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quillheel · 1 day ago

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wolf hall.

the following prompts were taken from wolf hall by hilary mantel, a british novelist with a number of genre – spanning works. wolf hall is the first in the unofficially – named cromwell trilogy, & is a fictionalized biography which explores the rise of thomas cromwell to power in the court of henry viii, as well as the political & social changes of the time. please note ― these prompts may include mentions of blood, violence, alcohol, murder, war, executions, death, parental abuse & other things some might find upsetting. feel free to change pronouns & prompts as you see fit !

❛ look what i've done. burst my boot, kicking your head. ❜

❛ by the blood of creeping christ, stand on your feet. ❜

❛ [ name ], don't shout, it hurts me. ❜

❛ i wonder what i've married into. ❜

❛ [ place ] is lawless, but you don't get away with murder. ❜

❛ you were fighting yesterday ? who in the holy name were you fighting ? ❜

❛ people are lining up to tell you things. but why is that ? it's because you believe anything. ❜

❛ if [ name ]’s not dead before their time, there's no justice in this world. ❜

❛ how much time do you think i had for learning figures, with a [ mother / father ] like that ? ❜

❛ shame was left out when god made [ you / name. ] ❜

❛ i've had enough of this. if [ he / she / you ] gets after me again i'm going to kill [ him / her / you. ] ❜

❛ if they're going to hang me i want a better reason. ❜

❛ you're looking well, considering. ❜

❛ you weren't last in line when god gave out fists. ❜

❛ look at you ― if it were up to me, i'd have a war just to employ you. ❜

❛ [ name ] would set the place on fire if they thought i was in it. ❜

❛ nobody will ever cry for me. god didn't cut me out that way. ❜

❛ are there people in the world who are not cruel to their children ? ❜

❛ the boatmen say it's the eve of one of their patron saints. ❜

❛ i'll pray to anyone, [ name ], till i'm on dry land. ❜

❛ bring what you have. but it will never do, you know. ❜

❛ you have never seen such heathens. ❜

❛ i am listening. indeed, i go further. i am captivated. ❜

❛ [ name ] … what have you done, monstrous servant ? ❜

❛ [ name ], what can i give you, to persuade you never to mention this to me again ? ❜

❛ the people up there say they are going to kill me. ❜

❛ i think, if you're going to kill a man, do it. don't write him a letter about it. ❜

❛ don't bluster & threaten & put them on their guard. ❜

❛ if you ever plan to be off your guard, let me know. it is something i should like to see. ❜

❛ i love [ name / you ], god knows how i love [ them / you ], but sometimes my faculty of commiseration is strained. ❜

❛ if only you wanted something simple. the philosopher's stone. the elixir of youth. one of those chests that occur in stories, full of gold pieces. ❜

❛ take the first steps, then we will see if you really want what you say you want. ❜

❛ you only partly understand me. ❜

❛ i have saved the good wine till last. don't i know how to make you happy ? ❜

❛ i haven't to speak of it ; [ name ] fears it will give us bad dreams. ❜

❛ who's been asking for me while i've been away ? ❜

❛ that's the smallest compliment anyone ever received. ❜

❛ you want a new [ husband / wife. ] will [ name / i ] do ? ❜

❛ i shall be as tender to you as my [ mother / father ] was not to me. ❜

❛ what's the point of breeding children, if each generation does not improve on what went before ? ❜

❛ let the begrudgers behold us ! ❜

❛ this is not [ place ], you know, so i forbid you to hit anyone. ❜

❛ is that all the comfort you've got to offer ― walk in here with evil rumours ? ❜

❛ [ name ], i've spent years teaching you not to talk like that. ❜

❛ i didn't mean to buy favour. we're not all like you, [ name. ] ❜

❛ do they hate me so much ? ❜

❛ they never see a great man set up but they must pull him down ― for the novelty of the thing. ❜

❛ there, you see, what it is to serve a prince ! we should be wary of their vacillations of temper. ❜

❛ i may forget myself, lean across & push you overboard. ❜

❛ it seems to me that they like change for the sake of it. ❜

❛ i think it's just people. they always hope there may be something better. ❜

❛ for jesus' sake, [ name ], get out of the way, or i'll stuff you in a sack & drown you. ❜

❛ now, [ name ], get your breath back. what can be so urgent ? ❜

❛ give us back what's been taken. we don't ask double. ❜

❛ you don't get on by being strong. you get on by being a subtle crook. ❜

❛ you shouldn't have drawn attention to yourself, should you ? ❜

❛ whichever way you look at it, it all begins in slaughter. ❜

❛ you must understand that [ name ] is not really dead, only waiting their time to come again. ❜

❛ beneath every history, another history. ❜

❛ i won't have it. [ name / title ] won't have it. it must be stopped. ❜

❛ is this your best excuse ? that you can't govern your own children ? ❜

❛ you know this can't proceed. you know your place. ❜

❛ you believe you are free to choose your [ husband / wife. ] ❜

❛ if you don't understand your position in the world then you must learn it or forfeit it. ❜

❛ they made the rules ; they cannot complain if i am the strictest enforcer. ❜

❛ the blood of the lamb can do much, we are told, but i doubt if it could have wiped me clean. ❜

❛ so you were a ruffian in your youth. ça ne fait rien. ❜

❛ you’re an easy armful. [ name / i ] could do worse. ❜

❛ we shall have to develop a hand signal for back off, our prince is fucking this man's daughter.❜

❛ we don't have to invite pain in. it's waiting for us : sooner rather than later. ❜

❛ it’s as if you own all the roses, own all the summer nights. ❜

❛ do you think this plague will be over by the time i return ? ❜

❛ they say these visitations are all from god, but i can't pretend to know his purposes. ❜

❛ men say, i can't endure it when women cry ... as if it were nothing to do with the men at all, the crying. just one of those things that happen. ❜

❛ i've never made you cry, have i ? ❜

❛ i wish i had presented you ; i should have taken the chance while i had it. ❜

❛ these are old stories, but some people, let us remember, do believe them. ❜

❛ it was said they were descended ― in the female line ― from a woman who was a swan. ❜

❛ a thing to know. but not to mention. ❜

❛ you are weighed in the balance, & found wanting. ❜

❛ there will always be the need for more killing ; one must have the stomach for it. ❜

❛ i am always ill when there is an execution. ❜

❛ it detects poisons, renders ferocious beasts harmless, ensures the favour of princes, & protects against drowning. ❜

❛ the harvest is passed, the summer is ended, & we are not saved. ❜

❛ do we need a reminder of our [ mother / father / name ], lurking around after death, to remind us not to get too happy ? ❜

❛ i suppose fortune, when it's lost, it will never visit again. ❜

❛ i suppose you thought i'd be dead. ❜

❛ you were always a talker. a slap in the mouth couldn't cure it. ❜

❛ the [ people ] will never be forgiven for the talent for destruction they have always displayed when they get off their own island. ❜

❛ there cannot be new things in [ place. ] there can be old things freshly presented, or new things that pretend to be old. ❜

❛ don't try to go it alone, or they'll think you're pirates. ❜

❛ squibs & slanders were printed against [ you / me / name ], & as fast as i could buy them up, there was a new batch on the street. ❜

❛ have you no plans to marry again, [ name ] ? no ? perhaps wise. ❜

❛ choosing a [ husband / wife ] is like putting your hand into a bag full of writhing creatures, with one eel to six snakes. what are the chances you will pull out the eel ? ❜

❛ come now, my tongue is sharper than you deserve. we must be friends, you know. ❜

❛ you know what you're doing, i suppose. at least, you always look as if you do. ❜

❛ now i'm no one, they can say anything they like to me. ❜

❛ you should ask for someone young, & handsome too. don't ask, don't get. ❜

❛ as it is i don't want any more of these masques & parties & dressing up. ❜

❛ they have no virtues. it's all show. ❜

❛ if they don't want to know me, i don't want to know them. i'd rather be a beggar. ❜

❛ one day, [ name ] will want to talk to you. they’ll send for you & you'll be flattered. they'll have a little job for you, or they'll want some advice. so before that happens, you can have my advice. turn around & walk the other way. ❜

❛ most humility, in my view, is pretence ; but the pretence can be winning. ❜

❛ never pleasant, is it, to come back empty - handed ? ❜

❛ i suppose you did your best, such as it is. ❜

❛ i hope that you will be with me when i die. ❜

❛ we cannot earn grace. we do not merit it. ❜

❛ damn it all, [ name ], why are you such a … person ? it isn't as if you could afford to be. ❜

❛ i knew there was something about you. i knew i didn't like you, but i couldn't put my finger on it. ❜

❛ i tell you, [ name ], you've got face, coming here. ❜

❛ this world is full of snares & delusions, & into many of them i have fallen, miserable sinner that i am. ❜

❛ they say [ you / i ] have killed men with your own hands & never told it in confession. ❜

❛ those hard kinds of [ men / women ], they always weep when they see the hangman. ❜

❛ i wish we had a baby. it seems such a long time since there was a baby in the house. ❜

❛ your duty is not my pleasure. ❜

❛ [ gentleman / gentlewoman ] ? so you call yourself, but who do you hope to mislead ? ❜

❛ i am glad i love you, because if i did not, & i were your enemy, i would be putting you on trial next week. ❜

❛ well, i knew it. the play was too exciting for you. ❜

❛ if i had your name, i should never disown it. ❜

❛ we're not at court & not likely to be, now. ❜

❛ [ name ] … when you were on your travels, did you ever think you would die ? ❜

❛ it matters what name we choose, what name we make. ❜

❛ so what do you want ? you want a [ man / woman ] who doesn't fight ? you want me to huddle indoors like a sick girl ? ❜

❛ did you want to talk about me ? you can do it while i'm here, [ name. ] i have a thick skin. ❜

❛ in all truth, i am not sure if one can regard a [ prince / princess ] as a friend. ❜

❛ [ you / i ] have a greed that will never be appeased, for ruling over other men. ❜

❛ a part of the art of ruling, i suppose, is to know when to shut your ears. ❜

❛ so, you are going to the evil [ lord / lady. ] they have bewitched [ name / title ], you know ? ❜

❛ do you have a medal or a relic to protect you ? ❜

❛ i suppose i seldom laugh. if i think. but i had not thought. ❜

❛ this is what your life has come to. ❜

❛ what do you know of how i occupy my hours ? ❜

❛ i told you not to argue with [ name / me ], you know you always lose. ❜

❛ there is a world beyond this black world. there is a world of the possible. ❜

❛ insight cannot be taken back. you cannot return to the moment you were in before ❜

❛ do you think i look like a murderer ? in your good opinion ? ❜

❛ oh, come, it's no disgrace to be a royal bastard. or so we think, in my family. ❜

❛ your family ? what grasp have they on propriety ? ❜

❛ i have no interest in you, recognise no kinship with you, & i will do nothing for you. ❜

❛ i'll come to fetch you, the minute they summon you back. ❜

❛ i do not pretend to understand this. & before you begin, i do not want it explained. ❜

❛ i will say this for you. you stick by your man. ❜

❛ you may not know your own forebears. i shall ask the heralds to look into it. ❜

❛ some of these things are true & some of them lies. but they are all good stories. ❜

❛ who can blame us for wanting for them the ease we didn't have ? ❜

❛ most women are foolish. & vicious. i have seen it. i have lived among the women too long. ❜

❛ the people ? they'd cheer a barbary ape. who cares what they cheer ? hang 'em all. ❜

❛ do you think you can dig in up there & carve yourself a kingdom ? ❜

❛ do not forget your place. ❜

❛ i don't seem to be able to express myself correctly to [ name ] ; do you think you could come down & put my case ? ❜

❛ [ name ] wants your guts in a dish to feed their dogs, & your limbs nailed over the city gates. ❜

❛ a prophecy does not frighten me, & even if it is true, i will run the risk. ❜

❛ you asked me once. i failed you. if you asked me again, i would fail you again. ❜

❛ never mind who grudges it, it will happen. ❜

❛ you have a wide acquaintance among the court ladies. ❜

❛ country life. rural felicity. a temptation i have never known. ❜

❛ how long do you suppose my patience lasts ? ❜

❛ what if i came with you one week ? if i came in disguise ? ❜

❛ [ name ], make this story short, i cannot bear it. ❜

❛ if you tell [ name ] anything, they will twist it into treason. ❜

❛ look at my face. i am not afraid of any man alive. ❜

❛ shame on you, [ name ], you'd have sold your own soul to see [ name ] down. ❜

❛ no wonder your humour's so bitter these days. nobody's paying you, eh ? ❜

❛ childhood is like that ; you are punished, then punished again for protesting. so, one learns not to complain. ❜

❛ it is a hard lesson, but one never lost. ❜

❛ i could crack your skull against the wall now. they'd not miss you. ❜

❛ [ name ], my dead [ relative ] came to me in a dream. ❜

❛ the dead do not come back to complain of their burial. it is the living who are exercised about these matters. ❜

❛ i cannot help it if god has given me a sinner's aspect. he must mean something by it. ❜

❛ when i was small i dreamed of demons. ❜

❛ we are not those great men, we are a shadow of what they were. ❜

❛ you do not believe it now, but feeling will come back. for the world & all you must do in it. ❜

❛ i am very sorry for you. but death comes to us all. ❜

❛ if the lion knew his own strength, it would be hard to rule him. ❜

❛ i don't tell stories about myself. ❜

❛ you would not work [ name ]’s death, would you ? ❜

❛ is it proper for you to send me a present ? ❜

❛ saints are not your friends & they will not protect you. ❜

❛ i am very sorry to hear your [ relative ] is in the tower. but you have brought this on yourselves. ❜

❛ i want to come home. i am sick of this, hunted city to city & house to house. ❜

❛ what a world is this, where promises are not kept. ❜

❛ why are we so attached to the severities of the past ? it's not as if we had a choice. ❜

❛ i want to be good to you. tell me what i can give you. ❜

❛ either my calculations are wrong, or the universe is not as we think it. ❜

❛ i sometimes wonder what people think goes on here ! ❜

❛ i am selling myself by the inch. i want a present in cash for every advance above my knee. ❜

❛ people must say whatever will keep them alive, till better times come. that is no sin. would not you ? ❜

❛ away to our cold beds. or is that only mine ? ❜

❛ will you come back now, & join the company ? ❜

❛ they're on the march. word's all down the river. ❜

❛ you little fucker, you had a bad name before you were born. ❜

❛ they'll have to take me as they find me. ❜

❛ if they do lock you up, i'll make sure you have some small comforts. ❜

❛ god damn you, [ name ]. who are you ? what office do you hold ? you're nothing. nothing. ❜

❛ utopia, after all, is not a place one can live. ❜

❛ even i, who aspires to most things, would not aspire to that. ❜

❛ you have every right to be angry with me, but i've come to ask you not to be. ❜

❛ i'd prefer to put my past behind me, but i'm not allowed to. ❜

❛ perhaps your faith is for purchase. ❜

❛ a man's power is in the half - light, in the half - seen movements of his hand & the unguessed - at expression of his face. ❜

❛ it is the absence of facts that frightens people : the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires. ❜

❛ what you are, i make you. i alone. everything you are, everything you have, will come from me. ❜

❛ you might leave off your scribble, & give me your hand. ❜

❛ i am the means by which sin enters this world. i am the devil's gateway, the cursed ingress. ❜

❛ [ name ] saw i liked it. & they like to give presents. ❜

❛ in fact, what is your position ? the devil alone knows. ❜

❛ you, god protect you, are one of those people who don’t know when to stop. ❜

❛ oh, by the thrice - beshitten shroud of lazarus ! ❜

❛ i thought i would go with you. i want to learn what you do. ❜

❛ whatever understanding you think you had, you didn't have it. ❜

❛ i have been loyal to you, to the point of violation of my own conscience. ❜

❛ i have done much for you, but now i have done the last thing i will ever do. ❜

❛ why do i feel i have heard this story before ? ❜

❛ that is my humble face. do you think it will serve ? ❜

❛ i think perhaps you can't tell what you see in the outside world from what is inside your head. ❜

❛ you are to be pitied, perhaps. though not too much. ❜

❛ i did not want to wake you. you never sleep late. ❜

❛ i wish you'd called on me earlier. there are always things that can be done. ❜

❛ i'll tell you just once. keep away from my family's affairs. or you'll come off worse, [ name ], than you can imagine. ❜

❛ are you not astonished ? are you not pleased ? ❜

❛ i don't suppose you would be a bad [ husband / wife ], for somebody who was prepared to keep you chained to the wall. ❜

❛ i was always desired. but now i am valued. & that is a different thing, i find. ❜

❛ you think i cannot bear the pain. you are right, i cannot. but they will give me no choice. ❜

❛ i cannot unbelieve what i believe. i cannot unlive my life. ❜

❛ it's just that you are practised at persuading, & sometimes it's quite difficult to distinguish being persuaded by you from being knocked down in the street & stamped on. ❜

❛ sometimes it is a solace to me not to have to talk & talk. ❜

❛ i put my faith in god, i did not despair, but i tasted the depth of humiliation. ❜

❛ i shall be sorry if i don't see you again. ❜

❛ do you believe in their visions ? their holy nature, that is ? ❜

❛ i'm not going to miss the coronation. i've got my new clothes to wear. will you not come & bear us company ? ❜

❛ this is what i forget, this vehemence ; your ability to make your twisted jokes, but not take them. ❜

❛ if a man spoke to you in that tone, you'd invite him to step outside & ask someone to hold your coat. ❜

❛ for an ugly [ man / woman ], you are very sure of yourself. ❜

❛ where were you last evening ? i wanted you. ❜

❛ i asked you here as my friend. for i count you my chief friend, [ name ], in this world. ❜

❛ where are we going, ? you can't just drag me off into the night. ❜

❛ i have heard that some people die of fear. ❜

❛ nature wronged you in not making you a man ; you would have surpassed all the heroes of antiquity. ❜

❛ who would hold up his head, if people judged us by what we were like at twenty ? ❜

❛ they say when they christened you, they warmed the water to spare you a shock. they should have poured it boiling. ❜

❛ you can speak freely. it will not be held against you. ❜

❛ [ name ] asked me to marry them. i said i was vowed to chastity. ❜

❛ it is not the stars that make us, [ name ], it is circumstance & necessità, the choices we make under pressure. ❜

❛ our virtues make us, but virtues are not enough, we must deploy our vices at times. or don't you agree ? ❜

❛ even while you are crying, you peep under your eyelids to see what effect you are making. ❜

❛ i have not been frightening you, talking about the devil's wicked offers ? ❜

❛ look how the innocent end ; used by the sin - sodden & the cynical, pulped to their purpose & ground under their heels. ❜

❛ i think the wolves all died when the great forests were cut down. that howling you hear is only the people. ❜

❛ once you start you have to keep going. if you try to go back they'll slaughter you. ❜

❛ you & me, we keep our eyes open. i could keep my eyes open, if you like, in places you cannot go. ❜

❛ god dealt you a good enough hand but you never knew how to play it. ❜

❛ i believe my [ husband / wife / relative ] wishes i would die. ❜

❛ i can tell you who you love. why do you not ask for them, if you want them ? ❜

❛ for a [ lady / gentleman ] who offers friendship, you have rough manners. ❜

❛ you have been at court long enough, you know what games are played. ❜

❛ you stick like a burr to your betters. you do not know your place. ❜

❛ you are a jumped - up nobody, taking your chance because the times are disordered. ❜

❛ you cannot joke with [ name ] these days. you cannot laugh. you must think them perfect, or they will find some way to punish you. ❜

❛ here i am useless, & worse than useless to myself, & necessary to no one's pleasure. ❜

❛ [ name ], you don't talk to [ men / women ], do you ? i mean, what would be the topic ? what would you find to say ? ❜

❛ it's only you who thinks that if you look twice at a [ man / woman ] you have to marry them. ❜

❛ you think you can buy hearts ? ❜

❛ everything you do from now on, you do under my eye. ❜

❛ [ name ], it is like hugging a sea wall. what are you made of ? ❜

❛ may i speak as your friend, [ name ] ? you risk [ name / title ]’s displeasure if you meddle in this. ❜

❛ you know they will take the credit for your good ideas, & you the blame for their bad ones ? ❜

❛ you learn nothing about men by snubbing them & crushing their pride. you must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do. ❜

❛ only you & me, [ name ], we know how to stop some little fucker in his tracks, so that's the end of him, & he doesn't even squeak. ❜

❛ they'll fight you because of who you are. even if they agree with you, they'll fight you. even if they know you're right. ❜

❛ i make the best of my road. i was set upon it. by god, [ name ], i walk it. ❜

❛ i hate ingratitude. i hate disloyalty. that is why i value a [ man / woman ] like you. ❜

❛ fright may unmake a man. i have seen it occur. ❜

❛ by god, if i had a crossbow, i'd shoot your very head off. i said nobody was to come in here. ❜

❛ they do not make you sit alone, & by this miserable fire, surely ? ❜

❛ i stand in a place where i have no need of friends, only of servants. ❜

❛ a lie is no less a lie because it is a thousand years old. ❜

❛ i have been married half a year, & no one knows, but you know now. ❜

❛ you'll be held up as a prime example of how to waste your connections. ❜

❛ i did not look for this to happen. i did not plan it. ❜

❛ in [ place ], there is no mercy for the poor. you pay for everything, even a broken neck. ❜

❛ concentrate for now on making a show in the tournaments. ❜

❛ these are carnivorous days. ❜

❛ you don't remember. but why would you ? ❜

❛ i thought you were laughing at me. ❜

❛ you blame me, [ name ] for what i did before i even knew you. ❜

❛ you are too good for me. you see through all my ploys. ❜

❛ you can't love, you don't know what love is, & all you can do is envy those who do know, & rejoice in their troubles. ❜

❛ you have the only kind heart at court. ❜

❛ [ name ] would tell me that sonnets don't keep you warm. not that i've ever had a sonnet. so i wouldn't really know. ❜

❛ you have been good to me. i ask myself why. you always have some trick. ❜

❛ i couldn't kill you if i shot you through with cannon. the sea would refuse you. a shipwreck would wash you up. ❜

❛ you are an old hypocrite, you know. you would dance on my grave. ❜

❛ look, i haven't come to quarrel with you. just to see if you are comfortable. ❜

❛ let me be clear. i am no example. i am just myself, alone. ❜

❛ you have come to threaten me. ❜

❛ you want to be a martyr. ❜

❛ i have never understood where the line is drawn, between sacrifice & self - slaughter. ❜

❛ the people don't give a fourpenny fuck. ❜

❛ there is always somebody ready to claim that these are the end times, & nominate his neighbour as the antichrist. ❜

❛ you cannot compel me to put myself in hazard. ❜

❛ what ill can i effect from this place ? i do nobody harm. i say none harm. i think none harm. ❜

❛ do you think it is for your personal beauty ? the charm of your presence ? i keep you, [ name ], because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents. ❜

❛ have the grace to say so now, if you think your courage might fail. ❜

❛ will you think me sentimental, if i say i do not want to see you butchered ? ❜

❛ it made them laugh. while the fellow was whipping me, they were laughing. ❜

❛ in stories it is always the young girls, innocent girls, who stay the hand of the man with the rod or the axe. but we seem to have strayed into a different story. ❜

❛ it's done & forgotten now. don't cry. ❜

❛ i remembered you, [ name ], but you didn't remember me. you never even saw me coming. ❜

❛ i know you of old, [ name ], why would i open my mind to you ? ❜

❛ a shrivelled petal can hold its scent, a prayer can rattle with curses ; an empty house, when the owners have gone out, can still be loud with ghosts. ❜

❛ now i see your malice plain. ❜

#━ ♔ blooming forth in every color : prompts.

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