From: Livia Balaban Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 07:19:18 -0700 Subject: xfc XFC - New - 180-Word Self-Imposed Challenge: Make CSM Remotely Likeable Source: xfc 180-Word Self-Imposed Challenge: Make CSM Remotely Likeable by Livia Balaban (liviabalaban@xoommail.com) Rating: G Content: V, A Classification: CSM&Other Archive: Okey-dokey, just lemme know why you'd want to archive an exercise like this Disclaimer: I don't own C.G.B. Spender, and it's a good thing, too, because I'm allergic to smoke. Summary: Even wolverines care for their young ************ 180-Word Self-Imposed Challenge: Make CSM Remotely Likeable by Livia Balaban "You're not eating enough." "Lay off." He sighed, releasing twenty-seven years of patience and concern in a single billow of smoke. "All you want is someone healthy enough for the next hit." He fingered his cigarette, inhaling the nicotine in a soothing embrace. He was weary. It's hard to be reviled, especially by your own children. Especially when your own acts of selflessness had the power to create a veil of safety for your species. No one ever said preserving the human race would be easy - on his life or his heart. "You have to keep your weight up." She glared at him. "I don't have to do anything." How could he explain to her today something he had so miserably failed to communicate for the last nearly-three decades? How could she understand from his simple words and unconcealed concern that he agreed to do it all because the thought of her destruction caused him indescribable suffering? "There is one thing you *must* do, Samantha." He raised his eyes sorrowfully, stunning her with his undisguised pain. "You must survive." ===== End.