а теперь об эпиграфе к предыдущей записи.
это из предпоследнего эпизода Найтвэйла, который про homecoming game.
and, being little sentimental shit as i am, я просто не могла не увидеть некоторых параллелей. для тех, кому пофиг на wtnv, попытаюсь объяснить. день этой чертовой игры — это единственный день в году когда жители Найтвейла "can see their loved ones who have been lost to time and mortality. The dead alumni come out at halftime, and we all get to visit with them while the marching bands go spear hunting for dinner."
игру запрещают, из-за того что один из игроков был признан недостаточно реальным: he is collectively imagined by the Night Vale High School fan base – a shared dream, in the form of a boy who won the district rushing title the past two years, and was Freshman of the Year three seasons ago. в общем, что я буду пересказывать, смотрите сами (а лучше слушайте):

несколько цитат, but it's worth it + знать о каноне ничего не нужноThere’s news breaking of a possible scandal involving one of the Night Vale football players. Senior running back Maliq Herrera, according to an investigative report by Leann Hart of the Night Vale Daily Journal, Herrera doesn’t actually exist. Like, he’s right there when you look at him, and he plays in a team of other players, so it would make more sense for him to be there than not. But, Hart claims in her report that the all-district running back is, in fact, completely fabricated.
Anonymous sources say that Herrera is collectively imagined by the Night Vale High School fan base – a shared dream, in the form of a boy who won the district rushing title the past two years, and was Freshman of the Year three seasons ago.
Red Mesa is threatening to cancel this Friday’s game if Night Vale does not bench Herrera, citing District League Rule 12, Article 6, that states: “All players must be real people. Don’t not be a person, OK?” The rule continues, “Because if you’re not really real, man, I’m mad just thinking about it!”
Night Vale High School head coach Nazr al-Mujaheed said they will not bench any player until a full investigation is performed, which can’t happen until Tuesday – maybe Monday at the earliest.
Coach al-Mujaheed then concluded the statement by removing his goat-horned headpiece and comically large sunglasses, revealing tattoos of cat eyes on his eyelids.
“Coooool,” the gathered reporters shouted. [...]

Terrible news, listeners! Just…terrible news. Red Mesa High School has called off Friday Night’s game. There will be no homecoming. The campers and RVs that had started to fill up the Night Vale Stadium parking lot have begun to file out.
Maliq Herrera, the running back accused of a false existence, apologized for not being more transparent, and for letting down his school and community. The Night Vale School Board forced the team’s hand by suspending Herrera for his corporeal unreality, but…it was too late. The game had already been forfeited. [...]

Sadly, the homecoming game remained canceled. League officials conducted an investigation into Maliq Herrera’s reality and determined he was indeed not real. They said he was tangible, they could feel a body when they touched him, they could hear a voice when they spoke with him. They could see a boy when they looked at him. But Red Mesa coaching staff presented, as evidence, a photograph of the many galaxies of our universe. And, after viewing this, league officials determined that Herrera was too immeasurably small to be considered real.
Coach al-Mujaheed argued that it is unfair to discriminate against someone based on their reality. Just because someone does not exist, does not mean they do not deserve equal rights, equal pursuit of happiness.
Even if al-Mujaheed and Herrera’s appeal holds up in the league, it can’t bring back the homecoming we did not get to have. We did not get to see our dead friends and relatives this year, Night Vale. We had unanswered questions. We had unfulfilled hugs. We had unacknowledged “I miss yous.” We did not get to cry that night the way we wanted to cry that night, Night Vale. The way that, perhaps, we want to cry every night. [...]

But, in spite of all this, coach al-Mujaheed called a pep rally last Friday, in a gesture of support for Maliq Herrera. This – as any time – is when we should join as a town. Despite the game that never was. Students and alumni, unfortunately only those still living, met that night in a rainy parking lot in the well-lit shadow of an empty football stadium.
We stayed late into the night under the fluorescent corona of the bleachers, eating damp barbecue, wearing our orange ponchos and telling those tales we wanted to tell to those loved ones who have left us. Telling them instead to those who we currently, or may eventually, love. [...]

Before getting into my car, I saw Maliq Herrera standing alone, wearing a full football uniform…shoulder pads, knee spikes, and all. I told him he’ll be playing again soon, and we’re all on his side. Even though he’s just a figment of our collective unconscious.
He said, “I don’t even like football, sir.” He said he likes painting and bound poetry.
I told him he could be an artist, if he wanted.
“Only if the town imagines that for me,” he said.
“Ahh. Well, you’re a real trooper,” I told him.
“Hmm. Just a trooper,” he said. “I’m not real. I gotta get to practice now, Mr. Palmer.” Then he put on his helmet and jogged away.
“But…it’s 2:00am!” I called out. But he had already vanished into the unrelenting storm.
“It sure is, sir!” he called back faintly in my mind.
I fell asleep easily that night. I dreamed of sun, of being with Carlos again, of a lighthouse that was not a lighthouse. Of a world that is not anything at all. Perhaps a dream of things yet to come.

естественно, кое-кто здесь не мог не вспомнить о МаркоРойсе. и, естественно, кое-кто сейчас выглядит примерно вот так.
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