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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You could use the same spell on me. Couldn't you? If I allowed it, and didn't fight it or try to steal it.

[There's something reassuring, though, about the snuffling way Trevor looks for her even blindly, slowly discovering for himself that some comforts are still within his grasp even if he can't see to do them.]

I could let you guide my hands. See through my eyes. You could use me for it, too, couldn't you? Not just Adrian.

Not unless this passes. I need to be able to write.

[ The panic is gone, at least, he's shaken but he's on the topic of strategy and that's always good for getting his head in order. Sypha is warm in his arms and for once he feels cold and so that's a blessing. And he can just bury his face in her hair and pretend that that's the reason the world is dark. ]

And the process is- you probably wouldn't like it. Adrian hates it. It's vampire bullshit, you have to consume blood for it to work.

Ask her to save it until evening, tomorrow. I'll be there.

[ He kisses Alucard's hair again, holding him close. ]

Am I stuck here, now? [ He sounds a little amused at the prospect. ] If you give me a couple minutes to finish preparing the whip, we can go somewhere that isn't all full of things for killing you.

[ Or they could just stay here, if Alucard can't bear to be let go of for that long. He doesn't mind all that much. ]

I will. Said that she'd need time to make choices anyway.

[Which was a wonderful, wonderful side effect. Alucard had wanted to give her a way to distract herself, and Sypha had took hold of it immediately. It's not enough to make the situation any better, just like the next kiss against his hair isn't, but it's not about improving things. It's making them bearable.]

Mmm. I probably shouldn't distract you from work. [He's resigned about that.] Just...just needed to check in.

You couldn't distract me from work if you tried. Just from everything else.

[ It's a shame things are like this. He can't just be stupid and useless for an entire month, which would have meant following all of the rules and probably gone at least some way to keeping Alucard content. He has to be an active Belmont, just one who can't act against fucking Dracula.

But at the same time, work is always the easiest thing for him. It's a decent thing to throw himself into, and it's something that needs doing. Distasteful but necessary. What he's best at. ]

I don't leave until early morning. You let me finish preparing, and you can distract me as much as you please for the rest of the afternoon.

[Stupid and useless feels like the name of the game from where Alucard sits. The easiest way to move forward, and it'll be harder and worse once the wound in his leg is declared as healed as it can ever be. (He's not really looked at the mark.)

Work's probably what Trevor needs. They all know that too.]

Mm. It won't be exciting distractions.

[Just the vampire being useless and clingy, like this.]

[ He clicks his tongue. ] Shame.

[ Useless and clingy is- not fine, because it means the vampire is upset. But he's more than content to be clung to. He wasn't really expecting anything more. They're all exhausted. So, so exhausted. ]

Suppose we've had enough excitement lately. Boring distractions don't sound too bad.

Don't think I'm sturdy enough for that yet.

[The vampire is going to be upset for at least a month.]

It'll just be like this then. Very boring. [Just a vampire being clingy.]

If I gave you a shopping list, could you take care of that while you're out too?

Excitement when you're feeling stronger, then. We'll still be here when you are.

[ Hopefully. He laughs at the request, because really, isn't that just an apt description of their whole lives, being asked to collect groceries on the way back from combing through a dead elder vampire's home? ]

It'll be late, so I'll have to pick through what they have left. But I think I can do that.

I could sing for you, too.

[It doesn't hit her until just then, belated, that Alucard chose to bury his face in her neck of his own volition, which is probably a sign of just how overcome he is at the moment. He's always careful about necks in particular, but right now it's as though it hasn't even occurred to him — which means he's leaning so far toward the human side of his personal spectrum that he's all but letting go of the vampire half for the duration.

Which makes sense. That's how it was when it was just the two of them, too. Happy and frivolous and so much in love, with all of the vampire business well beyond arm's length because she'd so often just forgot altogether that he was one.]

I don't think I ever have. Have I? Not before now.

You will. [I hope.

Alucard's not sure where the humor is, but it feels like the first laugh this house has heard in too long of a time. For that fact alone he nuzzles against Trevor's jaw, slow and careful. Memorizing how the scruff feels against his skin.]

That's fine. And my car keys are in the basket next to the garage door.

[Trevor's pretty much the only person driving this month.]

No. I...I don't think you've ever even mentioned it before now.

[Not while he's been in the room, at least. Alucard shouldn't be shocked, singing makes sense. It's a another way to tell a story. But to miss such an important detail about a loved one, that's a problem.

Being all too human is easiest now. What he wants more than anything, because when there are fights like these with human parents the threat and doom of centuries locked in a castle doesn't exist. Disownment, being kicked out, sure, but never something to this scale.

He's not thinking about what parts of Sypha are being clung to. Just that she's there, and it's a way to retreat from even the castle around them.]

You know I would do even that, for you.

[Even though that's not the point. Even though she understands that he's telling her this to explain why it's not an option to begin with. She settles against him instead, letting him hold her and knowing all the while that what she's doing right now is more than enough. Being an anchor, a tether, is more than enough. Letting him hold her and warm himself with her and feel like he's protecting her on some level — that's enough.

It's strange. He and Alucard are the same way; sometimes, her greatest strength isn't in being strong, but in letting herself need protection so that they can be the ones to do it. Paradoxical, to be strong for them by being weak, and yet sometimes that's just how it is.]

Just like I know you would do anything for me.

I'll drive safely. Promise.

[ And also, you know. Try not to get fucked up while doing his work. But the work itself is an off-limits topic, so- ]

Whatever happens, don't got fucking taking credit for your dad's work. This isn't your fault. None of it.

Tell me a song you like, then. So I can learn it and sing it for you. I know others, of course, but I want one that is just for you.

[She says, as she rakes her hands down his back, letting her nails catch the length of his spine.]

I know. [ And then, more confidently. ] I know. And I would.

[ He sighs into her hair, and then chuckles weakly. ]

We're stuck now, aren't we? Until he shows up.

We've never been stuck. We can go whenever we want to; it's only a little glass.

[She lets him hold her another minute, then draws back slowly, just enough to put a hand on his cheek and let him feel what she's about to do before she draws in close and kisses him.]

But I couldn't rescue you from the glass when it would've made you think you were a burden. There was something else I had to rescue you from, first.

Hmmmmm.

[It's a thoughtful noise just as much as it is a reaction to the nails that are now traveling down his back. There's such familiarity in it, the gesture hearkening back to...

it's been a year and two months since they met, hasn't it? Yet she's been in his life forever.]

I'm afraid most of what I listen to has no words at all.

[This classical music loving fuck.]

Oh, with you I never worry.

[Trevor's constant refrain of seatbelts alone means the vampire doesn't worry about Trevor driving. He just is far too protective of his car.

The second part provokes a deeper rumble from the vampire. He's not convinced. But further discussion is probably still ill-advised.]

The origin of everything is no one's fault except for one very stupid man.

[That's all he can manage on the topic.]

I-

[ She's good at this. At knowing what they both need, even when they don't. And what he needed wasn't to not be behind a lot of fucking glass. It was to not be afraid. She's- not quite achieved that, not entirely, but he's better. A lot better.

Lips. That's lips. He's certain of that much, and he kisses back with only as much caution as is needed to not headbutt her by mistake. ]

My hero, then. My perfect, beautiful hero.

[ He isn't convinced. He probably isn't going to be convinced. No matter how little they blame him. No matter how hard they argued (against him!) to stay with him only a few days ago. He's blaming himself. For his father's actions. For not letting them go. ]

I want to stay with you. Both of you. In your too-big country where everything's made for cars instead of for people. And I don't want things. I'm shitty at wanting things. But I want that.

Whatever comes of this month, it'll be worth it, to stay with you. As long as this ends with the three of us in each other's arms, I'm happy. Just- tell me how I can make this easier for you in the meantime.

[Of course he is. Because for all that he had said that safety was important before fucking off to deal with Carmilla, he had denied them that same safety when it mattered most of all. He was selfish in that moment, worse than ever before. So his mind is convinced that the reminder must come to pass at every waking moment, until this is all done.

There is a comfort though, and even Trevor articulates it. The Belmont never wants anything, and it's when he first says that word is when some of the tension finally, finally leaves the vampire.

Because it means he maybe didn't make the selfish choice.]

It's always stunned me how little you express needs and wants. I know why but...

[That's not the topic at hand.]

This. This is fine just...when you need things, tell me.

[If he can give, then he wants that. The only thing that will make this easier will be to help them through.]

Both of you.

You are absolutely no help at all.

[It's a statement of fact. She digs in her nails a little further, reacting to that happy sound he makes, because she wants to hear more of it out of him.]

There's one I could sing, but it would not be welcome in this house, so I will not. Trevor would like it, though.

You know...

[There is an idea forming. Slow, but the nails digging in help to rouse it in a way. It is an idea that will require thought and consideration on Sypha's end and...that's perfect, isn't it?]

I'd like to hear that one, later. But for now, you've reminded me that there are old epics in the library. Ones that would have been sung rather than spoken, and the way to go about it is doubtlessly lost.

[He doesn't pick his head up, not yet.]

If I found them for you, would you do them the courtesy of reviving their notes?

As you have been mine.

[When she kisses him again, it's more to the side, closer to the edge of his mouth so that it's more something to be accepted than something to be returned. A little gift. A blessing.]

Do you want to go? I will take you wherever you want to be.

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20s AU Post

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