[ Vash grits his teeth. He doesn't have an answer for Nai. Whatever it is that he might have to lose in the process of dying and coming back - or not coming back - he's ready to lose it, if it means that Nai backs down and Meryl and anyone else who might be lingering nearby stays out of danger.
He flinches when Nai drops his hands, expecting a physical blow that never comes. What he gets is what he's accustomed to, now. Before the incident at Jeneora Rock, he hadn't spoken to Nai in over 150 years, and now it seems like they're only capable of having one argument, over and over. Vash's hands ball into fists at his sides. He's about to say - that doesn't make it alright to kill them for an experiment.
Meryl's voice cuts through first. Vash stares at her for a moment, standing tall despite the tremor of fear in her voice. Of all the things he might have said to Nai, this wasn't one of them - in truth, it had seemed cruel to even hope that it wouldn't matter to Meryl what he was, once she saw the real extent of it. He wouldn't blame her for turning away, like so many others had before her. It's stranger still to have someone rush to his defense over something like this. He feels something constrict in his chest for a brief moment - something bright and fierce and selfish and guilty that he can't even begin to name - before he turns back to Nai.
His brother's attention is focused entirely on Meryl. Vash can read the intent in every tense line of his body as he begins to stalk toward her.
Vash runs, closing the remaining ground between himself an Nai well before he can reach the wooden stand. He jumps, throwing all of his weight and momentum behind it. Even without his full strength, tackling Nai is like tackling a brick wall, and Vash is almost surprised that the two of them actually go down in a tangle of limbs. ]
Meryl - rope! [ That's all he manages to shout, so hopefully she can find something good enough to keep Nai restrained, even temporarily. If Vash can just pin him down -- ]
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He flinches when Nai drops his hands, expecting a physical blow that never comes. What he gets is what he's accustomed to, now. Before the incident at Jeneora Rock, he hadn't spoken to Nai in over 150 years, and now it seems like they're only capable of having one argument, over and over. Vash's hands ball into fists at his sides. He's about to say - that doesn't make it alright to kill them for an experiment.
Meryl's voice cuts through first. Vash stares at her for a moment, standing tall despite the tremor of fear in her voice. Of all the things he might have said to Nai, this wasn't one of them - in truth, it had seemed cruel to even hope that it wouldn't matter to Meryl what he was, once she saw the real extent of it. He wouldn't blame her for turning away, like so many others had before her. It's stranger still to have someone rush to his defense over something like this. He feels something constrict in his chest for a brief moment - something bright and fierce and selfish and guilty that he can't even begin to name - before he turns back to Nai.
His brother's attention is focused entirely on Meryl. Vash can read the intent in every tense line of his body as he begins to stalk toward her.
Vash runs, closing the remaining ground between himself an Nai well before he can reach the wooden stand. He jumps, throwing all of his weight and momentum behind it. Even without his full strength, tackling Nai is like tackling a brick wall, and Vash is almost surprised that the two of them actually go down in a tangle of limbs. ]
Meryl - rope! [ That's all he manages to shout, so hopefully she can find something good enough to keep Nai restrained, even temporarily. If Vash can just pin him down -- ]