#sphinx librarian

[regency-monster-love]

Hello! I'm submitting a request for Monster March.

18. Sphinx

I'm not sure if you wanted prompts, so feel free to ignore, but I was thinking of a heroine on a knowledge quest. She must best the Sphinx to either gain access to a library he's guarding or maybe he'll answer any one question. I'm sure you're getting tons of requests so I understand if you don't get to this one. Thank you!

Thank you for this ask! I adapted your idea to make it Regency, but there is still a woman on a knowledge quest of sorts and still a sphinx with a library. I hope you enjoy!

Monster March, day 18: sphinx

Male sphinx x female human | Regency era | enemies to …? | SFW

“Are you sure there isn't another book I can fetch you?” came the deep purr from over her shoulder.

The woman glared down at her book, refusing to give the sphinx the satisfaction of looking at him. “No, thank you. I have precisely what I need right here.” Her words carried a sharp edge that did little to hide her annoyance.

“Do you, though?” he mused, and she grit her teeth. “Are you sure you have precisely the right texts for your little research project?”

That got her to whip her head around to him, curse him. “What is it?” she snapped in a half-whisper. “Just tell me what I stupidly missed because you're so much more intelligent and educated than I, so I can get on with my work without your incessant interruptions!”

The worst of it was, the arrogant sphinx who ran this library was more intelligent and educated than her. He seemed to know everything. And he made sure everyone he interacted with knew that.

The sphinx waved his tail lazily in the air as if her tone hadn't disturbed him in the least. He was even smiling slightly. Smirking, would be more accurate. It made him even more devastatingly handsome. Brains and looks—it was a good thing he was so colossally unpleasant, so she wouldn't be tempted. Goodness, she despised him.

“Please keep your voice low in my library. You'll disturb the other patrons.”

Her face heated in fury. “Disturb!” she hissed, and saw a tremor run through the feathers of his wings. “You're the one—” She cut herself off with a frustrated but hushed noise and leaned back over the book she'd been making annotations from. She would be steadfast in ignoring him. No matter if he had some other source she needed. She would not ask him what it was.

He was silent behind her for quite some time. What was he doing, just staring at her? What a distasteful male, to be able to annoy someone even when silent and unseen.

Suddenly a book slid onto the desk from beside her. She startled and looked up to find the sphinx pushing it toward her. He must have padded away and back silently on those giant lion paws of his. Even that annoyed the woman.

“You’ll need this,” he said smoothly.

She narrowed her eyes at him, unable to read the expression on his face, and unsure what he was playing at by fetching the book for her.

Then his face shifted into that infuriating smirk he usually wore. “As a devotee of knowledge, it pains me to see anyone doing such a poor job at their research,” he said by way of explanation.

Of course—the book had just been an insult. She frowned deeply at him. “You're fortunate that your collection is unmatched, otherwise I would not hesitate to leave and utilize a different library run by those who are actually civil,” she whispered. But she didn't push the book away; she probably did need it for her research. She certainly would not tell him thank you, however.

“Oh, yes, that would be a grave misfortune indeed, to lose your patronage,” he drawled with a bored expression, though his tail was flicking about. “I'd be devastated,” he sneered.

She growled at him—actually honest to goodness growled—and watched him startle, his eyebrows shooting up and wings jerking for a moment, before quickly composing himself again. The woman gave him a triumphant smile; she had been the one to ruffle him for once.

She waved a hand at him dismissively. “I'll inform you if you're needed again. Off you go, now.”

For once, he didn't make any snide response back, just stared at her, and she looked back at her books, feigning indifference. It looked like she had won this battle, and hopefully that was the last skirmish he'd engage her in today. She despised having to struggle with him constantly. What a hateful male he was.

~ 😈🎩 ~

I gotta be honest, I'm kind of in love with these two and tempted to write more. Wouldn't they have amazing angry sex? I think he might like her degrading him too; I'm not even into degradation, really, but it sounds hot here…

Lending libraries in the Regency period were private establishments you had to pay a subscription to. I’m not sure whether they included academic texts or if research-focused libraries existed outside of universities, however, and didn’t want to research this for such a little ficlet. So let’s just say that in my monstrous version of Regency England, research libraries were open to the public, provided you paid a fee, just like lending libraries.

Thanks to @borealwrites for their Monster March prompt list.

Read all of my Regency monster ficlets and snippets at the tag #my writing or my master list.

[thecontrarianlibrarian]

A quick five minute ink sketch of a librarian sphinx

May 22 2019

[jaesmart]

Wedding Centerpiece Dragons: 7/11

Arthronax was our party's secretive patron while we were still operating out of Morgrave University in Sharn, giving us missions from the shadows in exchange for highly valuable magical items. We knew little of his goals initially — only that he was a member of The Chamber, a secret society of dragons, and he sought to steer the fulfillment of the Draconic Prophecy to his own ends. We discovered fragments of the prophecy in unexpected places like the patterns in a tiger's hide or the studies of Flamewind, Morgrave's resident librarian sphinx. His gifts to us included a Fungal Staff for our spore druid, a legendary bow called Ionbreaker for our risk consultant ranger, and a dragon-forged blade. In the end, his corrupted, villainous designs turned Morgrave into a dragon-controlled hellscape. He bent Flamewind to his will with a psionic crystal embedded in her neck and attempted to free Tiamat from her prison.

[ladykailitha]

Well By Moonlight Part 15

Sorry for this being so late, I thought I set it up last night but hasn't been kind to me the last couple of days with the move.

This week we get all our old favorites back as I work through my backlog. The final chapter of Sweet Surrender will be out on Saturday.

This is another Nancy centric chapter as she tries to track down the wisp of her memories.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

~

Nancy’s first stop was the library. Because as much as Steve’s comments galled her, she knew in his goofy, big-hearted way was right. She needed to find out about what happened fifteen years ago. Maybe even further than that. But fifteen years was a good place to start.

She drove into town. As strange as that was to think of, most of the pack had cars of some sort. Steve just preferred to travel in wolf form when he could and now she knew why.

She had met a couple of conspiracy nut jobs in her time as a reporter for their school newspaper, but there was something about this that felt bigger than it looked on the outside.

Nancy walked into the library and flashed her pack ID to the librarian. She was going to a specific part of the library, one only available to Domini, alphas, and Wayne Munson. The records of supernatural entities.

She strolled to a secure door that librarian unlocked from a button under her desk, and waited until the door swung open. It revealed a dark and winding stairway that with her enhanced vision she was able to traverse without issue.

She reached the bottom of the stair and smiled at the sight before her. Perched on a table like a gargoyle was Eddie, who was watching his uncle read. She cleared her throat.

Both men looked up at her in surprise.

“Nancy!” Eddie cried. “What brings you to the coolest place in the library?”

She raised her eyebrow at Wayne. “Is he supposed to be here?”

“Family. It’s allowed,” he smiled.

She neared the table to peer over Wayne’s shoulder. “What are you guys looking up?”

Eddie and Wayne shared a look.

“Steve told me everything,” Nancy said primly. “About Tommy, the attack on Patrick. His past. His fears about where all this is coming from.”

“Oh.” Eddie blinked at her a moment. “Wayne and I are trying to find which supe is scentless or as near to as a supe can get. Why are you here?”

Nancy thought about it for a moment and had to concede that if Steve trusted them, she had no reason to not to as well.

“I’m looking into the circumstances of Steve’s fostering and the events leading up to that,” she said, coming over to sit down across from Wayne. “There is something that I only vaguely remember about that time that sticks in my mind and I’m hoping that by going through the records I can find something that sparks that memory.”

Wayne scratched his chin. “I’m working on the angle that whatever it was that attacked Patrick was the same one that killed Steve’s parents.”

Nancy blinked at him a moment and then pulled the book over to her so she could see what they were looking at more clearly.

“I could smell it,” she murmured. “So it’s something that werewolves can scent, but harder for vampires to do the same.”

She turned the book around as Eddie and Wayne shared a glance. She went flipping through the pages.

“There are a few supernatural beings that it could be,” she continued. “We tend to forget about the ones that don’t transform in someway. We think of werewolves, sirens, gwyllgi, selkie and the like. Even vampires have a higher form that they transform into. But there are creatures like the cat sìth and djinn that don’t transform. What you see is what you get.”

“You’re thinking that whatever this beastie is, is a cryptid?” Wayne asked, watching her flip the through the pages faster than his slow, methodic research.

Nancy spun the book around. On the page there were three such creatures. The sphinx, the chimera, and the manticore.

“My bet is on one of these,” she said curtly, standing up. “Now that you know what you’re looking for, if you’ll excuse me, I have my own research to do.”

Eddie and Wayne just exchanged eye rolls before Eddie got up and pulled out books on the beasts, splitting the pile in half and handing a stack to Wayne.

Nancy pulled out this huge portfolio and it landed on the table with a horrid thud, sending up a cloud of dust.

Eddie waved the air in front of his face, not that it would make him cough or irritate his eyes since becoming a vampire, but it was annoyance nonetheless.

“Don’t they have those things on microfiche?” he asked with a glare. They were there first and she was acting like they were bothering her.

Nancy rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I want to see the originals.”

It took everything in Eddie’s power not to roll his eyes back at her and just buried his head into the research he was doing. He began jotting down things about the chimera that might fit the beast they were looking for.

Wayne had only gotten through two chapters of the sphinx when he shook his head.

“Not a sphinx,” he said gruffly. “They have far too many rules to want to ally with at cat sìth for anything short of an all out war between the fae.”

Eddie nodded, he had ruled them out based on DND rules, but didn’t want to say anything in front of Miss Snooty. He handed Wayne all the books he had on the manticore, his mind on the task in front of him.

Tat, tat, tat...

His pen flicked back and forth in his fingers as read about chimeras. There were different kinds but always a serpent tail, a feline body, and a capra head. The freaky thing breathed honest to god fire.

He thought about the beast that attacked Patrick, the one that Steve had apparently fought off by himself.

Neither of the two men had any indication that they had burn marks on them. Granted it was harder to tell with Steve. The transformation healed most wounds, going either direction. From wolf to human and vice versa.

Tat, tat, tat...

He looked up to see an exchange between Nancy and Wayne. She looked murderous, but Wayne’s steely glare kept her mouth shut. His glance darted back and forth between the two of them in confusion.

“His tapping is driving me crazy,” she finally hissed.

Wayne licked his lips nice and slow and leveled her with a look that could have curdled three generations cows’ of milk.

“And we were here first,” he said coldly. “You are here on a hunch. And probably a damn good one, but if we don’t find out what is stalking the streets of Hawkins, one of the pups could be next, so you will show him the respect you would give me.”

Her jaw that had been hanging open slammed shut.

Eddie snorted and tapped again just to annoy her. Nancy glared at him.

“She doesn’t respect you is the problem, Uncle Wayne. It’s why she wouldn’t let you watch their moon night. Something that if had been allowed wouldn’t have resulted in a brand new werewolf, the ire of the coven, and rampaging beast on the loose, because you would have been there to help Steve take it out.”

Wayne’s glare turned to ice. “Is that so?”

Nancy gulped. Hard. For all Wayne Munson’s down to earth looks and speech she had forgotten that he was a centuries old being with more experience in his left pinkie than she did in all her days on this earth.

She knew she didn’t have a real leg to stand on when she threatened Steve about either of these two vampires watching over her pack, but knew that he would go along with her because he didn’t understand pack pecking order.

But she held her chin high. “I have no reason to trust any vampire, but especially not a Bitten.”

“Do you know what happens when a vampire is turned?” Wayne asked her darkly.

“I know the technical aspects of it,” she replied haughtily. “But as I am not a vampire, I can only speak metaphorically.”

Again Eddie snorted, rolling his eyes. “You’re not bitten anything. You’ve got werewolf blood in you going back generations on both sides. Your privilege is showing, princess.”

“It’s not like werewolf biting either,” Wayne said ignoring them both. “Steve asked Patrick permission to bite him. It didn’t always used to be that way, but it’s so ingrained in werewolf society that they aren’t aware that they can turn a person into a wolf, provided that person is an alpha. But it’s a soft process. A healing one.”

Nancy frowned, chewing on her lip. “And vampire turning isn’t? I thought Steve asked Billy why he didn’t heal Patrick.”

Wayne nodded. “Because vampire turning requires blood to be exchanged. To just heal Patrick all it would have taken is for Billy to drink his blood. The venom in their saliva has healing properties so that their victims don’t go tattling to everyone and anyone they’d been bit.”

“So even if Billy had merely tried to heal Patrick and get his allegiance in exchange for his life, he still would have sprang the trap set for him?” she asked.

Eddie nodded. “Whoever is pulling the strings on this whole thing knows a lot about vampires, just not enough about Billy.”

Wayne hummed his agreement. “This person is wily and cunning, but their plans keep getting foiled by Steve, so unless you want your alpha dead, you’ll let us work in peace.”

Nancy looked down at the folio in front of her a moment before speaking. “What’s so different about a vampire turning over a werewolf one?”

Wayne turned to Eddie. “You’ve gone through it more recently than I have. You can tell her if you want, but I won’t make you.”

Eddie set his jaw. “It’s like a fire consuming you. Burning out your very blood, your very breath. It literally kills you. That’s why born vampires look down on us, because we’re not living. We will never live again. But unlike Wayne, I chose this willingly. Not because I was going to die anyway. Which is how it usually goes. They turn you and then turn you loose.”

She blanched and her eyes went wide. “Why would they do that?”

“Because, Miss Wheeler,” Wayne said fiercely, “because they got too careless and needed to make a quick getaway. Turn a person into a vampire, send the poor crazed bastard out on the populous, and watch the destruction from afar.”

“‘Cause, if the town’s folk are chasing a rampaging beast,” Eddie sneered, “then they won’t look too closely at the lord who left in the middle of the night.”

Nancy could barely breathe. “That’s awful. Why would anyone willing chose to go through all that pain and torment?”

“Because I would rather die,” Eddie said solemnly, “and going through the agonies of undeath than lose the one person in my life who gave a damn for longer than my use to them.”

She looked between them both and then nodded. She went back to her work without further comment or complaint.

Eddie waited a few more moments to make sure she wasn’t going to say anything else. Then he turned to Wayne. “It’s not a chimera, either. It’s got to be a manticore.”

Wayne looked down at his pile of books, his expression ashen.

“May god save us all.”

~

Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @goodolefashionedloverboi

3- @fullpoetrybread @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @bookworm0690 @littlewildflowerkitten @just-a-tiny-void @potato-of-the-lord @thelittleclare

5- @goosesister @tinyplanet95 @she-collects-smut @irregular-child @y4r3luv

6- @fairytalesreality @anaibis @papergrenade @ravenfrog @blondie1006 @dreamercec

7- @thedragonsaunt @sadisticaltarts

[stockpilelena]

Day 60 Lena Challenge

Didn't end up finishing this month's pfp the next day so I decided to sketch a bit more around my story, featuring a certain Goddess that's been on my mind for a little while. In the world of DCO (Divinity: Crown Origin), Cerberus the Librarian is an existence made up of a Trinity of catlike women known as the past, the present and the future. Her domain directly oversees fate and choice, and she is known for her fascination in storytelling.

She is one of the younger siblings in the pantheon, made up of the Allsire's fingers, giving her the ability to take the silken threads of fate and weave them into her Tapestry of Life; an infinite scroll made up of every single existence in the living realm keeping track of their choices, their life and even their future. Even a single glance at her Tapestry could give you insight into the minds of the Gods. They say if you can win her over, she'll weave a single thread in your favour, but if you fail, she'll pull your thread right out of the Tapestry and end your story right then and there. One of the more unpredictable Gods, she's quick to anger and quick to please, but the temptation to directly change one's fate draws in all sorts of creatures to persuade her. Including other Gods.

An old fable speaks of how she once was a single entity, but torn apart by her own envy, she broke her special gift in 3 pieces and each of her clutched their single piece instead of staying together. Like Homer Simpson clutching the delicious treats in the vending machine preventing his arms from escaping, Cerberus is trapped by her own desire to hold onto something which is what keeps her apart from herself, she is driven to always be separated as 3 and until she releases her broken treasure, she will always be 3.

I'm not particularly sure what her full figure is going to be whether it'll be more like a Sphinx, a satyr or a centaur , but as her first sketch, I visually wanted something striking and almost unnerving, similar to the creature designs in Deadman Wonderland. When Gods or Goddesses in DCO appear in the living realm, they're always supposed to look out of place despite being directly involved with its creation. All of them have something off-putting about them, for Cerberus, it's her hair and eyes, but also her mannerisms are more catlike than human. Her body moves like a fluid and reacts instinctively like an animal, but she speaks with great intellect and cadence. Also when she talks, it's usually the 3 of them speaking in turn, like finishing each other's sentences, though you never know which one will speak next. When she's serious, you will have all 3 of their undivided attention as they speak together as one.

[evergreen-lodge]

At some point I’m sure, whether from an old English class or perhaps the History channel, somewhere along the timeline of your life you’ve heard some of the Old Stories. Heroes like Perseus slaying the Gorgon, or Cú Chulainn the Irish giant, indestructible during his riastradh. I’m absolutely positive you must’ve heard of us ‘monsters’, if nothing else. Creatures like dragons, laying waste to country sides, stealing gold and cattle, or the ever notorious werewolves or chupacabras, both banes of civilization in their own rights. Perhaps an old enigmatic Sphinx, now content to tell stories, hmm? Nobody enjoys riddles anymore anyway.

Now what if I told you the stories were true? Yes yes, ridiculous I know, but believe in something more for just a moment. Creatures of great and terrible might, men and women capable of bending the elements to their needs, gods themselves, roaming the earth seeking worshippers to nourish themselves with faith. Of course, not all of the tall tales were true, at least not yet, but we’ll get to that later. For now, simply believe, and open your eyes to see the truth.

The world is still full of magic.

That being said, it’s not the exact same as the stories would lead you to believe. Monsters hardly ever eat anyone anymore, and magic has been regulated to be much more… user friendly. Safer. No more of that ‘flooding the earth’ or ‘raining fire from the sky’ nonsense. Much more manageable. See, a few thousand years back, the magical world figured something out: even if we did die, we’d come back eventually. Extinct leviathans that hadn’t been seen in centuries once again swam the seas, vanquished spirits haunted their same old halls, even the heroes of old were born anew in time. Live. Die. Repeat. After a while, we realized why:

It was the stories, our stories, still being told by you humans. It was the anchor of our existence, tethered so deep into the collective unconscious of humanity that it kept us alive, eons after anything flesh should have withered away. And so we became the Lorekind, beings burning so bright and full of life, empowered by the ghost stories told by humans huddled around the fire. We needed the world of man, and the world still needed something to believe in, even if only subconsciously. And so a new system was put into effect, with safeguards on all sides, as fair as anyone could get.

The mythological world and the world of men are now overseen by a force known only as the Evergreen Lodge, a super pact of Gods, Monsters, Immortals, and Men, bound by law and magic to keep the worlds alive and stable. No side with any advantage over the other, but protected from man and monster alike by man and monster alike. Their agents safeguard the world from dangers, both supernatural and manmade. Quite honestly, this is my new favorite era of heroes. I myself, while not an agent, am their Chief Librarian, and a founding member of the Lodge. You may call me Phix.

I tell their stories.

Be sure to repeat them.

[epickiya722]

No, seriously want to write a MirrorMask AU for some of the JJK cast.

Helena - Yuji

Anti-Helena - Sukuna

Queen of Light/Joanne - Kaori

Queen of Shadows - Kaori!Kenjaku

Valentine - Megumi

Prime Minister/Morris - Jin

Aunt Nan - Wasuke

I'm also thinking the curses as the creatures from that film (like the Sphinxes), other appearances from the other characters like Gojo as the Librarian.

Just brainstorming!

[thenopequeen]

Silly Game Time: After a long and exemplary career, the Great Sphinx has decided to retire from guarding the Pyramids (round of applause for the Greay Sphinx).

Who/What do you nominate to fill this vacancy and become the new guardian of the Pyramids?

Every librarian who worked to keep the government from making lists of people who had checked out certain books they were planning to ban. Truly our strongest warriors

[so-scarlett-maroon]

2023 Fanfiction Writing Recap!

This year was my first ever writing fanfiction (I began writing around May). So, I thought I would do a little round-up of my favorite things I wrote and some achievements I've reached.

Number of Fics Posted: 15

Words Posted: 189,059

My Most Popular Fic (Also my longest): Unity Pairing and Bed Sharing.

Number of Taylor Swift Easter Eggs I Planted: Total- 13 Unity Pairing and Bed Sharing- 3 The Professor and the Librarian-1 The House That Black Built-1 We're Nott Friends -1 Hermione Granger and Pub Quiz That Changed Her Life-1 The Auror the Swot and the Sphinx-1 Foolish Acts of Bravery -1 Doubts and Presumptions-2 How To Solve a Love Triangle-1 Stupid Dangerous Things-1

My Smuttiest Fics: Watching, Waiting, Anticipating Invisible Desires How To Solve a Love Triangle Draco Malfoy and the Magic Wand

My Fluffiest Fics: The Professor and the Librarian The House That Black Built Hermione Granger And The Pub Quiz That Changed Her Life The Auror the Swot and the Sphinx

My Rare Pair Fics: Theomione- We're Nott Friends  Panville- How Pansy Got Neville

My Triad Fics: How To Solve a Love Triangle Doubts and Presumptions (also my current WIP updates weekly!) My First Series: Foolish Acts (updates monthly-ish)

My Most Overlooked Fic: Absolute Fax (Look, I know a fanfiction about a fax machine sounds weird, but I think it's some cute fluff and smut!)

Thank you so much to everyone who read or commented on anything I wrote. It means so much to me! Also, thank you to all the incredible new fandom friends I have met through this community! I feel so lucky to know you! I am in constant awe of the beautiful work you all create. I am so excited for another year of working with you all and being in this lovely community! Happy New Year!

Xx Scarlett

[stesierra]

Find the Word tag!

@sm-writes-chaos tagged me! My words are: Star, fall, help, great. I'm going to draw from Stitches and Memories!

I'm going to tag @macabremoons, @dyrewrites, @bluberimufim and @aziz-reads and anyone else who wants to play! Your words are sympathy, cruel, kind and rough.

Star

That night, they had to settle for a pasture for their bed. Antea wrapped herself snugly in her blanket and kept her dress on, but plants still poked in, prodding and scratching at the back of her neck. She struggled not to think about ticks and tall grass and lay staring up at the stars that melted across the sky and breathing in the sappy, green smell of broken grass. She asked the night sky, with all its beautiful constellations of the gods, "Jedan? With the bandit..."

"Yes?" His voice was guarded.

"Can you light up like that anytime?"

A long pause followed. "That's a really minor perk of being favored, yes."

"Give me some light. I want to read my book."

Something rustled, then warm golden light washed over her, illuminating every blade of grass and creeping insect that surrounded her. Jedan was sitting up in his own hollow in the grass, holding his glowing hand towards the sky. For a brief moment, every visible inch of his skin glowed as if he had turned into a firefly, and Antea caught her breath. The glow dimmed back down to his hand, and he said, "I'm not going to do this all night."

Antea grinned at him, her heart warm with wonder. "Just a few pages." And she stretched out of her blanket to dig out the book. It was nestled at the bottom of her bag, and despite the cool night, the cover felt warm under her hands. She skipped the first page because she'd already had that flashback, and opened it to the middle.

Another drawing of a dragon stared up at her, crouched ferret-like in the center of the page. It was a disdainful stare, the kind cats inflict on people who offend them. Below the elegant black drawing, someone had scrawled a few messy lines.

"What does it say?" Jedan asked.

She leaned in and read, "Climb the Demon's Tower, and at the top, you will find a dragon. The dragon will ask you questions. Not riddles, for dragons see no truth in riddles, but there will be questions."

"Huh," he said, resting the arm with the light on top of one knee. "I thought all mythological creatures went in for riddles."

"That's only sphinxes, I think. But I don't have a book on sphinxes."

"How did you end up with a book about dragons in the first place?"

She shut the book carefully and cradled it against her chest. "It's strange. But I think it found me."

His brows lifted. "It's an inanimate object."

"Yeah, but it's a weird object. I found it in the room where the librarians keep all the outdated stuff. It was in the magic section, but it wasn't even about magic. When I showed it to the head librarian, he acted like he'd never heard of it and then he gave it to me because he didn't want it!"

"That doesn't mean it picked you as its owner."

She hugged the book tighter until the corners bit into her arms. "I never said it did! Never mind about the light. I'm going to sleep." And she lay back down and wrapped her blanket around herself so tightly that a tick wouldn't even have room to come in.

"Antea," Jedan said. But he didn't say anything else, so she ignored him. She fell asleep with the spine of the book pressing into her chest.

Fall

Jedan stepped closer, his face very solemn. "It seems if you are being unjustly hunted that you would benefit from companions. Why not tell us what has happened and let us make our own decision whether to stay with you?"

Reza stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. "You're one of the favored."

He bowed to her, as graceful as if he were from some noble court. "The Lion Goddess."

Her eyes narrowed, and she drummed her fingers against her leg. "Then justice is your thing, and you have the goddess's ear. Look, if I tell you what has happened, will you talk to her? Convince her to do something?"

He spread empty hands. "I can pray."

"Well, none of mine have been answered, so I might as well try yours." Reza huffed and brushed the hair out of her face, then plopped down in the hay next to her stick and gestured for them to join her.

The hay was fresh and soft and dry, with a dusty, grassy scent that poofed up when Antea sank into a deep pile herself. Antea said, once everyone was settled, "So tell us your story."

Reza's hands clenched into fists. She bit out, "I'm a royal bastard."

Well, that would explain the dress.

Jedan's eyebrows flew up, and he sat up in the hay to stare at her. "I didn't know the king had any."

Reza laughed bitterly. "Neither did he. My mother didn't let him know when I was born because she had just gotten engaged to a nobleman who didn't care that she was already pregnant with another man's baby, and she really wanted the match to work. She loved my stepfather. Not the king. Never the king."

"Kings aren't particularly lovable, from what I've heard," Jedan said.

Reza nodded and drew her knees up to her chest. "So we lived seventeen years like that, and then my stepfather died. We ran out of money, and Mother's never worked a day in her life. She decided the king should give her money because of all the years she'd spent raising me, so she left me at home and went to corner him at the castle." Her mouth twisted and her eyes screwed up, and she let her chin fall to her knees.

"What happened?" Jedan asked softly.

"She never came back. The constables busted down the door to our house and tried to kill me."

Help

A man screamed, and Antea risked a look over her shoulder. The stranger was holding a bloody sword, standing over one of the bandits, who had fallen face-first, blood spreading in a puddle from around his neck. The second bandit ran at their unexpected ally and stabbed him in the gut, but the sword glanced off. The stranger, like the bandit, was wearing armor, and his counterattack took the bandit's head clean off.

Antea squeaked and covered her eyes, but she stopped running, and the footsteps of her companions shuffled to a stop. She peeked out between her fingers and found that the stranger was still there, leaning over one of the bodies, the one that still had its head. He wiped his blade clean on the clothes of the corpse and shoved it back in its sheath, and then he rolled the body over and rifled it.

"Thank you!" Antea called, taking a few unsteady steps forward. "The gods bless you, sir!"

The stranger grunted, and then he froze, staring down at the corpse, his broad hands gone tight on the stranger's belt-purse.

Jedan bowed in gratitude, and when he straightened his golden eyes were shining. "We are ill-equipped to deal with bandits, so your rescue is greatly appreciated."

The man rose slowly from the body without taking anything from it, wiping clean hands against his thighs. He said curtly, "They're not bandits. They're constables."

Antea clutched her chest and stumbled back, the breath catching in her throat. That was impossible. These were just bandits, and they weren't in uniform, just like the others, except they had all looked exactly the same.

Reza swayed where she stood, too, but there was nothing soft or unsure in her voice when she snapped, "I told you. I told you they would kill you, too, for being stupid enough to walk beside me."

Antea found her voice and waved her arms. "No, you have to be wrong because none of this makes sense. We were being attacked by these people before we even met you."

Jedan stood like a statue at Antea's side, but he turned his head to meet her eyes. "That's true, but why?"

The stranger stormed towards them, seeming taller and taller with every foot of ground he crossed. "You!"

He was a handsome man in his forties, with an aquiline nose and heavy brows that were deeply furrowed, casting shadows over his piercing eyes. His muscular body was tense as if the wrong move would drive him to hack them all to pieces, and Antea couldn't think of what the right move was. She didn't want to be beheaded for something she didn't even understand.

Antea took a step back as he joined them, barely restraining herself from running all the way back to the soldiers' post alone. "Yes? You saved us. You're currently my favorite person."

The man loomed over them with a reddened face, his nostrils flaring, his hand clenched tight around the hilt of his sword. "I was a constable, and now you have forced me to kill my brothers! Which of you is the criminal they are hunting?"

Indignation startled Antea out of her fear, and she swept an arm towards the dead men. "Forced you? You chose to help! None of us even asked you!"

Jedan stepped in front of her. "None of us are criminals, sir. I am favored by the Lion Goddess, and if any of us were an unjust person, I would feel it in my heart."

The man narrowed his eyes and pushed into Jedan's personal space to point a sharp finger in his face. "Perhaps you're the criminal. I'm sure the favored can go bad. Anyone can."

Jedan didn't flinch or back away, and he sounded genuinely curious when he asked, "Have you ever heard of it happening?"

The stranger glowered and let his finger drop, but he stayed too close to Jedan, close enough to reach out and grab him by the throat, and thus too close to Antea. "No, but that doesn't mean anything. I told you, everyone can go bad."

Daring the stranger's wrath, Antea inched up around Jedan's shoulder, her hands squeezing his arm for comfort. "If that's true, then why don't you take a closer look at these constables here? They were going around out of uniform, attacking innocent travelers on the road, travelers who can't even defend themselves. If anyone's gone bad, it's them."

Great

Jedan led them on a winding path through the hills. Antea couldn't resist reaching out to brush her fingertips over the boulders and short cliff faces that they passed. The rock dragged roughly against her skin, and up close it sparkled gaily in the sun, flecked with thousands of specks of mica. Here and there, pines grew on the rocky hillsides, wedged in cracks that seemed unable to support them, their roots trailing down like vines. Sprays of tiny purple and red flowers grew out of smaller crevices in the rock, accompanied by delicate ferns the size of Antea's littlest finger. Their path wound towards the largest, steepest hill at the center of everything, which had a full-sized cliff on one side. And there, carved into the heart of the cliff, were the stairs. The steps were each twelve feet tall at least, their sides perfectly vertical. They marched back into the hillside, and at the top, cut deep into the marrow of the hill, was the gaping black mouth of a cave.

Reza came to an abrupt stop and gaped, letting her skirts drop to the dirt. "This is what you were looking for? A creepy giant stair? Who made that?"

"Someone a long time ago," Jedan said. "I can't sense the makers. They're dead."

Antea stood before the bottom of the stairs and stared upward, trying desperately not to remember anything. She did remember dropping down them -- and nearly dying in the process -- after she'd woken up alone. For once her brain didn't beat her to death with the information.

She turned back towards Jedan. "Do we have to go in? Can't you just read where he went from here?"

"If he had written it in a small cottage, and I stood outside, then yes, but this cave system of yours is too large."

"Well, how are we going to get up them?" Reza asked, her face screwed up in a frown. "Unless one of you can fly."

Vilsel strode the rest of the way to the stair and ran a hand over the rock. "We don't need to fly, Your Highness. The steps are roughed out, not smooth."

"Well, I didn't say an expert craftsman made them," Antea said, following after him reluctantly. Up close, the bottom step towered above her head, far beyond what she could dream of reaching even standing on tip-toe.

Vilsel grinned sharply and tapped the stone riser. "This rock's full of finger and footholds. I can climb this, no problem."

Antea eyed it again, searching for the way up that Vilsel had described and finding nothing. "Really? It looks like a big wall of stone to me."

"See these edges? And the pockets here?"

She stepped away, her stomach lurching at the thought of resting her whole weight on tiny irregularities in the rock. "You do what you do. At least the fall isn't far enough to kill you."

Jedan coughed. "Like the constable who fell off his horse?"

She winced. "Well..."

"I'll be fine," Vilsel said, and he slung his haversack securely across his shoulders and wedged a foot in a crack Antea hadn't even noticed. She watched, jaw open, as he scaled the wall like a spider, clinging to the littlest of ledges. In less than a minute, he was at the top and digging through his haversack.

Jedan tilted his head, his expression more curious than surprised. "You rock-climb, don't you?"

Vilsel smirked down at him as he pulled a long length of rope out of his bag and laid it, coiled like a snake, on the step beside him. "Everyone needs a hobby."

"You mean you come to hills like this just to climb up and down things?" Antea asked. "Why bother?"

"I climb mostly in the mountains near Drazen. Why? Because it's challenging, and it's fun. I don't need any other reason." He pulled an odd metal stake and, of all things, a hammer, out of his haversack.

"What's that for?"

"It's a piton, to secure the rope. Shut up." And he drove the stake into a crack in the stone with great clanging strikes of his hammer. A minute later, he tied a handful of fat knots in the rope and threw it off the ledge, sending it slithering down the side of the step. "Reza, take those rings off. You can't climb with them. Antea, you go first. Just grab on, and climb from knot to knot."

"All right," she said. "I'll try not to have convulsions halfway up."

Tag list for everything

@anonymousfoz

@moremysteriesthantragedies

@elizababie

@sm-writes-chaos

@bellascarousel

@palebdot

@macabremoons

@the-dragon-chronicler

@teacupsandstarlight

@vorskra

@wrenofthewords

@amostdelectablescribbler

@savvy-minnow

@mysticstarlightduck

@phantommill

@gracewritesbooks

@aziz-reads

@owlsandwich

@symbioticsimplicity

@squarebracket-trick

@fishythewriter

@koala2all

@rmgrey-author

@atomatowriter

Just chapters and snippets

@da-na-hae

For Stitches and Memories

@space-writes

@acertainmoshke

[regency-monster-love]

Interesting! I did not at all expect the sphinx to win—I thought it would be the vampire x reader, or maybe the minotaur friend—but I should not have doubted the seductive power of enemies to lovers! Or the potential for hate sex and/or library sex. What impeccable taste you have, dear followers.

@xxfeelmylovexx was chosen to name the characters, and they picked Griffon Andrews for the sphinx (yes, a sphinx named Griffon—I'm gonna have fun with that!) and Adelaide Joseph for the human. Yay! I'm so excited to get to know Griffon and Adelaide better as I plan out their love story!

Help me pick my next Regency monster serial

Colin and Susannah's story is finished, Garek and Esther's story is finished, and Hugo and Winifred's story is getting close to finished. I'd like to start a new serial sometime soon, though not necessarily as long as the ones I've done so far.

Which of these fics do you want me to write more of? Click through to read the original short fic of each.

Seductive cambion captain x sweet, innocent, curious woman

Sassy centaur gentleman x grumpy injured woman stuck at his house

Yearning cernunnos nature spirit x woman picked to be his "offering"

Arrogant sphinx librarian x woman scholar who hates him

Wicked vampire x gentleman friend he just crossed the line with

Tortured vampire x female reader he yearns to taste but not hurt

BONUS: Write a spin-off series about Garek's teasing minotaur friend? If you vote for this option, tell me if you want him paired with a woman character, man character, female reader, or male reader.

PLUS I'll randomly pick one follower to choose the names for the characters in the story that wins the poll!

[thecontrarianlibrarian]

Curiosity and logic.

Everything here has some symbolism for the two. See if you can find everything in the piece.

Watercolor piece I made back in freshman year of collage. With koi watercolor

Unfortunately the original photo i took for this piece is missing so until i can pull this piece out of storage to rephotograph have the image I pulled off my old insta

april 15 2018

[diegeticdivinity]

Also! Just some. Ideas of the Furies (They probably all have different names since Shivers is. La Revacholarie. Also I saw somewhere Rhetoric has been called Goldmouth so that's probably the Fury's name?)

Logic: A series of lights that flash a constant pattern. Only shows up during nights where the moon isn't visible, and if you figure out the trick to translate it you get the answer to the most burning question you have.

Encyclopedia: A living library, its librarian made of damaged pages and glue. Unknown location, but it is endless and holds all the knowledge of the universe.

Rhetoric: A sphinx-like creature, bug-like in appearance that likes to lounge around things like parliament buildings and courts, challenging people to debates and eating them if they lose.

Drama: An endless cavern system covered in squishy blue flesh and mouths. It leads you in circles, creates fake exits, and leads you deeper and deeper until you go mad from the voices.

Conceptualization: A tall being wrapped in a multicolour scarf who paints beautiful murals, but always leaves them half finished for someone else to come along and add to.

Visual Calculus: A series of glowing, neon lines that will reconstruct events. It usually hangs around detectives but if it seems it necessary it will help anyone.

Volition: A faceless winged being that guides people to their chosen afterlife. It can also be seen around people who need a lift, as its very presence is rejuvenating.

Inland Empire: A long, almost ribbon like being that hangs stars in the sky and does impressions for fun. Very curious and loves to play.

Empathy: A tunnel of clouds that is in the vague shape of a person crying. Going into the tunnel is endlessly calming, but also leaves you slightly overwhelmed when you leave because you tend to leave with emotions that aren't yours.

Authority: A mighty warrior that is locked in eternal conflict with (Physical Instrument). It is as tall as the sky and broad as a mountain, and makes even the mightiest person tremble at the sight of it.

Esprits Du Corps: A spectral army. They don't seem to be from anywhere, they wear no specific armour. Their march is endless, but if they seem your cause worthy they will fight for your group in a time of need.

Suggestion: A collection of snake-like ivy that whisper to you, giving you ideas. They are neutral ideas, maybe a bit selfish in your favour but many people find them quite helpful.

Endurance: A broad figure that drives a carriage. If you accept a ride and can handle the bumps and bruises, you get off feeling like you slept for days and ate a satisfying meal, and all your pain (previous and sustained during the ride) is gone.

Pain Threshold: A skeletal being being restrained by metal spikes driven through its body. If you encounter it it will beg to you stay and join it.

Physical Instrument: Another warrior locked in eternal conflict with (Authority). Its helmet has no eyeholes, it relies entirely on its strength. It is just as tall and broad as (Authority). Jose who see it are stricken with fear.

Electrochemistry: A small sprite that finds the saddest, lowest places and brings merriment, usually in the form of a massive party. The only way to stop the party is to drive (Electrochemistry) out.

Shivers: We already know :)

Half Light: A blood-red hound that wanders places where it senses evil. If it sees a violent or cruel act it will chase you until it catches you. Despite its fearsome appearance it is actually a protector of the weak.

Hand/Eye Coordination: A cloaked figure that has amazing aim (kind of like Robin Hood lol) that just sort of shows up at competitions and wipes the floor with everyone and leaves.

Perception: It's kind of like Argos? It has many eyes and ears and hands and mouths, it can "stay awake" forever by resting half of itself at a time and usually guards places (usually the other Furies)

Reaction Speed: Yet another sentient tornado but you can't enter this one.

Savoir Faire: A ghostly performer that likes to perform impossible feats in broad daylight so everyone can see it. It usually leave out a can for coins despite not needing money.

Interfacing: What appears to be an old man who just really likes rooting through boxes and things like that. Somehow, no matter what it goes through, it always finds something even if the thing is empty.

Composure: A giant painting that exudes and aura of pure calm. You feel perfectly collected when you look at it. That's it.

Thank you. I love literally everything about this.

[stellar-mouse]

omg oomfie.. 🙊 🥵 ☕ 🥜 ~

🙊 tell us about your kins civilian life

fluttermouse is a librarian in my mind >////< she loves her quiet little job and likes being around the books (though not so much dealing with the public....) she lives alone but has a cat named brie (like the cheese, cause she's a mouse >w<) Sphinx is a new kin for me but I think he mostly buskers on the streets with his guitarr hehe. he has a pet snake too

🥵 who do you have thirsty memories abt?

dksjfdjkfsghjbdfsjkb honeybee...... >//////< (not like actual thirsty memories just like hand holding lollllll)

☕ does your kin have a daily routine?

flutters goes jogging every morning and then goes to the same coffee shop every day, she doesn't drink caffiene tho she's an earl grey tea gal x3 sphinx switches it up every day, different busking spot and he likes trying different places to get food and coffee every day. there's a few places he returns to though because they have some pastry he really likes (he has a massive sweet tooth in my mind >v<)

🥜 does your kin have any allergies?

flutters is allergic to pollen ironically! sphinx is probably allergic to cats or nothing at all...

[arrowheadedbitch]

It's official, I've decided he posts the Ollie's off the sphinx to taunt mi6 while still staying disconnected enough for it to not really be a tie to the real world, just cool as shit pictures that the other librarians think are brags but are actually TAUNTS I love this idea

He posts pictures and captions and all that but it's never enough for even the most religious follower of him to know anything about him at all

But I just really like finding ways to make "contradicting" facts fit together so this might just be me who loves this idea lol

Okay, so I've been thinking about the Dorian Gray episode and how much it bothers me that Ezekiel gets his picture taken in Baird's place and the fact that his picture was taken and is therefore on the board never comes up not even once but he's i REALISED

It wasn't a wasted opportunity, it wasn't an unfired chekov's gun!!! Yes, it was to emphasize that Baird didn't get her picture taken and didn't want her picture taken, and yes it was a sweet little blink and you miss it moment of ezekiel jumping in to subtly help Baird, BUT THATS NOT ALL IT IS!!!

The fact that his picture gets completely skipped over, the fact that we don't even see his picture on the board, the fact that Dorian doesn't know Ezekiel had his picture taken and can't use it against him, the fact that the picture maybe got corrupted or something because seriously WHAT happened to it, ITS ALL ABOUT HIS RIDICULOUS LUCK!!!

This one little moment is a great indicator of just how lucky Ezekiel can be! His picture was completely skipped over and we don't know why, all the while Cassandra is affected almost immediately after her picture is taken, he's LUCKY

God, I love my lucky little guy, I wish they could have gone more into that with him

[rphelperblog]

Laini Taylor Quote RP Meme

ny times bestselling author most famous for the books daughter of smoke and bone and strange the dreamer- feel free to edit quotes or change pronouns for rp purposes

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.It did not end well.”

“Have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?”

“If you're afraid of your own dreams, you're welcome here in mine.”

“She moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.”

Inessential penises? Is there any such thing as an essential one?'

“Love is a luxury."

“Your soul sings to mine. My soul is yours, and it always will be, in any world. No matter what happens. I need you to remember that I love you.”

“Be sorry, then. Just be sorry somewhere else.”

“It’s the mind. It’s the most complex and astonishing thing there is, that there’s a world inside each of us that no one else can ever know or see or visit.”

“Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is accord. Harmony.”

“You’re a storyteller. Dream up something wild and improbable. Something beautiful and full of monsters."

“It was interesting the way a small hate could grow inside a big hate and take it over.”

“I turned my nightmares into fireflies and caught them in a jar.”

“How much does your life have to suck to want the Apocalypse?”

“A dream dirty and bruised is better than no dream at all.”

“It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming.”

“I think you’re a fairy tale. I think you’re magical, and brave, and exquisite. And I hope you'll let me be in your story.”

“I am one of billions. I am stardust gathered fleetingly into form. I will be ungathered. The stardust will go on to be other things someday and I will be free.”

“With the infinite patience of one who has learned to live broken, he awaited her return.”

"Good people do all the things bad people do. It's just that when they do them, they call it justice.”

“Hey! My body may be small, but my soul is large. It’s why I wear platforms. So I can reach the top of my soul.”

“It is a condition of monsters that they do not perceive themselves as such. The dragon, you know, hunkered in the village devouring maidens, heard the townsfolk cry 'Monster!' and looked behind him.”

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist. And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”

“He read while he walked. He read while he ate. The other librarians suspected he somehow read while he slept, or perhaps didn't sleep at all.”

“The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around”

“Stop squandering yourself, child. Wait for love.”

“People with secrets shouldn’t make enemies.People with destinies shouldn’t make plans.”

“Your heart is not wrong. Your heart is your strength. You don't have to be ashamed.”

“Once upon a time there was a silence that dreamed of becoming a song, and then I found you, and now everything is music.”

“Dead souls dream only of death. Small dreams for small men. It is life that expands to fill worlds. Life is your master, or death is”

“Without his books, his room felt like a body with its hearts cut out.”

“It was brave, It was rare. It was love, and it was beautiful.”

“Wasn't that what religions did? Squint at one another and declare, 'My unprovable belief is better than your unprovable belief. Suck it.”

“And that's how you go on. You lay laughter over the dark parts. The more dark parts, the more you have to laugh. With defiance, with abandon, with hysteria, any way you can.”

“I know it's not easy for you, living this life, but try to remember, always try to remember, you're not the only one with troubles.”

“You are a conniving, deceitful hussy. I stand in awe."

“Like mold on books, grow myths on history.”

“Mercy, she had discovered, made mad alchemy: a drop of it could dilute a lake of hate.”

“Was there any fate more bitter than to get what you long for most, when it's too late?”

“I will give them nightmares to haunt their dreams long after I'm gone.”

“You were true to her, even if she was not to you. Never repent of your own goodness, child. To stay true in the face of evil is a feat of great strength.”

“I'm afraid they're in love,"

"No way. There will be tasks. Like in a fairy tale."

“Stars got tangled in her hair whenever she played in the sky.”

“Yearning for love made her feel like a cat that was always twining around ankles, meowing Pet me, pet me, look at me, love me.”

“Life won't just happen to you boy, he said. You have to happen to it.”

“Soldiers and children do as they're told. Children grow out of it, but soldiers just die.”

“Never repent of your own goodness, child. To stay true in the face of evil is a feat of strength.”

Your dream is my dream, and your name is true. You are all of our hope.”

“He believed in magic, like a child, and in ghosts, like a peasant.”

“Cake for later, cake as a way of life.”

“We haven't been introduced. Not really.”

“Wishes don’t just come true. They’re only the target you paint around what you want. You still have to hit the bull’s-eye yourself.”

“...something was starting to take shape, out of magic and will. Smoke and bone.”

“How could you tell if your instincts were just hope in disguise, and if your hope was really desperation parading as possibility?”

“Hot, perpetually pissed-off angel seeks living pincushion for scowl practice and general stabbiness. No kissing.”

“There is the past, and there is the future. The present is never more than the single second dividing one from the other. We live poised on that second as it's hurtling forward—toward what?”

“Better to be the cat gazing coolly down from a high wall, its expression inscrutable. The cat that shunned petting, that needed no one. Why couldn't she be that cat?”

“Life doesn't need magic to be magical.”

“There are other ways of showing someone you love them, such as fetching them out of Hell.”

“Anyone who would wear all white like that clearly had issues. Just looking at him made her wish she had a paintball gun, but hell, you couldn’t pack for every eventuality.”

“Be a Samurai. Because you just never know what's behind the freaking sky.”

“I love vengeance like normal people love sunsets and long walks on the beach. I eat vengeance with a spoon like it’s honey. In fact, I may not even be a real person, but just a vow of vengeance made flesh.”

“She tastes like nectar and salt. Nectar and salt and apples. Pollen and stars and hinges. She tastes like fairy tales. Swan maiden at midnight. Cream on the tip of a fox’s tongue. She tastes like hope.”

“He actually listened, rather than pretending to listen while waiting a suitable interval before it was his time to talk again...”

“By contrast, the grime of her journey, the outre inappropriateness of the state of her, it felt like armor.I earned this dirt.Respect. The dirt.”

“Scientist and smart fellow learner-of-stuff, want to do samurai-monster training with us? We intend to become dangerous.”