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, T

[catlarks]

tags: body horror, mild gore (?), supernatural elements; monster AU, Honoka is a human, Kotori is a bird-themed golem
Ship: Kousaka Honoka/Minami Kotori (love live)
Word Count: 537
This entire thing can also arguably be interpreted as a sexual metaphor, so like, it's PG-13 but how do you tag for that.


"W-What do you see?" Kotori asks, eyelashes fluttering as she stares up at the ceiling.

Her ribs are spread open, blossoming outward in a fan of bone: two wings on either side of her chest. There are wings on her back, too, pinned underneath her, fluttering limply as her own body presses them to the bed. Honoka's hands are hot around the shell of her, fingers gripping bone as she gently pries Kotori's chest apart.

"Hold on," Honoka says, wiggling closer, her weight pressing down on Kotori's hips where she kneels. "I need to... Get in a little bit deeper...."

Honoka is hard to look at, with her pretty human face, with the passion that kindles behind her eyes. Kotori tries, sneaking glances from beneath her lowered lids, watching her in her work-out room as she throws herself into the motions of some unfamiliar dance. Honoka's body bends and twirls, twists itself about in graceful arcs before she slides to a stop. Her limbs are brought to rest only for that drawn-out moment before the music begins the next measure.

Honoka is more magical than Kotori, with the way she transforms herself from a girl into a message, into a story being told through the contortions of her body. Honoka demands attention from the universe with her very being alone.

"H-Hurry up," Kotori says, voice shaking. "I can feel them closing up again."

She knows what Honoka will see, when she gets in close, when she slips her hot hands inside Kotori's chest. She knows what she is: empty and fragile, pretty only on the outside. Under the veneer of feathers and frills she's nothing but cold clay and ground-up bone, the inside of her caulked together carelessly, its structure straining to hold. There's a void in her gut, an emptiness in her bones. A lacking that she herself cannot fill, no matter what she does.

"It's..." Honoka says, wriggling in place, reaching inside. "It's... Huh."

Kotori can feel it, Honoka's hand pressing flat to the line of her spine. It's a trembly, crawling feeling, as Honoka's fingers walk their way up the vertebrae, tracing the shape of each bone with a delicate touch. She finds Kotori's scapulae, fondles their edges, feels her way around to the cracks where the emptiness starts, the edges of her external vessel where it's been open to Honoka's touch.

"It's okay," Kotori says. "I wanted you to see."

"That's... Weird," Honoka says. She's more subdued than her normal, brow furrowed with little lines of concentration. Then her gaze pulls up, latching onto Kotori's face. "Does it hurt? Not having a heart?"

"I don't know," Kotori says. "It's always been that way, Honoka-chan. I don't know what it would feel like to hurt."

Honoka's hands yank back, and she sits up all of a sudden, spine straightening with resolve. "I'll fill it up, Kotori, don't you worry. If... If it's like this for you, I'll fill it up, and you can tell me how it feels."

Kotori's lip twitches, trembles. Tries to curve up, though he smile is watery. "I'll take whatever you have to give me, Honoka-chan."

"I'll give you everything I've got," Honoka insists. "And you'll never feel empty again."