Voice test

[super_sleuth]

Hmm. Bit awkward, this.

I don't wish to perform for you, but since this is a Mun-Muse relationship I don't suppose I have a choice, do I?

Right, then. Find something for me to do.

....

When you're ready, of course. But do be quick about it.

Comments

[morewidows]

When one gets snappish, it is usually a sign of some sort of interest in, perhaps, being the victor. There's no reason to be argumentative just for argument's sake, just as there's no reason to be so profoundly judgmental of someone's family simply based on a single name given one member.

[super_sleuth]

You do confess that your family is abnormal, yes?

[Because, yes, he does want to be the victor. Pride: He has gratuitous amounts of it.]

Then it is not judgment, it is deduction. And a very simple one. Child's play.

[morewidows]

I do not.

Normal implies healthy, does it not? All three of my children were birthed "normal"—that is, healthy and sound in every way. My family is well-knit, loving, and affluent. My husband and I retain our love as fiercely as we did when we first met, and we are protective and completely proud of our children. So, no, I do not confess that my family is abnormal, for we are healthy and sound, without dysfunction or malevolence among our ranks.

If you are implying that we are abnormal in the sense of lacking conformity, then perhaps to several, yes, we are completely abnormal. Yet conformity implies that we do and think as others, that we follow the rules of society. If you are telling me it is abnormal to maintain a healthy family life and yet to be slightly different from the rest of society, yes, we are as abnormal as it comes, and I would not wish to be any other way.

[She'll tell him where "normal" can go, thank you kindly.]

[super_sleuth]

If "dysfunctional" was what I had meant, "dysfunctional" is what I would have said.

Once again you are being contrary, please stop that.

[morewidows]

[That please doesn't sound very sincere, Holmes.]

Then it must be stated that the word "normal" is far too broad to be used properly in any sense, and that should be the end of it, no?

[super_sleuth]

I have been using the word to refer to cultural ideals since this start of this atrociously pointless conversation. I do apologize if I overestimated your short term memory and ability to contextualize. My mistake.

[morewidows]

[Sherlock, take your chest in hand. Calm it. It's okay not to have a victory in an argument you started. It's really okay. It is.]

And yet you started off by assuming that you know the cultural ideals from the beginning of time and throughout the entire world.

[super_sleuth]

Yes. I have knowledge of cultures throughout the entire world.

Throughout time is irrelevant, unless you are claiming that your clan dates back to the time of-[The briefest of pauses as he searches his memory for a specific name from history. Any name. He can't find one.]

-the dark ages.

[morewidows]

[Close, but...]

We can date our family back much further than that. Many of my husband's ancestors danced while Nero played the fiddle at the burning of Rome.

[super_sleuth]

[Her words bring a few classroom memories back to him. Yes, Nero, who burned Christians in his garden. Sherlock files this away as something worth promptly forgetting. It's nothing but clutter.]

Tedious.