#yeah conrad wins World's Best Enabler award :/

[yellowocaballero]

I just realized b&l was Brad and luida and not some other obscure terminology... I feel dumb now (and sad that while knives was growing up w parents vash just had Conrad... Somewhere out there is an au where both twins get to grow up with Brad and luida... Tho idk if both would survive the process... 😨)

EXTREMELY LATE REPLY SRY

Vash is partly Like That because nobody has ever told him 'no' in his life. Rem and Knives were indulgent, Conrad pulled an Alfred and never saw himself as Vash's parent despite being the only adult a little kid had and as such never tried to discipline him or control his behavior, and the GHG are all yes-men who worship him. Vash is spoiled and gets whatever he wants, and expects himself to get whatever he wants. You have to contrast the entitlement to canon Knives, who also gets what he wants because nobody can tell him no. I wanted to make it clear that 14yo Knives was very close to being the actual, canon Knives - that he was a murderous jerk who hated humans and thought they were a scourge on humanity too. Knives is good instead of bad because of B&L & the choices he made, just like Vash is bad instead of good because of Conrad & the justifications he gave himself.

All that to say - B&L would have absolutely prevented Vash from going so bad. They couldn't have stopped the voices, but they could have taught him how to cope with them and make the right choices. Humanity's biggest problem could have been averted if Brad just grounded him. It was important to me to establish that Vash didn't do the things he did because he was sick, because that's a super shitty message to send - he did what he did because he wanted to hurt people, and decided to believe whatever he needed to believe that would allow him to keep hurting people.

But yes, Vash was a troubled kid who deserved a B&L. Vash's story is ultimately a very sad one. It's why I couldn't bring myself to kill him - it wouldn't have been satisfying at all to punish him so ultimately. Even if he probably deserved it. Thanks for reading & the ask!!!