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141 " Sometimes he feels he has lost his own story, fallen out of its pages and landed here, in between. But he remains in his story. He cannot leave it, no matter how he tries. "
― Erin Morgenstern , The Starless Sea
142 " I'm more of a cocktail guy," he says, though he is also of the opinion that sparkling wine is an anytime beverage and appreciates Mirabel's style. "
143 " These doors will sing. Silent siren songs for those who seek what lies behind them. For those who feel homesick for a place they’ve never been to. Those who seek even if they do not know what (or where) it is that they are seeking. "
144 " The merchant laughed. “Everyone wants the stars. Everyone wishes to grasp that which exists out of reach. To hold the extraordinary in their hands and keep the remarkable in their pockets. "
145 " Dorian smiles and Zachary wonders how you can miss someone’s smile when you’ve only seen it once before. "
146 " Perhaps she herself is a page that was torn from a story and folded into a star and thrown in the shadows to be forgotten. Perhaps she should not steal books from hidden archives only to rip out their pages and then, give them away. But it is too late to change any of that now. And a beloved book is still beloved even if it was stolen to begin with. And imperfect. And then lost. "
147 " Sorry it’s so poetry today.” “So what?” Zachary asks, not certain he heard her correctly. “Poetry,” Mirabel repeats. “The weather. It’s like a poem. Where each word is more than one thing at once and everything’s a metaphor. The meaning condensed into rhythm and sound and the spaces between sentences. It’s all intense and sharp, like the cold and the wind. "
148 " What's the difference between a door and a cage? Between not yet and too late? "
149 " There is a pirate in the basement.(The pirate is a metaphor but also still a person.)(The basement could rightly be considered a dungeon.)The pirate was placed here for numerous acts of a piratey nature considered criminal enough for punishment by those non-pirates who decide such things.Someone said to throw away the key, but the key rests on a tarnished ring on a book that hands on the wall nearby.(Close enough to see from behind the bars. Freedom kept in sight but out of reach, left as a reminder to the prisoner. No one remembers that now on the key side of the bars. The careful psychological design forgotten, distilled into habit and convenience.)(The pirate realizes this but withholds comment.) "
150 " But that is the nature of a story. Not all stories speak to all listeners, but all listeners can find a story that does, somewhere, sometime, in one form or another. "
151 " I love you but I will not sit here and wait for the story to change — I’m going to make it change. "
152 " It began as a dollhouse. Over time, it has become more than that. A dolltown. A dollworld. A dolluniverse. "
153 " You will pry this Adventure Time notebook from my cold dead hands, ya ding-dong. "
154 " Be brave,” she says. “Be bold. Be loud. Never change for anyone but yourself. Any soul worth their star-stuff will take the whole package as is and however it grows. Don’t waste your time on anyone who doesn’t believe you when you tell them how you feel. "
155 " They seem kind of badass, in a nerdy way. "
156 " You can talk, can’t you?” he asks. “No,” says the cat. It bows its head and turns, walking off into the shadows, leaving Zachary staring dumbly after it. "
157 " Far beneath the surface of the earth, hidden from the sun and the moon, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. Stories written in books and sealed in jars and painted on walls. "
158 " Never change for anyone but yourself. Any soul worth their star-stuff will take the whole package as is and however it grows. "
159 " He wonders if he is losing his mind and then decides that if he is able to wonder about it he probably isn't, which isn't particularly comforting. "
160 " Perhaps she herself is a page that was torn from a story and folded into a star and thrown in the shadows to be forgotten. "