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

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Mr Zoat said:
15th April
06:28 GMT -5

"That was a bit quick?"

John shrugs. "With demons you have to take your time, because if you make a mess of the binding then at best they kill you. But since we're not trying to bind Morpheus -just get his attention- it doesn't really matter."
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Yeah, binding him would be a bad idea. The sort of bad idea that gets you stuck in a cycle of 'waking up' dreams for years. Best to be very polite.

I look the diagram over, applying my apprentice-level comprehension of magic ritual to what he's doing. Looks.. like a.. bound evocation without the focus circle this sort of ritual usually has.

"You haven't filled the spaces for active or passive links. Do you need me to get something?"
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Good to see he's been paying attention to his magical co-workers' techniques.

"A piece of the Mother Star should do."

"Any piece in particular?"

"If she touched a piece, that piece. Otherwise, no."
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I doubt any of them came closer than a thousand kilometres, really. Any closer might have been unwise.

I nod and

step out,

reappearing in the physical universe on the skin of the Mother Star. The perspective of the starfish landscape and non-horizon throws me off for a moment, but then I look down and ignore it, cutting through the covering of rock and ice with an x-ionised knife to get at the flesh beneath. The size of it means that it's not practical for me to cut any singular part off, but a lump of meat should to it. Yeah, that looks fine.
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That must be quite a view. I'm impressed it has enough avarice remaining to act as a stepping waypoint.

I

reappear in the tower and hold it out to him.

"Anything else?"
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Wow, you just make magic so easy. All these hard-to-get components and you're just 'Here'.

He waves a gesture with his right hand and a faint red.. disk forms under the meat and then floats it over to its position in the diagram.

"Do have you anything she owns?"
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Wonder what this'll be.

"Yes."

Zagreus pulls a.. photograph out of one of his pockets, steps forward and lays it face down in the diagram.
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Hmm... Seriously wondering what it's a photo of? Her? OL? Some heartthrob?

"Right then. That'll do for Melinoë, now for the dream."

He carefully opens the box containing… Not a lot of dream powder, and taps the tiniest portion into a pestle in which he's crushed some flowers and seeds. He then carries it into the centre of the ritual space.
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Ah, a little incense for the mental state, eh?

"Any of you know anything about lucid dreaming?"

"I know I've never really done it."

Koriand'r shakes her head while Zagreus shrugs. "Gods don't dream in quite the same way that mortals do. My experience isn't relevant."
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I shudder to imagine what they're like. Quite strange, no doubt.

"Alright, well, make yourselves comfortable anyway."

I sit down, crossing my legs. Koriand'r copies me, while Zagreus stands at parade rest. John shrugs, then clicks his right middle finger against his right thumb, using sympathetic resonance to ignite the bowl. There's a puff of relatively normal smoke, then it… Becomes decidedly abnormal. It's.. twinkling, and there's a… Depth to the cloud that it clearly shouldn't have. It flows outward, almost reaching for John, Zagreus-. And Koriand'r. But apparently ignoring me.
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And cue the font change? Or is he resistant enough to magic not to get drunk on it any more? :D

Ah.

I don't want to mess this up because this ritual doesn't interact with my wards very well. I drop down my environmental shield and lean into the miasma as it flows past me. A… Slightly woody smell

which… Oh, I… See. I
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Oooh, Ophidi-chan's coming along for the ride, is she?

blink and I'm almost completely back into the room. It's… Like I'm looking at their full emotional association network and… It takes me a moment to recognise what's happening now and what's past or imagined. Ordinarily I'd try to pull back, but I suppose-.

I look at myself as.. the room falls away slightly. It's still there, but it's less… Relevant. I'm… Larger, glowing with the orange light and for a disturbing moment I'm not sure whether I'm looking though the Ophidian's eyes of my own.
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Not quite as trippy as his spell to free Teth-Adom, but funky nonetheless.

In Koriand'r I/we we see her think about/relive a training session on Okaara, an armoured figure serving as a sparring partner for her class. John sits at the feet of a master of some mystic art, listening keenly to his words. Zagreus guides an indistinct figure through a dense forest while I…

No. Wait.
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And here comes Dream. Just the shape of it would have gotten his attention, methinks.

The fighter turns to us. / The mystic turns to us. / The explorer turns to us.

"I see what my brother/sister found interesting about you. In the world yet not entirely part of it."

"Lord Dream." / "Morpheus"
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Speaking through their dream figures? I suppose it saves him manifesting completely.

The fighter is watching the class run through katas while talking to us. / The mystic holds the jewel up to John's eyes. / The explorer offer a flask to us.

"Why do you seek me?"

"We appears to have mislaid Melinoë in your realm, and were hopeful that you could find her and return her to us."
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I'm worried that he wasn't already aware of her presence, but he does tend to limit himself to make life interesting...

"Yes, her sudden presence could be… Disruptive. Do you offer anything for her safe return?"

"What do you want?"
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Ooh, that's humble. Entirely open-ended and without any conditions. That'll make a point. Good thing he's not a demon, that'd screw you over hard.

The fighter shows Koriand'r how to dismantle and clean a gun. / The mystic passes a scroll to us. / The explorer extends a rope down to us.

"There is something that you can do for me. During the period during which I was trapped on Earth, there was a man who made an unusual connection to my realm. He used his prophetic abilities to hunt criminals and named himself after me."
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Ah, the 'Golden Age' Sandman. Supposedly inspired by a vision of the captured Dream.

"Wesley Dodds."

Dead of a stroke over a decade ago. Alan's spoken to me about him a few times.
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Oh, dear. I know of only one thing that could be linked to him...

"It has been brought to my attention that I do not always reward good service as I should. Wesley Dodds is now dead, but in his memory I would see some unfinished business attended to."

"I'd be happy to do that anyway. What's the job?"

"Wesley Dodds was unable to restore his adopted son Sanderson Hawkins to full health. Find him, and complete his work."
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Another member of the JSA. He was turned into a silicate lifeform, and spent much of the century sealed in a glass containment vessel after going on a rampage.

…

"I/we wasn't/weren't sure if that happened here. "I/we already looked for him."

"You have more resources and allies to draw upon now than you did then."
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In other words: "Look again, and look harder."

"Okay, if… You're telling me that he's definitely still around… I'll get right on it."

The fighter is strikes us and Koriand'r both, sending us tumbling to the floor. / The mystic exhales a pink mist. / The explorer pulls and leaver and closes a stone door on us.

And I snap awake, the mist gone and my colleagues pulling themselves upright.
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I'd say that's a dismissal if ever I saw one.

Well, that went well. No-one's been driven mad or condemned to eternal sleep, so he was in a good mood. And that was a significant statement about OL: "In the world, yet not entirely part of it." I wonder if he'll remember that distinction. And now we see the next plot point for the episode. Find Sandy and bring him back into the world safely.

The explorer pulls and leaver and...
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The explorer pulls a lever and...
 
It's interesting that Dream focused all his attention on Paul rather than John, who was leading the ritual. Unless of course each person has their own conversation with with him, which could be implied with the triple scenes going through that conversation.
 
Idkusername said:
Did he not have Hinon take a look at it? A Controller? You're telling me they got nothing out of that? Really?
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Darko said:
There's also Constantine, who Paul worked with for several months.

You can bet your ass that he went to that place and figured out how the spell works, and most likely told Paul.
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Magic spells aren't a permanent function.

The binding spell was cast over 70 years ago, and the remains of the binding circle itself very specifically destroyed in 1988.
 
Oh this storyline reminded me of a Tim Hunter story.

For whatever reason, Harry Pot...Tim Hunter, the Merlin, decided to hide in a reality with no magic.

So he created one. Universe creation is a nice perk if you can get it.

I found it interesting what DC thought a world without magic would look like- No religion. No dreams.
 
I thought the SI's avarice-based instantaneous travel was dependent on using the desires of creatures as navigation posts. How was he able to transport himself out to the mother star on Pluto when there were no living beings with desires for light-minutes around?
 
Steelplaza said:
I thought the SI's avarice-based instantaneous travel was dependent on using the desires of creatures as navigation posts. How was he able to transport himself out to the mother star on Pluto when there were no living beings with desires for light-minutes around?
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The Honden contains all desires that are and have been. People were wanting things there under an hour ago.
 
Vaermina said:
Magic spells aren't a permanent function.

The binding spell was cast over 70 years ago, and the remains of the binding circle itself very specifically destroyed in 1988.
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John and Hinon are highly clever and capable people.

Figuring out what was done should be well in their skill range, even if the spell is old and the circle was destroyed.
 
Chojin Patriarch said:
Well, that went well. No-one's been driven mad or condemned to eternal sleep, so he was in a good mood. And that was a significant statement about OL: "In the world, yet not entirely part of it." I wonder if he'll remember that distinction. And now we see the next plot point for the episode. Find Sandy and bring him back into the world safely.
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That was my take too. Dream was always one of the nicer of the Endless, But once angered would always pull out that old-school old testament type wrath. Given the nature of this request being something that he would probably have done on his own anyway, This probably comes off as "oh these guys are trying to help me do my job" so he's likely to think well of OL and friends.

I still think I am just infinitely happy that the Endless are even in this story, even only as brief cameos and the like.
 
Handlewithcare said:
Well, that went exceedingly well for dealing with an Endless.

And Melinoes photo is of Paul, isn't it?
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That's probably because even Dream would be willing to.peacefully get rid of a powerful but needed being that deals with humanity misery that's trapped on Dreamland and influencing dreams to turn into nightmares.

And because this is most likely junior and the first Dream committed suicide by Cape already.
 
Hmm, as Magic used more of a fundamental force in the universe before the Oan-Magic War, I wonder if all the stars and suns of the galaxy used to emit as many joules, or thaums of supernatural energies as they do the materially oriented energies.

Perhaps "waking up" several stars/sun in some sectors might allow an easier practice of sorcery in those same areas of space?
 
Pinklestia said:
That's probably because even Dream would be willing to.peacefully get rid of a powerful but needed being that deals with humanity misery that's trapped on Dreamland and influencing dreams to turn into nightmares.

And because this is most likely junior and the first Dream committed suicide by Cape already.
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Morpheus is still alive in this story.

Daniel showed up in the Wing and Dagger episode and was still human.

Tzeentch said:
Hmm, as Magic used more of a fundamental force in the universe before the Oan-Magic War, I wonder if all the stars and suns of the galaxy used to emit as many joules, or thaums of supernatural energies as they do the materially oriented energies.

Perhaps "waking up" several stars/sun in some sectors might allow an easier practice of sorcery in those same areas of space?
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I don't think that war happened in this story.
 
Tzeentch said:
If the Empire of Tears existed, an intergalactic empire that maintained it rule through mainly sorcery, not technology, there's a likelihood the war did indeed happen....
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Possibly, but not that much.

Yes they may have fought a magic using empire, but I don't think they got rid of a whole lot of the magic in the universe.
 
Darko said:
John and Hinon are highly clever and capable people.

Figuring out what was done should be well in their skill range, even if the spell is old and the circle was destroyed.
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You are overestimating their capabilities by several orders of magnitude.

I mean seriously, using the logic of "they were at a place where a spell was cast 70 years ago so should know everything about it." they should both know literally every spell that ever existed.
 
Vaermina said:
You are overestimating their capabilities by several orders of magnitude.

I mean seriously, using the logic of "they were at a place where a spell was cast 70 years ago so should know everything about it." they should both know literally every spell that ever existed.
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No I said that between their skill and knowledge they should be able to make a highly educated guess at what happened and how the spell works, even if they don't know all of it.

Hinon is from a race of supergeniuses that have accumulated extreme amounts of knowledge and have had dealings with godlike beings for eons, including the Endless, and wield godlike powers themselves.

When she went there she also explained to Paul how the thing can trap an Endless, so chances are extremely high she managed to figure it out.

John is a highly skilled and clever mage that has been able to figure out complex spells in the past and has extensive knowledge on how to bind powerful beings.
 
Going by The Legion of Super-Heroes: Great Darkness Saga and the fact that the team had Mordru as a enemy i'd say that there is a lot of magic out there if OL were to go looking for it.
 
Vaermina said:
That was before Zoat inserted his personal retcon that magic only works around planets.
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Hence why I think that might be a result of the Guardians war upon the supernatural.

If they couldn't completely remove it from existence, it only makes sense they'd find ways to at least diminish it's presence and influence upon the material universe as much as possible.
 
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