#In future I might do bottom wolfwood

[kairukitsuneo]

And so..... They were both bottoms

Undercut is kinda naked but don't worry it's not showing any bottom private parts.

[feekins]

no purple highlighter today bc no spoons, but here are my thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read ch 2 of Trigun Maximum vol 7!

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

o hello, painfully accurate depiction of a panic attack 🥲

(also more nuance with the Overhaul's "There's only us")

again, nuance! ty, Overhaul!

idr whether or not someone's already talked about this, but...this has me thinking back to that panel in Trigun Maximum vol 2 ch 4 - where Wolfwood has Vash holding a gun to his head, and Vash says (quoting the Overhaul) "No matter what you do...you give up all hope so easily."

like...obviously, Vash has been there. but it's hitting me especially hard this read-through that Rem has likely been there, too.

(also, it's interesting to note Dark Horse's passive wording in "let go of everything" VS the Overhaul's more active "throw away everything")

I like the way the Overhaul handles the "flow" of these speech bubbles - it feels very natural to how someone might speak (in English, I mean - I imagine this is another place where Dark Horse went with a more literal translation). I also find the Overhaul's wording choice of "kept having"...idk, more compelling? 😮

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

"nothing had happened" VS "nothing was wrong" - same general idea, but given the context...again, the Overhaul's is more compelling to me here. same with them using "I felt like"

this part, too - hitting particularly hard rn 🥺

(for the past several months, I've been dealing with p bad depression, struggling to come to terms with/overcome deeply-ingrained past trauma + trust issues + fear of the future/uncertainty, so...this re-read couldn't have come at a better time)

also, Dark Horse's translation has "Even if you're in darkness now" - idk why that sticks out to me;;;;;

I like how the Overhaul uses "throw away" again - nice consistency with what Rem says to Vash as she's holding the knife back. and I REALLY love the Overhaul's translation of that last panel! aaaaa the nuance of "[the world]'s not just full of worthless people" 🥹

"looks like" VS "I must have"

and you've gotta wonder - did Knives hear any of Vash and Rem's conversation? or was he truly out cold up until this moment?

[full-of-mercy]

Wolfwood's world has narrowed down to this.

To Vash. To the compelling flush staining fair skin. To the flutter of his voice. To the look in his eyes. To the heat of the body beneath his, wrapped around him, encompassing, engulfing. To the sounds of breath and of heartbeats. Anticipation, electric, grounding out into action. Senses. Sensations.

I-want becomes I-have in a blink. Can-I-keep might come later. Might. Maybe. Perhaps. Time is meaningless, future what-ifs and past transgressions sublimated away.

There is only now.

Tender. Animal. Wondrous.

Tendrils sprout and wrap in unexpected places, friendly and encouraging, adroit and sensitive. They snag Wolfwood's buttock and gently ring about the vascular base of his cock at first, earning Vash a jolting buck and a mangled grunt-gasp for his trouble. Brows knit and lips parted, Nicholas bottoms out and grinds against the alien sensation of ciliate touches in silky heat, vise grip so slippery that he can feel the gloss welling between them, tingling static-electric and molten on every withdrawal.

It will overwhelm him if he lets it. This lust. This need. This—

More. Whatever it is, this reckless impossibility, this crowning unlikelihood. It's foolish, it's stupid, it's dangerous, and they are here, and here they are, finding their rhythm, rocking together.

He is determined to make it worth Vash's while. To earn it, some stuttering part of his brain unhelpfully supplies.

Wolfwood leans as Vash pulls him down, lips locking to lips, magnetized, natural as breathing. Here and now he finally closes his eyes, tilting his head into it, mouth blooming open, tongue gliding to test the points of teeth with languid intent—at least at first.

Tasting Vash tasting himself sparks something primal in him that he simply does not wish to resist.

Braced against the mattress with his spread knees, he rolls his shoulders, hooks his arms up underneath Vash's thighs, bracing the crook of knees with his elbows and forearms. They could fit over his shoulders. He doesn't set them there just yet. Instead he lunges and pushes, bending Vash as he himself bends, folding and pressing them together. He knows that the Independent is flexible enough—and he trusts that if there is a complaint Vash will stop him, adjust, do something, anything at all, because he's perfectly capable.

For right now, Nicholas rounds his thrusts with his own body weight. Slicker, easier, deeper, acquiescing to demand—both of their demands. He quests, barbell dragging against texture and papillae that seem determined to wring him out, keep him trapped, exhilarating and breathtaking.

Muscle still cords against the urge to rut rather than to simply experience, but Vash provides apt distraction. Nicholas divides his attention deliberately, sparing himself the decision of one or the other, attacking Vash's lips, biting and hot and wet, a guttural hum crushed between them.

The expression on Wolfwood's face is intoxicating—in the long, long century and a half of living that Vash has gone through, he's never seen such unadulterated desire plastered on a face because of him. If there is doubt, his bedmate doesn't show it.

He could get used to this.

He wants to experience this all over again with Wolfwood for the rest of their lives—and is that so dangerous? Something more than friends, less than lovers.

(He'll never admit to himself that he wouldn't mind the latter. Perhaps that he's already there.)

Vash forces himself to keep his eyes open as he's faced with the overwhelming pressure of entry. He cannot—cannot—miss the look on his companion's face as he seeks depth. The blond's eyes are little more than cyan limbal rings glowing around dilated voids of pupils. He needs to stop the little chirps he wants to let out in anticipation, the trill building in his chest as tip meets entrance.

A gasp escapes his lungs as the pressure of penetration intensifies. The plant is cherry red—his face, lips, shoulders, neck—all painted with blush and sweat and lust and want and need. His body is pleading on its own, plant-like internal papillae urging their visitor to come in, come closer.

There's a slight wheeze in his intake, his breath and mind taken by Wolfwood. The beads of metal on his sex push against him just right, as though it's their purpose to pleasure partners perfectly. He can't think too hard about it, the thoughts evaporating before he can even process them.

Dark blond eyebrows furrow as Vash rocks his hips against him, craving depth, movement. He feels the vine-like tendrils reemerging once more, promising to repeat a similar tactic to the one that they had displayed before.

Love and fascination wash over Vash's face; his arms slide down from Wolfwood's hair to wrap around his flushed neck, pulling his forehead down. Vash meets it with his own—sweat blends with sweat, breath melds with breath—and his eyes light with the familiar pattern, perfectly visible from this distance.

It's dangerous. This is dangerous. Completely reckless, and Vash is loving every second of it.

He rolls his chin forward to meet his partner's lips with his own; he takes a languid kiss that tastes like honey and citrus, remnants of himself still on Nicholas's tongue.

[feekins]

...TODAY, IN MY RE-READING OF CH 4 OF TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 1...

beloved new characters! Vash being adorable!! sadness!!! and even more translation discrepancy shenanigans!!!!

let's jump right in, shall we? ;D

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

ok so in the Fall flashback, immediately after Vash lashes out at Knives when he tries to give him a hand to help him stand, the wording of the two translations is slightly different. on the surface, they basically mean the same thing, but. idk. you be the judge. Dark Horse has Knives saying "...what's your problem? You and I are the only brothers we have." meanwhile, the Overhaul has "What is it with you? You and I are brothers. We only have each other."

so then, Vash is like (I'm quoting the Overhaul here, but the translations are p much the same for this bit) "It's all your fault! Rem... Everyone... You killed them all!" and right here, I'm stricken by the way he's kneeling, tears in his eyes, screaming at Knives...grieving and so angry... 🥺

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

and here's how Knives replies. imo Dark Horse makes him seem just...bad and chaotic, whereas the Overhaul's translation shows that what Knives claims to be his reasoning for his choices is more pragmatic (in part, anyway).

Vash responds with "you're not human!" which he means in a figurative sense, as in 'cruel; without sympathy, pity, compassion, etc.' - but, unsurprisingly, Knives takes it literally, which is where we get our next notable (imo) translation discrepancy. Dark Horse has Knives saying "Exactly!! Don't ever compare me to those faceless vermin!! Don't ever!!" meanwhile, the Overhaul has "Precisely! Like hell I'll be like them! Don't ever compare me to those vermin! Don't ever! Never again!"

oh, the irony in that extra bit in the Overhaul. "Like hell I'll be like them!" ohhhhh, Knives. bby. literal child. you have no idea. 🫣

boozhoo, brother undertaker!!! 🪶 it's so interesting to think about Indigenous ppl like me in this 'verse. how do we navigate this new world? how do we carry on our traditions? how do those traditions change? in any case, it's comforting to see media in which we endure so far into the future...

aaaaaand Vash and Wolfwood get to bickering like an old married couple again. love that for them~ 😆��

I. would. totally get a tattoo of this panel. jeez, what a cutie.

and the way Vash gets to crying? about how bad the situation with the Polo family and the Fris family has gotten? after 152 years, despite everything, he's still so soft. as an adult, that really resonates with me 🥹

oof, this line from Wolfwood, though (Overhaul translation, but it's basically the same in Dark Horse): "Even people who would never fight will pick up a gun if their loved ones are killed." if that ain't one of the main theses of Trigun, man...

AND THEN WE MEET BRAD!!!!!! oh, but I have a newfound fondness for him =u=

one interesting thing I'd like to note: in Dark Horse, that lil guy we see with Brad is consistently just called "Sensei" - but in the Overhaul, he's "Doctor". I suspect this might have been to differentiate him from the "Doctor" we meet just before Knives' resurrection in Trigun vol 2. anyway, it makes a lot more sense to me, "Sensei" being called "Doctor"...but to avoid any confusion moving forward (and to avoid spoilers), I'll stick with the way Dark Horse refers to the two.

oh and also, in Dark Horse, Vash refers to the place Brad and Sensei are from as "the city" but in the Overhaul, it's "the colony" 🤔

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

...yeah, idk what this is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ANYWAY. this exchange between Brad and Sensei over the next 2 pages rly strikes me. it goes like this in Dark Horse:

BRAD (talking to Vash): "Well, I'm sure two years is nothing to you."

SENSEI: "Stop it, Brad. He's not that kind of human."

BRAD: "Hmph. Human!! Human, you say?"

but in the Overhaul, it goes like this:

BRAD: "Well, I'm sure two years is only like a blink of an eye to you."

SENSEI: "Stop it, Brad. He's not that kind of person."

BRAD: "...hmph. Person... Yeah, right..."

'human' VS 'person' - linguistically speaking, the 'person' translation makes more sense. irl American English speakers don't go around saying "I'm not that kind of human" - it's 'person'.

either way, though, it's another illustration of the kind of reservations some humans might have about Vash...

...but here, what *I* have reservations about is Dark Horse's timeline!

last chapter explicitly takes place in February of 0113. that would make Lost July (which happened on July 21, 0104) nine years ago.

oh, Dark Horse, u so silly~

Dark Horse's translation of those two big speech bubbles is "The only one who stood against him all this time...the one who can't leave, who comes back from the dead, is that gentleman, right there." so. whereas Dark Horse frames the conflict as something solely between Vash and Knives, the Overhaul frames it as Knives against humanity, with Vash as the necessary force that comes between them.

and...oof. "Won't you trust me" gets me every. time. 😭

oh, and earlier in the chapter, Brad mentions he met Vash once when he was 4yo. after the exchange above, we learn it's been 13 years since then, which makes Brad 17yo at present! just another timeline thing I'd like to note =u=

the translations are similar enough here, but...idk, I just want to show them both here, bc either way, it's such an important scene for Wolfwood. you really get a glimpse into how he thinks, how he sees the world - not to mention how, as we've seen before, he truly is a man stuck between a rock and a hard place...

...and then we have Vash's response. in the Overhaul, we see that for him, it's not a matter of indecision or taking too much time deliberating, as Wolfwood seems to imply. for Vash, it's "right here and now, there are lives on the line, so right here and now, I'm gonna do something about it."

and now, we end on a silly note: this little panel on the last page of the chapter always confused me. thanks to the Overhaul, it doesn't anymore 🤣🤣🤣