#thorrned

OK SO 

HIGHKEY IN THEIR CANON STORY

a peculiar grasshopper was perched on a windowsill near the visitor, halfway hidden behind some ferns. its red eyes glittered in the sun like tiny jewels.

💗 if you are willing to ship our muses platonically.

@thorrned​:

💗 (weird nature entity solidarity hello <3)

twitch didn’t like rain. it soaked into his branches and made him cold and oddly drowsy. this was a strong storm as well, with rumbling thunder and dark clouds overhead. twitch needed to dig his claws into the ground to keep the wind from blowing him away.

normally, he’d wriggle under the roots of a tree and wait for the storm to pass. this time, he stumbled upon a building. timberhounds rarely thought twice when an urge struck them. twitch wanted someplace warm and dry. this seemed ideal. so he crept around until he found a spot to squeeze his way inside.

shivering, twitch shook water from his spindly form and looked around, surveying his surroundings. wood carvings. on one hand, he felt at home. on the other hand, the wooden creature briefly wondered whether he was in danger of being carved up himself. maybe he should have sought shelter elsewhere.

such spellcraft was foreign to them.   to breathe life into carved wood with what only looked like a step-by-step recipe to them,  to treat magic as though it wasn’t the air and blood they shared with nature and the world itself,  but a tool they could hold in their hands as deliberately as a wrench or a knife.   it was unfamiliar.   bewildering.   obscure.

then,  perhaps,  this was exactly why orin found themself so intent on unravelling it.

they raised a hand ---the famous ‘time-out’ gesture--- and retrieved their phone,  notes app already stacking all the things they wished to express in a hopefully coherent pile.    

I don’t know if I can use this kind of magic, but I want to try. Can you show me how you do it? I learn better by watching.

Onya leaned in to stare at the app, nodding. She understood well enough. “I see, you want to observe my homunculus creation magic up close and personal?” Her tone was as dull and lifeless as her expression, but that was normal for her. 

She would be accommodating for a coworker. 

nonverbal meme prompts - accepting

beth hadn’t stolen the treehouse. she was just… borrowing it. until its owner remembered it existed.

in any case, it was a nice shelter, especially during thunderstorms like this. a decently-sized shelter, too; clearly designed for more than one person (siblings, maybe, or perhaps friends). beth had nearly dozed off, burrowed into a blanket she’d found tucked in a chest in one corner, when a faint sound reached her sensitive ears through the rainfall pounding on the roof. the snap of a branch. maybe just the wind, or an animal. still, something tugged at her to check.

blinking the bleariness from her eyes, she crawled to the hatch in the floor, opened it, and looked down into the drenched undergrowth. the ladder on the tree trunk rattled in the wind. clouds shadowed the forest. even so, she spotted… a figure. a person?

"You were at least yay high last time I saw you." Gesturing a little above his short stature. "It's been what, a few years? Or has it been longer? Oh stars, I can barely keep track of the living anymore, it's so difficult!" He laughs, the sound resounding like a distant chime of a door being opened into a jury hall.

"Ah well."

"As usual, everyone is a bunch of idiots. Aside from the people that I live with, of course. And you." He shrugs. "Do you know how hard it is being impassive towards people who always come to you when they're so awfully desperate for the same things? It REEKS of the same old game. It's boring. I'm kind of glad for having Delun around. They make this repetitive a little less inane. Make things fun for me. Make the nighttime, fun, in a way. I won't bombard you with that, because I know that flusters you." He chuckles.

"Or at least, I know you don't want to hear the sexual escapades of your elders again, for the third week in a row. As much as I love to talk about it."

"Even so. One of my smaller deals got interrupted for no good reason. All because some girl didn't decide to talk it all the way through with me and then got upset when it wasn't what she wanted. Young dragons and their nonsense. I swear, I should just make it a personal rule to only deal with ancient dragons who KNOW what they talk about and how to make a deal. Their kids rush into things. And get this! That girl's friends got mad at me too. What a sore loser of a friend group. Like I'M the one at fault for her getting her britches in a twist over not being better at negotiating terms of agreement and reading through the fine print. I even did what I always do and offer to rearrange the whole deal at least once. She STILL got upset. Kids."

He rolls his eyes.

"Now I have a stars-cursed void reality bender trying to get into my head with some psychology tricks or whatever, thinking that he's some hot shot or something. He's no better. Like I haven't been alive for the birth and death of more than a few universes. Like I haven't seen beings like him come into existence and then be killed and eaten and torn to bits. He is nothing to me. I'm more scared of that Pisces fellow than I am of him."

He shakes his head.

"Anyway, how are you doing lately, Orin? Develop your powers yet?"