WrathofaShardKitten

Traitor is incensed, and abandons fighting Evil Sidekick and Villain's Lieutenant to attack the Corrupted Hero. That was supposed to be her job! Traitor is now out for vengeance. Or job opportunities. Either one works. The job market is clearly limited, and vengeance is apparently accepted. After all, Generic Tragic Backstory relating in some way to World Building. .

How in the tenth name does anyone write that fast?! I'm kind of joking, but also really serious. If you know the secrets, please tell me. My normal bribes have been taken from me, but I can offer. . . uh. . . The possibility that I'll vote for your thing?

Traitor makes an overly declarative statement about how she will never betray. . . whoever these people are, into the Evil Sidekick's grasp, and anyway, she's allergic to cookies! Somehow, while fighting, Traitor manages to pass Evil Sidekick a note reading, "What kind of cookies?" She does the same thing to Villain's Lieutenant to ensure the offer of cookies is genuine, and also to play them off of each other to get better offers. How she expects to do this when they are both on the same side, none of the Readers know. Traitor thinks it will work though. Somehow. Against all basic logic and sense.

Traitor arrives and joins in fighting against Villain's Lieutenant and Evil Sidekick in an appropriately dramatic fashion.

I might have possibly written it. You know. Maybe. When I got annoyed with other submission attempts/started to run out of time.

Really? Well then, I guess I'm signing up. I should have something put together by the end of the day, if formatting stuff works out? Or you could always just continue on without me. Either one would work! Edit: Turns out I lied, everything went long, and I'll instead have it in tomorrow morning if you want to wait.

I know it's too late to sign up. That being said, if you need more things to vote between, would it work if I submitted something for one of the people that can't do the music challenge? As in, submitted my own thing that someone could claim, or not claim, as they wanted?

For all of the art you hate, including visual arts, writing, poetry, music, and so on. Because perfectionism isn't everything, so post it anyways. --- I don't know about you, but I am not an artist. I would like to be an artist. However, whenever I try to start, I get set upon by the vicious harpies of perfectionism and self doubt. I can't see the value in what I've done. To me, it looks more or less like trash. Hence the title. And, since all that I seem to be turning out is trash, I quickly get discouraged, and, well. . . quit. I'll actually shred, delete, erase, or otherwise destroy whatever it was that I've made, because it's not. . . good enough. Which is dumb. Failure isn't something to be ashamed of, it's not the end of the story, it's a fundamental concept of life and a way to measure our improvement. This thread, as stated above, is for people to post all the art they hate. It's for the stuff you'd throw away because it isn't good enough and there's no place for it. This thread is a reminder that falling short is, or at least should be, both expected and supported, because it means that you're making progress. What's the most important step someone can take? I'll give you a hint. It's not the perfect one. All too often, those interested in the arts give up because they aren't "naturally gifted." This thread is to encourage them to keep on going, because it might not be perfect, but you're doing it. You're creating! Even those who have been creating for a long time can fall into this chasm. People can make things that just don't turn out right. Or maybe the art is fine, but suddenly imposter syndrome is kicking in and you feel like nothing you make could ever compare. --- I have a tendency to ramble a lot, as you can likely see. I also don't know how to create threads, so if anyone has any advice that would be appreciated. The point is, if you made something that you don't like or doesn't seem to live up to whatever standards you have, post it here. Criticism, unless specifically asked for, is not allowed. Compliments can also be a weird one here. If you feel like receiving a compliment on the work you did would only cause you to doubt the honesty of humankind, let people know at the top of your post that you don't want compliments either. Obviously, follow forum rules. Other than that, I think we're good?

I can't believe no one has done these already. 443. If ever an attractive, well/oddly dressed person knocks on your door in the middle of the night, do not, under any circumstances, invite them into your house. 444. If ever an attractive, well/oddly dressed person knocks on your door, ask for an invitation to enter, and seem to be smiling, under no circumstances should you invite them inside, even if it happens to be in the middle of the day. And also sunny. They might not be a vampire this time, but the vast majority of evil fairies or other spirits operate under the same rules. 444a. If they are not smiling, but instead look serious, sad, or any similar emotion, they are probably safe to invite in. 444b. The same does not apply to anyone who appears to be mad at you. If you don't know them, they seem to be spiting threats and obscenities for no discernible reason, and still require an invitation into your house, do not let them in! Instead, politely offer your apologies for whatever you might have done (without promising anything in that said apology to make it up to them), close the door, and then call whoever it is that's in charge of disposing of supernatural entities. They likely have a grudge against you specifically and will otherwise be back for vengeance when you least expect it. 444c. If no such authority exists, iron, silver, salt, holy symbols. Keep a minimum of one of these things on you at all times, but do everything in your power to keep all four on you at any given time. 445. Be as hospitable as possible without breaking the above rules. You may offer them food, drink, directions and so on. They may even enter your house, just so long as they do not request a specific invitation to do so. Should they require this invitation, as previously stated, do not under any circumstances give it to them and do not leave your house until they are gone. If the individual knocked at night, you must wait until at least mid-morning of a sunny day. Do not trust yourself to the outdoors if it is overcast, or if clouds are moving quickly across the sun. Vampires may strike at any opportunity. If said encounter occurred during the day and the individual in question did not seem particularly mad at you or interested in you and your house in general, wait until the next morning at least. They may have left by nightfall, but to go out then would be violating other rules on this list, and would therefore lead to your downfall. 445a. The only exception to the minimum time requirement should be mundane tasks that you were planning to do before the individual knocked on your door, or if you gain knowledge that waiting would allow the beings to gather followers who are not obliged to follow the invitation rule. Any human is suspect during this time, even if they can enter your house without an invitation. Exceptions of the first category should still be avoided where possible. If an emergency should occur, such as a loved one falling gravely ill, do not leave the house! It may seem cruel, but the information is likely false, and you would fall into greater danger should you leave. Say you are sick. Explain what happened and claim you feel you are being watched. Do what you can to help remotely, such as via a phone call or over a computer. All this is allowed, but do not leave the house. (Even inside the house, it's best to have salt, silver, and iron close at hand.) 446. Avoid any odd, but seemingly naturally occurring phenomenon such as, say, a ring of toadstools. 447. Also avoid any ancient land marks, especially around astronomically or mythically relevant dates or events, such as an eclipse or particularly meaningful holidays.

Comment on the reconstructing oaths thing, I'm not confident in all the connotations of connection, but consider this; Shallan is not reconstructing oaths. She's reconnecting to them. Previously, she had a disconnect between her memories, life, and oaths with Testament. The reconstructions might not be truths progressing the bond, but rather an acknowledgement to her history with Testament. This might mean that "I'm terrified" is part of that re-connection process, a potential acknowledgement of her previous bond, a fear of herself, the situation, and what she has done. It could also mean that "I killed my spren," again, isn't exactly a truth, it's an acknowledgement of her connection to Testament and showing a willingness to perhaps reconnect and continue. Again, I really don't know for sure, and I might be splitting hairs in this. Other comment, more on the literature and writing side of things since I'm not logically adept enough to create all the different theories that you do, but listening to you talk about the confusion and sudden perspective change made me think. This has got to be somewhat similar to Shallan's state of mind. Everything, exactly as it was, with no room for any alternate interpretation or doubt. And then suddenly it's all on its head. Nothing is the way she thought it was. Everything is up to debate, and even her own knowledge of herself is questionable. It might be more annoying than anything else or maybe not quite intentional, but I found it interesting.

Evelyn woke to the sound of pattering feet speeding across the floor and something rather like a hiss, and her heart jumped. She bolted upright, eyes wide, until at last she recognized her room. No, not her room. A guest room, but one that was familiar enough after the amount of time she'd spent there. Pale walls, a desk in one corner, along with a small bookshelf and a window. She could hear raised voices somewhere in the house, too distant to make out the words, but the voices themselves were familiar and raised in what seemed from the tone to be an argument rather than another battle. No danger. Her shoulders slumped in a wave of relief, and she drew in a deep breath of air. What may have been her first actual breath since that jolt of panic, Evelyn realized, and couldn't help but smile at herself. It was silly to be so worked up. There was nothing to be afraid of, right? The attack on the house had probably been a one time thing, and anyways, people would have woken her up if there was any kind of a threat, right? If they hadn't that must mean they thought they could deal with it, and judging from what Evelyn had seen, they probably could. She'd been the weak link in the fight, not them. If that was the case, though, what was it that had woken her? Evelyn got carefully to her feet, instinctively feeling for he maple leaf necklace and running her thumb over one pointed leaf. Still there. Good. She wouldn't freak anyone out, or accidentally reveal herself as an Elantrian. The room was still empty, but she could have sworn she'd heard something. After a moment's pause, she dropped down to look under the bed. She hadn't expected to see anything but darkness. Instead, Evelyn was met with two glowing eyes. She broke into a smile at the sight of them, scooting back a little so as not to crowd the poor thing. "Hey, kitty. I didn't realize there was a cat in the house. How are you?" She began to tap her fingers against the ground, trying to draw the cat into the open. "Probably not too great if earlier was any indication." She threw a glance over he shoulder at the still open door. "Is the arguing stressing you out?" When she looked back, it was to find the cat out from under the bed, watching her carefully. It was scrawny, but obviously lovely, with a ale gray coloring. Evelyn smiled again, switching to petting the cat instead. "You must be pretty clever to come in here, huh? Definitely no arguing going on in here. Can I call you Ene? That's an Aon it means cleverness, something I bet you have in spades." After another moment spent petting the cat, Evelyn stood, scooping the Ene into her arms. The cat tensed for a moment before relaxing and even starting to purr. "Aww. You're a cutie. Let's see if we can get you some food." The smile slid from her face, however, when she turned a corner to see Rob, Cassie and James standing in the hall, clearly arguing. "You agree, right? You don't think I'm wrong, do you?" Evelyn hadn't spent much time around Rob with everything that had been going on, but she was pretty sure that was the most emotion she'd ever heard him express. He sounded. . . pleading. Almost desperate, and Evelyn suddenly got the feeling she'd walked into something she really shouldn't have. Too late to go back now, though. They must have seen her by now, so instead she braced herself, clutching Ene just a little closer, and prepared to enter an argument that she was in no way prepared for. "Guys," she said slowly. "What's going on?" @AonEne @Wyndlerunner @I think I am here.

When every single superhero you create now has an innate weakness.

Lynn flinched, turning towards one side and falling into a ready position, as if she expected to be attacked. Allie immediately did the same, trying to find the danger in the crowd. She had to forcibly stop herself from sprouting her kitty claws and ears, because while they were useful, she couldn't expose herself. Yet. Not when she couldn't find an immediate threat. And... there didn't seem to be anything. Allie glanced back at Lynn, trying to see if there was still a threat, and then Lynn talked. Which wasn't actually all that surprising in and of itself, it was just weird because Lynn wasn't talking to her or anyone else, she was just- Oh. Invisible person. They must have asked her a question or something. Allie allowed herself to relax slightly, though she kept her guard up all the same. Invisible people put her on edge, because they might be a threat and who knew how much they saw? She listened to Lynn's words - apparently she couldn't hear the invisible person's side of the conversation - with half an ear as she tried to see where the invisible person was. There should be some indication. A spot people avoided stepping. Some way to tell where they were. It was still odd, because Allie could usually tell when something was happening. If it was a spell or some type of enchantment that was keeping them hidden, then Allie should be able to see or feel something. She'd always been able to before. It helped to keep her out of trouble. She was so focused on trying to find some sign of the invisible person that it took Allie half a second to realize what Lynn had said. Cursed. "That's what it was! The prickling feeling from last time I met you, remember? I couldn't figure out what it was." Which had been really strange and not very pleasant since she couldn't figure out what was causing it. Stuff like that had happened before, but there was something oddly demanding about the feeling last time. Like Allie should know what it was, but didn't, and the feeling didn't like that. It had wanted to be acknowledged. Which sounded really weird when Allie said it in her head. She definitely wasn't going to be mentioning that to any psychiatrists she happened to run into. The prickling had started up again when she'd started talking to Lynn earlier, but she had elected to ignore it because Lynn was nice and not boring and something about it had still reminded her of Rosa. Which made sense now that she knew what the feeling was. Something about knowing where it was from made the feeling far less demanding as well, though she was sure there'd still be limits to how much of it she could stand. @Aragorn

Allie immediately perked up at the information. "That's awesome! I should totally let her know! So, how did you end up here? I got sent ahead by stepmother dearest to 'get things ready' for her. I think it was mostly so that she didn't have to deal with me, though. Kinda wish she'd just let me stay home, but then I wouldn't have gotten to talk to you. So, did someone rope you into coming, or was it like, 'Ooo! Fancy ball that I will literally never have the chance to go to again.' Either one is fine. I actually have another friend who wanted to come, but wasn't able to." A shadow crossed her face, but it was gone again in an instant. @Aragorn

"Oh, that's cool! Not the fake stuff, that's just plain annoying, but that he's smart enough to know when people are being fake I guess? I'm actually fine with bright colors. They're cool. Kind of dizzying sometimes, and I can't really tell if something is red or not, but they're cool. Pretty. You look really nice, by the way. I wanted to ask, did you ever try Rosa's stuff? I can never remember what it's called." Allie noticed the way Lynn's attention had drifted, as though she was remembering something not so nice. The questions were honest, but asked in part to distract Lynn from whatever she was thinking about. It didn't seem very nice, whatever it was. @Aragorn

Hello darkness, my old friend. The lyrics spun unbidden through Evelyn's head as she considered the blackness to either side, lurking just behind the lights of the streetlamps and hiding from the warm glow that spilled from house windows. She hadn't meant to get back so late, but time hadn't really co-operated. It had an annoying habit of speeding up when she didn't want it to and slowing down when all she wanted was for it to pass. I wonder if there's an aon for that. There probably was, though she didn't know it. Even if she did know it, it would probably be best not to use it for trivial stuff. Messing with time resulted in, well, a mess. She reached the front door to the house and hesitated, considering knocking. Evelyn hadn't really been here all that long, and she wasn't sure how people would react to her just barging in. In the end she just shrugged and went inside. They'd offered to let her stay, and knocking would probably mean pulling someone away from whatever they were doing to open the door. Which would probably be even weirder than just barging in. And wow there were a lot of people in the living room. Like, a lot. Were those new people? Evelyn honestly wasn't sure. She hadn't been around long enough to tell newcomers from residents, though there were some she recognized. She gave a small wave to those in the room before heading to the kitchen to get some food. Like cake. Or leftover tacos. Or both. Leona was already in there, working on homework. Right. Homework. That was a thing. A thing that needed to be done. Evelyn grabbed some food, and hesitantly sat down close to Leona, not sure if she'd be bothering the girl too much. "Hey. What are you working on?" @Bookish Ocelot

"Yep! That's me! And you're Lynn! It's nice to see you again." And it actually was! How awesome was that? Usually it was just fake pleasantries, but Lynn had actually come over to talk to her! No one did that. "I didn't think you'd be here. It's totally awesome that you are, though! Is your raven around, too?" Or, well, Allie hadn't really thought of it due to the dread of actually having to go to the ball, but if she had thought about it then she wouldn't have expected Lynn to be there. @Aragorn

Her nose itched. Actually, Allie took that back. Her entire face itched. Oh why, why, why did she have to attend the stupid ball? Better question: why had she told Rosa that she had to attend the stupid ball? She was going to need to go regardless, but if she hadn't told Rosa then she could have gotten by on the bare minimum of fanciness. On the other hand, if Allie hadn't told Rosa, then Ella would have had to deal with it. And Allie did not want Ella to have to deal with it. After stepmother dearest, Allie would probably be the first to admit she was a pain. She was even more of a pain when she was forced into doing things. Add that to the fact that Ella was already sad (she tried not to show it, but Allie could tell) that she couldn't come to the ball? Yeah. Allie really didn't want Ella to have to deal with that. She'd already had to deal with helping the sisters get ready. So Allie had quietly informed her that Rosa would help. Even if Allie couldn't make it so that Ella could come, she could at least grant the girl a little time where she didn't have to endlessly cater to the whims of someone else. Long story short, she'd told Rosa, and the girl had actually squealed in excitement. Squealed! And then proceeded to go above and beyond all requirements, finding her the perfect dress (even if Allie was the one who had to go searching for it), doing her hair, doing whatever else she'd done. Which was a lot. Allie had no clue what stepmother dearest would say. Partially because she didn't even know how she looked. She'd kind of been avoiding mirrors since it had all happened. Don't get her wrong! Allie had every confidence in Rosa's abilities. She was amazing at what she did--It would surprise her if there was anyone better--and Ella always looked fantastic after even just using one of Rosa's. . . whatever they were called. But, well, Ella was Ella. Allie was not. Her smiles could mostly be described as feral grins, her face was always covered in smudges, and the most common expression she had was one of anxiety. So yeah. At least stepmother dearest hadn't seen yet. Allie had been sent out early to "get things ready." What things those were, Allie wasn't really sure. Scoping out seating? Making sure no one was wearing the same dress as them? Stealing a couple plates of pastries and requisitioning a couple of drinks so they'd have adequate snacks for the duration of the event? Yeah. Nope. Not really. No, Allie was sent along ahead so she could spy around and eavesdrop on conversations she wasn't involved in before the others arrived fashionably late. Or maybe to "find" a couple of "lost" trinkets. It was her job, and really the only reason they ever let her come to these types of things. It had kind of become second nature over time. So now, as she waited for stepmother dearest to arrive with the sisters, she sent her eyes flickering back and forth, scanning for familiar faces, new people, traces of sudden gains or losses in wealth, or for danger. Her attention flickered from one conversation to the next. Even ones that should have been out of earshot. Advanced hearing had it's uses, though she wished that spying for stepmother dearest was not one of them. Her attention caught on a semi-familiar face. Slightly different, and no longer framed by dark wings, but familiar enough. A smile lit up Allie's face (a real, non-feral grin this time) and she waved, practically jumping up and down in excitement. There was never anyone interesting to talk to at these things. No friends. This time, there was Lynn. Was Lynn a friend? Allie didn't know, but it would be someone to talk to instead of just eavesdropping on other conversations. Anyways, she wanted to know if she'd ever tried Rosa's creamy stuff and what she was doing at the ball and how the palace had been and, you know, things! Interesting things. Like her bird and what had happened to her wings and- yeah, let's just sum it up with things. @Aragorn

Allie nodded to show Lynn that she'd heard. She'd jumped when she first heard Ash's voice over the phone, as she'd forgotten it was ringing, and had wandered slightly away so that she didn't like she was eavesdropping. Her gaze had quickly settled on Maggie, attention grabbed by the blatant display of firepower, and didn't waver until she felt the draft from Lynn's wings. Then she ended up staring at her in awe. That answered her question from before about whether Lynn could fly or not. "Wow," she whispered. She could hear Maggie's phone conversation in the background, but elected to ignore it for the most part. "See you around, I suppose," Maggie said, giving her a nod before heading back to her car. "Oh. Yeah. I guess," Allie replied, talking to herself for the most part. Who else would she be talking to, really? She shook her head, bringing her focus back to the moment. She still had to get back to the house.

Allie shrugged, closing down slightly. "My friend. She likes to experiment with different things, and she's pretty good at making them." The prickling sensation was still there, but it was less distracting now that Allie knew where it was coming from. Lynn didn't particularly seem to mind if she stuck around for now, so Allie stayed in case there were anymore questions or whatever. She'd probably need to get going soon, get back to Ella and the house, but she had a few minutes at least.

"That's cool!" Allie perked up. It sounded like she wasn't super angry! After all, why would you give your name to someone you were super angry at? "I mean, it's a nice name. My name's Allie. Wait. I already said that, right? Ugh... sorry, there's, like, this weird prickling at the base of my skull and it's kind of distracting me right now, sooooo. Yeah." She rubbed the spot, as if that would make the prickling go away. "Is that you, by the way? It's totally fine if it is. I was just wondering. ... Unless it is you, and it means that you want me to go away. If that's the case then I can totally do that." Babbling again. Just get to the point already. "But, um, if it is because you want me to leave, then I'd like to say I'm really sorry again, and try to make up for it? Um..." Should she do it? She'd been planning to use it as part of her apology to Ella, but she'd understand. "I have a friend that makes stuff. Like, lotions and whatever else, and sometimes she gives me free samples or whatever. I never use it, but I thought maybe you might? As a 'sorry for bumping into you and almost knocking you over and possibly also accidentally breaking your phone' present?" Allie pulled out the small container of nice smelling, smooth, whitish, creamy stuff. It was in a pretty bottle that Allie had brought Rosa the week before. She honestly couldn't remember for the life of her what it was supposed to be. She never used it, and Ella had enough experience helping with the sisters that she could usually recognize whatever stuff Allie brought back and how to use it. All that Allie really remembered of Rosa's explanation was that it was safe to use anywhere, it wouldn't kill you if you accidentally ate it or stuck it in your eye, it smelled nice, and it made you look pretty. And yeah. That was it. Allie kind of really hoped that Lynn would take it (and her apology). If she didn't then Allie would have a cloud of guilt hanging over her forever and ever. Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but Allie did not like being in people's debt. The sisters and Stepmother dearest did that often enough, and Allie hated it with a passion.

Allie cringed, dropping her hand. "Sorry. Again. Um..." She stooped, quickly picking up the phone and offering it back to the girl. "I really hope it's not broken. If it is..." Drat. Allie didn't have money, so she couldn't exactly offer to pay for it. Oh well. "If it is, I'll do my best to make it up to you. I can't promise I'll be able to pay you back, like, with money, but I'd figure something out." She was momentarily distracted by the bird on the girl's shoulder. It seemed to be eyeing her. "Right. Um..." There was an uncomfortable prickling feeling at the base of her skull, making it harder to think. Some kind of dark aura? Maybe, but the girl herself didn't look too scary. "My name's Allie. If you need to find me, I'm usually around the market area each afternoon for a couple hours. Or that big fancy street with all the houses. I work there. Just... let me know if I can make it up to you?" The bird was still staring at her. Then the inevitable distraction occurred. "Your bird is really weird, by the way. Really cool, but also really weird. He... she? Keeps on staring at me. Is it mad at me? Are you mad at me? I'm really sorry for knocking you over." Yay. Rambling . . . "Do you live here? I haven't seen you before. Where do you live? Sorry, you don't have to tell me where you live, I was just curious. Can you fly with those wings?" And she just kept on going . . . Great. She probably thought Allie was crazy now. Which she wasn't. Crazy. Totally. Allie clamped her mouth forcibly closed, giving Lynn a chance to respond.

Sure. Sorry it took so long to respond. Life got kind of hectic these past weeks. Allie was really late. Like, really late. Hopefully not late enough that the others had gotten back yet, since they always took longer than they said they would, but late enough that if they were ever back from their trips on time, she would have most definitely been caught. Honestly, she didn't really care so much about step-mother dearest or the sisters. Allie could always make up an excuse if she had to. The real problem was that she had promised Ella that she'd help out with the chores and kitchen stuff today, and she'd already been gone far too long. Hopefully the gift from Rosa, tucked safely away in her pocket, would help make it up to the girl. She hadn't really meant to take so long. It had just... taken longer than planned to drop off the food. And then Rosa had needed some help, and one thing had led to another, and now Allie was running at full speed - which was rather fast - through the city, dodging around people as best she could and alley jumping as much as necessary. It was faster than trying to navigate around all the dead ends this city provided, but rather more perilous to anyone who happened to be on the other side of the walls. Usually, that was no one. Today, that was someone with huge black wings standing on the other side of a wall. Oops. Allie couldn't stop herself from crashing into the girl, accidentally knocking her over. "Sorry!" Allie leaped to her feet, offering a hand to help the other girl up. A dark shiver of dread worked it's way down her spine, but Allie ignored it. She'd spent plenty of time with Rosa, who always caused prickles of unease, but that was probably fine. She'd knocked the girl over for goodness sakes. It would be just plain mean not to help her up. No matter how much it was cutting into her time, or how jumpy the feeling made her. If worst came to worst, Allie could always run. Though she did find herself fervently hoping that the girl wasn't too mad about getting knocked over. @Aragorn