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, & Midousuji Akira, Yowapeda
tags: teeny mention of (no) sexual activity; background major character death if you know the context :(
619 words, Lawful Drug AU



There’s a sakura tree growing in the room.

But it’s withered and bare; there is no green that flowers along the long gnarled branches, there are no buds that speak of the sun rising new in spring. Imaizumi can only stare in wonder, though, at what flowers instead in this strange, suspended space -- bright yellow goldfish that swim in slow circles through the air, gossamer tails long and trailing slowly behind them.

“How is this even possible,” Imaizumi says as he stares as a goldfish swims through a close cluster of branches, but he knows. He had touched the faded photo that Teshima had held out to him, and he had seen the imprint of a tree and a boy with glasses smiling ruefully at something in the distance, and the lingering memory that had come from just the photo and just the light touch are so strong right now in this moment, he doesn’t even hear Naruko hammering frantically against the glass that separates them.

Wait, who was Naruko--?

“Who are you that dares come here like this,” a voice hisses at him, and Imaizumi suddenly knows only the sakura tree, and the flying fish, and the tall lanky boy in the dark purple kimono that appears in front of him. Imaizumi feels something like fear bloom cold in the center of his ribs, but he’s not sure he knows what fear is in this place anymore, either.

“I was only looking for--” Imaizumi starts, but the words feel wrong. Instead, “Who is the boy with glasses?”

“Someone not gross, unlike you,” the boy in the kimono says. His eyes go flat and dark then, and Imaizumi knows he should be stepping back, instead of stepping forward into this trap of clouded curiosity and some deep, unremembered thing. “Let me… show you.”

It feels like snowfall, here in this place, the air so hushed and close that even in a room where a sakura tree grows tall enough it touches a ceiling lost in shadows, Imaizumi thinks there is only the air that comes into his lungs, and the air that he exhales, and there is nothing beyond this circle of his breathing; and so Imaizumi steps closer to the boy in the kimono he knows he should not trust, and his hands reach out, hesitant and unsure.

“Hotshot, you idiot! Step back! Step back through the glass!”

The insult is muffled, like it has passed through a greater distance than the glass and the air and the time that separates Imaizumi and Naruko, but it stings enough that Imaizumi startles, stumbles back, arms flung out to balance him, and he accidentally brushes his back pocket where he had absentmindedly slipped the condom that Teshima had thrown at him earlier that day.

(“Since apparently you’re such a hotshot,” Teshima had said, winking slow and terrible, and Imaizumi had flushed so deep pink that Naruko had held up a strand of his bright red hair to Imaizumi’s face to compare, laughing obnoxiously as he pokes Imaizumi in the ribs with a, ”What, you mean this baby virgin.”)

“Ugh,” Imaizumi says, and he stumbles over his long legs as the boy in the kimono reaches again for him, sneering, and Imaizumi has never felt relief quite like the touch of Naruko’s warm fingers as he pulls Imaizumi through the glass again.

They bring back a tattered volume of shoujo manga to Teshima, and they don’t know what to do with the look of undecipherable sadness on his face, or the gentle way he accepts the book into his hands, or how he doesn’t look them in the eye when they ask, who was the boy with glasses that Imaizumi saw.