sportsanime | Bonus Round 3: Gift Tags

Entry tags:

Bonus Round 3: Gift Tags

Feeling generous? In this round, you get to give creative gifts as prompts.

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

RULES

Submit prompts as a gift tag in the format below. You can specify the size and a characteristic of the gift, who the sender is, who the recipient is, and a one or two sentence note from the sender to the recipient. Descriptions of the package and the included note don’t have to be explicit, see below.

Package: medium sized cube, rattles
From: Kageyama Tobio
To: Hinata Shouyou
Note: These will help you get better.
Envelope: manila, 12''x17'', very thick and heavy
From: Tezuka Kunimitsu
To: Kinjou Shingo
Note: Enclosed - Play without regrets!

Your prompt MUST include a relationship. Platonic relationships are indicated by an "&" between the names (e.g., Riko & Momoi). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Riko/Momoi). Please don't say "Any pairing," either.
Fill prompts by leaving a responding comment to the prompt with your newly-created work. Fillers can get creative with how to interpret the prompt: your fill can be about the character receiving the gift, one or both characters using the gift, what prompted the sender to send the gift—the physical gift itself can even be excluded from your fill. What’s important is that the gift tag is clearly the inspiration for your fill.
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 Write it exactly as it appears on the team roster or your team will not receive points 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 Write it exactly as it appears on the team roster or your team will not receive points Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E) Place applicable major content tags and word count before your fill (when applicable) NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and use clear tags in your comment. Written/text fills should be hosted at AO3 ONLY as a new, unchaptered work. 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, as explained in the rules 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 as a new, unchaptered work. 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Shimizu Kiyoko /& Yachi Hitoka HQ!!
tags: none

Package: medium sized box filled with art gear
From: Kiyoko
To: Hitoka-chan
Note: Being a Manager ... you'll get to experience a lot of different feelings, good and bad, thought you could discharge all of that into something you'll be happy to look back at and be proud of.

a/n: I thought of this so many times

o H FM GO D

Get ur ass aboard the feels train, buddy ✌

no tags word count: 854

Hitoka has had a hard day.

She had woken up late and didn’t get to eat breakfast with her mom like usual, running through the city just in time to miss the train. She had been the only manager at morning practice – Kiyoko had a doctor’s appointment that morning, and she had to get ready for when she went off to college in a few months. She had to run around until her legs fell off to keep up. She was almost crying when she got to class only to discover that she had left all her textbooks at home and had to endure the wrath of her teachers and the fish breath of her neighbors as she looked over his shoulder. Even lunch was tainted, the bento scattered all around the box from her run across town, and her team’s first years too busy with solo lunch practice to stop by and brighten her mood.

She was almost ready to cry when the school day ended at last. She gathered her things with only a nod at her class friends, plodding down to her shoe locker and hoping afternoon practice with Kiyoko present would be a little easier.

She blindly reached in for her shoes and crunched her hand on a hard surface only a few centimeters in. She cried out, shaking her hand out, and wrinkled her nose as she sneered in at the obstruction. Someone had shoved a box in.

She bit her lip and fumbled to pull it out it barely fit, so she had to snag her finger under the lid, almost breaking a nail in the process. It got out, though, the shoebox lid popping out and spilling half its contents at her feet. She sucked in a breath – she wouldn’t cry – then actually registered what had rained down on her socks. Pens – fancy pens, in an array of colors and types and sizes – rolled across the linoleum collecting at her bag and against the cupboard. She knelt down, setting the half-full box beside her, and started to pick them up, looking over each one. Her eyebrows shot up – these were nice, brands she knew from her mom’s drafting table and drooling envy on art store trips. She dropped them back in the box – it was lined with two sketchbooks with different kinds of paper, a pad of watercolors with a pack of brushes, another pack of pencils across the lead weight spectrum, a brand-new kneaded eraser. Hitoka’s hands trembled as she dropped the last few escapees in – this was easily two thousand yen worth of art supplies, dropped in her lap with no introduction or buildup or anything. Who-

She closed the lid to see if there was a signature she had missed. There, in red Sharpie and tiny characters, was a note in Kiyoko’s handwriting.

Being a manager, you'll get to experience a lot of different feelings, good and bad. I thought you could discharge all of that into something you'll be happy to look back at and be proud of.

She bit her cheek, eyes watering, but took a deep breath and held it in. She hugged the box to her chest, contents rattling, and climbed to her feet to run to the gym (doubling back for her shoes still crammed in the back of her locker).

Only half of the team was there when she ran in, setting up the nets and stretching. Kiyoko was filling up water bottles from the cooler perched on the edge of the stage. Hitoka hurtled over, blind to the turning heads of her team, and thumped into Kiyoko’s chest, burying her face in her jacket. The edges of the shoebox dug into both their stomachs and chests, Hitoka’s crossed arms squished between them. Kiyoko let out a whoosh of breath, then a laugh.

“You found it?” Hitoka nodded, throat tight. Kiyoko patted her back with one of the water bottles in her hand. “I wasn’t about to leave you without a little help,” she mumbled, “and I did forget your birthday.”

Hitoka hiccupped, then laughed, stepping back to swipe at her face. “It’s too much,” she squeezed out, “but I love them already, thank you.”

“I just asked the store clerk to fill it up with everything you could need.” Kiyoko finished filling the water bottles as she talked. “I’m glad he was right.”

Hitoka jerked with a laugh – threw her head back with it. Kiyoko’s soft chuckle ran counterpoint, and Hitoka could feel the building tension from her rotten day bleed out on the polished wood floor. “He was!” she said with a grin. Kiyoko smiled back, which just made Hitoka grin wider. “I’ll make you something really nice for your dorm room with them, first thing!”

Kiyoko smiled. “I’d like that.” Hitoka glowed. Kiyoko flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “You ready to help me set up practice, Hitoka-chan?”

“Yes! Lemme just-” She darted back to the corner they dropped their bags in, still smiling into her shoebox, ignoring the shouted questions from Hinata across the gym, a dull buzz to the butterfly sunshine in her chest.

it was too cute I had to do it

Edited 2016-06-30 00:36 (UTC)

Ohmygod yes!! Bless you.
This was really cute and fluffy and I enjoyed it very much.
Thank you for the fill, your writing is really good~

no tags
word count: 535

Kiyoko likes the way Hitoka's bookshelves are arranged. Like the rest of her room, like the rest of her life, everything is neatly organised, grouped together by subject, then grouped by size and colour. Kiyoko likes standing there, letting her fingers trail over the spines of the books, and she blinks when she notices a book that she's never seen before.

"What's this?" she asks, running a finger down its spine, looking over her shoulder to where Hitoka is sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Oh." Hitoka's eyes go wide, and she blushes brightly, the way that she used to all the time, back when she was in first year. She smiles, tucking her hair behind her ear, and gets to her feet. Her body is warm as it brushes against Kiyoko's, and she pulls the book off the shelf.
"It's a scrapbook."

"A scrapbook?" Kiyoko asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you remember those art supplies that you gave me, before you graduated?" Hitoka carries the scrapbook over to her bed and sits down, patting the space beside her for Kiyoko to join her.

"I do," Kiyoko replies, because of course she does. She remembers spending days deliberating over what to gift Hitoka with, because nothing ever felt good enough, or useful enough. She still remembers the way that Hitoka's eyes lit up when she opened the box to find the art supplies.

"I started off painting, just as a way to express what I was feeling," Hitoka tells her, "but then, I didn't want to look back on it later and not have any idea what it was about. So I started adding things. Little notes here and there to remind myself what I was thinking, or how I was feeling. The team's achievements, their losses, the times they fought and the times they made up."

Hitoka opens the book, showing Kiyoko. "Tanaka and Noya got into a fight, somewhere halfway into their third year. It was stressful for everyone, but Ennoshita knew how to handle them. It stressed me out so much I dedicated to pages of my scrapbook to it."

Kiyoko looks closer, touching the edge of the pages, her heart caught in her throat.

She expected Hitoka to use the art supplies for herself, but the scrapbook is a glimpse into how Karasuno was, after Kiyoko graduated. It's a glimpse into all the things she's missed, and she feels the backs of her eyes sting a little with emotion, and she blinks, hoping that Hitoka won't notice.

Of course, she isn't that lucky.

"Did I upset you?" Hitoka asks, her eyebrows drawn together. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"You've done nothing of the sort, Hitoka-chan," Kiyoko assures her, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "You let me see how the team has been going for these past two years. I'm grateful for it."

Squeezing Kiyoko's hand in return, Hitoka smiles. "They grew. They got better. They pushed themselves and each other, and got the results that they deserved. I'm glad you asked me to join, when you did. I'm glad I got to see it all for myself."

With a warm smile, Kiyoko nods. "Yeah. I'm glad too."

This is the most precious fill. The insights into Kiyoko's emotions, the way she deeply cares about the boys, her team, about Yachi. I loved reading this. It felt very true and I felt the importance of Kiyoko's gift to Yachi, and Yachi's unintentional gift back.

It's just been a sincere pleasure to read everything you've done during SASO, and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to do so.