[his perception of time is skewed horribly, unable to tell just how long it'd been since he first woke here. alive, somehow, some awful joke played at his expense no doubt. closing his eyes again, it feels as if only a few moments have passed when suddenly he feels the presence of another. a hand grasping at his arm, knives' eyes snap open wide and with unfiltered surprise. at first the suns' blinding light casts the stranger in shadow, their features momentarily hidden, but there is something familiar there--]
You-...
[his voice is rough with disuse and desert heat, but there's no need to finish when recognition catches up soon after. livio - doublefang - pulls him up onto unsteady legs, exhaustion nearly causing him to fall back to his knees. he knows he must make a pathetic sight, but he has little reason to care now.]
[ it's almost comical, the way livio just plucks him straight out of the sand. sets him on his feet, gently -- but keeps a supportive hand on his shoulder, to brace him if knives's legs are too weak to support him. livio's likely most of the force keeping knives from falling to his knees. ]
[ he's silent for a second, in regards to the question. why indeed. he's not sure he has a good answer. he just saw knives, likely about to die of exposure, and some part of him just couldn't let that happen. ]
It....
It's what Vash would do.
[ vash gave him a chance, after everything. made him a friend. depended on him. after what livio did to him, to his own brother. so. ]
[ maybe he's paying it forward. or maybe knives, crumpled and defeated as he is, reminds livio a bit of himself, after wolfwood had literally beaten the brainwashing out of him. it's hard to say ]
... Let's get out of the suns.
[ he decides on that, in the end. and it seems like he's willing to carry knives there if his legs can't keep him up anymore ]
[strength bled from a stone rises up in him, just enough to push away livio's support and take a few steady steps back. the sands shift beneath his feet, everything hurts. knives stands his ground, despite how much he wants to sink beneath these dunes. he has to chase away the dog first.]
No.
[his head lifts, cropped hair ink black and dusted by red sand. knives regards livio wearily, scowling.]
Taking after my brother will lead you to your own death far quicker than most your kind. [he had left vash with an apology unbefitting his actions, but now at the end of his mortal rope it wouldn't matter any longer. knives looks away from livio, gaze drifting over the desolate landscape around them.] Either kill me or leave me be.
[ the dog's not so easy to chase off. he could fight back if needed to -- at even a fraction of his full strength, livio's certain he would lose to knives, but as he is now... he seems exhausted, almost weak ]
I ain't gonna kill ya. And I ain't gonna leave ya here to die, either. Sorry, m--- [ he catches himself from saying "master", just on instinct. ] mister Knives.
Vash gave me a chance when no one else would. [ "us", really, but he doesn't need to go into that. knives will know, anyway. if he even remembers the trip of death. or him ] And I ain't exactly like most my kind, anyway.
[ he's already dying faster than any normal human. and, well, he's got far too much blood on his hands to be anything but a monster ]
[annoying, if he had the energy to feel anything but the heaviness of a lifetime of choices made in vain. when he looked back, it was all he could see now. a paradise lost, but he'd been so close. it made his teeth ache and his chest tight in that way that reminded him of childhood.
knives says nothing, regarding livio with distant consideration until his attention drifts. no rest for the wicked, after all.
he turns to walk around livio's hulking frame, back into the suns' unforgiving heat.]
[ of course he doesn't answer. livio huffs a little sigh of mild annoyance. ]
I will.
[ do as he pleases, after all. he regards the other man, briefly considering tucking him under an arm.... or flipping him over his shoulder, but then again, knives seems perfectly capable of walking on his own. ]
[ so what he does do, is take knives's shoulder -- steers him towards where livio's going, to a distant hotel that would give them both shelter from the weather. it's barely visible to a normal person, but livio, as established, is anything but ]
[ his grip on knives's shoulder is firm, and ready to support him if he gives way, ready to outright carry him if he collapses ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
You-...
[his voice is rough with disuse and desert heat, but there's no need to finish when recognition catches up soon after. livio - doublefang - pulls him up onto unsteady legs, exhaustion nearly causing him to fall back to his knees. he knows he must make a pathetic sight, but he has little reason to care now.]
... Why?
oh my god it's almost been a year i'm so sorry
[ he's silent for a second, in regards to the question. why indeed. he's not sure he has a good answer. he just saw knives, likely about to die of exposure, and some part of him just couldn't let that happen. ]
It....
It's what Vash would do.
[ vash gave him a chance, after everything. made him a friend. depended on him. after what livio did to him, to his own brother. so. ]
[ maybe he's paying it forward. or maybe knives, crumpled and defeated as he is, reminds livio a bit of himself, after wolfwood had literally beaten the brainwashing out of him. it's hard to say ]
... Let's get out of the suns.
[ he decides on that, in the end. and it seems like he's willing to carry knives there if his legs can't keep him up anymore ]
shakes your hand in solidarity...
No.
[his head lifts, cropped hair ink black and dusted by red sand. knives regards livio wearily, scowling.]
Taking after my brother will lead you to your own death far quicker than most your kind. [he had left vash with an apology unbefitting his actions, but now at the end of his mortal rope it wouldn't matter any longer. knives looks away from livio, gaze drifting over the desolate landscape around them.] Either kill me or leave me be.
holds ur hand
I ain't gonna kill ya. And I ain't gonna leave ya here to die, either. Sorry, m--- [ he catches himself from saying "master", just on instinct. ] mister Knives.
Vash gave me a chance when no one else would. [ "us", really, but he doesn't need to go into that. knives will know, anyway. if he even remembers the trip of death. or him ] And I ain't exactly like most my kind, anyway.
[ he's already dying faster than any normal human. and, well, he's got far too much blood on his hands to be anything but a monster ]
Why do you wanna die so badly?
no subject
knives says nothing, regarding livio with distant consideration until his attention drifts. no rest for the wicked, after all.
he turns to walk around livio's hulking frame, back into the suns' unforgiving heat.]
Do as you please.
no subject
I will.
[ do as he pleases, after all. he regards the other man, briefly considering tucking him under an arm.... or flipping him over his shoulder, but then again, knives seems perfectly capable of walking on his own. ]
[ so what he does do, is take knives's shoulder -- steers him towards where livio's going, to a distant hotel that would give them both shelter from the weather. it's barely visible to a normal person, but livio, as established, is anything but ]
[ his grip on knives's shoulder is firm, and ready to support him if he gives way, ready to outright carry him if he collapses ]
This way.
[ no yield ]