#10 sentences

[friendofcarlotta]

Okay... I guess I'm doing these tumblr games now? :)

thank you for the tag, @wanderingcas!

Rules: post the beginning lines of your most recent 10 published fanfics (or chapters, if you don't have 10 fics), then attempt to tag 10 people!

Stick It to the Man (E, 7,354 words): If you’d told the Dean Winchester of ten years ago — perennially broke and drunk and couch-surfing — that he’d not just have an office job one day but would actually enjoy going there, he would’ve called you fucking delusional. 

A Glass of Wine Over Lunch (T, 2,908 words): Your ears keep getting bigger as you age, right? 

Milton's Rest (E, 50,833 words): Dean’s first glimpse of Cas is at the edge of a cliff.

The Perils of Immortality (M, 12,524 words): Dean has been alive a long fucking time. 

Missing (E, 16,732 words): Her palm against the door, Krissy stood and counted her breaths. 

Believe (E, 30,191 words): Castiel breathes a sigh of relief as he steps through the front doors of the Hoover Building, escaping the stifling humidity that prevails even so early in the morning. 

The Holy and the Righteous (E, 21,506 words): On day one after Chuck, Dean falls into a black hole of grief.

When You Least Expect It (E, 34,318 words): Castiel’s father used to say that life doesn’t always turn out the way you planned it. 

Of Cryptids and Crushes (E, 9,698 words): The email arrives on a Friday afternoon, right as Dean hits his mid-afternoon slump.

Master of My Fate (E, 88,401 words): Castiel is a trial and a disappointment — of that, there can be little doubt. 

Low-pressure tag for @dothwrites @mittensmorgul @blackhorsedances @masoena @entropic-saudade @treaciel @followyourenergy @imaginaryprotagonist @artemis-73 @salamitsunami1

[betweenthetimeandsound]

10 Sentences Tag Game

Rules: write a sentence with the number of words specified, so for 1-10 you write 10 sentences in total with an increasing word count each time.

Let's do this one for Iodine!

“Wait!”

“What body?"

"Organ donation, maybe?"

something which shredded her...

She would always be missing.

“Why would he be this silly?”

Talking to anybody was a sacred experience.

"Some people think this umbrella looks a bit, silly."

"And don’t go through my ice cream stash again."

"I laid on Sean’s thighs, muscular underneath his loose jeans..."

What about you @lexiklecksi, @dontjudgemeimawriter, @memento-morri-writes, @akiwitch, @holdenmarrswritings?

[avani008]

10 sentences- Bhallaladeva

Afterlife

He waits, unknown, uncrowned, unloved; and he can only roar: “Was it all for nothing?”

End of Childhood

His father cringes in a corner, embittered and embarrassing, and Bhalla will do anything, anything at all, so long as he need not share such a fate.

Epistolary/Social Media AU

Bhalla considers himself above such childish things; and if anyone wants to bring up a certain Pinterest page, he will plead ignorance.

Fusion (or Fusion AU)

The oddly proportioned princess pauses a harmony with her small army of sentient animals to demand, “Sing with me!”; Bhalla shudders and can only snap, “....No.”

Fix-it

Mother does not offer him gifts, but instead an explanation as to why she feels his abilities far better suited to the position of commander-in-chief; for the first time, Bhalla lets himself hope for reconciliation.

Future Fic

Although Baahu’s heir—and Baahu’s face—never shows himself in Mahishmati, Bhallaladeva lives to a ripe old age and resents every instant of it.

Genderswap

Bhavani was not born Sivagami’s daughter for nothing—if statecraft cannot win her the place she deserves, cunning will.

Historical Era Swap

Come south, Bhallaladeva challenges Sikander, and see for yourself that your esteemed strength is not superior to mine.

Role Reversal

“I’m sorry, brother,” Baahu whispers, and the sword slides between Bhalla’s shoulder blades.

Sibling/s (or lack thereof)

The Prince of Indore, too young or ignorant to have been instructed otherwise, asks if the King of Mahishmati is an only child; after all these years, Bhalla cannot form an answer.

[herawell]

Elizabeth of York & Margaret Beaufort (Historical, with some Shadow of the Tower references): 10 Sentences

For @lost-spook!

Always a Different Profession AU

Rani Lishitha does not know whether to be amused or horrified that Rajmata Margavi Bhagat has sown a special sari embroidered with gold and bedecked with jewels for her to wear when the baby comes, but she respects the older woman far too much to object.

Before the Beginning AU

In some ways, Margaret knows the Lady Elizabeth better than she knows her own son-- oh, how many years has it been since she sent Henry to the continent?

Bodyswap

Swapping bodies with your daughter-in-law while she is pregnant is decidedly not ideal, but for all the problems it raises, Margaret is strangely thrilled to be carrying a child, after so many years of barrenness.

Curse

Margaret outlives little Bessie, Edmund, Arthur, Elizabeth, baby Katherine and finally Henry; perhaps it’s no surprise she lays herself down for the last time barely eight weeks after that final blow.

Darkest Timeline

There is a knowing look in Queen Elizabeth’s eyes that Margaret pretends not to see on the rare occasion that the Princes in the Tower are brought up.

Fall

Thanks to Elizabeth and Margaret’s combined efforts, Henry finally agrees not to send young Meg to Scotland so young, that she should see at least two more autumns before she becomes a wife.

Floriography

When Cecily of York marries without the King’s permission and is banished from court, Margaret is the one to send her white roses so that Elizabeth does not have to choose between Henry and her sister.

Play

Margaret privately thinks it improper that Elizabeth takes it upon herself to teach Harry how to write, and her mild disapproval is rewarded when the little rascal scribbles “THIS BOKE IS MYNE” on every tome he owns.

Role Reversal

Catalina (now Katherine) thinks at first that My Lady the King’s Mother domineers the actual Queen far too much, and it is not until she herself is widowed that she comes to appreciate her mother-in-law’s quiet kind of strength.

Space

Where Margaret sits stiff and awkward while Henry plays hopscotch, Elizabeth has the room cleared so that she may also join in.

[avani008]

10 sentences- Mahendra

Afterlife

There, both his families are one, joined by their love of him, and he feels complete at last.

End of Childhood

Shivu is stronger than all the children, so strong he hurts them when he means only to join their games, and so he turns towards the waterfall instead.

Epistolary/Social Media AU

There are parents out there, Mahendra knows, whose form of cruel and unusual punishment doesn’t involve posting his childhood photographs on the internet for all to see.

Fusion (or Fusion AU)

Mahendra supposes he should be grateful that his parents support his quest to become a Pokemon Master, but thinks they might not mutter so loudly that at least it gets him out of the house.

Fix-it

“Father,” asks Mahendra, because Father ought to know, as Father knows everything, and Mahendra is curious: “Where do babies come from?”

Future Fic

His son is born with none of the familial features, and so much the better -- this royal lineage has suffered enough.

Genderswap

“A girl,” Bhallaladeva laughs. “All Baahu could produce was a mere girl--what harm can she do me?”

Historical Era Swap

As long as he can remember, Mahendra has wanted to go higher and higher and higher--and so no one is surprised when ultimately his passion leads him to explore the stars.

Role Reversal

Mahendra looks down his nose at the stranger, ragged and rakish and not at all what a royal should be; “You say your name is Bhadra?” he barks.

Sibling/s (or lack thereof)

He dreams, sometimes, of a girl with long hair and a sad smile; he never remembers them when he wakes.

[avani008]

10 Sentences: Nidhana verse Sivagami and Mahendra

For @ratnananda

Always a Different Profession AU

There is a limousine that parks outside Kuntala and Sons, particularly when the managers’ infant son can be spotted through the window; never long enough to attract attention, but long enough that the woman sitting inside can watch in silence.

Before the Beginning

Sivagami gives orders for the palace nursery to be prepared; but when Baahu’s grandson makes Baahu’s choice all over again, she demands that the room be locked up once more.

Bodyswap

It is disorienting, to so suddenly be so many years younger; but as long as she can be around Baahu once more, Sivagami has no complaints.

Curse

Her mother-in-law had told her: “You’ll understand when you have grandchildren of your own”; and then, with that hateful half-smile she had, sneered, “Or perhaps you won’t.”

Darkest Timeline

Grandmother took him from his parents, not paying the slightest attention to his tearful protests, and she locked him up in this awful palace, and Mahendra will hate her forever for it, no matter how many elephants she promises him.  

Fall

Her grandson gapes at her, aghast, and Sivagami wonders how she has come to fail him so.

Floriography

[wormwood=absence]

Her life has already been as bitter as a draught of wormwood--why not should the birth of a grandson add one more sorrow to it?

Play

Mahendra obediently lines up Gopu’s carved family figurines two by two, and it is only then that he thinks to wonder: if he has a grandfather, ought he not to have a grandmother, too?

Role Reversal

There is a woman, who must live (he thinks) very far away from the palace, but who stares at him so whenever she happens to visit the Shiva temple at the same time that he does; it’s only years later that Mahendra learns the story of his exalted but exiled grandmother.

Space

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” says Father gently when Mahendra wants to know if Grandmother still loves them; and comforted, Mahendra curls back against Father’s chest.

[herawell]

Sivagami & Devasena, 10 Sentences

For @avani008.

Always a Different Profession AU

The summons to the Crown Princess of Kuntala is not to become the Crown Prince of Mahishmati’s wife, but the Queen Mother’s protegee, and it is not until Devasena stands before the Rajmata herself and shivers before her gaze that she realizes perhaps there was something more than mentorly in Sivagami Devi’s intentions.

Before the Beginning

For all that Devasena loves her brother, Jayavarma is only eight years older than her; at times, she wistfully imagines what might be if the famed Rajmata Sivagami Devi of Mahishmati, far to the north, adopted her too.

Bodyswap

Nights alongside the river are chilly, and Sivagami and Devasena take turns keeping the fire going and sleeping with baby Mahendra snuggled into their side.

Curse

Sivagami is there beside Devasena as she walks the fiery path she did twenty-six years prior, and there when Devasena’s fiery curse finally takes effect.

Darkest Timeline

Sivagami and Devasena share a private eye roll while Baahu panics about what his child being born on the same day as a solar eclipse could mean.

Fall

Sivagami wonders if Devasena finds as much comfort in the all-consuming thundering and the spray of the cascades as does she.

Floriography

Devasena paddles while Sivagami holds Mahendra, her mind too awhirl with grief to do anything productive; her reverie is broken only when Devasena jolts, nearly tipping the raft over, and Sivagami starts around to see an arrow blooming from her daughter-in-law’s arm.

Play

“I have,” Sivagami says, face rock-smooth to an apoplectic Bijjala, “absolutely no idea why all of your wines have suddenly transformed into Kuntalan vintages.”

Role Reversal

Sivagami could think of no better woman to hand over the mantle of Queen and Rajmata than the Yuvarani Devasena of Kuntala.

Space

Baahu might not share any blood with the mother who raised him, Devasena notes, but he is clearly her son, right down to the inflections, pauses, and rhythms of their speech.

[herawell]

Jodhaa & Sujamal, 10 Sentences

The final request for @avani008!

Always a Different Profession AU

“I don’t care if you want to join in the celebrations for the Emperor’s victory, bhaisa, you are recovering from six arrow wounds to the back. Get back to the healer’s tent or I’ll tie you up and half-shave you with my own hands.”

Before the Beginning

He is barely enthused at the birth of a sister-cousin nearly a decade younger than him; he does not know then just how much he will come to regard her as the closest thing to a family member he has.

Bodyswap

Jodhaa is nothing less than thrilled now that she has the physical advantage over him and can finally pay him back for all the times he beat her.

Curse

Sujamal knows it is the most glorious end that any woman can hope for, but he still tastes ashes whenever he thinks of Jodhaa, his forthright, earnest sister, committing either jauhar or sati.

Darkest Timeline

By the time Sujamal staggers off his horse into Bhagwant Das’s arms, the Mughal camp is in chaos: an assassin has stabbed both the Emperor and Empress.

Fall

“When a man finds himself in a bad situation, he can grab it with his own two hands and turn it upside down,” Sujamal says sagely one autumn afternoon, “but women must be more subtle if they wish to make the best of it,” and Jodhaa nods earnestly, and neither of them know just how true his words will prove.

Floriography

When Jodhaa demands that he braid her hair and weave jasmine flowers into it, Sujamal simply nods and sets down his sword so that he may oblige her.

Play

Jodhaa only meant to play a prank, but Sujamal evidently took it as a deep insult, and the length of time he refuses to speak to her teaches her just how deep his insecurities run, and just how quick he can be to take offense.

Role Reversal

Jodhaa wonders if Rukmini ever felt this nervous or this exhilarated as she waits for a response to her letter to Ratan Singh, her Krishna, to rescue her from her marriage to the Mughal tyrant, that Shishupal; but at least this time around, Rukmini knows that Rukmi is on her side.

Space

“Just how many bruises can one training session produce?” Rani Padmavati demands as she examines Jodhaa’s hands and arms, and in the space between the Queen’s crossed arms, she and Sujamal share a chuckle.