LNH: Classic LNH Adventures #237: Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade that will Probably Never Have an Ending Part Three

[Drew Nilium]

On 3/20/22 5:20 PM, Arthur Spitzer wrote:
<snip>
> 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?

Always. :D

> 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?

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!

> 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!"

Absolutely |>

> The duck was Psychovant, known in his own manner across the universes.

That's a very Victorian-adventure-novel way to put it. |>

> 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.

Whereas that's more Looney Tunes. :3

> "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!"

X3 I love this a lot.

> Psychovant looked at the lawyer.  "So *why* the %^&! were *you* chosen
> as Kube Kuardians, err, guardians?"
> 
> "err, lowest bid."

heeheehee

>                Omaha Project Twenty-Years-Later Annual #1
> (AKA Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have An
> Ending #6)

I knew I wanted to tie into a bunch of older unfinished cascades, and that lead 
to me going, "Hey, I know the guy who wrote Pliable Lad..."

> 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...

Clearly this is the Oddball version of the Crossover Queen.

> "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!"

A concept stolen shamelessly from Sailor Moon. <3 Also, I'd love to go to a 
place like this

> "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."

I love how she talks. |>

> "That's her," they whispered, accessing records from the Legion's 
> Rogues Gallery. "Individualized Vector clone #0057 - Merissa."

I love coming up with details about how Vectors work.

> The Green Knight's plan-hatching processors whirred. "Apostrophe, do 
> you think you can communicate with the short-lived Vector clones and--"

Stolen from Saxon's ILC issue where Occultism Kid accidentally summons the 
shades of all the short-lived Sig.Lad gif.clones.

> 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 she is. :D

> 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>

> "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.

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.

> 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.

It's meeeeeeee! :D Or a me, anyway. I love Chaos Theory.

> "Adding yet another character to an already-overstuffed cascade, 
> apparently. You think anyone on RACC has ever heard the expression 
> 'less is more'?"

Well. X3;

> "Nope! There's only one thing that can close the rifts: Inspiration 
> particles."
> 
> "We're embarking on a Pratchett ripoff, then."
> 
> "Just a bit.

Steal from the best!

> "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."

Yes, I had plans to throw in *even more* things than I eventually did. X3; This 
was a recurring problem with my early storylines - because of my ADHD, I was 
waaaaay more about bringing new ideas than I was about resolving old ones. 
Thankfully I've gotten better at satisfying these urges.

> "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--"

They really developed a good relationship.

> 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.

heeheeheeheehee. I love writing MPL. X>

> 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...

heeheeheehee

> 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.

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.

> 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?

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.

> 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."

I love this joke so fucking much. X3

Drew "watched a lot of Quantum Leap back in the day" Nilium