12 posts tagged “5wordchallenge”

(Of course I won't be catching up on several months of words I had (sadly) missed, but I've just noticed that there are these 5 words on the group banner, so I decided to give it a go :)

refuse, desert, tear, wound, minute

And now please pay attention to the left, where you can see one of our oldest areas - the Desert of Desire. It was built by the Big One himself, and so skillfully that it practically doesn't require any maintenance or supervision, which is a great advantage, as you know how much we're understaffed these days. You just make them an offer they can't refuse, then drop them here and they do everything by themselves - tear out the hair, burn the skin, break the limbs, scratch out the eyes, and much more - you know, humans actually have a lot of imagination. Here, look at this one over there, poking a knife into a bleeding wound in her chest - one of our permanent residents! Now the place is a bit empty, because it's not the season, but according to my calendar, the you-know-who will be releasing their new album next year, and the minute it hits the ether, we're going to get a surge of newcomers, so if you'll be around the area, you might want to drop by for some amusement!

Now as for our next stop...

- Parsnips? What the hell are parsnips?

- The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips resemble carrots, but are paler and have a stronger flavour. Like carrots, parsnips are native to Eurasia and have been eaten there since ancient times. Zohary and Hopf note that the archeological evidence for the cultivation of the parsnip is "still rather limited", and that Greek and Roman literary sources are a major source about its early use, but warn "there are some difficulties in distinguishing between parsnip and carrot (which, in Roman times, were white or purple) in classical writings since both vegetables seem to have been sometimes called pastinaca yet each vegetable appears to be well under cultivation in Roman times."

- So they're some kind of freaking carrots and that's more than I ever wanted to know about it, without you quoting the whole freaking Wikipedia! I regret I've ever asked.

- Mind you, it was 116 words.

- Dammit, we don't have to care about the word counter anymore - the Nano is finished and done with! The gig is over, the curtain was dropped, the lace masks and silk fans rot in the trash. In other words, I'm back to my mundane world, and you're back to your nonexistence.

- Right, the Nano is done - but I'm not done with you.

- Is that a threat?

- No - just stating the facts. But if you prefer, you can call it a promise.

- *throws a rotten egg*

- *dodges easily* Just wait when we're out of the spotlight. I'm the one who's not real - and the lack of the writing media is not really an obstacle anymore *g*

The rules of the game: http://challenge.groups.vox.com/

This week's challenge: orifice, contingency, engaged, flux, khaki

Gawain carefully inscribed the last word of the spell, put down the feather pen and deeply breathed in relief. He was very proud of himself. Here, on the parchment, was his glorious future - the power to create, shape and destroy the worlds and to control the destiny of every creature therein. He had been labouring on this spell for three long years, collecting and piecing together the knowledge from the ancient manuscripts, in strict secret from his Teacher and Master who had fervently disapproved of the whole idea. Silly old man... so he had managed to achieve the status of a respectable sorcerer, people from all over the country were coming to seek his advice and help, and even the King himself felt it suitable to use his services - but Gawain, his apprentice, was going to achieve so much more!

The candles were burning, the incense filled the chamber with a pleasantly bitter aroma, now for the final stage. Gawain took the ceremonial dagger, made a deep cut in his right index finger, not even flinching, and started to write his signature: "Thus say I, Gawain the Bold, by my own hand and blood, offering my home, my time and my memories in return, as I say so mote it be."

He hesitated for a moment before putting the final dot. The spell appeared to be very explicit about the conditions of achieving the result - one had to sacrifice his home, his time and his memories. Gawain didn't care at all for his home - a poor little town (his Master didn't like the luxury and preferred to live in a quiet faraway place) - what was it compared to the future glory! and what were his memories compared to the absolute power. It was unclear what the "time" meant, but oh well - everything was prepared, every contingency was planned for, there was no way back.

The young sorcerer picked the completed and signed spell, and with all the necessary precautions burned it on the huge ceremonial candle. As the last bits of the parchment turned into ashes, a large man-sized orifice had opened in the middle of the chamber, shaking and flickering in the mid-air.

Breathless, Gawain stared at the mindboggling flux of colors inside the orifice. It worked! just one step, and he will be away from all the mundanity of his life as a lowly sorcerer's apprentice - doing spell jobs for the stupid ignorant peasants and constantly bickering with the Master. He'll be the one to create, shape and destroy the whole worlds!

His Master's words suddenly rang in his ears - "Gawain, don't try to trick the Universe to fulfil your wishes, as what you say is not what you want, and what you get is not what you say." He shook his head, driving the doubts away, and stepped into the orifice.

----------------------

Kevin banged his fist on the keyboard, muttering expletives. He had spent at least 3 hours trying to catch the bug which allowed the players to obtain the unlimited armor and spell points, but to no avail. He had resorted to manually deleting the cheating users, but of course, for such a large-scale MMORPG it was not a solution. This new game was a problem from the start - the bugs just kept piling up - for example, the weirdest effect that choosing the khaki color for the user profile was crashing the browser; the inventory occasionally duplicated the items, the blog integration with Vox was messing up the screen, the monsters appeared in all the wrong places, and there was simply no end of it.

Kevin lit another cigarette, inhaled the pleasantly bitter smoke and stared at the flickering monitor in frustration. Of course he loved his job - after all, being the main developer of this game was like having the power to create, shape and destroy the worlds and to control the destiny of every creature therein. But what wouldn't he sacrifice in order to live in another world... somewhere in a medieval kingdom where the magic was real... to live in a quiet faraway town as a sorcerer's apprentice, to get engaged in the pursuit of knowledge instead of drowning in the mundanity of his life as a programmer, dealing with the requests of the stupid ignorant users and constantly bickering with the boss. But oh well. He sighed, turned up the volume of "In Extremo" blazing through his headphones, and immersed himself again in the debugging.

Need a distraction - doing the 5wordchallenge by Amanda which I had missed due to the weird timing. The words: frost, quell, midnight, excavator, carry.

It was a dark and stormy night; the violent wind was tearing the clothes off a poor orphan girl shivering on the stairs, as forlorn as an excavator forgotten on the construction site by the drunken workers, as desperate to quell her hunger as the aforementioned workers were desperate to quench their alcoholic addiction, just like her father who used to work on the same construction site and was found in the excavator cabin at midnight, dead, stone-cold and covered in frost, teaching his newly-orphaned daughter a valuable life lesson: always drink in company so when you pass out there's somebody who can carry you into a warm place.

(yes, I'm a fan of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest ;)

The rules: see the 5 word challenge group description!

This week's challenge: obsequious, striation, tyro, eleemosynary, prophylaxis (wow...)

It may seem that adopting a cat is a purely eleemosynary action, but actually it's just the selfish desire to love and to be loved... sometimes it can be even regarded as prophylaxis to maintain the mental health of a person who is apparently unable to maintain the working relationships within her species, as if an invisible striation separates her from the monkey-kin - however it doesn't bring her closer to felines, a lonesome creature which doesn't really belong anywhere.

Please allow me to love you and to take care of you - your well-being would be an adequate reward, and just a little affection in return - I can feel how much you're scared and stressed and lonely, and it's breaking my heart to be unable to help. What I'm doing wrong? I know I'm merely a tyro and my clumsy attempts to care for you might only make it worse. But it makes me crazy just to wait it out. I'd be as obsequious as possible but you're not taking any part of it. Please accept me as a member of your family, it's our home now, both yours and mine, 2 long months have passed before the feline paw graced it again... please come out of your hiding place, there's good food, warm bed and an infinite supply of love...

note: non-fictional, the cat is still in denial of being adopted (since yesterday) ( *sob* )

The challenge of "indefinitely, outsmart, phantom, towel, alienated" had 21 participant! Here are all the entries - tagged with 5wordchallenge, 5 word challenge, or simply posted to the group (did I miss any? note that the posts which are posted only to the group (and not to the user's own blog) do not appear in the keyword search...)
hope everybody had fun with the words :)

• Aine (reflections on unhappy marriage)
  
• AngelaMichelle (stepmother family problems)
  
• RPM (can you outsmart time?)
  
• Joy (the lost limb)
  
• Hops (an unsettling recollection)
  
• catness (imaginary game transcript)
  
• BULLETPROOFsoul (stuck in the Dark Age)
  
• bookmole (Roissy edition)
• Red Pen (alienation from parents)
  
• Amanda  (the shortest entry ever!)
  
• Jody (playful phantom)
  
• Gus (the tension of anticipation)
  
• Nacwolin (desire)
  
• Holly (cold showers beyond the grave)
  
• Lea (Carla)
  
• Kiss Me Cate (morning quarrel)
  
• clippedwings (broken relationship)
  
• Jodipodi (escape)
  
• Kelly G (phantom pregnancy)
  
• tatteredhalo (phantom of your dreams)
  
• EMM (the wonders of research)
  

Next challenge is hosted by Holly!

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in bold.

This challenge: indefinitely, outsmart, phantom, towel, alienated

In one week the challenge will be passed on to someone that participated in this one.

Please join http://challenge.groups.vox.com !

(*going for the imaginary game transcript again - since games are what I want to write most of all, anyway :) *)

Pain. Still feeling nauseated and weak, you struggle to open your eyes. Everything is white... snow, falling down... snow, cold, pain... so difficult to focus your thoughts. The phantom image of the snowy landscape slowly wraps itself into a cubical shape, surrounding you and trapping you inside. You find yourself in a

Hospital Room

>look

The room is furnished very sparsely and everything is plain white - the walls, the ceiling, the door, the bed and the sheets. The only spot of color is a brown device located near your bed.

>examine device

Several wires, sticking from under your sheet, are attached to the big box-shaped device which is standing near your bed. The device is softly humming. It has a few dials and buttons and a monitor.

>examine monitor

It displays a wavy-looking green curve, the green waves indefinitely moving in the same direction.

>stand

You're feeling too weak and queasy and can't move any limb.

>press button

(on the device)
You're feeling too weak and queasy and can't move any limb.

>examine bed

You're laying in a hospital bed, which is fairly soft but bears an unpleasant smell of medication. Your body is completely covered with a white sheet. Several wires, sticking from under the sheet, are attached to the device standing near your bed.

>examine yourself

You can raise your head slightly, but it doesn't make you any wiser, as your body is completely covered with a white sheet and you can't see a thing.

>inventory

Bedridden and unable to move, you can't even examine your own body, let alone your inventory.

>scream

You try to call for help, but your throat is too dry and no sound comes out.

>xyzzy

Gathering all your strength, you manage to whisper the universal magic word.

Congratulations! You won! You've succeeded to find the Treasure, to outsmart the Evil Boss, to save the Galaxy and to marry your Sweetheart. You live happily for many years and die on the same day.

You are dead. Restart, Restore, Undo or Quit?

>undo

[Previous turn undone]

>cry

You try to call for help, but your throat is too dry and no sound comes out.

>listen

The only sounds you can hear are the soft humming of the device and your own hoarse breath.

>breathe

As you try to breathe harder, you notice that the curve on the monitor slightly changes its shape.

>stop breathing

You hold your breath for as long as you can. You can hear your heart pounding, and the curve on the monitor starts jumping like mad. The device emits a loud sound of alarm.

>examine curve

The green curve is madly jumping. The alarm is tearing your ears.

You can't hold your breath any longer. You feel relief as the air rushes into your lungs again. The curve on the monitor slowly returns to its normal pattern, and the alarm stops.

The door opens. A nurse comes in and hurries to the bed. Glancing over you briefly and seeing that you're still breathing, she starts to examine the device.

>look at nurse

It's a young but rather ugly-looking fat woman, with a pale flat face, dressed in a plain white hospital robe and horribly stinking of medication.

>talk to nurse

You try to call for help, but your throat is too dry and no sound comes out.

>touch nurse

You're feeling too weak and queasy and can't move any limb. You only can raise your head slightly.

The nurse moves closer to the bed and starts to examine the wires which are sticking from under your sheet.

>raise head

Raising your head, you can almost reach the woman's cheek. The stench of chemicals makes you queasy.

>kiss nurse

Come on, the woman is ugly as a dog - are you sure ?

>kiss nurse

You feel so alienated and overwhelmed with loneliness that you can't resist - with a great effort, you manage to raise your head and reach the woman's cheek. However, the moment your mouth gets in contact with her face, you can't control yourself and your fangs bite into the flesh! The woman shrieks, loses the balance and falls over you, but you don't care - you tear and swallow, almost without chewing, the wonderful taste of the fresh blood fills your mouth, the energy spreads all over your body, making you feel whole and strong again.

>stand

Finally, you feel strong enough. You tear away the wires connected to your body, and get up from the bed. You vaguely remember there was a fairy tale, something about a kiss which can bring a person to life - now you see it's literally true!

[Your score went up by 5 points]

>examine bed

The white hospital bed is all messed up and blood-stained. The sheets, the pillow and even the towel are splattered with blood.

On the bed you can see a corpse.

>examine corpse

It is a corpse of a young woman dressed in white and blood-stained hospital robe. She appears to be brutally murdered - her throat is torn and half of her face is chewed away.

>examine yourself

You have a small, lithe and muscular feline body covered with short thick gray and white fur, 4 strong paws with the sharp retractable claws, and a fairly long dark-striped tail. You can't see your own face, but it seems that your fangs are as sharp as ever.

>inventory

You are wearing a purple necklace.

>search corpse

You find nothing of interest.

>kiss corpse

Currently you're not hungry.

>lick paw

You lick your paws and clean up your face, savouring the taste of the last drops of blood.

********oh well, all the 5 words are used up so it ends here! ;) perhaps I can go on indefinitely, but unfortunately it's so much easier when it's some silly & fun writing exercise and not an actual serious "project" to get committed to... heh.  ********

Mathilde has passed me the baton so today it's my turn to pick the 5 words! (Be gentle, it's my first time ;)

Words: indefinitely, outsmart, phantom, towel, alienated

The rules (for the potential new players):

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge
and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in bold. In one week the challenge will be passed on to someone that participated in this one, by the person who hosts this week's challenge.

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge
and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in bold.

Words: veranda, remains, cicadas, miracle, righteousness.

The cop came when I was sitting on the veranda, listening to the neverending chorus of cicadas and relaxing after the successful completion of some fairly difficult job. I barely managed to shove my beer can under the sofa - the grownups are awfully touchy about these things and get all freaked out.

He greeted me cheerfully: "Good evening, sonny, are your parents at home? I need to talk to them."

(No such luck. For all I knew, Pa was somewhere in America, milking his new girlfriend for money and generally having fun, and Ma just landed in rehab, this time pretty seriously. But this was not the right thing to say - grownups are awfully nosy and always ask stupid questions, such as: how do you stay here all alone, who takes care of you and where do you get money to live)

"Daddy and Mommy are working late today; wanna leave them a message?"

He sighed - "No, I really must talk to them - you see, we got a report of some illegal computer activity originating from your house - but what I'm saying, you're too small to understand anyway - are there any adults at all?"

I was alarmed. What task could I have possibly botched? I mentally made an inventory of my recent jobs. The last PayPal scam was surely flawless; the little operation in a bank of Las Vegas was easy and clean; the DarkMirror virus was a piece of cake, heck, I had learned programming viruses in the kindergarten, before they kicked me out for breaking into the head nurse's PC and "accidentally" emailing her collection of lesbian porn to every member of the city council... ah, good times.

No, I couldn't possibly imagine what went wrong - and still here it was - my mysterious mistake, wearing the police uniform and staring me at the face. How could I get the info from the cop without giving myself away?

"Sir, maybe I can show you Daddy's computer, it's right here in the house, and you can find everything yourself so you don't need to wait for him?"

(of course, Pa can't tell a computer from a TV, and both of them are relevant for him only when the monitor is displaying porn, but it sounded more ordinary, therefore convincing)

The cop seemed to hesitate - "I see you're a nice kid and want to help, but I'm really not supposed to do it alone..."

(Oh wait - could it be related to the Pentagon firewall backdoor - somehow, their admin had detected my bot and it was a miracle that I got out of their network in time, but I was sure I had covered my tracks... heck, I needed to know what was the problem, and I needed it right now)

"But sir, Daddy doesn't like strangers to talk about his computer, last time he was so angry, he took his shotgun and blasted the computer to pieces, and Mommy was so sad because she couldn't play Solitaire anymore."

(of course, the only card game Ma ever plays is poker, but nobody likes to play with her because she always wins)

Apparently the possible destruction of the important evidence had appealed to the cop less than having it all effortlessly falling into his hands, and he didn't even had to break the door.

"Ok, kid, you're probably right, it would be a good idea. Show me."

I opened the door and let him inside the house, covertly switching off the defense systems so he wouldn't get suspicious while I still needed him. "Here, this way."

He entered the basement and froze, obviously surprised by the amount of glowing, blinking and whizzling stuff scattered all around, but in a few seconds he triumphantly grinned and pointed his finger - "Yes, here it is!" - to my VR helmet!

I was so relieved, I almost laughed. So all the fuss was about the virtual reality toy! But of course, I had to finish the investigation anyway.

"So what's wrong with that, sir?"

The cop looked relieved, too, he even forgot to be condescending.

"According to our reports, this device is using an illegal activation code, which means that it was stolen, or possibly reengineered to work in the different VR-zone, which is qualified as software piracy - the bane of our civilization which halts the technical progress, endangers the market and breaks the foundations of our society and..."

Oh my, he seemed to be really hung up on piracy. However I didn't want to waste time, so I interrupted the crapload of righteousness: "But sir, it is not what you think. It's not this veer-chi-all ree-ality thingie."

He made an annoyed grimace, but then approached the helmet, examined it and blinked - probably just now noticing that it was heavily modified, and in fact, was bearing very little resemblance to any existing model.

"What the heck is it then?"

"Oh, Daddy had explained me - it's an, umm, teleh-patie input dee-vice. Instead of writing. You put it on and think, and the words appear in computer. It's very new, he made it himself."

(There was a bit of truth in the fact that my parental unit was responsible for modding the helmet - Ma had helped with the programming, of course she currently was not in a condition to explain anything or even to maintain a coherent conversation... I reckoned that she had been testing it without bothering to use the anonymising proxy, which was the reason of today's unexpected visit. That's why I'll never do hard drugs - it's too easy to botch the basic safety.)

The cop looked confused, but apparently he swallowed it all, so I helpfully suggested:

"Wanna try? I know how to do it, it's fun! Put it on, click on this Office icon, then on the big button here."

Grownups are so awfully gullible, it's amazing. He hesitated just for a moment, looking at the not-quite-familiar OpenOffice screen (I mentally awarded him one point for recognising the difference), and then confidently pressed the big blue button on the gear - simultaneously with me yanking the feedback cable from its slot. His body jerked and slumped back in the chair.

The VR helmet worked perfectly - with our experimental modifications, it allowed the user to dive into any computer program, not just those which were licensed and specially designed for the virtual reality. And without the feedback cable, the user could never get back to his physical body.

I giggled, watching the little Clippy in the police uniform frantically jumping and blinking at me from the "new document" screen. Everybody hates Clippy, but frankly, I find it cute and a nice addition to the OpenOffice.

So far, the cop's body still remains in the chair - it doesn't require food as all the physical processes slow down to an absolute minimum while the user is travelling in the virtual reality. The Coppy is a very lousy speller but lately he seems to improve. I don't like the body taking so much space, but I'll be able to get rid of it when I'll figure out how to completely severe the connection between the physical reality and the virtual identity. Then I can build a virtual world populated with real people, which sounds like an interesting project, bigger than everything I had achieved till now. Then I'll get in and ask Ma to pull the cord. This way I will never have to grow up.

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge
and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in bold.

This challenge: soliloquy, manhole, discover, television, optimism

The potential employer had finally recovered from the coughing fit, scribbled something in his notebook and proceeded with the next interview question:

"Why are manhole covers round?"

"For a software company, sounds like a really silly question!" - thought Ron. But he was not easily confused. He briefly caressed his agate pendant (being worn to inspire the creativity), meditated for a few seconds, took a deep breath and started:

"The circle is an ancient mystical symbol, known to the mankind for ages. It represents the perfection, completeness and eternity; it was also used as a representation for Sun, our Divine Patron. What could be a better shape for covering and protecting the entrance into the urban underground, the dark and dangerous realms of the filthy byproducts of the human civilization, than a timeless and boundless symbol of the great power of the Universe?"

His spirited soliloquy was rudely interrupted by another violent fit of coughing from the employer who covered his face with his hands and seemed to be almost crying. To calm him down, Ron started to hum a comforting mantra in ancient Sumerian.

The employer wiped his eyes with a tissue and sat straight, his face still red and mouth slightly twitching. To secure the success of the mantra, Ron traced an Ansuz rune in the air, for health and harmony, and as an afterthought, raised his hands with the fingers carefully twisted to form a pentagram. That seemed to be the last straw. The employer stood up and announced:

"Thank you, Mr Enders! It was very nice to meet you, and we'll inform you about the results of the interview as soon as possible."

"My pleasure," - answered Ron, getting up as well. "May the cosmic force be with you!"

They shook hands, and Ron exited the room. The door slammed behind him, and he heard the hysterical laughter, which apparently could be suppressed no longer.

"So little self-control," thought Ron. He walked to the elevator, descended to the entrance hall, and only after leaving the Microsoft office building he allowed himself to break into mad giggling.

Ron was full of optimism - the Microsoft interview obviously went very well! that is, for his purposes. Ron's unemployment benefits were good enough to keep him afloat for a while, providing the opportunity to work quietly and comfortably on his own pet project which was eventually going to turn all the software industry upside down. But the unemployment agencies just wouldn't leave him alone - they kept sending him the job interview invitations, and refusing to go would mean losing the benefits. Ron couldn't afford wasting any more time on the mindless work for a living; and getting sucked into the corporate world again would seriously get on the way of his creative venture. Failing the interviews by appearing incompetent would feel too humiliating - but luckily, the New Age trick worked all the time - in spite of Ron's brilliant curriculum vitae, nobody was ever willing to hire the half-crazy and eccentric freak, the appearance which Ron had really perfected lately.

On his way home, he dropped by a coffee place and spent a relaxing hour sipping café au lait, lazily listening to the television on the background, and happily designing the database schema for his new module. It was great to be free!

Somebody was waiting at the entrance of his apartment. It appeared to be a short dark-haired young man in a postman's uniform, intently staring at Ron as he approached.

"Please sign here, Mr. Enders."

Ron fumbled in his pockets for something to write with, but the postman helpfully offered his own pen. Thanking the guy, Ron took the expensive-looking pen, put his signature on the registered mail notification blank - and winced from a sudden sharp pain in his finger. A drop of blood fell on the paper. "What the..." - started Ron, but the postman grinned, grabbed the pen and the notice, and with a hissing sound disappeared into thin air.

Ron blinked in bewilderement, staring at the empty place where the man was standing just a moment ago, then at  the still-bleeding scratch on his finger, and then at the faintly glowing black envelope which had mysteriously appeared in his hand. The envelope was sealed with a dark-red wax seal, but was otherwise unmarked.

For the lack of any ideas, Ron broke the seal and opened the envelope to discover a letter, printed on a piece of parchment in blood-red ink.

"Dear Mr. Ronald Enders,

"We are happy to inform you that you are hired by the Microsoft Corp. Your esoteric knowledge and non-traditional frame of mind, together with your programming expertise, are going to be invaluable in the development of our new software project codenamed the Gates of Hades. As you've certainly figured out, the outstanding success of our products can't be attributed to their spectacular qualities alone, but is firmly rooted in the occult and magickal techniques, and we are very eager to acquire a new kindred soul as our Chief Programmer.

"Get ready to start your Left Hand Path training, which will be provided at our expense.

"Eternally yours,

"The Chairman."

The signature was handwritten and undecipherable - Ron could hardly make out only the first letter - something like B or maybe S - and something like a 6 at the end.

"It has to be some joke," thought Ron. As if in reply, another paragraph in small print swiftly appeared at the bottom of the page:

"No, Mr. Enders, this is not a joke. Oh, and by opening the envelope, you had accepted your end of the contract and are now legally bound by it."

The letters swirled in his eyes. "General protection fault," whispered Ron and, for the first time in his life, fainted.