“Baby, it's either laugh or cry and crying takes way too much energy. If you can't find humor in the shit life heaps on you, you really will grow miserable.”
“You're so afraid of being hurt that you attack first. Only those who really care about you will weather the assault of your verbal attacks and stay. The rest will fall away.”
“My father tutored me well on amnesia. He always said it was a necessary ingredient for any friendship. (Kiara)”
“I’ll check on you when I get home. I love you, baby. (Kiefer)
I love you too, Daddy. (Kiara)
What the hell was that action? (Syn)
I think it’s something called ‘paternal concern.’ (Nykyrian)
What…? You sure? I thought that crap was a myth. (Syn)
No, really. I watched it once in a documentary. It was fascinating. Believe it or not, there are people out there who actually have feelings for their progeny. (Nykyrian)
Get the fuck out. No way. You’re screwing with my head again, aren’t you? (Syn)
No, I swear. You just saw it with your own eyes. I did not make that shit up. (Nykyrian)
Yeah but it’s really messing with my concept of the natural order of the universe. Paternal love? What’s next? Limb regrowth? Genetic splicing reversals? (Syn)”
“You have to learn to smile through your pain. Sometimes it’s all we got.”
“I’ve spent my entire life listening to people tell me why I can’t be loved and how I’m nothing but a worthless piece of shit. I always told myself that I didn’t care, that I didn’t need anyone else. It was a lie, you know. I do care and I want Kiara. If it costs me my life to be with her, it doesn’t matter. I’ve already lived past my prime, anyway. I get up every morning with more pain in my joints than the day before. If I have to die, I’d rather die knowing someone cared about me, just once. Is that really too much to ask? (Nykyrian)
For us? Yes. It is. We are the gutter and the gutter is all we’ll ever be. Don’t reach out for the stars. They’ll burn you until there’s nothing left. (Syn)
Then let me burn. (Nykyrian)”
“(He took a drink of the juice and cursed.)
What is this shit? Poison? (Syn)
You can’t live on alcohol. (Nykyrian)
Wanna bet? (Syn)
Wanna die? Drink it and quit bitching. (Nykyrian)
You know, you’re a little hairy to be my mother. (Syn)”
“I think we both need to work on our communication skills. (Kiara)
I tried that once. (Nykyrian)
And? (Kiara)
Darling told me that I could never hold a job as a suicide counselor or hostage negotiator. He said my failure rate would become the stuff of legends. (Nykyrian)”
“Yo, dumbass. What do you think she’d be doing with them? Giving them ballet lessons? (Darling)
Tell me again why I can’t kill him? (Hauk)
You’re afraid of handling explosives. (Nykyrian)
One day I’m going to get over that and when I do…(Hauk)
I’ll wisely stop annoying you. (Darling)”
“In the end, life makes victims of us all.”
“Syn has a brain disorder that causes him to lie most of the time. Ignore him. (Nykyrian)”
“Baby, it’s either laugh or cry and crying takes way too much energy. If you can’t find humor in the shit life heaps on you, you really will grow miserable. (Syn)”
“Hell, no, I’m not sober. You think I’d be doing this shit if I were? And I notice I don’t see your fat ass down here in the trenches so shut it before I forget I’m supposed to actually like you. (Syn)”
“Not to mention, we’re using you for bait. (Syn)
Are you that drunk? (Nykyrian)
What? I wasn’t supposed to tell her that? (Syn)
I’m bait? (Kiara)
No, you’re not bait. Ignore the alcoholic whose view of reality is distorted by his brain-damaged hallucinations. (Nykyrian)”
“So is there any part of you that’s not a lethal weapon? (Kiara)
No. Even my wits are sharpened. (Nykyrian)”
“I’m not a child. Don’t talk to me like I am. (Kiara)
No, you’re worse. You’re an adult who still thinks the world is a beautiful place, filled with people who will help you just for the sake of being nice. Wake up and smell the bloodbath and humility the rest of us have to cope with. (Syn)”
“Just out of curiosity, how many weapons are in that thing? (Kiara)
Enough to make me happy. (Nykyrian)”
“Everyone has a choice. (Kiara)
No, princess, they don’t. Choices aren’t always up to us. Life and circumstances can shred even the stoutest soul. No matter how pure and untainted you think you are, I promise you that you, too, can be shoved into the darkness, just like we were. (Syn)”
“They won’t get you without getting us and believe me, we’re not about to make our enemies happy and die here. (Nykyrian)
Damn straight. We have too many people to continue pissing off. (Syn)”
“Where are you going? (Nykyrian)
To get a drink and kill Cruel…not necessarily in that order. (Syn)”
“Are you suggesting I’m not normal? (Nykyrian)
Oh yeah, baby, you ooze normality. From the top of that assassin’s braid to the tip of those boots that I’m pretty sure conceal retractable blades. You’re just an average joe. No doubt about it. Cause, you know, everyone sits for hours doing nothing but typing. (Kiara)”
“You got guts taking that tone with me. (Nykyrian)
What you gonna do, oh great wounded one? I’m the one with the injector. (Syn)”
“In your palms, I’ve placed my life, my secrets. I give you freedom to leave me at any time. I’m not easy to love. No one ever has. All I ask is that you always keep your silence, if not for me, then for the families of the others you’d destroy. (Nykyrian)”
“So long as you’re not a snap, you’re safe. (Nykyrian)
Snap…Syn used that term. (Kiara)
Single. Naïve. Amateur. Person. (Nykyrian)”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re used to being told to go screw ourselves. And that’s from the people who actually like us. You should hear what our enemies say. (Nykyrian)”
“So what’s your favorite Synism? (Kiara)
Duwad. (Nykyrian)
Which means? (Kiara)
You’re not old enough for me to answer that. Hell, I’m not even old enough to say it. (Nykyrian)”
“Don’t you dare mock me. I’ve seen more pain than you can even imagine. (Kiara)
Yeah, your mother was shot dead in front of you. Boo-hoo. So what? You think you’re the only one who ever lived through that? My father was publicly executed for the entire Ichidian Universe to watch. The saddest part of that is I just wish I’d been the one who’d gassed the bastard. (Syn)”
“Thank you. (Nykyrian)
For what? (Kiara)
For giving me a life worth living. I know I’m not worth it, and that I don’t deserve it, but I swear to the gods I finally believe in that I will spend every moment I have left making you happy and trying to be worthy of you. (Nykyrian)”
“Hauk wanted me to tell you that the next time he says run, we should leave the vics on board and get the hell out. I tend to agree. (Syn)
You were the one who didn’t run. (Nykyrian)
Oh yeah, that was me, wasn’t it? Since when do you listen to me anyway? I’m an idiot. (Syn)”
“I would have, had someone not detonated their charges prematurely. (Nykyrian)
Yeah, Cruel. You have to watch that premature detonation problem of yours. (Hauk)”
“Arab-Jewish relations in the Old City had always been good. Most of the property in the quarter was Arab-owned, and one of its familiar sights was the Arab rent collector making his way from house to house, pausing in each for the rent and a ritual cup of coffee. Here the Islamic respect for men of religion had been naturally extended to the quarter's scholars in their yeshivas. As for the quarter's poor artisans and shopkeepers, the most natural of bonds, poverty, tied them to their Arab neighbors.”
“The problem with thoughtless signposting is that the reader has to put more work into understanding the signposts than she saves in seeing what they point to,”
“Poor girl. She ran out from under a leaking roof and sat in the rain.”
“It’s the highest art form, deceiving without lying. A word is the only thing in the world made more powerful by absence than existence.”
“philip closed his eyes and stood upright and immobile in the middle of the silet room. In that moment the roar of battle, the creaking wood of the siege engines, the furious galloping of the horses all faded away; he simply stood stock still and listened to his son's breathing.”
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