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’ll try.

[ And he gathers Alucard up in his arms, standing before putting him down on the chair. ]

I’ll get back to work. The sooner I’m ready for tomorrow, the more time I have with you tonight. But first- hold out your hand.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard's not sure what policy on lifting the vampire up and carrying him around is, now with rules in place. He isn't about to ask, because it's still so, so precious.

He's careful when he settles on the chair, shifting just a little so that all weight is turned away from his leg. Then and only then he does as instructed.]

Yes?

[miraclewhip]

I- [ And it’s unusual for him to say this but- ] I think I want to go back to bed. Still too fucking dizzy.

Can’t break anything else, if I’m there.

[miraclewhip]

[ He takes Alucard’s hand as he did before, bringing it to his lips. ]

Adrian Tepes, dearest to our hearts, bearer of a thousand titles that don’t mean shit anymore.

[ And he kisses, first over the ribbon on Alucard’s ring finger and then on his wrist, turning his hand over to press his lips against the inside of it. ]

I don’t have any fucking announcement to make. I just wanted to say that.

[cryptsleeper]

[Last time, the vampire couldn't blush. Last time he had to think politics, about optics, about every single word about to pour out of his mouth. This time, this time he can react properly. Red in his cheeks, a terrible, weak laugh at a thousand titles that don't mean shit, the ability to lean down closer when Trevor puts lips to the inside of his hand.

It's so easy to guide Trevor up, so that their foreheads rest against each other instead. So that Alucard can take both of Trevor's cheeks in hand and hold him there, counting infinitely precious seconds.]

And I never realized how much I wanted to hear it.

[willpowerful]

You may be asking the impossible of me. Something like that is exactly why most Speakers loathe the transcription of stories — because the songs that give them life become lost.

[He's asking her to raise the dead. It's not something she would ever say aloud, for any number of reasons both old and new. But it is what it is, and the truth of the matter is, she hasn't actually said no.]

But I could do my best. If you found them for me.

[willpowerful]

Did you get your drink of water, before the glass dropped?

[There's a subtle, but deliberate, choice in her phrasing there. The glass dropped, which functionally is equivalent to you dropped it, except without the inclusion of Trevor to begin with.]

I can get you one to sip, while I clear the glass.

[cryptsleeper]

I remember where they all are.

[Most of them, at least. He ran across them in browsing the library's shelves so many times over the years, and he knows the catalog so very well. Alucard's own thoughts are not on raising the dead, but on offering something else to focus on while weathering the month.

There's a soft hum pressed against Sypha's skin, and it's coupled with a half-attempt to nuzzle at her neck versus the desire to stay so very still in the same place.]

You've done the impossible so many times. In so many ways. This is a different version of impossible.

[And should any of them survive this, Sypha can share these ancient things with her people again.]

[willpowerful]

Have I? I would have said it was the other way around.

[She lifts a hand to the back of his head, raking her fingers through his hair.]

I always do the small things, by comparison. The mundane things. Because I am mundane, too, in a way that you and Trevor cannot be, and that's why it's something only I can do.

[cryptsleeper]

Nothing you have ever done was something I would call small or mundane.

[As lovely as the fingers in his hair are, this is so much more important. The vampire finally, finally lifts his head, from where it has settled, and he floats just a little more so that they are perfectly eye level with each other.]

Neither are you, Miss Belnades. [If they are to be as this began, then he shall go all the way to the start.] You never could be.

[miraclewhip]

I can do it again. It’d be weird, but there’s nobody to judge.

[ It shouldn’t count as plotting, far enough from it to be safe, close enough to feel intimate and forbidden, in hushed tones and hidden behind Alucard’s long hair. ]

We love you, both of us. We love you more than anything. You bring us more joy than your father could ever bring sorrow.

[miraclewhip]

[ ‘The glass dropped’. Like it’s the glass at fault here. He’d laugh at that, usually, but right now it’s appreciated. ]

Please. I’ll- stay down here, so I can’t fall again while I drink it.

[cryptsleeper]

For today, it's enough.

[Today. Tomorrow, maybe another variation of it. Over and over again because to hear it is to put fears to rest for a small window of time.

His thumbs trace quiet, gentle circles on Trevor's cheeks as more words come forth. There's soft noises of acknowledgement from the vampire, the I needed to hear that noise.]

My fear is that those things will change.

[They all know that so much can change in a month. But for now, because whatever Trevor's response to fear will be, Alucard just wants to put his lips to Trevor's and hold them both there.]

[willpowerful]

Miss Belnades?

[Up go her eyebrows, surprised but not displeased with the throwback endearment; her hands shift from playing with the hair at the nape of his neck to resting lightly on his shoulders, gazing back at him as he brings himself eye-level with her.]

You flatter me, my friend.

[Two can play at that game.]

[cryptsleeper]

[There's another laugh. It's not fragile, this one, just soft and delighted to have her so readily game. Maybe this is what it would have been like if they met when his father wasn't away. Courting awkwardly under his watch, stealing all their moments during the daylight.]

But you take my point, yes?

[willpowerful]

All right. I'm going to take your hand.

[And she lets him feel it when she does, running her hands from his shoulder to his wrist as she carefully extracts herself from his arms, and the reason for it quickly becomes apparent as she shuffles into a crouch and brings his hand to rest against her ankle, letting him keep connected to her and feel where she is even as she stands up to retrieve a glass and fill it with water.

Then, as she brings it back down, it's the same set of motions in reverse — lifting his hand off her ankle and bringing it up to the glass, folding his fingers around it, helping him to keep it supported until he starts to bring it to his mouth.]

There.

[willpowerful]

Mmm, I still think you're wrong.

[She offers him a soft smile.]

But who is right and who is wrong isn't what matters. What matters is that you think so. Whether I am special or not makes no difference, because what matters is that you think I am.

[miraclewhip]

Hasn't yet.

[ Is all he manages before the kiss. And it's held but it's not demanding. It's soft and kind and everything that there hasn't been enough of in the last day or so. He waits a long time before eventually breaking it, just for air, and keeps his lips grazing against Alucard's when he speaks again. ]

Perhaps you'd better hope that they do, though. We both still owe you a telling-off from before, and you get to escape it if we're not here.

[cryptsleeper]

And I know you are.

[In other times, he might venture authority into that statement, daring reality to contradict him. Such as it is, he's just soft. Thoughtful. Saying it just for themselves to hear.]

Always will be.

[miraclewhip]

[ He's careful, using the time that Sypha's supporting the glass as a chance to get his head around the shape of it. He sips at it carefully once she lets go (it's one of his rules, the stupid arbitary ones he's made to avoid feeling too pathetic, that he feeds himself. The others can make things easier for him, but food and drink go to his mouth under his own steam).

There's a lump in his throat as he swallows, the temptation to just curl up and sob, because it's safe to now, returning. He manages to push it down. He's content now, as much as he ever could be in this situation.

(It's probably a little fucked up that it's when he's content that he feels the most vulnerable, open and raw and suddenly finding it so easy to express the despair from before. He will avoid thinking about that later.) ]

Thanks. I- [ He says, curling around the glass as if it were an extension of Sypha. This one isn't going to break. ] -thanks. This was all I fucking wanted in the first place.

[willpowerful]

Mmm.

[She's still on the counter. He's still floating lightly nearby. They're still interconnected, still tangled up in each other. And amid the fear and the looming uncertainty of the future, for the present they're still young and soft and so desperately in love.

And maybe right now, that's enough.]

I've distracted you, utterly, from breakfast.

[cryptsleeper]

Only because I've not wanted to let go.

[That's bullshit. This was more important than breakfast, both of them and their well being after a horrible night is far, far more important.

Alucard still doesn't let go. He will in a few more moments, when his stomach growls so fiercely that he might as well double over for it, but right now the only priority is Sypha.

They can't think far ahead right now. That's plotting. But to make a simple plan for tonight, that the vampire can do. They can fall into the oldest comforts.]

I'm going to see if the fireplace in our room works tonight. My only ambition is to lay in front of it with you both.

[His hearthfire and all the silly, stupid, terrified attempts to make sure she still burns bright.]

If you'll allow it.

[Because it's hot. Because it might make her too homesick. Because a million other reasons to reject the proposal.]

[willpowerful]

Trevor won't like it.

[But she's smiling anyway, because it's not really about the fireplace, is it? It's about her, and him, and a time all those months ago when she'd confessed the things she does to make herself less lonely, and him remembering it and trying to give it to her.]

But it sounds...nice. Having that, tonight.

[cryptsleeper]

We'll pour ice down his back first then.

[Or just have Sypha cool the room down enough to make being in front of a fireplace tolerable. That's hardly the point. The point is the smile on her face, and the fact that it is there at all.]

I'll try and find firewood when I'm done with breakfast. Or lunch, perhaps, by the time I am done cooking.

[It means they have to break this embrace though. Just long enough to cook. Alucard nudges Sypha gently for the permission to do so.]

MEANWHILE, WITH DRAC.

[miraclewhip]

Trevor’s first conversation alone with Dracula took place in the back of the demon car, in pitch blackness. ‘Alone’ is a strong word, because the journey was spent with his arms around Alucard. But then so is ‘conversation’, because Dracula said only one thing to him.

“I know what you are, Belmont.”

There were other exchanges of words, between that and the second conversation, but none held so much weight as that. Discussions, strained and mostly civil, on the topic of Alucard’s care.

The second conversation came after Dracula’s demands were made, after Alucard had apologised himself to sleep and after Trevor had lifted him off the couch and up to their room. He turned back to fetch his knitting bag and found himself in the wrong part of the castle. In a part he wasn’t even sure he’d been aware of the existence of before. Dracula’s own study had been locked away from them in his absence, the door to it simply gone.

“Belmont. I would speak with you. Sit.”

He sat. He didn’t have a choice. In that instant, it became clear that Dracula knew full well not just what he was, but what it entailed. And Trevor was expecting gloating. He was expecting spite. Either of those would have been better than the deep, genuine sadness that followed.

“You will tell me what befell the sons of Leon, that his blood be dirtied so.”

It was a statement, not an order. He spoke anyway. He told him of the things that had crawled out of his shadow. Of Bluebeard and his fairy-wives. Of Springheeled Jack and the burning of London. Of The Ripper and how every woman of the Belmont family cut a ward against his compulsion into their skin and had a tooth pulled out and replaced with silver. Without being ordered, without being compelled, without even being threatened, he sat before Dracula and told him every secret that the Belmonts had left.

With a single word (dirty), Dracula made him believe that he, who had been with his family since the beginning, who had seen its rise and fall and rebirth and judged so many of its members, was the only one who was worthy of those secrets. That the last son of Leon Belmont was too tainted to deserve his family’s legacy.

And then he offered it to him anyway.

“You may take up the whip, Belmont, if you do so in my name.”

Trevor nodded.