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

[CrazyNoVa]

Blue -14 didn't seem to have those limitations. He lacked a good way to charge the ring, but it seemed like every time he had charge he was exceedingly effective with it.

Click to shrink...

Earth -14 Paul is a special case, because he was perpetually stuck in an "adapt or die" situation, and he was even more at risk than Anna or any other Blue Lanterns we know of. When stuck in a life-or-death situation, people either learn quickly, or they die quickly. Earth -14 Paul's situation is very different than Anna's, because he was understandably scared and paranoid that the Crime Syndicate could kill him at any time, and he had to learn and grow very quickly to survive and meet their standards as a made man. In other words, his mindset was something along the lines of: "I need to learn how to use this ring as fast as possible, because if I don't become strong enough make myself useful ASAP, my bosses will probably kill me".

By contrast, while Anna does consider learning how to use her ring to be a priority, she ultimately doesn't live under that kind of pressure, nor was her immediate survival contingent on learning how to use the blue light ASAP. And lastly, remember that the first time we see Earth -14 Paul, he's way further along the timeline than the segments I wrote with Anna, meaning that by the time we first see him, he's had his ring for a much longer time, and thus far more time to learn how to use the blue light too. When Blue Paul met Orange Paul during the episode "Doppelganger", they had both defeated their versions of Mister Twister long ago, and had much more time to learn how their respective rings worked.

 

[McGraww]

I kinda like this Zod. Yeah he was willing to kill millions of aliens to protect his homeworld, but who hasn't genocided a species or two?

Anyway I think it's pretty telling that "let me blow up a planet" was the route he chose as a distraction instead of you know, anything else.

But I do like that he at least has a fairly coherent ideology instead of just being crazy.

 

[BlueMangoAdea]

I think in this fic, limitations of Blue Rings aren't inherent to them, but something they were deliberately designed with, later when they were made?

Pauls' rings appear to be "standard" instead, without that in-built limitation, probably because they were made by Hinon(not completely sure in the case of other parallel Pauls, forgot about it if it was explained).

 

[jasonh23761]

I like this depiction of Zod. If this is him truly laid bare, he's a man I understand, though not one I agree with.

Albeit tradesmen of conflict. Which is something of the way it's become on Earth, too. Dedicated standing armies of people trained for combat for years, rather than citizen levies (barring those countries where military service is compulsory.) The last major Draft in America was Vietnam, right?

Click to shrink...

IIRC, the last call up was December of 1972, with the last induction being June of 1973. Side tangent, there is an interesting distinction between the US Army and the Army of the United States, with the latter subsuming the former when the draft is in effect.

 

[Mr Zoat]

...eventually found him in an alley with that bleeding cut on his forehead.

Click to shrink...

'thought'
'an'

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

Albeit tradesmen of conflict. Which is something of the way it's become on Earth, too. Dedicated standing armies of people trained for combat for years, rather than citizen levies (barring those countries where military service is compulsory.) The last major Draft in America was Vietnam, right?

Click to shrink...

Depends what you count. Is it drafting if you're only drafting soldiers about to reach the end of their contracts and have no intention of re-upping?

Yes. The answer is yes, it obviously is.

Anyway I think it's pretty telling that "let me blow up a planet" was the route he chose as a distraction instead of you know, anything else.

Click to shrink...

Technically, he didn't blow it up. It's still in one piece. He just scoured it.

But I do like that he at least has a fairly coherent ideology instead of just being crazy.

Click to shrink...

I don't actually find crazy very interesting. You can't engage with it. Why did they do this thing? Because they're crazy.

 

[AverusBlack]

Spoiler: Meanwhile, on Oa

Oa.

Since he'd joined the corps, his feelings about it had changed. To begin with, it was interesting 'cuz it was all so alien, and the whole ring thing had really kept his attention. Then for a while it was more like a workspace, like an office you spent a lot of time at. But now? Now it was a little like home.

Just, y'know, without the insanity.

As he curved his downward descent to land on the pale green walkway, he rolled his shoulders, tugging his jacket in a gesture he was barely aware of doing. He'd never been to this particular building before. It really said something about his status in the corps these days that Ganthet himself was pulling him in for consultations. It was enough to get to a mans head if he let it, and he didn't plan on letting it.

The door, an ornate model with a split down the middle of it and the green sigil engraved on its face in the form of a thousand small writings, opened for him as he approached. He squinted at the writing a little, but the ring wasn't translating for him. Or maybe it was just so alien that the ring was having to work for it. His passing curiosity about the door design wasn't anything close to being outweighed by his curiosity about why he was here, though.

The door led him to a plain looking hallway with another door, but behind that door lay Ganthet's research lab. He blinked a few times as he looked around at all the gidgets and thingamajigs, all of it looking very important and alien. It suddenly occurred to him that, in many respects, it looked a lot like the setup he had seen down in the ring forges that one time. The whole thing just looked like a traditional forge to him, but he knew better than to think that.

The room was circular, with a small stairway leading down while the edge he was standing on ran around the rim of the pit below. At the other end of the room stood - well, hovered - Ganthet in front of some kind of interface. Down in the pit sat what looked to him like a half-finished personal lantern. A blue half-finished personal lantern. Sitting just below it was what looked a lot like a blue ring, too.

"I'm glad you could make it, Lantern Gardner. How fares Earth?"

He knew damn well that Ganthet probably already knew the answer. But he did appreciate the effort at being personable. "Well, most of the fires are out. Enough that Supes and the gang are letting themselves get distracted with that whole... thing. This your work?" He gestured down at the pit.

"Indeed." Ganthet rose up and over the console, slowly lowering himself down to the nascent lantern. "You may not be aware, but I have been making efforts in my spare time to develop a blue ring prototype. Certainly, I never expected to be beaten to it by a Qwardian. Your friend Alan was kind enough to allow me to scan his lantern and ring, and it has actually been rather helpful. I believe that the ring and lantern may even be complete within the month. Can you guess why I have asked you here?"

He rubbed his chin, giving it some thought without answering immediately. Ganthet was the sort to appreciate a considered answer over a glib one. "The older techniques I've been researching?"

"Not quite. My intention was originally to finish the prototype so that I could demonstrate to my brothers and sisters that our use of the green light could be further strengthened with the blue. Most of the difficulty lay in the ability to access constructs at will. Do you know why the orange Illustres had to have the Qwardian make it?"

"Yeah, he was a little grumpy about it the one time it got brought up. I think he was more annoyed with himself though, 'cuz he didn't think to ask the Controllers about making one before everyone got aligned to orange, he said."

"Just so. It's one of the reasons I struggled to build this prototype despite the fact we have been making power rings for mortals for a million years. I have been green for a very, very long time. And the truth is that I think your friend has a point when he says that drifting too far into monochromatism isn't a good thing."

"You think Paul is right about something?" He couldn't help but smile a little. "Should I alert the honour guard now, or after I leave?"

"After you leave. Perhaps you'll have changed your mind by then." Ganthet gave him a wry grin. "No, the truth is that I struggled with some of the basic functions because I have forgotten what it is like to feel hope." The smile began to slip from his face. "For eons, the Guardians of the Universe have worked for the good of all. But we're not infallible. You've read the unabridged version of the Book of Oa and you know this to be true."

He nodded, drifting down the steps towards the ring and lantern as he listened.

"Traditionally, we program the rings to seek out their bearers. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but the criteria for those searches was set quite a long time ago and has only undergone revisions since then. We make small changes where circumstances have taught us they are necessary, but the core remains the same."

It dawned on him suddenly why he was here. "You want advice for what kind of bearer to look for."

Ganthet nodded to him.

He took a deep breath, resting his hands on his hips and exhaling hard, letting his cheeks puff out. "Whooo. That's a tall order, sir. I have no idea who to recommend. It's like having somebody ask you what your favourite song is." He held a hand up, frowning. "Mind if I take a few minutes to think?"

"Not at all. Though you may wish to step back to the top of the stairs in the meantime."

He jogged up them quickly, then sat down at the top step as Ganthet drifted back to his console and got back to work. A blue construct fabrication array formed above the pit and he let his mind drift as he watched his boss work on his experiment. What kind of person would make a good blue lantern? More importantly, what were they to do?

"So... were you just thinking of issuing blue rings to serving green lanterns, or founding a second corps alongside ours?"

"The second. We would pair a blue lantern with the green lanterns of a given sector so that they could act as support."

"What, like, healing and stuff?"

Ganthet shook his head. "The blue light and the green light are... not close, exactly, but they complement each other in a way that yellow and green do not and never could. The healing would be a great help in saving the lives of our lanterns, it's true. The high turnover rate of this work is something that has long been accepted as a necessity, but I think it would be better if so many of our lanterns didn't die in the line of service. The crypts are the one part of Oa I do not love to see grow. But one of the uses of the blue light is that it can supercharge a green ring and that can be very helpful."

"Whoa, what? Alan's never used his ring like that."

"Lantern Scott had a damaged green ring converted into a blue one. I've yet to understand quite how Kalmin managed to do that, but I believe the limitation may be in my inability to feel hope for myself. It's entirely possible that Lantern Scott can supercharge the rings around him and simply never realized it because the Qwardian thought it should be a..." He seemed to struggle for a euphamism. "...An opt-in function."

He found himself nodding. "Yeah, that sounds like somethin' he'd do. The guys a real piece o' work. Guess I'll have to ask Alan 'bout that when I get home, then. Okay, so, you want people who... inspire hope? Bolster the hope of other greenies?"

Ganthet nodded absentmindedly as he manipulated the controls, the array lifting the blue personal lantern upward and beginning to... do... he looked away from it, blinking hard. Something more than three dimensions going on there he didn't quite understand that his brain was complaining about looking at. "Originally, I thought to program the traits I hoped would suit a blue ring user into a seeker protocol and simply let the ring choose for itself. Seeing a blue ring made without the functional limitations I thought were necessary made me rethink that approach, if only because it became obvious that I had a blind spot due to my alignment with the green."

"No, I think you're on the money there. Seeker ain't a bad approach. I honestly have no idea who to recommend other than Alan. Hmmm. That one girl..." He snapped his fingers a couple times, trying to remember. "The hot one Paul brought around that one time, she was supposedly great with Alan's ring when he let her try it out for about five minutes."

Ganthet didn't say anything for a few seconds, then glanced at him. "Ah, Lantern Koriand'r. The record shows she is a serving orange lantern, however."

"Yeah, sure, but Paul seemed to really think she'd make a great blue. You mind if I ask something?"

"No, of course. What is it?"

"Is this so the Controllers don't found their own blue corps? I kinda got the impression that influence is what Maltusians really care about among each other."

"Yes and no. I have been researching this for a long time now, but you're not entirely incorrect when you say that I'm trying to get this off the ground so that they don't do it first. The truth is that if our cousins make an effort to found their own blue corps... we don't have the protections in place that we do with the green light. We can't really stop them from it. But they also don't seem to be moving in that direction, either."

He stood up suddenly as the door behind him opened, coming to attention as Guardian Sayd drifted into the lab. "Ah, you began without me?"

"I believe Lantern Gardner and I have settled on a possible candidate. With the delay in finishing the personal lantern, that should be sufficient time to contact the orange Illustres and make arrangements for her?"

"Eeehhhhh..." He dithered a little. "He's got his hands full with the Zod trial. But she's in Vega, it wouldn't be hard for Green Man to have a talk with her."

"It might be best if it didn't seem like we're trying to poach orange lanterns."

He shrugged, thinking back to Paul telling him he'd offered Jack Chance an orange ring. Ain't like he never gave it a shot himself. He knew Sayd was probably right, though. "Yeah, okay, I'll talk to him about it next chance I get. This won't be done tomorrow, right? I got a few weeks, you said?"

"My time spent working on this project is what you might call my 'down time'. I'm afraid I don't get as much of it as I'd quite like. So yes, it won't be immediate."

"Great! Should I scram so you can work, then?"

"Yes, but take the time to contact the orange Illustres, if he isn't busy." He nodded, then headed out, walking backwards and sketching the two guardians a lazy salute.

As the door closed from his departure, Sayd turned to Ganthet. "Are you sure this is the best course, sending it to somebody marked by orange?"

"Nothing in life is sure but death, dear sister. We've gotten too comfortable in our self-assuredness. And if she proves to be a bad candidate, there is always Earth, or the seeker option."

She wasn't entirely sure if he was joking about Earth. He had spent more time with the human lanterns than most of the Guardians did. But as she watched him work, she also found herself privately agreeing with him. Change and adaptation were the cornerstones of survival and if the Guardians of the Universe were to survive their dwindling numbers, perhaps a change in approach might be in order.

The real question was, could they convince the others?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Spoiler: Meanwhile, on Oa

Oa.

Since he'd joined the corps, his feelings about it had changed. To begin with, it was interesting 'cuz it was all so alien, and the whole ring thing had really kept his attention. Then for a while it was more like a workspace, like an office you spent a lot of time at. But now? Now it was a little like home.

Just, y'know, without the insanity.

As he curved his downward descent to land on the pale green walkway, he rolled his shoulders, tugging his jacket in a gesture he was barely aware of doing. He'd never been to this particular building before. It really said something about his status in the corps these days that Ganthet himself was pulling him in for consultations. It was enough to get to a mans head if he let it, and he didn't plan on letting it.

The door, an ornate model with a split down the middle of it and the green sigil engraved on its face in the form of a thousand small writings, opened for him as he approached. He squinted at the writing a little, but the ring wasn't translating for him. Or maybe it was just so alien that the ring was having to work for it. His passing curiosity about the door design wasn't anything close to being outweighed by his curiosity about why he was here, though.

The door led him to a plain looking hallway with another door, but behind that door lay Ganthet's research lab. He blinked a few times as he looked around at all the gidgets and thingamajigs, all of it looking very important and alien. It suddenly occurred to him that, in many respects, it looked a lot like the setup he had seen down in the ring forges that one time. The whole thing just looked like a traditional forge to him, but he knew better than to think that.

The room was circular, with a small stairway leading down while the edge he was standing on ran around the rim of the pit below. At the other end of the room stood - well, hovered - Ganthet in front of some kind of interface. Down in the pit sat what looked to him like a half-finished personal lantern. A blue half-finished personal lantern. Sitting just below it was what looked a lot like a blue ring, too.

"I'm glad you could make it, Lantern Gardner. How fares Earth?"

He knew damn well that Ganthet probably already knew the answer. But he did appreciate the effort at being personable. "Well, most of the fires are out. Enough that Supes and the gang are letting themselves get distracted with that whole... thing. This your work?" He gestured down at the pit.

"Indeed." Ganthet rose up and over the console, slowly lowering himself down to the nascent lantern. "You may not be aware, but I have been making efforts in my spare time to develop a blue ring prototype. Certainly, I never expected to be beaten to it by a Qwardian. Your friend Alan was kind enough to allow me to scan his lantern and ring, and it has actually been rather helpful. I believe that the ring and lantern may even be complete within the month. Can you guess why I have asked you here?"

He rubbed his chin, giving it some thought without answering immediately. Ganthet was the sort to appreciate a considered answer over a glib one. "The older techniques I've been researching?"

"Not quite. My intention was originally to finish the prototype so that I could demonstrate to my brothers and sisters that our use of the green light could be further strengthened with the blue. Most of the difficulty lay in the ability to access constructs at will. Do you know why the orange Illustres had to have the Qwardian make it?"

"Yeah, he was a little grumpy about it the one time it got brought up. I think he was more annoyed with himself though, 'cuz he didn't think to ask the Controllers about making one before everyone got aligned to orange, he said."

"Just so. It's one of the reasons I struggled to build this prototype despite the fact we have been making power rings for mortals for a million years. I have been green for a very, very long time. And the truth is that I think your friend has a point when he says that drifting too far into monochromatism isn't a good thing."

"You think Paul is right about something?" He couldn't help but smile a little. "Should I alert the honour guard now, or after I leave?"

"After you leave. Perhaps you'll have changed your mind by then." Ganthet gave him a wry grin. "No, the truth is that I struggled with some of the basic functions because I have forgotten what it is like to feel hope." The smile began to slip from his face. "For eons, the Guardians of the Universe have worked for the good of all. But we're not infallible. You've read the unabridged version of the Book of Oa and you know this to be true."

He nodded, drifting down the steps towards the ring and lantern as he listened.

"Traditionally, we program the rings to seek out their bearers. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but the criteria for those searches was set quite a long time ago and has only undergone revisions since then. We make small changes where circumstances have taught us they are necessary, but the core remains the same."

It dawned on him suddenly why he was here. "You want advice for what kind of bearer to look for."

Ganthet nodded to him.

He took a deep breath, resting his hands on his hips and exhaling hard, letting his cheeks puff out. "Whooo. That's a tall order, sir. I have no idea who to recommend." He held a hand up, frowning. "Mind if I take a few minutes to think?"

"Not at all. Though you may wish to step back to the top of the stairs in the meantime."

He jogged up them quickly, then sat down at the top step as Ganthet drifted back to his console and got back to work. A blue construct fabrication array formed above the pit and he let his mind drift as he watched his boss work on his experiment. What kind of person would make a good blue lantern? More importantly, what were they to do?

"So... were you just thinking of issuing blue rings to serving green lanterns, or founding a second corps alongside ours?"

"The second. We would pair a blue lantern with the green lanterns of a given sector so that they could act as support."

"What, like, healing and stuff?"

Ganthet shook his head. "The blue light and the green light are... not close, exactly, but they complement each other in a way that yellow and green do not and never could. The healing would be a great help in saving the lives of our lanterns, it's true. The high turnover rate of this work is something that has long been accepted as a necessity, but I think it would be better if so many of our lanterns didn't die in the line of service. The crypts are the one part of Oa I do not love to see grow. But one of the uses of the blue light is that it can supercharge a green ring and that can be very helpful."

"Whoa, what? Alan's never used his ring like that."

"Lantern Scott had a damaged green ring converted into a blue one. I've yet to understand quite how Kalmin managed to do that, but I believe the limitation may be in my inability to feel hope for myself. It's entirely possible that Lantern Scott can supercharge the rings around him and simply never realized it because the Qwardian thought it should be a..." He seemed to struggle for a euphamism. "...An opt-in function."

He found himself nodding. "Yeah, that sounds like somethin' he'd do. The guys a real piece o' work. Guess I'll have to ask Alan 'bout that when I get home, then. Okay, so, you want people who... inspire hope? Bolster the hope of other greenies?"

Ganthet nodded absentmindedly as he manipulated the controls, the array lifting the blue personal lantern upward and beginning to... do... he looked away from it, blinking hard. Something more than three dimensions going on there he didn't quite understand that his brain was complaining about looking at. "Originally, I thought to program the traits I hoped would suit a blue ring user into a seeker protocol and simply let the ring choose for itself. Seeing a blue ring made without the functional limitations I thought were necessary made me rethink that approach, if only because it became obvious that I had a blind spot due to my alignment with the green."

"No, I think you're on the money there. I honestly have no idea who to recommend other than Alan. That one girl..." He snapped his fingers a couple times, trying to remember. "The hot one Paul brought around that one time, she was supposedly great with Alan's ring when he let her try it out for about five minutes."

Ganthet didn't say anything for a few seconds, then glanced at him. "Ah, Lantern Koriand'r. The record shows she is a serving orange lantern, however."

"Yeah, sure, but Paul seemed to really think she'd make a great blue. You mind if I ask something?"

"No, of course. What is it?"

"Is this so the Controllers don't found their own blue corps? I kinda got the impression that influence is what Maltusians really care about among each other."

"Yes and no. I have been researching this for a long time now, but you're not entirely incorrect when you say that I'm trying to get this off the ground so that they don't do it first. The truth is that if our cousins make an effort to found their own blue corps... we don't have the protections in place that we do with the green light. We can't really stop them from it. But they also don't seem to be moving in that direction, either."

He stood up suddenly as the door behind him opened, coming to attention as Guardian Sayd drifted into the lab. "Ah, you began without me?"

"I believe Lantern Gardner and I have settled on a possible candidate. With the delay in finishing the personal lantern, that should be sufficient time to contact the orange Illustres and make arrangements for her?"

"Eeehhhhh..." He dithered a little. "He's got his hands full with the Zod trial. But she's in Vega, it wouldn't be hard for Green Man to have a talk with her."

"It might be best if it didn't seem like we're trying to poach orange lanterns."

He shrugged, thinking back to Paul telling him he'd offered Jack Chance an orange ring. Ain't like he never gave it a shot himself. He knew Sayd was probably right, though. "Yeah, okay, I'll talk to him about it next chance I get. This won't be done tomorrow, right? I got a few weeks, you said?"

"My time spent working on this project is what you might call my 'down time'. I'm afraid I don't get as much of it as I'd quite like. So yes, it won't be immediate."

"Great! Should I scram so you can work, then?"

"Yes, but take the time to contact the orange Illustres, if he isn't busy." He nodded, then headed out, walking backwards and sketching the two guardians a lazy salute.

As the door closed from his departure, Sayd turned to Ganthet. "Are you sure this is the best course, sending it to somebody marked by orange?"

"Nothing in life is sure but death, dear sister. We've gotten too comfortable in our self-assuredness. And if she proves to be a bad candidate, there is always Earth, or the seeker option."

She wasn't entirely sure if he was joking about Earth. He had spent more time with the human lanterns than most of the Guardians did. But as she watched him work, she also found herself privately agreeing with him. Change and adaptation were the cornerstones of survival and if the Guardians of the Universe were to survive their dwindling numbers, perhaps a change in approach might be in order.

The real question was, could they convince the others?

Click to shrink...

Usually, a Guardian would be written in all green, while as an enlightened Lantern Guy should have green speech marks.

 

[AverusBlack]

Usually, a Guardian would be written in all green, while as an enlightened Lantern Guy should have green speech marks.

Click to shrink...

You know, somehow I forgot about that? I'll edit it.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Spoiler: Meanwhile, on Oa

Oa.

Since he'd joined the corps, his feelings about it had changed. To begin with, it was interesting 'cuz it was all so alien, and the whole ring thing had really kept his attention. Then for a while it was more like a workspace, like an office you spent a lot of time at. But now? Now it was a little like home.

Just, y'know, without the insanity.

As he curved his downward descent to land on the pale green walkway, he rolled his shoulders, tugging his jacket in a gesture he was barely aware of doing. He'd never been to this particular building before. It really said something about his status in the corps these days that Ganthet himself was pulling him in for consultations. It was enough to get to a mans head if he let it, and he didn't plan on letting it.

The door, an ornate model with a split down the middle of it and the green sigil engraved on its face in the form of a thousand small writings, opened for him as he approached. He squinted at the writing a little, but the ring wasn't translating for him. Or maybe it was just so alien that the ring was having to work for it. His passing curiosity about the door design wasn't anything close to being outweighed by his curiosity about why he was here, though.

The door led him to a plain looking hallway with another door, but behind that door lay Ganthet's research lab. He blinked a few times as he looked around at all the gidgets and thingamajigs, all of it looking very important and alien. It suddenly occurred to him that, in many respects, it looked a lot like the setup he had seen down in the ring forges that one time. The whole thing just looked like a traditional forge to him, but he knew better than to think that.

The room was circular, with a small stairway leading down while the edge he was standing on ran around the rim of the pit below. At the other end of the room stood - well, hovered - Ganthet in front of some kind of interface. Down in the pit sat what looked to him like a half-finished personal lantern. A blue half-finished personal lantern. Sitting just below it was what looked a lot like a blue ring, too.

"I'm glad you could make it, Lantern Gardner. How fares Earth?"

He knew damn well that Ganthet probably already knew the answer. But he did appreciate the effort at being personable. "Well, most of the fires are out. Enough that Supes and the gang are letting themselves get distracted with that whole... thing. This your work?" He gestured down at the pit.

"Indeed." Ganthet rose up and over the console, slowly lowering himself down to the nascent lantern. "You may not be aware, but I have been making efforts in my spare time to develop a blue ring prototype. Certainly, I never expected to be beaten to it by a Qwardian. Your friend Alan was kind enough to allow me to scan his lantern and ring, and it has actually been rather helpful. I believe that the ring and lantern may even be complete within the month. Can you guess why I have asked you here?"

He rubbed his chin, giving it some thought without answering immediately. Ganthet was the sort to appreciate a considered answer over a glib one. "The older techniques I've been researching?"

"Not quite. My intention was originally to finish the prototype so that I could demonstrate to my brothers and sisters that our use of the green light could be further strengthened with the blue. Most of the difficulty lay in the ability to access constructs at will. Do you know why the orange Illustres had to have the Qwardian make it?"

"Yeah, he was a little grumpy about it the one time it got brought up. I think he was more annoyed with himself though, 'cuz he didn't think to ask the Controllers about making one before everyone got aligned to orange, he said."

"Just so. It's one of the reasons I struggled to build this prototype despite the fact we have been making power rings for mortals for a million years. I have been green for a very, very long time. And the truth is that I think your friend has a point when he says that drifting too far into monochromatism isn't a good thing."

"You think Paul is right about something?" He couldn't help but smile a little. "Should I alert the honour guard now, or after I leave?"

"After you leave. Perhaps you'll have changed your mind by then." Ganthet gave him a wry grin. "No, the truth is that I struggled with some of the basic functions because I have forgotten what it is like to feel hope." The smile began to slip from his face. "For eons, the Guardians of the Universe have worked for the good of all. But we're not infallible. You've read the unabridged version of the Book of Oa and you know this to be true."

He nodded, drifting down the steps towards the ring and lantern as he listened.

"Traditionally, we program the rings to seek out their bearers. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but the criteria for those searches was set quite a long time ago and has only undergone revisions since then. We make small changes where circumstances have taught us they are necessary, but the core remains the same."

It dawned on him suddenly why he was here. "You want advice for what kind of bearer to look for."

Ganthet nodded to him.

He took a deep breath, resting his hands on his hips and exhaling hard, letting his cheeks puff out. "Whooo. That's a tall order, sir. I have no idea who to recommend. It's like having somebody ask you what your favourite song is." He held a hand up, frowning. "Mind if I take a few minutes to think?"

"Not at all. Though you may wish to step back to the top of the stairs in the meantime."

He jogged up them quickly, then sat down at the top step as Ganthet drifted back to his console and got back to work. A blue construct fabrication array formed above the pit and he let his mind drift as he watched his boss work on his experiment. What kind of person would make a good blue lantern? More importantly, what were they to do?

"So... were you just thinking of issuing blue rings to serving green lanterns, or founding a second corps alongside ours?"

"The second. We would pair a blue lantern with the green lanterns of a given sector so that they could act as support."

"What, like, healing and stuff?"

Ganthet shook his head. "The blue light and the green light are... not close, exactly, but they complement each other in a way that yellow and green do not and never could. The healing would be a great help in saving the lives of our lanterns, it's true. The high turnover rate of this work is something that has long been accepted as a necessity, but I think it would be better if so many of our lanterns didn't die in the line of service. The crypts are the one part of Oa I do not love to see grow. But one of the uses of the blue light is that it can supercharge a green ring and that can be very helpful."

"Whoa, what? Alan's never used his ring like that."

"Lantern Scott had a damaged green ring converted into a blue one. I've yet to understand quite how Kalmin managed to do that, but I believe the limitation may be in my inability to feel hope for myself. It's entirely possible that Lantern Scott can supercharge the rings around him and simply never realized it because the Qwardian thought it should be a..." He seemed to struggle for a euphamism. "...An opt-in function."

He found himself nodding. "Yeah, that sounds like somethin' he'd do. The guys a real piece o' work. Guess I'll have to ask Alan 'bout that when I get home, then. Okay, so, you want people who... inspire hope? Bolster the hope of other greenies?"

Ganthet nodded absentmindedly as he manipulated the controls, the array lifting the blue personal lantern upward and beginning to... do... he looked away from it, blinking hard. Something more than three dimensions going on there he didn't quite understand that his brain was complaining about looking at. "Originally, I thought to program the traits I hoped would suit a blue ring user into a seeker protocol and simply let the ring choose for itself. Seeing a blue ring made without the functional limitations I thought were necessary made me rethink that approach, if only because it became obvious that I had a blind spot due to my alignment with the green."

"No, I think you're on the money there. Seeker ain't a bad approach. I honestly have no idea who to recommend other than Alan. Hmmm. That one girl..." He snapped his fingers a couple times, trying to remember. "The hot one Paul brought around that one time, she was supposedly great with Alan's ring when he let her try it out for about five minutes."

Ganthet didn't say anything for a few seconds, then glanced at him. "Ah, Lantern Koriand'r. The record shows she is a serving orange lantern, however."

"Yeah, sure, but Paul seemed to really think she'd make a great blue. You mind if I ask something?"

"No, of course. What is it?"

"Is this so the Controllers don't found their own blue corps? I kinda got the impression that influence is what Maltusians really care about among each other."

"Yes and no. I have been researching this for a long time now, but you're not entirely incorrect when you say that I'm trying to get this off the ground so that they don't do it first. The truth is that if our cousins make an effort to found their own blue corps... we don't have the protections in place that we do with the green light. We can't really stop them from it. But they also don't seem to be moving in that direction, either."

He stood up suddenly as the door behind him opened, coming to attention as Guardian Sayd drifted into the lab. "Ah, you began without me?"

"I believe Lantern Gardner and I have settled on a possible candidate. With the delay in finishing the personal lantern, that should be sufficient time to contact the orange Illustres and make arrangements for her?"

"Eeehhhhh..." He dithered a little. "He's got his hands full with the Zod trial. But she's in Vega, it wouldn't be hard for Green Man to have a talk with her."

"It might be best if it didn't seem like we're trying to poach orange lanterns."

He shrugged, thinking back to Paul telling him he'd offered Jack Chance an orange ring. Ain't like he never gave it a shot himself. He knew Sayd was probably right, though. "Yeah, okay, I'll talk to him about it next chance I get. This won't be done tomorrow, right? I got a few weeks, you said?"

"My time spent working on this project is what you might call my 'down time'. I'm afraid I don't get as much of it as I'd quite like. So yes, it won't be immediate."

"Great! Should I scram so you can work, then?"

"Yes, but take the time to contact the orange Illustres, if he isn't busy." He nodded, then headed out, walking backwards and sketching the two guardians a lazy salute.

As the door closed from his departure, Sayd turned to Ganthet. "Are you sure this is the best course, sending it to somebody marked by orange?"

"Nothing in life is sure but death, dear sister. We've gotten too comfortable in our self-assuredness. And if she proves to be a bad candidate, there is always Earth, or the seeker option."

She wasn't entirely sure if he was joking about Earth. He had spent more time with the human lanterns than most of the Guardians did. But as she watched him work, she also found herself privately agreeing with him. Change and adaptation were the cornerstones of survival and if the Guardians of the Universe were to survive their dwindling numbers, perhaps a change in approach might be in order.

The real question was, could they convince the others?

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That was cool! Even better than my omakes! You haven't written in a while, but you clearly haven't lost your touch!

 

[Clell65619]

He stands alert, back straight, arms by his side. "I existed only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I took, no matter how violent or how cruel, was for the greater good of my people. I might have saved everyone, but for the Council and Jor-El. If these aliens execute me, then I will die knowing that I did everything I could."

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Well, yeah. Everyone is the hero of his own story.

 

[AverusBlack]

That was cool! Even better than my omakes! You haven't written in a while, but you clearly haven't lost your touch!

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I've got several ideas for stories sitting around in my head but it feels wrong somehow to work on them without having finished the other two projects I was working on previously. That's mostly a planning/motivation issue on my part, but everytime I try to write something long I learn from the attempt and get better at it towards the end before something stops me. Usually executive dysfunction of some kind, it's an actual serious problem in my life generally speaking.

Glad people liked it, though. I thought it would be a bit presumptuous to try and post it in the story-only thread. This whole thing is Zoats ride, I'm just cruising alongside with the rest of you.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Glad people liked it, though. I thought it would be a bit presumptuous to try and post it in the story-only thread.

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Yes, it would have been.

 

[CrazyNoVa]

I don't actually find crazy very interesting. You can't engage with it. Why did they do this thing? Because they're crazy.

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Well, in that case, the key to making a crazy character interesting is to give some kind of reason or method behind the madness. Take The Joker, for example. He's insane, but people find him interesting due to his efficiency as a foil to Batman, and because of his sheer dedication to three things:

A), Causing chaos.

B), Proving that his philosophy (all it takes is one bad day, blah blah blah) is ultimately right.

and C), BATMAN.

Thus, those three things help the Joker stay separate from generic crazy characters who are crazy just for its own sake, because he's crazy in such a way that you can (mostly) understand the method behind the madness. Sure, his motives are crazy, but they're still something we can understand. It's even better when you give him an opponent to contrast and clash with, like Batman, because you can then use their dynamic to tell a story. Hence, the core of all Batman vs Joker stories.

Yes, it would have been.

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I thought it would be a bit presumptuous to try and post it in the story-only thread. This whole thing is Zoats ride, I'm just cruising alongside with the rest of you.

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Yeah, we don't want him to end up like poor Georgia.

 

[AverusBlack]

Yes, it would have been.

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I say this mostly for the same reason that Roman generals had someone muttering 'memento mori' to them during a Triumph. Writing side-bits is fun, but the story belongs to the writer, nothing else. It's not like me to be this talkative in general in these threads and if I stick around too long I'll just fuck it up somehow so I'll just go back to lurking for now.

 

[Mr Zoat]

It's not like me to be this talkative in general in these threads and if I stick around too long I'll just fuck it up somehow so I'll just go back to lurking for now.

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Oh, don't worry about that. Everyone fucks up sometimes.

 

[AverusBlack]

Oh, don't worry about that. Everyone fucks up sometimes.

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You might call it a special talent of mine.

 

[Mr Zoat]

You might call it a special talent of mine.

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What does your cutie mark look like?

 

[CrazyNoVa]

What does your cutie mark look like?

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[Insert literally any Cards Against Humanity card here.]

 

[SerbobIV]

Blue -14 didn't seem to have those limitations. He lacked a good way to charge the ring, but it seemed like every time he had charge he was exceedingly effective with it.

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Weren't the limitation on the original blues guardian malware? Paul's rings not having the firmware would remove that limit.