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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. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Well, that episode of Ghostbusters were ghosts turn stuff into pizza?
     
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  2. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    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.
     
  3. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    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.

    That thing with Zita and Zorina was very cute I take it this Paul ha gotten over the age gap issue?
     
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  4. FeepingCreature

    FeepingCreature Not too sore, are you?

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    Oh God. They're literally huffing pure hopium.
     
  5. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    He didn't get any assistance with developing one. As per comic Raven's chat with Superboy, he is growing one, just very slowly.
    ...

    Probably not, but I don't remember the episode so I can't say for certain.
    He doesn't think about it.
     
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  6. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    He's not necessarily a superhero.

    There do seem to be characters that are still evil in both universes.

    Oggar was apparently the one that gave Mary her powers in -14, so chances are high that he's evil like his Earth 16 counterpart.

    Though with a Lord of Chaos it's possible that they're both the same person, but Oggar just traveled to Earth -14.

    I think it was once mentioned that -14 Constantine made him a soul.
     
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  7. LiamOfOrmonde

    LiamOfOrmonde Know what you're doing yet?

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    Italian bread, herb mayo, salami, mozzarella, pesto, and pickled peppers with olive oil. The ultimate sandwhich,
     
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  8. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

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    As soon as Zita made herself known, I started having a smile for the rest of the segment. That was cute and wholesome.

    I imagine with Blue Paul growing a soul slowly, his is getting heavily influenced by his more consistent surroundings, so Zatara Family magic and Hope. As such, Zita might have some Emotional Spectrum influence but otherwise, all Zatara. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Because a Hope manipulating Witch sounds really scary, that's just a couple of steps away from being able to easily cast depression on command.

    Still, happy for Blue Paul. Had a rocky start but look at where he's at now. Strange that at home he's more challenged by Zorina's desire for a traditional household than the possible demon summoning in front of his daughter at family gathering.
     
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  9. Doccer

    Doccer I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Storytime! I'll listen.
     
  10. WereDragon

    WereDragon Bookwyrm

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    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?

    Decent way of recharging. Although by the sound of it he still hasn’t got around to visiting the ring-maker yet. Wonder what he is waiting for?
     
  11. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    ...
    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.

    When I was a small boy, it was customary in my home to eat 'cheesecake', made from some sort of packet mix that contained no actual cheese. This was usually accompanied by either black current or strawberry sauce.

    While I became a less fussy eater as the years went by, I remained fixed in my abhorrence of cheese. My mother thought that I would change my mind. She offered me a bet, that by the time I was 16... May have been 18, but I think it was 16, that I would like cheese.

    I accepted. I think I was 10 at the time.

    The day before by 16th birthday, for the first time ever, my mother made chocolate cheesecake from actual cheese. It was great.

    One. Day.

    She tried to tell me it was an accident. But she knew. She knew.
     
  12. Duke Long

    Duke Long Glomerulus

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    ’sometimes’

    Enjoying the look at this universe. I always liked this one.
     
  13. dw7thdoctor

    dw7thdoctor Getting sticky.

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    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.
     
  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    I'm going to say 'yes, but he slunk off early and didn't really speak to anyone'.
     
  15. Bramble Thorn

    Bramble Thorn Verified Silhouette

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    Please tell me the liquid is a nice shade of blue, hopefully glowing.
    Like an iconic Mana Potion.
    Does it work to recharge his ring when he drinks it, or does he need to have someone else drink it in his presence and then have the ring feed off their hope?

    Can he keep himself topped off at 100% regularly now?
     
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  16. jasonh23761

    jasonh23761 Not too sore, are you?

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    Huh, was not expecting these two, or three I suppose, to be quite so wholesome.
     
  17. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

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    I wonder if Nekron is active in the background right now. Making moves outside of the awareness of the Guardians and Controllers. I don't think he is related to Sinestro and Negative-Harold Jordan's plan... Nor the Anti-Life plot... But he might have his fingers in at least one seemingly-innocuous event over the last few years.
     
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  18. RoninSword

    RoninSword Sky God

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    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?
     
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  19. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    Ghosts enter a Dream Machine and start to turn the ghostbusters dreams into pizza.

    If you think that's weird, there was even a bunch of ghosts that were parodies of the 80s version of the Simpsons.
     
  20. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    It's either that or he pours the liquid on his ring.
     
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  21. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    No, he gets other people to drink it and pay for the privilege.
     
  22. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    ' forget." '
     
  23. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  24. Threadmarks: Butcher's Blood (part 9)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    21st January 2013
    10:18 GMT


    Construct barrier shimmering around us, Ilana and Razer stare at the ash-gushing super volcano with a mixture of horror and awe. The full caldera is about fifty kilometres across, and unlike the examples on Earth that's not an old caldera filled with water. I can see the rubble that was thrown out by the initial detonation and heavy enough to fall back to the ground, and it covers the ground horizon to horizon… Where it isn't buried by ash.

    The detonation point of the nuclear weapon itself isn't really visible to the unaided eye. I can tell where it was by scanning the stresses in the rock, but it's… With everything else…

    Ilana half-turns her head towards me. "You said that there are three more of these?"

    "Three more that could be opened with nuclear weapons of an equivalent magnitude."

    Razer looks away from the base of the ash plume, searching for… What's he searching for? Something to use to better comprehend the scale of what he's looking at. "Can you shut it down?"

    "Yes, but this… Volcanoes exist as a result of geological pressure. This one was triggered early, but it would have gone off eventually on its own. Same with the other three. It might be better to let it vent itself before blocking it."

    I have my ring's AI compare this to other examples of supervolcanoes on file.

    "Yes, it won't erupt again in the probable lifetime of your species if we leave it."

    "Is it causing any other damage?"

    "It's putting out heavier than air poison gas. But the nearest settlements are far enough away that they shouldn't be affected. The caldera will be unsafe for a long time, but the rest will disperse on its own."

    Ilana shakes her head. "We should go to the nearest city. This is…"

    "Yes." Razer nods sombrely. "It is."

    "Alright."

    I pick up the sphere surrounding them and fly at speed towards the city in question. I don't know if they were the target or if they were for some insane reason the ones who made the attack. Maybe they were testing a new weapon and didn't know about the supervolcano? I didn't see any rocket launch sites or obvious airports when I looked at the city earlier, but that doesn't mean that they didn't have some other way to deploy it.

    The city is covered with a thick layer of ash and dust, still warm to the touch but not hot enough to burn. The sky is black, and the little light available that doesn't come from my rings is provided by shuttered lanterns borne on poles. The few people outside are wearing cloth masks to keep it out of their lungs. It looks like someone's tried to organise a cleaning system, with people shovelling settled ash onto carts pulled by their fellow residents. There's an obvious film of fear over the place, but they're being fairly stoical, inwardly. When there's nothing to do but tough it out, most people will tough it out.

    It would probably be a good idea to make a favourable impression. I float over to near to the ash dumping ground by the front gate. The people there look up at me for a moment, and then bow their heads and return to work because, well: how am I going to make things worse?

    Time to make a favourable impression.

    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 on… Cleaning off this dust-with-delusions-of-grandeur.

    Hm. The ash fall is far more than a normal area effect atmospheric filter could cope with. At this point it would more or less have to be a force field with selective permeability. It would need a power generator on-site, and I can't guarantee that it would actually stay in place. Sure, I'll get the ash out of the atmosphere before I leave, but that will mostly involve putting it on the ground and high wind will keep picking it up for years yet.

    I notice Ilana and Razer reach the local ash-dumpers and start trying to explain what's happening. I'm not 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.

    Damn, that's a lot of ash. I take back what I said about it being good for the soil: this is smother-quantity.

    Right, that's… Clear enough for now. The mass is building up on top of my barrier, but we weren't getting any sunlight anyway, and other than opening a tube to space that's the best I can do.

    I fly over to the ash-dumpers, and give them a friendly smile.

    "Hello there."

    "Is this your work?"

    "The eruption? No. When I want to bombard a place, I just bombard it directly. This sort of thing makes resettlement harder. Can I take it that you don’t know who caused it?"

    "Our alliance with Crelan collapsed recently. They seem like the sort-."

    Razer's eyes narrow. "That sounds like pure conjecture."

    One of the others slumps. "What do you want, outlanders? We're all going to die choking under the dust."

    "I need some information, then I can deal with that. If you don't have any leads on who activated the volcano… Do you have any records..? Or folk stories, of people being filled with maniacal rage?"

    "What? Why?"

    "I have reason to believe that an object that has that effect is on this planet, and it's my job to find it and remove it to a place where no one will be harmed by it."

    "Ah…" They sort of look at each other… There are a few negative gestures. "Not really? There are stories where people become angry, but the reason why they get angry is usually something the other characters do. I mean, that's the point, isn't it? Moral lessons?"

    "Darn. In that case, do you know why your relationship with Crelan ended?"

    "Their Dal was married to our Dal's sister, but their son died fighting against Alanak and so he decided to divorce her and marry a younger woman. Our Dal didn't like that, or the way he disinherited their other children. So he broke our alliance, and we both tried to find other allies. Then this happened."

    "That sounds… Petty."

    "There might be more to it than that. Not like the Dal needs to tell me anything."

    "Did they have any off-world weapons?"

    "Probably? We all do, don't-" He looks at Razer and Ilana. "-we?"

    Razer indicates a negative. "Nothing this powerful."

    "I think I should speak with your Dal. Where might I find him?"

    "Out with the army, west of here. Of course, he might have gotten buried under the ash."

    "How long have you and your neighbours been at loggerheads?"

    "Well it's… So… About..? Eighty years?"

    "Ilana? Razer? Is that normal?"

    Ilana makes a gesture of uncertainty. "Our city is more isolated. We hear later about large wars, but we're not always involved."

    Razer makes an affirmative gesture. "But it is not unusual."

    That sounds like a lot, but is it really all that different to Medieval Europe?

    "Let's… Hope that we can fix that."
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2023
  25. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    That should say 'on'.

    That should say 'not'.
     
  26. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Remove one "

    "weapon"
     
  27. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Must be nice, as a civilisation, to have something alien to blame all your shit on.

    Maybe earth has a Cauldron of Dickishness buried somewhere?
     
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  28. Z000

    Z000 If this is trash, then find me in the dumpster

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    Earth is ground zero to everything in the entire DC universe

    they can legit just blame reality itself for all it issue
     
  29. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    come -> cope
     
  30. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Volcanic eruptions are already dramatic, destructive events. One sparked by a nuclear explosion should be even more impressive, of course. And that's just little burps. A full-blown super-volcano? Well, people would think of them as an apocalypse...

    Not unsurprising given their lack of tectonic activity. Volcanos tend to be a result of geological pressure, not a cause. Consider the Ring of Fire, for example

    Heh. A god's-eye-view really makes it difficult to appreciate the immensity of such a sight, doesn't it?

    ...Not unless some other idiot decides to shove a big bomb into one.

    A natural byproduct of eruptions, sadly. Seriously, some of the substances underground are really not pleasant for human exposure.

    Well, the nearest surviving city. Unless the people were wise enough that they didn't build right in the shadow of the giant rumbling mountain...

    I mean, given the possibility of it being an alien device, who's to say it didn't have some kind of underground burrowing capability?

    And without outside aid around, this city would probably be on the verge of being abandoned eventually. They're fighting a losing battle against the ash-fall...

    Well, who'd have thought a day like this would appear? OL showing up not making things worse somehow? :p

    Ah, the joy of a little bit of OCD about cleaning coming handy.

    And dumping it in the ocean would simply end up poisoning the life there. ...Maybe crush it into a new bit of landmass?

    Given how much language can vary in the space of a few hundred miles (compare Edo dialect to Osaka, for example...) It might be workable with a translator or two.

    Pity this planet is otherwise out of the way. Calling in a couple of Orange Lanterns might be a good idea, otherwise.

    Oh, I'm sorry. Were you getting paid to sweep the streets? :D

    ...Say no more. Though it might be worth getting the Crelanic side of the story too.

    Well, someone's feeling pessimistic, aren't we? ...Understandable given the circumstances, but still... :confused:

    ...Just curious. No ulterior motive... Really.

    Damn. Lost amongst the parables... And if the battle with the Butcher was long enough ago, no-one might have knowledge of it.

    ...Well, they both sound like dicks. But the Crelanic Dal definitely sounds like the one who took the wrongest step...

    Dal: "I don't even know who you are..."

    No time to try and be secretive now, kids.

    I'm guessing not in the palace...

    ...Well, shouldn't be too hard to find them either way.

    Yeah, I guess these folks like to hold grudges... Nurse them like favoured children...

    Though I bet there's a natural seasonal tempo involved. Can't make war all year long. Someone's got to plant and harvest the food.

    Pfft. Good luck with that.

    Well, he's getting closer to the culprit of this potentially world-ending tomfoolery, at least. Pity the Butcher's Blood search isn't panning out, though. Hopefully Jade and Orion are having more luck over their side of the continent... Assuming he's stopped yelling at people yet. And hasn't found others to take his frustration out on. o_O ...Kind of surprised he left them to get on with things back there, really.



    ...or if they were for some insane reason the ones who made the attack.
    Add 'are' in there, maybe?
     
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