VASH THE STAMPEDE | TRIGUN MAXIMUM
CANON POINT: POST-MANGA | PENNED BY EVEE
A.K.A. - The Humanoid Typhoon, human kind's first localized disaster, the first human act of God, The 60-billion Double Dollar Man, John P. Smith, Eriks - among others
6'5" / 196cm , 180lbs /82kg
Staunch pacifist (to his own and potentially others detriment)
Dying nuclear power Plant
Cool prosthetic left arm (donβt ask)
Keeps a wall between himself and others no matter how close you think youβve gotten
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- The walk alone was already helping to calm him just a little. Vash found himself rather exhausted, and this only helped in settling that feeling all the more. He was tired. Exhausted by the turbulence of the everything recently. Even so, Vash followed along curiously, trying to figure out if he had been to wherever Zhongli was currently leading him before. It seemed less and less likely further they walked. He had tried to stay away from the ocean recently...
With a pleasant little nod to the staff, he followed the other man into the teahouse. It was a very pretty place, or Nate yet not overwhelmingly lavish. Humble. He had been in plenty of teahouses before, but never anything this fancy. There were plenty of holdovers of human culture from before the crash on Nomans Land.
Even if there were more saloons than tea houses.
Then, proving how often the other man came here, they were set up with a tea pot, and a menu without even ordering. Vash glanced at the menu, then at Zhongli. Zhongli was a very generous man, Vash knew that. Honestly, he didnβt feel hungry at all. He hadnβt felt hungry lately even if he knew that he had to eat.
βOh, Iβm all right, but thanks.β
He slid the menu away towards the edge of the table. he was distracted by the weiqi board on the table. βIβveβ¦ played chessβ¦β
Obviously, this wasnβt chess, but Vash was only half certain that heβd ever seen this game before.
"Mm, very well. In that case, and because it is your first visit here, I suppose I will choose what to order," Zhongli said, beginning to fill out the dim sum menu card, notably avoiding most of the seafood options. "Are there any ingredients that you cannot tolerate?"
Vash seemed a bit more gaunt than usual, he'd thought. Perhaps with the pressure of food already ordered, he might be able to get at least a bite or two into the taller man's stomach. Vash's homeworld, if he recalled correctly, was one of scarcity... and those who came from scarcity were often loathe to waste food.
He waved over a staff member and handed off the filled out menu card, then picked up the weiqi stones, offering black to his companion. "It is similar, in that both are games of strategy. Here, we take turns placing stones upon the board, each attempting to surround the most territory, until one or both of us choose to resign."
He went on to explain the rules further, though in brief-- there was always the opportunity to clarify later on. A game like this, if nothing else, could provide a welcome distraction and a chance to focus the mind.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Blue eyes flickered upwards when Zhongli said that he would order regardless.
Vash watched him fill out the menu card with an order. He knew that he didn't look well. He knew full well what Zhongli was doing, too. But the man was right. He wouldn't waste the food that was ordered.
"No. Anything is fine." There probably wasn't much point in saying that his spice tolerance was poor.
He took the stones, glancing from them to the board, nodding along as the general premise was explained. - Vash also had a terrible poker face. There was a reason he'd almost always lost at nearly any game he played. His face told everything there was to know.
"Okay. I think I get it. Is there any specific way we've gotta set up the board? Am I trying to surround your pieces?"
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Having been invited to stay with Badou had... been so much more than he'd expected. Certainly more than he deserved considering all he'd done to the man and people he cared about. Knives disappearing, Legato, the other him -- it had been and adjustment even after he'd been in the house for about a month.
But every day he felt like he was overstaying his welcome.
He couldn't just live here forever. Not when his own place was still there. Even if the villa was still a reminder in its own right. The last time he'd seen Jiaoqiu he'd overwhelmed the man. Then he'd nearly absorbed the other him.
It was early in the morning when Vash was packing his things up. He was planning on slipping away like usual.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- The days had been going smoothly at the farms and it really did help him readjust to things. Funny how even just a little routine could help ground you.
At the moment though he was being overrun by Luna Hens and they wanted to peck him to death. He was on the ground, covering his head, yelping.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Visits to Uriahβs workshop had become more frequent as Vash had his arm studied. It was fine to meet up there for the modifications. β¦It kept him away from his own place even though he knew that he should go back there more often thwt he had been recently.
In any case, he was humming softly a song he remembered from when he was young aa Uriah worked until β βOw!β
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Vash was still sniffling and he wiped his nose hard on his sleeve again rather than using the offered handkerchief. The Plant soon handed the handkerchief back, having only used it for his eyes, unwilling to sully it with anything else. He didn't deserve the handkerchief.
Zhongli's intuition was right though - bad luck followed Vash like a plague. The Humanoid Typhoon was a far more fair moniker than anything else to describe the general chaos that followed in his wake. He had accepted that long ago.
Big wet eyes still looked back at the other man though when he offered Vash to walk with him. He looked the way that Zhongli gestured. ...A tea house near the seaside...
"Sure," he eventually agreed. "I don' have anythin' else to do."
Over the span of thousands of years, Zhongli had learned much of humanity. Of their struggles, of the weight of their emotions. Vash may not be "human" physically, but he still felt, hoped, feared, and cried tears... that was "human" enough.
Of course, it couldn't be said that Zhongli had no ulterior motives either-- though he indeed wished to soothe Vash's distress and distract him from his troubles, he would be remiss to forget the disaster at Arcus Cove. Vash had been enduring a great deal of turmoil lately, and for those with great power, turmoil could breed even greater danger-- if he could aid in settling this unsteady ground...
Now, perhaps, it was worse than before, because following that disaster had been the disappearance of several of those involved. Each of them had returned to the tower that day, but in the following weeks, one by one they vanished, until only two remained who had been there to tell of the day's events.
The disappearances had been perfectly ordinary when it came to Echoes.
But knowing Vash's temperament... he undoubtedly blamed himself.
Zhongli led him on a leisurely walk to the seaside, the vibrations within the earth warning him ahead of time of any disruptions, anything that might cause trouble so that he could choose their path in advance and maintain the present equilibrium. The teahouse he favored in the area for its similarity to those of his hometown was situated overlooking the harbor, where they could watch the ships going to and fro.
He brought Vash to his usual seat, a somewhat private corner of the establishment. It was true that he came here often, because without even having to order a pot of tea and a pair of cups shortly appeared on the table, along with the promised seasonal menu.
"If you see anything you would like, you are welcome to order whatever you wish," Zhongli said mildly, then gestured to the weiqi board already set up at the table. "Do you play?"
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- The walk alone was already helping to calm him just a little. Vash found himself rather exhausted, and this only helped in settling that feeling all the more. He was tired. Exhausted by the turbulence of the everything recently. Even so, Vash followed along curiously, trying to figure out if he had been to wherever Zhongli was currently leading him before. It seemed less and less likely further they walked. He had tried to stay away from the ocean recently...
With a pleasant little nod to the staff, he followed the other man into the teahouse. It was a very pretty place, or Nate yet not overwhelmingly lavish. Humble. He had been in plenty of teahouses before, but never anything this fancy. There were plenty of holdovers of human culture from before the crash on Nomans Land.
Even if there were more saloons than tea houses.
Then, proving how often the other man came here, they were set up with a tea pot, and a menu without even ordering. Vash glanced at the menu, then at Zhongli. Zhongli was a very generous man, Vash knew that. Honestly, he didnβt feel hungry at all. He hadnβt felt hungry lately even if he knew that he had to eat.
βOh, Iβm all right, but thanks.β
He slid the menu away towards the edge of the table. he was distracted by the weiqi board on the table. βIβveβ¦ played chessβ¦β
Obviously, this wasnβt chess, but Vash was only half certain that heβd ever seen this game before.
ooc. Definitely probably an unpopular opinion, but I was kind of disappointed that Wolfwood survived the second, and final, season of the Trigun reboot. This is going to be a long one, buckle up.
When it comes to the reboot, S1 (henceforth known as Stampede) was quite good. It had pacing issues but overall it felt like something fresh. Then something happened in between and directors were changed as well as a lot of the writing staff and it did a pivot to being at least loosely based on the manga when the initial promise had been a new story. A lot of things were switched around or dropped with no explanation as to why things established in Stampede were dropped for S2 (henceforth known as Stargaze).
Stargaze changed a lot of things, and not for the better in my opinion. It tried to please manga fans and... overall didn't really succeed. That not to say that there was no merit to it, but it just left me disgruntled more and more as I watched it. To take from a conversation I had with several friends during its run, it felt like they were using impactful moments from the manga without really understanding WHY those moments had heft in the first place. They were trying to do the bare bones structure of TriMax and the "cool scenes" without understanding WHY the story resonated or WHY those scenes worked.
A big part of the impact is Wolfwood's death. A massive part of Livio slotting into place and not being hated to hell and back by the audience is the bond that's established between him and Wolfwood and how Wolfwood would literally die to save his younger brother figure, and then the sort of resentment that Vash exhibits towards Livio not-so-deep down after he buries Wolfwood.
It marks an entire dynamic shift in the story. One of the beloved characters is gone. One of the very few people that Vash has opened up to and who he had traveled with for years and come to rely on like no one else, is gone. And he's sat in this cabin with that friend's killer... but that killer is also clearly broken and also clearly someone that Wolfwood cared for deeply.
So he decides to take care of Livio because this is all he has left of Wolfwood. He has Livio. And in his fashion, Vash just pushes all of the complicated feelings about Livio under the rug to deal with never.
It's the fact that Wolfwood's death in the manga is all for Livio and so when Livio is used as collateral by Legato, who knows of the history on all sides of the playing field, coupled Vash's desire for Wolfwood to have no died in vain - Vash takes his first life (on purpose) in the entire series. All for Wolfwood. All for Livio.
It's the fact that in Stargaze they take all of that away. Livio still exists, but he's just kind of There. He doesn't have the same meaning to the story if Wolfwood is still alive. If Wolfwood is still alive, Livio just kind of... exists? He isn't trying to repay the debt he feels he owes to Wolfwood. He doesn't have that weight on him where he starts as an outcast and has to prove himself to the resistance against Knives. They also just will away the actual DID but that's a whole other can of worms. At least in the manga he learns to work with Lazlo.
Legato... also isn't killed by Vash. Knives does it. Knives completely absolves Vash of dirtying his own hands when he was about to do it. Through the entire story of Stampede and Stargaze, Vash doesn't really have any blood on HIS hands. He doesn't ever HAVE to compromise his morals, he doesn't ever HAVE to face up to the concept that maybe his approach doesn't work. That's a massive part of the manga and even the '98 anime - his approach is idealistic and doesn't fit in with the world he's surrounded by at some point it's going to bite him back in a major way (i.e. someone he comes to care about gets used as leverage). They go hardcore with the "black and white morality" when Trigun SHOULD be shades of grey.
So I think Wolfwood SHOULD have died still. It's a cute AU but it really does just suck the wind out of the sails on a number of fronts consider it's such a pivotal turn for the entire story and sets up the last act and how that's going to go. It inherently disallows some major underlying plot points and subtle dynamic shifts from coming to fruition. But... I'm also kind of glad, because I fear that Stargaze would have just butchered those too.
I will not, however, ever be happy about their handling of Legato. It felt gross and disrespectful to the character. Or what they did with Knives or Vash NOT knowing about Tesla. That felt insane to me. That's a core moment. Literally a character forming moment and they turned Rem into a standard dead anime mom instead of a woman searching for purpose after being depressed and struggling to try and do better than a mistake she felt she made.
ooc. Maybe a really hot take, but I liked the Trigun fandom itself more prior to the release of Stampede/Stargaze - not that I'm opposed to new people entering the fandom, that's always fantastic, but... the fandom just felt generally more mature because it was relatively smaller and made up mostly of older individuals because the content mostly finished in 2009-ish with the completion of the manga and the anime ran in 1996 so most of the people who were in the fandom (at least insofar as tumblr is concerned) were in their 20's or 30's or even older. There felt like there were somewhat tacit unspoken agreements surrounding things in the fandom that everybody just understood.
The reboot really opened the floodgates in terms of introducing new dynamics into the small space that suddenly got flooded with incoming people. The reboot also introduced new themes and ideas that kind of sort of don't really mesh with the rest of the content for Trigun in my personal opinion. On top of that there was the introduction of now-pervasive problems that previously did not really exist in the fandom - like I don't recall there being large-scale problems with shipping within the fandom prior to the reboot. People weren't witch-hunting about particular ships (then again idk how prevalent some ships were prior to the reboot either).
It feels a bit like with the reboot, the whole "love and peace" chill vibe that the fandom had before evaporated.
you beautiful, beautiful being. you are the essence of growth and change. you are constantly evolving and developing and that in itself is something to be celebrated. you are possibility, unpredictability, and spontaneity all wrapped into one super cool amalgamation of a person. youβre so friendly and, honestly, easy to love. the way you feel emotions and experience life is implicitly real, in a way most people struggle to be. you know how to enjoy a moment for what it is and are especially good at cherishing the little things. people just like being around you. you have a way of breathing life into things that need it. renewing places and reinvigorating people. you make people feel grounded but also want more. like jumping off the swingset and flying a few moments before being reclaimed by gravity. youβre simultaneously searching for home and something greater. you are randomly deciding to get food at 1am. first day of school friends. adopting a stray because you know no one else will take care of it. personalized gifts. keeping small momentos like movie ticket stubs. the type to bring food of the whole class. the type to believe in βif I win, we all winβ. you embody both ambition and greed. your longing for new people and places and things can lead to an insatiable, conquering, hunger if not kept under control. know that contentedness is not your enemy. you are like dancingβlike discovery. you are dynamic and elastic. supportive and nourishingβnot in an obvious way but in a sustainable way. you are the spirit of perseverance. you're willing to forsake comfortability and do what it takes to make something happen. you are nostalgia and forward-looking at the same time. you are a reminder of why change is good.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Vash had scrambled up as quickly as he could. He could tell that the man wouldn't be able to hold him for long, but it was their best bet at somewhere to hide. In any case he was moving as fast as he could to unscrew the ceiling vent, wobbling a bit as the other man began to falter. He caught the screws before they could fall, stashing them in a pocket
The whirring clank was getting closer.
"Got it!" - He was holding the vent cover under an arm.
Scrambling back down with all the grace of a man experienced in the art of scurrying before holding out his hands to boost Sunday up.
Then it was his turn. Vash hurried the nearest chair into position, the wheels sliding as he stood and leaped upward to snag the edge with one hand. "Pull! Pull me up please!"
Doing this one handed was a lot more trouble than two-handed, but at least using the prosthetic arm, it was a lot easier to maintain his grip. As soon as he was up he wriggled his way into position and used his other hand, holding the vent cover, to pull the detached metal back into place, holding it flush against the ceiling.
Sunday managed to pull himself up into the vent, wincing at the clattering of the metal... and the machines still approaching. They'd be cutting it a little close, but there should be enough time...
He nodded his head, his wings folded in close against his neck as he braced both feet against the corners of the vent, grabbed hold of Vash's arm and leaned his entire body weight back to the point where he was nearly bent horizontal. He wasn't very strong, or heavy, but the leverage should be enough.
Fortunately, just as his legs gave out and he fell rather unceremoniously onto his bottom, then back, Vash cleared the opening. As the machine below rounded the corner and scanned the area they were just in, back and forth, for several moments, he held his breath and tried not to let his arms and legs tremble too much.
... Perhaps he ought to ask Dan Heng to help him train his physical strength a bit more. Even from this much, his shoulders and arms were quite strained.
Not to mention the uncomfortable, awkward, and rather ignominious position they'd found themselves in, crouched inside a dirty vent, hiding from mechanical beasts below... only when the robot began to continue its patrol down the hallway did Sunday release the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"My apologies," he muttered in a whisper, "This sort of situation is... all rather new to me. Do you think it's gone now?"
He wasn't sure how intelligent these things were... if it would proceed down its assigned route, or attempt to catch them off guard. Feathers ruffled uneasily as he peered down through the grating again.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Hiding in vents wasn't anything new. Actually, it was a tactic that Vash employed probably more than anyone would expect. It had served him pretty well so far. Even if he didn't know the layout of this place, this wasn't a bad plan in all honesty. They might be able to find their way to another part of the facility (or even out) by following them.
He watched quietly as the robot came around the corner and did a sweep of the area. Then it began to leave and resume its usual patrol. Vash nearly collapsed, letting out a heavy sigh of relief. Blue eyes glowed slightly in the dark, reflective like an animals.
He glanced at Sunday. "Yeah, probably." Then he peered down the dark vent beyond Sunday's head. Looked back behind himself. "...We could just follow the air vents to a different area. We'd probably be able to avoid the robots."
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Gathering up weapons he'd noticed behind a new stall wasn't exactly on the list of things he'd been told to do - but... well... he couldn't very well leave them there! He sauntered around the market with a mixture of his own shopping and that for work. Vash was trying to figure out how to smuggle the probable contraband away, starting to snack on an apple he'd bought.
Until someone called out to what he assumed was him. The yell was pretty ambiguous but a fair-haired young man started waving and coming up to him. That seemed pretty definitive. He put the apple on top of his grocery bag and raised his own hand. "Er - hey!"
The closer the guy got, the more he thought he vaguely recognized him, but not quite well enough to know the man's name. He had certainly seen him around though. And just generally judging by appearance he probably came from the same place that Zelda did.
His eyes lit up. "Yeah! You work there too?" It was hopeful. Although it did also make him feel a bit worse about not knowing the guy's name if he was a co-worker. Or forgetting it. ...Maybe the age was starting to catch up with him.
However, being asked if he needed help was enough to pull him back and Vash carefully twisted around slightly to look back at the stall he'd been keeping an eye on. At least where he'd come from somebody selling guns at a market never really ended well. Vash wouldn't have thought much of this, even, had it not been for the fact that he couldn't recall seeing that sort of sale going on here before.
And he was ever-so-nosy.
His smile grew apologetic. "Actually ...So there's somethin' I wanna check out, but it might get a little hairy. You okay with that?"
It would be difficult to pull off by himself but he could always wait until the apparent stall runner wandered away to use the bathroom or something... It wasn't fair to just toss the kid into this without warning him at least a little.
LINK COULD CORRECT THE guy βΒ and maybe he would , eventually β but the triviality of who - worked - where seemed rather beside the point . that , and the whosits and whatsits of whatever in hylia's name vash was doing was FAR MORE INTERESTING .
β i can do hairy . β he paused , then nodded towards the stall that had seemed to catch vash's attention . β what's going on ? β
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Vash glanced again out of the corner of his eye. He had been here for a few years himself, but he'd still never seen anything like that at the market. It still didn't feel right. He pointed vaguely in the direction though he'd already seen the other looking that way.
"That stall over there has a whole bunch'a guns behind their normal wares and I've never seen anybody bring firearms here to sell. Seems a little outt'a place fer a local market, so I wanted to check it out myself. I know it's been a bit, but back on Noman's Land that'd end real badly fer a whole lot of people." He gave the younger man a meaningful look. "If you think you're okay with that, I'd really appreciate the help, but I can also do it myself I'm pretty sure if you'd rather not get involved."
It was entirely understandable if he didn't want to get involved.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Noman's Land hadn't been an intentional home.
Vash glanced down at his arm. It was a long moment before he replied, "Huh... I mean I think so... 'S not like I lost my arm when I came here... or at least not all of. They took th' machine gun out of it somehow, but I don' really use it all that often anyways so that was fine by me."
There's a moment of slight confusion and then a smile, "I meant my work," He clarifies with a light chuckle. "I wonder if the things I do on your arm will stick with you. Or...does it revert back to how it was." It's something to think about and look into maybe.
"Oh, uh, I meant that too. 'S not like I really lost anything when I came here so I'd think the changes would stick. It didn't seem like anything changed when I left for a while a year or so back. If it did, I never noticed it..."
Vash flinched slightly as something triggered the nerve endings attached to part of the arm.
The red warning flashed up over the screen as his hands rested on the console keyboard.
Vash hit yet another wall and was left staring up at the glaring red message. He didn't even have the slightest clue of what he should attempt inputting, he was just trying whatever came to mind - whatever might have even the slimmest potential of getting them in or working. He had tried whatever significant names written down that he could find. Still nothing. Vash frowned. He could only perform so many inputs before the system locked him out and he was certain he was reaching that threshold.
They'd have to abandon this avenue. If they got locked out it cause trouble when researchers returned to find their systems on lock down.
He was about to say as much when he turned his head at the noise of clanking machinery from somewhere down the hall. He didn't need his gate or anything else to be able to hear it, it was loud enough on its own. And it only took a quick glance around the room to determine where they should hide. Vash pointed upward towards the vent, lowering his own voice, "It'll be kinda tight but it's sort of our only option. Can ya give me a boost? I can undo th' cover and then we can switch. I boost you up in and you pull me up."
Vash flashed a small screwdriver that he had found when they first entered the wing. He had gone through some file cabinets and boxes and whatever else he could dig in for possible access codes, pocketing a few select items along the way.Honestly, scavenging items was practically his special skill. The ceiling of the control room was relatively low and they were both tall enough that it wouldn't be too much of a problem for one of them to lift the other up. It would be a little harder done than said for Vash to get into the vent, but he was fine with that. He had an idea of how to make it work.
The number of times Sunday had actually lifted up another person, let alone one taller than he himself was, was approximately zero. The Oak Family Head rarely engaged in much physical activity after all. When it came to rhetoric, he was nigh unmatched, but upper body strength?
... Not quite so much.
Still, there were only the two of them here, and they were running out of time, so there wasn't much of a choice.
Sunday nodded. "I... will do my best."
In the end, he managed to get Vash up on his shoulders, straightening himself up just enough that the taller man could reach the ceiling. Seeing things like this performed by an acrobatics troupe and doing them in person were vastly different things, he thought as his shoulders and back ached-- and besides that, the ever-present mechanical clank, slowly growing louder.
"Have you... gotten it loose?" he panted, barely above a whisper.
γπππ«π€ πππ«π€!γ- Vash had scrambled up as quickly as he could. He could tell that the man wouldn't be able to hold him for long, but it was their best bet at somewhere to hide. In any case he was moving as fast as he could to unscrew the ceiling vent, wobbling a bit as the other man began to falter. He caught the screws before they could fall, stashing them in a pocket
The whirring clank was getting closer.
"Got it!" - He was holding the vent cover under an arm.
Scrambling back down with all the grace of a man experienced in the art of scurrying before holding out his hands to boost Sunday up.
Then it was his turn. Vash hurried the nearest chair into position, the wheels sliding as he stood and leaped upward to snag the edge with one hand. "Pull! Pull me up please!"
Doing this one handed was a lot more trouble than two-handed, but at least using the prosthetic arm, it was a lot easier to maintain his grip. As soon as he was up he wriggled his way into position and used his other hand, holding the vent cover, to pull the detached metal back into place, holding it flush against the ceiling.
