themageofmany

[themageofmany]

Hey if you haven’t watched Sand Land yet you need to

It is very good

[themageofmany]

@calamitysshatteredson

"Who'd you promise?" Skylar asked quietly, head lolling to the left, devoid of the energy to hold it up any longer. Her words could hardly be heard over the rush of blood and ringing in her own ears.

Her stomach felt heavy, like a lead weight rooting her to the spot. She couldn't...move right. She wanted to reach for him, to wipe the sweat off of his face- why was he so sweaty? Why did he look so panicked? His normally sharp features were contorted in fear, the colour draining from his face...

and through his jacket?

"Seph...Seph you're bleeding..." With the remnants of her own strength she reached out to him and moved the hem of his jacket away to reveal several wounds, blood pulsing from torn porcelain skin. "You're hurt..."

Skylar's hand dropped with a dull thud into her lap. Her brow furrowed for a moment; her lips were wet and tacky. Was she drooling? Had she really lost so much of herself she was drooling over her friend's chest?

The blood turned sticky and dried on her chin.

@themageofmany liked for a thing!

"No. Absolutely not." He wasn't really talking to either of them, not Skylar and not himself, and not any particular unnamed entity potentially in control of the universe either. They were just words, offsetting the panic that he was not going to let himself feel overwhelmed by. He was going to continue tearing clothes to wrap with, to soak up the blood, to stop the bleeding--

He'd still had some fairly decent reaction time and sword muscle memory, it turned out. Unfortunately, it was for a much longer sword at a much different weight, and he just-- He hadn't, in time, in the right place before he'd managed to correct himself and his stance, and she'd--

"This isn't how it ends. It isn't." Rip. "Not now, not after all this." Zip. Surgeon's knot, they call that. "I made a promise." He wasn't all that good at holding to those, apparently. Or making them possible.

[themageofmany]

(From here from @royalbratprince because I'm inspired)

"Uh." Feeling his own intelligence drop was a little weird. Itchy, kinda.

"Right, well." It's not like he had to lie, obviously. Not that the truth was any more believable than any lie he could have told. And she definitely already knew that he wouldn't have just invited himself into her space on purpose unless it was an emergency.

Which left accident, or emergency... or something combined but far dumber. Clearing his throat, Noctis admitted in a rush, "I was warping and I landed on the wrong ledge, but then I realized I needed to rest a little sooner than I expected to and I kind of dropped onto your balcony and someone noticed the noise and looked out their window so I'm just hanging out here for another couple of minutes then I'll be gone, I swear."

He should have lied.

-

Skylar paused, eyes narrowed as she tried to concentrate on the word vomit coming out of Noctis' mouth. So, he warped wrong and broke into her room while she was changing because he was worried someone would see him? The crown prince hanging out on some random woman's balcony?

"You're a moron." Skylar stated flatly, still hugging her towel to her chest. "But that begs the question..." in no time, her look of suspicion morphed into something akin to sinful glee.

"Whose balcony were you aiming for?"

[themageofmany]

(From here for @goldendivinewrath because I'm inspired)

It was probably a little too late to shush her, and probably didn't matter in the first place, because the shopkeeper had already given him that "shady character look". He knew it intimately, unfortunately, but had been trying to weave a tale of having money and tomas stolen.

Even if the shopkeeper wasn't buying his story completely (or at all), Vash was pretty sure that he was at least getting some kind of pity going, and frankly he'd take that if it lead to something favorable. Skylar--

Was not playing along. Understandable, honestly, but also a little bit inconvenient when he was already leaning hard into pity and almost getting somewhere. Giving a nervous little laugh and pressing his hands together as if in prayer, he leaned to the side and harshly whispered, "Please stop thinking, I'm trying to lie."

-

The look she shot him was nothing short of incredulous. He was trying to lie? But...lying was wrong! Especially lying to unsuspecting townsfolk. They were trying to get by, just the same as Skylar and her travel partner, and didn't deserve to be deceived.

But...she was hungry. And they didn't have a lot of double dollars left, certainly not enough to pay for a meal and a place to sleep. Her stomach growling disrupted the quiet whisper argument and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The shopkeeper's look of near pity then turned to her, which she tried not to squirm underneath the weight of. "Ah, sorry. Travel takes a lot out of you, ya know?" she laughed it off and scratched the back of her neck for something to do with her hands.

The shopkeeper looked between Skylar and Vash. Between Vash's earlier acting and Skylar's seeming genuine need, he tossed a loaf of bread and a white box on the counter for them to take. "Don't let me catch ya out there beggin' for scraps then."

[themageofmany]

@calamitysshatteredson

Skylar contemplated his offer a moment. Instinctively her answer was no, she did not want to look up her old records, or any records and reports from that place. But on the other hand, they would be safe with Sephiroth. No one would be able to see them, no one would be able to replicate them.

"...Maybe." was her final answer. "If we find them, we burn them. Deal? That way, the final piece of that place dies."

The truth of the matter was that there wasn't a lot that Skylar didn't remember about her time in that place. There likely wasn't much that those papers could tell her. But she understood Sephiroth's curiosity and trusted him more than any person on the Planet.

"Do you think they'd still have anything on paper anymore? Or would it all be on the computers?"

(From here cause I wanna for @calamitysshatteredson)

Skylar's eyes narrowed at Sephiroth's comment. Better not encountered, huh? No kidding. As if she was able to help who she encountered, who she was deceived by in order to be taken away.

What she saw behind the walls of that facility was horror beyond comprehension. Piercing metal, twisted bone, screams morphing to roars. Her words were quiet, but steady and knowing.

"I wonder how many of those people are their victims."

[themageofmany]

"We can celebrate the good that we've done."

hozier lyrics, unreal unearth edition

"What good have I done?" Skylar mumbled dejectedly, staring off into the oppressive darkness. It had been years since they had struck out on their own, reuniting with the likes of Ignis and Gladio only occasionally. They didn't know if Noctis was coming back, or when.

"You go around saving Eos and doing cool stuff and I'm just stuck here unable to do anything." She stared down at her own bandaged hands, marred with scars and fresh wounds alike. "I can't do anything anymore..."

[themageofmany]

Obligatory “I’m alive” post

I’m alive, but barely

I’m very fatigued, but I’ll get to working on replies this weekend! Promise

[themageofmany]

Sorry I saw this on twitter and I've been laughing for 14 years

[themageofmany]

"Do you ever think about your legacy? The mark you leave behind after you're gone?"

"I used to. Back when I was young and I wanted to prove myself. Now? Not so much." she answered softly. "Now I'm not too sure I want anyone to remember me."

Skylar flipped through the cookbook she was reading, trying to decide on what to make for dinner. "I suppose I want to be remembered as kind, right? Isn't that what everyone says?"

[themageofmany]

"I do know the difference between what’s real and what's fake."

PROMPTS FROM LEVERAGE

"Coulda fooled me." Skylar snapped. "If you recall, the last time I saw you where you knew who I was, you stabbed me and left me to die in Nibelheim." Oh, she was still mad. Of course she was still mad. Though she knew the context of the attack, the context didn't matter too much when she had a HOLE IN HER CHEST.

"And then we had to run all over the Planet because you're such an ass. And what the hell was with the visions you kept giving Cloud? That had to be you, right? That's seriously a low blow, Seph. You know he's already messed up."

Despite her chastising, she still made him a cup of tea and eventually sat across from him at the table. "You wouldn't be telling me this if you didn't have anything going on. So what's up?"

[themageofmany]

Foundation Sentences, Vol. 1

(Sentences from Foundation (2021-). Adjust phrasing where needed)

"Do you ever wish there was another way?"

"All my life, I looked out and dreamed of being somewhere else. Now I realise how much I'll miss this view."

"They all hate me. You don't hate me, do you?"

"When people are afraid to do their job right, they're certain to do it wrong."

"I was lonely. Almost no one there thought like I thought."

"Maths doesn't take sides. It doesn't judge."

"I imagine you were lonely - a mind like yours in a place like that."

"They're going to arrest me tomorrow, and you. It's almost a certainty."

"People lie. Numbers don't."

"They think I'm the only one who can prove you wrong."

"There's more at stake here than you can imagine."

"Art is simply politics' sweeter tongue."

"A rotten tree trunk appears strong until the storm breaks it in two."

"And I should believe in you? A spy?"

"We're all different, and if you don't know why, I urge you to figure it out before someone else does and uses it against you."

"Change is frightening, especially for those in power."

"Someone's going to hang for this. I'd like it to be the guilty one."

"Not every choice will be like this one."

"Are you unhappy with your successor?"

"I don't forget anything - or anyone."

"Repeated luck is never luck."

"A weapon's only as good as the man who's wielding it."

"I don't recall asking for your medical advice."

"You're desperate and scared, and desperate people make mistakes."

"The search for meaning is not always about the answer. It's also the process of seeking that enlightens."

"You're already dead - you just don't know it yet."

"An entire galaxy can pivot around the actions of an individual."

"You're too smart to play the victim."

"I liked you better when you were dying."

"You simply have no concept of revenge, do you?"

"Your lack of understanding does not obligate me to explain."

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

"Past behaviour is the best predictor of future performance."

"When all the facts fall short of believability, fantasy feels reassuringly solid."

"You had no choice in any of this, but thank you just the same."

"Never presume to understand what I want."

"You are stupid, naive, gullible. So was I at your age, and these things are forgivable."

"Forget logic. Try empathy."

"I know people hate me, consider me evil, but it is my detachment - my indifference to suffering - that allows me to be effective."

"Do you ever think about your legacy? The mark you leave behind after you're gone?"

"Do you still believe humanity can do better?"

[themageofmany]

I have been so busy the past few months I’m SORRY I will be getting to replies eventually

[themageofmany]

Oh good lord it’s not just my birthday but this blog’s birthday too

[themageofmany]

(From here cause I wanna for @calamitysshatteredson)

Skylar's eyes narrowed at Sephiroth's comment. Better not encountered, huh? No kidding. As if she was able to help who she encountered, who she was deceived by in order to be taken away.

What she saw behind the walls of that facility was horror beyond comprehension. Piercing metal, twisted bone, screams morphing to roars. Her words were quiet, but steady and knowing.

"I wonder how many of those people are their victims."

[themageofmany]

"It was just our turn being blamed for a world we had no power in."

hozier lyrics, unreal unearth edition

"I hate it." she stated flatly, staring off into the darkness as she tried to form another, perhaps deeper thought.

"We should have had a choice. What's the point of meaning something if it's not what you want to mean? I don't want to mean anything!" Skylar picked up a clump of dirt and threw it forward, only for the wind to blow it right back in her face.

Her eyes watered. For the dirt, for the unfairness. "Sometimes I think I wasn't really meant for anything at all."

[themageofmany]

"What do you think parents are most afraid of?"

PROMPTS FROM LEVERAGE

"If you ask my folks, probably losing their first born son." Skylar took another sip of her drink and set the glass down quietly on the bartop again. Skylar very rarely made any noise, whether it be what she handled, how she walked, or even how she spoke. It wasn't until she started travelling with Vash that she allowed herself to speak up.

"It definitely wasn't losing their second born, though."

[themageofmany]