He knew at that moment that falling in love with her would destroy him, and so he decided at once that he would do his damnedest to despise her.

— Ash Gray

He stood over her for a time, simply looking at her as he willed himself to climb into bed, and he knew doing so would make it utterly impossible to hate her. She looked so innocent and vulnerable as she dreamt, and it was difficult to hate someone once you had seen them sleeping.

— Ash Gray

:I am Topaz, : the unicorn on the hill haughtily announced, :and this is my vale.: :I was not aware unicorns could own vales, : Ware ska linked. The unicorn stiffened, and even from this distance, Ware ska could see her bright, golden eyes narrow dangerously. Now you know, : she said with quiet menace.

— Ash Gray

I know nothing of magic,” the naked man said to the raven, “except what you told me.” He laughed sadly. “And I barely remember that. I tend to drift off when you ramble.

— Ash Gray

I made a noise of disgust, and I think I would have stormed out if I knew how to open the door.

— Ash Gray

I’m a dot in the grand scheme of things. I don’t matter, not even to the other dots.

— Ash Gray

I’m surprised you haven’t come to hate humans,” Rose said with hesitation. “I mean, given all that happened to you here. I’m pretty sure assimilating wasn’t easy either. You have a sort of foreign look for an American, and Americans are notorious for their xenophobia.” Zita laughed softly. “Me? Hate humans?” She darkly shook her head. “I fought in the Midnight War for thirty years, Rosie. I know what happens when people let hate make decisions for them.

— Ash Gray

In case the title was misleading, this is the story of North. He was an alien, but he was more normal, more boring, more goofy, and more ho-hum than any human I’d ever known. . . To the point that I sometimes wonder if he was really even an alien. To be fair, he did have “magical” otherworldly powers and some weird traits, like pointed ears. It rained when he was sad. His eyes were solid black, which really creeped me out in the beginning but, eh, I got used to it. He had weird tastes in food, like he would put ketchup on pancakes, and animals were sock puppets to him. The night I found him, it was the animals who led me to him.

— Ash Gray

I never thought I’d ever leave Zero. But after knowing Cricket, it occurred to me that I had no reason to stay. I had no family, no friends aside from her. I never even spoke to ENSAI until she brought us together. It was she who first inspired me to dream of actually seeing those worlds I spent my every waking moment reading about. She and her wild heart, her laughing spirit, so bright in her eyes whenever she spoke of her travels and all the wondrous places she had seen. When I was a boy, I envied her for her adventures. When I became a man, I only pitied her.

— Ash Gray

Is there n-nothing you can do?” Narmada asked, wiping her tears away with the heel of her hand. The unicorn laughed softly. “She asks for a boon after shooting me in the ass.

— Ash Gray