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 GAMZEE♥KARKAT

[sempiternalserpent]

Ontological Mystery+Exploitation flick for Karkat♥Terezi♠Gamzee

FILL: TEAM KARKAT <3 NEPETA

[slippy]

3 minutes
One of the boys woke up yelling, loud enough that the other two trolls woke too. They moved apart instantly and then sat and studied the room. And each other, but they tried not to be obvious about it.


5 minutes
Footfalls echoed in the bare stone and metal of the room, accounting for most of the noise. They investigated the walls and floors in search of an exit as quietly as possible, except when one of the boys struck out hard a few times, kicking and punching at the wall's metal sheeting. They still kept careful, constant track of each other.

"This is probably silly," said the girl, and stopped poking at rivets in her third of the room. "I doubt we are the ones we have to watch out for." A little taller than the boy with nearly no horns, a little shorter than the one with the curved horns, skinnier and more wiry than both, she stood with similar confidence. None of them could totally hide their wariness, though.

"We're alone and we woke up at the same time. Thanks for that, Nubby." He pulled a face that made her grin, and then patted his horns as if confirming their shape.

"And now I'm going to come closer," she said. "I have a suspicion. This will be a bit weird!"

The other two looked suspicious, but didn't protest. Nubby tensed as she approached him and definitely appreciated that she stopped a few metres away. She leaned forwards to sniff in his direction.

His mouth quirked in amusement. "Yeah, yeah it is fucking weird," he said.

"Now you, Clown!" she said, turning. He held himself high with aggression, teeth baring as she walked over, but deigned to hold himself back.

"If you really motherfucking must, Spikes." He sniffed at her too. "What do you get from this? I can't pick up any kind of ... seasonal thing, even with us being half-naked."

"Oh, god, don't even intimate that!" Nubby backed up a few paces, arms tight around his torso.

"I agree, there's no hint of pheromones," Spikes said. "Whoever locked us in could have taken our shirts so that we couldn't identify ourselves by sign... I'm doing this because I have reason to believe that my sense of smell is unusually accurate. And as I thought, there's some of my scent on you, and yours on me," she said, pointing to Nubby. "We must have known each other at least a bit." She turned back to the clown. "You and Nubby also have traces of each other's scents, so there was a connection there too. But there's a twist, Clown: There's no such olfactory exchange between the two of us!"

Clown held himself even taller, shifting his weight from one foot to the other - not yet leaping towards her but so ready for the fight. All teeth, he snarled, "Guess we didn't used to like each other all too motherfucking much."

Spikes beamed and put out her hand. "So let's not!"

He stared. "As in let's not what?"

"Let's not like each other, actively. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

Clown, still staring, seemed to have a dawning certainty that hers was the most unlikely hand that could ever be. "Straight-up. Serious. No fronting," he said, as if ticking each one off a list.

"What the fuck?" Nubby contributed.

The way Clown shifted his weight was self-conscious now. "And ... not like I've got a thing to be scared of, right? Twig like you..."

"Maybe I have fistkind." Spikes wriggled her fingers. "Or a specialisation in pinkiekind, most feared and renowned of all!" A giggle sneaked out of him, partly in pure surprise; she thrust her hand out further and he grabbed and pumped it.

Then he almost threw her to the floor.


20 minutes
"Seriously? Best hatefriends, and maybe you've literally known each other for fifteen minutes. And what is with the barkbeast method of bonding! Any more sniffing and it'll be the definitive clue that we're in here for being softsponge cullbait. So of course I'm staring, even if we SHOULD be focusing on escaping, god knows I should be trying to bring the focus back to that—"

Clown growled. "Which is what we've been saying since we up and stopped the roughhousing, if you'd fucking shut it and listen."

Spikes cleared her throat. "To be fair, we did get carried away with the grappling. I don't even really blame you for all the staring, Nubby."

"Fucking fair is how we both got a way better idea of each other than anything what we've got on this nubbed-down motherfucker." Clown sneered. "We showed each other some serious moves. You stand there."

"Because I'm saner - not hard - due to being pretty sure you don't treat friendship like something you pick out of a catalogue..." Nubby wound down and put up his hands, rolling his eyes. "But all right, it's your prerogative, I guess," he said, tucking his hands back under crossed arms. "It just looks deeply stupid from where I'm standing."

Clown looked even more set to grab him by the neck. "So far a-fucking-way."

"Friendship isn't contagious, nookstain. It doesn't make a fucking difference where I stand."

"But remember!" Spikes said. "My theory is that you and I, and you and Clown, were at least acquaintances. Nubs," she said, hand-on-heart wounded. There was a bite mark in teal on her hand, and Clown licked his teeth. "Nubbity Nub-a-Nub-Nub. You don't think we could once have hung out?"

"Sure, all right, maybe," Nubby said, eyes rolling away again, "Maybe I was always hanging around you wondering, hey, how far is this blind-ass insaniac from being culled tonight?" — And then his face transformed, as guilty as he had been irritable.

"He's the one who's not supposed to like me!" Spikes pointed to the clown - finger nearly going into one of his eyes, conscientiously, so he flinched. "Don't be rude."

"No, no offense, seriously. That sounded bad, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply I want you dead." He took his first step closer. "But ... your eyes. Sorry. I couldn't help noticing."

"I wasn't going to say nothing," Clown began smugly, and she gave him a curious look and said, "Well, that's pretty dumb!"

"Oh all right, no sympathies." He smiled, clapping her on the back. "So what's up with those two garbage globes stuck up your nug, and meanwhile you're still noticing fucking everything but the fact you've got such clear chunks of uselessness all of your own?"

"Dude! Holy shit, no." Nubby strode over, all horror, like the girl might need it.

Spikes rolled her shoulders elaborately as if to shrug the words off, then leaned over and licked the clown from shoulder to jaw.


27 minutes and 9 seconds is 17 minutes 2 seconds more than my incredibly educated guess for when that would happen
real proof terezis mind isnt all there atm
"That was one part to irritate you, and one part demonstration. I can see using my senses of taste and smell," Spikes said. "Really! I know it sounds ridiculous. When I woke up I could see my own face as clear as anything else in the room ... it took a minute to remember how to ignore my immediate scent to focus on other things."

"In my neck!" Clown said. He kept wriggling like he'd had an intensely private experience with an electric socket.

"Don't be a big wiggler about it."

"Wow, fucking wow. And you also expect us to believe you just took a detailed count of his neckspores?" Nubby looked her over, arms still around himself, making him a tight, self-focused hub even while closer to them. He did not, however, sound that disbelieving. "It's ridiculous. Except..." He did some sniffing. "Shit, you're both right. We have rubbed off on each other at some point. And you smelled that from all the way across the room, and it's obvious you..." He ground to a stop. "Uh."

Spikes raised an eyebrow.

"Can't see," he said, nearly more gentle than was polite. "So I believe you? That's, uh. I guess that's a cool way to get around culling. Points for style." The smile was already an apology, but he added anyway, "Sorry for making a big deal of it in the first place."

"As well you should be!" Spikes said. It fell flat when he backed off again, looking away.

"Damn, brother, she is playing. Look at her, how do you even take her seriously?" The clown jumped straight back onto the heights of aggravation. "Is your plan to be one big old cringe forever?"

"Hey, as previously established, you two dislike each other, not me. I'm just..." Another step away, hands more firmly pressed under his elbows. Clown bristled more.

"Cold," he snapped.

Nubby cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged. Yeah, so? Clown looked righteously enraged - then rattled - then angry again.

"So get something about it out from between your stubby little teeth, you fucking genius," Clown said, grabbed him, and rubbed vigorously over his bare back.


40 minutes in and bullshit approaches at light speed
"Fucking quit it! I told you I'm the sane one!" Nubby said.

"I up and told you that Deadeye's on to a good thing," Clown began, and growled as she tacked on, "I'm going on the assumption that I'm clever too. It feels right!"

Nubby stopped pushing away in order to laugh, probably because he was still a little stunned, and the hand on his back started rubbing again. "She gave me her hand," Clown told him, "and you might as well take mine. We know you and me even used to share space. We could it again."

"It's weird. Is all I'm saying," he said, and stopped trying to back away. "Really weird. Thanks. Are you serious? Oh my god." A study in awkwardness, he raised a hand to hide his blush on one side; the other was covered by how close he was to Clown.

"You could make your quadrant official," said Spikes, watching with blatant fascination. "Perhaps our captors will come to conduct a proper moirallegiance bonding, and it will open an avenue for escape!"

"She's playing," Clown provided. "And she's the one all propositioning people mouth-to-nugstem, so I don't see as where she has a leg to stand on."

"Yeah, neither do we. Half-naked ... fucking pettings, I told you that's. That's pretty fucking weird."

"Hardly a proposition," Spikes said to Clown, nose in the air. "Simply a rebuttal from the poor blind girl you so callously denigrated."

"Oh - oh yeah, poor you!" Nubby started snickering again. "Best one yet, Spikes."

"God damn, try harder not to laugh at every fucking joke she's got," Clown said. The rhythm of his hand stayed slow, constant. Nubby's head kept dipping, nearly resting on his shoulder.

"Ooh, am I making the clown jealous," Spikes said with relish. "Afraid of the official score in this mirth-off? And don't think the implied compliment slipped me by, Nubby! You think so highly of my capabilities already?"

"Not playing," Clown said, and it was a clear hit. The girl's right leg twitched visibly in effort not to kick him.

"Can I plead innocence?" Nubby said. "Or inability to think when getting backrubs?" And then he held out his hand. "Also, hey, it's the trend for the night. Let's ... be friends?"

"I don't know about that," Spikes said loftily, and placed her palm on top of his. "You're awfully sweet."


1 hour 2 minutes is clearly time for an intervention
A heavy spanner appeared a few centimetres off the floor and fell with a quiet ringing on the stone floor.

"Sarsaparilla fizz," Spikes said. "I feel patronised."

"Is that how patronisation or appearification is up and being flavoured?" Clown said, interested.

Nubby started untangling himself from their three-person slow-motion crash to stand up. "Not relevant! We can use that thing to get out!" He wriggled a hand loose to flap at Spikes as she made a noise. "I know, I know, if they're tossing it at us it's probably no fucking use for getting out, but there might be clues for how it got in here, or at least where it came from."

"Clown," said Spikes, scooting even closer, "I call cahoots." She squeezed her side up against Nubby, her back against one of Clown's legs and her own legs slung over his other thigh.

"All right, I can take swinging a little trust at you." Clown wrapped his arms tighter around the other boy, leaving Nubby well and truly stuck. "My feel on the matter's also how there's other important shit to be up and sorting out."

"This makes no sense," Nubby said, quiet as he tried to wish away a rising blush. "Agreeing to work together would be one thing. A sensible thing in these fucked-up circumstances. But acting like, like we have sorted out anything to do with quadrants, it counts as a critically acclaimed performance art rendition of utter absurdist fluttery fairyshit non. Sense."

"I up and love making no sense. Making no sense loves me the motherfuck back." Clown spoke in a low thrum, chin on Nubby's shoulder, and made Spikes gasp as he dug his fingers into her thigh.

"And I have to wonder," she said, reaching round Nubby to skitter fingers across Clown's face, along the three scars. "I have to wonder how well we knew each other, after all, even if it was briefly. It's worth investigating!" Her grin slashed across her face as Clown patted at his face the way they'd all patted their horns in the beginning, only halfway-remembering their own appearances.

Re: FILL: TEAM KARKAT <3 NEPETA

[slippy]

hell fucking no o clock
"That's what the motherfucker meant by being sweet, I'm thinking."

"No. No, this is pretty impolite," said Nubs, hand slipping further down the back of Spikes's trousers. "On the other hand, Spikes, you're. Ill-mannered as fuck." Clown's hand came in on top of his and pushed them both deeper down. "You're worse! Holy shit!"

"Boorish! Uncouth! A disgrace!" She breathed in fits and starts for a second, fingers stilling on the juncture of Nubby's trousers. She leaned forwards to gnaw at Clown's lips, and pulled away slowly to press her mouth to Nubby's - and he turned aside.

"Again! Will I have to call cahoots?" Spikes said ominously. It made Clown nuzzle into his hair and murmur, "You don't want to see how soft she can up and get? Do me a favour, Nubby, I wanna fucking see..."

"It's just." He rolled his head back out of the way, looking at the ceiling. "First kiss. You know. We're - okay, we're doing this, we're making an effort with it. I am on board with that, but, I feel like ... it's like a first kiss. And it's just because I can't remember, but still, it feels like... You know. I'm sorry, it's just..."

"Oh my god!" Her shriek made them flinch, and then the echoes managed to make them do it again. "I know why you, at least, are locked in here. You clearly can't be allowed outside on your own!"

He sighed. "Probably."

She kissed him on the cheek. With great passion and also tongue - but on the cheek. "I thought I was taking a chance, trying to make friends in a cage. But you!"

"And me. I started up on you, didn't I, Nubs, taking note of you all cold and too dumb to deal with it." Clown stroked his hair.

"We really should try to find a way out." Nubby put an arm around Spikes's neck and pressed a kiss to her cheek too, and took Clown's hand. "And for just now I could not give a fuck about it. We'll drag each other out of here soon enough, all right? Each one of us. And turn these into real relationships at every last second of our fucking leisure."


seriously
seriously
seriously
seriously
Quite reasonably seriously, I think.
Wow
Mission abort, said the sound system. Holy shit, there's a trap door in the ceiling, stop the ménage a crotchhop.

A rope ladder unrolled from the door. The trio conferred in hasty undertone before they broke away from each other and put their clothing in order. Clown was the first to go up - there was a more lemony fizz this time, and then Clown distinctly said 'Whoa' before there was a heavy thump. The other two went up as close together as possible.

*

This time Karkat was the last to wake up.

"I TOLD YOU SO," he said. "Quadrants ARE the fucking BASIS of ... all of society ... first instinct of any troll! I KNEW IT. Even if all else is stripped away, we still, we would try to make—" He passed out again.

"At least we know the computer successfully restored his memories too. Or at least the ones he'd consider most important," said Rose. "I don't know if anyone has ever lost a bet as thoroughly as you, Dave."

"I can make it on a technicality," Dave said hollowly. "Karkat's terms were that any trolls would get something solid defined within an hour, even if it was 'hell no, we won't go near each other in any way, shape, or card suite'. And even with the clown sneaking in and messing up the expected set-up, they all only started getting serious at about five minutes into the first hour."

He looked to Terezi and shook his head, waiting for some murder-lawyer crack about technicalities. She smiled back so dreamily it felt awkward, and the Mayor took her hand and patted it with a vaguely worried air.

"Maybe you shouldn't have offered Karkat the no-shirt advantage to stimulate ideas of romance," Rose said, far, far too late, and handed Gamzee and Terezi their clothes.

When Karkat woke next they were all in the computer lab. He was laid out on some of the towels still scattered around the meteor complex, and Gamzee sat beside him.

Karkat rolled up into the hug that came at him. "Got your back. Whenever I can get to you, brother," Gamzee said, and Karkat murmured nonsense back. They hadn't even really remembered each other. It still turned out all right. "Bro, be assured..."

"Touching. But a little boring, don't you think?"

Gamzee craned his head around to look at Terezi, while Karkat first took the time to work up a blush.

She was aiming to look cool: she'd re-equipped her cane, which was out as prop of choice as she stood grinning, all poise. "Everyone already knew about this particularly quadrant fill. Mine, on the other hand, are new and exciting territory!"

Again, Karkat was slow, whereas Gamzee unfolded from his crouch and walked over to grab her hand over the hilt of her weapon and bite a kiss out with her.

"Well! I certainly feel welcomed to the Dark Carnival." Her voice had wavered noticeably, but she ignored it. She straightened, solemn, facing Gamzee with her nose up-tilted in a show of focus and her free hand on his shoulder. "I am Terezi Pyrope," she said. "I am this tall. And I wish to ride this ride."

"Oh my GOD," said Dave.

"Well, shit yeah, consider that motherfucking proposal stamped and signed all up in triplicate. You gonna get a new motherfucking theme anytime soon, sister? This lawyer thing makes me sound fucking dumb."

"Oh my god!" said Dave, and elbowed Rose. It was hard to tell if she was snort-laughing harder because of him or Gamzee.

"What were you even doing, joining the experiment," Kanaya said with no interest whatsoever in the answer.

"I'm not going to be letting my bro decide to go and forget everything without me," Gamzee said. "Can't stop a motherfucker doing what he has to. Can't let him do it alone."

"How did you even hear us discussing the bet at all," she said with considerably more interest, fangs gleaming.

"Kanaya, not now!" Terezi made an expressive face at her. "I am doing big pimping."

"Then at least you haven't forgotten all my lessons," Dave said. "Although you still fail the course for making fucking total bullshit be a thing that happened. I could've won the bet free and clear, you bad student, no biscuit."

"The bullshit is not as total as it potentially could be," said Karkat. He took a hesitant step, then squared his shoulders and went to stand in front of her.

"It already means a lot that you agreed to this stupid fucking experiment in the first place. I know that was like - a sign, that you were even willing to consider a quadrant with me, and ... that's more than I deserve. But I'd still like to try. To suppress my insecurities about what it means that we only get along when our minds have been wiped clean, apparently, and just not to be so shitty, and to be matesprits."

She kissed him on the cheek. "I would like to someday get wild and go all the way," she said. "I mean it. No kidding."

"True!" said Gamzee, and grabbed both of them. "She sets no alarms ringing, best friend, or none that are for you to up and worry about."

"But I do," said Karkat, and wriggled his head free of the crush. "You two - okay, look, you have literally not been around each other more than one hour for seasons. I'm not going to argue with whatever serendipity we managed to squeeze out of a quick mindwipe. You just have to take this kismesissitude seriously, all right? It's not a game!"

"Sure it is," said Gamzee, looking from him to Terezi. "Don't see why not." And Terezi stared back at him with bare-toothed delight, chugging a hehehe out of the base of her stomach, the laugh so unguarded that even she looked embarrassed.

"It has been a long trip. Who couldn't do with a bit of fun?" she said, and Gamzee nodded back to her, smiling, watchful.

"You have made a parody of your whole species. I hope you're happy," Dave said, and held out a fist because the answer was obvious. They bunped.