nomans_land | (no subject)

(no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

It was true, and the reason he was so cautious with using any of his own natural abilities. Sooner or later, that power was going to run out, and him with it. She'd be alone, left to the shiftless sands and the dubious mercy of his equally shiftless brothers.

If he was lucky ... he'd finally find one sibling he felt was honest enough, reliable enough and willing to take his place without turning it into another martyr complex. But that, given their habits, would be difficult, so he'd likely have to... find alternatives.

"I'll do my very best. I never got a teacher, I had to figure everything out the hard way. Like why it's better to land on soft sand when learning to fly, instead of thinking I could land like a flying worm does nice and neat on a rock." Any anxiety he had about his ability to see to her future is inevitably utterly buried, an adult's concern, in favor of reassurance. He'll be there as long as necessary, whatever that took. "Rocks aren't very forgiving."

The only other good place for her would be the independent city, as their wandering red brother isn't exactly a sure deal. It would take a lot of work to make her able to be around humans, after all... and red brother couldn't be without them.

Tessla makes a face at that, imagining smacking into rock instead of landing delicately like a worm. "I would have tried it, too." She admits. "I'll remember that sand is nicer." See, he's already giving her very valuable advice! Probably saved her a few scraped knees or twisted ankles.

"When I can make all the wings go and fly myself, I want to go so high that I can touch the worm clouds!" Tessla says, pointing at a glowy flock far, far in the distance. "Or maybe even higher... can you touch stars, sharp brother?" She's not sure how big a star is, even if she understands it's a lot bigger than they look. Probably aren't all shiny like crystal, either.

He intended to move there eventually, but there was time yet. It would be a nice change, to be surrounded by his own kind. A new thing entirely. .. He had no idea how to interact with another plant that wasn't his direct brother, but he was willing to learn! They both might have to, Tessla's interactions with others were also very limited but unlike humans, plants weren't terrifying.

He was sure she'd thrive there.

"Long ago I could. But stars are in space, and space is cold and empty, and not a good place to be." Not to mention they're REALLY HOT but that'll get covered when he figures out where to find some books on space, with nice pictures. He wanted to inflict some of those pictures on one of his brothers too, there were some similarities between black wings and nebulae. "But the worms, that I'm sure you'll be able to do! And maybe they'll fly with you. Did you know that worms are people too? Just not quite like us."

It's what would be best for them both, to socialize and live in peace in a city of their own kind. However, Tessla most likely needs some time before she can handle being around a lot of people, even if they're plants. At least she's doing better every day, nightmares aside.

Playing with her brothers is only going to make her heal further - and learning about space sounds like a great activity for a trio of little plants.

"Cold sounds weird," the little girl comments. She knows cold - cold benches, cold instruments, cold cells... but nothing has been cold since she came to the planet. She's warm inside and out. "Maybe just the worms, then!"

Her blue eyes peer up at Knives again when he mentions how the worms work and she's curious again. "They're people?"

Knives hums under his breath, thoughtful. He'd done his best to keep things warm at night, deserts could effortlessly drop below freezing at night with nothing to retain the heat, maybe.. "Do you want to see what it's like, around cold things? We'll take a little drive after dark, and you can see."

A bit further north should do it, between the towering dunes, where rock couldn't hold heat and the sand bled warmth into the sky mercilessly shortly after sunset. He'd have to bring nice warm things to wear, and afterward, to drink.

And then, a nod. "They are, but not like us exactly. Every single worm on the planet, from the littlest flyer, to the biggest sandworm in the sea, is all one mind, one person. At least, I only ever met one mind, and a lot of worms, but maybe there's others too." He grasps a stray, wafting feather, rolling it in his fingers. "That mind doesn't always notice the little worms, like we might not notice a feather, or a hair, or a fingernail clipping, so they're just doing their thing living. But when they notice.. they can talk, if they want to, and they let us stay here, on their world. So it never hurts to be nice to worms, you never know when they're paying attention. But you have to be careful, too, because if they're not paying attention then the worm's going to do worm things, and won't always see us in their path, or think we might be food."

It doesn't sound like a bad thing, by his tone. Mysterious things, maybe a little dangerous, but not something to be afraid of.

Edited 2023-07-17 21:45 (UTC)

"Maybe? I want to try a lot of things." Tessla replies, thoughtful as she keeps up her little dance around him. Cold wouldn't be bad with sharp brother there to keep her safe, so maybe it could be fun.

When Knives starts to explain worms, the little girl glances at the faraway cloud and then back her brother as he catches one of her stray feathers. She had been very scared the first few times she lost some, but now she knows it's natural.

"So they're many, like how the sisters and I am, but in their mind instead of body?" That makes sense to her, even if the enormity of it is hard to imagine. "It's very nice of them to let us live here!"

Tessla is definitely going to say hi to every worm she meets now. Like they're little faeries and maybe one will talk back to her. (She needs to meet Zazie, another person who isn't human!)

"There's no rush. We have lots of time." If that storm headed this way, that would be an experience worth having her stay up for. How often did thunderstorms roll through this desert?

He'd.. have to make sure they could withstand the storm. Wind and sand was one thing, but rain? "Almost, yes. They've been very generous. I'm not sure how aware they are of us most of the time, but when they pay attention, it's no different than say, talking to Vash." Any of them!

So long as none of them tried mind control again, things would go well. "They used to sometimes take a form kind of like ours or a human's, to better talk to people. If I spot them again, perhaps they'll be interested in saying hello."

She laughs at that, her child mind immediately imagining the idea of chatting with a bunch of worms that sounds like Vash. "That would be so funny!"

Tessla knows nothing of storms and rain, only thinking worm cloud when she sees one. Later well-digging will prove that they have some stable ground underneath, which is good for floods, but who knows if any of the houses on Noman's Land can withstand too much rain. Some are built out of scrap metal and mud, after all. At least theirs had a good roof.

"They can turn into a person? Like me and the sisters becoming one? That sounds amazing!" Something not human and not plant. Maybe a new friend?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only