Ficlet - Passing
Oct. 11th, 2005 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
It bit me over the weekend. Nico cast a fast eye of talent over it, thanks for that.
G-rated (yeah, it's a shock, huh?), angst (okay, not so much), set in TriMax 11 with spoilers for all that goes before.
The ship's Plants hummed in his head as he walked, attempting to soothe him. They were joyful, and kind. They didn't know how to be any different.
They didn't have Legato hounding them, taunting them, sending them messages.
"Excuse me! Mister!" The voice came from behind him, and her image in his mind was immediate and sharp, a short dumpy woman with her hair tied up in a duster. He didn't want to talk to her; he couldn't talk to her. He wanted to keep on walking, but being rude to her was unthinkable.
The corridor was motionless around him and she was standing there, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
She'd lost the apron, but the rest of her was still the same, still as he'd seen her before. Her hair straggled forward in front of her ears, the dusty hem of her skirt swinging below her knees. He wondered where she'd managed to find any dust on board the ship. "It's Vash," he said. He smiled back at her, reached up to rub at his neck. "Um, I only know you as Aunt Melanie, but I can't really call you that."
Her smile widened. "Aunt Melanie will do fine. Everyone calls me that the last few years, it seems to stick."
"Okay." He stood and said nothing, because he had nothing else he could say.
In the silence, her face changed, the smile drifting. Tension through every joint in his body, and this was it and he wasn't going to be able to -
"Nicholas," she said quietly. "He...."
Wolfwood had loved and respected this woman so much, and this was a part of why, just one small part even from the little he'd seen of her.
He wasn't going to have to say it.
"No," he said.
She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded, then opened them, firm. "Thank you for helping him," she said. "For helping all of us."
"Don't." He stared straight ahead, couldn't look at her. She didn't know. "Don't thank me. It wasn't enough."
"No," she said. "It wasn't. But he thought it was, and that matters."
Wolfwood had said that. 'I'm satisfied.' And then he'd sat on the sofa and poured them drinks and Vash had felt like screaming.
"Aunt Melanie! Aunt Melanie!" The voice carried along the corridor, shrill like an air-breach siren, and a sandy-headed kid stuck his head around a door. "Christine's eating the scrubber intakes again!"
Aunt Melanie looked up at him and smiled. "Everything's new around here. They get into so much trouble." She leaned forward suddenly and wrapped herself around him, pinning his arms to his sides, her head pressed briefly to his chest.
He never got used to that. The hugs from grateful people. He was more than fast enough to see them coming, and he never did.
This woman, of all people, shouldn't, couldn't feel gratitude towards him, and yet she did.
She backed away, looking even more rumpled than before, his body warm where she'd been. "I'm taking up too much of your time," she said. "You must be very busy."
"Aunt Melanie!" His voice had risen to more of a screech, and now there was a wail of protest out of sight somewhere behind him.
"I'm coming!" she called over her shoulder. "Don't just take it away, tell her why she can't!" She looked back to him. "Good luck." She smiled and shook her head. "You're a lot like Nicholas. He always found trouble, that boy, wherever it was, but he always fixed it."
She turned away and was gone, remarkably fast for someone her shape.
He barely knew her, and somehow he felt like he missed her.
He'd told Livio they had to keep on, keep fighting, for this, for Wolfwood's people.
He stared along the corridor, and he thought he could believe it.
G-rated (yeah, it's a shock, huh?), angst (okay, not so much), set in TriMax 11 with spoilers for all that goes before.
The ship's Plants hummed in his head as he walked, attempting to soothe him. They were joyful, and kind. They didn't know how to be any different.
They didn't have Legato hounding them, taunting them, sending them messages.
"Excuse me! Mister!" The voice came from behind him, and her image in his mind was immediate and sharp, a short dumpy woman with her hair tied up in a duster. He didn't want to talk to her; he couldn't talk to her. He wanted to keep on walking, but being rude to her was unthinkable.
The corridor was motionless around him and she was standing there, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
She'd lost the apron, but the rest of her was still the same, still as he'd seen her before. Her hair straggled forward in front of her ears, the dusty hem of her skirt swinging below her knees. He wondered where she'd managed to find any dust on board the ship. "It's Vash," he said. He smiled back at her, reached up to rub at his neck. "Um, I only know you as Aunt Melanie, but I can't really call you that."
Her smile widened. "Aunt Melanie will do fine. Everyone calls me that the last few years, it seems to stick."
"Okay." He stood and said nothing, because he had nothing else he could say.
In the silence, her face changed, the smile drifting. Tension through every joint in his body, and this was it and he wasn't going to be able to -
"Nicholas," she said quietly. "He...."
Wolfwood had loved and respected this woman so much, and this was a part of why, just one small part even from the little he'd seen of her.
He wasn't going to have to say it.
"No," he said.
She closed her eyes for a moment and nodded, then opened them, firm. "Thank you for helping him," she said. "For helping all of us."
"Don't." He stared straight ahead, couldn't look at her. She didn't know. "Don't thank me. It wasn't enough."
"No," she said. "It wasn't. But he thought it was, and that matters."
Wolfwood had said that. 'I'm satisfied.' And then he'd sat on the sofa and poured them drinks and Vash had felt like screaming.
"Aunt Melanie! Aunt Melanie!" The voice carried along the corridor, shrill like an air-breach siren, and a sandy-headed kid stuck his head around a door. "Christine's eating the scrubber intakes again!"
Aunt Melanie looked up at him and smiled. "Everything's new around here. They get into so much trouble." She leaned forward suddenly and wrapped herself around him, pinning his arms to his sides, her head pressed briefly to his chest.
He never got used to that. The hugs from grateful people. He was more than fast enough to see them coming, and he never did.
This woman, of all people, shouldn't, couldn't feel gratitude towards him, and yet she did.
She backed away, looking even more rumpled than before, his body warm where she'd been. "I'm taking up too much of your time," she said. "You must be very busy."
"Aunt Melanie!" His voice had risen to more of a screech, and now there was a wail of protest out of sight somewhere behind him.
"I'm coming!" she called over her shoulder. "Don't just take it away, tell her why she can't!" She looked back to him. "Good luck." She smiled and shook her head. "You're a lot like Nicholas. He always found trouble, that boy, wherever it was, but he always fixed it."
She turned away and was gone, remarkably fast for someone her shape.
He barely knew her, and somehow he felt like he missed her.
He'd told Livio they had to keep on, keep fighting, for this, for Wolfwood's people.
He stared along the corridor, and he thought he could believe it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 07:14 pm (UTC)Woobie.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 10:26 pm (UTC)I love.
Date: 2005-10-11 08:34 pm (UTC)I wonder if Livio will comfort Vash sometime soon. I dare you to write it *uses superwankabrainlesspower on you*Re: I love.
Date: 2005-10-11 10:29 pm (UTC)No hurt/comfort for Vash and Livio. I have other plans for them. Though those plans are currently third on the list....Re: I love.
Date: 2005-10-11 10:32 pm (UTC)Ooh. I await this fic so much. Vash = Livio. . .Re: I love.
Date: 2005-10-11 10:57 pm (UTC)Nobody ever got what they were expecting from me.Re: I love.
Date: 2005-10-11 10:58 pm (UTC)could I be the first? *wanks all over thread* the power of millyfan wank compels youno subject
Date: 2005-10-11 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 03:11 pm (UTC)Thanks for all the lovely words, once again. I hope I write a Vash that Nightow would recognise - I wouldn't like to think I'd be annoying the Creator XD.
Nightow's characters are so fascinating and layered and involved, I can't seem to stop poking at them to see what they do....
no subject
Date: 2005-10-13 06:21 am (UTC)Wow.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-13 08:28 am (UTC)I'm glad it worked - I don't know where the idea came from that Vash had to meet Aunt Melanie again, but once it was there it would not go away. I was writing that damn thing at 6am in the hotel bathroom and crying on the loo roll!
I consider my job very well done that I've got you to the stage where you read this and it makes sense ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-13 06:29 pm (UTC)It's all your fault that I went from just mildly liking Trigun to really liking Trigun with the possibility of it becoming an obsession at some point. If it wasn't for your fic that you write so well, I seriously doubt it wouldn't progressed beyond, "oh, it's a cute anime." :D
no subject
Date: 2005-10-13 10:22 pm (UTC)"oh, it's a cute anime."
If it wasn't for the manga, I wouldn't have thought beyond that either. Which is why I now make it my personal mission in life to make sure that everyone who's seen the anime knows that they need to read the manga :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-16 12:41 pm (UTC)