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 MIYUKI KAZUYA/MIYUKI KAZUYA, G
Ship: Takigawa Chris Yuu/Tanba Kouichirou
Word Count: 1,200
this is a gods and mortals AU, aka "the one where Chris is functionally Athena"
-
The corpse of the minotaur fades into the chamber floor, leaving Tanba alone in an empty room. The point of his sword stabs into the ground, braced between a crack in the stones and straining beneath his weight as he slumps over it for support. He's breathing hard; his chest heaves as he sucks in air. It's the only sound he can hear.
He doesn't dare to hope that his trial for knighthood is over.
A hush may have descended over the chamber of trials but it's a waiting silence, heavy with the possibility of more danger to come. Sweat drips down Tanba's forehead and face and trickles down the back of his neck, wetting the tunic he wears underneath his armor. That is heavy where it weighs down his body, chainmail over his chest and a shield affixed to his arm.
It's empty of any standard. The symbol of his kingdom is a lion, rendered in gold against a brilliant blue backdrop, but Tanba hasn't earned it yet. A yawn sounds out of the darkness, with a rushing like all the air is being sucked out of the room. Tanba yanks his sword back up, and plants his feet. In a trial to prove his courage and bravery, he will not be caught looking down. He will not appear defeated. He will be strong for his kingdom.
If anything, the space around him seems darker than before, the walls disappearing into the blackness. Tanba loses any sense of his presence in anything like a room, as if he's no longer rooted to one place with a grounding in reality. The ground underneath him shifts, and he stumbles, tightening his grasp around the grip of his sword.
"Lower your shield, knight," a voice says, "and put away your sword. There will be no need for violence in this test."
Tanba is familiar with traps and trickery, and while he's uncertain of the nature of the new trial, does not immediately lower his blade. Light returns to the room, diffusing into their surroundings from all directions at once. In its growing glow, Tanba can see the man standing before him, posture relaxed, weight shifted back onto his heels.
His hands are empty, palms spread open before him. "Do I look like I'm about to attack you?" he asks.
He doesn't. The possibility of deception remains, but Tanba is a knight who's been taught chivalry and courtesy, as well as courage and bravery. When invited to talk peacefully with a stranger, he can do little more than allow his manners to assert themselves, before he slides his sword back into its scabbard at his side.
"I am Tanba Kouichirou," he says. "A knight in training, and I greet you."
The man smiles, a slim spreading of his lips mirrored by a gentle glow that kindles behind his amber eyes. His face is handsome, as handsome as any of the nobles Tanba has seen about court, many of them of much better birth than what small scrap of nobility Tanba can boast. He has sharp cheekbones, a strong chin, thick, blond-brown hair that runs back from his forehead in gentle waves. Two lone curls fall about his face, just above his eyes.
He's dressed simply, in a long tunic the likes of which only remains popular in paintings. It's nothing like what's become fashionable about court, but in the moment, Tanba does not think to question it.
"Well met," the man says. "And well met again. I would introduce myself, but I believe you have already made my acquaintance... If you only think back on things a moment."
Tanba's brow furrows, creasing up with his confusion. Someone with such regal bearing he would have remembered; doubtlessly he would have served them when he was a page waiting upon the king's court. This man must be a duke, or a baron, or—
There's a signet ring on his finger, glinting gold and flashing briefly in the uncertain light. The symbol engraved on it winds around and around itself, wider at the top than the bottom. Or the patron goddess — god? — of the knight order, Tanba finishes in his head, suddenly unsteady on his feet for a far different reason than because he'd faced down some unspeakable monster.
"I'm sorry," he says, glancing away to one side. He doesn't know how to behave with a god; he doesn't know whether it's rude to meet the man's eyes. "I should have paid my respects to our patron. Please forgive me for my transgression against the order."
"Please," the god echoes him, a subtle pressure behind his words that presses Tanba to look back up. "If I expected any particular treatment, I would say so."
"You don't look how I was expecting," Tanba admits, so softly, just softly enough that his voice doesn't shake, "when I've imagined the patron goddess of our order."
The god's smile spreads wider, softening at the edges. "I've worn a lot of faces, before a lot of different heroes. The face I wear today is for you and you alone." His voice drops, taking on a tone that in anybody else Tanba might have described as secretive. "And if you attempt to describe it to another mortal, you will find your recollection too foggy to be put into words."
Tanba swallows, certain that some part of that was meant as a warning, and clears his throat. "So I shouldn't tell anyone that I met with the goddess of law, justice, and war strategy in the trial chamber?"
"Would anyone believe you if you did?"
Put that way, Tanba is aware that they wouldn't. "What do you want from me?" he asks instead.
The god glances down at Tanba's shield with its empty standard where it hangs still from his arm. "I want a champion. If I call upon you, will you serve?"
Serve the symbol of his order directly? Given a dozen years, Tanba doubts he could find the words to refuse. Slowly, shakily, he lowers himself to one knee. With head bowed, he unlatches his scabbard from his belt and lays his sword out before him, the handle pointed toward the god. His hand feels impossibly light, when it's taken from him.
The sword's weight returns, dropped first to Tanba's right shoulder, then the left. When the sensation passes, Tanba lets himself look up, into glowing golden eyes and a smile full of teeth almost too white to look upon.
"Leave the chamber," the god says, "and you'll find that your trial is complete. If you ever have need to call on me directly, don't pray for wisdom, or for justice. Trust in yourself, and ask for Chris. Gods are only as powerful as their presence in the mortal world; I may as well have a modern name to answer to."
It feels awfully familiar, calling a god by any man's first name. But before Tanba can find the words to express as much, the roaring of a great wind passing rises again in his ears. As the rushing drops off, ordinary light returns to the room, and Tanba finds himself alone in the chamber of trials once again.
Re: FILL: TEAM MIYUKI KAZUYA/MIYUKI KAZUYA, G
(I like it, it's good)