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

Reader mode
Stsword said:
Well I suppose that could have gone worse.

In the Smallville comics, for example, Parallax did know how to make rings.

Which he used to make all those Batman villains in Arkham into the yellow lantern corps.

So asking him for a yellow lantern ring could have gone horribly right.
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Is Arkham a joyful, blessed place in anti-matter Gotham?
 
Vaermina said:
*Watches the entity he freed go off to bathe entire planets in fear*

LePaul: "Welp, not my problem."
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I mean, it's Antimatter Earth. Those guys are dicks. Probably.

It's comic book antimatter universe, they're probably nearly all evil or something, or the evil justice league will stop him.

Or hell, he might end up as a hero somehow by being a 'villain' in the anti0universe by as is mandated by the law of 'villainous archetype in opposite world' comic logic. Give 'yellow = evil' and 'green = good' in the regular universe and 'green = evil' in the anti-universe.

NightmareWarden said:
Is Arkham a joyful, blessed place in anti-matter Gotham?
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Antimatter Gotham was built over a prison of angels beneath Arkham Children's Hospital, and is well known as the second kindest and most altruistic city on Antimatter Earth, obviously. Second only to Bludhaven, kindest place on Antimatter Earth!

Nothing like that wretched hive of scum and villainy, sin and depravity known as Metropolis, at least. *shudder*

:V
 
I could just be seeing things that aren't there, but I honestly liked how - underneath the surface of casual explanations and getting to know the new Embodiment-host on the block - Paul was frantically leveraging his unusual mindset and similar experience with emotions to keep Parallax from noticing that brand-new fear of Paul's and potentially doing anything to act on it.

Offering interesting tidbits of knowledge to both keep their attention on him and direct it towards the less vital topics, outright ignoring Jade's presence aside from the brief bit at the very start, pushing his various fears to the front for scrutiny while not even internally acknowledging the fear he *really* cares about in the hopes of muddying the signal for a bit...
 
Mr Zoat said:
20th January 2013
13:10 GMT

A yellow sigil burns on his forehead.

Parallax.
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Or whatever this universe's equivalent is. I mean, it's not like every alternate universe had the exact same things having the exact same feelings in each... Heck, this one may not even be a giant space locust-thing.

I guess that's why the green rings back home can affect yellow objects: he was never imprisoned.

Behind me Jade shudders, her soul flaring yellow in my sight. She can fight it to a degree, but much like the Ophidian affecting a person's desires you can't completely fight Parallax when it tries to influence you. The fears are already there.
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It's just fanning the embers of a flame long quenched... Fanning them with napalm.

"Parallax."

"Is that your name for this?" His mouth… Extends further into his cheeks than it should, and I'm getting flashes of unusually sharp teeth. "What we… I… Ah."
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Well, that's definitely a consistent trait of Parallax hosts from the comics. At least, after the full spectrum retcons. OL should be glad he never exhibited the Ophidian's more unusual jaw traits during his joining...

He doesn't understand what it is. Parallax might not even understand. I knew in advance… Roughly what was happening, and so Ophidime knew as well.

"She wasn't lying. We find that extremely strange. And…" His glowing eyes refocus on me. "You. You know what.. we are."
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The joy of prior experience, if not with Fear...

"I had a similar joining with the Embodiment of Avarice."

"And we are… Fear. It is…" He looks up, at-. At the universe. "A glorious music. We.. can hear… So much…"
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An orchestra of screams? That's an unusual way to look at it. I wonder if their special place is an orchestra pit or a theatre, then.

"It's the same for me. Even without the Ophidian I can unfocus my mind and feel the interlocking networks of desires, thwarted and fulfilled. I didn't hear it as music, more like a… Picture, or an abstract sculpture."

"And that is why we can hear you hardly at all. The part of you that is the Ophidian does not have fears."
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While Enlightenment mutes his own expressions of emotions, at least to Empathic Sight...

"That's probably a part of it. Do you mind me asking what the Weaponer offered the part of you that is Joseph Harrolds?"

"She fears her own worthlessness, and that worthlessness being known to her peers. It motivates everything she doesn't and doesn't do."
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Which doesn't necessarily answer the question. Was she trying to replicate Kalmin's work? Surpass it, perhaps?

"It might just look like that to you because you can see-. Hear her fear and can't hear other things."

"No. No. We can see it shining clearly."
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In much the same way OL can see the shape of a person's desires, even ones they're not feeling right at that moment...

"I'll take your word for it, then. Ah. Where was the Parallax part of you hanging out before coming here?"

"We don't… Remember. We remember… Everything… Fading. But it did not concern us. Concern-. Why do you call it Parallax?"
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...Interesting. Abstract, but interesting.

"It once demonstrated the ability to use multiple power rings simultaneously."

"That's 'parallel'."
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...Huh, they're right. More likely, 'Parallax' was a name the maltusian Krona gave it. ...Which wouldn't have happened here, because they don't seem to have evolved here, at least not as they did in the other universe.

"I'm sorry?"

"Using multiple power rings. That's 'in parallel', like bulbs in a high school science class circuit. Parallax means 'the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object'."
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Huh. Joey's got a decent education, it seems.

"Oh. Then perhaps I misunderstood the explanation. Do you have another name you'd prefer?"

"We..." He looks puzzled. "No. Though… Joseph Harrolds' memories and feelings are more vibrant than what our other half though and felt. We are happy to be addressed by his name."
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Because Humans are Special. :p

"Alright, Mister Harrolds: what's next for you?"

"I want to hear more of the song. I want it to play everywhere in a glorious symphony of terror!"
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...That could get a little noisy, I would think.

Ah.

"Are you sure?"
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After all, OL here has more experience in a joined state than you do, Joey.

"More sure than we have been of anything that we can remember."

"But have you considered the value of subtlety and differentiation?"
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Like, for example, not killing everything in the universe with their greatest fears?

His eyes dim slightly as he turns his attention on me. That's a little creepy.

"Explain."
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Now you're beginning to understand how everyone felt when you were joined to Best Snek, OL...

"The Ophidian wants to possess everything all of the time. But that means that one thing is as good as any other, there's no difference between one desire and another. Whose fear would mean the most to you?"

"No... Hm." Mr. Harrolds frowns thoughtfully. "We admit that some of those against whom Joe had a personal grudge… The idea of them with their faces twisted in a rictus of terror before we kill them… That does have a greater appeal."
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...Right. Negative Morality parallel.

"That's what happens when you bond with a mortal creature. It affects your perspective, the way you understand the universe. To a being of pure fear, all fear is fear and there's nothing else to say. To you…"

"We feel different. We aren't sure that you don't have an angle-."
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And there's that human perspective coming in. The perspective of a little man from a world of corruption and deception, where almost no-one does anything without considering how they can benefit from it.

"Of course I have an angle. That doesn't mean that I'm not telling the truth."

"What is your angle?"
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'Cui Bono', once more. Or in OL's favorite phrasing: 'What do you want?'

"I want a yellow power ring, a lead on Sinestro and to speak with the Weaponer who put you in there. I'd also like to stop you going on a rampage and terrorising everyone to death."

"Your perspective is helpful, but we find ourselves curious as to what you fear."
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Oh, this should be enlightening. :sneaky:

"Personal annihilation."

"Hm." He peers closer. "True. But there's something else."
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Well, from an Avaricious perspective, there's the fear of losing his things...

"Heights?"

"No." He smiles, his mouth extending up his face in an open display of inhumanity. "You fear… Getting it wrong. You change things, risk things, and the idea that you might be wrong and that you've misled everyone makes everything resonate with a constant unease."
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Given the things he thinks he may have changed from 'canon', that isn't surprising. The thoughts of those whose lives he may have made worse through a blunder...

It's… Not as intense, but I suppose that he's right. Comic-Parallax… After the 'no-Jordan-wasn't-just-crazy' retcon, exposed people to their fears in order to possess them. This Parallax doesn't need a new host, so it's probably just being a dick.

"Okay, well, thank you for pointing that out. I also get a bit self-conscious in social situations, and you might be able to pick that out-."
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Probably an M&M next to the smorgasbord of his 'SI's perspective'...

"You embrace chaos but you still fear to misstep."

"Follow a rule someone else came up with and everyone expects you to follow and it's as much everyone else's fault as yours. If you do your own thing, that's all on you."
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After all, he doesn't want to damage what is his.

"How compassionate of you." He takes a step back, and then rises into the air. His outline shimmers for a moment as armour appears around his body-. Armour that looks a lot like mine, secondary colour and sigil notwithstanding. "We genuinely have no idea where the Weaponer is, we have no idea how to forge a ring and we have a home to return to. We wish you the best of luck."

He turns to face this universe's anti-Earth and then accelerates into the sky.
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...At least he's better dressed than the comics designs. Seriously, those shoulder-pads of Jordan's...

…

Guess this is a bust, then.
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...You aren't worried about that? :confused: Or are you saving the panic for when it's not going to be lapping it up?

And this was a day off. :rolleyes: Goddammit, OL. Can you please try not to completely fuck up a universe for at least one day? And somehow, I don't picture this to have absolutely no consequences for OL whatsoever. Sooner or later, this will come back to bite him in the ass... On the upside, when it does, it's bound to be entertaining to us.
 
Vanbers said:
I mean, it's Antimatter Earth. Those guys are dicks. Probably.

It's comic book antimatter universe, they're probably nearly all evil or something, or the evil justice league will stop him.

Or hell, he might end up as a hero somehow by being a 'villain' in the anti0universe by as is mandated by the law of 'villainous archetype in opposite world' comic logic. Give 'yellow = evil' and 'green = good' in the regular universe and 'green = evil' in the anti-universe.
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Wasn't there some mention of how Paul thought that the only way complex society could develop if everyone was evil was via the stronger ones dominating others around them into a hierarchy?
Fear Elemental would be pretty good at that.
 
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Remember back in what feels like the dawn of creation when Paul used to shit bricks at the mere possibility of running into some of the mid-tier threats on Earth? And now he's just casually talking terror campaigns with All-of-the-Fear.
 
Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'thought'.
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Thank you, corrected.
Handlewithcare said:
Captain Kathryn Janeway : I've known fear. It's a very healthy thing, most of the time. You warn us of danger, remind us of our limits, protect us from carelessness. I've learned to trust fear.
[...]
You know as well as I do that fear only exists for one purpose: to be conquered.
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Chojin Patriarch said:
In much the same way OL can see the shape of a person's desires, even ones they're not feeling right at that moment...
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Modified.
 
.... A world that runs on the favor system vs the Fear Elemental.

That's not a good combination. Not at all.

Is the Blue Paul there?
 
unObservant said:
I could just be seeing things that aren't there, but I honestly liked how - underneath the surface of casual explanations and getting to know the new Embodiment-host on the block - Paul was frantically leveraging his unusual mindset and similar experience with emotions to keep Parallax from noticing that brand-new fear of Paul's and potentially doing anything to act on it.

Offering interesting tidbits of knowledge to both keep their attention on him and direct it towards the less vital topics, outright ignoring Jade's presence aside from the brief bit at the very start, pushing his various fears to the front for scrutiny while not even internally acknowledging the fear he *really* cares about in the hopes of muddying the signal for a bit...
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I was thinking along similar lines.
 
Well, the good news is that Paralax didn't attack Paul and there's no indication he's going to be an enemy in the near future. Paul stated Paralax was being a dick, but I think Paralax was just eager to taste a different fear.

Now for the Guardian and Controller reaction to this news.
 
Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

Which doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a Blue Lantern there.
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Let me specify then. The only Blue Lantern Paul we know of so far.

On another note, where did you get the idea of each regular Earth having its own Antimatter counterpart? IIRC the original Antimatter Universe in the comics was way bigger than a regular universe because it served as the counterpart for all universes.

Of course then that begs the question of what Earth Positive 3 and Earth Negative 3 are like in this setting.
 
Ngamer11 said:
Does that confirm that a Crime Syndicate exists on Earth -16? If yes, I hope they'll contact Earth 16 in the future, and that Joseph Harrolds reveals that he only became a member thanks to Paul's advice.
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Justice League: Goddammit! Can't he go a single week without doing something crazy or morally ambiguous?!?!

Windona said:
Now for the Guardian and Controller reaction to this news
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Hinon: stares

Paul: It's really not as bad as you think.

Hinon: stares

Paul: I can handle it.

Hinon: stares

Paul: Llease say something!

Hinon: I hate my life.

Meanwhile...

Guardians: Get the Corpse ready.
 
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Chojin Patriarch said:
Which doesn't necessarily answer the question. Was she trying to replicate Kalmin's work? Surpass it, perhaps?
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Well either of those option would prove her being worthy.

If she equals it then she's as skilled as a highly skilled Weaponer, if she surpasses it then she's perhaps one of the greatest if not the greatest Weaponer.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Huh. Joey's got a decent education, it seems.
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Or the entity just searched his memories for something he once overheard, or maybe they plugged into the fears of a scientist.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Because Humans are Special. :p
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Plus it was his first fitting.

Chojin Patriarch said:
You aren't worried about that? :confused: Or are you saving the panic for when it's not going to be lapping it up?
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Well if he does panic then it's likely Joey will put him in a cage so he can sing.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Can you please try not to completely fuck up a universe for at least one day
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Nope.
 
Chojin Patriarch said:
And this was a day off. :rolleyes: Goddammit, OL. Can you please try not to completely fuck up a universe for at least one day?
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This is the just OL's equivalent of Wikiwalking, it's not his fault that clicking on the not-yet-purple hyperlinks has an affect on objective reality!

Literally, OL and Jade were on a date, Jade asked a question and OL did the equivalent of "I don't know let me Google it" and five minutes later suddenly they were watching execution videos on vice dot com and the food is cooling down in the table.
 
mastermenthe said:
This is the just OL's equivalent of Wikiwalking, it's not his fault that clicking on the not-yet-purple hyperlinks has an affect on objective reality!

Literally, OL and Jade were on a date, Jade asked a question and OL did the equivalent of "I don't know let me Google it" and five minutes later suddenly they were watching execution videos on vice dot com and the food is cooling down in the table.
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This happens to everyone.

I mean seriously, you can't tell me that the moment you have some free time or start watching TV or using your computer you don't soon start watching murder shows.
 
He should have tempted him with fighting the antilife. We have a whole world that has forgotten how to fear! Help us fix it!
(Ok, no, maybe that would have ended up worse...)
 
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