<Snipped quote by Lord Wraith>
We can't include an actual God because Disney has copyrighted the concept of a character being a God. Half-God is fair game though.
I don't know. They might use their trademark on Hercules as the basis for a suit.
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I don't know. They might use their trademark on Hercules as the basis for a suit.
Can I not be the Whizztress?
The legal department is worried that's too close to Marvel's trademark on The Whizzer.
I'm just going to go ahead and embrace my age.
Movie: Superman (Christopher Reeve). I'm sorry, but there is only ONE actor who will ever be Superman/Clark Kent for me. And it ain't Henry Cavill.
TV Show: Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter). This was my show growing up. Wonder Woman was the first comic book that my parents bought for me because I was such a fan of the show.
Animated: Challenge of the Super Friends. If you were a kid in the late 70s/early 80s, there's NO WAY you were not watching this. I had all the toys. When I think of childhood, this cartoon is what I think of.
So when I consider the question of "the best", these are what define any comic adaptation for me. And nostalgia being what it is... nothing can compare.
Movie: Superman (Christopher Reeve). I'm sorry, but there is only ONE actor who will ever be Superman/Clark Kent for me. And it ain't Henry Cavill.
TV Show: Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter). This was my show growing up. Wonder Woman was the first comic book that my parents bought for me because I was such a fan of the show.
Animated: Challenge of the Super Friends. If you were a kid in the late 70s/early 80s, there's NO WAY you were not watching this. I had all the toys. When I think of childhood, this cartoon is what I think of.
So when I consider the question of "the best", these are what define any comic adaptation for me. And nostalgia being what it is... nothing can compare.
@Morden Man
I love that idea. I've added the post catalogue to my character sheet.
maybe next time, shorter arcs tho....
I love that idea. I've added the post catalogue to my character sheet.
maybe next time, shorter arcs tho....
And, with that, the first Green Lantern arc is complete.
I'd love any feedback that people may have. PMs apprecited.
I'd love any feedback that people may have. PMs apprecited.
Fourteen oh-nine, Oa Standard Time. Still no contact with Ch'p or Aya in orbit in Scylla. I'm departing Oa en route back to Sector 2814. My name is Kai-ro. I carry a ring.
The green light enveloped his body.
Permeated his being in a way that he didn't understand, and probably couldn't fathom. As the world of Oa fell away, the boy existed alone in the vastness of space. He felt neither its cold nor its heat. He was not out of breath, even in the vacuum in which he now lingered.
It was beautiful in a way he had never even imagined. As a child, he had looked up from the grounds of the temple and viewed the stars in the night's sky never imagining how plentiful they were. Or how bright.
Or that he could be its guardian.
Extending his arms out, the child closed his eyes. Tilting his head back, he succumbed to the complete and total freedom even as the vertigo tip-toed at the edge of his sanity, his sense of time or location, as he allowed the ring to orient him toward the area of the unending darkness.
Somewhere across that sea of stars was a place called Sector 2814.
A pulse of emerald light and Kai-ro was suddenly propelled through the heavens. Opening his eyes, the light of all the stars he could not see as a boy on Earth streamed past him now.
He'd never asked to be Green Lantern, yet never did he want anything more. This moment. This freedom. This...
Something was wrong.
He barely had time to realize the pit forming in his stomach before the green light flickered. In an instant, in the blink of an eye, Kai-ro lost control. Endless darkness, punctuated by distant points of light, tumbling around in a disorienting array as the boy spun wildly through space, caught in the inertia of a momentum he no longer controlled.
The child tried to muster his willpower, before he slipped into the cold embrace of unconsciousness...
...he was back on Xabas.
Kilowog had just taken down the door. The Xudarian and Ch'p were vying to be the first ones through, but he got there first.
Jumping up into the air, Abin Sur cleared the steps leading up to the door. Even as the green construct of a Zim & Axion .370 OM-P materialized in his hand, the Ungaran planed out so that he slid through the foyer like a running baseman sliding to home plate.
Two quick trigger pulls sent green pulses sailing straight through the interior, catching where the drug czars and mafioso wannabes were going for their guns. Some were going to shoot and run. Some were going to try to make a stand.
Kicking up from the floor, he heard Salaak's voice shout out, "GREEN LANTERNS! EVERYBODY DOWN!"
A large fist connected with the side of Abin Sur's head. It dazed him, staggering him, right before Ch'p came out of nowhere. A rabid gerbal of doom atop a pale green horse.
A pale horse that just bodychecked the dusthead right through the drywall.
Recovering, the Ungaran fell in line behind Kilowog. The Bolovaxian clearing house was plowing straight into the line of fire with a green barricade.
So imagine the surprise when a rocket-propelled ion charge slammed into Kilowog's barrier, taking the Bolovaxian back a step.
Shots were coming from all around them.
This wasn't a drug house. It was a god damn shooting barrel. And they were the fish.
Dropping to a knee, Abin Sur took cover behind a bannister. Ch'p was giving them some air support. The Xudarian was down. "Shit," he swore loudly, realizing that his team was coming apart. "Shit," he repeated again.
This hadn't been in the plan.
Why hadn't they planned for this? Glancing around, the Ungaran timed his movements carefully. Breaking into a spring, he ducked and dove behind where Salaak had found some cover. Not much of a firing position. But, right now, they were outnumbered to shit. "YOU SAID THIS WAS A DUST HOUSE, NOT AN ARMORY!" Abin Sur roared, shouting to be heard over the seemingly endless din of laser fire.
The look on the Slyggian's face shocked the Ungaran.
It was the first time that he'd ever seen Salaak speechless. "NONE OF THESE WEAPONS WERE HERE TWO DAYS AGO," the Slyggian shouted back.
The Ungaran's eyes connected with the Slyggian. They'd both arrived at the same conclusion.
...provided that they got out of here alive, what did that suspicion bode for the Corps?
He awoke with a start.
A shiver sending his whole body into a seizure, as cold leeched into his bones.
No, cold wasn't leeching in. His body warmth was leaving his body, pulled away by the unending depths of space. Pulling himself into a fetal ball, the young Tibetan boy tried to huddle for warmth. Hugging his knees to his chest as he spun in a slow orbit through nothing. Greenish-yellow frost lingering in the space around him gave evidence that he'd thrown up sometime between spinning out of control, blacking out, and waking up to find himself here.
His hand was trembling as he brought it up. A green light status indicator was slow to materialized, flickering as though it were unstable.
Power level 0.017%
The construct faltered, blinked out of existence as confusion and fear started to take their toll. No, he'd just re-charged it. He'd just stood in the Central Power Battery. He'd just recited the oath.
It wasn't fair.
This... this wasn't how it was supposed to be.
Drawing in a deep breath, the boy's cleansing meditation was interrupted by the painful spasm that wracked his body. The shivering began again. Uncontrolled. He just gripped his knees and hugged them against his chest, gritting his teeth against the cold.
Drifting through space.
Alone.
...the monks had presented him with another tray of toys and objects.
They wanted him to pick one, so that they could discern who he was. Or, rather, who he'd been. Except, it didn't work. Time and time again, from one age to the next, they brought the child different objects. Different toys. He didn't pick any of them.
Instead, the toddler that they had named Kai-ro shuffled over to where the elder monk was seated, dropped a W-sit posture at the man's feet, and pulled on the jade ring that he was wearing.
Hypothermia had set in.
"Gotta admit, it's a great view."
He was no longer cold, even though layer of frost had started to appear across the child's face and arms, as what little bit of green energy there was left to shield him against the vacuum of space was fading paper thin.
He was drifting in view of a stellar nursery. From here, it looked like a Monet watercolor, except painted with fire instead of watercolors.
He was hallucinating. In some detached, distant part of his mind, he knew that Ch'p wasn't really here. He was just really glad not to be alone anymore. "H-hey, C-Ch'p-p?"
He struggled to whisper. Swallowing repeatedly in vain to try and wet his palette, his throat dry and raw. He was no longer wracked by shivers, through his muscles didn't seem to work the way that they were supposed to.
"Yeah, kid?"
"D-do y-y-you th-ink we... we c-could g-g-go ba-ck t-to th..."
"That place on Asteroid Blue Heaven you like?"
The young Tibetan tried to respond, but the affirmation just came out as a gurgling sound. He tried, but he was having a hard time swallowing.
"Yeah, kid. We can go back there tomorrow."
He was dying.
The realization seemed to arrive with a seizure. His conscious mind striking back against a body that was out of time. It's willpower slipping away as both fear and hope eroded until there was only the reality of his own mortality. He was shaking, but it was not the shiver of the cold or the meek trembling before fear... it was anger. He was quivering with rage at a body that was quitting, when he wanted to fight on.
"Ch'p!"
When had that become the name of god? Like, the voice of Charlton Heston in a 1960s Biblical feature, only instead of Charlton Heston the role of god would be played by a 2 foot tall chipmunk.
Tears sprang from his eyes, running down his face as the child struggled in vain and refused to see the vanity in it. "I don't wanna die, Ch'p!"
Except, Ch'p wasn't there. Kai-ro was drifting, alone. "Ch'p... I don't wanna die."
The green light surrounding his body flickered.
The boy's eyes opened. They were no longer green. They were brown.
The finger on his right hand twitched, as the ring started to pull away.
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" [ Epilogue ] [ Breathe ]
The green light enveloped his body.
Permeated his being in a way that he didn't understand, and probably couldn't fathom. As the world of Oa fell away, the boy existed alone in the vastness of space. He felt neither its cold nor its heat. He was not out of breath, even in the vacuum in which he now lingered.
It was beautiful in a way he had never even imagined. As a child, he had looked up from the grounds of the temple and viewed the stars in the night's sky never imagining how plentiful they were. Or how bright.
Or that he could be its guardian.
Extending his arms out, the child closed his eyes. Tilting his head back, he succumbed to the complete and total freedom even as the vertigo tip-toed at the edge of his sanity, his sense of time or location, as he allowed the ring to orient him toward the area of the unending darkness.
Somewhere across that sea of stars was a place called Sector 2814.
A pulse of emerald light and Kai-ro was suddenly propelled through the heavens. Opening his eyes, the light of all the stars he could not see as a boy on Earth streamed past him now.
He'd never asked to be Green Lantern, yet never did he want anything more. This moment. This freedom. This...
Something was wrong.
He barely had time to realize the pit forming in his stomach before the green light flickered. In an instant, in the blink of an eye, Kai-ro lost control. Endless darkness, punctuated by distant points of light, tumbling around in a disorienting array as the boy spun wildly through space, caught in the inertia of a momentum he no longer controlled.
The child tried to muster his willpower, before he slipped into the cold embrace of unconsciousness...
...he was back on Xabas.
Kilowog had just taken down the door. The Xudarian and Ch'p were vying to be the first ones through, but he got there first.
Jumping up into the air, Abin Sur cleared the steps leading up to the door. Even as the green construct of a Zim & Axion .370 OM-P materialized in his hand, the Ungaran planed out so that he slid through the foyer like a running baseman sliding to home plate.
Two quick trigger pulls sent green pulses sailing straight through the interior, catching where the drug czars and mafioso wannabes were going for their guns. Some were going to shoot and run. Some were going to try to make a stand.
Kicking up from the floor, he heard Salaak's voice shout out, "GREEN LANTERNS! EVERYBODY DOWN!"
A large fist connected with the side of Abin Sur's head. It dazed him, staggering him, right before Ch'p came out of nowhere. A rabid gerbal of doom atop a pale green horse.
A pale horse that just bodychecked the dusthead right through the drywall.
Recovering, the Ungaran fell in line behind Kilowog. The Bolovaxian clearing house was plowing straight into the line of fire with a green barricade.
So imagine the surprise when a rocket-propelled ion charge slammed into Kilowog's barrier, taking the Bolovaxian back a step.
Shots were coming from all around them.
This wasn't a drug house. It was a god damn shooting barrel. And they were the fish.
Dropping to a knee, Abin Sur took cover behind a bannister. Ch'p was giving them some air support. The Xudarian was down. "Shit," he swore loudly, realizing that his team was coming apart. "Shit," he repeated again.
This hadn't been in the plan.
Why hadn't they planned for this? Glancing around, the Ungaran timed his movements carefully. Breaking into a spring, he ducked and dove behind where Salaak had found some cover. Not much of a firing position. But, right now, they were outnumbered to shit. "YOU SAID THIS WAS A DUST HOUSE, NOT AN ARMORY!" Abin Sur roared, shouting to be heard over the seemingly endless din of laser fire.
The look on the Slyggian's face shocked the Ungaran.
It was the first time that he'd ever seen Salaak speechless. "NONE OF THESE WEAPONS WERE HERE TWO DAYS AGO," the Slyggian shouted back.
The Ungaran's eyes connected with the Slyggian. They'd both arrived at the same conclusion.
...provided that they got out of here alive, what did that suspicion bode for the Corps?
He awoke with a start.
A shiver sending his whole body into a seizure, as cold leeched into his bones.
No, cold wasn't leeching in. His body warmth was leaving his body, pulled away by the unending depths of space. Pulling himself into a fetal ball, the young Tibetan boy tried to huddle for warmth. Hugging his knees to his chest as he spun in a slow orbit through nothing. Greenish-yellow frost lingering in the space around him gave evidence that he'd thrown up sometime between spinning out of control, blacking out, and waking up to find himself here.
His hand was trembling as he brought it up. A green light status indicator was slow to materialized, flickering as though it were unstable.
Power level 0.017%
The construct faltered, blinked out of existence as confusion and fear started to take their toll. No, he'd just re-charged it. He'd just stood in the Central Power Battery. He'd just recited the oath.
It wasn't fair.
This... this wasn't how it was supposed to be.
Drawing in a deep breath, the boy's cleansing meditation was interrupted by the painful spasm that wracked his body. The shivering began again. Uncontrolled. He just gripped his knees and hugged them against his chest, gritting his teeth against the cold.
Drifting through space.
Alone.
...the monks had presented him with another tray of toys and objects.
They wanted him to pick one, so that they could discern who he was. Or, rather, who he'd been. Except, it didn't work. Time and time again, from one age to the next, they brought the child different objects. Different toys. He didn't pick any of them.
Instead, the toddler that they had named Kai-ro shuffled over to where the elder monk was seated, dropped a W-sit posture at the man's feet, and pulled on the jade ring that he was wearing.
Hypothermia had set in.
"Gotta admit, it's a great view."
He was no longer cold, even though layer of frost had started to appear across the child's face and arms, as what little bit of green energy there was left to shield him against the vacuum of space was fading paper thin.
He was drifting in view of a stellar nursery. From here, it looked like a Monet watercolor, except painted with fire instead of watercolors.
He was hallucinating. In some detached, distant part of his mind, he knew that Ch'p wasn't really here. He was just really glad not to be alone anymore. "H-hey, C-Ch'p-p?"
He struggled to whisper. Swallowing repeatedly in vain to try and wet his palette, his throat dry and raw. He was no longer wracked by shivers, through his muscles didn't seem to work the way that they were supposed to.
"Yeah, kid?"
"D-do y-y-you th-ink we... we c-could g-g-go ba-ck t-to th..."
"That place on Asteroid Blue Heaven you like?"
The young Tibetan tried to respond, but the affirmation just came out as a gurgling sound. He tried, but he was having a hard time swallowing.
"Yeah, kid. We can go back there tomorrow."
He was dying.
The realization seemed to arrive with a seizure. His conscious mind striking back against a body that was out of time. It's willpower slipping away as both fear and hope eroded until there was only the reality of his own mortality. He was shaking, but it was not the shiver of the cold or the meek trembling before fear... it was anger. He was quivering with rage at a body that was quitting, when he wanted to fight on.
"Ch'p!"
When had that become the name of god? Like, the voice of Charlton Heston in a 1960s Biblical feature, only instead of Charlton Heston the role of god would be played by a 2 foot tall chipmunk.
Tears sprang from his eyes, running down his face as the child struggled in vain and refused to see the vanity in it. "I don't wanna die, Ch'p!"
Except, Ch'p wasn't there. Kai-ro was drifting, alone. "Ch'p... I don't wanna die."
The green light surrounding his body flickered.
Fading.
"Please, I don't wanna...
The boy's eyes opened. They were no longer green. They were brown.
The finger on his right hand twitched, as the ring started to pull away.
Ultimate Comics Presents
A Bounce Production
"Mary Jane's Last Dance"
GREEN LANTERN WILL RETURN..?
A Bounce Production
G R E E N L A N T E R N
in"Mary Jane's Last Dance"
GREEN LANTERN WILL RETURN..?
Yer' killin' it, @Bounce!
Thanks! I am really, really enjoying writing Kai-ro this go round.
Hopefully, I'm not the only one.
G R E E N L A N T E R N
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" [ Part IX ] [ One Day ]A heavy, Bolovaxian hand slapped the table.
It was possible that the entire restaurant shook with the force of Kilowog's gesture, the porcine Lantern laughing hoarsely as he regaled Kai-ro with the story of Tyegin. It had been another vice sting, which his partner had spent months preparing for. But B'Shi had gotten sick right before the crucial phase of their investigation, and so Kilowog had gone undercover -- in drag -- in order to finish the assignment.
Which turned out to merely be the start to a series of unfortunate events. That apparently took several hours for the Bolovaxian to properly recount, as the offer to buy Kilowog a cup of coffee was going into its second hour.
Ch'p had been right. Kilowog had seemed as though he was going to decline the invitation, until Kai-ro had brought up Tyegin. Even as he listened to the Bolovaxian weave his tale about the vice sting, it made the boy aware of just how much Green Lantern history that he was oblivious to.
He knew that Ch'p and Salaak had been partners once, a pairing that seemed impossible to try and imagine now. Kilowog had been partnered with B'Shi... so, who had Abin Sur been partnered with?
"Ah... brings back memories," the large Bolovaxian declared, still chuckling as he loomed over the cramped cafeteria table where the two were situated. Relaxed back, the boy's former drill sergeant finally asked, "So what's this about, really? Ch'p didn't send you halfway around the universe just to hear me talk about the ol' glory days."
The boy was fidgeting with his ring. For some reason, it felt hot. Like it was burning him, except... it wasn't? It was really strange. Not to mention distracting. Purposely folding his hands down in his lap so that it was out of sight, the boy looked up at the Bolovaxian as he said, "We're working a homicide from Omicron Ceti IV, but we're having a hard time identifying the victim."
The laughter subsided, through the Bolovaxian's jowls were still quivering. A sight, then a grunt, as Kilowog seemed to internalize the statement and grow serious. His voice was low as he rumbled, "So why come to me?"
The boy's eyes cast down to the table, then off to the side. He wasn't really sure how to answer that question in any way that wouldn't make him sound crazy. When he looked up, he finally said, "We think she might be someone you trained."
"But you checked the..." the grizzled drill sergeant began, as though preparing to launch into a lesson on one of his recruits. Except, Kai-ro had been one of recruits. And he realized that he knew better. "You did. And then what?"
"I tried to speak with the Clarissi except..."
"Yeah," Kilowog growled, burying his face in the meaty palm of a large hand. "That probably went just like I'd think it would," the porcine soldier remarked flatly, lowering his hand and drawing in a deep breath. "So Ch'p sent you to me. An' fed you that tidbit about Tyegin because he knew that'd get my attention."
Kai-ro's eyes diverted right, then looked back at Kilowog with a smile that did nothing to remove how utterly guilty he looked right now.
"Crafty lil' bastard," the Bolovaxian huffed. Even his whisper seemed to roll like thunder. When he slapped his hand back down on the table, Kai-ro jumped at the boom it delivered. It was a miracle of Maltusian construction that the table was still in one piece. "Right. What you got, then?"
Kai-ro swallowed nervously, though he wasn't really all that certain why he was nervous.
...well, other than the fact that he was crammed into a cafeteria booth across from a Bolovaxian about four times his size. Who'd been his drill sergeant.
Kai-ro was very much of the belief that Kilowog could end him just by sneezing.
Still fidgeting with the ring, the boy flexed his fingers to try and take his mind off the itching and irritation that seemed to keep biting at him from the underside of the ring. Was it possible to be allergic to these? He'd even tried changing which finger it was on, and it was still like wearing a ring of thorns for some reason...
The green construct leapt into existence between the two. The same artistic rendition of a living Jane Doe that Ch'p had used on Scylla. Aya had rendered the image using the data from Doctor von Buron's analysis.
The Bolovaxian leaned in as he studied the image. His brow furrowed, through the recognition was clear behind his eyes. "Luna?" Kilowog uttered, as though testing whether the name sound correct or not. "No, Laura?"
For his part, Kai-ro just blinked.
To be totally honest, he was really not sure where this was going. And, as a result, he'd just assumed this whole go ask Kilowog what the Book of Oa says doesn't exist thing was going to be a bust.
Now it wasn't. And the implications of that fact left Kai-ro very uncertain as to what he should do next. Other than call Ch'p as soon as possible.
Ch'p would know what to do. Ch'p always knew what to do. It didn't always go as planned, but that wasn't because his partner was making it up as he went...
...he totally made this up as he went. But how did he do it? Kai-ro couldn't figure that part out. And he'd tried. "So you do know her?" the boy asked, mostly because he hadn't known what else to say.
Kilowog seemed lost in thought. He did a double-take at the question, as though having forgotten that Kai-ro was still there. "Yeah, I know her. Graxian, but... my memory isn't what it used to be," the aged veteran remarked candidly, letting go a heavy sigh as he sagged back into the booth. "She was the Green Lantern of Sector..."
He paused there, his eyes seeming to search a bit, before they focused back on Kai-ro.
"2814," the boy realized, finishing the Bolovaxian's sentence for him.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the table.
"I ain't gonna claim to know what you boys have gotten yourselves into. But you might tell Ch'p that I said... think twice about where you're going with this one."
Maybe it was malfunctioning?
Still fidgeting with his ring, the small Green Lantern exited from out of cafeteria. He was more confused now than when he'd first woken up on Oa with a ring on his finger, wearing a black-and-green leotard.
How was it possible for someone to have been Green Lantern and there not be any record in the Book of Oa? At all?
And why couldn't he get a connection with either Aya or Ch'p? Even if the H'lven was maintaining radio silence because of the stake-out, Kai-ro still should have been able to reach Aya in orbit of Scylla.
Was there a place he could take his ring for a check-up? Was that even a thing?
Kai-ro felt like he should know the answer to these questions. He really was a poozer, wasn't he?
"Come away, O human child."
So far as he knew, Kai-ro was the only human in the Green Lantern Corps. So how was it that everybody seemed to automatically know what his species was? And why was that a substitute for his name?
The boy turned, then did a double take when he realized who was addressing him.
"To the water and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand..." the bald, scarred Guardian uttered, in the same softly melodic voice. She was Kai-ro's same height, looking him calmly in the eye as he stood there, open mouthed, in awe of the fact that there was a Guardian literally in arm's reach.
A Guardian in arm's reach, who was speaking to him.
Immediately, Kai-ro bowed toward the ancient alien, holding the pose so that his head was focused firmly on the ground at his feet. "M... my Guardian."
Seriously, what was he even supposed to call these people? They were basically gods.
"Do you know the poet William Butler Yeats of your homeworld?"
"Uhhh..." the boy uttered, shifting uncomfortably under the Guardian's attention. "How... how do you know so much about Earth?" he finally asked, blurting the question aloud before he'd even really thought about it.
"I am the director of our Science Division. I know many things about many worlds," the woman's voice answered cryptically. The hem of her red robe came into Kai-ro's field of vision, as a voice commanded him. "Look up, child."
The boy fidgeted. Was this a test? Was there any right answer in this situation? "I mean no disrespect your... your Guardianship."
Guardianship? Where, even, had he gotten that from? Let alone said it?
"Look up."
That popped the child firmly upright, rigidly at attention like this was the second day of Sergeant Kilowog's training.
"Better," the scarred Guardian uttered approvingly. "I cannot have a Green Lantern looking down all the time. You would be forever running into things."
Kai-ro just flashed a nervous smile.
Was this conversation over now? This conversation should really be over now.
"What brings Green Lantern 2814.2 to Oa?" the woman asked, seemingly happy to continue this... whatever this was. Glancing off in the direction that the boy had been headed, the woman paused a moment before adding, "Or should I ask what takes you from us?"
"I'm, uh, just eager to get back to my partner, m'am," the boy uttered shyly, then seemed to stop and wonder if he'd said that right. "Miss? My lady?"
Seriously, how were you supposed to talk to these people? And why wasn't that part of the training?
"And where is Green Lantern 2814.1?" the Guardian asked in turn.
"Scylla, your... uh"
"Ah, Scylla," the Guardian uttered, as though fondly recalling a memory of yesteryear. With a faint nod of approval, she added, You travel some distance then." Reaching out with her left hand, the woman took hold of the boy's ring hand and cradled his hand in the palm of her hand.
The itching sensation in his ring finger stopped.
"Have you been charging your ring regularly, as you're supposed to?" the Guardian asked curiously.
Kai-ro's eyes immediately diverted to the right.
Still holding firm to his hand, the woman became more pointed as she asked, "When was the last time that you charged your ring?"
The boy's eyes flickered back the woman for a moment, then diverted away again as he stammered, "Uh, well, you see... what happened was..."
Squeezing his hand, the woman released him as she said, "Go to the Central Battery. Re-charge. Whatever awaits you on Scylla has time enough for that."
An opportunity to make a break for it.
Kai-ro took it. Eagerly. Bowing, he scooted away. Bowed a second time. And took off in a dead sprint for the Central Battery.
The blue-skinned Guardian watched the child as he fled from her presence.
Glancing down, the woman looked as she opened her right hand. A Green Lantern power ring sat in the center of her palm. A single drop of H'lven blood spider-webbed across the lines of her hand.
Closing her fist, the same indigo eyes looked up to fix upon the child's retreating back as she finished the poem.
"...from a world more full of weeping than you can understand."
The scarred Guardian featured at the center of one of the monitors overhead. A second recorded Kai-ro breathless as he stumbled into the Central Battery.
In the shadows, the Slyggian sat. And watched. And wondered... how had it all come to this?
...he was seated at a café.
It was a strange experience, as though peering through eyes that were not his own. He was holding a cup of something, struck by the fact that his skin was a violet hue. And then wondering why he'd think that was strange.
Someone was laughing. As he glanced across the table, Salaak seemed to be enjoying a joke told by Ch'p. Except, neither looked the same. They were clearly Salaak and Ch'p, but... younger. Ch'p was bright eyed and bushy tailed in a way quite unlike the H'lven that he knew.
The H'lven that he knew now? Did that even make sense?
This was Xabas. They were on a sting. Set-up in a café outside the dust house that another Green Lantern had worked her way inside of. They were supposed to be waiting for the signal to go in and make the arrest.
Kilowog and a Xudarian were on the other side of the street, pretending to argue sports at the newsstand.
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering overhead heralded the ejection of a dusthead from inside the drug house. The trio at the table were caught speechless, as sounds of laser fire echoed from inside the building. The ejected dusthead slammed down against a parked tram, setting out an alarm that sounded up and down the alleys.
That wasn't the signal they'd discussed. But it was the signal now.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Their outward appearances changed, as all five converged on the door to the house. Black and white and green displayed prominently as Kilowog hit the door like a tank to open the way...
The boy awoke to find a family of chipmunks nesting on top of him.
It was disorienting at first. Like, was it all just a dream? Or not? He stared at his hand. So small. So pink. So alien. It was as though he didn't recognize himself and it made him question just who he was.
Who was he supposed to be?
"You off to find Kilowog, dear?"
The boy blinked the sleep away from his eyes, lowering his hand away from his face to find a matriarchal chipmunk who was wearing a red and white check patterned apron staring patiently at him, even while she was standing on top of his chest. Kai-ro's restlessness had apparently roused the H'lven family.
Family. It was a concept that the Tibetan boy was still trying to come to an understanding of. As happened in Tibet, Kai-ro was presented to the monastery as an orphan for the monks to raise. It was entirely possible that his parents were alive, and just couldn't afford to take care of him. Or else didn't want him. Or maybe he was legitimately an orphan.
He didn't know, he just knew that growing up in a monastery was not at all akin to having a family. A reality that he'd never so much as thought about until he'd found himself spending time with Ch'p's family.
And wistfully wondering how things could have been different. "Yes'm," the boy said, sitting up carefully as the trio of H'lven's scampered around the proverbial Gulliver. "You have to get up early if you want to catch Kilowog before he starts training," the boy added.
"Oh, well that is a shame. I was going to make us all breakfast."
That proclamation stopped Kai-ro even as he was starting to get up.
"Well... not that early, I guess."
He was going to grow old down here.
Wrapped in a scrap of wool cloth, the small H'lven Lantern was perched atop a windowsill on a building that was across from Robot Emotional Underground. He'd been on the stake-out overnight, feeling each hour sap away at his bones. His back ached. His knees were killing him. And he had some arthritis in his left elbow that was really setting his nerves on fire.
Why didn't he remember stake-outs being this miserable?
The answer, because they hadn't been. Twenty years ago, he'd have been playing fizzbin with Salaak. Cheating at cards just to annoy the Slyggian shark. Bastard knew the rules so well, he could run the tables on just about everyone by card counting.
Strange. At the time, they'd only gotten on each other's nerves. Now, the memory of those same arguments brought the ghost of a smile to the H'lven's face.
Movement. Lights overhead directed Ch'p's eyes upward, tracking where a descending shuttle seemed to be ferrying a delivery to the back of the club. "Showtime," the H'lven muttered under his breath. A green construct depicting a pair of macrobinoculars formed in front of the rodent's face.
The Daxamites, Tweedledee and Tweedledumbass, were offloading containers of some sort. Ch'p's mind was already working to try and devise a plan to get a peek inside of one of those.
A shadow moving along the ground alerted him to another presence. Judging by the shadow, a big presence at that. Adjusting the binoculars, the H'lven shifted his gaze around where the unloading was taking place.
The color was what stood out to him most.
His fur bristled. His eyes squinting as he leaned forward, the disbelief evaporating as recognition set in. "What the..."
This changed everything.
Discarding the wool scrap, the H'lven leapt up into the air. This stake-out had just gotten hot. Uncomfortably hot. Ch'p didn't know where Abin Sur was. Heaven. Paradise. Maybe frolicking in the Elysian Fields, or whatever it was that Ungarans believed in, but he really could have used the back-up right about now.
For the first time in more than a decade, he wished that Salaak was with him.
Skyrocketing up into the atmosphere, Ch'p moved like a chipmunk with a purpose. Raising his ring up toward his head, the H'lven said, "Aya, fire up the eng..."
3,600 Sectors.
7,200 Lanterns just for regular patrols. Then there was the administrative overhead, the Honor Guard, dispatchers, SWAT... and just one Slyggian to try and pull it all together with any semblance of order.
In the center of a myriad of windows boasting information about the known universe, the Clarissi stood in the eye of the storm. He would not permit the chaos of the wider cosmos to permeate or take root here. Here, there would be order. Precision.
"Where's that report on Tamaran?" Salaak barked curtly, even as he was perusing the latest long-range survey of the Vega System. The Spider Guild was on the move again. He was almost certain of...
He was out of breath.
Staggered, one of the Slyggian's four arms reached back to his chest. It was tight. So tight that he couldn't breathe. A sharp pain pieced his ring finger, radiating outward until it seemed to consume all of him in a burning pain that was not physical as much as it was ephemeral.
As much as it was emotional.
He dropped to a knee, staggered and unsteady as two arms fumbled for a chair that wasn't there. He'd always been conscious of the connection. It was a bond forged by two rings united in wills for more decades than some of these Green Lanterns today had even been alive.
A connection he hadn't thought about now in...
The connection was gone now. Broken. Severed.
"Oh, no."
It was a strange experience, as though peering through eyes that were not his own. He was holding a cup of something, struck by the fact that his skin was a violet hue. And then wondering why he'd think that was strange.
Someone was laughing. As he glanced across the table, Salaak seemed to be enjoying a joke told by Ch'p. Except, neither looked the same. They were clearly Salaak and Ch'p, but... younger. Ch'p was bright eyed and bushy tailed in a way quite unlike the H'lven that he knew.
The H'lven that he knew now? Did that even make sense?
This was Xabas. They were on a sting. Set-up in a café outside the dust house that another Green Lantern had worked her way inside of. They were supposed to be waiting for the signal to go in and make the arrest.
Kilowog and a Xudarian were on the other side of the street, pretending to argue sports at the newsstand.
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering overhead heralded the ejection of a dusthead from inside the drug house. The trio at the table were caught speechless, as sounds of laser fire echoed from inside the building. The ejected dusthead slammed down against a parked tram, setting out an alarm that sounded up and down the alleys.
That wasn't the signal they'd discussed. But it was the signal now.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Their outward appearances changed, as all five converged on the door to the house. Black and white and green displayed prominently as Kilowog hit the door like a tank to open the way...
G R E E N L A N T E R N
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" [ Part VIII ] [ See You Again ]The boy awoke to find a family of chipmunks nesting on top of him.
It was disorienting at first. Like, was it all just a dream? Or not? He stared at his hand. So small. So pink. So alien. It was as though he didn't recognize himself and it made him question just who he was.
Who was he supposed to be?
"You off to find Kilowog, dear?"
The boy blinked the sleep away from his eyes, lowering his hand away from his face to find a matriarchal chipmunk who was wearing a red and white check patterned apron staring patiently at him, even while she was standing on top of his chest. Kai-ro's restlessness had apparently roused the H'lven family.
Family. It was a concept that the Tibetan boy was still trying to come to an understanding of. As happened in Tibet, Kai-ro was presented to the monastery as an orphan for the monks to raise. It was entirely possible that his parents were alive, and just couldn't afford to take care of him. Or else didn't want him. Or maybe he was legitimately an orphan.
He didn't know, he just knew that growing up in a monastery was not at all akin to having a family. A reality that he'd never so much as thought about until he'd found himself spending time with Ch'p's family.
And wistfully wondering how things could have been different. "Yes'm," the boy said, sitting up carefully as the trio of H'lven's scampered around the proverbial Gulliver. "You have to get up early if you want to catch Kilowog before he starts training," the boy added.
"Oh, well that is a shame. I was going to make us all breakfast."
That proclamation stopped Kai-ro even as he was starting to get up.
"Well... not that early, I guess."
He was going to grow old down here.
Wrapped in a scrap of wool cloth, the small H'lven Lantern was perched atop a windowsill on a building that was across from Robot Emotional Underground. He'd been on the stake-out overnight, feeling each hour sap away at his bones. His back ached. His knees were killing him. And he had some arthritis in his left elbow that was really setting his nerves on fire.
Why didn't he remember stake-outs being this miserable?
The answer, because they hadn't been. Twenty years ago, he'd have been playing fizzbin with Salaak. Cheating at cards just to annoy the Slyggian shark. Bastard knew the rules so well, he could run the tables on just about everyone by card counting.
Strange. At the time, they'd only gotten on each other's nerves. Now, the memory of those same arguments brought the ghost of a smile to the H'lven's face.
Movement. Lights overhead directed Ch'p's eyes upward, tracking where a descending shuttle seemed to be ferrying a delivery to the back of the club. "Showtime," the H'lven muttered under his breath. A green construct depicting a pair of macrobinoculars formed in front of the rodent's face.
The Daxamites, Tweedledee and Tweedledumbass, were offloading containers of some sort. Ch'p's mind was already working to try and devise a plan to get a peek inside of one of those.
A shadow moving along the ground alerted him to another presence. Judging by the shadow, a big presence at that. Adjusting the binoculars, the H'lven shifted his gaze around where the unloading was taking place.
The color was what stood out to him most.
His fur bristled. His eyes squinting as he leaned forward, the disbelief evaporating as recognition set in. "What the..."
This changed everything.
Discarding the wool scrap, the H'lven leapt up into the air. This stake-out had just gotten hot. Uncomfortably hot. Ch'p didn't know where Abin Sur was. Heaven. Paradise. Maybe frolicking in the Elysian Fields, or whatever it was that Ungarans believed in, but he really could have used the back-up right about now.
For the first time in more than a decade, he wished that Salaak was with him.
Skyrocketing up into the atmosphere, Ch'p moved like a chipmunk with a purpose. Raising his ring up toward his head, the H'lven said, "Aya, fire up the eng..."
3,600 Sectors.
7,200 Lanterns just for regular patrols. Then there was the administrative overhead, the Honor Guard, dispatchers, SWAT... and just one Slyggian to try and pull it all together with any semblance of order.
In the center of a myriad of windows boasting information about the known universe, the Clarissi stood in the eye of the storm. He would not permit the chaos of the wider cosmos to permeate or take root here. Here, there would be order. Precision.
"Where's that report on Tamaran?" Salaak barked curtly, even as he was perusing the latest long-range survey of the Vega System. The Spider Guild was on the move again. He was almost certain of...
He was out of breath.
Staggered, one of the Slyggian's four arms reached back to his chest. It was tight. So tight that he couldn't breathe. A sharp pain pieced his ring finger, radiating outward until it seemed to consume all of him in a burning pain that was not physical as much as it was ephemeral.
As much as it was emotional.
He dropped to a knee, staggered and unsteady as two arms fumbled for a chair that wasn't there. He'd always been conscious of the connection. It was a bond forged by two rings united in wills for more decades than some of these Green Lanterns today had even been alive.
A connection he hadn't thought about now in...
The connection was gone now. Broken. Severed.
"Oh, no."
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