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 MIYUKI KAZUYA/MIYUKI KAZUYA, G

[blueminuet]

Fuji Shuusuke/Inui Sadaharu (Prince of Tennis)
Tags: no major tags, genderswap, mental overstimulation, allusions to harm, mixed metaphors
Word Count: 537


A glowing thread wraps around Inui’s fingers, pulsing and slightly dripping with wet potential. Inui spreads his fingers and watches as the thread pulls at the entire cloth spread out before him, tangling and knotting with the others. Each thread weaves together to make the whole, the singular thread becoming lost in the collective. But not for Inui. Inui sees each thread for its own purpose. Every interaction, every tangle, every single accidental ripple that make an integral part of the whole.

Once upon a time, there was a man who wished to know everything, and the djinn he’d captured hadn’t failed him. Inui can see every outcome before him. What will happen if he walks left or right, what happens if he kicks a patch of dirt. He can see the threads that are supposed to be invisible, see how they each interconnect while creating an image that seems totally random but is actually extremely organized chaos.

Soon, Inui loses the ability to move.

There’s too much to see. There are too many options unravelling before him. There are too many possibilities. And the longer Inui spends paralysed, unable to decide from any of the millions of paths sprawling out in front of him, the more the options change. A thousand branches wither with his indecision and another thousand bloom in their place.

Inui doesn’t move anymore.

Inui watches.

He finally knows everything.

Inui once thought not having all the information was maddening. Making guesses, extrapolating instead of knowing. It was terrifying.

But this.

This is truly maddening.

He doesn’t move, he doesn’t make decisions. He watches, sees the data change before him, lets it ebb and flow, and finds himself unable to do anything but watch.

A hand presses to his cheek, and for the first time in his — vast, endless — recent memory, it’s a surprise to him. The shock fills him with something akin to longing; nostalgia for something he never thought he’d miss.

Fuji turns Inui’s head (since it’s been a long while since Inui has found a need to move himself) and directs him to look at her. Her ever present grin is beaming at him.

“How does it feel, Inui?” Fuji asks, her voice a notch too pleasant; too knowing. And yet she remains a blind spot in his data, and Inui is drawn to that like a flame. “Your greatest wish has been granted. What now?”

She’s beautiful, a glowing void of information made flesh before him. He sees the paths of possibility blooming around her, but not intersecting her. There threads can’t tie themselves to her. Inui is transfixed by her ineffability. He wants to find out how she ticks, but in the same moment wants to wrap himself in the ignorance of it.

“Please,” Inui manages to say, his voice cracking from disuse. He can’t bring himself to continue, to vocalize what he needs.

He just wants it to stop.

Fuji grins once again. “Alright, Inui.” Her hand presses harder into his flesh, nearly grinding her fingers against Inui’s skull, and Inui can’t bring himself to mind. She moves closer, her lips hovering just in front of his. “I’ll grant your last wish too.”