Rain Dreams
Vash stared at Wolfwood across the low wooden table. Wolfwood stared right back. An empty bottle stood between them.
"Go get more brandy, Vash," Wolfwood murmured.
"Why don't you?"
"I'm busy." Wolfwood looked out the window, "it's hot."
It was hot. They both were sweating, Vash's blond hair slowly melting down into a messy rug on his head. Wolfwood had shed his jacket and shirt, lazily lounging half-naked on the chair, clothes in a pile next to him, much to Vash's discomfort, or delight, depending on how Vash felt.
Vash didn't answer, but instead followed Nick's gaze out the window, to the hazy blue sky and stark desert. The hotel was on the edge of town, and the tan sand ran on for miles out the window, with nothing but a dark, straight ribbon of road to sever it down the middle.
At the moment, Vash didn't really want more alcohol, but a glass of cool water to get his throat moistened. Or to pour on his head and neck. Maybe a jug, to do both. The leather was boiling! He undid his collar and leaned back, almost tipping the rickety chair over.
"I knew you would give sometime! Change outta that thing." Wolfwood commanded, apparently able to sense Vash's movements from the corner of his midnight blue eye. Vash shook his head almost imperceptibly, "Fine, but don't blame me when you get heatstroke, ok?"
Vash wasn't really listening, but had fixated his mind on a glass of clear water. Not the slightly chemical-y, sandy water in this town, recycled and purified over and over, but aqua blue, cold, clear, fresh. Maybe even an ice cube. Ice…something that you never saw naturally on the desert planet. Along with rain. Rain…
Rain wasn't something Vash had ever seen naturally, either. Still, he and Knives had experienced an artificial rain in the biodome, to their surprise one morning. Rem patiently explained that the dome was kept as realistically as possible, with rain and sun and clouds to keep things in their natural environment as much as possible. For the plants themselves as much as for the homesick pioneers. To the twins' delight, they were soaked in a moment, and their long blonde hair whipped around their heads as they ran from streaming flower to streaming flower, spraying Rem, drenched as well, with the drops. He looked out at the cloudless sky again, wishing for rain.
"Wolfwood?"
"Mmm-hmm?"
"Wolfwood, have you ever seen…rain?" Vash swallowed nervously.
"Rain? The whole, 'forty days, forty nights' deal? Noah's flood and the animals of the bible?" Wolfwood turned, laughing.
"Y-yeah, a little like that, a little."
"Love, it has never rained on this Godforsaken planet. I doubt it ever will." Nick looked almost bitter.
"Well…I meant, in dreams." Aqua eyes looked down at the warped wood floor, grey-blue ones looked up at the stained ceiling, or heaven, depending.
"Yeah, Vash, yeah. I dream of rain and lakes and snow…like I dream of flying. Those are my best dreams, I guess."
"Yeah, I guess."
*Owari*