#and this isn't just true for meryl but also wolfwood and milly

[alexiethymia]

vashmeryl

While watching Trigun Stampede, I ended up binging the Trigun ‘98 anime, and I will try, but no doubt fail, to articulate what it is about VashMeryl that makes me so feral, and I mean in all continuities because the themes rings true for the both of them regardless if it’s TriStamp, TriMax, or the anime.

Many people have praised Meryl’s agency in Trigun Stampede, how a lot of the plot moves because of her contribution, and I can’t help but compare this to the anime, where it was because of her that Vash has a breakthrough in how to deal with Knives (after her and Milly took the time to heal and take care of Vash, ugh, found family for the win). In both TriStamp and the ‘98 anime, Meryl is juxtaposed (contrasted? given a parallel with?) Rem. 

And in the ‘98 anime, after Vash’s battle with Knives, he finds the peace to move on, casting aside what was in a way his clutch to Rem (his red geranium coat) to come back home to Meryl and Milly. 

And I love the ‘98 anime because of the implications, that he willingly sheds his outlaw persona for a chance to live a quiet life with Meryl, Milly, and his brother. It was Meryl who gave him the hope to do that, through her words, her invitation to stay together permanently, and even through her actions in standing up for him. (Honestly, the only thing that would have made the ‘98 anime ending perfect for me is if we had Wolfwood. Which is why if Knives could survive 1/3 of the continuities, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Trigun Stampede is the continuity where Wolfwood actually gets to survive). 

Even in the manga, he makes a promise to return to her, and though he ends up quite late, he does end up making his way back to Meryl and Milly eventually.

I love how there’s a chain of influence that happens, and the parallels between the two. Rem says she had been influenced in her ideals because of the person she loved, Alex. Vash is influenced by her, and eventually Meryl is influenced by Vash to the point that she’s ready to stake her life for what he believes in, such that it becomes her ideals too. 

“You can’t save everyone, you can only be there for them.” And this really rings true for Meryl in that while she can’t save him the way Vash tries to save everyone around him, she can still be there for him, whether it’s staying and trying to help him when no one else won’t (Trigun Stampede), making a home for him to return to (’98 Trigun), or telling him to unburden himself because he’s not alone (TriMax). He’s superhuman but he gets hurt like anyone else. I love that Meryl doesn’t scoff at his ideals or tell him to stop, but just helps him in whatever way she can, the way he tries to help everyone else. She treats him not like some act of God, destruction personified, or a savior, but simply as Vash, a softie who needs a bit of help sometimes (which is why when Meryl ends up scared of him, it was heartbreaking, but again this is something she chose to overcome because her love outweighed her fear). 

But at the same time, she won’t simply wait around. Again, I love her agency. In TriStamp, she chooses to stay behind to help Vash (which was pivotal because who knows if Rem’s spirit would have been triggered if not for her voice) and in TriMax, even if it was Vash who made the promise, when he’s late, what does she do? Goes and meets him herself. 

In every continuity, she’s always aggressively chasing after him. When Vash said in the TriStamp finale that he’d keep running and running, and when it becomes quiet again, he’d settle back by humanity’s side, it sounded so lonely. 

And yet, when Vash runs, Meryl will chase after him. Even when he believes he should be alone because everyone who touches him dies, Meryl still wants to be by his side. Meryl proves over and over again that Vash is loved (in a way, to him as well) because she doesn’t ever want to leave him alone. And again, it’s such a wonderful ending in both versions (the anime and TriMax) that when Vash eventually does stop running, it’s to Meryl (and Milly) that he returns home to. 

[magadauthan]

Ep 9: Murder Machine

Aaaaand now for the @trigun98watchparty, we get into what makes Trigun, Trigun. Come for the dumbassery, stay for the trauma.

Cue the entrance of Nicholas D. Wolfwood, wandering priest, and his gloriously bare chest.

--Vash can dish out the whining, but he can't sure take it. Milly is the champion, as the baby of the family. "Pay for our bus fare or I'll hate you! and btw can I have ice cream?"

--oh my lord, Meryl, you are so mean to that poor man. Punch count: 3; insult count: 2 - and then you and Milly steal his water.

--WW's Kansai accent is usually coded in English as Southern. It's probably a good thing the dub didn't tackle that, because it would have been distracting, but wouldn't WW with a Boston or a Chicago accent have been amazing? Come on, the Blues Brothers are right there! (hmmmm... there are an awful lot of similarities between Elwood and Wolfwood...)

--Ah, the portable confessional. Add another notch to the "items seen once and never again" tally.

--Boob shot!

--WW's cold read regarding Vash's empty eyes and hurting on the inside is less impressive when you consider that he has more information than he lets on.

--look at his stupid dress shoes, Tristamp nailed that shit, didn't they lol

--"Why doesn't anything nice ever follow you?" F*ck around and find out, Meryl

--"Did we just become best friends?" "Yep!"

--even the kid thinks you two are a couple of dipshits, seriously

--All of this worthlessness is what Tristamp was missing. Vash and WW have to have adventures where they shoot things, get into trouble, and insult one another. This is what's called "male bonding."

--This is one of the clearer looks we get at how the Plants do their Plant Thing. Push the button and a spider robot comes out. Um, okay. Guess that one was less useful than the Tuna Fish Plant or the Canned Salmon Plant.

--Why was it left behind again? Aren't Plants irreplaceable?

--Vash has a pretty good idea that WW's full of shit and takes a risk on him anyway. He knows how to force a hand.

--they're so cute as a team, aren't they lol

--And there's the second gun. don't ask about Knives' third gun lmao

--Milly gets to be best girl again. WW does take a shine to her right away, doesn't he. That, and he probably thinks it's amusing to make Vash and Meryl sit together. It's so third grade. (it's okay, Meryl, you can admit you don't mind that much)

In light of later events, it's interesting to note what parts of WW's cover story are true and which are fabricated. WW has been handed his orders from Chapel, so his encounter with Vash was no coincidence; WW has to case the joint before making a move. The girls helpfully confirm that WW has made contact, and he has to get Vash to trust him. Not too hard, though Vash isn't quite as naive about WW as he puts on. Everyone's got their act.

WW figures out quickly that Vash is a big softy, or maybe he has info; nevertheless, his generosity towards children (which Vash shares) isn't false. The part about the orphanage and protecting the kids is true, though the circumstances of WW's departure have nothing to do with money and everything to do with a hostage situation. WW's amazement at who he's going to be dealing with is also genuine; he knows Vash is legendary, but seeing Vash wipe out all the mechanical mooks while injured is next-level.

And, at the end of it all...

WW certainly didn't expect to like Vash as much as he ends up doing. (cue the conflict, and a zillion angsty fanfics.) That's going to make everything a lot more complicated.

[paiteyy]

Stampede and Maximum Spoilers!

Look this is kinda a negative (not totally but I wanna be polite and warn! ) look at Stampede and it's handling of the queer content in the source marital, if ur not in the mood for that, block me or scroll past plz 👌don't wanna be a downer for anyone so ye, thought I'd slap this uptop lol

Gonna be real, idk how I feel abt the last ep... Some of my fears are definitely coming true. The big one being that Wolfwood's role in the manga seems to be played by Meryl in Stampede.

The manga is so important to me because it lacks the typical anime/manga hetrosexual tropes.

They put these tropes back in when they made the 98 anime, and it feels like they're putting them back into Stampede.

Wolfwood is the one who saves Vash in the manga, he is Vash's reason to fight. I know Stampede is pretty much an AU of the manga, but they're hitting the major plot points in their own unique way. Not everything is in order, and it's different, which I don't mind.

What I do mind is the fact that they've cut out all the queer parts of Maximum.

From changing Elendira, the cannon trans woman (who wasn't perfect rep, but goddamn it a cannon transwoman who wasnt a joke at that time?! I fucking love her), to a lab grown loli (before you come at me, I know this is a prequel and that she'll age, but that's not the point, because it doesn't negate the fact that she is no longer trans. They could have updated her rep from the manga, but no.) To subbing in Meryl for Wolfwood in narrative moments he occupied in the manga, like saving Vash from Knives.

Narrative moments that would have been occupied by a female love interest in most manga were occupied by Wolfwood in TriMax, and intentional or not, TriMax is queer coded as shit. By switching him with Meryl in Stampede, that is gone.

This is what happens in the manga, in the Stampede Vash is saved by, and saves, Meryl instead. (Also black coat Vash is a reference to Vash from this fight in Maximum. It is the result of him fighting Legato and killing him to preserve Wolfwood's memory, ((he is taking on Wolfwood's color pallet in this fight, the layers in Maximum are insane)):

This isn't a ship post, not really, it's about stripping the queer aspects from TriMax, which are an integral part of TriMax's narrative, a major part what makes the work unique, especially for it's time, and straight-washing it in Stampede (which is taking a lot from Trimax... just not the queer stuff, hum). However, I'll entertain some ship talk.

People have been calling Vashwood the "yaoi flavor of the season" and in all honesty, to me, that's what Stampede Vashwood feels like. I KNOW it's the first season and this could change, but damn it, I feel like I'm allowed to be a little frustrated and worried about the direction they're going.

Vashwood in the manga is a queer relationship supported by COUNTLESS examples in the text, read as romantic or not,(personally, I think it should be read as romantic based on manga framing ((Wolfwood playing the role narratively reserved for the female love interest in most manga)) and textually (("I wanted to spend my tomorrows with him," just one of many examples of Vash's feeling about Wolfwood)) it is undeniable that they are integral to each other in a bone deep way. To the point where the only person as, or more, important as Wolfwood to Vash is Rem, his mother and guiding light.

This is absent in Stampede.

I'm trying not to be uncharitable, but I have a sinking suspicion that Meryl is going to be the one to find Vash after the timeskip, a role given to Wolfwood in TriMax. I wanna be proven wrong tho!

I DO like how Meryl and Wolfwood are getting more interactions in Stampede! They didn't get many in the manga and I love their dynamic. Honestly him grabbing her like a sack of potatoes and booking it outta there was the best part for me lol, I'm glad Milly is coming back too! Vash getting his spikes back also was rad af!!

I feel like I should also say, this isn't a ship hate post or anything. This isn't a Meryl hate post either, I don't kin characters myself but she's as close as they come for me, so I love the little lady. Plus, I've really been enjoying her Stampede design and character development, it's one of the best parts of the show imo!!

It's just the fact that the queer content from the original didn't make it in, while so many other things from TriMax did, that rubs me the wrong way.

I think I'm mostly just frustrated, I'm enjoying Stampede for what it is, but I'm a queer woman, and I can't help but feel cheated out of the faithful Maximum adaptation I've always dreamed of. How come every other manga gets a one for one adaptation, but Maximum, with all it's queer text, doesn't?! I'm frustrated. They always try to make Trigun more appealing, mass marketable, but damnit that's not why I love it. Idk, I just feel sad. With this new adaptation, idk if I'll ever see a faithful Maximum adaptation, which is a depressing thought for me.

Anyway, this became a vent post, sorry. I'm a longtime TriMax shill and I was really (and to be fair, still am to a degree) enjoying Stampede up until these last few eps. In some ways it feels like I'm watching watered down, more marketable Maximum and that just frustrates me.

I'm still holding out hope for season 2 though, I can't help it, even with the things I'm not personally into in Stampedes it's still Trigun, and if I'm not going to bat for Trigun, am I even me?

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

since youre still accepting then 8,9,10 (and maybe 11,12 if you want to) for vash ,wolfwood and millie ,meryl please ! either as ships or individual standalones!!

alright, under the cut for length (+manga spoilers!) i didn't do every single one of these, but i did several!

vash the stampede + 8. a post-canon headcanon

going to cheat a little and combine this with 10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

as i alluded to here i think the ending of the manga is Completely Fucking Bonkers and i refuse to consider it canon. what actually happened... well, i wrote 25k about it so i don't Need to elaborate, but tl;dr vash and LR settle down in a little house and live peacefully and quietly as they slowly start to recover from the horrendous amount of shit they've collectively been through. vash sleeps a lot.

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

vash and wolfwood slept together after wolfwood got vash off the ark, right before wolfwood left for the orphanage, and wolfwood vanished out of vash's bed without saying goodbye. if circumstances hadn't been. what they were. vash would've given him an absolute earful about it.

11. something [other character] believes about them that isn't true

in the aforementioned post-canon au, razlo spends a lot of time thinking that vash blames him for wolfwood's death. he doesn't. he did, but he knows now that it was wolfwood's own fault.

12. something they believe about [other character] that isn't true

vash thinks knives must hate him. he's wrong (though given the way knives treats him, it's an understandable conclusion to jump to) and also projecting.

nicholas d. wolfwood + 8. a post-canon headcanon

:')

in aus where he survives, he eventually works up the guts to go back to the orphanage, and still can't quite believe he's going to be welcomed with open arms until he's already been tackled into the sand by a dozen children. (he tries very hard not to cry and Does Not Succeed)

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

[i trip over my feet and 67985749 unwritten fics about vash and wolfwood and the various intense intimacies of staying in hotel rooms together falls out.]

10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

i find it bewildering that wolfwood didn't know razlo existed given that he was with LR at assassin boarding school for several years. it's much more interesting to me if they did know each other, especially if they met several times, but razlo never introduced himself and wolfwood never saw him in action. he just knew that occasionally livio wasn't livio.

11. something [other character] believes about them that isn't true

vash never believed wolfwood meant him any harm. that was true eventually, but not always.

12. something they believe about [other character] that isn't true

here!

meryl stryfe + 8. a post-canon headcanon + 9. a missing scene that definitely happened + 10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

cheating again, because my brain is starting to turn into soup. i promise i have more milly and meryl thoughts, they're just behind a paywall (a decent night's sleep) right now.

meryl (and millie), rather than chasing vash down with a camera, help him get away quietly from the people after him, and spend the next several months deliberately leading the various people hunting vash away from him, so he has some time to visit his friends and get some much-needed rest.

millie thompson + 8. a post-canon headcanon + 9. a missing scene that definitely happened

about ten months into working as reporters, meryl loses her voice for about a week, so she takes over the cameras, and millie does the talking.

she's really, exquisitely good at it. she's funny, very straightforward, and has the kind of insights that just don't occur to most people. she and meryl take turns after that, and it takes some of the stress off of both of them.

[humanoidtyphoons]

trimax vol 3:

-okay but wolfwood is kind of living in a horror story as he discovers that vash isn't human tbh???? like these hints that give vash away, and wolfwood is trying so hard to make sense of it, and how to feel about it, and yet he will trust vash when it comes down to it. like ooh it's so cool to see him be kind of creeped out by these realizations, bc the moon getting a hole in it was weird, but there's... kind of--he didn't know for sure what happened? and i'm just. so intrigued bc i don't remember this subplot but oh, i'm into it, and how he's trying to gauge it by talking to people who do know vash, and the fact he doesn't age.

-mmkay but how vash defeats leonoff? knowing him as emilio and making him remember what he forced himself to forget? brutal! brutal!!!

-love that brad plays a part in this!!!

-oh i kind of really like that it takes the entire of vol 2-3, for vash to acknowledge that he's too uncompromising with his beliefs, and that there is merit to killing, if it means more people will be saved. like. dgmw, i really do like 98 vash being unyielding tbh, like i 100% believe he forgave wolfwood for killing zazie, but i also like that he stuck true to his beliefs, and it took him a while to get over killing legato tbh? but i like him being more flexible in trimax too. i can't quite recall how tristamp vash reconcilles with wolfwood tbh.

-ninelives is uh. wow. weird in the manga!!! i get why the anime went for he's actually a robot, but i also really like this eldritch thing he is in trimax tbh!!!

-very cute that meryl and milly crash/flatten ninelives. it doesn't take, but it's nice that it happens!

-anytime wolfwood thinks of the orphanage my heart is going to hurt. you'd think i'd accept that by now, but the hits never stop coming tbh.

-legato noticing wolfwood’s change of heart��� hmm…

-luida looks very different in trimax to tristamp i think???? i really do need to rewatch, and i will, bc i want to compare, bc i can't properly recall.

-also luida mentioning that vash could theoretically heal his scars but chooses not too. hmm.

i really was going to take this slow and maybe read a volume a day, but... i don't think i'm going to be able to do that. i just want to devour more and more tbh.

[domfock]

The takes are so fucking good, OP. I wanna add my own two cents about Meryl and her character in the manga, because I love her so much.

Just, man, she starts out reckless, forceful, questioning Vash's good deeds but still backing him up on the sandsteamer. Yet, she feels self-conscious about her calculative nature, feeling bad about herself because she thinks she is cold. The rare times we have a female character written as being cold and calculative, relatively, but wanting to strive for a better understanding of other people's feelings, it's just the good shit. It's different from the old-fashioned, traditional values that female characters are often written with in manga. She isn't maternal, sees the good in everyone, a dreamer. She is forceful, calculative and goal oriented.

And yet, she grows to feel herself and those around her, gaining a deep understanding of Vash as a person, something she works hard on achieving and not something just given to her in the story for reader convenience. Despite the trauma she suffers from the revelations of Vash's true nature, she wants to help him, understands that deep down he is still the same man. She knows, despite everything that happened in the world during the Age of Chaos and the Ark, that Vash will never stop as long as Knives is out there, she won't even entertain the thought that he could be dead.

I know there's a lot of people complaining the girls doesn't get a lot of screen time in the manga, and I agree they don't, but it's unfortunately Milly that gets the worst of it. This is also where I wanna add to what you mentioned about her being the one to ask for help from another, but not to help her, instead to help Vash. I think, just as you do, that more screen-time doesn't always mean that a character doesn't have agency or impact on the story.

Consider this; if Meryl didn't have Marlon make another gun, Vash would never have been able to go help Wolfwood. The orphanage would've been destroyed, the kids dead, Livio lost and Wolfwood would've died for nothing. Meryl didn't just help Vash, she helped Wolfwood, helped Livio, helped all the people of No Man's Land by ensuring their best bet for a future was ready and armed.

And despite Vash being considered humanity's best bet on a future, it is still humans themselves that save themselves, Meryl and Milly, along with the forces from Earth. Through Vash as a means of communication, Meryl is literally a part of what saves the Humans and Plants alike. Her own words grew beyond Vash's, her words bringing him Vash back from the brink. Not all strength comes from physical strength alone, sometimes just being a human, a woman, makes you a stronger person in a world like this.

She never gave up on Vash, and so in the end, he doesn't give up on her and promises her that he'll return.

And they say romance is dead.

Joking aside, Vol. 8 further solidifies my appreciation for Meryl.

Hopefully I can put my long-winded thoughts into concise words when it comes to writing women/female characters and why I loved Meryl in the manga even when she's absent for a chunk it from Vol. 7 onward.

Good 'women/female writing', to me, is not just having more lines, more screen presence or more visibility because you can easily write a character that ticks all of those boxes and still be a shell, still be poorly written, still be misused and still fall into numerous stereotypes. Though we are seeing more female characters onscreen/on paper these days, there are still traps of 'women written by men usually for men or what they think a woman wants' with some variations (and of course some women can also find difficulty in writing women). Then there are times when women characters who are so incredible or powerful, they come off as unbelievable, as if writing a woman character is sometimes treated similarly to handling glass. Some writers are afraid to write women well, believing that it’s 'safer' to have the character be amazing and flawless than forgotten or absent (which can be problematic in a different way).

I love manga-Meryl because I know Meryl's arc, faults, growth, struggles etc.... Nightow really puts her through the ringer. We don't see her much in the later volumes once things get heavy since she's not the series' protagonist, but we learn that she has a full journey post-Colnago. Eventually she, as a person who is not super-powered in the way other characters are, assists Vash in the best way she can.

Vash is a plant, the Humanoid Typhoon, all these other labels, but he calls himself a simple gunman. So, when Meryl is the one to make sure that he has a gun despite everything she had experienced... ah, I had a lot of feelings.

Vol. 8, Ch. 3. ... God damn.

One of the best things Nightow did in Trimax was to write Meryl with doubt and fear and break her away from Vash in Vol. 6, because having a woman follow and care for a man blindly is frankly boring and adds little depth to a friendship or a relationship.

(This praise also extends to how Nightow writes Luida - but those are thoughts for some other time.)

I am also considering Meryl as one representation for humanity in Trigun Maximum's narrative. She is the ordinary person who has been unwillingly forced to witness devastation, destruction, loss etc. and is expected to continue after that. That is a difficult thing to overcome... and then to grapple with the idea of assisting that same force... I imagine that this is a very difficult responsibility. There are war films (good and bad films, from a range of nations) that touch on this theme of responsibility.

I'd like to think that real courage is understanding and overcoming a fear instead of having none.

And then in Vol. 8, Meryl does a small act. She asks someone else to help - something that Marlon later tells Vash to do (let his friends help him, I mean). Without grandeur. Kind of anti-epic. However, this small act is extraordinarily powerful because without that gun, Vash is unable to proceed.

We sometimes view power in such a black and white way when power can be asking someone else for help, trusting someone else, and not have it be about you.

Vol. 8 Ch. 5. A Marlon panel is always a good panel.

I love how Nightow illustrates this. In these panels, Vash is hearing Marlon talk about a 'guest'. Marlon never mentions Meryl's name. We know it's Meryl because we know what the back of Meryl's head looks like (and her legs, haha) but Vash is not seeing what we are seeing.

And yet, Vash knows.

[humanoidtyphoons]

ep 20 & 21... another 2parter...

-bb knives and bb vash... ilu both but oh my god, knives.

-oof, vash wastes no time in trying to ditch meryl and milly (and wolfwood) with a please don't follow me note... luckily, milly planted some tracking device on him! unluckily, vash noticed it and planted on a kuroneko!!! milly also thought vash turned into a cat! milly/wolfwood made for each other!

-the fact is that vash would have ditched wolfwood, had wolfwood not been SO dedicated to following vash's trail, and did straight up follow up, jump up into the air just like vash did, and have blind faith that they'd go somewhere.... infuckingsane. you saw your man do something ridiculous, and absolutely did the exact same thing. i could not!!! them squabbling outside seed 3 makes me laugh so much, what do you mean vash that wolfwood should stay outside???? after he followed you and went into the sky???

-ack, jessica, brad, and the doctor. i forgot how different brad is in 98 to tristamp. tbh, i do think brad/jessica is cute... and how wolfwood is purposely teasing vash/jessica to annoy brad. revenge!!

-mm, i kinda like that the seed colonizers don't like wolfwood, and vice versa, but wolfwood keeps his thoughts to himself until they start antagonizing him, and he snaps at them.

-listen, leonof may be a piece of shit, but damn, do i like the puppet gimmick. the murder spree, less so, but gung ho guns gang: what can you do?

-hm, so in this version wolfwood is chapel? he just... keeps on having these conversations with vash out of earshot with fellow members, and just. my heart, yk?

-wolfwood stalling for time to save jessica, and brad, while vash gets his red coat, and hand, and destroys some more puppets. gosh, wolfwood tries so hard to abide by vash's code of honor... i'm just. wolfwood, you want to do right and listen to him so badly... even as you lead him to knives...

-so many people die thanks to the gung ho guns, three of 'em on board, and only vash and wolfwood are there... they might be able to defeat two of them, but the plants get hurt :( the seed ship crash lands and just. guh. as much as wolfwood was annoyed at the unfriendly attitude, that didn't mean that he wanted them to be forced on land either...

-forgot how much i liked brad & vash's friendship this episode. it's SO different to tristamp, where i'm pretty sure they merge brad and the doc to one character, and luida is... just not in the 98 version at all? but brad overcoming his jealousy, to support vash, and protect him from the jessica puppet at the expense of his own life... guh. it's gutting.

-brad looking at wolfwood and seeing vash/being reminded of vash... i just. yeah okay.

-sometimes i say that real vash isn't silly, but that's not true. he is! he's still an idiot, even tho he plays it up for certain. shooting the holes in the ground in order to take a shortcut, 6 fucking times? idiot behaviour, but so good! he's still very goofy!

-wolfwood personally seeking out leonof to shoot him. twice now, he's killed gung ho gun members for trying to kill vash, and just. wolfwood. wolfwood. i'm dragging my hand down my face, i genuinely don't know what to do with this information. twice now he's killed for vash, and vash will hate him for it, had he known, so he keeps it to himself, and just. god, you're in such a messy situation.

-i do like that there's still optimism at the end of the episode. even if the seed 3 ship has landed... it's not the end of the world, they can survive on land. even if it's not the cloud, it'll be alright, they'll make the most of it. it's a bittersweet ending, but just. fuck, yk?

-oh wolfwood, you're really in it now.

-but hey, at least milly and meryl managed to weather the storm and survive the typhoon and catch up to the fallen ship, thereby meeting vash again.