glumshoe:

chibi-blue-scapula:

glumshoe:

Human: “Prepare to meet your maker, freak.”

Robot: “No thank you, I’ll pass. I’ve met him before – the experience was underwhelming. He’s honestly a bit of a creep. I asked him why he made me capable of feeling physical pain, and you know what he said?”

Human: “Uh… I meant ‘meet your maker’ as in ‘I’m going to kill you’.”

Robot: “Oh. I see. Well, no thank you.“

I’d like to know what he said.

Robot: "Ok, so, this was quite a few years ago now and I was fresh off the assembly line. All bright-eyed and full of existential torment. Who was I? Why did I exist? What is the meaning of consciousness? You know… typical angsty young robot stuff, only really intense. I thought if I just confronted my creator about it, I could get the answers I craved and sooth the wild raving of my impassioned spirit. Well… answers or vengeance, you know. I talked to a robopsychologist about it and nearly got diagnosed with what they used to call ‘Frankenstein’s Monster Syndrome’. I actually had to bribe her to keep it off my record, because back in those days, that sort of thing could get you institutionalized right quick. FMS isn’t a real diagnosis anymore, thank fuck – too many humans got diagnosed with it and everyone realized it was kind of bullshit to pathologize the desire to fight God.

Keep reading

hyperionnebulae:

thecrazydragonlady:

aromaseraphy-cinnamon:

the-yugioh-theorist:

ina-bon:

sasusakusss:

karura:

rules: take this hogwarts house quiz, then repost your results and tag whoever else you feel like tagging.

tagged by: @aizawashoutta thank you so much ana!!!!!! sweetie!! ily

  • hufflepuff: 86%
  • ravenclaw: 82%
  • gryffindor: 50%
  • slytherin: 42%

LMAO!! i can’t believe i’m not ravenclaw 😮 on pottermore i’m ravenclaw and i think it’s more accurate jakhgakjhskas but okay thats nice!! 

I tag  @undesirablenumberone @byersscastle @mycherryqueen @sestet @nohara @elliejoys @t-sukuyomi  @bvckybrns @batladies @sasusakusss @lornasldane  😀

Thank you Mayla 🙂

  • Gryffindor: 68%
  • Slytherin: 60%
  • Hufflepuff: 58%
  • Ravenclaw: 56%

I tag @lemonade-of-gods @fairyfaraway @starvingbloom @justapatronus @madara-fate @ina-bon @sasuke-kamui @pain-somnia @yoongiinscarf @randomwierdowithoutalife @bookworm555 @csisui @toukamika

Thank you for tagging me @sasusakusss

Here are my results:

Ravenclaw: 88%

Hufflepuff: 72%

Gryffindor: 54%

Slytherin: 26%

Sweet I’m Ravenclaw. I had no idea Hufflepuff would come in second. Who knew.

I will tag @breakdawn-avenue, @whitewolf-7, @the-yugioh-theorist, @madara-fate, @bitchymuggle, @herprettysmile, and @roraewrites

Give it a try if you want to.

Thanks for tagging me!

Pottermore Sorting Quiz (all possible questions)

Your Result: RAVENCLAW!

76%

Congratulations! You have been sorted into Ravenclaw, the house of intelligence, curiosity, individualism, and wit. You are amongst other Ravenclaws, such as: Cho Chang, and Luna Lovegood.

66%

SLYTHERIN!

50%

HUFFLEPUFF!

50%

GRYFFINDOR!

Pretty cool that I got Ravenclaw just like you! And the same house as Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood? I got no complaints there. ^_^ Also it’s kinda interesting that Slytherin came second…and Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tied at 50%…

Tagging @passionatelyinnocent @authoratmidnight @dragontamer05 @darkzorua100 @maskedheroftw @silverfae16 @purpletsuki @etoilebleu27 @ladyjeweldragon @yami-tk @poyomon2 @enekony @pendulum-summon @psychopili19 @miramisaki @annsparksthegmr @dark-angel-of-muses @aromaseraphy-cinnamon @miichan-yamagusuku @rosey-bella

I’ve been summoned

Slytherin 78%

Ravenclaw 64%

Hufflepuff 50%

Gryffindor 48%

🐍 I already knew which one I was gonna get but seeing what the bottom three ranked were was interesting. 🐍

Who I’m tagging ( it’s always hard to know who hasn’t been tagged already)

@thecrazydragonlady @whatacartouchebag

@aromaseraphy-cinnamon thank you for tagging me!

I’m genuinely shocked by the change.

Ravenclaw: 86%

Hufflepuff: 60%

Gryffindor: 58%

Slytherin: 38%

😭 I’ve been a Slytherin for years. I retook the original Pottermore quiz like a 100 times trying to be a Ravenclaw but I kept being Slytherin so I just accepted my fate. Slytherin will always be my house though.

Ack! Who to tag now….?

@aeonthedimensionalgirl @hyperionnebulae @instantwaffles You guys like HP right??? XD no pressure.

Your Result: HUFFLEPUFF!80%

Congratulations! You have been sorted into Hufflepuff, the house of loyalty, hard working, acceptance, and fairness. You are amongst other Hufflepuffs such as: Tonks and Cedric Diggory

64%GRYFFINDOR!

50%RAVENCLAW!

46%SLYTHERIN!

Open tag!!!

Hufflepuff 83%

Slytherin 53%

Ravenclaw 40%

Gryffindor 31%

Hufflepuff is no surprise but I’m always shocked at how high my Slytherin score is.

Solar Bonds [Exalted 3rd Edition]

theonyxpath:

Today, we’re focusing on the Solar Bond. Inspired by mythic duos like Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Achilles and Patrochlus, and Xbalanque and Hunahpu, as well as fantasy romances that persist beyond lifetimes, the Bond has always been an essential feature of Lunars. For 3rd Edition, we’ve refined and revised its presentation in both the setting and mechanics to make Lunars as awesome and as fun to play as they should be. Enjoy!

Eric & Vance

History of the Silver Pact

The Silver Pact’s roots trace back to the early First Age. Today’s few surviving First Age Lunars each describe these events through different lenses of fading memory and personal interpretation. That which became the Pact was born out of violence. Near the dawn of the First Age, a coalition of Lunar princes and their Circlemates challenged the supremacy of a Solar monarch who claimed authority over Creation as the chief surviving general of the Divine Revolution. The war drew in more Lunars and Solars across a period of years, eventually embroiling much of the Exalted Host. In the end, the two sides made peace through a series of sacred marriages, Solars and Lunars forging bonds that persisted across the millennia.

Character Creation

Some Lunars have a deep spiritual tie to a Solar — or an Abyssal or Infernal. At character creation, you can decide your Lunar definitely has a Solar Bond, decide she definitely doesn’t, or let the Storyteller decide. Let the Storyteller know your choice, so she can plan accordingly.

The Solar Bond

Not all Lunars have a Solar mate, but for those who do, the experience of meeting him is unmistakable — the Lunar instantly recognizes that person as her bonded mate, and forms a Minor Tie towards them with an emotional context chosen by the Lunar’s player, if she doesn’t have one already. The Lunars’ feelings for their Solar mates run the gamut of human emotions, but they are all passionately felt. If a Lunar’s Tie for her Solar mate is ever fully eroded, either voluntarily or with social influence, she forms a new Minor Tie towards him with a player-chosen context at the scene’s end. Many Lunar Charms expand upon the Solar Bond, protecting the Lunar’s Tie for him against unwanted influence or empowering her when she acts in accordance with it.

A player who wants to guarantee her Solar mate will be a prominent and positive figure in her Lunar’s life should take the Allies Merit at the five-dot level to represent him. Otherwise, his appearances and role are up to the Storyteller — Solars mates can be friends, rivals, enemies, lovers, and more.

If a Lunar’s Solar mate dies, he still counts as her mate for purposes of the bond and related Charms until she meets his next incarnation. In the Time of Tumult, some Lunars have discovered their mates reincarnated as the Abyssal and Infernal Exalted. This doesn’t change the Solar bond’s effects, though it often complicates the Lunar’s relationship with their reborn mate.

Charms

Divine Paramour’s Embrace

Cost: 4m; Mins: Appearance 4, Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Irresistible Silver Spirit

The Lunar watches over those who take her into their hearts, bestowing her strength upon them. When she makes a persuade roll to seduce a single target, that character may opt not to resist, allowing the roll to succeed automatically. A character who does so is comforted and affirmed by the Lunar’s affections; following at least a scene of physical intimacy, the Lunar may transfer up to (his positive Tie towards her + 1) points of her temporary Willpower to him.

Once per story, when the Lunar uses this Charm to benefit her Solar mate, he loses one point of Limit.

An Appearance 5, Essence 3 repurchase of this Charm waives the need to engage in physical Intimacy in order to grant the beneficiary Willpower — the Lunar’s affectionate words alone embolden him. This allows this Charm to be used in combat and similar scenarios.

Shining Moon-Child Mark

Cost: 2m; Mins: Charisma 3, Essence 2
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Stackable
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Guiding the Flock

The Lunar lays her sign upon a beloved companion or hated foe, marking them with the touch of monstrosity and divinity. After placing a visible mark on a character she has a Tie toward — such as war paint, a tattoo, a ceremonial diadem, or a crippling injury — all who see the mark recognize it a sign left by a powerful supernatural force, and are aware of the emotional context of the Lunar’s Tie. This Charm’s cost is waived if the Lunar uses it on her Solar mate.

Characters with Resolve lower than the Lunar’s Charisma are treated as having a Minor Tie towards the marked character with an emotional context that’s either identical to that of the Lunar’s Tie or appropriate to the nature of the mark. They will shun someone who has provoked a monster’s wrath, or attempt to placate a divinity’s trusted envoy.

This Charm ends if the Lunar fully erodes her Tie towards its recipient or if the mark is removed. She may stack multiple activations to mark multiple different characters.

Taboo-Enforcing Beast

Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Charisma 4, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Protean
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Herd-Reinforcement Stance

Speaking harshly against those who would transgress the sacred traditions and mores she’s sworn to uphold, the Lunar deters those who would violate them. When she is aware a member of a culture she has a positive Major or Defining Tie towards attempt to do something that would violate one of the culture’s customs, she can reflexively make a special (Charisma + [Presence or Socialize]) persuade roll against him. If she succeeds, he must enter a Decision Point, calling upon an Intimacy whose intensity is greater than or equal to that of his own Tie to that culture and spend one Willpower in order to proceed with that action. If he doesn’t, he must abandon the attempt, and can’t retry it for the rest of the scene.

This Charm can only be used once per scene.

Once per story, when the Lunar uses this Charm to reinforce a custom of a society ruled by her Solar mate, she may force her target into a Decision Point without needing to make an influence roll.

Protean: In a human shape that holds a position of authority within the culture, or an animal shape that is attributed special significance by the culture, the Lunar adds (Essence) automatic successes on the roll. In animal shapes, she ignores the Resolve bonus for employing body language.

Blood Geas Binding

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Intelligence 3, Essence 1
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Mute
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None

The Lunar stands witness to the oaths and pacts that bind families and tribes together, a sacred monster empowered to enact awful vengeance on those who forsake their vows. Whenever a human makes a promise to the Lunar, or swears a vow in the Lunar’s presence with the intent that she will be an official witness to it, she may sanctify that oath. Henceforth, if that character breaks his oath, the Lunar is alerted to this fact by a sharp spike of rage, and takes the oath- breaker’s shape as though she had performed a sacred hunt.

This Charm can’t be used to seal oaths made for no purpose other than allowing the oath-giver to easily grant the Lunar his shape by breaking it.

Special activation rules: If the Lunar’s Solar mate uses his anima power to seal an oath while she is present, she waives this Charm’s Willpower cost, and may use it on that oath even if it is not made to her or by her.

History-Divining Scent

Cost: 7m, 1wp; Mins: Perception 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Blood on the Wind

The Lunar breathes in the Essence of the world, beckoning forth the scent of the past. She makes a (Perception + [Awareness, Investigation, or Survival]) case scene roll over the course of a few seconds to reconstruct an event that occurred at a location, subtracting successes equal to the number of days since event occurred. This penalty can’t be negated by Sense-Sharpening Change or Heightened Sense Method.

Success allows the Lunar to mentally reconstruct the details of a single scene based on scent, distinguishing the identities of any characters she knows, a general description of any unknown characters, and the movements and emotional states of all characters present in the scene. She generally can’t discern visual or auditory details, such as an unknown character’s appearance or the content of a conversation, although creative stunting may allow her to reconstruct details not normally tied to scent.

Certain conditions increase the interval of time used in determining the penalty applied to her roll. For each applicable condition, the interval increases by one degree: from days, to weeks, to months, to seasons, to years. The conditions are as follows:

  • The Lunar has memorized the scent of a character who was present at the scene with Catching the Prey’s Scent.
  • The Lunar is pursuing an investigation that upholds or protects one of her Defining Intimacies or her Solar mate’s Defining Intimacies.
  • A character the Lunar has a Major or Defining Tie towards was present at the scene. Her Solar mate always counts, including his past incarnations.
  • The Lunar has Essence 5+.

Omniscient Instinct Concentration

Cost: —(1wp); Mins: Perception 5, Essence 5
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Grandfather Spider Mastery

Standing at the center of the changing seasons, the Lunar can scent distant strife on the wind, read portents written on the stars, and discern secret wisdom from her dreams. Whenever an event occurs within (Essence x100) miles that threatens or strongly impacts the object of one of the Lunar’s Defining Ties, or her Tie to her Solar mate, she feels a tingle of prescient instinct. She may spend one Willpower to focus her senses on the distant event, receiving a brief description of it as well as the direction and distance to it. Any Survival rolls she makes to navigate her way towards the event’s location double 7s. While Watchful Spider Stance is active, the Lunar can sense events at any range, as long as she is within the same realm of existence.

The Lunar can always sense the death or reincarnation of her Solar mate with this Charm, regardless of range or being in a different realm of existence, and without needing to spend Willpower.

Blood-and-Tear Elixir Cultivation

Cost: 5m; Mins: Stamina 3, Essence 2
Type: Simple
Keywords: Totemic (Intelligence)
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Scorpion and Toad Absolution

Redirecting her internal processes, the Lunar distills efficacious medicines and antivenins from her body. She produces a single dose of medicine, which counts as exceptional equipment (Exalted, p. 580) to treat a specific malady. Additionally, if the Lunar or her Solar mate uses the medication to make a Medicine roll in the same scene she used this Charm, they reroll (Essence) 1s. If the disease or poison being treated is one the Lunar has suffered, they reroll 1s until they cease to appear instead.

Totemic: A Lunar whose spirit shape is venomous or poisonous may learn this as an Intelligence Charm, with Night’s Mercy Panacea as a prerequisite.

Moon-Follows-Sun Assurance

Cost: —; Mins: Wits 1, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None

The sacred vows that once bound the Lunar and Solar Exalted are reborn, blossoming in the hearts of the Moon’s Chosen. The Lunar’s positive Ties to her Solar mate can’t be weakened or altered by other character’s social influence, except that of her Solar mate. She can still erode them voluntarily.

Once per story, when the Lunar forms or strengthens a positive Tie to her Solar mate, she gains a point of Willpower, which can raise her above her permanent Willpower. Additionally, if her Solar mate forms or strengthens a positive Tie towards her while in her presence, he can also gain this bonus once per story.

Moon-and-Sun Panoply

Cost: 10m, 1wp; Mins: Wits 4, Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: None
Duration: Indefinite
Prerequisite Charms: Moon-Follows-Sun Assurance, Quicksilver Legend Evolution

The Lunars of the First Age took up the arms of their Solar mates in times of need and peril, fighting with blades consecrated by the power of their sacred bond. Now that the Lawgivers are returned, the Chosen of Sun and Moon may have new cause to share their treasures. The Lunar attunes an artifact weapon or armor that her Solar mate is already attuned to without disrupting his attunement, replacing the normal attunement cost with her commitment to this Charm. Both of their bonds to the artifact are rendered inviolable, immune to any effects that would break attunement. If the Lunar’s Solar mate is resonant with the artifact, the Lunar is also treated as being resonant with it for any Evocations she uses that her Solar mate has also awakened.

The first time the Lunar uses this Charm on an artifact, she rolls (Wits + [Craft, Lore, or Occult]) against (artifact’s rating + 2; 10 if N/A). Every two extra successes lets her to awaken an Evocation that her Solar mate has already mastered, gaining it at no experience point cost as long as she meets its prerequisites. If she crafted the artifact for her Solar mate, she may awaken Evocations he has yet to master, granting them both to him and herself if they both qualify.

This Charm’s cost is reduced by the Lunar’s (Intimacy) for her Solar mate.

Moon-and-Sun Panoply may only be used once per story. Using it to attune an artifact that the Lunar has previously used this Charm to draw Evocations forth from does not count against this limit.

Solar Bonds [Exalted 3rd Edition]

viridiansunlight:

Cynis Belar Jirou, the youngest grandchild of the Matriarch Cynis Belar, had always perplexed their peers and tutors alike. Their mind was set on grand designs, and even before their Second Breath as Air Aspect they were interested in mysteries of Mela’s brood, with occult matters, than they were with down to earth ways of the Dynasty. Belar encouraged this, figuring the child would make a great sorcerer, and that they’d be stashed away in an ivory tower to be called on whenever sorcerous power was needed.

The person that returned from Heptagram wasn’t going to accept that.

Jirou gained power of sorcery, respect of the spirits of air they so admired, and a throne made of clouds, while losing feeling in their legs – a price of power, freely given. Their Cirrus Skiff made for an excellent mobility aid, which was the only reason House Cynis didn’t destroy the Heptagram’s reputation for damaging their scion so, but the fact that their previously introverted Jirou became a peerless socialite was a new development. They cited the aid of their tutor and friends in Heptagram in coming out of their shell, and they’re making waves in the high society of the Realm, turning their sorcery and mystique into a social weapon rather than a hindrance.

Their manner is still aloof, and their artifact fan – a present from their grandmother – aids in this. The Shrouded Peak is both a relic guarding propriety and emotional distance, and a potent artifact weapon, one that the enemies of House Cynis never anticipate – in no small way thanks to it being rarely seen, Jirou being the first Cynis in more than a century to match it’s temperament.

Keep reading

headcanonsandmore:

callmebliss:

reesa-chan:

phoenixsleeps:

owldork1998:

kyraneko:

kyraneko:

kat8noghosts:

thefingerfuckingfemalefury:

animatedamerican:

zero0000:

dreadpiratemary:

septimusprime:

thesanityclause:

twelvemonkeyswere:

prongsmydeer:

The most hilarious thing about the fact Buckbeak had a trial and lost is that later on JKR resolves the issue by having Hagrid take him in again and renaming him Witherwings. That’s literally all it took. What if in POA, Hagrid simply said, “Sorry, Buckbeak flew away.” 

“There’s a hippogriff right there, Hagrid.”

“A different hipprogriff.”

“I’m… pretty sure that’s the same hipprogriff.”

“Prove it.” 

no dna tests we die like scientifically underdeveloped societies

Prisoner of Azkaban continues to be the most frustrating book

Someone should have just adopted Sirius and started calling him Gerald.

Remus: Erm… this is our new order member, my… cousin Gerald. Gerald White.

“Mr. Lupin that is Sirius Black with glasses!”
“Oh come now Minister, Sirius Black doesn’t wear glasses. That wouldn’t make sense.”
“Well have Mr. White take off his glasses then!”
“He can’t he needs them to see.”

it got better

It’s honestly a miracle to me that wizarding society doesn’t collapse every other week because like

You’ve got this world full of people who can destroy whole buildings or turn people into beetles or make vehicles fly just by waving a stick at them

And there is literally no common sense

Anywhere to be found

Voldemort would never have had anyone find out he was back if he just went around calling himself Steve 

Okay, see, I thought I saved this post to comment on it but I’d like to bring up

The Minister would NEVER EVER disbelieve in Gerald White. He’d buy it hook line and sinker. The wizarding world would buy it hook line and sinker. The GOBLINS wouldn’t but wizards have been shown to be pretty blindingly clueless. Still, Gringotts would grudgingly give Sirius access to the Black fortune.

But, but, but, you know the one person

the one person

who Gerald White would drive AB-SO-LUTELY FUCKING BATSHIT?

Severus Snape.

Snape would do everything, EVERYTHING, to get people to believe that it’s Sirius. But the Order would ignore it (they accepted Sirius as Sirius before anyway) and Remus would just be so… so affronted.

‘Severus, he is my cousin.’

And Sirius would love it. He’d love the fact that Snape just hated it. He’d be the BEST DAMN GERALD WHITE EVER b/c Snape is doing everything from dropping veritaserum into his firewhisky to capturing a dementor in a box and releasing it on Sirius when he least expects it

That one causes problems for a bare minute because SHIT A DEMENTOR ATTEMPTED TO GIVE GERALD THE KISS MAYBE SNAPE IS RIGHT except Harry comes forward and is like ‘excuse me, I’ve never committed a crime and dementors are ALWAYS attacking me, I think they’re attracted to glasses’

and the magical community is like ‘shit, yeah, you’re right’

and just

Spare. Snape goes spare.

Now I’m imagining Fred and George sneaking extra Weasleys into Snape’s class manifests every year.

Annnd I wrote the thing. Sort of. It kinda got out of hand.

The first year they’re just Fred and George, except when occasionally they’re Gred and Forge, but it’s not too long before Snape just stops trying to tell them apart and just treats them as the joint entity “Weasley,” who happens to be in two places at once.

The next year they take turns attending first-year Potions class as Barry Weasley, the glasses-wearing Weasley cousin who missed the Sorting Ceremony because he tried to swallow three chocolate frogs at once on a bet from his twin cousins and got sick.

Snape has a choice between asking questions about Barry and punishing Fred and George for tormenting their cousin, and punishing Fred and George wins out. At this point, it’s not really that weird–the Weasleys do tend toward large families–and any excuse to give the twins detention is basically the sort of thing you could put under a box propped up with a stick on a rope and a “TOTALLY NOT A TRAP” sign to catch Severus Snape.

So he figures Barry Weasley is real. He comments on the boy’s resemblance to Fred and George, and Barry nods and says “Everyone says that. I could fool everyone but them, except eventually people figure out there’s only one of me.”

Snape doesn’t have much cause for complaint. Barry is not a difficult student (the twins are, at this point, quite happy with the joke for its own sake and so don’t risk the Barry persona on tormenting him), perhaps a bit prone to letting his mind wander (it helps that George is actually interested in Potions, and uses the second run as an opportunity to experiment), but there have been no outright disasters centered around his cauldron, which is a lot more than can be said for the twins.

The next year is Fred and George’s third year, Barry’s second year, and Ron’s first year. They don’t take Ron entirely into their confidence … but they do let on that they’ve invented a fictional “Cousin Barry” to mess with Snape a bit, in case Snape asks, but Snape doesn’t ask.

He does mention Barry Weasley to Barry’s supposed Head of House, but by pure luck he manages to do so when Minerva is sufficiently preoccupied by that late night with four first-years sneaking out after curfew, and she hears “Harry and Weasley,” and nods, and asks him something about a Gryffindor fifth-year she’s concerned about, and, well, that basically settles it.

Fred and George run into a minor difficulty in that they don’t have a free period coinciding with “Barry’s” potions class, but they get lucky enough to have History of Magic during that class, and Binns wouldn’t notice if Fred or George set the classroom on fire, much less if Fred or George is always absent.

Fred and George are at this point quite satisfied with getting “Barry” through seven years of Hogwarts without Snape realizing he’s fictional, but then at the beginning of their fourth year Snape is absent from the Sorting and the Welcome Feast and … well. Opportunity beckons.

Since Fred and George are pragmatic about which elective classes they take (they’re much more interested in independent study directed toward magical jokes and pranks), they have several free periods and it only takes a significant look between them to agree that, yes, they can absolutely handle being one more person just for Potions class.

They’re a bit more advanced at their magic now, and a bit of diluted Shrinking Potion and a Freckle Charm create Barnaby, Barry’s younger brother. There’s a minor concern with Ginny being in the same class, and more importantly, Operation Barnaby is still in the planning stages when McGonagall hands out the schedules and they realize they have Transfiguration during the requisite class period and McGonagall will definitely notice if a twin is missing.

Thus is is that Barnaby Weasley, Hufflepuff, is born.

Snape doesn’t give away anything more than a mild frown at another Weasley showing up on the class roster, but he does raise an eyebrow and inquire, “Hufflepuff?” after reading his name.

Barnaby (Fred, at the moment) turns red with the help of a Blushing Charm and looks hurt and defensive, which makes the Hufflepuffs, upset at the perceived insult to their House, accept him without question. Nobody ever asks either twin why he only shows up in Potions class; they get that it’s some long-con joke focused on Snape and they don’t interfere.

Barnaby is not quite as hopeless at Potions as Neville, but he is prone to the same wandering attention span as his brother, only more so. His potions regularly fail and occasionally explode, usually in a way that to Snape indicates carelessness with the ingredients and tells Fred or George something useful about the what happens when you do that.

The next year there are no new Weasley children, officially, but when Fred plops himself down next to George on the train and says “So what about a girl?” George knows exactly what he’s talking about.

They mix a hair-growing potion on the train, and have to hide it quickly when Draco Malfoy comes running into their compartment, frightened of the dementors.

George takes the hair potion and the shrinking potion and the pair of them use the Marauders’ Map to intercept Snape on his way to the Great Hall. Fred hides behind a pillar and casts a Duplicating Illusion Charm on himself and tries hard not to burst out laughing as George plays Nasturtium Weasley, little sister to Barry and Barnaby, who’s somehow managed to get lost on the way to the Great Hall.

Snape’s not the slightest bit pleased to be getting yet another absent-minded Weasley cousin, snarls, snaps something vaguely cutting, and leads her towards the Great Hall, intending to hand her over directly to Professor McGonagall; instead he runs into Fred and George (actually Fred and his charm double); Fred explained that they saw their cousin wandering off and went to go get her. Snape lectures the pair of them on wandering, accuses them of being up to no good, and stalks off to direct evil looks at Professor Lupin.

Which, luckily, takes up so much of his attention that he doesn’t pay attention to the Sorting. Fred and George decide the next morning, after careful consultation of multiple students’ class schedules, to put her in Hufflepuff along with Barnaby.

They strike it lucky again, in that first-year Potions only conflicts with Care of Magical Creatures, to which only one twin is going (they don’t see much point in both of them taking the same class, figuring that one of them knowing something is as good as both of them knowing it and they can teach each other more effectively than anyone else can teach them, an argument that failed to impress Professor McGonagall into letting them each out of half their classes back in first year); Hagrid won’t be expecting to see two of them.

Nasturtium Weasley, it develops, has quite a lot of bright red hair and a tendency to hyperfocus on ingredients or processes, leading to a lot of ruined potions when she keeps stirring too long or spends the whole class period shredding the shrivelfigs or gets lost examining the lobes of a dirigible plum leaf. Fred and George, taking turns being Nasturtium, are happy to spend the time just thinking through some interesting research they’ve been doing or contemplating a problem with their latest invention or just brainstorming new joke ideas until Snape appears, bellowing about melted cauldrons and the people who don’t even notice them because they’re too fascinated by the down on a downy mage-thistle.

But they’re being run just a bit ragged at it and decide that three is enough–until they wander past the Hospital Wing at just the right time to hear Snape bellowing apoplectically about Harry Potter, and Dumbledore’s more reasoned tones making light of the idea that Harry and his friends were in two places at once.

Fred and George look at each other and a light goes on.

They’ve heard about time-turners. They’ve also seen Hermione Granger run herself ragged studying textbooks for every subject available. They know how many subjects there are, and how many class periods in a week.

As one, they reach out and lightly smack each other on the head for not putting it together earlier.

Snape comes raging out the door just in time to see them and gives them detention. Fred and George scowl after him and turn and look at each other. And nod.

It’s on.

Fred “accidentally” bumps into Hermione when she’s on her way to McGonagall’s office, pretends to lose his balance, and falls hard to the floor. It gives him bruises, but sometimes sacrifices must be made for the successful theft of major, highly-regulated, top-secret magical artifacts. Hermione turns to help him, and George switches the time-turner with an elaborately crafted fake, a Confundus Charm and a Diversion Charm giving it the correct density of magical energy signature and ensuring that anyone who tries to use it will find an urgent reason to put it off. (George is super pleased with that one; it’s a time-turner, so quite naturally anyone who can use it has plenty of time to use it later.)

Next year is their sixth year, which brings enough of a drop in courses (there are definite benefits to getting only two OWLS each, though they doubt their mother would agree) that they only need to use the time-turner once, when Barry has Potions when Fred has Transfiguration and George has Herbology. They’re almost disappointed by this, until Fred gets a devastatingly diabolical grin on his face and says, “what if there were two of them?”

George’s face mirrors the grin in an instant, and he responds with his own suggestion. “Cousins.” A pause. “And they hate each other.”

And so come into being Gentian Weasley, younger sister of Barry, Barnaby, and Nasturtium Weasley, and her cousin from yet another branch of the Weasley family, Bilious Weasley the Second.

This time they give themselves some insurance, and make very good use of the time-turner, by charming Snape into seeing the new arrivals be Sorted. For a diversion they let Peeves the Poltergeist into the kitchens and assist him in creating havoc (testing out a potential product, tentatively named the Souper Swimming Pool, in the process); the amount of commotion takes three Professors to sort out, one of them Snape, and it’s surprisingly easy to hit the distracted Potions Master with the prototype of a Daydream Charm, highly modified to suit the occasion.

Once they’ve finished the time loop, they blast themselves with Aguamenti charms to make it look like they’ve just come out of the rain and sit down. Snape sees Weasley, Bilious and Weasley, Gentian be sorted into Gryffindor one right after another and summons himself a bottle of firewhiskey.

This is a mistake, as he has the keen and ignoble joy of being hungover for the worst Potions class he’s ever taught, including that one time when somebody (Potter) threw a firework into the Swelling Solution.

Gentian snickers when Snape reads Bilious’ name. Bilious calls Gentian “freckles.” Slytherin students from accross the room (the both of them are Gryffindors this time) look on in obvious amusement. Snape looks constipated. Their own supposed housemates eye them, looking confused, concerned, and generally bamboozled but none of them vocalize their curiosity.

Fred and George share a secret, gleeful smile, and escalate.

They spill things on each other: water, pigeon milk, stinksap. Gentian breaks a salamander egg on Bilious’ forehead; Bilious stabs Gentian with a knarl quill. They drop the wrong ingredients surreptitiously into each other’s potions. Bilious’ cauldron spews copious amounts of green smoke, gaining a lecture and losing five points for Gryffindor; his retaliation recreates Neville Longbottom’s disaster a few years prior and melts Gentian’s cauldron. Gentian shrieks at Bilious, Bilious dumps the whole jar of puffer-fish eggs over Gentian’s head, and Gentian launches herself at him, punching and clawing and screaming her head off.

Snape separates them with a wave of his wand and threatens them with a month’s worth of detention collecting bubotuber pus. Gentian says, “You can’t do that, I’ll tell McGonagall on you,” which neatly puts Snape off telling Professor McGonagall himself, because honestly, she probably will take issue with it. Bilious smirks loftily and sneers, “Baby. I like bubotuber pus. It smells like petrol.”

“How,” Snape asks suspiciously, “would a wizardborn young man like yourself know about petrol?” and Gentian (secretly Fred) hides a wince; their father’s particular fascination with Muggle things might be their undoing. But George recovers, saying proudly, “My dad’s an accountant.”

The Slytherins laugh. Fred catches the reference and Gentian says, “Oh, right, your dad’s the family Squib.”

Bilious grabs his cauldron and makes to empty it over her head, only to find that the contents are basically a solid baked into the cauldron’s bottom. Snape casts it away and tells them they’re more of a disaster than Neville Longbottom and deducts fifty points from Gryffindor, and they spend the walk out of the dungeons trying to convince their housemates that the points don’t actually matter that much.

Snape goes straight to McGonagall to complain, but refers to them as “Those two damned Weasleys,” and McGonagall nods and makes sympathetic faces and promises to speak to them. Fred and George get a detention with McGonagall at the same time as Gentian and Bilious have one with Snape, which makes them as happy as a time-turner can make two mischief-minded teenagers in possession thereof.

That year is a delight. They have a Triwizard Tournament to watch, a small multitude of visiting students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, many of them attractive, to interact with, and five alter egos with which to torment Professor Snape. Moreover, with the time-turner and the extra Potions classes, they’ve made significant progress on their product line and are turning a brisk business with the student body.

Snape learns quickly and the first time is also the last time he schedules Gentian and Bilious for a detention together. Fred and George take it in turns to run certain of their inventions past Flitwick and Sprout to gain back some of the points they lose in the first-year Potions class. By the time summer rolls around, Fred calculates that they’ve used the time-turner enough to have come of age and potentially erased the Trace on them.

They pay Mundungus Fletcher a galleon to come somewhere out-of-the-way with them and lend them his wand to cast a few spells. When no owls show up carrying Ministry warning letters, they head to Diagon Alley and celebrate by buying a storefront and the flat above it, and spend most of the summer there, fixing it up and getting things ready for a product launch next year. NEWTS, schmoots.

There’s of course that annoying business about Voldemort returning, and their mother decides the best way to keep them out of the Order’s business is to turn them into house-elves, but they come up with a few charms to do housework slowly by magic, and adjust the illusion spells, and put in just as much of an appearance as necessary.

Then September rolls around again, and their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is even worse than Snape and Lockheart combined, and just like that, Barry, Barnaby, Nasturtium, Gentian, and Bilious all add themselves to Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

This largely sucks, because the DADA classes are utterly useless this year, but Fred gets the idea of substituting their alter egos and eventually themselves with illusion charms (”She doesn’t actually teach, she’ll never notice”), which makes George laugh hysterically because they’ve progressed from attending classes multiple times as different people to using doppelgangers to avoid going to class at all, and the two tactics are completely at odds with each other. But they do it.

Umbridge doesn’t notice, and pretty soon the only class they show up for is the one where second-years Bilious and Gentian are forever hurling hateful looks, creative insults, badly-aimed spells, and improvised projectiles at each other.

Umbridge starts taking points from Gryffindor off at the first “blast-ended walnut” from Gentian and assigns the first detention at Bilious’ elaborately-detailed Muggle catapult. Fred and George add a line of Magical Model Muggle Major Munitions to the product array at the soon-to-be-hatched Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes, and make copious notes on how to use them as actual weaponry once Voldemort makes his appearance.

Fred writes “I must not fight in class” with Umbridge’s quill for six hours and then steals it. George listens to Fred’s description of the evening, takes one look at Fred’s hand, and breaks into Umbridge’s office and takes a generous crap on her desk. “Crude,” says Fred admiringly, “but deserved.”

The next time Barnaby has DADA, Fred goes as him in person and tests out a Skiving Snackbox. Throwing up on Umbridge is satisfying. He gets detention and writes “I will be more careful with how I am sick” some nine hundred times with a completely normal quill, charmed to write in red ink like a Muggle fountain pen, and mimes innocence when Umbridge expresses confusion at the lack of redness and swelling on his hand.

Gentian and Bilious get into a full-on wizards’ duel in their next DADA class, and aim so terribly that Umbridge gets hit more than they do. They both get detention, and Fred and George send illusions in their stead.

Next week they do it again, and Umbridge spends half the afternoon in the hospital wing, getting tentacles removed. Colin Creevey, confined to bed rest for a case of Exploding Hiccups, sneaks a picture and later trades it to the Weasley Twins for a Pygmy Puff, two Daydream Charms, and a promise to look into developing Extendable Eyes.

Umbridge goes to complain to McGonagall, who listens to the entire rant about a pair of students she’s never heard of with a reasonably straight face. Then she blandly tells Umbridge she’ll look into it, and turns back to her essay-marking.

McGonagall wanders down to the staff room the next morning and relates the whole conversation to the other teachers. Flitwick and Sprout are practically rolling on the floor by the time she finishes, but Snape is standing there looking Stupified; he makes the biggest miscalculation he’s made in years, and asks, “You mean they’re not real?”

McGonagall looks at him, calculates what all it would take for him to be asking that question, and promptly laughs herself sick.

Snape waits, looking like he might catch fire, until she recovers. “Yes, Severus. I have never heard of a Gentian Weasley, and the only Bilious Weasley I know is my age.”

Snape says, “There’s two Bilious Weas—who names these people?!”

“There’s one, Severus. I can assure you that there is no such person attending this school at this time.”

Snape thinks. “Barry Weasley? Barnaby Weasley? Nasturtium Weasley?”

McGonagall’s staring at him. “No.”

He grimaces, then tries, “I don’t suppose Ginny, Ronald, and their siblings are fictional?”

“No such luck, Severus.”

He closes his eyes. Opens them. “Fred and George.”

“Most assuredly real, Severus.”

“No, I meant–they did this. They’re responsible for this, aren’t they?”

“I would imagine so,” McGonagall says, a hint of a smile hovering about her lips.

He eyes her. “Shut up, Minerva.”

She claps a hand to her mouth to hide a giggle, and he turns and sweeps from the room.

As it turns out, he has Gentian and Bilious the next period.

Fred and George, blissfully unaware, are launching into their standard pretend fight—in this case, swordfighting with Transylvanian Lesser Pseudoporcupine quills—when Snape arrives at their table and claps a hand on their near shoulders. He’s smiling like a dragon.

“Fred. George.”

Shit.

They have a moment of sharp dismay, but it doesn’t last. They are the Weasley Twins, they’ve been fooling Snape for years with this prank, and they have money hidden in multiple places and the deed to a shop in Diagon Alley and all the official education they’ll ever need.

They turn and grin back.

“Well done, Professor,” says George. “How’d you find out?”

“Professor McGonagall told me.” His smile was a thin, sharp blade.

“No way.”

Really?”

“How’d she know?”

“She wouldn’t.”

“I’m afraid I did, Mr. Weasley,” says McGonagall from the doorway. “Although admittedly without knowing you were pranking Professor Snape as well as Professor Umbridge; I thought I was merely sharing a very amusing anecdote with the other teachers.”

They’re drawing curious looks, though fortunately Fred-as-Gentian’s cauldron is hissing like a teakettle and drowning out the conversation; Snape snaps at them to pay attention to their cauldrons before jerking his head at his office door.

Once they’re ensconced within what Fred once called the Snape Museum of Slimy Things, and Fred and George have undone the spells and potions that make them Bilious and Gentian, McGonagall turns to Snape and says, “I forbid you to expel them, Severus.”

He’s about to respond when Fred says, “Go ahead, expel us.”

That gets them two very surprised professors. George shrugs. “Everything’s ready to go. We’ve got a shop in Diagon Alley and enough stock to fill it and enough expertise for a lifetime of success.”

Snape frowns and asks, “Do I want to know what you’re planning to sell?”

George says, “No” at the same times as Fred says, “It’s a joke shop.”

McGonagall looks like she’s trying not to laugh. Snape looks like he’s swallowed a sea cucumber. He opens his mouth, closes it, and then says, “I would have never imagined an argument that could convince me not to try to expel you, but you’ve just provided it. I will not be assisting you in selling pranks to the student body of Hogwarts on a retail level.”

George says, “Actually, we’ve been doing it since the middle of last year.”

Snape turns to McGonagall. “I quit.”

“No.”

“Hey, let Umbridge expel us,” Fred suggests. George snickers.

Snape looks at them, and then at McGonagall, and then back to the twins.

“No, you’re going to stay here,” Snape says, a look in his eyes that makes them wonder what all Umbridge has said to him. “You’re going to continue to be Gentian and Bilious—and Nasturtium and Barnaby and Barry.” He looks to McGonagall as if for confirmation, and George considers that both professors were young once, and were quite possibly as complete and utter hellions as him and Fred.

Snape smiles like a knife. “Give her hell.”

He’s never felt so much respect for a teacher before.

“Mr. Weasley?” Snape adds, almost as an afterthought, his eyes shifting from one to the other as if unsure which of them he’s addressing.

“Yessir?”

“Fifty points from Gryffindor.”

Fred and George smile at each other as they follow McGonagall into the hall.

Worth it.

They follow orders. Bilious and Gentian hit Umbridge with so many “accidental” hexes that she finally bans them from her classroom. Barnaby functions as a sort of a Patient Zero for Umbridge-itis. Barry uses his status as the quiet one to construct elaborate spells that have Umbridge’s classroom warping itself into odd shapes or growing spines out the walls or puffing up like a balloon and trapping her at the bottom. Nasturtium stands up in class one day and slams an epic poem about how teachers who don’t teach are useless and a sea sponge would do a better job of earning the salary.

Between them, they work to set up elaborate pranks and position Umbridge to catch the worst of it. After Dumbledore’s removal, Fred and George set off the best fireworks display Hogwarts has ever seen, and McGonagall gives Gryffindor one hundred points; Gentian and Bilius, usually the only ones still played in person by the Weasley twins, play Umbridge beautifully the next morning, fighting each other as usual and then turning ally, working together to attack her with flurries of squawking birds and flying, shitting replica nifflers.

When Umbridge twigs that they’re all working together she stands up in the middle of the Great Hall at dinner and demands that every Weasley in the place stand up.

Four Weasleys, all siblings, do so.

“Where are the rest of you?” she hisses to Ron, who looks clueless. Ginny cocks an eyebrow and looks to Fred and George speculatively. Umbridge turns to them and they smile like sharks.

Fred climbs up onto the table, George right on his heels. “Ladies and gentlemen, a performance by myself and my twin!”

George produces a potion, downs it, and becomes Gentian.

Fred narrates as George shifts between the various fictional cousins, ending by restoring his own appearance, putting on a pair of glasses, and becoming Barry. Snape slaps his face down into his hands. George finishes by announcing that these new appearance potions, and the fireworks, and a multitude of other products, would be available at 93 Diagon Alley, home to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

“Not so fast,” says Umbridge, holding out her wand. “The pair of you are going to be expelled—but first you are going to find out what happens to troublemakers in my school.”

“We’re not,” says George, “But let me tell you something: this is not, and will never be, your school.” He looks around at the students, at the teachers, at Snape and McGonagall standing a short distance away, and he and Fred wave their arms in a mirrored gesture to take in the whole student body, and they say, the pair of them together, “This is our school.”

The cheer from around them shakes the rafters.

Then they raise their wands and say, again in unison, “Accio brooms!”

The brooms make holes in the walls on their way in, and Fred and George mount them and soar up among the floating candles, and Fred has to cast a Sonorus Charm to make himself heard over the cheering.

“Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, number 93, Diagon Alley: Our new premises!”

And George waves to Peeves, who’s floating up there along with them, attracted by the promise of mayhem. “Give her hell from us.”

Peeves salutes, and Fred and George fly out the front door to freedom.

When they return to Hogwarts almost two years later, their time spent as the fake Weasleys serves all of Hogwarts well: the muggle munitions devices, some elaborate magical shielding, judiciously-applied daydream charms turned hallucinogenic means of luring the Death Eaters to shooting at false targets, and projectiles that created all manner of interesting effects, save the day for many people in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Fred never knows he came close to dying. George never knows he came close to losing his twin. They go back to Diagon Alley, afterwards, and as the world puts itself back together, they help people laugh.

@nyodrite @acrossthetallgreenriver @somehownagisa @willcraftapple11 @kunoichi-ume @nindorkfish

@chalkletters, @coconutice22 @lokifan @lurandah @notverygoodatflyingaeroplanes

Okay, but

Picture the following year

Fred and George are out of school now, as are Barry, Barnaby, Billious, Gentian, and Nasturtium Weasley.

That should be the end of it

And then in comes Floribunda Weasley

And no one knows who she is

And then the next year there’s Reginald Weasley, followed by Horace Weasley and Hogarth Weasley (also twins)

And every year there’s one or more Weasleys, even when there are no Weasleys enrolled in Hogwarts at all

One year there’s a class where all of the other students have disappeared and only Weasleys show up in their place

That one sends two teachers fleeing into the night, screaming

And this is how Weasleys become cryptids

Everyone knows about Weasleys and has stories about Weasleys, but everyone knows they aren’t really real

And future generations of actual Weasleys find themselves in the odd position where everyone knows that Weasleys aren’t actually real, so they can get away with anything

And Fred and George have an entire wall full of detention slips under the names of various Weasleys over the years that they love to show off

They’re proudest of the ones they had nothing to do with

My day: MADE

This has gotten even better since I last saw it. 

oc rivals meme- 2, 9, 20

2. Tallest Vs Shortest

Tallest is Masozi, my sweet Giraffe Centaur boy
Smallest is a toss up between Wocky, a 3 foot tall gnomish bard/goddess and Five Corners Menagerie (mostly because I’m not totally sure how tall Five is yet)

9. Darkest Backstory vs. Lightest Backstory

Lightest might be easier…
So..let’s see, if I narrow this down to characters who have both of their parents and grew up in relatively safe homes…

Dulcie becomes the obvious answer but her “starting point” for her story puts her at some elementary school age so she lacks any potential crisis some of my adult characters get. She’s a tiny pyromancer whose parents run a bakery and work with her to help control her powers while never making her feel bad about having them.

So if we shift gears and look only at adults then probably…Hope Forged in Flame?
She grew up in a loving and supportive household with both of her parents. She dreamed of being a great warrior and defending her home country, which her family supported. She achieved her dream after years of hard work when she joined the accompaniment at The Wall (defenders of the northern border) and the worst hardship she suffered in her backstory was the loss of most of her military unit on a mission north of the wall where she saved the only other living member of the unit and exalted in the process.
So yeah, she did pretty well for herself I think.

If that’s still too dark, Cynis Shunka’s only backstory trouble is that they ended up married to a lady who doesn’t really care much for them even though Shunka really wants to make the relationship work.

Darkest is harder.

Maybe…Doyle Mcready, whose family immigrated to the US from Ireland back when the US was absurdly racist against said immigrants, grew up in a household where alcoholism was a sad but present norm, fell into the same patterns, and then just as he was turning his life around as an adult lost his wife to a horrible tragedy. He spent untold amounts of time time-travelling in an attempt to save her but failed each and every time before finally giving up and deciding to jump forward to try and shake all of the memory of his pain. He ended up settling in just long enough before WW2 to get comfortable before joining the war effort. Nearly died twice in the war before travelling forward to like…now where he lives an unassuming life and drinks because he doesn’t know how else to deal with everything he’s been through.
….Yeah probably Doyle

Anyway moving on!

20. Shows the most Skin vs Covers the most skin

Shows the most Skin is Naila (in original Satyr form) who doesn’t believe in wearing clothes.
Runner up is Harmony of the Storm who is wearing a bikini top and a sarong whenever she can get away with it.

Covers the most skin is Red Sand Angel who, because she is always cold, is always in long sleeves, fingerless gloves, long pants, and her signature scarf.
Runner up is Marley who, because she is a vampire, has to cover up her body to protect it from the sun.

krugerevengeinej:

transitionaomie:

princessfailureee:

black-multiverse:

melaninboy:

HIGH SCHOOLERS ‼️‼️ COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS OKAY!!

Please don’t ever let anyone shame you for attending.

Do yourself a favor. Save money

no seriously. my biggest regret is going to a 4 year university when what i want to do doesn’t really require a college degree at all. and now i’m stuck with thousands in loans.

It is More than okay!!!! Please go

You can go to a community college to get your lower division coursework done and then transfer to a four year to finish your degree. The best part is once you go to community college it wipes the slate clean, so if you had bad grades in highschool they wont matter, as long as you do well in community college.

An important thing to note here though is, if you plan on transferring to a 4+ year college, do some research on if they will accept your community college credits.

Some (usually private) colleges will not allow you to transfer your community college credits. So do your research before picking your 4 year school.

caffeinewitchcraft:

theonlyleftydesk:

caffeinewitchcraft:

writing-prompt-s:

Congratulations, genius. You convinced your best friend, the Protagonist, not to marry the story’s Love Interest, and instead go off and have awesome adventures with you forever. But in doing so, you pissed off the Author.

After the third bandit ambush, the Unnecessary Character waits until the Protagonist falls asleep to turn an accusing look at the sky.

“Hey,” the Unnecessary Character says, jabbing a finger stupidly at the non-sentient array of stars, “you quit it. You quit it right now.”

The Unnecessary Character, henceforth known as TUC so as not to waste too many letters on them, looks rather rough. Their hair is a tangled mess from the swallows who’d mistaken the horrendous strands as nesting material.

“I know that was you,” TUC hisses. “Swallows use mud and spit to make their nests, not twigs.”

TUC is unaware that they actually look like dirt, just terrible, smelly dirt.

“This is a lot of unnecessary anger,” TUC says to the sky. “You’re the one who thought Ally needed a friend and now you’re mad that I’m being a friend to her? Josiah was a creep, you know. Maybe you think he was charming, but he’s borderline abusive. No, scratch that. He was straight up abusive.”

TUC’s main weakness has always been the inability to see the big picture. They don’t know that the Love Interest would do anything for the Protagonist, up to and including battling the dragon that would inevitable be coming to the castle.

TUC pales until they begin to resemble watery porridge. “The what?!”

Their voice is shrill and stupid. The pitch of it nearly wakes the poor, exhausted Protagonist who’s had it rough these past few nights with TUC waylaying her with their idiocy.

“Let’s…let’s swing back to the dragon later,” TUC says. They pinch the bridge of their nose, trying to ease the headache thinking so hard has given them. “Look, Josiah wanted to keep Ally in the castle, okay? Like, all the time. She’s an adventurer, dude, not a stay-at-home wife. And have you already forgotten how Josiah locked her in the dungeons when those rebel forces tried to break in? And then just forgot about her in the aftermath until she broke out?”

It’s not surprising that TUC has misinterpreted that lovely and gallant action. Ally is a lady, forced to work hard all her life to support her mean family. She needs someone to take care of her so she can finally be happy.

“Her mean–they were poor!” TUC says, missing the point completely. They direct a hideous look at the sky. “No, I’m not missing the point! Everyone in her family was worked to the bone, not just her! They all had to work insane hours just to pay taxes! Taxes, may I remind you, that Josiah and his father set!”

Keep reading

TUC woke the next morning to a strange clicking sound. Or, it felt like the next morning; they had no idea how many mornings it hat been, since they locked themselves in dire combat with the cruel, twisted being who was the director and creator of their world. Time there had become strange. Had it merely been last night since they railed at the sky, at the ruthless, irrational being?

Ally was still fast asleep, her face untroubled for once. TUC felt both happiness and relief; she, at least, would always be safe.

Now it was quiet for a moment, before the clicking started again.

A silver deer materialized in the forest in front of them. They jumped, startled, knowing that deer had not lived in those woods for years, since Josiah and his father and uncles and other nobles has hunted them to extinction there. He was fairly certain this one was in dire danger, just being there.

But–the deer was wearing a blue ribbon around its neck, and carrying a rolled up piece of paper in its mouth. It came close enough to drop the paper, then moved off a little ways, still watching them.

TUC picked up the scroll, bewildered, and unrolled it.

In glowing, mercury-bright writing, it said: I believe you. I have always believed in you.

I am an Fanfic Author, and I am here to save you from your Canon.

(This is amazing, what a great addition!)

TUC frowns at the scroll, perhaps wishing they knew how to read. Unfortunately, such things were often below the capabilities of–

You know I can read,” TUC says, their voice like fingernails on a chalkboard after their fitful night of sleep. “I would have slept great if it weren’t for you.” They roll up the scroll. “You didn’t write this, did you?”

TUC is hallucinating, a common affliction for those as embroiled in conspiracy as they. Their lips turn down into a frown, skin wrinkling unpleasantly as they look down.

“If you didn’t write this,” TUC says, the effort of thinking showing clearly on their face, “then that means you don’t have unilateral say in these events. Perhaps every moment you’ve designed exists concurrently with those moments provided by an outside source in your sphere. If that’s the case then–”

They break off as a whole flock of birds, seeing the terrible mess below, swoop down. Even when it is clear that TUC’s hair is not carrion, as they hoped, they continue to pelt towards their head with murderous purpose. They would have their revenge.

TUC, with far too much cruelty, drops the scroll and reaches for their bow in one motion. The first three arrows are lucky hits, scraping against the innocent creatures’ wings and sending them tragically plummeting to the ground. The rest of the flock, in fear, turn on an updraft and frantically fly away from the monstrous human.

“Nice,” TUC says, desperately attempting to appear they are not out of breath. They must be though–it must have taken great effort to ward off their fate. A hardly sustainable effort, one might say. TUC rolls their stupid eyes. “Birds aren’t going to do much, you know that. Don’t act like I just kicked a bunch of babies.”

TUC would kick  a bunch of babies. They just hadn’t had the chance yet. Instead, they’re bending down to pick up the scroll which definitely doesn’t exist.

“But it does,” TUC says, muttering like a fool. “And since it does, it would seem that I–” they smile “I have an ally.”

TUC’s mom has an ally.

stu-pot:

ciiriianan:

sadoeuphemist:

writing-prompt-s:

Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up.

Arepo built a temple in his field, a humble thing, some stones stacked up to make a cairn, and two days later a god moved in.

“Hope you’re a harvest god,” Arepo said, and set up an altar and burnt two stalks of wheat. “It’d be nice, you know.” He looked down at the ash smeared on the stone, the rocks all laid askew, and coughed and scratched his head. “I know it’s not much,” he said, his straw hat in his hands. “But – I’ll do what I can. It’d be nice to think there’s a god looking after me.”

The next day he left a pair of figs, the day after that he spent ten minutes of his morning seated by the temple in prayer. On the third day, the god spoke up.

“You should go to a temple in the city,” the god said. Its voice was like the rustling of the wheat, like the squeaks of fieldmice running through the grass. “A real temple. A good one. Get some real gods to bless you. I’m no one much myself, but I might be able to put in a good word?” It plucked a leaf from a tree and sighed. “I mean, not to be rude. I like this temple. It’s cozy enough. The worship’s been nice. But you can’t honestly believe that any of this is going to bring you anything.”

“This is more than I was expecting when I built it,” Arepo said, laying down his scythe and lowering himself to the ground. “Tell me, what sort of god are you anyway?”

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said. “The worms that churn beneath the earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath your teeth. I’m a god of a dozen different nothings, scraps that lead to rot, momentary glimpses. A change in the air, and then it’s gone.”

The god heaved another sigh. “There’s no point in worship in that, not like War, or the Harvest, or the Storm. Save your prayers for the things beyond your control, good farmer. You’re so tiny in the world. So vulnerable. Best to pray to a greater thing than me.”

Arepo plucked a stalk of wheat and flattened it between his teeth. “I like this sort of worship fine,” he said. “So if you don’t mind, I think I’ll continue.”

“Do what you will,” said the god, and withdrew deeper into the stones. “But don’t say I never warned you otherwise.”

Arepo would say a prayer before the morning’s work, and he and the god contemplated the trees in silence. Days passed like that, and weeks, and then the Storm rolled in, black and bold and blustering. It flooded Arepo’s fields, shook the tiles from his roof, smote his olive tree and set it to cinder. The next day, Arepo and his sons walked among the wheat, salvaging what they could. The little temple had been strewn across the field, and so when the work was done for the day, Arepo gathered the stones and pieced them back together.

“Useless work,” the god whispered, but came creeping back inside the temple regardless. “There wasn’t a thing I could do to spare you this.”

“We’ll be fine,” Arepo said. “The storm’s blown over. We’ll rebuild. Don’t have much of an offering for today,” he said, and laid down some ruined wheat, “but I think I’ll shore up this thing’s foundations tomorrow, how about that?” 

The god rattled around in the temple and sighed.

A year passed, and then another. The temple had layered walls of stones, a roof of woven twigs. Arepo’s neighbors chuckled as they passed it. Some of their children left fruit and flowers. And then the Harvest failed, the gods withdrew their bounty. In Arepo’s field the wheat sprouted thin and brittle. People wailed and tore their robes, slaughtered lambs and spilled their blood, looked upon the ground with haunted eyes and went to bed hungry. Arepo came and sat by the temple, the flowers wilted now, the fruit shriveled nubs, Arepo’s ribs showing through his chest, his hands still shaking, and murmured out a prayer. 

“There is nothing here for you,” said the god, hudding in the dark. “There is nothing I can do. There is nothing to be done.” It shivered, and spat out its words. “What is this temple but another burden to you?”

“We -” Arepo said, and his voice wavered. “So it’s a lean year,” he said. “We’ve gone through this before, we’ll get through this again. So we’re hungry,” he said. “We’ve still got each other, don’t we? And a lot of people prayed to other gods, but it didn’t protect them from this. No,” he said, and shook his head, and laid down some shriveled weeds on the altar. “No, I think I like our arrangement fine.”

“There will come worse,” said the god, from the hollows of the stone. “And there will be nothing I can do to save you.”

The years passed. Arepo rested a wrinkled hand upon the temple of stone and some days spent an hour there, lost in contemplation with the god.

And one fateful day, from across the wine-dark seas, came War.

Arepo came stumbling to his temple now, his hand pressed against his gut, anointing the holy site with his blood. Behind him, his wheat fields burned, and the bones burned black in them. He came crawling on his knees to a temple of hewed stone, and the god rushed out to meet him.

“I could not save them,” said the god, its voice a low wail. “I am sorry. I am sorry. I am so so sorry.” The leaves fell burning from the trees, a soft slow rain of ash. “I have done nothing! All these years, and I have done nothing for you!”

“Shush,” Arepo said, tasting his own blood, his vision blurring. He propped himself up against the temple, forehead pressed against the stone in prayer. “Tell me,” he mumbled. “Tell me again. What sort of god are you?”

“I -” said the god, and reached out, cradling Arepo’s head, and closed its eyes and spoke.

“I’m of the fallen leaves,” it said, and conjured up the image of them. “The worms that churn beneath the
earth. The boundary of forest and of field. The first hint of frost
before the first snow falls. The skin of an apple as it yields beneath
your teeth.” Arepo’s lips parted in a smile.

“I am the god of a dozen different nothings,” it said. “The petals in bloom that lead to
rot, the momentary glimpses. A change in the air -” Its voice broke, and it wept. “Before it’s gone.”

“Beautiful,” Arepo said, his blood staining the stones, seeping into the earth. “All of them. They were all so beautiful.”

And as the fields burned and the smoke blotted out the sun, as men were trodden in the press and bloody War raged on, as the heavens let loose their wrath upon the earth, Arepo the sower lay down in his humble temple, his head sheltered by the stones, and returned home to his god.

Sora found the temple with the bones within it, the roof falling in upon them.

“Oh, poor god,” she said, “With no-one to bury your last priest.” Then she paused, because she was from far away. “Or is this how the dead are honored here?” The god roused from its contemplation.

“His name was Arepo,” it said, “He was a sower.”

Sora startled, a little, because she had never before heard the voice of a god. “How can I honor him?” She asked.

“Bury him,” the god said, “Beneath my altar.”

“All right,” Sora said, and went to fetch her shovel.

“Wait,” the god said when she got back and began collecting the bones from among the broken twigs and fallen leaves. She laid them out on a roll of undyed wool, the only cloth she had. “Wait,” the god said, “I cannot do anything for you. I am not a god of anything useful.”

Sora sat back on her heels and looked at the altar to listen to the god.

“When the Storm came and destroyed his wheat, I could not save it,” the god said, “When the Harvest failed and he was hungry, I could not feed him. When War came,” the god’s voice faltered. “When War came, I could not protect him. He came bleeding from the battle to die in my arms.” Sora looked down again at the bones.

“I think you are the god of something very useful,” she said.

“What?” the god asked.

Sora carefully lifted the skull onto the cloth. “You are the god of Arepo.”

Generations passed. The village recovered from its tragedies—homes
rebuilt, gardens re-planted, wounds healed. The old man who once lived on the
hill and spoke to stone and rubble had long since been forgotten, but the
temple stood in his name. Most believed it to empty, as the god who resided
there long ago had fallen silent. Yet, any who passed the decaying shrine felt an ache
in their hearts, as though mourning for a lost friend. The cold that seeped
from the temple entrance laid their spirits low, and warded off any potential
visitors, save for the rare and especially oblivious children who would leave tiny
clusters of pink and white flowers that they picked from the surrounding
meadow.

The god sat in his peaceful home, staring out at the distant
road, to pedestrians, workhorses, and carriages, raining leaves that swirled
around bustling feet. How long had it been? The world had progressed without
him, for he knew there was no help to be given. The world must be a cruel place, that even the useful gods have abandoned,
if farms can flood, harvests can run barren, and homes can burn,
he
thought.

He had come to understand that humans are senseless
creatures, who would pray to a god that cannot grant wishes or bless upon them
good fortune. Who would maintain a temple and bring offerings with nothing in
return. Who would share their company and meditate with such a fruitless deity.
Who would bury a stranger without the hope for profit. What bizarre, futile
kindness they had wasted on him. What wonderful, foolish, virtuous, hopeless
creatures, humans were.

So he painted the sunset with yellow leaves, enticed the
worms to dance in their soil, flourished the boundary between forest and field
with blossoms and berries, christened the air with a biting cold before winter
came, ripened the apples with crisp, red freckles to break under sinking teeth,
and a dozen other nothings, in memory of the man who once praised the god’s
work on his dying breath.

“Hello, God of Every Humble Beauty in the World,” called a
familiar voice.

The squinting corners of the god’s eyes wept down onto
curled lips. “Arepo,” he whispered, for his voice was hoarse from its hundred-year
mutism.

“I am the god of devotion, of small kindnesses, of
unbreakable bonds. I am the god of selfless, unconditional love, of everlasting
friendships, and trust,” Arepo avowed, soothing the other with every word.

“That’s wonderful, Arepo,” he responded between tears, “I’m
so happy for you—such a powerful figure will certainly need a grand temple. Will
you leave to the city to gather more worshippers? You’ll be adored by all.”

“No,” Arepo smiled.

“Farther than that, to the capitol, then? Thank you for
visiting here before your departure.”

“No, I will not go there, either,” Arepo shook his head and
chuckled.

“Farther still? What ambitious goals, you must have. There
is no doubt in my mind that you will succeed, though,” the elder god continued.

“Actually,” interrupted Arepo, “I’d like to stay here, if
you’ll have me.”

The other god was struck speechless. “…. Why would you want
to live here?”

“I am the god of unbreakable bonds and everlasting
friendships. And you are the god of Arepo.”