THE WHITE LOTUS

dialogue prompts from the removed by brandon hobson.

i'm trying to watch my show.

it's latin for 'hail and farewell': ave atque vale.

there are enough monsters in this world.

these things never get easier with time.

i don't want to watch you die.

you have to realize the harm you're doing yourself.

i'm thankful we can laugh, even in times of sadness.

i'm tired of making excuses for you.

i can't figure out if i'm mad or sad.

this is not a good place to feel lonely.

everyone wants to see you.

boys are like snakes: they'll creep up on you and trick you when you're vulnerable.

pay attention to nature. it's usually crying out to us.

you like my name?

there is no death. there is only a change of worlds.

i always liked helping children.

what is healing? when you don't feel like killing yourself?

nothing ever makes you laugh anymore.

i have your room ready. do you want me to show it to you?

is there anything i can do to make you feel comfortable?

you don't have to talk. you don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

it's garbage. all modern music.

would you dance with me?

everything goes through a metamorphosis, i guess.

let people think what they want. let bad people be bad people.

so what if we get caught? who cares?

i thought it would make you like me.

the thought of being stuck here doing the same things forever is miserable.

where would i even go? i don't have anyone. i don't have anywhere to go.

tell me more about your family.

call if you need anything. don't worry. just call.

take a pencil to it. can you fix it and make it good?

you don't want to hear about my life.

you aren't really a very nice person.

choose carefully where you walk: some roads lead to pain, others to your past.

i didn't mean to give you the wrong impression.

stories are like medicine, but without the bad taste.

it's a rare day when there isn't a fire to be put out.

you haven't looked at me like that in a long time.

i want dinner and ice cream. and a good glass of wine.

i'm not mad. i want you here.

i love hearing about your childhood.

i feel better than i have in a long time.

the earth will always speak to us when we need to hear her the most.

talk to me. say something.

you're a walking encyclopedia.

babies are my jam.

i don't want you to go. i want you to stay with me.

you're the only person on the planet who still watches videotapes on a vcr.

do you want to watch old home videos?

things can always get better.

how did you figure out so much, so young?

it feels like a cruel joke on my family.

where could we find justice? can you tell me that?

i was worried you were alone.

anger is like flooding water, slowly building to destruction.

you can stay here, but you should leave.

this stone is a rose quartz. it's for overcoming grief. i want you to take it.

i want to learn how to forgive you.

dialogue prompts from the remains of the day by kazuo ishiguro.

you look like you could make good use of a break.

take my advice: get out of the house for a few days.

there is no virtue in clinging to tradition for its own sake.

i had to choose my moment wisely.

i'd never have figured you for such a ladies' man.

you won't get a better view anywhere.

you're in good shape for your age.

you really are the best.

you know when somebody's got it, and you know when somebody hasn't.

i'm still not clear what you are getting at.

you and i have to work as a team.

i do not believe i am confused at all.

if only i had as much spare time as you apparently do.

ladies and gentlemen differ in several key respects.

would you mind coming to the point?

______ is perpetually underestimating me.

i hope i've been a good ______ to you.

i'm proud of you.

what you describe as 'amateurism' is what i think most of us here still prefer to call 'honor'.

'professionalism' appears to mean 'getting one's way by cheating and manipulating'. ordering one's priorities according to greed and advantage, rather than the desire to see goodness and justice prevail in the world.

are you alright? you look as though you're crying.

at one point, i would have sworn you were at least three people.

you talk almost like a gentleman.

you're the real thing, aren't you?

i may have given you a slightly misleading picture.

why did you tell such a tale?

i have chosen to tell white lies as the simplest means of avoiding unpleasantness.

i know i should be sorry.

things have not been all they might.

we must not allow sentiment to creep into our judgment.

it was wrong, what happened.

where could i have gone?

i feel so ashamed of myself, but i just couldn't leave. i just couldn't bring myself to leave.

what's done can hardly be undone.

why do you always have to pretend?

i suffered all the more because i believed i was alone.

can it be that you're flesh and blood, after all?

why is that guilty smile on your face?

i am slightly amused by your astonishing capacity to talk nonsense.

we don't have money, but who cares? we have love, and who wants anything else? we've got one another. that's all anyone can ever want.

it seems you were right, and i was wrong.

no doubt it's refreshing to leave the house, from time to time.

i really cannot imagine what more you might wish for, in life.

i am very, very tired. can you not appreciate that?

what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened, if such-and-such a moment had turned out differently?

he may have had a lot of money, but he was no gentleman.

_____ took us all for fools.

a lot of hard talking and thinking goes on in this place. there's plenty of good, strong opinion around, and people aren't shy about expressing it.

some mistake acting high and mighty for dignity.

i suppose i have been very fortunate. i would be the first to admit that.

it's a great privilege to have been given a part to play, however small, on the world's stage.

public life can change people unrecognizably in a few short years.

in my own small way, i believe i'm doing my part.

people here want to be left alone to live their quiet little lives.

i do wish you'd sit down.

don't you care at all? aren't you at all curious?

today's world is too foul a place for fine and noble instincts.

i'm really sorry. i had no idea things had been so bad.

will you wait with me? it will only be a few minutes.

one can't be forever dwelling on what might have been.

it is too late to turn back the clock.

sea air does you a lot of good.

you never know who you're addressing, when you start talking to a stranger.

i gave _____ the very best i had to give, and now i find i do not have a great deal left to give.

i've given what i had to give. i gave it all to _____.

you want a hankie? i've got one somewhere. it's fairly clean.

i can't even say i made my own mistakes. what dignity is there in that?

you've got to enjoy yourself. the evening's the best part of the day.

what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves, if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?

surely it is enough that the likes of you and me at least try to make a small contribution count for something true and worthy.

I'm such a fool. I always treated you as a weak woman who knows nothing. I'm nobody. I'm just a ghost.

the priory of the orange tree  -  samantha shannon  sentence starters change tenses/pronouns as needed !!  some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying tw ;   death ,  pregnancy 

‘all the world is a cage in a young girl’s eyes.’

‘there is great power in stories.’

‘all stories grow from a seed of truth. they are knowledge after figuration.’

‘I see through your mask. I see what’s in your heart. it’s the same as what’s in mine. ambition.’

‘have we met? don’t tell me, you’re plainly a fool, and I have no interest in befriending fools.’

‘i’ve always rather fancied an adventure.’

‘oh, come, (name). you know why this is happening. everyone tried to warn you.’

‘what I know is less important than what the world sees.’

‘all you see, in the end, is what I want you to see. such is politics.’

‘this mission may not seem survivable but you never know.’

‘you have ambition. ever apologize for that.’

‘you won’t miss me so much. when you soar above the clouds, we will all seem very small down here.’

‘where I am, I am with you.’

‘what did I do to deserve you turning up to threaten what little I have left of an existence?’

‘you’re old enough to know that not all dreams should be pursued, especially not dreams conceived on the featherbed of love.’

‘trust me. you can do nothing here but die.’

‘I have an interest in survival. I suggest you nurture one, too.’

‘we may be small, and we may be young, but we shake the world for our beliefs.’

‘now I know your secret, and it reeks far worse than mine.’

‘you have not seen death. you have only seen the mask we put on it.’

‘I prefer the taste of mercy. it lets me sleep at night.’

‘rain is water, and so are we. will water defeat you?’

‘you should do as you see fit. there will always be voices telling you what to do, and how to act, but it is you who wears the crown.’

‘you do speak comely words. I wonder if you mean them.’

‘all courts will fall prey to affection and deceit, often veiled as courtesy. but I like to believe that I speak from the heart.’

‘I suspect you fear that your skill will slip between your fingers if you loosen your grip for even a moment.’

‘remember, (name), that a sword does not need to be whetted at all hours to keep it sharp.’

‘dreams reach deep into our pasts.’

‘I do not sleep because I am not only afraid of the monsters at my door, but also of the monsters my own mind can conjure. the ones that live within.’

‘you wear so much armor by daylight that, by night, you can carry it no longer. by night, you are only flesh.’

‘in darkness, we are named our truest selves. night is when fear comes to us at its fullest, when we have no way to fight.’

‘fear will do everything it can to seep inside you. sometimes it may succeed — but never think that you are the night.’

‘balance is necessary in all things, (name) — it doesn’t not equate to disrespect.’

‘I never wanted an adventure. not even one.’

‘monsters often have soft faces. they know how to mask themselves.’

‘how is it you always know what to say to comfort me?’

‘you use the suffering of others for your own gain.’

‘I did not do it out of kindness. I did it because I wanted my life to run a smooth course.’

‘that disappoints me. that dishonors you. but not beyond forgiveness.’

‘that is not the question you must ask. you must ask what we must do.’

‘I have never had any great inclination toward marriage. not the sort of marriage those of royal blood must make — born not of love, but fear of isolation. yet if I refrain the world will stand in judgement.’

‘childing is not always easy. no one talks openly about the difficulties. the discomfort. the uncertainty. so now you feel the weight of your condition, you believe yourself alone in it.’

‘your fear is natural. let no one tell you otherwise.’

‘I am not quite sure what I did without you.’

‘just once, I wanted to be fearless. to take a risk.’

‘try not to be irritating.’

‘I fear death too much to seek it.’

‘my will was not always what it is now. once I was as molten glass, yet to be spun into shape. I sense I have taken a shape she mislikes.’

‘I told you fear was natural, but you must not let it consume you. not when there is so much at stake.’

‘I despise all of you, overweening crows. all any of you think about is what you can peck from me.’

‘you had a great burden to bear, and you bore it bravely.’

‘you have tried to turn yourself to stone. do not be afeared to find that you have not.’

‘fool. I would not be compelled by you or anyone. have I not always given you truth?’

‘you have a ghost, (name). do not become a ghost yourself.’

‘I am a meddler, not a fool.’

‘the water in you has grown stagnant, (name), but it is not beyond cleansing.’

‘you say you desire truth, but truth is a weave with many threads.’

‘I don’t know if I trust the woman you are but I trust the woman I knew.’

‘I confess I am what you would call a sorceress, but no magic is evil. it is what the wielder makes it.’

‘all of us have shadows in us. I accept yours. and I hope you will also accept mine.’

‘you told me we would meet again. I did not want to make you a liar.’

‘blood is never the way forward.’

‘no. you are another dream. you come here to torment me.’

‘fair roses have grown from twisted seeds.’

‘piety can turn the power-hungry into monsters. they can twist any teaching to justify their actions.’

‘I hope you did not keep it from me because you thought I would judge you.’

‘I think you a self-righteous fool whose head is harder than a rock. and I would not change you for the world.’

‘just because something has always been done does not mean that it ought to be done.’

‘(name), you know I love you, but the sense in your head could fit in a thimble.’

‘my mother always said it was best to receive bad news in winter, when everything is already dark. so one can heal for spring.’

‘I know you must go. to ask you to stay would be like trying to cage the wind.’

‘my heart knows your song, as yours knows mine. and I will always come back to you.’

‘for what I have done, I deserve hardship. it’s my fault (name) is dead.’

‘it has been peaceful here but my blood is the sea, and it cannot be still.’

‘do not deny yourself the privilege of living.’

‘the world is full of fools. and they are never more foolish than when they smell eternal life.’

‘who I am and who I was are none of your concern.’

‘I will not kill you this night but what you see before your is a ghost. when you least expect it, I will return to haunt you. I will hunt you to the ends of the earth.’

‘look upon my work. all this destruction is because of you.’

‘you have no choice but to trust me.’

‘to die in the service of a better world would be the highest honor.’

‘let us not think of the future this night. it is not yet dawn. we still have time for airy hopes.’

‘you impress me. I had not thought that one heart could hold such rancor.’

‘you cannot fathom the depth of the enmity I have felt for you. I have cursed your name with every sunrise.’

‘you preyed on me. I was young and afraid and I confided my deepest fear to you.’

‘you always come back. like a weed.’

‘I fell into shadow, and now I must rise, so I might be a better man.’

‘you can’t trust him. he would sell his soul for a handful of silver.’

‘I have no soul to sell. but I may yet earn one.’

‘leave me to my shadows. i’m afraid they are all I have left.’

‘being your friend is quite a strenuous affair, you know.’

‘it will hurt me, to hurt you. you are mine.’

‘I will teach my heart to beat again.’

a sentence starter prompts list comprised of quotes from the novel the will of the many by james islington. please be advised that this list may involve topics including, but not limited to death, violence, and religion. change verbiage as needed.

watch your step. it gets slippery down here.

so what is it all for? debts? a woman? some vice that you cannot bring yourself to give up?

i know it’s not in your nature, but if you’re ever going to swallow your pride, tonight’s the night.

i’d have thought twice about coming out here if i’d realized my opponent was such a coward!

chain your anger in the dark and it will only thrive.

i wasn’t trying to kill him.

i think you’re so used to resisting, you don’t know how not to.

sometimes bullies are better off with the truth, no matter how unpleasant.

a ladder should not be climbed from the shoulders of others.

you’re placing a lot of faith in the abilities of someone you’ve just met.

conviction is admirable, but it can only take a man so far.

what i want to know is what are you punishing yourself for?

they killed your family. stole your home. don’t you want to do something about it?

this is my best chance at finding something approaching a normal life.

you only have this chance because of me, and you seem to be under the mistaken impression that this is some kind of offer.

you can still back out, but this is your last chance to do it. is this opportunity worth it? is it worth your life?

it’s hard when the lies that let you sleep are so cruelly laid bare.

you’re welcome to rest and eat before you go.

if i believed in the gods, i would say they led me to you.

there is always something more to lose.

i can hate without it coming to violence.

hate is its own violence. your choice is whether to let it hurt them, or you.

i have come to bring a reckoning for your decisions. your weakness. your blindness and cowardice and complicity.

silence is a statement. inaction picks a side. and when those lead to personal benefit, they are complicity.

you should have told me all of this from the beginning

if there is something you should be telling me, i assume you will.

you’re brighter than most—but bright doesn’t mean brave, or caring, or heroic. more often, it means the opposite.

a man will always wonder what might have been, but a wise one recognizes fortune when it comes.

how could you not resent them for what they took from you?

there comes a point in every man’s life where he can rail against the unfairness of the world until he loses, or he can do his best in it. remain a victim, or become a survivor.

there can be no love without honesty.

there are more measured approaches to justice than punching.

just because you are good at something does not make others bad at it.

whether the obstacles to our advancement arise from our ties or our actions, we need to learn to overcome ourselves. it’s not fair, but nor is the world.

a fair system only works if there’s an unbiased means of assessing merit, which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved.

sometimes, i’m not sure there’s anything of the real me left anymore.

there are those who see what should be, and complain that they do not get their due. and then there are those who see what is, and figure out how to use it to their advantage.

you’re not planning to kill me, then.

a cut’s only worth it if there’s poison on the blade.

we do not have to be enemies.

if all you’re trying to do is change who’s in control, then you don’t really want to change anything.

you cannot be free if you are afraid to die.

be safe, and for the love of all the gods, don’t get caught.

i am just trying to remember the last time i so vastly overestimated someone’s intelligence.

you have a reputation as a killer.

in this place… each man has to find his line. has to find it ahead of time, and be resolved never to cross it.

don’t mistake inaction for neutrality.

violence is no answer to grief.

there’s being brave, and then there’s throwing your life away.

what do you believe makes a good ruler?

don’t equate having less heart with more intelligence.

not pleasant, seeing your trust betrayed, is it?

remind me to never get on your bad side. i have no idea how i’m going to repay this.

you’re so mysterious and unpredictable.

i want you to know that you are my friend. that you have my full trust.

i envy you, you know. your capacity to do that. to trust like that.

you rotting, fetid coward.

i’m going to make sure you burn for this.

a sentence starter prompts list comprised of quotes from the novel if we were villains by m.l. rio. please be advised that this list may involve topics including, but not limited to, murder, death, and violence. change verbiage as needed.

why are you here? you should know by now i’m not going to tell you anything.

seems safer to let sleeping dogs lie.

it must eat you alive, not knowing. not knowing who, not knowing how, not knowing why.

you’ve kept your secrets all this time. it would drive anyone else crazy. why do it?

want to come out for a smoke? might help you relax.

your time will come to be the tragic hero.

let’s go skinny-dipping! i haven’t been swimming all summer.

seems like just yesterday my dad was shouting at me for throwing my life away.

you can’t do good work if you’re hiding, so we’re going to get all of the ugliness out in the open.

if you haven’t made any enemies in life, you’ve been living too safely.

you make a surprisingly convincing villain.

i know what you’re doing. you’re baiting me.

i don’t know about you, but i want to get cleaned up and go to bed and pretend this didn’t happen for like at least eight hours.

i think we were all fucked up from the start.

you promised me you wouldn’t say a word, so don’t.

i’m sorry, what the fuck just happened?

you know, people aren’t going to put up with your bullshit for much longer.

you’re probably the only person he’d listen to.

where’ve you been all night?

i was making the rounds for a while, but i got overwhelmed and snuck upstairs to do some reading.

i’m done with this fucking party, with all of them down there. what do you want?

why don’t you just tell me what happened? no performance. no poetics.

we can’t just stand around arguing about how it happened, we have to do something.

look, i know you have a pathological need to play the hero, but right now you need to stop and ask yourself if that’s really what’s best for everyone.

someone’s dead and you don’t know where you were?

before last night, everything was fine.

i care about you, and what might happen if you carry on like this.

he wasn’t an easy person to like, but he was an easy person to love.

what do you do? ignore your grief, or indulge in it?

maybe every day we let grief in, we’ll also let a little bit of it out, and eventually we’ll be able to breathe again.

i’m not going to kick you out of your own bed.

it doesn’t add up. we’re missing something.

you look like you might need someone to carry you.

i’m going to bed unless you’ve got something to say.

i’ve had enough of your sexual misadventures for one year, thanks.

it’s fucking freesing and i’m not leaving you out here alone.

when did we become such terrible people?

why don’t we get a drink or something? just us. i can’t think straight with everyone watching like we’re a reality show.

i just–maybe it’s because you’re you, and i mean, look at you–but i don’t understand. why me? i’m nobody.

you know, everyone calls you ‘nice,’ but that’s not the word. you’re good. you’re so good you have no idea how good you are.

we carry on as usual, or they’re going to want to ask all kinds of questions we don’t want to answer.

are you going to cold-shoulder me all night?

what’s gotten into you? you don’t sound like yourself.

you’re smarter than this. 

i’m not keeping any more secrets for you.

you can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.

you’re just going to leave me?

i think hell may have frozen over.

when you enter the theatre, there are three things you must leave at the door: dignity, modesty, and personal space.

anything can feel like punishment if you’re taught poorly.

you can’t quantify humanity. you can’t measure it–not the way you mean to. people are passionate and flawed and fallible. they make mistakes. their memories fade. their eyes deceive them.

i want so badly to be so mad at you that i could kill you, but i can’t, so i’m mad at myself instead. do you even understand how unfair that is?

i don’t know what’s wrong with me. i want to hurt the whole world.

why don’t you sit, and i’ll pour tea?

he was my friend—much more than that, truthfully—and that was enough. i didn’t need to know why.

can i help? i still–i want to help.

let me put myself back together and then i’ll come find you.

it’s like i look at you and suddenly the sonnets make sense.

tell me you didn’t do it.

i never wanted you to look at me the way you’re looking at me right now.

we have to go back and act like nothing’s wrong. we’ve got to get through tonight, and then we’ll worry about it. all right?

you know, it’s not too late if there’s another version of the truth you want to tell me.

will you rest easier with one less mystery on your mind?

bit his dumbass so hard he fell in love with her that very moment