With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Pinklestia]

They already have a war god connected to the strategic side of war, Athena.

They need a god that's more about brute force.

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Why? Can't a God be both? I mean just look at Asian Gods, they collect domains like others collect stamps.

 

[mastermenthe]

The problem isn't that steroids are cheating. The problem is that steroids are a sign that you don't understand strength. The magic flows from a deep, spiritual connection to strength, allowing you to surpass what would normally be your human limits as you continue to push yourself. If you're using steroids to build muscle, then you just want the results and you don't want to put in the work to get there.

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Doesn't that just make Kratos's Gym a Heterodox Cultivation Sect?

 

[NightmareWarden]

Doesn't that just make Kratos's Gym a Heterodox Cultivation Sect?

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I don't want to imagine Paul in a setting with cultivators. He'd be as unhappy as Black!Paul in Buffyverse. Those worlds are are so terrible for mortals and for sanity.

 

[mastermenthe]

I don't want to imagine Paul in a setting with cultivators. He'd be as unhappy as Black!Paul in Buffyverse. Those worlds are are so terrible for mortals and for sanity.

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I'd say it depends, on whether or not Paul ends up in a Platonic Cultivator Universe or a Cultivator Planet.
One is an infinitely recursive plane in each Cardinal direction, the other you can fly away from.

 

[Vaermina]

I don't want to imagine Paul in a setting with cultivators. He'd be as unhappy as Black!Paul in Buffyverse. Those worlds are are so terrible for mortals and for sanity.

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Probably more unhappy since Power Ring's are pretty much worthless there.

 

[Bud-E]

"I think that after the Sheeda attacks and angel invasion people are less inclined towards monotheism than they used to be.

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This reminds me I know Zatanna wanted to convert religions after the angels killed Paul. Is she still Christian? Did she officially convert to some other religion or what?

 

[Ryumancer]

Probably more unhappy since Power Ring's are pretty much worthless there.

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Hmm... I mean. In theory, a ring should still be able to augment him well, and replicate rare resources and whatnot... though you're also pretty likely to run into the same issues synthesized blood did early on of needing to be 'vitalized' by something. But... a Power Ring in a Cultivation setting is very much a case of 'One-Man Singularity' if it's useful at all, and such a Paul would struggle with the whole uplifting thing.

 

[Vaermina]

Hmm... I mean. In theory, a ring should still be able to augment him well, and replicate rare resources and whatnot... though you're also pretty likely to run into the same issues synthesized blood did early on of needing to be 'vitalized' by something. But... a Power Ring in a Cultivation setting is very much a case of 'One-Man Singularity' if it's useful at all, and such a Paul would struggle with the whole uplifting thing.

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As you noted, without absorbing Qi for thousands/millions of years all those rare resources would just be completely mundane copies.

And uplifting would run face first into the problem of Paul having to actually play the face game.

 

[mastermenthe]

Hmm... I mean. In theory, a ring should still be able to augment him well, and replicate rare resources and whatnot... though you're also pretty likely to run into the same issues synthesized blood did early on of needing to be 'vitalized' by something. But... a Power Ring in a Cultivation setting is very much a case of 'One-Man Singularity' if it's useful at all, and such a Paul would struggle with the whole uplifting thing.

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The best result I can see is achieving Jianghu genre, modern conveniences with cultivation repressed to the. Criminal underground and jackboot military.

Although, in a perfect world, I'd hope for Jianghu to eventually evolve into Eclipse Phase crossed over with EYE: Divine Cybermancy crossed over with Megaman Battle Network crossed over with One Step From Eden.

 

[Nervaqus987]

Probably more unhappy since Power Ring's are pretty much worthless there.

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*me waggles hand*

Even discounting the possibilities of a Power Ring replicating shit, it would absolutely be a major advantage in helping to cultivate. Just locating spirit stones or other cultivation resources at long range, being able to scan around to find shit(even if important stuff is likely warded, there's liable to be low level sects/clans to steal from), etc. To say nothing of the more basic advantages of a ring like flying and protective constructs.

It's impossible to say how generally useful a Power Ring is as a weapon in a xianxia setting because there's wide ranges of power levels. Something like Battle Through the Heavens, and it is gonna be massively useful at basically everything up until Dou Di. Meanwhile, in Desolate Era a power ring isn't gonna take you terribly too far.

Xianxia!Paul probably uses the Ring to jump start his own cultivation. He may or may not be able to charge it off local resources, but in any event likely has to rely more and more on his cultivation as he climbs the ladder.

So you know, standard xianxia stuff complete with cheat.

 

[Michael Vonica]

Qi, souls, and the ability to cultivate are almost never defined well enough or consistently enough to connect them with mundane technology and science. Can anyone even properly answer the question of where Qi comes from? Living creatures? The physical world? Souls?

 

[Stsword]

Qi, souls, and the ability to cultivate are almost never defined well enough or consistently enough to connect them with mundane technology and science. Can anyone even properly answer the question of where Qi comes from? Living creatures? The physical world? Souls?

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Doesn't really matter. Power rings are computerized batteries.

Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum energy, magic, cosmic cube energy, the power cosmic, lightning, nuclear energy, cosmic radiation. Power rings have been shown to absorb them all.

Why would Qi be the sole exception?

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

Honestly, if she didn't blow herself up over the course of a Sandman plotline, offering Ishtar the position of the war goddess might not be a bad idea. She might even make a good dynastic match to tie pantheons together

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You might be able to get another one of her incarnations, she pops up in pretty much every pantheon in Mesopotamia and the Levant. There are like eight different pantheons that all have Ishtar in them, but virtually no other members in common.

Also, Sekhmet turned down Athena on account of not swinging that way, right Zoat? By that I mean, it wasn't out of any ideological opposition to tying the two pantheons together. Durga/Kali would also make a good match if you want to tie pantheons, she's probably the highest-ranked war goddess outside of Ishtar, and based on what we saw during the Sheeda invasion the Hindu pantheon is also looking to be more active. I'm pretty sure the Hurrians or Hittites or some other people that started with an H had a war goddess in charge of their whole pantheon too.

I'm just surprised none of the Amazons have suggested Nike.

 

[Michael Vonica]

Doesn't really matter. Power rings are computerized batteries.

Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum energy, magic, cosmic cube energy, the power cosmic, lightning, nuclear energy, cosmic radiation. Power rings have been shown to absorb them all.

Why would Qi be the sole exception?

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I was thinking the reverse. Power rings would have power, but what could they even do in that setting? For a new user, power rings can mimic mundane physics. But in a Xianxia world, is anything even mundane? If QI is literally everywhere and in everything, does this mean that it all has the innate resistance to ring manipulation that magical items do, at least for low level ring users? Where even the dirt is hard to influence, because it's filled with earth Qi? Will a ring be able to heal, augment, or harm anyone, seeing as how it probably can't copy or produce Qi, and everyone has Qi? Fill flight even be possible with all the Qi infused in the air? The question of how a power ring will work in that setting depends on the nature of Qi, which is unclear and inconsistent.

 

[Darko]

This reminds me I know Zatanna wanted to convert religions after the angels killed Paul. Is she still Christian? Did she officially convert to some other religion or what?

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I don't think she's converted.

I'm just surprised none of the Amazons have suggested Nike

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Paul is looking for a god that can fulfill the violent side of war, so maybe Nike can't do that.

 

[Cuchulin]

Paul is looking for a god that can fulfill the violent side of war, so maybe Nike can't do that.

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Maybe look to the Mayan or Aztec pantheons, they could do brutality really well. Another suggestion would be The Morrígan who is/are really great at violence and blood shed.

 

[Mr Zoat]

28th October 2012
20:02 GMT

Artemis looks out across what little can be seen of the surface of Bylan 5.

"Nice place. Other-you do this?" Soulscent Tracking.

Radioactive ash and a plethora of toxic chemicals fill the once-breathable atmosphere. I can hear rumbles of thunder as ion lightning leaps between layers of mutually antagonistic chemicals, but I can't see the lightning itself because the pea soup is just too thick. If whatever did this isn't ongoing at least some of this should have settled out by now. If there were any of the native species left I'd toss a couple of power rings at them so they could start fixing it, but as far as I can tell there aren't.

"I'm not really sure. I don't think so. I've got most of his memories… Reasonably well integrated, and I think I'd remember doing something like this."

"You said you got messed up after you tried coping with Vandal Savage's memories."

"I did, and I barely retain any of it, but this is different. Other Grayven's memories were… Formatted to someone who thinks like I do. I might forget things, or not immediately call them to mind, but I shouldn't just… Blank on something." Just Give Up.

"I don't… Feel anything."

"Me neither, but all the other sites had at least something."

Wrecks, small abandoned New God outposts from the last big war, and one warren inhabited by a bioengineered insectoid weapon species that positively reeked of Apokolips. My guess is that he acquired the Absolute Dominion and the parts needed to repair it by going down the list and eventually getting lucky. But this place… Couldn't detect anything from orbit.

"What could do this?"

"Orbital bombardment heavy enough to breach the mantle over a large area. That would provide a source of heat, and… Depending on the elements involved, the chemicals and radiologicals. There are pure spite weapons that could do this temporarily, and… You could make some sort of foul terraforming engine to do this directly."

"Should we look for it? Can't be that hard to shut it down. Then we might actually be able to see where we're going."

I shake my head.

"Doesn't feel right. All the other sites were dead. No one's going to abandon a machine like that in case younger species get ideas above their station." I shake my head. "Mass ecological vandalism isn't my speciality. He and I are both too inclined towards efficiency. Even that ridiculous harvest snake the Citizenry used is more efficient than this."

"Sometimes it's just about sending a message."

"How do you send a message when there's no one to hear it?" I shake my head. "No, don't answer that. It could be. It just doesn't feel right. This is something Apokolips might do to a site of symbolic importance… A holy world or something. But this wasn't."

I hold up my left hand.

"Kara Zor-El, found anything?"

"Yes. You are standing on compressed ash. The original surface of the planet is two hundred metres below you. Below that is a structure containing non-native elements."

Ring?

Unable to locate.

"Kara, are you sure about that? Neither my ring or the Absolute Dominion's sensors are showing anything."

"Kryptonian sensors are superior. And less well known to the New Gods."

I'm not sure about the first, but the second is certainly true. There are limits to what sensor masking can achieve when you can work on the level of detail that we can. The ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation and heat doesn't mean all that much when you're scanning for changes in molecular density. Heck, even for advanced civilisations dummying ultrasound scans is a pain. Interfering with the returns is simple, but disguising that something interfered with them is hard.

But New God technology is designed to interface with the soul, and there are ways to convince it to lie to the user. And power rings have no particular ability to bypass magic. Brute force backed by a strong soul, on the other hand…

I float a little way into the air and generate a huge excavator construct, force generating rings tearing into the ground and dragging out a continuous column of material. Initially all I see is the same dark ash that we're standing on, then after a few moments it changes to dull grey bedrock.

Then there's a hole.

I toss the column aside, letting it fall to the ground with a crash and plume of ash. Down there… No, still not picking up anything of significance. Still, if Kara's wrong then I've only wasted a few minutes.

I turn to Artemis. "Ladies f-?"

She looses her arrow and vanishes as it disappears into the pit. I stride over thin air, looking down for a moment as I dismiss my construct, and then drop.

I fall a kilometre in a few seconds before increasing power to my aero discs and reducing speed to a rate less likely to crush Artemis to death if I land on her. I should probably feel some sort of danger here… Not because a fall like this is actually a threat to me, but some… Residual squishy human instinct? But, no. All I feel is mild curiosity. And it is mild, as I don't really expect anything outstanding, just something slightly better hidden.

I guess that between Magic Horse Land and Bondage Elf Land, a mere hole in the ground containing the secrets of the gods doesn't really-.

"Are you really ennuing?"

I shrug my right shoulder as I reach the bottom of the hole.

"Maybe a bit. Aren't you?"

"I did an off the cuff speech about global economic integration in civics class last week. Think I'm getting a 'A'."

"Not an A P-?"

"Not an A Plus because the question was about forest management."

"But you can't just ask about forest management, because it's affected by temperature, rain pH-."

"And a loada other things that don't relate to just one country, which is why I'm getting an A and a place on the FBI's watch list."

I flash her a frown as she examines the bottom of the hole. "You weren't there already? Disappointing."

"It's a different list." Tracking the Prey.

"So what have we got?"

"Looks like New God armour, but I can't feel it. You getting anything?"

Hm. Master Of All I Survey.

…

"Not a dickybird. I'll-."

She splutters with laughter. "What?"

"What? Dickyb-? Anything. Like, not even a small bird?"

"That's a word?"

I stare at her. "How have you known me for this long-" I draw my sword and stab it into the armoured plate. "-and not heard me say it?"

"You've never said it."

I frown. "I must have-."

"You haven't." I shove downwards with my daiklave, but I don't quite punch through. "Want a hand?"

I shake my head, traversing the blade to slowly cut a plug out. "Just jump through with a beacon when I've made a hole. This is a little more effort than they made at the other sites. Maybe this will be interesting."

 

[Noctus]

Gotta say I'm shipping Artemis and Graven-Paul... She's had more character development put into her than Jade and the majority of the other female cast members in both paragon and renegade paths. Except maybe Paragon Zatanna

 

[Ngamer11]

Gotta say I'm shipping Artemis and Graven-Paul... She's had more character development put into her than Jade and the majority of the other female cast members in both paragon and renegade paths. Except maybe Paragon Zatanna

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Unfortunately for you, that's never going to happen. The two have stated that they are platonic life partners, nothing more.

 

[Darko]

"Sometimes it's just about sending a message."

"How do you send a message when there's no one to hear it?"

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Well he could have potentially recorded it and was planning on showing it later, or maybe he had someone on his ship see the destruction, like Tarkin had Leia watch Alderan be destroyed.

Or maybe he was feeling spiteful and petty.

You can say all you want about him being efficient, but he was still a monster raised on Apokalips and had a lot of their characteristics.

He may have been better than them, but it's not like he had much competition.

"Kryptonian sensors are superior. And less well known to the New Gods."

I'm not sure about the first

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That's probably the Eradicator talking.

And a loada other things

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"load of"

 

[iamnuff]

Dickybird now there's a word I haven't heard in decades.

My granddad used to keep birds, so to differentiate from the other set of grandparents, we called him 'grandad-dickies'.

Sounds a lot less innocent nowadays.
It was a different era, I suppose. People didn't have such dirty minds.

Or maybe birdkeepers just never gave a fuck?
They be like "Yeah I'm breeding blue-chested tits, what are you gonna do about it, bitch?"

 

[Radix]

Dickybird now there's a word I haven't heard in decades.

My granddad used to keep birds, so to differentiate from the other set of grandparents, we called him 'grandad-dickies'.

Sounds a lot less innocent nowadays.
It was a different era, I suppose. People didn't have such dirty minds.

Or maybe birdkeepers just never gave a fuck?
They be like "Yeah I'm breeding blue-chested tits, what are you gonna do about it, bitch?"

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Don't forget the Boobies.

 

[Handlewithcare]

Sorry, what are they looking for? Just going over old Apokalyptian outposts for funsies?

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

*searches the story only thread*

Not a single mention of dickybird until this update.

 

[Radiant Knight]

Now there's a word I haven't heard in a long, long time.

 

[DAT_NOOB]

Y'know I was just thinking to myself 'I wonder what Rene-Artemis is doing right now?' I'm glad to have an answer to that question.

Hmm... I forget what is renegade working towards right now? Aside from world domination because I think he's cleared most of his enemies now? I mean Paragon is generally working against the reach in the background is Renegade only doing the world domination thing now?

Sorry, what are they looking for? Just going over old Apokalyptian outposts for funsies?

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I think they're cleaning up after Grayven-16

 

[hance1986]

Interfering with the returns is simply, but disguising that something interfered with them is hard.

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simple

 

[Prognostic Hannya]

Unfortunately for you, that's never going to happen. The two have stated that they are platonic life partners, nothing more.

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Tbf, I like that better, and seeing those interactions. Those types of deep, platonic bonds are explored far too infrequently in fiction.

 

[NightmareWarden]

We had a whole arc filled with Pauls and none of them said dickybird. Clearly Rengade!Paul is absorbing a new Source concept. Something which resonates with the core of English culture.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

28th October 2012
20:02 GMT

Artemis looks out across what little can be seen of the surface of Bylan 5.

"Nice place. Other-you do this?" Soulscent Tracking.

Click to shrink...

Ah, is the Renegade taking stock of what he acquired from his local namesake? About time, unless Grayven was very successful and the Renegade's been working on and off to catalogue it all.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Radioactive ash and a plethora of toxic chemicals fill the once-breathable atmosphere. I can hear rumbles of thunder as ion lightning leaps between layers of mutually antagonistic chemicals, but I can't see the lightning itself because the pea soup is just too thick. If whatever did this isn't ongoing at least some of this should have settled out by now. If there were any of the native species left I'd toss a couple of power rings at them so they could start fixing it, but as far as I can tell there aren't.

Click to shrink...

...I don't see either Grayven being this... Wasteful.

"I'm not really sure. I don't think so. I've got most of his memories… Reasonably well integrated, and I think I'd remember doing something like this."

"You said you got messed up after you tried coping with Vandal Savage's memories."

Click to shrink...

Only because of the sheer vastness of the memories of someone 50,000 years old. Even if a lot of it was just walking places, fighting people, eating food or bedding women, that's a hell of a lot of time.

"I did, and I barely retain any of it, but this is different. Other Grayven's memories were… Formatted to someone who thinks like I do. I might forget things, or not immediately call them to mind, but I shouldn't just… Blank on something." Just Give Up.

"I don't… Feel anything."

Click to shrink...

Hmm... Telling her to drop it via Godspeech, making it an order from mentor to student? Bit rude.

"Me neither, but all the other sites had at least something."

Wrecks, small abandoned New God outposts from the last big war, and one warren inhabited by a bioengineered insectoid weapon species that positively reeked of Apokolips. My guess is that he acquired the Absolute Dominion and the parts needed to repair it by going down the list and eventually getting lucky. But this place… Couldn't detect anything from orbit.

Click to shrink...

So, Apokalips laid a hellacious smackdown on this planet... Wonder what they did to earn that?

"What could do this?"

"Orbital bombardment heavy enough to breach the mantle over a large area. That would provide a source of heat, and… Depending on the elements involved, the chemicals and radiologicals. There are pure spite weapons that could do this temporarily, and… You could make some sort of foul terraforming engine to do this directly."

Click to shrink...

True enough. After all, most fictional terraforming methods and devices generally don't treat any existing biosphere nicely. Even realistic scientific theories aren't too subtle about it.

"Should we look for it? Can't be that hard to shut it down. Then we might actually be able to see where we're going."

I shake my head.

Click to shrink...

What would be the point? This place is a burnt cinder.

"Doesn't feel right. All the other sites were dead. No one's going to abandon a machine like that in case younger species get ideas above their station." I shake my head. "Mass ecological vandalism isn't my speciality. He and I are both too inclined towards efficiency. Even that ridiculous harvest snake the Citizenry used is more efficient than this."

"Sometimes it's just about sending a message."

Click to shrink...

...This sounds like a bit more than a message.

"How do you send a message when there's no one to hear it?" I shake my head. "No, don't answer that. It could be. It just doesn't feel right. This is something Apokolips might do to a site of symbolic importance… A holy world or something. But this wasn't."

I hold up my left hand.

Click to shrink...

...Or they were trying to hide something? Turning a planet into a deathworld would make most species take one look at it and move on.

"Kara Zor-El, found anything?"

"Yes. You are standing on compressed ash. The original surface of the planet is two hundred metres below you. Below that is a structure containing non-native elements."

Click to shrink...

Verrrry interesting.

Ring?

Unable to locate.

Click to shrink...

So either shielded from Maltusian tech, or not distinct enough to register as different.

"Kara, are you sure about that? Neither my ring or the Absolute Dominion's sensors are showing anything."

"Kryptonian sensors are superior. And less well known to the New Gods."

Click to shrink...

Easy on the arrogance, girl. Leave that shit to the Renegade.

I'm not sure about the first, but the second is certainly true. There are limits to what sensor masking can achieve when you can work on the level of detail that we can. The ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation and heat doesn't mean all that much when you're scanning for changes in molecular density. Heck, even for advanced civilisations dummying ultrasound scans is a pain. Interfering with the returns is simply, but disguising that something interfered with them is hard.

Click to shrink...

So whatever set this up knew their shit about concealing things.

But New God technology is designed to interface with the soul, and there are ways to convince it to lie to the user. And power rings have no particular ability to bypass magic. Brute force backed by a strong soul, on the other hand…

I float a little way into the air and generate a huge excavator construct, force generating rings tearing into the ground and dragging out a continuous column of material. Initially all I see is the same dark ash that we're standing on, then after a few moments it changes to dull grey bedrock.

Click to shrink...

Large-scale industrial machinery. Got to love Power Rings.

Then there's a hole.

I toss the column aside, letting it fall to the ground with a crash and plume of ash. Down there… No, still not picking up anything of significance. Still, if Kara's wrong then I've only wasted a few minutes.

Click to shrink...

And with little to no travel time, thanks to Boom Tubes, a few minutes is no big deal.

I turn to Artemis. "Ladies f-?"

She looses her arrow and vanishes as it disappears into the pit. I stride over thin air, looking down for a moment as I dismiss my construct, and then drop.

Click to shrink...

Heh. Teleporting to the point of impact? There's a clever way of getting around.

I fall a kilometre in a few seconds before increasing power to my aero discs and reducing speed to a rate less likely to crush Artemis to death if I land on her. I should probably feel some sort of danger here… Not because a fall like this is actually a threat to me, but some… Residual squishy human instinct? But, no. All I feel is mild curiosity. And it is mild, as I don't really expect anything outstanding, just something slightly better hidden.

I guess that between Magic Horse Land and Bondage Elf Land, a mere hole in the ground containing the secrets of the gods doesn't really-.

Click to shrink...

I suppose feeling jaded is a common feeling amongst Pauls in this situation.

"Are you really ennuing?"

I shrug my right shoulder as I reach the bottom of the hole.

Click to shrink...

Well, after however many hundreds of years, of course she'd know him well enough to notice...

"Maybe a bit. Aren't you?"

"I did an off the cuff speech about global economic integration in civics class last week. Think I'm getting a 'A'."

Click to shrink...

Still trying to live a normal life, then? I guess she needs that mundanity to avoid losing all her humanity.

"Not an A P-?"

"Not an A Plus because the question was about forest management."

Click to shrink...

...So, just a bit off-topic.

"But you can't just ask about forest management, because it's affected by temperature, rain ph-."

"And a loada other things that don't relate to just one country, which is why I'm getting an A and a place on the FBI's watch list."

Click to shrink...

...Quite a bit off-topic, then.

I flash her a frown as she examines the bottom of the hole. "You weren't there already? Disappointing."

"It's a different list." Tracking the Prey.

Click to shrink...

It's not the League's shit-list, is it? I'm guessing she's more or less quit the Team by now.

"So what have we got?"

"Looks like New God armour, but I can't feel it. You getting anything?"

Click to shrink...

An armour plate the size of a country? isolated location, or is the entire planet plated like this, I wonder?

Hm. Master Of All I Survey.

…

"Not a dickybird. I'll-."

Click to shrink...

Ah, Renegade, you and your silly British slang.

She splutters with laughter. "What?"

"What? Dickyb-? Anything. Like, not even a small bird?"

Click to shrink...

An actual slang word, yes. And very old-fashioned, I gather.

"That's a word?"

I stare at her. "How have you known me for this long-" I draw my sword and stab it into the armoured plate. "-and not heard me say it?"

Click to shrink...

And laughing at it because it has 'dick' in it? You're a bit older than twelve, missie.

"You've never said it."

I frown. "I must have-."

Click to shrink...

To be fair, the British have a crazy large amount of slang terms, many not in common circulation. And that doesn't even begin to cover subcultures.

"You haven't." I shove downwards with my daiklave , but I don't quite punch through. "Want a hand?"

I shake my head, traversing the blade to slowly cut a plug out. "Just jump through with a beacon when I've made a hole. This is a little more effort than they made at the other sites. Maybe this will be interesting."

Click to shrink...

If this is New God tech, it might take a lot more than poking at it with a pinprick of a sword. And it'll more than likely take action against you once you're inside...

Still not sure why they're out here, really. Cataloguing Grayven's stolen assets? Looking for the origin of the Absolute Dominion, and whether there might be more where it came from? Change of scenery? At any rate, it's fun to see them interacting like this. No drama, no threat looming overhead, no stress to get in the way of two buddies giving each other friendly shit.