Given that he's had no training for this or experience with a power ring, Orion's current record of five unified strikes seems pretty reasonable to me.
"Your manners try my patience."
Heh. No-one likes a backseat driver, huh?
"Then get angry! There is no need to contain yourself here, godling. Use your passions to fuel your labours!"
Orion brings the hammer down with a little more force this time, but the tiny fragment of ring that had already been created shatters from the mismatch of emotion.
Honestly, that might end up with Draan getting more
anger than they
expected.
Ping.
Orion's jaw trembles for a moment as the red dust evaporates from the force, but he takes a moment and then raises the hammer once more.
"
I know he's annoying, Sweetie. But I think he's honestly offering good advice." At least Orion isn't rage-quitting the process.
I'm not sure that's the best approach. I'd start with a skeleton of things that make him angry now, and build more complex things from there. But I don't know anything like as much about the red light as I do the orange. Or maybe he's just trying to wind-
Jade taps my left gauntlet.
And I suspect the Red light would not benefit from such a structured process. It always seemed more spontaneous and impulsive, every other time I've seen it. Or laser-focused, in the case of Geoffrey Talbot.
-Orion up?
She continues to tap… Morse code.
Ah, not trusting words with Draan floating about freely like they are.
Did he get the red material from the Free Lancers?
Hm. It would make a certain amount of sense. I assumed that they used the gates to get to Sector Five One Nine Seven, but Draan Del Daar could quite easily have moved them himself. And while this system's detection network is pretty darn good, we've never tested it against a hostile maltusian. He could teleport them to this highly shielded underground base without being spotted.
And I see Jade's made the same deduction us readers have been, though our estimate is based on the law of narrative simplicity. You know, don't introduce more elements than you plan to thread into the story.
So it's possible. Can I gather more information?
Ping.
"
No, Sweetie, not quite it. Maybe we can let the valve open a little?" And OL is taking the guess seriously. Occam;s Razor, after all.
I can't see through the walls. More limited scans aren't showing me any traces of their emotions or biology. What..? Else..?
It's his motive again. If he was sending the Free Lancers anyway, was it a fluke? They definitely got to Volkreg before we did. Did he hear that I was asking Kalmin about other rings? Was me doing this just a happy coincidence as far as he was concerned? I mean, Hinon's been making waves, so it's… Not out of the question. Except… I saw orange from him earlier, but no red.
That may be why they asked you to do this: Preparing the subject to provide a channel for the
Rage Draan can no longer
bother feeling.
Ah. The red images were slightly different in each location. It might be possible to use empathic vision on them directly to get an idea of whether they're from the places we visited. And it they are…
Ping.
"
Still not right, Sweetie. Let's try... Put your feelings about Him
into it?" Careful, OL. Remember what happened last time you poked the Red Light? And the
headache?
Then I'll be justified in questioning him more aggressively.
It might disrupt what Orion's doing, but given his current success rate I doubt that it will make much difference. Alright. Crank up the empathic vision and see what I can-
About all Orion's doing right now is producing a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But he
is getting angrier and
angrier...
The bull lowers its horns and charges and RIP and TEAR and PAIN!
-seeow.
...I bet even the Ophidian has a headache now. Hello there,
Butcher. At least you know it's the real thing now?
Ping.
That was… Pretty similar. The rampant bull featured pretty strongly, but then again, when would the Butcher not be rampant?
"
Look, Orion, Sweetie... Maybe it's something about the way
you're hitting it?"
I tap back 'Uncertain, but probably'.
"I am hitting the forge as you insist."
And the anger is starting to rise, I see. Maybe that's why this isn't working: Orion is still trying to keep it leashed, instead of channeling it down his arm and into the
stuff.
"Any fool can hit a forge with a hammer! I need you to hit it with your soul!"
Ping.
"
Huh. He might have a point
, Sweetie. Maybe we've been going about this the wrong way?"
"You want me to..?"
Ping. … Ping.
"
Well, it is based on rage
... So maybe we can let the leash slip a little, just this once."
"You're a new god, aren't you?"
"Very well, then." RIGHTEOUS FURY!
Ah, it looks like things are about to get
loud. In more ways than one.
The hammers begins glowing a faint red as he strikes the anvil once again.
"I will show you." DIVINE CHASTISEMENT!
Yeah, the leash is out of his hand, the Red Dog of War is barking...
Ping ping ping.
"The full extent of my rage!" GODLY WRATH!
"Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear... This is going to be so bad for someone. Everyone brace yourselves..." ...And someone is going to feel the Dog's
bite.
The hammer lights up, tron lines shining with blinding light! The forge glows as well, and I can see whatever it is in the troughs flowing to the forge in a series of flickering, rage-filled images.
Jade jerks away, hands clenching into fists and her body crouching slightly as she tries to keep it from affecting her. I'm-.
The one drawback of letting fly with this much fury... Let's hope it's limited to just this chamber.
I'm. No Ophidian. But I… I'm not feeling angry myself. Why aren't..?
I raise my right arm, empathic vision turned up. I can't normally see myself in the way I see other people, but-. Ah. Red light swirls and… It's trying to attach itself to me but it isn't finding anything to attach to before flowing away, drawn to the far angrier Orion and... Jade.
Enlightenment has all your inputs capped with Orange Light, I guess. That's why external effects slide right off you.
Does this happen when I make a ring? That could be a problem.
Ping.
"
Uh-oh!" To be fair, it apparently does take absolute focus on the emotion, just as said way back when. It's just that OL's focus is already absolute, so he doesn't notice it from the inside.
I turn away from Orion, who continues to swing his hammer with greater ferocity even as he completely loses his rhythm.
Ping!
"
Sweetie, focus! Don't let the Dog rule you!" Oh, this could be bad. He's going full ham...
"That's the spirit! I can nearly feel it myself!"
"Jade?"
...She must have a good hold of herself, given she's not trying to tear someone's throat out with her little finger right now. (And she probably
could, being a ninja...)
"It's-. Making me think of all the things you do that make me angry."
"Normally, I'd be happy to talk about them and see if we can resolve the-."
...OL, slamming the button until it
breaks is not how to deal with it.
Her helmet comes up so she can make eye contact through our visors. "That's one of them."
"The underlying issue, but as Orion said, anger feeds anger."
A flame needs fuel, after all.
"What keeps it out? Tell me!"
Ping!
"
Orion! Let's try to bring it down a notch, Sweetie!"
In her case? I'd like to say love, but I'm a little more self-aware than that. Given her life to date, not fear or compassion-. Alan. She always seemed relaxed around him, even when he was wearing his ring.
"Hope. Your emotions are they way they are as a reaction against your father. Embrace the idea that you can be a new person. Remember how you-" She nods. "-feel around Alan. Hold on to that."
Seems like the best option. Everything else can fan the flames the Red Light is sparking.
"It's not… Easy."
Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
"
Orion! It's too much! Stoooop!" Oh, boy. I think this might get
messy...
"INFERNAL DEVICE, CEASE YOUR INCESSANT SQUAWKING!"
Orion uses his left hand to rip his Mother Box from his belt and hurl it-.
I mean, he probably has her tinkling in his head nearly all the time, given his innate rage, but in this case...
I try to use a construct to catch it, but it's too slow to form. Instead I activate my armour's flight system and catch it.
Ping.
"
Owie." ...Familiarity is breeding contempt. And contempt is fuel for the fires of
Rage.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it."
Orion tosses his hammer into the wall, cratering it up to the handle!
Orion, don't you say it! There are some things you
can't take back!
"I MEANT EVERYTHING!"
And then his face starts to… Change.
...It's time, folks!
Baha Men, hit it!
