#terrible terrible plant man

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce

Now, I might be mistaken, but judging by the number of bare pectoral muscles strewn over my dash at any given moment, I'm gonna say Wolfwood is pretty popular? And that's understandable (he's a loser <3) but it's a genuinely terrible shame that Meryl gets overlooked. Especially in Stampede. Orange have done some really amazingly cool things with Meryl.

And it makes me a little nervous to say so, but I think they only could have done them by detaching her from Milly, at least for a time. Milly's still going to show up and I'm confident from this precedent they'll treat her well, so I'm at peace with her absence for now.

Nightow is unexpectedly good in many ways. He treats sex workers as human, which is a low bar that many nevertheless fail to clear, and my only serious disappointment in Maximum was in how the girls vanished for long periods. I recall an interview where he said something to the effect of being reluctant to put them in harm's way, and while I'm disinclined to take anything Nightow says entirely at face value (I don't think he's a liar, but I do think he has a sense of humour that inclines him to kindly trolling, which I respect), that would line up, I think.

I think Orange are taking the opportunity to remedy this disappointment.

It's exciting. It's the kind of writing for female characters in genre media I've always craved. I will not be silenced on how extremely gay I am for Meryl Stryfe.

Unfortunately that means for this first entry, I'll have to talk about Knives. (Whom I also love, but not in a gay way. More an affectionate revulsion. He's fascinatingly horrible, this man.)

So. I've noticed a distressing tendency for Knives's... really almost anything that ever comes out of his mouth (seriously) to be taken as the honest, objective truth. After all, they didn't call him a villain.

And what an honest face he has!

As Knives has it:

Vash is pretty, but he's useless without his brother. He's a powerless, weak, pathetically naïve, blubberingly sentimental little baby who doesn't care about the Plants, too busy enabling humanity's abuse via performing his cringing, grasping abasement before them to notice how his brethren suffer. Knives himself is the more powerful (and much less human-like) of the twins; the strongest and most righteous activist for necessary change now that, sadly despite all good faith attempts at communication, non-violent solutions have failed. He truly has only the best and most altruistic intentions: the freedom of his people, and the happiness of his brother.

Here's the problem. This has always been the problem. Every one of the statements in the paragraph above is false. Except the one about Vash being pretty.

Once more with feeling: They are completely untrue. They are supported by literally nothing. All we have is his word that they're true and there's so much existing evidence to disprove his claims that even the thought of compiling it exhausts me.

However, I did say that Zazie is a truth-teller in this story, didn't I? So let's examine some of Zazie's conclusions.

Now, I've seen reference to the surviving human communities on No Man's Land as "colonisers", and that their treatment of the Plants even before the Fall is analogous to slavery. (My strong suspicion is that Knives is purposefully invoking those comparisons, in fact.) Those are both extremely loaded analogies, culturally and emotionally, and I just want to gently, respectfully caution those who make them against overlooking the more nuanced and purposeful analogies being made. Or maybe should I say, the actual individuals to whom they apply.

Zazie is very careful to say this: Knives told them humans can't be trusted to learn from consuming their home planet. Knives was the one who said humans will have Zazie's planet next, and that only Knives will "use" the Plants correctly - so Zazie should ally with Knives.

Here's what Knives meant by "using the Plants correctly":

I, uh, think Zazie may have made the wrong call on this one! And that Zazie thinks the same.

This is what makes the interaction with Wolfwood so funny and sad - the all-knowing, ostensibly unkillable Zazie is freaking the hell out, staggering under the weight of realising just how apocalyptically badly they have fucked up. Wolfwood, who also directly instigated this disaster but under duress, is grimly amused - he did everything he did fulfilling the contract to protect the kids, even as his conviction failed, even though he would rather have died, even after Livio... and thus he personally rendered all his own efforts and sacrifices moot.

And he's just like, "Heh, yeah. That tracks." This poor boy.

Afterwards, Zazie is confused and even a little saddened that Vash was demonised in the wake of July's destruction. Never let it be said the bug fails to learn from experience: Vash is the one everyone blames? Ah, so he was in fact spectacularly heroic and clever and it's entirely Knives's fault it turned out so badly.

Also, crashing on this specific planet wasn't exactly humanity's choice. Guess whose choice it was.

Go on, guess. Better yet, guess why.

Yeah. It was also Knives who said to Zazie that both he and Vash crashed the ships... trying to stop us. From doing exactly what Knives tried to do the very instant he got the chance.

The thing is, Knives does everything he can to look like he's right by positioning himself as the most authoritative source, but he isn't ever backed up by like... facts. Or evidence. Or reality. Or anything. Ever. He crowned himself king of the Plants. He speaks and acts for them by divine right, apparently. He didn't take a vote or anything - in his mind it's self-evident only he understands the world, and Vash, and the correct way to use the Plants. Because remember that it's not using Plants he gives a damn about, even using them to death in the Last Run, as long it's him doing it. It's being dependent upon humans; he views providing for our basic survival needs as wasteful and inherently, exclusively parasitic, even if we're helping the Plants to survive in turn. Because it's humans that he's frightened of, and he wants the yucky things gone.

The thing is, when he's not being purposefully manipulative (though Vash is the only one he manipulates in person, probably because Vash is the only one he pays enough attention to for his tactics to be effective) he's being a dense fucking idiot. At very few points do his delusions intersect with reality.

The thing is, Knives is a known, proven, and entirely unrepentant liar. It's the logical extension of the way he gaslights Vash. He is in no way a trustworthy source of information.

All that he says is part of a heroic narrative about being the specialest boy evar that he came up with to avoid taking any blame or responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Knives considers himself perfect, but he's made plenty of mistakes, which I do think he would consider mistakes - among them Rem's death, alienating Vash, cutting off his arm and rendering him disabled, and what I suspect to be the large number of Plants killed in the Fall, along with the ones consumed by the Last Run in the desperation that followed.

So he tells himself... little stories. Inside his head. It's how he reconciles it. It's how he copes.

Basically, if you want to find any truth in anything Knives ever says, look closely at what he says, and believe the opposite.

Now, onto my girl and how completely fantastic she is.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

[nanomooselet]

I just want to point out that we don't know Vash needs to eat. That's just what Nai said.

Vash immediately reacts defensively - "Hey, I'm a Plant too!" - and literally the very next thing Nai does is lie. Playing a harmless prank, but still a bare-faced, unambiguous lie.

Nai apparently harped on Vash liking food enough that they had regular arguments verging on fights over it, and Vash began to get sensitive.

"All you think about is eating."

"Well, sorry that all I'm good for!"

Vash became so insecure about it when Luida asks him what he can do, that's the answer he gives her - he eats, drinks, and sleeps, and that's all. He's useless. His brother was the one with special powers.

But... that's not true at all. At less than two years old, Vash could walk, talk, read, navigate the SEEDS computer system (better than Nai could) and play the piano. Sure, those are all things humans can do, but one boy in so little time with a minimum of instruction? And that's just the start of his abilities. Vash may not have been born with powers, but he was on track to develop into someone extraordinary by any metric.

Knives is very careful to present himself as the only one who truly understands what Vash needs and what he's capable of, but that hasn't been borne out by their interactions in the slightest. The only one who benefits from Knives's claims being the truth is Knives himself, because it means he's right to do everything he does.

Think twice before taking anything he says at face value. Especially when he's talking about Vash.

(The Bible stuff is cool and interesting I've just been pulling my hair out over the "Vash canonically needs to eat and he wasn't born with powers so he's weaker!" thing since the episode aired.)

Y’know, we know that Vash needs to eat and drink, but I have to wonder if he needs less than the average human, considering it looks like these three were tied up here together and with the same rope. Someone could have just thrown him up there in the middle later, but it’s interesting

Also, we see how easily Vash escapes Meryl’s rope later… Is he letting himself hang there? ):

[papayasapphic]

reflecting on his actions

[weepingfoxfury]

The man on the radio may or may not still exist in this Universe ... it could be that he and the lost postman may just have leapt through yet another wild garden portal. The stand in lady on the radio remains undaunted and flings Friday feel-goods in our general direction. Weatherwise we've started with sunshine, a few clouds and with the usual warning never to relinquish your hold on 'the umbrella.' The traffic lady wends her way through all the new one way systems before mentioning a certain barefooted gentleman who likes to play in the cold ... says she's a fan of his.

Today's groaner: A man goes to a doll store and says to the lady behind the counter "Ineed to get a Barbie for my daughter, how much are they?" ... "Well, we have Barbie goes to the gym for £19.95, Barbie goes to the ball for £19.95, Barbie goes to the beach for £19.95, Barbie goes shopping for £19.95, Barbie goes nightclubbing for £19.95, and finally there's divorced Barbie for £395.00." ... The man looks surprised and then says "How come divorced Barbie costs so much?" ... "Well sir, that's because divorced Barbie comes with Ken's house, Ken's car, Ken's boat and Ken's furniture" ;-D badoom tish ... here all week!!

Friday, Friday, Friday and the feeling is Nina Simone all the way! Had to hit the shiny metropolis yesterday for all the usual comestibles for both myself and the Hairy Horde ... but today is home, home, home! :-) Managed to get a long planter yesterday (in fact ended up with two for a very strange offer ... buy one and get one for a penny) so the lovely 'currently resident on the kitchen windowsill' Medusa (Kalanchoe) will now end up with more room to manoeuvre and will then head to the lounge. Here's hoping she and her many 'arms' will flourish.

Had to go to the outside bit of the garden centre to get the planters, where I found the usual gardeny lady busy with her hose. This meant me holding up my trousers so the bottom bits didn't dangle in the water. I could have gone Gene Kelly out there but figured I was getting enough peculiar looks just for my attempts to keep my clothing out of the puddles. Didn't get near the reduced price plant section, so no bedraggled bods saved this time.

Ach well, time to vamoosle ... coffee to be had, cats and canines to get sorted ... and I'm about to hit that Sinnerman button ...

[nanomooselet]

The thing about Knives is that he is fundamentally ridiculous but he believes he has natural gravitas because everyone around him is trembling with dread and trying not to cry.

Man, that's because you kill people. They're in fear for their lives. You are not a badass.

The guy over there with his silly-ass hair and his brightly-coloured coat and his sweet nature and his dedication to the bit? That guy there stuffing his face with donuts and flailing around like an inflatable tube man? The guy whose friends are constantly giving him shit?

He's the badass.

And I think you know. I think you find it infuriating.

coming or going Knives just cannot win. if he uses a gun everyone is 'ohhohoho where are your knives mr millions point and laugh my friends point and laugh' but when he uses knives the masses shriek with renewed laughter because the boy really do be having millions of knives so on the nose so silly, it's no wonder he wants to end mankind

[lususnatura]

🎤 🎤 🎤

a song that i associate with my muse meme!

AHH, hey, ramone!! thank you for sending in this prompt :D since you sent in three of the mic's, i shall now be treating you to three songs that make me think of blamore when i hear them / that i associate with it. an explanation of why i chose them will be in the tags <3

hozier - who we are.

icehouse - crazy.

depeche mode - personal jesus.

[candycryptids]

Finally, a date AND time that I know I’m going home by sob

Going to be basically all day Thursday but I’ll be free… Friday is my time… Thursday night I’ll snork mimimi in my own fuckin bed…. 2 more days… 2 more sleeps…. I need all the mental strength I can muster to ask for the amount of money I’m owed 😵‍💫🙃

Anyways. Breakfast time OTL

[jupitersflytrap]

not to be a hater but is there anyone else out there who thinks the new series of doctor who has been pretty poor who DOESN’T just think that because they have a knee jerk reaction to “wokeness”

[nanomooselet]

I've been sloooooowly chipping away at this crazy pinball machine of a series, starting to draw some conclusions, and one of them is this: Tristamp Knives wants with all his heart to believe he's the most special guy. You have to question and examine and interrogate everything he says because he's so determined to be The Guy of All Time he'll lie with total confidence.

He's trying to assume a role that doesn't belong to him. And he thinks he's so frigging smart, so clever, so sneaky he'll get away with it right under everyone's noses.

But once you know his secret? Once you know the punchline? He's very obvious about what he's thinking.

Look at Rem's face right here. She's seeing what her boy will become in his eyes. The future laid out in front of him, the path he's doomed himself to follow by disobeying her.

She isn't impressed. She isn't afraid.

She smells bullshit.

Having a normal one thinking about tristamp Knives considering himself a "proper" independent in comparison to Vash, but all of the traits he is shown valuing as a plant are the things that humans would value in a production plant, not a plant that exists separately from humanity. The early development of his powers, the fact that he doesn't need fuel (food or water) for replenishing his energy? Ideal for something that a human values for production! Plus he can't communicate with the higher dimension in the same way Vash does, he can only draw energy to produce things—and we know from the fight in the finale Vash is pretty evenly matched even while holding back (and by extension, we know that Vash is more baseline powerful than Knives in Trimax). But by all measures, Vash is less "useful" as a plant to No Man Land's current production capabilities compared to Knives (who could pretty much be a one-man factory).

Anyways I'm not going anywhere specific with this. I'm tired and running on fumes, just rotating things in my brain.

[nanomooselet]

Spite

The line that leads to Vash making this face. It's just so evil I almost want to applaud.

For all that I find him easy to hate, I have sympathy for Knives's trauma and his fear, if not his actions. But this, on top of everything else that he's done, is the moment my sympathy dies.

Knives is the always, always the one to leave the first scar on his brother, the most noticeable and debilitating wound, but Trigun Stampede does him the favour of making it a panic response when he was desperate and grieving - a genuinely well-intentioned act in its way, backfiring tragically in the next moment. (Says something about even the most well-intentioned use of such violent force, yes? Also he was, like, six years old.)

It leads to the contrast of a moment where none of that applies. He's simply spending the last of his strength to hurt Vash as much he can, no strategy or goal behind it. If he can't win, he can make Vash lose. He can get the last word.

Nai is dead. You killed him.

And the reason I say this has no strategy and his sole intention is harm?

During the rest of the fight, even trying to grab at the cube once it's installed in the arm, Knives kept his blades 'closed', in the configuration he seems to use to pick things up. He truly doesn't want to hurt Vash any more than he already has. It's his single greatest regret.

Until his last moments, when his blades are open.

The last person to see them this way, from this angle, and survive?

Rosa, losing her friends as revenge for the harm she did Vash and being left to live with it. That wasn't self-defence, even though they shot at him. Knives was perfectly capable of killing them in a less drawn-out way, or even subduing them non-lethally, and it's not like the gunshots could injure him in any meaningful way. He wanted them in fear, he wanted Rosa to witness their deaths, and he wanted her to live with the aftermath.

This is Knives at his cruellest, his most malicious, but in a strange way, also his most honest. He's not going on about liberation of the Plants or justice for humanity's crimes; it's entirely personal. He does not understand his brother, but he knows one thing: Vash will take any opportunity to blame himself, and he clings to that guilt forever. If that is all that remains of him - if Nai has to be a ghost haunting Vash in the same way as Rem - then so be it.

It's something, at least, that will never be left behind.

[tiredassmage]

Lensen Ryaldar - aka my “ah fuck, I’ve fallen in love with this absolute bastard and his devilish good looks anyway” (despite many poor and questionable decisions) collection, KOTET edition and in no particular order.

[nanomooselet]

By Vash's testimony, he does go out often enough to frame Vash for his crimes, but otherwise yeah, this is a Plant who needs more fresh air and sunlight and less time crouching at a keyboard in the dark.

Yet another example of Knives' control over others is the scout worms that we see throughout most of the series, an asset from Zazie that he uses as his eyes.

It gives him the same sense of omniscience they have by proxy, but at the same time it's very isolating, isn't it? We don't ever see him outside of his ivory tower outside the attack on Jeneroa Rock, and even then, Conrad seems surprised that he actually came in person.

The rather cursed conclusion one can draw from this is that Knives?

He's a goddamn keyboard warrior.

[somnas-writes]

The main bodyguard crew are actually all incredibly in sync.

The six of them have spent enough time together to know each others to know habits. Even when they’re sorta rivals, they run like a well oiled machine.

Once they got sent on a mission that required them to split up and it went horribly but they adapted shockingly well

Each little duo knows the other like the back of their hand. It’s cute

[weepingfoxfury]

The man on the radio has once more departed for who knows where for who knows how long. An unknown lady on the radio stands in his spot. Weatherwise we're starting with sunshine but, as ever, some of the wet stuff is never far away and will be along later. The traffic lady regales us with a fine variety of road shenanigans before mentioning the reuniting of a couple of siblings in a fertile desert area and declaring she'd happily be a roadie for them.

Today's groaner: A gardener took his dog to the vet. "What seems to be the problem?" asked the vet. "He just seems a bit down. He just lies in the garden all day and lets out sad sighs." "I see" said the vet, "and what do you grow in your garden?" "Well, this year it's cantaloupes. Why do you ask?" The vet nodded knowingly and said "Well, there's your answer. He's a Melon Collie." ;-D badoom tish ... here all week!!

I saved this little plant from the usual place for the princely sum of one euro. Unfortunately, having brought it home, the tide came in and a sea of slugs washed across it and made lacework out of the leaves. So ... indoors it came and it has sat looking very sorry for itself for quite some weeks. Until today! Today a mini sunflower has finally dared to pop it's head out. Something to definitely bring a smile to my face.

Biggest Dog had a reasonable night and, with her new drugs, some anxiety has reduced and I can finally sleep with the light off again. Bliss! Sunshine and a sunflower, coffee and a sleeping dog ... what more could anyone want? ...

[nanomooselet]

It takes nearly two months for Vash and friends to get from Jeneora Rock to July, and they had transport. This loser puts on his nicest blankie and walks from July to Jeneora Rock in a couple of days.

This dramatic asshole choosing to walk barefoot through the desert to greet his brother is still the funniest thing to me, like

Did Conrad kick him out of the car? Did he make this choice on his own? Did he tell the rest of the gang to hold back until his dramatic entrance was made??? I have so many questions

[goldengodcannibal]

POISONOUS PLANTS R SO COOOL