무당,

dialogue prompts from house of frank by kay synclaire.

i should count myself lucky.

do you remember your promise?

how could i let you go back out there when there's room for you here?

of course i'll pay you for your hospitality.

you run this all by yourself?

what i can offer is a safe place to stay when you have nowhere else to go.

it's a picture of us.

you always made me laugh.

we all have to start somewhere.

i'm perfectly capable of getting around on my own.

i'm sorry if i offended you.

this _____ is very good.

you're from the city, aren't you?

i want to become something beautiful.

i thought i'd be ready to talk about _____.

would you like to tell me a bit about ____?

this should fix you right up.

you're going to need all of your strength.

i was too late. i'm so sorry.

i brought you something to eat.

we all experience life, whether we've had lots of it or very little.

any wisdom i have is from my own foolhardiness.

you keep surprising me.

it runs through my family, this gift. or curse, depending on who you're asking.

how is it that you understand me so well?

i didn't mean to sleep so late.

you're welcome to stay as long as you need.

you have the freedom to make your own decisions.

grief has peculiar effects on us all.

i've never met another who looks like me.

i've always wondered what a beast like me is destined to do.

i believe i was born to love. it's the only course that feels natural to me.

you will love again. you will love people, and things, and food again.

i have a need for an extra pair of hands.

you're buttering me up.

to leave or to stay: that's the big question.

i don't have an ounce of your courage.

there's nothing left for me here.

you seem a bit antagonizing.

whatever you say, princess.

every day is a chance to start over.

i'd like to stay, as long as you'll have me.

you're stretching yourself too thin.

you fix things. you're a fixer.

i don't think you understand exactly who i am.

what are you trying to prove?

i told you i could handle it, so i did.

you tend to underestimate, you know.

why did you lie?

only a pirate would have that many tattoos.

i don't have much of a family anymore.

if there's a time to be honest, it's now.

didn't you stop and think about yourself?

you had to play hero, didn't you?

you know, i notice things, too.

damn it, _____, i like you.

sometimes people get the wrong idea about me.

i like to tease. nothing more.

it's strange seeing you without your ____.

thank you. i'm sorry i didn't say it before.

you've got a lot on your shoulders. i can feel it.

you might not be so bad.

you were trying to tell me, and i wouldn't listen.

i'll find a way to fix this. i always do.

i don't seem to know my own strength.

i don't sound like that.

what's your favorite legend?

____ was the best of us.

you were always so selfless.

___ wasn't always so angry, you know.

we all need to listen to our bodies, when it's time to rest.

i'm afraid i don't know that story.

you can tell me when you're ready. if you're ever ready.

i just wanted you here. you calm me, for some reason.

i thought this damned day would never end.

i keep quiet about my secrets, thank you.

what about a secret for a secret, then?

you've been overexerting yourself. you need to rest.

you're professional when you need to be.

you made this for me?

i don't know what you're implying.

when's the last time you had something new for yourself?

you need to get dressed. it brings you back to a sense of self.

you finally came home to yourself again.

righteous actions still have consequences.

that's what family does: we worry. but we worry together.

things are breaking faster than i can fix them.

that was a sneaky move.

what's going on in that head of yours?

i didn't have any malicious intent. i was trying to help you.

we all handle our grief in strange ways.

rich people never say that they're rich.

i wouldn't think of leaving you right now.

i'm a bit hurt that you haven't heard of me.

it feels like i'm seeing a ghost.

i don't have any alcohol on me, but i do have an ear. two of them, in fact.

the only absolute in this life is that there will always be death, and there is no controlling him.

i'm not afraid to be around you.

i think what you did was brave, and it was brave of you to tell me.

i don't know what's a dream and what's a memory.

did you sleep in here last night?

i didn't think you knew how to have fun.

you make me want to be better, and have fun, and live.

i trust you with my pain. i trust you with my heart. it's all i can give to you.

just because you don't feel alright doesn't mean you can't look alright.

you just got ten times more interesting.

we can only focus on what we can do.

we made it. we're alive. let's work.

sirat doesn’t look away, brown eyes staying completely focused on the other. she barely shifts, not even when the words land like stone in water, drowning slowly. hwa-rim’s voice doesn’t shake, but sirat hears what’s beneath it. the kind of grief only women like them carry, passed down like heirlooms no one wanted. the wind presses against her veil but it doesn’t move, silent as sirat stands still as bone. [ she has heard those words before, not from hwa-rim, but from her mother’s hands. in the way they trembled over prayer beads. in the silence after every unanswered plea. they say the gods choose carefully. sirat has never believed that. she thinks the gods choose what hurts best. ]

her thumb brushes the hilt of her blade, worn smooth from years of holding it too tightly. she speaks only once the silence grows thick as blood between them, the divine & the frozen. ❝ — you’re not wrong. ❞ her voice is low, but not gentle : more like something sacred that’s lost its warmth. a fire dying, its last emblem burning away smoke. ❝ you’re just not ready to say it out loud. but i’ve said it. i still wake up saying it. ❞ they both stand between two worlds: one built of ritual and guilt passed from generation to generation, the other of science and glass so fragile the sirat wonders how hwa-rim hasn't cut herself on the shards. neither worlds are kind. neither worlds are clean. neither of them wear bandages. sirat doesn’t reach out, but she steps closer.

And before her, 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭. Of blood and prophecy. 𝐎𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐬. A woman who does not flinch when called a myth. Her words lodge beneath the shaman's ribs, like 𝖆 𝖗𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖈 𝖚𝖓𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖉 from the bones of a forgotten god, between the parts that educe lullabies, and the parts that know 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕓𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕕.

𝕺𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐞𝐬, lathered with raven lashes, 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝. As if it will soften the weight. It doesn’t. It never does.

❛❛ I 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠. ❜❜ She confesses, akin to a blade drawn 𝖙𝖔𝖔 𝖈𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊 to the throat. Not unkind, necessary. ❛❛ 𝕴 was born with crows in my lungs, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕒𝕝𝕥 𝕓𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕪 𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕦𝕖. I don’t remember innocence. 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚝. ❜❜

An inhale. The 𝖘𝖔𝖒𝖆 of copper and ritual ash 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚡𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 her. Her hands, adorned with red silk, curl loosely at her sides. Ebony gaze shifts to Sirat. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘: Of walking between two truths. ❛❛ 𝕴 𝚋𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚍. And the gods came anyway. Not to bless. To collect. ❜❜

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚜. The ocean 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 in its claim against the land. Modulation does not falter. 𝕳𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥. ❛❛ They do not want my faith. Only my cost. ❜❜

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, a mere breadth of space yet vast as a chasm hewn from the marrow of centuries. And now they stand together, 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚞𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, yet fashioned from the same 𝖈𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖆𝖑 𝖆𝖋𝖋𝖑𝖎𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓. Summoned, extracted, like curses murmured through ancestral bones. Between them, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕒 𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝 𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕓𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕬𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬.

❛❛ So 𝕴 remain. ❜❜ She breathes with 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚖𝚜. ❛❛ Because the world still demands someone, to stand at the mouth of a grave, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐. ❜❜

dialogue prompts from the night sister by jennifer mcmahon.

don't you see this is what i have to do?

there's no one else i can tell all this to.

i'm going to get you out of here.

thoughts and words have power.

you can be a monster and not even know you are one.

were you having the dream again?

it wasn't a dream, and i'm not making it up. it was real.

look at you. you don't even seem upset.

you knew ____ more than anyone ever did.

some people are made stronger by loss. others are broken by it.

you know the story. and you know i don't like to talk about it.

i'd take you, if i ran away.

nothing bad ever happens here.

this is a small town. people have long memories.

i'd like to tell you, but i'm not sure you're ready to hear it.

the more you try to forget something, the more you can't get it out of your head.

try not to worry. really. it'll all be okay.

there are different kinds of smart.

i see what you are, even if no one else does.

maybe it was bigfoot.

please tell me you believe me.

you don't want to end up like me, do you?

sometimes i almost forget who the real me is.

any one of us can get a little lost, sometimes.

i bet the things you know would surprise everyone.

just because i know doesn't mean i want to be reminded.

if you could teleport, where would you go?

get out. run while you still can.

you're getting ____ all over my clean floor.

i never hurry for anything.

if you know what's good for you, you'll put it all out of your mind.

every one of us has evil inside us.

nothing is ever really what it seems. remember that.

what is it you want from me?

you're the good one. you always have been.

i can't tell you what a help you've been.

no one knows this place like we do.

doesn't everything look smaller, once you grow up?

i just hid the body.

our family is cursed.

if you have a better idea, i'm open to hearing it.

i tried to warn you. you didn't listen.

i think we both need some space.

you're asking all the wrong questions.

there's nothing i can do, moping around at home.

i never told anyone. i prayed i would never have to.

you can't help what you are.

we all trick ourselves into believing what we need to believe.

i need you to go get help.

i'd like to help you, if you'll let me.

i can help you. i know i can.