stars eternal .

The bastard-born warriors, the Illyrian half-breed, the monster trapped in a beautiful body, the dreamer born into a court of nightmares … And the huntress with an artist’s soul.

“please, don’t take this the wrong way.”

“know that we’ll still have each other.”

“tell me we’re doing the right thing.”

“you know what i was gonna say.”

“i don’t give a shit what happened.”

“everything is so confusing. i don’t know.”

“sorry. i didn’t mean what i said.”

“you really don’t have to keep apologising.”

“i hate knowing we have to hide.”

“it’s not your fault. don’t blame yourself.”

“this is all out of our control.”

“i think i’m going crazy without you.”

“what am i supposed to say to that?”

“we need to talk. call me.”

“i can’t sleep because of all this.”

“how much more must i be hurting?”

“i’m not the person i once was.”

“c’mon you know it’s not like that.”

“what about all of this is funny?”

“tell me you don’t feel the same.”

“you always seem to make me speechless.”

“you left me here all by myself.”

“is this all a joke to you?”

starters  /  prompts taken from f. d. soul’s work ,  between you and these bones .  feel free to change pronouns  /  tenses as necessary .

‘  the problem is you keep trying to use your eyes  ’

‘  how i soften when you pull me against you  ’

‘  you are teaching me to love  ’

‘  i will pretend that i have not already heard the question in your eyes  ’

‘  you perhaps will become my swan song  ’

‘  it is a very human thing to love  ’

‘  you are my good days  ’

‘  i have been loved dearly  ’

‘  i promise you will not always be this war  ’

‘  thank god for the stubbornness of organs  ’

‘  it takes me seven days to stop being in love with you  ’

‘  there will always be another day  ’

‘  there will always be another mercy  ’

‘  perhaps i will take up dancing again  ’

‘  what a pretty little disaster you will be  ’

‘  i am terrified for you  ’

‘  i will fold inside of myself  ’

‘  today i am thankful  ’

‘  i didn’t want to sleep because i didn’t want to wake  ’

‘  come and get me  ’

‘  i tell myself i do not need you  ’

‘  i think i broke again last night  ’

‘  i’m just trying to connect with you  ’

‘  you are an ocean that will perhaps never stop crashing  ’

‘  burn the house down in search of yourself  ’

‘  don’t you dare ever stop looking  ’

‘  i struggle not to feel guilty  ’

‘  you are a wild  ,  unkempt thing  ’

‘  sometimes it is a very sad thing to be human and longing  ’

‘  find that you are made of russian nesting dolls  ’

‘  the trees are always kindest with spring comes  ’

‘  teach yourself the hymns again  ’

‘  he is every amen i have ever laid down on lips  ’

‘  this life is an altar  ’

‘  i am sorry i do not have more time  ’

‘  there is a mountain in me  ’

‘  by the morning i am a triumph  ’

‘  there are words playing hooky in the back of your throat  ’

‘  today is by far the most beautiful creature i have ever come across  ’

‘  there are many things that will fit beneath your skin  ’

‘  forgiveness does not take up much room  ’

‘  some days you will breathe and it will be enough  ’

‘  you do not have to hold it quite so tightly  ’

‘  there is a prayer in me  ,  still  ’

‘  you scare me a little  ’

‘  you can be a good thing and not a whole thing  ’

‘  there are flowers in my chest again  ’

‘  the rain comes and sounds like you  ’

‘  i cannot tell you why i still trust god  ’

‘  find peace and build a home out of it  ’

it seemed to open forever, nothing to do but fall into it.

i felt as though there was something i was missing, just beyond my grasp.

there was something else there, something i knew but could not remember.

i don’t know how long i walked for. it must have been hours, but it felt right, like it was all i could do.

walking felt as natural as falling.

grant us the sight that we may not know.

my mother doesn’t always know what’s best for our family.

once it’s been thrown away, it’s gone, far beyond all human understanding.

whatever is going on with you, you can talk about it or get over it, but you clearly need to deal with something.

found him.

i don’t know what happened. i mean, i’m sure she’s dead, but i don’t…

setting my flat alight and standing naked in the winter streets until the fire brigade arrived was far better than spending another second in that place.

yes, i admit here i set the fire myself.

that’s not really what concerns me, though obviously it’s a tragic loss of life, etcetera, etcetera.

i just hope it’s not too late already.

a lot of people call me lucky, you know.

it has a quiet terror all its own.

to be perfectly honest i expected you to be dead within a week.

were i prone to flights of fancy, i daresay i would call your words portentous.

its whistling tune was unmistakeable, and struck me with a deepest sadness and a gentle creeping fear.

i had plenty of time to mourn him.

how are you doing, old man?

heard you had a bit of a close call.

i met the war.

i met the war. it was no taller than you are.

you know the phrase ‘to pay the piper’. i thought on it a lot through those many months — the debt of hamelin, who for their greed had their children taken from them, never to be returned.

those are musings for poets, among whom i do not number.

i can say without a word of lie that i never saw anyone fight with such ferocity.

the bullet hole simply opened, like an eye, and he fell to the ground dead.