kaisou | network & log

Entry tags:

network & log | un: kni

WHO: kni & you!
WHERE: network & around the city
WHEN: july 1st
WHAT: kni enters the scene and gets lost almost immediately.
WARNINGS: possible talk of mass murder / genocide, generally bratty behavior, etc.

[ action - the city ]

[nai wakes up to the sound of rain, although he doesn't recognize it for what it is. the droning noise could almost be considered pleasant, compared to the absolute nightmare he was finally pulling himself from-

or not. he sits up from the cafe table he'd been slumped over, his cheek still red from having laid it against the laminate surface for too long. he stares blearily out of the cafe window he was seated beside, brows pulling together as he frowns. the rain captures his attention as he slowly comes to, before all at once the gravity of his situation hits him with full force.

kni jumps up from the table so fast he nearly knocks over the chair, only realizing belatedly that he was holding something. an oddly shaped device and a... book? he decides he'll flip through it later as he rushes for the doors, nearly jumping out of his skin when someone - tall, human - opens the door from the other side. he only gives them a sparing glare before he pushes past them to run outside. right into the rain.

his heart racing, kni stands there. staring up at the sky, the feeling of rain soaking his hair and clothes is so new, he doesn't know what to process first. with his new items clutched to his chest, kni's gaze moves from the storm clouds above to looking around and noticing, with dawning horror, that he was surrounded by humans. this wasn't the desert planet they crashed into, either.

from one nightmare into another, kni picks a direction and starts walking.]

[ text - un: KNI ]

this technology is so old and the interface for this application is ugly.

whoever designed this should be ashamed.

i am looking for someone. is the directory in this device accurate?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ it's the username that makes him stare. For a long time. There's a sense of dread in his chest, especially given he's ... at work by the time he sees that little message flash and flicker across the screen.
He'd agree with the sentiment that yeah--the interface for libra is definitely archaic and kind of hilariously old-fashioned, but. How many people other than him had that opinion?

looking for someone
surely it could be a cooincidence
he could hope
he'd been dreading the idea that Millions Knives could show up here
but the name
the name makes him pause
maybe he's... being too paranoid... ]

[ his shift ends soon. and as soon as it does, he's out the door faster than one could even say his name. sorry coworkers. he considers texting a few people. he should warn them. but what if this isn't? what if he's just warning people about something that doesn't turn out to be anything?

but what if...

...
he'll text jun, wolfwood, and dante, just to be safe. then... ]

it just updated yesterday with everyone who should be in the city. some people come and go from this world, as the spirit vein above in the sky works in a very strange way.

are you visiting from another planet? or are you from earth?

Edited 2023-07-01 19:25 (UTC)

i see. are arrivals random or is there a pattern?

the planet i came from doesn't have a name yet, but it's not my home either.

[not yet]

why are you asking?

I ask because i'm like that too
i came from a different world, out of a portal, sent through a nightmare of something that happened to me back home.

ive been here for a few months now, since then. I haven't noticed anything like a pattern.

...Your planet doesn't have a name yet?

so it wasn't just a bad dream.

[the wreckage, the burning bodies, tesla in the midst of it all. it's easier to pretend it has no affect on him.]

no, not yet. it's all sand and dirt from what i remember.

[ ...a dream.
a dream, huh.
there's another downswing in his stomach, and he... he's getting an idea of what he's dealing with here.
for knives to be talking like this
it doesn't feel like his brother that he knows now
with all his high-and-mighty, better-than-thou showcasing.

it sounds like his brother
who was always at his side
sitting with him listening to rem's stories
smiling and laughing
reading books together -- ]

...I see.
I'm from a planet
like that, too.

does it have a name?

the humans who survived on it after the great fall named it 'No Man's Land.'

[the humans who survived

the great fall

no way. no way, no way-]

that's a dumb name. gunsmoke would be better.

[pulled from the westerns he loved to watch, much to vash's annoyance.]

[ he's nudging this conversation along
inch by inch
getting all the information he can

Gunsmoke
he
wants to laugh. ]

Kni, where are you.
I'm looking for you.

This city is pretty big, yanno.

[there's a long pause between vash's text and kni's next response.]

is it really you?

how do i know it's really you?

Yeah. It's me.

Our birthday is coming up. July 21st.

Should I get you a piano...?

[another long pause between responses. his hands are shaking, gripping the phone as he stares at the screen. something about vash didn't seem right, but -

kni would like it to be true.

instead of another text back, kni sends his location. at least it pays to be a tech-savvy little spacefarer. he's found himself at the park, sitting out in the grass even as the sky continues to pour down. the green is so bright and vibrant through the haze of rain, kni can't seem to look away. the ship's garden had never looked like this.]

[ he and kni have always been good with technology.
when the response comes--and it's just a little map marker that leads him to Blue Fish Park--he lets out a shaky sound and
never in his life has he ran so fast
he should have checked the park first
he knew he should have checked the park first

he's going to show up with an umbrella in his hand

but he didn't even bother to open it up, his hair is all down and floppy and over his head
looking a little silly as he shows up wearing a dumb bartender's outfit
with an apron and all.

When he enters the park, he doesn't know where he is--visually--but it's like that high-pitched tone when an old TV turns on
there's a ping in his brain, a connection that he hasn't felt
in months
maybe even years
a connection with another plant, a sense that kin is nearby.

He can feel his heartbeat running into his throat as he tears through the park

....as his eyes fall upon a tiny little frame
his expression going from panicked, to relieved
to confused, to...

he doesn't even know what emotion he's feeling

as he slowly moves to stand
just at Nai's side

the rain pattering overhead as he finally opens up that umbrella
to hold it over his little

Little

brother's head. ]

[after sending the last message, kni sets his phone down on his lap and waits. it should be the other way around, he thinks. he'd never been the type to wait on others, always the leader with vash following right behind him. that was how it should be, but right now...

he can feel their connection hum as vash grew closer to his dropped location. kni can't explain it, only knows it by feeling and primal instinct.

the string connecting them tightens around his heart and kni knows if he looks away from the fixed point he's staring into the grass, then he'll see him there.

in the end, he looks up instinctively when the umbrella slides overhead. kni stares into the face of his little

big

brother, only the sound of rain pelting the umbrella plastic filling the silence between them. until kni breaks it.]

... Vash?

[ it's an unmistakable connection. one he's felt most of his life, whenever knives was anywhere he could feel him. they always knew where one another was, so long as they listened intensely.

so even now, as they stand next to each other
one very small
one very tall

barely recognizing one another due to the clear age gap
and the differences between them
it's unmistakable that this--this is his brother. This is Kni.

He feels something ache, deep in his chest. The same way it always aches when he sees knives, but this time instead of that deep-seated fear and frustration for a man who never listens to him, who always goes his own way...

Loneliness--is that what it feels like? He's felt it for so long that it hasn't had a proper name for ages. ]

...Yeah. Yeah, that's me.

[ ...he'll move, to settle on one knee so he can be eye-to-eye with his very small brother. Looking at him with a look that... attempts to be cheerful. His hair all wet and floppy, though, he just looks like a sad, wet dog. ]

Looks like we got sent here at wildly different times, huh.

[with vash at proper eye-level (kni will save time later to feel irritated about that), he moves to face vash and stands. grass stains decorate his leggings, intermixed with streaks of soot and dirt he'd acquired before his arrival here.]

How old are you now?

[he doesn't wait for an answer to cup vash's face with both hands. brushing fingers over his brother's cheek, pushing away messy, soaked hair from sticking to his forehead. kni's eyes scour vash's features, taking note of every little difference. he brushes his thumb over their matching birthmark.]

So, they weren't lying...

[ he... almost flinches when Kni takes his face in his hands. It makes their connection feel louder, when they touch. it's almost musical, like wind pushing through strings as the sound fills his ears.

It was a sound that used to be a comfort, but ... ]

Well.
I've lived for about a century and a half at this point.

[ shifting his umbrella to his false hand, he raises his real hand to push it against his own lips, in a shhh motion. ]

...But I usually tell people I'm about twenty-six.

[ but... ah. ]

Who did you think was lying?

[kni seeks out their connection like a child would a security blanket, a well-loved toy that soothes the erratic mess that was his heart. he's felt out of place and mismanaged since he arrived, and even before that, too. emotions without names yet rising up inside him, terrifying in their intensities.

but vash is vash, even at a hundred and fifty years old. that sappy smile coupled with those soft eyes is more than enough proof for kni.]

Have you been alone all that time?

[the important question. kni's expression furrows, one of his thumbs moving to brush under vash's eye. his brother looks tired...]

Someone named Wolfwood. They sounded insane to me.

[ he has a number of emotions too. most of them are uncertain about this--about knives, about what he should do about this. he doesn't know what timeline knives is from. before the big fall? ...after it, given he said the planet they had ... landed on had no name, just dirt and sand...

if that was the case, then Knives--kni had already done that terrible thing. ...But it was his fault, too. That's one thing Vash had shared with Nobody in Kaisou. He may have shared his species with a choice few others. Wolfwood had spat visceral anger about the cult that ruined his life--but not once did Vash even tell Wolfwood that the great fall was caused by him. And if Knives had that awareness that he did it, too...

It'd have to be a secret they kept together.

He closes his eyes for a moment as he feels small fingers brushing under his eyes.

What should he do. ]

I've been alone for a long time. Back on that other planet, let's just... say that things don't go great there, for a long time, Kni.

But we're somewhere else, now.
I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why. But we're actually on Earth.
[ you know, the place Rem told them about. ]

And I'm a little less alone here.
I have a good number of friends. Like Wolfwood.

[things don't go great there, kni knows why. even with all of his hard work to ensure the destruction of the ships, he messed up somewhere. mistakes he would need to rectify if he weren't trapped here.]

This isn't the Earth we were told about.

[he looks like he wants to say more, but he changes his mind. kni shivers faintly, out of the rain long enough that a chill was starting to seep in through his wet clothes.

still, he doesn't move away. doesn't let go of vash, pain lancing through his chest. how is he supposed to feel? his failure as vash's brother, his protector, alongside this strange alienation welling up inside. a hundred and fifty years was a long time to feel alone, so where had he been all that time? leaving strangers like wolfwood to comfort his brother?

there are questions without answers sitting between them, but kni isn't ready to pick them up yet.] I don't like him.

[ it's something neither of them can do anything about. At first, arriving here, Vash felt awful about being somewhere full of food and good things, away from the planet where so many people were abandoned, but... after learning time doesn't turn for them, he's gotten to enjoy life here.
Just like Kni will have to learn how to.

The kid still holds onto him, as if there's nothing else to do BUT hold onto one another. He opens his eyes, finally, and he moves the umbrella to give the other a sort of soft, amused look. ]

He's a difficult guy, but he's been through a lot of scary, terrible things. So he can be a little mean because he's scared, you know?

[ He gives a wistful little sigh. ]

Come on, we should get out of this rain. Can you hold the umbrella? I'll carry you to the place I've been living.

...It's a long walk, so.

Hm...

[kni frowns, face pinched in apprehension. if he lets himself think about it longer, he might understand wolfwood - just a little bit. kni recognizes that feeling, the urge to lash out as his emotions tangle together into some ugly rat's nest sitting heavy inside his chest.

so, wisely, he says nothing regarding wolfwood. his brother cares about him, so... maybe that means something. kni frowns, then. letting go of one of vash's cheeks, kni brings his hand to squeeze at his clothes until water dribbles easily from the soaked fabric.]

I'm going to get you all wet, Vash. [but he takes the umbrella handle anyway, still with that frown that looks more concerning than annoyed.]

[ saying nothing is better than continuing to disparage on the man who's probably having a bad day right now.
There's a lot of emotions he's having, himself, but. Right now he's got three things on his mind: Getting Kni somewhere out of the rain, figuring out what to do about Kni getting here, and then convincing the select few who know about Kni that he isn't a nuclear bomb.

A difficult task, but one Vash is determined to see through.
He gives a little chuckle when the younger plant wrings out his shirt, and he raises up his arm to likewise squeeze his sleeve. Look, he's soaked, too. ]

I kind'a ran around like a madman looking for you. I didn't take the umbrella out until I saw you, so I'm already soaked.

So we'll be soaked together.

1/3

2/3

3/3 text: un: ♡☮STAMPEDE

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