Paula

“Finally, in a low whisper, he said, ‘I think I might be a terrible person.’ For a split second I believed him - I thought he was about to confess a crime, maybe a murder. Then I realized that we all think we might be terrible people. But we only reveal this before asking someone to love us. It is a kind of undressing.”
― Miranda July, The First Bad Man

“Do you know the secret to fighting a scorpion?” He laughed. “Talking nonsense, Wraith? Don’t die too quick. Need to get you patched up.” She crossed one ankle behind the other and heard a reassuring click. She wore the pads at her knees for crawling and climbing, but there was another reason, too—namely, the tiny steel blades hidden in each of them. “The secret,” she panted, “is to never take your eyes off the scorpion’s tail.” She brought her knee up, jamming the blade between Oomen’s legs. He shrieked and released her, hands going to his bleeding groin. She”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows