And The Winner Is...
“Honestly, I’d rather stay in,” muttered Remus under his breath as he adjusted the collar of his dress robes.
“But why?” asked Sirius. “It’s a party, Moony, and it’ll be fun! It always has been in the past, right?” He plunked himself down on the edge of the bed and gave his boyfriend what he hoped was his most winning smile.
Remus just sighed. “Yes,” he admitted, “but this time I’m tired. Hell, in the past six weeks I’ve been to Timbuktu and back, taken you shoplifting, signed the Werewolf Registry, ridden the rails in Depression-era America, been homeless in the 1970’s UK, prevented unnecessary dragon slaughter, taught small children, and gotten lost myriad times because YOU couldn’t read a bloody map! I’ve been on more trains, cars, ships, and motorcycles than I can even count!”
He crossed the room to stare at his lover, hands on hips. Remus looked expectantly at Sirius, but to his great consternation got no sympathetic response whatsoever. Instead, Sirius shrugged and began to calmly brush his hair. “And let’s not forget that I’ve been to Hell several times,” added Remus. “And I don’t mean some mere metaphoric hell, but actual fire and brimstone, Dante-inspired Hell!”
Sirius just laughed, and pulled his boyfriend down onto his lap. “I’ll have you know, Moony, that I’ve been all those places, too. In fact, I’ve even crossed the desert in a camel caravansary, captained a pirate ship, and hitch-hiked to your house after escaping from prison.”
Remus affected a pout, a trait Sirius always found convincing. “Point well taken,” he began, “but may I remind you that I’ve died of AIDS at least twice?”
“You only died once, my love,” corrected Sirius, “the other time you lived.”
Remus just grunted. Dead or not dead hardly mattered when you lived your life as a fictional character. He opened his mouth to give a smart-arse retort, but Sirius got there first.
“It matters not,” chuckled Sirius, “because you’re clearly their favorite! Most of them wanted to be on your team after all.” He nuzzled himself into his boyfriend’s neck and began to place gentle, suckling kisses on the hollow of his throat.
“Me?” squeaked Remus. “You’re the sexy one! All long, dark shiny hair and muscular chest and…” He was soon interrupted by a searing kiss.
Breaking the kiss, Sirius looked Remus straight in the face. “Right,” he said, “but they’re always going on about your gorgeous golden/amber eyes, your dry wit, your responsible nature…” Sirius began to unfasten the clasps of Remus’ dress robes, “… and your sexy scars - which I happen to like very much myself…”
“Hem hem!” came a voice from the corner, and both men turned to see four young, dark-haired women clutching laptop computers.
“How the hell did you get in here?” snapped a rather disconcerted Sirius.
The tallest of the four rolled her eyes. “We wrote ourselves in, of course! We’re writers, we can do that, you know.”
“Like that Rowling bint,” spat Remus. “She killed us both without remorse.”
“Well you look just fine now,” said a pretty girl wearing the most marvelous lime green and white flared trousers that Sirius had ever seen. “So let’s get on to the party!” she added.
“Wait a minute,” Sirius said. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”
I’m brighty18, said the bespectacled brunette in the flowing brown, velvet dress. In Remus’ opinion her outfit looked like what Sibyl Trelawny might wear to a Woodstock-inspired fancy dress party, but by the smile on his boyfriend’s face he could tell that Sirius somehow approved of her fashion sense.
“And I am cackling_madly,” said another sweet little brunette. Remus peered more closely. She was wearing a purple cape that he quite approved of but… dear Merlin! Was that a dog and wolf frolicking on her t-shirt?
“Nice shirt, love,” whispered Sirius with a chuckle. cackling_madly just blushed.
“Hi! I’m pica_scribit!” smiled the curly-haired one in the fantastic trousers. Her silvery turtleneck glinted in the candlelight and even Remus had to admit that the burgundy blazer looked rather dashing.
The fourth girl gave a shy wave. Dressed in a red and black corset over short, black skirt, Remus could only guess her look to be something he vaguely recalled as ‘Steampunk.’ “I’m whitestar_alpha and I guess I should admit that I ship Snupin,” she said with a grin.
“You what what?” asked Remus.
“I… erm… pair Remus with Severus Snape.”
“Ew!” cried Sirius, miming gagging motions, but Remus just raised an eyebrow and laughed.
“Be that as it may,” said the bespectacled one, let’s get on with it.
Moments later they were at the party, surrounded by hordes of gorgeous fangirls and fanboys. Instantly, Remus felt at home. “You were right, Pads,” he whispered, taking his boyfriend’s hand. “This is going to be fun!”
“Okay, on the count of three, the name of the winning Team is going to appear on the ceiling,” announced brighty18. She brandished a wand and waved it at the ceiling.
“All together now,” cried pica_scribit and the whole room joined in.
One… two… THREE!
TEAM SIRIUS!
This year, Team Remus ended up with a raw score of 565.4158 (with the eight points deducted for late entries it would be 557.4158) and an average score of 17.66924375. Team Sirius ended up with a raw score of 579.0046 (with the fifteen points deducted for late entries it would be 568.0046) and an average score of 18.09318375. Raw scores aside, the spread on the average scores was within a single point. In other words, everyone enjoyed everything.
“You know, though, everyone is a winner, really,” offered Sirius with a bright smile.
“Yeah,” agreed Remus, “everything was quite stupendous this year, was it not?”
And it has been. In fact, this has probably been the most widely read and well-received Games to date - and that makes us all winners. Over thirty-nine works were featured as Hot Recs on the daily_snitch and we may have had the most comments ever. Congrats to everyone, you’ve all done an exceptional job! We sincerely hope that you all enjoyed yourselves, too.
At this point your stories and art are yours to re-post wherever and whenever you wish. We’ve come a long way together and now you can share your works on your own journeys. Also, at this point you may respond to comments on the main Games site, and soon your names will be listed on each work as well.
“Well done, all!” said Remus, clapping his hands. “But there’s just one thing? I want to know who is responsible for all these fine artworks and stories.”
“Oh, that’s simple,” answered cackling_madly, "just go here!"
“But wait,” cried Sirius, “There’s more!”
“More?” asked Remus.
“MORE!” echoed the Mods.
Sirius smiled. “There are awards to give out, are there not? And banners for everyone!” Pointing his wand at the ceiling once again, he produced…
First Place Awards and Second Place Awards
As well as:
Special Awards:
These are the Special Awards, voted upon by the Team members for people they felt were extra special.
The Geoffrey Chaucer Award for Non-Participants: Yes, technically Chaucer was a part of the Canterbury Tales pilgrimage, too, but, according to the story, mostly he just listened to the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the others tell their stories. This award is for the non-Games participant who gives good comment, supported The Games, and truly loves Remus/Sirius.
bookgrrrl2006: Your Award
iheartremus09: Your Award
mommyconk: Your Award
shira_a: Your Award
trisstiss: Your Award
The Ernest Shackleton Award for Going Beyond the Call of Duty: An already famous Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton attempted to cross Antarctica by land in 1915. Unfortunately, his ship (the Endurance) sank, stranding his entire crew. Despite the freezing temperatures and vicious weather, Shackleton safely led his entire crew one an 800-mile opened-boat journey to safety and even rescued another stranded crew in the process. There was no loss of life in his party.
This award is for someone on your team who had the strength and the stamina to go above and beyond the call of duty. It might be the person who posted lots of ideas on the Team Community, wrote tons of recommendations, pimped the Games everywhere, organized a team game or function, collected recs for the Daily Snitch, or in any way proved to be a kick arse team member who really kept things moving.
dogsunderfoot: Your Award
escribo: Your Award
livinglibraries: Your Award
mypretty_art: Your Award
remuslives23: Your Award
shadowclub: Your Award
The Dan Mazur Award for Unselfishly Saving the Day: Besides being a well-known mountain climber who conquered K2, Dan Mazur is most famous for ascending Mt. Everest to rescue lost climber, Lincoln Hall. Mazur and his party risked their lives and abandoned their own attempt to reach the summit in order to rescue Hall.
This award goes to someone on your team who went out of their way help others, etc. It could be the person who offered a last minute beta to someone who was without, gave great constructive criticism to save a story, stepped in at the last minute to do a Pinch Hit, or anything else that you think saved the day.
obsidiantabitha: Your Award
theemdash: Your Award
thesiriusmoon: Your Award
The Margaret Mead Award for Cheerful Support: Margaret Mead was a groundbreaking cultural anthropologist in the mid 20th-century who was most famous for changing the public view on sexual and cultural morals. She spent extensive time in Samoa and other areas the South Pacific, and was one of the first writers to explore other cultures from an open-minded/less than Western-centric perspective. Later in life she served as mentor and teacher myriad people in her field and spent the remainder of her life supporting others in their endeavors.
This award is for someone on your team who was always helpful, open-minded, sunny, and positive. This could be for the person who helped smooth out a tense situation, helped a fellow team-member though a rough path in the creative process, or just always had a kind word of cheer for others. This person, he or she the ultimate cheerleader who is always compassionate, supports others, and gives good comment.
deathjunke: Your Award
nathaniel_hp: Your Award
obsidiantabitha: Your Award
ohkaye: Your Award
protegonox: Your Award
The Ansel Adams Award for Artistic Achievement: Ansel Adams was a photographer and environmentalist who is famous for exploring and photographing remote areas of the American west. Adams created art that showed the public the beauty of nature and helped preserve many a wilderness area.
This award is for someone on your team who exemplified outstanding achievement in art, icons, and banners.
heartofspells: Your Award
kath_ballantyne: Your Award
mypretty_art: Your Award
rhye: Your Award
The TE Lawrence Award for Crossing Team Lines: TE Lawrence was a British Army officer who is most famous for his role as a liaison and soldier in the 1916 Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. An archeologist as well as Army Officer, Lawrence fully immersed himself in Arab culture, making friends on all sides and even leading rebel Arab armies to victory.
This award is for the person on the other team who seemed to comment the most on the opposite team’s works, consistently rec’d the other team’s works, or just best exemplified inner-team friendships. Think of those who genuinely supported The Games as much as they did their own team.
epithalamium: Your Award
lazydaisyjax: Your Award
little_werewolf: Your Award
mypretty_art: Your Award
phiso_kun: Your Award
xkeijukainenx: Your Award
The David Livingstone Award for Team Spirit: Dr. David Livingstone was a 19-Century Scottish medical missionary and African explorer. His travels and exploits caught the imagination of the British public and, for a small time, he was considered popular hero if the British people. More importantly, he explored the world with a zeal and vigor exemplified by his missionary status. This award is for the person on your own team who thoroughly personifies team spirit.
eprime: Your Award
mrs_jack_turner: Your Award
nerak_rose: Your Award
whitmans_kiss: Your Award
We hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and, once again, it cannot be emphasized enough that EVERYONE IS WINNER! As we said in the beginning the Games are about having fun, making friends, and spreading the Puppy Love. And that is just what we did.
But we would also like to hear from you! Soon a suggestion/comment post will appear on your Team sites. All comments will be screened and you should feel free to say what you wish!
Thanks for a great journey!
The Mods