[LNH20/HCC] Bite-Size Tales of the LNH v20 #14: 'Symbols' [HCC55]

[Andrew Perron]

On 8/27/2015 8:09 PM, Saxon Brenton wrote:
> LNH20/HCC: Bite-Size Tales of the LNH v20 #14: 'Symbols'

SAXON LNH20 <3

>       Professor Penumbra stared at the rotary telephone.

PROFESSOR PENUMBRA <3 <3 <3

> This was far from an ordinary baseball field.
>       Just beyond the edge of the outfield, encroaching up to pretty much
> the edge of the playing area, was a field of corn.

Nice. :D

> And overhead was a
> night sky filled with stars that were bright and sharply defined and
> brilliantly multicoloured in the way that a human perception of the sky
> was not.
>       It looked photoshopped.  As if someone had taken a colour corrected
> astronomy picture and inserted it to encompass everything above the
> horizon.  The contrast with the warm air and harsh summer sunlight made
> the sun conspicuous by its absence.

This description *really* evokes a weird space to a level I'm not sure you've 
ever reached before. Good job!

>       He put the receiver to his ear and listened.  There was noisy
> collection of street sounds: cars, and sirens, and people yelling, and
> instructions to stand back from the cordoned off area.  It sounded like
> someone was in a lot of trouble.

Fascinating. o.o

> "And you are?"
>       "Ron Finlayson."

...huh. You know, this is the first version, out of the four that have come out 
so far, to make this character male. (And, spoilers, but the one in mine is 
going to be female too.)

   Ron leaned back and chewed thoughtfully on a
> stalk of grass.  (Penumbra guessed he must have picked it from the
> baseball field, since there was nothing but bare dirt here at the base
> of the corn crop.)

That's an odd detail to point out. `.`

>       "It's just something I remember about people who've had head trauma
> and stuff.  The short term memory gets shot, and they have a tendency to
> keep asking 'What happened' and 'Where am I?' over and over again.  So I
> made a mental note years ago that if I every woke up in hospital I was
> gonna ask 'Have I asked this question before?'.  Just to freak the
> nurses out.  Well, I'm not in hospital, but I'm pretty sure the was a
> car crash while I was walking to work at the convenience store, so, you
> know, that's close enough, right?"
>       "Man, that is so meta it's...  I dunno even know what it is.

Heeheehee. <3

>       Ron waved his hands back towards the sports field.  "Baseball
> diamond surrounded by a corn field.  That's from the Field Of Dreams
> movie with... uh..."  He snapped his fingers, trying to remember.
>       "Costner?"
>       "Yeah, that's him.  Then there's the telephone.  Did you notice it
> was a toy telephone?  That's the second Poltergeist movie."

Hmmmmm. I wonder if Ron is old enough to know these references 'natively' or if 
he's the kind of person who gets interested in these movies. Maybe he's got 
someone in his life who does? Parents?

> And down below that was the thing that Ron was
> having a philosophical objection to: a turtle bigger than worlds.

See, I would have been expecting a more skeletal psychopomp to show up at that 
point.

>       Ron peered down.  Below the turtle there was... another turtle.
> And another below that.  And another below that.  And so on as far as
> he could see.
>       "Yin and Yang," said Professor Penumbra, and there was a smile in
> his voice.  "The symbol contains both the thing and its opposite.  So
> the symbol of longevity also represents an unending sequence of lives
> beyond death.  It's turtles all the way down."

Ooooooooh. o.o That's pretty wonderful.

>       "I kind of doubt it," said Professor Penumbra.  He ran a pair of
> fingers down the front of Ron's face and chest - not touching, just
> pointing in a vaguely mystical way.  "If you're feeling aches and pains
> then that indicates that you're moving back into synch with your body.
> I'm guessing the paramedics have got you on the mend.  Looks like
> you're going to get the opportunity to pester nurses after all."

Ah, yes. Reminds me of the issue where Retcon Lad met Death - though this was 
more concentrated and more visually impressive.

>       Professor Penumbra floated for a few moments while the spiritscape
> around him faded away, and he made his way back to the material world.
> He was feeling mischievous, and he wanted to find out what hospital Ron
> was going to be taken to, so that he could leave a felt tip pen for him
> to find on the bedside table when he woke up.

Heeheehee.

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, mmmm yas goodstuff.