𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐀𝐍 𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒, 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍. now that she has become older ( wiser, mayhap ) , the promise of pain is solely frightening when it threatens those that she loves: she bleeds and bleeds and bleeds once more, and with each crimson droplet that trails a bloodied path across the doll - like pallor of her skin, ahri re - discovers the bewitching beauty that may exclusively be found in selfishly righteous violence. and thus, here is she ; seated by the pond in the vicinity to her cottage, legs graciously folded beneath her whilst she tries to wash away the blood from the now sticky, ruffled furs of her poor tails.

his presence is felt long before his voice tickles her ears. a single fluffy audit twitches in instinctive response, quietly indicating that he has indeed managed to pique her attention, but it takes her a moment longer to focus her field of vision on him. there is a half - apologetic smile 'pon lush tiers, their roseate hues now reduced to naught but a miserable complement to the red and purple bruises that bloom across her petite silhouette. ❝ some foolish humans made the mistake of confusing this forest with their personal hunting ground. ❞ it had only been natural then, that she had demonstrated who the apex predator truly was. however, her anger had blinded her and she had been much more reckless than it was safe to be ; the still fresh blood on her niveous furs is an unmistakable admission of guilt. ❝ i had brushed my beloved tails just a few hours ago ... how frustrating. ❞

there are a lot of words he can come up with to describe her, though some of them are not used as often as the others. cute. fluffy. childish. yet here, as he stands behind her, he can't help but think that she does look very cute and fluffy and childish at the moment.   ❛❛  i assume those  `  foolish humans  ´  are no more ?  ❜❜   at least he doubts they are, knowing her and how protective of the woodlands she is. still, it pains him to see her like this. in the same way that she fears those within the forest suffering he feels equally uneasy at seeing her wounds.   ❛❛  does it hurt a lot ?  ❜❜   now that he thinks about it he's never inquired about her pain tolerance. crouching down he carefully reaches his hand out, letting one of the trails of blood roll down onto his finger to prevent it from further staining her skin.

❛❛  can you stand ?  ❜❜   having only just arrived he's unsure of the extent of her injuries. maybe she's broken something. the sound of his jacket being taken off drowns out the rustling of the grasses and flowers nearby as they sway in the light breeze and soon a new weight is being placed upon her shoulders.   ❛❛  come, i'll run you a proper bath.  ❜❜   her home is nearby anyway and the pond ... he would rather her not have to stain the waters. before she can protest he's picking her up, being as careful as he can be to not press on any of the dark marks.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ💋ɞ˚‧｡⋆   𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲   𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞

❝   i   can’t   believe   you   beat   me   at   rock,   paper,   scissors   three   times   in   a   row…   rematch.   ❞

❝   loser   has   to   buy   the   next   round   of   milkshakes,   deal?   ❞

❝   you   can’t   just   call   dibs   on   the   front   seat,   there   are   rules.   ❞

❝   if   you   eat   the   last   cookie,   i’m   never   forgiving   you.   ❞

❝   we   both   know   i’d   win   at   mini   golf,   don’t   even   try   me.   ❞

❝   why   does   it   feel   like   you’re   secretly   keeping   score   of   every   argument   we’ve   ever   had?   ❞

❝   i   will   trade   you   this   french   fry   for   literally   anything   on   your    plate.   ❞

❝   no,   you   can’t   just   make   up   rules   in   the   middle   of   the   game.   ❞

❝   this   was   supposed   to   be   a   study   session,   not   a   competition   to   see   who   gets   distracted   first.   ❞

❝   who   even   let   you   be   the   dj,   your   playlist   is   chaos.   ❞

❝   we’re   definitely   lost,   but   you   look   way   too   confident   holding   that   map.   ❞

❝   i   call   not   carrying   the   heavy   bag—i   carried   it   last   time.   ❞

❝   you’re   supposed   to   cheer   me   on,   not   laugh   when   i   miss.   ❞

❝   admit   it,   i   make   the   better   road   trip   partner.   ❞

❝   the   only   reason   you   won   was   because   i   went   easy   on   you.   ❞

❝   stop   pretending   like   you   didn’t   just   trip   over   your   own   feet.   ❞

❝   if   you   fall   asleep,   i’m   drawing   on   your   face.   ❞

❝   who   said   you   get   to   be   in   charge   of   the   remote?   ❞

❝   i   can’t   believe   you   stole   my   pen   and   then   had   the   audacity   to   lose   it.   ❞

❝   if   you   hum   that   song   one   more   time,   i   swear—   ❞

❝   why   are   you   acting   like   board   games   aren’t   a   full   contact    sport?   ❞

❝   tell   me   again   how   you   plan   on   winning   with   that   strategy.   ❞

❝   no   way,   you   can’t   just   leave   me   hanging   during   karaoke   night.   ❞

❝   who   gave   you   the   right   to   be   this   smug   about   winning   trivia?   ❞

❝   the   prize   doesn’t   matter,   i   just   need   to   beat   you.   ❞

❝   you’re   not   seriously   trying   to   race   me   to   the   car   right   now,   are   you?   ❞

❝   i’m   not   sharing   popcorn   with   you   if   you’re   going   to   eat   it   all.   ❞

❝   don’t   even   try   to   tell   me   you’re   not   cheating   at   this.   ❞

❝   we’re   supposed   to   be   teammates,   not   mortal   enemies.   ❞

❝   why   are   you   making   everything   into   a   competition?   ❞

❝   i   saw   that,   you   totally   peeked   at   my   cards.   ❞

❝   there   is   no   universe   where   you   beat   me   at   mario   kart.   ❞

❝   if   you   keep   making   that   face,   it’s   going   to   get   stuck   like   that.   ❞

❝   you   only   came   along   because   you   didn’t   trust   me   to   win   without   you.   ❞

❝   we   were   supposed   to   be   practicing,   not   trying   to   outdo   each   other.   ❞

❝   you   cannot   just   call   a   nap   a   ‘strategic   break.’   ❞

❝   fine,   but   if   we   get   in   trouble,   i’m   blaming   you.   ❞

❝   you   can’t   back   out   now,   you   already   said   yes.   ❞

❝   are   we   actually   competing,   or   are   you   just   trying   to   annoy   me?   ❞

❝   last   one   to   the   door   has   to   do   the   dishes.   ❞

❝   don’t   think   i   won’t   hold   this   over   your   head   forever.   ❞

❝   i   can’t   believe   you   talked   me   into   this.   ❞

❝   i   call   being   referee,   there’s   no   way   i’m   getting   dragged   into   this   again.   ❞

❝   no,   you’re   not   allowed   to   quit   halfway   through.   ❞

❝   why   do   i   feel   like   you’re   making   this   up   as   you   go?   ❞

❝   don’t   act   like   you’re   not   having   fun.   ❞

❝   you   only   won   because   i   let   you.   ❞

❝   we’re   supposed   to   be   on   the   same   team,   remember?   ❞

❝   don’t   worry,   i’ll   remind   you   who   the   champion   is.   ❞

❝   you’re   way   too   competitive   for   someone   who   just   lost.   ❞

❛ i wasn’t in love with him. ❜

❛ i loved him. of course! it was impossible not to. ❜

❛ everyone loved you. everyone wanted to be around you. ❜

❛ i protected him. i was honest with him. ❜

❛ it's just you and me, mate. and the girl with agoraphobia, but she's in her room. ❜

❛ are you telling me you spent your summer reading the bible? ❜

❛ oh no no. not, uh, friend. more an admirer. from afar. ❜

❛ so you're picking apart the style my essay instead of the substance? ❜

❛ it's not what you argue but how. ❜

❛ fuck, that's kind. are you serious? ❜

❛ i don't smoke. ❜

❛ he’s been expelled from almost every school in england for sucking off the teachers. ❜

❛ there aren’t any pictures of me as a kid. ❜

❛ you look different. ❜

❛ harsh! that is so harsh! you’re such a snob! ❜

❛ only rich people can afford to be this filthy. ❜

❛ do you think he'll be jealous? ❜

❛ no, i'm not like you. this is all i have. ❜

❛ this feels a bit fucking stupid now to be honest. ❜

❛ honestly? i don't think i'll ever go home again. ❜

❛ just be yourself! they'll love you! ❜

❛ everybody just goes to ruin, i suppose. ❜

❛ but darling you're kind about everyone, you can't be trusted. ❜

❛ i have a complete and utter horror of ugliness. ❜

❛ because you're a terrible person? ❜

❛ daddy always said that i'd end up at the bottom of the thames. ❜

❛ fucking hell you gave me a fright. ❜

❛ i wanted to have a look at the moon. it's nearly full. do you know what that means? ❜

❛ i'm cold blooded. we're all cold blooded, haven't you noticed? ❜

❛ because you’re so fucking beautiful. ❜

❛ you're in your see-through nightdress underneath my window. ❜

❛ i could just eat you. ❜

❛ lucky for you i'm a vampire. ❜

❛ bring on the slutty fairies. ❜

❛ it's just fucking cringe, mate. ❜

❛ what a little shit-stirrer. ❜

❛ it’s just so disappointing. you're just another one of his toys. ❜

❛ alright, fuck this. i'm getting a drink. ❜

❛ are you going to behave from now on? ❜

❛ i mean, you’re a fucking liar… why would you lie? ❜

❛ ...i just wanted to be your friend. ❜

❛ you can’t ignore me forever. ❜

❛ can you fuck off and bother somebody else? ❜

❛ you really do notice everything don't you? ❜

❛ you can’t just throw me away. ❜

❛ i just gave you what you wanted. like everyone else does! ❜

❛ everyone puts on a show for you. so i’m sorry if my performance wasn’t good enough. ❜

❛ i just need you to understand how much i fucking love you. ❜

❛ i'm still the same person. ❜

❛ i don't know what you are. but i do know you make my fucking blood run cold. ❜

❛ it was the end of everything. ❜

❛ none of us wants your bloody american feelings! ❜

❛ your politeness is so grating. do you know that? ❜

❛ you're always skulking around. weaving your spider web. ❜

❛ i think you're a moth. quiet. harmless. drawn to shiny things. batting up against the window… just desperate to get in. ❜

❛ you've made your holes in everything. you'll eat us from the inside out. ❜

❛ you ate him right up. and you licked the fucking plate.❜

❛ have you been happy? ❜

episode six - a murder of gods.

❝ you saved me. thank you. ❞

❝ you already know my name. ❞

❝ what are they ? ❞

❝ oh motherfucker, you never just answer a fucking question ! ❞

❝ that’s not a question, ___ , a question would be: what do you believe you saw ? ❞

❝ i don’t know what i believe. ❞

❝ it was a warning to me, and a sacrifice to them. ❞

❝ sacrifice ? like –– like what, for –– for a god ? ❞

❝ what’s a god ? can we even know they exist ? people believe things, which means they’re real. that means we know they exist. so what came first ? gods ? or the people who believed in them ? ❞

❝ where was all this before i met you ? ❞

❝ there’s always a window. but people are frightened to look through it. it’s safer in the prison cell. ❞

❝ we’re not safe now. ❞

❝ who are you ? ❞

❝ i believe in some things. ❞

❝ your wife obviously has a temper. not used to getting her way, huh ? ❞

❝ your dearly departed has departed and i suggest we should do the same. ❞

❝ was she a ghost ? i mean, do you think you saw a ghost ? ❞

❝ you know, you’re not questioning any of this. i’m questioning everything right now. ❞

❝ i’m not so young nor so narrow to assume the dead are dead, and there’s no spectrum or spectral in between. in my experience, the dead that aren’t rarely come back without purpose. ❞

❝ her purpose was to let you go, now get in. ❞

❝ now you’ve seen who’s after us, and you know what they’re capable of. you can hang around here if you want, but i’m getting out of here. ❞

❝ fuck ! where the fuck is my car ! ❞

❝ yes, it does belong to the dead woman, i am the dead woman. where’s my fucking car ? ❞

❝ first piece of luck i’ve had in days. ❞

❝ worse things out tonight than you. ❞

❝ isn’t she lovely ? ❞

❝ i’ve done the math. this times that equals you’re a cunt, divided by the only way i’m gonna get what i need is if you give it to me equals the only way you’re gonna give it to me is if you don’t need it. ❞

❝ like my friend jesus christ, the only thing you need, ___ , is resurrection. ❞

❝ did you just name drop jesus christ like you know a guy who knows a guy ? ❞

❝ i can be very convincing. ❞

❝ is this you being convincing now ? because you suck at it. ❞

❝ i’m trying to convince you to live. real living. not whatever rot living this is. ❞

❝ why don’t you put that on your fucking scales and weigh it ? ❞

❝ what the fuck are you ? i mean, what the fuck are any of you, but first, tell me, what the fuck are you ? seriously, what the fuck are you ?! ❞

❝ please stop stealing my cab. ❞

❝ i have been traveling in the direction of mecca for days, looking for a jinn. ❞

❝ i’ll tell you where to find a whole murder of gods, demi and otherwise. every god damned one of them. ❞

❝ i know a charm that can lift grief from a grieving heart. ❞

❝ do you know a charm that can stop bleeding ? ❞

❝ i know a charm that can cure sickness and pain and a charm that can turn away the weapons of enemies. i know a charm that can heal with a touch. ❞

❝ excuse the cold hands. ❞

❝ there’s always been a god shaped hole in man’s head. trees were the first to fill it. ❞

❝ mr. wood was the trees, mr. wood was the forest. see, he was a very old god who saw something very new. he saw a god fearing society turn towards complete industrialization. so what did he do ? he sacrificed his trees, he sacrificed his forest, and he became something else. ❞

❝ well, at this stage it’s ‘we’ll see’, or, ‘time will tell’, but if it’ll rest your weary head, then yeah, it’s gone. ❞

❝ religion inspires in those who fear nothing, fear of the gods, and using that fear requires a certain element of fucked up. ❞

❝ i’m not scared of anything anymore. ❞

❝ i’m scared you’re never gonna shut that flapping hole of yours. i’m sitting here having a fucking anxiety attack because i am genuinely terrified that you are never gonna shut the fuck up. ❞

❝ did you kill ___ ? i won’t tell. ❞

❝ my name is ___. or … it was ___. i do not know what my name is now. ❞

❝ i just realized that i’m never gonna see my mother again. i’m never gonna hear her say my name again. i’m never gonna eat her cooking again. ❞

❝ are you dead ? ❞

❝ this is my afterlife, ___. ❞

❝ did you pray for another life ? ❞

❝ i do not pray to ask god for things. i pray to thank god, for bringing me where i am. to this time, to this place, where i finally know what i must do in this life. ❞

❝ i pray i find ___. he is my afterlife. i knew him. we knew each other. and now i wish to know more. ❞

❝ people will defend the warm safe feeling their america gives them. they will defend it with bullets. ❞

❝ less a funeral than a celebration of a sacrifice. ❞

❝ if i know my friend, somebody got tossed into the volcano. ❞

❝ this was a human sacrifice ? ❞ 

❝ that’s him. head of the crowd. the one they flock to. ❞

❝ please, go in peace. ❞

❝ what rock did you crawl out from under ? ❞

❝ playing a little hide and seek. hiding from the proverbial them, and seeking … you. ❞

❝ i need you to believe in me. ❞

❝ i’ve heard your name on the wind. ❞

❝ we’re at war already, and we’re losing. you, me, all of us. they’re taking honey from our mouths. ❞

❝ i have no use for shame. ❞

❝ it’s easier to pass for the living in the dark, if i felt the need to pass. ❞

❝ your heart’s not beating for this life anymore, ___. this life is done. ❞

❝ that doesn’t obligate him to feel shit. ❞

❝ perhaps i misjudged the kiss. ❞

❝ death do us part, take the fucking hint. he’s gone. your man came, saw you, tasted death on your tongue, and he fucking left. ❞

❝ your kind of love, ___, is the worst kind of love of them all. you can love somebody even when you know they don’t like it. even when you know they don’t want it. ❞

❝ that’s some profound fucking knowledge for you right there, wrapped up in a quaint sexual metaphor. ❞

❝ people do tend to behave if they know they’re being watched. they like being watched. ❞

❝ somebody’s watching. somebody’s always watching. ❞

❝ what did you do to become the god of this little universe that you’ve created ? ❞

❝ you’re no stranger to sacrifice. ❞

❝ they don’t sacrifice anymore. not to me. ❞

❝ you could always sacrifice yourself. you’ve done it before. ❞

❝ you ever see a man hanged, ___ ? throat crushed, gasping for life. it’s a terrible way to find your faith. faith doesn’t have to leave the faithful dangling. ❞

❝ you are what you worship. ❞

❝ the power of fire is firepower. ❞

❝ not god, but godlike. and they believe. ❞

❝ god bless the believers. ❞

❝ i’ll make you a blade worthy of a god. ❞

❝ i know who he is, and who he’s always been. i can depend on that. ❞

❝ you’re not here at the moment. you’re distracted. i wonder why. ❞

❝ she’s out in the cold, but … she doesn’t feel it anymore. or maybe … maybe it’s all she feels, now. ❞

❝ they make blood sacrifices to you. ❞

❝ you could use a blood sacrifice. ❞

❝ you sold us out. ❞

❝ you saw what i was. i was a story people forgot to remember to tell. and they gave me a gun. they put power back in my hands. and i gotta tell you; it feels good. ❞

❝ i never needed my religion to be moral. ❞

❝ moralizing religions are materialistic ones. they all need their martyrs. ❞

❝ i’m laying down a curse. i’m cursing the whole fucking thing. ❞

❝ god is great. ❞