DISCLAIMER: Trigun and its characters belong to Yasuhiro Nightow.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This will effectively be a collection of one-shots. Chapters will be added as they occur to me.
Bedtime Stories
"Avast, ye scurvy dogs! I'll be taking that plunder now, arrrr!" Vash the Stampede growled.
The raven-haired little girl on the other side of the playset giggled. "Da, that's not how knights talk."
"Knights?" Vash blinked innocently. "I thought we were playing soldiers."
Dark bangs swayed as the girl shook her head. "Soldiers don't talk like that, either," she informed him.
"Then who does talk like that?"
"Little girls who need to go to bed, is who," stated a stern voice. Both Vash and his daughter looked up at the matriarch of the household, Meryl Saverem, nee Stryfe. "Don't give me those puppy-dog eyes, Rem needs to go to sleep. Go on now, scoot."
"Can Da take me?"
"Yeah, Meryl, can I?" Vash implored. "I'll clean up later, promise!" He held up three fingers and wore his most sincere expression.
"It's not a promise when you're crossing your other hand's fingers behind your back," Meryl said. "But fine, go put our daughter to bed. Rem, don't think I don't know you want him because you can charm him into more than one story."
Vash scooped up their daughter and carried her off to her room. Behind their backs, Meryl lost her stern expression and smiled as she watched them go.
"Let's run down the list," Vash said a little while later. "Teeth brushed?"
"Check," Rem said.
"Nightie on?'
"Check."
"Bed check done, no monsters?"
"Check."
"Tucked in?"
"Check."
"You're good to go, then. I'm off."
He made like he was going to get up and leave, and then right on cue –
"You forgot the last thing!"
Turned around with a quizzical look on his face. "I did? What could I possibly have forgotten?"
"You know what."
"I do?"
"Don't try to play dumb, mister. Get back here and give me my story!"
"I see you've been paying attention to how your mother talks." Shaking his head with a grin, Vash sat back down at his daughter's bedside. "With what tale shall I regale you tonight, m'lady?"
Rem giggled. "You're funny when you talk silly, Da. You think of something."
"Me? Well, ok, let me think. Ok, so one time –"
"No, Da, do it right!"
"Right?" He wore his innocent expression again and turned his seat ninety degrees. "How's this?"
"No, Da!" Rem pointed her finger commandingly at him, proof that she really had been learning by example from her mother. "Turn back here and do it right."
Vash turned back to her. "Can you give me a hint?"
The young girl rolled her eyes in a way that only someone born of a Stryfe could. "Like this – once upon a time…"
"Oh, like that. Ok, then – start it with me now, would you?"
Father and daughter said as one, "Once upon a time…"