Bonus Round 3

[centrumlumina]

Tale as old as time, true as it can be...

Bonus Round 3 is now open! This time, the theme is fairy tales and childhood favourites. Entries should be inspired in some way by classic fairy tales, Disney films, or other childhood classics.

If you have an idea for something you’d like to see, please leave a setting, the characters involved and any other details as a PROMPT below. Then read through everyone else’s prompts, and leave a FILL for any which catch your eye. Fills can be in any media, and they need not be long, but please put a little effort in – if anyone starts spamming this post for points, we’ll be able to tell.

You should place PROMPT/FILL, your team name and a brief summary in the comment title. NSFW prompts and fills should mention this in the summary or at the top of the post. Please note that NSFW includes any level of sexual content.

You will be awarded five points per prompt for the first two prompts you leave. The first three fills posted for each prompt will receive 15 points, the next three 10 points, and the next three 5 points. Prompts with ten or more fills will no longer receive fill points.

You can post prompts or fills for any ship this round, including gen/platonic ones (which should be indicated with an & as above). However, you may not fill your own prompt. We also encourage people not to fill prompts from their teammates, although the points will not be deducted if you do.

Bonus round fills can include links provided they are publicly viewable. Works can also be cross-posted to other websites, as there is no anonymity requirement in bonus rounds. However, works posted directly to comments will be limited to 16,000 characters by the Dreamwidth comment limit. Longer works should therefore be divided between multiple comments.

Remember, Team Chuck can participate in bonus rounds. Please note that only two prompts will receive points this round, although you can leave more if you wish to.

This round is now closed.

Comments

Fill: Anastasia, Jo/Sam (Team Ash/Jo)

[bluemyrian]

I changed some of the pairing characters. Deal with it. :p

(It is also somewhat unfinished since it was starting to get long and it was drifting away from the main point of the story. I may add to it later.)

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They had finally made it. Paris. So far everything had gone just as planned. Bobby's court contact, Jodi, had greeted him at the door. She was a lot younger than Sam remembered but perhaps time had just been good to her. It was easy to look that young when you lived with former royalty he supposed.

Sam was finding it hard to sit still in his chair, politely refusing anything to drink as Jodi began questioning Jo. Even after everything Sam was still impressed at how cool she was, sitting straight in her chair and reciting each answer perfectly. He caught himself staring again and got up, walking around the room trying to find anything else to look at as a distraction.

They had found her in the streets of Saint Petersburg, hungry and dirty but with a 'royal' attitude, trying to steal the purse from Sam's pocket. Sam smiled at the memory. Jo had actually insisted that she deserved the money more than him, suggesting that he eat the old man if he got hungry, she was going to buy real food. She was a dead ringer for the missing princess though and Bobby had insisted that they take her with them over any of the other applicants.

The journey certainly would have gone a lot smoother without the stubborn girl along. As proud as Sam was of his skill as a con man it was hard to admit that as much trouble as Jo had caused along the way, she had gotten them out of much more than her share, stealing passports and flirting their way past guards and soldiers alike. Even the necklace she was wearing now had been swiped from a stuck up aristo woman after Jo had taken a loudmouthed comment from Sam as a personal dare.

Jo laughed and brushed some of her hair back from her shoulder, distracting Sam. He was standing behind Jo, no longer paying attention to the now friendly conversation between the two women. Jo's soft golden hair had always stood out to Sam. He was very surprised to find out how well it suited her. He had gotten very frustrated one day, so close to their destination and he had apparently nicked the wrong passports. Jo had approached him in the middle of his fit, surprisingly gentle and understanding. She had calmed him down, and helped him get the job done. Sam had to admit, he looked at her differently after that. As much posturing and boasting as Jo did, underneath lay a gentle, caring girl.

Still smiling softly down at Jo, Sam was caught a little off guard by a sudden silence in the room. Jodi had asked Jo something and he hadn't been paying attention. Now her hands were fidgeting in her lap, something she always did when she was nervous. At least she wasn't biting her fingernails. Sam shifted uneasily as the silence went on. What was the question? He had missed it.

Frowning, Jo finally spoke up. "We went... inside the wall. A small boy grabbed my hand and pushed me through the wall." Sam swallowed hard. He could see Bobby's skeptical glance from across the room, the old man's eyebrows raised high. Sam had never told anyone that story, not even Bobby. There was only one way Jo could have known how the princess had escaped the estate during the riot. She was the princess.

Sam excused himself from the room, stepping outside to gasp in the fresh air, blinking up at the sky as his eyes started to water. The princess. It wasn't possible. He had only hatched this plan with Bobby in the first place as a scam. They had both worked in the palace. They had both met the princess. It was what would give them an edge against the other con men. But this. They had actually found her. They had found that same little girl he had saved all those years ago.

When he was a boy he often dreamed about that night. A lot of people's lives had changed, including his. The estate was abandoned and all of the people that had once lived and worked there were on the streets. Sam had dreamed that he might find her, the missing princess Joanna, and that she would know him. He would be a hero.

A cold life on the street was no place for heroes. Sam soon abandoned his childish dream. He learned the more useful skills of thievery and con instead, finding that a quick wit and a delicate hand served him well. He never expected that his final con would bring him right back around to where he started. That same little girl he had saved once before, he had managed to save again, but a dream was a dream. There was no way that a con man like him could ever be with a royal princess, kingdom or not.