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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I...do not want to force too many of my emotions onto you.

{That's...that is what it is, isn't it? Alucard's terrified of forcing all of his recovery and rebuilding to the hands of another. Someone he's just met. That's unfair, too much to demand of anyone. There's such a look of apology on his face.]

And I am afraid that I have already asked you to shoulder too much.

[An hour of silence, plus a few extra seconds for the windup and wind-down. Another thrilling chapter concludes, and she reaches over with a happy sigh and switches off the radio, turning her attention back to him and his...absolute disaster of a blanket. Hmm.]

Wasn't that an exciting installment? You must've been as interested in it as I was, you've been so...

[...]

...quiet...

[Too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. Trevor is not, generally speaking, a quiet person. Yet even with the radio switched off, there he sits, going about his business and not making...a single...sound...

Uh-oh.]

Trevor?

Stop being noble and just answer me!

[Her hands tighten slightly on his shoulders, as much to steady herself as to grip him in her flash of fleeting protest.]

Answer me or I'll leave. I'll go right now and I won't let you come with me...

[ Sypha ignores her own work clothes, because of course she does. He rolls her eyes at her, about ready to make this A Thing.

But then Alucard mentions Carmilla. ]

The Austrian one? Fuck, let me think.[ He doesn't have access to the family's library, so he just has what he's memorized. ] Her sire was a massive fucking problem, I remember that much. Old fashioned 'bathe in the blood of virgins, go about turning innocent maidens' type. I- think she killed him? She certainly took over his territories after his death. We kept watch on her for a while, but as far as vampires in Europe go, she was fairly well-behaved. There were other priorities. Bluebeard moved on Austria about a decade after your father left, and the local rulers vanished fairly quickly after that. She's shown up a couple of times in your father's records, but not frequently enough given her age for it to be likely that she's ever made the city a permanent home.

Miss Belnades....

[He says her name very quietly. A little shocked by the threat (and her grip), but is he being noble? He thought he was being honest.]

No. I'd...I enjoy your company. I'd rather you not leave, even if I'm afraid I'd get you in trouble if I insisted you did so.

She's here now.

[He sits himself down behind the desk when the words are said. Draws himself, rests forearms on the desk and leans in. Trevor's said everything he can, that means that there's records to go through.

There's older vampires who know her. That's...no, that's worrying. Carmilla's as close to proper royalty in the region as his father is.]

I don't know why she's come, but I don't trust her for a moment. Her arrival at the execution is too auspicious.

[ Yes. Yes he has been quiet. Thank you for just now noticing.

He puts his knitting down, very carefully, and just stares at Sypha. Unfortunately, he's never played charades and probably wouldn't be any good at it if he had. He just makes meaningless hand gestures toward Sypha, the radio, and himself. ]

The execution-

[ Now he remembers why Carmilla was fresh on his mind. The execution a few months ago, and the research leading up to it. Her habit of rescuing new vampires who fell on the wrong side of the rules and taking them in.

Damien was far too old for that to be what she'd been doing, but it's still a coincidence that can't be ignored. ]

-to watch it, or to object to it?

[Luckily, she's about halfway to sussing out precisely what went wrong here, and a mortified flush is starting to rise in her cheeks as she ponders a moment, arranges words in her head, and offers: ]

Trevor, speak and tell me what's wrong.

Arrived after it was done.

[Alucard's arms tense. His hands are still bloodied, and his nails are threatening to become claws.]

She spoke too politely for me to register her real opinion. I have to entertain her in two day's time in the townhouse, I can get a better measure of her thoughts then.

You are an idiot.

[A statement that may seem at odds, at first, with the fact that she's kissing him again, but then again — she's kissing him, so.]

You talk as though wanting things and having them given to you are one and the same. You won't admit you want things if you think you shouldn't have them. You — oooh!

[Again, she kisses him, and this time she bites him softly, teeth pressing against his lower lip with just a hint of an edge.]

[ Well shit, again. He was going to start this with 'we need to talk', but- ]

This city is too fucking hot. This city has too many fucking vampires in it. Bunicuta keeps trying to get me to marry her goddaughter's best friend. The amount of fucking corpses I've seen is approaching six digits. Your radio show has plot holes. The most powerful vampire in the fucking world is missing and upset with humanity. Your boyfriend is a shitty replacement. Literally every resource I could use to help here was wiped off the map, along with my family, and now someone's going about picking the bones. The fucking blanket isn't going right. You just cursed me. Your boyfriend had urgent business, which means he's going to be moody when he comes home, which means that fucking nothing is going to get done tomorrow. I'm a fairy-

[ ...he's going to be going with this for a while. ]

[He is being yelled at and kissed at the same time. That...well. This is an experience to say the very least. As is the change in how he is being kissed, as teeth are new to the matter. He tries to kiss back, heat in his cheeks (if Sypha looks carefully, the color is there), but the sterness of Sypha's words make him wonder if he ought to stop.

It has been a strange night.]

What would you like me to do then?

[His question is genuine.]

[ He reaches for the coffee mug, holding it a little less like it's a mug of coffee and a little more like it's a lifeline. This is- not too bad, as far as he can tell. Carmilla is old, but she's never been troublesome compared to other vampires. But he trusts Alucard's judgement enough to believe that something is wrong if he says so.

He sighs, taking a gulp of the coffee as he tries to get his thoughts in order. ]

Let us be there with you. I won't start shit. Won't say a word. I'll just stand around being a Belmont.

[ It'll hopefully throw her off. If she caught Alucard at the execution then she had him at a terrible disadvantage. They can at least try to do likewise. ]

Not yet.

[Alucard wants to sleep. He wants to just change form and sleep because tearing two men from limb to limb is exhausting work even if it's driven by sheer rage, but he can't. Everything about Carmilla set off a warning light in his head, even if she was pleasant and polite. Who just rolls in at an execution?

He's certain that Damien's opinion of Alucard is not limited to the vampires within the city. Feeling Carmilla's opinion out on the matter is step one.]

Vampire at her age probably has more human opinions than most. I need to know where she stands.

[...OKAY SO THAT WAS A MISTAKE but fortunately it was an educational mistake because. Uh. Wow.]

I just cursed y—

[Oh for fuck's sake.]

...I rescind my command to be quiet. Speak or don't speak of your own free will, at your discretion.

You're sure? Unless nobody's spoken to her since her arrival, she's likely to know I'm here. My not being there will be sending her as much of a message as my presence.

[ Something's definitely wrong. He's a little ashamed of taking so long to catch on to the obvious sign. Bloodstained clothes, the ones he changed out of. Alucard hasn't taken the time to deal with the blood before summoning them here. Not a problem in itself, they're both careful. But especially for him, it's a terrible sign.

It also means that Alucard's going to have to clean the office himself tomorrow because neither of them can. Which is a mixed blessing, because he suspects he'll want mindless work to put himself to. ]

...Just...

[She draws back a little, enough to breathe, but not enough to get very far away. Her breath is warm, like the rest of her; her hands shift from gripping his shoulders to tracing slow circles against them, dipping up to cradle the base of his neck every so often.]

Don't decide what is best for me without at least asking me. Does that make sense?

I know. [He breathes out.] And every message matters now more than ever before.

[Most of the vampires in the city are American made ones, with only a few from the Old World. Of those from European and Asian shores, none of them have a pedigree like Carmilla. Her presence overshadows every part of the community. It makes Alucard uneasy. Uncomfortable. He can't tell if that's the goal, but if it is...

...he doesn't like this.

He's not thinking about blood in the office right now. He's thinking about the best ways to divine Carmilla's intentions.]

Yes.

[The stupid little curl that's always in Aluacrd's way is a terrible flyaway at the moment. It adds to the flushed look on his face, even if the real redness that ought to be there isn't.

Sypha's hands are wonderful where they are. As warm as he remembers them being, and when they reach his neck, he nearly melts under them.]

I...my mind goes to many places at once these days. Safety above all.

If I'm not visible there now, I can't be visible there at meetings with her in future. That I wasn't at the execution is excusable, you can come up with some shit about it not being my place to watch vampires kill their own. But if I'm not there at one meeting in your own home and then I'm there at another, the message there is- bad. It will mean you're spooked, and that that's why I'm there.

[ He gives it some thought. ]

Make me visible at first, and then dismiss me when she arrives. As a display of respect. That way I can attend later events if I'm needed and the worst she'll get from it is that she's displeased you somehow.

Great. Thanks.

[ He says, not sounding like someone who is particularly thankful. He picks up the knitting again, now that he can work on it without having to struggle to keep the needles from making noise, and sets about determinedly trying to fix this horrible blanket nightmare. ]

Shit was getting annoying.

So because I said that, you were not able to do anything that might make noise.

[She's parsing the thought out slowly, more careful this time; now he's got her being firmly attentive to her own words, checking them to make sure there's no unthinking imperative slipped in while she works through this.]

...And when you said we should tell you to behave and you would behave, I said I thought you wouldn't do it, but you...knew you would, because...

[...]

Because you are a fairy and cannot help but do as you're told. And when I told you to tell me what was wrong, you told me everything that was wrong, because I did not make it clear what I meant.

You're afraid.

[She's watching his face, his expression. It reminds her of when he'd looked so sad a time before this, and she'd held his hand to make him laugh and cheer up. Touching him seems to have that effect on him, and so she sweeps her fingertips up and down the column of his neck, experimenting a little before absently recalling that, being a vampire or at least half of one, he's probably attached to attention to his neck for precisely that reason.

Funny how often she forgets that he's half-vampire. She'd been just barely able to sense the fangs in his mouth when she'd kissed him; thinking of them at greater length makes her shiver again, and not altogether with fear of her own. She has enough tact not to ask about it, certainly not at a time like this. But she's naturally curious, and so of course getting attached to a vampire like this is inherently going to yield...questions.]

If you don't tell me your thoughts, I can't help make the decisions that would address them. You leave me in the dark and wandering, with no light.

[But then something gradually occurs to her, and her brow furrows a little, as she tentatively plays out the idea.]

But...you are not very good with words, are you? Not when it comes to your feelings.

Ugh.

[Which is to say Trevor's right. Of course Trevor's right, Alucard's only resisting it because these are the moments he hates the most: using either of them as political props in front of the world. For parties it has become easier because there are the smaller, intimate moments and because there are a select few night things that engage Sypha and Trevor as Sypha and Trevor only. But this? This makes Alucard sick.

He relents, knowing that his resistance is sentimental and personal. There's no good reason not to do this.]

Fine. [He hates it.] We'll worry about the optics of how you're dismissed later. I know where she's staying, the question is how viable is watching her? Part of me suspects she expects to be watched, the rest assumes great offense as the thought.

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Page 33 of 141

20s AU Post

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