Stranded... out there

Entry tags:

[adventure],
[meme]

Stranded... out there

Disaster. Your plane crashed, your boat holed, your guide has left you stranded in the depths of the wilderness. Certainly, your surroundings are beautiful in their way, but we all know that nature is long on majesty and short on mercy. And unlike those guys on the Discovery Channel, there isn't a Motel 6 around you can pop into.

Desert. Whether it's cacti and hardpan, or dunes and sidewinders, you'd better find an oasis fast. And take care... it gets cold at night.
Jungle. Ah, the rainforest, that thriving hotspot of biodiversity! ...and just as many toxic compounds as there are species.
Tundra. Doesn't matter if it's Farenheit or Celsius, the thermometer is too many digits in the negative. But hey, at least there might be penguins.
Mountains. You might be hungry and windburnt, but the view is unmatched. Watch that first step, it's a doozy!
Savanna. Lions and termites and baobab, oh my... Never mind looking for food, you might be food if you aren't careful. And stay out of trenches with too many wildebeest.
Deep forest. The woods are quiet, dark, and deep. Do you know how to tell edible puffballs from Destroying Angel? Better learn quick.
Deep space. Maybe the ship has lost its engines and is drifting towards nowhere fast, or maybe it's a space station long abandoned, but you know what they say--no one can hear you scream.
Island. Let's face it, it would be nice, if it had been your idea to be here. Where did the Swiss Family Robinson find all that stuff, anyway?
Motel. Never mind, there is a Motel 6. No, wait--Motel 5? Oh boy. You really wish they hadn't left the light on, because nothing it reveals is something you want to see.

Problems:

Weather: It's turning for the worse and you need a place to hide.
Hostile wildlife: Whether it's looking for lunch or wants you off its patch, this is going to be a problem.
No luggage ...or anything else, including food, water, or shelter.
Hurt: Perfect time to practice making splints out of sticks!
Other! Listen, it's a big world, it has lots of ways to make you miserable.

adapted from the Lost in the wilderness meme @

memebells

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[ How would you feel about some weird time-travel-slash-gate-fuckery causing baby Nai and not so baby Vash to meet in the desert? ]

[ that sounds great to me! :) i am in need of some serious copium after that finale l-lmao... ]

[ (OOC: :^) I am in shambles... we love a series that leaves us with intense emotional damage... I'm gonna go with an au version of post-ep 12 where Vash still has at least some of his memories!)

This isn't that different from any other day Vash has experienced in the last century or so—stumbling through the desert, wearing holes in the soles of his feet while the sun burns down on the back of his head. Only difference is he's missing his left arm, and he can barely see through the crack in his left lense.

If somebody told him he'd shot a hole clean through the planet and spit himself out the other side, he'd believe it. If they told him he'd died, God was real and this was the personal hell hand-picked for him, he figures he'd deserve it.

Julai is a blur, a funny haze of heat and pain and tears, but Vash remembers—with perfect clarity—Nai's face in that last second before it all burned away.

You killed him. You killed him. You k—

Vash chokes, and lifts his head, wet in his eyes and a ringing in his ears. There is—pure white, like a pearl in the sand, blowing in the wind like a lady's handkerchief—right over there beneath the ledge— ]

Nai?

[ His body lurches forward without thinking, skidding through the sand as he stumbles down the embankment into the ravine. He's hallucinating, or this really is his own personal hell, because this is not Nai, this is a memory of him that's been gone for so much longer than a hundred years.

But he feels real when Vash gathers him frantically into his arms, so much smaller than he should be. Vash bundles him against his chest, pressing his face to the top of his head snd letting his tears fall freely for the first time in hours. ]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—

[ his mind is a haze consisting more of feelings and blurry images that meld together, slowly becoming aware of the heat surrounding him in his dreams.

... dreams that are suddenly ripped from him as he awakens with the sun blinding him terribly, vash's face momentarily hidden in shadow. disoriented terribly, nai's heart jumps into his throat as he tries to blink away the lingering drowsiness.] V-Vash...?

[his voice is hoarse from disuse and from laying out under the blistering sun. his clothes are too big and ripped from a battle he has no recollection of now. he tries to crane his neck to look up at vash, blinking at the feeling of something wet sliding down his cheek. he reaches a hand up to touch at vash's cheek.] You look strange...

[ Vash tenses as if touched by a ghost, every muscle in his body drawing taut at once. Seeing him like this was already hell enough; for Nai to reach out and respond to him, living and breathing like Vash didn't just carve him up into a hundred thousand molecules, is more than a hell. It's something else entirely.

Vash lifts his head, staring into the distance at nothing at all, and counts to five. Enough time to breathe, gather himself, and force a smile before he looks at Nai. ]

Guess I do, huh? [ he says, wetly, scrubbing the tears from his face. This is Nai, alright, exactly as the day Vash left him behind, the iridescence in his eyes marking him as closer to their kin than Vash ever was.

Vash loosens his death grip on Nai's body, keeping his hand on his shoulder to steady him as he props him upright with a knee. ]

I'm still me. Just... bigger, [ he says, and he wonders if this version of Nai really doesn't know. He has Nai's clothes, with all of the rips that both of them put there, but...

Vash pats down his shoulders, one at a time, looking for wounds. Burns. Any sign he's not going insane. ]

Are you hurt? Do you... remember anything about how you got here?

[ there is a lot to take in, from vash's outwardly changes to the feeling of the desert sun still beating down on them to the way the sand kicks up with every movement and slight breeze. the sand and heat are new to him, toes and fingers wiggling at the sensation of grit sticking to his skin. he looks from vash down to himself as he's propped up and then patted down, brows furrowed as the gears turn in his head. ]

Bigger and you smell strange. [ a far cry from the sterile, clean environment of the ships. nai squints at vash, expression pulled into a frown as he lets vash handle him. looking for something nai isn't aware of yet. ]

I remember falling asleep with you. [ he reaches to touch at the sunglasses perched on vash's face. curious, skeptical. ] We were in the gardens watching the stars. [ he had expected to wake up in his bed, rem finding them as she usually did and carrying them back to their beds. ] Vash... what's going on?

Edited 2023-03-30 16:45 (UTC)

[ Vash just about laughs, though it's a short and shriveled noise with a sniff stuck to the end of it. ]

Guess all this dirt and sweat does make me a little fragrant. [ And blood. And tears. And whatever the hell was in that fish tank of a prison—

Yeah, not thinking about that.

He stills for a second, letting Nai explore, and then reaches up to slide the glasses off. They're usually there to hide the faint iridescent sheen of the marks across his pupils, but he figures it's easier not to hide right now. ]

The ships... fell. A long time ago. [ He picks his words carefully, instinctively shying away from the truth. Does Nai really need to know? Maybe it's better this way. ]

I don't know why you're out here in the desert alone, but we're all here now making the best of it. How do you feel?

[ nai listens, fingers taking the glasses from vash to look through the lenses. he looks at vash through them first, and then towards the sky. even through the glasses, he squints at the brightness of the sun.

he stops, lowering the glasses as he stares at vash when he hears the news. the ships... then that would mean- ]

'We'...? [ he trails off, staring up at vash. ] I feel fine. [ a pause. ] It's really hot, though.

[ Vash follows his gaze upward. He's learned to tolerate the heat by now, but Nai is just a kid. If all he remembers is the carefully controlled climate of the ships, this would have to be unbearable for him. ]

Yeah... sorry about that. [ he's not sure what he's apologizing for, but... ] Here, take this. It won't help with the heat, but it'll keep the sun off you, at least, while we try to find some shade.

[ He shimmies out of his jacket, tattered and blackened but still intact enough to serve as some kind of protection, and drapes it over Nai's shoulders.

It's... comically large on him, which almost makes him laugh. He sets himself to the task of tying it up around the waist, while he tries to explain the elephant in the room. ]

'We' as in... the people who survived. Or at least their children and grandchildren. It's been a really long time, Nai.

[ he frowns when he is dressed in the cloak, the fabric heavy and not at all like the kind he is - was - used to wearing. it's new and strange, but far from the important matter at hand.

nai touches the tattered edges of the coat, rubbing the abused material between his fingers. even if vash had never said anything, nai could see through deductions that it had, indeed, been a very long time.

though deduced logically, illogically he feels ill thinking about this news. he swallows, pushing down the surge of emotions rising up inside. ] What- What happened? [ a pause, looking back up at vash, the fabric hooded over him tilting back with the motion. ] What about Rem?

[ Vash's face falls. He sees that look on Nai's face, a mirror image of the one Vash wore the day it happened. What happened, that his brother stopped caring? ]

Rem... didn't make it, [ Vash says, the words because of you rattling around the back of his skull on repeat. He banishes them firmly. He won't hold this memory of his brother accountable for a crime he hadn't committed yet.

But still, it's hard to forget that the potential is there. ]

[ he studies vash's face as he speaks, his own expression passive. internalizing the emotions that flood him, pushing them down until it's all just a low rumble. rem didn't make it, but it's fine. it's okay.

his hands lower into his lap, fingers gripping vash's jacket. ]

How long ago? [ vash is so big now, that alone shakes nai to his core. ]

[ And there he goes, unreadable again just like that. Vash doesn't know what to make of it—has never known, really, what to do when Nai gets in his own head like this. Always the younger, letting everyone else solve those problems around him. If Rem were here, she'd know what to do, but she's not, is she?

So now Vash is the eldest, and this is his job.

He reaches for his brother's hands, untangling small fingers from his jacket and just... holding them. ]

A century and a half, give or take. I'm sorry—not a great way to find out, huh?

[ nai startles minutely when vash takes his hands in his, the static creeping around his thoughts. a rushing in his ears. ]

It can't be helped... [ his words trail off, the rushing in his ears growing louder when he notices the change in color of vash's hand, non-flesh, different.

his fingers wrap around vash's prosthetic finger slowly, eyes widening. ]

V-Vash...? What is this?

[ Vash's heart crawls into his throat. As if burned, he tugs his prosthetic away, tucking it to his side. ]

It's... just a replacement, for one I lost. It happened in an accident, a long time ago.

[ If he rationalizes it enough to himself, he can even twist it into the truth—he accidentally tapped into a power he never should have touched, and the only reason it didn't kill everyone in that room is because of his brother's intervention.

He squeezes Nai's hand. One good thing. He owes him for that. ]

You don't have to worry about it, okay? It's a rough world, here. This is just something that happens sometimes.

A replacement?

[ the thought alone is horrifying, but worse yet is the reality. his brother was hurt and he - what did he do? where was he when vash was injured so terribly? vash may have tucked away the prosthetic arm out of view, but nai can't simply forget about it.

he squeezes vash's hand in return, tight and unwilling to let him go.

there are so many questions he needs to ask, but where to start? where to start? his head feels dizzy, the sun bearing down on him even while wearing vash's jacket. ]

Where- Where are we now? [ hot and sand as far as the eye can see. ]

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Stranded... out there

nai | trigun stampede

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