Favorite Line of the Day - NaNo 2021

[Sage]

Was it funny? Thought-provoking? Beautiful? The only thing you wrote all day?

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

The moment the Mentor Figure accepts that he knows what he has to do (script)

CHANE: ...I knew I’d never be ready for this day. Sixteen years and it still came sooner than I expected. I know what you’d want me to do, Henry. Give me the strength to do it. I’m not ready… but she is.

 

[M.S. Wiggins]

I've a couple zingers I like, but:

“No way.” Gigi took only one step toward the creature. “Let me out, monkey.”
Still grooming its tail, the creature said, “My name is not monkey.”

 

[delb0y]

I'm trying not to worry about writing well, otherwise I won't get 50 words done, let alone 50k. But maybe this:

Edith Greene was down there pushing Charlie Runcorn around the water. Lucky Charlie Runcorn, as he called himself, with a smile that hid his torment. He’d have winked if he’d had eyes.

 

[rileyariel]

Where our main character, Dawn, explains why she's afraid of the sunrise:

It’s just that every new day where the sun rises in the sky is another day passing, another day on this planet alone, another day reading her books and driving herself mad with pictures, another day bringing soup to the scientist and hoping she’ll be able to talk about something other than the end of the world. Every sunrise brings a day that Dawn is not entirely certain she will be able to bear.

 

[BenPanced]

But that was another story for another time, one that might get told instead of this one. So don’t be surprised.

I love leaving myself open like that. Especially so early on the first day.

 

[Tamlyn]

If Isabelle hadn't wanted Cassie to yell at her son, she shouldn't have paid him to date her.

 

[AnnieColleen]

So we drank chocolate milk and ate Oreos, and we looked at what people said were unicorns.

 

[PastyAlien]

He slid into her DMs like the oily little fucker he was.

 

[Sage]

And when he gives me that soft, real smile, and when he takes my hand like that, I just wonder: is this the moment?

(yep, we're jumping right into the maybe romance, aren't we?)

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

[There are four SOLDIERS in front of the closed gate, and LIEUTENANT PAZEL in slightly different armor pacing in front. GARUHK and FINCH hide behind a pile of barrels. Compared to the soldiers with lanterns they’ve encountered so far, this place is brightly lit with torches that they’re just within the limits of.]
FINCH: Garuhk, how are we supposed to get through there? We can’t fight that many.
GARUHK: Don’t worry, I have a plan.
[GARUHK hurls a rock across the road, where it bounces off a wall.]
SOLDIER: Hey! Someone threw a rock from behind those barrels!
FINCH: Was that part of your plan?!
GARUHK: Nope.

 

[M.S. Wiggins]

*Context: Evan and Gigi have asked Dari to lead them on the ground instead of swinging among the tree branches.*

“Oh, my apologies,” Dari said, looking rather embarrassed. “I forget you grounders prefer solid footing. Yes, I will stick to the slowest travel possible so that you won’t become lost in Haiku Forest.”

 

[AnnieColleen]

Jenny listened, like she always listened. Like I might've been three years old and telling her all about how my stuffed bear was going to eat up some evil dragon, she was that kind of serious, listening, and I almost, almost, shut up.

 

[Sage]

(Nothing's more fun than referencing past books' dramas!)

“Teas aren’t really my thing.”

“Unless you’re all veiny and infected with less caring than normal,” Ren points out as he floats near the top shelf, reading titles.

“Yes, then you can force all the teas on me you want.”

 

[Tamlyn]

(Past chapter, when Cassie is 9)

"This is one," the puncher said through gritted teeth. "Can you see me?"
"Yes."
"Fuck me."
Cassie frowned. "That wasn't an emergency swear."
"A goody two shoes. Great. Come the fuck here, kid."

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

After a tournament where the winner gets a wish granted by the queen, MC has wished for her opponent's wish to be granted so they can help another complete his.

KERTHA: Well, in giving your favor up for mine, you’ve earned a life debt from me. Where you go, I go. Who you fight, I fight. We’re sisters now, daughter of Dear Henry, which means you’re stuck with me. [KERTHA laughs] We’ll have the greatest adventures known to the land!
ROLT: You have my allegiance too. A kobold does not forget a debt. If you help me save my daughter, I will follow you to the end of the world.
GARUHK: Adventure can wait. We need to see the Matron. The last thing I want to do is upset her.
KERTHA: ...Who’s the old fuddy duddy?
GARUHK: Fuddy duddy? Old?! I’m five years older than you.
KERTHA: Yeah, like I said, old. Follow me, I’ll take you to Grandmother.

They're totally gonna fall in love. XD

 

[Sage]

Why couldn’t I be part of a normal love triangle? You know, where both people are selfishly trying to keep me to themselves, not pushing me to spend time with the other person. Like it wasn’t confusing enough with the whole being-dead aspect of it.

 

[M.S. Wiggins]

“There are many things lost here in Geodesy,” said Queen Croco, “and there are many things found here. The trick is knowing the difference and respecting the choice.”
“My, god.” Gigi let out a half-groan. “She sounds like the trees.”

 

[AnnieColleen]

Come to think of it, what I had not seen was anyone dying. Lots of stabbing. Some falling down, and some yelling. But no dying.

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

A nighttime discussion while everyone else sleeps...

FINCH: Garuhk?
GARUHK: Huh?
FINCH: I want to fight too.
GARUHK: ?
FINCH: Helping Rolt save his daughter, it felt good. It felt right. I want to save my mother too. And Mrs. Haversham, and Mr. Nickelby and everyone that the Baron is stepping on just to make himself richer. So… I want to fight, like my father did.
GARUHK: ...
FINCH: ...Will you fight with me?
KERTHA: Hell yeah!
FINCH: !
GARUHK: !
KERTHA: I love it! The daughter of Dear Henry, back to fight the good fight alongside the greatest orc warrior in all Orcton! And this guy’s pretty good too, I guess.
GARUHK: Hey!
KERTHA: I’m in. Are you in, old man?
GARUHK: !
GARUHK: Of course I’m in! I’m with Finch all the way to the end.
KERTHA: Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! In the morning, we’ll get started on a plan to build a band up and take it all the way to that asshole Baron! Oh man, I don’t know how I’m going to get back to sleep after this. I’m so hyped up!
[KERTHA immediately starts snoring]

 

[rileyariel]

Is there such a thing as fate—time, a closed loop with no escape? And if you could escape, if you knew how this would turn out, would you want to?

 

[delb0y]

He reached out and slipped the pillow from beneath Sharples’s head; he looked into the soldier's eyes one final time, then he placed the pillow over Sharples’s face, pressed down, and he held the pillow there for what seemed like forever.

 

[AnnieColleen]

After the fourth time through the dance, after they had begun and finished the reel from every position within the set, the music collapsed in a bleating chord and the dancers into their bows and curtseys.

 

[Sage]

(Context: Ren is a ghost, normally; Blake is human, normally; Blake did a spell to switch places for a couple of hours. While Ren can't see or hear Blake, they can always touch. Also this is a very liberal interpretation of "line.")

He's outside the restaurant, crouched in the grass and tearing up stalks, like he wants to destroy something and that was the most harmless thing he could find.

"Are you here?" he asks.

"Yeah."

He seems to know, even though he can't see, hear, or sense me. "I'm sorry, Blake. I'm sorry. This is amazing, but...it's not enough time. I don't have enough time."

"I know," I say quietly.

He pushes himself up and kicks at the grass. "I didn't have enough time! It was stolen from me! I wasn't supposed to die! I was supposed to have more time!"

"I know, Ren.” This tantrum's seventy-something years in the making — or at least several months, since he learned how he died — and he's probably due it, but I take his hand and unclench it from around the grass, which falls through my fingers to the ground. "I know," I whisper. "I know."

He pulls me into him and somehow finds my shoulder to cry into. "It isn't fair. I was supposed to have more time."

He tears up sometimes, but I've never heard him cry like he's lost something. Even when Gram died, he put on his bravest face. Now he cries like someone he loves has died.

"Being human is hard." I lift his face and wipe away his tears. I really can't stand to see him bawl anymore.

"Being human is so hard," he says.

I freeze.

"Did you hear me?"

He lets go, and I float back from him. He rubs at his face until the tears are gone, but keeps sniffling. "I left Joy in there. I'd be a pretty bad boyfriend, wouldn't I?"

“I think Gram would have some things to say about that."

"You're supposed to say 'your face would be a pretty bad boyfriend.' Sheesh, you're bad at this ghost stuff."

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

I saw an opportunity, and I took it.

Also NPC dialogue is fun

KOBOLD MAN 2: Hey, Rolt, think you could check out this thing on my tail before you leave again?
ROLT: ...That’s a beetle.
KOBOLD MAN 2: Yeah, but what kind?
ROLT: I’m a doctor, not an entomologist, Jhimm.