Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ As the Rose Falls ❯ Anticipating the Festival ( Chapter 5 )

As The Rose Falls

Chapter 5. Anticipating the Festival

By: Hellions K. and Dashing V.

There was one person who was already preparing for the festival though it was still a little more than a month off. The tall blond woman was even taller lately, using the time before the festival to work back into her stilts to pose as the gunman that is so dear to her. This day Viv is dressed in the black bodysuit, boots, and gloves in the likeness of the gunman lost so long ago to the general public. Her long braid swaying behind her as she walks through the town as the twin suns set. She walked into the Cafe to see how things were going.

"Well look what the cat dragged in," Nick said in jest as he stood up from his relaxed position behind the bar.

Mandy and Meira were in working tonight, four out of the group of five that masquerade as the main heroes from the past, though not all see Knives that way. The pair of woman perked up at the sound of Nick's voice and turned to see Viv.

"Where have you been!" the short dark haired woman said in an exasperated tone. "We were -busy- and were where you?"

Viv just laughed, "Come now Meira, can I not have a day off once and a while?"

"You know she's right, Meira," Mandy said as she nodded her head in agreement with Viv. "She has been working awfully hard lately. Isn't that right Viv!" She added enthusiastically.

Nick looked at the three woman and laughed as the three of them got into a discussion with Viv actually laughing and smiling as she acted much like Vash would in a situation like this. Or at least what he assumed how Vash would act as she reached up and scratched at the back of her head.

The door would give a soft jingle as a boy of about nine entered, with a cased instrument in hand. Putting it down by the door he grinned as he saw his older brother's friends talking and laughing. He smiled to himself as he brushed his black short curly hair out of his brown eyes. This was too perfect. He stepped behind an adult, or at least they were taller than him, as they were on their way to the bar. Once at the bar the boy hunched down and snuck behind the it, peeking around the corner to make sure that Nick was busy. He tried to stifle a giggle as he saw his perfect chance and ran out and behind the bar. Launching himself in the air he glomped the older boy, "Hi! Nick!" he giggled as he clung to the other's back.

As the man had settled back down against the bar, Nick didn't notice Matti as he snuck up behind him. Nor did he truly hear the giggle from the lad either since he was paying more attention to Viv and the other two girls.

"Lord have mercy!" Nick yelped in surprise in a Wolfwood fashion as he pitched forward and....*WHACK* his head smacked quite smartly against the bar top as he tried to catch himself and failed.

The sound of Nick's head connecting with the bar stopped the three women's conversation immediately. Viv raising a gloved hand to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at this situation that really shouldn't be that funny.

"Now Matti," Viv says between a few soft chuckles as she looked at the boy clinging to Nick's back. She then asks with a mock stern look on her face, trying so hard not to laugh. "What have you been told about sneaking up behind people at the bar?"

"Hello, Matti," came the muffled reply from Nick as he slowly lifted his head up from the bar top. He was real glad that he hadn't lit that cigarette yet as he plucked the mashed cylinder from his lips and held it before his eyes, chin still resting upon the bar.

The little boy's mouth moved into a big O as Nick's head hit the bar, but he couldn't help but give a few giggles at it either, he had caught Nick by surprise!

He looked to Viv and then back to Nick before he let go and slid to the floor before pulling himself up to sit on the bar top.

"I'm sorry, Nick," he said, putting some regret into his child's voice, "I didn't mean to make you hurt yourself."

He looked over his shoulder at Viv, since he was facing the wall behind the bar, "And... I forgot. I'm sorry, Miss Viv. I was just happy, that's all."

He gave a soft sigh as he looked down at his hands that were in his lap.

"Uh huh," Nick mumbled around the mashed cigarette that he placed back in his mouth and lit it. Taking a few puffs off the crushed cylinder finding that it was is at least partially salvageable.

"Sure," he adds as he lets out a large cloud of smoke.

Viv just shook her head and laughed as she walked over to the bar and ruffled the kid's hair, before saying, "What are you doing out so late, you're mother's got to be worried, Matti."

The woman then turned her attention to Nick. "Let me see," Viv said as she sat down on the bar top as well and leaned over to brush back the man's hair to take a look at his farther.

"Oooo, you're gonna have quite the lump there Nick." She would spare him the embarrassment of calling him Nicki, like she has a tendency to do at times like these. She shook her head as she leaned back again letting his dark hair fall back into its customary place. She then turned to face Matti again. "You did a good number on him kid."

The other two women went to finish cleaning up the tables and getting ready to close shop, both chuckling softly.

"Thanks, Viv," Nick said blandly as he breathed out another wispy cloud of silvery smoke.

The kid just gave shrug of his thin shoulders, "She knew I had my music lesson tonight and that I like to stop here if I can. So she shouldn't be to worried," he gulped, "I hope."

He watched as the woman looked at the damage that was done to Nick's forehead, he grinned, "I didn't mean to though. Honest!"

He then fell silent as he watched the older boy take another drag on the cigarette. Then smiling he snatched it quickly out of Nick's hand, "Those are bad for you," he said as he turned and jumped off the bar. Running through the seating area he didn't stop until he got to the bathroom.

Opening the door he then quickly ducked inside and threw the stinking thing into the toilet, a telltale flush now coming out of the little room.

"Are you out by yourself or should I be expecting to see your brother sometime tonight?" Viv asked as she nodded to Matti, forgetting that he had music lessons. "How's your lessons going, Matti?"

Nick blinked as the mashed cigarette was swiped out of his hand and his grey gaze followed the boy as he ran off with it. Meira and Mandy both looked up in mild shock as Mandy cringed slightly, waiting for something to happen. Viv too just blinked as she tried to stifle her laughter at what the lad had just done.

Nick just shook his head and instead of getting upset with the boy he just pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He placed his thumb partially over the open hole in the pack and gave it a little shake causing on of the white cylinders to slide out. Placing the end of the cigarette in his mouth he pulled it the rest of the way out of the pack and placed the pack in his pocket before lighting the new stick. He didn't have the energy to argue with the kid tonight, it had been a long day.

Meira and Mandy just blinked at Nick. "You're not mad?" Mandy asked tentatively.

"Why should I be," Nick said around the cylinder in his mouth as he lit it. "Not like that one was worth smoking anyway."

"Oh that's good, what a relief," Mandy piped cheerfully as she went back to cleaning.

Nick pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and let out a wispy breath of smoke that filtered up like a small host of ethereal beings around his head. "I just didn't want to waste it, smokes are so
expensive." He placed the cigarette back in his mouth. "Although they have been getting a bit less expensive now that there's more geo-groves growing."

He then turned around so that his back was facing the bar. Leaning both elbows upon its smooth dark surface. "Man I can't wait till the festival starts," he said unexpectedly.

"You and me both," Viv stated then frowned slightly. "I'm not looking forward to dealing with Jarod this year though.... He told me that he has something planned and I'm not liking the sounds of that."

"Hey Matti," Nick called, as he lounged against the bar. "Has that brother of yours started to dye his hair yet?"

Everyone knew that Jarod spent a month or more dyeing and re-dyeing his hair so that it would be the perfect color for the festival. Normally that meant he dyed it so many times he was lucky that it didn't start to fall out.

The small boy came back out of the bathroom, jaw dropping at the sight of Nick with another cigarette in his mouth. He gave a defeated sigh, it was no use, he would just have to take the entire pack next time, and he grinned deviantly to himself.

He looked up at Viv his smile turning to a bright one, "They are going really well. Mister Gervis is really happy with how quickly I'm learning the elements of jazz. Of course practicing every night helps, although Jarod has started complaining about the noise," his lips turned into a bit of a pouty frown.

He shrugged as he walked back towards the bar and took a seat on one of the stools, "I have no idea if Jarod is out and about. If he is it's probably with some lame headed bimbo of girl. Just because that's all he can get."

He leaned an elbow on the bar and then his head on his hand as he tried to stifle a yawn, he didn't want to go home yet.

Nick's question made him giggle, like only a little boy can, "Yeah, he has! He looks so stupid! 'Coz it streaked so part of it is blond and part of it is brown," he got a bit of a mischievous grin, "Of course it doesn't help when the dye gets mixed with something else." He gave them an innocent look, which probably portrayed his guilt right there on the spot.

"Sounds like your having quite the bit of fun with your music instructor then. That is good," Viv said with a smile as she looked down at Matti.

"Sounds like Jarod," Nick said as he turned to look at the boy, wisps of smoke filtering up through the air before he took the cigarette out of his mouth to flick off the growing ash. "He's always trying to prove that he's better then everyone else in town just because he always has a girl or two hanging from his arm."

Viv just shook her head at the comment about Jarod, as she patted Matti's head as she walked by, slipping behind the counter she went into the back room, only to return a few moments later with her guitar.

"Oh and I'm sure you had nothing to do with the striping of your brother's hair at all," the woman replied as she hopped back up on the counter, slipping guitar strap over her shoulder and strummed a few cords.

"Like to see him get a date now," Nick said with a good laugh. His attention then turned to Viv as he heard her start to play an all too familiar song. An old song that she claimed that her family used to sing with a certain gunman several decades ago.

The look on Viv's face was a distant one as she played the song. An almost sad look slid across her face for an instant in remembrance of someone lost to her some time ago. Her voice then lifted softly and sweetly into song.

"Soo... On the first night, a pebble falls to the earth from somewhere... So... On the second night, the pebble's children hold hands and sketch a waltz...."

As the song progresses Viv's voice begins to change to sound more and more like Vash's as Nick joins in about halfway through to add to the harmony of the song. Their voices blending together in an interesting harmony as they both take on the voices of those they portray at the festival.

"So... On the third night, the children of the waltz cause ripples on the face of the world. So... On the fourth night, the children of the wave spray the shore. Sound life...."

There was a bright smile upon Viv's face as she continued to sing, her voice finally trailing off with Nick's with the last soft line of "Sound Life", before she began to cough.

"I got to remember not to do that when I haven't practiced in a while!" Viv said between breaths as Nick's brows knitted together as he looked at the woman.

Nick let out a sigh, as he shook his head with a smile. "You never learn."