giles_shorts | Entries tagged with march madness

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s March Madness, First line/Last line event here at Giles Shorts and for making it such fun! What a great bunch of drabbles! We certainly put Giles through all the emotions!

Here is the recap:

Checking In by il_mio_capitano

Full Moon by DHW

Kaleidescope Eyes by foreverbooks

Bite Me by il_mio_capitano

Doctor, Doctor by DHW

How the Knight Moves by quaggy

More Strange Moves by il_mio_capitano

Why Does That Not Surprise Me? by Lycomingst

Dreamtime by DHW

Just Another Day in the Magic Shop by Feliciacraft

The Imposter by littleotter73

The Lambeth Lothario by DHW

Saying it With Flowers by il_mio_capitano

In the Wake of Disaster by littleotter73

Choice by harmony033

Long Distance Goodbye by littleotter73

Stumped by il_mio_capitano

Missing by harmony033

A Slayer’s Constitution by littleotter73

Best Laid Plans… by foreverbooks

Great Expectations by quaggy

Unspoken Truth by littleotter73

An Unfortunate Proposal by littleotter73

An Airport Proposition by littleotter73

If you have a drabble laying about that you finished but never posted, please go ahead and post them. We don’t turn away fic. Just make sure to tag them as march madness, but at this point the challenge is closed for the year. Thanks again!

littleotter73

So I am bringing it around full circle to close out March Madness. This drabble starts with the last active last line from foreverbooks' drabble 'Best Laid Plans...' (the 3 other drabbles used last lines from older drabbles that had fills) and ends with the very first prompt that started things off.

Title: An Airport Proposition

Author: littleotter73

Characters: Giles

Rating: FRT

Setting: Pre-Series

Word Count: 100

Prompt: “They can do that?” from foreverbook’s Best Laid Plans…

Disclaimer: Just for fun, not profit

“They can do that, you know,” Giles overheard standing in the queue while waiting to board.

“No!” exclaimed the companion.

“But the coolest thing? Immortality! Think of all the sex…”

“Oh man! If only…”

Giles rolled his eyes at the lack of originality.

“Imagine it!” the one dared as they headed off together.

Giles sighed, leaving the queue. Once in gents, he dusted the vamp and told the bloke to bugger off.

It certainly was an auspicious start to his journey. Staring at the plane ticket in his hand, Giles took a deep breath and handed it to the agent.

littleotter73

Title: An Unfortunate Proposal

Author: littleotter73

Characters: Giles, Buffy, Xander

Setting: Post Chosen, no comics

Word Count: 100

Prompt: “And they say romance is dead” from DHW’s The Lambeth Lothario

Disclaimer: Just for fun, not profit

“And they say romance is dead,” Giles scoffed.

Xander covered his face. “I know!”

“Well, I think it’s sweet, Xand,” Buffy defended.

“Really?” Giles questioned. “I suppose it’s every woman’s dream her lover will propose while she’s retching into the commode.”

Xander looked up miserably. “I just I thought, as bad as this is, I’d rather be holding her hair while she's puking than with anyone else having a good time… and it just came out.”

“Aww,” Buffy sighed.

“Still, she’s kinda angry.”

“Imagine that!”

“Giles!” Buffy hissed.

“What? He did cock it up.”

“How about showing a little support?”

littleotter73

Title: Unspoken Truth

Author: littleotter73

Characters: Giles/Buffy

Rating: FRC

Word Count: 100

Prompt: “Why does that not surprise me?” from il_mio_capitano’s More Strange Moves

Disclaimer: Just for fun, not profit

“Why does that not surprise me?” Buffy growled, pushing her way through the door.

“Excuse me?”

“You! You and your… Britishness!”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Of course you wouldn’t!”

Giles blinked owlishly at her.

“Your… ingrained need to… repress! Everyone spilled their guts tonight because of that truth serum-y demon blood. And you… all you had to say was, ‘Sorry, Xander, I ate the last slice of pizza!’”

“Well, everyone blamed him.”

“I told you I’m in love you. I just thought maybe… that you might…”

Taking her hands in his, he replied gently, “That's never been a secret.”

quaggy

Title: Great Expectations
Author: Quaggy
Word Count: 100
Last line prompt: “He'll be the one laughing.”
Pairing: B/G

He'll be the one laughing at Buffy’s wedding, that’s what he always thought. And why wouldn’t he be? His Slayer would have beaten all the odds and been able to have that normal life she so craved. Yet, here he was with actual tears falling, far happier than he ever could have imagined. But then he never imagined he’d be the groom.

“Giles, don’t cry. You’ll make me cry too and that’ll mess up my make-up,” Buffy whispered, as she reached up to dry his tears. He caught her hand and kissed it.

“Well, we can’t have that,” he grinned.

foreverbooks

Title: Best Laid Plans…
Author: foreverbooks
Characters: Giles, Xander
Rating: FRC
Setting: Early in the series
Word Count: 85
Prompt: “Somehow, that wasn’t a reassurance” from
Littleotter73’s “A Slayer’s Constitution
Disclaimer: For fun only

Somehow, that wasn’t a reassurance Giles thought, staring at the squiggles making up the “battle plan”. “Explain to me again how all of this will help Buffy defeat a Hydra Demon?”

“Simple,” Xander replied, pointing to some of the marks. “We take up these positions. This lets Buffy get close enough to chop off it’s head. No more threat!”

“And after the body grows a new head, and the head a new body?” Giles asked with exaggerated patience.

Xander’s eyes widened. “They can do that?”

littleotter73

Title: A Slayer’s Constitution

Author: littleotter73

Characters: Giles, Buffy

Rating: FRC

Setting: Early Season 1

Word Count: 100
Prompt: "For a moment, his heart stopped." from harmony033's drabble Missing

Disclaimer: For fun, not profit

For a moment, his heart stopped. She’d just taken a blow that would’ve stopped a charging rhino, and it felt like several lifetimes passed before Giles got his legs moving. This couldn’t be it. It was too soon. They’d just started their partnership not long ago.

Upon his approach, Buffy popped up. “Is that the best you’ve got, hot shot?” she quipped, dodging the molten metal the monster spewed in her direction. “Sword, Giles, now!”

Without hesitation she dispatched the demon. Noting his concern as she rolled her right shoulder, she said, “I’ve taken worse.”

Somehow that wasn’t a reassurance.

harmony033

Title: Missing
Author: harmony033
Characters: Giles
Setting: Post-"Anne", early S3
Rating: FRC
Word Count: 100
Prompt: “Sighing, he wriggled out of his jacket.” from il_mio_capitano's drabble Stumped
Disclaimer: All for fun, not profit!

Sighing, he wriggled out of his jacket. It had been a long patrol. Giles' shoulder was angry and purple from colliding with a headstone instead of the Grontoch demon. He sat down heavily with a bag of frozen peas kept just for this occasion.

Please come home, he thought sadly. The others said they'd finish patrolling once they bested the Grontoch and Giles' arm nearly fell off. He was becoming weary of the "Nighthawk" talk anyway.

A commotion outside awoke Giles. He stood, wincing, hoping no one was hurt. A tentative knock…there she stood. For a moment, his heart stopped.

il_mio_capitano

Title: Stumped
Author: il-mio-capitano
Length: 100
Characters: Giles
Rating: FRC
Following on from Littleotter73’s Long Distance Goodbye

“I miss you. Yes? Mr Giles?”

Giles tentatively opened his eyes and turned his head to inspect the damage. A large hunting knife had ripped through his coat at the shoulder and impaled itself deep in the tree behind him. A couple of millimetres lower and he'd have been lamenting more than damaged tweed.

“To an extent, Olga,” he replied evenly. “Perhaps we should put down the weapons and work on your breathing?”

As his student pouted, Giles focused on retrieving the knife. He had a bad feeling the tree would budge first.

Sighing, he wriggled out of his jacket.

littleotter73

Title: Long Distance Goodbye

Author: littleotter73

Character: Giles

Rating: FRC

Word Count: 100

Prompt: “Giles struck a match and wept” from harmony033’s drabble Choice

Disclaimer: For fun, not profit

Giles struck a match and wept at the news. He’d meant to light the candle, but the fire traveled down the stem and burnt his fingers before he realised it.

“Dammit!” he growled, shaking the blaze out and sticking his singed forefinger in his mouth, remembering how, as a small child, he’d burnt his fingers on the stove. His mother had quickly picked him up, carried him over to the sink, and very tenderly put his fingers under a gentle stream of cold water before bandaging them and kissing his tears away.

“Oh, Mum,” he whispered reverently. “I miss you.”

harmony033

Title: Choice
Author: harmony033
Characters: Giles, Willow, Tara
Setting: Post-Season 5
Rating: FRC
Word Count: 100
Prompt: “Let's go home.” from littleotter73's drabble "In the Wake of Disaster"
Disclaimer: All for fun, not profit!

"Let's go home." Giles hardly heard Willow's whisper. He didn't register the door as she and Tara left his flat. Giles sat motionless, internally arguing.

Willow's suggestion was reckless. Risky, incredulous, dangerous. He told her so.

But not impossible.

With the first whispers of dusk, Giles started. She would be hunting now - no, she should be hunting now. Giles stood abruptly and removed an ancient manuscript from a false panel in the bookshelf. His hands shook holding the Papyrus of Ani: The Egyptian Book of the Dead.

He could do it. No, he should…

Giles struck a match and wept.

littleotter73

Title: In the Wake of Disaster

Author: littleotter73

Characters: Giles, OC

Setting: Pre-series

Rating: FRC

Word Count:100

Prompt: “You found me.” from il_mio_capitano’s drabble Saying It With Flowers

Disclaimer: Just for fun, not profit

“You found me,” Ripper stated, looking up at his gran defiantly. “What now?”

“Depends on you, I suppose,” she replied, settling herself into the bench opposite him. “The Council are cleaning up the mess with the police. You are in the clear.”

“How do you know it was me?” he challenged.

“Rupert, I’ve been practicing magicks since I was a child, do you honestly think I would be unable to trace the signature back to you?”

His shoulders dropped and he let out a raggedy sigh. “I tried to stop it, Gran.”

“I know, my dear boy. Let’s go home.”

il_mio_capitano

Title: Saying it with Flowers
Author: il-mio-capitano
Length: 100
Characters: Giles, Buffy
Rating: FRC
Following on from DHW’s The Lambeth Lothario

“And they say romance is dead,” quipped Giles nervously, torn between the incongruity of a seven-foot demon carrying a large bouquet of red roses, and his own practical need to back the hell away.

“Looking…for…Slayer.”

“That would be good, about now,” Giles admitted, his voice an octave too high.

The demon smiled with sticky teeth as Giles felt the thud of brick wall at his back, cutting off any further retreat. The roses were discarded to reveal a blood-stained hunting knife.

“Looking…for…Slayer.”

Buffy’s voice rang out like a bell behind them.

“You found me.”

lycomingst

Title: Why Does That Not Surprise Me?
Author: lycomingst
Length: 100 words
Characters: Giles, Xander
Rating: G/FRC
Last Line Prompt: Why Does That Not Suprise Me?

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"Well, Giles, you study vampires and train Slayers. Why would anything surprise you?"

"Yes, Xander, my whole life is a magical mystery tour. I’m sorry that you will be unable to do any research this afternoon because you fell asleep during a math quiz and need to retake it. Sorry, but not surprised."

"It snuck up on me. One minute I was thinking about what “x” was and the next, Mr McBride was shaking my shoulder."

"Very unsettling."

"I can’t begin to tell you," Xander grinned. "Just don’t ask what I was dreaming about."

il_mio_capitano

Title: More Strange Moves
Author: il-mio-capitano
Length: 100
Characters: Giles, Buffy
Rating: FRC
Following on from Strange How the Knight Moves

She may not have the upper hand for long, but it was worth it for the look on Giles’s face.

“Buffy, you do realise I'm just going to take your knight with my queen and then it will be checkmate, don't you?”

“What? This is a stupid unrealistic game! Who ever heard of horses going in L shapes? I mean, when am I ever going to have to fight knights that go round corners?”

“Actually I had an uncle who was a bishop and he always walked diagonally.”

Buffy couldn't help herself but smile.

“Why does that not surprise me?”

quaggy

Title: Strange How the Knight Moves
Author: Quaggy
Word Count: 100
Last line prompt: “Think very carefully about your next move.”
Notes: I couldn't resist the pun on the Bob Seger song for the title.

“Think very carefully about your next move,” Giles cautioned.

Buffy huffed in aggravation and stared at the chessboard. She didn’t need the reminder. She knew she was in trouble and Giles’s grin confirmed it. He claimed that playing chess would sharpen her ability to think strategically, but privately she suspected that he liked it because he could beat her this way without taking a physical beating in the process. But wait… If she took her knight and moved it…

“CHECK!!!”

She may not have the upper hand for long, but it was worth it for the look on Giles’s face.

il_mio_capitano

Title: Bite Me
Author: il-mio-capitano
Length: 100
Characters: Giles, Buffy
Rating: FRC

“I bit him.”

Giles looked back at Buffy’s sunny confidence with incredulity.

“Why on earth would you do that? Oh dear Lord, it didn't bite you as well did it?”

“No, Giles. You really would’ve been the first person I'd have told about that.”

“Thank you. I think. Nevertheless,” he continued. “Biting isn't exactly a traditional approach to the whole slaying dynamic.”

“I wasn't trying to slay him, he was running off with the amulet. This way, when we raid the nest, we can identify him again.”

“Yes, I suppose that could work,” conceded Giles. “He'll be the one laughing.”

il_mio_capitano

Title: Checking In
Author: il-mio-capitano
Length: 100
Characters: Giles
Rating: FRC
prompt: for the first line last challenge!

Staring at the plane ticket in his hand, Giles took a deep breath and handed it to the agent. Computer keys clicked as she efficiently took him through the ritual. Passport please. Large baggage on the conveyor scales. Hand luggage size? Had he packed everything himself? Had anyone else had access in the meantime? He grimly thought terrorism would be a nice change of pace after what he'd just been through, but gave the expected answers and was rewarded with boarding card, baggage claim stickers and a professional smile of curt dismissal. This was really happening. He was running away.

littleotter73

The highly anticipated event of the Giles Shorts calendar is finally here! Yes, it is finally time for March Madness!!! For those of you that are new March Madness, it is also known as the Last Line/First Line Challenge. It is an extremely fun event where we play together as a community. The person posting will take the last line of the previous drabble and reused it as the first line of their drabble.

And yes, I say drabble. Being a person who tends to write long (long, long fic), I know it's not easy to post a story in 100 words, but that is the goal here. If you are a few words over, that's okay, but try not to surpass 150 words. Every new drabble should be it's own entry and please don't forget to use headers for your drabble.

Here is the first line to start off the festivities:

Staring at the plane ticket in his hand, Giles took a deep breath and handed it to the agent.

Happy drabbling!

Current Mood: excited

littleotter73

Title: Careful What You Wish For
Author: littleotter73
Characters: Giles/Buffy
Rating: FRT
Word Count: 100

“Giles, at this point, nothing new about you shocks me anymore.” Buffy was remarkably calm about their current situation. “Honestly, I’ve seen it all.”

“I highly doubt it,” he muttered, doing his best to hide behind the curtain, the blush rising up his naked chest to his cheeks.

Water streaming from her hair and clothes, she asked, “How did this happen anyway?”

“I-”

Wide eyes met his. “Did you, uh, make some sort of wish?”

Caught out, he frustratingly exclaimed, “Oh, bloody hell!”

“You wished for me to to join you in the shower???”

Apparently he could shock her still.

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Page Summary

littleotter73 - March Madness Round Up & Thank You
littleotter73 - Drabble: An Airport Proposition
littleotter73 - Drabble: An Unfortunate Proposal
littleotter73 - Drabble: Unspoken Truth
quaggy - Drabble: Great Expectations
foreverbooks - Drabble: Best Laid Plans...
littleotter73 - Drabble: A Slayer's Constitution
harmony033 - Drabble: Missing
il_mio_capitano - Drabble: Stumped
littleotter73 - Drabble: Long Distance Goodbye
harmony033 - Drabble: Choice
littleotter73 - Drabble: In the Wake of Disaster
il_mio_capitano - Drabble: Saying it with Flowers
lycomingst - Drabble: Why Does That Not Surprise Me?
il_mio_capitano - Drabble: More Strange Moves
quaggy - Drabble: Strange How the Knight Moves
il_mio_capitano - Drabble: Bite Me
il_mio_capitano - Drabble: Checking In
littleotter73 - Monthly Theme: March Madness! AKA Last Line/First Line
littleotter73 - Drabble: Careful What You Wish For

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