#ahaha look at me writing a dialogue heavy piece

[ashxketchum]

Writer’s Month - 3

Not much to share today, I was in office all day so had my first experience of typing something fic-related on my Notes app lol. 

Fandom/Pairing: Digimon/Taiora 

Prompt: outside, wedding (In this case they’re outside of their house {to be extremely technical} and are married {not a wedding but they got back from their honeymoon so pretty close to one lol}) 

Setting: Post Kizuna. Somethings are just not canon in this verse ✨(special shout out to @earlgreymon for her rainy Taiora edits that inspired some of the events mentioned here) 

~ 

Taichi tapped his foot impatiently as he waited outside the powder room for Sora. He was still taken aback by the interview that they had just gotten out of, but before he could begin his interrogation of Sora, she had promptly skipped off to the powder room, leaving Taichi to wait patiently in silent agony. He wasn’t angry at her, just a bit confused since he believed that if they were going to do more such interviews, the least they could do was keep their stories straight. It wasn’t everyday when the youngest member of parliament got married to an aspiring iemoto, the collision of politics with tradition had taken the Japanese media by storm and Taichi and Sora had spent most of their days hopping from one interview to another after returning from their honeymoon.

Taichi straightened up as soon as the door he was leaning against moved and he came face to face with Sora, fixing her with a confused gaze as their eyes met.

“That was our first date?”

Sora blinked twice, as she took in her husband’s words an amused smile settled on her face. She adjusted her drawstring pouch on her left hand and raised her right one to softly stroke Taichi’s cheek.

“You’re such an idiot, Taichi.” She laughed, as he immediately pouted at her words.

“It can’t count as our first date, if I didn’t even know it was a date.” Taichi retorted, grateful for her touch, he leaned into it comfortably, feeling her warmth spread throughout his body.

“How could you not know it was a date?” Sora raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, she removed her hand from his cheek and linked it with his, guiding him away from the door to the powder room and towards the exit.

“Well we weren’t together together then.” Taichi allowed himself to be led out, still arguing his case diligently.

“Do people need to be together to go on dates?” Sora challenged him in return, it seemed that she was quiet adamant on her own stance.

“Not really…” Taichi answered, silently dreading that his defeat in this argument was closer than he expected and the only valid point he had made didn’t reflect well on his self awareness.

“Did you or did you not take me out that day?”

“I did…”

“Did you or did you not pay for our meal?”

“I did…”

“Did you or did you not drop me home?”

“I did…”

“So how was it not a date?” Sora concluded happily, her tone indicating that she knew Taichi would have no retort for her after this.

“Wow Sora, are you sure it isn’t too late for you to sit down for the bar exam?” Taichi replied sarcastically as he shook his head in total defeat, they’d reached the parking lot during their discussion and the two stayed silent as they settled themselves in their car, Sora taking a bit longer to do so than Taichi, adjusting her kimono to perfection before putting on the seatbelt.

“I’m curios though, what do you think our first date was?” Sora turned in her seat to look at her husband, once they were on the road, an amused smile playing on her lips.

“Obviously, last year of college when I asked you to accompany me to my graduation party.”

Sora burst out laughing and Taichi passed an annoyed glare in her direction, being careful to not let his eyes slip away from the road for too long, “What’s so funny?”

“Taichi, honey, we’ve had several dates before that happened.”

“No, no way. That was definitely our first date.”

“So you’re telling me, you don’t consider you taking me out for a movie after the Eosmon battle a date? Or even you coming up to Kyoto to visit me during my residency doesn’t count as a date?” 

“Okay I think we both have some very different definitions of what a date is.” Taichi muttered through gritted teeth, “I took you to that movie because I was worried about how much time you were spending holed up in your room after Piyomon left you. And I came up to Kyoto to make sure you weren’t feeling homesick.”

“So they were both gestures of your love for me, ergo they count as a date.”

“But I didn’t ask you to be with me then, I just showed up unannounced!”

“Still counts, Taichi.”

“But do you really want it to count? I mean I was a sobbing mess myself when I took you to that movie, and the Kyoto trip was so terrible, it rained the entire time I was there and all we could do was stay in your dorm and eat instant ramen for dinner.” Taichi stated, frowning as he remembered all the bad luck that had followed him around at the time, “Don’t you want to remember something more romantic as your first date?”

“Every moment I spend with you is romantic for me.” Sora whispered gently, and Taichi couldn’t help but turn his eyes away from the road for a moment to look at his wife, “Even if you could barely hold back your own tears that day, I was glad that you cared enough about me to pull me out of my sadness. In Kyoto, I had been so lonely, not knowing anyone or anything, just having you sit across from me and hear you talk about your classes was enough to soothe my heart. I love every single thing you do for me Taichi, always have and always will.”

Taichi was stunned speechless, he hadn’t experienced this level of overwhelming happiness since their wedding vows, he found it amazing just how easily Sora could manage to make him feel so worthy through her simple words. They drove in silence after that, a happy but smug smile visible on Sora’s face over her sweeping victory in this argument. While Taichi did not mind giving this one win to his wife, he was still in the mood to poke the bear a little bit, so just as he turned the car into their driveway, a smirk appeared on his face as he glanced at Sora.

“By your definitions, I’d say our first date was when I saved you from Datamon back when we were kids.”

[jenivi7]

First Lines Tagging Meme

I'M SO HAPPY TO BE TAGGED IN THIS TWICE!  Thank you @ink-flavored and @clyde-side !! (I almost just did this on my own too because I love babbling about my own fics...)

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.

Now pinned and under a cut because it became a really long, really good introduction to me and my stories! 

Hello!

Unnecessary and overly wordy introduction/personal musings: I love opening lines so much. When I worked at a bookstore, I used to open books and hardcore judge them on their first lines. I had barely any free time to read at that point so if it didn’t grab me in the first line or two, I put it back. The first Harry Potter book is actually in my pile of really good openers. “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” (Subtle alliteration, HELLO??) So I'm super excited to see if my own first lines come even close to the standards that I apply to other people lol. MY OWN MONEY IS ON NO. I have the feeling that I'm so frantic trying to get the story down on paper before the good words disappear from my head that I'm not actually paying attention to the first line. BUT LET'S SEE, SHALL WE.

So just straight up going backwards, I've written and posted TWO BRAND NEW THINGS after being away from fandom almost entirely for 10+ years! They're drabble length but they're shiny and new! <3 (All available fics are linked!)

1. Tango:

She teaches them to dance so that they can dance with her but when Atem gets that mischievous smirk on his face and pulls Yugi into his arms, their bodies spark and the dance floor smolders at their heels.

(The fic is so short that this is a full 1/5 of it but actually, I think I crammed all the good stuff right into that first line. This already might be my favorite. Like it says there in the line itself, Puzzleshipping.)

2. No Betting:

Anzu sat at the kitchen table writing carefully calculated answers onto sticky notes before attaching them to a fourth-grade math worksheet.

(Peachshipping! This one doesn't pop off until about line five so here's the rest of that bit:)

She had the same arrangement with her spouse as most parents had. When the kids were good they were hers. When they were bad, they were his. And when they were winning at games because they picked up rules with uncanny speed and read their opponents with more insight than ought to be available to a child, they were definitely, definitely his.

3. If you wanted honesty that's all you had to say (working title):

When he realized that the figure sitting under the game shop display window and smoking wasn’t Ryou, the physical body response was as though it had discovered a coiled snake not two feet away.

(This one! It's a NEW half finished(?) WIP. I actually started this one before the drabbles but wanted to finish before posting it. Then it got out of hand, then work got out of hand, then I started a couple more projects and well. I keep putting words on it though and eventually there will be a Kleptoshipper that turns into Puzzle and Tender for your reading enjoyment. Also, fair warning - don't use song lyrics as a working title. Every time I look at the document I get the song stuck in my head.)

Now we have polished up reposts of old stories for their move to AO3, where I'll basically keep my master archive. Not full re-writes but I fixed a bunch of typos and awkward sentences and they're much stronger for it. Most of these are from a pairings contest way back when so LOTS of different pairings and lots of AUs!

4. Human:

It was like a bad noir, the thought crossed both of their minds.

(Scifi AU, Rivalshipping. That one's not bad for a first line. Actually no link at the time of writing cause the re-edit is going up in like, a half hour? an hour? a half day? It's my next project after finishing this, finishing up the edit and posting it on AO3. Now with link!)

5. Blood:

Fingers through midnight black hair, whispers in his ear, touches that sizzled along the skin, awakening nerves and senses. 

(Dungeonshipping, Pegasus x Otogi, vampires AU. Oh that’s a nice first line! <3)

6. Crazy for You:

The keys are too large and too heavy for the doctor more used to more modern facilities but she doesn't say anything, just follows the orderly as he pulls the large door open.

(Manipulashipping, Anzu x Marik, Psychward AU. Still one of my favorites from that era. Big bold warning though, THIS ONE CONTAINS NON-CON)

7. Finality:

“What are you doing here?”

“Saying goodbye.” Bakura’s translucent arms swept across the graveyard. “Is this not an appropriate place for it?”

(First two or so bits of dialogue as the first first is a generic question. You can tell this is one of the really old ones just by that but it's a sweet, sad little Tendershipper that still has a special place in my heart.)

8. Pieces of You:

Glitter caught the light, leaving shimmering trails in the air as it got everywhere.

(Glittershipping, Anzu x Kisara. Another one that's special to me. Kisara is my girl and my first writing muse. <3)

9. Cambodia:

“It was summer of fifty three...”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, it can't have been fifty three. You might be that ancient but I'm not. It must have been sixty three.”

(Jiishipping. Yes. Sugoroku x Arthur. HEY, IT CAME UP IN THE RANDOM DRAW FOR THE SHIPPING CONTEST OK. And my writer's brain hasn't backed down from a challenge yet... Another one that takes 4 lines to pop off but it's a good start. Actually, here's the rest of the bit just because I cannot get enough of these two bickering:)

“What do you mean it must have been sixty three? You don't even know what story I'm trying to tell.”

“Am I in it?”

“What?”

“So you're deaf now as well as daft? AM I IN IT?”

“Of course you're in it, y'old coot. Don't know why I'd tell a story without you in it when both grandkids are sitting here.”

10. Coffee and Cigarettes:

"Cigarettes and coffee? That's not a very healthy lunch." 

Mana crossed her legs and took a refined sip of her own coffee even as her company was not. 

(Mischiefshipping, Mana x Thief King Bakura. Oh this one I'm actually sad that it doesn't immediately sparkle in the first line cause it's one of my absolute favorites of everything I've written. And I think it's the only time I've ever written Mana but I LOVED IT AND HER. Oh no! I lied, I've written her at least one other time though I don't think that one quite captures her sheer chaos energy like this one does.)

11. A Million Missed Chances:

Somewhere along the line, someone made a choice.

(This one. THIS ONE. I think this is by far the most epic idea I've tackled. I still don't know if the sheer scale of the thing came across in the actual fic but in my head it was massive and I remember pounding away at my teeny tiny laptop late at night because the whole thing hit me maybe a day or so before the story was due for the pairings contest. We only had a week to write each fic and my really good ideas never came to me before the very last minute. T.T Conquestshipping, Mai x Valon.)

12. A Fear of Falling:

She drove.

Like she always did when something bothered her.

(Oh the first chapter on this is also one of the really ancient ones. Like one of the very first things I wrote. That first chapter really shows its age and is a little shaky but the others are better and the last one is what fits into the chorological order here. Polarshipping, Jou x Mai. One of my very first ships. Probably THE first actually <3)

13. What Our Creators Make Us:

"Well, well." The match flared, scattering dark shadows until it was blown out and the only light that remained was the red glow from the cigarette end. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

(Psychoshipping, Marik x Spirit of the Ring Bakura. With a bit of Bronze, Angst and Tender in the follow up. Old but I'm ridiculously proud of it, hence it's place in the master archive. Ahaha you can tell how old it is though by how clever I think I am. I thought it was funny to make my audience figure out who was talking and not reveal the characters for a good fourth to third of the fic. Ahhhhhhh. Sorry about past me.)

14. A Revolution of the Spirit:

It wasn't fair.  It just wasn't.

That they were close was understandable (you don't get much closer than sharing headspace) but that even now, after deals were made with gods, endless arguments, compromises and the ultimate guilt trip that he had only been a teenager when he willingly sacrificed himself for all of humanity, things she had only half seen and only partly understood even though they had all been there to witness, that even now Atem continued to invade Yugi's personal space as though he belonged there got on her nerves.

(Woah Nelly! That third sentence should probably be three, four and five. Even if I just split it in half we'd continue the pattern of things popping off in the fourth line. I think that's one pattern that's emerging! A really good bit takes me about four lines to set up and deliver! Oh, the challenge was Revolutionshipping, Anzu x Atem, but the fic is actually Spiritshipping, Anzu x Yugi x Atem.)

So confession time, I haven't been out of fandom completely, I just hadn't written my own standalone stories in a very long time. There are a few (ok ok more than a few) long-running rps that @miss-moberg and I have been adding to on and off over the years. I can't resist throwing in a couple of these.

15. Cafe!

The door shut behind them with the soft click of the latch and the exhale of a breath long held.

(This opening line was from December of 2020 when we rebooted a very old Prideshipper and that is a damn good opening line if I do say so myself. I can definitely see the difference now between the newer works and the older ones. I've gotten better, she's matched me pace for pace and eventually something will be finished, I'll work up the courage to ask permission to post it and the whole internet will get to see how brilliant the two of us are together.)

16. Treasure Hunt!

"Ryou, I think you're going to regret letting me tag along on your adventuring this time."  Yugi didn't bother turning away from the airplane's tiny window to see if his seatmate was paying attention.  He was more thinking out loud with his friend playing the role of a convenient sounding board.  "Because I think this trip is the only thing I'm going to talk about ever again."

(One more from RP because it's got that fun, four line punch that we've discovered is a pattern for me! Opening entry is from 2017.)

Also, in truth, my count is a little off when I say I'd been out of fandom 10+ years. I've been away from YGO for that long but I did spend a brief stint in Homestuck where I read a ton of fanfic, flirted with a couple group RPs and even wrote a tiny bit. 9 years without writing a new fic isn't as impressive as saying ‘over a decade’ but it is a little more accurate.

17. What You Will:

In the land of fair Illyria, along a small, sandy stretch of its rocky shore, a ship has come to ruin and one lone woman lies still as death among broken wood.

(The beginning of a Homestuck/Twelfth Night crossover that I'm still determined to work more on someday. It's only got a single chapter but it's magic though now I'm concerned about not being able to recapture that. Not a bad first line though. The style is so different it took me reading it a couple times before going, oh yeeeeeah, that's pretty good!)

18. Relentless:

You pull him to the deck and then across it by the remains of his shirt. Let him say one last goodbye. His ship pillaged, his crew murdered, his hands bound behind his back and at your mercy.

Funny word, that. Mercy.

(The first line is pretty decent but there's that four line combo again! Five but I could basically fix that with a comma. Featuring the troll ancestors Mindfang and Dualscar because every time Hussey introduced new characters they were instantly my favorite.) 

19. Black:

There is dark and there is dark and there is dark and then there is black. She is black. Licorice and coal. She is hate and resentment and everything that tastes bitter, the kind of black that coats the tongue like oil, drips down the back of the throat and keeps going.

(Oh wow. Am I allowed to say that about my own work? A Terezi/Vriska drabble that I'm putting as much here as I think I can get away with because it's so good that it fucks me up a little going back and reading it.)

And here it gets tricky because I think the more recent of the old, old fics are in the Drabbles and Shorts collection on ff.net and I can't see a post date. So I'll just pick a good one to end on.

20. Two Princes:

It was inevitable as the rising of Ra's chariot after a long night, as the flooding of the river banks every spring, and Atem always knew that Yugi's kiss would be as warm and gentle as the evening breeze in the summer that brought relief from the scorching day. It was.

(How about the final honor going to more Puzzle/Blind? This probably has the strongest first line of its era. Actually I'm not sure when it was written. It was just hanging out in my writing folder and, thinking about it, I probably wrote it when I was fading from fandom the first time around but still trying to hang in there. No wait! That’s too sad, we can’t end on that! Lets add one more to the list for the sake of personal narrative!)

21. Linger:

The world doesn't need him anymore. It doesn't need his sword and it doesn't need his pen.

(A tiny Princess Tutu afterward that I wrote for myself. Nice one-two punch in the opener. Also it rounds out the personal story that accidentally developed here with a line later in the fic, "Words, however, never stray far from a good writer..." Like, wait, stop. Past me, how did you know T.T)

Did that take a sudden emotional turn for anyone else or was that just me. Can I offset that a little with an honorable mention? Let’s do that while I collect myself. Here’s one more.

Honorable mention: Ryou and the Thief

There was a storm gathering and too much magic in the air. Much more than occurred naturally and magic at this level was never a good thing.

(I can’t have a list of things I’ve written without having Ryou and the Thief on it. If you click on this one though, BEWARE, it’s old, it’s silly and it has a ton of explicit gay sex that… would be written very differently if we were handling it today I’m sure! This is the first RP @miss-moberg and I ever did together and our excuse to Gemship and Puzzleship turned into us running the boys through a whole adventure based on the Osiris myth. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever completed and I’d still consider it kind of my legacy.)

And that’s the last 21(+1!) stories that I’ve written! 

The clear winner of best first line for me is 15. Cafe! It’s short, elegant and manages to contain a whole mood even without the context of what’s going on and who’s involved. (Spoilers: It’s Seto and Mokuba making an AU escape from Gozoboro.) Close second is Tango, the most recent story. It’s neat to see just how much better I’ve gotten and also really cool to see that even if the first line itself doesn’t contain a punch, it’s usually because there’s a nice, strong idea being set up and delivered in the first four lines (or so). What a pleasant surprise!

AND WOW, this whole tag thing didn't need to be so long! Or personal! Seriously, if you get this tag from me the challenge is only to list the first lines to 20 stories and maybe try to draw one or two conclusions from them. You all thought I was joking when I said I loved talking about my own writing! But actually, I guess it’s fine like this as I ended up using it as a way to re-introduce myself. Like, "Hey, I used to live here a long time ago and oh my god I love what you've done with the place!" Rather than being someone who's just popped up out of nowhere a few weeks ago to creepily bother all your best of the best creators so....

^///^ Hello!

Thanks for letting me ramble!

Tags! I think I've seen most of the authors I follow do this already but on the off chance you haven't been tagged yet: @elexica (checked your blog to see if you'd already done the tag and saw that you're another person returning to writing fanfiction after 10+ years. Same! Hello!!), @danieco, @draconicmaw, @nedjemetsenen (has someone tagged you already?) and two shots in the dark, @miss-moberg and @edmondia (I'm so sorry you two. T.T Please feel free to block me forever.) And please, anyone else who wants to babble about their own writing! Do this, it was so much fun. <3

[notlikelionking]

Oh goodie! ^^ I have more, haha.. how about 3,4,7 for Bricks and 3,8,13 for Syrup?

Bricks (the McPriceley slave!AU)

3.What’s your favorite line of narration?

I’m not sure I can pick a specific piece ofnarrative, but what I enjoy the most is Kevin’s internal struggles/anxiety. Iknow I’ve written several paragraphs when he is going to sleep/trying tosleep/awake in the middle of the night, and I always like to write that type ofprivate internal scenes.

4.What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

I’m going to say what I know I’ve saidbefore about dialogue–I’m never pleased with it. -_-

7.Where did the title come from?

Ahaha. I really hate picking titles, okay?And I didn’t have any inspiration for this one at all, so I googled lyrics,quotes, a whole bunch of stuff and I came across a quote that I liked and wasabout bricks being the building stones of people and the risk of it all comingdown or whatever and it felt suitable somehow. But the thing is, I’ve lost thequote. For whatever reason I was surfing on incognito mode and when I closedthe browser window it was lost to me forever. I don’t even remember exactlywhat I was searching for anymore. It’s just–gone. But at least there’s atitle, you know? Even if it’s vague. :P

Syrup (McPriceley post-canon summer!fic)

(I didn’t think people remembered this fic,tbh. x_x)

3.What’s your favorite line of narration?

I always feel embarrassed answering thesequestions because I feel silly and embarrassed when looking at my own writing,you know? But I suppose my favorite line is “Today the heat had felt likea heavy blanket that made the air too thick to breathe,” because even if it doesn’t make sense, that’sexactly what it feels like when it’s hot outside. At least for me. I don’t likeheat. But I like the mental image of heat, relaxed afternoons, and popsiclesand sticky cold lips. :P  

8.Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

I guess I’ve done the hip bump thingsometimes, and I like the comfortable feeling of living with someone you like,but other than that, no.

13.What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing thisstory? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers shouldlisten to to accompany us while reading?

Honestly? I can’t remember where I was whenI wrote this. Was I still sleeping on my friends’ couch, or did I have my ownapartment? But anyway, I’m thinking about the band Belle and Sebastian andperhaps especially their album The Boy With The Arab Strap. The feeling thatalbum gives me matches the feeling I had when I wrote the fic.