#punishercross

[blankticket]

@punishercross

"Hmm. I mean, I named Razra. And you take care of the birds more 'n I do, right? I think it's only fair you get to do that yourself?" Vash tilts his head up from where he's kneeling, loading the laundry basket with freshly-dried clothes at a leisurely pace. It's a lazy sort of day, the warmth of the basket's contents pleasant against his hands. "Or, oh, did you want ideas from me?"

[punisheye]

It's been a few days, and he's been going back and forth on whether or not to reach out.

He finally bites the bullet, though. He's got a bunch of dough laid out on the kitchen counter and only two hands. It's the perfect excuse.

[ text ] You 🫵 [ text ] Take a break from homesteading and come help me [ text ] Making food for the orphanage here

@punishercross

[nomansjudge]

@punishercross | Somewhere in Archimedes

Skittering around was getting to get really, really, reaaalllllyyy boring. Zazie hated boredom. Just as much as they now hate the fact that they aren't apart of their network anymore.

Being single sucked.

So, Zazie finds themselves once again out and about, because staying inside their apartment with all of the buzzing from all the Lost Technology was starting to drive them up the wall.

Funny. In the most cosmic ironic sense. They weren't laughing, though.

Zazie stops in their tracks the minute they see the familiar large, covered cross shape leaning against a bench. Maybe today won't be as boring after all.

They skitter right up to the side of the cross and peer around it, a very bright grin on their face. "Punisher! It's so nice to see you!"

[hanabisays]

@punishercross

"Nico!" The smile worn on Hanabi's face is very natural, as if it has become second nature. Who wouldn't smile seeing Wolfwood? It was always a pleasure and a fun time to see the priest, after all!

"Welcome to my home! THIS right here is Japan! Very pretty, isn't it?" She extends her hands out wide as she takes in the fresh breath of air that her homeworld offers. It's nice. Very nice to be here.

"Want me to show you around~?"

[inablinkgone]

Bars aren't Till's favorite places. They have too many people, alcohol doesn't really do anything for Till, and oftentimes the way the drunken crowd acts brings up some of his worst memories… Really... The things Till is willing to go through to see his favorite underground bands play.

Still, he usually follows the smokers out for some 'fresh air' between sets. There's a surprising number of people on the street, not all of them from the bar. Till usually stands around with his hands in his pockets, but eyeing the smokers, he thinks about how nice it would be to have something to do with his hands… And he'd be lying if he said he didn't think they looked cool - like the album covers of the old punk bands he'd been allowed to look at.

Impulsively, Till finds himself walking up to one of them, someone wearing dark glasses despite the fact that it's nighttime, so he doesn't feel the need to try to look them in the eye and nervously fiddles with the ring on his finger.

"Can I… Can I bum a smoke?" Till asks, trying for casual and failing, using the code he'd heard smokers use before.

@punishercross

[prxmrosx]

A MASS TEXT (SENT INDIVIDUALLY AND NOT AS A GROUP)

@cerebralbleu @punisheye @punishercross @amoirsetpacis @deathreversed @guidingstarmira @blightsbite @kleinstar @starsvein

Text: How are you?

[stungunmillie]

@punishercross

Another long day ended. Another day of wandering around Spirale, of getting acclimated to the island. Another day of marveling at the technology here--most of it beyond Millie's wildest imaginings--and trying to navigate the public transit. Today, especially was a day for learning how to travel--today was the day when Millie first discovered that this place had more than just the Island. There were the branches, too.

Millie had spent half the day trying to learn about each branch from asking various people, and the other half attempting to travel to one of the branches. She was particularly interested in the Land of Burnt Umber--it seemed, by all description, to be the closest environment to home. Not that Millie necessarily missed the arid climate into which she was born (water falling from the sky was a miracle! oceans were a miracle! and she was enjoying every minute!), but Millie wondered if she might see a familiar face if she went to a place that seemed the most like home.

She'd run into Mr. Priest, Mr. Vash, another Mr. Vash, and a man who also looked strangely like Mr. Vash. But she hadn't seen a single sign of Miss Meryl.

But it was getting close to sundown, and Millie had been advised strongly to not venture out towards that Branch after dark. Getting to the Land of Burn Umber required going through the Mistwood, which Millie had heard several spooky stories about. That was not a place you wanted to be after dark. Millie heeded the warnings, and just as she reached the road leading from the Cotes Ward towards the Mistwood, she marked its location in her memory, and got ready to turn around and hop on a train back to Golden, back to her apartment.

But she stopped. A man caught her eye. A very familiar silhouette. Millie turned towards him immediately--and stopped.

Something was off. Yes, he looked like Mr. Priest...but a handful of subtle things about his features were different. Just like with the littler Mr. Vash, Millie could tell immediately that this was not the Wolfwood she'd known. But he was also still Wolfwood.

Meeting two versions of the same person once was easy to explain away as "they must be cousins." Meeting two versions of the same person twice...that was more than a little uncanny.

"This is getting too weird," she said aloud. "First there's two Mr. Vashes, and now there's two Mr. Priests. I mean, what are the odds? Of two people I know having a cousin with the same name who also looks just like them? Sure, it happens! But does it really happen this often? Something is funny. Something is funny, here."

"Also, goodness gracious, your pants are too short, Mr. Priest. You look like you've outgrown them. And where are your socks??"

[amoirsetpacis]

★ --;; Laughter, cold and harsh and horribly, horribly familiar in a way Vash desperately wishes it weren't, rings and reverberates through the fallen mist in a way that sends ice through his nerves and veins, sets a fire under the soles of his feet. All at once he's alone again in the veil of it all, and looking around wildly, trying to hone his senses in on any one point, leaves him still with the only option he's been able to take for so much of his life; run.

Towards it this time instead of away, despite the overwhelming dread seeping through his lumps and heart and lungs, filling them like so much cement trying to forcefully grind him to a halt. He doesn't let it, though-- he's here, that much Vash's successor had told him, that much Vash had been trapping tightly beneath his ribcage in the hopes that that fear would stay there, quiet, if only for a few more days. Until distance could be put, somehow, an excuse to try and rally himself together.

Seems he isn't getting the chance to do so.

The heavens fall out of the blank nothingness; as though the high rises of the city have been washed away with the damp there are no explosions to be had as starships that should not be here roar into existence, as they struggle to prevail against the inevitable collision with unforgiving earth, as they scream with the impact. They blip rapidly in and out of existence, distort themselves, as though they know they should not be here but have on other option other than to remain no matter how much they fight against it.

The laughter echoes again. A bullet rings, millimeters from his ear at zips by. Heart in his throat, Vash turns.

@cerebralbleu > @punishercross