TEST DRIVE MEME

[behind_the_box]

Starting now, we'll put up a new one of these very month! Feel free to use the current setting of Pandora (Christmas in July) or make up your own! You can also use the following scenarios if you'd prefer:

1. Mushroom Kingdom

Have you ever wanted to be a fairy? Well now you are, even if the answer was no! The City is a big, big place, all of a sudden. Houses are roomy affairs inside giant mushrooms, there are colorful flowers everywhere you look, and the animals are always friendly! Unfortunately, the only food items being sold in the market this month are fruit, fruit, and.... more fruit.

2. School Town

You may be too old to attend the academy, but that doesn't seem to matter; your attendance is mandatory anyway. Or perhaps you're there to teach, because you're the only resident of Pandora that possesses a certain skill. It doesn't matter if it can't be learned; you have to come up with a lesson plan anyway. At least the uniforms aren't some god awful color, right?

3. Zombie Apocalypse.

There's no coming back from death in Pandora, so you'd better do all you can to survive. Three quarters of the city are already infected, and this is the last stand. Are you going to pool your resources and try to make it together, or is it time to stop trusting others and go it alone until the month is over?

Comments

[marriedthebloke]

...You shame the name you lay claim to.

[Surely Kayneth would never say such things. Magecraft was a part of him. He would never be anything other than a magus.]

[tenured]

Correction: my family never deserved me. Their great shame is their failure to recognize my genius.

[Magecraft is certainly a part of him, but he won't allow the Association to limit him. He won't be some pathetic pawn, playing their idiotic games.]

[marriedthebloke]

Seeing how you gave up magecraft to pursue something so mundane is proof enough that while you might share my husband's face and name, you don't share his genius. You would do well to be less arrogant, as pride is reserved for those who deserve to have it.

[tenured]

I didn't give it up. I abandoned the pathetic strictures that would dictate how I used it, as any free-thinking, intelligent man would.

I'm pleased his face and name are all I share. He sounds like a slavish imbecile. I pity him, and you. I'm fortunate not to be saddled with a miserable woman who doesn't understand the meaning of the words genius and art. My genius is better, brighter, and thoroughly mine.

It's not arrogance if it's entirely warranted.

[Which is just what an arrogant person would say.]

[marriedthebloke]

...You sound like Waver.

[And like with Waver, she feels bitter and jealous. Kayneth and Waver could walk away from their lives as magi. But Sola-ui had no such option.]

[tenured]

I have no idea who this Waver is, but I'm pleased there's someone else who has the good sense to think as I do.

[It's true that Kayneth could walk away, but it put him in danger of being murdered for the rest of his life--he's feeling a little paranoid about that now, in fact.]

[marriedthebloke]

...She's my daughter.

[Well, technically she wasn't, but details.]

And you won't go near her if you know what's good for you.

[tenured]

Then I assume that would mean--

[If this is supposed to be his wife, then her daughter would be... but he can't go there. He has no children.]

Oh, now you are instructing me? You have no authority over me. I barely know who you are, and I will do as I like, thank you very much.

[He wasn't really even interested in Waver, but now he's going to be contrary.]

[marriedthebloke]

My husband is the other Kayneth here. He will know if you have been speaking to her. And he will not be pleased.

[tenured]

[So, he's actually here. He'd guessed as much from what she'd said, but hearing it confirmed is odd... another him. One who's married, and with the Mage's Association. How surreal. And how annoying.]

I could care less about what an inferior imitation of me thinks.

[You're just making it more likely that he's going to talk to Waver, Sola-Ui.]

As I so recently said, I will do as I like. I'm not beholden to anyone here.

[marriedthebloke]

You are a member of the Archibald house. You will answer to the head, who happens to be my husband.

[tenured]

Are you genuinely lacking in mental faculties? How can I make this any clearer?

[Kayneth clears his throat.]

I am not a member of the Archibald house. I left my family. I haven't had anything to do with them in years, nor they with me. I in no way recognize their authority. The head of the house is the last person on earth I would listen to.

In fact, it's very likely that I would deliberately go out of my way to spite him.

[marriedthebloke]

...I won't come to your funeral.

[tenured]

Ah, so you're delusional as well, making plans for nonexistent events. I'm pleased to hear it. It only cements my belief that I made the best possible choices in life.

[marriedthebloke]

A magus versus a mere artist. The results of such a meeting would be clear. Especially if you provoked him.

[tenured]

What a tiresome woman you are. I'm now absolutely convinced that you're so overbred that you've lost the capacity to do such basic things as hear words and process them.

I've already told you I am a magus. Do you think that I, as a gifted prodigy who left the Mage's Association, was never threatened by another magus? That I haven't had to deal with attempts on my life?

I honestly couldn't be less interested in your husband, and I would rather go on living as if he doesn't exist, but if he does tell me not to do something, I have no intention of listening to him, or to anyone else.

[marriedthebloke]

You're the tiresome one!

[She should stomp off, but she refuses to let him have the last word!]

[tenured]

Oh, that was beautiful! A truly eloquent retort, madame!

I take it back. You're not simply overbred, you are instead the most inbred example of the aristocracy I have ever had the extreme displeasure of beholding.

[Good luck having a last word contest with Kayneth. He could keep this up all day, in the absence of the few people in his life who can get him to be quiet. He's really not in a good mood, and Sola-Ui's connection to the Association hasn't made it any better, not to mention the thought of another version of himself--that wounds his ego.]

[marriedthebloke]

Well, I would think you're more inbred than I am. After all, you're the one going bald!

[Yes, she went there.]

[tenured]

[Kayneth's eyes narrow. Well, he's not going to give in to such a petty insult.]

What a loyal wife, to speak of your husband so. [Because anything she says about his genes should be true of her husband's. Every minute he spends with her makes him more glad he's not married to her. ]

Baldness is not a result of inbreeding, I should inform you, and as a matter of fact, I have a naturally high hairline, which you should know, if you are married to me, as you claim. Even as a child, my hairline was high.

[Yes, he's sticking to his high hairline story.]

Some people find my hair quite attractive.

[marriedthebloke]

It was an arranged marriage. You were fortunate.

[Catch the implications there?]

[tenured]

Of course it was. I'm hardly surprised. The Archibald family must have the brats with the best pedigree!

I am fortunate, unlike your husband, as I can see what you think of him.

[He feels goaded, so he speaks a little more freely than he might otherwise.]

I am in a non-arranged and quite happy relationship, thankfully.

[If she talks about the man like this, their marriage must be miserable. He'd almost be sorry for him, if Kayneth were good at being sorry for people. As it is, he mainly feels vindicated and fortunate to have escaped a terrible, loveless marriage with this woman.]

[marriedthebloke]

...

[She stares at him incredulously. After a long while, a near-hysterical laugh tears its way out of her throat.]

[tenured]

I fail to see what's so amusing.

[He really does fail to see. This woman is definitely mad as well as an imbecile. Also, he's offended. What's so laughable about him being in a relationship?]

It's hardly unusual.

[Especially as he is a genius, and who wouldn't find him appealing?]

[marriedthebloke]

[She halts in her laughter long enough to give him an answer.]

It is when it comes to you!