.OPEN POST.

[ecad]

.meme continuations.
.gen & nsfw-friendly.
.nsfw very appreciated, tbh.
.feel free to plot something with me if you want @ creatura or just chat on the disco @ destr0id.

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[ecad]

( it seems like they do that a lot — play, banter back and forth in lieu of being open or honest about anything like emotions — but yeah, it is a bit easier for him that way. to pretend it doesn't bother him to keep everyone at arm's length, to keep himself so guarded and laugh everything off even when something hurts.

he thinks they're two sides of the same coin. maybe that's why they both get it. but he doesn't really need to think right now, does he? not when wolfwood grins at him on his approach, and it looks … like he's actually genuinely pleased he'd shown up.

he gives a little huff of a laugh under his breath when he offers his glass, reaches to take it with his gloved right hand and their fingers brush, but it's an absent thing. something easily enough passed off as purely accidental. when he takes a small sip, warmth spreads over his tongue almost instantly and it carves a path down his throat when he swallows but it's a good burn. it always is.

he offers the glass back, tongue flicking over his bottom lip to catch an errant drop. ) I knew you had good taste. S'good.

[shaltnot]

[ Accidental, surely, but definitely not unnoticed. Nicholas likes to think it's his keen senses that he has (albeit forced) honed that make him pay attention to the little things, but the truth of it is that he's just become very aware of Vash's presence in all it's forms.

As such, he watches closely without trying to make it too obvious, picking up a still smoking cigarette from where it rests on a nearby ash tray. He flicks a bit off the end, gaze resting on Vash's mouth for a bit longer than it should before he quickly shifts it back up to accept the glass back. Thank God for sunglasses in shady bars. ]

Want a glass? I said I'd pay.

[ Well, emoted it. But still. ]

[ecad]

( if it makes him feel any better at all, vash's presence tends to be a lot no matter who he happens to be around; whether it's his bright coat, bright hair or even brighter eyes behind the mellowed tint of his shades, he very rarely goes unnoticed, and maybe … maybe he wouldn't mind if wolfwood noticed him a little more every now and again.

not that he's about to admit it! not in a million years! but. the thought is there, and it's not going anywhere.

he would tease about the other wearing such dark glasses inside, but he's never really seen him without them, and he thinks that has to mean something, though — maybe he feels his gaze on him more than sees it for himself, and maybe his teeth catch the inside of his bottom lip as he hands the glass back over. )

I just came to keep you company, but hey, since you're buyin' … ( he grins wide, and the very corners of his eyes crinkle with it. ) Not gonna break the bank, is it? That's some darn good stuff.

[shaltnot]

[ The bright hair, bright eyes, and bright coat certainly doesn't help--he stands out in most crowds. But there's an aura about Vash that also kind of just draws people in. The "humanoid typhoon" certainly earned his name and Nicholas realizes he's also been swept in by the tide. How that will shake out in the end is still to be seen...even if he knows how it should go.

He takes a drink from his glass as he waits for Vash's decision. Vash's company is nice even if he won't say as much, but drinks are a more comfortable pretext. ]

I'm a man of my word, ain't I?

[ There is just some fine print at the best of times.

Don't worry about it, I've got it covered.

[ And his pockets may not be so deep, but he can handle a couple of drinks. He knocks on the counter to get the barkeeps attention and nods towards Vash. ]

Put it on my tab.

[ecad]

( he doesn't know exactly what lies ahead in his future — no one ever does, he likes to think, and that's what makes it interesting — but there's something about the way wolfwood had joined them that there might be more to, he isn't entirely sure, but. sometimes he has a sixth sense about the unknown, or maybe it's that niggling thing in the back of his mind that insists he actually has some manner of self-preservation in him, but that much remains to be seen, doesn't it?

this much is true: he's glad nicholas is with them. he enjoys his company, those wry smiles of his when he deigns to give them, the roughness of his abbreviated laughter when he deigns to give that over, though it seems to be in much smaller supply than the aforementioned smiles. there are walls there, and he knows them when he sees them because he has his own up all around him, but …

some part of him hopes that he might be able to find a break, a breach that will let him see more of the wolfwood that lies on the inside. the one that would do anything and everything to save the place he'd called home, and the brother he'd lost despite everything.

no one ever really knows anyone else, do they? that's a part of the human condition vash likes to think he's a part of, because so many things elude him.

he gives a sheepish little grin at i'm a man of my word, ain't i? because yeah, yeah he is as far as vash is concerned, and he taps the fingers of his prosthetic against the glass when it comes, not lifting it to drink just yet, and instead asking: )

What're we drinking to?

[shaltnot]

[ So many things left unsaid and, really, Nicholas thinks they're safer that way. Both of them--all of them, no matter how much both Roberto and Meryl like to poke their noses into things, the latter more than the former. Roberto for the sake of his companions, and Meryl for...her own inherent inability to mind her own damned business. (Thought with some amount of affection.)

The world's a mess and they're all just trying to navigate through it. Vash is no exception to that, even if his role in Nicholas' own life is quickly becoming a confusing one. One that shouldn't be, given that he knows his mission.

He's dawdling. He's drawing it out bit by bit because there are things he still doesn't understand about Vash the Stampede that he tells himself he needs to before he turns the guy over. (Yeah, that's it.)

Nicholas takes his own glass in hand when Vash proposes a toast of sorts, lifting up the half-gone liquid to the dim lights of the bar. ]

Makin' it through another day.

[ He glances at Vash as he extends the glass to tap. ]

Not something everyone can boast about around here.

yikes sorry for the late tagback, no hard feelings if it's been too long!

[ecad]

( vash has always … been conflicted when it comes to sharing how he really feels about things, all things, because he'll always be honest when given the opportunity, but he also lives by way of deflection and lying by omission, and even if those are two sides to the same coin, it strikes him as a sort of double standard, and he's conflicted about that, too.

but where wolfwood is concerned, maybe it really is better that some things are left unsaid. he doesn't have a clue where the next day will find them, or the next, or the one after that —- and he's sure the other man doesn't, either.

( what's it like to be so naive, vash? and what has it ever done for you that hasn't ended in another wound, another scar, another chipped fragment from a broken heart? )

he ponders nicholas while he, in turn, ponders his proposal of a toast, thinking that they so rarely get to have even a moment's reprieve that it's nice to see him leaning even a little bit toward allowing himself to relax. not that vash is any better, of course not, he's the one that will run himself ragged on someone else's account before he even entertains the idea of thinking about himself, but. there may or may not be a couple of accusations of him being a hypocrite hidden somewhere in the deep pockets of his coat.

let that never go without saying.

he hums, and when a smile spreads across the line of his mouth again it's a little bit melancholy, but still genuine. he clinks their glasses together. ) I can drink to that, definitely.

To our tomorrows … and the hope that there'll be a lot of them. ( heh. see what i did there. you're welcome.

he takes a good, long swallow, empties the glass about halfway and sets it down, again absently licking the corner of his mouth to catch a stray droplet. he shivers lightly, but he always does when the burn is that good in the back of his throat. )