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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Selfish fucking-

[ No. No. It's frustrating (He's ready for this. He's been ready all his life. It's easier to be ready if there's no alternative, and every struggle against it makes it harder and more painful. He's been paid in full for what's being taken - he's a Belmont, he's benefited from that. He uses his training what seems like every day, the least he can do is pay his fucking debts for it). And maybe it is selfishness on Alucard's part.

But it's for his sake. It's because the two of them love him that they're doing this, and he can argue whether it's wise or foolish to do that, but that doesn't change the fact that they do. They do, and he wanted them to. ]

-sorry. I didn't mean- just don't let it distract you from the important shit.

And the people who miss you are the ones that love you.

[She turns her head and bumps her forehead lightly against him, a gentle little headbutt born of pure affection.]

You know that, don't you? Now that you are not ruling over them, they're free to simply love you.

And don't ever lump her in with those words either.

[This isn't just an Adrian's anxiety and fear issues thing. It's a Sypha thing too, it's about them, and it's about feeling the need to try everything in their power before they let anything whisk Trevor away.

The dream was easy, wasn't it? Too simple. Too clear. It'll be so much worse whenever the time comes, even with Sypha in the lead. They're agreed on that much, that the vampire cannot do the talking even if he's still regent. He's shitty at words and liable to make everything worse.

Alucard sighs.]

Really, you'll leave me an opening to point out that you're the important shit?

[That headbutt really is like a kitten headbutting a large dog. It's too cute, and he kisses the top of her head again for it.]

I will admit, there is a very...petty [read: DAD] part of me that would rather nothing to do with most of them, given how their ever generous support, help, and actively plotting against me forced us into a terrible place.

[He's actually never told them that. Either of them. Recovery had become wedding planning had become preparing to deal with the fae, and now...now he could actually admit to things.]

I am aware of how unkind that sounds.

Probably not as easy as I make it sound, huh? Sorry I've had to make your life more difficult.

[ His hand is in her hair again now, stroking softly, one eye still on Alucard. Still breathing. He's still breathing. ]

This will happen again.

[ He's said that before, hasn't he? He needed to be forced to tell the truth that time. The words come easier this time, and he couldn't say why. Maybe it's just because it's hard to lie so soon after thinking of the speakers. ]

This will happen again even if Dracula takes his throne back. It might not be any physical wound, but you'll be called upon to do this again. [ To give of herself, to put one or both of them back together. ]

Every time you do, we'll know that it was a choice you made. And if you ever can't, we'll trust that it's because there's something greater that you have to protect.

[ Because she is a young story all of her own, isn't she? All bright and beautiful and herself in a way that her people avoid being, for fear of biasing the stories they carry inside them with their own tales. And if caring for them makes her less of that one day, then that's the death of a young story just as surely as if Dracula had killed the last man who knew his wife's fate. ]

[Focusing on Trevor and Alucard has come with the surprisingly pleasant side effect of acting as a deterrent to finishing herself, not from lack of interest but simply because it had been easy enough to set the pursuit of her own pleasure aside in favor of watching the two of them; that all changes dramatically when they start to touch her more significantly, playing her body like a fine instrument in a way that has her mouth falling open and tension mounting like scaling the side of a tall peak. Suddenly there's so much to focus on, and she can't divide her attention across all of it, and she doesn't quite know what to do with herself —

And Alucard is just, he's right there and she's squirming around moving anyway, and it's so easy to just fall forward and land her mouth somewhere near the juncture of his neck and shoulder and bite, not even so much to try to please him as just from needing to do something and not knowing where to begin.

It's a blunt and dull-edged thing that lasts until Trevor shatters and sighs and pulls her back against him, which shifts her in a way that feels fantastic, and she's close close close close but not quite, not quite — there.

The noise she makes is somewhere between a wail and a whine, keening softly as she topples over her own precipice, toes curling and stomach quivering and she's long since lost the presence of mind to keep her fingers cold with magic, but she hasn't lost her rhythm of trying to drag Alucard over with her when she goes.]

Right, right. Sloppy of me.

[ He sighs and finally, finally, reaches over Sypha to touch Alucard's cheek. ]

I can't be more important than the city. I signed up for this and they didn't. But- thanks.

I think at this point you are entitled to be unkind.

[He's entitled to everything after what he suffered on behalf of that city, frankly. It didn't let him off the hook for the still-stupid decision of taking on Carmilla on his own in the way that he did, but she's not above conceding just how much the city owes him specifically for it, either.]

I just mean that you shouldn't let the politics overshadow the people. At least not entirely.

[The noises Trevor is making are straight up obscene. His face isn't any better, at least not from what Alucard can see of it, and when all other Belmont noises become one, the hand on Trevor's spine feels every inch of the sound just as much as he hears it.

He'll be overwhelmed for the next half an hour, the vampire. Trevor's noises are just so much, and then there's Sypha. Warm and wonderful under his hand, moving forward to give one last pass at his neck and that's the point where the vampire's undone. Always the neck. Weakest point in situations like these, the way he'll always be made stupid and wanting.

It means that paired with Sypha's finish, there's a lower pitched companion. It's shuddery moans, hips moving too fast, pressing against them both as much as he can so that when he finishes with a last shout, they can feel every bit of delight he does.

Alucard's not sure who can take anyone's weight right now. Probably none. So when he stills, there's a very, very careful attempt to just move onto the floor.]

Mmm. I won't tell you details, just in case that....creature...can get that far into your head. [The vampire has no idea if the Queen was a part of a true dream or just imagination.] You'd yell at me for shitty strategy if I did.

[The vampire is so very still at that touch. He's colder than he ought to be, and hell if he could explain it should he be asked.

He can't respond to the city comment. They both know the vampire would throw the city aside for this.]

Not being involved with any of it so far has helped immensely.

[Because that fight put a damper on many social gatherings for months after, and Wedding Planning was more important than general social engagements. Hell, much of the city's social life hadn't picked back up, and that was a year later.

This is not what they set out to do, admittedly. But it feels nice like this, talking with such a different world around them both.]

I'd be happy just hermiting away with you both, I realize.

It got better once you stopped being so awful.

[The little joke perks her up a little, and the hand in her hair is comforting. The picture that Trevor paints of the future is less so, but...]

You're the one I protect, I think. It's different with you than with him.

[She bumps her head lightly against his shoulder.]

You've been hurt so often that you don't need anyone to patch you up. You had to learn to do it on your own, again and again, until it's just old habit for you. What he needs is that I know how his pieces fit together, where they belong in the right configuration, so that when he falls apart I can be there to fit him back together again. But you don't fall apart like he does, because you don't mind being broken.

[She reopens her eyes, watching Alucard along with him, her eyes tracing over each wound, assessing the network of scars that will be left behind.]

What you needed was for me to love you. So that even if you didn't mind being broken, you would still know that I would.

You make things fucking weird when you're anemic, you know that?

[ Wow rude, you're allowed to psychoanalyse the vampire but leave him out of it. He leans his head against hers anyway, because there's only so much he can be embarrassed and difficult at present. ]

You're probably right? But you're still making it weird. I just came here to stare at my boyfriend's broken body like a normal person. Not to be told how fucked up I am. But- thanks. And if you ever figure out what it is that you need, we'll be here.

[ The pause that follows is an awkward one, because he has been called the fuck out. ]

Speaking of the boyfriend's broken body- I think that's all the healing that's going to happen. See if you can manage to stand, once you're ready, and I'll wrap his leg up in case I fuck up and pull the stitches.

[ Trevor is less careful, sinking into the rug on his back with Sypha pulled to his chest and only putting as much effort into doing so delicately as it takes to make sure she stays pressed against him. She's far too warm against him, almost unbearably so now, but the discomfort's more than worth it to feel her breathing against him.

Alucard, though, because of his lack of care in positioning himself when he sank to the ground, is just slightly out of reach. He stretches out an arm anyway, fingertips just barely grazing against his skin as he makes disgruntled Belmont noises about this situation. ]

He told me once that he couldn't be my entire world. That it wasn't right for me to make him so, is what I mean. I was ready to. I had given up everything for him, I thought, so that meant he must be my everything. And he wouldn't allow that.

[She smiles softly, hidden to herself, as she rubs her cheek lightly against his shoulder.]

You both keep me from being just a life that serves others. Just a vessel to hold stories. You love me, and so I have to recognize that I am so much more than the mere desire to serve and preserve. You spoil me, and so I know I can always trust you to know who I am. Even when I don't know, myself.

[She lifts her head, then, and presses a kiss to his stubbly cheek.]

I need to be loved the way that you love me, Trevor Belmont. So I'm glad, so glad, that you do.

[And that, it seems, is a sufficient denouement, a proper wrap-up to this segment of the story, because once things are balanced (three lives, three sides, three psychoanalyses), it's only then that she's able to ease herself away from him and push herself weakly up to her feet.]

[Oh, she gets to drowse on top of Trevor. This is an excellent turn of events and thus Sypha is the only one rendered perfectly content with the situation at hand, at least for the first moment or two before she realizes that Alucard isn't close enough to touch, and then she winds up objecting to that state of affairs just as much as Trevor does.

But overall? This was a fantastic idea. They should get drunk and play saucy vampires more often.]

This...was a fantastic idea. We should get drunk and play saucy vampires more often.

[And evidently that's confirmation that her brain-to-mouth filter is effectively nil in the afterglow. Marvelous.

...Actually.]

...Welcome home, Adrian.

[WHAT A SURPRISE YOU HAD WAITING FOR YOU, BEFORE YOU HAD EVEN MADE IT THROUGH YOUR OWN FRONT DOOR.]

[It isn't the vampire's fault the Belmont moved the wrong way! Luckily he doesn't mind rolling over and over himself on the floor, until he's not only in Trevor's outstretched arm, but snuggled right up into Trevor's side. His face is on Trevor's chest, which is where it should be whenever possible, and he lets out the happiest sigh for it.

(He's still not sure how the fuck Trevor's shirt is still on.)

When Sypha's wonderful brain-to-mouth filter kicks in though, he just lets out a content laugh.]

Does this mean I should run errands more often?

Said like anyone could fucking not.

[ It's quick and easy enough to dress and wrap Alucard's leg. She's right, that he's learned how to do this again and again on his own (and he can admit that, as far as tying bandages goes). Lifting him is more difficult. Normally he'd want to carry him on his back - steadier that way. But that would put strain on his thigh that risked pulling stitches loose. In the end, he chooses to trust himself to not stumble on the stairs rather than trust himself not to reopen that cut, goes for gentleness over stability and gathers Alucard against his chest.

The supplies he brought down, save for the vampire killer at his waist, he abandons. He'll come back for them when he returns to clean away the blood. If they're lost, all of them are replaceable. ]

If you think you can climb the stairs, go first. Can't promise I'll catch you if you end up stumbling, but worst comes to worst, I can shove you forwards rather than backwards.

Damn right I would.

[ The lack of a response is telling, and he hates it. He doesn't voice it any further, they're already fresh out of one fight and one disaster. They don't need him going around opening wounds that don't need opening.

(He wouldn't forgive him, if he sacrificed innocent people for his sake. Even though negligence, rather than by choice. The city has to be more important. This is what they are.)

His hand remains still on Alucard's cheek, not stroking, just there. Trembling, maybe, a little. But mostly just proof that they're both here, in their own room, with Sypha between them. ]

Not that this'll be how it works, but at the well you cover the fairy you're trying to steal with a coat of your own, so the queen can only see your own possessions. Traditionally it's green, but I don't think the colour matters that much.

[Alucard's quiet for a moment more. He's useless in the real times of crisis, it seems. Trevor has strategy, Sypha has not only her magic but her words, and he's basically a thing with a sword to wave about, rather than contribute anything else. It was Trevor that did the lion's share of the shit to do with the necromancer. It'll be Sypha carrying them forward against the fae.

He can lean against the hand on his cheek though. The vampire's hands are otherwise occupied with supporting himself up or resting on Trevor's side, thumb stroking softly against the fabric there.]

I'll remember that. The whole thing seemed...too easy, you know. Those aren't True Dreams, are they?

[ It's a very determined shirt. Also, by now, a shirt that's soaked with sweat at the back.

He makes a few false starts at talking and each just come out as contented nonsense sounds. Because yes, this is the correct sort of arrangement. Two chests rising and falling against him, the crowns of two heads just within kiss range if he can gather the strength to lift his head (he can't). A warm weight above him, a cool one to his side. 'One warm tit, one cold tit', he had said on the morning of All Saints Day. ]

You could stay and just ignore our nonsense until it's appealing enough for you. [ He manages eventually. ]

Depends what you mean by 'true'. None of it's real. It won't- work like that. With the hunt. Can't, over here. Don't think it even works that way in Europe.

[ He smiles weakly at Alucard when he presses into the touch. It's nice. The awkwardness isn't gone entirely, but- it's temporary, and this is as good a reminder of that as any. ]

They're real in that they're messages. 'Hi, remember that you owe us', reminders like that. I don't see them in person over here, so. Dreams. Suppose they wanted to use the opportunity to send you the message this time, instead.

[ And the message is ours. ]

Mmm, no, I don't think we can have that. No hermiting, there's too much left for you to do, still.

[She's teasing, and her tone makes that clear. There's no more heaping of obligations upon him, not anymore. Not when he's done the share of two men and then some, keeping a city from crumbling to its knees for months on end.]

You have university to attend, don't you? And a world to travel. And things to see, and faraway places at which to kiss me and make memories. Much too much to do, for just hermiting.

What I meant was she's...well and truly there, remembering any interactions had.

[Meaning she knows that the Belmont isn't going to be hers without a fight.

The vampire's not moving from where he is, which means Trevor's hand will keep being cold.]

They can fuck right off with that message though.

I hate stairs.

[But she's steadying herself, arms out, to make sure she's got her balance despite her half-jelly knees before starting to walk that way. At least there's a railing, and presumably no necromancer's shadows trying to smack them back down the stairs and rip them apart this time.

They didn't seem so steep, when she was running down them earlier. Now — well. They have to surmount them, and get Alucard out of here.

She makes it to the steps, sets her jaw, presses her lips together. Grasps the railing, starts humming, and mounts the first step.

And up they go, one by one. Hurrah, hurrah.]

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Page 93 of 141

20s AU Post

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