Bonus Round 5: Myth & Lore

[referees]

Summer's a time for swapping stories around the campfire. With that in mind, this round draws inspiration from the stories humanity have told each other over the centuries.

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)

There is no max work cap.

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] Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to Write it exactly as it appears on the team roster (without brackets) 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) If no major content tags are applicable, make sure to state this-- even if including other additional tags 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 If no major content tags are applicable, make sure to state this-- even if including other additional tags 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 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!

Comments

Fill: Team Furuya Satoru/Miyuki Kazuya, T

[kazuyaloveseijun]

Furuya Satoru/Miyuki Kazuya, Daiya no A
no major tags, supernatural elements, ouija board
words: 511

“Is anyone there?” Haruichi asks; head tilted down, his unseen eyes no doubt focused on the piece of paper in front of him, the alphabet written around it, “yes” and “no” at the top.

“Couldn’t we have done kokkuri-san instead?” Sawamura asks quietly as the coin everyone has their finger on starts to move toward “yes”.

“You’re unsurprisingly superstitious,” Kazuya grins even though the second the coin moved his heart started beating faster, “country boy.”

“What should we ask?” Kuramochi says, elbowing Sawamura and cutting off his protest.

“When will I be the ace?” Sawamura perks back up, staring at the paper intensely as the coin moves.

Kazuya can feel the way Furuya tenses next to him and he has to suppress a snicker. They seem to be taking this way too seriously for a kid’s game.

“Never,” the group spells out together and Kuramochi laughs.

“Someone’s pushing it,” Sawamura glares around the circle of boys huddling around.

“Miyuki Kazuya, it was you wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t,” Kazuya grins. He sees the sparkle of amusement as Kuramochi tries to hold back laughing harder and thinks he knows who did it.

“It’s just a game Eijun,” Haruichi says, a lilt to his voice and a tilt to his lips that makes Kazuya less sure about his assumption.

“Will we make it to Koshien this year?” Furuya asks, ignoring the noise around him, voice deep and serious and Kazuya can’t help finding how seriously he’s taking this a little endearing.

The coin moves quickly to “yes” and no one is surprised.

“Will we win?” Sawamura asks excitedly and the coin moves to “no”.

A heavy atmosphere settles over the room as they glance around the circle. No one is laughing, no one wants them to lose; Kazuya can’t tell who moved the coin.

“Will I really be the best pitcher in Japan?” Furuya asks and the coin moves back to “yes” as Sawamura accuses Furuya of moving the coin. He shuts up when it moves toward the letters, spelling out a longer message.

“Furuya kun,” it reads and Kazuya’s heart starts to hammer as it spells out: “Please take care of my Kazunya.”

“That’s not funny,” Kazuya says, unable to keep the waiver out of his voice as he pulls the coin off the board. “Game over guys, get out.”

“Miyuki…” Kuramochi says but Kazuya won’t meet his eyes, pointing toward the door.

Sawamura opens his mouth to say something but Haruichi tells him quietly not to, tugging on his friend’s arm to make him stand. The three of them exit his room and Kazuya’s mood sours further, a strange mix of anger and fear making his stomach turn.

“Miyuki-senpai,” Furuya says next to him, touching his shoulder gently and Kazuya lets himself melt into the touch, leaning against his solid warmth.

He resists the urge to put his head in Furuya’s lap, let him stroke his hair until he closes his eyes with contentment; the echo of his mother’s voice saying “my little Kazunya kitty almost purrs,” too fresh in his mind.