nml_mods: (Default)
nml_mods ([personal profile] nml_mods) wrote in [community profile] nomans_land2023-05-02 05:02 am
Entry tags:

On The First Day

It had been months.

Months of terror, of families ripped apart, refugees racing against the Ark in the sky, against the Plants that had once been their only source of survival on the world and had now been turned against them, raining lightning and death down on them like the hand of a vengeful God. Humanity pushed to the brink, fleeing their homes and communities, waves of refugees fleeing across the sands as more and more towns and cities fell to the reign of destruction that had been biting at their heels every step of the way.

And then, as the last descendants of the survivors of the Big Fall clustered in the city of Octovern, spiilling out into the streets, every available, livable space filled to capacity and beyond, what felt like the final days of humanity began. The sounds of artillery fire filled the air, the sight of the Ark and its grotesque ruler loomed overhead, and in the distant sky high above, the previously-inconceivable reinforcement ships from Earth took up orbit around No Man's Land. Throughout the night, explosions lit up the sky, thundering with deafening reports through the air, and yet the civilians below had settled into a still, terrified, anticipatory silence. They couldn't see, from their perspective, the figures atop the ruins of the Earth's space destroyers that had already fallen to the ground, locked in battle for the future of the people far below. But the sight of Millions Knives high above, terrifying and grotesque with the power of the Plants he had absorbed, was omnipresent, a never-ending threat, the harbinger of doom, biding his time until he could make good on his promise to wipe every last one of them off the face of existence.

And then something had changed.

Electrical currents rippled through the air above the downed ship, carrying screams on the wind. To the people below, Millions Knives' massive form had shifted, writhing, bellowing with unholy rage and pain and despair. And then it begun to unmake itself, shredding, crumbling, tearing itself apart at the seams and floating to the ground in tiny, shining, white particles. Tiny, white feathers drifted on the wind, closer and closer before, one by one, they began to settle to the roofs of the buildings, to the tops of cars and to the streets, and to the heads and faces of the humans staring up from below.

The instant that contact was made between feather and skin, a connection was made; between Human and Plant, between each person standing side by side, minds thrown open in bursts of light and expanding consciousness, and through the doors sprang multitudes of memories spanning hundreds of years. Suffering, laughter, pain, sorrow, joy, enslavement, death, pride, love. The Plants had made the connection to their creators - their keepers - that they had been silently pleading for since their first containment, and with it every man, woman, and child on the surface of the world began to see and feel and hear their stories and their cries for help. They did not want this war, they did not want this destruction. They had seen the promises of vengeance and a paradise for their kind atop the bones of humanity offered by Millions Knives and they had felt the hopes and dreams carried by Vash the Stampede of a kinder, more loving world, and they had made their choice.

Of course, but...what would he do at a time like this?


I wonder if he'll laugh again


I wonder if he'll follow his ideals again.


I see. You all know him as well. That young man with a gentle smile.


Little Red Brother.


Let there be love and peace in this world.


In the chaos that followed, as the bodies of the Plants began tumbling to the ground in a writhing mass and the screams of shock and confusion began to rise from the sea of humanity below, something rippled in the air, a last gasp of those silent voices before the connection was lost.

Help Us. Help him. Please.


This was...different. New. As if reality had taken the distraction caused by the calamity below to shift itself sharply to the left, and then snapped. It started at the core of the mass of angelic bodies as men and women began to rush to their aid, a shockwave in the fabric of creation that rumbled silently in the atoms of the world and ricocheted outward, along the ground, through the air, until it had enveloped the entire planet. Time froze for an instant, and to the eyes of all who had the capacity for sight, that leftward shift became manifest, the world doubling on itself as the ground shook beneath their feet.

Wails of confusion and fear rose into the night sky, and for a brief moment, it felt as if the world were about to unmake itself on the molecular level. But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the distortion snapped back into place with a loud, ear-splitting CRACK, and in the stunned silence that followed, only one thing could be certain; things were not the same as they had been mere moments ago, as if everything and yet nothing at all had changed, all at once.

The world of No Man's Land was as it should be, but all across the surface of the planet, pockets of reality had split open, sending the inhabitants of mirrored existences tumbling through wide, unseen rifts. People and places outside of time and space found themselves staggering to their feet in a world that was both foreign and familiar at the same time, found themselves face to face with their own reflection made flesh, tossed about by the pleas of a race reaching across the fabric of creation for aid in putting a stop to a war that had been fought time and time again, across reality after reality, without fail.


Thus began the new chapter in the history of No Man's Land.



[Wherever your character was, whatever they were doing, when the rifts in reality opened, they will have found themselves rocked by a massive earthquake that lastes a few short seconds before settling with a loud crack, like thunder. While no damage will be left in its wake, the characters themselves will realize that though the planet appears to be the same, it will quickly become evident that they are in an alternate reality of the place they call home. Are they standing in the rubble of a once-destroyed city now remade whole? Is the bar they had been taking refuge in suddenly gone, leaving them tumbling to the sand with nothing but their drink in their hand? And what of the friends that had been standing by their side seconds before? This is where your stories begin.]
littleblades: (17)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-17 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. He wanted to go to a city called December, but we were separated before arriving. [ and he doesn't know what city he's in now, not when he hasn't found a map or any indication of where he could be.

nai tilts his head as he thinks, bringing a hand up to tug at his own hair. ]
There were some darker streaks, definitely... I wanted to ask him why his hair looked like that, but...

[ he kind of had a breakdown and the conversation never got to that point. ugh. ] Is that what happens when you're older? [ but when he looks up to knives' hair... ] I don't see any in your hair.
graveresemblance: liv (Default)

[personal profile] graveresemblance 2023-05-17 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I might be big, but I'm sensitive. [it is a lie, definitely]

Then I'll have to calm him down, and let him know I'm not gonna hurt you guys.
littleblades: (36)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-17 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Nooo!

[ nai squeals in horror, trying to hold vash back by his shoulders as he's knocked back to the ground. ] Vash, stooop! Don't lick me!
love_and_peace: (just keep swimming)

[personal profile] love_and_peace 2023-05-17 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Wolfwood tenses at the first touch, and Vash almost pulls away right then. But he knows this man -- his body, at least, if not his heart and mind -- and he can feel the slight lean in, the way he almost lets his head come to rest on Vash's shoulder. The way he holds himself so tightly, bloody hand kept away from Vash in a gesture that feels more metaphorical than actual.

He can feel the exhaustion in those broad shoulders, and so, instead of pulling back, Vash leans in further, until they're pressed chest to chest, and his long arms can't wrap any further around Wolfwood's frame.
]

Is this okay? [ Blood doesn't show up well on red -- just one of the reasons Vash favors the color -- but this close, Wolfwood might be able to see the blood stains on Vash's shoulder, and the slits in the coat material there, left by the darts thrown by the Eye's goons. The fresh blood stains, barely an hour old, from that final, terrible fight. ] Tell me this is okay.
dontdeserve: (goodbye)

[personal profile] dontdeserve 2023-05-17 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's not the same. A friend is one of many things that someone can be, but a human is all that a person is. So when I put 'my' before it, it's not the same." But that's just out of habit, he is also listening, his eyes going very wide at the revelation, brightening with a sliver of hope. "It's... not him that I don't give--" The words trail off because they are entirely useless, and he gives a small nod. "I - will. Thank you, Knives."

Earnest, and honest, and sweet.

And Vash at least... is thinking alternate realities because the Vash he saw was different from himself, so that already means differences. And he knows what he knows bout JuLai, so time travel is already a sort of given. Maybe.

"A guess! Only a guess. I'll need to learn a lot more before I can know." Go to December and get your doctor regulated ... cocktail of what not AND headaches that are the triple Vashes, Knives. That will answer the multiverse question. "... and you said that as though I'd figure all that many things out before you do!"
cowgoesmoo: (smile - laughing :D)

[personal profile] cowgoesmoo 2023-05-18 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's hard to be scared of somebody so silly! If he can't reach Knives with his face, then he'll have to switch tactics and tickle him instead! ]

I'm a plant too, and I wanna glow! Show me how!
genesis4_9: (glare -- contemplative)

[personal profile] genesis4_9 2023-05-18 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ At any point they might be interrupted by his idiot brother, hmmm? Very well. If the collective consciousness of their sisters brought him here just in the right time and place to meet his younger self, then they must want him protected. Vash wouldn't hurt a child with violence, but there's no telling what foolishness he might poison young ears with.

Knives will have to work quickly.
]

No, my energy remains unspent. That is what the darkening of our hair indicates -- that we are nearing the end of our lives and have burned through the energy that sustains us.

[ Yes, young one. That means that the older Vash was dying. ]

Our brother is very unwell, and has been for some time. That is, perhaps, why I have been brought here, so that together you and I may ensure the well being of your brother.
littleblades: (9)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ nai immediately tries to curl in on himself the moment vash attacks his sides with those hands, a feeble attempt to protect himself. he screams, still trying to kick out with flailing legs. ]

Stop- stop! Get off, Vash! [ better watch out because he's coming for vash with his own tickling attack. ]
nurturing: (rippling waves across the waking world)

[personal profile] nurturing 2023-05-18 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Humans are all those things... but we're also capable of so much love. It's a very fine line, and I agree that we're never been kind to plants.

[ She sighs and meets his eyes again. ]

Nai isn't wrong to want their freedom. Just as much as humanity isn't wrong about their need to survive. Crashing everyone here is a double-edged sword, however. His choice is also making the plants suffer more, because they're being stripped quicker by desperate people. If we could have worked together...

[ Rem shakes her head and then gives Vash a sad smile. ]

I will never stop trying, either. He's my boy, just like you. I will never give up on you two.

[ Horrifying atrocities aside, she's able to see her own mistakes and part in it. Rem loves, and loves, and loves, even when faced with the knowledge of what her Nai had done. ]
Edited 2023-05-18 16:09 (UTC)
cowgoesmoo: (smile - laughing :D)

[personal profile] cowgoesmoo 2023-05-18 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Nuh-uh!

[ The kicking throws him off balance and he screams with laughter as Knives's ticklers find his sides. But he's not beaten yet! ]

Not until you tell me how to do it!
littleblades: (6)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the statement is a punch to the gut, followed by a nauseating fill that soaks him thoroughly. he's sick, he feels so sick. how could it be true? yet it must be when he remembers the state vash was in, the changes he had picked up on between their encounters. the blood drains from nai's features, his gaze falling from knives down to his lap as his hands clench into tightened fists. ]

H... He's dying? [ the word feels foreign even as he speaks it, stomach twisting painfully the moment it leaves his lips. there is so much he could focus on, but he must steel himself.

nai breathes out, inhaling through his nose. steady now. ]


... What must I do?

[ his brother was untouched still. he must ensure it stays that way. his hands tremble. ] Tell me- please.
graveresemblance: liv (Default)

maybe i didn't see this and realize for 2 whole days...

[personal profile] graveresemblance 2023-05-18 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[he's used to driving for long, long agonizing hours, and the silence is peaceful rather than cloying with guilt.

when Jasmine exclaims, he sits up straighter, eyes flickering across the horizon]


Shall we take a look?
plantussy: (cinquefoil)

happens lol

[personal profile] plantussy 2023-05-18 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ They're just in time to see (another) red-coated man trip over his own feet and and faceplant in the sand, because Vash hasn't had enough of a bad day already. He spits sand and rubs his face, just in time to hear a motor running.

He can barely spot the vehicle but it's enough for him to pop up on his feet and wave his hands like a madman. Was he saved? ]


Heeeeey?! Heeeelp meeeeee!
genesis4_9: (glare -- contemplative)

[personal profile] genesis4_9 2023-05-18 04:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Knives nods solemnly at his younger self's question -- yes, their brother, the older version of Vash with his black hair, is dying. His condition is terminal. ]

I can only tell you what I have tried, in my efforts to keep him safe. [ He rests a hand gently on his younger self's shoulder. ] I hope you are able to learn from my failures.

[ Yes, this is precisely why he is here. Not only can he point this other version of himself in a direction to keep Vash safe, but this young Knives has the opportunity to save all the plants on Noman's from their human captors. He can only hope that Vash hasn't yet told the child too many lies about humanity. ]

The Vash I know cannot stand to see others suffer. His is a kind, gentle heart. I assume your brother is the same?
littleblades: (26)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ now with the upper hand nai moves to seat himself directly on top of vash. now he can enjoy being pinned in the dirt! ]

Annoying little brothers who try to lick me don't deserve to know!

[ and for that nai attacks vash's sides again. take that! ]
mercifullyheavy: (Crying)

[personal profile] mercifullyheavy 2023-05-18 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[He had been doing relatively well, he thought, keeping himself from completely breaking down. Real bang-up job, he hadn't deteriorated into openly weeping and making a fool of himself, yet. Which, to be honest, had actually been easier said than done on more than one occasion over the past couple of years. Vash leaning in to complete the hold and burying him in his arms, though, made that a damn bit harder, and he felt himself lock up for a moment, unsure what to do with his limbs before finally wrapping them around his chest.

He hadn't paid enough attention before, too caught up in the moment to actually see it, but from where his face nestled against Vash's shoulder, he could see now the tears, the blood stains, fresh enough that they hadn't fully oxidized into an ugly dark brown. It made the hand he finally reached up to clutch at that shoulder still before he could grip down, even though he knew Vash's healing would have already taken care of the damage by now. He remembered the sight of the blades sticking out of him, the way Vash had caught him in that same moment as a blade in his thigh had sent him stumbling, and how the entire world had seemed to shift, the way Vash's demeanor had gone cold. Wolfwood. Crush him. Letting him do what he hated to see him do, giving him express permission to do it. How wrong it had felt.

Had he realized what was happening, then? He'd stood by for so long, his back turned while the fight continued, and even now, so long after it had happened, the memory was burned into his brain. That had been his fault. He'd taken those hits because of him. More scars added on top of old scars because Wolfwood had been a fucking moron.

He felt his breath hiccupping in his chest as he nodded sharply, burying his face in that shoulder and finally letting his fingers grip tightly in the red fabric of his coat, clinging tightly.]


It's okay. It's okay. [He felt like the world was rumbling again underneath their feet, but dimly realized that it was his own body shaking.] I...I never thought I'd see you again. I-...

[He bit his lip, hard enough to taste copper. He was shutting up, now, wasn't he? Holding back all those 'stupid things' that wanted to roll out of him in a flurry of pain and panic that he knew Vash didn't want to hear. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I fucked up, I got you hurt, it's my fault! I don't deserve this! You don't deserve to have to deal with a fucked up monster like me! You should hate me, why can't you just hate me???

And despite all of that, the relief he felt, finally seeing him again, being held against him, was what finally broke his composure, and the dam keeping his sobbing contained crumbled in a pathetic cascade of ugly crying.]
littleblades: (45)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I must. [ there are no other options, no choice aside from the one set before him. the failures of his future self would not be his own.

he can change the future, for vash and their sisters' sake. ]


... He's too kind. I know it's his weakness. [ the way he performs for the doctors and even for rem. playing at human for too long he'll lose touch with what he really is. ] He's accepted what happened to our sister, but I haven't. I refuse.
climbedup: (turn)

it dooo

[personal profile] climbedup 2023-05-18 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, did he just...?

[ jasmine just up on her knees on the seat, hands propped on the dashboard so she can see better. ]

It doesn't look like someone who's used to walking on the sand.

[ how? she doesn't know ]
climbedup: (Default)

[personal profile] climbedup 2023-05-18 05:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she's had very good examples growing up!!!!

she moves around and her hip catches on a small table, making the rows of keys jiggle. they are likely mostly for the rooms in the building above the store, but if he hears, there may be one over there.

she'll be busy checking out what's left, and filling up bags with stuff that can be drunk and eaten safely.
]
genesis4_9: (glare -- disappointed in you rn)

[personal profile] genesis4_9 2023-05-18 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He gives the boy's shoulder a comforting squeeze. ]

No, you must never forget what was done to her. Your history lessons will have taught you about the crimes of humanity, the wars, the exploitation, how eagerly they consume any resources they can access, without any thought given to balance, to conservation. To the lives they snuff out.

[ Vash had told him about it, after he'd awoken from his terror-induced coma. How Rem had confessed to her role in Tessla's death, and how Vash had decided to forgive her, and how Knives, too, should put aside the brutal murder of their sister. He hadn't understood then how Vash could be so wrong, and after a hundred and fifty years, the only answer that makes any sense is that Vash was so desperate for love and approval that he'd forgive any pain, any hurt, so long as he was coddled and cherished.

He will forgive Knives his actions, so long as he can be made to feel loved.
]

It's different, isn't it? To read about atrocities committed on a planet millions of miles away and many years ago, and to see those same atrocities with your own eyes, committed against someone just like you? Someone who could have been you, or your brother.

[ It was a horrible thing for children to have seen. Horrible. ]

Never accept what happened to Tessla. Let her murder remind you always of the way humans treat those they have power over.
mercifullyheavy: (Frazzled)

He guesses he'll have to accept that...

[personal profile] mercifullyheavy 2023-05-18 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, that was the point when Wolfwood's almost-composed expression fell, and even as Vash tried to wipe them away, they began falling in earnest.

"Yeah, but what about those of us who hurt when we see you hurtin'?" His voice was a furious whisper, and part of him felt guilty for twisting it around on him like that, but it was the truth. "What if one day, you don't wake up again? I keep tellin' you, it's gonna get you killed, Vash! I can't-..."

He gritted his teeth, the hands on Vash's face moving to clutch, fisted, in the shoulders of his coat so that he didn't hurt him with how hard they wanted to clench.

"I don't know how t'make you understand. How do I make you understand?"

And in the back of his mind, the memory of Luida, standing next to him as they watched Vash scramble to coordinate people after the Nine Lives had attacked inside of the cold sleep chamber, explaining to him so that he understood. Vash was suffering. He'd been suffering for so long. He hurt every damn day of his too-long life, and probably, the possibility of dying because of his blind altruism was, in the end, somehow a part of his plan. He loved people too much and wanted to help too much to end it himself, but the truth of it was easy to see when you knew what you were looking at. Either he didn't care if he was killed, keeping someone else safe, or he went through life actually hoping that the next fight was the one that would take him out.

His expression softened, pained and hurting, yes, but so worried. Full of just as much hurt as it was love, because the thought that Vash was in so much pain broke his heart.

"I don't know how to make you stop hurtin', Vash, and I wish I did."
littleblades: (57)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ knives' hand at his shoulder is a comforting weight, a reminder to never forget that he isn't alone in this. no hero's journey ever is, meeting with trials and tribulations aimed to divert him from the satisfying ending he deserved.

plants may have been made in man's image, but he would rise above their sins and become something more. he could lead their sisters to a place beyond this hell of suffering and plight, he could...

even if he was scared. what was important was still ahead of him.

nai nods slowly, tangling his hands together and squeezing. ]


I know the ships crash. Is it because of me?

[ he hadn't considered that before arriving here, in this world between worlds, but he could piece it together through the context of others' words. flitting around the truth as if he were some simple human child. ]
genesis4_9: (glare -- contemplative)

[personal profile] genesis4_9 2023-05-18 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes.

[ The answer is immediate -- there's no reason to lie, or even prevaricate. ]

In retrospect, that was a mistake on my part, but I was a child, and had very few options available to me. It was an inefficient solution, as you can see from the evidence of human survival all around us... and my actions caused the deaths of many of our sisters, which is a crime I will bear the weight of for the rest of my life.

[ He could never admit to Vash -- any Vash -- that crashing the ships was an error, but that's because Vash would hear such a confession as an admission that Knives wished for those humans to live again. He would hear it as Knives regretting his hatred of their oppressors, and nothing could be further from the truth. ]

Also I will tell you this now, and plainly. Vash will never forgive you for destroying the fleet. His love for you will grow cold, and he will do everything he can to distance himself from you, forever.
cowgoesmoo: (angry - stupid brothers are stupid)

[personal profile] cowgoesmoo 2023-05-18 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ugh, crap, crap! It's not nearly as funny when he's the one getting tickled! Crap, this glowy Knives is sneakier than his boring short-haired brother! ]

Okay, stop, stop, I surrender!
littleblades: (33)

[personal profile] littleblades 2023-05-18 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[ everything he hears is a confirmation of his worst fears. he clenches his jaw with a sharp click, his mind a raging whirlwind as he processes these facts as his older self presents them.

as fearful as he may be, he takes what knives tells them as gifts. a second - first chance to make everything right. his mind narrows in on this, everything else he'd come to learn blurry and unreadable for now. ]


What if he never finds out? Could I... could I succeed without him knowing the truth? [ it feels like wishful thinking, a half-baked hope. his brows pinch together. he looks up to knives again, eyes searching for an answer. ]

What would you do, if you had another chance?

Page 16 of 34