BONUS ROUND 1: THROWBACK PROMPTS

[a1c0bb]

In this round, we'll be using prompts from last year's bonus rounds! You can either come up with a prompt based on the previous themes, fill a prompt from previous bonus rounds, or fill a prompt that's been posted this year!

Here is the tag with all the previous bonus rounds!

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]

If you're filling from a 2023/2024 prompt, please link to their prompt in your post!

To participate, reply to this post!

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FILL: TEAM FIRE EMBLEM

[miyukitty]

Fandom: Genshin Impact
Ship: Escoffier x Furina
WC: 849

“And... begin!”

Escoffier releases the breath she's holding, and strides confidently past the Kamera to collect a basket of eggs, sugar, and fresh fruit from the table. Remember: poise under pressure, conservation of movement, elegance in the process as well as the final product. Very well. The eggs suggest meringue tart, or Île flottante – no, the vacherin would be a more technical dessert with an equally impressive presentation. More ingredients go in the basket before she returns to her station, ready to win.

A professional chef like Escoffier has racked up far more victories than losses, and she's not exactly easy to intimidate, even when being recorded. So what is it making her heart beat so fiercely this time?

On the other side of the staged kitchen, Lady Furina fumbles and drops her wheel of cheese. She laughs as it rolls away from her, grinning at the Kamera to cover her embarrassment. Escoffier's keen gaze narrows. The judges are smiling as they whisper amongst one another. Furina de Fontaine may not have much talent in the culinary arts, but as an actress and performer, she certainly knows how to charm an audience.

Escoffier shakes off the distraction. Lady Furina asked to be taken seriously as a challenger, and Escoffier will honor her former benefactor's wishes.

With a flourish of her tail-like assistive mechanism, Escoffier makes swift work of peeling and coring Bulle fruits, then flash-freezes them with her Cryo Vision. At the same time, her skilled hands are cracking eggs, separating yolk from white, and preparing to whip up a quick meringue.

Lady Furina hasn't gotten very far with the cheese and cream in her saucepan, but she has assistance of her own in the form of her Hydro Vision constructs, the Salon Solitaire. Her Mademoiselle Crabaletta busies herself snipping Harra fruit into bite-sized pieces, whilst Gentilhomme Usher scurries about with armfuls of spice bottles, and Surintendante Chevalmarin fills a cooking pot with water.

Is that pasta she's prepping for? One of her macaroni concoctions, perhaps? A humble nod to her first attempts to cook for herself, Escoffier imagines. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Escoffier tears her eyes away again, trying to focus on beating the egg whites with her whisk. There's a nostalgic ache in her chest that she mulishly refuses to acknowledge as yearning. Years ago, in the Palais Mermonia, Escoffier used to astound and delight Lady Furina with her grandiloquent cuisine. She was so proud of her station and title, personally serving the great Archon, but – nothing lasts forever. They parted ways and both fell from grace, with the great flood only washing them further apart.

Now... perhaps, finally, they stand as equals. Escoffier wonders if that's the reason Lady Furina agreed to guest star on the cooking program at all. She wants to prove that she doesn't need a personal chef to cater to her every whim – she's learned how to take care of herself.

Escoffier's hands slow, and then stop altogether. She can hear the judges murmuring, but she doesn't give a flying fig about what they think.

No, the only person whose opinion actually matters is...

“Lady Furina!” Escoffier calls suddenly.

Lady Furina drops her spoon with a startled yelp. Escoffier crosses the floor at a brisk pace, catching her Lady's trembling hands in her own, and clasping them earnestly to her chest. Lady Furina shrinks back like she expects a scolding, even though Escoffier would never.

“I'm so deeply proud of you,” Escoffier announces, gazing fearlessly into Lady Furina's wide eyes. “This is incredible progress, and it must have been so difficult for you to relearn everything you've ever known! You will always be my most precious benefactor, but let this day mark the dawning of a new era for us. An era of...”

They both become aware of the Kamera zooming in for the dramatic close-up at the same time. Lady Furina's cheeks are stained a deep, flustered hue of rose, and Escoffier's meka-tail is wagging without her consent.

Escoffier scowls at the crew, mustering up her most threatening glare.

“You will cut the following footage out, or else your theatrical release will never see the light of day!” Escoffier whirls back to Lady Furina, expression visibly softening. “Now isn't the time, so... Allow me to take you out for coffee after this. There's much we should catch up on, don't you think?”

“I know a café with excellent macarons,” Lady Furina answers, smiling with so much hope that Escoffier thinks her fluttering heart shall burst at the sight. “Even you should approve.”

“I'll be the judge of that,” Escoffier retorts with a toss of her hair. She turns on her heel and jabs the sharp end of her meka-tail in the direction of the Kamera. “You may now resume filming. But if I find out you aired this part anyway, I'm taking you to court, and it'll be your proverbial heads on a platter!”

Escoffier pretends not to hear her Lady's giggle as she returns to her station. First things first. She has a competition to win.