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

Reader mode
Mr Zoat said:
Being a virgin does not give you superpowers.

Trust me.
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Have you tried meeting the requirements of multiple Holier-Than-Thou Flags at the same time?

Chastity by itself won't cut. Unless it is some extreme version like never masturbated or had a nocturnal emission.
You need to stack on some others, like Poverty (giving away wealth, up to living entirely on the charity of others), Dietary Restrictions (at the very least, giving up red meat, up to the highest levels subsisting entirely on magically conjured manna (or just mana directly), some degree of nonviolence (lethality &/or target restrictions), and so on.

The calculation works by multiplying your individual scores from each category to get your final Saintliness score. That mean ignoring even one category entirely gives you a score of zero, on account of anything times zero equals zero. There is an exception for a perfect score in a category, but those are hard to meet and really easy to lose involuntarily, and are less about purity and more about innocence.

Something to keep in mind is absent going through some hoops, ring based sonic showers don't contribute towards ritual cleanliness. That hung me up for a while before I figured it out.
 
Plutonian (part 1)
Plutonian

12th April
08:43 GMT -1

King Cyprian looks out across the foam-wreathed seascape surrounding Venturia's largest surface territory.

"You know, I came up here once as a young man."

His meeting with King Orin and company is scheduled to begin a little later today. It was agreed fairly early on that neither Venturia nor Poseidonis were appropriate venues. Aurania would have been even worse. Most other Atlantean cities were unacceptably close to Poseidonis, and Venturia didn't really have good relations with any of the ones who weren't. Thankfully, Queen Hippolyta was willing to host them both.

"What did you think?"

"I thought that the smell was unpleasant, and that at any moment I might fall into the horizon."

"Can't do much about the first, but in my experience the second is very uncommon."

"Obviously I knew that I wouldn't, but even in clear waters it isn't possible to see so far beneath the surface. And the sun…"

He looks up for a moment.

"It seemed so small. In the shallows the light diffuses through the water, so I assumed that as I kept going up it would become more diffuse. Instead, the sky was covered by silt and there was a tiny burning dot."

He gestures towards it with his right hand.

"It was a very strange experience. Though I'm proud to say that I toughed it out longer than all but one of my peers."

"And then what?"

"Then I was berated by my nursemaid, and then my father, and then my mother. And then my aunt, though for different reasons." He looks down for a moment. "My caregivers felt that I'd exposed myself to risk unnecessarily. My parents thought that I would harm my relationship with Queen Clea by reminding her of her defeat by Princess Diana, and thus reduce my chance of becoming her heir."

"And did it?"

"I don't think that it affected it one way or another. Most of my competition disqualified themselves in various ways. Sometimes, keeping your head down and your nose to the grindstone works." He lets out a quiet chuckle. "If attaining political power is your objective."

"Wasn't it yours?"

"No, not particularly. I was born to a high station, and I was aware of the responsibilities that gave me. I.. simply.. endeavoured to serve the state as best I could. As the more ambitious people around me crashed and burned."

Another quiet chuckle, this one not particularly happy.

"I didn't think that Queen Clea was ever actually going to die. Ah-." He shakes his head. "I know that's ridiculous; Atlantean Purebloods aren't immortal by any stretch of the imagination. But she defined our politics for so long, the idea of anyone -myself especially- taking over from her…"

"I think I know how you feel. Of course, I'm not in the frame to take over from Queen Elizabeth."

"I don't have any real objection to Lord-Lantern Manga Khan having it. The next class can just use one of the other islands. But what to do afterwards…"

"Trade with the surface?"

"I hesitate to say 'yes', but if Poseidonis can do it…" He takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. "We planned extensively for what we would do if Poseidonis ever became aggressive. But even after Arthur Curry became Crown Prince, we never really planned for peaceful interaction with the surface."

"I'm told that you're not supposed to call him that."

He turns his head my way. "Is it not the name he was born to? That he was raised under? I don't know what Queen Atlanna was thinking."

"She was thinking that with a lot of the monarch's powers transferred to the senate, that her heir's focus should be international relations rather than internal affairs."

"It's a little disheartening that she thought so little of us."

"Did you ever try to reach out from your side?"

"Yes. To Prince Orm."

"Ah."

"Quite. It seemed like we had a lot in common." He shrugs. "I tell myself that he fooled a great many people, but if his duplicity hadn't been uncovered by someone-"

"Me."

"-then-." He frowns. "Honestly?"

"I disarmed and disabled him. Tracking him down was a team effort. You didn't know?"

"A disadvantage of isolationism is that we're generally last with the news."

"Well, word to the wise: if you're going to get into a fight, make sure that your invulnerable armour covers your entire body. Losing to a group of teenaged neophytes because it didn't can be rather embarrassing."

"I'm under no illusions about my martial abilities. Though I'm… I'm not sure. 'Disappointed' doesn't seem quite right considering what he was trying to do, but knowing that he was defeated like that seems a little… Off."

"Real life is frequently lacking in poetry. I suppose that ideally he should have been defeated in a climactic duel at the North Pole while undertaking a desperate attempt to pull off his master plan after having his identity revealed. But as it happened a group of youths only one of whom had ever met him before walked in on him and beat him into a coma. Heck, I can name a dozen American supervillains who died from gunshot wounds inflicted by random passers by, and a dozen more killed by police."

And a few like Yellow Wasp who retire with a bag full of loot and their nemesis' infant son as a trophy and finally die in a car crash years later having not gone down for so much as speeding. That's pretty unsatisfying too.

"I imagine-."

My ring blinks, and King Cyprian looks down at it.

"Is that our call?"

"Probably." I raise it to eye level. "Answer."

The head of Lantern Savenlovich appears over my ring.

"What news?"

"The Atlantean delegation has arrived and cleared the gate area. You are free to proceed."

A pretty reasonable arrangement. While they are both the monarchs of their respective countries, Atlantis is larger, older, and more prosperous than the City-State of Venturia. Which naturally means that King Orin comes ahead of King Cyprian in the order of precedence.

King Cyprian nods and raises his right hand towards his entourage, who begin moving towards us.

"We'll be with you shortly. Illustres out."

"I've been wondering about that. Is it wrong that I still consider myself Atlantean, even though I am no longer a resident of a part of the nation of Atlantis? It is our culture as much as theirs."

I smile.

"Try reading up on the Eastern Roman Empire some time."
 
Last edited:
Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

I don't think that's right.

Wildcat. And no, he wasn't. Ted only found out what happened when Killer Wasp told him.
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The sentence 'a resident of a part of the nation of Atlantis' just sounds weird when I say it aloud.

It could be 'a resident, or a part of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a resident of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a part of the nation of Atlantis'

How is Wildcats relationship with his son now if the two of them know they're related, and if his sons followed in his kidnappers footsteps and became the Killer Wasp, at least for a time?
 
thebishop8 said:
Change "if" to "it".
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Thank you, corrected.
Darko said:
The sentence 'a resident of a part of the nation of Atlantis' just sounds weird when I say it aloud.

It could be 'a resident, or a part of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a resident of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a part of the nation of Atlantis'
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As far as I'm concerned, the sentence is fine.
How is Wildcats relationship with his son now if the two of them know they're related, and if his sons followed in his kidnappers footsteps and became the Killer Wasp, at least for a time?
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Jake's dead. Killer Wasp is Yellow Wasp's natural son. His relationship with Tom is pretty good.
 
Darko said:
The sentence 'a resident of a part of the nation of Atlantis' just sounds weird when I say it aloud.

It could be 'a resident, or a part of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a resident of the nation of Atlantis' or just 'a part of the nation of Atlantis'

How is Wildcats relationship with his son now if the two of them know they're related, and if his sons followed in his kidnappers footsteps and became the Killer Wasp, at least for a time?
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According to Yellow Wasp's son, Killer Wasp, he and Ted's son were raised as brothers, in fact Jake was Yellow Wasp's favorite, while he performed human experimentation on his own biological son so he looks like this
772229-wasp.jpg


So Killer Wasp killed them both.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Plutonian

12th April
08:43 GMT -1

King Cyprian looks out across the foam-wreathed seascape surrounding Venturia's largest surface territory.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hardly the largest of islands. But to someone from the sea floor, I suppose it feels enormous...

"You know, I came up here once as a young man."

His meeting with King Orin and company is scheduled to begin a little later today. It was agreed fairly early on that neither Venturia nor Poseidonis were appropriate venues. Aurania would have been even worse. Most other Atlantean cities were unacceptably close to Poseidonis, and Venturia didn't really have good relations with any of the ones who weren't. Thankfully, Queen Hippolyta was willing to host them both.
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Appropriate. I wouldn't be surprised if they set the meeting up at the Temple of Poseidon, no less. The joy of a familiar culture.

"What did you think?"

"I thought that the smell was unpleasant, and that at any moment I might fall into the horizon."
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Understandable. It'd be like the fear some people have of water they can't see the bottom of. Imagine a vast abyss, where anything could lurk in the depths. Where humans were not meant to tread. Just imagine the creatures such a place could manifest... :confused: And now I'm giving myself the willies...

"Can't do much about the first, but in my experience the second is very uncommon."

"Obviously I knew that I wouldn't, but even in clear waters it isn't possible to see so far beneath the surface. And the sun…"
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Blinding to someone used to the ocean depths, I expect. It wouldn't help that everything would also sound strangely, if his ears were adapted to pick up the slightest sound underwater (Air being a very different conductor of sound than water...)

He looks up for a moment.

"It seemed to small. In the shallows the light diffuses through the water, so I assumed that as I kept going up it would become more diffuse. Instead, the sky was covered by silt and there was a tiny burning dot."
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Completely underwhelming? I presume the 'silt' was clouds and ocean haze.

He gestures towards it with his right hand.

"It was a very strange experience. Though I'm proud to say that I toughed it out longer than all but one of my peers."
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Brave lad. I wonder who outlasted him, whether it was someone of note?

"And then what?"

"Then I was berated by my nursemaid, and then my father, and then my mother. And then my aunt, though for different reasons." He looks down for a moment. "My caregivers felt that I'd exposed myself to risk unnecessarily. My parents thought that I would harm my relationship with Queen Clea by reminding her of her defeat by Princess Diana, and thus reduce my chance of becoming her heir."
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I doubt she would be so petty. She'd probably have admired his headstrong nature and determination...

"And did it?"

"I don't think that if affected it one way or another. Most of my competition disqualified themselves in various ways. Sometimes, keeping your head down and your nose to the grindstone works." He lets out a quiet chuckle. "If attaining political power is your objective."
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A fascinating outlook. Sensible and reserved. A rare combination in leaders.

"Wasn't it yours?"

"No, not particularly. I was born to a high station, and I was aware of the responsibilities that gave me. I.. simply.. endeavoured to serve the state as best I could. As the more ambitious people around me crashed and burned."
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Sounds like a good Dictator, in the Roman tradition. The kind to surrender his office after the crisis he was elected to resolve was ended. Of course, now he's King.

Another quiet chuckle, this one not particularly happy.

"I didn't think that Queen Clea was ever actually going to die. Ah-." He shakes his head. "I know that's ridiculous; Atlantean Purebloods aren't immortal by any stretch of the imagination. But she defined our politics for so long, the idea of anyone -myself especially- taking over from her…"
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Another understandable thing. Anything you've had around all your life seems that way, as if it'll never be gone. But it will, inevitably as the sun rises. Homes, family, the popular people you like... Everything ends, sooner or later.

"I think I know how you feel. Of course, I'm not in the frame to take over from Queen Elizabeth."

"I don't have any real objection to Lord-Lantern Manga Khan having it. The next class can just use on of the other islands. But what to do afterwards…"

"Trade with the surface?"
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It's a matter of what he can offer the surface world. Poseidonis has a lead on just about anything he can come up with...

"I hesitate to say 'yes', but if Poseidonis can do it…" He takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. "We planned extensively for what we would do if Posiedonis ever became aggressive. But even after Arthur Curry became Crown Prince, we never really planned for peaceful interaction with the surface."

"I'm told that you're not supposed to call him that."
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As if he feels the need to show respect for a rival? Certainly, it's not as hostile as some nations' relationships, but they'll never be close friends, I expect.

He turns his head my way. "Is it not the name he was born to? That he was raised under? I don't know what Queen Atlanna was thinking."

"She was thinking that we a lot of the monarch's powers transferred to the senate, that her heir's focus should be international relations rather than internal affairs."
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And yet he's still getting dragged into said internal matters. If only to swing his metaphorical dick in the political arena.

"It's a little disheartening that she thought so little of us."

"Did you ever try to reach out from your side?"

"Yes. To Prince Orm."
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Oooh... Yeah, that's the kind of mistake that gets a 'sucks breath through teeth' reaction...

"Ah."

"Quite. It seemed like we had a lot in common." He shrugs. "I tell myself that he fooled a great many people, but if his duplicity hadn't been uncovered by someone-"
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You're talking to that someone. Of course, he wouldn't have been there if Kaldur hadn't invited him and the others...

"Me."

"-then-." He frowns. "Honestly?"

"I disarmed and disabled him. Tracking him down was a team effort. You didn't know?"
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'Disarmed'... Pun not intended, of course. I doubt OL would be so underhanded...

"A disadvantage of isolationism is that we're generally last with the news."

"Well, word to the wise: if you're going to get into a fight, make sure that your invulnerable armour covers your entire body. Losing to a group of teenaged neophytes because it didn't can be rather embarrassing."
Click to expand...
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Of course, Cyprian isn't the kind to get into that sort of fight anyway.

"I'm under no illusions about my martial abilities. Though I'm… I'm not sure. 'Disappointed' doesn't seem quite right considering what he was trying to do, but knowing that he was defeated like that seems a little… Off."

"Real life is frequently lacking in poetry. I suppose that ideally he should have been defeated in a climactic duel at the North Pole while undertaking a desperate attempt to pull off his master plan after having his identity revealed. But as it happened a group of youths only one of whom had ever met him before walked in on him and beat him into a coma. Heck, I can name a dozen American supervillains who died from gunshot wounds inflicted by random passers by, and a dozen more killed by police."
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That's what happens. So many idiots get superpowers, and think they're invulnerable, or that people will be so cowed they won't fight back... Not in America!

And a few like Yellow Wasp who retire with a bag full of loot and their nemesis' infant son as a trophy and finally die in a car crash year later having not gone down for so much as speeding. That's pretty unsatisfying too.

"I imagine-."

My ring blinks, and King Cyprian looks down at it.
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Ah, business calls. This little break's over, it seems.

"Is that our call?"

"Probably." I raise it to eye level. "Answer."

The head of Lantern Savenlovich appears over my ring.
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She's handling things on the Atlantean side, I take it?

"What news?"

"The Atlantean delegation has arrived and cleared the gate area. You are free to proceed."
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Ah, the politics of who arrives first. I suppose if they're looking to be nice...

A pretty reasonable arrangement. While they are both the monarchs of their respective countries, Atlantis is larger, older, and more prosperous than the City-State of Venturia. Which naturally means that King Orin comes ahead of King Cyprian in the order of precedence.

King Cyprian nods and raises his right hand towards his entourage, who begin moving towards us.
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At least he's not going alone. I assume they're a mix of guards, secretaries and assorted bureaucrats...

"We'll be with you shortly. Illustres out."

"I've been wondering about that. Is it wrong that I still consider myself Atlantean, even though I am no longer a resident of a part of the nation of Atlantis? It is our culture as much as their."
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Heh, you're not the first nation to split from its parent state in human history, and consequently wonder that...

I smile.

"Try reading up on the Eastern Roman Empire some time."
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Might be a little difficult right away, unless he gets some stuff shipped in. I assume OL would provide textbooks if asked...

Well, all nice and quiet so far. I expect next chapter will be the arrival on Themyscira, and our first look at Lady Ptra. The real meat of the episode will come along soon enough...

It is our culture as much as their.
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It is our culture as much as theirs.
 
Stsword said:
According to Yellow Wasp's son, Killer Wasp, he and Ted's son were raised as brothers, in fact Jake was Yellow Wasp's favorite, while he performed human experimentation on his own biological son so he looks like this
772229-wasp.jpg


So Killer Wasp killed them both.
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Thanks.

So if Zoats version died in a car crash I guess Killer Wasp killed Jake and not his father.
 
Prognostic Hannya said:
Just as the Turks destroyed the Byzantines, so too will the sharks (Turks of the sea) destroy the Aqua-Byzantines.
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I want to say that Atlantis isn't quite as bad as that, but King Orin does seem rather determined to see his country stagnate politically, even as OL has done his best to see it succeed economically.
 
Zoat when Cyprian told Paul he is no longer a resident of Atlantis he phrased it like he was no longer a resident of a part that is still a part of the nation of Atlantis.
If Venturia has ceded from the rest of Atlantis then it is no longer a part of its nation.
Changing it from 'of a part' to 'or a part' makes a bit more sense as he is stating that he no longer resides in the nation of Atlantis and he isn't involved in any part they play, but is still a resident and part of Venturia.

Sorry if I'm sounding like a grammar nazi, but the sentence just doesn't sound right to me.

TheEyes said:
I want to say that Atlantis isn't quite as bad as that, but King Orin does seem rather determined to see his country stagnate politically, even as OL has done his best to see it succeed economically.
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Orin is also trying to solve this issue, but because most of his advisors were replaced after the purge following Orms reveal and the fact that he didn't grow up in Atlantis, and thus lacks some of the societal knowledge that Atlanteans get from growing up in their society and because said knowledge isn't most likely written down as Atlanteans figure they don't need to write it down as they'll learn it on their own, he is having a difficult time.
 
Mr Zoat said:
The head of Lantern Savenlovich appears over my ring.
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WTR is now an immense, sprawling, story. I at best vaguely recall Orange Lantern Savenlovich, though, I'll admit my memory for names is far from perfect. More generally, Green Lantern Savenlovich is the thing a search turned-up.

Not sure what I might suggest, though, having an author-approved wiki, that might be pointed to for not recently used story characters doesn't seem a terrible idea. Main thing is not expecting the author to do significantly more work, because 'they must', of course.
 
Ace Dreamer said:
WTR is now an immense, sprawling, story. I at best vaguely recall Orange Lantern Savenlovich, though, I'll admit my memory for names is far from perfect. More generally, Green Lantern Savenlovich is the thing a search turned-up.

Not sure what I might suggest, though, having an author-approved wiki, that might be pointed to for not recently used story characters doesn't seem a terrible idea. Main thing is not expecting the author to do significantly more work, because 'they must', of course.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

She is a Green Lantern.

After Hal and Guy got promoted to the Honor Guard she was made the second GL of sector 2814 alongside Stewart.
 
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