#michael crummy
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The Wreckage: Does indeed pull your heart apart
Michael Crummy wrote (another) lovely novel in The Wreckage. Set in Newfoundland (not yet part of Canada, triva folks!) during WWII this precise romance just… wrecks you (get it? GET IT). Wish Furey, Catholic, falls for Mercedes (Sadie) Parsons (Protestant) and her mother Won’t Have It. So they have some secret romps and then through a series of accidents get separated and oops Wish goes off an…
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Hope you like this :>
#fnaf elizabeth#fnaf fanart#fnaf#gregory fnaf#fnaf evan#fnaf funny#im tired#fnaf michael afton#fnaf william afton#fnaf help wanted#this took me a while#i feel crummy#let me know what you think
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I hit the absolute jackpot at value village today, y'all
#i feel crummy bc my head is trying to explode but im glad i got this#and some art supplies at michaels#shut up julia
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And if I talk about Grant's civilian fashion sense, I have to talk about Ray's, so here you go.
Unlike Grant, Ray does have a secret identity and is actively trying to maintain his civilian life as much as possible. At one point he thinks he's lost his powers, and his immediate feeling is relief. He doesn't quite have to be dragged kicking and screaming into being a hero, but it takes a lot for him to accept it. So unlike Grant, we see him in ordinary clothes quite frequently, and he undergoes a style evolution that occurs alongside his character arc.
One thing that does stay pretty consistent is that this boy is an absolute fashion plate by 1990s standards.
We're introduced to Ray at the moment when he first leaves his house to deliberately expose himself to daylight and activate his powers. He's just eighteen, so he dresses like a teenager. Very specifically an early 1990s teenager. For someone who has barely ever left his house, he seems to put a lot of effort into maintaining a fashionable appearance. He's got a stylish fade haircut with lightning designs shaved into the sides, a piercing, and that distinctive jacket that will become part of his costume as well as something he wears ordinarily ("either a drum major or a diehard Michael Jackson fan," his mom comments when she first sees him in it).
Lots of overly long T-shirts worn with jeans and chunky sneakers. When he learns how to create light construct clothing (his powers when activated will burn off clothing if not protected, and this leads to a lot of embarrassing situations at first) and needs some civilian clothing to change into, what he creates is possibly one of the most 1990s teenage-boy outfits ever: a football jersey (with his surname on the back) tucked into baggy jeans, chunky sneakers, and a snapback hat worn, of course, backwards. He wears a variety of bright colors, as further seen in some of his shirts that Dinah Lance borrows while crashing at his place after an injury. For someone who grew up in the dark, he's got an eye for color and what suits his coloring.
The one exception to his particular style is a more conservative black suit, which he wears to the funeral of the uncle whom he believed was his dad. It will show up again later in the Annual, also worn to funerals.
So what does all this tell us about him? It indicates his youthfulness, of course, but also that he's image-conscious enough to care a lot about how he presents himself. He grew up in the public eye as "Night Boy" and, as revealed in his narration and thought bubbles, has a lot of private insecurities. Dressing fashionably is a way for him to take some control over how he is perceived by others. If he presents himself as cool, maybe he can feel that he genuinely is.
(The Ray 1992 #1, 2, 4 / The Ray 1994 Annual #1 / Justice League Quarterly #15 / Black Canary 1993 #8)
At the start of his second solo series, Ray is dealing with being out on his own as a technical adult. He has a fast food job that he hates and he lives in a crummy one-room apartment with no refrigerator. And it's not that his fashion sense noticeably changes at this point, but his wardrobe becomes more limited, as if to reflect that he can't afford a lot of clothing anymore. He has his jacket, a few T-shirts, jeans, two types of sneakers (the chunky ones and smaller, more traditional ones for times when he needs to make a more adult impression), and that seems to be about it for much of the start of this series.
When he intends to propose to his childhood best friend, he puts together another aggressively 1990s-teenage-boy look: baggy shirt (with baseball logo) and jeans, those sneakers again, and a varsity-like jacket. "I really am a man now," he says to himself in the narration beside this image--but of course he isn't. He's still dressing like a kid, in a reflection of how in many ways he's still not fully matured. He certainly has no business proposing to anybody at this point, and he will not get a yes when he does.
Shortly afterward, he will leave the Justice League Task Force for personal reasons, and this announcement accompanies another change of clothes--a more sedate brown/burgundy bomber jacket instead of his more flashy band jacket (associated with his costume) over his usual T-shirt and jeans. Circumstances are driving him to the desperation of trying to take responsibility for a situation he created, so he is dressing with the intention of being taken more seriously.
(The Ray 1994 #1-2, Annual #1 / Justice League Task Force #17, 26)
And he goes from there to working for Vandal Savage, which signals a huge change in his entire lifestyle. He has a prestigious office job, a good salary, a luxurious condo, a new haircut, and an extensive wardrobe of boxy, broad-shouldered, aggressively 1990s power suits.
Which, by the way, he is rocking. His palette has shifted to a lot of cool tones--blues, grays, greens--that reflect the coldness that is creeping into his character as a result of this job, along with some pink because why not. (That salmon shirt and teal-and-black tie combo from The Ray 1994 #16? Gorgeous.)
All the same, he's a nineteen-year-old who doesn't really know what he's doing, so despite his fancy pocket squares and gold tie clips, there are little fashion faux pas, like wearing white socks with a suit, or suspenders and a belt simultaneously. This isn't who he really is. It's an act.
The more casual clothes almost completely disappear; there's one case of a pale green jacket and purple shirt with jeans and sneakers, worn while mowing his mom's lawn. As time goes on and he's starting to feel more conflicted about his life choices, the suits start to be paired with more casual turtlenecks (very stylish in the 90s). The last civilian ensemble of his solo features this but dispenses with the suit in favor of a winter jacket--more casual but definitely more mature and darker-toned than what he used to wear. An apt reflection of the conclusion of his arc.
(The Ray 1994 #15-22, 24 / Justice League Task Force #27, 29)
From here on, it's off to Canceled Comic Limbo and almost no appearances for him in civilian attire. He is constantly in costume with Young Justice (like the rest of the team is most of the time). His various Freedom Fighters stints have a few clothing changes, I think, but they're not paired with any significant characterization. The current continuity's Ray is a completely different person and not relevant to this discussion.
His second solo is, of course, about a guy who needs a refrigerator. But at the same time, it's about a young adult who needs to learn to dress like a grown-up. Not cosplay as one in a giant suit, but to bring his own persona into the next stage of his life.
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total takes island - episode 1
“Last time on Total Takes Island: 22 campers have agreed to spend two months at this crappy summer camp and face the judgment of their fellow contestants, competing in challenges for a grand prize of one million dollars!”
The aforementioned campers are now standing atop a massive cliff, dressed in their pre-packed bathing suits. Chris grins wickedly.
“Alright, I’m assuming you all know how this goes from the first season?”
A few campers give each other nervous glances.
“But I’ll give you all a refresher anyway! This is a three-part challenge- your first task is to jump from this 1,000 foot high cliff into the lagoon! If you’ll all look down, you’ll notice the target areas- the wider part is full of psychotic, possibly radioactive man-eating sharks. The smaller part is where you’ll want to aim for- the safe zone.
For each team member who jumps and lives to tell the tale, you’ll drag those crates on the beach to your designated team area for the next part of the challenge: building a hot tub. The team with the best one gets a wicked cool hot tub party, and the losers… Well, you know how this goes.
Fujoshis, you’re up first.”
Ass cautiously steps forward and takes a peek over the edge of the cliff, then back to their team members. “So… who wants to go first?”
They’re met with dead silence and avoidant glances.
“So, who’s up?” Ass repeats.
Patrick clears his throat. “Ladies first,”
“I’m not… whatever, never mind,” A look of nervousness crosses their face and they peer back down. “Alright… I’ll go.”
“Wait!” a voice pipes up from the back. Mal steps forward. “You don’t have to do that, Ass, I’ll go first. It’s no big deal,” she smiles, earning a relieved sigh and a nod from Ass.
The Flying Fujoshis- with the exception of Courtney, who looks mildly troubled- watch in anticipation as Mal jumps off without another word and lands in the safe zone below. A crummy old fishing boat pulls up and fishes her out of the water, earning a cheer from the team.
“Wow, she really did it!” McLovin says. “I’m next!”
He takes a running dive off the edge of the cliff and lands smack dab on one of the dinghies surrounding the safe zone. Mal assists his limp body out of the water, and Peter follows shortly after. Kitty and Sha-Mod come next, but there’s a lull afterwards. Mal peers up. “I wonder what’s taking them so long?”
Fren shakes his head and crosses his arms. “Not happening,”
“Aw, but your team is doing so well!” Chris responds in a mocking tone.
“Then they won’t miss me,” he says, though a look of anxiety crosses his face.
“Chicken it is,” Chris shrugs and chuckles, walking over with the designated rubber chicken hat. “Next!”
Bonnie goes down next, looking thoroughly unamused. Patrick makes Ass and Courtney go ahead of him, and then looks at Caesar with a grin.
“You’re up next, buddy,”
Caesar shakes his head. “It’ll ruin my hair!”
Patrick sighs and turns to Chris. “Am I allowed to push him over?”
“You don’t need permission from me, man,”
Caesar’s eyes widen. “Don’t you d-”
And with that, Patrick shoves him over the cliff with ease, though Caesar manages to hook his ankle around Patrick’s, sending them both down. Chris laughs.
“Inane Anons, you’re up,”
Everyone looks at each other. Julia clears her throat. “Yeah, this isn’t happening, sorry,”
“Oh, yes it is,” Max says, glaring sharply.
Julia glares back. “Says who?”
“Guys, can we not?” Michael pipes up from the back. “We’re already behind, and-”
Austin pops up out of nowhere, wrapping an arm around Michael’s shoulders. “The bird’s right, we’re gonna have to rush if we want to catch up to those cool cats,”
Michael shoves him off and sighs. “I’ll go first, okay?”
She steps up to the side of the cliff and peers down, then back to the team behind her. Joner gives her a big thumbs up. “You got this, man!”
Michael shakes her head and jumps off the side of the cliff, landing in the safe zone below. Joner cheers, and when he notices Scruffy scribbling down the happenings on their notepad, he points at them: “That better be nice stuff only. That’s my best friend down there,”
Scruffy shrugs.
Scary goes next, followed by Max, Austin, and Kelly.
As she approaches the edge of the cliff, Julia looks back. “You suck,”
Chris shrugs. “I’m not the one jumping off a cliff, though, soooo,”
She grumbles and hops over the edge. Scruffy hands their notepad to Chris before jumping, and Frollo his Bible (misprinted as “The Bibble”).
Staci’s next. “My great aunt Patricia was the first cliff diver in Canada, before her there was only cliff falling, which is like, way different,”
“Oh, great, yeah. This again,” Chris sighs. “Chef?”
Chef approaches, lifts up Staci, and tosses them over the cliff. They luckily land right in the center of the safe zone, coughing and sputtering.
Joner swallows a lump in his throat.
“I mean, if I don’t jump, at least I have an ally, right? Michael wouldn’t vote for me,” Joner frowns at the confessional camera. “Can’t say the same about the rest of the team, though…”
“I’m not doing it, dude,”
“Your choice, chicken,” Chris smiles, setting the hat on his head. O approaches after Joner begins walking down the cliffside.
“You can hand me one of those, too, man,” O shakes his head nervously. “I’m not doing that.”
---
O: think about it this way: I could take a calculated risk and maybe getting sent home tonight, or die right now... I'll take my chances with the vote.
---
Chris shrugs and sets another hat on his head.
“And that makes everyone,” Chris grins. “Onto the next part of the challenge!”
The Fujoshis win access to the wagon for their crates as the team with the most jumpers, and they start on their way back. The Anons, on the other hand, must drag theirs across the sand.
O struggles with his crate, barely moving it. “This sucks,” he mutters. “Can’t believe we didn’t get a wagon.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Julia grumbles.
“Stop talking and push,” Max snaps back.
---
MAX: “I don’t know much about Total Drama, or summer camps, or survival games, but… just looking at our team, I can tell someone needs to take charge,” he crosses his arms and leaning back against the wall of the confessional. “And it’s definitely not going to be any of those bozos.”
---
Joner is the first to arrive at camp with his crate, setting it down and cheering. Max is next, then Frollo, then Scruffy. The Flying Fujoshis arrived several minutes prior and are already in the process of putting their hot tub together. Aside from O, Michael is the furthest behind, barely managing to keep ahead of her teammate.
“Let me get that for you, bro,” Joner says, jogging back to lift up one end of Michael’s crate while she takes the other. She breathes a sigh of relief.
“Thanks, Joner. I think I just got the heaviest one,”
“Anything for my buddies!”
---
Michael stares at the confessional camera for a few seconds before sighing. “Yes, I only signed up for this show to get away from Joner and McLovin, and hopefully make some friends who aren’t sweaty, wrestling-obsessed teenage boys, but… I’m glad they’re here anyway. Joner, at least,”
---
The Anons finally begin building as O arrives, and though they’re ahead, the Fujoshis aren’t looking too good.
“I think this is the wrong kind of screw,” Courtney says, holding up a bolt.
“How should I know?” Caesar shrugs. “I’m a host, not a mechanic.”
“Well, can someone get me the right type of screw over here?”
Mal suddenly appears out of thin air, holding a plastic baggie with a big smile. A shadow of fear crosses over Courtney’s face. “Here ya go, Court,”
She disappears without another word, leaving Courtney shivering.
Ass watches the ordeal with a mystified expression and then turns to Patrick, who’s standing off to the side and picking at his cuticles, as she continues lugging around metal pipes. “Are you just gonna stand there?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he scoffs. “We’re clearly going to lose. Look at those idiots.” He gestures to Caesar and Bonnie, who are arguing about which panel goes where.
“Aren’t you afraid of getting voted off?”
Patrick chuckles. “Not quite. I jumped,”
Ass raises an eyebrow and looks in the direction Patrick’s gaze is set at. Fren is struggling to connect a few pipes, clearly not having a good time.
“Hm,” Ass mutters. “Well.. I am feeling pretty tired.”
Courtney dashes back and forth from the lake to the cabins, the only member of the team who’s carrying water. Mal is hovering around the hot tub, trying to patch up leaks with duct tape while the rest of the team is either bickering or ignoring the commotion.
"O, Julia, Frollo, start getting the water. Staci, make sure the inside of the tub is sealed. Joner-" Max pauses. "What's your real name?"
"Jonah, but my buddies call me Joner. See, it's like Jonah, mixed with-"
"That's enough. Those pipes need to go over there,"
Joner salutes and jogs off.
By the time Courtney is almost done filling their hot tub, The Anons have formed a nicely organized line of people carrying buckets from the lake to the tub, which is looking pretty spiffy, partly thanks to Max’s instructions.
Once Chris gets bored of waiting, he approaches and inspects the two hot tubs. The Anons isn't perfect, but it's functional, and has less seaweed in it. “Looks like we got a pretty clear winner here- The Inane Anons! Dudes, you’re safe from elimination and get to keep this tub for the rest of the summer! Fujoshis- I’ll see you at the campfire tonight.” He winks and walks off with a chuckle.
The Anons cheer, and both teams return to the mess hall for dinner and discussion.
Max ignores his food and swings around his spoon as he speaks, as if he were an orchestra conductor. “Well, seeing as we won today because of me-”
“Debatable,” Julia scoffs.
“I think it’s only right for me to be team leader. Agreed?”
“I don’t see why not!” Joner says.
Michael cuts in. “Doesn’t this feel a little rushed?”
“Oh- yeah, you’re right, Michael. We need time,” Joner agrees.
“The sooner we act, the better our chances,” Max counters, eyes narrowing.
"That sounds right!" Joner squeaks.
“While You’re probably right about that, I’m not sure if you’re up to the task, short stack,” Scary smiles wickedly. Everyone goes silent and stares at her as they speak for the first time all day, and then they look back to each other.
“Yeah, to be honest, you are a bit of a square,” Austin says. “Isn’t summer camp all about groovy fun and good times?”
“This is a survival show,”
“A summer camp survival show, baby!”
Max groans.
“I think the only guidance we need is from the Lord,” Frollo murmurs quietly, clutching his Bible.
Max stares with a deadened expression. “Yeah. Okay. All in favor of the Lord?”
Frollo enthusiastically raises his hand. No one follows.
“All in favor of me?”
Max, O, Staci, Scruffy, and Joner all vote I. After a long pause, Michael also raises her hand.
Max smiles. “It’s settled then. I’ll lead,”
Julia rolls her eyes.
The Fujoshi table is quiet. Everyone is looking at each other cautiously.
“Should we… talk about who we’re voting for?” Courtney mutters.
“I’d rather not,” Ass says.
Mal scoffs and flips her hair over her shoulder. “Yeah, says the guy who did nothing while we were building- I mean... um, you tried your best!”
Ass raises an eyebrow as Courtney glares.
---
Chris holds a cheap plastic plate of marshmallows, looking grim and excited all the same. “Flying Fujoshis- you’ve all cast your votes. There are only ten marshmallows on this plate- whoever doesn’t get one is to board the boat of losers- that means- you’re out! And you can’t come back- ever!”
“The first marshmallow goes to- McLovin,”
“Sha-Mod,”
“Mal,”
“Patrick,”
“Peter,”
“Caesar,”
“Bonnie,”
“Ass- Courtney- Fren- and Kitty- you have not received a marshmallow yet,”
The four contestants in question look at each other nervously, aside from Kitty, who’s playing with a moth.
“Kitty and Courtney, you’re safe,”
Courtney breathes a sigh of relief and catches their marshmallow, slipping it in their pocket for later. Kitty’s hits them in the head and falls to the ground with a tiny thud.
“Ass- your team isn’t exactly impressed with your performance today- and Fren, you refused to jump. Both are not great looks, but only one of you is leaving. And that person is…”
“Ass-”
“-You’re safe. Fren, you must walk the dock of shame, board the boat of losers, and never return, ever. Sorry, bro!”
Fren frowns, removes his glasses, and nods sadly before walking the dock. The Fujoshis watch in silence and then turn to each other solemnly.
---
ASS: “That was… rough. But I’m glad it wasn’t me. I have a way of attracting drama to me like a magnet, which is why I signed up for this thing in the first place- I think I’m well equipped to handle anything that comes my way- but I’m lucky I survived another day. Let’s... hope for another”
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Michael makes a deal with God - or something like a god - and the crying child makes a miraculous recovery. The price? Well, he’s not entirely sure yet. So far he’s simply trying to adjust to his new life in a strange land full of bizarre, magical creatures.
Aka, the self indulgent FNAF x PL: Arceus crossover nobody asked for. Includes some themes of suicide and child murder, as well as a graphic description of (what should be) a fatal injury. Read at your own discretion.
Edit: Now on AO3
His mattress smelled kind of funny and Michael found himself thinking that he probably should be washing his sheets more often. It was the first coherent thought to enter his mind since he’d stopped crying. He lay curled on his bare mattress, greasy hair pressed to the side of his head, face streaked with mucus and tears, and he thought about how funny his mattress smelled.
His room was uncomfortably bare. Bed stripped of sheets. Posters and drawings scattered on the floor with the thumbtacks missing. Drawers ripped open and emptied of every single pencil, pen, and even his paintbrushes. William had been sure to strip his room of anything that might possibly be of use before locking him in and leaving the empty house for the hospital where Evan had been admitted the night prior.
Evan’s screams still echoed in his ears. The shrill wailing. The deafening crack. The silence that followed. He could still feel Evan’s blood on his skin. It was on his face. In his hair. On his hands. Nausea crawled up Michael’s throat, and if he’d not already emptied his stomach twice - first on the floor of the Diner, and later in front of the house - he might have vomited again.
Michael’s eyes burned, but he didn’t know whether to fight the tears or let them fall. What right did he have to cry? He was the monster. He was the one who shoved his screaming brother face-first into his death. And yet what kind of monster wouldn’t even shed tears over his brother’s death?
Evan wasn’t dead yet, but Michael had seen the wound first hand. He’d seen the way his skull caved, eyes all but crushed inside the sockets. He’d heard Henry assuring his father that Evan would make it, the doctors would do everything they could, but Michael knew the most likely outcome. The image was seared into his mind, playing out even with his eyes closed.
If only he could go to sleep and never wake up.
If only Evan would open his eyes.
If only he could take Evan’s place.
If only.
He wished.
And prayed.
And something answered.
I HAST HEARD THY PRAYER.
Michael opened his eyes. Nothing in his vision changed. It remained dark. For a moment he thought he’d actually fallen asleep and the sun had set, but when he moved to sit up he realized he could no longer smell his crummy old mattress, nor feel its weight below him.
FOR WHAT PRICE WOULD THOU SEE THY WISH GRANTED? WOULDST THOU TRADE THY LIFE FOR ANOTHER?
The voice came from everywhere, and nowhere. It thundered in the empty void that surrounded him. It whispered in the back of his mind. Some part of Michael knew he should probably be freaking out and maybe some small part of him was. But amid the slurry of his dampened emotions he felt a glimmer of something that he thought he’d lost; hope.
“I-if... If I give you my life...” He wet his lips, heedless of the acrid taste of bile on his tongue. “Will you save Evan?”
A glimmer shone in the darkness, and faded out just as quickly. Then another, just over his shoulder. Another one, and another, hundreds of golden lights swirling around him and gathering together, coalescing in the air before him into a towering creature of light. Michael raised his hand to shield his eyes, squinting at the spaces between his fingers in a feeble attempt to make out some features of the radiant thing before him. Were those ears? Horns? Did it have a mane or was that the shape of its head? Did it have two legs? Four? A thousand?
IT IS WITHIN MINE POWER TO ANSWER THY PRAYER.
Slowly, Michael realized the brilliant light didn’t actually hurt. He lowered his hand. He could look right at the creature, but still make out nothing concrete. A bit of the fear he’d thought himself beyond feeling began to trickle to the surface of his mind. The thing’s head - what he thought was its head - dwarfed his entire body. Worse than its sheer size, however, was the sensation that, somehow, this thing could peer into him, his mind, his thoughts, his very soul laid bare before the creature’s gaze. Every private thought, every intimate detail - no matter how small - that shaped Michael Afton was this creature’s to know. Even so, the fear he felt remained an echo of what he knew it should be. There was something almost comforting about the light he found himself bathed in.
“Then I’ll do it.” His chest ached, head dizzy with hope. “Whatever you want. But-” He swallowed thickly. The creature’s gaze bore down on him. “You can’t just keep him technically alive. I want... I want you to heal him. Like he was before. A-and you can’t just kill him right after. Please.”
No sense being rude to the bizarre alien creature offering to undo his mistake.
THY TERMS ARE AGREEABLE. THE BROTHER SHALT BE SAVED. IN EXCHANGE, THY LIFE IN THIS REALM SHALT COME TO AN END. DOST THOU FIND THESE TERMS AGREEABLE?
“...Yes.”
No sooner than the word had left his lips did Michael feel a warmth budding in his chest. The creature’s golden light enveloped him, filling the vast expanse and banishing the darkness.
As his eyes slipped shut for presumably the last time, Michael found himself thinking it wasn’t such a bad way to die. He only wished he could have told his brother he was sorry.
-
2 Years Later
-
Michael’s eyelids fluttered open. For a very brief moment he’d forgotten where he was. As the last vestiges of the dream faded he became aware of the cool summer breeze, the hum of insects nearby. The branches of the tree he’d chosen to nap under swayed as a birdlike creature took flight. Despite the season, the leaves retained the crimson hue for which the area had been named, and the surrounding grass shimmered gold in the breeze.
He sat up, stretched his arms overhead with an unrestrained yawn. As he did the billowing sleeves of the garment he’d taken to wearing pooled around his shoulders. Loose, billowing sleeves were designed to be easily gathered up and tied off for work or let loose to protect his arms from sun or stinging plants. It was the same dark blue as worn by the rest of his adopted people, trimmed with silver and marked with the crest of their almighty Sinnoh. The outfit had felt strange at first, but after a full two years in this place he could no longer imagine wearing anything else.
A leather-bound notebook lay in the grass at his side. He instinctively reached for it, and reassured of its presence, settled back against the tree. Just for a few more minutes. Before him the setting sun shone over the mire, muddy waters dappled with gold as the creatures that called this place their home milled about. A dragonfly the size of a skateboard zipped by, ignoring the non-threatening human sitting in the shade. A plantlike animal with wide, yellow eyes and three leaves atop its oversized head emerged from the grass, spotted him and, upon determining he was not interested in it, scuttled closer after the overripe fruits that had fallen from his shade.
Michael cracked a soft smile as he watched the petilil eat. It was funny how the sight of such creatures had filled him with terror before. How perfectly ordinary they seemed now. He was tempted to reach out to it and stroke one of its leaves, but he kept his hands hands interlaced in his lap, not wanting to startle the timid pokemon. It was out of arm’s reach besides.
A light nudge at his arm drew Michael’s attention from the petilil. Looking down he found a small fox-like creature staring up at him with huge, lipid eyes. The fox’s dark grey body was trimmed with puffy white fur that trailed off into curling blue wisps, ill-suited to the hot marsh. Like Michael, this creature was an outsider to this land. Perhaps that was why they were drawn to one another, though the pokemon at least was of this world.
“Guess we should start heading home before the ghastly come out, huh Smoky?”
Smoky yipped at him. Michael smiled, threading his finger’s through Smoky’s silky white mane and startling the nearby petilil with his sudden movement. He paid it no mind. Pushing himself to his feet and gathering up his sketchbook while Smoky ran ahead. Like the strange clothes and the strange creatures, this place had become comfortable to him as well. Enough so that he didn’t think twice about calling this land his home.
Some nights he still dreamt about his old world, and about the night he had been pulled from it. He wondered how Evan was doing, and if he and Elizabeth were well. Sometimes those thoughts extended to his father, though hardly to the same extent. He still didn’t understand why exactly the almighty Sinnoh - for that was who he had come to understand that creature of light was - had brought him to this place. So far it had asked nothing of him, simply leaving him to his own devices. Had it even kept its end of the bargain? But then, why would a being powerful enough to propel him through time and space to a whole other world bother making a deal if it didn’t intend to keep its end? No, he was certain Sinnoh had healed Evan, and that Evan and his family were living happily in that world.
For his part, he was perfectly content in Hisui. Strange and frightening as the pokemon were, they were also the most amazing things he’d ever seen. Just ahead of him, Smoky paused and stared back, waiting for him to catch up. When he did the zorua darted ahead and again paused to wait for him as they made their way back to the clan. His family. The ones who had welcomed him in and given him a life where he thought he had none. Whatever Sinnoh’s reasons, Michael considered himself blessed to have been taken from Hurricane, to have been brought here of all places, of all times.
For the first time in his life, he was glad to be alive.
-
They called his recovery a miracle.
Doctors couldn’t explain how it had happened. It shouldn’t have happened. His skull had been crushed into his brain! Yet when Evan finally opened his eyes after what felt like a week of nightmares he felt no worse than he had before. Better, even. There were no problems with his speech or hearing, no gaps in his memory. Though there were certain things he wished he could forget. When the doctors took an x-ray of his skull they couldn’t find so much as the tiniest hairline fracture. Truly, they said, it was a miracle.
Elizabeth was waiting for him when he woke up. Her and Father. But she was the one who climbed into his bed and wrapped him in a hug and said how happy she was he was okay while Father stood off to the side, offering him merely a bewildered stare and a satisfied nod. He didn’t ask why Mike wasn’t there. He was pretty sure he knew why.
The doctors wanted to keep him for some tests, but after they could find nothing wrong in two days Father put his foot down. Evan was discharged that afternoon. He was allowed to ride in the front seat on the way home, which was weird because that was usually Mike’s seat. But even on his final day at the hospital, Evan’s brother still hadn’t shown his face. He squeezed his stuffed bear tight in his arms the entire ride home, stomach twisting in on itself the nearer they got to their house.
Would Mike be there?
What would he say to him?
Would Mike try to hurt him again?
Was he even sorry?
Questions rattled around his miraculously-intact skull, and before he knew it Father was pulling is purple car into the driveway of their home. For a moment Evan thought he was going to throw up.
As it turned out, he needn’t have worried.
Mike wasn’t home. Mike wasn’t anywhere.
At first, Father said it was nothing to worry about. Michael had probably gone over to a friend’s house or run off somewhere to avoid facing the guilt of what he’d done. He didn’t mention the lock he’d put on Mike’s door. Elizabeth was the one who told Evan about that. It was another five nights before the police were finally called, and they simply said the same thing Father had. Mike had probably just run off somewhere out of guilt.
Not a month passed before Father packed up all of Mike’s stuff and put it in the attic. That made Evan feel sick for reasons he couldn’t begin to put into words. Eventually Evan worked up the nerve to ask where his brother had really gone. All that got him was his father’s ire and the same answer as always. Elizabeth was the only one who told him the whole truth. After the accident - everyone called it an accident, it wasn’t an accident - Mike had tried to hurt himself. If he really did run off, he probably tried again. If they hadn’t found him, he was probably dead.
Evan couldn’t accept that answer. Not without proof. They never found a body. One year after Michael’s disappearance, Charlie died. They found her body right there in the alley where she’d been killed. Then more kids started to disappear. Their bodies were never found either. And yet everyone in Hurricane wrote them off as dead, without any proof whatsoever.
Another year passed. A suspect was finally arrested - a night guard at the local pizzeria, the one Evan’s father happened to own - but they never found any proof and so the charges were dropped. Still, the stigma stuck and eventually the poor guy was harassed out of town. Everyone seemed satisfied the incident was over, even though those kids were still missing. Vanished into thin air, just like Mike.
Father changed. He became more withdrawn, more nervous. People said it was grief, but they hadn’t seen how quick he was to box up every last trace of Mike’s presence in their house and store it away or sell it off. Evan started fighting with his father. A lot. About school, about work, about Mike. Elizabeth learned to stay away from the both of them when they were angry, though she at least tried to help Evan calm down after. She was never successful though because she always insisted on sticking up for their father. No, of course he cares about us, he’s just busy with work. Of course he hasn’t forgotten about Mikey, it’s just painful for him to be reminded. He didn’t mean it when he hit you, he was just stressed...
Sometimes Evan wished whatever ‘miracle’ he’d gotten had just let him die. His family was shit. This town was shit. Life was shit.
And he was shit too.
The fifth anniversary of Mike’s disappearance came and went. It seemed he was the only one who noticed. He was fourteen now. Michael would be nineteen, an adult if he were still alive. That night, Evan slipped out of his room. He had plenty of practice moving without making noise. He snuck into Mike’s room, cold and empty and devoid of any trace of the person who’d once lived there. He didn’t pray often. In fact, the last time he remembered praying was when Mother had been with them, though his memories of those days were fuzzy. Still, as he laid himself down on the musty mattress that had once been Mike’s, he hoped there was someone who would care enough to listen.
As he drifted off into sleep, Evan thought he saw a golden light.
I HAST HEARD THY PRAYER.
#Arceus speak is... fun#yeah#that's one word for it#I started daydreaming about this idea but I wasn't sure about writing it at first bc I was worried it was too weird a crossover#then I realized all crossovers are inherently weird and went for it anyway#fingers crossed someone other than me gets some enjoyment out of this#it do feel good to be writing again#fanfiction#stuff I wrote#FNAF#Five Nights at Freddy's#FNAF crossover#Pokemon#Pokemon crossover#Pokemon Legends of Arceus#Michael Afton#Hisuian Zorua#Evan Afton#the Crying Child#Elizabeth Afton#William Afton#I actually think Liz probably died before Evan#but for the story to work the way I wanted it to I had to keep her alive#so just ignore any wonky timeline stuff that doesn't perfectly align with canon#kay?#kay#self harm discussed#suicide discussed#graphic description of head injury#child murder cw
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Heyo! So, is the Lilith being the mother of all demons existent in Judaism? I'm reading this weird.....occultism book that lists Lilith and Samael as consorts and Lilith as the mother of all demons (Michael W Ford) and I heard some not so good stuff about the author. It's only a previee so I'm not gonna buy-buy it, but the information seems to come from an author's bias on his own occultist views with the way he speaks on these entities.
Heya! Yeah there's stuff like that in the Talmud. Could still be a crummy book/author though in how thats interpreted/presented but he didn't pull it entirely out of his ass at least
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Haven’t done a painting in quite a while. I specifically took this photograph at my friend, Michael Snow’s dock in Maine for the sole purpose of painting it. Acrylic ink on heavy Arches watercolor paper. My dock companions, two loons gave their eerie bird calls in the early morning while I shot this simple picture. As I began to paint, things quickly went awry. It was not looking the way I intended. My strength as an artist is not surrendering while I’m screwing things up. So, I fought the crummy direction I took the painting in by going over what I’d painted several times. I began to tame the paint and it started to look like something I’m proud of. I gifted it to my cousin, Eileen for her new house in Florida.
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rewatching the office and was watching the ep where michael brings two asian women to the christmas party and can't tell them apart so he marks one of their arms and then laughs about it with jim, and wow. it's the first time i've cried about a racist asian joke, what a crummy feeling
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@detoxed-retox
Auretta in the bathroom feeling crummy? Michael has set out some calming tea and gentle sweets for her to enjoy when she comes out.
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(LATimes) Michael Hiltzik: The revival of network neutrality - Los Angeles Times
Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel shepherded a restoration of network neutrality at the FCC.
(Jonathan Newton / Pool)
In the midst of its battle to extinguish the Mendocino Complex wildfire in 2018, the Santa Clara County Fire Department discovered that its internet connection provider, Verizon, had throttled their data flow virtually down to zero, cutting off communications for firefighters in the field. One firefighter died in the blaze and four were injured.
Verizon refused to restore service until the fire department signed up for a new account that more than doubled its bill.
That episode has long been Exhibit A in favor of restoring the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to regulate broadband internet service, which the FCC abdicated in 2017, during the Trump administration.
This is an industry that requires a lot of scrutiny.
— Craig Aaron, Free Press, on the internet service industry
Now that era is over. On Thursday, the FCC — now operating with a Democratic majority — reclaimed its regulatory oversight of broadband via an order that passed on party lines, 3-2.
The commission’s action could scarcely be more timely.
“Four years ago,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel observed Thursday as the commission prepared to vote, “the pandemic changed life as we know it. ... Much of work, school and healthcare migrated to the internet. ... It became clear that no matter who you are or where you live, you need broadband to have a fair shot at digital age success. It went from ‘nice to have’ to ‘need to have.’ ”
Yet the commission in 2017 had thrown away its own ability to supervise this essential service. By categorizing broadband services as “information services,” it relinquished its right to address consumer complaints about crummy service, or even collect data on outages. It couldn’t prevent big internet service providers such as Comcast from favoring their own content or websites over competitors by degrading the rivals’ signals when they reached their subscribers’ homes.
“We fixed that today,” Rosenworcel said.
The issue the FCC addressed Thursday is most often viewed in the context of “network neutrality.” This core principle of the open internet means simply that internet service providers can’t discriminate among content providers trying to reach your home or business online — they can’t block websites or services, or degrade their signal, slow their traffic or, conversely, provide a better traffic lane for some rather than others.
The principle is important because their control of the information highways and byways gives ISPs tremendous power, especially if they control the last mile of access to end users, as do cable operators such as Comcast and telecommunications firms such as Verizon. If they use that power to favor their own content or content providers that pay them for a fast lane, it’s consumers who suffer.
Net neutrality has been a partisan football for more than two decades, or ever since high-speed broadband connections began to supplant dial-up modems.
In legal terms, the battle has been over the classification of broadband under the Communications Act of 1934 — as Title I “information services” or Title II “telecommunications.” The FCC has no jurisdiction over Title I services, but great authority over those classified by Title II as common carriers.
The key inflection point came in 2002, when a GOP-majority FCC under George W. Bush classified cable internet services as Title I. In effect, the commission stripped itself of its authority to regulate the nascent industry. (Then-FCC Chair Michael Powell subsequently became the chief Washington lobbyist for the cable industry, big surprise.)
Not until 2015 was the error rectified, at the urging of President Obama. Broadband was reclassified under Title II; then-FCC Chair Tom Wheeler was explicit about using the restored authority to enforce network neutrality.
But that regulatory regime lasted only until 2017, when a reconstituted FCC, chaired by a former Verizon executive Ajit Pai, reclassified broadband again as Title I in deference to President Trump’s deregulatory campaign. The big ISPs would have geared up to take advantage of the new regime, had not California and other states stepped into the void by enacting their own net neutrality laws.
A federal appeals court upheld California’s law, the most far-reaching of the state statutes, in 2022. And although the FCC’s action could theoretically preempt the state law, “what the FCC is doing is perfectly in line with what California did,” says Craig Aaron, co-CEO of the consumer advocacy organization Free Press.
The key distinction, Aaron told me, is that the FCC’s initiative goes well beyond the issue of net neutrality — it establishes a single federal standard for broadband and reclaims its authority over the technology more generally, in ways that “safeguard national security, advance public safety, protect consumers and facilitate broadband deployment,” in the commission’s own words.
Although Verizon’s actions in the 2018 wildfire case did not violate the net neutrality principle, for instance, the FCC’s restored regulatory authority might have enabled it to set forth rules governing the provision of services when public safety is at stake that might have prevented Verizon from throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department’s connection in the first place.
Until Thursday, the state laws functioned as bulwarks against net neutrality abuses by ISPs. “California helped discourage companies from trying things,” Aaron says. Indeed, provisions of the California law are explicit enough that state regulators haven’t had to bring a single enforcement case. “It’s been mostly prophylactic,” he says — “telling the industry what it can and can’t do. But it’s important to have set down the rules of the road.”
None of this means that the partisan battle over broadband regulation is over. Both Republican FCC commissioners voted against the initiative Thursday. A recrudescence of Trumpism after the November election could bring a deregulation-minded GOP majority back into power at the FCC.
Indeed, in a lengthy dissenting statement, Brendan Carr, one of the commission’s Republican members, repeated all the conventional conservative arguments presented to justify the repeal of network neutrality in 2017. Carr painted the 2015 restoration of net neutrality as a liberal plot — “a matter of civic religion for activists on the left.”
He asserted that the FCC was then goaded into action by President Obama, who was outspoken on the need for reclassification and browbeat Wheeler into going along. Leftists, he said, “demand that the FCC go full-Title II whenever a Democrat is president.”
Carr also depicted network neutrality as a drag on profits and innovation in the broadband sector. “Broadband investment slowed down after the FCC imposed Title II in 2015,” he said, “and it picked up again after we restored Title 1 in 2017.”
Carr chose his time frame very carefully. Examine the longer period in which net neutrality has been debated at the FCC, and one finds that broadband investment crashed after a Republican-led FCC reclassified broadband as an information service in 2002, falling to $57 billion in 2003 from $111.5 billion in 2001.
Investment did decline between 2015, when net neutrality rules were reinstated, and 2017, when they were rescinded — by a minuscule 0.8%. It hasn’t been especially robust since then — as of 2002 it was still running at only about 92% of what it had been two decades earlier.
As the FCC observed in Thursday’s order, “regulation is but one of several factors that drive investment and innovation in the telecommunications and digital media markets.”
The commission cited consumer demand and the arrival of new technologies, among others. Strong, consistent regulation, moreover, opens the path for new competitors with new ideas and innovations — and can bring prices down for users in the process.
The truth is that network neutrality has been heavily favored by the public, in part because examples of ISPs abusing their power were not hard to find. In 2007, Comcast was caught degrading traffic from the file-sharing service BitTorrent, which held contracts to distribute licensed content from Hollywood studios and other sources in direct competition with Comcast’s pay-TV business.
In 2010, Santa Monica-based Tennis Channel complained to the FCC that Comcast kept it isolated on a little-watched sports tier while giving much better placement to the Golf Channel and Versus, two channels that compete with it for advertising, and which Comcast happened to own. The FCC sided with the Tennis Channel but was overruled by federal court.
Even barring a change at the White House, the need for vigilant enforcement will never go away; ISPs will always be looking for business models and manipulative practices that could challenge the FCC’s oversight capabilities, especially as cable and telecommunications companies consolidate into bigger and richer enterprises and combine content providers with their internet delivery services.
“This is an industry,” Aaron says, “that requires a lot of scrutiny.”
#long post#refrigerator magnet#michael hiltzik#net neutrality#internet#utility#fcc#better than four years ago#politics#republicans#internet is a utility
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When they last saw each other, Cassie had pressed a gift bag into Gregory's hands, with a little note that said 'DON'T OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS — I'LL KNOW.' and a look that said just about the same thing, maybe a slight bit less threateningly. Okay, she knew the threat really wasn't necessary, but she also knew that Gregory was a shit and she wouldn't be there to keep his grubby little hands out of the gift in person for the next couple days. She didn't say anything about the gift for the rest of the time she was there, but she did give him a small smile and a, "I mean it. Christmas," alongside her goodbye wave.
When the bag was eventually opened, be it on Christmas or immediately after Cassie was out of sight, a few items could be found inside.
First, a piece of paper, carefully slid in between the side of the bag and the first fold towards the middle to (hopefully) keep it from getting all bent. Its blank side was visible, facing the inside of the bag, covered in stains from marker ink bleeding through. The other side, which the ink happened to be from, was a little drawing, clearly from Cassie – she was never as passionate about art as Gregory, but she tried this time. Thought he would appreciate it, maybe.
Two figures that hopefully resembled the two of them well enough stood in a field of grass – typical child drawings, you know, yellow sun in the corner, little flowers, a couple clouds – and next to each of them, there were, well ... Colored blobs was the best way to put it, probably. Near the Cassie stick figure was a gray blob with pointy ears and a green streak in front of its face, and near the Gregory figure was an orange – brown – orange? (she couldn't choose which marker to use, it's both) blob with round ears, a little top-hat, and a blue squiggle on its chest. Roxy and Freddy. Maybe.
She tried, okay? It's not her fault she was always more interested in the 'crafts' side of 'arts and crafts.' She did her best, and it shows.
Next, beside the drawing, is a teddy bear. Just a plain, old teddy bear. Not one of the expensive Freddy ones from the Pizzaplex, unfortunately, (though, rest assured, Cassie tried her hardest to get one, even asking her father if he could bring one home from work, by any means necessary) but, on further inspection, Cassie does seem to have made some... Modifications. To make the gift a little more personal. A little felt top-hat rests on its head, complete with a teal ribbon wrapped around the bottom of it. Similar black ribbon is tied in a bow around the bear's neck, and wrapped around its wrists to imitate Freddy's bracelets. It even has the lightning bolt — sure, it's just a piece of teal construction paper taped to its chest, but the attention to detail shows the time and effort put into the gift. She couldn't afford the official thing, so... She tried to give Gregory the next best.
Under the bear, at the bottom of the bag – quite easily missed, be careful! – is a handmade, braided friendship bracelet. It has quite a few colors, including Freddy's teal, red, and orange, and some of Gregory's more typical blues and browns so it matches the clothes he prefers to wear. It's not tied, of course — Gregory might have to ask someone for help, or Cassie can help him with it next time they see each other. Either way, she hopes he likes it, same as she hopes he likes everything else. And she can't wait to show him her matching one.
★ — Gregory had tried to heed her warning about waiting until Christmas ; he really had, had hurried home with the gift bag home like it was something precious and excitedly showed Michael before placing it in the corner of his room. And when their crummy little tree had gone up in a corner of the living room, the present had moved next to it ( well, half - heartedly shoved up under the branches but ultimately sticking out a little bit funny ) where it had been intended to wait until the day. But it was basically taunting him.
So he'd almost made it. Really, almost. The day before Christmas Eve — Christmas Eve Eve, practically the holiday anyways, and besides, would Cassie really know? So he pulls it into his room that night while Michael is too busy watching some dumb movie to notice. Closes the door just to make sure he won't get caught. Looks guiltily around the room ( not feeling guilty enough to override his curiosity ), before pulling out the tissue paper.
The carefully placed piece of paper is, of course, the first thing Gregory takes notice of. He pulls it out with gentle consideration, first noticing the smudged ink staining ( and immediately wondering what she could've drawn for him, the beginning of a grin tugging at the corner of his lips despite the way he tries to bite it down with teeth on his lower lip, even with no one around to see him ) before flipping it over. Head tilts, and ... well, he sees what she was going for, and the sight of it makes his chest feel warm.
It will find a home, taped to the wall above his nightstand before the night is over.
Next to notice is the bear, which he tugs out with a bit less care than the drawing. He's running a thumb along the leg with a small smile, taking note of how soft it is ( and already planning to tuck it among his pillows, where a few other stuffed animals have settled ) when he notices the additions Cassie made — and he can't help the giggle that escapes. It's unbelievably thoughtful ( and gregory is already thinking about what he could possible get cassie by the time they return to school ; sure, it'll be passed the holiday by then, but it's the thought that counts, right? ), and Gregory can't wait to show it to Freddy himself. He's sure the animatronic will love it, too.
He does almost miss the final item, tucked at the bottom of the bag — only noticing the flash of color when he goes to tuck the tissue paper back in the bag and dispose of his evidence. A quick blink, and he pulls the band out to inspect a bit more closely. Impulse wants him to run out into the living room and ask Michael to tie it on his wrist that second, but then he'd have to admit to sneaking the present into his room early .... so after a moment of consideration he pulls the Freddy plush closer, looping the bracelet around the bear's neck and loosely tying it ; safe keeping, in the meantime, to ensure he doesn't accidentally lose it.
He'll take a picture, later, to send to Cassie on Christmas day and tell her thank you. And he'll get her to tie the bracelet for him when he sees her again.
#nineliabilityrisk#nineliabilityrisk / cassie#★ * ASK / making the best out of a bad situation. )#★ * VERSE / in truth there is nothing here at all. )#SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT WAHH .. I LOVE THEM
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maybe i should have thought about being able to look up a reference image before going zoomies mode and making a grid (i can’t draw michael’s face and i’m too tired to work on it so i’m using the grid method, which would require me to find the scene i want to use as a reference and plug into my drawing program so i can put a grid over it, either by using a website that allows me to screenshot or putting the right combo of words into google, which i can’t do at home) (i’m scared of my parents (well one of my parents one is not the best with tech (and honestly the one that is technologically competent wouldn’t care enough to look through the data)) seeing what i look at using the wifi or cell so i try to only look up stuff i think they won’t like (specifically good omens and ao3 lol) when i’m on public wifi and i can turn off cell and there isn’t anywhere that i can bring my computer (sure i could use my phone and send it to my computer on discord but i feel like the combined crumminess of phone screenshot, message compression, and pasting into my art program will crunch the image too much for me to want to use it as a reference).
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『Bridges of Madison County』Part2～"I've never said it before. But this kind of certainty comes just once in a lifetime."～
Four days of destiny
This time they met at Holywell Bridge.
A beautiful bridge with a white roof.
So Robert shot Francesca with the bridge in the background.
Francesca like a shy girl is wonderful.
Robert helps Francesca cook, sets the table, and is very kind to Francesca.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's mind:
"I realized that he had been here just a few minutes before."
"I was lying where the water had run down his body and I found that intensely erotic."
"Almost everything about Robert Kincaid had begun to seem erotic to me."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Then Francesca changed into a dress.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca:
"What's wrong?"
Robert:
"You look stunning."
"If you don't mind me saying so."
"Make-them-run-around-the block-howling-in-agony stunning."
ーーーーーーーーーー
The phone rings just as they are trying to reach each other.
Francesca hesitates but answers the phone.
It was from her neighborhood friend Madge.
She talks to Madge while touching Robert's body.
And the two become lovers.
It's good that the person on the phone isn't her husband here.
If it was her husband, the item of the work would be gone.
Good thing about American movies.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Carolyn:
"What's wrong?"
Michael:
"I'm going to get some air."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Carolyn laughed, thinking that would be the case with Michael.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca:
"Take me someplace."
"Where you've Been"
"Someplace on the other side of the world."
Robert:
"How about Italy?"
Francesca:
"Yeah."
Robert:
"How about Bari?"
Francesca:
"Tell me about that time…you got off…the train."
Robert:
"You know the station."
Francesca:
"Yeah"
Robert:
"Know the little restaurant with the striped awning across the way…serves Arancino."
Francesca:
"E' Arachino."
"And zeppolis.”
"I know that place."
Robert:
"Well, I had coffee there."
Francesca:
"Did you sit…by the doorway or near the…front of the church?"
Robert:
"I was near the church."
Francesca:
"I know, I sat there once."
"I sat there once…on a day like this."
"It was very hot and…I'd been shopping and I had all these packages around my feet."
"I had to keep moving them."
"You make me forget my story."
Robert:
"Lucky me."
Inside Francesca's mind:
"I had thoughts about him…I hardly knew what to do with."
"And he read every one."
"Whatever I felt."
"Whatever I wanted, he gave himself up to."
"And in that moment…everything I knew to be true about myself up until then, was gone."
"I was acting like another woman…yet I was more myself than ever before."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca gave Robert a pendant that he had been wearing since her seventh birthday.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert:
"Try to cram in a whole lifetime between now and Friday."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert wants you to follow her.
He doesn't want this to end.
Michael and Carolyn's change of heart
ーーーーーーーーーー
Carolyn:
"Where'd you go?"
Michael:
"Bar in town."
Carolyn:
"Did you call Betty?"
"Maybe you should."
Michael:
"I heard about Lucy."
"I found out who Lucy Delaney is."
"Remember the Delaneys from Hillcrest Road?"
Carolyn:
"Yeah. But I thought she died."
Michael:
"He remarried Lucy Redfield."
"Apparently, they were having an affair for years."
"Apparently, the first Mrs. Delaney was a bit of a stiff."
Carolyn:
"You mean…she didn't like sex?"
Michael:
"Mom could have helped."
Carolyn:
"All these years I've resented not living the wild life in some place like Paris."
"And all the time I could have moved back to Iowa."
"Are you drunk?"
Michael:
"Not yet."
ーーーーーーーーーー
The brothers had a pleasant conversation, thinking of their mother.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Michael:
"I've never cheated on Betty."
"Not once we were married, I mean."
Carolyn:
"Did you want to?"
Michael:
"Only about a thousand times."
Carolyn:
"What do I do now?"
"What's good enough for Mom is good enough for me?"
Carolyn:
"What gets me…is I'm in my forties."
"I've been in this crummy marriage for over 20 years…"
"because that's what I was taught."
"You stick things out."
"Normal people don't divorce."
"I can't remember when my husband loved me so intensely…"
"that he transported me to Africa."
"Frankly, I don't think he ever did."
"And now I find out that in between bake sales, my mother was Anais Nin."
Michael:
"What about me?"
"I feel really weird."
"Like she cheated on me, not Dad."
"Isn't that sick?"
"You know , when you're the only son you sort of…feel like the prince of the kingdom."
"In the back of your mind…"
"You think your mother shouldn't want sex anymore because she has you."
Carolyn:
"You're right, that is sick."
Michael:
"If she was so unhappy, why didn't she leave?"
"Can I read it now?"
"Did I miss anything important?"
Carolyn:
"She just took him to her room."
Michael:
"Dad's room?"
Carolyn:
"All right, you can skip that part."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Michael chugged down the bottle and started reading.
Fear of Losing
ーーーーーーーーーー
In Francesca's mind:
"Robert lay asleep in the bed."
"I was up all night that night."
"What happens tomorrow?"
"He will leave and everything new and unknown that had become so familiar…would be gone."
ーーーーーーーーーー
In the morning, Francesca was frustrated as she watched Robert eat breakfast.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca:
"Did you sleep well?"
"good"
"More coffee?"
"I hope you don't mind my asking, but I feel like I should."
"These women friends of yours all over the world…how does it work?"
"Do you see some of them again, or…do you forget others?"
"Or do you write to some of them now and then?"
"How do you manage it?"
Robert:
"What do you mean?"
Francesca:
"I just need to know the procedure so I don't upset it your routine."
Robert:
"What are you talking about?"
"There's no routine."
"Is that what you think this is?"
Francesca:
"What is this?"
Robert:
"Is it up to me?"
"You're the one who's married, who won't leave her husband."
Francesca:
"To do what?"
"Go off with someone who needs everyone, but no one in particular?"
Robert:
"I was honest with you."
Francesca:
"Yes, absolutely."
"You have this habit of not needing, and that's very hard to break."
"In that case, why sleep?"
"You don't need rest."
"Why eat? You don't need food."
Robert:
"What're you doing?"
Francesca:
"Maybe I'm not cut out to be a citizen…"
"who experiences everything and nothing."
Robert:
"How do you know what I experience?"
Francesca:
"I know you."
"What can this possibly mean to someone…"
"who doesn't need meaning, who just goes with the mystery?"
"Who pretends he's not scared to death?"
Robert:
"Let's stop this."
Francesca:
"After you leave, I’ll have to sit here the rest of my life…"
"and wonder what happened to me, if anything, happened at all."
"I'll wonder if you're in some housewife's kitchen in Romania…"
"telling her about your world of good friends, including me in that group."
Robert:
"What should I say?"
Francesca:
"I don't want you to say anything."
"I don't need you to say anything."
Robert:
"I want you to stop this right now."
Francesca:
"Fine."
"More eggs? Or shall we fuck on the linoleum one last time?"
Robert:
"I won't apologize for who I am."
"I won't feel like I did anything wrong."
Francesca:
"You won't feel anything, period!"
"You have carved out a part for yourself in the world as a voyeur…"
"and a hermit and a lover whenever you feel like it."
"The rest of us are supposed to feel grateful for this brief moment---"
"Go to hell."
"It isn't human not to be lonely and afraid!"
"You're a hypocrite and a phony!"
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert's heart
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert:
"I don't want to need you."
Francesca:
"Why?"
Robert:
"Because I can't have you."
Francesca:
"What difference does that make?"
"Don't you see."
"Oh, Robert, don't you see?"
"I just have to know the truth."
"I have to know the truth, because if I don't, I'll go crazy."
"So just tell me."
"I can't act like this is enough because it has to be."
"And I can't pretend not to feel what I feel…because it's over tomorrow."
Robert:
"If I've done anything…to make you think that…"
"what we have between us is nothing new for me…"
"is just some routine…then I do apologize."
Francesca:
"What makes it different?"
Robert:
"When I think…of why I make pictures…the only reason I can think of…"
"just seems that I've been making my way here."
"Seems right now, that all I've done in my life…"
"was making my way here to you."
"And if I think about leaving here tomorrow…without you."
Francesca:
"Don't let go"
"My God, what are we going to do?"
Robert:
"Come with me."
"Come away with me."
ーーーーーーーーーー
And Francesca prepares for the trip.
Francesca continues to worry.
Dilemma and decision
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert:
"You're not coming with me, are you?"
Francesca:
"No matter how many times I turn it over in my mind…"
"it doesn't seem like the right thing."
Robert:
"For who?"
Francesca:
"For anyone."
"They'll never be able to live through the talk."
"And Richard…Richard will never be able to get his arms around this."
"It will break him in half."
"He doesn't deserve that."
"He's never hurt anyone in his whole life."
Robert:
"He can move on."
"People move."
Francesca:
"His family has had this farm for over 100 years."
"Richard doesn't know how to live anywhere else."
"And my kids…"
Robert:
"They're practically grown."
"You said they hardly talk to you."
Francesca:
"Yeah, they don't say much."
"But Carolyn is only 16."
"She's about to find out about all of this for herself."
"She's going to fall in love…and she'll try to build a life with someone."
"If I leave…what does that say to her?"
Robert:
"What about us?"
Francesca:
"You have to know…deep down…"
"the minute we leave here, everything will change."
Robert:
"Yeah, it could…get better."
Francesca:
"And no matter how much distance we put between ourselves and this house…"
"I carry it with me."
"I feel it every minute we're together."
"And I will start to blame loving you for how much it hurts."
"And then, even these…four…"
"beautiful days will seem just like something sordid and a mistake."
Robert:
"Do you think that what happened with us just happens to anyone?"
"What do we feel for each other?."
“We're hardly…two separate people now.”
"And…some people search all their life for this and never find it."
"Others don't even think it exists."
"You're going to tell me that…this is the right thing to do?"
"Give it up?"
Francesca:
"We are the choices that we have made."
"You don't understand."
"Don't you see?"
“Nobody understands when a woman makes a choice…to marry and have children…”
"in one way her life begins, but in another way, it stops."
"You build a life of details and…you just stop and stay…"
"steady so that your children can move."
“And when they leave, they take your life of details with them.
"You're expected to move on again, but you don't remember…"
"what it was that moved you, because no one's asked you in so long."
"Not even yourself."
"But you never think…love like this is going to happen to you."
Robert:
"But now that you have it…"
Francesca:
"Well, now I want to keep it forever."
"I want to love you the way I do now for the rest of my life, but…"
"if we leave…we lose it."
"And I can't make an entire life disappear…to start a new one."
"All I can do is try to hold on to both of us…somewhere inside of me."
"You have to help me."
Robert:
"Don't lose us."
"Don't throw us away."
"Maybe you feel this way. Maybe not."
"Maybe it's because you're in this house."
"Maybe tomorrow, when they come back…you'll feel differently.
Francesca:
"I don't know."
Robert:
"Look…I'll be here a few more days."
"We can talk later."
"We don't have to decide right now."
Francesca:
"Robert, don't do this."
Robert:
"I don't want to say good-bye right now."
"We don't have to make that decision."
"Maybe you'll change your mind."
"Maybe we'll see each other and you'll change your mind."
Francesca:
"If that happens you have to decide…"
"because I can't."
Robert:
"I'll only say this once."
"I've never said it before."
"But this kind of certainty comes just once in a lifetime."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert left.
Unity
Francesca runs after Robert, thinking she will never see him again.
And her family is back.
Welcome her family with red eyes.
ーーーーーーーーーー
In Francesca's mind:
"You all came home."
"And, with you, my life of details."
"A day or two passed…"
"And with each thought of him…"
"a task would present itself like a lifesaver…"
"pulling me further away from those 4 days."
"I was grateful."
"I felt safe."
ーーーーーーーーーー
One rainy day, Francesca and her husband went shopping in town.
Francesca finished shopping at the general store first and returned to the car.
Then Robert's car is parked across the street.
Robert got out of the car, soaking wet, and stared at Francesca.
Francesca looked at Robert desperately.
Then he took a few steps closer and they looked at each other.
Francesca smiled slightly.
As if to say goodbye…
And Robert gently smiles back.
As if to say thank you…
Robert, soaking wet, slowly looked dead and didn't blink, turned to the car, and left.
What a shameful appearance of Robert.
The pitiful figure of Robert, who said he liked solitude and had no loneliness or fear.
You will surely be impressed by the appearance of this Robert.
How many thoughts were conveyed between the two of them in this speechless conversation with only smiles?
Great performances by Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
It is a famous scene that will surely remain in posterity.
Farewell in this world
Francesca hangs her head and can't stop crying.
Her husband is back there.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's mind:
"For a moment, I didn't know where I was."
"And for a split second, I thought that he didn't really want me."
"That it was easy to walk away."
ーーーーーーーーーー
When Richard tries to pass Robert's car, Robert cuts in and waits for a traffic light.
Richard's car pulled up behind Robert's.
Francesca stares at Robert's back so as not to miss a moment.
ーーーーーーーーーー
In Francesca's mind:
"Robert leaned over as if to get something from the glovebox."
"Eight days ago he'd done that…and his arm had brushed across my legs."
"A week ago I'd been in DesMoines, buying a new dress."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert gently hung Francesca's pendant in the rearview mirror.
It was as if he was saying that from now on, he would think of this pendant as you, and that he would live his life alone.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard:
"That truck's a long way from home."
"Washington State."
"I'll bet it's that photographer they talked about at the cafe."
ーーーーーーーーーー
The traffic light turns green, but Robert will not proceed.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard:
"What's he waiting for?"
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca, who thought she would never see him again, grabbed the passenger doorknob and tried to run away.
Then she turned the doorknob and the door was about to open.
Richard honked.
The sound brought Francesca back to herself.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard:
"Come on!"
ーーーーーーーーーー
Robert made a left turn as prompted by Richard.
Richard will continue straight ahead.
She could see Robert's face as he turned.
Francesca saw him off without blinking.
Francesca let go of the hand that gripped the doorknob.
ーーーーーーーーーー
In Francesca's mind:
"The words were inside of me."
"I was wrong, Robert."
"I was wrong to stay, but I can't go."
"Let me tell you again why I can't go."
"Tell me again why I should go."
"I heard his voice coming back to me:"
" 'This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime' ."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard sees Francesca crying for no reason,
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard:
"What's wrong? Frany."
"Will you please tell me what's wrong with you?"
Francesca:
"I just need a minute, Richard."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca to Robert
ーーーーーーーーーー
Francesca:
"Forgive me…"
ーーーーーーーーーー
said.
When she got home, Francesca turned up the radio and cried to herself in a corner.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's mind:
"I was grateful for the silence that night."
"I realized love won't obey our expectations."
"It's mystery is pure and absolute."
"What Robert and I had…could not continue if we were together."
“And what Richard and I shared would vanish if we were apart.”
"But how I wanted to share this."
"How would our lives have changed if I had?."
"Could anyone else have seen the beauty of it?"
ーーーーーーーーーー
Subsequent life
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's mind:
"We became inseparable, Lucy and I."
"The funny thing is…I didn't tell her about Robert until years later."
"But for some reason, being with her…somehow made me feel…"
"it was safe to think about him…to continue loving him."
"The town loved talking about the two of us."
"But we didn't care."
"And neither did your father."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard, who is getting old and sick, tells Francesca.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Richard:
"Franny, I just want to say…I know you had your own dreams."
"I'm sorry I couldn't give them to you."
"I love you so very much."
Inside Francesca's mind:
"After your father died I tried to get in touch with Robert…"
”but he had left National Geographic.”
"No one seemed to know where he was."
"My only connections to him were the places we'd been that day."
"And so, each year on my birthday, I'd revisit them."
"And then one day, I received a letter from his attorney…with a package."
ーーーーーー��ーーー
It contained Robert's belongings and a letter to her.
His favorite camera, Robert's book "Four Days Forever", his bracelet and Francesca's pendant.
When she opened the book, on the first page was a note in which Francesca invited him to dinner.
And on the first page it was written that it was dedicated to dear "F".
Robert's words, "This is the true love of a lifetime," were never a lie.
She put on his bracelet and gently clasped the pendant she gave him before, he had been wearing all along.
Francesca learns of Robert's death.
What were her thoughts on holding the pendant?
How did Robert end his life?
ーーーーーーーーーー
"The old dreams…were good dreams"
"They didn't work out, but I'm glad I had them."
ーーーーーーーーーー
I think he was living while convincing himself.
Carolyne and Michael toasted the brandy their mothers drank from their glasses.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's mind:
"There has not been a day since that I have not thought of him."
"When he said that we were no longer two people…he was right."
"We were bound together as tightly as two people can be."
"If it hadn't been for him, I could not have lasted on the farm all those years."
ーーーーーーーーーー
In this sentence, you can see why children "thank" Robert.
Because of these four days, she was able to make up her mind to face her family and endure life here.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Inside Francesca's letter:
"Remember my dress that you wanted, Carolyn?"
"'The one you said I never wore?"
"I know I was silly, but…to me it was as if you were asking to wear my wedding dress to the movies."
"After reading all this…I hope you can now understand my burial request."
"It was not the ravings of some mad old lady."
"I gave my life to my family."
"I wish to give Robert what is left of me."
ーーーーーーーーーー
Understanding Mother
Michael went back to his wife and said,
ーーーーーーーーーー
Michael:
"Do I make you happy, Betty?"
"Because I want to"
"More than anything."
ーーーーーーーーーー
and hugged her.
Michael must have been worried about his wife after knowing his mother's feelings.
It is interesting.
Are you overwhelmed by your daily life and end up with monotonous and uninteresting communication and physical contact with your partner?
To put it in a bad way, don't you think of your partner as something you own?
It's the beginning of a misunderstanding.
I want to be careful too.
Carolyn put on her mother's prized dress.
And her mother gave her the courage to contact her husband.
ーーーーーーーーーー
Carolyn:
"Hi, Steve. It's me."
"Good."
"You?"
"Listen, we have to talk."
"How about now?"
"I've decided to stay here for a while."
"I don't know how long."
"No. I'm not angry, Steve."
"I'm not."
"I'm not angry at all."
ーーーーーーーーーー
This was Carolyn's choice.
It may be that she has reaffirmed her love for her husband.
ーーーーーーーーーー
In Francesca's letter:
"I gave Lucy his photography book.."
"If you're interested, take a look."
"If my words still leave some things unclear…"
"perhaps his pictures can illuminate."
"After all…that's what an artist does best."
"I love you both…with all my heart."
"Do what you have to to be happy in this life."
"There is so much beauty."
"Go well my children."
ーーーーーーーーーー
The two then accepted their mother's sincere feelings and scattered the ashes from the Roseman Bridge.
With love, they let their mother go to Robert's.
Shape of love
Francesca left this world with her family intact and her memories beautiful.
With the guilt of hurting Robert and the repression of wanting to follow him, she confided only to Lucy and ended her life.
Do you have any memories other than your current wife, husband, or lover?
I think there are people who say that it happened in the past.
Isn't it a good memory that shines just as much as the love you have with your current partner and family?
How strange love is!
There is no limit to the existence of just one.
There are as many people as you love.
The most important person, but the choice to keep it as a good memory.
How clever humans are!
For only four days she lived for herself.
It was only for four days, but this life-threatening love gave her vitality for the rest of her life.
She says that without these four days, she would not have been able to endure the rest of her life.
On the other hand, it must have been difficult for Robert.
Because he loved her, he must have felt pity for her to live her life in pain.
Love is the feeling that the other person becomes part of you.
Separation is part of it leaving.
It's never been this hard.
Francesca says that not a day goes by that she doesn't think of Robert.
In the magazine photo, Robert wears a Francesca pendant around his neck.
Like Robert, there shouldn't have been a day that he didn't think of Francesca.
I want young people to fall in love.
How precious it will be,
I think it will shine brighter with each passing year.
We won't regret our life.
Even if our death is approaching, we can think that we had a good life because we have those memories.
Production of a melodrama that can withstand criticism
And the magnificence of this work is its performance.
ーーーーーーーーーー
☆Francesca listening songs
☆Camera work that understands the feelings in Francesca's eyes
☆Differences in how family and Robert close the door
☆Rural exclusivity and decent living
☆Flies that are always present in homes with livestock
home tractor
☆Harmony of Love Romance on the Beautiful Roseman Bridge
☆Contrast between a homely married woman and a lonely and free man
☆A homely dining table and bedroom that became a symbol of ethics
☆Ethics that pierce Francesca and Robert
☆Compassion for Richard, who cannot bear to continue living in the countryside after his wife has run away from him.
☆Francesca's rationality of not wanting to hurt anyone
☆The cleverness of the decision to not regret the four days
☆Pathetic Robert soaking wet in the downpour
☆Elderly Robert's melancholy gray hair and facial wrinkles and figure
☆The kindness that Robert left himself instead of letting Francesca say Good-bye
☆The scene where Richard apologizes to Francesca on his deathbed.
☆Starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood
☆A mother's desire to let her grown-up children know how she feels
☆Communication between Lucy and Francesca, who suffer in the same circumstances
☆A pendant in place of a lover and a dress of memories
☆A rendition of two people coming together after death on the Roseman Bridge
ーーーーーーーーーー
It was a movie like a parade of famous scenes.
The value of remembering love
There is no other work in which sorrow lasts long.
It's a long-lasting loneliness and sadness, as if we've seen a long story.
Valuable experience Robert said,
ーーーーーーーーーー
"And…some people search all their life for this and never find it."
"Others don't even think it exists."
ーーーーーーーーーー
I want young people to have many precious loves like this.
And if you have a partner or family, please think back to the past.
Dig up those memories.
When you think back on it, I think you can change your current life into something more valuable.
By all means, please watch this work.
If you have seen it, please watch it again.
The way you see it changes depending on the stage of your life, so I want you to watch it as many times as you like.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
…Dedicated to Dear, "Y"
See you in the next work.
Good bye.
…The end.
0 notes
Text
tti episode 25 - version 2
“For the past eight weeks, you have been watching Fren, Joner, Peter, Kitty, Mal, O, Sha-Mod, Frollo, Caesar, Austin, Scruffy, Kelly, Courtney, Scary, Max, Staci, Patrick, Bonnie, Ass, and Julia compete in the most heinous, disgusting, dangerous challenges reality TV has seen since 2007. You have watched them laugh, cry, love and receive various injuries, and it’s all come down to this! Two campers remain, and by sundown, only one will be left standing! That winner will go home with a check for one million dollars and the pride of having survived this crummy camp. Our two final campers are about to fight it out in a battle of the exes here on Total! Takes! Island!”
“Welcome back to the island. It's been a grueling past two months for our finalists, so we asked them to record their thoughts before the final challenge,” Chris smiles, pacing around the currently-empty mess hall.
---
MCLOVIN: “I guess I had a good time. I made a lot of new friends,”
---
MICHAEL: “Now people hate my existence and want to kill me! Great job at making new friends, Michela!"
---
MCLOVIN: “I’m not too surprised I made it this far. It’s like my mom always says, a positive attitude can get you anywhere!”
---
MICHAEL: “I’m honestly shocked I haven’t given up yet. I mean, I was so sure I’d be a mid-season boot and now I’m a finalist!”
---
MCLOVIN: “The food? It was okay... when it wasn’t trying to kill me,”
---
MICHAEL: “Don’t even get me started on the supposed “food” we had to eat. It’d probably be inhumane to serve that stuff to dogs,”
---
MCLOVIN: “The rats in the kitchen wouldn’t even touch it,”
---
MICHAEL: “And the people?”
---
MCLOVIN: “The people were awesome! Sure, there were some fights, but I’ve never met so many amazing friends than on this island!”
---
MICHAEL: “-a bunch of lazy, stubborn, self-centered jerks who only cared about themselves,”
---
MCLOVIN: “Sha-Mod and I share a psychic bond! We’re soulmates- bromates! I meant bromates!”
---
MICHAEL: “Max is probably one of the most stubborn, rude, unapologetically mean people I’ve ever met, and… I am so glad I met him. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”
---
MCLOVIN: “Courtney has the coolest hair ever, Julia is super smart…”
---
MICHAEL: “I guess that’s about it, really,”
---
MCLOVIN: “What will I be remembered for?” he pauses to think. “My personality!”
---
MICHAEL: “Um… my hair?”
---
MCLOVIN: “Or maybe these!” he stands on the toilet and stomps, his light-up Sketchers blinking.
---
Chris leaves the mess hall after announcing the final curtain call will be in thirty minutes. Michael sighs and slumps forward.
“What’s the matter?” McLovin asks, spooning their final crummy camp meal.
“I guess I’m just kind of disappointed I didn’t accomplish anything I came here for,”
“What do you mean? We did lots of awesome stuff and met tons of awesome people!”
“No,” Michael frowns at him. “You did tons of awesome stuff and met tons of awesome people. I just made a bunch of enemies and humiliated myself on national television hundreds of times.”
McLovin’s smile drops and he looks at her. “That’s kind of a depressing way to look at it,”
“That’s reality, dude,”
A silence falls over the two McLovin sighs.
��Do you think anything’s gonna be the same after we go home?”
“Honestly? Not at all. I just don’t know if I can stay friends with you and Joner after everything. I’ll be alone, but maybe that won't be such a bad thing,” she says, kicking back and putting her feet on the table. “I’ll be putting myself first for once, anyway.”
“Well… I kinda understand. If that’s what you want, then that’s cool. I respect that,” McLovin says, saluting her. “I just wish we could’ve made up.”
“Sometimes that’s too much to ask. I wish you would’ve shown you’ve changed instead of just apologizing,” she stands, leaving her bowl behind half-empty and her former friend with a contemplative look on his face.
---
“Alright, campers!” Chris says, leading the two between a pair of wooden bleachers out in the forest. Michael and McLovin can see a track extending into the woods, and both know without saying that that’s where they’re heading next. “Time to welcome back the twenty losers who did not make it here with you today!”
The former competitors walk from the docks. McLovin waves to his friends, who merrily wave back. No one even looks at Michael as they pass to the bleachers.
“Everyone who is not competing, please take a seat in the peanut gallery of failure! The side you choose should represent who you’re rooting for in the finale,” Chris says, directing the crowd to the bleachers behind him. Each has a large banner with either contestant's face on it.
Sha-Mod and Courtney are the first to sit on McLovin’s side, followed shortly by just about everyone else. Only one person is sitting in Michael’s gallery.
Max waves from the empty bleachers. Michael smiles and waves back.
“Okay, a little surprising, but wow,” Chris says. “Can we get a few more volunteers to pity-join? Makes it more suspenseful.”
“Come on, guys!” McLovin yells to his supporters. “Michael is really… cool and nice and stuff!”
A few contestants raise eyebrows. He sighs. “Staci, Scruffy- um, the tall one- Peter, Kelly,”
Much to their annoyance (and McLovin’s surprise at having people actually listen to him) all of the selected losers get up and move without complaint. Michael rolls her eyes, but she still gives McLovin a slightly grateful look.
Max hops down from the bleachers and runs over to her, ducking under Chef before he can stop him. “You got this, okay?” he says, holding her hands.
Chris rolls his eyes and jabs a thumb in their direction, sending Chef over to collect him. Chef grabs Max by the back of his collar and drags him back to the stands. “I believe in you!” he yells before he’s promptly sat down.
Frollo sits in the middle space between the bleachers on the ground, eternally reading his Bible.
Chris walks over. “Um, dude, you gotta pick a side,”
He rolls his eyes. “Both of these players are sinners, and-”
Chef walks over, picks him up, and tosses him onto Michael’s side, the few losers already there ducking to avoid him as he shrieks and flies across the screen.
“Go, MC!” Courtney shouts.
“Yeah, go support the endless cog of capitalism!” Ass says sarcastically. Courtney smacks them upside the head.
“McLovin, this is your chance to tell the peanut gallery what you would do with the money if you won,” Chris says, pointing at him. He smiles.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and I finally chose just two things I’d want to do with the money,” he says. “First, I’d save half of it for art school and my future living expenses.”
Joner and Michael both raise an eyebrow.
“And then with everything I have left, I would give everyone who competed on this show an even portion of the money. Including Michael!”
Everyone aws at that, and everyone on Michael’s side aside from Max silently gets up and walks back over to McLovin’s. Even Frollo’s unconscious body slumps off the stands and rolls over to the other bleachers. Max groans and smacks his forehead.
“Michael?”
“I would probably save most of it in a secure bank account for my future. And maybe get new skates,”
Everyone stares at her blankly. She sighs.
“Alright, it’s time for the final challenge: the rejected Olympic relay race!” Chris shouts. “There are three parts: first, each of you has to put on one of these,” he smiles, holding a chicken hat in his right hand and a cow hat in his left. He hands one to each. “Dressed in your very special uniforms, you will run to the first location and shimmy up the pole to grab your flag. Next, you’ll cross a 300m balance beam suspended across a massive gorge while carrying an eagles egg. After is a long distance run back to this location. Whoever gets here first wins!”
The peanut galleries cheer as Michael and McLovin look at each other.
“Good luck,” he says, adjusting his chicken hat. “You deserve to win.”
Michael stares. “I don’t need your pity,”
“Go, McLovin!” Sha-Mod shouts from the stands.
“Kick her ass, MC!” Julia yells before a large rock from Michael’s bleachers hits her in the back of the head. She slumps onto Scruffy in the row below, unconscious.
“Anyone else?!” Max yells from offscreen.
“Ready!” Chris shouts, waving around a checkered flag. “Set? Go!”
McLovin and Michael start off, the latter in the lead. Michael reaches the flagpole first and takes a leaping jump to the base, scaling it with ease.
The pencil arrives next and attempts to inch his way up the pole like a worm. “Use your freakishly long limbs!” Ass yells from the stands, still dizzy from Courtney's blow.
McLovin whimpers and extends his arms higher, grabbing the flag at the same time Michael hops off.
“How do I get down?!” he yells.
“Figure it out! You got this!” Courtney yells back.
McLovin frowns and jumps down, landing on his butt. The crowd winces.
“Get up, dude!” Sha-Mod yells. “She’s not far ahead!”
Michael approaches the gorge and peers over the edge, where sharks are swimming in the water below the thin, rickety planks of wood. She swallows nervously but runs back around to the eagles nest behind her, grabbing an egg and hiding it in her parka before she begins to cross.
McLovin follows, snatching an egg and holding it above his head while closing his eyes and screaming, running across the thin plank of wood.
“You might wanna look where you’re going, dude!” Chris shouts. “Those eggs weren’t for nothing!”
A few campers catch up to the players, stopping behind Chris and looking around the skies nervously.
Scruffy yells from the edge of the gorge. “McLovin, there are eagles! Huge eagles! And-” another rock hits them square in the temple and they fall backwards. Max tosses another stone from one hand to the other while glaring at the other losers.
“What did they mean by-” Michael starts before a massive eagle swoops down and lunges for McLovin's exposed egg, talons extended.
He barely manages to duck, but is thrown off-balance and wobbles around on one foot. The peanut gallery (now on their feet) gasps and watches in terror as he falls to his butt on the plank, but manages to keep himself out of the shark infested waters.
Michael reaches the other side, pulling the egg out of its hiding place and setting in the nest on stable ground. She starts running again, McLovin (still shaking) not far behind.
The track takes the two right through camp. “Almost there!” Max yells, one of the campers running behind the contestants.
“Come on, MC, you got this!” Sha-Mod shouts, a few steps behind Max. “This part is the easiest!”
As he says that, McLovin steps over a suspiciously elevated dirt mound and a huge explosion lets off behind him.
“What was that?!” Michael shouts as another explosion sounds.
“Oh, yeah, we had some leftover landmines!” Chris shouts into his megaphone from a safe distance. “Enjoy!”
“Jerk!” Michael snaps, narrowly dodging another massive landmine explosion that takes out the confessional booth.
"Watch out!" McLovin yells, pointing out various lumps of dirt ahead of her.
"I don't need your help!" she snaps back. "I'm not your pity case!"
"What is it gonna take for you to forgive me?!"
"Move. ON!" she shouts, speeding up ahead and jumping over every landmine visible. Another one explodes, sending McLovin backwards.
He screams in terror, covering his eyes and running blindly when he gets up.
“Get a grip!” Ass yells from behind. “Stop being such a coward!”
“No!” he shouts back.
Scary scoffs. “Why don’t you just let her win then, nice guy?!”
McLovin frowns and whimpers, standing and stumbling forward. "I can do this!" he affirms himself, a few cheers sounding from the sidelines.
He runs up to Michael, shoving her out of the way as the finish line comes into sight. She falls on her butt and yelps.
"This is pointless!" she yells, refusing to stand. "Who even cares!"
A voice from the sidelines sounds out. "Chel!"
She turns. "Max?"
He waves from off the course, avoiding the landmine-covered track. "You can't give up! Remember what I told you! You didn't come here to make friends!"
Michael sighs. She closes her eyes and stands shakily, clenching her fists. "I want to win,"
"More enthusiasm!"
"I want to win!" she starts off running.
"Yes!"
"I WANT TO WIN!" she yells, catching up to McLovin and shoving him.
"There's my girl!"
His thin body shudders like a piece of paper in the wind and he flies backwards from the force of the push as she crosses the finish line seconds before him.
The peanut gallery cheers, abandoning McLovin on the dirt trail and surrounding Michael.
Max forces everyone in the crowd out of the way, throwing his arms around her and kissing her. The peanut gallery oohs and he glares.
"Mind your own business!"
"And Michael is the winner of Total Takes Island!" Chris says, walking over with a huge check. "Congratulations, camper!"
Chef nods. "Could've seen that one coming,"
Sha-Mod manages to squeeze through the crowd and run over to McLovin, still flat on the ground. He helps him up and hugs him.
"You did good!"
"Yeah, but not good enough," McLovin coughs, wiping the dirt off his pants.
Sha-Mod shrugs. "So? We'll have to work a little harder for our dream house. But we're still getting one, there's no way I'm giving up on a mansion with my boyfriend,"
McLovin blushes and looks over. “Did you mean bromate? Cause I made the same-”
“Nah,” Sha-Mod says, leaning on McLovin’s shoulder. “Bromate’s platonic.”
The crowd continues stirring with excitement as Michael walks past, hand-in-hand with Max. She smiles and gives one last wave to McLovin, who waves back, before the two part ways.
---
“Here we are at the last TTI bonfire ceremony ever,” Chris says, smiling at the entire cast as they sit around the pit. “After eight brutal weeks of torture, infections, and drama, our season winner is Michael!”
The campers cheer, congratulating Michael as she sits near the center of the group, Max leaning his head on her shoulder.
“Michael, the final marshmallow,” Chris grins, tossing her the treat. She catches it and smiles. “A symbol of prosperity. Treasure it for the rest of your life.”
“Sure," she says, tossing it into the fire seconds later. Max laughs.
The crowd returns to talking amongst each other as Chef comes out of the mess hall with more marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers for s'mores.
“I don't think I did so bad for last place,” Fren says, kicking back.
Staci (now bleach blonde, thanks to Kelly’s handiwork) shrugs as she sits between their two friends. “You survived, at least,”
“And we got a right groovy finale, baby!” Austin says, patting her on the back. “Great season, baby!”
“Thank you, Austin,” Chris says smugly. “And to all you viewers at home- thank you for supporting us here at Total Takes Island! We all hope you had a good time watching these teens fight to the death, and we can’t wait to see you next season!”
Everyone turns to him. “NEXT SEASON?!”
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New student. Jenny Hackett.
She was ecstatic to see the ABs. And only Wynton, weirdly enough.
She feels like she'd explode if I put her in contact with Alice.
Knew it. Unless her grandpa's name is Michael, no way she can get out of this one.
This old crummy hoe is the new Zenoheld.
Wynton's bummed out.
EMILY IS BEING KIDNAPPED. By a bear.
These bitches.
MAGNUS' BACK
Battle of the titans!
She asks him where he was this whole time. He's been training.
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