into the yellow lantern corps.

    So asking him for a yellow lantern ring could have gone horribly right.
     
  25. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Captain Kathryn Janeway : I've known fear. It's a very healthy thing, most of the time. You warn us of danger, remind us of our limits, protect us from carelessness. I've learned to trust fear.
    [...]
    You know as well as I do that fear only exists for one purpose: to be conquered.
     
  26. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    *Watches the entity he freed go off to bathe entire planets in fear*

    LePaul: "Welp, not my problem."
     
  27. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

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    Is Arkham a joyful, blessed place in anti-matter Gotham?
     
  28. Vanbers

    Vanbers Well worn.

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    I mean, it's Antimatter Earth. Those guys are dicks. Probably.

    It's comic book antimatter universe, they're probably nearly all evil or something, or the evil justice league will stop him.

    Or hell, he might end up as a hero somehow by being a 'villain' in the anti0universe by as is mandated by the law of 'villainous archetype in opposite world' comic logic. Give 'yellow = evil' and 'green = good' in the regular universe and 'green = evil' in the anti-universe.

    Antimatter Gotham was built over a prison of angels beneath Arkham Children's Hospital, and is well known as the second kindest and most altruistic city on Antimatter Earth, obviously. Second only to Bludhaven, kindest place on Antimatter Earth!

    Nothing like that wretched hive of scum and villainy, sin and depravity known as Metropolis, at least. *shudder*

    :V
     
  29. unObservant

    unObservant Just drifting along, really.

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    I could just be seeing things that aren't there, but I honestly liked how - underneath the surface of casual explanations and getting to know the new Embodiment-host on the block - Paul was frantically leveraging his unusual mindset and similar experience with emotions to keep Parallax from noticing that brand-new fear of Paul's and potentially doing anything to act on it.

    Offering interesting tidbits of knowledge to both keep their attention on him and direct it towards the less vital topics, outright ignoring Jade's presence aside from the brief bit at the very start, pushing his various fears to the front for scrutiny while not even internally acknowledging the fear he *really* cares about in the hopes of muddying the signal for a bit...
     
  30. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Or whatever this universe's equivalent is. I mean, it's not like every alternate universe had the exact same things having the exact same feelings in each... Heck, this one may not even be a giant space locust-thing.

    It's just fanning the embers of a flame long quenched... Fanning them with napalm.

    Well, that's definitely a consistent trait of Parallax hosts from the comics. At least, after the full spectrum retcons. OL should be glad he never exhibited the Ophidian's more unusual jaw traits during his joining...

    The joy of prior experience, if not with Fear...

    An orchestra of screams? That's an unusual way to look at it. I wonder if their special place is an orchestra pit or a theatre, then.

    While Enlightenment mutes his own expressions of emotions, at least to Empathic Sight...

    Which doesn't necessarily answer the question. Was she trying to replicate Kalmin's work? Surpass it, perhaps?

    In much the same way OL can see the shape of a person's desires, even ones they're not feeling right at that moment...

    ...Interesting. Abstract, but interesting.

    ...Huh, they're right. More likely, 'Parallax' was a name the maltusian Krona gave it. ...Which wouldn't have happened here, because they don't seem to have evolved here, at least not as they did in the other universe.

    Huh. Joey's got a decent education, it seems.

    Because Humans are Special. :p

    ...That could get a little noisy, I would think.

    After all, OL here has more experience in a joined state than you do, Joey.

    Like, for example, not killing everything in the universe with their greatest fears?

    Now you're beginning to understand how everyone felt when you were joined to Best Snek, OL...

    ...Right. Negative Morality parallel.

    And there's that human perspective coming in. The perspective of a little man from a world of corruption and deception, where almost no-one does anything without considering how they can benefit from it.

    'Cui Bono', once more. Or in OL's favorite phrasing: 'What do you want?'

    Oh, this should be enlightening. :sneaky:

    Well, from an Avaricious perspective, there's the fear of losing his things...

    Given the things he thinks he may have changed from 'canon', that isn't surprising. The thoughts of those whose lives he may have made worse through a blunder...

    Probably an M&M next to the smorgasbord of his 'SI's perspective'...

    After all, he doesn't want to damage what is his.

    ...At least he's better dressed than the comics designs. Seriously, those shoulder-pads of Jordan's...

    ...You aren't worried about that? :confused: Or are you saving the panic for when it's not going to be lapping it up?

    And this was a day off. :rolleyes: Goddammit, OL. Can you please try not to completely fuck up a universe for at least one day? And somehow, I don't picture this to have absolutely no consequences for OL whatsoever. Sooner or later, this will come back to bite him in the ass... On the upside, when it does, it's bound to be entertaining to us.
     
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