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

[catlarks]

tags: none, mention of burns; monster AU, Eli is a human, Honoka is a fire elemental
Ship: Ayase Eli/Kousaka Honoka (love live)
Word Count: 590


Sometimes, when Honoka kisses her, Eli's lips pull away chapped to the point of blistering.

"Sorry, sorry!" Honoka mutters every time, reaching out for her girlfriend, pulling her fingers back at the last moment with visible fear of causing further pain.

Eli can only smile when she does it, charmed by Honoka's earnestness, by her passion. She reaches out to take Honoka's withdrawing hand, folding it between both of her own, a heat pressed between her palms that's near hot enough to burn. Honoka warms Eli up inside, lit from within her own heart with a fire that's blinding.

Looking at her is like staring into the sun, spangling Eli's vision with sunspots and afterimages.

"I hurt you," Honoka protests, squeezing her hand around Eli's so tight that it bruises, so ferociously that the fire again begins to flame up. Eli can feel the heat of it searing her skin; she hides her cringing with a care that comes of much practice, unwilling to let on that she lacks the strength to endure passion's burn.

Loving Honoka takes all of her, and Eli is determined to give all that she has.

"Love hurts," Eli says, mouth curving cleverly around her blunt words. "All throughout history humankind has suffered for love, why should I do anything less than the best have done before me?"

She sees Honoka's face screwing up, mouth dropping open in preparation to protest. She pulls one hand free of Honoka's, laying her finger across Honoka's lips in want of silence. "Don't fight me on this. If I don't mind that it hurts, are you really going to force me to step back from something I want?"

Honoka is silent. Eli takes a moment to enjoy the effect, sliding into the silence much like she would relax into a hot bath. From Honoka, all quiet moments are precious.

"I like being with you," Eli says. "We don't need to make things any more complicated than that."

"But I burn you," Honoka says, very seriously, as if perhaps Eli has not seen the obvious elephant presenting his backside to the room. "When I kiss you, or touch you, or get too excited about being with you, I—"

She waves one hand, a vague motion beside her head that conjures up a coil of fire to wrap around her hand. It licks at her fingers, toying with them playfully, almost lovingly, kissing at the ends of her fingertips. Such is the life of a fire elemental: the thing that she commands adores her for her power, presses upon her with pleas that she might subdue it with her will. Will is something Honoka has a lot of; control, on the other hand, she has yet to master.

Eli waves her hand around Honoka's, around and around until the flames her girlfriend has summoned accept that their oxygen is being taken from them and consent to die. When Honoka's hand is cool, Eli clasps it again.

"Like I said. It needn't be complicated. This is just you, and me, and magic."

Honoka smiles at that, a crooked thing she tries to hold back but which bursts wider and wider across her face the harder she tries to restrain it. Eli finds herself smiling in answer, happiness kindled by happiness.

"When you put it that way," Honoka says. "It sounds kind of romantic."

Eli leans in, kisses her gently on the lips. There's no heat to it; Eli pulls away smiling.

"If it sounds romantic," she says. "Maybe that's because it is."