𖤐 𝓓ON'T 𝓑LINK 𖤐

how to sell a haunted house - grady hendrix sentence starters change tenses/pronouns as needed !!  some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying tw ; death , alcohol , language , mental health

‘you need to sit down.’

‘what did you do?’

‘jesus, i’m sorry I’m not doing it the right way. i’m sure you’d be perfect at this.’

‘I find knowing these details makes it easier.’

‘you should have a drink, too.’

‘i’m not going to die. not for a long time.’

‘just because we shared a bathroom for fifteen years doesn’t mean you know a thing about me.’

‘my yoga instructor knows more about me than you do.’

‘I knew you’d do this. I knew you’d show up and start telling everyone what to do.’

‘look, I know you need to be in charge, but I’ve taken care of this.’

‘stop telling me how to deal with things. things are dealt with. I dealt with them.’

‘you can’t argue with someone when they’re upset.’

‘I don’t know what got into me, but I overreacted and I’m not proud of if it, and it wasn’t fair to you.’

‘you always needed everyone looking at you.’

‘I didn’t do it for attention. I did it because I was upset.’

‘I don’t like coming in here anyways. it’s got bad vibes.’

‘you can’t put a price tag on love.’

‘being here is really bad for my mental health.’

‘I know you don’t like me because i’m not successful enough for you.’

‘i’m actually happy with my life.’

‘if we aren’t related, if we met today, we wouldn’t chose to be friends.’

‘I don’t think we should be in here at all. I think my plan was better.’

‘don’t you feel the vibes?’

‘this is happening too fast. we need to slow down.’

‘your house is haunted.’

‘every single time I give you the benefit of the doubt, or I try to help, it comes back and bites me in the ass. every! single! time!’

‘our house is not haunted.’

‘i’m telling you there’s weird vibe. I can feel it in my gut.’

‘methinks thou doth protesteth too much.’

‘ghosts don’t exist.’

‘there are true things and there are false things, and there are no in-betweens.’

‘there are facts, like houses and car accidents and cremation, and there’s bullshit like ghosts and vibes and exorcisms. and if you start getting the true things mixed up with the false things, you’re fucked!’

‘reality is not a consensus!’

‘when you don’t like the way a conversation is going you deflect with personal attacks.’

‘you’re like some kind of emotionally abusive octopus entangling everyone in your word tentacles.’

‘even I know that you don’t go back in a haunted house after dark.’

‘the only things here are memories, and those can’t hurt us.’

‘you’re very threatened by new ideas.’

‘I offered to stay tonight because I thought it would be good for you. i’m hoping it gives you some closure.’

‘why are you so mad at me? is it because you feel guilty?’

‘i’m sorry you remember it that way because that must feel terrible, but that’s not what happened.’

‘stop telling me what I remember!’

‘no one ever says no to you, (name) because we’re all scared you’re going to lose your temper.’

‘oh, fuck you. nice try, (name), but fuck you.’

‘no matter what you did, I still don’t want anything bad to happen to you.’

‘everything has to be a big production and you’re the star.’

‘everything has to be a big production and you’re the star. all because you can’t face the fact that your life is sad and empty.’

‘it’s a little late for you to start being my brother now.’

‘you blew my mind. it felt like we were the only two people left in the world.’

‘no matter what, I don’t want to ditch you here with a bunch of ghosts.’

‘right now what you need, for once in your life, is to listen to me.’

‘the way you’re laughing is actually really, really scary.’

‘none of this is real.’

‘stop being scary.’

‘I don’t think I’m well. I think something is really wrong inside me.’

‘don’t you fucking laugh at me. for the first time ever, my life finally makes sense.’

‘I don’t think I know what’s real anymore.’

‘my explanation is logically consistent. yours is all magical energy.’

‘it was absolutely terrifying.’

‘how much trouble are you in?’

‘look at me. you’re not crazy. this really happened.’

‘don’t make this funny.’

everything you’ve seen tonight, i’ve seen it too.’

‘i’m sorry I wasn’t stronger.’

‘it was easier to pretend nothing happened.’

‘my entire life I’ve always known something was wrong with me. i’ve spend my entire life scared that if didn’t do everything exactly right, reality would unravel around me and I’d lose myself again.’

‘I forgive you.’

‘I hope you feel better. i’m fine.’

‘I didn’t think you had it in you.’

‘get out of here.’

‘all the things I did, I want to forget.’

‘i’m not doing it! i’m not doing it again!’

‘you need to get out of here right now.’

‘it won’t hurt me, but it’ll hurt you. you have to go right now!’

‘don’t let him do this again. don’t let him take over.’

‘I need a beer.’

‘an apology would go a long way.’

‘can you keep it down? I had to lie about what happened to a lot of people.’

‘are you seriously upset with me because I saved your life?’

‘you need to accept reality.’

‘you’ve become such a grouch.’

‘I wish you’d let someone take care of you.’

‘do you agree that there are forces greater than this world and we are helpless in the face of them?’

‘we don’t have time to fuck around.’

‘i’d like to say this the weirdest shit that’s ever happened to me but I have a bad feeling it’s about to get a lot worse.’

‘I told you this was a bad idea.’

‘I think we’re fucked.’

‘this is wrong. what you’re doing is wrong.’

‘let’s talk about something that’s actually interesting.’

The silence that followed the other’s voice felt like it pressed in tighter, folding around his body like wet cloth, dragging everything heavier — breath, heartbeat, thought. He didn’t even know Adriel had moved. Or spoken. But the words reached him anyway, drifting through the space like smoke from a fire Ryujin hadn’t noticed was burning.

You’re going to break the skin. He blinked slowly, eyes still fixed on the ghost of his reflection in the glass. It was only then he noticed the pain — a dull throb radiating from his palms. He looked down and opened his fists with hesitation, as though afraid of what he’d see. Half-moon indents etched into his skin, some red, angry, threatening to bloom into tiny wounds. His knuckles were pale, bloodless from how tightly he’d been gripping.

Breathe. The word hit him harder than it should have. Not because it was loud — it wasn’t. Adriel didn’t say it like an order, more like… a lifeline. Like he’d spoken to something deeper inside Ryujin than lungs or muscle or memory.

He exhaled. Finally.

It shuddered out of him, rough and uneven, and it felt like letting go of something he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. His fingers slowly unclenched, trembling slightly in the dim light. His shoulders sagged, like someone had finally found the switch to release the tension coiled in his frame. ❝… Sorry, ❞ Ryujin muttered, the word soft, worn. Not just for the fists. For the silence. For the shadows in the room. For everything he couldn’t put into words.  

He turned away from the window and leaned his back against it instead, pressing his spine into the cold glass as if he needed the chill to anchor him. The city lights continued to glow behind him — blurred, untouchable. He dragged his gaze toward Adriel. The man looked… different. Like something had tugged at the edge of him, tried to pull him somewhere else. Somewhere Ryujin couldn’t see. There was a distance in his eyes Ryujin recognized too well — the same one that stared back at him in mirrors. A half-faded presence, the kind you get from standing too close to something that doesn’t quite belong in this world anymore.

upset, grief, guilt, or something darker all together?

slowly, he brings his own dual hued gaze to seek ryujin's, pupils blown and hazy under the weight of prescription pain relief. the irony of the city lights casting a halo when something so dark is latched onto the other isn't lost on him . . . and yet, he still can't dig up the nerve to comment.

❝ i don't . . . ❞

adriel begins, ready to line up his usual defenses. ' i don't see much. the medication helps. therapy is a great tool. ' all lies ; and he's so sick of fucking lying. he lets out a breath, slow and shuddered, tattooed shoulders rolling as if to release a tension that's only threatening to settle.

❝ . . . you're going to think i'm fucking crazy, man. ❞

his voice is almost too quiet to be heard, too timid in it's admittance of something not being quite right with his own broken soul. he hasn't talked to anybody about what exactly he can see since he was tethered to the cult ; and now? now even though he's out, he feels their presence lingering. he can hear their voices chanting.

he blinks repeatedly, eyes not quite dry.

⋆˚࿔ redalianovna 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ ; an independent, selective, head canon and vibe based blog for marvel character 𝕹atalia 𝕬lianovna 𝕽omanova aka the black widow. this blog operates as morally grey, with focus on trust issues and traversing what it means to be a good person in a world that tries to convince you otherwise.

❝ they ask me, is it going good in the garden? i say i'm lost, but i beg no pardon. up on the dice, but low on the cards. i try not to think about how it's harder now. ❞

⋆˚࿔ redalianovna 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ ; an independent, selective, head canon and vibe based blog for marvel character 𝕹atalia 𝕬lianovna 𝕽omanova aka the black widow. this blog operates as morally grey, with focus on trust issues and traversing what it means to be a good person in a world that tries to convince you otherwise.

❝ they ask me, is it going good in the garden? i say i'm lost, but i beg no pardon. up on the dice, but low on the cards. i try not to think about how it's harder now. ❞