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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[It's how she calls his name that sets Alucard into a panic. He can't let it show, and it takes practiced care to not let his nails become claws yet again. But he squeezes her hand, trying to prove that he's still there. He's solid. He's an anchor be weighed down.]

You can! I'm here. I'm right here!

[She's slipping. She can feel it, her fingers are slipping away and the scars on her arms are beginning to come alight, aching with latent memory as the reek of the incense and the shadows crawling the walls seem to pull her further and further down, away and out of reach. She's slipping, her fingers are coming loose of his hold on her, and the thought occurs to her wildly that if she's going to hold on, she's going to have to make a desperate grab for his wrist.]

Alucard!

[But if she does, there's going to be a single fraction of a moment when she has to let go, and if she does, it will be enough. That loss of contact, even for just that long, will be more than enough.]

Sypha!

[The fierce panic is in full swing now, but it means that both of the vampire's hands are around hers. One is trying to go for her wrist, but it feels like pushing through thick mud that resists every motion. This is so very on purpose, and now there is hot breath on his back. They've lost track of the dogs, haven't they?

Something's about to pounce on him. He can hear it, hear how a large canine body moves and know what it means because he has spent so much time in that form as well.]

Drag me to you rather than just holding on!

[Forward motion. Yank him forward.]

[He nods once. Staying with Sypha tonight is important. She's far too alone, and Alucard himself cannot help but feel the weight of the castle's isolation on his shoulders as well.

The sofa is, naturally, not an option. So carefully he slinks off of the sofa and on all four paws, walks over to his bed.

In human shape, he'd worry about moving too fast by sharing a bed. But as a wolf it's just curling up with a big fluffy dog, and that seems to be what Sypha needs right now. His forepaws go up onto the edge of the bed first, and then there's the rest of him.

There's a soft noise coupled with a whine.]

[Her expression turns soft as she watches him pad away, following him with her eyes as he moves over to the bed and carefully hops up onto it forequarters first, then back legs behind. It's a funny little means of getting up there, utterly canine and profoundly charming; she waits, patient, until he's securely on the top of the mattress before getting up and walking over herself, moving around to the opposite side of the bed and sitting down on the edge before pulling her knees and legs up after her.]

You're so big.

[She rubs a hand down his back, affectionate. It's only commentary; she doesn't seem to mind it in the slightest.]

Come, then, lie down. It's your bed; you deserve to be comfortable.

[Alucard stays standing up on the mattress until Sypha's on it. Not comfortable yet, which is what he'd whine for to happen if he wasn't immediately given affection. He's proven, time and again, that he melts under Sypha's touches and it holds just as true in this form now.

Big and fluffy and ever aware of them both, the wolf lowers itself down onto the mattress just as carefully as it climbed onto the bed. There's aside that is already clearly Alucard's, what with a more worn in pillow and all, and stays there so that Sypha can have all the room she needs.

His head rests atop of his front paws, eyes on her and ever watching to make sure she'll follow her own words.]

[She curls onto her side as she starts to get comfortable, somehow more at ease with the thought of being tucked in on herself than with lying flat on her back; as she settles in, she naturally gravitates closer to Alucard, tucking herself flush against his furry side so that she can keep a hand buried in his fur.]

There you are, my love.

[Her hand has all but disappeared, his fur is so thick.]

Neither one of us lonely.

[Wolves can't smile, not without barring teeth in a way that reads more threatening than friendly. Rather than do that, Alucard's nose presses to Sypha's cheek, and he nuzzles his softer snout against it. It's as good as kissing her cheek for the time being, and it allows him to inch closer to her as well.

She's not lonely. That's all the matters.

He imagined he could bear his own loneliness well enough, for a stupid, fleeting moment before the nature of his injury was revealed to be as severe as it was. (Still is.) What a stupid man.

There's a soft whine from him, the kind that begs to know if she thinks she can sleep now.]

Shhh.

[She tilts her chin, accepting the nuzzling as it's offered, as a hint of a smile creeps at the edges of her mouth and her eyelids start to go heavy and fall.]

Softly.

[She pets him again, snuggling up close, and lets her eyes close fully as he breathing starts to even.]

[Alucard stays awake until he is sure that Sypha is asleep and comfortable against him, and even after that he is awake for a little longer. It is strange to have another in his room, less for any connotations of sharing a bed and more for the simple fact that he never has had anyone in this room outside of his immediate family.

She counts as immediately family, then. If not now, it won't be long until she does, and that is a very sobering thought indeed. It is what he focuses on until sleep claims him as well, all softness and warmth enveloping much like Sypha's arms.

He's awake first though, not from dreams but from the sheer need that arises in him to make sure that when Sypha stirs, she'll have a familiar face there. That cannot be the wolf, that can only be him as a man. So, careful as anything, his form changes again and Sypha's sleeping shape is drawn close to him. One hand is moved so it rests at his hip rather than brush against the scar, and in other times, he might have grabbed a book to pass the hours.

Alucard is more preoccupied at looking at the sleeping Speaker in his arms and enjoying the comfort that having her there means.]

[ He isn't needed here. He could have left.

The first big storm of the season came and went and nothing came of it. Whether through Alucard's managing to maintain control over his father's subjects or through Dracula's name still holding terrible weight, the city is under control. There are exceptions, of course - Damien being one, with others joining him in flouting the rules in small, controlled ways. Minor enough that they can't be punished for it, calling Alucard's bluff in small and annoying ways. Dracula would have killed them for it, deserved or not. But Dracula wouldn't have needed to, because he would be well-feared enough that they wouldn't dare.

But the cracks aren't showing. Not yet. And if they do, they've had enough debates now about which punishments can be meaningful but humane that he can trust Alucard to pick out something that doesn't horrify him too much. He can trust Alucard to assert control, if he has to. And so he isn't needed here.

But he's wanted, and that's new. And it's not like he has anywhere better to be. He has a family here, almost. A home, demon castle or not. And a paper bag of grey and red yarns.

He split up from Alucard, because Alucard and Trevor's grandmothers have very differing opinions on the fishmonger. Alucard likes him. His grandmothers don't. (The fishmonger's wife's brother left a woman at the altar, and she was the best friend of the cousin of Agnes' godson. And so Trevor isn't allowed to talk to him, because to have grandmothers means being wrapped up in the kind of bizarre family politics that vampires can only dream of achieving.) So Trevor went to buy yarn, and emerges first. But since he can't go into the fishmonger's shop, he just waits outside.

But he isn't waiting alone. He doesn't pay much thought to the man next to him, save for the device in his hands. An atomiser, he vaguely recognises. The kind used for medicine, attached to a glass container of shimmering liquid. A strange thing to just walk around carrying, it being probably important and glass being so breakable, but probably not worth too much thought. Not until Alucard walks out of the building and the stranger starts walking toward him with a purpose that Trevor knows so, so very well. As if possessed, he strides over to Alucard, staring through him rather than at him, and uses the device to launch what looks like a cloud of water droplets into the air around him.

What looks like that but isn't, quite. Because the liquid was-

-silver. It's silver dust, suspended in water.

Shit. ]

[Trevor staying was a uniformly good thing. The test of September and of hurricane season may have well confirmed to the two of them that Alucard is competent enough in his father's shoes, that there's enough force of legacy to ensure most of New Orleans stays under control, but Alucard has some suspicions about what would happen if Trevor left. His own hands and thoughts would falter, and those who remain opposed to him would fall upon that opportunity like the vicious wolves they are, tearing the vampire apart.

Besides. The house would be too empty without him, and that is reason enough for him to stay. The other reason is his grandmothers, because they would give Alucard hell if he even thought of letting Trevor out of the city. Alucard knows that as he is bound, so is Trevor, but the ties for them both are so very different.

Dinner is to be on the fishy side tonight, The Opinions of the Grandmothers Regarding Fishmongers aside. It's too much gossip and exhausting webs of connection for Alucard to remotely care. The quality of the fish is all that matters, and he walks out of the shop with a package of three whole fish that will be roasted tonight and served with quickly charred red peppers over a bed of perfect rice mixed with sausage.

He is thinking of what herbs in the window box to use when there's a young man in his pathway, and the a cloud of something that the vampire doesn't have time to react to. He can't very well stop breathing, which means that in an instant, the vampire's hands are to his throat, aware of something sizzling as it goes down his airway.

The noise he makes is halfway between choking and coughing up something wet. Even so, his hand tries to go for the offender, the other still hanging onto the fish. Trevor's somewhere. That he knows as well.]

[ Fuck. He fucked up. Assumed they were safe in sunlight.

He could attack in sunlight. His grandmothers could attack in sunlight. Any human could attack in sunlight. The attacker aims another spray of the atomiser at Alucard’s face as he backs out of reach, apparently trying to blind him before Trevor shoves him and he topples to the ground. And then finds himself uncertain what to do. He can’t exactly drag the man off in broad daylight, especially when his attack would have looked to an observer like a mishap with medicine rather than the attack that it was.

He makes a decision in the moment. Alucard. Alucard takes priority. He lets the attacker run, moving to Alucard’s non-fish side and trying to guide him away, mumbling something about getting him clean air both to act as an excuse for Alucard’s sudden illness and to explain the plan to him. Get somewhere away from the silver spray.. Somewhere where there aren’t people to ask questions about silver allergies. There’s an alleyway not far away. ]

[Alucard's instinct is to shove Trevor aside and run after whoever the hell is responsible for this, fish and all. This can't stand, and this has subterfuge scribbled all over it. A look in the man's eye, that would be all they would need to confirm if he was under some other vampire's sway and...

...and he's still choking on his own breath, being guided away as best as Trevor can to make it all look so, so normal. They're both thinking the same word, that much is clear. Assassin.

Alucard's free hand reaches for Trevor's forearm and clamps on, making it clear that the vampire understands what is happening even if he doesn't have the words right now. If they're smart, they'll go for the car. Get out entirely and then once the car is far enough en route to the castle, be able to digest what has happened.

He's inarticulate. The particles are well lodged in his airway now, and everything is beginning to burn.]

Belmont.

[He manages one word, and it's low and strained.]

Something to flush this all out. Surely your family must...

[ He doesn't go for the car. Not at first. Instead he leads Alucard into an alleyway, out of the way. The closest place, at least until he can be certain that Alucard's going to be able to make it the next few minutes. He runs a finger along the side of Alucard's face and looks at it. Right. Silver dust in water. ]

Silver dust. Yeah, I have shit for this. It's back at home. [ He didn't think to put vampire medicine into the car. Because he'd assumed the only danger was from other vampires, who wouldn't be able to use this shit. ] Think you can keep breathing that long?

Don't get a choice.

[Alucard's face is pale, a few places around his mouth red and burning where the silver dust settled on his skin rather than go into his throat. One of his hands is pressed to the wall of the alley, supporting himself. He can barely react to Trevor's form of medical care.

Breathing is agony. Every time air passes over the particles, they burn more.]

Car.

[They need to get to the car.]

Right. Car-

[ He's about to pull Alucard's arm over his shoulder when a figure enters the alleyway. The same man as before, and-

-shit. He needed to find somewhere out of sight to figure out what was going on, but secluded places that are out of sight are also very, very good places for assassinations. That was the point of the silver dust, wasn't it? Not to outright kill Alucard, but to force him into somewhere out of sight because choking on silver in public would reveal secrets that his father put a century's work into hiding. Somewhere alone, where he could be easily dispatched once weakened.

That answers some questions in itself. The assailant was expecting Alucard to be alone, but wasn't able to change his plans when it became clear that he wasn't. He's following orders, not thinking, and not ones that can be easily changed on the fly. Compulsion. Almost certainly. And that's good for them, because it means the man can't register Trevor's presence. There's no reaction as he approaches and pins the man to the wall, tugging a few strands of hair from his head.

They can get answers later. ]

Car, now. I'll let him go once you have a head start.

[Alucard understands the situation, even through the burning agony of it. The whole attack was a two pronged thing, the first meant to weaken and isolate himself, the second to ensure the deed was done out of the way.

His free hand flies to the pocket of his trousers where the car keys are kept, and he has to move. Running is...no. He can't run, not like this. That demands sharper intakes of breath, renders his throat more painful, makes the situation more obvious to those on the street. His eyes though, they're still on Trevor. Trevor and the assailant, who seems too single minded to do anything about the man pinning him down.

Fuck.]

Understood.

[He croaks the word out, then exits the alley. There's a sharp left that he takes, and it is through sheer intent that Alucard wills himself back to where the car is parked, closer to the open air market than the fish monger or even the yarn shop. There's groceries in the car already, and Alucard knows he will be expected to remain in the back with them. He can't drive safely at the moment, after all.]

[ Compulsion is shit, no matter which side of it you're on. There's nothing he can do to slow the man except to physically hold him still. With a normal attacker, he could slow them without doing permanent damage with a good stomp to the inside of the foot. but that doesn't work with someone who's being compelled. Pain won't slow them. Nothing short of broken bones will, and not even those sometimes, he'll be acting at the very limits of his body's capabilities. All he can really do is hold the man still until Alucard is at the car and to curse what had at the time seemed like a sound plan of 'it's a nice day, let's not worry about parking too close'.

Once he thinks he's given Alucard enough time to make distance, he lets go of the attacker, shoving him back to make some distance himself and giving chase. He catches up with Alucard as he's getting into the car, snatching the keys out of his hands and pulling the seatbelt over him. Because Seatbelts Are Important. Even now. ]

I'm driving. That okay?

[ It's kind of a stupid question, and he doesn't wait for an answer before tumbling into the driver's seat, attending to his own seatbelt as he turns the key and sets off. ]

Fine.

[As if the vampire is in any shape to protest. When the car's moving, he is careful as to how he holds his head, struggling to find an angle that lets him breathe with as little pain as possible. It...

it fails. Every angle, every position, there's a whimper of agony, each one worse but somehow softer than the last. His hands are clinging to the car door, injuring it instead of the soft cushioning below.]

[ The man's nearly caught up with them when he sets off, and he can see him first give chase and then stand uselessly once it becomes clear that he cannot catch up with them on foot. Safe. They're safe, at least from the immediate threat of the assailant. There's just Alucard's condition to worry about.

He's driving safely. Properly. Following every rule. And that's usually easier to do, even in dire situations. It's harder than it ought to be, once those whimpers begin, to resist the temptation to speed back to the castle and damn the consequences or to stop the car entirely to sit with Alucard. The former would be effective but risky. The latter would be comforting, maybe, but stupid.

He only realises after driving for a couple of minutes that he's talking. Not about anything in particular, just the kinds of stupid topics that slip from his tongue easily. The Saga Of The Fishmonger's Wife's Brother. The church's latest food drive, and how Father Robert had cried about it and how apparently that's a thing that happens every year. Nothing important, just talking. Just something stupid and meaningless for Alucard to focus on.

He doesn't have time to examine his own behaviour right now. ]

There's one of those fucking Godbrands in my knitting bag, if you can reach it. Probably better to hold on to that than the car.

[Alucard's eyes aren't on the question of the poor fuck who's been forced into doing this. He's hardly in Alucard's thoughts. All Alucard's mind is capable of hooking onto is the pain right now. If he wasn't doing that, he'd be demanding that Trevor go over the damn speed limit and the vampire's condition would be enough to talk them out of being pulled over and given a speeding ticket.

At least Trevor's voice cuts through the pain, however temporary it is. There's...it isn't comforting. It's just babble. It's just a distraction, but it's enough to at least prevent the worst part of absolute panic from seizing the vampire in full.

He can't make noises of acknowledging that Trevor's speaking. Not until the matter of Potatobrands is mentioned, and at least Alucard can go about retrieving those. (He has to undo his seatbelt.)

The Godbrand is still terrible and squishy, and he's being crushed under Alucard's hand in minutes.]

Thank you. That's...help.

[That's help. What a stunning command of language he has.]

You're welcome. Seatbelt.

[ He makes the demand, but he doesn't press it. And that alone is unusual for him. It's never been just that he doesn't like breaking traffic laws so much as that he's genuinely unable to and that he's being tempted to, that he maybe even could if he tried - that's new and would be a little scary if he didn't have other, more pressing things to be concerned about. They'll be back at the castle soon, they'll be back at the castle and fuck if he's ever had to treat silver inhalation before but he can probably figure it out. His babbling shifts from church business to memorised passages of The Hunter's Garden without him quite realising it.

He's somewhere around Juniper when he parks the car, opening Alucard's door. Sypha's car is still absent, which makes this more complicated. ]

I'm going to carry you. That okay?

It's already--!

[He's not going to fight. He can't fight, not really. Alucard can only just keep abusing the Potatobrand in his hands, and that will have to be it. There's more...more gardening now, but that's just fine too.

When the door is open, Alucard is already turning and trying to get on his feet and...

No. Walking is only going to make this so much worse.]

Mmmm.

[ He lifts Alucard out of the car carefully. And- shit. There's always a quality to someone's weight, when they're hurting. It's hard to describe, maybe a little like holding something with hollow bones like a bird's, but all too easy to feel. ]

This is going to be awful, just so you know. There's two treatments I know of, one that I actually have the things for, and they're both fucking horrible.

[ He's heading for his room as he speaks. He's not brought the collection of Belmont things he's been amassing down to the office yet. Not when there's been no need for it, and when it all being made visible to visitors would be somewhat threatening. The room is a mess, if a highly organised one. Papers, jars, a selection of potted plants strategically placed around the window. Half-finished knitting projects next to knives and guns and pots of different writing implements and compasses that don't point north. And a perfectly made bed, which he proceeds to set Alucard down on. ]

Don't know how much you've heard about werewolf medicine, but it's the fucking worst. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' taken to the fucking extreme.

[ Which is to say- ]

I'm going to poison you.

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Page 116 of 141

20s AU Post

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GUESS WHO JUST FOUND OUT SHE NEVER REPLIED TO THIS TAG this gal

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