Haha, the smell is those things he smokes. It... calms, somewhat, and for all his bluster and anger, he's upsend and unhappy all the time, so he smokes them all the time. He's the kind of person who... who does what is necessary to protect others. A specific group of others, mostly, but eventually me, too. And for a very long time, others have used that to make him do things that he never wanted to. Bad things. So he thinks of himself as a bad person, there is hardly anything horrible you can call him that he hasn't called himself already.

But it is always, always for the sake of others. For the sake of protecting others.

And... he is the first person in a very, very long time to see me as me. As a person. As someone, not something.

[ And that applies to both Wolfwoods. ]

So it's all right if you don't care for him. You don't have to - he's a stranger, he's weird, he's loud, he yells at me a lot, his presence can be upsetting, he calls me unpleasant things. Just - don't go out of your way to really hurt him. It'll be nothing new to him, but - the other Vash had to watch him die already. More harm to him will only make that worse. All right?

[ Beat. But this is Nai, and leaving things unsaid has too much chance to make him distrustful. ]

And you know what is ... ironic? The future you sent him to me, as a guide. Both... in his world and in mine.