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]

Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru; Haikyuu!!
no tags
word count: 773

Kentarou is a quiet child.

He keeps to himself, even when the other children invite him to play. He doesn't speak much, often only single syllable responses when spoken to. Eventually, people stop trying to coax any more out of him. His teacher recommends that his parents take him for assessments when he's eight years old, because it's usually when magic starts to manifest itself in children. Kentarou's father has to physically drag him there, because the thought of being shut in a room with a stranger for half an hour and being forced to talk is the worst possible thing in the world.

In the end, it's nothing like that at all. His father sits in the room with him, and five minutes into the session, when Kentarou resolutely avoids the assessor's eyes and doesn't make a sound, she slides a notebook across the table with a pencil.

After that, the rest of the session is much easier. She asks him questions, he writes his replies, or draws them, sometimes turning to his father for help. Her conclusion is something that Kentarou has already started to figure out on his own: every word he speaks is filled with magic. It's the kind of magic that most people usually need to focus on putting into the spells they're casting. It comes to him naturally, and he's told that it could be a considered a gift, but it's also something that will get in his way, if he doesn't learn other ways to communicate.

She refers him to classes for sign language and suggests that his parents attend as well, so he'll have a way of communicating easily at home. She also sends him to an aural magician, who people usually go to see when they struggle getting magic into their voice, to see if he can learn how to hold some of his magic back.

By the time he hits high school, it's nowhere near as bad as it was when he was young, but he still prefers to keep to himself.

Then Yahaba Shigeru happens to him.

Yahaba is loud, and it might not be in an obnoxious way, like Oikawa sometimes is, but he's always there, and he doesn't give up when Kentarou doesn't respond to him.

"There are rumours about you," Yahaba tells him one day after volleyball practice, leaning against the lockers, his arms folded across his chest.

Kentarou shrugs, hoping to convey just how little he cares.

"I heard that your voice is packed with magic."

That catches Kentarou's attention. He looks up, wondering who knows, and spreading it around.

Clearing his throat, he says, "Yeah."

"Is that why, when you yell at people in the middle of a match, it changes the entire atmosphere?" Yahaba wonders, sliding down the lockers to sit on the floor, beside where Kentarou is packing his bag. "I mean, your voice is really—uh. It's deep and smooth. It would probably do that even without magic, but the way I've seen situations turn when you talk—"

"Yeah," Kentarou interrupts, hoping that it will make Yahaba stop. He doesn't need to be reminded of how his team always gets worse at playing when he loses their temper and yells at them."

"Not a good combination, huh?" Yahaba asks. "Having a short temper, and having way too much influence with your words."

Kentarou growls quietly, wondering if Yahaba's just here to mock him, but he doesn't put it into words. He knows it's only going to make things worse.

"Can you help me?" Yahaba asks at length.

Kentarou looks up with a frown.

"I can't put enough magic into my words. Can you teach me how to do it?"

Kentarou shakes his head, his fingers twitching, wanting to sign out a reply. Yahaba must notice, because his eyes widen.

"Do you sign? I do."

Raising his eyebrows, Kentarou lets go of his bag and turns to Yahaba.

I do it without even thinking about it, he signs, slowly at first until he can tell that Yahaba understands him just fine. I don't think I can teach you how to consciously put more magic in your words.

Try anyway? Yahaba signs back. We don't even have to talk, if you don't want to. We can just do this.

Kentarou blinks with surprise. He's never had someone he could spend time with comfortably without having to talk, or try to avoid talking. Yahaba looks determined, and Kentarou has seen just how hard he's been trying to improve himself with everything, not just volleyball.

Finally, he nods. Yahaba smiles, looking incredibly pleased.

It's difficult not to smile back.

Re: FILL: Team Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru, G

[rurounikristin]

I am going to die from how great this is <3