Author's notes: Me again, and I bring you...more sentences. But (maybe?) you'll be happy to know that I am working on a much longer piece in between this prompt obsession I seem to have developed, so you'll be getting something of substance soon. I hope. :)
Same deal as before--various characters and contexts, and still a few DLA/RBFOD mentions.
Thanks, as always, to the phenomenal Alamo Girl, the amazing SpikesSweetie and the RAWesome Meredith Paris. They're Charlie's Angels--literally. The muse loves 'em. A lot.
01. Dozen
There are a dozen excuses--a hundred, a thousand--as to why they should not do this, but they both know their protests are half-hearted at best, and so they remain unspoken.
02. Flatter
She knows she should feel something other than terror when the citizens come up and thank her for ridding them of the Sorceress; she cannot help but wonder what they will do to her when they realize it was all her fault in the first place.
03. Angle
The girl introduces herself and notices he's injured; he feels foolish for thinking she was different than the rest of the unconcerned humans in the Zone when she says, "He could be a big help."
04. Take
She is certain she wants nothing more than to disappear for a few hours and search for desperately craved solace in the dispersed moonlight, and then he appears with dinner and a sympathetic ear, and she is glad he can find her when she's most lost.
05. Need
She can deal with wanting him the way she does; it is needing him that scares her beyond measure.
06. Blush
Sometimes it feels as though they are interrupting an intensely private moment when they see the two of them exchange a heated gaze across a room, and they always look away for propriety's sake.
07. Word
In her boredom, she creates a homemade Scrabble board--which seems like a good idea until she and Glitch get into a ridiculously passionate argument about the correct spelling of 'muglug'.
08. Apathy
At the beginning, she thought he was unemotional because she was a stranger and he didn't give two craps about her, but as she gets to know him, she realizes he tries to remain detached because he feels too much.
09. Whist (card game)
She tries to teach them Texas Hold 'Em after they decide to abandon Scrabble as a means to pass the time, but that only leads to headaches as she tries to explain where the state is, and why it's considered the southwest when it's really smack dab in the middle.
10. Longing
She thought the longing would dissipate once they broke the stalemate, but now that she has seen him in the first light of day, the yearning has doubled.
11. Rival
Though they (and especially he) do not know it, the handsome, lively--and emotionally available--suitors are competing for her heart with a dispirited, distant Tin Man.
12. Style
She does not have the heart to vocalize her hatred for the amount of overlaid tulle that the seamstresses are calling a dress, but then her sister walks in and doubles over laughing, and informs the world of her disdain for her.
13. Fit
She does not push for further definition of her relationship with him, because she knows the discomfort of forcing a square peg into a round hole, and wouldn't wish that on anyone else.
14. Even
When Azkadellia cries in her arms and asks when the torment will end, DG has few philosophical or soothingly deflective answers as she tries to calm her sister; in her final attempt, she says that even the Red Sox eventually overcame their eighty-six years of suffering, and breathes a sigh of relief when Az's tears turn to a confused chuckle.
15. Serenity
The fiery arguments and continual butting of heads should make the rest of them long for soothing silence, but instead, they are thankful for even the loudest of disagreements, because it reminds them they're all alive to fight in the first place.
16. Lead
She feels as though she is the miscast lead in a play she did not know she was starring in, and is withering beneath the unrelenting spotlight.
17. Stress
There is a telling hitch to his voice when he says, "You will try to get out of there, right?" and the tension between the two rises to unparalleled levels.
18. White
His surroundings are blindingly bright, and he hopes for a moment that Adora has guided him to heaven--and then the wagon door opens, and Cain realizes he is still in hell.
19. End
When the Sorceress released her from the domed prison, hope had sparked within her chest--and then she saw the Emerald and her world once again collapsed around her.
20. Snow
He thanks Glitch with as much energy as he can muster, and is grateful the man had enough wits about him to save him from another cold, encompassing death.
21. Bizarre
She half expects Ashton Kutcher to leap out from behind one of the Milltown structures when her mother says they're robots; that she could have handled.
22. Window
The north wind howls and the broken pieces of the picture window rattle in shivering protest; the sound is faint, but it is enough to fracture the deathly stillness of the palace post-battle.
23. Buffer
It was amusing at first to watch them argue; they would stand toe-to-toe, never flinching, pupils dilating, voices raised, and it was the ultimate battle of wills--and then their audience realized both could throw a mean punch, and quickly stepped in before anyone got hurt.
24. Full
She is sharp-tongued, full of shit, headache-inducing, and can have a flashpoint temper--and there is no one else he'd rather have on his side.
25. Average
She constantly repeats the protestations she said to her mother in her dream--"I'm a waitress and a part-time student"--and he wonders how in the world she could ever consider herself ordinary.
26. Passion
Until the day he dies, he thinks she was kidding when she told him that if he ever pulled rank on her again, a broken wrist would be the least of his problems; she wasn't.
27. Rest
Though they are all exhausted--she most of all--she refuses to enter the tents until she shakes the hands of each troop and offers heartfelt thanks for their service.
28. Culture
She is no Einstein, no Michelangelo, no Madame Curie--so how is she going to make a difference in the world?
29. Mystic
He stood guard many times while the Mystic Man met with the Queen, and even then, he remembers wondering where the youngest princess got so much damn energy.
30. Stranded
She thought getting her driver's license and motorcycle would lead to finally breaking the chains that bound her to this wearisome existence, but it only serves to show her just how trapped she is.
31. Grave
She has already noticed the small swell to her abdomen, and wonders if Jeb can see it from where he is as she tells him the news.
32. Blue
Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious, she thinks, keeping a wholly fake smile plastered on her face while the Duke of Whatthefuckever simpers on, I was aware just how blue my goddamn eyes are.
33. Repent
When she fell to her knees after DG emerged from the rebel camp, covered in someone else's blood, it was not because her world had just disintegrated beneath her feet; it was because she was pleading with the gods, promising she'd do better if they'd just return him to her.
34. Wing
She confides to him, as her head lays pillowed on his chest and his finger plays with a lock of her hair, that she feels as though she's living life only on a wing and a prayer, and he tells her it's more than some people had.
35. Drip
There is something unspeakably endearing about a Crown Princess who insists on fixing her own leaky faucet.
36. Luminous
Though she was dressed in the finest clothes and spectacular jewelry less than an hour ago, he finds her most beautiful when the moonbeams highlight her mismatched pajamas, bare feet and a messy, crooked ponytail.
37. Spoon
When his father stopped him from replacing the spoons with the sword, Jeb could not contain the cold disbelief that ran through him; whatever joy he may have felt at seeing him alive thundered away as he realized the man was still as good as dead if he didn't want to avenge his wife.
38. Past
Ashby is five the first time she asks how Ainsley and Jeb met, and her mother pretends it's too far past her bedtime to tell that story, because she cannot find her voice in the devastating hurt that accompanies his absence.
39. Deceive
She thinks her desperate sobs are hidden by her hands, her pillow or the door; they say nothing to her, but they stand outside her door until she quiets, always waiting for the moment she comes looking for them.
40. Least
She acts like his bringing her a cup of coffee is tantamount to granting her greatest wish, but it's the least he can do, seeing as she's saved his life a thousand times--and doesn't even realize it.
41. Prestige
Vy-Sor sold his soul and made dangerous allegiances to get where he was, and thought he was safe from Azkadellia's blind wrath--until he saw the unfiltered delight and raw power cross over the Sorceress's face when he presented her with the Emerald, and realized he was as doomed as the rest of the Zone.
42. Front
It becomes harder as the weeks go on to pretend they are just princess and Tin Man, only friends, and they both wonder why they thought they should hide their burgeoning relationship in the first place.
43. Language
It doesn't matter how bad of a day he's having; hearing her mutter curses that would make even the raunchiest of Resistance fighters blush never ceases to bring a smile to his face.
44. Gear
She used to listen to her iPod to rev her up, but since it is abandoned in Kansas--along with the tattered remnants of a normal existence--she is unsure how to convince herself she can do this, and then Cain comes in and wordlessly puts his hands on her shoulders, and she finally feels ready.
45. Sparkle
Sometimes, she wishes the Queen and Ahamo had been given the chance to talk to Emily and Hank, so they'd understand that her hatred of all things ornate is not something new.
46. Answer
She'd been chasing love and happiness so long that she didn't recognize it when it came to her in the form of a worn fedora and knowing blue eyes.
47. Spirit
Keeping this secret is starting to turn her inside out, and she feels as though she will be lost beneath the rubble when everything inevitably crumbles around her.
48. Return
He didn't actually think he could leave and she wouldn't chase after him, did he?
49. Flash
There is movement in their peripheral vision as they stand at the altar; two blonds and one brunette turn toward it, and see the fleeting but approving smiles of their loved ones from the afterlife.
50. Clasp
He tried not to notice how soft--or close--her bare skin was when she came into his room and begged for his help in fixing her stuck zipper; really, he did.