⁽ ﹠ ⁾⠀ᶤᵗ⠀ʷᵃˢ⠀𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒

dialogue prompts from madwoman: a novel by chelsea bieker.

one is fun. two is ten.

we aren't going to have ice cream at eight in the morning.

why didn't you come to me when it happened? i could have helped.

it's hard to know what i deserve.

we could kiss back here and no one would know.

what else would you never do again, for me?

so, who is [receiver's name]?

i can't wait to have kids.

you look like you've seen a ghost.

saying sorry a bunch of times doesn't change anything. so stop saying it.

something's wrong with me. i need to lie down.

you know what i woke up thinking about?

time passes. every second of every day.

your optimism is a huge liability.

everyone is traumatized. i'm not special.

therapy involves too much honesty.

don't open the door a crack. you never know what might get through.

this world is built on exchanges.

don't worry. don't spend your life worrying.

beauty is a fickle currency.

i cannot be shocked.

i had a feeling something would be coming today.

people, most of the time, will try to meet you halfway if you ask. but you only learn that if you ask.

why do you do all this?

i have love for you, but i don't love you.

stop thinking so much about your own problems, and start seeing yourself as someone people can rely on.

the energy you're putting out is a lot of violence.

are you saying you like me?

i won't make the same mistakes as my _____.

there's no power in pity.

envy is a useful tool. it shows us what we want.

i love you, but i can't take you with me.

how did you know you wanted kids?

you have no idea how young you are.

i want to know what it's like to have a family.

you've always loved to invest in a cause.

it seems like we're supposed to know each other or something.

i figured you'd come around eventually.

you don't fuck around.

i don't have the energy to cheat, even if i wanted to.

you think you're funny?

you see the tiny details other people miss.

i want to make you proud of me, for once.

true love can be, despite what we're told, a forgetting.

it wasn't easy, letting go. it was a death.

some people will do anything to survive.

i feel like you get me. i feel totally open with you.

who are you, really?

they're called 'spirits' for a reason. they invite possession.

it's good to let loose, every now and then.

why do you think you're like this?

there's something inside me. my father had it, too.

i don't like how vague you are with me.

i told you my secret. now tell me yours.

i don't pity you.

you can't go snooping around in people's things. you know that, right?

you're quick as hell.

what a gift you are.

let it all out. punch a pillow or something.

you assume people aren't listening to you when you talk.

we're all weird in our own ways.

sometimes you have to live in the mystery.

you say that stuff, but what do you really think?

you can't run away forever.

you're doing your best, and your best is good enough.

all i ever wanted was a normal family.

want me to read to you?

the only way out is through.

there's no sides. there's only truth.

there's something closed off about you. i can never read you.

my mind is a dangerous neighborhood.

i don't understand murder if there isn't a little suffering involved.

i can tell you were an insufferable child.

it looked like you were praying.

what danger is there in memory?

i've never felt like that again.

i think i just wanted to know i meant something to you.

how are you not completely haunted?

i'm feeling it all for the first time.

i never really let myself grieve.

online, you seem so well-adjusted.

what did you make yourself into?

everything is paid for now. every wrong is right.

let's be together. just for tonight.

why do you think an easy life is a better life?

your spiritual transformation has gone too far.

i didn't know it, either. even though it was happening to me.

i could only see what was happening right in front of me.

i was worried you weren't going to make it home.

what could be safer than death?

what makes you think anyone could understand what i did?

it's like looking right back into the past.

so much for my idea of 'normal'.

it was always rigged against us.

you want life to be tidy.

you have to forgive yourself. you won't survive if you don't.

it is more important than ever that those of us outside gaza do not attempt to ignore the ongoing genocide in favor of the illusion of security. any small thing you can do is better than complacency.

if you need a place to start:

help Suad get urgent medical treatment for her baby and mother-in-law - @suad-khaled (#279 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet)

help Mahmoud reunite with his family in a safe place - @supportgaza (#151 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet)

help Amal take care of her daughter and provide for 20+ family members - @amalashuor (#175 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet)

help Firas and Nisreen continue their education and support their family - @firasmuhaisenn, @nisreenameen, @helphashemfamily (verified by @/90-ghost)

*  religious  rites  &  practices  are  interwoven  in  the  very  fabric  of  nabooan  society ,   though  most  do  not  consider  themselves  “called”  to  practice  and  worship .   over  the  years  since  reunification  under  king  jafan  (  the  end  to  the  time  of  suffering ,  years  of  bloody  conflict  between  clans ,  marked  still  by  naboos  monarchs  with  the  scar  of  remembrance  )   many  religious  rites  have  been  subsided  by  civil  practices  instead ,  though  legal  and  religious  ceremonies  do  not  always  overlap.

𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖌𝖊  is  usually  conducted  in  civil  ceremonies  in  modern  naboo    (  as  popularised  by  king  narmalé ,  in  320BBY  )   ,   carried  out  by  local  legislators .   however  monastic  orders  may  still  perform  them .  in  many  cases  these  monastic  unions  are  not  entered  into  public  record ,   in  part  due  to  naboo’s  strict  culture  of  privacy  &  the  general  isolation  of  such  orders .

the  rise  in  popularity of  civil  unions  meant  members  of  different  religious  sects  could  intermarry .

𝖋𝖚𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑𝖘   must  be  held  within  two  days  of  death .   cleansing ,  dressing ,  and  preparation  of  the  body  is  carried  out  by  the  families  matriarch ,  or  the  eldest  female  relative  available .  the  body  is  then  cremated ,  and  returned  to  the  water  so  that  their  life force  may  continue  with  the  gods .   ashes  are  thrown  of  placed  into  the  soller  river  ,  near  the  funeral  temple  so  that  the  current  can  draw  the  spirit  of  the  dead  to  the  home  of  the  gods  in  the  planets  core .

from  the  funeral  temple ,  the  seven  days  of  mourning  begins .   starting  with  mot  and  concluding  with  the  dual  god  nabu , there  are  seven  days  of  prayer ,  contemplation  and  offerings  so  that  the  gods  will  open  the  gates  and  allow  the  spirit  of  the  deceased  to  pass  into  the  afterlife.

many  political  and  religious  leaders  are  entombed  rather  than  cremated .  this  is  so  they  can  still  act  as  emissaries  between  the  people  and  the  gods .  the  mausoleum  of  theed  is  “guarded”  by  fourteen  coupled  statues  of  the  seven ,  so  that  even  unreleased  from  the  flesh ,  the  spirits  of  those  within  can  still  be  watched  over  by  the  gods .

*  nabooan   religion  is  polytheistic  ,   the  pantheon  includes  some  fifty  minor  deities,    though  the  majority  of  modern  worship  is  largely  contained  to  the  core   seven    ;    responsible  for  maintaining  the  balance  between  life  and  death ,  and  who  are  said  to  guard  and  maintain  the  six  gates  of  chaos .   while  many  religious  customs  have  carried  over  from  grizmallti  tradition     (  naboo’s  human  population  can  largely  trace  their  origins  back  to  the  planet  of  grizmallt  )   ,  their  meaning  have  changed  over  the  centuries  since  the  first  human  arrivals . 

𝔫𝔞𝔟𝔲    :    the  dual  god  of  life  &  spirit                   from  which  both  the  planet  and  the  system’s  central  star ,   nabu  is   the  creator  god ,  the  giver  of  life .   it  is  to  them ,   through  fire  and  water ,   that  life  continues  after  death ,   as  the  spirit  returns  to  its  place  of  creation .   nabu  remains  a  principal  deity  in  grizmallti  theistic  practices  to  this  day ,  though  worship  differs  vastly  between  both  diasporic  groups .

𝔪𝔬𝔱   :    the  god  of  rebirth                   brother  to  the  dual  god  nabu ,   he  is  said  to  watch  over  the  spirits  of  the  dead  during  the  7  days  of  mourning .   it  is  after  him  the  planet  moth    (  the  first  planet  in  the  naboo  system )   is  named .

𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔭    :    the  goddess  of  safety  &  deliverance                   the  goddess  of  safety  and  deliverance ,   patron  of  travellers  and  the  wandering .   the  planet  is  so  named  as  it  was  the  first  to  be  seen  by  grizmallti  refugees  as  they  entered  the  system .  it  is  the  second  planet  in  the  naboo  system .

𝔱𝔞𝔰𝔦𝔞 :    the  goddess  of  death  &  justice                   the  widow ,  the  goddess  of  death   &  the  bringer  of  peace .   it  is  said  that  her  frozen  moon  is  all  that  remains  of  her  husband ,   the  grizmallti  god  of  war .   the  planet  named  in  her  stead  is  the  forth  in  the  system’s  orbit ,  though  the  name  tasia  can  be  traced  back  to  the  colony  ship  beneficient  tasia  ( named  for  the  then  queen  of  grizmallt ,  elsinoré  den  tasia  ) .   naboo’s  royal  crest  is  included  in  her  religious  symbology ,   the  shape  itself  comes  from  the  shape  of  the  ship  sharing  her  name .  

𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔶𝔞  :    the  lunar  goddess                    the  mother ,  her  name  was  given  to  the  largest  celestial  body  in  naboo’s  night  sky .   as  such,  she  is  often  seen  as  a  protective  force .  commonly  associated  with  naboo’s  monarchs.

𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔪  :    the  goddess  of  wisdom  &  creator  of  the  graces                   the  planet  named  in  her  stead  (  naboo’s  fifth  planet ,  a  gas  giant  )    is  orbited  by  32  moons ,   many  of  which  have  been  named  after  the  children  of  the  pantheon .    scholars  and  artists  often  will  have  shrines  to  storm  in  their  homes  or  place  of  work .

𝔟𝔢𝔥𝔭𝔬𝔲𝔯  :    the  messenger  god                 the  first  creation  of  nabu .  after  which  the  planet  behpour  was  named .