[ SCARED TO OPEN THIS ATTACHMENT... oh it's his face.
Vash sends a short video back - he's still laughing a little bit from opening the selfie. He tucks a piece of grass into the corner of his mouth and holds a takeout bag over his shoulder with two fingers, trying to look serious. ] Guess who I am.
[ hellooooo, vash. your tiny friend, who happens to be overly excited about flowers, has sent you a bouquet of them! she even learned about the language of flowers in the process, trying to pick proper ones! and probably annoyed the shopkeep with how long it took her. but, she got it done, and wrote a short and sweet message to go with it.
the bouquet contains an array of coreopsis, goldenrod, and yellow tulips, with a few red poppies at its center.
it has been left at his door, neatly wrapped, with the following message attached to a small postcard-sized paper on it: ]
To Vash, I hope you like them! There are so many different kinds of flora here! What do you think? These ones match you okay?
Meryl, did you really send me flowers? [ Is this one of those accidental deliveries? He got one of those earlier so maybe this is the same? Even though this one has a note he doesn't want to just assume it's a REAL note........... Normal things to worry about. ]
If so, I got your message. Of course I like them, they're perfect! I don't know what I did to deserve these but thank you, I'll take good care of them. :)
[ of course she sent you flowers, vash, she signed her name, didn't she? a-anyway... ]
why would you need to do anything to deserve them? not that you haven't, but still!
anyway, i'm glad you like them! i spent a long time picking them out, so i wasn't sure what you'd think. pretty sure the shopkeep was getting annoyed. [ hah... it was worth it, though, and she'd do it again!!! ]
He's just sitting here looking at the text message and the flowers and he's a little overwhelmed by how kind it is, after everything she's gone through by virtue of sticking with him. He's definitely going to pay her back somehow. ]
I know. It's pretty overwhelming... all of it.
I know you're pretty tough but just remember you don't have to deal with it alone, okay?
[ what he needs to understand is that she doesn't actually hold him accountable for the things that have happened, being "swept up by the typhoon" be damned. none of it's his fault, as far as she's concerned, and she's made her own choice to follow him anyway. she wanted to, and she still does.
so, luckily this conversation's over text, because this would be harder to be convincing with in person. she sighs his name softly at her phone, before typing back. ]
hey, i didn't send you flora just for you to get all worried about me. i'm fine, really.
[ or: she doesn't want to burden him with her own issues when she remembers him going through all that before she got here. not to mention the loss of someone else important to her. ]
i'm just glad you're okay.
[ it can't hurt to tell him that much, can it? she's so overwhelmingly glad she could tell him a thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough. ]
[ he promises, and yet knives' mere presence sends chills up her spine when she thinks about it. she trusts vash, but she doesn't trust him. not after what she saw. (and certainly not after he tried to kill her when she got here.)
eugh. while she'd love to see vash, she's only running on so much sleep and she knows better than to put herself in a position where he can worry over her. so... she has a plan opposite his. casually ignoring responding to the first part of his message so she can respond to the rest: ]
i've kind of already got enough information to sift through. i'll let you know when i'm ready, and we could go then?
in the meantime, maybe you could tell me about a few of your favorite spots instead? :)
[ trying to make this! positive! she even put a smiley face because she's definitely smiling irl haha! ]
[ Vash frowns at his phone. A part of him is more worried, not less, but at the same time they've been stuck together for a while and a lot has happened -- maybe, now that she has more of a choice, she just wants her space, without all of the danger and complications that come from him being in it. ]
Yeah, of course that's fine. :)
[ He, too, is definitely smiling irl. They're being so fun and normal right now. ]
There's a little bakery in the Bird Walk Promenade with lots of tasty things to try. It's called Fondante's Inferno. If you go in the afternoon Ms. Viola will give you everything they have left for almost nothing. If you go in the morning, there's brunch, too. The menu isn't as big as some places so it's not so overwhelming.
[ Attachment: map.png. There are a bunch of different locations circled, and most of them are bakeries. Vash's diet is 90% sugar. ]
[ When Vash returns from wherever he had gone after he'd left Knives to rest on the suite's couch, he'll find the main room nothing like how he'd left it. His returned clothes wait for him in a messy pile at the front door, whereas on the floor in front of the couch is the blanket and coat he'd draped over Knives prior to leaving.
But there's more than just that. It might not be obvious at first, but when he moves closer he'll see that there are small spatters of blood on the coffee table and the couch's armrest.
Knives' door is closed tight and locked, and within it he's laid out on his bed for the first time, having fallen into a deep sleep. A ring of dark bruises have already started to form on the skin at his throat.
Falling into a dreamless slumber seems far, far easier than facing what just happened. ]
[ How much trouble could his brother get into while he was asleep?
Now that he knew Nai slept deeply, through practically anything, Vash had started leaving him alone whenever he laid down for a nap - he needed to work sometimes, and this was usually the best time. He's not surprised to see that Nai has already moved somewhere else and left a mess behind by the time he gets home, but Vash doesn't really mind. He tosses his phone onto the kitchen counter and stops by the couch, leisurely picking up the blanket and coat, humming to himself.
It's only when he starts to fold the blanket up that his hand comes away sticky with blood. Vash freezes. He notes the clothing by the door - things he'd lent to Wolfwood - and Nai's closed door. There isn't a lot of blood. He keeps telling himself - there's not a lot.
Vash is across the room in a second. He tries the knob first, then resorts to banging his fist against his brother's bedroom door. ] Nai!
[ When he doesn't receive a response after a few minutes, he takes a few steps back so he can have a running start. It doesn't matter that his strength is diminished here - Vash runs and twists his body, using his momentum and a well placed kick. The door nearly comes off its hinges, parts of the wood splintering.
He doesn't know what he expects to find when he steps inside, but it isn't Nai just laying there in bed. Vash is breathing hard, fear and adrenaline and anger all intertwined, but when he walks over to the bed he drops to his knees beside it. ]
Nai, what happened? [ Vash reaches for his shoulder, trying to turn him so that he can see his face better. His voice is clipped, something coiled and tightly controlled in it, but there's an underlying thread of concern there, too. ] Nai, answer me.
he doesn't know what a depression nap is but this sure is one
[ The loud banging and Vash's voice on the other side of the door are more than enough to wake Knives up, his eyes snapping open even as his body feels like it wants to sag further into the mattress. He doesn't have much interest in speaking to his brother right now, though, not when he can already imagine how it will go. Vash is going to take the Punisher's side on this despite the fact that he was the one who marched up to Knives and curled his hands around his throat.
Vash has picked humans over him so many times by this point that he isn't in the mood to face that yet again. So he doesn't respond, simply drags the comforter tighter around his shoulders and pretends to still be asleep.
Perhaps he should have expected Vash to break the door down, as they're both stubborn in their own ways. He tenses up when the door cracks open, but before he even has a chance to decide what he wants to do about the intrusion, Vash is at the side of the bed and tugging at his shoulder.
With a deep sigh, he lets it happen. Even with the hood of the sweatshirt he's been living in pulled up, there's no hiding the dark bruises that have formed in a thick ring around his throat, which stand out starkly against his pale skin.
His eyes flick up to meet Vash's, and while he can see the concern buried under everything, he's numb to it now. ]
What do you want.
poor little meow meow who has never done anything wrong in his life
[ The color drains from Vash's face, and at the same time everything seems to re-center. Nai wouldn't be like this if Wolfwood was dead or even close to it - he would be right back to business, maybe gloating as an afterthought if he was particularly annoyed with Vash in the moment. While Vash still feels that horrible sense of fear and dread about what might have happened to Wolfwood, he's now relatively sure that Wolfwood walked out of the situation -- if not better, at least not too much worse than Nai.
Vash's expression softens. He skims his fingers across the dark bruises that already show a nearly perfect imprint of Wolfwood's hand. If he was a better man, would he place his own hand there and finish what Wolfwood started? Or would he offer his throat to Wolfwood too and say -- I'm just as guilty.
In the end, he can't see his brother in pain and not feel empathy for him. He doesn't miss Nai's ruthless arrogance, but this dead-eyed emptiness isn't better. ]
I'll get you some ice. [ He hears himself say. He goes, comes back with a bag of peas wrapped in a kitchen towel, and settles by the bed again. ] This will help with the pain. Can I?
[ He motions to his neck to indicate what he wants to do. ]
[ Despite the fact that Vash's touch is gentle and feather-light, Knives jerks back when his fingers brush over the bruises. It's not only because they're tender to the touch now, but also because he's aware of what a vulnerable area it is now. How if Wolfwood had squeezed just slightly harder for slightly longer, he might have lost his life.
And in this world, he can't be certain he would respawn.
As someone who has never truly had to stare his own mortality in the face while fearing it all the same, there's far too much to mentally process. He wants nothing more than to order Vash to leave him alone, but then he's gone as quickly as he came, to retrieve some ice.
When Vash returns, Knives stares at the packet of frozen vegetables wrapped up in a cloth. He seems to remember some other moment like this, when he'd sprained an ankle or suffered a bruise, and his brother had come to him in this exact manner. The strange overlap unsettles him.
With a protesting grunt, he pushes himself to sit up on the bed and then reaches out to take the bundle from Vash. ]
Why are you so concerned, Vash? [ His voice is hoarse and strained from the pressure on his windpipe that has yet to heal. He knows why Vash is fussing, or at least he can guess. He wants to hear it anyway. ]
[ Vash lets him have the bundle without protest, remaining where he's settled, looking up at Nai.
His brow furrows at the question, but he answers without hesitation: ] Because I love you.
[ There's no softness in it, no cajoling comfort. What comes through instead is exasperation and anger again, that fraying temper that he's trying so desperately to replace with the patience that Rem would have wanted.
That he loves his brother is something that remains true whether Vash wants it to be or not, in that moment. It will remain as steady and unbroken as the resonant song, woven into him long before he had the words for it. He can love his brother, and be terrified for him, and find him infuriating all at the same time.
Vash takes a breath. ] Are you going to tell me what happened between you two?
[ Those words spill from Vash's mouth without a moment of hesitation, as if they are undeniable. As if this is an unchangeable truth about the universe, that he loves him. Knives perhaps shouldn't be surprised by it, but he truly can't remember the last time that he heard those words from Vash, in either set of memories.
And so he is left to sit there, stunned, with a makeshift icepack set against his bruised throat. It doesn't seem to matter that Vash spoke the words with distaste, like he wishes that they weren't true. The fact that he said them at all is enough to leave Knives reeling.
Even now, even after all this time, Vash loves him.
He has an odd way of showing it most of the time, but for once Knives swallows back his words. Doing so only causes the inside of his throat to ache more. ]
... Do you mean to say that you didn't already ask him?
[ Another surprise. He would have thought that the moment that Vash saw that blood and put two and two together, he would have raced off in search of his newfound friend. The one who'd only met Vash on his orders. ]
[ It's Nai's stunned silence that gives Vash enough pause to realize how long it's truly been since he said those words out loud. He didn't think he had to, even after all this time. That he loves Nai is as obvious to him as it is that Nai can't return the feeling. He understands that Nai doesn't love him. He doesn't know how. Vash is the one who should know better than to press the situation.
Nai loves... his own perfect idea of what he wants from Vash, but maybe Vash is guilty of something like that too -- maybe he loves the idea of Nai being able to change, or Nai being willing to try.
Maybe Wolfwood is right, and all he does is hurt people with false hope and promises he can only deliver too late. ]
I panicked. [ He says, breaking eye contact first. ] You'll heal, and when you do -- stay away from him. Please. No revenge or retaliation or anything. Leave him alone.
[ He can practically see Nai gearing up for the accusation, and Vash doesn't let him for once. He pushes to his feet. ] This isn't about humans and Plants -- this is about us. You're my brother, and he's my friend. I don't want either of you to die, and if you insist on finishing this -- I hope you're both willing to go through me to do it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
un: pnssr
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someone is learning how to use these phones and making it vash's problem ]
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Vash sends a short video back - he's still laughing a little bit from opening the selfie. He tucks a piece of grass into the corner of his mouth and holds a takeout bag over his shoulder with two fingers, trying to look serious. ] Guess who I am.
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keep your day job
whatever that is now
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I didn't think it was that bad! Should I have unbuttoned my shirt maybe?
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I like all of your features equally.
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just a message with some flowers 💐
the bouquet contains an array of coreopsis, goldenrod, and yellow tulips, with a few red poppies at its center.
it has been left at his door, neatly wrapped, with the following message attached to a small postcard-sized paper on it: ]
I hope you like them! There are so many different kinds of flora here!
What do you think? These ones match you okay?
Thanks for everything,
Meryl Stryfe
TEXT
Meryl, did you really send me flowers? [ Is this one of those accidental deliveries? He got one of those earlier so maybe this is the same? Even though this one has a note he doesn't want to just assume it's a REAL note........... Normal things to worry about. ]
If so, I got your message. Of course I like them, they're perfect! I don't know what I did to deserve these but thank you, I'll take good care of them. :)
How are you doing? Are you settling in okay?
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why would you need to do anything to deserve them? not that you haven't, but still!
anyway, i'm glad you like them! i spent a long time picking them out, so i wasn't sure what you'd think. pretty sure the shopkeep was getting annoyed. [ hah... it was worth it, though, and she'd do it again!!! ]
and [ hm. ]
i'm okay. it's been a lot, you know?
[ she'll leave it at that. ]
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He's just sitting here looking at the text message and the flowers and he's a little overwhelmed by how kind it is, after everything she's gone through by virtue of sticking with him. He's definitely going to pay her back somehow. ]
I know. It's pretty overwhelming... all of it.
I know you're pretty tough but just remember you don't have to deal with it alone, okay?
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so, luckily this conversation's over text, because this would be harder to be convincing with in person. she sighs his name softly at her phone, before typing back. ]
hey, i didn't send you flora just for you to get all worried about me. i'm fine, really.
[ or: she doesn't want to burden him with her own issues when she remembers him going through all that before she got here. not to mention the loss of someone else important to her. ]
i'm just glad you're okay.
[ it can't hurt to tell him that much, can it? she's so overwhelmingly glad she could tell him a thousand times and it still wouldn't be enough. ]
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Unbeknownst to her, he's doing the exact same thing, staring at his phone with his brow furrowed and huffing out her name. She's so stubborn. ]
Nothing like that is ever going to happen here, I promise.
If you want to go for a walk together or something like that, I'd be happy to show you around the city.
[ Is he trying to get her in person so he can figure out what's going on with her? Maybe so. ]
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eugh. while she'd love to see vash, she's only running on so much sleep and she knows better than to put herself in a position where he can worry over her. so... she has a plan opposite his. casually ignoring responding to the first part of his message so she can respond to the rest: ]
i've kind of already got enough information to sift through. i'll let you know when i'm ready, and we could go then?
in the meantime, maybe you could tell me about a few of your favorite spots instead? :)
[ trying to make this! positive! she even put a smiley face because she's definitely smiling irl haha! ]
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Yeah, of course that's fine. :)
[ He, too, is definitely smiling irl. They're being so fun and normal right now. ]
There's a little bakery in the Bird Walk Promenade with lots of tasty things to try. It's called Fondante's Inferno. If you go in the afternoon Ms. Viola will give you everything they have left for almost nothing. If you go in the morning, there's brunch, too. The menu isn't as big as some places so it's not so overwhelming.
[ Attachment: map.png. There are a bunch of different locations circled, and most of them are bakeries. Vash's diet is 90% sugar. ]
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may; after he got choked by wolfwood and then stabbed him :)
But there's more than just that. It might not be obvious at first, but when he moves closer he'll see that there are small spatters of blood on the coffee table and the couch's armrest.
Knives' door is closed tight and locked, and within it he's laid out on his bed for the first time, having fallen into a deep sleep. A ring of dark bruises have already started to form on the skin at his throat.
Falling into a dreamless slumber seems far, far easier than facing what just happened. ]
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Now that he knew Nai slept deeply, through practically anything, Vash had started leaving him alone whenever he laid down for a nap - he needed to work sometimes, and this was usually the best time. He's not surprised to see that Nai has already moved somewhere else and left a mess behind by the time he gets home, but Vash doesn't really mind. He tosses his phone onto the kitchen counter and stops by the couch, leisurely picking up the blanket and coat, humming to himself.
It's only when he starts to fold the blanket up that his hand comes away sticky with blood. Vash freezes. He notes the clothing by the door - things he'd lent to Wolfwood - and Nai's closed door. There isn't a lot of blood. He keeps telling himself - there's not a lot.
Vash is across the room in a second. He tries the knob first, then resorts to banging his fist against his brother's bedroom door. ] Nai!
[ When he doesn't receive a response after a few minutes, he takes a few steps back so he can have a running start. It doesn't matter that his strength is diminished here - Vash runs and twists his body, using his momentum and a well placed kick. The door nearly comes off its hinges, parts of the wood splintering.
He doesn't know what he expects to find when he steps inside, but it isn't Nai just laying there in bed. Vash is breathing hard, fear and adrenaline and anger all intertwined, but when he walks over to the bed he drops to his knees beside it. ]
Nai, what happened? [ Vash reaches for his shoulder, trying to turn him so that he can see his face better. His voice is clipped, something coiled and tightly controlled in it, but there's an underlying thread of concern there, too. ] Nai, answer me.
he doesn't know what a depression nap is but this sure is one
Vash has picked humans over him so many times by this point that he isn't in the mood to face that yet again. So he doesn't respond, simply drags the comforter tighter around his shoulders and pretends to still be asleep.
Perhaps he should have expected Vash to break the door down, as they're both stubborn in their own ways. He tenses up when the door cracks open, but before he even has a chance to decide what he wants to do about the intrusion, Vash is at the side of the bed and tugging at his shoulder.
With a deep sigh, he lets it happen. Even with the hood of the sweatshirt he's been living in pulled up, there's no hiding the dark bruises that have formed in a thick ring around his throat, which stand out starkly against his pale skin.
His eyes flick up to meet Vash's, and while he can see the concern buried under everything, he's numb to it now. ]
What do you want.
poor little meow meow who has never done anything wrong in his life
Vash's expression softens. He skims his fingers across the dark bruises that already show a nearly perfect imprint of Wolfwood's hand. If he was a better man, would he place his own hand there and finish what Wolfwood started? Or would he offer his throat to Wolfwood too and say -- I'm just as guilty.
In the end, he can't see his brother in pain and not feel empathy for him. He doesn't miss Nai's ruthless arrogance, but this dead-eyed emptiness isn't better. ]
I'll get you some ice. [ He hears himself say. He goes, comes back with a bag of peas wrapped in a kitchen towel, and settles by the bed again. ] This will help with the pain. Can I?
[ He motions to his neck to indicate what he wants to do. ]
you get it
And in this world, he can't be certain he would respawn.
As someone who has never truly had to stare his own mortality in the face while fearing it all the same, there's far too much to mentally process. He wants nothing more than to order Vash to leave him alone, but then he's gone as quickly as he came, to retrieve some ice.
When Vash returns, Knives stares at the packet of frozen vegetables wrapped up in a cloth. He seems to remember some other moment like this, when he'd sprained an ankle or suffered a bruise, and his brother had come to him in this exact manner. The strange overlap unsettles him.
With a protesting grunt, he pushes himself to sit up on the bed and then reaches out to take the bundle from Vash. ]
Why are you so concerned, Vash? [ His voice is hoarse and strained from the pressure on his windpipe that has yet to heal. He knows why Vash is fussing, or at least he can guess. He wants to hear it anyway. ]
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His brow furrows at the question, but he answers without hesitation: ] Because I love you.
[ There's no softness in it, no cajoling comfort. What comes through instead is exasperation and anger again, that fraying temper that he's trying so desperately to replace with the patience that Rem would have wanted.
That he loves his brother is something that remains true whether Vash wants it to be or not, in that moment. It will remain as steady and unbroken as the resonant song, woven into him long before he had the words for it. He can love his brother, and be terrified for him, and find him infuriating all at the same time.
Vash takes a breath. ] Are you going to tell me what happened between you two?
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And so he is left to sit there, stunned, with a makeshift icepack set against his bruised throat. It doesn't seem to matter that Vash spoke the words with distaste, like he wishes that they weren't true. The fact that he said them at all is enough to leave Knives reeling.
Even now, even after all this time, Vash loves him.
He has an odd way of showing it most of the time, but for once Knives swallows back his words. Doing so only causes the inside of his throat to ache more. ]
... Do you mean to say that you didn't already ask him?
[ Another surprise. He would have thought that the moment that Vash saw that blood and put two and two together, he would have raced off in search of his newfound friend. The one who'd only met Vash on his orders. ]
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Nai loves... his own perfect idea of what he wants from Vash, but maybe Vash is guilty of something like that too -- maybe he loves the idea of Nai being able to change, or Nai being willing to try.
Maybe Wolfwood is right, and all he does is hurt people with false hope and promises he can only deliver too late. ]
I panicked. [ He says, breaking eye contact first. ] You'll heal, and when you do -- stay away from him. Please. No revenge or retaliation or anything. Leave him alone.
[ He can practically see Nai gearing up for the accusation, and Vash doesn't let him for once. He pushes to his feet. ] This isn't about humans and Plants -- this is about us. You're my brother, and he's my friend. I don't want either of you to die, and if you insist on finishing this -- I hope you're both willing to go through me to do it.
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