SASO Referees (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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sportsanime2016-07-21 08:53 pm
referees) wrote in sportsanime2016-07-21 08:53 pm
Entry tags:
Bonus Round 5: Myth & Lore
This round is CLOSED as of 7PM on August 4 EDT. Late fills may be posted, but they will not receive points.
RULES
- This round does not have prompts. Instead, we ask you to draw inspiration from the wide pool of mythology, fantasy, folklore, and fable. An urban fantasy or supernatural AU? A re-imagining of your favorite folk tale? Characters swapping ghost stories or playing D&D? As long as your fill in some way incorporates the fantastical and/or supernatural, it's welcome here.
- Your fill still has to be about a ship from one of our nominated fandoms. What ships you create work for is up to you, though.
- To submit your fill, simply leave it as a comment as a reply to this post.
- 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)
Remember, this is a NO-PROMPT round. Format your fill comment in one of the following ways:
| If FILLING: | If FILLING as a TEAM GRANDSTAND participant: |
FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP], [RATING]
| FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [RATING]
|
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 fills as you want!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!
FILL: Team Grandstand, PG
no tags, Word Count: 1463
Servants listened, and knew things. This was one of the first things Akira had learned as a child. Sometimes the things they knew were the things that everyone knew, like the fact that the princesses had each wore out a pair of dancing shoes for the seventh night in a row. Sometimes these things were things only other servants knew, like the fact that the palace cobblers had begun muttering about the speed in which they were now forced to make new shoes (No wonder they're worn out in a night, Akira heard one say, There's no time to make good quality shoes in a day). Sometimes, though, there were things known only to a single soul who happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Akira knew where the princesses went at night.
She had found out quite by accident, hearing a loud noise from their bedroom as she passed by through the servants' passages late one night. Worried that something terrible had happened, she had looked through to see the youngest princess, Mako, disappearing down a large corridor that appeared to have been hidden by the eldest princess' bed. Akira gasped, quietly. She knew this palace inside and out, and there was no passage so large as that. And definitely not on the third floor. It must be magic, then.
Or so she assumed, as she had yet to follow them and see for herself. She told herself it was because it might be dangerous, either for herself or for the princesses, and that the smartest thing to do would be to find out more about the passage and the princesses' late night wanderings. But she knew that the truth was that she was afraid. Afraid of being found out and being executed, or sent away from the palace and everyone she knew, or of being shunned. Akira had been bullied as a child, and she was unwilling now to do anything that would provoke social exclusion once more.
Which is connected to her other reason for not following the princesses-- fear of disappointing or angering Chinatsu. Princess Chinatsu, who was strong and beautiful and called her Aki-chan and had taught her how to dance all those years ago. Chinatsu had just started lessons, and had instructors of course, but she had been practicing by herself when she had noticed Akira passing by, and had asked if she wanted to be her partner. Akira couldn't have refused even if she wanted to, but she didn't want to, at all. She'd long admired Chinatsu, and was flattered and overwhelmed at the chance to spend time with her. So she'd nodded, and blushed fiercely at the pleased smile Chinatsu gave her, and tried very hard not to trip as Chinatsu taught her how to dance.
Their practice continued for several years, and although Akira knew it was inappropriate for a princess to spend so much time with a servant, and that Chinatu's dance instructors had given her grief for her preference for leading, she was unwilling to stop. She was addicted to the warmth of Chinatsu's hand clasping hers, to the press of their bodies, to Chinatsu's expression when they danced, happy and concentrated at once. And while some of the servants shook their heads and clucked their tongues at the friendship, the bullying had at least stopped, and the other servants her age were nicer to her now. It might have been only because of her connection to Chinatsu, but that was ok.
But then the princesses had started disappearing at night. They left their worn-through dancing shoes outside of the door, and slept half the day away. They grew distant and vague. Chinatsu stopped looking for Akira.
Akira held the knowledge close to her chest as the king, in despair, began to seek help in determining where his daughters went each night. One by one, men came and went, or came and disappeared, never to be seen again. There didn't seem to be a pattern to who did what, but after a while Akira noticed that the ones who disappeared had the same graceful posture and elegant movements that Chinatsu had, and wondered.
Months passed, and the king grew more desperate. There were rumors now that the next man who failed to answer where the princesses went would be executed. It was this rumor that finally gave Akira the strength she needed to follow the princesses down the passage.
She slipped down silently behind them, accustomed to moving unseen and unheard. The princesses talked and giggled ahead of her, the new man looking lost and stunned in their midst. They made their way down through the tunnel, and Akira held back a gasp as it opened to a field of gold. She brushed the grass as she walked through it, and it was warm and delicate against her fingers. At the other end of the field was a gate, and she followed the princesses through it to find herself in an orchard of silver, every detail cool and perfect. She plucked a silver peach from a branch and slipped it into her pocket. Finally, there was a forest of shimmering diamond, and Akira stopped and stared for so long she nearly lost sight of the princesses, so entranced she was by the artistry.
Finally, they came to a splendid pavilion, which housed a dance floor and was lined with tables holding a variety of refreshments. Akira wondered briefly where the servants were, to refill glasses and remove soiled plates, but remembered that this was magic, and there would be no need for servants here. She stood just outside the pavilion, and watched as Chiduru laughingly poured the new man a glass of wine and offered it to him. He drank it and offered his arm to her, which she accepted. As if this was a sign, other men came from the opposite end of the pavilion and began to offer their arms to each of the princesses. Akira recognized several of them as the ones who had disappeared, but others were strangers to her.
After what seemed like hours, she found herself thirsty, and carefully made her way over to a table to get herself a drink.
“If you drink that, you'll be enchanted, too,” a voice said, as familiar as her own and far more dear. Akira looked up, startled, to see Chinatsu smiling at her. “You would wait down here for night to fall, and only be able to dance.”
“I miss you,” Akira blurted out, then covered her mouth with her hands, horrified. Chinatsu's smile slipped.
“I've missed you, too, Aki-chan,” she said softly. “But things are different now that we've found this place. I can dance as much as I like here, however I like, and no one will chastise me.”
“I've never chastised you,” Akira replied. As if she ever could. As if she ever would.
“No,” said Chinatsu, smiling again. “I have always loved you for that.”
Love. The word made Akira feel bold, and she spoke before she could second-guess herself.
“If I drank, I could dance with you every night.”
“Yes.” Chinatsu's face did not betray whether she thought this a pleasant possibility or an unpleasant one. But she had said love, and Akira missed dancing with her.
She drank.
(It has been months, or years, or merely days since Akira drank. Time moves differently when you are enchanted. She has no need to eat or drink or mark the passage of time. The only thing that matters is dancing with Chinatsu all night under the stars. Sometime new men come, and Chinatsu will dance with them for a time, but she always comes back to Akira.
“You understand me best,” she says, and Akira glows.
But now Chinatsu is arguing with a man by the refreshment table. They are starting to draw the attention of the other princesses, and when Chinatsu sees this she waves them off with one hand and pokes the young man in the chest with the other. Finally, she grabs him by the wrist and drags him onto the dance floor, where they snipe and glower at each other for the rest of the night.
Akira thinks she has never seen Chinatsu dance so well, and feels her heart break, a little, as much as an enchanted heart can. They don't seem to like each other, but there is still something present there, some sort of connection. Akira never sees him clearly, only catches glimpses of his messy hair and wide dark eyes, but she hates him anyway, as much as she can.
When morning comes, the man has not yet drunk, and Chinatsu never comes back).