#OOC┊▌❝ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᵗʳᵉᵉˢ ʷʰᵉʳᵉ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᵃʳᵉ ᵃᶰᵈ ˢᶤᶰᵍ ❞ ┊► ᴍᴇᴍᴇs

[nimueriesa]

BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE → SENTENCE MEME

LINES AND DIALOGUE TAKEN FROM THE SONG ‘BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE’ – FEEL FREE TO CHANGE SENTENCES HOWEVER YOU LIKE.

I really can’t stay.

Baby, it’s cold outside.

I’ve got to go away.

This evening has been so very nice.

Been hoping that you’d drop in.

I’ll hold your hands, they’re just like ice.

My mother will start to worry.

Beautiful, what’s your hurry?

Father will be pacing the floor.

Listen to the fireplace roar.

So really I’d better scurry.

Beautiful, please don’t hurry.

Maybe just a half a drink more.

Put some records on while I pour.

Baby, it’s bad out there.

Say, what’s in this drink?

No cabs to be had out there.

I wish I knew how to break this spell.

Your eyes are like starlight now.

I’ll take your hat, your hair looks swell.

I ought to say no, no, no.

Mind if I move in closer?

At least I’m gonna say that I tried.

What’s the sense in hurting my pride?

Baby don’t hold out.

Ah, but it’s cold outside.

I’ve got to get home.

Oh, Baby, you’ll freeze out there!

Say, lend me your coat!

It’s up to your knees out there!

Why don’t you see there’s bound to be talk tomorrow?

How can you do this thing to me?

At least there will be plenty implied.

Think of my lifelong sorrow if you caught pneumonia and died.

Get over that holdout.

[nimueriesa]

THE IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN →  SENTENCE MEME [ 3 / 3  ]

Part two of a three part series of lines and dialogue taken from The IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN by Phyllis Ann Karr, an Arthurian murder mystery featuring Sir Kay and Sir Mordred as Begrudging Buddy Cops ��. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

I hope you have enough magic to get this mob to _____ on the appointed day.

_____ is one of the chiefest of your suspect traitors, is she not?

It is hardly worth reading the future at all.

You see, sister, I have answered your invitation at last.

How like your mother you look, boy!

May I take it that we’re here under a sign of truce?

If you look for treachery and insist on having it, then I will oblige you.

My house and food are substantial, and most of my people are human.

Have you arranged your questions?

I had somehow fancied that you would have abandoned Ihesu for older gods. 

I did not wish marriage.

I wished to be Ihesu’s bride.

There are two ways of joining oneself with the immortal Power: the path of virginity and that of fertility.

I lost the path of virginity, and that not even in the arms of a man I loved, or could have loved, but in the arms of one I disliked at first meeting and soon came to hate.

All right, you didn’t need such an elaborate defense for the charge of adultery.

Not every unfaithful wife tries to cut off her husband’s head in his sleep.

Who was it told that tale?

For a dame who despises the magical arts as much as you claim to, you use them often enough yourself.

The world had thrown the stone at me, and I threw it back at the world.

You’ve hated _____ for years. You’ve tried to destroy her time after time!

You’re jealous of her because of _____.

If _____ were out of the way, you think you might yet lure the Mirror of Perfect Knighthood into your bed.

Come with me. I have made up my mind to show you something I have shown to very few.

Who can be sure whether he meant these pictures as boasting or confession?

You knew. Do not pretend it takes you be surprise.

Of course he knows. We all know except _____, who blinds himself willfully.

It is not willful choice, but pure foolish, doting, conceited faith that keeps his eyes and ears closed to the rest of us find so obvious. 

How could his best knight and his loving wife betray him, the greatest of all mortal kings?

His mind will no more accept such a thought than oil will accept water.

I needed a tender bedfellow to teach me what love should be.

He did have true power and true secrets, and he was a better teacher than practitioner.

Will you teach me some of this knowledge?

And for these reasons I should instruct you in the knowledge and uses of the Power?

Do you refuse because of my birth?

I refuse because of your intent.

You would use your skill to greater destructiveness than did the Devil’s son.

Is that a prophecy or a command?

Prove your good intent, then.

I’ll find my own opportunity, I’ll succeed where you have failed.

After years of your deeds, you expect me to believe your words instead?

And you pretend to love _____.

And you pretend not to love _____.

The flowers already show the full promise of summer...

I have never loved _____.

I have never even, as a mortal woman, particularly desired his body.

Should not the earth be plowed by the best and strongest of farmers? And should I not seek the strongest and best of plowmen for myself?

For all the enchantments I used to bring him near me, I never clouded his understanding at the moment of choice.

And now, what new trouble is it you have come to accuse me of causing?

I can see the past and present, but in only one place at a time, and the images move no faster than reality. It would be impossible for me to watch everything.

_____ read my entire life yesterday with a touch.

I am hardly flattered that any of you should have taken this for my handiwork. Does it bear the marks of my infamy?

Maybe you should be ashamed of opening yourself up to our suspicion.

Be careful how you continue to insult _____, lest she lose her extreme patience and turn you into a toad.

Forgive me, I had not meant to strike you quite so hard, but I worked very quickly.

What did you do to him, Dame?

I judged the time had come that you should stop bickering between yourselves. 

Did you not tell me yourself, two evenings ago, to be tender with him?

Am I absolved?

That young Satan!

In my opinion, you may touch him with your melancholia spell whenever you please.

I schooled myself long ago in how to fight the demons of melancholia and survive.

I weary of your suspicions.

Ah, so at last you trust me and my magic!

If your memory searching doesn’t put you under a seal of silence, you could at least blush when you scatter your victims’ secret thoughts.

Hated, feared, and mistrusted. But recognized as a power to be reckoned with.

At times I think you remember my memories better than I do myself.

What are you doing in the company of that Paganess?

Dearest darling, shall I fight him and run him through?

Better a good Pagan than a bad Christian.

I will not attend your Devil’s Vespers.

Brothers of the Round Table should not draw iron against one another.

If _____ deserved to die like that, what must the rest of us deserve?

How thrifty of heaven!

But, of course, in your pride you mistake many things.

Rude actions as well as rude words, _____?

I have something important to talk over with your wife.

Do you trust her alone with me for a few moments outside?

I would be more than your match with my head and left side unarmed and my left hand bound behind my back.

I’m glad one other person here besides myself can think with some wit.

My lady, I do not break in upon you?

I would not try to make peace with him tonight, if I were you.

This is the night for unwelcome intruders, it seems.

Churl to the last!

She was a very beautiful lady, and my wits were dulled with sleep and wine.

I had not meant to betray you.

You can go as soon as you like, Sir Most Important, and we’ll be glad to see your backside.

For the love of God and His Mother!

You might try forgiving yourself.

Since you will not leave my company, I will leave yours.

You have fallen under that evil woman’s spell.

I think you’d better give me that dagger.

You will lay down your weapon.

I am a bastard, do you understand me?

Aye I killed her --- I freed her from his snares.

We have murdered an innocent man!

You killed her for jealousy!

The truth, you say --- you bring us together to teach us the truth of ourselves, and you lie?

And some day they’re going to remember us as the cream of chivalry!

Now sleep again, and I will heal you.

[nimueriesa]

THE IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN →  SENTENCE MEME [ 2 / 3  ]

Part two of a three part series of lines and dialogue taken from The IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN by Phyllis Ann Karr, an Arthurian murder mystery featuring Sir Kay and Sir Mordred as Begrudging Buddy Cops ™. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

_____’s interested in justice, not revenge.

Justice, revenge --- two words for the same thing.

You’ll be all unprepared when the nuns attack.

I see your noble worships be wondering at my Beauty.

Nay then, she’s mine, free and honest.

Be ye willing to hear tale, your noble worships?

I name him in my prayers morn and night.

God and Holy Mother bless you twice over!

Someday, when I’m more of the mood to meet you in battle, I can use that slander as well as any other excuse to fight.

An hour’s combat with _____ is the safest practice a man can take with unblunted weapons.

Nevertheless, if you should end this evening killed or laid up in bed, nursing an improbable wound, do you fully trust me to continue our quest?

When you’re forty years older, you might know a little something of what you’re talking about.

A joust in friendship hardly fulfills a vow of vengeance.

And you accuse us women of over-romancing.

A man who would hang forty knights for love of a dame should have loved her enough to go back to her.

Only a guiltless man would be so willing to accept the appearance of guilt.

We know you would have offered yourself up as her champion if you had thought of these things before _____.

They don’t teach ‘em vengefulness and poison at the Castle of the Graile, lad.

Ambition may twist a man’s thoughts into strange patterns.

You’ll have to work harder than that if you want to throw the Sword in the Stone back in my teeth.

I have most of the work and none of the glory.

When you start accusing your own brothers, then it’s plain the serious talk is done.

I’ve carved this ring too large for my fingers. It may fit yours.

And will you not do something to prevent its coming true?

The reason you got into my dream is because I’ve had to look at your face all day, every day for the last four days.

I do suffer from a fascination with serpents, do I not?

It looks like an ordinary lake.

Somewhere beneath that water is a city richer than Caerleon.

Will we see the blue sky and the clouds, too? Or will we see little fishes instead of birds swimming over our heads?

The City in the Lake, ruled always by a lady --- sometimes a wicked dame, sometimes a kindly one, always a powerful one.

I think the first Lady of the Lake must have been Adam’s paramour Lilith.

They say that much of the old magic can only be taught to a man by a woman, and to a woman by a man.

You’re waxing poetic this evening.

I hardly expected ever to see this night.

What in Ihesu’s Holy Name are you talking about?

What is your plan, now you’ve brought me this far?

Damn you, ____, have you gone completely out of your mind?

I could not allow my thoughts to stagnate in an obsession with my own encroaching death.

Your brains are even more rattled than we thought.

What gave you the idea you were important enough to attract an assassin?

God, don’t you have enemies of your own to kill you in open tourney or ambush?

What truth? If you’re talking about your lunatic fancies as ‘truth’ they’re a pile of dead flies!

You risked no more than one or two lives at most.

Come out from the water and arm yourself!

Now, repeat your slander of the Queen.

Strike me quickly, _____. Now, while we’re both in the mood.

Let’s get out of here before our armor rusts off our bodies.

The King will not thank you for this.

I don’t appreciate being played the fool and goaded into attacking you like another one of your bloody puppets.

If you want to be murdered on command, you’re going to have to tell me why.

You can just lie down, drown, and damn yourself, for all I care.

I assume that a knight seeking the company of the Lady of the Lake should hail her with no less care and courtesy than one seeking admittance into a lesser stronghold.

You rely a great deal on your influence over the Dame of the Lake. Do you truly expect her to do your beck and call?

My brothers inherited the sound of life from her, I the sound of death.

I am more fully my mother’s son than any of my brothers.

Do you remember when I first came to _____’s court? I was bright and eager then, was I not? Filled with pure ideals and noble aspirations --- too noble, perhaps.

I was very young and very innocent then, aside from being in love with two or three fair dames and damsels at once.

You do not even know us. How do you know our fate?

You are the fruit of incest, heinous in the sight of God and man.

God! You’ve killed him, and he had a prophecy for me!

No doubt his prophecy for you was that you would kill me.

That would make me a fortunate knight, not an unfortunate one.

I tried to be killed in that day’s tourney --- Ihesu, how I tried!

I knew I was fated to fulfill the prophecy somehow, as surely as Judas was fated to betray Our Lord.

For the last time, I did not try to poison you.

For years I have been waiting for the stroke to fall, wondering whether they would find their chance to murder me.

If you decide you’re going to live up to some foul prophecy, that’s your choice.

How did you get there without us seeing you? Invisibility?

Why should I tell you my craft?

I watch the battles of knights, but I do not eavesdrop on their private conversations.

Would you have saved him in the last moment?

I was reasonably confident you would not strike him down.

You would not have come here, stood on the beach calling me, and threatened to throw stones into the streets of my city, if you did not intend to tell me the reason.

Oh, no --- you’re not going to walk away from us like this!

I have saved your King’s life. I have saved it three times.

I do not need to demonstrate my reliability at your command. No, not even at the command of the High King himself.

I have always known well enough when to come and save your King.

Would you prefer I hovered constantly about your corrupt court, muttering in the King’s ear?

Best go back, before you drown. 

I know all that was in your head, and you should know now why I dislike gaining such knowledge. It was not pleasant for you, and it was still less pleasant for me.

To see all the private sins and passions of another in a single moment! If sacramental confession were a tenth part so revealing, no man would ever turn priest.

Next time, at least do it on dry land.

Ihesu, Dame, there must be something you can do!

We’d all have been better off without these damn prophecies.

Aren’t you going to offer us your hospitality?

My Lake? You wish to come down into my Lake and drown? Wet lodgings you would have with my mermaids, Sir Knight!

It is not my fault you wounded one another in your silly quarrel.

Poor man! Is your curiosity so hot for what you’ve been denied?

And you men put the blame on Eve and excuse Adam.

Any woman as reluctant as you to welcome guests must be ashamed of her household. 

Your famous city must not live up to its reputation.

You forget he’s not aware that I know of the prophecy. Shall we tell him?

A man entering his fourth decade is old enough to choose for himself whether or not to bind his soul to a prophecy. 

You must look for other safeguards against _____ than coddling him.

You might try bullying _____ into a better state of soul. That would be more your style than sweet words and soft treatment.

I suppose you can see everything that’s in my mind now?

Goodnight now, sweet knight.

You must have had a pleasant tete-a-tete. Does the Lady’s dear husband know?

Felt something like getting your brainpan stirred with a hot poker.

Well, she may search my head if she wishes. The secret’s festered long enough.

I would have been very sure of your guilt indeed if you had swapped off my head as I expected.

Dame _____ may be a chaste witch, but she need not impose her rules on all her pretty damsels.

Go to sleep. You’ll need your rest for the morning.

Your pardon, pure _____. It was the carnal appetites of my father speaking. 

Not all of us can subsist on the idyllic worship of an unattainable lady.

[nimueriesa]

THE ENGLISH PATIENT → SENTENCE MEME

LINES AND DIALOGUE TAKEN FROM THE 1996 FILM ‘THE ENGLISH PATIENT’ -- FEEL FREE TO CHANGE PRONOUNS OR REARRANGE HOWEVER YOU LIKE.

My Darling, I’m waiting for you. How long is the day in the dark?

We die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we've entered and swum up like rivers.

I want all this marked on my body.

I have to teach myself not to read too much into everything.

Every night I cut out my heart. But in the morning it was full again.

Of course, you idiot. I’ve always loved you.

Betrayals in war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace.

New lovers are nervous and tender, but smash everything. For the heart is an organ of fire.

Will we be alright?

'Yes’ is a comfort. ‘Absolutely’ is not.

You speak so many bloody languages, and you never want to talk.

I just wanted you to know: I'm not missing you yet.

Promise me you’ll come back for me.

I promise, I'll come back for you. I promise, I'll never leave you.

There is no God, but I hope someone watches over you.

Why are people always so happy when they collide with someone from the same place?

How can you ever smile, as if your life hadn't capsized?

This... this, the hollow at the base of a woman's throat, does it have an official name?

Good God, man, pull yourself together.

What do you love?

What do I love?

What do you hate most?

When you leave, you should forget me.

Could I have a cigarette?

Why... why are you so determined to keep me alive?

When were you most happy?

When were you least happy?

I hate being owned.

Stop it! Stop it! You're always beating me!

Bastard! You bastard, I believed you!

I am just a bit of toast, my friend.

A woman should never learn to sew, and if she can she shouldn't admit to it.

Do you think you are the only one who feels anything?

You're in love with him, aren't you?

You think he's a saint because of the way he looks? I don't think he is.

I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with ghosts.

Swoon, I'll catch you.

I'm sick of this room. I'm sick of this heat! And I'm sick of this damn telephone!

I must be a curse. Anybody who loves me, anybody who gets close to me... or I must be cursed. Which is it?

Why did you follow me yesterday?

Escort me, by all means, but following me is predatory, isn't it?

I fear _____ knows about us, they keep mentioning Anna Karenina.

Will you please come in?

I believe you still have my book.

Ask your saint who he is. Ask him who he's killed.

And what if he really is a spy?

If anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself.

We planned badly.

I apologize if I appear abrupt. I am rusty at social graces.

I can still taste you. I try to write with your taste in my mouth.

I long for the rain on my face.

I'm not agreeing. Don't think I'm agreeing, because I'm not.

_____? My God, _____ what are you doing here?

No! I was never a spy.

I have come to love that little tap of the fingernail against the syringe. Tap… Tap… Tap.

It wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me.

Read to me will you? Read me to sleep.

And that would be unconscionable, I suppose, to feel any obligation?

Am I a terrible coward to ask how much water we have?

This a different world is what I tell myself; a different life.

I can't do this anymore.

Why did you hate me?

Don't you know you drove everybody mad?

There was a result to what you did!

This is what I do. I do this every day.

Why are you people so threatened by a woman?

It's ghastly. It's a witch hunt. Anyone remotely foreign is suddenly a spy.

How do you explain… to someone who's never been here… feelings that seem quite natural?

You get to the morning and the poison leaks away, doesn't it?

I thought I would kill you.

You can't kill me. I died years ago.

No, I can't kill you now.

I'll probably marry him.

My mother always told me I would summon my husband by playing the piano.

Then I tell myself you spend all day searching, in the night you want to be found.

I do. I do want you to find me! I do want to be found.

And the marriage....is that a fiction?

You should be my slave.

I claim this shoulder blade. No, wait...I want - Turn over ; I want this...this place. I love this place. What’s it called? This is mine.

I thought you were against ownership?

I could stay tonight.

She died because of me, because I loved her. Because I -- because I had the wrong name.

[nimueriesa]

THE BOOK OF MORDRED →  SENTENCE MEME [ 2 / 2 ]

Part two of a two part series of lines and dialogue taken from THE BOOK OF MORDRED by Vivian Vande Velde. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

Pretty. I like pretty things.

Use it and die.

Stupid girl, I do not like children and I do not like children’s games.

Tell me, do you enjoy being this second-rate wizard’s lickspittle?

Wrong tactic. She doesn’t like me enough to care what you do.

What makes you think he cares what you have to say?

_____ has special plans for your body, or I would cut out that foul tongue of yours and shove it down your throat.

You’re incredibly fearless — virile even — with a wizard behind you.

He is all talk because he knows he is helpless — a snapping little dog.

He just seems to have such delicate sensibilities for what he is: bastard.

What in the name of all the powers of Hell is it now?

_____ overrated you when he called you a second-rate wizard.

Damn you! I can heal any injuries! I can reward you beyond your dreams!

Twitch, and I’ll roast your innards.

Do you think my magic cannot go around corners?

If you go and get the key — quickly — and bring it back, you will not be harmed.

Do not let me suspect your sincerity. Do you understand?

Never do that again. Don’t you ever make promises that I am supposed to keep.

Merciful saints in Heaven, he tricked me.

You fool! You interfering stooge! You have no idea what has been going on here. How dare you come in here, with your archaic sense of fair play, feeding your sense of self-worth with empty magnanimous gestures that endanger all?

And I want you to know that I’ll always love you, no matter what.

What am I supposed to do: Be grateful that you’d still have me? So what? I’m not impressed.

Outgrown us village folk, have you?

Has anybody ever pointed out what a horse’s ass you are?

Listen, and I will tell you a story about chivalry.

Honestly, you’ll be the death of me yet.

You know your mother gets upset when you use magic.

And, anyway, what am I supposed to do when a horse or a dog talks to me — not answer? Pretend I don’t hear?

I’ve never called on Satan.

You really should be trained, your power given a proper channel, so that you can control your magic rather than the other way around.

Then you must be the greatest magician of all time.

Not exactly as I planned it, but here we are anyway.

Since when do you fight ladies, Sir _____?

Your quarrel is with me.

Back-stabbing bastard, keep your hands where I can see them.”

Don’t! Don’t hurt her.

That’s the way you killed my cousin, in the back.

You and your brothers have been trying to annihilate my family for years.

Did _____ beg for his life? Did he?

Can you stand there and watch your woman bleed?

What do you want from me?

I want to hear you beg.

What do you think I’ve been doing?

I want you on your knees.

I want you to say, ‘Please, _____, spare _____.’

Please, _____, spare _____.

There is nothing we can do.

You tried to kill me once before.

They’re going to kill you. They’re going to kill all of us.

I can do nothing without a sword.

They would never let you live that long, and you know it.

I am only giving you leave to choose for yourself whether to go or stay.

Lord, have mercy on our souls.

Burn her!

You wanted this; you pushed for it.

Well, now I am on your side, I admit you were right about _____ all along.

This…this is not what I wanted.

Don’t let her look in your eyes, and she won’t be able to put a spell on you.

Miserable witch!

Know what they do with witches?

I never meant to kill them.

You never mean to kill anybody. I remember that.

You’re in danger _____, mortal danger.

You’re on my side, _____. I can trust you, can’t I?

What have you done?

_____, this is madness. You cannot win this fight.

You’re dividing the country?

We want the same thing. We should work together.

What have we come to, that you don’t trust your own Auntie? You know you’re my favorite nephew.

At this point, I’m your only nephew.

You accused him?

You had him tortured, didn’t you?

I hope vengeance feels good, _____. I hope it is warm and comfortable.

What is the proper protocol for treaties?

The Devil take you!

Put your sword down before it’s too late.

Put it down, I have already surrendered.

Take the sword, throw it in the water.

How touching, I just love sentimental endings, don’t you?

If we’re lucky, they’ll live long enough for everybody to hug and kiss and be friends again.

Be still, or I shall see to it that you look your true age.

I have you and you know it.

You told me I had a dried and shriveled old heart.

I will come back for you as soon as I can.

Let me take a look at that wound.

Since when has your mother ever needed anybody?

I have always loved you.

Stop. Save your strength.

Do you think so? Could I still be the ruler of all Britain?

You aren’t going, are you? Now that you don’t need to?

What is there here for me? People afraid of me? People hating me? People wanting to use me?

I love you. Be happy.

[nimueriesa]

THE IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN →  SENTENCE MEME [ 1 / 3  ]

Part one of a three part series of lines and dialogue taken from The IDYLLS OF THE QUEEN by Phyllis Ann Karr, an Arthurian murder mystery featuring Sir Kay and Sir Mordred as Begrudging Buddy Cops ™. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

No! No, you will not! Bury it --- no, burn it!

Is it not enough? Will you kill them all?

That was a foolish deed.

My God! This was meant for me!

Madame, I fear for you.

Whether she meant to murder one or all, she did not care how many good knights died.

Here I charge you, _____, with his death!

I will be revenged for his death --- by Ihesu and His Holy Mother, I will be revenged!

If I must renounce my allegiance to do it, I will prove your treachery with my body!

She will not lack champions, my lord Sir _____!

Which of you will champion the Queen?

Which of you will fight for her?

Sweet Mother Mary, must I put on armor myself and prove that Heaven aids the just cause?

Prove that and I’ll skewer the whoreson like a pigeon.

Remember that poison is more the enchantress’ weapon than the knight’s.

When have I denied anyone justice?

I keep no allegiance with a destroyer of good knights!

Do you also renounce allegiance to me?

To have justice for my kinsman’s death, I would renounce allegiance to the Pope himself!

So be it! Then I will answer your charge with my own body!

You cannot delay forever in the sight of God and man!

Have you forgotten her poison cloak?

Do you always look for the magical explanation first? Or do you simply assume that if it’s evil, it must be sorcery?

You will hardly need any other poison, when you have your tongue!

Do you think because the King does not see it, no one else does?

The world knows your insults are meaningless, since you can speak in nothing else.

I’ve told you before, keep your evil-meaning tongue off of _____.

God damn you to Hell, _____!

I have had it on the authority of a saint that my damnation is a fact already recorded wherever they record such matters.

I would prefer that the Queen not burn.

Ah, but poison is the coward’s weapon. Or the witch’s, of course.

If we are to play the game, we must begin with all the pieces.

A wife should speak no ill of her husband, even though he deserve it.

Why not champion her yourself, now you have the chance at last?

My opinion would not make him less alive or less dead.

I am not asking for your opinion, Dame, I am asking for a little of your magic.

Magic is an idle toy. I have put it away with the other toys of my childhood.

What a fool I was in those days, to think I could keep other folks’ morals pure with a few scraps of murder and magic.

Forgive me for asking you to interrupt the exciting routine of your monotony with a few moments of tedious magic.

Shall I ride with you and taunt you back into fighting trim?

You do not honor me on your list?

Someday you’re going to hint a little too much slander in my presence.

I’ll fight you for my own satisfaction when this is over.

And how did you manipulate them all according to your own bloody fancy?

Your ears are less sharp than your tongue.

By all means, my lady, let us keep up the social graces until the very end.

Perhaps my lord Sir _____ has a guilty conscience?

Let us play a small game of trust and mistrust. Give me a short time alone with your cup, and take that same time alone with mine. Afterwards, we will pledge to each other to drain off the contents of our respective cups.

Well, if we are not to prove our mutual trust and friendship, we had best speak of other matters.

Each man recognizes his own faults the most clearly in others.

What could my brother do but fulfill the prophecy?

_____ and his bloody prophecies!

The honor belongs to _____ for lasting so long against _____, and it is more honor than the traitor deserved.

But if your noble _____ was killed by treachery, it was no more than he merited for cutting down in her bed a woman who trusted him.

And who is _____, to avenge a murdered woman?

_____ loved _____. God alone knows why.

I will not eat at the table of any man who insults my mother.

Then go to your room and sleep it off.

You persuaded me to stop here for supper and a good night’s sleep, and by God, now that I’m here, I’m going to get them.

Are you not going to beg indulgence for your companion?

God! _____ loved the witch --- he would have married her, if they had let him.

Get drunk, if that’s the only way you can forget about it.

Travel with filth and you’ll be spattered.

Stop and use your brain, if it didn’t all leak out in some head wound or other.

I won’t need an excuse to give you a fall, Sir Proud Knight.

I should have realized one of your talents is tracing gossip to its source.

I have other things to do than pry and poke my nose into every idle tale that goes around.

I’ve been frequently assured that I am probably the least-loved man at court, as well as the least appreciated. 

Would the hero of the Holy Grail agree to fight with anything else but a good heart.

You can stop playing the martyr.

Did you come to learn whether I was still in the castle? Or whether I were already murdered by someone else?

I came to find out whether it’s true that you and your simpering brother have been spreading filth about the Queen.

Can foul deeds be spoken of with a clean tongue?

It’s true, then? You confess it?

I confessed nothing, I denied nothing.

Then you have helped him spread his poison!

Are all the rumors lies? If not lies, then they have a base of truth.

Can truth be poison?

Damn your stinking soul to Hell.

Bad dreams to you.

You should not have wished me evil dreams last night.

Evil dreams can be dangerous, when dreamed by kings and king’s sons.

I speak as a woman, and one woman’s hatred for another is not such that she would murder from a distance.

A woman can so hate a man that she would kill him across the miles, if it were in her power.

Then you know little of the strength of women’s emotions.

Don’t play _____’s old trick of shaking your head and dropping cryptic hints so that whatever truth finally comes out, you can smirk and say, ‘I knew it all along.’

I loved my husband. That may not be fashionable, but I loved my husband, and he returned my love. 

Ah, what sport we had together in our bed! 

I left nothing in him for any other woman --- there was no room in me for any other man.

By the time _____ had woke and wanted me to warm his bed, I had taken the veil.

I have learned that justice is one thing for men and another for women.

[nimueriesa]

THE BOOK OF MORDRED →  SENTENCE MEME [ 1 / 2 ]

Part one of a two part series of lines and dialogue taken from THE BOOK OF MORDRED by Vivian Vande Velde. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

I had a dream. A very bad dream. Something bad was about to happen, but I don’t know what.

Everybody has bad dreams.

Two years ago, I was just a baby. Now I can tell the difference.

Miserable wench!

I’m not corrupting our daughter.

She has the power. Train her in magic, and she’ll be able to control it.

Ain’t you the lady from the cottage down yonder?

Please, I need to use your horse.

They’ve taken my daughter!

What’s the world coming to?

You worthless animal! Horses aren’t supposed to lie down in the middle of the road. Come on. Up! Get up!

By the blood of St. Francis, get up off the road!

What were you thinking, woman?

You could have been killed.

I had to take the risk. It did not occur to me that my actions endangered you, also.

I am truly sorry, but please, I need your help.

You might have tried asking, you know.

Two knights broke into my home --- I don’t know who they were.

She can talk to animals...and make herself understood, and understand them.

You seem to have lost a horse and gained a...Could it perhaps be...a Lady?

I will send someone back for you. If I remember.

Thank you for your tender charity.

Sit, child. You have been through too much to stand on ceremony.

What makes you think they were knights then, and not just thieves?

Please pardon my zeal for the truth, only I find it difficult to believe knights would accost a woman and her child in their own home.

Oh, verily, such a thing has never been done before.

A child is easier to control than a woman.

The earlier the power manifests itself, the stronger it is likely to be.

You can’t come with us.

I know I am not as strong as a man, but neither am I a helpless maiden who can do no more than clutch her hands together and faint at the first sign of trouble.

_____, tell this young pup that he has been out too long in the sun.

Far be it from me to stand in between a mother and her child.

So then, I will accompany you?

That would be unseemly: a woman and a man with no bond of kinship. You should go in the party that includes your brother.

One thing of which Camelot is not lacking is swords.

I disagree with what you have decided, but I admire it.

I can ride as well as any man.

Battle is not a joust: no points racked up for snapped lances, no one to break things up if they get too heated.

Your brother is in love with the ideals of chivalry.

Does one meet a thief’s stealth with chivalry?

You think I would be involved with abducting a child?

What is the matter with you?

I was capable of finishing him on my own.

Chivalry is dead when a knight stabs a man in the back.

You are the one who was about to be dead.

I am doing fine. I’ll be up as soon as I catch my breath.

You’re the one falling to pieces.

I must warn the forces of nature that they are about to be manipulated.

Didn’t your mother teach you anything?

A bargain: I shall grant that you are young, but not stupid if you grant that I am old, but not a fool.

Ah! We’re talking about magic?

We’re talking about magic.

My mother is not one to share an advantage.

But, then, magic is not always what it seems.

_____, I think, underestimates the power of magic. You have a tendency to overestimate.

We must be quick, now. Where are your clothes?

I don’t know what he has told you, but he was behind all this. It was his plan, I swear.

Your mother wants you to come with me. Now behave.

Everything is all right, everything is fine now.

If you don’t back away, I will kill you.

Sitting around waiting is a waste of time.

Does anybody know why we’re here?

Can anybody guess why we’re here?

Lady, what misfortune has befallen thee?

Will you help stop him?

You’ve been exiled?

I have been given just barely enough time to remove myself from Britain.

If the King’s men discover you here, they may well assume you’re trying to raise an army.

Are you aware that we’re being watched? 

Just tell her if she does not stop this noise, I am going to get that nasty little dirk I took from her and start cutting off her fingers, one by one.

Oh, stop that. Now you’ve frightened her.

The two of you have been friends for a long time, have you?

No, really, the pleasure is all mine.

Besides, the next logical question is, what are you doing here?

Plan to rescue him, do you?

You’re a wizard. Why can’t you magically change my appearance?

Be still, my heart, I think I’m falling in love.

I’m concerned about getting you beyond the castle guards who have orders to take all the comely young men they see.

Don’t get her angry at us.

Don’t lose your head. Don’t just jump into things without thinking everything out first.

Go to sleep, I’ll watch.

Where shall we meet?

Get killed, I don’t care.

That’s the kind of stuff that’s supposed to drunk out of a goblet, you lout.

Come on, girl, relax. Don’t you ever smile?

Here, you need this --- make you friendly.

So, are you going to show us what kind of dangerous people you guard down here?

We usually have this understanding: one at a time.

Rank hath its privileges and all that.

A gag will do.

You have blood on you.

Any of that wine left?

You don’t have to kill him.

Would you like a little surprise?

I don’t understand any of it. What is going on?

Don’t let him into your minds.

Make him fight for every advantage.

Get up off the floor, my dear, there is no telling who has died on that spot.

At last we meet properly, my Lady _____. I have looked forward to this occasion for the past several years.

Sir _____, are you unharmed?

[nimueriesa]

mists of avalon → sentence meme

This is part three of a many part series of lines and dialogue taken from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

This has been planned since before he was born.

How real is the talk of Gods to a boy?

Whatever may come of it, we have gone too far to stop now; we are all committed.

Such skill as that one has should not be hidden in obscurity, or even in the court of a king.

A voice and hands like that belong to the Gods.

He is gifted, certainly, but I wonder -- is he wise?

What shall be, must be; it is not mine to order.

Are you truly acknowledging that there is anything on the face of this earth which you feel is not yours to order?

I thought you believed that your will was the will of the Goddess, and all of us puppets to serve you!

You must not talk this way, my child.

You can hardly mean to be so insolent to me.

Did I leave you for too long among the Christians, after all, with all their talk of sin?

I could not give you to anyone unworthy of you.

Done is done. And at this moment the hope of Britain is more important than your feelings.

So you, too, shall have a part in the battle to defend our country.

Go and sleep, my dearest; you have wearied yourself in this great work.

I think of you all the time. I cannot help myself.

It was true what I said, that all my life I shall remember you because you were the first, and I shall always think of you and love you.

You must not think of me in that way. For you I am not a woman, but a representative of the Goddess who came to you, and it is blasphemy to remember as if I were only a mortal woman.

Where got you that sword, boy?

Know you my dearest wish, my lord and king?

Why, you were such a little girl, and now you are grown, and a priestess!

You blossom like the wild roses of the hedge.

The priests are very sour about me and say I do not keep my place as benefits a woman - no doubt they think I am some kind of evil sorceress or witch.

Do you think I can’t tell a breeding woman when I see one?

I’ve no shame to confess you sit at my side as my equal in all things.

I have had news from my homeland that a dragon is raging there; I would swear to follow it until I have killed it.

No one alive could call her beautiful!

It is easy to see you have been reared in Avalon, which is even more isolated than most nunneries. I do not think you know what men desire for beauty in a woman.

Come now, there are virtues other than beauty.

Men are like babies -- they see only the first thing they want, a full breast.

Love is a diversion for the bower and the winter fireside.

I would rather dwell in a hermitage in the forest than in a house full of chattering ladies! If God is there, it must be hard for him to get a word in edgewise!

When this land is at peace we shall find wives and castles for all of you, no doubt.

I don’t know so very much about women after all.

Why then, we must find you the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, and the highest born.

Shall I find you a husband, or will you be one of my queen’s ladies-in-waiting?

Who should be higher in the kingdom than the daughter of my mother?

Pray don’t trouble yourself with finding me a husband.

I am sorry - I have wept all over your fine gown.

But it is a marvel to me that you would seek to cast away the only child you will ever bear.

I don’t want it! I didn’t want it! Why did the Goddess do this to me?

Why did you do this to me, _____? Why did you use me this way? I thought you loved me!

The Goddess knows, child, I love you as I have never loved any other human being on earth.

I told you: a time would come when you might hate me as much as you loved me.

Here and now, I tell you that you have worked upon me and played with me like a puppet for the last time! Never again!

I will no longer be your toy and plaything.

May the Goddess deal with you as you have done with me, Lady.

I’m going to be a knight! Knights don’t have to spin!

You must not starve yourself like this, you have a child and you must consider him!

I will be obeyed, you cannot starve yourself and your child this way.

Sing to me. Sing me that song about the dragon.

What ails you, girl? You’re restless as a caged bear!

Come within my hall, we will drink together, and I will make you an offer.

I am an old man. I have no desire to learn new battle methods.

Enough of this, then; pour us some wine.

Are you not afraid of that great fierce horse?

My lady, I do not believe the horse was ever foaled that I cannot ride.

Is it true that you control horses with your magic?

I like horses and I understand their ways and the way their minds works -- that is all. 

Do I look to you like a sorcerer?

I think it well that a woman should be wise.

I am not wise; I am very stupid.

Has he tried to win your heart -- or your maidenhead?

Well, don’t get any ideas into that featherhead of yours.

If all goes as I plan, you’ll wed the High King himself!

I’d be afraid to be the High Queen!

Mother, never kneel in my presence. I forbid it.

The Devil gives you your knowledge of such things.

Ah, but God makes doubts and the Devil too.

The idea of marrying a stranger doesn’t please me all that much.

Marriages must be arranged by those with wiser heads.

______ is a wencher. I am not so sure I want him within reach of my bride.

Has  ______ such charms that you fear my bride will love him instead?

I am all too worldly -- I like a chance to travel beyond convent walls.

Why, it is as if the sun went behind a cloud then -- but do as you will, lady. I hope you will shine out on us again another day perhaps.

You are lovely indeed. You have the most beautiful hair I have ever seen.

I would say that any man without an ear for music is an ignorant ass indeed, since without it he does not speak but brays.

You are troubled. Can I do anything to help you?

The law requires that they must  see us put to bed together, but what happens after that need concern no one but ourselves.

I knew you were an enchantress, but not that you were a musician as well.

I had not imagined that a woman would remember a point of military strategy.

I would to God you had not been sworn to the Goddess.

Are you like so many men, afraid of a woman’s tears?

Women who never weep frighten me, because I know that they are stronger than I, and I am always a little afraid of what they will do.

I would like to ride him. There is no horse I fear.

______, you fear nothing do you?

Oh, no, my kinsman, I fear many things.

I fear to die before I have savored my fill of life. 

It does not seem to me that you have left much untasted.

There are so many things I long for, and whenever I pass one by I regret it so bitterly, and wonder what weakness or folly prevents me from doing what I will.

Gods! Of all the damnable -- Gods! Tonight -- swear it! Swear!

When you get older, I will make you a knight and you shall ride out to conquer giants and evil raiders, and rescue fair ladies.

You fell off a horse.

That’s ridiculous. I don’t fall off horses.

It is simple. Do as the Goddess prompts you.

She isn’t the Goddess. She’s just a girl, and she’s frightened. 

I have no right -- will you kiss me once?

I promise you, I promise in the name of the Goddess, it will be well, I swear to you.

[nimueriesa]

mists of avalon → sentence meme

This is part four of a many part series of lines and dialogue taken from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Feel free to change pronouns or anything else to better suit your needs.

Do you really think me so tempting no man could resist me?

I could not sleep...how is it you ask me what I am doing here when you yourself are not in your bed?

I was restless when all around me slept - I think perhaps the moon has gotten into my blood.

I think faith is an illusion, and the truth is that we die as the beasts die, and are no more ever - like grass cut down, and last year’s snow.

You are so little - I had forgotten how little you are - I could break you with my two hands.

Sometimes it seems to me that you are one of the few things in my life which is all good.

So here we are again...it seems we have been here before...and this time I will cut off the head of any that interrupt us.

Almost you frighten me, when I would keep myself from sin, and yet I have looked on you with lust and wickedness, knowing it was wrong.

You are - you are a contemptible fool, _____! You are not even worth cursing!

I am not worthy that you should love me so well.

Dare you offer insult to my mother?

Go from here, lest my babe be born deformed because I have looked on your vile face.

You must not be so quick to assign blame to others. If there is fault, it must be your own.

Come, dear love, this is folly.

Perhaps I should seek to be a priest among the Christians,who, I have heard, teach their priests the secret  of living without women.

It is strange. I had known you were wise and a priestess, but somehow I had never thought you were beautiful.

Tell me -- where have you been? I would not ask, but that whatever it is, it lies heavy on your heart.

Why do you think I am any more happy or contented than you?

I do not know how I shall live if you go away.

I would not lead you into sin.

We have sinned already, you and I.

Is it true that you know all manner of charms and spells for fertility?

I am not your confessor! I have not accused you!

I would have you bear this in mind -- charms often work as you would not that they would do.

But if I am older, then I will need to know more about women than I did when I was a baby, will I not?

Oh, stay, if you want to, but turn your back. I’ll not have you staring at me, sir Impudence!

Look at his sweet face, like one of those angels, he is.

Perhaps if you knocked your head open, you could shove some sense inside it. For sure, it will never grow there on its own.

Aye, say it! Mock me with my birth, you -- I do not know my father’s name, but I know who fathered you, and between the two I would rather be in my situation!

Is that man fit to rule who would forswear his oath for a woman’s sake?

Speak the truth to me: how long have you had the Sight?

The truth is, I suppose, that her wits are not in the right place.

Is it true that I -- I am the son of the High King?

Dear child, never be ashamed to love.

I do not admire his taste. I would sooner be housed in the stable with the other donkeys!

I am not the keeper of your conscience. 

Don’t be more of a fool than you must.

Oh, ______ , in God’s name, what a ninny you are!

What can we do, short of murdering the guilty pair?

You are wise in charms and spells, cannot you give me a charm that will turn ______ ’s eye from ______ to me?

I think that if he married me, he would come to see that I am no less worthy of love than  ______.

I do not think women have ever much happiness in marriage -- only young girls think so, and I am not so young.

Are your charms and spells all moonlight rubbish, then?

You despise me, do you not?

Say that again, and wife or no, love or no, I will kill you!

And what of the king stag when the young stag is grown.

Let it be so. You shall make the Great Marriage with the land and with me in her name.

I am no traitor - it pains me that you think me so, when you have given me so much.

You are as beautiful to me, my dearest, as the day when we were first bedded.

You think everyone is wrong but you, don’t you.

My mother says that little ones should not contradict grown-ups, and you look as if you were not so much older than I. You aren’t much bigger, are you?

If I were older, I would be one of the Companions and my father would make me a knight and I would ride with them!

You who have had so many lovers, have you ever known what it is to love?

Happy? In that place of evil sorcery?

I am not such a good girl, though. I sin all the time. I am always doing wicked things.

Why am I being sent away, then?

I do not think I am ugly, but you must decide for yourself whether I am good or evil.

Won’t you come and tell me goodbye tomorrow? I thought I would be with you here.

Never name that well from which you will not drink!

Ask, and if I can give, it is yours.

I longed for the clean air of the fells, and the gulls’ cry, and your face.

But most women are fools, so that I prefer not to trouble myself making play with those who expect me to treat them as something very special, or pay heed to what they say.

You have spoilt me for foolish women.

It is easy to love him. And while all worship him thus, I have no possible task.

Then, their love of him must somehow be made less.

Oh, I am weary of ______ .... even  ______ has fallen under their spell. Do not begin to defend them to me.

I am weary. I am weary and sick of fighting.

I would rather love him, as all men do.

Call no man happy until he is dead.

So I will be drunk. So let it be. I drink to death and to dishonor.

All my life my mother spoke of him as if he were a king or a saint, quite beyond mortal men.

No doubt your mother told you I am an evil sorceress.

And are you a sorceress, then, lady?

I think that being made a king must be a little like being made a priest. They are both sworn to serve man and God and to do what is right.

But you did slay a dragon, did you not?

I would not have minded if you were truly my brother.

Have you come to court to be one of my Companions?

I felt I might well see my rival.

Will you give me a token to bear into the lists?

Why, lady, you had better take back your favor! Would you have your honor so easily disposed of as that?

My lady, may I wear your token into battle?

______ seems enchanted by you.

Do you think I have need of charms or spells?

Perhaps he is glad that I have a lover who will not tempt me to leave him.

Do you think I care what that rabble think of me?

You bore yourself most bravely.

What would you that I should see, my mother?

And then -- what then? Must I kill him?

I do not think fear of the priests, or of God’s wrath, or anything else will ever keep mankind from committing sins.

Error is useless and evil must be paid for, sooner or later.

Will you play your harp for me?

Are you a magician, _____? I sometime feel helpless, that you are working your magic on me.

Tell me more of yourself, I want to know everything about you.

I am no more than a man, and certainly not less than one.

I am a man of flesh and blood, and I love you.

You play with me as if I were a lapdog and expect me to be tame as a gelded pony.

Do you think because I am a cripple I am less than a man?

I wanted you to kiss me, but then you were so fierce, and I was frightened.

I cannot live without you. I must have you or die.

Will you not have some pity on me, beloved?

Say that you love me!

I love you. You know that I do.

Say that you will give me all your love.

You are so young and beautiful, and I am so twisted and ugly, I cannot believe you care for me.

Even now I think that I am dreaming, that you have for some reason roused me like this that you might make fun of the beast grovelling at your feet like a dog...

_____, will you come to my bed?

I know men like to boast of their conquest of maidens. How do I know that you will not brag out it?

I would dare anything to be with you, my love.

Nothing about you could frighten me, my love.

On your oath! You are mine?

Wait! You swear it! You are mine! Say it!

I am yours! I swear!

What will become of him?

How is it that you are so untouched by time?

Believe me, I love you beyond all else on this earth.

Say you so, that the land where an old king rules can only be a land which fades?

But you do not know all the vows I have made.

What more do you foresee?

Do you think I am dealing in sorcery at my age?

For God’s sake, lower your voice! Such things should not even be whispered in this place!

Here’s a riddle for you - when a man will not mind his property, what’s to be done by those who have an interest in it?

Does _____ kiss you like that?

Are you jealous of _____? Was it not you who told me to gain their confidence?

Already _____ has had more than enough of what is mine.

I account to no man on this earth for what I do with what is mine -- yes, mine and not yours. 

Am I to help you by betraying a woman who has taken the right the Goddess has given to all women, to choose what man she will?

I’ll have nothing to do with betraying her.

You’ll do what I command you!

Command me? Not in a thousand years!

I cannot bear to say farewell to you here, must it be this way?

Your heart was always with _____, my dearest. 

I often think the only sin we did was not that we loved, but that I came between the love you had for each other.