HAPPY FAMOUX FRIDAY!
To make this a very special Famoux Friday for you, I'm planning on posting TWICE this weekend! So although this chapter is not nearly as long as the 3000 word monster from last week, I'll be posting either later today, tomorrow, or Sunday. Maybe even three times, since it's labor day weekend.
EXPECT MORE POSTS THIS WEEKEND, BB. I'D NEVER LEAVE U WITH JUST A SHORT CHAPTER FOR A WHOLE WEEK.
Let's get right into it...
PREVIOUSLY ON THE CLASSIX: It's still Emeray's birthday! I love how many readers keep going, "I want more chapters from her birthday. Let's NEVER END HER BIRTHDAY." I appreciate you. Anyway, we learned that Cartney isn't proposing to Emeray. He gave her a necklace. And then they found out that Carstan and Norax have chosen the new members already and have BROUGHT THEM TO THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. What ever will happen now???
Well, we'll have to wait. First: Some situational irony.
DEFED
Day by day, I watch them as they go. Tired yet tireless, relenting yet relentless, indefatigably reaching for something they have no idea doesn't really, truly exist. I'm sure you see it tooââeveryone in Delicatum. It's evident in their actions, in the roles they take, in the songs they sing, in the people they choose to associate with. Every little piece of it is calculated. It's deliberate. Whatever gains them the most power and prestige, yes, that is the thing they will do. Nothing less than whatever makes people like them.
Whatever keeps them alive.
What alluded them then, and alludes them now, is the reality of their struggles. None of them were in danger of dying back then. No one was going to kill anyone. That's the sad truth about it. And as much as I didn't want to do what I did, I did it.
Well, we did it.
We did what we had to do.
We had to show them, you see. And if it showed them anything, maybe it finally brought to light just how powerless they really areââhow pointless their efforts were to gain control over a life they don't even own.
Their old lives, they had. Miserable as they were, those lives were theirs. But they gave those up so quick and willingly. Oh, it astounds me how fast they let everything they knew go, like spare change into a stranger's hand. They traded in their faces and names like clothes they somehow borrowed, washed and folded neatly at the feet of a woman they met not an hour earlier. Did it never occur to them the choices they were making? Did it ever occur to them how futile those choices were?
We'd initially hoped that, after we stepped in, they realized. Or started to, at least. It was all we could hope forââthat some goodness could come out of that mess we had to make of things. But as the months have slid by, so the Famoux members have slid back into old habits as casually as biting nails. It's written all over the newspapers. We were livid.
"It's all going well, boss."
My eyes avert from my screen ahead of me, settling on my second command, who stands by my door with a firm expression.
"It's happening like we planned?" I ask.
A nod. "Just as planned."
"Like clockwork?"
"Like clockwork. They've just found the new members."
I check my watch. Sure enough, right on time. Clockwork. My smile spreads easily, like butter. "And they still don't know yet?"
"The plant? No. But as per our mole, they will find out soon."
"Good," I say. "And the real one?"
"They have the real one secured. Being brought over as we speak."
"Splendid. Just splendid." I turn back to my screen, entranced. "If any of our people on the ground have complications, you know where to find me."
My second in command shifts against the doorframe. "Actually, we were hoping you would come out and enjoy the moment with the rest of us."
"Oh?"
"Well, we all worked so hard together. Don't you suppose we ought to reap the benefits together too?"
It warms my heart just to hear words like this. And it's true. We did work hard together. We have and always will work best this way: In collaboration. Unlike the Famoux, we actually do believe in the power of sticking together and using one another's strengths. It's not just something that we implement in moments when the going gets a hint too tough for us to figure it all out on our own.
"Of course," I say. "I'll be right over."
"Perfect, boss."
As my second in command excuses themselves from my office, I take off my reading glasses, placing them carefully into their soft leather case. Just before I get up, I take one last look at the screen at my desk, my finger hovering over the power button.
What a beautiful picture, it is. More than a picture. A painting pulled straight from the canvas, splattered into consciousness, recalled to life. Hair sleek and brightââperpetually bright, even. Eyes a better color than anything nature could conjure up. The perfect skin, smooth and even. The perfect smile, smooth and silky. Just looking at it makes my own smile twist up to heights it hasn't reached in a long while.
We did this. We made this.
The Fissarex, in all its thin magnificence, is one of the most terrifying machines ever made. It is also quite possibly the most powerful.
Terror and powerââhow often do these two words walk along a parallel line.
Before everything changed for me, I can tell you I lived a moderately long and moderately happy life watching the Famoux and not knowing the Fissarex existed. Despite what they tell you, ignorance truly is bliss. When I got this job, the gritty facts about their world came with it, and out of all the things I've heard, there is next to nothing that could ever beat the fact that they have the capabilities to take a personââyoung, old, whateverââand make them up into something completely different.
New hair.
New eyes.
New skin.
New build.
New full-on chemical makeup of the body.
And somehow, all they dare to use this near magical technology for is to make carbon copies of the same shade of perfection: Hair golden, eyes cobalt, limbs irrevocably toned, tans perpetually even.
It is something else.
It's unprecedented.
It's unreal.
That's the part that really gets me. There is so little about them that is real.
That is why the realest thing we could possibly do in a situation like this is join the game. Get into the inside of the beast even more than we were before.
Grinning at my screen, I run a finger along the face we crafted with a golden paintbrush. The splitting image of the Famoux mega-fan whose likeliness we plucked from their sprawling media presence. If all has gone without a hitch, the real fan we were so inspired by is due to show up at our headquarters any minute now.
And the fake one we made? Well, that one is exactly where it needs to be:
Mere minutes away from meeting Emeray Essence.
xxx
So, we know what this means. Tell me your thoughts.
So sorry how short and boring this chapter was! Instead of posting nothing, I thought this would be infinitely better than nothing. Plus, just to remind you once more, I'M POSTING AGAIN EITHER LATER TODAY, TOMORROW, OR SUNDAY. So you'll get Emeray's thoughts on everything soon! And you'll meet the new mems soon!!
My first week of senior year was BUSY!! I have so many new writing assignments! My thesis script(s), a book-to-script adaptation, AND a web-series. I'm also being mentored on the script I wrote last year!
Needless to say, pairing this newfound workload with the hour-long drives I have daily now that I'm commuting to school, I had WAY less time than planned to fully perfect the chapter I wanted to post for you today. Now that I've been through a week of this, I'll be much better with carving out the time to get writing done. I WILL PUT MY LESLIE KNOPE HAT ON FOR YOU AND MAKE SURE I GET ALL THE WORK DONE!
How was your week? Do anything fun? Tell me about it!
Also, while you wait for the next chapter, tell me the following:
1. The best TV show you've watched recently.
2. A book you adore that you wish would be made into a movie.
3. Your Hogwarts house.
4. Your Divergent thing? What is it? Factions, right??
If you're wondering, my answers are:
1. Fleabag (if you haven't watched it, WATCH IT!)
2. TBH I just want them to remake Percy Jackson and give it what it deserves.
3. Slytherin!
4. I just retook the test. Apparently I'm split between Abnegation and Amity. This makes me wanna reread these books!
Speaking of reading, something I think you should absolutely read this weekend is THE AROTTIR by hannahgrowe. She is posting one of the best books I've ever read and it's a blessing to this website. CHECK IT OUT AND THANK ME LATER.
Okay, that's all I've got for you right now. I've gotta get writing!!!
Until next time. See you SOON! And remember:
Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but haters make you famoux. Stay classy, stay classix.