Greetings and salutations everyone! A special shoutout to the newest members of the Nine Lives family - welcome to the madhouse! It’s time once again for another Nine Lives Fanfic Challenge!

Our intrepid heroes could do with a little luck these days – maybe if we throw out enough awesome fan fiction, it’ll do the trick! A little power of the mind, so to speak. We combed through lots of items and other things that symbolize luck, and a few that granted wishes, and picked our favorites.

THE GOOD LUCK LIST

• Horseshoe: When a horseshoe is up on the wall or above a doorway, the "U" shape will hold good luck inside forever. 
• Four-Leaf Clover: Finding a four-leaf clover is said to bring good luck. In addition, each leaf is believed to represent something: the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck
• Acorn: The Vikings associated oak trees with Thor, the god who created thunder and lightning with his great anvil and hammer. Because the tree attracted lightning, it was sacred to Thor. The Vikings believed that the fruit of the oak tree, the acorn, was spared Thor's wrath, so Vikings placed a lone acorn on their windowsills to protect their houses from lightning.
• Rabbit’s Foot: Carrying a rabbit’s foot as an amulet is believed in many places around the world to bring good luck.
• Dream Catcher: An old Native American legend states that hanging a dream catcher over your head while you sleep will catch bad dreams before they reach you. Only good dreams go through the hole in the center.
• The Number Seven (7):  7 is considered lucky by many different cultures and religions. In Christianity, seven represents self-sacrifice and higher virtue. According to ancient Japanese mythology, there are also Seven Gods of Fortune, who deliver gifts to worthy people on the New Year. It is also said that the seventh son of a seventh son has the power to heal and that the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter has the gift if interpreting dreams. 
• Saint Christopher Medal:Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers. Catholic people often place a Saint Christopher medal in their car or carry them on their person while traveling.
• Crickets: Crickets on the hearth have been a sign of good luck for centuries. In China and other Asian countries, crickets are seen as watchdogs: At any sign of danger, the chirping will stop. In the Far East as well as across Europe, it is considered very bad luck to kill a cricket, even by accident. Almost every Native American tribe believed that crickets bring good luck and that imitating its chirp was disrespectful.
• Rainbow: Rainbows are mentioned in the Old Testament. God created a rainbow after the flood as a sign that the earth would never be destroyed by flood again. In addition, Irish leprechauns are said to hide their gold at the end of rainbows, though we all know that a rainbow's end is impossible to find… or is it?
• Wishbone: If two people tug on the ends of a wishbone and each makes a wish, the person holding the bigger piece when the wishbone breaks will have their wish granted.
• Shooting Star: Seeing a shooting star is a sign of good luck and is another wish maker – we’ve all wished upon a shooting star.
• Wishing Well: A wishing well is a place where you toss a coin (or another symbol of good luck) and make a wish. The ancients believed that a token gift to the gods would keep the wells from running dry.

THE CHALLENGE

• THE PROMPT: Your entry must include at least one of the items from our Good Luck list. It can be Caryl or McReedus – the world is your oyster!
• It must be at least 100 words.
• THE DEADLINE: All entries are due on March 15, 10pm MST. Everything will be posted on March 16.
• THE RULES: Here is how you enter the challenge:

• Send a PM to Fairies Masquerade, Ikkleosu or subversivegrrl stating that you’re going to enter the challenge. This is very important! If we don’t get a PM, you won’t be on the list. 
• Write your fic!!
• DO NOT UPLOAD IT YET!! Wait until March 15 to upload your fic – we will be suspending automatic validation for that day for all authors who enter the challenge.
• Submission Day is March 15 - post your fic. It will not appear on the website, but will enter our validation queue. Make sure you submit it under the Nine Lives Challenge category!
• Posting Day is March 16 – We will post the Master List and post all of the challenge entries so everything shows up at once. That way, we’re all surprised by what we get to read! Any challenge fics that are posted before March 15 will be deleted.

So that's it, folks! Let the muses flow and happy writing!