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

Stsword · May 22, 2024

Well what bothers me about the Brazil arc is that DC's Hugo Danner major problem with Hitler was that Hitler wasn't out to kill enough people.

Hugo didn't set up the Sons of Dawn to conquer Brazil as in superhuman feudalism ala Worm.

No, Hugo set up the Sons of Dawn to conquer Brazil as in normal non Dannered humans going the way of the Neanderthal as Homo Sapiens Gladiator inherits the Earth through lots and lots of genocide.

Now of course Zoat, as the author, has the prerogative to change whatever he likes, but it's jarring.

RoninSword · May 22, 2024

So both the Parliment of Trees and Swamp Thing are still missing. And this wqs after Paul gave Swamp Thing a pla t computer, allowing him to speak and think at regular human speeds rather the his slightly broken talking he had before.

Mr Zoat · May 22, 2024

Stsword said:
Well what bothers me about the Brazil arc is that DC's Hugo Danner major problem with Hitler was that Hitler wasn't out to kill enough people.

Hugo didn't set up the Sons of Dawn to conquer Brazil as in superhuman feudalism ala Worm.

No, Hugo set up the Sons of Dawn to conquer Brazil as in normal non Dannered humans going the way of the Neanderthal as Homo Sapiens Gladiator inherits the Earth through lots and lots of genocide.

Now of course Zoat, as the author, has the prerogative to change whatever he likes, but it's jarring.

My recollection is that he wanted everyone to have the same powers as him, which weren't heritable. Do you have a reference?

Stsword · May 22, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
My recollection is that he wanted everyone to have the same powers as him, which weren't heritable. Do you have a reference?

In DC the effects of the formula are inheritable.

Iron Monroe inherited them from his father Hugo, Iron's son Walter Pratt inherited powers from Iron, Walter's daughter Kate Spencer aka Manhunter might have inherited powers because she's survived things that should have killed her (but you know, comic books so she might just be cinematically tough), and Kate's son Ramsey has superpowers but they aren't exactly the same (his invulnerability is concentration based and he's been known to glow).

And okay, I was exaggerating a little bit.

In Young All Stars 30, Iron pointed out to his father that he wrote in his diary that he thought that Danner enhanciles fighting could destroy civilization as collateral damage.

Hugo's response was not to assure his son that civilization was safe, but basically responded with "So what? What has civilization ever done for me?"

So the heavy implication is that neither Hugo nor Iron thought that civilization would survive the Sons of Dawn's conquest.

Which indicated that Hugo's plan was for enough people to die for civilization to collapse, and of course the collapse of civilization would cause even more people to die do to lack of food and health care and whatnot.

So yeah, his plans included genocide.

He didn't rant about Homo Sapiens Gladiator inheriting the Earth though, I was just likening him to Magneto at his worse there.

SirKaid · May 22, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
A waitress delivers our toast. Beatriz takes a piece of mine and incinerates it.

This is delightfully petty. I like it.

Lord Ernest · May 23, 2024

I never liked that here Iron Munroe turned out to be just Hugo Danner all along. In DC all the members of that lineage inherited the superpowers no problem, skipping only Kate to continue again on her son. And then it turns out that practically all the non-flying super strong individuals in the story are just Danner Enhanciles anyway.

In any case, what the Illustres says to Bea sounds like "it's broken, it wasn't efficient anyway, I had other stuff to do and I didn't care enough. So tough luck". Which fair, even if some responsability is on him, it isn't completely his fault and if he doesn't care about then he doesn't care about it, he is an Orange Lantern after all.

Mr Zoat · May 23, 2024

8th April 2013
10:34 GMT +1

The four of us look at the abandoned shop unit, 'To Let' sign newly attached to the wall. Beatriz stalks forward to stare through the windows while Tora looks at her pityingly.

"Bea? Sure..? This is the right place?"

"Yes." Flame roils over her body for a moment, glass melting where her right hand is resting on it. Without the support she stumbles forward and melts the rest of the glass pane before she regains her footing, a puddle of glass forming on her feet. "Dog-fucking brothel glass!"

I wave my left hand, glass and shoes repairing as the orange strobe passes over them. Inside the shop… Nothing I wouldn't expect to see from a shop unit that was no longer in use. Shelving is still in place, though they're now empty of products. Dust hasn't really had a chance to build up, no genetic or chemical material that stands out as unusual…

"If it wasn't for how obviously your power has changed, I'd think they were fly-by-night rip-off merchants."

"Right." She turns around. "We need to get hold of the landlord, find out where they went-."

"No. We need to find out if you're in danger first. And if so…" I generate a kenaz rune. "Do you recognise this?"

"It's.. an arrow?"

"Do you recognise it from wherever this ritual got performed?"

She looks at if for a few moments. "No… No. What is it?"

Tora looks a little more worried. "It's the rune for 'fire'."

"So they set me up with a fire giant without a fire rune?"

Tora shakes her head. "That's not how it works. If they wanted to do anything with fire, they would need this rune somewhere."

"Maybe I just didn't see it."

"B-ea…"

Oh.

"Um. Okay, there's a possibility… I knew of a young man who made a deal with the demon lord Neron for superpowers. Thing is, Neron decided to be lazy and rather than actually bind demon magic to him, he just activated an inactive metahuman trait already in his body. It would probably have activated eventually anyway, but he didn't know that and Neron got his soul with basically no work."

Beatriz's face falls. "You think it was a demon?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that you should have gotten a second opinion from an actual magician before doing anything like this."

"Look, I don't need you-."

I take a rune stone out of my harness and hold it out to her.

Nothing.

"What's that?"

"A magic rock for detecting magic. It's not glowing. Turn your flames on for a moment." She does, her body being completely enveloped in green flame. And still the stone doesn't glow. "Your ability is using no magic. If this was actually coming from a fire giant, this would be glowing."

"But…" She looks at her green-burning arms. "I am on fire."

"Y-eah." I put the rune stone back in my harness. "Turn it off a minute?"

She flames off, and I scan her in detail.

"Needle injury on your right thumb. Do you remember getting it?"

"The woman who did the ritual needed some of my blood."

"Was the blood consumed in the ritual?"

"I… Don't know."

Scan for Beatriz's blood… Nothing. Scan her more.

"Okay, I'm… Reading minor genetic alterations."

She shrugs. "What do you mean, 'minor'?"

"That's the.. problem. A lot of genes are inactive unless specific environmental triggers occur, and… It looks kind of like that's what happened to you. The problem is.. that your ability is unique and so I don't have anyone I can compare it to. I don't know which of your genes is doing this and… While I could try turning them back-"

"Don'tyoudare."

"-I don't know what side effects there could be. Did you actually speak to someone identifying themselves as 'Logi' at any point."

"No, just-! Ugh! Great! I sold my soul to a demon accidentally!"

"Oh, no. That's not possible."

"What do you mean, 'that's not possible'? They're demons."

"And they can mislead, and they can set up situations where you feel that you don't have a choice, but ultimately, giving up your soul directly has to be voluntary and explicit. If that wasn't part of the deal then… Uh, well, making pacts with supernatural creatures for power isn't really Christianity-friendly, but it's not a damnable offence by itself."

She nods, looking a little relieved.

"Now, the 'burning food' thing. Where did that come from?"

"The woman who did the ritual told me it was required. It isn't?"

"I can see no reason why it would be. Okay." I take the rune stone back out and hand it to her. "Keep this on you, and when you do tomorrow's sacrifice have it nearby. If it glows, let me know. If it doesn't, then I'm ninety nine percent sure that it's unnecessary."

"What happens with that one percent?"

"It's actually less than one percent, but… You lose your power up, which we can fix, or… Logi burns you, which will hurt, but won't have any lasting effect because it's essentially mundane fire and there's no injury that mundane fire can inflict that I can't heal."

"Me being set on fire 'won't have any lasting effect'?"

"In theory. If there's a link between the two of you that I just can't find that's just about the only thing that he could do."

"I think I'll keep burning toast, just in case."

"Alright."

"So why did they want Bea's blood?"

"Metahuman genetic research? Maybe they actually are magicians and they wanted it for something else? Don't know. We should probably try tracking them down, but if it's been… How long?"

Beatriz shrugs. "Three weeks."

"Then I doubt that it's urgent."

Oglymogly · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"Alright, can do. If I can teach Guy manners, a fire giant should be easy."

Mr Zoat said:
"Then I doubt that it's urgent."

OL, you have to stop tempting Murphy, the world has already been invaded twice, it can't take you winding Murphy up like this.

Ngamer11 · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"If it wasn't for how obviously your power has changed, I'd think there were fly-by-night rip-off merchants."

I think that should say 'they'.

Mr Zoat said:
"Um. Okay, there's a possibility… I knew of a young man who made a deal with the demon lord Neron for superpowers. Thing is, Neron decided to be lazy and rather than actually bind demon magic to him, he just activated an inactive metahuman trait already in his body. It would probably have activated eventually anyway, but he didn't know that and Neron got his soul with basically no work."

I don't know who this is. Can you give a link? Also, seems like Fire just got ripped off. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of this before something bad happens to her.

Mr Zoat said:
"That's the.. problem. A lot of genes are inactive unless specific environmental triggers occur, and… It look kind of like that's what happened to you. The problem is.. that your ability is unique and so I don't have anyone I can compare it to. I don't know which of your genes is doing this and… While I could try turning them back-"

That should say 'looks'.

Mr Zoat said:
"So why did they want Bea's blood?"

"Metahuman genetic research? Maybe they actually are magicians and they wanted it for something else? Don't know. We should probably try tracking them down, but if it's been… How long?"

Beatriz shrugs. "Three weeks."

"Then I doubt that it's urgent."

This is most likely going to blow up in the heroes' faces. My guess is she'll be cloned or controlled through that blood sample.

Vaermina · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"I don't know. What I do know is that you should have gotten a second opinion from an actual magician before doing anything like this."

Why should she do it when you didn't?

Darko · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
and… It look kind of

"looks"

Mr Zoat said:
Now, the 'burning food' thing. Where did that come from?"

"The woman who did the ritual told me it was required. It isn't?"

"I can see no reason why it would be

I mean if Giants don't eat souls then they have to want something.

Mr Zoat said:
nearby. It if

"If it"

Chojin Patriarch · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
8th April 2013
10:34 GMT +1

The four of us look at the abandoned shop unit, 'To Let' sign newly attached to the wall. Beatriz stalks forward to stare through the windows while Tora looks at her pityingly.

"Bea? Sure..? This is the right place?"

Okay, not quite the smash cut I was expecting. Still, looking for the place she got the upgrade makes sense. If it was magic, there'd be some trace of whoever was involved. In this case, it might well have been a migratory curio shop...

"Yes." Flame roils over her body for a moment, glass melting where her right hand is resting on it. Without the support she stumbles forward and melts the rest of the glass pane before she regains her footing, a puddle of glass forming on her feet. "Dog-fucking brothel glass!"

I wave my left hand, glass and shoes repairing as the orange strobe passes over them. Inside the shop… Nothing I wouldn't expect to see from a shop unit that was no longer in use. Shelving is still in place, though they're now empty of products. Dust hasn't really had a chance to build up, no genetic or chemical material that stands out as unusual…

Heh. Rarely do you see people with heat auras like that actually suffer any side-effects from melting through a wall or window. Reality ensuing.

"If it wasn't for how obviously your power has changed, I'd think they were fly-by-night rip-off merchants."

"Right." She turns around. "We need to get hold of the landlord, find out where they went-."

You assume that the landlord wasn't casually mind-whammied into forgetting about any occupants in the time she got her upgrade. How naive, Fire.

"No. We need to find out if you're in danger first. And if so…" I generate a kenaz rune. "Do you recognise this?"

"It's.. an arrow?"

Ooh, this could be tricky.

"Do you recognise it from wherever this ritual got performed?"

She looks at if for a few moments. "No… No. What is it?"

To be fair, I doubt she paid much attention during the process. Not everyone has perfect recall like OL, after all.

Tora looks a little more worried. "It's the rune for 'fire'."

"So they set me up with a fire giant without a fire rune?"

Or it would have been a sympathetic connection. A conceptual link between 'fire giant' to 'fire rune' to 'fire woman'.

Tora shakes her head. "That's not how it works. If they wanted to do anything with fire, they would need this rune somewhere."

"Maybe I just didn't see it."

Could have been on the ceiling, or a spot out of her direct line of sight, or anywhere, really. ... If it was there at all.

"B-ea…"

Oh.

And now come the 'oh shit, what did she do?' concerns.

"Um. Okay, there's a possibility… I knew of a young man who made a deal with the demon lord Neron for superpowers. Thing is, Neron decided to be lazy and rather than actually bind demon magic to him, he just activated an inactive metahuman trait already in his body. It would probably have activated eventually anyway, but he didn't know that and Neron got his soul with basically no work."

Doesn't ring a bell, but Neron is a bit lazy that way, so I could see this happening. Kid Devil, maybe? <Checks> Yup, looks like the one.

Beatriz's face falls. "You think it was a demon?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that you should have gotten a second opinion from an actual magician before doing anything like this."

...One question: How? Most of the magicians you associate with are League Affiliates. And even with her connections, I doubt Bea would have considered using them for this.

"Look, I don't need you-."

I take a rune stone out of my harness and hold it out to her.

Nothing.

Interesting. You'd expect some measure of magic if she was being empowered by a 'jumped-up elemental'.

"What's that?"

"A magic rock for detecting magic. It's not glowing. Turn your flames on for a moment." She does, her body being completely enveloped in green flame. And still the stone doesn't glow. "Your ability is using no magic. If this was actually coming from a fire giant, this would be glowing."

Maybe the magic only comes in when she uses flames like she used on you? Sort of a high-end turbocharge?

"But…" She looks at her green-burning arms. "I am on fire."

"Y-eah." I put the rune stone back in my harness. "Turn it off a minute?"

...Maybe someone spun her a yarn and used a more mundane upgrade method...

She flames off, and I scan her in detail.

"Needle injury on your right thumb. Do you remember getting it?"

And yes, technically a needle injection is an injury. A very small one, and usually healed within as little as a few minutes, but it still leaves traces.

"The woman who did the ritual needed some of my blood."

"Was the blood consumed in the ritual?"

Not pictured, OL resisting the urge to facepalm. Because in arcane circles, even a single drop of blood is a potent sympathetic link.

"I… Don't know."

Scan for Beatriz's blood… Nothing. Scan her more.

Doubly concerning. Maybe it got burnt, maybe not.

"Okay, I'm… Reading minor genetic alterations."

She shrugs. "What do you mean, 'minor'?"

Ah, I see. Whether by arcana or science, someone fiddled with her metagene?

"That's the.. problem. A lot of genes are inactive unless specific environmental triggers occur, and… It looks kind of like that's what happened to you. The problem is.. that your ability is unique and so I don't have anyone I can compare it to. I don't know which of your genes is doing this and… While I could try turning them back-"

Probably best not to go poking without building a more complete model of her DNA. And messing with metagenes is especially risky.

"Don'tyoudare."

"-I don't know what side effects there could be. Did you actually speak to someone identifying themselves as 'Logi' at any point."

...That would be rather important, I suspect.

"No, just-! Ugh! Great! I sold me soul to a demon accidentally!"

"Oh, no. That's not possible."

There's no 'accidental' about it, usually. More often than not, physical contracts are involved, for style.

"What do you mean, 'that's not possible'? They're demons."

"And they can mislead, and they can set up situations where you feel that you don't have a choice, but ultimately, giving up your soul directly has to be voluntary and explicit. If that wasn't part of the deal then… Uh, well, making pacts with supernatural creatures for power isn't really Christianity-friendly, but it's not a damnable offence by itself."

Nice to know even demons operate with clear rules of consent.

She nods, looking a little relieved.

"Now, the 'burning food' thing. Where did that come from?"

Does seem a little odd, though burnt offerings aren't exactly uncommon in these kinds of thing.

"The woman who did the ritual told me it was required. It isn't?"

"I can see no reason why it would be. Okay." I take the rune stone back out and hand it to her. "Keep this on you, and when you do tomorrow's sacrifice have it nearby. If it glows, let me know. If it doesn't, then I'm ninety nine percent sure that it's unnecessary."

Yeah, that would be a pretty clear indicator, I suppose...

"What happens with that one percent?"

"It's actually less than one percent, but… You lose your power up, which we can fix, or… Logi burns you, which will hurt, but won't have any lasting effect because it's essentially mundane fire and there's no injury that mundane fire can inflict that I can't heal."

...But it'll still hurt her.

"Me being set on fire 'won't have any lasting effect'?"

"In theory. If there's a link between the two of you that I just can't find that's just about the only thing that he could do."

Your 'theory' doesn't sound very firm, OL.

"I think I'll keep burning toast, just in case."

"Alright."

Do try to contain your disappointment, OL.

"So why did they want Bea's blood?"

"Metahuman genetic research? Maybe they actually are magicians and they wanted it for something else? Don't know. We should probably try tracking them down, but if it's been… How long?"

For all we know, some aspect of the Reach's canon plan might be in operation. The whole 'Metahuman Research' project they were doing?

Beatriz shrugs. "Three weeks."

"Then I doubt that it's urgent."

...Somehow, I don't think she feels as confident about that as you do, OL.

So, then. Blood sample of a fire-elemental superhero just floating about out there, and OL isn't concerned? I suppose if someone else turns up with the same sort of issue, he might take note. Probably not going to endear him to Bea, at any rate. I guess he figures that if it turns up, it'll turn up and he can deal with it then if he's around...

NightmareWarden · May 23, 2024

Gods are mostly known for their magic. Giants aren't fey, they could be magical or they could be nonmagical with the ability to manipulate magic. I bet the guardians have loads of reality-bending tricks that aren't going to detect as magical.

So a giant reality-bender. Probably not a meta…giant, though it isn't that absurd. What else… I don't think this is related to the parliament of flame, but they are a magical option if Bea's powers need a reboot.

It is possible that Paul has the situation 90% correct, like with what Neron did- in this case, Bea's powers were meant to grow stronger over decades. Magic was used to jump ahead. And now Magic is no longer maintaining the change, it is complete. However this doesn't account for the burning sacrifice nor the anger issue.

Darko · May 23, 2024

Chojin Patriarch said:
Interesting. You'd expect some measure of magic if she was being empowered by a 'jumped-up elemental'.

And even if she wasn't magically empowered by Logi, she may have still made it glow.

Remember in the beginning her powers weren't that powerful, she could basically just make her fists go on fire, but later Paul got her the spell Noriel uses for her fire powers and Beatriz got an upgrade.

Though I guess since the Logi ritual she stopped using Noriel's spell.

Mr Zoat · May 23, 2024

Ngamer11 said:
I think that should say 'they'.
That should say 'looks'.

Thank you, corrected.

I don't know who this is. Can you give a link?

Red Devil.

Darko said:
"If it"

Thank you, corrected.

MagnumForce · May 23, 2024

*sigh* Got to start tempting fate like that Paul...

Mr Zoat said:
The four of us look at the abandoned shop unit, 'To Let' sign newly attached to the wall. Beatriz stalks forward to stare through the windows while Tora looks at her pityingly

You mean 'Toalett '? Because otherwise what does this mean?

Stsword · May 23, 2024

MagnumForce said:
You mean 'Toalett '? Because otherwise what does this mean?

To let. Britishism equivalent of "for rent."

WereDragon · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"Then I doubt that it's urgent."

Well it probably wasn't before you taunted the universe.

Interesting bit, Paul is actually the one to suggest that Beatriz look into magic for enhancing her powers. Happened here:

Mr Zoat said:
31st March
08:17 GMT -11

CTrees · May 23, 2024

Wait, two chapters ago, Bea was showing up as magic, and her fire was reduced by a mage slayer:

Mr Zoat said:
Rune stone says.. magic. Construct railgun, mage slayer… Fabricate padding and fire at low power.

There's a brief waft of flame as the padding is consumed, but the mage slayer hits her armour and the flames… They don't quite blow out, but her assault stops and the flames vanish from most of her-.

Now it doesn't show up as magic at all:

Mr Zoat said:
I take a rune stone out of my harness and hold it out to her.

Nothing.

"What's that?"

"A magic rock for detecting magic. It's not glowing. Turn your flames on for a moment." She does, her body being completely enveloped in green flame. And still the stone doesn't glow. "Your ability is using no magic. If this was actually coming from a fire giant, this would be glowing."

"But…" She looks at her green-burning arms. "I am on fire."

I would have expected "your ability isn't using any magic right now," or similar, because surely he remembers that it was using magic, less than an hour ago?

Maybe the magic enhancement only turns on when she's overcome with rage? Which has its own issues... but the difference would still be worth commenting on, right? At least before jumping to "metagene alterations by people pretending to be magicians."

Darko · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
through the air in the towards the squad leader

"air towards"

Mr Zoat · May 23, 2024

Darko said:
"air towards"

Thank you, corrected.

CTrees said:
Wait, two chapters ago, Bea was showing up as magic, and her fire was reduced by a mage slayer:

Now it doesn't show up as magic at all:

I would have expected "your ability isn't using any magic right now," or similar, because surely he remembers that it was using magic, less than an hour ago?

Maybe the magic enhancement only turns on when she's overcome with rage? Which has its own issues... but the difference would still be worth commenting on, right? At least before jumping to "metagene alterations by people pretending to be magicians."

Correlation does not prove causation.

Beatriz did a 'ritual' and got a power up. Thus, she assumed that it was magic.

The SI shot her with an anti-magic round and she snapped out of it. Thus, he assumed that it was magic and not the fact that she got shot with something that hits at least as hard as a beanbag round.

Reminds me of my first year in university, during Introduction to Psychology. The lecturer put three numbers on the board and asked what the next number in sequence was. The sequence was something simply, like 1 - 2 - 4, so everyone guessed 8. Except me, because somehow I was the only one in the lecture theatre who'd actually done the reading. I guessed 9000000. And we were all right, because the rule was 'next number bigger than the previous number' and not 'double each time'.

RoninSword · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
Reminds me of my first year in university, during Introduction to Psychology. The lecturer put three numbers on the board and asked what the next number in sequence was. The sequence was something simply, like 1 - 2 - 4, so everyone guessed 8. Except me, because somehow I was the only one in the lecture theatre who'd actually done the reading. I guessed 9000000. And we were all right, because the rule was 'next number bigger than the previous number' and not 'double each time'.

Illustres actually used this example in text when talking to Riddler.

CTrees · May 23, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
The SI shot her with an anti-magic round and she snapped out of it. Thus, he assumed that it was magic and not the fact that she got shot with something that hits at least as hard as a beanbag round.

He checked his rune stone first, which showed magic, and then used the anti-magic round:

Mr Zoat said:
Rune stone says.. magic.

I'd understand if he didn't check before selecting the round and firing, even though it wouldn't make much sense to jump to an expensive round instead of just a low power/cushioned slug, but he did check, and found magic. Which is now not showing up to the same magic detecting system.

Mr Zoat · May 23, 2024

CTrees said:
He checked his rune stone first, which showed magic, and then used the anti-magic round:

I'd understand if he didn't check before selecting the round and firing, even though it wouldn't make much sense to jump to an expensive round instead of just a low power/cushioned slug, but he did check, and found magic. Which is now not showing up to the same magic detecting system.

Let me just change that...

ShadowScion626 · May 23, 2024

Given the sheer amount of Fear Paul just caused by burning a world, I'm shocked the Yellow Ring didn't select HIM as its new wielder.

I want to see Paul meet Sinestro soon too, but reading the comments makes me feel like I'm the only one who doesn't want them to be enemies. I'd rather they be ally's to each other due to circumstance. They may never be friends but I'd like to see their Corps actually work together.

Darko · May 23, 2024

ShadowScion626 said:
Given the sheer amount of Fear Paul just caused by burning a world, I'm shocked the Yellow Ring didn't select HIM as its new wielder

Sinestro probably put him on a "no recruitment" list because he went up against his agents and is an ally of people that have fought him.

RoninSword · May 23, 2024

Seeker protocols on rings aren't default. They are set by whoever has/made the ring. Otherwise the Reach could literally just breed/engineer a really avaricious person to attract an orange ring whe they do manage to kill a lantern. Instead atm the orange rings are set to return to OLC members or the nearest ally.
I imagine that Sinestro has done the same.

Mr Zoat · May 24, 2024

8th April 2013
17:20 GMT

I walk across the grass field that was once home to my tasmanian tiger pack. The yips and barks are absent, as are the curious pups and their foster parents. All shipped down to Earth, to zoos and nature reserves who will make certain that they never go extinct again.

Huh. Melancholic.

I'm glad to have done it, no doubt. I don't like it when unique things vanish from the world, and people were generally happy to have them back. It's good work, even if it's not associated with my core 'thing'. But the fact is that I just don't have the time to spend on this sort of project any longer, so…

I'm shutting it down.

I spot Guan checking the health of one of the trees. He and a small team of genomorphs kept things ticking over in my absence, but there was a micrometeorite impact this week that caused an earthquake which undermined one of the domes, and… They don't have the skills or equipment to fix things like that, and… Current generation genomorphs have better people skills but Guan is a little older. I don't know what the others have planned for his team. Doing the same job on Tamaran or Karna, perhaps?

A few paces behind me Luna is looking around, but I can tell that she finds the structure itself more interesting than the grassland. She tears her eyes away from the hologram-free dome and the starry sky beyond for a moment, studying my face as I look at her.

She frowns faintly. "Does this place have happy memories for you?"

"It may surprise you to hear it, but I don't actually relish moral ambiguity. This was one of the few unarguably good and selfless things I did on my own initiative. But after the dodos and giant turtles, there… There aren't a lot of species that Earth is really missing. And I don't really have the time to work here any longer."

She walks closer, bumping my right leg with her left shoulder in a gesture of support.

"What will you do with it?"

I look around. "Can't leave any animals here. It's designed to be accessed by boom tube only, and I'll have to remove the tube generator here when we finish shutting it down. So there's no point giving it to the European Space Agency or anything like that. Can't move it…"

I shrug as I reach down to fondle her mane with my right hand. Obviously I can move it, but there's not a lot of point. Tamaran has more than enough wilderness to resurrect species on ranches, with no space habitats required. And anywhere else, it would be easier to build something new.

"Would not Sir Lex's space navy have some use for it?"

I shake my head. "No. I asked, and they actually have more use for the outside of Titan than they do for this place. If they want to train for fighting in Earth-like conditions they can do that on Earth, and I didn't design this reserve to replicate radically different environments." I sigh. "Places like this are actually a feature of a lot of systems, when the locals did a lot of space travel before discovering a faster-than-light drive. Way stations and fuel silos that stopped being useful and… Weren't worth dragging back to be dismantled. Some of them end up as tourist attractions, or… Something."

"Didst you ever visit with your children?"

"Oh, yes. I didn't want the puppies to get too tame, but dodos and… Ground parrots… Ah, they're not competitive. They'd just die out in the wild, so it really doesn't matter if they're tame. Helps, honestly, because people look after their pets."

"Did they not take them as pets?"

"No. Birds aren't really a good fit for a fortified mountain, and they'd just get eaten outside. And they're not… Ah, not intelligent enough to play like a dog or a cat or.. a raven could. I don't know, none of them have really said anything about wanting a pet, and…"

I'm rubbing the fur behind her ears. As my fingers stop moving she cranes her neck, pushing them into her scalp. Then she stops, jerking her head around so that she can stare up at me with narrowed eyes.

"Thou had best not-."

"Humans still have all the instincts of our furry ancestors and no way to actually enact them with their bald bodies, alright? That's half the appeal of having furry animals around. We don't need them as mousers or for protection or anything. You happen to scratch the same instinct. Do ponies not..? Groom each other?"

"Yess." She give her mane a small toss, returning the top of her head to the optimal head massage position. "Though your fingers are more dextrous than hooves or tongue."

"Tongue? Should I be concerned?"

She frowns. "Why wouldst you be concerned about Our Sister's tongue?"

"And now I'm concerned for entirely different reasons."

Luna rolls her eyes. "Grooming another's coat is a perfectly normal way to strengthen familial bonds. Not whatever your depraved mind is thinking."

"Depraved? No, it's just…" I shudder theatrically. "Celestia."

"Your quarrel with Our-"

"I mean, if it had been someone else…"

"-Sister grows wearisome. Mayhap you would benefit from reading Her Student's book?"

"I don't hate her. I just dislike her because of what she's failed to do with the country. I only rag on her as a joke." … "Ninety… Five percent as a joke."

Luna huffs quietly, though the top of her head stays under my fingers.

"Whilst we are on the subject of Sister, she hath raised an idea."

"Loins girded. Hit me."

"Our retirement. Naturally, We would wish to complete Our review and revival of the Royal Guard first, but… Sister has ruled Equestria for more than a thousand years. We can well understand how she would prefer to change her life at long last."

"Well, I won't complain about being able to spend more time with you. But I thought that you liked participating in government?"

"We find satisfaction in improving Our nation, it is true. But that does not require Us to be the supreme regnant authority. The role We have made for Ourself requires that Our Sister remains as principle ruler, and if she is unwilling…"

"Okay, so what sort of government was she thinking of installing instead? And what sort of timeline did you have in mind?"

"I believe that Our Sister had in mind stepping down in two to three years." Wha-? "And that Her Student would ascend once more to become Princess Regnant."

"Oh gosh that's a terrible idea."

"Why? Sunset hath shown no interest in-."

"Nonono, not that. Twilight Sparkle is… What, in her early twenties?"

"That is correct."

"And she's occupied… No government offices at all? And has no experience in national governance?"

"She hath served as an aide on a number of occasions, but… No. She hath held none of the offices of state. We also did not hold such offices."

"But you were a bit older. Right?" She nods. "And Equestria was a lot smaller and less connected when you came to power. And-." I wince. "Knowing what I do of Celestia's methods, I assume that Twilight hasn't been warned and isn't going to receive specific training?"

"We-ll… We do not know for certain that Sister will not…" Her eyes flick away. "Probably."

"If you really want to do that, Twilight needs warning, training and… Frankly, I'd say that the country needs about twenty years to adjust, which is fine because that's about how long she'll need to learn the skills to do the job. Actually switching to another system of government would take even longer." I close my eyes and exhale through my nose. "Why don't we go and..? Talk to Celestia about this?"

Oglymogly · May 24, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
I believe that Our Sister had in mind stepping down in two to three years." Wha-? "And that Her Student would ascend once more to become Princess Regnant."

Yeah, things that work as series enders don't actually work when you wake up the next day and have to deal with the fallout. Shocker.
But really, the fact that this is 100% on brand for Celestia is funny... and sad. She's so done with ruling she's at the "I don't give a fuck if the other employees burn it down, I'm clocking out" phase of overwork.

Thrackerzod · May 24, 2024

Mr Zoat said:
"Humans still have all the instincts of our furry ancestors and no way to actually enact them with their bald bodies, alright? That's half the appeal of having furry animals around. We don't need them as mousers or for protection or anything. You happen to scratch the same instinct.

Has Grayven told Luna that he's actually human?

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

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