#I just woke up and thought about them in Trimax

[duncanor]

When Im sad, I think about the insurance Wives and Im happy again.

[drunkenlionwrites]

Since you started with uncanny Vash, may we have some smut with him? 👀

Hey nonnie, you order - I deliver! Not sure how it turned out, it's pretty experimental this time 😶 Warnings: fem!reader, alien sex, Vash is basically a plant on steroids here. Written with Trimax Vash in mind.

You woke up in your bed alone, feeling the coldness of the sheets on Vash’s side. It was a familiar enough occurrence for you though, having been Vash’s ‘mayfly’ for an alarmingly long time, all his habits were carved and stored in the back of your mind. Sometimes, like now, you wake up alone in a cold bed just to find Vash sulking somewhere alone, being overwhelmed by his heavy thoughts, sometimes you are literally buried in Vash’s body, sturdy appendages sprouted out of him encaging you safely. It all strangely brought you comfort, whereas other people might be rightfully shitlessly scared.

So now you find yourself barefoot and wrapped in a blanket, traversing the hotel’s wooden floor, which is creaking pitifully under each step of yours. And here he is, standing on the open balcony, surrounded by the rhythmic buzzing of the bugs-filled sky, the sight of his fluttering blond-black hair catching your gaze.

“Hey handsome.” you gently murmur to him, which gets you a greeting by his glowing eyes and barely visible tired smile. “Care to join me in bed? It’s awfully empty without you.” Walking up to him, you hug him from behind, burying your head into his wide back after pressing a tender kiss there. The warmth of your body already brings you more comfort than a thick woolen blanket did. You feel how tense his muscles are, and you instantly know that he’s been having nightmares again and now, losing the ability to fall back asleep, is contemplating the thoughts he’s too reclusive to share even with you.

“I’ll come soon. Just don’t feel like sleeping now” and one more fake smile is directed at you. You’re aware of him knowing that you see through each of them, but the habit developed during more than a century is hard to get rid of.

You huff at his retort, determined to not let him be isolated with his reflections, so you squeeze him tighter in your embrace and mumble “Who was talking about sleeping, silly?” Seems like it worked, cause the next moment you feel the movement of his ribcage, Vash chuckling at your suggestion. “Hey, I’m serious. I really need you right now!” you pouted, and even if it is primarily a not so smooth plan to distract your boyfriend from sulking, it’s also true – there’s not a moment in your life when you don’t want him.

He turns to face you, murmuring “Who am I to refuse my prettiest girl then?” taking you into his arms, now cocooned in the blanket like a baby. You use the closeness to his face to press loving kisses to his warm soft lips while he’s carrying you to bed. And Lord, he is so fucking strong, carrying you as if you’re a feather, his muscles barely flexing under your weight.

He plops you on the bed with a soft thud and immediately crawls onto it, not giving you any time to untangle yourself from the damned blanket. Vash smiles at you with a toothy smile, his gaze already predatory, as he methodically unwraps you like a Christmas gift, getting you out of the blanket and then getting rid of your night shirt and panties. His hands are everywhere, both unnaturally smooth – the polished prosthetic one, as well as his own which feels like silk on the sides of your body.

You provide him with the same attention, tugging the shirt off his shoulders to allow you access to his hot skin, the contrast between the ideal porcelain untouched spots of his skin balanced by cracks and grooves of his scars under your fingertips. It would be a definite lie to say that it doesn’t add to his attractiveness in your eyes.

When he shifts his weight and presses his body on top of yours, you hastily tug on his joggers and try to pry them off his hips to glide your palms lower and lower, squeezing his soft ass, knowing that each time it makes him elicit a yelp that you enjoy so much. His eyes are sparkling with mischief as he slowly glides his fingers in between your folds a few times, just to insert both fingers inside your already sleek with arousal pussy. And you know that it’s his petty revenge, but oh how you love it.

You moan his name and press your pelvis closer to him, wrapping your legs behind his hips, wanting to feel as much of his body as possible. Vash grinds against you, and though the space between his legs is just a smooth patch of skin, it still makes you feel even more aroused. “That’s what you wanted, baby? To be fucked back into sleep?” he lewdly whispers into your ear as his fingers curl inside of you, precisely hitting the spot that makes you scream in his hands. He bites your earlobe and moves his face up to look into your eyes and then presses his forehead to yours.

And that makes you completely engrossed in what is happening to you. This is what you’ve been longing for, the one thing that completely ruined you for everyone besides your lover. The sensation of doubled and then tripled emotions and feelings that your weakened brain can barely process. You now feel Vash’s rapture and elation, wrapped in physical sensation of his thick long fingers abusing your pussy perceived by him, finishing with your own corporal pleasure, which now will forever seem the lesser one of those. Vash moans and pants into your mouth, experiencing the pleasure through you, his body is rapidly covering by feathers upon feathers, that now tickle your skin. Not that you can register it, totally lost in the echo of feelings.

His body shifts and morphs, losing the contours of a humanoid creature now, only his fingers remaining the same, moving back and forth inside you, the thumb barely applying a pressure to your clit. But his mind and soul are nothing but human, now you know it. In moments like these you know Vash as if it was you, and you let him know you as if you are him. You are connected so deeply, that it both scares you and makes you want to completely dissolve and disappear in him. This is not making love; this is completely melding in each other. And now he’s your God, he’s your Universe, and you don’t need know anything else except Vash.

You weakly mewl and shudder underneath him, your breaths now completely synchronized, hell, your bodies are completely synchronized and now you are one breathing and feeling organism that’s slowly bringing each other to your release. Vash moans with you once you start clenching around his fingers. You are so close, yet you dread for the moment to end, which Vash registers and consoles you immediately, chuckling at how needy you are.

Just a hard press of his thumb to your clit and a few strokes on the inside of your pussy with additional pressure and you’re done. Shuddering at feeling everything at once. All this love and tenderness, all the longing and arousal, all the ultimately divine pleasure…you really want to dissolve into Vash completely one day.

So a bit of my thoughts about this here: I've been thinking, especially after writing general headcanons for uncanny Vash, what if he doesn't have human bodily functions at all? He doesn't sweat, he doesn't have any thermoregulation at all, he has no need for sleep or nourishing, his skin doesn't have pores and doesnt produce melanin etc. So what does he need the human-like reproductive systen for? Independent plants are the anomaly, what if they can be birthed only from a regular mother-plant? All's possible. So, here Vash is telepathically connecting to reader and kinda experiences his orgasm through her, while at the same time she immediately feels: 1. her regular physical sensations, 2. Vash's feelings and reaction to her, 3. her orgasm that is perceived by Vash. So it's basically triple orgasm, enveloped in all kinds of entwined feelings? Won't it be cool? ahah Also, I know that someone somewhere said that Vash's plant powers work only for plants, but we literally have a lot of instances where humans perceive Vash's and Knives' feelings telepathically: 1. Leonof and Wolfwood feel Vash's rage and pain at Home after Leonoff turned the people there into puppets and after Vash cried blood. Wolfwood thinks how he can't even move, while Leonof is comparing Vash to knives and notes how not human they both are.

They totally perceived all Vash's emotions on physical level. He just stood there doing and saying nothing, yet Leonof and co felt like they just died.

2. I forgot the chapter, but Eldendira was explaning to someone the effect of Knives' presence on regular humans. Something like that his aura is heavy and dreadful and physically palpable, but Gung-Ho-Guns got used to it, and Elendira copes with it the best. 3. Not twins, but in the end of manga all the falling plants transferred all their memories and emotions to thousands and thousands of people, thus they all can thelepathically influence humans in the end 🤷‍♂️ Peace out 🤞

[revenantghost]

your posts on tristamp got me thinking about smth again ((and idk if you've talked about this already, but anyway))

the existence of the files on vash and knives is so strange to me??? if we're to believe that rem meant to hide their existence as independent plants ((based on her telling knives not to use his powers in front of other humans)) then why create files that outs them as plants?? and if it wasn't rem who created them then who?? BILL??!! it scratches my brain...

but yea crazy...ALSO I love your bookclub posts OUGH YOUR BRAIN <3

I haven't talked about it! BUT, OH, I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT!!!

Not enough to make any post on it other than general confusion but boy, I think you're onto something. I'm gonna put this under a cut for some Trimax spoilers that Tristamp has foreshadowed will come to pass, so might actually be Tristamp spoilers (but this is Orange, they surprise me at every turn, so WHO KNOWS)

It's very plausible Conrad made those files.

We know that Knives knows Conrad from before the big fall as seen in episode... eleven? Where we see Tesla's eye on Knives's wrist. And knowing all the shenanigans the twins get up to, Knives probably accidentally woke everyone up again like he did in Trimax. And Conrad stayed behind to meet them after all of his regrets with Tesla (as seen in him collapsing when Knives shows up with that eye).

But that fucker. He has a picture while standing next to Tesla in his office to this day while ADVOCATING FOR GENOCIDE. Morals? Basic human decency? He sure as hell doesn't know them. He knew Tesla, it's hinted that he was at least fond of her, maybe loved her like a daughter in Tristamp, and even made some sort of fucked up replacement of her in Elendira. And he still let her become that tortured, tormented mess in those test tubes. He still let her stay "ALIVE," even though plants can obviously die.

Yes, Rem's access code gave them entry into those documents, but that doesn't mean she created them in the first place. Rem sure as hell isn't faultless in all this, but this strikes me as Conrad's m.o.

Legit gasped alive and came to the same conclusion before I even read you suggesting it was this asshole so LMAO GREAT MINDS??? Sorry if this is nonsensical, I just gasped and started typing.

Oh man, I feel like I'm making more shitposts than anyone or anything else in bookclub asdlkjansdlkjn But I'm happy you're enjoying the bookclub insanity :D <3

[pancake-breakfast]

LET'S GET VOLUME 3 DONE LET'S GOOOOOO....

(But first, I rework the archive because this is gonna take up a lot of space. Maybe I should move it somewhere else; I can't imagine anyone aside from myself really needs it right now....)

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10 || Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Volume 1: Covers + 1-2, 2 DT, 3-4, 3 DT, 5-6 || Volume 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Volume 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 3, Chapters 6-7 below.

Chapter 6: Families

Awww, Vashie.... Take care of him, Brad!

Well, if that's not an ominous title page. Goshdarnit, Knives, can you even see out of the right side of that helmet? How can you get comfortable with the spike in the back constantly banging into that high-backed death chair? I have questions, sir!

I do like how the belts on his lower arm actually resemble the belts on Vash's.

Eyyy, it's the Gung-Ho Guns in their Palace of Terror! (I don't know what the place is called, but I assume it has an over-the-top name. It needs an over-the-top name.)

Is... he trying to create an angel arm?? Put that away, Knives. You don't know how to use it.

Oh, maybe... he was trying to locate Vash?

This looks like a flashback, but I'm not sure what it's flash-backing to. Oh! Vash's hair is full blond! Definitely a flashback.

Uh. Is his arm not a prosthetic???

I love how completely lost and confused he looks here.

OMG HIS FACE!!! Babygirl is SO WORRIED about Wolfwood! (Also, I know we all love spiky-haired Vash, but goshdarn, I just melt for his hair when it's all messy like this. It makes him look even softer than he already is.)

And then again when he sees the girls! Gods, he looks like he doesn't believe what he's seeing... which, to be fair, he could be forgiven for given all he's been through recently.

Aww, Meryl's happy to see him doing well enough to accept glomping hugs.

He is SO RELIEVED. <3

Whooooo is calling Vash a son of a bitch when he just woke up?? Slaps for them. Slaps to the face.

Ugh, why'd they have to remind him of all the deaths already? Just let babygirl rest for a bit. Even Plants need time to recover.

Good on them to shut down his self-deprecation. <3

Eyyy! It's Luida! Of course she's looking out for our babygirl. <3 <3 <3

Heh. Ninelives is now Twolives.

Oh, she straight-up ignored his question about Doc.

Vash knows. Vash knows she dodged the question. But he also knows she's trying to give his heart the rest it needs, and he's going to take it. He knows he needs it, too.

LOL, Vash, maybe don't scream at your buddy, the (former?) Gung-Ho Gun with the big-ass murder cross and a huge chip on his shoulder, as soon as he starts waking up in a strange place where he doesn't have his bearings yet. I swear, Wolfwood's like a startled cat here.

Dude. Wolfy. You should be happier to see your boyfriend. We'll have none of this "well, shit" talk.

Heh. Wolfwood's just grumpy 'cause he can't figure Vash out.

Something something what I said last time about Vash wishing maybe Wolfwood was around to pull the trigger where he couldn't.

"Feh!" is Wolfwood's way of saying, "I accept your apology, you big dummy."

"You mean it didn't tug at your heartstrings?" VASH. ARE YOU FLIRTING.

Wolfwood clearly doesn't appreciate self-deprecating as a form of flirting. Good for him. We don't build ourselves up by letting others tear themselves down.

(I know I'm being a bit ridiculous with these last two points. Vash likes to encourage people and make them feel good about themselves. But still, it's a sensitive and very kind thing for Vash to say, all things considered, and good on Wolfwood for calling him out for how he's going about it.)

"He really just says whatever stupid shit that comes to his mind." That makes two of you.

Actually, the idea that Vash is just spouting off words without thinking them through is a gross misreading of the situation by Wolfwood (assuming he actually believes that). Vash's surprise and frustration that his words didn't appear to have the intended impact on Wolfwood mean Vash put a decent measure of thought into them before saying them. Vash spoke with intention, not rashness. Very little Vash does is actually rash, even when it appears otherwise, and in this particular situation, he's basically told Wolfwood he put thought into his words. I'd guess Wolfwood's misunderstanding has a lot more to do with his own conflicted feelings than anything else.

LOL, Vash's grumpy, pouty face.

I liked how Stampede switched this reaction to a similar photo to Meryl.

Gods, girl needs to find a guy closer to her age and move on.

Ok, question: why did they even bother to show us Knives and the Gung-Ho Guns at the beginning of the chapter???

Chapter 7: His Life As A...

Are... these guys talking about Twolives?

Ah, yes they are. Looks like they're dead now.

Casual Vash! His proportions on this title page are killing me, though. Limbs too long. I know babygirl is lanky, but seriously.

Ugh, it's one of them coins. 'Cause if there's one person Vash always enjoys thinking about, it's freaking Legato.

HE STILL HAS HIS HAIR DOWN A:JGL:KJA:SDF:HAFK:JH DOMESTIC VASH!!!

LOL, Wolfwood carrying around his IV like it's the Punisher. Emotional support IV, indeed.

You know, you really shouldn't smoke when you're in recovery. It slows healing times. Unless you got some of them fancy-pants Stampede blue vials on you, Mr. Wolfwood?

UGH HIS FACE. Wolfwood looks just... dead inside. He hates his life. This is the look of a man full of regret.

So, I'm guessing that while Wolfwood knows Vash is Knives' brother, and knows that those two are somehow related enough to Plants for Knives to have been reborn out of one, he doesn't quite know whether Plants maybe have weird regenerative abilities that Knives took advantage of or whether there's something unique tying Vash/Knives to the Plants... or, at least, what the nature of that tie is.

Ohhhhh, that's what the flashback in the last chapter was to.

Teenage Vash!

Aww, Vash looks so at ease telling the girls about the cryosleep chambers.

Heh, babygirl has a long history with oversized coats, it seems.

Meryl, pondering over all the aspects of Vash she's seen.

Gods, Wolfwood. He seems so concerned over the idea that Vash might die in all this. I'm going to gnaw my own limb off watching this man fight himself.

Luida gets it.

Oh, shoot. Twolives escaped!

What kind of a name is Magsgarinch, anyway?

Ominous ka-n. Kan kan kan. Kakakakakakakakaka

Ok, I know babygirl is fast, but how the heck did he doff his coat so quickly??

Gotta respect that these two weirdos put the guy who still has both his eyes on the guns. Even though the guns are literally bigger than his head and I don't know hooooooow their little baby hands have the breadth to grip them.

Yeah, tossing aside his bullet-proof coat does seem unwise.

Left hand.

YOU AREN'T NINELIVES ANYMORE!!! YOU ARE TWOLIVES!!!

LOL, Wolfwood making an entrance.

Did... Vash wreck his arm again?

HE WRECKED HIS ARM AGAIN!!!

Wolfwood's mad at him for wrecking his arm. And putting himself in danger. And being a confusing, confusing person for Wolfwood to deal with because he makes Wolfwood face himself more than he wants to.

Vash knowing everyone's name. Remembering them all. I just keep thinking about the opening to Stampede where he's standing there in the chamber greeting each and every one of them.

LOL, Wolfwood and Luida tag-teaming calling Vash an idiot. It's definitely a term of endearment.

Vash the Stampede, fueled by his own infinite babygirl energy.

Ahhhhahahahahahahaha, Wolfwood's got it bad. He says "a true gunman," but he's hardly shown respect for that profession. Just... just admit it to yourself, buddy. You're head over heels for the monstrous conundrum before you.

Vash the Stampede. Babygirl, are you clueless, or just that awkward? Boooooooth???

Author Bonus Chapter (Untitled)

(I didn't forget this, post this post, and then have to go back and edit it. I promise.)

Who the heck is John Van Fleet? Wait, are they announcing someone?

"Jingle jingle, let's go!!!" I kinda want to use this in daily life somehow....

Oh. Oh, no. He went to a convention in the U.S. in... *checks date on volume* '04-ish. I hope hope hope it was a comic con and not Anime Expo. AX back then was a thing.

Oh, good. It's a comic con. I wonder if it was San Diego or... New York... or...??? I was actually at SDCC in '04. WAIT NO, I went in '05. Missed him by a year. It was my very first con... and the last time you could get tickets at the door, IIRC.

Yeah, that looks about right. It's... it's a lot. SDCC is a lot. Even in '05 it was a lot.

Wait wait wait. He's a fan of Mike Mignola?? The creator of HELLBOY?!?!? Huh, in retrospect, that makes a lot of sense. Something something similar themes despite very different presentation....

I love how he just butchers language. Because he can.

To be fair, you don't have to be a comic artist to be this awkward the first time you meet people whose work you're a fan of. I want to think his "death" here is him trying to add "desu" to English because he wants to come off as very, very polite to these people he admires, but... like... English doesn't work that way.

LOL, him dying over someone he admires having bought his book. In Japan. Presumably in Japanese. I'm glad he had this experience.

Oh, The Matrix.... I remember those days.... Gods, I feel old now. Thanks.

[longhands-the-second]

First thoughts on Trimax volume 1

1-

I appreciate eriks. Just like, generally. I love how scruffy he is lol.

I do wonder if he’d let his hair grow out like that if he wasn’t in hiding??? He’s had the same haircut since he was a kid though so idk. He’s very attached to his whole look, it seems.

2-

When and how did he replace his prosthetic? What was that like?

WHAT A FUCKING DUMBASS I LOVE HIM

YES INDEED, THAT WAS “FUCKIN STUPID” (Wolfwood says fuck guys omg good for him he deserves it)

I laughed out loud for real though I definitely woke up my roommate on accident oops

Oh god the hair. It’s fuckinh coming. The gut punch. (<- does not know the specifics)

Seeing him with the stubble AND the normal hair is doing something bad to my brain. Fix it. It doesn’t compute.

3-

THE GORLS!!!!

Her hair is. Not exactly bad but that’s not my Meryl.

New Miami, huh? I’m so excited to get absolutely no elaboration on this ever.

Shoutout to the little dude on page 84 who looks like fuckin Wallace

Oh. My god. How many times did he just get shot

OH MY GOD GOOD FOR THEM. God I love milly

Wolfwood is such a chickenshit.

4-

I wonder if Vash has conceptualized himself as human up to this point, and where he’s at with that now?

DAMN I wish I was that balanced

I uh. Man. Wow. I kind of want to make fun of him for doing the most Anime Shit Ever

[redacted]

Babygirl i promise you he knows how plants work lmao

Y’all really weren’t joking about the panty shots

Brad is ALSO a shit. We can’t win here.

Oh. My question is being answered. I don’t like it very much.

On the face of it, I'm pretty solidly in Nico's corner here.

5-

I love how clearly i can hear his little song in my head.

He’s full in monke mode. Just an absolute ape.

AGAIN WITH THE CROTCH SHOTS

love that nightow definitely just got sick of drawing the bullet holes in the coat

Actually looking at this a little harder he did simplify a lot of details. Good refinement, though i do miss the belts.

Vash who the fuck are you calling old. Is the old man in the room with us right now? (Yes)

6-

Oh fucking hell.

I wonder how vash looks at humanity specifically . Is it really something familial? Or is that changing as we progress? I do see how he could be operating from that angle.

My other real question is just how old is he, like, mentally? He really does seem to have the mindset of somebody in his 20s. Knives too? Maybe that’s a thing with them, but i’ll hold off on saying anything conclusive until later. Maybe i’m too quick to say they’re both immature.

I’m sorry it genuinely makes me happy to see characters swear like real people. Wolfwood is so much more fun here.

~~~

I hate that I'm going to get through these so much quicker now, especially now that i’m especially hooked. I’m genuinely considering reading ahead but i think i’ll explode if i do. Time will tell.

I may not get around to coloring pages in the next two weeks and just go absolutely hog wild once my class is over. I have to make my own damn comic for once lmao. Ofc i have 0 impulse control so who knows.

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 4.2

Why am I so slow? Here are my thoughts to the latter half of Trimax 4. And damn, why couldn't we have more hospital yuri? It got dark. :C I mean I love it, but...

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

04: Den of evil

Poor Milly! I love Wolfwood’s reaction of: “Shit! She’s sad that we ditched her!” Also, is that WooWoo-meal Nr. 3 that got messed up by stuff happening due to Vash? Let Wolfwood eat!

For what happened and where she woke up, Meryl is extremely put together. I wouldn't be.

In the last chapter it looked like Meryl was yeeted by a swarm of mosquitos (worms), but Midvalley’s assumption and that Meryl literally coughs up a worm makes me think our poor girl got controlled. Also, he? Well, I don't think Zazie cares.

But why doesn’t Zazie do it with Vash or Wolfwood? Why use Meryl as bait? Is Zazie unable to possess their bodies? Why?

Holy shit, Hoppered goes wild! Just the idea of Meryl being Vash’s “follower” makes him act out like this! Shit! Follower is also pretty demeaning. It says that Meryl is not an equal to Vash. But he kinda hits the spot with that Vash didn’t even tell her “that much”. 

It is nice that it protects Meryl right now, but Vash not letting her close is starting to bite him and their relationship.

And Wolfwood goes the revenge route. They dare to take one of them and Wolfwood reacts how he knows to. Saying this may be comfort for him. It also shows that even though he has put a big distance between himself and the insurance women, he truly cares for them. Vash stays silent. And, man, Milly! I wanna hug her Q_Q

I just LOVE Zazie’s jumpscare and how our boys react. Those two surprised pikachu faces. Perfect.

Second floor and they just randomly hover in front of the window!

I love how they were able to SNEAK into the city with their big ass transportation worm. No panic, nothing! Just the big worm in the streets!

And Vash acts impulsive again. What did he think he could accomplish? I like that Zazie points out how different he is to Knives even by these little actions. And it hints that Zazie has another agenda going on. Which I like. Not everything goes to Knives’ plan and it shouldn’t! 

You honour, they are both married, divorced and idiots.

The establishing shots of the dragon’s nest district kinda remind me of the establishing shots of home. But while Home gave us a feeling of vastness, space and unsettling emptyness, dragon’s nest seems cramped, tight and lived in. Poor people live here, poor people without anywhere else to go.

“The lower and upper class all cramped together.” I know they want to stress that these are the worst fighting grounds for Vash’ and Wolfwood’s ideals (respectively: “No kill.” and “No innocents.”) But… guys, WHERE IS THE UPPER CLASS?! Am I blind?

Cool that Wolfwood has Vash' back, but damn, does he looks ominous. Mr. Death Omen himself. Why does that pose look so good? Confident in his fighting powress.

But taking in Wolfwood’s expression in the next panel… Wolfwood hates that he has to fight, the blood on his hands is itching. His face looks so bitter. He has resigned himself to killing their attackers for kidnapping Meryl, for protecting her. Vash and Wolfwood do not talk about it, but Wolfwood seems to answer something Vash is saying with his look. “That’s what I do.” There is no discussing it. There is no way away from Wolfwood killing their attackers.

Wolfwood wants to preserve Milly’s innocence, in a sense, he wants to keep her from needing to bloody her hands. He wants to protect her from the reality that he is living in. It… can be read as chauvinistic, but in all honesty, this does not read as ill intended machismo, this reads for me as Wolfwood being very aware of their different upbringing and wanting to protect her. There is no right decision here, not really. I understand wanting to protect innocent people from shitty things, but moreso Milly has the right to her agency, to make her own decisions. 

It, still, is Wolfwood trying to decide over Milly what is best for her and I love that Milly stands up to him and straightens his head. More importantly Vash agrees with her. I do not agree with him still keeping stuff from her, but she will tag along and she will be able to decide on her own with the info she gets through this. And Vash is right that they do not know where or when the enemies will attack or where Milly would be safe.

That said, I don’t agree with Milly being nothing but trouble for Meryl. Milly is Meryl’s biggest support! And has been for some time now!

05: Wild crying bullet

*stares and keeps spoiler to themselves* But something else, how do you know their names, Wolfy? 

Good night, Wolfie! I feel kinda bad for what Wolfwood has to endure through the story. Ninelives already nearly tore him apart, now brain damage. Give this guy some rest. All for the safety of his peers. Midvalley said that his sonic waves can be focussed on different parts and such. So happy brain haemorrhage. Could his power be used medicinally? Like… get an MRT and pinpoint a tumour and just toot it away? Well, that is not fitting for the world they live in. Sad that everything will be used as a weapon first.

Midvalley kills Wolfwood so Hoppered can have his revenge. Nice… bromance moment.

Where does all the water come from? I see a barrel exploding when Hoppered attacks, but that would not leave such a big space flooded. Water is an important source, so… Hmmm…

Vash hears it! Midvalley’s toot hurts his ears but through all of it he hears Wolfwood’s scream of pain! I can only imagine that it is one of those guttural, highpitches ones.

Milly cannot move. At first I thought that Hoppered has modified himself to have something of a plantlike aura, but that is not it. She is scared for her life. Attack, freeze, run. Those are the three main reactions people have in that situation. And while Milly can deal with dangerous situations, Wolfwood was right in his assumption that she never dealt with that kind of fighting. 

Her thoughts are kinda damning Wolfwood’s nonchalant attitude before. Surely, if she never fought those kinds of battles, the people who so readily go into them seem somewhat inhuman to her. But Vash counters it by putting their reasons to fight into perspective. He reminds Milly about the reason why Vash and Wolfwood are fighting (Meryl), something Milly’s memory of Wolfwood even says!

I am kinda a bit lost with the following fight. The way Nightow intercepts Vash/Milly’s fight with Wolfwood… uh… twisting up looks cool, but does not give me a clear read. Does Milly shoot at all? Or does Vash intercept Hoppered without even giving her a chance to act? Cool that Wolfwood only died for like two minutes. Why does he shoot his rocket launcher in the air? To stop Midvalley from joining Hoppered? I cannot parse his way of thinking. But then again, he just had massive head trauma. I don’t think there is much thought in him right now.

And, damn, Hoppered has Vash fully demonised in his head. Hoppered wants revenge, yes, but he is completely unable to grasp that Vash does not want to fight. It is easier to keep up your anger and hate if the person you are fighting is a monster. So he dehumanises Vash.

That I do not get exactly. Does Zazie mean like in a crush? What do they mean by excitement? Because I would be “excited” to know that my friends are on the way to get me out of this situation.

But instead of diving into Meryl’s emotional connection to Vash, Zazie is the one who finally does shed some light to who Vash is and what is happening in the background. Something Meryl needs direly. 

Why would Zazie assume that Vash and Knives are the natural enemy of humanity? Well, Knives… Okay… But even that is not something natural. That is a misguided kid with trauma and too much power. Vash on the other hand tries his best for a form of symbiosis.

06: The Bystanders

Is Zazie truly a bystander? They are a new faction with their own interests. Sure, they decide to stay aside, but… that is an active decision. But I love the introduction. The falling ships, the explosions and completely unaffected the worms made sense of the new presence.

What… what is that Meryl face? Is it her ingrained reporter smelling a story? Is it a weird joke that just falls flat for me? Thanks for calling it out, Zazie. Zazie can read the emotions of all living things… Hm… I forgot that, but it also makes their confusion at humans a bit weird. 

And back to Vash and Hoppered. Hoppered still is unable to see Vash as a person who tries to protect humans, when he vilified him so much. But there is our first hint as to why Hoppered hates Vash. July.

Black hole! Vash’ power is a black hole?

And damn, Hoppered seeing that must… damn… We readers already get a taste of what truly happened.

And finally something clicks for Meryl! His enigmatic past! His knowledge of the cold chamber! Vash is old, inhuman and a plant. A plant that does not need humans and a plant that humans cannot control. He is his own. 

For Zazie it may look like apathy. The human race trying to survive, while the independents watch on without really interfering. At the same time, can Zazie as the bystanders really understand the struggle of an individual human? Or is it Vash and Knives that are the bystanders to the struggle of survival of humanity?

The warning is interesting. It reads to me that Vash needs to change to stop Knives. And Zazie does not see it. Sadly, I do not think the warning gets to Meryl, since she is still trying to grasp that Vash is an ageold being, something inhuman and that he caused the fifth moon. Zazie is a gun-ho-gun, but they are not on Knives’ side. Since they stress they are a bystander, they are also not on Vash’ side, but it looks like they harbour more good will towards Vash than towards Knives.

Oh, looks like Wolfwood’s rocket found its target. Nightow… That really did not get through. Also, HAHA! Your saxophone is kaputt! No a-note for Midvalley. So no distance attack?

Damn, Wolfy, stop being so condescending. We know it stems from a place of care, but damn, you sound like an arsehole right now. 

Also, I just had a little epiphany. Wolfwood’s nicknames are different towards Vash and towards the insurance women. Needle noggin/ spikey, those are personal nicknames, something about Vash’ features. But he only calls Milly “big girl” and Meryl “short woman”. Those are so much more nondescript. I wrote earlier today that Wolfwood’s nicknaming as base of distance absolutely backfires with Vash, since a closeness develops through them, but with neither Milly nor Meryl it feels like closeness. The features he choses are nondescript, there is no personality in it. (though I like the difference between Meryl the leader being a woman and Milly the more soft being the girl) Towards them he successfully distances himself. 

And Midvalley’s toot rattled Wolfwood’s brain enough that he cannot see right now. A light is shone at them, the Punisher is propped up right in front of Wolfwood, but Wolfwood has to feel his way in the water towards her. It is also shown in the way his eyes are drawn. I will come back to that in six volumes with a headcannon. 

Milly zooms into Wolfwood being so hurt that he is temporaly blind. She must be shocked, too, that he still gets up to fight. It mirrors a bit what Meryl has to process, Vash' inhumanity, while here Milly is confronted with how far gone Wolfwood is.

Only Knives knows that Wolfwood is Wolfwood. For everyone else he is still Chapel. But Zazie is right! Midvalley is too selfconfident here! When no one was around, he said that he underestimated him!

Who is encroaching?! Who does Zazie sense? My first instinct would be Knives, but dunno, Legato fits the unnerved expression, too. :D Who would be happy to see him?

07: Hopeless Sinner

And again, the person Vash is fighting, reflects him in some way. Leonof was his unhealthy clinging to the idea of the dead, specifically Rem. Hoppered is his sense for revenge above his own survival and selfcare. They mirror him in the worst way. We know that the person Hoppered has built up Vash to isn’t who Vash is, could the same be for Knives? Though what we, the readers, have already seen about Knives says that Vash is right. So is it Vash’ way to deal with his brother? His wish for revenge? Though there I have to say… While Vash wants revenge, he also takes so much time to avoid it! He jumps into every conflict he sees and thus meanders around. Wolfwood is the one who tries to keep him on track, but he fails at that. If Vash was truly so vengeful, it would be his whole mission, kinda like it is for Hoppered.

Damn, Wolfwood played dirty!

On the one hand… I understand why Wolfwood would do this. He wants to protect Milly. He knows she is not a battle monster like Vash or himself. On the other hand… It is her decision. And he took it from her. Dunno, this whole exchange makes my heart break.

“Even if this girl isn’t gettin’ involved… the other girl is still bein’ used as brait to drag us to hell.” If that doesn’t summarise Wolfwood’s perspective of human connection. Isn’t the wellbeing of his orphanage also something that is used to keep him fighting? Every connection to a, well, nonfighter is like that. He needs to protect them and in the process, his hands will be stained with more and more blood. But he still does it.

Jealous? What do you mean with jealous, Elendira?