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

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-16T06:17:07+0100

FuzzyZergling said:
Missing capitalisation after the ellipses.

That's intentional.

Darko · 2025-09-16T06:24:00+0100

Mr Zoat said:
." And then deciding to take pity on him, I create a construct knife and cut him free."

Remove the " at the end.

Mr Zoat said:
That in fact does not make sense."

Welcome to the world of magic.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-16T06:38:50+0100

Darko said:
Remove the " at the end.

Thank you, corrected.

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-09-16T06:50:16+0100

Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
08:13 GMT -7

"HAH!" Henry Hall points one arm -his right crab claw arm- at his brother. "You look like a furry who hasn't put his head piece on yet!"

Donald Hall sits on his hind legs and folds his forehooves across his chest. "And you look like a furry who had to mix and match his costume."

Ah, Hawk and Dove, chosen of a pair of Lords of Order and Chaos. And from those descriptions, I'm guessing Hawk is as chaotic as Discord is, while Dove... From the sound of it, he resembles a pony wearing a human mask?

That's got to be quite the sight.

Hank clicks his claws together. "It's got no fur. Therefore, not a furry. G.E.D., dumbass!"

Donald looks like he's about to say something in return, but then thinks better of it. He gets back onto all four hooves and resumes his investigation of Discord's surprisingly normalish home.

I'm guessing the house is made to cater to Fluttershy's tastes and safety.

I turn to Fluttershy. "And this place has postal deliveries?"

"Oh yes." She nods, smiling. "The Equestrian Postal Service is very hard-working."

And phenomenally brave, if the local area is at all chaotic or dangerous.

I look out of the window at the P.G. version of the Warp that's swirling around out there, my eyes tracking the skateboarding banana that's peeling a walrus as it skates past.

Hm. Maybe I haven't cast the net wide enough looking for soldiers.

They'd make amazing couriers, if nothing else?

"Um, I didn't know that you knew any other draconequi." Fluttershy watches as Henry as he tries turning the settee over, only for it to rotate the entire floor panel and start spinning with him trapped in place. "I didn't even know there were any other draconequi."

"Henry is no more a draconequus than I am an alicorn. He's just sponsored by a Lord of Chaos, so when he comes through the mirror, that's now he ends up."

Fitting. I rather suspect Donald - Dove - is more an anthropomorphic pony or similar due to his Orderly empowerment.

"Hey!" Henry shoots webbing out of his spinnerets, sticking the settee to the floor but also sticking himself to the settee. He struggles for a moment, then gives up and settles for turning his eyestalks in my direction. "It's Hawk, horse-face!"

I roll my eyes. "Thank you for your input, Hawk Horse-Face." And then deciding to take pity on him, I create a construct knife and cut him free.

He should have known you'd rib him with that one. The Renegade has far too much Dad-joke energy to be contained.

"Uh, thanks." He clambers up, chicken leg and elephant leg not entirely under control yet. Most of the way up, something occurs to him. "Hey, pony-girl, that Discord guy's got tiny legs. How does he get around?"

"Oh, um. He mostly floats."

I suppose that works. After all, when reality is clay to be molded to you, why worry about synching up to the ground? Honestly, I'm surprised he doesn't clip through large objects around him for the lols.

"Huh?"

Fluttershy nods. "He told me that he told gravity how he feels about laws, and it hasn't bothered him since."

Well, it shouldn't have complained, I guess? It's lucky he only defies it himself, instead of blocking its effect planetwide.

"Huh." Henry blinks. "I.. guess that makes sense..?"

Donald looks up from Discord's dressing table, one of his hooves accidentally puncturing the surface and letting the air out. "That in fact does not make sense."

You've been working with a Lord of Chaos this long and still complain about things not making sense sometimes?

"No, no, it doesn't here. I always wondered why chaos magic just made me strong and not chaos-ey. So I can justwhow!"

And now he can ~~fly~~ float, marvellous.

Well, more than they could on Earth, and this honestly makes more sense than their costumes' tiny wings somehow being in any way aerodynamic...

I focus on the sensible half of the pair. "Any written records?"

"Getting to that." He picks up a small book from-

Oh, boy. So, guesses at what it'll contain?

"Hfopuaberopitgslfyuhgaerujsdopuf-"

-the deflating dresser and opens it-

Ah, verbal diarrhoea. Off to a great start.

"-poigffhoayrejkhgsfpuhnkfdnposdrjllad-."

-before closing it again. Then he nods. "'What does the book say?'. I get it. The book can't stop talking because the words always say themselves."

The only problem is that its' trying to say all of them at once...

Fluttershy trots towards Donald as Henry tries to control his floating. "Have you tried asking them nicely? I always find that.. usually works."

Donald hold the book out. "Okay, book? We're trying to find Discord so we can help him out with whatever he's going through."

They're gonna have to tie a string to Hawk, aren't they?

Hawk Horse-Face looks around. "Or kick some sense into him." His eyes orientate on his own legs. "Can I kick with these?"

"So I'd really appreciate it if you could tell us anything about where he is." He cautiously lays his thumbs on the pages of the book before slowly opening it again. "Or what he's doing."

Eh, both an Elephant and a Chicken have some impressive kicking capabilities. Trick is getting any force into them while you're drifting.

The book jerks out of his grip and just floats in the air. "Is Fluttershy there?" The sides of the pages open and close a little like a mouth. "I don't have any eyes on my cover."

Fluttershy nods. "Yes, I'm here."

A gross oversight, alas. Although words probably appear in it magically, from overheard sounds and dialogue, so...

"Great! Okay, Discord said that he was going to try completing Grayven's plan, but Discord also said that he was going to talk to the tree about it, and then he said, 'who are you, I don't have a diary'. Which was a bit hurtful, but I've survived worse."

"Um." Fluttershy tilts her head to the side. "Did he come back from doing Grayven's plan, or-?"

Care to remind the folks at home what plan that was? To make the Power of Harmony irrelevant?

"No." I shake my head. "Discord split himself in a lot of ways, and at least three of them came back here."

"Oh." The book takes a moment to digest that. "That makes way more sense than Discord forgetting me. I mean, can you imagine? I'm his best friend!"

...Should they tell him, or..?

"Um."

"I bet he talks about me all the time, huh?"

"He never-. Ah." She turns and trots towards the boom tube aperture. "Thank you for your help, Mister Book, but we need to go and find Discord now!"

...Best to let it exist in ignorance, since it might not even exist much longer after they leave..

"Alright, you heard the lady!" Hawk Horse-Face sort of swims through space with an unsettling degree of ease. I'm impressed with how quickly he picked that up. Or perhaps its natural for his new shape? "Let's go!"

Donald give the book a quick smile- "Thank you." -and then briefly appears to consider giving his wings a flap before deciding that relying on his cloven hooves to convey him instead.

...Now I have no idea what Donald is...

My plan and the tree. Not sure why those two came back here or what happens when we get them back together. Or if that's even desirable. But it would probably help Discord if he could talk things over with someone he trusts, and that's Fluttershy.

I walk through the boom tube and then shut it down.

...I really feel lost now. Like there was a segment we missed...

Then again, when Discord is involved, causality can tend to take a vacation. Too many headaches, you know?

"…tree he particularly likes?"

Fluttershy shakes her head at Donald. "No, I-I don't think so. I could ask the birds, if you think that would help?"

Really? as if there'd be any other 'tree' that's especially signifiant these days?

Perhaps we should just skip this part. "He's almost certainly gone to the Tree of Harmony."

Fluttershy looks as serious as she can. "Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea."

...Gee, you think?

Given its Orderly nature, Harmony might well give him the old 'Rainbow beam of doom' treatment until he goes away...

"It's not. On the other hand, if one Discord did it then the others probably wouldn't. Mother Box."

"Ping."

"Opening a path now, though I agree with the lovely pegasus..." At least you'd hope the others didn't. Or you could find a whole field of Dracoequues statues waiting for you...

BOOM!

"Oof."

I turn my head to see that Hawk Horse-Face has fallen to the floor, while Donald is looking… Shiney? Makes sense I suppose. "Hawk Horse-Face, perhaps you should stay here."

Makes sense, given their natural and empowered alignments.

"No way, dude. If Don's going, I'm going."

"No way boss, but, fine. Don't come crying to me if you're turned into a statue for a thousand years."

Ah, yes. The Renegade is employing them, isn't he? Hope they're getting danger pay for this trip, then.

"I-." He frowns. "Wait, if I was a statue, how would I cry..?"

I stride through the boom tube and into the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

Don't question it. I suspect Discord only went along with the petrification because it sounded like it'd be a hoot when he eventually broke out.

Well, then. Seems like Discord's gotten a little scatter-brained lately. Indecisive. Of two (or more) minds about matters... Wonder if they'll have to find all the different ones or if he's pulled himself together by the time they track him down. Though I suspect Fluttershy mentioning how she'd be rather disappointed in him if he messes things up might change his mind...

Frozen20XX · 2025-09-16T07:00:13+0100

Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
08:13 GMT -7

Huh, so Grayven might end up encountering the Spirit of Harmony. Which.. might be interesting, considering the Spirit only showed up to talk to the Student Six.

Huh. Have the Mane Six discovered the other Tree's yet?

TFTwink · 2025-09-16T07:22:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
I stride through the boom tube and into the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.[/i]

needs a '[i ]' in the front

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-16T08:30:10+0100

TFTwink said:
needs a '[i ]' in the front

No, it just needs to be deleted.

Frozen20XX said:
Huh. Have the Mane Six discovered the other Tree's yet?

If they're from the comics, probably not.

Frozen20XX · 2025-09-16T09:41:30+0100

Mr Zoat said:
If they're from the comics, probably not.

Figured I'd ask, since Renegade's Equestria includes comic stuff like the good king Sombra.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-16T10:00:17+0100

Frozen20XX said:
Figured I'd ask, since Renegade's Equestria includes comic stuff like the good king Sombra.

It's not that I'm excluding the comics exactly, it's just that I haven't read them so usually won't proactively include them.

Bud-E · 2025-09-16T10:41:47+0100

Is Pony World making Hank Horse Face more chaotic, is he gonna learn chaos magic? I always thought it was weird his powers were just super-strength.

Frozen20XX · 2025-09-16T11:58:12+0100

Mr Zoat said:
It's not that I'm excluding the comics exactly, it's just that I haven't read them so usually won't proactively include them.

Ah, got it.

BartlettMagic · 2025-09-16T13:22:14+0100

Mr Zoat said:
With what image and legend?

honestly i've always pictured LSoGM as a dingy eggwhite-colored, firmly spherical blob. i feel as though he should have a halo or aura of orange, rather than an outline of color like Lanterns are typically portrayed. maybe even a small core of orange glowing in the center.

the legend would be: INFRASTRUCTURE IS MINE with 'infrastructure" at the top, "is mine" at the bottom, with both warped to be concave towards LSoGM. if you imagine the Planet Express logo you wouldn't be far off.

mastermenthe · 2025-09-16T15:25:25+0100

BartlettMagic said:
if you imagine the Planet Express logo you wouldn't be far off.

you forgot to swap "static" with "vignette", the image wont load.

Stsword · 2025-09-16T16:35:48+0100

Bud-E said:
Is Pony World making Hank Horse Face more chaotic, is he gonna learn chaos magic? I always thought it was weird his powers were just super-strength.

In the comics when he and Dove (Dawn Granger) went to the world of their patrons, he was able to increase his density for more strength and durability and to heal himself, while Dawn was flying around with light powers.

Xmaster3000 · 2025-09-16T20:18:42+0100

So, wait. What do Hawk & Dove's Equestrian forms look like?

BartlettMagic · 2025-09-16T20:26:37+0100

mastermenthe said:
you forgot to swap "static" with "vignette", the image wont load.

thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-16T22:58:10+0100

Xmaster3000 said:
So, wait. What do Hawk & Dove's Equestrian forms look like?

Hawk is a random selection of non-furry animal parts. Dove is a lamassu.

Bud-E · 2025-09-17T00:25:11+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Hawk is a random selection of non-furry animal parts. Dove is a lamassu.

Does that mean Dove has his human face on a bird's body? Cause that must look...disturbing.

Neruz · 2025-09-17T03:05:50+0100

Bud-E said:
Does that mean Dove has his human face on a bird's body? Cause that must look...disturbing.

A lamassu is a human head on the body of a winged bull:

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-17T06:12:17+0100

26th July 2013
16:29 GMT

Up ahead of us, I can see Kara training with… Eradicator units? I suppose they're… Reasonable for training in high-intensity combat, and… Yes, a lot of my combat training was with other Lanterns in the Chihuahuan Desert, so I can't really… Criticise her for practicing against beings who match her abilities. I wonder where she got-

"Hey!"

Lantern Yat rockets away from me, fists balled.

-them..?

Next to me Taranna blinks, then scans the area and armours herself. Is it a real attack? I said that she should always have someone-. Yes, there's Ak-Var, and if he's not involving himself then it is a practice-

Lantern Yat strikes a distracted Eradicator unit at full speed in the small of the back, causing it to double over as its skeleton and servos snap! Having learned the basics of super strength combat Yat doesn't stop accelerating, driving the Eradicator forwards and into a ice ridge!

-session.

Kara just blinks in surprise, and only just manages to dodge out of the way as the second Eradicator takes a swing at her. She dodges around it, fires a blast of heat vision into its left armpit before grabbing the arm and yanking, tearing it right off. The disarmed Eradicator twists, eyes glowing-.

"Pause! Ak! Pause-."

The Eradicator dims its eyes, switching back to standby mode as Kara flies towards the plume of snow marking Lantern Yat's landing zone. He pulls himself out of the snow a moment later, flying directly upwards and watching the snow carefully for any sign that his target is still moving.

Kara floats around to get a clearer look at him, sees the orange glow clearly and looks around-. I wave, and she raises her hand in greeting back before returning her attention to the tiny daxamite Lantern.

"Um. Hey? Who're you?"

Sodam narrows his eyes towards his target for a moment before reassuring himself that it's inert. Then he turns to Kara with a broad smile on his face. "I'm krypon-ite!"

Kara blinks, checking to make sure that he's not a radioactive crystal. "You… Are..?"

"Udh-!" Sodam cringes as he realises what he just said. "No! I mean, I'm from Daxam, which means I'm-. I'm like a kryptonian?"

"Oh, you're Sodam Yat! Paul told me about you."

"He did?"

Taranna and I drift closer, Ak-Var rising up to meet us.

"Where did the Eradicators come from?"

"Kal-El let us make them after Har-Zod gave us the designs. Mostly so that Kara can get some idea of what kryptonians fighting is like before someone shoves her through a building… Though… I need to learn that, too."

Taranna frowns slightly. "Ak-Var, this is Lantern Taranna. She'll be joining us on Earth to help with the reconstruction."

"Oh." Ak-Var gives her a polite nod. "Ah, nice to meet you."

Taranna nods back. "You're the same species as Sodam?"

"Mostly. We don't have any current records on Daxam, but if the ones we do have-. I mean, the ones I got taught in school growing-. Growing up fifty years ago, they're basically the same apart from a few genetic tweaks people who stayed on Krypton never got."

I see Lantern Yat smile as Kara rubs his head.

Ak-Var watches them too. "I guess his culture's… Nothing like Krypton's, is it?"

"No, and he's too young to have internalised most of it. It's not going to be a point of familiarity."

He dips his head slightly. "I didn't really think it would be. It's just-. Kind of nice to see a mostly-kryptonian child."

Taranna drifts slightly closer. "Have you been on Earth for long?"

"About a third of a local year."

"Are you a superhero?"

"I… Not really? I've been helping with reconstruction, but I don't really… Have the drive that Kal-El has and Kara's… Discovered. I've been trying to work out what I'm going to do once Earth's back to normal again and so far I'm coming up blank."

"As long as it's not petty theft-"

"It was a prank! We were going to give it back!"

"-then I'm happy with whatever you choose. And if you like having kryptonian children around there's a grand total of two kryptonian females-"

About a mile away, Kara's head comes up from her conversation with Lantern Yat and she looks curiously in our direction.

"-whom you-."

Ak-Var looks mildly distraught. "Paul, super hearing!"

"What?" Kara gives-. Me a sidelong glance before using her heat vision to make a picture in the snow for Lantern Yat. "You two aren't dating?"

"We're friends. And even if we were dating, we wouldn't be talking about children yet. I'm not old enough to be a dad!"

Taranna frowns. "Your species lives so long that you don't consider yourself old enough when you're over fifty?"

"I spent most of that in-. In suspended animation. I'm actually… Nineteen, in Earth years?"

"Traditionally, people from my culture got married at nineteen. My father would have arranged a marriage for me after my coming of.. age.. ceremony."

"I had a betrothal which our families arranged, but we wouldn't actually have married until we were both in our twenties."

"You could always throw yourself on a grenade and marry Other Kara."

"I.. don't really know her. But given the way Kara talks about her, I don't think it would work. Kara's great and all, and maybe in a few years something might happen, but right now I'm not even thinking about it."

Taranna grins at me. "Thank you! He's perfect!"

Ak-Var stares like a rabbit in headlights. "Huh?"

"This is an excellent way to stop my mother bothering me about getting married!"

"He.. wasn't actually the person I had in mind. I just.. wanted to introduce Lantern Yat."

"Oh. But you said that the other person was interested in a betrothal."

"Ah-. No, I think this is a cultural thing. They're interested in getting to know you to see if that's something you eventually want to do. There's no commitment at this stage."

Ak-Var looks confused. "What do you want me to do?"

"Pretend to my mother we are considering a betrothal. As I said, it's normal in our culture but like you I'd.. rather leave it for a few years."

"Just pretend?"

"Yes."

"I can.. do that."

"Would you mind if I introduced you to Roy first? I-."

"Warning! Interdiction system activated!"

TFTwink · 2025-09-17T06:23:18+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"This is an excellent way to stop my mother bothering me about getting married!"

"He.. wasn't actually the person I had in mind. I just.. wanted to introduce Lantern Yat."

Paul gets this delightful shade of perturbed when his proposed solution is overrode for some spur-of-the-moment decision. I'm personally all for it.

Cuchulin · 2025-09-17T06:40:34+0100

TFTwink said:
Paul gets this delightful shade of perturbed when his proposed solution is overrode for some spur-of-the-moment decision. I'm personally all for it.

The best laid plans of Mice and men...

Chojin Patriarch · 2025-09-17T06:51:50+0100

Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
16:29 GMT

Up ahead of us, I can see Kara training with… Eradicator units? I suppose they're… Reasonable for training in high-intensity combat, and… Yes, a lot of my combat training was with other Lanterns in the Chihuahuan Desert, so I can't really… Criticise her for practicing against beings who match her abilities. I wonder where she got-

Basic androids, I assume, rather than the war-bots from 'My Adventures With Superman'. Still, good idea to have peer opponents who can withstand her strength, rather than fragile things that crumple after one hit. Though the latter would help for learning to handle squishy humans...

"Hey!"

Lantern Yat rockets away from me, fists balled.

<sigh> Still a kid at the core, no matter how proficient a Lantern he is.

-them..?

Next to me Taranna blinks, then scans the area and armours herself. Is it a real attack? I said that she should always have someone-. Yes, there's Ak-Var, and if he's not involving himself then it is a practice-

Still a good precaution around kryptonian-level combatants, just to minimise risks of collateral injuries.

Lantern Yat strikes a distracted Eradicator unit at full speed in the small of the back, causing it to double over as its skeleton and servos snap! Having learned the basics of super strength combat Yat doesn't stop accelerating, driving the Eradicator forwards and into a ice ridge!

Good to see he's not a complete novice. 'Auntie' Kara will be able to teach him lots of tricks, I'm sure.

-session.

Kara just blinks in surprise, and only just manages to dodge out of the way as the second Eradicator takes a swing at her. She dodges around it, fires a blast of heat vision into its left armpit before grabbing the arm and yanking, tearing it right off. The disarmed Eradicator twists, eyes glowing-.

Ah, right, active combat sparring session.

"Pause! Ak! Pause-."

The Eradicator dims its eyes, switching back to standby mode as Kara flies towards the plume of snow marking Lantern Yat's landing zone. He pulls himself out of the snow a moment later, flying directly upwards and watching the snow carefully for any sign that his target is still moving.

Ah, let me guess. He's been gotten a few times in the back that way by other Lanterns?

Kara floats around to get a clearer look at him, sees the orange glow clearly and looks around-. I wave, and she raises her hand in greeting back before returning her attention to the tiny daxamite Lantern.

"Um. Hey? Who're you?"

Heh. Not that great with kids, especially unfamiliar ones, eh?

Sodam narrows his eyes towards his target for a moment before reassuring himself that it's inert. Then he turns to Kara with a broad smile on his face. "I'm krypon-ite!"

Kara blinks, checking to make sure that he's not a radioactive crystal. "You… Are..?"

Ah, perhaps he was trying to make a joke about being 'Krypton-lite'? Still fits that he'd mess up the punchline.

Or just picked the wrong word for the translator to misinterpret.

"Udh-!" Sodam cringes as he realises what he just said. "No! I mean, I'm from Daxam, which means I'm-. I'm like a kryptonian?"

"Oh, you're Sodam Yat! Paul told me about you."

Hopefully nothing bad. Although just knowing that there's a branch of her species out there probably reassures her a little.

"He did?"

Taranna and I drift closer, Ak-Var rising up to meet us.

Heh, Sodam's totally excited by his senior showing off about him.

"Where did the Eradicators come from?"

"Kal-El let us make them after Har-Zod gave us the designs. Mostly so that Kara can get some idea of what kryptonians fighting is like before someone shoves her through a building… Though… I need to learn that, too."

Hopefully with very constrained programming. Last thing you need are rogue Kryptonian battlebots.

Taranna frowns slightly. "Ak-Var, this is Lantern Taranna. She'll be joining us on Earth to help with the reconstruction."

"Oh." Ak-Var gives her a polite nod. "Ah, nice to meet you."

I can just see the mutual cautious look-over.

Taranna nods back. "You're the same species as Sodam?"

"Mostly. We don't have any current records on Daxam, but if the ones we do have-. I mean, the ones I got taught in school growing-. Growing up fifty years ago, they're basically the same apart from a few genetic tweaks people who stayed on Krypton never got."

Ones designed to keep them on the colony, if I remember right, like the heavy metal 'allergy'.

I see Lantern Yat smile as Kara rubs his head.

Ak-Var watches them too. "I guess his culture's… Nothing like Krypton's, is it?"

Oooh, head-pats already? I guess he's too cute and earnest to hold a grudge against.

"No, and he's too young to have internalised most of it. It's not going to be a point of familiarity."

He dips his head slightly. "I didn't really think it would be. It's just-. Kind of nice to see a mostly-kryptonian child."

To be fair, him not having internalised Daxamite isolationism is a good thing. But other stuff like social skills...

Taranna drifts slightly closer. "Have you been on Earth for long?"

"About a third of a local year."

Released after the Anti-Life passed, if I remember right. Not the best introduction to Earth...

"Are you a superhero?"

"I… Not really? I've been helping with reconstruction, but I don't really… Have the drive that Kal-El has and Kara's… Discovered. I've been trying to work out what I'm going to do once Earth's back to normal again and so far I'm coming up blank."

Not the sort of person into Law Enforcement, I see. And he's not really proficient at anything major.

"As long as it's not petty theft-"

"It was a prank! We were going to give it back!"

He's ribbing you. I hope.

"-then I'm happy with whatever you choose. And if you like having kryptonian children around there's a grand total of two kryptonian females-"

About a mile away, Kara's head comes up from her conversation with Lantern Yat and she looks curiously in our direction.

Admittedly, there's a gulf of universes between the two Karas.

"-whom you-."

Ak-Var looks mildly distraught. "Paul, super hearing!"

God, imagine the embarrassment.

"What?" Kara gives-. Me a sidelong glance before using her heat vision to make a picture in the snow for Lantern Yat. "You two aren't dating?"

"We're friends. And even if we were dating, we wouldn't be talking about children yet. I'm not old enough to be a dad!"

It's not like they're automatically going to hook up, OL.

Taranna frowns. "Your species lives so long that you don't consider yourself old enough when you're over fifty?"

"I spent most of that in-. In suspended animation. I'm actually… Nineteen, in Earth years?"

And Kara is between... Eighteen and twenty-ish? Given how long empowered Kryptonians can live, they've got plenty of time ahead, and there's always artificial reproduction methods available...

"Traditionally, people from my culture got married at nineteen. My father would have arranged a marriage for me after my coming of.. age.. ceremony."

"I had a betrothal which our families arranged, but we wouldn't actually have married until we were both in our twenties."

Well, at least she can talk about it without getting angry. Good show of focus.

"You could always throw yourself on a grenade and marry Other Kara."

"I.. don't really know her. But given the way Kara talks about her, I don't think it would work. Kara's great and all, and maybe in a few years something might happen, but right now I'm not even thinking about it."

Indeed. Get your own life sorted out before trying to bring new lives into the universe.

Taranna grins at me. "Thank you! He's perfect!"

Ak-Var stares like a rabbit in headlights. "Huh?"

...I feel like I just got flashbanged. Probably about how Ak's feeling too.

"This is an excellent way to stop my mother bothering me about getting married!"

"He.. wasn't actually the person I had in mind. I just.. wanted to introduce Lantern Yat."

Just watch out the 'fake dating' doesn't turn into real dating.

Unless it turns out you don't mind that.

"Oh. But you said that the other person was interested in a betrothal."

"Ah-. No, I think this is a cultural thing. They're interested in getting to know you to see if that's something you eventually want to do. There's no commitment at this stage."

Definitely a bit of a cultural misunderstanding. No-one here is leaping into engagements, much less marriage.

Ak-Var looks confused. "What do you want me to do?"

"Pretend to my mother we are considering a betrothal. As I said, it's normal in our culture but like you I'd.. rather leave it for a few years."

Oh, this has so much potential for comedy...

"Just pretend?"

"Yes."

"I can.. do that."

And if nothing else, they might become friends.

"Would you mind if I introduced you to Roy first? I-."

"Warning! Interdiction system activated!"

Uh-oh. Interstellar or interdimensional, though? Earth has so many different warning systems set up right now...

Hmm... Visitors from somewhere. Another system? Another universe? I'm sure we'll see soon. As for Ak-var and Taranna 'pretend-dating'... I've seen enough romantic comedies to know this will end with hilarity or tears and maybe a lesson for Coutara about fiddling with her daughter's life. Hopefully the former sort of ending, with everyone laughing about it, than the latter...

Turalon94 · 2025-09-17T06:53:22+0100

Who was Ak-Var again?

Thank you for your hard work.

Ngamer11 · 2025-09-17T07:19:24+0100

Turalon94 said:
Who was Ak-Var again?

Thank you for your hard work.

Krypotian who was sent to the Phantom Zone for petty theft. Paul mentioned there were people who should've been let out now like him, and Clark agreed that doing so was a good idea.

Signaller · 2025-09-17T07:34:28+0100

Mr Zoat said:
Lantern Yat strikes a distracted Eradicator unit at full speed in the small of the back, causing it to double over as its skeleton and servos snap!

Servos would be the small motors that turn with cranks attached to pull/push linkages, not the actual linkages themselves. Maybe change "servos snap!" to "servo shafts snap!", if the intent is that the linkages are being ripped off the servos entirely but are otherwise basically intact?

NightmareWarden · 2025-09-17T07:52:24+0100

Happy Birthday, Mr Zoat!

Mr Zoat · 2025-09-17T08:41:56+0100

NightmareWarden said:
Happy Birthday, Mr Zoat!

Thank you. I've brought in a cake for everyone in my office, but I guess you're going to have to settle for a description of the cake.

Signaller said:
Servos would be the small motors that turn with cranks attached to pull/push linkages, not the actual linkages themselves. Maybe change "servos snap!" to "servo shafts snap!", if the intent is that the linkages are being ripped off the servos entirely but are otherwise basically intact?

He's a KEq. Everything's setting snapped.

Istaran · 2025-09-17T09:10:57+0100

I like to believe that Roy told the AI on the spaceship to interdict any attempt by Paul at matchmaking.

mastermenthe · 2025-09-17T11:59:57+0100

Mr Zoat said:
"Would you mind if I introduced you to Roy first? I-."

"Warning! Interdiction system activated!"

Taranna's mother triggered the inderdiction system with sheer outrage?

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

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