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taliya-writes · 3 years

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First Lines Tag Game

Tagged by @artistfingers. ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

So... my initial thought had been to go dumpster diving in my fics folder, which has over 200 combined completed and work-in-progress, fandom and original fics. A few moments later I realized that I could instead take a stroll through my Microsoft Word documents history instead, though as far as “last”... well, I have anywhere from five to fifteen story docs open at any given time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Quick note: if I list it as WIP, it’s not published anywhere yet. I’m also not including ideas that are just that: ideas—with nothing actually written down besides the outlined summary.)

Otherwise, without further ado and in no particular order:

Trilateralism - DCMK, WIP

Trilateralism: n. The practice of engaging in three-party relations, agreements, or negotiations.

Untitled - MK, WIP

You know I want you?

Untitled - DCMK, WIP

Kudou Yuusaku stared at the tiny form he had led into a private room within the mansion.

Deadeye - DCMK, WIP

Eight-year-old Kuroba Kaito stared in stunned horror as his father, Touichi, disappeared as water and blood and splinters of bone and shards of glass flew everywhere, screaming as a sharp throbbing exploded from his head.

Untitled - DCMK, WIP

“Fuck, that hurt...”

Whisper in Your Ear - DCMK, FFN/AO3

The case had been… taxing, to say the least.

Judgment Day, for the Lease on Life series - DCMK, WIP

Two pairs of eyes stared at the PET scan, wide and unblinking in their disbelief.

TMPD Antics: Hijinks - DCMK, FFN (not on AO3 yet)

“Kuroba-kun!” a voice called from behind, “Kuroba-kun, wait!”

Darkness Hunting - DCMK, WIP

The first body had raised quite a few eyebrows, mostly because of how brutally the corpse had been treated.

Return Triumphant, for the Fanfare series - DCMK, FFN/AO3

With the help of Kuroba Chikage and Jii Konosuke, a heist notice from Kaitou KID had been written and delivered to the desk of one Superintendent Nakamori Ginzo, head of Division Two’s Kaitou KID Task Force of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

Untitled - FFVIII, WIP

The first thing that Cloud’s brain registered was just—Mother of Gaia, ow.

Stealing Hearts and Healing Souls - DCMK, WIP

The headline on the newspaper that morning was different from any other headline ever written.

Irrepressible - DCMK, WIP

The first thing that registered was pain.

Untitled - FMA x HP, WIP

He was fairly deep into his cups of whiskey and felt hollower than an empty oil drum when he heard a familiar snap of displaced air.

No. Just... No. - DCMK, WIP

The dinner party was assuredly not somewhere that he wanted to be at.

Untitled - Original Work, WIP

Going from the silent nothingness of several thousand years of death to alive and breathing was akin to getting spiritual whiplash from a sledgehammer to the soul.

Apparently Insanity Welcomes Everybody, for the Insanity, Apparently series - DCMK, WIP

“It’s amazing to me how busy a KID heist always is,” Takagi Wataru commented as he passed through the security checkpoint.

Untitled - FKBU x DCMK, WIP

Inspector Kanbe Daisuke glanced around at the somewhat organized chaos that was happening all around him with a furrowed brow.

Sides of a Curtain - DCMK, WIP

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!”

With My Last Breath - DCMK, WIP

His heartbeat thumped thunderously in his ears, each one distinct as though he was hearing it in slow motion.

So... yeah. I have a lot of WIPs. Go me. As you can see, DCMK kind of stole my brain, but other fandoms have managed to squeak in. Uh, since I don’t know many people here on tumblr... tag, you’re it, @circumference-pie. ^.^;;;

#writing wip #first lines #dcmk #fkbu #fma #hp fanfic #original writing #what am i even doing #where is my brain #plunnies #taliya writes

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theonceoverthinker · 4 years

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When Will My Life Begin? (Fair Game, 14/?)

Summary: Tangled AU. Clover Callows has been confined to a tower for all of his life, and given the threat that his Uncle Tyrian says his semblance poses to his safety, he accepts that fate. It’s the only life he’s ever known, after all. But when he’s offered the opportunity to fulfill his greatest dream after a chance encounter with a thief -- or bandit, as Qrow Branwen insists there’s a difference between the two -- both Clover and Qrow will discover joys that they never knew life could offer them before.

AO3

Tumblr: (1) (2) (B1) (3) (4) (B2) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (B3) (10) (11) (12) (13)

Hey! So, as you're going to see, I took a...different direction with this chapter than you might have expected (...I realize this happens a LOT with me). I was having some trouble with the next chronological chapter, and I thought this would be an interesting and sensible diversion from the main story while I figured the next part of the story out. I hope you enjoy!

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

If there was one feeling Harriet Bree had become increasingly familiar with, it was the feeling of underlying, yet all the same relentless tiredness.

She was tired of hearing reports of Salem’s growing army of Grimm and the havoc they were doing to far away towns and villages.

She was tired of the constant shadow of fear that loomed over every street and shop in her kingdom about when their malicious tormenter would strike next as well as who and what would be lost in the chaos when it inevitably took place.

She was tired of the criminal underbelly in the kingdom that just made getting by harder for good, honest folks.

She was tired of the fact that even with all the power she, her siblings, and her father yielded, there was only so much they could do about any of that.

However, more than any of those things, she was tired of the all but despondent look in her father’s eyes that coated his face every year around this time.

Harriet was especially tired about the fact that the gazes her siblings gave her all but screamed in her face that she had that same look in her eyes, too.

As the saying went, ‘like father, like daughter,’ she supposed.

Then again, that look in her eyes was just as present on all of their faces, too. She was sure there was some phrase about families who do things together that applied to a heartbreaking situation like theirs, but honestly, she was at a loss to come up with one.

Besides, it didn’t matter -- it wasn’t like their family was complete, anyway.

That hadn’t been the case for over two decades now.

Clover…

Harriet had two brothers and a sister that she was fortunate enough to have in her life. She adored them with every beat of her heart, and she knew they as well as their father felt the same for her.

However, the gap that Clover’s kidnapping created in hers and her family’s hearts was one that couldn’t be filled by anyone else except for him.

Clover...

Where was he?

Was he even alive?

What kind of life had he led if he was alive all this time?

Why did the prospect of him being alive make her feel just as anxious as the thought of him being dead?

Damn it!

Of all the things Qrow Branwen could have stolen the day before her brother’s birthday, why did it have to be the brooch? Why did the universe insist on making this anniversary so much worse than it was already going to be, than it was for the past several years?

Was it not enough already that Clover was ripped from their arms before they could even really know him without so much as a clue as to where he’d gone or who had made off with him?

Semblance or not, who stole a baby?!

It had to be Salem, or one of her goons, but why did they never say that they at least had him in their possession? Salem’s castle was well guarded enough, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know they could never brea-

Harriet sighed. She pet the horse she was now walking beside instead of on, and let herself recline against a tree as her hand massaged her nose.

She’d gone down the proverbial rabbit hole that was Clover’s mysterious whereabouts many a time before, especially around Clover’s birthday. All that resulted in that trip were questions, questions with not even hints of possible answers, but instead haunted her with apparitions of a reunited family that was always still a possibility, but less of one with every passing year.

Vine told her in the past that it wasn’t healthy...right before admitting that he did the same thing nonetheless.

Even still, he was right.

Harriet would never give up hope that Clover would be found, that their family would be whole once more, but she knew well enough by now to assure herself that that wasn’t going to happen today.

However, she could at least make the next day or two just a bit less taxing on all of their hearts by getting back the last tangible memento of her brother from Qrow Branwen’s clutches.

Pushing herself off the tree, Harriet continued her trudge back to the team’s meeting spot in the forest.

Maybe one of them found something.

After all, they weren’t called the Ace Ops for nothing.

As Harriet approached the clearing where she and her team had agreed to meet, she could hear voices -- Elm’s first, then their prisoner’s, and Vine and Marrow’s soon afterward.

None of them sounded too excited, or given any kind of sign that they hadn’t walked away from their search empty handed.

No, they just sounded tired.

She could certainly slip into that feeling like a well-worn coat.

Harriet walked through the last of the bushes and under the last of the trees that stood between herself and her siblings.

Just as she’d expected, their bodies reflected their voices, no one looking either curious or triumphant or stimulated.

“Nothing, huh?” she asked, unable to keep the dark, resigned tone out of her voice.

Words left none of them. Marrow shook his head, Vine looked to his shoes, and Elm, still holding their prisoner, bit her lip.

The prisoner Mercury scoffed, earning himself a jerk from Elm’s body.

He growled.

“You’re slowing yourselves down and wasting your time keeping me here,” he then snipped.

“We’re putting a crook like you behind bars,” Marrow shot back, clearly content to allow just a little bit of smugness to get into his tone, “sounds like a good use of our time to me.”

“And yet you can’t get back that brooch. Have to wonder how it is you got the name Ace Ops. Ace Oops seems more appropriate to me.” Mercury then smirked.

Gods, what was it about thieves that made them enjoy bragging so much?

Weren’t they supposed to be quiet? Wasn’t that the one good thing about them?

Ignoring Mercury’s remark, Marrow looked to the group.

“Did anyone find any clues?” he asked, “Or maybe run into someone who saw him? Or saw signs of a scuffle or even just shop prints?”

Once more, silence reigned. Even Mercury didn’t respond, seemingly caught between annoyance over his accomplice’s escape as well as his own captivity and satisfaction that at least they hadn’t succeeded in their task of retrieving the brooch.

What a bastard he was.

Vine met Harriet’s eyes.

“What do we do now?”

Harriet, for the life of her, couldn’t find herself able to answer that question.

Branwen had been out of their sights for hours now. If they hadn’t found him by this point, that probably meant they likely weren’t going to find him at all.

What could they do in that case -- wait until the brooch surfaced on the black market?

Who knew how long that would take to happen, nor how they’d find out about it, nor even which of Remnant’s handful of often spoken of, but well-hidden black markets it would show up in…

This dead-ended mystery was starting to sound all too familiar to Harriet for her liking…

Harriet didn’t want to give up, though she had no idea what the next best step to take was.

Perhaps they could just return to the kingdom, drop off Mercury at the castle’s prison, and resume their search? It would be better to have the entire team at full capacity, and by the time they did that, Harriet figured she’d be able to use her semblance again.

However, that would just give Branwen more time to get even further away from them, or perhaps even just sell the brooch and be done with it.

Not to mention the fact that even if Harriet’s semblance was working once more, without an idea of where Branwen was going, she’d just be running around aimlessly.

She’d done that on more than one occasion -- it made for not only some good training, but also as one hell of a stress reliever -- but it wasn’t going to help them here.

So there went that plan, and yet the rest of her sibling’s eyes joined Vine’s, turned to her for their next step.

As Harriet struggled for an answer, her ears picked up a sound.

It was the sound of footsteps -- small in size, quick in their pace, not deft enough to avoid snapping twigs and running into small bushes, but just so enough that there was no resulting crashes or falls.

What’s more interesting were that those footsteps were fast approaching them.

Harriet looked toward the noise’s source, unsure what was to meet her on the other side.

Seconds later, a man emerged into the clearing. He stood tall and slightly muscular with a mean, angular face and an odd, triangle-like hair style.

“Guards! Guards!” he called as he approached them. He took a second’s pause to loudly catch his breath. “Br-Branwen,” he continued as air kept puffing in and out of his chest as loudly as a bear’s roar. “The thief Qrow Branwen. W-we have him.”

Harriet’s eyes bulged.

C-could it really be?

“Are you sure?” Elm asked, beating Harriet to the proverbial punch. Harriet felt her heart start to pump as loudly as the man’s footsteps were just moments ago as she waited for him to catch his breath enough to answer Elm’s question.

After three seconds that felt more like an hour, he answered her.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “My-my boss matched him to the poster.”

Harriet couldn’t believe it -- this was really happening.

“Where is he?” she pressed.

“L-Lil’ Miss Malachite’s,” he wheezed, pointing a finger in the direction he came. “It’s about a half mile that way. We’ve got him caught.”

Branwen…

By nothing short of pure chance, they were in the exact right in the spot to find someone who had eyes on him.

Lucky them.

While she knew he probably couldn’t have had anything to do with it -- though she’d wished against each and every odd that stood as an obstacle to that possibility that he could have -- she couldn’t help but thank Clover for this.

Harriet looked to her team, all of whom suddenly looked like they had more energy flowing through their veins than they’d had in a while.

She got the feeling she looked that way too.

“You heard him, Ace Ops,” Harriet said, glancing at a sneering Mercury, and shooting a smirk of her own at him. “Let’s move out.”

Elm picked up Mercury’s form once more and tightened her grip around him as she and Marrow cried out jovially, Vine let loose a small chuckle, and even Harriet couldn’t help but let her smirk dissolve into a grin once she turned away from Mercury.

They had a lead on Branwen and the brooch.

There was hope still to be had for this tiny piece of their still broken, but loving family.

Suddenly, Harriet wasn’t feeling so tired anymore.

#fair game #rwby #harriet bree #ace ops #clover ebi #vine zeki #marrow amin #elm ederne #mercury black

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