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

[cryptsleeper]

Glad I asked.

[Alucard's still not sure what to do with this.]

What's the closest version of that that also avoids alcohol?

[miraclewhip]

It's a good curtain rod.

[ That's slightly defensive. He likes the curtain rod. He loved it before he met the crutches that Alucard supplied. But he will try, because he's been instructed to. ]

Why are you here? [ Genuine question, this time, not being confrontational about coddling Alucard. He's trying not to be awful. ] If he does what he has to be to be happy, it's going to be a dangerous place to be. If it's safe, everyone in these walls is going to be miserable. You can't win.

[miraclewhip]

Hmm. If you still want to be vague-

[ He gives it some thought, because he's not used to actually being the one to figure out his own orders. ]

Specify something constructive, [ making the potatobrands probably does not count as constructive, but the practice should. ] or non-harmful.

[cryptsleeper]

Constructive is too worklike and you do that constantly. [The vampire has noticed that much. He's locked the car now, and all that's left is to just head inside.]

Non-harmful to yourself is probably the better wording, I expect?

[miraclewhip]

Probably, yeah. Non-harmful in general- I don't know if the potatoes count as harmful to Gorbrand if they can't be used. Might hurt his feelings. That could count.

[ He shrugs. ]

Sorry for the trouble, I suppose.

[willpowerful]

And so it would be better if I were safe and happy, and the only way to do that is to not be here at all. Safe, happy, and here — pick only two. Is that how it goes?

[She shrugs, off to go find a sink to wash her hands, but soon enough she's back.]

This is my home. I have never had a home before, with walls and a roof and a room that is all mine. I have never been myself before, either — not just one of many, a part of a whole, but myself, all my own. I've never had someone look at me like he looks at me.

[Is this defending herself, or a confession, or an explanation? She isn't sure. Regardless, it leaves her looking for something to do with her hands, never quite looking at the Belmont outright.]

I'm here because it feels right to be. And because if I were somewhere else, I think I would wake up wishing I were here. But when I wake up here, I don't wish I were anywhere else.

[cryptsleeper]

It isn't trouble. It...it's different, and nothing I would have ever thought of, in truth. Just as much a revelation as the gentleman I just met in your grandmothers' house for the first time. I'd like to see more of him.

[miraclewhip]

Wait, shit, was there someone there?

[ This can't even be blamed on fairy bullshit or belmont bullshit or war bullshit. This is just him being a turnip. ]

[cryptsleeper]

[OH MY GOD.]

I was talking about you, Belmont. It was like night and day.

[miraclewhip]

[ He listens. And he refrains from saying anything unpleasant, even if he doesn't have a whole lot to say in response. ]

Because you chose to be here, then.

[ And that's something he can't quite understand. Choosing. But it's good to hear from her own mouth that she's here because she wants to be. ]

[miraclewhip]

Oh.

[ Oh. That's a first, isn't it? It's hardly been a secret that the vampire wants to see significantly less of him until now. Also. Possibly literally the first time anyone other than his grandmothers has said something nice about him in a long time, not including Damian's comments about value and rarity. ]

I'll- try, I suppose. Don't see why everyone in this fucking city seems to prefer when I slack off. But I'll try.

[ It's because you're less of a shitty person when you're slacking off, you turnip. ]

[cryptsleeper]

...Because when you do that, I can actually talk with you. Like this. Which is much nicer than discussing work and politics constantly. This feels like the first time I've been able to do that since you got here.

[From Alucard's tone, that fact bothers him. Significantly.]

[miraclewhip]

I'm not here to have a nice time. I'm here to-

[ And there's the problem, really. He doesn't even fucking know anymore. Dracula isn't here, and when he was he was by all accounts adhering to every rule the Belmonts could ask of him. The city isn't in chaos yet. It'll be impossible to find vampires in Europe for the next decade until the smoke clears. He just gestures, as if that would explain anything. ]

-fuck, I don't even know. I'm here so people don't die.

[cryptsleeper]

You are allowed to do other things while you do that work as well.

[This is...pathetic, actually. A man who's worked himself to the bone and then some because of what, fae curses and family demands?]

I am not the sum of my station and neither are you.

[He heads into the hallway. Kitchen's the goal, he needs to get dinner started.]

[willpowerful]

That's hard to believe, is it?

[At least she doesn't sound affronted. Mostly because Trevor didn't sound accusatory, so perhaps we're actually discussing this civilly instead of irritably.]

You chose to be here too, though. Didn't you? Or at least to come here. He gave you the chance to leave, too, I think, and you didn't.

[miraclewhip]

Mm.

[ He doesn't respond, so much as make a noise to indicate that he's heard Alucard. This is a weird and awkward conversation to have with one's boss.

He follows, sitting at the kitchen table and taking out the most recent potatobrand and a sewing kit from his knitting bag, to sew those googly eyes on. ]

We're not. Can't be. [ And he actually manages to thread the needle first try, so well done him. ] And yet the sum of your stations is what the world needs.

[cryptsleeper]

[Boss!!! That's the shit he's talking about!!!]

The world isn't allowed in my own home, and it doesn't dictate what I need when I am in here. [The word choice is pointed. Alucard goes over to the crisper drawer first, grabbing green peppers, celery, and onion first.]

Knitting club is the same thing for you, isn't it?

[miraclewhip]

Honestly, when vampires are involved? Yes. But I'm pretty sure you can't compel someone to say shit like that. Too sentimental.

[ He shrugs. ]

The chance to leave. That's a polite way of saying he doesn't want me here, isn't it? [ Not that he's offended. Or that Alucard can be blamed for that. ] I'm needed here. The Belmonts have to choose someone to support, and he's as good a candidate as any. And the one least likely to be violently tossed out by Dracula for taking over in his absence.

[miraclewhip]

[ Fine! His weird vampire acquaintance and attempted murder victim whose roof he lives under. ]

Something like that. It's a lot like home. Less dogs, more knitting. Otherwise the same.

[cryptsleeper]

[BETTER.]

I see. [Some of those changes can be made, at least. Fuck, cutting board's on the table, how did it get there? Alucard puts the things he's retrieved from the fridge and then goes to grab the board from over by Trevor.]

That's something we can all try and work on here.

[miraclewhip]

Work on less dogs and more knitting?

[ Weird thing to work on but okay.

He finishes with the googly eyes as Alucard approaches, putting the potatobrand on the chopping board as he picks it up. ]

Probably a potatobrand's least favourite place, the kitchen.

[cryptsleeper]

Are you being literal just for spite?

[But Potatobrand is so much, much more important. And that Trevor just plops him on the cutting board puts an actual, real smile on his face. First one Trevor's ever caused, and a laugh accompanies it.]

Every fork is just four tiny stakes that await him.

[miraclewhip]

You forgot to tell me not to be an asshole.

[ He's seen Alucard smile before, of course. Never directed at him, but they eat meals together and Sypha is usually there and- she's better at this and he usually doesn't interrupt because the topic of conversation usually (by design) touch on anything vampire politics-related. So he knows what it looks like when he does.

But it's still nice, having it directed at him. ]

He's heard terrible things about rosti. Doesn't like that idea at all.

[cryptsleeper]

My understanding is that goes against your nature, so why waste your breath?

[The man said it himself, ater all. And he'll let the Potatobrand linger for a few moments, his gaze moving to Trevor.]

Is that a request?

[Genuine question.]

[willpowerful]

My point is, you had the opportunity to go. It wasn't as though you blundered in here, realized you had made a terrible mistake, and found yourself trapped. You were given safe passage to leave, and you came back.

[...Although. Hmm.]

You know a lot about vampire politics, don't you?