nomans_land | (no subject)

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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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"Why would he like to be sad...?" She asks, confusion and worry in her eyes. It seems silly, really. She's been sad a lot and she never liked it. Not even a little bit. Maybe kindness needed sadness? That would make more sense, but she sure wishes her big-little brothers could smile like the little-little brother does.

Tessla continues to listen, nodding a bit when Knives explains that it used to be just him and Vash. "You're very lucky, sharp brother. You weren't alone." She finally says, looking up at him. The red brother wasn't here right now, but he's still around. A lot of them are.

"Being lonely is hard. So seeing small brothers is a good idea... then we're all not lonely together." Knives is very much included in that.

Knives sighs. "If I understood that, I think a lot of arguments could have been avoided over the years." As much as they were similar, there were these jarring ongoing differences that inevitably caused problems, like Vash's ongoing willingness to sacrifice himself at every turn. "It's a good thing for both of us he likes happy things too. That's easier, all I need is you for that."

Positivity! One he doesn't allow to dim when Tessla says he wasn't alone ... it's true, or had been, for a while. After that..

"Whatever happened to cause all of this, it's hard to not be a little grateful to it, so we can all experience this. Come on. Let's see about getting you cleaned a bit, and I'll invite the other two over and maybe they'll be free today. If not, maybe tomorrow." One way to find out!

.. It would mean deliberately contacting Rem. He was certain he could manage it without allowing his voice or words to betray anything, or make it seem unsafe. She likely wouldn't let the twins go if she felt he would be a risk to them.

A lot of arguments could have been avoided over the years, Knives says, and it makes a little bit more sense now, the way the brothers has been while putting her together. She's too young to truly understand it, but she hopes it doesn't mean either of them are even more sad when together.

"...I make you happy, sharp brother?" She then asks, surprised as she's looking up at him with another little smile. That makes her so happy, and she tries to make her smile even bigger just to show it. It ends up looking a little odd, but hey - she's new at it. "I like this place, too. Because you and red brother make me happy."

Hopping forward a bit, wings all fluttering, she tugs gently on Knives' hand to make him go faster. It's the first time she shows such excitement and impatience, a traumatized child testing her limits.

"You do." More than he can say. So much of his life had revolved around that terrible discovery, and now she was alive and ... as well as can be hoped for, with maybe too many wings and too many fingers or toes but intact.

A dream.

This isn't a limit she isn't allowed to cross it seems, because Knives doesn't do anything at all about being tugged on, he merely allows her to draw him along with a bemused look. Somehow the burn of not being able to free his people eased a little, with Tessla. "Alright, give me a minute and I'll see if I can hunt down your siblings and invite them over."

Which would mean scouring the radio waves, he's pretty sure he heard Rem leave her own broadcast, he'd just have to trace it back to its origin.

She smiles at that, so happy that she makes him happy. Like most damaged children, she worries that she's in the way somehow, but if she makes him happy... it helps. So Tessla flaps her wings happily, hugging his hand between her tiny ones.

"I think I met littlest red brother before... when I was still broken and with the sisters around me. He wanted to help me, but he never came back even though he promised." She says, looking up at Knives. "I'm not sad about that. Please tell him?" Tessla doesn't want him to think she's upset that he never returned.

"There's something odd that happens sometimes, where you'll just be walking along, and pop, you're somewhere else entirely. I think our sisters are doing it accidentally." He's not sure about that, but he'd seen it happen. Suddenly, a town, out of nowhere.

Then he moved in. "He found his way here, bringing medicine and bandages along for you and trying to figure out where you were, but Vash and I had already helped you." She might find that reassuring at least, the littlest of Vashes really did intend to try to find her! "He was so relieved to hear you're alright now, but anything else you can tell him yourself." As ever, his smile is brief.

Now to fight the radio for a location. "As much as I'd rather not, I have to speak to a human for a few minutes. If you think it'll be scary, you can wait here if you want. It won't take long."

"Oh. That makes sense," Tessla says with a thoughtful look on her face, a little more at ease to know that he had a good reason. Not that she thought he just abandoned her (he's not a human, after all), but the worry that something had happened was there. "I'm glad he's okay." The little girl fumbles a bit with the hem of her stolen dress, running her many fingers over the fabric.

As much as she wants to see her brothers, just the brief mention of 'human' has immediately made her nervous. Why does he have to speak with a human? Are they among humans? Are being cruel to her brothers? Tessla moves in to hug her big-little brother and then shakes her head. "I wanna wait here, please," the little girl says quietly. "I don't like them."

Knives' home really is one of the best places for her to stay, despite the possibility of him keeling over one day. Her red brothers interact with humans all the time, and Tessla is a long time away from being able to be around them when even mentioning one has her frightened.

No argument at all. He wouldn't inflict any of them, especially ones involved in her torture, on her. Rem could have done more. It wasn't as if they stuffed her in a capsule and locked it. "I don't like them either." He offers a comforting pat, ever so careful. It's best to avoid them whenever possible.

Hated them in fact, but he could tolerate many in short bursts. Long enough to get supplies, long enough to hunt toys for small plants. Long enough to extend an invitation to the twins' guardian. "I'll be back in a minute."

He will be, too, it doesn't take that long to lock onto a radio signal, beat his communicator into some semblance of function, and see about a visit. The sound of voices is too indistinct behind a closed door to be identifiable, at least; a couple minutes pass before he re-emerges from the house, looking pleased.

She leans into that pat and then nods, stepping away from Knives and walking over to the fig plant instead. She sits down next to it, curling up a bit with her head rested on her knees. The tree's silence was a lot better than hearing any humans talk, in Tessla's opinion.

The tiny wings under her eyes cover her ears, and she stays like that until Knives comes out again. Then she perks up, hints of excitement on her face. It's still a lot more muted than what would be normal for a child, but she's getting there.

"Are they coming to visit?" She asks, getting up and running over to her guardian. Humans forgotten for now, the idea of seeing her little-little brothers is taking over.

"They're allowed to visit, but I'll have to pick them up and bring them here myself." Rem needed to scavenge herself a car, but he had to admit that he preferred doing it himself. He supposed he should have found out when they're supposed to be given back, but that's something the twins can surely determine for themselves.

He was... going to need more groceries. "Do you want to come? There's room for everybody but it's a bit of a drive and will probably get dusty." Not that this is remotely a deterrent, half the time a good dust bath is the only way to stay clean around here. ..For a given meaning of 'clean'.

The twins are smart enough to know when Rem will worry... and it's not like she isn't going to put the space tech equivalent of air tags on her boys. You know, for safety.

At the offer to come, Tessla shakes her head a little. She doesn't mind the car or the dust, but coming anywhere in even the vicinity of humans makes her chest hurt. "N-no. I can... um... I can clean up?" The little plant is good at helping, even if she dropped a plate once and hid in the eaves until Knives managed to convince her he wasn't mad.

"It's too bad they're very far away." Otherwise they could play every day!

There's a pause, and then a nod. "I don't get too close. It doesn't hurt Vash or Kn... Nai to walk a little." But he won't argue if even that isn't sufficient, given what she'd gone through even the nearby town probably qualified as 'too close'. "Once all of you learn to fly, the distance won't matter as much, and then you can meet up anywhere."

Once they learned to fly keeping track of them was going to be a headache. But it would be safer! A flying plant is harder to catch than a stationary one, or one in a bulb.

Knives won't leave her entirely unprotected though. "If anyone comes, unless it's Vash .. one of them ... just hide inside and stay quiet. If they try to come in, I'll leave you my gun. Shoot them."

Gun safety was always important! And though rigorous training has not happened, he's at least made it clear which way was the business end, and to never, ever point it at something that she doesn't want to hurt. Some things are toys, guns are a survival tool out here and one she would need to learn. They all would.

"...I think I'm going to have to look into a watchdog."

"Little sharp brother is named Nai?" Nai is okay, it's good. It's not going to hurt her like knives did. She doesn't have to call him sharp brother, too. One day she'll learn more about nicknames and that Knives probably won't be sad if she calls him sharp brother but Vash Vash.

Still, Tessla shakes her head. Just the thought of it has frightened her already, and between going on a long ride where there might possibly be a human coming to hunt them down and stick needles in all of them - or staying at home, Tessla knows her choice.

(One day she will fly and Knives will have to get a big net to get her down again.)

"Yes, sharp brother. I'll hide and I'll shoot them if they come in," she repeats, squaring her shoulders a little bit. He has told her about what to press and such, but she's not sure if she could really use it. They made really loud sounds!

The word 'watchdog' makes her pause, however, blue eyes looking up at the older plant. "What is that?"

There's something that hadn't occurred to him. This little Knives was so young, he may choose to manifest his powers differently. "He is, yes. But he might choose to never be sharp. A plant can make anything they want, I chose sharp things, but he might choose.. feathers, like you, or something entirely different. It's a good thing he's the only one anyone calls 'Nai'."

Well, that might not be true, but so far it was. He was Knives, and he hasn't heard of another being around, and now there's only one Nai too. Any follow up Nais will have to just find something else to be called.

He smiles briefly at her prompt agreement to use weapons if necessary. He was going to have to find guns with less kickback for them to practice with.. "Good. Nothing should happen, but let's be prepared just in case." Things tended to suddenly go awry after all!

"...Oh. Ah." And he was going to have to explain Earth. "The planet we come from, Earth, has all kinds of other animals on it, far more than this one. One of those animals are called 'dogs'. They're very loyal and can be taught to make noise, or even fight someone if they have to, and since their hearing and smell is far better than ours, they know trouble is coming long before even a plant knows about it."

"Oh." Is her little, soft reply. She's not sure what to think about that, looking at her many sets of wings. "So if I ask for Nai, everyone will know I mean my little-little brother? That's good."

It's still very strange that there were so many red brothers and just two of sharp brother (and one apparently wasn't even sharp!) but it also feels like they have a really big family. It's comforting, especially since she was also more than one at the same time.

The kids need some little derringers to practice with - or a pea shooter, certainly there's children's toys that shoot blanks or something. Just to get used to it. Tessla thinks that Knives' gun is heavy and loud, but that definitely won't stop her from emptying the whole cylinder of bullets into something if she hears humans. So she gives another serious nod.

...then big-little brother talks about Earth and animals and she brightens up like a flower opening to the sun. Dogs sound amazing! "That sounds like a good animal. Maybe... um... maybe you could show me one, one day?"

It's hard for her to ask for things, but she definitely wants to see a dog.

"Once everyone knows his name is Nai, that's right." It's a lesser problem, but Nai will surely know who she means, and that's the important part.

He wondered if the boy would be as disinclined to games as he'd been at that age. Maybe having a sister AND a brother his own size will incentivize things. "If all goes well, I'll be bringing one home to stay, one day."

But that means going to Octovern, and he didn't intend to do that for a little bit yet. Perhaps drop a hint to one of his many red-clad stubborn bastard brothers as a hint that maybe they should do it, and make up for their constant disappearing on poor Tessla. And himself. "They're not too hard to take care of either. I'm hoping you'll really like them." And then: watchdog. Another safety feature to be had.

Surely the littlest brother will help the next-littlest brother ease up and teach Tessa how to play games! If not, eventually she might want to learn other things, too... like playing the piano, perhaps? That could be a brotherly thing to do.

(Let's be real, two against one will prevail with the games.)

"Okay. If you like them then I probably will, too. Animals are nice." She's only met a few so far when she wasn't a a horrible ball of death and killed everything around her, and it had all been worm types. Not exactly pettable, but still fairly easy-going for a creature. Just wait until she finds out dogs are soft.

...and it's true, the red brothers really run off a lot and it makes her sad, but Tessla doesn't think they do it because they don't like her. It seems to have to do with all that sadness in them, and she doesn't really dare to ask about it much. More visits would be nice, though.

"You said we can choose what to do with our powers. What did red brother pick?"

Knives is determined to think it'll be good for all three of them to have other plants their own age to interact with. Socializing is rather lacking for the rest.. "Hopefully one day I can show you many more animals."

There were other things to tend to first. Worms, dogs and tomases were at least, reasonably easy to arrange. Cats too, perhaps. But the rest would have to wait.

He doesn't respond right away about what Vash chose, though by the thoughtful look that crosses his face, he's just tryign to think of how to phrase it. How thorough had been her education? Was she even given one at all? An experiment doesn't need schooling.. "Though he can make feathers too, for protecting or attacking, he focused on a very precise control of a little tiny gravity well so strong it can just suck in whatever it touched. But he only learned how when he was all grown up."

Socializing isn't easy when you're in a space ship with few other people, and even less so when you're less than human. Vash and Knives had each other, Tessla still isn't sure how to act around others. The sisters had helped, of course they did, but dependent plant socialization was very different from making friends with kids your own age.

She's looking forward to seeing her little brothers, but it would be a lie to say she wasn't a little nervous as well. Vash had been so kind to her, but what did that mean now that she was whole again? Tessla doesn't know.

The little girl waits patiently for the reply, looking up at Knives. He's right in thinking an experiment like her didn't need schooling. She doesn't know how to read, or anything like that. The watched her play with blocks and develop understanding of a lot of basic things, but nobody sat down to give her lessons. She understood parts of science from listening to the people who experimented on her, and learned language like that as well. (Not that it mattered, because they didn't listen no matter how much she begged, so there was no point to using it.)

She's impressively intelligent but still so very inexperienced. A blank canvas that is just learning how to deal with her own emotions and wants, and a genius in understanding things from context. So when she's told what the red brother does 'gravity', those blue eyes flicker to the side as she tries to put things together.

"A hole," Tessla says softly. "Red brother makes holes?"

"Special kinds of holes. Normally they can only exist in space, and they're many, many times bigger than even the suns are. But the ones he makes are very tiny in comparison." And, aren't in space. And could be stored in a bullet. It had been a surprise to find out he could do any such thing, never mind utilize them the way he had.

Probably it shouldn't be a surprise. "But it's not very easy for him to do, so if he can ever show you, he might only be able to once." Explaining how utterly dangerous those things were might not really inspire confidence, so he doesn't. "I'm not sure the right books still exist here, but if they do, I'll show you what they look like when they're in space."

"In space..." That's very impressive! She definitely wants to see that, if red brother can show her on day - but she also doesn't want him to get hurt or anything. "If it very difficult, he doesn't have to." She adds quickly.

Tessla still looks very thoughtful, however, and spreads all her little wings. A few sink back into her body and others stretch out, making her more symmetrical. "Littlest brother's feathers were very soft. Even softer than mine. Are they going to be able to protect him?" They were mostly down, after all. "He can have some of mine."

She's the big sister to the smallest ones, that means she has to help, right?

"If you ask nicely, he'll let you know if it's something he wants to show you or not. But you'll want to ask one with dark in his hair, the ones who are fully blond might not know how yet, he learned it .. pretty late." It would probably be easy, with these little plants, to teach them the resentment and bitterness he felt towards his sibling; as much as he loved Vash he still held grudges against a lifetime of abandonment..

... But there was no need to make them carry his burdens. They deserved kin who wouldn't hesitate to be around, to speak with them and show them things. So asking nicely, even if it's something as uncomfortable as using their natural abilities, might make them more willing to try.

For her, if nothing else. "Oh, they'll get tougher as he grows up. As will yours." He reaches a hand to deliberately ruffle up those feathers and ruin their symmetry. "When we're young, they're shaped different so we can learn easier and safer. But when we're grown, they take their adult forms, and can do more, like stop a bullet, or make a barrier. Your sisters within you can make that sort, if they want to, but you're still a bit young yet. So are your little brothers. But they may always be nice and soft to the touch."

She looks a little curious at that, and glances up at Knives' hair. "Does dark hair mean older?" He said it took Vash 'until pretty late', after all. Tessla pushes her hair back a little, looking at the couple of black strands there that she got turning her messy half-assimilation once the sisters broke her out of her tank.

Littlest brother didn't have any black in his hair, and she was just a little older, wasn't she? The other red brothers also had blonde hair, and sometimes a little black. Knives is the only one she has met with fully black hair, and she just... thought that was what he looked like.

At the feather ruffle she laughs, a loud giggle from someone who hasn't learned anything like 'inside voice'. Dancing around him, she flaps all the wings a little bit and then takes his other hand instead. "The sisters could make them all hard as a shield and big and sharp when they were protecting me, but I can't do that." Can feathers really stop bullets?

"Maybe I can learn with the brothers?"

There's a lot of nuance to that question, and he considers for a moment before nodding slightly. "Sort of. It means we've been using a lot of our power longer." Little things shouldn't matter, wings and a bit of flying about, but the big drains, like keeping a ragged and dying little girl alive for ... who knew how long, when she should have long since died, that would take considerable effort.

With luck, those little black strands wouldn't multiply unduly. It shouldn't be necessary for a long time, with the amalgamated sisters.

He's not about to tell her to quiet down; a laugh was better than terror and pain, and there were so few of them. Maybe there'd be more laughter, in time. More carefree dancing about, unafraid. Was this what hope was? "You could do it eventually, but there's no need to rush. That's what I'm for, so you don't have to, or your little brothers."

Knives will be precisely as vicious and proactive as he needed to be to see them safe. If the humans were smart.. they'd never become a threat he had to deal with. "But there's so much all of you could learn. I'll do my best to teach you. It'll be fun."

Using power for longer, which could be by time or by amount. So older red brothers has more black in their hair. Knives had all black. Was that what the red brother had meant when he said the sharp brother was almost spent, then...?

Something about that makes her little hand tighten in Knives', a sudden worry flooding her chest. Would he... would he disappear from her? Would she be alone again?

Tessla had survived more than anyone should have been able to handle, had blindly ripped power from herself and sisters to escape her torture and then died over and over again into an amalgamation of a little girl and rage. Then later rejuvenated into what she was today - just a child again, needing her family.

"I like it when you teach me things, sharp brother." She says softly, and then leans to his side a little bit, wings folding up. "You have to stay very long to teach us everything."