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. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    True, but they do zeem to be veering towards some unpleasant territory.

    Road to Hell is paved with good intentions and all that.

    If you did that then you'll be very busy.

    When Paul searched this universe he found the Honden of Avarice but no one was drawing from it, so Larfleeze probably isn't a thing here.
     
    Prince Charon, Ardy, Cuchulin and 2 others like this.
  2. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    The SI doesn't know. Larfleeze wasn't particularly active a lot of the time.
    In Interceptor's defence, she started by swinging hard enough to cripple her target, not explode them. She ramped up once she had evidence that he could take it.
    While true, this portal works like a Stargate. One way travel. He could have sent a probe that was programmed to turn around after an hour, but he knows that Sivana is usually reliable. For a given value of 'reliable'.
     
  3. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    It did have independent superheroes, they are just wanted criminals- The Justice League.

    Fire, Wally West Flash, Lex Luthor, "Space Ranger," Green Arrow, Vibe, Atom, and Black Orchid, secretly formed by Barry Allen, a member of the Justice Society International who became disillusioned.

    The JSI? Does do legitimately heroic things. They also basically act as a police force, a military, and an intelligence agency.

    They use excessive force and experiment on prisoners, they go into countries whether the local governments are okay with it or not, they manipulate governments and public opinion.
     
  4. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    from
     
  5. Threadmarks: Transformed (part 1)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    16th October 2013
    Pass


    "…whether or not you want to move back here full-time."

    Slipstream looks down at the ruins of the city of Kaon and makes a decision very quickly. This isn't the city where she rose up against her masters rulers. This isn't the city where she trained for the war that would liberate her comrades.

    "This is a giant pile of scrap."

    Her partner glances up at her for a moment, only moving his eyes before he goes back to staring out across the… Giant pile of scrap.

    "It's a magnificent pile of scrap. The sheer size of it…"

    There's a.. sound, then she sees in the distance-

    "Slipstream?"

    -a swarm of swarm of swarm of ow!

    She glares down in irritation, pulling her right leg away as her backstabbing partner lowers his scaled down power spear. "Hey!"

    "You were glitching out. What did you see?"

    She tests the servos in her right foot where he poked her. Not that they were short on materials for repairs but that stung!

    "I'll rub some oil on it later. Did you spot Autobots?"

    With the war… Technically over after Megatron threw in the towel-. Well, that was what the Autobot's broadcasts said, and they saw Knockout and teams of vehicons making repairs with Autobots in the ruins of Iacon when they over flew the area. Finding out whether it was true or not would require direct communication of a sort…

    The thing about playing both sides against the middle so that you had the space to do your own thing was… It didn’t exactly endear you to either of them. More to the point, the victor in a civil war might decide that they had the authority to actually make laws or something, and as accommodating as India had been, she didn't think that they would be prepared to fight it if the Autobots under Optimus Prime and his American allies starting kicking up dust about her and her partner staying on Earth after everyone else left.

    And she'd just got the full-body oil bath working just the way she liked it.

    "No. Scraplets."

    "Ah." He raises his binoculars to his eyes, staring out across the former city with new focus. "Are they heading this way?"

    She steels her sockets and engages her magnification systems to take a closer look.

    "No. It looks like they're inert. There's not all that much left for them to eat here."

    "How worried do we need to be?"

    "You don't need to be worried at all. They don’t eat humans."

    "There is no 'we' without you, partner."

    "I don't need to be worried unless they wake up. Usually-." She crouches, arm-mounted blasters deploying and tracking the slow-flying watch-scraplet. "Usually they'll take it in turns to stay awake, and the one that's awake can wake the rest of when there's food."

    "How do you kill them?"

    "Lure them into an enclosed space and the hit them with something they can't dodge. Glass gas and cryogenic spray were a good choice." Her wings tilt down for a moment. "Of course, back in the old days they'd just hand some poor clanker a photon bomb, paint them in energon and drop them into a swarm."

    He pats her foot again, this time with his hand. For a moment she's confused. She hasn't forgotten that he's there and it doesn't look like he wants to direct her attention to something. Instead, he's… Trying to reassure her? About what happened to bots who blew up before his species discovered fire?

    "They didn't drop me."

    He takes his hand away, and she thinks that perhaps she did something wrong. That was the selfish thing to say, wasn't it?

    "Does that affect our scavenging mission?"

    "I don't think so. That's the old manufacturing sector. There won't be anything worth taking there that we can actually move."

    "No transmetal samples?"

    "Transmetal samples are rare. We might not find any, but we certainly won't find them in the labour pits."

    He nods. "Museums and private laboratories it is. Same for polydermal grafting?"

    "No. We'll need to get into Shockwave's laboratory for that. If any records still exist, that's where they'll be." She takes one last look at the slumbering scraplets, then retracts her blasters into her forearms. "That's also the dangerous part."

    "I know." He exhales sharply, and she feels his irritation through their bond.

    And she shares it. Getting the Apex Armour would have been nice, but instead it got picked up by Starscream and then captured by the Autobots. Plus the fact that the Apex Armour would let him tank shots for her. Getting into a facility with defences built by the greatest mind in the Decepticon army with just her own light frame isn't something she's exactly looking forward to.

    Something twitches in her spark at the idea of Paul being able to exist on her scale, and deal with the world as she does. The alternative… Building her a techno-organic avatar, is… Weird. Not.. bad, having taken an organic as her 'partner' she's fully aware that she's given up the ability to insult 'alternate lifestyle choices' without being a titan-sized hypocrite. Doubly so given that the only reason they haven't gone further is that he doesn't have the parts.

    Had they..? Rushed things?

    Maybe. But if you're not prepared to go fast then you shouldn't be a seeker.

    She transforms, popping open her canopy as she does so. And she actually feels her servos relax slightly as she feels his weight on her boarding ladder, on the rim of her cockpit and then finally into her chair. A chair she hadn't needed before she met him and just used her cockpit for improved optical sensors, but which she wouldn't be without.

    Canopy closed, she activates her anti-gravity system and ion thrusters. Main engines would make far too much noise somewhere with scraplets -pit-spawned little miscasts that they are- and…

    And fly.

    She finds it strange how strange it feels to be flying inside again. The few Earth buildings big enough for her to walk inside certainly didn't have space for flying. And flying around the broken-apart remains of Junkion wasn't the same thing. Kaon wasn't repaired by whatever the Autobots did to fix the planet, but it's a lot more whole than she remembers it in the days before the exodus.

    Which means she has to worry about which of Kaon's automated defences got repaired as well.

    "Were you cast around here?"

    "No."

    An odd question. It's not as if she had any great ties to the long-destroyed factory platform where the Quintessons had her built. Then she feels his concern and realises that he felt the way her thoughts were drifting and decided to distract her. And as she slaloms around Kaon's corridors she can't think of a reason not to go along with it.

    "No, but I spent a lot of time in Kaon. You want a tour?"

    "I do."

    "Okay then. Let's see what I can remember."
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2022
  6. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  7. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    853
    Likes Received:
    5,929
    Life and love... finds a way, I guess.
     
  8. Sensitivegore

    Sensitivegore Making the rounds.

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2020
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    296
    This is weirdly romantic. It's... odd. However, I am here for it, Infonticus' latest work with warhammer 40k tech-priest in worm is illuminating.

    Also, the TV tropes page for this is the forth result on google when you enter the title. I thought I would have to at least amend it to; "With This Ring - fiction".
     
    preier, Cuchulin, Ardy and 4 others like this.
  9. Pez

    Pez Spaceman

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Messages:
    2,460
    Likes Received:
    85,984
    I'm not familiar enough with the lore, but I don't think the THE was intended, though I suspect Starscream would like for people to speak of him like that.
     
  10. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,430
    Remembering the state of Cybertron after 'Predacons Rising', You're lucky it exists at all. Between the war and the things that happened after it, most of Cybertron is in this state: a wasteland of collapsed buildings and dead machines.

    And our Paul for this universe. Assets: One drained Ring, one binary-bonded cybertronian partner and a small fortune is stuff they've acquired in their career.

    To be fair, Kaon was not the prettiest part of Cybertron back in the day.

    Ooof, that's awkward. She literally froze in fear.

    See, this is why humans are so good for Transformers. No CPU malfunctions to mess them up in high-stress situations. :p

    ;) I bet you will, bow-chikka-wow-wow...

    Again, the events of the Transformers: Prime 'movie' that I linked above. Basically, Megatron got revived by Unicron as a zombie to try and corrupt Cybertron's core, which happens to be the Spark of their god, Primus. It's a whole thing, yes. And once Unicron was beaten, Megatron said "Fuck it, war's over. I quit." And walked off into the sunset.

    Well, whatever it takes to survive, huh? Such is the nature of a millennia-long war that threatened the extinction of your species...

    Aw, scrap. Metal-eating bug swarm, for those unfamiliar. Metal grinders with limbs. Death to cybertronians.

    Aw, no flipdown visor, like Hot-Rod in 'Transformers: the Movie'? No sense of aesthetic style.

    Her? Very. You, somewhat concerned. While they don't eat flesh, they aren't too choosy during a frenzy.

    x3 Dawww. Though there is the fact that Binary-Bonded partners do tend to suffer severe neurological or psychological damage if their partner is killed, especially if connected at the time.

    Well, back in the Marvel Comics they were introduced in, they rapidly rusted solid in water. Which the 'Bots involved found very surprising.

    Still confused about humans after all this time? Well, he is somewhat atypical for a human, after all.

    Yes, yes it was. Still got a lot to learn, kid.

    Unless there's some functional mechanised platform or something. That might be helpful, but too likely to break down.

    Interesting. Now why would they be looking for materials that fuse organic and cybertronic biologiy?

    And possibly systems related to Pretender technology. Interesting.

    Nah, Miko owns the armour now.

    Heh. Femme's got it so bad, she doesn't even realise it.

    And not just because of the Jet mode! :D Live fast, offline young and leave a sweet wreck.

    Slower, but much better for VTOL and stealth. I take it that's how guys like Starscream seem to hover in place just after a quick conversion...

    So the lights are on in the streets. But of course nobody's home.

    As expected as the seat of Decepticon power during the war...

    Another good thing he's useful for: Focus.

    Aw, femme. Showing him around your hometown? How romantic.

    Well, that's an interesting diversion. And a third romantic encounter involving an Alternate Paul (Raul and Blackfire, Grayven and Luna and now Slipstream and this Paul...) I take it that's going to be a theme amongst the A plot of unfucking Trinity-verse. But on a more important note, what's this Paul called? Does he have a Cybertronian name, or at least an alias? After all, we can't call him 'this Paul' forever. Perhaps a suitable Minicon name exists...
     
  11. Bigking321

    Bigking321 Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    251
    Likes Received:
    1,885
    Don't forget fallout Paul and that woman that wants to marry him.
     
    Cuchulin, Ardy, Relyt33 and 3 others like this.
  12. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Messages:
    1,093
    Likes Received:
    5,097
    Conjunx Endura, eh? Conjūnx, coniunx, uxor… lots of words for “spouse” in Latin, not just husband and wife.

    Traditionally, a Transformer chooses a prospective partner through the ritual known as the Conjunx Ritus: four acts of affection and mutual kindness which cement the bond between the two individuals.

    Interesting. Oh! And-
    On both Cybertron and Caminus, an Amica Endura is a Transformer's long-term best friend. For a species that can live for millions of years, that sort of lasting friendship is a big deal. On both worlds it involves a formal ritual, baring your spark and inviting someone to "receive my light" before explaining why you value them.

    Ah, and it is somewhat like blood brotherhood. Although hearing that “why you value them” could be quite amusing, coming from certain tactless cybertronians. Like hearing that a spouse loves you for your figure and sex.

    …goodness there are a lot of characters named Megatron. I guess this is a Skywalker/Smith situation.
     
  13. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    If you're going to post something like that you could at least include a link to it.
    Good, good!
    Pull.
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  14. Sensitivegore

    Sensitivegore Making the rounds.

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2020
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    296
  15. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,518
    Likes Received:
    20,740
    It's interesting to see an almost powerless Paul after all this time.
     
    Istaran likes this.
  16. Old Knife

    Old Knife Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2016
    Messages:
    430
    Likes Received:
    1,694
    Why would you skip the first contact??????
     
  17. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    On that note, do you know if Mr Zoat is married or similar? Sometimes I wonder if romantic trends in serial writing aren't influenced by interactions with real life partners, beyond the demands of a pre-existing authorial outline.
     
  18. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    Alas, I am not Laurell K. Hamilton. Though I will admit I increasing look at Anita Blake less as 'hot' and more as a train wreck.
    Between whom?
    Thank you.
     
  19. BrotherofaStudio

    BrotherofaStudio Know what you're doing yet?

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2022
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    265
    Is this Paul's adventures going to extend to the Robots in Disguise (2015) cartoon?
     
  20. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    I doubt that I'll still be writing segments set in that period, and I'm sceptical that Cybertron could be restored that much in a mere two years. But that does technically come next. If the two of them decide to stay on Earth then they'd probably be a big deal in those events as they'd be the obvious people to go to for support.
     
  21. BrotherofaStudio

    BrotherofaStudio Know what you're doing yet?

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2022
    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    265
    I see. How exactly did Paul and Slipstream meet anyway and do you have any plans to tackle other Transformer universes? For that matter how did some of the alternate Pauls like Lord Protector Paul, Eternian Paul and Avenger Paul start start out? Also, in regards to the previous entry with this Paul, I'll admit I'm glad he lost that argument with Optimus Prime because while Paul is smart and really thinks things through, it is Optimus Prime we are talking about and it shows that Paul isn't smarter than everybody. No offense on that last part.
     
    Doccer and Cuchulin like this.
  22. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    He appeared in the field of wreckage that used to be Junkion. Since he had no idea where he was he used his ring to find a ship, and he found the stasis locked form for Slipstream. He patched her up, added a seat in the cockpit and located some fuel, which was energon that he didn't recognise. As his charge ran out he was getting desperate and managed to wake her up.
    Probably not.
    Landed in Thundera more or less by chance after the sacking. Found Pumyra because he needed a guide, and found Khoah because he needed a farm.
    Actually recognised where he was after picking up his charge amulet, and headed there because there wasn't anywhere better.
    Haven't really decided.
    While I think that Optimus Prime made some fairly serious mistakes as Orion Pax, Optimus Prime now has actually thought things through.
     
  23. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    I'm still surprised that, with all the genuine hyper-multiversal transcendental technologies that exist scattered across the collective Transformers universe, that he hasn't found any leads at all towards a compatible power source for his ring.

    Unless this is one of those things were he has found real leads but all of them are stonewalled by Optimus, Megatron, or other ancient faction leaders.
     
    Otto von Saurion and Vorian like this.
  24. Radiant Knight

    Radiant Knight Phoenix Fire

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2014
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    5,450
    He could probably recharge off of a Quintesson, but that'd require existing near a Quint, which is a bad time for everyone.
     
  25. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2018
    Messages:
    284
    Likes Received:
    1,400
    Like I surmised, stonewalled by ancient faction leader.
     
    Otto von Saurion and Cuchulin like this.
  26. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Honestly considering the ways Zoat has allowed alt.Pauls recharge, I wouldn't bat an eye at an energon fed power ring.

    It's the energy that makes up sparks, the cybertronian soul.

    It is in at least some continuities, it's the energy of the god Primus.

    So really a case of "magic by another name."
     
    Otto von Saurion, Vorian and Cuchulin like this.
  27. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,945
    Thing is, with the Allspark removed from Cybertron and no ability to synthesise energon, they were living in a universe where their only food was in limited and diminishing supply. The fighting on Earth could happen because there were supply caches there.

    Though I suppose that if they dug deep enough they could have used dark energon from Unicron.
     
  28. Radiant Knight

    Radiant Knight Phoenix Fire

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2014
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    5,450
    Less stonewalled, and more that the Quints have tried to omnicide all of reality on multiple occasions, so it's generally best to keep away from them especially with unique or powerful technically whenever possible.
     
    Otto von Saurion and Cuchulin like this.
  29. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Being physically possible and the results being accepted socially are two different issues, though.

    Although now I'm picturing said hypothetical Transformers alt.Paul developing a spark from their soul being made out of energon.

    Now that would have some interesting theological discussions. Probably over blaster fire....
     
  30. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    sheer

    staring out across
     
Loading...