#egg two: stampede

[marsafter-dark]

They are pocket sized for your convenience (ft. your own personal Pocket Knife~)

[orcelito]

oh yeah uh i forgot to talk about my day. i havent rly been existing as a person whoops. uh

work kinda sucked but not NEARLY as bad as yesterday. honestly yesterday was probably the worst shift ive had in uh. well at least a year im betting. it was really so very bad.

today was better except Whoops my bike broke a little bit. forgot to mention that too. i left it at work overnight in the storage room n im gonna bring it to the bike shop tomorrow. so im gonna be without my bike for a few days </3

uhm. otherwise ive been procrastinating, still not doing my dishes, reading trigun fanfic and rewatching trigun stampede and reading trigun maximum. and also browsing etsy for trigun merch, of which i bought a few things.

now im thinking about skipping class again bc it's accidentally oh so late and i am very tired. i can rationalize it to myself that it's Totally for the sake of finishing my lab tomorrow. but really ive just lost control of this semester and i barely wanna do shit anymore. lol.

[pinkanonwrites]

@tadpoledancer​ made a throwaway post about someone writing Vash getting fingered until he cries, and somehow I’ve transformed that little thought bunny into 3,500 words of gratuitous Vash The Stampede smut. Also please keep in mind that there’s only three episodes of Trigun Stampede out so far, so even though this is Stampede!Vash it’s more of a hodge-podge between his ‘98 and ‘23 personalities as I know them to be.

Tadpole, and others, I hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3 here!

Stampede!Vash, G!N Reader but sharing a room with Meryl is mentioned, fingering, sub!Vash, dacryphilia, gratuitous use of the word “fuck” (if y’all notice anything else i should add to this top bit here lmk)

"Shh! Shh!"

"I'm not saying anything! You're the one giggling!"

"You're giggling too! Don't try and pin it all on me!" You hissed back, though it held no bite past your eager smile. The sun had set a few hours prior, desert air cooling just enough to no longer sting as you snuck down the motel hallway to Vash's room. Your socked feet slid silently along the old wooden floor as you crept past your companions' rooms to your target, the door cracked just enough to see Vash peering out waiting for you with a red flushed cheek and an eager eye shining behind his tinted lenses.

As you slipped through the gap and let the door slide quietly shut behind you, you found yourself bracketed in by Vash's arms. He stooped a bit to reach you more easily, cheeks rosy and eyes love-drunk as he hovered near you, bubbling with eager, nervous energy. Not that you didn't feel the exact same.

"Hi." He murmured.

"Hi." You responded. He squirmed a bit under your gaze, shifting from foot to foot. You leaned in to press a fluttering kiss to his cheek. Just a brush against his sun-kissed skin was enough to make him shiver, both flesh and metal hands resting on the sides of your shoulders, rubbing slowly up and down. He was beaming when you pulled away, red enough that you were surprised his glasses weren't fogging up.

This had been pretty routine for the two of you since joining up with Meryl, Roberto, and Wolfwood. Though you did your best to keep things low-key around the others, Nicholas had been the most vocal about pointing out Vash's favoritism for you. His teasing only served to make things more obvious to the others, and, well… You and Vash didn't want to give them any more ammunition to fluster the two of you than they already had.

Doubling up into hotel rooms was the best way to save some cash on the road, usually with you and Meryl in one, Roberto and Nick in another, and Vash in the third. But you always found yourself slipping out the door once Meryl dozed off, scampering and giggling down the hall to warm Vash's bed instead. And really, if you weren't keeping an eye out on your Humanoid Typhoon, who knows what could happen to him?

"Just one?" Vash nuzzled your cheek with his nose, letting out a delighted little hum when you gave another kiss on the cheek, then a third before meeting his lips.

"You look like you could fry an egg on your face right now. I don't need you overheating or anything."

He chuckled and leaned in for another kiss, lips brushing against yours as he spoke. "What can I say? Maybe you're worth frying for."

His lips were warm, ever so slightly chapped, and it wasn't long before they were parting to meet your sly tongue with his own. You tangled your fingers in his shower-damp hair as he pressed you up against the door, molding his body perfectly to yours. His hands slid down the length of your arms, down to cup each of your hips and hold you right up against him, leaving nowhere for you to go between his broad body and the door.

"Did you-mmh…" He struggled to keep his train of thought on track in between wet, lazy kisses. "Did you still wanna…?"

"Would I be here if I didn't?" You responded, pulling away both to let Vash continue to ramble and to pepper teasing kisses down the slope of his neck.

"I dunno, I just, hah… Wanted you to know you could change your mind if you want. I wouldn't-ohh…w-wouldn't mind."

You knew Vash could feel you smiling against his neck right before you trailed your teeth down the tight, corded muscle. "You ask me if I wanna finger-fuck you and you honestly think I'm gonna say no?"

He let out a quiet little eep! at your choice of words, tipping his head up and away so you couldn't see his wobbly, flustered expression. "I mean, you don't gotta say it just like that!" Lucky for you, trying to hide his face like that only served to give you more room to kiss and nibble on his sun-warmed skin. "Just letting you know you have the option, is all."

"Vash." You cooed against his neck, and you could swear you felt his length stiffen against you through his old, worn-out pajama pants when you did. "I just wanna make you feel good, that's all. If you're not sure we don't have to do anything, but I promise I'd tell you if I wasn't comfortable."

"Yeah?" He hummed. Finally he tipped his head back down to meet your gaze, and you could see it in his eyes. As far as he was willing to go to make sure you felt okay and comfortable, Vash really wanted this. He wanted it bad.

"Yes. Let me fuck you, baby boy. I'll make you feel so good."

He whimpered, and you knew you'd gotten him hooked. It was a clumsy backwards stumble to reach the bed, neither of you willing to part from the other for more than a breath. When the backs of Vash's knees hit the mattress edge he tumbled back, taking you with him in a clumsy heap and a painfully loud squeaking of old bedsprings that you probably should have been a bit more worried about than you actually were in the moment. You tugged at the bottom of his nightshirt as you straddled his hips, shoving it upwards to reveal more of his broad, scarred chest.

"Take it off." You mumbled, dipping your head to kiss around the edge of one of the deep pink wounds before he could reply. As he struggled to get the fabric around and over the shoulder joint of his prosthetic you lathed your tongue over the hypersensitive skin, smiling to yourself when you felt him shiver down to the tips of his toes.

"Th-That's cheating, you know? Getting me while I'm distracted?" He huffed. You just blew softly over the place you'd just licked and made him shiver a second time. "Maybe you're the real dangerous one around here, Mayfly."

Down the broad slope of his chest you continued to kiss, over faded slash marks and old bullet holes, lavishing each inch of him with the love and attention you knew he deserved, no matter how often he tried to rebuff it. You felt one of his hands cup the back of your head, fingers warm and rough in your hair so you immediately knew which one. At the waistband of his pants you peered up again through your eyelashes, over his heaving chest to his face where he had his lower lip worried between his teeth.

"Having fun?" You cooed. He bit out a short laugh and cracked a wobbly grin in response.

"Could be having more." He responded.

"Are you gonna keep being cheeky or are you gonna help me get your pants off first?"

"Little bit of both. Gotta keep things entertaining, after all.~" You both laughed as he lifted up his hips, letting you wrestle his sleep pants and underwear off in one fell swoop to be tossed somewhere on the floor to find later. This was an unfamiliar position for the two of you to be in, Vash naked with you still basically fully-clothed. He was always a giver, never wanting to take the pleasure you offered without offering it tenfold in return. But tonight you were the one in control, not Vash. So you cozied yourself right up between his legs and ran the pad of your thumb up his length, slow and steady, from the base all the way to the tip. His hips jumped in response, a short, stuttered thrust chasing the fleeting touch of your fingers even as you trailed them away and Vash let out a punched-out whine.

"You've still got lube, right?" You asked. It took a second for Vash to process, eyes lidded and expression trained on your hands, but once it sunk in he snapped back up to attention.

"Yeah! Little pocket of my bag, lemme just…" He rolled over onto his stomach to reach over the edge of the bed for his bag. As he strained outwards for the handle, unwilling to actually stand up and walk over to it, he presented you with an accidental view of his pert, toned backside. You slid both hands up the backs of his thighs to his ass and squeezed, digging your fingers into his firm cheeks. The scandalized little yelp you got in response made it absolutely worth it.

"Taking advantage of me when my guard is down, even! Who's the real dangerous outlaw around here?"

"Big talk from the guy who's about to get railed." You purred, stretching over Vash's body to pluck the mostly-full bottle of lube from his grasp. You spread him open with one thumb, the other popping the cap on the bottle with an audible click that sent a shiver down Vash's spine. "This is gonna be cold, m'kay?"

"'m ready. Hit me with your best shot!" His voice was partially muffled by the pillow, but there was a waver of unabashed desire behind the playful taunt. You tipped the bottle over and squeezed, letting a generous amount of lube dribble down Vash's ass and pool at his hole.

"Cold!" He yelped. You simply shushed him, rubbing your thumb back and forth over his slick, pink entrance.

"Shhh, don't worry baby. It's gonna feel real good, I promise."

You spent far too long simply teasing at the edges of pleasure, thumbs spreading Vash open and drawing slick trails of lube as you slowly worked him up. You massaged your fingertip over his entrance, rocking slowly back and forth and letting his body open up to you. Every time you got a stifled little sound of pleasure out of Vash you made sure to reward it with a praise of your own; knowing him he'd probably think his little sounds were annoying but you just couldn't get enough of them.

"You can-" He gasped, back arching and pressing towards you with the next swipe of your thumb over his twitching hole. "-Can try putting one in now. Please?"

"Of course, baby. Stay just like that for me, okay?"

You were almost surprised how quickly Vash's body yielded to you, your index finger sinking up to the second knuckle in his wet, pliant heat. You pulled back slow before pressing forward again, a gentle rhythmic rock that already had Vash keening. His cock was pushed down between his legs and pressed against the mattress, and on the next slow thrust you rubbed your wet thumb across the underside of his head. The response was instant, a muffled wail, a gush of pre-cum drizzling across the bedsheets, it damn near gave you a headrush yourself with how much it aroused you.

"Vash." You groaned, thrusting your finger forward and watching his entire body jolt again. "Fuck, you look so good. You should see yourself right now, baby. So fuckin' eager for me. You think you can do two?"

He nodded frantically, voice muffled by the pillow and garbled with pleasure but you were still able to make out something that sounded mostly like "Yes!" So you carefully pulled out, pressing your index and middle finger in this time, slow and steady. It was tighter this time, obviously, but Vash's walls gave away as you gently worked him open, his pink hole stretching around your fingers as you scissored them. You tried to crook your fingers down, towards his stomach. There was supposed to be a spot there, small, kind of spongy, if you could just get your fingers to curl the right way then…

"AAAH!?~"

Vash seemed as surprised by the noise he made as you were to hear it, clapping both hands over his mouth and wincing as his metal fingers clanged sharply against his teeth. The two of you fell perfectly still as your ears strained to hear if any of your room neighbors had awoken. From the opposite wall you could just barely make out Roberto's thunderous snoring, blissfully asleep and oblivious to you and Vash's night time activities.

"Holy shit, Vash."

"Sorry!" He hissed, the back of his neck and ears burning bright red. "I didn't know it was gonna feel like that!"

"No, no, it's okay! It was just… Fuck, that was really hot. You still good?"

He nodded, face still hidden mostly by the pillow. You crooked your fingers again to hit that same soft spot, and though the sound was much more muffled this time the effect it had on him was still obvious. He shuddered, a deep, desperate groan muffled into his pillow case as you thrust forward again, and again, grazing that soft spot half the time but hitting it dead on every other. Now that you'd found that spot, you didn't want to give it up so easily, especially with the noises it kept drilling out of Vash. The wet shlick of your fingers pounding his asshole joined the sound of each of your huffed breaths and his pleasured whimpers.

"You're so good for me, baby." You murmured, feeling woozy and delirious with power over how easily you were able to make the world's greatest gunman fall to his knees before you. Pleasure coiled low in your gut, hot and wanting, but you were more than willing to wait for it just for the chance to watch Vash fall apart. "So pretty, taking my fingers so well. I'd do this for you every night if you wanted it Vash, you sound so fucking wrecked."

You couldn't really hear him all that much anymore, but you could see the way his shoulders were shivering with each ragged breath and pulse of white-hot pleasure. You crooked both fingers hard, finding his prostate and pressing down, not letting up. His entire body quivered like he'd grabbed a live wire, and somewhere through the din of your own desire and his muffled noises you heard something concerning. A single soft, wet sniffle.

Immediately you pulled back, easing up on the pressure and watching his entire shivering body drop back into the mattress like he'd gone limp. His glasses had been pushed up into his bangs, his face fully hidden by the pillow. But without the continuous slick sound of your fingers you were able to hear another near-silent sniff.

"Vash, baby?" You carefully pulled your fingers out, resting your clean hand on the small of his back. "Are you okay?"

He nodded frantically in response, but otherwise stayed perfectly silent.

"Can you roll over for me?"

He jolted, falling perfectly still. You rubbed a slow, careful circle into his lower back with your palm.

"Please? I wanna see your face, Vash. For me?"

After a long, silent moment, Vash finally shifted, pulling his face away from where he'd hidden in the pillow and turning around to face you. He looked thoroughly fucked, face red with an indent of a fabric crease in his cheek where he'd pressed the pillow too close for too long. But he was also sniffling, snotty and wet as fresh, hot tears rolled over his cheeks. It made your heart clench, twisting painfully behind your ribcage as you reached up to cradle his face.

"Oh, baby. Baby. Hold on." You shifted up his body, straddling his waist so you could cradle his head to your chest. He let out an embarrassed little hum, but made no move to push you away. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"...It's embarrassing." He mumbled. "Didn't want you to see me all wrecked like this, it's seriously uncool."

"But I didn't hurt you?"

"Whuh-? No!" He jerked back, finally meeting your gaze with wide, red-rimmed eyes. He grabbed your wrists with each hand and held you close to him. "No, never you, Mayfly."

"So you're crying cause it feels good?"

He shifted anxiously at the question, gaze flitting around the dark room. "I, uh, I mean- Yeah? I kinda thought that was obvious, and you keep saying all that stuff that's like- like wow. Wow."

You didn't hurt him, not in the slightest. You'd brought him so much pleasure with your touch and your words that you were able to bring him to tears? That… That was…

"Vash, that's so fucking sexy."

"Bwuh?"

You shoved against his chest, pushing him back into the mattress as you shifted back down his hips. The low, pooling desire that had been purring in the pit of your belly erupted into a bonfire of pleasure as you situated yourself again, crooking two fingers into Vash's open hole while your other hand fisted his cock. He keened, hips jumping up into your grasp as his hands flew to cover his mouth.

"I wanna hear you. I wanna see you." You groaned, straddling one of Vash's legs so you could roll your hips down against his knee. It sent little white sparks of pleasure dancing up your spine and behind your eyelids, but they were nothing compared to the picture painted before you. "Lemme make you cry, baby boy. Let me see it."

"Oh, oh, oh fuck." He gasped, ragged and wet. Another wave of big, shimmery tears rolled over his cheeks, and he accidentally knocked his glasses all the way up and over the top of his head while trying to scrub them away. They clattered somewhere down in between the bedframe and the wall and you knew you'd have to get down on your hands and knees and feel around for them for him later but right now you just didn't care.

Now you had Vash, Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, whimpering and begging at your mercy.

Both his face and his cock were shimmery-wet and flushed red, punctured gasps and dribbles of pre-cum escaping with each harsh thrust of your fingers. You could feel his thigh strain and twitch desperately beneath your crotch, each jolt and shiver making your own pleasure burn all the hotter. Finally you could hear him, each ragged gasp, each wet sniffle and whine, each punched out, desperate wheeze of your name interspersed with little 'fuck!'s and 'please!'s and 'I love you!'s.

"Fff-uhhh, fuck please. Oh, oh, please if you don't let me cum I'm gonna break, please Mayfly!"

"Yes, yes Vash. Do it. Cum for me. That's my good boy!"

Twice, thrice more you thrust your fingers up hard against his prostate before his back arched off the bed and a shivering desperate groan escaped his lips as Vash unloaded himself all across his scar-marked chest. You slowed your hand but kept your fingers pressing, massaging, pulse after pulse of thick cum splattering up and across his chest as you wrung him dry. His hole twitched pathetically around your fingers as you worked, and you heard the sharp, metal creak of his lost-technology hand permanently denting a grip mark into the metal bed frame as he sobbed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Finally, when you'd wrung him dry and he had absolutely nothing left to give, you released his cock from your grip and let it fall to his tummy with a wet smack. Carefully you removed your fingers, trailing a final thumb over his red, stretched hole before turning your attention back to Vash's face. It was impossible to tell where tears ended and sweat began, his eyelashes clumped and shimmering and his bangs plastered to his damp forehead. He moaned softly as you scooted towards him, giving him another soft, fluttering kiss on the lips.

"You're gonna… You're gonna get a lot more than you bargained for if you kiss me now, Mayfly." He teased. "But that's your problem, snot mine."

"You're so gross." You hummed, all the love and affection you could fit into three words swimming in your tone. You snuggled yourself up next to him, cradling your head in his arms. "I'll get a washcloth in a minute, okay? Get you all cleaned up."

"Mmh, okay." He let his head thunk into the valley of your chest, eyes fluttering shut. "Gimme… gimme fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty. Then it's your turn."

"You are way too fucked out to do anything for me, Vash. Just rest, I'll be fine, I know you'll make it up to me."

He whined, kicking one foot like a petulant child. "Aww, c'mon! It doesn't have to be much. What about my fingers?"

You could feel him smile slyly against your chest as he continued.

"...My mouth?"

A pulse of heat made itself known once more between your legs, and you hummed softly.

"Let's see if you can stay awake that long, wonderboy."

"What happened to 'baby boy'?"

"I'll call you baby boy when you're being good. Do you wanna be good for me?"

Despite how wrung out he was you could feel Vash shiver against you and oh, oh, the two of you would certainly be exploring that dynamic more in the future, so long as you had anything to say about it.

"Mhmm…" He hummed, barely awake.

"Alright. Then let's get you cleaned up, baby boy."

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 2, Match 53: Kim Dokja vs. Roberto de Niro

Submitted kids:

Kim Dokja: Lee Gilyoung and Shin Yoosung are the commonly accepted ones but you can also make a case for Lee Jihye and Biyoo

Roberto de Niro: Meryl Stryfe, Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Propaganda under the cut!

Kim Dokja:

1. “In the first scenario (where you have to murder something alive) his first priority is to make sure Gilyoung makes it out alive (by giving him the grasshopper before letting others know about it), and when the future version of Yoosung (41st round) is going to cause havoc his first plan is to basically the past (his present) version of her so they would have her on her side (he takes her in as his incarnation- if that isn’t an adoption idk what is); Biyoo is literally the soul of 41st Yoosung that he WENT THROUGH AN UNDERWORLD TRIAL to get her back and she is legally his child. Lee Jihye is more like the older sister-teenager of the group be she’s still adopted by association and Han Donghoon is a kid who was hypnotized and exploited by the “prophets” and Kim Dokja saved him and became someone he trusts in- which is basically adopting. Mia is YJH’s little sister but with the family dynamic all of KimCom has she’s basically adopted too. This man is someone who believes the worst in himself but gives all these kids someone they need and in return they are the family he’s never had.”

2. "He saved Lee Gilyoung on the subway when he was orphaned at the time the apocalypse started even when he didn't need to and kept him by his side and fed him at his own expense and believed in him and taught him to be strong when no one else had really done that for Lee Gilyoung before.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD (pretty vague):

Shin Yoosung was a character in the world of the apocalypse that occured (long story, won't explain here lol) and she was supposed to be destined to become a monster that would destroy Seoul and the two people other than Kim Dokja who knew this wanted to kill her when they found her to prevent her from becoming that but Kim Dokja refused to kill her and physically stood to protect her and then he later became her sponsor (uhhh it's a whole thing in-universe but basically pledged to back her and help her ig) and the stigma (a special power thing that can be gained through a sponsor) he gave her was based in him protecting everyone in their group and his love for all of them.

Both Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung are extremely attached to Kim Dokja and have on at least one canon occasion slept clinging to either side of him.

LESS MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD (though not terrible ig and still mostly vague at least):

Biyoo is. well she's Shin Yoosung actually but also not. So basically y'know that monster future Shin Yoosung was destined to become? so that monster version of her from a different timeline was sent backwards and sideways in time (idk how else to describe it jskdfs) and nearly did destroy Seoul as prophesied but Kim Dokja tried to save her—and he nearly did but then a shitty dokkaebi (they're like admin streamer people. idk would take a while to explain) did a shitty thing and forced her to be 'evil' and then she had to be killed ;-; but Kim Dokja promised to get revenge for her and after that he went and beat up the asshole dokkaebi who did that so badly that he gained a legendary Story. And then he traveled to the Underworld at risk of his own life to retrieve her soul and put that into a dokkaebi egg that he personally hatched. And she lost her memories for the most part but could still sense a bit what he'd done for her :') and so yeah she became Biyoo and is somehow both adopted and originally parented(?? idk saying biologically is. doesn't feel quite right lol) by him."

3. “Bro is THE DAD of the group”

4. “Adopted his kids so hard that they’d do like anything for him they love him so much”

Roberto de Niro:

“he's my dad”

[d-0-t-t]

watched the 1998 anime, finally finished reading the original trigun manga and rewatched the stampede anime, really enjoyed my time. then i remember these fantis fans exists, ugh

users like this one are so much a stan for a brocon character that they completely ignored one of knives' biggest trait that he have an obsession love with his twin brother so much that he...

mind rape vash to get into his core dimension, which is probably/is a metaphor for egg fertilization by the way it's presented. by knives doing that to vash, it causes them to force pregnant their plant sisters. knives whole plan is to make vash his eve in their paradise only with their plant race that are their siblings/children

i wish trigun wasn't vague how knives feel/views his relationship with vash and just be straight forward with it - at least stampede anime is kinda straight forward to show vash and knives DON'T have a normal sibling relationship. the conflict between the two isn't simple as "grrr, i'm angry at my brother so i will genocide the whole human race just to make him upset!", stampede anime obviously shown it's more complex than that

idk how fantis fans especially the ones that are knives stans thinks knives' love for vash is ONLY platonically with the force egg fertilization pregnancy episode 11 and even all of that vash still love his brother. if the stampede anime made them kiss once, even a force one, fancops will be making posts how two plant alien brothers having their lips on each other isn't incest, lmao

[shmothman]

Sef’s Fic Masterlist | AO3 | Writing Tag

figured it was about time I made one of these! most links go to my AO3 page, but I’ve cross-posted some fics to tumblr over the years, and there are some drabbles I’ve posted to tumblr that I never posted to AO3. I'll try to keep this up to date! Thanks for reading!

Rating Guide: G (general audiences), T (teen and up), E (explicit, 18+ only)

Stardew Valley

Let it Steep (Shane/Reader) (T)

A Date With Death

the very mortal concept of “self love” (Casper/Reader) (E)

Internet Safety (Casper/Reader) (T) (Drabble)

Defying Fate (Casper/Reader) (T)

Kekkai Sensen

Bacon & Eggs (Zapp/Reader) (T)

Mushishi

heart-tell (Ginko/Reader) (E)

Just a Little Rush (Ginko/Reader) (E)

One Punch Man

Connection (Genos/Reader) (E)

lovebug.exe (Genos/Reader) (E)

Happiness (Genos/Reader) (E)

Trigun

Vash/Reader Fics

Talk to Me (E)

Throwing Caution (G)

Triage (E)

Reputation (E)

Monsoon (E)

Vulnerology (T)

Bloom (E)

Wanna Be Yours (E)

Arms Tonight (G)

Dirty Little Secret (E)

Seven Minutes (E)

Nectar (E)

Throw Me a Bone (E)

you know, that one song by Jeremih? (birthday sex) (E)

Intense (E)

Stuck like Glue (E)

It’s the Thought that Counts (Part 2) (E)

Your Atlas (E)

Public Displays (G)

One Too Many (E)

Stampede (E)

Vash/Reader Drabbles

love, if your wings are broken (G)

morning, mayfly (G)

love, you're not alone (G)

hands (put your empty hands in mine) (G)

tits or ass (E)

Hurt/Comfort Dialogue Prompts:

"You don't have to be alone anymore"

"You have 5 seconds to tell me not to hug you"

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong! What's wrong with me?!"

"I love you. I'm sorry."

“I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

Confessional (Wolfwood & Reader) (E)

To Have and to Hold (T)

Vash with his hair down (G)

Desperation (E)

Alloy (G)

Blossoming romance prompts:

Hugs that linger (G)

Clumsy attempts at flirting (G)

Not reader insert

Uncanny Vash (G)

Pokemon

Scarlet/Violet

Counting One, Two, Three (Hassel/Reader/Brassius) (E)

Solamente (Clavell/Reader) (E)

The Wig Stays On During Sex (Clavell/Reader) (E)

Lentamente (Clavell/Reader) (E)

Quiero Ser Tuyo (Clavell/Reader) (E)

Legends: Arceus

Judgement | Forgiveness (Volo/Reader) (G)

Judgement | Forgiveness Related Drabbles (Volo/Reader) (G)

Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (Volo/Reader) (E)

Denial's Not Just A River In Utah (Volo/Reader) (E)

Culture Shock (Laventon/Reader) (G)

Fireside (Laventon/Reader) (G)

Sword/Shield

Kiss Me Through the Phone (Leon/Reader) (E)

Hot Blooded (Peony/Reader) (E)

Sun/Moon

Bug Buzz (Guzma/Reader) (E)

The Stanley Parable

And Stanley Was Happy (Stannarrator) (G)

Just Like A Prayer (Stannarrator) (E)

The Sandman

Dream/Reader Fics

Enter, Sandman (E)

Another Taste of Heavenly Rush (E)

Dream/Reader Drabbles

Hurt/Comfort (G)

Who Dreams, What Dreams (T)

Nix Hydra (now Fictif? still don't understand all that)

The Arcana

The Warmth We Share (Asra/Reader) (G)

A Memory of Grief (Asra/Reader) (G)

Seeing Red (Lucio/Reader) (T)

Monster Manor

Soothes the Savage Beast (Casimir/Reader) (G)

After So Long (Casimir/Reader) (E)

The Adventure Zone: Amnesty

The Man, The Moth, The Lover (Indrid Cold/Reader) (E)

Can't See Me Lovin' Nobody But You (Indrid Cold/Reader) (G)

Pheromonal (Indrid Cold/Reader) (E)

Hindsight is 20/20 (but foresight is almost as good) (Indrid Cold/Reader) (abandoned) (G)

Boku no Hero Academia

Smile, Sunshine (Yagi Toshinori/Reader) (G)

Doki Doki, Todoroki (series) (Tododeku) (G)

But the Fire is so Delightful (doki doki Todoroki, part 1)

Much Ado About Shouto (doki doki Todoroki, part 2)

Feels Like Floating (doki doki Todoroki, part 3, tsuchako)

Cherry Blossom Season (doki doki Todoroki, part 4)

Cicadas and Sunshine (doki doki Todoroki, part 5)

Happy Valentine's Day, Todoroki! (Tododeku) (G)

The Magnus Archives

Employee Benefits (and I'm not just talking about healthcare) (Elias Bouchard/Reader) (E)

Mob Psycho 100

Oh, Your Love is Sunlight (Reigen Arataka/Reader) (G)

Voltron

It's a Process (getting two silly boys to realize they're in love, that is) (series) (Klance) (G)

[yuhi-san]

rewatching stampede ep 9 for my fic and the way knives talks to luida is interesting

like he is not talking about humanity in general but luida directly. as if she was some extension or version of rem, rather than a different person (although they are somewhat alike)

and yeah obviously knives is aware that loida and rem ar different people, after all rem is dead but still

i think it would be both interesting and funny if knives had in fact trouble telling people apart.

like looking at a bunch of dalmatins or whatever.

of cours he can tell the giant dude with a beard apart from the tiny lady or or the guy rocking an afro. but put a bunch of kinda short ladies in front of him and he can probably pick out one he is quite familier with but the rest looks all the same to him

is the giant dude with a berad that threathens him the same as 2 hours erlier or just another giant dude with a beard? who knows, who cares.

the only reason he can tell the two darks skinned brothers with afros apart is that one of them wears an obnoxiously bright yellow shirt (until he doesn't and knives is back to square one)

some bold man standing around a map to discuss something? might as well be looking into an egg carton from knives point of view.

also doesn't help that he does not car about telling people apart

[shastafirecracker]

For previous context, see @mydetheturk‘s post about Vash fearing Knives & the violation of Vash’s autonomy, and the followup Stampede-specific post by @pancake-breakfast about that Vash‘s relationship with guns.

Now for my ramblings, which are ALL SPOILERS ALL THE TIME for all versions of Trigun but particularly the manga - so please be mindful if you’re doing book club and don’t want to know things before you get to them!!

ETA I made a couple of edits because I didn’t realize I copy pasted the pre-proofreading version of my doc, lol my brain is fried like an egg (it’s feels-like-110F outside rn)

So I tagblogged before but I'll own my shit this time: I wanna talk about Vash-as-gun. Vash's three guns move from external to his body (revolver) to implanted foreign object in his body (gun arm) to literally part of his cellular structure (angel arm). His reluctance to reveal each one steps up in magnitude. His angel arm is the primary reason he sees himself as monstrous.

Pancake’s analysis of Stampede is fantastic and I just want to loop in the other two versions because I have had the brainrot for decades and adore them all. First, it's really interesting to me that what pancake said about Knives giving or creating the conditions for all of his weapons is also explicitly true of the 98 anime but not of the original source material - it seems like adaptations really like to source Vash's access to weapons and/or ability to use weapons back to his brother, "the violent one," positioning Vash as almost ontologically nonviolent. But I want to look at Maximum for a minute because the difference there is absolutely fascinating to me.

In 98 and Stampede, Vash shoots Knives with a gun Knives gave him. In Maximum, the flashback where he loses his arm, Vash simply picks up a gun that was nearby - specifically a gun that belonged to a human who was brutalizing him, and whom Knives had just murdered in order to rescue Vash from harm. Vash doesn't need to be handed a tool of violence; he doesn't have that moment that he has in both 98 and Stamp where he looks at it in shock, as if he'd never considered touching such a thing. No Vash is easy to anger, but Maximum Vash is the only one, upon feeling extreme anger, to immediately turn to the nearest option for retaliation. In Max we also never see how Vash got The revolver - it isn't special, it doesn't have a backstory or a secret extra purpose, it's just a gun. Just a gun that Vash has trained himself to be very, very skilled at using, presumably one in a long line of guns he has trained with.

Something I was talking about on Discord recently with some folks is that Maximum Vash is extremely willing to hurt people. He does not kill, but he does not shy away from committing violent acts, and it is much more clear through the artwork and expressions that when he shoots people, it fucking hurts them. 98 Vash retains his willingness to shoot basically anyone, but sanitizes it somewhat - his shots to the shoulders, hands, legs, etc all just get an "augh!" voice beat and someone falling over. Obviously there's real-world reasons (rating, distribution, animation style) for the lack of blood and for simplifying artwork; this is not a criticism. 98 is more cartoonish all around and I adore it and want to squish its little cheeks. BUT, back on topic: in the cases of both 98 and Maximum, we see Vash very willing to shoot people nonlethally, to subdue them - but nonlethal gunshot wounds are still an extreme physical trauma! Everyone Vash shoots suffers for it. They will have pain, possibly surgery, they'll need recovery time, they'll need medicines that might be limited in availability, they may lose function in parts of their bodies. Maximum I think invites the reader the most explicitly to think about these things, as a couple of times we see goons post-fighting-Vash in hospitals (right? I think that's true).

Stampede is fascinating in that it's chosen to make almost all of Vash's nonlethal, subduing combat moves based around using his gun as a cudgel. He smacks people unconscious all the time. And that's not to say that concussions don't have their own long term consequences, but his unwillingness to pull the trigger is part of that whole this-is-a-younger-Vash thing. I do wonder how much more willing to fire he will be in season 2. Anyway.

I'm going to gloss past his prosthetic for the moment because I haven't fully formulated my thoughts about it yet - something something body horror, something something self destructive choices made while depressed, the use of grindhouse aesthetic, the complex set of social dynamic & psychological differences between open carry and concealed carry, idk idk more other thinky thoughts I haven't thought yet.

I want to return to the angel arm though because the thing I restrained myself from saying in the book club tag due to spoilers is that: this is a gun only Knives and Vash can fire. For the first ~massive number of pages of the manga, only Knives ever fires an angel arm, and he always only fires Vash's angel arm. Knives is also perfectly capable of summoning the same sort of vast destructive potential, though in the manga his takes the form of giant blades instead of a gun (whooooole other post about bringing a gun to a swordfight & vice versa, please refer to volume 14 of Maximum). But he desires to access Vash's destructive potential instead of his own. Knives' motivations are also a whole other post. The point I wanted to make was this:

Vash voluntarily fires his own angel arm ONCE, as far as I can recall. Correct me if I'm wrong. But the only time he fully generates the arm under his own power, in his right mind, of his own volition, is to escape the Ark. He has just emerged from the most oppressive and gruesome violation of his bodily autonomy he's ever experienced and, as far as we know, ever will. He has no other weapons available to him, barely even any clothes: all he has access to is his body, so he uses it. Knives shows clear shock and rage, potentially at Vash using a power Knives has come to feel belongs to Knives. Shock and rage at Vash reclaiming not only his body but the part of his biological identity that Knives knows Vash has been trying to excise for their whole lives. This may be the single most psychologically impactful moment of defiance towards Knives that Vash has ever shown, except for one other, which I will get to.

Not only does Vash fire the arm, he displays a shocking mastery of it. Somehow by putting him in a pressure cooker for months Knives has turned coal to diamond here: Vash went from unable to access his own latent power to, from then on, exhibiting comfort and even finesse with using it. He generates the arm on the Ark oriented to fire at Knives, and then effortlessly reverses the orientation to fire behind himself to make an emergency exit. Later, when Vash accesses his power again, he is able to use tiny, controlled bursts of it to not only destroy things but to load other objects (bullets) with unreleased power which he can activate at his choosing. That is a truly bonkers shift in skill and I love how the manga underplays it, because Vash so rarely says anything about how he feels about his own relationship with power, so you have to take these readings from his actions.

The other impactful moment of defiance I mentioned above is related to that total mastery of the angel arm/gate: Vash ultimately brings his trio of guns full circle by imparting the inherent quality of himself-as-gun into the most external of his guns, the original revolver. [Tangent: It's a neat visual in Stampede that they had him making gate bullets in the final showdown in episode 12, but I kind of dislike its placement in the narrative, because to me Vash's gate-bullets from the very end of the manga are a powerful symbol of his journey through his abilities. Maybe Stampede is suggesting that being plugged into the matrix and like, turning inside out through his gate or whatever in ep 11 did the same thing as the pressure cooker of the Ark in the manga, idk, we need season 2.] He makes the gate bullets for his final fight with Knives for perfectly valid strategic reasons (total control over his energy expenditure so he doesn't risk burning out by miscalculating mid-fight) but beyond strategy, there's just the fact that he's truly spitting in Knives' face by putting Plant/Gate power into a human tool. In Knives' eyes, the tool of their oppressors.

Vash melds the tool of the self with the tool of the oppressor to defy both. To prove that power is just power, it's all malleable and interchangeable, and that what matters is what you choose to do with it. Vash epitomizes "guns don't kill people, people do." (Another tangent to say that I'm not expressing my personal beliefs here; I'm sketching out stuff I'm reading into the narrative of a story, not writing a manifesto. Character study doesn't mean agreeing with or lauding everything a character stands for.)

Anyway. Vash's ultimate victory comes from two distinct ways that he chooses to use his inhumanity: first, he externalizes his destructive potential by placing it into a human-made, nonliving tool - essentially, finally able to excise from himself the part of being a Plant that had always felt monstrous to him. Second, he finally fully internalizes the part of being a Plant that he had rejected out of fear and self-disgust: intergenerational communication. He wins by talking to his sisters. He wins by allowing his selfhood to be subsumed by the collective and by trusting his own kind to love him and listen to him and not try to take away his hard-fought sense of self (all things that Knives did to him multiple times). His sisters listen to him and then they let him return to himself. I don't think he'd ever felt safe talking to them before - maybe guilty and scared, that by so thoroughly rejecting his own species, they would reject him right back. Along with the trauma reactions Knives caused, of course.

I think that's all I had at the moment about Vash-as-gun in the manga... I might return some time to the prosthetic, or go back to the other versions for more thinky noodling. But yeah! More meta plz! Delicious Trigun meta in the year of our lord 2k 23 absolutely unbelievable, we are feasting well.

[chibivesicle]

If you could fix Trigun Stampede or write an alternate version of it that stays truer and more faithful to the 98 anime and the manga, not just visually but emotionally, philosophical and symbolically, how would you? Given how your in depth analyses and in general reading it to filth, I would love to know how you would fix it or rewrite it!

Hello and thanks for the question!

Sorry for the slow response, I've been busy and distracted by other shiny objects (Kekkai Sensen) to get back to this. I still haven't had time to really answer another ask but I hope to get to it in a week or so. As far as Trigun Stampede, I felt it had issues in the following areas: 1.) Technical skill surpassed all other aspects of the production. They put all their eggs in making it look very good. Which it does. I found out from the Sakuracon panel, that they spent two years working on animating the faces. Kudos for that level of work but if you write a poor story it doesn't matter how emotional they look. 2.) Paradoxical pacing. Twelve episodes were not enough to capture the original Trigun manga nor '98 anime. The '98 anime added establishing content to extend the limited manga chapters which helped to give the viewers Meryl as their entry point. It also had great pacing. Intro, build up, tension and resolution either in each episode or in two part episodes.

3.) Total emphasis of style over substance. This was the the worst part of it. They assumed making things look pretty would suffice and did not write individual episodes well or the full twelve. And since they were only working with twelve the story did not have time to just be and let us enter the world because of the paradoxical pacing. 4.) Generic character designs for the contemporary eye. In their attempt to make the characters look more 'normal' they lost the unique style of Yasuhiro Nightow's original designs. His characters are exceptionally stylized in a distinct way and they completely redid them. We also know that other studios can adapt his characters much more like in the original work both with the '98 anime and Kekkai Sensen. Madhouse and Bones anime-stylized the characters a bit for anime but not by that much compared to what Orange did. Milly is still large and clumsy in the anime, while Vash is super contorted at times. Wolfwood is still angular and Meryl still has that soft short stature. In KS, Klaus is still a giant gentleman, Leo is still dodging chaos, Chain is cool and distant, K. K. still has her confident stride, and Steven's posture is still terrible. I can watch the '98 anime and Kekkai Sensen and know that these characters were designed by Nightow. Looking at Stampede, I cannot tell by looking at them.

5.) Weak characters. Another point the Sakuracon panel noted was that the creative team spent five years developing Stampede. I can't help but feel like they wasted their energy. They came up with all this lore and information for their own version of No Mans Land - and then never tied it together. Studio Orange got lost in the weeds and never really figured out what they wanted to make or say. They also relied on characters info dumping and blatantly telling us what they are doing. That is not how Trigun or Kekkai Sensen work as stories. It is up to you to figure out what the characters are doing, why they are doing it and how to interpret their actions.

The characters were unclear in their motivations, there was no intro, mystery or payoff. After twelve episodes in, we still don't know what Rem told Vash that he has his technical pacifist philosophy. We know she told them that she loved them and she was happy to know them and that they should take care of each other. But why was Rem with Project Seeds? Why did she believe all life was sacred? Why was your ticket to the future blank?

Vash was far to passive but never said why and was not a gunslinger. Which was pretty much key to his skill and why he was infamous. Even before the July incident he was an excellent gunslinger and Western drifter. Wolfwood was meh, his natural people skills from the manga were completely gone. He was not only a trained killer but he was a natural people person and tried to be compassionate when possible. Meryl was two years older than in the manga/'98 anime and far less experienced. Yes, she was smart and by the book but so weak. Roberto was useless. He did not serve the plot. How would I have done Stampede? 1.) Trigun Maximum emphasis. Incorporate more of the manga into the anime, but cutting out some of the wandering chapters which did not serve the plot other than for some hard to follow action scenes. They lifted some elements from Maximum, but parts I was never a fan of e.g. the late introduction of the fact that Wolfwood was likely in his early 20s but will be debated until the end since his own backstories and timelines in the manga are inconsistent. My point is that Wolfwood's timeline is a hot mess.

Instead, they could have streamlined some of the fuzzy hand waving science and odd timelines for characters like Wolfwood and Livio. What they did was lean in hard to the rapidly aging aspect of things so as far as I can tell, Wolfwood is like 13 in Stampede?

They added in Elendira the Crimsonnail but made her a child who manifests nails from the air. Um, sure. If she is a she at all or genderless or nonbinary. The point is, she is not an adult trans woman with excellent fashion taste.

Added in the missing civilians from the original work. As others have commented, Stampede is a very empty world. There are no normal people. The entire point was that there were lots of normal people living their lives on the planet. They are completely absent. There are barely any civilians to protect since they aren't there. The design of the cities and towns for this were also weak. Yes, they needed plants, but most of the cities grew around the ships and dwarfed them. December was a full city with a downtown, high rise buildings and public transit. Stampede is just a weird tribute to Dune or something like that.

There was the potential to take the original anime, add in the key points of Maximum and it would have been an awesome anime.

2.) Had a clear story line for all twelve episodes and then for each individual episode. The storytelling for Stampede was an utter disaster. The terrible pacing, the inability to show characters through their actions, their lack of rational thoughts from time to time. The bad science; e.g. a town with only windmills but no solar panels. No knowledge of plants and photosynthesis? What the hell were these people eating? Apparently, they came up with worm related lore in their brainstorming sessions, but if you DON'T put that in the actual anime, we won't know that.

Too many things were like "Oh wow, look perfect timing! Always!" Dude, no. Part of the original was how timing wasn't perfect and characters slogged around for months trying to reconnect.

I think Vash being a little more upfront about his rationale to try to avoid violence would help and if he did it with his gun like in the originals. It makes his skill even better and more appreciated and highlights how he does not shoot to kill. Even though this series started with the backstory with him and Knives, Rem's moral code was not outlined. Thus, we don't know why Vash does what he does due to Rem and her influence on him.

Wolfwood was terrible, lacking all of his charm, personable attitude and willingness to sacrifice and be critical. He just comes off as a dick. Honestly, all they needed to do was make him more friendly and call out Vash for faking it like in the original. Meryl would have been better like her original with more experience and Milly as her junior. Nightow writes excellent female characters who aren't uwu/waifu types. They are women who are competent, have strengths and flaws and hopes and dreams. They are not there for you to dream about them fawning over you and acting on your every beck and call. Instead, they likely could kill you. Or at least really hurt you. They are not sexualized, nor fan service. They are just women and the men are just men. I'm not saying they aren't attractive - Meryl is still cute, Milly is dapper, Chain is curvy, K. K. is fashionable. But that isn't the defining aspect of their characters.

3.) Kept the character designs closer to the originals. In a saturated media landscape where so many anime look the same and generic, the style of the original would have stood out. Keep that lanky angular style of the original. Have those dramatic poses which showed so much about each character. I mean, they could have updated them and ditched the '90s eyes through chunky hair bit. Also, by changing Wolfwood from being a priest/preacher much of his internal moral conflict is lost. Along with the jokes which were classics by this point. With so many people not knowing the original, the jokes would have been unknown and fresh to newer viewers.

4.) Made the series 24 episodes with 12 per season. This really would have helped the series out big time. Instead of the oft critiqued terrible pacing, do what so many other series do now; split up what used to be a single season into two parts. It would have allowed for more downtime, lingering shots, characterization through interactions with the normal people. Vash playing with children. Eating donuts. Pancakes. Wolfwood giving up his food. Meryl writing reports and trying to be emotionally distant. Milly helping Wolfwood in a fight. Many of the micro-moments of characters were lost, but these help us to understand them and how they will react through very basic set up. Madhouse did not have a blockbuster budget for Trigun but it didn't matter when they set the tone up right.

They had too many blink and you will miss it moments. The this is not a problem with manga since you look at each panel individually. The original anime allowed for much better establishing shots as well as lingering on things to make it clear what that thing was. Kuroneko-sama is obvious in all the episodes, in the OP and ED and nyas (she has an entire track of 'nya' on the second donuts OST). Well, I would have made sure she does that in Stampede. I don't want it to be some sort of cryptid moment in the corner of the screen. Especially, since Kuroneko-sama still appears in the KS extras even bonding with Steven. Oh, yeah, and all the time in the KS anime; on the street in Hellsalem's Lot. Crossing the street in HL. With a monster jar stuck on her head that crashes into Leo. In the ED of B3 & Beyond.

Sure, Studio Orange put Sonic in there but the level of Kuroneko-sama in KS is much higher than KS in Stampede.

A longer series would have also allowed for more of the humor to come through. Trigun has ample slapstick/zany/situational humor that was lost in Stampede. Stampede took itself too seriously. Due to that, they never could turn off the serious mode. But even tough situations elicit humor. In the manga, Wolfwood explains how he doesn't die to Vash more or less but lays down to sleep. Vash then has a full on panic and Wolfwood is beyond pissed - since he's just trying to sleep. Even when Wolfwood is about to die, he cracks a joke with Vash in the manga.

Nightow clearly has a dark and sarcastic sense of humor at times. That could have come through in it and it was lost - to be serious. It is natural for people to crack jokes in absolutely terrible situations and Nightow loves to do this. If the Kekkai Sensen anime took out all of the sarcastic/dry/quips of the cast it would be so terrible. That is what happened to Stampede. They went full on serious sci-fi but forgot about the plot, characters and motivations.

5.) Included the strong religious undertone. Correctly. Much of the Christian and Buddhist themes were lost in Stampede. Why does Vash cling to an impossible ideal/moral code? The role of suffering and turning that other cheek. The creepy accurate angel designs for the plants. How Vash and Knives were of a virgin birth of angelic beings with one falling from grace. The oodles of Catholic guilt that trapped Wolfwood and Vash. But trapped Wolfwood more. Why do people have different lines they can and cannot cross? What is right? What is justice?

All we got in Stampede were crosses mixed with a zia (perhaps) and concept art of the Eye of Michael where all the women are hotties. This goes 100% against the modesty of the original and the lack of fan service. Nightow does not draw his characters to be hot nor does he want to put in relationships - especially with Trigun. Kekkai Sensen has only one known relationship, K. K. and her husband. Which is great, but we aren't there to examine their relationship. Instead, K. K.'s family motivate her to do her job and protect them.

I should really wrap this up as it has gotten far too long. However, what happened with Stampede is Studio Orange likely got so into making their mark on the series and giving it a new angle that they lost track of how to make it work. What story makes sense? How do you depict your characters? What type of pacing do you use for a twelve episode show which may or may not get more episodes?

If it really were in development for five years, I can't help but think Covid-19 really messed up some of their work and why things ended up disjointed. Or they had too many people involved or too much input and tried to include it all. Whatever actually happened, they needed a tighter linear story and consistent vision. Which they lacked.

[savage-rhi]

Mending Shadows // Chapter 30

Summary:

Y/N was a simple Scavenger of Lucis, until meeting a deadly blow at the hands of an infected creature. At the crossroads of death, they are found by Niflheim’s cryptic Chancellor with his own agenda. Now bonded to Ardyn Izunia, and tossed into the world of Niflheim, Y/N struggles to cope with their new life as an Imperial Icon all the while battling their feelings toward their fate and that of Ardyn’s.

Click here to read on AO3

A stampede of Accordo citizens came barreling down the road. Running for their lives like a stranded group of Anak uncertain where danger lurked. As the crowd trampled toward Ardyn and Y/N, he stood in front of them protectively; shielding them away from being lost to a sea of panicked humans. He looked over each every scared face with disdain, finding their cowardice barely palpable. Ardyn wasn’t above running away--especially if an altercation didn’t suit him--but he held his ground for Y/N’s sake. 

Y/N shuddered at all the noise. The screams seemed to grow with every second as did the rumble of feet. The sensations reminded Y/N of a time they had been scavenging far too close to a battleground between Lucians and Imperials. It was near the ruins of a Crestholm village. One moment they were picking up pieces to an old radio, and the next, running for their life when gunfire flourished the landscape. 

Y/N remembered two other Scavengers making a beeline out of the area, with the younger not escaping without injury. His knee had been shot. Taken out from a bullet ricocheting off debris. They never knew what became of him nor the other gentleman. It was probably for the best Y/N didn't know the outcome, although they had a strong inclination that the young one perished.

As the intrusive thought of a gaping wound manifested, Y/N felt the scourge lurch in their stomach with a menacing glee. The excitement was akin to a dog pleading with it's master to throw a ball; desperately wanting to give the toy a chase before sinking it's teeth into the rubber material. There were no words to describe how disgustingly uncomfortable it made Y/N feel as they studied Ardyn. He was shouting into the crowd at this point, demanding that someone answer for what was happening. His call fell on deaf ears, and frustration became evident with the steady rise of his voice. He was growing hostile, and it seemed to egg the scourge on further. 

“Ardyn, they’re scared. They don’t know better.” Y/N interrupted, hoping redirection would change the course. “We should get out of here while we have a chance.” 

Ardyn growled. He didn’t like being left in the dark, but alas Y/N was right. In the distance he could see a couple hundred more people fast approaching. At this rate, he wouldn’t be surprised if both Y/N and himself were pushed off the edge and into the ocean. The streets had little to no room at this point. 

“I think that’s a splendid idea.” Ardyn said. He grabbed Y/N's hand and sprinted into the flock, shoving people out of the way while trying to make space for an easy retreat. "Whatever happens, don't let go of me!" 

“Ardyn, wait! I think we need to head another way!” Y/N exclaimed.

A woman suddenly slammed into the pair, causing Y/N to be forcibly pulled from Ardyn. The pain took Y/N by surprise, and they screamed when Ardyn was no longer in their sight. His voice called out desperately, and Y/N tried to raise their hands above everyone to flag him down. The sound of his yells grew faint. Y/N felt their body being carried off like they had been caught in a riptide and dragged out to sea. Noise from all the yells and profanities disintegrated into gibberish against their ears. All they could do was relinquish control, and pray that at some point the ride would stop.

Suddenly, it became too difficult to keep their head above the masses. Y/N was being pulled under by the horde, and the thought of being stomped to death frightened them to no end. They shouted Ardyn's name repeatedly to no avail, and their lungs began to feel deprived of air and reason. That was when Y/N felt a pair of strong arms wrap around them from behind. Within a fraction of a gasp, Y/N witnessed the world split into multiple directions. Ardyn's scent was the only comfort they held onto as their body levitated. 

From head to toe, Y/N felt a numbing shock that was on par with the tingling vibes one would get before their foot would fall asleep. A cloud of darkness enveloped them as time and buildings merged into a paradox of colors and shapes. Although their brain was overwhelmed, they weren't terrified. If anything they felt relief despite the urgent compulsion to throw up. 

Within a matter of minutes, the fleeting moment was over. Y/N let out a deep breath, and swayed. 

“Easy, easy now...” Ardyn purred. His arms moved from Y/N’s waist to their shoulders as he stabilized them. "Are you alright?" 

“I think so,” Y/N replied. They basked in how Ardyn's touch grounded them to reality, and closed their eyes to avoid the hit of vertigo that arrived. "Gods, I feel drunk."

“Shadow stepping has that effect!” Ardyn chortled. 

“Have you ever done that before with another person?” 

“No, and I dare say I’m astounded you aren’t regurgitating breakfast.”

“Don’t jinx my luck.” Y/N sarcastically quipped. Their pulse had risen from being at the mercy of Ardyn's fingertips as he cupped their face. "Where on Eos did you take us?"

“We're near the heart of the capitol, lurking in a back alley." He turned his head to see several Accordo Troopers sprinting toward the commotion that had everyone fleeing like ants. "I got us as close as I could to the hotel. And of course, to the fun that awaits." 

“The fun?” 

“I need you to follow my instruction,” Ardyn turned back around. His eyes peered into theirs with an authority that Y/N recalled witnessing at Outpost 98. Although his touch had been gentle, his body radiated a dominance that near felt foreboding. He wasn’t messing around. “Take the alley here, and head East. It’s a straight shot to our lodging. I want you to find Tummelt--or another Imperial--and tell them to escort you to the airships if they haven’t been compromised. Tell them Chancellor Izunia commands it, or there will be hell to pay.” 

“What are you going to do?” Y/N furrowed their brows and shook their head. “You’re not seriously going to run into whatever is happening, are you?” 

“Unfortunately, I am.” Ardyn said as a matter of fact. He gave a squeeze to Y/N’s face, and let his hands fall from them. “I don’t intend to fight, but merely observe and find out who is responsible. If it’s that anti-imperial cult pulling another publicity stunt, I'll consider it Madam Secretary's qualm and fall back."

“And if it’s not, what then?” 

“I’ll stand my ground, and keep observation.” 

“Maybe having another pair of eyes would be beneficial. I can help with that.” 

“Y/N,” Ardyn breathed. “Foreign protocol dictates that all Imperials are to leave Accordo should more than one major act of violence occur. Right now, everyone from Niflheim is in danger. Yourself included.” 

“That also means you too! You’re the damn Chancellor!” Y/N protested. They nearly jumped as another explosion went off in the distance. 

“And as Chancellor, I have a duty to protect the empires interests. Therefore it’s imperative I find out who we are potentially dealing with.” Ardyn said in his defense. He frowned upon seeing his words did little to sway Y/N of their opinion. “I’m counting on you to be my eyes elsewhere. Retreating safely is just as important as venturing into the fray. You might even witness something important that I and the other ambassadors can’t attend to.”

“Ardyn, I can’t let you do this on your own. Not after what you told me about Ifrit. It doesn’t feel right, none of this feels--”

“Y/N, I’m serious.” Ardyn interrupted. He clasped his right hand around theirs, holding it tight, and raised his voice. “I need you on an airship departing for Niflheim, now. Can you keep your word?” 

Y/N’s mouth parted, but alas they didn’t have the strength to fight him. Not when Y/N thought about how moments ago, they were nearly trampled to death by a hundred people. They would just get in the way. The realization hurt as they nodded. 

“It’s settled then,” Ardyn let out a sigh of relief. 

“I have a stipulation.” 

He raised a brow at Y/N’s remark, more or less amused as he huffed. “And that would be?” 

“When we return home, you’re buying me something.” Y/N teased. 

“Something?” 

“Yep!” 

“I don’t suppose you’re alluding to anything in particular?” 

Y/N shrugged, shaking their head with a faint smile. “Surprise me.” 

“You drive a hard bargain,” Ardyn scoffed before he let out a laugh. He almost couldn’t believe himself given the circumstance. He quietly regarded Y/N with a smirk, and made his decision. "I can agree to your terms so long as you adhere to mine." 

Ardyn brought Y/N's hand to his lips, and planted a longing kiss to their knuckles.

“Stay safe darling," He let them go, and motioned forward with his chin. "Now go." 

Y/N hesitated, biting the inside of their cheek before they turned and sprint. From the corner of their eye, they witnessed Ardyn once more shift into shadows and disappear into the buildings surrounding them. Y/N kept their eyes forward, and felt relief the further they got away from the main attack site.

Ten minutes passed before Y/N exited the alley. They cursed at themself for not having the foresight to wear normal clothes for it made running strenuous. Then again, no one was expecting a terrorist attack at dawn after a party. The sooner they could get on pants and a shirt, the more secure they’d feel.

“I don’t have time for this,” Y/N muttered to themself while catching their breath. “I gotta find Tuti and Loqui.” 

Y/N glanced around, noticing more and more people beginning to appear on the street. They couldn’t tell if these were the same faces from before, or a new group entirely. Everyone was downright terrified with no sense but to find cover. Shouts exclaiming everything from Lucians to Imperials being responsible flew past Y/N’s ears. They couldn’t make sense of anything from clouds of gibberish passing through, and decided to keep their focus on Tuti and Loqui. If only for their sanity. 

As Y/N searched the street signs for familiar names, they frowned upon taking heed that people were getting the idea to use the alley as an escape route. Y/N understood there was no chance going back the way they came, and tried to make peace with that as they sprinted through pockets of crowds. Their travel came to a grinding halt when they saw the hotel straight ahead. Y/N’s heart sank at the sight before them as their eyes widened. 

The building was engulfed in a flurry of flames. Oranges and yellows peppered windows and columns. The fire swayed in a manner that would suggest it was downright enjoying its dance of consumption. A mixture of burnt plastic and wood infiltrated Y/N’s nose accompanied by a nauseating scent. It was putrid, like fresh leather being tanned over a flame. Even their tongue could taste the richness as Y/N came to the horrifying epiphany they were smelling burnt flesh. 

As Y/N stood in horror, they witnessed several people attempting to put out the fires with buckets and hoses. Imperial soldiers, both human and magitek frantically escorted people away. A powerful crunch echoed as one of the lower floors collapsed, taking two stories down with it as fire snacked upon the entry doors. Y/N jumped back, feeling the heat despite being at a far distance. The wails and screams louder, and Y/N trembled knowing right now people were burning alive and there wasn't a damned thing they could do but watch. A gust of wind sent a plagued cloud of smoke in Y/N's direction. They shielded themself with their arms, and began to cough while ash infiltrated their throat. 

The smells suddenly triggered a flashback that nearly sent Y/N to their knees. The haunting screech of an alarm from Outpost 98 traveled for what felt like miles, reverberating deep under Y/N’s skin as if Leviathan herself called out from the darkest depths. Each time they blinked, it felt as if Y/N was drifting between two worlds. Two worlds plagued by fire and darkness. Porcelain white coats were covered in saturated reds as the metallic scent of blood reeked throughout the main lab. Bloodied handprints covered windows and other mechanics. The dull wisp of a man on his last breath disappeared among a crowd of painful groans and desperate pleads. Y/N was fighting themself. Fighting a part of their being that found the carnage enthralling like a wild beast. Their conscious was screaming at the top of its lungs, but had no mouth and therefore, no living soul would hear the plead for mercy. They had no control. 

“Gods!” Y/N yelled. Their hands gripped either side of their head, nails digging into their scalp to alleviate the pressure that knocked their senses into an overload. They could feel themself growing lost further and further into the past as they desperately tried to hang on. The smoke continued to waft in Y/N’s vicinity, further clouding their vision. 

“Y/N! Y/N!” 

That voice…Y/N held onto the frantic squeaks of Tuti as the noise increased and was accompanied by another familiar voice. 

“Y/N! Stay right there, we’re coming to you!” 

“Loqui!?” Y/N exclaimed as visions of themself slaughtering various people ventured in and out of their head. “Tuti, guys! Where are you?!” 

“Dear, I’m right here! Y/N, I’m here!” 

Through the fog that had overtaken them, Y/N felt Tuti’s small hands grip either side of their shoulders and gave a firm yet powerful shake. The strength behind her touch had Y/N open their eyes and gasp as if they had been struck by a bucket of ice water. They stared at Loqui and Tuti with bewilderment as the pair helped Y/N to their feet and rushed away from the scene. 

As fresh air and blue sky came into view, Y/N coughed as their senses began to return to normal. They glanced between Tuti and Loqui, quickly looking them over for any sign of harm. The pair were covered in grime, sweat, and soot. Patches of Loqui’s uniform was burnt, but otherwise he looked unscathed. Tuti on the other hand had a bruise forming near her right eyebrow, and was near sobbing as she threw her arms around Y/N and hugged them. 

“By the Gods mercy, I’m glad we found you!” Tuti exclaimed. 

“You don’t know how happy I am to see you both! Thanks for getting me out of there!” Y/N smiled. They couldn’t help but grimace, feeling the whiplash that Tuti had unintentionally caused moments prior. 

“And likewise from us!” Loqui coughed. “We’ve been looking for you and the Chancellor since this morning. Where is he?” 

Y/N shook as they pointed toward the main street. “He’s near the House of the Courts to see if anyone needed help. He told me to find you guys and evacuate to an airship. I don’t know what’s going on, do you? What the hell happened to the hotel?"  

“It was awful, Y/N! Just awful!” Tuti sobbed, interrupting Loqui before he could speak. “Everyone was at breakfast and then in a blink, there was fire and smoke! I thought I wouldn’t make it out Y/N! It all happened so fast, I had no time to process! I tried to help the staff but they---they’re---gods, Y/N, so many are dead!” 

There were a handful of times where Y/N had seen Tuti angry, but they couldn’t recall a moment where she had been plagued by madness and despair. Her voice was hoarse, riddled with guilt and sorrow. Tuti let out a scream while aggressively wiping away her eyes. Y/N was at a loss for words. What could anyone say to somebody who watched a massacre happen before their eyes? 

Loqui pulled Tuti into his chest. One arm went around her waist while the other pat the back of her head as she cried hard into his uniform. Y/N never felt more at ease than knowing he was here. If anyone could give Tuti stability, it would be someone like him. 

“Shh, there was nothing you could’ve done differently. Look, we found Y/N. That’s what matters.”

“I know and I’m grateful! I’m grateful!” Tuti shouted. 

“And no one is saying you’re not!” Loqui raised his voice. He remained firm as he softened the blow. “I need you to be strong. The Chancellor is counting on us to make it to safety. You heard Y/N yourself! I need you to stay with them while I help evacuate the ambassadors from the House of the Courts.” 

“Wait,” Y/N furrowed their brows as Loqui’s eyes fell upon them. “You’re not coming with us?” 

“No,” Loqui shook his head. Unlike Ardyn who seemed eager to jump into the drama, Y/N noted how Loqui was very much reluctant.  “I have orders from the second battalion to aid in battle. I don’t know all the details, but it was probably those anti-imperial bastards that caused this mess. Go figure they’d take advantage of everyone having a hangover after the wedding! I’ve already heard rumors they’ve planned this stunt since their first attack was thwarted.” 

Tuti let out a gasp, pushing herself back from Loqui as the fire at the hotel began to ensnare a few of the buildings next to it. Glass exploded from the heat being so hot, and shattered along the pavement and cobblestone. The trio looked at one another cautiously, unable to anticipate what would come next. 

“Loqui,” Tuti swallowed, seemingly coming back to her senses. “Where did you say the airships are docked again?”

“Right,” He was tense as the hairs on the back of his neck stood while the smoke subsided a bit. Loqui realized most of the evacuees from the hotel were long gone. Either having perished from the flames, or they were led to the evacuation cars. Alas there were no more vehicles to spare, and he could see magitek soldiers making their descent toward the main highway, leaving the hotel and everyone else who wasn't an Imperial to their fate. 

“Looks like we’re going to have to go with plan B,” Loqui cleared his throat. “The airships are stationed at the docks where the large import carriers come and go into Altissa. You guys have an hour to get there before they take off.” 

“Only an hour?” Y/N was beside themself. “What about everyone else?” 

“I’m assuming someone up the chain of the command already called for a back up ship that’s stationed on one of the smaller islands. Right now we don’t know what the enemies motivations are, and we don’t want to give them an opportunity to kidnap and hold one of our own for ransom. Hence, the time limit. Don’t worry about me, the Chancellor, or anyone else. Please get to safety, and we’ll meet up with you before you know it!” 

If Y/N had the opportunity to clock both Loqui and Ardyn upside the head for playing the hero, they would’ve taken full advantage of it. Frustration with the two was a minor concern in the grand scheme of things as they could see Tuti was growing scared by the minute despite getting her bearings. 

“Be careful, alright?” Y/N cautioned Loqui as he grinned. 

“Aren’t I always?” He turned his head, hearing shouting in the distance. A fellow Imperial soldier was gesturing for him to get a move on. “That’s my cue! Stay off the main road, cut through the smaller districts! Follow the escort vehicles if you see them!” 

In a matter of seconds, Loqui was no longer in sight as he charged. Letting out a deep breath, Y/N gathered themself and motioned for Tuti to follow them. The pair quickly made haste, getting out of the area as more smoke drifted in. 

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help you,” Y/N said in between breaths, pushing past people to get ahead. Fire vehicles drove past at blinding speed Y/N followed Tuti down a smaller road. 

“Y/N, please don’t blame yourself! I’m relieved you didn’t have to witness the travesty first hand. After everything you’ve been through, I think you’ve done enough time on the Gods behalf.” Tuti sniffled while she ran, occasionally wiping her eyes when possible. “It’s not like I knew anyone personally. I keep telling myself that. Loqui said I tried, and I did, so…I can’t look back.” 

Easier said than done…Y/N thought. Tuti was handling this far better than one would expect, but it was quite obvious she was numb. Her voice was splintered, making her natural squeak sound condemned. She must've screamed her heart out. The guilt of that thought ate Y/N's spirit. 

“Are you certain you didn’t see what happened?” Y/N asked. 

“Positive,” Tuti replied. “One moment I was eating bacon and eggs, then suddenly the gentleman sitting across the table was on fire and the ceiling tumbled. I thought we were having an earthquake until someone screamed we were under siege. I heard something else that was peculiar, I can’t be certain but I thought I heard--” 

“Hold that thought, Tuti!” 

Y/N and Tuti came to an abrupt stop as a swarm of citizens arrived from the left. Seeing that there was an opening to the right, Y/N grabbed a hold of Tuti’s arm and led them both through the crowd. They were careful to brace for impact, not wanting a repeat of what happened with them and Ardyn earlier on. Once in the clear, the two darted down another road. 

“Thank you!” Tuti exclaimed. 

“Don’t mention it!” Y/N kept their eyes forward, not wanting to be taken by surprise anytime soon. “You were saying?” 

“Oh!” Tuti looked behind, seeing more smoke and flames from afar. Although Y/N and her were putting distance between themselves and the danger, she felt like it was still right on her tail. She shivered at the thought of being burned alive while trapped under debris, and started tearing up again. “I could’ve sworn I heard someone yell, ‘Adagium!'. They were looking for Adagium! Whatever that means!"  

“They?” 

“Heavens to Betsy if I know who they are!” Tuti yelled. She whispered a thousand apologies toward Y/N under her breath. Her face flushing red with embarrassment at her own anger. “I didn’t mean to sound so horrid!” 

“No offense taken!” Y/N hollered, darting off road as a few cars zoomed by. “It’s alright to be upset, Tuti. I'd be surprised if you weren't!"  

“I feel like a coward!” Tuti confessed. “You make it seem so easy dealing with traumatic events!” 

“Trust me, it’s not!” Y/N admitted, thankful that Tuti had nothing to else to say.

Between panic and the information she had dropped, Y/N felt adrenaline and concern take the plunge together. So many what ifs flooded them, and they felt their pulse drop in their throat at the thought of MedZin being behind the onslaught. No, it had to be them. Hearing that the invaders were seeking out ‘Adagium’ was too on the nose as far as Y/N was concerned. MedZin were very specific when it came to Ardyn's true identity. If there was anything Y/N could remember from Outpost 98, it was how obsessed the men and women were with saying that name. 

Y/N winced as they felt their head pulse painfully. They stopped to catch their breath, right hand instinctively rubbing at the sore spot. Tuti nearly collided into their back, and took a moment to breathe as well. She was used to running around palaces, but nothing like this. 

“Y/N,” 

“I’ll be okay Tuti. Promise.” Y/N hissed in between grit teeth. “Son of a bitch…” 

“Are you flaring from the scourge right now?” 

“No,” Y/N shook their head. They calmed themself, feeling the wave begin to subside. “I mean, I don’t think so.”

“Y/N,” Tuti hesitated before placing a hand upon their shoulder. “When Loqui and I found you, what was going on? You looked off more than usual.” 

“I’m not even sure to be honest,” Y/N said sincerely. They grimaced a final time, and then the searing throb departed for now. “I felt like I was…glitching?” 

“Glitching?” Tuti let out a breath. 

“Yeah,” Y/N nodded. “That’s the best I can describe it. It wasn’t like the flare when we dined with the Serpent Society. I thought I was losing my mind. That I was becoming something else." 

The two remained in silence, letting thoughts and contemplations drift. Tuti let go of Y/N, and faced them. The way she glared reminded Y/N of Ardyn when he was angry at something external, while his eyes were soft for them. 

“Y/N, this ‘Adagium’ thing…is that you? Is this why Chancellor Izunia has protected you, aside from finding a cure for the scourge?" 

“I don’t--” Y/N paused. They found it odd how they couldn’t answer Tuti, even though they knew better. Even though it was the truth that they weren't the accursed daemon that would bring Eos to its knees. No. That title alone belonged to Ardyn. Yet with how connected Y/N had become to him, they felt an equal responsibility to the burden of the name. Especially with the sins Ardyn and they committed. 

They felt their stomach twist in knots. The bodies in the lab, and the corpses of the three they had killed after the goblin attack seemed to twist and meld together. Y/N wondered if these were Ardyn’s memories of Outpost 98 blending with their own crimes. It explained the sinister aura, but it didn’t account for just how personal it was.

Experiencing Ardyn’s memories of the past had an intimacy that couldn’t be described, and this held a different signature. A different energy. Y/N realized they were starting to sound like one of the devotees of the Hexatheon, believing in superstition, but with everything they had come to know about the world through Ardyn, perhaps it wasn’t so crazy. 

“Y/N, look out!” Tuti screamed as she pointed behind them. What looked to be an explosive orb was flying straight toward the pair. By the time Y/N turned their head to register what had startled her, it was too late. The events unfolded so painfully quick that Y/N’s mind felt like a photographer trying to capture every second of an experience out of desperation. 

All oxygen in the vicinity temporarily ceased before it expanded in pulsation, like ripples in a pool of water after tossing a rock into it. Then came the shock wave. It hit both Y/N and Tuti with a smashing force that sent either flying in opposite directions. Y/N felt the wind knock out of their body as ribs cracked. The sphere then exploded into a blinding light, as if the sun itself fell from the sky. Y/N’s vision was trapped in a warm white light with nothing but the sound of ringing in their ears. The world beyond this didn’t exist. Nothing did. But the pain--oh by the Gods--the pain was unbearable. The surface level of skin hadn't burned, yet the layers of tissue and muscle underneath the flesh might as well had been doused in magma and flayed. 

Y/N remained lost in that white light long after their body crashed. They didn’t feel the shrapnel embed into their arms and legs. Nor did they register how parts of the building they had crashed into beat them further. Their conscious was trapped in that white void, and not a damn thing could break through. Eternity seemed to pass, as Y/N had no concept of time. They had no concept of anything, but the hot light and how they felt like fire itself. 

The shrills of Tuti’s voice drowned out the white noise. The ringing ceased, and Y/N’s eyes sucked in the worlds colors as they gasped aloud. Their voice cracked, tasting bile and blood in their throat. As they came to, they fixated on Tuti who was crawling through a hole in the wall from the outside world, trying in vain to reach them. 

“Y/N!” Tuti screeched. “Y/N! Gods damn it! Y/N!” 

Then the men came. Four of them. Their uniforms were blurred, but Y/N could see the signature black that marked Lucians. Then there was the fuzzy color of the MedZin patch. 

Oh no... Y/N gargled on their own spit, choking on the copper taste of their blood. 

“Let go of me! Let go of me you fuckers!” Tuti exclaimed. All Y/N could do was watch as the men hauled her away. Distorted voices made proclamations and demands. Y/N couldn’t make sense of any of it. It grew worse as another voice made itself known in the back of Y/N’s skull. A horde of monstrous spirits that had been yearning to come forth and do what it knew best: survive and spread.

“The target has been compromised,” One of the men said, shaking his head with disappointment as he communicated further into his radio. “Yes, the Adagium is still alive. I’m looking right at it.” 

Adagium…? I’m not… Y/N was slipping away into the backseat of their own head. The scourge began to slink it’s fingers around the wheel, and Y/N felt their body wanting to split in half as their vision became pixelated and dark. 

“We need to move! The distraction at the House of the Courts is unfolding! The Imperials are fending off the men we sent!” 

“Wouldn’t it be better this way? If Adagium is dead, that means the world is safe.” 

“We have orders to bring it in alive, at least until we can figure out how it’s spread the scourge. We can’t let emotions interfere with our mission.” 

“Guys, what about the Imperial, what do we do with her?” 

“Kill her. We got what we came for.”

“That seems like such a waste. She didn’t do anything!” 

“If you can’t do your job, then I’ll do it for you! Now get to it, and hurry!” 

With those words spoken, fates were sealed as Y/N’s body fell high to a rush of adrenaline that would’ve killed the average man in seconds. The scourge burst like a sewer pipe, flooding every pore and organ. Muscles quaked violently as Y/N’s senses sharpened like a steady knife being polished. Pain was an illusion as they rose from the ashes and let out a scream so loud, their chest felt too small for their lungs. Their skin began to turn a pale purple, as if their blood had fully retreated from their veins. The black spider webbing of the scourge tattooed every pore and crevice. Their eyes were consumed by a pitch black void, save for the ember yellow around their pupils. 

What was left of Y/N’s humanity in that split second succumbed to the dark passenger within their mind, and they were filled with a deep and terrible rage. An instantaneous image of Ardyn’s point of view flashed behind Y/N’s eyes, indicating he was greatly disturbed, and then they charged from one person to the next. The sound of screaming was the last thing Y/N heard before their body acted upon its own will. 

[the-nysh]

Everytime I rewatch Tristamp on subs I get a kick out of the fact the radio DJ is Masaya Onosaka, Vash's original JP voice actor. He was the voice of Vash for two decades and now he's sounding the call to hunt 'Vash the Stampede' down. I can almost imagine his Vash cackling behind the professional radio voiceover like 'now it's your turn kiddo'. (while Show Hayami, Wolfwood's original JP actor is the Eye of Michael radio televangelist in ep 5, which is its own irony...)

Considering I've just had an extensive listen to the 98's subs hearing all the vocal range + complexities there, aaaaa this has got to be one of those fun lil winkwink nudgenudge easter egg inside joke kinda things from Studio Orange's casting. x'D Also because the radio DJ's voice was almost always there, narrating along with them and present for most of the eps anyway (ep1-6, 10, 12) as they traveled around in Meryl's car! :'D That's so cute, because yeah, it's like old Vash was still there the whole time (in spirit~) guiding the new kids around the block.

Cause gosh do they sound so much older now, ahaha. (And I totally get why the casting directors would want to try a fresh new spin and/or different portrayal for the main chars.) But you can still catch some of that old sing-songy, playful and performative, yet clean and posh-sounding 'pretty boy' enunciation in his (Onosaka's) voice! ahaha

And there's no replacement for JYB's eng Vash portrayal either, who reprises his old role (yay!) and still kills it with all the wacky-silly-pathetic Noises(tm) and raw yelling Anguish (my favorite~) Cause man, all his natural energetic ad-libbing, to his soft vulnerability (and masked happy 'customer service' voice), to him screaming his heart out (damn did you hear him go off in ep12!) were still just as fantastic to hear again. :'3

But then of course, I'm not without praise for Stampede Vash's new jp voice! Matsuoka--whom you may also know as Inosuke (Demon Slayer) or Teru (mp100). Cause in my opinion, his portrayal brings...a different type of flavor. He can be just as soft/genuine/sincere, with just a little more throatier grit/gravel (pain) around the edges, but then he can suddenly drop to a much deeper register (like a more guttural, low chest resonant sound, like when he ordered E.G. Mine 'that's enough') or explode with spontaneous bizarre noises (like the Sneeze) that have you double-taking like---I beg your pardon!? O.O (Thinking: there's something weirdly odd and uncanny about this guy!!) Unassuming yet polite (esp vs his very soft appearance). Who def has the vocal range, like he's deliberately holding himself back, to go louder & feral--just like Inosuke does. Those things, I think, are the strengths he brings to Vash's new portrayal.

[triplesilverstar]

A dream that's like a far off memory, or a nightmare

Rating: 18+

Pairing: Vash X F!Reader

CW: Body dysmorphia, Pre-Canon, Illnesses, Major Illness, Major Character Injury, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Experimentation, Medical Examination, Dreams and Nightmares, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Feels, Heavy Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Trauma, Fever, Running Away, Communication Failure, Soft Vash the Stampede, Mild Smut, Not Beta Read, Heartbreaking, Imprisonment, Dark Past, Murder, Cartoon Physics, Vashs' Coat as a blanket, Needles, Nightmares

Word count: Roughly 3K

A/N: Chapter Three of Even sand can't hide all the skeletons in your closet. This one shows a lot of the past for Snipes.

Once the laboratory equipment went off, Luida went about her work prepping the culture and placing it into a needle and switching out the IV bag with the added nutrients for a new one containing the culture, injecting it into the pouch, and giving it a few shakes. 

Eyes filled with warmth as she worked, Vash had fallen asleep at some point while reading and keeping you company. Snoring away with his hand on your head, the tablet having fallen from his fingers between his thighs. 

Work done, Luida removes two sheets from other gurneys in the room, draping one over Vash before ever so gently adjusting you so your head is back against his thigh. The second sheet is placed over your own slumbering form and tucked around you. “When you next wake up you should be starting to feel better.” 

Something doesn’t feel right. Not right at all. As you wake up you hear birds chirping. Songbirds.

There aren’t any songbirds on Noman’s land. 

Opening your eyes you’re greeted by the sight of a well lit room, the sun rays beaming in through the floor to ceiling glass panes, gently warming your skin. 

This is wrong. 

Sitting up and looking around it, taking in your surroundings eats at your soul, but the tears don’t fall, no matter how much you want to cry out in anguish. You’re in your bed from when you were a teenager. And in the mirror on the other side, you stare into the reflection of a set of young eyes. Eyes that hadn’t been broken by the weight of everything you had done, everything you would do.

A blaring next to you, as your alarm clock goes off, the date flashing in the air as you slam your palm over it. You know what today is. 

Suddenly everything moves faster, and you’re sitting at your kitchen table having breakfast. You want to howl. You want to scream, you want to break everything in sight. Your body keeps moving on autopilot, spooning scrambled eggs into your mouth and listening to your parents speak. 

You see them. Yet you don’t, their bodies blurry outlines, faces nothing but swirling static, voices warbled and wrapped that you make out the words but can’t remember their voices. 

“I just don’t think they have the right to show up and tell us they’re here to run the aptitude tests.” Your mother. Right now all you can remember is how people used to say it was like she was made of steel. Unbend, unyielding. Yet, she used to sing to you, a skill you never inherited. “We aren’t one of their colonies.”

“Honey. It’s not like we can stop them, we might not be one of their colonies but they provide financial support for the terra forming core. You know. The place you work.” Your father. The voice of calm in the storm that was your mother, nothing had seemed to phase the man. He used to say it was because farmers couldn’t make the crops grow, just help them along. “Besides, Kiwi here is gonna blow them all away.”

You can’t feel the touch of his fingers on your head, ruffling your hair. God how you wish you could, they should have felt rough, covered in callus from working in the greenhouses. Swatting at his hand “whatever Dad. More like flunk like everything else.”

“You’re smart in your own way Kiwi, don’t let those teachers tell you otherwise.” For a moment you can see it. That megawatt smile your father had that could light up any space, could make everything seem brighter. The eternal optimist. “Alright finish up and we’ll get going.” 

Another jump, as the world speeds on until you’re leaving the modular home. Stopping as you look at the flowers swaying in the breeze, small cornblue petals with yellow centers. Scowling as your father wraps a toned forearm around you, laughing in your ear, wishing you could have returned that hug instead of being a haughty teenager. “Maybe I should start sending you to school with forget-me-nots” 

“Gee. You’re so funny Dad” feeling the sensation as teenage you rolls your eyes. 

Jumping forward, watching the day like it’s a movie being fast forwarded, until you’re told it’s your turn to sit in the simulator cockpit of the aptitude test. A giant machine that has monitors on the outside to see how others do. So far the max anyone has lasted from those being tested is two minutes. You're certain you’re going to flunk as badly as you did the written portion, have the questions having meant nothing to you. 

Teenage you has no idea why they’d be testing for reaction times in a fake flying simulation in a real simulator used for pilots. 

Adult you knows. All too well. 

Strapping in and watching the blurry man press a few buttons, and you remember his smile, a smile that makes a stone drop in your gut and a shiver run down your spine. It had left you feeling greasy. As the simulation begins, you’re told you just need to fly for as long as you can. As the screens change, the man with the creepy smile walks outside and closes the panel, something inside of you flares to life, hand on the center stick and engine controls. The world around you disappears and before you know it, you’ve gone far past the time any of your classmates have lasted. Time has no meaning. 

This isn’t part of the dream. 

You remember this. Remember the weight of the flight seatbelt, the headset of the simulator heavy on your small cranium. 

It was the first time you felt your heart soar, that feeling of complete control, that the world was at your fingertips. You were untouchable, sitting in that cockpit strapped in and flying through the skies. Simulation shifting to flying through sea stacks? A grin broke out across your face, jerking the controls hard enough to spin the view so you sideways. 

The noise of one of your classmates hurling while watching so distance it’s lost in the sound of roaring engines from the simulation. Another change in the simulation, flying through a narrow canyon, unaware the simulation is forcing the gravity of the chair you're strapped to to change. To make you feel the pull of the G Force as you take the turns at high speed. 

A voice in the background. “She’s almost at the end of the simulation.”

“Switch her to the second year pilot program. I want to see if this is just luck.” 

Your chest feels tight, pressure building and the obstacles are tighter, but your blood is pumping, and you start to laugh low in your chest. The exhilaration gives you a natural high and you do hear retching reach your ears as you make a far tighter turn. 

Gravity is getting harder to account for, but your fingers keep hitting controls making adjustments. A part of you seems to just know how much to cut an engine by to make tighter turns and re-engage them. 

“This will fuck her up.” Outside almost all the students are pushed aside as those performing the aptitude tests are watching. Something you had learned from another student later.

An engine stalls. Your body lurches in the capsule, stomach wanting to heave your lunch to the ground. A bellow from your lungs. You aren’t done yet. You don’t know how to restart the engine, but you’re still flying, body taking far more strain with only half the propulsion systems working. Before an obstacle arises you can’t avoid, pulling the stick back as far as you can trying to climb before smashing into the sheer cliff. 

Simulation over. 

Yet not because you crashed. Feeling the world careen as everything goes dark, pulled from the chair and emptying your stomach on the ground. Your father is there. Patting your back, why is he here? Gaze landing on the timer that you had watched for the other, even nauseous and sweating you’re grinning like a mad woman. 

One hour twenty four minutes forty three seconds. 

A voice screaming at those in charge of the simulation aptitude test breaking through the haze starting to take you. “What were you thinking? If even thinking? Max time allowed for any student ten minutes. Don’t care how well doing. Limits in place for reason!” 

The dream shifts. You’re surrounded by darkness, a voice you don’t know, but it sounds like the man from the aptitude test. 

“Listen I don’t care, she’s what they’re looking for! Tag her so in a few days we can find her, no one is going to miss some scrawny kid that even the adults of the colony are saying just had good luck.” 

You don’t remember anything like that happening, just blacking out to the sound of voices screaming before coming too. Maybe it’s because of what you know later, when you learned more about what had happened to your parents in your damning quest for revenge. 

Another shift, this time to you waking up in the colony infirmary, a strange man sitting across from you. Well he’s strange to you right now in this moment. Later in life you know him far better. You know him as the man who saved you from drowning in your quagmire of self hatred, who offered you redemption in a way you could see it, your savior. 

Sheppard. While the face isn’t quite as you remember, younger, the first meeting you’d forgotten about till you were hanging in chains in that prison cell after trying to die killing the council.

“Worried for moment. Teenagers not meant to be in simulation that long, damage to cerebral cortex possible, bone density, sense of equilibrium. Glad woke up.” The way he speaks has you reeling, unsure if this was from back then or the years you spent working with him. 

Before you can say anything the blurred form of your parents arriving, your mother pulling you against her in an embrace. “You had us worried sick!” Her fingers running through your hair, soothing away the fears that had gripped you as a teenager. Hearing her tone shift as her wraith was turned on who was a stranger to her. 

“How could you have let this happen?! She could have died. What kind of bullshit was that?!” All you do as you listen is rest your head against her chest, aware you should be able to hear her heartbeat but you can’t. Another reminder this a dream and you just want to wake up. You don’t want to relieve all of this, not when your life seems to be finally looking up.

“Overzealous monitor. Not shedding blame. Lucky she survived unharmed. Miraculous instincts though. High achieving student? Top of physics class?”

“I’m bad at physics” you mumbled the answer out against your mothers blurred form. 

“It’s her worst grade.” Your fathers garbled voice. 

“Interesting.” You never saw it in life but you can picture Sheppard tapping his finger against his lips. “Failure of academic system. Unaccounted hands on approach to problems. Academia requires proof of work, proof of understanding, simulation proof of inherent problem solving capabilities. Solved complex mathematical equations in head to adjust engine outputs to overcome obstacles.” 

“What are you talking about?” Your mother interrupting the random spewed thought process of the man. No doubt he had been lost in his ramblings while his brain worked out the problem and solution. 

“Answer simple. Daughter’s grades not reflective of ability.” The sound of shuffling “more interviews before departure. If later, want future in aeronautics, contact. Recommend for academy based on today.” You had no idea what any of that had meant as a teenager, later in life Sheppard had told you he regretted just having the final interviews after the events and leaving. Said he might have been able to have stopped what had happened. You remembered telling him neither of you could change the past. 

The dream shifts again, and you remember looking at your father, after what felt like hours and hours of interview. “How you feeling Kiwi?”

“Just wanna go home” you had been bone tired after that day, unaware of the future that a single test had put into motion. How in two days time your colony would be attacked, people killed, homes destroyed, others taken to be sold into slavery. And you. You would be trapped under the rubble of your home, on the verge of death before you were found.

Found broken, requiring years of surgery hearing whispers how you were just another failure and while you recovered you grew bitter with the world and if no one could provide you justice. Well you’d just find it yourself. 

You feel groggy, your mouth dry as you try to form some kind of noise, and the pain from pins and needles as you move ever so slightly telling you you’re awake for real this time.  Limbs feeling heavy as you slowly come back to awareness, the edge of your vision is blurry, possibly from the tears you couldn’t shed in your dream. Though all you can see is blackness. A blackness with wavy lines, wavy lines you realize are actually the threads of fabric held together, a warmth under your cheek. 

Breathing hard as you push yourself up on one arm, hand tingling, a sign you’ve been asleep for a while, the fuzz at the edge of your vision slowly fading thanks to your rapidly blinking as your eyes adjust. Swallowing thickly as every part of you is in pain, damn, how long have you been sick for? The last thing you remember is seeing Vash, and something is eating at the edge of your memory. Still torn from the dream of the past and the more recent days.

A needle. 

You’d seen a needle. 

Tilting your head, heart in your throat as your chest is burning, and that fear leaves you as suddenly as it came. The warmth that had been under your cheek was Vash, his thigh serving as a pillow, taking in the deep rise and fall of his chest, wrinkles in the fabric of his turtleneck. His head is lolled forward, the smallest hint of wetness at the corner of his pink lips, he’s been drooling. 

The hand not supporting your weight sliding along the floor, planning to reach out and gently shake your lover awake. Only for your hand to freeze, a tugging from the crook of your eyebrow. In the span of a few heartbeats, your eyes travel down from Vash’s face across his chest and look at your arm. 

A carefully inserted needle, held in place by a patch of thick tape with the clear tubing you know belongs to an IV leading away. The tightness in your chest starts to return, stomach churning as you feel ready to throw up. Your rational mind coming back, Vash is with you, he wouldn’t let someone just jab you with drugs or anything else, not unless you needed them. Taking deep breaths to try and calm your racing heart, you’re safe. Because Vash is here, a concept you would have found so foreign just a short time ago.

A thin line of light between Vash’s thighs grabs your attention, it looks like a tablet, just far sleeker than what you remember seeing from your adventures before Noman’s land. From the placement of his fingers, he must have been reading it before he fell asleep and it slipped from his grip as he drifted off. 

Your heart warming at the thought that he’s been keeping you company while whatever has been going on with your body. Just like after you passed out in the desert, even if it’s for entirely different reasons this time since you doubt you had a death grip on his hand. 

Careful of the IV you reach for the tablet, curious as to what Vash had been reading before dozing off into slumber. The device is cool to the touch, making you wonder if Vash has been asleep for a lot longer than you thought, all the other lights dim around the two of you. It surprises you a little just how light it is, or maybe it’s because outside of the sand steamers and plant engineers you haven’t seen many of them. Certainly not this close either. 

After a few moments of fiddling with the device, you figure out how to power it on, blinking as you're almost blinded by the brightness, and a low hiss leaving you from the pain throbbing inside your skull. 

Shaking your head you let your gaze travel back to the screen, only for your heart to feel as if it’s stopped beating inside of your chest. 

“No, no no no no” a sense of dread washing over you, every fiber of your being torn as a cold sweat breaks out that you know has nothing to do with whatever sickness you had been fighting. Were still fighting. Your heart is pounding away so hard within your chest that your ribs are shaking, fingers going numb as the device falls from your fingers with a clatter. 

You need to leave.

You need to leave right now. Clammy palm pushing your drenched body away from Vash realizing someone has draped sheets over both of your bodies, a sheet Vash must have shifted to cause it to fall. Toes catching on the smooth floor beneath your feet. 

Where the hell are your boots? Sitting back, largely freed from the sheet and missing the weight of Vash’s vibrant red coat as it slides to the floor. Finally taking in how you’re dressed. Grungy and covered in grime that comes from sweating all hours of the day caught in the vice of a sickness, and wearing your loose pajamas. 

The need to run, instincts screaming at you like a wild animal is making your heart still thunder, rational thought thrown to the wind. 

You can’t stay here, you can’t stay with Vash. Not now. Not ever again. He’s far too kind, far too wholesome and now he’ll have learned about the monster just under your skin that he thought he could love. 

Glancing around you finally notice more of the room. It’s a medical laboratory or something similar, heart rate beating fast enough you can feel the muscle hitting your ribs from the inside. He’s just here to keep you from running, to keep you docile. No one can care about a monster that kills for money. They just want to know what’s made you live so long, what’s allowed you to survive against the impossible. 

Humans aren’t meant to live this long, not without aging. 

Panting, hearing your breathing echo around the room and as numb as your fingers are you grab the tubing attached to your arm and pull. Watching the red as the needle is ripped from your skin, aware the wound will bleed, the tissue surrounding it starting to bruise already from the trauma you forced your own flesh to endure. 

Standing on shaky legs, you take a step. Then another. Seeing a familiar data chip sitting on a console next to your ruined locked cylinder, they just want to see for themselves how much you can survive. 

Heading for what you think is a door, watching as it opens into a brightly lit hallway, unaware of the mess you’re leaving behind. A trail of vivid red drops, painting a path of where you’ve been. Breaking into a run, pins running along your feet and legs from not being used. You ignore it. 

Fear.

Fear has you and your survival instincts are running the show that is your brain.

Back to Masterlist for the series

[breezy-cheezy]

My Friends Enjoy Reminding Me of My Many WIPs: The Tag Game

Another tag game! I prommy I worked on the fics from the last tag meme/game I've just been....school hell. :/ (Same thing for Whumptober, I'm just doing at least one a week now woooo)

Anyway finishing off my latest reblog spam with responding to this! Thank you @pencilofawesomeness for tagging me! :D

- rules: share the first line (or two or more!) of every current wip you have (that you feel comfortable sharing) and tag some writer friends! feel free to add the titles of your documents if you see fit

I'll tag others up here so y'all don't have to go through the wips yourselves if you don't wanna lol: @insertsomthinawesome , @x-i-l-verify, @wandererriha, @forwantofacalling

YALL DON'T HAVE TO it's just a fun thing <333

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Whumptober 2023: Day 13, Infection (Trigun: Twin Swap AU, Zazie POV)

(in an ideal world I woulda finished this today but hhhhsdgjkfsd nope)

There is something…strange, piercing the night-moon-dark air. We lift our head, looking through the eyes of a drone to the dark sky-sands above. Normally, those sands would glint with the eyes of Monarchs passed before us, and if it were Brood Season, the expanse would be alight with the drifting eggs of yet-to-be-hatched grubs. Yet this Moon-pass...eggs much bigger than we’ve ever seen in all our many cycles are falling down down down-

Bright. Blinding. Hot.

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Whumptober 2023: Day 9, "You're a Liar" (Trigun: Stampede)

There’s an illness rolling through the orphanage- Toma-pox, they call it. Nicholas prowls the halls, gathering up the sick kids one by one. He needs to make sure all the kids are piled into one area so they can be taken care of. And q. Cuar. Ant-eened. He thinks that's how you say it.

Miss Melanie was really tired and taking a break, so Nicholas can help with this. Sisters Clara and Beth were busy making stew for everyone. He’d already been looking for Livio, what's a couple more kids?

They tell him to be careful or he might catch it too. He just huffs and rolls his eyes. He’s too strong to get sick like everyone else.

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Whumptober 2023: Day 7, "Can you hear me?" (One Piece)

They’d stopped on an island, something-something island with a name Zoro didn’t bother to remember. They’d stopped there to restock on some supplies, since according to their Cook and Doctor, they were getting pretty low. 

Which is all well and good; Luffy in particular is always excited for someplace new to explore; their Captain needed somewhere to work off his pent up energy. Normally Zoro would go with him, but he’d somehow gotten roped into pack-mule duty for the crap Cook, while Nami helped Chopper carry his purchased supplies. He's not sure why the roles can't be switched. Random fruits and vegetables weren’t that much heavier than bandages in his opinion really…

He got angrier the more he thought about it, but not for the usual reasons.

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My Mind, My Body, My Soul, Chapter 5: Father's Lament (Genshin Impact, Daemon AU)

Today was supposed to be a good day. It was supposed to be bright, filled with joy and happy memories to be made. 

In a happier world, a safer world, maybe the Ragnvindr family would have had a wonderful party, full of smiles and cake and food and love and safety and warmth. Perhaps some drinking, since Diluc would then have been of age, and the only tragedy would be the young master of Mondstadt’s wine industry discovering how much he dislikes alcohol.

A small semi-formal dance was to be had, followed by a sweet musical number performed by the youngest Gunhildr sister. Some embarrassment, but genuine awe and excitement as that would have been the first gift given on the celebration of Diluc’s birth.

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Whumptober 2023: Day 30, Borrowed clothing, bridal carry (Twisted Wonderland)

“There! The mirror!” Divus says, relief plain in his voice. Mozus Trein looks up from the mirror in his grip, towards the Dark Mirror all their students had leapt through hours before, its surface rippling with voices coming from as if underwater. 

“OH thank goodness! We won't be sued after all-” Crowley sighs, stepping forward only to be pulled back by one of Divus’s hands on his feathered shoulder. 

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Whumptober 2023: Day 23, Shadows, "Who's there?" (Honkai Star Rail)

(tip toeing around spoilers so I'm not sharing the FIRST first lines haha)

They both look over to their friend to catch him staring back at them, golden eyes wide, his fingers near his mouth. He swallows on reflex, and they can tell it's more than just saliva going down his throat.

Welt's face goes pale, and he shoves the journal to the side, which March quietly takes. Welt rushes to Orion's side, cane clicking, free hand fluttering nervously about the box. “Please tell me you did not just take one of those medicine pellets.”

Orion blinks, then looks down at the box. One small object, one pill is clearly missing.

”I uh. Can tell you I did not...not take one....“ the young trailblazer says sheepishly. Welt sucks in a breath through his teeth.

[alena-reblobs]

Trigun Bookclub Trimax Vol14 Part 4

Vol01: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3  | Vol02: Part 1 | Part 2

Trimax: Vol01 Part 1Vol01 Part 2 | Vol02 Part 1Vol02 Part 2 | Vol 03 Part 1 | Vol03 Part2 | Vol04 Part1 | Vol04 Part2 | Vol05 | Vol06 | Vol07 | Vol08 Part1 | Vol08 Part2 | Vol09 Part1 | Vol09 Part2 | Vol10 Part1 | Vol10 Part2 | Vol10 Part3 | Vol10 Part4 | Vol11 Part 1 | Vol11 Part2 | Vol12 Part1 | Vol12 Part2 | Vol12 Part3 | Vol13 Part1 | Vol13 Part2 | Vol13 Part3 | Vol14 Part1 | Vol14 Part2 | Vol14 Part3 | Vol14 Part4

That's it! The final chapters and thoughts beneath that! AAaaah.

Chapter 8: (I'm having more image space now with one chapter so..uh...just me nearly posting every image in this one)

The biggest mystery in Trigun: HOW did they get a photo of Vash with all black hair and HOW??? did they get a photo of Knives?? I just have to assume they either have really good painters or maybe just painted black hair on Vash's old photo...and...someone made a photo of Knives moments before his death. Poor sucker.

Black hair Vash with his hair down looks so...so...so agh! So young! And vulnerable! And actually pretty good but also so cuddlesome and wow that hair looks soft. Every hair-era of Vash gives me different vibes, and this one especially has something super soft/melancholic...it's after his widower era (which is half-black hair) so it's a settled and accepted sadness but it's also post-trimax so it's also a hopeful atmosphere? Hope that explains it??

Also he's just super cute like this.

Also, hello there interesting bit of information that totally slipped past me on my other reads.

Egg Plant Dome...what exactly is this? I think that happened in ch6 when the feathers and plants fell down. Is this something the plants created, like a shell for the whole city? (don't wanna live underneath, it must be like a big oven during the day)

What a moment

(Oh they are talking about the wound Knives inflicted on Vash! When they fought and while Knives stabbed him, Vash protected them both from Chronica) There's something so meaningful about Knives, who thought himself above all humans, pleading them to save Vash's life.

What a way for the antagonist of the story to go. It doesn't end with violence, it ends with a silent thank you, with him protecting one last time what is dear to him and choosing his own (inevitable? Vash lives on. So could he have lived on if he wouldn't have created the tree?) end.

Just saving these because we're getting more cute Vash faces here.

Of course Vash finds an exit directly at the spot of his pursuers. And cute salamander thing!

Salamander and Vash do not approve.

IT'S HIIIIIM

The image of Vash with a wig, fake teeth and a fake beard is really entertaining. But really, was that ever an option for him? An option at least he'd be satisfied with?

Meryl & Milly! (Don't wanna forget Milly!) Aaaw and directly back to bantering!

Hehe love that face

awww and he would have loved to be fighting his way out of messes with these two together!

Vash was utterly betrayed in this moment.

Can we get a character song where Vash sings this in Stampede, please?

24h live emergency broadcast? Phew boy Vash is not getting ANY rest.

Many familiar faces! That one older boy, I wondered if that could be Kaite from the sandsteamer? And nice to see that the guy Vash and Wolfwood beat the shit out of at Lina's is still holding up to his promise and protecting the place now (and serving drinks as it seems). Then of course Livio!!! Being at the orphanage, next to Wolfwood's grave...I'm sure he's protectig them like nobody else could, being the best big brother to them all they could wish for. (I have to say I loved his short hair look but long hair works too) And we can spot Chronica...the Nebraskas and Brad and Luida! And, I love the way Vash starts from being exasperated to running to laughing. Has he missed this? Maybe!

Running into the far horizon....

And we're here, throwback at one of the very first pages of Trigun with the same line "And the same song of humanity still sang".

What an ending, huh? I really liked the ending..it's kinda started like it has begun, with Vash running away again. A bit like a circle, but in a way, that's the theme. Because at it says "the same song of humanity still sang" - some things don't change, humans will always be humans and will always hunt Vash down for the bounty (with the extra now that there are a lot that do LIKE him and want to know what he's at, knowledge which Meryl and Milly can provide). It's such a dark and serous manga, and to end on such a light note, with a really humour-filled last chapter, to me it transports the feeling of hope. The first time I read this it moved me so much. And it made me tear up not because of sadness, but because the ending is so hopeful, so good despite everything that happened! And the fact that Vash manages to get back up again, running and smiling, while he suffered so so much throughout the whole series...isn't that a wonderful thing? To not lose your smile after all that? Isn't that the most difficult thing maybe, and he still manages?

I wanted to add some final thoughts about the manga, but I don't really know where to start? I don't have any specific thoughts, and if I get, I might make an extra post...but I just want to say how much I love this series. I read it around february the first time and was instantly flashed. It turned out to be a completely different story than I had expected. It turned out to be very confusing at times (esp. because I read the Dark Horse translation which sometimes lacks in context in the dialogues) but I STILL loved it to bits. And it's maybe now one of my favourite series if not the. It's hard to compare different mangas and series, but when I'd had to decide for one where the theme moved me the most, is interesting, where the characters feel alive and tangible, where everything feels so round and like a story that was exactly written down as the author intended and not a bit shorted or altered, where you can feel the passion in the art...man it's just this one. That doesn't lessen the impression other series have on me, but it just means that this one stands out SO much that I can always go back to it and will always love it. And, when I said it turned out completely different than expected, I especially refer to the ending. And I also want to point out what I pointed out in a post earlier, about Vash having to kill somebody, about the fact that I don't think this story is supposed to preach us any moral, any higher ideal...it just tells us that nothing is easy, people are complex, decisions are complex and fucked up stuff happens. And despite all that, you can STILL choose kindness. It's a story that sounds like it's being told exactly like it happened. Nothing is put in a better light, and the bad guys are not put in an extra bad light.

What we take from that is up to us.

[shmothman]

In regards to the next fic I’m working on… Here are some notes on my interpretation of the plantussy. Featuring a lot of biology, flower talk, and… uh. slugs. 🤞🤞🤞

Very Nsfw below the cut.

(Note: I am not an artist)

For the base structure, I obviously took most of my inspiration from flowers. The Plants (in stampede, at least) have very floral elements, and my personal headcanon is that they have some analogous structures—products of convergent evolution to incredibly different circumstances. (Though don’t get me started on my headcanons vis a vis the genetic engineering that went into Vash and Knives being so human-looking, at least on the outside.) If the (capital P) Plants are (lowercase p) plant-like, they could certainly have analogous reproductive structures. Five petal-like labia that lie mostly flat against the skin ‘bloom’ when aroused due to increased blood flow—filling with fluid and expanding due to turgor pressure. (Main inspiration for the petals: cherry blossom flowers, though something… fleshier than I’m able to draw 🤣) The reproductive structures are contained within, shielded by the petals unless sufficiently aroused. Within the outer layer of petals is an inner layer, which also lies flat until aroused, at which point they twist together to form something analogous to a penis. The way the petals twist together leaves distinct grooves spiraling along its length, which conduct fluid that comes from the interior of the dick—though the internal structure below it that would be analogous to a vagina also produces fluid, which is slightly thicker and stickier than a human’s would be. (There is a LOT of fluid.) (Note: the petals that make up the dick can be separated even if aroused, but the interior is incredibly sensitive, and Vash is prone to overstimulation even if he isn’t touched there.) (Main inspiration: morning glory bud, also the Aelit dildo by Strange Bedfellas.)

There are two smaller interior petals that don’t make up the dick, and instead act as labia around the vagina-analogue. (Main inspiration: orchid.) Surrounding the dick, there are several independently-mobile tendril-like structures ending in small bulbs; these serve as hormonal transfer sites—detail below. The center of the ‘flower’ is a dark pink, which lightens to flesh tone at the edges of the petals, though the interior petals are fully dark pink. Maybe with a bit of blue bioluminescence. (They made the man glow in Stampede; what do they expect me to do? NOT make his dick glow too??)

Alright! Now we’re going to talk about invertebrate reproduction! (You come to the invertebrate biologist and don’t expect to get a little bit of a lecture?)

Firstly: Rotifers. Most Rotifers belong to Class Monogononta, and Monogonant Rotifers have a unique reproductive pattern.

Typically, they reproduce asexually, via parthenogenesis, making, by definition, only diploid females. However, when conditions are right (the chemical cues seem to come from crowding, when a population of monogonants gets too high, but it occurs relatively rarely) the usually amicitic (‘not mixing,’ referring to the production of eggs without the mixing in of other genetic material) females will lay eggs that become micitic females. These micitic females produce eggs via meiosis, not mitosis as in parthenogenesis. These eggs are, by definition, haploid. In the absence of fertilization, these eggs develop into males, which are able to fertilize other haploid eggs, creating a new diploid generation which continues to reproduce via parthenogenesis once again. This haplodiploid sex determination system also occurs in many insects, but no other organisms seem to exhibit this pattern of many amicitic generations followed by one micitic generation. This is my headcanon for the way Plants reproduce. It doesn’t have anything to do with how his junk looks but I wanted to talk about it.

Secondly: Terrestrial Gastropods. If you know anything about slug sex, you know it gets pretty fuckin wild. As a self-proclaimed monster dong connoisseur, I would be remiss to not take ideas from them; namely, in this case, love darts. Now, in actual gastropods, love darts are sharp, calcareous or chitinous spines produced by the snail that are coated in mucus that contains an allomone, a pheromone-like compound, that increases the likelihood of successful fertilization. They’re essentially shot into the body of the snail’s mate. Taking the basic idea, though, I’ve mixed that with flower reproductive anatomy to arrive at… uh, I mean. I really need to find a better term but. Love tendrils? Love… stamens? I’ll workshop it. REGARDLESS. They’re essentially independently-moving tendrils with a glandular bud at the end, the purpose of which are to secrete hormones that aid in copulation—essentially oxytocin and dopamine, which then can be absorbed through the skin, giving his partner a… boost.

And that’s my inspiration for Vash’s pussy!! 🤞🤞🤞

[yuhi-san]

Observations and subjective perceptions

Chapters: 14/25

Fandom: Trigun Stampede

Rating: Teen up

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Meryl Stryfe & Vash the Stampede, Vash the Stampede & Millions Knives, Meryl Stryfe & Millions Knives, Vash the Stampede & Nicholas D. Wolfwood, background relationships

Characters: Meryl Strife, Vash the Stampede, Millions Knives, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Milly Thompson

Additional Tags: (re)building relationships, Self-Discovery, Friendship, facing uncomfortable truths, learning to compromize, Pre-Relationship, Vash's complicated relationship with food, Meryl's Hazardous driving, Angst and Humor, POV Third Person, POV Alternating, Somewhat Unreliable Narrator, as in Meryl and Knives interprt things very differently, minor characters cameo, lots of 98 easter eggs, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Character Study, Vash the Stampede has prosthetic legs, Introspection

Summary: Two years after the destruction of July, Vash finds himself facing his brother once again. Everything was different this time around and in a desperate plea Vash manages to convince Knives to give him ten years to show him the good and kindness in the world. With no real plan and burdens he could never shed, Vash stumbles along his path to prove to Knives that humanity was worth believing in. There are people determined to help him but that comes with its own can of worms.

Showing someone the good sides of life was easier said than done, especially when most of your companions have some kind of violent and horrible history with each other, and plans of their own.

--- A good compromise is if everyone agrees that no one is happy about it.

Chapter Summary:

A short insight on Wolfwood during the past two years until he got a letter that changed everything. Except it doesn’t really because once he reunites with Vash, it’s as if everything was as it had been. It’s almost terrifyingly easy.