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

8th November 2012
18:32 GMT +3


"Blue Lantern?"

I frown as a group of guards escort Alan and Sanderson into the drawing room The Demon and I were politely escorted following our audience.
Ah, time to catch up, and see what kind of trouble each party member has been getting up to in the absence of the rest. I bet there'll be a few surprised looks once OL hears what happened to Alan...

"Hey, Orange Lantern. Having fun?"

"I think I might have headed off a potential problem. And I've found out that what we're attempting is suicide. You?"
So, the Caliph is considering your suggestion, then? It's certainly a lot less disruptive than having a magical city pop out of nowhere right in the middle of Iraq...

"I got abducted and locked up in a dungeon while they sucked my dreams out."

...Oooh, that's a loud silence.

"I trust that you've resolved matters to your satisfaction?"

"They dragged the people away in chains. Their boss is explaining himself to the Caliph now." Alan looks around the room. "No sign of Doctor Mist?"
An impressive show of restraint from OL. I suspect if Alan said it wasn't resolved, there'd be a conspicuous lack of orange in the room right now... Plus some very unhappy people, including the Caliph... Since OL tends to get a bit noisy.

"If any of us could navigate a magic city, I'd assume it would be him."

Sanderson perks up a little. "I can probably do that now."
Then again, he may show up as they go to leave, complaining that he spent all that time wandering around lost and none of them thought to look for him...

"Now?"

"I made a deal with Morpheus."
And OL feels a sudden need to facepalm, hard. Give in to it, OL. You know you want to.

There's a sharp intake of breath through my lips, and the lips of… The courtier who brought them in, who after a moment nervously walks towards him.

"Sir, did you say that you made a 'deal' with the Lord of Dreams?"
I'm amazed he got any of that out without his voice breaking in fear and horror.

"Yeah, I guess that's kind of a big deal for you guys, huh?"

"Could this humble one ask what the terms of your deal was?"
If only to gauge how big the blast radius will be when it goes wrong?

"Sure. The Dream will give me prophetic visions in exchange for living through them. Oh, and I can get visions of other places in the Dream and teleport to them."

I blink. "Does that include the Tower of Fate?"
Ha! Trust OL to consider the min-max possibilities.

"I dunno. I don't know what the Tower looks like." He shrugs awkwardly. "I never visited. Salem wasn't exactly a day trip."

"Okay, but-." I glance over to where the courier is dashing out of the room with one hand on his turban. I suppose that if the Caliph wasn't informed of that fact before now it does warrant a bit of haste. "Ah, but what exactly are the limitations? Can you take people with you? Because I wasn't exaggerating earlier when I said that everyone I asked said it was suicide."
No, no, simply dying is the best probable result. I'm sure you got a few 'erased from existence as if you had never been' responses too, right?

"I don't know. I haven't tried much with it yet."

"Okay, well, try teleporting back to the graveyard. That way we'll know whether you can go between regions of the Dream or not."
Well, one way or another, Sandy's going to be doing some training, huh?

He looks to Alan to check whether that's a good idea or not. Alan considers for a moment, then nods slowly. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. If you can just teleport us inside the Tower-. Paul, you've got recordings of the inside of the Tower, don't you?"

"No, but I can generate three dimensional images from my memory. I'm… Not sure what it looks like from outside, though."
I mean, the teleportation could be entirely conceptual. He's only been taking short hops with it so far.

"Why would be want to get outside?"

"I'm not sure if the interior exists from the Dream."
Which makes for some real dimensional fuckery when it transits in and out, I suppose.

"Would Mist know?"

"I don't know. He'd probably have to look at it. Constantine?"
The Demon has been rather quiet, hasn't he? Hope he's not sulking too hard over the mystical binding... :D

He leans back, folding his arms across his chest. "Oh, remembered I exist? How about getting this seal removed?"

"How about getting the Caliph to tell us how to activate it?"
Hard to go past a classic like chanting a religious mantra under your breath. Worked for Tang Sanzang, when he needed to make Sun Wukong play nice.

"That's cruel and unusual punishment. What happen to being recognised as a person?"

"We're not in America and I'm not an American. And you're an escaped supervillain. You're still at large on the condition that you actually help us resolve this situation. In case I wasn't clear before: we're not friends or colleagues."
Think of it as a work release program.

"Hey." I turn to Sanderson, who's still here for some reason. "The Constitution doesn't ban 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' because it the Founding Fathers just felt like it. It's banned because it's so immoral that no one should ever do it, whether they're American or not."

"I'll be sure to remind Zauriel of that next time I find myself in Hell."
Now, now, OL. Don't get grumpy because the young man has principles not aligned with yours...

"I don't know who that is, but someone else doing it doesn't make it right for you to do it."

The Demon raises his eyebrows, clearly pleased at the situation. Alan looks a little awkward, but I know he agrees with Sanderson.
You're outvoted, OL. It happens.

"Do you feel that it's cruel and unusual to handcuff normal prisoners?"

"No, of course not."
...OL, are you seriously trying to defend yourself? Great, now I want to facepalm. :oops:

"Demons are able to either tear through or magically subvert normal cuffs. The only things we have to restrain them are magic artefacts or spells. Not all of them work in the way we'd ideally like or as reliably as we'd like, but so far courts have found that having a restraint that actually works is more important that having a restraint that makes the prisoner comfortable. It's like how Belle Reve collars have the capacity to electrocute their prisoners. Unusual, yes, but not 'cruel' because it's actually required. The Demon Constantine has already escaped Belle Reve. As such, a spell that cripples him when activated is legally proportionate and necessary."
All true, but you were seriously rolling across the fine line between 'sassy anti-hero' and 'dick'.

Sanderson shifts uncomfortably. "O-kay, I guess. But could you sound a little less enthusiastic about it?"

I nod. "If it makes you feel better. Are you going to try teleporting now?"
Yes, let's put that rubbish behind us. Back to the experimentation! :rolleyes:

"Yes." He takes a moment to calm himself, then-.

That's… Instant Transmission. He even did the little shimmer thing that Goku does before he vanishes.
For visual reference: over an hour of Instant Transmission scenes. Enjoy. :p

Damn it. I'm going to have to find a new joke.

There's another shimmer as he reappears.
Pfft. Like anyone in your circle of colleagues would know what it was.

"It worked. They're sitting around camp fires and telling stories."

"Oh yeah?" Alan raises his eyebrows. "What are they saying?"
...What would the stories involve? Surprising mundane moments? :p

"Rrrruh. Aaaagh. Things like that." He takes in our confusion. "I can tell that they make sense to each other. I've just got no idea what they're saying."

"Honoured guests!" The courtier from earlier runs back in, looking a little dishevelled. "Honoured guests." He comes to a halt. "His Excellency believes that he can resolve your issues here to your satisfaction, and can ease your path to the great storm."
Anything to get them out of explosion range of his city, I suppose?

"He believes that he can get us out of the way before anything else goes wrong."

"… It is impolite to argue with guests."

"Then we would be delighted to hear what he has to say."
In other words: 'You're right, but I'd probably lose my head if I said it... Literally, mind you!' :p

Honestly, I'm not surprised the Caliph has had such a sudden change of heart. Deals with the Endless have a long history of going wrong sooner or later, so getting the unlucky fellow out of his city is an entirely sensible precaution. At any rate, it sounds like they'll be done with this little side-trip soon, and on their way to their real destination. ...Once they collect Doctor Mist, anyway... :confused:
 
I like Sanderson. He's a fun foil to Paul.

And Paul, I get you don't like him, but constantly antagonising the demon isn't very productive.
Paul does that to people he's indifferent too, as well.

Sometimes people he likes.

Occasionally loved ones.

...He's a remarkably antagonistic protagonist.
 
Ahaha, I bet the Caliph is starting to realize what he bit off first with Paul now with Sandy casually mentioning the deal he made. Though this chapter did make the point that perhaps it's best that Sandy rescued Alan instead of Paul.

Now I'm really curious what Dr. Mist is up to
 
I was dreaming that I was reading this story, so when I woke up I decided it was a sign I should catch up. I had completely forgotten that I had left off when the group was going through the Dreaming. Coincidences, uh?

the sky above us sort of twisting so that the dull night sky the accompanied us since we left zombie territory is replaced
I think that should be "that".
 
Pretty sure they're wrong, then. Using "ben" to designate a patronym is Hebrew (and Yiddish, and probably Aramaic...); the Arabic is "bin".
Their boss is explaining himself to the Caliph now.
Good to see nominative determinism isn't a flawless predictor.
 
Hey Zoat, random question for a crossover I was thinking of. If the SI was offered knighthood by the queen of the modern UK, would they accept it? Would they care? How about if one of his friends asked them to play nice?
 
Doors got the same padding
Door's

Pretty sure they're wrong, then. Using "ben" to designate a patronym is Hebrew (and Yiddish, and probably Aramaic...); the Arabic is "bin".
Considering it was mixed in with a bunch of "ibn"s I'm pretty sure it was meant to indicate a cultural difference for that particular ancestor.

EDIT: It's "bar" in Aramaic. "Barabbas" was "son of Abbas".
 
Hey Zoat, random question for a crossover I was thinking of. If the SI was offered knighthood by the queen of the modern UK, would they accept it? Would they care? How about if one of his friends asked them to play nice?
Is the same Queen still in charge of the UK on Earth-16p? I know there were some major changes on Earth-16r, but I'm not sure what's going on with 16p.
 
I think that should be "that".
Thank you, corrected.
Hey Zoat, random question for a crossover I was thinking of. If the SI was offered knighthood by the queen of the modern UK, would they accept it? Would they care? How about if one of his friends asked them to play nice?
Why would he be getting one? Usually a knighthood is awarded either for a lifetime of public service or a lot of big political donations.
 
False Dawn (part 20)
8th November 2012
18:36 GMT +3


"Hand and a foot, right?"

"Heh." The Demon Constantine smiles at me, genuinely amused. I don't think that Alan gets the reference and Sanderson almost certainly doesn't.

The quiet whimper from Uns Al-Wujud strongly suggests that he does.

The Caliph takes my interjection in his stride. "The precise punishment for such an act is not precisely described in the Quran. In cases like this, where the guilt is so clear, I prefer to allow the involved parties to settle matters between themselves."

Alan frowns. "What do you mean by that?"

"Shari'ah law, Blue Lantern. Every case is a civil case brought by the injured party. Since you're the injured party, you can pretty much state what compensation you want."

He frowns deeper. "Anything?"

"It's a civil suit. There's a penalty under Quranic law, but that's only if it gets as far as a judge. And technically, it hasn't yet."

"And if it does, that's a hand and a foot."

"Mohammed -peace be upon him- probably didn't bother specifying a penalty for 'literally stealing a man's dreams' because it wouldn't have occurred to him that that was a thing that could happen, but a hand and a foot is the penalty for highway robbery."

"What normally happens?"

"If the offended party isn't feeling unusually vengeful, or if they think that the judge is dishonest and they won't get the default penalty, they will ask for an amount of money. Back on Earth, Muslim nations are generally moving away from that system because it effectively allows someone rich to buy their way out of trouble… Even more easily than what happens in the West."

"I'm not all that keen on maiming a guy."

"Now, you see, you shouldn't have said that. A man trying to get by in polite society who is obviously bearing an injury that would most likely have come from being found guilty of robbery is going to have a very difficult time keeping his business going. It's a sign to everyone looking at him that he's fundamentally untrustworthy."

"And he'll be down a hand and a foot."

"In the prophet's day, long term imprisonment wasn't really practical."

Alan looks over to where Uns Al-Wujud is looking fairly pathetic. "Did he do it to anyone else?"

The Caliph raises his right hand. "Be assured that if he did, they will be found and offered the same choice that you have. Be further assured that accepting the punishment described in the Quran is no sin."

"The Bible has it a little different."

The Caliph shrugs. "You may turn the other cheek if you want."

"Blue Lantern, can I make a suggestion?" Alan nods. "We've got a difficult journey ahead of us. How about 'he hands over anything that we'd find useful, and you get to punch him once'."

"Is-" Alan turns to the Caliph. "-that something I can ask for?"

"You can ask for the moon and stars. Whether or not Uns Al-Wujud will give them to you depends on how highly he values his hands and feet."

"I agree! I agree!"

Alan looks a little uncomfortable. "I'm not sure that this is really 'justice'."

"Oh?" The Caliph looks mildly curious. "What would you have me do instead?"

"I… Just think that the punishment should try to ensure that the criminal doesn't do it again."

"You think I should take his head?"

"No! I meant, having him.. work on his behavior, until he understands that what he's done is wrong."

"I imagine that cutting off his hand and foot would be a constant reminder about the limits of proper behaviour."

"That's not what I meant. Don't you have some sort of custodial system?"

"We have slave labourers. Do you want him enslaved?"

"No! God no."

"Blue Lantern, they've never encountered anything like our prison system. Your Excellency, I believe what my colleague is looking for would be something like… Working as a slave for a few months while an Imam preaches proper moral comportment to him, in the hope that some of it sticks when his labour term is over."

The Caliph makes a dismissive gesture with his right hand. "I don't have any use for a fat merchant as a slave. Do you want him to serve you in such a fashion?"

Alan shakes his head. "No, I suppose that I don't. Alright. One punch, and whatever we need to get past the storm." He turns to glower at Al-Wujud. "And it better be something good."

"Yes, oh beneficent one!"

"I mean… I don't know what we actually need, but whatever it is, that."

"Y-es. Oh Caliph, I don't suppose that any of your people have encountered the fifth member of our group, have they? Doctor Mist?"

"Yes?"

Dr. Balewa strolls into the audience chamber, a gourd under his right arm. The fat black man standing next to the Caliph stares at him for a moment and then quails.

Alan regards Dr. Balewa curiously. "Where have you been, Doctor?"

"When the Demon distorted the dream to separate us-"

"He what?"

"-I-. Yes, of course he did. He is a demon and a Constantine. I am surprised thet he lasted as long as he did."

The Demons shifts uncomfortably. "All part of the plan, right?"

"Yes. I thought thet I could promise you your freedom in exchange for your cooperation, because you would inevitably fail to live up to your end of the bargain. And you did. And now I do not hev to free you."

"But you still need me to get into the Tower."

"But you hev the Seal of Solomon branded into your head. All you can bargain for is forbearance."

"Ffffuck."

Dr. Balewa comes to the fore of our party, smiling at the Caliph. "I believe thet we can get through the storm. If Blue Lantern's agreement with Mister Al-Wujud is concluded, we will need the ropes with which he transfers dreams."

Mr. Al-Wujud nods enthusiastically. I guess rope's cheap. "Yes, oh mighty-."

"And all of his stored dreams."

"Ahhhhhhh…"

The Caliph raises his right eyebrow. "You believe that passage is possible?"

"Certainly. Would you like to watch?"
 
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Dr. Balewa come to the fore of our party, smiling at the Caliph. "I believe that we can get through the storm. If Blue Lantern's agreement with Mister Al-Wujud is concluded, we will need the ropes with which he transfers dreams."

Mr. Al-Wujud nods enthusiastically. I guess rope's cheap. "Yes, oh mighty-."

"And all of his stored dreams."

"Ahhhhhhh…""
Is Dr. Mist asking for the Dreams this man stole or what he actually Dreams?
 
Thank you, corrected.

Why would he be getting one? Usually a knighthood is awarded either for a lifetime of public service or a lot of big political donations.

I was thinking killing an endbringer in a worm crossover or something, something unambiguously positive for the world
 
Dr. Balewa come to the fore of our party, smiling at the Caliph. "I believe that we can get through the storm. If Blue Lantern's agreement with Mister Al-Wujud is concluded, we will need the ropes with which he transfers dreams."

Mr. Al-Wujud nods enthusiastically. I guess rope's cheap. "Yes, oh mighty-."

"And all of his stored dreams."

"Ahhhhhhh…"

The Caliph raises his right eyebrow. "You believe that passage is possible?"

"Certainly. Would you like to watch?

Whahahaha did he really expect something light?
What else does he have to offer?
 
Pretty neat interaction here. Always nice to see different cultures interacting such that both are acting completely reasonable by their own standards, but want different things, yet neither is portrayed as wrong. A more typical portrayal would be "these wicked heathens insist on carrying out their barbaric and evil custom, let us stop this terrible deed", but that's far less honest and less interesting than assuming good faith on both sides and considering possible compromises.
 

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