david
Getting sticky.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2016
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He can either help a version of himself, the closest thing to family he has, save their family and universe, or he can try to stop it and further risk the entire multiverse.
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"And what happens if I help you?"
"I-. That… Might make things easier. Certainly… Safer. Would-? Would you?"
"Of course." I shrug. "You're only doing what I'd do in your place."
Homeward
Bound
"Thundercats?"
"Sort of. Most of the characters look different-. I can recognise most of them-"
Heh, who'd have thought a series largely based around selling cat-people He-Man copycats and their cool vehicles to children wouldn't make perfect sense?I nod.
"-but the specifics have changed. And what little I remember of the setting appears to have been radically altered as well. What I'm living in actually makes a good deal more sense."
So there's at least two other Yellow Pauls out there? Or Jades, or a combination of the two... Wonder where they're stuck?"How are you charging your ring?"
He raises his right hand, the two additional rings he acquired mid-fight having been returned to their owners.
And given what he did in canon to make a Yellow Ring, I don't recommend asking..."Something about the magic of Mum-Ra's sword allows me to connect to the yellow light directly, if I meditate on my fears for long enough." He looks at me hopelessly. "I don't suppose you've got a spare yellow personal lantern lying around, have you?"
I shake my head.
"I hired the Qwardian who made Sinestro's lantern, but I haven't asked him to make me spares."
Oh-ho, Gabriel!Paul got snatched at some point? And I'm sure Gordon wouldn't mind handing out rings..."Damn it."
He looks down, shaking his head.
"I don't know where Krona put the sword. Without it, my ring will die. I haven't spent any time learning their languages." He looks over to where Guardian Stewart and Commander Gordon are studying the tuning fork on this side, a version of me who thought that stapling wings onto his back was clever flying through the portal back to his Earth. "I'll have to ask if they've got a spare gold ring they can give me."
...You know, with a little practice and some charge, Yaul probably could manage himself. How hard would it be to give him the specs? (Hint, hint)"I'd offer you an orange one, but I left both of mine back on my Earth." I shrug, holding up my ringless hands slightly. "Sorry." He nods. "Stupid thing is, I can make personal lanterns, too."
He looks up, frowning. "What? That's something we can do?"
See? He's definitely interested. Though he might need to put some skill points on Ring Mastery..."Yes. Ah, I haven't made a good one so far, but it would work."
"Damn. I didn't even try that. I just assumed that it was impossible. How exactly-?"
Hmm... Like Darko asked, how does OL look? I'm picturing something a little more oriental in hairstyle? Not a tonsured queue, but more like a little bun on top? Think Cao Cao in Dynasty Warriors (nice hair ornament optional.)
You could have done that at any time, couldn't you? And you let him sweat because...?"Your turn!"
He nods. "You haven't found a sword, have you?"
"No, but fortunately I'm a massively skilled expert in temporal manipulation, which means-" He sticks out his right hand, and-. Suddenly there's a huge sword in it. "-it was in my hand in the future all along. Here."
The joy of wonky Timey-Wimey stuff.Time Trapper hands it to Yellow, who takes it and scans it with his ring before nodding.
"Do I thank you for finding it or curse you for hiding it?"
And the prize for Understatement of Time's End goes to OL!"Most societies don't have good vocabulary for dealing with paradoxes. Though technically this stopped being a paradox as soon as I handed it to you." He looks up. "John!"
"Ah…" Yellow looks at me, clearly not quite sure what to say. "No offence meant, but let's not do this again."
"Probably for the best."
I'm guessing he snagged a charge from the other Yellows before they left. He should have, if he was smart.Guardian Stewart gestures and the hole above the tuning fork shifts, from Earth to another world entirely.
"Well… Goodbye."
He turns and flies, accelerating until he passes through the portal entirely.
Picturing both a smirk and a Spock Eyebrow here. Love that tone."Thundercats. I wondered if we were limited to comics, but it sounds like we could end up anywhere."
He nods. "Do you have a moment?"
"Do I have a moment… For an expert in temporal manipulation?"
And the snark here. It's dripping all over the floor!He looks away, smiling. "Yes, I-. Did you know that I'm you?"
I stare.
"No, that… Genuinely never occurred to me, given how we look completely different."
Ah, finally, OL learns the details of that little Time-Travel incident earlier, not that he remembers it anyway."No, not-. Most of those others were… Versions of us that ended up in different places after the event. I'm not. We're not."
"Okay, then… What are we?"
Nihilophobia, as you put it earlier? Would sound unlikely that you'd overcome it for the sake of another you."We're separated by an alteration in the timeline. Vandal Savage went back, and… Long story short, you got erased, I got created, then I restored your timeline."
"Ah, thank.. you..? That seems out of character for us."
"I'm going to be well within my rights to punch you in the face. Righteously so, even."He shakes his head. "My temporality was unstable. It would have collapsed eventually. This way I got a chance to recreate it, to change thing-."
"If you're planning on changing time back-."
A running thing for the emperor of dickhead scientists. Remember JLA/Avengers?"No. If it would work, I'd do it. We both know that. It wouldn't work. Time won't allow it. Even…" He looks around. "Here, pseudo time can't support that much space. No, Krona-."
"Took your plan to an extreme when you tried to get his help."
You might say it's his super-power, in fact. He must really have sunk a lot of points into the rarely-used Common Sense tree. Most people ignore it because it defuses all the fun...He frowns. "Something like that. How did you guess?"
"The one of us who freed you?" I pull an orange power ring out of my pocket and slide it onto my left ring finger. "He picked up a third ring. And downloaded images of you cooperating with Krona from a Manhunter. Sensible fellow."
Ah, yes. DC's attempt to have a Multiverse during a period when Multiverses were banned via Editorial Fiat. But writers gotta write alternate universes...He looks away, shaking his head. "You'd think a Guardian would practice basic data security."
"So. What now?"
"So I use the tuning fork and the similarities and.. differences between us to create… Do you remember 'hypertime'?"
So, indulging in some universal mechanics. And the tuning fork is his wrench?"I remember the name."
"Essentially, I change the-. The parallel universe cluster we all exist in so that time changes beyond a certain level create a new timeline, rather than erasing the old one. Both our timelines will exist, and we can both go home."
Hopefully without the cliche, "Muhahaha! There's nothing you can do to stop me!" That would just get him stomped by narrative causality."What's the risk?"
"I could horribly fuck up all of everything. Particularly if you try and stop me." He exhales. "I was hoping that you wouldn't have a ring."
So he could present me with a fait accompli.
It's what he Wants, after all. And one thing OL is good at, is making prospective enemies get what they want so that they don't become enemies."And what happens if I help you?"
"I-. That… Might make things easier. Certainly… Safer. Would-? Would you?"
"Of course." I shrug. "You're only doing what I'd do in your place."
This way I got a chance to recreate it, to change things-." (Unless that was intentional...)
You should have "A Wizard did it", in there, somewhere, and at far worse odds, "A Lizard did it", just to be really thorough.Taking all bets, folks, taking all bets.
How is this going to get screwed up?
I have "summons the anti-monitor" at even odds, "fuses all Paul-timelines into one mega-world" at 1:10, "Argel Tal wrecks the experiment as part of a Tzeetchian Time Loop, scattering the Paul's across the multiverse retroactively and opening the way for Chaos to spread across the local multiversal cluster" at 100:1, and "Grayven shows up" at 1 in 3
Except even if he helps him there's still the possibility it will massively damage the multiverse.He can either help a version of himself, the closest thing to family he has, save their family and universe, or he can try to stop it and further risk the entire multiverse.
Saw that coming. Hopefully this actually works out. Then the Paragon can go back and file one of the most confusing reports the Justice League has ever gotten. Also, how would Jordan and Stewart react to finding out their counterparts replaced the Guardians?"And what happens if I help you?"
"I-. That… Might make things easier. Certainly… Safer. Would-? Would you?"
"Of course." I shrug. "You're only doing what I'd do in your place."
Except even if he helps him there's still the possibility it will massively damage the multiverse.
"So. What now?"
"So I use the tuning fork and the similarities and.. differences between us to create… Do you remember 'hypertime'?"
"I remember the name."
"Essentially, I change the-. The parallel universe cluster we all exist in so that time changes beyond a certain level create a new timeline, rather than erasing the old one. Both our timelines will exist, and we can both go home."
Who can't actually call themselves that, because none of them can say that name.I see a future "Council of Pauls" or a "Paralel Assembly of Uniformed Lanterns" as a way to keep contact, share notes, offer help to those Lanterns stranded in difficult dimensions, face off Crisis level dangers.
You forgot option 3.And if he doesn't help him is ANOTHER CRISIS after they just deal with one hours ago.
Both options can fuck things up, so why not pick the one were he helps himself?
I don't get it. Doesn't the hypertime already exist? Renegade is also a single change away from Pavlos and on an instance of Earth-16. Same goes for Sybarite I think. So what's up with this? Why is Maul's instance wrong. Why does he need to create something that already seems to exist? Am I misunderstanding what 'hypertime' is?
Thank you, corrected.This way I got a chance to recreate it, to change things-." (Unless that was intentional...)
Sounds about right.Uff, okay, wait.
Time Trapper Paul is a version of Paul that got created through a time paradox.
He sacrificed his unstable line to recreate Big Orange.
But he wanted his own back.
Teamed up with Krona.
Krona wanted too...use all alternates to collapse their multiverse cluster to observe the event?
Now Trapper Paul has a new chance to alter time itself to allow his original line to exist again?
Did I get it right, Zoat?
Yes, Mandate Earths exist in Hypertime.
But they aren't Mandate Paul turned TT's Mandate Earth, they would have their own Mandate Pauls.
Power Girl had a similar experience. She's from Earth-2. Dimensionally travelling, she came across an Earth-2. An Earth-2 that already had its own Power Girl.
He's looking for a Mandate Earth where he isn't an extra jigsaw piece.
You forgot option 3.
Paul doesn't help Time Trapper, and instead stops Time Trapper before he can even make the attempt thus not putting the multiverse at risk at all.
You forgot option 3.
Paul doesn't help Time Trapper, and instead stops Time Trapper before he can even make the attempt thus not putting the multiverse at risk at all.
While I like the explanation that's not quite what he said. I could be having a reading comprehension failure but I think he said that he wants to change how the local multiverse cluster reacts to time shenanigans from '(big enough) change to the past changes the present' to '(big enough) change to the past creates a new branch/stable parallel timeline'. So that Mandated parallel can exist withoutGaiaTime constantly trying to erase it from existence. Am I wrong?
edit: If all he wants is a Mandated parallel why not just pick one where he never appeared or where he died early in his career? He wasn't the one who caused that timeline to happen, Vandal Savage did.
When/if Mandate Paul explains how these extra universes happen to exist, there seems to be a hole in his theory. A hole big enough for a universe.
On Grayven's Earth, four leaf clovers are very common and five leaf clovers are considered lucky.Yes, I know what he said.
In my explanation, Gravy's, Common Sense Paul's, and Sybarite's YJ-Earth exist as shown.
In Mandate Paul's explanation, they don't exist, because according to him universes don't branch.
When/if Mandate Paul explains how these extra universes happen to exist, there seems to be a hole in his theory. A hole big enough for a universe.
On Grayven's Earth, four leaf clovers are very common and five leaf clovers are considered lucky.
It hasn't come up in the story yet.
A mysterious figure in a hooded purple robe, until recently. In this chapter specifically I think Paul is just being sarcastic.MASSIVE FUCK UP APPROACHING!
DANGER! DANGER! WILL ROBINSON! RUN FOR COVER!
How does Time Trapper look exactly if Paul didn't recognize him as an alternate version?
Someone needs to grab copies of those, and subtitle them.Oh, well, such a drastic difference explains everything. Next thing you'll tell us that Mandated Earth produced 3 seasons of Firefly (just with gratuitous English instead of gratuitous Mandarin).
On Grayven's Earth, four leaf clovers are very common and five leaf clovers are considered lucky.