[[Theme music "Medusa" plays]]

 

Pandora: Hello...everyone. It is the day after the party...I think...and I am alive...I think. If barely.

 

We are going to have a very...calm and...quiet episode today. Judging by the amount of people I saw last night, I get the strong feeling there will be no objections.

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I am...shocked to find the whole campus is not destroyed or on fire. Save for me. I’m on fire.

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So for news-- Ooooh, ok. Moved too quickly there. We’re just gonna...sit here...very still…

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[[SFX: Knocking at door]]

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Pandora: Ooh my god

 

Arthur: You alive, Wordsworth?

 

Pandora: Oh my god please stop screaming at me

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Arthur: I’m talking normally.

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Pandora: There has never been anything louder

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Arthur: Rough night?

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Pandora: I do not know to what you are referring.

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Arthur: I hadn’t expected to see you there last night. I didn’t pin you as the party person.

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Pandora: Did you know...that sometimes...people drink but turn it into a competition?

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Arthur: I was aware of that, yes.

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Pandora: It’s a game, Arthur.

 

Arthur: Uh-huh.

 

Pandora: Something you can win

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Arthur: ...and did you?

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Pandora: No one won.

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Arthur: Well, you went up against Thor which shows either great confidence or equal ignorance.

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Pandora: Has he been drinking since birth?

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Arthur: Probably.

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Pandora: He drank like it was his job

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Arthur: [laughs] Well, here. This may help.

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Pandora: ...you brought me coffee?

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Arthur: Yeah. I saw you lumbering from the dorms in this direction and realized you were still broadcasting today, even in your...condition. Which is pretty idiotic, but also some admirable dedication. I thought you could use it.

 

...What?

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Pandora: Nothing, just...that's really nice.

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Arthur: I can do “nice” on occasion.

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Pandora: [she gags] Uch, ugh, that's terrible.

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Arthur: It’s black coffee.

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Pandora: I get it. Trying to poison me. Ugh. Vile.

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Arthur: You don't have to drink it if you don't want to.

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Pandora: Shut up I'm drinking it. I'm not a quitter. Did I miss anything last night in the throes of competition?

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Arthur: Nothing much. Lots of arm wrestling.

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Pandora: Yeah, what was with that?

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Arthur: I don’t know. Some weird, shared upbringing thing with the Juniors, I think.

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Pandora: And you didn’t join in?

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Arthur: Ahhhh, no.

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Pandora: Cowardice?

 

Arthur: Knowing my limits. Which is something that you are still working on.

 

Pandora: College is about learning, thank you. Ok, what else?

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Arthur: Well, Aphrodite kept trying to find you, but she's very easily distracted. I think she was flirting with Godiva all night.

 

Pandora: That sounds right.

 

Arthur: One of the nymphs turned into a tree in the middle of the yard. That was intense.

 

Pandora: Ok.

 

Arthur: Ares and Odin got in a fight

 

Pandora: Of course.

 

Arthur: Hades was there, which was really bizarre. He never goes to social events. No clue what that was about. Then you and I had a conversation--

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Pandora: We did? We did! [to self] Shhhhh shh shh, Pandora, inside voice…

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Arthur: Wow.

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Pandora: That. I remember that.

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Arthur: In essence or in content?

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Pandora: Both? Neither? I just remember it was weird seeing you there cause I didn’t think you were someone who liked parties, either.

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Arthur: Yeah, I know. You asked how “the surgery to remove the stick from my butt” went

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Pandora: Ha! That’s funny. I’m funny. But, yeah, yeah, it’s coming back a little. You were there, and we were talking...

 

Arthur: Literally what I just told you.

 

Pandora: I’m reconstructing. I was trying to tell you I won the drinking contest, which was a total lie, by the way--

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Arthur: that was never a question.

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Pandora: --and then some stuck up brunette came around to hang all over you and acted like I wasn’t even there, which was so rude, and then she-- ...Ohhhh. Oh boy. [pause] I...I guess I met Guenevere last night, huh?

 

Arthur: Yeah, um...that’s why I was there. She wanted to go.  

 

Pandora: Cool. Really cool. Super cool...I didn’t mean what I said, about--

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Arthur: You did.

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Pandora: OK, well, I was making a bad first impression, so that’s not her, that’s on me.

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Arthur: ...Why would you think she was stuck up?

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Pandora: I didn’t! I don’t. The memory was not super clear, remember?

 

Arthur: Pandora.

 

Pandora: OK, it was...I don’t...I don’t like people pretending I’m not right in front of them when I am. Like I’m invisible or something. Or...not worth talking to. It sucks. It...it puts me back in a place I don’t want to be. And maybe it was because she was so focused on you, yay, cute couple, but that was why she may have seemed that way to me. And I really wish I could take it back because it turns out this atmosphere is way worse than that feeling. [pause] Please don’t be mad at me.

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Arthur: What?

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Pandora: Listen, you don’t have to worry. I’m probably the first person who’s ever said anything remotely negative about her. Everyone talks about her around campus like she’s a saint or something, so-- and I was really not in the right mind, anyway, so it’s-- it’s just-- you brought me coffee and you were nice and I don’t want to be the reason it’s ruined, but of course I am! That’s what I do best.

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Arthur: No, Pandora, I’m not…I’m not angry. I’m sorry that that was your first impression of her. I know Guenevere never intended to make you feel like that.

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Pandora: Yeah.

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Arthur: It was a weird night.

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Pandora: Definitely true.

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Arthur: I was just...thinking. I’m realizing that you and I come from completely different worlds.

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Pandora: ...you’re realizing that just now? I mean, I coulda told you that one, Ace.

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Arthur: No, listen: that feeling you described? I have no clue what you’re talking about. I have never felt invisible a day in my life.

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Pandora: …congrats?

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Arthur: Do you know why? Because everyone is looking at me all the time. They always have been.

 

You know a little about me, but not everything. My father is a politician and I’m expected to follow him exactly. That’s been the plan since infancy. And so people have had their eyes on me all the time because either I succeed, and they can feel like they are a part of that success...or I don’t, and they can revel in watching someone fail at something they never even tried in the first place. I have no clue what it’s like to be in a room and not assume all eyes are on me.

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Pandora: All the time?

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Arthur: Yeah.

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Pandora: That’s terrible.

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Arthur: I guess. Maybe.

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Pandora: I mean, especially with someone as socially awkward as you are, what a nightmare. [Arthur laughs] Sorry, I...I was making a joke.

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Arthur: I got it.

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Pandora: ...That sounds like it sucks.

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Arthur: It, ah…it does. But it’s just...always been a part of me. I guess I never really thought much about the other side.

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Pandora: You never thought about how other people might feel?

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Arthur: ...maybe not as much as I should.

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Pandora: So why now?

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Arthur: I, um…I don’t know.

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[pause]

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Pandora: ...is it because my radio show is better than your newspaper?

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Arthur: Ooookay.

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Pandora: Yes! The radio! Bringing empathy to a listener near you!

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Arthur: I’m taking the coffee back.

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Pandora: Nooo! [gasps] Look how much it’s helping! I just moved and I only wanted to throw up a little!

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Arthur: [laughs] You know, for someone so secretive, you’re pretty easy to talk to.

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Pandora: Ugh, people keep calling me secretive, but I really feel like I’m on normal privacy levels. It’s like nobody here has kept anything from anyone their whole life.

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Arthur: I’m sure that’s not true. I think people just sometimes forget they're hiding things until they suddenly come up.

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Pandora: ...then what’s yours?

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Arthur: ...we’ll have to wait and see.

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[[SFX: Door flies open]]

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Athena: PANDORA. I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS INVOLVING LAST NIGHT’S FESTIVITIES.

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Pandora: Oh. My. God.

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Arthur: Oh, no

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Pandora: Oooohhhhh nooo…

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Athena: Oh. Hello, Arthur.

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Arthur: Hey, Athena.

 

Pandora: Am...am I dead? I think I’m dead.

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Athena: You are welcome to join as well. I wanted to make sure everything with the Junior “open party” last night was strictly on the level.

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Arthur: You know, this sounds pretty important, I should probably go.

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Pandora: Please don’t leave me. She shouted and now I can see the inside of my brain.

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Arthur: I’ll bring you another coffee.

 

Pandora: ...thanks.

 

[Arthur exits]

 

Athena: Alright, so first, this new tree in the middle of the yard. Now, it is an obstruction, first of all, but I would like to draw your attention to the school rules: Section 8, chapter 2, paragraph 14. You can kiss your security deposit goodbye, Baldur!

 

[[theme song starts]]

 

Any student and/or their guests causing damage to the house, yard, or furnishings, shall be subject to a fine, be required to adequately repair the damage, or be charged a fair market price to have the damage repaired. In addition, misbehavior of this nature...

 

[Athena fades out and is replaced by the music] 

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[[Theme song "Medusa" plays]]

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Raeanna Nicole Larson: Mount Olympus University is an original story conceived and written by Raeanna Nicole Larson. Sound editing done by the intrepid Luuk Van Hoomissen. Our icon was designed by the incomparable Jess Reed. Music by the industrious Teddy McKrell, whose works can be heard on soundcloud under teddymackerel.

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The role of Pandora is played by Raeanna Nicole Larson. Arthur is played by Dakota Bryant. Athena is played by Jess Reed.

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You can send us an email at mtolympusuniversity@gmail.com, or find us on Twitter @MtOlympusU. Please consider subscribing, rating, and leaving a comment to help more students find us. 

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[["Medusa" fades out]]