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

[miraclewhip]

I'm not. I'm really, really not.

[ He just shakes his head helplessly. He can just about believe that he's loved. That that love is anything more than a massive fucking liability if he remains this way is harder to consider. ]

I'm going to guess that the wine's off limits.

I'll need help to get back up the stairs. And- water. Water would be nice.

[miraclewhip]

It's not!

[ His head snaps up at that, eyes trying so hard to focus on where Sypha must be. For a moment, the despair, the exhaustion, all of it is gone from his tone, replaced with a horror he didn't know that he had in him even now, one that quickly fades to his normal, certain-of-everything tone. He pulls his hand away, following her arms until he finds her shoulders, then pulls her against him. ]

It's not your fault. I'm the one who fucked up. That asshole is the one who took advantage of it. I could probably blame the vampire as well, if I wanted. But it's not you. Never you.

[willpowerful]

Well, it did stay in the prince's room, on the chance that it might come around and start to sing. I'm sure he talked to it and did his best to keep it company.

[She murmurs approval as he pulls her close, shifting only to get more comfortable before settling contentedly against him.]

After all, they were both in cages of a sort, together. Don't you think?

[willpowerful]

Oh —

[She'd anticipated a reaction, certainly, but not one as fierce as this; caught off-guard, there's no resistance as he pulls her toward him, and once she's against him she quickly settles, already instinctively familiar with how it feels to relax and go boneless when he holds her close.]

What...happened? What did he do to you?

[cryptsleeper]

Unless you wish to give new meaning to the phrase blind drunk, you are absolutely correct.

[Alucard notes that refusal to accept a basic fact. They're all clever in this house, all in their own ways, but Trevor's is best for when they need to be tricky in the world rather than among themselves. It's one of the better traits he has, and it was the one that manifested itself earliest in the house in the form of the curtain rod.

He's loud as he goes about getting water. Makes sure of it, so Trevor can hear him.]

Water I can do. Is a sandwich something you're willing to pick at?

[cryptsleeper]

Mmm. One closer to one's own making, but I take the point all the same.

[It's a so very on the nose story.

They're as comfortable as this ritual ever allows for, the vampire staring up at Sypha knowing that she can read all his emotions that aren't showing. The fear, the anxiety, the ever-present possessiveness that has now been amplified, and the longing for this to just all be done. It's built on the foundation of love for them both, something that perhaps should have cracked for their safety but didn't.]

May I please make a request?

[willpowerful]

If you are careful with it.

[She lowers herself down without breaking his gaze, bringing their foreheads to lightly rest together with affection before allowing her eyes to flutter closed.]

I won't harbor requests that could be taken as plotting, of course.

[It's almost infuriating, to have to be so careful. But the castle might well be listening even if Dracula isn't, and this is one area where she can't afford to misstep.]

[cryptsleeper]

Is asking you to tell me one of your favorite stories every day plotting?

[The question is earnest, but that's the request. That's all. Just stories. Just her voice. Listening and being wrapped up in her arms while she tells them.]

The contents aren't important. I just want them to be the ones you like best.

[willpowerful]

Mmm. No, I think that would just be a promise.

[It's a sweet request, though, and it makes her smile.]

Will I only tell them here in the kitchen?

[cryptsleeper]

Wherever you decide is best for the day. So long as we can be like this.

[Together. Entwined. Distracted because he has to listen properly, and Sypha's own skills will take up so much more time.]

And whoever wants to join us can.

[Trevor. Or even the demon car, in so far as the demon car might ever want to hear stories.]

[miraclewhip]

It's- one of Dracula's spells. For making a person act as a familiar. You can see through their eyes, control their body. And make them form intent. Adrian and I were using it to fight together. I can't dispel his magic easily on my own, but I know the spells needed for it. And Adrian isn't- like this.

[ Adrian's good at wanting things, and Trevor isn't. He can't use magic like the two of them can, but can want things so, so powerfully. Trevor keeps Sypha close, as if there were some threat. When really, there's just glass. Glass and water and everyone blaming themselves for shitty luck and shitty people. ]

But I let Adrian get hit. And he's a sturdy fucker, but I'm just a human.

[miraclewhip]

Yeah, I'll try.

[ A sandwich is probably the best thing, right now. Dry, solid, not too disasterous for him to try to eat unaided. ]

'd you collect his fingers?

[cryptsleeper]

...They're still in my coat pocket.

[The vampire says it with a mortified sigh. He only did it because he knew the Belmont would be so very, very disappointed if he didn't. Alucard focuses on going into the refridgerator and getting sandwich supplies instead.]

Ugh, I'll have to clean all the blood off.

[miraclewhip]

Good.

[ The Belmont has a very strong stomach, which is good considering the topic he's chosen to discuss before eating. ]

Once this is over- [ This will end. This has to end. The swelling will go down, the world will come back, and he can work again. ] -I'll be able to find him. Anywhere. He won't be able to hide again, with that sort of connection.

[cryptsleeper]

Knew you'd yell at me if I forgot.

[He nearly did.]

That's....good. I don't like him being so well hidden under his own power. [The fridge closes, and there's silence as Alucard works.]

Sorry, sandwich making isn't very loud.

[miraclewhip]

I know you're here. It's enough.

We should give them to her, once this is done. In a little jar.

[ He saw the blue cloth in a jar, before, through Alucard's eyes. Fair is only fair. ]

[cryptsleeper]

I'm not sure that they would be appreciated.

[Sypha's not the kind of person to find bodyparts endearing.]

Nor should we retain them for very long. I don't want someone necromancing a necromancer.

[miraclewhip]

We could preserve them with salt, neutralise the magic in them.

[ HE REALLY, REALLY WANTS TO GIVE SYPHA THE BODY PARTS????? ]

Maybe she'd want them.

[cryptsleeper]

What about her makes you think she'd like to receive bodyparts? Just. In general here.

[miraclewhip]

He's a shitty person who wanted to chop her up for parts. Maybe she'd be happy that we chopped him up for parts. Maybe she'd want proof that he doesn't have fingers anymore.

I'm happy to know he doesn't have fingers anymore.

[cryptsleeper]

Fine. You can give them to her, and make it clear that this wasn't my idea.

[He's done with the sandwich, and that gets put on the table in front of Trevor with a louder plate-on-table sound than usual.]

Ham and swiss. In case you end up not being that hungry.

[willpowerful]

I can't promise they'll all be as sentimental as the one about the nightingale.

[Or as topically relevant.]

That's all right with you, though?

[cryptsleeper]

Of course. If I wanted either of those things, I would have said so. [Exact words and all.] The only thing that matters is that of all the stories you carry, these are the ones dearest to you.

[The vampire floats up just a little bit more, so he can bury his face into the crook of Sypha's neck. His hands stay around her waist as-is, and he's so, so stilly.]

I regret not having made this request earlier, and making you pick only 30.

[willpowerful]

That's the one you used when you rescued me. The same thing.

[When she'd been helpless like he feels helpless now. When the world had turned to chaos around them and she'd been clinging, aching, slipping and all she could think was Trevor, help me, and he did.]

...Backlash. You felt the damage he took, and that's how...

[miraclewhip]

Maybe I will, once I'm done with them. Or - shit, he can probably reattach them, maybe sabotage them somehow and plant them for him to find.

[ Thinking about this helps. Makes it easier. It's strategy, and maybe just a little horrible revenge. But there's a sandwich now, or so he's told. So that's a new thing to focus on. He moves his hands across the table until his fingers brush the ridge of the plate, and then along the plate until he finds bread. ]