cryptsleeper | 20s AU Post

20s AU Post

Current Carmilla plot outline
--Post-fire, Carmilla and Mr. Peanut team up mostly to use each other. Carmilla's spent the past several months (since November, it is now February 1925) networking, and it's clear to her that Alucard's not suited for the position and that the other two are the obvious weakness. Mr Peanut needs something back, so this is perfect on her end. Mr Peanut can only imagine the joys of vampire blood in his work, and he'd like an army of vampires for his own ends.
--Shit stirring from Mr Peanut (all of March?)
--Mr Peanut also begins to sell mis Miracle Serum, which has vampire blood in it.
--Gang is very much trying to murder Mr Peanut during this.
--Start of April, vampire gets a call from one of the blood bank contacts that 3 patients have come in and are displaying some bizarre signs. Investigation yields the fact that they're in process of turning, and they've all taken the same serum.
--Additional investigation reveals O FUCK IT MR PEANUT
--Meanwhile Carmilla's been made aware of a familiar she didn't sire, so she knows something's up. Big fight with Mr. Peanut and thus Mr. Peanut is left depowered
--Gang commits a murder
--Carmilla's well sured up on her contacts now, and it's time for open rebellion (mid-April)
--In a more subtle attempt to let Alucard just step aside, she cuts the breaks on demon car and shows up to gloat/suggest he not pull a dad and go to deal with his grief quietly while she runs the city. The how he wants to do it is up to him (black widow joke goes here.) Treffy and Sypha walk in.
--1 week of straight up rebellion; feedings, no help from allies, need to do damage control instead of fight carmilla, every dracula rule is
--MEANWHILE IN GRAVITY FALLS, triangle shows Vlad what's up to try and psyche him out, somehow this finalyl snaps Vlad out of his depression and he heads home
--Just in time for Alucard and Carmilla to be tearing each other to bits in one of the bayous, it's not going well
--Vlad coming in means the king of vampires is accosted by a belmont with a pair of blessed knitting needles and a speaker with a fucking gun and he's just like what the shit happened to the world while i was gone
--Wards around the fight means that only demon car can break the wards, everyone has to pile in.
--Carmilla gets her ass kicked AND SENT TO THE JUSTICE DIMENSION

THEN THERE WERE FAERIES.
--Prior to all of this the vampire and Sypha have done a shit ton of research on how to get their Belmont back
--Sypha has also been practicing debating with dad, which leaves everyone Very Tired.
--When Trevor is actually snatched up (1 year after marriage, it takes fae effort. Taking Arn's shape fails, so it's a lot more kidnapping by force), Sypha and Alucard go into Faerie
--But they're playing this as politics, not as heroes rescuing their damsel, so that means the faeries are just "wait what now excuse u?"
--There are 3 gates and 3 trials (the particulars we're still bullshitting.) Each is asked to sacrifice 3 things. (Alucard: voice, his titles as bestowed upon by his father and his people, i forget the third; Sypha: her human form (she's a birb), fuck what were the other two)
--They enter the court at the end of the third trial. After LITERALLY ALL THE TITLES Sypha declares she Speaks for Trevor Belmont
--Claim debate over Trevor, turns out that the rules are in Sypha's favor.
--But that means debating to leave Fae without giving up what they've chosen.
--Sypha lawyers it all out, Alucard is a safety deposit and hangs out with Fae!Trevor
--In the end, safe passage out of Faerie consists of Sypha giving up her memory of the necromancer (billed as a great mage she studied under), the vampire gives up his immortality, and Trevor is replaced with Carmilla (dad was aware of this option and OK with it), but Trevor has his ability to swear taken. He now soundslike a rubber ducky when he tries
--Everyone gets home okay, except for the AU of this AU where the gang fails, but Trevor's on their doorstep like a bat out of Hell because time doesn't work right and he's been in Hell for a WHILE.

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Everything about...him...is a discussion for later. I owe you both a million apologies and 100,000 of them focus on forcing you both to deal with him for a week alone.

[It's a way to delay the inevitable questions of what, exactly, happened while Alucard was depression napping for a week. This is a far happier moment, and his father's shadow is not allowed to ruin it.]

West. For a month, I think, and then wedding planning in earnest. [Alucard pauses, then looks over at Trevor, his laugh soft and so very delighted at this new detail.] Your grandmothers are going to be thrilled.

I'm trying.

[That's not a lie. The clinical voice is gone for those two words, panic laced throughout them. He hates this. This is his boyfriend, and he's hurt and scared and the vampire can't do a goddamn thing about it.

His eyes are acting correctly. Shit. Shit.

Alucard does one last test, just waving the light from side to side slowly to see if the eyes even react. If they do, then that's actually worse.]

Also the case for- [ Not. Allowed. To. Ruin. It. ] -ugh, we'll explain later. This is nice.

[ He puts his arm back over Alucard's chest, and puts the other over Sypha's knees so he can rest his chin on them, face pressed against the side of Alucard's. ]

Thrilled and busybodies, I imagine. You'll have to find some way to distract them if you want to do any planning yourself.

[The next several days are dedicated to not quite depression napping, but close. Depression dozing, because Alucard drifts off wherever he's put for a few hours at a time. The library is the room that prevents it the most: he sits and reads, bundled in a blanket from the chest downwards that he thinks may have been a cloak at some point, leaned against one or both of them. He hasn't taken the stupid ribbon off his finger either, unless he's in the bath. (Good practice he says.)

Most of Carmilla's marks are now gone, a combination of Sypha's intent mixed with blood, the depression nap, and the fact that Dracula was once Mathias Cronqvist and there's a part of him that still is. The deepest marks have left thin, jagged lines on the vampire's side, and the gash on his thigh will always be there. So long as the vampire has a cane right now, he can move under his own steam. He cooked last night.

(He doesn't use the cane often. In all of this there's been the opportunity to admit he really likes when Trevor hauls him around, and that's been that.)

His father though that's...Alucard's feelings have been trying to settle. Any treatment has seen the vampire either asleep or being extremely terse, something hardly reacted to with kindness but not dragged into an argument yet. When he learns the particulars of what happened after his father entered the mansion there is the breathless laugh and stupid pride of you shot him?! followed with, I can't believe that he's in the afterlife we've imagined for ourselves. It is followed by a far purer strain of anger at makimg a case for the other two because of-fucking-course. Of course.

Alucard's feelings have settled enough that he trusts himself to talk to his father like a reasonable adult. What he doesn't trust is his father, which means there is a very, very large table in between them, and the request that Alucard not be left alone in a room with the vampire. (He might have sneaked in Belmont incense just in case.)

So here it is then. A year and change of abandonment, a near death, and Alucard still has to make the opening move, because his father is just like that.

His tone is so very calm and measured.]

Father.

[ They react as expected, the pupils dilating as the light moves between them and contracting again when it shines on either of them directly. One pupil is still slightly larger than the other, but it shrinks and grows as the other does. ]

Why-

[ It's such a simple request. To just hit a switch. It would take seconds. Why is he not doing it? ]

[His mother did this all the time.

Alucard puts the light back into the bag, and rests his hands atop Trevor's thighs gently.]

Listen to me.

[Calm. Calm. Not pleading. Calm.]

Trevor, the blow to the head has impacted your vision. Your eyes are reacting to the light, but there's something blocked between what they're seeing and the part of your brain that processes that information, leaving you blinded right now. [He managed the word. Good.] If we are lucky, it's because of swelling in your head from the strength of the blow. Once it goes down, your sight should come back.

Adrian.

[ The Belmont is silent, seated at a far wall. Three quarters of the length of Vampire Killer away from Dracula, to be precise. The Speaker is next to him, closest to the door. They are here as silent witnesses and nothing more, he was told, but Dracula can smell silver on both of them. They are heavily armed for mere witnesses.

Hardly surprising, considering the topic of their discussion. ]

You may speak.

[ And there's the word. His pleading stops at that, because there's no need. Maybe the lights are already on. Maybe Alucard can work in the dark. It doesn't matter which is true, because there's no appreciable difference. ]

Fuck.

[ That's all he can manage for a moment, hands gripping the frame of the bed until his knuckles are white. ]

...if we're unlucky. How long will it take then?

[ He knows. He knows. ]

[Alucard's hands remain flat on the table. That's for himself. To keep him from speaking in anger. He knows how this needs to go, how he needs to treat this as coldly and clinically as possible, because they're both emotional idiots who once one starts, the other is only going to follow up, and it's the worst negative feedback loop known to man.

He hates that he's forced to go first, but it isn't a surprise.]

They were here when you weren't.

[A simple statement of fact to begin with. Testing the waters.]

[Alucard knows he could bear those hands and their grip.]

If we are lucky, maybe a week. Head injuries are...

[His voice wavers, and Alucard forces himself to keep going.]

Because head injuries are internal, it is often hard to give exact estimates. What we will do is keep icing what we can, check everything, and I will dive into my mother's notes for anything and everything that can help.

[Alucard knows that there's precious little. He has to try anyway.]

And until then, I'm here. Your eyes.

That much is abundantly clear, yes.

[ Dracula is, for the moment, calm. But that means little. It can change in an instant. ]

If you wish, you might explain to me how their invasion of my kingdom, of my home, should earn them mercy and not wrath.

You didn't answer.

[ Because there's no need to. They both know how long it will be if they're unlucky. ]

If we're unlucky, I'm useless to the two of you. Permanently. Is that right?

To begin with: you were not home. You were away with no indication of when you were to return. The castle recognized my authority before anyone and anything else did, and so when I invited them in, that was under my own power as the only person in this house.

[There are other paths to take. The castle though, that's important.]

The manner in which you left is a factor as well, or did you fail to notice that the biggest scar that is on myself is from you? [His hands are still flat on the table. That's good. That's Alucard checking in with himself.] Sypha was the only person who offered medical aid at that point after mother died, and you know very well how she would react if she was aware of what injury you landed on my person. She was also the only person to help navigate my grief.

[Alucard's eyes narrow slightly.]

I'm well aware she fired a gun at you. [He's stupidly fucking proud of it.] Given the last encounter I had with you and what it resulted in, her reaction is completely and utterly logical.

You're not useless.

[That comes out immediately, and that's laced with fear. He anticipated that horrible fucking thought process. It's already here. Great!!!]

It will impact how you carry out your usual work, yes.

[ The mention of the scar earns no response from him, but the mention of what Lisa would have thought of it makes the air of the room grow heavy, almost crushing. Through the corner of his eye, he sees the Belmont put an arm in front of the Speaker as his claws scrape into the table. ]

She would understand that you needed to learn. [ He growls. ] That you needed to understand what the people you keep me from protecting you from would do to you. That you needed to feel some fragment of the injustice done to her before you had any right to speak in their defense!

[ And, quick as it came, the actual weight of the air is gone. His hands are hands once again, not clawed. ]

I have failed you to have coddled you so. It shames me that you could not bear such a thing alone.

So I'll be useless.

[ He sighs. ]

You don't need to fucking sugarcoat it. Just say 'you fucked up, now you're useless to us. Better hope it's temporary'. I don't need to be condescended to.

[ They're going to discard him, aren't they? They'll deny it now, but give it a couple of weeks. He'll be a liability, and they won't be able to be rid of him fast enough.

So he may as well react to that being discarded now, instead of giving them a chance to actually do it. ]

Humans are social creatures. Most are also not 800 years old who have had multiple lifetimes to know how to deal with being alone.

[Alucard can't even react to the claws. Or to the way that he sounds like Trevor the first few months that the Belmont was living in the castle.

They've gotten off topic.]

To the point then: you weren't here to protect me. You left. You never gave indication of when you return. I was injured and mourning, and I found those who could provide what you failed to, giving it freely. [He's sort of leaving out certain details like Trevor stabbing him. That's for later.]

Would you prefer that I point out that you answered to no man when you wed my mother? Why am I held to a different standard?

I'm not condescending. I...Trevor, your brain is not a mystery to me anymore. You're already thinking words I want to scream at you for ever daring to utter, even in the dark recesses of your own mind.

[Alucard lifts one of Trevor's hands from the bedframe.]

You are not useless, Trevor. If I could tear the word out of your personal dictionary, I would.

Well, I know what I want out of the wedding, and unless one or both of you have some great attachment to seeing me in a big white dress, I want to wear a suit just like the rest of you.

[Is she serious? Is she saying that purely to get a reaction? It's impossible to say, but either way she's smiling.]

That's all from me. Adrian can do the rest.

I'd rather you be comfortable. I'll let the tailor know, and put the rest in your hands.

[He wants to be surprised. Delighted. He's not sure how wrestling Trevor into the Fanciest Clothes will go, but they'll see.

Alucard hums, happy. He's too tired to react stronger, because Sypha in a suit usually does things to him.]

I think flowers will keep the busybodies well occupied. Trevor has the honor of informing the pastor, but I demand a play-by-play of the reaction.

You found a Belmont and a Thief of Secrets, and you thought anything they gave was free.

[ Mentioning Lisa again is dangerous, but the only furious response this time is a narrowing of the eyes. ]

I answer to no man because no man has dared make me answer. You are not '800 years old with multiple lifetimes'. You are a child, and one who cannot bear a simple lesson without running to animals for comfort. That is the difference.

Most of your people barely faked their grief for what happened. They had no comfort to give, and you didn't either.

And if that feels like a refrain, father, it is.

And theirs murdered her! And you would call that better, somehow?

[ WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DEAL WITH GRIEF BY RUNNING AWAY TO OREGON LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. ]

There is no comfort. Not in the world their kind made. You will learn to live without.

[ He flinches, just a little, at the contact. Not for not wanting it, but for not being able to sense Alucard's hands coming closer, It's a strange sensation, like being snuck up upon. But he relaxes immediately when he realises what the contact is. ]

-let's act like we're lucky, for now. [ He manages to refrain, at least, from asking what the fuck he's going to do that's so useful he he can't fight and can't write spells. ] What do I do, to fix this?

[ Please don't say 'just rest'. ]

So you propose...complete isolation from both worlds?

[LOOK WE ALL DON'T WANT TO FIGHT TRIANGLES DAD.

Alucard ventures a tired sigh into this all.]

Your people would have had me die for political power games. It would have happened much sooner if it wasn't for these two. Things that no, I was not prepared for, and the reason I had no preparation for it was because you did not expect me to and neither did my mother. The plan had always been for me to be a part of the world, just as she wanted you to be.

I intend to honor that. My mother would object on every level to being removed from the world. You know that.

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20s AU Post

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I'm just not going to bother with icons because believe it or not trevor has no appropriate icons

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