A few actual notes here rather than my normal rambles. First, you may have noticed that
the adverts recently took a holiday from my story- this is because I subscribed to the ol'
archive. Since I glean huge quantities of entertainment from this site, it seemed
worthwhile to toss a little back to them for being so nice. This also means I now have an
E-mail address that will remain up for a good long while- it's in my profile if you want to
drop me a line directly. No promises on how often I'll check it, but at least it won't
randomly gobble up stuff if I'm away for more than a week. Now, onwards to the zany!
I took one of those "Which character are you" tests against my better judgment. Apparently, out of all the Trigun characters, I'm... Kuroneko-sama. It makes sense. Especially the "People probably think you are rather strange" bit.
Disclaimer: Now that I have a stable E-mail, watch some bored god shoot the mail server with a lightning bolt just for giggles.
Rise of the Silver Stars
Chapter 21: Big Brothers and Little Sisters
This was unexpected. He did not like unexpected. When he had first /heard/ the presence, it had come as quite a shock. Legato had reported him to be dead, and Legato was quite truthful- he had seen to that. However, Legato had quite clearly been mistaken in that assessment. So it was with the spiders- even the very best he found were still prone to flaws and lapses. Because of those, now he had to deal with it personally.
He got up and left the apartment without a word. The gunsmith was busy pouring over the steamer schedules, but wasn't so busy as to not notice. He pondered telling it that it could stop now, but deemed the effort unneeded. It would find out soon enough on its own, and the measured, directed thoughts it was giving off were more pleasant than the normal emotion-powered racket. Not that it was much of an improvement over the cacophony of noise he /heard/ anyway. He even had to stop /listening/ to keep down the swelling wail of so many disordered minds in such a small area. When he did, the sudden silence was unnerving. How his brother could stand things like this was beyond him. To have the best chance of survival, one needed the maximum possible information at all times- leaving a sense off was foolhardy.
Unfortunately, he had been forced to do just that to remain in the city, as the noise was unbearable otherwise. He had settled for short bursts of /listening/ to keep up a modicum of awareness of his surroundings. One did not allow oneself to be complacent, especially when one was in the middle of a spider's nest. It would alert him to sudden significant shifts in the overall pattern of the activity, but it made long-distance tracking and searching nearly impossible. Hence his discovery of the unexpected just a few floors below, far later than he would have preferred.
As he descended the stairs, he pondered what course of action to take. He could simply correct the aberration between the long-ago statement and the current reality, but his promise prevented that quick and effective action. The next option was to bide his time and discover why his servant had returned now, and how. Depending on what he discovered, he could then dismiss or restore his servant. The ranks of the Gung-ho Guns were rather depleted due to recent events. Retaking a presumed dead member would be easier than finding new ones.
He was getting close now, so he carefully masked his presence. He would act first. It was therefor with considerable disgust to have the other act first instead. His servant rose from the bottom steps and turned to him, then uttered an apology. Proper, but the loss of first action to an inferior sent a spark of anger through him before he could quell it. That got the attention of his brother's precious pet, which backed out into the lobby. Had the pet noticed his emotional disturbance? Troublesome to more troublesome... but that was for later.
"/Rai-dei the Blade./"
"Master Knives."
"/Open./"
The Blade complied. It only took a minute to scan through the memories contained within. What he discovered, he did not like.
"/You consider yourself dead and removed from my service?/"
"Hai. I failed in the task given me. I am unworthy."
"/I consider it so. You are... tainted. Begone./"
"...that is all?"
"/I will waste no more time on you. Go to my brother, you are his now./"
It took considerable effort to not tear the waste of flesh apart right then and there. Dangerous impulses raced along his arm, but he quelled them. His promise was becoming increasingly burdensome to keep up, but he was not weak. His former servant could go follow his brother until his flesh decayed for all he cared. However, this made the third one of his most able servants to turn against him, and in all three cases it could be traced back to his fool of a brother. He would need to take precautions against further happenings.
"/Heh, maybe there's something to humanity if even the most self destructive can be turned away, eh?/"
He ignored the comment. "/Enjoy your new pet. Be wary, the Blade is dangerous and untrustworthy./"
"/They're not pets, they're people. And for your information, I don't keep them, they choose to be with me, and if they decide not to stay, well, that's that. I thought you were against slavery?/"
"/I am. It is wrong to control your equals, and worse for an inferior to control a superior./"
"/But we are equal- They're not any more or less than we are./"
"/We plants are superior by every measure. It is as natural for them to serve us, as it is for a Thomas to serve them./"
"/...You're going to eat those words someday./"
"/Impossible. And if I were you, I wouldn't let those things clamber all over me./"
"/Aww, but it's fun!/"
He simply stared at his brother as the children scrambled over him. How coming in contact like that could be fun seemed to border impossibility. It looked much more like pain than fun. Perhaps there were crossed connections in brother's pleasure and pain brain centers? It would explain a great deal if true. His own were certainly wired properly, as the mass noise again began to overstress his senses. Giving the scene one more glance, he repressed a shudder and made his way back upstairs.
¤ ¤ ¤
Good old shore leave. There was nothing quite like it, even if the actual difference between life in the regiment and life outside was almost nonexistent. Still, it was good to just get out and stretch. Sand steamers weren't designed with plenty of wide open space, and at times he'd encounter a door that was just a tad too low and get clipped on the head. Sometimes he had to wonder just what the designer was thinking to make so many areas so small- you'd have to be a kid to fit in a few. In any case, he wasn't in the steamer now, and it felt great to stride down the street.
Now, if he could only somehow find little little sis in the crowds... He couldn't help but be a bit worried. The city was filled with high strung bounty hunters and other folks, and who knew how many of the weapons they had that were poorly maintained and liable to go off by accident? He had already told off one fellow who had been cleaning a gun with the safety off, and while drunk no less. Someone could lose a finger that way!
His reverie was ended when a short cloaked figure bumped into him, mumbled an apology, and walked off back the way he came. He sighed, and reached around to grab the figure's shoulder. The person bolted, but found themselves lacking traction as he hoisted them up off the ground. A screech came out and the person tried to give him a kick to the head, but he just caught the boot with his other hand. The person struggled a bit while letting obscenities fly, but he just waited for them to calm down. The hood fell back, and a practiced eye could tell right away why this kid had tried to pickpocket his billfold.
"If you need some food that much, why didn't you just ask?"
The kid paused in mid-tirade, mouth agape. He took the chance to sling the little guy across his shoulders.
"Hey, I bet they serve spaghetti and flapjacks in that place! How about it little fella?"
The kid sputtered for a bit as he strode over, then finally blurted out "I'm a girl, you blockhead!"
He looked the kid over again. Yeah, it was a her all right. There was so much dirt and caked on dust it was hard to tell. Entering the eatery, he found a table and plopped her down in a chair then took the one right across for himself. "Waiter! Biggest plates of spaghetti and flapjacks you have!"
While the food was being prepared, he gave the girl a good look over. A bit pale and quite gaunt, the poor kid looked to be going on more willpower than water. He tapped the shoulder of a fellow behind him. "Say, could we borrow your pitcher of water?"
"Why don't you just..." The fellow finished turning, and ended up changing expression from angry to a bit of a broken smile. Odd that he was sweating so much, it wasn't that hot in here. "...eh...heh...just take all you want, mister Cavalry sir. I, uh, gotta go!" The fellow jumped up and walked out quickly. He grabbed the pitcher and placed it under the little lady's nose.
"Drink up!"
She gulped it down, not bothering with a glass. "You've been out there a while. Pace yourself, you don't want to be sending anything back up!" She glared at him, and he answered with a smile. She did slow down, and nursed the water pitcher instead of nearly inhaling it. At times she tried to glare or frown at him, but it never lasted for more than a moment. When the plates of food came, he shoved the spaghetti her way and watched as he dug into the flapjacks. Still had her wits about her as she managed the food, not gorging herself sick. He nodded in approval. However, that didn't stop her from smearing the sauce across her face as she tried to take oversized bites. "Heh, you really look like a guy now, the sauce looks like a goatee."
She glared at him once more, then sighed and snatched the napkin he offered. They ate in silence, until she sat back and looked out the window, the barest hint of an 'I'm full' smile across her less pale face.
"So, shouldn't you be with your family?"
Her gaze darted back to him, then it lowered to the plate in front of her. "Yeah..." He could just see the glimmer of tears in her eyes, though he doubted she would let them out.
"Oh, I see..."
"I'm trying to find my big brother."
Whew. For a moment he was worried she didn't have any family. "Well, how about we go looking? I'm trying to find my little sister, and you're looking for your big brother, so how could we possibly not find them if we look together?"
She gave him an odd look. "That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time."
"Then we're partners in the search for siblings!"
"But, I-"
"Waiter! Four cans of pudding to go!" He turned back to her. "After all, we need enough to share with family."
Her mouth opened and closed, then she threw up her hands. "Okay! We'll look together!"
He grinned as he went to the bar to pay for the meal and pick up dessert. The chances weren't really that good, but since when did being pessimistic ever get anyone anywhere? How you felt wouldn't matter to if they were really around the corner or not, that's just how it would be. Staying upbeat just made it that much easier to keep looking around more corners until you found the right one. As he juggled the change, he piled the cans into her arms. She hadn't been expecting the move, and dropped two. She caught one, but the other took off across the floor and rolled right out beneath the swinging door. He hurriedly pocketed the rest of the change and followed her out, blinking in the afternoon glare. From what he could see, the can managed to make it a fair ways into the street.
"You should be more careful! What if someone stepped on your pudding?!"
That voice... He rubbed at his eyes. "Milly?"
"Roy?"
His eyes finally finished adjusting. Sure enough, there stood his littlest sister, pudding in hand. "You look different." Then came laughter at the simultaneous statement. Questions and answers began to fly back and forth. News of the family and such. Then he spotted his young companion starting to walk off.
"Hey, where are you going?"
She spun around, fury written across her features. "Well, you found her, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but we haven't found your brother yet. Can't stop looking until everyone's together!"
Her expression softened. "But I thought-"
Little sister elbowed in. "You can't go around like that! How could anyone recognize you under all that dirt? Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Really now, you might get sick if you stay like that."
The girl began to sputter again, but he knew that once Milly made up her mind it was futile to try and change it. He just picked up the handle for the large pink suitcase she had been towing and set off after the ladies. He couldn't quite suppress all the laughter that bubbled up watching the two fuss.
"This isn't funny!" snapped his little companion.
"What isn't?" queried his little sister.
He finally broke down into whoops of laughter so hard he had to clutch his sides. He finally managed to straighten up and looked his sister in the eye. "You're acting exactly like mom!"
"Really?"
"Yep."
"I guess that means I'm all grown up."
She turned foreward again and headed off. He paused a moment. He had thought she might get upset like she used to do at such statements. However, she looked rather happy, but her smile was tinged with a bittersweetness. He mirrored it. His little sister wasn't so little anymore, and he didn't know quite what to make of it. Sure, he could guess how it happened thanks to the Milly Monthly, but the reality of the written words never quite soaked in until now. She really had changed.
But she was still his little sister, and that meant some things never changed. He jogged for a bit until he was right behind her, then caught a strand of her hair and gave it a playful tug.
"I'm telling mom!"
He laughed. Yes, some things never change.
¤ ¤ ¤
The children had finally tired out again and left to do other things. Probably things to do with dinner, if his stomach's sudden growling was keeping accurate time. Meryl raised an eyebrow at him, then blushed as a similar growling came from her insides.
"Shall I prepare a meal for you, Master Vash?"
"Aww, do you have to use that 'master' stuff? It sounds so wrong."
"It would be impolite to address my master improperly."
"Well, if you're going to be that way, then you'll have to use my full name! I am Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gumbigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre André Charton-Haymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third. Don't mess it up."
"I doubt he could possibly mess it up more than what you do to it yourself."
"MERIK!"
Heads turned towards the lobby doors and the exclamation that came from that direction. He turned just in time to see a man by the doors finish getting knocked to the floor as two woman charged in, full tilt, on a collision course. As the small one torpedoed his gut and knocked him over, he got a good look of Meryl getting yanked off the ground and spun in a circle. Rai-dei just blinked at the scene a few times. He had to wave off the samurai when the small figure started to pound his sides in with punches.
"You jerk! You never came back! You never even mentioned me in your stupid book! Did you just forget about me?!"
Milly and Meryl were looking down at him as he took the pounding, and he wasn't sure just who looked more shocked. He gave them a thumbs up even as a blow hit a scar and made him grimace. He just wrapped his arms around his assaulter and held her until she stopped applying blows. "Eriks, you jerk..."
Then she began to sob into his shirt. He moved his real arm to ruffle her hair, and she gave him another jab to the gut. Suddenly he found himself yanked into a sitting position, by the ear, by one pissed off Meryl Stryfe. "What the hell did you do this time?!"
"Nothing, I swear!"
Another blow hit the growing sore spot. "Nothing is exactly right, jerk..."
"Okay Vash, what's this about?"
"It's a long story. Suffice to say, she's sort of my little sister."
"Little sister? Then she's another like you?"
"No, I kinda got adopted into the family... This really isn't the place, we should go upstairs."
He gingerly got up, supporting the new weight attached to him as best he could. She was lighter than he remembered, which wasn't a good sign. Meryl helped him get up the stairs with minimal jostling of his burden. She wasn't crying or hitting him now, just clutching onto him with a grip that would have put Milly to shame. Somehow, he would have preferred it if she had kept doing either of the first two. As it was, he would deal with whatever it led to.
"Who is she, Vash?"
"Lina."
They entered the apartment.
...¤groan¤... Ugh, what time is it...
Wolfwood: Too soon to be awake, the hangover's not gone.
Legato: ...zznk¤phweet¤ ...zznk¤phweet¤
Well, it must have been a good party, because I don't remember a thing. ...where are my pants?
Wolfwood: Nowhere near me, thank the lord. I think you gave them to a leprechaun for luck...
This looks like a job for... Emergency Pants!
Wolfwood: Why do you have emergency... nevermind, I'm better off not knowing.
Reviewer Responses
cjflutterbye: More warm fuzzies may be required now, but who's to say that there wasn't another hand in the original meeting mix? Maybe there was...
betsytheripper: Sadly, if anyone reads the start of chapter notes, I will be harassed to death via e-mail. Such is the price paid. And E.G. is a looooser!
Sorian: Can't love the party and update. One precludes the other.
SapphireWhiteTigress: Hopefully this won't be depressing all over again. And if it is, all will be made right next chapter! Well, mostly, anyway...
kitsune: I made a lady cry? I'm awesome! ...wait, no, that makes me horrible! ...horribly awesome? As to the plants themselves, I have that all figured out too for this storyverse- however, all shall be explained in due course by the story. We're talking big plot points ;)
Neptune Butterfly: The day to blow up things isn't far off, though a few things have to happen first. Okay, a whole mess of things... It'll take a while, but I'm sure I can fit in a few random explosions in the meantime.
Yma: Worry not, loyal review squad! I may be slowed, but I shall not cease until such time as I can stick a big "THE END" at, er, the end. Knives was rather low-key today, eh? Must be finally softening up. Or maybe not! (The bad plant looked at me...) o-o;
I took one of those "Which character are you" tests against my better judgment. Apparently, out of all the Trigun characters, I'm... Kuroneko-sama. It makes sense. Especially the "People probably think you are rather strange" bit.
Disclaimer: Now that I have a stable E-mail, watch some bored god shoot the mail server with a lightning bolt just for giggles.
Chapter 21: Big Brothers and Little Sisters
This was unexpected. He did not like unexpected. When he had first /heard/ the presence, it had come as quite a shock. Legato had reported him to be dead, and Legato was quite truthful- he had seen to that. However, Legato had quite clearly been mistaken in that assessment. So it was with the spiders- even the very best he found were still prone to flaws and lapses. Because of those, now he had to deal with it personally.
He got up and left the apartment without a word. The gunsmith was busy pouring over the steamer schedules, but wasn't so busy as to not notice. He pondered telling it that it could stop now, but deemed the effort unneeded. It would find out soon enough on its own, and the measured, directed thoughts it was giving off were more pleasant than the normal emotion-powered racket. Not that it was much of an improvement over the cacophony of noise he /heard/ anyway. He even had to stop /listening/ to keep down the swelling wail of so many disordered minds in such a small area. When he did, the sudden silence was unnerving. How his brother could stand things like this was beyond him. To have the best chance of survival, one needed the maximum possible information at all times- leaving a sense off was foolhardy.
Unfortunately, he had been forced to do just that to remain in the city, as the noise was unbearable otherwise. He had settled for short bursts of /listening/ to keep up a modicum of awareness of his surroundings. One did not allow oneself to be complacent, especially when one was in the middle of a spider's nest. It would alert him to sudden significant shifts in the overall pattern of the activity, but it made long-distance tracking and searching nearly impossible. Hence his discovery of the unexpected just a few floors below, far later than he would have preferred.
As he descended the stairs, he pondered what course of action to take. He could simply correct the aberration between the long-ago statement and the current reality, but his promise prevented that quick and effective action. The next option was to bide his time and discover why his servant had returned now, and how. Depending on what he discovered, he could then dismiss or restore his servant. The ranks of the Gung-ho Guns were rather depleted due to recent events. Retaking a presumed dead member would be easier than finding new ones.
He was getting close now, so he carefully masked his presence. He would act first. It was therefor with considerable disgust to have the other act first instead. His servant rose from the bottom steps and turned to him, then uttered an apology. Proper, but the loss of first action to an inferior sent a spark of anger through him before he could quell it. That got the attention of his brother's precious pet, which backed out into the lobby. Had the pet noticed his emotional disturbance? Troublesome to more troublesome... but that was for later.
"/Rai-dei the Blade./"
"Master Knives."
"/Open./"
The Blade complied. It only took a minute to scan through the memories contained within. What he discovered, he did not like.
"/You consider yourself dead and removed from my service?/"
"Hai. I failed in the task given me. I am unworthy."
"/I consider it so. You are... tainted. Begone./"
"...that is all?"
"/I will waste no more time on you. Go to my brother, you are his now./"
It took considerable effort to not tear the waste of flesh apart right then and there. Dangerous impulses raced along his arm, but he quelled them. His promise was becoming increasingly burdensome to keep up, but he was not weak. His former servant could go follow his brother until his flesh decayed for all he cared. However, this made the third one of his most able servants to turn against him, and in all three cases it could be traced back to his fool of a brother. He would need to take precautions against further happenings.
"/Heh, maybe there's something to humanity if even the most self destructive can be turned away, eh?/"
He ignored the comment. "/Enjoy your new pet. Be wary, the Blade is dangerous and untrustworthy./"
"/They're not pets, they're people. And for your information, I don't keep them, they choose to be with me, and if they decide not to stay, well, that's that. I thought you were against slavery?/"
"/I am. It is wrong to control your equals, and worse for an inferior to control a superior./"
"/But we are equal- They're not any more or less than we are./"
"/We plants are superior by every measure. It is as natural for them to serve us, as it is for a Thomas to serve them./"
"/...You're going to eat those words someday./"
"/Impossible. And if I were you, I wouldn't let those things clamber all over me./"
"/Aww, but it's fun!/"
He simply stared at his brother as the children scrambled over him. How coming in contact like that could be fun seemed to border impossibility. It looked much more like pain than fun. Perhaps there were crossed connections in brother's pleasure and pain brain centers? It would explain a great deal if true. His own were certainly wired properly, as the mass noise again began to overstress his senses. Giving the scene one more glance, he repressed a shudder and made his way back upstairs.
Good old shore leave. There was nothing quite like it, even if the actual difference between life in the regiment and life outside was almost nonexistent. Still, it was good to just get out and stretch. Sand steamers weren't designed with plenty of wide open space, and at times he'd encounter a door that was just a tad too low and get clipped on the head. Sometimes he had to wonder just what the designer was thinking to make so many areas so small- you'd have to be a kid to fit in a few. In any case, he wasn't in the steamer now, and it felt great to stride down the street.
Now, if he could only somehow find little little sis in the crowds... He couldn't help but be a bit worried. The city was filled with high strung bounty hunters and other folks, and who knew how many of the weapons they had that were poorly maintained and liable to go off by accident? He had already told off one fellow who had been cleaning a gun with the safety off, and while drunk no less. Someone could lose a finger that way!
His reverie was ended when a short cloaked figure bumped into him, mumbled an apology, and walked off back the way he came. He sighed, and reached around to grab the figure's shoulder. The person bolted, but found themselves lacking traction as he hoisted them up off the ground. A screech came out and the person tried to give him a kick to the head, but he just caught the boot with his other hand. The person struggled a bit while letting obscenities fly, but he just waited for them to calm down. The hood fell back, and a practiced eye could tell right away why this kid had tried to pickpocket his billfold.
"If you need some food that much, why didn't you just ask?"
The kid paused in mid-tirade, mouth agape. He took the chance to sling the little guy across his shoulders.
"Hey, I bet they serve spaghetti and flapjacks in that place! How about it little fella?"
The kid sputtered for a bit as he strode over, then finally blurted out "I'm a girl, you blockhead!"
He looked the kid over again. Yeah, it was a her all right. There was so much dirt and caked on dust it was hard to tell. Entering the eatery, he found a table and plopped her down in a chair then took the one right across for himself. "Waiter! Biggest plates of spaghetti and flapjacks you have!"
While the food was being prepared, he gave the girl a good look over. A bit pale and quite gaunt, the poor kid looked to be going on more willpower than water. He tapped the shoulder of a fellow behind him. "Say, could we borrow your pitcher of water?"
"Why don't you just..." The fellow finished turning, and ended up changing expression from angry to a bit of a broken smile. Odd that he was sweating so much, it wasn't that hot in here. "...eh...heh...just take all you want, mister Cavalry sir. I, uh, gotta go!" The fellow jumped up and walked out quickly. He grabbed the pitcher and placed it under the little lady's nose.
"Drink up!"
She gulped it down, not bothering with a glass. "You've been out there a while. Pace yourself, you don't want to be sending anything back up!" She glared at him, and he answered with a smile. She did slow down, and nursed the water pitcher instead of nearly inhaling it. At times she tried to glare or frown at him, but it never lasted for more than a moment. When the plates of food came, he shoved the spaghetti her way and watched as he dug into the flapjacks. Still had her wits about her as she managed the food, not gorging herself sick. He nodded in approval. However, that didn't stop her from smearing the sauce across her face as she tried to take oversized bites. "Heh, you really look like a guy now, the sauce looks like a goatee."
She glared at him once more, then sighed and snatched the napkin he offered. They ate in silence, until she sat back and looked out the window, the barest hint of an 'I'm full' smile across her less pale face.
"So, shouldn't you be with your family?"
Her gaze darted back to him, then it lowered to the plate in front of her. "Yeah..." He could just see the glimmer of tears in her eyes, though he doubted she would let them out.
"Oh, I see..."
"I'm trying to find my big brother."
Whew. For a moment he was worried she didn't have any family. "Well, how about we go looking? I'm trying to find my little sister, and you're looking for your big brother, so how could we possibly not find them if we look together?"
She gave him an odd look. "That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time."
"Then we're partners in the search for siblings!"
"But, I-"
"Waiter! Four cans of pudding to go!" He turned back to her. "After all, we need enough to share with family."
Her mouth opened and closed, then she threw up her hands. "Okay! We'll look together!"
He grinned as he went to the bar to pay for the meal and pick up dessert. The chances weren't really that good, but since when did being pessimistic ever get anyone anywhere? How you felt wouldn't matter to if they were really around the corner or not, that's just how it would be. Staying upbeat just made it that much easier to keep looking around more corners until you found the right one. As he juggled the change, he piled the cans into her arms. She hadn't been expecting the move, and dropped two. She caught one, but the other took off across the floor and rolled right out beneath the swinging door. He hurriedly pocketed the rest of the change and followed her out, blinking in the afternoon glare. From what he could see, the can managed to make it a fair ways into the street.
"You should be more careful! What if someone stepped on your pudding?!"
That voice... He rubbed at his eyes. "Milly?"
"Roy?"
His eyes finally finished adjusting. Sure enough, there stood his littlest sister, pudding in hand. "You look different." Then came laughter at the simultaneous statement. Questions and answers began to fly back and forth. News of the family and such. Then he spotted his young companion starting to walk off.
"Hey, where are you going?"
She spun around, fury written across her features. "Well, you found her, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but we haven't found your brother yet. Can't stop looking until everyone's together!"
Her expression softened. "But I thought-"
Little sister elbowed in. "You can't go around like that! How could anyone recognize you under all that dirt? Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Really now, you might get sick if you stay like that."
The girl began to sputter again, but he knew that once Milly made up her mind it was futile to try and change it. He just picked up the handle for the large pink suitcase she had been towing and set off after the ladies. He couldn't quite suppress all the laughter that bubbled up watching the two fuss.
"This isn't funny!" snapped his little companion.
"What isn't?" queried his little sister.
He finally broke down into whoops of laughter so hard he had to clutch his sides. He finally managed to straighten up and looked his sister in the eye. "You're acting exactly like mom!"
"Really?"
"Yep."
"I guess that means I'm all grown up."
She turned foreward again and headed off. He paused a moment. He had thought she might get upset like she used to do at such statements. However, she looked rather happy, but her smile was tinged with a bittersweetness. He mirrored it. His little sister wasn't so little anymore, and he didn't know quite what to make of it. Sure, he could guess how it happened thanks to the Milly Monthly, but the reality of the written words never quite soaked in until now. She really had changed.
But she was still his little sister, and that meant some things never changed. He jogged for a bit until he was right behind her, then caught a strand of her hair and gave it a playful tug.
"I'm telling mom!"
He laughed. Yes, some things never change.
The children had finally tired out again and left to do other things. Probably things to do with dinner, if his stomach's sudden growling was keeping accurate time. Meryl raised an eyebrow at him, then blushed as a similar growling came from her insides.
"Shall I prepare a meal for you, Master Vash?"
"Aww, do you have to use that 'master' stuff? It sounds so wrong."
"It would be impolite to address my master improperly."
"Well, if you're going to be that way, then you'll have to use my full name! I am Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gumbigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre André Charton-Haymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third. Don't mess it up."
"I doubt he could possibly mess it up more than what you do to it yourself."
"MERIK!"
Heads turned towards the lobby doors and the exclamation that came from that direction. He turned just in time to see a man by the doors finish getting knocked to the floor as two woman charged in, full tilt, on a collision course. As the small one torpedoed his gut and knocked him over, he got a good look of Meryl getting yanked off the ground and spun in a circle. Rai-dei just blinked at the scene a few times. He had to wave off the samurai when the small figure started to pound his sides in with punches.
"You jerk! You never came back! You never even mentioned me in your stupid book! Did you just forget about me?!"
Milly and Meryl were looking down at him as he took the pounding, and he wasn't sure just who looked more shocked. He gave them a thumbs up even as a blow hit a scar and made him grimace. He just wrapped his arms around his assaulter and held her until she stopped applying blows. "Eriks, you jerk..."
Then she began to sob into his shirt. He moved his real arm to ruffle her hair, and she gave him another jab to the gut. Suddenly he found himself yanked into a sitting position, by the ear, by one pissed off Meryl Stryfe. "What the hell did you do this time?!"
"Nothing, I swear!"
Another blow hit the growing sore spot. "Nothing is exactly right, jerk..."
"Okay Vash, what's this about?"
"It's a long story. Suffice to say, she's sort of my little sister."
"Little sister? Then she's another like you?"
"No, I kinda got adopted into the family... This really isn't the place, we should go upstairs."
He gingerly got up, supporting the new weight attached to him as best he could. She was lighter than he remembered, which wasn't a good sign. Meryl helped him get up the stairs with minimal jostling of his burden. She wasn't crying or hitting him now, just clutching onto him with a grip that would have put Milly to shame. Somehow, he would have preferred it if she had kept doing either of the first two. As it was, he would deal with whatever it led to.
"Who is she, Vash?"
"Lina."
They entered the apartment.
...¤groan¤... Ugh, what time is it...
Wolfwood: Too soon to be awake, the hangover's not gone.
Legato: ...zznk¤phweet¤ ...zznk¤phweet¤
Well, it must have been a good party, because I don't remember a thing. ...where are my pants?
Wolfwood: Nowhere near me, thank the lord. I think you gave them to a leprechaun for luck...
This looks like a job for... Emergency Pants!
Wolfwood: Why do you have emergency... nevermind, I'm better off not knowing.
cjflutterbye: More warm fuzzies may be required now, but who's to say that there wasn't another hand in the original meeting mix? Maybe there was...
betsytheripper: Sadly, if anyone reads the start of chapter notes, I will be harassed to death via e-mail. Such is the price paid. And E.G. is a looooser!
Sorian: Can't love the party and update. One precludes the other.
SapphireWhiteTigress: Hopefully this won't be depressing all over again. And if it is, all will be made right next chapter! Well, mostly, anyway...
kitsune: I made a lady cry? I'm awesome! ...wait, no, that makes me horrible! ...horribly awesome? As to the plants themselves, I have that all figured out too for this storyverse- however, all shall be explained in due course by the story. We're talking big plot points ;)
Neptune Butterfly: The day to blow up things isn't far off, though a few things have to happen first. Okay, a whole mess of things... It'll take a while, but I'm sure I can fit in a few random explosions in the meantime.
Yma: Worry not, loyal review squad! I may be slowed, but I shall not cease until such time as I can stick a big "THE END" at, er, the end. Knives was rather low-key today, eh? Must be finally softening up. Or maybe not! (The bad plant looked at me...) o-o;