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SASO Referees ([personal profile] referees) wrote in [community profile] sportsanime2016-05-27 10:01 am
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Bonus Round 1: Memory

Bonus Round 1: Memory


Let's start our summer by looking at the past—things that happened in canon, or maybe in an AU, or maybe just as wishful thinking...


This round is CLOSED as of 7PM on June 9 EDT. Late fills may be posted, but they will not receive points.

Please read this whole post before commenting to ensure that your team gets the most points possible. (There are changes from last year!)



RULES
  • Submit prompts by commenting to this post! You prompt should consist of one scenario beginning with the phrase "Remember when", along with any ship/ot3/etc. from our list of nominated fandoms.
    • Your prompts can take the form of recalling canon facts/events ("Remember when Nozomi and Eli got parfaits after school?"), non-canon events ("Remember when Megumi and Jin met at the Tadokoro Family Reunion?"), or somewhere in-between ("Remember when Bokuto and Kenma first met?"). Headcanons and AUs are welcome!
    • Your prompt MUST include some kind of relationship. (This is not the sports anime gen olympics.) Platonic relationships are indicated by an "&" between the names (e.g., Rei & Nagisa). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Rei/Nagisa). Please don't say "Any pairing," either!
  • Post fills by leaving a responding comment to a prompt with your newly-created work.
  • Remember to follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.


  • FORMAT
    Bonus round shenanigans all happen in the comments below. Brand-new works only, please.

    Required Work Minimums:
    • 400 words (prose)
    • 400px by 400px (art)
    • 14 lines (poetry)
    There is no max work cap.

    Format your comment in one of the following ways:

    If PROMPTING:If FILLING:If FILLING as a TEAM GRANDSTAND participant:
    PROMPT: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
    • Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to, including Grandstand or Sports Teams
    • Place the prompt's relationship in the first bolded line of the comment. Including the canon isn't required, but it's nice.
    • Below that, place applicable major content tags (when applicable; otherwise write "no tags" or "none")
    • Visual example
    FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP], [RATING]
    • Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to
    • Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E)
    • Place applicable major content tags and word count before your fill (when applicable; otherwise write "no tags" or "none")
    • NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and use clear tags in your comment. Written/text fills should be hosted at AO3 ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere. You may include a small safe-for-work preview of the fill in your comment.
    • To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" alt="DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE"/>
    • Visual example
    FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [RATING]
    • Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E)
    • Place applicable major content tags and word count before the fill, where applicable
    • NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and use clear tags in your comment. Written/text fills should be hosted at AO3 ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere. You may include a small safe-for-work preview of your work in your comment.
    • To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" />
    • Visual example


    Posts not using this format will be understood to be unofficial discussion posts, regardless of what they contain. They, like all comments in this community, are subject to the code of conduct.


    SCORING
    These numbers apply to your team as a whole, not each individual teammate. Make as many prompts/fills as you want!

    For prompts: 5 points each (maximum of 50 prompt points per team per round)

    For fills:

    First 3 fills by any member of your team: 20 points each
    Fills 4-10: 10 points each
    Fills 11-20: 5 points each
    Fills 21+: 2 points each

    All scored content must be created new for this round.


    Etc.
    If you're hunting through the prompts looking for what to fill, a good trick is to view top-level comments only.

    Have a question? Check The FAQ first. If you still need help, feel free to contact the mods. Happy fanworking!
yrindor: Head shot of Ulquiorra Cifer on a black background (Default)

Fill: Team Grandstand, T

[personal profile] yrindor 2016-05-28 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Religion
806 words

At night, in quiet whispers around the fire, they spoke of the Yamagami. He was mercurial, they said. He was beauty incarnate. He was destruction personified. He was beauty and terror in one.

And to appease him, every year when the leaves first started to turn and the air turned crisp, they sacrificed their most beautiful child to him so that he would give them his blessings, and avoid them with his curses.

Unlike the other gods, the Yamagami did not seem to be interested in communicating with them. He had never appeared before one of their priests, or spoken through one of their prophets, but there was never any doubt that he existed. And so the sacrifices carried on year after year, the villagers figuring the life of one child was a small price to pay for continued peace. As spring turned to summer, discussion turned to who would be offered to the god that year. This year, unlike most years, the discussions were mere formalities. Everyone knew who they would be offering to their god.

Their sacrifice was young and innocent, though not so young as he appeared. He had always been a sickly child, relegated to simple domestic tasks in the village rather than the hard physical labor of his peers. He was beautiful too, and everyone knew that the Yamagami appreciated beauty.

Though it had never been discussed in front of him, Manami knew it too. He saw in the way people looked at him — a combination a gratitude, pity, and sorrow that he had grown used to long ago. So it was no surprise when, on the night of the solstice, as the entire village gathered at the temple to celebrate, the priest cried "Manami Sangaku" to the clear skies, and the village echoed his cry.

It should have changed everything, but somehow, it changed nothing at all. Life went on as it always had until a few days before the ceremony, when the high priest came for Manami, dressed him in the ceremonial robes, and led him to the building where he was to spend his last few days in silent prayer. It was one of the few stone buildings in the village, set by the edge of the temple, and the floor was cold under his bare feet. The echoes of the iron bar across the door falling into place echoed through the room long after the priest left.

That night, alone in his prison, Manami finally allowed himself to cry. He didn't question the decision of the village; he knew he would never bring them honor as a warrior or as a hunter. This was the way in which he was to serve his village, and he understood. But he wondered what would happen after he was gone. Would the people remember him, or would his name be lost to history as just one in a long line of sacrifices? What would happen to him after he died? Did the Yamagami even exist, or were they all praying to an empty superstition? His tears would be dry by morning, but for the moment, he let himself cry.

Sometime in the middle of the night, when the light of the nearly-full moon streamed through the window, he felt a light touch across his cheek, like a thumb brushing away his tears.

"Do you wish to live, little one?" a voice asked, and it echoed through his bones, seeming to come from everywhere at once as no mortal voice ever had.

Manami gasped. A pale figure stood by the side of his bed, seeming to shimmer and dance in the moonlight, always just out of focus.

"Yamagami?" he whispered.

"That would be me! And you're Manami Sangaku, my soon-to-be sacrifice. Or, at least, you're supposed to be."

"Yamagami," Manami repeated, breathless.

"Will you come with me?" the Yamagami asked.

"Come with you?"

"Yes. Come join me, child who looks like I once did."

"You can do that?"

"Of course I can, if you are willing."

"I am," Manami said, and the god pressed a shimmering hand to his back between his shoulderblades. He gasped as silvery wings erupted from his back, glowing in the moonlight. Then the Yamagami was pulling him by the wrist, leading him up through the roof of the building and into the clear night sky.

"Welcome, Manami," the Yamagami said when the finally touched down again on the mountaintop, "or perhaps I should say, welcome, Hakone's Angel."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The next morning when the priests checked on their sacrifice, they found the room empty save for a stone and a single feather on the bed.

In the following months, the village began praying not only to the Yamagami, but also to the guardian angel who finally managed to calm the Yamagami's tempestuous nature.