nomans_land | Tragic Ends VS Bad Ends, Trigun Flavor

Tragic Ends VS Bad Ends, Trigun Flavor

CW: mildly Plantcesty bc of canon end events but mostly toxicity, mindfuck, extreme codependency and.... co-parenting?

Somewhere in the sands is a tall person traveling on bare feet, a cloak of galaxies and roots covering their face from the sun. Vash moves slowly, not because he's tired or struggling, but because he's not really in a hurry. He doesn't get tired anymore, or hungry. Just weak, sometimes, but he's always been weak, hasn't he? That's why his brother has to protect him.

So this place couldn't be bad, because Knives would never leave him somewhere bad.

He stops briefly to collect a bleached skull left in the sand, picking it up with the roots and wisps of shadow and then holding it with the curiosity of a detached scholar rather than a compassionate man. Human, by the looks of it. Not killed by one of their brood, just unlucky in the desert.

Shrugging, Vash lets it drop into the sand again like an unwanted piece of trash and lets all those roots and glimmering energy unfold around him. He makes a little seat for himself, black flowers with shiny blue specks acting as cushions as the rest of his cloak peels away for a canopy. The dark undersuit is an echo of his brother, including the sturdiness of four perfectly fine limbs.

No memories were left, physical or otherwise. Sometimes you just have to remake your little brother to make him understand your point of view, and Vash... doesn't really know any better, anymore. It's fine, all he needs to focus on is making new Independents.

The roots continue to stretch over the sand, slithering over the area to see if they can pick up anything other than old bones of a doomed race.

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Ahaha.... right. I guess it makes more sense to see it if there's a reason to make it happen. Or I guess if you're around when I'm practicing anyway, you can see then.

[ Vash hums thoughtfully, his body having unfolded somewhat during his answer. Somehow talking about getting his arm cut off hurts less than talking about himself proper. Can you imagine. ]

On the one hand, it's possible that Rem might be able to tell more about the Gates, since she's the one who taught us back then. On the other hand, I don't know if most of the things she taught us were things she knew beforehand, or what she learned so she could teach us. I suppose doctor Conrad would know more. [ his voice. does go a little flat at that. ] I suppose there may have been others who knew more, but ... they are the only people I really hope did not survive the Crash. Because of what they did to our sister.

[ And yes. Vash feels guilty for hoping that. But it would be lie to claim that he doesn't feel that way about that particular group of people. ]

[ If he's around when Blondie practices he can see his gate then, yeah. That's a good idea. When it's necessary, and not just a risk taken for his own curiosity.

He can't help the small smile -- just a quirk of his lip, really -- at the mention on Conrad and the fate Vash here wishes for him. He's never heard the man say that he would be happy somebody was dead before! It's good to know there's a limit to his pacifism. ]

Your brother told me about that, too, a little bit. About your sister, and what happened. [ Nai didn't give him too many details, just... just enough. Just enough for him to understand. Just enough for him to start putting together pieces that he hadn't even realized were connected before. ] I'd bet every one of those sadists died in the fall, but Conrad kept going.

[ The steering wheel creaks in his grip as he squeezes it, imagining Conrad's throat. ]

If you want to know more about all this, I'd ask the Eye.

I... don't know if they took joy in causing the pain, more that... they didn't care. Like she wasn't a person to them. It... made me think really hard, about people and hurting them because it suits my goals.

[ He considers that last statement for a long moment. ]

You... would?

[ This is... layered, coming from Wolfwood, given the history. ]

I... think I might get more reliable answers from Knives. Except the one who is old enough to talk to me rather than try... things, I think that he's from somewhere a little different. What he says doesn't quite match what I can do.

[ Well, when he said to 'ask' to Eye, he didn't mean politely. Mostly he meant how about I kill everyone in the place and then you can look at their computer records. ]

Do what you like. [ That's not something he'd want to talk to a Knives about, any Knives, but it's not his call to make. ] I don't know anything about the Eye in this world anyway. It's possible it's like you said, and the way all that gate stuff works here is different than the way it works for you.

[ He might still go track down this world's Eye anyway, just to burn off some steam. If death isn't permanent, then that might take awhile.

He won't deny he likes the idea of being able to kill some of those bastards over and over again. ]

[ Well he should clarify! It's making Vash concerned because it really isn't what he thinks about first, but in that context it would make sense to him. ]

Yeah, that's always the rub. This place just... it doesn't stop.

On that note... how are you feeling? Physically, I mean. It didn't seem right to actually ask earlier.

[ Immediately after the coming back to life, that is. ]

[ It's probably for the best that Vash misunderstood his comment about the Eye anyway. That way, when Wolfwood leaves to go track them down and murder them all, Vash wont' be suspicious, and he won't feel guilty for not stopping Wolfwood from leaving. Everybody wins! ]

Huh?

[ He's he feeling? It takes him a second to realize that, oh, Blondie's asking about his resurrection. ]

Fine, here. See for yourself.

[ Eyes still on the road, he holds a hand out so Vash can check his pulse if he needs to, or whatever else he needs to do to satisfy himself that the dead man is alive and well. It's not such a big deal to Wolfwood to come back from that kind of injury, sorry. It happens a lot. ]

Ah... okay... That is good.

[ His touch is once again gentle, left hand holding the back of his palm without restraining - he does know enough about driving to be aware he might need his hand back at any time - and three fingers settle on the lightly. He hasn't felt Wolfwood's pulse before, but he can still see if it's steady and not jumping or fluttering or too fast. Then he lets go, folding his hands in his lap. ]

Thanks.

[ Yes, well. This is different but if it doesn't feel different for Wolfwood, then that's okay by Vash. ]

It, um. I'm pretty sure once I get somewhere that can transmit, I should warn people. What with some of us having a habit uf burying people.

[ 'Some of us' being mostly Vashes, but ... that's more than a few now, and even he's aware. ]

[ His temperature is always a little too hot, his pulse a little too fast. He burns bright, here for a good time but not a long time, but his pulse is slower and his skin less fevered than it was in those first few seconds after resurrection. That's how it always goes, why he thought this resurrection wasn't any different than the usual, vial-induced ones.

As he takes his hand back, he realizes that he could have just said that he was fine, and left it at that. Why did he hold his hand out like that? He can still feel the ghost of Blondie's fingers against the inside of his wrist, and he's really not sure how he feels about that at all.

Thankfully, Blondie's got some new horrors in mind to distract him with. Wolfwood's eyes widen at what he's saying, and he shakes his head slow. ]

At least you're not into cremations, right?

[ Waking up in his own grave -- the thought makes him shiver, and he presses harder on the accelerator, urging the car even faster across the sands. ]

[ Vash's baseline is ... from after Meryl had hit Wolfwood with the car, so a little too warm, a litte too fast is compared with him already recovering so it doesn't alarm. It's a regular pulse in its way.

But of course he'll take any opportunity to touch. He is definitely selfish like that.

The words make him flinch, but then also... snort. ]

At least I'm not into cremations. But I'd still rather know. For all sorts of reasons.

[ Faster should be fine on the sands when there is little to hit, right? ]

[ Wolfwood can't argue with that. If the dead aren't staying dead, everyone needs to know about it -- or, at least, the Vashes need to know about it. The Vashes, and maybe Rem. And if they all know, then the Wolfwoods will know, even that asshole ghost version of himself.

They're all going to know that he died.

Fuck. ]

Hey, uh... [ He already knows that the answer is no, but he's still got to ask, just in case Blondie here knows something he doesn't. ] ...is there any way you could not tell everyone that it was me who got brought back?

... I was not planning on saying it was you in the first place.

[ chances are that if someone presses him personally, it might come out, because he may do his best at pretending, but a lot of people here know him far too well for him to get away with it. ]

You don't need that kind of detail for like, a radio announcement, right? Only that there is evidence and one should wait before making any final arrangements.

[ That gets Vash a surprised glance... surprised, and grateful. ]

Yeah. ...Yeah, okay. I thought you'd... [ He shakes his head, dismissing the thought. If Spikey doesn't plan to tell the world all the details about what happened, Wolfwood's sure not going to argue the point! ] ...never mind.

Um. Thanks.

[ He was not looking forward to any of his alternates finding out, that's for damn sure! ]

Of course!

... A few people might hunt me down with questions, and some might learn - I'm all right with lying by ommission when people don't think to look more closely, but I'm not sure I'm good when they do - but I think the questions about the other me are likely to be more important.

[ He'll do his best. ]

[ No, Blondie here's a terrible liar... but he's right that Thorns will probably be everyone's focus. Which will just put the discomfort on Vash instead of Wolfwood, won't it? ]

You gonna be okay with that?

[ He shoots Blondie another sideways glance, this one somewhat sympathetic. Wolfwood's been hearing about how he's going to die in December since he got here, but that other Wolfwood who died, that wasn't him. Blondie, on the other hand, seems to see all the Vashes as being, well, other hims. How's it going to be, having to talk about the horrific things a version of his brother did to a version of himself? ]

I mean, those questions might get nosy.

Hm?

Oh... well, it's not like I can answer all of them. We only talked for a bit, and a good, I don't know, third of that was him calling me sick.

[ He rubs the back of his head. ]

I might have called him an incomplete person, but that was more an honest opinion than calling him names.

[ Wolfwood snorts at that. Of course the man who's only said 'fuck' twice in his life thinks that "you're an incomplete person" is a rude thing to say to a mindwiped monster. It's like listening to somebody's grandma get angry. ]

I meant questions about why he's like that. About what Knives did to him.

[ About what yours might have been planning for you, he thinks, but doesn't say that bit out loud. ]

If you want to just skip over that bit and tell everyone that there's a psycho running around with your face and you don't have any idea what happened to him, just say the word. I'll back you up.

Well...

Rem will need to know because she will try to reach out to him. And she's ... easier to hurt than you are. Nai... absolutely should not know. I will need to talk with the much older Knives. Any other version of me or you...

[ Just a shrug, because. ]

And anyone else, they just need to know to stay very, very far away.

[ The idea of telling Rem anything about what some version of Nai did to that version of Vash makes Wolfwood scowl, but at the end of the day, it's Blondie's choice who gets told what. It'd be better if they could find the guy before he found anybody else and deal with him permanently, but since he's got no weapons and Vash can't kill anyone -- even if they'd stay dead, which isn't a guarantee anymore! -- then that's just wishful thinking. ]

Never thought I'd be grateful that all the towns around here are empty. At least there's fewer people for him to find.

[ Oh, telling Rem isn't something he wants to have to do, but it's a necessity for her ability to exert some self-preservation. So basically it's a choice between two bad options, and Vash has to at least try to reduce the damage.

It's all he ever has. ]

Yeah, it's...

[ Vash goes quiet, frowning. ]

I think he may be near. At least... nearer than 'somewhere out there.'

[ Wolfwood snaps his head around, staring at Vash wide-eyed. He's here? Nearby? ]

Where?

[ He scans the horizon, but there's no sign of roots that he can see. ]

Give me a direction, Blondie, where's that fucker hiding?

[ The frown deepens, but he does point a bit to the right. ]

I don't think he's hiding, he's.. moving, but slowly. And he's a lot less... concentrated himself? Somehow?

[ Sadly Vash was way too out of it when it happened to Tessla, or he would have recognized the way Wolfwood - the ghost one - is mixed with THorns. Right now, it's just confusing. ]

[ The comment about being less concentrated doesn't make any sense to Wolfwood...but the pointing to the right, that he can follow. He yanks the wheel hard, zooming off in that direction... and it's not long before he sees that Blondie here was right. There he is, a dark blot against all that bright sand, heading away from them. The roots are missing, but there's no mistaking him.

Gotcha, you bastard. ]

Hold on.

[ It's all the warning Vash gets before Wolfwood slams the accelerator down as far as it'll go. The engine whines its protest as the speedometer ticks upward, sand flying in a wave behind them as the car rockets towards the solitary figure. Impact in five... four... three... ]

[ Vash realizes what is happening just a little too late, eyes going all wide and his voice coming out as a stragled cry. ]

Wolfwood, wait--!

[ ... too little, too late. ]

[His reaction time might not have been quite so delayed if he weren't struggling against the way the electrical-burning feeling made things like thinking and moving more and more sluggish, the longer it went on. So it took an embarrassingly long time for him to register the sound of the engine reving from behind him as it roared over the dunes.

When it did register, he had only a few seconds to turn, Vash's eyes widening almost comically as Wolfwood realized he was seeing the guys he was looking for, coming at him way too fast, and if the other Vash's horrified expression and the other Wolfwood's recognizable, bloodlusty grimace were anything to go off of, it was intentional.

Well, maybe he wouldn't have to do too much explaining, then? That couldn't be a coincidence.

He barely had enough time to begin lifting Vash's arms up defensively, as if he could possibly stop an entire car.]

No no, wait, stop!

[THBUMP! The sudden lack of sensation immediately following the vehicle smashing through his form left him bewildered for a moment, and then realization dawned on him and he turned, frantically trying to track where they had gone before he ran after them.]

WAIT, STOP, SHIT, DAMNIT, NO, FUCK!

[ Vash had been mostly out of it the entire time that Wolfwood had been piloting his body, so he didn't even have time to brace himself before he's slammed into. His body flies over the hood and even hits the roof, before smashing onto the ground just as hard and rolling a few times.

Something's definitely broken and there's a heavily-bleeding cut on his brow from hitting the roof - but it takes a lot more than that to kill a plant, no matter how much he's writhing on the ground. He's not even sure what happened, lost in his internal fight to keep his sanity... but he has to get up. No matter how much he wants to die he can't risk the children. ]

Edited 2023-06-20 22:06 (UTC)

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