#one more chapter and it'll be done

[novasintheroom]

013. Recommendation (pt. 4/5)

♡ Pairing - Vash x Reader

♡ Word count - 1.1k

♡ Warnings - none

♡ Description - Vash finally caves and sees you again.

Part of the 150 Bullets drabble series on AO3.

Part 1 ---- Part 2 ---- Part 3 ---- Part 4 (you are here!) ---- Part 5

So it goes for the next nine years. Letters are constantly exchanged between you two. Trinkets and baubles pass between envelopes, too. Vash’s pockets fill with the papers you send, and he pulls them out on lonely nights to thumb over the ink and laugh at the bad jokes. Some letters fall apart from bullets he dodges, and he mourns their loss every time. It’s like losing you all over again. But, he reminds himself that he chose to leave, not you.

He wonders if you look older. If you’ve cut your hair. He still expects you to write one day, telling him you’ve found a partner, that you’ve started a relationship, that your partner doesn’t like that you’re constantly writing letters to another man and you’ll have to cut contact. He dreads those thoughts, those days. A secret part of him hopes it never comes to that, selfish as it is.

 He tells himself he hopes you find happiness wherever you go.

Your latest letter is long, filled with anecdotes of your days and funny stories. Near the end, your letter takes a turn:

I’ve also heard about someone taking the Plants, too. Several towns have been wiped off the map recently. Do you know anything about that? It’s crazy, what some bandits will do to get money or power.

                One of my towns was hit, actually. Henna. I rode to it one day and just found it in fresh ruins. Some of it was still smoldering with fire. Most of everyone had left by then, and those who hadn’t…I had to leave quickly and sent word for help to go to them. I couldn’t do anything, not without outside help. They tried to take my bird. I think they planned to eat her. Desperate people do desperate things.

                 Please be careful out here, birdie.

You end with a joke, as always, but Vash barely reads it. He looks up, around at the small camp he’s made for himself that night, the bottle of alcohol sitting by his hip. A sinking feeling settles in his chest. He’d heard about the Plant thefts, too. It was part of the reason he’d travelled to the southernmost part of the region. The other, well…he can’t admit it to himself, but he wants to be close by in case something goes wrong for you. Bandits, bullies, robbers – they just get more numerous the further from cities one gets. Not that he’d get there in time. He wouldn’t even know something happened to you until your letters just stop coming.

That thought settles something in him. He’s known, of course, that there’s no way to help you unless by chance. But maybe it’s the alcohol, or a fierce want to just see you again that finally, finally takes over. He pulls out his pen and paper and writes a simple letter he’ll send tomorrow:

                ______,

                Do you want to meet at the town Gregarious for dinner sometime soon?

Vash

Of course you say yes.

Gregarious is a bigger town, up-and-coming on its milling and water production. They even added a third Plant to their arsenal recently. Everyone is in high spirits, and Vash receives friendly nods when he walks in.

The Mom and Pop’s is crowded for dinner. He’s happy, seeing so many people out and about. But there’s one person he’s looking for. His eyes scan the room in quick flits, jumping from one person to another. Have you dyed your hair? Cut it?

Someone taps him on the shoulder, and he turns, and his breath leaves him. It’s you. You, with your hair in a braid, the same color it’s always been. You look hesitant, even with recognition in your eyes. “Vash?” your quiet voice asks.

Without preamble, Vash opens his arms wide. Your face breaks into a grin, and you hug him just as tightly as he hugs you. He can smell the apple lotion on your skin, along with the dust of the day, the suns in your hair.

Dinner isn’t awkward like he feared it would be. Nine years of letters will do that, he supposes. You both chatter to each other about your day, how you got here, where you’re staying, how each of your goals are going. It’s nice. It’s so nice. Vash can’t keep a smile off his face the whole time. Your cheeks turn red with your own smiling.

“So what are your plans now?” He asks, taking a sip of beer.

You push your vegetables around on your plate for a moment. “Well, the library exchange program is pretty well set up. A lot of young people – especially girls – are reading and writing and going to college, or planning on it. HQ has been so impressed with my progress that they want me to move to Octovern and be on the board.” You push a carrot around on your plate. “I turned them down.”

Vash gawps and leans forward. “What? Why?”

You smile. “I like being out here. I like seeing people, strange as that is to say. I usually hate people.” You and he share a knowing laugh. “But I like seeing how I’m actually making a difference, and I don’t want to sit in a stuffy board room giving orders to other librarians, where to go, whatever. That’s just not the kind of work I like. Plus, I…was hoping to travel with you again.”

You look up to gauge his reaction. He tries to school a neutral face, but you see right through it. “It wouldn’t be forever! I’d still hand out books and set up routes, just in a more sporadic way. We have several librarians that do it that way, travel wherever they want and switch books out when they come through a town. It gives people something to look forward to when they see us.”

You were already using “us” again. Vash feels torn. On the one hand, you’re doing exactly what he left you to do. You aren’t as safe as he’d hoped, but it’s better than traveling with him. On the other…Sigh. On the other hand, he really, really misses you.

You’ve carried on, not noticing his thoughtful look. It almost feels like a job interview – as if he needed your recommendation that you were reliable. “I’ve gotten much better at defending myself with my knife! And I’m good at making getaways on foot and on tomas. And I know you miss my cooking, you’ve said it a thousand times in your letters – “

“One month,” he hears himself say. “One month, and we see how much you still miss traveling with me. Alright?”

Your chair screeches from the force you jump out of it, and you’re on him, squealing with excitement and shaking his shoulders. Vash laughs at your enthusiasm. He’s missed it. He’s missed you.

He just hopes it isn’t a mistake to invite you along again.

[sanitysomething]

I'm working... it's coming together...

[peninkwrites]

Niki takes Ranboo home, Tubbo stops fucking around, Ponk and Sam are both weak, Karl fills Sapnap in on some ugly truths, and the Badlands find nothing.

[CW: guns]

[visceravalentines]

diversity win! the shambling horror in my slasher fic uses he/it pronouns

[lulubeanie]

Oh I forgot to put this one here

[clenastia]

i dont know why the running joke of this chapter is kakashi fearing for his kidneys. where did that come from. WHY did that come from.

i should probably cut that in editing it's a little ridiculous.

except it makes me giggle every time so maybe i should leave it there.

[rubberduckyrye]

A little late BUT I got my 2k done for the two-hours-ago yesterday :'D I'm still on track wooo!!!

[sammyloomis]

half of this feels like absolute bullshit im ngl dfghj

[buttercupshands]

haha guess who read the spoilers?

[lordisitmine]

One thing about me is that I am obsessed with organising random insignificant data so here's a graph of all the chapter word counts of my most popular fic

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

not really that important, but i was able to find a favorite song that i sort of lost for a little while and now the actual story of the bio portal au has a name

yay :]

[crystalkitty1220]

Welcome back to tumblr! Hope you enjoyed your break

It was very stressful. Ended up failing the marking period for English, but not by as much as I was failing before. Could still pull up the overall grade by the end of the semester.

[the-kipsabian]

i like writing when its just me slapping words on my screen and thinking "yeah this makes sense" without actually knowing if it does or not

[theheadlessgroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/719251327573786624/beatingheart-bride-theheadlessgroom

@beatingheart-bride

It always surprised Wilhelm to hear that little reminder, that affirmation, that he did not deserve to be shunned or treated as harshly as he was: Although he was a proud man-proud of his heritage, proud of his family, proud of where he came from-and was never afraid to say so, a man could only take so much abuse before he started to believe it himself. He tried not to let it get under his skin, of course, reminding himself that they were just narrow-minded people who didn’t know him the way people like his wife and son did, but still...

...it still managed to burrow under his skin like a damned tick. It burrowed, it planted itself in him, slowly poisoned him-it made him stop, second-guess himself, even when he knew he shouldn’t. It was frustrating, exhausting, and demoralizing, but still, he hung in there. Call it stubbornness (the hallmark of a good Pace), call it optimism, a sort of Pollyanna-ish outlook on things, but he reminded himself that the harsh words, the rude stares, the little whispers...they meant nothing. He let them roll off his back, and instead chose to believe in the little reminders: From June, from Randall...

…and now, from Emily.

“Thank you, lass,” he smiled softly at that: Neither do you, he wanted to say, but for now, he settled on gratitude for the kind words of this sweet siren, sitting in his bathtub.

[orcelito]

does discacc read as being made by someone Mentally Ill? be honest

[james-stark-the-writer]

I love being insane and rambling/loredumping for over an hour in a voice note about a niche thing in the lore/world of my nonexistent book that will probably never come up and is probably not important to the story at all that I know of because I haven't really started writing it yet besides two chapters and some snippets that were like a few years ago because I cannot be bothered to do research for a different WIP that is not even past the basic stages (the real inciting incident hasn't even happened) bc it's not a current priority before finishing the first draft that I have been working on for the last four years or the first draft of the other WIP I've been working on since the year two thousand and sixteen.