nomans_land | Geranium

Geranium

[ A small podunk town outside of Lost July now houses a small science station, cobbled together by pieces from an escape pod. Rem has been busy cataloguing everything she's managed to put together about both NoMan's Land and this glitch in it so far. Her data pad is overfilled with information, including some pre-downloaded survival tips for hot climates.

It means she's not longer horribly sunburnt, at least.

A radio dish and a messy attempt at a solar panel has been somewhat haphazardly attached to the roof of the house she's taken over, but there hasn't been enough parts to finish them so neither of them have been working right so far. The radio sends signals, but the receiver doesn't work. She keeps trying, though, and the adult Vash she met had been helping her set everything up so that she could live there.

Right now she can be found outside of the house, shaking out blankets and hanging them over a line. Vash had left to find more provisions, and she wanted the other bedroom to be clean when he came back. It's very domestic, and she's singing softly to herself. ]

Sooo... on the first celestial evening, a pebble from somewhere out of nowhere drops upon the dreaming world~♪

[ Rem has held it together fairly well so far, but she can't deny the nightmares and the rush of grief that falls over her in the times she's alone in the house, scarred to the bone by the catastrophe she barely escaped. All the dead in the crash, and all the suffering on this planet. ]

Sooo... on the second celestial evening, all the children of the pebble held hands and composed a waltz~♪

[ Rem shakes out another blanket - a smaller one this time, perfectly sized for a child. She needs to get that radio working so that she can try to contact other settlements and see if anyone has seen small versions of her twins. While she met an adult Vash, she's worried that this timeline mess also means that her little twins are around. ]

Sooo... on the third celestial evening, the children's waltz spawned rippling waves across the waking world~♪

[ Then there was Nai. She still hasn't found him, not even an adult version, and she's not stupid - she knows what he did now, but he's her boy, and she needs to know more. She needs to understand why, and she's not ready to hear that something happened to him. She can barely stand the well-hidden (but still obvious to her) sadness in Vash's eyes. ]

Sooo... on the fourth celestial evening, the waves showered the ground upon which every child wandered~♪

[ She shakes out clothes this time, her ship uniform changed to some salvaged clothes and a hooded cloak that protects her from the sun. ]

Sooo... on the fifth celestial evening, the showers on the earth became its beacon of existence~♪

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[ Look, he doesn't spend a lot of time around moms, okay? His usual crew are rough guys and even rougher brat kids, all of whom call each other by various labels and slurs instead of given names, just to keep that distance.

She's nice, though. He could get used to being called by his name if the person calling him was nice. ]

By we you mean you and your boy? [ Or are there others wandering around? ]

[ It's probably a good thing she didn't call him 'Nick', then!

She's very nice. Too nice for NoMan's Land, the way she easily, fearlessly turns her back to him and seems to not be carrying any kind of weapon. There's none seemingly around in the room, either. Just a woman and her boy. ]

That's right! He's out looking for some more food to keep this place stocked. I want others like you to have a place to rest when they need it.

[ He'll follow inside as she leads, sit where she tells him to sit, eat what's put in front of him, and thank you. He's also, given that she's really clearly unarmed, going to stick around until this boy of hers comes back, just in case the next stragglers coming over that hill isn't as friendly and kind as he is. ]

Given the way it looks out there, I don't think he's gonna find much. It looks like this place ran out of food and water months ago.

[ Which makes the meal she's offered even more valuable, and even more likely to get her shot. ]

You're the first living person I've seen since I got here.

[ Not the first person. Just the first living one. ]

[ She serves him food and more water, getting him a place to sit on a fairly intact couch. It's comfortable and safe and so very, very easy to take for anyone who wants it. Hell, she just said she had a mostly working radio. That alone is worth killing for. ]

He's very resourceful, I'm sure he'll find something.

[ First living person, he says, and easy look on her face cracks a bit with the grief behind her eyes. Rem keeps it together, though. She'll have time to fall apart later, without a guest and away from Vash's eyes. ]

[ He nods in thanks at the food, and digs in immediately, with a kid's sloppy manners. He doesn't come up for air until half the soup and that whole fresh glass of water are forced down his throat, and then he only stops because his body demands it.

But while he's slurping, he's watching her, and looking around the place. Is she a city girl, not used to going without? She's certainly resourceful, if this place is anything to go by, and stronger than she looks to still be alive. ]

So where're you from, Rem? Before this, I mean. [ An awful thought occurs to him, and he asks, a little more gently: ] Were you in JuLai?

[ She looks a little amused as he digs in like a desperate man or a starving dog, but doesn't say anything about it. Instead she eats her own food slowly, with manners lost to the decades. Perhaps she looks like a grandmother, even if she's barely thirty. ]

No, I'm not from Julai. [ It's sweet, how his tone changed at that question. ] I'm from a ship, where I worked as a scientist. [ She says, as it's the truth. Just... not the ship corpses they knew these days. ]

What about you, Nicholas? You look like you're a businessman.

[ He can't have heard that right. ]

I'm an undertaker. [ But that's not the important part of this conversation: the important part is her, and the fact that he doesn't think she's lying. ] You can't be from a ship, They all crashed a hundred years ago.

[ So is she lying? Is she from that ship, what'd Vash call it, Home? Or is she looking good for a great-great-great-great grandmother? Wolfwood picks a worm leg out of his bowl and crunches on it contemplatively, watching her close to see what tells she lets slip. ]

Really?

[ Undertaker. That's honestly the last thing she'd would have thought about a man in a suit and shoes with no socks. ]

Not all of them. [ She says with a small hum, because at least to her, that's true. Vash told her several of them survived. There's no lying in her tone or on her face, just a bit of melancholy.

Maybe she is from Home, but she definitely wasn't there when Wolfwood was. ]

[ No, he definitely doesn't recognize her. ]

Huh.

[ But her being from a ship like Home certainly goes a long way toward explaining why she's so casual with her resources, and with her safety. He forces down another couple mouthfuls of the soup -- it tastes just fine, his stomach is just shrunken from being empty for a couple of days -- then sets the bowl aside finally with a contented sigh. ]

Well if you're from a ship, then maybe you don't know what it's like down here. [ He gestures at the mostly empty bowl, then at the whole building around them. ] This? Makes you pretty damn rich. You need to get yourself a big gun, big enough to be seen at a distance, and start carrying it, or else you're going to find yourself in a lot of trouble.

[ She breaks some bread in half and hands him the larger piece to eat now or later, and then leans back a bit on her seat to listen to him. He's obviously concerned enough to try to fill her in on things, because obviously she doesn't know how things are down here, despite Vash's stories.

Food and shelter made her rich. Oh, she's so privileged. ]

I don't want a gun, Nicholas. That would be the opposite of what I hope this place would become, and there's always another way to solve conflicts.

[ There's a little chuckle. ]

Besides, I have no idea how to use such a weapon even if I wanted to.

[ He takes the bread without any hesitation, but behind his glasses he's definitely more than a little surprised. She's just going to keep handing him food, isn't she? That boy of hers must be six feet tall and jacked if this is how they eat!

The bread goes into the inside pocket of his jacket, for later. ]

Yeah, I knew a guy who thought that way once. Ask me how it turned out for him.

[ This undertaker looked starved and Rem's going to give when she can. Maybe in a few days she didn't have bread and strange bug food to give someone, so she'll rather share it now.

...her boy isn't quite six feet but he's certainly very strong with how he helped her carrying things. She was impressed. ]

Alright. Tell me how that turned out for him.

[ What, they don't use that turn of phrase on the ships? ]

He died. You want the details? [ He wants a cigarette. God he wants a cigarette. Something to chew on, something to hide behind, he'd take a stick to gnaw or a fist fight, something Raw dogging life is for suckers. ] He wandered around like an idiot playing hero for awhile, saving widows and orphans and getting himself shot up for his trouble because he was too damn stupid to see that there isn't another way out of these conflicts. And then finally he pushed his luck too far and trusted the wrong person, and now he's dead.

[ There was a lot of anger in that story, but none of it was in any way aimed in her direction. Whoever this guy was, Nicholas has a lot of feelings about his death, and they're complicated and mostly violent. ]

So how about you prove you're smarter than he was, get yourself a gun, learn how to use it, and stay alive.

[ He's fidgety, restless... angry, but at himself. The man has obviously been through a lot. ]

Do you think he regrets saving all those widows and children, even if it eventually cost him his life? Or did he make a difference while living his life like wanted to? That sounds like a good thing, seeing the good side of humanity and putting your trust in that.

[ Her guest has a lot of regrets, it sounds like, and whoever he's talking about probably made enough of mark on his life to put it there. ]

Nobody has the right to take someone else's life, Nicholas. I'm not going to get a gun.

[ He's pretty sure he heard Stampede stay that exact sentence, with those exact words once. Maybe this is Hell after all. ]

Fine.

[ That's all there is to say about that, then. He can't take on caring for anyone else. That shit always backfires, and he's got to look out for number one. Wolfwood hauls himself to his feet and heads for the door, unable to sit still for one more minute. ]

Thanks for the food. I'll wait outside.

[ Fine, he snaps and stomps off like her words personally insults him. What a strange man. ]

Mm. At least take the blanket to shield your head. The sun... the suns are strong at this hour.

[ She stands up to bring it over to him as he walks outside, squinting at the light as she follows. ]

[ He doesn't even dignify that with a response other than a snort. He's lived on this planet all his life, ship dweller. He knows how hot it gets.

Once outside, Wolfwood will find himself a nice shady spot with as clear a view of the surrounding landscape as he can, and park himself there. He's got no cigarettes, no suckers, no gun, and no idea what he's doing here. It's great. This is great, what a great fucking day this is. ]

Go back inside. The suns are strong at this hour.

[ Of course, Vash approaches from the side that's on the blind spot created by the building, his bag filled as much as it can go with canned foods, travel rations, and drinkable liquids. It's what Rem will need the most, even if they are not the best tasting things. There are some parts that can be used for repairs, but he'll need to go much further if he can hope to get anything from the forgotten technology that she'd be best familiar with.

He can hear her inside the house, but before he quite reaches her, there is a shuttle on the opposite side. Someone else? Well he needs to go around for the hoor anyw--

Oh. ]

Wolfwood?

[ well. Now he's running. ]

[ She certainly ruffled his feathers with her philosophy, and Rem is slightly amused as the man repeats her words back at her. Kind of like an annoyed teenager.

She's willing to leave him there to cool off and continue her previous task, but then more scrambling in the sand is heard and now her boy is coming around the corner at full speed. ]

Vash? [ Rem asks, slightly concerned about the rush. ]

[ Vash rounds the corner, coming at him at full speed, and for far too many seconds Wolfwood can't make sense of what he's seeing. That man's dead. He's being charged by a dead man -- a dead man he betrayed to his death.

And then something clicks, something about her boy and living on a ship, and a cold chill stabs right through him. This is Hell. This is Hell, and that's Stampede's dead mom.

No gun, no vials, no hope, he leaps to his feet, hands up and ready to fight. Stampede is a pacifist -- or was, when he was alive -- so this won't kill him, but he's seen what that pacifist does to people who make him angry, and there's no way this won't hurt. Nicholas Wolfwood isn't going down without a fight, however. ]

C'mon!

Hey, Rem!

[ Vash waves at her and keeps going, his expression bright until the man he's rushing to prepares to fight, and then he flails into a stop, eyes so wide. ]

Um... Wolfwood?

[ in all fairness, Vash might not disagree about this being hell, but if it is, well, it could still be worse. ]

Are you - what are you-- ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? When I showed up here and JuLai was a years-gone waste, and you weren't there, it - [ he just looks over himself. ] I'm not going to fight you!

[ She gives Vash a little wave and then stands back so that the two can... do whatever they need to do. Looks like the boys know eachother, which is both surprising and not at the same time. Naturally she's a bit concerned about the way Nicolas is squaring up like he wants to fight, and it seems like Vash is confused about that as well.

Rem doesn't intervene, however. Vash is a grown man, and already trying to defuse the situation. She's so proud. ]

[ He is not all right! What about this looks all right?! He's ready for a fight -- he kinda wants a fight! He certainly deserves to get knocked around for what he did, but Stampede just... stands there, being concerned at him.

It's infuriating. ]

How the hell are you here?! Where the hell are we?!

[ Vash settles his duffel bag on the ground carefully, then rubs the back of his head. ]

I don't know. I mean, I know that we're not far from JuLai, it's more like when we are? One moment we were going to the city, and the almost the next it seemed to have been destroyed years ago. And Rem, well. [ He smiles in her direction, before it twists slightly. ] I have not seen her in a long time. Since the Crash, really.

And there are no plants around. None. I heard from them when I first showed up, but they seemed very far, and there have been none since.

[ Does that help when it comes to answers? No? uuuuhhh sorry... ]

[ Oh, they definitely know eachother, and not just in passing. She meets Vash's smile and then looks over at the other man. She doesn't really have anything to add, Vash seemed to understand more than she did about gates and timelines.

She's still not sure what to make of it, honestly. ]

Nicholas, please. Can we have a civil discussion?

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