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sportsanime2017-06-11 06:56 pm
referees) wrote in sportsanime2017-06-11 06:56 pm
Entry tags:
Bonus Round 2: Tic-Tac-Toe
Please read this whole post before commenting to ensure that your team gets the most points possible. There's a lot of text here, but if you read carefully and follow the instructions step by step, you will be okay.
RULES
Please refer to the first comment thread of this post for an example of how this round works.PROMPTING
- Select a ship to create your prompt card about. Platonic relationships are indicated by an "&" between the names (e.g., Haruki & Kazuma). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Haruki/Kazuma). Please don't say "Any pairing," either!
- Visit this card generator.
- Here is a visual guide to using it.
- The large text box is where you can list prompts if you have your own ideas. Please list at least 9 prompts; you can list more if you want. (The generator says you need at least 24, but it's lying.) Single words or short phrases are better than sentences.
- Otherwise, you can use the dropdown menu found right below it. Note: some of these prompts lists are NSFW. (NSFW prompts are a-ok as long as you tag for it.) If you don't like some of the options that appear in a prompt list, you can delete them.
- Text prompts only, please. Also, each card square must be unique—don't list the same prompt 9 times.
- In "Configuration Options," make sure you select 3x3 and (Normal prompt). This is the most important step!
- Leave the tic-tac-toe card with its default colors, so everyone can read it clearly.
- Click the "Create a bingo card" button.
- Scroll down to see the card that was created for you. If you don't like the prompts it picked, you can reroll by clicking "Create a bingo card" again.
- When you're satisfied, scroll further down the page until you see a textarea box full of HTML.
- Copy and paste the HTML from the box and into the body of your prompt comment, then post!
FILLING
Fill prompts by selecting an individual square to create fanwork for, then leaving a responding comment to the prompt with your newly-created work. (Optional:) If you can fill three squares from a prompt in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, you get a tic-tac-toe (and an additional point bonus)! You can also just fill prompts as you please and get standard points.
- Prompt squares are labeled as follows:
A1 B1 C1 A2 B2 C2 A3 B3 C3 - If you're trying for tic-tac-toe, you cannot combine squares into one fill. If your fill can satisfy multiple squares, pick the most relevant square: e.g., one square is sailing and another is pirates and you make a fill about pirates sailing, it's mostly pirates so put down the pirates square.
- Each fill must stand alone as an individual piece, but all your fills can slot into a larger universe if you'd like.
- You cannot fill a prompt square more than once, but you can fill every square on a tic tac toe card if you want to.
- You cannot work with your teammates to get a tic-tac-toe. Only individually achieved tic-tac-toes get the bonus.
- Multiple people can fill the same prompt square. You cannot "block" others from getting tic-tac-toe.
- Remember to also follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.
- Here is a prompt/fill index for your convenience.
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/images)
- 14 lines (poetry)
Format your comment in one of the following ways:
| If PROMPTING: | If FILLING: | If FILLING as a TEAM GRANDSTAND participant: |
PROMPT: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
| FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP], [SQUARE], [RATING]
| FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [SQUARE], [RATING]
|
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.
If you see anyone breaking the code of conduct (e.g., causing drama, being rude) anywhere (not just DW), please contact the mods immediately.
SCORING
These numbers apply to your team as a whole, not each individual teammate. Make as many prompts/fills as you want!For prompts: 5 points for each tic-tac-toe card (maximum of 50 prompt points per team per round)
For fills:First 4 fills by any member of your team: 20 points each
Fills 5-10: 15 points each
Fills 11-20: 5 points each
Fills 21-50: 2 points each
Fills 51+: 1 point each
Tic-tac-toe Bonus: 2 points each for the first 12 achieved by your team
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 (see the line of links below this post).Have a question? Check The FAQ first. If you still need help, feel free to contact the mods. Happy fanworking!
PROMPT: TEAM BOKUTO KOUTAROU/KUROO TETSUROU
Fandom: Free!
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: Drowning
Prompt:
FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, A2, G
Fandom: free!
Major Tags: anime spoilers
Other Tags: none
Square: chain-link fences
Word Count: 436
***
Like a backdrop in a play, it is a constant in their lives, unnoticed but all-encompassing, like mountains in the horizon or the sky on a hot day. On the day before Rin left for the first time, Haru stood before the naked cherry blossom tree, willing it to bloom if only for Rin's sake. Behind the tree was the chain-link fence, and beside him was Rin, grinning and talking about dreams and pointing at the phrase he wrote on the bricks as if it meant anything. As if it meant he would stay.
Haru forgave him for leaving, though, just as he forgives him now for coming back.
-
Rin can be cruel when he wants to be, and so can Haru. When Rin corners him and tells him all sorts of things he doesn't want to hear, when he lights fires under Haru against Haru's will as if he still had the right, something in Haru snaps. He never wanted to carry this blame, he never wanted to fight, but it's all Rin seems intent to do.
He's backed into the chain-link fence and as images from that fateful day flicker in his mind, the words come out on their own, salt in a wound.
"Don't say you're going to quit. Don't embarrass yourself." And, worst of all, "don't cry if you lose."
Haru will remember the betrayal on Rin's face for years to come.
-
Later on, quietly as they're falling asleep, Rin will tell him about how Haru had never left his mind — not when he was in Australia, not when they were fighting — and how he'd been especially prominent one festival night when Rin saw a couple of kids together, friends just like they'd been when they were younger. How he'd ran as far away from the scene as he can and ended up in front of a pool, the water always a taunting presence, and how his fingers had curled into a chain-link fence as his heart seemed to give out.
And Haru will whisper, into the red waves of Rin's hair, that even when he was Australia, and even when they were fighting, Rin had always been his friend, didn't he already know that?
-
But for now, with the sunset above them and the summer on their skin, they put every other memory of the chain-link fence behind them as Haru presses Rin against it, this time, his hands gentle on Rin's jaw, his eyes earnest and closed. Their mouths meet under a cherry blossom tree in full bloom and Haru decides this is the only one he wants to keep.
FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, B2, G
Fandom: free!
Major Tags: mentions of minor character death, anime spoilers
Other Tags: mentions of death via drowning
Square: saltwater
Word Count: 456
***
He thinks it's fitting, that his earliest memory is of water. Maybe living beside the ocean is what shaped him to be who he is now, a boy who seems to have saltwater in his veins instead of blood, who seems better suited to swim among fish than be around other people on land. Any way he saw it, he was always meant to swim, remembering the first time his parents took him to the beach, the first time he laid his eyes on the sea, glittering in the sun and looming farther beyond what his eyes can reach. Even as a child, he had no time for the sand or any other entertainment offered by the shore.
He wanted the sea.
-
He's there with Makoto the first time he befriends the fisherman, the kindly old man giving them both some of his catch in plastic bags to take home and make dinner with. He never really spoke to the man — it's always been Makoto who made conversations flow — but he remembers the strong hands, the kind eyes.
He's there with Makoto when they tell him what had happened to the fisherman after the storm.
Neither of them really looked at the ocean the same way, after that, but the difference lay in how Haru still wanted to return to it, embracing both the life and destruction it brings.
He understands, somehow, how things can be beautiful and terrible at the same time.
-
Rin is shouting at him, his voice like an echo against the walls of Haru's heart and the blame that it was painted with, telling Haru things he knows aren't true. It's your fault, whisper the walls, you did this to him.
He shakes his head to himself. He's already conquered these demons, but he didn't do it alone.
Rin is angry (like Haru was) and it's only at himself (like Haru used to be, too.) He grabs the front of Haru's jacket as Haru tries to tell him everything, now, everything that's been pent up and screaming at him for not letting Rin know sooner, then Rin pulls his arm back and Haru catches his wrist and they fall to the ground, filthy and harried and bursting, until suddenly it stops.
And then there's saltwater on Haru's face instead of his veins and for the first time in a long time Haru's glad to be on land, submerged only under the warmth of Rin's tears.
You're here, he wants to say, but he's always been more expressive with his silence so all he does is drink Rin in, drinks in the terror and beauty he brings, and Haru feels the way he feels when he's looking at the sea.
FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, C2, G
Fandom: free!
Major Tags: anime spoilers
Other Tags: angst (unhappy/unresolved endings), liminal spaces
Square: magic realism
Word Count: 714
bingo :D
***
One day, on the last vestiges of winter and just on the cusp of spring, Rin leaves, and Haru thinks maybe he'll never see him again. The world is a big, wide place — he's never seen it, but he can't even imagine what it must be like outside of the town he'd grown up in — and now Rin is heading out there, alone, and what are the chances, really, of ever running into him again when Haru thinks it a fluke that they met in the first place? Rin was nothing more than an annoyance who somehow always got his way, and Haru is glad to be rid of him, really, so why does his heart feel so big in his small chest? Why does it strain against his ribs when he looks at Rin and thinks, maybe I'll never see you again?
-
He's wrong, though, like he is with a number of other things.
Rin had irritated him then, but he'd forgotten that Makoto once did, too, and Nagisa much more recently than that. The feeling that unfurled inside him at the thought of Rin was unbearable only because he cared. Only because Rin was his friend.
A friend he thought was gone from his life for good until Haru is swimming in the pool after hours and suddenly Rin is there, in the lane beside him, like he didn't leave at all.
Haru sucks in a breath underwater and surfaces, gasping, and when Rin notices him too he goes on and does the same. They pull themselves out of the pool, coughing out the last of the chlorine and staring at each other with wide eyes.
"What are you doing in Australia, Haru!?"
Rin has always been full of nonsense, but this is new, even for him. "I'm not in Australia. You're in Japan."
"Eh?"
-
They spend time catching up, not that there was much to catch up on. Rin had only been gone for a few weeks, but he has countless tales of the cities he's seen, of how much bigger everyone is, how small the town seemed in comparison. Haru stays quiet, for the most part, just listening, realizing that he'd missed the sound of Rin's voice, just a little. When Rin has run out of stories Haru asks the question that's been on both their minds: "how is this happening?"
Rin, to his credit, doesn't try to seem smarter than he is. He says, "I dunno, but I'm happy to see you again, Haru."
Haru looks away, lips pursed, which has always been the only response Rin needs to laugh.
-
It isn't always guaranteed. Sometimes the time isn't right, or sometimes one of them isn't around to swim. When they do cross paths, though, Rin has his stories, and Haru has his silence; Rin has his smiles and Haru his averted eyes.
Maybe Haru shouldn't noticed it sooner, since he saw Rin so often. Maybe he should've known not everything was okay. Maybe he shouldn't have shrugged off the hollowness he heard in Rin's laughter, chalked it up to Rin's need to seem happy all the time.
-
A year passes, and instead of the strange portal that was their club pool, Haru sees Rin across him at the train tracks. He knows this is different, that this isn't magic, that Rin really is here with him, standing in Japan instead of disappearing to Australia when he goes out the door.
The distance between them narrows as Haru runs across the tracks, too happy to see Rin to hold back his smiles. This time, he has stories too, but Rin seems like he doesn't want to hear them, not yet.
Instead, he says, "let's race," and Haru has never been able to say no to him for very long.
-
Rin loses and crumples up into a heap of elbows and tears on the floor. Haru doesn't understand how everything unfolds the way it does, only that Rin is swearing that he'll stop swimming forever and turning his back on Haru and running until he disappears out the door.
He never returns to the club pool again after that, not through magic and not through dreams, and Haru thinks, maybe he'd been right about never seeing Rin again after all.
FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, B1 T
Fandom: Free
Major Tags: Death (character death)
Other Tags: none
Square: drowning (lethal or non-lethal)
Word Count: 458 words
This was meant to be just a Rin/Haru piece but somehow, his team insisted on being there along with Gou and Sousuke.
***
Haru’s parents don’t show up for the funeral. Even Makoto can’t remember the last time he’s seen them.
Gou insists on attending, as does Sousuke. With the two of them, that brings the number of mourners up to six.
It doesn’t seem like anywhere near enough. Haru should’ve become an Olympic swimmer, should have set the sort of records that had people demanding drug tests. He should have been the high water mark that everyone else measured themselves by.
He should have been famous and the world should have mourned with them.
Instead, there’s only the six of them on a boat they all chipped in to rent.
There had been mountains of forms to get through. Bureaucracy had no pity for grief. Cremation wasn’t compulsory but it was traditional; none of them could bear the thought of seeing Haru consigned to flames so they skipped that step.
They hired a nōkansha to ritually prepare the body, choosing to dress Haru in a white kimono rather than a suit. When they’d asked her to put Haru in his jammers under the suit, she hadn’t protested.
There was comfort in knowing that even now, he had a swimsuit on under the plain white kimono. Even now, he was ready for the water.
The boat slipped silently over the waves, the moonlight picking out the crest of each wave that slopped against the boat. Once they were far enough from the shore, they paused.
“Should we say some last words?” Gou asked tentatively, her hand resting on the plastic tarp they’d wrapped Haru’s body in.
“We already did all that,” Rin said, looking down over the railing. “We can say goodbye again once he’s in the water where he belongs.”
The wire they’d wrapped around him had multiple small weights attached to it. Haru’s corpse would drop to the bottom of the ocean and become food for the fish he’d loved so much.
They couldn’t give him to the flames or the earth. In the water was where Haru had always belonged.
Rin and Makoto rolled the body over the edge of the boat; it hit the water with barely a ripple and started to sink.
Gou tilted the basket of cherry blossoms over the railing so that pink petals fell onto the water and hid the body disappearing into the ocean’s depths.
“Goodbye, Haru,” Nagisa said between sobs, sniffing so hard he could barely get the words out.
“You taught me everything I needed,” Rei said, voice quivering as he wrapped his arms around Nagisa.
Rin and Makoto say nothing. They strip off their outer layers and jump overboard instead, joining Haru for one last swim.
When they climb back aboard, there are cherry blossoms pasted to their hair.
Re: FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, B1 T
Even now, he was ready for the water.
GOODBYE!!! GOOD BYE!!!!
Re: FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, B1 T
...LOOK I'M SORRY BUT THE PROMPT SAID DROWNING WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM ME?!
I just. Haru is a darling and should be sent to the waves when he dies. That's all.
Re: FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, B1 T
FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, C1, T
Fandom: Free!
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: Suggestive??
Square: humidity
Word Count: 441
Not entirely obvious, but I saw humidity and I M M E D I A T E L Y thought: time to take the boys down to Sunny Hell- I mean Florida lolol
***
How anyone could breath, much less live here, Haru did not know. The moment they left the airport, it was like walking face first into a solid wall of heat. The liquid air felt like lead in his chest, and he was certain at any moment, his legs were going to give out and leave him splayed and frying on the burning asphalt. Rin, being Rin, seemed wholly unaffected, grinning as he dragged Haru down the street to wait for their ride to the hotel.
"What do you think?" Rin asked, and Haru could feel their skin stick as he threw a too hot arm around his neck.
"It's hot."
Rin just laughed.
The car ride was thankfully short, although the ac was too high, and the English-speaking driver chattered the whole way. By the time they got made it to their room, Haru was certain he was no longer sweating, but actively melting to death.
"We've gotta check in and go up to get changed first, but you wanna check out the pool?"
Haru nearly groaned his reply of, "yes," and shifted restlessly as Rin spoke to the lady at the front desk. When they finally made it up to their room, he was nearly vibrating in his own skin. He took about 2 seconds to shed his clothes, his jammers already on under them of course, and turned impatient eyes on his boyfriend.
Rin seemed to be making a show of things, moving ridiculously slow as he peeled off his sweat soaked tank. He locked eyes with Haru as it cleared his head and grinned devilishly. He undid his buckle, never dropping his gaze, and pulled at his belt in a way that made it seem endless. As he let it drop to the ground, Haru swallowed and reconsidered their swimming plans. It was difficult to draw out unbuttoning his pants, but he made up for it with every agonizing click of the zipper as he dragged it down slower than Haru thought possible. Rin's grin grew impossibly wide as he hooked his fingers into the waistband, paused, then shoved it down to reveal his distinctive red and black suit.
Haru was certain in that moment that he was ridiculously and undeniably in love with him.
Rin was quicker about grabbing a bag and loading it with towels and sunscreen (Haru snorted, certain they'd be red by the end of the day regardless), and finally, finally, they were off. The trip down turned into a race that they both lost when they nearly knocked someone over and had to stop to apologize, but eventually, they made it.
Re: FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, C1, T
FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, B1, G
Fandom: Free!
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: Drowning
Square: drowning (lethal or non-lethal)
Word Count: None
The coloring wasn't what I had in mind when I started (in fact, it started off with me just shading in a sketch to show off lol) but it kinda snowballed, and I kinda like the direction it went in??? I'd also considered a flipped vers with Rin at the top, but that ended up needing too many minor adjustments >.>;;;
***
Re: FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, B1, G
FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, A1, G
Fandom: Free!
Major Tags: Blood mention
Other Tags: None
Square: Future Fish universe
Word Count: 571
Mermaid in the bathtub!!! Oh man though, the pacing in this is??? Super weird tbh. Probably a lot flatter than it should be, but I wanted to make sure I finished it before I got too tied up in working on MR1 ;o; I hope you enjoy it nonetheless, and I'll toss the little prequel I didn't know how to connect to the main piece into the comments haha
***
Rin drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did so. He had admittedly put up with a lot since joining the force, but this was something else. He'd just wanted to take a calming walk along the beach on his way home from work. Instead, he stumbled upon some kind of half-man, half-fish creature drying up and bleeding out on the sand. His officer instincts had kicked in, forcing him to figure out some way to help the creature, and that somehow landed him in Rin's bathtub.
Rin opened his eyes to see creature was in fact still there, looking as disgruntled and ungrateful as ever.
The creature had complained through every step in the process of getting him there, leveling Rin with this look to say "I'm not happy with this development" every time he didn't feel like saying so verbally. Everything had been wrong from the way he'd carried him to the level he kept the bath water at (never-minding it was to keep the bandages wrapped around his torso from falling off). If he made one more complaint, Rin was certain he was going to just chuck him back in the sea, injury be damned.
"I'm hungry," the creature stated flatly, and Rin had to count backwards and remind himself that it was the most reasonable thing he's said all night. He mentally ran through his fridge contents and wondered what exactly the creature ate. Fish, probably.
"Well, you're gonna have to do with mackerel, because it's the only fish I have right now."
The creature sat up too fast, his eyes shining in the brief moment before the pain caused him to grimace.
"I'll take that to mean you're good with that. Cooked or raw?"
The creature just nodded unhelpfully.
Cooked it was then. The fish had been in his fridge so long, Rin wasn't sure it'd be good raw, especially since he was having some too. When he brought the food back, the creature ignored the offered chopsticks in favor of using his hands, and promptly burned himself. Rin thought his cough-disguised laugh was pretty convincing, but he was glared at nonetheless.
"So... do you have a name, or...?" Rin asked, a few minutes into eating.
The creature gave him one of his flat looks before responding. "Haru."
"Haru..." Rin let it roll off his tongue, and decided he liked the way it sounded. "Don't laugh, but mine's Rin."
Haru paused, holding the fish halfway to his mouth, and tilted his head. "Why would I laugh?"
Rin scratched the back of his neck. "Oh, I guess things are different where you're from. Around here, Rin's usually a girl's name."
"What about Haruka?"
"Yep, that one too."
"Not so different, then." Haru punctuated this with a scowl that made Rin think he wasn't the only one to be teased relentlessly because of his name.
Rin finished up his meal, then stifled a yawn and stood up from where he'd been sitting on the bathroom floor.
"Well, I've got work tomorrow, so unless you need anything else..." he paused, to give Haru a chance to respond, but he just stared back. "...then I'm heading to bed."
He gathered their bowls and stopped by the door. "Good night, Haru."
He flipped the light switch, and just as he was closing the door, he heard a faint, "Goodnight.... Rin."
Re: FILL: Team Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, A1, G
--
They didn’t include things like this in the training videos. It’d been a long day of petty criminals and pointless complaints, and by the end of it, Rin had just wanted to clear his mind by walking along the beach on his way home. He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair, and wondered how he was going to word this in the report. “Man in (admittedly well-made) mermaid costume found passed out on the beach.” It wasn’t actually worth filing a report over, just weird, but either way, he couldn’t exactly leave him there.
“Sir?”
He waited a moment, then tried again.
“Sir.”
Rin reached for the man, meaning to roll him over, and froze. Underneath some very (almost unnervingly so) convincing “gills”, ran a deep gash, and what had looked to be just part of his shadow from afar was actually blood staining the sand.
“Shit.”
As he stared, wondering whether or not he should move him, the man’s eyes fluttered, and his tail twitched and flopped in a fluid motion that’d be very difficult to achieve if there were legs within it.
Rin cleared his throat and tried to keep his voice steady.
“Sir, are you alright? Do you need me to call an ambulance?”
The man’s eyes flew open and his tail lashed out in a sudden movement, surprising Rin and knocking his feet out from under him. He pushed himself up into a seating position and quickly put distance between them. The man… fish… thing was panting heavily and clutching his side, his eyes squeezed shut in pain.
Rin ran through his options. Whatever he was, he wasn’t friendly, but he was also very hurt from the looks of things. Who could he call? A hospital? Animal services? Both would just laugh at him before hanging up. It took him a moment to realize the creature was talking to him.
“...ter.”
“What?”
“Wat...er…”
Rin nodded dumbly and reached in his bag, keeping his eyes on the fish… man? Merman? No, that was ridiculous. (This was ridiculous.) Finding purchase on his water bottle, he pulled it out and rolled it over. The creature watched the bottle roll into him, then somehow managed to level Rin a flat look through the pain.
“IN… the water,” he rasped, looking annoyed.
That… made sense, but Rin didn’t know how he was going to get him there. The water was a good few yards away, and he wasn’t sure he could get close to the creature without him attacking him again. As he debated, the creature’s expression seemed to be shifting from irate to something more desperate.
“I’ll have to carry you.”
If he was surprised by Rin’s sudden announcement, he didn’t show it. He stared at Rin with a steady, wary gaze, then closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath and nodded.
Rin nodded as well, mostly to himself, then rose to his feet and took a few steps toward him. When the creature didn’t move, he crossed the rest of the distance and knelt to lift him, wrapping one arm around his back and the other under his tail. The scales felt dry and almost flaky, and Rin wondered how long he’d been out here before Rin found him. He was a lot heavier than Rin expected, and the creature gasped, digging sharp nails into Rin’s shoulder when he nearly dropped him.
“Sorry. Sorry, I’ve got you.”
It was a slow-going process, getting him all the way down to the shore, but once in the water, he looked a lot better.
“You alright from here?”
He moved his tail, then grunted and shook his head hard. Too injured to swim then… Rin looked towards the sky and considered his next course of action.
“I have a first aid kit in the patrol car. I could go get it.”
The creature clutched his shirt the moment he said go and started shaking his head again, more frantically this time.
“Well what am I supposed to do then, take you with me?”