This is so wrong...

I shouldn't be finding this so funny...

Congratulations, I'm now feeling somewhat sorry for the Star Toad.

And thus Mr A. E. Pessimal became a hero of most extraordinary resilience but sadly his heroics were not realised outside of the realm of online stories wrote by people who are not the original creators. :)

Since this is a much older story and you've had plenty of practice since, this may be a moot point but I thought I'd just mention that your punctuation needs clearing up a bit, particularly in the dialogue sections where someone is speaking followed by a dialogue indicator; commas rather than full stops should be used. Example: "... The bill's been sent to His Lordship as usual." Ridcully assured him. Should be a comma instead of a full stop after usual. Someone else will be able to explain this much better but there you go.

Gotta love it when those little jokes or sidelong, throwaway gags are turned into full-fledged oneshots though. And the Star Toad being all mumsy! :D

Great story. You bring Pratchett's world to life - and so funny! I enjoyed every loo one. I hope Ridcully did make him an honorary wizard - he deserved it.

A DBA in any old way is Mr. Pessimal. Nicely done, Sir.

This was gruesomely perfect. I'm not sure what I loved more, the Star-Toad just wanting guests, Pessimal being so perfectly unflappable, or HEX zooming in on the filing cabinets...

I praise your ability to include minor or singular-mention characters n your tales. Pray continue.

Indexing names, eh? And thus we arrive at your moniker.

You know what? I loved it, all the way through.

Very good, cute and funny.

Daww.

I'd whack that poor octrine horror's husband upside the head, were it not for the fact I may not actually be able to find his head, and he is probably very large.

That's the Civil Service for you, then: always ready to volunteer for the common good.

I'm going to go way out on a limb here and guess that A.E. Pessimal is your favorite Discworld character. :)

Seriously, though-this whole story is a masterstroke of genius, filled with snippets that almost made me fall out of my chair laughing. Taking the Infernal Star-Toad out of that dinky little footnote and expanding her character to such a degree is just... WOW!

Write on!

Very amusing. The paragraph that ends with "Vimes saw a common pattern emerging" is very Pratchettesque. I liked the names of A.E.'s brothers. The way Pessimal deals with the Star Toad was exactly what i would have expected. Haha, can't beat a devoted clerk!

Fantastic! I really needed a laugh today, and you provided more than one. Just when I thought I'd read the funniest line in the whole story, there was another, and another. Pessimal rocked, in his methodical, unflappable kind of way. If he wasn't a clerk, he might have made a very good surgeon... I also loved the fact that to his mom, the fearsome toad demon and Vengeance Upon Mortal Worlds is just Wayne. :) The whole encounter with the 'Desperate Housewife' (or housetoad?) from the Dungeon Dimensions was so well written - way to be original!