hs_olympics | BONUS ROUND 4

Bonus Round 4

Mobius Double Reacharound FST - Revisited

Hi shippers! Welcome to Bonus Round 4! Bringing back a favourite from last year! (Sorry for the delay, we're very busy!)

Here’s how this is going to work: somebody will submit a selection of 3-6 songs without comment. Then somebody else will come along and create a companion fanwork to fit the soundtrack!

Rules

If you are submitting a soundtrack: submit only the track listing and download or youtube links. The idea is that people should ~interpret~ your selections!

You are not allowed to fill soundtrack prompts with your team's ship, nor are you allowed to fill your own soundtracks. (Filling your team's soundtracks is okay!)

Soundtracks count for 5 points each, for a maximum of 100 points per team.

Fills may be in whatever format you choose (except FST, of course) so long as they link the songs by mood and/or lyrics in some kind of narrative.

Post your fill as a comment to the prompt post, using the title format described below.

This challenge will run until 11:59PM EST August 3rd.

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 per team: 30 (per entry)
Entries 6-10: 20 (per entry)
Entries 11-15: 10 (per entry)
Entries 16+: 5 (per entry)

All scored content must be created/assembled 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

A long time ago, Roxy decided to give up on her crush on Jake. You remember thinking first that you had a better chance now, second that you're some kind of asshole for thinking that first. Roxy is a good friend and sometimes you take that for granted.

She apparently thought so too, because after months of laughing things off and saying she didn't have a shot anyway, she told you (with more typos than usual) that she was sick of Jane going on about Jake and sick of your "stoic mainpain *manpain" and sick of everyone whining about their crush never thinking of them as more than a friend, when all of you do the same thing to her!

You guess you hadn't really planned for that in all your calculations, but she signed off before you could ask if that meant what you were pretty sure it meant.

--

You can tell when Roxy's been drinking, really drinking, by how much she stumbles. When she's buzzed and typing carelessly to give the impression that she's smashed, she's still far too sharp-minded to fool you. It's when she starts slurring her words and bumping into things that you get worried.

The bruise just below her knee is from the coffee table, and the scrape on her shin is from one of those metal windows she keeps around for her "projects," and the sore on her elbow is from the edge of her desk. You raid her freezer for bags of frozen vegetables and hashbrowns to wrap in a thin towel and press on her injuries until her skin is numb.

That's why she drinks, she says, because it's numbing. After a while you kind of just forget your problems.

You know that's not entirely true, she drinks because she can get away with it, but you look around her room at her plush toys and video games and cat sleeping on her pillow and Ms. Lalonde's award-winning books on her shelves, and then at the way she looks at you when she doesn’t think you’re looking, and you know what problems she means.

--

It's too hot in the middle of summer to go out in the middle of the day, but you and Roxy do anyway. You keep to the afternoon shadows of buildings and stretch out beneath a tree in the park. Lying on your back in the grass, you can barely see the sky through the branches.

Beside you, Roxy texts Jake and gives you the blow-by-blow. In the silence between messages you ask her how she got over him. She laughs and says you shouldn't be thinking about that, you've still got a chance, but you just want to know, so she tells you it's easier to stop focusing on someone when you've got someone else to hang with.

--

Roxy is the first one to inform you that Jane and Jake are dating. Beyond the sting of neither of them bothering to tell you (more likely neither of them knowing how) is a duller ache that comes with a lack of surprise. Everyone knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

So Roxy helps you deal with it the only way she knows how. The speed at which she procures a fake ID for you is impressive (and might be a little alarming if it wasn't Roxy) and by the end of the night you're leaning on each other as you stumble home.

Her place is closer than yours and you know your bro won't miss you. She passes out on her bed in the same clothes she's worn all day; you lie next to her on top of the covers, staring out the window, grappling with various -aches and thinking about that day months ago under the tree.

--

In the end you decide that the only thing that really matters is that everyone is happy.

Jake continues to be a good friend, and it hurts for a while, but you think it's worth it to see him smiling and laughing when he sends you pictures of his "grand old adventures!!" with his girlfriend.

Jane gives you some very apologetic looks at first but you flash her a thumbs up and an unspoken promise that things won't be awkward because of this. You know she's wanted this for a long time and she deserves a happy ending as much as anyone.

And Roxy -- Roxy whispers something in Jane's ear that makes Jane blush and shoves her back toward her boyfriend, and then gives you a very indiscreet wink. You realize that it's been a long time since you've heard her pining over anyone; Roxy found her peace before any of you.

You think maybe now she can teach you to do the same.

BONUS ROUND 4

Bonus Round 4

FILL: TEAM John<3Rose