Critter Profile: Francis!
Overview!
Name: Francis
Species: Toon
Primary Caretaker: TBD, Andrew Tandem
Diet: Attention
Housed: Wilson's Wildlife Center, Enclosure 32
Creature Features!
Francis is a rather special case, much different from many we've cared for. From photographs, it's hard to believe he even exists in our reality! He tends to look out of place compared to his surroundings, and there's a good reason. That's right, as you can see, this bright-eyed scamp is a cartoon character straight from the imagination! We'll be referring to him as a toon from here on out. We believe he is meant to represent a ghost, though we are not sure of what!
Francis communicating in his own special way.
Francis is a rather excitable boy, getting along with just about anyone. Your attention is all he needs to be happy and healthy. Literally! Francis feeds off the attention of those around him, especially when performing his daily episodic escapades. It's a large part of what keeps his charming physique and mischievous personality stable!
While it may sound alarming, Francis does not harm the observer through this method of feeding. Lack of interest is detrimental to Francis's health, and is very traumatic for him. So please, don't be afraid to let him entertain you. He deserves some love. Francis especially enjoys hosting birthday parties!
As many toons are, Francis is a flexible and fluid fellow with a lack of any cohesive makeup. Toons like Francis are quite the enigma, as they are quite simply impossible to be studied in an incontestable manner! Many attempts have been made by various organizations, but the results have always, without fail, been inconclusive. Talk about a mystery!
Francis with some volunteer actors. Ratings are high!
All that being said, we haven't even gotten to Francis's most intriguing talent as a performer! Let me ask you a question: how many cartoons have you seen focused on a singular character? Not a lot, right? Francis is well aware of that, and his solution is nothing short of fascinating.
Simply put, he can show you the ropes! Francis is able to extend his toony influence onto others with enough attention, allowing for more characters to be featured! This can lead to temporary changes in mind and body, but worry not, this is also harmless. Heck, many who have volunteered to act within one of Francis's episodes have actually reported enjoying their time as a character! Francis really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't he?
History!
Vanessa Rogers, the cartoonist behind Francis.
The origins of our dear Francis can be traced back to Vanessa Rogers, a woman who recently moved to California with dreams of working on her very own animated television show, Francis Frights.
Her concept was simple. Francis was a rascal of a phantom who'd often be curious of the lives of those around him. Each episode would've involved Francis's possession of a character in an attempt to better understand what their life is like through experience. Her goal? A blend of spooky comedy with a deeper subtext involving the exploration of people's perspectives.
She pitched this to several executives, all of whom would end up shutting it down for one reason or another. Perhaps one thought it was too ambitious, perhaps one decided they weren't into the theme. Whatever the reason given, it would not deter Vanessa. She was determined to see her idea through, no matter how much time and effort it'd take.
Years passed of being considered and denied, until finally, the day of her dreams came to pass. She'd pitched Francis Frights to a little company by the name of Sputnik Studios… and they were in love with the concept! They made a deal with her. Vanessa was able to produce a season and they'd see how the public liked it when it aired. She was ecstatic. Even if it ended up being a flash in the pan, she had gotten her wish after painstaking effort. Truly, this was the American dream in action.
Sadly, an infamous disaster would transpire during production just months later. Fire broke out in Sputnik. A media preservationists worst nightmare. What has only been described as an "important mechanism" to the public caught aflame within the building. Thankfully, everyone was evacuated safely and nobody was seriously harmed… at least not physically.
Vanessa was utterly devastated. She had to be restrained as she entered the smoldering studio, wailing in horror and desperation, picking up ashy scraps of paper and near-unrecognizable promotional posters. "She was inconsolable. Most were just frustrated and upset, but Vanessa… she lost everything. She was the type of person who's smile would radiate through a crowd… I've seen less miserable faces at bloody funerals," one employee would share after the ordeal.
Hang n' Dry Art Studio, where we rescued Francis.
Only a couple hours after the incident, however, a panic was sprouting in a humble art studio known as the Hang n' Dry! Frightened artists claimed to witness an ashy swirling beast rummaging throughout the studio, destroying pieces of art, blemishing walls, and dulling away all the green paint! To them, it resembled a monster to be feared. We felt there was something more once we saw the poor specter flickering in a corner.
Poor guy.
Francis wasn't truly lost. While he may have lost his habitat, he managed to survive the fire. And now, the poor toon was just trying to put himself back together from everything he lost. Francis resembled a ball of smoke swirling with outlines, bits of paper, globs of color… it was unlike anything we'd dealt with before. Some of us were hesitant to approach him, but we could tell from the look in his eyes that he needed us more than he needed anything else.
He didn't struggle, he didn't even recoil. It was clear that our attention was enough to calm him down. We could already see parts of his illustrative healing as two bright green stubby arm poked out from the cloud of colorless filth and dust.
One of our members of the Recovery Team bent down and gave it a hug. And as that hug began to surge throughout Francis, he responded in his wonderful own way. A smile spread across his face, and he began to reenact his absolutely novel and humorous pilot episode.
We all joined in. We knew that this day would mark history.
Our first toon. We had rescued our first toon.
We laughed for what felt like ages. Francis really is a gift.
Special Needs and Accommodations!
Francis only desires your attention and a nice nap in his warm television. Anything else is simply dictated by the script, but that's just a performance. He doesn't ask of anything else, because he's a gift. He's a gift to all of us.
He's brought nothing but joy and laughter and entertainment and love and. And. What am I supposed to say? Mind is on autopilot. What am I supposed to say here? I have to be honest. I love him. I love Francis so much! He deserves so much more than what we've been giving him. I know you'd feel the same way.
We all love him, right? We're just hiding it, I think. We don't want to admit it, we're trying not to make it weird for everyone else. I know what we've felt back there.
I know I've been breaking character. I know that's ironic.
I just can't keep on like this.
Notes about Francis! My Last Message as Andrew Tandem
My name is Andrew Tandem. As many of you reading are aware, I'm the primary caretaker of Francis. And if you're reading this, it's safe to assume Francis and I have gone.
This is my last message as a human being.
Yeah. Don't know how else to put it. I know, it's a lot to take in. I'm deeply sorry if my absence hurts any of you working here. But if there's one thing I can ask please don't take this the wrong way. This isn't a suicide note. We're still out there. Hell, I'll be more out there than I've ever been before.
I'm sure a few of you know what I'm talking about, but I don't want to leave some of you guessing. That's not fair. Everyone deserves to understand on some level.
When Francis first extended his self upon mine, when Francis first let me be a character… I don't know how to even describe this. When you're a cartoon, it's like you're exactly where you're supposed to be. Everything's held together by pure imagination. Weightless yet dense.
Expressing myself felt like a valve I could turn exponentially, never stopping until it felt like the exact right amount. Theoretically, I could've kept twisting and twisting, heightening my emotion until I was a complete embodiment. Of course, that didn't feel appropriate for the scenes I was in.
I realized that style is everything, the tactile sensations when you're a toon are wildly determined by how something looks and feels to look and looks to feel. It's incredible. Some of you know this. You've felt it before. Remember the sensation of being made out of who you are?
I can't keep it together. Why do people live like this when you're able to just be that? Was it really this easy to be exactly what I wanted to be? Not having to worry about anything but being me? Not having to worry about brushing my teeth or having intrusive thoughts about death? I liked being that watercolor parrot. Watercolor feels nice on me. I enjoyed the name Partridge. It's pretty funny, the joke is that I'm not a partridge. That kind of humor tickles to be.
Everything would just make sense. It might seem like a shift in personality to an outsider, but that's just you being who you want to be. A script perfectly aligned to you. You're all strung together perfectly, you know yourself more than you've known anything.
It's all playing out. There's a lingering bit of script wafting deep in my thoughts. I enter Francis's enclosure and he grins eagerly in that endearing way. He knows the episode I want. Season 1, Episode 13, Ghoulish Getaway. And I flap my wings and squawk, because I'm Partridge, remember?
We leave this all behind. It's over. Things are simply better for us.
We'll all be better soon.
It'll just take time.
Farewell.
P.S. Francis says he misses you, Vanessa. Don't worry, we have a gift to share with you. Squawk.
Sent by: Melissa Fielder
Recipient(s): Griselda Muddler
Date: 03/12/2012
Griselda,
I know how drastic the situation is right now, so forgive me if this question is inappropriate, but I've been looking through all this stuff Andrew wrote before he disappeared with Francis and I can't stop thinking about it.
What possessed us to consider Francis an animal? I mean, we didn't even know what kind of ghost he was.
From everything I've been seeing, I don't understand what makes Francis something we'd keep around. I'm not really sure a toon is an animal exactly, even if it resembles one. God, I'm just so confused. How in Jesus's name did Andrew know all that history about Vanessa? Did Francis tell him? I thought he only spoke in those weird speech bubble symbols. Simon was right when he said toons were an enigma.
I know employees are top priority, but we really need to check in on the families Francis did birthday parties with.
Sincerely,
Melissa
