Killian is prepared to die. Lark is prepared to improvise.

 

Killian will die for honor.

Lark will fake her death and steal your boots.

I love this meme, and not just because I laugh and my friends and I come up with jokes, but because it assumes death is the ultimate literary statement.  Killian would agree.  He believes in principles worth dying for, rules that must be followed, and consequences that should be faced head-on.

Lark, on the other hand, believes that dying is a terrible waste of time when there are still exits to find, pockets to pick, and plans to revise.

I don’t write stories where characters rush toward death for neat thematic closure.  My story of Killian and Lark is one character insists on honor and the other insists on surviving—and neither is willing to yield.  That tension is far more dangerous than death ever is.

And let's add a few more because they're too good to pass up on.

Killian: I will die for honor.

Lark: I will live out of sheer defiance.

~*~

Killian: I will die for my rules.

Lark: I will steal the rules and leave.

~*~

Killian: I will die for the cause.
Lark: You could simply…not.