the burning god - r.f kuang sentence starters
change tenses/pronouns as needed !! some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying
tw : ptsd , addiction , death , murder , nsfw , language
‘do you think I’d ever let anything happen to you?’
‘you’re terrified. that’s why you’re fidgeting. you’re scared.’
‘soldiers are worth more than civilians, it’s just math.’
‘don’t cut off the head of the snake if you can tame it.’
‘none of this— our villages, our people, our freedom— will survive under their intended world order’
‘i’m the least terrible option you’ve got.’
‘I don’t mean to call you stupid, because I love you, but that plan is so stupid.’
‘i’m not sorry for this. you shouldn’t have gotten in my way.’
‘that wasn’t an insult. just being frank.’
‘they’re bullies. weakness is what they want to see.’
‘bad moral is a big weapon. don’t underestimate it.’
‘i’ve gotten you this far. trust me just a little longer.’
‘i’m not crazy right? this is clearly a trap?’
‘how do you think history will judge me if I throw away it’s fate for one person?’
‘it felt like you’d put the universe back in place. like you were balancing the scales. didn’t it?’
‘you don’t fix hurts by pretending they never happened. you treat them like infected wounds and then, maybe, you have a chance to heal.’
‘it’s not justice, it’s chaos.’
‘this is a revolution. it’s not a fucking tea party.’
‘cut me a fucking break. i’ve been fleeing for my life.’
‘I shouldn’t have counted on his virtue. but he didn’t count on my survival.’
‘they’re never gone. do you understand? they still come for you in your sleep. only this time they’re dream-wraiths, not real, and there’s no escape from them because they’re living in your own mind.’
‘your pain will always be mine.’
‘i’m not living my whole life like a beast on a leash.’
‘I should kill you. why can’t I kill you?’
‘you don’t behave rationally around her, you never do.’
‘’all right’ is not a term anyone would use to describe you.’
‘I used to hate myself for living, too. I didn’t think it was fair that I’d survived. that others had died in my place.’
‘it’s not fair. I should be in the ground with them.’
‘it doesn’t go away. It never will. but when it hurts, lean into it.’
‘this life you’ve chosen, you won’t get many moments like this again. but it’s the nights like this that keep you alive.’
‘give up, darling. trust me, this is easier. this is so much easier.’
‘you know, I think I’ve figured out where you get all that self - righteousness.’
‘their blood is on you. you killed them.’
‘I hate you. I wish we were all dead.’
‘do you think he loved you? do you think he ever loved you?’
‘this story will end. the way it was always meant to.’
‘I just want to sit for a second. in peace. can I do that?’
‘I don’t know, I thought maybe— maybe they’d realize that they need me.’
‘you are so bad at this. it’s cute.’
‘people are attracted to power, darling. they can’t help themselves. power seduces. exert it, make a show of it, and they’ll follow you.’
‘I killed him. and I don’t feel bad about it.’
‘stop pretending to care about ethics, it’s embarrassing.’
‘at some point, you’ll have to convince yourself that you’re above right and wrong. morality doesn’t apply to you.’
‘fear turns into despair, despair to panic, and then panic into utter submission. it’s incredible, the power of psychological warfare.’
‘knowing what I’ve done? yes, it hurts. unlike anything you could ever imagine.’
‘they want to erase us. they want to make us better, to improve us, by turning us into a mirror of themselves.’
‘any culture or state that diverges is necessarily inferior. we are inferior, until we speak, dress, act, and worship just like them.’
‘people pay you less attention when you don’t leave a trail of bodies in your wake.’
‘i’m just telling you what’s right in front of you. you know I’m right.’
‘you seem to have mistaken me for a dullard.’
‘it’s a tragedy we’re on different sides. you know that. we would have been so good united.’
‘he’s tried a million different things to break me. but he should have remembered he never figured out how.’
‘lost my mind for a bit. just starting to get it back now.’
‘you think we should just surrender. that we’d be better off under their rule.’
‘that’s the implication of your logic. and I won’t accept that. I can’t.’
‘i’m sure you said whatever you needed to to get them off your back. I don’t care about that.’
‘everything you do convinces them you should not exist.’
‘I did what I had to do to give him the only chance at peace he’d ever get.’
‘you are the worst thing to happen to this country. these people deserve better than you.’
‘you were only ever fighting to survive. I was fighting to win.’
‘we don’t need peace right now. we need blood.’
‘I don’t know what’s insane anymore. I just hope you know what you’re doing.’
‘there is no turning back. i’ve waited too long for this.’
‘I can’t take that from him. not even if he’s happier like this.’
‘there’s more, there’s something you’re not telling me, I deserve to know.’
‘let go of the man you remember. you’re never going to get him back.’
‘in times like these, you can’t let sleeping threats lie.’
‘if we ever feared him, it was because he was great, and great rulers always inspire fear in the hearts of the weak.’
‘you don’t get to forget. whatever you did, you don’t deserve to forget.’
‘she’s not a person anymore. she’s rage.’
‘it’s not just about the enemy. it’s about what the world looks like after.’
‘you’re trying to protect your people. I understand that. but I’m trying to protect mine.’
‘i’m not crawling into oblivion with a whimper, and you should have known that before you came here.’
‘I don’t care what else happens up there. but you come back to me.’
‘what’s this? finally developing a conscience?’
‘I know what you did. I know everything. and I don’t care. the past doesn’t matter. ____ is in danger now, and I need you.’
‘nature can’t be altered. only held at bay.’
‘don’t take on the burden of an entire nation. it’s too heavy. and you aren’t strong enough.’
‘you should know by now that when you leave your enemies alive, wars don’t end.’
‘she told me I’ll never be afraid again.’
‘that’s power. and you’re not giving that up. I know you. you’re me.’
‘I know how humiliation feels. keep your secrets if you want. but there’s nothing you can say that will make me think any less of you.’
‘i’m not going to survive this war.’
‘do you want me to say I’m sorry?’
‘what did I tell you? you were never meant to serve.’
‘if you try that shit, I will kill you.’
‘good luck. don’t do anything stupid.’
‘keep down. and when you get the chance, run.’
‘you never want to hurt them. but you have to. you have to put them through hell, because that’s the only way anyone else will survive.’
‘I would have spared them if I could have.’
‘I wasn’t a person to you, I was a weapon, and you needed me to work.’
‘it’ll never stop hurting.’
‘you love them like your own family, and a knife twists in your heart every time you watch one of them die.’
‘see this through to the end. that’s the least you own to the dead.’
‘I wish things had been different.’
‘I so hate when you’re right.’
‘you kill me and you accomplish nothing. your world as you know it will end.’
‘i’m not going to kill you. you don’t deserve that.’
‘why does everyone think this war is over. am I the only one with eyes?’
‘it’s hard to prioritize the enemy that you can’t see.’
‘you are being crazy. you’re acting like a fucking maniac. shut up for a moment and face the fucking facts.’
‘they can’t do this to me. I was supposed to win.’
‘we built an entire nation. we don’t have to let it collapse.’
‘what he wants is what we all want, which is to stop killing our own people.’
‘we’re about to have the world we fought for. can’t you see it? it’s so close, it’s just over the horizon.’
‘you can come back. I’ll bring you back. we’re in this together.’
‘we’re trying to broker a peace here. let’s not start off with death threats, shall we?’
‘i’m just trying to make this less painful for everyone involved.’
‘you can’t do this for me. I won’t let you.’
‘it’s not for you. it’s not a favor. it’s the cruelest thing I could do.’
