WIP meme
WIP meme: Take any currently unfinished fics you have and write the first line/paragraph from each. (Gacked from beren_writes)
Merlot (HP)
Voldemort was dead, but life would never be the same.
The Ministry had been decimated and was only now rebuilding. Percy's work kept him very busy, often at the office for ten hours a day or more.
That was for the best, really. It wasn't as if he had anything else going for him.
His family was through with him, for the most part. He and his father had gotten to the point where they could speak civilly to each other in the halls at the new Ministry offices. But it was always there, hiding behind the strained smiles and unimportant how-do-you-dos.
His mother still wasn't speaking to him. Percy didn't know what to do about it. He hadn't been totally wrong, and she hadn't been totally right. Some days, he wanted to go and beg his mother to forgive him. If he had been sure she would, he'd have done it in a heartbeat.
But he wasn't sure. And so he didn't.
~*~
Tarnished Sidekicks (BtVS/HP)
Hermione Granger took another sip from her fourth cup of tea and grimaced slightly at the cold liquid. Placing the cup back on the table, she tried to turn back to her book.
The noise in the overly full pub proved too much, however, and she finally closed the book with a snap.
Some things never change, Hermione thought as she picked her cup up again with her left hand and stared into its porcelain depths. The pub, in London near her parents' house, had always been noisy and crowed, even at lunchtime on a Tuesday. She'd been coming here since she was a child, first with her father with dinner while mum was out at meetings, then later by herself when she was home on hols from school.
And now... now, school was out, and all the lessons she'd ever need were burned into her mind like a brand. And now she needed the noise. She'd had enough of silence.
~*~
Shop Talk (BtVS/Smallville)
Here we go, Xander thought. Nice normal small-town USA. No demons, vampires, vengeance demons, praying mantis ladies.
This town had cornfields and one coffee shop; some farmers still rode horses to the feed store. It was hours from civilization, but he had a modem, to keep in touch with his buddies. His girls.
All he had to do for his vacation year from saving the world and finding Slayers and dealing with YAA (yet another apocalypse, as Willow dubbed it), was teach shop to a bunch of high-school kids. Dawn laughed when he told them, but it sounded right. Something new. Something his.
He surveyed the room. It was his first day, and he was gleeful that things were going so well. Nothing could go wrong--
*SNAP*
~*~
Inevitable (AB/HP)
I was angry at Richard. Again. You'd think this would no longer be news.
I jerked open the door of my Jeep, still angry, keen on getting the hell away from the lupanar. It never ceased to amaze me how, after all this time, after all we had been through, Richard could still make biting little comments that dug under my skin. Tonight it had been yet another offhanded comment, something dismissive about the dirty work I did for the pack as Bolverk. This after the man himself had called me to take care of a messy problem because he did not want to get his hands dirty.
I hadn't said anything at the time, because really, who want to get into a pissing match with the wolf king, the Ulfric, on the night of the full moon? So I bit my lip, gripped my gun even tighter, and counted weresheep.
~*~
Switchback (AB)
The phone rang. And rang. I didn't want to move, but the damn phone kept ringing.
"Nathaniel, get the phone," I moaned, drawing myself out of sleep.
Nothing. No movement, and the phone kept ringing. Nathaniel always at least moved when I asked him to get the phone.
As I got my bearings, I realized something was off. The bed was cold around me. Why hadn't I woken when Micah or Nathaniel got up? They had been here last night, and I usually at least registered on some level when one of them left.
I pulled the blanket away from my face and opened my eyes. My breath hitched in my throat and I suddenly clawed my way to sudden, extreme panic.
This was not the room I fell asleep in last night.
~*~
Any Given Tuesday (BtVS/AB)
"Careful, Merlioni, you miss this shot and we're dead."
"I've been making these shots for longer than you've been out of short pants, Zerbrowski."
"Whatever, if you miss the target, I'm busting your ass back to traffic cop."
"Shut up and let me aim." Merlioni held his arm steady and sighted down his arm. His hand never wavered as he tensed.
A second later, the paper airplane flew out of his hand and across the squad room. Heads turned to watch as the folded memo floated effortlessly through the makeshift target, Zerbrowski's shoulder gun rig taped up between a chair and a filing cabinet.
~*~
Candlelight (BtVS/AB)
Buffy lit a taper and used it to light candle after candle at the alter.
One for Mom. One for Tara. One for Anya. One for Kendra. One for all of the other Slayers, dead in their graves.
She hesitated, then lit two more candles. One for Angel and one for Spike. God wouldn't mind. God didn't hate.
The melting wax from the taper slid down, onto her fingers. It hurt, but then, everything always hurt. She didn't let anyone know, but what she had said to Spike, that day behind the Magic Box, was still true. Too bright, too loud, too hard. All pain.
She blew out the taper and watched the smoke curl up into the air, up to heaven. The taper went back on the ledge.
Buffy turned, slowly, because she didn't want to leave here. Maybe it was only a placebo, but she felt calmer here than she had since... Since.
~*~
Me in Team (BtVS/AB)
Kate pressed her hands together in her lap, trying very hard not to look up at the man behind the desk.
This isn't going to work, she thought nervously. It had been five years since the LAPD fired her. Since the, she'd tried to get a job in every big city from there to New York. No dice.
But then Addison v. Clarke hit the ground running, and all those things hiding in the dark suddenly were able to walk in the free light of day. Or at least at night.
Kate would have called up Angel to see what he thought of the whole thing. But then, as far as she knew, Angel was dead.
Well, deader.
~*~
Letter Box (BtVS/AB)
Dawn hadn't know.
Yes, she knew she had a cousin in St. Louis, and that her mother had gone to see him once, and that his name was Nathaniel, but that was it.
She hadn't known Mom had been writing to him every week. She hadn't known Mom kept all of the letters he had sent her in a box in the basement, not until yet another horrible sleepless night the month after Buffy died had driven Dawn to the basement, where she could rage silently without waking Willow and Tara.
The box had been knocked off the shelf when Dawn had yanked the lawn chair away from the wall. She would have put the box back in its place, but she was so scared and mad at Buffy and at Mom for dying and leaving her all alone that she kicked the shoebox as hard as she could. The lid had flown off, scattering letters everywhere.
*counts* Nine? NINE? *faints from the strain*
Merlot (HP)
Voldemort was dead, but life would never be the same.
The Ministry had been decimated and was only now rebuilding. Percy's work kept him very busy, often at the office for ten hours a day or more.
That was for the best, really. It wasn't as if he had anything else going for him.
His family was through with him, for the most part. He and his father had gotten to the point where they could speak civilly to each other in the halls at the new Ministry offices. But it was always there, hiding behind the strained smiles and unimportant how-do-you-dos.
His mother still wasn't speaking to him. Percy didn't know what to do about it. He hadn't been totally wrong, and she hadn't been totally right. Some days, he wanted to go and beg his mother to forgive him. If he had been sure she would, he'd have done it in a heartbeat.
But he wasn't sure. And so he didn't.
~*~
Tarnished Sidekicks (BtVS/HP)
Hermione Granger took another sip from her fourth cup of tea and grimaced slightly at the cold liquid. Placing the cup back on the table, she tried to turn back to her book.
The noise in the overly full pub proved too much, however, and she finally closed the book with a snap.
Some things never change, Hermione thought as she picked her cup up again with her left hand and stared into its porcelain depths. The pub, in London near her parents' house, had always been noisy and crowed, even at lunchtime on a Tuesday. She'd been coming here since she was a child, first with her father with dinner while mum was out at meetings, then later by herself when she was home on hols from school.
And now... now, school was out, and all the lessons she'd ever need were burned into her mind like a brand. And now she needed the noise. She'd had enough of silence.
~*~
Shop Talk (BtVS/Smallville)
Here we go, Xander thought. Nice normal small-town USA. No demons, vampires, vengeance demons, praying mantis ladies.
This town had cornfields and one coffee shop; some farmers still rode horses to the feed store. It was hours from civilization, but he had a modem, to keep in touch with his buddies. His girls.
All he had to do for his vacation year from saving the world and finding Slayers and dealing with YAA (yet another apocalypse, as Willow dubbed it), was teach shop to a bunch of high-school kids. Dawn laughed when he told them, but it sounded right. Something new. Something his.
He surveyed the room. It was his first day, and he was gleeful that things were going so well. Nothing could go wrong--
*SNAP*
~*~
Inevitable (AB/HP)
I was angry at Richard. Again. You'd think this would no longer be news.
I jerked open the door of my Jeep, still angry, keen on getting the hell away from the lupanar. It never ceased to amaze me how, after all this time, after all we had been through, Richard could still make biting little comments that dug under my skin. Tonight it had been yet another offhanded comment, something dismissive about the dirty work I did for the pack as Bolverk. This after the man himself had called me to take care of a messy problem because he did not want to get his hands dirty.
I hadn't said anything at the time, because really, who want to get into a pissing match with the wolf king, the Ulfric, on the night of the full moon? So I bit my lip, gripped my gun even tighter, and counted weresheep.
~*~
Switchback (AB)
The phone rang. And rang. I didn't want to move, but the damn phone kept ringing.
"Nathaniel, get the phone," I moaned, drawing myself out of sleep.
Nothing. No movement, and the phone kept ringing. Nathaniel always at least moved when I asked him to get the phone.
As I got my bearings, I realized something was off. The bed was cold around me. Why hadn't I woken when Micah or Nathaniel got up? They had been here last night, and I usually at least registered on some level when one of them left.
I pulled the blanket away from my face and opened my eyes. My breath hitched in my throat and I suddenly clawed my way to sudden, extreme panic.
This was not the room I fell asleep in last night.
~*~
Any Given Tuesday (BtVS/AB)
"Careful, Merlioni, you miss this shot and we're dead."
"I've been making these shots for longer than you've been out of short pants, Zerbrowski."
"Whatever, if you miss the target, I'm busting your ass back to traffic cop."
"Shut up and let me aim." Merlioni held his arm steady and sighted down his arm. His hand never wavered as he tensed.
A second later, the paper airplane flew out of his hand and across the squad room. Heads turned to watch as the folded memo floated effortlessly through the makeshift target, Zerbrowski's shoulder gun rig taped up between a chair and a filing cabinet.
~*~
Candlelight (BtVS/AB)
Buffy lit a taper and used it to light candle after candle at the alter.
One for Mom. One for Tara. One for Anya. One for Kendra. One for all of the other Slayers, dead in their graves.
She hesitated, then lit two more candles. One for Angel and one for Spike. God wouldn't mind. God didn't hate.
The melting wax from the taper slid down, onto her fingers. It hurt, but then, everything always hurt. She didn't let anyone know, but what she had said to Spike, that day behind the Magic Box, was still true. Too bright, too loud, too hard. All pain.
She blew out the taper and watched the smoke curl up into the air, up to heaven. The taper went back on the ledge.
Buffy turned, slowly, because she didn't want to leave here. Maybe it was only a placebo, but she felt calmer here than she had since... Since.
~*~
Me in Team (BtVS/AB)
Kate pressed her hands together in her lap, trying very hard not to look up at the man behind the desk.
This isn't going to work, she thought nervously. It had been five years since the LAPD fired her. Since the, she'd tried to get a job in every big city from there to New York. No dice.
But then Addison v. Clarke hit the ground running, and all those things hiding in the dark suddenly were able to walk in the free light of day. Or at least at night.
Kate would have called up Angel to see what he thought of the whole thing. But then, as far as she knew, Angel was dead.
Well, deader.
~*~
Letter Box (BtVS/AB)
Dawn hadn't know.
Yes, she knew she had a cousin in St. Louis, and that her mother had gone to see him once, and that his name was Nathaniel, but that was it.
She hadn't known Mom had been writing to him every week. She hadn't known Mom kept all of the letters he had sent her in a box in the basement, not until yet another horrible sleepless night the month after Buffy died had driven Dawn to the basement, where she could rage silently without waking Willow and Tara.
The box had been knocked off the shelf when Dawn had yanked the lawn chair away from the wall. She would have put the box back in its place, but she was so scared and mad at Buffy and at Mom for dying and leaving her all alone that she kicked the shoebox as hard as she could. The lid had flown off, scattering letters everywhere.
*counts* Nine? NINE? *faints from the strain*