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 Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru, G

[kiyala]

Aomine Daiki/Kuroko Tetsuya; Kuroko no Basuke
no tags; demons, reincarnation, future card buddyfight au
word count: 446

Aomine likes lazy afternoons like these, where he can just lie around the apartment and not have to do anything. Here, he doesn’t even have to worry about making himself smaller so that he looks roughly human-sized, and it makes him feel like he’s stretching his limbs out after being in a particularly cramped space for far too long.

He doesn’t have to wear his usual jacket to hide the horns protruding from his head and his shoulders, because it’s just him and Kuroko here now. Kuroko is used to him, leaning back against Aomine’s bigger form with a content hum, happy to just sit there and read his book. Aomine curls his long tail around one of Kuroko’s feet, quiet and possessive, and Kuroko is used to that, too.

Kuroko is used to a lot, and Aomine tries to tell himself that it’s enough. He should be happy enough with the fact that Kuroko has accepted him as his partner, when Aomine appeared out of nowhere and declared that they would be. Fighting for Kuroko is thrilling, against other people and their partners from other realms. Fighting alongside him, when Kuroko summons his own weapons, is even better.

It’s still a pale imitation of what Aomine used to have. Of what Kuroko used to be.

“Aomine-kun,” Kuroko hums, putting his book down. “Will you tell me about Magic World?”

“What do you want to know?” Aomine asks, his heart leaping into his throat. There are things he could tell Kuroko; things that he knows that he shouldn’t, that he would need to carefully skirt around in a way that doesn’t make Kuroko immediately suspicious.

There are things that Kuroko shouldn’t know, like the fact that he’s demon royalty. He’s the prince of Aomine’s home world, sent to the human world without his memories, with his magic sealed away by his parents, to keep him safe. It’s why Aomine is here, to protect him until Magic World is ready for its future king to return.

Kuroko clears his throat. “Can you tell me why it has such a terrible name?”

“Wow,” Aomine laughs, and he whacks Kuroko’s side gently with his tail. “That’s rude.”

Kuroko catches Aomine’s tail, holding it still. His hand is so pale against the blue of Aomine’s skin, and it looks unnatural. Aomine looks away, still not entirely used to the sight of it, not knowing if he ever will be.

“What’s it like?” Kuroko asks, sounding genuinely interested this time.

Empty, without you, Aomine thinks, but he just grins and wraps his arms around Kuroko, chin resting on top of his head. “It’s great, Tetsu. I’ll take you there someday. Promise.”