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 IMAIZUMI SHUNSUKE/NARUKO SHOUKICHI, G

[dynamite]

Imaizumi Shunsuke / Naruko Shoukichi, & Hakone, Yowapeda
no tags other than lmaooooo, bye chiha
736 words, sports swap + superpowers


“Is that even allowed?” Onoda asks nervously. The entire Sohoku basketball team is crowded together in the stands watching the quarterfinals play out; they would be facing whoever wins this game, and when Teshima and Aoyagi had passed the captaincy to Imaizumi and Naruko, they had stressed the importance of understanding the way your opponent moves, the way they chase; the way they could break apart under the pressure.

(Imaizumi had shouldered a lot, that day, and Naruko had been uncharacteristically quiet at his side.)

They watch in fascination as Hakone’s small forward sprouts something that looks like insect wings and it powers them fast and angry with the buzzing of a thousand hornets as they drive the final point home. The match is called to the crowd going wild for the home team, blue banners dancing from hundreds of hands, and Imaizumi thinks he hears the faint strains of a Spanish guitar somewhere in the distance.

(“I mean, if they let Aoyagi use his antlers, I’m sure this is allowed,” Kaburagi says from a few seats down, right before someone slaps him beside the head with a hissed “You call him Aoyagi-senpai.”)

Naruko sitting at his side hasn’t moved, but his voice is fierce. “This time we’ll win for sure, hotshot. We have to. We made a promise with Onoda.”


--


“Hotshot, you gotta--”

“It was a bad order. It was a bad order, and I’m not good enough, I--”

They’ve called a timeout; they’re watching the numbers steadily climb toward a Sohoku loss, and Imaizumi is sitting on the bench with a towel draped over his hair, bunny ears drooped low and sweat dripping steadily under his chin. Naruko thinks faintly that they’ve come so far, that Imaizumi can voice this to him; but they still have so far left to go, as Naruko watches the steady stream of droplets that splash against the floorboards between Imaizumi’s trembling feet. Imaizumi’s hands are clenched together too tightly, white at the knuckles.

They need their captain; they need him even more now that Onoda is on the bench, Miki pressing an ice pack against his swollen ankle, Aya right by her side jotting down notes for reconfiguring their lineup. With their quickest playmaker out indefinitely, it’ll come down to how well Imaizumi and Naruko can play together.

“Fuck,” Naruko breathes softly.


--


“In a contest of height, it's clear who the winner is always going to be.”

Naruko laughs at the taunt, loud and cutting, and when he smiles, he smiles with all his teeth; he can feel a fire behind his eyes, and it lights him up as his feet move fast around the infamous Hakone giant that’s moving in to block him, and Naruko’s hands move even faster as he dribbles tricks around those long, long legs.

But something breaks his rhythm; Naruko can suddenly hear the ticking of something like a metronome, and each beat that echoes to the rafters seems to slam into the floorboards, warping the wood and splintering it, knocking his feet out from under him. “What the fu--”

The steal is easy, the points scored even easier. Naruko can only stare in disbelief as the Hakone giant smiles gently as he accepts a high five from his captain, whose black sleek tail curls out from his shorts in a little flick of satisfaction.

“Not again,” Naruko grits out, and as the buzzer sounds and he finds himself facing Kuroda this time, who smiles his little cat smile, Naruko feels something in him snap, feels light tingle into the tips of his fingers as he sees Imaizumi looking at him from across the court. There’s a fierce thing inside his chest, the love of this game, the love of his team, the need to be the brightest and the best, and Naruko watches Imaizumi’s eyes widen and his head look around wildly as the first notes of an opera finale send the crowd into a frenzy.

“Fastest power forward in Naniwa,” Naruko grins, and as he gathers all that extra quick time around him, he looks into the next few minutes, and all it takes is for him to know Kuroda’s gamble, know the step-and-turn he will take, and Naruko takes them instead.

Kuroda hasn’t moved; and then Kuroda falls to the ground in shock, and when Naruko looks down at him, taller in this final moment, Naruko’s eyes are glowing red.