The Mantle Passes (Archmage Book One)

6. Southern Hospitality

S1E6 Southern Hospitality

COLD OPEN

RICHMOND HILL, GEORGIA

The forests leading up to his boyhood home always made Amos almost forget that he was heading for his boyhood home. Running low on gas helped too. Well, any excuse to get out of the car helped, and this gas station had a deli.

His deciding what to put on his sandwich was accompanied by the sounds of live crickets in a box, and the Allman Brothers Band's only remembered song. He opted for the spicy chicken.

"Here ya go," he was handed his delicious sandwich. "So where ya goin'?" And he did most certainly not expect the clerk to get social.

"My parents' place, down the road." The store clerk was surprised that he had stopped to grab a meal so short of home.

"Bad cookin'?" So close, yet so far away.

"Bad everything."

The Theme Song, a glorious merging of John Williams and Ron Wasserman, plays.

ARCHMAGE
Created by Seth Campbell

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
Written by Seth Campbell

PART ONE

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA

Even though he had been living less than three miles from home, Tom had barely seen any of it in the last four months. He had been so busy with his schoolwork and trying to keep Amos from getting himself killed.

But it was good to be back with his family. Even if they weren't home yet; either at school, work, or on the way home. Since TV had gone to the crapper, he elected to finish unpacking while waiting.

After finishing, well into the evening, he was interrupted by the doorbell. His family then piled inside.

"Tom," The familiar sound of his mom drew him away from his unpacking. She worked at a wig store, so she always came home with a strange smell which Tom never got used to.

Will, his little brother, got used to it very quickly. He had just gotten back from school. He went to the Catholic school on a McKay scholarship since the High School he was zoned to sucked.

Shortly after, the family reunion was made better with the arrival of his older brother and sister, Robert and Jill, in the National Guard and a Teacher's Intern respectively. They were nice.

"Hey bud," Tom's older brother was always nice to him, as were all his siblings. He had a surprisingly wonderful relationship with his family. Even his deadbeat father, he was on amicable terms with him.

"Well you can all exchange stories over dinner." Tom's mom rushed into the kitchen to grab the roast that she had put in before heading to work.

"So, ya still wanna be an artist?"

"Yeah," Tom's siblings liked to kid him about his aspirations.

"Well if you ever make it big, don't you ever forget where you came from." That sentence made Tom feel uneased. He didn't like King Street. "And don't you ever let anyone else forget it either." Now Tom was certain that he had serious issue with Robert's statement. He just wasn't sure what it exactly was.

Amos, on the other hand, was not looking forward to meeting up with his parents. His brothers and sister were slightly less sucky, but he still wasn't a fan of any of them.

The house was nice though, it was plantation-style (what else would it freaking be) and mostly made of red bricks, with the trying-to-be-Doric-but-failing front made from generic white stone.