Vacation
Part Two
Trigun Express
The sound of several doughnuts being wolfed down rather noisily, lips smacking topping it off was the source of the other three's attention. A young looking man with spiky blond hair, bright aqua green eyes, and wearing a long, flowing red trench coat eagerly stuffed the golden brown pastry cakes into his mouth. Sitting around him were his companions- two young women-(one petite with short black hair, the other big and tall with light brown hair)- and a young priest wearing black clothing which matched his hair color.
The priest leaned his cheek on one hand, elbow propped on the table and spoke smoothly around a crinkled cigarette in his mouth.
"Yes my friends- this doughnut loving pretty boy before you is none other than the legendary ace gunman…the man who instills fear into everyone who hears his name spoken…the one and only Vash the Stampede."
Stopping mid-chew, mouth full, the blond man glared at the priest. "Who're you calling a pretty boy?! That wasn't very nice, Wolfwood!"
"Do you see any other pretty men in here, I think it's pretty obvious needle-noggin." The priest said with a slight smirk on his lips as he exhaled a stream of smoke.
The brunette girl, blue-green eyes alight, spoke brightly. "Mr. Vash isn't a pretty boy- in fact he's just a handsome young man, wouldn't you agree Meryl?"
Turning her head away, looking slightly flustered, the petite young woman known as Meryl Stryfe responded to her friend's question the best way she could think of.
"It doesn't matter what he looks like he's still just a broom-head to me."
Having swallowed the remnants of the doughnuts, Vash blinked in mock hurt, defending himself by whining, just as he always would.
"Aw man, why are you guys always so mean to me? You're always picking on me and making fun, it's not fair!"
Meryl clapped a hand on her forehead as the dark haired priest snuffed his cigarette butt against the sole of his shoe, replying to Vash's remark.
"Well if you weren't such an air head sometimes we wouldn't have much reason to make fun of you. Besides, who else would we pick on, everyone else here is pretty much normal."
Speechless, and completely unable to come up with an argument for his own sake, the blond haired man sat there with a goofy expression until they were all four lurched forward out of their seats. The table slid halfway across the floor, creating a terrible groaning sound of metal on wood, and their chairs did the same thing. Lying in a tangled heap, Vash shook the dizziness from his head, took a moment, and then cried out in a mad panic.
"Earthquake! Oh no! We're all gonna die!"
Unfazed, the other three picked themselves up from the floor, dusting off their clothes and set eyes on the truly pathetic looking mess of red cloth and blond hair still lying there.
"You dolt, that was just the Sand-steamer stopping! Haven't you noticed that we're not moving anymore?" Meryl lashed out at him as Milly made to pick Vash up off the floor.
Wolfwood chuckled, lighting another cigarette as he kicked a chair back to its standing position and sat down in it. He didn't know how this bumbling idiot could possibly be Vash the Stampede, but it had been proved time and time again that he was the one and only. However, there were times where the blond man in the red coat did not act this way. There was a sad seriousness in those eyes of his, which were sometimes hidden behind circle framed yellow sunglasses, and it hurt to see him like that and not know why he was so depressed.
Of course, when a person had a sixty billion double dollar bounty on his head for doing something he couldn't even remember doing, well, it was grounds to drag a person's morale down a bit. From what Vash's three companions could tell, the poor man never did anything wrong and yet trouble always followed him. They were desperately hoping for a break, though, praying that while on the move toward New Oregon that nothing of trouble would follow them.
Calling Vash by his name in public was not an option in most places- people either shied away when he approached or tried to kill him and whoever was near him. They had to resort to calling him Eriks, a name Vash had made up to keep his true identity hidden for as long as possible, and even so there were still some who recognized him.
"Why do you think we stopped?" Milly spoke up, breaking the silence.
Vash had gone to the window, losing his oddball antics for the time being, and gazed steadily out into the growing twilight. He frowned- there was nothing but sand around, no town, no people. Then again, there could be something on the other side of the steamer.
"Was this thing scheduled to stop at another town before New Oregon?" he queried softly, turning to the others.
Puffing on his cigarette, Wolfwood shrugged as he poured himself a shot of bourbon.
"Beats the hell out of me. Girls?"
Meryl crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. "Not that I know of, but it could just be something that needed to be fixed."
Silently she hoped it wasn't because of a group of bandits planning on hijacking the thing. She and Milly hadn't had the best of luck on sand steamers since meeting Vash, something was always happening, and it was never anything good. At least this time they were able to get their own private room, granted that all four of them had to share it because of their tight budget.
Before anyone could say any more on the matter, however, their transport lurched back into movement, sending Vash careening across the floor once more.
"Aieee!" He yelled as his form thumped against the wall. He sat up dizzily and pointed into the air. "Look…birds."
Rolling her eyes, Meryl sat down at the table that Milly had dragged back into place, looked to Wolfwood and said, "Pour me a glass please…I have a feeling this is going to be a long trip."