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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. _The_Bomb

    _The_Bomb Getting sticky.

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  2. Assblaster5000

    Assblaster5000 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    It's a bit more than emerging at this point. This has been going on for five-ish pages and easily 12+ hours.
     
    ChestBurster, Khornelius and Vorian like this.
  3. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    I'd say the closest example that would correspond to trans men in Greek myth (That I know of) is Caenis (who more people might recognize from their inclusion in Fate/Grand Order, albeit as a woman) who asked to become a man after Poseidon raped them, which he granted.
    Now, given that he had male lovers too (consent optional, probably), it doesn't seem like the best defense, but it's a piece of myth/legend after all, and it might have been to deter people in general using the perceived strength of a man.
    This isn't a perfect correlation by any means, of course, but perfectly categorizing ancient figures, whether fictional or real, into contemporary Western schema of gender and sexuality is never going to be perfect.

    Regarding the fight and outcome, I agree that Zeus should have put up a better showing, and the process of transference of kingship of Olympus seems like it should have a bit more weight to it, like maybe the Fates should have shown up or something. Things ending quickly instead of a big battle against the antagonist due to the protagonists' preparations and this fic's focus on rationality can work (I like how they ended up getting rid of Klarion and Satanus as a threat in the Paragon timeline, as an example of this. Though the Renegade version of Klarion arguably also fits these principles and that was alright too). There's probably more updates that will deal with the new power structure though.
    One thing that could be fun is that between Heph and Athena, maybe they'd set up some mystic Matrix-style virtual combat simulation/download training that he could use to improve his martial abilities.

    I'm not sure if Mr Zoat has read An Undertow of Sand, Shujin's Percy Jackson/Cthulhu Mythos fusion fic, though I assume not, but it's kind of interesting to read both stories alongside each other as they're both currently regularly updated, and that one has a fair amount of exploration of Zeus's kingship and Athena's role as the king who usurped him in the past, in a play on the real-life mythical prophecy surrounding her birth. Athena would work as a co-ruler to Heph here (her child with Heph in the past was speculated to have possibly been able to become the God of Technology if he wasn't born in Ancient Greece) if they're willing to be modern and not include marriage as part of the deal, though either way she'll definitely be a senior advisor.

    I wonder if Metis would be interested in the New Titans, and if Paragon would want to help her meet them. He's staying out of their current post-civil war restructuring, sure, but since a lot of the OG Titans are going to be pardoned and freed in some capacity.

    I'd like to see Hippolyta taking a more active role outside Themyscira as the Goddess of Battle- she's the more interesting decision narratively than Kratos, as the latter hasn't shown up in this fic. I do wonder if this overthrow of Ares will have any knock-on metaphysical effects for Astarte and her daughter, who are currently ravaging worlds as the Citizenry even though Paragon could stop it fairly easily and instantly and it would also be in-character since he has very personal motivations due to his ties to Themyscira (and I'd be interested in seeing alternate approaches to dealing with the Citizenry, since I don't think Paragon would immediately jump to Lethe-water as the solution). It's probably clear that I think that this not happening yet in the paragon timeline is a bit forced, along with the lack of the Scarab being in play, even if it's Ted actively experimenting with it himself or with his Atlantean employees or something.

    I think Hippolyta could probably manage both being a god and being the queen of Themyscira, since I feel like Diana has enough going on as the Greek hero-champion and member of the Justice League. And Kon and Mitchell aren't old enough to assume the role properly, though Philippus could very well be regent in the meantime. Would be nice if this shake-up to the status quo also got her and Hippolyta actually together- feels like that would be a fun joint project for Aphrodite and Eris, or something that Ghi'ata can do so I don't forget that she's around in the Paragon timeline too, 90% of the time.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2022
  4. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  5. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Roughly, Aphrodite was generally considered such a catch that it was causing feuds amongst the Olympians. Partly to get her out of the way and partly as a jibe, Zeus married her to Hephaestus, something that the law and custom of the time allowed him to do. Hephaestus wasn't thrilled, but decided to try and make it work. Aphrodite took one look at him and decided that she wouldn't. Ares wasn't her only lover, just the most regular one.

    Please bear in mind that what ancient Greeks wrote about their gods isn't necessarily what actually happened in this story.
    No, they're arguing about different cultural mores; the absolute freedom people take as their right in modern Western society and the duty and obligation that defined proper behaviour in Ancient Greece.
     
  6. Threadmarks: Coup Data (part 25)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    28th October 2012
    17:11 GMT +3


    I smile as a familiar figure comes into pseudo-sight.

    "Di-."

    "Why are they cheering, Paul?"

    "You know why. But if you really want me to spell it out?" My vision substitute doesn't reliably show me subtle facial expression, so I can't tell exactly what her response is. "Zeus is no longer parasitizing on them."

    "You promised me-."

    "I didn't! I stood out of the way and sang an insulting song! You want me to do the lasso again?"

    "Do you mean to say that you talked Zeus into amending his ways?"

    "Diana, I'm a Lantern, not a miracle worker. He's still alive, but he's not in charge of Olympus any longer which means that you're out."

    "I am not even going to ask how-. You expect me to leave the titans unguarded while they grow in power?"

    "Sure. They're still trapped by the nature of Tartarus and the Hekatonkheires can keep an eye on things. And the only thing that Cronus has done in living memory is create Donna and Deva. Do you think those were evil acts?"

    "It is a great risk-."

    "Was creating two daughters an evil act?"

    She doesn't immediately respond, instead rising off the ground and flying towards the Gates of Tartarus. I give her a moment and then follow along behind her at a respectful distance.

    "Who rules Olympus now?"

    "Hephaestaean."

    I can hear her either sigh or just take a deep breath.

    "Explain."

    "You remember that stuff with Richard Simpson, where he was trying to change himself into a God of Technology?"

    "You put Hephaestus through that process."

    "Hephaestus volunteered to go through the process after we workshopped it with Hecate, Eris and Athena."

    She slows slightly at the mention of Athena, but I doubt that she's really surprised.

    "So really he's become everything a forward-thinking pantheon needs their leader to be: stronger and with none of the weaknesses of his former self."

    "And what of Zeus?"

    "Cast down until he gains a decent understanding of meteorology. In the material world he's limited to avatar power, and he's got no titans boosting him any more. Oh, and obviously we freed Metis."

    "At least that explains Lady Athena's support."

    "I don’t know. She's rather fond of you, too."

    And there's the door. Diana and I push through to see Hephaestaean completing his divine cybermancy on Akhlys, mechadendrites whirring and clicking as they replace weak flesh with elegant machinery. She… Her gold-tinted flesh glows as the implanted arcane circuitry twists her nature to reflect the technological improvements humanity has made to medicine and healthcare since the days of Ancient Greece. Her robotic eyes shift and focus, taking in her new body.

    Hephaestaean points to her left hand.

    "As you can see, I focused your aura of ill-health through your left hand. You'll need to discharge it once a month or so, but you can do that ritually rather than by personal contact."

    "I understand, Lord."

    Hephaestaean nods in satisfaction, two servo arms with cameras already pointing at Diana and me as we land.

    "Diana. You are free to go, unless there is anything in Tartarus that requires my immediate attention."

    "No, Lord Hephaest-. Aean."

    Hephaestaean smiles. "Don't worry. I'm not entirely used to it myself."

    "What commands do you have for me?"

    "None. Unless you feel like undergoing apotheosis, in which case I'm sure I could find some work for you."

    "I think it best if I remain mortal for now, Lord. Quite aside from the responsibility of raising my sons-" She glances at me. "-I have concerns what might happen if I left the material world."

    "Wise of you. In that case, continue your mission as Wonder Woman with my blessing. I'll put some new armour together for you once I have the free time; my capacities now are far in advance of what they used to be."

    "If I may ask, what plans do you have now that you rule Olympus?"

    "I intend to modernise. Every significant figure in our mythos will have to maintain their domain and encourage proselytism or get replaced like a broken part."

    "Does that include me, nephew?"

    Hades strikes out of the darkness in… What I assume to be his full raiment. Never actually seen him wearing it before. Zagreus lurks behind him, still fully tooled up.

    "Technically, yes. But you're doing a fine job, Uncle, and Thana is already trying to convert people at your instruction. I would appreciate you giving me a full briefing, but I fully expect to find that you are the most engaged of our people."

    Hades nods. "I can brief you at your-"

    A plume of rose petals erupts from thin air, spraying red and pink flakes across the desolate landscape. And emerging from the centre is…

    "-convenience."

    An entrancingly beautiful woman in the prime of her life, striding elegantly towards Hephaestaean with a smile barely concealing her desire.

    Hephaestaean pulls his mechadendrites in. "Aphrodite."

    "Dear husband. Is it true? Have you overthrown Zeus?"

    Hephaestaean shakes his head. "It is, but I haven't changed my mind. You had no more desire to marry me than I did you."

    "That-." She looks away, at least decent enough to feel shame. At being caught out, at least. "I…"

    "I declare us to be divorced. We both know that you prefer Ares; go to him now with my blessing. He was on Olympus when last I saw him."

    She strikes a pose that displays her physical charms to greatest effect without quite crossing the line into full-on harlotry.

    "Are you certain?"

    "Yes. Quite certain."

    She shrugs, running her eyes over him. "Let me know if you change your mind."

    The petals are sucked in towards her, vanishing as she does.

    "Bitch."

    I smirk, raising my right hand to my forehead. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go and give everyone the good news."

    Hephaestaean nods and I

    step out, reappearing

    28th October 2012
    09:15 GMT -5


    in the Mountain. I-.

    "Oh. Hey, Paul." Captain Marvel smiles at me. "Ah, I wouldn't ask, but Ollie always said that if anything weird happened I should probably talk to you first, so… I am."

    "What's up?"

    "My transformation isn't working. I'm… Kinda stuck?" He looks at me hopefully. "You got any ideas?"
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2022
  7. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    Ooop, Paul probably should've seen that coming... Looks like Vaermina was at least partially correct.
    EDIT:
    Hold up this seems like it should be more... concerning...
     
  8. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    Yep, time to talk to Shazam to see about getting a new patron.
     
  9. SebazuD

    SebazuD Experienced.

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    Right, the Z from SHAZAM was from Zeus.
     
  10. AmericanNumbers

    AmericanNumbers Not too sore, are you?

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    SHAHAM!
    Lol. Bit weird.
    Billy getting a cyberpunk update to his kit as well?
     
  11. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    Time to find an optimal god for Captain Marvel. :V
     
  12. Silverias

    Silverias Know what you're doing yet?

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  13. Greydragon

    Greydragon Making the rounds.

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    Just needs to be reformatted. Hercules is defunct too. So it should now be Hephaestaean and Zagreus instead of Herc and Zeus. Wonder how it'd change his transformation... less magical lightning for one.
     
  14. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Well the fact that he made them to do evil things kinda is an evil act.

    Plus she may be fond of Heph.

    Hmm, maybe he's expecting a fight with Heph.

    'smile'

    Hope she likes the new Ares.

    And there's the consequences.

    Paul is the resident expert on weird.

    I'm honestly picturing Paul telling Billy to just stay in this state since he may think that it's more useful than his mortal one.
     
  15. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Assuming that Heph gets rid off Herakles.

    And I doubt that Zagreus can provide the Power and Strength aspect of the powerset.

    Heph could provide power and Billy may not lose the magic lighting since Heph is a god of machines and electricity is a part of machines.
     
  16. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Sounds bri'ish

    As benefitting a god of progress, Heph gets to work improving immediately, which is great

    We could get him a motherbox as a coronation gift, seems very fitting and he might rigure out how to make more.

    But...

    Yeah, he is going to need a Queen/Consort of a more humanising domain or things could get ugly.

    The last thing we want is a voice from the clouds announcing WE ARE THE GODS. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
     
  17. theaceoffire

    theaceoffire Versed in the lewd.

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    Holy fuck that would be an upgrade!

    //You mean instead of the being struck by lightning shit I now...

    Yes you now turn into a transformer.
     
  18. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    Oh, boy, this is going to be good. They'll be able to hear her facepalms clear to the surface. It's amazing how quickly the world can change in a couple of days. Still, most will be happy for the improvements, once they get over the shock.

    ...Did she even know that was a thing? I've already forgotten if OL mentioned it last time he checked on her.

    Given how he weaselled his way around that last promise, I doubt she'd believe him even with that.

    You'd have to be a full-on epic-level diplomancer to convince Zeus of something, I suspect.

    And there's always the possibility of them petitioning for parole.

    ...He's got you there, Diana.

    I can already hear her resigned mental sigh.

    "-Taean? Oh Athena, what did he do?" She'll feel like Rip Van Winkle, at this rate, I bet.

    Since, even if she wasn't directly involved, she does read League mission reports. Especially anything involving OL...

    Yes, just a casual little thing. Though hearing Hecate and Eris were involved is probably not reassuring to her.

    And he's got a completely normal libido, so no worrying about random demigods turning up... At least from him.

    ...A thought: Will Zeus have any kind of legal identity in modern culture? Or will he seek out a suitable ally to handle that sort of fiddly details. Ploutos, perhaps.

    She was kind of upset about Diana's effective exile.

    Ooh, that's one way to get around a body that basically suffers all the world's diseases at once.

    No doubt the rest of her new body is fully functional as if it were living flesh, other than the immunity to disease.

    Wait until he discovers the concept of remote drones. Extra comedy points if he makes them look like robotic skulls...

    I bet a lot of the gods are doing that little half-mistake for a while.

    Since the Wonder Woman is champion of the Olympians amongst the people of Man's World, even if that's been forgotten over the years.

    And OL is just, "That's fair." Even the gods might underestimate just how big a headache he can be at times.

    'Wonder Woman'-themed Power Armour? And why can't I help but picture something like the Eagle armour?

    Oh, that's an amusing image.
    "Now, Dionysius, I see you haven't really increased your Worship market share in the last quarter..."
    "People can only get so drunk, Phaeste."
    "Have you considered expanding to other recreational drugs?"
    "Not Cocaine, thank you. That's already got a God, and he's... Just don't ask."
    :p

    Ah, good. Hades can basically carry on as he has been.

    Oh, here comes trouble.

    Ah, here comes the Cow, sniffing about for her assumed Queendom.

    Not even touching that one. Unlike her and a good chunk of the Pantheon (and more than a few mortals.)

    ...I hope Ares can learn to be good with his fingers and tongue. :oops: Because she's probably not going to be happy with the state of other parts...

    Ah, the classic 'No, no, it's totally not porn!' dividing line.

    ...He won't. :rolleyes:

    I know it's Hephaestaean saying it, but I can imagine everyone else present thinking it... Though not with quite so much anger.

    "Kon, Mitch, good news! Your ma's off the hook!" Wonder how they'll react to hearing about the whole 'overthrowing Zeus' bit...

    ...Ah, right. I bet Zeus is having a bit of a hissy fit about the use of his power...

    Better call magi-tech support. :p

    Well, looks like there's going to be a few bugs turning up in the works for a while. That happens with a big update to the operating system. Looks like OL'll have to handle a bit of trouble-shooting until Hephaestaean can push out a patch. Thankfully, he works weekends. :p At any rate, I'm guessing a trip to the Rock of Eternity is in order to let Shazam know he's going to have to update his divine-patronage user licence.
    (And all that discussion pushed us over 1700 pages. Hooray?)



    The petals are sucked in towards her, vanishing as she does.



    Billy: "Woo, sweet!"
    Not the first time something like that's been done. :D
     
  19. BlackCoat13

    BlackCoat13 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Of course not. Paul understands Desires. Obviously him being stuck is an issue because it's not what he wants. Also, he helped cause the situation anyways, so he should be part of the solution.
     
  20. DarkBlackJack

    DarkBlackJack What is motivation and why is it keep decreasing

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    SHABAM!
    B from Bast or Bacchus or Bes.
     
  21. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Now I'm picturing Diana becoming the Goddess of Earthquakes, and everytime an earthquake happens it's her facepalming to something Paul has done.

    She may know after Oceanus.

    Though Cronos did make them to cause destruction.

    Though I think they won't after this.

    Now I'm thinking that Dionysus will come to Paul and ask him to help him take down the Cocainne God.

    I just really wanna see Snowflame.

    Though I am reminded of a plot line in See No Evil where the MC works with Snowflame and has his God make cocainne that isn't harmful to people so that it can be legalized and this spread further.

    Who knows; maybe she has a fetish for mushy things.
     
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  22. Bud-E

    Bud-E Stand up so I can push you down!

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    Aphrodite, Aphrodite, Aphrodite~ The Goddes of Love
     
  23. Sojiko

    Sojiko Getting sticky.

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    That punishment is positively hilarious.

    That one not so much, albeit much more in line with what I was expecting.

    OK, that doesn't retroactively make Ares's punishment funny, but said punishment is what made this line hilarious. So I'll give it points for that too (on top of being fitting and satisfying).

    And an old correction:
    I'm pretty sure the comma in there should be a period, but maybe it's something else.
     
  24. Hell's Razer

    Hell's Razer Passive Member

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    A correction:
    "or"

    Bwahahahaha!
     
  25. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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  26. Tembu

    Tembu Trying to read here

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    Great arc ending. Its ridiculous how many ideas you pop out every month or so. Can't wait for more. And if you're willing to tell us the secret to infinite motivation and the meaning of life. That would be nice
     
  27. Massgamer

    Massgamer Not too sore, are you?

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    Hehe, can't wait to see how Greek pantheon grows and updates with new leader at helm. Makes me wonder if Paul shouldn't be offering this service to other pantheons as well in general. We know Odin isn't against technological developments after all.

    Now though Paul needs to help Cap fix powers and likely visit wizard himself at his house. That will be a neat convo since likely has lots of thoughts on changing world in general.
     
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  28. Ei Al

    Ei Al Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?

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    SHAZAM to SHAHAM to HAMSAH

    Probably not the route that'll happen but it works elegantly.
     
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  29. WereDragon

    WereDragon Bookwyrm

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    At least he isn’t trying to argue that they don't need containing.

    Wonder how annoyed Hekate is about not getting her fee?

    Paul is due for another ‘discussion’ with his Christian collogues I see.

    Another Zeus move from the new ruler of Olympus.

    Suspected that might happen, but didn’t expect Paul to become aware of it so soon.
     
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  30. Poimenikos

    Poimenikos Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?

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    As someone who grew with those myths i love your interpretation. My people still love their Old Gods (most of us don t worship them but we keep them close to heart). And though for us, the myths about zeus and most of them being dicks are considered more of a dirty past time of our ancestors than "canon" (not that a canon exist), you really did a good job. Love your Hephaestus. Funny thing , i leave near one of his old temples and i thing i might pass tonight to leave an offering
     
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