[OPEN] 🔪🐀

[twisttheknives]

Who: kniferat Nai & you! Probably!
What: Unfortunately, he's here
When: The worst possible time (Dec 27th)
Where: Outside in the coldest snowbank I can possibly FIND
Warnings: millions knives trigun


I. some of u act like murder is such a big deal

[Are you ever just doing cryptid shit for like a century, and then one day you close your eyes and when you open them, the fucking sand is WHITE and COLD and there are TREES? Who fucking authorized this. Where the fuck is this.

For all that Nai wonders what's going on, as you do when dropped in an unfamiliar location where the temperature has gone from "scorching hot" to "Antarctica before Earth fucking died"... he sure isn't showing that on his face. Actually, it might be hard to see his face considering his hood is up and he's sort of just. Standing there. Staring up at the inn, ominously locking eyes with a creature on the roof. Some kind of monster in the middle of nowhere, no doubt, but what.

Idle observations are going to lead him to standing here with his grippers out for FREE for quite a while, in some attempt to take stock of the situation. Human civilization (gross), creature on the roof (glowing), flora abound, what looks like a? moose? animal?, a dog, it's cold... not a human in sight yet, though. Is the place abandoned?

(No, no it's not, you have two minutes of wandering/standing/scientific observation left to do before someone comes to try to put shoes on you, buddy. And like an actual coat that isn't made of knives.)]

II. due to personal reasons i will be named an enemy of the state

[Super cool and fun facts: Apparently, whatever this place is dampens abilities. Like, severely dampens them. Suppresses them, even! Almost completely! Guess How He Found Out. Take a Wild Guess.

(The answer is that he attempted, in no uncertain terms, to cut the inn into molecules and realised he could only really wield maybe a fifth of his power, if that, and he might have also Wolverined the inn wall in frustration.)

(Sorry not sorry if you see him Wolverine-ing the wall. Nai is being 100% normal about this and it's You who is wrong.)

Fine. If he can't obliterate this place, whatever, he's going into the woods and he's going to do what everyone else has attempted this month and Try To Leave. This can only go so well for him, he's inevitably going to wake up something in the woods, but he'll be fine. He's Millions Fifties Knives, he's got this. (Please stop him.)]

III. card(wild)

[hi i'm so sorry for this please slap me wherever thanks]

Comments

i, but also kind of ii

[oleaeuropaea]

[This isn't the first time he's seen a ghost here. He's relived memories of people long dead, or yet to arrive. He's heard the phantasmal accompaniment of a duet he hasn't played in centuries. The paranormal lives to make Vash's life hell, and he's long since begun the process of trying to accept this.

So... he doesn't think twice when he sees Nai's outline in the snow as he's leaving the inn. He'd only just asked Nene if he was here, and she had confirmed that he wasn't. It's just another illusion from the forest. Hell, maybe it's just his own mind finally playing tricks on him. It's not like he's slept much this week.

With a roll of the eyes, he goes to approach the hallucination. The sooner he can get rid of it, the better he'll sleep, right? Only as he gets closer, the illusion doesn't disappear. It only grows clearer, no longer nearly as obfuscated by the snow. The snow that, despite the silhouette's illusory nature, seems to be gathering snow on his shoulders.

One that's drawing the many tentacle-like, knifed appendages outward and -

Vash is moving before he can even think about it. He throws himself at the form, careless of the weapons now poised and at the ready. He'll throw himself onto them if it means having even a chance of knocking him into a snowbank and saving the inn from this fate.]

Nai, don't!

[twisttheknives]

[The good news for Vash is that he is very successful in knocking his twin directly into a decently-sized snowbank. It's not like Nai was paying attention to his surroundings much after a point; the single-minded attempt to destroy the building has him tunnel-visioned up until Vash shouts and sends them both toppling in a heap of limbs and knife-tentacles.

Somehow, it is both surprising and wholly unsurprising that Vash is here. One might've called it an act of divine intervention, if one were not seeing red over being interrupted mid-destructive rampage.]

Vash! [Commence struggling, as he tries to kick — not shank, luckily, but kick — his sibling in the gut to get him to let go. Something insanely childish rises in the back of his throat, something he might've said when they were kids arguing over stupid shit — You always ruin everything, why are you in my way — but instead, Nai settles on something ostensibly worse.] I'm doing this for you.

[Are you, buddy? You've been here fifteen minutes.]

This is yet another blight I'm eliminating. [You're welcome for his services, now let him up so he can destroy this place thanks.]

[oleaeuropaea]

You - idiot!

[Vash does his best to position his hand against Nai's face and shove him directly into the snow. It's like waterboarding but colder, right? Mostly, he just wants to stun some damn sense into the man. Trying to get a word in edgewise when Knives is at his most riled up is an impossible feat. Vash has just one chance to get this right.]

You don't even know where you are. [Cold as it is, his breath comes in sharp puffs that lash at his lungs.] You don't even know who's in there.

[He knows for a fact that not everyone is human. And of the many people in town, only three of them could be blamed for the crimes Knives believed humanity was guilty of. Granted, he can practically hear the comeback in his head. Better to not give them the opportunity. Blah, blah, blah.]

Just - listen to me, okay?! Before you freeze to death!

[twisttheknives]

[There's nothing more shocking than having your face shoved into a snowbank in general, but more so when you've been in the barren, scorching desert for the last century and a half. Nai isn't used to just how frigid everything is here. Vash's hand presses against his face and he goes down, the cold like a lightning bolt to his skull.

Somewhere in the red-eyed fury, through the snow in his ears, does he manages to latch onto what Vash is saying. The thing is, he wants to fight back — remind Vash what they did, continue to do, even if by his measure there are no other Plants here but does that matter, in the grand scheme of things? But when he tries to conjure more of his blades to him, he feels disconnected from his own innate abilities, disjointed like when he was first learning to harness them, and he decides to give. Just this once, for Vash's sake, simply to hear what he has to say before they inevitably start bickering again.

He throws the ball back to Vash's court with a roll of his eyes.]

Fine.

[oleaeuropaea]

[Vash doesn't quite let Nai out of the snow. As long as he's writing in the cold, he has a reason to listen. The "sitting up and not being cold" privileges will be permitted once Vash is certain he isn't about to do a murder.

Ultimately this means that Vash winds up perched on Knives' torso, arms crossed like a petulant child. It's like every argument between preteen siblings, but on century old bodies. The point is that they're idiots, your honor.]

This is Aldric's Grove. There are no Plants, not aside from us. No one here had heard of them until I got here, and even then I only barely alluded to it. Not everyone is human — to be honest I couldn't tell you who is and who isn't.

We're trapped here. The woods wants to kill us. The shadow people want to help us. And... I think we've been here before, Nai. With Rem.

[It's a lot. None of it makes sense, especially how Vash explains it. But sits there with his arms crossed over his chest like he's made perfect sense and, well. Just waits!]

[twisttheknives]

[Two idiots laying in a snowbank, one of them sitting on his pathetic, freezing cold sibling while said sibling has his knife-tentacles lying limply in the surrounding snow. Truly, neither of them grew up at all.

Nai is glaring at Vash, but his glare starts to fade with each word. No Plants. A sparse human population — which explains the thing on the roof and the shadow-people, for one thing. "The woods want to kill us" has to be a human tall-tale, a superstitious rumour and nothing more. Nai would love the opportunity to point it out. "You always believed in ghost stories."

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how Vash wants to look at it, the opportunity to poke holes in the argument stops dead at that last bit. Nai sits up in a hurry, and if Vash goes tumbling into the snowbank get rekt idiot. Luckily, he is not getting up to Do A Murder. Rather, he's just sitting. They are having a Discussion.]

Been here before? [He echoes.] I would remember if we had, Vash. And so would you.

[Would you, though...]

i. noodle on noodle violence

[mooninthewater]

[ That sure is a new face? Sort of?? Vash mentioned having a brother to Mizuki, so it's really not hard to put this together. Oh, how excited he'll be(?)! Congrudlelions, Knives, you have a curious shadow not far off from you. Literally, considering Mizuki's camouflage doesn't show much beyond a shadow. The dim light of the night means that when he does finally drop his camouflage, it's kind of hard to miss the bioluminescent jellyfish. The pinks of his hair have long since faded (he needs to puppy dog eyes at the trader for more hair dye—), but he's still accompanied by the random sprouts of leaves in his hair.

He will reach out to grab your hand because Mizuki is just Like This. ]

Excuse me, did you just get here?? …Are you cold?

closes my eyes,,

[twisttheknives]

[You know those moments when someone goes "I have a twin" and you go "whaaaaat you have a twin omg that's so cool", the reaction here should actually be "I have an evil clone" "whaaaat you have an evil clone omg", by the way I typoed that as "evil clown" which also is accurate.

Anyway.

Nai is literally .01 seconds from cutting Mizuki's entire hand off wholesale before he has that lightbulb in his head that's like, wait, humans are useful for information and manipulating too! Maybe this guy who's glowing and has leaves in his hair is useful!

Maybe it's the fact that Mizuki is distinctly nonhuman looking that gives Nai pause. Or maybe Mizuki's just lucky he's in the "needs more info" stage. Either way, he is (quite rudely) ripping his hand away from Mizuki's. Don't touch him.]

Where is "here"?

[So, yes, he just got here. He's not answering the question as to if he's cold, you know, in his no clothing and knife snuggie. Do not perceive him.]

🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜

[mooninthewater]

[ No, that's fair. He just figured, you know, brothers and all… maybe… handholding was okay…!!! But if it's not, he's going to put his hands on his umbrella instead, twisting it around idly. ]

Planet-wise? I'm not sure. [ If someone else asked, Mizuki hadn't heard it. Not that it really mattered to him regardless. It's "not Terra" and therefore literally any name under the sun doesn't mean anything to him. ] But this place specifically is Aldric's Grove. There's um… actually a lot to go over? I don't wanna overwhelm you or nothin', especially not out in the snow like this.

[twisttheknives]

[This is why Nai is the Evil Twin. No handholding. Ever. At all.

"Aldric's Grove". Unknown planet. Snow. It's easy enough to intuit that he's wound up elsewhere. The how is the question worming at the back of his skull.]

You won't overwhelm me, [he says, calmly, because Tell Him Things Now,] so tell me.

[That last bit is a little more aggressive. The deep lore, please, he's waiting (drag him inside first thanks).]

[mooninthewater]

[ We’ll see how long that lasts. Good luck, Nai.

The going inside thing was nonnegotiable at this point. Especially because he sees your lack of shoes, Nai!!! People pay good money to see those.

He gestures for Nai to follow him to the General Store, figuring that’s the best place to start if Nai wants, you know, clothes. If he follows, Mizuki will begin by prattling off about how there’s a good handful of people here from different worlds. Then he goes on to explain that, though he still isn’t sure how, this was due to something evil in the forest that’s possessing it. The fun, basic lore stuff. He’ll get into the more sit down worthy stuff when they’re inside.

And if he doesn’t follow, Mizuki is simply going to stare at Nai expectantly after taking a few steps. ]

[twisttheknives]

[IT WILL LAST FOREVER HE'S NOT GONNA HOLD UR HAND MIZUKI—

We're gonna have to go into "he doesn't move until Mizuki stops to look at him" territory, but he'll trail along after that in that sort of huffy "fine whatever" way, although his face remains completely impassive. Then Mizuki can explain, and Nai will simply shove it all into his memory silently. "The forest is possessed" is such a human tale to tell. Rem used to tell them ghost stories all the time.

...

So anyway. Into the store they go, and Nai thinks to himself that this is an ostensibly normal-looking store up until he sees the shadow man at the counter.

Okay. Sure. Fine. At least it's a touch warmer in here.]

Have you seen this "evil thing in the forest"?

[That's an easy enough question, right? Because either Mizuki says "yep I saw it it's over here" and then he kills it and leaves goodbye, or he says "nope" and Nai gets to have a moment like "haha you fool, you fell for the Human Lies" because he will take any opportunity, apparently.]

II oops oops oops

[lupusxylem]

[It figures. It fucking figures, right?

Wolfwood is, compared to how he’s been up until today, in a better place mentally than he has been for the entire month. Funny how quickly you can hit your lowest low, only for the hardest conversation of your life to culminate in something far more than you could have possibly hoped for. To say he is feeling good is an understatement. He’s still terrified, don’t get him wrong. There are a hundred ways this could all fall apart around him, but Wolfwood is electing to not think about that now. He’s stayed over at Vash’s by now, and it’s very likely he’s either already moved out of the Inn, or will be doing so very soon to be with him. Leaving this vague cause the thread is ongoing u know how it is ANYWAY

He steps out into the snow that morning, and one of those hundred ways his tenuous happiness can be destroyed is standing barefoot in a snowbank like a looming omen. It feels like he’s dreaming. A nightmare. It has to be, right? Vash hasn’t told him about the things he’s been hearing, he has no idea about the illusions, and he has no reason to think that figure is anything but 100% real. It is a miracle he doesn’t lose his mind right then and there.

Wolfwood, very likely, has never seen Nai in person. Not unless Nai makes it a habit to check up on his underlings, which seems like something that might be beneath him to do. He would of course know of Nicholas the Punisher quite well, him and his cross shaped gun, for he is the man who will deliver Vash to him safe and unharmed.

He is the man who has retreated back inside to retrieve his gun. He is the man who feels his heart racing and pounding behind his eyes, panicked breaths trying to catch in his chest because he knows- he KNOWS- that Vash would be crushed if Wolfwood allowed himself to get hurt by Nai for doing something reckless. That isn’t what he wants, especially not now that they’ve finally gotten on the track to fixing things.

But Wolfwood knows himself. He can’t just stand idly by and do nothing.

And so, as Nai enters the woods…Wolfwood will follow him at a distance, gun at the ready. He has no intention of making his presence known, at least not yet…as if someone as wildly perceptive as Nai won’t realize they’re being followed.

He’s sorry, Vash. But he’s cashing in your trust in him right now.]

oops oops oops :)

[twisttheknives]

[Wolfwood finally has a good day, so leave it to some guy in a snuggie to ruin it, tbh.

No offence buddy but he's onto you. It takes Nai approximately thirty seconds to clock that the presence behind him is following after him, but he doesn't immediately spin around to confront Wolfwood about it. No, he simply keeps walking, carving a path through the woods for a solid ten minutes, until the trees are much denser and the bark and leaves are blacker. Only then does Nai turn to glance over his shoulder at Wolfwood.

He smirks. A full-on, shit-eating grin.]

Is that cross you bear getting heavy, Punisher?

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood should have known better than to keep following him. He knows better than to think Nai doesn't have an inkling that he's being followed- he's an Independent, of course he'd know if he was being stalked by a mere human- but for some reason he feels compelled to do so regardless. He doesn't know if Vash has seen him here yet, but part of him doesn't want Vash to. He wants to lead Nai far, far away, keep him away for as long as possible. Keep Vash protected in that bubble of ignorance for just a few moments more. He deserves that much.

So when Nai finally turns and calls him out, the only response initially will be the sound of the gun's cylinders clicking audibly into place as Wolfwood lifts it up level with where Nai is standing, holding it as easily as if he were holding Styrofoam. He doesn't shoot...but he isn't going to stand there wide open, either.

Though he doesn't let it show on his face, those words cut through him like daggers. They settle like icy claws in his chest, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.]

What are you doing here?

[twisttheknives]

What, indeed?

[Wolfwood, buddy, he wishes he fucking knew. Even if he had the answers to what he's doing here, he sure wouldn't be handing them out just because Wolfwood is aiming a gun at him. He wouldn't be handing them out anyway, but that's beside the point.

Nai offers something of a shrug. Casual, non-committal, he literally doesn't know my guy he's not sure what to tell you. Yet, for all that he doesn't know what's going on, he maintains his overconfident tone.]

I could ask you the same. As I recall, you had a job to do... didn't you?

[lupusxylem]

[He's trying to get a rise out of him. Maybe he wants to see if he'll shoot, even. Whatever the case, he can tell a patronizing tone when he hears one, and it is especially scathing coming from Knives himself. His employer. The entity that Wolfwood cannot afford to piss off.

Yet. Yet.

This isn't No Man's Land. It's someplace new. Someplace far from the troubles of their home world, one that has invited problems of its own, and if Nai is functioning under its same rules...

Wolfwood won't pull the trigger, not yet. But he sure does wonder if he bleeds red.]

That doesn't matter here. [He mutters, his words carrying a level of confidence he sure as hell hasn't earned, laying eyes on Nai for the first time as he is.] But by all means, go ahead into the woods and don't come back. You'd be doing us all a favor.

[twisttheknives]

[Would Wolfwood care to find out?]

Spoken like someone who believes he has the upper hand. [Nai, buddy, my guy—] I can only imagine where this fury comes from. Might I make a guess?

[This is the point where he actually turns to face Wolfwood, no longer making the man talk to the back of his head and a gaze tossed casually over his shoulder. Wolfwood is aiming for him. Nai confidently thinks he has enough of his ability left in him to block a good portion of the shots.]

Is it the orphanage? [And now he's trying to get a rise out of the man who is, supposedly, in his employ.] The Eye? Or does the river run much deeper than I thought?

[...]

Don't tell me, Punisher, that you've come to care for your target?

[nforcing]

[ Since N can’t go outside in the sun, he’s stuck indoors for a majority of the time. He tries to shut down for the most part, but there’s only so much sleeping he can do before he gets restless. As such, hi, yes, there is a weird guy making an attempt to destroy the wall of the inn. Haha. He has the same weird readings as that other weird guy.

Probably a coincidence!

N sits very politely on the counter as he waits for Nai to have at least a break, rocking back and forth in place as he does. ]

If you’re trying to sharpen them, that’s just going to make it worse. They have sharpeners in the kitchen, though! [ He’s helping. ]

[twisttheknives]

[Definitely a coincidence, they're totally not related or anything like that. The good news is N is not getting immediate violence because gestures, look at him, this must be someone's robot assistant. Like an Alexa with legs.

Anyway, they didn't have Alexas in NML but what if they did, in this essay i wi]

Sharpen them? [Nai has only wolverined the wall Once, because he couldn't uh... you know, completely destroy the place. There's a nice hole in the wall underneath all the Christmas decorations now.] There's no need for that.

["But why?" N might ask, just as Nai decides to be a fucking showoff and makes additional blades from the opposite hand. He can sharpen his own knives thanks.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

How frustrated is Nai going to be when the wall slowly starts to repair itself? Because it's going to start while he's not looking.

[twisttheknives]

[STOP HE FUCKING HATES IT HERE]

[sticksandbonesmods]

No :)

I. some of u act like murder is such a big deal

[devilishkouhai]

Wow, nice toes. [ She says casually, with his whole ass grippers out. She isn't trying to put shoes on him, she is bundled in blankets, and absolutely confused how this bitch is out here walking with his toes out. ]

[twisttheknives]

[You see, he is rejecting the idea of being cold by force of will (he is freezing this place sucks). Anyway, how do you respond to "nice toes"... Nai has had over a century of interacting with people but "nice toes" is a fucking new one. Usually it's "nice ass", "nice tits", "nice knives", "nice murder victims".

...]

Thanks?

[yeah that'll do. social interaction: 100]