[Meme] first lines of imaginary sequels

[edenfalling]

Found via askerian:

Pick one of my stories and I will tell you the first line (ETA: okay, the first few paragraphs, on the theory that context is more interesting than concision) of its sequel. Even if I was never actually planning to write a sequel. Even if it already has a sequel -- I'll give you the first line of another version of its sequel!

Do not ask me about "Strange Likenesses," because I don't yet know how that will end (basically, there is the wildly unlikely happy ending, several variants of the rather likely inconclusive ending, and the semi-likely 'rocks fall, everyone dies' ending). Everything else is fair game.

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Sequel snippets written so far:

for The Way of the Apartment Manager (So how did Naruto wind up friends with Sakura by the start of "Guardian"? I will probably continue this at some point.)

for Lemonade (Thus proving that I do so know where the story's going.)

for Endurance (This one turned into an actual fic, 900 words long. *headdesk* I am not sure how 'canon' this sequel is, though, as I'd left "Endurance" inconclusive for a reason.)

for New Horizons (ie, the story in which Ginny, Harry, and Draco have a post-DH-epilogue threesome in Greece. Naturally there are repercussions. *grin*)

for The Two Secretive Princesses (925 words on Toph and Mai during Ozai's invasion of Toure-on-Marsh. Rather dark.)
---[[or the more canonical version, which includes fewer deaths and more mentions of Aunt Ermintrude]]

Comments

[edenfalling]

So, things that might have happened instead of "The Guardian in Spite of Herself," or between those stories?

*ponders*

"Hey, hey, Yukiko-neechan, can I have friends over?"

Yukiko looked up from the mission report she was writing for Heika-san, and frowned. Naruto was dancing from foot to foot in an almost perfect imitation of excitement, but there was something wary and nervous in his eyes and posture. Didn't he know by now that this was his building as much as hers?

"Of course you can," she told him. "Now spill -- what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Naruto said. Yukiko's frown deepend, and the kid looked aside, guiltily. "Really, it's nothing."

"'Nothing' doesn't make you look like it's still you against the whole damn world," Yukiko said. She set her half-finished report aside and walked around the desk, dropping into one of the tall-backed chairs so she was more on a level with the kid. "Seriously, what's wrong? I thought you and Kigaru-chan -- that is who you wanted to invite, right? -- were getting along really well."

"Yeah, me and Shinnin are great," Naruto agreed, still not meeting Yukiko's eyes. "It's just... there's another girl in class, and she's really pretty and smart and stuff, but the other girls pick on her, so I said to Shinnin that we ought to be her friends 'cause picking on people is mean and stupid, but Sakura-chan's mom and dad -- her name's Haruno Sakura -- they don't like me. And when they picked her up from the park yesterday, they were talking to Shinin's dad and they all looksed at me..." He trailed off, dejected. "Yukiko-neechan, why don't people like me? I'm not a bad person, right?"

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I may or may not continue that at some point.

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

*g* I highly encourage you to continue this - it would be VERY interesting to see if Yukiko is somehow able to temper Naruto so he isn't the least popular kid in the class...

[edenfalling]

Well, according to ch. 2 of "Guardian," Naruto is still friends with Shinnin and they have managed to bring Sakura into their circle -- and even in canon Naruto sort of got along with Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba at school, though they had no interaction outside of the academy -- so apparently something works?

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of wondering how school open houses and such would go.

[edenfalling]

*attempts to remember elementary school* What, parent-teacher conferences and so on? Going from class to class to look at displayed art projects?

...If they do open houses at a ninja academy, I am somewhere between impressed and horrified. Can you just imagine how hard it would be to keep the civilian parents safe and sane when dozens and dozens of little half-trained ninja kids are running around without the structure of classes to keep them in check? I mean, at least at home they would have six-plus years of acculturation saying that we do not play with knives in the house, but at school they are expected to play with knives and so on. Which could quickly lead to bloody chaos.