rae's hoard of memes

dialogue prompts from sour cherry: a novel by natalia theodoridou.

has ____ always been a monster?

is there anything more enjoyable in life than being needed?

what a long way you've come.

a name can also be a burden. a curse, even.

you've always been smarter than i am.

you're alive. that's what matters.

you don't believe me. i can tell.

what does it feel like to be you?

what did ___ do? tell me.

do you think everyone is worthy of love? no matter what?

what good is a name to me?

there's still so much living left to do. isn't that always the problem, with grief?

memory doesn't always offer the best counsel.

when people have nothing, hurt is all they have.

why do you tell stories, if you don't know that they're true?

truth is a dangerous thing. it has teeth.

didn't anyone try to stop it?

i don't want to tell this part of the story.

you just get better, alright? that's all you have to do.

your father is nothing like you.

what a vivid imagination you have.

you become what you behold.

maybe you still stand a chance. maybe we both do.

why are your clothes so dirty?

protect the world from what?

i'm so glad you had [name].

i'd like to be so alive i could die.

it's not safe for you here anymore.

i have to go. it might be a while before we see each other again.

i want to do what you do.

the world isn't what you think it is.

i know you're telling the truth.

i can see things most people can't.

aren't heroes supposed to be alone?

i'm sorry. i know it's not the story you wanted.

this is the last time i touch you.

it's not what you are, it's what you choose to do.

every person is a house. there are hidden rooms in all of us.

were you always like this? was i?

i don't know how to love gently.

i know you haven't been sleeping.

in the end, we're all haunted by the ones that came before.

it was never the house that was haunted.

there is no way to escape, and nothing to escape to.

we weren't always so alike.

i learned early how to look away.

you need to face the things that scare you. who knows what will happen if you take your eyes off them?

i can never shake the feeling i'm not where i'm meant to be.

perhaps that is so, if it's what the people say.

the forest makes me feel like i'm being watched.

if i close my eyes tight enough, i can still see everything.

you've always been more clear-eyed than me.

it never occurred to me that i could have asked for help.

i've heard that when you die, you remember everything but your own name.

you're not like the others.

sometimes i come back and i'm sure you won't be here.

it's dreadful. it's perfect.

how is it that you keep finding me?

why aren't i more like ____?

why do you like me?

you can tell a different story, if you want.

i know this story already. i've lived it. i've always known how it ends.

you're the only one to ever match me.

dialogue prompts from the trouble with happiness: and other stories by tove ditlevsen.

you always ruin things for us.

i've never owned an umbrella.

why were you staring out the window?

you always have been ungrateful.

i'm going to tell my mother.

it wasn't true. i was just drunk.

what are you thinking about?

i want you back the way you were before.

if you feel betrayed, you are betrayed.

hate is just as senseless as love.

it's not really accurate to call you a lady.

do you look like your mother or your father?

is it too late to go to the woods?

people are going to make fun of you.

when you're asleep, you can't be afraid.

what do you want to be when you grow up?

you always have to tell a child the truth.

fathers always forget their children when they haven't seen them for a long time.

no one could say you're impolite.

don't demand much, and you'll get more.

love and marriage rarely have anything to do with one another.

loving someone can't be helped. it comes and goes, like whooping cough.

you're so healthy and well-adjusted.

it's a shame it affects other people, when you feel a certain way.

i've never seen you cry before.

either you use people or they use you.

half our lives is habit.

i'm not going to be controlled by chance.

you don't have to make up silly stories.

don't you think i see what's happening?

has something horrible happened? you look like it.

don't you think it would be nice to have a little cat?

you could try to look a little friendlier.

you don't even know the person you're married to.

what's true for one person isn't necessarily true for other people.

it's a good thing you can think for both of us.

you always were the pride of the family.

you aren't sick, are you?

you can come down off your high horse.

the past never seems real.

can you ever really know your children?

you can't control your circumstances. you can't control your fate.

how? where? when? do you have any hickeys?

it's not like you to be so quiet. aren't you feeling well?

no one really knows the impression they make.

we only bring out in others what we need ourselves.

no love lasts forever.

it's always later than we think.

you should have lived a very different life.

get the doctor, quick.

fight for all you hold dear.

rp prompts taken from the video game dragon's dogma 2 by capcom. some have been edited.

❛ a good sleep will ensure we’re prepared for the morrow. ❜

❛ i shall go to the grave with a smile on my lips, for i have no regrets. ❜

❛ this is the second time i’ve watched over you like this, isn’t it? ❜

❛ as i understand it, 'tis boorish to speak when you’ve naught to say, so i shall hold my tongue. ❜

❛ we‘ll see each other again, you can count on that. and when we do, you’d best be ready for the fight of your life. ❜

❛ i had nearly given up on myself, yet 'twould seem i am not without talent after all! ❜

❛ i learned the words but this is the first i use them. ❜

❛ don't bring trouble to my door, you hear? ❜

❛ 'twas never my intent to deceive you. i simply feared that if i spoke the truth, none would wish to involve themselves with me. ❜

❛ i dare not enter the palace. but i would fain escort you to the castle entrance. ❜

❛ pray visit me if you’ve the time or inclination. ❜

❛ all is preordained. even my death at thy hands. ❜

❛ there’s no shortage of ne'er-do-wells out there, willing to claim their medicine the only cure that they might inflate its price. ❜

❛ what are you doing? unhand me this instant! ❜

❛ love is as twin to madness, they say. they are bound fast, as night is to day. ❜

❛ oh, unwring your hands, you fool. as if anyone in this palace would dare say a word against me. ❜

❛ i find myself on edge when you stray from my line of sight. ❜

❛ save your honeyed words, traitor! ❜

❛ you would leave one of your own to die? ❜

❛ my efforts led only to my own ruin. ❜

❛ i believe i cautioned you to keep your drunken revelry in check. ❜

❛ they say you should be thankful for your life, but simply being alive isn’t the same as living, eh? ❜

❛ 'tisn‘t the first time i’ve taught an unseasoned whelp the meaning of betrayal. ❜

❛ my vision’s growing worse by the day i fear. ❜

❛ if i had but better known your heart, i could have shared in your burdens. ❜

❛ 'tis not my conscience that called me here, oh no. i simply cannot stomach acts of cowardice. ❜

❛ doesn’t seem like you and i are going to share a drink anytime soon. a shame, really. ❜

❛ and what business have you here, in the nobles' playground? ❜

❛ we’re lost, plain and simple. ❜

❛ 'twould seem my time here has reached its end. can’t say i‘m happy about it. ❜

❛ i possess no ill intent, i assure you! i merely wished for a closer look. ❜

❛ alas, though he was a just and goodly ruler, there is not a single person alive who remembers his name. ❜

❛ it can be a blessing to forget—and to be forgotten. ❜

❛ the flesh may rot, the soul, fragment. yet power—power endures. ❜

❛ no one has any care for me beyond my title. ❜

❛ another dogged adventurer, come to take my life? many have tried, and, as you can plainly see, all have failed. ❜

❛ naught can be achieved without sacrifice. ❜

❛ follow me. and, pray, take care not to fall behind. one can easily lose their way here. ❜

❛ if e'er you’re in need of a hearth to return to … then let it be mine. ❜

❛ i may be past my prime as a fighter—but i can still teach. ❜

❛ s‘pose it must make you feel a hero, seeing the person you caught yourself sitting behind bars. ❜

❛ do you think you can exact change in this world through good will alone? ❜

❛ reckon your road‘s been a long one. ❜

❛ i so hoped you’d visit. is that strange? ❜

❛ such knowledge has been known to cost a man his head. ❜

❛ shall we hunt a few monsters to start the day off? ❜

❛ the world shall not change with my death. ❜

❛ wilt thou slay me, or be slain? ❜

❛ 'twas all a farce and i the fool, exulting in my wooden crown. ❜

❛ do as you will. i care not what befalls me now. ❜

by madeline miller. i altered some quotes so they fit better  ♡

dialogue prompts from demon copperhead by barbara kingsolver.

i was born to wish for more than i can have.

there's a shoe out there for every foot.

it's important to leave home and take a look around.

i could be very rich if i decide to extort.

i wonder how it would feel to like who you are.

old homecoming queens never die.

who died and left you boss?

sorry to say your secret is out.

i'm gonna see bad spray tans in my nightmares.

nobody rides you like you ride yourself.

i used to think i knew what hurt was.

i don't like owing anybody.

i didn't fully believe you'd come.

i've got a surprise for you later.

does some law say we all turn into our parents?

half of me is sorry. the other half isn't.

don't look for money to buy your life back.

before we were us, we weren't anything.

you look like a plaid pillow.

i thought i knew it all, in those days.

people find more ways to shut up their monsters than a bible has verses.

let's go steal a tree.

the tall weed gets cut.

a kid in my shoes takes what power they can find.

the moon went to bed already, so what's wrong with us?

i'm a horrible person. the sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be.

you're too good for me. i don't deserve you.

it wasn't a secret, i just knew you wouldn't like it.

you use what you've got.

my stomach feels like i've been eating rusty nails.

some good's been known to come out of bad luck, if you face it head on.

where is the motherfucking compassion?

this is still your home, if you want to stay.

the adult in my life is me.

you look like you've seen the dead.

we were kids playing house.

come hang out any time. i could stand the company.

you have to quit being so nice to people.

i'm not one to shut any doors.

i cannot get the hang of living alone.

you should be as mad as i am.

do you want to sleep tonight, or do you want the truth?

they did this to us. you understand that, right?

of all the good people i know, you're probably the best one.

everybody needs to dump on somebody.

i've lived long enough to know that shit doesn't really bounce off.

kids aren't the problem. it's parents.

the only person you need to worry about is yourself.

i have my own honor.

part of being a mature person is knowing your skillset.

another week, another shitshow.

feel free to have a look around.

the support has to run both ways.

good people don't give up on the ones they love.

i've stayed alive so far by staying on my own feet.

i need you to wake up. sit up. we have to talk.

i love you. i would never, ever want to hurt you.

i want to draw your hands.

it's sunday. everyone's either in church or sleeping off their sins.

i want to kill you, but i'm not going to let you die.

are you testing me? or do you really not know?

if wishes were horses, we'd all have different shit to shovel.

a fallen hero shatters into more sharp pieces than you'd believe.

i thought i'd be better off without the fear.

there'll be no getting over this.

a selfish heart will keep you alive, at least.

a snake with venom is gonna bite.

going nowhere fast is a kind of juice.

trust the road, because nobody stays.

in the long run you're on the road with your ghosts. you're the ship, they're the bottle.

rehab is like being married to sickness in a lot of ways, really.

a good story doesn't just copy life, it pushes back on it.

you never were one to fall only halfway down the well, were you?

Writing / roleplay prompts collected from the POV chapters of Daenerys Targaryen in A Dance with Dragons , the fifth book of the ASOIAF saga. Feel free to adjust pronouns / etc. as needed.

tw: dark & mature themes, death, violence, suggestive / sexual content

❝ There is no need for you to see this. ❞

❝ He died for me. ❞

❝ It is bad luck to touch the dead. ❞

❝ They are only girls. ❞

❝ The blood of the dragon does not weep. ❞

❝ I am still at war, only now I am fighting shadows. ❞

❝ They are soldiers, not warriors. ❞

❝ Their training teaches them to obey, fearlessly, perfectly, without thought or hesitation … not to unravel secrets or ask questions. ❞

❝ I’ll see them when I’m dressed. ❞

❝ A crown should not sit easy on the head. ❞

❝ You are so radiant today I fear to look on you. ❞

❝ Women do not forget. Women do not forgive. ❞

❝ Does he believe a pair of pretty slippers will win my hand? ❞

❝ If he proposes that I wed this man again, I’ll throw a slipper at his head. ❞

❝ I am only a young girl and know little of the ways of war. ❞

❝ Why, it must be because you have no other purpose but to plague me. How many times have I refused you? ❞

❝ I see that you are eloquent as well as beautiful. I am quite persuaded. ❞

❝ You take too much on yourself. ❞

❝ Help me dress. I’ll have a cup of wine as well, to clear my head. ❞

❝ Come sleep with me. Dawn will not come for hours yet. ❞

❝ He was a good brother. ❞

❝ Say the word, my sweet, and I will send you from this awful place. ❞

❝ I would sooner stay with you. I feel safe when I’m with you. ❞

❝ I want to keep you safe. ❞

❝ No one ever kept me safe when I was little. ❞

❝ I want to protect you, but . . . it is so hard, to be strong. ❞

❝ I don’t always know what I should do. I must know, though, I am all they have. ❞

❝ We’ll both sleep, and dream of sweeter days. ❞

❝ Who would ever dare to love a dragon? ❞

❝ There is no woman more lovely than you. Only a blind man could believe otherwise. ❞

❝ A bath will help soothe me. ❞

❝ How did you get past my guards? ❞

❝ Your guards never saw me. ❞

❝ Why should I fear him? ❞

❝ If you have some warning for me, speak plainly. ❞

❝ Remember who you are. ❞

❝ I was praying. ❞

❝ Prophecies are treacherous. ❞

❝ If this is truly what my people wish, do I have the right to deny it to them? ❞

❝ Truth was never welcome at that court. ❞

❝ He was a traitor who met a traitor’s end. ❞

❝ He played a part in your father’s fall, but he bore you no ill will. ❞

❝ The king wanted you killed, but he spoke against it. ❞

❝ You think they would harm me? ❞

❝ I should have seen it coming. Was I so blind, or did I close my eyes willfully, so I would not have to see the price of power? ❞

❝ I would give them back to you if I could, but some things are beyond the power of even a queen. ❞

❝ What have I unleashed upon the world? ❞

❝ If they are monsters, so am I. ❞

❝ Are they meant to inflame me? ❞

❝ Would my lord prefer something sweeter? ❞

❝ I will not trust you, but I need you. ❞

❝ A craven’s knife can slay a queen as easily as a hero’s. ❞

❝ He is playing games with me. But I can play as well. ❞

❝ I do not wish to speak of him. ❞

❝ Let us speak instead of love, of dreams and desire. ❞

❝ I am drunk with the sight of you. ❞

❝ Why did you abandon me? ❞

❝ I am almost certain that I asked you for your hand. Begged you, even. ❞

❝ You gave up too easily. ❞

❝ I must marry, all agree. ❞

❝ I am not so foolish as to wed a man who finds a fruit platter more enticing than my breast. ❞

❝ If you will not take me for your husband, I am content to be your slave. ❞

❝ I have been rained on and I have been sold. It is not the same. No one wants to be owned. ❞

❝ Is that meant to frighten me? I lived in fear for years. I woke afraid each morning and went to sleep afraid each night. ❞

❝ Let me stay and help persuade you. ❞

❝ You look . . . weary. Are you sleeping? ❞

❝ You know how much I value your wisdom. ❞

❝ You need a king beside you to help you bear these burdens. ❞

❝ Have you no smile for me? Am I as fearful as all that? ❞

❝ I always grow solemn in the presence of such beauty. ❞

❝ I have never wanted war. ❞

❝ You have not said you love me. ❞

❝ That is not the answer of a man in love. ❞

❝ What is love? Desire? No man could ever look on you and not desire you. ❞

❝ A new time has come, and new things are possible. Marry me. ❞

❝ Kiss me as if I were your wife. ❞

❝ No. I do not love you. ❞

❝ It’s him I want, not you. ❞

❝ One day all men must die, but it serves no good to dwell on death. I prefer to take each day as it comes. ❞

❝ Words are wind, even words like love and peace. I put more trust in deeds. ❞

❝ So it seems that I may wed again. Are you happy for me? ❞

❝ A queen belongs not to herself, but to the realm. ❞

❝ Marriage or carnage, those are my choices. ❞

❝ Did he wed for love or duty? ❞

❝ I know he was very fond of her. ❞

❝ I could become fond of him, in time. ❞

❝ I need to change, to make myself beautiful. ❞

❝ You have grown more beautiful in my absence. How is that possible? ❞

❝ I have missed you so much. ❞

❝ They never told me you were here, or I might have played the fool and sent for you at once. ❞

❝ I have only one urgent need. You. ❞

❝ A man surrounded by foes cannot defend himself. No, when faced with many enemies, choose the weakest, kill him, ride over him and escape. ❞

❝ He is as bold as he is bloody. ❞

❝ He is a monster. A gallant monster, but a monster still. ❞

❝ Do you take me for the Butcher King? ❞

❝ Better the butcher than the meat. ❞

❝ All kings are butchers. Are queens so different? ❞

❝ Most queens have no purpose but to warm some king’s bed and pop out sons for him. ❞

❝ Have you forgotten who I am? ❞

❝ He would make a monster of me. A butcher queen. ❞

❝ There is blood on my hands, too, and on my heart. ❞

❝ I am tired of hearing what you will not do. ❞

❝ Will they joust for me? I should like that. ❞

❝ He plays you for a fool. Do you want a serpent in your bed? ❞

❝ You could not have saved them. ❞

❝ Oh, gods, what have I done? Have I sent him to his death? ❞

❝ I have no more help to give. ❞

❝ I will not turn away from them. A queen must know the sufferings of her people. ❞

❝ I cannot heal them, but I can show them that I care. ❞

❝ Shall I wash your hair? ❞

❝ All those pearls will make me rattle when I walk. ❞

❝ The pearls symbolize fertility. The more a woman wears, the more healthy children she will bear. ❞

❝ Your clothes are stained with blood. Take them off. ❞

❝ Only if you do the same. ❞

❝ I thought you would be the one to betray me. I thought . . . ❞

❝ Promise me that you will never turn against me. I could not bear that. Promise me. ❞

❝ I wanted you from the first time I saw you. ❞

❝ You boasted that you’d had a hundred women. ❞

❝ He has a sellsword’s conscience. That is to say, none at all. ❞

❝ I would give up my crown if he asked it of me. ❞

❝ If I gave up my crown, he would not want me. ❞

❝ I do not want this night to end. ❞

❝ Marry me instead. ❞

❝ You know I cannot do that. ❞

❝ You are a queen. You can do what you like. ❞

❝ Marry me, and we can have all the nights forever. ❞

❝ We cannot wed, my love. You know why. ❞

❝ Once I am wed it will be high treason to desire me. ❞

❝ It has been too long since I’ve killed a man. Might be I should seek out your betrothed. ❞

❝ Are you unwell? In the black of night I heard you scream. ❞

❝ It was the wind that you heard screaming. ❞

❝ It was just a dream. Go back to sleep. ❞

❝ She dares say that in open court? ❞

❝ That smile has won many a maiden’s heart, I’ll wager. ❞

❝ Please, you must not tease me. ❞

❝ Come back to bed and kiss me. ❞

❝ The queen your mother was always mindful of her duty. ❞

❝ A knight is no fit consort for a princess of royal blood. ❞

❝ I never knew my father. I want to know everything about him. The good and . . . the rest. ❞

❝ If he loved you, he would come and carry you off. ❞

❝ How did this happen, that I am drinking and smiling with men I’d sooner flay? ❞

❝ This is peace, so why does it taste so much like defeat? ❞

❝ I want no gifts from you. ❞

❝ There is no honor in him, only hunger . . . for gold, for glory, for blood. ❞

❝ Every child knows its mother. ❞

❝ They are dragons, and so am I. ❞

❝ You have more enemies than you know. ❞

❝ Gods grant that we have made a son tonight. ❞

❝ I heard you crying. ❞

❝ Crying? I was not crying. Why would I cry? ❞

❝ Stay. I do not wish to be alone. ❞

❝ Remind me that there is still good in the world. ❞

❝ I will have you beside me, what other protection do I need? ❞

❝ How much of this do you believe? ❞

❝ I am looking into hell, but I dare not look away. ❞

❝ He takes great pride in his . . . his swordsmanship. ❞

❝ He boasts of bedding me, you mean. ❞

❝ Once I dreamed of flying. ❞

❝ Men are mad and gods are madder. ❞

❝ You are dead. ❞

❝ You never mourned me. It is hard to die unmourned. ❞

❝ I loved you once. ❞

❝ I waited long enough. I waited my whole life. ❞

❝ You lingered in a place that you were never meant to be. ❞

❝ Home was all I ever wanted. ❞

❝ You wanted me. ❞

❝ I was tired. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. ❞

FANTASY MAGIC & ROMANCE SENTENCE QUOTES. various quotes about romance, and sometimes magic in a fantasy setting from various media. you can change names and pronouns according to how you see it fit.

“Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.”

“They say the soul cannot rest until it finds its match. Then it ignites.”

“You don't love someone because they're a dream of perfection. You love them because of the way they meet their challenges, how they struggle to overcome."

“She's magic, (name). A single flower blooming in an endless desert.”

"Is loving me really enough to endure everything you have to just to be with me?"

"Do you really want to put yourself through this?"

"You are under my protection now, and I protect what is mine.”

“I cannot come with you, my prince."

“You're exquisite. You're transcendent. And you are mine.”

"A man even a wealthy, beautiful, magically gifted princess would be pleased to call her own."

“One is always on time if time doesn't matter to them, little mouse”.

Call him. Claim him. Speak his Name. Make him thine before all others.”

“You think a courtship and a hunt are two separate things. They're not.”

“I’d once believed I could enamor her. But ’twas I, indeed, who was enamored.”

“Here it comes; the light chasing away the darkness.”

“Your mistake is thinking that without magic, I'm defeated.”

“The gods are nothing more than the monsters who happened to hold the pen."

"The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet."

"As they say, a jeweler knows the uncut gem. And I am. And she was. And so."

"In a perfect world, you could fuck people without giving them a piece of your heart. "

"In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That’s as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect."

"In many ways, unwise love is the truest love."

"You are the harbor of my soul's journeying."

"We should have taken our chances back then, when we were young and beautiful and didn't even know it."

"If you were a lord, you should be my lord, And the same if you were a thief."

“Take me with you. For laughs, for luck, for the unknown. Take me with you.”

“Perhaps we all give the best of our hearts uncritically–to those who hardly think about us in return.”

"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while."