What happens if somebody cremates Ra's body and scatters the ashes into the wind? Does that keep him from coming back?
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
- Location
- RS,brasil
batman once cremated his body and scattered his ashes in space, didnt work
Always made me wonder if the 'Red Sky at Morning' story was actually canon, given there was nothing left to resurrect of him, and he still came back.
Maybe he left some nail clippings with an underling and orders for what to do in that circumstance?
- Location
- RS,brasil
ideas for worlds that alchemist could visit:
Foreshadowed:
Cyberpunk Red/2077 (I proposed getting a cyberdong for cyborg as a joke, but that could legit feature in a story)
Elden Ring (the one world of the soul franchise that hasn't had a chance to shine and the one he could do the most good in)
personal opinion:
Fairy Tail (a lot of useful magic, amongst some of the easiest places to learn, teaching jobs for children go by the local equivalent of 300 bucks, and I personally think alchemist would have a great time with Archive magic, in general Fiore is really cheap for someone with Alchemists resources, the grand magic games prize was like 300,000 dollars, drop a gold bullion, and you can have multiple guilds on a single job)
Boulders Gate 3 (I'm sure @Mister Ficser has spent a lot of time playing it and could definitely write a good arc about it, honestly want to see him interact with elminster, and the talking animals)
Jujutsu Kaisen (alchemist would really dislike this universe due to the multiple instant lost conditions, but I can see him being absolutely dominant in the majority of fights)
Foreshadowed:
Cyberpunk Red/2077 (I proposed getting a cyberdong for cyborg as a joke, but that could legit feature in a story)
Elden Ring (the one world of the soul franchise that hasn't had a chance to shine and the one he could do the most good in)
personal opinion:
Fairy Tail (a lot of useful magic, amongst some of the easiest places to learn, teaching jobs for children go by the local equivalent of 300 bucks, and I personally think alchemist would have a great time with Archive magic, in general Fiore is really cheap for someone with Alchemists resources, the grand magic games prize was like 300,000 dollars, drop a gold bullion, and you can have multiple guilds on a single job)
Boulders Gate 3 (I'm sure @Mister Ficser has spent a lot of time playing it and could definitely write a good arc about it, honestly want to see him interact with elminster, and the talking animals)
Jujutsu Kaisen (alchemist would really dislike this universe due to the multiple instant lost conditions, but I can see him being absolutely dominant in the majority of fights)
Chapter 252
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 2.5.2
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jinx enjoyed the feeling of the fading rays of the setting sun against her scales as she leaned over a table and contemplated the universe.
Which... wasn't actually that much of a metaphor.
Leaning over one of the enchanting tables that Alchemist had outright looted from one of the barrows full of undead on the island of Solstheim, Jinx was slowly teasing the magic within a soul-gem into shape and it was...
Even for a spell she felt she knew fairly well, such as Regeneration, the experience of trying to shape a... well, calling it a 'soul' would be a dramatic overstatement for how simple the contained energy was within a soul gem.
What a White Soul Gem trapped was less a soul and more the energy surrounding the soul. The binding between self and flesh, the distance between heaven and earth.
She didn't know what a Black Soul Gem would capture, though Alchemist had insisted it would shackle an actual soul, but she had seen a full soul captured and trapped back when Alchemist had captured Jenova and there was no comparison between the two.
Enchanting, using the Nordic method from the natives of Skyrim, was the simplest method and the one least prone to failure. There were two other methods that Jinx had the instructions for but she didn't feel ready to work on them.
The Cyrodilic method from the Colovian Heartlands of Nirn was similar to the Nordic method, though slightly more complicated, and allowed for somewhat more freedom in how many enchantments Jinx could apply to an item. However, it did not allow her any flexibility in how the enchantment was expressed. And, unfortunately, each subsequent enchantment placed using that method would divide the overall magical power.
The Dunmeri method, from the ash-covered island of Morrowind was the most complicated, prone to destructive failure but at the same time offered almost absolute freedom in -how- an enchantment was applied. If she wished to create an item that would persistently heal the person wearing it, she could do so. If she wanted to graft a secondary enchantment into it, she could subtract however much she wanted from the first to power it.
It would even allow her the ability to embed a spell into an item so that it could be cast by whoever had said item, with whatever variation on strength and duration that could be powered by the soul first placed into it. It would drain the charge from the item and cast the spell, regardless of the personal strength or need for any magic from the caster. It could even be recharged and reused!
...Provided it wasn't one of a handful of items that could be destroyed when the enchantment was activated, such as a spell-scroll.
The Nordic method was much more limited, allowing her to only place a single enchantment at the moment with its strength decided by the power of the soul gem and Jinx's own ability at enchanting. However, within that limitation came the guarantee of success.
Still, the process of enchanting was, well, enchanting!
The closest that Jinx could describe it, she was taking the nimbus of power from the soul gem and then turning it into a series of constellations around the item she was enchanting, working and teasing the magic into a shape or form that would map the spell to the identity of the item, changing it and its nature.
And at the moment, Jinx was using it to create...
Paper. Well, paper rings. Paper rings enchanted with, as was mentioned just a moment ago, Regeneration.
Which would rather effectively combine the single-use aspect of enchanted scrolls with the activate when worn clause for equipment. Meaning that the ring that Jinx was making-
~~ Item Created! ~~
~~ Ring of Regeneration (?) x8! ~~
~~ When worn, this ring will cast Regenerate: The subject's severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back. After the spell is cast, the physical regeneration is complete in six seconds if the severed members are present and touching the creature. It takes between twelve and sixty seconds otherwise.
Regenerate also cures 78-134 HP, rids the subject of exhaustion and fatigue, and eliminates all nonlethal damage the subject has taken. It has no effect on nonliving creatures (including undead)
After casting Regenerate, this ring will tear itself to shreds and become unusable ~~
-would only be good once.
Which, considering she was planning on selling it online? Would be absolutely fantastic.
Poking her claw against the cracked, dull remains of the soul gem she'd just used, Jinx cast Repair and the broken fragments wobbled for a moment before reassembling before her eyes.
Still dull but now whole, the magical rock was ready to be refilled and reused.
"Jinx!" Yuffie called from the front door of Jinx's otherwise empty home. "Ji~inx! Come on! I found a stash of weapons!"
"You mean an armory?" Jinx asked as she walked out of the concrete skeleton Alchemist had left to sit and cure on his island a few days prior. Two story buildings made of concrete and rebar, powered by magically perfected solar panels and plumbed with infinite sources of clean water. The front halves were simply large, open rooms with a kitchen taking up one wall while the back halves had a full size bedroom, a bathroom and one miscellaneous room for whatever purpose someone wanted to use it for.
He'd let her claim the first apartment he'd built. Promised to help her furnish it and make it comfortable.
Right now, though, the only thing of note inside of it was a door inside one of the three rooms in the back half of the building. A door that led into her own, private demi-plane. A tiny space that only had three square meters inside of it.
"Whatever, come on!" Yuffie shouted, Cinder happily bouncing around the girl. "I wanna go throw some of it into the volcano and watch it melt!"
"..." Jinx wasn't entirely sure what to say to that. It just... it sounded so juvenile.
"Sure, let's go!"
But cool, too.
She never did get to do those kinds of things when she was Yuffie's age, back when she'd lived in Cutsoil. She'd never had the opportunity.
But she could do it, now. It wasn't just that she could, or should, or whatever else.
She also had people she could go and do those things with! She wasn't going to miss out on that opportunity!
Not twice.
-----
Tiffany felt nervous as she stepped into her therapist's room.
Right after school on a Monday? It wasn't a great way to start her week.
Well, she hadn't been having a lot of good weeks recently. It wouldn't really be much of a change of pace.
"I'm glad to see that you could make it, today," the woman said, looking up from a fairly thick packet of notes. "I understand things have been rather stressful, lately?"
"Uh... yeah," Tiffany muttered as she sat down on a surprisingly comfortable chair across from the woman.
"Well, we all have times like that," the therapist admitted as she crossed her hands over the packet of papers and looked at Tiffany over her glasses. "Was there anything in particular that you wanted to talk about?"
"I... guess?" Tiffany half-asked, unsure of what she wanted to say. If she wanted to say anything. "I, uh... I'm sorry. This, this is a lot harder than I thought."
"...It's alright," Chase Meridian told the girl, a soft smile on her lips. "A lot of people don't keep trying with a therapist if they get dropped by their old one."
...Yeah, Tiffany definitely felt that. She hadn't really wanted to keep up with doing therapy at all when Doctor Quinzel had literally just up and left her office. Tiffany hadn't even known the serious blonde woman had quit until she'd tried going to the locked building for her regularly scheduled session.
But Alchemist actually recommended Doctor Meridian. The fact that the man was... not open, no, but he didn't seem ashamed of the fact that he needed therapy. That actually really helped.
"Harleen has been trying for years to get into Arkham," Doctor Meridian continued through Tiffany's silence. "Either the woman thinks she can do a lot of good in there or else she's planning on writing a paper and getting her name out into the scientific community at large. Either way, I can guarantee she didn't leave because of you, dear."
Which was nice to hear, it really was, but it didn't really do much for Tiffany's issues. She'd basically been thrown back to square one and didn't even know how she was supposed to talk to her new therapist!
"...Well, is there anything in particular that you'd like to talk about?" Chase asked as the seconds ticked by in silence.
"...I guess?" Tiffany shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Chase looked up from her notes. "What, uh... Alchemist is the one that mentioned you. I guess... what does he talk to you about?"
"I can't really tell you about my other patients, Penny." Chase's voice was mild and even. She wasn't chastising Tiffany, just explaining herself. "But I can tell you that much of what Alchemist talks to me about are very common, very normal issues."
Much, huh?
That didn't really answer Tiffany's question but, she supposed, it hadn't been meant to.
"I guess... I don't really feel like I'm part of the superhero group," Tiffany admitted, latching on to something that was both important and still somehow distant. "Like, the others all have people that go out of their way to teach them stuff and I... don't."
Black Canary had always fixated on Karen when she wasn't busy yelling at Alchemist and now she wasn't even there because Tigress was. Wonder Woman had seemed like she would take up being Tiffany's mentor but aside from her help in the Fire Dungeon, Wonder Woman was always busy.
The most one-on-one time she'd gotten with an adult with powers had been, surprise-surprise, Alchemist.
"And that makes it hard to feel like you're part of the team when they receive special training while you need to either share those lessons or practice on your own?" Chase asked, hitting the nail on the head.
Tiffany nodded to the woman, remaining silent.
"Under normal circumstances, I would strongly advise that you bring up your concerns with one of the adults in charge of training," Chase began to suggest before taking a turn that Tiffany hadn't expected. "However, I understand that things are currently rather hectic and there is very little presence outside of emergencies."
"...Yeah," Tiffany agreed, though she wasn't really sure what she was agreeing to. "There was the whole, uh, rapture thing? And the thing with Psimon that just happened. Everyone is super busy."
Megan with the Martian Manhunter.
Robin and Batman.
Kid Flash and the Flash.
Superboy and Power Girl with Superman.
Speedy and Green Arrow.
Zatanna and Zatarra. Or was it supposed to be Zatarra and Zatanna?
Shrike with Tigress...
"I think... maybe I can invite some of them to train with me?" Tiffany asked as she began to work on the outline of an idea. "One of my teammates, her mentor isn't a member of the League. Just an employee of Batman."
So maybe Tigress wouldn't be too busy?
"That sounds like a great idea!" Chase told the girl, a small smile spreading over her lips. "I'm glad to see that you're not letting your current difficulties encourage risky behavior. It's always a good idea to have someone with you if you're going to workout or exercise."
Tiffany nodded along as she thought about that. She was strong enough to go and do things alone, now. She could go to an I.D. or try doing an Item World by herself but, well... She knew well enough that things would sneak up on her from the dark, attack her back or just try and overwhelm her.
"I guess... maybe I just needed someone to talk to?" Tiffany asked, already feeling a bit better about things.
Not great. She still felt like she was an afterthought for the Justice League.
But better.
"You might be surprised at how often that's the case," Chase admitted to the girl as she reached up to brush a lock of red hair out of her eyes. "People are incredibly isolated these days, Penny. Facebook and Twitter and the like may seem like adequate substitutes but they do lack the very real facets of interpersonal communication. Talk with your friends, your colleagues, whatever adults you feel you can trust. Humans are social animals, even the introverts, and some level of interaction is important for our mental wellbeing."
Tiffany could see that. She really could.
But that brought up another question, one she didn't feel comfortable asking Chase about. Not yet.
Why hadn't Doctor Quinzel ever made Tiffany feel better by just talking? The woman had initially seemed to treat her like she was some complex puzzle to be solved at first and then she just got...
Bored.
-----
Commissioner Jim Gordon tapped his steering wheel in mounting frustration.
The cause?
The man sitting in his passenger seat.
Alchemist was... friendly. Friendly and open and very willing to talk.
It was weird.
Batman limited himself to only speaking a handful of words, the bare minimum that seemed necessary and otherwise stood in stark, hostile silence.
Robin... alright, Robin was a snarky, thirteen year old brat. Gordon didn't care that he was a thirteen year old brat that could beat Jim like he was a redheaded step-child, he was still a snarky little brat.
The police commissioner didn't know much about the other heroes and, frankly, he didn't want to. He'd watched them all on the news often enough, he'd seen them go flying through buildings or throwing around cars. Gotham had enough madmen with super-powers as it was, thank you very much.
The wizard in the passenger seat of his car...
Well, Jim would admit that he wasn't entirely unhappy with the man. Boy. One of the two. He looked to be somewhere in between.
Or he might have a bit of a baby face. Jim had enough officers that didn't look old enough to drink working under him.
Regardless. Alchemist had let Two-Face pull him away instead of doing something stupid, like fighting the man and his mobsters inside of a clinic with Jim's daughter in the crossfire.
And Jim thought his growing ulcer wouldn't be-
Aw, hell. Who was he trying to kid? Jim knew the day was going to go to shit. He'd known since last night! The question hadn't been what would go wrong- The question had been which flavor of shit he'd be shoveling by the end of the day!
"So," Jim finally started, addressing the wizard once they got caught at a red light. "How am I supposed to write 'We arrested a pack of mobsters after their wizard hostage turned them into toads' into a report?"
"You could just do what I do, sir," Alchemist answered him, looking up from where the man was idly poking at the air in front of him. "I write out the facts, strictly the facts, and leave out any and all context that makes things make sense."
Jim grumbled silently and looked forward, keeping his eyes on the road.
Sure, the kid's idea was an option. It was the kind of option that would see Jim getting shit upon from a very great height. He didn't have the handy-dandy super-power of being hard to replace.
The ride continued in terse silence. Jim spent the majority of it trying to keep his blood pressure under control as he tried to maneuver around Gotham's drivers and his passenger just seemed to be trapped in his own little world.
Coming up on the clinic, Jim saw a handful of squad cars parked out front. Barbara was standing at one of them, a cup of something in her hands with a big, black dog sitting at her side. Officer Montoya was with the girl, talking to her.
Jim sighed in relief at the sight. The man parked his car and swiftly got out, followed by the wizard.
"Barbara!" Jim shouted as he power walked down the sidewalk. "Barbara! You have no idea how worried I was!"
"Dad!" Barbara shouted back at him, waving with the hand that didn't have a cup in it. "I'm fine! I already gave my statement to Renee!"
Gordon didn't especially care about that, not at the moment. It was far more important to him that his little girl was safe and sound!
Or at least as safe as she could be, given that they were in Gotham.
Instead the man just wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her tightly against him.
"Ash!" Alchemist shouted, somewhere behind the officer. "Come!"
"'Kay!" the dog shouted.
The dog... shouted.
Letting go of Barbara and turning around, Jim watched the dog run up to Alchemist and stand on its hind legs, pushing its nose into the laughing mage's face.
Instead of pushing her off, Alchemist just grabbed around his dog's ears and started rubbing her head and burying his fingers into the thick, deep fur around her neck.
"Yeah," the man exclaimed as he happily pet the pooch. "Who's my good girl? Huh? Ashy is, yes she is!"
"Yes!" the dog exclaimed in front of the many, many shocked onlookers. "I am! Best girl!"
"Did, uh..." Jim stumbled over his words as he watched the spectacle, his daughter at his side. "Did you know the dog could talk?"
"Yep!" Barbara said, laughter in her voice as she popped her 'P'.
"...Why can the dog talk?" Jim asked, holding his hand out towards his child.
Barbara obliged his unspoken request and handed him her half-empty cup of coffee.
"I didn't get a chance to ask," his daughter admitted as the two of them watched the kind of spectacle of open affection that they both knew Batman or Robin would never, ever perform. "I just assumed it was some kind of magic thing."
That...
Jim took a slow sip of the cold, sludge-like coffee his daughter had given him.
That was fair.
"Are you ready to go home?" Jim asked, intentionally shifting the topic away from the source of today's headache.
"Almost," Barbara hedged, looking sideways to meet his gaze with one eye. "I forgot to pack lunch, though..."
Jim sighed as he got what his daughter was asking.
She wasn't a big fan of his cooking. He got it, he did. He wasn't a big fan of his cooking, either.
But they couldn't afford to go out and eat all the time!
Well...
"Alright, c'mon." Jim just shook his head and let a small smile uplift his mustache. "We can hit Big Belly Burger on the way home. I have been clocking a lot of overtime, lately."
"Oh, thank god," Barbara mumbled, almost too quiet to hear. "I would murder someone for a shake today."
Jim sighed, silently agreeing with her as the mage he was supposed to watch got done talking to his dog-
Which was fine. Normal. Absolutely unremarkable.
Except for the part where the dog had been talking back.
-and snapped his fingers, disappearing without so much as a how-do-you-do.
Jim sighed again and shook his head.
It was fine. Everything was fine. His daughter was safe, none of his officers had been placed in danger and they'd even managed to arrest one of Gotham's premier villains without so much as a single shot being fired!
By every metric that the people cared about, today was a great day!
That didn't do anything to assuage Jim's stress, though. His daughter, the only family Jim had left after her mother had left and taken Barbara's brother with her, had run the risk of eating lead. Bullock had followed Two-Face and his men, an action that could've seen one of Jim's most reliable detectives getting shot for scaring a band of idiots with guns.
Between Salem, Metropolis and now Gotham, Alchemist was starting to build up a reputation. One that could well have seen Jim forced out of his job if something had actually happened to the man.
The whole situation had Jim's heart pounding and his bile churning. It felt like there was a furnace in his guts and fire was ready to come up his throat.
"You know what?" Jim asked his daughter as the two got into his car. "I could really go for a shake, too."
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Jinx enjoyed the feeling of the fading rays of the setting sun against her scales as she leaned over a table and contemplated the universe.
Which... wasn't actually that much of a metaphor.
Leaning over one of the enchanting tables that Alchemist had outright looted from one of the barrows full of undead on the island of Solstheim, Jinx was slowly teasing the magic within a soul-gem into shape and it was...
Even for a spell she felt she knew fairly well, such as Regeneration, the experience of trying to shape a... well, calling it a 'soul' would be a dramatic overstatement for how simple the contained energy was within a soul gem.
What a White Soul Gem trapped was less a soul and more the energy surrounding the soul. The binding between self and flesh, the distance between heaven and earth.
She didn't know what a Black Soul Gem would capture, though Alchemist had insisted it would shackle an actual soul, but she had seen a full soul captured and trapped back when Alchemist had captured Jenova and there was no comparison between the two.
Enchanting, using the Nordic method from the natives of Skyrim, was the simplest method and the one least prone to failure. There were two other methods that Jinx had the instructions for but she didn't feel ready to work on them.
The Cyrodilic method from the Colovian Heartlands of Nirn was similar to the Nordic method, though slightly more complicated, and allowed for somewhat more freedom in how many enchantments Jinx could apply to an item. However, it did not allow her any flexibility in how the enchantment was expressed. And, unfortunately, each subsequent enchantment placed using that method would divide the overall magical power.
The Dunmeri method, from the ash-covered island of Morrowind was the most complicated, prone to destructive failure but at the same time offered almost absolute freedom in -how- an enchantment was applied. If she wished to create an item that would persistently heal the person wearing it, she could do so. If she wanted to graft a secondary enchantment into it, she could subtract however much she wanted from the first to power it.
It would even allow her the ability to embed a spell into an item so that it could be cast by whoever had said item, with whatever variation on strength and duration that could be powered by the soul first placed into it. It would drain the charge from the item and cast the spell, regardless of the personal strength or need for any magic from the caster. It could even be recharged and reused!
...Provided it wasn't one of a handful of items that could be destroyed when the enchantment was activated, such as a spell-scroll.
The Nordic method was much more limited, allowing her to only place a single enchantment at the moment with its strength decided by the power of the soul gem and Jinx's own ability at enchanting. However, within that limitation came the guarantee of success.
Still, the process of enchanting was, well, enchanting!
The closest that Jinx could describe it, she was taking the nimbus of power from the soul gem and then turning it into a series of constellations around the item she was enchanting, working and teasing the magic into a shape or form that would map the spell to the identity of the item, changing it and its nature.
And at the moment, Jinx was using it to create...
Paper. Well, paper rings. Paper rings enchanted with, as was mentioned just a moment ago, Regeneration.
Which would rather effectively combine the single-use aspect of enchanted scrolls with the activate when worn clause for equipment. Meaning that the ring that Jinx was making-
~~ Item Created! ~~
~~ Ring of Regeneration (?) x8! ~~
~~ When worn, this ring will cast Regenerate: The subject's severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back. After the spell is cast, the physical regeneration is complete in six seconds if the severed members are present and touching the creature. It takes between twelve and sixty seconds otherwise.
Regenerate also cures 78-134 HP, rids the subject of exhaustion and fatigue, and eliminates all nonlethal damage the subject has taken. It has no effect on nonliving creatures (including undead)
After casting Regenerate, this ring will tear itself to shreds and become unusable ~~
-would only be good once.
Which, considering she was planning on selling it online? Would be absolutely fantastic.
Poking her claw against the cracked, dull remains of the soul gem she'd just used, Jinx cast Repair and the broken fragments wobbled for a moment before reassembling before her eyes.
Still dull but now whole, the magical rock was ready to be refilled and reused.
"Jinx!" Yuffie called from the front door of Jinx's otherwise empty home. "Ji~inx! Come on! I found a stash of weapons!"
"You mean an armory?" Jinx asked as she walked out of the concrete skeleton Alchemist had left to sit and cure on his island a few days prior. Two story buildings made of concrete and rebar, powered by magically perfected solar panels and plumbed with infinite sources of clean water. The front halves were simply large, open rooms with a kitchen taking up one wall while the back halves had a full size bedroom, a bathroom and one miscellaneous room for whatever purpose someone wanted to use it for.
He'd let her claim the first apartment he'd built. Promised to help her furnish it and make it comfortable.
Right now, though, the only thing of note inside of it was a door inside one of the three rooms in the back half of the building. A door that led into her own, private demi-plane. A tiny space that only had three square meters inside of it.
"Whatever, come on!" Yuffie shouted, Cinder happily bouncing around the girl. "I wanna go throw some of it into the volcano and watch it melt!"
"..." Jinx wasn't entirely sure what to say to that. It just... it sounded so juvenile.
"Sure, let's go!"
But cool, too.
She never did get to do those kinds of things when she was Yuffie's age, back when she'd lived in Cutsoil. She'd never had the opportunity.
But she could do it, now. It wasn't just that she could, or should, or whatever else.
She also had people she could go and do those things with! She wasn't going to miss out on that opportunity!
Not twice.
-----
Tiffany felt nervous as she stepped into her therapist's room.
Right after school on a Monday? It wasn't a great way to start her week.
Well, she hadn't been having a lot of good weeks recently. It wouldn't really be much of a change of pace.
"I'm glad to see that you could make it, today," the woman said, looking up from a fairly thick packet of notes. "I understand things have been rather stressful, lately?"
"Uh... yeah," Tiffany muttered as she sat down on a surprisingly comfortable chair across from the woman.
"Well, we all have times like that," the therapist admitted as she crossed her hands over the packet of papers and looked at Tiffany over her glasses. "Was there anything in particular that you wanted to talk about?"
"I... guess?" Tiffany half-asked, unsure of what she wanted to say. If she wanted to say anything. "I, uh... I'm sorry. This, this is a lot harder than I thought."
"...It's alright," Chase Meridian told the girl, a soft smile on her lips. "A lot of people don't keep trying with a therapist if they get dropped by their old one."
...Yeah, Tiffany definitely felt that. She hadn't really wanted to keep up with doing therapy at all when Doctor Quinzel had literally just up and left her office. Tiffany hadn't even known the serious blonde woman had quit until she'd tried going to the locked building for her regularly scheduled session.
But Alchemist actually recommended Doctor Meridian. The fact that the man was... not open, no, but he didn't seem ashamed of the fact that he needed therapy. That actually really helped.
"Harleen has been trying for years to get into Arkham," Doctor Meridian continued through Tiffany's silence. "Either the woman thinks she can do a lot of good in there or else she's planning on writing a paper and getting her name out into the scientific community at large. Either way, I can guarantee she didn't leave because of you, dear."
Which was nice to hear, it really was, but it didn't really do much for Tiffany's issues. She'd basically been thrown back to square one and didn't even know how she was supposed to talk to her new therapist!
"...Well, is there anything in particular that you'd like to talk about?" Chase asked as the seconds ticked by in silence.
"...I guess?" Tiffany shifted uncomfortably in her chair as Chase looked up from her notes. "What, uh... Alchemist is the one that mentioned you. I guess... what does he talk to you about?"
"I can't really tell you about my other patients, Penny." Chase's voice was mild and even. She wasn't chastising Tiffany, just explaining herself. "But I can tell you that much of what Alchemist talks to me about are very common, very normal issues."
Much, huh?
That didn't really answer Tiffany's question but, she supposed, it hadn't been meant to.
"I guess... I don't really feel like I'm part of the superhero group," Tiffany admitted, latching on to something that was both important and still somehow distant. "Like, the others all have people that go out of their way to teach them stuff and I... don't."
Black Canary had always fixated on Karen when she wasn't busy yelling at Alchemist and now she wasn't even there because Tigress was. Wonder Woman had seemed like she would take up being Tiffany's mentor but aside from her help in the Fire Dungeon, Wonder Woman was always busy.
The most one-on-one time she'd gotten with an adult with powers had been, surprise-surprise, Alchemist.
"And that makes it hard to feel like you're part of the team when they receive special training while you need to either share those lessons or practice on your own?" Chase asked, hitting the nail on the head.
Tiffany nodded to the woman, remaining silent.
"Under normal circumstances, I would strongly advise that you bring up your concerns with one of the adults in charge of training," Chase began to suggest before taking a turn that Tiffany hadn't expected. "However, I understand that things are currently rather hectic and there is very little presence outside of emergencies."
"...Yeah," Tiffany agreed, though she wasn't really sure what she was agreeing to. "There was the whole, uh, rapture thing? And the thing with Psimon that just happened. Everyone is super busy."
Megan with the Martian Manhunter.
Robin and Batman.
Kid Flash and the Flash.
Superboy and Power Girl with Superman.
Speedy and Green Arrow.
Zatanna and Zatarra. Or was it supposed to be Zatarra and Zatanna?
Shrike with Tigress...
"I think... maybe I can invite some of them to train with me?" Tiffany asked as she began to work on the outline of an idea. "One of my teammates, her mentor isn't a member of the League. Just an employee of Batman."
So maybe Tigress wouldn't be too busy?
"That sounds like a great idea!" Chase told the girl, a small smile spreading over her lips. "I'm glad to see that you're not letting your current difficulties encourage risky behavior. It's always a good idea to have someone with you if you're going to workout or exercise."
Tiffany nodded along as she thought about that. She was strong enough to go and do things alone, now. She could go to an I.D. or try doing an Item World by herself but, well... She knew well enough that things would sneak up on her from the dark, attack her back or just try and overwhelm her.
"I guess... maybe I just needed someone to talk to?" Tiffany asked, already feeling a bit better about things.
Not great. She still felt like she was an afterthought for the Justice League.
But better.
"You might be surprised at how often that's the case," Chase admitted to the girl as she reached up to brush a lock of red hair out of her eyes. "People are incredibly isolated these days, Penny. Facebook and Twitter and the like may seem like adequate substitutes but they do lack the very real facets of interpersonal communication. Talk with your friends, your colleagues, whatever adults you feel you can trust. Humans are social animals, even the introverts, and some level of interaction is important for our mental wellbeing."
Tiffany could see that. She really could.
But that brought up another question, one she didn't feel comfortable asking Chase about. Not yet.
Why hadn't Doctor Quinzel ever made Tiffany feel better by just talking? The woman had initially seemed to treat her like she was some complex puzzle to be solved at first and then she just got...
Bored.
-----
Commissioner Jim Gordon tapped his steering wheel in mounting frustration.
The cause?
The man sitting in his passenger seat.
Alchemist was... friendly. Friendly and open and very willing to talk.
It was weird.
Batman limited himself to only speaking a handful of words, the bare minimum that seemed necessary and otherwise stood in stark, hostile silence.
Robin... alright, Robin was a snarky, thirteen year old brat. Gordon didn't care that he was a thirteen year old brat that could beat Jim like he was a redheaded step-child, he was still a snarky little brat.
The police commissioner didn't know much about the other heroes and, frankly, he didn't want to. He'd watched them all on the news often enough, he'd seen them go flying through buildings or throwing around cars. Gotham had enough madmen with super-powers as it was, thank you very much.
The wizard in the passenger seat of his car...
Well, Jim would admit that he wasn't entirely unhappy with the man. Boy. One of the two. He looked to be somewhere in between.
Or he might have a bit of a baby face. Jim had enough officers that didn't look old enough to drink working under him.
Regardless. Alchemist had let Two-Face pull him away instead of doing something stupid, like fighting the man and his mobsters inside of a clinic with Jim's daughter in the crossfire.
And Jim thought his growing ulcer wouldn't be-
Aw, hell. Who was he trying to kid? Jim knew the day was going to go to shit. He'd known since last night! The question hadn't been what would go wrong- The question had been which flavor of shit he'd be shoveling by the end of the day!
"So," Jim finally started, addressing the wizard once they got caught at a red light. "How am I supposed to write 'We arrested a pack of mobsters after their wizard hostage turned them into toads' into a report?"
"You could just do what I do, sir," Alchemist answered him, looking up from where the man was idly poking at the air in front of him. "I write out the facts, strictly the facts, and leave out any and all context that makes things make sense."
Jim grumbled silently and looked forward, keeping his eyes on the road.
Sure, the kid's idea was an option. It was the kind of option that would see Jim getting shit upon from a very great height. He didn't have the handy-dandy super-power of being hard to replace.
The ride continued in terse silence. Jim spent the majority of it trying to keep his blood pressure under control as he tried to maneuver around Gotham's drivers and his passenger just seemed to be trapped in his own little world.
Coming up on the clinic, Jim saw a handful of squad cars parked out front. Barbara was standing at one of them, a cup of something in her hands with a big, black dog sitting at her side. Officer Montoya was with the girl, talking to her.
Jim sighed in relief at the sight. The man parked his car and swiftly got out, followed by the wizard.
"Barbara!" Jim shouted as he power walked down the sidewalk. "Barbara! You have no idea how worried I was!"
"Dad!" Barbara shouted back at him, waving with the hand that didn't have a cup in it. "I'm fine! I already gave my statement to Renee!"
Gordon didn't especially care about that, not at the moment. It was far more important to him that his little girl was safe and sound!
Or at least as safe as she could be, given that they were in Gotham.
Instead the man just wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her tightly against him.
"Ash!" Alchemist shouted, somewhere behind the officer. "Come!"
"'Kay!" the dog shouted.
The dog... shouted.
Letting go of Barbara and turning around, Jim watched the dog run up to Alchemist and stand on its hind legs, pushing its nose into the laughing mage's face.
Instead of pushing her off, Alchemist just grabbed around his dog's ears and started rubbing her head and burying his fingers into the thick, deep fur around her neck.
"Yeah," the man exclaimed as he happily pet the pooch. "Who's my good girl? Huh? Ashy is, yes she is!"
"Yes!" the dog exclaimed in front of the many, many shocked onlookers. "I am! Best girl!"
"Did, uh..." Jim stumbled over his words as he watched the spectacle, his daughter at his side. "Did you know the dog could talk?"
"Yep!" Barbara said, laughter in her voice as she popped her 'P'.
"...Why can the dog talk?" Jim asked, holding his hand out towards his child.
Barbara obliged his unspoken request and handed him her half-empty cup of coffee.
"I didn't get a chance to ask," his daughter admitted as the two of them watched the kind of spectacle of open affection that they both knew Batman or Robin would never, ever perform. "I just assumed it was some kind of magic thing."
That...
Jim took a slow sip of the cold, sludge-like coffee his daughter had given him.
That was fair.
"Are you ready to go home?" Jim asked, intentionally shifting the topic away from the source of today's headache.
"Almost," Barbara hedged, looking sideways to meet his gaze with one eye. "I forgot to pack lunch, though..."
Jim sighed as he got what his daughter was asking.
She wasn't a big fan of his cooking. He got it, he did. He wasn't a big fan of his cooking, either.
But they couldn't afford to go out and eat all the time!
Well...
"Alright, c'mon." Jim just shook his head and let a small smile uplift his mustache. "We can hit Big Belly Burger on the way home. I have been clocking a lot of overtime, lately."
"Oh, thank god," Barbara mumbled, almost too quiet to hear. "I would murder someone for a shake today."
Jim sighed, silently agreeing with her as the mage he was supposed to watch got done talking to his dog-
Which was fine. Normal. Absolutely unremarkable.
Except for the part where the dog had been talking back.
-and snapped his fingers, disappearing without so much as a how-do-you-do.
Jim sighed again and shook his head.
It was fine. Everything was fine. His daughter was safe, none of his officers had been placed in danger and they'd even managed to arrest one of Gotham's premier villains without so much as a single shot being fired!
By every metric that the people cared about, today was a great day!
That didn't do anything to assuage Jim's stress, though. His daughter, the only family Jim had left after her mother had left and taken Barbara's brother with her, had run the risk of eating lead. Bullock had followed Two-Face and his men, an action that could've seen one of Jim's most reliable detectives getting shot for scaring a band of idiots with guns.
Between Salem, Metropolis and now Gotham, Alchemist was starting to build up a reputation. One that could well have seen Jim forced out of his job if something had actually happened to the man.
The whole situation had Jim's heart pounding and his bile churning. It felt like there was a furnace in his guts and fire was ready to come up his throat.
"You know what?" Jim asked his daughter as the two got into his car. "I could really go for a shake, too."
- Location
- Here
Heads up: I would normally give your post a hug, 🤗 but I felt obligated to give you a good old Halloween instead.
But just pretend I'm also giving you a hug!
But just pretend I'm also giving you a hug!
- Location
- Elsewhere
I hope some bystander (Barbara?) got a photo of Al's and Ash's reunion. Aside from Superman, nobody in the Justice League does any "open affection."
Could've been cute if Ash healed Jim's ulcer, the macho commissioner trying to hide his ailment.
Scene:
Ash: "A tummy ache? Oh no! That's the worst kind of ache!"
Ash: (pokes her nose into Jim's belly)
Ash: "BOO-BOO BE GONE!"
Barbara: "Boo-boo be gone?"
Ash: "He had a boo-boo and it is now gone."
Barbara: "Makes sense."
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Still should be "petted."
Magos Tractor-1
Archmagos Dominus
- Location
- Somewhere in Mars, Olymus Mons probably
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So Harley Quinn is about to become Joker's pet. Joker gets to know about Alchemist, or at least those he watched on TV and those given by P.One during her therapy sessions with Harley.
What will be Alchemist relative response to Joker doing his shit on him and his? With Two-Face, he cured the scarring and mental insanity for just threatening Ash. Joker will be a no unacceptable collateral idiot compared to Dent, I will not be surprised if Alchemist just threw a big middle finger to Destiny and ensured Joker ends without having a chance for resurrection.
As for the Zeus arc, Alchemist has the needed material to smack the rapist down - Tenth Metal. He can transmute a Darksteel bullet to Eight Metal, then Ninth Metal, then Tenth Metal and fire it off using his divine gun to Zeus' head, but also give the 'Oversoul' the same new vent. I see that Alchemist is also ensuring the battlefield has no possible actors making a play which is a treat to see.
What will be Alchemist relative response to Joker doing his shit on him and his? With Two-Face, he cured the scarring and mental insanity for just threatening Ash. Joker will be a no unacceptable collateral idiot compared to Dent, I will not be surprised if Alchemist just threw a big middle finger to Destiny and ensured Joker ends without having a chance for resurrection.
As for the Zeus arc, Alchemist has the needed material to smack the rapist down - Tenth Metal. He can transmute a Darksteel bullet to Eight Metal, then Ninth Metal, then Tenth Metal and fire it off using his divine gun to Zeus' head, but also give the 'Oversoul' the same new vent. I see that Alchemist is also ensuring the battlefield has no possible actors making a play which is a treat to see.
- Location
- RS,brasil
Alchemist has a chance of contacting the metal in Antarctica, the Parliament for artificial life in DC, they were almost always secure and basically every artificial SI I've ever seen goes with either becoming a new avatar of them or making one
the Metal is also generally far more helpful and 'good' than the other parliaments, the fact that Alchemist used to be human is in no way disqualifying due to swamp man
it would be about the only thing he can do now to grow in power that isn't incremental
You know, you don't have to kill the Joker. Cut off his arms and legs. Give him the to-the-pain-treatment. Curse him against Magical healing, and then give him the snail treatment. Sure at some point someone is going to free him from the salt-filled titanium orb where a tongue piercing ring of sustenance has been keeping him alive, but then they have already tripped all your wards and you can go clean it up before moving him and repeating the act.
I think the use of "pet" instead of petted is correct in this situation. He's observing Alchemist petting Ash, not reminiscing on the memory of Alchemist petting Ash.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
It's past-tense, which is always "petted."
Present-tense in that sentence would be "pets."
Frescko
Transhumanist
Would either go insane again or cosmic bs creates another joker. Much like how there will always be a Batman, there will always be a joker. The best option is to turn the new joker good, but that would probably just create a evil Batman
- Location
- U.S.
hmmm might have to just stasis trap him then
Just like in "Batman: White Knight"
Frescko
Transhumanist
Would still just end up with someone else taking up the mantle or freeing them.
Yep, Commissioner Gordon is right to be worried. Rumors and reputation confirming the existence of a miracle healer would bring the greedy (Lex Luthor?) and the desperate (JOHN CONSTANTINE) out of the woodwork.
And Jinx selling one-time-use regenerative items would throw fuel throw fire.
The United Nations may even demand access to Alchemist's healing powers, not realizing the Justice League only has tenuous "control" over a powerful sorcerer who can be petty and vengeful if provoked. If they push Alchemist too hard, he'll either (A) move to a friendlier planet/dimension/reality or (B)
BURN DOWN THOSE WHO DARE TO SHACKLE HIM!!!
- Location
- RS,brasil
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzD9Rn0Nu6M&t=0s
apropriate music for alchemist to listen to, it tells the story of a guy being arrested by batman for sleeping with catwoman, it's also lore friendly enough
- Location
- RS,brasil
Adding to the ideas for the time skip, lets say alchemist does something that will take a few years to let the heat die down
my idea came from the hunters of justice omakes, just let alchemist walk about in some Elseworld stories, he is competent enough to deal with it
my idea came from the hunters of justice omakes, just let alchemist walk about in some Elseworld stories, he is competent enough to deal with it
Don't ask about the paperwork
From the desk of: Comm'r. J.W. Gordon
Incident no.: 25452-116-SVPoI: "Alchemist" (NU), "Two-Face" (Harvey Dent), "Knuckles" Stewey Ohmsworth, Allen Smith...
Time: 1241
Summary: H.Dent approached 'Alchemist' at 1215 hrs with aggravated intent / reports of assault aided by Mr. S Ohmsworth, A Smith [...] (hereafter referred to as 'collaborators') and according to onsite witnesses departed without injury to bystanders at 1217 hrs in black vehicles of make [...] from E. Martha Wayne Memorial Clinic. Units followed at a discreet distance per hostage protocol [...] and found 'Alchemist' to have incapacitated Mr. Dent and collaborators in a manner in keeping with his known capabilities; excessive force not suspected at this time.
Resolution: H. Dent in custody as well as collaborators, three (3) black vehicles of make [...] impounded pending court proceedings, H. Dent being tentatively cooperative, with collaborators expected to be entirely docile in lockup until trial.
Necessary followup: 'Alchemist' will need to be contacted prior to court date to facilitate trial cooperation of 'collaborators' and re: abduction.
Detailed report: ...
"... The hell?"
"What is it?"
"Why the fuck are six terrariums and a supply of crickets in the expense report for this shit?"
"THat's wie-- oh. Gotham."
"That's not an answer!"
"There was that time when we had to source an entire tanker of herbicide, then there's that one guy with the liquid nitrogen requirements, then there's the hair gel incident with that clown freak..."
"...Goddamnit"
"Look, some glass tanks and bugs are weird but this is Gotham. Just be glad we can send them to a pet store and be done with it. In the future just... ignore the expense reports from Gotham unless it's over a couple hundred and even then you get used to it."
Last edited: