knifesedge | First Knife | Action..ish. A tiny bit of useless Video

[There is no sudden video feed showing who's there, to warn of Knives' arrival. No chatter or questions, or an entry done deliberately for that matter. There is simply a man on the beach where there hadn't been one before, a few belongings neatly folded nearby, his journal resting on top.

All is not well.

Video does click on, silently, showing the pleasant evening sky, the sound of the sea, and ... pretty much nothing else at all, its view not wide enough to pick up on the pale, somewhat tired-looking figure sitting on the sand, watching the waves in silent fascination. He'd been disoriented when he woke, a disorientation that hadn't faded at all with the discovery of only one sun and what seemed like an honest-to-god ocean or sea about fifty feet away. No-Man's Land had no oceans. Seeing a sea for the first time had a bit of an impact. Enough to keep him right where he is, perhaps uncertain if he left it would prove to be some suns-drunk hallucination and wither away as soon as he turned his attention from it.

This wasn't an afterlife. Of that, Knives has no doubt. It was just a matter of where, then, he'd been moved to. And when. He didn't remember being knocked out, or sedated, or entering a starship of any kind. There were no stars as of yet to try to get a fix on, and the single sun was only just beginning to set. When the novelty of the ocean wore off, he'd have to begin investigating. But until then, he remains immobile, silent, the slight tug of sea breeze on the light cotton pants he wore and his short mostly-black hair the only real motion at all. He knew Vash was nearby, in a vague sense of 'nearby'; the presence of his brother was distant but familiar; wherever he'd gotten to, his twin was still there, and that was reassuring in of itself. They weren't dead, yet. He only spent long enough to be certain of it, search out the familiar sense of his brother and be sure it was him, before returning to watching the sea and the tide's gradual retreat.

If Vash hasn't found the sea yet, that would be something to show him. Later, when the novelty wore off a bit.

For those who might be inclined to leave Luceti far behind, Knives can be found on the beach, and highly unlikely to be going anywhere any time soon.]

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[As Knives speaks, Vash listens quietly. It seemed odd, with how close the two realities were before how very different they could be now. Rem Saverem, another person on the ship? Someone, a bit like Joey, who might have taught them how to live?

Then there's a pain, much like a tension headache, that runs through his mind. There was a picture, wasn't there? One that he had from back on the ship; a gift from the Malnosso once. Wasn't there someone in that picture? It could have been a woman. His head throbs again. No, there wasn't.

Vash doesn't move to stop Knives as the sibling starts to move off. He doesn't follow anymore either. It was much the same as the last time Knives was here. They were brothers and yet they weren't. He himself still wasn't sure how he should handle his feelings about this and it was his second time dealing with it. He'd give Knives the space to think on it on his own as well.]

On the other end of the beach, there's a teleporter that will take you closer to the village. There's free housing and food there if you need it. As long as you don't threaten the people there, they really won't care what or who you are. They'll treat you with the same respect you show them.

[The last bit of information he's willing to give for now. He turns his own back on his brother.] That's where I live, so I'm going back there now. I may not be exactly the brother you were hoping for, but we're still connected in a way, so please don't make me have to defend my new home from you.

[Knives didn't need long to think about it. He'd already made up his mind. He refused to spend what little of his life was left fighting. Not for these .. Malnosso, certainly, and not with someone who looked and sounded like his brother. Everything said about the village is dismissed as irrelevant. If he chose to go there, then he would make his own way, not by what Vash tells him. It did explain how Vash got to the beach so quickly. A machine that teleports?

Luceti was not a priority to visit. He wanted to see everything else first.. and wait til the footprints on the beach were washed away, until there were no marks of their passage on it, and he could leave his own trails unmarred by another set of footsteps.]

I fought hard and paid dearly for what peace I had at the end with my brother, Vash. I won't let your paranoia and suspicion take that away from me even if it's just a memory now.

[He glances over his shoulder, the tiny feathers on small wings ruffled up a little.]

If nothing else, believe this: It was his belief [In those idiotic mindnumbing pollyanna philosophies of Rem Saverem] and his trust, and his ability to teach it, that brought peace to that desert. Not guns, not blades. Not violence or threats or hatreds or clinging to a lifetime of suffering like a martyr. Learn how to do the same, or be stuck forever at war with your own brother if he ever comes to this place. I am no threat to this place unless I'm forced to be, because of someone you are not.

[He shouldn't bother, and he knows it. He knows it. Hindsight was 20/20, though, and if somehow ... somehow against all odds he could find a way to make some other Knives and Vash not go through the same horrific mess that he'd dragged his own brother through... the loss of human life was irrelevant.

But the plants would be spared. They would be spared, spared the pain and violence and the sickening realization of exactly who had gone astray. All he wanted was to spend what's left of his short life in peace and quiet, but now he could see it was a pointless thing to hope for. The best he could do was try to keep it from happening again.

Is this your revenge, Rem? Find a way to teach me to want peace with Vash and humanity, then make sure I can't have it?]

[That gives Vash pause in his movement to walk away. There really was peace between them? It was still all very hard to believe after all that had happened back on Gunsmoke and the last time Knives was here.]

If... if there is really peace between us back home. Then I see no reason it can't continue here between the two of us. [He didn't want to stir up trouble between himself and Knives. Not here in Luceti. He just wanted it clear right at the beginning that he would tolerate no one attacking his new home.] All I want right now, is a quiet life. One where I don't have to worry if someone is going to become a target just because they treat me with a little kindness.

It may surprise you to know that I spent the last six months with Vash, living with a human father and son. The last thing I remember before waking here was using our power to make them an apple tree.

[A terrible waste of energy, that took all he had left.]

If it wasn't for them, neither myself nor my brother would have survived. It can change perspectives.

[Not by much. He still loathed humans and found them utterly repulsive but he could tolerate them.] It'll take more than 'a little kindness' to turn someone into a target.

Really? [It's what he had wanted for so long. To hear Knives of all people confirm it-

It was hard to believe.]

I'm- I'm glad to hear it.

[Wolfwood. Why hadn't that peace come before- No. Thinking like that right now wasn't going to help. He squashes the thought down with effort.

His head was pounding now. Torn between old longings of brotherhood between the two of them and the painful truth of the past. Would it be fair to Wolfwood? To make peace with Knives now? What would Joey have thought? Which was the smallest sacrifice in this situation? It would be to befriend Knives, wouldn't it? Even though he had made up his mind months ago that when he was home it would have been to kill him? But, if peace with his brother was possible was it such a bad thing to want it? Even if this might not be the Knives he knew back home? Or is that a good reason to accept a peace between them?]

It's good, that there's finally peace between us where you're from.

[He says no more. Lost in his own thoughts, yet feeling as if there was something missing. Something that might have made this even just a little easier that he could not grasp.]

[Some things come at too high a price. He wants to say so, but doesn't. The lives of lost humanity was irrelevant, but everything else wasn't. Time wasted. Energy wasted. Decades frittered away, for what? They'd nearly killed each other. Knives had even run Vash through outright, for ... just a few months of peace.]

It was hard-won. I don't intend to go through it again. I wonder how you'll do, without that woman's ridiculous dreams as a guide.

[He sure as hell wasn't going to teach those poisonous delusions himself, even if it did help eventually. Bad enough one Vash was corrupted by it!

Knives didn't think of Wolfwood. Barely thought of him when the man was alive, and now that he was pushing up cacti, even less so. He did his job, that was enough. The strange attachments Vash built with humans wasn't something he shared. That Vash was so deeply shaken by their passing was evidence of how badly Rem had warped him, not some failing on Knives' part.

Surely.

He starts walking again, heading for firmer ground than loose sand.]

[Vash decides not to respond. He doesn't know how he'll compare to his other self and doesn't really want to think too hard on it. As Knives turns to go, Vash does the same. Planning to go home and wait to see if Knives really means what he says and will let him live in peace among humans.]

First Knife | Action..ish. A tiny bit of useless Video

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