“You cannot trust yourself, she agreed, bed-rock calm. Therefore, let go. Seize life and place trust in me.”

“This is my present, also yours, free to choose. I am here at your side, alive, and no ghost. Let beauty and care forge the weapons tonight.”

“You are not mine to command. But the choice to kill always means closing the mind to the chance of a living alternative.”

“Speak for yourself. Only rank ignorance measures a man by appearances.”

“Because you’ve survived, there is a next strategy.”

“You cannot trust yourself,’ she agreed, bed-rock calm. ‘Therefore, let go. Seize life and place trust in me.”

“Think of what is pure.”

“I am what I am.”

“i held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus- Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants.”