20s AU Post

[cryptsleeper]

"Land of the Dead" (Watch on YouTube)

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.

Comments

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard's never going to be over how stupidly proud of you took a shot at Dracula and walked away he is. That's his own rules.]

So what you're really suggesting is multiples of 3, with nine being the point of perfection?

[miraclewhip]

Never will.

[ He takes a step forward and down, and the dizziness is awful but Alucard is right there - it's impossible for him to fall. ]

That's one.

[cryptsleeper]

Mmm. Move your foot forward, the stairs are wide here. Then move it down.

[willpowerful]

Oui.

[It doesn't take many words to work out a picture of what must have happened, really. A glass in his hands, a dizzy spell. He tried not to fall, the glass did; perhaps he fell anyway, to have ended up on the ground. And then in the aftermath, the weight of the realization — trapped. Glass on the floor, water on the floor, and no way out. Trapped.

The switch to French is more than just easy; it's a hollow sort of ironic. It hadn't been so long ago that she'd been the one resorting to it, wrapped up in bed with bandages on her arms, because her head hurt and words were so hard and French slides out of the throat so much easier than English does.]

Shh. Can you try to focus on me, matou? That's all I do, when you're close to me. I want to pet you and pet you as much as I can.

[miraclewhip]

[ He pats his foot down a few times before finding the step and stepping down. Two. Still dizzy, but this is working.

His head flops down against Alucard's shoulder, and he sighs. It sounds relieved, almost. ]

Thank you.

[willpowerful]

I am suggesting...that sometimes a life is more than just one story. Sometimes it is hundreds of them, thousands, sewn together like a patchwork quilt. We may both be right. One story ended, while another is still ongoing.

[She lifts her head up a little, looking at him solemnly before leaning in to kiss him properly now.]

You just want this to be over, is that it? For the trials to be done, and this to be the after.

[cryptsleeper]

You're...far more correct than I am. Could ever hope to be.

[After all stories and storytelling is Sypha's birthright, just as much as this castle was Alucard's when his father abandoned it. As so much was, and now isn't, and it's a mess unto itself.

He's always come undone when Sypha's kissing him in moments like these. All vulnerabilities are rendered bare, practically on an autopsy table to be examined and understood.]

Yes. Selfishly and stupidly.

[This is about endurance, and he cannot trust himself to manage.]

[cryptsleeper]

What else am I good for if I cannot accomplish this?

[He's serious, because the vampire has always and will always prioritize the other two first.]

[miraclewhip]

[ It's easier, French. The language he spoke at home, the one his family would use. Even after years, even after using it in the trenches, even after everything, it's still the language spoken in the Belmont household first and foremost. Romanian is the language of cycling into town for errands, of playing with friends. French is the language of coming home in the evening.

It helps. It helps a lot. There's a (weak, anemic) hint of a smile at the pet name. ]

'll try. You're- [ He follows Sypha's arm until he reaches her shoulder, and then tries to turn his head in her direction once he's found her. ] -you're here.

[willpowerful]

It's nothing of the sort. Not either one.

[Well. Maybe it's selfish, yes, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. With all the sacrifices Adrian has made for his inheritance, for the city, for the future, he's more than earned the right to be selfish.]

Shall I tell you a story, my love, to lift your spirits? You sound as though you would like to hear one.

[miraclewhip]

I could name a few things.

[ Another few steps. He has his bearings, now, and he has Alucard as a compass. He knows which way he's going- it's always to close the gap between himself and Alucard. It's easier to judge the distance. ]

You- would tell me, wouldn't you? If you resented this.

[willpowerful]

Yes. I'm here.

[Carefully, she takes his hand in both of hers, running her fingers over his palm in a surreptitious means of checking to see if he'd cut himself when he dropped the glass. It's only after that she guides his fingertips up to her cheek, letting him feel the curve of her cheekbone, the slope of her nose, and finally down to the soft cupid's bow of her lips, upturned at the edges.]

C'est moi. Can you feel my smile?

[cryptsleeper]

[It was absolutely selfish, denying them both a chance to step away from his father unscathed. Fear drove every refusal, every word in that moment, and so they are here. Trying to define what plotting is, with the assumption it will be used broadly and on purpose.]

Your voice is the important part but...yes. Please.

[cryptsleeper]

Things that don't happen in the bedroom.

[In a few days, if this remains for a few days, the vampire may float beside Trevor to let him have the luxury of feeling like he's moving on his own. Now, now all the vampire wants is to be clung to. Needed.]

I would. If I ever did.

[He'll shower Trevor i the appropriate affection when they are not on the stairs.]

You take care of me in all the stupidest little ways. I can only begin to repay that.

[miraclewhip]

[ For once, for once in his fucking life, there are no cuts. No blood. He's unhurt, for once. Just stuck. Stranded and lost in a place that feels like a demon castle for the first time since he came here (less, now. A demon castle wouldn't have Sypha in it.) and so, so far from home. ]

I can. [ She's soft. She's soft and too-warm and beautiful even like this. Even now. The smile is small and fragile, while it lasts, and then his face twists with pain and his head hangs. ]

I hate this. I hate this so much.

[miraclewhip]

It's not the same. I'm not meant to-

[ He's not meant to need help. He's meant to be able to do this himself. Alucard needing help isn't the same. Alucard was never trained for this. ]

You're important.

[cryptsleeper]

As are you.

[Last step. Last step and they're in the kitchen, moving on from all of this.]

I'll scream it to the ends of the earth until you know it and know it well.

[miraclewhip]

It's-

[ It's going to be an argument that just lasts forever, isn't it? Belmonts are meant to be disposable. Meant to be replaceable. He has a keen idea of what his life must be worth, and it's not optimistic. ]

That's the last one, isn't it? [ He's been counting. ] Not far, now.

[cryptsleeper]

Yes, last step.

[Alucard sighs. His stupid Belmont's brain wiring.]

I'll change the metaphor. As shields protect, so must they be attended to to last forever.

[miraclewhip]

Mm.

[ He makes his way down the last step and, just for a moment, just settles against Alucard. Still. ]

Shields are things. Not meant to last forever. Replaceable.

[cryptsleeper]

[Well, there' the crux, isn't it.]

Yet many do. Endure. Because they're cared for, important, and loved.

[miraclewhip]

Loved.

[ Loved.

He sinks against Alucard, head against his shoulder. It's still a month and a half away, Sypha explaining this all to him, pulling his head out and putting it into words he understands just because she's worn and tired and has nothing better to do. But he understands for his a moment. He doesn't mind being broken. He doesn't mind being thrown away. He doesn't mind much of anything that happens to him, not too much, and the uselessness is agony but it's agony because he's being kept despite it.

But Alucard minds him being broken. Sypha minds. ]

Doesn't usually make a difference for Belmonts, that. Hard- hard to get my head around.

[cryptsleeper]

I'll say it until it's something you internalize and replace with all other notions of use.

[They're off the stairs now, but the vampire is so very, very still. Trevor needs to hear this. It upsets him sometimes, how Trevor views himself, how easy to throw away he thinks he is. That kind of perspective, it's mortifying to hear from anyone, never mind someone so terribly precious.

The stillness lingers.]

We both will. Forever, if we have to. Because you're not ust a Belmont to us.

[willpowerful]

Do you know the one about the nightingale?

[She lifts a hand, bringing it to rest against his cheek as she coaxes him to keep his eyes on her.]

I should warn you, there is a prince in it. If you would rather avoid such things right now.

[cryptsleeper]

I think so. Andersen, correct?

[He's happy to be lead. All he's wanted for ages is for someone else to be in charge, but...but now Alucard knows he should have been more specific. Exact. Fucking. Words.]