Whee-hey. -_-;; There's an AP Exam on Monday, so I _really_ should be
studying instead of writing this.... *sigh* Oh well, I'm a bad girl.
Irresponsible me... XP I know this chapter sucks
worse than it should, since I need to get back down and study, but I DID
wanna write something this weekend.... So pardon the low-quality chapter. I
get out on May 28 (YAAY!!! ^___^), so once summer starts, I'll be writing
stuff that's a lot better, and writing it a lot faster. Hopefully....
~*~*~*~
The class assembled in the auditorium, rather than a conventional classroom; The students simply left their backpacks in the first few rows of seats, and went to sit on the floor of the stage in front of the teacher, who'd dragged a chair up there for herself. "I'd say welcome back to school, but I don't think anybody finds it very welcome, do they?" She waved a hand dismissively. "At any rate, this is Basic Drama and Theatrics, a one semester course, and I'm your teacher, Ms. Paten. You can call me Ms. P if you want."
She looked over the group, and pointed at random. "You, there. What's your name?"
"Me?" Yugi tilted his head. "My name's Y--"
"Wait." She cut him off, and pointed to the opposite end of the stage. "Go stand over there, and tell us."
"Okay..." Somewhat confused, Yugi followed her directions, shifting uncomfortably at all of the eyes staring at him. He'd taken this class to try and get rid of his stage fright... "I-I'm Yugi Motou."
"What's that?" The teacher leaned forward a little at his quiet voice. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Yumi Sotou."
Yugi blushed, speaking up a little louder. "I said, I'm Yugi Motou."
"I'm terribly sorry." She smiled. "I must not have heard you right. Let me change that." She picked up her roll sheet. "Yuli Kotou, yes?"
"N-no..." He shook his head, redder than before as he heard a few other students chuckle.
She smiled brightly, and walked over, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You can go sit down now, Yugi." She shooed him back towards the group. "Now, for your first lesson today, we'll have two people to demonstrate. Yugi was the first. One of the most important things you can learn about public speaking, is _projection_!" She hardly raised her voice for the last word, but the stage rang with it. "If you don't project your voice, or forget to enunciate, nobody can tell what you said." Ms. P informed them, purposely slurring the last couple words. "You, there, can you demonstrate good projection and enunciation for us?"
Seto rose languidly, and went to stand where Yugi had been, fixing his eyes on the general crowd. He spoke before others enough to where his voice automatically strengthened whenever he needed to be heard. He commanded the attention without even thinking about it. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones..."
Ms. P nodded, smiling slightly at the quoting he'd done. "Excellent, Anthony. Might we know your name?"
"Seto Kaiba." He sat back down. Was this all they were going to do? This class would be a total waste of his time...
~*~*~*~
"Alright, pay attention now." She broke the students out of the hum of conversation they'd fallen into. "I don't like to impose too much on my students, but I do have something. And just because I'm _so_ nice," Here, the teacher smirked. "I'm giving you the entire semester to work on it. _But_, it won't take up all of our class time. I'll give you the last few minutes of each period to work on it. You're going to each select a slip of paper with a type of play on it. It might be a genre, or a country, or a playwright. You need to get together with everyone who has the same one as you, and make up a play, based on the parameters of whatever you picked. Okay? Now everybody get in line." She held up a fancy top hat, the sort that magicians used, with a few scraps of paper in the bottom. There were only 10 people in the class, after all....
"Oh, and I'll be the narrator for all of you." Ms. P added. "Because I doubt any of you will have enough people to spare somebody to do the job." She waited until the hat was empty, and dropped it back onto the floor, watching them seeking out their newest partners.
Joey looked at his paper, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Mythology. What's that supposed to tell us, anyhow?" He looked around. "Hey, has anybody else got Mythology?"
Yugi passed him by, shaking his head apologetically. "Sorry."
"That would be me." Seto glided over, looking thoroughly displeased. "You again. Have we got a third party this time?"
Joey looked around. Everybody seemed to have found their groups.... "Nope."
"Damn." Seto looked disappointed. "That limits our options."
"What're we gonna do, anyhow?" Joey looked down at his paper again. "Myths were about those gods and stuff, right?"
"That's right." Seto nodded. "More specifically, most plays about mythology catered to the Greek or Roman gods, which were basically the same things, only with different names."
"Gee, won't this be a blast?" Joey rolled his eyes.
"Oh, definitely." Seto resisted the urge to snort. "You don't know how to speak Elizabethan English, do you?"
"You mean that old sort like they make us read in English class? Of course not." Joey raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"That was the sort of speech they used; we'll have to use it too."
"Oh, gimme a break...."
"I'll check out a book or two on it." Seto didn't sound too concerned. "If you don't count the expressions, it's not that different, anyhow."
"Hey... what can we do with only two people, anyhow?"
Seto sighed, and raised his eyes to the ceiling in thought, as though beseeching the ancient gods to come down and help him. "Fights usually center around something else, a third thing...." He frowned. "As do most myths with moral lessons. The only thing that we might be able to pull off is a love story...."
"A _love story_?!" Joey looked disgusted at the thought. "But...."
"But?"
"But wouldn't that be incest?"
"They only married among the family." Seto pointed out. "So it couldn't be helped. They did have plenty of affairs with mortals, although I think the stories of all the constellations have been taken."
"Your point being....?"
"That we need to come up with an incestuous pair, and think of what might possibly come of it."
"Yuck." Joey just shook his head. "Who could we do?"
"Hmmm...." Seto mused over the ones he knew in his head. "Can't do Zeus, Hades, or Hephaestus, I believe they're already more-or-less hitched, when it comes to immortal partners."
"Yeah? What about that... um... sun dude? Apollo?"
Seto nodded. "I think he's free. We can branch off from there."
"Hey.... how're we gonna play the girl?" Joey asked.
"Well, typically, they took young, beardless men, stuck them in a dress, and made them speak in falsett--" Seto noticed Joey's sudden smirk. "Don't even THINK about it, mutt."
"Aw, c'mon, Setina!" He laughed. "I'm look just like the guy. I'm _perfect_ for that role. So YOU are going to be left squeaking."
"Joey..." Seto glared. "I am NOT going to crossdress."
"We'll see about that." Joey was obviously loving every minute of this. "But you can try and find somebody who didn't wear a dress, if you want."
Seto spent a minute thinking through the goddesses. "Artemis." He said finally. "Goddess of the moon and the hunt. Twin sister to Apollo."
"...That's even more disturbing than the original idea."
"They're supposed to represent the dual nature of things." Seto shrugged. "And they're well suited for each other for that, I'd suppose. And logically, the sun and moon together would be an eclipse, so we've got the point of this thing in the bag."
"If you say so." He just shook his head. "This is so weird...."
"Suck it up. At least YOU don't have to be a girl." .;
Joey snickered. "Sorry, _Setina_, but we both know you'll make SUCH an adorable girl...."
"Did you know that Artemis was in the habit of telling her pack of hunting hounds to tear apart anybody that displeased her?"
"No...." O_o;
"A fitting fate for a mongrel like you."
"Girly man."
"Mangy mutt."
"Mr. Moneybags."
The bell rang. Seto picked up his briefcase and bookbag. "Be a good little puppy, and do some research for your role. And start once you get home; I know how much it kills you to be productive."
~*~*~*~
The class assembled in the auditorium, rather than a conventional classroom; The students simply left their backpacks in the first few rows of seats, and went to sit on the floor of the stage in front of the teacher, who'd dragged a chair up there for herself. "I'd say welcome back to school, but I don't think anybody finds it very welcome, do they?" She waved a hand dismissively. "At any rate, this is Basic Drama and Theatrics, a one semester course, and I'm your teacher, Ms. Paten. You can call me Ms. P if you want."
She looked over the group, and pointed at random. "You, there. What's your name?"
"Me?" Yugi tilted his head. "My name's Y--"
"Wait." She cut him off, and pointed to the opposite end of the stage. "Go stand over there, and tell us."
"Okay..." Somewhat confused, Yugi followed her directions, shifting uncomfortably at all of the eyes staring at him. He'd taken this class to try and get rid of his stage fright... "I-I'm Yugi Motou."
"What's that?" The teacher leaned forward a little at his quiet voice. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Yumi Sotou."
Yugi blushed, speaking up a little louder. "I said, I'm Yugi Motou."
"I'm terribly sorry." She smiled. "I must not have heard you right. Let me change that." She picked up her roll sheet. "Yuli Kotou, yes?"
"N-no..." He shook his head, redder than before as he heard a few other students chuckle.
She smiled brightly, and walked over, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You can go sit down now, Yugi." She shooed him back towards the group. "Now, for your first lesson today, we'll have two people to demonstrate. Yugi was the first. One of the most important things you can learn about public speaking, is _projection_!" She hardly raised her voice for the last word, but the stage rang with it. "If you don't project your voice, or forget to enunciate, nobody can tell what you said." Ms. P informed them, purposely slurring the last couple words. "You, there, can you demonstrate good projection and enunciation for us?"
Seto rose languidly, and went to stand where Yugi had been, fixing his eyes on the general crowd. He spoke before others enough to where his voice automatically strengthened whenever he needed to be heard. He commanded the attention without even thinking about it. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones..."
Ms. P nodded, smiling slightly at the quoting he'd done. "Excellent, Anthony. Might we know your name?"
"Seto Kaiba." He sat back down. Was this all they were going to do? This class would be a total waste of his time...
~*~*~*~
"Alright, pay attention now." She broke the students out of the hum of conversation they'd fallen into. "I don't like to impose too much on my students, but I do have something. And just because I'm _so_ nice," Here, the teacher smirked. "I'm giving you the entire semester to work on it. _But_, it won't take up all of our class time. I'll give you the last few minutes of each period to work on it. You're going to each select a slip of paper with a type of play on it. It might be a genre, or a country, or a playwright. You need to get together with everyone who has the same one as you, and make up a play, based on the parameters of whatever you picked. Okay? Now everybody get in line." She held up a fancy top hat, the sort that magicians used, with a few scraps of paper in the bottom. There were only 10 people in the class, after all....
"Oh, and I'll be the narrator for all of you." Ms. P added. "Because I doubt any of you will have enough people to spare somebody to do the job." She waited until the hat was empty, and dropped it back onto the floor, watching them seeking out their newest partners.
Joey looked at his paper, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Mythology. What's that supposed to tell us, anyhow?" He looked around. "Hey, has anybody else got Mythology?"
Yugi passed him by, shaking his head apologetically. "Sorry."
"That would be me." Seto glided over, looking thoroughly displeased. "You again. Have we got a third party this time?"
Joey looked around. Everybody seemed to have found their groups.... "Nope."
"Damn." Seto looked disappointed. "That limits our options."
"What're we gonna do, anyhow?" Joey looked down at his paper again. "Myths were about those gods and stuff, right?"
"That's right." Seto nodded. "More specifically, most plays about mythology catered to the Greek or Roman gods, which were basically the same things, only with different names."
"Gee, won't this be a blast?" Joey rolled his eyes.
"Oh, definitely." Seto resisted the urge to snort. "You don't know how to speak Elizabethan English, do you?"
"You mean that old sort like they make us read in English class? Of course not." Joey raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"That was the sort of speech they used; we'll have to use it too."
"Oh, gimme a break...."
"I'll check out a book or two on it." Seto didn't sound too concerned. "If you don't count the expressions, it's not that different, anyhow."
"Hey... what can we do with only two people, anyhow?"
Seto sighed, and raised his eyes to the ceiling in thought, as though beseeching the ancient gods to come down and help him. "Fights usually center around something else, a third thing...." He frowned. "As do most myths with moral lessons. The only thing that we might be able to pull off is a love story...."
"A _love story_?!" Joey looked disgusted at the thought. "But...."
"But?"
"But wouldn't that be incest?"
"They only married among the family." Seto pointed out. "So it couldn't be helped. They did have plenty of affairs with mortals, although I think the stories of all the constellations have been taken."
"Your point being....?"
"That we need to come up with an incestuous pair, and think of what might possibly come of it."
"Yuck." Joey just shook his head. "Who could we do?"
"Hmmm...." Seto mused over the ones he knew in his head. "Can't do Zeus, Hades, or Hephaestus, I believe they're already more-or-less hitched, when it comes to immortal partners."
"Yeah? What about that... um... sun dude? Apollo?"
Seto nodded. "I think he's free. We can branch off from there."
"Hey.... how're we gonna play the girl?" Joey asked.
"Well, typically, they took young, beardless men, stuck them in a dress, and made them speak in falsett--" Seto noticed Joey's sudden smirk. "Don't even THINK about it, mutt."
"Aw, c'mon, Setina!" He laughed. "I'm look just like the guy. I'm _perfect_ for that role. So YOU are going to be left squeaking."
"Joey..." Seto glared. "I am NOT going to crossdress."
"We'll see about that." Joey was obviously loving every minute of this. "But you can try and find somebody who didn't wear a dress, if you want."
Seto spent a minute thinking through the goddesses. "Artemis." He said finally. "Goddess of the moon and the hunt. Twin sister to Apollo."
"...That's even more disturbing than the original idea."
"They're supposed to represent the dual nature of things." Seto shrugged. "And they're well suited for each other for that, I'd suppose. And logically, the sun and moon together would be an eclipse, so we've got the point of this thing in the bag."
"If you say so." He just shook his head. "This is so weird...."
"Suck it up. At least YOU don't have to be a girl." .;
Joey snickered. "Sorry, _Setina_, but we both know you'll make SUCH an adorable girl...."
"Did you know that Artemis was in the habit of telling her pack of hunting hounds to tear apart anybody that displeased her?"
"No...." O_o;
"A fitting fate for a mongrel like you."
"Girly man."
"Mangy mutt."
"Mr. Moneybags."
The bell rang. Seto picked up his briefcase and bookbag. "Be a good little puppy, and do some research for your role. And start once you get home; I know how much it kills you to be productive."