* randomly lethal !

                                                         muse list // rules

     Shadows steeped inkish feathers in their paling wash as a delicate step is taken towards the moonlit path. The break was clean–no fading between the darkness, light cut over the forest floor as though a blade to dispel the bold, but she was not deterred. She preferred it, really. Without the bright, unyielding moon, there was to be no shadow for their kind to exist in. And with it brought all the curiosities of centuries old; hers had been forgotten, left to drown within the Entity’s boredom ( had her temple ever truly been finished before being plunged into the void of disdain? ) and her time for rage had dulled to quietude, an almost peacefulness that left her more morose than loathsome. 

Only recently had she found the break in her pocketed world. A breach of auric, a means to explore beyond the unsightly gate, a way to find them. To observe them. 

And this one, oh what sweet intrigue! 

     She had seen his sleepless fervor, the way he hung onto the words of the wild man–oh, the birds found such delight in that one’s caress–and the pages he filled with doodles and dreams. She could remember the magnetism of hopefulness. He was a muse in all his oddities, his kindness, his refusal to fall to villainy or condemnation. With that delicate balance of beautiful violence hanging in her heart and curiosity, the Artist watched parallel to the boy’s chosen place of amusement, and her secrecy of observation would only be broken when the nudge of a ball thrown too far would disturb it. A moment of panic as sharp gaze steadied on the aged plaything.

But, anyway, the birds. And--when he did enough climbing and careful side-stepping--easels, tucked away in the upper balconies. Both were exciting, he thought. The former were familiar and just as common as the trials, but here this felt like a home for them, as though he’d stumbled upon where they actually went whenever they got scared off. It made him readjust his view on them: something living, with a tiny heartbeat and fallible muscles, and not a simulacrum of life. It made him feel more forward about his attempts to--he didn’t want to say bothering, but it was remarkably similar to how he’d used to annoy his cat. Teasing. Affectionate, curious prodding. He never aimed to hurt.

But they didn’t like it, regardless, and it made him feel glum. He should get Jake to try and teach him how to approach them. (Once he can properly steel himself with having his breath on his neck and his fingers on his wrists. Jake was bad for his nerves.) 

He’d found a bouncy ball in Badham, the last time his wanderings had brought him to it. He’d stolen it from the playground while hightailing back out of it. The less time he spent there, the better. Here, he batted around the ball while sticking his nose in bookshelves and hovering over desks. He wanted to use the easels, but the ink wouldn’t obey him, constantly peeling itself off his hands and back up to the ether, like reverse rain. He’ll have to try and figure something out.

He threw the ball too far, and scared a distant crow. He laughed at its indignant squawk, offering affectionate apologies. The ball had rolled under brush, and when he approached, it rolled back to him.

Quentin paused.

Coincidences weren’t a thing with survival. And Quentin did nothing but survive. And in his experience, if a ball rolled towards you out of nowhere, there was a blade in the same dark it came from.

The ball hit the side of his high-top. Quentin didn’t look at it. Gaze gyrated from leaf to a scuff in the sand to the endless shadows.

“ fun is for suckers, ____. “

“ staring down the barrel of my own mortality beats fun. “

“ do ladies have midlife crises? “

“ however old you feel, ____, you definitely sound twenty-two. “

“ it’s my bad attitude that keeps me young. “

“ nothing in this world is easy. “

“ the universe is trying to fuck with me, and i refuse to engage. “

“ you can eat anything, take anything do anything. it’s impossible to destroy you, you’ll never die! “

“ ____, if it’s any consolation, i promise that you will get divorced someday. “

“ i would tell you but i think explaining it might give us both an aneurysm. “

“ you know, your friends can’t help you if you don’t let them. “

“ i need you to help me. you’re not helping me. you’re not helping me at all, you’re sabotaging me. “

“ it’s a long story involving multiple deaths. “

“ embracing the abyss is the only way to go forward. “

“ buildings aren’t haunted. people are. “

“ angels are all around us. “

“ no, i did not kill somebody. if i killed somebody, i’d play it cool, move to mexico, start a band. “

“ i think we have something really, really good and it’s worth pursuing. “

“ no, ____, we are not getting back together. especially not when your best argument is a warm body. “

“ i wouldn’t tell me anything, if i were you, because i’m not the kind of person that you tell secrets to. “

“ i think i finally found out a little something about how this world works. “

“ didn’t you get the news? we’re about to die. “

“ it doesn’t matter. i die all the time. “

“ you seem nervous. almost as if it’s occurring to you in this moment, maybe, possibly that this is going to be harder than you thought. “

“ you just blew up your whole life and you are serial-killer calm about it. “

“ do you think it’s possible to correct your life? “

“ i find myself in this position of finally being able to do things the right way. “

“ it happened. and it kept happening. and it got harder and harder for me to tell you anything. “

“ there was never going to be a right time for me to tell you anything. “

“ i can do it by myself. i can. “

“ no one can do anything by themselves. “

“ there is no way out of this situation. “

“ i can tell that you’re really bent out of shape about this ____ character, but we literally just met so none of this is on me. “

“ from what i gather, we are in this together. “

“ why do you think this is happening to us? “

“ i’m pretty sure that this is purgatorial punishment for being a bad person. “

“ this isn’t going to be very fun if you keep rejecting my theories. “

“ have i ever done anything, you know, memorably bad to you? “

“ i love that you’re a cunt, it makes me feel morally superior. “

“ you’re basically a child that the universe tasked me with babysitting. would you say that’s a fair assessment? “

“ if you were going to die today, would you be ready for it? “

“ holding two incompatible ideas in your head at the same time and accepting both of them… that’s the best of being human. “

“ listen, i know you think i’m a moral narcissist, but there are good guys and bad guys. and i am definitely a good guy. “

“ ____ chose you, and you don’t love him/her. you’re not faithful. “

“ nobody chooses me. i’m the hole where a choice should be. “

“ i’ve got to be honest with you. if i was inventing hell, it would look like this. “

“ i don’t want to be attached to anyone. “

“ i want to just at least maintain the illusion of free will. “

“ we are very unreliable narrators of our own stories. “

“ there’s so much i want to do and you just want to stay exactly the same. “

“ i prefer casual acquaintances over closer relations, and strangers above everybody else. “

“ how do you know that you’re real? “

“ we need each other. i need you. you need me. “

“ i do not want to do this alone. “

“ i love you so much. i cannot be the reason that you stop existing. i would never forgive myself. “

“ don’t ever let them tear us apart, okay? “

“ i am the party. “

“ that might be the last thing you ever say to me. “

“ thank you for changing my life. lives are hard to change. “

“ no matter how much we think we’re fooling people, our bodies… they can’t keep lying the way our minds can. “

“ i thought if i worked hard enough, if i kept putting the time in, and if i kept my head down, did everything right, i… this aching, gnawing feeling of being an absolute failure would go away. “

“ you were this… tiny seed buried in the darkness fighting your way to the light. you wanted to live. it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. do you still have that in you? “

“ i look at you, chasing down death at every corner and… where is that gorgeous piece of you pushing to be a part of this world? “

“ this is the day we get free. “

“ ____, you seriously don’t remember me? “

“ i need you to remember me. i need you to. “

“ i told you i know you. “

Send one for my muse’s reaction! Feel free to alter context, switch muse’s positions, etc, as necessary. Contains some mild NSFW.

​❝ happy halloween! ❞

❝ are you going to go to this halloween part with me tonight? ❞

❝ it’s halloween, so everyone is going to be dressed up. ❞

​❝ is that your idea of a costume? ❞

❝ i thought we agreed to stay in and have a horror movie marathon. ❞

❝ i went to the store and bought all new halloween decorations. ❞

​❝ are you going to help me put up these halloween lights? ❞

​❝ it’s halloween and we are spending it by going to a haunted house. ❞

​❝ i have plans halloween night, unlike you. ❞

​❝ we can always go to the pumpkin patch instead. ❞

​❝ are you going to help me carve these pumpkins or not? ❞

​❝ aww, where’s your halloween spirit? ❞

​❝ look, i carved this pumpkin all by myself, what do you think? ❞

​❝ wanna go out with me for halloween? ❞

​❝ come on, halloween’s not so bad. it’s actually fun. ❞

​❝ okay, i’ve got the best ghost story, wanna hear? ❞

​❝ let’s go trick-or-treating! ❞

❝ are you going to take me trick or treating this year again? ❞

​❝ come on, we have to go buy costumes for this party. ❞

​❝ it’s going to be cold on halloween, are you sure you want to wear that? ❞

​❝ you are literally the same thing every year for halloween. ❞

​❝ please, enough with the pumpkin spice. ❞

​❝ how about a pumpkin spice latte? ❞

❝ please, never use fake blood for a halloween prank. ❞

❝ oh no, please, tell me this isn’t another one of your ideas for a halloween prank. ❞

❝ you think you can scare me? ❞

❝ remember to always check your candy! ❞

❝ where is all the candy i just bought? ❞

❝ we are not going to a cemetery just because it may or may not be haunted. ❞

❝ i’m not going in a graveyard, are you crazy? ❞

❝ i’m going to dress up as the grim reaper because i feel like death. ❞

❝ trick or treat. ❞

❝ want to trade out some of our candy? ❞

❝ we should do a halloween game, like truth or dare ‘cept it’s trick or treat? ❞

❝ what school has a halloween dance party? ❞

❝ what are you going as for halloween this year? ❞

❝ are we really going to carve all these pumpkins? ❞

❝ you know, that was the best halloween party ever. ❞

❝ i’m going to a halloween party and you’re not invited. ❞

❝ you should totally come with me for this halloween thing tonight. ❞

❝ we can stay up late and watch scary movies. ❞

❝ i wanna make sure that my jack-o-lantern is the best! ❞

❝ let’s see who can carve there pumpkins the fastest! ❞

❝ i can’t believe they put some of these costumes on the racks. ❞

❝ what’s the point in decorating your house for just one night? ❞

❝ i’ve got a spooky story for you, if you want to hear. ❞

❝ do we have to go to this haunted trail? ❞

❝ that haunted trail/house sucked, i want my money back. ❞

❝ i didn’t see you at the halloween festival earlier. ❞

❝ i have to take my ______ trick or treating, or else i would. ❞

❝ are you going to the halloween thing they are having today? ❞

❝ do you really think the dead are roaming free among us on halloween night? ❞

❝ halloween is my favorite holiday, so i’m going with or without you. ❞

❝ you want to help me set up this halloween party? ❞

❝ this is going to be the best halloween of all time. ❞

❝ i’m just saying, let loose and have some fun for a change. ❞

❝ we should just make our own costumes. ❞

❝ we’re definitely getting matching costumes.  ❞

❝ i entered are names for this costume contest, one of us will definitely win. ❞

❝ i do not want to be in a costume contest. ❞

❝ wait, what? you don’t want to do anything at all on halloween night? ❞