Spaghttigrrl took a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Then, she set to work.

Click. Click, click, click. Click.

Her eyes darted across the computer screen, scanning frantically for something. No, no, no, this isn't it. No. This is not possible. There has got to be some mistake. Maybe if I pressed this thing here-

BOOM.

Okay. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea.

The door to the room was flung open and RageRunsStill stood at the doorway.

"What was that?" she panted.

In response, SG merely pointed at the computer.

She stared.

And stared.

And stared.

"What did you do to it?"

Smoke was rapidly rising from the top of the screen and it looked as if it had just been whacked with a hammer. But other than that, it was perfectly normal. (At least to SG.)

"It spontaneously combusted on its own!" she proceeded to protest. "I didn't do anything… much." At Rage's questioning look, she gave in. "Oh, alright. I threw something at it a couple of times because it wouldn't work. Then I clicked on a button and it decided to explode."

Rage paused. "Oh. That's it? Okay. I understand." She grinned. "I guess this means we can –finally– get a new one!"
"But we don't have the money..." SG sighed.

That earned her a frown. "You're right. Darn it. What were you doing on the computer anyways?"

SG shot up from her sitting place and immediately started ranting. "I-was-looking-up-all-the-Hope-and-Arthur-stories-and-you-will-not-believe-what-I-found-because-there's-only-like-seven-in-the-whole-archive-and-can-you-believe-that-because-I-can't-how-is-that-possible-Hope-and-Arthur-are-so-much-fun-to-write-about-why-isn't-there-more-stories-about-them-why-why-why-life-is-cruel-"

Rage couldn't resist the grin that was slowly creeping up her face. "There's a simple solution to that."

Red faced SG wasn't finished. "-and-it-doesn't-make-any-sense-it-just-doesn- what?" she screamed. She bounded towards Rage as fast as a tiger. "There is? What-is-it-what-is-it-c'mon-Rage-tell-me-already!"

Rage held out her hand. "First thing's first."

SG groaned. "Fiiiiiine." And she handed her companion two-packs of mint-flavored gum and a steaming hot, just-out-of-the-oven strawberry pie to her beaming friend.

After popping a piece of gum into her mouth, Rage fished out a piece of scrap paper and a pen. "It's simple. We hold a contest. Now, what rules do you want it to have?" She looked expectantly at SG.

SG only stared at her, mouth slightly ajar.

Rage poked her friend. "...SG?"

No response.

"SG, I swear I won't share any of my strawberry pie with you if you don't answer."

"What!" She unfroze. "Sorry. That was just such a smart idea."

Rage smiled. "Thanks. Now, rules."

"Right. Rules. Um," she began to pace. "It obviously has to have Arthur/Hope in it. They don't have to be a couple, and both of them don't have to appear as long as one or the other does."

Rage nodded thoughtfully. "The rating has to be kept at T."

"Yeah," SG agreed. "Nothing higher than T. It can be any genre. I don't care. And it can be about anything. I don't care about the plot either."

"So basically, the author has the freedom to do whatever they want to the characters."

"Yup," SG nodded her head vigorously. She stopped pacing and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "...That's it? It's that simple?"

"No," Rage disagreed. "You need a prize. What's the point of entering a contest if you don't get anything?"

"...For the fun of it?" SG asked. "But you're right. A prize. I can't draw. I can't make a video of anything."

"What about pie?" Rage suggested.

"Hm. Good idea. Pie. Okay, the prize is blueberry pie."

"...But that can't be all."

"Oh, fine. I'll write a one-shot about any two characters." SG looked ready to sulk.

"Isn't it worth it? It's for the sake of Arthur and Hope, remember?"

"Hm."

"We're not done. We need a deadline," Rage reminded SG. She walked towards the calendar on the wall. "How 'bout... September the 22nd? Three weeks from now? It should be enough."

To her relief, she nodded. "Okay. That sounds good."

"Then all we need to do right now is wait..."

Yes, yes. This is an Arthur/Hope contest, hon. There isn't enough stories of them in the archive and I've decided to fix that problem.

The rules were stated up there, but I'll repeat them.
1. Arthur OR Hope MUST appear. One or the other, or both. It doesn't matter.
2. The rating cannot be over T.
3. You MUST PM me (SG) with the title of your story. If you do not, we will not consider it a valid entry.
4. Any characters found Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu -ish will lead to point deduction.

Other than that, you're good to go. It can be about anything at all. And I mean anything. AUs? Accepted. OCs? Delightful. Poetry? Read eagerly. It can be of any length, but please specify it in your summary and get it in on time. (Ex. One-shot, two-shot, multi-chapter).

PM me if you have any additional questions.

Rage and I are judging. We give you a score out of ten and the highest wins.
NOTE: We are not telling you what we scored you. Sorry for any inconvenience.

And hon, I know I'm not the best writer, but I can still write a decent one-shot about any two characters. Your choice.(And you get blueberry PIE!)

The deadline is September the 22nd.

Happy writing!

~SG^^