in_omnia | a flycatcher evening

I can't quite believe we're already at the Week of the Killer Quizzes. Partly that's due to the weather, which has been unseasonably cool and lovely lately, but mostly it just seems odd to arrive at a June again when the person I was, and the world as I knew it, last June is so different as to almost belong in another era. I've had a number of wonderful experiences in the last year, but many of the changes around me have been very negative, and both cases have demanded a lot of adjustment and growth. I am still myself, or so the quizzes tell me, but the person taking last year's quizzes feels very far away at the moment.

I'm thankful Sev and his son are still here, at least, to add a touch of continuity to the proceedings. Though he, too, is deeply grateful for the gentle weather as we ease further into this mad year. We're going to sit on the porch and listen to the phoebes sing their names as you dive into the quizzes. Feel free to join us whenever you like.

Anxiety

Anxiety is your companion, the shadow that hangs over you like a storm cloud. It's a voice that whispers in your ear, telling you all the things that could go wrong - echoing and bouncing inside the walls of your mind. It's a feeling that clutches at your chest, making it hard to breathe. It's a cycle, a never-ending loop of worry and fear. I wish I could turn it off for you, silence the doubt in your mind, but it's always there, lurking in the corners of your thoughts, ready to strike when you least expect it.

What Emotion Are You?

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be the emotion I am or the (negative) emotion that most often rules my life. The result leans toward the latter, and I can't really argue with its accuracy, if so. I'm much better at being in the moment now than I used to be, but I'll always be a bit of a future thinker, where planning ahead to minimize difficulty can both ease and prompt anxiety. And if the current moment is scary or worrisome or isolated, it's hard to shake my brain's tendency to see everything through a hopeless, threatening lens. All I can do is keep practicing my coping mechanisms and continue to improve in mindfulness and resilience as I grow older.

Marsh

you are frequently or continually inundated with water and characterized by emergent soft-stemmed vegetation adapted to saturated soil conditions

What Kind of Wetland Are You?

I love a marsh! If I want to read into this result, I could say that this means I'm adaptable and contain multitudes and play a vital role in the well-being of those around me...but I am also just super happy to be a marsh. :D

Hufflepuff

A Hufflepuff is, unlike a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor, an internal house. I know what you must be thinking: “How can you be the house of loyalty if you’re an internal house?” Puffs have a small network, Their People, maybe friends, maybe family, maybe friends who are family, maybe an assortment of small pets or animated characters. While Slytherins also have Their People, they have resources and associates to draw from when they're bored, whereas the term "associates" exhausts a Hufflepuff. Spending time with people they don’t love doesn’t ever sit quite right, although they will often do it in an attempt to make folks happy.

Hufflepuffs, yes, are a house of kindness and of love, but unlike Gryffindors, when it comes down to it they don’t have to go out of their way for kindness and love. Gryffindors will seek out situations in which they can do good. Hufflepuffs' good is smaller (not lesser), in which they will do as much good as they can for the people directly in their line of sight, but when granted with the great expanse of the world, it is easy for them to shrink in on themselves and not be able to cope. That said, they have so much love to give out, and will often want all their love in one place, slightly selfish but mostly excited collectors of people. If your version of the ideal future is a vague image of all the people you love in your house for [insert holiday], that is a very Hufflepuff sentiment.

Hufflepuffs, like Gryffindors, are inherent/intrinsic worth folks. Hufflepuffs know who they are, or at least how they define themselves. Their moral code may not be their local government’s law (and actually very often isn’t), but it does exist and is rigid, and Puffs won’t go against it unless incredibly pressed. This is a point of contention with Slytherins and Ravenclaws, and even Gryffindors who feel like they have to perform/validate their identity and choices through others. Hufflepuffs are themselves, and no one else, completely and quietly. They love Their People. They want to build a home for them.

That isn’t to say that Puffs are necessarily gentle pushovers. A huge component of Punk and Anti-fascists align themselves with Puffs because they are So themselves and So invested in the safety and well-being of Their People and community. Like Slytherins, Hufflepuffs often know/feel they’re weird, and tend to relish in finding people as absurd and lovely as they are. They will forgive people, possibly too much. But quietly, they will shift the little orbit of the world around themselves to be a little kinder, a little gentler, for them and the people they love. Be kind to yourself. You do not have to be any bigger than you are.

Hogwarts Houses But Pottermore Can Die By My Blade

(Result edited for punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and paragraph breaks.)

This is not really how I see Hufflepuff, but given the tremendous wiggle room in interpretation of the Hogwarts houses, I do find it plausible and interesting—and in this description, a fairly accurate result for me. I do have My People, who I love fiercely and will do just about anything to help, and I absolutely do see myself as a weirdo and enjoy finding others who stand outside the mainstream in their thoughts, tastes, and interests. I'm always as much myself as I possibly can be, rarely need external validation of that person, and I'm someone who will fight for the things I believe in. But I do think it's important to consider the good I do outside my little circle, and I try to live my life considerate of those people, too. I'm also someone who rather enjoys spending time with people I don't love—not excessively, since I'm an introvert, but strangers can be very interesting to talk to. Perhaps that is the Ravenclaw in my Ravenpuff identity? I do think, though, that I make the world a little kinder and gentler for the people around me, and that absolutely is something I see as intrinsic to Hufflepuff house.