Sceptic
Critical Irrationalist
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Is it a gouda story?
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Is it a gouda story?
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Oh-ho! I ask about Zorina yesterday, and we get to see her. The joy of the author interacting with his readers. And a little bit of warm and fluffy fun never hurts, given the heavy stuff happening over in the Paragon side.Meanwhile, on Earth -14
21st January 2013
12:58 GMT +2
"Back already?"
Ah, Zorina showing a bit of compassion? Or just scientific curiosity over an unfortunate experiment of dubious success?I switch back from my 'work costume' to something a little more appropriate for the home. "I think they need a little while." Sounds like Zorina's in her workshop, so I head in that direction. "And Jackie and Arrowette showed up hung over."
"How did Raquel look?"
Gee, he looks like such a nice fellow. I bet his local counterpart was just as big an arsehole?"Better. She actually voluntarily spoke in order to ask questions." I hold out my right hand to the workshop door and let the wards confirm my identity. "But I think that's her limit."
The locks unlock and the door swings open, prompting Zorina to look up from where she's working on the tubes attached to Madness Marine's head. One of the projects that's allowed me to pretend to be a 'better' villain than I am, increase my personal power and social influence.
May as well benefit from some rich peoples' desperate desire for the next big high, eh?Carlyle shudders as a new batch of Hope flows from the Mask and into the tubing, and through them into the device which squirts into the vials for distribution. Bit of a shame there's only one Medusa Mask as that limits production, but I'm sure we'll work out a way around that eventually.
Pure hope: an entirely legal high with a positive effect on a person's wellbeing as well as recharging the ring while looking dodgy as heck. A perfectly squared circle.
Oooh, nice to have a name for the classic Golden Age Evil Scientist 'uniform' outfit, as seen often on Doctor Sivana, back in the day. And it's got practical pockets too!"Naelc."
Zorina-. My.. wife shimmers as her magic removes small amounts of blood and oil from her navy blue Howie laboratory coat and skin, as well as removing unwanted arcane energies which might have attached to her during her work. That done, she walks towards me with a contented smile on her face. I find myself smiling too as I move towards her in return. We embrace, her arms going around my back and mine going around her shoulders.
...For a second, I though that was him having some kind of Love-based spasm...I didn't love her when we married, but somewhere along the line-.
"Ghhhagh?" My head jerks around immediately. "Aaaaynnnyyaa?"
...But no, it's just baby talk. Huh. Is this the first official SI offspring seen on-screen? I mean, we had pregnant Komand'r In Raul's segments, but, well..."She's fine, darling." Zorina pulls away, walking over to the crib and bending over to smile at Zita. "Daddy's a big worry-wart, isn't he?"
"Mmmeuuaaagh."
You never know, she might turn blue sometime in the future. Maybe during her teenage years, when a metagene kicks in. Honestly, the children of Lanterns can be... Strange.I come up behind her, looking over her shoulder at our daughter. No idea what version of the family magic she'll end up with, but she managed to dodge comic-Jade's problem of having ring-coloured skin. She sees me and smiles, haphazardly waving her flabby little arms…
"Hi Zita!" I can feel myself grinning. Hi Zita! Hi..!"
Dangit..."Eeeeeghuuuh!"
Zorina reaches into the crib and picks up my-. Our daughter, carefully supporting her head as she pulls her up to her chest. Zita flops against her, hands weakly reaching to grip Zorina's coat.
Ah, and between them, they'll never have to wonder what any crying is about."Sutats? Not hungry, doesn't need to be changed and doesn't need to sleep."
"I can read to her if you need to keep working here?"
Ah, youngsters. Carrying a little baby weight in the right places can improve a woman's figure. Where do you think the MILF fetish comes from?"Is that a dig?"
"A dig?" She nods towards the corner of the room while keeping her eyes on our daughter. I follow her-. An exercise mat, water bottle, small dumbbells and a skipping rope. Zorina has been merciless towards her baby weight, and… "No! No, I meant-."
Baul, Baul, Baul... Ever a little blind to people's feelings, for all that he can see emotions.She snorts. "I know, silly."
"Not that I don't appreciate your efforts, but I know you can be sensitive about-."
Villain with good intentions? Some people just have trouble begin bad.She giggles, wrapping her free arm around me so that Zita is touching both of us. "You must be the worst supervillain ever. The best… Bad supervillain ever?"
"I prefer anti-villain, and I hope so. Any messages while I was out?"
...Hardly a secret, is it? The Zatara family are witches and warlocks. I would expect them to crow about it, hexing people just to prove they can..."Grandmother's people sent a message. They think that there's an auspicious time to introduce Zita to the coven."
"Should you be… Telling me about that?"
Aw, you sweet-talker you."I think it's one of those 'test-of-loyalty' things."
"I literally can't imagine you failing a test."
I hope they at least wear clothes. That whole 'skyclad' thing is a little hard to keep to during long European winters."No, I pass because I'm loyal to my husband and daughter. I've been to coven meeting before and they're not that interesting. It's just a bunch of old women gathered around a fire pit and evoking demons. There probably won't even be any blood."
"How dull."
Do you really want to offend that many elder sorceresses?"The Zatara Family is a family, and you and Zita are my family." She looks up to nuzzle my face. "And you're much more important to me than some wizened hags in a cave in Aquileia or some cousin I share an ancestor with thirty generations ago. Oh, but don't call them hags outside of this room."
"I won't. Is it dangerous?"
Hey, in some cultures, they did them by tossing carved turtle shells in fires and reading the cracks... Don't underestimate the many ways people use to try and divine the future."No, no." She looks down, smiling at Zita as she reaches for her face and rocking her back and forth. "They'll just perform an augury."
"How will they perform an augury without blood?"
...Ah, it's just a chance for the old babas to coo over a little one, huh?"They get the animal from the local butcher already bled. It saves a lot of effort with the clean-up and doesn't affect the augury at all. But it's mostly about introducing the new Zatara to their doting great aunts. The augury's just an excuse."
"So I don't need to worry about them sticking pins in a me-shaped doll?"
Remote acupuncture... Could work?"Paul." She moves her free hand to my right cheek. "You're part of the family. All those pins are just there to help."
"Uubababah?"
Does she care about the funny man in the dangly things? Heck, at her age, just realising the little wiggly things she's waving about are part of her should be mind-blowing enough."Uuuuuh."
I turn my head to look at our 'emotion cow'. "Should Zita be in here with him?"
...Also, the infinitesimally small chance of the emotional energy triggering a metagene... Hey, it could happen."Why not? He can't move with a broken neck."
"I'm not suggesting that we keep our occupation secret from her or anything, but it might help if we wait to do a full introduction until she's old enough to be able to put it in the proper context. You know, 'this person did this and that's why we're doing this' rather than 'sometime Mummy and Daddy do this to people'."
...To be fair, most households on this Earth could qualify as supervillain households. Or at least criminal ones."Daddy didn't do that with me."
"I… I think, darling, that this is one of those disconnects that someone raised in a supervillain household has from people who weren't."
Ooh, the minefield of talking with a significant other with certain traditions.She nods. "That's the second one in this conversation."
"What was the first?"
Ah, she's old-fashioned that way, eh?
I doubt she's that mad about it. You aren't a newt right now.She sighs, resting the side of her face against my chest. "In the Zatara family, that's the mother's job. Daddy raised me after Mommy died, but that's unusual. I know you didn't mean to imply that I'm a bad mother-"
"No, of course not."
Heh. He is kind of changing the way the world thinks about crime and profit, isn't he?"-but that's what it would have sounded like to another Zatara. And I want Zita to grow up in a more traditional household. Because…" She sighs. "We're doing a lot of things that… Change the way supervillainy works. And if that means that you have to be alpha-dominant in public so our people respect you more, then that's what you need to do. I know you respect me. You don't have to assume that I'm going to forget,"
"Obey the small rules so you can break the big ones."
Sadly, Baul's not really the 'male chauvinist' type."That's from Nineteen Eight-Four, isn't it?" I nod, though it didn't work in the long run for the character who tried it. "And… I want to make it easier for Zita to fit in with the family. Mommy… Dying, meant that I never got that chance."
"Okay. I'll… Try that. Can we go and play with her together? Or do I need to tell you to get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich?"
...I mean, you know how she is in the bedroom. Does it surprise you that she has... Tastes... that swing that way?
I'm picturing something akin to the political history between England and France during the Middle Ages... And it's not a pretty image.
If you were going to kill someone anyway, why waste them when you can perform acts of horrendous torture on them?Is there a particular reason for them to pick this guy as the person to supply the Hope drug?
Thank you, corrected.
The Young Offenders, management, probably a few other people. The Answer never uses it.So Zorina remembered that Zatanna called OL by his real name, so now she can call Baul that when in private. Does anyone else in the Syndicate know his first name?
No. Daggerfall would have been the contemporary Elder Scrolls game.
Thank you, corrected. I wish this site would stop eating those.
Actually, I wrote that last weekend.Oh-ho! I ask about Zorina yesterday, and we get to see her. The joy of the author interacting with his readers. And a little bit of warm and fluffy fun never hurts, given the heavy stuff happening over in the Paragon side.
No.I'm picturing something akin to the political history between England and France during the Middle Ages... And it's not a pretty image.
No. Daggerfall would have been the contemporary Elder Scrolls game.
Thank you that was exactly the answer I was looking for there are some other things I'd like to joke about but those kind of jokes tend to get people a bit riled up so I'll leave it.Thank you, I'm here all night.
Try the veal.
It's the closest you can legally get to eating a Frenchman.
There are very briefly non-Syndicate criminal elements.
Sure, the Syndicate need administrators. And there are plenty of Syndicate members who don't really have super powers. If you mean 'are there elected officials outside of Syndicate control', no.
Oh God. They're literally huffing pure hopium.Pure hope: an entirely legal high with a positive effect on a person's wellbeing as well as recharging the ring while looking dodgy as heck. A perfectly squared circle.
He didn't get any assistance with developing one. As per comic Raven's chat with Superboy, he is growing one, just very slowly.Blue Paul never grew a soul, did he? Or did he find some other method to do so? If not, what does that mean for his daughter's soul? My guess would be that it is more strongly patterned after her mother, essentially a bud instead of a mix of two.
...Well, that episode of Ghostbusters were ghosts turn stuff into pizza?
He doesn't think about it.That thing with Zita and Zorina was very cute I take it this Paul ha gotten over the age gap issue?
Also, Madness Marine is an interesting name for a superhero, unless he's one of the more radical ones
Blue Paul never grew a soul, did he? Or did he find some other method to do so? If not, what does that mean for his daughter's soul? My guess would be that it is more strongly patterned after her mother, essentially a bud instead of a mix of two.
He didn't get any assistance with developing one. As per comic Raven's chat with Superboy, he is growing one, just very slowly
Storytime! I'll listen.
You exchanged ceremonial vows with a manipulative villain who binds demons for fun and profit. Did you honestly think they would be only legal consequences?I didn't love her when we married, but somewhere along the line-.
...I think it was once mentioned that -14 Constantine made him a soul.
When I was a small boy, it was customary in my home to put grated cheese on top of spaghetti bolognaise. I didn't. I also didn't have cheese in sandwiches, and when my parents and grandparents had Stilton on biscuits during holidays I avoided it.
'sometimes'You know, 'this person did this and that's why we're doing this' rather than 'sometime Mummy and Daddy do this to people'."
Thank you, corrected.
I'm going to say 'yes, but he slunk off early and didn't really speak to anyone'.was -14 Paul in the big multiverse team-up? I ask because that is when Main-Paul shared information with other Pauls that they could make their own lanterns.
Please tell me the liquid is a nice shade of blue, hopefully glowing.Carlyle shudders as a new batch of Hope flows from the Mask and into the tubing, and through them into the device which squirts into the vials for distribution.
My Nekron is very different in origin to the canonical one. Necrons would manage Blackest Night fine due to not having hearts.
Probably not, but I don't remember the episode so I can't say for certain.
So does Baul literally drink liquid hope to recharge the ring? Or has he managed to make a blue lantern yet like LePaul did with orange?
So does Baul literally drink liquid hope to recharge the ring? Or has he managed to make a blue lantern yet like LePaul did with orange?
No, he gets other people to drink it and pay for the privilege.
Thank you, corrected.
That should say 'on'.I raise my left hand and cause a shield construct to swell and expand. At first it simply resembles a wall, but as it grows and grows it's clear to all onlookers that it's going to envelop the entire city. With the ash fall increasingly cut off I deploy construct vacuum cleaners to hoover up the ash drifts already on the ground and dump the material outside of my new barrier. Once the area around us is sufficiently cleared, I deposit Ilana and Razer on the ground to talk with the locals while I concentrate is… Cleaning off this dust-with-delusions-of-grandeur.
That should say 'not'.I notice Ilana and Razer reach the local ash-dumpers and start trying to explain what's happening. I'm no sure if their language is similar enough to be mutually intelligible; it's a single continent and there aren't any impassable geological barriers between this city and theirs, but it's still quite a long way and I don't know how much their language has drifted.