Thinking and headcannoning the shit out of angry Stampede! Vash and how Wolfwood deals with that first thing in the morning because i think him getting angry about something and letting down some of his mask in those genuine moments of anger is super awesome
Before we continue I have not read the manga yet so if you read something incredibly obvious or redundant to your experience, well, haha or something OQNENW
This is a VERY LONG Vashwood ramble I have to put SOMEWHERE or I will explode, so feel free to join if you want.
Vash is an overall very expressive person right? very emotional too generally, but the thing is I like drawing people getting angry so that’s what you are getting from me.
And I also often think about the fact that it’s Wolfwood and Knives the ones that have seen him be like that (most often than not towards them).
Wolfwood specifically, I think that he WOULD get scared because when Vash is angry angry, he just seethes and looks like he is three seconds away from being love and peace to hate and war. These are probably the moments in where he carries the most resemblance to Knives, and to anybody that has experienced the man firsthand they know how scary that is because everyone and their moms knows that he does not hesitate to resort to murder if he is upset about something or if it’s inconvenient to him, so it is rightfully terrifying to even think of him getting mad.
Now take the same idea and apply it to Vash, he is so friendly and playful all the time and he gets kicked around all the time too, that it would be almost impossible to imagine him getting angry in a genuine way. That is UNTIL his ideals and morals are being countered or challenged by someone and THAT’S when people are gently reminded that oh yeah he can get mad too, and really fucking mad at that.
The peak of his anger doesn’t last for too long because he tries to level himself quickly, he is aware of how he can look when he gets like that, and it would be showing a little too much about how he is not very human in nature for what he is comfortable with. I think that when he gets mad his expression turns into something very vulnerably honest, to the point in where he unconsciously looks imposing and demanding, paired with his uncanny vibes it really is a treat and anyone at the other end of it would be other than also upset, quite scared. Like Wolfwood.
There is something very obviously other about Vash and he has the privilege of knowing just exactly why that is, and considering that his brother has a record for being a certain way when angry, knowing what he is does not soothe him at all. Then again, Wolfwood cares for him still and he is a stubborn guy himself, so even when most likely scared shitless, he would not move his ground, and the only thing that reassures him that things will be fine, is Vash’s pacific nature and also knowing that he cares deeply for him too, but that is a thing he would not think too much about other than the flash of thought that it is in the moment.
Vash is petty as hell too, he remains silent and gives the cold shoulder to the other person that was involved in the argument, and it is usually, once again, Wolfwood at the end of that stick. Wolfwood is a “mind your business and I mind mine” kind of guy considering he never asks things, but traveling with that idiot and having to be with him 24/7 and being given the silent treatment has to be uncomfortable at best incredibly annoying at worst. So even though he won’t change his opinion most of the times, he still insists on talking to him idly sometimes after they argue, something he would usually not do.
All Vash ever responds with are the necessary answers, at first shrugs or nods, then very short and to the point sentences, he eventually warms up to him again and they talk the way they usually do; and just like that things seems to be at bay for the time being until the next unavoidable argument comes by.
No matter how many times they argue, when things escalate and Vash begins to show his very honest anger, Wolfwood’s instincts would be screaming at him to stop it and to get away, because whatever Vash is feeling is reeking of a danger that no matter how enhanced he might be, he is NOT gonna make it through whatever will happen to him worse comes to worst. But when has he ever actually heard his instincts when it comes to dealing with Vash. So he always replies and stays.
He is somehow one of the very few (almost non existent) people who can deal with Vash when he is like that, one thing is getting mad at Vash and the other is him getting mad at you, and he has bite alright, he will say things that can come across as hurtful and very venomous when he starts to get more visceral, and yeah the whole predator kind of vibe he can give off is there too.
Maybe Wolfwood also knows how hurt Vash would feel if he retreats because of how scared he feels and that’s why he doesn’t back away. It would be reasonable if he did, hell he doesn’t owe him shit for all he knows and he would be in his whole right to run away scared if he wanted, but for one it would be too cowardly, and two Vash would be once again pushed away for being something not human, and that would be a scar he would carry for his whole life and Wolfwood does not want to be a part of that. So that’s another reason to the ever growing list of “why don’t I just let this be”.
There is an odd sense of comfort in seeing Vash get mad, knowing that the man knows his ground, that even he has lines he won’t allow anyone to cross, that he can allow himself to feel something genuine for once and not the fake little things he is always doing. It is the positive side Wolfwood tries to see in those situations and what he has to remind himself over and over again so he doesn’t flinch away. Good thing he has some practice in arguments thanks to his little siblings back at the orphanage, practice he refuses to let go and holds on to dear life because he needs any crumb of reason at those moments.
At some point when hands are involved, when a clench to the shirt and a push to the shoulder escalates to shoving the other to the ground and a punch to the gut, Wolfwood goes full survival mode because no one told him that Vash was THAT strong and THAT heavy and THAT intimidating. He could have guessed after having watched the man fight. He is capable and strong, he usually moves with a certain preciseness and care under the goofy display, he may twirl around and stumble when dodging, but he is dodging and also landing hits.
He knows that Vash is strong and that he is also incredibly careful. But that’s when he is in all his senses with a mostly cool head, so having him hovering over Wolfwood pressing him down rendering him to the ground while very obviously mad and trying to prove his point, he freezes before he can react and fight back.
Those are the times where Vash feels the most guilty after the fight from what Wolfwood can gather and wildly assume. If him not eating (again) for days or even refusing to acknowledge Wolfwood unless necessary is any sign. That behavior can last over a week which is a little too long for Wolfwood’s peace of mind. So he starts poking again because apparently arguing again is the only way to make the bastard answer more. And it usually works, some nudging here and there and putting lemon with salt to the wound seems to do the trick.
It entails more shouting and screaming at each others faces their flaws that they already know like a script, until things start to calm down when Wolfwood reassures him that he is tougher than he looks, and that no matter what he won’t just leave Vash in a ditch, and if they were going to travel together for the future to come they would have to learn how to sort things out. Something he knows neither of them will probably never learn, but it is what it is and that’s what he can resort to at the moment, and it does seem to satisfy Vash a little. So once they are done, and they go their separate ways, never too far from each other, Vash starts to nibble at his food and says or asks little things to Wolfwood, and just like that they are good to go again.
They are both aware that addressing out loud how fucking scary Vash can be at those raw moments of anger, would be like painting a line of ‘I am this and you are that so we shouldn’t be doing this’ that neither of them would actually want to have. So even when yeah it can be horribly scary and surprisingly intimidating to deal with Vash when he is angry, Wolfwood is willing to stay and fight with him if that’s what he wants, if that’s what he needs. Even if it’s starting to take a toll on him. He is getting used to it though so it will be fine.
Probably.
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On the casually insane antics of Illusionist!Gale…
I don’t usually wax poetic about the blorbos on main, but I keep thinking about one specific aspect of Gale’s act II romance scene that makes me completely feral.
Sure, it’s impressive that he can project a pretty aurora into the sky, and recreate his rooms in Waterdeep from memory. And maybe somebody with better knowledge of 5e spellcasting rules has a really mundane explanation of this and it’s nbd (if so don’t tell me XD)…
… but purely based on what we’re being shown, Gale just blithely conjures an illusory copy of The Art of the Night — and with enough detail — that he can then use it to simultaneously cast a second spell (when he has Tav place their hand on the diagrams in the book) that transports two souls into the Weave? And is presumably maintaining concentration on both? While also blowing Tav’s mind?
It’s one thing to be able to cast/maintain two spells at once; but that’s not even the whole of it; he’s casting the second spell using materials he imagined into existence with the first…
Maybe my Tav and I are just hopeless smitten nerds (we are), but that’s some Inception, dream-within-a-dream fuckery. Gale mentions he can’t create such elaborate illusions very often, and it’s fair to assume that he was referring to the scale or the grandeur of it; but the multi-channel processing is so much more galaxy-brain, imo? And at that level of detail?? Babygirl’s got photographic memory in that terrifying tadpoled head of his, on top of raw magic talent.
And let’s not even get into the combat implications of being able to just pull entirely functional spellscrolls out of thin air, even if only on occasion. At that point, what’s the actual difference between illusion and reality? God!Gale may not be an emotionally healthy ending for him, but with illusory talent like that, it’s easy to understand how quickly the lines blurred for him—even without a heavy helping of hubris dumped on top…
[Karlach voice, rubbing the back of my neck] Anyway, what were we talking about….?
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Wildest shit happens in D&D man.
Alright, story time.
There was a D&D night for fun and to introduce newbies to the game. I ended up with a slightly more experienced group but they took pre-made auto-generated character sheets.
We ended up with Normal Human Artificer whose part of a guild (I ended up tying the backstory to the illegal Artificer Cult), a Centaur Hermit who is afraid of civilization, an Orc Fighter who hates civilization, and a Half-Orc Barbarian raised by wolves and who has an alcohol addiction.
The oneshot happens in Waterdeep, the fucking New York City of the Forgotten Realms. They go to a bakery to try and find clues as to where this important guy (the Beggar King) is. First thing that happens is the Barbarian gets up onto two feet and fucking spartan-kicks the door open. They kill one ghoul (Barbarian gets half their face bitten off, retaliates with a Nat 20 bite, and rips the ghoul’s throat out). Then the centaur picks up the second and ends up fucking adopting it and getting it addicted to Raspberry Danishes instead of cow blood and humanoid flesh.
Then they get ambushed by the BBEG’s men. Ghoul flies at the leader, and with another Nat 20 because my metal dice loves combat, rips the guy’s head off. Fighter splits another guard in half with ANOTHER Nat 20 (the dice aren’t weighed, we just ended up being D&D Game Georg. Our Barbarian actually couldn’t stop rolling twos earlier and during the ghoul combat, the ghoul that got adopted ended up rolling three Nat 1s in a row). The centaur tries to pick up a third guy only to get shield bashed in the head. Third guy gets his neck snapped because the Neutral Evil Orc Fighter jumped on his neck. The party proceeds to traumatize the last guard there for several rounds by shooting arrows at him (and missing) as well as hurling a fucking Great-axe at him (courtesy of the Barbarian, who also missed). He tries to climb over the roof, fails Acrobatics, falls to the ground where the Fighter proceeds to shield bash HIM, shattering the guy’s jaw, and the Barbarian ground-pounds his diaphragm, killing the poor guy. Throughout this whole thing, the Artificer is just standing there with his bow and five Cherry Danishes in his hands (since he wants to try and train the ghoul to attack people).
They make their way to the BBEG’s ship, and somehow, despite the highest Charisma score there being fucking TWELVE, convince the guy guarding the gangplank that the party + ghoul are the Orc’s pets. Artificer finds who fucking pistols and the Centaur somehow manages to climb up to the crow’s nest using the fucking ROPE RIGGING. I made the mistake of saying that there was a barrel of rum, and the Barbarian strapped the >400 pound barrel to their back. Somehow, they make their way to the brig and talk their way past the guards (genuinely don’t know how they managed to pass so many Charisma checks). They convince the guards to close the door because “uh... the rum is for interrogation techniques? it might get loud.” Then the artificer gets like an 18 for performance and just starts screaming from behind the door and the guards run away (despite the Barbarian getting a Nat 1 Stealth to try and pour the rum out of the barrel). They fucking shove the prisoner, the Beggar King they’re supposed to rescue, into the fucking barrel Bilbo Baggins style, and with more charisma checks (Nat 1 from the Orc to convince the gangplank guard that the barrel was another pet but a 19 from the Artificer claiming orders from the Captain to transport materials) they fucking left with the Beggar King passed out in a fucking barrel.
Like, they skipped the boss fight, they skipped every possible fight in the ship, half fought the first one because a ghoul got fucking ADOPTED and I-
This was so fucking fun. Play D&D yall. You might meet some of the greatest people in the world and form the greatest memories in your life.
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