Homework That Bites Back
Assigned essays animate after dark, grading their authors and correcting mistakes with sharp quills. Students vanish into footnotes; parents find blank pages smelling of ink. Destroy the master rubric, negotiate with the loudest essay, or finish one perfect assignment that frees the rest.
Faces in the wings
Silas Sunbrook
- Human
- Male
- Adult
Role
- Occupation
- Harvest-moon tax assessor
Character
- Motivation
- Keeping a fey bargain from coming due at solstice
- Personality
- Naive and trusting
- Background
- Shepherd who names every cloud
Details
- Quirk
- Blinks in patterns when counting
- Speaking style
- Talks about leftover heat as if it were coin
- Private fear
- Silence after a lie
- Secret
- Is the heat wave—not fleeing it
- Signature item
- Umbrella that points toward lies
Raven Flameheart
- Human
- Non-binary
- Adult
Role
- Occupation
- Heat lightning harvester
Character
- Motivation
- Seeking to break a family curse
- Personality
- Competitive gossip with a perfect memory
- Background
- Messenger with dangerous secrets
Details
- Quirk
- Checks the light like a pocket watch
- Speaking style
- Speaks in lists of three
- Private fear
- The equinox tipping permanently toward night
- Secret
- Already sold the quest hook to someone else
- Signature item
- Watermelon blade that splits truth from rind
Penelope Stormwind
- Human
- Male
- Adult
Role
- Occupation
- Michaelmas feast marshal
Character
- Motivation
- Collecting debts owed in memories instead of coin
- Personality
- Analytical and logical
- Background
- Cloud shepherd on strike for better lightning rods
Details
- Quirk
- Keeps herbs in their hat
- Speaking style
- Speaks slower as the day gets later
- Private fear
- Promises they cannot keep
- Secret
- Is the heat haze on the bridge—not passing through it
- Signature item
- Ledger written in lemon juice