Have YOU got all of your defences junctioned?

 The twenty-one opening lines meme's been round for  a while. Because I'm having trouble writing fic I'm happy with at present, I decided to give it a go. Opening lines are rarely my favourite lines of any story, and writing them all down in a bunch makes me think I really should pay them more attention. This was a real pain in the arse because I don't have all of my fics archived anywhere in particular (most but not all is on my lj, the clean stuff is on ff.net, the more recent stuff on AO3).God, I hate first lines. 

1: The men in white picked their way up the gully (After This Age)

2 : Despite the rumours, the streets of Erebor had not been paved with gold. (The Smith of Arden, or How Thorin Oakenshield Used The Horseman's Word to Shoe The Lord's Black Stallion)

3: Anders stepped back and surveyed his work with pride. (A Magician And A Gentle Man)

4: Heroes get other people killed. (Resurgam)

5: The first thing Clint Barton thinks when they send him to Tibet is that they shouldn't have chosen a white guy. (Samsara)

6: Natasha visits Barton's room after the briefing even though she knows she shouldn't. (Debriefing)

7: The Normandy cut through deep space like a knife, heading for the Omega-4 Relay. (Stardust)

8: Malik heard a sharp whine from beyond the crumbled wall, quickly cut off. (A Brotherhood of Wolves)

9: It never snowed in Jerusalem. (A Song of Ascents)

10: It was always silent in deep space. (The Company of Stars)

11: Jack was cleaning her guns when she heard Shepard's boots marking time on the staircase. (The Importance of Names.)

12: "Have you got all of your defences junctioned?" (The Malboro Man)

13: Lena Romano died choking on the bed where she earned her living. (Lady Justice)

14: It was so late at night that it was early in the morning. (Strange New Worlds)

15: "Leonardo?" Ezio called. (The Culinary Catastrophes of Leonardo da Vinci, Genius)

16: "The trouble with you girls is that you can't think for yourself." (Stone, Ground, Mountain, River)

17: "I've found Miles." The Eve of the War

 18: The plain was the colour of bones, bleached white by the midday sun. (An Assembly of Bones)

19: "Aren't you Marcus Aquila's slave?" (Rubicon)

20: I hate this place. (The Shadow of the Flame)

21: An eagle circled above over the desert dunes, looking for prey. (The Word of God and the Treasures of Wisdom)

As I'm feeling nostalgic right now, have three more first lines from the very first fics I wrote, three novel-length FF8 epics.

Seifer Almasy stared at the map. (Government Bloodhounds)

It was a beautiful day in Balamb. (South Down the Coast.)

"I'm not talking about this now." (Recovering the Satellites)

Having a bad writing time at present. The more I research and try to work to make my stories better, the more it feels like, well, work. And when I get home from work it rarely makes me want to do more. So far my writing doesn't seem to have improved, and I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to. Might try a fanfic challenge or something to reclaim the fun.

what news, novice?

Heh.
Found this
'Ask Malik,'
a tumblr comic in which Malik answers questions. Snarky, hilarious and notable because both Malik and Altair look like Middle Eastern men.

and this :
'ad novitatem',, the tumblr of fanfic author (and, I think author of the excellent webcomic 'the less than epic adventures of tj and amal' tanyart (second link is to tanyart's fics on AO3) which is amazingly geeky.

UPDATE: Tanyart and 'TJ and Amal' author bigbigtruck are in fact two different people, so my mistake. However both 'ad novitatem' and 'tj and amal' are well worth checking out