knifesedge

04

[Knives had been quiet and elusive since things went weird with the enclosure. The best way to not get arrested: not getting found. And when things had returned to more or less normal, he hadn't seen fit to STOP being elusive, just in case. Give it a couple weeks, had been the intention. Make sure the strangeness is over, then make sure the person who mattered was still okay.

Such was the intention. Up until robots came hunting in the night. A short explosion of violence and blinding rage later, impeded by his sheer lack of power since his hair had turned black, and Knives Millions went missing.

And returned a day later, a hundred and fifty years younger.

He's left where he arrived the first time, on the shoreline of the sea that had taken over the desert. Thin white pants, journal - not the clothes he'd left in, but at least he's left the book. Not that it does him much good; waking up where he doesn't even remotely expect it, without the two people he's never been without right there or within sensing range is ... uniquely alarming. Knives Millions spent most of his adult life alone. His childhood however was another matter. And being alone in a strange place with no idea of where he is or how he got there (or why he has tiny wings) isn't something the one-year-old plant is prepared for.

For a little while he roams up and down the beach, anxious, but certain that sooner or later Rem or Vash will find him and tell him it's all a joke and someone just changed the environmental settings or something. But as time ticks past and nothing of the sort happens, anxiousness begins bleeding into outright fear. He knows he should stay put.

He doesn't. Instead he picks up the book with part of his name on it and clutching it to his narrow chest, heads further down the beach, following the water line, hoping for something like people. Something safer then out alone. Alone was scary. He could if he tried focus his thoughts and project them to try to find his brother, but far too uncertain, unhappy and afraid, he simply projects emotions in a steady wave of nauseating apprehension.

In Luceti, seeing a boy of perhaps ten years old roaming alone might not be all that unusual. Nor the visible apprehension. But he might look a little familiar..

Lost. Afraid. Alone. Lost.]

[Summary: there is a very young, very frightened plant roaming loose on the beach.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Some people may say a Plant giving birth to twins could only be in story books. If it's one thing Luceti will show you it's that just about anything is possible.

I don't know a lot about that. Rem hasn't really taught us about other plants like us. But there have to be at least some others. There's you, right?

[And an adult, too. Given how large he and Vash were, at one year old, that'd make this Vash .. what, five?]

Edited 2013-08-18 09:44 (UTC)

That's because I'm your brother. Even as we grow up we're still the only two I've heard of being born from the Plants.

[Vash is starting to move past the village, heading towards the teleporter.]

[That's still a big pill to swallow. Vash was his size. And he didn't believe in time travel. For Knives' part, he stays put. Who knows what's out there.

.... time travel. Hah.]

Really? That's ... too bad. I thought maybe we'd find others eventually. Maybe they're back on Earth, or in other colony fleets.. being the only ones anywhere, that'd be pretty lonely.

Maybe one day they'll be more born, but for now, I'm afraid it's just us. [For a moment he almost wants to say that he doesn't know about back on Earth. If he did he'd have to explain to Knives why they lost contact with Earth.]

Still, once you meet some of the people here it will make what I'm saying easier to believe.

[Skepticism comes in the form of a small doubtful plant.]

Some of the things you've said are pretty unbelievable. Talking skeletons? Dragons?

Yeah, I know, and sadly the talking skeleton has already been sent back to his right home so he's not here anymore. He was a pretty fun guy, wish you could have met him. He even taught me how to play the harmonica.

[Knives stares at his book for several long, long moments.]

So if you are making it up- [Not lying.] -then conveniently there's no proof to the contrary? That's kind of ... convenient. Are all the dragons missing too?

Hm, I think they might be. Not really sure, haven't keep close track of the dragons. I mean... they're dragons. I kind of just let them do their own things.

But you know this book we're talking through? You can actually make it so you talk to everyone here with it. Maybe you could ask if there's any dragons still around sometime while you're here.

[The book is considered before he decides he's not really interested in contacting other people right now. Right now he was most interested in not being stranded on a beach, far away from everyone and everything he's ever known.]

Okay.

[Nothing else, for the moment.]

Don't worry. I know it's a lot to take in right away. [More so when you come from a space ship where you've lived your entire life. Just you and no more than seven people to speak with as far as Vash was under the impression of.

Even more so when that seven is actually three.

Knives won't have to wait too much longer as Vash reaches the teleporter. Depending on how well Knives has honed his telepathic abilities at this age Vash suddenly jumps much closer to the boy.]

I've reached the beach. Do you think you could move the book around so I can try to see just where on the beach you are? [Be glad your brother has a very good photographic memory, Knives.]

[Carefully the book is set down, still running, so he can carefully dig his fingers and toes into the sand, feeling the difference between the cool damp a few inches below the surface, and the still-heated and dry sand on top. It wasn't much like normal dirt. Especially the way it slid around really easy.

Knives is still listening, and watching, and still apprehensive, it's just a little distraction. Like the seashell he comes up with after a moment, which is peered at. What a funny looking rock.

He hasn't really worked on his telepathic abilities at all yet, but the vague sense of other plants being nearby was something he could do, and once Vash enters the rough zone where he could detect such a thing from, the boy perks up a bit, glancing around as if he expects someone to be there right then. There isn't.]

Um.

[Move the book around. Just wave it? No, that can't be right. Maybe the camera? Reluctantly he digs himself back out of the sand and stands up, picking the book up too. Sand gets on the lens briefly but doesn't stay there once it's shaken off. Maybe this guy just wanted landmarks. Like the big rock he was currently using as a kind of shelter. Which means the rock gets seen first, way too close to be of any use, then some other rocks over that way, and a rock sticking out of the water, and a rather weather-beaten oak tree just above the shoreline, the only one for a good distance, really not adapting well to the new salty environment.]

All those?

[At first the rock doesn't give Vash much of an idea where Knives is. Then the other rocks, that rock in the water, and the oak helps a lot.]

Perfect. I should be there in a few more minutes. [Vash heads in the direction Knives should be in as he realizes maybe he should have stopped by the clothing shop. He had no idea if the Malnosso had decided to give his brother any shoes.

He'll work that out when he gets there.]

Okay.

[With that settled, Knives ... goes right back to the sand. It was profoundly reassuring to know that someone was coming to get him, even if that someone was a stranger, which left him free to think about other things.

And do other things. Like begin digging. And he's pretty quick at it.

Which means by the time Vash actually gets there, it's pretty likely Knives will have managed a hole in the ground deep enough for him to stand in at hip-deep.. and still digging. Who knows what's down there!]

[When Vash finally arrives dressed in a pair of brown slacks, a light long sleeved shirt, and sneakers on his feet he shouldn't have felt surprised to see Knives down in a hole of his own making. He pushes a strained of his long hair out of his face as the wind plays with it.]

Glad you found yourself some entertainment while you waited. Find any bury treasure yet?

[As an adult, and with his hair not in the almost-signature style Rem had combed it into so long ago, Vash's resemblance to anyone at all that Knives knows is pretty much nil. Knives spots him a little ways off and keeps an eye on him as he approaches, but there was still the sense that they were the same kind, and that was all the reassurance he really needed.

Sometimes instinct is actually beneficial.

As Vash actually arrives he stops his determined digging and wipes his hands on his pants, leaving sand streaks on them. They'd been clean, but now they're more a shade of tan than white, and a little soggy around the ankles; at some point he struck the water table.]

Hello. Um. I found water. And this shell. And a bunch of sparkly rocks..

[The shell and rocks are neatly set at the edge of the hole.]

[Vash smiles as Knives goes over what he found. Pushing back the thought that in less then a year this is the kid that was going to nearly wipe out the human race.]

Yeah, sometimes there's hidden water under the ground. You've probably hit some really sticky and hard dirt too, haven't you? The clay?

I'm not sure exactly how much you've studied yet on the ship, but the ocean water is full of salt, so you can't drink it.

[Vash isn't in any real hurry and he's guessing he has this smaller version of his brother for the next couple weeks anyway. He squats down close to the hole, debating if he wants to sit and get dirty still or not.]

Would you like to keep digging? Or are you starting to get cold and hungry? I have a place back in town and you can stay with me if you'd like.

[Only a handful of months at best. Had he stayed on the SEEDs ship, within hours he and his brother would have stumbled across Tessla. And then the inevitable would follow. But for now, oblivious to the horrific fate that would await, he's content with his hole.

Less content with the way sand kept sliding back into it.]

It's like there was another type of ground here before the sand came. Getting down much more than this is really hard, and the dirt's a lot darker. Is that clay?

[Probably he should get out of his hole. It's hard to go anywhere when hip deep in sand.]

I think it got mentioned before. If you drink salty water you just get thirstier. Dehydration. Um.

[Leaving sounded okay. That meant he'd have to meet a whole bunch of other people though and that sounded kind of overwhelming. Maybe it would be nice but he didn't expect to ever meet a lot of other people in just a pair of pants.]

It is a little cold, I guess. If..

[Brave! He can do it! Even if his brother was nowhere around and neither was Rem, it'd be okay.]

.. If I'm going to have to meet other people, could. .. Um. I don't have a shirt.

[He's a little uneasy about the idea of People, but there's no sense he's actually afraid, just a bit intimidated and possibly alarmingly shy of strangers.]

[For a moment Vash almost offers his shrunken brother his own shirt. Then thinks better about that and not show Knives the road map that is his body.]

Afraid I don't have anything that will fit you, but there's a clothing shop in town that I can pick something up that will fit. A lot of people around here show up in white pants when they first wake up so don't feel bad about that, but when we get closer you could wait just outside of town until I can pick something up for you. If it would make you feel better.

Hehe. I guess I should have thought to bring you something before I came to meet you.

[It's probably for the best, as children are as easily led to curiosity as they are stark horror, and all of Vash's scars would need an explanation. An explanation that an alarmingly intelligent telepathic boy would accept.

..Definitely for the best. As Vash decides there's no shirts anywhere in the vicinity, Knives scrambles gracelessly out of the hole in the sand, and begins collecting his rocks and shell by piling them on the now-closed journal. Sand gets all over in the process.]

It's okay. I never mentioned what I was wearing, so you wouldn't know it's just pants anyway. Is the shirt going to have holes in it?

[If Vash was LYING about everyone having wings, of course the shirts won't have holes. But if they did all have wings, well, shirt holes would be needed right?]

Some shirts do, some don't. As a lot of people like to hide their wings under their shirts. [As Vash is currently doing, but there's still a clear bulge under his shirt where his own set are wings are hiding.]

But I've gotten pretty good at putting holes in shirts if I can't find a shirt with holes in it yet. [He waits for Knives to pick up all his new collection of treasures before he gets ready to head back up the beach.]

Do you want help carrying any of those?

Why? If everyone has them, there isn't anything bad about it is there?

[He has a lot of questions beyond that, but Knives will wait til this one gets answered. ...Did everyone have red wings? He couldn't see what color Vash's were.]

Oh. ..No, there's not a lot. I think I'd need more time if I really wanted to get a collection going. A couple hours at least.

[Knives would dust himself off a bit but his hands are otherwise occupied.]

How far away is everyone else? ...How old are you?

[Clearly these questions belong together.]

Well, some people like to forget they have wings. They're also very sensitive and sometimes having them under a shirt helps keep them from being bumped or caught on things.

[Vash stuffs his hands into his pockets when Knives says he doesn't need any help and hums at the boy's next set of questions.]

Not too far away. There's a teleporter up the beach a little ways it will get us pretty close to where they are without having to walk the whole way. As for my age?

[He grins a bit shyly. He doesn't usually just blurt out his age to just anyone.]

Ah, I'm actually over a hundred and thirty now.

[He's just... going to let that sink in a little.]

If they were very sensitive, the constant friction of a shirt would be a lot worse than possibly snagging them on things, since the most likely thing to snag on /that/ close to your own body is ..well, your clothing.

[Even that small, Knives is a good analyst. He twists a little, carefully spreading one wing; it's not exactly /easy/, it doesn't really want to respond, but eventually it does.]

Nor are they really large enough to bump into things when folded, unless people make it a habit to back into things, but if they do that the shirt won't be much help anyway. What's a 'teleporter'? I know what it sounds like but that's science fiction isn't it?

[He's also good at changing subjects at random, but keeping up with the answers seems considerably easier. Doubt creeps back in when Vash claims to be over a century.]

Are you sure?

[Vash just shrugs at all of Knives's complaints about the shirt being over the wings. He himself had just been a bit too lazy to put holes in his current shirt.] Well, they're sensitive. If they get hurt they can make you sick. Most people here are pretty nice and friendly, but some people aren't so trusting and want to hide away a weak point.

[It was the truth for the most part. Who could really blame someone showing up in a strange land to not want to hide their wings? Even if most of the real danger comes from those outside the barrier than within he doesn't mind admitting this to Knives.]

It does sound like science fiction, doesn't it? But it's real! Just as you think it might work! You step on it and are instantly sent to it's matching teleporter on the other side! It kinda tickles!

[Vash can't help but to grin at Knives's skepticism at his age. It's not exactly easy to believe you might live for so long.]

I'm pretty sure at least! I've kept pretty good track of the years and if you're about to call me old, I'll have you know we're exactly the same age from the time I'm from!

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