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nomans_land2023-05-02 05:02 am
nml_mods) wrote in 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.
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.
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.]
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.
[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.]
THAT WAS MY MISSING It oops
He takes a deep breath. ]
There is... Delphinium. She is a bulbed plant, but she can communicate clearly, with us and even with people, though that takes her more effort. She lives with humans, who will do what she tells them to, but more than that, beyond that settlement there is a city of plants. Of Independents. That might be a good place to get used to being whole again, for you. [ He means the entirety of Tessla as she is now, Independent and Sisters all together. ] Safe, and provided with anything you may need. Including food and water, if you need them.
[ And no humans. He thinks that will be an important part of recovery, to find herself again, rather than have to deal with that too soon.
It's mostly a question for Knives, if he agrees with his judgment on that, but also to Tessla, as much as she is still awake. ]
<3
Tessla tries to reach out inside and follow what her brother meant with that spot in her head, but it's terrifying to imagine all that pain back again, when she's been saved from it for less than a few hours. What if it will hurt just as much? What if it will always hurt? Yet another thing to feed her anxiety in the middle of all of this, despite the soft soothing from Vash.
Then finally, last stretch of her healing is nearly complete; a whole little girl, if a little bit peculiar. There are more fingers and toes that what is considered normal, because she couldn't really remember how many you're supposed to have, but they're all functional. Wings are still there, but she can pull them together to be out of way way, and her legs even briefly wiggle happily as she's slowly helped to sit up by a sister's wing.
The cocoon stays around her like a soft blanket, shrinking down even more to the point where it's more the size of a bed. It's no longer attached to her, however, and as the last of her delicate skin knit back together she briefly glows white and it all disappears, leaving just a feathery girl in the sand. A little seraph. ]
Wh-where did they go? [ Tessla's blue eyes look around a bit, and then curls her own wings around herself. ] I can still feel them...?
oops!!
... Later. Like so much else, later. He'd hoped his brother would care for Tessla directly, but it seemed that wasn't in the cards, and he was reluctant to just cut her loose and hope for the best.]
I have enough of a home that if you want to stay with me, you can. If you don't want to try this Independent city.
[But now that he knew another option was there, would he remain so close to humans?
It is a relief to see the last bits of mutilated flesh ease away into unmarred body, even if there wasn't ... quite .. the normal number of fingers, or if feathers and wings remained. She was whole, and if this was the new whole, then that was fine. It was better than the image that lingered in his mind even after so long of her corpse floating in preservation fluid. Infinitely better. Rare was it these days that Knives can simply be happy about something, but this was certainly one of those rare moments.]
They're still with you, just out of sight. If you need them, they're there.
Ah well.
She has the settlement there to protect the inner place from other people. If you choose that, of course.
[ Vash's attention is on Tessla, and even through the drying tears, he is beaming with pride, his self-directed disappointment locked tightly away other than the way he won't look up to meet either of his sibling's eye.
As the cocoon shrinks completely, his wing hangs useless on the sand for a moment, before starting to fade slowly.
He does shrug slightly in response to the surprise from Knives. ]
I only found them after we met. I think they came to this place about the time when I did.
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She sobs, tears falling in the kind of bone-deep relief that comes with renewed hope, and she carefully (and very unsteadily) stands up, wobbling the few steps to Knives and burying her face against his thigh. It's all too big for a thank you, too big for words but Tessla is sure he can feel it. ]
I-I don't know what I want.
[ She's never had many choices, and doesn't really understand what they are in the first place. All Tessla knows is that she never wants to see a human again, and that her brothers are safe. She holds out a little hand for Vash as well, instinctively wanting to surround herself with her family. ]
I'm just... very tired.
[ Exhausted, body and soul. There's no pain, no healing, just calmness, and she's barely hanging on to Knives' pant leg. ]
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But the wave of feeling from the tiny gestalt is not aligned with a bad outcome, not those sparks of hope and gratitude. Of course it must be overwhelming, and he was stupid to not think so earlier. To go through that much pain, to have it mended, to have demands and requests shoved at her--]
Well. In that case.
[She's small, and she's barely holding on, to him or likely also to Vash given her extended hand. Vash would take it of course, and they could do what she was too tired to, and move her somewhere else.]
I know a place you can safely sleep til you feel better. And then you can think about it a while, and tell us when you're ready.
[And a glance at Vash, questioning, but not speaking it, or allowing it to leak through his thoughts and potentially upset Tessla - was Vash staying to hear that answer?]
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I would like to sleep. [ She says softly, almost as if asking final permission to do so. Her small, almost decorative wings droop a little, bigger ones tucking in closer around her. The little girl is going to need some clothes eventually, and some shoes, but for now wearing wings like some kind of dress is very suiting for a small angel. ]
You'll stay? [ Tessla then asks, worry laced in her questions as she holds her arms up to Knives - a seemingly universal gesture for little ones to be picked up by their older brethren. Maybe they can go somewhere and make a little pile to rest together, or however it works when more than one person sleeps in the same place. She never had a twin climbing into her bed every night. ]
no subject
We'll both stay.
[For a while. Always a while.]
Rest now. We'll take care of the rest.
[His vehicle still waited in the distance, not so far away, the rumble of its engine still a low and steady sound. He's pretty sure the back seat could be laid down, it would.. do, for the moment, softer than the sand and hard stone. There might not be room for all three, but it would be enough for two. And then one driver, himself. As Knives turns and heads across the sand, he keeps his voice low. Should Tessla drop off to sleep it shouldn't wake her again.]
Your ... wing looks like it'll make a good blanket for her. Do you mind staying in the back with her?
[Vash had a way of being comforting that Knives couldn't hope to match. If anyone could soothe her to a deep, restful sleep, it'd be him.]
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[ Vash chirps immediately to confirm, then hums softly in response to Knives. ]
I'll stay in the back with her, yeah. And I'll try with the wing.It came out for her in the first place, after all.
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She's safe for the first time in her life, even the sisters quiet since they know her brothers will protect her. Instead she has the kind of dreamless, bone-exhausted sleep that her body has denied her for who knows how long.
She's a tiny little thing in Knives' arms, and will probably sleep for a long time unless disturbed. Her mind needed just as much rest as her body. ]
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[Had he thought ahead he might have stolen something with a quieter engine. It'll do, though. It's a bit awkward to maneuver a child and wings into the back without jostling her too much, but eventually there's a somewhat beaten up but serviceable seat.. and enough space for Vash as well. Just not much more than that.]
.. When I first saw it, I thought you were going dark, albeit in a bit of an unusual way. I've never seen a plant with galaxies in their feathers before.
[Still quiet. Waking her JUST WON'T DO, and he's got a driver's seat to get back into, somber. Of all the things to have to contend with, just at the end of his days, not when he would be able to give her a better life..
There would be a rocky outcropping nearby, somewhere. Enough to park in the shade and wait out Tessla's bone deep exhaustion. Bringing her to town, even as on the outskirts as his own home was, would be needlessly risking human interaction.]
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[ but he very deliberately focused and eventually made it appear, though his eyebrows were scrunched at the end.
A blanket he could make. Whatever his own thoughts, for her, he'd do much and more beyond his normal ways.
Before they arrive, even more quietly, ] is it all right by you? That I'm staying?
[ his eyes scan ahead when they stop. ]
Shall I keep her wrapped up? I don't think she'll wake up. But still.
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At the most, she makes little content sighs now and then. ]
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[Shade's better than sun, and it would have to do for now. That town, wherever it was.. he was going to have to find out where it hid itself, and see about moving his little tree.
It might be nice, having company he didn't almost instinctively find repulsive.]
I never mind your presence, Vash. I never have. ... If you both are comfortable, I'll leave what you do with your wings to your discretion. We .. may have a while to wait. I'll find supplies if you grow hungry or thirsty.
[It'll mean a bit of a walk to keep human buildings out of sight but so be it. Otherwise, he's going to settle in to biding his time. She might sleep for quite a while.]
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And he breathes out, slowly. ]
All right. It's... been a while since I was actually welcome. Other than at Home... that's Ship Three. And now with Rem. I had to ask. Thanks.
And I can go for the supplies, if it will be easier on you. I don't mind at all.
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[It's very bluntly stated, in a tone that brooked no argument. Knives had never been good at making anyone feel better. Vash, on the other hand..]
If she woke up frightened I don't know that I could soothe her.
[Were either of them really welcome anywhere? Knives knew he had to carve out a place for himself if he chose a location, and there were never happy locals there to greet him. It was the way of things.]
It's been a bit of a day for all of us. Get some rest too. We'll see how she feels when everyone's awake again.
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Not finished: just about anyone who tries it likely better at soothing Wash than Vash is.
One hand caresses gently a bit of golden hair visible through his wing. ]
Thanks. I'll be here, and you try to get some rest also. Even if your needs for it are different.
[ Vash means to curl up next to Tessla when they reach a bed. He's not sure his wing will stay if he sleeps, but at least he himself can be right within an arm's reach. ]