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

Reader mode
Silverias said:
I was under the impression they worked thr same, cursory googling says the same.
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Mr Zoat said:
"Daxamites are basically mildly mutated kryptonians. They absorb a wider variety of wavelengths but get hurt by materials with a high attenuation coefficient as a result. So, very tough."
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It's not impossible that I put that in due to misremembering something canonical that I read years ago, but it has been established as being true in this story.
 
Mr Zoat said:
I do not think that the fact that a culture exists is a good enough reason to sustain it.
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Fuck yes.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Getting a definite feeling this is more about Cara feeling like OL stole something belonging to her than it is about Sodam.
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That's how many parents see their children, yes. And we don't exactly discourage this mindset. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!" "I put a roof over your head, and fed you!" As opposed to getting arrested or giving them up for adoption.
Our media is stuffed to the gills with the same messages abusive parents use to control their children, and when children look at said media, they understand that what is done to them is OK and normal, that they are not people and do not have rights - that only Sportsmaster-level comic book abuse is abuse, and that if people think that's going on, then they will be sent to an orphanage - an institution I have never seen portrayed positively, or even less negatively than the one in Annie. Here on Earth, CPS is a threat, used by parents on their children if they complain. I wonder what the threat Cara used on Sodom was?

DAT_NOOB said:
Paul: "YOU FOOL! I WAS THE REASONABLE ONE!"
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Yes. Very much so.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Arisia winces faintly. "Paul, I think.. you should let Lantern Coutara answer."
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It's hilarious that they think that Paul is going to be playing 'bad cop' here.

No, Paul is taking the role of slightly condescending peacemaker.
Coutara is going full hostile.

Because there's no point in trying not to provoke someone who's going to be angry no matter what you do.
 
I really think I may be the person in this thread most sympathetic to abusive parents. It's a tough job, and the only training most people get is their memories of being children themselves.

Most abusive parents aren't really evil people, they're just fucking up a job they'd like to do well because of bad ideas and poor self-control.
 
Steelplaza said:
I really think I may be the person in this thread most sympathetic to abusive parents. It's a tough job, and the only training most people get is their memories of being children themselves.

Most abusive parents aren't really evil people, they're just fucking up a job they'd like to do well because of bad ideas and poor self-control.
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I am making an active choice to never have sex, and have turned down sex multiple times, as well as an active choice to never even try for adoption, because of how my parents raised me. I know exactly where I would falter, and what my issues would be (ignoring whatever dreadful new surprises would come up), and I have chosen to never have children. Because I'd scream at them - not often, I'd try not to, but I've had issues where I yell at myself or the radio in the privacy of my car, and I sounded exactly like my mother or my father on various occasions. Do I like children, and teaching, and even taking care of them in public settings and for only a few hours at a time? Fuck yes, they're awesome. Am I ever going to give myself what is effectively total power over a child, or near total power with maybe one other person sharing that with me? Fuck no.

This is not a difficult conclusion to reach, and I'm not going to risk having a kid… what, to prove that I've 'healed?' I'll never fully heal. That I can be better than my parents? In a ton of ways I already am - but I'll never be as productive as my dad or as socially savvy as my mom, someone who has repeatedly pulled a Let Me Talk To Someone In Charge and ended up talking to college directors and, one time, an actual CEO (if of a small company), in fucking America despite being a middle class Indian woman. I'm just Not That Fucking Absurd, and I never will be (I seriously don't understand how she pulled that shit off when she isn't even white, and I personally am much more comfortable on forums than in real life small talk, where my anxiety can be handled by actual prep time). So why would I make a person and inflict myself on them? Because I'd love them and enjoy that? I can help and teach people in real life in a hundred ways without demanding a person come into existence.

So no. Self-control or no, if you attack your kid in their sleep? You're evil. If you regularly throw things at them? Then you're evil. Constant screaming or explosive actual tantrums; the unironic use of the words "I am God," actively isolating your child or undercutting them after they succeeded in a job interview - evil. If you couldn't handle having a kid, it was your damn job not to fucking have one. And if you brag constantly about how you chose to have them, and the doctors wanted to abort them because the birth was premature and too dangerous, then you don't get to constantly insist that it was your kid's fault that you have mild brain damage and have a little triangle doing math, because it was your fucking choice. You don't get to claim to be a glorious savior and a tortured martyr to justify repeated assaults and physical assaults, literal screaming tantrums, and - in what is thankfully the closest I've ever come to sexual assault - forced full-body 'washings' in the shower past the age of 16, largely done as a dominance thing.

These things happen. Miss Yat will likely be a bit more subtle, so as to drive the plot - but I can testify that parents say they're 'just doing their best,' and casting themselves as the heroes and the victims as they hurt children in painfully uncreative ways - like showing off mindboggling networking skills in public before whining and giving the stupidest fucking fake sobs in the most transparent manipulations possible just to drive in how little effort they need to put in when they have power over you and you can't call their bullshit - but they're just the fucking worst. "We didn't know we'd suck" is never a valid excuse. It just isn't, and especially when they believe their own bullshit after actively torturing - if emotionally - their kids. This is real, in the same way that Trump is real. They don't have to be complex, or tragic, or competent demons - they just have to be able to enjoy hurting people, and able to doublethink and decide that They're Good Because They're the Parents, which basically every human is equipped for. And then they can show just enough real affection that someone who can't leave is forced to love them anyway, because if you don't love someone you can't escape like that, then you're not safe.

Whenever Possible said:
Arisia: Coutara will be reasonable, right?

Coutara: Am I going to get a chance to destroy a second civilization that threatens one of my children?
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I would very much enjoy that.
 
Mr Zoat said:
It's not impossible that I put that in due to misremembering something canonical that I read years ago, but it has been established as being true in this story.
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Well. At the very least you made 16-Daxamites absorb green kryptonite since their first appearance, so it seems like you had that idea since their first appearance?

Mr Zoat said:
-when we first started training, and that small amount of solar radiation won't be enough to fully empower them. I can't remember whether or not comic Daxamites were vulnerable to kryptonite, and I can't entirely credit how vulnerable to lead they were in the one comic I saw them in. I know that Daxam Sixteenians are literally just slightly altered Kryptonians…

Try it. Ring, green kryptonite radiation burst.

Compliance.

Green light explodes outwards from me, prompting the soldiers and their commander to brace… Nothing appears to happen to them. The soldiers, okay, they might have kept their armour in sufficiently good repair to keep the radiation shields working, but the commander isn't wearing full protective gear. Daxamites don't like using their advanced technology, so while he could be wearing a concealed force field he probably isn't.
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Mr Zoat said:
Hang on. Daxamites are weakened by their own red dwarf. Lead probably… Interferes with their own internal radiation… Whatever, they've never let anyone study them in any detail. Would red light weaken them back to-
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Btw, in this chapter Paul uses artificial red sunlight to weaken them back instantly. Since it worked it would probably be best for internal consistency to show that he's prepared to do it again to depower them.
 
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No, one likes getting into the middle of a domestic dispute. Cops, lawyers, even mafia enforcers did not like getting in the middle of a dispute between a coworker and an ex. It is something that can be agreed on no matter what side of rhe law you might be on.
 
Cappare (supplementary, Renegade option) New
26th July 2013
20:27 GMT -7

Luna twists around on my lap, looking up at me like I've said something unusually stupid. "Did you forget that Discord is Discord, my beloved saddle-goose? That his very nature is to foment disquiet? What did you expect?"

"No, I just thought… I was trying to help. I thought he was… Social enough to see that. I thought that he actually needed help." I huff. "And now he's the draconequus who cried wolf. Though I suppose that I should credit him for having a surprising degree of patience."

"'Cried wolf'?"

"I assumed that his need was genuine, and so earnestly tried to help. If he asks for help again, I'll assume that he's lying and ignore him."

She frowns. "What doth that have to do with wolves?"

"It's from a human fable. A boy gets bored guarding the family flock of sheep and calls out that there's a wolf. The first time, the rest of the village arms themselves ready to chase the pack off, only there's no pack. So he gets a switching, and everyone goes back to what they were doing."

"Ah, We see." Luna nods. "And when the wolf pack came in truth, none went to his aid."

"It's kind of a shame that the Elements of Harmony are a weapon authentication system rather than a system for compelling virtue. I can't help but think that seeing things from someone else's perspective for a little while might help him understand the rest of us."

"And you are attempting to create a way to make that happen."

"Well… Maybe a bit. But… I'm trying not to be motivated by spite, and I've got better things to do." I slide my right arm under her right wing, gently stroking her fur. "How's the.. military reorganisation going?"

"Our sister is not as enthusiastic as We would like, but even she cannot deny the superiority of Captain Tempest's methods."

"Oh? She accepted the appointment?"

"Indeed. Betwixt her restored horn and… The fellowship offered by her fellow officers-"

"Yeah, I bet Lightning Dust is offering her fellowship."

She bats me lightly with her wing. "-she hath made herself a home in Our guard."

"And the two dimwits?"

"Our Sister's captains are… Adapting."

"'Adapting'."

"We are being generous. Our Captain challenges them to tests of skill and strength each week, and each week they are defeated. Our Sister hath gone so far as to intimate that We should be more mindful of their feelings."

"The army of your nation is not a hugbox. If they can't handle it, perhaps they could transfer to a less violence-orientated profession."

"By all reports they were adequate junior officers. Mayhap We could persuade Sister to return them to their prior station."

"Difficult without a specific failure to point to. And to an extent, the fault lies with the one promoting them. Do you have any idea why Celestia let Equestria's army decay to its current state?"

"We had no enemies."

"Objectively you did."

"We had no enemies who were openly campaigning 'gainst our ponies, who might be fought with armies. And Sister had no desire to wage a campaign of conquest 'gainst our neighbours."

"Nothing wrong with a diplomatic victory, but what about the Everfree? Plenty of monsters to fight in there."

"For the most part they are content to remain within its confines, and our ponies have found ways to dispatch them."

"It's a threat to their lives and Ponyville doesn't even have a guard post." Hm. "You know, if Celestia isn't interested in military affairs, you could simply create a unified national army. 'Captain' isn't usually a particularly high rank, and while the day/night division does have relevance for law enforcement it doesn't really matter for a military force outside of specific missions. Thanks to Captain Tempest you have a standardised equipment loadout and doctrine."

"But we have no enemy."

"You didn't last year, then Cadence's wedding got invaded."

"Hm." She lowers her head slightly. "We suppose that We did intend to expand her remit once her trial period was completed. We will speak to Sister on the subject."

"When you say 'We'..?"

"It may be helpful if you are present."

I exhale slowly. "Thing is… I was focusing on improving Equestria's military. But if you're doing a full-scale revitalisation of the defence sector, you're probably going to want to do your intelligence agency and police at the same time, because it looks like the guard sort of does those as well."

"And do you have words of wisdom for Us on those subjects as well?"

"Peelian policing seems like it would work well for ponies, and-." She's smirking. "What?"

"We believe that We have stolen a trot on your scheming."

"Oh?"

"You remember that you counselled Us to enter dialogue with the surviving changelings of Queen Chrysalis's hive?"

"Yes?"

"We actually did. After some initial disquiet, they were willing to enter Our service."

I grin. "Who's a clever pony?"

She metaphorically preens. "We are."

"How are you feeding them?"

"An entanglement ritual, binding a sliver of crystal in their possession to the Crystal Heart. It also serves to detect it should they feed on Our ponies. The punishment for doing so is severe, though less so than what you dealt to their queen."

"That's a remarkably clever bit of policy-making and thaumaturgy, turning a problem into an asset. I trust they've received the necessary training as well?"

"Changelings are most adroit infiltrators. The greatest change was in having them create new identities rather than replace existing ponies, but they hath adapted most commendably."

"And what are they doing about breeding?"

Luna blinks. "They are not on duty all of the time. I assume that they… Make their own arrangements."

"So it's not just the queens who lay eggs? Or am I conflating them with normal insects and they actually have a more mammalian reproductive set-up?"

She's smiling a little less. "None hath… Mentioned.. the problem..?"

"Nice to know that you still need me for some things. How about other queens? Or where new queens come from?"

"None We spoke to knew of any others."

Hm. "Well, it looks like we've got some questions to ask… And you've still got Chrysalis's head, right?"

"We do. Why?"

"Do you know what 'cloning' is?"
 
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Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
20:27 GMT -7
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Wonder how Pharynx is doing? The guy is probably at least content with his hive not starving and the fact they haven't become pastel hippies.

Wonder if this'll lead to any of them making friends and thus, undergoing the pastel metamorphosis.

This one fic I read suggested Thorax basically became a seahorse after his Ascension (would it'd be 'Ascension' or 'Metamorphosis'? Him and Pharynx looking different suggests that objectively they obtained something similar in scope) so that might not be an issue.

Should have an idea on cloning, with things like the Mirror Pool being around.
 
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Mr Zoat said:
26th July 2013
20:27 GMT -7

Luna twists around on my lap, looking up at me like I've said something unusually stupid. "Did you forget that Discord is Discord, my beloved saddle-goose? That his very nature is to foment disquiet? What did you expect?"

"No, I just thought… I was trying to help. I thought he was… Social enough to see that. I thought that he actually needed help." I huff. "And now he's the draconequus who cried wolf. Though I suppose that I should credit him for having a surprising degree of patience."
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The Renegade really not taking being shown up like that well, is he? This does seem to be an occasional habit he gets into. Acting like the smartest guy in the room, then acting shocked when someone else turns out to have been smarter. Hardly a bad thing, it helps keep him humble.

"'Cried wolf'?"

"I assumed that his need was genuine, and so earnestly tried to help. If he asks for help again, I'll assume that he's lying and ignore him."
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Ah, I rather expect Equestrian society doesn't have quite the same idiomatic history. Presumably a different, scarier fairy tale would involve wolf packs...

She frowns. "What doth that have to do with wolves?"

"It's from a human fable. A boy gets bored guarding the family flock of sheep and calls out that there's a wolf. The first time, the rest of the village arms themselves ready to chase the pack off, only there's no pack. So he gets a switching, and everyone goes back to what they were doing."
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And then he does it again, and again, until no-one cares any more. For those with a less expansive vocabulary, 'switching' in this case means 'getting his ass beat with a cane.'

"Ah, We see." Luna nods. "And when the wolf pack came in truth, none went to his aid."

"It's kind of a shame that the Elements of Harmony are a weapon authentication system rather than a system for compelling virtue. I can't help but think that seeing things from someone else's perspective for a little while might help him understand the rest of us."
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And that's the lesson of the tale: Don't test people's patience with jokes, it might bite you in the ass one day.

"And you are attempting to create a way to make that happen."

"Well… Maybe a bit. But… I'm trying not to be motivated by spite, and I've got better things to do." I slide my right arm under her right wing, gently stroking her fur. "How's the.. military reorganisation going?"
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I see he went back to human form for cuddles. Bet she appreciates his ability to massage and scritch.

"Our sister is not as enthusiastic as We would like, but even she cannot deny the superiority of Captain Tempest's methods."

"Oh? She accepted the appointment?"
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Nice to see friends getting ahead in life.

"Indeed. Betwixt her restored horn and… The fellowship offered by her fellow officers-"

"Yeah, I bet Lightning Dust is offering her fellowship."
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...And others getting ahead period.

She bats me lightly with her wing. "-she hath made herself a home in Our guard."

"And the two dimwits?"
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So Luna's personal guard have become a lot more effective than Celestia's now. Hope no-one's getting worried about plans on her end.

"Our Sister's captains are… Adapting."

"'Adapting'."
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I'm guessing it's not by actually improving. They sound like a couple of Ruperts raised above their level of competence..

"We are being generous. Our Captain challenges them to tests of skill and strength each week, and each week they are defeated. Our Sister hath gone so far as to intimate that We should be more mindful of their feelings."

"The army of your nation is not a hugbox. If they can't handle it, perhaps they could transfer to a less violence-orientated profession."
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I suspect the Guard has been seen, for a long time now, as an easy career for the younger sons of Canterlot Nobles. Swing a commission, get a cushy posting...

"By all reports they were adequate junior officers. Mayhap We could persuade Sister to return them to their prior station."

"Difficult without a specific failure to point to. And to an extent, the fault lies with the one promoting them. Do you have any idea why Celestia let Equestria's army decay to its current state?"
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Peace has its price. In this case, vigilance gives way to indolence.

"We had no enemies."

"Objectively you did."
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Well, no enemies willing to try attacking an incarnate demigoddess with 'sun powers'. I suspect Celestia did come down hard on a few such probing attacks way back in the early days and left a smouldering object lesson or two, but a Millennia later...

"We had no enemies who were openly campaigning 'gainst our ponies, who might be fought with armies. And Sister had no desire to wage a campaign of conquest 'gainst our neighbours."

"Nothing wrong with a diplomatic victory, but what about the Everfree? Plenty of monsters to fight in there."

"For the most part they are content to remain within its confines, and our ponies have found ways to dispatch them."
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And clearing it out would drive them into the lands in general. Better to have them penned in a known location than wandering far and wide.

"It's a threat to their lives and Ponyville doesn't even have a guard post." Hm. "You know, if Celestia isn't interested in military affairs, you could simply create a unified national army. 'Captain' isn't usually a particularly high rank, and while the day/night division does have relevance for law enforcement it doesn't really matter for a military force outside of specific missions. Thanks to Captain Tempest you have a standardised equipment loadout and doctrine."
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On the other hand, ranks like Major, Colonel, Brigadier and General have a far more militaristic association. And once you have a Military instead of a personal Guard.... Well, some would start looking for places to use them.

"But we have no enemy."

"You didn't last year, then Cadence's wedding got invaded."
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And soundly crushed, thanks to a lucky bit of detective work by the Mane Six.

"Hm." She lowers her head slightly. "We suppose that We did intend to expand her remit once her trail period was completed. We will speak to Sister on the subject."

"When you say 'We'..?"

"It may be helpful if you are present."
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Your kingdom, your say, Princess. As long as you make it clear this is your idea, not the Renegade's, I'm sure it'll be fine.

I exhale slowly. "Thing is… I was focusing on improving Equestria's military. But if you're doing a full-scale revitalisation of the defence sector, you're probably going to want to do your intelligence agency and police at the same time, because it looks like the guard sort of does those as well."
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Or establish special services for both tasks. Which would require additional funds, mind.

"And do you have words of wisdom for Us on those subjects as well?"

"Peelian policing seems like it would work well for ponies, and-." She's smirking. "What?"
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For the most part, Ponies do seem to be law-abiding, barring a few ne'er-do-wells.

"We believe that We have stolen a trot on your scheming."

"Oh?"
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Ah, nice. Taking some initiative for yourself, Princess.

"You remember that you counselled Us to enter dialogue with the surviving changelings of Queen Chrysalis's hive?"

"Yes?"

"We actually did. After some initial disquiet, they were willing to enter Our service."
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Might be a little measure of 'Well, she kind of feels like a Queen, so...' in that, I wonder?

I grin. "Who's a clever pony?"

She metaphorically preens. "We are."
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Ah, she's cute when she's smug. 🥰

"How are you feeding them?"

"An entanglement ritual, binding a sliver of crystal in their possession to the Crystal Heart. It also serves to detect it should they feed on Our ponies. The punishment for doing so is severe, though less so than what you dealt to their queen."
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I presume it involves things like solitary confinement (painful for a hive creature like Changelings, I bet) corporal punishment and garnishing of pay?

"That's a remarkably clever bit of policy-making and thaumaturgy, turning a problem into an asset. I trust they've received the necessary training as well?"

"Changelings are most adroit infiltrators. The greatest change was in having them create new identities rather than replace existing ponies, but they hath adapted most commendably."
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Oh god, an entire culture of OCs. 😄

"And what are they doing about breeding?"

Luna blinks. "They are not on duty all of the time. I assume that they… Make their own arrangements."
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I mean... Given their shapeshifting, I would imagine they have plenty of options in that respect. 😘

"So it's not just the queens who are lay eggs? Or am I conflating them with normal insects and they actually have a more mammalian reproductive set-up?"

She's smiling a little less. "None hath… Mentioned.. the problem..?"
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...Ah, you didn't think to investigate that at all, did you?

"Nice to know that you still need me for some things. How about other queens? Or where new queens come from?"

"None We spoke to knew of any others."
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One worry is if they can spontaneously develop within the hive. A senior 'noble' evolving, perhaps.

Hm. "Well, it looks like we've got some questions to ask… And you've still got Chrysalis's head, right?"

"We do. Why?"

"Do you know what 'cloning' is?"
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As long as their chosen method doesn't copy memories, I guess...

I wonder if, with any level of attrition, they would have found that hive dying out eventually. At least they caught it quickly enough to correct the issue and ideally put in place a Queen or Queens with a far more agreeable attitude. Might pay to check with the hive members first to see if there's a valid method for promotion, and whether it causes personality changes...
 
BR549 said:
This is an entirely reasonable and foolproof plan that won't have any potential pitfalls or chance for backfiring at all. :V
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I mean, putting the morality of cloning someone to deliberately raise them as a devoted servant that spawns a slave race aside, unless queens are psychopaths genetically there's nothing wrong with cloning her and raising her as a new member of the family.

On a tactical and strategic level, I mean. Clone soldiers are a bad idea because the people who want clone soldiers are shit parents, not because clones in and of themselves are a bad idea. Raise the kid to love you and you don't have problems.
 
SirKaid said:
I mean, putting the morality of cloning someone to deliberately raise them as a devoted servant that spawns a slave race aside, unless queens are psychopaths genetically there's nothing wrong with cloning her and raising her as a new member of the family.

On a tactical and strategic level, I mean. Clone soldiers are a bad idea because the people who want clone soldiers are shit parents, not because clones in and of themselves are a bad idea. Raise the kid to love you and you don't have problems.
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On a moral level it becomes much more acceptable if this is the only way the species continues past the current generation. If they don't have other egg layers or the ability to promote a new queen, how would YOU prevent extinction?
 
Vaermina said:
Orange Lantern literally only talked her into that like a week or two ago in universe.
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Fair point, although the fact that Paul is an empath does mean that he probably knew that she strongly cared about Sodam already.

Plus, she did accept, and it's not like Paul forced her to do it at gunpoint, or anything like that. So clearly there was something else going on before this all started.

Mr Zoat said:
"We are being generous. Our Captain challenges them to tests of skill and strength each week, and each week they are defeated. Our Sister hath gone so far as to intimate that We should be more mindful of their feelings."

"The army of your nation is not a hugbox. If they can't handle it, perhaps they could transfer to a less violence-orientated profession."

"By all reports they were adequate junior officers. Mayhap We could persuade Sister to return them to their prior station."
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Why not just have them all train and run drills together, so that they can all improve together? It would also help them become friends, which I'm sure Celestia would approve.

Vaermina said:
The worst that ever happens to the MC is minor inconveniences, so that's just basic pattern recognition at this point.
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Wait, what? But you're the one who always goes on about how his mind and judgement have always been warped and altered to inhuman levels by both the orange light and all the insane crap that's happened to him throughout the story. How is that a "minor inconvenience"? Which is it, then? Does he have a problem or not?
 
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Cappare (part 16) New
27th July 2013
04:18 GMT

If I didn't have to be here, this would actually nearly be funny.

"…for your own aggrandisement!"

"…would have fled you as well!"

The priest's face is a picture of thunderous disgruntlement at the constant insults (both indirect and direct) that his culture has received, but appears mostly willing to let Cara Yat do the arguing ranting. The lawyer's composure is better, but I've caught him wincing as his… Employer? Increasingly abandons reason for invective. Arisia's just sort of crumpled inwards, her occasional interjections-

"This isn't-."

Cara turns her vengeful glare her way. "…which supports child trafficking!"

-just resulting in her becoming a target.

I suppose that in the interest of getting out of here today I should try and be a little more helpful.

I try to catch the lawyer's eye, and after a moment his saccades take them in my direction. I nod towards the Watchtower's gardens. "Sidebar?"

He glances back at his employer, who shows no interest in his input at all. Then he looks back at me and nods.

Right. Send a filament through the deck and into the garden, tether him, wave Arisia goodbye and transition. And I only spot it because I'm looking for it, but the lawyer's head blurs for an instant as he takes in his new environment.

"We usually just walk."

"I didn't want to distract them. Shall we start again?" He nods. "I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. I can't say my name, but-" I take a card out of subspace and inscribe on it the kryptonian characters closest to the correct sounds. Fortunately, I don't see them as being my name so there's no mental effect on me. "-that's it."

He reads it carefully, and sounds it out silently once. "Paul. And I am Ken Lee."

"Pleased to meet you, Ken Lee. Since that's-" I glance back up at the meeting room. "-generating more heat than light, perhaps a more dispassionate discussion might result in more progress?"

He shrugs. "It doesn't hurt, though obviously I can't agree to anything without Cara Yat's permission."

"So what does she actually want? As I understand it, she originally thought that Sodam was kidnapped?"

"Legally, he was, even-" He prepares to talk over my objections, then hesitates with surprise when I don't have one. "-ah, if he claims to be fine with leaving with you."

"Okay, but has she changed her objectives now that it's clear that even if he went back to Daxam for a couple of years, he'd just leave again the moment he completed his rite of adulthood?"

"I am less convinced that he would do that. Having been returned to the bosom of his family and removed from external influences, I think that he would reconsider."

"Confident enough to make it his decision?"

"As I said, I can't make a decision on the matter myself."

"I'm just trying to suggest things that my Lanterns might agree to. You find somewhere out of the way on Daxam for Lantern Coutara to live for a few years." He clearly wants to interject, but holds off. "Lantern Yat spends most of his time with his natural family, returns to school and engages in your religious practices. When he comes of age, he can stay or go as he chooses."

"I can put it to her, but I doubt that would be acceptable."

"Alright. Why?"

"It would involve an alien living on Daxam. She-." He considers for a moment. "We appreciate that with a power ring there's ultimately nothing we can do to prevent him leaving. That would be a very sad day, but we accept that it is so. But Daxam remaining inviolate is not something that I or she can compromise on."

"Alright. How about near Daxam?"

"How near?"

"Your moon?"

"We keep things there."

"Next planet in or out?"

"That… Would not be ideal, but as long as most of our people didn't know that she was there I suspect that we could live with it."

"Ah, progress."

"But I assume that you would want Sodam Yat to keep the power ring you gave him."

"Well, yes, obviously. We're talking about custody sharing. If you don't want her to land on Daxam, he needs to be able to go to her."

"It's alien technology." He shakes his head. "It wouldn't be acceptable."

"Then either you'd need to give him a daxamite spaceship for his exclusive use, or let me build him a suit of kryptonian power armour. I've got contemporary designs, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference from a suit built before your exodus."

"A child with a spacecraft or military wargear?"

"He's been using a power ring for over a year. I think he can handle it."

"I don't know how your legal system works-"

I grin. "Earth isn't unified. Even under a yellow sun, you wouldn't live long enough."

"-but-. Ah." He looks at me for a moment. "Oh, a.. joke. Heh. But, ah, your home region, what about them?"

"The legal system of the country I was born in tended to give up once the child left its borders. Within its borders they'd want evidence of the home environment being dangerous, but I'm afraid to say that Diro Yat trying to kill an unarmed man right in front of Sodam would count. In my current home country, I imagine it would go before our queen for her personal review."

"And what would she say?"

"Ah… If it was a local woman and a foreign woman? I suspect that she'd order them to marry one another and raise the child together, so that's-."

His eyes widen in horror, glancing back up at the meeting room. "A truly Kvorgian solution."

"Yes. We have a very unusual culture. So, okay, if giving him equipment isn't acceptable, would it be acceptable for a Daxamite to fly him there for visits?"

"That… Might be possible. It's certainly more possible than the other suggestions."

"Okay, well let's-." My ring shimmers. "Excuse me." I raise it to my ear. "Yes?"

"Paul, It's Roy. We got a problem."

A lance of heat vision bursts through the meeting room window!

"You don't say."
 
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