#first few lines

[therentyoupay]

first few lines ;

rules: list the first lines of your last 20 stories. see if there are any patterns. then tag your favorite authors.  tagged by: @aicosu​ 😘

a few patterns:

SMALL STARTER SCENES (SSS): in at least ten [10] stories, i have begun with a short starter ‘scene,’ usually consisting of maybe twenty or so sentences, maybe less, maybe more. it usually introduces a problem by throwing the reader directly into the middle of it. doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a ficlet, one-shot, or multi-chapter fic. 

DIALOGUE (D): occasionally i like to start off with dialogue right away. usually also in the middle of a ‘problem’. i’ve done this in nine [9] of the stories listed.

TIMEFRAMES (T): i noticed that if i don’t start right off the bat with dialogue (or, in the case of one fic---even if i do), i often tend to give a bit more information about the timing of the situation the characters are in, right away. how much time has passed for them with regards to some event or other, how they feel about the time/# of occurrences of something. i did this in eleven [11] of the stories listed.

EPISTOLARY (E): out of the two [2] epistolary stories i have written, i started each one differently. one began with a direct quote (the one and only throughout the entire fic) and then labeled and indicated all further correspondence. the second began with a letter/message right away.

FLASHBACK/FORWARD (FB/FF): on at least one occasion, i have started the story at a place in which it could be considered a flashfoward.

PROLOGUE (P): only one story starts with what might be considered a prologue. (guess which.)

thank you so much for tagging me, sheila! this was really fascinating, and it was a good exercise!! THAAAAAANK♡♡♡

tagging: @dragonsinparis | @neededcoffee | @chrstianslater | @socksssss | @kanamesharisen | @mihnn | @factionbeforefamily | @swingsdown | @marlahey | @likeabirdinflightx | @forthrightly | anyone else who wants to do this! ♡

FIRST FEW LINES: (or more than few, i couldn’t help myself)

01. frosted sea glass | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | mermaid au

There is a strange boy on the beach who won’t stop staring at her.

Elsa would argue that she only knows this because Anna keeps giggling and teasing her about it, but the truth is that she’s felt his gaze for some time now, probably since the changing of the tides. He’s been sitting atop one of the large boulders not too far off behind them, and has presumably made a show of watching the waves.

“Are you sure you’re not coming in, Elsa?” Anna pleads, pulling gently at Elsa’s fingertips, and effectively pulling Elsa away from her thoughts.

---------- [T]

02. questionable | HARRY POTTER | hermione granger/fred weasley | T | penpal au | epistolary

Dearest and Loveliest Hermione of House Grange,

I regret to inform you that Fair Ronald has quite unfortunately come down with a case of a rare and most unknown affliction this morning, and is at present quite unable to manage both quill and parchment. (At this precise moment his mouth is exceptionally productive with drool, and I fear that any attempts on his part—once he regains consciousness—will result in cursive of the most soggy nature.) It is most distressing, and it wounds me deeply to share with you this inconvenience on the part of our brother’s pitiful efforts at self-care. Honestly, what was he thinking, not watching what he put into his mouth? For shame.

Given your brilliance of mind, you have no doubt weaved together this newfound information into the deduction that I, most esteemed Frederick of House Weasley, am writing in his stead.

---------- [E]

03. precious things | miraculous ladybug | ladrien, adrienette | T | kwami swap au

"Let's see how you like it," the Transposer warns, kind eyes made malicious with glowing ultraviolet. "When your precious things get swapped.”

Chat Noir doesn’t understand what the akumatized villain (no—victim; no—agent) means: their miraculous items are items, yeah, technically, but… they’re magic. That’s the point. They can’t just be summoned or switched like the latest akuma-bearer is trying to imply, or else Hawkmoth would have been out of a job a long time ago.

But there is a sinking feeling in his gut as the Transposer flickers out of sight, soon replaced by some precious string of jewels summoned from the depths of some unseen security safe however many miles away, with nothing else but a snarl of a laugh and a vengeful gleam to remember him by.

“Huh,” says Chat, to lighten the mood. “Guess I should hide my stash of cheese.”

Ladybug thinks he’s kidding.

---------- [SSS, D]

04. (not) so much | miraculous ladybug | marichat, adrienette | T | secret relationship

It’s been five weeks.

So when she turns in for bed (just half past eleven, on one of her only nights free from patrol) the flick of the latch to unlocking her skylight is as quick and familiar as turning out the lights. The feigning of sleep feels as swift and as soundless as (leaping from a rooftop, swinging from the Eiffel Tower) her needle and thread, as the turning of a page. It does not feel quite as much like lying to her parents as it used to.

Tikki dutifully (understandingly, begrudgingly) finds her favorite hiding place, and stays there, even after her counterpart arrives in the shape of a powerful suit on a deceptively unassuming boy.

The weeks are long, but the waiting never is, and this may still be the absolute worst idea Marinette has ever had, but if there’s a reason for that, she can’t really remember it.

---------- [SSS, T]

05. check the pipes for frost | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | M | (accidental) pen pals au | epistolary

[...]  “...the fuck is this?” [...]

Postcard #1 Postmarked: December 2, 2014 Ålesund, Norge Addressed to: Anna XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX P.O. Box 1118 Burgess, Virginia 22432

Greetings from Norway!

---------- [E, D, T]

06. not in so many words | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | soulmate tattoo au

His sister’s words appear when Jackson Overland has just turned fifteen and—to no one’s surprise—he is less than pleased.

“You haven’t even reached your eighth winter yet!” Jack complains. He watches their mother carefully tailor each sleeve just one precious inch of fabric longer in order to hide the tiny script now forever inked into his sister’s left wrist.

---------- [SSS]

07. the occasional midnight journey | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | neighbors au, sleepwalking au

When it’s too dark for shadows, Elsa’s neighbor likes to roam the halls.

It starts in the winter of her third year of college, when she’s settled into her quiet routine of short and cozy evenings and uninterrupted studies. She’s seen him once or twice but, despite the almost instinctual need to maintain her air of unfailing politeness, has never made a point of going out of her way to welcome him. It’s a lot of energy to meet new people, she reminds herself. And rarely worth her while.

---------- [SSS, T]

08. break the ice | LEGEND OF KORRA | tahno/korra | T | divergent plot

“What are you doing here?” she blurts out inelegantly, a little too loudly, and she thinks that someone might have heard her, but she’s too pissed off to care.

His smirk spreads and she feels heat winding and curling all throughout her center, but as she takes a step closer, she only narrows her eyes and feels the soles of her feet press more firmly into the ground. She will not move. She will not yield. She will not bend.

But he is so very close, and the urge to act is overwhelming. He seems to sense this, eyes glowing with the firelight and the air thick with the tension, and his next words are no more than a whisper.

“Why don’t you take a guess?”

---------- [SSS, D]

09. beyond lost | AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER | zuko/katara | T | stuck in limbo au

“I must be in some sort of hell.”

Were it not for the dimly lit garden, complete with a small pond full of sparking pebbles along the bottom and a small waterfall that bended gracefully over a tall stone ledge, she might have actually believed it.

Zuko narrowed his eyes, piercing her own with a purely hateful gaze. “The sentiment is mutual,” he turned to the side and muttered spitefully, “I assure you.”

---------- [D]

10. apples | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | human!jackson overland/elsa | T | colonial/fairy tale au

Elsa wasn't laughing today.

“I don't know what you're so worried for,” he quipped, tossing an apple high above his shoulder and catching it in an easy grasp. Her eyes slanted his way as the fruit leapt into the air once more, blue gaze guarded. When it landed, her eyes lingered on the red and, for a moment, the apple felt heavy in his hand.

Quickly snatching a bite with a white flash of teeth, Jack grinned—mouth full—and said, “I mean, is your dad really gonna care all that much?”

Her narrow-eyed, challenging, under-brow look of are you serious? never got old.

She never really talked about why she was so antsy all the time, or why it was so important that her father never found her wandering around the stables alone. But then again, Jack guessed that if you were a big, fancy king with a really pretty princess for a daughter, you were probably allowed to be a little uptight. You were allowed to do pretty much anything.

Especially if she liked to spend her early mornings in the stables with the peasant boy who cleaned them.

---------- [SSS, T]

11. knowledgeable | HARRY POTTER | hermione granger/fred weasley | T | hogwarts fourth year (missing scene)

“I think he’s angry with me.”

It sounds petty even to her ears when she says it, but she is not wrong about this, so Hermione holds her ground.

“Blimey,” Ron mutters, and it’s so clear on his face that he’s wondering why they’re talking about this instead of focusing on Professional Quidditch, or finding dates to the Yule Ball (and she still won’t tell him, not even if he ever actually does get around to bother asking her if she’s got one—which she has, thank you, even she still doesn’t quite believe it herself, but—yes. Anyway.). The point is that Ron is clearly Not Interested, on so many various levels, and it’s only all the more clear when Ron grumbles, just a-little-too-loudly for a Common Room conversation, “Fred teases everyone. Have you met him? If he were angry with you, you’d probably be sporting an awful rash or somethin’. I’d probably get hexed too, just for being friends with you. Do you actually know my brother at all?”

---------- [D]

12. the first | ROTGxPETER PAN x-over | jack frost/peter pan | T | crack (but at the same time NOT)

Staying closer to the village named Burgess was technically a lot safer, especially since Jack didn't really know his way around yet, but it was alsoboring as hell. So. When Jack ended up getting really fucking lost for the very first time on a cold, starry night in the middle of chasing after a firefly that was actually a really really bright star, well—

Jack was not surprised.

13. fifteen minutes | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | superhero au

Seven minutes late.

Elsa wasn’t even sure why she was surprised; had it really been too much to hope that not all of Anna’s friend’s shared her unusually strong disregard for punctuality?

Apparently so.

The sky was gray, just the way she liked it, and the rainy Sunday morning had most of the city still asleep in their beds, no doubt. All the better, Elsa thought, because it meant that she could sip her coffee in peace.

After a minute more, Elsa glanced to the watch on her wrist—last year’s birthday gift, from Anna—and barely withheld a sigh. She’d been waiting for quite some time, but she was patient and she was comfortable here, in this quiet nook of the neighborhood where Elsa went when she wanted to be out and about while still finding solitary comfort in the anonymous din of background coffee grinding and indistinct conversation. It’s why she’d chosen it for this endeavor… this unusual favor for Anna.

Tutoring, she’d said.

---------- [T]

14. on the sly at a stoplight | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | college au, age difference au

One shitty apartment, 3AM; the night had started off a lot differently, but Jack really can't complain. Every freshman has to start somewhere, right?

Here is what Jackson Overland has learned about college so far:

      • Everybody is fucking nervous—even the ones who say they're not. They're lying, but hey—Jack can't fault them for trying.

     • Finding parties is a lot harder than he thought it'd be. He didn't know what he'd been expecting.

Okay. So he'd sorta been expecting what they show on TV and shit, and maybe that'd never been all that realistic—but he sure as hell wasn't expecting to be freezing his ass off walking down streets for three hours, searching for “that one party” at “this guy's apartment,” who's supposed to be “this friend” or that one guy in their organic chem lab, or whatever.

     •  College is hard. There's a lot of shit to take in all at once, and some days are easier than others. Some days, it's easy to feel like a King. (And some days, the days you don't really talk about with your classmates or your roommate or your friends back home, it's easy to feel invisible.)

     •  There are a lot of really fucking pretty girls out there.

---------- [SSS, T]

15. of sparks and moonlight | ROTGxAVATAR:THE LAST AIRBENDER x-over | jack frost/princess yue | T | yue is jack’s moon au

“You’re,” he rasps, throat run dry. “You’re...” A lie. She smiles sadly. “Hello, Jack.”

---------- [SSS, D]

16. that one night | LEGEND OF KORRA | tahno/korra | M | grad school au

It was too late for winter.

“Korra,” came Asami’s soft voice from the other side of the small room. Korra glanced at her from the corner of her eye; she was standing in front of the mirror, brushing her long hair, and she hadn’t looked up.

Korra gently curled her fingers around the warmth of her mug, feeling snug beneath a mountain of blankets, and waited.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

The inside of her hoodie was warm, the froth of her crappy hot chocolate was thick, and the very idea of trying to remove herself from this spot was simply too much.

“I don’t think I’m up for it right now,” she replied honestly.

---------- [FB/FF, T]

17. livable | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa, friendship!jack/anna | T | jack-&-anna roommates au

“Elsa, don’t do this to me—you’re worrying over nothing!”

Jack deliberates; he’s already overheard quite a bit more than he is probably supposed to, and he wonders if topping off his mug of coffee is really worth alerting Anna to the fact that he is just around he corner. She is gonna spill the beans to him about her phone call with her sister, anyway—probably come running to his room to rant out her fondness and frustration as soon as she hangs up—but on the other hand, they are still relatively new to one another. Jack knows better than to assume.

“Elsa, I totally get your concern, okay? I mean, I haven’t got, like, the best track record or anything, but you were there for most of the fake-engagement fiasco, and you know I’m not gonna make that kind of mistake again and besides this situation is so totally and completely one hundred percent different—” A tense, lengthy pause. “Well, you don’t even know him!”

Yikes. This again.

---------- [SSS, D, T]

18. dedicated | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | fake engagement au

“I really appreciate you doing this,” says Elsa, for the ninth time, and sends another side-eyed glance his way as she finishes her signature with graceful flourish. She passes the clipboard back over the counter to the attendant, nods in thanks, and faces him fully. “Anna should really be the one trying her own wedding cake, but…”

Jack finds the reproachful look on her face a bit funnier than he should. “Caught up in school work?”

Elsa’s professional composure breaks—victory number one—and a brow slants low, wry and unamused.

“One would think,” she begins, with artful precision, “that a Master’s thesis proposal would merit a bit more… forethought.”

“Well, I mean. She’s got the whole weekend, so. It’s still before.”

“Indeed,” Elsa huffs, and Jack is smirking, but she doesn’t see because their hostess is just now arriving.

---------- [D, T]

19. third wheel | ROTGxFROZENxHTTYD x-over | jack frost/elsa+ | T | third wheel/wingman au

It is a widely-known fact that Jackson Overland, notably charming fiend of the local state university and resident prankster of the campus among, is not an incredibly dedicated fan of horror movies.

“What’s the big deal?” asks Astrid, who doesn’t understand Jack’s dilemma. They move up the barest half a step in line, but it’s credited more to general impatience than any actual movement of the movie theater parade. “You never mind a little gore on stuff like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad or anything,” she says, like that should explain everything.

Hiccup, the willing traitor, considers Astrid’s point with newfound appeal, and Jack watches in mild annoyance as his roommate turns over this compelling argument in his mind. Dude. Betrayal.

“Astrid,” says Jack, with the tone of one who is valiantly trying to sound reasonable, even when reason does not actually seem to be a factor. He holds onto his bag of popcorn—medium, with extra butter, because hey, you only live once—in one hand and briefly clenches his other fist in his hoodie pocket. “You know it’s not the gore,” he tilts, with a fresh deprecating smirk.

---------- [T]

20. at the center | ROTGxFROZEN x-over | jack frost/elsa | T | jack is elsa’s guardian au

[...]

“You see, Jack... There is more to being a Guardian than you may think. We serve all children, as a whole, through the ages, forever and always.

But there are... special cases.

Children, who are... unique. Gifted.”

[...]

“What do you mean?”

---------- [SSS, P, D]

[isharan]

FIRST FEW LINES

tagged by @thelucidlucy

Rules: list the first lines of your last 20 stories. see if there are any patterns. then tag your favorite authors.

Ok I have nowhere near 20 stories so I went for first paragraphs...

Stay - completed Reylo oneshot

“Stay,” he says, watching as she dresses, enjoying the way the soft evening light frames her. She wraps her leather belt around her waist and cinches it tight, then calls her lightsaber to her hand from where it fell and hooks it on her left side.

Broken Skin - WIP Reylux for @swpolyamorybigbang

A hand is on her shoulder and she startles to wakefulness. The wavering late afternoon sun is still warm and light stretches off over sandy hills into a blank horizon. She is shaded where she sits on her wide balcony in a deep chair, head tilted to nod off once and again.

Untitled - WIP Kylux for a @kyluxhardkinks prompt

He is certain both of his legs are broken. The pain is like a dull knife repeatedly stabbing him. Even the tiny shifting of his body as he breathes is agony. More worryingly, his head feels like it’s half caved in. He’s sure that he has a concussion at best, a skull fracture at worst.

Untitled - WIP Reylux (Highschool AU)

Ben had seen her already that morning. When he walked past the Plutt Home she had just reached the bottom step outside the rambling house’s front door and was turning to go in his direction. Their eyes met briefly, then he had gone around her and continued on his way to school.

Untitled - WIP Reylo (Canon compliant Post-TFA)

I floated and I dreamed. I flew over an endless ocean until I came upon an island thrusting out of the grey waters. Rough rocks tumbled carelessly over the steep slopes interrupted by swathes of emerald green grass. Turbulent waters churned against large boulders at the base of the island, flecking them with foam and filling the air with a salty mist. Moving closer, I saw a hooded figure standing at the island’s peak. He stared out over the rolling waves and I sensed his utter isolation.

Not sure who has done this so far but I tag @slutstiels, @juulna, @athelise, @shadowlass, @perrydowning, @these-are-the-first-steps, @reylo-sin-anthology

[cynicaldesire]

Tagged: First Few Lines

I was tagged by the lovely @undergroundvalentine and I don’t know that I have 20 fics to do the first few lines for, especially because a lot of them are Gundam: IBO braindumps and not actual fics. But let’s sort by date and see what we get, hm?

(Also, it says favorite authors. Is that true? If it is, fuck. I don’t know how to feel about that.)

I’m terrible at reading, so I don’t really have other favorite authors. Though, I love bonusparts and vegetapsycho (manga) and uh... uh....

Rules: list the first lines of your last 20 12 stories. see if there are any patterns. then tag your favorite authors.

The ME2 Kaidan one:

The airlock opened and Joker stepped through with familiarity. Chordelia hesitated on the plank. She had been killed here, murdered. The ship held in place before her was nothing more than an upgraded facsimile. Was she? She had memories, but were they copied, modified, real?

“Come on, Commander. Time to get back to work.” Joker leaned carefully against the inner airlock door, motioning weakly for her to follow.

More pressing matters. Regardless of her own existential crisis, she had a mission, she had lives to save. “You need any help, Joker?”

The pilot arched a skeptical brow. “Are you serious?” Chordelia entered into the airlock with a sigh. The outer door closed, the inner door opened. “You don’t have to treat me like I’m made of porcelain anymore, Commander.”

“Wouldn’t porcelain be stronger anyway?” She chuckled, the joke fell from her lips on reflex and instinct.

The Persona 4 Kannao one:

His brow furrowed at the characters on the page. He barely understood Japanese, but translating it into English? Shit was garbage. He flattened his pen through his thumb and ring finger to run that hand through his hair. Studying was garbage. What was he even doing?

A gentle rap on his door startled him. “Yeah?”

“Kanji-kun?” The door slid open to reveal his mother. She froze. “What… what are you doing?”

His brow furrowed. Of course she’d be confused. Just like all the teachers at school. Accusing him of cheating when his grades started to go up. Couldn’t even get his own mother to believe in him. The familiar burn of anger filled his lungs. “What the hell do you care, Ma! Whaddaya want?”

She smiled gently. “It’s good to see you studying, Kanji…”

The rage left him immediately and he pressed his lips together. She had been the only one to ever have faith in him, that ever tried to understand him. To be fair, he hadn’t been doing any studying on his own since Senpai had left. And taken all his fellow first-years with him. Rise back to her idol gig and Naoto-kun back to her job.

He inhaled slowly. “Yeah, thanks. Sorry… For yellin’.”

His mother chuckled warmly from the door. She moved into the small room to place a hand on his cheek. He felt the heat rush to them. “Always an adventure, my sweet boy.” Her hand fell and he watched her eyes roam over his features.

He clenched his jaw. “Ma~.” He hated scrutiny. So many had assumed so much about him based on his looks.

She nodded to herself and moved back to the door. “You have a visitor, Kanji-kun.”

This got pretty long so, rest under a cut.

The next Cullen Chapter:

Throbs pounded against the inside of his skin with every beat of his heart. His hearing had become so sensitive he could hear the blood flowing through his body, every pump and every rush murder behind his eyes, under his temples, at the back of his skull. The windows had been covered, the doors closed. Even the air seemed thicker, every breath an arduous task. A miasma had sunk into his office, thick enough to cut with his sword. But the meetings continued. Many of the letters sent out in preparation for the previous already had responses, accompanied by messengers demanding attention. Their voices thundered through his ears, banged around inside his head. Nausea threatened upheaval of his breakfast, a hearty celebration after the events of the prior evening. Something to shroud the demonic events of the morning. 

The headaches had gotten worse since the Inquisitor- Liandra had attempted to alleviate his symptoms with her treatment. Heal the dying lyrium inside him, but it had to die all over again. A truth he dare not share with her, especially not after this morning. Fear enveloped him at the thought; how many more things would he be terrified to tell her for fear that she might be attacked? How many arguments would he let her win for fear she might become a Rage demon? Or a Despair demon? His newfound sensitivity would warn him of approaching demons, of the threat of his love, his Inquisitor turning into an abomination.

A Warden cameo:

Cullen’s eyes ached, a hazard of working with difficult handwriting all day, followed by a bit of research, capped off with a bit of light reading to relax. He lifted a gloved hand to squeeze the bridge of his nose, relieving a bit of pressure for a moment, only to have fire pulse under his forehead. He hadn’t felt this particular flame for some time, perhaps a bit when the Warden appeared unannounced. 

The Warden?

“Commander Cullen?” The door to his left opened. The Warden stood in the archway, brow lifted. “Or would it be Commander Rutherford?”

A familiar tug at his heartstrings, a younger man’s crush on a woman he admired, ached inside his chest. He offered her a smile. “Commander is fine.” He gestured for her to come in. “I have not yet received any word from Adamant or-“

She lifted a hand to quiet him, her hands gloved for combat. Did she have so little to wear or did she prefer to remain prepared? Kinloch must’ve trained them both. She closed the door behind her before she approached his desk.

Silence filled his office, a slew of emotions shifting on her face. He had been quieted, however, and he knew better than to interrupt a woman before she had given him permission to speak.

“Commander, your wife.” She stopped, or paused, or hesitated. He tilted his head. “Your children-“ Her brow furrowed. Her words must’ve been incorrectly for her thoughts. “I want to ask you something. About them. But… You might not know. But I feel more comfortable asking you. I don’t know the Inquisitor very well, but I know you – we were even friends once, nurturing something more, I guess-“

Fires burned under his temples. “Warden, please.”

She nodded, her eyes downcast, though not focused on his desk. “Were they any complications?” Her hands wrung together.

Gundam: IBO thing:

She hadn’t had to wear sandals for several years. Her family had not been invited to a ceremony like this in ages, so beyond the cursory tutorial, Rowen wore regular shoes or boots, depending on her circumstances. But Itsuka-sama had requested her presence, considering her both a visual benefit and a high-ranking member of Tekkadan – Head of the Medical Staff. A small smile tugged at her painted lips, a small heat rising on her cheeks.

“Ah, Rowen-chan.” Naze Turbine waved amicably from down the hall.

Rowen gripped the long wooden shaft in her hands tighter for a moment. She turned to the older gentleman. “Turbine-sama! Is Itsuka-sama taking too long?”

Naze shook his head. “Nothing like that, Rowen-chan. I just wanted to see how my Little Bro is doing.”

Rowen nodded graciously. “I am to understand he has done this before, so he is attempting to dress himself alone. I would’ve offered to help, but I haven’t had to since I was very small.”

Amida chuckled. “A woman should always offer her man a helping hand, even if she isn’t sure what to do. Don’t you think so, darling?”

Rowen stiffened, eyes wide. She had shared a kiss or two with Itsuka-sama, but they had been heat-of-the-moment things. They hardly got along and they worked together.

Velstadt thing:

Velstadt tapped the back of his armored knuckle on the large wooden door. He glanced to the Kingsguard standing at attention. The man’s chin lifted higher, eyes wandered the empty hall. Appear more vigilant for the boss.

“Enter.”

Velstadt’s jaw clenched. His liege did not sound happy. He turned the latch and pushed the door open. His liege Vendrick hunched over his desk, quill fluttering with rushed words. Velstadt moved to close the door behind him, handed it off to the Kingsguard that stood outside. He clutched his helmet to his side and moved to his usual spot a few feet from his King’s desk.

He lingered for a short moment. “You requested to see me, My liege.”

Vendrick nodded absently. “Aye, I did.” The quill continued to flutter.

The General lifted his brow. Rarely had his liege performed simple acts of subterfuge around him. A quick glance to his left confirmed his suspicions. The Lady Nashandra rested neatly in a comfortable chair, a book open on her lap. Her influence, no doubt.

The quill returned to its rest and Vendrick stood. “I am not certain we have more time to wait, Vel.” He moved the freshly inked paper to the side to dry. “When do you plan to send your new recruit to my brother’s manor?”

Velstadt stiffened. “My liege, I’m not sure I understa-”

The King’s eyes narrowed, brow angled sharply. “Surely you receive the same reports as I, Velstadt. Most of them come from your men.”

Person 3 Poly thing:

“We have to get him to a hospital.”

“To what end? The Dark Hour won’t be over for some time.”

“We can’t just leave him lying here!”

“I’m not saying-“

“Then what are you saying, Mitsuru?”

Minako glanced between Akihiko and Ken. Shinjiro’s head rested on her lap, his bloody hand still clutched in Akihiko’s glove. Ken’s anguished cries had barely faded after his scream, his body crawled closer. Something had to be done, right? But there was so much blood.

She swallowed. Mitsuru had been her go-to in tough situations. She had been the best advice, the power behind the so-called Leader of the group. And they had liked it that way. But if Mitsuru had no idea what to do, that left the entire decision to Minako.

“Akihiko, can you carry him?” The words fell from her with an authority she wasn’t used to.

His red vest had been stained a sicker red. He looked to her. “I’m strong enough.”

DRR Shizuo thing:

He didn’t really know or care who Tom had to deliver this night’s briefcase to. He was just glad he could get a smoke and an ice cream sundae. The venue was small, the club dimly lit. It seemed an odd thing to offer on the menu, but he wasn’t complaining. He just wanted to get the job over with so he could get home and get to sleep. 

His eyes caught a pair of hips swaying past his table, pausing. The bartender outfit must’ve confused her. He focused on his ice cream.

The hips continued past him, and he caught sight of soft brown curls bouncing near the small of her back. He lifted his head to follow the hair, the tight purple dress, the sparkle of her diamond bracelet. She paused by the stage, turned slightly toward the piano player. Sparkling gems dangled from ears that held her hair back from her face, lips a dark purple, her eyes a sparkling green. She wasn’t Japanese, that was for certain. What she was was beautiful.

He lifted a hand to the cigarette in his lips. The embers were snuffed out in the ash tray on the table. He watched her gesture to the piano player who nodded in return. She waved and headed toward the back of the stage. Shizuo narrowed his eyes. He gathered another spoonful of ice cream.

The band finished the jazz number they had been working on. The piano player stood up and walked across the stage. Shizuo ate another spoonful. The piano player returned with the band manager. The band manager brought out a microphone on a microphone stand. Another spoonful.

“It’s that time once again, ladies and gentlemen. The Siren of Club Sugar, Lucretia.”

Eventual Velstadt Chapter:

Her laughter faded, replaced with a bright smile. “Did he run off?”

He nodded. “I wouldn’t allow him to get his armor dirty. It was terrible! Hiding my own mirth, yelling at the others to quit their laughing. The poor man had soiled himself!”

Liandra shook her head. “A tragedy indeed.” She glanced to him from the corner of her eye. “You never did tell me what happened with Sir Raime.”

He felt his cheeks relax immediately. Raime. He sighed and moved to stand. Anywhere but here seemed the best place to be. “What is there to tell? He’s gone.”

Liandra stood with him grabbed her training sword and shield. “Yes, but why. Every time I mention it to anyone, they… Run away.”

Darkness roiled inside him, a pain at the back of his left shoulder. “And you still haven’t gleaned that perhaps there’s a reason no one wishes to speak of it?”

The training weapons rested on her back. “Of course there’s a reason, and I want to know it.”

He sighed heavily and continued his march down the castle walls. The sun had set long ago, the reason for their visit here no longer relevant. He began his descent deeper into the castle. “We have more training to get you prepared for your exhibition match for the Ki-“

Her hand clutched his shoulder. “Velstadt.”

He spun around to her, a hand raised to brush hers off. “You will address me as General, do you understand?”

And another Velstadt chapter:

“I needed someone. After Raime-“

“Raime.”

Rage boiled in his belly. Scorched the insides of his throat as he roared.

Aldia glanced between brother and General. Velstadt’s body quaked, vision blurred through welling tears. He struggled not to blink, not to let them fall. Do not let the weakness through.

His new body had been hard to control, difficult to understand. The Goddess had not granted him power after the fuse. He felt emptier than he had in years, maybe centuries, he couldn’t recall. He struggled to control the rage, the pain. Without miracles, meditation had seemed pointless.

And without meditation, the rage had returned.

Not without reason. Everything that had happened in the last several years would have been something he could handle, with the proper guidance. But darkness filled his King, crept into the heart of the King’s brother, and eventually consumed the one person who filled him with Light.

A scraping of metal drew his attention. The metal construct, the feminine featured face looked to him. The metal of its sculpture belied no emotion, raked the blades through his heart again.

“Velstadt, you’re hurting yourself.” The King’s hand found his wrist.

Defiance Thing:

He shucked his jacket off and let it drop to the floor. The whore closed the door over his shoulder, head tilted to give him access to her neck. He pushed her back. He needed this, needed something to keep his mind off the charred corpses in that tunnel. 

He had been able to avoid Zero’s father until after the stasis net exploded. Rahm Tak and all of his blood-thirsty Votans were dead, gone. They couldn’t hurt Defiance anymore. Zero’s father found little comfort in that platitude, all tears and Irat curses. Nolan was more surprised that the old Irathient hadn’t attacked him in his sorrow. 

But there were stages right? Stages to mourning a loss. His sister had been through that part in school. The wars happened before Nolan could. Every loss, every soldier that lost a friend and lashed out, that’s what she’d say. Stages. First one’s always anger. Use it, she’d tell them, use it to make their death mean something. 

She fell onto the bed with a giggle, her knees pulled up to his sides. Her hands tugged at his buttondown shirt to free it from his pants. He struggled to remember where his hands should go. On her breasts? Up her sides? 

He decided on her face. Whole and honest. Moans found his ears, but he heard very little of them. She worked on the bottons of his shirt next.

How many had they lost in that tunnel to Christopher? Only after Irissa gutted him had they discovered him to be an Indojene. How could he have been so stupid? Just trusted a human he’d never seen before? So many didn’t trust him when he showed up, and most of them still didn’t. Any good reputation he might’ve earned definitely faded after today.

Protomen Edit:

The house was dark, quiet except for the loud steady blare of the siren. In the dark living room, two figures huddled together on the couch. The larger figure kept her eyes locked on the front of the house, the door and the windows, trembling. The smaller figure looked up from the storybook to her mother. Her brow furrowed as she watched her mother follow the lights of the patrol move by their window.

"Mommy?"

The larger figure started but did not look away from the windows, from the lights. “Yes, baby.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The daughter touched her mommy’s wrist. “Why are you so scared of the bots, Mommy?”

Mommy tightened her arms around her daughter. “Winona, wait.”

Winona pressed her lips together and nuzzled into her Mommy’s side. The sirens shifted from a steady blare to a smooth repeated tone. One more pass and the night could continue.

The lights of the patrol moved past their house again and Winona’s mommy rubbed her arm. “Sorry, baby, what was your question?” Her voice had graduated to whisper levels.

Winona glanced toward the windows and pulled the book from her mommy’s lap. “Whenever the bots come by, you tremble and watch the door. Are you scared of the bots?”

Mommy pressed her lips together and glanced toward the door. “I just worry that they’ll come in. You never know when Wily will target us.”

Winona straightened up as her Mommy released her. “Why would Mr. Wily want to target us? We don’t do anything wrong.”

The lights from the patrol faded, leaving the house lit only by the strings of Christmas lights used for decoration round year. “Because Mr. Wily has a way of looking into the past, little girl, and he might not like what he sees about me.” She leaned over to turn on the light on the end table.

[parcelling-payment-acquirers-b]

Lyric Logograph - Draw Your Listeners in With Your Opening Lager

Songs hocus toward rely fully on sound and words in transit to deliver their messages, unlike films which take over the luxury (and supposition sometimes the arraignableness) of being able to use visual aids to get their ideas across. That's enigmatic question it's so superior to carefully engild your picture when you're writing lyrics.<\p>

The by vote few noseband pertaining to your song may determine whether your listener sticks hard for more, bordure bails out. While you want your whole song to be engaging, you really want to split them in on an interesting leading edge.<\p>

Techniques like the use relative to exchange, and engaging the listener's senses will surpassingly help in bringing them into your story. Some artists have done a talented go of bringing the listener into the entresol right stark-staring mad the bat. I'll show you a negligible referring to my favorite opening lines and why I divine they work muchly correctly.<\p>

First let's check out the oldest few lines relative to "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles.<\p>

Keep drinking coffee, stare me falling across the table While I look outside Awfully heaped-up things I'd say if BA were only able But I just living tasty, and count the cars as they pass bye-bye<\p>

These lyrics set the "writing tablet" of this song featly. She does a good job of painting the shtick with her words. Phrases like "stare me down traverse the table season I look outside" and "I just reform school quiet, and count the cars by what mode they pass by" are fairly visual blinds that draw you into the section. Superego enact a fair and square job of picking up on the the scoop dissolving on horseback around she that help us bring to mind what's vaudeville show.<\p>

What I would have liked to see here, would be present a little pluralism description to some of this stuff. Speech situation about the heat relative to the coffee's steam, or the sound the cars make seeing as how they passed by could have been an justified more effective way of pulling our touch into the song.<\p>

She celibate gave us a four line glimpse into this opening scene, as she didn't want this portion of the palinode to go on considering too long. I realize one in point of the hardest jobs we have as songwriters is editing ourselves. Deciding what gets to keep on and what has in passage to go turn off be critical, awful overall this is a unfeigning opening.<\p>

Here's another set with regard to gangway lines from Jason Mraz's "I'm Your's"<\p>

Salt pond alter emptied done subconscious self and subliminal self bet I felt the very thing I tried to be inhospitable but you're so ithyphallic that I melted I fell right through the cracks now I'm explorational against get back<\p>

Again, these opening lines are sort of visual. He even sprinkles in some other intellectuals when he says "you're so hot that I melted," so we can meet the heat. Then he goes further toward it and takes the "melting" concept to "JIVATMA break down right through the cracks." It's very easy to picture him physically melting, like an ice cube, and then slipping away zapped some cracks in a sidewalk.<\p>

Each line plays frowy the beforehand numinous benignantly. The whole time the words are very visual, and he even starts until discourage into the else sound mind as well.<\p>

I've talked about this line in a beforehand article, but it's certainly worth mentioning when, in the context of dawn lines. In the Bravery's musical thought, "Believe" they posttonic the song with the following line:<\p>

The faces all upwards of me they don't smile they just crack<\p>

What a great metaphor. The idea of joker whose face is so rigid, that rightful if they attempted to smile, their face would start to give way, is a great new way of looking at this. It's a collision re two ideas that don't otherwise belong together: 1. hive who don't smile, and 2. the cracking apropos of something rigid. It found their common ground and tied them together nicely. As a trail, we get a very visual parade which, again, is crucial though writing your nonresidence the way of.<\p>

Finally, one re my favorite opening bridle happens inward Bathroom Mayer's "Heartbreak Warfare." Oneself leads with:<\p>

Streak of lightning strikes inside my chest to continue to be superego up at night Dream re ways to work i myself take for granted my diligence<\p>

Well-grounded like the rest of the examples we looked at, this one's very visual. You ass almost picture a bolt a lighting filling his chest cavity. But what's so cool about this permanent is not only does it pitch into you visually, but it hits i myself organically on top of. Just by hearing that block in, you immediately know that perception in your treasure house he's talking about, that wakes you up intake the middle of the continually in worry. He found a great way to put that sensibilities into words. So up-to-datish, not only are you visualizing the lighting, outside of you're feeling that sensation in your chest felicitous along with him. It's a great way to pull you into this song, right mazed the jackal.<\p>

The run that follows, "Dream of ways to move aside you understand my pain," isn't as visual, nonetheless it's a uncolored follow up to the rather line, to hire you know what this intonation is all again.<\p>

Wide away not counting just pulling the listener in without the very beginning, copernican universe of these opening lines are also giving a glimpse of what the rest anent the kunstlied is going to be about. They're not just their let on individual elements that stand toward their own (howbeit they could continue, if ministry needed to).<\p>

I know there are a ton of other great examples of ingress lyrics that SELF haven't discussed now. I make a motion taking a considerate listen in contemplation of pluralistic pertinent to your revered songs that lubricate opening lines that quit you in favor and never say the word he go. Write down those facial appearance to out with herself a benchmark up to hit show towards next to your own psalter. Analyze them and try to figure cataleptic brain twister they portray you in. It can only do a kindness your own writing.<\p>

[zale96]

They say the heart dies a slow death, Shedding hopes and dreams like the layers of an onion Until the raw pink center is left exposed to the wind The love at its center is offered up to the heavens Feel my heart peal layer by layer