game/day:haunt/183 (received), 184 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v3 chapter 7 pages 168-188; here
au variances: • generally more agitated re:Luida's reveal & increased aggression towards the dwarf. • Luida's narration and Vash's behaviour at the end of the chapter exacerbate her newly-remembered reverence for Plants. it still isn't clear why she feels this way.
in sum: • "seventy years ago..." • Vash is, without question, nothing like a normal human • some feelings about immortal beings • some feelings about seeking absolution • some feelings of reverence and solidifying "camaraderie" • (as opposed simply to cooperation and tolerance) • even in this peaceful atmosphere, she can't avoid being drawn into unpleasant skirmishes • she "has [Vash] pegged" as being too easy-going, and he does nothing to deny that he would have let the dwarf continue to talk until he shot him • there is no face on the entire ship that he does not know and recognise on sight, by name • furthermore, he walks willingly through his own personal hell, allowing that dry, hellish planet to leave him scarred and alone, all while making friends over and over again with people who will die, be murdered, or even turn their weapons on him • (ha ha ha) • juxtapose that revelation with the smile on Vash's face • "Teetering dizzily all alone... rescuing so many... His scars and his troubles multiply... A true gunman who only looks on the bright side of life? Right? Vash the Stampede." • she's got a funny look on her face
• gay.
points of note: • Wolfwood only makes it on-scene to the cold-sleep room at this point. she doesn't witness anything before that. • the first mention of Vash's scarring (how extensive the scarring is is not revealed, however) and the first indication of Vash's prosthetic arm (and boy howdy, what a first indication it is). • yes, all this took place while she was hooked up to an IV drip.
game/day: starter canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v8 spinoff chapter; here
au variances: • Orekano accuses Wolfwood of ~corrupting Maylene, turning her into a tramp and tempting her towards hedonism and promiscuity, rather than of seducing and sleeping with her. Wolfwood's response is the same.
in sum: • You Are (Not) A Priest • this is a planet where you'll be held at gunpoint, just assume the girl you're talking to was a victim of sex trafficking to "repay her debts", congratulate her on her forced marriage, and tell her off for daydreams of agency because some people would still envy her "luxurious cage"—all in the span of about ten minutes • some orphan feelings • some rough-hewn big sister feelings • some even rougher-hewn bird feelings • (40 points) • in case you ever wondered whether the innocence of young kids could hold too much appeal for the wrong kinds of people: yes • better she take the brunt of Orekano's assault than the girl, though Wolfwood could have easily knocked him flat • a shame he brought the cavalry, but apparently Thou Shalt Not Kill doesn't bother her priestly ass • "I'm tired of a life of nothing more than filling the holes in other people's lives." "Stupid child... there's nothing wrong with that kind of life." • speak softly and carry a big stick • a stick full of quick mercy
Wolfwood sits straddling a chair backward, sleeves rolled, nearby bottle of hooch already open and sampled from. She has her elbow planted firmly in the centre of the table grimy from a hundred vagabonds passing through, a woman on a mission in this Godforsaken saloon. The Lord might prefer she dedicate herself towards a different sort of mission—one of faith, perhaps—but sometimes all a woman wants to do with her God-given time is have a couple puffs and put a legendary outlaw to shame.
"Alright, Spikey. Let's see what you got." Cigarette bobs between sharp, grinning teeth.
Vash grins back at her, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth. Wolfwood doesn't believe it for a damn second, and there it is—his left arm halfway to the table before he falters, blinking like he's noticed something interesting, and swaps it for the right. Yeah, she figured he'd try something like that. "Well, that's no fun," he says, flexing his hand for her to take.
Rocking the chair forward a little more. Better to get the grip on him she needs. "Aren't you always the one going on about fair fights?"
Leather warm under her palm. Vash's eyes have that look they get when he's trying to read her, making the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably, but the smile is still in there, lifting his sunglasses on the apples of his cheeks. "Only when it's not you!"
And in her grip, the sudden shift of muscles all down his arm putting the pressure on like the flick of a switch; Wolfwood's shoulders ratchet up at the first surge of it and hold her steady, pushing back against a power she knows could lay her out flat right there if he wanted it to, shifting just below the surface of Vash's being, there but restrained. Doesn't make him any kind of pushover, though. She whistles a breath past clenched teeth. "--Oi!"
"You wanted it to be fair," he says, diamonds in his grin she sometimes wouldn't mind knocking out and cashing in.
Obnoxious brat.
For a few seconds, the challenge is there, balanced so perfectly down the middle even when she's pushing for it harder that she's gotta wonder if he isn't adapting himself to her by the second. Wouldn't put it past him. Then something in the angle changes to favouring her more than Vash, and that's gotta be a conscious decision, because the strength is still there in every inch of him, even though it's his arm giving way towards the table. He could take this back from her in an instant. All Vash needs, laughing at her from across the table, is a reason to.
But she knows he's needing this more and more, something to keep that lightning mind occupied in these rare few moments they aren't walking towards... whatever the hell it's gonna be. Sooner or later they'll run dry and she'll find out how many of her lies made it past him in one piece. Tonight, though, it's just her and him and one more shitty saloon that stinks of a thousand and one nights of sweat. They might as well keep on enjoying while it's here.
So, yeah, alright. Good. They've still got this going for them. The last of the tension goes and his arm slams to the table, hard enough to rattle the booze, Wolfwood's lips twitching into a barbed grin that's met with snorted laughter. For once she's not in the mood to find it obnoxious.
"That's one for me."
He shakes out his hand and throws back shot with that same dopey grin as always. Like he isn't perfectly happy losing to her, faking sheepish. "Ahhh... how does best two out of three sound?"
In a surprisingly busy trade city of husked-out buildings, dusty, laughing children, and pickpockets, a younger you shells over every last coin to your name to an oil-streaked man with grease and sand in his hair. It's for a motorcycle in the bed of his truck, beat to shit but gleaming black and bronze in the double suns. That's what caught your eye, at first, that shine. You really, really need this motorcycle—and more than that, you want it. So you're willing to pay. And it isn't like you're broke; just... skirting it.
The barter, at least, isn't hard. He names a price you can't tell as a steal or a gyp, but you fork the double dollars over anyway and figure you can always write it off as a bad deal if things go south. You need the bike, and you've mooched rooms off inkeepers before.
"You really saved my ass, pal," you say as he rolls it from the bed.
"Sure beats walking," he admits.
Sure does.
You sling the cross from your shoulder and let it down into the sidecar. Grin at him like there's a joke he ain't in on, the way his brows rise at the sink of the bike beneath the weight.
game/day: quest/178 (received), 178 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v3 chapter 6 pages 156-162; here
au variances: • until she notices Vash, Wolfwood's "WHERE THE HELL AM I" behaviour upon waking is far more pronounced • rather than sympathise for Jessica's future husband, Wolfwood comments that with klutziness like that, she should leave the good dishware at home
in sum: • no matter the situation, it seems as though Vash has the blood of a hypocrite running through his veins • "I killed. I murdered. I'm nothing like these sleepy people here..." • damned for murdering one day, thanked for it the next... his capriciousness makes her want to claw out of her own skin • but better she does and spare the lives of those who cannot, supposedly, defend themselves • again with kids being lucky ones who can never truly spark Wolfwood's temper • (rough-hewn big sister feelings continue to form) • just what kind of person has she been travelling with?
points of note: • the implications of the locket in this memory are coupled with having also received this memory in which she mentioned Vash's actions 13 years prior, and witnessing Project Tessla here. it prompts the beginning of Wolfwood's struggle in Kyriakos to reconcile Vash's "inhuman" nature with who he is as a deeply hypocritical, but empathetic, altruistic, and forgiving person.
game/day: quest/180 (received), 180 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v5 chapters 2&3 pages 42-67; here
au variances: • Midvalley inferring Wolfwood's eyes are that of a traitor is just about enough to make her kill him right there; she is clearly and deeply rattled by the comment, but something—almost akin to a twisted feeling of being selfsame, somehow—keeps her from pulling the trigger • there's a moment following this comment, while they're locked in impasse, in which she frantically considers whether "the eye" might be involved here, too
in sum: • there's unspoken history between them both, herself and this "Player" • which, naturally, doesn't deter her from the conviction that she's gonna kill him • nor the conviction that she can, despite being unable to see • Wolfwood's moral grey area continues to grow • to put herself between danger and the girl who called her name is second-nature • so where does she draw the distinction between a life she desires to save and a life she leaves to the dogs? • who's the afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
points of note: • Wolfwood is completely blind for the entire duration of this memory, but it doesn't seem to have any negative effect on her fighting capability • there are direct parallels between Milly's aid here and the Vanara kids helping her in the game on Day 180 • the first use of the name "Chapel" in reference to her
in sum: • Eye of Michael, finally defined: a zealously religious, Plant-worshipping cult of hitmen, affiliated with the Gung-Ho Guns, spearheaded by Chapel, to whom she was apprenticed from a young age, and whose name has been used to refer to her in numerous other memories • also: Knives' personal assassin genocide box • it took her in when she was young—she was "promising" • and made for good target practice, apparently • Wolfwood's motivations: entirely based in protecting this "Aunt Melanie" and her orphanage—no, her orphanage? • the act of mutiny as carried out by one single person is vengeful and swift • and fatal • but not permanently • is she even really still a human? • she sure as hell isn't a priest • but the Eye of Michael, that isn't Chapel's anymore, either, come hell or high water • she won't be able to come back... but at least the kids are safe • maybe Vash wasn't so far off when he called her "A woman forcing herself to play the Devil"...
points of note: • a lotof memoriessuddenlymakesense. • in one fell swoop, this memory clears up (kind of): what the Eye of Michael is, why she was paranoid about hitmen, why the Eye put a hit on her, why she purportedly works for Knives, her kneejerk reverence for Plants, why Midvalley considered her a traitor, why she killed Rai-Dei with such vehemence, that the orphanage in her nightmare really was being used as collateral of some kind, that she really did kill the man in that nightmare—Chapel, and why she would have nightmares about Knives killing those children in the first place • but not: why she's travelling with and protecting Vash, what it is that Knives has her doing specifically, what is in those vials, what "under the knife" really means, who Legato is, what "July" means, what happened in Jeneora rock, why Midvalley and Beast referred to her as Chapel, what she meant by "I am the Eye of Michael" and what that might have to do with the hits placed on her, whether or not the orphanage is really safe from the Eye or Knives and why it was collateral, why Knives' aim is to destroy humanity, why he's half-dead... the list goes on • Wolfwood @ God's plan
in sum: • take everything assumed from her starter memory and multiply it by ten: this is a planet of blood and grit, endless miles of it, a planet of people crawling like ants in the dust, living eternally on the verge of extinction, where the weak do nothing but suffer • cyborgs exist • so do (did?) spaceships • it might mean more if their current role weren't solely to provide the parts for scrap metal dealers to, through backbreaking labour, dismantle and sell so they might merely survive • a luxurious cage, indeed... • $$4,500,000 bounties—guess that's what happens when folk like Orekano and these Dodongo bothers are allowed to run the show • shit, thAT GUY LOOKS FAMILIAOH WAIT, THAT'S BECAUSE HE IS • :') :') :') :') :') :') :') • math must not be her strong suit, with the way she keeps throwing around "13 years ago" • "That's what pisses me off so much about this guy. He already understands everything so much it could kill him." • the quote of the century
points of note: • her name is still emitted, but instead she gets a far more useful one: "Spikey" • she now remembers her smoking habit
game/day: quest/160 (received), 163 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v4 chapter 2 pages 54-57; here
au variances: • ab-so-lutely none.
in sum: • when you're going through hell, keep going • "Can't you even walk a few million miles without water?!" • being broke is proven to not build character • pissing off two women so much they'd purposefully leave your stupid asses stranded in the desert survivor-style, the Vash and Wolfwood life • looking at this, you'd assume it would be a lesson in humility • it's not
game/day:rowena/167 (received), 168 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v2 chapter 4 pages 91-107; here
au variances: • Wolfwood jumps the gun slightly more than in canon and shoots Rai-Dei the moment Vash moves out of the way, killing him before he has the chance to attempt his Jigenzan Ittou Dark Succession Technique. she also unloads the full clip. • by extension, because he isn't given the opportunity to make an attempt on Vash's life, Vash's rage is twofold, having felt that he'd talked Rai-Dei down • rather than saying "The blade's still in the original position. He wouldn't have pulled the trigger," Vash berates her for failing to even give him a chance. Wolfwood's response is that he would have turned on Vash if she hadn't. • with Wolfwood's disposition towards Rai-Dei so much more heated and pronounced than in canon, Vash attempts to get a reason as to why she'd wanted him dead so badly, but only ends up with the claim that "Someone like that doesn't change their stripes just because you've shoved a few altruistic words at them."
in sum: • there is blood on her hands • a lot of it • it is a role she takes willingly, time and again • and it lands her into no end of trouble • hypocrisy issues • survivalism issues • MURDER ISSUES • she would trade her life if it meant Vash would take on that same role rather than naively continue to believe he can save anyone without ever dirtying his own hands • "If you could see yourself through my eyes, you'd see a woman forcing herself to become the Devil while her own heart cries out."
points of note: • this is the first time she hears her name • additionally, the first mention of the Gung-Ho Guns
game/day:caretaker/193 (received), 193 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v6 chapter 2 pages 36-41; here
au variances: • the dream dialogue with Chapel is slightly different: "Do you think there won't be repercussions? Think about it!! You have made your bed among devils, Colette the Punisher, you belong to the Eye of Michael—" • it is still unclear where Wolfwood sinks the bullet, but she does so with trembling righteous fury
in sum:
• sometimes you will plant a knife in someone's back to protect the things you care about, and sometimes you have nightmares about that • to say she makes her bed among devils is an understatement • moreover... on Gunsmoke, certain knives are crueler than others • and sometimes you work for them • hints of self-loathing • hints of forcing herself to play the devil while her own heart cries out, you might say—"It's my job." • that ever-present unease, made worse by commentary such as "Keep it up." and "Are you gonna keep working? For his sake?" • "I wonder if they realise that mankind itself is being hunted." • a muddling of lines, of whether her loyalty stands with Vash the Stampede, with Knives, or this Eye of Michael • the feeling that regardless of the answer, her actions are, in the eyes of a being like that, akin to the coming and goings of insects • and all paths lead to the one where he destroys everything she holds dear
points of note: • her first name is Colette, and she carries the title of "the Punisher" • Beast, too, refers to her as "Chapel" • she belongs to the Eye of Michael—the same group she has been intenselyparanoid about, and whose members have actively hunted her. • chances are she's no priest • GENOCIDAL TWIN BROTHER. NATURALLY.
game/day: quest/180 (received), 180 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v6 chapter 6 pages 158-162; here
au variances: • the sight of the "defunct" Plant is as though someone took hold of her heart and squeezed it hard • it's a moment of rattled faith, the sensation of realising something she'd been made to believe as impossibly powerful and invincible has been smeared across the glass like it was nothing
in sum: • casually discussing mass dismemberment while traversing a ship on the verge of collapse • punching the elderly while wearing sickeningly sweet smiles • does she look like someone who has money.gif • any doubt left in Wolfwood's mind what Plants are has been forcefully removed in the wake of the sickening, gory mess left behind in a now-dead Plant bulb • witnessing Vash tweaking out as he has literal visions of Knives executing the ship's crew in retribution
points of note: • Wolfwood has seen Vash's shard containing Project TESSLA, and therefore recognises the name Vash says at the end of this memory. • this shard is first real indicator of this Wolfwood's increased reverence/worship towards Plants
They've been followed for the last fifty iles. A dark figure too low to the ground to be a carrion bird, she'd seen it come up that afternoon from the east, appearing in bits and pieces in the heat-haze rising off an endless sea of suns-baked sand. Vash hadn't said a goddamn thing, hadn't glanced back once, not even when Wolfwood caught herself glancing in the rearview for the tenth time.
When they pull into town and throw the last of their cash on the innkeeper's desk in exchange for a key, Wolfwood hangs back, feeling a hundred eyes on her in the dark on the other side of the door behind them. Vash pausing halfway up the stairs, eyes half-hidden behind golden lenses when he turns towards her.
"Wolfwood?"
"You go ahead and make up the room," she says and puts a cigarette between her lips. "I'm gonna have a smoke."
Vash, standing quite still, looks through her for a moment and she about crawls outta her own skin. Then it passes and he shoulders his pack higher, smile coming a few seconds too slow, and says, "You're getting the crappy bed, then." Moseys on.
"Like hell I am," she throws back, except she's already one foot out the door, instead of hot on his heels to prove him wrong. Wolfwood isn't about to count on him to believe her for a damn second anyway.
She finds the guy waiting for her a couple blocks down where the town's all but falling apart. Hears the gun cock before she turns the corner and has the Punisher under his chin a heartbeat later. There's no surprise on his face, just a whole lotta that cold nothing. He's younger than she'd thought. Doesn't say a damn thing, but the gun goes off like clockwork, right out here in the damn open. It glances off the Punisher and buries in the wall by her temple. Grabbing on quick to the adrenaline, Wolfwood goes ahead and pins him there, too, cross bearing into him hard.
"How much are they promising you? Huh?" Already knows that answer. Her corpse is worth a lot to them. "Better be worth it, coming all this way to die like that old man."
He laughs, rictus grin, eyes lit up like he's got hellfire inside. "It's worth it just to see the look on your face," he says, and twitches his trigger finger a couple more times, until the Punisher's as pitted as the rest of the damn planet. "We don't even have to do anything to you yet. Your paranoia... just knowing we can find you as easily as this... you're driving yourself to the end of your own rope, Chapel, and once you do, the Eye of Michael will close in to enact our justice. Remember you did this. Vash the Stampede won't be able to protect you from what lays ahead—how do you know he'll even want to? They are brothers, after all."
And she blacks in to her hand splayed across his face, nails drawing blood and the Punisher's edge cutting against her chest where she leans into it into him. She's shaking, anger and something even harder to keep a grip on. How much have they fed back to that place? "That's a name you shouldn't've said."
Just gonna make her job harder, down the road, but she can cut this part of it out right here and now.
Takes about ten seconds. Scrabbling, twisting, sweat-slick fingers slipping on metal, strapped to her ribs and pressed to her jaw, wrenched back, fingers cracking, twisting again, the harsh ragged breathing of someone who's realised they aren't as ready to die as they'd figured they were. That's the thing about people like them. They'll do damn near anything to survive. But tonight it's her, it's always gotta be her, a chamber emptied into his heart and his head and Wolfwood holding him up by the cross until the ringing in her ears fades out to a buzz.
Feels—nothing.
She has to feel nothing.
Vash is sitting at the open window when she gets back. His back turned to her, arms folded loose across the chair he's straddled, and glasses pushed up high over his eyes. The room is made up. Without a word, Wolfwood lets the Punisher down and takes the bed that hasn't got his knapsack beside it. Shoes still on, arms folded behind her head when she lays down. She turns her face to the wall.
"Hurry up and close that before we catch our death." It's in the pit of her stomach, how she can't shake the feeling that he can smell it on her. Wolfwood keeps her eyes closed. "Got an early start tomorrow."
Seems like he's ignoring her for a few seconds. No sound, no agreement. Then the chair scrapes slowly against the floor, Vash standing and brushing past the foot of her bed. A few seconds later, she sees the light go out through her eyelids, worn mattress sighing beneath a new weight.
He doesn't say a goddamn thing.
in sum: • Vash seeing right through her, as usual • no lectures this time, though, but the knowing, unquestioning silence is so much worse • the willingness to kill on Vash's behalf, again and again, even when it's her that's under fire • whatever this "Eye of Michael" is, they very sincerely wish her dead—and possibly Vash, too, though there was a reverence to the mention of his name that was deeply unsettling • You Are (Not) A Priest • "They are brothers, after all." • now that's interesting
points of note: • AN ACTUAL (extremely vague and nameless) REFERENCE TO KNIVES, HOLY SHIT • this harkens back to severalearlier memories in which she correlated hitmen and mentions of her being a "traitor" to meddling done by "the eye", now revealed to be "The Eye of Michael" • additionally, the hitman refers to her as "Chapel", much as Midvalley had • with her current memories, the situation reads as having pissed off the wrong crowd, which is... not inaccurate
in sum: • what kind of dumbass actually considers letting a pair of outlaws off him in exchange for a village he's never even been to before? • answer: Vash the fuckin' Stampede • a taste of betrayal, knocking her so off kilter that she catches a couple bullets she'd have otherwise avoided • the weak, who do nothing but suffer, rise up even as hellfire rains down • it's enough to stop her heart for a moment • she and Vash working together like two cogs of the same machine; a blind trust to do as he says in the split-second heat of the moment and have it be the right thing to do, have it work • such is the kind of guy who can calculate the exact bullet trajectory he needs to redirect missiles • since when is everyone so stingy that a girl can't even claim reward money she so clearly earned?!
points of note: • the first memory she has in which Vash uses his gun. he uses it very well.
Edited 2015-12-09 00:53 (UTC)
#18. "IF ANYONE BECOMES AN OBSTACLE, WE'LL SCATTER 'EM."
game/day:rotten+units/195 (received), 195 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum vol 4 chapter 4 pages 108-117; here
au variances: • none.
in sum: • a city piled upon a city, built on the backs of the poor and the rich alike, the leftovers of this planet • "We're being pulled along the blood-spattered road." • business as usual • the championing of her own strength, something she wholly believes in, determines to be her purpose • "Rest easy. While we're in charge, that bastard's killing no one. If anyone becomes an obstacle, we'll scatter 'em." • """"scatter"""" • and the weight of Vash's gaze, completely unmoved by her • if he is her judge, then she's already damned • somehow, despite this, she can't convince the big girl to leave the bloodshed of this kind of 'world' to her • kitten's got claws • or fangs, as it were
points of note: • Vash don't give a fuck how many people you're willing to kill for them, Wolfwood, what do you not get about love&peace
game/day: quest/160 (received), 163 (taken) canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v1 chapter 3 pages 84-96; here
au variances: • Wolfwood is much higher-strung re:this obvious hitman. she makes a serious attempt to fill him full of lead, though the result is still that Wolfwood only drives him off to regroup • she hauls Vash to the hospital off-screen and spends the time he's being treated pacing and running through a mental litany of niggling suspicions. the entire feel of it is that she isn't completely convinced he wasn't out to ice them both. she frustratedly comes back to the thought of ""the eye"" several times. • after upending tobasco all over his face, the hospital staff are forced to bodily escort her from the premises in order to prevent her causing the hitman further harm.
in sum: • she would sooner avoid a gunshot with the intent of turning it back • Vash, though, merely soaks them up, unthinkingly, whether they were intended for him or not, which is unsettling and aggravating in even measure • a strange sense of camaraderie and responsibility • a less strange feeling of going through life's problems fists-first • the predisposition towards being as petty and vindictively unkind as the situation calls for • feeling like she should watch out for a barrel against her own back one of these days, regardless of the planet's perpetual itchy trigger finger, or the company she keeps, more urgent and unsettling somehow in mere concept than even the reality of Orekano's ring gunning her down • [ muffled 80s synth-funk in the bg ]
points of note: • her name continues to be omitted.
game/day: quest/170 (received), 171 (taken) canon equivalent: spitting highly-paraphrased biblical bullshit at inopportune moments, slinging scripture, approximate knowledge wielded with the air of an expert.
game/day:horror movie/180 (received), 180 (taken) canon equivalent: an "extraordinary fighting instinct that cannot be explained by battlefield experience alone."
au variances: • none.
in sum: • an increased sense of situations/people that would get her killed or hurt, the ability to read reactions and abilities, retaliate with "impeccable timing", and the willingness to risk her own life in order to set up chain-reaction attacks that would kill her rival, such as getting into melee range before firing a missile • essentially, her fight-or-flight instincts have been buffed and the longer you fight her, the more likely she is to find an opening or weakness and exploit it
game/day:yaksinis/229 (received), 229 (taken) canon equivalent: taking hits and taking them again. and again. and again. and again. and then handing 'em back tenfold.
au variances: • none.
in sum: • the Punisher weighs approximately ~300lb and with this shard Wolfwood can now carry it slung over her shoulder with one hand, if that gives you an idea • as for the rest... essentially
POSITIVE
significant
#14. "A GUNMAN WHO ONLY LOOKS ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE?"
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v3 chapter 7 pages 168-188; here
au variances:
• generally more agitated re:Luida's reveal & increased aggression towards the dwarf.
• Luida's narration and Vash's behaviour at the end of the chapter exacerbate her newly-remembered reverence for Plants. it still isn't clear why she feels this way.
in sum:
• "seventy years ago..."
• Vash is, without question, nothing like a normal human
• some feelings about immortal beings
• some feelings about seeking absolution
• some feelings of reverence and solidifying "camaraderie"
• (as opposed simply to cooperation and tolerance)
• even in this peaceful atmosphere, she can't avoid being drawn into unpleasant skirmishes
• she "has [Vash] pegged" as being too easy-going, and he does nothing to deny that he would have let the dwarf continue to talk until he shot him
• there is no face on the entire ship that he does not know and recognise on sight, by name
• furthermore, he walks willingly through his own personal hell, allowing that dry, hellish planet to leave him scarred and alone, all while making friends over and over again with people who will die, be murdered, or even turn their weapons on him
• (ha ha ha)
• juxtapose that revelation with the smile on Vash's face
• "Teetering dizzily all alone... rescuing so many... His scars and his troubles multiply... A true gunman who only looks on the bright side of life? Right? Vash the Stampede."
• she's got a funny look on her face
• gay.
points of note:
• Wolfwood only makes it on-scene to the cold-sleep room at this point. she doesn't witness anything before that.
• the first mention of Vash's scarring (how extensive the scarring is is not revealed, however) and the first indication of Vash's prosthetic arm (and boy howdy, what a first indication it is).
• yes, all this took place while she was hooked up to an IV drip.
neutral
#1. FREE BIRD
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v8 spinoff chapter; here
au variances:
• Orekano accuses Wolfwood of ~corrupting Maylene, turning her into a tramp and tempting her towards hedonism and promiscuity, rather than of seducing and sleeping with her. Wolfwood's response is the same.
in sum:
• You Are (Not) A Priest
• this is a planet where you'll be held at gunpoint, just assume the girl you're talking to was a victim of sex trafficking to "repay her debts", congratulate her on her forced marriage, and tell her off for daydreams of agency because some people would still envy her "luxurious cage"—all in the span of about ten minutes
• some orphan feelings
• some rough-hewn big sister feelings
• some even rougher-hewn bird feelings
• (40 points)
• in case you ever wondered whether the innocence of young kids could hold too much appeal for the wrong kinds of people: yes
• better she take the brunt of Orekano's assault than the girl, though Wolfwood could have easily knocked him flat
• a shame he brought the cavalry, but apparently Thou Shalt Not Kill doesn't bother her priestly ass
• "I'm tired of a life of nothing more than filling the holes in other people's lives." "Stupid child... there's nothing wrong with that kind of life."
• speak softly and carry a big stick
• a stick full of quick mercy
#19. ARM-WRESTLING
canon equivalent: none. headcanon.
Wolfwood sits straddling a chair backward, sleeves rolled, nearby bottle of hooch already open and sampled from. She has her elbow planted firmly in the centre of the table grimy from a hundred vagabonds passing through, a woman on a mission in this Godforsaken saloon. The Lord might prefer she dedicate herself towards a different sort of mission—one of faith, perhaps—but sometimes all a woman wants to do with her God-given time is have a couple puffs and put a legendary outlaw to shame.
"Alright, Spikey. Let's see what you got." Cigarette bobs between sharp, grinning teeth.
Vash grins back at her, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth. Wolfwood doesn't believe it for a damn second, and there it is—his left arm halfway to the table before he falters, blinking like he's noticed something interesting, and swaps it for the right. Yeah, she figured he'd try something like that. "Well, that's no fun," he says, flexing his hand for her to take.
Rocking the chair forward a little more. Better to get the grip on him she needs. "Aren't you always the one going on about fair fights?"
Leather warm under her palm. Vash's eyes have that look they get when he's trying to read her, making the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably, but the smile is still in there, lifting his sunglasses on the apples of his cheeks. "Only when it's not you!"
And in her grip, the sudden shift of muscles all down his arm putting the pressure on like the flick of a switch; Wolfwood's shoulders ratchet up at the first surge of it and hold her steady, pushing back against a power she knows could lay her out flat right there if he wanted it to, shifting just below the surface of Vash's being, there but restrained. Doesn't make him any kind of pushover, though. She whistles a breath past clenched teeth. "--Oi!"
"You wanted it to be fair," he says, diamonds in his grin she sometimes wouldn't mind knocking out and cashing in.
Obnoxious brat.
For a few seconds, the challenge is there, balanced so perfectly down the middle even when she's pushing for it harder that she's gotta wonder if he isn't adapting himself to her by the second. Wouldn't put it past him. Then something in the angle changes to favouring her more than Vash, and that's gotta be a conscious decision, because the strength is still there in every inch of him, even though it's his arm giving way towards the table. He could take this back from her in an instant. All Vash needs, laughing at her from across the table, is a reason to.
But she knows he's needing this more and more, something to keep that lightning mind occupied in these rare few moments they aren't walking towards... whatever the hell it's gonna be. Sooner or later they'll run dry and she'll find out how many of her lies made it past him in one piece. Tonight, though, it's just her and him and one more shitty saloon that stinks of a thousand and one nights of sweat. They might as well keep on enjoying while it's here.
So, yeah, alright. Good. They've still got this going for them. The last of the tension goes and his arm slams to the table, hard enough to rattle the booze, Wolfwood's lips twitching into a barbed grin that's met with snorted laughter. For once she's not in the mood to find it obnoxious.
"That's one for me."
He shakes out his hand and throws back shot with that same dopey grin as always. Like he isn't perfectly happy losing to her, faking sheepish. "Ahhh... how does best two out of three sound?"
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• these fucking stupid alcoholic losers
trivial
#3. BUYING ANGELINA
canon equivalent: none. headcanon.
In a surprisingly busy trade city of husked-out buildings, dusty, laughing children, and pickpockets, a younger you shells over every last coin to your name to an oil-streaked man with grease and sand in his hair. It's for a motorcycle in the bed of his truck, beat to shit but gleaming black and bronze in the double suns. That's what caught your eye, at first, that shine. You really, really need this motorcycle—and more than that, you want it. So you're willing to pay. And it isn't like you're broke; just... skirting it.
The barter, at least, isn't hard. He names a price you can't tell as a steal or a gyp, but you fork the double dollars over anyway and figure you can always write it off as a bad deal if things go south. You need the bike, and you've mooched rooms off inkeepers before.
"You really saved my ass, pal," you say as he rolls it from the bed.
"Sure beats walking," he admits.
Sure does.
You sling the cross from your shoulder and let it down into the sidecar. Grin at him like there's a joke he ain't in on, the way his brows rise at the sink of the bike beneath the weight.
"Think I'll call her Angelina."
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• motorcycles♥
NEUTRAL
significant
#8. "THANK YOU." GOOD OL' VASH THE FUCKING STAMPEDE
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v3 chapter 6 pages 156-162; here
au variances:
• until she notices Vash, Wolfwood's "WHERE THE HELL AM I" behaviour upon waking is far more pronounced
• rather than sympathise for Jessica's future husband, Wolfwood comments that with klutziness like that, she should leave the good dishware at home
in sum:
• no matter the situation, it seems as though Vash has the blood of a hypocrite running through his veins
• "I killed. I murdered. I'm nothing like these sleepy people here..."
• damned for murdering one day, thanked for it the next... his capriciousness makes her want to claw out of her own skin
• but better she does and spare the lives of those who cannot, supposedly, defend themselves
• again with kids being lucky ones who can never truly spark Wolfwood's temper
• (rough-hewn big sister feelings continue to form)
• just what kind of person has she been travelling with?
points of note:
• the implications of the locket in this memory are coupled with having also received this memory in which she mentioned Vash's actions 13 years prior, and witnessing Project Tessla here. it prompts the beginning of Wolfwood's struggle in Kyriakos to reconcile Vash's "inhuman" nature with who he is as a deeply hypocritical, but empathetic, altruistic, and forgiving person.
#10. "YOUR EYES ARE THE EYES OF A TRAITOR."
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v5 chapters 2&3 pages 42-67; here
au variances:
• Midvalley inferring Wolfwood's eyes are that of a traitor is just about enough to make her kill him right there; she is clearly and deeply rattled by the comment, but something—almost akin to a twisted feeling of being selfsame, somehow—keeps her from pulling the trigger
• there's a moment following this comment, while they're locked in impasse, in which she frantically considers whether "the eye" might be involved here, too
in sum:
• there's unspoken history between them both, herself and this "Player"
• which, naturally, doesn't deter her from the conviction that she's gonna kill him
• nor the conviction that she can, despite being unable to see
• Wolfwood's moral grey area continues to grow
• to put herself between danger and the girl who called her name is second-nature
• so where does she draw the distinction between a life she desires to save and a life she leaves to the dogs?
• who's the afraid of the Big Bad Wolf
points of note:
• Wolfwood is completely blind for the entire duration of this memory, but it doesn't seem to have any negative effect on her fighting capability
• there are direct parallels between Milly's aid here and the Vanara kids helping her in the game on Day 180
• the first use of the name "Chapel" in reference to her
#20. "I AM THE EYE OF MICHAEL."
canon equivalent: none. au-defining. in full, 2,300 words, here.
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• Eye of Michael, finally defined: a zealously religious, Plant-worshipping cult of hitmen, affiliated with the Gung-Ho Guns, spearheaded by Chapel, to whom she was apprenticed from a young age, and whose name has been used to refer to her in numerous other memories
• also: Knives' personal assassin genocide box
• it took her in when she was young—she was "promising"
• and made for good target practice, apparently
• Wolfwood's motivations: entirely based in protecting this "Aunt Melanie" and her orphanage—no, her orphanage?
• the act of mutiny as carried out by one single person is vengeful and swift
• and fatal
• but not permanently
• is she even really still a human?
• she sure as hell isn't a priest
• but the Eye of Michael, that isn't Chapel's anymore, either, come hell or high water
• she won't be able to come back... but at least the kids are safe
• maybe Vash wasn't so far off when he called her "A woman forcing herself to play the Devil"...
points of note:
• a lot of memories suddenly make sense.
• in one fell swoop, this memory clears up (kind of): what the Eye of Michael is, why she was paranoid about hitmen, why the Eye put a hit on her, why she purportedly works for Knives, her kneejerk reverence for Plants, why Midvalley considered her a traitor, why she killed Rai-Dei with such vehemence, that the orphanage in her nightmare really was being used as collateral of some kind, that she really did kill the man in that nightmare—Chapel, and why she would have nightmares about Knives killing those children in the first place
• but not: why she's travelling with and protecting Vash, what it is that Knives has her doing specifically, what is in those vials, what "under the knife" really means, who Legato is, what "July" means, what happened in Jeneora rock, why Midvalley and Beast referred to her as Chapel, what she meant by "I am the Eye of Michael" and what that might have to do with the hits placed on her, whether or not the orphanage is really safe from the Eye or Knives and why it was collateral, why Knives' aim is to destroy humanity, why he's half-dead... the list goes on
• Wolfwood @ God's plan
neutral
#2. "GODDAMMIT... I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA GO INSANE..."
canon equivalent: Badlands Rumble chapter 1; here
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• take everything assumed from her starter memory and multiply it by ten: this is a planet of blood and grit, endless miles of it, a planet of people crawling like ants in the dust, living eternally on the verge of extinction, where the weak do nothing but suffer
• cyborgs exist
• so do (did?) spaceships
• it might mean more if their current role weren't solely to provide the parts for scrap metal dealers to, through backbreaking labour, dismantle and sell so they might merely survive
• a luxurious cage, indeed...
• $$4,500,000 bounties—guess that's what happens when folk like Orekano and these Dodongo bothers are allowed to run the show
• shit, thAT GUY LOOKS FAMILIAOH WAIT, THAT'S BECAUSE HE IS
• :') :') :') :') :') :') :')
• math must not be her strong suit, with the way she keeps throwing around "13 years ago"
• "That's what pisses me off so much about this guy. He already understands everything so much it could kill him."
• the quote of the century
points of note:
• her name is still emitted, but instead she gets a far more useful one: "Spikey"
• she now remembers her smoking habit
trivial
#4. FUCK THE LEMONS
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v4 chapter 2 pages 54-57; here
au variances:
• ab-so-lutely none.
in sum:
• when you're going through hell, keep going
• "Can't you even walk a few million miles without water?!"
• being broke is proven to not build character
• pissing off two women so much they'd purposefully leave your stupid asses stranded in the desert survivor-style, the Vash and Wolfwood life
• looking at this, you'd assume it would be a lesson in humility
• it's not
points of note:
• her name is still omitted.
NEGATIVE
significant
#6. "SHOOT."
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v2 chapter 4 pages 91-107; here
au variances:
• Wolfwood jumps the gun slightly more than in canon and shoots Rai-Dei the moment Vash moves out of the way, killing him before he has the chance to attempt his Jigenzan Ittou Dark Succession Technique. she also unloads the full clip.
• by extension, because he isn't given the opportunity to make an attempt on Vash's life, Vash's rage is twofold, having felt that he'd talked Rai-Dei down
• rather than saying "The blade's still in the original position. He wouldn't have pulled the trigger," Vash berates her for failing to even give him a chance. Wolfwood's response is that he would have turned on Vash if she hadn't.
• with Wolfwood's disposition towards Rai-Dei so much more heated and pronounced than in canon, Vash attempts to get a reason as to why she'd wanted him dead so badly, but only ends up with the claim that "Someone like that doesn't change their stripes just because you've shoved a few altruistic words at them."
in sum:
• there is blood on her hands
• a lot of it
• it is a role she takes willingly, time and again
• and it lands her into no end of trouble
• hypocrisy issues
• survivalism issues
• MURDER ISSUES
• she would trade her life if it meant Vash would take on that same role rather than naively continue to believe he can save anyone without ever dirtying his own hands
• "If you could see yourself through my eyes, you'd see a woman forcing herself to become the Devil while her own heart cries out."
points of note:
• this is the first time she hears her name
• additionally, the first mention of the Gung-Ho Guns
#17. "KNIVES WAS PLANNING TO DO IT ALL ALONG."
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v6 chapter 2 pages 36-41; here
au variances:
• the dream dialogue with Chapel is slightly different: "Do you think there won't be repercussions? Think about it!! You have made your bed among devils, Colette the Punisher, you belong to the Eye of Michael—"
• it is still unclear where Wolfwood sinks the bullet, but she does so with trembling righteous fury
in sum:
• sometimes you will plant a knife in someone's back to protect the things you care about, and sometimes you have nightmares about that
• to say she makes her bed among devils is an understatement
• moreover... on Gunsmoke, certain knives are crueler than others
• and sometimes you work for them
• hints of self-loathing
• hints of forcing herself to play the devil while her own heart cries out, you might say—"It's my job."
• that ever-present unease, made worse by commentary such as "Keep it up." and "Are you gonna keep working? For his sake?"
• "I wonder if they realise that mankind itself is being hunted."
• a muddling of lines, of whether her loyalty stands with Vash the Stampede, with Knives, or this Eye of Michael
• the feeling that regardless of the answer, her actions are, in the eyes of a being like that, akin to the coming and goings of insects
• and all paths lead to the one where he destroys everything she holds dear
points of note:
• her first name is Colette, and she carries the title of "the Punisher"
• Beast, too, refers to her as "Chapel"
• she belongs to the Eye of Michael—the same group she has been intensely paranoid about, and whose members have actively hunted her.
• chances are she's no priest
• GENOCIDAL TWIN BROTHER. NATURALLY.
neutral
#12. NO CASH FOR OLD MEN
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v6 chapter 6 pages 158-162; here
au variances:
• the sight of the "defunct" Plant is as though someone took hold of her heart and squeezed it hard
• it's a moment of rattled faith, the sensation of realising something she'd been made to believe as impossibly powerful and invincible has been smeared across the glass like it was nothing
in sum:
• casually discussing mass dismemberment while traversing a ship on the verge of collapse
• punching the elderly while wearing sickeningly sweet smiles
• does she look like someone who has money.gif
• any doubt left in Wolfwood's mind what Plants are has been forcefully removed in the wake of the sickening, gory mess left behind in a now-dead Plant bulb
• witnessing Vash tweaking out as he has literal visions of Knives executing the ship's crew in retribution
points of note:
• Wolfwood has seen Vash's shard containing Project TESSLA, and therefore recognises the name Vash says at the end of this memory.
• this shard is first real indicator of this Wolfwood's increased reverence/worship towards Plants
#15. TAKING OUT A HIT. OF A SORT.
canon equivalent: none. au-specific.
They've been followed for the last fifty iles. A dark figure too low to the ground to be a carrion bird, she'd seen it come up that afternoon from the east, appearing in bits and pieces in the heat-haze rising off an endless sea of suns-baked sand. Vash hadn't said a goddamn thing, hadn't glanced back once, not even when Wolfwood caught herself glancing in the rearview for the tenth time.
When they pull into town and throw the last of their cash on the innkeeper's desk in exchange for a key, Wolfwood hangs back, feeling a hundred eyes on her in the dark on the other side of the door behind them. Vash pausing halfway up the stairs, eyes half-hidden behind golden lenses when he turns towards her.
"Wolfwood?"
"You go ahead and make up the room," she says and puts a cigarette between her lips. "I'm gonna have a smoke."
Vash, standing quite still, looks through her for a moment and she about crawls outta her own skin. Then it passes and he shoulders his pack higher, smile coming a few seconds too slow, and says, "You're getting the crappy bed, then." Moseys on.
"Like hell I am," she throws back, except she's already one foot out the door, instead of hot on his heels to prove him wrong. Wolfwood isn't about to count on him to believe her for a damn second anyway.
She finds the guy waiting for her a couple blocks down where the town's all but falling apart. Hears the gun cock before she turns the corner and has the Punisher under his chin a heartbeat later. There's no surprise on his face, just a whole lotta that cold nothing. He's younger than she'd thought. Doesn't say a damn thing, but the gun goes off like clockwork, right out here in the damn open. It glances off the Punisher and buries in the wall by her temple. Grabbing on quick to the adrenaline, Wolfwood goes ahead and pins him there, too, cross bearing into him hard.
"How much are they promising you? Huh?" Already knows that answer. Her corpse is worth a lot to them. "Better be worth it, coming all this way to die like that old man."
He laughs, rictus grin, eyes lit up like he's got hellfire inside. "It's worth it just to see the look on your face," he says, and twitches his trigger finger a couple more times, until the Punisher's as pitted as the rest of the damn planet. "We don't even have to do anything to you yet. Your paranoia... just knowing we can find you as easily as this... you're driving yourself to the end of your own rope, Chapel, and once you do, the Eye of Michael will close in to enact our justice. Remember you did this. Vash the Stampede won't be able to protect you from what lays ahead—how do you know he'll even want to? They are brothers, after all."
And she blacks in to her hand splayed across his face, nails drawing blood and the Punisher's edge cutting against her chest where she leans into it into him. She's shaking, anger and something even harder to keep a grip on. How much have they fed back to that place? "That's a name you shouldn't've said."
Just gonna make her job harder, down the road, but she can cut this part of it out right here and now.
Takes about ten seconds. Scrabbling, twisting, sweat-slick fingers slipping on metal, strapped to her ribs and pressed to her jaw, wrenched back, fingers cracking, twisting again, the harsh ragged breathing of someone who's realised they aren't as ready to die as they'd figured they were. That's the thing about people like them. They'll do damn near anything to survive. But tonight it's her, it's always gotta be her, a chamber emptied into his heart and his head and Wolfwood holding him up by the cross until the ringing in her ears fades out to a buzz.
Feels—nothing.
She has to feel nothing.
Vash is sitting at the open window when she gets back. His back turned to her, arms folded loose across the chair he's straddled, and glasses pushed up high over his eyes. The room is made up. Without a word, Wolfwood lets the Punisher down and takes the bed that hasn't got his knapsack beside it. Shoes still on, arms folded behind her head when she lays down. She turns her face to the wall.
"Hurry up and close that before we catch our death." It's in the pit of her stomach, how she can't shake the feeling that he can smell it on her. Wolfwood keeps her eyes closed. "Got an early start tomorrow."
Seems like he's ignoring her for a few seconds. No sound, no agreement. Then the chair scrapes slowly against the floor, Vash standing and brushing past the foot of her bed. A few seconds later, she sees the light go out through her eyelids, worn mattress sighing beneath a new weight.
He doesn't say a goddamn thing.
in sum:
• Vash seeing right through her, as usual
• no lectures this time, though, but the knowing, unquestioning silence is so much worse
• the willingness to kill on Vash's behalf, again and again, even when it's her that's under fire
• whatever this "Eye of Michael" is, they very sincerely wish her dead—and possibly Vash, too, though there was a reverence to the mention of his name that was deeply unsettling
• You Are (Not) A Priest
• "They are brothers, after all."
• now that's interesting
points of note:
• AN ACTUAL (extremely vague and nameless) REFERENCE TO KNIVES, HOLY SHIT
• this harkens back to several earlier memories in which she correlated hitmen and mentions of her being a "traitor" to meddling done by "the eye", now revealed to be "The Eye of Michael"
• additionally, the hitman refers to her as "Chapel", much as Midvalley had
• with her current memories, the situation reads as having pissed off the wrong crowd, which is... not inaccurate
#16. "YOU'RE SO COOL, WOLFWOOD..."
canon equivalent: Badlands Rumble chapter 2; here
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• what kind of dumbass actually considers letting a pair of outlaws off him in exchange for a village he's never even been to before?
• answer: Vash the fuckin' Stampede
• a taste of betrayal, knocking her so off kilter that she catches a couple bullets she'd have otherwise avoided
• the weak, who do nothing but suffer, rise up even as hellfire rains down
• it's enough to stop her heart for a moment
• she and Vash working together like two cogs of the same machine; a blind trust to do as he says in the split-second heat of the moment and have it be the right thing to do, have it work
• such is the kind of guy who can calculate the exact bullet trajectory he needs to redirect missiles
• since when is everyone so stingy that a girl can't even claim reward money she so clearly earned?!
points of note:
• the first memory she has in which Vash uses his gun. he uses it very well.
#18. "IF ANYONE BECOMES AN OBSTACLE, WE'LL SCATTER 'EM."
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum vol 4 chapter 4 pages 108-117; here
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• a city piled upon a city, built on the backs of the poor and the rich alike, the leftovers of this planet
• "We're being pulled along the blood-spattered road."
• business as usual
• the championing of her own strength, something she wholly believes in, determines to be her purpose
• "Rest easy. While we're in charge, that bastard's killing no one. If anyone becomes an obstacle, we'll scatter 'em."
• """"scatter""""
• and the weight of Vash's gaze, completely unmoved by her
• if he is her judge, then she's already damned
• somehow, despite this, she can't convince the big girl to leave the bloodshed of this kind of 'world' to her
• kitten's got claws
• or fangs, as it were
points of note:
• Vash don't give a fuck how many people you're willing to kill for them, Wolfwood, what do you not get about love&peace
trivial
#5. HITMAN INSURANCE AGENT?? B|????
canon equivalent: Trigun Maximum v1 chapter 3 pages 84-96; here
au variances:
• Wolfwood is much higher-strung re:this obvious hitman. she makes a serious attempt to fill him full of lead, though the result is still that Wolfwood only drives him off to regroup
• she hauls Vash to the hospital off-screen and spends the time he's being treated pacing and running through a mental litany of niggling suspicions. the entire feel of it is that she isn't completely convinced he wasn't out to ice them both. she frustratedly comes back to the thought of ""the eye"" several times.
• after upending tobasco all over his face, the hospital staff are forced to bodily escort her from the premises in order to prevent her causing the hitman further harm.
in sum:
• she would sooner avoid a gunshot with the intent of turning it back
• Vash, though, merely soaks them up, unthinkingly, whether they were intended for him or not, which is unsettling and aggravating in even measure
• a strange sense of camaraderie and responsibility
• a less strange feeling of going through life's problems fists-first
• the predisposition towards being as petty and vindictively unkind as the situation calls for
• feeling like she should watch out for a barrel against her own back one of these days, regardless of the planet's perpetual itchy trigger finger, or the company she keeps, more urgent and unsettling somehow in mere concept than even the reality of Orekano's ring gunning her down
• [ muffled 80s synth-funk in the bg ]
points of note:
• her name continues to be omitted.
SKILLS
#7. "RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE"
canon equivalent: spitting highly-paraphrased biblical bullshit at inopportune moments, slinging scripture, approximate knowledge wielded with the air of an expert.
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• the "priest" part of "shitty priest".
#9. FIGHTING INSTINCT
canon equivalent: an "extraordinary fighting instinct that cannot be explained by battlefield experience alone."
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• an increased sense of situations/people that would get her killed or hurt, the ability to read reactions and abilities, retaliate with "impeccable timing", and the willingness to risk her own life in order to set up chain-reaction attacks that would kill her rival, such as getting into melee range before firing a missile
• essentially, her fight-or-flight instincts have been buffed and the longer you fight her, the more likely she is to find an opening or weakness and exploit it
#11. HIGH PAIN THRESHOLD
canon equivalent: the capability to more easily shrug off pain.
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• she's a cockroach
#13. FIREARM USE, PISTOLS/REVOLVERS
canon equivalent: the ability to use pistols and revolvers with accuracy and dexterity.
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• pew pew pew.
#21. ENHANCED STRENGTH & DURABILITY
canon equivalent: taking hits and taking them again. and again. and again. and again. and then handing 'em back tenfold.
au variances:
• none.
in sum:
• the Punisher weighs approximately ~300lb and with this shard Wolfwood can now carry it slung over her shoulder with one hand, if that gives you an idea
• as for the rest... essentially
VASH'S SHARDS
Dodging prostitutes. Trigun v1 pages 107-111; here. Seen on day 180 here.