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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[Trevor you called him by titles and terms of endearment in front of Every Vampire and now you're acting like it's a terrible obligation to sit next to your boyfriend!?]

One that should help.

[That's the state of the vampire. He's the one thinking of strategy while curled up with them both.]

I stand corrected. ...Or sit. Sit corrected.

[It's unusually hard to catch her breath, somehow, even though she really hasn't done anything that should leave her short of it. Even after his mouth releases her, she can still feel the toe-curling sting radiating heat beneath her skin, and she has to take a minute to focus on it, to examine it and quantify it and really appreciate it.

(She'll spend an hour in front of the mirror later, she knows, looking at it. The shape, the color, the wealth of memories attached to it. She'll remember holding him to her, how thick his hair had felt woven through her fingers. She'll remember how low the register of his voice dipped when he breathed that word at her, anything, and the sweetness of the kisses that followed.)

It must be hard to kiss her, she thinks dazedly, with the rise and fall of her chest being as ragged as it is right now. One hand stays holding the back of his head while the other brushes back around to his ear, fingertips tracing the shell gone hot and red with flush before following it down to his stubbly jaw.]

...So.

[So.]

What now?

No, that would be scandalous, I think.

[It gets another laugh out of her, though, as she finally pauses in pressing kisses to his skin for a minute and lifts her head up to regard him properly.]

Besides. This is just for us. The three of us, not anyone else.

[Beneath the blanket, she fits a hand against his chest and runs it down the length of his torso, skimming lightly over the muscle at his abdomen.]

We get to be the three of us.

[No regency to contend with. No fae to fight off anymore. Just the three of them, curled up in a corner of the world and permitted to finally experience life without any additional obligations and demands. That this is the first time such a thing has happened is wrong.

But they've already made the best of it and have reveled in gentle and warm solitude for it. They'll keep at it for a while yet, and then where to truly settle shall be discussed. Alucard still thinks Los Angeles is safest, but they can debate. Figure it out. There is time now. (It has always been about time.)

There's such a small shudder at Syphas hands, but any noise that Alucard makes is muffled. He leans forward so he can kiss Sypha. It feels right for the moment.]

Hm.

[ He lets Sypha's hand on his jaw guide his head upward slightly, looking up at her as if she's the only thing worth looking at. His lips hang open slightly, eyes moving across her face, focusing on all the details one after the other rather than on the whole. And then, swallowing, he moves a hand from her waist, bringing it up to the topmost closed button of his shirt and rectifying that situation, pushing the collar to one side. and giving what's meant to be a smirk but comes off as a little too sincere. ]

Anything?

I pretty much proposed to him. It was very dramatic.

[ He explains for Sypha's benefit, and she immediatly leans over Alucard's lap to get closer to him, demanding more information??? Catching her up involves a lot of chuckling about Alucard's many titles, and he rubs slow circles over the back of Alucard's hand with his thumb as he speaks. ]

Mm. Yes, by the way, if you want to remove that pretty much.

[It's telling how the vampire's quiet retelling seems to register precious little emotional reaction about the actual proposal. (They'll learn soon enough that the vampire's the vampire version of a bridezilla.) Emotions are exhausting. Anything that he has left still has to be for work.

They end up staying for two hours instead of the one. (Carmilla can't see us leave first.) So after she leaves, there's a half an hour window, and then they depart. Alucard spends much of the evening standing in silence, watching the world around him and mentally cataloging every single vampire's allegiance, strength, weakness, and known territory. He knows who'll abandon them that haven't already. Where they live. Which of them have already flaunted the city's laws, and he'll beg Agatha to target them first so that maybe the blood bath can be minimal.

(He understands her perspective. Alucard truly does. More than ever he resents the position his father's forced him into and how it has lead them here.)

When they go home, Alucard still drives, but pulls over halfway home. He can't concentrate, Trevor needs to drive instead. The vampire climbs into the backseat and he stays there the rest of the way, forehead pressed against the glass of the window.]

Hmmm.

[Her blue eyes are sharp and alight with mischief as she watches him look at her, lets him drink her down before letting her gaze be drawn to the motion of his hand and the implication inherent in what it does.]

I am not much of a traditionalist.

[But she puts a hand on his shoulder anyway, pressing him back a little more firmly into the back of the couch, and slides so that it's easier for her to bend down and reach him — still something of a feat, given the way she's sitting on him, but none too impossible so long as she's careful not to lose her balance and topple off of him.

Once he's been sufficiently pushed, her fingers of the same hand trace down to dip below his opened collar, finding the place that's the mirror of where he'd bitten her and tracing a light circle against it.]

Here?

[ Nobody ever lets him drive. Alucard's protective of his car and the demon car just barely tolerates him as a passenger. So when Alucard pulls over it's- alarming. Sypha gets dismissed to the back seat to sit with him, and once he's satisfied that everyone is wearing seatbelts he sets off. He drives more cautiously than either of the others, though on roads that are better maintained than those in rural Romania and wider than those of Paris and this abandoned from the late hour, there's not much need for it.

When they arrive at home, he opens the door of the car, reaching in to stroke a hand through Alucard's hair. Sypha hasn't got out of her side yet, instead continuing to hold on to their vampire. ]

Tired?

Very.

[He can't find it in himself to hide the exhaustion anymore. The vampire barely lifts his head to look at Trevor. His eyes take care of it, and there's nothing in there aside from tiredness.]

Thank you for driving.

There, yeah.

[ His hand returns to her, combing his fingers through her hair softly before moving back to where it was, and he holds her sides to take her weight just in case she does lose her balance. He's slowly fading into that soft, heavy-eyed state that tie with the two of them tends to reduce him to. ]

'f you like I'll tell you how you do, compared to vampires.

[ Not that any vampire bits he has received have ever been great, but- ]

's a treat. I don't get to often.

[ He leans in, undoing the seatbelt and letting Sypha push Alucard into his arms, lifting him out of the car. ]

Straight to bed? [ He asks, because right now that sounds like a great idea. ] You won't get much work done right now, with everyone you could work with still at the festivities.

Should I pretend to be one, for best comparison?

[She giggles softly, then pulls her lips back slightly and approximates a hiss that she must've heard at some party or another, for how technically tonally accurate it is albeit losing quite a bit coming out of a mouth with a distinct lack of actual fangs as a threat to back it up.]

Ooooo, Trevor Belmont of the house of Belmont, I am going to suck your blooooood.

[Who's been hitting the shitty vampire romance novels lately? THIS GUY.]

And perhaps some other things, too.

[So she says, almost like an afterthought, as she bends down and nuzzles her nose against his collarbone slowly enough that he can track the movement easily, and not be startled by it.]

[They have time now. They have all the time in the world, and they can indulge in it. They can do things like walk through the city streets arm-in-arm and not worry that tomorrow shall see them parted. They have the world, and they have moved beyond just the townhouse. Alucard is still sensitive about being home in the castle for more than a few days at a time, but the sense of not shuffling Sypha around from place to place is helping with that too.

He's still healing, of course. There hasn't been blood on his stitches for weeks now, but the bandages are still needed thanks to red and raw flesh that is taking it's sweet time in knitting itself back together. Alucard's accepted the rate of the recovery and it means moving slower through the world with Sypha's hands in his. There are worse things.

The city's view of the Mississippi is as an ideal place as any to sit next to her and call it a date. (He didn't bring the whole cliche of basket and blanket and food, chilling it for once in his life. There's sandwiches bought from one of the best places in the city, and Alucard has had a coat on for the past several hours just so he could put it down and have them both sit on it.

It's quiet in this park right now. Dusk will settle soon, and so many people will come out for the evening. Right now, right now is for them.]

I'm curious. How much of America have you seen at this point?

You could just ask me.

[Trevor is actually trusted at driving, unlike a fire and speed demon that's shoving him towards their boyfriend. Alucard lets himself be helped out of the car, and he sidesteps so Sypha can get out as well.]

Bed. [He wants to laugh at the other comment, but it comes out more like a grimaced noise.] Mm. Probably should have stayed later, shouldn't I?

[It's sometimes hard to tell, in these moments, whether she's more of a nursemaid or a lover — and that's not an objection to either, all things considered. Alucard is healing, and as he heals she fusses, and as she fusses he parries, and as he parries she retorts, until soon enough they're tangled up in each other and laughing and somewhere along the way she remembers to start fussing again, and the cycle begins anew. He's looking better, however, with every passing day. He doesn't walk like a man with a gash cut down his chest. He's a little stiff in places, perhaps, and they have to be a little more careful than otherwise in moments when they get carried away with each other, but all in all he's doing well. He's recovering, and she's here to see it.

He's treating her to an impromptu picnic today, too, which she suspects isn't nearly as impromptu as he's pretending. (The coat is a bit of a giveaway, but the sandwiches are a nice touch.) The makeshift blanket he provides for them is just the right amount of "too small" to give her an excuse to curl up against his side, on the pretense of trying to stay atop it, when really she's so close that if she were to move in any more she'd end up sitting directly in his lap from it.]

It would be easier to talk about what I have not seen, I think. But — my caravan always tried to stay near the cities. It's true that Speakers are not well liked in the cities, but...

[She hesitates.]

Well. The rules are different in the countryside, you could say. Though we have been to some nice communities there, too. It's just that...there is more fear, I suppose, in the little towns. One sentiment tends always to prevail. So if they like us, then everyone seems to like us. But if they hate us...then everyone, from the oldest man to the youngest child, will hate us.

Cities have enough varied populations that the question of adding another isn't so hard to do as it is when there's a town where everyone knows everyone else. [He nods, following the logic of it.] And then the rest of the country is wilderness, still.

[Wilderness means it isn't developed, means that the infrastructure to travel doesn't exist yet. Alucard remembers his father speaking of the wildest parts of America that still exist, both with regards to the natural features of the landscape and the strange night creatures that only exist in America and who resented his presence in their territory. He had enjoyed that novelty of the new, or so it had seemed at the time. There was fresh and unexpected life in the country yet.

Alucard's happy for her weight at his side, pressing against where there's no scar at all. They've been good about not aggravating the wound lately, even at their most passionate. Her being where she is, it's almost starting to feel like a routine comfort.

He can't put his arms around her and eat at the same time though, so the sandwich is put in Alucard's lap in favor of both of his arms being around Sypha.]

Tell me about your favorite place then. Or one of them.

You were seen. That's all you needed to do.

[ He pulls Alucard into his arms, lifting him while Sypha fusses over him. ]

To bed, then, Dusk-And-Dawn, Beloved of Misplaced Speakers and Belmonts.

You two need to be careful. Anything you assign will end up being yours as well one day.

[It's a nice lie, pretending there's a future for the three of them. One where marriage is possible, owing to too many complex maters that Alucard doesn't want to think about naming.

Trevor's arms are warm. Big. Safe. A harbor to dock in just for now, because tomorrow requires more work. They should go inside. Move beyond the damned garage. The vampire tries to move in that direction, but that just means pressing closer into Trevor.]

Mmmm, my favorite place...

[She hums under her breath, tilting her head to rest it on his shoulder as they gaze out over the river, food momentarily forgotten on both counts in favor of focusing on being close to each other.]

I liked the waterfalls. The ones between New York and Ontario? There are two people in total who have tried the stunt of going over them in nothing more than a wooden barrel. We went to preserve them; one was a woman sixty-three years old, who survived her trip over, and the other was a man whose barrel was ripped apart, and all they ever found of him was his arm.

[Which is sort of a gloomy part of the story, but.]

But I remember standing by the railing for hours, it seemed like, watching the water go over the falls. So many people come to see them that a group of Speakers did not attract much notice, or at least no more than anyone else. They're so loud, and the fall is so steep, and I couldn't imagine what courage it must take for someone, to get into such a tiny space and let themselves be swept over the edge.

Niagara Falls.

[He only provides the name. The rest is him being quiet, in listening to her and feeling her warm weight, the noise of the city filtered out. There's the river flowing just beyond them, and it's a mighty thing to watch it speed a number of boats that are out right now.

Alucard's never been there. Maybe he will. Maybe they can go together.]

It sounds like a liminal place. One of those in between spaces. [Like falling asleep in the back of a car as it travels or being spirited along a body of water on a boat.]

Have you ever gone back?

[ He cackles at that, bending his head down to watch her movement and kiss the top of her head. ]

Can honestly say none of them ever said that second part.

[ The bloooooood part, though, that happened. ]

Just a moment.

[ He reaches back for one of Alucard's coats draped over the back of the couch, pulling it away and wrapping it about Sypha's shoulders. ]

-better. You have to have a cape.

Bold of you to assume that we won't start just giving you titles that we want.

[ Pressing in closer is just fine. Just fine. He carries Alucard into the house, not speaking until they're past the office. When they are, he leans to kiss his forehead. ]

You going to be this shape tonight? Or dog-shaped?

Too powerful a thing for you both.

[It sounds like some kind of an attempt at a joke. Something something speakers and their words. The joke doesn't form. Alucard just closes his eyes and lets himself be carried about, the sense of exhaustion starting to mix with a darker feeling of being at the point of useless that he can't even walk.

Trevor's question is met with a very soft reply.]

I think I'd get stuck if I tried to shift.

That'd be convenient.

[ No, that wasn't him messing up at saying inconvenient. Sypha pulls the thick cover that they've been using to protect the bed from dog hair away and Trevor sets Alucard down. Sypha sets about the work of undoing his tie while he deals with his own clothes. ]

I don't think we were planning on letting you get anything done tomorrow, so it doesn't matter that much if you're stuck or not.

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Page 71 of 141

20s AU Post

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