LNH: Hungry Hungry Sabertooths #6pi.VI.6: "Tragedy and Trenchcoats" [3/3]

[Drew Perron]

On Tuesday, November 3, 2020 at 9:24:19 AM UTC-5, Jeanne Morningstar wrote:
> III. RESOLUTIONS 
> 
> Kid Occultism Kid's astral form stepped through the walls and into his 
> apartment. "You're thinking about Ultimate Ninja, aren't you?" they said. 
> 
> "What about him?" 
> 
> "The fact that he kinda-sorta died on the planet Neme.sys and was 
> replaced by someone else." 
> 
> "I don't know where you got that idea." 
> 
> "Come on. I figured it out by observing you, and your reactions to 
> things. And Merissa too. What kind of apprentice do you think I am?" 
> 
> Occultism Kid sighed resignedly. "If something like that were true, I 
> wouldn't have authorization to tell you." 
> 
> "Pffft," said Kid Occultism Kid. 

This is extremely good banter. X3

> "I worry about how this is going to impact the LNH." He decided 
> he was not going to try to explain the whole thing about the Ultimate 
> Ninja going to the Real World, which the other people who were there 
> sensibly chose not to think about.

X3

> "I'm aware of all that--the larger narrative patterns. But the choice of 
> how to deal with them was still ours, and I still worry about it." 

Yesssssss. <3 As it is for all of us, dealing with larger patterns in life.

> "Come on. You made the best choice you could. Don't be silly." 
> 
> "You can't really ask an LNHer, even a relatively subdued one like me, 
> not to be silly," said Occultism Kid.

X3

> "And... you can't really ask me 
> not to have guilt and anxiety, I'm afraid. That's just always been the 
> nature of who I am. That was why I started looking into meditation, 
> which led me to the August One and the ways of magic, which led me to 
> the Legion. I didn't have a dramatic car accident that led me to become 
> a sorcerer, I'm afraid, just anxiety." 

Awwwwwww.

> "Mhmm." Kid Occultism Kid nodded. "Well you're not the only one who 
> feels that way. I was wondering if Ultimate Ninja had some guilt too. Or 
> at least some kind of sense of moral responsibility he needed to make up." 
> 
> "Him? Really?" 
> 
> "Well, the thing is, he killed all those Elder Gods [Beige Midnight #9], 
> right? And that kind of seriously messed up the cosmos--and that was 
> part of why the Looniverse was so vulnerable to Neme.sys,
<snip>
> So yeah, the Ninja struggled 
> with the same things you do, in his way and on his scale, even though he 
> was really more of a narrative force or process than a person. You're fine." 

Oooooooh. Didn't think of it that way. :o

> I suppose I shall have to 
> wait for this Writer to write yet another posthumous issue of WikiLull 
> to clarify. It does seem rather strange that cascade got *more* active 
> after it ended." 

Fuck yeah :D

> "Excuse me, I'm the mentor and you're the student here." He sipped his 
> tea tetchily. In their last incarnation, of course, they had been his 
> teacher, but he tried not to think about that too much. 

X3

> Occultism Kid turned on the comms. There was a message waiting for him, 
> and Obscure Trivia Lad was right there on the screen. 
> 
> "Obscure Trivia Lad was wondering how you were doing," said Obscure 
> Trivia Lad. 

:> <3 <3 <3

> And from behind Obscure Trivia Lad's eyes, through the devices Mr. 
> Homage had installed in his body when he'd brought him back from the 
> dead, Anti-Christ Lad watched and listened. 

GASP! :D

> And now we know why OTL came back--with no explanation--in the same 
> issue as the two Brotherhoods were established. [LNH Volume 2 #41] 

Yesssss.

> Kid Occultism Kid's Trenchcoat of Many Colors (which they acquired 
> sometime after their first appearance) was of course based on the Sixth 
> Doctor's coat, based on the observation that if Occultism Kid's Five, it 
> makes sense to think of them as Six. 

I love it. <3

Drew "the good stuff" Nilium