hs_olympics | BONUS ROUND 5

BONUS ROUND 5

Bonus Round 5

Tales from the Road

Hey, shippers! HSO is winding down, so we thought we'd take a look back at the journey, so to speak. With that in mind, this next bonus round is going to be roadtrip-themed! Give us a little taste of your characters' life on the road, whatever form that takes.

Rules

Submit prompts! Prompts should consist of one ship (friendship/gen is fine too!) and a location. This cannot be your team's ship! This round we will not be giving points for prompts.

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 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 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!

Bonus Round 5 is now closed!

16/08/12 Comments are unscreened again, for the sake of comments on fills. No new fills are being counted for points.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

i love this prompt oh my gosh

Dave<>Rose

the TARDIS

Karkat<3Vriska

Rio de Janeiro

whoa whoa ADORABLE!

GAMZEEIFYOUDONTSTOPTHISDEATHTRAPIAMGOINGTOSHOOSHPAPYOUSOFUCKINGHARDJUSTYOUWAITI'LL-

GOIN 2 MATHCLASS the journey, the saga, the hallways,

AHH THIS IS REALLY GREAT

I absolutely love the opening bit of dialogue, too - "i did a report on it in fifth grade." PERFECT.

Dirk/Rose

Wan Shi Tong's Library

Tavros/Terezi

Hollywood

Jake + Meenah - Jurassic Park

John, Jade, Rose, Dave (any quadrants or gen) - Alternia

It's been a slow start here at the institute, since I'm surrounded by fucking idiots at every turn. These people couldn't tell you what the sharp end of a scalpel looks like, let alone how to perform brain surgery. How these children ever got through med school is beyond me. I have to teach them everything they should know all over again. I'm a doctor not a goddamn teacher.

All the people here seem to not be entirely at home. I think that maybe living in a hellhole in buttfuck nowhere might be the cause or they're all hopped up sniffing some drug they're not sharing. Might help me fucking put up with them if I couldn't tell the difference between the sternohyoid or sternocleidomastoid either. Fuck if I'm going to renew this contract. These interns could shit in each other's faces for all I care.

I'm not sure if I can last the year that I signed up for. It's all on a contract but I'm kicking myself in the ass for not manipulating in some sort of loophole to get the hell out of dodge.

It would all be fine if you were here. I promised myself I wouldn't guilt you on sentimental horseshit anymore but I guess in the end I couldn't fucking help it. Figures.

I miss you.

-DS

Jake folded the letter back up and laid it neatly on the floor next to the new letter - the older-looking letter. The hospital, like several other places, had swung between an old, dusty, to becoming what Jake could only call the prison cells of hell, oozing with blood and fire and rusty metal grates. He curled up in the corner of one of those rooms, having the fucking bejeesus scared out of him, and took solace behind a heavy metal door and a hospital bed. He had to read Dirk's letter to remember why he was there.

There was something out there, and it was after Jake. Something large, tall and muscular and wearing an apron splattered with blood and other disturbing things. Jake had never gotten a look at its head. He wasn't even sure it had one. There were other things too, emaciated nurses that moved like nothing he had ever seen and bearing sharp knives that they sure knew how to use, holy moly. Jake had already stopped to stitch up a nasty wound in his side when one of them had clipped him when he had a rifle and she came in too close. Sometimes he shivered and he wondered if it must have gotten infected. Of course he hadn't brought a first-aid kit into a fucking city. He hadn't expected something like this.

Jake peeked over the hospital bed and cast his flashlight back and forth across the room, clearing it, just in case. That door wouldn't be quiet to open but stranger things had already happened in that place. With a sigh of relief he lowered himself back to his butt on the floor, grabbing for his shotgun and moving it so it rested safely at his left, just in case. Then he put his flashlight into his front pocket and picked up the new letter, his hands trembling. He would recognize that penmanship anywhere, and the orange glittering gel pen left no doubt who it was by. It seemed to be brushed with rust, and with drops of blood. Please don't let it be his please don't let it be his

To who the fuck ever,

I officially resign from my position in this hellhole piece of shit hospital. I don't care if it goes against the contract I signed. I don't care if you all sue me so badly that you have to confiscate my fucking dick and put it up for auction at a state sale. I'm an getting the fuck out of this motherfucking town.

The doctors are idiots, the nurses are worse, and I think the upper management must just sit in their giant offices just seeing what sorts of staplers and pencil sharpeners they can jam up their rectums, because they sure as hell don't show their ugly fucking faces down here. And I am not doing surgery getting that shit out.

Jake laughed, so full of love and appreciation that he couldn't help himself. He nervously looked at the door and waited for a few moments before turning back to the page. Dirk oh Dirk please be safe somewhere.

You're all brainwashed god-fucking heathens and I don't even give a shit about your religion or what you practice usually, but the people in this town are fucking insane. No surgery will fix you. No rehabilitation, no therapy, no drugs will fix this place. The only solution there is would be an atom bomb to put you all out of your misery.

Come keep me from leaving this place. I dare you.

-DS

Jake sniffed and ran a thumb across his nose. He flipped through the paper and read it again before folding it up and into Dirk's other note, placing both of them safely in his front left pocket. Jake couldn't imagine the town trying to put up a fight against Dirk Strider. What a joke. If they did it would probably look something like a bunch of crazy townsfolk all going up against Dirk just like in that movie, 300.

But if he made it out of here, where did he go? What happened to him?

Jake made sure his shoes were tied tight and his backpack was securely hitched over both shoulders before picking up his shotgun and placing it on the hospital bed with a mysterious lump in the middle. Pillows, Jake assured himself. He wiped his glasses on his shirt, but it made things worse. His shirt was filthy and he cursed quietly and put his glasses back on. He'd have to see if one of the bathrooms had water, but not in hell - only in the spooky village. The hell bathrooms seemed to love the scare the everloving shit out of him. Jake ran his hands through his hair. He checked the map he found in the lobby, and folded it up again.

The door into the hallway was far, far too loud and his radio crackled with static as soon as he got it open a crack. He peered into the darkness and sees nothing. Maybe on the other side of the hall, or down around the corner. It was a pretty small hospital, but big enough for things to be hiding in all sorts of shadows in the dark. He took the shotgun in both hands and pushed the door open with his shoulder.

Hey, Jake.

Roxy says you aren't going to be at this address for too long. Off into the woods or something, so I'm not sure if you'll ever get this but I guess I'm feeling a bit maudlin and wanted to get this shit off my chest. I know you say all the time that I don't talk enough about what I actually feel and Roxy says I just manipulate people instead and you're both right, so here goes.

I fucked up, I really did. I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to leave. I don't think you meant for this to be a long-distance thing from now on but I hope you did. I want it to be, because you were the only one I ever wanted. You know that. I tell it to you all the time. Well, I told it to you. Maybe not enough, or maybe it didn't really matter.

If you've got your mind made up then this letter won't mean anything anyway. If not, then it would be great if you could mail me back, or message me, or give me a call.

They offered me a job at this town. It's a promotion. I think I might go. It's on a lake and it seems to have some interesting history, but it's in the middle of nowhere. Still, some new place might make me feel a little less miserable with you gone. There are a lot of memories in this apartment.

I'll send you the address and my new number just in case. My door is always open for you.

I never said it enough, but I love you, Jake.

-DS

Edited (VERB TENSE SHIFTS) 2012-08-08 01:28 (UTC)

Gamzee <3 Karkat
The museum

Karkat and Nepeta (any quadrants or gen)
A lake

John and Jade (any friendship or gen)
A foreign country from America.

Aradia <3 Sollux
An old mansion

Oh gosh, thanks! ; v;

Jade and Jake (gen)
Winterfell

Jane<3Roxy
A maid cafe

Lanta you are too talented to be real

Aradia and Jake (gen or any quadrant)
On an Indiana Jones style adventure

Thank you!

Dave <3 Terezi

"So, where to 'Rezi?"

"Hm?" The bundled cocoon shape next to him turned carefully so not to disturb the elaborate arrangement of blankets they'd wrapped around themselves -- the air in the abandoned warehouse they'd claimed for the night was cold enough to freeze their breath into crystals and it wouldn't do to invite it inside their little shared pocket of warmth too carelessly.

"Where we headed?" Dave shifted to bring up the Greyhound map and schedule they'd gleaned from the last depot, both folded and refolded so much the words were barely legible. He clicked on their only flashlight, flicking the dim light over the maps with a quickness borne of conservation, then flicked it off just as quickly. Safety first. Squatting wasn't exactly illegal but cops were too much of a hassle when all you wanted was just a few precious hours of sleep before the next long trek down cracked highways in a dirty bus.

"I don't care," his companion, his girl -- oh she'd laugh herself sick if she knew he called her that in his head -- yawned and buried herself further under mismatched blankets and stolen towels. "One place's as good as another." She paused. "City though, obviously -- too hard to hitchhike in country towns nowadays. Nobody trusts anybody anymore."

"Like that's ever been a thing that stopped happening," Dave muttered to himself -- loud enough for her to hear of course. She rolled her eyes like he knew she would and he grinned.

Thumbing your way across America, the hippie dream; what a load of shit. That kind of magic was for the movies. Reality was sleeping in alleyways with one eye open for drunks ready to roll you for a couple bucks, figuring out how to work the bus system so you could ride transfers through a dozen towns before anyone was the wiser, and avoiding the police, with their juvenile detention centers and their foster homes. Their misguided sense of justice, Terezi called it.

What was just in tearing him away from his brother, throwing her in home after home, leaving broken kids with grown-ups who'd just break them further? They didn't need all of that. Three years til they'd be allowed to do what they wanted, go where they want -- like three years matters so much to make a difference.

Three years is too long for anybody. So they ran.

"Road trip" he called it, with that half grin and she smiled back right along with him -- he never understood how she knew, but Terezi was magical. She ran the best grift, knew how to play up her act for the marks, could pick a wallet from the most concealed pocket with ease, could charm a twenty from anybody's wallet with a pout and a good teary stare from those sightless brown eyes. His only problem was not laughing when she did.

He curled up closer to her, could have buried himself against her, let himself be wrapped up in her if she'd let him; she never knew how much she was his rock, his steady place. Someday he's get up the courage to tell her.

"We wanna save that fifty we got from Mr. Briefcase this morning," said, all business, even as she yawned again with a small smile and curled up closer to him. "Best to run off a transfer down South. Memphis again?"

"Ugh," she breathed against his shoulder. "I hate Memphis."

"Only place we got, 'less you wanna try thumbin it with a trucker 'cross Kansas again."

Her nose wrinkled and she sighed, sliding her hand up the back of his shirt to rest it on his back. Comfort, and support, and oh how he wished he could say words heavy enough, strong enough to match. But the night was short, and sleep was needed. He curled up closer and she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "Memphis it is."

"Hey," he murmured, nosing in her hair, pressing his cheek against the top of her dark curls. "It's an adventure, right?"

She chuckled at that. "Sure is, Mr. Strider," she murmured. "Sure is."

She's been lulling about your apartment building, rolling on the carpet and snuggling into the Internests you taught her how to make. While the pupil has become the master in the aspect of laziness, you think this might be overdoing it. You're not going to let a sweet boned chica have her way in this brave new world. No orgy porgy mixes of secondhand lazy red gunk for her, she should be getting the freshest shit Texas has to offer.

You struggle to get her out of the apartment door frame. This is the kind of stuff you see in cartoons, where she's literally extending her body to heights unconquered and her nails are leaving marks on the door as you play tug of war with her legs. You win because she's become pretty decrepit from digital media and law book atrophy. It's only when you have her strapped, belted, and nailed in your pickup (you call it shitty shitty bang bang) that she admits she was being a little childish. You say something witty but she isn't listening because she's slobbering over your rear-view mirror and telling you all those fireworks packed in-between suitcases have to be illegal. Somewhere.

She needs fresh air, fresh road, and fresh sun. You plan out this trip like a bridezilla about to get married, stopping everywhere you can in the state where you were born and festered. Your favorite tourist tar pits include the spray painted cadilac ranch (for the colors), the creationist flavored fossil museum (for the laugh track), and Austin for a roller derby (so you can both watch some sweet girl-on-girl carnage).

At the beginning she's practicing her zen by being one with the carseat. You drag her into some hilarious cave with a green dinosaur lurking inside, but she doesn't lick a single overweight Texan. It irks you that she's not appreciating this shit like she should, this is a top quality, 4.0 GPA tourist trap. The next few days go the same, until one night at a motel you would rather not name, where you woke up at 3:00AM and found her in the empty dirt outside. She had dust in her hair and was smelling the stars, and you nuzzled her head like a pussy until she told you of herself and how pitiful this human planet was. You thought pity was a troll-love-pheromone-boner-emotion, and she didn't respond to that logical quip. Instead she gives you this spiel about how this wasn't what she was expecting at the end of the road and you say save it honey, life is a highway. You feel shitty about quoting that awful song but she just rolls over and falls right asleep. You carry her back.

Slowly she emerges from her metaphorical hive and by the end of your patented month long Dave Strider roadtrip extravaganza, you're both sitting in the back of the auditorium in Austin, booing the Oklahoma City derby girls after a few beers and a lot of lovin'.

She doesn't want to go back to your apartment, and you don't really either. You go back anyway, but just for a week. She asks you why and you tell her because you gotta plan our next trip. This time, she says, this time I'll help too.

ahahahahahaha this is beautiful. poor kanaya.

ahahaha I love touristy john!!!! what a good pic
(and thank you!)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 11 of 30

BONUS ROUND 5

Bonus Round 5

Re: PROMPT: TEAM GAMZEE<>KARKAT

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

Re: FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3KARKAT

no subject

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3VRISKA

PROMPT: TEAM JOHN<3VRISKA

Fill: Team Dirk<3Jake<3Jane<3Roxy

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

Re: FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

PROMPT: TEAM ARADIA<3FEFERI

PROMPT: TEAM ARADIA<3FEFERI

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

PROMPT: TEAM ARADIA<3FEFERI

no subject

FILL: TEAM DIRK<3EQUIUS

FILL: TEAM JADE<3KARKAT

Re: FILL: TEAM DAVE<3ROSE

Re: FILL: TEAM KARKAT<>SOLLUX