"People can change?" TRIGUN O/A

[The Heart Seeker]

Rain xxxxxxxxxxxxGenesis A'shara xxxxxxxxxxxxValley

What's wrong? I've been waiting to grow up...
And for some sort of memory that I have forgotten...
I hope that my tiny wishes and dreams...
Will not be forgotten...
And I whisper that to the heavens...

Boka was reluctant, and showed this emotion by snarling loudly as Andrew petted him. Genesis smiled, normally, most of the bodyguards wouldn't dare touch the beast. Most found him to be revolting, or at least were scared by the sharp tusk that threatened to tear them to shreds. But this one was different. Genesis placed Boka on her shoulder, and looked up at him. "Oh, I'm sure you are. But I don't see that in you. You have much a soul in you to truly be scary." She said.

Boka moved over on Genesis' back, hiding from sight. Genesis looked over at the clock in her room. "Goodness, it's almost time for the show, and I'm not even half ready. If you'd excuse me, Andrew." She turned away to shut the door. The last sight Andrew would see would be the singer's once loose hair suddenly tied back into a braid, and Boka looking at him with wary eyes.



[ Sorry about that. >_>'
As for her disfear of him, I imagine she went through military officers that looked much more scary than even Andrew, so consider her immune. XD ]

[trigirl48]

Andrew nodded and left, leaning against the wall near the door. He was sure there wouldn't be much trouble, the people here were pretty much quiet except occasionally when a bounty showed up or someone got drunk. Something in him though was itching in him, something was up but he wasn't sure what. He shrugged it off as the excitement in the tavern before the show.

((lol yeah true. Will be gone until late sunday probably won't get a chance to post again until monday))

[Raxephlon]

"The heavens cry out
the earth is a sea of blood
The past is poluted with sin
The future is what I make it...

"I never asked for you to tag allong to begin with, why in the world do you think I would slow down for you?" Knives chuckled, leaving the woman behind, despite her request. Finally he had an oportunity to break away from the troublesome female. Even if she had returned and returned with the vehicle she promised, he would be long gone, she would never find him.
"didn't it occur to you that perhaps I prefer the solidarity that walking... alone, offers me?"

_ _ _ _ _ _


"There they are boss.."
"What are we gonna do, boss?"
"Can we kill'em, boss?"
A crew of about eight bandits cralwed low, over the sand dune overlooking the pair. There they were, the infamous Millions Knives, The Arbringer of Death, the Ender of Humanity, Wanted for a healthy sum matched only by the Humanoid Typhoon... And the woman who gave his identity away.
"Waste the bounty... he's wanted dead or alive, I dont wanna risk him getting away." The leader stated, a burst of steam errupting from the mechanized vents of his cybernetic arms.
"Hehehe, as always boss... and what about the broad?"
"Shes kinda cute boss!"
"Yeah... take her alive... rough her up a bit but dont get her all ugly... Ive got a few plans for her." The man chuckled
"Right boss!"
"Alright.... lets get em!"

_ _ _ _ _ _


Seemingly from nowhere at all, a burst of sand and wind and fire errupted from deep within the sand dune. A blast of chaos errupted all around the man, luckily his cloak protected him, however the annoying woman would likely fall victim if not for her coat.
Knives knealed low to the ground, unable to locate the group who had instigated the attack. there was no way he could let himself become captured.
"Damn woman... " was all he could say, really.
However not a moment later than he muttered those words, a tremenouds crash errupted behind him as a deafening blow to the back of his head sent him into the sand, unconcious.
Everything faded to black, all he could see was the sillouette of the armored bandits and the glow of their eyes

[Saiyana2]

Meryl responded tartly when he said he prefered to walk, "Then why complain about missing the sandsteamer of you wanted to walk anyway!" She stops and stared at him hands on her hips getting ready to really start berating him.

Suddenly the sand exploded around them, Meryl reflexively ducked under her cape. and grabbed a couple of her revolvers. Glad she had taken that much of advice from Vash. Since she had replace some of her derringers with microphones she had change her remaining guns to revolvers so she hadn't lost her firepower in fact it had atually increased because with 25 revolvers she had more than doubled her total shots available.

Meryl rolled away from Knives attempting to split the bandits attention making two targets to make it more difficult on them. But then she caught sight of Kinves from corner of her eye take a header into ths sand.

"Hmph! Vash would never have been caught like that." She started firing in the general direction of their attackers, moving to stand protectively over Vash's brother.

[Raxephlon]

The sand ripped and toar from every direction, kicked about relentlessly as the four Sandweather bandits as they had been known to call themselves, moved effortlessly. Gusts of wind swirled about the woman, assaulting her with the course grain from every direction it seemed.
"Oy! shes fiesty boss!"
"Yeah! a real fighter, Boss!"
"She'll be more fun than the last one, Boss!"
three voices called from different directions.
Suddenly the outline of a seven foot tall, beast of a man could be seen through the sand.
"Guess I'll just have to tame her, then. Right boys?"

[Saiyana2]

Meryl growls. "Yeah right!! You can try if you want but I'm warning you, it's impossilbe to tame a tornado!" She keeps firing her guns towards the voices, eyes squinted against the assualt of the sand.

[Raxephlon]

A booming laugher, accompanied with the cackling and chuckles of the lesser minions of this bandit squad of mercenaries could be heard from seemingly every direction.
"Kitty's got claws!" one voice shouted as the gunfire was returned, poined towards the gun in her hands.
"See, miss twister, we've got the advantage in here! our gear lets us walk around in this sandstorm like a day in the park! we can see you without squintin an eye." The booming voice called
"We can shoot you, sneak up on you, hell we can slip a stick'o'dynamite down your skirt and you'd never even know it!" he laughted once again.
Sudddnly a set of hands reached out, hoping to take hold of the girl's wrists as another set of shadows, about three of them, moved on Knives' lifeless body.

[Raxephlon]

Its not that difficult
To tell that We're Different.
But is that really the most logical choice...
To point a Gun in the face of an Angel?

-Archer Ray


The pair collided at full speed, pain wracking Archer's body as he fell to the floor.
"Ugh... I was just saying..." He grunted through gritted teeth as he wrestled to get free of his companion's weight.
However no later than he finished that statement, he noted that Remy too had noticed the odd behavior.
"They've never all come out at once like that... Its like... they're waiting for somebody!" Archer commented, hoping none of the men had noticed the two of them.
The young plant stared for several moments, curiosity rising up within him. He had never been inside any of the Taverns other than the Lofty Stool and had been dieing to get a closer look at these shady types. Afterall, they couldn't be all THAT dangerous... HE always ran them out of town, everytime he came in!
"I'm gonna get a closer look!" Archer announced to the cybernetic girl before sprinting off towards the shadows. The sun was low in the sky, the night would be upon them soon, and the shadows were slowly becoming darker.
Slipping into the alleyway, he moved swiftly around back beind several buildings, before emerging around the far side of the Nightengale, glancing about at the various bandits, dangerously close to discovery, unaware of the dangers that could befall him if the group found him hiding out.

[Saiyana2]

Meryl didn't see the hands that grabbed her but as soon as she felt them she started kicking and struggling with her captors, kicking back in the general driestion of their most tender parts. "Let me go you'll be sorry if you hurt either one of us!" She struggles like the little spitfire she is.

[Lady Knives]

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The loyal servant to Millions Knives had grown accustomed to the frequent sandstorms and had even made herself a cloak to blend in with the sand. She had killed many people over the time frame she and the boys had made this town their home, so stealth and the smooth color of the sand was her friend. There was something strange about this sandstorm--ah, that was it. These idiotic crooks had been using explosives and fans to create it. No wonder she had been feeling things flying against her cloak and popping. Growling, she hopped and skipped, glad that she would finally be able to take care of her master and nurse him back to health. She had seen the blow that had been given to him, and knew that was going to hurt when he woke up.

She had been trailing the rambunctious group of bounty-hunters, biting at each wrist with not as much as a wince as the blood began to trail at either side of her and follow her. It slithered across the hills of sand, an obsidian death messenger behind each of the eight men as they made their way to Knives and the young woman. She watched the young spitfire of a woman attempt to battle it out, finally getting caught by the men, but still struggling. As annoying as the girl was, she knew what men like that did to women they got their hands on, and being a woman didn't appreciate it--not one bit. Not only had they knocked out her precious savior, but were threatening to gang rape a young girl. Not cool.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she got closer, keeping her hands on the handles of her trusty pistols all the while. The obsidian liquid crept up their clothing, and entered every orifice into where it could creep, infiltrating their system and just waiting to be expanded; but it seemed as though one of the obsidian death messengers had been destroyed by explosives, and one man was not going to be afflicted by her blood. Oh well, she'd get him later.

The loyal servant waited, watching for a moment before jumping into the center of them and kicking at the back of one man's knees, hoping that he would release his grip on the girl. She also shoved the woman harshly, knowing that the shock and her inertia would most likely send the woman flying out of the man's arms. She also moved in front of Knives' unconscious body, drawing her pistols and pointing one at the foreheads of the men that were approaching his body, and another at the heads of the men that had Meryl.

"Told you so." She purred, winking in their direction and waiting to relish their reaction.

✖✖

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[Raxephlon]

The wind surged, the men laughed and joked amongst eachother.
"Like a ******** pick-" his voice was cut short by the sudden sound of gurgling.
About the same time, another man screamed in agony. Another, and another still. Screams surrounded the girl, even in the form of the man next to her gripping her by the arm suddenly dropped to the ground, feeling a blow to his legs, imobilizing him.
However hearing the screams of his comrades, and the sudden coo of a womans voice, taunting him.
He crawled away as the sudden morbid sounds of organs exploding and bones popping as his allies screams were silenced.

[Saiyana2]

Meryl continued struggling but was unable to get free for her primary captor. She stopped in shock when the others began to scream and fall, then felt herself pushed so roughly it broke the grip on her, the push was so strong that she lost her balance falling sideways. She flailed abit trying to regain it then hit the ground hard her head slamming against a rock before everything went black.

[Lady Knives]

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After the men had exploded the young woman scowled, seeing that the young woman had been knocked out on account of hitting her head on a rock on the way down from her fall. At least she hadn't been raped. Scowling, she walked over to the young woman and grabbed her by the back of her cloak, dragging her over to where Knives was, and then grabbing Knives by the cloak and dragging them both behind her. After a few minutes of traveling through the now calm sands, she dropped the girl off in front of the general hospital's doors, not bothering to look back as she kneeled and took Knives into her arms. She struggled to carry him, but went into the back of the Nightingale and entered through the basement entrance.

The loyal servant took him into her small room and laid him on her bed, grabbing a bunch of medical supplies from a nearby shelf and beginning to undress him and dress his wounds. He'd definitely need a bath after he woke up. He smelled of rancid guts and his hair was matted with blood and dirt. His hair was black, but his eyes were still as icy and as blue as ever. She'd never could get enough of those eyes. She ran a finger down his jawline, feeling the contour of his bone and the weathered and dirty texture of his skin.

He would be taken care of to the best of her ability. The boys didn't seem to notice that she had brought the man in on her own, and definitely did not recognize him as their leader. They would in time, but for now it was best to keep him in here, and not let him get too worked up just yet. She sat in a chair at his side, leaning back and watching him for as long as she could before dozing off. Her door was locked and bolted, and the boys knew that when her door was closed that she didn't want to be bothered, and unless it was an emergency, they'd get a boot to the head if they decided to bug her.



✖✖

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[Saiyana2]

Meryl lay motionless on the steps of the hospital.

[Better Off In A Dream]

Can you believe me? Still sitting pretty with a pistol in hand..Living to love you
Will you be my man? If I beg, if I plead
Would please please, please satisfy me?
Alain Hoshi-May Tremioi
Bounty Hunter

Blood sprayed the front of her clothes as tears streamed down her face. All she could think of was trying to save her sister.. But she was too late. It had all happened too fast for her to really comprehend.. All she really knew was that her sister was now at her feet dead.. Her attacker... Alain had never gotten a good look at the man's face. Sand blew into her eyes as she struggled to her sister, wrapping her arms around her sister. It was all she could do to keep from just breaking down... Breaking down and just losing her damn mind.

"Kayla... You can't do this.. We're a team, dammit! Kayla!?! KAYLA?! Please wake up.. Come on.. Don't do this...Kayla.."

The last bit had come out in a choked manner, as she choked back a sob or two.. No.. She just didn't want to believe this was happening.. It couldn't happen.. Just hours ago they had been planning their next attack..and now.. Now she held her sister's lifeless body as she found herself staring down at her sister's now closed baby blues.. This just wasn't happening.. Alain would close her eyes and let out a wail before just collapsing over her sister's body.. Silent sobs now gripped the girl tightly.. She didn't understand.. She didn't want to understand

The dream had.. ended? She'd blink rapidly as she pushed herself up off the rock she had been using as a pillow. Those emerald eyes going around her surroundings only to stop on her bird that stood ever so gracefully not far off..just grazing as he always did. That bird was perhaps the one 'person' the bounty hunter could trust. She'd drag her feet back to her, the sound of dirt and gravel scraping the ground would reach her ears as she did so. Of course she'd wrinkle her nose. She hated that sound. Always reminded her of storms. She'd get to her feet now, stretching herself before she'd look to her bird..watching him.

"I suppose you're ready to go,Ken-Ken?"

The bird would just lift his head slightly... His jaws lazily chewing up what little grass he had found before he'd give a lazy sounding squawk. Alain would sigh gently before before she'd approach him and climb up onto the his back. The bird would lift his head once more, glancing back at her before she'd give him a gentle kick to the side.. It wasn't enough to hurt him..just enough to get him going. And once that was done, she'd just casually hold the reigns as they made their way down from the rocky outcropping where they had been taking a break at.