Alucard \\ Adrian F. Ţepeş (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cryptsleeper) wrote2018-11-10 11:26 pm
cryptsleeper) wrote2018-11-10 11:26 pm
I'll let you know if you're ever in danger of me being clever.
[ But he does stay still, letting Alucard work. It's not pleasant at all, but it's better than it was. Feels more like a body part and less like something horrible that's stuck to his arm. He'll need to try to move his fingers, to test if he can, but he'll wait for permission first. ]
[ But he does stay still, letting Alucard work. It's not pleasant at all, but it's better than it was. Feels more like a body part and less like something horrible that's stuck to his arm. He'll need to try to move his fingers, to test if he can, but he'll wait for permission first. ]
[There may be more bandages used than strictly required for this. He thinks this is a valid concern, because Trevor and because Alucard would rather err on the side of caution. But he is done eventually, and with that he releases Trevor's hand.]
Move your fingers carefully but nothing else.
Move your fingers carefully but nothing else.
[ Carefully, carefully, he moves his fingers. All at once, at first, and then tests at moving them one at a time. It's painful but not difficult. ]
There. Good as ever.
There. Good as ever.
[Alucard watches. He does so with his arms across his chest, then nods in satisfaction when Trevor's done.]
Very well. This means your work on the Hold is off the table though.
Very well. This means your work on the Hold is off the table though.
Really? And here I thought I'd be lugging timber around one handed just fine. [ He sighs. ] I'll find some way to amuse myself. No doubt Sypha will be talking both our ears off for the next week once she's back anyway.
[ But hey, his arm's as wrapped up as it's going to be. He turns it over, experimenting some more. ]
You can tell her I fucked up and hit it with a hammer, if you like.
[ But hey, his arm's as wrapped up as it's going to be. He turns it over, experimenting some more. ]
You can tell her I fucked up and hit it with a hammer, if you like.
A hammer wouldn't leave a clean break. And, as you have noted in the past, I am terrible at lying.
[They're going to have to tell her the truth. The stupid, embarrassing truth.]
Unless you want to try that lie, buy us a day, then have her figure it out.
[They're going to have to tell her the truth. The stupid, embarrassing truth.]
Unless you want to try that lie, buy us a day, then have her figure it out.
May as well. I'll be the one she blames for it, you know. 'Belmont, were you taunting him again?'
[ He laughs. ]
Which I was, but still unfair.
[ He laughs. ]
Which I was, but still unfair.
Oh is that what you two discuss on the road?
[This is...easier. It puts off guilt, stupid back and forth like this.]
[This is...easier. It puts off guilt, stupid back and forth like this.]
Half of what we discuss on the road, I'm afraid, is too sordid for your delicate ears.
[ Bully the vampire. ]
But yes, the other half is her speculating about who I'm going to be starting fights with and scolding me for it preemptively.
[ Bully the vampire. ]
But yes, the other half is her speculating about who I'm going to be starting fights with and scolding me for it preemptively.
And yet, in spite of scolding, you do it anyway and get yourself in deeper trouble because you were told not to do it.
[He shakes his head. Trevor Belmont you are too easy to predict.]
You really ought to listen to her on those things, just to throw her off slightly.
[New game: bully the Speaker.]
[He shakes his head. Trevor Belmont you are too easy to predict.]
You really ought to listen to her on those things, just to throw her off slightly.
[New game: bully the Speaker.]
Well if I've already been scolded for it, there's no sense in not going ahead and doing it.
[ He grins. He likes this speaker bullying game. Though it's not going to keep him from ALSO bullying the vampire. ]
Well, it's a little late for that on this occasion. We could lean into it, let her think that we really did fight. Then we let her figure it out on her own.
[ He grins. He likes this speaker bullying game. Though it's not going to keep him from ALSO bullying the vampire. ]
Well, it's a little late for that on this occasion. We could lean into it, let her think that we really did fight. Then we let her figure it out on her own.
[ He intends to succeed.
(He does not. If he intended to succeed, he would have brought more than an iron spike for a stake. Would have stopped at a church for supplies. Would be here during the day. Probably would not have indulged in a little pre-drinking for courage before he came to fight Dracula. He intends to die, to be done with all of this shit, and to maybe get a stake into Dracula's heart as he does.)
His family put Dracula aside when he left Europe, focusing instead upon the prophecy that a terrible disaster would come to pass, would rend empires apart and bring terrible monsters of fire and steel into the world and kill half the men in Europe and leave only a lingering darkness that would coalesce into something terrible. It had come to pass. It had come to pass and they had failed to protect the world from it, and now all but one of them were gone, and all that was left to do was to complete that first terrible mission that they had taken on nine centuries ago.
And he looks the part of Dracula's killer either very much or not at all, depending on how much importance one gives to a uniform (because he has few other clothes, and none so appropriate for fighting). A drunken Romanian man in a french infantry uniform with a stake. No whip, because that hadn't been in the ruins of his home. Taken by looters, no doubt. He could have found a replacement, just any old bullwhip treated with chism. But he didn't come here to do a good job and he didn't come here to stand a fucking chance at survival.
He knocks on the door of what had once been Dracula's castle. ]
Show yourself, vampire!
(He does not. If he intended to succeed, he would have brought more than an iron spike for a stake. Would have stopped at a church for supplies. Would be here during the day. Probably would not have indulged in a little pre-drinking for courage before he came to fight Dracula. He intends to die, to be done with all of this shit, and to maybe get a stake into Dracula's heart as he does.)
His family put Dracula aside when he left Europe, focusing instead upon the prophecy that a terrible disaster would come to pass, would rend empires apart and bring terrible monsters of fire and steel into the world and kill half the men in Europe and leave only a lingering darkness that would coalesce into something terrible. It had come to pass. It had come to pass and they had failed to protect the world from it, and now all but one of them were gone, and all that was left to do was to complete that first terrible mission that they had taken on nine centuries ago.
And he looks the part of Dracula's killer either very much or not at all, depending on how much importance one gives to a uniform (because he has few other clothes, and none so appropriate for fighting). A drunken Romanian man in a french infantry uniform with a stake. No whip, because that hadn't been in the ruins of his home. Taken by looters, no doubt. He could have found a replacement, just any old bullwhip treated with chism. But he didn't come here to do a good job and he didn't come here to stand a fucking chance at survival.
He knocks on the door of what had once been Dracula's castle. ]
Show yourself, vampire!
[Five weeks. It's only been five weeks. Centuries feels like the more appropriate passage of time from where Alucard sits, sits in a home that is occupied only by himself and the Speaker who was willing enough to help with the horrible thing slashed across his chest.
There have been no prying eyes on his father's home. No one has dared to intrude on their grief. Occasional casserole dishes from the Church Ladies (he leaves the empty ones out by the road where they drop the fresh ones off, after all, the castle is shrouded and hidden deep from the world even as it resides near a major city). The space has been required, for what would be done if the city was aware of exactly how bad that damage inflicted was?
Rest has been Alucard's primary occupation, punctuated with reading when his body has decided that no, it cannot sleep for another five days. He walks little, and when he does, it's simply to move to the library so he can occupy his thoughts with anything but reality. The radio is always on when he sits there, some pleasant music playing.
He keeps the viewing mirror there too. (It's how he checks on the cassaroles.) Useful for checking on doors too and...
...and he hears something faint at the door. From his space on the armchair (he's not getting up), Alucard wills the mirror to show who it is knocking. There's a pause, then Trevor's words are heard.
Wearily, Alucard sighs, and he does not get up.]
You must be joking.
There have been no prying eyes on his father's home. No one has dared to intrude on their grief. Occasional casserole dishes from the Church Ladies (he leaves the empty ones out by the road where they drop the fresh ones off, after all, the castle is shrouded and hidden deep from the world even as it resides near a major city). The space has been required, for what would be done if the city was aware of exactly how bad that damage inflicted was?
Rest has been Alucard's primary occupation, punctuated with reading when his body has decided that no, it cannot sleep for another five days. He walks little, and when he does, it's simply to move to the library so he can occupy his thoughts with anything but reality. The radio is always on when he sits there, some pleasant music playing.
He keeps the viewing mirror there too. (It's how he checks on the cassaroles.) Useful for checking on doors too and...
...and he hears something faint at the door. From his space on the armchair (he's not getting up), Alucard wills the mirror to show who it is knocking. There's a pause, then Trevor's words are heard.
Wearily, Alucard sighs, and he does not get up.]
You must be joking.
[ No answer.
Fine.
The war may have interrupted his training, and magic may have never been his forte in the first place, but he still knows a few things. Such as the spell that let him track down the castle in the first place, and how to disrupt the enchantments that are keeping him from just jamming the iron spike into the door and wrenching it open. He takes a stick of charcoal from his pocket, scrawling runes onto the door. The handwriting on the runes is fucking atrocious, but good handwriting isn't what powers magic.
He intends to die here. He's come halfway across the fucking world to die here. Even drunk, there's enough seething rage coiled up inside him to break whatever spells protect the place. Dracula's enchantments have always proven fragile when faced with any spell that uses Belmont blood as a component, after all.
He just needs to cut his finger to complete the spell. ]
Answer for the massacre of my fucking family, Dracula, or every enchantment protecting this place goes, the world sees it for what it is, and I kick in your fucking door anyway.
Fine.
The war may have interrupted his training, and magic may have never been his forte in the first place, but he still knows a few things. Such as the spell that let him track down the castle in the first place, and how to disrupt the enchantments that are keeping him from just jamming the iron spike into the door and wrenching it open. He takes a stick of charcoal from his pocket, scrawling runes onto the door. The handwriting on the runes is fucking atrocious, but good handwriting isn't what powers magic.
He intends to die here. He's come halfway across the fucking world to die here. Even drunk, there's enough seething rage coiled up inside him to break whatever spells protect the place. Dracula's enchantments have always proven fragile when faced with any spell that uses Belmont blood as a component, after all.
He just needs to cut his finger to complete the spell. ]
Answer for the massacre of my fucking family, Dracula, or every enchantment protecting this place goes, the world sees it for what it is, and I kick in your fucking door anyway.
[Idle threat. It's an idle threat until whoever it is on Alucard's doorstep takes out charcol and starts to scrawl on the door of his home. (And it is just his home now, isn't it?)
There's no good way to indicate that he'll be down presently. So he rises to his feet and banks on whichever European import of a hunter who has landed here to have just enough patience to not do the stupid, stupid thing he's threatening.
(His father didn't speak of specific families much, not around him. Just that there were Belmonts and cousins, they had relations in the Americas but the wide open spaces of the country were a protective barrier of their own. Perhaps this is one of those Belmonts.)
When Alucard does open the door (and it takes a few minutes, he travels at the speed of men now), it is in his usual black coat. He has buttoned it up to hide the bandages that are underneath still. No one knows about this yet.
What is on his step gets a look of absolute and utter disdain.]
Dracula is not at home.
There's no good way to indicate that he'll be down presently. So he rises to his feet and banks on whichever European import of a hunter who has landed here to have just enough patience to not do the stupid, stupid thing he's threatening.
(His father didn't speak of specific families much, not around him. Just that there were Belmonts and cousins, they had relations in the Americas but the wide open spaces of the country were a protective barrier of their own. Perhaps this is one of those Belmonts.)
When Alucard does open the door (and it takes a few minutes, he travels at the speed of men now), it is in his usual black coat. He has buttoned it up to hide the bandages that are underneath still. No one knows about this yet.
What is on his step gets a look of absolute and utter disdain.]
Dracula is not at home.
Very well. Then you answer for him.
[ And it would be incorrect to say that's all the warning that Alucard gets before there's a stake being driven into his chest, because that's happening before Trevor even finishes speaking. ]
If you could tell me where he is before you die, that would be fucking wonderful.
[ And it would be incorrect to say that's all the warning that Alucard gets before there's a stake being driven into his chest, because that's happening before Trevor even finishes speaking. ]
If you could tell me where he is before you die, that would be fucking wonderful.
[In better health, Alucard might have caught that stake before it drove into him. As it is, his hand moves to catch Trevor's wrist before he can remove it from said stake, and the pressure that Alucard begins to apply is...well. He's going to break something.
His free hand simply removes the stake from where it has been embedded. Throws it aside.
Alucard's skin is cold. His demeanor is ice.]
The Belmonts have finally come to America then.
His free hand simply removes the stake from where it has been embedded. Throws it aside.
Alucard's skin is cold. His demeanor is ice.]
The Belmonts have finally come to America then.
But you do it so often. So for you to actually pretend to be scolded, now that would throw her off. I thought you were a tactician.
[NO. BULLY THE SPEAKER ONLY!]
I do like this idea. Blame reconstruction on the Hold as the source, since that's...true enough.
[NO. BULLY THE SPEAKER ONLY!]
I do like this idea. Blame reconstruction on the Hold as the source, since that's...true enough.
[ Fuck. Missed the heart. Maybe coming here drunk was not the best idea.
But on the other hand, good. This might not be Dracula, but it's one of his generals. Something like that. Good enough. There's no cry when the bone cracks, barely anything other than a twitch of the lips baring blunt teeth. ]
The Belmont has finally come to America. [ He corrects. ] I thought you fuckers liked counting.
But on the other hand, good. This might not be Dracula, but it's one of his generals. Something like that. Good enough. There's no cry when the bone cracks, barely anything other than a twitch of the lips baring blunt teeth. ]
The Belmont has finally come to America. [ He corrects. ] I thought you fuckers liked counting.
You have not been a thought on this doorstep for centuries.
[Which is true enough. Alucard's grip on Trevor's wrist gives him leverage, and now with the stake removed and thrown to the side, there's only one thing left to do: grab the man's elbow as well and just slam him onto the front step.]
Your kin are in Texas. Dracula is as good as dead. Your family's work is done.
[Good as dead. A terrible, horrible true statement, one that makes his heart hurt to utter. He'll deal with that once this matter is dealt with.]
[Which is true enough. Alucard's grip on Trevor's wrist gives him leverage, and now with the stake removed and thrown to the side, there's only one thing left to do: grab the man's elbow as well and just slam him onto the front step.]
Your kin are in Texas. Dracula is as good as dead. Your family's work is done.
[Good as dead. A terrible, horrible true statement, one that makes his heart hurt to utter. He'll deal with that once this matter is dealt with.]
I know- [ He's interrupted by his arm hitting the step. That gets a noise of pain out of him this time, but it's dulled by the alcohol and the adrenaline. ] -I know what the remains of a Dark Inferno look like, vampire. I know it was him.
[ They look, in truth, a lot like the remains of an early use of the B-1E Elektronbrandbombe. Any sufficiently advanced technology, and all that. ]
We let you live for centuries. Dracula restarted this fucking war, and it doesn't end with his death. [ Knife. He has a knife at his belt. He takes it in his still functional arm, stabbing it at Alucard. ] But it can fucking well start with yours.
[ They look, in truth, a lot like the remains of an early use of the B-1E Elektronbrandbombe. Any sufficiently advanced technology, and all that. ]
We let you live for centuries. Dracula restarted this fucking war, and it doesn't end with his death. [ Knife. He has a knife at his belt. He takes it in his still functional arm, stabbing it at Alucard. ] But it can fucking well start with yours.
Are you suggesting I just spend a day behaving myself and see what she does?
[ This isn't going to inspire any future actions no not at all. ]
For a very generous definition of 'true'. You're getting better at this.
[ This isn't going to inspire any future actions no not at all. ]
For a very generous definition of 'true'. You're getting better at this.
[It's a decent stab. But it also means that Alucard is in close range, and is quick enough to seize Trevor into a terrible grapple. He's hissing, his fangs are bared (he's so going to get in trouble with Sypha when this is done, Alucard knows it).]
The Great War was the thing of men, not all the creatures that live outside of their realms, Belmont.
[He grabs Trevor's hair all too roughly.]
You're drunk and you have a death wish. I have no intention of obliging.
The Great War was the thing of men, not all the creatures that live outside of their realms, Belmont.
[He grabs Trevor's hair all too roughly.]
You're drunk and you have a death wish. I have no intention of obliging.
Not that fucking war, this fucking war. My fucking war.
[ One arm is useless, the other is successfully grappled, and his knife is stuck in the vampire. He really should have brought the silver one, but he wasn't really intending to live long enough to need any of this. ]
Not hungry? [ He sneers, despite literally nothing here going to plan. Not to either the 'kill the vampire' plan or the 'get killed by the vampire' plan. ] I don't think you can stop me without obliging, you pompous bloodsucker.
[ One arm is useless, the other is successfully grappled, and his knife is stuck in the vampire. He really should have brought the silver one, but he wasn't really intending to live long enough to need any of this. ]
Not hungry? [ He sneers, despite literally nothing here going to plan. Not to either the 'kill the vampire' plan or the 'get killed by the vampire' plan. ] I don't think you can stop me without obliging, you pompous bloodsucker.
Slow. Sloppy. No planning.
[It's probably a low blow to just use that hand in Trevor's hair to smack it down onto the ground and do it as hard as possible. Right now, Alucard's not interested in playing fair. He is only interested in removing this feral cat of a man off of his doorstep and then returning to bed.]
I probably can't. But it's more humiliating if you live, isn't it?
[It's probably a low blow to just use that hand in Trevor's hair to smack it down onto the ground and do it as hard as possible. Right now, Alucard's not interested in playing fair. He is only interested in removing this feral cat of a man off of his doorstep and then returning to bed.]
I probably can't. But it's more humiliating if you live, isn't it?
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