Once More, with Feeling...

[thespaceopera]

[It comes at some point in the mid-afternoon, not that space is anything but timeless. The Fleet holds its collective breath as a lone figure works tireless at the controls, surrounded by as much machinery as could be feasibly cobbled together in the span of a few short weeks… But Zhade is here and working hard, and at last he finds an opening.

Communicators and consoles light up everywhere, broadcasting his voice and half-shrouded face in a broad echo. There's nothing to lose, and no reason to hide themselves any longer.]

This is Zhade! Prepare yourselves-- the shields are about to come down! You'll need to hit it with everything you have. Spells, cannons, everything, all of it. Don't you dare hold back, not after the heroics you've shown us time and time again!

[He wipes some sweat from his scarred brow and hits a button, broadcasting instead an image of the Marsiva. The space around it crackles and sparks visibly, lightning rippling over the barrier in a honeycomb fashion. This is the same view as from any of the Fleet's windows. The audio picks up the sound of things sparking and crackling around Zhade, but this doesn't slow him at all.

Instead, he roars a simple command:]

FIRE—!

[The shields are down, and all is laid bare.

What happens next is up to the combined strength of the Fleet, whether they are firing upon the ship to maintain a distraction or boarding the ship themselves.]



[ooc: Please see the latest drift post for information on toplevels, threading, etc. and what to expect.]

Comments

[child_of_luv]

But it's not their fault we're stuck here. It's like they're just being controlled.

I heard what happened to Diamond and Beau. I can't imagine that it was because they were part of our captivity.

[dothelokimotion]

I think you've mistaken me for someone who cares.

[goldenglasses]

Care or not you have no right to end their lives. [Vash chimes in. Making sure to keep himself between Loki and the hosts. If Minako allows it in front of her as well.] Please, don't do this. Back down. Please.

[dothelokimotion]

[ coldly. ]

I have a right to ensure my safety. Or do you only protect slavers now?

[goldenglasses]

I protect anyone who needs me to protect them. Who know? [He nods his head towards their hosts.] Perhaps they are like us. Forced here from their homes only instead of being allowed to live on the ships they're forced to be connected to these machines and forced to act as host.

[dothelokimotion]

Prove it and I'll spare them.

I have no interest in your childish logic otherwise.

[child_of_luv]

What if they can help us get home? We won't know unless we ask them.

[dothelokimotion]

Or they could lie to save their skin. Either way, I do not see the point of giving them any trust or anymore power.

[goldenglasses]

I'm aware of that. I'm aware of the danger they could pose. I'm not talking about giving them blind trust or power. But I am talking about saving their lives.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki snorts. ]

As if you care about their lives. No, you simply wish to protect the sanctity of your conscience. I will not compromise my survival for your ego.

[goldenglasses]

I do care. And I will not allow you to hurt them. I really don't want to fight you, but I will if I must.

So I beg you. Please don't make me do this.

[dothelokimotion]

[ flatly. ]

You'll lose.

And again, I'm not interested in your lukewarm sentiments or your hypocrisy. Or is this what you amount to? Guarantee my safety or move.

[child_of_luv]

Can you tell when someone's lying? You can do magic, right? Isn't there a truth spell you could use?

[Please let there be one.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ a pause. ]

There is something I can do. I can look into their minds.

[goldenglasses]

Without destroying their minds?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki doesn't dignify vash with an answer, his answering look full of lazy scorn. ]

[goldenglasses]

That's not filling me with confidence.

[dothelokimotion]

[ sweetly. ]

I can test it on you first, if you like.

[goldenglasses]

Alright then. [To protect someone from harm Vash is willing to take that risk.] How does it work?

[dothelokimotion]

Come closer.

[goldenglasses]

[Vash is hesitant a moment before he sighs and steps a bit closer.] Fair warning? If you mess up my mind my girlfriend will kick your ass. God or not. [Yes he thinks Kitty is stronger than him and he is not ashamed of this.]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki doesn't say anything for a second.

then he slams his palm over vash's forehead, flashing through all his memories. everything. vash would feel it too, every agony, every sore. finally loki pulls back, satisfied. ]

There. Your mind is still your own.

[ and loki benefited. every weakness, every crevasse of vash's mind was open to him. ]

TL;DR just read the first and last paragraph unless you want a SUPER quick recap of Trigun

[goldenglasses]

[It's a short life for a god, but a bit longer than a human should have. Over a hundred and thirty years of memories as even Vash's earliest childhood are events that he can recall thanks to his photographic memory.

From growing up on the SEEDs ship with the small crew. A crew tasked to making sure that a pocket of humanity asleep in cryo chambers make it safely to a new planet. The Earth having been used up and no longer a safe home for them. Being born on that ship and growing up with his twin. A few members of the crew looked at them like they were monsters, but mostly his life was full of love. That's when Vash learns a motto he treasures dearly to his heart: No one has the right to kill another. He makes a promise to his adoptive mother that he will never, ever take a life.

Then his brother crashed the fleet of ships into a dusty desert planet with two suns in an attempt to stop humans from spreading across the galaxy. The fights they had. Long and bitter arguments that ends with Vash shooting his brother to stop him from killing before they go their separate ways.

That is until nearly eighty years later when they meet up again and his brother, Knives, triggers a power in Vash he hadn't even realized he had inside of himself right after cutting off Vash's left arm. A power his brother helped to run out of control and it leveled a city of millions. No one died in the blast, but without resources the humans turned on each other and nearly everyone died. Because of him.

It was then that he had the sixty billion bounty put on his head. So many scars start piling up as he tries to solve each and every fight without killing anyone. For twenty years he is the only one who ever comes close to dying in his fights, but somehow he always makes it out alive.

Then Knives shows up again. Sending his minions after Vash to throw his life into a living hell. An elite group of assassins known as the Gun ho Guns. They come after him and at first he's still able to defeat them without killing. Then the bodies start to pile up. His brother emptying town after town just before he can get there. So many lost lives. Eventually it's not just people Vash hasn't met that being to die. A floating city he called home is destroyed. His best friend is killed.

Meryl. The woman he had grown to love. She and her friend are kidnapped by a man named Legato. He takes them and he's going to kill them. He will kill them unless Vash does the unthinkable and finally kill. The man kneels before him. Tries to tell him that it was alright. A horrid creature such as him doesn't deserve to live. He can't believe that to be true, but he also can't let him kill Meryl. So he does it and pulls the trigger.

It's Legato who throws Vash into a living hell. A hundred and thirty years of living destroyed with the pull of the trigger. His one truth that no one ever had to die being shattered. How could he face his brother again after that? Yet, somehow, Meryl shows him the way. Teaches him that sometimes horrid mistakes are made, but it's important to keep on living and to try not to make those same mistakes.

He heads out into the dessert to face his brother one on one at last. Only as he starts the long journey on his own he blinks and he's waking up on a space ship again. He's on a show called Drift Fleet at the very start of it's Twelfth Cycle. He's on a ship the Three Twins. He meets his crew. They're a motley bunch, but they get along fairly well. He grows close to so many different people as they come and go. They always seems to fluctuate and he wonders when it will be his turn to leave. Only he never does. Not once in over four years does he leave and return home.

Everyone eventually leaves. Even his ship. It smashes together with the Windrose to become the Twin Roses. He's Co-Captains with Kitty and he doesn't expect to fall in love with her, but after some times he does and even more surprisingly she loves him back.

They have their up and their downs, but eventually his life leads him onto this ship. Offering to put his life, his memories, on the line to save someone else.

Vash gasps and holds his head. As if that could somehow stop his memories from being shared.] Fuck! What the hell-- did you really need to drag up all of it?!

no worries, I'm canon familiar <3

[dothelokimotion]

No.

[ loki wipes his hand on his clothes, a hint of disgust. ]

But if things go sour, I intend to revisit the payback on you ten-fold. Thank you for your cooperation.

[goldenglasses]

Yeah. And why would it go sour if you're just looking at their memories?