Scott Eiler gives us 'Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will
Probably Never Have an Ending' chapter 5. Will it be a Quacktastophy
now that Pschovant the Duck is involved with this cascade?
And is Drew Nilium bringing back the corn fields of the Omaha Project with chapter 6? Or will it just one of the many characters that had to endure that crossover?
The ultimate-powered Goth chick from the other universe disappeared.
The cyborg demon duck from a *third* universe cheered. "Yahoo! Open
season on LNH Cascades!"
The duck was Psychovant, known in his own manner across the universes.
He stopped on a convenient asteroid, pulled out an impossibly large whiteboard from his satchel, pulled out a "Graduate" mortar cap, put it
on, and started making notes and equations.
"We use *simple* rules here. We're proud of that on our planet. If you
can put all the same color on each side, you win."
"Just that?"
"Just that."
"Well... Yahoo!" Psychovant grabbed the Kube with one wing, and with
the other flourished a paintbrush coated with white paint from his
satchel. Swipe Swipe Swipe! Toss! Swipe Swipe Swipe! "... I win!"
Psychovant looked at the lawyer. "So *why* the %^&! were *you* chosen
as Kube Kuardians, err, guardians?"
"err, lowest bid."
Omaha Project Twenty-Years-Later Annual #1
(AKA Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have An Ending #6)
Foreshadowing Lad wandered the halls of the LNHQ, rubbing his forehead, looking down at the go-go-checkerboard tile floors and trying to
remember. The Croissant Queen was going to attack their sandwiches? No,
that wasn't it...
"That hole-in-the-wall store?" Cameo Gazonga looked dubious.
"Nah, man, I know this joint," said Jive Turkey. "Half oldschool
arcade, half used book store."
Lacuna gasped. "In the future, this store will become one of the
Community Pillars that will support Neo.tropolis during the Beigewar!"
"The shades of outdated antivirus programs give warning," said
Apostrophe, the cloud of UTF-8 characters swirling and buzzing around
her head. "Melissa virus infection detected."
"That's her," they whispered, accessing records from the Legion's
Rogues Gallery. "Individualized Vector clone #0057 - Merissa."
The Green Knight's plan-hatching processors whirred. "Apostrophe, do
you think you can communicate with the short-lived Vector clones and--"
WHAM! The door was kicked down, and a woman in combat gear stepped
through. "Sorry, folks, but this is necessary. My name is Agent Susan Susannah, and this place is now under the control of the LNH-Readers- Who-Are-Sick-To-Death-With-These-Damn-Neverending-Events Liberation
Front!"
There was a falling hum, and Masterplan Lad fuzzed into existence in
the coat room just off the LNHQ lobby, left over from its days as the Net.ropolis Grand Hotel.
"It's not in the vault," said Irony Monger. "The Mega-Ultra-BIGGUN used
to belong to an LNHer who has since disappeared from usability, leaving
it undefended.
Then he could see it - a form slipping through the crack, folding
through the higher dimensions with an aggravating casualness. There was
only one Hypertext Time-active being who had the style to do that and
the lack of class to do it in a situation like this.
In a burst of chromatic light, Chaos Theory unfolded themself into the cramped room. "Mmmmh! Now that's a bit more comfortable. Whew." They
dusted off the shifting fractals on their shoulders.
"Adding yet another character to an already-overstuffed cascade,
apparently. You think anyone on RACC has ever heard the expression
'less is more'?"
"Nope! There's only one thing that can close the rifts: Inspiration particles."
"We're embarking on a Pratchett ripoff, then."
"Just a bit.
"There's more. The more the rifts open, the more things will fall
through them - things from the unfinished storylines. And the further
they spread, the more possible futures you'll have to deal with."
"Oh, I'm going to read this story after it gets posted. That's how I
know this is where I leave." Chaos Theory's body began fading away,
washed out by the light from the rift.
"What? No! Confound it! Chaos Theory, I-- I need you--"
Masterplan Lad flopped on a chair and gave a deep sigh. Well, at least
the situation couldn't get any worse.
He immediately regretted thinking that.
Outside, Penultimate Savior shifted in his seat. Favorite pudding
flavor? Probably pistachio. Known allergies? Well, he did break out in
hives when exposed to power ballads from the late '80s...
The rift stretched, distending along the eleventh dimension, a humanoid
form passing through it and spilling out onto the floor. As the light
faded, Penultimate Savior could see that the being was wearing a black spandex suit with gray accessories, with a bright red power symbol, and holding a spoon in his hand...
"Killswitch?" PS whispered.
The world was shrouded in grey mist. He couldn't tell how long he'd
been falling.
How many worlds had he passed through so far? How many more before he
came home?
It was then that Bad-Timing Boy stepped through a nearby door, holding
an iPhone in one hand and a Vanilla Coke in the other and wearing a
"Clerks 20th Anniversary" T-shirt. "Man, I love living in the year
2014! Do you guys want to watch the trailer for the big-budget
Hollywood movie they made of Guardians of the Galaxy?" Then he did a double-take. "Pliable Lad? Didn't you retire years ago?"
"..."
Pliable Lad put his face in his hand. "Oh, boy."
Of course, a sentient ear of corn mutated by the energies beyond the
fifth wall! This must be the Classic LNH version of Colonel Panic!
There was a falling hum, and Masterplan Lad fuzzed into existence in
the coat room just off the LNHQ lobby, left over from its days as the
Net.ropolis Grand Hotel.
I also love bringing up that history. X>
This was, let's say, my way of playing off of some
then-relatively-recent events in our community and the changes in the
LNH that came out of them.
It's meeeeeeee! :D Or a me, anyway. I love Chaos Theory.
"What? No! Confound it! Chaos Theory, I-- I need you--"
They really developed a good relationship.
heeheeheeheehee. I love writing MPL. X>
Penultimate Savior could see that the being was
wearing a black spandex suit with gray accessories, with a bright red
power symbol, and holding a spoon in his hand...
"Killswitch?" PS whispered.
This is one of those ideas that I've never followed up on, but it's a
good one to have just lying around for the future.
Yessssss. Omaha Project Annual #1 was a story that really stuck in my
head as a kid, and I was happy to homage it here.
On 9/1/22 8:26 PM, Drew Nilium wrote:
Of course, a sentient ear of corn mutated by the energies beyond the fifth >> wall! This must be the Classic LNH version of Colonel Panic!
OW XD
:D
This was, let's say, my way of playing off of some then-relatively-recent
events in our community and the changes in the LNH that came out of them.
Very happy with how that turned out, in the end, and the motivation that provided me with. Because of the role I had in... all that, I felt like I had both the desire and the responsibility to heal some of the damage that had done
to the Classic LNH's narrative structure and recapture the old chaotic soap-operatic mood in something entirely new, which still felt continuous with
what came before. (See the Cat/Tara scene next installment, where I really start
laying the groundwork for that.) As of HHS I finally pulled it off, and it only
took, what, 8-10 years?
heeheeheeheehee. I love writing MPL. X>
It's neat how MPL, as the kind of WC-ish character in the series, became the default character for people other than me to write for a bit... Saxon Brenton
wrote a couple of issues where he showed up, IIRC, which feels fitting.
"Killswitch?" PS whispered.
This is one of those ideas that I've never followed up on, but it's a good one
to have just lying around for the future.
So... is Killswitch at all connected to Sigrid!Acton Lord or did they choose the
same symbol by coincidence?
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