Creative Corner

@HarcoreUvula i'll add you! ^w^

I didn't think I'd get picked twice in a row, but here we are! Thanks Macchi! Now, let's hope I can think of a prompt that will get people's attentions.

I like writing about Angels for some reason, especially in ways people don't really think about.

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Perhaps, "Not everyone gets to be the hero..." Do you all think that'll work? Paraphrasing it could be just fine too!

Rules: None that I can really think of!

Deadline: Thursday, January 17th at 23:59. Essentially the 18th, but I won't be available most of that day.

@Chrisondra @TidalMoonrise @Mypilot @PixieKnight3264 @SamIamLuvDov @Lightshadow101 @humanityxpeople @coyearth @Avanari @demonslayr62 @Auraelia @Endernil @Arithelia @inthestars @Annalynn @meddlesomedragon @SocialBookWorm @Kattata @Reiyn @Skyeset @lessthan3 @AwkwardAngel @Draxia @Solstices @0Musicheart0 @Aphelium @AloneTogether @CelestialNarwhal @Kapara @Slayborn @pharmakraken @Elroth @After @Adaris @LapisDragon17718 @Dragonartist24 @MysticalScribe @TwoSwordsClash @Redtiger7736 @AnacondaMiracle @Gula @GalazyBunny @Macchi @MxMagpie @catmeow1 @TundraReign @GreatLordHades @TwilightDreams @stanlley @Eiira @seige @VeronicaSawyer @mischiefsabre @Midoriko @VoyagerII @Emberlight @Chessboard @HarcoreUvula

@Zuron don't forget to ping!

@Macchi

Yeah, I got it!

Not everyone gets to be the hero… Sometimes, you’re the villain. Sometimes, you’re the detective. Sometimes you get to be the hero’s best friend or rarely the bully. And then there’s me. The bystander. My sister is favored by my family, by the school, by the people in the school.

I guess, she’s the hero of this story. She gets straight A’s with little effort, and when she does mess up even a tiny bit, the teachers let it slide. In comparison, what does the bystander get? F. F. F. Over and over, and I try harder than she ever has, it’s just not there. I mess up once? Chewed out, hated by that teacher for the whole year.

She got the lead in the school play. We’re both in the theater program. Welcome to the show, watch my sister play the act of juliet perfectly. You won’t see me, i’m behind that tree, I move it off stage later, and that’s it.

She played soccer with the team just last week. First win for our school since anyone can remember, and they laid the praise on her. I was over in that stand, watching her make score after score, having the time of her life.

She gets the attention, the glitz and glamour, and the popularity from everyone. I’m leaning on that vending machine, my headphones plugged in to tune out the world, but that doesn’t stop me from noticing their judgement.

At home, it’s not much better. My mom tries to get me to ‘open up’ a bit more, see things from my sister's point of view. Wish I could, your constant ‘you didn’t do this right!’ Doesn’t help. Dad praises her for her ‘eye on the road’ and lets her drive the car. I can too, but I only get groceries for everyone and then make the food. Every night.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she got super powers and became the number one hero overnight. Would I become the villain? To get back at her for the difference? Nah.

I’m happy she gets straight A’s. She wants to move to France and teach English there. Good job, sis, I knew you’d be approved by that school, let’s see what I can do to help.

I was the stage crew for the show she was in. I was happy to make her look amazing, it makes her happy, might as well make me happy too, right? Good job, sis, rock that stage.

I could’ve sworn I was the most sincere cheerer in the soccer stands, I didn’t wave a foam hand, or scream her name, I urged her to win with all of my heart. Good job, sis, you deserve that praise.

I don’t want the attention she has, people scare me. I’m listening to my favorite song, in that corner next to the snacks. It makes me feel calm. I’ve learned to ignore their judgement, makes good writing material for my next story. Good job, sis, you worked hard to earn that popularity, even if you only have a few true friends.

I am happy the way I am, mom. And I do, in fact, see things from my sister’s point of view. She talks to me and makes me laugh. She cares about me. She tries to keep one foot in my world to make sure i’m okay, and if i’m not, she tells me silly stories until I can’t breath from laughing. I did do it right mom, i’m just not good enough at it yet, give me time. I don’t mind making the food every night, it lets me feel like i’m a gourmet chef, creating the menu at a five-star restaurant. The driving makes me happy, I feel like a speed-racer. Good job, sis, even our parents recognize how amazing you are.

So yeah, I guess i’m not the hero of this story. I guess i’m the bystander. But good job, sis, you are the hero.

My hero.

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@Zuron
Edit: fixed the spacing error.
Edit 2: fixed another spacing error.

@Zuron here's my submission! A few notes: I use G-d with a dash where most people would put an o for religious reasons. Also, I don't particularly expect to win, but if I do, the runner-up is going to have to handle the next round, because I'm getting hospitalized on the 17th. The story's a little long, but I hope you like it. My take on the idea of a supergenius.

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Look. This story was never really about me.

Let me explain. After all, I've been explaining for others for a very long time. I never set out to be the villain of somebody's story. I just didn't have a better option.

I was born in perfect circumstances for a hero. 11:54, December 21. Winter solstice. Auspicious, ya know? Could be about to bring light back to the world. Of course, I could be ready to plunge the world into its longest darkness. Hard to tell which way I would flip, really, but my parents knew early on that it would be one or the other. Had to be, with a kid like me.

My parents found me reading my mom's favorite cookbook when I was one and a half. Instead of taking it away from me, they asked if I wanted something more interesting. That's how I started reading Heinlein. I didn't really like him, so I moved on to Pratchett and Poe. Classics, modern classics, obscure nonfiction, I read it all, soaking up knowledge like a sponge. My parents decided they had a genius on their hands.

They didn't find out what was really going on until much later. But I get ahead of myself. From the earliest I can remember, I could hear things. I didn't tell anyone, because the books I read called it an illness, the symptom that marked a person as crazy. I didn't want to be crazy.

When I was in second grade, I read a book that changed my life. It was called "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," and it was about a young woman with schizophrenia learning to get past it with the help of a mental hospital. What struck me, though, was a scene in which the young woman asked her private g-ds to teach her math. Eventually, they had to admit that they couldn't teach her beyond the scope of her initial knowledge.

Curious, I asked my own voices the same question. They responded by teaching me the basics of algebra. My voices and I continued our mathematics lessons during school, where I could usually finish my assignments in the first fifteen minutes of class. I mastered algebra in a few months, and then moved on to bigger and better things. I spent most of third grade learning advanced geometry, while my classmates learned their multiplication tables.

For fourth grade, I worked on calculus, and quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't nearly as difficult as it was made out to be. I moved on to higher mathematics. Then onto unsolved problems. By seventh grade, I had solved three of the great mysteries of math.

I didn't tell my parents everything that I was learning from my hallucinatory teachers, but I kept far enough ahead in my classes that they continued to believe their child was a genius.

I'm sure you think you know how this story goes. I was bullied, right? And I grew bitter towards all humanity, thinking that they were a plague upon the earth that needed to be cleansed. That's why I'm trying to destroy the planet. Oh yes, I see your judgements in your eyes. Well, that's a gross simplification. I see your judgements in your body language and your expression, and I can guess some of it from history. Don't worry, I'm not angry. I'm not going to kill you first, or painfully or anything. Actually, I intend to let you live, I just can't let you get in the way.

See, it turns out I'm functionally omniscient. I don't technically know everything unless I try, but I can quite literally figure out anything I set my mind to. The voices were just a child's way of handling the overload of information. All the knowledge in the universe is a little much for an elementary school student, you know?

Anyway, I was telling you about my childhood. Don't worry about why just now, just listen. I wasn't bullied, because my classmates didn't notice me. I m sure they didn't, spending most of my childhood in deliberate invisibility. It gave me more time to read and learn. And oh, did I learn!

One of the things I eventually learned was that my voices were only me, but I never got rid of them. Sometimes it's nice to have the company. They're smarter than anyone outside my head.

When I was 16, I had finished college and was going to multiple grad schools for different professions. I also had my own apartment, which meant I felt safe enough to share the reality of my situation with my parents. They took it about as well as I expected, but I had made sure ahead of time that they couldn't actually find any proof of my "delusions," so they failed to have me committed to a mental hospital. Our relationship has been all but nonexistent ever since, but I can't say I mind that much. I still have company.

By age twenty, I had made a small fortune through scientific, technological, mathematical, and medical breakthroughs, and I was beginning to wonder about the nature of my condition. My abilities.

You see, omnipotence is functionally the same as omniscience. If you have one, you can have the other. And that's why we're here.

I've been working on this machine for a good four years at this point, which is longer than anything else has ever taken me. But it's perfect now. You look at this and see a doomsday device. I look at this and see the birth of G-d. I'll set it off, then I'll go back and create the universe.

I'm afraid the energy required to power the thing will destroy your planet, but don't worry. Calm down, there's nothing you can do to stop me. I've already planned for this, and don't think I can't see you trying to get out of those handcuffs. It's not gonna work. Just listen, okay? Once I'm G-d, I'll just go back and fix it. I'll put it back together so much better than it ever was. I promise you'll all be happy. But if I let you stop me now, the universe will cease to exist.

Now I've got to focus, because this is a rather complicated machine. But I'll answer you one question first.

Why am I telling you this? Isn't that a little bit cliche? Well, I said I'd answer it, so cliche or not, here we go. Maybe I just wanted someone to know. You were convenient, and you always fought to protect your planet. I think that's pretty admirable, so I decided to talk to you a little. You'll remember this in the new Earth I'll create, although you won't remember anything else about this world. I wouldn't worry too much, it's honestly a pretty crappy world. But you'll understand the nature of everything better than anybody but me.

Remember what I said earlier? This isn't my story. This is the story of a whole damn universe that's about to get so much better. I'm going to fix everything- climate change, world hunger, racism, all the things that have plagued humanity as it's grown. I'm going to make it all work right. Not everybody gets to be the hero you know. Some of us are stuck being the villain. Some of us get to be G-d.

@Zuron I'm sorry for the ping, but I just heavily edited my submission, so I wanted to make sure you saw before you judged. Thank you!

@catmeow1 @MxMagpie

I ended up forgetting about this and being late, but better that than never, I suppose.

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It was a hard call, but I think I like Cat's just a little bit more. I relate more to that one, and Magpie's was just a little off to me. I guess, for a genius with nigh-omniscience, he seemed pretty blind. Thank you for your patience! Not that it was badly-written though, no!

Catmeow1 gets first, followed by MxMagpie!

@Zuron I didn't realize I had won! Maybe it got lost in my pings... Anyways, thank you!
I don't have an idea for a prompt yet, but should later today. I'll ping everyone then!
(Where do I get the pinglist from?)

@catmeow1 there's a pinglist in a link in the first post.
Edit: Nah, it isn't. Just copy paste from an older user's post. Also, you think you can add me to the pinglist?