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knifesedge[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.]
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.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 04:22 am (UTC)[The response is flat and simple, a single definitive word. He didn't just think it, he knew He took no pleasure out of causing suffering even to humanity, and yet Vash took pleasure in seeing his own flesh and blood hurt. It was no real jump to figure out just how Vash would feel about killing him outright.]
Retribution.
[Another simple straightforward answer. Anything further, if there had been anything following at all, is halted fairly effectively by Vash's seeming confusion over the name Rem. It could be anything. He clarifies anyway, with a scowl of irritation. Vash knew very well who he meant.]
Rem Saverem.
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 04:41 am (UTC)Knives was still his brother and the good memories of what life was like before the fall just would never leave.]
Well. I wouldn't. I've never gotten any joy out of causing anyone pain or sadness, even if the pain would only last a moment. [Unlike some is what he keeps to himself.
Then there was the woman's name. He even knew her last name? Vash scrolls through his mental Rolodex of names and faces that he knew. No face came to him with that name. Yet, it was clear Knives was expecting him to know her. It couldn't have been someone he met recently, Knives was smart enough to not expect him to know someone he only met in that twenty year gap.
It seemed that this Knives was also from a different reality then his own. The last time Knives was here there were differences like this. Then perhaps Rem is another Plant? Like the Tesla he had mentioned before? How should he approach this?] Rem Saverem. [Still he felt nothing when he said the name. For now he doesn't say anymore. Weighing his options and trying to second guess how Knives would handle new information such as alternate realities.
...he had never been very good at playing chess with Knives.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 04:46 am (UTC)Neither have I. Though I doubt you'll believe me.
[It was necessary, but no more fun than it was fun to squish a bug. The bug had to be squished, but it was so messy, and hardly something enjoyable.
But there's that ... lack of recognition, that turns the other subject aside, and Knives regards his sibling once more with that steady gaze that seems to always see more than simple vision should. The lack of emotional attachment, the pain and hurt of her loss, the affection Vash had felt for her even a century and a half later, things Knives had to deal with every single time he was around his brother for long.. it was missing.]
... If people can be drawn from other times, is it always the same timeline?
[It might seem suddenly out of the blue, but what he's asking and why is probably something Vash is already thinking of himself.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 05:02 am (UTC)[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 05:15 am (UTC)Rem Saverem was ... the woman we spent our 'childhood' being raised by. She didn't survive the Fall, and is the reason any human at all did. Even after a hundred and fifty years, my brother lived by her ideals, her dreams and her foolish contradictions. She shaped his every waking moment of every day, and nothing shook him from it; not me, not a century and a half of misery at the hands of humanity's whims. I believe he loved her more than life itself.
[For him, a speech. It doesn't last long. 'My brother', not 'you', is telling in of itself. Knives can't begin to guess what a life might be like without her in it, for some other Vash and some other Knives. Similar results, it seems, but what held Vash back, without her stupid ideals of never killing? Finally, he smiles. It's not an expression that belongs on his features, partly because it's completely genuine and partly because it's also terribly, bitterly sad. It too doesn't last, fading to neutrality again.]
I don't know you. But you remind me very much of someone I know, and have somehow once more left behind. I'll try to not assume you are him.
[It seems to close the matter for the dark haired plant, by the way Knives suddenly turns and heads for the mountains, seeming intent on leaving Vash on the beach. The idea of being trapped on some foreign world, as a prisoner, as an experiment had been possibly tolerable knowing his brother was there too.
Except he isn't, and never was. Knives only had a dim grasp of what loneliness was, but it seemed preferable to being trapped with someone who looked and sounded and in many ways acted like the Vash he knew, but wasn't.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 05:32 am (UTC)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.
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 06:08 am (UTC)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?]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 06:28 am (UTC)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.
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 06:37 am (UTC)[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.
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 06:49 am (UTC)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.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 07:13 am (UTC)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.]
[Action]
Date: 2013-05-23 07:22 am (UTC)