#// i feel like wolfwood has wanted to do this since they met him

[forgivenpunishment]

Wolfwood is about to start strategizing with Vash before the idiot walks straight in like he's immune to bullets (which he's not). Luckily, this time, by some miracle of God, the nerd runs out of ammo. Convenient timing. Maybe Vash had been listening to the shots fired? Probably not. This is something he'd do anyway.

...Granted, it's not like Ashton would've been able to hit him. He could barely hit a bandit point-blank, for fuck's sake. How's someone like him supposed to land a shot on Vash?

The undertaker runs a hand down his face in frustration, adding a grumpy sigh for good measure. He spins his Grader once before sliding it back into its home in his holster, then stomps into the room—all business, no fun. Fine. If this man wants to be treated like a member of the Eye, he'll get treated like one.

Before Ashton can react, Wolfwood is already in his face—and grabbing him by the face. He tosses the empty rifle, letting it slide along the floor, then easily wraps his other hand around the man's wrists to fully restrain him.

"Alright asshole," Wolfwood growls, then pushes Ashton's face to the panels in front of them, "What's got you acting out of line, rat? Did you forget who's in charge here or are you just tryin' to play hero?"

Vash watched with wide eyes as the stray bullets zipped by and gave the undertaker's mop a partial trim. At least none of them actually landed, but that was definitely a little too close for comfort! The total amount of people who were still left in this place could be counted on one hand, and they all knew the others were around, too; who out of that group would shoot at them like that...?!

The answer, somewhat thankfully, would come from someone familiar... just... probably not who either of them were necessarily hoping for. Ashton's shaking voice rang out, sharp and loud from the dark-- definitely running off of emotional adrenalin as he barked at them to-- "S-STAY OUT...!"

Which was... pretty bad. Disappointing-- the blond shut his eyes with a deep frown and let his head slump, thudding lightly against the wall like he'd really, really been hoping that this wouldn't be the outcome --but very, very bad, because a gun was a lot more dangerous in the hands of someone who had no idea how to use it than in the hands of someone who did.

"You are such a shit shot..." wheezed another familiar voice just as Vash opened his mouth to speak, though it was softer and hoarse with strain. The Captain's goading just worked Ashton up further; from where he was standing, Wolfwood might've been able to see the rifle swing down, the lights of the sleeping screens and keyboards just barely bouncing off of the metal.

There isn't even enough light in there to read by... so Ashton is either a terrible shot or firing blind in a suboptimal environment. Or both.

"SH-- SHUT UP!"

"Point blank in front of him, a-and he still only hits me in the side... you two have nothing to worry about..."

... which was something Vash seemed to take as express permission to enter. He looked at Wolfwood for a split second-- that 'I'm about to do something you're not going to approve of' look --before he shouted into the dark room, "Ashton! I'm coming in! Please don't shoot!"

"NO! N-no, stay away, I'm warning you--!!"

But the Plant wouldn't listen, rolling against the doorframe so he would be facing forward immediately upon passing the threshold, gun up and ready to fire.

Ashton yelped and fired first, but the gun clicked. Out of ammo.

[myuminji]

Just a comic about two people catching up again [Angel AU]

[ID: A Trigun comic of Wolfwood after his death in Trigun Maximum.

Abbreviated ID: Wolfwood is now an angel with wings and a halo tied to his grave. He cannot be seen or heard by others, but Livio visited his grave and mostly filled him in on the finale, and Wolfwood waits for Vash to show up. When he does, Wolfwood is stunned and worried by his black hair, though he deems Vash fine when he pulls out drinks for them both.

Vash pours the drinks and talks. He confesses that he killed someone and calls himself a coward and the worst, apologizing for being selfish and not saving Wolfwood. Wolfwood angrily shouts that everything was his decision, and Vash is an idiot for blaming himself.

He says that Vash has done so much for Wolfwood and for others, and he calls Vash brave. Vash falls asleep with tears in his eyes, but he seems lighter when he wakes up. Vash leaves, promising to return, and Wolfwood says that he'll "watch him from afar... again." The title is "#1 'What happened to your hair?'". Full ID below readmore in 21 paragraphs.

The comic starts with a dark, noise-filter panel of the Punisher being used as Wolfwood's gravestone, with the quote "Nicholas D. Wolfwood has died" written over it.

Below that is Wolfwood, who has wings and a halo. He sits pensively and narrates, "At least, that's what everyone has come to believe, including me. Yet here I am, still roaming on this damn barren planet... But I wouldn't say I'm quite alive anymore. Since I couldn't feel hunger or thirst like I used to." He thinks, "'Ghost,' like those horror stories was it?"

He narrates over sketchy panels of himself frowning while floating next to his grave and yelling at Livio. "There, are other things I found that fits the term, like how I can't bring myself to far too far from my grave, or how others can't see me at all." We see Livio tearing up and saying "Nico-nii..." while Wolfwood furiously waves his arms and shouts, "I am!! Here!!!!"

Livio is shown speaking with a teary smile while Wolfwood leans against Punisher and listens. Wolfwood says, "Livio is the first and only person I've met so far. And luckily, he was quite a storyteller. I was able to get a grasp of the situation, and its aftermath. And what happened to him in the end."

Livio smiles and says, "It's been three months ever since... But even if we couldn't get ahold of him now, I'm sure he'll come back to you someday." Wolfwood narrates, "—And knowing that idiot, he probably would."

A close-up of Vash's coat in the wind as Wolfwood narrates, "So it didn't come as a surprise to me when he visited my grave. I'd even thought up of things to say when we meet again. Everything was thrown out of the window when he appears, of course. I could vividly remember the one question that burns in my head..."

Wolfwood looks shocked as Vash, hair fully black, waves cheerfully, "Yo! It's been a while, hasn't it? Wolfwood." Below the two floats the question: "#1 'What happened to your hair?'"

Wolfwood sweats, "Spikey, your hair. Doesn't it mean... Are you okay???" Vash smiles sheepishly, "Ah, I hope you're not mad I didn't come sooner, don't haunt me please..." Wolfwood shouts, "That's not the problem right now!!" Vash pulls something out and exclaims, "But look what I got for you!! Alcohol!!!" Wolfwood shouts, "What sort of person do you see me as!?"

Vash excitedly pulls out a bottle and two shot glasses. "It's not the only reason why I'm late, but it did took me a month to hunt this down... I recall you said you wanted to try them, right?" Wolfwood buries his face in his hands and says, "Where the hell are your priorities... You know what, yeah. I'm not gonna ask anymore since you look fine."

Vash smiles a bit tiredly and says, "Hmm,, I'm glad this place hasn't turn to ruins yet~ I've still got lots I need to tell you that's happened out there! And I thought it's better to talk about it with drinks on the side…" He clinks two glasses together. "So, cheers! ..."

He and Wolfwood are both awkwardly silent, and Vash sweats and frowns nervously. Then he pours a glass onto the ground, and Wolfwood furiously shouts, "D'ya really expect me to drink off the ground!? Stupid needle noggin!!!!!"

Vash laughs sheepishly, and he speaks via empty speech bubbles while Wolfwood listens, drinking with a small smile. Vash says, "... And when that happened I..." He drops his gaze and says between long pauses, "I..... When that happened......" Wolfwood watches him seriously as he says, "... Say. Wolfwood, is this how you've felt all the time?"

Vash looks down sadly. "You I see, I... killed someone in the end." He laughs, eyebrows drawn in. "I guess you're right. I am bound to choose someday." He takes another sip, then downs it and falls backwards. "Isn't it funny? That I've called you a coward once for killing... But guess who's the coward now~? It's always been me, isn't it?"

Vash lies on his back and laughs. "... Haha. I wonder if you're laughing too. I really am the worst, aren't I?" Wolfwood looks down as Vash continues, "You've done so much for me, but all I've caused you are troubles. I was selfish, always chasing after my own goals... That you couldn't ask for my help. That I couldn't save you. Just what kind of friend am I?"

Vash scrubs his eyes with an arm and says shakily, "Sorry... Wolfwood... I'm so sorry..." A close-up panel of his mouth shows Wolfwood saying, "... Just so you know--" Expression unimpressed, he exclaims, "There's no way in hell I'm accepting that lousy apology! You drunkard!"

He stands up and seems to kick Vash, who's still on the ground and mostly out of sight. Wolfwood demands, "Why are you even sorry for something like that, huh?? I chose my own path. It was all my decision! How many times do I say it to get it stick in that thick head of yours? Stop. Blaming. Yourself. For the things. You've not done. Idiot! Stupid spikey hair!!"

Vash's face is cut off, but a tear in his eye can be seen as he weakly says, "... oof.. wood..." Wolfwood looks tired and sighs, "... Ha... Don't feel bad about me. Until when will you realise just how much you've done for us? You've done more than enough for me, Needle Noggin."

The perspective zooms out to focus on the sky and two moons, including the fifth moon. Wolfwood's wings and the Punisher can just be seen at the bottom. Wolfwood says, "And you're brave, to go against what you've been taught your whole life. You're not a coward. You faced them until the end. So don't sell yourself short like that next time, okay?" We see Vash's face, smiling with tears in his closed eyes. Wolfwood concludes: "I'll get mad."

Wolfwood narrates, "—He passed out right after for the whole night on the cold ground. I realised how little I could help in the situation." He tries to drape his coat over Vash, sweating, and wonders, "Wouldn't it just pass through ...?"

Time passes, and Vash gets up with a sneeze and rubs his eyes. Wolfwood watches him with his eyebrows raised, and Vash laughs quietly and a bit nervously. Wolfwood narrates, "As if he'd heard my voice, a burden seems to be lifted off his shoulder when he woke up. That, or maybe he'd forgotten what happened last night. He was quick to take his leave right after.

"And so, Vash the Stampede went on a journey with a promise." Vash waves goodbye, turning to leave with his bag in hand. "I'll be sure to bring back more stuff next time!! See you later!" Wolfwood concludes, "While I watch him from afar... again." Wolfwood sits below the Punisher and waves back, saying with bemusement, "Has he never heard the phrase 'do not disturb the death?' He really throws me off..." The title is named, and it says "/ END." End ID]

[link to Image ID reblog post!]

[tomboyyyaoi]

my tristamp take is that none of the group are close enough to really be called friends

roberto and meryl were colleagues who obviously had work banter and cared about eachother but ultimately didnt really Know eachother since we know by the beginning of the story they were only recently partnered

vash is literally the subject of their investigation whos also just hitching a ride east from them, also for vash he treats everybody with equal kindness, theyr as much his friends as rosa is, hes a century.5 old wanderer who deliberately keeps his distance + explicitly says theres "no way" roberto and meryl are his friends and sure its hard to tell when vash is being genuine bc of all of his deliberate emotional repression we can still take this as an insight that he was ready and willing to emotionally disconnect himself from them at the drop of a hat

and wolfwood is a funny case bc the audience catches their clear similarities and immediate Understanding in eachother but fails to see that these are 2 emotionally repressed men who Just Met and are just.. making eyes and assumptions but not really saying much, ofc wolfwood knows more than he lets on from his job but Knowing About A Guy and then making eyes and having an uncomfortable arms length dynamic with him bc u worry that He Knows about u too can hardly be described as being friends or even close.

by this point theyr people who have drifted by eachother, people who have crossed paths and were kind to eachother, theyr acquaintances who if u asked one about the other theyd go "yeah, wow, wonder what theyr up to, that was a weird 3 months" like theyr 4 strangers who trauma bonded at best but i like it that way

but ofc they all made an impact on eachother, we know meryl wont be able to let her old objective go bc she keeps going back to the julai pit, we know shes too invested in vash's mysterious life to let that go, we know wolfwoods only there for the shady organisation hiring him as a spy/guide but vash made an impact on him by piercing past his exterior by sheer experience in life and just Knowing and it freaked him out but he liked being seen for the time being, we know meryl and wolfwood cared about eachother bc of their teasing dynamic and similar (clashing) personalities and the way, out of everything, wolfwood went back into julai to save meryl, we dont know what happened after that but id like to think they stuck by eachother for a bit.

Roberto Fucking Died.

vash is the only one i can say would be content with never seeing them again, i want to think he misses them and thinks about them a lot bc muh ships but i Know for him they were a blip on the radar of "people who were kind to me" like everyone else. maybe theyr a bit more than that, maybe the thought of them lingers when he cant sleep or when hes showering, why did meryls voice break thru to him so much? why didnt she run away? why does he resonate with wolfwood so much? why is someone so kind with an organisation like the eye? what do they think after finding out the truth? are they even still alive? i think he lingers on them but he has no desire to track them, if they meet again it would be a nice example of fate or good luck but hes not going out of his way, he cant do connections, he cant get attatched.

theyr all weird distant acquaintances who have complicated feelings about the other but i think theyd all like to meet again in some way or another and i find that really captivating

[hypermoyashi]

Okay!!! Chapters 15-20 of my Trimax reread are done!! I don't have too many thoughts on some of these chapters since they were mainly fights, and I'm sure there are plenty of people to break down those better than me, but!! Man that fight between Wolfwood and Ninelives was raw--I want if he used a vial off-screen during that fight, because Ninelives took a lot of hits and Wolfwood looked pretty bad off by the end, almost more from exhaustion than injuries. That makes sense, when you're fighting someone who just doesn't die, honestly. But I absolutely adored the Meryl and Milly clutch at the end, saving Wolfwood right at the moment where Ninelives came back yet again but Wolfwood was just too exhausted to fight him. He seemed resigned in that moment, but thankfully, the women showed up to help.

And then the fight between Emilio and Vash... Man, this one fucking gets me. The fact he had actual people scattered in with the puppets, meaning Vash couldn't ever take the first shot and then wound up accidentally hurting someone, who he then had to protect through the rest of the fight (and man, carrying around an unconscious, injured person while fighting is not easy). The fact he knew Emilio, too--Vash truly does not forget a face, and man, him trying to appeal to and save Emilio despite all the horrid things Emilio had done to the people Vash cared about... The fact the ship lost 170 people in that attack, man... Really, Emilio targeting Vash's home, trying to force him into a position where he picks between a child he met and his home, trying to force him to kill the people mixed in with the puppets or be forced into constant disadvantaged states within the fight... Using the faces of the very people Vash cares for to hurt him... Man, this was a rough fight. Kind of glad we got the hospital yuri arc after to give them a moment of rest. More under the cut!

We also get confirmation that Doc (or sensei, in this translation) was one of the people who found Vash 70 years ago, meaning there was about 80 years between the Fall and their meeting. Vash also noted that Doc was included among the puppets, and Luida dodges the question when Vash asks after him. From Vash's expression after she leaves... Yeah, Doc was probably one of the 170 who died in the attack.

I did also really like the conversation between Vash and Wolfwood, where Vash thanks Wolfwood for his helps. Wolfwood is confused because he killed, so of course he's going to assume Vash would be angry with him for it--but Vash just notes he couldn't have protected the ship without Wolfwood, and that he was sorry for burdening Wolfwood with his feelings. So I think that's Vash's way of saying he doesn't blame or judge Wolfwood, since he knows he's doing the best he can under his circumstances, and it's not fair to always hold others to Vash's own incredibly strict standards (which he cannot even live up to himself). I really liked that, because Vash had forgiven many things which feel unforgivable and tried to help people who've done some pretty heinous things (see: Emilio), so it'd feel weird if he was constantly chewing into Wolfwood over it. I think it shows that, even if they have their ideological differences, they are able to meet at a middle ground and understand and be grateful for one another.

And then we also get Wolfwood's thoughts on Vash! He hears about Vash's history from Luida, gets confirmation he isn't human, but also learns that Vash remembers every single name and face of every single person he's met. Luida comments that Vash has only ever done kind things with his long, long life--and that impossibly fond look Wolfwood gives Vash, even knowing he isn't human now... Man, that hits me right in the fucking feels.

I also adored Vash bringing Meryl and Milly out to the cryosleep pods, a place he holds dear and is very drawn to... I love him getting those little moments with them, it's very sweet.

[concussed-to-pieces]

Wolves At The Door; Part Three

Fandom: Resident Evil [Village]

Pairing: Eventual Karl Heisenberg/AFAB!Reader

Rating: Holy shit M.

Summary: "No." You whispered, your hold on the knife’s hilt tightening. "No, I-I don't want you to come any nearer."

A/N: FIGHT SCENE FIGHT SCENE! I'd like to thank you all for reading thus far, you're The Best <3 I will be taking a small break after this, due to a vacation. I'll see you all on the 11th! Enjoy!

Tag List: @spoopyredacted @cookiethewriter @amneris21 @topgirl17 @vodkafolie @stargazerofgoldenwords @a-smol-witch @baby-lisuga @clockworkmidnight @calwitch @silver-quinn01 @velvet-paradox @hijackser @mrs-wolfwood @nonstop-haikyuu @mic-sunderland @somethingthatsaysbubbles @fullofmoonsandstars @thirstworldproblemss @karlskitten @imthegreenfairy86 @nitrogennightmare @chunnies

Prelude

Part One

Part Two

[!TRIGGER WARNING!: This installment contains mentions of blood, canon-typical violence, gratuitous violence and graphic depictions of mental and physical duress. Stay safe!]

"You will regret this." The Duke warned him, his smile vanishing at Heisenberg's demand.

"I don't care," Karl insisted, his fingers still twisted into the larger man's shirt collar. "I can't keep going on like this, not without knowing if I'm-" broken a danger bad person "--if I'm someone who would…do something I shouldn't."

The merchant, for whatever reason, insisted on continuing, "This will not endear you to them, my Lord."

"I don't know why the hell you think I'm doing this for them!" Heisenberg snapped angrily. "I'm tired of not fucking knowing what I'm–I just feel like I'm always waiting, anticipating something awful. I've had enough."

A large finger landed between his brows, the Duke bearing an uncharacteristically serious expression. "I am sorry for this, Lord Heisenberg."

Darkness overcame Karl then, as well as a chill like the sun had been suddenly switched off.

…

"Mr. Duke! It's good to see you. I wasn't sure if you were alright, it's been so long since you've come by!" You exclaimed, still wiping your hands dry with an old towel as you made your way to the fenceline. "You'll have to fill me in."

The Duke, for his part, looked unchanged. A bit more sweaty perhaps, but that could be chalked up to the rigors of just existing in such a unique body. You saw his eyes dart to your houseguest and you got the sudden impression that you may have interrupted something. The large man staunchly denied this when you asked though, his laugh just as jovial as always. Maybe you had misinterpreted the situation?

If looks could kill, however, it seemed the Duke would be quite done for. Karl was glaring holes through the merchant, striking green eyes narrowed to angry slits. That look alone could make anyone nervous!

"I noticed my talismans have gone missing, my dear. Has something happened?" The Duke's inquiry was smooth, almost bland. 

"They just started crumbling one day. I guess the elements finally got to them?" 

The Duke's expression shifted strangely and once again his eyes darted to Heisenberg. But all he said was, "how curious," then started rummaging in the drawers that framed his corpulent form. 

"I'm sorry, I don't have-"

"I told you," the Duke interrupted, his smile a bit sharper, "it's all part of our first-class customer service!" He gestured vaguely with one large hand, placing the small bundles of herbs and flowers down on his thigh. "If nothing else, take these as my thanks for nursing the Lord back to health. He certainly seems a changed man from when we last met." You heard Karl growl, muttering something under his breath that made the Duke chuckle coldly. "Now now, let's not say things we don't mean. I'm being sincere! I am glad you and the Lord Heisenberg are on such good terms. Why, he's almost tame."

…

There had been a great shattering, a terrible rending in his mind the likes of which he had never experienced before. The stress and mania that had driven him doggedly onward collapsed in upon itself after Ethan's final assault, as though the strain of both his transformation and the fight was too much for his body and mind to handle. Karl could just barely recall feeling himself fraying, his soul being torn apart at the seams like he was an ugly garment in the hands of the world's most negligent tailor.

Miranda would love that. Let that bitch pick out every stitch so she could make me into something useful, something controllable.

Maybe it was that bitterness that kept him breathing. Bitter spite and hatred, a parasitic leech just as much as the creature that throbbed uneasily in his gut. Cadou, finally a name for the feeling, the tension, the parasite that clung to his broken body and demanded him to rise, demanded him to fight and kill anew to keep it alive. Karl was exactly what he had feared and suspected all along: a freak.

While the Duke sat there complacent, chuckling, Heisenberg could only seethe internally. The obese merchant finally leaned forward, his smile distinctly oily. "I'd advise the two of you to turn in early for the evening. A storm is coming."

"Thanks for the tip." Heisenberg said through gritted teeth.

"Do you have anything new to show me?" The excitement in your voice threw Karl off a bit, as did the Duke's smirking reply of, "Naturally, my dear!"

Apparently it had been a busy few months for the merchant, because he immediately started pulling out (allegedly) new trinkets to show you. Each item he proudly displayed, however, set Heisenberg more and more on edge. Crystalline objects, fragile and frail, covered in sharp edges and scenting the air lightly with decay. Something about them had that wrongness, that Uncanny Valley sheen, as well as a hideous familiarity. 

Finally Karl said faintly, "I'm going to head back in." His head was swimming, mind struggling to sort through lifetimes of memories and it felt like his entire body was throbbing with his pulse. "You two have fun catching up."

"But my Lord-" the Duke protested, extending the protective talismans to Karl with a guileless expression. "-I had hoped you would hang these along the fenceline for me. I would do it myself, of course, but it's been so long since I've had a customer to show my wares." His eyes twinkled with the silent joke; he knew damn well that touching those things was bad news for Karl. Go on, big man, the Duke's smug gaze seemed to say, go on and reveal yourself.

Karl's glare reached a nuclear temperature, his mood rapidly swinging from discomfort to infuriation at being toyed with. This colossal fuck knew exactly what he was capable of! As usual, the Duke's audacity was exclusively outweighed by his mass.

But you were smiling, you looked so excited to see what else the Duke would show you.

Damn it all to hell.

Karl dug around in the pocket of his jacket, pulling out his gloves and gracelessly yanking them on before holding out a hand to take the charms. 

The Duke's smile never wavered once.

…

"It is odd, seeing the change in him." The Duke commented, turning a human torso that may have been carved from quartz this way and that to show you how the light caught it. "You certainly did more than your share of work, my dear."

"I don't understand." You replied, a little confused. "It hasn't been too hard. Only issue was keeping bread in the house."

"Can we claim his essence restored by mere gluten?" The Duke fixed you with a look that made you uncomfortable, his normally good-natured expression gone serious. "I doubt that, but I am open to breakthroughs in science."

"Do you mean I helped raise his spirits or something?" When the obese man shook his head, you shrugged. "I haven't really done much except put that gunk that you gave me onto his wounds and endured his company. If anything he's been helping me out! Got to get a few things done that I couldn't manage myself." 

"Very curious," the Duke mused, his attention seeming to have moved on to the odd combination of gears and crystals that he was currently showing you. It looked almost like a half-metal heart encased in white crystal and you marveled at the craftsmanship of it. "Lord Heisenberg has allowed himself to be domesticated. The Lady Dimitrescu would have a fit if she were still around."

His words didn't register until a moment later, making your brow furrow. Unfortunately the large merchant didn't appear to be in an expansive mood, whatever further queries you had being easily deflected or outright ignored.

…

Miranda. 

Karl tried to focus on something aside from the fact that his entire left hand was going numb. 

The constant fury he felt at that self-styled mother's attempted manipulation of him would do, so he began to reminisce. Though his mind was not entirely whole, Heisenberg could still remember his disdain for the haughty woman. She had always looked at him with such blatant calculation in her eyes; he had to commend her for the consistency of that gaze. Karl wondered sometimes if she practiced it in front of the mirror. How his ‘siblings�� had never seen her manipulation…

"Sore loser," his own voice echoed back to him through his memories and he scoffed, yanking the knot tight on the twine. Another charm secure. The little talismans were made of monkshood and nondescript twigs of some evergreen plant, all braided together with a few stalks of what seemed to be wheat and then fashioned into a tidy wreath. The numbness in his hand vanished once he released the charm, now replaced by an unpleasant burning. He could see spidery black tendrils making their way up his arm from beneath the glove, following the path of his veins to spread that burning sensation. Aside from that, though, Karl felt nothing. Was his fury truly slow to come, or did he just not care anymore? 

He slowed to a halt, resting his weight on the fence as he stared down at it. He almost wanted to will himself to be upset, get worked up, something for the sake of familiarity. This calm…acceptance, it didn't seem like him. The Duke had said Miranda was 'taken care of'. No doubt Ethan had fistfought the feathery bitch himself.

Dimitrescu, then, Karl decided, she could always piss me off, that colossal cunt. The anger was so faint it was barely annoyance. The weird little doll? Indifference. Moreau. Pity. 

Pity?! 

Was his throat closing up?! He was either flashing over or having some sort of allergic reaction to the talismans, he reasoned desperately. That was the only explanation for his strange response. Heisenberg pulled away from the fence, taking a few healthy steps backwards. He abruptly felt the hairs raise on the back of his neck and the Lord reached out to grab the maul, realizing at that moment that he had left it by the cart. Come on!

A body crashed into his back and Karl almost toppled, only just managing to brace himself on a fencepost. Sharp teeth grazed his arm, the combined scent of wet dog and iron nearly strong enough to make Heisenberg retch. Without a second thought Karl yanked the charm off the post and jammed his entire fist into the thing's mouth, hearing it start to choke and gag right next to his ear. 

The maul arrived, flying through the air like the weapon of some old Norse god. Karl seized it with his free hand, swinging it around to pulverize the…lycan, lycan, shit, he had forgotten. Its skull caved beneath the maul's blunted edge and Heisenberg quickly shoved the body to the side as it twitched its last.

There were more of them. A lot more of them, a pack of mangled humanoids spilling out from beneath the trees to yowl and bay at him. The body at his feet began to crystallize, the familiar scent of death wafting up to greet him like an old friend. Memories started to bleed in at the sides of his vision: dark, wispy vignettes of the man he was, the monster he really was.

I think bare minimum I've done some real bad things. 

He had been so desperate for reassurance without even knowing why, groping unlit through the halls of his memories as a stranger. It had been better for a while, what was shoved into the back of his mind to let him play fucking pretend at being human, at this new life with you.

Just like Miranda with her fake little family.

Heisenberg drew himself up to his full height, narrowing his eyes and roaring "shut your fucking holes!", immensely gratified when the cacophony immediately quieted. 

Unfortunately, the uneasy silence was then broken by a scream. A scream of his name. And the lycans, obviously sensing Karl's momentary distraction, peeled away to head for the source of the noise.

…

"Karl!" You cried, the terrible din you had heard seconds before still ringing in your ears.

"Oh dear," the Duke remarked blithely, "I may have been too late." He shrugged after a moment, passing you another charm. "Well, I hurried as best as I could." The massive merchant then clicked his tongue once and the seemingly too-small horse began to pull the cart down the road once more. "Good luck, my dear. Remember what I said about the weather!" He called with a wave.

"You've gotta' be kidding me!" You yelled after him incredulously, the talisman clutched tightly in your grasp. All you heard in reply was faint chuckling. You gritted your teeth, turning on your heel. "Karl!" You shouted again, starting across the yard. You could hear muffled yowling coming from behind the cabin, out past the back fenceline, so with your heart in your throat you carried onward. You hoped and prayed it was just a bobcat that Karl had spooked, you're overreacting, everything is fine. You did make a brief pit stop to pick up your kindling knife from the basket on the porch, staunchly refusing to think about what you could possibly need it for. 

Upon turning the corner of the house, however, you came face to face with some…thing, some awful thing with sharp teeth and a hunched humanoid body. You froze and so did it, before it bared its filthy, blackened maw and snarled at you. 

Oh, it's going to kill me. The thought was so certain it almost surprised you. Really, what else could happen? Fuck, it's going to kill me. You backed away, holding the knife in front of you in a desperate bid to keep the creature at bay. For some reason it actually seemed to be working, the weird wolf-man snapping its teeth at the air in evident frustration. Well, it was either that or the Duke's charm that you had slipped around your wrist, but you weren't about to start questioning your luck.

A projectile whipped past your head from behind you, the mass of it disturbing the air enough to emit a faint whistle. It was the maul, its dull blade slamming into the face of the lycan and bending it nearly in half before it collapsed like a deflating balloon. 

"You stay the hell away from them, you mangy rat!" Karl spat, his gaze full of fury as he rounded the house coming from the other direction. It may not have been aimed at you, but his rage was still absolutely terrifying to witness. Your knees began to tremble, threatening to dump you onto the ground. Heisenberg suddenly seemed larger than life and extremely dangerous, voice booming and eyes ablaze with a malice you had never seen. The man tore the maul free with a sickening crunch, shaking some of the gore off. "You alright?"

You realized he was addressing you, still coming closer at that too-fast pace and you floundered to nod, opening your mouth to say something, yes I'm fine and don't come near me you're scaring me and what's going on. No words came out, though. When had he gotten so big? It was as though someone else had taken over his body, someone self-assured, someone…

Was this how he had been before?

Karl stopped dead two feet away, the man huffing out an irritated breath. "Oh, you've got one of those charms." He slung the maul over one shoulder, holding out a gloved hand. "Here, give it so I can close the loop on this fence." There were holes torn in the glove, ragged punctures. Bite marks.

"No." You whispered, your hold on the knife’s hilt tightening. "No, I-I don't want you to come any nearer." What did the Duke do to him? 

Karl's brow furrowed, but he soldered on, reasoning, "There's more of the freaks out there, sugar. We don't have the whole fence covered, I need that last charm." 

"Please, don't…look, I don't want to hurt you and you're scaring me right now." You got the feeling the blade you had was about as threatening as a butter knife to the large man, but you held firm. 

Cornered dogs bite. He had called you sugar, his voice low and urgent. Surely it was still him in there if he was using the silly pet name he had decided upon for you. This was all so confusing.

"The lycans don't give a shit about whether you're scared, sugar! They aren't gonna' wait around for us to sort things out, they're coming!" Heisenberg snapped roughly, glancing back over his shoulder. "Fuck's sake! I'm not at full bore and if something gets you because I'm out of it, I'd-" He hesitated, then huffed through gritted teeth instead of finishing the sentence. "Alright, fine, I'm not coming any closer, we'll just do it together then. Stay by me. Devil you know, right?" He instructed, that fierce gaze softening a bit. "Nothing will get you while I'm here."

What if you're the thing I'm worried about? you wondered privately. 

…

You were looking at him like he was a monster. You were looking at him like he was a horrible, terrible monster, that trashy Bowie knife you used to shave kindling chips clutched in your trembling hands, leveled at his gut. You're scaring me right now.

And Karl couldn't even deny it because holy shit he was, he had been, he might still be. Oh God, no wonder the Duke told him it was an awful idea. He wanted to throw up, but that may have been due to the closeness of the talisman. Anti-mold measures or just another silver bullet in the magazine?

At least now he knew, as crushing as that particular burden of knowledge was. At least he knew. It was oddly freeing to be that self-fulfilling prophecy for once. 

You ended up hovering nervously at his elbow, the proximity of the charm a constant, nagging throb at the apex of his spine. But he could keep track of you that way. 

"The lycans are wary." Karl informed you, not really sure why he did so. "They know who I am but they're not particularly good listeners." 

"Something you have in common." You retorted.

Karl shrugged, feeling his glove slide down his mangled fingers before he tugged it back into place. "I'd like to think I've improved." He glared at the forms he could see surging along the edges of the treeline, brandishing the maul in silent threat. Come on, you rabid little shits.

Not a single one left the safety of the woods, however they did keep up their noise. Howling and shrieking, the pack followed the two of you closely. They're waiting for us to place the last charm, Heisenberg realized, his brow furrowing. They'll strike then before we can get back inside the fenceline. 

"I need you to be ready to run once you tack down that last talisman." He muttered out the side of his mouth, relieved when you nodded. "Don't worry about me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

His laugh was coarse and joyless. He had been a naive idiot to think he even had a chance at any sort of quiet life, but he was more irritated with himself over being so affected by the disappointment. Now was not the time to wish to turn back the clock.

You broke away from him by running ahead, your attention clearly fixed on the section of fencing that lacked an oh-so-familiar charm. Karl watched you slide the talisman off your wrist, and at the same time he could see the pack of lycans appear to muster themselves for a full-scale assault. 

Heisenberg's eyes narrowed and the man bolted forward, sending the maul ahead of him as he went. "It needs to go on the outside of the fence! I'll cover you!" 

…

You yanked open the gate with single-minded intent, only to see the maul go sailing into the teeming swarm of bodies in front of you, Karl close behind announcing that he would 'cover you'. As you turned to watch him go, a massive lycan broke away from the edge of the pack and headed straight for you, fingers clawing at the dirt for traction.

You fumbled to attach the charm, hanging it on the rusted nail still in the fence post and then smashing the top of the nail with the butt of your knife to fold it over onto itself. Mission accomplished, you rushed to get back inside the safety of the fenceline, but it was too late. A paw-like hand caught your ankle, tripping you up and causing you to strike your head hard on the gate.

The world swam in front of your eyes, a combination of reflex tears and being dragged along the ground by your leg at a dizzying pace. You began to struggle, kicking desperately at the face of the creature in an effort to free yourself from its clutches. The lycan dropped your leg, choosing instead to bat aside the kicks you aimed at it and lunge for your face with a garbled howl.

You didn't even have the time to think and so you slammed your eyes shut, bracing the knife you still held against your body in an effort to at least wound the lycan. 

But it didn't come. The weight of the beast on your chest just…vanished, its roar choking off abruptly.

When you dared to open your eyes again, you were greeted by the sight of Karl holding up the lycan by its throat, the man clearly crushing its windpipe. Judging by the way it was thrashing, it didn't have much longer. Heisenberg didn't say a single word, the man simply grunting with effort as he gave the beast a final shake to cleanly snap its neck. He then threw the body down, broadening his stance and squaring his shoulders with a furious grin on his face.

"Fuck off!" He roared at the remaining pack, now significantly thinned and yelping. "You stay the hell away from here, or I'll wipe out every last one of you!" The maul flew through the air and he caught it, swinging it one-handed. It was dripping with some kind of black fluid. "You won't cross that fenceline!"

After a few moments of what seemed to be a snarling back-and-forth with Heisenberg and one another, the surviving creatures sulkily limped back into the woods in defeat. They left nothing behind but crystallized remains of their kin and, as rain slowly started to fall, even those began to dissolve into the soil. 

Karl closed the gate, the man slowly latching it with the worn wire twisted around the post.

You were still on the ground, the knife pressed to your chest as you shivered and tried to catch your breath. You couldn't recall another day in your life that you had been so certain about your own death. Somehow all you'd ended up with was a few scrapes on your shin and a tender spot on your head from the gate.

Heisenberg swayed, propping himself up on the fence with one elbow. The maul dropped from his grasp as he panted for air, the man's scarred complexion gone so pale it was nearly green. He tried to say something, but ended up dry heaving instead. After taking a few staggering steps back from the fence, he unceremoniously collapsed onto his side.

You only hesitated momentarily before you scrambled forward, your caution thrown to the wind. It was as if watching him fight had somehow removed whatever threat you had felt before, the notion wholly gone from your mind. It was oxymoronic, but firmly embedded that the two of you were on the same side. He saved you.

The man gazed dully upwards at you or someplace past your shoulder, his breathing coming in sharp, hitchy bursts. "Hurt-" he managed to wheeze, shaking the glove off of his hand to display blackened flesh radiating from a tearing bite wound on the palm. He then gave a thumbs up with the mangled appendage, choking out, "--be okay." 

You noticed blood darkening a section of his trousers by his hip and you jerked his tattered coat back, revealing several more wounds. At least two of the lycans had ripped into the back of his thigh, like they were trying to hamstring him. The purpling, bruised bites ran down his leg and there was even a large chunk missing from the top of his boot. You hissed in dismay at the whole scene, feeling nauseous and terrified.

"We need to get you out of the rain," you said finally, your stomach in knots. Karl waved you off while pffting out a breath but you essentially ignored him, pulling his good hand to haul his arm up over your shoulders. "C'mon, use whatever's left of your legs." 

The man coughed out a laugh at that, then obliged you to the best of his ability. It was a struggle, but the two of you managed to get him upright. All there was left was the slow trek back to the cabin, and Jesus was it slow. Karl could barely put one foot in front of the other, the man dragging his wounded leg and the maul behind him as he leaned on you, nevermind your own legs still shaking from adrenaline.

"Why did you do that?" You asked finally, blinking the rain out of your eyes. 

"Whuh."

"You know what." The only reply you got was silence, followed by a clumsy little pat on the cheek. You supposed you would have to ask later.

…

The fresh talismans gave Karl the sensation of being in the eye of a storm. A maelstrom of energy swirled around the fenceline in a disorienting spiral, but it couldn't touch him in here. The drunken stumbling was more due to the injuries he had sustained, his steps unsteady and head hanging. This weakness was incredible, it was so similar to how he had been right after he had lost to Ethan. Laying there in the dirt with the rain pouring down on him, uncertain of what had just happened, where he was, every shattered breath in his body seeming like it could be his last.

"Come, my Lord. You seem to have fallen ill." 

You had said that the Duke was the one who brought him to you for aid. He barely remembered bits and pieces of the ride, only roused to consciousness from pain when he was jostled. 

His forehead knocked into yours and he slurred out an apology, realizing you needed him to walk up the porch steps. And walk up them he did, his leg already feeling a little less terrible. Parasite perks, the alliteration tickling him far more than it ought to have. He actually managed to hobble through the doorway unassisted, performing an odd skipping hop to do so and dropping the maul beside the doorframe. 

Once inside you collapsed on the couch, your whole body trembling. "Thought I was gonna' die." You finally said. Heisenberg continued to hover awkwardly on one leg, shoring himself up by placing a hand onto one of the ceiling crossbeams as you seemed to gather your thoughts. "I mean I thought that was it, game over. Holy shit, that was terrifying." You looked up at him, radiating incredulity as you asked, "how the hell did you just handle them?"

Karl shrugged, a bad habit he felt he could attribute to you. "It's all I've known for most of my life." It was a garbage explanation for all its truth and he knew that, but you weren't exactly in a fantastic headspace at the moment. Neither was he for that matter, he was still weak and a little queasy. Better to let sleeping dogs lie, let you calm down and regain some peace of mind. Lycans were normal to him, sure, but you'd only seen them in half light and hadn't even seemed to believe they actually existed until today. 

You put your face in your hands, exhaling deeply. You then moved to rise but Karl halted you with a hand on your shoulder, and he was silently dismayed at the fact that he could still feel you shaking.

"Stay put." He tried to gentle his tone, make it a little less gruff. "That was a lot. Just rest. You want some water?"

You hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah." You caught his hand before he could turn away, seeming confused. "How are you even walking? Your leg was-" "Something in me is real invested in keeping my body in one piece." Karl patted your hand, attempting to smile and failing miserably. "Lemme' get you that drink."

Part Four

[yuhi-san]

Hospital yuri be on my yay! Vol 4 lots going on in the few first pages already.

Floppy haired vash is so adorable omg

Them making contact all of a sudden just then felt a little abrupt but good for them! Of course knives has to ruin it. Makes you wonder just how much he notices and knows of things going on.

Wolfwood oh man. I think its easy to miss how much time he spends just trying to keep it together and to adjust to all the curveballs hes thrown ever since he met vash. I think that deserves his own post eventually but he is not having a great time. But his reaction to the satelit and them making contact is really telling. His “will we be saved? Us…?” speaks volumes about ww. I think it shows how little hope for the future he really has. He can’t think much further than surviving tomorrow and maybe, if he’s lucky and smart and ruthless enough, keeping the children save for a little longer. But its clear he didn’t believe that there truly could be a future, let alone a good one. he has so very little hope abiut that but at the same time he wants to hope so, so badly, if not for himself then at least for the kids. And ouch that hurts.

Vash trying to sneak off alone, thinking he has to do it all alone. Of course he does. One day you will be at the receiving end and it wont be fun.

Ohh midvalley. Still very intrigued by him. But on the same note, what an unhinged first impression you give knives. But anyway  I think midvalley is actually a lot like Wolfwood. At least in the sense that he is very, very terrified but also has a very good intuition for a situation and danger. He also clearly does not want to be involved in this insanity, less out of a sense of morality but self-preservation. He can feel in his bones how evil and dangerous knives is and he really, really rather not cross his path again but what would be worse is getting on his bad side, so. I guess in a way midvalley is in a very futile situation, not too much unlike Wolfwood. Makes me wanna see an au where midvalley switches sides, if for no other reason than thinking this is more likely to keep him alive. Him and Wolfwood would be so interestig

Well knives seems confident Wolfwood is doing exactly what he wants. Though I’m not sure if that is because knives is so certain about ‘chapels’ loyalty (to the children, that is) or if he thinks it doesn’t really matter how it plays out either way as no matter what, he IS guiding vash and also it IS going to cause him so much pain regardless on how it goes down. Also not sure he even knows ww is the wrong chapel. On one hand, knives is meticulous and damn smart on the other hand I can see him not giving enough of a fuck to realize or maybe worry about it.

Vash and Wolfwood are soo dumb. How are they not dead. Bless milly and meryl. What absolute idiots. Especially vash. you traveled the desert for over a century, you should not make mistakes like that!!

It may be short but some badass milly and meryl moments! Man does meryl look mad. It reminds you that if they are not dealing with basically superpowered people, these two girls are not ones you want to mess with

Wolfwood waving at milly and und the horrified face he makes when she starts crying is so funny. He was just saying hi!!

Goddamn vash is mad and ready to strangle zazie, I’d say with the way he jumped at him (which went great. That was some hilarious rodeo of a worm vash)

It probably wouldn’t have worked out well but man I have no doubt milly would have shot ww. Shes so determinate I love her.

Lots and lots going on. The action and dialog is sometimes a little hard to follow to me. The missle Wolfwood shot into the sky. What was that for? Or was that the same one that hit between vash and hopperd?

Knives. We get to see him some through midvalleys eyes but there is also the shot of vash with a black eye stumbling after him while knives looks… displeased and uncaring at best. And we’ll see how my opinion evolves but I do think already then, knives was rotten to the core with no sympathy and love left. I do not at all think he is a case of born evil or anything. Knives very much was a victim of the circumstances. But what I do think is the whole tesla situation and all broke his innocent mind to a point where for him, there was never a chance of healing, no matter the course his life would have taken. You know what I mean? Maybe I’ll get more into that in another post.

[feniverse-unfiltered]

FenWood HCs for the “Of the Divine” AU 🕊️

(This is part of a Fallen Angel!Vash AU (Fen finds Vash in an abandoned church and gets wrapped up in supernatural shenanigans) HOWEVER this particular post is about the relationship between Fen (OC) & Wolfwood (Trigun), aka “FenWood”)

How they met: They met in college, during Fen’s sophomore year (she transferred from out of state). She had made fast friends with Meryl and Milly (both juniors) at a welcome party and one day went over to their shared townhouse to hang out only to find that they had left to deal with an emergency assignment (the joy of being a journalism major) but ended up meeting and becoming fast friends with their housemate: Nicholas D. Wolfwood (a theology student)

History: They dated for 2.5 years (got together sometime during Fen’s junior year) but eventually decided they were better as friends/had too different ideas for life paths, so they mutually broke up.

Current status: they’re still really close even to this day and still care about each other deeply, but they’re not “together” and have no plans or intentions of being romantically involved That being said, their relationship could be seen as a QPR, and many people still do assume that they’re together or a couple, but they’re not and they don’t see the need to label

Putting the rest of these under a cut cause it got LONG

———————

Nicknames/pet names: More of a Wolfwood thing than a Fen thing. Fen sometimes teasingly calls him her guard dog or “wolf”, or “Nico” (more on that later). Wolfwood on the other hand has MANY more names for her, such as Curls, Sunshine, Bug, and Sophomore (a name that is continually used even well after they’re well out of college). As far as pet names go, Wolfwood has a tendency to cycle through a number of them, but he has a soft spot for “sweetheart”.

The significance of names: they use each other’s given names (or in Fen’s case a variation of Wolfwood’s given name) to indicate when something needs to be taken more seriously. In Wolfwood’s case, if he and Fen are in an argument about something and she doesn’t seem to be listening or taking into account his concerns he’ll drop a “Marlowe” in the conversation to emphasize the significance and sincerity of what it is he’s trying to say or kind of as a warning (ie “you’re not listening to what I’m saying and I need you to”/“I need you to understand”) For Fen, she discovered that one of Wolfwood’s childhood nicknames was Nico, a name that only a select few are allowed to refer to him as. (She like to refer to it as “Nico privileges”, and tries to only use it in private/is careful to still call him Wolfwood when they’re with others). Sometimes she’ll use his given name as a warning (for him to calm down/indicate that he’s taking something too far), but she more often uses it in an amiable and sincere way. It really depends on tone and context. However no matter the context or how often she uses it Wolfwood ALWAYS pauses and feels his heart stutter. Wolfwood sometimes calls her "Mar" in the same vein

Love languages (Wolfwood): Wolfwood is very much an “acts of service” person, which works well for Fen since she can struggle to take care of herself sometimes, especially during really bad mental health periods. He’ll always go out of his way to help her and check in on her to make sure she’s okay (“I’ll cook” “have you taken your meds”, “I can drive you to the store”, “I’ll be there for you no matter what”) He pretends to grumble and groan about it, but deep down he really does cares about her and wants to help her in any way he can.

Love languages (Fen): Fen’s primary love language is gift giving, both in the tangible and abstract sense. Wolfwood has an assortment of things that Fen has given him over the years (things that she’s found that remind her of him) that range from various rocks that she’s found on hikes, to collections of sticky notes, to lists of songs. He’s lost track at this point of how many “practical” gifts she’s given him (things like a new pen or paying for lunch/other small acts of generosity)

Lesser known love languages: When Fen is comfortable with someone she will talk their ear off about whatever it is that catches her interest at the time, or any of her other interests (don’t get her started on semantics, but also please do). She’s also just a whirlpool of various fun facts and info which she’s always happy to share with anyone who’ll listen, better yet even when somebody willingly will discuss and have a conversation with her on it (which Wolfwood does, he finds her exuberance amusing. If he sees her looking down or a little put out he'll ask if she's learned any new bug facts lately, and she'll happily jump into the topic) Additionally, these two love to banter over the dumbest things. With Wolfwood, it’s not that much of a surprise. He doesn’t mind being antagonistic, sometimes it seems like he even enjoys it and is purposefully picking fights with everyone he meets. But for Fen “will run and hide at even a whiff of potential conflict” Holloway, this is incredibly out of left field. When they first met it definitely took awhile for Fen to adjust to Wolfwood’s incendiary attitude, but she adapted and now even enjoys getting into pointless arguments with him. She finds it refreshing to be able to “argue” with someone without fear of coming off as annoying or worrying that she’s blowing things out of proportions. Wolfwood also just likes a challenge, and enjoys being able to have some back and forth (especially with someone like Fen who takes awhile to really come out of her shell, he’s honestly proud when she’s able to snap back at him)

Family (Wolfwood): These two definitely don’t have the most… positive family life. Fen still isn’t entirely sure if Wolfwood’s biological parents are still around or if they’re just estranged, or if he even had any form of guardianship growing up. He’s not too keen to talk about it, and she doesn’t press. But she has met his foster brother Livio, and they get along well.

Family (Fen): Wolfwood has met Fen’s family a couple times now, her mom actually still texts him every now and again to see how Fen is doing (Fen hates this), but he’s not the biggest fan. Her family is pretty split on either absolutely loving him (her mom and elder sister) or hating him (her dad, other sister, and brother), given that he’s a very charming guy (going into ministry, so even Christian to boot!) but he can also be such an antagonistic asshole when he wants to be. It drives them (her dad and brother) nuts. He’s talked with Fen multiple times about her life growing up and the many… challenges that she faced (Aka being a VERY neurodivergent kid in a neurodivergent stigmatized household) and how they’re still affecting her now. If it were him, he would’ve gone no contact with her family as soon as he had left the house, but Fen is too much of a people pleaser to ever do that.

Touch: Fen is fairly touch averse, she likes her own space and doesn’t like feeling crowded. Wolfwood however is a causal touch guy, so this was another thing they took awhile to figure out in the beginning stages of their relationship (both pre and during dating). However over time Fen became more accustomed to it (it’s just different when it’s somebody you care about and like being around, Yknow?). She doesn’t mind as much now and will sometimes even willingly seek out physical contact, although these instances are far and few between. (Like how Fen has her “Nico privileges”, Wolfwood has “contact privileges”, in that he can get away with much more than most when it comes to Fen’s personal space. Although he’s very mindful about this and always makes sure to check boundaries, as what Fen is okay with changes from day to day/situation to situation)

FOR EXAMPLE: Fen has a sensitivity to loud noises, which makes thunderstorms a REAL bitch. Most days she’s able to manage (the thunder will make her feel nervous/put her on edge but otherwise she’ll be fine and can get through it without issue, headphones help) but some days are worse than other. Much much worse. (Think: total mental breakdown/panic attack.) And in these cases, if anybody else were to try and touch her while she was having an episode she’d just start panicking even more. However Nico Wolfwood is maybe the only person who can be near her without her collapsing even further into a breakdown, and it actually comforts her significantly when he’s there beside her, it makes her feel safe. An additional note: From the giving end, Fen is incredibly more casual about casual physical contact with Wolfwood than she is with anybody else. Like she will go out of her way to bump shoulders or mess with his hair or even randomly hug him (although most times she does this just for the sake of being annoying but wolfwood will take what he can get)

Cuddling: Again, Fen likes her space so they didn’t/don’t cuddle often. They’re still casual enough that if one of them spends the night they’ll just share the bed. But anyways, because of height differences Wolfwood is usually the big spoon by default (cause Fen is all of 159 cm 😭 and he’s at least 180cm). But Wolfwood really enjoys being the little spoon, he’d never openly admit it, but he does.

General sleep HCs: Wolfwood is a light sleeper, and actually pretty conscientious in his sleep. In comparison, Fen is a heavy sleeper (once she’s able to actually fall asleep that is, she struggles with insomnia but that’s a story for another day!) and once she’s out she is OUT. When sharing a bed, Fen starts off as a very stiff and anxious sleeper (like she's trying her absolute hardest to take up as little space as possible/trying not to move too much or make too much noise) but once she finally conks out she becomes a more... active sleeper (moves around A LOT). There's been a couple of times where she has socked Wolfwood in the jaw in her sleep, he doesn't let her live those moments down.

In conclusion: they love each other so so much it’s unreal

[eventheodds]

She has half a mind to reach up and grab hold of his chin in a silent gesture to get him to stop grinding his teeth, but the exhalation of breath does that for her as she considers what they will be doing next.

There is without a doubt that her and Wolfwood coming into that town, spotting him when they did, and convincing Vash to come with was the better option than anything else. Meryl had seen the wanted posters plastered all over bulletin boards and on the walls of saloons and inns. The money for capture would entice anyone to go looking to bring that bounty home.

She accepts the ruffling of her hair with as much grace as she’s willing to muster whenever he’s done it—which has been often because she’s predictable in ways that allows him to push her buttons. With her own put-upon sigh, like him moving from their position was such a chore and that she wanted to stay out here for a little while longer, Meryl stands up and brushes the few errant blades of grass from her backside.

The back of her clothes are slightly stained but since grass is such a novelty, she’s hardly bothered by it. She thinks Luida might find it amusing, Brad might comment about not helping her wash anything to get the stains out, but Meryl walks beside Wolfwood, catching up to him and his long strides.

“God, I really hope we don’t have to pull him out of anything,” she says as the automatic doors hiss open and the stark difference from within the dome met by the crisp and sharp corridor, one of many, that lead through the ship almost makes her stagger as they pass the threshold. 

“He’s probably going to talk his way out of us accompanying him when he decides to leave.”

She and Wolfwood had witnessed Julai themselves—seen what became of the city and the crater it left behind. 

“And if Vash survived…that probably means Knives did too.”

Two sets of footfalls become one as she stops mid step and stands in the centre of this corridor. She remembers the millions of blades coming at her, slicing through the air, ready to end her life just before Vash pulled her to safety, followed by the showdown, brother versus brother, as the sound of blades and bullets echoed throughout the chamber while she hid behind the control desk.

Perhaps the thing that scared her the most was when she was falling from the side of the roof, with nothing to hold onto as her body was prepared to plummet to the city below before Wolfwood caught her.

The bruises have long since healed but at times she’ll feel aches and pains in those same exact spots.

“Whatever comes next, he’s going after Knives.”

She’s looking at Wolfwood with a mixed expression of determination and fear before jogging to catch up so she’s right beside him.

Meryl touches on something that he has been chewing on all the way here, all during their stay on the ship. It has been a constant cadence back of mind. Plangent, despite the elation of finding Vash alive in spite of all of the what-ifs, in spite of everything stacked and arrayed against them.

Thinking has a way of putting a damper on just about any upbeat mood, Wolfwood finds, not that he has any right whatsoever to be thinking of any rosy outcome where he is involved. Even though he is here and ostensibly present in body, he stares off into the sunny middle distance, somewhere between the tree boughs and the sky beyond the dome.

And even if he holds Meryl to his side, he lapses silent, chewing on nothing. Grinding his teeth in simmering silence, he thinks about it.

Considers it.

And then after a few moments he draws a slow, expansive breath, glancing down and aside. As Meryl settles in, he keeps his arm extended and half-bent, a crook still offered in some semblance of comfort. Maybe it helps him too, not that he would admit it.

Probably.

"No, don't think he would've," Nicholas murmurs, and it sounds more like an admission than anything. They took Vash - Eriks - from a peaceful life, but surely they were not the only ones looking. The bounty on his head leapt from six million to sixty billion, astronomical, impossible. Only one organization could pull together that much capital if the bounty is even legitimate. Someone would have found him, and then what?

He knows what.

Exactly what happened. Shot while debasing himself before a false Vash the Stampede to save the family that took him in. They were there to help, at least, for all the good they did.

At least Brad and Luida have the facilities and the faculties to put him back together again.

"Might've been quiet for a minute, but he's the Humanoid Typhoon. 'Course something's gonna happen. Just need to make sure his ass stays alive."

Sure. That's it. That's all.

Distracting himself (and hopefully distracting her), he tilts his wrist to ruffle at her hair.

"C'mon. We should make sure he didn't fall in somewhere."

Whatever that means.

[medea10]

My Review of Trigun

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say this was one of those animes that used to air on Saturday nights back in the day that I would every now and then come across while waiting for either Full Metal Alchemist, InuYasha, or Cowboy Bebop to air. But I never did watch a full episode or know a damn thing about this anime. So I’m just jumping into this anime blindfolded. All I know is that this was Johnny Yong Bosch’s first anime role.

Who is Vash the Stampede?

A frequent question that comes up throughout the series! Rumor has it that he wears a long, red trench coat and sports a Mohawk hairstyle. Some say he’s a notorious lecher. Many recount him shooting up their villages to a pile of rubble just for the heck of it. He has quite the reputation as he has a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head and is often known as the “Humanoid Typhoon”.

In reality, Vash the Stampede is…a bit of a dingus. He just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and things kinda get out of hand. But that doesn’t stop two insurance agents (Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe) from following him around to confirm Vash’s identity and keep his actions to a minimum. At first, it’s hard to tell if he’s a stupid-genius or just flighty and gets lucky one too many times. But when shit goes down, don’t be surprised when you see this doofus get serious.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Okay, what sad company did this use to belong to, Geneon, Bandai, or ADV Films? Oh, Geneon! That means good voice actors from L.A. put in really shitty roles. On the contrary, this was a fairly decent English dub. And on a severely positive note, this was indeed Johnny Yong Bosch’s very first anime role (and a main role at that). This was like fresh off his time as a Power Ranger! And I gotta give props for giving this guy a chance at voice acting. This role was the launching point to what has been a very successful career for Bosch. As for the sub, let’s just say I’m happy any time I get to hear Hiromi Tsuru in something besides Dragon Ball. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Vash is played by Masaya Onosaka (known for Bill on Pokemon, Isaac on Baccano, Jadeite on Sailor Moon, Kero on Cardcaptor Sakura, Leeron on Gurren Lagann, France on Hetalia, and Spandam on One Piece)

*Meryl is played by Hiromi Tsuru (known for Bulma on DBZ, Ukyo on Ranma ½, Yubel on YGO GX, and Mika on Gravitation) [R.I.P.]

*Milly is played by Satsuki Yukino (known for Kagome on InuYasha, Mion/Shion on Higurashi, Tae on Gintama, Amakata on Free!, Hiiragi on Natsume Yuujinchou, Mutsumi on Love Hina, and Yoruichi on Bleach)

ENGLISH CAST: *Vash is played by Johnny Yong Bosch (known for Ichigo on Bleach, Lelouch on Code Geass, Makoto on Free!, Izaya on Durarara, Artemis on Sailor Moon redub, Koizumi on Haruhi Suzumiya, and Yukio on Blue Exorcist)

*Meryl is played by Dorothy Elias-Fahn (known for Kaoru on Rurouni Kenshin, Naru on Love Hina, Tomoe on Rozen Maiden, Hakuei on Magi, Houki on Fushigi Yugi, and Amane on Tenchi Muyo GXP)

*Milly is played by Lia Sargent (known for Dorothy on The Big O and Judy on Cowboy Bebop)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Milly! I don’t need a reason, it’s Milly!

SHIPPING: I didn’t really start thinking about shipping until more than halfway into this series. I thought there might be something between Vash and Meryl, but then again maybe not! Then I saw the backstory of Vash’s “younger days” and falling for the one woman who showed him compassion.

Yes, this is the same woman we consistently see in Vash’s flashbacks, Rem. Ooh boy, it’s one of those stories! So yeah, never mind my thinking with Vash x Meryl ever happening. I feel like Vash will mourn Rem’s death for a long time that I don’t think the whole thing with Meryl will ever work.

And as for Wolfwood x Milly…

FUUUUUUUCK! WHY DID YOU RUIN THIS CUTE COUPLE?!

MILLY WAS HEART-BROKEN!

…At least she got to have one night of passion with Wolfy-boy before the unthinkable happened.

THAT DARN CAT: If you watched this series, you might have noticed a little black cat spotted in nearly every episode. It’s there in the opening theme. It’s there in random places throughout the series. It’s there in the ending theme. What’s up with this cat? Well, there are a lot of theories surrounding this particular cat (or Kuroneko). Some say it’s really Rem inside that cat since you see it in literally every episode around Vash. Others say it’s because the creator of Trigun wanted to just mess with your minds with the kitty walking around in random places and towns. Seriously, it will always appear in every new town Vash and the gang comes across! As an avid cat enthusiast, I’m fine with whatever the result. Just as long as no harm comes to the little Kuroneko.

HALFWAY POINT: Halfway into the series we notice something more when it comes to Mr. Vash the Stampede. First of all, those horrifying scars all over his body! Second, that mysterious girl he often thinks about. I mean, we see flashes of her in the opening sequence. And third, the reason why he never kills. Vash has the ability of causing so much damage when pushed to a breaking point. One of the many reasons why he’s known as the “humanoid typhoon”! And that was perfectly shown when Vash chases the residents out of a town (so there would be no casualties), totally demolished the town during a fight, and made an indent on the moon!

But the story takes a sharp-left turn into WTF territory when we learn about WHAT exactly Vash is. Vash is a plant. Vash also has a brother named Knives. And while Vash has a mentality that all beings have a right to live, Knives has a “kill them all and let God sort them out” point of view. Now the existence of Vash and Knives came with a lot of controversy, especially in the ship that they were on. But that girl who Vash cares for, Rem cared for them regardless of what they were. Rem had high hopes for a peaceful world with coexistence. Too bad Knives had other motives and killed her.

ENDING TO TV SERIES: Vash has tried so hard to keep Milly, Meryl, and Wolfwood out of harm’s way. He knows there are some pretty bad people after him, including his polar-opposite brother, Knives. Vash hates death and wants to save as many people as humanly possible. He doesn’t want to see any more needless death. Probably from his flashbacks and losing Rem! Unfortunately, this doesn’t go so well.

I can see how iconic this death was now after witnessing it. Wolfwood, the priest who would hook up with Vash every now and then when they’re up against some ruffians, now finds himself in a crucial decision. He gets orders that he must eliminate Vash. And Wolfwood ends up dying instead in a very dramatic death scene. God-damn! And just that scene where Milly is sobbing freakin’ eats you up inside.

At least she had one night of passion before the unfortunate happened!

Vash hates the thought of having to kill anyone. But he might not have a choice if Knives is coming after him and even hires a powerful foe from a previous episode and the guy that killed Wolfwood to take you out. Once Vash met up with Knives, he winds up having some pretty sick flashbacks of Knives. But our homeboy was able to take out Knives, the desert area gets water, and…

I’m gonna have to read the fucking manga for more, right?

Tap dancing fuck!

BADLANDS RUMBLE: 12 years after the series ended, Japan decides to release a side-story in the form of a movie, bringing back our favorite characters like Vash, Wolfwood, Milly, and Meryl. And yes, reuniting the cast…in Japan.

By 2010, Geneon was as good as dead and FUNimation licensed Trigun. In short, they managed to get Johnny Young Bosch to reprise his role as Vash the Stampede. But everyone else was replaced. And surprisingly, the people they got to do Wolfwood and Milly were pretty freakin’ close to their original voices. Meryl’s voice, come on I know Luci Christian any-damn-where! Vash helps a young lady take out a big-bad guy (who turns out to be his father). And it has the feel of the original series where it’s set in a western town with lots of booze and shoot-em-ups! It’s an interesting side-story to the Trigun trilogy.

Trigun was a pretty good anime. I mean, not one of my favorites, but I can definitely see a lot of people sticking by this classic. Maybe you can chalk up my blah attitude to the fact that I’m not fond of westerns and I kinda took it out on Trigun. Or the fact that there was so much more that the anime could have covered before the end and the ending kinda felt off to me! Like I thought I was expecting more. But I suppose that’s what mangas are for. To be honest, the stories that really grabbed my attention were the back-stories with Vash and Knives and Wolfwood’s final episode.

*sniffles* At least Milly got one night of passion before he died!

If you would like to check out Trigun, all the episodes are available through FUNimation and Hulu (in both Japanese and English). And if you really like the anime, why not purchase the hard copies? Both the series and movie are available for home video.

Okay, that took me a while, but I’m glad to finish Trigun. What’s next on the FUNimation list?

EEHHHHHEEEHHHE

Fuck is that supposed to mean? What is that? Is that even in English?

YOU WILL BE HORRIBLY MUTILATED: The Isekai

Do you mean Re:Zero? That’s great…but that review’s not ready yet. And it probably won’t be until after April 2021! So let’s cast caution to the wind and pick another FUNimation licensed anime.

You’re watching Sarazanmai next. It’s best if you don’t ask questions.

Sarazanmai? The fuck does that even mean?!

OH. MY. GOD.

[severalspoons]

Liveblog: Rewatching Trigun, Episode 15

Warning: I’m having more and more difficulty figuring out what counts as a spoiler, much less avoiding them, so I recommend if you’ve just discovered this liveblog series you go back to Episode 1. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve read the manga, so I’m not always sure whether I’m spoiling the anime or manga sometimes. Sorry.

-- Milly’s being such a brat. Actually, both girls are right now. You’re being carried on a litter like the queen of an ancient empire and you’re gonna complain about the pace? ::rolls eyes::

-- Look at Midvalley the saxophone player. He is such a bard. The kind who knows he’s gorgeous and tries to sleep with everyone, up to and including the dragon.

-- That’s a big cheesecake, Legato. You gonna eat the whole thing right here?

Legato has gone from eating a hot dog to eating something soft and sweet, which IIRC becomes his pattern from now on. No theories about Legato’s eating pattern, just interested.

-- Legato was named for his voice, wasn’t he?

-- I want to come off as chill as Legato...

It’s especially impressive how unflappable he’s acting right now given his (manga) backstory.

-- Sometimes the best way to annoy people is to completely ignore them.

-- “It’s not wise to be hasty.” He seems similar to Vash and different than Wolfwood in that way.

-- I’m kind of surprised the Roderick gang didn’t all try to jump Legato at once. They think of themselves like “brothers,” so they probably could’ve been coordinated enough. They’d have no way to know he could mind-control so many people at once. (When you consider that he has to concentrate a little bit to control each person, you can see how vast and well-controlled Legato’s attention must be).

-- That little Midvalley smile before he goes back to playing.

-- “At least now you know how much pain there is in living.” He’s the prophet of suffering.  

Legato is not the usual sort of person consumed by pain who loves to do unto others what was done to him. I’ve met people like this, who have a burning sense of resentment that they were treated unfairly. Even if their voice is cold, they’re clearly driven by anger. This sort of person makes sense. Hell, I could even imagine becoming like that. 

Legato, on the other hand, makes people suffer in an almost emotionless, casual way. As far as he’s concerned, there’s nothing unfair to be angry about here, suffering is just the way things are. 

So then, why bother hurting other people? Perhaps that’s why (he claims) he doesn’t usually bother.

-- Legato staring at his hand like it’s some new, fascinating species of insect, lol.

-- “I normally don’t interfere....it’s the way you look, Vash the Stampede.“ Huh? Vash’s facial expressions/mannerisms are so annoying they make you want to kill people and/or save kidnapped girls? OK...? 

-- At least the next line, “Your very existence causes me irritation” makes sense.

-- This mass Gung Ho Guns attack seems like overkill. Legato had it under control.

-- “Ladykiller?” Are women really that masochistic? :/ (No, I get it, it’s the hair). 

-- All but one Gung Ho Gun is here. Apparently there are rumors about this missing guy Chapel. Hm, wonder what they’ve heard. :3

-- “What’s wrong?” Haven’t you noticed there’s no people around? ::facepalm::

-- ...I guess the Roderick Thieves didn’t bury their brethren, after all.

-- Dominique the Cyclops is such an underrated character. Even if she’s the poster child for hubris. Her weird sense of honor...her perfect trenchcoat...her effortless cool...

-- “Call it a Spring cleaning of sorts...does that make you feel better?” Clearly not. Does it make her feel better?

-- Stupid button gag is stupid. Sometimes I forget this was made in 1998.

-- “I don’t want to hurt you.” Ugh, this part of Vash’s cornball persona is annoying. It’s in character that he’s still hoping to get out of a fight. I’ll just headcanon that he’s willing to be nice because she’s not crazy homicidal--she’s appealing to his sense of morality and wants a fair duel.

-- I’m enjoying watching Vash fight someone who can beat him in the areas where he’s used to having an advantage, so that he has to learn how to fight differently on the spot.

-- Vash mentally replaying a few key moments from the fight. Still not sure how he inferred her powers from those frames. I certainly couldn’t have. Vash spends so much time downplaying his intelligence that it’s easy to overlook, but I appreciate that he’s not a holy fool.

-- He blocks out her hypnotism by “focusing all senses only on pain.” Dominique’s not wrong to be stunned. It would probably take a normal human a lifetime of constant meditation practice for more than 3 seconds at a time to develop that level of control over his consciousness, at least. Keep this in mind when considering how he deals with life, compartmentalizes his feelings, etc.

Looks like this is the pain episode. Legato amuses himself and possibly exorcises some demons by killing people in horrifyingly painful ways, Vash survives and wins a fight by causing himself pain.

-- Really, Meryl? Every time I think she couldn’t be more oblivious, she reaches new heights.

-- Oh, Vash. If you want to scare your friends away, you can’t follow that up by going into goofy mode. It’s like the end of Abbey Road when the Beatles go from “The End,” a heartfelt goodbye that makes me cry every time, to a stupid rhyme, “Her Majesty.” It breaks the mood, diminishes the effect. 

No wonder Meryl doesn’t listen to you.

[7deadlycinderellas]

If the summer of our lives could just come again, ch11

AO3 link

 On the Kingsroad

Just as she feared, Sansa is black and blue at the end of each day’s riding. They’re not even going very fast, but every time she climbs out of the saddle she feels like it’s become part of her.

When they stop to eat in the evening, Ned mentions,

“I’m surprised you chose to ride.”

“I didn’t last time,” Sansa admits, “And I feel like I missed out, like there’s so much of Westeros I haven’t really seen. Every other time we’ve traveled, it’s been under duress, so I couldn’t appreciate it.”

Traveling at peace, she’s grown to appreciate the landscape. Everything is green, at its peak of growth, not yet touched by the winds of autumn, though they are on the cusp of it.

There’s a special sort of pain that comes to linger in Sansa’s gut caused by traveling alone with her father.

Once, when watching him speak to some of the men, she feels a sob crawl it’s way out of her throat.

When Ned looks at her, alarmed, her words spill out.

“The last thing I said to you before...you died thinking I hated you.”

Ned freezes, and then hugs her. He tries to assure her,

“There comes a point where as a parent, you accept that your children won’t stay little and perfectly adoring of you forever. I know you don’t hate me, and whatever it was over I’m sure I wouldn’t have held it against you.”

Sansa sniffs.

“Gods, I must have been an awful child to deal with.”

Ned laughs.

“You had your moments, all of you did. Some days we would have you swooning, Robb grandstanding, Jon sulking in the corner, Arya yelling and running away from the septa and Bran climbing something he shouldn’t all in one day. Rickon could do all of those in a single day himself, save maybe the swooning.”

When they pass through the Neck, it begins to rain lightly. The chill it brings puts Sansa’s mind back into her worst place. When they’re huddled under the covers of the tents one night, Sansa finally asks.

“The Boltons are really gone?”

Ned looks at her gently. None of them had been forthcoming about how Sansa, in particular, seemed so threatened by the Boltons. And after what he had seen at the Dreadfort, he feels he really doesn’t need to know.

“I swung the sword myself.”

Sansa lets out a breath, and leans forward to hug her knees.

“You should make sure to keep an eye on Ice,” she says, changing the subject rapidly, “Valyrian steel works on white walkers as well.”

“Not too many of those left in Westeros,” Ned comments. Sansa doesn’t tell him what became of it after his death.

“The recipe for making more was found,” Sansa admits, “and Gendry knows how to do it, but it requires dragon’s fire.”

Dragons. It should shock Ned more than it does.  

He stares off into the woods a lot that night. Dragons on his mind.

When they finally reach King’s Landing, the smell assaults them both like a slap. Sansa steels herself, and walks to her place with dignity.

The keep is as it was, huge and full of historical lore, but also intimidating and sitting atop a city crawling with unrest.

The king too, is as he was. Fat, drunk and thoughtless. Thankfully he doesn’t give Sansa much notice. She looks out of the corner of her eye at him on occasion, seeing the resemblance to her good brother in what seems a near mockery. Sansa watches as he drinks and hunts his way throughout his days, laying all of his work on her Father and the council. Why did he even want to be king at all? Sansa thought, he fought a whole war, so many people died for it. What did any of this mean to him?

Cersei and Joffrey are much as they were too. Joffrey doesn’t pay her any mind, and Cersei only takes a moment to hold her chin in her fingers, nails sharpened to a point, and ask her if she had reconsidered the idea of marrying her eldest son.

“Oh, no, “ Sansa assures her, “Joffrey is a prince, and I belong in the north. I simply did not wish my father to have to make this journey alone. “

After that, Sansa tries hard to steer clear of her. If she can escape the queen’s notice, it will be easier to escape her wrath. It’s much easier than cutting and running every time she spies Lord Baelish on the premises. She feels her stomach tighten every time, and Lady follows her when she walks the halls alone.

Tommen and Myrcella both have changed some in the last not quite a year since she’s seen them, having grown taller and more into themselves. Sansa hadn’t paid Myrcella much attention before, being so blinded by the attentions of her older brother, but she now finds the girl a bright-eyed and willing companion.

“None of the servants have daughters my age, and Mother likely wouldn’t let me play with them anyway. Joffrey won’t let me join him and Tommen in anything they get up to either.”

Sansa looks at Myrcella, the girl having gotten close to hitting a growth spurt and already becoming lovely. Sansa reaches in her mind for any memory she has of what became of her once she’d been sent away to Dorne. All she remembers is that it hadn’t ended well.

But for now, she thinks the both of them could use a friend.’

“Do you know how to play cyvasse?” Sansa asks, recalling one of Gendry’s suggestions of past times.  

Myrcella’s eyes light up.

“My uncle Tyrion has been teaching me, I’m sure he could teach you too!”

It’s strange to admit that Sansa has found herself avoiding Tyrion too. He’s back to the man she first met, and while she isn’t repulsed by him like she had been, she has to admit her feelings are mixed.

He doesn’t mention anything about what she told him before he left Winterfell, or of the letter, but she can feel him watching her, like he wants to ask but can’t find the words. She knows the feeling.

Myrcella convinces him one day after breakfast. They sit at a table in one of the gardens, over the board. After describing the movements of each of the pieces, Tyrion sits back to watch the two of them.

“Remember, the goal for all the pieces is to protect the king from being killed.”

Sansa picks up one piece, the dragon, examining it. The set they’re using is made of up of ivory and jade, lovely craftsmanship.

“Strange how the whole game is about protecting the king,” she comments, “But he’s not even the most powerful piece on the board.”

There’s so much reality to her comment, she thinks as Myrcella nods, and they begin to play.

She watches the board, and their hands moving the pieces around the board, fighting for the death of an imaginary monarch. What did all of that even mean to them?

She sighs, play stupid games, she thinks, win stupid prizes.

 At Winterfell

Gendry has been getting into the rhythm of the days at Winterfell. He eats in the Great Hall with all the others, then he works. It’s usually in the afternoon, after the bulk of the rest of the work is done, when him, and usually Meera, and sometimes one or two of the others, will continue on the stockpile of dragonglass weapons.

The other girl didn’t pay him too much attention. She would chatter sometimes, idly, while they were working, but she seemed to focus on her work. The chip and whittle method she uses is time consuming, but her work always comes out well.

One day, she surprises him by asking if he could make her some metal fish hooks.

“I asked Arya if she wanted to go fishing with me in the Wolfwood in a few days,” she explains.

It is odd, Gendry thinks, seeing them together. The morning that they choose to leave, Arya asks him if he wants to come with them.

“That’s alright,” he says, never having really been a fan of nature. There’s something else too.

“It’s nice seeing you with friends. Not sure if you ever had those, aside from us. And let’s be honest, Hot Pie wasn’t so much a friend as he was dead weight that occasionally produced delicious food.”

Arya leaves him off with just a hug, and he adds,

“Be careful out there though.”

Meera had pulled down the pair of ash branches the day before and whittled them down. They were strapped to her back when she unsteadily joined Arya on their horse and left Winterfell through the hunter’s gate.

Arya feels Meera shifting uncomfortably in front of her.

“Still not quite steady?” she asks.

Meera shakes her head, tight lipped.

“I’m used to stepping carefully, for marshes and quicksand and unstable ground. It feels like I’m not quite in control up here.”

Arya pats the dappled gelding on the rump.

“You will eventually get used to it. Horses aren’t the smartest of beasts, but they’re very predictable.”

It’s a short ride though, the stream isn’t far from the keep. It’s fairly deep, but not too wide. As children, the Starks used to dare each other to try and jump over it. Only Robb was ever brave enough to try, and he got soaked for his bravery.

“What’s out right now?” Arya asks her, while she’s digging in the bank for worms for bait.

“Trout mostly.”

When they bait their lines, and throw them out, Arya sits back against the tree they’ve parked by.

“Did you really grow up doing this all the time?”

Meera nods.

“If you were trying to get a bunch at once, to salt or something, it was usually easier to cast a net. Rod fishing was mostly for relaxing on nicer days, and bringing back something to fry just for dinner that day.”

Arya sits back and looks at the sky. It is a nice day, clear and sunny if awfully cold. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn towards golden towards autumn.

“I wish I could have done that,” Arya muses, “Growing up here, everything I wanted to do I was told wasn’t for ladies. If my mother had had her way I would have never even gone outside.”

“There were perks,” Meera agrees, “It’s very different in the Neck, a lot more goes into ensuring our day-to-day survival. There were girls like you’re sister there too, girls who hated hunting and swimming and the like. Girls who probably thought I was insane to still do those things even though I was highborn and likely could have elected to never.”

That is something Arya has come to understand; that there are girls like her everywhere, and girls like Sansa everywhere. She does kind of wish she’d known Meera the first time around, when she was younger. It might have helped to know there were other girls like her at all, that she wasn’t some kind of freak.

They’ve caught three trout that Meera has gutted and strung up when the sun is high in the sky.

“I’m going to go down stream to bury the guts,” she stands and tells Arya, taking the bucket to dump.

When she’s done and goes to return, she feels the hairs on her arms stand up. She’s not sure why, but when she approaches, she, quietly as possible, climbs a nearby tree to get a look.

There’s three of them, she realizes, two men and a woman, dressed in shabby skins and furs. One of them has a knife on Arya, who through some miracle, just looks bored.

Meera clutches the knife she’d used to gut the fish in one hand. She can’t get the drop on three of them, she knows that. She loosens the grip, and reaches out, finding a cluster of acorns, pulling them loose and throwing them across the clearing.

The distraction works, when the man with the knife nods to the woman to check it out, Arya reaches out to grab the knife.

It’s a quick move, and from the yell the man lets out, Meera guesses Arya must have broken at least one of his fingers to get it. She flails out and slashes at him violently, cutting his face deeply before the other man grabs her from behind.

Meera eyes the end of the branch she’s on. It’s just a bit too far, if she could just get a little bit closer, she might be able to jump on top of one of them…

It’s not an issue. Less than five seconds after the other man grabs Arya, there’s a rustling and a fierce howl before the wolf bursts into the clearing and leaps atop the man holding Arya back, and takes a deep bite out of the side of his face.

Meera jumps down carefully into the fray, while she watches Arya, suddenly free, tackle the man she had slashed, who is still clutching his face. In one swift movement, she slashes his throat with his own knife.

Arya is breathing heavily, and when Meera hits the ground and pulls her own knife. There’s still the woman to deal with.

Though with the wolf, it’s muzzle covered in blood, standing beside the two corpses, she’s frozen, seemingly with no desire to try and fight it.

The woman drops her knife, and Meera goes to grab it. She gets a good look at her then, and stops short.

“Osha?”

If Osha is at all disturbed by her calling her by name, it doesn’t show.

“Do what you will with me,” she says, “Just don’t let that thing kill me.”

Meera looks over at Arya, who’s got her hands on both sides of the wolf’s snout, and has her forehead pressed against its own.

“That thing has a name,” Arya insists, “And it’s Nymeria.”

Nymeria was huge, Meera thought, bigger even than Summer had been full grown. She’d heard tell that Arya’s wolf was wilder than others, but it was apparently no less loyal.

“What do we do with her?” she asks Arya, nodding in Osha’s direction.

Arya points to the where they’d tied the horse.

“I have rope in the pack. Tie her hands and we’ll bring her back to Winterfell.”

Meera does what she says, pulling Osha’s hands, which are still raised in surrender, to tie them behind her.

Arya has paused, and is looking at the two corpses.

“We’ll have to come back and burn them,” she comments, taking out her knife again, “but first…”

She takes the knife to the one who’s face she slashed. Meera watches in horror as Arya cuts the man’s face from his skull in one piece.

Osha curses loudly, and starts muttering about witches. Meera understands.

“What on earth are you-”

Not even looking up, Arya quietly asks,

“Have you ever heard of the Faceless men?”

Meera’s stomach goes cold. There had been muttering about how Arya had spent her years missing before, but...

“You’re not-”

Arya laughs.

“Not officially, but they did teach me a thing or two. A wildling face could prove very useful, even if it’s all cut and scarred.“

Once she’s done, she takes the rope Meera’s holding and pulls Osha back towards the horse.

“You’ll walk.”

 At the Wall

It had been, truly, for Jon to keep up his training at the Wall under the knowledge that his siblings had dropped upon him. The most effective route, he had discovered, was simply to try and forget he had learned any of it at all.

Sometimes this was harder than other times.

It’s hard enough when he’s getting mocked by the others, for his birth (which he now wants to throw back in their faces) or the burgeoning friendship he’s developed with Sam.

The worst is whenever he overhears some of the senior night’s watchmen speak of the intelligence they’ve gathered from over the wall. The wildling villages being abandoned, the burning of some keep that Jon has never heard of, the movements of a group of wildlings that they cannot assign a motive to. These are when the words of his siblings echo in his head.

He wishes uncle Benjen had stayed at Castle Black, just so he could see a familiar face.

But then they find the bodies of the other two rangers, and the corpses rise, and attack Lord Commander Mormont, just like the younger Stark’s had said they would.

Jon, in the moment, does not think. His training and instinct take over. When Mormont presents him with the sword, Longclaw, afterwards, he finds that he tries not to accept it.

When the older man pushes it on him anyway, he wonders about the certainty of what else they had told him.

And so, one night, he seeks out Maester Aemon.

After the older man offers him a chair, Jon cuts to the chase.

“You never talk about yourself, where did you grow up? And why the Night’s Watch?”

Aemon chuckles, and comments,

“First real brush with danger making you question your life choices? Well, if there’s nothing else that could…”

The old man tells him of his youth, growing up in King’s Landing.

“I knew wealth, and women. I could have even been king…”

Jon’s stomach seizes.

“You- your…” his mind reaches out into his history lessons, guessing at the man’s age. “You’re Aemon Targaryan.”

The old man chuckles. The rest of the words he tells Jon are a mess. Jon doesn’t even have the presence of mind to ask him about the Others like he had intended.

When he wanders back to the barracks, he realizes, that if the old Maester is in fact who he told him, then Jon is his blood family, who may be the only family the old man knows he has left.

 Over the Wall

Henneh was the one they had sent out to blend in. She hadn’t bled yet, and would have been the old man’s next wife. Young enough to not be considered a viable threat.

Gilly clutches the baby and waits for her to return. She finally does at sunset.

“Is it true?” they ask her when she does.

Henneh nods.

“It’s true, the rumors. Mance Rayder is seeking the Horn of Winter, he wants to use it to bargain with the crows, to threaten to bring down the whole wall.”

“We can’t allow that,” a raspy voice interrupts. The woman who spoke it was old, though no larger than Henneh. Her skin was still gray and the leaves growing from her head were beginning to droop. She had told them that her name was Rowan, and she was the last remaining of the Children of the Forest. She had come to them one night, whispering the stories of the deaths of the rest of her people, and how she was trying to put into motion a plan that might save the rest of the realm.

“My magic can keep the illusion on the cave as long as we need, it’s small magic. But if the Wall comes down our plans with shatter. “

“Do you even have enough magic left for the plan?”

Rowan smiles.

“Most of its long gone. Opening the rift back here took a lot out of me, but it was necessary. Very little magic is involved in the plan we made, but we will need help. We must get to Castle Black before Mance Rayder, and before he can even think to bring down the wall.”

All of the women nod.

Before they leave that night, Gilly rocks her baby to sleep, wondering what they will call this little group after the fact.

[wander-wren]

it's my time to shineeeeeee except this is like, all headcanon. but it is based on me logicking things out!! stay with me here!!

1- my best explanation is that eyewitness testimony is really unreliable, especially when said eyewitnesses are focused more on the knives than whose wielding them. i also don't think we know where the whole legend started in stampede, like what nai's First Crime is, so we don't know if it was maybe just a case of "wrong place, wrong time" for vash as so often happens

(i know we know it was the Big Fall and/or the time vash lost his arm, but people clearly don't remember/know the circumstances of the Big Fall now, if they ever did, and nai killed everyone in the second instance except vash and luida. plus, i feel like the humanoid typhoon thing has to be more recent if he's on wanted posters instead of talked about like a myth, because no one would believe in a 150yo outlaw)

(does that imply that nai's operations were more subtle and spread out for the first, say, 120 years? what was he doing all that time? now i'm more confused) (random timeline notes: legato was already there with his weird telekinesis situation when wolfwood was taken, however i don't think we have a confirmed age for wolfwood? at most it's ~20 years, a little less. similarly, they had the tech for rollo's transformation, but he was not the first experiment.)

(aaaaaand for what it's worth, in the og/1990s anime, which is a lot more episodic at least to start, we don't even meet nai for ages and ages. vash gets caught up in tons of fights and problems that are never his fault, but he always gets blamed when someone recognizes him as the humanoid typhoon. so that might be part of the issue as well, though of course stampede and '98 are very different canons, so that's just speculation until we get more backstory info)

2- my personal headcanon is that it's made out of some kind of material that would probably fit anyone. rem has one too in the flashbacks! i see it as standard space age clothing, probably either super stretchy or super baggy with tech to make it form-fitting, and probably more tech to make it good for all kinds of environments, bc you never know what you find in space.

THAT begs the question, why does nai still wear it? nostalgia? hatred for anything else humans have made? is it plant made and thus the only think he will allow himself to wear? wait, doesn't he make that weird cloak with his knives? did nai make the bodysuits???

3- i can't say what happened to all of her but i will point out that in that flashback in....e11 or e12, when conrad is talking to meryl and you see the day he met nai? nai points his knives at conrad, and there is a Fucking. Eyeball. in his hand/the knife hilt. i'm 99% sure it moves. tesla's eye? if it's moving, does that imply she's still alive? her whole thing seems really delicate, i'm not totally sure i believe it could have survived a crash like that, but who knows how well nai prepped for it.

(if there's a better explanation for the eye and i missed it, pls ignore this, but i haven't seen ANYONE talk about it, so) (tbf i think i only noticed it the third watch through)

4- i believe nai heavily implies when they meet in e3 that they haven't seen each other, ever, since....potentially the time vash lost his arm. which goes back to: what has nai been doing? has vash been avoiding him, or has he simply not been looking? i feel like it sort of makes sense for him to wait until the point he did, when he had the means to actually enact his plan. it wouldn't help to take vash immediately if nai had no plants to, um, impregnate, and it seems like the whole e12 thing also needed a lot of tech and power that probably would have taken time to set up.

also, nai would have had a vested interest in keeping his allies secret from vash, both to take him by surprise when he finally used them and because vash wouldn't go near nai on his own, but if he knew nai was kidnapping and experimenting on children? mmmm, would he have been able to stay away?

5- oh yeah, ohhhhhhhh yeah. are you ready to receive information that could potentially hurt you?

....yeah?

honestly a lot of the people *i* see discussing it are vash/nai shippers (yes, everyone knows they're twins, yes, that's incest, etc etc--it's not the point here. let's just accept that the shippers exist, there are Undertones in the source material, and anyway, BACK TO THE POINT). but yeah, it totally is invasive, and this post is long winded enough without getting into all of it, but quickly

nai very obviously doesn't view the plants really as people, or beings with like, rights. he doesn't view anyone that way, i don't think. he displays fucking plant corpses in his creepy piano room, you know everything in his secret base thing is plant-powered, and he's not looking into other, more sustainable sources of energy because he doesn't care about humans! obviously! he also never outlines any idea of what to do with the dependent plants. it's said that they can't exist without humans, which is probably propaganda, but it's also not clear how capable they are of surviving on their own. can they even, like, breathe outside the tanks?

anyway, this extends to vash, who has ALWAYS been a tool for nai's own ends, from the very beginning with the Big Fall. nai literally wants vash to be this perfect, untouchable, docile and agreeable version of himself that is everything nai wants, and if he isn't that, nai would actually rather him become a corpse-trophy like the other plants in his room.

i might be being harsh on nai here. i do think he's nuanced and complicated, but this is not the post for all thatttttt. also, um, i can't resist, because speaking of the plantcest/shippy undertones....nai is literally penetrating his brother (debatable if the tentacle knives count as part of his body, but regardless) in order to impregnate their "sisters" which is. it's a lot. that's not even subtext. it IS creepy and gross, tho. i have a lot of thoughts on e12.

6- this one i have no idea about. zip, zilch, nada. the gate thing in e3 still doesnt make sense to me and i've seen it six times. it's like, the one flaw in the show for me because i Don't Get It. maybe someone else knows, tho

Burning questions that have haunted me since watching Trigun Stampede:

-Does no one notice the difference between the pale stabby squid man and the fluorescent red golden retriever man?

-Is….. is the body suit attached? Is it not?

-what happened to Tesla after the crash?

-why does vash not know nai’s murderous employees by the time he’s like 150

-is no one going to acknowledge the incredibly invasive nature of what occurred in the last episode????

-what did nai do to vash’s gate at jeneora rock and why did he need diff tech in the last episode?

If anyone with more context or luck with research knows, or wants to theorize, feel free lol

[the-cerwyn]

Golden Roads, Chapter lV:

The point of these writings is to show how the happenings of Cley whilst the Season 2 AU, as well Season 6 of the show, occurred. References to other OCs and characters are included as listed: The Brownbarrow family belonging to @meghanxbrownbarrow, as well as references to @badgershite‘s Season 2 AU.

You and 60% of readers chose to be polite.

Cley weighed heavily his two options, as much as he yearned to see his old friend as soon as possible… he needed to play it diplomatic. He wasn’t a lad anymore, he was a lord, whether he liked it or not. Hallis has dealt with that, so did… so did Ethan, Old Gods bless his soul. The Red Wedding left it’s scars on all of them, heaved this new responsibility onto the younger generations. It wasn’t fair, but when you really think about it? Neither was most of Westeros. It's just something he has to take in stride. Like this is the way the world is, and he better just get used to the fact his main goal will be overcoming his parent’s shadow. And… letting go, eventually.

After a several moments, Cley refocused and looked back to the older lord. The Cerwyn responded: “I am here for a particular reason, Lord Stout, but it can wait. How has the past few months been treating you and your steadfast?” He had to swallow down his straightforward and uncomplicated thoughts, in favor for pleasantries and manners. It can’t always be about himself, he had to do things for his house; he’ll have his own moment soon enough. As much as his Flint nature went against it, he’d have to stomach that fact, and play polite lord for a bit.

“The past months have been fair enough for me, as for my steadfast…” The ruggedly older man paused for a moment, as if trying to find the correct words for his situation. Possibly didn’t want mope and whine in front of guests, but that was Cley’s own varied guess. He went further: “As you brought me, we’ve been dealing with rabble such as your “gift” for some time now. Because of the wedding, we don’t have the men we used to for dealing with them”.

That made sense, House Stout seemed more of a production house than one of the fighting ones. They didn’t have many bannermen to start with, such as the Brownbarrows, and had to make do with what they have. And such as the Brownbarrows… they lost men to the Red Wedding. Unlike the Cerwyn and the Condons, who had to only deal with the Mountain and his forces; they managed to salvage more compared to other houses.

“Well, while I’m here, if they get too much out of hand, all you need to do is but to ask me for assistance. Goldgrass has always been fair to me, as well as you, my lord. I only feel it’s right I repay your hospitality”. Cley replied back, offering to handle the local bandits if they become too much of a problem. He figured he might as well try his hand at bettering his relationship with the house. He had experience with feeling welcomed among the smaller houses, such as the Wolfwoods’ houses, it normally pays off to be fair and generous with them. Ser Kyle would go to add: “And as you know, House Condon would be more than willing to lend you aid as well”. The Cerwyn mentally noted of their houses’ relationship, so it only made sense he would throw in that fact. The alliance between Stout and Condon was strong; Cley’s words prior showed that the Condon’s liege lord approved of it, perhaps such as his own father did.

Lord Stout scratched at his facial hair with his one arm, giving a quaint nod to their words, before adding: “Both of you have my thanks; times have been tough, for all of us. But if we all pull through together, we can get through this time of terror”. He put his arm down, before actually using it to support himself up from his chair. Lord Stout continued: “We can talk more of ridding Westeros of those brigands during dinner, later in the evening. With your offer of help, there’s some duties I need to attend to before we discuss such any further. Now may be the time to accomplish what you hoped to, before evening is upon us”.

Cley gave a old-fashioned bow to the older lord, adding along: “Of course, attend to what you need to, Lord Stout. Although, I must ask, do you know where the whereabout of Lady Rikkie Condon are?” He had been patient enough, now was his chance in asking where she was.

Lord Stout gave a wiry smile to the younger lord’s question, as if he had a general idea of why the Cerwyn was inquiring such. He replied with a chuckle, before turning to leave to go into another part of the hold: “Ah, yes… Try the courtyard, that’s where the guards undergo training. She seems… bored of the un experienced guards, maybe you can sate her?”

Ronnel Stout gave a face palm to suggestive tone his uncle was giving, prompting a confused and nervous response from Cley. The Condon knight just shook his head at the Cerwyn, before walking over to Ronnel Stout, who remained there. Before doing so, Arwyn was approaching, and Ser Kyle decided to inform Cley: “I’m going to catch up with ol’ Ronnel here, Arwyn’s sticking with me, maybe he can learn something from our old stories… I would say, “have fun”, but that’d only fuel the old man’s laid out thoughts. So… have a nice talk, catching up, all that”. The Cerwyn was only able to give a nod, knowing he didn’t want to say the wrong thing and earn Kyle’s ire; Master at Arms or not, this was his daughter they were talking about. Cley walked out the great hall; leaving Ser Kyle, Arwyn, and Ronnel to create conversation. It was time to see an old friend.

Cley walked down the dirt courtyard, taking in the old sight of his memories. He remembered walking down here for the first time, he was on horse with a younger Ser Kyle; he himself was younger than ten when that occurred. Although, he was much younger when he met Rikkie, that was back when he first went to House Condon’s steadfast. The Cerwyn actually recalled the reason she was here instead of there; it happened before the war, the knight wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be in harm’s way. Thus… she ended up in Goldgrass, and has been here since there. Although they disagreed about it beforehand, one couldn’t help but to note… that Ser Kyle does truly care for his daughter, perhaps they could take her to her home after this?

His thought process was interrupted by the Cerwyn actually spotting his old friend. She had the straight black hair Condons usually have, but the Stout dark brown eyes. The lady kept her hair short, in order to transition between sparring and duties required of her as a lady. She was shorter than Cley, but then not by much. Even more so, she wore lord like clothing; hard to fight in a dress. That was another thing that was noteworthy of his old friend; Ser Kyle actually taught her how to wield a sword and a dagger, to protect herself. So much so, it’s said even Kyle’s older brother threw some training her way. Compared to Arwyn and himself, he wasn’t afraid to admit it, she could probably hand him his arse. She no doubt got to train whilst he participated in the war, even more so when he began the learning process of becoming an heir, and then again when he became lord. She’s had a lot of time to hone her own skill, and she was proving such as well as he spectated.

Rikkie was sparring with a Stout bannerman, one of the young men guards, who seemed to be most of the standing force around here. He put up a good fight… but the Condon was used to fighting her father’s bannermen, who were more known for their combat. The guard didn’t stand a chance after being parried away one too many times. He gave a sigh, sheathing his sword, before commenting to the Condon: “Bested me yet again, Lady Rikkie, you’re getting too good for us”.

Rikkie herself gave a whimsical chuckle, sheathing her own blade, before replying: “So I’ve been told, Henric, so I’ve been told. Work on your swing, you might have a better chance next time”. As teasing as she was, her bold and knowing face was about to be questioned as she turned around to see a watching Cley, arms crossed with a knowing face. He slyly commented to her: “Ah, so the conquering heroine has noticed me? How goes your crusade of besting young guards left and right?”

However, he was instead given a tackling hug from his old friend. He almost lost his footing, managing to keep standing as Rikkie replied in excitement: “Cley, you thin lug, it’s been too long! Do you know how quiet Goldgrass is compared to Condon land?!” She had a warm smile as she hugged him tightly, he would too, if his arms weren’t trapped under her’s. It had been far too long. He replied, with a sheepish smile: “At least two years… sorry for not coming earlier. And… considering how Kyle and Allister are? Too quiet. Mind… letting me go? Wanna hug you myself, plus, you’re kinda crushing me”. The Condon lady noticed how tight she was squeezing him, and let go with a face of realization. Cley gave a thankful look, before hugging her himself; he missed her certainly. Two years were too long, this was evidence of such.

She gave a chuckle, before teasingly commenting: “I’d thought you be stronger than this after a war and two years of training”. Cley himself gave a laugh, before letting her go and playfully defend himself verbally: “Hey now, had to do deal with lordship training. That digs into combat training!”

Rikkie gave a sound of incredulity, obviously feeling that wasn’t a good enough excuse. Of course she did, her own responsibilities weren’t as big as the Cerwyn’s, the Condon got to enjoy what time she had. However, she paused for a moment, with a puzzled look to her. Rikkie asked cautiously: “Lord training? Don’t heirs get--... Did Ven…?”

Cley’s face went happy to more solemn, more soft. He confirmed her suspicion with a nod. She tried to backstep on the matter: “C… Cley, I’m sorry…” The Cerwyn gave a sigh, and responded, trying to ease her mind: “It’s fine, really. He was… Well, he was sort of a rude arse, you have to admit that much”. Rikkie actually gave a snort to his words, replying: “Old Gods, Cley… that was brutal! And, very truthful, I always wondered when you’d admit that”.

Cley’s face turned back to amusing as he shrugged to her words, before continuing to: “He didn’t make it that hard, let’s be fair here”. The young adult lord and lady laughed it off, finding it honestly too difficult in becoming grim when they’ve found each other again. A thought comes to Rikkie’s mind, as she went for his arm, tugging on it. She proposed an idea, wearing a enthusiastic and eager smile: “Remember the old golden meadow? Too many prying eyes here, want to catch up there?”

Cley thought only for a moment, still all too ready, even after all these. Suppose that’s where some of her charm came from, her sheer enthusiasm. The Cerwyn have a warm smile, bobbing his head in agreement, concurring: “I’d love nothing more than that, it’s been too long”.

As thus, the Condon lady practically dragged the Cerwyn lord away from the courtyard, to go off and speak of the years they missed together. They only had so much time before supper would occur, Cley had only a handful of subjects to talk about before such. He could speak about his training towards lordship… or how lordship has been, and what caused it. It wasn’t a hard choice, but it was one nevertheless…

Choose what Cley talks about: http://www.strawpoll.me/12427393

[severalspoons]

Chapter 18 meta-meta

Continued from here: https://tiggymalvern.tumblr.com/post/623045799757103104/liveblog-rewatching-trigun-the-rest-of-episode

tiggymalvern

Why did it take 6 months since Knives destroyed the town for him to show up and try to make Vash leave?

0.0 Any combination of the two would make sense, TBH. I can see Wolfwood wanting to procrastinate on Knives’ mission as much as possible, and also just give Vash time to recover. That said, he’s been proactive thus far, and I don’t think he’d reappear only because Knives threatened his kids again.

Wolfwood’s different enough that Vash must have known something was up with him. He’s known he was lying about certain things since the very first day he met him, and Vash is far too curious not to have given some thought about why Wolfwood might have been lying and what he’s hiding. Wolfwood carries around a personal armoury! Even on Gunsmoke, that’s not quite normal. 

Right. I saw that when Wolfwood was actually around. Asking questions about the church, watching him closely when Millie asked why he was so good at fighting, etc. 

But Vash is also Mr Ticket to the Future, and whatever Wolfwood is hiding, Vash’s inclination would be to trust Wolfwood as long as Wolfwood did right by Vash and the people around him. How much did Vash guess and when? We have absolutely no idea. But I also think even if Vash knew details, he would have believed in Wolfwood as a genuine friend and allowed for him having switched sides.

^This. I think he would accept and forgive so long as Wolfwood wasn’t putting anyone in danger. Which I think explains the 180 he did at the end of episode 22 when Wolfwood killed Zazie.

I wish there were more clues as to who knows what, when. 

I actually don’t. I like the fact that’s a lot of space in the story to spin ideas and work with different headcanons and write different fics that all fit. Having everything spelled out in detail is limiting and simplistic.

You know, I hear this sort of comment a lot, and it still confuses and frustrates me. Wanting a few more clues isn’t the same as wanting everything spelled out in detail...

It’s not black and white (”all the information” or “barely any”), there’s a continuum of details you can have about characters (or people, for that matter). We all feel comfortable extrapolating from different amounts of information, and that’s okay. Wanting more information, if only to check whether your guesses are plausible, is not the same thing as wanting perfect certainty.  

Would I do so much overthinking and meta if I really wanted things to be limiting and simplistic? Some of us are constantly told we���re extrapolating too far, our leaps are too big and don’t make any sense. Some of us just get used to checking all our work compulsively and overexplaining everything. Some of us just want to be understood sometimes. ;)

It doesn’t help that I spent way too much time in academia in experimental science land, where people speak precisely and want evidence for everything. People outside of science often don’t understand that we have infinite curiosity, and we’d be bored to tears if we actually found all the answers. Even if we found all the answers we were looking for right now, it wouldn’t matter--new questions would open up along the way. That’s why I love research. ;)

In any case, the manga gives a heck of a lot more information about all the characters, their backstory, and their motivations than the anime. Yet it still has room for questions and interpretation. I don’t think anyone says that there’s no room to write fanfic about the manga? :) I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wish the anime had been just a little closer to the manga in that way.

Hope that clears things up a bit!

[wolfwoocl]

“I am telling you the truth.” His jaw tics with the effort it takes not to raise his voice. Far be it for him to tell her how she’s supposed to feel. Vash probably knew the whole damn time, and that changed nothing from the moment they met to the moment Vash disappeared behind Knives’s door. Watching him go, letting him go– that had been his mistake.

“Good,” Wolfwood sighs, rubbing his palms over his face. He watches her scoot closer to the fire. Nights in the desert are chilling for travelers who do not go prepared. Heat is only one aspect they must contend with. The cold can be equally devastating. They both have known nothing but desert their whole lives, and even then the polarizing temperatures  “Good. That’s what matters.”

She doesn’t thrash him until he just starts to relax, and Wolfwood winces marginally for show as he rubs the side of his arm. Meryl knows how to throw her punches and tiny knuckles can fucking hurt. 

“Could punch me a couple more times, if that makes you feel better,” he offers, giving her a wry grin. His cigarette hangs from the corner of his mouth for a moment before he pulls it back into place and releases a thoughtful stream of spiced smoke into the heart of the campfire. They are here now, and they may as well make the most of it. 

“Our biggest problem is getting up there.” He points straight up, as if Meryl needed any additional help figuring out where the Ark was. “Last I checked, neither of us can fly. So our best bet may be grabbing one of those bug shuttles they’ve got on Ship Three. We still have plenty of time to head them off at Blow Up Hill.” 

Wolfwood rises briefly to go through their meager camp supplies until he finds a spare blanket and drapes it over Meryl’s shoulders; a peace offering of his own. Like the Ark, Home has been on the move ever since Knives started taking plants en masse. Starting from the far west at the Melca Border and, like the rest of humanity, making gradual progress east towards Octovern. 

“Looked like y’needed it,” he says by way of explanation before she has any chance to protest. “Somehow I don’t think Ducktail’s gonna trust the two of us ‘round any of his babies.”  

They’ll need a plan if they want to get anywhere near enough to consider piloting one of the shuttles, and that’s if either of them figure out the controls before they get their asses dragged off and cuffed. 

“Just need to distract him so we can undock those wings and make a getaway.” Wolfwood gives Meryl a meaningful glance from the corner of his eye.

She likes to consider herself pragmatic. She likes to think of herself as someone who crosses all her T's and dots her I's. She's meticulous in her work, holding herself to a high standard because she has everything to prove and just as much to lose.

In a situation such as this, when there are so many unknown variables, when there isn't a regime to follow, no Headquarters to report back to on an account of being in the middle of nowhere, Meryl feels a bit lost.

More than lost, she feels unmoored and in the company of someone who has admitted to betraying someone they have grown to care about.

"Laying it all out like that, suppose this is you telling me the truth."

She's trying to find any cracks where the lies might slip through, where he might be pulling some kind of trick from up his sleeve to get her to believe him, but there is a part of her that believes him. He's being honest. Perhaps the most honest he's been.

Her anger towards him doesn't fade, not necessarily, but it's no longer there bubbling just beneath the surface. There is sound reason behind what he's said about Vash being the only one who could go up against Knives. Even more sound when Wolfwood brings up the fact that neither Vash or his brother are human.

The darkness of the night begins to feel all too real, in a way that Meryl can't quite explain. She grips onto the gun a little tighter, like it will offer the sort of protection she needs against what is to come.

A placebo effect.

She watches as he takes another drag of his cigarette. The worm spice reaching her and tickling her nose. Meryl doesn't turn her head away, not like she would have done at the smell.

"What's done is done," she says, vocalizing her thoughts because she needs to. It helps, in its own way, for her to put things into perspective. As he's told her, she can do whatever she wants or needs to make herself feel better, but it won't change the fact that Vash is gone and that he needs to be found.

"We keep moving forward because we have to." She scoots a little closer towards the fire, feeling the approaching warmth as the flames continue to flicker and defy the darkness of the night, even with the moonslight above them.

"I'll help you look for him."

It's not an olive branch, though it could be. "You believe in Vash, as do I, and he's our best chance at whatever will be coming. I can still be pissed off at you, though."

She's close enough that she slugs him on his arm. It does more harm to her than probably to him, but she bites back through that wince of pain. Shaking her hand as if it'll feel better, Meryl grumbles something about him being as solid as a brick wall.

[deathpacito]

punisheye​:

“I already told her I was comin’ after I checked on ya,” Wolfwood states. “Messaged her waitin’ for you to answer the door.”

She’s probably waiting for him to reply to her.

He digs out the aforementioned sandwich and a water bottle. Thank God that water bottles were so easy to come by around here, he doesn’t think he’s ever been this hydrated in his life before coming to Spirale.

Wolfwood decides to sit on the floor instead of a chair. Doesn’t want to get too comfortable since he’s gotta get going again soon, and the tile of the kitchen is blissfully cool under him, too. He feels tired and overheated. The sun is rising higher in the sky now, shining through the blinds, and it’s starting to get hotter.

“We can both go. You ever met her? Nosy just like the one from our world. Real chatterbox, too.”

He eats the sandwich like he’s never eaten in his life. Running like a chicken with its head cut off makes a guy hungry.

“Sure she’ll appreciate havin’ a huge guy like ya stickin’ around 'til this is all sorted out.” A brief pause. “Y'know, one of- one of 'em said they recognized me from the bus to Jeneora Rock.”

He shudders. “Buncha dead folks walkin’.”

He shakes his head in the negative-- Livio hasn't met her. But he knows of her, knows she's another version of their insurance girl. So Livio nods, and watches Wolfwood scarf down the food, and try to puzzle this out in his head.

"We'll both go, then. Long as I can help out, s'all that matters."

The big lug is already moving to make another sandwich, and a chicken salad sandwich sounds amazing right now, so that's what's happening. He needs something to do with his hands, and since he can't destroy those things outside just yet, a sandwich its gonna be.

Livio only pauses when Wolfwood brings that up.

"Those things know you? Could just be some mindfuck stuff here, messing with you."

He ignores the noise of shuffling around outside. He has supreme concentration.

"All we gotta do is...stay together. Find everyone," he flicks his gaze up, holding Wolfwood's. "And either wait it out, or I'll go out and take care of as many as possible."

Maybe he's not thinking about it carefully enough. But that's what he's here for-- if he can't be a weapon anymore...he can do this. It's the least it can do.