1. Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. If you wish to change your username, please ask via conversation to tehelgee instead of asking via my profile. I'd like to not clutter it up with such requests.
    Dismiss Notice
  5. Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
    Dismiss Notice
  6. A note about the current Ukraine situation: Discussion of it is still prohibited as per Rule 8
    Dismiss Notice
  7. The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.
    Dismiss Notice
  8. The testbed for the QQ XF2 transition is now publicly available. Please see more information here.
    Dismiss Notice

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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

Loading...
  1. BR549

    BR549 This is filth! FILTH!!

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2017
    Messages:
    637
    Likes Received:
    4,552
    ...this is going to end with Darkseid showing up and bitchslapping Mannheim for getting too big for his britches, isn't it?
     
    Caerwen, Vorian, mastermenthe and 2 others like this.
  2. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    "need to"
     
    Assblaster5000 and Mr Zoat like this.
  3. PDV

    PDV Revelation That Uncertainty Is Itself An Answer

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2018
    Messages:
    387
    Likes Received:
    1,466
    I don't know that she left at all.

    Wrong affected again.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2022
  4. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,694
    Likes Received:
    728,897
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  5. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,694
    Likes Received:
    728,897
    Thank you, corrected.
    I don't think that she's features in the main timeline.
     
  6. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2019
    Messages:
    2,860
    Likes Received:
    17,209
    In the Paragon timeline, she showed up as one of the members of the League of Shadows that was able to avoid the arrests caused by Paulphidian's actions. She also replaced Cheshire in both the Rhelasia peace talks and the ambush that canonically was led by the Riddler. The latter has her captured by the Team.
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  7. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    Oh boy, Bruno is going to get his keeth ticked in by Darkseid for this presumption.

    ...this may be a good thing twice-over: this may mean Mannheim has weakened the Anti-life effect by usurping Darkseid's gift (somehow?????), and it may mean that Darkseid was genuinely afraid of sending a personal avatar to Earth due to OL or his changes.

    Actually, considering Paul brought up the Sword Of The Fallen, it may be that this plot was green-lit because Darkseid received confirmation the Sword was taken out of commission by the Silver City, meaning OL's genuine threat to his potency was neutered.

    Hopefully it shows up again, I don't like Paul's chances trying kaahuite railguns against Darkseid.

    No image, and no article, at that address. I'm on android mobile. Try linking to a previous edit version of the wiki page? I don't know how to do myself.
     
  8. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2019
    Messages:
    2,860
    Likes Received:
    17,209
    Mr Zoat, will you need to change Onyx's appearance in the latest part of the episode, or is there an explanation that you can give as to how she was released from prison and was able to join the Alliance of the Just?
     
    Chaoswind likes this.
  9. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,425
    Thanks, corrected the link. I accidentally messed it up when I deleted an unneeded 'so=search' element. :rolleyes:Because Fandom.com is 'quirky'...
    (For anyone tried it before, it's a pic of the Justifier helmet as seen in FInal Crisis.)
     
  10. rkyeun

    rkyeun Cabbitus Maximus

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2018
    Messages:
    854
    Likes Received:
    6,544
    Why would Darkseid show up and slap his own right pinky fingernail for pushing the button he wanted pushed?
     
  11. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,694
    Likes Received:
    728,897
    It's not really important to the story, but I imagine that it was either 1) she got a plea deal when they were rounding up the League or 2) she escaped, the League fell apart and no one thought that chasing her up was worthwhile.
     
  12. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2016
    Messages:
    430
    Likes Received:
    1,694
    Manheim's free will doesn't exist anymore.
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  13. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    Because Mannheim's name is coming from the lips of Darkseid's worshipers.
    It may be entirely according to Darkseid's plan, but once in person Darkseid will strike down Mannheim regardless for the sake of his image as a tyrant, and because Darkseid will gladly insist on lying to Mannheim's face that their utterance of his name is proof of Mannheim's non-existing intent to betray Darkseid, just as a petty excuse to Justify Darkseid's Justice.

    Darkseid is just like that, it's his whole character.
     
    Cuchulin, BR549, Ardy and 2 others like this.
  14. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Apokalips peon class.

    The ones who lick Darkseid's boots clean and get whipped if they miss a spot.
     
    Cuchulin, Ardy and Vorian like this.
  15. DougA

    DougA Getting out there.

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2019
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    54
    Ok, I'm confused. I thought Dr. Balewa WAS Dr. Mist, according to the wiki. So why do they seem to be different people here?
     
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    Balewa is his actual name while Mist is his superhero alias.

    Paul has a havoc of referring to heroes and villains by their names.
     
    Cuchulin and Ardy like this.
  17. Chaoswind

    Chaoswind Lord of nonsense

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,167
    Likes Received:
    7,078
    So the next incarnation of Dream of the endless got justified... Well that is a problem.
     
  18. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    Not necessarily.

    Not everyone seems to be affected by this, as shown with Paul, so Daniel may be resistant to it.
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  19. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2019
    Messages:
    590
    Likes Received:
    3,905
    Onyx does show up on YJ a few seasons in. As a possible defector.

     
    erebus1994, Cuchulin, Windona and 2 others like this.
  20. Windona

    Windona Beetle Queen of Crackshipping

    Joined:
    May 9, 2022
    Messages:
    330
    Likes Received:
    1,103
    IIRC, Mr Zoat hasn't seen s4 and she appeared in story before s4 was a twinkle in the creators' eyes.
     
    Cuchulin, Xmaster3000, Ardy and 2 others like this.
  21. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2019
    Messages:
    590
    Likes Received:
    3,905
    I vaguely recall Zoat using her as a fill in for Cheshire when covering that peace summit with Lex. But it was off screen for the Red Arrow side of things, right before the missile launch.

    EDIT:

    Waaaay Back here
     
    Cuchulin, Chaoswind and Ardy like this.
  22. Duke Long

    Duke Long Glomerulus

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2022
    Messages:
    562
    Likes Received:
    1,991
    Yeah, I know. I was correcting Zoat’s spelling, with a question mark because I wasn’t entirely sure that it was a mistake.
     
    m_d likes this.
  23. Threadmarks: Pete Tong (part 18)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,694
    Likes Received:
    728,897
    31st December 2012
    22:14 GMT +3


    When I started trying to learn magic, a lot of the stuff I read looked like a load of bollocks to me. Which is how I ended up making my father shrivel up like a raisin without meaning to, which taught me the valuable lesson that just because something looks like bollocks that doesn't mean that it is bollocks. And that following instructions without knowing what's going on is a bloody stupid thing to do.

    And a while later, I learned that while a lot of stuff that gets written about magic is bollocks from people who knew something was happening but didn't understand it, some of it isn't.

    And a while later than that, I learned that the whole thing is a mess and pretty much anything has the meaning you think it has. The meaning you give it.

    Which is why I've been picking up handfuls of sand and dropping them all day.

    Amynta and the other girls have been staring at me like they think I've gone off the deep end. The way Paul says it, they're treating me like I've been touched by the gods. Like I've been given wisdom and madness and they shouldn't expect me to make sense to people who haven't. Fact is, as long as my seals on my own powers keep working I'm not much different from how I was before that mess on Roanoke.

    Much different.

    Because there's something wrong with this sand.

    Which probably means there's nothing wrong with the sand, and what I'm actually picking up is something else via a kind of magical self-hypnosis, part of my cosmic awareness trickling past my seals and banging on my brain until I let it in. Or something so bad that it's actually bad down to the level of sand on a beach off the coast of Themyscira.

    Which would be pretty bad.

    So what I need to think about is whether I let it happen and assume that someone else has got it, or dust off the Helmet and deal with it myself.

    Surprised I lasted this long, to be honest.

    I stand up, which makes the guards actually start paying attention again. But more in a 'stare at the freak' way than in a 'get ready for a fight' way. Can't really hold that against them. I doubt they're really keen on having a man around and there's only so many jokes I can make about opening jars.

    I take a deep breath, and release the first stage of the seal.

    And breathe in, and breathe out.

    Immediately I feel jittery. There's a weight on the world that wasn't there before Hyde Park. Don't know how long it's been there but neither of the magics running through me like it. Chaos doesn't like it because it's stifling. Order… Order doesn't like it because it's overriding existing systems.

    Breathe in.

    Systems. Order doesn't usually react to systems changing. Why is it-?

    I toss the gold-glowing sand, grains flying out and blowing in conjured wind to do a circuit of the island. Not enough time to do all of Themyscira but it'll at least-.

    Shit.

    It's like a… Film. Oily, spread just between the physical and the magic running throughout the world. My counter is rushed and sloppy, drawing on what I learned from Themyscira's wards and what Rama Khan used on Jarhanpur.

    Severing a part of the world with magic. Amazing how he just won't see that's why it grabbed a replacement as soon as it could.

    Mine's not quite that brutal. More of a translation network. As the sand drifts to the ground on the far side of the island I've set up a bubble of normal, with the relationships and structures both set and moving in relation to each other according to how they were before. And it's connected to the magics of the rest of the world but only on terms of what was before. It's bad: nothing truly new can be added on one side and diffuse across to the other, and I feel the world resist the unnatural set-up.

    The world will have to deal with it.

    Sand grains land.

    Spell comes alive.

    Oil hits but can't cross.

    Breathe out.

    The new oily-order from the far sides revolts and complains, alternately begging and demanding that the old order complies. But the border is chaos and is unmoved, delighting in the disquiet.

    That should hold. Until whoever did that gets a few wizards over here to kick holes in it.

    Fuck.

    I need to talk to the guv'nor.

    31st December 2012
    21:22 GMT +2


    I'm flying with Dr. Balewa and Zauriel in tow, because we can't risk anything exotic. Mr. Free is flying with us under his own power.

    America is in chaos. And that's the good parts.

    Around Alliance of the Just centres there is a great deal of organisation. People who joined up early appear to be directing things, while the rest are wearing some sort of New God tech helmet which is probably helping keep them… Going. Functioning.

    Atlantis has deployed heavy duty magic shields on all of the cities I could even detect. Not sure if that's going to help, but best of luck to them. As a result I can't really tell how they're doing. They didn't have any Alliance of the Just outposts, but… But this isn't just about that.

    Not a lot going on in northwest Africa. As far as I can tell they're being affected, but… The psychological affront to the ego is the difference between expectation and reality. If your expectations are low enough you can take almost anything. People appear to be… Staggering through life.

    "I can't…"

    "Zauriel?"

    He's kneeling in the same position he had when I first put him on my construct platform for support.

    "I cannot hear the Kingdom of Heaven. I cannot hear the great celestial chorus that is the manifestation of the Most High's eternal presence."

    "And I know that you're used to being able to feel that, but over ninety nine percent of humans who've ever lived haven't been able to hear that either. It isn't gone; you're just suffering from the effects of Anti-Life exposure."

    "Anti-Life should not have such power!"

    I blink in surprise at his vehemence.

    "We're a clever lot, us mortals. And it clearly does. Alternately, it's powerful enough to entirely subvert the Source, which I do not believe. Why is your faith so weak that you believe that?"

    "My faith-. It-."

    Mr. Free nods. "Anti-Life. It makes a lot of things you wouldn't believe when you were in a normal frame of mind seem a whole lot more believable." "But we'll free ourselves from it."

    Zauriel looks at him like he's grasping a lifeline.

    "You are still..?"

    "Yes. So it's just another lie, and we'll work through it in time."

    Zauriel nods slowly. "Thank you. I will… I will adapt."

    "Good, because from the looks of things, Kahndaq needs our help again."
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2022
  24. AR760

    AR760 Experienced.

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2016
    Messages:
    3,011
    Likes Received:
    35,667
    One of the things I most enjoy about this particular story is when you include scenes like this. When you take the time to flesh out things like magic or the emotional spectrum, and try to interpret the metaphysics of the setting in your own way.

    The conversation about Godhood and the Titan Ritual was another example with Hecate. They're thought provoking and incredibly interesting to read about.

    So yeah, I enjoyed the chapter, and would definitely like to see more of the aforementioned elements.
     
  25. iamnuff

    iamnuff Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2013
    Messages:
    18,581
    Likes Received:
    80,947
    John Constantine protecting Themyscira?
    That's a laugh.
     
  26. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    5,927
    Nice, John, well done. That part if the chapter was really interesting and it's good to see what and how he is doing.

    Hopefully he shows up with the Illustres soon.
     
  27. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2019
    Messages:
    1,289
    Likes Received:
    12,971
    Our boy John, casually altering reality on a fundamental level with a thought, blocking the Anti-Life itself.

    Jesus, the guy was a galactic scale menace before, but now???
     
  28. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,425
    With language like that, this can only be John Constantine, can't it? :D I suspect he's going to be playing a very important part in things to come, if only by acting in his capacities of a Lord of both Order and Chaos...

    To be fair, given his shamanistic ways, that may well be like a minor passive detection spell trying to get his attention. Synchronicity Wave travelling and all that.

    So, they're treating him like some manner of oracle? Amusing. But honestly logical.

    :confused: ...Bizarrely, I'm picturing him wandering around the beach in a loud pair of board-shorts with his coat on. It seems that kind of mood.

    And to be fair, do you really trust anyone else to do the job right?

    ...Especially since said guards could probably fold you in half. One-handed.

    Which makes sense. Anti-life may be Orderly, but it's a submissive kind of order. 'Bow down and let your Master think for you', that kind of thing. And it's an Order foreign to Earth. Order may be universal, but it must take on some local qualities, surely...

    Because this Anti-Life is like a big, nasty weight being dropped into a pond. It's making waves, forcing other systems out of its way as it takes over.

    :eek: ...It's already hammering at the island's wards, isn't it?

    Which explains so much about other magical realms, somehow. Places cut out of reality, replaced by more mundane versions...

    Like a magical faraday cage, with a built-in network access point and firewall. Blocking the outside signal, except from approved forms of energy.

    ...And the Dolmen Gates probably just shut off for the duration. Could make getting off the island tricky.

    And Dark Bruno is probably seeing a giant middle finger raised in defiance above Themyscira. :D

    Let's hope any wizards powerful enough to break that ward are too strong to get affected by Anti-Life, then.

    Naturally, because the Alliance has only been operating there so far. And now it's the epicentre of an Anti-Life broadcast... Things must be going mad down there.

    Well, if they haven't got the sheer big-magic mojo of John, then they're having to rely on quantity of warding.

    Hard to make the less stable places any worse, I suppose. Most of the big cities are probably burning, I bet.

    Still trying to call home, huh? I'm guessing he's getting a busy signal. Wonder if they're already drawing up plans for the next Earth...

    This might be the worst day he's had in a long, long time. I think he can be excused for being uncertain.

    Careful there, Z. Wrath is a sin, after all...

    oh, that's a nice way to get through his fears, OL. In this situation, Anti-Life is only as powerful as you allow it to be...

    See? Take that helping hand, Z. There's no shame in being able to go it alone.

    And Hope is a powerful counter to Anti-Life, if you can hold firmly enough to it.

    Hopefully the first Family isn't affected. At least they won't have had to deal with a certain crocodile-man... :confused: I hope?

    Well, at least some parts of the word are holding out against the infection. The problem is when the rest are Justified, and come calling... And some of the most powerful beings on Earth are moving to work against it. Let's hope before he gets his ass handed to him on a golden platter, Bruno gets some inkling of what sort of ant's nest he kicked over. And through him, Darkseid will see what Earth can do to stop Him... :oops:
     
  29. Perchance

    Perchance Getting out there.

    Joined:
    May 31, 2019
    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    98
    John is going a bit anime here and I personally love that. "This is only the first level of my sealed power!" No but seriously it's nice to see him using his enhanced abilities. Quinn was a big enough danger and while he was able to tap into a larger portion of his own power plus a bit of chaos (iirc) my assumption is that John, freshly fused, has a far greater whole to call upon, not just in depth of power but in breadth of ability. I can't imagine it's a particularly cheap and or easy thing to ensconce an entire island and insulate it from the antilife, even if he is tapping the power of the prestablished wards and it's self admittedly slapdash, that's still some very impressive on the spot spell work.

    Actually that mention of the ALE as oily puts me in mind of pollution, and you know who hates pollution? Our friendly neighborhood swamp thing! What has he been up to again? And how exactly does the Green (and red and blue/clear etc. Etc.) React to something like this?
     
  30. Bloodalchemy

    Bloodalchemy Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2015
    Messages:
    1,023
    Likes Received:
    13,763
    That is a very good point. Plants have been used to collect and store anti life, but every active use has involved higher reasoning or philosophy.

    People wondering what the point of life is and finding their place in it. The Green and Red shouldn't give a crap about philosophy. Life is the point of Life. A Life spent creating the next generation is the best life the Red or Green could want.
     
Loading...