PSL for arkfall

[goldenglasses]

[Vash was getting use to his life in the city. Some of it has been pretty bad, but for the most part he really can't complain. He always had enough to eat. He had stopped pouring sand out of his clothing. Could have all the water and shower for however long he wanted. No one had tried to shoot him in months. The people here even didn't care about his scars. In fact some people really liked them!

He was currently without a dominate, but he didn't mind. A small grace period to find another one and he wasn't in a rush. Which is why he was taking a moment to enjoy a bit of people watching in the Down. Munching on a donut and enjoying the day.

The only problem was in times like these his mind tends to wander to thoughts of home. Worry starts to settle in. Hoping that his friends were alright without him. Things certainly looking good when he left. Of course, there wasn't much he could do for them here so he tries not to think too much about it.

Besides, this donut was really tasty. Right now he just wanted to sit and enjoy them. Nothing bad could happen on this day, right?]

Comments

[goldenglasses]

It's common, but it's not a guarantee. [Vash will start walking in the direction they need to go in. He also decides to change the topic if Knives let's him.] Did you see the girl with cat ears? She's wasn't human. Do you think she would be your type?

Or... what if maybe she was a man?

[arkfall]

[Ugh. Gross. That's right, they have to talk about this stuff eventually.]

I think I would prefer someone less... cute.

[goldenglasses]

Less cute? Really? Alright then. I'll look for someone less cute.

[A beat.] So ah... any other preferences?

[arkfall]

[Knives pauses for a moment so he can really think about this. His face is squished up as he tries to sort out what he would desire.

After a long moment, he sighs and then shrugs.]

When I think about the type of person who would wish to bed me, all I can think about is Bluesummers and that thought makes me want to vomit.

[goldenglasses]

LEGATO?! [Vash's voice is shrill and sudden in his screeching.] That psychopath?! Think of something else! Vomiting it not something you want during sex.

Or, well, I would hope it's not!

[arkfall]

[Knives's eyebrow twitches.]

Did he ever give you the impression that he wouldn't do whatever he could to please me?

I'm not a complete idiot. I know if he were here, he would offer himself to me.

But... [He narrows his eyes.] No. I'm not sure you would understand this.

[goldenglasses]

Oh no. He's ah, alluded to some things to me before. [He's spent the last few months basically at Legato's mercy after all.] I'm just surprised he was the first thing to come to your mind when I asked what you would want considering how poorly you've treated the poor asshole. [Vash can find someone to be both a horrid person and feel bad for them at the same time.]

Try me. I might understand. Unless you're about to say that only the screams of innocents as they die is the only thing that gets you excited.

cw; (for the folks stalking us) talk of csa

[arkfall]

[Knives narrows his eyes and considers telling Vash that he doesn't even know what it would feel like to be turned on, but he isn't sure that helps.

Instead, he settles on explaining himself to Vash. It's not that he would just vomit because Legato is a human - though that is still the case - there's just so much more to it.]

When I first met Bluesummers, he was in a compound that belonged to some of the most disgusting types of humans. Humans who looked at a pretty, blue-haired boy and considered him a plaything.

I slaughtered all of them and would have killed him as well, but he used his abilities to protect himself. He was a sore, bruised, naked, violated little boy who didn't even have a name, but he stopped me.

After, he followed me out of the wreckage of that place, still utterly exposed except for the chains on his limbs. He remained that way until I clothed him. He only has a name because I gave it to him.

If I were to use him in such a way, what makes that action different than the men who used him when he was a child? If I use anyone here, what makes doing so different than the people who put together a culture that would see you as inferior? [His entire identity is based on being better than humans. He can’t simply begin to act as they would.]

That's the thought that makes me want to vomit. I wouldn't become so base and disgusting.

[goldenglasses]

[Vash expression softens considerably. He still hated Legato, but he had no idea that he had gone through all that at such a young age. It was like being stuck in Duplicity, but worse and as a kid.]

And you really thought I wouldn't understand feeling that way?

[arkfall]

I thought that you wouldn’t understand me feeling such a way. Or that you would misinterpret it as sympathy. This isn’t about feeling sorry for that fucking brat. It’s about me. The type of being I am.

[goldenglasses]

I can't lie. I will say I'm surprised. [And he sighs.] Although I was kind of hoping it was sympathy. [Vash isn't completely convinced that it's not.]

[arkfall]

[Knives seems to consider Vash carefully then.]

That's so like you. This is the man you just called a psychopath, who tried to kill you without permission, and is helping me keep you trapped in a cell back home - a cell, I might add, that you do not escape from for eight months. I'm not sure if you know that part. [He probably shouldn't say that so flippantly, but he's not to best at realizing when he's being an asshole.]

And you want me to feel sorry for him.

[goldenglasses]

[...] Eight months? [It's not so much his life that was spent trapped. It was how much damage Knives would have done in that length of time.] I don't get out for eight months. [What would be left to save by then? He hadn't wanted to ask about how long he was trapped for because he didn't want to think about this.] H- how did I get away from Legato?

[arkfall]

The babysitter I sent to bring you to me turns traitor and breaks you out.

[goldenglasses]

The baby-- Wolfwood! [Finally Vash actually looks and is happy for the first time since seeing his brother. Deep down he knew if anyone could survive Knives's genocide it was his friend, but it was so much relief hearing it as fact.] I knew he had to still be alive. [He didn't think anyone would be foolish enough to take on the ark so he laughs a bit lightly. Touched knowing that he wasn't as alone back home as he had thought for awhile.] Heh. Gotta admit. He's a really good babysitter.

[Question is now Knives. Do you want to crush that happiness he's just clung to?]

[arkfall]

[There's this irritational sense of jealousy that almost makes Knives tell him, but he doesn't. Instead, he shares a bit more about Wolfwood's past.]

Well, he had no qualms turning on those who considered him an ally, and I needed someone who would not hesitate to kill the other Gung Ho Guns.

Did you know that he shot and paralyzed his previous Master and then impersonated him to get a chance to kill me? That's how I knew he was perfect.

[goldenglasses]

Wolfwood might have done some terrible things in the past, but he's changing. He's learning to be a better man. [Vash grows defensive of his friend. He knows Knives is trying to make him think badly of the human, but it wasn't going to work. At least not when that information was coming from Knives.] That is what makes humans so great. They can learn from their mistakes and become better people because of it.

Besides. He hadn't betrayed me. He would never turn on me. Not now.

[arkfall]

[There's that jealousy again. This time it wins.]

And I'm sure he took that loyalty to his grave.

[goldenglasses]

[Vash's response is nearly instant as he suddenly stops walking.] You're lying.

[arkfall]

[Knives tilts his head to the side and considers Vash. He doesn't respond because he isn't sure how verbally confirming or denying that his lying is going to help.]

[goldenglasses]

[The silence is what starts to crack Vash's shell of denial. Desperately he clings to the idea that Knives would say anything to hurt him.

So why wasn't he rubbing it in more?] He's not dead. Wolfwood is too strong and stubborn to die.

[arkfall]

If that's what you need to think...

Besides, in your timeline he has to be alive because he has to show up to break you out.

[goldenglasses]

Don't patronize me. [Even if that wasn't Knives's intention that's how Vash feels.] Is this what the next three months are going to be? You trying to make my life absolutely miserable every day? [Likely longer than three, but giving it an end point makes it a little easier to stomach.] I thought you said you wouldn't be doing that anymore.

[arkfall]

I'm not trying to make you miserable.

[He sighs.] Listen, I won't tell you anything more about the future if everything I say about it is going to make you miserable. You win in the end, but it's not a pretty fight, Vash. Nothing between us has been since... [They found out about Tesla] For a long time.

[goldenglasses]

Yes you are! You had no reason to say that except to try to hurt me! [Vash starts walking in the right direction again, but now with a bit more stomp to his step.] Now I'm not sure if you're trying to lie to me or yourself. [It doesn't feel like he won anything at the moment.]