Chapter 4: Consequences
Vash POV
I was in Brewing Chem when I heard the news about a death on the first day of school. As a matter of fact, I was starting to realize Brewing Chem wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and I was planning on asking Knives to help me with the material. Knives always figures things out; puzzles are the equivalent to food and water in importance to him when he was a child in the SEEDS ship. Magically, all the correct factors always stick out to my brother. I didn't know so much math was involved in making booze! AHH!
The instant I heard that the name "Knives" went into my mind. I scolded myself for jumping into conclusions. The truth is, till this very day, I don't know how to feel about Knives. He is my brother, that much is true. If you can call it a last will, Rem told me to take care of Knives so I did. But did I do a good job? Could I have done better? I shoved those doubts to the back of my mind. Every time I ran into a dead end when trying to cure Knives, I asked myself the blessed question : "What would Rem do?" It sounds corny and mushy but it definitely help me get through the nightmare of fighting my brother's mental demons.
I went to the Tavern after school and started working. Frank Marlon was running the show when I am away so money still flows when I am on an assignment. Knives was already there.
He raised his hand to greet me. "Yo, Vashu!" I thought OH SHIT! The last two times he gave me that gesture, an apocalyptic battle follows between me and him. I looked around. Let's see, no dead bodies, everyone seems to be here and happy to be so. There aren't any weapons around. Everything seem to be okay but that is just a mask. There is something going on here. I hid my emotions but it is to no avail to someone like Knives.
"Alright Knives. What brilliant stunt did you pull off this time?" I asked, sick and tired of dealing with this kind of bull.
Knives became serious. "I caused a death."
I closed my eyes and took a breath. I know I don't want to hear this.but not knowing is worse. I look like a parent who just busted their child for smoking dope or something. The scene would be funny if it isn't happening to me. WHY DOES ALL THESE THINGS COME UP AROUND ME!
"Tell me what happened." I said before anything else can occur. Knives told his story.
I started to speak but was cut off.
"I know what you're going to say. You'll give me an echo of one of those Rem speeches, right? If you so, you can save your breath. It won't change what happened, and it certainly won't change the way I am. But tell me though, what would you have done? That is, if you TRUST me enough to believe I am telling the truth. Judging by your face, I highly doubt it."
I don't know what to say. He is right on the money on that. I don't know if I should trust Knives. He promised over and over. In fact, I made him swear a blood oath, by slitting our wrists lightly(not deep enough to gush but deep enough to make Legato happy if he was here) and making contact, like some cult initiation thing. However, Knives not killing people is THAT important to me.
We chose silence instead of awkward words that neither side wants to say or hear because each knows what the other is about to say and how the other is going to respond. I would persist that its wrong to kill, no matter what. He would say its out of self defense, the human started the problems. I would say its because you stand out. Knives would counter by saying I'm considerate enough to even cooperate with humans; homo sapiens should bow down to plant kind. Then I would say..you get the idea, hopefully. A fight might break out and July City might be reduced to rubble again, somehow.
So, I stayed tending the Kuroneko Tavern, specifically, wiping down the counter and cleaning the dregs out of the mugs that I use. Knives remained, sipping his shots of hard liquor in the shadows in the back tables of the bar. Knives told me that we should be expecting a call from High Marshal Dolt pretty soon. I thought so myself.
An hour later.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!" Dolt went military on me. I choked it down. If I said that this is Knives problem, not mine, I would be attempting to pass the bill. Not to mention I would be facing an angry brother, though that would be the least of my problems now. "It's the first damn day on the job and you mess up like blundering idiots. Can't you plants do anything correctly."
Now it's Knives turn to get an apoplexy. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, DOLT!" Dolt was shocked by this outburst. "GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU SHOOT YOUR MOUTH OFF!"
Dolt held no mercy. "I'm not a BROODING, stuck up pretty boy like YOU, Knives. Why don't you learn to control your temperaments and do something right instead! And for that, your license is revoked!"
I had to say something. "CALM DOWN, BOTH OF YOU!-"
"DON'T FUCKING BOSS ME AROUND, SPIKY! You told me you two were capable, sharp undercover officers. Last time I checked, sharp undercover officers do not get bystanders killed! Your fiasco here killed someone totally irrelevant to our case.ON DAY 1 OF THE JOB!-"
His verbal onslaught would have continued if not for the intrusion of a female voice. "Oh, marshal!" A half naked brunette came out of his office, covered in nothing but a red shawl.
Great, now the pot head marshal is also a sexaholic. This guy is disgusting.
"Oh, sorry, Teeka. I'll be right up after I sold these two naughty officers."
WHAT THE- ! Naughty officers!? Is he bisexual or something!
"Hey, boys, wanna see my boys?!" asked Teeka. She threw off her shawl, now she is completely buck naked.
"Uh,.nice view, but the, uh.,I just gotta bounce!" I jumped out of the office and split. There is no way in hell I am going to be part of an orgy. That's just ::shudders:: not right.
"Remember, Vash, no more violations!" yelled a now-happy Dolt.
Still while I ran, I heard "Ooh, violate me, violate me!" pleaded the whore.
(Hey, Vashu.) called Knives, just as I headed down the front door.
(Yeah?)
(Check out what I did to the escort and client, chill, its nothing that disturbs you, I promise.)
An image popped into my mind. As I was offered sex and bolted, Knives calmly watched the situation, his expression was identical to the same one he had when he watched the spider approaching the butterfly in that web. As the whore turned to Knives for more satisfaction, Knives face tensed up and the whore froze in place.
"What happened, my little honey-" started Dolt. Knives froze him in place too. When he did that, he walked out of the office casually.
(The next thing I did was even more entertaining. I disabled Dolt's erection mechanis, while I increased Teeka's sex drive. Go figure what happens next.)
I had to laugh. (That was pretty creative but kinda mean. Still, I gotta prop you for that.)
(It's so human garbage doesn't create more resource consuming shit, not just mere entertainment.) replied Knives. (They have to learn to use a condom.)
(That wasn't very nice.)
(Don't worry, the.modifications aren't permanent. In a week or so, they'll return to normal.) Knives laughed. (His rep would be ruined though. His new name would be Mr. Softy and I'm not talking about the brand of ice cream either.)
We went home in silence but its pleasant. Unwittingly, the whore alleviated all the tension, well, most of it. I was able to communicate with Knives without resorting to mental, I mean, mortal combat.
Vash POV
I was in Brewing Chem when I heard the news about a death on the first day of school. As a matter of fact, I was starting to realize Brewing Chem wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and I was planning on asking Knives to help me with the material. Knives always figures things out; puzzles are the equivalent to food and water in importance to him when he was a child in the SEEDS ship. Magically, all the correct factors always stick out to my brother. I didn't know so much math was involved in making booze! AHH!
The instant I heard that the name "Knives" went into my mind. I scolded myself for jumping into conclusions. The truth is, till this very day, I don't know how to feel about Knives. He is my brother, that much is true. If you can call it a last will, Rem told me to take care of Knives so I did. But did I do a good job? Could I have done better? I shoved those doubts to the back of my mind. Every time I ran into a dead end when trying to cure Knives, I asked myself the blessed question : "What would Rem do?" It sounds corny and mushy but it definitely help me get through the nightmare of fighting my brother's mental demons.
I went to the Tavern after school and started working. Frank Marlon was running the show when I am away so money still flows when I am on an assignment. Knives was already there.
He raised his hand to greet me. "Yo, Vashu!" I thought OH SHIT! The last two times he gave me that gesture, an apocalyptic battle follows between me and him. I looked around. Let's see, no dead bodies, everyone seems to be here and happy to be so. There aren't any weapons around. Everything seem to be okay but that is just a mask. There is something going on here. I hid my emotions but it is to no avail to someone like Knives.
"Alright Knives. What brilliant stunt did you pull off this time?" I asked, sick and tired of dealing with this kind of bull.
Knives became serious. "I caused a death."
I closed my eyes and took a breath. I know I don't want to hear this.but not knowing is worse. I look like a parent who just busted their child for smoking dope or something. The scene would be funny if it isn't happening to me. WHY DOES ALL THESE THINGS COME UP AROUND ME!
"Tell me what happened." I said before anything else can occur. Knives told his story.
I started to speak but was cut off.
"I know what you're going to say. You'll give me an echo of one of those Rem speeches, right? If you so, you can save your breath. It won't change what happened, and it certainly won't change the way I am. But tell me though, what would you have done? That is, if you TRUST me enough to believe I am telling the truth. Judging by your face, I highly doubt it."
I don't know what to say. He is right on the money on that. I don't know if I should trust Knives. He promised over and over. In fact, I made him swear a blood oath, by slitting our wrists lightly(not deep enough to gush but deep enough to make Legato happy if he was here) and making contact, like some cult initiation thing. However, Knives not killing people is THAT important to me.
We chose silence instead of awkward words that neither side wants to say or hear because each knows what the other is about to say and how the other is going to respond. I would persist that its wrong to kill, no matter what. He would say its out of self defense, the human started the problems. I would say its because you stand out. Knives would counter by saying I'm considerate enough to even cooperate with humans; homo sapiens should bow down to plant kind. Then I would say..you get the idea, hopefully. A fight might break out and July City might be reduced to rubble again, somehow.
So, I stayed tending the Kuroneko Tavern, specifically, wiping down the counter and cleaning the dregs out of the mugs that I use. Knives remained, sipping his shots of hard liquor in the shadows in the back tables of the bar. Knives told me that we should be expecting a call from High Marshal Dolt pretty soon. I thought so myself.
An hour later.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!" Dolt went military on me. I choked it down. If I said that this is Knives problem, not mine, I would be attempting to pass the bill. Not to mention I would be facing an angry brother, though that would be the least of my problems now. "It's the first damn day on the job and you mess up like blundering idiots. Can't you plants do anything correctly."
Now it's Knives turn to get an apoplexy. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, DOLT!" Dolt was shocked by this outburst. "GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU SHOOT YOUR MOUTH OFF!"
Dolt held no mercy. "I'm not a BROODING, stuck up pretty boy like YOU, Knives. Why don't you learn to control your temperaments and do something right instead! And for that, your license is revoked!"
I had to say something. "CALM DOWN, BOTH OF YOU!-"
"DON'T FUCKING BOSS ME AROUND, SPIKY! You told me you two were capable, sharp undercover officers. Last time I checked, sharp undercover officers do not get bystanders killed! Your fiasco here killed someone totally irrelevant to our case.ON DAY 1 OF THE JOB!-"
His verbal onslaught would have continued if not for the intrusion of a female voice. "Oh, marshal!" A half naked brunette came out of his office, covered in nothing but a red shawl.
Great, now the pot head marshal is also a sexaholic. This guy is disgusting.
"Oh, sorry, Teeka. I'll be right up after I sold these two naughty officers."
WHAT THE- ! Naughty officers!? Is he bisexual or something!
"Hey, boys, wanna see my boys?!" asked Teeka. She threw off her shawl, now she is completely buck naked.
"Uh,.nice view, but the, uh.,I just gotta bounce!" I jumped out of the office and split. There is no way in hell I am going to be part of an orgy. That's just ::shudders:: not right.
"Remember, Vash, no more violations!" yelled a now-happy Dolt.
Still while I ran, I heard "Ooh, violate me, violate me!" pleaded the whore.
(Hey, Vashu.) called Knives, just as I headed down the front door.
(Yeah?)
(Check out what I did to the escort and client, chill, its nothing that disturbs you, I promise.)
An image popped into my mind. As I was offered sex and bolted, Knives calmly watched the situation, his expression was identical to the same one he had when he watched the spider approaching the butterfly in that web. As the whore turned to Knives for more satisfaction, Knives face tensed up and the whore froze in place.
"What happened, my little honey-" started Dolt. Knives froze him in place too. When he did that, he walked out of the office casually.
(The next thing I did was even more entertaining. I disabled Dolt's erection mechanis, while I increased Teeka's sex drive. Go figure what happens next.)
I had to laugh. (That was pretty creative but kinda mean. Still, I gotta prop you for that.)
(It's so human garbage doesn't create more resource consuming shit, not just mere entertainment.) replied Knives. (They have to learn to use a condom.)
(That wasn't very nice.)
(Don't worry, the.modifications aren't permanent. In a week or so, they'll return to normal.) Knives laughed. (His rep would be ruined though. His new name would be Mr. Softy and I'm not talking about the brand of ice cream either.)
We went home in silence but its pleasant. Unwittingly, the whore alleviated all the tension, well, most of it. I was able to communicate with Knives without resorting to mental, I mean, mortal combat.