YURI SHIPPING OLYMPICS 2024 - BONUS ROUND 4

[a1c0bb]

for this bonus round, the theme is historical fiction! prompts inspired by specific moments in (real or fictional) history.

this round will end on july 15th

Fills can be in any format, and you can fill your teammates prompts, but you cannot fill your own prompt.

You can post as many fills and as many prompts as you want!

for your prompt post title, please use the following format:

PROMPT: TEAM [TEAM NAME]

for your fill post title, please use the following format:

FILL: TEAM [TEAM NAME]

POINTS - BONUS ROUNDS
For prompts: 10 points each (maximum of 150 prompt points per team per round)
For fills:
First 4 fills by any member of your team: 100 points each
Fills 5-10: 50 points each
Fills 11-20: 40 points each
Fills 21-50: 30 points each
Fills 51+: 25 points each

Comments

PROMPT: Team OC Moon

[agenderagenda]

Tokugawa Japan

FILL: TEAM FIRE EMBLEM

[miyukitty]

for the tokugawa era, i went with the great meireki fire of 1657!

Fandom: PMMD
Pairing: Madoka x Homura
WC: 974

“Madoka!”

Homura shivers against the cold as she waits, burying her numb fingers in the long sleeves of her informal kimono, shifting her weight from sandal to sandal. The servants' quarters are divided between a number of small, squat buildings clustered at the far end of the compound. Madoka's quarters are relatively far from her own, so the chill has already started seeping into her joints and extremities.

Finally, she hears shuffling behind the door, and looks up expectantly.

“Homura...?” A dozy head peeks through the crack of the sliding door. Behind Madoka's halo of rumpled hair, Homura sees an unmade futon on the floor, with wrinkled clothes spread out beside it. “Um, did... did I oversleep again?”

“Hurry up and get dressed!” Homura catches the edge of the door and slides it wide enough to admit herself. Madoka blinks in confusion, momentarily blinded by the brightness outdoors, then recoils from the drafty air Homura let in. “The great fire everyone spoke of yesterday, in the south end? The winds shifted! It travels this way!”

Madoka rubs her eyes and yawns. “The Hikeshi brigade will put it out before it reaches the castle,” she says, with none of Homura's urgency. She smiles when she sees Homura is still wearing her ribbon, then picks up her favorite comb to begin the long work of detangling knots. “Everything will be okay.”

“No, it won't,” Homura says despairingly. She plucks the comb out of Madoka's hands, then spins her by the shoulders to face her kimono, undyed and plain by shogunate decree. “We need to leave Edo Castle before it's too late!”

“But we have work,” Madoka points out. Obediently, she slides her arms into the sleeves, then wraps the plain fabric snugly around herself. “We'll get in trouble if we just disappear.”

“Please listen to me, Madoka,” Homura pleads. In a few deft movements, she ties Madoka's obi around her waist, then pushes her toward her socks. “Come with me and I can show you!”

They emerge from the servants' quarters hand-in-hand, huddled together against the cold. A blizzard is surely on its way. A gust of wintry wind snatches the ribbon tying Homura's long hair and sends it dancing out of her reach, a sliver of tsubaki red against a backdrop of falling ash and snow.

“Oh no,” Madoka says sadly, watching the ribbon snag on a high branch. Purple and red are forbidden for the lower classes to wear, so the ribbon was their little secret, one they would pass back and forth and hide during the day. “Do you think I can climb that tree? The wind is so strong today...”

Homura isn't even looking. Her shoulders have gone rigid.

“It's too late,” is all she says.

The breath catches in Madoka's throat as she turns around, and suddenly, the ribbon is all but forgotten.

Edo Castle is already ablaze. The tenshukaku, towering stories taller than the other buildings inside the walled complex, is hemorrhaging gouts of black smoke into the sky. Thanks to the fierce winter winds, flames spread to the roof of the retainers' quarters, the square watchtowers stationed along the perimeter wall – even the wizened old pine trees in the garden where they used to have lunch together. Beyond the castle walls, telltale plumes of smoke spiral from the surrounding districts. Shouts and chaos can be heard from the crowded streets.

“Sayaka and Hitomi could be trapped inside,” Madoka realizes with dawning horror. “And all the other servants, everyone working today – ohhh, who's going to save everyone?”

“The Hikeshi brigade,” Homura says, however unconvincingly.

“They'll try to save the castle before any of the servants,” Madoka points out as a matter of fact. A fire of this magnitude, sweeping through the wood and paper buildings of Edo, could mean the entire capital will be lost. “I, I have to do something...!”

Homura's eyes soon water from the stinging, abrasive smoke clogging the air. She rubs them until they're puffy and sore in order to clear her vision. When she looks again, she spots a white tomcat with a frightened, puffed-out tail bounding across the lawn towards them. Madoka automatically kneels to catch him, cradling the animal to her chest as she rises again. The cat purrs in relief, rubbing his cheek affectionately against her shoulder.

Homura catches a glimpse of the cat's features, and shudders. Youkai. The cat's hypnotic, unblinking eyes shine as red as the lost ribbon.

For a moment, everything changes, like a dream is overlaid atop her sight – she sees a Madoka clad not in a simple servant's garb, but beautiful, gauzy robes as white as clouds, her hair impossibly long and flowing like a river around her, radiating an aura of such resplendent luster that she could only be described as a goddess worthy of the Amatsukami. She descends from the Ame-no-ukihashi, sinking towards earth – and then Homura's mouth curls into a cruel smile, and she catches Madoka by the wrist, and with the most merciless and terrible of sounds, tears her bodily in twain.

The cat leaps from Madoka's arms and bolts in the direction of the conflagration. A dazed Homura tries to catch Madoka by the wrist before she can give chase, but Madoka tears herself free, eyes wild with anxiety and guilt.

“If I can just save one of them – even if it's just the cat – I, I have to try! Wait for me, Homura!”

“No!” Homura cries, panic lurching her heart into a frenzied speed. She loses one of her sandals in her rush to catch up to Madoka. “If you're going, I'm coming with you!”

Homura manages to get close enough to grab Madoka's hand. Madoka flashes her one last smile of gratitude. Then, steeling their nerves, they turn to face the burning tower together.