Worry is like a rocking chair, it keeps you occupied, but it gets you nowhere
I am very happy to present to you all my fanart I made for @vashwoodbigbang event! Made in collaboration with @snowpoet123 - author of the absolutely amazing bittersweet fanfiction that you will be able to read on her AO3 account!
And here is a direct link to her workā¤
Thank you @snowpoet123 for everything, it was fun to illustrate your work š§”
I'm so excited to finally show y'all my companion piece for @antiphrastic's GORGEOUS fic, A Pocket Full of Hopes and Dreams (and they all bear your name). Seriously, guys, it's incredible and I'm so honored we got to team up. <3
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
My fic for the Vashwood Big Bang 2023 is live! @vashwoodbigbang
From the start, this job is different.
Nicholas D. Wolfwood is a seminary school dropout turned hitman, but right now he's playing bodyguard, of all things, to the brother of Millions Knives, leader of an infamous cell of ecoterrorists. He'll have to insert himself into Vashās life, to manipulate Vash into trusting him.
Trust is a two-way street, though. At the end of this job, Knives will summon his brother back into the fold, and Wolfwood will have to decide where his priorities lie.
18+
Here's a link to the incredible artwork by @annnahnah for this fic!
This is the fic I'm working on for the @vashwoodbigbang! More chapters will be coming over the next week, but this is the first one. I'll also be reblogging it with a link to my AO3 if you want to subscribe for the other chapters.
Cut is for length, but also this story/chapter contains suicidal ideation and suicidal thoughts, so just be aware.
Prologue
As far as plans for suicide went, Wolfwood thought it was pretty solid, but he hadnāt imagined how much work would go into preparing for it.
He cleaned up the shelter first, because it was empty that night, empty since that afternoon when the cops came and shut the place down while he was meeting with the bank, like the pigs had been waiting for him not to be there, because there was no way he would have fucking let it happen. Then, he took all the papers regarding his life insurance policy and put them on the desk in his office. Then, he called Merylās phone number, knowing it would go to her answering machine.
āHey, girlie. I know weāre supposed to meet tomorrow to talk about what kind of options weāve got. Iām gonna be late, so justā¦let yourself in. The keyās on the door frame.ā He allowed himself a smile. āI know your girlfriend can reach it.ā
Those twoā¦they had really done everything they could. They all had, hadnāt they? But at some point, everything might as well have been as much as nothing.
On the way to the apartment, he bought three slices of cheese pizza and two cans of Pepsi with the last five bucks in his wallet. He sat on the bench staring into the street, blurs of yellow taxis going past him, reminding him that he could have made this easier on himself. In this city, he could just walk out into traffic if he wanted to. He went over the numbers in his head, how much they would get from the policy, how far it would get them.
When itĀ ās all over, I wonder if Iāll get to see Livio again.
The pizza tasted really, really good.
When he got home, Wolfwood put out a huge bowl of food and water for his cat, Kuroneko, giving her a pet all the way to her tail even though she responded by smacking him with her paw. āOh, you bitch,ā he said fondly, putting his whole hand on her head and rubbing it until she let out a cracklyĀ mrowrĀ of protest. āDonāt worry. I left my other keys with those two as well. And a note about how to deal with your mean ass.ā
The cat stared at him with huge yellow eyes like moons, the pupils slits that cut down the middle. He waited for some sort of sentimentality, some understanding that this was an end between them, but instead she hissed and wandered off to the freshly-changed litter box. Oh well.
Wolfwood locked the apartment and pulled the door closed, running through everything in his head. If he didnāt really think about it, this just felt like he was going on a trip. Did he turn off the television? Was the oven on? Did he have the pills in his bag? The booze? Was there gas in his motorcycle? He knew where he was going: Hoboken. Because he didnāt know anyone in Hoboken. Which meant the person that found him wouldnāt be someone who knew him either.
The New York City sky was thick with clouds. It wasnāt like you could ever see the stars past all the light, but that there wasnāt even a moon outā¦somehow it felt better, that this wasnāt a perfect night. Something about that would have felt wrong: a perfect, clear night for suicide. Like when tragedy hit on beautiful blue days.
Not that this was a tragedy. This was the right thing to do. This was the one thing he could do.
And he was going to do it, he had steeled himself, he was ready to do it, mounting his bike and about to pull away from the curb and into the cool nightā¦when a sound like a whale song being put through a faulty distortion pedal stopped him in his tracks. It was coming from the sky, and when he looked up, the clouds lit up. Lightning? No, the light was constant, and that sound wasnāt thunderā¦
Suddenly, the source of the bellow-screech broke through the sky, and Wolfwood didnāt have time to consider what it might be. It was round, and it was blinking, and it was definitely car-sized, and that was as far as his eyes could go because he was too busy moving out of the way because it wasĀ coming right for him.
āShit!ā Wolfwood dropped his bike to roll out of the way, and he could feel the air fly across his back as the object passed above him and into the alley between his apartment building and the warehouse next door. Part of his brain thought that there would be an explosion following the descent, but no, it was like whatever it was bounced between the walls, sending chips and chunks of brick into a cloud, and then skidded to a halt against the concrete end of the alley.
Slowly, Wolfwood stood up and walked forward, trying to get a look at what exactly he was facing. He realized as he moved past a busted dumpster and a broken set of crates that this thing did have wings that had gotten sheared off, and when he kicked one with his foot he wondered over how thin the material was. Almost delicate.
So it was a ship. Or a plane, maybe, but heād never seen a plane like this. A jet, maybe. Some kind of government thing, orā¦
Nope. He couldnāt imagine there were government tests that involved men being completely naked, stepping out of the broken canopy of a wrecked ship like it was nothing, like it was as simple as getting out of a car. There was a glow coming from inside the ship, but it was beginning to blink, reminding Wolfwood of a flashlight about to go out. Thatās what he was seeing now: a tall blond man, muscular, with wide eyes that were trying to take in his surroundings, the only thing shining from his face from where Wolfwood was standing. He was thin, and in the erratic beams from the bent light poles and the skewed spotlights that were used to keep the alley cleared at night, Wolfwood could see that one of his arms was a shiny metal, reminding him of a movie with robots from the future coming to Earth, or maybe like Star Wars when Luke got his hand with all the wires in it.
But those were movies. Those were movies, and this was real life, and this guy in front of him was a human. There was some kind of explanation, andā
Say something, idiot.Ā āYou okay?ā Wolfwood asked, trying not to let his eyes wander because, again, this was a naked guy in his alley.
Those eyes snapped toward him, and thatās when the man started to glow. Not in one uniform way across his whole body, but with the light following marks all across his skin, for all intents and purposes as though they had been drawn on with a thick marker, a continuous squiggly line from his face to his toes.
āWhat the fuck are you?ā
The ship made a wheezing noise, and the flickering light went out. Wolfwood looked down at it, and when he did, the stranger did as well and for the first time it was like he realized what happened. He made a distressed sound and searched around with the frantic kind of energy that Wolfwood recognized as theĀ I can fix this!Ā dance.Ā He had danced that dance himself, more than once, and Wolfwood knew from experience that usually this ended without fixing anything.
And then, the man fixed his gaze on him again. This time, he could see his whole face, the glowing lines like a mask. But even beyond that, Wolfwood could make out his expression: lost, afraid, and looking for help.
He knew that face way too well.
The man slowly reached out his hand to him, hanging it in the air between them, and everything telling Wolfwood just to get on his bike and drive off was overwhelmed by the urge to take it.
Suddenly, from behind them came the sound of sirens from down the street. There were wheels screeching, and Wolfwood knew what was going to happen next. That was, again, something he had experienced way too much: cops showing up and making things worse.
He quickly crossed the few feet between them and grabbed the manās arm. It was cold, and the light brightened where his fingers touched him. A thrumming emanated under the skin, less like a heartbeat and more like an engine. āCan you stop glowing?ā
The stranger blinked, and after a second, he went out like a neon sign suddenly unplugged, leaving him looking very normalā¦if there was anything normal about being naked in an alleyway in New York City in the middle of the night. Wolfwood took off his leather jacket and wrapped it around the manās waist, and then started leading him to the door to get back inā¦except he wasnāt with him. He was standing there, touching the leather jacket.
Wolfwood growled as he ran back to his side, pulling him by his hand. āComeĀ on,Ā needle-noggin! Do you want to get arrested?ā He took him to the front of the building, unlocked the door and quickly shoved him inside, still holding onto him as he jumped up the stairs, out of sight as the cop cars pulled up.
Killing himself was clearly going to have to wait.Ā Ā
My finished piece for @vashwoodbigbang!! I was so lucky to pair with the wonderful fic, A Multitude of Sins by @thefatladysang. The other artist is Glo_Glo_Boots over on Twitter! Go check em out! :D
an almost-year long project finally able to be posted YIPPEE ( Ā“ą½` ) here's my piece for the @vashwoodbigbang , based on the wonderful fic "more than you know" by @kittykittymoon ! had a blast doodling this, working with a fantastic team, and making friends along the wayš¤
First piece I did for @vashwoodbigbang (ļ½”ļ½„āļ½„)ļ¾ļ¾ coming up in chapter six (I cropped this to death. Go over here for the original pic.)
tried a wildly diffirent coloring method this time and I'm torn but still pretty satisfied by how well it turned out.
Check out the fic over here by the awesome @chaoticbuka
Vash made a prayer as Wolfwood died. Unfortunately it wasn't granted the way anyone could have thought. Wolfwood is isekai'd into an alternative universe where a Vash in Grad School is studying to be a plant engineer.
Can Wolfwood convince this Vash to give him a chance? What might life look like on this soft, green planet where they don't have to fight for their lives each day?
Is Wolfwood doomed in every universe, or does he have the courage to break free of the narrative and strike out on a new path?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Itās dramatic to say that he knows with absolute certainty that Vash is avoiding him but, well. Thatās what it comes down to.Ā
Vash is avoiding him.Ā
act 2 of my entry for @vashwoodbigbang. once again, huge thanks to my project partners @nullians and @morning-moonstruck! here's another 32k of whump, with some progress on the side as a treat. remember: sometimes it's not about how times you falter or how far, it's making sure that steps are taken at all.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Rating: M (violent imagery, dark themes)
Pairing: Vash/Wolfwood
Summary:
Lina playfully nudges at Vash with her shoulder, which barely clears his elbow, and Vash tilts his head away until Wolfwood canāt see his expression through the fall of his hair. Wolfwood feels his skin crawl with the urge toā¦to do something. Put a hand against Vashās chest to double-check that his heart still beats inhumanly fast. Push his fingers through yellow hair so he can see blue skies again. Grab Vash by the shoulders and yell, scream, demand, Why did you leave?
āA blessing,ā Wolfwood echoes mildly, and takes a sip of water.
(Or: Two years after Knives assaulted Vash and Vash destroyed both Knives and JuLai, Wolfwoodās search for Vash ends in a small, backwoods little church with a young woman and a seemingly amnesiac man. Legato isnāt far behind.)
Written for the @vashwoodbigbang 2023 with @kerbearos' lovely art. š¤
Here are the first four chapters of my piece for the @vashwoodbigbang Calendula! Calendula - Chapter 1 - a_bi_disaster_writing - Trigun Stampede (Anime 2023) [Archive of Our Own]
Also make sure to head over to @vaporame's blog and give some love for the beautiful piece she did based on the fic! You can find that here: (2) Alright Hello on Tumblr
Chapter 2 illustration for @walfsās fanfiction!
Hereās the direct link to their work
We and @morning-moonstruck worked together in the @vashwoodbigbang event and Iām so excited to share this part of the results! Please look forward to our next weekās update as there is still one more chapter and artwork to be posted!
Other illustrations: cover art, chapter 1, chapter 3
germansingergirl
vaporwave
romaincrisis
pixelskylines
izzy806
theartofmadeline
