Volatile.

Cassini Images Saturns A Ring

he is eighteen when the wolves bray at his door; when the war comes seeking men; when the fire eats him up from the inside; when the witches want him dead.

he is eighteen when the wolves bray at his door; when the war comes seeking men; when the fire eats him up from the inside; when the witches want him dead.

❝ victimhood is not your colour. ❞

❝ you can’t outrun destiny just because you’re terrified of it. ❞

❝ your job is to control chaos, not to succumb to it. ❞

❝ you don’t deserve the air you breathe. ❞

❝ not a single person alive looks in the mirror and doesn’t see some form of deformity. ❞

❝ you lie, you keep secrets. you succumb to emotion and weakness. ❞

❝ not answering questions is part of your brooding pillar of charm. ❞

❝ you’re just mad because you lost your chance to be beautiful. ❞

❝ you smell of death and destiny, heroics and heartbreak. ❞

❝ there’s no power in puppeting fools. ❞

❝ i’ll leave that for someone who gives a shit. ❞

❝ i need to get back to my horse. ❞

❝ your will to live is strong. ❞

❝ i’m still not enough. even for you. ❞

❝ need a hand? i’ve got two. ❞

❝ my men will kill you. ❞

❝ i’m here to drink alone. ❞

❝ go. on your own or at the end of a rope, your choice. ❞

❝ do you know how many people wouldn’t blink if you died? ❞

❝ you weren’t taking control. you were losing it. ❞

❝ people call you a monster too. ❞

❝ i’ve waited all these years for you to admit we’re made for each other. ❞

❝ if only you could tell between friend or threat. do you even know the difference anymore? ❞

❝ when you live as long as i do, all the names sound the same. ❞

❝ were you in love? ❞

❝ this place isn’t safe when you’re alone. ❞

❝ the only thing you do quickly is flee. ❞

❝ even if you were a beauty, still, no one would love you. ❞

❝ not a happily ever after after all. ❞

❝ hm, doesn’t rhyme. all good predictions rhyme. ❞

❝ you are making me uncomfortable. ❞

❝ unchecked kings and queens start massacres. ❞

❝ i just want some damn peace. ❞

❝ i dreamed of becoming important to someone someday. ❞

❝ the only thing special about you is the crown on your head. ❞

❝ what do you long for? fame? money? power? ❞

❝ what? no one mentioned the impending doom part. ❞

❝ true words are rare words. ❞

❝ i want more. i have to be more. ❞

❝ do other women find this coarseness charming? ❞

❝ love casts long shadows. ❞

❝ if she runs, kill her. ❞

❝ don’t give me that look, shitling. ❞

❝ today isn’t your day, is it? ❞

❝ how come when my life comes to shit you’re the one shoveling it? ❞

❝ i know who you are. what you are. ❞

❝ i envy you. to live, and to have no love. ❞

❝ you’d leave a man bound to die in such a dignity? ❞

❝ i loved your mother. ❞

❝ don’t you know who i am? ❞

❝ so that’s all life is to you? monsters and money? ❞

❝ there’s a vortex of fate around us. ❞

❝ is history a wheel doomed to repeat? ❞

❝ the sword of destiny has two edges. ❞

❝ i’ve considered your company and conversation payment enough. ❞

❝ this isn’t who you are. ❞

❝ will you be joining me? ❞

❝ no amount of power or beauty will make you feel worthy of either. ❞

❝ i don’t believe anyone has that power. ❞

❝ nobody smart plays fair. ❞

❝ i won’t listen to a man who pimps the world as some romantic adventure. ❞

❝ a true man would state his desires. ❞

❝ don’t turn this on me. ❞

❝ i want to be powerful. it’s what i’m owed. ❞

❝ that makes sense just as much as it doesn’t. ❞ 

❝ you’re smart, aren’t you? you know everything. ❞

❝ i feel something out there waits for you. ❞ 

❝ please don’t hurt me. i’m lost. ❞ 

❝ i won’t kill you…but you cant stay here. ❞ 

❝ there’s no ‘us’. there’s only me. ❞ 

❝ i’m asking for a teeny-weeny little favor. ❞ 

❝ yeah, you’re probably right. but what if you’re not? ❞

❝ i’m not your friend. ❞ 

❝ you and destiny can both fuck right off. ❞ 

❝ i love the way you just sit in the corner and brood. ❞

❝ i will not suffer tonight sober. ❞ 

❝ pretty ballads hide bastard truths. ❞

❝ i will not involve myself to petty men’s squabbles. ❞

❝ happy childhood makes for dull company. ❞

❝ it’s impossible to be prepared for every battle. keep your sword close, and keep moving. ❞

❝ i see a lot of myself in you. ❞

❝ you can’t change the world this way. ❞

❝ i don’t need anyone. & the last thing i want is someone needing me. ❞

❝ alright, stand close to me and pretend you’re mean. ❞

❝ why are you dressed like a sad silk trader? ❞ 

❝ only one of us will be alive to find out. ❞ 

❝ i stole rather than starve. i killed rather than be killed. ❞ 

❝ i have’t only done good in my life either. ❞ 

❝ it’s like ordering a pie and finding out it has no filling. ❞ 

❝ when i cut my finger i bleed. that’s human, right? ❞ 

❝ they’re rough around the edges but they’re earthling like me. ❞ 

❝ royalty is best endured in small doses. ❞ 

❝ i thought the world needed me too. ❞ 

❝ sometimes, the best thing a flower can do for us is die. ❞ 

❝ handy with a blade. handy with women too. ❞

❝ are you trying to hurt my feelings? ❞

❝ you look like you’ve been through hell. ❞

❝ i can’t do this without you. ❞

❝ you know cautionary tales won’t work on me. ❞

❝ you talk nonsense while making wise and meaningful faces. ❞

❝ the apple never falls far from the tree. ❞

❝ when i go it will be far more dramatic than this. ❞

❝ try not to get any daggers in your back before dawn. ❞

❝ you have your mother’s blood. you’ll be alright. ❞

❝ a great ruler always chooses mercy. ❞

❝ it took two strikes to kill him. they weren’t clean. but they were spectacular. ❞

❝ if i have to choose between one evil and another, i’d rather not choose. ❞

❝ i would do anything to forget who i was. ❞

❝ i have no doubt blood will be spilled here tonight. ❞

❝ there’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale. ❞

❝ people look at you for who you are, not what you can give them. ❞

❝ do you believe in destiny now? ❞

❝ we can leave. we can find a way out. ❞

❝ lovers? fun for a bit, i’ll admit, but all eventually disappoint. ❞

❝ let’s face it, you’re a girl. we’re just vessels. and even when we’re told we’re special, we’re still just vessels…for them to take…and take…until we’re empty…and alone. ❞

❝ people like to invent monsters and monstrosities. then they seem less monstrous themselves. ❞

❝ every time i’m around you i say more in five minutes than i’ve said in weeks. ❞

❝ maybe someone out there will want you. ❞

❝ if you must kill me, i’m ready. ❞

❝ people linked by destiny always find each other. ❞

❝ thank the gods. i might live to see another day. ❞

❝ i was having a rather lovely dream which then turned into a nightmare. ❞

❝ you desperately need money for new clothes.  ❞

❝ more and more, i find monsters where i go. ❞

❝ life is too short. do what pleases you…while you can. ❞

❝ gods you’re pretty. ❞

❝ my lady, i would never degrade your honor in such a way. ❞

❝ my world is cruel. you enter, you survive, you die. ❞

❝ i feel i shall die a broken hearted man. ❞

❝ who slits a man’s throat while he’s relieving his bowels? ❞

Bandaged fingers tentatively rolled an orb of materia over several times. Drayce took his time appraising the sphere, squinting the faint pulsating aura resonating from within the smooth, weighty stone. Materia, real properly refined materia, weighed more than the average person realised.

There were a few other subtle-but-critical tells between the real deal, and the poorly refined knockoffs. Knowing the difference could be a matter of life or death, depending on the kind of materia a person used and just how much magic they tried to draw from it.

Favoring Thunder, Haste, and Protect, Drayce needed to be absolutely certain that his materia wasn’t the cheap shit. Last thing he needed was his magic backfiring on him in the heat of a fight.

“I’ll take this one.” Drayce held up the orb for emphasis.

By now, this exchange was routine.

Once in a while, Drayce turned up with his needs. Whether weapon repair or materia at an affordable rate, Persephone became his go-to.

Persephone reminded Drayce of his younger brother. Granted Clyde was considerably older than her, heavier set, and a little less inclined to aggression nowadays. But she reminded him so much of a younger Clyde: all brashness and thin as a rail. The core traits were enough to endear Persephone to Drayce; making it easier for Drayce to warm up to her and easier for Persephone to find herself with a long-term client.

Knew less about how she was actually making a decent profit doing it. 

Hell, she could think back, and turn up with only vaguely remembering she’d found an old machine that synthesised Mako stones, as opposed to churning out cheap materia faster.

It wasn’t in excellent condition when she’d found it, but she had connections that knew how to fix broken things. She didn’t know how that would have applied on a subconscious, deeply sociological scale, but she sold materia, not textbooks.

“Which one?” She asked, glassy eyes still focused on her magazine, before they went to look instead at him, moving at a much more languid pace than they did when they darted around pictures and headlines. She once, crudely, explained to Drayce that her magazines involving weapons or vehicles were her own version of pornography.

“Oh. That--” she stopped herself, staring at the materia, before she decided on something. “Yeah, that’s fine, whatever, but what I was gonna say was, if you ever come across like, Mako stones, and shit? Bring ‘em here.” 

Considering what she made was usually the more refined, expensive type of materia, as opposed to something fast and cheap, it would be lucrative for the both of them. 

Sure, she could find Mako stones by just wandering around, all without the risk of Mako poisoning, but she had to sell something in order to afford to the actual work she did. Guns alone wouldn’t cut it, it had to be something that could be around for public consumption.

When he’d brought up needing a whetstone, Persephone had let out possibly the most dramatic sigh that she could manage in response. It was as though the teenager had never left her. The sound equivalent of a full-body eye roll.

“Listen, I don’t sell anythin’ relatin’ to traditional weaponry, and shit. It’s arms. Materia, guns, parts of guns, bullets.” Her magazine took a place on the counter, finally left her grip. “My machines out back? They’re fitted with mythril and diamond grit. I’d help, but I can’t.” 

“Hey! Get back here!“