[ It's too late, now, to take great mouthfuls of the water and spit them back out to get the taste out of his mouth. He probably should have thought of that before the water became so badly tainted with it.
And he doesn't joke. He doesn't say any of the obvious things. He doesn't say anything, just washes his hands and face, pulls his shirt off and tosses it into the room opposite the lab, the one that he'd broken open the door to. He'll burn it later. He only stops when the there's just as much blood in the water as there is on him and there's no more that he can clean away with it. It's diluted, at least, enough to allow Sypha to come close.
And she does come close, without hesitation. And that's fucking heartrending after all of this, how stubbornly she refuses to be afraid of him, and it's all he can do not to sob uselessly (not because of pride, not anymore, because there's none left. But crying right now means more fucking blood, means she has to back away again). ]
I'm a fucking monster. [ He says, eventually, as she curls up against the both of them, letting them both hold her weight. There's humor to it but it's sharp, bitter, absolutely not the sort of joke that Alucard was waiting for, and the laugh that follows is more like a growl than anything else. ]
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And he doesn't joke. He doesn't say any of the obvious things. He doesn't say anything, just washes his hands and face, pulls his shirt off and tosses it into the room opposite the lab, the one that he'd broken open the door to. He'll burn it later. He only stops when the there's just as much blood in the water as there is on him and there's no more that he can clean away with it. It's diluted, at least, enough to allow Sypha to come close.
And she does come close, without hesitation. And that's fucking heartrending after all of this, how stubbornly she refuses to be afraid of him, and it's all he can do not to sob uselessly (not because of pride, not anymore, because there's none left. But crying right now means more fucking blood, means she has to back away again). ]
I'm a fucking monster. [ He says, eventually, as she curls up against the both of them, letting them both hold her weight. There's humor to it but it's sharp, bitter, absolutely not the sort of joke that Alucard was waiting for, and the laugh that follows is more like a growl than anything else. ]