LNH: Dashing Tales #9

[Andrew Perron]

On 9/16/2015 1:07 AM, Ben Rawluk wrote:
<snip>
 > The kid is a net.hero; she can tell by the horrible fashion sense. He's not
 > the first net.hero to stray into the neighbourhood -- with the Sanitation
 > Department grinding to a halt under budget cuts, a super-powered janitor has
 > been whirlwinding along the alleyways once a week. Captain Napalm and Nomex
 > Man have been known to crawl up out of the woodwork. Hovel Homes was supposed
 > to be devoid of this fools. No such luck; they're everywhere.

Yesssss.

 > They follow the kid from the offices of the Net.ropolis Netizen. They were
 > watching the offices after Bogus was taken care of; standard operating
 > procedure. Watch for signs of trouble. They probably don't need her for that,
 > but she isn't about to complain. You don't last long if you complain.

Hmmmm! I'm tingling in anticipation, wondering who this is and how she relates 
to the Legion of Net.Horrors.

 > In Omega Town, net.heroes weren't a problem. Other than the Bird of Paradise,
 > but look at what happened to him. But there was only so much room for growth
 > in Omega Town. Better to come to the big city.

Oooooo. Is that where the Horrors come from?

 > They follow, her at the head. The Thrift-Store Mummy, followed by the Corpse
 > Siblings. In the old days, she would have preferred to do this alone; the
 > Siblings are slow, stupid, bumble along the edges of shadow. She has to look
 > back and remind them to lift their legs. She used to hate them. The Corpse
 > Siblings give reanimated flesh a bad name. Now she regards them with the
 > half-hearted fondness of baby ducklings, waddling after her.

This answers one question and provides three more!

 > Sometimes she thinks: have I really been reduced to this? She ruled a nation,
 > once. She ruled a nation from beyond the grave. Now they tell her that her
 > country no longer exists, that it has disappeared from maps. They tell her it
 > was fictional to begin with. Moribund called it a shoddy knockoff of Egypt,
 > cobbled together from old movies. Like Kid Nosferatu's long-lost Land of
 > Silence.
 >
 > (Never mind that she remembers the sand between her brown toes, that she
 > remembers the wide sky, the Sun God overhead. Never mind that she remembers
 > dying, remembers the strange, chalk-white woman holding out her hand and
 > declaring that, "Every ending is a beginning.")

aaaaaaAAAAAAA. <3 <3 <3 I LOVE THIS SO FREAKING MUCH AND WANT TO MARRY IT.

 > Only Boss says: everybody is important. Everybody is family.
 >
 > (What, a voice says at the back of her head. We are nothing alike. This isn't
 > The Munsters.)

EVEN MORE QUESTIONS.

 > He pivots, taking in the officer at the front desk. He's a black guy, not
 > that much older than Marco, and Marco can't help but release a breath. He
 > would not be able to handle a white guy right now. Especially in this get-up.

Definitely good moment.

 > He really should have gone with Poetry-Eating Lad.

Heeheehee

 > "Have you saved the world yet?"
 >
 > "What? No--"
 >
 > "Then can I have your autograph for my brother? It'll be worth something when
 > you do."

Bwa-ha-ha. :D

 > "File room? Don't you have, like, computers?" He gestures to the workstation
 > set up on the desk. It looks like it's from about 1987.
 >
 > "Hey, we don't all have that Toony Stork money to lean on."

Yeesh. Just show people that and donations will come rolling in.

 > The Corpse Siblings squish around her. They don't like space, she's noticed;
 > they press in whenever they can, missing some familiar sensation of burial.
 > Without thinking about it, she snaps Danny's neck; his face contorts and he
 > starts to mutter gibberish that might be abuse. Flannel closes in over him.
 > She could take all of them inside of her, hold them there until they
 > dissolve. Boss would be angry.
 >
 > (But what would happen if she mummified them? Found a goodwill bin and made
 > them hers? It isn't like Moribund isn't recruiting vampires. Why must she
 > make do with second-rate cadavers when she could just as easily transform
 > them into hers?)

Man. You're really getting out there into the field of possibility, now - this 
is weird and fascinating and kinky, reminding me of explorations into non-human 
civilization, pulling away from the tropes of Western culture.

 > He doesn't bother to mention Emma, because Emma isn't a Legionnaire. For the
 > moment. There feels like something inevitable about her, like probably she'll
 > be running the place inside of a week.

I'd vote for her!

 > His voice does something strange, when he's reciting: it's almost like a
 > different voice. Older, raspier.

Oooo. That's definitely something I've observed in reality.

 > The fourth, though. It looms closer, and he finds himself shoved to his
 > knees, pressing in beside Jerome. Is Jerome even alive? Marco blinks, regains
 > enough control to start tearing at the clothing slithering over him. He
 > manages to pull off enough to reveal Jerome's mouth, and an unearthly whinge
 > is squeezed out--
 >
 > =====
 >
 > TO BE CONTINUED!

That's an interesting place to put a cliffhanger. I APPROVE.

 > As soon as a storyline starts, these things always become more work.

Haha, I know, right? @-@

 > I'm really enjoying working out the Legion of Net.Horrors. This one was a bit
 > stiffer to squeeze out of my fingers, but that happens.

Spectacular. <3

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, morning of twitches