drabbling away
Jan. 22nd, 2007 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janne_dI can't remember where I picked this up, but it sounded interesting:
Pick a novel (or book), preferably one of more than 100 pages in length, and take the first (full) sentence off of the top of page; 10, 20, 30, 40 & etc. Until you have ten (or thereabouts) quotes.
Take said ten (or so) quotes and write drabbles based on them. You can use the whole quote, or just a section, even a word – all that matters is that you stay faithful to the first sentence part of the challenge.
Well, I didn't do a sentence every 10 pages as my book was more than 100 long, and I gave up on trying to keep to 100 words really quickly. But here are the results anyway, using Now That You're Back by A.L. Kennedy.
Torchwood
1. He offers us what he has and should not have and takes advantage of our tiredness, our weakness and our humanity.
It was staring up at Abaddon, blotting out the sun with impossible bulk, that Ianto finally realised just how easily Bilis Manger had played them all. They’d all been tired and heartsick; and Bilis had used parts of their lives that he had no right to and taken advantage of their love and fear to hook them in. And they’d all followed blindly, trusting visions and dreams instead of their minds, unsuspecting as children.
All except Jack. There’d been no place to set a hook there, it seemed. Ianto wondered if that meant Jack was blessed or cursed. Lisa might have been used against him, but at least Ianto had once had someone that meant that much. They all had.
All except Jack.
2. This is a very Freudian moment.
Honestly, it had seemed perfectly natural to Ianto until Jack had returned. He’d never even really thought about it, he’d just done it, but then Jack had started tearing the place apart looking and Ianto had confessed, and once he’d said it out loud… Well, he’d realised how odd it sounded and Jack’s eyebrows had shot up with a devilish glee that had made Ianto blush and stammer.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said, backing into a corner of the office as Jack prowled towards him.
“That’s not what Freud would say,” Jack grinned.
“Freud was a dirty-minded old man,” Ianto said weakly as Jack pinned him to the wall.
“Ianto. You’ve been keeping my gun in your bed,” Jack said, and kissed him hard.
All right, so. Maybe a bit Freudian Ianto thought, and then he moaned and stopped thinking altogether.
3. For a long time I thought I would keep on this way, but the numbness faded and then I felt sad.
The time after Lisa died, finally and permanently, was strange for Ianto. The night he’d been found out, it had all been heart-pounding terror and anger and desperation, every emotion heightened by adrenaline to the point of madness. But afterwards?
Nothing. He was numb.
He couldn’t grieve for her, his tears all used up in those dreadful few hours, he couldn’t feel afraid of whatever the punishment for his actions would be (and he’d seen Jack’s ruthlessness first hand, he should be afraid). Ianto couldn’t even hate Jack like he thought he should and would.
He thought maybe he would just keep on that way, numb and dead inside until he died in truth.
There was no punishment in the end. Or none in addition to the weight of the deaths he and Lisa had caused. The guilt was the first emotion to break through, but distantly still.
It wasn’t until Jack touched him, a hand in the small of Ianto’s back, the first touch from anyone in so long, that the numbness faded away and he began to feel again.
Any hate left drowned under the sadness of finally letting Lisa go.
And somehow, Jack became his lifeline.
4. Even if you were born out of place.
Jack Harkness had been born centuries and light-years from where he stood now and been the most successful Time Agent of his generation, then the most successful conman in several galaxies. He’d faced death, destruction and depravity with a smile on his face, travelled with a Time Lord and become immortal.
Somehow, he’d never envisioned that he would end up a permanent fixture of Cardiff, Earth.
The facts would suggest Jack was both out of his time and out of place. The facts would be wrong.
The fact is, Jack is exactly when and where he is meant to be.
Stargate: Atlantis
1. Know that there is nothing you may not learn, in putting yourself within the triangular webprints of the noble and courageous penguin.
“The device does what?” John said, completely flummoxed.
Rodney glared at John and huffed impatiently. “I’ve told you twice already, try to keep up Colonel.”
“Yeah, but you were kidding, right? I mean, you have to be.”
“No, I’m totally serious,” Rodney replied. “The linguists translated it three times and there’s corroborating evidence in the database.”
“So it’s a teaching device,” John said flatly.
“Yes. It was used to teach wisdom, nobility and courage,” Rodney said.
“By turning people into… penguins.”
“Yes,” Rodney shrugged, looking as confused as John felt.
“Wow,” John said, staring at it. “The Ancients were weird.”
2. Oh, yes, I recognise you, now you’re stuttering again.
John moaned helplessly as Rodney bit at his neck, and tried desperately to think.
Something just wasn’t right.
Rodney had made small talk at dinner and been polite and friendly, and that had been weird, oh, that felt good, and then he’d walked John back to his room and manoeuvred himself inside with this charming little grin, “Oh Christ,” and then he’d just wrapped an arm round John’s waist and reeled him in so smoothly that John had been bent back in a kiss before he knew what was happening.
Since when had Rodney been smooth? He was disastrous at flirting and so awkward with people he wanted that it was painful to watch.
But here Rodney was. Pulling moves Rudolf Valentino would be proud of. Kissing John with no hesitation. Seducing him, oh, yeah, right there, and he was really, bizarrely, frighteningly good at it.
It had to be possession.
“Rodney?” John gasped, and wriggled away with an effort.
“What? Did I do, I, I mean, do you not… I can go,” Rodney stuttered, fidgeting and blushing.
“Never mind,” John said with a grin, and pulled him back in for another thought-stopping kiss. He’d recognise that nervous babble anywhere
3. Even very brief Anticipation is certainly always fatal to those inducing it in Mousebokses.
Rodney paced up and down his room, shooting impatient looks at the door with every pass. Where the hell was John? Okay, they hadn’t agreed a time for this, exactly, but John had only had some piddling meetings with the military contingent to get through, and really, how long could a bit of macho grunting and giving orders take?
Rodney stopped and looked at the bed, remembering John leaning in after dinner and whispering all the hot, dirty things he was going to do to Rodney later on, and later on was now, had to be now because Rodney’s pulse was racing and he was so turned on he was trembling.
If John didn’t get here soon, he was probably just going to die of anticipation.
Well, either that, or start without him…
4. The black to hide and the bright to show.
People don’t really see Sheppard, Rodney knows. Or rather, they see only what Sheppard allows: the shiny, pleasing surface, the distracting charm and bright, meaningless grins.
Most are too dazzled to notice the dark corners; the rage and the ruthlessness, the killer behind the smile. The ones that do catch a glimpse soon forget; seduced again by the carefree fly-boy that reappears once the threat has passed. Darkness hidden like it never existed at all.
Some know better. Teyla. Ronon. Elizabeth, though she mostly denies it.
And Rodney. He loves it all, dark and light.
John doesn’t hide from him anymore.
5. You know I never was the social butterfly type.
“Come on Rodney,” Sheppard wheedled. “It’s just a party; you should come and have some fun.”
“I’ve told you already, I have far too much work to do, thanks to the incompetents I’m saddled with here,” Rodney snapped, glaring at his laptop since all the other scientists were already at the party.
“The world won’t stop turning if you stop work for New Year’s Eve, you know. Would it kill you to socialise for a bit?”
“Look, we can’t all be little social butterflies like some people,” Rodney replied. “Now go away.”
He heard Sheppard sigh and walk out and then Rodney was blessedly alone. He hated New Year’s parties. He’d never once had someone special to kiss at midnight and he wasn’t up for a repeat of last year where he’d had to watch nearly every female expedition member claim their celebratory kiss from a certain USAF Colonel. The shameless hussies.
He worked for a few hours and then wandered out to a quiet balcony. He’d just got comfortable when he heard footsteps and Sheppard strolled out the door, carrying a plate of cake and two glasses of wine.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were partying.”
“I didn’t feel like the social butterfly type this year,” Sheppard shrugged, settling down next to Rodney and passing him the plate.
Huh. Rodney munched through the cake wondering what was going on, but Sheppard just drank his wine and looked up at the stars. After a moment, Sheppard’s watch beeped. “Midnight,” he said with a wry grin, turning the alarm off.
“Yes,” Rodney sighed and turned to shake hands, “Well -” he said and then his words got cut off by Sheppard’s lips. “- Happy New Year,” Rodney finished automatically as Sheppard pulled back again.
“Is it?” Sheppard asked, looking at him seriously, while Rodney blinked in surprise.
After a few seconds, Sheppard looked away and began to get up, and Rodney grabbed him quickly, “Yes. Definitely,” and then Sheppard was kissing him again. Oh, Rodney thought, finally, and kissed back.
6. Twenty - that's a lot isn't it?
“All right then,” John said. “Time’s up, put your guesses in the hat,” and he signed his own bit of paper and dropped it in.
“I still think you should have been disqualified,” Rodney complained as he passed over his scrap. “You’re bound to have a better feel for this than the rest of us.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” John said, thinking wistfully of the crate of beer riding on the outcome. He should probably have guessed higher, but he really couldn’t see how it was possible. “Okay Ronon: who was the closest?”
Ronon looked up from the unfolded bits of paper and waved one with a grin, “Zelenka.”
“It was just a guess,” Zelenka shrugged as they all glared at him.
“Let me see that,” Rodney said, grabbing the piece of paper. “Twenty?” he yelped in shock, “You’re carrying twenty knives?”
Pick a novel (or book), preferably one of more than 100 pages in length, and take the first (full) sentence off of the top of page; 10, 20, 30, 40 & etc. Until you have ten (or thereabouts) quotes.
Take said ten (or so) quotes and write drabbles based on them. You can use the whole quote, or just a section, even a word – all that matters is that you stay faithful to the first sentence part of the challenge.
Well, I didn't do a sentence every 10 pages as my book was more than 100 long, and I gave up on trying to keep to 100 words really quickly. But here are the results anyway, using Now That You're Back by A.L. Kennedy.
Torchwood
1. He offers us what he has and should not have and takes advantage of our tiredness, our weakness and our humanity.
It was staring up at Abaddon, blotting out the sun with impossible bulk, that Ianto finally realised just how easily Bilis Manger had played them all. They’d all been tired and heartsick; and Bilis had used parts of their lives that he had no right to and taken advantage of their love and fear to hook them in. And they’d all followed blindly, trusting visions and dreams instead of their minds, unsuspecting as children.
All except Jack. There’d been no place to set a hook there, it seemed. Ianto wondered if that meant Jack was blessed or cursed. Lisa might have been used against him, but at least Ianto had once had someone that meant that much. They all had.
All except Jack.
2. This is a very Freudian moment.
Honestly, it had seemed perfectly natural to Ianto until Jack had returned. He’d never even really thought about it, he’d just done it, but then Jack had started tearing the place apart looking and Ianto had confessed, and once he’d said it out loud… Well, he’d realised how odd it sounded and Jack’s eyebrows had shot up with a devilish glee that had made Ianto blush and stammer.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said, backing into a corner of the office as Jack prowled towards him.
“That’s not what Freud would say,” Jack grinned.
“Freud was a dirty-minded old man,” Ianto said weakly as Jack pinned him to the wall.
“Ianto. You’ve been keeping my gun in your bed,” Jack said, and kissed him hard.
All right, so. Maybe a bit Freudian Ianto thought, and then he moaned and stopped thinking altogether.
3. For a long time I thought I would keep on this way, but the numbness faded and then I felt sad.
The time after Lisa died, finally and permanently, was strange for Ianto. The night he’d been found out, it had all been heart-pounding terror and anger and desperation, every emotion heightened by adrenaline to the point of madness. But afterwards?
Nothing. He was numb.
He couldn’t grieve for her, his tears all used up in those dreadful few hours, he couldn’t feel afraid of whatever the punishment for his actions would be (and he’d seen Jack’s ruthlessness first hand, he should be afraid). Ianto couldn’t even hate Jack like he thought he should and would.
He thought maybe he would just keep on that way, numb and dead inside until he died in truth.
There was no punishment in the end. Or none in addition to the weight of the deaths he and Lisa had caused. The guilt was the first emotion to break through, but distantly still.
It wasn’t until Jack touched him, a hand in the small of Ianto’s back, the first touch from anyone in so long, that the numbness faded away and he began to feel again.
Any hate left drowned under the sadness of finally letting Lisa go.
And somehow, Jack became his lifeline.
4. Even if you were born out of place.
Jack Harkness had been born centuries and light-years from where he stood now and been the most successful Time Agent of his generation, then the most successful conman in several galaxies. He’d faced death, destruction and depravity with a smile on his face, travelled with a Time Lord and become immortal.
Somehow, he’d never envisioned that he would end up a permanent fixture of Cardiff, Earth.
The facts would suggest Jack was both out of his time and out of place. The facts would be wrong.
The fact is, Jack is exactly when and where he is meant to be.
Stargate: Atlantis
1. Know that there is nothing you may not learn, in putting yourself within the triangular webprints of the noble and courageous penguin.
“The device does what?” John said, completely flummoxed.
Rodney glared at John and huffed impatiently. “I’ve told you twice already, try to keep up Colonel.”
“Yeah, but you were kidding, right? I mean, you have to be.”
“No, I’m totally serious,” Rodney replied. “The linguists translated it three times and there’s corroborating evidence in the database.”
“So it’s a teaching device,” John said flatly.
“Yes. It was used to teach wisdom, nobility and courage,” Rodney said.
“By turning people into… penguins.”
“Yes,” Rodney shrugged, looking as confused as John felt.
“Wow,” John said, staring at it. “The Ancients were weird.”
2. Oh, yes, I recognise you, now you’re stuttering again.
John moaned helplessly as Rodney bit at his neck, and tried desperately to think.
Something just wasn’t right.
Rodney had made small talk at dinner and been polite and friendly, and that had been weird, oh, that felt good, and then he’d walked John back to his room and manoeuvred himself inside with this charming little grin, “Oh Christ,” and then he’d just wrapped an arm round John’s waist and reeled him in so smoothly that John had been bent back in a kiss before he knew what was happening.
Since when had Rodney been smooth? He was disastrous at flirting and so awkward with people he wanted that it was painful to watch.
But here Rodney was. Pulling moves Rudolf Valentino would be proud of. Kissing John with no hesitation. Seducing him, oh, yeah, right there, and he was really, bizarrely, frighteningly good at it.
It had to be possession.
“Rodney?” John gasped, and wriggled away with an effort.
“What? Did I do, I, I mean, do you not… I can go,” Rodney stuttered, fidgeting and blushing.
“Never mind,” John said with a grin, and pulled him back in for another thought-stopping kiss. He’d recognise that nervous babble anywhere
3. Even very brief Anticipation is certainly always fatal to those inducing it in Mousebokses.
Rodney paced up and down his room, shooting impatient looks at the door with every pass. Where the hell was John? Okay, they hadn’t agreed a time for this, exactly, but John had only had some piddling meetings with the military contingent to get through, and really, how long could a bit of macho grunting and giving orders take?
Rodney stopped and looked at the bed, remembering John leaning in after dinner and whispering all the hot, dirty things he was going to do to Rodney later on, and later on was now, had to be now because Rodney’s pulse was racing and he was so turned on he was trembling.
If John didn’t get here soon, he was probably just going to die of anticipation.
Well, either that, or start without him…
4. The black to hide and the bright to show.
People don’t really see Sheppard, Rodney knows. Or rather, they see only what Sheppard allows: the shiny, pleasing surface, the distracting charm and bright, meaningless grins.
Most are too dazzled to notice the dark corners; the rage and the ruthlessness, the killer behind the smile. The ones that do catch a glimpse soon forget; seduced again by the carefree fly-boy that reappears once the threat has passed. Darkness hidden like it never existed at all.
Some know better. Teyla. Ronon. Elizabeth, though she mostly denies it.
And Rodney. He loves it all, dark and light.
John doesn’t hide from him anymore.
5. You know I never was the social butterfly type.
“Come on Rodney,” Sheppard wheedled. “It’s just a party; you should come and have some fun.”
“I’ve told you already, I have far too much work to do, thanks to the incompetents I’m saddled with here,” Rodney snapped, glaring at his laptop since all the other scientists were already at the party.
“The world won’t stop turning if you stop work for New Year’s Eve, you know. Would it kill you to socialise for a bit?”
“Look, we can’t all be little social butterflies like some people,” Rodney replied. “Now go away.”
He heard Sheppard sigh and walk out and then Rodney was blessedly alone. He hated New Year’s parties. He’d never once had someone special to kiss at midnight and he wasn’t up for a repeat of last year where he’d had to watch nearly every female expedition member claim their celebratory kiss from a certain USAF Colonel. The shameless hussies.
He worked for a few hours and then wandered out to a quiet balcony. He’d just got comfortable when he heard footsteps and Sheppard strolled out the door, carrying a plate of cake and two glasses of wine.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were partying.”
“I didn’t feel like the social butterfly type this year,” Sheppard shrugged, settling down next to Rodney and passing him the plate.
Huh. Rodney munched through the cake wondering what was going on, but Sheppard just drank his wine and looked up at the stars. After a moment, Sheppard’s watch beeped. “Midnight,” he said with a wry grin, turning the alarm off.
“Yes,” Rodney sighed and turned to shake hands, “Well -” he said and then his words got cut off by Sheppard’s lips. “- Happy New Year,” Rodney finished automatically as Sheppard pulled back again.
“Is it?” Sheppard asked, looking at him seriously, while Rodney blinked in surprise.
After a few seconds, Sheppard looked away and began to get up, and Rodney grabbed him quickly, “Yes. Definitely,” and then Sheppard was kissing him again. Oh, Rodney thought, finally, and kissed back.
6. Twenty - that's a lot isn't it?
“All right then,” John said. “Time’s up, put your guesses in the hat,” and he signed his own bit of paper and dropped it in.
“I still think you should have been disqualified,” Rodney complained as he passed over his scrap. “You’re bound to have a better feel for this than the rest of us.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” John said, thinking wistfully of the crate of beer riding on the outcome. He should probably have guessed higher, but he really couldn’t see how it was possible. “Okay Ronon: who was the closest?”
Ronon looked up from the unfolded bits of paper and waved one with a grin, “Zelenka.”
“It was just a guess,” Zelenka shrugged as they all glared at him.
“Let me see that,” Rodney said, grabbing the piece of paper. “Twenty?” he yelped in shock, “You’re carrying twenty knives?”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 10:14 pm (UTC)Glee!
“Wow,” John said, staring at it. “The Ancients were weird.”
More glee!!
“Twenty?” he yelped in shock, “You’re carrying twenty knives?”
Glee climax!!!
Hee! These are all great. And that's a very exciting meme, I haven't seen it around before (*cough* Not that I'm allowed to play any memes at the moment, far too much writing to do)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-23 07:05 pm (UTC)Not that you're allowed to play, of course. :-P Back to work... *cracks whip*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-26 04:10 pm (UTC)I've got an OT4 (team) PWP very nearly done. Is that your sort of thing, or should I try to find someone with looser morals? (There's pretty naked Ronon, if that sells it)*g*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-27 03:35 pm (UTC)