BONUS ROUND 1

[hso_mods]

Bonus Round 1

Genre-Mixing

Hey, shippers! Welcome to your very first bonus round proper--we hope you have lots of fun with it! This time around we're going to be asking you to mix it up a little--each fanwork posted for this round will be a mish-mash of two different genres, blended together in a delightful incestuous slurry to create an UNSTOPPABLE CREATIVE CONCOCTION--er. Or. Something.

Yeah, we're genre-mixing. That's what we're doing this round.

Rules

1. Submit prompts! Prompts should consist of two different genres and one ship. This cannot be your team's ship! These are worth 5 points each, for a maximum of 100 points per team.


2. Look through the prompts and fill whichever you like!


3. You may not fill prompts for your ship, nor may you fill your own team's prompts.


4. Fills should be posted as replies to the prompts which they are for, following the format below. They may be any medium.

Title Format
If you are starting a new thread, please use this format in your title.
PROMPT: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team YOU belong to; please use the characters and quadrant, not whatever portmanteau or nickname you've come up with.
If your team name is not in this format and in the title we cannot guarantee that it will be counted.

If you are filling a prompt, use this format in your title.
FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP]
Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team YOU belong to; please use the characters and quadrant, not whatever portmanteau or nickname you've come up with.
If your team name is not in this format and in the title we cannot guarantee that it will be counted.

Posts not using this format in the title will be understood to be unofficial discussion posts, no matter what they contain. They, like all comments on the comm, are subject to the Wank Policy.

Scoring
For prompt posts: 5 points each (maximum of 100 per team)

For fills (as stated here):
First 5 entries in each post: 30 (per entry)
Entries 6-10 in each post: 20 (per entry)
Entries 11-15 in each post: 10 (per entry)
Entries 16+ in each post: 5 (per entry)

All scored content must be created/assembled new for this round.

If you have any questions, please ask them at the FAQ post here, or email them to us (homestuck.shipping at gmail). Otherwise, we cannot guarantee that we will see them in a timely fashion!

Comments

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[thatreevesgirl]

Pairing: Jane<3Roxy
Genres: "Murder Mystery" and "Cookbook"

Re: PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[thatreevesgirl]

(or cooking show instead of cookbook, because I was using book genres)

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE

[puppetprince]

Dave <3 Jake: Memoir + "Guardian of Time" genre of time travel theme
(...does this count as a genre??? gosh I hope so /is definitely not looking for some Doctor Who crossover from the perspective of the companion or anything like that :X :X :X)

FILL: Team Dave<3Karkat

[lacertae_dreamscape]

I tried, I hope this is what you wanted!

---

There comes a moment in the life of a man wherein he is faced with a good ol’ adventure.

Many lesser men think themselves hotshots until that moment arrives, wisenheimers who brag around foolishly, thinking that they would be able to take on mountains if they had the chance to.

When that time comes, the moment hauling ass towards them, they falter, waggling around like they suddenly lost all their smarts, and end up showing what they truly are –chickens.

As opposed to them, when confronted with the chance to go and have a big bang somewhere –or should I daresay, sometime– I did not hesitate, held the chance tight in my hands, and took a step into the dark.

My name is Jake English, and this is the story of my meeting with the Guardian of Time.

–––

The island was quiet, and Jake was overly bored; no creature had appeared to bother him for quite some time, the rations had arrived in time and nothing was missing, and once again he had nothing to do but watch movies on his computer all day.

Despite the alluring prospect, for once the thought of spending hours on end to watch whatever movie he had at his disposal –any movie, he liked them all, really– wasn’t as satisfying as it could be on any other day.

The fact was, Jake was a man of action –or, rather, a teen– and being coped up too long, no matter if in the company of cinematography of epic beauty, made him feel like he was wasting his time.

He had lived all his life on this small island, somewhere in the ocean, far from civilization despite his stable internet connection and relatively advanced technology, and was starting to feel like the world was bigger than that.

He wanted to travel, and see the world.

Picturing the many adventures he could have if only he left the island was his favourite pastime, more appealing than any movie with enticing blue women, more appealing than whatever creature could make its way to his house.

Still, he had never left his home, held back by the feeling that it wasn’t time yet. Something big was going to come, at some point in his life, and if he left before that moment, he would miss that chance, and forever regret it…

And Jake didn’t want to have any regrets in life.

Still pondering whether to go back into his room and maybe chat with one of his online friends, or instead grab his faithful pistols and go find himself some quest, Jake didn’t even notice the figure walking uphill towards him, until he heard the sound of someone clearing his throat right in front of him.

Jake was startled out from his thoughts and blinked, shocked when he realised he was staring right into someone’s eyes –or better then, someone’s shades.

“Holy mackerel!” he exclaimed, pushing his glasses back up and taking a step back. “I didn’t even hear you coming, chum! You’re a silent one alright”.

The guy –a teen probably around his age, Jake noted– raised one eyebrow above the shades’ line.

Jake took a moment to observe him, feeling somewhat bothered by how he had allowed him to get this close without even noticing; it wasn’t often someone stopped by his island, and usually they were people from the mail service.

The newcomer didn’t look like he belonged to any sort of post service, nor was he dressed like a tourist would; he had an attire of various shades of red, and even had a cape on, which was quite weird to him.

He had a mop of carefully braided blond hair, and a good part of his face was, as previously stated, hidden away by a pair of aviator shades that Jake found rather familiar –he was almost sure some actor wore a pair of very similar ones in one of the movies he had watched.

“Sup?” the teen said, voice perfectly monotone as he lifted one hand up in a salute.

“Uh, hey,” Jake scratched his head. “I wasn’t expecting anyone for at least a month, what brings you by my humble abode?”

The teen stared at him, then he tilted his head. “Let me make sure, what year is this?”

“Uh… 2004?” Jake replied, frowning.

“That’s what I thought, but with your stylish lingo, I thought we were back in the seventies,” the teen shrugged. “You Jake English, right?”

“Yes, that’s my name,” a little bit affronted at the quip, as he prided himself to be a gentleman of speech just as much as he was skilled with his pistols, Jake pointed at the weirdly dressed teen with a finger. “It is only congenial for you to offer your name as well as a reason for your presence here”.

The teen’s lips twitched into a small smirk. “Name’s Dave,” he answered, easily bypassing his surname. “As for why I’m here, I was strolling by this timestream and decided why the fuck not, it’s been a while”.

Jake blinked. “Er, you are a weird chap,” he stated, honest as ever. “You been there before? I would remember seeing your face around”.

“Been here couple times, yeah,” Dave looked around, eyes still hidden behind his shades. “Be a good kid, where’s Jade at?”

The name took a moment to click. “Gosh, you knew my grandma?”

A flicker of something passed on Dave’s face –or on the part of his face that was visible, at least– and Jake watched as he froze. Then, slowly, the weird teen lifted one hand in the air, lips moving soundlessly.

It appeared like he was counting.

“Oh, right… it seems I approached the wrong moment,” he shrugged lightly. “I guess I’ll just step up and take my leave now. Places to go, things to see, sick rhymes to compose on the beat of Time itself, you know”.

Jake almost smiled –this Dave was weird, but amusing, and his tendency to rant reminded him of one of his internet friends.

Still, knowing he would have to give him bad news almost physically hurt him.

“Well, I don’t think you could see grandma even if you come at a later time,” he hastily called out as Dave turned around, ready to leave.

Dave froze.

“She is–” Jake stopped abruptly when Dave pushed his hand in front of his mouth, one finger almost touching his lips.

“Don’t say it,” there was a small vibration in Dave’s voice that made Jake’s words die before they could get out. “I get it”.

PROMPT: TEAM [Aradia<>Tavros]

[gallantjester]

Lost World + Dark Fantasy for Sollux<3Vriska

I'm sorry I just think that sounds really interesting

PROMPT: TEAM AR<3PM<3WV

[fenrisulfr]

Terezi <3 Nepeta: Procedural Crime Drama meets High Fantasy!

PROMPT: TEAM JANE<3ROXY

[heartfeltdisease]

Rose/Vriska (Preferably black but I'm not going to be too picky)
Steampunk + comedy

PROMPT: TEAM NEPETA<3TAVROS

[aspiringmathematician]

Jade<3Kanaya
Spaghetti western+vampires!

FILL: TEAM JADE<3ROSE

[pantypoison]

Such a cute ship, hope you enjoy this! :D
_____

"Stop right there!"
Kanaya froze. She had been leaning over a sleeping woman, about to have herself a drink of human blood, when she saw the figure outside the woman's window. Deputy Jade Harley was running towards the house, her long black hair flowing out behind her like a comet tail.

Kanaya hissed a curse under her breath and immedietly fled the woman's bedroom and out the door. She started running in the opposite direction as Jade. She was incredibly fast, even for a vampire. Still she could hear the deputy trailing after her, the short gasps of breath as she pushed herself to detain Kanaya. The vampire couldn't help but be impressed.

Unfortunately Kanaya was not as familiar with the town as Jade was. She soon became disoriented as the pair darted between the shadowy buildings, every twist and turn beginning to look the same. She barely had time to skid to a halt as she found herself in a dark alleyway, where Jade easily cornered her.

After stopping for a moment to catch her breath, Jade reached into her belt and pulled out a pistol. "Got ya! Kanaya Maryam, I'm placing you under arrest. Now, just come away quietly so I won't hafta use this!" she said, keeping her weapon aimed at Kanaya. There was a bright, oddly unmalicious smile on her face.

Kanaya smirked. "Those bullets won't harm me, foolish Jade. I'm immortal, remember?"

Jade's smiled faltered as she lowered her gun. "O-of course I knew that! So I, uh.." She quickly swapped out her pistol for something else on her belt. “I brought my trusty lasso with me just in case!” she chirped.

Kanaya flinched and instantly darted past Jade, but the girl was already whipping the rope above her head. She expertly launched it and caught Kanaya around the ankle, effectively tripping her to the ground. She groaned and raised herself up on her elbows. “Fine. I suppose you caught me this time. Like a disobedient farm animal, no less,” she huffed, looking up as the deputy approached.

Jade sighed and sat down on her knees in front of Kanaya. “I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't been breaking the law! This is the second time I've caught you trying to feed off the townsfolk. You're just lucky it was me on guard or you would have gotten off way, way worse!”

Kanaya grinned toothily. “If it were anyone else, I would have just bled them dry and saved myself all this exertion.”

“Kanaya!! That's not funny...”

The vampire sighed. “Very well, I apologise. Now then, fair Jade, what is my punishment?”

Jade brightened again and scratched her head in thought. “Well normally...a vampire could get 20 days in the county jail for trying to suck blood from humans. But for you...” she paused for just a moment before smiling mischeiviously at Kanaya. “I think I can let you off with a warning. AND a kiss on the cheek, for wearing me out with all that running!”

Kanaya raised her eyebrow. “A kiss on the cheek? I believe I can do you one better.”

“Whaddaya mean...ack, Kanaya!” Jade's yelp turned into a giggle as Kanaya rose swiftly from the ground, picking the human girl up and spinning her around. Under the moonlight Kanaya dipped Jade and gave her a long kiss, the kind that gave both of them butterflies in their stomachs and made stars explode behind their eyes.

They broke apart and Kanaya smiled affectionately at Jade. “I believe I still might have left you breathless.”

Jade laughed softly. “You always do.”

PROMPT: TEAM MEENAH<3<ROXY

[salticidae]

Rose<3Kanaya<3Jade

Badfic + Action/Adventure

FILL: TEAM DAVESPRITE<3KARKAT

[hellasafety]

I just couldn't resist badfic, I hope this is awful enough for you :)

________
"Wow we are going camping." Whispered Jade dramatically as she stood in the woods.

"Yes it seems that is what we are doing." Said Rose, looking at Jade's choice ass they drove to the camping place which was a forest with some places to put tents on the ground.

Jade's ass did not comment, but it was excited about camping as well.
WATCH OUT FOR THE TROLLS said the sign on the side of the road when Rose pulled over to assess the situation.

"I am so afraid of the trolls and also they are my kink." Jade touched the sign with her finger, rubbing it erotically.

Rose nodded. "I am also so glad that there are trolls here today because I have always secretly wanted to have therapy with trolls trolls are good for therapy."

"Hello I am A TRoll my name is Kanaya." Said Kanaya when she heard about the girls liking trolls. "I have so much therapy needs and am also a total lesbian. I only like fashion."

Jade yiffed excitedly when she saw Kanaya, doing a summersault. Rose knitted a sweater in happiness.

"Have you heard about the great Danger." Asked Kanaya in a sultry tone. Her eyes shone like shiny glass beads of glass, her hair was black like black velvet, her skin was ashen as though something had been on fire and then burnt up like in that song by Nelly Furtado about good things coming to an end. Kanaya's rear end was a good thing but it wasn't in the song.

"No we didnt hear about that please tell us about it we are smart girls also we have guns." Said Rose passively.

Jade pulled her hunting rifle out of the pocket of her short shorts and fired at a bird, which fell to the ground like a rock that has been thrown from the sky.

"Good" Said Kanaya. "The great Danger is a secret temple and it is for exploring of the caverns under the temple there is much danger there and monsters to fight."

Jade crouched all karate-like and made whirring noises like a helicopter. "I am so ready for danger hot troll lady."

Rose nodded. "I am also ready for danger I am very sarcastic and witty and long winded."

WOW!

Then they began to walk to the great Danger while making out hotly. Kanaya touched Rose with her foot when they approached. " There becomes the great Danger."

Suddenly a huge mummy run out of a tree and towards the
girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jade jumped into the air saying "WHOOAA" and Kanaya kicked the mummy in the face. Rose pulled on the bandage or whatever that was wrapped around the mummy's face and unveiled...

a rotted face hole.

Jade shot at the face with three bullets and the zombie fell onto the forest floor, moaning.

"This moaning is so hot." Said all three girls at the same time.

"You are so hot." They also said.

"We have defeated the bad guy its time to fall in love."

And then Jade whipped her meloncholy hair over her shoulder and threw her glasses away in slow motion, exposing her eyes which her green as a pair of green pants.

Rose was overcome with lust and jumped on her, pulling Kanaya with her. They fell onto the ground and adventured.

PROMPT: TEAM DAVESPRITE<3KARKAT

[hellasafety]

a prompt for team feferi<3aradia: comedy of manners and slice of life

PROMPT: TEAM ERIDAN<3KARKAT

[murasakivie]

Eridan<3Sollux

Medieval Fantasy, Road Trip

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3TEREZI

[grimd0rk]

(I guess you can consider this Humanstuck, although I'm not entirely sure myself. It's 1:37 AM and this got away from me. A highly anachronistic and probably hideously OOC road trip romp with a fair smattering of coarse language. Enjoy!)


It Is Midday


It is five in the morning, which, by royal decree, should be deemed “No Reasonable Hour For A Prince To Even Consider Being Awake”. Prince Ampora of the Kingdom of Derse is one such Prince who would sooner sit in a carriage that’s fallen off-road into a ditch and make sweet love to the Court Mage than even consider being awake at five in the morning.

However, it is in fact five in the morning, and sooner or later Prince Ampora will realise that he is not in fact in a ditch making sweet love to the Court Mage, but lying in his four-poster five-mattress bed being shaken awake by his manservant, who is by this point rather infuriated by his master’s inability to rouse himself from this seemingly-enchanted slumber.

Stopping short of saying “Kindly get the fuck up, Master Ampora”, the faceless manservant resorts to muffling his mouth with a cloth to disguise his voice and shouting “FIRE IN THE WALK-IN WARDROBE!” That got the Prince sitting bolt upright.

“WHAT,” he yelps, usually-impeccable hair in disarray.

“Ah good, Sir, you’re awake.” The manservant smiles serenely. “You are aware you’ll have to extricate yourself from bed for your trip to Prospit today?”

“How could I forget,” the Prince deadpans, throwing off his sheets so that they land atop the manservant’s head.

---

It is six in the morning, and the Right Honourable Prince Eridan Ampora of the Kingdom of Derse, PhD, is not at all happy to be awake. After a suitably royal breakfast and a thorough debriefing from his father the King, he is standing in the cold outside the extravagant royal palace waiting for the Knight from Prospit who will be escorting himself and the Court Mage to Prospit, where he is to be betrothed to the Princess or something.

The details are all a bit hazy.

But to make this whole excursion worthwhile, naturally the Prince’s self-proclaimed Arch Rival In Everything But Especially The Act Of Living Itself is to be his other escort, along with the Prospitian Knight. This is Sollux Captor, the Court Mage, who is roughly the same age as the Prince and was once deemed to be a suitable childhood companion to his royal self.

What a joke that had turned out to be.

After the two boys did nothing but fight, Eridan’s supernanny had revoked young Captor’s Princely Companion License, and he had been replaced by the heir to the Zahhak fortune, a young boy named Equius with an unhealthy fondness (possibly fuelled by nominative predetermination) for our equine companions. In that sense, Eridan was glad that it was Captor rather than Zahhak joining him on the journey. At least Captor wouldn’t spend the entire trip salivating over the winged hoofbeasts that were to be guiding the carriage.

At last the carriage pulls up with a surly-looking Knight at the reins, and Captor emerges from the shadows in a rather mage-like ominous manner.

Eridan wants to slap him.

---

It is seven in the morning, and of course Captor and the Knight Karkat Vantas are getting on like a small village full of innocents on fire. Of course.

Prince Eridan is sitting with his arms crossed, staring out the window at the blur of the countryside as the carriage speeds past small villages full of innocents that he is rather inclined to want to burn to the ground at this very moment. Curse the restrictive legal system.

The insufferable Mage slips back into the carriage from his position up front with Vantas and sticks his legs up on the seat, leaning back like he has not a care in the world, the conceited arse. “How’re you coping back here, Prince?” he asks cheerfully, and fuck, he still has that dumb lisp that he’s always had.

It would not be so annoying if Prince Eridan did not find it so incredibly sexy.

“I’m coping fantastically, thank you,” Eridan snaps back, straightening up and uncrossing his arms.

“Looking forward to meeting Marquise Serket?”

Oh, yes, that was the name of the broad he’s meant to be marrying. “She should be looking forward to meeting me,” he said gruffly, straightening his spectacles.

“Right,” Captor says.

“Do I detect a hint of cynicism in your voice, peasant?”

“None at all, Your Highness.”

---

It is eight in the morning and Knight Vantas has insisted that they make a stopover in a small town populated almost entirely by salamanders, because the horses are tired. It is only when he steps gracefully down from the carriage that Eridan realises just how short the Knight is. He comes up no higher than Eridan’s shoulder.

He also swears like a common troubadour.

“Is there no fucking way we can get some fucking food in this shitheap of a town? Is it that much of a stagnant hole in the dirt? Fuck, we’re in fucking bilgewater scum county. It reeks of horseshit. Fuck. I can’t stay here much longer.”

“It was your idea to take a break,” Captor points out.

“I know it was my idea, but past me is a fucking idiot,” Vantas screeches, this close to tearing out his hair.

“Both of you need to calm yourselves,” Eridan interjected. “I realise that neither of you are of the same noble temperament as I, but if we are to retain our good spirits—”

“Kindly shut the fuck up, Your Highness,” Captor interjects. “I don’t need two noble pricks in foul moods to lighten my spirits.”

Eridan has never been more aroused in his life.

---

It is nine in the morning and the lone carriage in the Borderlands is making good time. If they’re lucky, they’ll make Prospit’s capital by ten and Eridan can get the dumb meeting with the dumb girl he’s meant to be marrying over and done with and then everyone can go home and shut the fuck up.

Naturally Vantas is still whining to Captor. Eridan tries to block out the noise by drumming his feet on the floor of the carriage, but all it’s doing is making him dizzy.

Vantas is on the verge of his five millionth “and another thing...” when there is a great shudder as the carriage hits an obstacle in the road. In the space of a few seconds Vantas loses control of the horses and they break apart from the carriage, rushing off of their own accord. The carriage upends and spins sideways into a ditch by the side of the road.

Fucking brilliant, Eridan thinks to himself as he is squashed against the wall of the carriage in a position that not even the greatest court contortionists could ever manage. He can hear Captor and Vantas arguing outside.

“Christ, Vantas, just let me come with you to find the horses! His Royal Dickprince can take care of himself!”

“What part of the King will have you flogged for leaving him and the carriage unguarded do you not understand, fuckmunch? Fuck, he’ll have me flogged too! Just do me a fucking favour; stay here and look after that shit-for-brains, else he’ll accidentally get himself killed left all on his lonesome.”

A few more harsh words are exchanged before Eridan hears the sound of Vantas’s heavy boots moving off into the distance, and the door at the other side of the carriage, directly above him, opens up. In something of a role reversal, Captor looks down on him scornfully.

“Looks like I’m stuck with you, Your Highness.”

---

It is ten in the morning and “I Spy” is starting to get boring. Eridan has refused to attempt to leave the carriage, preferring to wait until Vantas returns with the winged horses to lift them out of the ditch. Captor is starting to worry – he’s almost been gone an hour.

“I spy with my royal eye, something beginning wiiiiiith... C.”

“I swear in the name of all that is holy, Erida— Prince Ampora, if this is ‘carriage’ again I will personally see to your removal from the face of this planet.”

“Yeah well, you’re the Court Mage, why couldn’t you just remove this carriage from the face of this ditch?”

“If I have to tell you aga— my powers don’t work like that! Your fucking Highness!”

Eridan pouted, flicking the floor of the carriage, which was now oriented more like a wall. “I’m bored. Can you use your powers to tell me when Vantas will return?”

“Fucking no, stop fucking asking!”

Eridan is suddenly acutely aware of how cramped this sideways carriage is, and how attractive Captor is when he’s angry.

“Well then, I don’t suppose you can think of any other way to pass the time than ‘I Spy’?” he asks.

They spend a few minutes just staring at each other in silence before they can mutually agree on a much more productive way of waiting.

---

It is eleven in the morning and after Karkat Vantas has unsuccessfully tried to tear out his own eyes for the unspeakable horrors witnessed in the carriage, they are finally on the move and headed for Prospit once more.

The tension in the carriage is such that you could cut it with a knife. Sollux Captor and Prince Eridan Ampora are sitting on absolute opposite ends of the compartment and looking absolutely everywhere but at one another.

Eridan is hoping that he’s suitably rearranged his hair for his meeting with Marquise Serket. Although, there’s a part of him that doesn’t want her to be interested in him. Not after... that. He doesn’t think he could ever be interested in another. His eyes have been opened. No longer will he be yelling at his heinously insubordinate Court Mage for a myriad misdemeanours.

Sollux is wondering what the hell just happened and why the hell he got so much enjoyment from it.

---

It is midday and Prince Eridan Ampora is standing flanked by his Mage and Knight, facing Marquise Vriska Serket, who has a metal arm that looks like it could rip his bollocks off if she so desired.

“Well,” she says, surveying him, unsure whether or not she likes what she sees, “a match between us would certainly be advantageous to our two nations. As you surely know, I’m a pretty major player in Prospitian politics.”

“I had no idea,” Eridan says vaguely.

“You flatter me,” she says, making it sound like a threat.


They are soon left alone to “get to know one another”. Eridan decides he rather likes her – she’s a bitch, that’s for sure, and he can appreciate that. After all, he’s been informed by numerous people on numerous occasions that he, too, is a bitch.

But he can’t marry her.

Not after... that.

As he contemplates his inevitable future, he decides he would much sooner sit in a carriage that’s fallen off-road into a ditch and make sweet love to the Court Mage than even consider marrying this upstanding member of the Prospitian community. He makes a mental note to ask Vantas not to take them back to Derse that evening.

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE

[lovejourney]

Dave<3Aradia. Steampunk + Slice-of-life.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

Dave<3Jake: Post-apocalyptic + swords and sorcery.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

AR<3PM<3WV: Road trip + Dying Earth.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

Dave<3Aradia: Wuxia + weird fiction.

FILL: TEAM AUTORESPONDER<3ROXY (1/2)

[teakei]

EDIT: Okay, now split into 2 parts because wow, page-stretching! OTL

I-I’m still not entirely happy with this, but if I put off posting this any longer, I’ll miss the deadline ahaha OTL. This is a rather loose interpretation of the genres (wuxia ended up more Chinese mythology than swordfights and weird fiction ... well, I tried), but I really liked the prompt, so I hope it turned out okay!
-----------
刻骨銘心 (you are carved in my bones and engraved in my heart)



A woman in white pours you a drink.

“This is the five flavored tea of forgetfulness,” she says. “Drink and forget your last life so you may pass into the next.”

With casual irreverence, you press the cup to your mouth. The tea tastes bitterly pungent, salty and sour with only the thinnest layer of sweetness to cover the flavor, but that’s the least of your worries right now. Already, you can feel your memories slipping away with each and every swallow. Her name (whose name?) and her face (whose face?) are fading fast, and you prickle with anxiety. There’s something you must do, something you must remember, and if nothing else, you have to -

(-- --- ----- --- --st –-op)

- and then deep inside your skull, something resounds like a thundering knell. Your hands shake, droplets of tea splattering to the floor.

“Careful,” the woman says. Her eyes are calm, but her sharp smile promises an eternity of horrors. “Unless you desire to face the wrath of the gods in your next life, be mindful of how you drink.”

Your shoulders tense, right hand twitching to your side to grasp – grasp what? It escapes you, but you know it should feel heavy and solid in your hands, hot like metal and cold like fire, but you’ve forgotten, oh you’ve forgotten, and there’s nothing but cool air against sweaty palms. You can’t run, can’t fight, and the only thing you can do is drink and so you do, your tongue burning with each razed memory. When you finish the cup, you are nothing but a scorched shell, as hollow as the day you were born.

But this time you are not born empty.

--------

Your brother once said you were born a ghost.

His words, as off-handed as they were, are unintentionally prophetic. Although your blood-red eyes and starlit hair has always set you apart, you grow up haunted by something you cannot name. Life turns you in circular spirographs, repeating your every action until you feel like you’ve done everything a hundred times. Other times, it feels you’ve lived a hundred different lives, all compressed into one. Although the phantom repetitions set you on edge, it doesn’t scare you.

(-- --- ----- -he l--- ---p)

While the darkness of the world is escapable, the darkness within is not. Something lives inside your bones.

Between each beat of your heart is a tiny heartbeat pause, as if someone residing inside your lungs was breathing too. It lasts for only half a second, but each beat fills you with a great and terrible feeling of dislocation, stretching out between your ribs in a chasm you cannot cross. Within each pause, you can sometimes hear a fragmented echo; it’s incomprehensible at best, but the yawning sense of loss is unambiguous.

You never tell your brother though. There’s no need for it anyways; your clenched fists convey your anxiety better than what words could ever say. On your fourth birthday, he tosses you a sword and teaches you how to fight.

For the next twelve years, you grow up on a steady diet of morning ambushes and inescapable duels. You learn about righteousness and honor, of when to keep fighting and when to give in. If nothing else, the terrifying consequence of avoiding rooftop strifes quickly beats the lesson into you. It’s a tough life of sore muscles and sorer bruises, but it’s a good life. However, you soon discover that no matter what you do, you can never really escape the tiny heartbeat pause; it’s inevitable that the darkness of the world eventually catches up too.

On New Year’s Day, you find your brother dead on the floor, stabbed through with his own sword.

For the longest time, you do nothing but crouch next to his body. Are you feeling shock? Grief? Rage? You don’t know. You know nothing but desolate stillness.

When night falls, you finally move. With shaking hands, you yank the sword from your brother’s body; it slides out with a sickening squelch.

The next morning, you leave your home, bloody sword clenched tightly in your hand.

-------

On the fifteenth day of the first month, you meet a girl by the river. Beneath the vermillion lanterns, she stands a fairy in red, ephemeral and half-real.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she says. Instantly, you draw your sword. Her eyebrows lift in surprise, but her hand does not twitch to the blade strapped to her side.

(do not ----- --- ---- ----)

“I’m not the one you seek,” she says, “At least, not yet.”

Your immediate reaction is incredulity - what the fuck, what the hell is going on here, followed by a few rude gestures and a who the hell are you because while you’ve met a lot of mysterious assholes in your life, she takes the cake with her serene enigma. But what really unsettles you the morbid familiarity in the slope of her shoulders and the gleam in her eyes; you know this girl like a map, every latitudinal curve of her body and longitudinal wave of her hair, and you don’t even know her name.

Against your better judgment, you don’t do an acrobatic pirouette off the handle. Instead, you flatly mutter “What the fuck.”

“You’ll understand soon enough,” she replies with a patient smile, “I’m Aradia.”

After a moment’s hesitation, you sheathe your sword. As unsettling as she is, there’s a familiar echo in her words that’s different from the usual itch of monotonous repetition. Instead, there is a tug that reverberates throughout your soul, reaching out to even the darkest corners where something mysterious sleeps.

(A woman on a dark horse. Fortunes of calamitous fire. You have a lantern in your hands and you cast it to the sky.

As you watch it disappear into the black void, she turns to you and says may your life be more fortuitous in the next.)

“Dave,” you say and deep down, you suspect that she’s already knows your name, always has known your name and that maybe, just maybe, you have always known hers too, but by the time the words leave your lips, it’s too late – she’s long gone, swept away with the thousands of red lanterns drifting into the night sky.

When you go to sleep that night, a face comes forth from the darkness, incomprehensible and chilling. It’s unfathomably alien but undeniably familiar, and you wake up in cold sweat. Even though you couldn’t catch a clear glimpse, you know the face backwards and forwards, as intimately as the back of your hand, and the thought terrifies you more than anything in the world.

Sleep doesn’t come easy after that.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

Rose>{>Terezi: Crime fiction + zombie apocalypse.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

John<3Eridan: Political fiction + dark fantasy.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

Jake<3John: Occult detective + medical drama.

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3ROSE

[para_normally]

Rose<3Jade: Mystery fiction + comic fantasy.

PROMPT: TEAM DAVESPRITE<3KARKAT

[hellasafety]

john<3karkat: future noir and satire

PROMPT: TEAM SOLLUX<3TEREZI

[heybuddyboy]

Disciple<3Sufferer<3Psiioniic, harem + sitcom

PROMPT: TEAM SOLLUX<3TEREZI

[heybuddyboy]

Feferi<3Sollux, body horror + fantasy of manners because come on don't tell me this pairing isn't asking for it

Re: PROMPT: TEAM SOLLUX<3TEREZI

[runespoor]

I love you for this prompt so much. If it's allowed for Alchemiter teams to fill prompts for ships that don't have specific teams, I'll definitely work on this.

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[veira]

Auto-Responder<3Davesprite

cyberpunk + techno thriller

FILL: TEAM TEREZI<3<VRISKA

[fortnight_dreaming]

TT: We're doing this, man?
TG: yeah
TG: lets break into cyberspace


Hey, nice prompt, hope you like it!

PROMPT: Karkat<3Karkat

[doubleohally]

Meenah <3 Karkat

Bad Boy (Bad girl) + High school AU

FILL: TEAM ERIDAN<3KARKAT

[crispychocolate]

aaaaan here you go B) Hope this is right. Man i ove this ship.

PROMPT: TEAM SOLLUX<3TEREZI

[heybuddyboy]

Jake<3Dirk, sword and planet + metahistorical romance

PROMPT: TEAM ERIDAN<3KARKAT

[murasakivie]

Rose <3 Jade

Class S, Dying Earth

FILL: TEAM JOHN <3 KARKAT

[fivetail]

In which this prompt reminds me of episode ten of Madoka and everything fucking hurts

I hope this is okay! <3

[Content warning for doomed timelines, sadstuck, and implied character death.]

-

Jade wears three pairs of glasses at the end. Familiar round frames stick on her nose and magnify her emerald eyes to an owl’s gaze. Black rectangles sit atop her head, nestled in the thickness of her hair. Aviators rest folded in her collar.

The ground beneath them quakes with tremors as the meteors continue to descend. Jade’s throat is as dry as the checkered land surrounding them but exhaustion prevents a proper swallow. Her hand searches for her neighbour’s as they lie together, and somewhere between fire and ash and carapace blood, the scent of earth stings the air. A twinge of nostalgia washes over them. Rose breaks the silence first.

“That was one hell of a day.”

“This sucks big-time!” Jade manages a giggle, though she can’t keep her voice from shaking. “I just met you and our adventure’s all over already! How lame is that?”

“We found each other once, there’s no reason we can’t do it again.” Rose strokes her thumb along the side of Jade’s hand; her voice remains assured, tone no less casual than someone having just failed a level of a video game. “Wherever the other side takes us, of course.”

“Do you think we found a way out?” Jade asks. “Somewhere out there in the big tangle of timelines? Do you think we made it?”

“We most certainly did,” Rose replies, steadfast as she squeezes Jade’s hand. “And you were glorious.”

Jade breathes a hollow laugh as the tears begin to fall. The largest meteor is already bearing down on them, its heat prickling against their skin. Jade looks away; Rose curls Jade in her arms and holds her tight to keep her from trembling.

Jade wears three pairs of glasses at the end. Round frames push into Rose’s neck. Black rectangles press against her chin. Aviators are caught between chests rising and falling with panicked breathing.

Jade wrenches her eyes shut. Her fists bundle in Rose’s shirt.

“Are we still heroes?”

Rose knits her brow together as she presses her lips to Jade’s forehead.

“I would think we qualify.”

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3ROXY

[shinigamishi]

Cyberpunk + Urban Fantasy for Jade<3Roxy (Yes, not a typo, if it's okay to use ships without teams?)

Re: PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3ROXY

[murasakivie]

Not a mod, but... according to this, it is!