#So Nai doesn't have to eat like Vash does...

[mine-loves]

Trigun Stampede | s01e08

First Birthday.

[angelcent]

NOCTURNE : ̗̀➛ MILLIONS KNIVES

summary. it is as they say—there is a thin line between hate and...

contents. vash/reader established relationship, suggestive sex, voyeurism kinda, nai hates his brothers gf

wc. 621

they're doing it again.

nai's blue eyes narrow into slits, fingers curling into fists over his textbook. he wrinkles the page and half rips it, but he barely notices. because they're fucking doing it.

again.

it's out of vash's character to be purposely loud while fucking his girlfriend when he knows that nai is home, but the doof truly thinks the two of you are being quiet right now. as if the headboard isn't currently rattling against the already thin walls in their shared apartment.

and you. his twin brother's girlfriend—sweet as cotton candy with a heart of gold; actually, nai imagines your heart to be like the conversation hearts given on valentine's day. he also imagines himself ripping into your chest and eating your heart whole—as sickenly sweet as it it'd be on his tongue.

"mmm! mm—vshh!" you moan, melodic voice muffled. not only through the walls, no, nai thinks you must be covering your mouth or biting your lip to keep quiet. "ahh—mmm!"

the rattling slows down for a second, bed squeaking with weight shifting, and soon enough it starts up again. the rhythm is a little different though, not as forceful or consistent as vash had been. the bed begins to squeak as if...

you're bouncing on vash's cock. fucking yourself. like a needy slut. his thighs spread unconsciously, cotton shorts rising up his muscular thighs.

nai has half a mind to slam his fist against the wall—remind you two that you're not alone in the apartment, that he also lives and pays rent here. and even though it's bordering one in the morning, he's trying to fucking study.

but he wont. he doesn't feel like dealing with the aftermath right now; nai knows very well that vash will come and apologize like a kicked puppy—and he just won't give you the satisfaction.

there's no way in hell and below that nai wants you to believe you affect him in anyway. never someone like you—someone so weak and beneath his brother.

beneath him.

you, with your doe eyes and pouty lips and fragile neck he wants to snap. he loathes people like you; someone who smiles so stupidly and freely and opens up like a flower beneath the sun. naive, always greeting him and trying to make small talk when you must know that he can't stand you. optimistic, as you always see the good in others and in this cursed world. calling him kni. it makes nai physically ill with disgust. the only reason he hasn't voiced the venom that consumes him is that vash truly seems to care for you.

so nai glares at the wall instead, iceshard eyes hard with antipathy as he thinks about how much he truly despises you. weak little flower that you are; too stupid to realize that he can clearly hear your pathetic attempts at stifling your voice. those needy little whimpers and whines, broken as you split yourself open on cock. fragile neck bared as your head tips back in pleasure, hips continuously rolling over and over and over. cunt sticky and dripping over your thighs, making a mess all over yourself. but you don't care; no, your moans are only getting louder and louder as you give up on trying to stay quiet.

there's a pounding behind nai's eyes. probably from having grit his teeth too hard. yet he pays it no mind, suddenly feeling his chest flood with heat. his palms clam up and he wipes them over his spread thighs, but that's when nai realizes.

he's hard and leaking precum over his thin cotton shorts.

[nanomooselet]

Episode One: No Man's Land

He's so fluffy. <3

Man, the fact that Vash ran out to greet all those people by name and he's not even a minute into it when the ships begin to explode is really everything about him you need to know. The first time we see his face and it's after he's been thrown off his feet as cascading destruction is unleashed around him. The face that crashed a thousand ships? Vash of Troy? My poor sweet boy.

Young children can sometimes have trouble with cause and effect, assuming events relate more to their own actions than they really do and blaming themselves. So Vash asking Rem if the sleepers will be okay... There's simply no time to explain he isn't responsible. All the dominos are being set up in Vash's little head. Nai is the one to knock them down.

And then Rem and Nai wearing identical expressions. It's not surprising that even after her death she's his most enduring ideological opponent. Every time I watch it's just more obvious how enormous the effect she had on Nai was, and how he hates it. (By the way, I keep hearing that Rem told Nai to protect Vash - but as far as I can tell that's a conclusion Nai came to on his own without Rem's intervention? Rem said she'd protect the twins herself and didn't anticipate the crash. Did I miss something?)

I've talked extensively about this part, but to recap: feelings. And look, Rem's got purple eyes! Apart from the colour motif (purple = red + blue, so it represents the unity of humanity and the Plants that was her dream) she would have had to get gene-modded for them, which is a fun detail. Rem, of all people, was a little bit vain. I dunno, I find that endearing.

"Real people don't look like that./Real people aren't such caricatures." More of Orange's composition choices making me foam at the mouth.

We don't know how long Vash has been dangling there, but I doubt it was less time than it would take for a human to die of deprivation or exposure. I really don't think Vash actually needs to eat or drink, nor does he hate being a Plant - it's himself that he hates, as a person. If anything Knives is the one in denial that he's just as human? I don't know.

Anyway personally I like to think that the reporters really are caught up in all this nonsense by sheer happenstance. No one's pulling their strings; they're out to write a meaningless gossip piece and Meryl is taking it too seriously. It's worth noting that focused pursuit of the "dangerous fugitive" (read: Vash) is apparently pretty recent, not to mention unusual.

...I'm guessing my girl doesn't play a lot of poker. Meryl's faces. <3

I've said it before, but the show doesn't cheat. Roberto doesn't pull his conclusions out of his ass; he tallies up incongruities and puts them together into insights. He's obviously experienced, but I think of Sam Vimes, a recovering alcoholic, complaining there aren't meetings you can attend for being a suspicious bastard. Roberto drinks because, too often, his suspicions have been proven right. (I suspect Roberto also suffers from a state of being naturally knurd i.e. he's short of sobriety in the opposite direction to being drunk, and has to down a few before he's on par with the rest of us. But I also think his tolerance is good and he plays up drunken mannerisms when it suits him.)

Huh, the man looks good in a tie. I wonder how recent that photo is.

Anyway, Roberto sees Vash's big honkin' gun, but Vash insists he's "not a fighter". He notes aloud that Vash doesn't look like a Plant engineer and Vash dodges explaining. Then he sees this face Vash is making, and it's scared. He's sweating. This is before the MPs barge in, so it's something about the Plant he's afraid of.

Right, thinks Roberto, we'll tuck that nugget of info away, along with how that piece in his holster sure ain't no damn novelty backscratcher. And when an opportunity arises to test the insight, Roberto takes it.

Uh, never mind what I said about cheating. (Although this is an animation cheat, not a narrative one.) I love that they didn't even pretend like he was maybe hiding it somewhere. Also hilarious, though more darkly so, is the complaint that this turn is "bad writing" because the captain was professional, as if he didn't beat the shit out of a suspect in the process of surrendering, stick his gun in random faces, and agree to a duel with deadly weapons against a bounty head he's meant to bring in alive because some random drunk asshole made slightly mean comments.

("Are you are a man, or a yellow-bellied baby who needs his mommy?" Background info implies the captain has reason to be sensitive about the accusation he's hiding behind his parents. I wonder if the dub writers knew?)

Meanwhile Vash is unwilling to fight until his opponent does something absolutely batshit that imperils everyone around him. He's also bizarrely calm about a cluster of missiles being launched and heading right for him. Roberto's right that he isn't afraid of the MPs.

"A fight should be a show!/We've got an audience, we might as well give them a show!" <- Orange says you're goddamn right about that, crazy captain dude. And it's exactly what they did.

Dweeb. <3 He probably left his ammo behind in his bag on purpose, but didn't expect the captain to do something so recklessly violent and suddenly realised he hasn't had time to restock any of his aces in the hole. Nevertheless, I suspect he's still playing up how hard he's freaking out here. The helpless and pathetic act is very much an act; it's only when he's faced with Knives that it isn't.

It's so sweet that Rosa knows him well enough to have faith he'd pull it off with a single bullet. She put a lot of trust in him. I like to think she kept a stock on hand. She also meant it when she said "a friend of Vash's is a friend of mine," so Meryl makes the throw. And she makes it good. Which all helps what's coming to be more devastating, naturally.

LOL at how clearly this is an animation/particle flex, but it's celebratory too, like fireworks on opening night. Over a decade since Vash did his thing on our screens. Here he is returning with a bang!

Wow, I somehow completely and utterly failed to realise Meryl and Roberto's conversation with Vash about Knives takes place the next day until this time around. Of course they would have had to wait until the captain was conscious enough to ride out of town. All the details I pick up and "the sun is setting" or maybe "unconscious people can't ride birds" missed me entirely. What I'm saying is that I'm very smart.

Hi Zazie!

I don't expect an answer to this question, but I have to wonder. Did Zazie wait to report to Knives until now to be absolutely certain it was Vash after seeing him draw that exact gun and do something impossible? Or does Zazie have some awareness of the fourth wall, knew when they'd cut away to show Knives, and acted so as to achieve a "speak of the devil" effect when Vash finally mentioned his full name?

Regardless, I really like the dub, but it's a shame they couldn't keep the ambiguity of whether Knives is talking about Vash or the red Plant when he says he'll rescue [someone] from the "parasites".

I do like the impression he's talking to the Plant husks (even if it's probably really Zazie he's talking to). My man's always open to constructive criticism when his interlocuter isn't capable of making any.

@tristampparty

[ultraviolet-cello]

Day 8 of the tristamp analysis marathon and jesus christ i am!!! really excited to do these now because people have been adding onto/being nice abt my stuff and that's super cool. Thank you again to @tristampparty for running this! I didn't manage to join in on the book club last year so it's nice to have a fun little event all the same

[But as for next book club,,,, well. I'm extremely transgender about trimax and would love to join in]

As always, spoilers for trigun stampede and trigun maximum! Also some CWs for Vash-typical passive suicidal tendencies and discussion of his psyche

So! Episode 8! I have.... mixed feelings, on how Tristamp portrays Knives. On one hand, I definitely think that we're being lead to believe that Vash has always been a peace-loving kid and that Knives has always had those tendencies, which would set up for season 2 to break that down. I hope.

The one thing I couldn't figure out, ofc, is the Knives not needing to eat thing - My friend millions-dykes theorized a black hole/white star dynamic a little while ago [as seen in the screenshot. I'm Organ, they are Nagito Malmonella]

aaaaaaaaanyway, we still get these little instances of knives just being a kid, and it's the funniest thing in the world to me. Vash is also apparently in tune with him enough to pick up on that and it's such twin behaviour.

There's also just a lot of cases of Knives smiling or being giggly around Rem, which,,,, he's such a mama's boy like we know this but it's so nice to have it reinforced. This theory of Knives having always been cold/standoffish just doesn't track - the only time he usually seems uncomfortable is when Rem touches him or when he talks about Plant stuff - particularly when he's talking about being different to Vash. Knives, to me at least, is a tad autism-coded :]

OKAY TO THE SCENE[TM]

So obviously this has changed from when we first saw Vash tell the story. Vash's sequence of events runs as follows:

Vash walks up to the little hill that Knives is laughing maniacally on top of -> Knives says "I finally did it! It worked! -> Vash confronts him with "How could you do that?" -> Knives reassures him with "Don't worry, I left the Plant ship" -> Knives says "I even got Rem killed!" -> Knives points out that Vash is his accomplice, but does not elaborate why. "Don't get mad. You're already my accomplice, isn't that right Vash?"

Now the sequence of events in this version is provably more accurate (the same audio is used in the black box recording discovered later), and goes as follows:

Vash wakes up from the escape pod and goes "Nai, where are you?" -> He spends some time following Knives' footsteps where he sees the crashed pods and fire and Knives laughing on the hill -> Knives says "I finally did it! It worked!" -> Vash says "I can't believe you killed Rem!" -> Knives says "Don't get mad. You're already my accomplice, it was you who told me the passcode - Am I right, Vash?"

So there are several inconsistencies in these two versions of events, most notably for me is that Vash is the one to bring up Rem. If the 1st telling was correct, it would imply that Knives wanted to kill Rem, but that part is conspicuously absent, because Vash is the one that brings her up.

Vash's retelling also omits the fact that he was the one to give Knives the passcode, shifting more blame onto Knives. It's very very interesting to me. Finally, Knives mostly has his back to Vash when he dissolves into laughter again. Which is a technique often used to hide if you've been crying or are having a hard time keeping some emotional responses down.

And I'm not even done with this flashback! The scene where Vash just lies down and wants to give up is,,, Well, in Trimax, ever since Tesla, Vash has struggled with suicidal ideation - he's the one that asks for Rem to just kill him, and that's heartbreaking, but we also see a bit of that leaking through here again, where he just wants to lie down and give up. It also gives me hope we're gonna see that Tesla aftermath scene in the next season, because that'll be breaking Vash down into his more complicated, messy parts.

Okay so I do think that the subtitles Aniwave uses are... a little bit Wack, I'm pretty sure that they're unofficial and probably a bit wonky, and I'm only slightly conversational in Japanese so I have 0 idea about this, but hey I think someone should inform Wolfwood, for no particular reas- [I am dragged away by security]

[I did check the dub, which referred to Plants giving birth which I think is much more likely to be accurate. But it'd still be funny for Wolfwood to have to sit through Plant sex ed so neither of them get pregnant]

Rem really was very, very young,,,,,

There are four photos here, but only one is given to Vash. I wonder why,,,, Possibly to gauge his recognition of Knives being in the photo, or keeping the other three to learn what they can about Knives.

The night/day progression cycle here doesn't really match up with Vash's little tally, so I don't think it's counting days. Given that he apparently went to say hello to everyone in cold sleep while on the ship, I think it's a little more likely that the tally marks are for them....

Do we ever actually get to hear Rem say the blank ticket thing in a flashback? I don't recall it, but it is said to Vash after the whole Stabbing Incident in Trimax, so that's possibly why they've kept it from us.

Theeee markings under this Plant's eyes match Elendira's, which. Obviously Elendira in tristamp is part plant there's just so many little details that lend themselves to it,,,

The HAIR COLOUR CHANGE AAAA

I like the little wall of Vash baby pics in the background here, but he still didn't get any of his 3 other ship pics back :(

Finally, Vash's line of "an Independent will make up for what an Independent has done" is interesting because his guilt complex really does spiral, huh. The reason Knives telling him "Oh, you just feel guilty for the Big Fall, huh?" in a later ep fucks him up so much is because like. That is kinda true to an extent. Vash is his own kind of self-deluding, but that only really starts spiraling at about this point in time.

Alright, setting up for a Day of analysis tomorrow, because I have many thoughts and feelings surrounding Knives (I love him very dearly and I hate him a lot (affectionate)) and we Will spend some time talking about Trimax Flavour Knives because my understanding of him is fundamental to my understanding of Tristamp Flavour Knives.

Thank y'all for the fun comments and theory addons!!! I'm having a lot of fun and we're really getting into how [normal] I am about Trigun!

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 1, episode 1: noman's land

normally i draw stuff for fandom events... but i don't really feel like it so instead i'm going to rewatch tristamp for @tristampparty :D it's been a few months since my last rewatch, so i'm excited~ (this will be my fourth time watching it...) subs this time, since i've watched the dub the last 2 times i watched. AND also my first time watching it start to finish after completing the manga. i've been wanting to do this for a while so now's as good a time as any!

i don't know how much i'll have in the way of coherent thoughts or analysis so i guess i'll just... do it like i did my bookclub posts? and write my random thoughts/observations as i go :'3 if i'm lucky it will turn into coherency and analysis LOL

okay episode 1 let's gooooo

i don't think this was shown in the manga so this caught my eye immediately - that there are robots helping maintain the people in cryosleep. the fact that there were only five other crew members besides rem, and that only one person is awake at a time barring emergencies, was brought up and questioned by multiple people in bookclub. maintenance robots make a lot of sense, one person can only do so much, even a small crew wouldn't be enough for such a huge ship.

iirc we don't see the other scientists on the ship at any point in tristamp, so i guess they were all integrated into conrad's character...? which means this rem was more alone than ever. and also had less people to fight against re: the experimentation on tesla...? or... hmmm. one minute into the episode and i'm already saying so much lol help

nai being cast in shadow... that's cinematography babes!!!! and the two blooming geraniums...

UGH!!!! this always gets me!!!! the fact that NAI is the one who invites rem onto the escape pod... knives's love for rem compounding his guilt over her death makes me want to eat rocks. i think that combination of love and guilt is definitely present in the original but it's not blatantly shown as it is here. i've said this a lot and i'll keep saying it but one of the things i really like about tristamp is how it puts a microscope over knives's emotions.

"i thought i'd spare her" he says!!! and with his face covered in shadow... this is from volume 2, so it's in part to keep him ~mysterious~ as the antagonist at this point in the story, but the shadow also serves to show us he's not being fully truthful here. obviously!! but at this point in the manga we don't know much about knives at all, and he's very much framed as sinister and menacing. tristamp does things a bit the other way around, showing us that nai cares about rem and then having him do his evil speech-laugh at vash later in the episode... but we're not up to that just yet. anyway.

we don't really get a clear look at nai's face after the pod launches but because i'm unwell i went frame by frame

he definitely looks angry here i think, or frustrated... of course he is...

so as vash cries here i can't help but think he's emoting for both himself and his brother. in stamp and in the manga both. like the lyrics of tombi.

...less than 5 minutes and i've already written so much. okay. enough about knives. let's all look at meryl's face.

>:T

it's been discussed how tristamp frontloads a lot of information, and this specifically has been pointed out already, but the reveal of the planet's name being NML doesn't happen until... the penultimate chapter of the manga. not like keeping the planet's name a secret really matters in the grand scheme of things, but in the manga the reveal was an emotional beat following the final battle, reinforcing the resilience of the people living there. here it's framed the opposite, almost - as the fact that this place SUCKS. also roberto is purposefully talking down to meryl in this scene but it still comes across as a bit clumsy in that it's obviously exposition for the sake of the audience.

i think this rewatch i want to pay more attention to roberto. i just kind of forget he exists most of the time since he's not in the manga, and not someone i ever really got attached to seeing as how he's clearly telegraphed as the Dead Mentor character, there to push meryl's character to the point where she needs to be by the end of the season. i wasn't around to see this happen but when tristamp started airing i'm pretty sure he got shit on a lot for Not Being Milly. but i do think he fulfills milly's role in one specific way; he's a very observant person. i don't know if i want to dive deep into a roberto-milly comparison though... i kinda feel like that would do a disservice to him lol. but i like the contrast of what kind of relationship each of them has with meryl.

the biggest wettest eyes you've ever seen

i just like the level of detail here with meryl and roberto being reflected in vash's glasses. very neat!

*squints* i just wanted to post BDN's wanted poster to lament the fact that he doesn't actually appear in tristamp, and perhaps laugh at nightow's poster again, but the guy on the left... that's the guy from 98 episode 1, right? and i think the guy in the middle is the guy who lina kicked in the face. there's a poster for the nebraska daughter later in the scene, too. the attention to detail is insane, man.

oh. he's referring to knives here. i think.

see, here's the thing. i only just now realized that he might be referring to knives because the subs i was watching previously (the ones uploaded to aniwave) translate this line differently. it's a lot more vague, about how things will just get worse if they don't do something. the dub line is similarly vague. this line is a lot more clear. but i don't know, man. the reason why i've mostly stuck to the dub is because i could tell the subs on aniwave were of dubious quality, but my japanese isn't good enough to tell which subs are the ""most"" correct, this included. it makes a lot of sense that he's referring to knives here, so that's the interpretation i think i'll stick with. and at least these subs are like... better grammar-wise than the ones on aniwave, lol.

Thinking About This Again. okay i don't remember where this was confirmed by staff or if it was just a theory but this was a bounty put out by knives, right? as "this is what humans think of you, as an object you can put a price on, not as a person." it's all been said already by people who aren't me. but i'm just thinking about knives's hypocrisy again. he doesn't exactly view vash as a person either.

...as i watch this i'm realizing i have a lot less to say about the second half of the episode than the first half.

i've seen people say that vash not having any bullets for the duel was on purpose. and that's probably true. i've also seen people say that running around screaming and crying was on purpose, like, it was part of his act. i... don't know about that. he does scream and cry and throw up to present himself as a harmless idiot, but contrast that with the bullet dodging and the disarming of the cluster bomb... he's kinda... showing his hand? especially because he tries to laugh it off as luck immediately after. NONE of that was part of the plan.

OKAY AM I JUST MAKING THIS UP OR ARE THOSE TEARS IN HIS EYES. THIS ISN'T JUST ME RIGHT. he could just be crying from laughing too hard UNLESS...?! also, why am i reminded of vash saying to rem "when you cry, you look like you're laughing." so the other way around would be...?! we know how much nai is hurting here, how much he didn't want to kill rem... and he's laughing... but with tears in his eyes... is this anything. am i overcooking. it's getting late and my brain isn't working at full capacity anymore.

GOD just. he's so young. in the flashbacks in volume 2, the twins look a bit older, i think, and especially since knives's face is completely blacked out in shadow, it doesn't fully register just how young he was at the time... but man. he was just a kid.

ugh, and the first thing we see of adult knives is him playing the piano, knives's piano being a cry of loneliness from his heart... as we know... i'm going to combust. and his... piano room(?) is so haunting with the dead plants all around.

here's a detail that i like in tristamp - the worms are ever-present from the beginning. for the first couple of episodes they just seem like window-dressing, simply part of the environment to give the setting more character, nothing more. we don't learn about the worm hivemind or zazie until episode 4. but it's obvious upon revisiting that this is how knives is getting information about vash's location and also where any dying plants are.

which i also want to point out because!!! in this scene knives says, in japanese: 「見つけたか」 which in the subs is translated as, "so you've found him." it's translated similarly in the dub, referring to him, as in vash. but in the subs i initially watched, the line was translated as, "did you find it? [...] i'm taking it back." if you know anything about how japanese grammar works, it's that japanese doesn't have pronouns the same way english does, so exactly what or who knives is referring to when he says 「見つけたか」 is not actually specified. so we have a potential double meaning that gets lost in translation - knives could be talking about both vash and the dying plant.

...and that ends episode 1. i... did not expect to write this much. also post this before the date turns over challenge failed. i'm tired and i need to go to bed lol.

we're just getting started. see you tomorrow.

[bozepomagaj]

Modern/College AU HC's! (Twins edition)

Nai/Knives Saverem

I plan on writing a small drabble on Rem's backstory and how she met&adopted the twins so I don't wanna spoil too much but as I mentioned, she worked as a biologist, made plenty of discoveries but then later on started focusing on rheumatology after taking the twins in. She found out after she adopted them that they both have a rare disease that barely any doctor was willing to work with, let alone give them some kind of treatment. Thankfully, Knives spent most of his life in remission, and when his symptoms did show, it was nowhere near like Vash. Vash's longest remission lasted for around 2 years. Since doctors didn't know what illness he had at first, they just stuffed him with random drugs that ended up causing other problems and illnesses in his body. I can go more into detail about the illnesses they have, but... maybe another time.

Due to all this, Knives takes meticulous care of his body. Goes to the gym regularly, makes sure to eat enough calories every day, takes supplements if needed, and has an extensive skincare routine. He has his sweet cravings, but he never indulges in them. 'Cheat days'? Never heard of them. Alcohol? He'd rather drink poison. I mean to him, it's the same.

Everyone thinks that the nickname 'Knives' came from Wolfwood, who kept calling him that because of his incredible cooking skills. In reality, it's because Knives had an affinity towards 'pretty' knives since he was a kid. A black higonokami and a trapper are his favorite possessions at the moment.

To add to the previous hc, Knives wanted to play darts so badly as a kid. He thought it would make him look cool, but Rem refused to buy him the game. So he just started throwing knives at the wall until she caved in and finally bought him the game so he'd stop making holes in her walls because she loved him. He loves playing 301 because he gets to show off how precise he can be.

Knives and Vash's shared apartment is big, but definitely not big enough to fit a grand piano, and it irks him. He bought an electric piano, but he absolutely despises it. It sounds too soulless, too shallow for him.

Cat dad? More like plant dad. That man has an insane amount of cacti in his room, their entire apartment is filled to the brim with all kinds of greenery Vash could rarely go outside as a kid due to him constantly going from hospital to hospital so plants and nature calm him down, he loves being surrounded by flowers but you can only find the cacti in his room, no other plant. Except... a singular Adam and Eve orchid next to his bed.

Surprisingly, Knives does enjoy video games. In fact, he was the one who first started playing them and got Vash into them. Anything with deep, unique plots and lots and lots of world building will have him drooling. Avid player of FF14 and a huge Zenos fan and defender. As for his favorite game, without a doubt, it's 'The Last Guardian' but he'll never admit it if you ask him.

Out of the entire friend group, the only person he actually likes is Milly, surprisingly. He knew her prior to finding out she's a part of Vash's friend group. They often went to the gym around the same times and left around the same times. It started with Milly trying to talk to him, but he'd never pay her any heed. But she continued. Hours upon hours. Every day. After some time, he finally started giving in, nodding and agreeing with what she's saying. Until they eventually started making actual conversations, giving each other tips, exchanging their favorite protein bars and their drinks. Vash was presently surprised by their friendship.

He enjoys sketching. Never actually making full-fledged art but just sketching either some type of scenery that left an impression on him or practicing dynamic poses he sees online or in fashion magazines. When he gets frustrated with his piano because it just 'doesn't sound right,' he'll plop down on hus bed, get himself a notebook, and start sketching until he gets bored of it. He wouldn't classify it as a hobby since he doesn't do it as often, but if he wanted to, he could definitely make some beautiful pieces of art.

Vash The Stampede

Plant dad #2 except he SUCKS. He has so many plants, sometimes when he's caught up with things he will completely forget to water them. He'll only notice when they wilt and he'll spend hours crying over it and feeling bad No, Knives isn't holding his laugh back when this happens, its just the allergies messing with him, he's just coughing.

Despite being incredibly ill, drumroll please... Vash has no allergies! He does have food restrictions, but hey, at least he can eat peanut butter!

Unlike his dear brother, he doesn't really watch after himself that well. Sure, he goes out on walks and spends an hour or two at the gym but dieting? Hell no, he's eating whatever he can, whenever he can.

Also, that man is as clumsy as it can get. He could be walking on a completely flat surface, and he'll still find a way to fall and hurt something.

Y'know how some people can tell when its gonna rain due to their joints hurting? Vash. Just... Vash. Everytime. But hey, at least everyone has their umbrellas always ready!

Like I mentioned with Knives, Vash loves video games! Simulators, RPG-s, point-and-click horror, anything! His favorite would definitely have to be 'Ori and the Will of the Wisps'. Loves the way it looks, and he always, and I mean always, cries when he sees Shrieks' backstory. The ending, too, makes him cry.

Also unlike Knives, he absolutely loves the multiplayer part of FF14. He'll spend hours of talking with people, making friends and just doing dumb shit.

Can't read notes for shit but will somehow make the most heart-wrenching tunes known to man when he gets ahold of his brothers piano. Knives will just stare at him, mouth agape, lowkey jealous...

Has plenty of cheesy, donut themed stuff around the house. Earrings, rings, cups with lil donuts on them, plates in the shape of a donut, shirts with donut puns, everything! This is due to Knives finally snapping and telling him to stop eating so much sugar every day. He is now allowed only 4 donuts per week.

He tends to get overwhelmed by beautiful scenery to the point of tears. Rem took them to a nearby forest once, near a stream during spring when flowers were in full bloom, and Vash ended up breaking down into tears because it was so beautiful to him.

Despite what Knives thinks, Vash doesn't always drink when he goes out. He does get drunk from time to time, but the cause of his clothes always smelling like alcohol is from constantly being on the dancefloor and bumping into people

Barely anyone knows about his condition, actually. He begged his professors not to tell anyone when he brought in the papers for the first time. As for his constant hospital visits, he'll just say he's 'unlucky' and got sick again, same goes for when he's gone for a couple of days/weeks.

That's it for now I think. If anyone has any questions or wants me to elaborate, I would absolutely love to do so🫡

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce VIII

Knives is totally dismissive of Meryl. He acknowledges she exists all of three times.

Once in Vash's memories, to delete her from them; once as he's piercing the Core, to call her a parasite and dismiss her attempts to get Vash to wake up; and once to try and violently kill her because... she succeeded in waking Vash up.

Whoops.

I listed all those statements that Knives claimed to be the truth; now here's everything that I believe proves them false.

Vash is pretty, but he's useless without his brother.

Vash does not need his brother. He loves him - of course he does. He wants to save him. But he's never needed him. Rem was the one he relied on for support, and after her death, Vash was too afraid of Nai to give him that kind of trust. He's spent decades surviving away from him, something Knives simply will not acknowledge. He tries to remove Vash's autonomy because as long as he has it, Vash is at risk of abandoning him again, just as Rem did.

Remember that once Knives initiated the memory retrieval process, Dr. Conrad warned Meryl that breaking that connection would kill Vash? Knives made Vash need him, made him dependent. That's his idea of making Vash perfect.

He's a powerless, weak, pathetically naïve, blubberingly sentimental little baby who doesn't care about the Plants, too busy enabling humanity's abuse via performing his cringing, grasping abasement before them to notice how his brethren suffer.

Knives developed his powers first. But Vash's powers are greater. He can do everything a normal Plant can do; he can also do much more, and he's such a wonderful, kind and compassionate man, with amazing reserves of emotional strength. Knives wouldn't have had to try and subjugate him otherwise.

Vash personally talks to the Plants, cares for them, soothes their pain. And he's been doing that not just to help them, but to help the humans panicking because if the Plants died, so too would they. He spent years travelling between crash sites helping Plants and teaching humans to take care of them, assuming an authoritative role even as a little boy, and if he hadn't figured out he could do that, he would almost certainly have killed himself. Remember he finally made the choice to live in order to save a dying Plant, not a human - dying because the environment was incompatible. You know, because they'd all been crashed on a desert planet. Certainly many Plants are still suffering. Because Vash is the only one doing this. He can't rest or delegate. It has to be him alone; it all depends upon him.

And Knives has been too busy playing his stupid piano to take any notice. And having other people do things for him. Oh, and making it damn near impossible for Vash to do what he does, partly because Vash has been convinced he bears all the responsibility and accepts the punishment himself. It's incredible he's held up even as well as he has.

If Knives is even aware Vash can heal Plants, he likely wouldn't care, because he views Plants in dependent form as imperfect, the same way he has contempt for Vash's fondness for eating. When Vash tried to talk to him about the needs of the other Plants based on his own direct experience, Knives didn't just shut him down by calling what Rem said a lie, he started mocking Vash's grief over her death, complaining that she inconvenienced him. He isn't interested in an alternative. His is the only way. It always has to be his way; that's been reflected in all his abuse.

Knives himself is the more powerful (and much less human-like) of the twins; the strongest and most righteous activist for necessary change now that, sadly despite all good faith attempts at communication, non-violent solutions have failed.

Remember Zazie, Elendira and Vash himself all have said don't judge by appearances. Yeah, Knives's colouration makes him look a bit more like the dependents than Vash does. That doesn't mean he's less human.

When he first started using his chosen name, Knives was doing nothing to help his brethren in the wake of the Fall. All he did was retaliate against humans and obsess over Vash. He bet everything on being able to carry out his plans using his brother's power. He didn't bother to communicate with any human other than Dr. Conrad. Seriously, count how many humans he addresses directly in the series. The total shrinks to one if you leave out those he doesn't immediately try to kill.

As for the "less human-like" part...

Dr. Conrad and Knives believe a soul is what gives a Plant free will, makes an Independent. Knives is referred to as an angel, and as perfect.

But angels don't have souls, so much as they are souls - they're beings of spirit, not matter. Humans are the ones who have both souls and material bodies. The dependents are in their tanks because their bodies can't survive outside of them. What makes Vash and Knives what they are isn't a soul. It's their humanity.

Thus I simply can't take the idea that Knives is "perfect" at face value. I stand by the assertion that Knives, in defining all humanity as selfish and greedy parasites, inadvertently exposes how human he is himself.

He truly has only the best and most altruistic intentions: the freedom of his people, and the happiness of his brother.

Look at what he did to Vash. The only other member of his kind he knows to be a person, and he chained and silenced him. Look at how often Knives is around dying Plants, dying because of the situation he forced them into. Do you believe it?

I don't. I find no truth in his words. I can count on one hand the moments I think he's being honest about anything. And I'd like this to be kept in mind as I continue.

I said before that the series seems mostly to take on Knives's point of view, and it's worth also keeping that in mind - especially when you remember the Punisher was Knives's chosen, custom-tailored agent. A gift. He was the one Knives obviously expected would become Vash's chief emotional support; all the better to kick it out from under him. After all, his brother is the one Vash truly loves; the brother who is a weapon, a punisher of human sin, who's done all he's done for his family. Who better to bring Vash home than an imperfect replacement, reminding him of what it was in his life that's been absent for so long? His human inadequacy would add strength to Knives's argument. And so focus goes to Wolfwood, showing how being forced to take on this role has made him suffer. He is, literally, pivotal; his backstory and conflict is revealed and resolved in 6/7, the midpoint of the series.

Naturally, it just demonstrates all the ways Wolfwood isn't like Knives, and that Vash never needed his help. Wolfwood is the one saved by Vash, not the other way round.

So… because Knives was so focused on Wolfwood and what he would mean to Vash, he never once thought Meryl mattered, not to Vash and not to the Plants and not to the world at large. She's a parasite, nothing more. There's no way some silly officious little womanchild with no weapons or powers could mean anything.

Right up until the moment she did, and he promotes her instantly, all the way from insignificant to tango primary.

Meryl in his mind goes from insect he can't be bothered to swat to an ideological threat on the level of Rem Saverem, and he starts shrieking denials that she's beaten him. And remember that I said you should believe the opposite of whatever he says?

She has.

Because she loves Vash. (Platonic or romantic as usual doesn't matter.) She's chosen to follow him even to the edge of reality. Though she found Vash frustrating, she didn't try to change him, nor does she need or want anything from him. She saw how much strength he had, what he could do if someone just had faith. When Vash declares I won't stop until they believe in me, he can draw hope from the assurance that Meryl already does. And unlike Rem, Luida, Rosa - Knives can't do jack-shit about it.

And Vash, in turn, has deep appreciation for her support. She tied him up all the way back in ep 1 - which I called "laying a claim" - and here Vash reciprocates, binding them together. She's lent him her agency, her independence, and she didn't have to resort to anything like the grotesque extremes Knives did. It required no more or less from her than unyielding love - an ordinary human's love. Just like Rem. Thank you, Meryl. I heard her voice through you.

Her love is rooted in seeking and embracing the hard truth rather than shoring up a comforting lie. When Vash starts to break free of Knives's illusion, it's by holding to the truth - it was Rem who promised to protect him, not Nai. Nai isn't an innocent little boy anymore but monster of metal chains and blades, something Vash has every reason to run from. Rem loves Vash no matter what's been done to him, and Knives cannot kill her as long as she remains alive in him. Knives is too frightened to face the truth, regards it with so much terror he tries to flee back into the ignorance of the childhood before he learned it. In contrast, Meryl's courage and conviction, her dedication to seeking and spreading truth, is so strong in her they steel that which is within those surrounding her; Roberto, Wolfwood, even in Vash. She may be small, but her power is sufficient.

Never ever overlook Meryl motherfucking Stryfe. That's a mistake so great it can see a man go from the threshold of victory to on fire.

And I'm still not done talking about her. One more instalment.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part IX

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 11, episode 11: to a new world

can you believe it's almost over already... @tristampparty let's go.

meryl and wolfwood's dynamic is so funny

two things: one, this is the first time we see present-day-him out of his blankie!! two, he can speak clearly, but vash is struggling to breathe... i wonder if on top of not needing to eat and sleep, knives also doesn't need to breathe... but i also wonder if vash actually needs to breathe himself. considering next episode they fly up into space and vash seems fine.

okay, i guess "100 years" from episode 9 was a number from conrad...

wow this is just like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS

he says it's his hypothesis so... is he lying or is his hypothesis just wrong? i... i don't know if he would be lying on purpose. or if he's actually right and this is genuine orange original lore (doubt). how did he come to this conclusion? how would he detect the presence or absence of a soul anyway? imagine if this plan actually succeeded in the end. what would have happened? how would conrad have reacted if he was proved wrong?

viewing knives's microexpressions again like a completely normal person. his face softens when he says this. he really does genuinely care about the plants. it's just that his way of "caring" is. um. Like That.

COME. LET US TAKE IBUPROFEN TOGETHER.

subtle storytelling techniques. also again sinners with the capital S. also hello knives, you're so pretty!

he's both a receiver and a transmitter, wow this is just like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS

not to keep overanalyzing knives's expressions, but... he looks a bit sad that vash will forget him. even though HE'S THE ONE MAKING HIM FORGET. ugh. knives, you're so. you're so. so frustrating.

waaaaiiit knives with the punisher tho... and the hand on the hip... he's serving

so much of this is vash's insecurities being made manifest, i wonder how much "work" knives actually has to do here. vash is full to the brim with guilt, it's not something knives would have to do much to bring out of him. well, most of that guilt is knives's fault to begin with...

this always gets me. this ALWAYS gets me... "love," he says... love, huh... love... i do think there is love. i do think love exists between them. it exists, but this is not an act of love. or, if you must call it love, if knives is telling himself he's doing this out of love, it's a love filtered through a thousand (or a million, haha, get it) layers of fear and trauma.

the "plant room" is where tesla is, right? we've only seen the one other geranium. also rem makes an "oh shit" face when nai says that...

thinking about this conversation. this... back and forth between vash and nai... about how humanlike vash is and how plantlike nai is. it's a sore spot for both of them... it clearly is for vash, but thinking about how nai feels... he's the one who's being asked to put on an act. he's the one being asked to suppress a part of himself. i know that's rem's way of trying to protect him, but... it must make him feel bad. even if he doesn't make it obvious. maybe that's why he keeps making digs at vash. :(

oh, it did, but if knives were to acknowledge that, his entire worldview would collapse, so...

vash tabs over to his own profile and then scrolls to tesla's profile. why is nai in a different tab than vash and tesla. for that matter, if vash and nai were supposed to be a secret, why do they have profiles in the database at all. did rem make those? did conrad?

maybe rem's biggest mistake was letting nai read the bible

the microexpressions again :')

he's saying this to manipulate vash but is that the only reason why he's saying it? is this what knives genuinely believes?

okay i don't care about this guy at all but the fact that he's still holding his noodles is funny. i'd do the same.

speak for yourself, knives.

WAIT HIS BLANKIE IS ON AGAIN FOR THIS? hmmm... his blankie. his cocoon, his shield. is it because he's killing rem? again? so he needs his blankie? as a form of comfort. he uses his blankie to hide, it covers his face.

i genuinely do not know what i should call it besides "blankie." sorry.

the way he words this... i thought maybe he was using cryosleep to extend his life like luida and brad, but no i think he just actually lived that long. he's got a few... attachments(?) so i guess those were part of the life-elongating process...?

hmm maybe he did use cryosleep though, since he said he's done 100 years of research even though it's been 150 years...? either way he's old as fuck though LOL so there is some fuckery going on

he's doing bad things right now. he's being bad. but his squinty face is so cute LOL

WHERE was that post that pointed out this looks like rem. bc it does. if you look closely, that's her hair.

ummm... it's after midnight again... i think i should be able to write and publish tomorrow's post in a more timely manner :'D

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 8, episode 8: our home

okay i was very busy (read: distracted) today so i'm posting this late but LET'S GOOOO

let's start out with some psychic damage targeting me personally 👍 my heart hurts so much already

thinking about how both young vash and nai relate to food... they have opposite needs, but it must be an isolating experience for both of them. nai is different from vash and rem, vash is different from nai and other plants... they're both in between humans and plants without really belonging to either.

nai specifically, though... he doesn't seem happy that rem made him food, but it might be equally isolating if he was the only one who didn't get served food... so it's awkward either way. rem did the best she could.

what if i died right now

the geranium on the table... is it... i wonder... if rem put it there for tesla...

LOOK AT HIM HES SO HAPPY AND HE LOVES HIS MOM SO MUCH :((((((((

i don't know what it is but something about the footprints is getting to me, man. the way that nai's go on ahead of vash...

is it the composition maybe. nai's footprints leading down to the bottom of the frame... down... fallen angel... etc etc am i just making things up- no i'm right. i'm right.

brad is the one who noticed vash... even though he acted pretty hostile to him for a while after... he's the one who saved him... i wonder if that's some of the reason for his hostility? like if vash did turn out to be dangerous brad would have been the one responsible... idk

also brad is voiced by junichi suwabe my beloved

this has gotta be an orange original, right? we never learn how plants are made in the manga...

"sinners"... i've heard that word before... wait a sec...

here!! the EoM broadcast right at the start of episode 5!! what does it mean...

why would scientists call themselves Sinners, as like a formal(?) group name(??) is it because they know they're playing god by studying plants? i wonder about the radio program, too. here it could simply be referring to humanity as a whole, but then why the capital S? conrad is the one who ties this all together... the "team leader," huh...

"plant research," huh...

(insert "she should've been at the club" joke here)

much to think about. lying about nai being dead yes but. not the only thing he's keeping from them. "just one" more independent?

brad is so mean sometimes, lol... tbh i think they really nailed his personality. his role in the story and his relationship with vash are both very different than in the manga but he's still recognizably brad, and i think that's cool. it shows orange really understands the core of his character.

it's probably natural that this is the first question she asks, but it's also kind of mean... not on purpose ofc, but it probably hurts a lot for him to be asked that, especially now...

also vash isn't eating again. his unhealthy relationship with food... not eating as a form of self-harm... when we got reminded just at the beginning of this episode that it's something he needs to do. i remember reading a meta post a while back about his relationship with food but idk if i have it in me to try and find it right now...

once again glad i can watch this in hd so i can notice that vash covers his ears when luida says this hahahahahaha (<- in pain)

we see the one on the left the most so we need to look at the other family photos for a second. they're so cute what the heck... rem's big smile in the bottom right one... and i see both vash and nai are right-handed... *jots that down*

wasn't there a theory post about vash's number tally on the walls. i don't remember what it said.

she asked "who did this" so she knew it wasn't something like a computer error. Did She Know.

ohhh sister i'm so sorry but no they will not be

this is such a blink-and-you-miss-it, but brad shielding vash from this guy is really sweet. because as we've seen the other residents of the ship haven't exactly been nice to vash. brad's been mean too but he's just... a tsundere, really.

sorry this post lacks substance, there is probably a lot more to say but my brain just isn't working at full capacity and i need to go to bed

mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah. up until now the only clear, non-obstructed shots of nai's face were from when he was a little kid. he's still young here, and the shot itself is pretty dark, but here he is... the boy...

next episode is going to kill me dead! goodnight