hs_olympics | BONUS ROUND 1

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

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.

Look through the prompts and fill whichever you like!

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

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.

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.

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She puts her hand on your head and you try not to cry.

This isn't how you imagined this day would go. This was the day of your assignment, the day you would have been given the job and position in society you have coveted for so long. You were hatched for it, you think.

But now you are dead, and you cannot do anything about it. The violet-blood's cheap shot cost you your life and your opportunities. How embarrassing to have been bested in only the second round of the application process. You barely even had a chance to prove yourself.

But that's all over now. Now, you stand in the basement of the holding center. Your mentor stands next to you, silent, and you wonder if she ever saw something like this coming. Around you, the bodies of young trolls decorate the ground. These are the ones who, like you, did not make it through the round.

You can still feel the heat of the beam piercing through you, scorching a hole through your center. The crowd had erupted into cheers and applause. They like a good show, even if it's an unfair one. Especially if it's an unfair one.

She puts her arms around you and you bury your face into her. She is much taller than you; she's had sweeps to grow and train young trolls to fight for their future positions.

This is the first time any one of them has come back from a fatal wound. You try not to think of how similar you are and how differently your fates played out. Instead, you concentrate on the scent of her and the feel of her hands stroking your back.

It is very comforting.

"You did well out there," she says.

"Not well enough," you mumble. Her hand pauses on your back and she scoffs.

"Don't be silly. If that seadweller had complied with regulation rules, you would still be out there, advancing to the next round."

"What really were the chances of that." You look up to her sadly. Her lips are drawn into a thin line. You grimace slightly as you realize the faint glow illuminating her face is coming from you.

You pull away from her and look down at your hands. A dull white light envelops them. It's soft enough to make you think your eyes might just be playing tricks on you.

"At least you are still... er--"

"Alive?" you finish for her with a humorless smile.

"In a manner of speaking."

You suppose that's worth something. But being a rainbow drinker is nothing like you expected. You weren't even aware you could become one without having been bitten first. And it is a lot less glamorous than your novels make out.

You don't feel elegant and deadly. You don't feel powerful or clever or particularly devious. You just feel tired and disappointed. And -- hungry.

They at least get that right. The intensity of it catches you off guard, though. It starts off with a slight smoldering in your phantom gut and quickly races upward and outward, consuming you entirely until you're overwhelmed with the desire, the need to feed.

You feel a set of hands on your shoulders and realize you're shaking. Your mentor is holding you -- holding you back? -- and you silently thank her for the distraction.

"You need to eat," you hear her say. "Drink?" She is not versed in this vernacular.

She lets go, begins to pull down her collar, and kneels next to you. You hesitate. Staring at her exposed neck both makes you nervous and exacerbates your hunger.

"I don't know how --"

"You have to learn." She gives you a pointed look. "If you don't now, there might be consequences later."

"Perhaps I could... practice on one of the other," you counter, "retired competitors."

“We haven’t much time,” she reminds you. “The round is almost over. Soon the clean up crew will arrive to clear out the room.”

You aren’t sure, exactly, why she is so casual about this. Or why she’s offered herself up as a meal when there are perfectly viable sources of blood around you. But it means something, you think, so you stoop down and try not to make too much of a mess. You’ve already gotten her dress bloody when you hugged her. A shame, really -- it was lovely.

She makes a noise of discomfort. “Try not to bleed me dry,” she says with an attempt at humor. You stop, because you’re not sure how to guage how much she could do without. You’re still pretty hungry, but the hunger is no longer all-consuming.

She puts a hand up to her throat and you notice the room has become brighter. Wait -- no. You’ve become brighter. Your glow is stronger now, now that you’ve got something in you.

“Come on,” she says and grabs your hand. She tugs you toward a chute near the far wall. It’s labelled TRASH. Presumably, the bodies will be disposed there.

“What?”

“Somehow I do not think it would go over well if a rainbow drinker were found in the holding center,” she says, and pushes you toward the chute.

“I don’t think it would go over well anywhere,” you say, the realization dawning on you. “What am I going to do?”

She looks at you and says nothing. She has been your mentor, but now that you are dead, you are no longer her responsibility. Your future is entirely up to you. The time to rely on others is over.

“I’m... going hunting,” you decide. The chute is metal and cold and it is not a comfortable ride down. But when you hear her jump in after you, you smile the entire way.

-

(an au in which trolls must undergo trials, obstacles, and battles in order to get a position/job in society they want? uh)

!

That was deliciously bittersweet, which is perfect for those two. good job!

BONUS ROUND 1

Bonus Round 1

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

Re: FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE