driftfleet | (no subject)

I knew it. I knew you didn't like being on the same ship as me. It's hard to hear. [She never thought it was that and still doesn't.] But to call me recycled air is a little below the belt.

What? You mean the way I left broken bits of glass in all your shoes didn't give it away enough?

Oh, or was it the lit stick of dynamite I put in your dinner the other night? Be honest with me. It was the dynamite that gave it away, wasn't it?

The dynamite sealed it, but baking cookies with raisins instead of chocolate chips was really what tipped me off. What kind of a monster does that?

[Vash curls the corner of his lip into a snarl as he holds up his hand into a claw.] The legendary natural disaster... Vash the Stampede that's who!

Is that your weapon? [Nodding to his "claw."] The one you terrorize people with by scratching backs and giving yourself hand cramps?

What?! It's super scary! Rawr! [He meekly lashes out his hand in a mock scratching motion.] It's even worse when I have my chalkboard of death with me!

[She shivers at that.] Gah! Now I'm hearing the sound anyway! [It's true, but the reaction is more playful than accurate.]

MUW HA HA! [His evil laugh is loud but he needs to still work on the evil part.]

Now you can see why mere mortals tremble at the mere mention of my name! MUW haha!

[She just smiles at him and shakes her head as he plays the over-the-top part and then she tilts her head, looking more seriously, but also curiously at him.] You're not, are you? A mere mortal.

[Vash lets his 'claw' drop. He sighs slightly with a soft smile still on his face. He's been better about opening up about this since seeing how many non humans are among the fleet, but it still felt really weird to talk so openly about not being human.]

No, I'm not. I'm a bit older than I look. [Understatement much?]

How old are we talking? How many birthdays did I miss? [Is "birth"day the right term?

She doesn't seem concerned by the idea of it all. She's known gods and vampires and elves and the occasional Jack Harkness with long life spans.]

Ah-- [Vash has to think on that for a moment. Partly because it's hard to always remember each year and he's honestly only been this nervous about revealing his actual age once before. When he told Meryl and her reaction wasn't exactly what he had hoped for.

At least in the beginning. So he rubs at the back of his neck as his eyes suddenly get really interested in that picked apart donut.]

--- roughly... a hundred and thirty five?

[That was about what she was expecting honestly. She was pretty sure he'd said something about humans being on Gunsmoke for around a hundred years and there were memories of his from before that time. She smiles softly.] You don't look a day over a hundred and thirty two.

Does everyone make that joke?

[He chuckles.] I bet they would. If everyone knew my proper age, so congratulations. You're one of the first to make it. [That should give her an idea of how few people knew.]

[Definitely pretty low.] I'm not the first one to know, am I?

No, not the first. But you're one of the first who found out-- [A pause as he tries to think of the right wording. When someone hadn't just died? When he hadn't just nearly died? People finding out seems to revolve around death he's suddenly realizing.] --when the situation hasn't been overly stressful.

Or, well, there was that one time on my birthday the Atroma sent a birthday cake with over a hundred candles in it. Set the sprinklers off on the ship. I tried to play it off Atroma just trying to cause drama, but I'm not really sure how many people believed me. Then again, you could say a fire on a space ship is also a highly stressful situation.

So I think Anders might know depending on how hazy his memories are from having been returned home briefly.

Did it go over okay in those overly stressful times? [Looking at him curiously. Compassionately. She can kind of imagine what overly stressful reveals of being immortal might look like. She could also be wildly wrong, but it would make a certain amount of sense.]

Ahhhhhhhhh... yes and no? [He answers with a soft laugh as he rubs the back of his head in embarrassment.]

Well, I mean there was this group who picked me up when I was lost and dying in the desert. They actually lived in a ship that didn't crash so they figured out what I was on their own. That one went over alight! [Called him one of the "ones who live outside of time" and they hoped he'd "take care" of his brother for them.] They got me back on my feet and I showed them a bit more about how to take care of the Plants that kept their ship afloat. It became a bit like a home for me.

[You know, until a madman nearly killed everyone because they knew him!]

Sounds like you told me about the yes. I'm glad you had a yes though. [She's a little worried it became a no by the end. Too many of her good memories end with "and then they all died." Her family. Her students. The X-Men. At least the people from Marina are still theoretically alive.]

Homes are good places to have.

Yeah. Well, there isn't really much to say about the nos. [Lots of tears and disbelief before he runs away from the problem.]

And they really are. I have to admit. I probably shouldn't let it, but the Twin Roses is starting to feel like a home too.

Just starting to? Did the Three Twins? [Wondering if the change jarred him that much or if he's really been here this many years without it feeling like home.]

[Vash grins like a kid who just got caught with his hand in a cookie jar. Or possibly several jars.]

Okay, so maybe it's long past the point of almost feeling like home.

[The Three Twins had something, but it wasn't exactly 'home'. There was something different about the Roses that he couldn't quite put words to. Even if it was currently looking him in the face.]

That's better.

[Who are you calling an "it"?]

I was so attached to the crew so quickly. By now, the ones I started with are all gone, but I'm still pretty attached. That's why Winn and I went so long never picking a ship to join together. We had our homes and leaving was too hard.

Oh, the crew I became attached to straight away. I guess at the start I was too use to changing towns every few weeks. Sort of like we do drifting from planet to planet. I make connections to people easily enough, but it was a bit strange to have one singular location to return to and see those same people all the time. So it took the Three Twins as the ship a lot longer to feel like a home to me. By the time the ships merged I was much more use to the idea of people I care about being mostly all in one spot all the time.

Is that weird? That's probably a weird thing to say, isn't it?

It's not that weird. Chicago felt like home to me when I was a kid, but after that I'm not sure how much any of our bases really did. And we had to move around sometimes or just be out for long periods on missions. People felt like home, but not the places.

I guess that changed in Marina for me and now here.

[She tilts her head, looking at him curiously.] So you still feel that way even though no one else from the Three Twins is still with us? [She's glad, but she wouldn't be surprised if that made it harder for him.]

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This age may be fudged in the future in a year or two, but I think it's right XD

Works for me!

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