[Sypha is both disgusted and delighted by vampire dick jokes, and that makes the morning go by so much easier. In the servants' quarters there are no surprises, save for a few comfortable mattresses that get brought down into the kitchen come midday. (Trevor is forbidden from carrying anything. He supervises the vampire.) The afternon is spent going through the east wing, which is really just a few rooms meant for public use. A great hall because this all still involves the goddamn King of France.
So the afternoon finishes early. Sypha goes back to the lab to see if there are any details missed, Trevor's given free reign, and Alucard picks up the notebook that is his assigned reading. He doesn't like it. His father's notebooks are often full of nightmareish thoughts and he expects this one to be no different.
The theory of a cure is...it's trying to find a way to purify blood through some kind of filtering system. At least that's how it starts out. Then it's what if it is some kind of magnetic concept (not articulated as such, this is before his father knew all the future things), and then just every progress note on the stone's development.
Handwriting betrays emotion. When it becomes wild, Alucard can picture his father's face and the fury in it. Young and human but still with that horrible rage. He closes it a few times and puts it aside. There's something familiar and alien at the same time. He doesn't fucking like it.
And when he reaches that last page, there is a blessing and a curse.]
[ This is a familiar process. Almost the same as it was four years ago, except warmer and with more dick jokes. Dracula didn't have the good manners to write his notes in French, favoring a combination of Latin and those ancient forgotten languages that Alucard and Sypha like to squabble over sometimes. He understands enough Latin to have avoided too many canings from tutors, not enough to read an alchemist's research notes.
And so Alucard reads and Trevor tries his best to form battle plans with horribly incomplete information. The best, most useful thing he can do is to wrap his arms around Alucard when to becomes too much and he's forced to close the book, to push slices of bread spread with honey in front of him when the angle of the sun looks lunchtime-ish, to put tiny thin slices of venison into his hands and guide them to the eager little yappy dog to be thoroughly licked and nibbled at or to occasionally suggest with mock-horror that the horse is going to tell everyone. ]
Can you tell when it was that that one ended? This fucking place is full of books. I get the feeling he didn't leave his clinic after Sara was hurt. If it's after that, it'll be there. Otherwise it could be anywhere in the house.
[Alucard doesn't close the journal. He leaves it open, fingers drumming on the back cover with impatient and anger. Why was his father like this?]
This is all development, the work of creation. If I had to hazard a guess, the second one is closer to an instruction manual, something written after this was completed and used. [He sucks in a breath.] Entirely possible it could have been at the castle at some point rather than left here. He might have needed to consult that, whereas this would just be horrible memories.
[Alucard taps the page's very bottom section though.]
I also say that because this is a tracking spell, meant to sniff the thing out.
[ Because it would not be unlike what his family recorded of Dracula to force them to go chasing down notebook after notebook in order to find a stupid rock. They have the mirror, at least. If it's back in the castle, recovering it is the work of only a moment. Assuming they can actually use the mirror from here. ]
Stone. Nothing in this spell suggests it's for notebook tracking, none of the vocabulary aligns that way.
[Alucard's eyes go to the mirror.]
I'll have to cast this first before we even think of using the mirror. The way this thing works, it'll be close to having a tether one pulls on. Information travels along that tether, and that will give me a location.
[ He's useless for helping with these things, so all he can really do is ask stupid questions. ]
That thing was made to fuck up vampires. [ Also to render them truly immortal, but they don't exactly know which effect it's going to have with Dracula gone. Either way, probably something they want to expose Alucard to as little as possible. ] Perhaps Sypha should-
[ He can't read the notebook. He doesn't know about Mathias' hypothesis that taking ownership of the completed stone might turn a human. ]
[ It would make sense, he supposes. Grisly or not, it's a relic of his father. His life's work, at least the work of his human life. He puts a hand on Alucard's shoulder. ]
[ He sighs, drawing a hand across his face, and then returns that hand to Alucard's shoulder again. Magic. It's the fucking worst. But he can't imagine how he would have felt had he needed to rely on Sypha or Alucard to find the Belmont Hold. It would have been- kind of shitty, he supposes. ]
Tell me how it's done. You can walk me through it. That way you'll still be involved.
We can spare a few minutes. And I'd have to operate the mirror anyway.
[Thank you. But Alucard knows Trevor's feelings on magic, and he'll not force this. He is happier to wait, especially because if something goes wrong, Sypha is better equipped to handle it.]
[ Trevor doesn't ask if he's sure. Of course he's sure. ]
Well then, once again my strategic purpose is standing around looking pretty.
[ It's not bitter. It's not even as self-deprecating as it usually is. All things considered, the morning's silliness still has him in a fairly good mood. Apparently he should get moderately severe concussions more often. There's a clattering from above as Sypha brings a selection of things that have caught her interest down the stairs. Not necessarily useful things, just interesting ones. ]
I was under the impression I was here to be pretty, you were around to be ruggedly handsome.
[Better to end this with a touch of that silliness from before. Alucard perks as Sypha comes in (the dog is with her) and...he's not sure what actually any of this is.
Nothing useful, but at least there's time to quickly impart what has been learned. The notebook gets snatched up off the table in a moment, and she reads what's there carefully.]
[ When Sypha begins to cast the spell, all Trevor can really do is hover around her awkwardly, trying to be present if anything goes wrong without being distracting.
Nothing does. Dracula keeps good and complete notes, it seems, and there's no guesswork involved with the spell at all. Trevor just waits, listening but not quite understanding the bulk of it, as Sypha passes information on to Alucard. There's a little of the geography she's describing that he understands, but then it moves into things like ley lines and the paths of the moon and stars and you know what, he's not even going to try. ]
[Alucard's quiet as Sypha explains the information she's gathered. Starts to adjust the mirror, images of France going past all of them in a flash. A great, beautiful valley, a river that the mirror travels along, all along until there's some estate that comes into view.
Alucard looks to Sypha, who confirms that this is it. And Alucard gestures Trevor over.]
[He doesn't trust it, it shouldn't be so easy. But he knows where it is, and now things are a matter of figuring out how long it will take to get to this place. There must be some kind of wagon or...other transportation...that won't shatter.]
I want to go through the mirror. To just outside the edges of the spell, so that I can just walk back if necessary.
[ It's going to be useful tactical information, whether they can move between places with the mirror from within here. And also whether, if they do that, they can come back in the same way. ]
[So the mirror refocuses again. Lands just outside the estate, all mist and the horrible feeling of keeping away. Perhaps it isn't right to strain like this but....but they need to do this. It's important.]
This counts as a strain, so yes you're being supervised.
[45 minutes means Alucard busies himself with the first of dinner preparations. Some grain heated in broth for soup, and now all the vegetables to cut up for it. He's using his sword, so Alucard's mood is just fine.]
That's good to know. Was it easier to fight the spell coming back a second time?
Not inherently. Easier once you're expecting it, though. All this shit works that way.
[ He's considering what this means for whatever it is they need to do. ]
Means we'll need to use the mirror itself to gather information, rather than doing it in person. We need to know whether we're dealing with humans or a vampire here, because those demand opposite strategies.
[ Humans are going to be either intending to be turned to make use of the stone or intending to use the stone to release the vampire trapped within it somehow - either way, the best solution to that is to go through the mirror immediately, stop whatever they are doing, and figure out the mechanics of being stuck on the other side of France afterwards. A vampire, though, will be near invincible. Not quite as strong as Dracula at is prime, but close. Running headlong into that with no means of escape would be a bad idea. ]
Mm. Still, 45 minutes is better than any of us could have expected.
[The sword keeps going with the parsnips it has been assigned, and Alucard walks over to readjust the mirror so it gazes down on their new target.]
We can't keep this trained on the place day and night. Vampire or hunter, they will figure out that they're being watched and greater pains shall be taken to hide from us. As it stands, I can have an eye on it when I'm preparing meals. That ought to be a busier time of day to start with.
[He stands in front of the mirror with arms crossed, frowning.]
Vampires would almost make more sense, wouldn't it? The power shifts back to the west. We're seemingly too far away, and they're more likely to know if it to begin with.
Vampires would make more sense. Short-term, they're worse. I don't care for our chances against even the weakest if they have that stone. But at least they're likely in it for themselves.
[ He stares through the mirror. Nobody about by day. Could mean vampires or hunters or thieves just as likely as each other. ]
If humans have it- at best, they're hunters. I can talk to them. Most likely, they're some local shithead who wants power and want to be turned, which is- not materially different from them being vampires in the first place. The stone will overcome the initial weakness from the turning process. They'll be a danger within hours, rather than months.
And at worst, that rock still contains the Vampire Lord of the Forest of Eternal Night. And I'm sure that some idiots out there think it'd be a good plan to get him out of it.
[There's a whole lot to respond to there. But the...title. That just gets a short, incredulous bark of laughter because every vampire is the Most Dramatic it seems.
But then it's back to business.]
Bad options all around, but the first is almost routine for us. So then let me ask this: how safe is it for any of us to handle that thing without barriers of some kind? Gloves, magic, anything else.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cryptsleeper) wrote2018-11-10 11:26 pm
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So the afternoon finishes early. Sypha goes back to the lab to see if there are any details missed, Trevor's given free reign, and Alucard picks up the notebook that is his assigned reading. He doesn't like it. His father's notebooks are often full of nightmareish thoughts and he expects this one to be no different.
The theory of a cure is...it's trying to find a way to purify blood through some kind of filtering system. At least that's how it starts out. Then it's what if it is some kind of magnetic concept (not articulated as such, this is before his father knew all the future things), and then just every progress note on the stone's development.
Handwriting betrays emotion. When it becomes wild, Alucard can picture his father's face and the fury in it. Young and human but still with that horrible rage. He closes it a few times and puts it aside. There's something familiar and alien at the same time. He doesn't fucking like it.
And when he reaches that last page, there is a blessing and a curse.]
There's more than one notebook.
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And so Alucard reads and Trevor tries his best to form battle plans with horribly incomplete information. The best, most useful thing he can do is to wrap his arms around Alucard when to becomes too much and he's forced to close the book, to push slices of bread spread with honey in front of him when the angle of the sun looks lunchtime-ish, to put tiny thin slices of venison into his hands and guide them to the eager little yappy dog to be thoroughly licked and nibbled at or to occasionally suggest with mock-horror that the horse is going to tell everyone. ]
Can you tell when it was that that one ended? This fucking place is full of books. I get the feeling he didn't leave his clinic after Sara was hurt. If it's after that, it'll be there. Otherwise it could be anywhere in the house.
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[Alucard doesn't close the journal. He leaves it open, fingers drumming on the back cover with impatient and anger. Why was his father like this?]
This is all development, the work of creation. If I had to hazard a guess, the second one is closer to an instruction manual, something written after this was completed and used. [He sucks in a breath.] Entirely possible it could have been at the castle at some point rather than left here. He might have needed to consult that, whereas this would just be horrible memories.
[Alucard taps the page's very bottom section though.]
I also say that because this is a tracking spell, meant to sniff the thing out.
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[ Because it would not be unlike what his family recorded of Dracula to force them to go chasing down notebook after notebook in order to find a stupid rock. They have the mirror, at least. If it's back in the castle, recovering it is the work of only a moment. Assuming they can actually use the mirror from here. ]
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[Alucard's eyes go to the mirror.]
I'll have to cast this first before we even think of using the mirror. The way this thing works, it'll be close to having a tether one pulls on. Information travels along that tether, and that will give me a location.
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[ He's useless for helping with these things, so all he can really do is ask stupid questions. ]
That thing was made to fuck up vampires. [ Also to render them truly immortal, but they don't exactly know which effect it's going to have with Dracula gone. Either way, probably something they want to expose Alucard to as little as possible. ] Perhaps Sypha should-
[ He can't read the notebook. He doesn't know about Mathias' hypothesis that taking ownership of the completed stone might turn a human. ]
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You're right. Sypha's the better candidate to do this. It was written by a human. It's meant for humans.
[Why was his dad LIKE THIS?]
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[ It would make sense, he supposes. Grisly or not, it's a relic of his father. His life's work, at least the work of his human life. He puts a hand on Alucard's shoulder. ]
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I'm not sure. This thing is my responsibility, just as any other part of his life is at this point but...
{It's complicated.]
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[ He sighs, drawing a hand across his face, and then returns that hand to Alucard's shoulder again. Magic. It's the fucking worst. But he can't imagine how he would have felt had he needed to rely on Sypha or Alucard to find the Belmont Hold. It would have been- kind of shitty, he supposes. ]
Tell me how it's done. You can walk me through it. That way you'll still be involved.
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[Thank you. But Alucard knows Trevor's feelings on magic, and he'll not force this. He is happier to wait, especially because if something goes wrong, Sypha is better equipped to handle it.]
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Well then, once again my strategic purpose is standing around looking pretty.
[ It's not bitter. It's not even as self-deprecating as it usually is. All things considered, the morning's silliness still has him in a fairly good mood. Apparently he should get moderately severe concussions more often. There's a clattering from above as Sypha brings a selection of things that have caught her interest down the stairs. Not necessarily useful things, just interesting ones. ]
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[Better to end this with a touch of that silliness from before. Alucard perks as Sypha comes in (the dog is with her) and...he's not sure what actually any of this is.
Nothing useful, but at least there's time to quickly impart what has been learned. The notebook gets snatched up off the table in a moment, and she reads what's there carefully.]
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Nothing does. Dracula keeps good and complete notes, it seems, and there's no guesswork involved with the spell at all. Trevor just waits, listening but not quite understanding the bulk of it, as Sypha passes information on to Alucard. There's a little of the geography she's describing that he understands, but then it moves into things like ley lines and the paths of the moon and stars and you know what, he's not even going to try. ]
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Alucard looks to Sypha, who confirms that this is it. And Alucard gestures Trevor over.]
We have a location.
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[ He looks at the estate, trying to glean what information he can of it from the mirror. ]
Will you be able to find this place again? There's something I want to use the mirror to test, before we can figure out what to do next.
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[He doesn't trust it, it shouldn't be so easy. But he knows where it is, and now things are a matter of figuring out how long it will take to get to this place. There must be some kind of wagon or...other transportation...that won't shatter.]
It'll be found. What do you have in mind?
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[ It's going to be useful tactical information, whether they can move between places with the mirror from within here. And also whether, if they do that, they can come back in the same way. ]
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[So the mirror refocuses again. Lands just outside the estate, all mist and the horrible feeling of keeping away. Perhaps it isn't right to strain like this but....but they need to do this. It's important.]
Sypha, please go with him.
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[ He sighs. ]
Give us- an hour, maybe? Before you assume something's wrong. It shouldn't take that long to walk back, but that spell's still a nasty piece of work.
[ And with that he takes Sypha's arm and they go through the mirror. They aren't visible on the other side.
It's maybe three quarters of an hour before the kitchen doors open. ]
Mirror doesn't work from the outside.
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[45 minutes means Alucard busies himself with the first of dinner preparations. Some grain heated in broth for soup, and now all the vegetables to cut up for it. He's using his sword, so Alucard's mood is just fine.]
That's good to know. Was it easier to fight the spell coming back a second time?
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[ He's considering what this means for whatever it is they need to do. ]
Means we'll need to use the mirror itself to gather information, rather than doing it in person. We need to know whether we're dealing with humans or a vampire here, because those demand opposite strategies.
[ Humans are going to be either intending to be turned to make use of the stone or intending to use the stone to release the vampire trapped within it somehow - either way, the best solution to that is to go through the mirror immediately, stop whatever they are doing, and figure out the mechanics of being stuck on the other side of France afterwards. A vampire, though, will be near invincible. Not quite as strong as Dracula at is prime, but close. Running headlong into that with no means of escape would be a bad idea. ]
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[The sword keeps going with the parsnips it has been assigned, and Alucard walks over to readjust the mirror so it gazes down on their new target.]
We can't keep this trained on the place day and night. Vampire or hunter, they will figure out that they're being watched and greater pains shall be taken to hide from us. As it stands, I can have an eye on it when I'm preparing meals. That ought to be a busier time of day to start with.
[He stands in front of the mirror with arms crossed, frowning.]
Vampires would almost make more sense, wouldn't it? The power shifts back to the west. We're seemingly too far away, and they're more likely to know if it to begin with.
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[ He stares through the mirror. Nobody about by day. Could mean vampires or hunters or thieves just as likely as each other. ]
If humans have it- at best, they're hunters. I can talk to them. Most likely, they're some local shithead who wants power and want to be turned, which is- not materially different from them being vampires in the first place. The stone will overcome the initial weakness from the turning process. They'll be a danger within hours, rather than months.
And at worst, that rock still contains the Vampire Lord of the Forest of Eternal Night. And I'm sure that some idiots out there think it'd be a good plan to get him out of it.
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But then it's back to business.]
Bad options all around, but the first is almost routine for us. So then let me ask this: how safe is it for any of us to handle that thing without barriers of some kind? Gloves, magic, anything else.
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