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 Grandstand, G

[yrindor]

Pairing: Nitori Aiichirou & Sugawara Koushi (Free! & Haikyuu!!)
Tags: no tags, abandonment, blind Nitori, child Nitori, healer Suga
Wordcount: 741 words

Suga knew the forest like he knew himself, perhaps even better than he knew himself. He knew every stream that ran through the trees, every hill that rose gently underfoot. He knew every creature that lived there, and noticed whenever others passed through.

He was tied to the forest, so he noticed when there was a lone child wandering near the edges one morning. Curious, he left his small cabin and walked down familiar paths until he found them. The child couldn't have been more than five; his silver hair matched Suga's, and he didn't seem particularly upset to be wandering in the forest with no one else in sight.

"Are you lost, child?" Suga asked as he knelt beside the young boy.

The boy shook his head. "Mama doesn't like it when I talk about things she can't see. She said she'd kill me if I went home again, so I'm supposed to stay here now."

The child looked up at Suga as he spoke. His eyes were pale and unseeing; they reminded Suga of the sky on an overcast day.

"They like you," the boy said, reaching out toward Suga's face. "Can you see them?"

"What do you see?"

"The wisps. I can never touch them, but they're everywhere. There are a bunch gathered by you right now. Can you not see them?

"I can't," Suga admitted, "but I believe you. The Sight is a rare gift." It was perhaps an understatement to call it rare, Suga thought. The Sight was a rare gift among most of the fey; it was unheard of among humans.

"A gift?" the boy asked hesitantly. "I can't see anything else, so everyone always said it was a curse. Mama told me not to talk about it, but it's hard when they're everywhere."

Suga allowed himself a rare moment of anger at the ignorance that had caused an entire village to abandon a child with a gift many would kill for. "They were wrong," he said. "You have a strong gift in the Sight, and it will serve you well. Do you have a name, child?"

"When Mama's mad, she calls me Nitori Aiichirou, but everyone else just calls me Ai."

"It's nice to meet you, Ai. Is there anyone who's going to come looking for you?"

Ai shook his head. "Just Mama, but she told me not to come back."

"Do you have a Papa, or any other family?" Suga asked.

"What's a Papa?" the child replied, and Suga felt his heart squeeze in his chest.

"A Papa is like a Mama. You need a Papa and a Mama to make a child, but they don't always both stay, and sometimes you have people like Grandmas and Uncles who raise children instead."

"I don't think I have a Papa," Nitori said, "or any of those other things. Just a Mama."

"In that case, would you like to come back with me? I have a hose in the forest here, and I'd be happy to have you stay with me. This is a lovely forest, but it's not really a place for a child to stay alone."

"Does that mean you'd be my Papa?" Nitori asked.

"I could be, if you wanted," Suga said past the lump that formed suddenly in his throat.

"I want to come with you, Papa. There are lots of wispy things in here, and they all seem to like you."

"There are others in the forest who have the Sight like you; I'm sure they'd be willing to show you even more if I asked."

"Please, Papa?" Nitori asked as he took Suga's hand.

"Of course, Ai," Suga replied. They walked through the forest hand-in-hand, and to Suga it felt like something that was meant to be.

The warm feeling that had been growing in his heart all morning only grew when they arrived back at his small house and he introduced Nitori to his dog. Shiro was larger than the child, but that didn't seem to stop them from becoming fast friends. When Suga went to offer Nitori breakfast later that morning, he found the child curled up alongside Shiro, his small hands curled in Shiro's thick fur.

Suga smiled and set the plate of food aside for later. He had never intended to become a parent, but now that it had happened, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.