BONUS ROUND 5

[hso_mods]

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

1. 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.


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 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 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.

Comments

PROMPT: Team Alpha!Dave<3Alpha!Rose

[spandexrex]

Jade<3Dave

Burning Man Festival (Nevada)

FILL: TEAM DIRK♥JAKE♥JANE♥ROXY

[ferrrox]

dave you dont have to worry here!!!
no one gives a fuck what you do! :D plz
worry about what

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3ROSE

[psonu]

davesprite<3jade in Ooo!

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

[fayharley]

"Uranium Princess!" Davesprite called. "Uranium Princess, I have a surprise for you!"

Uranium Princess stuck her head out her tower window. Her dark hair contrasted prettily with her fuzzy white ears. It was enough to make a simple bird boy swoon.

"What is it Davesprite?" Uranium Princess asked. "I'm in the middle of an experiment."

"A bunch of us sprites were getting together for some adventuring," Davesprite said. "I thought you might want to come. For old time's sake."

"Ah, Davesprite," Uranium Princess said. "That's real nice of you but-"

She looked back into her tower and chewed her lip.

"You know what?" she said. "Forget it. I'm coming."

She climbed up into her tower window and pushed off from the sill, floating up to meet him in the sky. When she flew she glowed that old familiar bright green. A few feet away from him she stumbled and he had to catch her.

"Out of practice," she admitted, laying her head on his feather shoulder.

"You've been cooped up with your science too long," Davesprite said.

"No way," she said. "There's no such thing as too much science."

They floated together several minutes as Uranium Princess got her bearings. Eventually she was able to loosen her death grip on him and fly freely.

"Ready to go?' Davesprite asked.

"Just a sec," Uranium Princess said. "I've got a thing I have to do first."

"Really, what is-"

Uranium Princess interrupted him with a kiss.

"Oh," he said when she pulled away. "Hey Jade."

"Missed you calling me that," she said. "Come on now, you promised me an adventure."

PROMPT: TEAM Karkat♢Sollux

[grausam]

Tavros and Aradia (any relationship)
the sky

FILL: TEAM EQUIUS<3GAMZEE

[brightgray]

Did someone say sky

PROMPT: TEAM Karkat♢Sollux

[grausam]

Rose and Kanaya
The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonien)

PROMPT: TEAM Karkat♢Sollux

[grausam]

Jade, Dave and Becquerel
Wolperting (Rumo)

PROMPT: TEAM Karkat♢Sollux

[grausam]

Jake and Aranea
Azure City (Order of the Stick)

PROMPT: TEAM Karkat♢Sollux

[grausam]

Sufferer <> Helmsman
the oblivion

[evapples]

What do you mean by 'the oblivion' if you don't mind my asking? 0:

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

[sinnovedades]

Dave/Jade

Streets of Europe.

PROMPT: TEAM EQUIUS <3 GAMZEE

[sinnovedades]

Vriska/Terezi

Sengoku Era.

FILL: TEAM GAMZEE<>KARKAT

[rex]

Can't have a swordfight without a field of wheat.

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[veira]

Terezi/Kanaya; India, during the Holi festival.

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

[playerprophet]

asdkgdsh DAMN IT LANTA

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<>ROXY

[dejup]

Dave/Tavros (any quadrant) in Pallet Town!!

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3JADE

[asherdashery]

[['Let's try spades,' the gen writer whispered to himself like an idiot.]]

--

He was never going to have an opportunity like this again. There was Professor English, THE Professor English, beaming like a Barboach over three Pokéballs set out just for him.

Or, well, sort of.

"Whenever you're ready, Skylark. I'll just sit my ass down here and catch a week's worth of z's."

Tavros tried not to look over his shoulder. He knew Dave was waiting, hands in his pockets and weight tilted just so on his narrow hips, narrow shoulders. Professor English's magnificent mustache twitched over his further-widening grin. Tavros flushed and cleared his throat and firmly fixed his attention on the waiting Pokémon.

"Um, uh, uhhhh--"

"Steady there, lad, they're not going to scarper on you. Not these ones, anyway, ha ha ha! You're on your own for the rest of the species, boy, but it'll be the adventure of a lifetime."

He could feel Dave roll his eyes behind him, but Tavros's own chest swelled. He looked over the balls with the expert eye of a kid who was only good at one thing.

Bulbasaur was good, a special power-hitter and sturdy, with all the versatility the Grass type had to offer, and had actually been Tavros's first choice. Squirtle was even sturdier, though, and since Tavros was pretty sure Dave was gunning for the fire-type, the advantage of water...

Wait.

No.

He knew exactly how to get back at his childhood rival, the one who out-rapped and out-snarked and out-cooled him at every turn. (Not the one who pushed him into Beedrill hives and off ledges, of course, but Vriska was a special case.)

"I choose this one," Tavros said, palming the ball smugly.

The professor looked surprised. "Charmander? Well. A spiffing choice, young man! You'll have a little trouble with the first two gyms..."

Professor English went on, but Tavros wasn't really listening. He turned back to Dave, letting the beginnings of a smile tickle his face. It had the potential to become quite an impressive shit-eating grin, especially when he saw Dave's unimpressed expression. Maybe Tavros was imagining it, but it seemed just a little bit put out.

Then Dave swept past him and picked up a ball without any deliberation at all.

"This squirt's mine, then."

The thing inside him that felt dangerously like confidence sunk back into the pit of his stomach. Squirtle. Dave picked Squirtle.

"How about we take these suckers for a test drive."

--

Tavros lost. Horribly. How was it possible to lose so badly when your Pokémon only knew like three moves between them?

His self-esteem slunk into the bottomless pit normally reserved for encounters involving Vriska and Pidgey poop. Dave recalled his Squirtle--he'd already given the thing a pair of shades and took to calling him Fabio. That was such a stupid name. Rufio would've been much better. Maybe he'll name all his Pokémon Rufio, Tavros thinks.

He's going to have at least ten times as many Pokémon as Dave, and they will all be named Rufio, so when he says, "Rufio, go!" he will really wipe Dave's cool right off his face.

And then Dave will see just how good Tavros is.

And it'd be his turn to pine after Tavros's hips and shoulders.

Now, though, Tavros could only cradle Rufio I to his chest, try to make sure the flame on the tip of his tail stayed healthy. Professor English crouched beside him and patted his back, murmuring there-there's and promising him that the journey had yet to begin.

Dave just shrugged.

"Smell ya later, Nitram."

PROMPT: TEAM ERIDAN<3FEFERI<3SOLLUX<3<ERIDAN

[mementomoryo]

John<>Jade, at a hikyoueki (obscure, small, rarely-used train station) in rural Japan. (Lots of photos --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiky%C5%8D_station and http://hp1.cyberstation.ne.jp/hikyoueki/Top50.htm)

FILL: TEAM KARKAT♥SOLLUX

[noveltyhorns]

"This should be Kasumigaoka station," Jade announced, indicating the steep incline ahead. Up the hill stood a long shelter with a corrugated-iron roof, more a canopy than a building, bordered by a gate on three sides and railroad tracks on the other. John, having hiked in the forest with her in search of this structure for longer than bore consideration, stared up at it with patient bemusement.

"Is there even anything that shows up here?" John asked. "I mean, not that I don't like ugly forest carports as much as the next guy, but..." Laughing, she punched him in the upper arm and set about climbing the hill. At least, he reflected, the weather was temperate and the birds were singing, and if Jade was going to take the opportunity to get overexcited about derelict structures in the forest then it beat riding the shinkansen by half. With a small shrug and a grin, he kicked up a small breeze at his back and dashed up the hill, passing her easily.

"No fair!" she called after him. Glancing back, he grinned at what turned out to be empty air and turned back to see her sitting on one of the stairs beneath the steel canopy. Smiling, she waved a lazy hand at him. "Cheater."

"Oh wow, look who's talking." John climbed the rusted metal stairs to the platform and sat on the step below her, leaning back on his elbows and staring at the rust patterns on the roof. The steps that made up the station were easily broad enough to lie on, smooth, gray, slatelike stone overlaying the concrete benath. Sheltered by the canopy, it lay cool beneath his arms. "Seriously, do trains show up here for real or are we flying back? You know I'm here as the voice of sanity, and the voice of sanity has something to tell you."

"The voice of sanity is being sort of a butt about this vacation," Jade observed. "We're tourists, we're meant to be sightseeing."

"The voice of sanity has been to about seventeen train stations now," John pointed out good-naturedly. "What's special about the sight of this one?"

"You'll see," she said mysteriously before pointing to the station sign. "Can you sound out the hiragana yet?"

John stared at them for a long moment. "It has the English letters underneath them," he pointed out. "Plus you said what it was called earlier. Kaysumiga-okah. Hey, it sounds like something out of one of your animes. Is that why you like it?"

"Yeah," she answered with a dramatic eyeroll, "that's exactly why. And what prefecture are we in?" He grinned and shrugged, peering into the trees. The air was thick with the sound of buzzing cicadas, though none were immediately visible. "We're in Nara," she concluded. "I'm just saying you could be a little more excited about this vacation, you butt."

"I'm excited!" he protested, rolling over and pillowing his head on his arms. "I just don't..." She smiled pleasantly down at him and he trailed off, apprehensive. "Well, to be honest trains are kind of mundane when you can fly around and fold space! And there's nothing here. There's not even a bathroom."

Jade, having been raised by a dog while adventuring on a forested island, looked around. "I see plenty," she said, then paused and stared hard down the tracks. "And I also see the train."

John peered down the tracks as well, squinting against the sun that peered around the corrugated steel. "Hey, yeah. Why is it pink?"

"That's the surprise," she said, standing up and stretching her arms. The train approached slowly up the incline, resolving from a pink haze to a pale pink rhombus with white fiberglass whipped-cream dollops and blue-white spiral columns at every corner, a strange pastry of a train that struggled up the hill and came to a stop beside the station. Swimming figures and fake strawberries adorned its garish facade. The effect was reminiscent, above all, of a rococo sculpture of a strawberry shortcake.

"This is," John said, "sort of a weird surprise. Like it's here to take us to a mystic land of desserts."

"That would be pretty cool, but actually it's an amusement park!" Jade said as the door opened. She raised her hand, which all at once contained the wallet he had no recollection of her bringing along. "Because it would be fun to spend this whole vacation visiting abandoned train stations, but it would also be sort of selfish, I think."

"Oh, really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, just a little!"

"So what's the theme of the park?"

"Ikoma Skyland," she answered, boarding the train. "We will rent puppies and walk them around there."

John paused as he boarded, pursing his lips in thought. "What?" he finally asked as the door closed, cutting off the heat and the summer sound of cicadas. The concrete base and corrugated steel roof of the station remained patient in the sun as the train squealed and, reversing its direction, pulled gradually away.


(That thing really does seem to be called the "Cake Type Cable" for Ikoma Skyland, where people ride the usual types of park rides but may possibly also pay money to do minigames involving dogs that can be rented and to pet some cats and turtles? I was curious about the train but this only raises more questions.)

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[ferrrox]

karkat<>gamzee at the gathering of the juggalos

FILL: TEAM DAVE<3ROSE<3TEREZI

[megaparsecs]

--carcinoGeneticist [CG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--
CG: STRIDER.
CG: AS MUCH AS IT MIGHT RUFFLE MY EXTERMIS FRONDS TO SAY THIS, I NEED YOUR HELP.
TG: hold on a sec man i gotta screencap this right here
TG: for posterity im gonna frame this shit sleep with it next to me
TG: it gets a special pillow heck i might just embroider this mofucker straight onto one
CG: DONE?
TG: yeah bro go on
CG: YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT THE HUMAN MUSIC GROUP ICP RIGHT
TG: oh no
TG: oh no shit i just looked at my calendar
CG: YOU HAVE A CALENDAR
TG: im a busy man people all want a piece of this sweet strider day planner
TG: gotta schedule everyone out no cant meet you then already got an interview with time magazine set up
TG: youre at the gathering arent you
CG: OH GOOD IM NOT HALLUCINATING
TG: yeah but on the other hand this is a real thing thats really happening to you
TG: sweaty juggalo bellies all up in your business
TG: sweet succulent rivers of fayo flowin all around you
TG: and the whooping lets not even talk about the whooping
CG: THE DEMONIC CRY OF WHOOP WHOOP WILL RESONATE IN MY EARS FOREVERMORE
TG: did makara drag you along that shits like his fuckin paradise
TG: that or else hes about to get his wicked murder on cause of heresy and shit
CG: NO I CAME OF MY OWN VOLITION
CG: IM A BIG FAN OF THEIR LATEST MOVIE “SHITPOCALYPSE TWO: THE DONG GETS DUNGED” OF FUCKING COURSE HE DID
CG: THOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE HES NOT GOING TO KILL ANYONE
CG: THERES BEEN A LOT OF SHOOSHING
TG: yo whatever you do with your alien clown in your own time is your business
CG: SHUT UP YOU MAKE IT SOUND OBSCENE
TG: it is
TG: i never want to witness his clownpaint smeared self draped on top of you like the most grotesque pair of kittens imaginable
CG: WHATEVER. HES BONDING I THINK. WITH THE OTHERS
CG: HE SHOWED THEM EARLIER HOW HE APPLIES HIS FACEPAINT
CG: APPARENTLY HE HAS EXTRAORDINARY TECHNIQUE
CG: SO HE HAS THAT GOING FOR HIM
CG: BUT HE SEEMS TO BE GETTING ALONG ALL RIGHT
TG: you can tell by the frequency of whoops if theres only one every five minutes somethings gone horribly wrong
TG: are you holding up all right have you given in to the juggalopocalypse
TG: have they infected you vantas
TG: vantas
TG: i have a very serious question to ask you
CG: WHAT
TG: are you down with the clown
CG: . . .
TG: oh man i think i could hear the reflexive whooping that just sprang up around you from here in houston
TG: you poor motherfucker just hide behind makara and make fragile whooping sounds once in a while try to look small and unmenacing which actually you know what youre probably doin good there
TG: dont drink any grape faygo try not to drink too much home brewed alcohol dont let anyone spraypaint your naked form and dont have unprotected sex
TG: safe sex is fun sex kids
CG: I DIDNT WANT TO HEAR THAT
CG: I THINK ITS GOING TO BE OKAY
CG: PROBABLY
CG: WAIT
CG: SHIT
TG: what
CG: I HAVENT HEARD A HONK OR A WHOOP FROM OUTSIDE THIS TENT SINCE WE STARTED TALKING
TG: oh shit
TG: run man run
CG: HELP
TG: theres no help for you now
TG: godspeed and may the axeman be ever at your side

--carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]--

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[veira]

Gamzee+Roxy; Burning Man!!!

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

[ferrrox]

oh DANG someone please fill this because i am not allowed

PROMPT: TEAM DAVE<3ROSE

[psonu]

aradia<>sollux at legoland!

PROMPT: TEAM DIRK<3JAKE<3JANE<3ROXY

[ferrrox]

karkat/eridan at bass pro shop

PROMPT: TEAM JADE<3KARKAT

[oxfordroulette]

Jade/Rose (any quadrant)

Roller derby

PROMPT: TEAM PARCELPYXIS

[runespoor]

Signless + any,
Salt March in India

PROMPT: TEAM PARCELPYXIS

[runespoor]

Signless/Disciple/Psioniic,
Woodstock

PROMPT: TEAM PARCELPYXIS

[runespoor]

Aradia<>Tavros,
Ba Sing Se

PROMPT: TEAM PARCELPYXIS

[runespoor]

Aradia<>Sollux,
Gummi ship

PROMPT: TEAM KARKAT<3SOLLUX

[astraldeveloper]

Jade/Sollux/Karkat (gen/pale/ashen)
arcade

Prompt: Team Dave<3Karkat

[lacertae_dreamscape]

Sollux<3Karkat

shipwrecked somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

PROMPT: TEAM KARKAT<3SOLLUX

[astraldeveloper]

Dave<3John

Niagara Falls

PROMPT: TEAM KARKAT<3SOLLUX

[astraldeveloper]

Kanaya♥Feferi

Atlantis

FILL: TEAM Eridan<3<Vriska

[myrrh_darkwing]

You’ve saved just enough time for the dramatic exit every theatrical bone in your body insists you need to have, and as the demons rush forward, drawn by the drip-drip-drip of jade, you step forward to brush the sparkling curtain of mist. And nothing much happens, save the roof of the crumbling cavern begins to fade away, the cathedral domes overhead become a wash of bruised purple sky, roiling with clouds of devastating potential, and you leave the (hideous[unfair{devastatingly familiar}all wrong]) world behind...

Then it begins to hurt.

Of course it does.

Nothing this important could ever be gained easily, or without enough blood spilt to dye the currently-roiling oceans bright red.

The waters you slam into as you land are beautiful and clear, but you have no time to appreciate them. Not with her hanging off your shoulder like this, not with the royal blood (thatSTARTEDthisALL) seeping from a gash out of your side, not…

The last thing you notice before you fall unconscious is the deathly pallor of your companion.

(the sky is azure diamonds)

*****

The sky is twilit diamonds cast across a purple sea, the ground soft beneath you, spongy-- almost like moss. You’re on a hillside halfway up a trepid rise that stretches away into the sky for what must have been miles, and from your vantage point, you hold a commanding view (even if you still can’t lift your head, but try anyway, hearing something give with a sickening crunch when you do)…

And that view holds the most terrific, the most deadly, the most awe-inspiring range of mountains ever conceived, past those in the peaks were your former moirail lived, the one-eyed girl who your thoughts are turning to increasingly more. The twisted peaks are covered in electric-blue snow, cast from the sight far below, yet the range extends for miles and miles up toward the heavens with the gods and horrorterrors you never believed in, which hurt you anyway (despite [in spite] of). The peaks brush the sky, streaking the brown and azure-black with jagged spots of grey, and you wouldn't be surprised if they pierce the upper reaches of the atmosphere. You wouldn’t be surprised at most anything, anymore.

Great crags of overhanging rock and cliff faces a dozen miles high play tricks with your eyes, creating a sense of size so numbing that it couldn't be properly seen. And that’s just the boundaries of this new world, the crazy lost city your matesprit pulled you into for one last grand adventure (an adventure you can’t help but think you’ve had before).

Down and away to the right, just past Atlantis itself, miles upon miles of black rock and twisted thrusts of reef marred with burnt coral (the handiwork of a mad prince you’re sure you knew was here), brush up against the Lost City, seeming almost to taint it. Nothing that broken, that hideous, that black-rotting wrong should touch this thing of sheer majesty; it goes against the way of the world, but it’s also the coastline, and there should be an ocean beyond it… but that ocean had long since dried up, leaving behind a terrifying, lifeless wasteland. Lifeless even with the two of you here, for Aradia hasn’t woken since you tumbled through the Last Gate and landed in another world entirely, and the dark stains of blood tell you she maybe won’t. Feferi, your beautiful whispering grey-skinned dear, is maybe alive-- you hope so. She's your only hope to end all this since she started it ANywAVES. Your own blood is drying fast, but your skin glows and your eyes gleam, and you haven’t been alive since the first time she died (the dark prince has never counted in this mad equation of life, not even when he was sane).

Behind you rise two twisted pillars of dark obsidian stone, stone streaked with violet and mauve and who knows what else? The colours of a seadweller’s purple army. Dead and lifeless now, the Gates of Atlantis have done their task, to get you (the saviours, of something, of everything maybe)… and the Lost City sits far below, surrounded by natural barriers of impenetrable rock and a dead ocean. A haze of indigo light merge with neon-blue ensconced over the spires and outlandish architecture below, a place where you feel your crazy diamond girl could have felt right at home.

You almost wish she was here, before remembering it’s been eight perigrees now since she died (at your own hand[a necessary death{AJustDeath/butTHATDoesnt CHAngeaTHING\you’reaMURderer}nomatterHOWMUchsheHAdITComing]shetrustedyouandYOUKILLedherinherSLEEP)

(the sky is azure diamonds and the city is beautiful)

******

When you wake, it’s to a beautifully concerned face and the scent of strawberries. She’s using her body to shield you from the gently harmonious rain, soaking her clothes transparent-through in the process—you can’t say you mind. After all you’ve been through, a peek is the least of your worries, but a nice guilty pleasure nonetheless (even though you’re sure she knows).

But these are thoughts for later, after you’re off this ancient beautiful familiar mountain and safely hidden within the wonderland below. A madcap wonderland full of ancient, deadly magic, a hibernating demonic army, and more than a few copies of a prince driven insane by love (oh, and the h-o-r-r-or-t-e-r-r-o-r tanglebuddies he has[beautifulTHINgstheYARE{can’t get a grip on your mind}notEVER] far too strong).

You begin to move out, and as you do so it began to snow – the heavens opened up (at a bit of coaxing from the prince who would term himself RULErofEVERYFin if you don’t stop him[he’sshowingheknowsyou’rehere[ANDisn’tAFRAID{neverAFraid/notToDIe\notYOu}])and a rain of pure silver flakes, sparkling and warm, follows you down the mountainside.

(the sky is snowy azure diamonds, the city is beautiful, and you think you’re both going quite mad[QUITEmadINdeed])

But you’ll keep going.

You’ll always keep going, through many lives you only might maybe remember, all thousand of you and Kanaya and the rust-blood dead at your side.

iIiii[i](I)

am(AM[aM]Am)

Legion(alwayshundREDSOFyounOMATTerwhat)

([{/Let the Games begin\}])