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Not every town is abandoned, as time continues its shenanigans. This one is as run down as any other, cobbled together with parts and debris, but it seems intact enough, its plant dangling over the town, people going about their business for the most part unperturbed.

For the most part. There is some grumbling, most of it more nervous than angry, that their new neighbor is a well known monster, and how dangerous it is to be so close. The only reassurance, nothing bad has happened yet.

Yet.

Sitting in the rocking chair of his newly acquired home's creaky porch, Knives Millions does absolutely nothing to any of them. He hasn't harmed anyone as yet, but part of the town seems to be from his time, not whatever base timeline it is, and running on reputation alone means he's so far been unbothered in return, and the plant is being treated with exceptional care. Had she been, before he arrived? He wasn't sure. But he can tell from here her mood was content, so he does nothing besides sit there, rocking idly, and cleaning the gun he'd liberated from someone else several days before.

A beat up jeeplike vehicle sits in the shade behind the house, and there is a tiny, perhaps six or so inches high, little sprout of broad leafed green growing determinedly by the porch. With the door wide open, it's fairly obvious this home had once been occupied with people distinctly Not Knives, but there's no signs of violence.

It's peaceful enough for the moment.

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It's been a long time since she was able to rest without any pain. Knives doesn't have to say it -- Vash is already thinking it. Has been thinking it, since he first realized it was her under all those wings. It's why he's worn himself out, trying to get back to her, why the first thing he asked Rem to put in that bag of supplies from the ship were pain killers than would work on an independent plant. Bandages and antiseptics, sure, but first and foremost he wanted something to ease her pain. He can't imagine being in that much pain for that long -- just the thought makes him want to curl up in a ball and cry until he's out of tears.

But she's okay, and he's got such a story to tell Nai when they see each other again! With a rough swipe of the back of his hand, Vash scrubs away all the tears and snot, because go ahead and cry sure sounds like big boys don't cry, and it's silly to cry about good stuff anyway.

He can't control the delighted giggle at the 'threat' to wrap him up like a mummy, though. He's too small to be sad for long, and that's such a fun sounding distraction! He throws his arms out to the sides, ready and willing.

"Mummy me!"

Sure his feet hurt, sure he really should have a snack and a nap, but what if instead of all that he got wrapped up like a movie monster?

Big Vashes cry, so little Vashes can too, as far as Knives is concerned. What is being cried about is more important, being sad over humans is ridiculous, being happy about a healthy family member isn't! Knives rummages through the supplies that had been found, noting that they were in fact awfully useful if Tessla hadn't been found by an older Vash. Assuming the sisters would know what to do with them.

One of the bottles of pain relief is plucked out and given a little bit of a shake. This one's capsules! One is fished out and offered. "Here, take this first, with a bit of the water if there's any left." And then it's patiently pulling out all the bandages he can find. Not all of them will be used, or any gauze pads; if Vash has blistered feet there'd be more important things to do with them. "Your final meal before being wrapped up forever."

Forever isn't really going to last long, but that's not the point. When Knives begins mummifying his little brother it's with old movies in mind, with little ragged ends sticking out and not quite covering every inch he can reach, because that's how it's done.

"Only pharaohs get mummified, you should start thinking of your pharaoh name." Part of him is certain this is a foolish waste of time and materials. The rest is certain if it makes Vash happy then it was a minor price to pay.

He knew what to do with all that medicine! Rem showed him -- some of those tubes are pressure injectors, and he knows which ones are for pain, and which ones are for infections (which plants don't get, he's learned!), and then stuff to clean out her wounds, and lots and lots of bandages to wrap her all up. No sutures, because he didn't think he'd be able to actually sew a person up, but plenty of bandages to make up for it. He can pay attention to things when they're important! School was just boring usually, so he didn't bother.

He takes the pill without question, gulping it down with another big swig of that bottle of water. His stomach is definitely swishing and slushing now, but so long as he doesn't belly flop anywhere, it'll be fine. It's hard to sit still when getting mummified, but that's because it kinda tickles! He can mostly hold still, though -- at least, he's trying! Swinging his legs while getting his top half wrapped up counts as sitting still, right?

"My name..." Hmmm. It better be a good one! The longer the name the more royal, right? And he's a super royal pharoah, so... "I am Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz...[ And a quick pause for a breath. ] ...Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton Haymoss... [ Whew! And another pause to breathe! ] ...Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser! The third!

Hydration is a good thing, after all that burning to a crisp. Vash was really going to be feeling it later, if Knives couldn't find whatever cobbled together bullshit version of aloe this planet might have. If all the wriggling and idle leg kicks bother him at all, he doesn't say so, he's too busy mummifying his brother.

The important things need focus, after all.

And one black eyebrow arches at the very lengthy name Vash decides on. He's.. has he heard that before somewhere? "The third, huh." He never bothered to learn enough about Egypt to learn heiroglyphics and now he sort of regretted it. Figuring out how to write THAT out would be diverting for quite a while. "And I can't even use a nickname, that's the sort of thing that gets people thrown in dungeons. Disrespecting a pharaoh?" Huff. He would never, obviously!

It had been a while since he watched that human drivel. How did this go..? "Oh yes, you do need a couple.." Time to wrap a bandage around Vash's nose! And across his forehead!

Plants are tough! But he'll certainly crash hard after the excitement of meeting a new big brother wears off. It's honestly a wonder he's still going, but then again, he's always been a tenacious little thing.

"You can just call me Your Highness!" That's not what pharoahs were called, but who cares? He's a make-believe pharoah, and besides, it'll be hilarious if he can get his very grown up, very big brother to call him such a lofty title.

He giggles and tries very hard not to sneeze -- or get bandages in his mouth, gross -- as Knives finishes wrapping up his face. Look at how scary he is now! Tessla's pain, his exhaustion from being lost in the desert, his worry about Nai, none of that matters when he's got a fun game to play with his brother.

Raising his arms, Vash tests out his scary monster moan. It's pretty impressive, if he does say so himself!

Knives frowns slowly, pausing his bandagework. "I think 'highness' is reserved for princes. Pharaohs would be..."

He'd spent way too long ignoring human bullshit to try to dredge something he'd learned when he was eight months old up, he could almost hear the metaphorical wheels of rusted and ancient memories squeaking to life. "...Your Majesty." He doesn't sound like he was joking, but he never did, jokes were for other people and this is clearly a perfectly serious matter.

Sitting back on his heels, he observes Vash try out his best mummy moan, and were mummies small plant children he supposed it could be very authentic indeed. It was ... easier, to forget for a little while that this would change, and this precious, painful moment of serenity would be torn asunder by suspicion and anger.

... Or would it? Such a thing had never happened in his childhood. It was new, and maybe it wouldn't turn out the same way. "Well, Your Majesty, it seems all you're bereft of now is a kingdom buried in the sand." Which might well be out there for all he knew, who knows what civilizations might have lived here once. .. The worms would know, but he'd killed Zazie, so that was a non-starter. "...And a little bit more medical care, maybe. How are your feet doing?"

Your Majesty sounds even more regal than your Highness! He's majestic! King of all he surveys! Lord and ruler of all this sand! ...Which is a dumb kingdom, in Vash's opinion, but it's appropriate for a mummy to rule a desert, so he lets it go as part of the game.

"My feet?" He hasn't thought about them since he sat down and took his weight off of them. He gives his feet a swing, and shrugs. "They feel okay, I guess? Kinda hot and sore." Kinda sore will prove to be an understatement once he tries taking those soft boots off. He's definitely got blisters in there, but for now, at least, they don't hurt, and he can pay attention to more important things... like his brother's house.

"Do I live here too?"

Unfortunately that's all there really is out here. Rocks and sand and sand and rocks and worms. ... And a lone six inch high fig treelet, but that's not really getting very far yet. He supposed he could have at least picked a planet with a more interesting geological history so the deserts could be multicolored or something..

Ah well. Lost opportunities. "Let's take a look then, just in case." Sore could be dealt with, but blisters and cracks would need some bandaging of their own, and Knives isn't about to let Vash run around injured if he can do something about it.

... This Vash, anyway. The other ones would likely fight him about it. He glances up from foot checking at the follow up question, bemused. "If you want to. Everything I have is a little bit yours after all." Fate inevitably conspired to tear his brother out of his hands one way or another, but the idea of it was.. pleasant regardless.

[ It hurts, taking his shoes off. He's brave about it, but his breath still hisses a little when the soft shoe sole peels away from the angry red spots on the bottoms of his feet. He really needs better footwear, if he's going to be wandering through the desert for miles and miles!

He shakes his head at the comment about staying here. ]

No, I mean, grown me. Is he here too?

[ Everything they have does belong to the other, at least a little bit, and Vash can't imagine any version of Knives having a nice house like this, and not sharing it with his brother. Maybe they have houses near each other, instead of sharing, because grownups like their space -- at least that's what Rem said, but he's suspicious of that. Even when he's grown, he's going to want Knives with him, all the time! -- but there isn't another house nearby, so adult Vash must live here! And he wants to meet his big self! ]

I wanna see what I look like grown up.

[That's a difficult thing to get into, and Knives doesn't respond immediately beyond a slight shake of the head, carefully examining Vash's blisters. With the speed they healed at he'd be alright in a day or two, fit to travel, even without help. Eventually:]

No. The ... grown you rarely stays in one place for long.

[Whereas Knives broadly tended to find a nice place to make a lair and stay there for several decades, Vash drifted. Although much of it was likely the violent reactions he always incurred, Knives suspected much of it was also an unhealthy dose of wanderlust as well, as shiftless and ungrounded as the wind.]

But I'm fairly sure I can track him down and drag him over to see you, if you'd like.

[ Vash's face falls at the news, and even the offer to bring his older self here so they could meet doesn't perk him back up. They don't live together? They don't even live near each other? He's spent a day wandering through the desert and it sucked, so why in the world would his older self want to do that forever? It doesn't make any sense.

Why wouldn't he want to stay with his brother? If the rest of the planet is so pretty, or interesting, or fun so that he doesn't want to stay in one place, why wouldn't he take Knives with him? ]

I thought we'd stay together.

[ What's wrong with grown up him anyway, leaving Knives here all by himself! That's so mean! Grown up Vash is gonna hear about it if they ever meet! He's supposed to stick with his brother -- they're a pair! A set! They compliment each other, like Rem says, they need each other! What a jerk. ]

I shouldn't stay too too long, or Rem'll get worried, but when you see him next time, you tell him to come to the escape pod by the smashed up city, because I wanna say some things to him. He shouldn't have ditched you here, that wasn't nice.

It's not that bad. Don't scold him too much, alright? Sometimes, that's just the way things go. He likes to wander, I ... don't, as much. But we're still brothers, even if he's somewhere else.

[He's not going to tell this tiny, adorable version of Vash how bitterly lonely it got, how he resented humans took up all Vash's time and left none for him, how he came to terms with solitude and the echo of his own thoughts a long, long time ago.

Fundamental incompatibilities. New bandaging begins, with a bit of one of the antibiotic ointments in the bag, this time wrapping battered little feet, much more carefully than mummification requires.

Rem. An escape pod, and what sounded like July's ruins.]

You shouldn't be walking too much for a while. I'll ... see about driving you back, when you're ready to go. I think Rem will be mad at both of us if I just let you walk around with hurt feet, and then I'll be the one getting a scolding.

[For now he's going to treat it like a thought experiment and not reality; Rem isn't around and Vash is clearly speaking of a memory at best. The idea of the woman who was as close to a mother as he'd ever gotten being alive again would require a lot of consideration where his little brother might not feel the wash of old, intense emotion.]

[ That sounds like Knives making excuses for Vash leaving him behind. Vash will let it go for now, but rest assured, big brother -- he's got things to say to his older self whenever they meet. ]

Okay.

[ Knives is every bit as gentle and thorough as Vash would expect from his brother, and he sits quietly for a time, watching the whole medicating and bandaging process with a newfound fascination. Medicine is neat, isn't it? It's a way to make people feel better than he's never really thought about before, but it doesn't look that hard, and he can't deny how much better he feels when Knives is done.

He's cautious about getting up, testing how his feet feel with bandages on them. There's some soreness there, but nothing bad enough to stop him from putting weight on his feet. Relieved, he flings his arms around Knives in a big hug of thanks. ]

You could come stay with us, if you wanted to! [ He's got a nice house here, sure, but he's alone. Even if he says it's okay, it can't be okay. Vash can't picture a world where he and Knives aren't joined at the hip. Anything else seems too lonely to even bear considering. ] There's plenty of room.

[It's almost gingerly, when Knives returns the hug, as if he's concerned Vash might unexpectedly break. Or disappear, like fog beneath the suns.]

But then what would I do with this home?

[It's not great but it wasn't clogged with old memories and bad blood.]

Besides, I have a little tree I'm taking care of, and who would take care of it if I left?

[It's tiny, just a handful of leaves at best, but it was growing well and he was fairly sure if he could get it to about hip height it should survive without undue attention. It's another excuse, and probably a bit of a transparent one.]

It might be hard on Rem too, though she wouldn't say so. It's one thing for you to live with her, and a brother your age, because that's what she knows. But I'm all grown up now, and letting a strange man into your home isn't easy for a human woman. After all this time.. I'm going to be pretty strange. But I'll visit, if you'd like.

[ Those are all good reasons why he can't come stay permanently, but none of them are good reasons why he can't come stay for a little bit. The 'strange' comment really doesn't sit well with Vash, either. Has Knives been by himself for so long that he doesn't want to be around people now? Did he get too used to being alone? ]

You're not a strange man. [ He's a man, and he might be strange, but he's not a stranger! Vash folds his arms, mummy bandages pulling a little with the movement. ] You're still my brother, right? Even though you're old?

I'll be a strange man to a human's instincts. You have to remember, they can't help how they're hardwired. They can think, and choose, but there's still all those other parts of their minds that just have feelings. And it's hard for a human to not act on those feelings.

[It's an extreme challenge for Knives to explain this in a way that doesn't let too much of his intense ongoing biases bleed through. It's still the truth, just ... watered down. A lot. He sits back on his heels, resting his hands on his knees.

Besides which, he needs to be able to have his explanations pass muster to other people, people who would otherwise try to dissuade Vash from Knives' rampant misanthropy. A gentle version, a version that could pass a casual glance, one that won't damage the image of Vash's precious Rem ... too much.]

She's only ever known a little me. Since she wasn't there the whole time I grew up, those instincts will tell her I'm a stranger, even though her mind tells her I'm still the same person. I look different, I sound different. Maybe I even smell different, I don't know. But that conflict between a thought and a feeling isn't very comfortable for a human, and it isn't nice to force it on them if you know you can avoid it.

[He's made that as reasonable as he POSSIBLY CAN even if it sticks in his craw a little to put it that way.]

So I can't just come over and hang around right away, even though she'd probably smile and say it's okay, she'd just be saying it so we're not upset even though she is.

[ When Vash starts sniffing every duplicate of himself and his brother that he meets from this point forward, the blame will rest entirely on one man's shoulders.

What he's saying sounds reasonable enough, at least as far as Vash can follow it. He doesn't really know enough humans to know if they think differently than he and Knives do... although after what they did to Tessla, he thinks a little sourly, there's definitely some differences.

Rem might be scared of Knives, because he's big now and she's got human instincts to be scared of people that are different. He can buy that. ]

But me and Nai, we can come over and hang around with you here, right? [ And there's a third kid now, isn't there? He brightens visibly when he asks: ] And maybe you can take us to go see Tessla, now that she's better?

Of course you can, whenever you like. Even if I'm not here since sometimes I have to go pick up some things in town, you can come and make use of anything I have here. Just be careful of my fig tree.

[That's.. going to be peculiar though, potentially running into his younger self, since Vash isn't talking as if Nai might one day arrive, but as if he's already present. He's going to have to be careful there too, time would take its toll and see matters unroll as they should, but he would need to be careful to not tip the precarious balance too early.

Done right, maybe this time there'd be no reason for Vash and Nai to ever separate.]

And both of you can absolutely see Tessla. I think it'll do you and Nai a lot of good to be able to see her, and talk with her.. and teach her how to play some games. She's probably never had the chance.

[ Of course he'll be careful of the tree! There's trees in the bio-dome on the ship and he's always careful with those! ...Mostly! He broke one branch, but that wasn't his fault!

He sobers at the idea that Tessla doesn't know anything about playing, because of course Knives is right. She wasn't even a year old when she died, and she never got to do anything nice, much less fun. He nods seriously, hearing the important job being entrusted to him and Nai here. ]

We'll take good care of her, I promise.

I know you will.

[It'll be good for all of them. Rem wasn't... terribly likely to cause either of the twins harm besides that ongoing irritating version of morality she espoused, so they'd be able to visit as they pleased, but Tessla wasn't likely to be able to tolerate Rem. Memory wasn't going to fade that fast.

He'll .. have to make sure he has a suitable space for plant children to play in. Room for wings, room for blades.]

I'll bring you back to Rem when you're ready. Until then, would you like a snack?

[ Vash feels warm all the way through at that. Between Nai and Rem, he hasn't had much chance to be responsible in his short life, but he's definitely making up for lost time here! And having this grown-up version of his brother look at him with approval? That's just about the best thing ever. ]

Yes please!

[ He really is always hungry! ]

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