Finger's Crossed: Mark of The Egos Volume II

The Show

The lights were brought up on the set and Kyle the Cameraman started the finger countdown.
"Good morning, afternoon, evening or night and welcome or welcome back to The Show of Shenanigans with Linnie Cochran! You know who I am, but let's know who these people are. With me at the moment is famed Sanders Side, Intrusive Thoughts, Remus Sanders!"
Across from Linnie was Remus, his mustache scraggly and a smell of trash permeating around him. He was waving at the camera before flipping off one of the monitors. Marvin, from the green room, pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew her ruse. What she was doing was bringing in an awful ego and having him share the screen with someone normal, and then revealing the mark. Cue the gasps of shock and applause of false appreciation.
"So, Remus, how has life been treating you?"
Remus cackled. "Oh, just dandy, Linnie Bear. I shoved four skittles up my nose, and now I can smell the rainbow."
"Oh!" Linnie acted shocked. "A-are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm doing FAN-tastic!"
"Okie-doke. So how about Thomas?"
Remus looked at her as though she grew another head. "What about him? I thought this was about me?"
"It is, but from what we know, Thomas is the id. Is that correct?"
Remus scoffed. "Well, he's not doing a very good job of being an Id, that's for sure."
From the house of Sanders, all of the egos were watching him. Patton was very disappointed with what Remus said, and hurt as well. Thomas, furious, watched what else he was going to say, as Virgil scooted farther away from him. Janus stood in the corner, a smirk on his face, but only to pretend he was the only one who liked what this so-called "Duke" had to say.
"Oh?" Linnie pressed on. "And what is an id supposed to be like?"
"Not him!" Remus retorted. "I mean, the guy might as well have DID, because everything that us 'sides' are are just a version of himself. Take Snakey, for example!"
The egos all looked at Janus as his face dropped. Thomas' eyes remained glued to the screen.
"You really think that Tom is all he was while he was doing Vine? That he was this funny, confident person? HELL no! It's a ruse. That's why he had Deceit." He giggled suddenly. "Deceit rhymes with da feet."
Janus ran out of the room, humiliated. Linnie cleared her throat and the egos went back to watching The Show.
"So, from what I know, all egos and ids have a distinguishing mark that they have. Do you mind showing us yours?"
Remus smiled and for some reason, Roman knew exactly what he was going to do. And he shut the TV off before he could see Remus's buttocks rubbing up against the camera. Unfortunate for Marvin, he couldn't find the power button fast enough, and was subjected to 45 seconds of left cheek before they cut to commercial. A manager came back and knocked on the door. "Mr McGarry, you're on after commercial."
"Thank you," he replied. With a nod, the manager walked away.
"And we're back!" Marvin heard Linnie say. "Now that we've had the delightful time with Remus, who is still with us, we have another someone we'd like to meet."
Back at St. Sadie's, Schneeplestein, who was on break, put Chase's TV to The Show and knew who was coming up next.
"Please help me welcome the magnificent Marvin McGarry!"
Marvin deeply exhaled before walking out with a shit-eating grin and a wave. At the Sanders house, a few of the egos were wondering why he was wearing his mask. Logan hypothesized it was to remain anonymous. Roman thought it was to look better on camera. Only Virgil knew the truth; to project confidence.
Marvin sat, a considerable distance from Remus to make sure he isn't tempted to do anything stupid like grasp at his mask.
"Marvin, thank you so much for being here," Linnie beamed.
"Thanks for having me," Marvin responded. He then turned to Remus. "Hi, Remus."
"Oh, you know each other?"
Marvin held back the urge to roll his eyes. "We were both at the funeral when the protesters came."
"Ah, yes. Were you arrested at that riot?"
Marvin scoffed. "I'd hardly call it a riot. A riot involves someone getting killed."
Linnie seethed. "Not all of the time."
"Have you been to a riot, Miss Cochran?"
This question threw Linnie off guard. "I-no."
"Neither have I." Marvin admitted. And with that, he smiled. Remus clapped, but the audience didn't follow.
"Okay, Mr. McGarry, why not tell me a bit more about yourself."
"Well, I think I'm living a pretty good life. The segregation between ids and egos is ridiculous, though. Lots of us are comparing it to the riots during the civil rights movement, and I couldn't agree more."
"No, no, no, no." Schneeplestein murmured. He's baiting Linnie.
"And by us, you mean egos?"
"Egos, pro-ids; basically anyone with basic human decency and a spine."
Linnie blinked, at a loss for words. Finally, she gulped and continued. "Well, I'm sure a few people can disagree strongly with that, Mr. McGarry-"
"No," Marvin interrupted. "No, no, no. There is no reasonable argument with this, Linnie. Egos are making contributions to this world. Joblessness is down 25%. That's us, because the ids can't seem to get off their lazy asses and try. I have a small business, Linnie."
The audience applauded at that, but Marvin continued.
"A professional business-no, don't clap. You're clapping because it's making you feel better. Those who are truly supporting me are actually shopping at my store, not calling me a fraud to my face, not scared because I'm 'branded'. Those supporting me are treating me as though I was a real person. So don't clap. Don't you dare, you patronizing jerks."
"Yahoo!" Remus cheered. Roman facepalmed.
Linnie was yet again speechless before getting back on track. "So, I hear you're an ego. Do you mind showing us your mark?"
"So, I hear your a woman," Marvin retorted. "Do you mind showing us your breasts?"
The audience gasped and Linnie scoffed. "Excuse me?"
"Exactly. My mark, my choice. And for those of you in the audience who have a mark-"
A few people whooped or raised their hands.
"Those who have a mark know the reason that they cover it up. They know they are subjected to more bullying and violence than any others. A few years ago, someone sent a bomb through my mailbox. A few weeks back, my shop was set on fire. And then, while I was at a FUNERAL, a LAWFUL FUNERAL, some redneck good ole mama's boy decided to instigate a fight with my fellow ego by calling him a fictive. Do you know what fictive was used for before the rise of egos, Linnie?"
Linnie shook her head.
"It was to describe alters who projected fictional characters in a dissociative identity disorder system. FICTIONAL. Not real. It is one of the most unique slurs out there, wouldn't you agree, Linnie?"
Linnie laughed awkwardly. "I feel very...uncomfortable with this interview-"
"Fine. I'll leave. But just know that ALL of the people arrested that day were innocent egos. A few weren't even participating in the fighting. And those who were fighting...were protecting their dignity."
Everyone stared at their TV screens, phones and tablets. Schneeplestein sighed and cursed under his breath as Chase gave a weak smile. Marvin sighed and walked off the shot, getting ready to leave. He had enough time. He had his 15 minutes of fame.
He now just wanted to go home.