driftfleet | Twin Roses Mingle

[She rubs his back as he talks about Knives killing Rem's relative off. She has little doubt Vash probably feels guilt for that death even if he had nothing to do with it.] The gate? Is that what I saw? The cylinder?

Yes. Sort of. [And this is where his life gets complicated. ~~Thanks Nightow for not fully explaining Sci-Fi/Fantasy stuff!~~]

It's difficult to explain. [In part because many of the records of the Plants were destroyed in the Great Fall. Vash doesn't really have the full information of what his species really is and is capable of. While he's the second best source of knowledge, only beaten out by Knives, there is still so much that is a mystery.] Plants, the species that I-- [evolved from?] am, have power that allow them to create or destroy nearly anything if used properly. [Which hasn't happened in over a hundred years back home.] We were created to help terraform new planets so a lot of power was required. The majority of that is considered be housed in "gates" within them. [Or at least that's what he gathered from the term that kept popping up in the notes he could find.]

Knives left me for a year while we were traveling together to go out into space in an old ship that we found that could still fly. I'm not sure exactly what he did, but when he returned he came back with two guns.

I'm not sure how he did it, but that cylinder can help focus and channel that raw power like a gate. I'm not even completely sure if it's artificial or not. [He hasn't really played around and tested it very much.] I don't think it can do much on it's own without a Plant to power it.

[She listens carefully, trying to understand. The guns throw her off. Do they contain the cylinders? She also wonders what that was like with the two of them traveling together. Brothers and eventually enemies. That Knives would manipulate and hurt him in the ways that he does... But he's still all Vash had of his people.] Have you ever used your power intentionally?

Edited 2018-08-25 14:04 (UTC)

[Nothing like walking around alone with the person you saw murder everyone you've ever known including your adoptive mother who you cherished for years.]

No. [Sure, he's always been able to see farther, hear better, heal faster, quicker reflexes, and a few other passive abilities that he can't really turn off. Powers that he can control on and off? Nothing like that.] I haven't.

[She's not sure when he knew everything. Even if Vash was fully informed she thinks she gets it. She's not sure she'd so easily turn away the only other mutant in the world if was only the two of them. Especially if they were family.]

Have you ever created something by accident or force? [She wonders if he's only ever seen his power used to destroy.]

No. I haven't. [He gives that a moment of thought and he can't help but to smile a little. Picturing him creating water or food like his sisters do.] But that certainly would be interesting if I had.

Do you ever want to try? [She's not sure it's a good idea either, but she is curious about how he thinks of it. She does notice his expression shifts. That's something.]

[He hesitates. He knows what his answer is, but he's also pretty sure Kitty won't exactly like his reasoning for it. Then again, maybe she would understand a desire to just be human and not... weird. Although, probably best not to word it that way.

How should he word it. He breaks eye contact and scratches at the back of his head.] No. [He takes another moment to try to bully himself into saying a bit more.] Not really.

[She nods, thinking his reasoning lies in the area of fear. And maybe not just fears related to people getting hurt but failure to do it well or to give enough or who knows. Wanting to be "normal" doesn't really occur to her, but it wouldn't surprise her. After all, he was very reluctant to mention his age. She thought maybe that was fear too. Fear of being seen as different and cast out.

Being different is her whole thing even before she was a mutant but so much more after realizing she was. She embraces it and rebels more at people trying to say she's normal because to her that feels like they aren't really seeing her. Not all of her. Though in her time over the abductions she's felt better about it. There is very little "normal" to judge yourself against in this company.]

It seems like it takes a lot out of you. Or at least holding back did. You were asleep for a long time.

It's a bit of both. [And part that he didn't want to face people once he got up.] I don't usually get a chance to rest so easy right after. So I guess because I could sleep I did. [Something about not seeing a ruined landscape when he first opened his eyes and thus forcing himself to get moving again.] Usually I suffer some short term memory loss with it. [Although it's hard for him to tell if that was due to a trauma response or what happens when he actually fires the weapon.] So it wasn't nearly as bad this time.

[She reaches up, running her fingers through his hair. It's much easier to do when it's not all spiked up.] Do you feel like you have any gaps in your memories from this?

No. Not this time. [Although it's hard to say for sure. After all, how does someone remember a lost memory if it's small enough?] The last two times I had this sense of lost. Knowing the damage left behind was because of me, but not having the memory of the event until later. I remember what happened in the mist. Even if some of the things I saw are still a bit confusing over what was real and not.

[Did he say two? Perhaps he misspoke.]

[Oh, she heard that "two".] Was the time Legato pushed it out of you one of those two? [She is thinking the answer is no, because it didn't seem like he struggled enough to be losing time with it.]

Yeah. It was. [A thoughtful beat as he considers his answer for a moment.] I didn't think anyone saw Augusta. [That's because no one did.]

Augusta? [Not quite understanding.]

Ah... um. [He suddenly feels like he's making a mistake.] The other city I destroyed?

[...] That's not what you were thinking about, was it?

In the memory I saw Legato seemed to engage it, but either he stopped or you fought it back. It was right before you... You know. [Killed him. It's not hard for her to say. She just thinks it might be hard for him to hear.]

I didn't know about Augusta. I'm sorry. What happened?

Ah. [Yeah. It's just a bit awkward for him to think about and discuss. More so after nearly causing more destruction.] That-- I think you actually saw the second time he did it.

[He shifts his weight in the bed. As if the memory itself was making him physically uncomfortable and he just needed to find a better position to lay in.] Augusta. [He trails off. Trying to find where to start.] No, a bit before that. There was a group of people sent after me. [He leaves out that they were hired by his brother.] Legato was their leader and sent me a message to meet him in Augusta. It was one of the seven biggest cities on the planet.

[He sighs remembering the feeling of being stuck. If he didn't go then he knew Legato wouldn't leave the city standing, but also knowing that if he did go there would be destruction as well.] I managed to get to Augusta fast enough and scared away nearly everyone in town. [The only benefit of his sixty billion bounty.] Then I ended up fighting with one of his men named Rai-Dei. He was tough and very nearly killed me. Probably would have until Legato-- [He shakes his head still having some trouble processing and remembering that day.] --I didn't even see him, but I heard him. He took control of my body that day and... well...

[Vash only just now notices that he has been clenching his right hand into a fist over and over. He wills himself to stop it.] ...people back home called it the 'fifth moon' incident. Because I ended up blowing a crater into one of our moons as well as destroying a major portion of the city.

[She notices the clenching before he does and gently strokes his arm once he works to stop it.] You didn't do that. Legato did.

Being controlled like that it... It's one of the hardest things. [She's been affected by mutants with powers like that before, but even more so in Marina they would have days with false, implanted memories or they'd augment their emotions or responses to stimuli. It became hard to trust reality and yourself. But more so there's just a violation to the act of having your agency stripped away and supplanted. Then to carry all that guilt around and the hate and fear of others.] You didn't deserve that. No one does.

[It doesn't change the fact that that city was only destroyed because he was there and existed. If he was human or had never been born then those cities wouldn't be destroyed.]

No one. [He can at least agree that losing control of your own body is not something anyone should suffer through.] I told myself it wouldn't happen again. [He smiles at Kitty.] Thanks for being there and making sure I didn't break that promise.

Anytime. [She gently touches his face while looking at him, brushing back some of his blond hair.] Maybe there are ways to help keep it from happening in the future.

[He attempts to laugh, but it comes out more like he was scoffing at the suggestion.] Yeah. Could chop my arm off. [He's kidding of course.

....although he may have considered it at some of his lowest points.]

[Should she mention she considered it down on the planet? That she didn't rule it out so much as knock it down to option 2. At least it still came before killing him?]

I was thinking training.

[He manages to resist outright groaning.] That seems dangerous. How do you train something that can destroy a city if it gets out of control?

By waiting for empty, lifeless planets and moons and asteroids. We come across those sometimes. We could scan for life signs and warn the fleet to stay clear. [It's definitely not something she wants to encourage when people are around.]

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