hs_olympics | BONUS ROUND 3

Bonus Round 3

Retro Gaming

Hi shippers! Welcome to Bonus Round 3.
In this round, you'll be creating fanworks based on video and computer games from before 2000!

Rules

Choose a game that was released before 2000, and post a fanwork based on the game in some way. Make sure to use the appropriate title format (see below). Examples include: character inserts, rewritten dialogue, costume redesigns, alternate soundtracks, theme song covers, photoshopped promo art, etc.

Your fill should not be focused on Homestuck characters playing the game--the point of this round is to make a crossover.

For this challenge, you are allowed to submit fills based on your team ship. You don't have to, of course!

For this challenge, there is no minimum wordcount. We are trusting you not to abuse that fact!

This challenge will run until 11:59PM EDT July 21. After that time, even if it's just by a minute according to the timestamp, no submissions will be accepted for points.

Title Format
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.
Replace [GAME TITLE] and [YEAR RELEASED] as appropriate.

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
(as stated here)
First 5 entries per team: 30 (per entry)
Entries 6-10: 20 (per entry)
Entries 11-15: 10 (per entry)
Entries 16+: 5 (per entry)

All content must be created new for this round.

We would prefer that any questions about this challenge or anything else in the HSO be emailed to us at homestuck.shipping AT gmail!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Before going up to end the Nightmare, you go to visit the beach one last time.

You know he'll be there when you start hearing the first strains of notes from his lyre, a cascade of arpeggios drifting towards you on the ocean wind. Soon enough, you round a dune and there he is, sitting on a driftwood log: the ginger-haired boy who pulled you out of the ocean all those days ago. His head is bent and his eyelids half-closed, all his concentration in the quick fingers flitting and pulling at the strings of the instrument in his lap. You wish you could stay and watch him a while, but the nervous knot at the pit of your stomach reminds you of your anticipation; you can't linger.

When you call to him, his head snaps up, and he sets his lyre to rest.

"'Sup, hero."

"Not much, cool guy!" you call, tone light to mask your anxiousness. "Just about to go end this horrible dream, is all."

You stand in the sand facing him, and he raises a solitary eyebrow. "You got all the sacred instruments?" You nod, grinning. "Pretty impressive, Jade. Shit, all this time and no one around here ever even managed to get a single one. And you cornered the market on all eight, just like that? Guess you can trust immigrants after all."

You can't help but laugh a little into your hand. "Hah, right! And you know, soon I'll be the biggest name in the Nightmare-slaying business. Just gotta go take care of the big one, and then you'll see my name in lights, just wait!"

You both smile, but his is clearly wistful. You can't really blame him.

A seagull cries directly above your head, then, and you both look up. The sky is very clear.

After a moment, eyes still fixed on the few wisps of cloud skittering above on the wind, you ask carefully, "Nothing... nothing bad's going to happen to Koholint, right. When I wake up the Wind Fish Princess? It's what I'm supposed to do, what's supposed to happen." Your throat feels suddenly dry; you swallow. "Right?"

You look back at Dave, but his gaze is still fixed on the sky. The seagulls you were looking for finally show themselves, freewheeling lazily against the perfect blue.

"Damn," he finally says, softly. "You know, it would be great to be a bird. No worries, no responsibilities. Just kind of free." After a few more seconds, he closes his eyes, sighs, and looks you squarely in the face once more. "Dunno, Jade," he finally answers. "But you gotta do what needs doing, hey? Princess can't sleep forever."

"Yeah," you say, smiling. You don't know why it feels like you're saying goodbye.

(Shark teeth in a painted mouth flash in a smile of awful gratitude, and as the Wind Fish Princess wakes, the dying fabric of reality dissipates around you.

As you tread water sleepily in the open ocean where the dream of Koholint Island used to be, a single crow catches a sea breeze beneath its wings high overhead.)

BONUS ROUND 3

Bonus Round 3

FILL: TEAM JADE<3ROSE - Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (1998)