Rem Saverem

He won't lie, the fact that Vash hasn't so much as sent him a message saying hello hurts a bit but then, he hasn't messaged either. Didn't want to pressure the kid after everything in Archimedes. Guess he'll have to though, to get anything out of him.

Before he can do more then think about reaching for his phone it buzzes at him, a message from someone unknown showing up on his screen. Curious, maybe its someone asking for an article, he's been putting feelers out for a job.

Not so much but equally interesting. He doesn't know a Rem Saverem and he can't tell from her phrasing if she knows Vash from home or not. Could be someone after him, could be a concerned citizen. Could be a number of things.

[Txt] Hey there. I interviewed quite a few people who know him for that piece so there's a bit I could pass on. I'm sure you gathered my opinion on the whole mess from the tone of the article so I'm sure you'll understand that I'm not interested in you telling me how every death was his fault and using whatever I tell you to go on a witch hunt. Just so we're clear here.

He'd gotten more then a few angry people who'd lost loved ones in the chaos trying to tell him what they thought of his article and there's no way in hell he's going to let someone weedle information out of him to go chase the kid down. Roberto can ignore the abuse hurled, Vash takes every little thing to heart.

The thought reminds her of the way Vash broke down blaming himself for her death. No doubt he felt the same way about what happened. Even less doubt that it's exactly why he hasn't and won't talk to her about it.

[txt] I'm from the same world as Vash. I knew him when he was younger. I know what a sweet boy he is, but he won't talk to me. He's clearly carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and I want to understand the man he's grown up to be.

For the most part, it's the truth. All of the important points are there, at least. Rem leaves out explicitly stating that she's his mother, though, just in case. She's not naive enough to not realize how that might be used against Vash.

It feels nice, to be cared for without any expectations of him. He'll bask in it while he can, before someone has a chance to fill her in on who he is.

He's wisely going to stop talking about his relationship with Knives though. He's at least self aware enough that their whole... thing is a mess, even if it is still getting much better. It's better then where they started and its the only thing he wants regardless.

He does snort a little into the glass at her summary of their current situation. Had he been any less obviously out of it when she'd come across him it would have been a very stupid idea indeed to do as she's done. Luckily, Legato is currently about as threatening as an overcooked noodle.

"Oblivious, dare I say sometimes more then a little stupid," Legato rolls his eyes, both exasperated and immeasurably fond. If he's going to allow himself any small amount of complaining about Knives and his obliviousness it would be to her. "Knives is not very good at parsing feelings, other's or his own. I had to repeatedly clarify myself before he understood I was telling him I love him."

"As long as Knives being dense doesn't mean he's undervaluing you, I suppose dumb boys can have their charm," Rem concedes, shifting away from cleaning Legato's face to his neck. Luckily, the man's clothes did their job to keep the rest of him manageably clean, the only big hurdle left is his hair.

He's doubtless already said too much.

"I don't know how much I should tell you or how much it will matter if I do," he says to his knees. "Neither Vash will be happy that I've spoken with you this much. Every time I make an attempt to improve the situation I make things worse. I got them killed and now they'll all be angry when they come back."

He just wants someone to talk to, someone with a half decent grasp of how to be a person and maybe someone who actually knows how a relationship should function but now he's gone and made things complicated. He muffles a frustrated growl against his arm and resists the urge to dig his nails into familiar scars on his biceps.

"Things between us have been getting better." He says almost fiercely, trying to figure out how to get her to understand without just telling her everything. She doesn't know he's from a different but adjacent world as Vash is and there's plenty of nonhumans here. That should be safe enough. "Knives isn't... he's not human. He's always been better then humans, thus me. Neither of us have liked humans in the past. Things were done to me in my very early life that.... I can't forget or shake off. He saved me and he was above me in more then one way. That gap has been shrinking rapidly but it's... it's only been a few months here. I served him for a decade. Our relationship is complicated but getting better and I love him more then anything. Even if he's a bit... dense in that regard." He sighs and picks up his head again to give her a tired look.

It's even more to unpack, and she knows even less where to start. To buy herself more time, she grabs the glass of water, satisfied that his face is clean enough now that there's little worry of the blood getting into it. "Drink this," She says with a soft sigh.

"It's very kind of you to say someone like me, but I would reserve your judgement. You don't know anything about me. Frankly I have enough self-awareness to know that picking up a random stranger off the street to go home with them and give them a bath may be virtuous, but it's not necessarily the marker of someone who's all put together," She laughs softly at the absurdity of the situation, to avoid thinking too hard about it beyond that. Self-awareness doesn't have to come with self-refleciton.

Although... Livio might speak to him. God knows the conversation would be awkward as all hell and Legato is still... unnerved by him a bit. But it would be better then being alone and far less of a minefield to attempt to dance around then with Rem.

He doesn't know the others from Vash's world well enough to reach out with any confidence, even if they have been more well mannered in his general direction.

He tucks that plan away to think about when Rem leaves. Now that he has something to focus on he's far less likely to slip sideways back into broken grief and despair.

"Legato, um…" God, where does she even start unpacking all of that. The right answer is probably to tell Legato to see a therapist and backpedal out of the conversation, but that doesn't really feel like it'll be helpful in this moment. It sounds like he needs something to hold onto, but she's not sure what to give him.

Because this Rem doesn't know who he's talking about and, likewise, probably has no idea about any of the things Knives has done. Does he clarify? Does he tell her that while he'd been befriended by and then forced to kill her son he was... involved with a different version of her other son? The possibilities make his head hurt frankly and he's not actually sure either Vash or Knives himself would appreciate Legato of all people being the one to bring Rem up to speed.

No, he'll let her mention the name at some point to one of them and learn more that way. Safer for him and... possibly less stressful for her.

"Knives is the only one who knows anything who would speak to me about it, but I don't know that that would be a good idea," he sighs. "It is... complicated." He pauses and thinks, trying to work through how he would describe their relationship to someone who knew neither of them, who knew nothing about the circumstances of the world they came from. She'd never have even reached the ground, after all.

"Mm… It's not good to put everything on your partner, complicated or not. It might seem hard or scary, but if there's other people who know you should ask them. Sorry to be a bit presumptuous, but if the reason they won't talk to you is because of your future… Understanding how he hurt them might help you understand him more. At the very least, making friends with them would already be a step down a different path, right?"

As she finishes scrubbing off the worst of the blood from Legato's face, Rem discards the rag she's using and grabs a clean one to do another quick pass to get the last remnants off.

"I want to stay here with Knives and love him in whatever way he'll let me. But I don't know what else I want. There's... too many options." He sighs and leans his face into her hands slightly.

She does give Legato a small, knowing smile at the information. Not because of her son, but because all she's ever done is built her life around other people. It's something she can work with.

"If there's too many options, then just stop looking at them all," Rem suggests, scrubbing the side of Legato's face a little longer than necessary where he leans into her hand to give him that comfort before she shifts down to scrub his nose, chin, and lips. The latter, she tries to be quick about so he can still talk.

"I've been hurting my whole life, its nothing new," he says softly and only closes his eyes to avoid getting soap in them, though he doesn't think she'd allow that. He's pliant and obedient in her hands as she cleans the blood from his face, tilting this way and that as she needs him to with hardly any pressure required. Used to being guided.

Its not like when Knives had first taken him back to the Ark and Conrad had cleaned him up. That was clinical and efficient, a throurough scrubbing down that left his skin clean but raw. This is gentle and soft, so so careful with him like he's made of porcelain that's liable to shatter to pieces. He didn't know he needed this.

"Mm…" Rem hums lightly as she rubs a spot under Legato's eye with her rag-wrapped thumb. "Can I tell you a secret?" She asks with a conspiratorial smile, but she doesn't leave room for Legato to answer. "Nobody knows how to be a person. We're all just scrambling to find a way to make it through this thing we call life. I have no idea what I'm doing, but what I do know is if I'm going to be here I want to put more kindness into the world than before I was here."

"I shouldn't. We've only just met, I shouldn't be laying my sins at your feet. It's not right." Is it better or worse that so many of them were committed in service to a version of her other son? Worse, probably.

"Who said so?" Rem asks, grabbing one of the rags she brought in and wetting it, "What's right is taking care of each other. Maybe we've just met, but you're hurting and I'm able to listen. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that."

Satisfied with how wet the rag is, she grabs some soap and lathers it into the fabric before gently placing one hand on the back of Legato's head to guide and support it as she tries to clean the blood off of his face.

"Oh. Oh you don't know," he breathes, brows shooting up in alarm. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew, you were... too calm for not knowing." He drops his hand entirely and reaches for hers, a mix of regret and wonder on his face now that he realizes the pure strength of this woman.

"He'll be back, death is temporary here. It is painful, agonizing really, but he'll be back tomorrow. He's the one that told me and I've died before myself, I thought you knew." Too calm by half for losing her son what she thought was permanently. How could she manage to focus so much on him when she should have been mourning her child?

It's the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak. As relief quickly overtakes grief, tears well up in the corners of Rem's eyes and are soon falling down her cheeks. "Sorry," She laughs softly, using her free hand to wipe at the tears. "No, no I didn't know. I've only been here a couple of months, I'm still learning how all of this works." Rem inhales, then exhales with another laugh. It's the only thing keeping her from sobbing.

"I've always been good in a crisis, it's no big deal," She explains. It is a big deal. One big messy coping mechanism sized deal. "Anyway. Sorry, we were- You were talking about you, I didn't mean to derail."