nomans_land | Near the ruins of JuLai, after the trip to White Shield

Near the ruins of JuLai, after the trip to White Shield

[Late in the night, across the radio waves that could be reached from the transmitter in Rem's old station and when everyone else in the household would most likely be asleep, the device kicked on seemingly all by itself and began transmitting what sounded at first just like static. After a few moments, though, if one were to listen close enough, a voice that was familiar to some could be heard, faint, as if coming from down a hallway. Operating this thing was strange for him, and manipulating the energies to get it to work the way he wanted wasn't quite the same as what he was used to when he was just speaking out loud, but he was doing his best.]

Hey, Needle-Noggin. Really startin' t'miss you over here. We were on the road to Home the last time I saw you. The Earthquakes started and knocked us down. I think you saw me, just before I disappeared. You hadn't done that before. Not since December. It's been a long time. I'm sorry. Anyway, I looked for you for a while, but...I found others, first. A couple different versions of you, another me, a sweet lady who I think you'd be happy to see. Things have been happening over here, though, people have been gettin' hurt, and...I can't really help 'em much, but I don't want to leave, yet. I'm worried something'll happen to 'em if I do, but...I'm startin' to worry that somethin' might happen before I find you again, too. I'm really hopin' you can hear this out there. None of the You I've seen have been right. They don't have the little bits of grey hair near your ears. They're all too young. I know even if you do, you might not believe it's me. Might think it's one of the other ones that're runnin' around. I'm here, though. An' if you wanna come find us, I can explain. I think at this point, I owe you that much, for the little scare I must've given you out in the desert. Look for a little radio station with a house attached to it, on the outskirts of the ruins of July. I know, terrible location, but I don't think they knew where it was when they originally built it. If you see the little cross made out of a couple of nails hangin' from the porch railing, then...just...I dunno. Sit with me. I'll be nearby. No drinks this time, though, it doesn't do anything for me anymore. Otherwise, just give a shout. Someone should be able to hear you. There's people wandering in an' out a lot. Kids you might recognize, old faces you haven't seen in a long time. I don't really do much sleepin' anymore, so there should be someone awake to meet you, whenever you get in. Uhhh...I guess...Punisher? Signing off.

[The crackle of static continued for a few more seconds before the device shut back down. It had been intentionally vague, yes; the last thing he wanted was to alert every bounty hunter on the planet that his old man was headed to JuLai, especially not since it would put an entire family of innocent people in danger. He hoped his voice was enough, that the old nickname and that stupid code name he'd been given, would all be enough to tell the people who needed to know just who was talking, and who the message was for.

Either way, for a good portion of the days that followed, a tiny cross made from a couple of construction nails tied together with twine - a simple enough thing for him to manage on his own - could be seen dangling from the railing of the porch. Anyone who sat down near it wouldn't realize it until he spoke up, but Wolfwood was sitting against the wall behind it, near the door, watching for anyone who might have followed the directions and come by for a visit.]

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[The point was a whole pile of things that either he wouldn't have the answers to until he crossed over into The Light and found out what was on the other side of that, or things that he really didn't want to get into with this Vash. There was no way in Hell he was going to get into the concept of waiting for his old man to finally pass on so he could be there for him, to walk with him into whatever came after. That was definitely something he wouldn't have felt comfortable dumping in the lap of such a young child.

The kid giving him a big, fangy grin, though? That got a grin and a laugh, which only grew at Vash's obvious confusion and distress over the concept of baby teeth. Alright. So they didn't lose them the way humans did. That answered a question for him that he'd never even known he had.]

I'm not gonna try an' take your teeth, kid. It's just somethin' that happens to human kids. We're born with two sets, but the big adult teeth are hidden until our faces are big enough that they'll all fit, then they grow in and push the baby teeth out of the way, and they just... [He pantomimed pulling a tooth out of his mouth on the end of a string - something that might not make sense to a kid who didn't know teeth fell out in general, but that was the frame of reference Nicholas had, regardless - and made a loud Pop with his tongue.] Come right out! Apparently some families who have more money than we did at the orphanage even have a little tradition of tellin' their kids a magical fairy will take their teeth if they leave 'em under a pillow the night they fall out, and leave a double-dollar for 'em in exchange. Then, when the kid goes to bed, Mom or Dad'll sneak in an' swap the tooth out for a coin, an' the kid gets to go buy a candy bar the next mornin'. Makes it seem less scary for the kids who haven't done it a couple times already and won't know it's not as bad as it sounds. We'd walk around with one of our tiny teeth all loose, wigglin' it around with our tongues, until it just decided to come free one day. It was usually only one or two at a time, so by the time we were your size, we'd've had 'em all swapped out over a couple years. Had my first one come off with a piece of sticky candy I had one day. Taffy's the best for it.

[ His hand's staying right over his mouth, thanks. Possibly forever. Little human kids walk around with their teeth falling out? They come out when they're eating? They sell them to their parents?!

Congrats, Nicholas. You found something scary! ]

Do any of your other bones come out? Like your fingers?

[ His teeth grow and stretch just like the rest of his bones do, like normal. What kind of terrifying creature sheds teeth like a shark? ]

[God, this kid was hilarious, and without so much of the emotional baggage his older self had that brought such a deep level of unwell to his goofy little self. He almost felt bad for laughing as much as he did at his continued horror, because he knew kids hated being laughed at, but he wasn't laughing at him, just at the adorable absurdity of a child's mind discovering new and weird things that shook their little worldview.]

Naw, at least not intentionally. Well, unless you count this. [He reached his hands out, pulling on his fingers one by one until his knuckles popped loudly, and then laced his fingers together to bend them all back at once so they popped again in unison, like popcorn.] Though I think poppin' your knuckles is less pullin' out your bones an' more jimmyin' the joints around until they got air under 'em. Or somethin'. But no, they don't come out. It's just the teeth.

[ The ghost cracks his knuckles, pop pop pop, and Vash's hand finally comes down from his mouth. That's just knuckle cracking -- he can't do it, his knuckles won't make that sound, but he's seen people do that in movies before. He's even seen Rem do it a time or too after typing a bunch. That's normal.

Teeth coming out isn't normal, but at least it sounds like that's the only bones that fall out of humans! ]

Humans are weird.

[ He's going to check his teeth -- and Nai's when he's back -- every morning from now on, to make sure none of them are loose, so thanks for that! ]

So did you know me when I'm older? [ Now that he's not worried about the ghost stealing his teeth, he can't help but wonder why the ghost is here in the first place. Was he also brought to help this world's Vash, like the rest of them? If he knew Rem after the crash, he might have known Vash and Nai -- or Knives -- then too, right? ] Is that why you got brought here, because we're gonna know each other later?

[He snorted in amusement, nodding his head in a wry little acknowledgement.]

I mean, yeah. There's nobody gonna argue with you on that one. There's a whole lotta the way we work that just don't make a damn bit of sense.

[He will, honestly, be very delighted to watch the confused flailing that got him the first time he tried to check Nai's teeth. There was even a tiny part of him that would take some smug enjoyment out of it at his expense. Not as much as the other Wolfwood's, maybe, but still a bit.

The grin on his face faltered at the question, though, for just a moment, and when it came back, it was...unsure. Awkward. He hadn't really wanted to get into this with him, but when all you had to do was sit around and literally people-watch the family around you, you picked up on things pretty quickly. Like how frustrated he tended to get, when people kept things from him. And if Vash was going to know he was there, he wanted to be as little of a bother as possible.

So eventually, the smile settled back on his face, a little sadness lingering behind his eyes as he suddenly found the nonexistent dirt beneath his fingernails to be very interesting.]

Yeah. I knew you when you were older. Honestly...I know about as much about why I'm here as anyone else does. Is it 'cause I knew you before? [He shrugged, sitting up and looking back at him as he slapped his hands down on his legs and then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. He didn't even seem to care that the angle made him sit far enough forward that the porch railing ended up going right through his shoulders.] I dunno. I just know I was walkin' down the road with my friend one minute, found myself here the next, and he was gone. Kinda wish it hadn't happened, I'm real worried about findin' 'im again, but...I got t'meet all of you, and it made me stop...hidin' so much, so. Maybe it's not so bad, yeah? I hadn't really talked to someone properly in a long time. It's nice. I like talkin' t'everyone.

[ That sounds really lonely. Disappearing away from your friend and ending up in a new place where nobody could see or hear you? Not being able to ever go back?

Vash's chin starts wobbling again, just a bit. He's sad for Nicholas here, and for his friend, he's missing Nai so much... and, as much as he tries not to think about him anymore, he misses Knives. They all left people behind when they were brought here, didn't they? People they'll never see again, or talk to again, or... or...

Nope, here come the tears. ]

I'm... I'm glad you're not hiding. It's not good to be all alone.

[A crying Vash was a quick way to get right under his skin. Vash when he was this small - sure, a little bit of a shit but that's no different than he is as an adult and it's that innocent type of shit that reminds him of himself at that age and, from the outside looking in, is kind of adorable - and so young and in need of protection and care and still so unburdened by what happened in the future?

That just makes him immediately turn into a worried teddy bear.]

Oh, hey, no, it's ok! [He pushed himself off of the edge of the porch, but instantly sat down criss-cross in the sand; sitting up above him on that elevated level was no better than standing over him. Kids did better when you were at their level, when they were upset.] Listen to me, you don't have to worry about me, ok? I promise, from your side of things, it always sounded so scary, but it's not, ok? I wasn't ever alone. You meet other people on this side, too. They pass on, an' sometimes you meet 'em, and sometimes it's old friends, sometimes it's new people you never met. I had people to talk to, lots of times. But even when they'd moved on...I still got to be with my friend. And things aren't scary on this side. Nothin' can hurt me, I don't get hungry, I don't get tired, it's peaceful. So don't be afraid, ok? And don't worry about me. I'm ok. I promise, I'm ok.

[He's hurting him, isn't he? Should a kid his age even be dealing with this kind of weight? It's not right for him to be pushing these kinds of existential worries on him before he was ready. He really should have stayed quiet!

The thought that he was the cause of pain for a child had always been enough to upset him, even before December. This was even worse.]

[ His tears are mostly for his brothers, the one that's missing and the one he'll never see again... but the distraction Nicholas provides is a good one. He's never really thought about death before, about what it's like to be dead -- mostly because he assumed there wasn't any being dead! You died, and you were dead, the end!

But being a ghost doesn't sound so bad. Never hungry, never tired, meeting all your dead friends and family and new people, all the time? Plus, Nicholas is here talking to a living person, so ghosts don't even have to give up their living friends! That's not so bad at all!

With a final sniff, Vash rubs his eyes dry. Nicholas is being really nice -- he's even sitting on the ground so Vash doesn't have to look up at him! -- and here Vash is crying like a baby. Tears aren't going to make Nai come back. Tears won't let him see Knives again. They just make everyone else upset and give him a headache. ]

Are there other ghosts here? Or just you?

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Near the ruins of JuLai, after the trip to White Shield

CW: Baby Teeth talk

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cw: knuckle cracking

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