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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. Hell's Razer

    Hell's Razer Passive Member

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    Wrong cabinet, that one is for when Paul goes crazy. You want the one titled 'Illustres-related shenanigans'. :D
    Because Dox is nothing if not organised.
     
  2. webxro

    webxro Benevolent Bystander

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    Was I the only one expecting a bombshell candidate name to drop ? Like President LEX LUTHOR ?
     
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  3. BartlettMagic

    BartlettMagic peekaboo, you fucks you!

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    i mean if they really wanted to get away from work, i'm sure Paul could throw together a makeshift cottage on an isolated beach on Themiscyra, and we could see what Zoat could accomplish in terms of erotic prose...

    in all seriousness though, i think it would be entertaining to see Pavlos' fellow Themiscyran citizens interacting with Jade. who gets jealous, who would want to have a sparring session, who would do the 'older sister teasing' thing... i think i just really enjoy the bawdy Amazon culture.
     
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  4. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Luthor hasn't really done anything to win the public over to his side, and he isn't strongly associated with either major party. It would be a struggle, and that's not the Light's plan.
     
  5. webxro

    webxro Benevolent Bystander

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    While what you are saying is true, my mind instinctively goes to Lex Luther US President any time I watch a quite scene in the DC universe with everybody relaxing and then suddenly somebody mentions the presidential race.
     
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  6. Clell65619

    Clell65619 Making the rounds.

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    Just a touch of commentary?
     
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  7. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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  8. Patrick Holt

    Patrick Holt Getting sticky.

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    I don't know, I only know Trigon from the Teen Titan cartoon but a quick reading of his villains wiki page kind of takes the wind out of this.
    1. Trigon tries to take over the world the Teen Titans stop him.
    2. Trigon takes over the world and Raven joins him, Raven then dies and Trigon is killed
    3. Trigon comes to earth to kill Superman, Mr Mxyzptlk fights him to at least a stand still
    4. Some how and for come reason Bizarro and Trigon fight, Bizarro punches a hole through him and crushes his heart?o_O

    And Paul is a Utilitarian so if one person needs to die to save the world...
     
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  9. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    President? Do you have any idea how much power he'd have to give up to become President?

    President.
     
  10. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

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    That has been the default USA policy for decades. And no is not current events because is a historic fact by now.

    Heck how do you think they got the man to the moon?

    Have we seen the Beyonder with Marvel Paul yet?
     
  11. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    1-Raven defeated Trigon. As I stated, she inherited his power.

    2- Again, Raven defeated Trigon (post mortem), I repeat, she inherited his power.

    3- Myxy is shown in World's Funnest to destroy the DC multiverses on a weekly basis while play fighting with Bat-mite. They then snap their fingers and return everything back to normal. So whatever point you think that is, isn't.

    4- And that was Bizarro showing beyond Superman power levels, with people in and out of character not knowing where that new power came from. So defeat by deus ex machina. Never mind that this is post flashpoint, where Trigon is a lord of hell and Etrigan's grandfather, which means he really isn't the same being that is the demon god of his own dimension.
     
  12. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    No, we haven't.
     
  13. Radix

    Radix Not too sore, are you?

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    Wow this is a nice change of pace. We get some downtime to see how things are progressing after the long work time off-planet.

    Including that election subplot which should come to fruition in a couple months in both timelines.
     
  14. mastermenthe

    mastermenthe Mint Thistle

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    This entire arc will be "improbably over the top shenanigans occur in the background of every scene while partially blurred out of focus by a level-of-detail filter focused on the foreground protagonist's party"
     
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  15. Rafin

    Rafin Not too sore, are you?

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    How come Paul had dirty clothing last chapter? Does he want to make his clothing dirty? Because if not, shouldn't the Ring take care of it automatically?
     
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  16. Perchance

    Perchance Getting out there.

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    I kind of assumed that was a super early sign that some more shenanigans were ensuing ala mental world/dream things, as a way of getting Paul to not notice anything by putting him in a downtime dream zone where he's supposed to be being inactive and keeping himself out of things and his mind off of strangeness. The other times things like this have happened it was too perfect, and perfection is far far faaaar too suspicious. Mundanity is far easier to get right, just throw a distant casual explosion in occasionally and he'll never know! It's the return of boss smiley!

    Or maybe he's just having actual down time, who can say?
     
  17. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Given Zoat still hasn't addressed the Demon Text... You might be right...
     
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  18. scooterboo

    scooterboo Getting out there.

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    Perhaps thare are clothes so dirty that even an orange power ring can't clean them?
     
  19. Michael Vonica

    Michael Vonica Know what you're doing yet?

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    My money's on return of Constantine.
     
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  20. Threadmarks: Workhorse (part 3)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    26th September 2012
    10:02 GMT +3


    Jade and I wave as the cocoa lorry drives away down the road.

    Maybe I'm being a bit… Imperialistic, but I rather assumed that Kenya would have worse roads than this. Or-. Well, it looks fairly recently built, so maybe this was part of the post-Sheeda reconstruction?

    I make a point of not having my ring just tell me.

    Jade checks the balance of her backpack. "I think he's going to be dining out on that for a while."

    "What?"

    She peers at me quizzically, then… Then she smiles. "You don't know that you own this, do you?"

    "What, the… Portal? I think they're leased."

    "That truck, this road, that-" She points at the field of cocoa plants just the other side of the fence at the edge of the road. "-field, that-" Then points to the one on the opposite side of the road. "-field, and probably every field we're going to walk past for the rest of the day."

    "Oh."

    "It must be nice to be that rich."

    I awkwardly adjust my own pack. "Money's just a tool?"

    "Do you even know what your company is doing here?"

    "Only very broadly. Farming equipment comes in, which helps areas ravaged by the Sheeda rebuild and export agricultural products back to Europe under contract for a guaranteed price."

    "And you own the company outright, which means that all of the profit they make is yours."

    I shrug. "I didn't want Kraft owning it."

    She looks away as we start walking along the side of the road. My ring's environmental shield is keeping Kenya's Autumn sun off me, but Jade opted to just bear it. It's about as hot right now as a typical British mid-summer and I don't like British mid-summer. But I suppose that she's more used to generalised hardship than me. Or… Prides herself on her ability to withstand it more than I do.

    "Do you know what other reconstruction work your company has done?"

    "Ah… Some civic infrastructure? Primary schools, sanitation, that sort of thing. It's basically-. What do you know about Industrial Revolution Britain?"

    "Not a great deal."

    "Well, there was a huge movement of people from the countryside to the cities, which resulted in large numbers of people crammed into tiny, unsanitary hovels. But a precious few of the newly wealthy industrialists realised that treating their workers that badly was immoral, and.. spread diseases which they could catch. So they took to building model communities for their workforces. Bigger houses available at low rents, wider roads, ornate churches and uplifting entertainments. In the case of Cadbury's, they built Bournville. You still can't buy alcohol there."

    "Because alcohol encourages immorality. Were they Puritans?"

    "Quakers, but really devout, ball-games-banned-on-Sunday Quakers. So us doing this sort of thing is really traditional as far as British Industrialists in general and Cadbury's in particular are concerned. Felicity loves it."

    "Flushing toilets are more useful than a concert hall."

    "Or art, like the Medicis tried. The Cadburys didn't look at it as a way to assuage their own guilt at their wealth. They did it because they saw an opportunity to make the world a better place."

    Jade smiles faintly.

    "I thought you were just in it for the chocolate."

    "In this heat?"

    "It's not that hot."

    "It is if you're chocolate. Ah, though the first generation to grow up in Bournville were just the right age to fight in the First World War, so… Maybe hope that history doesn't repeat in quite the same way."

    "You shouldn't plan another war until you've finished the one you've already got."

    "After the Reach, any other war would be a step down. I mean, the Dominion are the Reach without the social skills or cunning, the Spider Guild are the Reach without the technology or intelligence and also without the social skills or cunning. The only real threat would be Apokolips, and they don't really go in for mass combat."

    She glances my way with a small smirk.

    "Planning on conquering the galaxy?"

    "No. Nothing I particularly want requires it. Dox… Might be interested, but I think he could probably do a good job at it. Besides, ruling the galaxy in any meaningful sort of way is actually really hard. It's just too many people and too big an area."

    "What would that mean for Earth?"

    "Probably nothing. I can't believe that we still haven't got a faster than light drive, yet. Of all the things for the Light not to steal…"

    "You could steal something."

    "No point. I already have access to dozens of forms of faster than light travel. I don't bring them here because I don't want people getting lazy."

    "Theft is a growing sector of the economy."

    "And requires all sorts of skills that lend themselves to a species earning a place in the wider universe." I frown mildly. "Have you ever been to Kenya before? Other than-"

    "Yes."

    "-those professional occasions I already know about."

    "Good phrasing."

    "Thank you, I've been practising."

    "No, not apart from that."

    I frown a little. "You joined the Shadows almost immediately after leaving home, right?"

    "Yes?"

    "Have you been working full time since then? That is to say, even longer than I have?"

    "The League of Shadows has-. Had retreats. And no one really cared if I disappeared for a few days between jobs. But I wanted to prove myself."

    "So no backpacking across Kenya?"

    "We had wilderness survival lessons. And urban survival lessons. And practice. This wasn't something we did for fun. What about you?"

    "Before I came to this world, the closest I got to Kenya was Sharm el-Sheikh."

    "No backpacking?"

    "With the Scouts a few times. But it was usually colder and raining. Last time I carried a load this heavy, I was still in Secondary School."

    "Was it a camping trip?"

    "Lockers in inconvenient places and a bus that left five minutes after the school day ended. Some textbooks can be surprisingly heavy."
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2022
  21. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    So the people who technically work for OL's company see him as their super rich boss who's using his company to make the world a better place first and a superhero second?
     
  22. Genocidecles

    Genocidecles Know what you're doing yet?

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    Paul and Jade doing couple stuff is cute. I approve
     
  23. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

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    Paul’s company slowly taking over the world.
     
  24. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    'Then points'
     
  25. Bloodalchemy

    Bloodalchemy Versed in the lewd.

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    Paul dunking on Kraft will never not be my favorite small detail of the story.
     
  26. webxro

    webxro Benevolent Bystander

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    I have the feeling that she both asked if he plans to take over earth and what would happen to earth if Dox took over the galaxy and just let it to Paul to figure out.
     
  27. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

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    Anyone who saw Paul’s presentation on where Earth tracks for their technological research and implementation relative to the rest of the galaxy should believe that. He also spoke about properly supporting budding technology-based supervillains (to use the wording the DC public would understand). I bet all the Red and Green Martians on J’emm J’axx’s side see him that way too.

    Hard to say whether my heart is more moved by Grayven’s support of metahuman schooling or the above presentation.
     
  28. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
     
  29. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    Same.
     
  30. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    You're British, OL. Imperialism is in your blood. But this is a good kind of Imperialism, I think. Making the world a better place, while keeping their nose out of how things are run. Up until it interferes with things they want...

    Let me guess: OL took the high road of the hitch-hiker's payment (Gas, grass or ass.) And he's a big tipper?

    So at least she did some research beforehand. Joy of not having a Power Ring to rely on for personal safety.

    Ah, yes. Since there's minimal shipping costs thanks to Dolmen Gates, companies can invest in acquiring farmland in remote areas and the communities that support them. Biggest cost is probably the production and delivery of gates...

    Ah, yes, the 'Bruce Wayne' level of rich. Where you don't care how much a humanitarian action costs, only that you can do it. And that you have a moral obligation to do it if you can... Better than the 'Lex Luthor' kind....

    I mean, if he wanted to (and wasn't on holiday,) he could have a detailed breakdown at the forefront of his mind in an instant...

    Though I suspect he funnels a lot of that into the lower-ranked personnel's wages.

    Why not both? She's physically fit and wearing well-ventilated clothing...

    A, time for a bit of that uniquely-OL brand of info-dumping...

    And probably better for the body and soul than some places.

    Presumably it means the company gets good press for 'fostering rebuilding and infrastructural improvements in regions damaged badly by recent events'...

    Of course, a little money spent now translates into more money coming in later...

    Well, he is an Orange Lantern. Petty motivations are what they're built upon.

    And besides, the humidity can make a big impact on how it feels.

    Pfft. :rolleyes: OL could stop a World War in his sleep at this point.

    Yes, their methods are much more her style...

    True. Much as historical empires found out, it's hard to maintain continuity of rule when it can take weeks for the edges of the empire to receive news.

    <chuckles in Renegade> Can't believe he's still not thought of the Knight Family and their Cosmic Converter technology...

    Plus, humanity's probably still got a bit of growing to do before they're ready for galactic prime-time...

    Given the ever-changing nature of the politics of sub-saharan African nations? Almost certainly...

    Heh. Such is dating the former international assassin.

    :rolleyes: Couples humour...

    Presumably once she found out they existed... Though she probably had some inkling thanks to her father.

    All two-odd years of your Lantern career, OL?

    Kind of risky for a single woman, especially a foreigner. Though I suspect anyone who tried something would receive a pointed lesson about appearances...

    As in the airport? Interesting tidbit...

    Ah, yes, the old textbook workout. I remember those days.

    Yes, some people prefer to carry all their books at the same time. Not always by choice, but it does make for a good bit of exercise.

    And another small jump of a few days. Good to see them travelling, though. I pity any thugs who try to mess with them while they're out and about, though. If the whole episodes are scenes like this, it might be a nice break from the usual super-hero problems. And hopefully a few alternate Pauls having more interesting adventures...
     
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